Progression of Pictures

So, we tried to get a picture of the cousins together in their church clothes. Here's what occured:

No Caleb, but some smiles...

We got Caleb, but he's waving a DVD case. The smiles are a little forced.

Now, Luke is upset that Caleb has the case, Emma isn't quite sure about this, and Aaron's looking at the floor?
Luke's still upset and holding something in his hands. Caleb's smiling and Emma's trying to be a good helper.

Okay. I think we got the best shot that we could. They're at least all happy, right?!

Maybe I'll share the other session that we tried. Unfortunately, it turned out worse than this one.

Creative Monday

I made thank you's for my co-workers.

They're about 3x3 and I used a die cut for the stars. I criss-crossed the green organdy ribbon and added the piece of red paper with thanks written on it.

This is a thank you card I wrote up and added Philippians 1:3 to the front.

Here's another thank you card that says thanks so much. On the inside it says "we appreciate your thoughtfulness." I used leftover stars from the cards for my co-workers.

This one is for a friend at church who is being induced on Wednesday.

Inside says: Welcome, Rocklyn!

Inside says, "to you!"
I used a design that I had found at Cardpositioning Systems. There were 4 patterned papers and then I wrote Happy Birthday on a piece of red paper. I added a piece of green organdy ribbon across the bottom.

I used this same design for the next 3 cards. I used two patterned papers and one solid. I added ribbon and another die cut.

I cut the corners off the smaller rectangle to make it stand out a little.

We had the day off on Monday and I was able to get a lot of cards made. I re-stocked my supply at work and made up a few for some things that I needed along the way. I'm hoping to work a little more this weekend as well.

Hanging out with family

We came to my parents' home near Birmingham to celebrate Christmas. We drove down Christmas day. One of my sisters was here already with her family and then later in the evening my other sister and family came in. Only my brother and his family were not here.

Here's a short video of my dad and his youngest grandchild.

We have noticed that he is a lot more animated than we saw him in November. It's amazing the difference in a month! He likes to hold his hands together and if he doesn't have his pluggy, he will suck on his fingers.

More pictures to follow from all the festivities!

Christmas

We didn't have a very big Christmas, but this is what we got:

Barry got slippers!

I got a waffle maker! We had them for breakfast. YUM!

We slept in and had an easy morning before packing up and leaving for my parents' home in Alabama.

Christmas Party

Each year, the day before Christmas Eve, our office has a luncheon. This year it was at the Marriott. There's always delicious food and a short program. This is me and my friend Laurie standing by the Christmas tree in their lobby.

One of the best parts is that our name card is a gift card to Target! I haven't used mine yet (surprising, I know!), but it's much anticipated. God has really blessed me!

Goodies for Christmas

Everything that you'll see below are items home-made:

These are banana-nut mini muffins. I had been saving bananas in the freezer and finally had enough to make these. I had gotten a mini muffin pan for my birthday and was glad to have a chance to use it again. They're just the right size to pop in your mouth which makes them good for a get-together.

These are a good family recipe! They are a type of rice krispy squares with peanut butter and peanuts and chocolate on the top. I cut them pretty small because of the gifts that I made for the male co-workers.

I was so excited about these brownies because they're my grandma's recipe! They turned out just fine and I was so glad. I made the icing with a recipe from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook - no bake fudge icing. I again cut these small to fit in the container, but that's how my grandma did it too -- bite-sized.

These are my favorite -- white chocolate covered pretzels. Yum!

These are a modified version of what Barry likes the best -- chocolate covered peanut clusters. The reason why they're modified is that we crunched the peanuts into smaller pieces so that they could go in those mini paper cups.

I made up all these smaller things in order to fit the containers that I had. They were greeting card boxes that we had a preponderance of here in the office due to a Christmas mailing that went out. I covered the top with wrapping paper and lined them with plastic wrap before putting the goodies inside. They worked just perfect for these 4 items (peanut clusters, pretzels, brownies, & rice krispy bars)!

Last, but not least, this is a peppermint red velvet cake for my dear friend. I found out around the first Christmas that I knew her that she loved peppermint. I found the recipe and tried it out and it's been a mainstay ever since. It's three layers and all home-made.

I think this is the end of my baking for the holidays and hope that it's enjoyed by all!

Some Gift Sets

So here is the set of cards all together... 6 in total - 3 birthday & 3 thank you. I made up 2 of these sets and have some cool fabric bags to put them in. An easy gift, right?!

This card has the same colors as the one in the group picture, but is just a tad different.

Here is a new design that I found on the CPS site. It says, "wishing you a happy birthday" on the inside of this one.

Here's an old stand-by. Since my sister gave me her Sissix, I have gone crazy with the die-cuts.

I thought this quote was pretty neat: "The smallest act of kindnes is worth more than the grandest intention." -Oscar Wilde I wrote "thanks" on the inside of this one.

This one is my favorite of the whole set. I cut out all these stars and then overlapped and used 3-d tape to pull it all together. I think it's a masculine-looking card.

I couldn't do a set without this favorite design. I tried to use all the pink papers with this one.

I'm trying to sell some cards to earn a little money for Christmas. I have them out at work, but so far no bites. I guess I'll hold on to them and see if I can give them as a gift.

Birthday Cards

I found this cool design on Card Positioning System's site and thought I'd try it out. It's by no means as creative as the others listed there, but it works for my simplistic ways. I had this paper that already said Happy Birthday so I didn't have to write anything on the front. I used some swirls I had left over from a die cut project I did and then added a jewel and some organdy ribbon. Inside I wrote: wishing you a happy birthday!

The zebra print & pink one is for my friend Skye and the purple one is for a co-worker.

Couple cards

A co-worker and his wife just had a baby and I made this card to say congrats! I used a couple scraps of paper -- the cute baby hands and complementary colors to the paper that is the background. I added two silver heart brads and the sticker that says baby boy. I wrote the baby's name across the top and congratulations on the side of the blue paper.

This is a 2x3 inch card that I made up to say happy birthday to another co-worker. I put some 3-d tape on the back of the piece with the frog to make it stand out some. I added a couple celebratory stickers and wrote, "hoppy" belated birthday, dave! Here's the back where I added 4 candles since he turned 40!

Here's the card and 4 cookies that I gave him.

I've gotten so behind in my personal card-making so I expect to get a few more cards made to catch up. A couple weddings and unfortunately a couple deaths. Maybe I'll get them done over the weekend!

Rudolph Red Nose 5K

Here is the group of us that ran the 5K (L to R): Rick Potter, Rick Mosley, Jamie Lubiens, Allison Davis, and me

For some of us, this was a last minute decision, but for others, it was planned and trained for. My goal was to get under 35 minutes, but I did my best race time and got 35:10. If I had only been a little bit faster!

It was about 30 degrees at 6:30pm when we began the race and my toes were cramping up, but overall, it was not too cold. I ended up taking my gloves off toward the end and really wanted to take my sweatshirt off, but figured it was better to keep it on. The race came before the Nashville Christmas parade so we did have a lot of people cheering us on for a portion of the way.

Perhaps the next one I'll be even faster, but I suppose that being able to run the whole way is as good an accomplishment than most would have.

Christmas Cards - in Creole & French

Although I'm not all that certain what each card says, I know that they are something unique. A co-worker who is from Haiti asked that I make these cards for her. She cannot find anything like this so, it was a pleasure and a neat adventure to write up all of this. On the inside, the left side had a verse that she had chosen and on the right, a message that she had written. Each card follows the same pattern: ribbon down the left side with 3 stars on it and the message written on red across the top. I should have gotten more of the poinsettia paper, because I sort of liked those ones better, but the red did just fine.

The beginning of holiday work!