My First Attempt

Yesterday, I found some time at the end of the day to work on Photoshop. I made my very first blog banner for Christmas. I have loaded it above as you can see. It is definitely amateur compared to some of the work that is being done out there, but it is a start.
I signed up for another on-line course hosted by Susan Tuttle. She called it a Quickie Workshop -- Digi Holiday Cards.
Here is a sample from the class Susan is teaching. She has taught how to apply backgrounds, cut out elements, layer objects, create your own text, etc. It has been great for learning a lot of basic techniques in Photoshop Elements. All of the elements that I have included in my banner came from Cottage Arts. Go check out her site. She has some really great paper backgrounds and embellishment images to purchase for your holiday creations.
I have started creating our family holiday card. Here is a sneak peek.
This next one is one I started using my own images.
I am sure that I will change these a few more times until I get it just the way I want them. Go check out Susan's sites and consider taking one of her courses. You will not be disappointed. Her new book will be out next year and she will be teaching these digital techniques.
That book will be on my list for sure!

It was a good visit....

It has been a busy two weeks here. My step son was with us for 2 weeks, Mom and Dad moved out of my house and into their new home and we had Thanksgiving dinner for family near and far. Are we really supposed to get ready for Christmas now???
With Mom and Judy's help dinner was great and was on the table without any stress. Thanks ladies for all your cooking efforts and time! We were 14 and I managed to get all of us at one table in my dining room.
My favorite thing this year for dinner was the cornbread stuffing. Judy and I talk about making it each year so Judy found a recipe she liked, tweaked it to make it her own and it was delicious! Somehow getting diner made and put on the table goes great and then the idea of cleaning up is UGH!!!
However, the girls pitched in with Shelby and cleaned everything that did not fit into my dishwasher. Everything was cleaned and put away in no time. We then had dessert and even after eating all these pies and cakes across the weekend it is still taking up room in the frig. I will have to get rid of some of it today. We ate so much over the weekend I don't want to even look at food.
Before Corwin left, he put his uniform on so I could get some pictures. This is his new dress uniform that he recently got for finishing Officer Training School. He graduated top of his training class. He is currently a full time Staff Sergeant in the Army National Guard. In August of 2010 he will be heading off to Afghanistan. It was good to spend the time with him recently.
Well, it is time for a short deep breath and then start decorating and getting the shopping done for Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. I am very thankful for all of my incredible friends and family for being in my life! Enjoy your day.

Mistletoe Market meets Miss Molly Cottage

On Friday, Mom and Judy and I went to the Mistletoe Marketplace Arts and Crafts Show in Perry. We were excited to see Angela and her booth of vintage goodies.
She had this pretty tree with all her hand made ornaments. She had bells, angels and flower fairies.
She covered these dress forms with vintage paper. She had crocheted necklaces/scarfs/belts hanging from them. And hanging in front are Christmas stockings sewn from vintage wall paper.
I bought a necklace and also a stocking to hang in my studio.
Here is Mom and Judy enjoying Angela's hand made journals and mini books that she decorated.
A trunk of Christmas delights.
Mom and Angela and Tammy. Angela's music paper wreaths were flying out of there as usual. We had a fun time visiting her. The show overall was disappointing. Very little hand made items and Angela was the only one with vintage items. Check out Angela's Lollishops for some of her goodies.

New Moon Rocked!

We had the best time last night. The Twilight Moms of Middle Georgia put on an outstanding evening. We were greeted by the Alice Cullen Party planners while 250 of us entered the theater for our private viewing party at 9 pm for a midnight viewing.
There were life sized cut outs of all the main characters for plenty of photo ops and a chance to stand next to one hot vampire and.....
one buff werewolf. I don't remember any 17 year olds ever looking like this when I went to school.
The room was filled with a lot of activities when we arrived.
They held a food drive for the local food bank. For every non-perishable food item you brought you received a ticket to take chances for prizes. They held a silent auction for charity, sold Twilight themed candles and had a local artist present selling their twilight themed artwork. They gave away door prizes and had contests for the best T-shirt and the best costume.
Our buddy Suzanne won last night for her hand made T-shirt. (notice my hubby in the background, ready to take a bite. LOL!)
She won this framed New Moon art work.
The event was extremely well organized.
When you checked in you got a reserved seat sheet that you placed on your seat once you picked your spot. Then you could move around the theater and enjoy the evening. Trina's sister scored a whole section for us in the back of the theater.
Here is our pack of 12. "Team Trina."
Trina arranged the evening for us and scored the tickets way back in July/August.
Thanks again, Trina for a T-riffic evening. You managed to keep our group of 12 together and as always you are super organized.
We pitched in to get Trina a little thank you for arranging our fun evening. We treated her to a manicure/pedicure gift certificate. Enjoy, Trina!!!

So how was the movie, you ask???? It rocked! It followed the book perfectly and was 100 times better than the first movie in the saga, Twilight. The actors all stepped up a notch along with the special effects and overall quality of the movie. If you are a fan, GOOOOOO see the movie. Of course the movie ended in a cliff hanger getting you ready for "Eclipse," which is being released 6/30/2010. We have already put our request into Trina to hook us up again for the next movie. It was worth the $10.00 to spend an evening with friends and one hot vampire! Here are some more pics of the night.
Nette and Judy.
Marla and Edward
It's my turn to take a bite!

Go see the movie. You won't be disappointed.

Till then, Guard Your Necks... or Maybe Not

Tonight's the Night!! We will be wearing these cute badges to get us into the New Moon Private Screening party. I can't wait. We will be leaving home at 8:45, swinging by Starbuck's for a little caffeine and then on to meet Trina at the movie theater. I will be taking lots of pictures of the activities and decorations before the main event. Wish you were me don't ya!!!

Some Friends are Like Angels

Blogging continues to give back and women that you never met find their way into your lives and hearts.Julie from Prairie Thistle, has been an amazing friend this week. She reached out across the miles and gave me a long distance hug and some much needed advice. This is someone I admire on so many levels, that I am honored to know her. She is having a giveaway this week in honor of me and another person who saved me this week, Lee. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such wonderful women in my life.
Please head over and try to win this amazing piece of jewelry that Julie made. Thank her for me again for being a very giving and and thoughtful person. Julie, you made my day in every way!!! Hugs to you.

MOVING DAY!

Today my Mom and Dad get to move into their Georgia home! The new carpet was added last night, all of the rooms have been freshly painted and we are ready to put furniture in place and begin the de-boxing process.
I will share more pictures once Mom gets the place spruced up. It is going to be a little show place when she is finished. I hope that they will be happy here. I am THRILLED that they are now only 3 miles from my house. One of my prayers were answered!

WELCOME HOME!!!!!

Many thanks, dear friends who called, emailed and left me a message yesterday. You helped more than you know. Love to you all.

The Winds of Change

The winds of change have been more like hurricane gail forces these last few weeks. My surroundings look the same but nothing seems familiar. Some of this change is good, some of it painful. I am usually a proponent of change and thrive on the newness of things, but this time I am paralyzed. Tears fill my eyes constantly and I fight to keep them back.
My dearest of friends both near and far are with me constantly. Keeping you close in my mind and heart helps to keep me a little focused.
Everything will quiet soon and settle down and it will all be for the best. I pray on that being true. Strength comes from continuing to find out who you are and what you are made of. Happiness and contentment are waiting. I will be looking out for it.

Can you say Chocovine?

We had a little group therapy last night! The group was made up of our circle of friends and the therapy was sampling 8 different wines. We started our couples night last night at a place called Wine Styles.
This is a little place in Macon that sells wines and has a boutique of fun gifts and trinkets you can purchase as well. They also do wine tastings. For $10.00 a person, you get 8 generously sized selections of wine and also some cheese and toasted rounds to make the tasting a party. We tasted 3 whites, 1 rose', 3 reds and 1 dessert wine.
As you can see we had a blast. All of the wines were enjoyed, but this group is definitely a white wine crowd. It was fun to learn about each of the wines, the regions they were from, what grapes they were made from, etc. The men in our group stepped up the questions and were giving our wine steward a run for his money.
This was one of my favorites. It was a very light Pinot Noir and of course I loved the label. It went for 30.00 a bottle so I got to admire the bottle and left it on the shelf. Maybe for a special occassion.
This was the crowd favorite by far! This is a dessert wine made in Holland that is a chocolate and red wine concoction that is labeled Chocovine. It is so delicious that you want to break etiquette and lick the inside of the glass to get every last bit of it. This is priced at 13.99 a bottle which we thought was really reasonable. It is served chilled. It would be great over ice cream or in coffee. We are definitely going back to get some for the holidays! Yum.
It was an hour later and we were definitely warmed up to continue our evening out together.
In the same shopping plaza as Wine Styles is a Japanese Steakhouse called Taki. We all sat around the hibachi and had sushi and lots of seafood and filet mignon. Everything was delicious. This is such a great group of people and we all have such a time laughing and chatting. It is wonderful to have people you can lean on, laugh with and help to forget about things for awhile. It truly is group therapy. I am so grateful to have them in my life. These gals get me, tolerate me, cherish me and I them, more than they know!
Hopefully we can get together again before Christmas. Whatever we do , I am sure it will be memorable.

Ladies Day Out

Monday, the 4 of us gals took the entire day for ourselves and headed for Atlanta. The target was a very large mall and an awesome place to have lunch! We left at 9 am with no set time to return home. How often do we really get to do that? Hardly ever.
Here we are having lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! It was fantastic. Starting from the left, Annette, Me, Marla and Trina had a relaxing and leisurely lunch.
We shopped the Perimeter Mall that day and spent most of our time in Nordstrom looking at shoes, clothes, cosmetic, etc. We even checked out the Twilight line of cosmetics. Cool body glitter to sparkle like Edward. We thought that would be fun for our movie night, but at 34.00 a bottle, we changed our minds!
Here we are browsing through Sur La Table. Very neat cooking and home goods store.
Cocktails anyone? Thanks girls for the best day. I look forward to our next shopping day together. There are more Malls in Atlanta to conquer.
This picture was taken last week. Annette and I went out to celebrate our Birthday's together. Our birthdays are a week apart so every year we try to have lunch together. My birthday is actually tomorrow. It will be a quiet day, but we will spend the weekend celebrating. Saturday night is couples night and the 4 of us and our hubby's will be going out to do some wine tasting first and then on to dinner. It should be a blast. Then on Sunday, Don and I are going to an Atlanta Falcons football game. I will be back with lots of pictures and stories of all our fun. I don't mind turning another year older. The problem is how quickly they seem to be going by.