Xmas.. Came and Went..... Wow..

Happy Holidays everyone...hope yours was as great as mine...
As usual I spend it with family and this year it was no different...only change was that instead of my daughter's place they wanted to come here..bigger place....(mom's dream). I always want them to come over but due to family obligations, school and work they are not here as often as I would like so this was awesome for dh and me...
We had so much fun...we have laughed til tears were sliding down my face... everyone was in great spirits ( well my daughter was starting a cold) we watched a movie, played games and opened presents!!!!! yay... we did not go out and spend lots of money...there wasn't any really... but what we did was think of cute and imaginative gifts...things we refurbished etc... for example my computer only has two usb hookups- I always complain cause I have to do a few things and then I have to wait.. for example to recharge my IPOD and download any pics, hook up my external drive etc.. so guest what I got yay... a HUB in shape of a whale... my son and his girl got us each one, put them all in a grab bag and eyes closed we picked one...I got a red one...yay..dh a purple and so forth...my daughter picked a white one... and creative one that she is came back next day and showed us what she did...she used her alcohol inks and painted it...it's gorgeous... my daughter got a new computer from her dh and her dad and I gave her a new computer bag (this new comp was wider so old bag did not have space for all..) we always give the kids socks and for the boys belts and everyone sweats/hoodies... they always look out for them hahaha I wonder what will happen the year we don't... We have a "Old Navy" store close by and they had a great sale so we just stocked up... I made "6x6" picture albums for the girls (and club girls too) and they came out cute.... everyone seemed to like them. My honey gave me an adorable Penguin speaker for my comp and IPOD (well I think I can use it anywhere since it came with several cords/hookups..but what do I know... I also got a great gift from my daughter and fam... I lost my mini printer cable and have tried to find it online but couldn't (it comes with the printer only...special I guess) my daughter beg and beg the manufacture and they sent her one... yay. there is a Santa Claus at that place...lol ... My son received a new (refurbished) laptop from us... here is what I mean.. My dh had a 2nd laptop he got in July super sale and what we did was just remove any personal stuff and re-boxed it... It was really a few months old..new.., my husband takes care of his electronics like they were his babies! lol.. my son was ecstatic...his had gotten so messed up a few months ago..cable and screen case trashed (he dropped it I think...) then he got a major virus mess and lost so much data, project school videos etc... anyway with his studying all the time he needed it... Oh my I forgot to mention ( bad mommy) he just graduated from "Paramedics" so now he is EMT, Fireman and a Paramedic... so he deserved it..
There were so many other gifts pasted along, lots of funnies and practical things GPS, perfume, telephone, a cool e-book machine, regular books (got the Lost Symbol -by Dan Brown) sports cups and pj's, hand held games, watch, what my daughter calls gadgets ( swiss army knives, camera, (yes I got a new camera-red) etc..and of course the FOOD... yummy, great Xmas and great weekend... the best gift I can honestly say is the love we all shared and the closeness we all felt....

So sorry did not realize how long winded I was...happy I guess....so how was your Xmas..?

Thank you for stopping by.. took lots of pictures and will download them later today.. got to get the camera ready for NEW YEAR!
Have a great time and please above all be SAFE..

hugs

Nana

The Smell of Xmas is in the air...

Holidays are really flying by.. Halloween gone, Thanksgiving gone and now Xmas is almost upon us... How has it been for you?...feel like it's just too quick?...
Considering the economy around here... I could use more time...*sigh* oh well..

I don't even know what my family wants or needs... they seem to be tight lip this year.
That is probably due to....not wanting anything? maybe they like me can't believe it's here already? whatever I am clueless.. but that's not new...lol.

The club is easier since we always give each other something handmade and are always talking about what we will make for ourselves when we get the chance... so I am working on some albums in their colores which are easy... gotta go into my craftroom and keep at it.. when I get some pictures I will post them but everything is still not put together...

Off to get the creative juices flowing...will make a stop by the kitchen and take a slice of homemade pumpkin pie and enjoy while crafting... yummy..

As always, thank you for stopping by and please leave your comments, really love them.

Hugs

Updates for now

Well, Halloween is over and so are my crafts for this occasion...I manage to do three projects and that's good for one-night a week crafting... We at the club have had some back sliding with someone always being out for one or two nights...pictures were barely taken yesterday but the projects were done on time...10-30..cutting it close!







Regardless we finished the Halloween "envelope" mini album pic #1-2, notice on the top the envelope flaps, the "kit" album pic 3-4 and I did a tri fold card.. (had to do something meanwhile)...picture 5.
I decided I still want to add the ribbons and pictures on the albums but that is being done already today...

Our next project we are currently working on is a recipe box that actually will be an idea box... Each time we have an idea of what we want to do, we can fill a card with design info like color, design etc then when we discuss a new project we whip them out and present it, take a vote and that is it... so interesting lol... Michaels had a sale a couple months back and the boxes were $.49 each so you just can't beat that.. and the idea is to decorate with our leftover scraps... I am not really happy with what I am doing, someone had suggested mosaic so I tried and for me it is yuck.. not my cup of tea, at least what I have done so far.. the girls did well...I just might redo the top..
but not sure yet...

I am having problems downloading the pics right now but will keep trying... Edit never mind did it.... sorry lol

Changing the subject for a moment...has anyone read James Patterson..I think it is the newest one that is out, well to me, "Cross Country" I just started it and it is great just like all his others based on his "Cross" character... since I have seen the movies with Morgan Freeman I always imagine his voice when reading...happen to you? I can almost see him reading...ok ok I do have a vivid imagination..

I also on occasion go to the library and take out the cds and the voice there I swear sounds like him somewhat...well to me anyway...lol...
I love to read and inspired my daughter to be a bookworm too..though we each have different taste somewhat as we got older... She likes mystery gory vampires...like the series of Vampires by Anne Rice...I only saw the movie of Lestat " Interview with a Vampire"...I like my vampires like "Twilight" cute and kind...lol As a child I like Dracula,Frankenstein so I don't know what happen to me I hate to watch any of the Halloween..Friday 13th she loves them... .. When it comes to Patterson we love his Cross series.. We also love the Nora Roberts books.. mostly me...humm maybe I should add a side bar title of favorite authors or books... OF course I need to go to my home library and check cause I tend to forget the authors or the titles...gosh it's hard getting old!
I have a huge amount of paperbacks.. and a growing amount of hardcovers and I just donated over 100 books to the locate library and sold in a garage sale quite a bit... didn't like doing it but needed money and once I started to take a few books out it snowballed...wow a job...





Well bloggers I hope you enjoyed my fun too, hope to share more with you soon.. Thanks for stopping by...and leave a comment why don't you..

Nana

Altered Divas Craft Club

Hi all...hope everyone is well and scraping or cross stitching and having fun..
Yeah that's our club name, not very original but aptly put!

I have been continuing on my scraping kick ( let's see how long I last at this) lol.
Life is still same old same old.. maybe a little tougher since the longer I am out of work ....well you know.... I thank the girls at my Scrap & Bitch club for keeping me sane...at least seeing them once a week gets me to see and do something different and fun to distract me from it all for a few hours.. especially my daughter she is so precious and she just keeps me going.. If it weren't for her and the rest of my family I'd be mush brained and...
Well, onward and upward & all that...
Like I said I would do last post these are some of the pictures of projects we have and or been working on..

This was the 4th of July Album we did and actually finished on time...lol and...Our 2010 Planner/Organizer, mine was named "Plan It Scrap It" also finished and since it's for 2010 we are actually ahead..yay!









Also a Halloween album made from card stock...don't you just love Frankie? he is made from Quick Kutz...so cute...We are working on two more Halloween books.. one is made from envelopes and one was a kit from Michael's..pictures of those when we finish them...

Since it was/is the yearly cruise vacations time of 2 of the girls...one just came back from a 15 day trip (oh my we missed her) and the other one leaves next week for a week but will miss this week getting ready...My dd and I couldn't stay without doing something so we did the envelope one and introduced it to the girls who immediately started theirs..
We are really falling behind our planned scheduled projects since we always help each other catch up even if it is just cutting paper or punching holes.
My dd is the projects manager and instructor... the others are refreshment coordinators and me... I just try to keep up!....lol
Thank goodness that my stash for scrap booking was pretty good before this economic crisis so I can always contribute some supplies (my dd always manages to give me something) In fact just Thursday she gifted me with the new (not sure when it came out actually) craft tote from three birds... we saw them in a class we took last Saturday called "Twilight" by Marah Johnson..thank you darling daughter.... I had so much fun...pretty and dirty... here is a picture of the album...drooling still..
Notice the paint and glitter stains, this was after several washings with wipes...my face even had glitter!

Well bloggers I hope you enjoyed my fun too, hope to share more with you soon.. we changed our club night to today Saturday so hopefully we finish a book and I'll take pictures... also should start either our recipe box, club event album or card box... we changed the order so not sure where we are...remember I just show up! lol

As always, thank you for stopping by and please leave your comments since they are the only way I will know you have stopped and shared with me...after all they are the footprints of where you have been and ...I really love them..

Good Grief!

I can't believe that at least 1/2 the year has gone by and I have not blogged...wow
I still continued to stitch but I just wasn't blogging about it ...so sorry to all who actually like to hear me talk....( not my family lol)...
Well to catch you up like I said I actually did stitch but not a whole lot truthfully... I decided to take a break and go back to scrapping for awhile....
I rejoined my Scrap and _itch Club... Made contact with the other girls and fired them up.... yes I am the instigator in this group...lol..
It has been life sent... or mental sent??? I have something to brighten my week and in July we finished our first project.. it is a July 4th paper album...
We had started in June but the first 2 meetings went in catching up and gathering supplies... we met on Wednesdays and had to change to Fridays... We kept staying longer and longer and two members including the house owner worked the next day... Friday was a better fit... True I can't seem to get a job to save my life but then two other members lost their jobs...bummer... One luckily did find another but Debs and I are still unemployed... One of the reason I look forward to these meetings so I can forget about the problems... We now actually stop no earlier than 1:30am so you can almost call it a midnight crop ( I've been known to get home 2-3am with dh sleeping away and not any wiser lol)
Our second project is a yearly planner, it came out so beautiful... third project a flip flop album... still working on that one but it just needs the pictures and some bling....adorable...The owner of the house Nan just took off on an 18 day cruise so we are meeting at my house this Friday (gosh I gotta really move some stuff around to fit) and I guess next week someone else... Oh I forgot...for Labor day we decided the group needed a getaway so we went to Fort Myers Beach, one of the girls has a time share and had already booked it so my daughter and I joined them and we did a 12hr scrapathon...we were exhausted but really happy... I fell into a coma when I got home and saw my bed.. Dh just laughed. We will be working on putting the finishing touches on "Flip-Flop" and starting hopefully the new project... I think it an file folder project cause "teacher" asked to gather 4 folders or we will start our Halloween but that is not big so I am not sure...
Well that's my life away from stitching so far.. I have managed to work on my craft room and the closet is done, packed and unavailable...lol (I just can't seem to get rid of the stuff/crafts I no longer use..(I hear a garage sale coming up)
Followers / loyal friends thank you for listening..

Are there any scrappers among you... if so let me know.. ok now these are just a few pics I have on the computer still need to get the others but just so you get the idea..
this one is mine...as you can see not finished at this time...

Well friends adios till the next time..

My WIPS (just a few)

My Collection of Finished Pieces (just a few)

Welcome to my Blog

I would like to extend a welcome to all visitors to this blog. I enjoy knowing that my love of Art is interesting enough for you to visit me. I have always enjoyed most forms Arts....I have always been involved in one form or another...
I love color so from an early age my favorite Aunt Mary on her visits (which were not as often as I would like) inspired me by starting me off by teaching me to learn embroidery... she would help me make dolls dresses and then bring out her box of flosses... Beautiful rich colors, a little girls treasure trove and embroider each dress with simple flowers, hearts etc.... she also taught me the simple first steps to crocheting...again simple stitches but definitely my introduction to needlework...
Growing up I was always involved in one form or another with colors through my love of crafts.
I married became a mother of 3 (1 girl 2 boys) and used what I knew to crochet their first blankets, simple caps and booties... I made my daughter a beautiful crochet dress that I wish I still had.
My sons each had their goodies too. My love of Cross Stitching I think has been the one (besides collecting and making my own stuffed teddy bears) that fed that love of colors. So many designers love colors and use them in a variety of themes.
Here I will share with you my cross stitching projects, some ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) and some scrap booking.... I invite you to leave a comment on this post if you so choose... thank you for reading... enjoy

Coming along.. Still stitching..

I have not posted in a while that I have been stitching..but I have really.. Just to many interruptions in life that I preferred to wait till I actually had something to show. Unfortunately I still can't find my camera since Christmas even though I have searched everywhere.. really bummed.. It was a birthday present from my dh this last August and I just loved it.. Kodak, red ,lightweight, auto focus for these old tired eyes..*sigh* and worst if possible, all my Xmas pictures were there!.. :( anyway I can't post a pic yet but will have to borrow my dh's big chunky SLR..or have him do it as soon as he can.. hate to wait :(

I am stitching a birthday/valentine gift for my daughter in law (2-13-09). It is a small project so I should be finished maybe even this Fri's SAT.. because she does occasionally stops in I won't post till after the event..
I have overcome my constant migraine thou I still get headaches often just not severe..yippee. I guess I should get my eyes checked too since that could be a contributing factor.
On another subject dear to me..my dragons.. they have grown and moved on to breeding so I post the new babies..help them out by clicking on them..please..
I have received some really awesome awards and I am in the process of figuring out how to post the hyperlinks to the people who I want to pass on..(well all of you really) ..Thanks to the awesome friends that always seem to remember me..it means so much to me..




Thank you Wendy! Thank you Cindy F..for the beautiful awards. They do mean alot..


As always, thank you for stopping by and please leave your comments since they are the only way I will know you have stopped and shared with me...after all they are the footprints of where you have been and ...I really love them..


Nana

Stitching Hiatus maybe over!

I did a little stitching finally on Friday's SAT..worked on "Witchie Poo and her siblings..Boy they have been annoyed but thank goodness they have kept it in their hats..Right now any strange noises or voices would have put me over the edge!
Headaches are manageable for now and some of the problems have been fixed (then new ones crop up!)..it really tweaks not having a job!

I have gotten such great encouragement from my buds here in cross-stitch land not to let myself get so down I don't stitch so I have given it a try.. So far so good. Thank you ladies I really appreciate your kind words..

I also have adopted some dragons from http://dragcave.net see them upper right and if you would like to do the same go there..:) or just click on image of dragon (well help each one by clicking on them :) please. (ok ok going thru 2nd childhood).
I love dragons and have a few designs in my stash.. I just love TW's mystical designs... though for now I will look for something simple, easy..
Too many WIPS to finish. And now with my daughter giving me her stash of magazines and leaflets (besides all the threads, fabrics etc) I have a gorgeous dragon with a castle.. don't remember the name right now..

Well need to get ready to go over my daughter's for the men's football fix.. I will probably take one of my small WIPS should we the ladies decide to be crafty..

As always, thank you for stopping by and please leave your comments since they are the only way I will know you have stopped and shared with me...after all they are the footprints of where you have been and ...I really love them..

There be Dragons here!

Ok, it's a rip off the Star Trek Movie,"The Voyage Home" said by Scotty, (he said whales though..:)

I logged in today and saw I had one of the dragon eggs hatch today..on the top right corner.. Isn't he cute? lol.. I guess I am a proud mama and will find a dragon xstitch to honor them...lol His/her siblings need your help so kindly click on each one ok?

Well other than a decreasing amount of bouts with migraines, my dragons and two very sweet bloggers have honored me with some awards. Unfortunately I am still having trouble with the set up.. so for now I will show you the awards and then if someone takes pity on me and goes over the rules again and the posting of sites steps I will do my best to play fair.

This one was from Wendy from Belguim:



and this one from my BFF Cindy F from Texas:





Aren't they the sweetest? Definitely raised my flagging spirits.

Everything else is pretty much the same but I will not go into again..enough!

Tonight is SAT on Let's Stitch and I hope I will be in the stitching mood, it has been difficult to concentrate for long.
I will check in a little while, about the only thing I have done is post to a few who have had a new finish and visited a few friends. Gotta get my mojo back!


As always, thank you for stopping by and please leave your comments since they are the only way I will know you have stopped and shared with me...after all they are the footprints of where you have been and ...I really love them..

Not a Great Begining for 2009

This is a really late posting for the year but it looks like the year did not start as good as I thought it would.
Yes, I did spend time with my kids, who were ill, so we kindda passed it along...you know share and share..lol then I couldn't stand my dying tree and decided it had to go so I worked all weekend getting all the ornaments into bins... it seemed to me I had more of them then when I started!...
Meanwhile I received a notice from my mortgage company that my premium had gone up over $ 600.00 dollars! a month ..that was Saturday. Well, migraine city here I came.. blood pressure high, heartburn, (maybe ulcers who knows), besides all the joint pains from all the heavy lifting and fetching and carrying..cleaning and sorting and so forth... I was already suppose to be bed bound so I guess I just managed to prolong it... :( .. I lost my car a few months ago and of course they sold it for less( don't they always) so now I get a letter that I owe $9,400. dollars the balance of what I owed and minus what they sold it for... if my head didn't hurt so bad I'd laugh..
I finally had a little good news today Wednesday....seems the insurance company double billed and the mortgage double paid and that is what cause the extreme hike.. My agent stated they will be sending me a check for over $ 3,000.00 that I can send to the mortgage company into my escrow account and I spoke to them and they will fix and reevaluate and hopefully no change but I know that there will always is a change even it's a few dollars they never lose...
Gosh.. what a way to start the year...
I haven't even been able to pick up a project to stitch since Friday's SAT and am so not into anything just yet, just want to take a sleeping pill if I had one and forget it all.

Sorry didn't mean to vent but had to get it out and didn't want to let the family see me so down.

Say listen do me a favor I don't know if I am suppose to ask but see my baby eggs up top, they are little dragons and they have only a short time left to live and I need to have you click 1 time on each so they can hatch.. will you help out...gosh I hope I didn't break a rule and get them taken away..

As always, thank you for stopping by and please leave your comments since they are the only way I will know you have stopped and shared with me...after all they are the footprints of where you have been and ...I really love them..