What I've been up to lately.....

These are my latest contributions to the skinny book swap I have been in for the last year. My partner this month was Trinka....she likes women's faces, numbers and old maps. I used an old piece of ledger paper that one of the pages I received had been wrapped in. I stamped one of my favorite stamps and added butterflies for a bit of color. Below I used a vintage map of Paris for the background and collaged with some French items. I only have three sets to make.....I will be sad to see this swap end, but oh is my book going to be fabulous. Will have to post photos of the completed piece.

This tag was for the monthly mailer swap on the AllThingsTim Yahoo group. We were to use crackle paint and create a primarily white item. The suggestion was to also use Tim's snow mixture....white UTEE, clear UTEE, glass glitter and glossy accents....FUN and MESSY!

These valentines were from a class at Archiver's a couple of weeks ago. I took another one last week, but need to take photos yet. These were really cute and easy.

These two tags and pendants were for the January birthday girls in the ATT 2011 birthday swap. I've been hooked on these since taking Tim's class last summer.

I don't know what I was thinking at Christmas (obviously wasn't thinking at all), but I totally forgot to take photos of the things I made for gifts. I made each of my daughter-in-laws and my oldest granddaughter personalized "junque bracelets". I made another bracelet for the daughter-in-laws using a vintage looking silver piece resembling an old silverware handle. I also made painted tennis shoes for the three little granddaughters and decorated plastic paint cans for the little boys to put their little odds and ends gifts in. Can't believe I didn't get any pictures.....that's what happens when you wait til the last minute!! Ha, I know....no one is surprised that I would wait til the last minute!!!

I also just sent in 30 valentine charms for a swap on the ArtCharms group....will get a photo up on those and my own junque bracelet soon!

Farewell my old chair.....

Well, my old chair finally gave up.....it was a sad day. I love my chair....although it looked much better in the family room with the ottoman before it was banished to the garage to await pickup. I have held the grandbabies for hours while they slept and spent many, many Sundays relaxing and reading the paper in the comfort of my chair. I couldn't find anything I liked nearly as well, so I settled for a nice green recliner/rocker. No ottoman and no pretty (albeit threadbare) leaf print fabric...and it's not big enough to have the little ones sit next to Grandma. Ah well, nothing lasts forever....farewell my old chair!

Here's Becca Rose checking out the new chair....the delivery guys weren't even gone before she had to test it! I must say, everyone seems to like the new chair except me....well, I don't really dislike it....just can't take the place of my old one!

I decided to change up the Christmas decorations a bit this year. Instead of my santa's on the fireplace I decided on an arrangement of snowmen and reindeers and sparkly stuff. I like the way it turned out....so much that I left it for awhile after taking down the rest of the decorations. Had a hard time taking down my little tree on the fireplace too. Now we just have cold and snow to look forward to for a few months.

Now this is a motley crew if ever I saw one.....Grandma and Grandpa and all the grandkids! Next year we will have one more little one to add to the crowd!

Sweet little Becca Rose was in her first Christmas program. At 22 months, she was the tiniest one on the stage and although she was a bit baffled by it all, she sprang into action for the Jingle Bells number!! She was adorable!!