I am making the Christmas card that my school will be sending out this year.  I completed the last of the seventy-five cards last night.  

I cooked three batches of cornbread to dry out for stuffing along with two loaves of white bread. Then later in the evening, I remembered that I need a cake for today’s covered dish lunch at school. So, out came the cookbooks again. I came up with a cherry cobbler. Looks, and smells yummy! I as so thankful for my resourcefulness. 

I have several new creations to share.  I actually took some time for my stamping.  Here are this months Stampers Ten Club projects.  There are two different cards, one was for the Monday night club and the other was for Thursdays club.

These were all fun projects, if you didn't make it to club, you missed a good month.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. Zack and Sabrina stopped by as they were headed out for a Halloween party. They took a step back in time to the Bonnie and Clyde days. They were so cute together. I knew right away that Zack had on a zoot suit. 

Here is another of my Christmas cards that will be going out next month. I love the Ornament punch from Stampin' Up.

I manage to sneak 20- 30 minutes of creative time for myself every now and then. Most of the time, I just look at the project that I am working on and move a few things around on the table. But, my brain is taking it all in. I'll come back with a new idea and finish it up in a day or two.  Here is a little book to help me prepare for Christmas.  I'll be able to jot down everyone's wish list and keep it with me for shopping.  

I finally completed one of my Christmas cards.

Don't you just love this dear old Santa?  I believe in the magic of Christmas...
how about you?

My life continues to evolve around work.  I can't wait until my weekends and evenings are mine again.  I keep saying that I am not going to work at home, but . . . . I don't have any other time to do it. 

I will share with you this months projects.  I already have November's projects planned in my head, now to get the time to do the hands-on part. 

Well this card is definitely a step away from tradition. I made an all brown Christmas card. I didn't realize it until I went to photograph it. 

Happy 10th Birthday Catherine!

I guess you noticed that my granddaughter just turned 10.  We celebrated her birthday at my house on Sunday.  It was really nice to have all three of my sons and thier families here for the day.  I know Catherine had a great time.

I used Stampin' Up's new Christmas Scrapbook Kit, Decor Elements Blocks, and Decor Elements Holiday Mix rub-ons to create these. 

I emptied two rolls of ribbon and created this candy tube from them. I used more of the Stampin' Up Christmas paper. It matches the Christmas countdown calendar that I made yesterday. I just didn't distress it.

I made one of the countdown calendars for myself. I used the new Christmas paper by Stampin' Up. I distressed mine just a little bit. I like that new soft suede, it has just a teeny-tiny bit of green undertones. Lynnor had a great idea, create a countdown until the last day of school! We are so bad!!!!!

I haven't posted in a week. School is back in session for the 09-10 school year. There is so much that needs to be done and so many meetings to attend. I also have a new assistant to train. She is doing a great job. I just have to get administration to realize that she needs to be in the classroom, not running errands for them. I am fortunate to have an Intern from the University of West Florida this fall. That means I also am busy training her. I have so much I want to share with her that my brain seems to be churning all the time. I am totally worn out when I get home at night.

Here is the project that I will be teaching at Priceless Scrapbooks in September. I saw this on someones blog about two years ago. I printed it out, but I can't remember who's it was. Sorry! I used the Christmas papers by S.E.I, I believe they are called Winter Song. Start your countdown to Christmas with this sweet little calendar. You can start counting as far away as 99 days before Christmas. Don't let Christmas sneak up on you! Stay organized and be prepared for the big day by always knowing how many days you have left to get ready. Contact Trish at Priceless to sign up for this class.

I did a "Star Book" class for select family and friends at Debbie's house. We had a great time, and all the books turned out beautiful. I didn't take any pictures, but I will get a picture of mine soon. I was able to finish up my shopping and pick Catherine up for another night of bonding. I had a great time with the girls last night. We sang Christmas songs, made Reindeer food, dipped pretzels in chocolate, and baked chocolate chip cookies. Sonny and the girls had fun tormenting each other and climbing all over him. They love to get grandpa!

Making reindeer food, they can't wait to sprinkle this out on the lawn to entice Santa's reindeer. Here they are making the chocolate chip cookies. They turned out so yummy! Santa will love them, if there are any left. This is what a bowl full of hand dipped pretzels and chocolate chip cookies look like after the kitchen is cleaned and the little ones have a bath!

Here is the food for Santa's magical reindeer.

I enjoyed my weekend. I didn't get any crafting done. Madison and I did a little shopping Saturday evening and then we stayed up watching Open Season. Sonny, JP, and Tammy went camping. Here are a few pictures of Madison helping me make a batch of oatmeal cookies for her to share with her classmates. She was very proud of them. I will be sharing the Christmas Card Exchange cards with you this week. It takes some time to get them uploaded, so I'll do a few each day until I have shared all of them with you.

Most of you did not put your name inside your exchange card, so I will not attempt to identify them. You did a fantastic job, I'm excited to see you out there using all those wonderful stamps and designer papers. Thanks for participating.

I have had a very busy week so far. We had Monday night club and I taught a class at Priceless last night. It went very well, so I guess I teach something for her again next month. Here are a few thing that I made over the last few day, weeks, whatever. I can't keep up with time anymore...

Here are some of the jars of coffee creamer. These are the Chocolate Mint and the Malted flavors.

I got my first Christmas card last week. This one is from Selda

Gibbons. Is this not just as cute as it can be. I love getting handmade cards. Thank you Selda!

The house is still turned upside down. With Christmas coming, I stamp every spare minute I can. Sonny kept Madison Monday for Tammy and JP. I knew he would be worn out by the time I got home from work. She is such a good little girl, but he forgot just how much "watching" it takes with a three year old.

Here is a Gift Card Holder that I made. I should have taken a picture of the inside, but I didn't want to untie the bow. It measures 3" x 6 1/4" .

I finished my second set of card for the Christmas Card Exchange. I was looking for more of a nostalgic look. I used the same basic layout that I used on the other set of cards. The colors for this set are more in the cranberry tones. Here is a picture that I took of Catherine and Madison on Thanksgiving Day. I took my camera and two dead batteries. Well, so much for Thanksgiving pictures this year.

Here is the gold ornament tag that I made the other night. Tonight I worked on the other nine of my Christmas cards. It's a good thing I have an outlet...I have not had any fun at work lately. Today I set the phone on the corner of my desk and taped every students home number to the phone. I sure hope I can hang in there until Christmas. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I am sponsoring a Christmas card exchange. If you will be attending either of my Stampers Ten club meetings you can participate. Create 12 Christmas Cards for the exchange. They can be made with any stamp set. Be sure to bring them with you to club. Also, just a little reminder. Decembers Stampers Ten club meeting has been moved up one week so our orders have time to come in. Monday nights club will meet on December 8th, and Thursday nights club will meet on December 11th. If you have any questions call or email me.

I went straight to the grocery store when I left work today. I had to buy the ingredients to make the dressing. Next year I'll buy the turkey! I can't believe how much it all cost. I came home and baked three pans of cornbread, cut up three loafs of bread and laid it all out to dry for the dressing. Sonny is so sweet, he had a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich ready for me when I came in the door. I was starving too!

I did sit down and work on my Christmas cards. I have everything pulled out and scattered all over the dining room. I have decided to go with polar bears for one of my card exchanges. (By the way..... I have to participate in two card exchanges (24 cards). So, don't expect any sympathy when you tell me you just didn't have time to get 12 done! lol I think I'm going to go back and add some glitter. Here are three of the ones that I have finished. The first two have a plain background, but I decided to use the canvas background instead.

I've been busy, busy, busy this weekend. I think that once I show you everything I've created you will forgive me for not blogging for the last few days. I will start with Novembers Stamper's Ten club projects. This sweet little box is called "Piece of Cake" The name fits the box. This card uses two of my favorite 2008 In Colors, Pacific Point and Baja Breeze.

The color for the weekend was last years Cranberry Crisp. So basically, I was lazy. The cranberry crisp was out, so that's what I used. lol This box measures 3 1/4" x 1 3/4" x 4". Perfect for a Christmas surprise!

This Mini Scrapbook is ready to fill with your favorite Christmas pictures. I just "had" to work on my Christmas cards. I am still searching for that perfect one. I used Stampin' Up retired set called "Peace", and chunky glitter to create this one. I made a few little note cards too. These are shaped like Christmas tree decorations. I forgot to take a picture of the gold and black one, so I'll post it later. Here is the Cranberry Crisp note card.