Merry Christmas to All

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!  We always get together on Christmas Eve and eat and have family time and the little ones open presents.  We don't buy gifts for the adults, it is just a catching up time for us.  There were 27 people at my house last night and it was so good to see each of them.  I love family get togethers.  I have cooked and cleaned for the past three days but today I am lazy and just relaxing.  My oldest daughter and my ex-mother-in-law came up and had lunch with me (leftovers) today.  It was hard on all of us, especially Ina, with my ex-father-in-law not here with us but with everyone being together it made the first holiday a little easier to get through and she could not be lonesome during the time she was up here because with all the noise you could not even hear yourself think!  The major holidays are the only times during the year that I really cook and have that many people here.  All 3 of my biological children and families were here as well as one of Marc's daughters and her family, my current mother-in-law, my ex-mother-in-law, one of my brothers and his wife, one niece and her husband, and several friends.  I feel so very, very blessed to have my family here.

snowglobe shaker card using Bird's Card SVG

I made this shaker card using Bird's Card SVG for the globe card and for the cut out front and base.  The image is a digi coloring book page Precious Moments. The shaker snow is made from styrofoam and seed beads.  The styrofoam makes it look like snow and the beads make the shaker sound.

card copied from Jenny Gropp at OneKraftyKat

This is basically copied from Jenny Gropp's card.  I really needed something fast and when I saw her card I knew I had the dies and the embossing folder.  My card is not as professional looking as her card but I hope she doesn't mind my lifting her idea.

http://onekraftykat.blogspot.com/2013/11/sweet-and-simple-holiday-card.html

Birthday card for WR

This is a card I made for Iva to give to WR for his birthday.  I used a Heartfelt Creations stamp and used Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol to color it.  These are not very great pictures of the card but maybe a little detail will be there.

Step card for Betty Ruth's BD

Iva asked me to make a birthday card for her mother-in-law and this is the card I came up with.

The loss of my father-in-law (ex)

My ex-father-in-law, James Hill, passed away on December 4th after an extended battle with cancer and was laid to rest today.  He was such an active man and stayed that way up until about May of this year.  He was one of the founders of Sevier County Rescue Squad and still spent every Friday night out there on active duty even after being sick up until late May or the first part of June.  He served in the Rescue Squad for 54 years.  He truly served in sickness and in health and in snow, ice, rain, and blazing sun.  He helped carry injured people out of the mountains as well as spending tireless hours dragging the lakes for people and just helping in every way he possibly could.  He was Santa to so very many kids (and kids at heart).  I can remember when he would be gone on Christmas Eve and was delivering presents to some of the kids in the housing units and other kids around town in Sevierville.  Sometimes that would be the only present those kids would get and they were hand delivered by Santa Claus! He and Ina have always been so good to me and were my "Mom and Dad" especially after mine passed away. Even though I was divorced from their son they gave me land where I live, which is only 400 feet away from their house, and I still live there.  When I married Marc 17 years ago they welcomed him in as a son and treated him as such.  When Marc had surgery on his shoulder Jim mowed our yard every week and he had done that for me while I was divorced (for 10 years).  He and Ina watched after my children while I was at work and if I was working at mealtime they always made sure the kids ate.  The funeral procession was very very heartwarming and so touching it is so hard to put into words.  Several other counties had vehicles in the parade as well as police department, both county and city, and the State Troopers.  People were pulled over beside the road on Highway 66 in respect and some of them were even standing beside the cars with their hands crossed in front of them and a few with their hand over their heart.  I know a lot of people take this courtesy for granted and a lot of people do not pull over or even acknowledge a funeral procession but believe me - this tribute and show of respect touched our family greatly! They retired his call number with the Rescue Squad and also started an Explorer troop and gave them his number.  He and Ina have always been here for all our celebrations at birthdays for all the kids and grandkids, New Years Day dinner, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  This year he was not able to come up for Thanksgiving dinner but we did go down to see him and God blessed us to be able to have one last holiday with him.  Even though they were not my Mom and Dad by birth they have been my Mom and Dad in heart for the last 37 years and we will all miss him and this Christmas.  My ex-husband (my kids dad) has not been involved in their lives at all but Jim has been a Dad to them and they are so heartbroken for him to be gone but they are also relieved that he is not suffering and they know he is in a better place now.  Please keep the family in your prayers and keep them uplifted in the darker moments.

My first shaker card/Christmas card of the year

This is my first shaker card using seed beads and also some of Holly's faux FS using sterofoam for the snow inside the frame.  There is actually sparkle on the tree and also on the snowman's scarf and hat and also on the ribbon.  I am entering this into Squigglefly's Challenge #48, SFC#4813, use some sparkle on it.  The image is Snowbirdserenade from Squigglefly. I used a small snowflake from Joann's in the corner with a jewel in the center.