So it is Sunday morning here in San Diego and I am just counting my many many blessing today.  Not only do I have a perfect cup of coffee sitting in front of me, and my husband and children curled up together not far from me, we have another perfect So. Cal. day ahead of us.

While the rest of the country (including my husband’s and my extended family) are feeling the first throws of winter, or gasp, snow, we are sitting here in tee-shirts and shorts.  Actually my youngest two are sitting on the couch in bathing suits waiting for me to take them to the pool.  While I’m sure the water is a little cool, they are not to be swayed at the idea of taking a late November dip in the water.(Of course they are throwing it back in my face that I swim at least twice a week, and one of those days is always in the ocean.  I reminded them I wear a tri wetsuit and freeze my hinny off, but alas, they refuse to listen.)

However, as beautiful as the weather may be, it is sometimes a little hard to wrap your brain around all things Christmas when you know you’ll have to open the windows later so the house doesn’t get too stuffy.  (I realize anyone feeling the first throws of snow have just given me the proverbial finger and I can accept that.  I do apologize to you all shoveling your drives.)  I even tried to turn on a little xmas music this morning so I could get into the spirit while I knocked out a few cards, but my family vetoed that pretty quickly.  Oh well, tis the season to be dreaming of a white christmas I guess.  I did manage however to pull together a a couple of cards with a warm winter feel.

The first card is from Always Playing With Paper‘s The Challenge.  This week they gave us an image to respond to, and how could you not be dreaming of curling up with a cup of steaming chocolate while fluffy white flakes falling outside when this is your inspiration.  Oh, and a cookie, you have to have a cookie (or at least I do) when looking at this picture.

I dug into my stamp collection looking for a mug or something to stamp to go with the theme, but realized I don’t have a cup stamp that was as large as I wanted.  So sketched out a simple cup and saucer (the saucer was not good in the end so it did not make the final cut) and colored them in with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.  Then I found the sentiment from Riley & Company Funny Bones.  And lets all agree, tis the season to be adding a few pounds.  I sprayed Dylusions London Blue spray ink over the sentiment, hoping it looked a little like snow or winter wind.  I pieced a bunch of paper together, and added my mug of chocolate.

The next card I made this morning is from Freshly Made Sketches who always present me with a challenge.  This is the group who always wants clean and simple cards, and I don’t know why this gives me a constant hang up, but none the less, it does.  And trust me, I’ll prove my point in a second.  The sketch we were present with was a fun layered sketch.

Unfortunately I took it literally (like I do when I know things need to stay clean and simple) and crafted what in my opinion a very boring card.)  Sure there is nothing really wrong with it, except my red embossing powder  that smeared, but it just that the card is flat (and I don’t mean dimensionally).

So I dropped the branch card into my finished basket, and started over.  I knew I could do better and still stay clean.  I dropped the idea of paper piecing the boarder and went with stamps.  These images from Recollections Winter Wonderland gave me what I needed to get inspired.  And after viewing all our family’s pictures of their first snowfall of the season it felt a little snow might be in order and took off.  My snowman friend makes me feel much more excited then my original card, and certainly reflects my mood of dreaming of snow.

And as I wrapped up for this Sunday’s reflection and cards, I hope you find yourself warm and cozy where every you may be.  And if you’re dreaming of snow like this girl, I hope you find it.