Today as promised I have 2 more months of my 2010 Calendar. This is for March. I took the photo one day with the help of my tripod. Colin and Evan thought it was funny and I fell in love with this photo. It’s hard to believe it’s almost a year old.

Colin’s birthday is April 15th so it’s only fitting that I make a birthday page to celebrate that for the month of April. He wanted a cupcake cake, so I used my huge Wilton pan to bake just that. He picked the frosting colors and he loved his cake as you can see in the photo.

Today my Christmas tree came down! I’d normally leave it up later, but my cat has taken to eating fake trees and garland and I’m just tired of fighting him over it. I have a few orders I’m working on and then I’m hoping to start stamping some Thank you cards to send out after Christmas.

Christmas has come and gone, but the kids are still home from school for another week. We got a lot of snow in the past few days and it’s nice to be inside where it’s warm and cozy. It also means I can finally share the big My Digital Studio project I worked on for my Mom and Roger’s Mom. I made them both a 2010 Calendar with the kids photos. Each month has a photo from that month the year before.

This first page is for January. My kids love when I make them Octodogs. You take a hot dog and cut tentacles in the bottom half and then drop it into boiling water. As the hot dog cooks it curls the tentacles to look like an Octopus. My kids love them paired with a big bowl of Mac and Cheese.

February’s page was super easy. It’s a designer template that Stampin’ Up! designed. I simply dropped in my photo. Re-arranged a few elements to my liking and that was it!

Tomorrow I’ll have March and April to share with you. I’m ready to get back into creating on a more regular basis and blogging again. It’s been a crazy year and I’ve vowed to create more time for me in 2010!

Thanks to all of you who have posted or e-mailed me well wishes! I actually recovered from whatever I had and then actually got the same stomach flu that the kids had. I spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday in bed. Monday was the first day I felt well enough to do anything. The kids are on Christmas vacation from school and we’ve enjoyed the last few days playing outside in the snow and just having family time. I finished up a big project, but it is a Christmas present and I don’t want to spoil the surprise, so I can’t share what I’ve worked on for the last week and a half with you this instant. Tomorrow it may rain all day so if that happens we’ll be inside and I’ll have time to play a bit. I wanted to stop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope that whatever holiday you are celebrating you get to spend quality time with your family and loved ones. That’s what we are focusing on right now.

So I’ll leave you with a picture of the snowman we built. It’s taller than me (I’m 5′ 9″) so I’m guessing it’s at least 6′ tall. It’s heavier than any snowman I’ve ever built. The middle is so heavy I had to use my husband’s car ramp (the one he uses to change the oil) to roll it into it’s place.  But the kids had a blast building it and I got my workout.  Let’s see how long he lasts in the rain and the 40 degree day we are supposed to have on Christmas Eve.  I think he’s going to take a while to melt though.

Merry Christmas!

While we are recuperating I didn’t want to leave you with nothing to see on my blog, so I thought you’d be interested in these Holiday Gift Ideas from Stampin’ Up!  Remember that there is the 12 Days of Holiday Sales on a number of the Big Shot dies.  You can find them on my Demonstrator Website at http://igotstamps.stampinup.net .  Simply click on Shop Now in the upper right hand corner under my contact information.

than to open my big mouth.  Evan got the stomach bug last night and spiked a fever as of 4 am this morning.  Roger is also sick and I’m not far behind.  After a Dr. visit Colin has an ear infection and a throat infection.  Evan has a throat infection and they ruled out Influenza A and B for both of them but the tests aren’t 100% accurate.  It may be mycoplasma aka walking pneuomia, so if that were the case we are all infectious.  I’m hoping it’s just a viral infection that runs its course and we are all better by Christmas. 

No paper crafting today . . . just a trip to the pharmacy to pick up heavy duty antibiotics.

This past weekend was my last Craft and Vendor Fair. It was held at Evan’s school along with their annual Cookie Walk. I was there both Saturday and Sunday. While there I sold out of my Post It Note Wish Lists and had an order for 18 more. Here is what I’ve been working on for a good portion of today. I know I shared these with you a few weeks ago, but it’s what I’m working on again. 

Saturday night I should have known Colin wasn’t feeling well when he didn’t come to dinner.  Starting at 11 pm he asked for water almost every hour so we’d give him a little drink.  Around 1 am the stomach bug hit and we’ve been washing sheets almost around the clock since then.  Yesterday he ate 5 saltines and that was it.  He has been drinking a lot of lemon lime soda so he’s getting some calories from sugar and is keeping hydrated along with all of the water he is drinking.  Today he finally ate a few times and has kept it down.  Chicken noodle soup and saltines are our foods of choice right now. His fever hasn’t come back since 6:30 this morning so hopefully he’ll be well enough to go to school tomorrow because he’ll have not had a fever for over 24 hours by then if the fever stays away.

Evan has been fairing pretty well.  He’s had strict orders to stay away from his brother and is not allowed to use the boys bathroom and has to stick to ours even though I sanitize everything almost every time Colin leaves the bathroom.  Lysol and Clorox are my constant companions and my hands are suffering from that.  We started Evan on a new nutritional supplement about a month ago and he’s doing well with that.  I think it’s working for him.  He now gets nutrition from 7 fruits and 10 veggies a day even if we can’t get his picky little self to eat the actual thing.  *Knock on wood*, he’s been well for almost 3 weeks now, a month on Friday if we make it, and that’s not been the norm since the beginning of September. 

I just wrapped up the 18 Wish Lists and have a few more loads of sheets to do, a bathroom to re-sanitize and dinner to figure out still.  I didn’t get to go grocery shopping this weekend.  I think we’ll have chicken noodle soup since I did buy several cans of that.   Tomorrow I’ll start on a new project – or maybe I’ll start planning my Artisan Award entries for next year.

From December 11 – 22nd Stampin’ Up! is offering a 12 Days of Holiday Sale on Big Shot dies and vinyl sheets. These vinyl sheets are offered in 18 new colors plus there are now clear sheets! You can mix and match colors and images to create vinyl elements of your own to place on picture frames, vases, mirrors and walls.  The possibilities are endless.  Don’t miss out on this sale as it is only good through December 22nd.  As always all online orders will receive a special Thank You in the mail from me.

Things to Remember:

Things to Remember:

• Orders may be placed online or in person.
• The sale begins Friday, December 11, 2009, 12:01 AM (MT), and ends Tuesday, December 22, 2009, 11:50 PM (MT).
• Items must be ordered by December 15, 2009, in order to arrive in time for Christmas.
• Discounts range between 15-25 percent.
• All items on sale will be posted on the first day of the promotion and can be purchased for all 12 days.
• There are no quantity limits.
• There are no qualifiers to receive the discount.
• For online orders, discounts will be reflected in the “regular price”; “catalog price” will show the non-discounted price.

Product Offerings:

Yesterday the Ways to Use it Challenge involved Caroling.  You were to pick your favorite Christmas song and then use it to inspire a card.  It was easy with the Home for Christmas stamp set.  I started by turning the sketch from yesterdays card on its side.  I stamped the image in Basic Gray and watercolored it in with an AquaPainter and my watercolor pencils.  I haven’t opened them in a long time and it was fun to use them again.  I then added some Frost White Shimmer paint to the evergreen and the snow on the steps.  I matted the layer on Chocolate Chip and Real Red.  The base of the card is Garden Green that was sponged with Whisper White craft ink and stamped with the Serene Snowflakes stamp set.  I did use a few retired items on my card that I’ve had laying around.  The Alpine Originals ribbon was one of my favorites and I found a stash of Felt Flurries that I had forgotten about.  I tried to heat emboss on the felt ribbon and I wouldn’t advise you to try the same.  It does not work as well as on grosgrain ribbon and I actually started to melt some of the fibers.  It was worth the attempt.  When I first poured on the white embossing powder the words were really clear and crisp looking.  When I heated them they melted the felt fibers a bit and then they smeared together. 

Today Roger is working a half day as when he took a shower this morning he only had warm water.  He went down to look at the water heater and can’t get the pilot light to stay on.  He thinks a part went bad and he’s going to replace it after lunch.  After this weekend I am FREE!  From the beginning of October through this weekend I’ve been at Craft and Vendor Fairs.  This weekend marks my very last one and I am ready to be done.  I can’t wait to have a weekend at home to relax.  It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do that.  I’m hoping it will also allow me to be more creative instead of feeling like I have to create to fill my table back up.  Although I still have to make items for my Silent Auction basket, but they are normally one of a kind originals. 

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.  I’m going to make a separate post with the 12 Days of Holiday sales from Stampin’ Up!  There are new vinyl sheets in many new Stampin’ Up! colors as well as discounted Big Shot dies!  Make sure to check it out.

I have a get well card I have to get in the mail, so I figured it would be nice to go toward a bright sunny palette and use some of my new items. On this card I used the sentiment from Thoughts & Prayers along with Sweet Pea felt flowers that I earned for FREE! and Sweet Pea designer series paper. Now I have to brave the cold to get it into the mailbox. It’s sunny and 7 degrees out right now.

I don’t know what is going on with my camera. I need to sit down with it. For some reason when it passed 10,000 photos my white balance settings got messed up. I don’t know why my light box is photographing so dark, when in reality it’s bright and white. Anyone have suggestions? I use a Canon Digital Rebel XT.

There is nothing like getting a box full of new goodies to put you in a stamping mood. Here are a few sneak peeks for you of products in the upcoming Occasions Mini catalog. The new stamps are fabulous! I used Something Sweet and Well Scripted stamp sets along with the new Sweet Pea designer series paper. The sketch is from last week on SCS.

I have to head out into the bitter cold to pick up Colin from the school bus. It’s hard to walk in this wind. Yesterday I found out about a vendor fair here in town and I scrambled to get my Stampin’ Up! stuff in order so that I can go. It’s from 6 – 8 at the Kohl Center in Kankakee if you are in town and would like to check out some of my hand stamped items.