Only four more days.....

Wow, is it just me or is Christmas coming faster this year than years past? I can't believe it's only four days until Christmas, hope you all are ready!!

So tonight let's talk food!! What's your favorite food of the holidays? Do you make your own cookies or candies? Do you prepare a large meal or special dish? Wanna share a recipe for all of us?

My favorite candy of all time is peanut clusters, love them!! I'm not much of a baker but I sure do like to eat all those yummy candies and cookies that are made this time of year much to the demise of my jeans. Hubby is going to make his potato soup for dinner at his parents. That's about all the food we have to prepare this year. No big meals so guess I'll have some extra room for the junk food!!!

Post by 7:00pm tomorrow and you'll be entered into the drawing. Our lucky winner from yesterday, Liz! Congrats and I'm sure you're going to love your rub-ons that will be arriving after Christmas!!

**Terri, I can't believe you are that close to me after all these years!! We'll have to get together soon!!

Are you counting down the days?

My daughter is!! Just about every 30 minutes we are having to count down the days until Christmas!! :-) She's very excited this year! Miranda as winner of our last round I hope you are as excited with your goodie bag of ribbons!! Thanks everyone for sharing!

Angela, we need to see pictures of the baby!! Hope everything went well and we need a full update, name, weight, you know all the good stuff!!

So today let's talk about the presents that you have given. Who is the hardest person for you to buy for? Do you make or buy gifts? Do you shop until you drop for the perfect gift or is it gift cards all the way? Who is the most fun to watch on Christmas? What's been one of your favorite gifts you've ever given, why and who was it given to?

My favorite gift was the year I made my dad a 6 x 6 album based on the book Every Daughter needs a Dad by Gregory Layne. I filled it with pictures of him and I during my childhood along with sayings from the book. It was a great project to work on, brought back lots of memories and it was great to see his reaction. Another favorite was the year we filled my mom and dad's stockings with all kinds of gag gifts. It was so fun laughing as they opened each gift!!

My mom is hard to buy/make for. She has everything and what she wants she buys so it's always a challenge to find her something. My son is getting harder as he gets bigger. His "toys" are getting very expensive, LOL!!

Post today on the blog by 10:00pm and be entered into today's drawing!! Happy sharing!!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Our message board at www.kisscropnshop.com has been hacked! We've shut it down until we can get it cleaned up so all important announcements, updates, etc will be made here on the blog. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter on the blog so you don't miss anything!!

The countdown continues....

First of all, congrats to Sara!! You are the winner from yesterday!! Hope you enjoy your fun ribbons that you've won!!

I also hope you all are enjoying reading and getting to know each other a bit through this Christmas countdown! I love hearing all the fun stories and can't wait to see who all post each day! Thanks for playing along. Remember, all you have to do is post on the blog and you can win!! We draw one persons name each day (Emma, my daughter is having a blast doing that) and the lucky winner will get a goody mailed to them just after Christmas. It's that easy!!

So since we talked about whether we were shakers, peekers or can't find out types let's share our favorite Christmas gift ever received. We all know that the greatest gift is Jesus and that's the reason we even have Christmas but let's talk about the material gifts now. What gift meant the most, surprised you the most, touched you the most? Was it something you asked for? Something totally out of the blue? Who gave you the gift and why did it mean so much?

I think mine would have to be the little lifesaver candy books that my grandma gave each of us for Christmas. She couldn't afford much but made sure we had those candy books every year. Now growing up it didn't mean so much and wasn't even very exciting but looking back and now that she's gone, that is something I treasure and every time I see one of those I think of Grandma.

Let's hear about your gifts...... we'll be drawing tomorrow so be sure to post by 5:00 pm Wed. to be entered into the drawing for today's gift!!

Are you a peeker, a shaker, an I don't wanna know girl?

Let's talk about presents today!! Not what we want or what we are giving BUT...........do you peek, do you shake? C'mon be honest!! You've never peeked at any gift ever?

My sister and I would sneak in and very, very carefully peel back the corners of our presents just enough to show what was inside, quickly wrap them back and act so surprised when it came time to open the gifts. One year we even found the entire stash before it was wrapped, now that sure made peeking easier!! I don't peek anymore unless I think I'm getting something really good from my mom. I may try to find out before then!!
We do allow shaking and quessing in the house. It's just too fun not too! They guess some funny things and are usually tricked by the packaging! I'm trying to prevent eeking around here so we have a rule if they find out what it is, it goes back and isn't replaced. Isn't it fun to get to be the mean mom????????? :-) My entire family is known for hiding tiny presents in HUGE boxes or putting joke items in the box or even better wrapping a series of boxes only for them to be empty with the present waiting in the background!!

Any funny stories you want to share with us? Share today by posting on the blog by 10:00pm today and you'll be entered into a fun drawing for a free present of your own!!

Remember the rules, the same person may only win five times between now and Christmas day. All prizes will be mailed after Christmas so you can play with them in the New Year. It's that easy so come out and play!!!

The winner of yesterday's traditions post is: Liz! Congratulations Liz and just for sharing a little about your Christmas traditions you'll be getting a goody bag of Scrapworks tailored tabs to play with! Be sure to email me at info@kisscropnshop.com with your mailing address.

And the winner is......

Carol Raben!! Congratulations Carol and thanks to all that shared about their Christmas decorating. It's always fun to see what others do. I can't wait to see what Carol is going to do with her custom Santa word book!!!

No one in this house is feeling well so we are going to make it easy tonight. Let's talk about family traditions. Either ones that have passed down through generations, new ones you've started or something you'd like to start. I'll share some of ours tomorrow, for now I'm going to bed. Hoping to shake this yuck off before class tomorrow!

Goodnight and have fun sharing. We'll draw from those that share their traditions by 5:00pm tomorrow. Be sure to post them here so we can all get to know each other a bit better!!!

Fun on day 2....

As I sit wrapping presents today I wonder how many of you are like me? Does your tree have to look just right, only certain colors, ornaments, etc go on the tree? Or do you have random ornaments, multi-colored lights, beads, feathers? Do you deck out the entire house or just hang stockings? Do you have collections of Santa's or snowmen?

I'm very picky about my tree. Nothing goes on it but the red and rustic gold ornaments, scented pinecones, poiensettas and clear lights of course. My tree is pretty rustic and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! I just love it!! It's a fake one, pretty big and full and just soooo pretty!! (I think so anyways!!) Now my kids each have a tree in their rooms where we put all the fun little trinkets they make and get and any other ornaments we may get through the year. Anything goes with theirs!! Ohh... and I have to have matching wrapping paper! I never use the same from last year and it takes me awhile to find the perfect wrapping paper that will look just right under the tree!! I'm also pretty picky about how my boxes are wrapped. The ends have to be straight, no sloppy corners in this house! I don't put out many decorations anymore, a few Santa's that I've been given over the years but that's about it. I used to go nuts with decorating but find it's soooo much work to take it all down, that and Mr. Scrooge isn't so happy in the house with all the fru-fru stuff out!! :-) We do have co-ordinating stockings of course!

So now you know how I decorate my tree and home, let's hear about yours!! Everyone that post HERE on the blog about your tree, how you decorate your home, your wrapping paper fobias, whatever you want to share with us will be entered into today's contest. One lucky winner will get the prize of the day. You have until midnight tonight to post and a winner will be announced tomorrow.

And the winner of day 1 goes to.....

Carol Wehner!! Carol will be getting some fun Queen and Co. felt fushion to play with!!

Here are the answers:
1. Santa Claus is coming to town
2. We wish you a Merry Christmas
3. Grandma got run over by a reindeer
4. I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus
5. Rocking around the Christmas tree
6. Where are you Christmas
7. Winter Wonderland
8. Up on the housetop
9. Jingle Bell Rock
10. Frosty the Snowman
11. Let it snow
12. Chipmunk Song
13. Rudolph the red nose reindeer
14. Holly jolly Christmas
15. Santa baby

Thanks for playing everyone!

Wow!! We already have a winner for day 1!

I'll post the titles, the prize and the winners name in the morning. I'm having trouble staying connected to the internet tonight!

Thanks for playing and watch for more fun and games tomorrow.

The fun begins....

So are you busy shopping, making cookies and decorating or are you like me and rushing around not getting anything at all accomplished? I finally do have gifts under the tree and they are even wrapped!! Still have lots to do in the next week or so but I'm ready to have some fun with you so let's begin.

The rules: Each day, I'll be posting a fun little game, quiz or contest. You must EMAIL your answers and mailing address to info@kisscropnshop.com. You may only win once per day and a maximum of five times during the 13 days. I won't be telling you what you are playing for until the winner is announced. I may slip in some hints here and there so follow closely!! You'll never know what the next days prizes may be so you'll have to choose your days you want to play wisely!! I'll be mailing ALL winning packages out AFTER Christmas so you can have some fun with your goodies in the New Year. I will be posting the contests at different times during the day and evening in order to try to make it fair for all to have a chance to play. I will create a new post as soon as I have a winner for each contest. HAVE FUN!!!

Today's game: One of my favorite things about Christmas is the music. I love listening to Christmas music although living with the real life Christmas Scrooge I usually only get to listen to it in the car.

Let's play a round of name that tune. The first person to email me the correct answers to all of the songs will win a goody fit for a queen.

Please play honestly, this is for fun... see if you can do it without looking up the names. How well do you know your Christmas songs?

Name the title to the following songs:

1. He knows if you've been bad or good So be good for goodness sake!
2. We want some figgy pudding, Please bring it right here!
3. You can say there's no such thing as Santa, But as for me and grandpa we believe
4. She thought I was tucked up in my bedroom fast asleep
5. Everyone dancing merrily in a new old fashioned way
6. My world is changing, I'm rearranging. Does that mean Christmas changes too?
7. Later on, we'll conspire by the fire
8. Down through the chimney with old St. Nick
9. What a bright time, it's the right time to rock the night away
10. There must have been some magic in that old top hat they found
11. The fire is slowly dying and my dear we're still good-bye-ing
12. We can hardly stand the wait, please Christmas dont' be late
13. Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say
14. Say hello to friends you know and everyone you meet
15. forgot to mention one little thing, a ring, I don't mean a phone, Santa baby and hurry down the chimney tonight

Have fun!!

Feeling a bit spoiled!!

I've actually gotten to scrapbook or at least shop for scrapbook goodies several times in the last two weeks. It feels great and I'm thinking perhaps I've gotten inspiration enough to create some fun new kits. Take a peek and see what ya think. These are available now simply by emailing me at info@kisscropnshop.com.

(Copyright 2007)

(Copyright 2007)

Yummy Rusty Pickle papers are used in both of these kits and of course custom paper piecing, ribbon and fun embellishments!!! Limited quantities currently available on both of these.

Oh and by the way, if you ever wander down towards Claremore, OK be sure to stop in at Simply Scrapbooks. Cute store, good selection of products especially if you are a fan of the Cricut. I don't have one but know many of you croppers do. They carry a fantastic selection of the cartridges and supplies. I believe they are running a great special on the new software program for the Cricut now too. Speaking of stores, there are some walls up at the new scrapbook store in Neosho. It's great to see small scrapbook owners still hanging on in the industry that seems to be eating up all the small potato's of the scrapbook world. I think the past few weeks I've been doing my part to help the individually owned stores stay in business much to the demise of my checkbook! :-) It's for Christmas gifts or kits so that's okay right?





So let's hear where you like to shop? Online, chain stores, scrapbook store? Any great specials we need to know about? Oh and if checking out online specials checkout http://licketysplitscrapbooks.com. Wendy's been adding all kinds of new kits lately!! Happy shopping!!