"Arctic Blast"

I love it! Anytime anything happens, the news media has to create a 'catch phrase' for it....for the past 3 weeks we've been hearing 'arctic blast' everywhere ( now that the snow has all melted away, we're hearing 'arctic cleanup') I just wanted to share this picture of one of the biggest icicles I've ever seen- on my in-law's porch on Christmas Eve....I thought it was absolutely beautiful! Tonite is New Year's Eve...may you all have a great time celebrating and looking forward to whatever God has in store for you in the year ahead :)

Merry Christmas Eve!

May you all be blessed with the True meaning of Christmas !

The view from here.....

It's snowing!! We usually don't have snow until January or February, if at all...and to have it now, with the possibility of a white Christmas is just awesome! It doesn't matter that I haven't gotten all of my cookie plates delivered, or that there are 25 people coming over in four days and I need to go food shopping, or anything else that might steal the joy that I'm feeling this day :) I love it when it snows....everything is blanketed by sparkling beauty and the noises of life are 'hushed'...hmmnn...kinda reminds me of what Jesus did for us! Maybe THAT'S why I love it when it snows :) Now it's time to sit by the fire and look out the window a bit....enjoy your day !

thinking outside my color box......

So this year I decided to step out of my purple comfort zone and make some really different Christmas cards....lime green! I have a lifetime supply of background papers, so each one looks a little different...part of my 'goal' for 2008 was to use up some of the things I've been 'saving' ( for WHAT? )



The other fun thing I do every year is create some kind of matching 'faux postage' and print it on sticker paper- then I use the Fiskars scissors that look like stamp edging and cut around them. One year I incorporated a great picture of my two kids..(they were less than thrilled, I might add :) and yes, I do have too much free time on my hands ;) kinda hard to see in the picture, but the triangle one says "Christmas in the Northwest" . Most of the stamps are Heart & Soul, the big snowflake is one I received from one of my 'trading buddies' and I have no idea what company it's from.

So the bottom line is that I think I'll be going back to purple next year....lol....now what to do with the half ream of lime green cardstock that's left over ????

"having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us...." Romans 12:6

I have two extremely gifted friends in my stamping circle 'support group' that I owe a huge debt of grattitude to: Miss Dina for the beautiful new lighthouse image ( which is above & beyond what I had hoped for- plus her artwork is so much lovelier to look at than mine...one of her gifts....) and my amazing 'webmasterette'- (as I call her) Cyndy, without whom I would be lost in cyberland in the fetal position somewhere....and here's how you can tell that html is HER gift; she says it's FUN FOR HER !!!! Bless her heart she has tried over and over again to teach me what I need to know to update my own website, and I swear it just goes in one ear and out the other without so much as a 'howdoyoudo'....so she patiently and graciously does it for me. What a huge blessing both of these women have been to me over the past year. Here's a hug ladies :)

This is the new lighthouse stamp Dina designed for Heart & Soul- I just love it! I was looking for a 'wreath' button in my box but of course all I could find was a 'holly' one, which is ok but not what I was shooting for. I drew little beams of light with a glitter gel pen ( I love those things too :) Pretty simple stuff....