Wednesday we lost our pup of 16+ years Ginger RIP 1996-2012 Our beloved pup of 16 years. She was a strong survivor. We still called her a pup for a reason. Half chow chow/ half German shepherd she was beautiful, like a furry coyote. Fierce family protector, loving to her family. I remember when I called her sweetie early on and Rory got mad and said "I'm Sweetie!" She was Rory's daily work companion, and my craft partner. She like to lay on the floor wrapped around our chairs to the point that we were trapped at our desks. She loved winter and the snow. I could go on. Having her in our lives for 16 years was such a blessing. <3 U Ginger!

Gifts Wrapped - check! These cute boxes Stampin' Up! Carried a few seasons ago. They are wax coated and food safe. I bought them from the Clearance Rack for .99 for a five pack. I bought a lot of them. They have been rather handy. While I cannot reveal their contents they were the perfect size. The tags were made quickly. The red circles were leftover from a project a long time ago. Glad I saved them. It made it quick assembly. The stamp set was a hostess set from the 2011-12 catalog. It seemed to fit. The rest is current items. It all came together quickly. I like them. Need tag ideas for your gifts? Contact me for ideas. I would be glad to help.

Another quick and cute card made at my uplines Christmas party. The fluff is made by folding the tulle ribbon in half or almost in half for a fuller layered look. You will need a jumbo sticky round and 12-18 inches of the tulle. I love the tulle and hope we see more in the future. It is available until the end of the year in the mini catalog. Remove one layer of the sticky round and place on your project. Place end of tulle in middle of circle pinch tulle and place. You can do even pleats but I like the less perfect look. Keep going until all ribbon is used. You can peel off tulle and redo if you don't like the look. This would be beautiful for a wedding, or other elegant event.

This was a card made at my uplines holiday party. It is super quick. You just need the card base and one layer (optional) and the tags set, one greeting to stamp - greetings of the season stamp set, rhinestones. I did run the gumball green layer thru and embossing folder to up it a bit. If you want to be super quick you can just use notecards and the tags and add some bling. 25 tags. 20 notecards

O.0 That moment when you realize you made your coffee too strong!

This is the first time I have ever worked with live greens and birch decorating for Christmas. It was fun getting dirty outside today. Except for the live items all the rest was stuff I had on hand. The ribbon was extra from a project a million years ago. The birds were decorations I bought for my fathers funeral earlier this year. The dried flowers I plucked from his funeral arrangement. The flag was also bought for the funeral. My intention was just a decoration but it kind of ended up to be an homage to my dad. Seems fitting now. My daughter worked with the arrangement. She is the one who put the flag in and the birds perched. Bending over so much my back was getting irritated. I had a few leftover pieces and made a small arrangement for the table that sits by the front door. Now I would like to get a few loose birch logs and wrap a ribbon around them for the door. The boys worked on yard stuff. Normally an all white light kind of gal I changed things up and added a string

My upline made this adorable pin out of products from the Stampin' Up! Holiday mini catalog. Using the mitten punch, bakers twine, cherry cobbler scalloped tulle ribbon, sticky rounds, circle punch and houndstooth embossing folder. So cute and super easy.