I will be MIA for a few days....

Just wanted to let you know that I will be MIA for a few days as Dad has taken a turn for the worse and we now have him on Comfort Care Level so I am busy making pre-arrangments to have his last days comfortable, plans for afterwards and taking care of my Mom.  I know that my guardian angels are helping me every step of the way.

I would appreciate your prayers during this rough time, not only for strength for me but also for my children who are very close to my Dad.  We are hanging in there as well as can be expected.  This is a time for me to get things handled to take all pressure off of Mom and to reflect on some very special precious times that I am encountering right now.

Hugs to all of you and I will be back when things settle down.

xo ~ Laura

Fireplace decorations

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed special time with your friends and family.  I had a wonderful time and was able to have 2 out of my 3 children show up with 4 out of my 6 grandchildren.  We had a great time and had some good laughs and fun.  It was a very nice time, especially since we are in the mist of a difficult time with my Dad.

My youngest daughter, me and her Dad

Carissa with my youngest granddaughter, Sydney

Nana with my 2 oldest granddaughters, Donyell and Bailey

Me and my hubs :)

My one and only son Josh

Me and my baby girl, Carissa

 Carissa and my grandson Braeden.  He doesn't like his picture taken so we had to bribe him with a piece of candy lol

I was finally able to get out and about and get my Mom to take her to the hospital to see my Dad for the first time since he was transported on Monday night to the ER.  It has been a very rough week and he is not doing very well but he is hanging in there.  Today my heart was so happy as when I told Dad I brought him a visitor and he saw Mom, he instantly perked up some (more than he has been awake in 5 days) and he instantly gave her 2 kisses.  It was so precious and in January, they will have been married for 60 years and their love is as strong as ever.

I have been able to do a little decorating in between making trips to check on Mom and also going to the hospital.  I have my fireplace decorated now with a few of my projects and love it :)

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!!

Todays quote:  "It is possible at any age to discover a lifelong desire you never knew you had."

xo ~ Laura

Christmas Sign

The weather is starting to warm up now which is fine with me here in the PNW and it is a nice relief after the weeks blizzard we encountered.  We had some very interesting snow surprises in the morning when we got up.  We both stayed home for 3 days since the roads were very slick with ice.  Here are a few shots of what we encountered.

Just a quick note to post one of my signs that I finished.  I thought I had white fur but didn't so I settled on the black.  I still like it and it pops out the dark burnt red.  This one is going to Carissa :)

Today's quote:  Kindness in words creates confidence; kindness in thinking creates profoundness; kindness in giving creates love.

Linking to:

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blogland friends that I have gained over these past months.  All of you have been special to me in so many ways and I am so thankful to have received the opportunity to get to know each and everyone of you.  You have always been there with me through my blog through all the fun and creative times to my down times also.

I wish all of you a very happy and memorable Thanksgiving with your friends and families on this day.  May you all take the time to reflect on all that you are thankful for.  I know that I will be doing just that. 

Even though I am going through some very rough times right now, I am thankful for SO much that I can't even begin to list them.

Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise… then you will discover the fullness of your life.







Linking to:
 

Have a wonderful day!!

xo ~ Laura

Glass Blocks

We've got a very cold spurt going on in the PNW right now.  All my Winter sweaters are out along with my mock turtlenecks and boots.  I'm ready....bring it on :)  Well OK, enough already.  I've been stuck at home not able to go out due to the snow and ice. 

I finished my 2 glass blocks that I made for Christmas.  One for me and one for Carissa.  I just love these and they are so simple to make and look so pretty!!

This is the one I made for Carissa.

This is the one I made for us.  First without the lights on.

Now lit up :)

Here they are side by side and can't wait to put mine into use :)  I'm thinking I will put it in my fireplace like I did for the one I made for Fall :)

I hope you are having a wonderful day and happy crafting!!  Stay safe and warm.

Today's quote:  What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

xo ~ Laura

Ho Ho Ho

Howdy!!  I'm posting this early tonight just in case we lose power :)  Wow what an interesting day.  It has been snowing all day at our place.  Thank goodness my boss is very caring and once I tried to attempt going in this morning and couldn't, I called her and she told me to work from home so I did.  Got her blessing to stay home again tomorrow to.  Very nice :)  Yes my van is under all this snow lol.

My puppies aren't to crazy about this weather that's for sure.  This is my youngest, Taz and this is before it got worse outside.

Can you tell Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year?!?  I love it as it feels so warm and cozy and love all the homey decorations.

I saw the cutest blocks over at Lolly Chops and couldn't resist doing up some for us for Christmas.  They took a little time with all the painting, adding the paper and then embelishing them but I love how they turned out.  Can't wait to get them up in a few days!!

I also got to see my girlfriend and give her the photo album I made her and I decided to make her this card to.  It is always fun getting a totally personalized one from someone :)

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

Linking up to

Today's quote:  Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the gratefully and appreciating heart.

xo ~ Laura

I'm in a Christmas mood :)

Well the weekend is overwith and back to a short week at work.  Well maybe.  We got snow today and it's below freezing now so if it continues to snow and the roads freeze, I can't make it into work as I live on a big hill and the only way off all the way is down hills and its not worth it.  So we'll see :)

How have you all been?  I haven't been able to post much this past week as I've been so darn busy with everything!  Work is just not stopping, Mom and Dad are having issues and trying to get ready for the holiday's.  Wow... I think I need a vacation :)

I finished my plate I was working on and I think it turned out cute.  I didn't notice until after I uploaded the picture that a extra piece of ribbon was stuck on the snow lol.  It fell off already so we're good.

I made another flameless candle and this time from large cinnamon sticks I found.  Started out by cutting them but they started breaking so I just broke them by hand.  Much easier let me tell you.  It smells so good!!

I put it up on my mantel with my twig one I made.  Perfect and now the mantel is ready for Thanksgiving :)

I hope that had a wonderful weekend. 

Today's quote:  At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Christmas Card Holder and more

Hi!

So a few more projects that I've been working on.  I had bought a "Ho Ho Ho" felt hanger from the Dollar Store a week or so ago and knew what I wanted to do with it but I'm not really sure I'm happy with how it turned out.  I am thinking I need to adhere it to something a little stronger to hold it better.  Hmmmmm.  Well you never know unless you try right? 

I am also working on this "Merry Christmas" sign for Brandon and Carissa.  I'm not 100% done with it but about 90% so I'll show you :)

Today's quote:  Each difficult moment has the potential to open my eyes and open my heart.

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

More Christmas Decorations

Howdy!!

I am so enjoying being able to work on some of my projects again.  It is such a stress release for me and I just love seeing what I come up with.

The other day I was in the store and saw the cutest little gingerbread houses out of bird houses.  Yes you heard me right lol.  Guess they really aren't gingerbread then huh.  I came home and decided to do one up to see how it turned out.  I already had an unpainted one so figured why not.  The only thing I actually bought for it was the snow which is pretty cute :)

Also am working on more projects.  Here's a tease for another one I'm doing :)  Don't you just love it when I do that?  lol.  Yes it is still wet :)

Today's quote ~ "A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes."

Happy Crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Christmas Decorations

Hi! 

I hope that you are having a wonderful start to your week.  Tonight we have a really bad wind storm going on and we had to go outside at 9:30 pm to put some of our vinyl siding back on the backside of the house so we didn't lose the entire side.  Not fun holding a ladder for the hubby when the wind is almost blowing both of us down.  This week is going to be crazy at work as people are starting to take time off for the holiday's so I'm going to be a tired girl but that's OK as I have 4 days off next week for Thanksgiving!!  Wahoo!!  For that I am thankful :)

So I gave you a tease on a project that I was working on.  There have been a few guesses and I will now let you stop wondering lol.  Here was the "in progress"  I have changed it a little from the tease though lol.

Here is the after :)  Carissa is loving all the things I'm making them for Christmas.  It is fun as since they are just starting out they don't have anything.  They picked up Red last night and I gave them a box full of ornaments that I've found along with a few more things I've made them.  They are getting excited to get their own tree and decorate their cute house.

I also have seen a lot of these cute things on the different blogs so decided to make one for our dishwasher.  That way Larry will stop asking me if they are clean or dirty :)

Today's quote:  There is nothing that cannot be achieved by firm imagination.

Hope you have a fabulous day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Flameless Candles

Howdy!!

So I have gotten back into the swing of things, well for the most part lol.  I was able to do some crafting this weekend and am getting excited to have Christmas right around the corner.  This is my ALL time favorite holiday :)

I have been keeping my eyes posted for things for my youngest daughter for her very first Christmas in their own place.  You all know they love the outdoors right??  So what did I do for them?

No worries about the outside catching on fire which is awesome! 

I also am in the process of making them something else.  Here is a sneak peek.....can you guess what it is?

Here is today's quote ~ It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put into the giving.

Happy Crafting!

xo ~ Laura

TGIF!!!!

Oh I am SO SO glad that it is Friday!!  This week has just flown by and I'm really ready for some slower pace days.  My husband has to work on Saturday so I want to be able to just play with some projects that I haven't had a chance to even get to.  The holiday's are right around the corner and I need to kick it in high gear lol

I was relaxing when I came home and felt like I wanted to get up and do some little crafting.  OK so this is kind of a funny little story on how I came up some of this project.  The great thing was they were free.  Wondering what it is?  lol  Well at work we have our building next to some wetland property so there are a lot of trees.  On my lunch a few days ago I just wanted to go outside and enjoy some of the sunshine.  While walking around the development I found a lot of tree limbs that had come off the trees from some of the stronger wind storms that we had so I proceeded to pick them up and take them back up to my office.  I would just smile when people would look at me funny.  Some asked what I was going to do with those and I said it depends.  If you're nice to me, nothing.  If not, well they make good whoopin sticks lol.  They would just start laughing at me.  You just never know about me.  I like to have fun even at work :)

So I made this cute little candle with my sticks.  I took some of my burlap trim and wrapped it around my sticks and added a flower and TaDa!!  Cute huh :)

Where did I put my new creation???  On my fireplace mantle with all my other Fall decorations :)

Then I had an empty instant flavored coffee container so I put together a cute little Santa vase just using felt.  Going to put some flowers in it for Christmas.  Simple and very inexpensive :)

My quote for the day ~ "If the essence of my being has caused a smile to have appeared upon your face or a touch of joy wtihin your heart, then in living I have made my mark. "

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura