Merry 2011 Christmas

Me and My Grandkids on Christmas Eve, Ready for Santa to come

Laura and Mariah just home from Christmas Eve Mass

The Gingerbread that Kate, Mariah and Darby
decorated for the Cookie Decorating contest
at the Marriott Resort in Orlando, on Christmas Eve.

Look Mom's - ALL CLEAN

Wishing you all a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I am feeling very Blessed this Year and Especially at Christmas. This is a time for Celebrating the Dawn of our Salvation, the Birth of Jesus. This birth of God's son has brought forth into our Lives, a wonder and awe of the Miracles that surround us every day. There were no cameras 2000+ yrs ago, only word of mouth spread the "story" that's been told over and over again of the events that day. And historians have found little actual evidence, but they surmise that Dec 25th from what the story tell of this event, was probably NOT the actual time or day of Birth of Jesus. But long ago the tradition of this day and time was set. And the stories recorded in the Bible, were written long after the event as well. I am always amazed that without "real proof" or photos etc. that the story continues to be accepted and shared with every generation of Christians around the World. I BELIEVE and ALWAYS WILL. I Feel God's PRESENCE in My Life EVERYDAY. I know that I am Saved and Am a Child of His. This Christmas 2011, was spent with Family, some of my West Coast family came "East" to share with East coasters..My niece from San Diego, CA and her family and my niece from Portland, Oregon with her daughter came to Florida to be with their Dad..it's his First Christmas living in his new home in Florida's "The Villages". My daughter and her family and I, and those visiting Florida...all met up in Orlando and spent one day at DISNEY...a Magical Kingdom for sure. We spent some time at "each" of our Resorts / Timeshares that we each had, and all the kids had fun exploring the pools and activities going on. All the 3rd cousins had a good time together, and my granddaughter and my San Diego niece's one daughter became fast friends. I know that my late sister "Pinky/Flo" and my sweet Paul - are beaming their smiles from Heaven and are so proud of their families. They are all growing up and are happy,healthy and a joy to be around.

The WOMEN, Me, Laura, Karen, Kate, Mariah, Darby, Jessie, Diane

Fire Power

My family at Disney Dec 23, 2011

Mickey and Minnie

Cool Green Waters flowing at Disney

Red, White and Green - Everywhere in the Park

Niece Karen and daughter Kate from Oregon,
Kate in her Sparkling Hat..it really glowed

The MEN, Tony & Josh, Andy and his boys Vaughn and Ian

The San Diego Crew

Darby and Mariah

Niece Diane and son-in-law Tony

Daughter Laura and grandson Joshua
The Grandparents, Me and My Brother in Law

Andy and his oldest daughter Jessie

Niece Karen, with her daughter Kate, and nephews Ian and Vaughn

The Kick Line Darby, Mariah, Laura, Josh, and Diane

Tis a SAD Day coming..PC Crafter is Closing down

at the end of December 2011, pcCrafter.com will be closing. It will be sad for so many reasons, that a once proud site that sold some of the most varied, delightful, and inexpensive Clipart sets, has come to this end. The shopping cart of the site, has been "Broken" since early October 2011. So customers were unable to buy anything or use their PC Purse Monies, or gift certificates that they might have been given in the past but had never bought anything yet. I wrote in another post back in the Spring of 2011 that although the Message Community Forums had "been" thrown off the Internet air - with no warning!!!, that the website portion selling Clipart was "STILL" up and selling Clipart.

Although the Welcome page on the site, never changed from its first Jan 2011 message, where they mentioned how they were discontinuing the HugClub, but they did hope to find new artists and offer up NEW sets in the year ahead. But NOTHING ever happened during 2011, NO NEW ART Sets were EVER RELEASED! When ever anyone emailed, or phoned, etc. they'd always get the run around....oh, they were pleasant and would listen, but rarely were things resolved. And then in October the Shopping Cart "broke", again emails and phone calls - only told us - We are working on it and are aware of the problems. I said to them, Please advise people right on your Welcome page, that the Shopping Cart is broken, don't wait for someone to go through the process of trying to buy something and then have them see a "Sorry" you can't buy anything right now - message!
Of course they never did fix the problem or mention it up front.
And then just a couple of weeks ago: this appeared on the Welcome page
I am copying and pasting the Message that people will see at least until Dec 31, 2011

Dear pcCrafter Members,

As you know, there have been some changes with pcCrafter.com over the past several months. After much deliberation and careful consideration, we have made the decision to close down pcCrafter effective December 31, 2011.

A few things for you to be aware of:

Please download and store on your home computer any content currently being hosted at pcCrafter. After 12/31/2011, content at pcCrafter.com will no longer be available.

Any credits you may have left at pcCrafter will be transferred to Cricut.com as store credit. You can apply these credits toward purchases at Cricut.com. Click here to transfer your credits.

The pcCrafter phone number will no longer be active after 12/31/2011. Please refer any questions to the following email address: support@pccrafter.com

if you are reading this prior to Dec. 31, 2011 visit http://pccrafter.com for the complete homepage message.
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Now isn't that a "Sad" way to end things - with so little warning and at a Holiday time, when most customers won't even see it. Leaving customers in the lurch, asking them to take a store "credit" for their PROVO CRAFT - Cricut line of products Store. Customers came to pccrafter.com to buy CLIP ART Sets, not Cricut products.

I hope that anyone and everyone who is wanting a complete and total refund of any/all monies that they may have in their pcPurse or on Gift Certificates- persue all avenues of complaint - Write to the Utah Better Business Bureau, to the Attorney General of Utah, to the Corporate Headquarters of Provo Craft, and even to the home town newspapers or local TV stations consumer departments of Provo Craft's hometown. Let them know that you do not consider pccrafter's business practices to be fair or ethical, to expect past customers to take a Provo Craft Cricut "Store" credit for monies the customer wanted to spend on "Clipart" and only Clipart. So demand a REFUND of all money they are holding and let you find new places online to purchase clipart. You'll see in the side bar to the right on my blog, A clipart and printables listing of some of my own favorite places to continue to purchase wonderful Clipart or Printables online. Be sure before the 31st of December 2011, to print out any/all documentation available from your "My Account" page on pccrafter, that indicates how much money you may still have in your pcPurse, and or, print out any/all communication or verification that you have any gift certificates that have not been redeemed with the amounts listed. Make copies of everything and keep originals, and attach your documents to any letters that you write to them in this matter. Please keep it simple and professional when you write and/or phone the company. You simply want your "money" back and fully refunded to you to spend as you choose.

State Attorney General office for Utah
http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/contact_us.html

Utah Better Business Bureau
http://utah.bbb.org/

Provo Craft.com Contact information
http://www.provocraft.com/help/contact.php

Their mailing address indicates they - Provo Craft's - headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah - here is a link to the online news for South Jordan Utah. http://www.topix.com/city/south-jordan-ut I didn't see any links to an online "editorial" page that you could write letters or post online about an issue having to do with a Local company (such as Provo Craft), but check it out anyway to see if this might be another venue for you to register a complaint about the business practices of Provo Craft in regards to the matters of pcCrafter's closing of their Online store selling Clipart and refunds of any monies they may be holding that is rightfully "yours".

*UPDATE TO THIS POST* on Dec 20, 2011.
Over on the Hugsister Forums, a couple of gals have mentioned that they personally wrote via this email addy: support@pccrafter.com, saying that they had Money in their pcPurse'es and wanted to purchase specific Clipart Sets instead of getting a store credit for Cricut.com. Each gal said they received a timely response back from pccrafter or kkester, and the price of the clipart sets they each requested were deducted from their pcpurse, and the "download" links were next made available to them to download from their "My Account" page and Downloads.
So if you are reading this prior to Dec 31st 2011, you may want to try that email option first before filing a complaint about the company. Good Luck to all.
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PC Crafter's staff and company, once upon a time had NO Equal on the internet, for shopping for Clipart, and communicating with them was once a joy. The community message forums, buzzed with conversations, and many many "hugsisters" became friends for life. Prayers and Laughter, and Crafting Ideas were shared every day. I and others will always remember the good ole days.

But life goes on. And thanks to Lynne a.k.a. Blondemoments - we Hugsisters have at least a new Community forum(s) to communicate and share with each other.
visit: http://z15.invisionfree.com/HugSisters/index.php
See my post from April 14, 2011 which has information about the new message forum that hugsister Lynne, created for former pccrafter.com community message forum members
http://chocolateonthekeyboard.blogspot.com/2011/04/so-sad-pccrafter-messageboard-community.html

There is going to be a LOT of confused and angry past customers when next they link on over to pccrafter.com beginning Jan 1, 2012, and be most likely be redirected to "cricut.com" or worse...see a message "site not found".

Please take a look at my listing on the side bar under the Clipart and Printables heading for shopping sites for Clipart - there are still many Wonderful artists creating and offering their art in Clipart form for us. Past pccrafter artists that still sell clipart online, include Laurie Furnell, Tammy DeYoung, Gina Jane, Joy Hall, and Shelly Comiskey. And Carolee Jones also hopes to within the next year have her own Etsy Store to sell her past pccrafter art online and new art too.

My Snowman

Snowman Digi Layout created Dec 13 2011 that I posted all this same info on Facebook, the Hugsisters forum and now my Blog - so yes if you think you've seen this before, this is DejaVu

Recently I saw on Facebook that one of my favorite artists who creates wonderful clipart and art prints, and other items, had for sale at her Etsy store - some delightful handmade Snowmen ornaments. I wrote to Karla Dornacher - asking more information about the ornaments, as they didn't come up on her stores page. She wrote back saying she only had 2 left and she hadn’t yet posted them to her store. I shared with her my story about my sweet Paul's nickname "My Snowman", and also that I had been collecting Snowmen and Snow themed ornaments for years, and my grandson Josh collects Snowmen too. She graciously with her HEART offered to let me buy "both" of these unique ornaments. After returning from my trip to California, the ornaments arrived today and I couldn't wait to hang them up, the red hat one, I placed beside the Tree shaped ornament with Paul's photo inside. His favorite part of Christmas was "our" tree every year. But I would always kid him - that the trees needed "MORE LIGHTS" - there were never enough for me ;-). So included in this layout I made - I used graphics from a clipart set by Karla Dornacher named "Pure as Snow". Which was just perfect to use.

Info/Graphics Credits
Karla Dornacher
http://www.karladornacher.com/
Blog
http://www.karladornacher.typepad.com/
Karla's post about the Snowmen ornaments
http://karladornacher.typepad.com/karlas_k...nowman-fun.html
Karla'sEtsy Shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher

Graphics Set I used: Pure as Snow available via Karla's Etsy shop

http://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher?section_id=7008653

Font I used “SP You’ve Got Mail” – No, I can’t remember where I got it sorry :-(

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I came to know of Karla, through another one of my favorite artists - Audrey Jeanne Roberts, it was through AJ's Blog that she had a link to Karla's Blog - I was amazed both with Karla's art and creations, but also her Christian writings and the ideas and thoughts she shared. When any of us is fortunate enough to be able to "know" and "dialog" with our favorite artists - it is really something Extraordinary.

I so appreciate getting to know artists like Karla, but also others such as Laurie Furnell, AJ Roberts, Carolee Jones, Tammy DeYoung, Gina Jane, and Shelly Comiskey...

I never thought when I was first buying clipart, that I would EVER have contact with the actual "Artists" - I feel Blessed by their Friendship and Humbled by their Giving Spirits.

Some of my favorite artists Blogs, or where they sell their Clipart and more

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

Audrey's Blog http://audreyjeannesblog.com/

Store on Aimee Asher http://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=25

Zazzle Shop http://www.zazzle.com/audreyjeanne

Gina Jane

Daisie Company http://www.daisiecompany.com/storefront.php

Laurie Furnell

Laurie’s Blog http://lauriefurnell.blogspot.com/

Laurie’s Etsy Shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauriefurnelldesigns

Laurie’s store on Aimee Asher http://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=67

Shelly Comiskey

Shelly’s Blog http://shellycomiskeydesigns.blogspot.com/

Shelly sells her downloadable clipart collections at Daisie Company

Tammy DeYoung

Tammy’s store on Aimee Asherhttp://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=9

Tammy at one time was the gal behind the Blog on Aimee Asher too: http://aimeeasher.com/shop/

Joy Hall sells her clipart also at Aimee Asher http://aimeeasher.com/shop/

**Carolee Jones hopes to be opening an Etsy store in the near future to sell her wonderful Clipart sets.

Carolee Jones sells her downloadable clipart at DAISIE Company, NOTE:**currently as of Sept 17, 2012, there has been a change in hosting web servers for Daisie Company and all of the Artists sets and/or printables etc. may not be available at this time. Carolee Jones is one of those artists that at the moment, her art is NOT available - so keep checking back at: Daisie Company

Her blog http://caroleejones.blogspot.com/

Note: all these gals are on Facebook too

Christmas in Sunny Florida

This is my 2nd Christmas in my house in Florida. And so far this first week into Dec...the weather has been delightful, certainly not frightful ;-) But since many of the decorations I brought from Buffalo are "Snow" themed - as I am also a Snowman Collector - my house decor consists mostly of "Snowmen" and Snowflakes, and all my lights are "White". This year I am doing just a wee bit of decorating, I'll be out of town for 10 days of Dec. so will only have 20 days worth of "enjoyment" of all the work that goes into putting things out and about. Just looking at my Tree though is still Enough for me. I've always liked decorated trees, and for my late husband Paul, our Tree each year was his Favorite part of Christmas. One year we spent most of a Dec in Florida helping my daughter move into her new home in Fla. When we got home, around Dec 20, I told him I didn't want to bother with pulling out our artificial tree and all that jazz. But he couldn't handle not having a tree up, so he took just the "top" portion of the artificial tree, put in a little stand he made, and he decorated it with white paper shapes he cut out, and made a paper chain. It was sooooooo cute. And I was happy I didn't have to get out all our stuff, and he was happy to have our own little Charlie Brown tree.

Here's some photos of my 2011 House and Tree