Happy New Year!!!!

Good bye 2012...Hello 2013 :)

I have such high hopes for this year. I really have a good feeling about it.
Usually I just think ohhh its a new year, have to remember to write the correct year on my paperwork.
But this year I have a really good feeling about it.
I have so much hope and just feel that it is going to be a great year....lets hope my intuitions are right.

Resolutions:
Do you make resolutions or goals for the New Year.
I have and have failed, lol.
But in 2012 my only goal was to Do it Now. Did I accomplish this goal???
Sometimes.
I have always said that I am the worlds best procrastinator and if there was a prize for this, I would win it every year.
Again this year I am working on it.

Creatively I want to do more scrapbook pages. That is how I started with paper crafting...mostly ;)
I am hoping that following some sketches with help me achieve this goal.
I would like to get more into Art Journals as well. 
Like I said I have high hope for this year, my mind is filled with inspiration and I feel like I can do it all..............keep visiting me and see how I have done ;)

My wish for all of you is to have a Happy, Healthy New Year.
To be happy in life and have a positive attitude is a live well lived :)

I hope you all had a creative day :)

Tracy :)

Selphy mishap

I was so upset today.
I was printing up my photos for the girls December Daily, and then my printer ate my film.

You see how I am printing 2 photos on one sheet of photo paper.
For some reason my printer won't read all the photos. So only one half of the paper had a photo on it, the other end was blank. Because I am thrifty, I put the half printed photo in again to print on the blank end.
Well learn from my mistake...Don't do that.
The film got jammed and I could not get the cartridge out!!!
Wayne worked on it for a bit.
He Fixed It!!!!
I asked him how? His reply..."Brute force".

I still see that my photo printer will not read all of my photos :(

Onto My Day:
I got to spend my whole day at home, in my comfy pants.
I worked on a project, not my December Daily though. But I will share that one in January.

I hope you all had a creative Sunday :)

Tracy :)

Warming up my brain

I bet you were hoping to see some more of my daughters' December Daily pages weren't you.
Well so was I....but I got kind of stumped.
1. I had a lot of things on my mind today.
2. I didn't make it to my craft room at all.
3. I had to figure out what photos to use and on what days.

So I grabbed myself a nice warm mug of hot chocolate and got to work.

I realized this would have been way more easier if I had printed out photos daily (I do have a Selphy) no excuses...except that I seem to procrastinate, teehee. Now that's an understatement ;)
So I did what I did when I was catching up on my Project 365, when I was 9 months behind. Yes you read that right "9 months" not 9 days or even 9 weeks......9 months.
And if you think about it, making these albums for my daughters is like doing 3 months of Project 365 isn't it.

I wrote down my girls names and then the days of the month. Lastly what they were doing during those days and some photos that went with those days.
If I didn't have a photo for that day I would put in a filler photo.
Ashley and Kristy were a bit easier then Heather, as they both have a Facebook page and Instagram, so I just nabbed their photos ;)
Heather has a Facebook page, but I don't think she has been on it in over a year and no Instagram. So any photos for her, I took.
I put them all on a jump drive so I can print them all up at once tomorrow.
Wish me luck. 

Onto My Day:
Wayne and I watched all of the Resident Evils movies as I was figuring out the DDs for my DD's, teehee.
I got to stay home all day. So I didn't end up going to my LSS for her last day in business. So sad that she is closing. I am sure it will be a big change for her, but when one door closes another one opens.

I hope you have all had a very creative Saturday :)

Tracy :)

December Daily covers

I know I am always late to the party, lol.
I was planning on making a December Daily for each of my girls.
I have been trying to take a photo every day of something that they have done. I don't think I have been successful in this, but I am going to nab some photos from their Facebook page and Instagram.
So tonight for Scrapbooking Friday, my goal was to, at least, make the cover pages.
Here is Ashley's.

I am using a 6x6 album.
I got each of the girls to pick out a paper pack.
They don't know I am doing this. I thought it would be a fun little gift for the New Year.
This is Heather's.

None of these turned out at all like I was planning.
I wasn't going to make a scene on the pages. I was going to put a calender on each cover and make them look more vintage looking.
As you can see that didn't work. lol.
I used dimensional stickers. The month tags were cut on the cuttlebug and I put red sparkle around the die cuts.
Here is Kristy's.

Onto My Day:
My plan was to put on my comfy clothes and not leave the house at all today.
Wayne and Kristy wanted to go to Futures to look at a few things. I was going to stay home.
Until I realized that the last scrapbooking store in town is closing on Saturday. So I thought I would check it out.
I picked up quite a bit of cardstock. I may go back to get some more colours tomorrow. Not sure.
Sharon came by for Scrapbooking night. So it was just her and I tonight.

I hope you all had a creative Friday :)

Tracy :)

Santa Cutie

You have probably seen my cute Santa peeking above some of my projects from the last few days. I had made him quite a few years ago, but still love this guy.


I think I had made about 10 of these one year as Christmas gifts.
Every one of them had a different outfit.

He is totally stuffed with soft stuffing and has a bean bag like bum for weight to help him sit up.





















One of my goals for 2013 is to do more sewing.
I do love to do all types of crafts, but for the last few years I focused more on the paper crafts.
I keep meaning to do more sewing, but for some reason, I grab my Copics and some paper instead.

Onto My Day:
Kristy had to go to work this morning, so I drove her for 7:00 am. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't -20C out there.
Came home and slipped back into bed. I had a bad sleep last night, which is very rare for me.
Caught up on some book work and then Wayne and I went to pick up a few groceries and some goodies for New Years Eve.
Watched the remake of Total Recall. As good as the graphics were and as gorgeous as the characters looked, I still liked the 1st one better. The original seemed to have a better story line to me.

I hope you all had a creative Thursday :)

Tracy :)

Enjoyed our Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day here in Canada.
The day that many like to go shopping for after Christmas Sales.
Ashley wanted to pick up a couch (for her future house) for $200.00, but we don't have the room for it for her to store it.
Today is also the day that we are invited to my SIL (Wayne's sister Sharon and her husband Jim) for a delicious turkey dinner.
My daughters call her the Hostess with the Mostess, as she really puts on a spread, and keeps putting goodies out all night long.

Ashley gave her, her wreath that Ashley made her.
Here is the wreath that Ashley made me :)

And here is Sharon's.
Sharon loved it. She hung it up right away :)
I know I have shared these before, but we added prettier ribbon hangers on them.

I also did a video on them.
Ashley is working on a cone tree as well, I show it near the end of the video.
We had purchased more foam wreaths and ornaments...I guess she is planning on making more for gifts next year :)
Onto My Day:
My girlfriend Debbie and her husband came by for their Christmas visit this afternoon.
We had a really nice visit and exchanged our gifts for each other.
Then my dad and Doreen phoned and we chatted for over an hour and a half.
Lastly we headed to Sharon's for a wonderful meal and great visit.
They invited Ashley and Kristy's boyfriends as well. It was a bit tight at the table, but that didn't stop us from enjoying her cooking ;)

I hope you all had a creative Wednesday :)
And found some great deals for the Boxing Day sales.

Tracy :)

Its Christmas!!!!!

Here are my treasures :)
My 3 beautiful daughters, Kristy, Ashley and Heather. This was taken last night at dinner.
These girls are my heart.

Here is our tree before Wayne and I went to bed.
See told you he goes overboard at Christmas. We even hid gifts in the tree, lol.
We keep our Christmas tree lights on all night on Christmas Eve. It just looks so peaceful.

Okay I know you want to know what crafty things I got for Christmas.
Let me first explain that this year my family told me, that they will not get my anything crafty for Christmas, as I have to much already.
As correct as they are, I told them I think they have to many video games and DVD's, so I don't think I will get them any of those.
They got the point, teehee.

So Wayne bought me a rolling tote. When I go on a crop, I end up taking one of our rolling suit cases. So I am hoping that this works just as well :)
He also got me a mini tote and a tool envelope pouch. Also some B plates for my Cuttlebug, not sure about you, but mine warp real bad.
The pink thing on top is a neck pillow for when we travel, as I always fall asleep in the vehicle. I put it on today when I was on the computer and the girls came in and had a chuckle.
My girls bought me this winter jacket and a new robe.
The rest of the goodies are from Wayne...yup he spoils me ;)





















Onto My Day:
Kristy woke us up at 5:30 am. She was so excited :)
Usually it is Wayne that wakes us up every Christmas morning, but Kristy beat him to the punch this year.
After opening gifts and chatting for a bit, we all headed back to bed, lol.
I teased Kristy by crawling in with her as she was the one that woke us up. Then Wayne came in her room and asked if there was room for him as well.
Sure I said. Kristy just said "Oh no", lol.

Tonight we went to my older brother Darrell's house for turkey dinner.
As cold as it was outside, it was well worth it.
We had a nice visit and a great meal.

Ashley went to her boyfriend Tyler's house for their Christmas dinner.
That's the thing when your kids get older you have to share them ;)

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas :)

Tracy :)

My Christmas Greeting :)

It is Christmas Eve, wow where has the time gone.
Before we know it, we will be in a new year.....but lets not talk about that yet.
Tonight we went to my FIL's house for Christmas dinner.
This is a photo from last year of our tree. Hubby went a little nuts this year on the gift giving, so I thought it best Not to take a photo of it, lol.

I just posted a very short video to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

Onto My Day:
Wayne wanted to go into work this morning for a couple of hours to move silt from their silt pond. It has to be cold in order to move it....and it was cold.
It is -20C/-2F...to cold for my blood.
My FIL lives only a few blocks over, so we didn't have to go far :)

I hope you all have a great Christmas tomorrow :)

Tracy :)

Christmas skate display

I thought I would share a little project I quickly put together.
I had seen something like this at the lodge at our cottage.
They also have an old pair or work boots with flowers in it for the summer.
I have also seen one on Beth's blog and on pinterest.

But lets get back to the winter display.
I picked up a pair of skates from the Thrift store for about $7.00.
Then went to the dollar store and picked up this sprig for $1.50.
Stuck the sprig in the skate and voila you have a pretty display.

And because I bought a pair of skates and a couple sets of sprigs, I made two of them ;)
Sorry about all the shine on this photo....but you get see how I displayed them.

 
Now you know how much I love my Coca-Cola. I have only been drinking one can of Coke for the whole week, including the weekend.
I have been doing pretty good, except for this weekend.
But look at all this slushy, cold Coke on the top of my glass......makes your mouth water doesn't it.

Well this is why I had so much slushy Coke in my glass. I forgot to take these 2 cans of pop out of the freezer. They were in there all night, see how they are bulging at the ends of the cans, lol.
I am so so happy that they didn't explode.
That happened to my girlfriend many years ago, she told me it was a mess to clean it out of the freezer.

 Onto My Day:
My goal for today was to wear my jammie pants, watch Christmas movies, and catch up on my emails.
I  always make wild rice casserole for the family Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve . I have to soak the wild rice the night before. But when I went to get the rice out...I  didn't even have 1/4 of a cup and I have to double the recipe as the family complained there wasn't enough, so I needed 2 full cups.
So I had to get dressed and Wayne and I ran to the reserve to pick up some.

Then we came home, I put my jammies back on, caught up on a lot of my emails and we watched A Christmas Story.
This is Heather's and my favourite Christmas movie.

I hope you all have had a creative Sunday :)

Tracy :)

Hot Chocolate Mug gift sets

I put together some gift sets for some friends. We don't normally exchange gifts, but I just wanted to show them that I appreciate their friendships.

I even put a video up :)
But for those of you who don't like to watch videos....and who wouldn't want to, lol.
I have put together a photo tutorial...ohhh the things I do for you guys, lol.

First I picked up these coffee hot chocolate mugs.
You can pick these up at a dollar store as I did make one earlier with a real cute mug from there.
But I picked these ones up at Walmart. I never go there as it is crazy there. But they just opened one a little bit away from my house and I didn't feel like going across town.
These cost $1.00 each :)

I wanted to put in candy kisses instead of this straw paper...but I forgot. Yup my mind is officially on vacation ;)

I then added my snowman soup that I made the other day.

I also put in a set of my Chocolate dipped Pretzel sticks.

I wanted to use some cute cellophane bags, but couldn't find them. I wanted to use more festive tissue paper, but they didn't have that either. I was going to do some stamping on the tissue paper...but I wanted to keep it simple.

Then gather the edges to the top of the mug and squeeze and twist a bit just above the contents.

Lastly tie with this curly ribbon.

Tada...I have 5 fast and simple gifts for some unexpected friends :)
I had the goodies all prepared so it went really quick :)

Onto My Day:
I finished off my gift card holders from last night. I just had to add the tags for who there were for.
My poor Ashley is battling a real bad cold. So Kristy, Heather and Ashley did a bit more baking this afternoon then she went for a long nap. Hope she feels better soon. She was suppose to go out for dinner with her boyfriend and his family and then go to a friends party later on...but she has spent her day blowing her nose and sleeping :(

I hope you all have had a creative day.....even if it was just wrapping gifts ;)

Tracy :)

Gift Card Holders

Yesterday, Becky shared her gift card holders on her blog, she asked if we had a certain design that we like to use.
I have been making this same design for at least the last 5 yrs.
So tonight was Friday Night Scrapbooking, and I needed to make some.

 Well, I had to make more then some, teehee.
I actually made 12, I may need to make a few more though.

Usually they have a belly band around them. But I noticed that some of the recipients weren't sure how to open them and were hesitant to rip off the belly band.

So this year I used some re-positional glue to close them.
You can see the little dot of glue in the middle of the top flap.
I also stamped a Holiday greeting as well.

Onto My Day:
Remember I had mentioned we completed our gift wrapping....well we were, until Wayne decided to buy more gifts, lol.
Now I remember the reason why I wait till the last minute to buy our Christmas gifts....because Wayne wants to keep shopping until the holidays, lol.
We did wrap all the gifts that he bought today.

Kristy and Heather made cream puffs, which they shared with my scrapbooking friends. And boy were they delicious. Kristy also made some shortbread cookies, which she shared with us all :)

I hope you all had a creative Friday :)
Here is a video on how I make my gift card holders :)

Tracy :)

Snowman soup and a gift exchange :)

Tonight I made my snowman soup I make every year.
Who ever comes to visit us during the holidays gets to take one home, plus I also give one for a little extra with a gift.
Here is how I have made them in the past with a video ;) Snowman Soup

I took the photo above before I added the candy cane or label.
So here it is all complete.
I wish Wilton wouldn't put their logo on their bags, it takes away from the look of these. But those are the only bags I had found this year.

Here is the poem I use.
The first time I had seen these, one was given to Ashley from her 1st grade teacher....Ashley is now 23, so I have been making these for many years, lol.
I was thinking of trying something different this year, but Kristy's friend had mentioned how much she loves receiving that soup stuff I make. So I guess I can't stop lol.

Today was a crazy busy day.
Wayne and I were out all morning, then came home and completely finished wrapping our presents. Wayne said "Wow, are we done...we are 4 days early", lol.
Already I'm proud of myself for working on my Resolution of "Doing it now" principal, lol.

Kristy had her friends over for their gift exchange.
Good group of kids....well I guess they aren't kids anymore, but they are a good bunch :)

Ashley and her boyfriend Tyler have been baking most of the evening :)
I have just been putting the finishing touches on the gifts :)

Hope you all have had a creative Thursday :)

Tracy :)

Baking Fun

My girls have been baking up a storm.
So far they have made chocolate bark, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies and peanut butter balls.
They are planning to bake something every night.
Which is fine by me :)
They are bringing a mixed container to each of their boyfriends homes and also to my FIL's for the big family meal on Christmas Eve.

Here are their gingerbread cookies, they are going to ice them when it is closer to packaging them up.
 All these photos are from Kristy's instagram.
I am so proud to announce that I know how to crop a photo on there and email it to myself ;)
Yes its the little things, lol.

Kristy is taking Foods and Nutrition in school. And here is a cookie tree she had made.
She had brought her own sprinkles and silver balls to school to decorate it :)

Kristy also made these cream puffs at school.
Ohhh these look so yummy :)

Ashley was wrapping up some yummy smelling candles in a jar for her co-workers and wanted to put some bows on the top.
She asked me to use this ribbon to make them. I told her it was to thin, but made them anyway.
Then she had asked me to make a tutorial on them.....She is such a smart ass, lol.

Onto My Day:
Ashley left early in the morning as she had to go to Geralton  for work. We get a text this morning that they hit a deer on their drive there. Luckily no one was hurt and the deer ran off. They had slowed down as they had seen the deer, but the second one got confused and ran into the vehicle. Ashely wasn't driving, her co-worker was.

Wayne went into work for a couple of hours. When he came home we went out shopping, then came home and wrapped them all.
I think we are all done...well I just have to get Wayne his gifts. Kind of hard to shop for him when he is with me. He told me he would look the other way, lol.

Kristy came home with a certificate as she made the Honour Roll. She also received a certificate for outstanding achievement in Mathematics. We are so proud of her.
All 3 of my girls have made the honour roll when they were in highschool :)

I had a nice chat with my dad and step mom tonight. They received my package that we sent out on Monday, and told me that all the turtles I had sent them were gone and they needed more, lol.

I apologize if I haven't visited your blogs. I just realized a lot of my comments are going into my Junk Folder. I have no idea why this is happening.
How I reply to most of you, is in my emails. I see a message from you, click on your name and that will take me to your profile, then to your blog.
So sorry. I guess I should check my junk folder more often. 

I hope you all have had a creative Wednesday :)

Tracy :)

Chocolate dipped pretzels anyone ;)

When Wayne and I were at the mall the other day I saw that Santa was reading a book to some young students.
This really touched my heart.
I love to read and encouraged my girls to read. I even volunteered when I was in grade 4-8 to help out and read and teach the younger grades to read. So this here, really touched me and made me smile :)

On Sunday Kristy and I made these Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Sticks :)
I am giving these containers to Wayne's dad and my dad for a little extra Christmas gift :)
I picked up these cute containers from Target when we were in the States. I also picked up these large pretzel sticks from the States, as I have not seen them here in Canada...well at least not in my area.

When I give, I like to give a bit to everyone instead of a lot to just a few.
So I decided to put them in these bags and make toppers for them. We were able to fill two containers and 12 bags instead of just 5 containers :)
I think Kristy is going to be giving some to her friends and the rest are going to be given out to those who visit us this holiday :)

Here is a video for a closer look. Plus there is a video tutorial on how I made these goodies :)

When we were out I noticed these ice lights.
As you can see they have melted. I can not believe how warm it is and because of the rain, "Yes Rain" almost all of our snow has melted.
I think Mother Nature has forgot that it is suppose to be Winter here, lol.
I am not complaining as I am not a lover of cold weather, but more snow would be nice....especially for Christmas.

Onto My Day:
Wayne and I went Christmas shopping and then came home and wrapped some gifts.
Besides that, our day has been pretty slow.
I am sitting here and can smell gingerbread baking in the oven. Kristy has been baking tonight.
Ashley and Kristy have scheduled baking every evening until Christmas.
Heather joins them every once in a while...but more of a taster than a baker, lol.

I hope you have all had a creative Tuesday :)

Tracy :)

The last of my Christmas cards...and another video

The last of my Christmas cards :)
They are all mailed out as of this morning and hopefully on their way to my family and friends before Christmas.
On this card I used a CC Designs image..they are so cute.
The Merry Christmas stamp is an old one from Michaels $1.50 section.
The decorative edge is part of a punch. I only used the edge of the punch though.

Another cute CC Designs image. I think I would have liked her better in red...can you tell that's one of my favourite colours ;)

I did a video on these cards and it also shows a comparison of my coloured images and the ones that I photo copied, as I ran out of time to colour some more up :)
Are you annoyed with my voice yet, lol.
Onto My Day:
After picking up a hot chocolate for Kristy on the way to dropping her off to school, Wayne and I went to the post office to mail away my parcel and Christmas cards.
Then we went and picked up some Christmas gifts.

I later went out for lunch at Applebees with my friends Lynn and Denise.
Then we all went to pick up our tickets for Scrap for Heart.
Scrap for Heart is a 15 hour crop with proceeds going to the Heart and Stroke foundation.
It isn't until February 2nd...Wayne's birthday..sorry honey ;)

I hope you all have had a creative Monday :)

Tracy :)

Altered Card Holder Box and a Video

I realized that I didn't share this altered recipe box with you.
Remember my greeting card set that I made for a Christmas gift?
Well I altered this recipe box for the recipient to hold them in.
The lady who will receive them isn't into fancy and frilly things..so as hard as it was, I kept it simple, very simple. It was so hard not to add a flower or two ;)
But I did add this drawer pull :)

I inked the wood with Distress Stain. It was the first time I had used it on wood and was really impressed on how well it worked on the wood.
I inked the edges of all the papers and even did some stamping on the paper.

I was able to fit 12 handmade cards and 12 envelopes.
Here is the video I did which I share a bit more.


Onto My Day:
My photos were finally ready to pick up. I ordered the photos of my girls and it was only suppose to take 1 hour to develop.  When I phoned they said with the Christmas rush it will take 24 hours.
That wasn't a problem. So phoned 24 hours later and was told it will take another 24 hours.
I still have to get my Christmas cards mailed out. So picked up the photos and put them all together and they are all ready to go in the mail tomorrow.
Then its time to sit back and relax until Christmas.....oh ya and I still have to go Christmas shopping, teehee.

Wayne and I did a bit of Christmas shopping, and I mean a bit, lol.
I have some out of town gifts to mail, so I got those together to mail off first thing in the morning as well.
Are you all ready for the holidays? I am far from it, but no worries ;)

Kristy and I did some baking...well my type of baking, which consists of melting chocolate, lol.
I will share those with you on another post :)

I hope you all had a creative Sunday :)
Off to watch the finale of Survivor :)

Tracy :)