My First Attempt....

with regular colored pencils and Gamsol. I have some practice in my future, but not too bad for a first try. They take alot more work than watercolor pencils do, in my opinion.

Stamps are retired SU!, papers are scraps from an autumn kit. Ribbon is sticky-back from

Wal-mart.

*******

Getting my stuff ready for the Heritage Festival this Saturday. I sell handmade cards that were donated by the wonderful ladies who come to my crop. The money from the booth goes to Camp Harmony.

*******

Looking forward to spending the day there at camp, visiting with my BS2, Sharon and hopefully getting some good food!

*******

Take care.

Do You Remember...

I imagine that 9-11-2001 will be the equivalent to the JFK assassination to my generation. Do you remember where you were, what you were doing when the attacks happened?

*******

I was just waking up... getting ready for work. Had the TV on in the living room, the Today show was on. They were showing video of the World Trade Centers. The scanner was making noise in the background... Kenny was still sleeping... I heard on the scanner about Shanksville, hollered upstairs for Ken to wake up because I figured they would be called to assist. Up and out the door he went... I waited... I watched the TV... I called into work... told them I would come in as soon as he got home, they told me not to come at all, since the store was nearly dead quiet. I watched and waited... fielded some phone calls from out of town family who were concerned about our family, so close to Shanksville.

*******

Much later that day Kenny came home. All he could say was, you wouldn't believe it. There was nothing we could do. It was horrible.

*******

I remember thinking who did this? why? what now? Some questions answered, some not.

*******

What I know now is that it is important to make your family number one. It is important to show them you love them and care about them. It is important to be a good citizen, an honest person. It is important to keep our troops in our prayers and thank them for all that they do to keep us safe. I know that the world as we knew it changed that day.

*******

God Bless the USA.

Remember this time last year?

If not this will help... KYA and Stinker...

From that to this!


Happy First Birthday Stinker!

Pots Full of Posies!

Recovering and recuperating from the Gospel Festival weekend. It was a really busy weekend. We saw so many familiar faces and many more new faces. We missed some of our old friends as well. I am a bit achey today, since I rolled about 12 lbs. of flour mixed as dough for ham pot pie on Sunday. (Really missed having Todd and Temi there for that part!)

How about these really sweet flower pot cards! The pot is a "pocket" and you pull the posies up to see the sentiment! There are a ton of them to see on Splitcoast. These were my first attempts at them, not too bad. I learned a few things, like my pot was too long, so I gave it an extra fold at the bottom (if you view it from the side it looks like a "W" fold) and surprise!!! then they could stand up on there own! Too cool! You also need to have your envelope handy when you are positioning the flowers so that you can be sure the card is going to fit! I am sure that there is some pattern with measurements and all that, but really who can be bothered by such things??? LOL!!! I tell everyone that I learn by trial and error... mostly ERROR! {sigh}
*******
Purple posies on the top are a Maaaaaartha punch. Bottom posies are the new Creative Memories Scallop circle punch. It is pretty neat, you flip a little slidey thing on the bottom and it also will punch little circles inside the scallops, so it looks like eyelet almost. I will be demo-ing it at the St. Andrew School Crop in a few weeks!
*******
Take care!

Formal Butterflies

So, it's been a while since I have blogged.. mostly because I am now a big Facebook junkie! I still like to post up my projects and get out info about upcoming events though, and that is what the blog is for!

*******

The card above was totally CASEd from one I saw on SCS. I love the crisp formal look of black and white. Ribbon was from Wal-mart, congratulations stamp is SU!, border punch Maaaaartha, butterfly stamp is Inkadinkado from the Patterned Bugs set.

*******

This particular card was for a wedding that we went to about two weeks ago. The happy couple are friends of the hubby's from the Fire/EMS. We had a very nice time at the reception. I love a good wedding... we had three of them this summer!

*******

So, what is coming up??? The Fall Harvest Gospel Music Festival at Camp Harmony is all Labor Day weekend... Free parking, Free Admission, Great Music, YUMMY food... stop by and check it out!

*******

The Heritage Festival is coming up too... September 19 at the camp. Food, crafts, and all kinds of fun for all ages. I will have a table selling handmade cards and a little make and take project, too.

*******

September 25 & 26 is the St. Andrew School crop. I will be doing make and takes for Barb Shaffer, my Creative Memories consultant.

*******

In between all that there will be football games, work, picking Travis up for the weekends and all sorts of house and yard stuff to be sure!

*******

Take care, hope to see you soon!

Chicksa's Summer Swap Cards

I have one of these waiting to be cut! I hope it is as tasty as this sweet card is cute!

Loving the LadyBugs!

I don't use my Cricut often enough! Love the colors on this one!

Thanks Chicksa for the awesome cards!

*******

I am going to work the next six days... I have a few posts loaded and ready to go.

Hope you all are enjoying the end of the summer!

If you get a chance to go, the Somerset County Fair is this week in Meyersdale, great family fun for everyone!

Take care!

Cards by the very talented BS1!

These beauties were designed by Barb, my BS1! The top card gently reminds me that the transition to my most wonderfully favorite season is just around the corner. Autumn, please bring your gently warm days and cool crisp evenings, and hurry! I absolutely LOVE the creamsicle card, complete with a popsicle stick! Too cute!

YUMMY!
Take care!

How about a couple cards from my BS2!

Sharon, my BS2 made these beauties for my summer card swap! I love the colors on both of them. The top one is so bright and cheery and summery and the bottom one reminds me that my MOST FAVORITE time of the year is just around the corner!!


Thanks Sharon!

Could you guess my favorite color?

I ws definitely channelling the purple for these cards!

Thanks so much for hanging in there with me while I took a little blog vacation. I wasn't being very crafty for a while, so I had nothing to post about. (Plus I discovered facebook... it is a bad, bad time stealing place! Stay far far away!)

These cards were from my summer swap. Hope you like! I will be posting up the gals cards over the next couple of days and they are really cute, pretty & fun, so be sure to check back!
*******
Take care!

Saturday

Just wanted to make a short post to let you know I am still here and that all is well.

*******

Spent the day yesterday with my Chicksa's Jody and Nena. Did lunch at Olive Garden, shopped at Stamp Fanci and the Scrapbook Super Station! Got some cool fun stuff!

*******

My Summer Card Swap closed and all the cards are here. I am going to sort and scan the tomorrow and post them later in the week. They should be back out in the mail on Monday. I haven't picked my favorite yet..... they are all so very nice!

*******

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Take care!

Stamping Show

What a great day with friends! I was invited by Donna along with Sharon and Suzie to the StampScrapArtTour show in Pittsburgh. Suzie was a nice surprise, we worked together at Wally-work long ago. So nice to see her again and visit!

*******

We arrived when the doors were opening and they kicked us out at the end (not really, but we were there the whole time!)

Not a make and take, and not something I made, just a really cool card made with a Stampin' UP! Circle punch and the Scallop Circle and an oval punch too.


Some of my loot... I was on a limited budget, I could have bought SOOOO much more!

Gamsol from Inky Antics, I already have the great colored pencil set and the blending stumps just needed the odorless mineral spirits for blending them. Embossing powders from Sparkle N Sprinkle. They had an absolutely fantastic selection of powders and micro-fine glitters and the nicest lady demo-ing product all day long. My powders are all pearly finishes. The glue is from there as well. It is brushable, dries clear and is flexible when dry so it doesn't crack or peel off. LOVE IT! Sharon and I split two different colors of Dew Drops, mine was Spring assorted. I can't recall what her choice was. They were from Our Daily Bread.

Barely visible on the bottom of the pile is 165 feet of 1/4 inch easy tear double sided adhesive for the bargain price of $5. On top of that is an embossing and piercing starter kit. It includes parchement sheets, pad, triple tool and template, also from Our Daily Bread. Under that is a ball point glue pen by Sakura. I am always looking for a good adhesive for teensy tiny things and this one looked pretty good!

*******
My only stamp purchase of the day was the Fawn from the Blue-eyed Babies collection at Stacy Stamps. I love deer stamps for my guy cards and my nephew Rian will love this one, since he always asks for my other deer stamp. I got this one specifically to use my colored pencils and gamsol on. Can't wait to give it a try!

This was our most fun make and take of the day. It was provided by Darcie's Country Folk and instructed by a young fella named Billy (a Steeler fan from Cleveland!!!) helped us make these really cool pins with Shrinky-dink plastic. I have had some of that in my stash forever and I can't wait to play!!!! I bought a pack of the charm pins! WHHOOOHOOO!!

*******

Sorry I didn't take more pictures, I was just so into taking it all in. Can't wait to do it again next year!

*******
Take care!

A little sneak peek...

A little peek... this card was a make & take from the stamp show last Sunday. It was made at the Our Daily Bread booth. (I tried to link their site.... www.ourdailybreaddesigns.com but it doesn't seem to be working for me today, maybe it will for you!) They have some BEAUTIFUL stamps. It is hard to see it on this card, but the flowers are dimensional. You purchase the card front, they have several designs to choose from. Then you do some glueing and sprinkle on the flower soft bits. It is really a neat technique! Art Tech in Greensburg sells the Flower soft product if you are interested in seeing it in person. This card is also sprayed with Glimmer Mist which is a really pretty addition to the look. I love the sparkle!

*******

Hope that will hold you over for a day or so until I am done with this work stretch!

*******
Take care!

If only I didn't have to work...

Hey everyone... in the middle of a six day stretch... working on a post about the stamping show, a little bit everyday... bear with me...

Update....

Just wanted to update you on today. There was no ruling on custody.

*******

In Allegheny County parents are required to go to Generations for mandatory education and family conflict mediation and attempt to come to a custody agreement with the help of a mediator. If that cannot be done then we go back to the judge and she makes a decision based on the mediators recommendation and other available information about the case. We will get a date for the education/mediation some time this week.

*******

Thanks everyone for the prayers, it was a tense and stressful day and I know that your prayers made a difference.

*******

It is good to be home. We had a long day, but there were some good things. I think that T's Mom finally gets that he is serious about wanting to live down here. We got to see Melanie and have a late lunch with her. T & I bought a sudoku book to help pass the time today and I finished my first one before I had erased a hole in the page and before it caused me to have a stroke. LOL!

*******

Thanks again! It is good to have friends to lean on and give us encouragement!

Take care!

Court Today

Please just keep a good thought for us and say a prayer this morning.

We have our hearing at 10 AM.

*******

I'll update you when we get back home, hopefully with some good news!

Take care!

Fifth Avenue Floral

How about this beauty. It was made at Donna's workshop last month. The stamps are from SU! the name is Fifth Avenue Floral. I don't make alot of this size card (tall and skinny) but I think I may start. I love it. We also used seed beads on a couple cards that day and I have been inspired to try more of that on my cards as well.

*******

Spent the day Wednesday working on T's bedroom and washing bed sheets and blankies. Keeping busy, since my mind is full of our pending court date.
*******

Another busy day today!

Take care!

Something Sweet

A little something sweet for you today. The stamped images are all $1 clear stamps from Michaels. The cupcakes are from one set, each individual and the sentiment is from another set. I mounted them all up on the same block together and stamped away! They are colored with watercolor pencils and brushed with the aquapainter. Papers are from a big Wal-mart stack and grosgrain ribbon is from the $1 bin at Michaels.

*******

Hope all is well with all of you. I am on vacation this week and having some sleep adjustment issues. It is now 3:21 AM and I am wide awake. We have been working on the house and yard this week. Hopefully getting everyone settled into their own space and decluttering a bunch. I am a sentimental packrat in a small house, not a good combo if you know what I mean.

*******

I am not sure if I mentioned before, but we filed for custody of Travis a while ago and our first hearing is on Friday. I am praying that it all goes well. He really wants to live here and go to school here. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts.

*******

On a super bright note I am going to the rubber stamp convention in Pittsburgh with some of the ladies on Sunday! I am so excited, can hardly wait!

*******

Take care!

Making Calendars with my GIRLS on the Fourth!

All of my GALS busy working on their crafty calendars. There was much punching, cutting, glueing, and gabbing going on!

Aunt Becca says a bit TOOOO MUCH GABBING! LOL!!

Bri showing off her calendar that matches her kitchen clock and cookbook that I made for her wedding shower a while back.... You can see them HERE.

*******

Keep reading the post below to see the rest of the gals and their calendars. (Blogger would only let me post up 5 pictures per blog so I had to split it into two posts.)

*******

Take care!!

More of the gals!

Amber B, with her Blue Polka-dot and purple calendar.
Hannah

Barbie

Me and Becca and her Apple Calendar to match her kitchen!

Kerensa, who was struggling to get hers done, but all was done but the magnets in the end.

Wheeeewwwww!!!

What a great July 4th! Visited with family, ate great food, made cool crafts, ate more food, visited some more and had awesome fireworks! Hard to beat that!

*******

I am on vacation this week. Lots to do!!

*******

Take care!