I am dreaming of a white christmas.........TREE.  I have a fake white christmas tree that I absolutely love .  On it are my pom poms which I also love.  Call me crazy if you will but what I really want is a pink aluminum one from the 70's!!!

We were pretty poor and were lucky to get a tree at all.  I remember all the "rich"  people all had beautiful, colorful, FAKE christmas trees and as a little girl my little girl heart longed for one.  So when I became an adult and I found a white one for 10 dollars on clearance I had to buy it.

Nothing makes me happier.  And I am so grateful to God for this tree because to me it shows me that He knew me then and He knows me now.  

We have a real one that we put upstairs in the family room .  It is decorated every year with the ornaments I have picked up for my kids every year.  But the one downstairs is mine to play with with my little girl heart.  so here it is.

happy birthday to me !!

So last week was my birthday.  I turned 48 and I am not really sure how i feel about being an almost half century old.  I don't think i like it though. I do however still enjoy getting birthday presents!  and get them I did :)  .

I made my very first card probably about 8 years ago.  At that time i really didn't see the need to spend lots of money on rubber stamps when i had 4 kids at home.  But I was so in love with the stamp set that I made my first card with.  It was a horse stamp called "Bareback".

Eight years later I received that stamp set for my birthday!!!! wooo hoooooo!!!! and this is the result

The next set I received is a new one and just so beautiful I couldn't stand it.  For each stamp set I get I have to play with it for hours to decide how I want to interpret it.  So this one called "Nature Walk"  took me several hours to finally get a card that I liked. 

And finally I received an Owl Punch!!  So cute.  I have wanted it a couple of years.  I don't know if you can tell but I usually wait quite a long time to buy things.  I have to know that I love them to spend money on them and then there is no regret.
and this owl is so adorable.


I am so happy and grateful to have these gifts.   All of these are stampin up products which always seem to be my favorite.

Happy thanksgiving and happy day :)

getting there

These are two of the cards I have done in preparation for my first ever craft show.

I have so far about 70 cards made for the show this Friday.  Whew!  But I still have more to make.

I guess it is a win win though, even if nobody is particularly interested in my cards it has been fun making them. 

feels like a good day to jump

So next friday I am going to enter my first craft fair.  Well really it is my first whatever fair.....ever.....

I have been told that I have the "best cards"  but sometimes i wonder what the people who don't see my cards through the eyes of loving me will see.  It is kind of like auditioning on American Idol--"my family says I sound like James Brown"  and really they sound like an alley cat.


And of course even if people do like them do they like them enough to pay money for them?  What if my glue doesn't hold?  What if they end up looking cheap next to other peoples things?  What if no one comes ?  what if they walk by my table the way i have walked by so many others in the past?  What if I am not as good as I would like to be or that others have said I am?


what if, what if, what if.......I can think of all kinds of dumb things to motivate me right now, but really in a lot of ways it is about my dog.  Sounds stupid doesn't it?  I am talking about my dead dog here motivating me to try something new.  why?


Because I loved Allie.  Loving God, loving an animal, loving things motivates one to take greater risks.  I loved my dog, I love making cards and those are two of the things that motivate me to step out on a limb.  Ultimately for me my creativity is inspired by loving.  Whether it is loving a living being or loving to do something love inspires me.


so here me and my dead dog go out into the unknown and the risk of all my whatifs coming true.  Feels like a good day to jump.