What a Girl Wants

My sweet "baby girl" turned 16 yesterday! It was a special day and a special week for many reasons... not only is she growing into an amazing young woman of God who loves people, cares about integrity, and works very hard at everything she does, but it was also an important day because it was a lightbulb moment for me personally. Emily woke me up at 5:45 a.m. fully dressed, make up and hair done, and asked if she could go out to breakfast with her girlfriends from school! What... who am I... remember me? The woman who gave birth to you...right? The woman who hands you money at every turn, drives you all over southern california at your heart's desire, and comes to every event, every concert, every play, musical, etc. to cheer you on... How did I all of a sudden become "chopped liver?" Emily left for the day to go out to breakfast with her friends, go to school, and then go to Grease rehearsal right after school.... so I didn't see her the whole day until about 9:30 p.m. Very strange birthday. (for me!) She had a fun day with her friends, and I had to come to the cold realization that she is pulling away, that her friends are way more important to her than her family/ parents!

One of the most revealing moments of this wonderful occassion was her birthday list. It gives a humorous, yet enlightening glimpse into the mind, heart, and priorities of a 16 year old girl. It borders on childhood and womanhood at the same time. Here's a little peek:

*Classic Ipod

*Acrylic Nails

*Highlights (for her hair)

*Berret (you know, the hat kind)

*Sun Dresses

*Earrings (big)

*Silver Stiletos

*Hollister jacket

*Lap top (computer)

*purses in general

*mica bella powder

*vans tennis shoes

*new phone/ iphone

*prom dress

*belly button ring

Doesn't that last one just totally crack you up... and take you by surprise!? I love it!

Easter Fun with the Family

Finally figured some things out on my camera... my problem is I am very forgetful, so I have to keep learning the same thing over and over again. Anyway, here are some family Easter pictures. I think there were 35 of us at my sister Dyan's house in Thousand Oaks. So many kids that we had to have TWO Egg Hunts... one for the Little Kids (here's Ellie, Josh, and Grace) .....

And one for the BIG kids (from left to right, staring into the bright sun, are Sammy, Maddie, Jakob, Luis, and Giovani.)
A few more sweet pictures of our "babies" ( I love this picture of Josh with his bag on his head... that was the only one where he was looking into the camera "sort of".... tee hee! )

We also celebrated SEVEN family birthdays while we were all together... here are the "big people"... nephew Giovani, Dawn (who was my flower girl in my wedding in 1986 and now she's 22!!) my sister in law Carolyn, her little boy Josh (the big THREE!), Audrey, my nephew's wife, her little boy Derrik, and.............

Little Katie... my niece Nicole's baby girl, who turned ONE!

Wow, what a wondeful DAY we all had together!

Got Scraps?

Just a few quick cards with some yummy paper called "Two Scoops" by Basic Grey. The shaker card is one of my favorite designs, that I've used several times. The Happy Birthday tag shape stamp is from the original Tag set from SU! (remember how we were all so fanatical about those TAGS and that tag punch when it first came out?) The cardstock is Rose Red and Wild Wasabi and the flower stamped all over the wasabi is from the All about U Set. Ribbon and Rick rack from Michaels. The little dots inside the shaker window are just dots from one of my hole punches in various colors.

The base of the thank you card is Pretty in Pink and it's stamped with white craft ink with the Paisley stamp. The other card stock colors used are Celery, Wasabi, Rose Red, Regal Rose, and White. Wow, I didn't realize I kind of got out of control with all those scraps. There are holes punched in the bottom of the scalloped layer, stitches drawn on both cards with a signo white gel pen, and edges sponged in white on the Thank you card. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Camera problems. I'm headed out to a funeral today of a high school girlfriend, so I'm hoping to have time later this weekend to post some memories and pictures of my friend CHRIS. Have a good weekend.

Refuge and Strength

I've been playing around with this set called "Refuge and Strength" in an attempt to find something for the "Shoebox Swap" at Southern California Stampmania V coming up in April. This once a year stamping event is such a blast... a whole day of stamping, meeting new friends, eating, winning prizes, and more stamping. I always come home with dozens of great cards to drool over! We all bring a card for 10 other people to make, put all the supplies in a box, hence the name "shoebox swap." I'm still playing around with colors and patterned paper, so I'm not revealing any secrets yet, and we need to use only current products, so I still need to order some NEW STUFF (oh darn!) but here are a few cards to brighten your day. As the sentiments on the cards say: "Each day of life is a precious gift from God" (Charles Spurgeon) and "God is, and all is well." (John Whittier) AMEN to both of those sentiments today. As I still try to figure out how to deal with the changes in our family regarding my son's new school situation (basically it's a combination of home schooling and independent study, which is causing a lot of pressure on me and a lot of begging, coersing, reminding, and a lot more involvement for me to help him get his assignments finished each week) I need reminding constantly that God is still on the throne of my life, He is Sovereign, He loves me, my son and my daughter, and will never leave us or forsake us. No matter what the circumstances! I try to remember not to focus on the present, but to keep my eye on the future..... the eternal perspective. God Bless You Today and remember that HE LOVES YOU!

Spring Time Cards!

This little sheet of scrapbook paper was calling out to me to make some spring time cards. I love the colors in it (Celery, Almost Amethyst, Rose shades, Olive, Saffrons and Banana shades, etc.) and also love the fact that it LOOKS textured, even though it's not.

Here are 2 fun cards I made... the first with CRAB AND CO. from Stampin Up! I made the circle with my coluzzle because I needed it to be almost 3 inches in diameter and I don't have a circle punch that big! That meant cutting the scalloped circle by hand using scalloped scissors.

The next card is using a stamped image by Stampendous that Joy from eclecticPaperie sent me! Stampendous makes such adorable spring images. There are little stick on rhinestones on the word window punch in the corner, and on the "S". The word BLESS YOU is made with the little tiny snap stamps. The image is colored with markers, the scalloped edge is cut with the "cloud" decorative scissors, and there is a piece of apricot grossgrain ribbon (Stampin Up!)

All the cardstock for both cards is SU! (Amethyst, Banana, Celery, & Apricot)

Valentine's Day Purses

I have 10 ladies in my office at work that I care about very deeply. Working at a church is a wonderful blessing. We can laugh together, cry together, hold hands and pray together, have lunch, shop, STAMP, and serve God together. It doesn't get much better than that! I usually try to make them something for holidays like a card, a bag of candy with a stamped topper on it, or something like that. When we made these little purses at Jami's club night a few months ago, I knew they would be perfect for valentine's day for "my ladies!" Here's a link to Jami's bag: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/761728?cat=500&ppuser=5896

I made 10 of these, 2 in each type of paper. Glad I started very early! They were more time consuming than I thought they would be. There are a few bags of M & M's inside each purse! Can't have a purse without chocolate inside!

Jami Swap

My friend Jami recently hosted a swap to feature the new stamp sets in the new Stampin Up! spring 08 catalog. I was fortunate to be invited to join in. A swap means everyone makes the same number of cards and swap with each other, so we end up with gorgeous, unique cards from other talented stampers, using sets that we may not have, to give us ideas and inspiration. I am always AMAZED whenever I am involved in a swap... and my reaction is usually, "How did she come up with that?" (In a very good way.) Here are my two swap cards, for 2 different rounds. Round one, using the stamp set Pun Fun was just a general swap using new stamp sets. My colors are chocolate chip and celery, and it also features the oval punches from Marvy, ribbon from Michaels, and the word window punch from SU!

My second card was to feature black as an accent. This was very difficult for me, because I am very limited in my current Stampin Up Stamp sets and designer paper, and all the supplies were supposed to be current. Here is what I came up with, also using the same stamp set, Pun Fun, and the colors Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, and black. I also used the stamp sets "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" and "Paisley" as well as the photo corner punch, silver brads, the Stamp-a-majig to get the words "Love You a Latte" exactly in the right place, and the 1/16" hole punch to make little holes in the scallop. The image is popped up on dimentionals with the little pieces of ribbon taped to the underside.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Hip Hippo Ray!

I love these colors together. Cool Caribbean, Saffron, and Chocolate Chip! And I really love this ribbon I found last week at Michaels that matches Cool Caribbean! It's made by American Crafts. Hopefully, you can see how delicate and shiny it is, with little white dots all over it. The hippo is from the new set Pun Fun, and he is stamped in Black Classic ink, and colored in with Saffron, Celery, Pink, and Turquoise markers on whisper white paper. The edges of the main image are sponged with saffron ink, mounted on saffron paper, then mounted again on Chocolate Chip. The corners of the chocolate chip are trimmed with the ticket corner punch and then the whole thing is mounted with dimentionals on the criss cross cut designer paper, retired from SU. The coolest thing I like about this card is that it is folded along the left edge and is closed on the right side with a piece of velcro, under a circle punch, like a tab. The button is sewn on top with linen thread.

I had 2 sets of swap cards due to Jami this week which was way more of a challenge than I thought it would be. All the materials had to be Stampin Up, and most of my sets are retired, so therein lay the challenge! I will post my cards next week after I receive the swap cards back from Jami. I'm sure I'll be blown away by all the other fabulous cards from everyone else. Hope you have a great week!

A Star is Born

Here are a few pictures of Godspell at Biola Youth Theater... the Central Park Cast... January 2008!

Notice the girl's hair in the lower right corner.... The cast is made up of "skaters," "punkers," "emo's" "preppies" etc.... as if Jesus were to come back today in 2008... who would his disciples be... who would He seek out... .who would decide to follow Him?

Here is Emily "bringing her gift to the alter" and Jesus telling her to leave her gift (a shoe) at the altar and go make peace with her "brother!"

And here she is "in jail" after her "brother" turned her in!

And of course, the highlight of the show, Emily singing "Oh, Bless the Lord My Soul." What a blessing it has been to watch her blossom and grow during this experience. She is so at home on the stage, I am in awe. She has made wonderful lasting godly friendships, she has learned to listen to instructors trying to help her grow in her art, and she has had the privilege of seeing God honor the desires of her heart as she has allowed Christ to work in and through her. Tonight is the last show, and we have about 25 people coming to see her from our family and church. I'm sure there will be some tears shed as the show closes and all these kids go their separate ways.

New Rubber!

Finally got my hands on my new rubber... Pun Fun! Thanks Jami for breaking that box open for me! Here is the deput card from the set... it was SOOO hard to decide which stamp to use first. This paper is from Making Memories. I love to buy coordinating papers from the same designer at the same time. This card is also for Color Challenge 149: Stampin Up Rose Red, Sage Shadow, and Apricot Appeal. The lamb is stamped on confetti white and then sponged with Sage Shadow around the edge to softn the paper. A few snips of ribbon, the ticket corner punch, scallop scissors and paper piercer complete this super simple cards. Thanks for looking!

Hedgehog Happiness!

I just love this little guy! I was lucky enough to find this set at a garage sale a few years ago, long after this Stampin Up! set had been retired, and I'm so glad I snatched him up. This card is for my special friend Michelle. Her birthday was Friday, but unfortunately, she was VERY SICK with a terrible flu on her birthday, so we haven't celebrated yet. This card uses my favorite paper from DCWV... retro prints, as well as Cameo Coral, Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red, and Vanilla Paper. Hedgehog is stamped with Brown Staz on, and then colored with markers and an aquapainter. The scallopes are cut with decorative scissors. The little tab that says "My Friend" is from the set "Polka Dot Posies" because it was sitting out on my desk leftover from the card you see below. The ribbon is from Michaels. I was pleasantly surprised to see how it matched.

The second card uses the same paper, and has 4 different designs of paper that all coordinate. Isn't that awesome. Makes it so much easier to find coordinating rprints. The stamp set is "Polka Dot Posies" and the flower is stamped in Ruby Red, Cameo Coral and Old Olive (oops, I was supposed to used WildWasabi to match the paper, but I forgot!) The edges of the stamped image are sponged with cameo coral, to soften the white paper. Then it is layered on Cameo Coral and Ruby Red, trimmed with scalloped scissors, and "poked" with the paper piercer. The My Friend tag once again is from the same set. I LOVE POLKA DOT POSIES... it's a keeper!

Have a sunny and wonderful day.

My daugter gets her braces off today, so I'm excited to post some pictures of her tonight! Woo Hoo!

Time for a Challenge

Had some fun this week trying to get caught up on some Splitcoast Challenges. Nothing too difficult, but lots of fun to try different color combinations and new sketches.

The first one is a great color combination using Eggplant, Wild Wasabi and Saffron (all Stampin Up) and is also a new sketch challenge. The stamp sets used are Sweet Treats for the main image, Itty Bitty Backgrounds for the eggplant layer, Swirl Style wheel for the saffron layer, and Warmest Regards for the sentiment. The cake is colored with markers. Embelishments include the word window punch tab, a green rhinestone brad, gold glitter on the candles, Glaze pen on the cake, and Crystal Effects on the cake stand

Here's a fun card to brighten someone's day, using Color combination 147 (Taken with Teal, Celery, and Real Red). The stamp set is called "Very Punny" the frogs are colored with a celery marker, and then the sentiment is stamped separately in teal, and punched out with Taken with Teal ink. The red scalloped layer is made with the slit punch, and the little holes are made with the smallest hole punch. There is also faux stitching and red brads around the edges, and red gingham and silver cord are the final touches. This will be for my daughter's smashing success in Godspell, which opens tonight for her cast. My friend Mike and I will be there in the 2nd row smiling from ear to ear, and probably shedding a few tears of pride and joy!

And The Curtain Goes Up

Well, after 15 weeks of rehearsals, 8 all day Saturday marathons of painting props, sewing costumes, running lines, practicing dance steps, almost ruining her voice, many voice lessons, tons of fun meeting new friends, staying up late driving home (50 miles per rehearsal... up and back, up and back), the killer week is here. Last night, Emily was at Biola til 11:00; tonight was a stay at home, do homework and eat one last home cooked meal together, and then tomorrow night, we have dress rehearsal, and the show opens on Thursday. I say "we" because I'm doing makeup tomorrow night, and then learning how to "ush" (that's what ushers do, right?) while she's rehearsing. Oh yeah, and we had to run out this afternoon after work and buy a few more things for her costume! It's been a challenging road for her, but she is looking forward to the show opening. I am amazed at her dedication, her ability to develop her talent and skills in the area of singing and dancing (I thought you either "had it" or you didn't... but she has worked very hard at becomming great!), and all during this time, she has maintained almost perfect grades at school, sung in 2 other singing groups, been involved in lots of church things, etc.
Break a Leg, Em! (Why in the world do we say that????) I can't wait to post some photo's, but that will be a while, because we're not allowed to take pictures during the shows, we'll have to wait until the professional photographer gives us the pictures he takes. Every cast member has to take a big BOX to keep all their stuff in during the shows... make up, hair stuff, costume changes, snacks, water, etc. It's called their SHOW BOX. Emily had one a long time ago, but since this is her first show back in California, she needed a new box. Most of the kids write the names of the shows they've been in somewhere on the box, and it becomes sort of a souvenier. I wanted to make Em some kind of special name plate to put on the top of her box, so this is what developed. It's my first time to make a "name plate" using my new alphabet, Letterpress. She really liked it, even though I could tell she still wants to add to it some of her own personality.

It uses Saffron, Vintage Violet, and Celery Paper, and Making Memories "Cheeky/ Abby Words" scrapbook paper as the base, and then adds a bunch of vellum sentiments, brads, swirl clips, etc. The whole thing is about 12 x 9, and is slipped inside a 12 x 12 scrapbook album page protector, then trimmed to size, to tape on the top of the rubbermaid box so it doesn't get wet or ruined. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, even though I was trying to keep it as flat as possible, so I wasn't able to add any RIBBON.... Please keep Emily in your prayers the next few days if you remember, as well as the rest of the cast.... this is an amazing and powerful musical, and I'm sure Satan would desire to attack these precious teenagers, discourage them, cause illness to them, etc. to prevent the GOSPELL from being heard by hundreds these next 2 weeks. Thank you so much.

One Sheet Wonder

These are my "One Sheet Wonder" cards we started at Jami's club night this past Friday. We made 3 cards at her house, and then I brought the rest of my sheet home and had fun over the weekend making 4 more cards. Seven cards out of one sheet of stamped cardstock. The base cardstock was Vanilla and using the Stampin Up inks: Artichoke, Eggplant, Pumpkin, Rose Red, and Amethyst, and the stamp sets: A Beautiful Thing, Carte Postale, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Happy Harmony, Fancy Flexible Phrases, the Baroque Wheel, and a set from The Angel Company that I can't remember the name of, but it's something like "Girly Girl." (If anyone knows, please let me know!)

Here is a close up of one of the cards we started at Jami's house and then I added a special little tag to it when I got home. It uses both Stampin Up Circle Punches (1 1/4 & 1 3/8) and both Stampin Up Oval punches layered on top of each other, and then 2 brads added on top. The next card I've highlighted shows a few added pieces of ribbon, some brads and some corner stickers on the main sentiment image. Feel free to visit my splitcoast gallery (located on the sidebar) to see each card up close. Also, see Jami's blog for all the original details: www.jami.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com It's back to work for me tomorrow after about 9 days off, so I'm a little sad about that. I've greatly enjoyed not feeling the pressure of getting up and getting out the door in such a rush every morning, and I can tell my back, my neck, my knees, and all the other parts of my body that have arthitis, have enjoyed the break too! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

Family Christmas Photos

For those of you who know my family, and know how huge it is, I thought this would be a good place to post some family photos from Christmas. It's always such a blessing for all of us to be together. The Lord has truly knit our hearts together, and in His Sovereignty, has called each of us to be His child. That is the best feeling, to know that we will be together throughout eternity.

My neice Grace, Susie's 3 1/2 year old, on Christmas day. The next picture is Susie's husband Rick, who had just returned from Kuwait 2 days before Christmas, and their son Andrew. Andrew is 16, the same age as Stephen, and he and Stephen are pretty much inseparable. Their dog Bubba is an important part of their family too.

Here you can see my mom, who's still running circles around the rest of us as she travels, takescare of her house and huge yard, sees movies, broadway shows, and concerts several times a week, plus helps Susie, Dennis, and I with anything we need from her. Also you see Lindsey, Susie's oldest daughter, who is busy working full time these days, and next to her is Susie, still juggling four kids on her own while Rick is overseas, age 22 down to age 3 and still works part time. I have no idea how she does it.

I love this cute picturefrom Thanksgiving Day of my sister Dyan holding Gracie and Ellie. Ellie is Dennis and Carolyn's 5 year old, and she loves taking "care" of Josh her little brother, and Grace, when the 3 of them are together. It's cool how the neices and nephews came in spurts, so each group of them have others their own age to hang out with and grow up with. Dyan is the oldest of my siblings, and she loves spoiling all her nieces and nephews.

And here's another one from Thanksgiving.... Grace, Ellie and Josh wearing their turkey hats they made with Aunt Carolyn (Dennis' wife, the school teacher). As you can tell, I've pretty much quit taking pictures of GROWN UPS at our family gatherings, opting for the much cuter little ones. I'll have to try to take some pictures of us grown ups at our next get together.

Stamping Fun

Had a chance to spend some relaxing time stamping today, since I'm on vacation this week while my kids are home from school. Here are 2 birthday cards, both using some designer/ scrapbook paper as their backdrop. That sure is the easy and fun way to go when you're looking for a color scheme for a card... just go through your pile of scrapbook paper and find something you want to work with. The first one is made with the stamp "Blooming with Happiness" a very fun and feminine set. The colors used are Cool Caribbean, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, and a little Old Olive to pick up the colors in the paper. This pad of paper is my favorite "go to" paper... its "Retro Prints Mat STack" from DCWV purchased at Joanne's. The background is stamped with the wheel "Kindness" but you might not be able to see it. The flowers on the cake as well as the candles are highlighted with the Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pen. The little round tag at the bottom is called "Riveting" and is stamped in Turquoise, and then punched with the 2 circle punches: 1 1/4 and 1 3/8. What would I do without those 2 punches??? Enjoy.

This next card is for my sister Debbie. I'm trying to get caught up on some Sketch Challenges from "Splitcoast Stampers" (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/) and this was an easy sketch for this card. I just got "Letterpress Alphabet" a few weeks ago from the retirement list and this is the first time using it. It has so many possibilities. I had fun checking out the gallery! The colors used are Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Vanilla, and the green is a textured cardstock from Brazill. Love the color. I wish Stampin Up had this color. The DP is from "Making Memories" and it's called Cheeky Abby Flower. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this DP. I love all the fun colors in it. The small Happy Birthday sentiment is from the set called "Warmest Regards." I tried punching it out with the word window punch as well as both oval punches, but all three were too small, so I had to make my own oval. I trimmed the sentiment to a small rectangle, and then rounded the corners with a corner rounder. I really really wish Stampin Up would make a larger "Word Window Punch" don't you? Scalloped scissors in a few places, and the ticket corner punch, a silver swirl clip, and a piece of ribbon complete this simple card. Thanks for looking!

Garden Journal

My mom is an avid gardener. Spends time in her huge yard every day tending to her plants and flowers. She is 77 years old, and still does most of her own yard work, including mowing and edging, (because she doesn't like the way the gardeners do it when she hires someone to do it for her.) She is amazing (and so is her yard)! This is a gardening journal that I covered and embellished for one of her Christmas gifts. It was $1.00 at Target and inside in helps you keep track of what you've planted, where, what brand of seeds, when to fertilize, etc. The lettering stamps are called Whimsical, and they are retired from Stampin Up. The main image is actually 2 stamps side by side (one of them masked and the other one stamped overlapping it.) It's called "Long Time Friend" and it is also retired, stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink, dried with the heat gun, and then colored with markers. The binding of the journal is covered with twill tape, held on with the double sided sticky stuff! Whether your new year's resolutions include gardening, getting organized, loosing weight, or whatever it is you feel compeled to work on this year, I pray you meet all your goals successfully!

WHAT ARE YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS?

A very Merry Late Christmas

Well, my kids got home from their dad's yesterday, after many hours of airplanes, layovers, and waiting for luggage. They were very tired (I could tell by the grouchyness) but we had a few presents to open, including stockings, and I wanted us to have at least 1 nice meal together before they scattered in different directions on New Year's Eve and the days that follow as Emily prepares for Godspell.

Here's Emily opening her much awaited Blake Lewis (American Idol!) CD and new CD holder, since the CD holder that only held 50 cd's was waaaay too small!! PS... aren't her new glass adorable!

And, believe it or not, a very nice picture of Stephen being calm and normal... his main gift this year was a laptop case and laptop cooling fan, but he opened those before he went to Indiana, so yesterday, he only had this book to open. Not too exciting, but it's a phenominal Star Wars "Vault" book.. full of actual tickets, programs, pieces of film, and all kinds of memorabilia. If you're a Star Wars van, it's a must have!

I love this picture of the two of them together... again, it doesn't happen very often, and as the years go by, and we all get so busy, I treasure these all together moments more and more, especially if they're getting along! LOL I know before I blink too many more times, they'll be leaving for college, or moving away, or getting married, etc.

And speaking of getting married (no it's not ME!) my neice Lauren got engaged a few days before Christmas, and her fiance Steve made his debut at our family gatherings over the holidays. He survived all the family "grilling" that we have traditionally put all the men who have tried to make their way into our family. He did quite well. Congratulations Lauren (or LOLO, as she was called as a baby, because her sister Lindsey couldn't say "Lauren") and Steve! I see some stamped wedding stuff in my near future! Woo Hoo!

The Reason For the Season

Just wanted to share with you a few more of the Christmas cards I made this year. When I realized I needed about 10 more cards to send, I needed something very simple. I bought this little baby Jesus stamp a long time ago, (he is stamped on shimmer white with black staz on and colored with markers) and I don't think I've ever actually made anything with it. Shame on me. Isn't he cute? I rarely use Not Quite Navy, and wouldn't normally have thought of this color combo for a Christmas card, but this DP from DCWV glitter posies pad looked great with Not Quite Navy Paper, and a touch of Saffron. Of course, it includes the new round scalloped punch from Stampin Up, a MUST HAVE for everyone! The little Peace word stamp is from last year's holiday mini, and it is stamped on white shimmer also, and punched with the word window punch. A touch of white ribbon and wa-la!

My last group of cards this year was modeled after a card we made at Jami's club night, called a "Hot Card". The name doesn't really tell you exactly what to do... but it is such a great technique.

You stamp on plain white tissue paper, then crumple the paper up into a little ball, then smooth it out, and layer it on top of a piece of plastic wrap, then put that on top of plain white cardstock.

Cover the whole thing with parchment paper/ freezer paper, and then iron the whole thing. You'll probably end of up with plastic paper sticking out around the edges, but just trim the edges and make your card. I actually did a whole sheet of snowflakes and then made that into 4 cards. The Peace sentiment is from PaperTreyInk's "Snowflake Serenade" set... one of my all time favorite Christmas sets! Add some ribbon and a little sparkle from a glitter pen, and you have a simple, yet elegant card.

Today is my last day by myself before my kids come home tomorrow, and I had high hopes of stamping, and shopping, but I have a horrible headache, I think from an oncoming sinus infection or cold, so I think I'll go back to bed! Have a safe, healthy, yummy, and fun New Year, whatever your plans are!

What a Team!

The biggest part of my life, besides my kids, is the time I spend with these 3 ladies in my office and in my ministry at Lakewood Family Church in Long Beach, California. I love these ladies with all my heart, and I know God has placed each of them in my life for different reasons.

From left to right you see: Heidi, our "Creative Program Director" (she runs our Sunday morning KIDSTUF production for elementary kids... including drama, music, Bible, and all kinds of crazy fun)... then Michelle, our "Early Childhood Director" who works very hard at keeping everything safe, fun, and enriching for our Babies through Kindergarteners, plus juggles all the volunteers that staff that area of ministry, then ME, then Kelli, our Secretary, who does anything and everything we need her to do. Between the 4 of us we have 9 children which keeps us all hopping, and also gives us a huge passion for making sure the families of our church and our community know and love Jesus. This picture was taken on Sunday, Dec. 23 at our SNOW DAY at church... 5 tons of snow shredded and blown right on our playground, for kids and families to play in. It was a "BLAST".... get it?