Merry Christmas

I hope Christmas was a wonderful day. It was very quiet and relaxing here. Slept in this morning. After reading my email, I fixed breakfast. Christmas morning is the only day of the year that I plan to fix breakfast. I usually have a muffin and some orange juice for my breakfast. Gerry will fix himself pancakes or eggs and sausage sometimes. Usually its a bowl of cereal for him every morning. I found a recipe online for a bacon, eggs, tomatoes and cheese casserole. It was easy to put together, however, took longer than the stated 35 minutes to bake. It was ok, nothing very exciting.

Dinner on the other hand was very good. I fixed a top sirloin beef roast with some red potatoes. It was so good, tender and could cut it with a fork. I preheated the oven to 425, smoothered the roast with sea salt and a combination of garlic and black pepper. I think it's made by McCormick's. I use it on everything. Anyway, I then roasted it for an hour, shut off the oven and let it sit in there for about 30 minutes while the fresh asparagus steamed. I took the roast out and let it sit for a few minutes before Gerry sliced it. It was a perfect medium rare, just like we like it. The roast was about 3 and a half pounds, so there are leftovers for sandwiches tomorrow. With the potatoes, I cut them in half, salt and peppered them with the garlic/pepper mixture then sprinkled olive oil all over and placed them around the roast. They were kind of crispy on the outside and nice and soft in the middle. My blog friend, Jalna, always takes pictures of the meals that are fixed in her home. Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead and do the same thing. Just take my word for it, it was absolutely ONO which is Hawaiian for YUMMY!!

After I got the kitchen cleaned up, we bundled up and went for a ride to see Christmas lights. First we drove over to Orangevale to Dove Court. All the homes on this court have been decorating their homes for years. I don't remember when it first started, my daughter was in high school when we first visited. You can either drive through or park and walk through. We have done both. Tonight we parked in the parking lot of a church across the street from the court and then walked over. The traffic is always very heavy and lots of people walking through. Even with the economy like it is, the homes were beautifully decorated. We then drove over to Folsom and Granite Bay to look at more lights. We drove through one area in Folsom that overlooks Folsom Lake. The bike club Gerry belongs to rides through there. There was one home that was absolutely huge. There were lights completely surrounding the roof line of the home and all kinds of cut out figures and lights covering the entire yard. It was just breathtaking with all the lights.

We then drove over to Rocklin in Placer County. There is a street there that goes all out with decorated homes. We parked and walked the entire street. It is quite long and goes around in a circle. I couldn't believe I actually walked the whole thing. The last part of it I was fading fast. I have some back issues that make it very difficult to walk long distances. Some homes had animated things and music coordinated with lights. Of course, I didn't think to take a camera.

Oh, I asked for a Bind-It-All by Zutter with some accessories for Christmas. Gerry bought me the V.2 of the machine with the carrying case and a corner rounder punch made by the same company. This machine is used to make altered books with the spiral binding. I've wanted one since they first came out. So now I need to get some of the wire combs and some clipboard and play with it.

I have some projects to post and will try to do that tomorrow.

Blog Candy on Chris Dickinson's Blog

Just a quick post. Chris Dickinson is on the design team for Sweet and Sassy Stamps. I periodically check her blog out. She has some fun blog candy posted. Here's the link for her blog: http://chrissyd723.blogspot.com.

Bead Jewelry/Cards Workshop

Yesterday, Saturday 12/13 I did a workshop at Amy Comi's home in Lincoln, she is a friend from church, with Mary Dillon who makes and sells bead jewelry. Mary was a vendor at our church's holiday gift fair in November. She and Amy are friends. Amy provided beads and Mary brought the supplies. Each guest invited could make a pair of earrings for $5 or a bracelet for $7. I had 2 card samples and a small card to put the earrings on. The cost to make a card and small card for the earrings was $5. There was a small charge if anyone wanted to make a second card. We had 8 guests. Four people made a card, 3 of them made a second card. The others made earrings or a bracelet. Amy had told me she had some beads she had gotten on a trip to Hawaii. After everyone left, I chose these beads to make a bracelet. They are little koa beads that I used along with some silver spaces and topaz colored crystals. The closure is a magnetic silver flower. We all thought it looked like a hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii. I was so proud of myself, I actually made this. Mary helped me finish it off. I wore it last night to a concert we had at church and then again this morning to church. Sure do love it and it's easy to put on with the magnetic closure. Of course, it comes off easily too, it happened twice at church this morning. The two cards that were offered to be made are these that were made in the card class held here at the mobile home park in October. They are the Dove and small Christmas tree. Go here to see them again http://elegantreflections.blogspot.com/2008/10/card-class-and-craft-fair.html. Everyone had a great time and we are going to plan to do another workshop in the spring time.

Mary and I had items for sale. I actually did quite well in that regard. I sold 12 of the shopping list notepads I made this past week along with the last 4 of the smaller version I made for our holiday craft fair. Also sold several cards. I am not sure if Mary sold any of her pieces.

More State of Hawaii Flag Pictures

Here's 4 more pictures of the Hawaii State flag taken just a few minutes ago. It is a gloomy, cold day here in Sacramento. There is some wind so the flags are unfurled a little better than they were with the ones I posted earlier.

See the gray sky and clouds. It was raining when we woke up this morning. It may have rained all through the night, I don't think very hard. It is very cold. We came in from church and lunch about a half hour ago and I just took my jacket off. The heater is slowly but surely heating the mobile up. The window on the right is my craft room/office where I spent a lot of time.

Another view of the flags.

They are really standing out in this picture. Just wish it was a sunny day instead of a wintery day.

Three New Christmas Cards

I made these Christmas cards today. The stamp images are all from Memory Box. This first card has a burgundy card base. The layer of designer paper is from one of Memory Box's Christmas packs. Dave Brethauer, the owner and designer of Memory Box does a lot of daubing the light color cardstock that he uses for his cards. I did that with all 3 of these cards that I made. After I stamped the Dove collage and daubed the ivory layer, I mounted it on a black layer. I colored the leaves of the sprig with a dark green Copic marker and put glitter on the dove. The sentiment I used is from a clear AMuse stamp set. I also put a layer of ivory paper on the inside with a strip of the designer paper. I really like the way this turned out. This card has a dark brown card base. The next layer is Summer Sun from SU. On the ivory layer, I daubed it as I did on the card above using Versamagic Gingerbread ink. I do believe this is Dave's favorite color ink to use when daubing on a card. :) I used the Memory Box Sprinkles stamp, which are 2 different size snowflakes mounted on the same wood block, and gold ink and stamped randomly all over the ivory layer.

The reindeer is also a Memory Box stamp that I stamped in a dark brown and colored with a Copic Light Walnut marker. This, also, is one of Dave's favorite color markers to use. The sentiment is a clear stamp from AMuse and it was stamped in a dark brown. The reindeer has a red nose. There's a layer of ivory cardstock on the inside of the card.

The card on the left is one that I made at a Make 'n Take in October when Dave visited The Paper Garden. The card base is a light blue 4 1/4 square. It opens on the side. The card on the right is the one I made today. There is a dark brown layer over the card base. I didn't have the same color for the upper layer so used ivory cardstock. I daubed some of the Gingerbread ink on the edgles. The Sprinkles were stamped with Brillance Pearlescent Ice Blue ink. The reindeers were stamped in dark brown and then colored with the Copic Light Walnut marker. I used red Stickles (glitter glue) for their noses. The designer paper used for the bottom strip is from the same paper pack as the first card. I daubed the edges of that piece too. The sentiment I used is a clear stamp from AMuse. I don't have the dark brown ribbon used on the Make 'n Take card so used the sheer brown ribbon from AMuse.

Paper Crafts

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Michael's had all of their $19.99 paper packs at 40% off. There was also a 25% coupon for entire purchase good for Friday only. I got a pack of Christmas scrapbook paper, a pack of all occasion scrapbook paper and 2 packs of 12x12 cardstock.

Tomorrow I am doing a card/jewelry workshop out in Lincoln. The invitees will have the opportunity to make either a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a card to use as a gift card. I am doing this workshop with 2 other ladies.

I found out that we could bring product to sell which I had not planned on doing. So I wanted to make up some new items to take along with the items I already have on hand. Anyway, I had 2 composition books left from those that I covered and offered for sale at our church's holiday gift fair last month. The colors on this one are a golden yellow and a mauve pink. I used a coordinating paper to cover the insides and the binding. I decided to put a strip of ribbon where the two papers joined and glued the ends down before I covered the inside of the covers. I really like the way it turned out.

This one is blue with some white flowers and green leaves. The ribbon is called Apple Green from SU. Of the two, I think I like this one the best.

I found some Christmas note pads at Michael's and made more shopping list notepads. I made 8 of these using the Christmas scrapbook paper I got on sale. I forgot to take pictures of the insides. They are a little wider than those I made for the Holiday Gift Show in November.

These are so easy to make and go together rather quickly after I figured out the coordinating pieces.

I made 8 of these using the assortment of papers from one of the other packs I bought. The paper for the Journals are part of this pack. I got a pack of junior size legal pads from Office Depot to make these and had the pads cut down from 5x8 to 3 1/2 x 8.

All of the patterns and colors are really fantastic.

My friend Diana's oldest daughter ordered 7 of these shopping list notepads, so she will have a nice variety to choose from.

State of Hawaii Flag to Celebrate December 7, 1941

On Sunday, December 7th, my husband took down the Marine Corp flag and put the Hawaii State Flag up in honor of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Unfortunately, when we went out to take pictures, the wind was not very cooperative. Here the American flag was wrapped around the pole and the Hawaii flag was extended out a little. Unfortunately, the top of the flag was bunched up so can't see all of it. I went outside Wednesday afternoon and tried to get some better pictures. This was the best I could get. There has been very little wind the past few days. Thankfully the sun was shining when these two pictures were taken.

We've had lots of gloomy days with heavy fog. I don't think the sun came out at all today. Rain is forecast for tonight.

I was born 7 and a half months after Pearl Harbor. The stories go that my mom had just found out she was expecting me. My father was working for a construction company that was building naval housing at Pearl Harbor. He was working that particular Sunday and was involved in the rescue efforts going on there. In fact, a sailor that my dad met while working at Pearl Harbor suggested the nickname "Betty" for me. I know, you are probably thinking that "Betty" was my real name. It's not.

Anyway, may we never forget Pearl Harbor and all that happened that dreadful day and the days and months that followed.

Birthday Card for Dawn/Baby Shower Card for Kimberly and Thank You Notes

This is the birthday card that I made for Dawn, a friend of mine from church. Her birthday was yesterday, Sunday, December 7th. She loves purple so the card base is purple with a piece of designer paper that's a little lighter than the card. I added a black layer and then used a SU set on a white layer. Those are 2 lavender flower brads on the left side with a fabric flower in the center. I used a lavender brad in the center of the flower. The saying says "happy bird-day", there's a tiny bird perched on the edge of the wheelbarrow. I used Copic and SU markers to color. I finished off the inside of the card with a layer of white cardstock and a strip of the designer paper, however, forgot to take a picture of the inside. After church we enjoyed lunch at Mimi's in Roseville with Dawn and her son, Shane. The daughter of another of my friends is expecting her first baby in February. She is having a girl and will name it Brooke Lynn. Kim's shower was Saturday afternoon, given by her mother Diana (my friend) and her big sister Laura. The nursery colors are lavender, seafoam green and cream. I made her card in lavender although it looks blue. There's a piece of designer paper on the side and then I embossed tiny feet on a piece of white backed by a soft green.

This is the inside of the card, I used a piece of ivory cardstock then a strip of the designer paper which I embossed the tiny feet on. I apologize, the pictures aren't very clear.

Here are the thank you cards I made for Kim. The card base is a glossy white that I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder on the top of the card. I used the tiny feet again and backed it with either the soft green or lavender. And added the ribbon to finish it off.

Kim really liked these cards and placed an order for 2 dozen more, 1 dozen of each. She is having another shower at work in January and wants me to make more thank you cards after that shower. She has also asked me to make her birth announcements.

Birthday Card for Florence

Here is a card that I made for my friend Florence. We use to work in the same building , she in another department. She got transferred and we kept in touch via email. We discovered that we both enjoyed rubber stamping and have taken a couple of classes together at The Paper Garden. She had a birthday a week ago and this is the card I made for her. The card is a dark olive green and I layered a piece of Basic Grey designer paper on top of that. Again I punched out a couple of butterflies from scraps of dp and used pop dots. On the oval I stamped some flowers from a Kodomo stamp set and stamped "happy birthday" over them.

On one of the blogs I follow, the stamper always finishes the inside of her cards with a layer of cardstock over the base. I like the way it looks so I did that with this card and used a strip of the dp and another butterfly at the bottom. Unfortunately, I wrote in the card before I took the picture. Hopefully what I did is visible enough. Florence loved her card and made a cute thank you card and sent it to me. She's a busy lady so we don't get to see each other much. She works full-time, has a family and on the weekends she works in her family's grocery store. Sometimes she finds time to stamp!