Update

Good evening, and many, many thanks for all the prayers and good wishes I've received, via emails and comments, for the success of my little procedure (it was umbilical hernia repair). Evidently I had it but didn't realize it, and the recent bout of heavy coughing with my allergy attack, caused it to pop out. It's not unusual to have this, and it's not a big deal. But best to get it fixed before it becomes a more serious problem or possibly an emergency problem, especially if one is traveling. So....

I'm very thankful and happy to say all went well, I'm feeling fine. No pain, just sore. Everyone at the hospital was so caring, kind AND professional, and I was in great hands. Additionally, a very sweet vicar came into the room while I was waiting to be taken to the surgical suite, asked us to hold hands, while he said such a lovely prayer for God to keep me in his care, provide guidance to the surgeon and his team. You may or may not be a believer, and that's fine. I am, and I can't tell you how uplifting that was for both of us. I had been pretty calm (I thought!) but this made me feel so much at peace.

Have been home, slept most of the afternoon, had a light late lunch, and then a light, later supper. Since I slept most of the day, of course I'm back at my usual night owl habits. But staying off the stairs for a couple of days. Just thought I'd post an update, and say how grateful and blessed I feel to have so very many caring blog friends. Thank you, every one!!!

God Bless, Many Hugs.

Birthday Train

Hello and welcome to a scheduled post. Hopefully by the time you're reading this, I'll be home sleeping off my anesthesia - and having had breakfast. I think the hardest part of this little procedure is having nothing by mouth after midnight, and I always sip water all night long. Also having to get up by 4am, to shower with special soap, and be at the hospital by 5:15am. Remember, I don't like _early_!

#2 Brother just had a birthday and most of his working career was for a Southern railroad company. He started at the bottom as a youngster and worked his way up into quite a responsible position by the time he retired - age 57. He was born 30 minutes before our Dad's 23rd birthday (this was in the day of the home births). So he was always called "Daddy's Birthday Boy".

 

 

- All Aboard (Local King Rubber Stamp and die set)..first stamped with Tuxedo black, and realized most of the image was going to be black. Reinked and stamped with Cottage Ivy. Actually the old steam engines were black, so that would have been ok. Used the matching die to cut out the engine and the rail track.

 

- Stampscape mountains inked with Memento Summer Sky, stamped twice, then inked with Lulu Lavendar & overstamped again.

 

- stamped some Stampscape trees in various sizes using various shades of greens to create a background for the Choo-Choo. Colored in the open areas with copic earthtone markers.

 

- a number set die (forget the company) and another happy die created the sentiment. These were colored with a Nuvo gold marker (Supreme Metallic Set). Two coats looked better than one.

 

- Stampscape flying flock, and the sky was colored with a copic BG0000. 

 

Pleased to report the card seemed to be a hit-- I think it must have been the train :-}

 

Thanks for popping in for a visit. Will try to get back to you soon, but it may be a while. Don't give up on me!!! Hugs

 

 

 



Christmas Card Club - Lots of Layers

Good evening, and I'm woefully late with my Christmas Club card, and I'd also like to apologize to everyone for being so remiss about returning visits to the sweet people who have been kind enough to leave comments & love. Lots of things going on around here of late, one of which is cleaning up post-bathroom renovation. Thankfully, feeling like some headway is being made towards seeing the light at the end of the messy tunnel. That has had to be a priority, as we're having some visitors next month.

Next, I'm having a little abdominal surgery tomorrow morning, so that required a few visits for tests, preop instructions, etc. This may limit my activities for the next week or so. Not sure yet just how much. (excuses, excuses!!!) It's nothing serious, but needs to be done. So I do hope you will all understand. I may not be here much next week; I don't know if I'll be able to traipse up & down the stairs & all my craft supplies are in the basement. Anyway, on to my very late Christmas card, with big apologies to Maureen, who wanted to see layers, layers!

- Simon Says Winter Friends Santa - fussy cut (there is a die set for this)..after coloring with copics.

- Penny Black Winter Wonderland Bird

- Memory Box trio of trees die (a green snippet) has a bit of Star Dust Stickles on the top

- Cottage Cutz sleigh die (red glitter snippet)

- Lawn Fawn Stitched hills die (which was covered up with stickles and SnS Twinkling Clouds...why? Because I put the snow hill down first, then decided to add the trees, so the bases of the trees needed to be covered up, that's why! Tried to lift the snow piece, but it was adhered down too well)

- My Mind's Eye 6x6 pack - stash

- Star Dust stickles for some sparkle in the sky

- VOS sticker sentiment. I do hope I've got enough layers to make Maureen happy!!!

If you've a few minutes, check to see my team members' creations for this challenge theme. Their blog links are on the right side bar. And many thanks for visiting this evening, and not giving up on me totally. One of these days, I'll get back to normal, whatever normal might be just now!!!

Hugs & Blessings.

Northwoods Pots of Flowers - Thinking of You

Welcome, and this post shares another image from the past. Think this was a borrowed stamp, but liked it so much, may have purchased it - must check the Northwoods collection. I love these stamps, but they are wood base, so take up quite a bit of storage room. Additionally, the images are usually large enough, it makes a card front without any extra additions. These stamps are very high quality, so detailed, and I've yet to have one not stamp well. Also fun to color.

- added more contrast to the previously done copic coloring...put in some grounding, and die cut with a stitched rectangle die. The image was so large, trimmed down after die cutting, and edged with DI Walnut Stain. This card is still a bit larger than my usual 5.5x4.25, so will require a custom envie.

- SU border scallop from some textured dull gold added at the base to balance out the card front.

- WoS added to the flowers, edged with DI Antique Linen while in the die. Mounted on Bazzill textured c/s. The LSS used to put discontinued Bazzill colors on sale at good prices, so would buy neutral colors when possible.

- Hand cut sentiment, stamped with Memento Elderberry, stamped off once, to get less vivid color. Edged with the Walnut Stain. Thought about adding some sequins, decided to leave as is.

Hope you like this one. Thanks for stopping in, come again when you have time. Hugs & Blessings.

A House Mouse Get Well

Good afternoon, and hey, it's mid-week. Even though I've been retired for some years, psychologically I still get the 'made it to the middle of the week' feeling, and on Fridays, YAY. It doesn't really make a great deal of difference to the current way we live, but still...The only feeling that reflects retirement is: I don't get that let-down dread on Sunday night, when I'm thinking of all the things I didn't get accomplished before the new workweek. Now I LIKE that!!!

Still working on cleaning out old colored images, and today's little House Mouse is one of those. The only thing I've changed on this little fella, is to add some glossy accents to the water, and die cut him out.

- the die is a PTI and the frame cuts are backed with Scotch tape to keep the strips in place.

- Lil Inker sun die, cut from 2 pieces of yellow snippets; added this because the front just looked too bland. Don't remember the fish tail banner company.

- Mustard color mat was a snippet and the EF was an old one, chosen because the swirl pattern made me think of water.

It's made me feel better about my early copic efforts to realize I can use some of the practice pieces, with just a bit of adding more depth & contrast. I still have trouble creating contrast, although I do realize it adds dimension to a piece. I have to color first, then go back and look, add in. My eyes just don't see it when I'm coloring.

I'm still putting things away, nearly done with one linen closet. Need some more clear storage boxes to fit the very top shelf. There's loads of space above that top shelf, reaching to the ceiling. Decided if I find the right clear boxes to fit that shelf, can stack seldom used items, but still need to keep around.Of course then we'll need a stool to get to anything piled on top of something!!! (Be best just to toss it, but not ready for that drastic step as yet. I've pitched a lot of stuff, though!). Guess it's good to go through the house occasionally and weed out. Bear in mind, I'm not very good at following my own advice on this kind of cleaning, however.

Ya'll have a lovely day, and thanks for joining me. Hugs.

Black & Gold Hello

HiYa, and welcome. Thanks for all the sweet comments on the new bathroom. Mr. is painting in there today, so pretty soon all the things that hang on the wall, set on shelves, etc, that have been thoroughly dusted... can go back in the normal places. And we will be DONE! (with that part anyway). Embarrassing to see all the dust on stuff that sets in place for months & months (well, probably years!) so that was good to get cleaned. There's a cabinet over the toilet so it's high up enough, one never sees the dust until one has to take the 'pretties stuff' down from the top of it....then one is Very Embarrassed at what a poor housekeeper one has become. :-(

Here's another card made from old stash bits that were done years ago...(at least in boxes, the pieces don't get dusty! LOL)

- old wooden block rose, probably embossed with Ranger's Queens Gold, over black c/s, die cut with a S/B rectangle...gold mat.

- a gray tone card base embossed with a S/B EF, swirled over with a TH sponging tool, using Delicata gold. Found this works better for me to get an even look than trying to use a finger dauber. The gold on the embossing doesn't show in the photo, but it's there. :-}

- Old MS lace punch cut the border scallop from a snippet of black glitter paper. This punch was the first one I ever bought- think it was in Walmart, for $5.00. Used a tiny strip of the paper (from cutting the scallop) to edge the bottom of the card base where the embossing had stopped.

- Sentiment die cut from snippet of the black glitter. This will be going to our next door neighbor who had surgery today.

Hope ya'll are having a fine afternoon. Think I got all the over-due visits returned yesterday afternoon. Sometimes I'm not always certain that Blogger publishes my comments, so if you've left me a visit and I didn't return one, let me know...If there's a lot of comments to catch up, I don't go back to double check on the publishing. I do try to return visits to anyone who's been kind enough to leave me a comment. Still don't know how to comment at the Google Plus blogs though. So any help on that would be appreciated.

Hugs & thanks for visitin'. Bye ya'll

Christmas Card Club - Ornaments

Happy Sunday Afternoon. It's time for another Christmas Card Club, and today, Margaret (Dutchess) selected the theme of Baubles (In the States, we say Ornaments!).

For many years, I've saved pretty cards. Decided to take a page from Mrs. A's book, and do a recycle effort. The card used for today is probably about 15 yrs old, and seemed like a good choice to use for this theme. Since it's been quite busy around here, with putting things back in place, it helped to be able to make a rather fast card, once the decision was made to recycle.

 

 

Added 3 strips of Sookwang (double sided adhesive) tape along the bottom, used Ritz Glitter, burnished well.  After trimming a bit off the top & bottom of the recycled card front, used a Martha Stewart border punch on the bottom edge.

 

M/Box sentiment cut from Sookwang, Ritz Glitter sprinkled over it. Trimmed both sides of the recycled front to fit on a card base. Added strips of Sookwang on each edge of the card base, more Ritz Glitter added. Debated on adding some pearls to trim the ornament, considered the postage that would be required for a more dimensional card, decided to leave as it is.

 

I'm a bit late on posting today's card, so apologies for that. Also quite behind on returning some sweet comment visits over the last few days, but will do my best to catch that up. Just been very busy trying to restore order in the house. So bear with me!

 

I hope you'll take time to visit my fellow Christmas Card Club team members, and you'll find their blog links on the right side bar. And do please have a wonderful afternoon.

 

Thanks for joining me and big hugs coming your way.

 

 

UFO Orange Rose

Hi ya, and sorry it's been a few days since the last post. Finally...most of our bathroom renovation has been finished (a few small things yet to be done but basically finished!). Will share a few pictures at the end...but I've been slogging away trying to put things back to right.

First though, help me welcome a new follower: Megan of My Merry Card Corner. Megan, I can't comment at your blog, because I don't have Google+. When I try to comment, Gplus comes up, wanting me to create an account. Does anyone know how to bypass this, and still leave a comment at a Plus blog? Had a bad experience with plus some while back, so I don't want to go there again! I still enjoyed a good browse through Megan's wonderful work, so perhaps if you have time, you can go over & say Hi for me! And thanks for becoming a new follower Megan.

At night, have been going through boxes of early copic & air brush efforts, determining if something can be salvaged from any of this. Today's card is from that, and here it is:

Think this may have been a PSX rose. When learning to use copics, I had a few stamps I used to track my progress. Roses were a favorite motif. Long years ago, we had seen the most gorgeous orange, velvet textured rose, up in the gardens at Franklin Roosevelt's home (Springwood) in Hyde Park, New York. You just wanted to rub your fingers over the surface, knowing that it would feel like the softest velvet. (of course there are signs telling you to not do this!). This image was colored in the YR shades, but as my eye doesn't like strong contrast, as I looked at it years later, of course it was 'flat'. Tried to add stronger contrasts, and use the image. Here's the result.

- Scalloped square die was sponged in DI Green sage. IO tag, that just fits this sentiment. Ribbon was a celery green, colored with a YR copic .

- S/B vine die for the borders and a very old, very large Webster's dictionary page used to collage over a square cardfront. The dictionary was gifted by our New England friend who goes to estate sales. It's pretty ratty, so I didn't feel too badly at tearing out a page. I love books, so it's very hard to ever just tear out or destroy one!

OK, now for some of the reno pictures. Bear in mind, we don't live in a fancy style house, and we actually LIVE in this house. No decorators were harmed - ever - in anything done to this house!!!

Before

Interim

Now

 

We are discovering that we miss the glass block that surrounded the shower...the new glass surround makes the area appear much larger; however, the thicker glass brick allowed 'grab onto' if you feel the need of stability in stepping out of the shower; this thinner glass does NOT have that attribute. We do have a bar on the shower wall to hold while bathing, but the one that I've added at the exit point, is a suction cup affair, and not certain how much stability it would provide if one should slip.

New tile in Kitchen

 

most things back in place

 

 Thanks for popping in for a visit. On the weather front, we have been getting a few little showers, which the ground is loving. Always very humid after the rains though. Have a wonderful day! Hugs & Blessings.