We Create Blog Hop--Love Sparkles

Well, we've had a very eventful holiday season!  First of all, our youngest child got engaged! We are so excited her and her fiancé and are looking forward to a beautiful spring wedding! Immediately after, both my husband and I got sick and that lingered for weeks (yuck!) It's really hard to get anything done during the holidays when you are sick...that being said, neither my Christmas tree nor the house got decorated until the middle of December. Our oldest child moved out into an apartment and a week later the youngest child moved back home (until the wedding!) We were empty nesters for about 1 week (hooray!!) Our youngest turned 21 and then it was Christmas and now it's New Years. That's a lot to happen in one month!

Now we get to look forward to the amazing new Occasions catalog as well as Sale-a-bration! Demonstrators have already been flooding Pinterest with many beautiful creations from these new catalogs and there were some new sets that at first didn't tickle my fancy, seeing the projects the other demonstrators have come up with have changed my mind. I will be posting the catalogs on January 4th so check back to see what Stampin' Up! has come up with!

I spent a bit of time stamping this week and was excited to get out my new product. Falling Petals Embossing folder is a lovely touch, one way it looks like hearts and the other way it looks like petals. Love Sparkles stamp set looks beautiful with our embossing powders and is perfect for many different occasions. On the stepped up version, I added some silver Glimmer paper and Rhinestones to the image stamped and embossed on paper from our new Sending Love DSP pack.

I think you will love the new catalogs and I hope you can get a little bit of inspiration from the bloggers today!

I'm looking forward to 2017! I wish you all the best in the coming year!

Julie

Thankful Thursday

Everyone deserves a new start!  The new year is just a day, really, but many of us take the opportunity to resolve to do better throughout the coming year.  But isn't that the way we should live our lives all the time? Every morning we should resolve to do better than the day before, even if it's just baby steps.  I'm not one who makes new years resolutions (well, I should say, I have, but like most people, I haven't kept them very well!).  This year the only resolution I want to make is to wake up every morning and say, "Today, I will do better than yesterday!  And since I am human, I know that it's not possible to do everything better, but what if I only do one thing better?  That is what counts, right?  I am thankful for today...and everyday that I can start over and say, "I will do better today".

Happy new day!!

Julie

Sweet Sabbath

It's been a beautiful day today.  The holidays are winding down, but not quite over.  The new year is just about to begin.  This is the time of year when we look back to the past and see where we need some improvement.  As we set our new years resolutions, let's remember not to just select the typical "lose weight", or "exercise more", or "quit _________".  Let's put some thought into it.  And be realistic about it!  Remember, we want to improve ourselves not give ourselves some unreachable goal that may look noble and grand, but makes us feel like a complete failure later!  One of my favorite quotes is by a wonderfully brilliant woman, Barbara B. Smith, who just so happens to be my grandmother!  It says, "Goal are stars to steer by, not sticks to beat ourselves with"!  She was always very wise!  I think that when we choose what we will do to improve ourselves this year, we need to remember not to be so hard on ourselves if we fail to reach our goal that we never want to try again.  Just be good to yourself!  Have a very happy new year!

Julie

Well, that was fun!

I had such a great Christmas!  We spent a very relaxing day at home, except for when we went to see Les Miserables!  That was such a great movie!  I could totally see that again!  I will share more details later, I just wanted to share a quick printable for the next holiday...New Years Day!  Enjoy your families this week.

Download Silver subway

Download Red subway

Julie

Welcome Lollyjane, MeInLilaPark, iHeartNapTime, and Craftionary readers!  Thanks for featuring me on your blog!

Shared on Somewhat Simple, Tatertots and Jello

Download Tuesday

Quick post for the downloads for today.   Hope you are enjoying your holiday!

Julie