Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

Whenever your birthday is this year, Have a Happy One! I made sixty-five of these for all the ladies at my church this year, to hand out on Sunday's. If they don't come they'll miss the treat that goes with them, but they'll still get a homemade post-card. More on those later. This is my new favorite stamp set - from Key To My Heart, the winter special from CTMH. It's large - 4 x6, but these are just 3 x 3 cards, and it works. The font comes from Say It With Style, another fav. I haven't posted in a while. These were done by the 14th, but just getting up today.


This 2 page spread started with sewing and that cute Bazzill Basics scallopped edge. From there it became last Christmas. I don't use the collage method often, but this time it filled up the frame and helped me feel like there wasn't one image or one child that stood out. It was just everyone happy that made it all work, and I love that the fleece projects Cowgirl and I made are sprinkled throughout. The journaling is unreadable unless you're up close. I chose a gray-scale font to put the emphasis on the photos, not the words. My favorite photo - the teeny, tiny one of our family sent out in our Christmas card at the very bottom, in the frame MyGirl bought me the year before for Christmas. The paper is an older packet, Everlasting from CTMH. It feels soft and faded, like old memories. I love that.

My creative time came to a screeching halt for a couple of weeks, but my sanity demanded that I find time, so while everyone else in my household was watching a movie, I just slipped away. No one missed me. My recovery from surgery is going well, my busy church calling is coming along, my family's needs are always present and my downtime is very limited, but sometimes life just demands that we stop and create. I like how Elder Uchtdorf put it best, " We know that sometimes it can be difficult to keep our heads above water. In fact in our world of change, challenges, and checklists, sometimes it can seem nearly impossible to avoid feeling overwhelmed by emotions of suffering and sorrow. . . . Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father's perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate." So, there. I WILL create without guilt and with joy, as the remaining hours of the day and days of the week are spent doing everything else. And, my suffering was pretty minimal. Who doesn't like to stay in bed and get waited on hand and foot, really??!!??