Yes, I'm Still Here!

Hi!  Yes, I'm still here!  I haven't thought about my blog in the longest time until a friend informed me that if you go for a long period of time without posting anything, your blog can be deleted due to nonactivity.  WHAT????  That concerned me and I panicked because I have years and years of stamping ideas and instructions that I've posted and I certainly don't want to lose all of that, so I thought I'd better say hello!  Life has been good.....and I mean VERY good.  I've been keeping busy.  I'm still taking care of my mother, who is about to turn 87.  We stay busy - there's just always something going on!  I'm still stamping, I'm still making jewelry, and I'm getting back into cross-stitching (which was a hobby I adored before I was introduced to Stampin' Up!), and I'm even trying my hand at embroidery, which I really like.  I have lots to learn about it, but I really do enjoy it.  It reminds me of the saying, "So many crafts, so little time."  I'm thoroughly enjoying my retirement; no regrets whatsoever!  Life is different now, but I was ready for "different" and am happy with the changes.  The slower pace suits me well and I love taking time to "smell the roses," so-to-speak!

I thought I'd post a couple of tags that I recently made, just to show you something crafty.  A friend of mine, Susan, held a very nice tag swap right before Christmas.  We needed to make two different tags for any occasion we wanted to.  I selected Christmas and Valentine's Day.  I thought they turned out so cute!  If I had been smart, I would have taken pictures of all the tags I received in the swap, but most of them were Christmas tags - and during the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I needed tags, so I used them.  Now I'm kicking myself for that, but here are the two tags I submitted.

Can you see all of those tiny little pearls on my Valentine's Day tag?  What a pain, but without them, the tag isn't nearly as classy or cute, so I just had to add them!  The Christmas tag looked so cute attached to jars of Christmas candy.  That was another crafty thing I enjoyed over the holidays.  I spray-painted tons of jar lids and added knobs on top, thanks to my hubby who drilled all of the holes for me.  I'll share more of my jars with you soon!

It's been so nice to blog again.  I'll have to try to keep this up.  As I've always said, it's my version of scrapbooking!