Can you believe it? We are at 50 degrees this morning and heading to 60 or so they say. I turned down my heat and opened a few windows!! Haven't been able to do that in so long but I am so happy to smell the fresh air in the house! Too bad the sun isn't shining and too bad that the temperature is going to take a drastic turn downward tonight and for the rest of the week. But for now I am enjoying the springy smell!!

I am doing so good with my no buying challenge. I just delete all of my emails that are showing all of the new products from CHA and I have resisted visiting my online favorite stores...okay, maybe it is a little harder then I am saying but I am actually doing very well. I am trying to hurry up and finish my 10 items though so that I can at least look at all of the new things coming out!! (Smile!!)

The cards I am showing today were made with the tiniest of scraps in my collection. I just punched out squares with my punch, inked the edges and placed them on the card. Then I used my paper piercer and punched a heart shape through the cards and the punched squares. Hand stitched with some embroidery floss and sewed a button and flower on top. I also inked the edges of the card for an aged look. Added some sticker letters (oh my I have so many of those that I never ever use!) and wallah.....a finished card. How simple and inexpensive is that?

Yesterday I made homemade sponge candy!! Yum!! I made it over Christmas and it was a big hit so I decided to make some for Valentine's Day and send some to Maddie and Grandma and Grandpa Snyder. Thought it would be a sweet surprise for them!! The candy is so easy to make and is just as good if not better than what you buy. A heck of a lot cheaper too....can't beat that!! Here is the recipe if you are interested....

1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Karo Syrup
1 Tblsp. Vinegar
1 Tblsp. Baking soda

Combine, sugar, karo syrup and vinegar into a saucepan, heat until the sugar is dissolved. Cover for 1 minute so that the steam brings the sugar crystals down off the sides. The continue cooking with the top off until the mixture reaches 300 degrees. (Hard crack stage) Remove from heat....add baking soda and stir. Then pour onto a buttered pan and let harden. Break into pieces. Then I use Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips that I melt in the microwave with a little shortening. Cover your broken pieces with the chocolate and place on wax paper until they harden. Oh My....this is awesome stuff!!

And we are all very excited today because we are going to the Sabres Hockey game tonight in Buffalo. My awesome brother Kerry has a suite at HSBC Arena and he called us this weekend to see if we would like to go....Ummmmmmm Heck Ya!! So we are heading out there later this afternoon. Max is so stinking excited...this will be his first ever NHL hockey game live. He wore his Sabres Jersey to school this morning. I have to say that it was the easiest morning yet to get him dressed because he couldn't wait to put that jersey on. Of course it will be a late night for everybody but who cares!! This is an awesome opportunity!!

And.... a couple of prayer requests: Ellie and her family are having a rough time. Things are progressing quickly...it just breaks my heart to think about what this family and what this little girl are going through. So I know that you keep them in your prayers and I don't need to remind you but the only thing they have right now is all of us storming the doors of heaven with our prayers.

Andrew Thomas: Please pray for him as well....no nothing serious and I feel funny even asking but....his shoulder is giving him a bit more trouble as the wrestling season has progressed. This kid works so hard and just has one goal at the moment....to make it to States. I am just not sure how much more his shoulder can take and I am just not sure how much I can take watching it. I keep asking him if it is worth it and he keeps answering me yes! But I can see how much it is troubling him....so if you could send a few extra prayers for him I would appreciate it!!

Thanks for stopping by and if anybody tries the recipe I would love to hear how it turned out and what you think!!