Remember me? :)

I have stopped saying that when life slows down, I will get back to blogging. I have a feeling I will never touch it again if I wait for that! Adjusting to the sudden, very unexpected death of my brother-in-law, two dear friends from our church and the son of my mother-in-law's best friend, all within a month of each other, has not been an easy road. Another dear friend (the third person in our trio) had to have surgery to fix a very messed up shoulder and has been out of commission. Seems like a long time since we got to sing. Oh, and then this week, my sister had to have a minor surgical procedure that was very stressful for both of us. But we ARE surviving!!! :)

I did want to post this card that went out to some friends from our church who are gone for a few months. Hope you are back soon, Carland and Pauline!!!!

This is a full 8 1/2" X 5 1/2" card, using all Stampin' Up! products. I stamped the bottom with the retired SU background "Fine Lace" with versamark ink and embossed it with clear EP. Then I swirled Bordering Blue classic ink. The trees from the "Lovely As A Tree" set was stamped in Old Olive craft ink and embossed with clear EP. Then I lightly sponged the edges in Bordering Blue classic ink. I layered it on Borderling Blue cardstock put it on the card. I used a piece of Bordering Blue cardstock that was ALMOST the same width as the Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon and tied the ribbon around it, then adhered it to the card where the bottom background image stopped. I stamped a piece of Bordering Blue cardstock with the "Fine Lace" background and then used the scallop punch. I sponged a scrap piece of glossy cardstock with Old Olive classic ink and punch out a 1 1/4" circle and adhered that to the scallop. Then I stamped the Thinking of You 365 days 24-7 stamp from "Circle of Friendship" set, once in Bordering Blue classic ink and once in Old Olive classic ink, both on Whisper White cardstock. I punched the blue one with the 1" circle punch and the green one with the 1/2" circle punch, layered it all together and put it on the ribbon with dimensionals. Such an easy card. Oh, and I had everyone who was at church Sunday morning sign it before mailing it to Carland and Pauline. I sure hope they like it!

Praying for Tricia, Nate and Gwyneth

Life here has been one huge roller-coaster and has kept me from doing the fun stuff, including updating this blog. Today, though, I have to make time to post this. It isn't a matter of doing fun stuff, this is necessary.

My post just prior to this one is about Nate, Tricia and Gwenyth. This morning I read on Nate's blog that Tricia had her double lung transplate during the night. Please, if you ever pray about anything, pray that things go well for Tricia and this young family. I have never met them, but they have been on my heart. GOD is just that way....he knows what prayers are needed and he just puts them on the hearts of people.

I will try to get back in the swing of blogging soon. Ummmmm, but first I have to make some cards. :)

A Touching Story

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon a thread on SCS by a lady who's sister and brother-in-law are, as she said, on the journey of their life. She posted a link to the brother-in-law's blog, cfhusband.blogspot.com and, of course, I had to check it out. Now, I anxiously read the updates, praying for the day I will see that both mother and baby daughter are healthy and home! If you go to the blog, go back a few weeks and read their story. And then, please put these people on your prayer list. And while you are at it, please include other people who are in similar situations. We don't know them, or their situations, but God does and He is the one in control.

Goodbye to My Cousin

One of my cousins passed away this week. I'm sorry to say I didn't know her very well. My dad's family is strange that way. But I do remember thinking she was one of the prettiest ladies I had ever met. Anyway, I made this card to send to her mother.

The stamp set I used is out of the new Stampin' Up! catalog. It is called Morning Soft and I LOVE it! I love to watercolor...well, I love to ATTEMPT to watercolor, so this kind of stamp set is right up my alley. I stamped it on Naturals Ivory CS in Jet Black StazOn ink and watercolored it with Brilliant Blue, Apricot Appeal, Old Olive and Always Artichoke WWCrayons using an aqua painter. Then I mounted it on Apricot Appeal CS. I stamped the sentiment (from Close as a Memory) with Brilliant Blue Craft ink and embossed it with clear EP, mounted it on Apricot Appeal and mounted them both on Brilliant Blue CS. I tied a knot between them with Apricot Appeal Grosgrain Ribbon and then used the Pretties Kit (which I have been hoarding for months!) and stuck a pin through the knot. I stamped a border of Beyond the Basics using Sahara Sand ink on Naturals Ivory CS and then glued on the images. Inside, I stamped "Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. -Thomas Moore" at the bottom of the left side and "Your loved one will always be as close as a memory, and the God of all comfort as close as a prayer" toward the top of the right side.

I'm just kinda sad that my first card out of the new catalog is for this reason.

Peaceful

My sister and another friend (who is a sister-at-heart) were at my house earlier this month while I was trying to come up with a demonstratable card for a workshop. This card is one that I came up with that day, but I just didn't think my customers would be impressed with it. I almost threw it away, but they talked me out of it. To make a long story shorter, I came up with another card that I used for that workshop and put this one in my "stash". The more I looked at it, the more I liked it until now, I can finally share it.

Since this was going to be for a SU workshop, I used only SU products. The base is Confetti Cream and the edges are sponged with Creamy Caramel classic ink. I put some Purely Pomegranite Satin Ribbon around a strip of Holiday Harmony DP and put it on the bottom of the card. I stamped the Peaceful Wishes branch on watercolor paper with Always Artichoke marker and Purely Pomegranate reinker and then in versamark on Purely Pomegranate cardstock. Then I just started layering everything with the coluzzle ovals.

What do ya think?

Thanks, Timmy

I needed a thank you gift for a very special friend and she has been wanting a stamp set that has "Thinking of You" in it, so I bought this set for her. Instead of wrapping it or putting it in a bag, I wanted to do something different so this is what I came up with.

It was so very easy! I just made an envelope out of Dashing Designer Series paper. (which is this month's promostion - buy 3 packages and get a 4th free!) Then I stamped the flowers from the retired Stampin' Up! set, Christmas Cardinal (because it is, after all, getting close to Christmas) in Jet Black StazOn ink and water colored it with reinkers (Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke and More Mustard) and aquapainter and cut it out with the Coluzzle Cutting System, then "messed up" the edges with Purely Pomegranate Ink. Usually when I stamp, I start with the smallest layer and then layer "up". But for the note inside this, I started with the largest layer so I could make sure it fit inside the envelope opening and layered "down" to the smallest using Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate and River Rock Cardstock. After I stamped the Thank You from the Party Punch, Level 1 Hostess Set and punched it out with the Round Tab Punch, I adhered it to the note card, wrote the thank you message and slipped it inside. Then I just made a "belly band" out of the Dashing Designer Series paper to fit on the stamp set box and glued the envelope to the band.

Ok, I'm sure that made no sense whatsoever. I need some of the awesome stampers in my blog roll to give me writing lessons. There descriptions are always so elequent and helpful!

I'm on my way to get my hair cut so have a great day........

Music or No Music?

I read a post by a very successful blogger that said she did not like music on a blog. I certainly don't want to offend anyone so my question to you is, should I get rid of the music playing here? I know this is not a "high-traffic" blog, so to the 2 or 3 who might read this every once in a while, (and anyone else who might stumble upon this message) what do you think?

Hmmmmm, never thought about this before.

TIA