Hi, and it's been so many  months since I did a post. Bad, bad me! We've had a lovely fall, with occasional days of rain, which we needed. For the most part, however, we've had sunny days that were fairly warm for the time of the year. Our foliage was absolutely gorgeous this year. Most of those glorious leaves are now on the ground (I mulch them up with the mower) either blown down by the wind, or else the rain pulled them down. 

I am doing fairly well most days, definitely better than I did for some time. That's not to say, I don't still have times when my emotions get the best of me. I realize I am still so blessed in my life, and that so many other of my blog buddies are going through their own rough times. I got my 2 covid shots, my flu shot and then finally the booster. I'm thankful I've not succumbed to any 'bad' stuff so far this year. 

Thanksgiving was a day I dreaded, but I got through it. Had some invitations, but decided since DD & her DH couldn't be here with me, I really thought I'd be best on my own. Ordered a Thanksgiving dinner from one of our local restaurants (Cracker Barrel for those who know this chain). Picked it up, then drove down to spend a few minutes with Sweetie. I know he's not really there, but it was time to change out the small vase of flowers we can place there in remembrance. I don't stay long. It's a peaceful chapel, and I try to go by every few months. Came home, got my plate and sat to watch an old British series, called Taggert. One I'd never seen until I subscribed to Britbox. Boy, am I loving that subscription. 

I hope all my American buddies had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving, and that you had the same lovely weather for the day as we did. It was coolish, but not cold. For those not celebrating the day as such, hope you had a nice Thursday!

Here at this house, I'm trying to get a few Christmas decorations down from the storage area, and have a few Christmas cards made. I seem to stay very busy most days. At present my #2 brother who is 91, is staying with me. He lives down the street and is having some new flooring put down to replace his musty smelling carpet, and also some other remodeling house stuff. He had bronchitis a few months back, and just can't seem to shake the effects of it. He was coughing, wheezing, having breathing difficulties. Saw several specialists but nothing concrete found. I suggested he come stay here where there is no carpet, and I don't have curtains or drapes. (not to say I don't have dust though! ) He's been a lot better here, but it's been an adjustment having somebody in the house with me. We have different lifestyles. However, he was there for us when we needed help, and so far we're muddling along. The fella doing the work has been having health problems. Don't know what it is like where you live, but it's very difficult to get someone reliable to do projects, show up when promised, and do a job that you feel is what you paid for! This guy is good about all that, except he's not always reliable to show when promised. He's worked for the families before, tho, so we know he'll do a good job, and will give value for the dollar. Anyway, that's it for me. Ya'll have a good weekend, and prayers for all my blog buddies who are in need of them. I know those prayers kept me going for a long time, and uplifted me when I sorely needed it. Big Hugs. Thanks for visiting.

Good afternoon, and a very Happy Easter wish for all who may read this latest post. Sad to say I've not kept my New Year's resolution to be more pro-active with this blog and visiting other blogs. In my defense, I HAVE tried! On the positive side, I have kept some of the other resolutions I made. 

We have a beautiful day, with temps in the low 70-s here in SCarolina, but the air still has a cool-ish feel to it. Things are beginning to bloom and it's quite pretty. The redbud tree that I've shared pictures of on past posts is blooming in such a lovely pink. The lilac bush has some lavender blossoms on it;  I noticed that the old iris that DH had planted one little blade of the plant in an old tube had about 5 buds on it. This was a very old plant that had come from my aunt's place up in North Carolina. My late SIL had dug up some bulbs after our aunt passed away, and shared a couple bulbs with us. DD planted these by the corner of his shed, and oh did they multiply. It got a bit snaky looking, as the dead leaves of the plant fall down, and when I'd try to clean up the area, I was always a bit wary. He finally dug them up, and was gonna pitch 'em, but he decided to take just one bulb and put in an old wooden tub I'd bought. Well, that tub has gotten full and at least I can clean out the dead leaves without too much fear. The thrift (or as some call it, creeping phlox) that is along the driveway and walls is also a nice pink. I am pretty sure the dogwood trees have some buds on them, but not had time (or when I was in the mood!) to walk out for a closer look. The old rose bush that came from my Mom's homeplace, has turned green. I am watching that for blossoms. Her birthday would be April 24, and it's always been full of buds and blooms close to then. We've always said that's Mama saying Hello!

Life seems to stay fairly busy for me. I go to bed very late, and get up just as late if I have no appointments. I turned in all the cable DVR boxes, and saved some money on the cable bill. Decided to use some of that to subscribe to Britbox streaming, and I enjoy watching the British programs. Nothing else exciting happening around here, but I try hard to count my blessings. Still haven't done anything with regard to making cards either. I've received some beautiful ones from lovely bloggers who are so kind to remember me! Also love getting emails as well, although I'm rather slow at responding. I'm managing..life goes on, and I'm learning to do pretty much those things I must do.

Got both my Covid shots (or as my 90 yr old brother refers to it - the WuHan shot). When I check Facebook to see if I've got a message from DD, I see these cooking videos, so I watch those sometimes. There's 2 ladies who have - I guess it would be youtube videos that come in on my facebook feed - Brenda Gant and Mama Sue. They cook like I might (when I do cook!) with ingredients most of us would have on hand. Lots of crockpot recipes show up too, so I've tried a couple of those. I got an Instant Pot - which I've used quite a few times, but still learning about it. I like it so far. Bought an air fryer when I was in Costco, after my neighbor was saying how much she liked hers. Still trying to use that appliance. Took the old toaster oven down to the garage, and if I participate in the community garage sale in May (IF it's held...last year it wasn't due to the virus problem)...I have some appliances of that sort to put in it. 

I hope those of you dealing with family or health issues are still managing to face each day. I KNOW it gets so hard. I hope that you will have a Blessed Easter. I'm thankful to be allowed to see another spring, and I'm trying very hard to remember all the blessings I've been given (my sweet DH and DD) and the ones I still have! I count my blog pals among those blessings too. God Bless and many hugs. 

 Good Evening, Bloggers. It's been so long since I posted, I didn't even remember how to do a new post. Took some scramblin' around to get to the correct place to post! Then had to search through computer files trying to find the signature a sweet blogger created for me. 

It's been an awful 2+ years while I was MIA, and I expect quite a few of you know that my sweet DH left us on June 30, 2020. I miss him terribly, but I am thankful that God was merciful and took him home, where he is now out of the misery that became his/our life for 20 months. I feel very hollow and like most of me is no longer there. I also know that some of you have been through this Life experience and understand what I'm feeling. 

Thanks to you all who sent beautiful cards that were so uplifting, and the prayers so many of you said for him and for both of us. Believe me, we sorely needed those prayers. I've been alone now for 6 months, as of yesterday. Facing a brand new year, that I hope will bring some smiles and ease of heartache. Our daughter (along with her husband) has been my rock and honestly, is what is keeping me going. DD was here with us the last month of her Dad's life, and I truly don't think I could have made it without her. I was exhausted, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. She stayed for a few weeks after, and then was back in late Sept, again for Thanksgiving, and they came for Christmas. It helped me get through, and we had a lot of  'business stuff' to get handled, and SIL was a huge help with that. Both were great moral support for me as well. My brother who lives down the street (and lost his wife nearly 4 yrs ago) came for 2 months and stayed with me at night. That was a big help as I'd never really been 'alone' in that sense before.  I've still got so many blessings in my life.

 I am having to learn to do so many tasks that I never had to contend with before the sickness. And it ain't easy!!! But it's one foot in front of the other, one day at a time. As I have said to folks, some days are diamonds, some days are stones (re: the John Denver song). I just go along as best I can and keep praying God to keep me strong. I know He's listening, but I sometimes suspect He thinks I need to do some of this on my own, and not be a weakling wallowing in self-pity. I also know that DD is with me too, I just can't hug him and see him like I did, but I still talk to him a lot. I'm trying to do things as I think he would wish me to do. He wanted me to be happy and keep living for the both of us he said.

I am going to make a New Year's resolution to try to start visiting some blogs. And leave comments. I have some wonderful cards that people sent that I want to share. I'd like to say I'll share some cards I've made. Alas, I've not made very many. I did make a Christmas card for the DD and SIL, but oh, am I rusty! When you don't use copics regularly, it's hard to get the coloring to look 'right'. I don't know yet if I'll get back into card making, but gosh, with all the 'stash' I have, what a waste if I don't. Just not motivated as yet to want to make cards.

I wanted to try to make this post so that it goes live for New Year's Day (part of my resolution, don'cha'no?) and I'll make a few more private resolutions for myself. Still got lots of clearing out to do. I work on that and then have to stop. Not making too many decisions for a while, other than those I absolutely had to do.

I wanted to send to each of you that may read this post, heartfelt wishes for a much better and healthier New Year, for yourselves and your families. I know so many others have health issues, family problems, etc, and it helps to know that someone - somewhere - is thinking of you, and saying a little prayer each day for you. At least it did for me. Believe me that I'm doing so for my many blog buddies where I know there is a need for prayer. Thanks to ALL of you for being my blog buddies!!! Hugs.

Til later....God Bless. 

Merry Christmas

Good afternoon, and I hope everyone is caught up on their Christmas prep. Sorry to have been MIA for a while, and since there is a rare quiet moment, I'd like to wish all my blog followers a Very Merry Christmas. For those who have sent Christmas cards, Get Well Cards, and emails of encouragment, I want to say a heartfelt thank you.

For those of my followers who don't know why I have been away from Blogland and will continue to be away for a time, I will try to update you.

The October scan that DH had, showed a 4cm mass in the upper left quadrant of his intestine...Very likely malignant.We found to our distress, a colonoscopy nor an Endoscopy, show that area. (or so we've been told!) He was faithful in getting the tests we were told responsible people should have. He had surgery to remove that mass on Nov 7, and it was discovered he had other places in his intestines, plus the problem has metastized to both lungs. A 4-5 day surgical stay ended up being 14 days, of sheer misery.

A hospital oncologist saw him and was very brutal in delivering the news that if he does nothing, probable life expectancy of a couple months. With chemo, he  might gain a few additional months. But the condition is terminal, and he didn't mince words in saying so. Very difficult to hear this. This was shortly after the Nov 7 surgery. He was released on Nov 21, home for 4 days, began vomiting uncontrollably, so we had to rush him back to the hospital, as he had dehydrated. We think a lot of that was because the intravenous nutrition food he was being provided once home, was the wrong stuff (not what was given in hospital, and I DID question the difference in what I saw. Additionally he was on a clear liquid diet per his surgeon, and we had been told he could have 'shakes' made with whey powder, almond milk, baby food fruit - to build him up for chemo. Also WRONG!). So next time home, he was on the clear TPN (the liquid nutrition) & only clear liquid diet and that has seemed to work better. Additionally, we asked for anti-nausea meds, which (fingers x'd) so far have kept the vomiting away.

It's been a hellish several weeks, as I know nothing about how to take care of someone in this condition, and I'm having to inject vitamins, insulin into this prepared TPN, flush iv lines, connect & disconnect to a pump that feeds this stuff, and empty a belly drain bag too. My brain is in such a state, I didn't retain info, and most of the time, felt as though I'd break into 10 million tiny pieces from sheer nervous upset. I've pretty much learned how to do the TPN, still get scared doing it, afraid I'll do something wrong. But we are trying to take it day by day...and praying constantly

He is scheduled to get a chemo port on 12/27, and try to start chemo on 1-2. DH has a very low threshold for nausea, and I worry that he won't be able to tolerate it. Additionally, we've used up a lot of the 'couple months do nothing' scenario so not sure if the time that may be gained, if the tumors can be shrunk, will be worth the side effects of the chemo.

So for all of you who have sent up prayers on his and our behalf..PLEASE keep them going upward. We've prayed for a miracle...but also pray for courage to face whatever comes. I didn't have the time (nor the motivation) to send out any cards, but have been uplifted by all the lovely cards we've been sent. And the emails so many of you have sent, to say you're thinking of us. It means more than you will ever know, unless you have to face a situation like this. I know so many others have done so, and probably with a lot more grace than we are able to put into the journey.

I hope I can return to Blogland in the future, but right now, my biggest priority is looking after #1 DH. He's very precious to me, and I'm trying my best to do all I can to help him through this journey, keep him comfortable, and let him know just how much he is loved.

Again, thanks to all of you, and I wish each of you a Merry Christmas. Our daughter & SIL arrived this morning for a few days, so at least we can spend Christmas once more as a family.

God Bless.

Halloween Wreath

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Good evening, and welcome. I've only gotten one card made, and that is for Mr. He likes Halloween. Also snapped some photos of our pretty trees that we can see from our house.

First though, let me thank all of you who sent good wishes for the CT outcome. I'm very sad to say, we did not get good/happy news. I don't want to go into this subject a great deal, but we will be very busy with health issues in the upcoming weeks, possibly months. So I will be MIA a lot of time, or possibly on hiatus dealing with this matter. I didn't want to just disappear and not say why. I won't be entering challenges, nor probably have time for blogging. Or in the mood to make cards either I expect. Enough on that. Any prayers would be most gratefully welcomed and thanks!

Here's the card:

At the moment, don't remember the maker of this image, but it was pretty easy to color. Has some Sakura silver gel pen on the spider webs, WoS on the pumpkin faces and teeth, and used Nuvo drops for the red eyes on the spiders and bats. VOS from a Halloween 6x6 pack and a 8x10 glitter pack for the background. S/Binders circle and scallop circle for the dies.

Now here's a few pretty fall trees to share. The red maple is in our yard, the more 'umbrella shaped' one is in our neighbor's yard.

It's sort of like Fall arrived here in just a few days. These trees were all green just last week I think! Hope you enjoyed seeing our neighborhood. Take care, until we talk again!

Blessings & Hugs.

Christmas Card Club - Challenge 22

Good afternoon and welcome. I'm a bit late with my CCC post. Today Christine selected the theme as Winter Wonderland for our group of card makers who share Christmas cards every 2 weeks all throughout the year. One member decides what the theme will be for that week, but we have the option of "anything goes" if we don't have the necessary supplies, or want to take a different approach, as long as it's a Christmas theme.

My card was the usual last minute decision scramble as to what to make. After looking at Pinterest, Youtube and other time wasting places I enjoy...I searched through lots of stamp sets and decided on a 'look'. Combined 2 Penny Black clear sets to create today's card. I hope Christine will like it.

Penny Black Prancers Transparent set (trees)
Penny Black Nature's Silhouettes set(stag)
Sizzix Word Set

Created the sky using DI Shaded Lilac and Stormy Sky. At first created the snow drifts - which I thought looked pretty good (I rather struggle with creating snow drifts and it shouldn't be _that_ hard! Watched a couple of youtubes on that technique). Found I had trouble placing the trees well, even  using post-it mask. I did see one video that suggested starting from the top, and doing the sky first, and that was helpful. First effort not great with the tree placement & snow drifts, so flipped the Bristol Smooth Vellum c/s over, and started again. After creating the sky, this time I put the trees around first. Used different greens for depth, and Memento Gray Fog to create the background trees. Once I had the forest created, then used the torn hill/sky mask to brush some Shaded Lilac around to create the snowy drifts. Found that using a Inkylicious dual ended brush to swipe the 'snow' around, I was able to achieve a lighter touch than with using a dauber/blending tool.

Inked the stag with Black Versafine, stamped & used a black copic marker to touch up. A piece of double stick Sookwang was laid over the finished effort; added Cool Diamond Ritz Glitter & burnished well. Hope this finished look evokes a snowy forest wonderland. The sentiment was from a Sizzix words set, cut from some hologram glitter c/s.

Hope you have time to visit my fellow team members, whose blogs are listed on the left side bar.

The wedding came off nicely, although it was held outside (the actual ceremony part). While it was sunny, the skies had some dark clouds rolling up, and it was quite windy. The bride looked beautiful in a gorgeous dress. Lots of our extended family showed up, and the groom had an even bigger family. Food was delicious (southern bbq fare, with all the fixin's). Don't know any scan results yet; hopefully tomorrow will have a report from the GP. Appreciate all the good wishes on that.

Thanks for joining me today, and God Bless. Hugs too.

Santa Hedgies for Rudy Day

Good evening, and welcome. It's time for the October Rudolph Day Challenge, and next month will be the last one for 2018. In case you don't know about this challenge, it is a Christmas Anything Goes themed challenge, which opens on the 25th of each month, and closes on the last day of that month. Our hostess, Maureen always has some nice prizes, and it's just a fun and fairly easy rules challenge...just do something related to Christmas. 

Here's my entry for October....I've managed to join in each month of 2018 (I _think_!)

Penny Black image

CZ Design die sentiment

Hedgies colored with copics; Polar White Flowersoft for the fur and used a quickie glue pen over the string of stars. Then dumped some Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold over the wet glue. The glue pen allowed the EP to adhere fairly well, so IRL the stars have a nice glimmer. A silver slicci pentel pen helped the scissors to look metallic.

the snow was created by using a rather dried up snow writer (it wouldn't come out of the end so used an embossing paste spreader to put some on the card; then used my finger to spread it). Then dumped on some glitter while this was wet.

I sprayed a fixative over the flowersoft to keep it from falling off (hopefully) and the wet 'snow paste' held the glitter as it dried.

used red mats and a dot dp snippet piece to add some color on the background.

3 layers of snippets made up the sentiment. A red snippet in the middle, with 2 white snippet layers colored with copics. A business card was handy, so used the white back and sandwiched the red snippet between. The thickness of the business card gave a nice dimension. Nuvo Crystal glaze applied, once the layers were put together. Laid this on the kraft non-stick mat, as I applied the Glaze. This way when it blobbed over, as it does sometimes, it was not on the card, leaving a splodge that the camera picks up.

Please check out this month's Rudolph Day Challenge, and see lots of inspiration & then play along if you are able. Only a few more weeks to build your Christmas Card stash!

Hope to be back later with a card for our Christmas Card Club. Ya'll take care, and thanks for joining me. Hugs

Fall Penny Black Wreath

Good afternoon. It's been a rather overcast day, looked like it would rain, but so far, hasn't. We turned off the air conditioning one evening, and the next evening, the heat went on.

Today was haircut day, then home to do a few house chores. Have a few wreath images I've been working on of late; for some reason wreaths are appealing to me just now. This one is a wooden Penny Black, that is probably a NBUS. For some reason, it was a bit difficult to color. It was hard to pick earth tone colors for the pine cones, that would show up nicely. I was a bit disappointed in this one, but after going back to try to add contrast here and there on the pine cones, decided I best leave well enough alone.

Sentiment - Karen Burniston die set with some seasonal words. White snippets, colored with copics, 3 layers. Added WoS, then some Nuvo Crystal glaze. The fall looks like fau to me once it was laced down. The orange mat of the wreath is raised on white fun foam.

- MS border punch out of some VOS autumn themed 12x12 paper

- leaves are left-overs from a Prickley Pear Pumpkin set, that had a matching die. Didn't want the leaves with the pumpkins, so colored and added them on this card. Again, WoS, and no glaze.

A new card was added to the Cards by Friends page, so hope you can check it out! 

We're expecting some rain tomorrow. Mr has an early morning CT scan....tummy problems again. So not sure what our day will bring. A family wedding on Saturday, so that's pretty much our weekend started. For some reason today, I keep thinking it's Friday, and then catch myself...No, it's Thursday!

Hope you've had a good day. Thanks for joining me, and big hugs!

Birthday Water colored Tree

Happy Friday! Thanks for dropping by. I hope I've got my return visiting caught up, so I wanted to post another card. Remember this post where I said I'd done 2 water color Rubbernecker trees, misplaced them? Well here's one, that I finally got made into a card. (Still got one more to use up!) This will be for our neighbor's November birthday; she has a gorgeous maple tree in her front yard, that we probably get to enjoy more than she does, as it's very visible from our windows.

The Rubbernecker stamp was inked with Distress markers in fall shades, then spritzed. I think some Zig markers were also brushed around to add more color after stamping/spritzing - in places that looked like they needed it.

A stitched frame die was adhered over top of the stamped piece (because I had cut it too small...had to fiddle to get it to fit inside this frame). Then an old Tim Holtz 12x12 Fall pack was cut up to create the mat behind. Used VOS Paper Studio card pack of vintage sepia colors, to get the other design papers. Top right stitched rectangle cut from Sue Wilson Noble die, and an MFT angled die cut the spotted paper. The sentiment was embossed with Brutus Monroe Detail Copper. Tha's all folks!

Hoping that you have a wonderful weekend, with great weather. Our humidity has been less, and the morning & evening temps much cooler - but the day still warms up nicely. With less humidity, though, it's quite pleasant!

Big hugs - God Bless.

A Sunflower Wreath for a 90th Birthday

Hi there, and sorry to have been MIA with posting and visiting for the last week or so. Just been busy. I think I've said we go to exercise 3 days a week, plus we've had some doctors appointments to work in there as well. Right now, having family visiting for #1 brother's 90th birthday, (which is Monday). We all went out to eat as a family tonight, to a restaurant of his choice. Hard to believe the guy is 90 pretty soon, but then our Dad nearly made it to 90. And both parents had siblings that lived into the 90-s and 2 paternal aunts passed the 100 mark. So I guess good genes run in our family.

Had this card posted as a draft, as I was so far behind in comment visiting. I think I have caught up, but if I missed anybody, I do apologise!

Anyway, here's the card I made for our senior family member. I'm not sure he's that into flowers, but I had a pretty sunflower wreath stamp I wanted to use. So here it is:

Northwoods wood stamp - 

Memory Box sentiments and numbers

Crafters Companion Countess Crown die for edging

Copics, WoS, pentel gold slicci pen and Sakura white gel pen for highlights

Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold for embossing

Fussy cut the wreath and considered adding an orange mat. Decided to leave it simple since the edge is a bit ornate. I'm happy to say this was another Tuesday Morning bargain die. I used a new heavy metal shim from my friend Nancy, and with a couple of passes, this cut extremely well for such an intricate die.

On the inside I used a piece of fall colored DP to glue to the inside, then used a Penny Black birthday die.  This die was coated with versamark, then sprinkled with one coat of Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold and adhered to the pattern paper.

The happy sentiment is 3 layers, the 90 is 2 layers of the cream paper used for the top fold card. Used Versamark, heat embossed with Gilded Gold. There are 2 layers of the gold embossing on the 90, and 3 on the happy. These really do give the look of metallic embellishments!

Thanks for joining me today. Hope you had a fabulous weekend. Hope to catch up my visiting real soon! Hugs & Blessings.

Christmas Card Club Challenge #21

Good Morning. Here's hoping that you've had a good weekend so far;  for my American friends, I pray you were safe if you were in the path of our most recent storm, Michael. So many folks in that Florida Panhandle area had such devastation. It will take a long time for those communities to recover. So many prayers go out to them, and many thanks go upward that the rest of us were kept safe. In our area, we had been told to expect heavy rains and winds. We did get some good rains on one afternoon, then it stopped. Next morning, we had some good rain again, but in the afternoon, sun was back out. We did need the rain so it was good to get what we did. We've had 2 very pleasant days that have been more like what we normally experience at this time of the year.

Today is our Christmas Card Club Challenge, and our Kate chose today's theme of monochromatic. As always, we have the option of Anything goes. I was a little surprised to find myself struggling as to just how to do a monochromatic card...I hope Kate will approve what I did! (It was a good challenge to take me out of my comfort zone as I don't think I've ever done a monochrome card. I didn't use any copics!!!)

Stampendous wooden block - a very old NBUS stamp

Distress Inks Shaded Lilac and Chipped Sapphire

Paper Studio Blue Rose Cottage small paper pack

Used Shaded Lilac DI to sponge a white Bristol Vellum smooth cardstock. Dried the sponging with heat tool, then used the Bag Buddy so that I could do some embossing. After treating the sponged piece, stamped this fairly large block with Chipped Sapphire ink, as that stays wet enough to emboss with Ranger Clear Detail powder.

This was slow to emboss, and that's why there is a little yellow bit up in the branches. I decided I would leave this instead of trying to redo it. It sort of looks like the sun breaking through.

IRL the embossing has a nice shine, and added a narrow black mat to frame it... then placed on the blue dp that covered the side fold white cardbase.

My first effort, I used versamark to emboss a sponged piece that I'd made quite dark, using several blue shades of DI, along with a couple of the purple tones. I was pleased with that deep night sky look. But then I tried embossing with some dark blue cobalt glittered EP, and because the branches have so much tiny detail, that EP just stuck too much to even show the intricate tree branches. Other than the 'burn sun spot' I liked the final result on this effort, though.

Please take time to visit my fellow card club members. Their blog links are listed on the right side bar.

Thanks for visiting and apologies for being so behind once again in returning visits. I hope I can catch up this week. Have the birthday cards caught up until December!!! Have a great day, and God Bless.

A Cup of Birthday Flowers

Good afternoon on a gorgeous Tuesday afternoon. Sunny, but I think the air quality might not be quite so humid as usual. Been doing some bill paying, making phone calls about stuff. Two things I purely detest doing! But - needs must.

Here's a card that has been sent & received (and I hope liked!) so I'm sharing today.

Inky Antics Image

Gina Marie hexagon dies and background overlay

Crafters Companion sentiment die

Image colored with copics, WoS and some Pentel pens.

The sentiment is one that was purchased on a good sale at our local Tuesday Morning store. (This is a store that gets merchandise that probably didn't sell well at other stores . I'm not sure about this fact, but the prices are supposedly discounted. Got this one on the same visit as the sentiment on this card...   which did not cut easily. ) Pleased to say this one cut quite nicely, and the problem one did better on a later card, where the nice metal shim was used. This sentiment has 3 white snippet layers(colored with yellows) built up, and the idea was to have the sentiment color compliment the colors used for the sunflowers.

Ya'll have a wonderful afternoon. Thanks for looking in, and big hugs!

Christmas Card Challenge #20

Good Morning, welcome to Challenge #20 for our Christmas Club Challenge. This time our challenge theme was selected by Rachel. Rachel wanted to see turkeys, camels or sheep. As always, if a member does not have any supplies that fit with the particular challenge for the week, it can be anything goes. I have plenty of turkey images, but they are for Thanksgiving or Fall cards, rather than Christmas. Discovered I don't have even any digi images of a sheep! So it had to be camels. As for those, only have camels with 3 Wisemen riding them.

So here's the card I made for today. As usual, it didn't end up as I'd envisioned when I started out.

SU Come to Bethlehem set for the 3 Wisemen and the sentiment

Die-Versions Bethlehem die

Taylored Expressions Poinsettia EF
Cuttlebug Snowfall EF

DI Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves (DOX) and DI Chipped Sapphire for the sponged sky, and Aged Mahogany DI for the ground.

Brutus Monroe Copper Penny, Gilded Gold EP -(Star) and Ranger Queen's Gold

After sponging the watercolor weight c/s, stamped the SU image and heat embossed. My idea was to mask and have the city of Bethlehem in the distance. That didn't work. Sponged another c/s, used just the wisemen to stamp part of the image and again emboss. Die cut the Die-versions City of Bethelem and that didn't fit my idea. Decided to fussy cut the Wisemen from the first boo-boo. Cut the City die and placed it on the card so that I could layer the Wisemen in front of the buildings. Used some dimensional foam behind part of that die. Placed the cut out Wisemen over the stamped Wisemen- which created a shadow effect.

Edged this piece with some more Copper Penny to frame it. Cream lightweight c/s was embossed with a Taylored Expressions Poinsettia EF, and another cream piece embossed with the Cuttlebug Snow EF. Cut a border from the Snow EF, adhered all to a tent fold card base. Lastly the sentiment from the SU set was heat embossed with Queen's Gold, and colored with gray & lavendar copics, hand cut to fit the space, and edged with Queen's Gold.

Please take time to visit my CCC team members to see their ideas on this challenge. Their blogs are listed in the right hand sidebar. As always, thanks for taking the time to visit, and have a wonderful Sunday. Hugs

A House Mouse for Rudy Day September 2018

Hap-PY Saturday! Checking in with the September Rudolph Day card (will be back later for a Christmas Club Card post).  For any readers who don't know about Rudolph Day (or as I call it "Rudy Day") - it's a Christmas themed Anything Goes challenge that opens each month on the 25th and runs until the end of that month. There's always lots of inspiration from the cards submitted and our Dear Hostess Mo has some nice prizes as well. So if you have never played along with this challenge, give it a checkout, using the link above, ok?

We have an 80th surprise birthday party to attend in a little while, so best get to it. Here's the Rudy Day card:

Stampabilities - House Mouse Monica - You Cane Light the Way

Spellbinders Super Ellipse Die (S5-188)

Memory Box Holly border die

Cottage Cutz sentiment die

Copic coloring, used the Gina K Amalgam black ink - I'm liking this ink, and have been using it along with the Momento Tuxedo Black that I normally use with copics. So far, have had no bleeding problems.  This also has some WoS on candy cane, and Nuvo Crystal Glaze on the lights to give a 'glass' effect.

Die cut the image with the S/B Ellipse. Red mat done with drawing the _inside edge_ of the next size larger die, then trimmed a little off where needed. The red paper was a snippet that was just large enough to cut this mat.

VOS red & white stripe paper.

- snippet of Coordination green cut 2 Holly borders, then added some red Nuvo drops for the berries.
- snippet of same green cut the Ho Ho Ho (left off the exclamation points) and under top layer, had 2 white snippet layers which were colored a dark green). Applied Nuvo Crystal Glaze once this was down. On the first "H" too much glaze came out, and had to try to pick it away with a straight pin. The photo picks it up, but not noticeable IRL. Sometimes the ease with which this product comes out of the tip, is not always a blessing. But guess it's better than fighting with the clogged Glossy Accents, ...maybe!

For the lights glow: Yellow copics colored around the lights, then added versamark and some Chunky Glitter mixed with white EP, and heat embossed. After I had the holly borders down, I remembered that I have a border die that has little bulb lights on it. Story of my life!!!

Off to link up with September's Rudolph Day, and hope to see you there. Back later with the Christmas Card Club post, due tomorrow! Ya'll have a wonderful afternoon, and thanks for joining me. Hugs

A Bucket of Flowers for a Sympathy Card

Welcome....recently needed to send a sympathy card to a blog pal who lost her husband very unexpectedly. Thought this image would work well for this occasion. Didn't realize until I saw the photo, that the central image doesn't look as though it's on straight. Why is it that I check, recheck, things look ok, until I see the photo?! Honestly, I do double check the cards...I don't think my eyesight is _that_ bad!

Inky Antics image  colored with Copics and WoS, a Pentel silver pen for the rim around the oval. A S/Binder die scored the frame on the outer white oval.

Dry Embossed the background, then added a border. SU punch for the sentiment.

That's all folks! Come back when you can ...and I'm still having some comments stay "awaiting publication", some are coming into the Hotmail address and some are going into the spam folder. So I'm having to check several places for any comments, and my apologies if I miss you. Or if I miss returning a visit if you've left a comment.

Hugs & have a great day.

A Crazy Dog Birthday

Good evening, and welcome. We've had cooler weather the first 2 days of the week so far(75F), and it's been quite overcast. Today there was just a tiny sprinkle of rain. Had I not been driving, wouldn't have known it was raining, except for seeing some drops on the windshield. We were out early for me to have a 'swallow' test - trying to find out why my voice has gotten hoarse. Was expecting it to be most uncomfortable, with nasty tasting stuff. Nope, none of that...the different liquids I had to drink (different consistencies I mean) were not anything I'd want a lot of, but it didn't taste terrible. Some kind of machine - sort of like an ultra sound type - showed the liquids & solids as it went down my throat. Weird to watch. Nothing was uncomfortable, and no abnormalities were apparent. I have a tendency to get choked or strangled very easily and when I was seeing the specialist for the hoarseness, he sent me for this test.  That's my exciting social life- medical stuff.

DD's 51st birthday is October 1 and she loves dogs. So of course she gets 'dog themed' cards usually. DH & I both thought she'd like the THoltz Crazy Dogs - which is why that set found it's way home with us. Here's the card:

Had the elements colored (Copics) and couldn't think of a single idea as to how to use them - did some Pinterest searching. I saw something with this goofy dog holding balloons on his bone, (don't remember who had it pinned, else I'd link to that  card). That gave me the balloon idea. Found some pattern paper snippets. Sky background, then the 'grass' to create the card front. Hunted up a SU balloon set that I knew I had. Used a metallic water color set (VOS) to watercolor these fussy cut balloons after heat embossing with a gold twinkling EP. And when that got embossed, no twinkling did I see. The same EP was used for the Elizabeth Craft Birthday sentiment.

Dog did not die cut well on first effort, so stamped, colored and die cut another pooch. Layered the boo-boo doggie underneath the 'good doggie' - raised up with dimensionals. Food bowl and ball also popped up. The big red balloon is just adhered, but the lavender and blue balloons had some dimensional foam. Cut under his nose, so the bone could hang out of his mouth. The hardest thing about this card was trying to glue the balloon strings under the balloons - should have done that first!!!

Thanks for joining me this evening, and hope your week is off to a great start. Big hugs and lots of Blessings - We can ALL use some of both of those things I'm sure.

CAS Christmas Challenge - September

Welcome to a Saturday afternoon CAS Christmas Challenge post. The theme word for September is Wreath and I have loads of wreath stamps, for one thing, because I have always loved these images. So I wanted to try very hard to join in this challenge. Have you ever worked on a card that it just seemed as though it didn't want to get made? Well this one today, falls in that category. Get a cup or a glass of something cold, and join me for a couple minutes!

Recently got an order from Hero Arts and got 4 of the new glimmer metallic inks. After using DI markers on the wreath with the Misti helping, had the image die cut, matted and adhered to the card front, when I decided to try using the red glimmer on the berries. The glimmer does indeed shimmer, but.....Look at this:

See all those smudges? And guess what? They wouldn't be scratched off with a pick tool or erased off with the TomBow sand eraser. Thought it had dried ok, but evidently had not. I was very unhappy when I saw what I'd done! Back to the drawing board, as the saying goes; did the same stamp again, same DI markers, same die shape...thought I'd just adhere it over the top of the messed up image - which I had removed to photo, messing up the first card front (that also had smudges on it, but not so bad as this image!)

On the 2nd effort, things were going good, and I had decided to forget about the metallic ink on the berries...as I didn't want to mess it up again. Then went to stamp the JOY with versamark & misti. Forgot to insert misti's black foam, (the image is cling, so I removed the black insert to get a good inking)...The J didn't stamp well. No problem... hey, with the misti you can restamp. Well, something must have moved, cause it didn't stamp 'just right on top'. Oh I thought, I'll just take a cloth, buff it out. Tried and I couldn't see the versamark ink; dropped on the gold EP. WRONG! Looked awful.

Once again, inked up the wreath, did all the same procedures, and kept that black insert right there with the clear JOY stamp so I wouldn't forget again! This time things worked ok. Here's that result.

- Stacy Stamps image, inked with DI markers Twisted Citron, Shabby Shutters, until I got the depth of color I wanted. Then used a regular brush, wet with water, to move the color around. It was a small round brush. I'm trying to learn how much water to use, without making blobs of color. Once the water coloring was finished, reinked the stamp with Mowed Lawn to crisp up the image. Cleaned the stamp, inked with versamark, and heat embossed with Clear Detail EP. Candied Apple and Barn Door on the berries. 

Hero Arts clear sentiment, heat embossed using Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold. S/B die for the circle shapes.

PTI impression plate for the texture on the card front.

Here's a picture of the stamp and what happened with the image that I messed up on the sentiment stamping. Decided to stamp the sentiment on a separate piece of c/s, add some dimensional tape under it to cover up the EP boo-boo. Added a S/B pinking circle mat. Spattered a card front with red & green Lindy's (I need to work on my spatters too!) and said "If I need an extra card, this is it". Ha!

So that's my CAS September Wreath card! You still have a few days to join in. 

Thanks for visiting, and have a great evening. Hugs & Blessings.

CAS Watercolor Card Challenge - September

Good evening, and hope you've had a great week. Ours has been fairly busy. Going to exercise classes (or therapy) 3 times a week, keeps us on the go a lot. By the time we spend about 90 minutes doing the routine, perhaps get lunch or run a couple errands, get back home, I'm tired! I feel the exercise/therapy is helping...but it's a slow process. I'm able to do more than I expected to do, and while I'm walking, I'm wearing one of the gadgets on my finger that is measuring my oxygen levels as well as my heart rate. The oxygen level stays up pretty well, but when I walk outside into the humidity, still get quite short of breath. I expect it will improve, in time, and with cooler weather. Gosh, we're into Fall. And the folks at the CAS Watercolor Challenge selected the theme of Trees.

I knew the perfect stamp to try to watercolor, so hunted it up. Did it first with DI markers, then used some zigs to do the same image - just to see the results. Stamped, die cut, and then couldn't find either piece. Soooo....got the stamp back out, and redid again for this card, using DI markers, huffing, stamping with the misti.

Rubbernecker Cling Stamp

PB Snowflake die

- stitched die for the mat (it was handy, and I don't know what set it came from. Thought it would frame the fall tree nicely if I heat embossed it with Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold)

Here's the card and the stamp shown together, and I tried to color the image with the stamp photo as a guide. Couldn't quite get the reds in the foliage just as I wanted, but maybe next time. Put a little more green in there than Rubbernecker did too. 

Got this Rubbernecker stamp at a stamp show some time ago, along with some florals. After I finished this card, picked up something on my desk, and Voila, there were the 2 other images that I had done. I swear, I had looked under all the stuff, and they were either hiding from me, or Pixies live here!!!

There's still a few days to enter the CAS Watercolor Challenge for September. Ya'll have a great weekend, and thanks for visiting. Hugs. 

Christmas Card Club - Challenge #19

Good evening, and it's my 2nd post of the day. We're still quiet weather wise here in my area, and thankful to be so. Hope it stays that way overnight. We're expecting some rain (according to MSN, but MSN has predicted rain all week, and we got none)

It's time again for the Christmas Card Club Challenge, which is a group of card makers who share cards every 2 weeks on a theme selected by one of our members. We also have the choice to do 'anything goes' if we don't have the particular images needed for that week's challenge. Mrs. A chose a theme of Polar Bears or Teddy Bears. Had images for both but there's a NBUS set I've had for a while, found while looking (of course) for something else. So I decided on Polar Bears.

 

 

MFT Stitched Rectangle Frames

Avery Elle Snow Much Fun stamp and die set

Hampton Art Tree Die (this has some clear patterned tree  images with the die)

 

Frame die cut was versamarked, and heat embossed with Sparkle n Sprinkle EP in a dark blue, then re-inked and sprinkled an icy blue over the darker blue.

 

- snippet of snow flake paper added to make a sky background. Used the center piece cut from the frame, just covered it with the DP.  Various snippets of Christmas paper used to cut the trees. The solid green tree is the reverse side of the circle pattern tree. I decided to go for whimsical trees rather than make realistic ones.

 

- white c/s embossed with the C/Bug snowflake EF (it's called snowflake, but it looks like dots to me) Tore this embossed c/s to make snowbanks. Adhered, then tucked the trees around. Lastly added the polar bear and bunny on the sled, which was done with copics and WoS. The frame was adhered to the card base, then inlaid the 'created scene' inside the frame. Sentiment & sled popped up on dimensionals.Thought about using some Nuvo drops to put ornaments on the green tree, decided to stop. Sometimes I have a problem knowing when to quit :-)

 

Team member blog links are on the right sidebar. Hope you'll give them a visit and see what they've shared for Mrs. A's Bear Challenge.

 

On another note: Blogger is once again not sending all comments to my email. Some are coming in, some are awaiting publication. I don't know why. But I'm trying to be sure I don't miss anyone.

 

Ya'll take care and hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Be safe if you're having weather issues. God Bless and thanks for visiting. Hugs too.