Jumbo Tear Off Calendars

As long as this is New Year's Eve, and I just went around the house hanging new calendars, and taking down old ones, I thought this was the perfect time to share the calendars I made as Christmas presents! I love the idea of a tear-off calendar. You, know the tiny kind you get this time of year from the corner store or the bank? I had even started to make my own, to fit on a quarter sheet of cardstock. They are much more attractive, and great to stick in with a card! For Christmas, I decided to make a bunch for family and friends. I made them on a much larger scale, however! I made the calendar part using the redcastle calendar printing program. The finished stack of 12 months is about an 8.5 x5.5 inch size. I mounted them on cardstock, added a picture, and embellishments to the base 12x12 cardstock/patterned paper, and added a hanging hole or magnets on the back! They were a hit! Here are a few that I made:

For my younger brother:

For my Mom:

For my Dad:

For my nail girl:

For my neighbor:

My first painting....

So back at Thanksgiving time, my mother in law said she wanted me to paint something for her bathroom as her Christmas present. She had recently redecorated it with a bear theme. I am quite an avid painter, so I didn't really stress until she showed me what she wanted. It was a gorgeous picture from a wildlife calendar. I about fainted...I mean, I was honored that she had that much confidence in me, but wha?? I asked her why she didn't just take the picture to staples and have it blown up, but she said she wanted a painting. Off I went to Michael's with coupon in hand, and got a 16x20 canvas. Lord knows Keri can't say "no" to anyone! So this is what I did Friday...I would get frustrated and leave it alone for a while, then come back to it. Praise the Lord, she loved it when she opened it up on Christmas Day. I am no Bob Ross, but I think it is pretty good for my first shot at a "scene" painting with a whole background and everything! Who knows what she will ask for next!!

Christmas Through My Eyes...

More important than any presents I received, or how hard it is to "keep up" around holiday time is what you see here. These are true pictures that say a thousand words. I hope everyone had a holiday as blessed as mine was!

Our Christmas Decorations

Well, amidst all of the crafting and baking I have been doing, I finally took the time to take a few pictures of our Christmas decorations. This is the big tree in our livingroom. I use green and blue lights, and there is a large array of ornaments on it, from pine cones and homemade dough ornaments, to heirloom glass ornaments and cartoon characters!

This is my Christmas Village. The pieces come blank, and you have to paint them all yourself! I am at a stand-still, though, cause I am out of room, and I can't do anymore!

This is the white tree I put in our bedroom. I have always wanted a tree in my room. And always loved the white trees, so I finally got one a couple of years ago. It has blue and white lights on it, and a ribbon, but no ornaments. I put it in the dormer facing the road, so you can see it outside!

This is a smaller tree I put up in the kitchen. We call it the "Grandma Tree" because it has all of our Grandmother's antique glass ornaments on it. I used old fashioned lights, and tinsel, too. We are so fortunate to both have a few of our family's ornaments!

Accent? What accent?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have">What American accent do you have? Quiz'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Okay, so they guessed me to a tee. I live a mile from Canada..what do they expect? I sound half French Canadian/half English Canadian...eh?? No doot aboot it!!

Christmas Card Photos

Even though I don't send out a holiday card with a photo directly on the card, I like to slip a little something in the cards I make, for all the family and friends. I love getting photos in cards, so I like to think others do to! Needless to say, being the only female in the house with DH and DS sometimes has its drawbacks. This was one of those times. Getting these two dressed appropriately and in one spot with me was like pulling teeth. You would have thought they were being killed. Good Grief! You will notice that in our family picture, we all have our sunglasses on. That was intended to be just a cute extra pic. But because DS had his eyes closed in every photo my father took, this is the one we ended up with. I opted for a backup, and it took a few weeks to get around to it. I stuck DS by the tree and used the first one that looked half way normal. Men...what am I to do?? So here are the results. And at this point, I say take em or leave em! LOL!

Welcome, Baby!

This is a very exciting time for my family! My older brother and his wife welcomed their newest edition, a daughter into their family late last week! My new niece is beautiful. I can't wait to see her again! What a wonderful Christmas gift this has been! Her name is Miriam Grace, and she weighed 8 pounds, and measured 22 inches long! In the first pic, my Dad, Pa to all his grandkids, gets to meet his newest granddaughter. Proud Papa? Me thinks so!! My dad also has THE biggest hands I have ever seen, so I thought the hand photo was appropriate...THAT will be a layout, for sure....and a black and white version would be perfect on a welcome baby card!

Beading? Yay or Nay??

So, thanks to my cousin, who makes THE lovliest bracelets, etc, I had to try it out for myself! A good excuse to give it a try and get started was making them as Christmas gifts. I must admit, though, I have made a few for myself! I stuck with the recommended Swarovski crystals, and sterling silver components. I must say, for my first tries, they came out pretty good! This definately won't replace my passion for all things paper related, but they are fun to make, and make great gifts! Between my huge hands/fingers, and my long nails, I think it probably takes me twice as long to complete a bracelet as it should!

Christmas Peanuts!

Okay, so how do I follow up with the ginormous pumpkin patch, or the cute little pilgrim Woodstocks? My SIL said I should be focusing on her wedding favors...okay?? LOL..anyway, after 10 days, a sheet and a half of plywood, a ton of acrylic paint, and nearly a quart of spar urethane, here they are! I was hoping to get a really cute picture in the snow, but alas, it was in the mid 50's today, and I went to the post office in jeans and a T-shirt! The hay bale was supposed to be a snow covered hill. So much for that! Now Shermie just looks like he is standing on hay...All I keep thinking of is the scene from White Christmas where they get off the train to a green Vermont in December. Upstate NY is supposed to be a winter playground...not all green and brown and depressing a week before Christmas! Thanks again to my DH for all his hard work cutting these guys out!

I've Been Tagged!

I have been tagged by Godelieve! The rules say I have to list 6 weird things about myself. This should be easy enough!

1. My middle name is Rae, not Lou. Kerilou is a nickname my next door neighbor gave me! My mom chose the name Rae for two men she admired growing up.

2. I have a mild obsession with Charles Schultz' "Peanuts" characters...

3. I am a smeller...I drive my DH nuts! "What IS that smell?" "Do you smell that?" "I smell something gross." "Something stinks." And I do have a radar nose...I can smell something bad a week before someone else can.

4. I have a hat festish. Baseball caps, cowboy hats, touques/tuques, I love hats! My mom gets embarrassed, because the more unflattering the hat, the better. I am on a quest for the perfect fur lined ear flapper hat to get me through the winter. She says she won't be seen with me if I wear it! A lot of heat escapes from the top of the head, I am just staying warm. It gets cold up this way! She says I go to far when I wear them around the house and to bed. Whatever!!

5. I love to eat plain rippled potato chips dipped in barbeque sauce.

6. I have an issue with chapstick and ponytail bands. I can't keep track of them. They are a main staple in my life, spread from one end of my house to the other, yet one is never to be found when needed.

So there they are. Now, I get to tag someone else! So...

Tag! Tracy, & Kris!

Christmas Ornaments-Keri Style!

I always love to see message board posts, and scrapbook layouts, of everyone's special Christmas tree ornaments. When I was putting the finishing touches on the main tree yesterday, I thought I would take a few pictures of my own to share with you! When everything is decorated and in order, I will post some more pics of the whole tree, etc. I made some of these ornaments as gifts a few years ago, keeping a set for myself of course, and some others were made since then. The angel is made out of wired ribbon, and one glass ball one is a floating ornament. You just stamp on a round cut out of transparency, roll up, and insert into the clear glass ball...the transparency gives the illusion of a floating image! DS and I just made the rolled paper ornaments this week. They are pretty self explainatory! Just roll your patterned paper strips into coils, and insert them into the clear ball! I especially love all the handpainted ones, my mom does her tree in all homemade ornaments, so she hangs her set faithfully every year! My favorite is the sled with the snowman face on it. So cute!! Happy Holidays!