Christmas Stockings and Birthday Surprises

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!- yesterday! So I am officially 29 this year. Now I'll be 29 and holding. Someone asked me what exactly we'll be holding- I figure that after 29 we'll be holding everything- UP! Stuff starts to sag and droop and we gotta hold it up! LOL. Actually, age really doesn't mean anything to me. It's not my age that makes me feel old- I am actually quite excited to become 30. It always seemed so mature and distiguished as opposed to 'old'. I figure if I start now, I'll have a house in my thirties. I'll be healthier and thinner in my thirties. No more poopy diapers in my thirties (well- maybe. The jury's still out on this one!) But it's not the age that makes me feel old- it's the age of my children! The fact that I remember so vividly each of them as a baby- and now my 'baby' is potty trained, talks and walks- and will be starting kindergarten in a couple of years. My son is in pre school and can do practically everything for himself. My eldest is in third grade and learning all about stuff that seems so mature for her age- her level of reading and the planets and everything. Thankfully she's not learning TOO much yet- that will come soon enough and far before I'm ready for it! If this is how I feel- I feel bad for my mom whose oldest just turned 29 yesterday!

So- what did I get? The million dollar question- A CRICUT CARTRIDGE! nothing big or extravagant. Like I said, we're a cheque to cheque family and don't have LOTS of extra cash on a one income family for really expensive gifts- but this one was great :D

Here she is!

Now- up here in Grande Prairie, we don't have a huge variety of Cricut supplies. Our major retailer is Michaels, and they really don't have a huge selection of cartridges. Tho I am excited because next year I'm getting the Cricut Create so I can cut at every 1/4 of an inch- I am SO Excited about that :D SO- I saw this on the ProvoCraft website. I saw the cartridge case and was like "whatever- it's kinda ugly". Look at the letters- the colours- not my style. Blech. BUT I, out of bordom and looking for a cartridge that I could cut scalloped shapes out of so I wouldn't have to buy the punches or order the spell binders- because again, we'd have to order them. No place here sells them. I looked at the online booklet and WOW. I mean WOW. The detailed corners and borders were so elaborate and pretty- I wanted this one so bad! BUT we'd have to order it through a retailer (we don't own a major credit card. Trust us- that's a good thing!) and there was no guarantee that it would be in for Christmas, let alone my birthday. Chris told me it wouldn't be in on time and he couldn't remember the name of the cartridge anyway (what a liar face :D) He called Keepsakes (our LSBS- and a great one at that!) and they had ONE. ONE! They ordered for themselves (as they have a Cricut studio that you can play with their goodies in) and they let him order it and even held it for over a week until we had the money and he could pick it up. I opened it and had no idea. I had ordered some EK Success punch stampers (check them out- too cute!) and I thought, maybe they came in and he was going to pick them up and surprise me with them. No- they weren't in- but THIS was my gift. So awesome, so thoughtful and so AMAZING! I re-went throught the book and I can make scalloped squares, ovals, circles and rectangles. I can make two beautiful alphabets. I can make gorgeous borders and corners. AND lables! The lables that are so hot at Stampin' Up! Right now? Yea- like those! I know I'm behind the times as I have never had a Stampin' Up! order- but I want to and when I get my lisence (no- I can't drive yet) I am signing up to be a demonstrator. So excited. I'm more excited about teaching other people techniques and getting discounts than I am throwing the parties and making extra money. BUT- that will come later :D

SO- do I even have a project for you, or am I just rambling about my present? Nope- I do have a project! I teach teenaged Sunday School at my church and in a class of six teens, I wanted to do something special as yesterday was my last day to teach until the new year. SO I downloaded Lauren Meader from Papertrey inks FREE (yes- FREE!!!) Stocking Stuffer template. I did say we don't have a major credit card- and it's good cuz I'd go broke and put those guys in top business LOL- but someday I'd like a prepaid credit card to order some of their awesome products. The only thing is, being in Canada- the postage is as much as the product. That part sucks. :( But I would love to order some of her other templates. They seem to rock and are very versatile. So I took advantage of the freebie and made these: for my class!

I have two guys and four girls. I filled them with chocolate christmas balls, werthers and candy canes. They were well recieved and that always makes me feel happy. I mean, crafting really is an outlet for whoever is crafting- I'd go insane if I didn't have this hobby, but the bonus is making gifts for people that are so much more heartfelt than money or something from a store. Especially considering that can be pretty costly! So papercrafting and candymaking combine perfectly for me during the holiday season- tho I cheated this time and didn't make my own candy :). So I just cut out one template from the printer and traced it onto other cardstock to assembly line it. I stamped with co-ordinating ink and embossed with glitter powder. I did the heels and toes with silver and smudged them- and the cuff! It's all snowflake patterns. Then, lifting the idea from Ms. Lauren herself, bought some cute fuzzy trim found in the mask and boa aisle in Michaels and used that for the cuffs too! I found some really cute adhesive rhinestones for really cheap too and decided to add some extra bling on the heels and toes. I like how they turned out. I am going to do these this year for my kids' classes. I am excited because I printed it out at 100%, put it in my copier and copied it at 75% so I have smaller stockings that look so cute! These aren't it, but when I'm done I'll post a pic of the larger one (for the teacher) and the smaller ones so you can see the comparasion.

Well- that's about it for now! Thanks for stopping by :D