And into the New Year.

I have a confession to make. I am not much of a blogger. I get excited and do it for a while- then the thrill wears out and I'm done. So I did want a chance to post one last time for 2008. Hasn't been a very momentous year or anything. Well- I guess I DID become an auntie for the first time x 2. Both my sisters each had a daughter. I get to see Laura's little girl all the time cuz Laura and her baby live with my folks and they live ten minutes away. Crystal and her baby, however, live all the way on the islands of B.C.- a good hike away from where I live! I got to throw Laura's baby shower and that was fun! I did up annoucnements, favours, thank yous and a LOT of baking. For the record?- DON'T try to put candy clay flowers on mini angel food cakes. Yea- the cake is too delicate and the flowers too heavy!

So my not-so-baby celebrated her EIGHTH birthday yesterday.

Here she is in her brand new duds from Grandma and Grandpa. She looks all grown up and beautiful... time really does fly quickly. I can't even remember baby moments with her. Eight years in my life time is alright, not much and it seems smaller and smaller the older I get, but eight years is HER entire lifetime.

Okay- so looking through the computer- I apparantly don't have a pic of her as a baby- weird. I thought I had one saved. Hmmm.
She got some really cool gifts. This outfit being one of them! She also got a Bratz doll. That was funny. My dad called and asked what Lexie wanted. I told him that she wanted Bratz dolls- but no BLONDE ones cuz she already had two Cloe dolls. Well what does he get? A BLONDE ONE!!! I say "Dad- I said NO blonde ones- she's already got two!" and dad was like "No- you said no BLACK ONES!!"- No I did not!!!! It's kinda funny but it makes me sound like a bigot- and I'm SO NOT!- so thanks. Thanks alot dad.

ANYWAYS! I also ordered some stuff through Schoolastics. Lexie is in love with reading and Santa already brought her a bundle of Geronimo Stilton books for Christmas, and I was able to also order a pack of Rainbow Fairy books WITH a painting fairy artset for only 20 bucks WOOT!!! I also went and put alot of work into her other birthday present:

What a RAK eh? She likes making cards and it's heartbreaking cuz everytime I'm busy with a project, there she is asking if she and I can make something together. Which simply means she sits and MY desk and uses MY goodies- LOL. So she got her own. I went and bought some different things- ink, stickles, rhinestones, brads and those dollar stamps from Michaels. They didn't have any acrylic blocks so I gave her one of mine. Then I went through my stash and cut some of my scrap paper up into squares and cut and scored some cardstock for her to have pre-made cards. Then I put my Cricut and new Storybook Cartridge into good use and die-cut her some Storybook shapes. I also thinned out my prima stash by putting some in a baggie and making a little label for it. OH- and glue and ribbon too!! She was really happy and instantly made her teacher a 'welcome back' card, as she was in Australia for a year on a teacher's exchange.

So it was a great birthday. Poor kid tho, being as her b-day is RIGHT in the middle of Christmas vacation, it's pretty pointless to throw a party and invite her friends. They are gone and right after Christmas is not a great time to go birthday present shopping. So I'm going to do what I did last year and wait a month. I figure as long as her family makes her day special, then her friends can come over when ever and it's just a bonus :D She wants a Camp Rock theme birthday party tho- I have no idea how to go about that- so we'll see what I can come up with.

SO Project- been a little while :D I am very happy with this one. These were my Christmas cards that I handed out to my church family this year. I got the idea from Lauren Meader (she IS my creative brain :D) and made a sort of bag/card. I usually make chocolates to give away- and I thought this was an awesome way to give a card AND chocolates. So here's the card:

I just love it! It's so cute and simple- tho I do think I have now overdone the pink/white/silver colour combo!!! It was an 5x11 peice of cardstock, scored at 4, 4.75,8.75and 9.5. I found some clear plastic baggies in the party aisle at Superstore and they were the perfect width, but I had to cut them down height wise. It was awsome cuz I got 30 bags for $2- and I do love a deal!

I scalloped the edge, punched and stamped some snowflakes with my new snowflake set from Inkadinkado and punch from Martha Stewart. I made the PP by stamping pink and silver snowflakes on white cardstock. Used some sheer ribbon for a bit of elegance. AND I love the lable!! Another awesome trait of the Storybook cartridge ;) I did stamp a sentiment in silver- you can't really make it out on film- but it was really pretty in person. And then my new addiction- stickles around the edge to highlight it!

So here it is all opened. Very simple- I wrote on the inside. That was the only thing I found a problem in giving this as a card- was where to write a greeting? OH- and you can't use an envelope! But I filled these with homemade Eatmore candy bars. It was a simple recipe (took two hours tho- make sure you have a LOT of time) and they turned out gooey-er than the store-bought ones. But any other recipe I looked up contained cereal and I was looking for the chocolate bar. Then one day while eating and Eatmore, I noticed it was called Dark Toffee chew, so I searched for chocolate toffee and I found the recipe I used! Next year tho, I am sticking with truffles- LESS WORK!!! I love how simple this was tho, and how it can be used for different occassions. I think I may lift this again for favours for Lexie's birthday party!

Well- that's about the it. I hope you all have a wonderful new years eve- be careful and be safe to not drink and drive!!! Take care and I'll see you all in 2009!!!