Happy New Year!!

Well I had a busy day of getting my house back in order. And it wasn't as simple as just taking down the tree ~~ there was a whole slew of other decor, gifts to be put away, putting furniture back, cleaning where the tree was, & of course laundry, because I'm *always* doing laundry when I'm home!!

Now I'm exhausted, & am so glad we are boring people with no New Years plans. I'm looking forward to a night of hanging out with my boys, playing games, eating popcorn & waiting for the ball to drop. Any bets on who will fall asleep first? Yep, my boys will still be going at midnight & beyond, like little Energizer bunnies, & I'll be snoozing in the chair! LOL!!

I hope you all have a SAFE & happy New Year! See you in 2009 :)

Hanglar fun

You can tell Christmas is over, because I have time to play again! My friend Nikki had sent me a bunch of adorable Hanglar images a few weeks before Christmas, & I'm happy to find some time to play with some of them. I adore these images, & I'm sure some day soon we'll be able to buy them here in the US!


I colored this lovely gal with Prismas & gamsol & cut her out. I used my Nesties for the olive & white layers, & the white background is embossed with my Cuttlebug snowflake folder. The designer paper is from Basic Grey Mellow, which I happily got at Michael's for 40% off. I'm so thrilled they're carrying at least a few of these fun pads! The sentiment is from Hero Arts, & the snowflake charm is from a stash I scored on Ebay. The Primas in the corner have a bit of raffia attached. Notice the Dew Drops in the corners?? Those were not planned, until I went & did some zig zag stitching & guess what ~~ all 4 corners turned out differently!! LOL!! I hate that, I like everything to match & to be uniform. I'm sure there's some secret formula out there to get perfect corners, but until I figure it out I will be adding a lot of brads/Dew Drops/other bling to my corners! I'm just happy the zig zags turned out straight!! This is the first card I've tried stitching that way & am surprised it turned out okay!!

Speaking of sewing, I bought the Sew Mini the day after Thanksgiving. Hancock had them for $39.99, & they only had one left. It was fate. But I also had my friend's machine, so it sat in the box. Well, tired of lugging around her 1000 pound Kenmore, I finally packed that one up & opened up the box to the Sew Mini. I was shocked when I took it out, how light it is!! This is going to be so much nicer! It's half the size & about 1/100 of the weight! I haven't set it up yet, but I'm anxious to try it out!! That will be my project tonight, after everyone is in bed & can't hear me swearing, lol!!! Seriously, it does look pretty easy & Gina K wrote a great tutorial with lots of pictures on how to set it up & use it, for us non-sewing types. Wish me luck!!

A balmy Saturday

Crazy Wisconsin weather ~~ can you believe after all the snow & freezing temps we've had the last few weeks ~~ it is now 52 degrees?!?!??? And it's only 9 in the morning!! It's not supposed to get *much* warmer ~~ I think 55 is the high for today ~~ but how unreal is that? So NOW I can see patches of grass in our yard. Believe me, if we had no more snow for the rest of the winter I'd be fine with that!

Well, I finally had time to make a Christmas card!!!! What??? You mean Christmas is over?? Drat!!! Well, I guess I'm getting a jump on next year's cards!!


There were just so many Christmas stamps I didn't even get to use, including this cutie from High Hopes, Santa's Helper. I've always loved this stamp & finally ordered it from Tina. I didn't have time to use him before Xmas, so here he is now!! He's colored with Prismas & gamsol & has Stickles on his hat. Used lots of Basic Grey Wassail & SU's Cranberry Crisp, & my Nesties for the layers. The white layer behind the BG is Bazzill Bling, & I also punched a flower from that & sponged the edges with CC. The glass of milk is embossed with clear EP, I couldn't quite capture that in the photo. Added a Prima & a sparkly snowflake in the center, some pseudo Dew Drops & I was done ~~ my first Christmas card for 2009 :)



I also made a Hanglar card last night that I will share tomorrow. Yep, I made 2 cards IN ONE DAY!!! See how much I get done when hubby goes fishing? LOL!! Today I'm taking Matthew bowling with the Cub Scouts, then on to basketball. Grocery shopping on the way home, & oh how I hope I can scrounge up some leftovers because by that time I'll be too tired to cook!! Have a great Saturday, I know it will be nice for us not to have to put on layers of clothes before heading out today!!!!

Ahhhh....it's over....

Good Friday afternoon ~~ have you recovered yet?? Isn't it funny how the kids look forward to Christmas, but the parents look forward to AFTER Christmas? LOL!! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday. We spent both Xmas Eve & Xmas Day at my mom's. Xmas Eve it was just us, & yesterday a few extended family members joined us. Relaxing for me, since my mom was kind enough to host both days. The hardest part was getting there!! The snow has finally stopped & the temps are climbing ~~ so all that snow we got will be turning into small lakes soon :(

I still haven't gotten to create anything new, so I thought I would share some of the amazing Christmas cards I was lucky enough to receive! Here they are, in no particular order:

This one is from Inge, my High Hopes design team co-Diva. I won a couple of Magnolia stamps on her blog & she was kind enough to include this adorable card!!

This one is from Tammi, & is so adorable. It has a pocket on the inside (guess I should have taken a picture of that) in which she put some fun Rachelle Anne Miller images (which I also should have included in the photo)!

This amazing card is from Crissy, artist for High Hopes. Who doesn't know Crissy & her fabulous work?! She's amazingly talented, & one of the sweetest people I know!!

This one is from my good friend Dawn. VERY sparkly ~~ tons of red glitter, which I see now I didn't clean off of the card before I took the picture ~~ but such an adorable card. I believe her daughter drew the picture, then Dawn finished it off. Very unique!

This one is from Cheryl, who also sent along some snowflake punchies. I'm so glad she started a blog recently, she is sooooo UBER talented & I love seeing her work close up!

This adorable card is from Tori, whom I met on SCS but we've become great blog friends. She's my "how does she do it?" friend. She has 3 young kids & works full time, but still finds time to create & update her blog almost daily. You amaze me, Tori!

Last but certainly not least is this ADORABLE creation from Ila, another co-Diva. She is the coloring QUEEN & I'm always excited to receive one of her works of art. As you can see, she also sent me some Magnolia images. She's the best!

Thank you thank you thank you to ALL of you, for thinking of me this Christmas season. All of these ladies have so much talent, I'm honored to be friends with them (click on their names so you can visit their blog or SCS gallery!!). Hopefully I can get a little time today to make something fun. My boys are busy playing with all of their presents, & hubby is ice fishing with a friend. So in between loads of laundry I hope to do me some stamping!!!! Have a great weekend!!

What a surprise!!!!

MORE SNOW!!!!!

***sigh***

I feel terrible for all the people trying to travel today, whether by train, plane, or car. We only have to go about 5 miles to get to my mom's ~~ & I'm not sure we're going to make it!! Our subdivision is very hilly, so getting in & out of it in weather like this can be tricky.

Here's an ice dam waiting to happen!!!

I know, these pictures look the same as the last ones I posted. But look closely, you can see things like our birdfeeder & solar lights becoming less & less visible!


Have you seen this????

Santa Tracker

So cute, it's a great way to keep tabs on that man in the red suit!!!!


So with that, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!! Have fun & PLEASE stay safe!!!!

Oh good. More snow.

Our official snow total for Friday when all was said & done was 13". Except Mother Nature *wasn't* done ~~ she dumped 4 more inches on us last night!! I am so glad we don't travel for Christmas. I feel so badly for those trying to get out of Wisconsin!! The farthest I have to go is my mom's house ~~ 5 minutes away :)


I am trying to get gifts done for the school staff. Here is a jar of chocolate goodness I made for the ladies I work with. I know I'm not a *real* employee ~~ I'm still just a sub, regardless of how long I've been there & will be there. But they all have been so incredibly nice to me, & so helpful. Not one of them has treated me as "just a sub". They include me in everything. They have a secret stash ~~ ok, not so secret ~~ of chocolate in the teacher's cabinet, so I wanted to add to that stash. I bought a HUGE jar at Michael's, & a HUGE bag of chocolate (Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Twix, Hershey kisses....mmm....) & filled 'er up.


The jar is so huge, I couldn't even fit a 12"x12" piece of paper around it, so I angled it. The paper is from the DCWV Christmas glitter stack from last year. You can see where it comes to a point in the front, so I had to cover that up with something adorable. Nothing more adorable than Santa Snowman from Whipper Snapper (BTW, did you see their new website?? Looks awesome!! And now you can order their stamps wood mounted, cling mounted, or unmounted!). I colored him with Prismas & gamsol, & added Dazzling Diamonds to his hat. I used Liquid Applique for the snow, & added the DD glitter to that as well. Had to make sure it sparkled!! Used my Nesties for the layers (that's Cryogen shimmer white paper on the bottom). Added some ribbon & a sparkly snowflake around the lid.


Then for the top I used a sentiment from my Papertrey Holiday Treats set. Added a small snowflake to the center, glue dotted that to a big sparkly snowflake (bought a pack of those at Michael's) & put all that on top of another Nestie cut from yet another piece of paper from the DCWV stack. I don't like how this picture turned out, the blue is more of an indigo shade rather than the bright blue this pic is showing. But you get the idea :)


I can't wait to give them this jar tomorrow ~~ my last day before Xmas vacation. They still have school Tuesday, but it's an early day so I don't have to work. Which is good, because I'm having Dominos pizza with my 4th grader. That's what they decided to do instead of a regular class party ~~ order pizza & soda & invite the parents & play music.......too much fun!!

I hope you all have a productive Sunday!! I'm off to finally do some baking!! First up are Spritz cookies, using my grandma's recipe which I posted HERE. If you haven't tried it, you should. Trust me :)

Definitely a white Christmas!

I know, I know, it's been DAYS since I updated! I'm so sorry!! This week has been a whirlwind ~~ but look what happens when Mother Nature decides it's time for everyone to slow down:


Yep, we got *walloped* with snow last night. We knew it was coming....for many days they were saying we were going to get 8-12" last night. When we got home from Cub Scouts at 8:30 last night, there was nary a flake in sight. We woke up to about 11" of snow & school closings galore, including our district. Yay!! I sooooo needed a day to catch up! The above picture is my kids helping dad clear the driveway. If you look closely (you can click on the pic for a larger view), you can see a lot of white on Michael's hat (the one in the foreground). That's because he throws the snow up in the air instead of to the side, lol. It might take dad a bit longer than usual to clear that driveway!




Just for perception, I took a whole bunch of pictures ~~ here is my little flagpole ~~ looks a lot littler since half of it is buried in snow!




Here is my front walkway, lol!!




Here's our swingset ~~~ the snow on the trees DOES look beautiful. But can you see the bluebird house?? It looks about 2 feet tall!!




Here's my deck ~~ the box is my planter. I should have put a ruler in it before I took this picture.


Yeah, all the pictures kind of look the same ~~~ white! LOL!! I'm dedicating this to all of you living in the south. Just look what you are missing out on!!

I also wanted to tell you about the job situation. I told you I was torn between a steady, almost FT job at the school district office, & staying on as a sub. Well I decided to stay on as a sub. The other job was just too many hours, & wouldn't have allowed me to volunteer at all. I love helping out, & Michael's only going to be in kindergarten once (I hope!). It's important to me to be as involved as I can. Well, as it turns out, one of the special needs aides at their school ~~ whom I had worked for a lot recently due to her & both her kids being sick ~~ is taking a family leave of 8 weeks. Her little 3 yr old daughter broke her leg last weekend, & will be in a full cast for 8 weeks. I'm so sad for her, especially this time of year ~ what a Christmas for her :( But it's good for me because they asked me to be her sub! So I will be working steady hours (which means a steady paycheck!!) until February 9th. I am going to get licensed & get some medical training so I can work with *all* of the kids (there are some with medical needs that as an unlicensed sub I can't be with). The best part is, it's in the afternoon, so I can still help out in the mornings. So I'm excited. I feel guilty for being excited, but unfortunately that's the life of a sub. I get to work when others are sick or hurt.

Along with that comes the "how am I going to get everything done?". Which brings me back to the snow day today. All week I've been trying to finish up my Xmas shopping in the morning, & be at school in time to eat lunch then go to work. So everything I bought is just thrown into my closet. Today is a day of wrapping, cleaning (my house has been very neglected), laundry (dirty clothes have been even MORE neglected), baking & gosh, maybe even some stamping!! I'm battling a killer headache today, hopefully it will go away soon. But I've still got the weekend so hopefully I will get everything done I need to!!!

To all of you in the midwest ~~ stay warm & dry, & take caution when shoveling this heavy stuff!! Have a great weekend!!

Give me strength....

...to get everything done that I need to! Argh!! Is Christmas really only 11 days away?? I swear I was *just* buying school supplies for my kids!! It was hot! We were wearing shorts! **sigh** whoever said "Time flies when you're having fun" lied ~~ it's more like "Time flies once you've reached middle age"!

Well, I did get a bit of time the other night to make this Christmas card:


This adorable skunk is named Tink & he's available HERE on the High Hopes site. I colored him with my usual Prismas & gamsol, added glitter to his hat & finished it with a sparkly poinsettia Prima in the corner. The papers are all from the Basic Grey Wassail pack (got LOTS of use out of that this season!!) & the layout is an older SCS sketch challenge. Not sure why I added the Dew Drops ~~ you can barely see them ~~ but that space needed something & nothing else was working for me!


I am definitely ready to move on from making Christmas cards. Although there are still many wonderful stamps I haven't had the time to use! Maybe I'll start my Christmas cards for next year in a few weeks, that way I'll be ahead & I'll get to use my uninked rubber!!

I received this wonderful award from Annie this weekend! Annie, thank you so much, I am honored!! You must go check out her blog, Ink N Rubba. I believe I am supposed to list 5 things I'm addicted to, then list 5 of my favorite blogs. I am going to need a few days for that, lol. I will post those sometime this week. Thanks for being patient with me!!


I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday. We are off to do some grocery shopping, which I'm not looking forward to since it IS Sunday, right before Christmas, the weather is yucky ~~ warmer, but gray & windy. I have so much to do I could cry. I only have half my shopping done. I still haven't baked even one batch of cookies. Our plans for Christmas are still up in the air so I could be having it here, or I may not be having it here. I'm pretty sure Christmas is on December 25th each year, so why am I never ready?

One more thing, I'm having a very hard time making a decision regarding a job. Yes, I do have a job subbing in the school district. The other job is also in the school district, at the main office. A LOT more hours ~~~ which is good & bad. MUCH better pay ~~ which of course is good. But a lot less freedom ~~ am I ready to give that up? Give up all my volunteering at the school?? Give up my free time (which I *will* have back once hubby goes back to work)?? A steady, bigger paycheck would be nice, especially in these economic times. But Michael is still only in kindergarten ~~ am I ready to work all day every day?? I'm not asking for an answer ~~~ I'm the only one that can figure that out. But please keep us in your thoughts & prayers as I try to make this huge decision that will not only affect me, but my kids as well!!! Thanks for your support & friendship!!

I'm such a cheater!

Yep, that's right, I have resorted to cheating. I am so behind on....well, *everything*, that I'm starting to cut corners. Does this Santa look familiar?? Maybe the papers? The layout? Well, that's because you've seen it before. I created a gift bag with this exact image HERE. I had made that bag for one of the High Hopes challenges, intending to use it for my son's teacher's gift. But.....I've decided to go another way with her gift. Which is good, because it meant I could steal the whole panel & plop it on a card. Yay!! Another card done. Gee, I hope the recipient doesn't mind a recycled card!!


All I added was a green layer (which is from the DCWV Christmas stack) & some red brads. Voila ~~ easiest card I ever made, lol! Even the inside is simple ~~ just a green layer & a white layer. I'm getting lazy!

The truth is, I've been working a LOT. Now, I'm not working anywhere near 40 hours, which is what a lot of you do. And I've said it before ~~ kudos to you!! But it's been hard working the hours I AM working, plus I volunteer in my son's class & the library at least once a week, plus trying to get Xmas shopping done, Xmas cards done, haven't even started baking yet, all the kid-related Xmas activities (Cub Scout Xmas party, Xmas concert, etc) plus my older son starts basketball this Saturday. It's been crazy. And with my sleep issues I just cannot stay up past 10:30. (Good news though ~ my sleep study is scheduled for January 2nd!!). And remember that my hubby has been home now for 5 weeks!! 5 looooonnnnngggggg weeks. He follows me around the house, complaining how bored he is. But if I ask him to do something like say......fold the laundry......he's suddenly too tired & goes to the couch & watches tv for the next 5 hours. **sigh**

So I've been running around like a chicken. Perhaps I should take a cue from my cat & relax a bit:


Clearly HE'S not worried if the Xmas shopping doesn't get done!! Here's a picture of both of them, hanging out together, probably talking about what a FREAK their momma is for running around so much. They're looking at me as if they're saying "Ma!! Sit!! Take a load off!!"

Did you ever see the movie ET ~~~ where ET is hiding in with all the stuffed animals so the mom doesn't see him?? That's what this picture reminds me of! They are under the kids tree in these pictures, surrounded by all of their plush friends, lol!

Last but not least, I received an award!!! Becky was kind enough to pass this award on to me the other day. She's so sweet, & has a great blog herself! Go check it out at Confessions of a 20-something Scrapbooking Mother. I think I'm supposed to pass this award on......if I have time later I will post some of my new favorite blogs that I haven't added to my blogroll yet. Thanks, Becky!!


Today it is quiet. Believe it or not, my hubby went up north to go ice fishing with his dad for a few days. Thank goodness. He's supposed to be home Sunday. I told him "What's the rush?" Subtle, no??? LOL!! Hey, I'd rather he be doing something he enjoys, like ice fishing, than sitting here watching tv all day. And he hasn't seen his dad all year, so this little trip is good for BOTH of us! With all the quiet, I'm hoping to get some cards made. I'm opening an Etsy shop so I want to work on that, plus I have GOT to get some High Hopes stuff done or I'll be fired!! LOL ~~ just kidding!! The HH team is the absolute best to be on ~~ no pressure at all & their motto is "family first".

OK, enough rambling from me ~~ if you've made it this far, I *heart* you!! I will be back later, hopefully with some brand-new, never before seen stuff. No more cheating!!

***UPDATE*** I got my Etsy shop up & running. There's not much in it right now, I just put some older, more simple cards in there for right now. I'd like to have a variety, from simple to elaborate. Just wanted to see how involved it is to list ~~ took me just minutes!! The link is in my sidebar :)

***ANOTHER UPDATE*** I just got a message on my voice mail from the sleep clinic. After reviewing the answers to the questions they asked, the dr decided I didn't meet the criteria for a sleep study! Um...what?? So waking every hour during the night is normal? Feeling drowsy from the minute I wake up until I go to bed is normal? What's frustrating is, I found the "test" they give on a medical website ~~ & what score I would have needed to qualify. I needed to score a 10, & I scored a 9. If only I'd found that test online sooner. A day late & a dollar short, as usual. **sigh**

Make A Wish card auction.....

As I mentioned a few days ago, I recently donated a card to be used in a charity auction. I was asked a couple of months ago if I wanted to be a part of an Ebay auction some sellers were putting together to benefit the Make A Wish foundation. How could I say no? So I sent THIS card to my friend Faith, who was in charge of putting the auction together. Tonight, the auction is listed. Click HERE to check it out. I know many of you who read this blog are stampers, & probably wouldn't want to buy other people's cards. But tell all your friends!! Your family!! Your co-workers!! These cards are made by some of the most talented cardmakers I know. And me. LOL. It will run for 10 days, during which I will be listing other cards as well. I have 2 listed now, & will be listing more over the next couple of days. HERE ARE MY AUCTIONS. I have decided to donate whatever I make from my cards as well. Last year I donated all of my Ebay earnings from Thanksgiving until Christmas to the American Cancer Society. I want to do it again this year. I couldn't decide if I wanted to donate to the Cancer Society again, or the Humane Society. Both organizations are close to my heart, so I have decided to split it between the two. I wish I could come up with a way to put something here on my blog, in case you want to donate as well, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. So I'm asking you to please consider donating to one of these charities, or your own favorite charity.

So anyway, please check out the Make A Wish auction HERE. I want to give many kudos to Faith, who spent many hours putting this together. She has a huge heart & I thank her. There will be a couple more auctions listed in the next few days, another for Make A Wish, & a couple for Canine Companions for Independence.

I am keeping this post at the top for the course of the auction (which is why the date says December 9th, lol). Please scroll down for newer posts. Thanks so much!!

Winter storm warning...

We are under a winter storm warning. How shocking. They're not sure what's coming. 18" of snow......or 2" of snow. If you're closer to the lake, maybe just rain. Or if the temps drop slightly, ice. Whatever. I'm already sick of winter. LOL!

But I do like making winter cards!! Take a lookie at the cute Whipper Snapper penguin my friend Tammi sent me!! She also sent me some cute snowmen that I can't WAIT to ink up!!



Yep, this is Christmas card #4!!! I colored the penguin with Prismas & gamsol, & used Diamond Dust on the penguin's hat, the snow, & the punched snowflake. The papers are Basic Grey Two Scoops, & DCWV Christmas stack. The darker is actually more burgundy than the picture shows. I am once again trying to take pictures at night, in my dark rec room, with just an Ott Light. Not working so well. Anyway, believe it or not I stitched AGAIN, added some very wide organdy ribbon, & finished it off with a snowflake charm attached with some silver cord. I think I spent about an hour on this card, which may just be a record for me!! I might get my Christmas cards done yet! It's a good thing I don't have a lot of friends :)

Have a great night, & for those of you in the midwest, stay safe!!! This is supposed to be a HUGE storm covering many states so stay home tomorrow & make it a pj & hot cocoa day!!!

High Hopes Challenge #11

Hello all & Happy Sunday!! I just wanted to post quickly to let you know I *am* still alive!! I've been UBER busy this week, plus the last couple of days I'm been feeling so sluggish. I don't think I'm sick ~~ just feeling "blechy". I'm sure it's related to my sleep issues. I did call the hospital the other day to talk to somebody about getting a sleep study done. My dr faxed the papers over the day after Thanksgiving. After not hearing anything all week, I thought I'd give them a call. Well I had to leave a message, & nobody called me back. Good thing it's not an emergency! I'll have to try again tomorrow. Don't they know how important this is to me? LOL

So.....due to lack of time, energy, AND mojo....don't know where my creativity went.....I did not make a card for the High Hopes challenge this week. But I still wanted to let you know what it is! This week we ask that you use flowers on your card or project. You can use flower punches, Prima flowers, floral paper....anything with a flower!! Easy peasy, right? Easy......yet, I don't have a card! LOL! Hope you all do better than I & get something made & uploaded to the comments section of THIS POST ON THE HIGH HOPES BLOG! You need to visit the blog anyway, to see all the wonderful creations my fellow Divas (who are more with it than I am) came up with!! This will be the last challenge of the year, but we will resume in January!!

We are in for quite the storm this week. It's supposed to start tomorrow, & snow all through Tuesday. Some parts of Wisconsin could get up to 18"!!!! And of course our snowblower won't start, & our shovel is broken. **sigh**

Simplify.....yeah, right!

I'm supposed to be simplifying for the process of making cards for my friends for Xmas. I won't even share with you how long this card took me.


LOVE LOVE LOVE the image!!!! It's from last year's Christmas release from High Hopes & it's called Penguin Family Fun. I had mentioned to Crissy last year that I love penguins, & that I bet she could make some uber cute ones. Well just lookie what she came up with!!! This one, & Package Packin' Penguin....BOTH are adorable!! I didn't get a chance to use either of them last year, because well, I took a bit of a sabbatical from the design team during the holidays last year. It was only a month or two, but by the time I returned Christmas was over. Lucky for me Tina is generous, & just sent this cute little family to me a few weeks ago!!

So back to the problematic card. I won't bore you with the details, let's just say it took wayyyyy longer than it should have!! I finally ended up stamping the image onto watercolor paper & embossing it with Iridescent Ice. Colored it with my SU markers & waterbrush (yes, I used my waterbrush!!). Added some Liquid Applique & Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the bottom for some snow. I've been DYING to use my new Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet paper.......I was just having a hard time incorporating it into a Christmas card. I had to tell myself that it's ok to use something other than red & green......something other than my Basic Grey Wassail or Figgy.....so I settled on a piece from my Two Scoops pad. A little obsessed with Basic Grey? Nah!! I embossed a piece of the PTI Berry with my Cuttlebug snowflakes folder, added some corners & some rhinestones & called it done. Here we have my 3rd Christmas card!! I'm on a roll now!! And NO I'm not making another one like this one!! LOL!!


I tried to get a photo of the inside, but all my pictures were blurry. Turns out my camera also doesn't like Berry Sorbet. My camera has bad taste. I really had to futz with the above photo, I hope it looks ok. I never know if I'm going to be home during daylight hours so I've been trying to experiment with taking pictures using my Ott Lite. Have I mentioned I would love a photo box?? Maybe Santa will bring me one.......

*****EDITED****** I was able to take more pictures today in the daylight, so I replaced the one of the entire card, plus added a close up of the adorable penguin image!