Today I’m blogging from the passagenger seat of our truck and we just passed through Paducah, Kentucky, about the half-way point in our trip from Minnesota to Florida. So far the roads have been clear although we did see lots of cars in the ditch in Iowa as we came through. It’s a balmy 30 degrees outside with some snow on the ground here but no 4′ drifts like at home.

This morning while having breakfast in the hotel we spoke to a family that was heading to Disney World on a Make A Wish trip. I told the young lady that I was honored to meet her and that she was th

e first Make A Wish recipient that I had actually met! They were supposed to have flown there but because of all the cancellations at the airport, their plans got changed and Make A Wish rented them a van instead. They seemed to be cheerfully making the best of the change in plans.

I do have a few cards made to share but I think that today I will a gift that I gave to my grandkids. Last year while in a Florida State Park gift shop, I saw some sand dollars for sale and thought that I could do some craft with them and give them to the kids. Sand dollars are so pretty and have always fascinated me. I told the kids that they reminded me of them, all the same but each unique, special and different. I glued a piece of Bakers Twine to the back and used a sharpie marker to write the child’s name and the year on the back. I wasn’t sure if the kids would like them or think they were lame, but they all seems to think they were pretty cool.

I always like to purchase the boxes that Stampin’ Up! sells and keep them on hand. I’m not a great pre-plannner, lol. These were some cool pizza boxes from a few years ago. Luckily, I had enough left for the 7 ornaments. A little crinkle paper inside, grandson Zen told me he loved the crinkle paper, and some scraps of the Santa Express and Sweetest Christmas Designer Series Paper and the boxes looked pretty festive.

The pretty ‘seal’ stamp and little banners cut in half from a recent Paper Pumpkin kit decorated the tops. The Layering Circles Dies made quick work of cutting them out and I was able to scrounge up enough scraps of green glimmer paper to make a sparkly matte for each gift.

This year my best buddy Max is joining us. He’s been a trooper with the long ride. At first we had the box of snacks in the back seat with him, but around supper time yesterday he thought that they smelled pretty good so we did have to move those up front. He was polite enough not to rip into the packages, lol. He’s feeling pretty lucky because the cat and pup had to stay home while he got to come along.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be roosted in my Florida nest and can share some of the fun cards that I’ve been making with the items from the new Mini Catalog and Sale-a-bration catalog which start on January 5.