Our Yearly Newsletter

There are many of you right now that are opening a Christmas card from us and you're shaking it wondering where the newsletter is...did it fall on the floor?  Did they forget to put it in the envelope?  Well, no, none of the above.  I am assuming you noticed the web address that was listed under our return address on the envelope, otherwise you wouldn't be here right now.  This is where I have been blogging for some time now.  Anything that happens throughout the year that we wish to share is posted here.  With both of us working in retail it has become too much to meet another deadline during the holidays.  We have gone viral this year and this is where you will find our newsletter each year from here on out.  To keep up with the happenings of the Gomes and the Lodges all you have to do is log on now.

So, in closing, let me just say, we love you all, and we wish you nothing but health and happiness in the new year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

JORGE & DEBBIE

One of my Faves!!

Here's Another Chicago Treat

SUzy Snowflake

For the kids that grew up in the Chicago area you will recognize Suzy Snowflake.  Found this...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Suzy Snowflake" is a popular Christmas song written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, made famous by Rosemary Clooney in 1951 and released as a 78 RPM record by Columbia Records, MJV-123.

A cartoon-short based upon the song was also made in 1951 by Centaur Productions where the stop-motion animation was created by Wah Ming Chang. It is annually shown during the Christmas season on WGN-TV in Chicago, along with another production by Centaur, Hardrock, Coco and Joe and an early UPA version of Frosty the Snowman.

Keep an eye on my blog...

Suzy Snowflake

Almost Missed November

This month has gone by in a blur.  I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is over and November is gone.  Only 26 days until Christmas.  I will be rushing home from work tonight to tune into one of my yearly favorites, Rudolph is coming to town tonight.

I have switched the blog over for the season, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the music.

Watching Nate

Just sitting here watching "The Nate Berkus Show" and thinking about the fact that it is my last day of work for the next 5 days. Ahhhhh, a much needed break from the stress and chaos. Suprisingly we have received an early cool front down here in the South. The humidity has been low and the skies have been clear blue and sunny. It has been so nice but we don't get the pretty fall colors like the North. Speaking of, the grand parental units are digging the flourishes of fall as well as the company of friends and fam. We will shortly being make our fall trek to the Northeast for a Halloween wedding. My favorite thing to do while on vacation, get dressed up, NOT!!!

Second Blog Added

A little less than a year ago, I took an online class at "My Creative Classroom." This class introduced me to Copic markers. These markers have been used for years by illustrators and anime artists. Recently, in the past couple of years, they have found their way into the card making and scrapbook markets.

Two weeks ago my friend Ginny and I found out that our applications had been accepted to be "Copic certified" in Jacksonville. What this means is, after store owners, their staff, publications, home party instructors have all been accepted, if there are any spots left in the class of 25, they will pull names off of the waiting list. Which is where they found Ginny and I, on the waiting list hoping to be accepted. Huge coincidence is...my online instructor is the Southern region certification instructor so she will be doing my certification. The reason I am telling you all of this, I have started a second blog, geared toward my Copic adventures. I have enclosed the link and hope that you will pop in occasionally to check out my progress. Once, and if, I get certified, I will be certified to teach Copics. This is very exciting stuff!! We will be listed on their website as certified instructors. People looking for Copic instructors can just contact us through the website. If they need people to demo for them at shows and conventions, etc. we may be called on to help out in a booth. Anyway, I am pretty excited as it is just days away. So, keep peeking in here and take a peek over there.

http://copic-cabana.blogspot.com/

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL????

Can you smell it in the air? The crisp cool air, autumn leaves, fireplaces burning and the crunch of helmuts! OK, OK, so I don't get the crisp cool air or the autumn leaves or the fireplace burning here in Florida, but, we do get the crunch of helmuts. Great start of the season so far, a win in the column for the Bears and the Bucs. So...I guess that makes it official, summer is just about over. I had a busy summer with online craft classes. Actually two that I really wanted to take and of course they overlapped at 12 weeks each. I completed the first one all the way through and now have to start the second one. Gets tough with work getting in the way 40+ hours a week. Anyway, this is a couple of the things I created in the first class this summer:

Media Mogul

My friend Ginny is dipping her toes into the "design team" pool. She has entered her work into the Heartfelt Creations (www.heartfeltcreations.us) team call. She needed a blog (www.elegantcardsbyginny.blogspot.com) to send to the owners of the company to be able to enter the contest. That is when I officially became her "media mogul." I am the blog creator, project photographer, email account procurer and overall enthusiastic cheerleader and critic. The good news is she has made it into the semi-finals, now the fun begins. The company has sent her product, yet to be released to the public. She now has to create something new and exciting with these products. She has two weeks to come up with two designs to submit. I have included her blog in my post here, so swing by and check out her work. Good Luck Ginny!!!

What A Great Day!!

Spent the afternoon doing what I love, getting all inked up, covered in glue and paint. So much fun! We put together a "photo theme" book with some great new Bo Bunny paper and of course lots of Tim Holtz stuff. After the class we gathered with the hub and some friends from Bud and had a great meal at Cheesecake Factory. What a great day!!

Ramblings...

Finally went to see Alice in Wonderland...wasn't too sure about this one. Cannot say that I am a big fan of Tim Burton's. However, I am a big fan of Johnny Depp and Disney. So, with reluctance I ended up going to see the movie, in Imax 3-D to get the full experience. All I can say is what an AWESOME movie!! The visuals alone are worth the price of admission. Great storytelling, just marvelous!!

Anyway, on to other news since the last post. We have a new addition to the family. The hubs and I have a new niece, little miss Adrianna was born two weeks ago to our niece Dee Dee and her husband Dinis. We have to wait until the fall to meet her but we have already received first pics (check out the bottom of my blog).

We also have a new cousin as well. We finally got to meet Eva, born in January to my cousin Kita and her husband Brian, now Hannah banana is a big sister.

My art is keeping me very busy lately as well. Each month mom, Ginny and I get together to create our Christmas cards. We started this in February and have gotten a lot accomplished so far. This week we are going on a field trip over to Violette's in Lakeland and then back to mom's to make necklaces. Ginny and I are taking a few classes in the next couple of weeks, one at Paradise and one at Whim, it should be loads of fun and lots of new techniques I hope.

My store has just started it's remodel and I am going to need these classes to de-stress from all of the dust and pounding.

And not to leave out any detail, little man Matthew had a birthday last week and as Jess put it, he is not so little anymore. Time really needs to slow down a bit, things are just happening to fast these days!!

Off to real life...'til next time!

Lost The Link To Ted In The Previous Post

http://www.stampersanonymous.com/index.html

For my Illinois family and friends, Ted will be at the StampScrap Tour in April. Check out the info on his site if interested. He does great demos, you will pick up some great techniques from him.

Freakin' February!

I can't believe it's already February. I obviously broke my resolution about blogging more often. I wish I could be a more faithful blogger like some others, but seriously, my life is not that exciting. Things don't change much around here. You would be bored if I blogged on a regular basis. Well, maybe if something really amazing happened to add a little excitement to this life. I doubt hearing about my work or the hubs work everyday would enchant anyone enough to keep tuning in...lol. February does bring a little bit of my type of fun around . Stampfest happens in February. This past summer when Kathie and I went to CHA we ran into my friend Ted Cutts from Stamper's Anonymous. He is always at Stampfest each year showing off the new stuff that launched at CHA Winter. This year he is coming to do a workshop at Kathie's "Creative Hands" studio prior to Stampfest. We will get to try out the new toys two days before everyone at Stampfest sees them. I hear he has some new Studio 490 and of course my fave, Tim Holtz stamps. Ted is Tim in another form, he is great, we should have a lot of fun at his workshop. I will take pics and post what we do at the workshop. Well, you all know me better than that, that is, if I like what I did...LOL.