My Friends are the BEST!!

I hope everyone had an AWESOME Christmas!! I managed to finish mostly everything I needed to, got the presents wrapped and under the tree, filled the stockings, whipped up a batch of my bread maker cinnamon rolls and had them rising nicely, waiting to be put in the oven Christmas morning...and made it to bed before 3 a.m. Thankfully our children managed to stay asleep until 7 before waking us up with shrieks of "he came, he came!" My awesome Man got up, put the cinnamon rolls in the oven and made me coffee, while I stumbled downstairs looking for the video camera and my digital while the children patiently waited to open gifts and tried to figure out which ones that were not wrapped were theirs. So the video camera decided to be stuck in ZOOM mode and we couldn't figure out what to do...it's fine, I'll just snap alot of pictures, and the unwrapping frenzy began!! Once it calmed down a bit, I started eating my cinnamon roll.....UH-OH!! Off to the bathroom I went!! Did I mention that while I was sewing furiously all day Christmas Eve, making sure I got all of my nephews' and niece's gifts done I was having to stop every 10 minutes to clean up PUKE? Well, the Boy came down with a horrible stomach virus and I must have caught the 24 hour bug because for the second time in MY LIFE I missed Christmas at my folks!! The first time, I was stationed on an island in the Aleutian chain off the coast of Alaska! UGH!! We were all so disappointed, and I hated missing being with all of my family, but we still managed to have a nice day once I was feeling better and could drag myself from my bed to the sofa to be able to watch our children play with all of their new toys! And thankfully it was gone the next day and we did a Christmas "redux" at my folks where my fabulous siblings all managed to make it back so we could open gifts....again!! :D

So here is the part about my bloggy friends being the BEST!!! When I got back from my folks, I had a couple of packages in the mail!! First was from my friend Lisa...a bunch of baked goodies and some AWESOME bracelets that say Pay It Forward!!

mmmm...everything was SO YUMMY, I even shared a little with the husband!! THANK YOU, sweetie!! I LOVED the Christmas card!! And I will be putting those bracelets to good use!!

Because....my next package was from the FABULOUS Karen from Urban Craft. She was my inspiration to "Pay it Forward"!! I started following her blog because of her humour and wit, and the tremendous amount of talent and STYLE she brings to her craftiness. She struggles with skill like we all do, but she has such a "common sense" kinda way about accomplishing whatever it is she is creating....I LOVE THAT!! So we were chatting about what I would want her to make for my PIF...well anything from her would be awesome!! But I noticed that she seemed to have fun making things from felt...and I had just bought a bunch of "Hs" because I wanted to start a collection on one of my hallway walls ( I TOTALLY saw this on another blog and HAD to have one!!). So I asked her to make me an H...however she wanted, whatever colors...it didn't matter to me, because I knew if it came from her it would be fabulous!! Did I mention that she has a certain STYLE about her craftiness? LOVE IT!! So this is what she made for me!!

Fabulous...right?? Each little square is hand stitched on!! THANK YOU Karen...I know some time went into this and I ABSOULUTELY LOVE IT!!! I will be getting back to my PIFs after the new year!! I love making things and getting things and I know alot of you are like that too..and when it comes from someone you admire from afar...all the more better!! Which brings me to my next bloggy friend!!

During the SMS giveaway, I WON!! YAY!! And what made it all the more wonderful was that I won from a blog that I follow!! :D craftytammie is AWESOME!! She has three BEAUTIFUL children...thanks for the Christmas card girl!!, and manages to make it ALL!! :D Look what she sent me...

LOVE IT!! Between this awesome notebook and the fabulous one Beatrix sent me...I should have NO PROBLEMS keeping my New Year's resolution...To be MORE ORGANIZED!! I am not sure what I will do with the FQ yet, but I LOVE it!! Thanks girl..I know I shouldn't be greedy...but I see that you are going to have another giveaway soon.... HA!

Ok, one last one...I have been holding off with this one because I wanted to do more with it..but I wanted to properly say THANK YOU to my friend Amy!! She was SO sweet to cut me a couple of stencils and make up a "how to" kit for me!! I did it right away, somewhat...and they have been sitting waiting for me to add a little more "flare"!!

The girls are soooo excited with how they came out, and ask me about them all of the time, but Christmas gifts kinda took over my sewing room and they got pushed back!! I don't think I even sent you a picture Amy...sorry!! I really am VERY appreciative of all I've received and feel so blessed to have such sweet friends!! Thank you all so much for being a part of my life and making me feel GREAT no matter what might be going on in my real life!! I hope you all have a safe and wonderful New Year!! And I HIGHLY recommend visiting ALL of these talented friends of mine, I can say first hand that the quality of what these ladies are putting out there is TOP-rated!! Until later...