Happy Holidays

I'll be taking a blogging break to spend time with family and friends for the holidays. I will be back in blogland in January 2010.

No card today but before I go I have a little story that'll have you chuckling. Santa has been coming to visit our girls and their cousins for about 4 years now. We usually host Christmas Eve lunch at my house and Santa makes an appearance after the kids have had lunch. Hubby has been doing the dressing up all these years but my oldest - age 9 - figured it out last year - gasp...I wasn't ready for that. She said, "I looked deeply into Santa's eyes and it looked like daddy. Tell me the truth mommy, was it daddy?" Dilemma here as I didn't want to lie to her but I also wasn't ready to let my little girl give up the Santa magic quite yet so I told her it was OK for her to believe whatever she wanted but if she really believed it was daddy, I asked she not share this belief with her little sister and cousins. I knew it would happen sometime but I still held onto the fact that my youngest still believed. Then about a month ago my youngest up and announced she believed "Santa is daddy cause daddy is never here when Santa comes and Santa wore daddy's boots last year." How can you argue with that kind of logic?! My youngest is 7 and this tore at my heartstrings so hubby and I came up with Plan B this year and I think it worked. A friend dressed up as Santa for us and with hubby being present taking pictures no one except my 10 year-old nephew and my 9 year-old daughter knew the truth. The look on my youngest's face was priceless when Santa arrived and she realized it couldn't be daddy cause daddy was taking pictures. It was a great day and more importantly a magical one for the kids.

Late this afternoon we watched my favourite old Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street. This is the first time my girls watched it too. Well I'm off to watch another movie with my family and this time it's Polar Express - perfect for Christmas Eve. So on that note, I wish you all a magical holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.

Hugs,
Maria

Christmas Tag

Happy Friday and just think a few last hectic days of shopping, cleaning and cooking before the big 25. I thought I was sooooo organized this year but oooh no there is so much to still do and very little time to get it done.

Here's my DT submission for the latest Humble Pie Tag or Bookmark Challenge. Join in the fun and create a tag or bookmark. You don't have to use a Humble Pie image but if you have one we'd love to see it. I chose to make a Christmas tag and enjoyed it so much I made quite a few to add to gifts. So easy to make and a nice personal touch for your gifts.



No Copics in sight for this project (shock**gasp** I know). Instead I used my Smooch Pearlized Accent Inks (Gold Lame, Green Apple, Siren & Moonlight) to colour the Humble Pie wreath image and add dots to each scallop on the tag. The shape of the tag was cut and embossed using Spellbinder dies and the background was stamped with the Magnolia Merry Christmas saying. Image was cut out and popped up with dots. Ribbon is from my stash.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend,
Maria

Angel Charm Tutorial & Candy

Checkout the Humble Pie Blog to see what's cooking for today's tutorial. Today is my turn to do a tutorial and for my first ever tutorial, I chose angel charms. Sometimes we get so busy creating the holiday cards that they start looking the same. So if you want to add a little something something extra special, stop by and take a look at the tutorial. There are 4 different easy angels you can make and add to your cards and/or scrapbooking pages.

Here's a sneak peek of one of the angel charms.

Leave me a comment by Friday, December 3 at 10pm EST to let me know which 1 of the 4 angels featured on my tutorial is your favourite and why for a chance to win 2 angel charms. As an added bonus, if you leave a comment on this post plus the Humble Pie Blog here, then you will get the chance to win 3 angel charms (one of each style on the tutorial) and all you have to decide is if you want the angel in this pic with her wings up or down. The winner will be drawn using Random.org and announced on Saturday morning.

Have a wonderful day,
Maria