Happy New Year!!!!

I just wanted to stop by and say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you ALL!!! I hope we all find 2012 to be full of HOPE, COMFORT, PROMISE, and many MAGICAL SURPRISES we can't even begin to imagine!! May you ALL truly be BLESSED this coming year!! HUGS, Cheryl

Make the cut...CCCB!

It is a new week at City crafter challenge blog! Linda is our hostess and our theme this week is making the cut. THE CHALLENGE is to pull out your scissors out and do some cutting. Can't wait to see what you come. up with. Hope you ALL had a fabulous Christmas! Hugs, Cheryl

Winner of Day 12 AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!!

Hi ALL! I'm here to announce the winner of the TWELFTH day of Christmas Give Away! Thanks again so much for playing along! The winner of day TWELVE is..................A SASSY SCRAPPER!! Just email me your address at cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com and I will get your prize out to you! Previous day winners I will be sending out your prizes either today or tomorrow. I want to WISH YOU ALL a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! As one of the Christmas gifts for my son each one of our family members wrote out their thoughts of the Savior. I won't share them all with you, but I will share the grandchildren's (so cute) and mine:

Tyler (4)- I love Jesus because he gave me my bones and skin. I’m thankful Jesus gave me my whole family. When I think about Jesus it makes me think about Christmas and that Jesus was born for His birthday.

Kylee (will be 3 the end of this month)- I love Jesus because he gave me a body so I can dance. When I think about Jesus I think of babies.

Nate (3)- I love Jesus because I want to. When I think about Jesus I think about heaven and being with grandpa. I’m thankful Jesus gave me my friends and family.

Me - How I LOVE my Savior. I know that I love Him because he first loved me. I feel that LOVE every day in my life and it makes EVERYTHING good. His atonement is the ultimate expression of that love. I have COMPLETE trust in the plan of happiness and KNOW with ALL SURETY that He is taking care of me. What a wonderful feeling that is to KNOW that no matter what happens Jesus Christ has me covered. He surrounds me with His love and takes care of me. I have no doubt of it and have felt it many, many, many times in my life. He paid the ultimate price for us all and will not let us down. This brings me such peace and joy in my life. I am so happy that you have this opportunity to share His message of LOVE to the world, that all may know that He LOVES them just as much as he loves me and that they can feel the wonder of this in their own lives.

I am taking a little blog break until after Christmas so I truly wish you ALL the merriest of Christmases and hope the peace of the season abides with you now and always! HUGS, Cheryl

Winter White AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!

Hi ALL!! Can you believe today is already my 12th Day of Christmas!! It is ALSO City Crafter Challenge Blog share day!! Our theme this week is brought to us by Kirsty...Winter White and the challenge is to create a project with mainly the color white, it doesn't has to be a Christmas theme as long as WHITE is your main color, so come on and join us!!! Get inspired by our WONDERFUL Guest Designer, Sylvia Nelson, and ALL of our DT. You can find all the beautiful work right HERE at CCCB! The prize this week is offered by the EVER SO SWEET Stella Schenkel! Thank you Stella! I hope you play along! I hope you also play along with this last day of my 12 days of Christmas give away! Yep it is DAY TWELVE!! Each day I give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! So today for the TWELFTH day of Christmas I am sharing with you my CCCB project of WINTER WHITE! I LOVE the look of purity and freshness and cleanness of those winter whites. It reminds me of the HOPE of the pure life and the chance for a second chance offered to us by the ultimate Christmas gift...that of the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ! Thank you all so much for playing along with my 12 Days of Christmas and just all of your sweet comments all through the year! I appreciate them so very much!! The winner of DAY ELEVEN is...................papertrails leaver! You can email at cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com with your address!! Have a wonderful day ALL and I wish for you the HOPE of Christmas in your heart today! HUGS, Cheryl

Wrapping It Up AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!

Happy Monday before Christmas!!! It is day ELEVEN of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! So today for the ELEVENTH day of Christmas I am starting to WRAP IT UP!! Now normally I am up until 4:00 am Christmas morning still wrapping gifts and they are lucky to even have paper on them. I decided to do things a little different this year and get my wrapping done ahead and making each gift a little extra special. Please don't think I'm ahead of the game...it is just that other things I normally have done will now get switched to the 4:00 am doing them on Christmas morning time schedule -OR- they just won't get done and you know what...it will ALL BE GOOD! I had a ton of fun decorating these gifts and I'm so glad that I did! Maybe it will give you some ideas for gift wrapping. Our winner for day TEN is............................................................Kathy Martin!!! Kathy send me you address to cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com
Well that's a wrap! Have a FAB day!! HUGS, Cheryl

Warm Wishes AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!!

Sorry I missed yesterday...it is the happiest and busiest time of the year! I'll be skipping tomorrow, too, but will be back again on Monday.
It is day TEN of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! So today for the TENTH day of Christmas I am sharing with you my ohhhh so simple Christmas cards. It seems that simplicity is my Christmas theme this year. It is working, though. haha!
I was afraid I wasn't going to get any cards made at all this year so I was happy that I got these done. I just made the same basic card, but used different patterned paper and a little bit different embellishments on each to change them up a bit. It is surprising how it changes the look. Just click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see them. Do you have a favorite?! Now on to our day NINE winner...................Linda B Linda just send me your address to cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com and I will get out your prize! Sending you ALL some Warm Wishes for a Merry Christmas!! HUGS, Cheryl

Once There Was A Snowman AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!!

It is day NINE of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! So today for the NINTH day of Christmas I am sharing with you this little Oreo Snowman Pop! Saw this on Pinterest and had to give it a try. Simply put an Oreo cookie on a popsicle stick and cover with white chocolate. Add a candy corn nose (so great to use up the left over candy corn) and some mini choc. chip eyes and mouth. So CUTE and FUN! **Secret...put anything on a stick and wrap it in cellophane and it becomes CUTE! hahaha! In my church we all have people in our congregation that we visit each month...make sure they are being taken care of and know that they are loved and appreciated. One of the ladies I visit has two little children and I am going to visit her today and I thought her little ones might like these. Now...for the winner of day EIGHT...............alexandra s.m. Alexandra just email your address to cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com and I will mail you out your prize! Hope you ALL are having a JOLLY HOLIDAY today!! HUGS, Cheryl

Christmas Excitement AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away

It is day EIGHT of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! So today for the EIGHTH day of Christmas I am sharing with you my way to build some Christmas excitement. This is probably the easiest Christmas advent you could possibly make. The little stockings are the perfect vehicle to tuck away Christmas treats and open up each day. The possibilities are endless. You could put an activity in each day to do with your family...scriptures that talk about the birth of Christ...candy...little Christmas toys...whatever will work for you and your family to build that Christmas excitement! I found these little girl stockings (aren't they cute?) in the dollar bin at Wal-Mart. You just hang them up with clothespins. I glued a circle to a scalloped circle and then added on the number of each day leading up until Christmas and glued those to the stockings. So EASY!! Now for the winner of day SEVEN...............................Stella!!
Stella you can send me your address at cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com so I can send you your prize! Hope you ALL are feeling the EXCITEMENT of Christmas! HUGS, Cheryl

Get Booked **CCCB** AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!

Hi all!! It is CCCB share day!! Our theme is brought to us this week by our lovely hostess, Ros. She is asking us to "Get Booked". So how about your show us what you can do ... This week we want to see you either make or alter a book ... This can be a tag book, album, notebook, journal ... it's up to you .. It is day SEVEN of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! So today for the SEVENTH day of Christmas I am sharing with you my SIMPLE Christmas book project. Yes, I am giving you all a little K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple sweeties!) This is such a simple holiday decor idea for your bookshelf. You just take some old books (like the Readers Digest Condensed) that you find at a thrift store...cover the bindings...tie them together with some ribbon and burlap...add a doily...and a holiday word or phrase...and a little holiday floral piece. You can adapt this to any holiday or occasion. I saw something similar to this in a baby nursery with the baby's name spelled out on the spine of the books. For some more inspiration go on over to City Crafter Challenge Blog and check out the fabulousness from our Guest Designer, Sylvia, and all our DT! Not only is Sylvia our GD this week...she is also our FABULOUS SPONSOR! Thank you Sylvia for providing the GORGEOUS prize package. Check it out!! We need to check out our day SIX winner....it is......Izzyb!! Izzy send me your address at cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com and I will send you out your prize! Hope you are enjoying some SIMPLE pleasures today! HUGS, Cheryl

Merry and Bright Christmas Wreath AND 12 Days of Chrismas Give Away!!!

Hi All!! Hope you all had a FABULOUS weekend...sorry I had to take a little break, but am back today continuing the 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!! It is day SIX of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! Soooooo...on the SIXTH day of Christmas I will show to you my merry and bright Christmas wreath that I made out of some fun Christmas ornaments! The tutorial I found for it used a foam wreath as the base, but the foam wreaths that I found were too expensive so I just used a wire based one...much more inexpensive. You just start gluing the ornaments to the inner part of the base and then the outer part of the base and then just start filling in. It was fun! I needed to make a wreath because somehow all my Christmas wreaths got thrown away. Waaah! Oh well...it was kind of nice to have an excuse to make something new. Now for the WINNER of day FIVE.....Kelly Massman!! Kelly send your address to cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com and I will send you out your prize! Hope you ALL are having a very MERRY and BRIGHT day! HUGS, Cheryl

Christmas Past AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!

Hi All!! It is day FIVE of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! On the 5th Day of Christmas I present to you...our old fashioned Christmas Past. This hearth represents some of our old Christmas pasts that will always be our Christmas future and Christmas present. Now you know I LOVE to create and craft and you would think that I would handcraft all our Christmas stockings...but NO...my children REFUSE to let me! They are sooooo ATTACHED to these old dollar store stockings that I purchased when money was lean and time was even leaner and I didn't have the means to create them back then. Any mention of replacing these stockings and I have an immediate uprising on my hands. Soooooo the old stockings it will be and I am happy for it! Memories are such a wonderful part of Christmas. The dolls are all dolls my girls received at Christmas time. The LOVED receiving a new doll every year, but they have no room for them and I don't either...but at Christmas these sweet little ladies can come out and be a part of the Christmas magic again. I've had the bears and Santas for years and they just help create the wonderful feel of an old fashioned Christmas. Hope your day is filled with memories of magical Christmas' past! HUGS, Cheryl
And the winner for day FOUR is...................Tanya!!!! My email is cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com Send me your address for your prize!!

O Christmas Tree AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!

Hi All!! It is day FOUR of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! On the FOURTH DAY of CHRISTMAS I will show to you...our Christmas tree (did you notice the skirt...haha!). It is sooooooo much more than just any old tree to me...in so many ways it is a memory tree.

With EVERY ornament that is on the tree come a flood of memories. I add something new every year and it becomes part of the memory for the next. It is so very special. It celebrates the birth of our Savior, it contains handmade treasures from friends and family, it is whimsical and magical and it just plain makes me feel WONDERFUL and SMILE each time I look at. At the end of every evening before I go to bed I LOVE to turn off all the other lights, grab a cup of cocoa and bask in its glow. Hope you are feeling the glow of Christmas in your life today!! HUGS, Cheryl
And the winner for day THREE is...................Linda R.!!!! My email is cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com Send me your address for your prize!!

Gifts from the Kitchen AND 3rd Day Of Christmas Give Away

Hi All!! It is day THREE of our 12 Days of Christmas Give Away! Each day I will give away a small prize (6x6 paper pack, or embellishment pack...etc.)to someone who has left a comment. That is all you have to do...leave a comment and your name goes in the drawing for a little goodie! Each day I will feature on my blog something that is a part of my Christmas. Just want to spread some Christmas cheer! Soooo...On the third day of Christmas I present to you...Gifts from the Kitchen! YUM! I have to say I LOOOOVE FOOD! I LOVE the taste, the smell, the process of cooking...yep, I love it ALL! I LOVE receiving food as gifts and I LOVE making food gifts, as well. I've always given sweet treats before. This year I happened to have a BOUNTY of tomatoes just ready to turn ripe when BAM...the FREEZE hits! I have to pick all those tomatoes green. What is a girl to do?! Well...make green tomato salsa...green tomato relish...and green tomato jam with ginger and vanilla. They all turned out so YUMMY, sooooo I will be giving some of them away as neighbor gifts. The jam sounds a little weird, but it is SCRUMPTIOUS! You have a cracker spread with cream cheese and then top it with that jam and you taste really ginger and vanilla...the tomatoes don't have any taste really...just kind of a vehicle for the rest. You can go HERE, HERE and HERE to find the recipes.
**The winner for day TWO is..................CHRISTINA! My email is cheryljunegirl@hotmail.com so if you will send me your address Christina I will send out your prize. Hope you are enjoying the TASTES of Christmas today! Hugs, Cheryl

Home For the Holidays *CCCB* 2cd Day Of Christmas Give Away

Hi all! I'm back as this week's hostess of City Crafter Challenge Blog. We are going HOME for the HOLIDAYS this week! Is there anything better than being HOME at holiday time?!...and my definition of HOME is being with those you LOVE wherever that may be! So that is our theme and the challenge is to create a project that is EITHER a Holiday Home Decor project (any holiday) OR a project that includes a HOME on it! I can't wait to see ALL your FAB creations!!! So on the 2cd day of Christmas I present to you my home made table runner! I just loved, loved, LOVED making this table runner. I am NOT a seamstress by any stretch of the word and any seamstress looking at this could tell you that, BUT with that said...I am still so proud that I was able to pull this off at all...and just LOVE it! I found out how to make it HERE. Now that I know the basic idea behind it...the possibilities are endless...maybe with hearts for Valentines...eggs for Easter...stars for 4th of July...etc.

For more inspiration for this week's challenge go on over to City Crafter Challenge Blog to see what our Guest Designer, Rebekah, made and all of the work of out DT! We have a wonderful prize for out winner this week from our SWEET and GENEROUS sponsor Stella Schenkel! Thank you Stella! Speaking of winners...let me announce our winner of Day 1 of my give away...................Sylvia!!! Sylvia could you please send me your address so I can get your prize out to you! *Remember for all 12 days of the give away to be eligible for a prize all you have to do is leave a comment! Hope you are feeling the LOVE of HOME wherever you may be today! HUGS, Cheryl

Christmas Tree Skirt AND 12 Days of Christmas Give Away!!

Hi all! Do you want to celebrate Christmas with me?! Come party with me for the next 12 days. It is easy to play along. Just leave a comment on my blog and I will pick a winner every day for the next 12 days. The prizes will be small, but it is just my way of spreading a little Christmas cheer and thank you all for sharing your kindness with me. I will try to include some crafty Christmas items with you each day...but if not, I will still be doing a give away post so check in every day! On this first day of Christmas I share with you my Christmas tree skirt. I made this over the weekend and had sooooo much fun doing it. I had an old plastic one (that I'm pretty sure I've never used and not quite sure why I had it) that I used for a pattern. I had a red sheet that I wasn't using that I used for the base. I had an old white sheet that I used for the bottom ruffle. I cut 2 10 inch strips lengthwise from the sheet and folded them in half to create a 5 inch ruffle. I ironed them in place and then ran a basting stitch along the top and gathered to form ruffle. I stitched them onto the red base. I then used 1 yd. of the red and white striped fabric and the green and white polka dot fabric. Both were 30 inch wide and I cut 6 5 inch strips of each of them. Folded them in half to create 2 /12 inch ruffles. I just gathered them with my fingers and hot glued them in place. I then used red ruffled binding for the next layer hot gluing that in place...followed by the large rick rack. I added the flowers I created from the white sheet and the green and white polka dot bow for some final touches. I really love the way it turned out. I'm sorry I didn't make a photo tutorial for it, but I was just winging this and creating as I went and didn't stop and take photos. I hope my explanation gives you a decent idea of how I made it. If you have any questions let me know. Have a FAB day!!! Enjoy the season! HUGS, Cheryl

"SOUP"ER Saturday!!

Hi ALL! Welcome to my SOUP-er Saturday! Now, I hate to admit it, but I am not a real fan of cold weather. I AM FOND of SOUP, however, and even though I don't love the cold weather I am grateful for it because it means it is SOUP SEASON!! YUMMM!!! I LOVE brothy soups, and creamy soups...all hot and delicious and making me feel all cozy and warm inside. I have a MULTIPLICITY of soup recipes and really like trying out new ones. Here is a new one I discovered. I adapted it from allrecipes.com to suit my specific tastes. So I thought I would share my version of it with you:

Cheese Tortellini and Sausage Soup

Ingred.
1 lb. of Italian Sausage (mine was sweet stuffed with cheese and peppers)
1 c. onions chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
5 1/2 c beef broth
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 c sliced carrots
2 T fresh basil chopped
1/2 t dried oregano
1 1/2 c tomato juice
1 T tomato paste
1 c sliced squash (either zucchini or yellow...I had yellow so that is what I used)
1 can cut green beans (drained)
1 package frozen cheese tortellini
2 c fresh spinach
Parmesan cheese for garnish if desired
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
In large stock pot cook sausage according to package directions. Remove sausage from pan and halve lengthwise and then cut into bite size pieces. Saute onions and garlic in sausage drippings until onions have wilted. Add beef stock and stir bottom of pan to get all the yummy brown bits from sausage. Add diced tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato juice and tomato paste (I stir the tomato paste into the juice to incorporate it before adding). Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 30 min. Skim fat from soup. (easy way to do this is add some ice cubes...the fat will cling to the ice...scoop out the ice cubes and you scoop out the fat, too) Add sliced squash and green beans. Simmer another 20 min. or until squash is tender. Bring back to a boil and add spinach and tortelli. Turn down heat and simmer 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with parmesan cheese if desired.

This is soooooo YUMMY!! Hope you enjoy it!! It is great served with crusty bread or garlic bread. Hope your soul is full of warmth today! HUGS, Cheryl

Let the Countdown Begin!!!

I just LOVE Christmas!! I LOVE the MERRINESS...I LOVE the BRIGHTNESS...and I especially LOVE the feelings of GOOD WILL that it brings...and the CELEBRATION of the BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOR! Today I start counting down the days and I think the countdown...those days that lead up to the actually day are what make the whole season so AMAZING! A few weeks ago for City Crafter Challenge Blog I made a little box that inspired me to make 24 more little boxes and use them as an advent calendar for my son who is serving as a missionary for our church. I finally got all the boxes made...scriptures and candy tucked inside...and the boxes all decorated. He should receive his package with them today so he can start counting down until Christmas. One thing that I am counting down to is the Christmas phone call where our family can talk to him. We only get two phone calls a year...one at Mother's day and one at Christmas so it is a REALLY BIG DEAL! I'm so EXCITED! At any rate, I thought you might like to see the finished product of all the boxes. So here it is:

*We can start counting down the days until a blog give away, too! Next week I will announce a little blog give away I will be having...so stay tuned!! HUGS, Cheryl