WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST "CHILD"!!

This is Dixie. She was, in my opinion, abused by being kept in a cage 23 hours a day!! She is 10 months old and a beautiful pure bred Afghan. I tried to find a home for her but was unable to do so. So what choice did I have but to keep her!!!???

With Dixie I now have NINE dogs!! UGGHHH!!! Oh well, I still think I like dogs more than most people!! LOL!! She is a handful though - a REAL handful.

BELATED MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

I hope the New Year will be one of health and progress for everyone! I can't believe the year is over!! Lord tims is going by so fast!

Anyway, in a previous post I had told you about a project I wanted to do for my dad. He gave me all the letters he had received from his parent since 1965 when we left Cuba until they died.

I knew how hard it was for him to give them up but he says he is afraid that if something happens to him they will be tossed and he just can't stand that idea. He knows I will always treasure them.

I bought a large (16x20) shadow box and decorated it with vintage paper and dried roses. I then make color copies of the letters and tore off the most touching parts of the letters. I added pictures of my grandparents (who I never met) and wrote a note to my dad that said:

"I can't even start to imagine the pain you felt in leaving your family behind to give us a better life. I hope the pride you feel in your children somehow compensates for the hurt suffered by you and your parents. Always know that I am forever grateful for your sacrifice and love and respect you more than you know."

I expected him to get a little emotional (my dad is not the overly emotional type). What I did not expect was for him to break down sobbing. It killed me to see him sobbing like that but I am still very glad I did this for him.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO SEE THIS VIDEO

This is the most amazing thing I have seen in a very long time. It made me cry when I saw it, not of sadness, but of awe at God's magic. In awe of His gift to this young man - the testimonials of strength. PLEASE take the time to view it and whenever you think you have it bad, whenever you are overwhelmed by economic stress, whenever you feel depressed..... Thank God for his love for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv1gCa5Us7Q

(highlight the url and right click to be taken to this amazing video)

CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE AND I'M TOTALLY UNPREPARED!!!

I look at the calendar and grimace.... December 16th!!! UGGHHH!! Mind you, I am never "early" for Christmas like some of my more OCD friends, but I have NEVER been this late!!! I had a trial scheduled for December 23rd (how awful is that?) but it was continued until January so at least I don't have that to worry about but how the HELL can it possibly be 9 days until Christmas????

I had SUCH good intentions!! Was going to do SO many things!!! But can I wrap good intentions and put a bow on it? NOT!! So here I am .... in a funk.... refusing to stress! I marvel at the fact that I have not bought ONE SINGLE PRESENT.... have not made ONE SINGLE decision on the menu for our Christmas Eve "Pachanga" (after all we ARE Cuban and Christmas Eve has to be an all out party!) which I am hosting as I have for the past 15 years! Think maybe hot dogs and hamburgers??? Don't think so! We MUST have a whole pig (head and all) which MUST be made in a pit (which takes 13 hours to cook - hey! it's 60 pounds of pork okay!?) There MUST be all the traditional foods and desserts.... Can anyone say CATERERS?

The only thing I AM going to do regardless of HOW and WHEN is a present for my Dad that I have had on my mind for months now. I was at my dad's house a few months ago (he had just had a stroke) and he was coming to grips with his mortality I guess and he gave me a whole BAG full of letters he had received from his father (his mother couldn't write) from 1965 when we left Cuba until he died in November of 1975. My dad has taken care of and protected these letters all these years and the importance of him giving them to me for safekeeping was not lost on me. I bought a 16x20 shadow box frame (it opens from left to right. I want to copy some of these letters (I SWEAR reading them makes me cry each time I pick them up) and collaging them in this frame with scattered pictures of my grandfather and my grandmother (who I never met). You have to read these letters to understand but I will translate a short snippet of one of these letters:

Mother's Day 1966

My son:

As I write you these lines, my heart is heavy with your mother's sadness.
Last night while we were laying in bed, she cried out to the God she has
so much faith in and asked him to open the skies so that she could see
your face. She cried and told me she doesn't understand a world where
she can't see or speak to her child.....

Just translating that puts a lump in my throat. What kind of love did my Father feel for us that he left his ENTIRE family behind to get us out of that condemned island? So you see.... I HAVE to find the time to make this for him.

NEW PID GIVE AWAY!

One of my very favorite groups (actually the very first ATC group I joined!) is having a give away to celebrate the owners' 4 year blog anniversary! The give away is for some wonderful new collage sheets scheduled to be released on January 1st. They are beautiful Valentine's images which I KNOW you will all love. It's easy to win too! All you have to do is visit Mel's blog (http://alterediva.blogspot.com) and leave her a comment as to which ATC posted there you like the most! (The one shown here is my favorite!).

While you're at it visit our group www.paperimagerydesigns@yahoo.com and the Paper Imagery store at PaperImagery.com!

NEED FOR CLARIFICATION!!!!! LOL!!!!

I have gotten a few comments on my blog about how great my Tim Holtz tags look!!! LADIES, THEY ARE NOT MADE BY ME!!!! LOL!!!! I copy them from Tim's Blog so everyone can see them when they come on my blog!!! I have not done ANY of them yet!!! THANK you for even THINKING I did them though!!! LOL!!!! I will post mine when I do them and I definitely will!!! ALL the ones on my blog right now are TIM'S tags!!!!

HUGS AND KISSES FOR YOUR FAITH!!! LOL!!!

TIM HOLTZ DAY 11 AND DAY 12!

I just couldn't find time to get on the computer yesterday so I saw these two tags today. Yesterday's tag, Day 11 is okay - not my favorite. But Day 12 is absolutely spectacular!!!

CROSS COUNTRY BY JAMES PATTERSON

I am a HUGE James Patterson fan. I have read all of his books and always feel that the latest one is the "best". But this last book, Cross Country, tops every other one of his books. It is simply fantastic. The background to his novel is Africa, with it's internal warfare, abuse and poverty. This book TRULY made a huge impact on me and I recommend it to everyone. If you have never read James Patterson, you are missing out on an amazing writer - and if you read CROSS COUNTRY you will be hooked.

(I am now ready Black Friday by James Patterson and, again, he outdoes himself in this fast moving story about a terrorist attack on Wall Street.)

CHRISTMAS PROJECT BY CLAUDINE HELLMUTH

Claudine Hellmuth (http://claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com) has this beautiful Christmas Village project on her blog. She gives you step my step instructions which are truly easy to follow and I can attest to the fact that her products are spectacular!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAGS DAY 10!

This is so gorgeous! Got to try it! Coincidentally on some of my groups we've been playing with the mini-misters and the distress ink "mists". It's addictive!!! If you add more than one color of the perfect pearls you can come up with a great color!! I have over 40 misters with all different colors in them!!

I AM SO BLESSED

Despite being totally and completely exhausted as I sit here and write this (just got home from the office since 8 this morning!), I had to take a moment to share with you how truly blessed I feel.

As I had already mentioned, I spent the whole day Saturday with 3 wonderful ladies. We spent the day making Xmas cards and just "playing' and it was so great! Patty brought me a present on Saturday "just because" and those are always the special ones aren't they? There was no reason for it - not for my birthday (which, unfortunately is December 21) or for Xmas - just because! How awesome is that!!?

On Monday I won a blog give away on my friend Eileen's blog (you have to go check her out, she is FABULOUS: http://artsaveslive s-paperqueen. blogspot.com.) She made this absolutely fabulous Christmas tag and I won it!!

Now today I win the give away on Tim's Blog. AND this afternoon I get a beautiful Xmas bouquet of flowers (WITH candy canes!) from Patty and Linda! Can life POSSIBLY get any better? I will go to bed tonight thanking God for these wonderful ladies and for soooooooooo many others I have me through this marvelous hobby!!!

Hugs.

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAGS DAY 9!! I WON!!!

FROM TIM'S BLOG:

CONGRATS TO YESTERDAY'S WINNERS.(please email me your contact info)
Okay, I know I say it all the time but this is DEFINITELY my favorite! Maybe as complicated or technique intensive as others, but it s my favorite!!!
Posted by: Elena Vigil-Farinas - December 08, 2008 at 4:48 PM

WOO HOO!!!! I won the give-away in Tim's blog yesterday!!! How very COOL is that!!! I hadn't even gone on his site yet and one of my online buddies sent me an email congratulating me!! Love it! Gotta love this guy!

Take a look at today's tag! It just keeps getting better!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAG DAY 8!

Okay, this is DEFINITELY my favorite. Much more simple than some of the rest and much less convoluted techniques but it is absolutely my favorite!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAG DAY 7!!

Very cool right? The technique Tim uses for the snow on this card is the same technique he taught in Ft. Lauderdale in May but with sand for a beach theme. I've used the technique with sand several times since then but it would not have occurred to me to use it for snow!

WHAT A GREAT DAY I HAD TODAY!

Jodi, Patty and Linda came over today to play! I thought we would do the Tim Holtz tags but we ended up doing Christmas Cards instead! Jodi made the prettiest card - I just had to copy it! Can't think of a better way to spend my day than with these three wonderful women! (When I get one of the Christmas cards done I will post it here.)

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAG DAY 6!!

They just keep getting better and better! At least this one is much easier to do than yesterday's!!! Love the Prima Printables. They are very inexpensive and look amazing. Marisol (my daughter in law to be) and I took classes with Tim in Ft. Lauderdale in May and he introduced us (at least the two of us) to these printables. You paint them with the alcohol inks and they look amazing. Of course the one he used in this tag is the ONLY one I don't have!!!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAGS DAY 5

What else can you say but WOW!!! I'm not sure I like the pearl fringe at the bottom but the rest of the tag is definitely over the top! Lots of technique too!

I NEED TO GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!

I spend 80% of my "studio time" on the computer or "organizing and re-organizing what just can not be organized!!!! Too much stuff for one room. Oh well... I love it here!

It's been a tough month and I NEED to create something! Anything!!! I have a major creative block right now and it's really annoying the heck out of me! Tim's tags will be a great start to recharge and my two partners in crime, Patty and Linda are coming over on Saturday to make them!! I can't wait. Patty and Linda actually work in the courthouse where I practice and weeks will go by when I don't have a minute to stop in and just say HI. I enjoy their company so much and I know they feel the same.

My husband put up the first Christmas decorations today. He's really into Christmas all of a sudden ... probably because of our granddaughter. It's so wonderful to see Christmas through the eyes of a child - it makes you realize that despite all the problems and all the pressure there is something so wonderful about Christmas... So as of tomorrow (today I am way too tired!! LOL!!) I WILL get with the program! Stay tuned for things to come!!!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAG DAY 4!!

I have not been able to get to my computer all day today and just went on Tim's site to see the new tag. I love the vintage look of it! It's whimsical and just gorgeous. I am familiar with Hellmuth's new line and love everything about it but this can be done without it... I love the whole musical sheet over the numbers... if you don't have the metal numerals you can also use the grunge numbers which have beautiful shapes - after all your covering it up anyway!! And when you mist it, instead of the metal showing, what will show is whatever color you tint the grunge (I would imagine that if you tint the grunge with the Silver Dauber paint from his line it should give a quite similar look). I LOVE the grungeboard! I have tons and tons of it and use it all the time with the Sizzix. Now to go find some beautiful Santa & Me pictures!!! My granddaughter has not taken a picture with Santa yet.... I guess he's not so adorable to a 2 year old because she flees in panic when she sees him!! From a safe distance she yells at him "hohoho"!!!

Wow! Every time I look at the calendar.......

I am amazed that we are so close to Christmas!!! Where did this year go???!!!!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAGS DAY 3

This is one of my favorite Santa Stamps!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAGS! DAY 2

Isn't this gorgeous!!!??? I think I like these even more than last year's tags!!!

TIM HOLTZ CHRISTMAS TAGS! DAY ONE

DAY ONE!!!! How great is this tag!? The best part is I have all the materials needed to do it!!! I am going to try to do them quickly so I dont' fall behind! Don't miss out on this great project!!! Tim's step by step instructions are on his typepad site! http://timholtz.typepad.com