I'm so spoiled

 My crafting buddies came to my home last night, and had these surprises for me...

Cherie's beautiful card above, along with that lovely PINK bracelet that she made for me.

She also put an acorn on the gift box...with a squirrel inside the card.  Some people who have been on my blog before may remember the squirrel story ( I said I would never live down

the squirrel story)

 This was the pretty card that Kathi made for me, along with her lovely PINK bracelet!

Notice the PINK squirrels on the gift box

 This is a close up of the pretty bracelets that they made for me...the top one was made by my neighbor Chris.

And, of course, you can't forget the food.   My favorite being the chocolate cupcakes

with the peanut butter icing.

It was a great night, but we didn't manage to get any crafting done...LOL!

"Everything slows down with age, except the time it takes cake and ice cream to reach your hips."

~attributed to John Wagner

Thank you for visiting my blog today

Blessings,

Jill

Christmas Ornaments

 These are the tags we made at the party.  The tags were designed, cut out, and prepared for us to put together by my two great crafting buddies...Cherie and Kathi...Lots of fun to do...and I think they did a great job.  The Santa Owl was made using the Stampin' Up Owl punch.  The stocking with the (now retired) stocking punch.  (Wish it wasn't retired!)  and the tree tag was done by folding a pattern from Judy Headrick of Handcrafted Greetings...
The link for the pattern used for folding the trees is here
 http://www.handcraftedgreetings.com/zigzagfold.php

 Kathi made this very pretty ornament using a Spellbinder die

 Regina stitched this really cute ornament made out of felt...and put a Candy Cane inside

 Cherie made this cute Sled out of a pillow box...I found a pattern that could be used as a pillow box here    It's called a Puffy box...but it looks pretty much the same...I haven't tried the pattern at Split Coast but it's on my to do list...I just realized it was there

 

 My daughter filled this clear ornament with colorful Jingle bells.

 My granddaughter took a light bulb and hot glued puffy colorful balls on it...

 Mary made this cute reindeer using her Stampin' Up Owl punch

 Stacie, my fabulous Stampin' Up demo...made these very pretty Stampin' Up Ornaments.

Kathi made this cute snowman treat favor...colored it with copics and added a Chocolate nugget...
(which I already ate...smile.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Hugs,
Jill

The party was fun...

 The Ornament party was a big success!  at least it seemed that way to me...I always have such a good time and I so look forward to the party.  My daughter started her ornament parties 16 years ago, and she has had one every single year since.  The numbers change from year to year...she has had as few as five people attend (the year had a big snow storm)  Or as many as 22 people attend.

When you first walk into her house, she always has a fire going in her fireplace...soft Christmas music playing, and lots of Christmas things on display...such as her Nutcracker collection, and her miniature house collection.

 We place our ornaments in a basket and put them under the tree...(unless of course, there is food in the basket...like chocolate or candy canes...as some of them did this year.)  My dear little grand puppy would eat them.  LOL!  So they can't go under the tree.

 Usually my daughter prints out games.  but this year instead of hand out sheets.  We made tags.
(with the great instructions from my two crafting buddies.  Very well done, and lots of fun
to put together the tags...(as you can tell by the smiles on their faces in the above pics.

  I don't have everyone pictured here...because I don't post any one's photos on my blog who doesn't want their picture posted.  (Just a rule of mine)  I give everyone the choice...and some chose not to...
(which is usually my choice too, Hate to have my picture taken!


In years past...we have played the pickle game  (much like musical chairs, or pass the hot potato)
A picture of a mystery Santa...try to guess who Santa is...
My daughter usually also has a mystery box...that you  have to guess what is in the box...we are allowed to shake it... I have never managed to get this one.  I guessed clothes pins...wrong!
the box had thread spools in it.

Sometimes it's a jar with candy, etc. in it...and try and guess how many in the jar to win a prize.

Or as she did this year, a basket full of snacks  (crackers, cookies, chips, etc...guess the price of all
the goodies in the basket and win the basket.  I did win this one two years ago...Great snacks.
But I didn't win it this year.  (I'm not supposed to eat many snacks anyway!)

Yes, you can tell, they didn't want the picture taken!  LOL!

Can you blame them with the silly hats on their heads.
But this is my favorite game that we play.  My daughter places a hat on your head with a word on it, that everyone can see but the person wearing the hat.  Then you have to guess what your word says, by only asking yes or no questions.  This year my word was pumpkin.  Took me the longest time to guess that.  I finally figured out that I was a food.  then a Vegetable, and then went down the list of almost every vegetable I could think of...till they finally had to give me hint...such as my granddaughter telling me it was her favorite vegetable...pumpkin!

After, (and before) the games we ate some delicious goodies.  (there went my diet!)  and then passed around the ornament baskets.  I forgot to take pics of the ornaments...so that will be in my next post...

Thank you for visiting my blog today.
Blessings,
Jill

Good friends, Good talk, Good food...
Make for a rockin' good time!

Ornament Party part 2

 In my last post I talked about my daughter's ornament party.  This is her tree, and the tree is made up of nothing but HOME MADE ornaments.  The ornaments are mostly the ones we all have exchanged from the last 14 years of ornament parties.  It's a lot of fun each year to study the tree and remember which ones we each have made.

 As everyone walks in the door they put their baskets with their ornaments under the tree.  At the end of the party, the last thing we do is grab our baskets and take turns passing them around the room.

Close up picture of some of the ornaments.

Hope everyone is having a good week...

Blessings,

Jill

Ornament Party 2012

 The Ornament Party for 2012 was a big success, as I said before, I think this makes the 14th year in a row that my daughter has had her ornament party.  When you walk in the door at my daughter's home you're greeted with the nice warmth of the fire going in the fireplace.  Lots of decorations around the room, including her Nutcracker collection and her village house collection on her mantel.  Christmas Music is softly playing in the background.  You also know that Christmas treats are waiting in the Kitchen.  (Something I have trouble staying away from, but I think I have learn)

 Our Official greeter is my "grandpuppy" Trixie, sitting there on her favorite chair waiting for the guests.  My daughter has a little Santa suit for her, but it was too warm for her to wear this year, so she only has on her Jingle bell collar.

And here I am getting my official greeting, and my face "kissed" many times,  I guess she was glad to see me. 

I will post more pics from the party tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a "Blessed" week,

Jill

I had a great weekend!

 Card I made at the Stamping Party this weekend...This is the card that our demo had us make.

 The Table is all set up and ready to go...

Stacie, starting her demo's.  I promised everyone that If I took pics, I wouldn't show faces.  The problem is...I got so involved in the stamping, etc.  That I forgot to pic up my camera again anyway after I took a pic of our demonstrator...smile...  They are always a fun day...but always too short.

I could spend hours and hours, and hours crafting!
Like that would be a surprise to everyone..LOL!

Hope everyone had a great weekend,
Blessings to you, and thanks for stopping by my blog...

Jill