Tears & New Year's

I cried Christmas morning.

I did. Sweet, happy tears.

Somewhere between childhood and now, I have morphed into my Nana Midge.

She always cried when she got gifts. 

I cried when I got my daughter's handmade gift from school.

I teared up when I got my sweeeeeet caran d'ache crayons 

and PITT pens. (Yiipppeee!)

But, I felt like bawling my eyes out when I opened my new 

Canon 50mm 1.8 lens.

I love...no, no...I adore this lens.

It is amazing. :)

Some pictures from Christmas...

A sweet handmade ornament

A new bike

Baby Alive

Walking off the goodies

My sis in law & brother having some fun

Our sweet dog resting after lots of excitement

 

 

Ahhh, the wonder of Christmas

I must have missed the "make a face" cue.

It is now the last day of 2011.

Crazy. Where did that year go?

There have been many ups & downs this past year. 

The same for you I am sure.

All I know is that I am looking forward to the new year ahead.

It is new and so full of possibilities.

There are so many things to look forward to and embrace with arms wide open.

Let's run into 2012 feeling brave and ready to grab every opportunity, shall we?

 I hope you have a spectacular New Year's!

One of the paintings I made for gifts. :)

XO,

 

Merry Christmas!

 The gifts are wrapped.

Cookies are decorated.

Christmas music is playing.

My hubby is preparing the cinnamon rolls (YUM!) for the morning with the kids.

Soon we will put our jammies on and read the Christmas story.

Then after a couple of hours of stuffing stockings & preparing for the morning, we will crawl into bed filled with gratitude for the greatest gift we are 

honored to celebrate.

From our home to yours...May your Christmas and New Year 

be full of love, blessings, and joy.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Forty One

 Tuesday was my birthday.

I am 41.

I think my heart just started beating faster. 

When I type that number, I don't connect it to me.

I don't feel 41. My friends & family say I don't look 41. 

That is why I love them. :)

I have learned a lot this last year...my 40th year. 
Some big "Aha" moments and some small little silly things.

I thought I would share some of them.

1) God is so good. HE is faithful and HIS timing is perfect.

2) A broken heart can heal, gain strength, and fill with happiness.

3) ART is my passion and I am blessed to do what I love.

4) I can still groove with girls half my age. 

5) My daughter is growing up into a sweet, independent girl with a beautiful, 

bright, creative spirit. Boy, do I love this girl. 

6) Time goes by so fast. I savor my sweet days home with my little guy - who has stolen my heart. He makes me swoon. :)

7) I can live without cheese, milk, meat, eggs, AND chocolate. :)

8) A vegan diet is SO delicious and makes me feel a million times better. 

9) Two year olds say the cutest things in the cutest way.

10) I miss being in the classroom.

11) I am enough. There are always things to work on, but I am OK the way God made me. :)

12) Dreams have NO age limit.

13) A hot date to me is dinner, coffee, my man, and a bookstore. 
14) True friends don't expect...just love.
15) Sometimes seemingly "negative" things are really blessings in disguise.
16) I love blogging. I do. Big puffy heart, warm fuzzy - love. I love reading about you, 
hearing your stories, seeing the 
endless creativity, learning from you, 
sharing with you, and the comments fill me up. 
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!
 
I am looking forward to another year. Aren't you? I am anxiously awaiting the journey God has in store for me (and you) this coming year!

XOXO,

Doodles, Flowers, and Painting

I have been wanting to doodle.

Just simple black pen on paper then watercolor or acrylic.

There is something very liberating about not using a pencil, right?  
(Thank you Elisa Choi for some pen only inspiration!)

Just picking up a pen and going for it.

So the other night I did just that...doodled.

Just a pen and so much fun.

Going crazy with the pen...

I loved doodling so much that I went from my journal 
to a small canvas (6x8) and added acrylic.

So, I have also gone from Christmas trees to bright, doodled flowers. :)
We'll see what inspiration pops up next.

(Blogger has given me SO much trouble tonight uploading these pictures! Arghhhh! 

I want to rip my hair out. Anyone else have Blogger problems?)

I am joining the arty parties at Paint Party Friday & Studio JRU.
Hope you have a wonderful LAST weekend before Christmas!!
(Holy Cow where did that time go?)

It crashed

...my main home computer. I nearly had a meltdown. That computer holds every picture of my kids...every little video I have snapped during the day, my daughter's year at school, their births, past holidays. It has it all. I am fabulous at taking a gazillion pictures, but not the most diligent about printing them out or doing some kind of scrap booking (Are you a scrapper? How do you organize your pics?). I mean, of course I have some framed pictures, prints in a box, and stuff on my phone - but, it is not the same. My hubby is very computer savvy and we have an external hard drive that backs up regularly, but it wasn't working correctly. I could see on his face that he was getting a little worried...and he never really looks worried. (We are a good balance because I usually freak out...immediately. He is Mr. Cool, Calm, & Collected. lol)

After some tears (ok a lot), computer work by my very smart husband, and vows to start creating some digital scrapbooks, my pictures have been saved! But, needless to say I have not been able to blog or visit others much this week. I still can't work from that computer or access photos easily, so I thought I would share some things I am loving, obsessing over, and some that I hope end up under the tree for me. :) You might find something you like too!

Source: overstock.com via Ashley on Pinterest

I am loving this CD. I am a Buble fan and love his "old school" style. Gets me in a festive mood!

Source: etsy.com via Tina on Pinterest

Frosted Willow on Etsy has so many delicate bracelets that I am swooning over. I love them.

Source: zappos.com via Jen on Pinterest

Boots, boots, boots! I want a pair in every color. :) Do you wear boots? 

Do you have some favorites?

Source: holiday.easternaccents.com via Jen on Pinterest

I am loving all things white Christmas. I have too much red in my Christmas stash to create a real white wonderland in my house. BUT...I am looking forward to making some things myself and the after Christmas sales to stock up for next year. :)

Source: google.com via Lindzie on Pinterest

Gingerbread houses!! We are having our annual Gingerbread decorating party with my BFFs & their kids tomorrow. It is one of my favorite things we do during Christmas. SO much fun! Ummm, and the adults get pretty serious about their decorating. LOL.

Source: mermag.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

Simple, recycled, craft colored wrapping. Soooo many different

things I could do!

Source: polyvore.com via Jen on Pinterest

Gray and turquoise together is my absolute favorite color 

combination right now. I just LOVE it!

I hope you had a fantastic week full of fun. I hoping to make some time this weekend to visit all my creative friends and see what you are up to. :)

XO,

23 days

until Christmas. That's it. 23.

 6 X 8 Canvas Board - WIP

 It's funny. when I was a little girl I remember it taking 

FOR-ever for Christmas to get here.

Now. I am going to blink and it will be over. Right!?

Luckily, I got an early start on shopping and I am making lots of gifts too.

(Well, my adorable son decided he needed to open one of his wrapped presents. That's what I get for leaving a 2 and a half year old alone with wrapped gifts! Funny part is - when I asked, "Who did this?" 
He said...and I quote..."Daddy did it!" So funny.)

In between cleaning up wrapping paper and finding really good hiding places for presents, I did get some painting done. I am still loving the trees (see above), 
and I also made a bunch of backgrounds. I used Christmas tissue and 
wrapping paper in some of the backgrounds for texture. Love. There are so many yummy ones to choose from too! 

Backgrounds to work on!

I hope you have had a great week.
Is it "all about Christmas" at your house now like mine?
(My daughter slept in reindeer antlers last night, nutcrackers are now action figures, and all my doors jingle.)
Oh, and if you have some good hiding places - let me know! :)