Happy New Year!

Yay 2013!!!

2012 was a good year. A happy year. I took the girls to visit my Dad in Amarillo in April. That was good timing because it wasn’t too long after that his Alzheimer’s progressed to a more advanced state. Charlotte has become more fun then ever. She is so spunky, and smart, and even a little sneaky. I know, already!!!! Lilly moved to Wyoming, sad for me but she is enjoying it. Emily is doing well in college.

I’ve gone Pin crazy. I love that site. I try not to spend endless hours there. If you are a pinner, then you know how easy it is to get sucked in!

A bit after Charlotte turned one, my daughter and I decided that we should switch my craft room for her bedroom. My craft room was in the basement and I truly wasn’t spending much, if any, time in there. She was sharing her bedroom with a toddler and they were really squished.

This really forced me to go through my craft stuff and decide: keep or get rid of. Then I focused on organization. And I had a deadline because a friend asked me to put together a Christmas card making class.

What I wasn’t prepared for, but happy to experience, is the blast of desire to create again.

I’ve been very busy since November making lots of Christmas gifts. I didn’t want to post any of them until after the holidays so that my family and friends would not get a clue as to what they were going to receive.

This mini canvas journal was a fun gift to make. I was able to use some of the techniques that I learned in Tim Holtz’s Creative Chemistry 101 class. Even better, I had all the supplies in my very organized craft room! HA! Anyway, I found this blog called One Lucky Day by Paula Cheney and a link to her tutorial for the Treasure Everyday mini album.

This was the first time that I had sewn on cardstock – and the first time in YEARS that I had pulled out my sewing machine. It needs to be serviced really badly.

I will definitely be making more of these. They are so cute with envelopes inside. I didn’t have the Sizzix die for the envelopes so I created my own. A little measuring and figuring and they worked out fine. I included a piece of watercolor paper inside each envelope for jotting down notes or sketching or whatever. Small photos can be added too.

After I made one, I just had to make a couple more. Here are two of the three that I made. My friends really liked them!