Happy Thanksgiving

I had to do a pre-post for Thanksgiving day.  I am so thankful for ALL the blessings that God has given us.  Even the blessings of hard trials.  Each year we go around the dinner table and give thanks to God  and I thought I'd do a little of that on my blog with you. (I hope you don't mind.) 

Here I go...
I thank God for each of my blogging friends.  Your comments and emails are such a blessing to me and I feel the love of God wrap around me through you kind, encouraging words.  I pray that the Lord will continue to Bless you abundantly........Thank you for letting me share my heart and thoughts on my blog with you and that you receive it with open arms.  You are truly a blessing to me.   

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving day!

I would love it if you'd share with me what you are thankful for....only if you'd like...we can pretend that we are at a blogging Thanksgiving feast. (Ok...I hope it's not tooo silly for everyone.LOL!!!)

Mary

My version of an Advent Calendar...

Well I am showing you the finished project before all the good stuff.... LOL!

What happened was I took all the photo's of each individual piece of the advent calendar and didn't check the picture quality before proceeding to make the finished product.  (Well it's almost done...this gives you a good idea.)

So I am doing things a little backwards...I am showing you the finished product and after thanksgiving I will show you each individual piece.

As you can see it is a little rustic and that is how I wanted it.  There are so many thing that you can do differently than I did to step up the project. But this suits our needs and this is the old school homemade style I was going for.

So check back after Thanksgiving...some time early next week and I will have the detailed photo's, instructions, the story behind why I choose this and some more ideas.   I feel like I am being mean....but you'll have to wait.....sorry...=(

There are so many great ways that are economical and full of family fun to count down the days to Christmas....Ok I'll give a little hint...our version of the advent calendar includes a little journaling...(It's not overwhelming...becuase if it was I wouldn't commit to it...but it's a fun and easy way to get the whole family involved and it is a special way to remember Christmas and the real reason for the season, Jesus Christ.)

I hope this will get your creative juices flowing.....

Blessings and I will see you soon! 

Hope you have a super safe and blessed Thanksgiving!!!!!

Mary

Lookie what I made....

I made a hat for one of my boys...working on the other one.  Isn't it cute?  And it is totally cute and super easy to whip up!  I used a pattern from one of my all time crochet pattern artist, Mamachee, yep it's another one of Tara's creations!  Love, love, love her patterns!  Check out Mamachee's Etsy store.  There's also a rumor that Tara is working on getting a book published too!  How stinkn' cool is that!

Here is my little Sammy-doodles wearing his new hat and being funny!   Look at that cheesy plastered on grin....tooo funny and cute.

Here is a side view....look at that face.  He is too cute and funny!  We found out that this hat was slightly too small, you can see it in the pictures.  So I am making him a new one that is slightly larger.  But I love the yarn...bright orange snowflake with that yummy aqua blue snowflake yarn....and Jeremy's will be opposite his main color will be the aqua blue with an orange stripe.

Thanks for stopping by today and I am working on my advent calendar....I am on day 9...whoo!  I might just show you what I have done and go from there. 

Blessings and have a great day!

Mary

Feature Saturday

I have missed the last couple of Feature Saturday posts....can't believe it.  Like everyone else, we've been crazy busy!

Well I found a totally awesome inspirational blog.   I love it!  Rita is a Wedding planner in D.C.  Now I don't need a wedding planner....(insert sad face here! I think I will be forever single and that's ok.=)  But her blog
The Ritzy Bee is chalked full of inspiration. 

I do not have any photo's from her blog...because I haven't had chance to contact her to see if it would be ok....but you have got to check out her blog....the photo collages are totally awesome.  The ideas and concepts are soooo stinkn' cool and I find myself lost in creativity when looking at her blog.  There is so much yummy goodness to take in...so check it out!

If you have some cool blogs that you want to share with me, I'd love to check it out. Please leave me a comment with the link or url and I'll check it out.

I hope you have a super spenlenderific weekend!!

Many Blessings,
Mary

Gina K - Blog Hop

Well I love, love, love Gina K Designs stamps. I use them all the time and a lot of the time, I don't get photos of them because I make gifts and use them up quickly. My family hordes all the cards that I make with my Gina K stamps! It's too funny and very sweet that they love me so much. 


My aunt and some of our family friends, that I make cards for - don't even use the cards. LOL! They display them around their house and my cards have become part of their decorations. Well that is soooo flattering. I am blessed with such sweet, kind and supportive family and friends.  Make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well I saw this month over that Gina K is having their first every customer Blog Hop and I HAVE to be a part of that! So I made a set of Christmas cards using the new and totally awesome stamp set from Nina Brackett call Vintage Borders...I mean seriously-when I saw the previews of this set....I said to myself "Where have you been ALL my life?!!??" LOL! I know that's a little dramatic - but I can be that way sometimes. (Some of you know that already...LOL!)

This stamp set is a must have and I find that it's becoming a fast favorite already. It has never left my sight....it's on my work table along with a few of my other stamping staples. The stamp set is full of trendy images - scallops, and scallops with grid, sheet music... (Seriously how stinkn' cool is the sheet music!!! I don't know about you but those few patterned paper pack that have the sheet music, I horde and only use bits and pieces - afraid I'll run out. I hope I am not the only weird-o that does that...LOL!) Well I don't have to horde anymore because I can make my own sheet music patterned paper now with this stamp set. Tooo cool!

Sharing my Thoughts:
Christmas is my favorite time of year!  We get to celebrate the birth of my Savoir - Jesus Christ!!!  I love the smells, sights, sounds and memories of  Christmas.  And having kids always make Christmas even more special. 
I am making an advent Calendar this year. (When I get it done - I'll show you and have some directions for you too, if you want to make your own.) 
I am going to have a little twist on our advent calendar.  We'll have not only the traditional piece of candy & symbols of Christmas (like the manger, animals, shepards, angel, etc.)  but we will have the opportunity to give thanks for everything we have.  This has been a rough year for so many people and being laid off myself, we have had our share of ups and downs...but through it all GOD has blessed us.  GOD has meet our every need and even exceeded our needs and has blessed us beyond measure.  So I think it is only fitting that we Celebrate Christmas by giving GOD thanks for everything he has done and for who He is. 

We are also going to sponsor a family this year.  There are so many people that are going through such a rough time and we have been so blessed that I have asked the boys to sponser a family for my Birthday present this year (My Birthday is Dec. 8) and when I shared with them my desire to bless others as my gift, they were on board and only had a few questions.  What an awesome teachable moment that was.  I love those times and cherish those moments.

Ok - sorry for rambling on....but hey it is my blog...LOL!!!

The deets on the card above: 
The layout is a CASE from K. Werner. (Love her sketches!) 
Stamps:  Gina K Designs - Vintage Borders, CHF - Polka Dot Background stamp
Ink:  Pure Poppy and Vintage Cream - Hybrid PTI ink, White Signo Gel Pen
Paper:  Cosmo Cricket - Jolly By Golly DP, PTI - Kraft, Pure Poppy, and Drk Choco CS.
Accessories: Stampin' Up-Scallop punch and Martha Stewart- Snowflake punch

For more inspiration using Gina K Design stamps, please visit Gina K and take part in her Blog Hop.

Thanks for stopping by today and many, many blessings being sent your way!

Mary

With Sympathy

It's never fun making a Sympathy card.  I made this one for my mom's friend at work.

We have been super, duper, ubery, busy here.  I've been preparing for the craft show tomorrow.  Whoo Hoo! it's finally here and I pray everything sell!  =)

I do have lots of stuff to share with you....some of my creations that I've been making over the past few weeks....so I will talk with you soon.

Blessings,

Happy Wednesday!

Hello!  I am almost done making the changes to my blog....Need to fix my signature....anyone know how to do that with the HTLM code in stead of doing under settings?

Oh my did I make one UBER mistake.  I was so excited to start changing my blog, that I forgot to backup my template!  Can you say...UGH!!!  Well as you may or may not notice, my Inspiring Blog list is different (since I didn't have a backup, I am missing some of my fav. blogs that I visit.)  If you notice that your blog is not listed there, please email me and if you'd like to be on my blog roll, please email me at MDuffek at msn dot com.

NOTE:  I have also extended My Blog Challenge for another week.  So please check it out and play along if you have the time.

Many Blessings,