Let the Cropping Begin!

I hope that you'll join me along with the wonderful Pixies at Pixels 2 Pages.  Lots of great challenges to get you moving during this cold sluggish weekend.  As always they will have freebies and a ton of FUN on tap for everyone.  Not a digital cropper - no problem, it's not that difficult to adapt the challenges to traditional scrap booking.

Dig in & ENJOY!  I'm getting ready for the next snow storm so I'll be catching up tomorrow & Sunday.

Happy New Year

I want to take a moment to thank all of my customers and blog followers for their loyalty during 2014.  It has been a year full of  many obstacles for my family and I can say that I'm glad they are behind us now.

I did get two digital gifts done for Christmas gifts in 2014.  Here's the one I did for my mom.

Mom really enjoys getting one each year, she's started sending me 'special' photos for the calendar.  I love that the top portion can be put into a 12 x 12 album at the end of the year.

Where has the time gone?

WOW, I can't believe that it is the 30th of December already.  It has been a whirlwind the past few weeks for me with work & holiday preparations.  I must say I have managed to accomplish most of what I wanted, but missed out on some photo ops.

My most recent road block has been my work schedule & getting enough rest so I don't catch the latest "bug" and bring it home from work (I work in a long-term care facility).  So I need to keep my immune system strong.  SO far I have avoided the Flu & a Gastro bug. 

This past weekend my youngest (my daughter) had a sleep over for her birthday yesterday.  She planned this all herself.  She wanted to have a night of viewing videos and then a trip to the movies for her & a few friends.  She had three girls over, I assume they had a blast - all three thanked me for having them.  They went to see the latest "Night at the Museum" movie - it was funny.  My daughter also wanted a photo with her BFF's so she could insert it into a frame as a gift for each of them (Christmas gift).  She found some really nice 3 x 5 frames and we got a few acceptable photos, but my problem came when I went to order the prints for her.  None of my go to online printers support this size photo any longer.  Bummer!

Thankfully I have Artisan from Panstoria (did I mention I totally love this software).  It has bailed me out on more than one occasion.  I created the size photo I wanted on a 4x6 print by adding a black background & inserting the size photo frame I needed.  Now I am able to print the photo for the girls.  Yea Mom!

My daughter will be so excited to give this to her friends next week when she returns to school.

I've included the two best photos of her gang.

The most difficult thing I had with taking the photo was getting the girls to "squeeze" together so I didn't have so much of my "junk" in the background.  I hate having those distractions in the background. :)  Oh, well.  It's still a great photo of all of them.  They are all smiling, too.  BONUS!

Please be sure to use my affiliate links on the sides of the page.  I appreciate the added business & it helps me keep the page up & running.

Best wishes for a Joyous New Year in 2015!

Getting ready for the Holiday's

Last weekend was spent making & ordering my digital Christmas gifts and cards.  It took me 4 days in between working and other activities.  I am happy to say that I was able to get everything ordered in time for Holiday shipping cut-offs.  My cards arrived on Tuesday (only 2 days) and I got notice tonight that my 2 calendars are shipping & will be here mid-week next week.  How wonderful it that!  Kudos to Panstoria Print Shop for such a quick turnaround time on my orders.

Tonight the kids put up the tree & the lights.  Now that all of the lights are working it looks great!  Over 1000 tiny white lights on the tree...I think it looks great just like this.

Someone please tell me how when you 'test' all of the lights before putting them on the tree how is it that when you're done you still have a string or two that doesn't light??  We spent the evening watching our favorite Christmas shows on DVD.  Started out with The Little Drummer Boy, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, The Cricket on the Hearth, and last but not least Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  Tomorrow we'll add the decoration & watch A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart. (one of my favorites.) 

Tomorrow will be setting up the rest of the outside lights & manger scene if all goes well & the weather cooperates.  I may even attempt a few more digital photo gifts if time allows.  I definitely need to get my cards in the post.

Here's a sneak peak at our family Christmas card:

due to being pressed for time this year I reused the template from last year and changed out some of the embellishments, changed the colors of them and added a glow.  I also added the house with the snow because we had a storm the day before Thanksgiving.  It's been a very hectic year for us, especially with our son graduating from high school, he just earned Eagle and our daughter was in her 1st pageant this year, and it's the only year they both will be in marching band together.  A lot of special memories for all of us.

I hope you'll remember me next year if you'd like to design your own cards.  I'm glad to help you out, I just need your thoughts & photos before November 1st so I can complete & order them in plenty of time for you.

Holiday Shipping Guidelines - 2014

During the holidays our standard manufacturing time increases from 3 - 5 business days to 7 - 10 days before shipping.
To ensure you receive your order before December 25th, we recommend that you place your order on or before these deadlines.

For shipments to the United States:
Wednesday, December 3 - USPS Priority Mail and UPS Ground shipments
Monday, December 8 - UPS 2nd Day Shipments
Wednesday, December 10 - UPS Next Day Shipments

Favors for Eagle Court of Honor

This morning I managed to finish the water bottle labels for my son's Eagle Court of Honor (COH).  To remove the labels, cut & put on the labels that I printed took me 90 minutes.  Not too shabby for two cases of water (70 bottles).  Oh, and I removed them from the plastic wrapping of the case & put them back into it...that way I didn't need to find another box for transporting to the social hall.  Neat trick, huh?!

Now to the nitty gritty.  I found the template & art work on Pinterest and saved it to my Eagle Scout Stuff board.  you can also find it here www.yourfreeart.net www.daisiecompany.com 

There are also several other templates available for candy bars, etc.  Be sure to check it out.

Here's my end result.  

Yes, I am aware of the typo on the label...just noticed it as I am preparing this posting.  Now the question becomes do I correct it or not?  (I still have SO much to get done).  At this point I'm reprinting them & if there's time I'll redo the labels.  UGH!  so exhausted and I have two more days until the COH.

Veteran's Day

Thank you to ALL of our Veteran's

This is my baby brother, he's been serving since 2000 in the Army National Guard.

Working off some STRESS

Here's the latest craft I have been doing to work out some of the stress in my life recently.  What is nice about these scarves is that I can complete them in about an hour.  I have several of these currently listed on eBay.

SO easy & quick to make...

A few of my favorite color combinations.  Here's a link to my auction(s) http://www.ebay.com/sch/chrisneric323/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

Trick or Treat! Did you get that photo of your Ghostly Ghouls?

 The week started out with the kids carving their jack o' lanterns.  To avoid the mess & since they are now older I got them carvable 'fake' pumpkins.  This way they could have it last from year to year.

Here is the end result.

My daughter chose the wolf baying at the moon.  Her brother assisted her with the final details around the moon so you would still see the wolf's silhouette.

These photos really give you a feel for their creations:

 

The kids also had the chance to dress up for their band practice.  They helped each other with the make-up and choice of clothing.

 

I'm so glad to see them working together and having FUN with this holiday.

I had my camera ready & set up for the night time lighting and everything was planned & ready.  Here's the results of my pre-planning.

As you can see even the best laid plans sometimes fail.  I have great photos of things I didn't really care if I got them or not & the photos I REALLY wanted are blurred :0(  Oh, well we all have those days.  This is where your journaling comes into play.  It's the memory of the event as much as it is about the photo.  I never did find my son among the high school band...

Homecoming 2014

My son George is discovering just how much is involved with Homecoming.  Last evening was the football game, Senior Night, and the selection of the Homecoming Queen.

walking onto the field...as the recognize George.  We're ALL in step, too!

SMILE! for the camera/yearbook photo.

Then tonight was the Homecoming Dance...buying the corsage, getting a tie to match his date's dress, the tickets to the dance, and paying for the meal before the dance.  Needless to say he has sticker shock.  Not a bad thing for him to realize just what Mom & Dad have been shelling out over the years.

the corsage...

the boutineer...

his tie with his Great Grandpa's tie tac...

And of course he had to stand still long enough for everyone to take his & his date's photos.  We went to one of the local parks for the photos.

They both look nice.