Creating and Loving it!!

   I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you created some awesome new memories with your family and friends.   We had a quiet holiday, but it was still very nice and I was treated very well this year.  Thank you Santa!!

    Today, I'm super excited to be back at my crafting desk and back to creating some new cards.  It feels like it has been ages, so I have been looking forward to this day.  I started my day by heading out to "Absolutely Everything" my LSS, with one of the gift certificates I received to shop there.   Today is a special day at the store known as "Bag Lady Day" and we have these special bags that we take along to fill up and everything that we can fit in the bag is 20% off -- a fabulous deal and today I picked up a few more stamps from the new Hero Arts 2013 release.  Woohoo!

   I was off early as we are expecting our first significant snowfall, of the season -- about 4-6" in our area.  I'm hoping for a little less, but we'll just have to wait and see.   After listening to the weather last night, I almost thought I would have to miss out on the SALE, since they were talking as if the snow was coming in the morning.  But, when I got up this morning, there was not sign of snow, so I watched the weather again and was happy to hear that the snow would be starting later....sometime around 1 pm!  Perfect, as that gave me plenty of time to shop and be back home safe and sound.   And now, it's almost 4:30 pm and it's still not snowing.  I am so happy I went, because I would have really been disappointed if I had stayed home (because of the storm), only to find out the snow was coming in much later.    I guess we must have the hardest weather to predict because our forecast are often wrong.  I also find it's best to be prepared, but wait and see, because it's typically never as bad as they say.  Plus, it is New England and it is winter, so snow and cold are sadly part of life.   We've had many huge storms and as long as we have power and heat, that's what matters most.  Right now we have all we need, so I'm ready, or as ready as you can be.

   We have about a inch of snow on the ground already and my sweet little Doggie, is just like his Momma, he does not like the snow or the cold and has NO desire to go out, when it's really cold or wet.  Speaking of my little "Scout", he also had a fun Christmas and had his own share of cute new gifts, including a set of pet boots, called Pugz....!!  This is a picture of what they look like, only I have not had a great deal of success in getting his to stay still while I put them on.  He does, however like his new fleece jacket and that's been nice for him these past few days.

  Below are a couple newer pics of my "Scout", all snuggled up in a new fleece blanket.  I'm finding that I adore him so much and I'm considered rescuing or adopting another dog and have started looking to see if I can find local breeders.  I think, I really want another Dachshund and I'm learning toward  adopting a older dog, versus a puppy, but I'm just in the early stages of looking.  If I decide to get a Puppy, I will wait until Spring arrives, so that I have nice weather for training.  If I go with an older dog, it could be sooner, but not until I get home from my trip out to California.  If anyone knows any Dachshund Rescues or Breeders in my area, please share!!  I'm loving this guy so much and think a friend for him, would also be wonderful, since he previously lived with a big sister, "Ries" a Springer Spaniel.

   I'm sharing my newest card and these were pretty much all inspired by some of the most recent sketches over at Operation Write Home's - Stars and Stamps Blog.   After falling behind in the number of cards I send to OWH, I had considered retiring, but one quick note to Sandy, reassured and reminded me, that ANY amount of cards is always welcome -- plus, I know how much I love doing my part to help out, even if on a slightly smaller scale.  I've always loved this group and I'm honored to be a part of this!  Special thanks to Sandy for helping me realized this!  

   This was the first sketch I started with, with is the most recent and is Sketch # 152 - which you can find over at the Stars and Stamps Blog HERE!!

And these are the cards I created based on this wonderful sketch!!

   I put my Silhouette Cameo to good use for each of these cards and started by cutting a variety of the shapes on each card, from assorted scraps of papers.   All the Squares, Circles and Scalloped Circle were cut on my Silhouette!  Oh how I love that machine!! 

  My next two cards were also both inspired by another OWH Sketch and it's this ONE, which was from the week before.  Sketch # 151.

For both of these cards I "flipped" the sketch and was very much in a 

Pink mode, using some of the favorite papers from Echo Park.  The Sentiments were

stamped in Hero Arts Shadow Ink and are from Paper Smooches!!

   And that my friends is it for today, but it felt SOOOO nice to be at my desk and I'm looking forward to being there again tomorrow, working on more cards!   There will also be a brand new sketch over at OWH, as Sunday is always Sketch Day -- always a day I love to spend time creating! 

   Oh, and I have already signed up for my first online class for 2013 and it's another class hosted by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner in the Online Card Classroom.  It's another that I know I will love, because it's all about "Clean and Simple Cards" and they are some of my favorites.   The new class is called Clean and Simple Cardmaking 2 and you can enroll now, by going to the classroom HERE!!  This class starts on January 28th, so I'll be working on some of the card, while I am in San Diego -- the perfect way for me to stay busy on the days, when the kids have to work  I had already planned to bring along some of my craft supplies!!  Yippee!!