Cards

I made a few more cards this weekend. Several of them are already on their way to Germany for Military Spouse Appreciation Day. It seems like I ended up using lots of purple. Not my usual color and none would win any awards (that's OK too) but a great use of scraps. Eva, do you recognize some of the ribbons? Thanks!!



This one shows I can't even sew straight when I'm just drawing the stitches! Some things never change! :/



The following four use 3D stickers from K & Company that also have glitter or bling on them. I think they're so pretty and are great for cards.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today would have been my Dad's 69th birthday. He passed away last August and I miss him and think about him everyday. My Dad was a kind, loving man and went through life with gusto. I know he is celebrating in Heaven today with all of our loved ones that had passed before him and his beloved dog P.J.

Hugs,

Went to a weddin'

Saturday night I attended the wedding of a young gal that my oldest son has known since kindergarten. Here is a picture of Olivia and Derek shortly after the ceremony. I wish them a wonderful life together.

My son, Jimmy and his future bride, Lindsey (also friends since kindergarten) were both in the wedding so of course I had to snap a picture of them. As you can tell, his is just smitten with her. I think he would have said "I Do" if they had given him the chance.

Jimmy has only worn a tux two other times and he is in no hurry to do it again. He says when he and Lindsey get married, we will all be required to go barefoot. That will be fine with me as I hate wearing shoes! Kinda wierd since I love buying shoes. I just hope they pick a warm time of year cause second on my list of yuckies after the shoe thing, is having cold feet.

I am going to do a Monogram class next month and haven't even started making samples. If you have created something with monograms, leave me a comment with a link. I need all of the inspiration I can get.

Hugs,

Confections Winner

Well, not much to say here. I guess my Bling class kit wasn't a big thrill as I only had two people try to win it and one of them was in my class! LOL

So, I will be sending my kit to Debbie. I hope you will enjoy the goodies.

His Presence

This week's word is His Presence (OK, yes, it's more than one word.).

I chose these verses:

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,

and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
Psalm 95:2

Serve the LORD with gladness:

come before his presence with singing.
Psalm 100:2

One more week.........

until The Great Yosemite Stamp Escape. From the looks of this picture, you would think we aren't ready yet, but we are. Sharon has been ordering and ordering to make sure we have everything we/you will need. In the biggest boxes to the right of the picture are the goody bags. Most of the boxes on the top of the table are things to put in the goody bags, door prizes or make and takes. The boxes below the table are full of product to sell Saturday night during shopping time. Our teachers this year are: Michael Strong (Michael Strong Stamps), Gail Ellison (ArtLenz), Karen Lockhart (Lockhart Stamp Company) and Lynell Harlow (Dreamweaver Stencils). WOW! is all I can say about this line up of teachers. The best part about the retreat (okay, its all good) is you don't have to choose which classes to take, you get to take them all! We tried that pickin' and choosin' thing one year..........no fun! The fun will start with a private party Friday night May 2nd at the store and will continue throughout the weekend at The Pines Resort. There are a few spots left, and we would love to have you join us.

Sausage Anyone......or maybe some Confections

See all of those sausage boxes? One of our teachers either loves sausage or has an "in" with her butcher so she can have his boxes. :) Can you guess which one? Leave me a comment (make sure I know how to reach you) and I will put all of the correct guesses in for some Confections. What will you win? How about a complete class kit for my Bling class? (you can check out my previous posts for what you will get). I will draw the winner Monday night April 28th.

TTFN!

Bling 3

Man o' man have I been busy. Today I went to town and visited with my Mom and sister. One of the first things my sis said was "you need to update your blog", so Sis....... this post is for you.

This is the last of the Bling cards that the gals will be making in Saturday's class. The base card is brown cs from Worldwin and then a layer of orange Worldwin cs. The print paper is Beloved Blooms from My Mind's Eye's 29th Street Market collection. I think these papers were some of my favorites from CHA. I stamped the Dot Flourish and Butterfly stamp (both from Inkadinkado) in brown ink on cream cardstock. I stamped the butterfly a second time, painted with Twinkling H20's and cut and layered to the butterfly on the cream panel. The words (from Penny Black) are stamped in brown ink also. I finished off the card by adding Poppy colored rhinestones from MAMBI.

I have a few more pictures edited and ready to go, but it's getting late and I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Stay tuned!

Pray

Here is a layout I made using a picture I took of Kendra on Easter Sunday. I was really excited when it was chosen for the Project Spotlight for the week of 4/21/08 on Scraps-n-Such.

The journaling says:

Lord, we thank You for our daughter, Kendra. And we thank You that she has turned her heart to You. Thank You for receiving her, cleansing her and directing her path. We praise You Lord for what You've done in her. Now, in Your name, we bless her with courage, with faith, and with integrity. Lord, we call her a woman of strength, love and grace. We ask, as her earthly parents, that You would rain down favor on her that she would know that she is loved and treasured; That You will bless whatever she touches. Here is our daughter, Lord, and we give her back to You. Lord, we love her. Keep her and bless her. In Jesus name, Amen.
(Adapted from "The Flywheel")

Change & Joy

The week that Dad fell and ended up in the hospital, the Scripture Challenge word was Change. On the front of my card I wrote "Change can turn you upside down." I didn't know how right I was. I made the card 3 days before Dad fell. Here it is:



The back says:

God NEVER changes.

Malachi 3:5 For I am the Lord, I change not...

However, He wants us to change as we become conformed to His image.

Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Next to this verse in my Bible I wrote a quote from an unnamed preacher, If it's good it's conforming us to God. If it's conforming us to God, it's good.

I missed the next 10 weeks of cards due to all the life events that have happened between now & then. I'm going to try to make them up gradually until I'm caught back up.


This week's word is Joy. On the front of the card I wrote the lyrics to the chorus The Joy of the Lord is my Strength. Here's the card:



The verses on the back are:

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth 3 John 4

...Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:3

A Few Cards

Over on Scrapjazz, one of the ladies has a card project to benefit the spouses of some of our soldiers for Military Spouse Appreciation Day. I told her I'd send her a few cards. Most of the cards below will end up in Germany to the wives of a combat unit recently deployed to Iraq. The pink & black ones are my favorites.

On Scraps-n-Such Jessica posted a Sketch of the Week Bonus Sketch on 4/19/08. Here's the card I made with her sketch. I love how it turned out. It's ending up going to a friend in England.

Circle Journal #2

At Faithfully Yours we are just starting a new Circle Journal. Each of us chose a theme, made the pages for our own journal, and sent it on its way. I really enjoy circle journals and can't wait to get started.

An interesting note about the first journal I did. The round finished and my album was waiting here for me when I got back home from Columbus after Dad died. Guess what theme I chose for that journal? Words of Comfort! We started these journals 6 mos. before. Only the Lord knew I would need these Words of Comfort 6 mos. later.

Anyway, for this journal, I chose Marriage Advice. With two young adults in the house, marriage and how to chose a marriage partner are frequent topics of conversation. So...my journal asks the ladies to do a page of advice they received and then a page of advice they would give now. It's understood that any potential marriage partner should be a Christian and that you should have similar beliefs, convictions, standards, etc.

Here are my pages. I used the Foof-a-La Red, Cream & Black line for all of mine.

This is the Title page:



This is the Introduction page & the Map page. Each participant will put a brad on the map showing where they live.




These are the Getting to Know You pages. Each participant will put a small pic, their name, username, how long they've been married & their favorite Scripture verse on the back of the tag that has their intial on it.



This is my LO of advice Dad & Mom gave me and then what advice I would give. I used a sketch from Triple the Sketch for this layout.



Journaling for the left page: My parents were perpetual sweethearts. Watching their marriage and how they treated each other was a constant example of what a godly marriage should look like. Dad always said, "Make sure yo marry the right person. During the day you can keep busy but if you’re married to the wrong person the nights can be awfully long."
Mom told me, "Don’t marry someone you can live with; marry someone you don’t want to live without." There are two pieces of advice Mom gave me for after I was married that have always stood out in my mind:
1. If your husband asks you to go do something, GO! Don’t let dirty dishes or housework keep you from saying, "Yes." The dishes & housework will be there when you get back but if you repeatedly turn him down, he’ll quit asking you to go.
2. Never say anything negative in public about your husband. Mom was extremely loyal. I remember her saying, "I live with your Dad, I know he’s not perfect. But I’m sure not going to tell someone else that or listen to them talk negatively about him."

Journaling for the right page: My top advice for marriage would be:
1. Put the Lord first in your relationship. Marriage is a wonderful thing but also a hard thing. You need to have the Lord’s help for a successful marriage. Ecclesiastes 4:12 "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
2. God designed you to be a help to your husband not someone who is in competition with him. Genesis 2:18 "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." Leave the competition in the sports arena and business world and kick it out of the home.
3. In the words of a wise man named Dr. Donald Worch, "If you do after you’re married what you did before you were married in order to get married, you’ll stay married." While it sounds a bit confusing, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense.
4. Be a team. Approach projects, challenges, joys, dreams, & activities together. Some things we do just for the sake of our relationship (aka Us). Sometimes "Us" goes to the scrapbook store and other times "Us" goes to Bass Pro Shops. Remember you’re both in this together and face things side-by-side – you need each other. Ecclesiastes 4:10 "For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."

Each of the ladies will sign this page before they send it on to the next participant.

Pink Bling

I almost forgot I was going to post pictures of the other cards for my "Bling" class. This is the 2nd of 3 cards that the gals will be making. For this card I started with some dark pink Bazzill cs for the card. I embossed one of the Dot Flourishes from Inkadinkado with Agean Silver EP from Judi-kins on white linen cardstock and layered it to a silver panel. I added a couple of Primas and some MAMBI rhinestones. Clipped the corners of the silver and white layers with my 1/2" circle punch.

Tomorrow I have to work, but I have the 3rd card in this series to share with you, so I will upload it after work.

To siggy or not

in this case, yes! Anyone who knows me, knows that the other kind of siggy (cigarette) is in no way a part of my life! Blech! But, Sara, the marvelous (IMHO) created my dragonfly siggy for me. I just love how it matches the rest of my blog. If you would like Sara to design your blog for you, you can check out her blog Tweaks and Designs. I can't say enough about how wonderful it is to work with Sara. If you would like to see some more of Sara's work, check out: Heartfelt Greetings, Susiestampalot or Stamped in his Image to see just of few of the blogs Sara has transformed.

I hope to work on some cards this afternoon and will try to post something new tomorrow.

Bling........bling

Good morning everyone! I am back from my weekend away with hubby and feel refreshed and rested. We went to Fort Bragg which is on the northern coast of CA. We stayed at a wonderful B & B (more about that later) and saw many little towns around the area. I have lived in CA all of my life and had seen much of the state, but never this part. I took several pictures and will try to get them downloaded into the computer and edited tonight. For now, I thought I would share one of my Bling cards for my class on April 26th. I am really into these colors lately, they just make me feel happy! For this class, I wanted to use the Dot Flourishes set from Inkadinkado. The flowers are from Prima and the Fern colored rhinestones are from Me and My Big Ideas. Of course you can buy everything here. The cardstock is from Bazzill and Worldwin. I used Turquoise ink from VersaColor. Well, I am off to get ready for work. TTFN!

Why I've been MIA

For those of you who are not family members, you may be wondering why I've been on such a long hiatus from scrapping. That's certainly not normal for me! Well, Feb. & March were challenging months for us. Here's a timeline of some of the major events.

Fri., 2/8 We moved my Dad from one assisted living facility to another. About an hour after we left, Dad got up to get ready for dinner and fell. He landed on his wooden magazine rack breaking 2 ribs and lacerating his liver. He was life-flighted to Columbus.

Sat., 2/9 - Fri., 2/15 I spent the week in Columbus with Dad while he was in ICU.

Fri., 2/15, 6:45 pm While surrounded by his six children and 2 sons-in-law, Dad was ushered into the presence of the Lord he loved and served for so many years and was reunited with the wife he dearly loved.

Mon., 2/18 We had Dad's viewing & funeral here at our church. All of our family was here for the funeral except my oldest niece's husband. Dad & Mom would have loved seeing all 6 of their children, 13 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren and assorted spouses & one fiancee gathered together.

Tues., 2/19 We traveled to PA to have Dad's graveside service. After the service, we went to a cousin's house for dinner and then traveled all the way home.

Wed., 2/20 - Sun., 2/24 We had our annual Missions Conference at church. On Friday (2/22) one of the missionary men graciously went with us to pack up Dad's apartment. On Sat., the same man and several other men of the church moved all of Dad's belongings back here for storage.

Tues., 2/26 I had an appt. with my surgeon to schedule surgery on my left elbow. We've been doctoring this elbow for 2 years to put off surgery as long as possible. My time has run out and surgery is my only option. They put me on a cancellation list so that I could have the surgery ASAP. When we got home from work, there was a message on the machine that they'd had a cancellation for Thurs.

Thurs., 2/28 Surgery on my left elbow. I'd torn the tendon that runs between the elbow & wrist and had a bone spur on the elbow. The doctor said the damage was "significant."

Since 2/28, I've been recovering. I was in a splint for 2 weeks and a sling for 4 additional weeks. Then I'll have 6 weeks of physical therapy. Fun, fun! NOT!!

Fri & Sat 4/4 - 4/5, we had our annual Ladies' Spectacular. Since I'm the pastor's wife, I am the coordinator for the meeting. We've been working a lot the past couple weeks finalizing plans and putting the program booklets together.

Monday 4/7, Tim and I are going on a much-need and greatly-anticipated two night get-away. I can't wait. I have a doctor's appt. on Thurs. and I'll hopefully get my sling off then. I have a bit of infection in the incision. I hope that doesn't slow recovery down too much. I am hoping to be able to scrap this coming weekend after the sling comes off. We'll have to wait & see though.

So....that's why I've been on a creative hiatus. I truly miss scrapping but it is a difficult hobby to do one-handed.

Spring Flowers

Here is one of the first flower pictures that I took with my camera since I got it. I can't wait for the Lilacs to bloom so I can get some pictures of them as well. I am trying to learn my way around Photoshop Elements and all of the cool things I can do to enhance my photos. I haven't figured out how to "blur" the edges yet. If you know how and can explain it so that my pea brain can understand, leave me a comment. I love it when see I pictures like that!

Tonight I will upload the card pictures for my Bling class at the end of the month. Well, I need to go get ready for work. TTFN!

Recipe: Cup of Cobbler

Here is the recipe for some yummy cobbler. This recipe is good with any kind of fruit. Depending on the season and availablity I have used fresh, frozen and even canned fruit or pie filling.

The cobbler in this picture is a White Peach Cobbler that my 16 1/2 year old son baked last night also. He isn't fond of berry...................silly ol' boy!


Cup of Cobbler


This is enough for a 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 square pan. Double the ingredients if using a 13 x 9 pan. Preheat oven to 350*

1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Cup Butter (don't scrimp here, use the good stuff)
Fruit of choice (approx 2 -3 cups of fruit)

Put butter in pan and place in oven to melt. While butter is melting, mix all ingredients except the fruit. Pour batter over melted butter and then pour fruit evenly on top of batter. Bake for 35-60 minutes. I just cook it until it is golden brown. Top off with French Vanilla Ice Cream for a real treat! Hubby says that's the only way to eat it :)

TTFN!