July 21st

 

Today I'm revisiting one of my favorite Christmases, 2019. This is the year that I made the snowmen as giftwrap for our presents. I started the project in the summer by collecting sticks when we visited JD and Janel in Kansas. The snowmen came in three parts: gifts in the bottom, stocking stuffers in the middle and ornaments in the head. I had fun making them and every year since the grandkids have asked me if I'd make them again! I guess they were a hit. Katie gave everyone a beanie or hat for Christmas which we placed on each snowman. It was super fun and holds great memories for all of us.

My family disguised as snowmen!

You can see how thrilled I was with how they turned out

Me and Dan

This is the year I gave in and we all wore pj's for Christmas

Adam (with Snow)

Jessica (our oldest daughter)

Storm

Snow

JD (our oldest son), Janel, Winter, Blizzard

Katie (our 2nd daughter), Gabe, Thunder, Sunny

Zach (our youngest... and tallest!)

Skye

I love it when all the Grands are together!

July 14th

 

Today I'm looking back at 2009. Our first year as grandparents. What a special Christmas that was. The entire family gathered for the first time in a few years. And of course, Sunny was the center of attention!

Mom & Dad

Me and Dan

JD & Janel

Jess & Adam

Katie, Gabe, Sunny

Zach & Sunny

The star of the show!

December Twenty-third - Best Gift

Photos of the best gifts I've ever received!

Gramps, Blizzard, Grammy, Snow

Storm, Thunder, Skye, Summer

Me with my boys

Gabe, Zach, JD, Adam

Dan with the girls

Jessica, Katie, Janel

Jessica, Adam, Snow, Storm

JD, Janel, Blizzard

Gabe, Katie, Sunny, Thunder

Zach, Skye

Dan and me

Christmas Crafts: Gift Tags

A few years ago my DIL, Janel, gave me a stamping set for Christmas gift tags. Janel is a distributor for Stampin' Up and her creations are gorgeous. I, on the other hand, would LIKE to be a creative stamper, but am not.

So, I let the set languish in a drawer. I was too intimidated to use it.

This week I was doing some decluttering in my craft room and came upon the set. I decided to overcome my inadequacy and make some gift tags.

I was pleasantly surprised at my efforts. They are very simple as you will see below, but they fit my style.

I'm actually quite proud of myself, mainly because I actually did them. Finally!

Hopefully this has unlocked my Christmas craft motivation and you will be seeing more completed crafts from me soon. We'll see...

See What I Made!

When we were in Kansas visiting JD and Janel we stopped in at Menard's. We don't have Menard's out here and we sure wish we did. While we were there we purchased some screening material (that we can't find here in Phoenix), some Christmas decor, and a craft glass block. The block was priced at $8.99, but when we got up to the register it rang in at $3.00. I thought about going back and buying a couple of more, but I didn't.

After we got home, I started experimenting with my glass block. This is what I came up with:

I used trees from my Christmas Village. I bought the snowflake lights at Menard's. They are not only cute, but have three lighting options. Plus, when you turn them on, they burn for six hours and then shut off for 18 hours and then come back on for six hours - how cool is that?!

Jessica made the bow for me, because as we all know, I am bow-challenged. I enjoyed making this block so much that I called JD and asked him to stop by Menard's to buy me two more blocks. He did and will deliver them to me at Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to creating more block decor for this holiday season!