Hilary Kanwischer

A blessed 4th of July...

I'm so blessed to be able to spend this most important of holidays at home with my family.  Thankyou so much to every soldier who has served this country with honor and especially to those families who have lost a loved one fighting for the very freedom that we, as American's, sometimes take for granted.  I love this day and I'm proudly flying my American flag just as I do each and every day of the year.  I've been a little busy here lately but I want to share a few Patriotic pages I have done in the past.  Enjoy today, give your little ones extra hugs, let them know what the 4th of July means and have a blessed day. 

Freedom layout

USA

Courtney and Connor

Freedom card

Courtney, Connor & Jewel..

and one more USA card...

have a wonderful day!

More Christmas in July...

I think I'm telling myself something here....and that would be that I LOVE Christmas and snow, and it's just too darn hot here to get into Summer, so I've done a couple more Christmas or "Snow" cards.  These were made from WorldWin Papers cardstock and the first card is showing a photo of a snow covered spruce and I took that one while up in Chautauqua, and just embellished it with a little rusty snowflake.  The second card is again done with cardstocks from WorldWin Papers and I used my Cricut to cut out a brown snowflake then slightly embossed it white to make it look "distressed".  I also used my Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots & snowflakes embossing folders for the backgrounds on both cards and the word "joy" was also cut from my Cricut.  Hope you enjoy...

Let it Snow

a cool close up...

"Joy" card

and a close up of the snowflake...

I have another AMAZING annoucement to make and I'm SOOOO excited about it, but can't make it just yet.  I think I'll have to wait a little while longer....but in the meantime, thanks so much for looking and have a wonderful day!  :)

An early Christmas...

Okay, I know it's not quite July yet, but felt the urge to create a photo Christmas card for WorldWin Papers.  I used DoubleMates Chocolate Malt and Ruche Red cardstock as the base for this.  Then all I did was add a photo, (the one I used was one of my absolute favorites that was taken of my husband and daughter while in Chautauqua, NY this past February), then used my Cricut to cut out the word "Peace", then added a ribbon and a little rusty bell.  The white border around the photo used in the card is one of my new favorites and it's from Pink Ink Studio and I'm soooo lovin' all those cool flourishes they offer.  So I hope you enjoy! :)

"Peace" card

and a little close up as always...

A face only a mother could love...

Well here's my Roxy.  Back to 100% health and still just a baby all around.  She lays by my side under my table when I'm working in my craft room and stays there all night.  She's so goofy and still loves to chew on my things and I'm waiting for the day she'll outgrow it, but for now...she's my Roxy and I love her.  

Roxy...

Funny things kids say...

Or in this case...funny things my son says.  Take for instance about 5 minutes ago.  He was eating a cookie at the kitchen counter when his grandmother walks in and says to him, "A cookie? My goodness, your middle name must be 'Lucky'!" and without missing a beat, he replies, "No, my middle name is Chase!"

I have another for you too.  This was about 3 days ago, and I've been meaning to write it down.  Now you have to understand first how much my husband LOVES his lawn.  He maintains it, grooms it, cuts it, fertilizes...well you get the point.  So this is what happens.  My son is riding his bike in our backyard, on our grass in front of us.  I said to him, "Connor, it's going to be hard riding your bike on the grass", and he fires back, "It's not grass Mommy, It's weeds!"  My husband almost died. 

I love this photo...

I took this photo of my beautiful nieces Chelsea & Amy last Thanksgiving at our house and I had sort of put it aside waiting for the right time to use it.  Well I was looking for a photo the other day for a layout for WorldWin Papers, and I came across it and thought, "I'm going to make something with this".  Well, I have to admit that I really love how this one came together.  I'm not really an 8 1/2 x 11 kinda girl, but gave it a try anyway.  I used DoubleMates double sided cardstock and Ruche (crepe textured) cardstock for my design for WorldWin Papers.  I also used my Swiss Dots die and my Cuttlebug, and felt flowers from Stampin Up! and buttons from Close to My Heart.  Hope you enjoy....and aren't they just beautiful?  My kids just adore them.  :)

Sisters...

and a close up of the detail...

thanks for looking...you all have a wonderful evening.  :)

Getting in the Spirit...

Yes, I've decided to make a couple of 4th of July cards and is my calendar correct???  It's only June?  Well it's about time that I'm getting stuff done ahead of time.  These were made using Close to My Heart's new Blue Ribbon paper and stickers.  The circle card was inspired by a circle card that Melissa Phillips made on her blog.  The flowers were made using a punch, then sanded and the ends pinched up before sewing them down.  I hope you enjoy. 

Let Freedom Ring

USA card

and a close up of the flower embellishment

This is so exciting for me....

You know the old saying, "When one door closes, another door opens?"  Well, that is just what has happened.  While my heart is breaking that Self-Addressed, the kit company that I had the most incredible honor of designing for for 3+ years has closed their doors, I was, at the same time, asked to be a permanent Design Team member for WorldWin Papers.  I am so excited at the thought of being able to challenge myself more than I have ever thought possible.  WorldWin Papers has the most beautiful cardstocks, heavyweight, textured, the colors....all right up my alley and I couldn't be more excited.  Below is the first layout that I did using the DoubleMates double sided cardstock.  The pattern on the blue cardstock was actually done using bubble wrap and white acrylic paint.  I hope you enjoy, and I hope you stop by and check out the other desings from the rest of the oh-so-talented Design Team at The Paper Mill Store Blog.

Sand Happy...

Back to Spring....

Okay, I know, I have to keep reminding myself that it IS after all Springtime....even if my heart is where it snows, so today I decided to play around with some of my new papers from Close to My Heart.  (Why am I suddenly the only one that cannot figure how to enter a link?  I hate this new format that Typepad has come up with)....anyway...I made some cards with the Boom Di-Ada papers and cardstock stickers, I hope you like them.  :)

thankyou card...

Smile, Embrace Life card...

Love You card....

Some "Winter" pages in Spring...

 Gosh it is so hot here.  Really hot.  Today it's supposed to be 90+ and we've been setting heat records that have stood for 40 years and it's only MAY!  I'm so not ready for 100 days of 100 degrees so to cool me off, I thought I'd share some Winter pages that I made using Shabby Miss Jenn's "Snow Kisses" album.  LOVED doing these and I really love how the whole thing turned out.  It was so easy, like an instant album.  I used some of my favorite photo's taken during our trip back in February, I just changed them to a sepia tone to fit with the pages.  Enjoy!

 

One more WORLDWIN Papers layout....

Oh I'm so excited to be posting this...this is a layout I did for WORLDWIN papers as their guest designer for the month of May.  I LOVE this photo of my daughter Courtney, taken while we were up in New York in February to enjoy some snow.  This was taken at Chautauqua Lake and I just love how she looks.  I really like how the whole layout turned out, it was such a fun challenge to use 90% cardstock.  I embossed the pink squares with my Cuttlebug and distressed each of them with white re-inker to bring out the detail and to make the 'windows' look 'frosty', before stitching each square down.  Hope you like it.  :)

Oh, I hope to make a VERY, VERY exciting post here soon, but I need to wait just a little bit longer before I spill the news.  But I hope I can do it quickly, because I'm ready to burst!!!  :)

Winter Girl, Winter Memories...

and here's a cool close-up of the details...

Bringing my camera to work...

In the most recent issue of Creating Keepsakes, I saw a few layouts of 'shoes', of all things and women were photographing their everyday shoes and shoes that they wear to work, and scrapbooking them.  I got to thinking, I don't wear heels to work.  I wear bunker boots.  OSHA compliant, leather, steel-toed, non-feminine...bunker boots.  So I got to thinking, you know, I've been at the Fire Department for 14 years now and don't think I ever took photo's of my "gear"...So the other day, I took my camera to work and took some random photo's of my gear and the engine that I drive every day that I go to work.  My kids think it's really cool that I drive such a big ladder truck and I guess it kinda is.  Anyway, here's a photo of my "shoes", the ones I wear at work if the need arises...

and here's a photo of the rest of my "gear"...

And here's a photo of the engine that I drive everyday that I go to work.  It's a Squirt and it has a 55' ladder up on top.

and lastly, this is a picture of the pump-panel from our spare engine.  Don't you just love how it's color-coded?  This makes it easy when you need it when you're working a fire. 

I did take other photo's that day but haven't played around with them yet, and I swear that one of these days, I will take a shift photo of all the guys that I work with, they're like family to me, but they still don't get the "reason why I'm taking photo's and the whole 'scrapbooking' thingy just yet".  But I am working on it.  Anyway, hope you enjoyed a peek into a day at my job. 

Some very exciting news...

SOOOOO happy to be announcing this.  I was asked by my friend Jodi Kennedy, if I'd be interested in being a guest designer for WorldWin Papers.  Check out their new blog which is filled with designs from their oh-so-talented design team, you can find it here:  The Paper Mill Store.  I was beside myself with excitement.  She had told me that Yvonne, (the coordinator) would be getting in contact with me and sure enough she did.  A few days later I was surprised to find a HUGE box of cardstock, chipboard, & vellum waiting for me.  I mean I'm talking a HUGE amount, enough to do a 100 layouts.  Now for my guidelines...90% WorldWin!  I was a little like, oh I hope I can do this since I add patterned paper and embellishments to everything, but I simply looked at it as a fun, fun challenge....and it was!  Seriously, I didn't know projects could turn out so beautiful simply using cardstock only.  Well, I have posted 3 out of the 5 that I've done, the others won't be uploaded till they are displayed on her blog, but I just couldn't wait to spill it any longer.  :) 

Welcome baby...

Have a yummy day...

a "yummy" close-up...

 

and this is my card sketch....

and a little close up...

as soon as the others are up, I'll post the layouts that I did.  :)

THIS breaks my heart...

This AP Photo by Morry Gash shows Eight Belles behind Big Brown at Churchill Downs yesterday.  Did anyone see this?  Oh my heart just breaks that this filly had to be put down after coming in 2nd place.  Poor little baby broke her two front legs after passing the finish line and it just brings me to tears.  I love horses and those that know me really well, know I use to show jump when I was younger and horses used to be my BIG obsession.  You would think that with technology today, something could've been done to save this little beauty even if it meant grazing in a pasture for the rest of her life.   The alternative seems so cruel.  It just breaks my heart that she ran her heart out only to be killed in the end. 

New Self-Addressed designs...

Oh I'm so excited to be able to post these designs now.  Jenn had them up at her site in lightning fast time.  If you haven't seen all the designs from the other members be sure to check em out at Self-Addressed and click on "kit ideas".  I LOVED this kit, my favorite colors, one of my favorite collections, it was all there.  So I hope you enjoy what I made. 

February baby card...

July baby card...

Winter wishes card...

 

and this has to be my favorite...I found this little pic of my son Connor when he was learning to sit up and I used it for this little house project.  The 'smoke' coming from the chimney was actually an idea taken from an Autumn Leaves Idea Book. 

thanks so much for looking...oh and 1 other little thing.  I have some exciting news to share with you soon.  Sometime in the near future, I'll let you in on it, but cannot right now...sorry!  ;)  You'll have to wait.  :)

Happy Birthday....

to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday....UGH...I'm not looking forward to these anymore, but yes...today is my B-Day!!  :)

My 2nd ever digital layout...

This is truly my 2nd ever digital layout.  I never thought I'd be able to even figure this stuff out, but I kinda wanted to learn if even to get better on the computer so I tried.  I ordered the"Little Boy's" kit from Shabby Miss Jenn's and played around and this layout, really took me about 15 minutes to do.  It's an instant attraction but I still LOVE to handmake my stuff, but I do have to say this was really easy to do.  This is a photo of my little Connor taken on his little ATV back in September 2005 and I thought it would be perfect for this kit.  I hope you enjoy.  :)

Some sneaky-peeks...

Oh I loved, loved, loved, this kit from Self-Addressed this month.  It was full of goodies from Jenni Bowlin and you know how I love her stuff, well anyway...here's a couple of sneak peaks for you till the designs are all posted.  Oh, (little side-note here)...can you believe I've been on the Self-Addressed Design Team now for exactly 3 years???  Wow!  I can't even believe it myself.  I just love Jenn and she has the greatest monthly kit club EVA!!!  So, if you haven't been over there in a while, be sure to check it on out.  Anyway....enjoy the sneaks!

 

Some random cards....

Okay, I finally decided I was going to sit down and use up some of my OLD papers for a change.  :)  Lord only knows I haven't even made a dent in my stash, but hey, I decided to try.  :)  I've wanted to use these papers from Making Memories for the LONGEST time.  Hope you like what I've made, I wish the photo's could've come out a little better, I guess I've gotta sit down and re-read about the different camera settings again.  Well, enjoy.  :)

Birthday card...

close up...

Sweet Baby card..

Sweet baby close up..

 

Roxy, post-surgery...

Thanks so much for all the well-wishers for my dog Roxy.  Here's an update.  She had to have surgery to repair her fractured bones.  She had 3 pins put in her fibula and her growth plate.  She's not too happy right now.  She's confined to her cage now for 4 weeks, (doctor's orders), and she has to wear that hideous and somewhat uncomfortable collar too.  The pins come out in a couple of weeks.  She has lost some weight, and a lot of muscle tone in her back leg.  The good news is, she is now putting a little weight on her leg when she's walking outside.  That's the only time she's allowed out, bummer huh?  Anyway, thank god for tranquilizers huh? but look at how sad she is. 

Roxy post-surgery...

 

First Gardenia...

We have a Gardenia bush outside that we've had for years and right about now it bursts into full bloom with hundreds of big, beautiful Gardenia's.  This big guy right here bloomed 2 days ago and it's officially the first one on the tree.  I had to clip it and bring it inside, it smells as good as it looks and it's so pretty to look at.  Enjoy!

cool close-up...

Our broken Roxy...

Two mornings ago, I was driving to work when my phone rings.  It was my husband asking me if the health plan we had for Roxy included x-rays.  I asked him what happened and this is what he said.  Apparently she was jumping on the bed when my daughter was getting up for school and she ended up getting her back leg stuck in between the mattress and the side-boards of her bed, she panicked and went to jump off and that's when her leg snapped.  After taking her to the vet, we found out that she had broken her fibula and cracked her growth plate.  My husband said she yelped liked nothing he had ever heard before.  Anyway, they put her in a soft cast and we have an appointment with an orthopedic first thing tomorrow morning.  Poor thing though, she is absolutely confined to her cage, having to eat and sleep in there and the only time being allowed out is when she needs to go outside.  I took these photo's of her hobbling around are yard just a little while ago.  Oh please say a little prayer that she won't need surgery, hopefully a cast will do the trick, but I'm worried about the growth plate because that can turn into a whole host of problems when she's an adult.  She's still a puppy, just a mere 8 months old. 

Friendship pillows...

Once a month my friends Kathy, Shanon & Linda and I all go out for dinner at Chili's.  This month, since they are so good to me and to show them how much they mean to me too, I made them each a little "friendship" pillow.  They're made out of felt and little misc buttons. 

close up...

a little "love" pillow...

a little close up...

   

Our wonderful trip to Chautauqua...

Well, we wanted snow and we got snow!  What a wonderful trip we had.  We had originally planned on going to Colorado with the kids but after seeing just how expensive it all would've cost, we changed our plans to Chautauqua, New York.  Our vacation went from February 5th-12th.  So why Chautauqua you ask?  Well, it's an absolutely beautiful little area just east of Lake Erie and in the winter time, the Institution looks like a Norman Rockwell painting.  I just love it and we have a lot of history there.  My mom (and dad) own a little cottage just a little ways away from the lake, (Lake Chautauqua is 17 miles long and 5 miles across at its widest), and she spends her summers there, in the winter it's vacant.  My mom's cottage has been in our family since 1984 and there are a few homes in the institution where I used to spend my summers, (as you scroll down you'll see my Aunt Kay's gorgeous home, she has since passed but her home still remains in our family, just can't remember who owns it now).  We also took the kids skiing at the same ski resort I learned to ski at as a kid.  Sentimental I know, but I think it's really cool.  We took them to Holiday Valley and they had the best time ever.  They went on two separate days and by the end they were skiing down the "Green" hills, (the green hills being the easiest), but at Holiday Valley they are more like "Blues".  (I've skiied everywhere, I know the difference).  ;)  They truly amazed me.  :)  Anyway, this trip was full of firsts.  My kids have never been on a plane and have never seen snow.  They fell in love and now want to move as much as we do.  :)  For the pictures below they are posted in sequence from the time we left here till our last day in New York.  We had a huge snow storm the last few days we were there so there are some beautiful shots of Chautauqua toward the end.  Enjoy!!!  I'll try to explain as I go.

Connor and Courtney were brought to the cockpit after finding out this was their first trip.

how about this shot?  This was the first plane from PBI to Atlanta, we were the next gate over, I took this one from the window of our second plane, pretty cool huh?

finally at Nana's house...not much snow, and about 40 degrees and rainy, Enjoy!

 

taking a walk and Connor with those darn snowballs....already!

This was my Aunt Kay's house, this is where I used to spend my summers...I even have a picture of me as a little baby with my dad on the front porch.  I love this house. 

Ugg...those darn snowballs...

my beautiful daughter...

Oh I just can't help it, he's so darn cute isn't he?

At Holiday Valley Ski Resort...(Oh by the way, Holiday Valley is rated # 5 for best skiing in the East).  :)

ready for lessons...

 

with their ski teacher James...he was so cool and they had a private lesson with him and he taught them so well, by the end of the day they were skiing down "Green" trails...

here are some pics now of me and Keith...(Keith has never skied before)... ;)

Mardi Gras lift...

cool trail pic...okay who thinks I went down that double black diamond???  :)

view from the top...

Saturday was really busy...

my skis...close up :)

me close up...

with my two beautiful children..

Holiday Valley is located in Ellicottville, New York...here are a couple random photos around town...

 

here's connor waiting to get back into our car..

the sweetest little chocolate shoppe...oh yes we went in!

Oh and did I mention that we also went to Holiday Valley Tubing Company!  Oh my gosh, if you've never been tubing before, you've got to try it, what a rush, Connor went 2 hours straight without taking a break! 

Courtney on break next to the big fire pit....(oh it snowed big time while we were here).  :)

Okay...here are some pictures taken inside Chautauqua...hope you enjoy!

The famous "Miller Bell Tower" which chimes even in the dead of winter...oh and don't you just love the reflection off the frozen lake?

Courtney in front of the frozen lake...

The story behind this next picture is kinda cool.  For those of you that remember the movie, "St. Elmo's Fire", well, a long time ago, there used to be a bellboy at this hotel and he is the one that wrote the screenplay for the movie and named it after the hotel.  Pretty cool huh?

St. Elmo Hotel...

 

Courtney in front of her favorite place...

NOW WHO WANTS SNOW??????

These next photos were all taken after is snowed 8-12 inches.  It went down to 10 degrees and the windchill was -5.  :)  SOOOOO beautiful, wait till you see...

My mom's cottage, love her address too:  19 Evergreen...(it's kinda hard to see with all the snow in the way).

these are at my moms front porch...

Yikes!  check out the temp!

tree in the front...I love this tree and it holds snow so beautifully!

pine branch...

 

burying Courtney..

snow angels...

 

Oh and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this photo....

this is Connor tasting snow...

taking a break on a random bench...

 

Beautiful photos around Chautauqua...

random little church...

  trees...

snow drift...

at Bestor Plaza..

standing tall...

frozen stream...

Courtney & daddy, (I love this photo and it's breathtaking in sepia)...

 

showing scale under the huge trees...

little cinema...

Oh and I can't remember the name of this theatre but actors have been here, some years ago, Melissa Gilbert did a play here and there have been others but would have to ask my mom or research it...

tall, tall, tall trees...

icicles hanging down from the roof of the Chautauqua Police Department...

 

lone pine at Bestor Plaza...

random house...

okay...back at mom's house...

little sledder...

being pulled by daddy...

laying in snow...

even his little eyelashes have snow on them...

Connor's cute little lime-green snow boots...

Oooops...how did this one get in here?

Here's a funny picture, these bikes were in my mom's carport....Snow finds a place to land anywhere!

 

Okay...my snowman, (now you have to understand the snow was soooo powdery, it was hard to make him tall)...

dad's very, scary snowman...

the making of dad's very, scary snowman...

and finally, one last little picture that I forgot to include somewhere up at the top...

Hope you enjoyed our trip to Chautauqua!  :)

New Self-Addressed projects...

I have to admit that I just finished these and they are late.  I feel so bad that I couldn't finish them by the due date but hopefully Jenn will forgive me.  This kit was a lot of fun to work with, and I included some of my Christmas polka-dot ribbon from Pottery Barn and kinda like how it went with the patterned papers of the kit.  I did also do a layout of my daughter, but in photographing it, (since it was printed on glossy photo paper), I need to figure out how to make it turn out right, (there's a lot of glare), so I'll post that one later.  Oh BTW, we're leaving Tuesday morning, very early, for our ski trip.  So I'll post everything else when we get back on the 13th.  :)  In the meantime, enjoy.  :)

lil' star...

thankyou card...

Hello card...

and my card sketch...(love the Pottery Barn ribbon)...

"Love" magnets...

First off, sorry I haven't been posting very much lately, I don't think I've ever been so busy ever in my life than this past month.  But, I did manage to do a couple of little projects.  The first being these little "Love" magnets for your refrigerator.  These measure a mere 2x3 and are done on little wooden shapes and for the magnet on the back, I simply stuck a business card magnet to them and voila!  Hope you enjoy.  :)

and a little close-up...

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes....

So, I made these today for a stamping party tonight because it was my night to make a yummy dessert, and I kinda like the way they turned out.  My daughter said to photograph them so we can make them again soon!  :)  I decided since Valentines day is slowly approaching, I wanted to get in the spirit of things and this is what I came up with.  :) 

and a yummy close-up! :)

Getting psyched for skiing...

Well, first off...Happy New Year to all of you!  I've been a little MIA, just working a lot but trying to save for our upcoming ski trip. In a little while, we're going to be heading off to Colorado!  Ahhhh....the white mountains, the cold, cool crisp air, the white slopes....seriously, could anything be better?  And just so you know, yes...I am a Florida girl, but I have snow in my blood and I've never loved anything more.  Below, I happened to find an old, (but not that old) photo of me skiing while in College.  I'm guessing this is around 1990 or 1991...pretty funny huh?  Check out the old "stone-washed" jeans...and my skis...YES!  Those are my skis, in fact tonight, we just happened to bring the old guys down from the attic whereas now I'm afraid they've turned a really ugly shade of yellow.  So...I thought you'd like a good laugh of me on my butt in the snow.  :)  I can't wait to go skiing again and I'm sooooooo psyched and excited, we're planning for either Vail or Breckenridge, leaning more toward Breckinridge.  And this time, we're taking the kids.  :)  Although I'll be traveling on a separate airplane, (long story, but I have this huge irrational fear of flying).  Anyway...have a good laugh on me.  :)

me on my butt in the snow!

 

New designs from Self-Addressed...

I had so much fun with this kit from Self-Addressed, I think all the little ornaments are my favorites, but all-in-all, this kit has to be one of my favorites so far...I'm loving all the papers from Chatterbox and all the ribbon and chipboard embellishments.  I could go on-and-on, but you get the idea I'm sure.  Hope you enjoy my designs for the month. 

Tree Ornament:

more ornaments:

and one more...

and a couple of cards...(I added some "bling" to the insides of some of the little buttons)

button border card...

 

Merry Christmas everyone...

You know, I just love the holidays...I REALLY love the holidays.  I love everything about it, the decorating, the music, the "real" reason for the season, and the look on my childrens' faces when they wake up to presents under the tree.  This year it was all about them...we wanted them to really have a good Christmas and I think we made it happen.  It's always about them, but this year we just wanted it special.  :)  Courtney got a Sony Digital camera and a full-size guitar, some more Swarovski crystal animals to add to her expanding collection and tons more Web-kins which she just adores and Connor got a new bike, a little computer, a piano keyboard, roller-blades and lots of other stuff.  It's late now, almost 7:30pm and they're STILL playing with all their "stuff".  I'm sad that it's over but glad that my kids had a wonderful day.  :)  Merry Christmas to all of you....

Our Christmas tree...

our tree was so wide, we couldn't get a star on the very top of it...

eager little ones...

Courtney...

who's presents belong to who???

Opening gifts...

 

Lovin' her Web-kins...

Stocking stuffers...

and finally, some random pics of some of my favorite things...

this little ornament is one I bought while in Estes Park, this past summer...

some of my favorites...

snowmen...

and a little antique village home, (which I collect and LOVE!)...

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! :)

Cookie Exchange party...

Well since I'm so far behind on posts....I'll start with my Cookie Exchange / Christmas party which was on December 13th.  We all had a great time exchanging cookies and we made a really fun Christmas card organizer too.  The card organizer was big enough to hold all the recipe cards and lot's of Christmas cards too.  Everyone brought homemade cookies with a recipe card to match and prizes were awarded for the tastiest, yummiest cookie, (that was Caroline), and Kathy won a prize for her really cute recipe card, and Marilyn won a prize just for being there.  I made Gooey Chocolate Crinkle cookies which are my favorite because they are so chocolatey and yummy.  We had such a fun time...Thanks to Kathy, Edy, Caroline, Genie & Marilyn for coming, hope to see you again for next years party.  :)

Making cookies....

finished cookies...

setting up for the party...

friends...

more cookies....yes...cookies galore!

and the project we all made...

we had such a great time...see you in 2008!   

My little tree helper...

Yes, I am still here...just so, so busy.  This has to be the busiest month ever for me and I have so much to catch up on, but will do it slowly.  These few little pics were taken just a couple days after Thanksgiving when my kids and I went to pick up our Christmas tree.  This is the 2nd year in a row, I also got a little tree for my craft room, and I remember that when we got home, my little buddy wanted to bring it inside, he was so excited about it.  So here he is carrying my little craft-room tree for me.  The other pics are of the tree decorated, complete with my new ribbon balls from Pottery Barn, and they couldn't be more fitting.  The tree looks really dark because it was kinda taken at night with all the lights off, but at any rate, you get the idea.  :)  Enjoy! 

little elf....

my tree...

and a little close up...