HAPPY NEW YEAR!

i hope you all got what you asked for this Christmas!!

Our Christmas was nice & quiet! i was like a kid and hardly slept and got the men up early!! lol
the pictures are still in the camera, though! i hope to get them tonite, then i can share! In the meantime, i did another layout!

Credits
template by Scrap Saya
In Christmas Gold Mine kit by WaterLOProject
picture courtesy of DS Cliff
fonts are Book Antiqua & Chopin Script
Wishing there is more PEACE ON EARTH in 2009!
i also have a new kit soon available!! It's called Flakey Friends and was inspired by a WONDERFUL gift from Mrs. Miles ! Thank you again, my friend!! :D

it's over 100 megs, though i am not sure how i did that!! lol it will be broken down into 4 easy downloads!!
i will upload it today and share on NEW YEAR DAY! WOOHOO!! maybe i will be your first kit of the new year! hehe
i worked on this blog and removed all other links to past freebies but not to worry i will be sharing LOTS more in the new year!
Until then, i hope you have a WONDERFUL celebration but please be safe!! And remember i will SEE YA NEXT YEAR!! :D

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!!

i wish you all the BEST holiday season and a safe & Happy New Year too!!! :D

Hopefully we JUST get rain today!

We sure don't need any more snow!! lol How is your weather acting at this time of the year? i hope it's not too bad for you!
Today is DH's birthday and he finally went back to work after almost a week off! Happy Birthday, sweetie!!!
i wanted to share with you a little program in case you need a tag and don't know how to make one!
Tiny tags
and a site for printable fun
Now some more snow pictures. hehe




and it's so close to Christmas, we can hardly leave out Santa. lol

and a layout

Credits:
Time Anew by Kim Broedelet(Kimb's designs)
font is Christmas card
quote is by Mrs. Paul M. Ell
Thank you so very much for visiting and i hope you have a GREAT day!! Now i am off to visit YOU!! :D HUGS!

Sure is beginning to look & feel like Christmas!

i took these pictures this morning, 4 days after the snow storm.




i hope you have a WONDERFUL day and thank you for visiting! :D

BOY DID WE GET SNOW! (a foot later)

the pictures you saw so far were early in the day and the snow still looks soo pretty! Then after it snows all day and night, i don't think it looked soo pretty LOL
here are my geraniums, with ICICLES!

the bamboo really took a beating.

our washlines

Well, enough of that cold stuff! i am sure you ALL know what it looks like! lol Still hard to believe we got that much though!
Bunny has given us a Photography challenge (prompt) to walk around the house and take 5 pictures of whatever grabs our attention. Here are my 5!
some of my necklaces (hanging from a Sun candle holder lol)

a newer candle holder

the tree

sleigh decorations

and finally, yesterday morning when i took these pictures, we still had the candles from the night before out hehe

gave them a different background so you didn't see my dirty dishes (hard to do them without power, in pitch black! hehe)
That was FUN too! Thanks Bunny for the idea!!
Now i have some more layouts for DSO challenges!
for the Template challenge

credits
template by Teriann Hanks - Garden Scraps Design
Time Anew by Kim Broedelet(Kimb's designs)
font is Christmas Card & Cafe Rojo
For the Shape
challenge

Credits:
Layered Template TT54 Designed by Gloria Val Verde
Christmas Around the World kit by Bon Scrapatit Designs
/Linda Walton aka bobbysgirlforever
font is Christmas Card
and one more just for FUN!

Credits
Christmas Around the World by Kim Broedelet(Kimb's designs)
Fonts are Anywhere & ArtBrush
and Finally, i made an award! i haven't seen this one around and thought it was necessary.

i award this to a few designers that are SO VERY GENEROUS they deserve an award!! If you know any designer that you feel deserves it too, please share it with them!! They have to know how we feel and just how important and special they really are!!!
My choices are:
Kim Broedelet(Kimb's designs)
Mrs. Miles
Gloria Val Verde
The Scrapping Cop
Thena Smith
Valinda
WaterLOProject
Please feel free to share the award with as many as you want! just right click on the award and save as, it will save in complete form!! (sorry about that lol)And don't forget to let them know!! :D
That's it for me today! Now i am off to visit you!! WOOHOO! Thank you so much for your visit and i hope you have an AWESOME day!! :D HUGS!

Boy did we get snow!

Yesterday we awoke to find snow and both DH & DS stayed home.... THANKFULLY! not only did DH brush off the satelite dishes for the tv & internet as the snow piled on but then suddenly we lost all power!! oh about 10 or 10:30 am it was snowing like crazy and now we have no heat!! DH phoned the electric company and was told that the trucks are having trouble getting to the problems... not what i wanted to hear!! ;) The snow was absolutely BEAUTIFUL falling in such big flakes but no heat?!! hmm, we called the electric co. back later and found out they are not planning on getting electricity running till 10:30 this morning!!!! So DH decides we got to try getting to a motel for the night and made calls. we even tried to go LOL we NEVER got far from the driveway!!! Yes we wound up spending the night here, cold and hungry!!! The power seemed to come back about midnight THANKFULLY and so we at least had some heat (of course AFTER we piled on the blankets!!! lol) anyways, here are some pictures BEFORE the snow got really deep. i think we got nearly a foot!!
this pic is from yesterday morning about 6:30 as we awoke.


our bamboo is bending from the snow

And here is Cookie introducing Coco to his first snow.

now he is braving the snow and exploring.

here his little feet started getting cold but just look at that HUGE flake that looks like its by his nose (its actually closer to the camera)

i did get a small chance to play in photoshop but then the power went off and i lost what i was playing with hehe of course! But hopefully we will have power all day and i will get to play some more! :)
i am off now to visit you and your blogs! Thank you sooo very much for spending this time with me. i will post more pictures later to show JUST HOW MUCH we did get!!! this is a first and we would NEVER have guessed this area got this much! lol Stay warm and dry! HUGS!! i am on my way so i will see ya soon! :D

Just popping in

To share this photo of how it snowed THERE (all around my area) but not here!! lol soo close but around my neighborhood it just poured.

More layouts and some news!

i made some time to play and make more layouts not for any challenges, just playing! hehe

Credits
ivy sprig from Under the Christmas Tree by WaterLOProject
In Christmas Gold Mine kit by WaterLOProject
Template 66 by Melanie (Lottchen)
picture courtesy of DS Cliff
font is Christmas card
and

Credits
Dreaming of a Bright Christmas by Bon Scrapatit Designs/Linda Walton aka bobbysgirlforever
Layered Template (TT53) Designed by Gloria Val Verde
i LOVE playing with the goodies we get from our favorite designers!! i have soo many designers that i LOVE and my hard drive is getting sooooo FULL at this time of year! lol Time to do some burning to cd!!!
Are you planning on baking cookies?

i ALWAYS bake cookies at Christmas!! This year i am going to try baking some bread too (gulp!!) yes i am a little intimadated but if Mrs. Miles says i can do it then i am sure it's easy! lol
Speaking of Mrs. Miles, i wish to thank you soooooooo very much for sharing such a BEAUTIFUL gift of snowflakes!! i am currently working on a kit appropriately named Flakey Friends!! lol
and while on the subject, Thank you, too, KimB.!!!! Thank you so much for sharing your newest and AWESOME kit!! i still haven't downloaded yet, i fell asleep last night! i could have kick myself when i awoke this morning!! lol
(Editted to update- i have partially downloaded now and it is GA GA GORGEOUS!)
You ladies ROCK and make me cry with your INCREDIBLE generosities!!! HUGS and much LOVE to you both!!!
Before i get onto the news i have to share this picture with you too!!!! lol

Yes!!! That's SNOW!!! Although it rained like crazy here yesterday, downtown at hubby & son's work places it snowed ALL DAY!! and that is what DH brought home to show me!! LOL so of course, i had to share with you!!
Onto the news!!

The FUN starts soon, please stop in and join us!!
Now i am off to visit you & your blogs!! Thank you so very much for stopping by and i hope you have an AWESOME day! :D

Sharing layouts

It's a rainy day here in the desert. Cold and windy too, but at least it's not snowing here. Hopefully we won't get the snow but other areas nearby are getting up to two feet!!!!

Credits:
template by Seestern Silvya Markwardt
In The Snowflake World by WaterLOProject
WordArt Fun by Kathy Winters Designs
snow picture courtesy of DS Cliff


Credits:
template by Bunny S Cates aka SomeBunny
Winter Wonderland by Crops 2 Dawn Creations
picture courtesy of DS Cliff
Time to make some hot chocolate! But i want to thank you so very much for visiting! Hope you have a BEAUTIFUL day!! :D

Celebrating 2nd Blogaversary & Freebie

Good morning!!! :D Happy Blogaversary and here to show my thanks for 2 years of WONDERFUL blogging is Golden Years! it's about 33 MB and i hope you like it! :D

Special thanks to:
KimB.designs
Bunny S Cates aka SomeBunny
Roberta D'Achille Rendered Memories
Monica Larsen
ManuScraps, Designs by Manu B.
i already have quite a nice little add on ready to soon share too!
Also, at the end of this year/beginning of next i will be freeing up space in my 4shared folder so if you check back in older posts and download what i have already shared please comment somewhere and just say hi! :D
We did get the tree decorated and it sure looked nice.

yes i said "looked", just before i sat down tonight to type this post i heard a CRASH!!!!! not sure but believe Boo(male cat) was behind it and helped it tumble. (SIGH!!) i think it will look JUST as pretty if we put the surviving balls away for the season already. LOL ahh we shall see!
Also, unpacked a few more bowls that i recently bought from the swapmeet again.

and this silver type leafy bowl

i guess i could have taken the pictures AFTER i washed them. Oh well!! lol
i paid $2.00 for the tree and only a dollar for the leafy one! Gotta LOVE that place!
Well, i think that is it for me tonight as i am off to hit the sheets! See you in the morning!! :D Have a GREAT night & thank you so much for visiting!

Christmas bowls & plates

Tomorrow is my second blogaversary! hard to believe it's already been two years!! Please be sure to stop by tomorrow too, to pick up a cool freebie! :D
Today i want to share with you some of the plates and bowls i recently picked up from the local swapmeet. i hope you enjoy them too!
These first three only cost half a dollar each, total, for all three, was a whole $1.50!! can you say BARGAIN!! lol



they are all dinner plate size or bigger too!! WONDERFUL deal!!
And these next two bowls only cost a dollar each!!

here's a closeup of one of the snowpeople. lol


i sure hope you enjoyed them as they are so much fun to just look at too! :D And where else can ya buy AWESOME plates and bowls at such a low price?!!
Anyways, i do think i am going to join Kelli's show & tell because i always have fun showing and telling. lol i just have to figure out how to join, not easy with soo much to do this holiday season! but i will get there! hehe
How are you doing this year for Christmas? Are you done shopping? Have all your decorations up yet? we are getting there. lol This year, my family has become a bit lax on decorating since my baby is now 24 years old! lol i just hope not too many people buy those gift cards since i heard quite a lot of stores are going to be closing at the beginning of the year and those cards will be of no use. Here is a list of the store closings i found.
* Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
* Ann Taylor - 117 stores nationwide closing
* Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
* Eddie Bauer to close 27 stores and more after January
* Cache will close all stores
* Talbots closing down specialty stores
* J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
* Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
* GAP closing 85 stores
* Footlocker closing 140 stores; more to close after January
* Wickes Furniture closing down
* Levitz closing down remaining stores
* Bombay closing remaining stores
* Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
* Whitehall closing all stores
* Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
* Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January
* Home Depot closing 15 stores
* Macys to close 9 stores after January
* Linens and Things closing all stores
* Movie Galley closing all stores
* Pep Boys closing 33 stores
* Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
* JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
* Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores
* Wilson Leather closing down all stores
* Sharper Image closing down all stores
* KB Toys closing 356 stores
* Lowes to close down some stores
* Dillard’s to close some stores

So please be very careful and not buy those gift cards this year! :D
Well, i am off to go through some decorations and see which i want to use, pack up the rest and get another toteful!! my day is definitely full today! lol
Have an AWESOME day and thank you so very much for visiting!! HUGS! :D

layouts for DSO challenges

I hope today finds you well! today it is a bit on the chilly side here and i have been getting in the Christmassy mood. We have DS's tree up but no ornaments on it and it still looks pretty. it's one of those fiber optic trees and is always changing colors just at the ends of each bough or tree twig. pictures will follow when we get ornaments on lol i think if i don't get the boxes out myself this week, we will, for sure get them up this weekend.
but for now i have a couple of layouts to share that i did for DSO since they are having gallery issues, i thought it be nice to share my layouts here.
For the Photo Op challenge we are to alter the photo in some way, here i made the background paper from a sketch of the photo.

Credits:
In the Snowflake World by WaterLOProject
WordArt Fun by Kathy Winters Designs
picture courtesy of DS Cliff

and this layout was a real challenge but totally fun. i know it looks a little busy but for the Doodle Dare challenge we were asked to do quite a bit to fulfill the challenge lol check it out and have some fun :D
here is my crazy version lol

Credits:
template #18 by just2morethings
Papers & elements from Under the Christmas tree, In the Christmas Gold mine &
In the Snowflake World by WaterLOProject
pictures courtesy of DS Cliff

My second blogaversary is coming up soon and though i am not sure yet what it will be, there will be something to share. so please don't forget to check back often!
i hope you have a FANTASTIC day and thanks soooooo much for visiting! :D