CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT SWAP...SO CUTE!

Greetings, dear readers!

I am so excited to share with you the ornaments received in Cindy's Ornament swap! Pics in a moment...but first: this, just in!

Isn't it gorgeous? Dear friends Heleen and Cory (aka Dutch Sisters) hand crocheted this Christmas card! It's a Hallmark from the Netherlands...and it's WONDERFULLY red and aqua! Oh how I love it! I will treasure it always...especially since I can't crochet a stitch! They even shared a "how to do it" tutorial on their blog! Thank you SO MUCH dear ladies! It's wonderful and will be a feature on my entry wall each Christmas! 

 

And now...ON TO THE ORNAMENTS! Each ornament was packaged so beautifully and then carefully and festively (YAY Cindy!) boxed and shipped to us:

There were such a talented group of ladies involved in the swap this year...I was so fortunate to be in a group with: 

Renee of My Vintage Mending:

Patty  of  Sweet Cottage Dreams Designs:

Jane Palmer of  Aralia Jane:

 Janelle from Sweet Bee Cottage:

Debby from A Cozy Blanket:

And of course my own little camper Mary Lou:

Cindy, our hostess, from Rick Rack N Gingham:

 It was really a lot of fun! And now I await the sweet tags from Elizabeth at Creative Breathing! More soon!

Candy Cane Kisses,
Paula Clare

WE INTERRUPT THIS PHOTO CHALLENGE FOR...

A tag swap post!

Greetings, dear readers! I had spoken to you earlier about perhaps a peek at the tags I've created for Elizabeth's "Creative Breathing" Merry Christmas Tag Swap and for Cindy's "Around the Neighborhood" tag swap. Failing to take pictures of my work (I am SO BAD ABOUT THAT!) I will use the photographs from Elizabeth's blog to show you:

As many of you who have followed me for a while know...I am a cowgirl at heart. I have (over the years) acquired some of the sweetest and dearest little cowboy and cowgirl images...this one in particular, with his red and green outfit and little puppy, make me think of Christmas. I just HAD to find a way to use it on my tags! The tags are a miniscule 2.5 x 3.5 (and, as usual, I made them all the wrong size to begin with, then had to think of a way to recreate those tags on tags cut the right size...) Elizabeth, I don't know HOW I seem to ALWAYS manage to get the instructions wrong, but I always have SO MUCH FUN making the tags the wrong way or using the wrong size or making the wrong amount! One year, I made over 30 tags, thinking that was the proper number...instead, I discovered I had made nearly twenty too many! E and I still laugh over the the Great Valentine Debacle! (as it has come to be known)

One of the great blessings of blogging is the friends you meet along the way...Elizabeth of Creative Breathing is one of those "kindred spirits" who has creativity flowing through her very veins...the woman is a one woman workshop of all things CUTE! 

More than that, she is a teller of stories...and a "Nocturnal Nellie" (a friend who is up at all hours of the night, like myself! She even talked me into hosting a New Year's Eve Craft along...since we were up all night anyway! It was SO MUCH FUN I'm doing it again THIS year! YAY!)

Also, I created tags for Cindy of Rick Rack N Gingham's Neighborhood Ornament Tag Swap:

Cindy enticed us with these sweeties:

Inviting us:

"To be in this swap....your ornament needs to be a House or an RV

Decorated  "Christmasy"...and it needs to remind each of us

of your BLOG...and have your Name and Blog Name on it.

Front and back need to be decorated!

It can range from 3-6 inches...remember it goes on a tree."

So here's my take on the swap: 

 

It's my little canned ham, Mary Lou! The other side says, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!" The penants and "lights" were paintstakingly cut and created by hand (the "seed beads" used as lights were handstrung mind you...WITHOUT A NEEDLE! Oh how I need E's organizational skills in my craft room! lol) THANK GOODNESS I had only to make 7 of the little things (however, as is my fashion, I made a few extra...this picture from E's blog). AND, in very ATYPICAL fashion, I kept one for myself! I just thought it would be so cute on my tinsel tree! 

I can't wait to receive my tags from the others...this is truly the most wonderful time of the year!

More soon,

Paula Clare

PHOTO CHALLENGE: DAYS 10, 11 & 12

Greetings, dear reader!

Back to my playing "catch up" with the photo challenge...ah well. I think I like the two or three at a time thing anyway! Works for me!

Challenge 10: NATURE

One of my favorite photos of me and the hubs...on our favorite vacation EVER: Antigua, West Indies!

 

The whole trip was really a miracle answer to a prayer Bud and I had been praying...it was incredibly beautiful. And THE BEST "working vacation" EVER!

Photo Challenge Day 11: Something Old

For this I have a choice of two photos:

 I created this one on Photoshop for Veterans Day. It's my husband's dad "Boots" Edwin Clouse, who served during Korea. It's also my dad, Kenneth Erhart, who served in every theatre of the war during World War 2. (Photos of Japan, Italy, France and Africa...amazing!) Also, my eldest son, Ian, who is currently serving in the Naval Reserves. (Not an old photo but I turned it black and white and then Sepia for the collage)

Or HERE is a more contemporary version of something "old"....ME! I'm 53 here (just taken a week ago) and sporting a "new do". My adoring dog Webster seems to approve. (although his view is of my many "chins"...what is it with old age? I have more chins than a Chinese phonebook! ARGH!)

And finally, the photo challenge for Day 12: Hands:

 This is a photo of the sacred rite of laying on of hands at my Ordination service. (The link is to my other blog, The Contemporary Monk, where you can see a short video of the service highlights). 

Went to a two day crop this weekend...got my ornaments done for Cindy's Swap at Rick Rack and Gingham, and the ever amazing, always creative Elizabeth at Creative Breathing is again hosting her Annual Christmas Tag Swap. I am happy to report I've finished both and will be getting them off in the mail in the next day or two! HOORAY! I'll not show you the tags until my friends have them in their possession...I hope they are a hit. I'm a bit out of practice since the long, creatively barren Days of the Lost Mojo (as it has come to be called). But because I only had to make seven ornaments and 15 tags, it was very doable and not too overwhelming...(although I fear I've botched the size on Elizabeth's tags...) Ah well...tags are done and there's not much to be done about it now! lol 

Will be back in a day or two with more photos...and perhaps a sneak peek or two!

Hugs to all!

Paula Clare