Help [ME] Ronda

a great....

START

 

to a new year at OLW.  Word Up # 42.  Here is my little layout with a reminder of how to start my days....with a goal, by creating, seeing beauty everywhere, with a smile, and ALWAYS with lots of LOVE.   The layout is all Fancy Pants, a combination of the Celebrate and Daily Grind Lines.   Can you tell I love those little tags! 

And if this New year couldn't start any better, you will find OLW featured in Scrap Street Magazine. Their January Issue will be posted tomorrow! 

Andy, the kids (& friends), and I are off to play tourist in LoDo. (Lower Downtown Denver) this afternoon.  We are then going to stay inside, play games, bake goodies, and just stay safe indoors.  I hope you all have a very SAFE and HAPPY new year!

sending you love, lots & lots of LOVE.

it is about TIME, part 1

Trying to catch up on TIME. 

TIME for Thanks, week 39

It is always nice to hear thanks.  And we have so many things in our lives we should be Thankful for so this page is to capture a small part of those THANKS.  The picture is of adorable Finn, my nephew, at Thanksgiving.  We were so thankful we got to spend it with family and friends. 

The title page is two types of paint.  I put my star template down on the page using temporary adhesive and painted the green on top.  Then I placed the smaller punched stars around and used the teal on the page.  I love using my punches as masks!

Time for JOY, Week 40

Tis the season for joy.  I have so many joys in my life but the one thing that brings me lots of joy is baking.  When I am stressed you can find me in the kitchen baking.  I love seeing creations come to life like this chocolate molten cake.  I am always searching for new recipes and trying out new techniques.  I never see it as a chore.... nothing but PURE JOY.

The cute little inner flowers are from Purple Onion, stamped with walnut ink on Scenic Route paper.  I punched out the background circles too and then stitched them all down.  Love those open flower punches from fiskar! 

Time for Comfort, Week 41

Comfort.  A condition or feeling of pleasurable ease, well-being, and contentment.  I have little creature comforts...an afgan knitted by my grandmother (her last one before she passed), a cup of green tea in my favorite ceramic mug, a good book, and a chichuaha in my lap.  Pedro has his comforts too... a little bed at my feet in my scraproom.  Nina (the princess chihuahua) reins in my lap.

I grabbed an old music sheet, some butterfly template & punch, and my mists.  I just randomly ripped my music into pieces and glued it down.  I then took the butterflies and temporary adhered them to the page.  I sprayed a plum color wash over the page and my turquoise glimmer mist over the plum.  I peeled up the butterflies and was pleased with the outcome.

and hopefully tomorrow I will bring you some more TIME.

until then.... Ti Amo Ancora!

a hug for you

Gingerbread Hug Cookies

Friday Fill-Ins #104

1. I must learn another language completely before I die.

2. You can't stop TIME.

3. I wish I never had to buy antibiotics again.

4. Love & Determination has helped me change my life.

5. I know the song Dancing Queen by heart.

6. If I weren't so afraid, I would own a snake.......um yeah, not even then.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on things, tomorrow my plans include posting TIME and time with friends and Sunday, I want to finish up some sewing!

as per your request, here is a link to a peanut butter cup recipe.  I use creamy peanut butter (not crunchy) and honestly the cheaper the better.  You just need the little cups and some melting chocolates.  I use the Wilton melting chocolates and make both dark and milk chocolates cups. 

and an extra recipe...

Ginger Bread Hug Cookies

3/4 C. Shortening                      1 C. Brown Sugar

2 tsp. Baking Soda                   1 Egg

4 TBS Molasses                        2 C. Flour

2 tsp. Cinnamon                        1/2 tsp Cloves

1/4 tsp Salt                               1 tsp Ginger

Hersey Hugs

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.  Mix shortening, brown sugar, molasses, and egg until creamy.

Sift together dry ingredients.  Gradually add dry ingredients to

sugar mixture.  Roll into balls, then roll into sugar to coat balls. 

Bake for 10 minutes on 350.  While cookies are in the oven, unwrap the hugs.

As soon as you pull the cookies from the oven, place hug into cookie.

Remove to racks to cool.

getting ready....

for the HOLIDAYS

 

Last minute gift card holders.....with instructions HERE

going to make some of these too...nothing like last minute

been a sewing mad woman as this Christmas is mostly about homemade gifts... can't wait to share some of those ideas but since "people" read the blog, they will have to wait.

made these with lexi for a few of her friends.  Super easy but super cute. a big thanks to Jaime for posting the idea over at Memory Maker's blog a few months ago

went to Lexi's Christmas Choir concert and it was amazing.  The school has an incredible music program and they really shined. 

braved the grocery store today for Christmas Eve & Christmas Dinner... it was a mad house!

Anthony was a cow for the Church's Christmas program and I so wished I had my camera (what was I thinking?  but in my defense he left the cow part out wanting to surprise us)

I did make some of these adorable apple pin cushions.   The directions can be found here.  They will be some late Christmas presents....spreading some love.

been praying for lots of friends, including gi and her family

yes TIME will be back (on Friday, I have been playing catch up)...sorry for the delay

Fancy trees made a while ago using Fancy Pants Happy Holiday Line

going to finish up some last minute gifts, some cleaning, and then some baking.....

and maybe some more homemade peanut butter cups

Until then.... I LOVE YOU!

Some days

Ok, I admit I am more tire and more worn out then I let on.  It is hard, especially during this season.  I want to do so much more than my body is capable of right now.  My doctor said it will be months until my levels start to climb.  That's the hardest part, waiting to feel like me again.  I keep expecting a miraculous recover, for me to be filled with energy and I keep coming up short.  So I will try to accept this is a long road to recover.  to just try & do what I can do without over exerting myself.

Here are some of the projects I have completed.  These are from my Guest Design Spot at Scrap Magie using the Moscow Winter Kit.

A tradition in this family for years.  Love those letters from Making Memories Fa-La-La Line.

A Step by Step will be up at Scrap Magie soon on how to recreate this little page.

Anabelle shared how to create these "folded flowers" over at Pink Paislee.  They seemed the perfect compliment to this snow page.

 

I love this little ornament.  It was the first one in Lexi's collection.  Each year we add to both kid's collections, one homemade and one bought from our travels. 

Until then...Love, Always.

Good things.....

honored to be the guest designer over at Scrap Magie this month!  I got to play with "Moscow Winter" kit that was filled to the brim with goodness. 

TIME will be back this weekend...promise

little post on how to do the above pine cone ornament over at MMM blog

adorable advent wreathe with step by step instruction

cool homemade Christmas happenings over at this blog

Miracles are over at OLW

and at the Dudley clan as my friend Karla & hubby Derrick add a new little one to the family

December kit for sale at Cocoa Daisy....and it is so beautiful

this Journal your Christmas Class is just getting started...sign up once and you're in, every year

speaking of journaling, a challenge for you over at Journaling Junkie

can't believe that I am here with such incredibly talented girls

love, always......

Cocoa Daisy's "Make A Difference" Food Drive

Tricia, from CocoaDaisy, has poured her heart into such a worthwhile cause.  Such an awesome opportunity to YOU to give back to the community you live in.  Here are the details:

We’ve all heard the gloomy economic news this fall, the dizzying drop in the markets, the increasing numbers of unemployed, falling home values and hard hit retailers. We have all been affected in some way by this crisis, but those hardest hit are those least able to afford it. The demand for food assistant during these rough times has increased at a staggering rate and food banks are being stretched to the breaking point by the volume of need they are encountering.

Scrapbookers are women known for their generosity and for rallying behind a cause. I want to help the international scrapbook community join together during the holiday season to do what we can to help alleviate hunger both here in the US and around the world. In light of this goal, Cocoa Daisy is sponsoring an internet food drive. We are asking scrapbookers to do their part to help their local food banks by bringing in whatever they can spare. And we in turn, to help drive this charitable giving, will hold a FABULOUS drawing full of amazing prizes!!!

If you’d like to get involved, here’s what you need to do.

• Gather up your donation and go to wherever you are donating it – a drop box at a school, a food bank, your church, etc.
• Then, take a photo of you and your donation.
• Upload it to the Cocoa Daisy Gallery and include a caption with your photo and the number of items you donated.
• For every 5 items you donate, your name will be entered into the drawing.
• If you would rather not or are unable to physically bring food to a shelter you can make donations through our store, in $5 increments, and those donations will be distributed to food banks around the country.  For every $5 donated, your name will be entered into the drawing once.
• On December 20^th we will close the food drive and draw winners for all the super prizes from our very generous sponsors.

The Making a Difference Food Drive will run from Nov 20th-Dec 20th and my hope is that we’ll be able to donate several thousands of pounds of food for needy individuals this holiday season.

Here is a list of items most wanted by food banks:
canned meats (i.e., tuna, chicken, salmon)
canned and boxed meals (i.e., soup, chili, stew, macaroni and cheese)
peanut butter
canned or dried beans and peas (i.e., black, pinto, lentils)
pasta, rice, cereal
canned fruits
100 percent fruit juice (canned, plastic or boxed).

We hope you will join us in the fun and help make a difference in our world today!

If you have any questions or comments about our food drive or the drawing, please feel free to email us at mailbox@cocoadaisy.com

And just to get you in the spirit, here is a list of the incredible prizes that you could win by just making a donation!

Karen Russell — a spot in one of her sold out online photography classes ($275 value)

Tinkering Ink — four $50 shopping sprees on their site

American Crafts — a prize package worth over $200

Scarlet Lime — 5 December kits and a 3 month subscription

Collage Press — Camden Collage Crafting Kit, coordinating Crafting Pad and a set of Time Keeper Clear Stamps

7 Gypsies — $100 Retail value gift

Paper + Cup Design — Crafting Kit

Luxe Designs — 6 prize packages worth $35 each

Creative Imaginations — 5 prize packages worth $40 each

Clear Scraps — 6 prize packages worth $50 each

Glitz — 4 Prize packages valued at $50 each

Me and My Big Ideas — 2 seasonal prize packages valued at $50 each

Lisa Pace — A spot for a winner and her friend in her “12 Days of Christmas” workshop

Teresa Collins Designs — The full collection of papers and die cuts from the “Tis the Season” collection as well as a Crush album

Fancy Pants Designs — 3 prize packages

Petersen-Arne — a $100 prize package

CD Muckosky — 3 sets of ALL of her digital design kits

Maya Road — 3 prize packages

Pink Paislee

Simple Scrapbooks — 3 $25 prize packages

Sassafras Lass

Hambly

Chatterbox – $100 Prize Package

Studio Calico – 5 Main Kits, retail value $34.50 each

Christine Drumheller — A Creative Café prize package

Layouts created by the Daisy Divas

Cocoa Daisy — An Ali Edwards’ December Daily kit, a Stacy Julian kit and 12345 album, and 5 December kits

Make a difference and get your entries in to Cocoa Daisy by December 20th!