Ellie Valentine

Hello - thanks for coming by for a visit. Tis the season for Valentine cards, but I'll try to intersperse some St. Pat's Days among these. I need to do some of both holidays. So here goes with another Valentine card, using backgrounds created from playing with Gel medium, transparent paste, Lindys Magicals powder, and sprays. This one is a more traditional 'in the pink' one.

Sparkle n Sprinkle Ellie the Elephant set 553 colored with copics, die cut with a S/B classic circle. Searched, but couldn't find this available as a digi **- but it might be. I'm not an 'elephant person' per se, (more into Hedgies) - but I think Ellies are just too cute. Must be the big blue eyes!

- created background paper embossed with a hearts EF, and small hearts were made using the very smallest of the S/B Heart die set. This was done with the portion of created paper trimmed off in making the card front.

- S/B Scalloped Square die cut the black & white hearts DP.

- white snippet punched with a Fiskars hand punch, just because the shape fit the stamped sentiment which was done by an old tiny wooden block stamp.

Remembered there was a VOS sheet of dimensional heart stickers tucked away, so hunted up, and used to add a little more dimension.

This was a fun card to do. Had the image colored earlier, had made the background (fun to do) and just hunted around for bits & pieces to make a card. My usual method of making a card! Hope you like it.

Big hugs and have a wonderful afternoon. Blessings.

**Edit: A sweet blogger sent me the link for this digi: http://www.beccysplace.com/ellie-and-tippy.
Thanks  for this digi link Kitty.

Hedgie Valentine

Good evening. Hope you're all set for a fabulous weekend. It was a beautiful day here in Upstate SC, even had some warmer temps outside...just sunny & bright all day long. Then had a lovely dinner out with some friends, so now time to do a post.

Just like many others, I've lost some followers. Guess it's the Blogger Thing that is going on if people don't have the Blogger accounts. Anyway, on to the card:

PB Hedgie Postman came from a transparent set, and was fun to color. Hedgie is my favorite of all images to color. Die die cut with a S/B classic circle, then added an outer S/B scallop circle using a snippet of black glitter paper. (the inner part of this circle removed for another time).

Background created using some Lindy's Magical powder, some gel medium, Ranger Transparent paste - mix on the craft mat - and dragged the serrated part of a plastic knife over it for the striations. After this dried, spritzed some gold Tattered Angels and then some dark blue Lindy's Stamp Gang spray. Used the Ranger spritz tool to blow the dark blue splats around. Looks very textured.  This is quite fun to do these backgrounds.

Embossed this with a folder to get the hearts & sentiment. Debated on sanding to get the raised surface to show better, then decided to just go over this with the Pentel Gold Slicci pen. Looks ok, but ....the ink can smudge off on your hand, and I got some on Hedgie's white circle. Fortunately had colored 2 of these, die cut, so just popped #2 effort over the 1st circle. Had tried to scrape the smudges off, go over with a white pen...Nah, that wasn't working at all.

- the banner is a piece of natural color muslin fabric. Used DI Candy Apple ink pad, rubbing ink pad directly onto the banner. Colored, but not as intensely as I wanted - so used Dylusions Post Box red and gave a couple of spray spritz. Got a nicer dark red, and I like the fabric texture.

- Stripe piece covering the join of the fat banner & thin banner, is a snippet of c/stock, and thought it added a little 'something' with the red. Tiny gold hearts, punched from white snippet,  four layers glued together, and colored with the gold Slicci pen.

I like the elements on this card, but was not totally happy with the finished card. Not sure what to do to 'fix it', and not sure if it will be mailed. But there you have it...possibly a Wart!

Hope ya'll had a great day, and looking forward to a super weekend. Thanks for stopping in. Hugs

Rudolph Day - Snowflake in Blue

Good Morning and welcome. After posting the snowfall pics yesterday, I'm happy to say lots of melting. We still have some patchy white places, but the worst of it has gone into the ground. Don't think it will disappear that fast in the hard-hit Northern states. Also prayers for my UK buddies who are having some bad storms today.

Yesterday was the opening of January's Rudolph Day. For anyone who doesn't know about this challenge, all you need do, is make a card with a Christmas theme. The challenge opens the 25th of each month, closes at the end of that month- has some great prizes (usually a yummy Memory Box die of some kind - BUT Not Always - so do check it out!) I'll bet you find that lots of your blogger friends will already be playing!

Here goes:

The American Crafts glitter paper was die cut with Memory Box Dazzling Snowflake. Placed a thin sheet of white fun foam behind it, used the Sizzix Precision Plate, several back 'n' forth rolls through the Big Shot, and it cut very nicely. Wasn't sure if this would be a big mess, with the foam behind the paper. I did have to do some poking, but the bits came out very easily. Me doing the Happy Dance. Placed some turquoise hologram dp behind this VOS Paper Studio brand, but it's very shimmery.

Trimmed this piece to size, and dang it! Got the bottom too short. Added a thin sliver of the turquoise  to glitter paper, trimmed to fit. This piece doesn't have the foam backing so it is a bit flatter, but looks ok IRL.

- Tried to cut the Die-Versions sentiment from the hologram paper, which has a plastic backing on it. It cut ok, but the top layer of the paper separated from the heavier backing. Tried to reglue it, made a mess! Cute the sentiment from white c/s, colored with various BG copics trying to get as close to the turquoise of the hologram paper as possible. Added a couple coats of clear WoS over the top. That's it. I kind of like this one. However, this is one of the 'looks like this will be a really simple card' that ends up not being that way! (for me, anyway. All the problems on THIS one, were definitely Operator Error!).

Please join us at January Rudolph Day, you've still got time. And thanks for popping in this morning. Blessings.

PSX Heart for Valentine's Day

Good afternoon on a sunny Monday afternoon. We are still melting from the Exciting Big Snow of 2016! (that's said tongue in cheek). Our area of South Carolina seldom gets much snow, and when it happens, most things shut down. Here's a few pictures, but we had _nothing_ so bad as what our poor Northern States had. We had supplies laid in, our power stayed on, so we just cozied down and tried to enjoy the pretty.

Back Deck

Front lawn & street in front of our house

 

 

Side lawn



Friday evening's sunset

 

Now for today's card:

 

 

 

 

 

- PSX G-553 (old wooden mount) colored with copics, die cut with a S/B scallop heart that best fit the image. Edged with DI Bundled Sage. (was not in the mood to do 'pinks' at the time!)

 

- Yellow background is a mop up piece. Had used some Sunflower Silk (acrylic paint in a little pot, a bit thick-ish). Dabbed a few blobs on the 98# weight mixed media c/s, watered down using a wet brush. Then while still wet sprinkled in some Lindy's Magical powders in a yellow tone, let it spread around. This was pretty wet, so used _this_ piece to blot up the runs. This piece turned out much paler, but a nice soft yellow. The main piece will be in a later project, cause I got happy with paste, some more Magical colors, a stencil, and {ahem} tried again with frantage. That stuff just doesn't like me!

 

- Cheery Lyn Celtic Fire Doily is extra white die cut from this card   The white doily was too white to use with this twig heart, so spritzed it with some Lindy's Stampgang Starburst in a green color until I got the look I wanted.

 

- Sentiment cut from a snippet from another spray play with Dylusions, and don't recall what else...., but thought this bit looked ok with the green doily. Had a piece of glossy, lightweight package chipboard, so die cut another love sentiment from that- sorry, don't remember the die company.   Copics from the Yellow shades colored this glossy piece, (many coats) -  tried to do a 'shadow' effect with the sentiments. The chipboard made a nice dimension without having to glue so many layers.

 

- Thought it still needed 'something' at the top; S/B plain heart, smallest die, cut 4 times from the green Dylusions snippet...glued it together...and Robert's your uncle.

 

Felt a bit hesitant about a green & yellow Valentine. Then saw this card in greens & yellows by my friend, Donna, whose artistry I so admire, and that made me feel - hey, these colors are OK! What do you think????

 

Ya'll stay warm if it's nasty weather where you are this afternoon. Several of my blog friends are having some tough times health wise, just now, or else caring for a loved one who is. Prayers go out to all of you! Don't forget: Rudolph Day opened today! My card is partially done...

 

Jumping Cross the Pond to the Snippets Playground, for Week  213. (Yes, there are too some snippets on this card!)  I understand there's some High Jinks Going On! It's been so long since I visited, Parsnip may not recognize me & let me in. But I'm gonna try! Ya'll wanna join me? Safety in numbers, donchaya know? All your card needs is to have Just One Single Snippet on it, and it qualifies. ALL of us have snippets, right?

 

Big hugs, and thanks for popping in.



 

Christmas Card Club - Sleigh

Hi & welcome to another Christmas Card Club post; today our Maureen (Scrappymoi) wanted to see Sleighs. (Maureen is also the hostess for Rudolph Day, which will be opening on the 25th, and it's not too early to start on your Christmas card stash for 2016).

So let's get on to the Sleigh fun:

- Inkadinkadoo wooden stamp was inked up with Memento Cottage Ivy and then colored with Copics, Pentel Slicci gold pen, and some WoS.. S/B Decorative Labels 22 (S4-387) was used to die cut the image, then while still in the die, sponged some DI Shabby Shutters around the edge.

- Cheery Lyn DL103 - Italian Flourish cut from a textured & patterned red Christmas paper, adhered over CL Celtic Fire doily (DL109) cut in white. The white doily alone didn't give enough contrast with the image, so added the red layer between.

- Lawn Fawn sentiment die cut from the same red Christmas paper (2 layers) and Impression Obsession (DIE035-E) green tree (2 layers) from a snippet.

I love these Cheery Lyn doilies. However the Celtic Fire was a PITA to cut, even using the Sizzix Precision Plate, with many passes through the Big Shot. It did finally cut, but required a lot of painstaking poking out of the bits. It IS a very pretty die though. Usually the Precision Plate works great, so I shudder to think of how this die would have been had I not used the Plate. Italian Flourish cut just great.

My fellow club members' blogs are listed on the right sidebar, so I do hope you'll have time to go see what they have shared for today's Club Challenge!

Thanks for joining me today, and have a blessed Sunday. Big hugs.

A Medicare Phone Scam

Good afternoon. No card today, but a little Scam Warning that happened to us, and apparently quite a few other folks in our area. Debated on posting this info, but decided the information needed to be out to anyone who has Medicare! I've notified all our friends & relatives that I know have Medicare, and thought I'd copy & paste on the blog, what I've shared on this subject. If it keeps one person from being scammed, then I'm glad. (we are lucky that we weren't, and I'm probably the biggest skeptic on this earth. )

Just for grunts & giggles I’ll pass this on. May not be happening where you are.

You know we got the cc compromised in December…and far as we know, no repercussions from that. The bank caught the transaction and refused it.

 

About 2 wks ago, I got a call, (and we’ve been inundated with crap calls lately), very strong accent, lady said she was from Medicare, wanted me to do a survey on the equipment I get from Oggles (which is where our sleep apnea machines & supplies come from). Well, even ole skeptical me, who hangs up on everything, understood the Medicare bit so I listened. The survey was innocuous, no personal info asked, just 5 questions like: Do your supplies arrive on time, were you adequately shown how to use the machine, if you’ve visited the office, was it friendly, clean, etc. The types of questions I’d expect. So I answered.

 

About a week later, Mr gets a call, hangs up and said it was somebody about a back & knee brace that had been ordered for him. I heard him say “I’m not interested” and he hung up. Then got another call, referencing the 1^st one, said somebody had called, requesting the knee & back brace. (this is what he’s telling me)..He said “I didn’t request it, not had one ordered for me either. Quit bothering me” and he hung up. Well, yesterday evening, I get a call, says it from Medicare, very hard to understand this lady, but I thought it was HIS survey about the breathing machine, so I told him to pick up. He said it was about the same brace stuff. So got to thinking maybe I best check with Medicare to see if somebody is trying to run a scam ordering stuff for him & being billed to Medicare. Hunted up an old medicare statement to get their number.

The guy at Medicare said he’s gotten many calls about this, and after I told him the story - about the 3 calls, the earlier “medicare survey” call about the machine, he had me call the Federal Trade Commission. (again other than Mr’s medicare info, he didn’t ask me personal stuff, and I initiated the call to the number on one of our medicare forms). I happened to mention to him that our cc had been compromised in December, and he said: Be sure you tell the FTC this as well. OK, so I call, get this lady, and give her the same info. Apparently it’s something that is pretty widespread. She had me call the Transunion credit thing & put a Fraud Alert on Mr’s name, so that if anybody is trying to open any accounts, get credit, etc. it’s flagged, and they won’t be able to do anything without contacting us, and making us give the proper info. Apparently Transunion notifies the other 2 credit report agencies. I didn’t get a person, just an automated voice with a menu. It’s in effect for 90 days.

Thought I’d pass this along so if ya’ll get these kinds of things, just be aware. The guy at medicare said Medicare will NEVER make calls like this. He guessed (and I agree) that the first call was the ‘hook’ & precipitated the others. Talk about feeling a red face. But the first one really did sound legitimate, and the questions were the types of things we’ve gotten before for surveys on businesses we’ve dealt with. So just be aware! Fortunately I had the number still in the caller id from yesterday, but suspect it’s probably some kind of boiler type thing..area code was 818. I was asked if we had that number, so I’m glad this id was the only one we didn’t know who it was and it was approximately the time that both of us remember the call coming in. About the normal dinner time. Probably foreign.

A Get Well Car

Good afternoon. First order of business: a big welcome to 2 new followers:

Princess Judy of Blog This! Judy had been a follower before, but with the current Blogger/Google antics...Judy joined again with Friends Connect - so I guess technically, she's a new follower! Anyway, you don't want to miss PJ's blog, because not only will you enjoy some terrific cards, but {ahem} she makes you laugh too.

Sandra of Sandra's Blog. Sandra has some interesting tabs at the top of her blog, where you can find all sorts of topics to peruse and enjoy. Guarantee you will spend a bit of time browsing through her posts, and enjoying what you find. So if you have some time, please take a cyber visit to their fun blogs! And thanks to you both for joining this blog as followers. It's lovely to see new faces, rather than seeing followers' numbers decrease.

Now on to the card. Last summer a neighbor had some back surgery. Did well; two weeks post surgery, he had a fall, injured his arm. Thankfully no damage to the back op, but he has been dealing with this bad arm for many months. Just prior to Christmas, he had surgery to correct a 'frozen shoulder' by having scar tissue removed. Last week, he's back in the hospital with pneumonia.  Mr. remembered that we had bought this set from Sparkle n Sprinkle, & both guys are car buffs - so he hunted it up. (Now that's what I call Friendship with a capital F cause it took _some_ hunting & lots of muttering under his breath, let me tell you). The link is to the digital set, we have the smaller rubber set.

 

 

- Henry was stamped on Copic Xpress, colored with copics, diecut with Spellbinders Label 18. Added some Glossy Accents on the thermometer and windshield. To create a vintage look, airbrushed Copic E41 after coloring, after placing it back in the die to create the white border.

 

- background pieces created from these supplies:

 

- Some Liquitex matte gel dabbed on the craft sheet, added in some Lindy's Stamp Gang Magical

powder, mixed up with the plastic knife which was handy. This looked much too thick - so then added in some Liquitex slow dry blending medium, which thinned it a bit. Used the serrated part of the knife to spread some on w/color weight cardstock, and got the wood grain effect. Spritzed some water on the blobby mixture that remained on the mat, and started to smoosh other pieces of c/s in the blobs of color. However, I learned that less spritz is better, because the puddle started to run _everywhere_. A stack of c/s kept on the table to the rescue as I grabbed them madly, trying to keep the spreading puddle from going everywhere! So got several more backgrounds to use. The first bkground turned out best, because it had more of the powder speckles in it. The corrugated paper was on the table and got used as a mop up too. Decided to add a torn piece of it behind Henry for some texture. DH wasn't sure he liked this, thought it looked better without that. Since I'm the card maker, it got added! He did like the final result.

 

- Momento die set cut the arrow-- Elizabeth Craft die Sentiment from small piece of the blue wood grain c/s, with a little bling from some freebie blue rhinestones. Inside sentiment is from the set & says "Overheated? Low on Gas? Tired Out? Get Well Soon!".

 

Thanks for joining me in a little visit this Sunday afternoon. So many of you are having severe cold & nasty weather where you live. Hope you can stay inside where it's cozy, and that any who happen to be facing health problems, are feeling much better today. Blessings and Big Hugs.

 

Edit: Thanks to a blog buddy (Veerle) this masculine card has been linked to Addicted to Stamps where there is a Masculine Challenge going on currently.

 

II: I must be getting senile! Completely forgot to add the link to Sparkle n Sprinkle Challenge after using this cute stamp. My excuse must be that you're supposed to use glitter, flocking or EP, and I didn't on this one. But then when I checked I saw some others that didn't appear to use those products AND since I used SnS stamp, I took a chance. They may just kick it out of the challenge! But anyway....

Penny Black Happy Birthday Snow

Good evening. Back with another birthday card that took forever to finish (but was fun to color). Some images just seem to color so easily, and ones you'd think would be a breeze, just don't go that well. This is a Penny Black cling stamp, and doesn't this little fella just look as though he's having the most-est fun? Guess I could have taken a better close up view...sorry.

Kai (PB in the snow) - was colored with copics, with a bit of WoS & spica pens. Snowflakes done with a white gel pen, then some Stickles Star Dust. Star Dust on the snow piles. Silver Sakura pen on some of the trims. There's a bit of SnS Twinkling Clouds sprinkled on the snowbanks & the pompoms on Kai's snowsuit for some texture.

- Snippet of glitter paper for the scant black mat, then some SU paper (forget the color) for the 2nd mat. Purple cardbase embossed only at the bottom area, with a snowflake EF, HLS Fun Birthday Sentiments punched out with an SU punch. Used a bit of the snippet black glitter to punch a 2nd layer, cut in half, placed as a semi-mat.

Some rhinestones for bling, and that's it. Very easy card & I don't know why it took me so long to finish it!

Thanks for popping in, and stay cozy where you may be, if the weather is dreadful. See ya soon, big hugs.
************************************************
Blogger News:  Here is some news which I copied from another Blog.  Here's the announcement they made on Blogger Buzz:
In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

Birthday Flowers

Good afternoon, and I bet you thought I'd gotten lost on the trip back from Florida! Nope, just been busy with stuff.  Before anything else, let me give a belated welcome to Lillian of The Leaf Studio.  Since most of the posts done recently were scheduled posts, I've been remiss in giving a Thank You shout out with a link to Lillian's fantastic blog. Please do take a few moments to hop over, browse around & say Hello to Lillian.

Saw the numbers bump back up on the 'face list', but I can't determine if there's really a new follower, or Blogger is playing tricks and returning some of the followers who disappeared! So if you're a new follower that I've not given a welcome, please do let me know, so I can fix that little thing!!! Also seeing information that Blogger is changing things, so you might want to be sure you have a Google account...I'm not sure I understand all I know about that either!!

Now, to update on the truck problem and the dog problem. Truck needed a catalytic converter replaced (evidently this one has a left & right one..I didn't know that!)...and thankfully it was under warranty. Technician told Mr. we made a good decision to not drive it all the way home. Now for the greyhound update: Camera made its appearance the day after we got home, so at least won't require surgical removal. It had stopped in the stomach area (xrays showed it), so don't know why it didn't continue through the intestines. Also the battery dies after 72 hrs, so no telling what the results up to that time will show. Haven't heard any more news, so guess that means nothing dreadful as yet. And Dallas was eating at least, and sort of resuming her normal behavior.

Since we've been home, it's been busy and then Mr. developed a migraine. So that was a lot of tiptoe around trying to keep the noise down, catch the phone on the first ring, unpacking, trip & normal laundry, and getting the file system for 2016 receipts in place. Our weather was sunny & pretty, but it's been cold. Today it's been awfully windy, but at least sunny.

Now here's a card that was started before leaving for Christmas, and just had not been able to get it finished. (and it will arrive late for the recipient's birthday...alas!)

- Versamark applied with a finger dauber through the openings of a Dreamweaver brass stencil.  (Inspiration came from this pretty card by Our Darnell). Then pulled out some pan pastels, swabbed some chalks around. Easy - except for trying to shade. But I think it turned out fairly well. Had fun, and will try this again with some of the many brass stencils collected over the years.

- Diecut with a Sizzix oval (you can't emboss with these Sizzix dies like with the S/Binder ones). Used the matching Sizzix oval (not quite large enough either) - hand traced the outside of that die, fussy cut.

- some lace, green ribbon as a border over the C/B Swiss Dots embossed background.

- HLS Fun Birthday Sentiments for the SU punched sentiment...added a few rhinestones, and finally got 'er done.

Speaking of which: The HLS January Christmas Challenge (theme is Jingle ) is still going along, so hope you can find time to get a head start on 2016 Christmas card stash, and play along with us!

That's it for me. Thanks for not forgetting me, and I hope I can get caught up enough to finish up a more cards. Been putting together the IKEA Alex cabinets bought some while ago. Five in all....now got to start with the organizing. That will keep me VERY busy!

Stay cozy if it's not such nice weather where you are. Big hugs.

HLS Christmas Challenge - January - Jingle

Hello and welcome to the first HLS Christmas Challenge for 2016...and our challenge theme to start the year is: Jingle

Our challenge is sponsored by  Happy Little Stampers

Winner will receive one stamp set from HLS

 

 

So let's get started on the card I'm sharing for this month's theme:

 

- Elizabeth Craft Cardinal (RS021) - colored with copics and some WoStella;
 diecut with a stitched MFT Oval. Matted with paper from stash (12x12 Paper Studio Christmas Traditions foils, bought a few years ago) using S/B Lattice Motifs.
After image was die cut, masked the outer edge of the oval, and used a mask over the image, stamped with an IO CAC Twas the Night Before text stamp that had been inked with DI Tea Dye.

- Crafters Companion Embossalicious EF - Christmas Merriment - for the white mat directly behind the focal image.

- Silver outline stickers to define the sentiment space - which is stamped with the HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments. Used SU Real Red, then Ranger's Fine Detail Clear EP over this.

Got a little red smudge off my inky fingers so used Impression Obsession's tiny holly leaves to cut some snippets of a tartan plaid paper and add to the corners. I rather like this one.

HLS has some great stamp sets available, and I'm finding the sentiment sets to be so versatile, with the various sizes & styles of the stamps.  Now do be sure to check out what my fellow DT members have shared for the HLS January Christmas challenge, and perhaps you could win this month's prize stamp set.

Thanks for joining me today, and Happy Stamping. Hugs.

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Update: We got up very early (and you all know how I like early - but we did enjoy a lovely sunrise), packed up the last bits, did the goodby (I did well, for me!) and set off. About 20 minutes on the road, the engine light came on, stayed on. Never happened before, and our truck is fairly newish (3 yrs old) and is maintained well. In fact, just serviced a week before we left home. Stopped, checked all that Mr. knew to check, dug out the owners manual, read....etc. We think (hope!) it is just faulty electronics with the light, BUT....we decided we didn't want to take a chance, perhaps get stranded along the highway. So called the DD, let her know we were coming back. All the places are closed today, but she thinks perhaps the local dealership is open a few hours on Saturday. Had to unload enough stuff to stay another night. Mr. just said, he's not driving over the weekend. Today traffic would have been ok, but not the weekend. I'm thinking perhaps our Guardian Angel was at work, and telling us to stay off the highway today. I do believe things happen for a reason! So talk witcha latah. Hope your overnight celebrations didn'd have any bad repercussions this morning. I watched some awesome fireworks out over the water, as I sat at the laptop watching some videos.



Good Morning! As you read this post, we're on the road back to Upstate South Carolina...sorry to leave the sunny warm climes of South Florida and of course the Daughter. But life has to return to normal, and there it is. We had a lovely Christmas, quiet, but we were together as a family....the folks I love best in all the world, so a real blessing to us all. It was a gorgeous sunny day too.

 Looking forward to the start of the last season of Downton Abbey...which I think is to start on our Public Broadcast Station this Sunday. Perhaps Series 7 Doc Martin too, but I've seen that on Acorn TV already, plus have the dvd set. I'll watch it again though. Love my Doc Martin.

DH & DD went to see the new Star Wars. Since that genre is not something I enjoy, I stayed with the poochies. (One girl has been ill - won't eat, listless - so many vet trips, and still no resolution.) Wednesday was a trip to Sarasota to see a veterinary neurologist, and that night, DD had to get a tiny camera down her throat. Can you imagine this kind of technology? Now they're checking her intestines & stomach.  At least after some tests (think it was an MRI) the neurologist felt confident to rule out a brain tumor-- which we're told could cause some of her symptoms. Dallas was not thrilled to have to swallow the camera, but she was very good about it. Poor dog couldn't have any food 8 hours prior - which is why the vet didn't handle the camera bit; then after it got swallowed, no food until the next morning. Now when she's outside, she has to be watched for when the camera is passed...UGH! DD has a stronger, less squeamish stomach than I do. However, if it is not passed through her system  & found - surgery will be required to remove it. We're hoping she will eliminate it. I was amazed at how well DD handled her baby to get her to swallow this camera, which is about the size of my little finger joint. I worried that the dog would get choked, but she didn't. Hope this is not TMI...I thought it was kinda interesting...had no idea this kind of thing is done with animals.

 

 

I hope that all my blog friends had a good night to celebrate the dawn of a new year. As for me, I can't believe just how fast 2015 sped past. When I was a kid, I'd hear old people (younger than I am now!!!!) talk about how fast time would fly. I was so puzzled, because time moved along slowly to me, 24 hours to the day, 7 days per week, etc. etc. So how could it move any faster than it did? Utter nonsense.  Thought I'd never be 16 years old. Then -- forever  for the 2 yrs until 18...and on to 21. Then my husband was in the service for 4 years......gone overseas for 2 years and we thought that would never end. It did;  ever since then, time just seems to keep moving faster & faster.Our daughter grew up so fast.  My brain tells me, this isn't really true...but good heavens, we just celebrated 2015...and here we are at 2016 awready!!

 

 

Sorry to say I did very little coloring while away. Just dragged along the big copic bag for nothing. I did practice watercolor with the Zig brushes one morning, and it was absolute rubbish. I'm not sure if it was the thickness of the watercolor paper (I think I had stamped on Strathmore 140# paper since my plan was to experiment with different papers). Stamped in black Versafine, embossed with clear. Now I've embossed the images previously that I watercolored with these markers, and was pleased with the results. So I don't think embossing was the problem. I think perhaps the paper OR could be that I just wasn't in the mood.

 

Oh yes, we did manage to go to 2 lovely stamping stores while we were here: Sparkle n Sprinkle (Ruskin)  & WhimSoDoodle  (St. Petersburg). Had some delicious foods at a favorite Italian place (a marvelous old Italian market that also has a scrumptious bakery along with grocery goods and the most delicious sandwiches..yum), and a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant, where the service is as good as the food is. I happen to love most ethnic foods.

 

We've had a relaxing quiet time. Read my kindle - a very good book called Jubilee Trail - very old - by Gwen Bristow. Finally got published in Kindle form, so I saved it to read on this trip. It's set in 1840-s, and about a well bred young lady from New York, who longs for adventure, marries a fella who comes to New York from far off California. Which most people of that time had never heard of. Then they travel back to California, over the Jubilee Trail by mule train. So much hardship. This author has written other books, which I've enjoyed. I tend to read authors, and I love historical fiction, if it's well written. I had read this book as a teenager, enjoyed it immensely, and have read it several times over the years (much like Gone With the Wind...that's a book I have to re-read about every 5-10 yrs). Don't think it's in print, but I did find a hardback on Amazon some years ago, and paid a high price to buy it from a dealer. I had had a copy long years ago, but loaned it out, never got it back. That's about when I decided if I really love a book, I don't loan the hardback. I try to find a paperback. It's lovely to have the story on Kindle. I'm so pleased to see some of my old beloved books now in Kindle format!

 

OK.. enough rambling on with trivia. When we get home, I expect we'll be busy for a few days with the unpacking, collecting the mail, paying bills. Also had our credit card compromised just before we left home; thankfully the bank caught the fraud, so we only got the aggravation of having to get a new card. We do have a backup, but that one is for internet purchases, etc. and has a low limit. So that must be sorted on our return. So maybe I'll be too busy to feel my usual 'down in the dumps' mood from missing the kid!!!

 

Please have a wonderful day, and God Bless you all. I pray that ALL of us will have a good year, and have lots of crafty fun. Hugs