More Pictures

~~Swimmin Wimmin Brunch ~~

My Swimmin Wimmin brunch was a great success !!! Everyone attended and they all brought me such sweet hostess gifts!!The reason you haven't seen any cards from me lately is because of the menu....I have to share that will y'all too! On my small lil kitchen table I had 2 kinds of Quiche, 2 classic Quiche Lorraine and 2 ham and cheese, 3 types of mini muffins, fresh blueberry, lemon poppy seed and banana nut.I had a tray of sausage balls and cheese straws.Dear sweet Jimmie Gayle insisted on bringing the salads and she brought a delicious strawberry salad as well as one with craisins, both on beds of romaine with vinaigrette dressing.I had a hash brown casserole as well as cheese grits in my lil warming gadget, sitting on the counter.A coffee station was set up, with a carafe of coffee and 3 types of yummy flavorings to add, along with the soft candy canes in a vintage sugar bowl, for stirring .Next was the Mimosa station, where I had the champagne in an ice bucket, orange juice in a pretty glass pitcher and thin sliced oranges on a vintage glass butter dish, to decorate the flutes with.Oh and I had apple cider simmering in a cute lil green enamel pot on the stove with a red speckled enamel dipper.Wheeeeeh I'm already tired.I had candle holders throughout the den and dining room filled with MnM's and dove peppermint chocolates.I made some divine cinnamon coated pecans that were in a green margarita glass.On glass Christmas trays, placed on my Hoosier Cabinet, I had fruit cake cookies, sand tarts, snowflake sugar cookies, iced and decorated with coconut, gingerbread boys, 2 types of chocolate chip cookies, mint and the yummy white chocolate-craisin ones. I had coconut macaroons on top of a pedestal cake plate and I had dipped some in chocolate.I can't wait to get the energy to get back in my studio and make cards !! I so wanted to take pictures before everyone arrived but I was runnin around like a chicken with my head cut off, taking care of last minute details!! I did manage to snap a few pictures during our brunch and wanted to share them with y'all.Some of you may notice my eclectic collections.I collect TOO many things, but some of my favorites you can get a glimpse of. Susan Winget is my favorite artist and those are her plates on the wall as well as the adorable Snowman cookie jar on the lil red cabinet in the corner . I found that cabinet in a thrift store, stripped it,stenciled it and painted it a barn red to match the hanging cabinet above it, a Christmas gift from Dan a few years ago.I tried to take some shots of my beloved angels !! I have so many angels, but my brass and copper ones are my favorite! I have been collecting them for so many years and each time I find more at a flea market or antique mall, I HAVE to buy them!! My only regret is that I didn't polish them this year.But with 26 angels and 6 brass trees...oh, I just didn't have the time or the energy! I have some of my favorite quilts scattered around as are my collection of Black Americana Mammies and oh I forgot my crows! The tree is adorned with a few of my vintage glass ornaments as well as some ornaments I have made thru the years.Some of the lil felt and paper mache snowmen are my favorites!I hope you enjoy sharing with me, my favorite time of the year! Merry Christmas to you all and I hope each of you have a blessed New Year!!! xoxoxoxoxo Joy

~~Swimmin Wimmin Brunch~~

Good morning y'all !!! I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew....I'm hosting a brunch next week for the swimmin wimmin and a few close friends!! We usually just invite each other to functions by word of mouth, but I wanted to make invitations for this. I used TBBM for the tags. I know they are 51/3 tall, but I played around with the width and I think it is 41/4.The polka dot tags are 1/4 smaller all the way around.I thought there was too much red and white so I printed off a few graphics from PCCrafters to make the lil round tags.They are 1" punched circles and a small MS scalloped circles behind them.I added the cording and a jingle bell to the hemp.Used some stickles and called them done! Here is the menu...so far. Quiche Lorraine, hash brown casserole,romaine salad with strawberries, walnuts ,golden raisins and a raspberry vinaigrette,sausage balls,cheese straws, blueberry, banana and lemon poppy seed muffins,Mimosas, hot apple cider, hot chocolate and an assortment of homemade cookies. Thanks for stoppin by and taking a peek!!! I sure wish all of you could join me next week!!

~~ A Gift for Deborah...just Bee cause ~~

Deborah is my mother's pastor and she makes all the bulletins for the Church each Sunday and does a wonderful job!! She adds layers of paper and cuts out images, all by hand.She really does a great job and I just love visiting Mother's church and having the opportunity to see Deborah's art.Well, I'm going to surprise Mother tomorrow( today is her birthday) and slip into church and slide in next to her on her favorite pew. I'm also going to surprise Deborah and give her my baby cricut !! I'm so excited ! I had my brother call Deborah under the guise of getting her opinion about a cartridge that I might like, pretending that he assumed she had a cricut, because of her beautiful bulletins.She said she didn't have one but would love to own a cricut, but that he could check at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.That was my way of making sure she hadn't gotten one yet, because we have discussed the lil bug on several of my visits to church.Some of you know that Dan lost his job in June, but we have been blessed in so many ways and since I got a new E last week, I knew what I wanted to do with my baby C. I'm going to give her my Don Juan cart too, cause I already had it, and it came with my G.Oh I can not wait to give her this lil gift.I know it's used but I know it will be loved and appreciated !!! I have forgotten to mention this card in all my excitement! Not the best card I have ever made, but lots of love went into it. I used the bee on the Cricut Sampler cart and used my nesties hearts , for the wings.I used the G font for the lettering.Added some puff fabric paint to all those lil dots on the paper and the wings, added buttons with hemp and there ya go...just bee cause !

~~ Happy Birthday Mother ~~

Good morning y'all !!!! Today is my Mother's 83rd Birthday !!! I already called her and sang her the birthday song...its a family tradition.That's my favorite part of growing older, I get to hear so many members of my family singing...to me! Since it's a grey and gloomy day here in Alabama...they had a light dusting of snow just to the west of us...I selected some bright and cheerful paper.Its Urban Prairie, by Basic Grey and I LOVE it ! I used the bird from the Gypsy Wanderings cart cut at 2", using shadow as well as the regular cut. I used this cart for the little sentiment piece too, cut at 1.25 I used the Serenade cart that came with my new E ( Yes I stood around at 4 Am, with all the other crazy folks at Walmart last week! ) to cut the fern looking thingys.They were cut at 2.25 .Used my nesties for the label under the bird.Did lots of inking and poppin, added some buttons from my vintage stash and hemp cording that I bought at Walmart.Thanks so much for stoppin by and taking a look....I'm headin to the kitchen for some hot cocoa ! mmmmm I hope y'all have a great weekend !!!