December Days- Day 11

Was in a creative mood again today, so decided to make some homemade tags for the Christmas gifts this year. I made some earlier when I sent out mom's gifts, and I used my smaller blank tags, but this time I made them out of the larger ones, so had more room to stamp and play with them. I love inking edges and making things look distressed. I used three of my Stampin Up inks and love how well they work for Christmas.

December Days- Day 10

This is hard...and I need to get it out, as it's been eating at me day by day as Christmas nears. And although I am trying hard to be in a happy, festive mood, I'm finding it exceptionally hard these days. I miss my dad, plain and simple, and as Christmas day nears, I'm finding the tears are flowing more easily, more often and with more heartache. You see, the last memory of seeing my dad is on Christmas morning last year, as we skyped with mom and dad for the first time, and had a wonderful chat, some laughs and made memories, that now, are oh so important. I'm glad I got to see him laugh and smile and even give mom and me a hard time about yelling into the computer and going off screen half the time. But as I sit here, I'm not sad at this moment, happy with my memories, but I know the darkness will come back, torment me, make my world seem gloomy and dark and I don't want that, don't want the pain, nor the tears, but maybe, those tears will help me heal as Christmas draws closer so that on Christmas morning, I can look up and know he is sharing his first Christmas in Heaven with my sister Susy, whom didn't get as many wonderful Christmas mornings with him as I did......

Jordyn sent me a photo of this one a day when I was really down, and
now I can look at it without tears. It's the perfect ornament, wish I had it.

December Days- Day 9

At Canada Place, they are having a decorated tree competition, in which all the trees are on display, each decorated by a different company, in which you can log online to vote for your favorite. Each tree was done so differently, that each one seemed to have something different that you could be drawn to, find worthy of voting for, then you look at the next and are captivated once again. Hard decision for sure....I'll tell you at the end which one was my favorite....

Oops!!!! I should have read this while I was there...I didn't record the hashtags!!

Totally Canadian Tree....this is my favorite!!!! 

They were all beautifully done, and so different from one another....which is your favorite???

December Days- Day 8

Last year, we happened upon the gingerbread house display at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Vancouver, and had so much fun, that we had to go down again this year to check it out.

This year, as last, the first thing that hits you when you walk into the lobby is the overwhelming smell of the gingerbread. It's such a wonderful, holiday smell, and immediately transforms you from the hustle and bustle of the busy sidewalks to a calm and magical land.

This year had no shortage of talent, so much imagination, and the ability to execute those images in their heads to actual artist looking pieces of edible art. I took so many photos, and although I won't post each and everyone I took, I will share quite a few, as there were so many that deserve to be noticed and appreciated by all. The competition ranges from High School, Private Schools to professional Culinary Schools, and each category is awarded a winner. I think they are all deserving of placement, as the attention to detail, and the talent to execute it, even the smallest of detail, are quite amazing. Congrats to all the participants for their outstanding work.

The beautiful window art that is on the outside of the Hyatt Regency Lobby.

The first of the display as you enter, you just slowly walk along and take in
the smells, and the amazing attention to detail. Not too many people today
so easy to get close to see them close up and take pictures.

The actual tornado of this display spun around like a real one would.

A good look at the display from the corner of the main area.

Imagine seeing this through a child's eye. It's candy land come to imaginary life.

My favorite of them all, as far as fun is concerned, and loved the
ferris wheel and there are two parts to the roller coaster.

This one was amazing, so many little details, hard to capture in a photo.
The main tree stood about 2 1/2 feet high, and each loaf over bread
or cake in the bakery was so realistic it was sick talent. 

This was a wonderful Nativity display, so I took 3 photos to get each section.

Above and below photos are on either sides of the Nativity scene,
love how everything is just basically white, representing snow.

Up!!!!!! Love this one...and love the details on the characters.

Finding Nemo...another wonderfully done, fun display.

The Nutcracker

The steady hand required to decorate this display was amazing,
the lining was so fine, like the fine stitching of lace.

Santa's workshop, so much detail, amazing job. This is the
 front view of the display, which is wonderful, and so full
of bits and pieces, but the back of it was spectacular...
told such a great story of Santa and the Elves.

I hope you enjoyed walking through the gingerbread house display as I say it through my camera lens.
I just wish I had the ability to include the wonderful smell of gingerbread as well.

December Days- Day 7

Found the coolest Christmas Cards for my girls this year. Both of them will be spending their first Christmas's with boyfriends this year, and although I don't really give them a card each and every year, this year as soon as I saw these cards, I knew I needed them.

I have never really seen cards that have included
 boyfriends or girlfriends, it's usually husband/wives
 or family. And I love the artwork on both cards, the
 intimacy these cards show, the tenderness, the love,

I'm glad that they had two varieties of these cards, and
that the pictures were different on each of them.

A history about the artist.

A simple daily entry for my December Daily today,
but it was a story I wanted to share.

Cooking in my new skillet

okay, so those of you who follow my Instagram feed will already know this, but for those of you who don't, I will fill you in on the awesomeness that is the IGA Marketplace stamp saver program that is going on until Dec 27th. You spend money and get stamps, then put stamps on pamphlet and when you collect enough stamps, you get a free pot...like an expensive series of pots and pans...by the Thomas Rosenthal Group.

So on Monday evening, I walked over to IGA to get a few groceries,
and finally got the last two stamps I needed to complete the booklet.
I had been carefully deciding on which of the series I had wanted, and
was happy with my choice of the covered skillet pan, non stick of course,
And can you see that receipt??? Regular price of $99 and I got it free.

So many possibilities to be had with such a beautiful pan.
How would I wait to make something in it...so sad not to use
it right away, after all, that's what it's made for.

Well, tonight, Thursday, 3 days after bringing my lovely pan home,
I finally used it, and what a wonderful dish I created, just kinda
grabbing this and that, adding herbs and spices, and just winging
it. I knew I wanted a potato dish of some sort to go with the pork chops
that were in the crockpot, but wasn't in the mood for mashed or just
oven roasted, So I cut up 5 medium sized russet potatoes, skin's
scrubbed and cleaned so I could keep them on, and added them
to the pan where I had melted a few pats of butter. This pan recommends
that you use it on a medium setting, so that is what I did. I then
added an assortment of bell peppers, about 1/4 each of a green,
yellow, red and orange pepper, a few stalks of green onions, and
fried it all together. I then just started adding spices I knew went
well with potatoes, and that would be marjoram, parsley, celery salt,
pepper, and thyme, chili powder and sea salt. After a little more
 frying time, just a few minutes or so, I then added a splash of beef
stock so that I could put the lid on it and soften the potatoes. I
needed to add a bit more stock after about 5 minutes as it was
thickening up due to the starch of the potatoes, and I once
again only added a splash...and after it simmered away, on a low
heat and with a little stir here and there over about half an hour,
 it was almost overcooked, but in a good flavor induce way, a few
 turned mushy, but just made the dish a cross between fried
potatoes and mashed...but the flavor was so good.

But the best thing about this dish, everyone liked it!!!!