Blessings

Our family was truly blessed this holiday season. My niece, Mandy, delivered this beautiful bundle of baby boy, just a few days before Christmas. My "little" brother, Phil, is now a Grandpa! Kyle Phillip Karnbach is the fifth great-grandson for my parents in just a few years.



Too bad I live so far away from my family, 'cause I could really use a baby snuggle right now!

A North Carolina Christmas

A little tree and a lot of love! Oh, and what happened to the "one gift each" leaner Christmas plan!?



Me and my sweet girls in our matching PJs.



The guys in their matching jammies. Laura took a goofy photo from the wedding and turned it into "Bromance 2008" shirts. Trey is a good sport.... he has to be, if he wants to be a part of this family!



Laura & Trey with their critters. I wish I had a picture of Stash, Wiley & Brooke in their costumes. Yes, the animals put on a little show for us... Presenting Brooke as Santa Paws, Wiley as the Rowdy Reindeer and Stash as the Reluctant Elf, complete with flashing lights, wagging tails and roaring laughter from the audience!



And one shot of me in the kitchen...



I miss the old days with our little ones waking us up at the wee hours of the morning, the piles of wrapping paper filing the living room, the breakfast casserole and the homemade cinnamon rolls baking in the oven.... wait a minute... we did all that, except our girls finagled things until we opened gifts in the middle of the night! They couldn't even wait 'til morning. What we did miss was having Chris and Sarah with us. Some people dream of white Christmases... I dream of having our Christmases together, no matter what the weather.

Can you say, Domestic Goddess?

I made Marshmallows. I felt fancy.... for a quick minute.... 'til the caramel coating for these beautiful fluffy masterpieces totally flopped! Now I'm back down off my pedestal and cleaning up the sticky mess. I think the secret to these cubes of heavenly goodness was the fact the meringue was made from eggs still warm from the nest... literally the freshest possible! Thank you little Mommas!




These are for my sweet daughter who LOVES her marshmallows.


We're packing to head to North Carolina where we're meeting our girls and Trey, for an early Christmas celebration. Lots of loose ends to pull together...

Off to make merry!

River City Stampers, Formerly Known as...

... Rollin' on the Rubber, had it's annual Christmas party yesterday, and what a lovely party it was! Hosted by our Vice President, Michelle Murphy welcomed us to her beautiful home which was decorated like something straight off the pages of "Martha Stewart Goes Vintage." There was an awesome skinny book page swap happening in Michelle's "to die for" studio, while a chocolate fountain bubbled away in the kitchen. With wasail simmering in one pot, coffee in another and a holiday punch bowl sitting proudly in amongst fresh greenery atop one of the many lovingly refurbished cabinets in Michelle's home.

The dining room table was laden with the "consumable artwork." Once again we were reminded that not only can these women create the most amazing art, they can also put on a spread that'll knock your socks off.



The exchange of artwork was one of the highlights of our gathering. This skinny book page swap represented the diversity of our group with it's many styles and techniques shown in this collection of pages.



While circling the huge dining room table we played "Dirty Santa" with beautiful rubber stamps. We stole, swapped and swiped stamps until everyone had something special to inspire their next project. I couldn't get a good enough angle to capture the fun we had during this exchange... but I will say, "ha, ha, ha, I got the one I wanted!" :) Thanks Marguerite.... and Candice!




These pictures are just representative of the group. Most of our group was able to attend. We remembered and missed those who couldn't make it to celebrate the season with us.




As with older homes, there were lots of cozy corners to find yourself lost in. With tables and seating anywhere possible we sat and ate and visited and ate and vistited and then ate some more!





Several of us just weren't ready for the festivities to end, so we settled into the scrumptious red leather sectional couch and continued our visit for hours.... I'd still be there if I could have stayed!

Thanks to Michelle for a very special holiday party. You were an amazing hostess and, I think I can speak for the group when I say it was one of the best gatherings yet!


Oh and Cyndi & Shelby ..... look to the left and scroll down a bit.... sorry it took so dang long!

Valentine's in December!

Another card with an image stamped from Artistic Outpost's new Vintage Valentine's plate.

Another new plate from Artistic Outpost!

This week's Theme Thursday challenge just happens to be "Circus!" A perfect excuse to use my new stamps.

This card is made from one of the great images on the "VIntage Circus" stamp plate from Artistic Outpost!



Can you find the RockCandy Studios touch?

New Stamp Plates!

Check out the three new stamp plates over at Artistic Outpost. They're running a special on bundles AND now have the option of unmounted or cling mounted. Cling mounts are precut and on a foam backing with the image shown on the top of the stamp.... very cool!



The images on this card front are from the Fortune Teller stamp plate. I stamped & embossed the image on a page from a vintage French/English dictionary I then stamped the image again on plain vanilla colored paper and cut out just her face to overlay on the embossed image. A little bling and a feather and waalaa... a fortune teller! I see more art in your future....

Robyn and Shelley, Thanks for always creating such awesome stamps!

Muses in Artland....

So here it is, the game and it's pieces minus the one piece that's on it's way....



And a close up of the fantastic game board that Mary Ann made for each of us. There is even a pocket on the back with a list of all the rules for playing "Muses in Artland"... Rules like; imagine, create inspire, live, "take time to laugh" and "strut your stuff."



A few of the game piece Muses enjoying simmering pots of cheese and chocolate! This photo was taken by our token guy, Andreas, who was visiting from Germany. (We drug him along, but he gave little resistance.)



MaryAnn, Thanks for being the hostess with the mostest!

Game Piece Swap

"Auntie UP".... get it? :)

Several years ago I started a Mixed-Media Yahoo! group called, "The Meeting of the Muses." It has grown into an awesome group of artists who enjoy creative kinship and artist swaps of all kinds. We have frequent ATC, inchie, Moo, book page, and technique swaps. You name it... if you can paint it, ink it, stamp it or glue it, we're likely to swap it! This time our fellow "Muse," Mary Ann, posted a swap for altered game pieces. I of course, jumped in with both feet. Mary Ann is creating an artistic game board for each of the participants. I can't wait to see what she's dreamed up for us this time! AND to top it off, she's reserved a spot at "The Melting Pot" where we'll indulge ourselves in all things dunked in melted chocolate! A perfect afternoon, if you ask me! Life is Good! Although we have participants from all ends of the earth, those of us in the Memphis area try to get together for "on the spot" swaps whenever we can... somehow these swaps always seem to revolve around food... and the more decadent the better!

I'm a bit premature in posting these as we usually wait 'til after the swap, but I can't resist this time. I had so much fun making these little treasures. Nearly everything I used is from our online store RockCandyStudios.com. The letterpress blocks, the collage images, the vintage buttons, the fabulous Baroque border, and the metallic Rub-on, all come from our store. Have I told you how much fun it is to have a store at your own home!?