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Easter Reflection (by Laura)

April 26, 2011 By Laura 2 Comments

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they

entered,they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ~Luke 24:2

I am still very much growing, in my faith, and particularly in my Catholic faith. I imagine I always will be. Or I hope that will be the case, anyway. For every Liturgical Season that I live through, I find a little more seeps in. I grasp a familiar Scripture a little more than before, as the clarity of the story is as real as a movie playing in my mind….I am there, I see, I smell, I feel. I forget where I physically am. And then the message of it all, speaks to me on a personal level, in regards to my own life, it’s current circumstances, and my own self. The moment of Consecration; when the bread and wine transforms into the living Body and Blood of Christ, makes my heart leap with excitement, and my spirit crave approaching His table once again, and becoming one with Jesus. With every passing season, I find I am falling deeper, and deeper, in love with my Catholic faith.

But there is no denying, that the connection and attention I earnestly pay to my faith, ebbs and flows from day to day, week to week, and month to month. It depends on how much is going on in my life, what is going on in my life, what kind of focus I have had lately anyway, and what Liturgical Season we are in. How much I have so weakly let myself become distracted with earthly matters and struggles, which are only temporary, as we all know.

So it most always starts out with Lent, as is did this year. Not every year – but some, and maybe most. Certainly this year. Ash Wednesday approaches, and I think, “Really? Already? When is Easter? It’s only 40 days away?”

So naturally we attend this Holy Day of Obligation, Ash Wednesday, and our Lenten journey begins. By then I have reviewed with the children once again, in our morning Scripture study/prayer time together, about this period in our faith and life that comes every year, and how important it is to prepare ourselves for the coming events. And I have also made my Lenten choices to live by, in hopes of ultimately growing yet a little closer still, to Christ, by the time Easter arrives.

But as I do all of this, at the start of Lent (certain years), it’s admittedly all too much like mere obligations. Motions I go through, as it is just time to do these things. I am shamefully aware of how emotionally or passionately disconnected I am, from this annual journey I am embarking on once again. As the days pass, I stay true to my Lenten choices, and try to take the time to reflect on how they should be helping me grow. But I fleetingly question it, brushing away the weight of guilt I feel inside. I know I am not paying enough attention, and I am struggling with truly giving the attention and time needed, to invest my heart as it should be.

The more Easter draws closer, the more I fear; I am really going to blow it, this year. I’m down on myself about it, yet I don’t do enough, to really change it, really. Maybe because I am afraid it won’t help anyway. Or maybe because I am, again…..too weak and distracted to switch gears as I know I should. Whatever the reason, I acknowledge I am lacking inspiration, for THE-most-important-season of my Catholic faith. Instead of seeking the inspiration, putting the time in, giving it a chance to all come together, I carry on as I have been. With a piece of me inside, quietly puzzled, confused,…..maybe lost?

Then comes Holy Week, and everything changes. It’s as if my Father loves me too much, to let me, let myself down.

The call gets louder, and my spirit and heart respond more readily. The Holy Spirit invades me with a vengeance, with no denial of it’s presence within me, and gets my attention once and for all. I find myself alive. Intrigued. Eager. PRESENT. In heart and mind. Not much else matters to me through the next Triduum of days, as we attend Mass daily. Not much else, can keep my attention. I’m all but mesmerized by the events of these days in Jesus’ life on earth, that played out exactly according to the Scripture. Emotions are at their surface, for me during this time. My mind is focused, and my heart is full of so much,….ever changing. Holy Thursday; Jesus’ last supper with his disciples, the betrayal to come, the agony in the garden, as he sweat drops of blood. His knowing what lied before Him. All that would happen to Him. His acceptance of it as the command of His Father, and His love for us. Good Friday; the deep sadness inside, the thoughts of helplessness I knew His mother must have felt, like others who loved Him and believed he was in fact, the Son of God. The visions of Him being tortured, scourged & spit upon. The heavy cross. The pain and thirst. And mercy. His death. It’s a day of much silence and prayer for us all, as a family. And as I (we) fast, I am filled with such nourishment and satisfaction. I treasure that day with my family, in so many ways. Then Good Friday evolves into Holy Saturday, as we continue to grieve and feel so sacrificed for, with the ultimate price. His life. We find ourselves so thankful and encouraged, that we will celebrate His Resurrection soon, as He said He would, and have good reason to sing ALLELUIA!

Easter is most always a memorable occasion, that we as a family have always enjoyed. But this Easter in particular was the best, most beautiful, most perfect Easter, ever – for me. I was truly rejoicing in my heart the entire day, relishing in the amazement of what Jesus Christ did for me, for you, and for you, and for us all! Realizing, in yet another layer of understanding and truth, just what that means for us all. And cherishing my family, as we celebrated together, knowing how very blessed we are to have each other, and the people in our lives. Loving, how we continue to grow in our Catholic faith, as a family. Happy, that our efforts to keep Christ as the center of the 6 of us as a family unit, no matter what, has been rewarding and given us strength when we have most needed it. In times when others have let us down, time and again, or turned away. He is there. He is always there, always understanding, always forgiving, and with love that does not and will not ever end.

We have all we will ever need.

We have each other.

More importantly, we have Him.

He, who gives us nourishment, strength, and hope.

And has given us the GIFT, of ever-lasting life.

ALLELUIA.

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Hoping you had such a blessed & beautiful Easter as well.

(A small collection of photos of the kids, from Easter Day, to come. )

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Spring Fancy Strands|Door or Window Craft Decor|Giveaway (Closed)

April 11, 2011 By Laura 11 Comments

I find spring-time to be such a craft-inspiring season. Although winter & spring has been taking turns around here in the past few weeks, I still like to think of it as just spring, as it should be. Time for garden planning, enjoying the new warmer, sunnier days, and looking for those very exciting signs of spring. They are popping up all around us, despite the occasional surprise snowfall! With spring comes all kinds of cheery colors and symbols always associated with this season of new life. It just makes me feel like crafting!

This is a craft you can do with ANY kind of doors or windows in your house!

The French doors between our sun room, which is always bursting with sunshine or a soft natural light, and our living room, has been the focus of my craft quite a few times! All of the rectangular panes of glass strike me as mini picture frames, calling for some little artwork. This past Winter, I made beautiful sparkly snowflakes on blue ribbon, which is a craft I am saving to share later this year. There was a functional twist of an idea I used with them, and I think some of you will rather enjoy using the idea for yourselves next year, when I’ll have the opportunity to share it with you in time to use the idea.

My craft idea for Spring is very similar, although strictly and adorably decorative, using very simple Spring shapes, ribbon and colorful card stock.

I designed a small collection of Spring Shapes in Photoshop, to use as stencils again and again. I will share these with you by the end of this post. But here is a peek at what I came up with.

The supplies needed were few and simple:

Spring Shapes, printed on card-stock to cut out
6 full rolls of thin ribbon
Card-stock in cheery bright Spring colors
Scissors
Hot Glue Gun
*Any little embellishments you like.

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I found this block-pad of linen card-stock in beautiful colors, at the craft store. I knew it would be perfect, to use for my Spring shapes, that I wanted all relatively the same size. It was a pleasant surprise to realize they were sticker paper too! That was going to work out nicely, for adding the centers on flowers, etc. And if there was no need for sticky paper, I just left the backside on.But you can use any colored card-stock, that comes in sheets, as well.

Alright, so I didn’t take photos of every step. That’s needless really. But the simple directions are, that I cut my Spring Shapes out of the white card-stock I printed them on, and used them as stencils on the little square card-stock pieces. There was a whole lot of tracing stencils, and cutting out, going on. Then it was sticking or gluing pieces together, to make little happy die-cuts of art.

I have to tell you, as crafty as I am, I HATE CUTTING STUFF OUT!! With scissors. Thankfully, my kids love it! It’s great practice for scissors-skills for them. I did do a lot of the cutting for this project, but they enjoyed helping when ever and wherever they could. I was thankful for every bit.

window-door-craft-decor-5 Using almost an entire roll of ribbon for each row of windows top to bottom, attach one end on top of the door, and center of the row. Run it all the way down, to attach to the bottom of the door, again keeping it center. Cut off any excess before attaching. We use a tack at the top, and glue on the bottom.

Then just dab a little hot glue onto the center of each die-cut one at a time, and apply it to the ribbon in the center of each window.

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Here are my doors, all done!! CUTE, or WHAT??

Such a simple project, but just a lot of cutting. This was a craft for the kids and I to do together, from the get-go, so I knew which part I’d be letting them do some of! Hopefully you have a few of those happy-cutters, too.

You know, you don’t have to have French doors, to do this project!! You can do the same thing, in grid picture windows, or make horizontal strands as a Spring-themed decorative garland!

window-door-craft-decor-7 I can tell you, by the time we had made 24 die-cut pieces, trying to make them each a little different, we got to the last 6 and wondered if the doors would look cute enough still, with nothing across the bottom row of window panes. And then I had the quick and easy idea, to wrap up this craft, in 6 simple letters:

S P R I N G

Seeing my Spring-ish doors makes me smile anyway. But what really warms my heart, is the words spoken by my little boy the other day: “Mama, every time I see my butterflies that I made, that you put up on the door, I get a really happy feeling inside.”

Dang if that doesn’t make me really happy inside, too. I love doing projects with my kids. It’s so rewarding, for all of us, in so many ways.

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Just so you know….our French doors are rarely closed like that. Our 4 season sunroom, is open to the rest of the house most all of the time. It’s surely a cheery passage-way now.

window-door-craft-decor-9 When spring turns to summer, I’ll be taking these strands down, but keeping them to use again next year, just as I did the winter ones! They are easily re-usable, for at least a few years if not more, if they are stored nicely.

window-door-craft-decor-10 On a side note….I do struggle with displaying fake flowers in my house. I prefer fresh of course. But it’s just not budget smart, year round. Unless I can cut fresh flowers from outdoors now and then, and I do when I can. But in between….fake it is. I just like to have some especially, in my old milk jug.

So just for fun, I decided to design a little collage, to show you some of the pieces a little closer up. Naturally, when posting photos on a blog, some detail is lost. But it’s still a closer look.

And then I thought the collage came out so cute, that maybe it would be a fun idea, to have a Give-Away! It will printed as a 12 x 12 photo (such as it is), and mounted on a sturdy backing. It will be sprayed with a protective coating, so it can be popped right into a 12×12 glassless frame. (I never use glass in my frames. No need when they are mounted and sprayed, and they look so much nicer without the glare.)

The collage of these mini-photos, is of course, of little paper art. But how cute would it look on display, near your Easter tree, in your kitchen, or in a little girl’s room! It would look cute anywhere!

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If you’d like to try and win this Give-Away, all you need to do is the following:

1.) Follow our blog, via Subscribing or our Facebook Page, in the sidebar. (If you are not already.)

2.) Leave a comment below, saying anything you wish, or letting us know you are now following our blog!

3.) Link up a crafty idea of your own, right now, if you can!! (Not required, but we hope you share something if yours if you’ve gotten creative, and blogged it, lately!)

I’ll do a drawing from the comments by the close of the week!

Want to do this craft yourself? Here are the pdf links to my Spring Shape Sheets:

Spring Shape Page 1

Spring Shape Page 2

I hope those links work for you anyway If not just email me, and I will send them to you. I did free-hand draw a few on my own, that are not on the sheets, but most are here. You can add idea of your own too. Just keep the shapes simple.

ENJOY!

******

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{A}’s Basketball Team Championship

March 10, 2011 By Laura 4 Comments

It’s been a thrilling, and busy, basketball season for our family! It was {A}’s 6th year playing, but this year the boys were on a team too. I took photos at 2 games for {A}, and 2 games at the boys. ( {O} had been taking figure skating lessons. ) But because I was taking photos of all players, just to give to their parents too, and a lens that fires off rapidly, I have a ga-zillion photos to go through. So, I will be sharing some of the boys too, in this first season of their’s, eventually. But this post is about {A}.

She had an amazing year. And the season went out, with her team going all of the way to the Championship!
Play-Off Game #1, they won 20-18. Play-Off Game #2, 19-18. Both Play-Off games were nerve-wracking as all get out, all the way through. Naturally, each game gets tougher, with teams being eliminated. So the Championship Game was no easier to take! Nail-biting. Heart-racing. Prayer-sending. SO TENSE! Or maybe it’s just me. I’m a freak at games. I have admitted this for 6 years. I guess I’m not going to change after all.

Anyway…..{A}’s team went out of the Championship Game 1 POINT down!

As I like to say, “We didn’t lose. We just ran out of time.” And that was so the truth this game. Had there been even 1 more minute, it would have been a 1 Point win, at least! But, you know, lots of great stuff came out of this season.

001 Like {A} having her best playing season, yet. She gets better every year. But she just grew by leaps and bounds within this very playing season, this year. Physically, and skill-wise.

002 She has always loved this game. But this year, her passion for it has….EXPLODED.

003 It’s been a joy, for all of us as a family, to watch her just get better and better.

003 She has worked really hard, at improving her game. Because, it matters to her. Her own personal goals, drive her.

005 It’s important to her, to do all she can not to let her team down, make her coach very happy, and perform the best she can. Just playing the game, makes her happy.

006 It’s not just a game to her, though. She’s all business.

She has great defense, and will fight anyone to the ground, to protect that ball.

007 She’s loved the girls on her team. She has such respect for her coach.

008 She’s really made her contributions to the team, and become a force to be reckoned with.

009 Her 1+ hour of practicing every day, has paid off.

011 Here’s her whole team, minus one who was home sick. She’s made some more really great friends.

012
Her coach, has really been PHENOMENAL. We can’t say enough about him. Having noticed her drive and passion to learn and improve her game, he has truly helped refine her skills, encourage, and inspire her. He has had such good things to say about her. She in turn, has the utmost respect for him, as do we. He knows his stuff, is so encouraging and demanding of the girls (which is good!), and he is so-dang-funny!! He had me in stitches all season. His daughter was on the team as well, and she’s such a great kid! Coach’s whole family has grown on us, being together so much at games, and sometimes practices.

It’s just hard to let go with this season being over. It’s hard most every season. But this was the best. A couple of coaches around, have vested interest in her, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing them some more, here and there.

013 All of the girls had such fabulous team work on the court, and they are all new friends for {A}.

This is {A}’s final season with this league, as she has grown out of it. She leaves some friends behind in this league who are a year younger than her. Some will move on with her, and then she’ll be joining others who have been a year older, playing high school basketball, God-willing!!

That’s her goal anyway. She has lots of goals! Wonderful goals. She truly has such drive, deep faith, and great big aspirations in life. Sometimes I wonder….”Is this really my kid?” I’m not bragging. I’m saying, she inspires me. We have every reason to believe in her, because she such faith, and is driven and self-disciplines, when it comes to what she wants. And inside, I just feel like God has real special plans for her life.

She’s a light, where ever she goes. Always smiling. And if we didn’t notice, everyone is mentioning it to us, all of the time!

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Although on this day, after the Championship game, she was really keeping tough. Because inside, she was so sad, about coming out 1 point down. She wanted the WIN, badly, for everyone else – not herself. (For her team, and her coach.) I wish I could say I have no idea where she gets this little difficulty with defeat. But I might. I have a competitive streak a mile wide! I’ve never hidden it well, just like the rest of who I am. I was feeling as bummed out as her, this day. But I surely felt no disappointment in her, and she knows that. How could I? It takes a team, and they just ran out of time. She was a star, to us.

As I said, she’s inspiring. Every day. If you only knew her vast plans for life. I know they may re-shape along the way, as she grows. But I also know she’ll do great things, whatever it is. Because she works at getting what she wants, until she gets it.

Did I tell you, she can dribble ….. with her knees??

I’m not even kidding. It’s crazy. Want to see it? Maybe I could take a short video clip, and upload it here. (Just need to learn how.

Anyway, she’s gearing up to move on, to Flag-Football up next, and more Basketball!

She’ll keep shining. Trust me. It’s just who she is.

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Welcome to the ValenDiner | Our Valentine’s Day Diner Theme Party

February 23, 2011 By Laura 6 Comments

For this past St. Valentine’s Day, I had the urge to throw a fun little party for our kids. The more I got thinking about the little details, (which I love to do), a theme party sort of started snowballing in my head (which is often the case, when I think), and I got beside myself with excitement (which happens quite easily with me.)

Simply put, my idea, was simply, a St. Valentine’s Day diner theme party.

We invited a family we are good friends with, who have just as many kids as we do! That was enough for me, because frankly….I had never (evah!) waitressed before. But I was about to!

A menu sign welcomed them, as soon as the ValenDiner was open, at 1:00 in the afternoon.

The menu offered all of the specialties any good diner would, as you can see. Milkshakes, in 3 flavors, and even deep fried french fries and onion rings!

( Soon, our home would smell like a real diner too. ; ) )
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Here are our special patrons!! A happy-go-lucky, handsome little crew, huh?? One of our crew, {D}, top center, was even so kind enough to take a shiner at his wrestling match that weekend. I could have taken care of that, with my photo editing skills, of course. But us parents decided it added a nice 50’s sort of touch to our party…..like one of “The Outsiders.” ; ) So, we just thanked him.
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Us moms (a.k.a – the waitresses), took the kid’s orders soon after ‘we opened’. We hung the order up, for the kitchen crew, over the breakfast bar window. (See them?) Me and my side-kick were just like ‘Alice and Flo’. (From that old sitcom, Alice. Remember? I’ll tell you a secret….I had a crush on Alice’s son, Tommy. Sshhhh.) I really got into my role,….more like Flo. (Because it would just be weird, to be Tommy’s mother.) I had fun blowing bubbles with my bubble gum, as I took orders, and asking, “Alright kids, what’ll it be.” <Pop!>

As many of you know by now, we take every opportunity we can, to let the kids learn. It’s personally important to us (4 parents), that our children understand the history and true meaning behind every holiday or saint day. (or anything else, educational, that we can squeeze into them.) So while the kids were waiting for their orders to be up, and being that our celebration on this day, revolved around the life of St. Valentine, they watched a very informative and wonderful (wonderful!) power-point presentation, put together by….well, Alice. ; ) I learned a thing or 2 more, I didn’t know, myself! (More on that later.)

They each got a printout, too.
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Here’s ‘Grill Boy”. (Mel?) He was cookin’ up those hot dogs and cheeseburgers.

We had some unexpected mechanical difficulties with the frialator, that really held things up a bit. But eventually, we got it working right.

The little wait, just made the kids extra-thankful for their food!! Honestly, it melted my heart, to see them join hands, and say grace together.

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A ‘cheers’, with milkshakes…..in vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry.
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Yum. It’s hard to find good diner food, these days.

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Us parents loved seeing the kids, all chowing down, giggling and chatting. There was a real ‘hum’ of a busy diner.

<Swoon.> I so wish, I had gotten the shot of this sweet boy’s expression, when he tried that dill pickle. I was a fraction of a second too late. But I think I’ll remember it in my head forever, because it was ‘that’ comical. There was actually a couple of hysterical moments with that pickle. What a blessing this boy is. (Well, that all are. But, you know.)

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The patrons lingered. And our tip they left us, was the echo of their generous giggles, in our hearts.
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All of our kids, made Valentine cards, for each other. (More on that later, too.) But our friend’s sweet girl {S}, above, got an extra-special, unique Valentine, made by our boy, {JM} (with a little wording help from his Mama. ; ). You need to know……{S} is a competitive Irish Step Dancer. So, her Valentine was a 4 leaf-clover, with a heart center. And it read:

* “I-RISH” you’d “Step” into my heart, and be my Valentine! *

Do you want to know the best part? (Of course you do. ) As I type this post this moment, that Valentine card, right now, is in IRELAND!! I’m not even kidding. {S} took it there with her, for ‘good luck’, as she competes against the best Irish Dancers in the world!!

All of the kids, totally loved exchanging Valentines with each other. They were all ‘keepers’.

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{Baby E} loved his Valentines, too! Holding him, is “Milkshake Man”…..a.k.a Daddy! He and
“Grill Boy” get along great.

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There’s my good friend, “Alice!”. I would have never survived the diner crowd on this day, without her. Actually…I may have not survived a few things in my life, with out her.
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The kids partied on, to the 50’s ‘jukebox’ playing.

(Pandora. Whatever.)

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We all partied, until we started poopin’ out!!

Honestly, it’s always a good time of memory-makin’, when our families get together.

And this St. Valentine’s Day celebration, was no exception.

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Before we all parted ways, we each had a Valentine fortune (paper-cookie) to read. They actually came with fortunes already. But because “Alice” and I have higher, perfectionistic standards, I pulled those lame ones out, and re-stuffed them, with our own alternative fortunes. The theme of course, was “LOVE”, and together, we combined our lists of messages about “love”, that we wanted our kids to be sent <wink-wink>, including some Biblical Scripture quotes.

It was a wonderful St. Valentine’s celebration, I think we ALL, always will remember.

If not, we have this post to remind us!

And if that fails us, there is that faint “deep-frying Diner” scent, I swear still lingers in the air.

*** We hope you “LOVED” this theme party post!! As an FYI…..we have more Valentine season ideas/photos from this year, that we hope to share with you next year, pre-Valentine’s Day, if I am still blogging away! Then perhaps you might like to use those ideas too, when you might need them. (I’m sure you all are all Valentine’d out, by now.) There will be some treats under the ‘Recipes’ tab, as well as some Valentine card ideas (complete with sayings) under ‘Crafts & Creations’ tab. And just maybe, I can manage to get that educational power-point presentation on St. Valentine, to share under ‘Homeschooling.’ That’s my plan, if I blog-on, anyway. Hey, a lot can happen in a year! Right?***

Meanwhile, leave us your thoughts, and then….let’s get on with Spring! (Lent, Easter….Alleluia!!)

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Our "Lucky Liker’s" Surprise Giveaway Gift

February 8, 2011 By Laura 3 Comments

Last week, I decided rather spontaneously, to have a surprise giveaway to the 100th ‘Liker’ of our Facebook Page for House Of Joyful Noise. The unsuspecting ‘Lucky Liker’, Tammy N., got a happy surprise, and I had so much fun doing it! I’ve decided that using our Facebook Page, when announcing having such giveaways, and sharing other random tidbits, photos, and inside-info, is the way to go!! SO…..if you haven’t ‘Liked’ our Facebook Page yet, you might want to do that riiiiiight now. Or else, you’ll be missing out. (It just means, you’ll see us in your Facebook feed, and you’ll be in the know, with things not necessarily here on the blog. It’s fun! Please join us. Buttons are in the sidebar. )

Here’s the sweet gift we sent out to Tammy, today!

Custom-designed thank you note-cards, by artist, Jessica Dittmer.

She’s a true artist, in many senses of the word. Painter, graphic artist, photographer, crafter…..it’s ridiculous, really. She has designed for the Demdaco Company, you know. You know…the company with the Willow Trees line? True story.

So I am always watching Jessica’s work, and fell in love with this watercolor snowman she created. I wanted to get some note cards with it, and so inquired with Jessica about it. It was just easier for both of us at the time, for me to just purchase the file. I was finally getting ready to order my note cards from the printer, (for MEEEE!! : ) when I had this giveaway idea. I thought maybe, I should share my set. Even though it’s a little hard! ; )

They were printed on watercolor stock, which is perfect for them. I know you can’t tell the texture in these photos. I didn’t try that hard. lol. But beautiful quality. They are just s w e e t.

Interestingly, I got several extras in my pack, from the printers. That happens sometimes. But, I think this time they got a little print happy, knowing Jessica is, you know… somewhat famous. In this creative world we all float around in, she is. (Maybe outside too, but I’m in my own little world here. lol) The printers certainly know who she is. So this name on the back is her mark, and it makes these custom designed cards extra special.

Of course….I wish the printer sent as many envelopes. (HELLO? <sigh> It’s o.k., I can get more.) But, I did spread the blessing with the extra cards. I gave our winner a dozen, instead of 10! ; ) (Notice I didn’t tell you how many extras I got. lol. But really….it was nice of me to give her more!)

I knew I would find more uses, for my dyed string. ; ) It matches soooo perfectly. I put it next to the cards and was like….“NO SIR!! GET OUT!!!” (And then, per usual, the whole family is calling from various places in the house…..“What?! What’s going on?” Just every day happenings around here. I get excited about the little things, a lot. )

I really had fun getting this little package together for Tammy. Don’t be jealous. There will be more giveaways coming up! It’ not the first giveaway we’ve had…. and it sure won’t be the last. But sure hope you’ve ‘Liked’ us on Facebook! ; )

I decided to use on of my own thank-you note cards, to thank Tammy for ‘Liking’ us. We like her too.
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Here’s her package, all ready for Michael to drop off at the post office, on his way to….somewhere. I forget. I was thinking….it sure would be nice, if the post office offered some nice designer packaging options. Don’t you think? Some a little pretty…..some a little festive for holiday shipping….you know. Like they have special edition stamps. Can I talk about the postal service like that? Am I going to get arrested now? Just saying. I hate making my packages all pretty, and then having to put them in these standard boring boxes. The should hire Jessica Dittmer, for a nice designer line of packaging.

Well, we hope the arrival of this little package at your door, puts a smile on your face, Tammy. Who will our next giveaway gift-receiver be? We’ll seeee!

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You know, you don’t have to have French doors, to do this project!! You can do the same thing, in grid picture windows, or make horizontal strands as a Spring-themed decorative garland!

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