From One Bag To Another

 It was an old friend's birthday so I met up with her for a day of fun last week.  I bought her a fall candle and candle holder from Bath and Body Works and I made her this cute, humorous card.

I was nervous about giving her a humorous card because I know some women can be sensitive about their age, so I added "Hello Sweetie" on top so she would know it was all in love.

The vintage images are from Crafty Secrets.  I stamped them on separate paper, colored, cut them out and popped them up on dimensionals.

The tea cup printed ribbon was from my stash;  purchased at a craft store years ago.

I added a piece of hemp to make the tea bag more realistic and interesting.

This is the first card I've made in a long time where I didn't copy someone else's design, but I'm embarrassed to say how long it took me to make it.  It's so much quicker and easier just to case someone else's card.  I struggled so long with the layout of this card.  Initially I did try to use someone else's layout, but it wasn't working with my images.  I find that small images are the hardest to make cards with.

I also gave my friend a gag gift.  I was sharing a story with my hair dresser that my friend came over to my home recently and was freaked out by my cat.  It seemed the more my friend was freaked out, the more my cat freaked out.  She really is not a cat person.  We cat lovers are a special breed of people.  We know how to handle cats because we understand them.  I find that people that don't like cats, just don't understand them.

When my hairdresser heard the story, she laughed and laughed and said, "Oh, you have to buy her a gag gift!  Get her some kitty socks from Old Navy!  Better yet, say it's "From Jackson".  

I thought it was the cutest idea so I made this tag and attached it to a separate gift:

I cut all the images out with my Cricut Expression machine.  I hand drew some details onto the cat cut out so it would look more like Jackson.

I used a stamp for the "Happy Birthday" sentiment and then hand wrote "from Jackson" on the tag.  The butterfly was stamped onto a separate piece of card stock, colored, cut out, and then glued onto the tag.

And these are the cute slipper socks I gave my friend.  They look just like Jackson don't they?

Old Navy Chenille Cozy Socks


And if you're wondering who the trouble maker was that scared my friend to death, here is the old meanie cuddling with mommy in bed as she watches TV.  He just looks so vicious doesn't he? 😊

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

My Go-To Winter Outfit: Sweater, Leggings, and a Puffer Vest

Mother Nature keeps dumping us Wisconsinites with snow and I've been very appreciative of the photography opportunities.  Although I am beginning to worry that we are in for one long, brutal winter because of all the snowfalls and extreme cold temperatures we have already experienced thus far.

Today's outfit represents my typical winter outfit.  Anytime the weather is above freezing, I prefer to wear a puffer vest with a cozy sweater, scarf, and hat over wearing a jacket.  I also love my cozy fleece lined leggings with tall boots.

The grey sweater, plaid shirt,  and grey leggings are all new this season, everything else I'm wearing is old.  Remember when I wrote in my Stitch Fix post HERE that I returned a grey sweater because I felt I could find one a lot cheaper?  Well I did!  This sweater was on sale for $14.99 at JCPenney.  I bought three other sweaters that day (also at $14.99), used a $10.00 off coupon and a $25.00 gift card that I received for being a JCP Insider.  So the total cost of this sweater was only $6.24.  Score!

The leggings I picked up for only $3.49 at a Home Improvement Store;  if you can believe that.  My husband and I were shopping together and we saw them in a bin leftover from a Black Friday sale.  I couldn't believe my luck!  They are such high quality leggings, that I bought one in every color.

 If I have a hat and scarf on, I find all I need to keep warm is a puffer vest (as long as the temperatures are at least in the thirties!).   Of course, if I were spending a long time outdoors I would need more than a vest, but most of the time I'm just running from my car to a building.

 I bought the vest at Sears last year.  It has a detachable grey hood.

My sweater is thin, which I prefer.  I don't like bulky sweaters for they add unwanted pounds and are too warm for me.  It is longer in back than it is in front.  It also has an open weave so you have to wear a tank top or another shirt underneath.

Long sweaters that cover your butt are so hard to find, that's why I bought four of them all at once at JCP!  In fact, this one I even bought in another color (burgundy) because I loved it so much!

I wore a silver and black pearl necklace to dress the outfit up a bit more.

I always prefer wearing flats in the winter to make it easier to walk on ice and snow:  although I would rather wear something with a heel!

And I couldn't end this post without including a picture of my sweet kitty Jackson.  Can you believe how big he is already?  And he's only about seven months old!  His nose is all pink because I kept smothering him with kisses!  He wanted to go outside with us to play in the snow.  He didn't run away, he was too fascinated with the white fluffy stuff!

Stylus Long-Sleeve Tunic Sweater - JCPenney, HERE,  Plaid Shirt - JCPenney, no longer available, similar HERE, Grey Leggings, no longer available, similar HERE, Black Riding Boots - JCPenney, no longer available, similar HERE, White Puffer Vest - Sears, no longer available, similar HERE, Black Beanie - JCPenney, no longer available, similar HERE, Black and White Plaid Scarf, no longer available, similar HERE, and Black Leather Gloves, no longer available, similar HERE.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

The Garden In Fresh Fallen Snow

Last week Saturday I woke up, looked out my bedroom window, and screamed "What the heck?"  for this was my view:  

  I totally was not expecting that.  But I must admit, now that I don't work outside the home I really do not pay much attention to the weather;   this snowstorm really caught me by surprise.  At first, I was mad.  "Snow, already?" I mumbled.  But even a snow scrooge like myself couldn't help to appreciate it's beauty.    In fact, it was so beautiful that I not only had to go outside and photograph my garden in the snow, but I got all dolled up and did some fun fashion photography too!  Those fashion photos will be seen in tomorrow's post, for now, let's just enjoy the gorgeous snow!

Every single branch, shrub, and leaf was covered in snow.  What a breath-taking sight it made.

Because I live in the zone 4 gardening zone, I plant lots of evergreens and evergreen shrubs for winter interest.  I love how the snow covers the branches of the evergreen trees and the evergreen mounds in the retaining wall gardens.

The woods and river beneath my property looked especially tranquil after the fresh fallen snow.

I always leave the hydrangea blossoms on the bushes all fall and winter long.  The flowers change colors so many times in the fall before they finally settle into this beige/brown shade for the winter.  The big blossoms provide interesting shape during the winter months, and I love the added effect of the snow on them.

Everything always seems so perfect after a fresh snowfall, doesn't it?  It almost makes me not miss the flowers....well, almost.

This snowfall was so pristine...not one spot of any branch remained uncovered.  Who needs leaves on trees when you have this snow effect?

I especially love the effect of snow on evergreen branches.  Some of the evergreen branches in my yard were so heavy with snow that they touched the ground!

I adore the way my little red gardening shed looks in the snow, don't you?

Now that my garden is about twenty years old, you can really see the importance of having both shrubs (undergrowth) with trees in a garden.  Even in the winter, it looks full and lush when there are not any flowers growing.

I hope you enjoyed my little winter garden tour.  And as an extra treat, here is a picture of my kitty Jackson being entertained by a squirrel.  I hate to go outside to feed the "birds" during the winter, so I just put the bird seed right on the roof of my house.  All I have to do is open the window and fill-er-up.  I never even have to step outside!  Jackson enjoys it too...he has free entertainment all winter long.  The birds and squirrels are so use to seeing Jackson by the window that they don't even flinch when he is nearby.  It's so funny.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Celebrating My Birthday and Birthday RAKS

Yesterday was my 54th birthday.  Being a Thanksgiving baby, like Christmas babies, my birthday usually gets lost in the holiday so I have learned never to expect much.  The plus side is that family is always around when it's my birthday because they have to be...it's Thanksgiving.  But the birthday celebration itself usually becomes a part of the Thanksgiving feast rather than a separate party.  Although, I did have my "big" birthdays remembered in a special way...you know "Sweet 16", "40", and "50".  

This birthday was a normal one.   My husband had the week off.  Normally we would have taken a vacation but thanks to the "Affordable Health Care Act" (that will hopefully be "Repealed and Replaced" next year) we were surprisingly stuck with thousands of dollars of medical bills and had to cancel two vacations as a result of it.  So in place of a vacation, we went to Chicago for a few days to visit our children and then spent the rest of the week at home with Ashley and Jason (Jordan had to stay behind in Chicago because of work).

We decided to take our kitty to Chicago so that Jordan could spend some time with him;  he hadn't seen him since we brought him home from the shelter.  I was so worried that he wouldn't be able to handle the six hour car drive, but he did surprisingly well.  He spent part of the drive in his little carrier, but most of the trip he spent sitting on my lap.

Below is a picture I posted on Instagram.  The picture on the left is my son-in-law Jason.  We were playing a game of Aggravation and my kitten Jackson was just enamored watching us roll the dice.  The top picture on the right is my son Jordan napping after church.  Jackson jumped on his lap while he was sleeping.  And the bottom right picture is Jackson in his carrier in our car.

Well, by now your probably all wondering what I got for my birthday.

My husband bought me a pair of burgundy booties for my birthday earlier when we were out shopping.  I've shown them to you before HERE.  My daughter got me a fantastic metallic gold handbag and a modern geometric necklace.  I'll show you the bag in a future fashion post, but the necklace is pictured below.

Jackson was so excited to see my present.  He thought the gift was for him!  He loved peeking in the bag and seeing what was inside.  And of course the bag and tissue paper became a toy once the present was removed.

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this picture on Instastories.  This is the necklace my daughter bought me.  I absolutely LOVE it!

Since my birthday was on a work day, we celebrated on a Sunday.  By now all the kids went home, so it was just my husband and I.  We went to church, out to my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch, shopping, and a movie.  We bought a few Christmas presents for the kids and Jackson, and walked around a store's displays of Christmas trees.  I absolutely loved this flocked country-themed tree.

I've been debating whether or not to even put up Christmas decorations this year with a new kitty in the house.  He gets into everything!  The kids will be so disappointed if I don't, but I seriously don't know if it's worth the trouble.  When I saw this tree, it gave me a little bit of hope.  Perhaps if I use bigger ornaments like this on our tree, Jackson will not be nearly as destructive.

And now for the Birthday RAKS.  "What is a RAK?" some of you non-paper-crafters might ask.  It stands for "Random Acts Of Kindness".  I belong to a on-line paper-crafting community called Splitcoaststampers and one of the nice things they do is send hand-made birthday cards to their members.  This year I was lucky enough to receive four of them.

My first one is a fall-themed birthday card from Annehem715.  I love the fun leaves and the glittered panel.

This unique card stands up and the birthday greeting pops out.  It's from 2Cute Cats.

I absolutely adored this cute birdie card from Anniepanda.

The cute birdie is popped up on dimensionals.

And finally, I love the floral card from Annsforte3.  Isn't it beautiful?

All-in-all it was another wonderful birthday.  My daughter surprised me and left me the most wonderful birthday tribute on Facebook.  I was so shocked, because we as a family do not usually display our affection publicly that way...but it certainly made my day!  Every day I am filled with gratitude over the wonderful little family I have.  I may not have a great, close, extended family, nor a lot of friends, but I have the best nuclear family anyone could ever ask for.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

A Brief Stop in Hayward, Wisconsin

For the past two months I have been covering a camping trip my family took way back in July.  We spent five days camping in northern Wisconsin and we explored several different state parks and waterfalls.  We also took a trip up to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to view some of their amazing waterfalls.  And on our last day of our camping trip, we spent the day exploring the cute towns of Ashland and Bayfield.  If you missed any of these posts, they all began HERE and were posted every Wednesday thereafter.

Today's post will conclude this series, and next week I will be moving on to other little trips my husband and I have taken during the year.  I don't plan on taking anymore big trips until May and August, so the rest of  my travel posts for the year will be little ones, like today's post!  But that's OK, because life really isn't about big vacations, but all the small, fun activities we do with our families...isn't it?

The very last day of our camping trip was a day spent cleaning up the camp site, packing up, and heading home.  This is usually a day most campers regret, but we had something very special to look forward too...picking up our new kitten Jackson from the shelter!  You will read more about that at the bottom of this post, for now, lets talk about Hayward!

The drive home from our campground to our home was about three hours.  We had some time to kill before our appointment to pick up Jackson, so we decided to stop and stretch our legs in Hayward, which was only about an hour from our campsite.   I had never been to Hayward before, and I was quite surprised at what a cute town it was!

Now even though Hayward is in northern Wisconsin, it reminded me of a western town with its architecture and decor.

Hayward is a former lumbering town and they host the Lumberjack World Championships every summer.  I wonder if that's where this moose came from?  Don't mind my son Jordan, he's just being silly!

 The porch overhangs with the wooden beams really were reminiscent of towns out west I had seen.

We stopped in this candy shoppe and it was one of the best candy stores I had ever been in.  The prices were actually affordable, and the chocolate was delicious!  You can even watch them make their candy creations through a window!  When we were there they had chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate covered pretzels on special...so we bought a ton!  It's called Tremblay's Sweet Shop.

We basically just walked up and down these cute streets admiring all the buildings.  Jason and I did stop at the coffee shop to pick up some brew....cute coffee shops are a must when visiting any small town!

My boys sure had fun with all the carved log statues.

Although Hayward was once known as a lumberjack town, it is now known for its fishing because there are many lakes in the area known for their trophy winning muskies.

After our brief visit to Hayward, it was finally time to head to the shelter and bring the newest member of our family home.  Six months ago we brought our sweet Jackson into our lives.  Little did I know then how much joy and love he would bring into our lives.  He has filled a part of my life, I didn't even know was empty.  I'm so happy we found him, and I don't feel as if I rescued him, but he is the one who rescued me.

This is what Jackson looked like at eight weeks when we picked him up at the shelter.

I look at these pictures now and I can't believe how much he has grown in such a short time.

And this is what Jackson looks like today.  He is the happiest, sweetest, most affectionate kitty I have ever known.  He and I have our little routine.  I sit on this couch and work on my computer every morning.  Jackson either sits on my lap or on this white blanket right next to me.

I call Jackson my shadow, for wherever I am, he is.  He follows me from room to room every day.  Here he is sleeping on my legs as I relax for the evening.

Jackson's other favorite sleeping spots in the house is this glider rocker for it's right next to the wood stove.  He cracks me up with all his dramatic sleeping positions.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!
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