Some More Projects!

Jessica went to a birthday party for a friend in her class on Saturday and I made this cute journal for her to give. It turned out sooooo cute I almost couldn't give it up! I used the new Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper and the Big Deal alphabet. So stinkin' cute!

The following things I made for my New Catalog Open House I had tonight. It was not well attended... even though I sent emails AND delivered invitations... bummer! No one likes to try new things here! It's sad. I did have three ladies there though and it was a lot of fun showing them how to complete the projects and discussing stamping and life. I had the most fun preparing for the event... since I never really get my stuff out here because there is NO WHERE to set it all up! Grrrr. Hopefully that will change soon! We're looking at renting off post now - a house with 4 bedrooms and lots of space. We'll see what happens!

Card I made for the event... used the Love You Much set, Happy Heart Day set and new heart punch!

I used the A Happy Heart set for the paper bag... and the new Candy Lane Designer Series Paper (which I LOVE!) This is my favorite time of year! I love hearts!!

I threw together this adorable box from a tutorial online... somewhere. I think it turned out so cute! Everyone wanted to take it home!

Reading More in 2009?

Are you planning to read more in 2009? I was looking at a blog today and saw this great list of books... "In April 2003 the BBC's Big Read began the search for the nation's best-loved novel, and they asked us to nominate our favorite books." Here is the list...

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien*
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen*
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling*
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee*
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne*
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell*
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis*
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier*
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame*
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens*
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott*
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell*
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling*
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling*
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling*
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien*
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck*
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl*
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen*
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen*
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery*
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald*
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell*
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens*
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett*
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer*
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding*
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar*
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy*
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker*
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl*
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl*
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White*
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway*
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery*
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens*
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence Life of Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle*
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews*

Are your favorites in this list? Personally, mine are not here! I love A Little Princess, Frances Hodgeson Burnett and Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, and Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott, and all the writings of Lloyd Alexander!! They did get a few right in there and I starred the ones that I have read in the past. There are quite a few that I still have on my "to read" list. What is missing from this list for you? What is on the list that you totally agree with!!? I'm glad they had Harry Potter books which I love and Jane Austen! Leave me a comment with the title and author of your favorite book or books (if you're like me and can't say just one!)!

Latest Creations!!

I've actually had some time to stamp! Yay! Here are some cute things I've made for a Stampin' Up! show I did last week! I am so in love with hearts! So sweet!

Pure Joy

Here are some priceless photos of my little sweetheart! She has finally gotten to the "make faces at the camera" stage. One of my favorite stages! Hee hee!!

Cool Chair

I went to help clean a girl's apartment last weekend and came home with this cool chair! I was excited. I also bought her dryer and sold it on Craigs' List! Yeah! I made 100 bucks so that was sweet! I love it when you can do stuff like that and it's really easy and things work out. We sold the dryer to a cute little couple and it was great knowing that they were getting a good deal too. I posted a bunch of old stamp sets on Ebay and I'm really hopeful that they will sell for more than I am asking... we'll see. I am really glad I finally found the time to get them on there! My sister motivated me because she's been selling her cards on Ebay! She hasn't made any real money at it... but she's getting quite experienced at how to do things and how Ebay works... pretty fun! Don't we just live in a great age?!

2008 in Review

Grabbed this from Nicole's blog and I was amazed by how HARD it was to come up with most of these answers!!! Give it a try if you get a chance!!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? We went to Six Flags over Atlanta

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? 
I kept a few... and will make more for this year... I'm just a list maker!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 
My sisters, Rebecca and Amy, Neice Lauren and Sister-in-Laws, Amy, Julie & Heidi

4. Did anyone close to you die? 
Yes, my grandfather

5. What countries did you visit? 
None. Again! Never been outside of the Continental U.S. Still. 

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? a smaller appetite! 

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 
April 5th and April 11th. Chris came home on the 5th and Miah was baptized on the 11th. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? 
Surviving deployment and moving us

9. What was your biggest failure? 
Still haven't scrapbooked all that I want to! 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Nope!

11. What was the best thing you bought? Smaller clothes!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? 
Jillian's! She learned to go potty!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? 
Every politician running for political office at every level. (I must agree Nicole!)

14. Where did most of your money go? 
Eating out... I hate cooking in the tiny hallway that passes for our kitchen! Grrrrr! 

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? 
Chris coming home from Afghanistan in April!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? 
All the songs from Guitar Hero! Especially "Ruby"!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? sadder
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter darnit!
c) richer or poorer? Poorer ... we never get richer!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? 
Reading

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? 
Eating junk.

20. How did you spend Christmas? 
With Chris and the kids

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? 
All over again with having a husband at home!!! Yeah baby!

22. What was your favorite TV program? 
Heroes

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
nah... hate is such a strong word 

24. What was the best book you read? 
Goose Girl, Enna Burning, & River Secrets by Shannon Hale

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? 
Love Joshua Radin

26. What did you want and get? 
I wanted Chris to come home and he did!

27. What did you want and not get? 
A Cricut!

28. What was your favorite film of this year? 
Ghost Town

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 
I went to lunch and dinner I think... and I was older. 

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? 
Can’t think of a thing. 

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Love watching "What Not to Wear" and I try to be like them... TRY 

32. What kept you sane? 
All my awesome friends!! Seriously!!

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? 
Dora the Explorer

34. What political issue stirred you the most? 
The appalling reaction to the Prop 8 victory in California. Hear hear!

35. Who did you miss? 
I miss my friends and family way too much!!!  

36. Who was the best new person you met? Kindra, Conny and all my new friends in our ward!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. 
You have to have Faith.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. 
I'm peanut butter and you are jelly.... (Inside Out PB&J song... was played over and over and over!)

Okay - your turn! How was your year?

My Beautiful New Dishes!

Chris and the kids picked out these beautiful dishes for me for Christmas! I just love them! First of all - they have SUNFLOWERS on them!! Secondly, they are just chunky and delightful! I was so thrilled with their choice! Love them!

My Favorite Gift

My favorite gift to make and give is my little pillows!! I made a bunch this year and sent them off. I was able to watch one friend open one though and the grin on her face made me so happy! (Her's says, "Always Kiss Me Goodnight") I think they turned out really cute this year! I'm getting better at making them and they sure are fun to see finished! Jessica made the American Girl one for her Aunt Sarah. She's even catching the embroidery bug!

Check out some of them!