I believe it's official: I have fallen behind on everything and am willing to bet that I won't catch up anytime soon.

There are a couple of awards that were graciously given to me by a couple of my SBS-15 sisters, which I've yet to acknowledge. I put one up on my blog when I redid my template and completely forgot to mention it. Doh!

I received the JavaBlu award (see my left sidebar) from Lisa. Thank you, Lisa, for the award and the kind words!

I received the Proximity award (also in my left sidebar) from Emma:

"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who then must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Thank you, Emma!

My apologies to you both for not acknowledging these before now. May I use the approaching holidays as an excuse?

Both of these awards come with certain rules, of course. However you have no doubt noticed how I am about some rules: Bah, humbug! I am very appreciative about receiving these awards, however I find them difficult to pass on because I feel like I'm leaving someone's blog out - a blog that I truly like and get inspiration from and read all the time. There are many blogs that fit that description! Too many to just list a few.

Meanwhile, I played with some backgrounds the other day, attempting to recreate Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, Day 2. I call it the alcohol ink smear. I like the effect, although the camera did not pick up the colors nor the shine from the gold at all. I didn't have any metallic mixative so I used a gold leaf pen, instead. I love the way it turned out (the photo doesn't do it justice).

We decorated our tree last night, so I should have a photo soon - hopefully before New Year's!