Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home.
          ~ Edith Sitwell

Babies it's cold outside. Well, not so much at my house, but I hear everyone else is freezing. According to the weather map this morning, Texas and Florida are about the only states not hit by an Arctic front.

Central Texas has two seasons: hot and not hot, which is lovely when it's not a squillion degrees outside. But, gee, I grew up in Southern Indiana where the gentle hills showcased the changing landscape so beautifully. Yes, just thinking about it makes me wax poetic. Almost 30 years later, I still get woefully homesick for winter.

I don't miss defrosting door handles, static cling from winter coats, hat hair, gray slush, or taking the puppies out in the cold. Woof!

I do miss toasting my bum by the fireplace, thick wool sweaters, mittens, flannel pajamas, hot chocolate (spiced with coconut liqueur), and snow.

I made this card for our "Button Up" Recipe Swap challenge this week. After curating projects with buttons on Pinterest, I was inspired by this gorgeous card to use buttons as something other than, well, buttons. I used a cheapo paint brush to give some vintage pearl buttons a light coating of clear liquid adhesive (Stampin' Up!'s Crystal Effects) and dipped them in some Diamond Dust glitter. Then I layered them on the My Favorite Things Wonky Scallop Border to make a little snowbank. 

Sometimes I have strokes of brilliance – or, you know, I just copy genius from Pinterst.  

Here's your recipe with all the ingredients for this card.

You all button up out there and stay warm! Oh, and one sure way to keep warm is to join us at our Catered Crop Recipe Swap – the party's really heating up!

But as long as you love me so,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
    ~ lyrics by Sammy Cahn

It's day five and still counting of a stomach bug. So far 2012 has been pretty icky and just plain frustrating. But, the good news is that I'm surely making advances toward my weight loss goals. I guess that's the Yin and the Yang of it.

Yesterday I bid the couch goodbye for a few hours in an effort to just get up and keep moving. And, let's face it, stamping isn't the most strenuous exercise, especially in the Crop Crib where I have everything pretty much within reach.

To make Frosty's scarf, I colored it with some red Copic markers, covered it with adhesive and then sprinkled a mix of red flocking and glitter. Frosty's hat is made out of Kraft paper shaded with some warm gray Copic markers. He's got a little German glass glitter on the rim of his hat and along the base of the snow. I shaded Frosty with some very soft Blue/Green Copic markers to give him a twilight glow, and his cheeks are blushed with pastels. For a snowman, he's very fuzzy, twinkly and cuddly.

The sketch is from My Favorite Things, and I took some inspiration from some of the amazing designers at My Favorite Things. Always in awe of Jody Morrow's beautiful sewing, I hand stitched around the border of the two circle panels (a great couch activity). Frances Byrne's sweet little button and heart embellishment on this card inspired my felt heart embellishment.

Here are the rest of the ingredients to my snowy valentine card.

This week I've learned nurses like me make lousy patients, but my family makes wonderful nurses. It's no fun being sick, but their pampering is lovely and so much better than what the doctor ordered. Snow much love to all of them!