Happy Holidays

Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2009.

This is one of the very few Christmas cards I have made this year. I've had some competing priorities these past few months and have accomplished a few goals that were long overdue. I think I'll be working on Christmas cards throughout the year from now on instead of trying to cram it all in in November and December.

I've been blogging for almost a year and I've had a wonderful time visiting your blogs and getting to know you. I look forward to another year of friendship and sharing. Thanks for visiting.

Happy Holidays and see you in January,
Maria

Fabulous Award

Thank you to Shirley over at Card Art Etc for this wonderful award. I got it a couple of weeks ago just before my exam and it really made my day!

'Fabulous' Award Rules:
1. Pass it on to 5 fabulous blogs.
2. List 5 of your fabulous addictions.
3. Include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.

I'm addicted to shopping, potato chips, chocolate covered almonds, Celtic Woman music and of course - have you guessed - everything stamping.

The award goes to:

1. Bernie at CraftyB
2. Aud at My Little Corner
   
3. Trina at Trina's Timeless Treasures
4. Rach at Papercrafts by Rach
5. Nikki at Bunny-Zoe's

Two more sleeps, as my daughters would say, and it'll be Christmas.

Have a great day,
Maria

Wishing You Wonderful Adventures

Hoping you are all doing well. I'm still trying to get over my cold before Christmas. It has really set me back on everything.

In the midst of it all my beautiful 8 year-old woke up Thursday morning to find one of her bottom teeth so loose it came out with just the littlest tug. She was so excited and woke up the Friday morning expecting to find something from the Tooth Fairy. Well...the Tooth Fairy is sick and obviously a day behind schedule - LOL. Try explaining to an 8 year-old and her younger 6 year-old sister that the Tooth Fairy comes only once for the 1st tooth - oh how come?!......no fair!.......etc.

I thought $5 under her pillow would cover it but my daughter informed me before bed last night that she doesn't need money - wow didn't want to correct her on that score - and that she hopes the Tooth Fairy will bring her something different this time. Well, I was saving these stamps for her Christmas Stocking as she loves everything nature plus dressing up as an explorer and of course stamping. So she's getting this tin with these gorgeous High Hopes stamps from the Tooth Fairy now instead of from Santa. Can't wait to see/hear her reaction when she wakes up and finds this under her pillow.

I'm exhausted but couldn't disappoint my Bella so I whipped this up late last night by dragging myself off the couch with my arsenal of kleenex. If I had more energy and time, I would have embellished a bit more but this is the best I could come up with on such short notice and in between coughing, blowing my nose and using sanitizing gel for my hands. Oooh the drama, right - LOL.

Have a great weekend,
Maria

Yipee and a Wonderful Surprise!

I'm jumping with joy and relief that I passed my exam! Thank you so much for your kind words of support. They meant a lot to me.

To top things off I got a wonderful surprise in the mail from my good friend Bernie at Craftyb. I feel like Christmas came early! Lookie lookie at the gorgeous card Bernie made for me (it's on my mantle front & centre), oooooh the great images she stamped for me (my fave & can't wait to play with them), the Prima flowers, Basic Grey paper, assorted ribbons and Autumn Leaves buttons - WOW! Thank you and a big hug to you Bernie! And of course Bernie also sent a few goodies for my sweet tooth but you guessed it, they're not in the pic cause I ate them already - LOL.

Only downside to all my good news is that I have the flu. I guess I've been overdoing it for a while now and this is my body's way of saying "Slow down"! So that's what I did all last week.

I've fallen behind in visiting your blogs as well but I will be stopping by to take a peek this week. Also my counter shows that I'm getting closer to 10,000 hits so stay tuned for some blog candy soon.

Have a great day,
Maria

Big Week

Sorry no crafting lately. Friday I have a huge huge exam which has me pretty stressed out. The failure rate is very high. To top it off there is very little spare time for me to study or even craft between family, work and getting ready for the holidays.

I've been itching to use my Christmas stamps but for now they are sitting in a pile just waiting for me to get moving. I have plans to create some unique things for my girls for Christmas like a special letter from Santa, tags for their prezzies so I can't wait for this weekend to finally start working on them.

If all goes well on Friday - I'm keeping everything crossed - I'll have something to show you early next week. Thanks for your patience and your kind emails of concern.

Have a great week,
Maria