PAM! What would I do without you and your word blooms!! I just finished my last one for the year. I can't even count how many I've done or Maggie has done. We are heading to Houston on New Year's Day to celebrate Christmas with Tom's family. I just finished this "grandkids" word bloom for Tom's mom and thought I would share some of it with you. Grandma I hope you don't look at my blog until after New Year's Day!!! No peeking!!

Wonderful Christmas Eve with Family!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!
It was touch and go on Tuesday night. My nephew and his fiancee were stuck in New York trying to get to Austin. It didn't happen. Their flight was canceled, but they were able to fly out of New York Wednesday morning and fly all the way to L.A. and then fly to Texas. Weird! But it worked. They arrived around 6ish on Christmas Eve and we had the best evening together! It was Carolinne's first time to Texas and Maggie and I made her a TEXAS Word Bloom (thanks Pam). She was thrilled!! I got wonderful treasures from Madagascar, India, and Kyoto. My nephew is a photographer in New York and travels all over the world. And, of course, Maggie brought back many treats from Madagascar for everyone.

It's the day before Christmas Eve and all is well. Maggie is spending the day completing her baskets with her baked goodies! She has baked poppy seed bread for at least the last 8 years. She is adding puppy chow to her treats this year!

My nephew and his fiancee are flying in from New York tonight. She is from New Jersey and this will be her first real visit to Texas. We are fixing a fajita feast for Christmas Eve in honor of Carolinne!

I was shopping at Michael's last week and discovered these awesome wooden star ornaments at 60% off and thought they would be fun to stamp. I bought all they had!! Here's an example!

I hope each and everyone of you have a safe, healthy, and happy holiday!!

Brrrrrrr! What's up with this weather? I woke up feeling like I was in a refrigerator this morning and have been trying to get warm all day. It does feel like Christmas is around the corner. Hopefully tomorrow, with Maggie's help, we will get most of the packages wrapped and under the tree and spend the rest of the day finishing our handmade presents.

Saturday was so much fun! I spent the entire time making Texas iris folding cards. I never get tired of making them because with each new set of papers a completely different card is created.

On last week's many visits to Hobby Lobby, I discovered these wonderful Texas snowmen. I just couldn't resist them. They reminded me of our business and who knows next year's Christmas stamp just might have to be a Texas snowman!!

"Slice" Playing

I finally got to play with my "Slice" today - for the first time! It's a sad affair when you have a new toy and can't find the time to play with it! I have 4 cartridges, but only played with the Christmas cartridge today. Here's a sample of the fun I had!!

It's very easy to use. Some reviewers don't like the fact that you have to hold it while it cuts. I personally enjoyed it and it doesn't take very long. I did notice that after using the blade about 6-7 times, the thicker paper did not cut as thoroughly as the thinner paper. Experience and use will determine how long a blade last.

CLOSE CALL!!

Good morning friends,

I had a scary phone call this morning. It was from the fraud unit at Chase regarding my VISA card. Around 6:30 this morning, someone made about 5 charges to places like World Singles Service, American Singles Service, and Odyssey Bar. Fortunately, the staff at Chase were on the ball, flagged these purchases and called me. The representative said these were classic examples of fraudulent activity on a card. The "not so good" news is they had to shut down my account. The "good and grateful news" is the representative was so helpful and said they would ship new cards overnight, delete the charges, and dismiss any penalties. The "awesome" news is they caught it within 3 hours of purchases. All this to say, check your purchase activities on a regular basis! It could have been a sad holiday, but thankfully it will be a happy one!!!

Shopping and Creating

Maggie and I had a wonderful day today Christmas shopping, creating Heart of Texas Word Blooms and making ceramic coasters with our Texana Designs stamps. I've spent so much time preparing for and participating in bazaars this Fall that no time was left for filling our craft orders for Christmas - until today! Here are a few of the coasters that customers have ordered.

It's truly been a therapeutic day of creating for us!

End Result of Our Stamp-making Day!

So, here's the final product! They're not beautiful, but they are handmade and stamp beautifully!

STAMP-MAKING DAY AT THE MITCHELL'S HOUSE

It's been a long weekend and I thought I would be tired today. But -- I'm so excited about Tom's progress on making custom stamps that I've forgotten to be tired. I thought I would share with you what he has been doing this morning. If stamp-making goes as planned, I will have samples and order forms by the December 13th "Scrappy" just in time for Christmas!!

I took pictures of Tom making the stamps today and thought I would post them. It's quite an interesting process and a very delicate and tedious process. Timing is most important - along with patience!

It all starts at the computer and printing on a transparency.

Then, placing and pouring the special liquid. It's so hard not to get bubbles and very tedious to get them out! After exposing them under a UV light and a little peeling, washing, and drying - Voila! Sometimes the bubbles grow and you have to start all over again. Sometimes the letters peel off during the process and you have to start all over again. Sometimes everything works and it is a happy feeling!!!!

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY, KENNY!

Oh my, how the years do fly by. My youngest is 18 today and going to college in September. He has decided on the University of North Texas in Denton. Did you know that UNT is home to the largest music school in the nation? And did you know that Paste Magazine named Denton, Texas the number one music city in the nation for 2008? Yeppers!! Even though Kenny is interested in majoring in psychology (specializing in sleep disorders), he is a passionate musician. He's been playing guitar since he was 6, and also loves to play piano, drums and a variety of unique instruments. I do believe he will fit right in.

On another note, Maggie and I have a booth at the Teravista Elementary School Holiday Bazaar (across from IKEA) this Friday (3-8) and Saturday (9-4). If you are out and about, drop by. We will have our stamps and other creative goodies, Janet's tea bag folding and iris folding kits, and Marie's stickers. There are around 26 vendors participating. Hope to see you there!!

Finally going to try this again!

I'm tired of seeing all of my friends wonderful blogs and I have nothing on mine. It makes me feel lazy. So, here's my first shot at it.

First of all, my wonderful daughter is home safe and sound from Madagascar with many, many stories to tell. Not to mention that she brought back a few friends with her in her belly, but we are in the process of telling them to go back to Madagascar!!

I've been keeping busy doing bazaars while Maggie has been gone. Thanks to my friend Janet, I was able to make these Texas gifts tags by using her Cricut machine for the dye cut and embossing our mini Christmas boot stamp to add a nice touch.

I've been making Desk Calendars for about 5 years now and was thrilled when we were able to use our own stamps to make the calendars. Our calendars were a big hit at the Granbury Christmas Bazaar.

With the Texas Word Bloom from "Heart of Texas Studio" and our Texana Designs stamps, I had so much fun creating this Christmas in Wimberley album. I made it into kits and took them to Granbury. They were gone within one hour!!!! Thank you Pam for making life more fun with your Word Blooms!!!