Card #1 - FTL122–Thank You Card

One of my high school friends recently posted on her Facebook page about a book that she was going to try and follow. It’s called 365 Thank Yous: The Year A Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik (the link takes you to an author interview on NPR). This book chronicles the author’s decision to write a thank you note to one of his friends, family or even a stranger every day for one year.

I think this is a tremendously great idea and really goes along with the Friday Fave Five posts in that it helps you to focus on the positive. Honestly can’t you right now think of people that you could send a Thank You too?

However….that’s a rather lofty goal for me, so when I first read about it I agreed to myself that it was great, but not for me. But my thoughts keep returning to this book.

Then this morning I read somewhere that a person’s handwriting is fast becoming a lost art. I’ve mentioned before how much I love getting notes in the mail and when I read this about handwriting it gave me pause. A lost art? How sad that would be. Seeing a person’s handwriting can take you down memory lane faster than many things.

So all this leads me to my mutant version of the the book and the handwriting. In my version I’m going to try to send out a card a week – more if the situation warrants (I’d hate to put off a birthday card because I’d already sent a card that week!!!). There is *always* something you can send a card for and if there are no birthdays or anniversaries then it’s time to send a Thinking of You, Thank You or Missing You card. Can’t we all think of somebody that would fit one of those categories?

I’m hoping that I will also make the card I send so that I can justify my card making craft supplies. But I’m not going to beat myself up if it’s a busy week and I can’t get to it since the real point is to get a card sent.

** Edited to add - Apparently I'm not the only one that came up with this mutant idea! Today in reading blogs I found a link to 52 Weeks, 52 Letters where she challenges us to do the same thing. I added my link and if you've decided to do something similar to this post I encourage you to link there as well.

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Here is Card #1 using the FTL122 layout from the Clean & Simple Stamping blog. I do have a reason to send a Thank You card, so I’m off to a good start. Now all I need to do is handwrite a message on the inside!

• Stamps – Whimsical Words by Stampin’ Up
• Ink – Palette Noir Black
• Paper – Kraft (Stampin’ Up), Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink), pattern paper/blue paper Metropolitan Plaza (American Crafts)
• Size – 7x6 folded in half

* Linking to Get Your Craft On, Monday’s Blog Hop, Take-A-Look Tuesday

Friday’s Fave Five #121

I had planned to really buckle down and not miss any of the Friday’s Fave Five’s for 2011 and here it is late afternoon and I still haven’t posted – that was close!  This is such an awesome way to keep your focus on the good and blessings in your life.  Head on over to Susanne’s blog at Living To Tell The Story to see more or to join in yourself!

1. Routine, Glorious Routine!  You know, the holiday season is one of my favorite times of year, but I’ll admit that it’s so nice to get back to routine.  Really the best part is that since we are at the beginning of a New Year you get to set your routine how you like it and then go forth and conquer.  Sometimes the ordinary becomes the extraordinary simply by being dependable.

2. New Calendar!  I get so excited about this every year!  For the top of the hutch on my desk I have a metal picture holder that holds a calendar I print out for each month.  The calendar is on sale right now at DigiScrap Kits for only $3!!!  This is seriously cute to me and I’m excited to get it printed and ready to use.

3. Weather!  Seriously…it’s January and yesterday was 73 degrees here.  We took the dog to the park and had a grand time running around.   I just checked and it’s 65 right now, so quite possibly we’ll be either at the park or in the backyard this evening too.  I do love it, but really it’s winter and not supposed to be like this.  Let me add that we have a chance of snow on Sunday and Monday, which is as it should be.

Oh and we did a wee bit of geocaching last night too and it’s been way too long since we’ve done that.  We both remarked on how funny it can be to discover you’ve missed something and didn’t even realize it!

4. Craft Day With Friends!  Last Saturday a dear friend had us over to her house to ring in the new year with a crafting day.  She served brunch (a melt in your mouth strata) and dinner (jambalaya people – oh my word!) and had a day of talking, laughing and playing with her dogs.  GREAT way to start the new year and hoping to do it again and again.

5. Filling the Calendar With FUN!  I hibernated way too much the last half of last year while recuperating with some medical stuff and now that I feel sooo much better I’m excited to be getting back into the swing of things.  Several great things coming up with several different groups of friends and family.  Isn’t it great to have things on your calendar to look forward to?

Brooklyn’s Beautiful Dress

I know that we all have put Christmas 2010 behind us and we’re looking towards 2011 now, but please indulge this Grandma that had no internet to document the incredible cuteness of her 3 year old granddaughter during the holiday season.  There’s really not much to do at this point but to share a few photos before moving on. 

On Christmas Eve we went to the Children’s service at my in-law’s church, which also happens to have been our church back when we lived in the same city.  Pastor started out by addressing the large crowd and letting them know that this isn’t what the usual services are like, that this one is geared toward the children.  He warned that there might be some “little lambs bleating” during service, but that it was perfectly ok.  At that point he called all the children forward to tell the story of Christ’s birth in his unique fashion.

I’d say there was at least 50 children during this service and they were all so darling in their finery and so animated to be up at the front.  We happened to be Front Row Joe’s and had a great vantage point from our seat, but Brooklyn did go forward for most of it.

The story was darling.  Pastor would pull little cutesy figurines out of a box – Mary, Joseph, the animals, Baby Jesus – and tell the story.  He had the children shouting answers back to him and truly it was a blessing.

Back up about an hour and a  half though and we almost didn’t make it.  Poor little Brooklyn had fallen asleep on the couch and we had to get her up to get her ready to go.  Think about waking up a 3 year old that hasn’t had a nap in two days and had only slept for about 20-30 minutes ….. it wasn’t pretty.

She did come out of it though and was her usual adorable self.  When we got back to her great-grandma’s house Keith and I wanted a picture of our darling granddaughter in her beautiful Christmas dress.  And that’s when the cheesy grins started coming out…and the cute little turn of the foot:

 

Grandpa did finally get her to laugh and  not have quite the silly face:

 

One last picture so I can share the darling little coat that went with the dress:

 

Thanks for indulging a grandma that is madly in love with a little 3 year old girl. 

And A Happy New Year!

So thrilled to be online again!  Apparently when our new neighbors moved in and got their telephone connected the tech knocked out our phone, internet and TV service.  And of course this happens over the holiday period, so we were without our entertainment devices for far too long – LOL!  But as of today we are back in business.  I wonder if this is what we will all feel like if the EMPs ever really happen?  And have you read those books…the series that I can’t think of the title right now?  I’ll have to look those up.

Anyway, New Year’s Eve is never a big holiday for the two of us and really never has been.  We’re low-key kind of people that really prefer to not be out and about, though we have been known to do that on occasion as well.

This year we weren’t able to do our usual watch the ball drop in Times Square since we had no TV.  Honestly, when you CAN’T do something is when you most WANT to do it!

So we headed out to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner, then came home and played ROCK BAND!!!  Yes, the kids got us ROCK BAND for Christmas and I think our inner rock star comes out every single time we play it.  I am seriously not good at all at it as my timing isn’t all that great, but it’s a very fun thing for the two of us to do together.

That lasted until about 10:00 and then I think we went to bed shortly after.  We are truly party animals. 

I hope that everybody had a safe holiday and celebrated it in your favorite way.  Here we are at the start of 2011 and I for one am certain it’s going to be great!

Reindeer Sugar Cookies

Aren't these the CUTEST cookies? And the great thing is that they were so easy and fast to make. I found the recipe on Family Corner, a great site to find cute things for kids.

Ingredients:

roll of Pillsbury sugar cookies

M&M's

pretzels

1/4 cup of flour

To make the dough a little stiffer, work 1/4 cup of flour into the sugar cookie roll. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with a bell cookie cutter. Press pretzels at the top for antlers and press M&M's for eyes and nose. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, removing from oven when the edges are just barely brown. Let cool on pan for 2 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack.

I decided that all my reindeer were going to be Rudolph with blue eyes. I couldn't remember what color his eyes were, but I seem to remember that Clarice had blue eyes. And who am I to mess with true love like that???

Brooklyn Loves Making Handprint Snowman Ornaments

We had so much fun this weekend! One of our family traditions is to have our extended family gathering the Saturday before Christmas. This way we’re all able to get together and have a wonderful time while keeping the actual Christmas holiday more low-key.

My mom and sister-in-law Michele came to town and the three of us took Brooklyn and headed out to my cousin’s house for family fun. We loved on new babies, marveled at how the kids had all grown, ate wonderful food, exchanged gifts and sang carols. Really it was great.

When we got back to my house on Saturday night we found that grandpa had gotten the original cartoon Grinch movie for us to enjoy with Brooklyn. We ran out for sub sandwiches and set up in the living room to eat and watch a movie, which turned into a real treat. Brooklyn laughed and laughed at little Max, the dog in the movie. As soon as the movie ended she was bouncing up and down and wanted to see it again. Grandpa happily obliged.

On Sunday my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and the rest of the kids came over and we all had a fun lunch together. Little Bit, Brooklyn, was truly in her element having so much family here. Ah …. so blessed …

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Knowing that my 3 year old granddaughter would be here this weekend I set out to find some fun crafts for us to do together. Since we were so busy with family and making memories we only got one craft done, which is quite ok as the others will wait until next time.

I had found a tutorial for a handprint snowman ornament on a blog and I just happen to be partial to any craft involving handprints.

These were so easy and so fun to do. I painted her palm (she did tell me that ‘paint goes on the paper, not on fingers’ so I’m assuming they hear that in school) and she said it tickled. She would wrap her palm around an ornament and when she opened her hand and saw her handprint she would grin and giggle each and every time.

They are the cutest ornaments ever! This is a great project to do with littles and the best part is that you have a handprint ornament afterwards to treasure. The full tutorial is at the link above, but my biggest hint if you decide to make these is to not spare the paint on their palm. The first couple we did just had a light coat of paint and those snowmen didn’t turn out nearly as cute as the snowmen that had a thicker coat of paint.

I put her name and year on the bottom of the ornament and we’ll be giving these gifts to all the relatives.

** Linking to Making the World Cuter Monday, Get Your Craft On