Creations For Christmas From The Heart

It has truly been a relaxing time off from work.  My family and I have had a great time hanging out together and spending time with friends.  After I go back to work I definitely need to go on a diet since we've been eating so much good food.  LOL!  Well, before going back to work my family and I took down our Christmas tree and decorations.  Before putting away our Christmas cards, I took a picture of the handmade ones that I received and took pictures of the handmade gifts that I received.

All the cards that we receive each year are special, but I especially enjoy seeing all the hard work that friends have put into making a card for my family and I.  By the way, inside the above box my friend put a cake mix inside.  What a brilliant idea! Before ending this post I wanted to post a picture of some thing else handmade that one of my good friends made for me.  She made me a scarf.  Isn't it beautiful?

She not only makes awesome creations out of material, but also out of yarn and paper.  I hope to be as talented as she is when I grow up.  :) Thanks for stopping by today and for being part of my 2014!  I hope that each of you will have a 2015 that is full of God's blessings. Big hugs!

Enjoying My Time Prepping For Christmas

Happy Christmas Eve!  It has truly been lots of fun prepping for Christmas since I've been off from work.  It's been a lot less stressful with not needing to juggle both work and prepping for Christmas at the same time.  These are the tags that I have been making for the gifts that my family are giving to family and friends this year.

We often do not wrap our presents unless they are small boxes.  We generally put our gifts in bags so by making a tag for the gifts is our personal touch to them.  I choose to make tags each year that has some sort of Christian significance.  This year I chose to have a candy cane on my tag.  A candy cane has many religious meanings. Here a few of them which I think is the most meaningful to me.
First of all, when you look at a candy cane it is mostly white.  White is a symbol of purity.  That should remind us that Jesus was the spotless Lamb of God and that because he came to be the sacrifice for our sin, we can become as white as snow.  Second of all, when you look at a candy cane you notice that it has three red stripes.   The Bible tells us that before he was crucified, Jesus was beaten with a whip which made blood-red stripes across his back.  The Bible says that we are healed by those stripes.  The stripes on the candy cane should remind us that Jesus suffered and died, so that we can have everlasting life.
To make the tag I used several  die cuts that come in a set from My Favorite Things.  Besides the tag, candy cane, and topper die it comes with several other dies that you can coordinate together.  The holly stamp is from an old Stampin Up set.  The set is one of my favorites because it helps add the perfect finishing touch to many of my projects.  As I have been making my tags I have been munching of some of the goodies that friends have made/baked for me.  Receiving Christmas cookies, fudge, etc. is one of my favorite parts of the holiday.   Of course some of them are much too cute to eat. 

Besides making tags and enjoying Christmas treats,  I have been going out to dinner with family and friends. Here are some of my favorites-baby back ribs,

tritips (Both are from Stone Fire Grill.)

and Hawaiian bread French toast from Aloha Café.

Before ending my post for today I'd like to share a picture of our Christmas tree

and to wish all of you a blessed CHRISTmas and 2014.  God bless!

Fun and Creative Gifts

Two weeks ago I attended a monthly stamp club meeting at a friend's house.  As usual we had lots of fun chatting and stamping.  At the end of our time together before we had dessert we surprised each other with Christmas gifts.  This is what I made for each of the ladies.

Here is a close up picture of one of them

These are the fun and creative gifts that I received.

Here are pictures of our group.

Our group have all known each other for awhile now and have become good friends.  It's always a blessing seeing them each month.  I hope that all of you are having lots of fun getting ready for Christmas.  Thanks for stopping by!

A Disney Themed Retirement Party

A week ago was my friend Bonny's retirement party.  Bonny is a huge fan of Disney (Yes, she is an even bigger fan than I am.) so I made a card with Mickey on it using some of my punches.

In her honor all the decorations had a Mickey theme.  I think everything turned out really cute.

 

Here a picture of Bonny and I in our Disney themed attire.  :)

It was such a blessing working with Bonny.  Best wishes to her as she starts this new stage in her life. Thanks for stopping by!

Lady Bugs For Good Friends and An Ono Dinner With Them

Can you believe that Christmas is in 21 days?  Time is sure going by really fast.  I hope that everyone is having a good time getting ready.  I am trying to not get stressed and take it one day at a time.  Well, today I would like to share what I made for good friends that we went out to dinner with last week.  Both of them love lady bugs so I made them to of them using punch art.

In between the top and bottom punches I put a chocolate covered oreo.

Here is a picture of my hubby and I with our good friends.

We enjoyed an ono Italian meal together.

It was a very fun and memorable evening.   For those of you that live in SoCal stay safe from the rain and keep warm.  Have a blessed rest of the week!

In Honor of Thanksgiving

I hope that all of you are having a fun time preparing for Thanksgiving.  For those of you who know me knows that I don't know how to cook.  I can follow a recipe but without one I am in huge trouble.  LOL!  I always joke around with people that the only food that I can make that turns out well are ones made out of paper.  :) So for Thanksgiving I have not been cooking or thinking of what to cook but I have been busy making tags,

treats (I put Ghirardelli chocolate as the treat.  Each treat holder and tag was made using supplies from Stampin Up with exception of the rainbow pad that I used.) ,

and decorations

for family and friends to let them know how blest my family and I to have them in our lives.  Here are some of the goodies that my family and I have been blest to receive from  friends for Thanksgiving.

I hope that all of you will have blessed Thanksgiving and will take some time to reflect on what you are thankful for. There are many things, people, etc. that I thank the Lord for.  Some of these people that I am thankful for are the people in blogland which of whom I have become good friends with some of them.   Thanks for being such an inspiration!  Happy Thanksgiving!

October's Secret Sister Swap

It's awesome that Kathy D. has started up the Secret Sister swap again.  The first round was last month and I was very fortunate to have my friend Karen as my SS.  Check out the beautiful card that she made for me

along with the thoughtful RAK that she surprised me with.

My SS was Leanne.  We have not seen each other for awhile and kind of lost touch with each other so it was nice to be able to surprise her with this card. All the stamps and dies that I used on the card are from My Favorite Things.

Here is the RAK that I included.

I look forward to continuing to participate in the SS swap. Let me know if you are interested in joining in the fun.  Thanks for taking time to see what I have to share today.

A Lovely Afternoon at Chado Tea

I hope that everyone is having a nice long weekend in honor of Veteran's Day.  Today one of my good friends Esther and I went to high tea at Chado Tea.  Last night I decorated a tea pot for her

and made her a tag.

I put a pouch of green tea and a Hello Kitty pin from the Hungry Hunt into a bag for her.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship together

enjoying our teas (She ordered a some kind of black chai tea and I ordered lychee green tea.),

sandwiches,

scones, and desserts.  The egg salad sandwich and the smoked salmon one were our favorites.  We liked the salmon one so much that we ordered a second one.  Afterwards we walked around the tea room and some beautiful tea pots

and saw some tins of tea with Hello Kitty on them.

We were very fortunate that they only received 3 of them.  I purchased two and Esther purchased one.  Before heading home we gave each other the gifts that we made.  This is what she gave to me.

She put the little items inside the cute coffee cup

and gave me this super cute bag.

It's always lots of fun spending time with Esther and is such a blessing having her as one of my good friends.  Thanks for stopping by.