It’s hard to believe that November is almost over! It’s been a fun, busy month and I hate to see it end. The last time I wrote in my blog, Tom and I were off to Missouri to visit his family for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, that trip was cut short when Tom was asked to go to Equatorial Guinea ‘asap’. We returned a week early; he went to Africa and, on the 16th, Diana Diaz and I went to Nevada City via Chico to spend three days making Christmas cards. You wouldn’t believe the stuff we piled in to the car for our three-day Xmas card marathon! Now, ask how many we got made. Nada, zip, zero!!! I had made two versions of the same cutesy Christmas card using Radiant Pearls before we went, with the intention of making tons when we were there. - Didn’t happen.
I had also made another version of the cute and simple cat card that I posted here earlier in the month, but this time I used a dog. Took everything I needed to make about three dozen of them to sell at a local pet store. Made them all.
Talk about prioritizing! Christmas is right around the corner; I didn’t do a single one of those. On the bright side, Diana had brought seven unfinished angel cards that she had made last Christmas, so these seven were leftovers that she gave to me. All I had to do was paint, assemble and add the foil to the wings. She had done all the stamping, cutting, sizing, and dry embossing. My question to her was why didn’t she give me another couple dozen! It looks like seven people will get Christmas cards from me this year. LOL!
What did we do in those three days? Where do I begin? If you’ve never been to Nevada City in the fall, it’s a must-see place to go. The fall colors, rolling hills and quaint buildings rival anything in the New England states this time of year. Three days was simply not enough time to enjoy it all. We stayed in a lovely lodge called the Harmony Ridge, located about five miles north of Nevada City. Everywhere you looked, the colors took your breath away.
As soon as we got up each morning, we’d head into Nevada City to walk the streets, shop the shops, try new restaurants, meet new people, try new wines and gourmet foods. Our favorite new taste items were the P’tit Basque cheese from the cheese shop and Frog Balls (spicy dill marinated brussel sprouts) from the local winery/deli. Among the streets and shops are numerous, quaint B&Bs. Our goal now is to see how many stampers would be interested in a gold country getaway next fall. We thought it’d be fun to get a bunch of like-minded girls together and head to the gold country via the local stamp stores. First stop would be Stamper’s Corner in Elk Grove, then the Folsom stamp store, a couple of nights in Nevada City, then on to Strike it Rich in Placerville. We’re going to start putting out feelers to see if this would interest anyone and, if there is interest, we’ll fine tune the plans, perhaps seeing if the stamp stores will offer us discounts for the day.
Once home, I had to buckle down and come up with some card samples for a class I’m teaching on December 8th. They want Christmas cards using Radiant Pearls. I have three of the four done, but that’s because my dear friend and fellow stamping bud, Kathy Yee, came over and gave me a full day of her time to help! She brought her laptop and enthusiasm, and together we came up with two more cards to add to the one I had already completed. She painstakingly typed up the instructions of each card onto her computer’s memory stick, helped cut, stuff & create. After the class on the 8th, I’ll post those. Additionally, she brought presents and cake for my birthday. What a friend!! The beautiful card below is one she made for me for my birthday (which isn’t until next month, but why celebrate a day, when you can celebrate every day??)
Another card I want you to see is one I received from Julia Budd in England. She’s Stephanie Costello’s sister and she and Steph came here to play around the stamp table last month. I love her card, too, and want to share it with you all.
Hopefully, all these cards will join the other card samples on my website when Kris Watanabe finishes dealing with a family emergency. She had hoped to have it all updated by the end of this month, but had to return to Hawaii because her mom isn’t well. Now with the holdiays just around the corner and her family to care for, I’m not certain how long it’ll be before she’s done. In the meantime, I’ll continue to update my blog with happenings, photos, and cards.
You’ll notice that I’m now able to upload photos to my blog instead of links to the photos as I did previously. That’s because Tom got me a new camera before he left and I no longer have to go through the Kodak Easy Share program to grab them. Yay!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!
