A few weeks ago a blog "friend" passed away. We had emailed back and forth a couple times when I first moved here. I read her blog faithfully, was in such awe that she was a designer for a stamp company and I really enjoyed her style.
Last year she announced on her blog that she was fighting a cancer that was not treatable. Although we hadn't ever "officially" met, I did see her a few times at my work and had made a few reminder calls to her regarding appointments. Even has early as last month.
She had 3 young children at home and blogged about her illness, her feelings and everything she was going through. I really hoped she was going to beat it! Unfortunately, she didn't. Her service was last week, I really struggled with whether I wanted to go or not. It is such a strange thing to feel like you were friends with someone, you know so much about them, but haven't ever met. In the end, I decided the best way to honor her was to spend the day crafting in my craft cottage. The day was a gorgeous clear autumn day. I reminded myself to be Thankful everyday for the things I have in my life and crafted. ALL. Day. Long. I will miss reading your posts, hearing about your family and seeing your amazing work Katie.

 My creations for the day, some samples for an upcoming Stamp-a-stack.

And a newly decorated mantel.

Christmas tags 2011 and a SCORE! at the goodwill!

 Above are the Christmas Tags I created this year for our family gift exchange. They were super simple to create =)

 I used a stamp set from Stampin Up! Colored the scarf, hat and nose with marker then used Stickles to bling it up a bit!

 Look what I SCORED at the Goodwill this morning! Ack! I cannot believe I found these! I bought my first one off Ebay about 6 years ago after searching for a year, I paid $25.00 for it and about $15.00 to have it shipped. I store my ink pads in the slots, it is perfect. My other one is completely full...

Yes, I paid only $3.99 each for these three!!! Except when I was there they also had some that looked like they held 8 track so the slots were  much bigger, now that I think about it, I think they would be the perfect size to store my Stampin Up! punches in, so I think I am headed back to see if they are still there =) keep your fingers crossed!

Bundle up! It's cold out there today!

My first Shoebox swap!

 I had a blast at my first shoebox swap! I signed up to attend this yearly event on Splitcoaststampers. I have belonged to the site for about 5 years and haven't ever attended any of the events or even commented before.

 This year I decided I was going to go for it! So I signed up... then I emailed my friend Jessica and asked her if she wanted to attend with me?

 Obviously she said yes! So we got together last weekend to get our idea's together for our projects.

 This weekend was the day! So glad we did this! Above are a series of photos I just kinda randomly took at the event, a few below too.

 The next few pictures are the projects we made, I will post them in two posts! Enjoy!

 I need to add glitter, we weren't allowed to have loose glitter at the event.

 Need to add glitter to this one too!

Thanks for stopping by!

 edit: I started this post on Friday =) 
Here is my finished gift card for the showbox swap for tomorrow!

 Inside view

 My "shoebox" is packed and ready to go!

 My supplies are packed and ready to go!

 My nametag is made...

 Can you see the "pearl" effect on it? It really is pretty in real life.

Back later to post all the fun projects we create! 

Have a fun crafty day!

Crafting under pressure

 I signed up for my very first shoe box swap a couple months ago. I convinced my friend Jessica to sign up with me. This shoe box swap is where you come up with a project, make it into a kit, one for each of 20 people. We are meeting at a church north of town. I haven't ever met these gals before... I am so nervous about my project, but so excited to meet some crafty ladies near me. The swap in Saturday! I took a class online and was inspired to have my project be emboss resist with distress inks and stains. Above is my first attempt at what I had in mind.

 I found that I truly loved the effect I got with the technique. Love the yellows and golds...

 the greens and reds....

 So I attempted to make it the background to my project.

 Then I got stuck...

 So I tried again...

 a gift card holder...

 nope, not quite what I had in mind.

 Here is another attempt, still not what I wanted!

 This one is very close to what my finished project turned out to be, still a gift card holder, so happy with it! I will post my finished project tomorrow =)

Right now, I've got a mess to clean up! Thanks for stopping by!

Our Christmas 2010

 Hope you had a great Christmas! We took the day off from moving and enjoyed the day in our jammies.

 Had yummy crepes for breakfast.

 Had lamb for dinner with Apple-blackberry pie for dessert.

 We have changed out some outdoor light fixtures... the ones above are ug-ly!

These are the new pretty, better proportioned ones =)

Back with more soon!