Stampin' with Carol

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.  — Joey Adams

Christmas at our house

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  We sure did!  We celebrated with my husband's family on Saturday and since my family is in FL, we do our celebrating over the phone.  On Sunday night, we had dinner with a friend of mine, her boyfriend, and daughter at Northwoods.  We had a really nice time!  The girls hadn't seen each other in a while, so they enjoyed their time playing and coloring. 

On Christmas Eve, Sammie and I ran a couple quick errands to get presents for Kramer (the dog) and Nemo and Bullet (the goldfish).  We also needed batteries and some icing to finish our gingerbread Santa's stable.  Stay tuned for thos pictures!  We also did some baking.  I made a sour cream coffee cake which is a family tradition on my side for Christmas morning.  Then we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.  Sammie spread the reindeer food.  We read a book about Santa's reindeer, set out the milk, cookies, and carrots...then off to bed!  She was so excited all day, she was absolutely giddy!  What a great age for all the Santa traditions!

On Christmas morning, Sammie was the first one up (big surprise there, right?).  I let her go down and peek at the tree.  She came back and said she found "three pieces of evidence that Santa was here".  Ready....

1. The fireplace screen was open.
2. The cookies, carrots, and milk were gone.  Only crumbs left behinid.
3. More presents around the tree.

She was so excited she missed the little present Santa left by her bed on the dresser.  We got Dad up and off we went to open presents.  Sammie also found a bell by the fireplace.  She's unsure if it came from Santa or one of the reindeer.  She's really put a lot of thought into how it got there.  Needless to say, the presents were a hit.  Santa got her a couple of things she wanted and Mommy did pretty good, too.  Kramer even opened his own presents and seemed pleased with the bone.  We had the coffee cake and eggs for breakfast and then spent a good part of the afternoon opening those gifts and unwrapping wire ties, cutting little clear rubber bands, ripping open cardboard boxes...fun, fun, fun.  We made a homemade thick crust pizza for dinner and it was good!  We haven't done that in a while. 

And that's it.  A very nice quiet holiday with just the three of us.  Here are a couple pics of the Santa's stable that we made.  I bought the kit and we assembled and decorated it.  I'm pretty proud of how it came out.  I think it's pretty cool!

   

On to the New Year!

-Carol

• I've added a Christmas photo album over on the right side.  Check it out for more pics!
• Here's a couple of great Christmas books.  We really enjoyed them.   Santa's Reindeer  Santa Claus

    Merry Christmas!

Before we head out...

here are the refrigerator magnets I made for my BIL's families...

We're celebrating Christmas with them tonight and I just got these finished up and thought I'd share.

-Carol

It's here! It's here! It's here!

My boxes of preordered catalogs arrived today!!  Woo Hoo!!

But why did the UPS man ring the bell?  Well, to borrow a shovel to try and get unstuck from driveway!

UPS truck...really stuck!  We tried shoveling, kitty litter, cardboard...no luck.

Finally, a towtruck comes to pull them out.  Slow process.

Turned them around, loaded them up...

Bye Bye, UPS!  Thanks for the cattys!!

The aftermath...

So, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.  I'm sure they thought I was nuts taking pictures.  I tried to explain how this would be funny in a couple hours...to a bunch of Stampin' Up! demonstrators and customers!  They both had good humor about it and didn't complain once.  Go UPS!!

-Carol

It's almost here...

Christmas, that is!  The excitement is building around here.  Having a 5 year old in the house sure makes for some fun times!  She's so excited about every little thing.  Too Cute!

Today we are headed to the Morton Arboretum (www.mortonarb.org).  I'm looking forward to seeing it covered in snow.  They also have a model train exhibit and some decorated trees.  Sammie really enjoys having lunch there, too.  She loves their mac and cheese and the dining room overlooks a lake.  Very nice! 

So, I hope your enjoying the holiday season.  I'm glad to have my shopping done and gifts are heading to Florida and Connecticut on time!  We celebrate with my husband's family on Saturday.  I need to get working on the wrapping!!

-Carol

Check this out!

I'm on a roll...

Snowman gift bag...

Gift tags...

 

And a tag made by my Sammie (I tied the bow, although not very well)...

-Carol

More stamped stuff!!

Here is a cute little bag made from a piece of retired designer series paper that's been scored and folded.  Super easy!

Gift card holders!  Love them!

   

   

And lastly, some gift tags and another gift card holder.

Don't be surprised to see some of these projects at the Bags, Tags, and More class on Saturday.  Last day to RSVP is today!

-Carol

Some stamped items...

...for you to look at.

This is my grab bag gift from my upline's Christmas party that I attened this past Friday night.  Angela made this and used the Happy Me Simply Scrappin' Bundle.  How cute is that?!  Can't wait to add Sammie's picture to the clipboard. 

Here is one of the make and take projects we did.  You use the tag punch and small tag punch to make the snowflake.  Mine is a little lopsided!  :)  But it's fun to make!

When I was in Florida, a demonstrator down there, Vicki Hawhee, was nice enough to allow me and my Mom and sister to attend her customer appreciation event.  I have attended a couple of her classes before.  This is the snowman soup pouch we made with a chocolate dipped spoon.  Yum!

We "whisk" you a Merry Christmas!  We made this at Vicki's house, too.  Cute little gift idea! 

 

Vicki also showed us how to make a CD holder.  I made this one after getting home.  It's perfect for putting that photo CD inside of for Grandma and Grampa. 

Don't forget to sign up for Saturday's Bags, Tags, & More class!  I'll be posting some more stuff tomorrow.

-Carol