Sylvia's Stamping Corner

2008 IS ALMOST GONE, WHAT WILL THE NEW YEAR BRING?

It was a beautiful day and I am not sure what I did or accomplished.I spent the morning posting cards on my Etsy store. My daughter keeps me busy ordering cards. I am posting a picture of her birthday cake that Andrew made and I frosted. It was a delicious carrot cake. Amy was not 24, if you take time to count the candles, we used all in the package, but did not buy any more. It is not polite to tell someone else's age!

This afternoon is a blur, so I must not have done anything. I know I washed the bed covers and made lunch. Tonight, I worked on a birthday card. About 9pm, I realized that I might should not post it, because I used a Disney stamp on the front. I am not sure, but am pretty sure that I can not post it. If I had used a sticker it would have been OK. So at 10pm, I started another card. I just finished a little bit ago. Then of course I have to download my pictures. So I am back to being late, and it is very cold downstairs sitting at the computer.

This card is for all of you who celebrated the New Year. I am not one to do much, other than watch a football game. We have always eaten ham and black-eyed peas for good luck and I always made a Cherry pie for my son Andrew's birthday. He was born on the 1st at 4am, the first baby in the town where he was born. He will be 26 this year. Enjoy the card. It was fun to make.

A BEAUTIFUL WINTER DAY, THE LAST DAYS IN DECEMBER

I had a wonderful Christmas with the kids. One day I spent making cookies, while Andrew was in and out of the kitchen and Amy was at the table sewing. Another day Andrew and I wrapped packages and finished decorating the tree. I finally gave up on the idea that I would fill the tree with ornaments. The packages never got tags. I just ran out of time and energy. Amy made the crust for the pecan pie and Andrew made the filling, while I worked on something else. All and all the cooking time together was so much fun.

Amy was back at the sewing machine on the 26th making me a Christmas table runner. Tigger caught a mouse, brought it upstairs and let it go. The cats played with it and chased it until we were not sure were it went. The next morning a mouse was caught in the trap, but we were unsure if it was the same mouse. With out PJ, no one eats the mouse, the cats just play with them. We once had a mouse that the cats chased and played with for three day, when I finally caught it and threw it outside.

Amy finished the table runner on her birthday, the 27th. We laughed because she cleaned the porch door so she could watch the birds, saying she was making me a present on her birthday, of the door and the table runner. Andrew made a carrot cake on which I put a light drizzle of frosting, and fried chicken which used to be what I fixed for her birthday dinner. The day was spent with chatter about the birds and the cats. Visit Amy's blog, listed in my favorites on the left under Anlinadesigns to see the table runner and the mouse!

Yesterday the kids went home and I spent the morning washing towels etc. and the afternoon cleaning up areas in the house including my stamping area. Last night and tonight, I actually worked on cards for the first time in a week. I finished two birthday cards. January is a big birthday month, as was December. I made a sock monkey card and a cat, mouse and bird card. I will be making a banner for New Year's tomorrow. I never go to any parties or have any, but I will have to celebrate the New Year.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT!

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even the cats. The stockings were laid by the tree with care, in hopes that St. Nicolas, oh wait!, he's already been here. The grown kids  had previously gone to bed, but mom was still working, when Andrew, the youngest, came strolling upstairs. His excuse was he came for water and to use the toilet, but since he's 25, do you think I buy it?  Sister Amy's  asleep and papa still snoring. You would think they would have heard them, the reindeer and Santa, as they flew out of sight, shouting  Merry Christmas to everyone and to all a goodnight.

Around the world, the birth of Christ and the magic of Christmas is in the hearts of so many. We celebrate this day and share with family and friends, the food, the presents, the laughter, and the traditions. I live in a small town where it is tradition to make tamales every year for Christmas. Not being born or having grown up here, I never learned how to make them. A few years ago I got the ingredients and my daughter and I tried to make them. The pork was wonderful, but we never could get the masa to stick together. This year as I talked to people everywhere I had to wait in lines, everyone was talking about making tamales. Today, my friend Liz, stopped by with tamales. She said there were tamales of all sizes because all her children made tamales with her every year.  What a nice tradition. Amy and I shared the smallest one and it was so delicious. We are having some  for Christmas lunch, as we are serving turkey around 5pm. Thank you Liz and family for your gift of love.

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, all my family who can not be with us, and to my friends everywhere.

THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE!

Merry Christmas, the day before Christmas. I missed two posts, sorry. Two of my children got in Monday night. Andrew, the youngest and I stayed up until 1am! Yesterday, I spent the day making cookies. I took time out to deliver a few containers,  then it was back home to make more cookies. I made homemade chicken noodle soup with cornbread for supper and a beautiful peach cobbler as well. I was too tired last night to do much else.

This morning my husband went to work with a container of cookies for his friends. I just hope he does not eat them all! Today will be a busy day. I still have packages to wrap and the house to pick up. I am posting our December swap cards. Brenda' card is first. She used her die cut to make a Top Note card where the top note opens. Very nice Brenda. Christina used her new embossing template and folded her top note in half. She glittered her package and added a half-pearl. Pretty card Christina. Natalie used Bravo   Burgundy and brushed gold card stock with gold embossing and added rhinestones. A very elegant card Natalie.My card which I have already posted, used the retiring stamp set of the Nativity. January we will be continuing our swap. Natalie will be out having an operation in January. We wish her all the best and hope she will be feeling well enough to continue the swap. We all enjoy seeing her cards and receiving them.

I have another picture of Casablanca in the 1940's that I am posting. I will post two more in the next post. I am grateful that my dad wrote on the pictures what and where he took them. I can imagine these places, because some 40 years later my husband started us on our travels which took us first to Indonesia, then to Nigeria, Holland, Scotland, and finally Saudi Arabia. It was amazing to watch Indonesia grow. When we first arrived in 1983, the main road through the city was dirt. Before we left it was a paved divided road with up to three lanes one a side.  I will be back tonight, with a Night before Christmas Surprise.

DECEMBER 21, 2008 THE FIRST DAY OF WINTER, LOL!

  I spent the day doing presents. I also finished my Christmas Banner and started on my Christmas tree. There is always so much to do, but I actually enjoyed myself today. We have handmade adobe stones for part of our walls and the staircase going downstairs. That is the stonework you see in my pictures. I got my lighted tree garland up and around my staircase walls, also my dining room table is finally available for eating. I still have a million things I want to do, but I do not have a list. I figure I will do what I can and what I can't will wait until another day. Actually, with this attitude I get more done than if I panic. I must wrap the presents that are finished before my daughter and son get here tomorrow night.

  Guess what? More snow is on the way! Surprised? No of course not. I have to do a grocery run and some baking as well. I also have a few deliveries to make. Christmas cards to address and mail. I know they will be late. But isn't Christmas every day in our hearts? That is what my dad used to tell me. I am posting two more pictures of Casablanca that my dad took. Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow. For those who are traveling, Be safe.

DECEMBER 20, 2008 FOUR DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

My pictures start with Daisy, casting herself in the Wizard Of OZ. I did not pose her for this picture!

Today was full of preparation for the holiday. I spent the morning working on two Christmas presents. Yes, I know, I am running out of time. However, I will make it. I worked on and finished the Merry of my Christmas banner and am almost finished with the Christmas as well. I have lots of pictures to post. Tonight, I have been putting lights on my Christmas tree. After I finish posting,  I will finish them up so I can decorate the tree tomorrow. My husband used to help,   but it is up to me to do it all now. I am later than last year, but no worries.

  In my blog travels, I met Travelingmama. She has been doing Kristina Werner's Color Inspirations. The other night she was talking on her blog about how chilly 51 degrees  was, so I told her about my 0 degree weather. Then I checked to see where she lived and discovered that she was in Morocco. My dad was in the Mediterranean, on sea duty, during World War II. He did escort duty, one of the most hazardous of duties. He took pictures in ports that they docked in. One of the ports was Casablanca, Morocco.

Travelingmama said she would like to see some pictures, so I will be posting the few I have.They are old black and whites. My dad developed his own film, but they are still quite good. I spent the morning going through the pictures. Although we lived in Nigeria, I have never paid much attention to Northern Africa. His pictures were of Tunis, Mers El Kiber, Bizerta, Oran, and Sidi Bel Abbis, all North Africa. If you don't know where these places are, just Google them. I found the history lesson interesting.

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS, A TIME OF GIVING

As Christmas gets nearer, the anticipation grows with the purchase or making of every gift. For after all this is about the birth of Christ, and God's gift to us, thus the emphasis on giving to others. Posted is another card I have done with the retiring set with Baby Jesus.I would have loved to have done all my cards like this, but I did not have but one pack or two pieces of this paper. This paper was in the Level 3 Hostess package and I was not able to get any more.

I did not post last night. I stayed up until 2am, after working on my Christmas purse, posted in the previous post. Yesterday, I spent three hours making turkey salad, potato salad and carrot-cole slaw for my husband's lunch. I do this once a week, and afterward I am so tired from cooking that I do not want to cook dinner, but of course I do. So, last night instead of working on my purses, I went to bed and watched TV until I fell asleep, long before my usual 12:00.

I did not start working on my purses again until this evening. I finally got all the stages of making the purse, written down and photographed. I hope to have it all on the computer by tomorrow afternoon so I am ready to send instructionsout by e-mail. So, if you want a copy, be sure and let me know. I am happy to share the details with you. The picture of the three purses I have made is not that good, but it will have to do. Once you have the pieces cut, it takes about 30 minutes to assemble. These are all similar because I am using up my Christmas paper scraps! Happy stamping!

ONE OF THE BUSIEST DAYS OF MY LIFE, GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

  I began my day pruning my roses and tomatoes that I have indoors. Spider mites had taken over, so I had to get rid of all the dead and diseased leaves. I was so glad to get that done. I fertilized them, then picked up all the dead stuff. I started a wash and went upstairs to get two projects done.

 The first was to finish the crafts that I needed to ship and box them up. I finished that by 1pm. The second project was to get tags made for the gifts I had to ship. I finished the tags, wrapped the gifts and had then boxed up by 4:30. My husband was off today, so he took them to UPS for me. I was really exited to have two major things finished, so excited I forgot to take pictures of two things that I shipped. However, slowly but surely I am finishing my Christmas presents.

Tonight, I started a project I have wanted to do for awhile. I saw a purse and made one using the Big Shot Top Notz Die. It was cute, but the top note was really not big enough for the sack, even with the sack cut down. So I designed a purse, using a purse card pattern. I like the result much better. I used Kiwi Kiss card stock, Christmas designer paper, and some card magnets. I have posted several different views of the purse. If anyone wants the directions, i will e-mail instructions upon request by e-mail or comment on my blog. This purse will fold flat for mailing or storage. I like to make things that I can store easily. Isn't this just too cute? It is now ready to fill with candy or other treats for Christmas. I will be making more tomorrow!  I also plan to design a new line of these just for Valentines!

KWERNER'S COLOR INSPIRATION #35

This weeks challenge on Kristina Werner's blog uses some nice colors. They are Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, retiring Baja Breeze, So Saffron, and Very Vanilla.  I used Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, and Very Vanilla card stock and the designer paper from the Level 3 Hostess set.Inks used were Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze, and So Saffron. I used a finger dauber and a blender pen, and Tombow adhesive.

 Most   important I used Hostess Level 2 retiring set, Serene Spring. I have wanted to use this set since it came out in August. But summer went into fall into winter, without a real occasion to use it. When I did this card I wanted to say,"Is it spring, yet?" With all our snow of late and our 0 temperatures, I can always hope for spring. 

A very Merry Christmas to everyone around the world. May there be peace on earth.

CHRISTMAS DAY IS GETTING CLOSER, IT'S STILL VERY COLD OUTSIDE

  If I told you it was eight days until Christmas, you would probably panic like I almost did when I heard it tonight. However, I will get done, what I get done. It is bitterly cold and has been all day. My cats got up when my husband did and were sitting under the curtains watching the birds eat food I put out on the deck. It provides them with great entertainment and the birds get something to eat.

I spent the day doing more of the same, feeding the fire and working on Christmas presents. I did make a pot of meatball soup. I made the recipe up, but it is really tasty on a cold day. I will try and post the recipe this week, if I ever get down here early enough.

I got the Stampin'Up! order in today that had the retired stamps sets we had ordered. So I cut and mounted one so I could do a retired set Christmas card. I used the Nativity set. I can not remember the name of the set, but I am sure you will recognize it. If you want it, you only have a few days left. I also did a birthday card for Leonie's daughter, Logan. Her birthday is this week. Happy Birthday Logan!! I hope you like the card. I really had fun making it. I use some of my favorite designer paper.