My California Trip...

I had the most wonderful extended weekend! I got to go to California for 5 days!!!

The first stop on my trip was Ontario for the Scrapbook Expo! I had never been to an event like this and was totally stoked about going. Then I started seeing a bunch of chatter about how the shows were disappointing this year because they were so small and the industry was under representd blah blah blah. Well, to my eyes, this was not a small show!!! I was in Paper Heaven!!! I loved everything I saw and got to do. So many wonderful products to play with and to purchase.....Of course, I spent too much money but I got some lovely products and some great ideas for gifts for this holiday season! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and each night after the show I got to play with all the new goodies in my hotel room! Perfect for me!

The second and really most important part of my trip was to Calabasas to visit my baby girl. She is 23 and a recent graduate of Pepperdine University. Though she was raised as a Texan, she was (like her sister) actually born in California. She had the desire and the drive to go back to CA for college and made her dreams come true! Since graduation she has decided to stay in CA for the forseeable future. Though I am not happy about her staying there, I am sooooo proud of her for pursuing her dreams that I am totally okay with her being there (for a while). We got to have a wonderful day of just being together and talking which was very good for both of us and then we got to go to Disneyland which was VERY GOOD for both of us!!!

I am glad to be home in my own space where I can really relax. And even though I miss her something fierce, I know my baby girl will be 'home' for Christmas in just a few short days!!!!!

I have posted a couple of pictures of the cute things I made while on the road! Hope you enjoy!

This is an advent calendar made from a muffin tin! Was a cute kit I got at the show and made in the hotel room that night. Quick and easy but so clever! Uses circles cut from magnet sheets to cover each hole. Lots of layering of pretty papers and various styles of numbers makes a really striking piece.

Just a couple of quick cards. One with lots of layers and one from circles punched from scraps.

Altererd clock! Took a cheap Target clock apart, poked a hole in a dinner plate charger and attached the clock works. Then hot glued mini ornaments around for the numbers! Time consuming but easy! Will be making more of these. I did this one for my daughter and her roomies. The wall over their kitchen sink was absolutely white and bare. Nobody should have to look at a bare wall while doing dishes!!!

Hope you enjoyed this little ramble!

Be Blessed and have a chirpy day!

Happy November!!!!

Wanna see the cutest things in the whole world?  If the answer is yes just scroll down if the answer is no then come back another day!!!

It will be no secret to anyone who looks more than once at this blog that I simply adore my children and grandchildren!  Today I have nothing more to show you than the grands' adorable costumes from Halloween this year.  Now you need to know that Jack and Dottie's parents are professional photographers and graphic artists so these will never be just your run of the mill snapshots that I share of the grands!

First up, Jack aka Captain America!  He is such a wonderful little boy (all boy) with an incredible imagination.  I feel sure that he will be a producer or director when he grows up because his playtime fantasies are always spectacular productions!  His mommy took the pictures and his daddy added the cinemagraphic touches!  This is the second in a series of posters that Jack has done for Halloween.  I will come back in the next week or so and share last year's shot of him and of his baby sister!

Disclaimer time--Jack was never in harm's way!  All the extra stuff is CG done by his dad!

Then there is Dorothy.  She used to be quite easy to photograph, just put her someplace and make her smile and snap the shot.  At 18 months, she has decided that she has been too soft on us.  The "Terrible 2's" are starting to show up and for this session although she was at least all smiles, she refused to do her "Rawr" pose.  Oh well, still so much sweetness that diabetic coma is a danger!

My daughter and son in law are so very talented.  They excell in spontaneous beauty and capturing the fleeting moments in life.  I encourage you to check out their blog at McGowanImages.com  I don't think you will be disappointed!

Be blessed and have a chirpy afternoon!

The Nan

What a wonderful day to have been in the Lord's house!  There is nothing so energizing and encouraging as meeting together with fellow believers in Christ speding time worshipping and praising Him!  I pray that you have a church home and that you were blessed to be there today!

Now on to the craftiness--I have signed up for a total of 3 swaps on the messageboards that I participate in since I got into papercrafting.  One I have completed and in the process gained a lovely new friend that I enjoy 'talking' to online.  That swap was 15 words that had to do with Fall.  It stretched my imagination and luckily, my partner was a total champ at teaching me the ropes of swapping!  It was a good way to get my feet wet.

I am currently working on a swap that is the 12 Days of Christmas--talking about stretching.  I am sure that if you come back at the end of November when I am through with that one and post some pictures, you will have no doubt that I am totally out of my gourd!  I am really pushing the limits on making things for each day of the song!  Doesn't everyone think of frogs when they sing '10 lords a leapin'?

I have just finished a tag swap where we were to make 4 tags for a partner.  The themes were Angels, Christmas, Snowmen, New Year's.  I am posting some pictures of my tags here tonight and I hope that if GrammaP, my partner, peeks that she will be pleased with what she sees.  I totally enjoyed making these tags and am now addicted to this quick craft.  There are so many ways to use a tag and they are just so easy to do!

I hope you enjoy my creations.  Please let me know what you think!

Be Blessed and have a Chirpy week!

 

There is a first time for everything.....

Here you go.  This is the first entry on my first blog.  I will tell you right from the start, I am not a blogger.  I like to look at other people's blogs and marvel in the creativity of others, but I am not a consistent journal keeper or diarist or status updater, so this will be hit and miss.

That being said, I do craft on a regular basis and I love showing off my creations so I may be fairly faithful to posting here.  We will just have to see.

I am not going to do a lot of explaining how I do everything, most of you will already be better at all of these things than I am.  I will be happy to answer questions about my creations at any time though!  Now My first creative uploads.......

I am the proud owner of a brand new Cricut Expression.  I have been playing with it for about 3 months now and I love everything that I have been able to do.  This is my first batch of CHRISTmas cards for this year.  As a novice, I am quite proud of how they turned out.

Around our small community, I am known as the Christmas Lady.  Our pastor has even dubbed our house as the "House of Lights".  Christmas is my very favorite time of year and I plan and shop all year long for just the right new sparkly touches to my displays.  I am an AVID Santa collector.  I currently have around 650 in my collection of figurines, pictures, and ornaments.  I have several hundred books about Santa as well.  The next few pictures are of my Christmas house from 2010.  It was pretty amazing but I am already planning for this year to be even more spectacular!  Enjoy the sparkles and watch for me to post some more of my creations in the next few days. 
Be Blessed!
The Nan