Prairie Paper & Ink

Cookies and I Survived Christmas!

Well I survived the weekend! I am EXHAUSTED though!

And here is the picture of the shortbread cookies that I made - honestly they don't look near as nice as they should - I was rushed and tired and just wanted to get them DONE - so I just whipped them together - drizzled on the white chocolate (Wilton's white chocolate wafers I melted in the microwave) and sprinkled on the crushed candy canes.

A hint if you decide to make these yourself - they look MUCH better when you use just red and white candy canes - I only had the red/white/green ones on hand - so when they're crushed the colors start to look muddy and it's not as pretty!

They taste great though so that's all that really matters :o)

Christmas day with my family was all craziness as usual - there's over 20 of us now and half of that are all under the age of 11. I was able to pull my older brother aside and give him one of the gift cards for groceries - he normally wouldn't accept something like that but since he doesn't know who gave it to him there was nothing he could do about it - and I know he'll put it to good use - so thank you!!

With my younger brother and his girlfriend I was able to give the gift cards and diapers and baby items plus everything that I had bagged up for them to use. When we got it all packed into mom's vehicle they barely had enough room for themselves LOL! After having 2 girls myself I had a LOT of clothes to give to them which was nice - they really needed them and I needed to get them out of here so it was a win-win for both of us.

Christmas for us was great - Tim and I celebrated with the girls on Sunday and it was nice. We had got the girls a doll house (from Costco for cheap!! Of course we had to put the whole thing together and that took some time) and cleaned and re-arranged their room so that they can actually play in there from now on (more a gift to ME - I'm tired of all their toys and whatnot being strewn throughout the house) and the look on their faces when they saw the doll house was priceless.

Anywho I hope y'all had a fabulous Christmas and have a wonderful New Year!

I'm back at work early tomorrow morning and will be working all day for the next 3 days and am SO looking forward to New Years weekend - hopefully I will get the chance to clean the house (it looks like a bomb went off - all this hosting and having family over has given me little time to get anything else done - but I'll get to it all eventually).

I'm headed to bed - it's all I can do to keep my eyes open to finish this post!!
 

This has to be a really quick post! It's after 7 pm and I'm right in the middle of baking shortbread cookies - I haven't done ANY holiday baking this year (insert sad face!!) and I am determined to at least get this batch of cookies done! I make them special though - I put them through my cookie press and make them into christmas tree shapes, then I drizzle white chocolate over them and sprinkle crushed candy canes on top - YUM!! I'll take a picture of them when I'm done to post (at least then y'all will have SOMETHING to look at!!)

Anywho - both Tim and myself had to work today, and right now him and the girls are at his parents having supper - so I've got the house to myself. I've got the Christmas music on top volume and you can smell the shortbread - it FINALLY feels like Christmas!!

My mom was also over after we were all done work and helped me do a bunch of prep for tomorrow so that I won't be running around (as much!) trying to get everything done for Christmas dinner!!

I also wanted to say a HUGE huge thank you to ALL of you. Not only for donations for my brothers (and I will be personally thanking each person who sent $$ - this weekend I plan to respond to those e-mails!) but for all the well-wishes and kind comments. It means SO much to me!! I went and got a couple of gift cards from the grocery store for them and also got a couple of big packs of diapers and baby wash and baby lotion and whatnot with the money that was donated - that will be a huge help.

OK I have to run - I still have cleaning to do, presents to wrap, and things to get ready!! I have three full days of Christmas to get ready for (tomorrow with my extended family, Saturday with Tim's side of the family, and Sunday with just Tim, myself and the girls - that when we plan to have our own little family Christmas) - so lots and lots to do!!

I hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas!! HUGE ((((((hugs)))))))!!!

Gotta run before the cookies burn!!

UPDATE

Wow - I am speechless at all the love and support that's been pouring out since my last post just a few hours ago!!

I had only meant to update y'all on why I've been so quiet and in no way was trying to drum up support or anything like that (not that ANYONE said anything I just wanted to add that!!) and I've been getting comments and e-mails asking how you can help!

First off I just want to say THANK YOU - even just the offer of wanting to help is appreciated. It really means a lot to me!

Second - if you want to send money for my brother and his family you are more than welcome to do so. The easiest way is to just send it via PayPal and you can do that through the Tip Jar on the right sidebar here on my blog.

There is a spot during the process where you can add a note and that's where you can say it's for my brother and his family etc etc.

Any money that is donated to them I will withdraw and will get them gift cards from Superstore (a large grocery chain here in Canada), WalMart etc etc so that they can use them to get groceries/diapers/clothes etc. A good friend of mine has given them a carseat and I have a stroller/carseat combo that I'm giving them so that is helping them a TON already (carseats are so expensive!). Plus between my sister and myself we have a bunch of baby items/clothes and whatnot that will be given to them as well.

Ummmm right now I guess that's the best way to help. I have had a couple of people asking if they can mail a cheque and that is fine as well. I would just have to send you my mailing address (they don't have a mailing addy at this point - they aren't or can't go back to their apartment and at the moment are staying with her grandmother - we might try getting them out to stay at my mom's but everything is still up in the air at this point) and would do the same thing - deposit it and then buy gift cards with the $$.

Also a couple people have asked if it is gang-related. Honestly I don't know. My brother isn't in any gangs that I know of BUT I do know he has done a lot in the past that makes me think this might be a retaliation of some sort. He has been wanting to change for a while now - I just hope and pray that this was the final wake up call b/c it could have been SO much worse!! The gang situation in Saskatoon is a lot worse than people realize and there are a lot of terrible people out there - I can't say much more than that as I obviously am not going to get myself or my family involved.

Anywho - that's more than my 2 cents on this subject for today. I need to get going as I was planning on buying groceries today for Christmas and that will be a trip in and of itself! Plus I want to make Christmas dinner extra-special this year - cruddy things have happened but gosh-darn-it everyone will get fed and fed WELL at my house!!

I appreciate the concern, the positive thoughts and well-wishes and prayers so very much. All of you guys are such wonderful people!

(((((hugs)))))

More Drama As Always!!

And yet again all my grandiose plans of stamping and creating so that I actually have some eye candy to post on here fell to the wayside this past week - but it wasn't my fault.

Not only did I work 12-ish hour days - we had some family drama to contend with as well.

My older brother was laid off at his job (one week before Christmas - nice) - the company he works for (he's a machinist and took 2 or 3 years of school and training for this job) hired 30 immigrants and laid off 7 Canadian workers last week. I feel horrible for him - what a rotten thing for him to deal with.

As if that weren't bad enough - my younger brother's apartment was broken into the other night. Thank god they weren't home (him and his girlfriend have 2 little girls - a 19 month old and a newborn) because the criminals bear maced the place (think pepper spray but a LOT more powerful). When they realized no one was there they trashed their apartment and stole everything - the Christmas presents, the carseats for the girls, their clothes - everything.

My family is trying to get things together for them as they have nothing right now (and no they didn't have insurance - he's only 21 and what they had wasn't really "worth" a whole lot - but it's all they had). 

I've been going through our house setting aside all I can spare to give to them, thankfully we all have girls on my side of the family (I have 7 neices plus my own 2 LOL) so there will be plenty of little girl clothes - and I never bothered to sell off all my baby stuff (not that I've been planning anything - I've just been too busy to bother so it's all in the garage) so we should hopefully be able to get them back on their feet.

With all this going on I obviously haven't had a chance to even think about stamping let alone answer e-mails or anything else!

Sorry for the rather depressing post!! Sadly that's my life at the moment - but it does make me VERY thankful that Tim and myself have jobs, that we have a roof over our heads and that our children are healthy and happy and SAFE. I may be more busy than I could have imagined right now and can hardly think straight - but I'd rather be crazy-busy than be the opposite!! 

Even though I seem to be tempting fate EVERY time I say that I hope to be stamping again SOON and will hopefully be posting something creative right away - I WILL say it! Tim was helping me clean the house today and I don't work tomorrow so hopefully between all the pre-Christmas cleaning and prepping I have to do I can sneak in a little creative time and post something for y'all here!

Thanks for bearing with me and all the drama of the past few weeks - I really appreciate all your comments and support!

*mwah*

As Requested...(warning! Very long-winded post!)

At the end of this post I've included a picture of my white Christmas tree with pink ornaments that I've got in my dining room. You can scroll past all my blah, blah, blah if you want to skip all the personal stuff!!

Before I get to that though - HUGE apologies for being pretty much MIA for how many weeks now?? Between my salon downtown, my family, housework, and just LIFE in general lately I don't have near enough time to get anything done!

I haven't stamped in WEEKS - literally every time I sit down for a little "me" time something happens to interrupt me.

Case-in-point: I was going to stamp this weekend - Tim's work Christmas party was Saturday night and I don't work Saturdays so I thought I'd spend the early afternoon stamping and whatnot.

I was sitting in my studio for no more than 10 minutes when I got a frantic phone call from one of my sister's friends. She was babysitting my nieces while my sister was out of town getting some Christmas shopping done and whatnot when the youngest cut one of her fingers pretty deep.

With my sister being 45 minutes away I was the closest family around to go to the hospital as the friend can't handle needles/blood/all that fun stuff.

So I packed up my kids, took them to Tim's parents earlier than planned and spent the next couple of hours waiting for a doctor at the hospital.

Thankfully the cut wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was, and my sister got back before the doctor even showed up - so we both got to deal with the traumatized 18 month old while the cut was glued by the doc (I was praying that stitches wouldn't be needed b/c that would have been even worse!). She will be totally fine as she was moving her finger and whatnot so the cut wasn't super-deep.

SO - that was my excitement over the weekend. But I'm starting to wonder why something always seems to happen when I want to STAMP!!??

Needless to say by the time I got home it was time to start getting ready for Tim's work's Christmas party. It's the one night a year we get to go out and have fun and sleep in the next morning!

This year it was at the curling rink - blech. I do NOT like curling at ALL - and I especially wasn't going on ice when the temps outside were near -50C (That's about -58F - that's not a typo!! It was a freaking COLD weekend!!)  with the windchill. The curling rink is literally a block from our house otherwise we wouldn't have even gone in that type of weather! Plus there was a lounge area where everyone could eat/drink/hang out and it was at least warm in there - though way too small for the amount of people that were there.

I also refused to curl b/c the x-mas party is the one night a year when I dress up! It was too cold to wear anything dressy so I stuck with nice jeans and shirt (with a hoodie to keep warm!) but I did wear my purple 4" heels LOL!! I used them as my excuse for not curling (I had brought boots but kept them hidden as I was determined I wasn't curling!).

Regardless we all had fun though - but I made sure to pass around a few ideas for next year as to what they should do for the Christmas party - so maybe it will be a WARM activity!! My #1 suggestion was to have it at the local bowling alley and it be glow bowling and an '80's theme (I know I'm a total nerd but I think it would be SO fun!!) - so we'll see what happens.

I could go on and on - I haven't "chatted" on here with y'all in forever!! I was going through withdrawls!

I'm glad you guys liked my glitter and re-inker ornament tutorial video :o) I'm finally done all the ornaments I had sitting around the house - some from last years sale LOL.

AND - like I said here's a quick pic I took of my white tree:

It's actually a different tree than the one I had last year - that tree was OLD and one whole side of it was yellow (I got it from a friend of my mom's). I had bought tons of white shimmery garland last year to try and fill that old tree and help cover the white but in real life it was pretty sad looking.

Then this year I saw this tree at a local store - in real life it is SO pretty. 6.5 feet high and it's actually shimmery!! When I first saw it I fell in love - but there was no way I could buy it as the original price of it was ridiculous (way more than I paid for my huge green tree in the living room that I got at Costco - on SALE of course!) - it sat in the store all by itself until a week or two ago when I found out it was on sale for almost half price! Woot woot!! So of course I got it *grin* 

AND it's pre-lit which was a big bonus as my lights are getting old too and it is SO difficult to find white wire Christmas lights! Everything is LED now and I searched EVERYWHERE for white wire and came up dry - all I found was the icicle style lights for outside.

I've also been searching for PINK lights (of course!!) on white wire for this tree - and THAT has been a pain as well. I looked everywhere and even had people check to see if they could order them in for me and NO ONE had them! I've been looking for a couple of years now and didn't think I would ever find them!

I finally did some online searching (and even that was slim picking!!) and found some. I didn't think they would show up 'till after Christmas but they came a few days ago! I didn't want to have to UN-decorate the tree to get the lights on so I just wrapped them around as is LOL.

I know it looks rather pathetic now - but this tree is still a work in progress. I plan to get/make more ornaments for it and I am now on the hunt for a pink tree skirt (something I will prolly have to make as well- I know one of the department stores in the city might have some as they seem to get in some really funky ornaments and in weird colors - but unless I can get things on a really good sale I won't buy them as they are pretty pricey!!).

Here's some of the snowflake ornaments that are on the tree as well:

If you click on the pictures it will take you to the original posts I did and explains how I made them.

Small snowflake ornament <-----click!
 

Large Snowflake Ornament <----click!

I hope y'all enjoyed this (very long-winded!) post!

I love Christmas - and I love my two Christmas trees .I didn't even bother taking a picture of the other tree - I might try later - but it's HARD to get a good picture and it never does the tree justice!

Plus this year I put the main tree in the corner of the living room as I'm hosting for both sides of the family and I especially need all the space I can get with my side as there will be around 20 of us here!

Oh and as for the cat - she's getting pretty good at learning to stay away from the trees. I make a really loud hissing noise every time she tries to go under them and whatnot and she'll run every time she hears it.

We've pretty much settled on just calling her "Princess" even though I am STILL not happy with that name! She just doesn't LOOK like a Princess to me (although she acts like one of course - I caught her curled up on my lap top the other day b/c it was warm - and just the LOOK she gave me when I scooted her off of it....) - when I think of the name Princess for a cat I think big white and fluffy - total opposite of the skinny tabby nut we've got here.

I will say though that she is REALLY good with the girls. Josie has finally gotten over her issues with her and is constantly hauling her around and getting in her face and talking baby-talk to her (it's HILARIOUS) - and she just takes it. In fact she's been playing all day with her (LOL a few minutes ago I went to the bathroom and it looks like the cat had an accident in there - which is odd since we haven't really had ANY issues with her over that since we got the litter box. But I think that's as far as the poor thing got before Josie chased her down again and hauled her back to her room to play ROFLOL!!) although I think she's finally escaped and is napping somewhere warm where Josie can't get to her.....*grin*

K this post got WAY WAY longer than planned! Sorry! TTYL!

Glitter and Re-inker Ornaments - VIDEO Tutorial

It's a cold one today!! We woke up to -45C (that's -49F) temps with the wind chill this morning - yesterday it was about -42C with the windchill - so it's definitely not getting any warmer!

We still do everything we normally do even when it's this cold - schools stay open (the busses don't run once it hits -40) but they don't allow the kids out for recess, we all go to work (I have to head to work in an hour or so) and just do everything as usual.

ANYWHO - I FINALLY finished my video showing y'all how I make my Glitter and Re-inker ornaments - I've made TONS of these over the years.

It took a while to do the video and then took FOREVER to edit it - I had to get it under 10 minutes in order to upload it to YouTube and let me tell you it wasn't easy! But it's done now!!

I have a step-by-step tutorial on my blog here that I did 3 years ago:

Glitter and Re-inker Ornament Tutorial <-----click!

And then I did a post a couple of years later about them:

Glitter and Re-inker Ornaments - 2 Years later <-----click!

I also have a quick little post showing some pink ornaments I made last year (which I pulled out over the weekend to decorate the white tree and they still look like they did the day I made them):

Sidetracked... <-----click!

I made a whole bunch more of them this year - some more for my two Christmas trees and even some small ones for my little tree at the salon. I also made a few to give to a friend as they make great gifts!

Pink ornaments using SU! Melon Mambo ink (those are for the white tree in my dining room - all the ornaments are either pink or white. Obviously the girls LOVE that tree!)

These are the purple ones I made for a friend. I used SU! Orchid Opulence ink.

These are the ones I made for my salon using Rich Razzleberry ink. LOVE how these turned out!

These ones are my favorite though. I wanted to make "gold" ones for my living room tree (it's blue, silver, white and gold) so I played around with several yellow SU inks and this was the result! In real life they are SO gorgeous!

I hope you guys enjoyed these and if you have any questions there's a good chance they are already answered either in the video or in the 2 posts linked above so be sure to check it all out!

 

 

Another Crazy Week

Yesterday was Josie's 4th birthday (I still can't believe my youngest is 4 already!!!!) - we haven't done anything yet for it as we're having a party for her on Sunday (she is SO excited about that LOL).

Actually I shouldn't say that - Tim made cupcakes during his lunch hour and dropped them off at daycare for Josie to share with all the kids (pretty cute eh?). I had hoped to but ended up with a last minute booking and had to work - so he made them - and he prolly did a better job than me anyway (he's a way better cook than me - I can admit that!!).

I'm also glad we had planned on having it this weekend as the poor kid got sick last night and is still sick today.

I had to stay home this morning to be with her as she's too sick to go to daycare, then Tim is coming home for the afternoon so that I can go to work.

Here's my poor birthday girl:

She fell asleep on the couch right after we got back from dropping Veronica off at school. It didn't take the cat very long to figure out that curling up with her was the warmest place to have a nap!

Speaking of the cat - we still haven't named her. The girls call her kitty (and Josie still at times calls her Princess Sparkles LOL) and I just call her 'that cat'. No one can agree on a name and so far nothing seemed to be "it" - so we'll see if we ever settle on a decent name!

Anywho just thought I'd share this little update for now. I had hoped to make a card or two while I'm here but my stamp room is a DISASTER right now - and I can't create in a mess like this! So I'm going to clean up as much as I can this morning then hopefully get back to crafting ASAP!!