My son Dan sent a file of a number that our grandson Chance played in at their Christmas Concert, he is on the flute. It is "What Child is This" and is an arrangement the students put together. Just click the link to open it in your Windows music player.

Chance's Christmas Concert Song

A Thought for Today on Gift Giving

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:
"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15


QUOTE OF THE DAY:
From The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball

"Christmastime is a glorious time of happy friendliness and unselfish sacrifice; a time of increased hospitality, devotion, and love; a time of the subduing of selfish impulses; a time of renewing friendships, cementing loosening ties, and the swelling of the heart. It transcends the individual, the family, the community, the nation; it approaches the universal, crosses borders, and touches many nations of the earth. . . .

"Though we make an effort to follow the pattern of gift giving, sometimes our program becomes an exchange---gift given for gift expected. Never did the Savior give in expectation. I know of no case in his life in which there was an exchange. He was always the giver, seldom the recipient. . . . His gifts were of such a nature that the recipient could hardly exchange or return the value. His gifts were rare ones: eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame; cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless.

"His gifts were opportunity to the downtrodden, freedom to the oppressed, light in the darkness, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing. His friends gave him shelter, food, and love. He gave them of himself, his love, his service, his life. The wise men brought him gold and frankincense. He gave them and all their fellow mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life. We should strive to give as he gave. To give of oneself is a holy gift"

THE CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

My Sister-in-law Thesa sent me this...too cute so I had to share it. Sure reminds me of my kids (4 in five years) when they were little.

THE CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

My husband and I had been happily married (most of the time)for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if He would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with His word as my guide.

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son.
The next year God blessed us with another son.
The following year, He blessed us with yet another son.
The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.
My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old.

I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister once told me, "If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him.
I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks.
I tried to be understanding...when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs.
When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.
In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come close - I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.
I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God , and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too.
Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came during the Children's Christmas Pageant.
My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine.

My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, "We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." But he was nervous and said, "The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes."

My four-year-old "Mary" said, "That's not 'wrinkled clothes, Silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes." A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing. I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, "Mama-mama." Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, "We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur."

The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. "I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one," laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes.
"For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur."
"My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
Had no army, yet kings feared Him.
He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us

If you believe in God and in Jesus Christ His Son,
share this to all on your buddy list.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!
~ Joe Stewart

Christmas Giveaway

I want to win this Cricut bundle from SVGCUTS so if you don't enter I will have a better chance, of course if you do win, then you have to invite me over to play...there is that fair? LOL

Just go enter, it is easy.

Christmas Giveaway – $439.99 Value (No Purchase Necessary!)|SVGCuts.com
http://svgcuts.com/blog/?p=4324

One lucky winner will receive a Cricut Personal Electronic Cutting Machine, a copy of Sure Cuts A Lot for Windows and a $50 SVGCuts.com Gift Certificate!

Merry Christmas!

In all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season sometimes we forget to stop and think about the "reason for the season". Today I saw this sweet little video that made me stop and embrace not only the Spirit of Christmas, but also the Spirit of Christ. I hope you enjoy it too.

Christmas Countdown Coming Dec 1st

How great is this! Lisa over at Ten Two Studios is having another countdown...where you can download a free sheet of images each day from December 1st through Christmas. What a great gift. I love her stuff and in the past have used some of the countdown images in my work.

So mark your calendars for December 1st and don't forget to go to this site http://countdown.tentwostudios.com every day to get your free goodies. Merry Christmas to you and me!

What I have been doing lately

I have been spending a good bit of time lately working on Christmas projects which I cannot reveal right now. LOL

I also crocheted around some pillowcases for my sister-in-law Lyndy. She and my brother have the Triangle Ranch B&B and, of course, use vintage style linens in their guest rooms.

More Journal Pages

Here are some journal pages I have made recently for friends. These are some of my first attempts at watercolor...

....and colored pencil art.

Catching Up

I have been lax about uploading things to my blog, so thought I would try to catch up a little this morning. This first set of ATCs are the ones I made for Beckie's Map Swap on Paper Traders. I like the effect of the painted tulips over the portions of a map of the Netherlands.
Next we have some Halloween Moos, also made for a Paper Traders swap hosted by Beckie. These tiny cards are only 1-1/8" x 2-3/4". It is quite a challenge to come up with a design to fit such a tiny space, but so fun too.
Here are some domino pendants I made for a Paper Traders swap some time ago. These are fun to make and give.

More play with Alcohol Ink ...and some journal pages

I love making backgrounds with alcohol inks...it is amazing the different effects you can get. These pages were made for a friend on the Paper Traders yahoo group. Her theme is Water so I made alcohol ink backgrounds that gave the feel of water then added images and wording to express the role of water in our area. I hope she likes them.
Below are the pages I made for a friend's Windows & Doors Journal. We were to choose a quote about windows or doors that we liked and make pages to illustrate it. All of the squares on the right page are embossed to give texture. I liked how it come out.

Playing with Alcohol Ink

Barb and Bevlea have been doing some tutorials on their 2cre8art blog and I just had to try this alcohol ink one...easy enough for even me. teehee. Anyway, I am thrilled with the results. I did about 10 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 glossy paper so I will have lots for journal pages and then cut the remainders into ATC backgrounds. Here are some ATCs I made using transparencies for the images over the alcohol backgrounds. Fun and easy to do.

Torn Paper ATCs

I made these ATCs for my Emotive Faces swap on Paper Traders. They are really quite easy to do:

I printed the faces on five different pieces of scrapbook paper. If you print 3 on each paper you could get up to 15 ATCs if they tear perfectly, but when you start assembling you will find that you may have a few strips that didn't tear quite right so always print more faces than you need; then you can just toss the bad strips.

After printing I stapled the sheets together along the margins so they wouldn't shift around as much when I tore; then I ripped them crosswise into strips, trying to hold the sheets tightly together so the layers would be as close to the same as possible. Then, removing the staples, I placed them on the table in order of how I tore them.

To assemble, pick up one from each set in different patterns and glue (I used Gel Medium) them down to a sheet of cardstock. Once you have them all re-assembled, rub with ink to distress, then give the whole thing a thin coat of gel medium. When dry trim up and stamp edges with flourish stamps; add a flower or other embellishment to finish. ENJOY!

(NOTE: I am thinking that the next time I do these I will stitch the five sheets of paper together before tearing...just snipping through the thread at the edge before I tear....this might keep them better aligned. It if works better I will post here again to let you know.)

Zen-Doodles

Here are some Zen-Doodle ATCs that I made.
I think I am addicted! I have always doodled on things - you should see what I have done to phone book covers while waiting on hold! LOL I just didn't know until recently that it was a true artform.
Rick and Maria have made Zentangles not only popular but into an actual business. They have lots of examples and helps on their ZENTANGLE site. Since I make up a lot of my own patterns as well as trying what they offer, I have chosen to call mine Zen-Doodles...which to me describes what I do....DOODLE!

Since actually trying to do some patterns and make some ATCs with this process I have found that I am hooked. What a great way to pass the time while sitting in waiting rooms, "watching" TV, or just resting. A great stress reliever as well.
If you have not tried this yet, give it a whirl. Just cut some sturdy paper into a small size, such as 3x3 inches or ATC size. I like to use scraps of watercolor or dry media paper as it is firm enough to hold in your hand while doodling, but even index cards will do in a pinch.

Now take a pencil and draw a free-form doodle to make your base....just some loops work great to start with...make the lines overlap so you can create areas for your patterns. Using a Micron or other permanent ultra-fine pen start filling in the openings in your doodle with patterns, go over the outlines, and add any little extra embellishing lines that you desire. You can't do it wrong so just keep going until you are pleased with the result! Now wasn't that fun!
If you are tentative about drawing your first doodle, you can rubberstamp an image for your base and then embellish it like I did with these bunny ATCs.

I'm B-a-a-a-ck!

I know you all probably thought that I had dropped off the face of the earth, but "Nope" I am still around. It has just been one thing after another it seems. When last we "talked" it was shortly after I had returned from Colorado Springs from visiting my daughter Beckie. At that time we decided that since we were going to have a family reunion on July 4th that we should get in gear and put all of my mother's recipes into a book and have it ready for the reunion.

No one else offered to help type so Beckie and I took it on. WHOA, what a job. Over 500 recipes, all handwritten on very old, very greasy, very tattered cards with odd abbreviations, and faded handwriting. I know some of these are over 50 years old. And, because she knew how to cook, my mother often wrote things in an abbreviated manner, so there was a lot of "deciphering" to do also. That fell to me as I at least had made most of these things over the years, but poor Beckie was at a loss trying to figure out some of them.

It was pretty much a full time (as in 24/7) job to get it typed, proofread, formatted, proofed again, and submitted to the publisher by May 15th so we could have it back for the reunion. We just barely made it but the cookbook turned out lovely, the whole family loved it, and all the extra copies were sold within a week! Yay! Success!

During this process, I had been having some odd health symptoms...not anything specific, but just this odd discomfort in my side, down low, and occasionally actual pain. Thinking perhaps I had a urinary tract infection, since I was also having to make frequent trips to the bathroom, even at night, I went in for a checkup. No infection...but there was something there. Scheduled for an ultrasound at the end of the week. Yep, there is a mass. Now an appointment in Billings, MT with a specialist the next Wednesday. More tests, more ultrasounds, not good news. I had a LARGE (football-sized) cyst. It was attached to the left ovary but the pain I was feeling was on the right side. Due to the size of the cyst it was pushing the right ovary up against my right kidney and pinching everything there. It was also grown into the fallopian tube and the weight of it was pressing on my bladder. Surgery was scheduled for the following Monday.

That went well, no cancer! And home in three days. Doing well, following the doctors orders, no lifting, bending, stretching, straining, or stooping. Sit only in a reclined position due to the huge incision; but feeling ok and thinking "I can do this, it will just be for a couple of weeks then I can start getting back to normal." I think I am doing well...then I go to have my staples removed. Due to it being over a hundred miles to Billings the surgeon had said to go to my primary physician to have him remove them. He gets about 3/4 of them out and the incision just unzips! Wide open! Phone call to the surgeon, a fast trip to Billings....he removes the rest of the staples and and the whole thing is now open. And, it is a huge incision (almost 9 inches long) from my navel down, about 3 inches deep, and gaping open about 3-1/2 inches wide. Not pretty.

I am informed that it must heal from the inside out. Enter wound nurses, wound packing three times a day, flat on my back...no sitting as it makes the wound gape more and undoes the healing. So, that is how I spent my summer. Lying in my recliner most of the day or in bed with pillows under my knees the rest of the time. It got really boring after about the first couple of hours! And I missed the reunion!

But I am so grateful for many things. First for wonderful daughters who gave of themselves so unselfishly to care for me. They learned to do my dressings so we wouldn't have to hire a nurse to come every day, did my housework and showed me so much love. I am also grateful for good medical staff who gave me great care, for a dear husband who is not only super supportive but who is also an excellent cook! ... and for a body that did a great job of healing, because the medical people all said it would take a minimum of 4-5 months, but here I am, less than 3 months and as of today IT IS CLOSED!

I still have to take it easy for a few more weeks, and it will take some time to regain my strength as I have not been able to do anything for so long, but I am healing well, my doctor is very pleased with my progress. I feel good, and I am able to finally sit at the computer for short periods and type! :-) I really missed that.

I want to thank everyone who supported me in my recovery, for your prayers, good wishes, cards, letters, and email....my girls were so good to keep me informed of all that because I couldn't sit up to use the computer. I keep telling my hubby, "See, I do need a laptop!" LOL Your love and concern mean more than I can ever express. I know it helped me heal more quickly. THANKS!

Yours Affectionally

Here are the pages I made for Jenene's in the Paper Trader's journal round-robin. The theme was "Yours Affectionally" so I used pictures of my parents when they were courting, and a copy of an old letter from my dad to my mom.

More Crackled Birds

Here are two more crackled Bird ATCs that I made. I am glad I scanned them because they have all been traded. Enjoy!

I've been tagged!

It seems Beckie thinks I need to be more diligent about posting. LOL Anyway, she has tagged me and the rules say:

You've been tagged! The rules are:
1. go to your documents/pictures.
2. go to your 5th file.
3. go to your 5th picture.
4. blog about it.
5. tag 5 people.
This is my 5th picture in my 5th file. It is an ATC I made a while back for my Paper Traders Yahoo group's monthly Winner Take All drawing. I really like this ATC because of the techniques I used. First I did the torn paper technique that Bevlea shared on her blog, but I used printed tissue papers as well as the text to give a bit more visual texture. Next I added the bird and other elements. Finally I crackled the surface and rubbed on ink to color the cracks. It turned out like I envisioned it... and you all know how rarely that happens! .... so I was very pleased with it! Of course, having a bird on it also makes it a favorite project too!

We have a very talented grandson!

Our grandson Chancey is a fine young man in addition to being quite the musician. He plays several instruments as well as having a phenomenal voice. Sundance High School is a tiny school compared to most of the other schools they were competing against, so this was quite an accomplishment. We are very proud grandparents!

Click on the clipping to enlarge it.

Easter Thoughts

More projects....

Here are the pages I did for PT Susan's "How Great Thou Art Journal". This journal is about what is great about you...what is your motivation, you inspiration, etc.

click on image to enlarge

I chose "Giving" as my theme because I have been thinking about my mom and missing her a lot lately. My mother was the best example of giving; she was always doing for other people ...usually without being asked...and many times without being thanked either. Yet she continued to love unconditionally and to give from her heart. She taught me so much about being a giving person and this has shaped my life. I am blessed that I could have her for so many years; but... I do so miss you, Mom.
I started this spread at Beckie's but finished it up after I got home...it just was not coming together...then I remembered that I had these cute little kid images I had saved from a calendar, and they were just perfect!

Granddaughters make us proud...

In February our granddaughters Quincy and Abby were both in Science Fair. Quincy won locally and got to go to State while I was in Colorado.

Click on photo to enlarge

Then recently they were both in Math Counts and Quincy again went to State. (And Abby was an alternate.) Their group didn't win at State, but they had a great time and learned lots. We are proud of both of the girls for their accomplishments.

Being Productive - Journal Pages

While in Colorado I had a productive time doing art as well as all the other fun stuff I mentioned before. Let me share a few of the things I worked on while visiting Beckie. I had several projects for members of my Paper Traders Group to do so I was able get them done.

Here are my Tip-In pages for Susan's Gypsy journal. She is a big fan of Stevie Nicks so that was the perfect picture to choose for a "gypsy" girl. Beckie gave me all of T!m Holtz's masks (well, not the minis, cuz they weren't out yet) for my birthday while I was there, so I used them on both of these next two projects. LOVE THEM! So Fun! I love the quote on this page, it speaks to the "gypsy heart" in all of us.And...here is the spread I did in PT Teri's Journal. Her theme is "Ask The White Rabbit"...and we could make up our own story line. I liked how the rabbit and Alice having similar thoughts about each other....how cool is that!
The partial page in the middle flips and has a window that you can look through to see Alice.
Did you see the parts of the main pages at the end of the smaller partial page?The tea tag clipped next to Alice was provided by Teri for signing in. She put different tags on each page for the artists.

Click on images to see details.

Oooh, it has been too long!

I have been so lax in keeping up my blog. But for good reason....
For my birthday my dear hubby gave me a plane ticket to Colorado Springs to spend some quality time with my daughter Beckie. We had so much fun just talking and playing, and talking, and shopping, and talking and eating, and talking and talking! We really do have fun ...even if we aren't doing anything really...just spending time together.

My flight down to Colorado was ridiculous!
First, you know that we all have to be to the airport early, but since our airport is so little they are through with everyone within a few minutes, then you wait....and wait....and wait...like for an hour and a half. Finally some time AFTER we were supposed to take off they tell us that our flight will be delayed because (get this) the flight crew is sleeping! Seems they got in late the night before and since they don't have anyone else to cover for them (due to such a small airport) and since they have to sleep a certain number of hours, we have to wait while they sleep. Now, I don't see why they couldn't have told us that when we checked in? There is a lovely restaurant where we could have had a nice breakfast while waiting instead of going through the security gate (And since we had to be there to check in by 6 AM I had not eaten) ...but now we were stuck in there with no refreshments, and no bathroom, just twiddling our thumbs and waiting. Sheeeezzzhh Sometimes the reasoning behind things just like this just amaze me.

But...this was just the beginning...
Once the crew was on the plane (over an hour later) we had to go for de-icing due to the cold weather. I don't know why that couldn't have been happening while the crew was getting ready, but apparently it was not to be.

Finally we were in the air! YAY! It was kind of a rough flight because of the weather and lots of wind and snow, but otherwise uneventful, unless you count me spilling my soda because the plane bumped just as I set it down and over it went. Just a little spill...a few napkins (OK a lot of napkins!) and all was good as new. Because of the wind at our tail we made good time and were approaching Denver well ahead of my connecting flight. Great! I think, because I had a layover and would still make my flight to Colorado Springs. The flight attendant said that they were holding our flights for an extra 20 minutes so we should be fine.

Then we land... and we sit, and sit, and sit on the tarmack... because there are no available gates for us to deboard. For half an hour we sit and wait. Finally we get a gate (it is no further than to the end of my driveway from where we are sitting in the plane) and they pull the plane up about half that distance so we can all disembark onto the tarmack and traipse up to the door of the airport between two ropes to keep us going where we are supposed to go. Now, I do not know why couldn't they have just put the ropes out to the plane in the first place rather than making us sit? No one knows, I am sure.

I bet you know what happened next, don'tcha? Yep, I missed my connecting flight. So, I had to do a bit more waiting in the Denver Airport before I was able to finally get on to my destination. Fortunately I had called Beckie so she knew I was going to be late and she wasn't just sitting around the airport there waiting for me all this time. What should have been a quick 3 hours turned into most of the day, but once I was there it was all worth it! I had a BLAST and much needed R & R.

I was in Colorado most of three weeks. Beckie had to go to work most days, but she did get to take off a few for us to spend together playing...and of course there were the weekends and evenings. The weather was so warm (in the 70s most days!) it was like summer when I was there. I know that Colorado is hurting for moisture, but it was nice that Mother Nature gave us nice weather for my vacation....especially since it was below zero here when I left, and also when I came home.

Now it is good to be home again...my dear hubby missed me a lot he said! :-) ...but there is so much to catch up on around here. Ah, vacations are so great, but then you pay for it with having to really get down to business when it is over!LOL

One World One Heart - Winners Announced!

The OWOH giveaway is closed and I have used the Random Generator to choose my winners. There are SEVEN winners in all! Are you one of them? To see the list CLICK here.



Thanks to everyone who participated. This was a great adventure and I have gotten to see so many lovely blogs....many of which I know I will continue to frequent. This is a wonderful event...thanks to Lisa for thinking of it.

“The Great International Stash-Busting Giveaway" is over

And the winner is........

Deborah of BabasFarmLife

Congratulations on winning my stash!

And Thank You to EVERYONE who played, for coming over to visit my blog, and for entering my drawing. This was so fun! I have gotten to see all of your lovely blogs and the wonderfully creative things that you are doing. There is so much talent out there.
Thanks again. ~Connie

“The Great International Stash-Busting Giveaway”

I am joining “The Great International Stash-Busting Giveaway”. On February 4th, 2009 crafters all over the world will be giving away items from their personal stashes. My gift will be a collection of paper and fabric supplies plus some embellishments. This will be a fun collection of supplies that are great for quilters, papercrafters, and mixed media artists.First we have a collection of Christmas cottons perfect for getting a headstart on projects for decorating or gifts.
Next we have a collection of ribbons, trims, buttons and beads perfect for embellishing your projects.Finally we have a selection of acid free scrapbook papers. Even if you are not a scrapbooker these are great for mixed media, cardmaking and other paper crafts.

Please leave a comment on this post to enter and I will email you on February 5th, 2009 if you are the winner.

Here is the long list of all the lovely blogs that are participating. You will want to go check out their giveaways too.

• 1/4 of an inch
• 2 Fun 4 U
• A Tiny House
• a very mary design
• Adventures of a Fabric Junky
• AJ's Antics
• Anna Yama
• Another Dilettante
• blog memories
• By a Thread
• Citrus Daisy
• Debbe Sunshine
• Diary Of An Unconscious Mind
• domestic anarchy
• Domoshar
• dotty cookie
• Fairbanks Fancy Goods
• finding Jimmy Macinko
• Go Lani Go
• Hanies
• hmm designs
• if I could set my soul free
• Im A Ginger Monkey
• Justin and Nichole
• Kitty
• Kylie's Stitch and Sew
• life and times of Jill
• making memories
• millions of thoughts trapped in my head
• Modern Jax
• Moederkip
• Mrs Schmenkman Quilts
• Nini Makes
• one big adventure
• Patchwork Of Mini Grey
• Piecemeal Quilts
• Puggle Logic
• purple paisley patch
• Quilting on the Run
• Quilty Gal
• relish
• sago on tuesdays
• Sampaguita Quilts
• Scrapbag
• Selina's Vintage
• seven-stitches
• sew funky
• silver pebble
• stamp gram
• Summer Sadie
• Three Kitchen Fairies
• Tiny White Daisies
• Uberstitch
• what I do beside work
• Zakka Art

Comments Closed...Winner has been emailed.

Queen & Co. Giveaway

Queen & Co have some great new stuff just released at CHA...and they are giving some away. Go check it out! Totally awesome new products to make you drool.

Awesome Altered Book Discovery

Today in checking out some of the One World One Heart blogs I happened upon one of the participants (Bleubeard and Elizabeth) other sites...and the most wonderful Asian altered book. If you like this kind of thing as much as I do you will want to spend some time checking it out...she has posted tons of pages and they are wonderful! See it here http://alteredbooklover-asianbeauty.blogspot.com/

One World - One Heart

UPDATE: The OWOH giveaway is closed
...And the Winners are...


#59 Christine, #10 Tina, #91 PawsN2stamp, #126 Fannie, #175 Janet, #133 Elizabeth, and #193 Banna.
If you are a winner please email me back as soon as possible as preferences on the paper assortments are on a first come-first served basis. Thanks!
And thanks to everyone for playing.

I am jumping on the "g ypsy caravan" and joining the One World-One Heart blog giveaway event.

Lisa "oceandreamer" Swifka created this event in 2007. The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. This is an INTERNATIONAL event with participants from all over the world. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet... generating a closer community between humans through blogging.

I have had so much fun blog hopping with this that I decided to join the fun...late as it is.

What am I giving? Three winners will each have a chance to win one of these great hard cover books from my personal library. All of the books are in new or nearly new condition. I will be adding a few little surprises with each book as well.

1. WINNER - #59 Christine Glorious Christmas Crafts. This one had tons of things to make for the holidays....toys, gifts, decorating, etc. There are lots of techniques offered from sewing, wood crafts, paper crafts, knitting, etc.2. WINNER - #10 Tina Blue Ribbon Baazar Crafts. This has lots of fun things to make for Baazars, Craft Fairs, or just as gifts. Many of these projects are quick and easy to do.3. WINNER - #91 PawsN2stamp Quilt Designs in Cross-Stitch by the Vanessa-Ann Collection. It has beautiful patterns for samplers, linens, stockings, dolls, etc.
How to win....It is easy AND you DO NOT have to have a blog to enter.
Just add ONE comment to this post before Feb 11 at midnight EST. (You can leave as many comments as you wish on my other posts). Be sure to link to your blog - or - if you don't have a blog, leave your email address in the post so I can contact you if you win. You will have 24 hours to respond after I contact you to claim your prize, then I will draw for a second-chance winner, so be sure you leave a valid email addy.

If I get more than 100 comments I will add more items to my giveaway.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Since I am nearly to 100 entrants, I thought I had better add my next two giveaways. These are scrapbooking assortments. All of these items are unused scrapbook supplies that I pulled from my stash for you.

Each of these two assortments contain:

• 18 sheets of scrapbook paper
• 1 set (3 sheets) of scrapbook letter diecuts
• 1 set of diecut frames
  
• 8 diecut tags
  
• 1 set of diecut circles (see inset for view of diecut items)

4. WINNER - # PAPER ASSORTMENT #1 - this one also includes a Jolee's by You & a handmade sticker
5. WINNER - #175 Janet PAPER ASSORTMENT #2 - this one also contains 2 sets of MM wire & bead alphabetsThis brings the number of prizes in my contest to five, so I will have at least 5 winners on February 11th. I hope one of them is YOU! If I get to 150 comments, I WILL add even MORE!

ANOTHER UPDATE:
Since I am nearing 150 comments I am adding two more prizes. If I pass 250 I will add even more prizes. These paper collections are like those above including all the items on the list plus one bonus each. I have not punched out the tags and such as I felt it would be easier to mail them in a sheet.

6. WINNER - # PAPER ASSORTMENT #3 - this one also contains a large sheet of Americana stickers 7. WINNER - #126 Fannie PAPER ASSORTMENT #4 - this one also contains 2 sheets of Christmas stickers
Visit this link to see a list of participants for 2009 One World One Heart 2009 Participants

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED - Check back later for winners.

Echoes of White Journal Page

I have been working on more journal pages. These are for Letha's Monochromatic Me journal...we were to choose a palette of one basic color to build on. I chose white as I know she loves white on white art. I hope she likes it.