My father passed away in the early hours of the 17th, after going into shock from massive blood loss. Needless to say, I currently don't have the heart to start creating anything or sharing anything interesting here. I don't want to leave you guys hanging, but I *WILL* return slowly next month. Please stay tuned, everyone, and thanks for your lovely support so far.
Hello everyone. I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long, but life is getting in the way and 2009 is simply determined to go down in flames and take everyone with it. There's a lot of chaos here. My dad went in hospital Sunday night and he came very close to dying on Monday. He's been on life support but is doing better now. The recovery process will be very long and possibly arduous, with his leg being amputated as well as his kidneys and liver having been compromised, so I may not update much until I return to Canada. I'm at the hospital for a good 12 hours every day, but today it's icy out so we've been unable to leave to go visit. There's a lot more going on as well, unfortunately. So I will come back to you all as soon as I am able to do more scrapping and making new things!
I'm afraid I'm unable to finish the 12 Days of Christmas freebies here on my blog. My father went into the hospital last night, and he took a turn for the worst and we came very, very close to losing him. He's beginning to stabilize now, but it's still a very touchy situation. They've got him intubated, on tons of different drips and blood and plasma, and they've got him on dialysis. They're trying to keep a good outlook on things and so are we, so your thoughts and prayers this holiday season are greatly appreciated. Mom and I will be at the hospital every day, so I will not have the time to post on here a lot. I'm sorry I can't finish the 12 days of freebies.
Love and tired hugs,
Mary
Hello everyone. I'm going to double up for tomorrow and go ahead and post Day 7's freebie. My dad is very ill and will most likely be admitted into the hospital tomorrow morning if not sooner, so I won't be around to post here.
Day 6:
Click to go to full-size word art, then right-click to save to your computer.
Day 7:
Click to go to full-size word art, then right-click to save to your computer.
I also have a little something else today, a gift tag template! There's a little challenge at DSP to create a gift tag, and I thought I'd share my template with you :)
Click the image to go to the full-size tag, then right-click and save to your computer.
On the 8th I shall have a new set of Christmas-themed Backgrounz for you :)
Here are two layouts I've done since last night. Heidi Kuester is the featured designer for December at DSP, and there are currently two awesome posting bonuses by her as a reward for making 5 and 10 layouts using her products. I think I've got 5 done so far.
Using her Merry Mistletoe Backpack and Santa's Snowflakes kit, along with Christine Gundersen's Spots & Baubles QC...
Using Heidi's Softly Spoken kit...
I really like seeing my pages improve with composition and inspiration!
Love and snowflakes,
Mary
It's Snowy Saturday in Virginia! Here's some word art for you today!
Click the word art to go to the full size version, then right-click and save to your computer :) Full-size word art is 1500x600px.
What's your favourite Christmastime treat? Mine are peppermint pinwheel cookies, real easy-peasies. Here's the recipe for them, straight from my mother's recipe box!
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp mint extract
Red food colouring
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Beat butter and sugar until mixture is fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture a bit at a time until it forms a soft dough. Divide dough in half; add mint and red food colouring (however much red food colouring you put in is up to you--my mother always put enough to make it pink but not red) to one half of the dough. Roll out each colour dough to a 16x10-inch rectangle between sheets of wax paper. Remove top sheet of wax paper from red dough and place dough, top side down, on top of plain dough. Peel off wax paper. Tightly roll dough like a jelly roll. Wrap in foil and freeze. Remove from freezer 30 minutes before cooking. Cut roll into 1/4-inch-thick slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in 350*F oven for 10 minutes or until firm but not brown. Makes 5 dozen cookies.
Love and lots of cookies,
Mary
Woohoo, it's FRIDAY!! It's also the 4th day of 12 Days of Christmas, so guess what, you all are going to get my very first kit, which was for Saturday Night Live 56 at DSP! If any of you want it, that is. Hee hee. It's not too bad for a first try!
Click here to start downloading Tasty Treats!
I really don't know what on earth is wrong with the blog comments! I apologize for any inconvenience, but I can't for the life of me figure out what's going on there. Hmm.
~Here a new layout from me.~ It's for Christine's latest Goodies with Gundi challenge over at DSP, using her kit Amazing Cobalt. Click here to go to the challenge and see the gorgeous kit! I'm recommending her Amazing Cobalt Value Collection because it's totally worth it! All those intense blues and charcoals and touches of sparkle are absolutely wonderful. I realized that I've been making too many layouts with darker, more neutral or warm colours, and I definitely decided I need more bright, funky layouts, so I've really been throwing them out there lately :D
It's a sunny day down here in Virginia, and a chilly but sunny one in Canadaland. I can't wait to go back home, argh. I've been working on my permanent residency stuff while working on scrapbooking... now that's multitasking! I told my DH that if I successfully get through all this paperwork, I can do ANY paperwork in the world. Now let's just hope they approve me quickly.
Good afternoon! Here's the freebie for Day 3 of 12 Days of Christmas! :)
Click here to download SMD_Believe_Wordart.zip
I'm glad you all are bearing with me as I continue to learn and experiment with designing stuff for digital scrapbooking. I know I have a very, very long way to go before I'm as good as those who I follow on here, but I think I'm off to a fair start :D
Today I'm plugging http://grannyart.blogspot.com. She has tons and tons of awesome graphics to use for anything you desire; she states that everything she makes for free is for unlimited use! I'm using/editing a few of her things in my SNL 57 kit, which is almost done already. Her great stitches really come in handy!
I really need to make a full layout for this blog and tidy things up, but that's one thing I'm not versed on yet is creating my own Blogger layout. Eeek. Anybody have any tips on that?
I think I might make a book of Christmas recipes using the kits from SNL 56...hmm.
Love and lots of candy canes,
Mary
Happy Wednesday! I forgot to mention yesterday that it was the start of the 12 Days of Christmas Freebies here on my blog! Well, the time zone for Blogger is behind my time zone, since it actually posted on November 30th instead of Dec. 1st, but I digress. For day 2, I have a pretty quickpage for you called Snow Surprise!
Click here to download SMD_SnowSurprise.zip (Quickpage and TOU)
Hope you enjoy! Check back tomorrow for another freebie :) And remember, more comments mean more freebies!
Love and plenty of hot cocoa,
Mary
