Monday, December 31, 2012

The Last Day of 2012


Do you have a long list of things to do today?  Are you planning to make some resolutions for the New Year?  Don't hesitate to take action - the time goes by too quickly.

I was designing these layered snowflakes to cut and send to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut when I saw that they have far exceeded the amount of snowflakes needed to decorate the new school and the PTA has requested that no more snowflakes be sent.  There are still ways you can help.  Please visit the Connecticut PTSA site HERE to get more information.

If you have special plans for tonight and will be going out please stay safe on the roads.  Here's to a great New Year for everyone!

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Snow Day


The snow started yesterday afternoon.  Our house is snug and cozy but outside there is a Winter Wonderland of snow.


The spotlights are more or less buried and the ornaments on the tree in front of the house have tall hats of snow.


The wind was blowing through the night and I am sure our driveway will be full of drifts.


There wasn't much accumulation early in the evening on Saturday.  The trees on the deck are just wire frames with lights and this is how they normally look.


The snow kept falling all night.  I have heard the plows go by several times already.


The lights on the trees look so pretty when they glow through the snow.


I used this photo at the top of this post.  I edited it just a bit more by cloning out the distracting lights showing through the railing at the left side and then added some word art.


This is the view from the second floor of our house.  At the top of the photo you can see some of the lights on the fence at the back of the yard.


The lights were on at our neighbor's house in the wee hours - getting ready to run the plow.


I added a snowy overlay to the photo - do you like the way it looks or is it too much?

The snow is so pretty - but I am not looking forward to clearing the driveway!

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas Lights


I hope you are enjoying the holidays.  It has been a few days since I have had a chance to post.  We had a wonderful celebration with nearly all of my husband's family in Massachusetts.  Our older son and his wife were here from San Francisco and left the day after Christmas for India (they are attending a wedding there and I can't wait to see all of the photos!).


My husband's brother and his wife flew in from Colorado.  We were very lucky with the weather and all of our travelers had good flights.  On the way in to Logan airport on the Mass Pike we saw this message in the rooms of the Crowne Plaza hotel (the hotel actually goes over the turnpike).  Taking a photo in the dark from a moving car is not ideal, but I wanted to show you the holiday spirit we enjoyed on each trip into town!


Most of our neighbors have a moderate amount of holiday lights but friends a few doors up the street take the honors for "most decorated" house in the neighborhood.  They have Mickey and Minnie at the door and Mickey ear lights along the front walk.


Snoopy and Charlie Brown guard the driveway and the hedge and hillside are covered with lights and figures.  The cars that come around on Christmas Eve to see the luminaries go extra slow in front of this house because there is so much to see!


The luminaries are always beautiful and the weather cooperated nicely this year - no wind or rain.


Here is our house on Christmas Eve.  I didn't put the white lights on the shrubs this year because they have grown so big.


We go to the late service at our church on Christmas Eve.  The church looks very dramatic in the spotlights.


There were beautiful floral arrangements and special banners decorating the front of the church,


At the end of the service, all of the lights in the church are put out and we sing by candlelight.  When I was young we would try to keep our candles lit until we got home (sounds crazy, I know!).  Fire regulations require that the candles be extinguished before we leave the church now.


I decorate all of the trees in our house except the live tree in the sunroom.  I put the lights on this one and then it is up to the "kids" to add decorations.  This is also the only tree inside the house that has colored lights.


I made glitter ornaments decorated with initials for all of our nieces and nephews this year.  My daughter-in-law helped me and we had glitter everywhere!  I used a font from my computer and cut the letters in glitter vinyl with the Cameo.  I'll share the details in another post.


If you are a new Silhouette owner you might be interested in a subscription to the online store for images.  From now until the end of the year you can save 20% on the prices.  For $8 you can get $25  of images each month, for $12, you get $50 worth of images and for $16 a month you get $150 of images each month.  It is a yearly commitment when you subscribe, payable monthly.  Use the code "Silhouette" to reduce the price at checkout.  You can subscribe through the Silhouette Studio program link or at the online store HERE.

Blitsy has brought back many categories of crafty items from their Cyber Monday sale - there are over forty categories instead of the usual 6 - 10 that are normally offered at a given time.  Be sure to check them out before they are "blitsed" (sold out).  They have lots of Tim Holtz, Spellbinders, Ranger, Scor-Pal, items right now.  Click HERE to go to the site and register if you aren't already a member.

The house is pretty quiet now and I may finally have a chance to get back into the craft room.  I am afraid it is quite a mess and has been sadly neglected for the past week or two.  This weekend should be a good time to get things sorted out to start off the new year.  Do you have special plans for New Year's Eve?

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas to All!


I hope that you can be with family and friends today - have a very Merry Christmas!

luminaries along our street on Christmas Eve


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Saturday, December 22, 2012

Holiday Photos


The holidays are really starting for us now.  We'll be picking up our younger son from his apartment this afternoon and our older son and his wife arrive from San Francisco tonight.  I have most of the house decorated, some of the presents wrapped, a few crafty projects to finish, some of the food is ready...but there is still lots to do!


The decorating of the upside down tree is finally finished.  All of the ornaments on this tree are glass.  Some of them were collected when we lived in Germany and others are special reminders of various places and times.


These ornaments were given to us for our first Christmas after we were married and they have all survived for 31 years of Christmas celebrations (we'll be married 32 years in January).


This was the scene at our front door last night.  Most of the neighborhood children came around caroling with their parents.  They were eager carolers and enjoyed some brownies as their thank you.  We were lucky that the storm had blown through and there was no rain - it was very stormy earlier in the day,  You'll notice this photo is rather blurry - I grabbed the camera in a hurry.  I prefer natural light for photos but hadn't set up a tripod to capture the carolers.


I took one other shot with a flash - the kids in the front are sharp and clear but you lose the atmosphere and the people further back almost disappear in the blackness.  I should have tried to get a few more without the flash but sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment!

If you are wondering how to get some special memories captured with your camera this season, Rebecca Cooper at Simple as That has posted some great tips for taking holiday photos - you can see them HERE.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.  It's nice to have Christmas on a Tuesday since many people have the weekend and Monday off which gives a little more time to prepare and celebrate.  I'll be pretty busy enjoying family time but I'll try to pop in with a photo or two over the next few days.

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