Decidedly December – 2020

Wow, 4 days behind. I was working, which is a good thing, and I have some more work for next week which is also good. Let’s see what magic I can make with these prompts.

December 9 is Silver and Jingle. That’s easy! A bunch of silver bells from my craft stash in assorted sizes, just waiting to be added to some fun project.

December 10 is Jolly and Warm Fuzzies.

Saw these jolly guys sitting on the shelf at Safeway

This little guy in his warm Christmas sweater gives me the warm fuzzies.

December 11 is tree and ink. We got our tree up reasonably early this year and I am grateful for that because this weekend we are having some rain so it probably wouldn’t have gotten done. Our daughters and I went and picked it out and then put the lights on. A couple of days later, our youngest and I watched a cheesy Xmas Hallmark movie and decorated it. Fun!

Here is our tree this year

As far as the ink goes, usually I would talk about the ink I use in my crafting but this kind of ink is a bit more special. I’m not a fan of tattoos but our daughter asked me to write out La Vita e Bella for her so that she could have the tattoo made in my handwriting. Had I known she was going to get it done EXACTLY as I wrote it, I probably would have written smaller – LOL. This covers her whole forearm and the black birds represent the five of us in the family. The one outline bird is for our first real pet, a cat named Whisper, who had to be put to sleep. How could I object to something with that much meaning?

Life is Beautiful

Today is Lights and Best Decision in 2020. Again, lights is easy:

The lights in front of our house.

I’m going to have to think about the best decision of 2020. Perhaps it is getting a new refrigerator. Perhaps it is deciding to make my own website. Perhaps I haven’t made it yet! I still have some time to work on it.

Okay, there we have both the Countdown to Christmas and the December Reflections up to date. How are you doing? Got your tree and lights up? Warm fuzzies happening? Made a spectacular decision this year? Lemme know!

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Decidedly December – 2020

Another two days of challenges. December 7 is easy to combine. On the Countdown to Christmas the prompt is “Fireplace” and on the December Reflections it is “On My Wish List.” We used to rent a house with a fireplace and I just loved it. When we moved 24 years ago our house did not have one. A few years ago my husband got me a portable heater for my work area. It looks like a mini fireplace when it is going.

So on my Wish List this year is a fire pit for the backyard. I think Santa is going to get it for me too! Something like this:

Of course I would love a wood burning one but in the interest of air quality, a propane one will be okay.

Today’s prompts were “Craft” and “Fave photo of 2020.” I showed the gift card holders I made already but here is another one of my creations:

The roof comes off the top and inside is a Christmas mini-album. You can see more pictures if you click the link.

As far as my favorite photo of 2020, I have a lot but I think this one tops them.

My son and I are sitting in the waiting room at Kaiser, where he is about to have a CT scan (or an MRI, I can’t remember which). It was a scary time for us and fortunately everything is okay, but he took this picture and posted it on Instagram and it touched me. Plus, I like how my legs look thinner – LOL.

Okay, caught up again. Maybe tomorrow I can post just one. How about you? Favorite photo? Craft anything for Christmas? Lucky enough to have a fireplace or a fire pit recommendation? Share!

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Decidedly December – 2020

So I missed posting yesterday because we went and got our Christmas tree. Making it up by cramming in a whole bunch of stuff today.

Music was the theme for Countdown to Christmas and List was #SoCS so here’s a list of some of my favorite Christmas songs in no particular order and by no means complete:

• Old Toy Trains – Rafi – makes me cry because I can see our kids up on stage singing it when they were little.
• Merry Christmas from the Family – Rosie O’Donnell and the Dixie Chicks (now the politically correct just “Chicks”) Cracks me up.
• Little Drummer Boy – David Bowie and Bing Crosby
• Jingle Bell Rock –
• Santa Baby –
• Silver Bells
• The Christmas Song
• Christmas Through Your Eyes – Gloria Estefan
• Must Be Santa – Rafi
• The First Noel
• Greensleeves

The prompt for December Reflections was: Biggest lesson from 2020. Maybe not a lesson but just a reminder that nothing in life is certain and you need to be able to roll with the changes.

Today’s prompt for the Christmas Countdown is plants. Has to be poinsettia (which I always want to spell with a t, like pointsetta). My dad had a big poinsettia plant growing in our front yard. He was so proud of that thing. He worked for a florist and every year we would take about 15 or 20 poinsettia plants to the church to decorate the altar. I felt so special being able to go into the back rooms that no one usually sees.

And finally, December Reflections is Ornament. I did that the other day with the ornaments that I have been using for the past 40 years, but I also have other ones that mean a lot to me. I haven’t finished decorating the tree yet so I’ll post more pictures of ornaments when we get them out.

There, caught up for now. How about you? Favorite Christmas song? Do you want to spell poinsettia with a t? Share!

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Decidedly December – 2020

Today we have Red. This is my favorite red sweater. I love the cutout on the sleeves. Keeps me warm but not too hot. Worn with my black and white leggings.

And the second prompt is Movie. Of course I love the standard Christmas movies like “A Christmas Story,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” but my all time favorite has to be “A Christmas Carol.” I like the old version with Alistair Sim but I have to watch “A Muppet Christmas Carol” every year while I wrap presents or it just won’t be Christmas. It is of course made for kids but as with a lot of the Muppet things, there are some jokes in there just for us adults. We even still have it in the old VHS format. Thank goodness we have a dual VHS/DVD player.

I kind of like keeping these short and sweet. Makes it easier to keep up. Lots less pressure. What’s your all time favorite Christmas movie? Have you ever seen the “Muppet Christmas Carol?”

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Decidedly December – 2020

I am really having a hard time with the prompt for today in the December Reflections. It is “Best day of 2020.” Even looking through all the pictures I took this year, I’m not sure I could find a “BEST” day. I mean, there were a lot of good days and a lot of days that were just days, which I suppose in the year of COVID is actually not bad. Maybe my best day of 2020 hasn’t happened yet. We still have some time left. I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

The prompt for December Countdown is a little easier. It is “Tradition.” For the last seven years I’ve been making Vision Cards in December. I guess you might call that a tradition now. My cards for 2020 were these:

And I wrote about them here. Going through them now as the year comes to a close, the ones that had to do with travel/adventure and connecting had to be put on hold as the pandemic certainly limited things on those fronts. I did stay connected to my sister who learned how to FaceTime, my mom by calling her at least once or twice a week and monthly check-ins with my best friend who lives quite a distance away. I did also do a Zoom scrapbooking day or two with my niece and that was fun.

The health, household, finances and business ones all got a little attention and I am pretty satisfied with each focus area. I really like using these rather than trying to make New Years Resolutions. Definitely less chance of failure because although I didn’t get everything accomplished that I wanted to, at least I touched on each of them.

Now it’s time to make another set of cards. I think the themes will basically be the same, although I may add some descriptive words and ideas to each one. I’ll share them when I’m done. What are your traditions? Did you have a “Best Day” in 2020? Share!

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Decidedly December – 2020

For our prompts today we have Favorite Hobby and Family. I have a lot of hobbies that I enjoy. Reading is one. The new Pop Sugar Reading Challenge just came out and I am excited to do that. I failed this year, reading only 17 books out of the 40 that I had set for my goal. You’d think I’d have been able to read more with the pandemic but no. I did cross off some of my poster pieces though. Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Lord of the Flies and Great Expectations. I have the intention of reading Anna Karenina, Gone With the Wind and The Great Gatsby next year.

I’d have to say coloring is another hobby. I did do a lot of that because I can watch TV with the hubs while I’m doing it. Can’t really read and watch a movie. Here are some of my latest for the Escapist Coloring Club.

I think blogging might be a hobby. I might have wanted to be a writer and this is a way to do that on my own terms. I also like the interaction with the friendly people I meet (yes, that’s you if you’re reading this).

Participating in challenges might be a hobby too, to be honest. I’ve been doing the One Second Everyday video thing this year and am looking forward to the end result when I can see the whole year flash before my eyes. I have to start thinking about what to do for the A to Z this year too! Do you have your theme yet?

And for the other prompt, Family, well, I have to say that I am grateful that my family puts up with all my hobbies!

How about you? Favorite hobbies? Special family? Share!

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Decidedly December – 2020 – Fun Challenges

Admittedly I blog more when I have a challenge or two to follow. Fortunately in December I have them!

First up is December Reflections with Susannah Conway. I’ve done hers several times in the past and they are always fun. Some of the prompts are a little different and I’m looking forward to them.

Here is my take on Star. It is painted on a wall in San Francisco that we pass by every day.

And by way of Barbara at Teleportingweena I found this fun countdown to Christmas sponsored by a new to me blogger, Tourmaline. I think I’ll try playing this one too.

These are some decorations from my very first Christmas tree when I moved out on my own. My older sister and I had a craft day and she helped me make them. They are over 40 years old and they still get put up every year. The poor reindeer and Santa are missing eyes. Maybe I’ll give them a touch up.

Not sure I’ll be able to post every day for each of these challenges but I’m going to give it my best shot. Play along!

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Nifty November – 2020

Well, this month is almost gone. Hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving yesterday. Ours looked like this:

I have been busy working fortunately but found some time to make some new gift card holders for the holidays. Aren’t they cute?

Mittens

Snowmen

Christmas Trees

The top swivels on a brad and opens so you can put the gift card in the slot.

They each have a matching envelope and are up on the Etsy shop now.   I need to figure out how to do a virtual holiday boutique!  Maybe I’ll figure out how to use this WP again too.  The pictures are giving me fits, but you get the idea.  

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Nifty November – 2020

Next up in Nifty November is a cool new tool on Etsy. I can now add 15 second or less videos to the description of the items I have for sale. I made these cards a couple months ago and added a video to the listing.

Pop up cards

The video shows up in the second picture on each listing.

See it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/896955879/pop-up-birthday-cards

This one has a pocket that opens so you can slip a gift card or money in it.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/899170979/birthdaycongratulations-card

And some Christmas cards. This one has a “tree” inside it.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/899174235/christmas-card

https://www.etsy.com/listing/883014840/christmas-card

Since I probably won’t be able to do any holiday boutiques this year, I’m hoping that by adding some videos to the Etsy listings they will attract some extra attention. The good thing is they are short and there is no sound so I don’t have to worry about saying anything!

Of course, feel free to share this if you think someone might be interested. I’ll be putting up some more videos on Etsy soon. Have a wonderful rest of your day.

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Nifty November – 2020 #SoCS

Lovely Linda gives us “jour” for our Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I was going to talk about my planner for next year so that works perfectly since my planner is actually part JOURnal as well.

I don’t know about you but planners are very personal for me. It took me a long time to find one I really liked and thanks to a post a few years ago by LA at Waking up on the wrong side of 50, I was introduced to Plum Paper. This company lets you design your own planner!

To start, Plum Paper offers many choices for covers. This is mine for 2020.

My daughter gave me the owl sticker and it matched perfectly

I like to put a picture or a quote on the monthly divider.

Each month starts with a goals page

There is a blank page next to the goals section and I added a “Currently” sheet with some washi tape and underneath I recap what happened in the month.

The monthly spread has lots of room to write, even though this year there hasn’t been much going on.

You can pick your own title headings for the daily pages. This year I used Top Three, And Then, Quick Quotes, Today, Doodle-E-Do and Snapshot.

At the end of the month there are either one or two pages depending on how long the month is. On one I put a picture of the full moon for the month and a selfie

On the other I use a reflections page.

This is my cover for 2021. I am in love with it. It was a special one for October and a portion of the proceeds for using it went to breast cancer.

For the daily sections next year I changed a couple. Instead of Quick Quote I used Around the House because I am going to eliminate the household planner I usually use, for the doodle section I chose Inspiration Station and for the snapshot at the bottom I went with Oh My Word to help me incorporate my word for the year.

If you don’t need a daily planner, they do make a weekly one and also an academic planner style. You can choose which month you want to start with. I’m a January to December girl. I am hopeful now that we have a new President, the virus will be better controlled and there will be lots of things to do to fill up my planner du jour next year!

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Nifty November – 2020

I should have started my Nifty November series with this one yesterday so that it would actually be Thursday but I forgot about this door and I don’t like to bombard people with multiple posts in a day so even though it is Friday, here is my first entry into the Thursday Doors hosted by Norm. That was a mouthful, still with me?

I haven’t done a Thursday Door before because I didn’t think there were any interesting doors in our neighborhood and lately that’s the only place I’ve seen when I walk Benny. Then I started noticing something unusual:

Over the next couple of days this happened:

And finally, this:

Mind you, I never actually saw anyone painting it. I walk the dog twice a day and although we don’t go down this particular street every day, it is one of the ones that is in our usual trek because it is right down the block.

Who says garage doors have to be dull? Thanks, Norm, for letting me play along.

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