Followers

7/31/2013

Miscellaneous

Hello. Just wanted to say a big thank you for all the prayers & good wishes I have received from so many of you, regarding my cataract procedure - very early (!!!) this morning. Didn't sleep all that well last night, and 5am arrived extremely fast. We arrived at my scheduled time, and I was the doctor's first patient. Everyone at the clinic was so kind & understanding, which is great for the patients. Went back to the OR at the scheduled time, so no waiting, which I appreciated. That doesn't usually happen; if you've ever had to have any kind of surgery, you'll know that!

I was given Valium in an IV, and I'm very susceptible to meds like this. Didn't go to sleep, but felt sort of  'drunk'. During the procedure I worried mainly about having to suppress an unexpected cough (or the bathroom gambit!). Thankfully neither happened.

I kept thinking this time was taking longer than the one done in December, and that it was more uncomfortable. It's not actually painful, but it doesn't feel good. Of course you're being told "Just relax". Hmph, easy for them to say! When I was taken back to the recovery area & could see the clock, realized the procedure took the same time as my first one. I was given something to drink, which was a blessed relief, as my mouth & throat get so dry; and one is not allowed to eat/drink anything after midnight.

Once we got home, I used the drops as directed, changed my clothes, took a Tylenol - also as directed. Got back in the bed, and slept the rest of the morning. When I finally got out of bed, got dressed and we went for a ride to check out a new JoAnn's store that has opened in our community. I felt like I needed to walk off my wooziness. At the moment, what I'm having to remember is not to bend over, and of course I am managing to drop everything I touch.  I'm thankful that it's behind me, and now all I have to do is what I'm told to do, and say a lot of "Thank Yous". Including all of you lovely folks who wished me well. It meant a lot.

Have a great evening. And thanks too, for being so encouraging on my Wart Card! The Mr. said he is sticking by his original comment. LOL.

Collage

Good Morning. Back with another experimental play card this morning on this scheduled post. I've been seeing some lovely cards with collages on them lately, but don't have a clue as to where to start one. Had bits & pieces of this'n'that on my desk, so got out the Mod Podge glue to give it a go. Showed this one to Mr. DH and his first comment was "It doesn't look like you". Tried again "But do you like it?"...."No, not especially. It doesn't look like what you do".

Hmmm.... well, I promised that when I started this blog, I'd post warts & all...so maybe this one is a wart!

7/30/2013

Christmas

Hello & Welcome.

If you recall I mentioned struggling with a Christmas card last week. Here's the card I finally finished, and I'm still very unhappy with it. It may get totally re-done after I look at it for a while. I really do like the stamp and want to use it, as my favorite purchased Christmas cards are the Madonna & Child themed ones.  (well, I admit, I love the Cardinal ones too!)


7/29/2013

All Occasion

Good afternoon at the start of another week. I've been trying to get some cards ready & scheduled to post as I have a second cataract surgery appointment this week. May not be on the pc for a few days afterwards.

Finally got myself busy yesterday afternoon and finished up my Spellbinder restorage project. Got all the dies out of their former cd & dvd containers (or the original plastic packing for quite a few of my collection) and placed onto magnetic sheets in Art Bin containers. Looks much neater & I hope it will be easier to locate a specific die. Heretofore, I've had to hunt through cd's/dvd's which were stacked or look through a box where the original packages were stashed. I've labeled the Art Bin containers as to "Labels", "Fancy Dies" "Holiday" "Flowers & Leaves", etc. On each sheet I used a label maker to note the die name, the S/B S- number and the number of dies. I'm still missing a large die that goes to one set. We'll see if this helps my disorganization & it was a good feeling to say "That task is done".

While doing this, I sat downstairs all afternoon & early into the wee hours watching some old Masterpiece Theater series that I've not seen since back in the mid-70's. One of which was Edward VII. I found it on Netflix - to which we recently subscribed - for the month's freebie to see if we like it. I'm liking it already! When I watched it over 30 yrs ago, I watched as weekly installment episodes. Yesterday it was lovely to watch an episode, then go right to the next one, & see what happened. This is a wonderful series if you have a chance to watch it. (and enjoy that kind of thing. I do!)

Anyhoo...here's my card for today:

7/28/2013

Christmas and Rudolph Day

Happy Sunday afternoon. Thanks for stopping to visit a little while. We have a beautiful sunny warm afternoon here in our area. The temp was 80 - so was the humidity. I've been working on a couple of cards, and trying to get one finished in time to enter in the fabulous Rudolph Day Challenge over at Sarn's.  I started out with a Madonna & Child stamp on some vellum and an idea which totally fizzled, so after 3 different efforts - I gave it up. (for a while anyway). Remembered I had the colored image used in the card I'm sharing today, so finished up a card using this little snowman.


7/27/2013

Miscellaneous

Good afternoon & welcome to my little corner of the world. Recently I shared an email with some blog buddies. Darnell emailed back to suggest I post it on the blog, so all the readers can get a chuckle out of it. I have no idea who wrote this originally, but somebody very clever had a lot of time on his/her hands. Here goes:


How the Internet Started (according to the Bible)...

 
In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com
did take unto himself a healthy young wife by the name of Dorothy.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder
and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far
from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever
leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags
short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in
between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will
reply telling you who hath the best price. The sale can be made on
the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with
the drums.

And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all
the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were
saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It
was known as Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed
a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy
horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical
Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the
deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were
going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who
bought off every drum maker in the land. Indeed he did insist on
drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads
and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken
over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or eBay as it came to be known.

He said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."

"YAHOO," said Abraham.

And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic
Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to
locate things around the countryside.

It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating
Everything (GOOGLE).

That is how it all began.

And that's the truth.
*****************************
 
I don't usually send jokes to my blog buddies, but when I read this one, I had to share it. It made me laugh, so I hope it will for you as well. Happy Saturday.
 

Get Well

Hello and Welcome. 

This is another in my Get Well cards even though it says Hello in the sentiment. If I need it for a Thinking of You or Happy Birthday occasion, I can change it with the inside sentiment added later.

This card was an attempt to use a design from a 12x12 paper. I have a lot of the larger paper stacks, never really know the best way to utilize a pretty design on a card, and I don't scrapbook. Looked at this bird paper for quite a while, decided to give it a go. (I have a hard time cutting into a design, not really knowing what I'm going to do with it. So this one sort of evolved as I went along. Remembering that I had the birdcage die was a help).


Paper is from a large K & Co pack that I've had stashed away. Trimmed off a 5 3/4 slice of the paper - to be sure I had enough to cover the standard card front.  Die cut the robin & flowers with S/B Adorning square from the bottom part of the paper where the robin was. The red faux mat is from another large stack created by tracing the S/B outer frame used to cut the robin. As always, I removed the inside of the red mat using a S/B square, so I have that piece to use later. (I think I shall call these paper stacks NBUS - Never Before Used Stuff).

Used top part of the robin paper to cover the card front. I cut the paper just a tad too short on the length, so used an MS checkered punch (another oldie) as border trim to cover a white space at the top of the card.

Impression Obsession Birdcage (NBUS) die cut from a remaining piece of the red paper, as was the Elizabeth Craft sentiment.

Memory Box blue bird die cut from a paper snippet that had been made with Twinkling H20's. Gold chain die cut from snippet used for some gold holly leaves on an earlier card.

I rather liked the opportunity to make a card and not have to stamp & color. I hope you'll like this one. It's a good feeling to know I have a few cards ready in the event I need one, as I tend to scurry around at the last minute to do something. Sort of 'takes the pressure off'.

Stay cool if it's hot where you may be. Hugs


7/26/2013

Get Well

Happy Friday and Welcome. I see that I've some new followers via Bloglovin, but I don't know how to access it so as to find out who you might be. So thanks for taking time to follow this blog, and perhaps leave a comment if you see something you like. It makes my day to read the comments, and find that someone enjoyed seeing what I've created. Fridays are usually good days here at our house. Think it is a throw-back to when we worked & looked forward to the week's end. Even when we had to work on the weekends, it still was a big boost when Friday arrived.

Here is the card I have to share today. I decided to get some Get Well cards ready, so that when I need one, all that needs done is to add an insert and then mail it.



 

7/25/2013

All Occasion, Fun in the Sun

Wow, it's Thursday awready...has been a fast week it seems. Here's a card today, that is quite different for me to make. Some time ago, I was a lucky recipient of some beautiful candy from Loll. I have been thinking about what to create using these luscious little goodies (and in the meantime, just enjoying looking at them as I pondered). Last evening, I got the copics and airbrushed a background...which I've not done for some time now. Was a little rusty but just kept at it. Once I had the background sort of the way I envisioned, I remembered some paper I bought recently that has a 'beach sand' look to it, so I tore some paper (another simple thing I don't use much) and started in with this card.  I also realized after I had taken the photos, a dark background would have shown up a lot better.



7/24/2013

All Occasion

Good Morning...Hope your day is going great so far. Here's another 'mess-up/try to save' card to share today.


7/23/2013

All Occasion

Good Morning, and welcome. I am having such fun lately, just messing about with sprays, Distress Inks & getting my fingers all inked up. Now if you knew me, you'd know I am sort of a 'conservative, controlled' type of personality, who has never liked getting my hands dirty (even as a small child). So this is a big departure from my usual copic coloring habits. LOL. I'm not terribly innovative with these sprays - as I see on many blogs - but oh, I'm having fun. I love anything where what you end up with 'can't be wrong'. (wonder why that is???)

So here's a latest effort...totally experimental.

OK...now for the story...

7/22/2013

Miscellaneous

Our evening had cooled off enough so that it was moderately pleasant to sit out on the front porch in the swing.The mosquitoes were not too awfully bad, if the swing was kept in motion. The neighborhood was quiet, and it was very peaceful. Saw some tiny bats flying about, and birds looking for their nest for the night.  Lovely to be able to sit out & enjoy the evening while it was slipping over to twilight. Noticed the moon rising from behind the trees so got the camera and tried to get a shot on the night setting. The old camera did not get very good pictures on this setting. I think this one did better. This was taken about 9:15pm. As you can tell, it was still quite light.



Tried a couple of other shots using sunset/dusk & fireworks settings. Didn't like any of those. This camera warned to use the flash, and wouldn't operate until the flash was raised. Of course I had to hunt around for the button to pop up the flash.

Hope you enjoy this. The picture does NOT convey the beauty that we saw this evening. It was awesome. Also didn't have a storm this evening as we've been having the past few evenings. No rain today, and it was cooler. At least temperature wise...the humidity was high, so it felt muggy. There was a breeze the few times I stepped outside. So very thankful for that.

Have a lovely evening, and thanks for popping by. Hugs

Birthday

Good morning, and here's the start of another week. Gosh, we've gone through more than half of 2013 awready. How can this be?

There's a birthday coming up in my family and so here's the card I have ready for my baby brother (who is 8 yrs older than I am!). I shared this card & story last year. When trying to think of a theme for his birthday, I remembered I had this Just Rite vintage stamp, hunted it up, stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa on Xpress paper colored with copics. Spica glitter pens used for a bit of glitz here & there on the image.



-

7/21/2013

Hello

Happy Sunday. Our temperature and our humidity level are about the same! We have some glorious sunshine outside, but I think it is quite hot & muggy, so I'm staying inside where it's cool. Have a few kitchen chores to accomplish here in a few, but first a card to share. I intended to post this card yesterday, but we went out for a while. The outing included a stop in our local AC Moore, where I found some water based markers with a brush tip and a tiny tip on sale. Picked up 2 different colorways as the tiny tip would be super for outlines in tiny areas such as flower stems. Tried both packages out last evening, and sadly, they are going to be returned. Over 1/3 of the markers in each set of 12 seemed very dry. Even on sale, dry markers are not a bargain! Very disappointing. Upon returning home, it had clouded up for a storm to roll in, and the light was kaput. I didn't want to drag Ott lights around for photography, the recliner looked very inviting, so....here 'tis today.


The image had been colored for a while, but I believe this was a PSX stamp, colored with copics. I went over it to add a bit more contrast in some areas. Hmm, could this be considered a snippet?

The image & cardbase Diecut with S/Binders Classic ovals, in sizes that would fit compatibly together for a window aperture. The cardbase has some dimensional foam to raise the cardbase off the image surface. Frame diecut with S/Binder Floral Ovals in a snippet of green dotted paper.

Sentiment is Elizabeth Craft die in the same green dot paper snippetity stuff.

So, I've heard about water guns, (non-destructive, just cooling & fun), goats, trampolines and other odd assortments over at the Playground. I don't know about you, but I have to check out this mayhem. Might look up a hard hat to shield the sun rays, but it might come in handy for other kinds of protection too. Grab something cool & liquid, and com'on along to Pixie's Crafty Workshop Playground, Week 82 and see what those crazy crafters have going on. There's sure to be some lovely cards to enjoy, even if you don't join the A Team water fights, want to ignore the goat, and just jump on the trampoline.

Thanks for joining me this morning, and have a lovely afternoon...Hope you can stay cool where you are. Hugs.

7/19/2013

All Occasion

Good morning, Hoo-ray for Friday (not sure it matters too much when you're retired, but I think it is a psychological thing - leftover from work days!). Welcome and here's another card to share, which I hope you will like.

 

7/18/2013

All Occasion

Hello, and hope your afternoon is staying cool or that you can stay inside where it _is_ cool. It's very hot in our area with high humidity.

Recently I saw a beautiful card by Loll (here), and decided I wanted to try this technique. We purchased the mini-torch & some metal sheets to try this look out. I had sent the link for the card to a friend, who suggested I try using a heat tool first. I have an old Marvy heat tool that gets much hotter than the smaller Ranger heat tool, so here's the first result (not as pretty as Loll's, but I did like it).


7/17/2013

Thank You

Hi Fellow Bloggers...and I'm back with another experimental card. I've been seeing Washi tape on so many blogs, have been picking up some when I'd see sales. Had not used any as yet. Decided I'd try on this card.


7/16/2013

Thank You

Good afternoon and welcome. Come sit a spell & let's chat... It's another hot one in our area today. Had some errands to run, and was happy to get back home in the coolth. Fortunately we were able to park close, so it was a fast trot from the car into a cool building.

Last night I played with Dylusions sprays again. Used a 140# watercolor paper, spritzed it with water - then spritzed some of the pinks, red & a bit of yellow over this; mopped up excess ink with a roll of paper toweling. Let it dry for a bit, then used a pretty Hero Arts Flourish stamp that I've had for a while, inked with Versamark, heat embossed with Hero Arts White EP. There are a couple of places on the flourish where it is not as white as in others, and I'm thinking perhaps I didn't let the sprayed piece dry as long as it should have. But I liked it anyway, and stamped the flower image (which I think is Memory Box) using Memento Rhubarb Red.

Then used Memento Gray Flannel to sort of over stamp the flowers. The leaves were stamped with one of the Inkadinkadoo Gear sets - just adhered to a clear block - using Memento Tuxedo Black. I did like the results. The w/c paper seems to me to be a bit too heavy for a card, so I'm going to get some 90# water color paper & try it. The square piece didn't fit on the card well, so I diecut a Memory Box Scalloped border using Glitter Paper. Did a couple forward & back rolls through the Big Shot, and to my pleased surprise, it cut very cleanly on this thick paper. All that was necessary was punch a couple of pokeys in the holes. Because the w/c paper is thick, I didn't like the 'edge' between the glitter paper & w/c paper, so I cut a thin strip of black glitter paper to cover those edges. Cut the Memory Box thanks die out of the same black glitter paper. And called 'er finished.

This was a kind of fun card to make. I am enjoying those Dylusions sprays, but I need to remember to put gloves on. It stains your fingers & nails - although it does wash off fairly easily.

Hope you like this one. Thanks for checking in this afternoon, and stay cool, if it's hot where you are in the world. Hugs

7/15/2013

Get Well

Welcome and hope that your Monday has been a good day so far. We've gone from overcast skies, with a sprinkle of rain, to bright sunshine, with some gray clouds lurking about. So far our morning has been quiet & relaxed. My way to start the week.

One of our New England friends is under the weather, so I made a card for her last evening. Here 'tis.
 

7/13/2013

Thank You and Anniversary Blog Candy winner

Good afternoon. Thank you all so very much for the sweet comments yesterday helping us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. As days go, it was quiet (we like quiet, so that was ideal!). In the evening, we went out for dinner with my #2 brother & SIL. We left in a heavy rainstorm, and on the way to the restaurant, had to backtrack, take another route, as a tree had blown down over the road. My SIL commented that every time we go out to eat, it seems as though it's raining. It had ended when we left the restaurant. We had not wanted a big party, but had planned an extensive trip out to some of our National Parks. However, some other things got in the way of that plan, so it's put 'on hold' for the moment. Not forgotten though!

Yesterday I was keeping track of the comments that came in, so I listed each one, numbering as to time it was posted. I had one post that came in on the sticky post (my fault for the confusion ....) on the 12th, so I included it in the count for the Random Generator, again using date/time as to the number sequence(it was #1). I had one last entry that came in about 2am on the 13th, but since I wasn't certain of the commenter's time zone, I also included that in the count. Tried to be fair to everyone who took the time to leave a comment. RG selected #7, and that number on my list was JIMLYNN. Count down time for the 48 hrs to contact me with your info, starts 7/13 at 1:30pm. So please leave a comment (and remember no one but me will see your private info) or if you have my email info, let me know how to get the candy to you. And CONGRATULATIONS! I hope you will like what I've selected.

Our deepest thanks to ALL who participated ...it helped to make our day very special...as did all the lovely cards & emails we received.

OK...here's a card to share today.

This one was hard to photo, due to the shine on the butterfly.

Anniversary


Hello and Welcome to a new follower - Joyce. Thanks for becoming a follower & visiting.

I was going to post this yesterday, but didn't want to cause more confusion on the commenting for blog candy thing, so this will be a scheduled post - to show up after all the qualifying candy comments are counted.

I wanted to share some of the beautiful cards we've received (and one from DH which made me get a bit misty-eyed).




If you click to enlarge I think the sentiment will be readable. He's not one to say a lot of 'mushy things', but this sort of 'got to me', if you know what I mean. So many of our contemporaries have lost their life partner before this milestone, so we feel especially thankful and blessed to still be with each other. And able to enjoy life together. I'll share the inside part as well.

Now for the card from our daughter - who also doesn't say a lot of sentimental things either.











 
Here's 2 more gorgeous handmade cards we received
 
Brenda's card


Bonnie's card

So thank you to each of you that thought of us with such kindness today. Made it all the more special to us. Hugs, and also thanks for celebrating with us.

7/12/2013

The Big 50 Day

Good Morning -  welcome - and thanks for coming by to visit today.

Now, I think I've confused readers with the earlier sticky post, as I've had a lot of
comments on that particular post. I had intended for the blog candy-anniversary
 celebration comments to be made on today's post. SO...in trying to be fair,
anyone who is: (1) a  follower, AND
 (2) who comments on The Sticky post TODAY or  this post TODAY, will be included in the random
generator count for the blog candy.
 
Must meet BOTH conditions to be considered for the blog candy.
(also for some readers I realize your day started earlier than here in the USA, so I will try to factor that condition in as well when I count comments made on the Sticky Post.)

This is a big Milestone Day at our house, as we were married 50 years ago this evening. By strange coincidence, that happened to be a Friday as well. I used to get the days mixed up (wondering ...is it July 12 or July 13...?). Then I'd always remind myself "We would never be so stupid as to get married on a Friday the 13th, so it has to be Friday 12th". Funny how one's mind can work. Now DH claims he never got the days mixed up. Freudian? Maybe so! Anyway, we did make it for 50 years, and we both agree, that sometimes ...it WAS A LOTTA WORK! 

7/11/2013

Birthday, July 4th

Hi there, and as promised, I'm back to share some lovely cards that were in the mail when we arrived back home. (well, I said I'd post yesterday afternoon, but it didn't work out that way). So without further palaver, here's the cards. I was so thrilled to receive these.

A delightful card from my talented friend, Gloria (who has a Silhouette, and I bet she made some of the elements on this card with the Silhouette). Isn't it adorable? The inside is also cute as well.

Another beauty from my also very talented blog buddy, Brenda...who is a Cricut guru. The inside is just as pretty as the outside....
My sweet niece Julie, sent us this 4th of July card. Alas, I only sent one out this year, and it was to our daughter.
The inside of Julie's card was also decorated. I should have taken pics of the interiors as well, but I'm still trying to get laundry done, so just photo'd the front view. I (we) are so lucky to have such talented folks who think enough of us, to spend their time making a special card. That makes me feel so blessed. Thank you to all of you! We loved each one of 'em, and what a treat to open after a long trip. Sure was much nicer than all the bills waiting on us!

The reason the laundry project is taking so long, is that we've had a lot of rain in our area. We have a septic tank, drain fields...so I'm trying to not cause a problem with running too much extra water into the system, since I know the ground is so saturated. Our area has not had any flooding, but according to the news, there's been some flooding in surrounding communities.

Thanks for joining me today, and hopefully I can get a card of my own ready to share pretty soon. I'm a slow unpacker. I'll also try to take some pictures of the goodies I brought home, when I can get that stuff unpacked.

In the meantime, thanks for joining me this afternoon. Hope you enjoyed the pretty cards too. Come again when you have time. Hugs and have a wonderful afternoon.

PS: DON'T FORGET...RANDOM GENERATOR WILL BE RUN TOMORROW SO I MUST HAVE A POST READY FOR YOUR COMMENTS. PLEASE SEE THE RULES FOR HOW THE RANDOM GENERATOR NUMBERS WILL BE SELECTED... AND I'LL NUMBER EACH COMMENT IN THE ORDER THAT IT COMES IN. (Oh I hope that made sense -- )

Blog Candy

ALERT! BLOG CANDY - JULY 12!

STICKY POST - newer posts below
 
Mr DH & I have a big milestone wedding anniversary coming up next month. To help us celebrate, I'd like to give away some blog candy  The candy for my USA followers is now pictured below.  For my international followers, there will be a voucher for $50.00 (USA amount) from LOTV, as it gets   expensive to mail a package of any size overseas. This should approximate the value of actual products. I will contact LOTV to get the dollar to pound conversion for the international follower and advise of the voucher amount. I believe that LOTV will mail directly to the winner when specific info is provided.
 
The rules for this specific blog candy will be a little different from what I've used before.*

(1)The winner must be a follower of this blog

 

(2) and be sure to leave a comment here on:

JULY 12 


I will run the Random Generator to include blog followers who leave a comment that day- using the number of comments & the order of commenting, to get the numbers to plug into the R.Generator. I hope you will all join us to celebrate our 50 yrs of (mostly!) wedded bliss!
 
The only item not new, is the PSX wreath stamp. This was included in a 'box lot' purchased from a closing store, and had been a demo stamp. I cleaned the rubber (see the Kiss cleaner...It works very well!), but the wood is stained. If you're not familiar with PSX stamps...they are wonderful! I already had this one so thought I'd share it . I plan to add in some white diecut sentiments from my beloved Elizabeth Craft dies . White can be colored with your marker of choice to the color desired.
*Also for anyone who follows on Bloglovin, that I may not have you in my spreadsheet database. If you are a follower on Bloglovin, but don't show up in the current followers' list, please let me know so I can add you to my spreadsheet, and not overlook anyone in future candies.
 


7/10/2013

Miscellaneous

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig! Welcome to my little corner of Blogland. We got back after a safe & uneventful drive back from New England to South Carolina. It's always fun to go visitin', but also equally delightful to be back with your own 'stuff' once more. I'm a great traveler, just want to be back in my own bed each night. Haven't figured out how to do that just yet (and No, I do NOT wish to own an RV either!...couldn't afford the petrol required for one thing..LOL). DH is now unpacking the pickup, so if I can get all the laundry done up, deal with the tons of mail we have --some are bills that need to be handled as they are fast coming due...I will try to take some photos of the lovely treasures I found in 2 different wonderful stamp stores. Yes, we did stop at Betty's in Greensboro, NC yesterday afternoon. It was a bit off our route home, but DH was sweet enough to go along with my request. He even paid for it while I was in the classroom having Betty show me her Art Journal using Dylusions Ink, so I don't know how much I spent (yet!). I did try to be restrained, since I had awready been to Absolutely Everything, in Topsfield, MA. Not to mention several Michaels' stores along the way.

Also sorted quickly through the mail, to sift out junk mail from the important stuff (like bills), and found some wonderful birthday cards that probably arrived the day we left (which was my birthday BTW). And a lovely 4th of July card from my sweet niece Julie.

I'll try to share those later today if I can get through with the chores that really must be done after traveling. So goodby for now, and thanks for checking in.

Hugs

7/07/2013

Miscellaneous

Happy Sunday, and welcome. Today is an 'at home day' for me. DH has gone out on some errands, but I chose to stay inside in the coolth. Don't think it is quite so hot as past days, but still plenty warm.  I think the humidity is a bit less. Last evening we were invited out for another cookout, and my heart fell, cause I dreaded sitting outside in the muggy heat. However, I was delightfully surprised that even though we were outside, and it _was_ warm, there was a pleasant breeze to cool us off, and I didn't have breathing problems. So we had a very pleasant meal, and when the bugs joined us, we went inside into air conditioning. Hope if it's hot where you are, you have the pleasure of staying in where it's cool.

I thought I'd show one more picture I took at Deerfield Village. I took a closeup of one of the pretty lilies that are planted everywhere in this area...so very colorful planted in massed clumps, but also very showy in combinations with other plant colors.


 
 
These are called Tiger Lilies and if we have them in South Carolina, I haven't seen any. Our lilies are the soft yellow ones usually. I want to use this coloration on a stamp image, so I figured I better get a closeup so I could remember what it looks like.
 
Tomorrow we plan to head south, so I'll be MIA once again. It will take us 2 days - if all goes to plan - and I'm debating on the wisdom of stopping at the Greensboro stamp store I discovered in May. I was so bad at the one we visited last week, that I probably ought not.  Then, again....
 
. So have a wonderful afternoon, stay cool if you can, and thanks for popping by to visit. Hugs. 

7/06/2013

Miscellaneous

Good morning from Beantown, and welcome. We have another hot sunshine day here. Yesterday we visited the quaint & lovely village of Deerfield, Massachusetts. It was 94 in the shade again, and these old houses do NOT have air conditioning. The docents had small fans in the downstairs area where they waited for visitors, but oh my goodness, I don't know how they managed. I was totally knocked out by the heat. We would climb stairs, huffing & puffing, to get in the upper areas, which were even more hot & airless. Of course all windows were closed. I kept thinking "Now whose stupid idea was it to come here today?" (It had been mine). It is a lovely place to visit, as many of the houses are original to the village, with lots of  'original to the house' items, such as wallpaper or furnishings, etc. Of course some would be reproductions, but still, one gets the flavor of what the early village life would have been. Had it not been such a miserably hot day, what a pleasure to see early life. There are several extremely interesting museums - one being a silver shop, another a textile & early furniture display. Another is a 'hands-on' for children and adults. We had lunch in the Deerfield Inn, which was blessedly air conditioned, with delicious food.

I did take some pictures, so I'll share just a few on the blog. I don't have any photo software on the laptop, so this are strictly from the Nikon, no edits or cropping done. I made them small size, but double click to enlarge.
Rose covered fence
House with moss on roof


Lily garden at old house
Deerfield Post Office


Stone wall entry
Deerfield Inn (air conditioned!)

Deerfield academy-tree lined street
Old house
 

7/04/2013

July 4th

Good evening, and Happy 4th of July to all my USA friends! I hope you had a grand day to celebrate. It was blooming hot here in Beantown. Our picnic was outside, think it was 94, and though we had lots of shade, it was HOT! But good food, good friends made for a most enjoyable day. We came home, watched the Boston Pops on television. It was so lovely to get back in cool air conditioning, and I got a very cool shower which was refreshing!

Our daughter called, said it is raining in Tampa, Fla. I'm reading email that it is raining in our hometown in SC. We could have used a few clouds this afternoon, but we had bright golden sunshine, blue skies, and an occasional breeze.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Deerfield, Mass, which is an old historic town, that has been restored. We visited  there - lo these many many years ago. We both enjoy that type of thing. Not sure who in the family will go with us, if any.

Took a few pictures at the picnic, mostly of people, but our hosts did have some lovely flowers about, so I'll see how they turn out. I'm seeing the color combo of golden yellow lilies planted with vivid pink petunias a lot up here. Really very striking. If anything turned out halfway decent, I'll share a few of the gardens.

So have a restful evening, and thanks so much for popping by, and I hope your day was fun, relaxing, safe, whatever you needed the celebration to be. We were remembering what it is all about, makes you stop and think what our forebears sacrificed so that we had such a day to celebrate. Hugs, and come again when you have time.
Edit: Got the pictures transferred from camera to pc, so I thought I'd share a few. Hope you enjoy
Back garden
Driveway garden




My DH - ballcap & flag shirt.
 
Picnic host & master chef




Best friend, hat & blue shirt. His brother(other hat)
 visiting from Seattle

7/03/2013

Miscellaneous

Good afternoon & welcome.

I was so tired after all my excitement of shopping yesterday afternoon, I completely forgot to mention that I got selected to win some more blog candy from Tammy at Somewhere Under the Sun. She had done a marvelously vintage card using cameos (a fav of mine...on Anything). So I left a comment, and Voila, RG picked me. Whoa!  Big Thank You to Tammy, and I've emailed her my contact info. She has a lovely blog, if you have time to check this out.

Today I was fooling with our recently purchased Nikon P520(or I should say My, as DH says he ain't gonna mess with this one. He will keep to the Nikon for dummies- an old Coolpix). If I can larn how to use it, I think it will  take much sharper pictures. Has more 'manual' controls, should a knowledgeable operator know how to use. (A key element!). Took some of Max the dog, who is a 10 month, lovely blonde Labrador. After our initial entry into the house, when Max was alone in his kennel, doing his guard dog bit, growling low in his throat, he has decided we might be fit to be allowed in house. Now, I rather believe he likes me. He is still quite rambunctious, loves to jump and lick. So far, he has not seemed to antagonize my allergy stuff. However, a neighbor brings his dog in to visit several times a day, and this dog does give me symptoms. When I was here 3 yrs + ago, Lucky was a new puppy, and I reacted quite severely to him. His owner keeps him pretty much away from me, assures me he doesn't shed (RIGGGHT!). I just say hello, excuse myself & try to leave the room. Have been very religious with my meds, and so far.....fingers crossed.

7/02/2013

Road Trip

Good evening, Friends. What a delightful afternoon I just spent at the most lovely store...Absolutely Everything, in Topsfield, Massachusetts. This wonderful store is about an hour from where we are visiting, and I had found the store some years ago, last time we were up in Mass. Due to one thing & another, it's been at least 3 yrs since I've been here on a visit, so I had a promise from DH that we'd go back to the store. This afternoon was the day! (see me Happy Dancing!). Used the trusty GPS (plus I also printed out map directions from Google). Fortunately, the 2 guides matched for the most part. After exiting the interstate, we meandered through quaint & well kept New England towns like Andover, Lawrence & I can't remember the rest.

Folks, let me tell you: It was FUN in this store! I didn't know where to start first. There were several very friendly & helpful ladies who would point me in the direction when I would ask "Do you have....?" and off I'd go with a cute little basket on my arm. Filled up one basket, and Mr. DH kindly brought me another one.

Christmas

Hello and welcome. Here's one last card that I got made for a scheduled post. This one was really a simple fast card. And I know exactly who it shall be sent to, as I've been requested to do a simple, non-fussy card for this person! I think this one fits the bill.



- embossed green c/s with EF (I don't remember the name, but can find it if anyone wants the name of it!).

- SU circle punch for the 2 openings.

- SU punch of some cardinals on pattern paper to fit the window, popped up on dimensionals

- holly, pinecones from a sticker sheet

- sentiment from a sticker sheet.

Pretty simple, went together quite fast - especially for me, a slow cardmaker at the best of times! I hope the recipient will like it, and remember asking for a non-fussy card!

Have a wonderful day. See you soon. If I can get some good photographs in Boston, I'll try to post. My friends don't have Wi-Fi, so I will have to use their pc to get to the internet (oh yes, my laptop will be with me, but only for watching dvds, unless I zip down to a neighborhood Panera. Panera has free Wi-Fi. The Starbucks which is in the same area, charges $5 last time we were up 3 yrs ago. Do I pay $5, or do I get free? I bet you know which one!!!

7/01/2013

Road Trip

Good Morning, Dear Friends. No card to share today, but just a note to say Thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes I've received from you. It was a pretty quiet birthday, as birthdays go...no cake, no celebrations...but just riding, riding, riding. It was a pretty day for driving, and all I had to do, was sit in the navigator's seat, and be a good passenger. I sleep a lot when we travel, (I am a much better passenger that way, as I don't 'backseat drive'). DH appreciates that. I tend to be a nervous passenger, even though he is a very good driver. We didn't have to deal with any rain the first traveling day, and we stopped at a Best Western motel that we've stayed at for many years, after stumbling upon it some time back. It's a very clean place, reasonably priced - well lighted parking lot, breakfast included in the rate. What I like best about it is that there is a Michael's Craft Store in the next parking lot, within walking distance. Also several choices of places to eat. So after we checked in, and found that we had enough points on our Best Western Rewards program to merit a free night's stay (now THAT was a nice birthday present!), we walked over to the restaurant & stores. There was a very dark cloud, and I made the comment "I hope this doesn't turn out to be a stupid decision to walk over here". This was about 8:30, still plenty of daylight. We get into the restaurant and the sky lets go, heavy rain. I know we'll get soaked if we have to walk in it; the restaurant closes at 9pm, and I'm having visions of us being thrown out into this rain. Thankfully, as the place was getting ready to close, the rain eased up.  We did have to walk in some puddles to get back to our room (and I was wearing some new sandals). We did make it back with no slips or slides in the wet thankfully. I did get to the Michael's store. Always try to check the different craft stores when we travel...just on the off chance it might have something my local place hasn't. And it did!!! I didn't bring any craft stuff along with me, but I didn't promise I wouldn't BUY anything along the way! LOL.

The next day, we drove along in the mountains of Pennsylvania - with bursts of rain showers off & on. New York was about the same...sometimes pretty heavy rain, which I don't like. We were in the pickup, which does make me feel a lot safer, as we're up a bit higher and can see better, plus it's nice & heavy. We arrived at our destination about 8:20pm, safe & with no travel events. Went back out to get some dinner, and then bunked in for the night.

Our friends have a lovely blonde labrador dog - about 10 months old. Big, big dog, very friendly, but pet dander is one of my allergy triggers. I made sure to get my allergy shot just before we left, so I'm hoping I don't have a reaction to Max. For some unknown reason, cats & dogs just love to climb all over me. I'm not an especially 'animal lover', so that has always been a mystery to me. (Mind you, I don't want an animal not treated well. We had a dog for 16 yrs, and I never had a problem). Our daughter has 3 greyhounds -one of them sets off my allergic reaction, the other 2 do not. So I petted Max just a little bit, to let him get used to my scent, and everyone is trying to keep him from jumping on me. He really is a beautiful boy, though, and just looks at me with those liquid dark eyes as if to say "Lady, what's with you?", and comes over to lick me!!!

So thanks for joining me this morning. I hope you will have a lovely day doing whatever your Monday routine is, and I'll try to post if I can. No WiFi here, so can't use my laptop to get online. I plan to try to visit some of your blogs if possible. In the meantime, God Bless.

Christmas



Hi and welcome. This is a scheduled post, which I hope will show up on 7/1 if I've done it properly. As you are reading this, I am in Boston, visiting some dear friends. It's always fun to come up to New England.
 
This is a card I had originally intended for Rudolph Day, but then I submitted  the Cottage Cutz Cardinal card posted earlier. This card was made from recycled bits on a Christmas card received in 2012. I liked it pretty well.
 
 
- Santa is backed with some pattern paper (a 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 Paper Studio), which you've seen me use on other cards. I like this rather tartan pattern, and it was diecut with a S/Binder Deckled Rectangle. The Mistletoe & Noel tags were just cut with scissors and adhered. The gold holly was diecut (a snippet of mirror paper) with a S/B Holly Accent piece, and has Viva Décor red berry in the center.
 
- Embossing folder was Darice Holly, over which I rubbed a  Delicata Gold ink pad, then embossed.
 
- Cardbase is dark red Paper Studio cardstock.
 
I think I've used all the front of this particular Christmas card now, so it can go in the trash. I'd use the white backing, but there's writing on the inside, so didn't want to use that, & chance having somebody read part of a personal message, should something come loose on a card!!! (Put the brain in gear before the Big Shot!).
 
Thanks for visiting today, and have a wonderful afternoon. Hugs.