January DIVAS Project by Jill

Jill was our project host for January; she started the year off with a bang and set a high standard for the following months.  She had us start with the embroidered birthday card on the left followed by Valentines.  Jill supplied a vast amount of papers, ribbons and embellishments for us.  I really had fun making my cards and visiting with friends.  The cherub favor in the center was a gift from Debbie (See previous post).

Valentine from Debbie

Monday night was our monthly DIVAS meeting and Debbie E presented each of us with a Valentine decorated box and mine contained this beautiful cherub in a heart shaped box.  It is very elegant with the jewels on the crown and inside of the box around the edge.  The leaves are a bright gold.  I love it!  THANK YOU, DEBBIE.

SUN CAME OUT

With the sun out, I had to take some more photos.  How do you like this one?

It is now 1:30 and most of the frost has dropped off the trees or melted. 

FROSTY JANUARY MORNING

When I got up this morning everything was covered with ice crystals and the neighborhood looked magical. We have not had above freezing weather for over a week but it did warm up just a bit yesterday to create a fog which created the crystals (my interpretation).  In any event it was a scene not to miss and below is one of the photos I captured at 7:30 this morning.

2013 A NEW BEGINNING

You won't believe this but I created an actual project for the first week in 2013. YEA!  My plans for the new year include jumping back into some of my paper craft groups and I needed a way to display the items swapped, mostly cards. Here are photos of what I created -- A CARD TRAY .  The only items I had to purchase for my project were the wood dowels to hold the cards inside the tray.  My ongoing resolution for 2013 is  to USE WHAT I HAVE and deplete stock on hand.    My inspiration was Laura Denison who created something very similar.  Thank you, Laura.

Bountiful Blessings

Next week is Thanksgiving here in the US and I made a few cards to mail out.  The fall leaves have been gorgeous this year because the hard freeze came late leaving the leaves on the trees for a glorious show.

"Filling the sky with crimson and gold,

Leaves scatter without a sound.

Carelessly dancing in the crisp autumn air,

They gently cascade to the ground.

They whirl about, with careless flair,

Dancing here and there.

A lovely vision to behold, I gaze without a care."

 

(The verse stamp was from my friend, Inka.)

 



Joyful Christmas

It has been such a long time since I visited my blog that I had to view the video on the new blog layout for posting options. 

TO MY MANY, MANY BLOGGER FRIENDS I apologize for being absent for such a long time.  It will be impossible for me to go back and read every blog and the posts and art you have created over the last 5-6 months but I haven't forgotten a one of you. Many of you have been ill or have had surgery yourselves and I wish each of you much happiness, love, good wishes, and good health for the upcoming season. 

When all things are improving with hubby another road block gets in the way.  Thursday, he was using an ice pack on his leg and left it on too long resulting in second degree burns.  The skin on the leg is tender from the surgery back in May so it didn't take much to injure the skin.  We spent the morning in the emergency room because he certainly doesn't want to lose a leg that he has worked so hard to use to walk again.  With antibiotics and special ointments plus the love and nursing from his caregiver it should all heal up in 2-3 weeks.

Last Friday I joined the gals at our local friendly art club, Artistic Souls, and we all brought card making supplies for the holidays. I actually pulled out my Christmas boxes and stamps a week ago and it was fun to actually select stamps and scan ideas.  It felt really good to do some paper crafts!  Below is a copy of one of the cards I put together.