28 days of Thankfulness

Today, I am thankful for warmth.  It's been cool, dreary and rainy outside for almost a week now.  We did have a 1 1/2 day break with sun and warmth, but then we headed back to the cold and wet.  I am fortunate enough to be sitting inside our house and it is nice and warm inside here :)  I am a creature requiring warmth.  I love the sun, I enjoy sitting in the sun and just soaking up the warmth.  Sometimes when I am gardening there may be a chill in the air and I will just sit in the sun and let it beam down on my face, kissing it softly with it's delicate warmth.  One of my Danes is quite like me in that matter, you can look out and see Calypso sunning herself to warm up.  She also sleeps with a blanket over her most every night, yes, it is not uncommon for me to "tuck" her in at night making sure her blankie covers all of her body.  We live in the northern end of  "the South".  Zone 7 for you garden buffs.  Most of the time it is more than warm enough for me (there is a saying around here for me -- if it's not 80, mamma's not happy).  In the winter the cold sometimes bothers my arthritis that has set in from my past injuries.  When that happens, my dear hubby likes to "crank" up the heat to warm us back up.  We have wood heat, so we keep it nice and toasty in the house during the winter.  I don't care for cold, I can never have on enough clothes when it gets cold.  You have to put on so many layers for the cold that it is hard to move.  I just picture that little child with it's arms sticking straight out and it's legs stiffly  non-movable because of all of the layers on.  I remember being a child and my mom "bundling" us up to go outside.  You can hardly walk!  And you had better go potty BEFORE you start dressing!  No thanks, I prefer warmth.  A layer of clothes and perhaps a sweater is fine, a jacket is okay.  Things grow during the warm parts of the seasons, these things warm and brighten my soul.  They make me smile.  When it is cold out, everything looks dead.  Browns, grays, blacks, dusky blues are the colors you see.  The cold has it's purpose, it makes me over joyed to see the warmth return!  I love to see the first blooms of my Hellebore (aka Lenten Rose) in February, or the daffodils in March.  The sweet peaking of the crocus from beneath their shelter of the decaying leaves of the winter.  Yeppers, there is no question in my mind, I appreciate the winter cold and rain and snow (I guess), but only so that when spring and warmth returns, I Thankful for it even more.  In the meantime, I will try to emulate nature and warmth in my cards and other media.  Have a nice warm day inside!  I know I will :)

Blessings,

27 days of Thankfulness

Today I give thanks for Hope!  I have hope, lots of hope.  I have been given a promise by my Father in Heaven that He will always be with me, never leaving me what ever may happen.  There are many who have no hope, you read about them all the time.  Some commit suicide, some hurt others feeling there is no other way out.  I will never be in any of these situations because my beliefs constantly provide me with LOTS of hope.  I know I am loved by my earthly family, but they can't always be here for me.  My parents live 10 hours north of us, my brothers live 6 to 10 hours north of us (Yes, we live in the south where it is nice, warm and sunny most of the time).  My husband's family lives 6 hours north of us as well.  Although my hubby is near me almost everyday, he can't always understand my feelings.  Being a man, he frequently doesn't have a clue on how to nurture.  But I believe in God.  A heavenly creator who created me for his delight and pleasure.  He made me to praise Him and as I do so, He also promises that He'll be with me at all times, in fact He asks many times in the Book he wrote through God inspired men, that He wants us to pray in all things.  Not just when we need something, but also when we celebrate everything, or question anything.  He gives me Hope.  He gives me reason to live, reason to love and most of all, reason to hope in and for all things!

Blessings,

26 days of Thankfulness

On this wonderfully blessed day, I want to give thanks for my voice :)  I love to sing.  I try to sing in everything I do.  Actually, I don't try to sing, I do sing.  My hubby mentioned a while back that he can tell when I am not doing as well as I don't sing when I am hurting or ill.  I still enjoy hearing the music, but I just don't have it in me to let it express itself.  But, that doesn't happen often, because I love to sing and dance.  I used to sing in our church choir, on our praise team and I also did solo specials.  My dogs get to hear my solos quite often and they love it.  Their tales wag, and they come over to where I am at and just rub against me showing their return of affection.  Singing in the mornings is my most favorite time to sing, then I can join in with the birds and whatever.  A natures chorus at sunrise if you will.  So if you stop by our house to visit, you probably won't have to knock on the door to find me.  Just stand still and listen.  I'll be in one of my gardens, working a way and singing my heart out :)

Blessings!

25 days of Thankfulness

Good Evening everyone! 
   Well, I know I am writing this a little late, but I have been so busy around here it's been silly.  My girlfriend is having surgery today and I offered to puppysit one of her dogs for her for several days.  Although I frequently sit dogs for other people, this one is what you might call a handful, as he is 1 1/2 years old, and my friend has neglected to train this pooch at all :)  So we are in major training sessions now  lol.  That on top of my cleaning, organizing and rearranging and we are enjoy life.  Go ahead and laugh.  That is what I am thankful for today.  Laughter, the ability to laugh, to live and laugh at life and just to smile.  There are so many I know that just grump their way through life, not enjoying a minute of the time they have been given here on earth.  On of my friends is that way, over all she seems to be happy, but when I reflect on our conversations, there are very few things she talks about that doesn't involve complaining.  On the other hand, I love to laugh, I love to smile.  Give me a happy romantic comedy movie any day.  I will laugh out loud, sometimes I think it embarrasses my hubby that I laugh, but other times I know it makes him smile.  Have you ever tried driving to work and smiling a BIG smile at everyone you see.  You will watch literally tens of faces transform into a smile.  Smiles are contagious, laughter is too.  Sometimes people don't know what to do when they see you smile, but they do smile back, but you can see their minds just a whirring trying to figure out what you are smiling at.  But it's my secret, and it makes me smile even more!  My secret?  I have someone who loves me unconditionally.  I know I will never be alone, and He would never want me to be sad.  He provides everything I absolutely need, and never lets me down.  Everything He does he does for my good.  That includes letting me make a few mistakes throughout my life -- OK, maybe more than a few lol.  But I know that he stayed by my side, even when I thought he was no where alone.  Just over 23 years ago years ago I rededicated my life to Him after a long detour of my own.  When I did that, he welcomed me back home with open arms.  Just like that story - The Prodigal daughter Son.  A while after that He arranged my meeting my now hubby, who is also a Christian, and the rest of the story is History.  I don't tend to keep my secret very closely guarded.  In fact I am willing to tell anyone who will listen.  Anyone can be happy all the time, or at least most of it.  Give your life to the most caring being you'll ever know.  He has many names, Father, God, King, and many many more.  He wrote a really awesome book too, if you enjoy reading and the stories in this book are phenomenal!  He has one true son as well, and many adopted.  I/we are some of His adopted.  I love God, my Father.  I want to please Him in every thing I do.  I want to make Him happy, and the only way I know to do that most continuously is to be happy and spread the happiness.  That is my secret.  Love God, Love yourself, Love your neighbor and you will smile most of your moments here on earth.  I hope and pray that your days are filled with laughter, that your sad days can look through and find His comfort and the happiness that can be shared as long as you share with Him.  Smile and enjoy the Laughter!

Blessings!

Thanksgiving Day a special day of Thankfulness

Today is Thanksgiving and I just want to wish you, my followers/readers a very blessed Thanksgiving.  I am very thankful for you and the time you take out of your day to read my blog, and check out my cards or other art work.  I know of late I have been lax on getting cards out, it is for a good reason, I have been rearranging and finishing my organizing of my scrapping area.  I do have several images I have been coloring, so hopefully soon you will get to see what you usually come here for.  But until then, Thank you so very much for your blogship.  Every one of your comments makes my day and puts a special smile on my face.  Thank you so very much for your kindness.  Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you and your families.  May God bless you all with His greatest gift for each and every member of your household -- salvation and a promise of eternity for those who love and believe on him.

Blessings!

23 Days of Thankfulness

God has blessed me with many talents, art is one of them, but one of the others is my ability to cook.  Some people say the closest thing to cooking they can do is burn water, fortunately for me I don't have that problem.  I was born and raised in the country.  My parents were not well off, so my mother did what ever needed to be done to provide food when there wasn't any money.  That meant my mom canned, froze and dried everything in the garden.  Nothing was wasted.  But preserving food is a labor intensive job, so having a daughter, my mother regularly put me to work.  Consequently once I became an adult, I took on many of my mother's habits.  She required me to start cooking around the house by the time I was 10.  Now, I will tell you I am not as young as most of you.  When I was a kid, there wasn't such a thing as overprotecting your child to the point where they did nothing.  Child safe everything didn't exist, therefore, I grew up learning everything I was willing to put my mind to.  To this day, on a regular basis my hubby says I should start a restaurant.  I can watch something on TV and emulate it on the table without missing a beat.  Read a recipe, and know how to manipulate it to fit our tastes and it be out of this world in flavor.  I love food, I love to eat, and I love to cook.  I have been very blessed to have been given parents who felt that cooking and the knowledge of how to do it from garden to table was one of the most important things they could teach me.  Thank you God, for the blessings and talents you have given me.  I pray that I use them to your glory and honor.  And tomorrow, as we celebrate a day of Thanksgiving for many things, don't forget to give thanks for those who prepared the food as well as those who taught them how to prepare it.  Be thankful for ALL the wonderful blessings you have been given.  Just look around, there are more blessings around you than you can count, things you can see, do, feel, smell, touch, and the list goes on and on.  Enjoy your Turkey tomorrow, or what ever you enjoy celebrating life eating, and don't forget to give thanks. 

Blessings!

22 days of being Thankful

I am thankful for Water.  I love the stuff!  To drink, to play in, to clean up in, for almost everything!  Not to mention we are 98% water :)  But my favorite aspect of water comes in certain forms.  I love to sleep with my windows open and hear water outside.  When I lived in Florida I could hear the waves lapping quietly up on the shores at night, and during the day, I could watch it sparkle in the sun and see the dolphins or manatee rolling in the backwaters.  Take the boat out on the water and you can enjoy the ride and the view.  It wasn't anything to see a sea turtle paddling along way out in the middle of nowhere.  Very Cool.  I have also had the wonderful privilege of living on a river and I could hear the water tumbling over the rocks.  It is such a soothing and serene sound, it puts me to sleep in just moments.  You can listen to the frogs croaking and making territory challenges at night, or the bullfrog making his loud Harrumph!  Every once and a while you can hear a fish jump and re-enter into the water.  During the day you can dip your toes into the cool waters and they flow by, or perhaps your feet.  On really hot days, just going for a dip in the cool, clear water is a true blessing.  I do drink a lot of water.  Although some say water has no taste, it is only because they don't drink much of it.  When I visit my brother's they have city water and it is so strong with chemicals it nearly takes my breath.  Up near where my parents live there are sulfur springs everywhere and the water there has a slightly sulfur taste.  You can easily taste the iron in hard water.  When we go out to eat, I prefer my water to have a little lemon in it, it seems to mask most of the city water tastes.  I use water for lots of things, like wetting paper so I can crumple it and give it dimension or texture in a project.  I use it to clean my paint brushes, I usually have a cup of tea (made with water) or just a regular glass of water nearby so that I can grab a sip whenever I get thirsty.  Yep, I am very thankful for water.  It tastes good, looks good and feels good, Best of all, it's good for you :)  Thanks for stopping and have a great evening!

Blessings,

21 days of being Thankful

There are so many things we take for granted.  One of those things is having a roof over our heads.  When I go outside to run errands and it is raining outside, I am always happy to reach the indoors where I can dry off and get warm again.  When the wind blows, it is nice to come in the house and relax from being blown around.  We each have our own house, with our own stuff, and in the areas we like to live in.  There are still 3rd world countries where people still live in huts that have thatch roofs, and they have a tendency to leak on occasion. But we don't even have to go to third world country to find people without roofs.  All we need to do is look in our downtown cities and look under the bridges and in some woods to find those less fortunate than us without a roof over their heads. In the really big cities you find they each have their own box to live in to try to keep the rain out.  Now that in itself is some food for thought.
   Even though I like rain, I don't think I would be quite as happy if it was raining in my house.  Sleeping in a wet bed just doesn't get me all excited.  And working with constantly wet paper would get to be a pretty mucky job after a while.  So I am very thankful that I have been provided for in such a way that I have a roof over my head (and my crafting paper stays dry too {c:  )

20 Days of Being Thankful

They say Music soothes the savage beast.  I don't know about the savage ones, but I do know that I love music and so do my fur-kids.  My favorite music is light jazz, but I enjoy many other types.  It is probably easier for me to list the types that I don't care for rather than the ones I do.  I prefer music of nature and instruments to vocals.  I like to get lost in my music while I work or study, it seems to free my mind and my movements.  Sometimes I just like to move to the music and the fur-kids are sure that they need to move with me.  Imagine 3 or 4 Great Danes trying to move to the flow of music with a human in the midst, I see you smiling!  Music goes back to the beginning of time, my favorite book of music is the book of Psalms, here we have the words, but not the actual instruments, oft times I try to listen to what my heart tells me the sounds were then.  So many songs, so many different ways to hear.  Try to listen to what the artist is trying to tell your heart, feel with your whole body, open your mind and soul, reach deep inside yourself and just enjoy any type of music for the pure enjoyment of it all.  I am Thankful for the gift of music given to us through others.

Love To Stamp Thanksgiving

Good Day everyone!
     Well, I finished this card this past Friday, but haven't had enough time to really spend loading it up, but I do want to get it up before it is too late :)  Especially since this is Thanksgiving week, and this is a Thanksgiving card.  This year we are not going to be able to get up north to visit our parents so I made each a card.  This is the card I will be sending to my Mom and dad for Thanksgiving:

I won this rubber image and four others in a blog hop for Love to Stamp in late October.  They are called Little Darlings, and most of them are :)  I chose this little girl because she will remind my mom of us kids playing in the leaf piles she would rake up in the fall.  You couldn't keep us out of those leaves for anything.  We would use them to rake out walls for our pretend "houses", pile them up to jump in them, and then just have all out leaf throwing wars.  We were always outside playing, there were no such things as computers, and TV was very limited so that our minds wouldn't get completely polluted from watching that "schmut".  Oh, if our grands could see what is on TV now!  But, I digress.  Every year we would carve out pumpkins that we picked from out of the fields.  So of course, the card had to have pumpkins on it too.  The ribbon is Earth Elements and it just sort of set the tone for the colors I was looking for.  DP is PTI's Autumn and cs is Bazzil. 

I really like the center step card because you can add so much texture, and I love texture :)  I colored the image with copics, but the pumpkins and Sentiment were colored with my Prismas.  The grassy area below the leaf thrower was colored with Shimmerz mossy green paint with lots of mica glimmer in it.  Distress Inks (Peeled Paint and Tea Dye) were used on the edges of all cs and DP's.  SB Long Classic Ovals/scalloped were used for die cutting the image out.  Pumpkins and maple leaf on inside are old Cuttlebug cut/emboss.  And yes, I did do the inside as well:

The inside sentiment was stamped and then embossed with Clear Stampin Up EP.  EP were layered up on the edges of the inside, I just love the look it gives in real life.  It's quite sparkly as well as I used Shimmerz Enamalz Sparkilicious EP.  That's it for this card, no extra bling, just coloring, one of my favorite pass times :)  Hope you have had a great weekend!

Blessings,

This card will be entered into the following challenges:
Card Makin Mamas: Thanksgiving or Thank you,  Joyful Stamper: What inspires you, Craft Your Passion Challenges: Photo Inspiration (leaves),  Crafts and Me Challenges: Simples,  Creative Craft Challenges:  Minimalistic,  FabNFunky Challenges:  It's cold outside,  Our Creative Corner Challenges:  Photo Inspiration (chandelier),  Papercraft Journey:  Embossing,  Patti's Creations Design Challenge:  Birthday or Thanksgiving and Digital or Stamped image,  Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge:  Giving Thanks,  Pile It On: Anything with a "P" (Pumpkins!),  Raise the Bar challenge:  Anything with some type of food (Pumpkin!),  Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays:  Embossing,  

Day of Thankfulness #19

Today, as most days of my life for the past 6 years, I am grateful for modern medicine and the doctors who pioneer, develop and practice medicine.  I know that encompasses a lot of people, but I am very thankful that these people are out there.  Without them, I wouldn't be here anymore and when many of you look at your life and health, you would be in the same boat I am.  Those of us who have survived any type of cancer, probably wouldn't have survived without modern medicine and doctors.  The same goes for victims of accidents of any type that are catastrophic to any degree.  My husband had a quintuple by-pass two years ago.  When he went in for experiencing a tight chest, they wouldn't let him leave because they said he wouldn't make it back if anything started happening.  Needless to say, he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for modern medicine.  We live to ripe old ages only because of the major developments of medicine and the physicians who practice.  Babies are living that without the doctors, medicines and instruments, wouldn't.  I am sure that I need not say more, you get the idea.  Today, I say Thank you to all those in the Medical world.

Blessings,

Day 18 of being Thankful!

Today, I must admit I am thankful for the Internet.  It has many great points, a way to meet new friends, a way to keep up with the old.  A much easier way to do term or thesis papers, or research papers.  A tool for being inspired, and a chance to inspire.  It's a great place to share concepts, ideas, challenges and seek answers, solutions and resolve dilemmas.  There are also many negatives, but I think if you can properly manage your time spent in cyber-space, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.  Thanks for joining me on this wonderful journey of Thankfulness.

Blessings!

Grateful day #17

As I was to and walking from the mailbox yesterday, after the rain had subsided, I noticed so many smells.  The smell of the rotting leaves was more pronounced, the wet-worm smell was quite prevalent, and when I walked into the house, I could smell the warm wax pot I have going everyday.  When I proceeded to make and apple pie, needless to say the smells were wonderful and I thought, "I am so happy I can smell!"  And I am.  Without smell there is little that we would taste.  When a person has certain medical treatments, they lose their sense of smell, nothing smells good, therefore they loose their appetite.  I am Gratefull that I can smell -- it means there is little wrong with me right now - medically anyways  lol.  And it helps me appreciate many of the other gifts God has given me.  Inhale, think about what you can smell.  Enjoy your day!

Blessings!

A CAS card, I think ;)

This next card is another one of my attempts at a CAS card.  I just can't seem to get past the card seeming empty without just a little bling, but there are no layers, no flowers, no extra stamping, just a basic white card with some ink, some rhinestones and a butterfly (from PizzazzAplenty), some Twine, a button, scalloped edge die and sentiment (PTI), Embossing Powders (Stampin Up) and a doily stamp (Hero Arts S5319).

Cardstock is Bazzil.  Whew!  I think I have everything listed now.  I must admit, although there isn't what I would call layer's on this card, if you look at the "belly band" you might challenge me on this.

But when the layered area is only 1/2" wide, I don't think that counts.  I have seen a lot of "CAS" cards out there that just didn't fit what I thought was CAS, so, I went and looked up what CAS actually meant and the definition that I found was: a card with more open white than any other color, typically with no layers, and generally with only one or two other colors".  Well, this one fits the description and I guess it isn't too bad looking.   I'll send it off as a Birthday card to someone who is homebound and I am sure they will like it.  Hope you enjoy :)

Blessings,

Day 16 of Gratefulness

Well, I am so surprised that I posted my card and forgot my day of Gratefulness.  I had thought of it, just don't know why it didn't get written down here.  I am so very thankful for Transportation!  Sound strange?  Think about it, it really wasn't that long ago when the only transportation was walking (OK, if we still walked, not quite so many would have the weight problem I do  LOL).  With the passage of time and man's innovation to make things go faster, we now have automobiles to get us from here to there usually in less than a day!  And if you include flying, you can get almost anywhere in 24 hours.  Sure beats the horse and buggy.  But I must admit, the horses breath smelled a lot better than car exhaust does!  And the waste by products are a lot more useful in my garden :)  Thank you Mr. Ford and your competitors for being diligent in your dreams and making our lives easier.

May the Bounty of the Season

Well, I am guilty of getting behind in posting my cards.  Mostly because my computer runs so very slow, anything that involves pictures means the molasses in the cupboard has found it's way into my motherboard :(
Since I don't think we will be able to go to our families who live out of state for Thanksgiving this year, I am working on making cards to send.  There are several cards with folds that I haven't had the opportunity to try, so I decided to roll the two together.  My first card is one of those cards where the top and bottom rails fold one way leaving the middle to be part of the regular card, but it bends and folds too.  Not sure of the name of this one, but you'll recognize it:

See, I knew you would recognize it.  I enjoyed playing with this card, lots of little cuts and fittings, but that leaves for lots of opportunities to do something different. The papers are from PaperTrey Ink.  The stamps are old Hero Arts (and I mean old!), but they were exactly what this card needed, so they got to get inky instead of something new :), these sentiments were embossed with VersaMark and StampinUp Clear EP.

I have used SB labels 4 and CheeryLynn dies fern frond and Sweet William (Calyx for fluffy flower).  Edges were inked with Distress Inks, Tea Die and Shabby Shutters.  Pin and rhinestones are from PizzazAplenty, small roses are from Wild Orchids.  Ribbon so pretty and sparkly came from LOC, it was a piece that they wrapped my shipment in.  You can see the ribbon better in this picture in the top corners:

The leaf in this picture is one I cut out by hand, folded in half and ran through my corrigator.  Rhinestone flourish was an old one from Kaiser.  I love routing around through my supplies and finding bits and pieces that I can put together and make everything come out looking somewhat unified ;)  Well, onto my next project!  Thanks for stopping, have a wonderfully blessed day!

Blessings,

This card will be entered into the following challenges:
CherryLynn Designs: Autumn, Celebrate the Occassion: Thanksgiving - must use a die, Craft Your days Away Challenges: Embellishment Bingo (Gems, Flowers, Pin), Crafty Creations Challenges: Recycle Recycle, Recycle!, Do You Stack Up Challenge: Inspired by Song (Give Thanks with a Greatful Heart), Kaboodle Doodles Challenges: Thanksgiving, PaperCrafting Journey:  Embossing, Pattie's Creations Design Challenge:  Birthday or Thanksgiving, Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges: Give Thanks, Saturday Challenge: Dots or Stripes, Paper Players: Red, Artichoke and River Rock

15 Days of Thankfulness

Good Morning everyone!

Today is a beautiful day.  Some of you would see it as a terrible day because it is dark, dreery and rainy out.  But I look out and see many things.  One of which is the rain washing away the dirt that gathered during the summer on the leaves and trees.  It reminds me of life and Forgiveness.  I am so thankful for Forgiveness.  God has gracefully forgiven me for all my past wrongs, and now it as I live my life, I am required to forgive others.  Sometimes it is easy, others it is so very hard.  It was very hard to forgive the young person who took my life as I knew it away.  At first I thought it was easy, but as more obsticles came up, hate would try to sneak in.  I have forgiven him though.  I have no right to hate.  God could have chosen to turn away from me, but so very fortunately He didn't.  It has become fairly easy to forgive and forget.  Not necessarily completely, because I would prefer not to let you hurt me in the same way again, but I don't hold grudges.  I am thankful for Forgiveness, and I try to be graceful in giving it.  And I pray that those I've hurt or offended, either knowingly or un, will forgive me as well.  What a wonderfully blessed thing -- Forgiveness :)

Blessings and Love,

Day 12 of being Thankful :)

Today I am at a Specialty Dog Show, and yes, I am going to say it, I am thankful for my dogs.  Dogs are some of the most wonderous gifts God gave man.  They are a perfect example of Unconditional Love.  They are almost perfect in forgiveness.  I have six Great Danes and a Cocker Spaniel.  Each one is sweet in it's own way.  There are a few who are closer in my heart than others, but it would be hard to replace any of them.  When I am gone to a show like this, they miss me, and they let me know by refusing to eat for my hubby while he takes care of them.  I know that they are spoiled, and that is okay, because they spoil me with all the love they have to give.  They help me around the yard, if I fall down, one or a couple comes over to help me up, they know when I need help and are willing to pitch in whenever they can, and they are not trained professionally to be service dogs.  I do have one that I own that is a show dog, and one that I co-own that is a show dog too.  Shows are fun, We tend to win at the beginning, but haven't managed to win many big shows yet, but all things in good time.  But the long and short of it is, I love my dogs and I know that they love me too, and sometimes they are the best listeners, the best friends.  I hope you have a special pet of some sort that you can speak your heart to, that can always be there for you, that can show you unconditional love, so that we might learn to do the same.  Thanks for stopping!

Blessings!

Day 11 - Most thankful for Veterans and Service people

Today is Veterans Day.  I am so grateful to veteran's and servicepersons for the freedom I enjoy today and everyday of my life.  My freedom to write uncensored in my blog, my freedom to practice the religion of my choice, and my freedom to love my God.  Our priveldges are countless if you think about it, and if you don't just take a quick look at a communistic country like Cuba, few live the way they want or like.  Many's destiny is chosen by their government.  Yes I am very Very grateful for our Servicepersons and Veteran's throughout this country, but in specific, my nephew who currently serves in the US Marine Corp., and my brother who served in the US Navy.  My hat is off to you, I thank God for you both and all the rest of you daily.  I will stand up for your rights, fight for what you deserve.  I love you all, Thank you all for loving us and the US!

Blessings,

Day 10 of Being Thankful

I must say that today I am very thankful for Flowers.  If you read my bio, you know that I am a Horticulturist by degree.  I love plants.  Every plant in my yard (and I have literally hundreds) is planted with a post next to it with the latin name and the common name.  I have over 300 daylilies alone, nearly a hundred hostas, trees of all different types, shapes, flowering abilities, and bark textures.  Many of these plants inspire me in my card creating journey.  Some of the most beautiful flowers are the ones that seem to be understated in the botanical world.  Yesterday I posted a Chocolate and lattee based card, I have a Daylily called "Milk Chocolate" and the colors in it are reflected in the card.  On my worst day, hand me a flower and you'll instantly watch my face light up.  My hope for heaven is that God will let me work in His beautiful garden, to me, it would be the most wonderful labor of  love that there is, in fact, it wouldn't be labor at all ;)

Blessings,

Thank you for Music Director

Good Afternoon Everyone, It looks beautiful outside, but my body knows that it is only in looks.  When I step out the door, the wind is sharp and the temperature is cold.  That makes for a day that I would rather be inside than out.  So Today is Laundry day for me and while I do laundry, I usually do card making :)  It is a mix of things I must with things I want, not a bad mix if I do say so myself :)

Today I have for you a card that I have made for my Music Minister/Director.   For years I have been on both the praise team and choir.  I have really enjoyed sharing my love of God through music every chance I get to anyone who would listen.  But this spring I was diagnosed with COPD (no, I am not a smoker and never have been, this is due to second hand smoke from when I was a child.)  Unless I take all my meds everyday, I can't catch my breath, so obviously singing is no longer in my life, except for at home where no one but me notices that I have to takes short stops to breathe while I sing.  But, I will miss my music minister a lot.  He not only honed us to as close as perfection vocally as he could, he also cared for our spiritual grouth.  He directed us in Bible studies, led us in prayer and petitions, encouraged us to fast, and only desired the best for each and every one of us.  If you remember, I started a thank-you card that turned into a Birthday card for my brother.  This is who my card was supposed to be for.  I have really wrestled with making Dale a card that fully encompassed who he was, what he did, and how he and I felt.  Here is the card:

To keep the card "manly" I needed to have some "manly" components, so my thoughts leaned toward cardboard.  So I split a piece of card board and then filled the ribs in slightly with light scuplting paste.  It helped give depth and character.  I think Dale had a piano with him in the womb, so this cherub conducting a choir of birds to sing praises was more than appropriate for him.  I stamped  first in VersaMark and used Stampin Up's Clear EP to set.  Then I took some DI (Frayed Burlap) and lightly went over the image to darken the paper around.  Next I streaked on some Malted Milk Acrylic Paint by Jenni Bowlin (Ranger), I let it dry for a bit and then wiped off what ever wasn't dry.  Then to give just a bit of color I painted ever so lightly some Distress crackle paint in Peeled paint.  Again, I let it set for a couple minutes, then wiped it off.  Finally I grabbed the frayed burlap DI and went over the image again lightly and wiped off again.  Finally I took the SB Label 10 and die cut the image and then thin cut a mat of muted green.  Rhinestones are from PizzazzAplenty. 

The woodgrained ribbon was just a small piece left in my stash, so don't remember where that came from.  The full card mat was embossed with PC's Kassies Brocade which I inked up with the Frayed Burlap first.  The Thank you banner is from Layers of Color, the die is SB.  The wording is embossed in black to be sure that it would stand out with all these deeper browns.  I think that is about it.  Card is in the mail and he should be getting it today :)  Thanks for looking!

Blessings!

Challenges this card will be entered into are:
Our Creative Corner: manly, Craft Your Passion:  Browns, Crafty Creations Challenges: Kraft, Cream & one other, Do You Stack up? :  Inspired by song (I will sing Praise!), Dream Valley Challenges:  Anything Goes, Kaboodle Doodles Challenge: Fall colors (browns) Lollipop Crafts:  Thanksgiving or fall colors, Stampin Sisters in Christ: Use an old stamp (Magenta 2001)

Day 9 of being Thankful

You know, this sounds kind of strange and selfish, but I am very thankful for Food!  lol, I know, the answer is yes, I do enjoy eating.  I enjoy the taste and layers of flavors.  I usually have a garden every year and at the end of the year I put the garden "overages" up in the form of canning, freezing, drying or whatever.  I do this because I have very sensitive taste buds and I don't like the taste of "tin" or aluminum in my food.  I like it to be fresh.  When I can, I have control of what is going into my body, not to much salt, plenty of herbs and other spices and no preservatives.  That way when I make something, I can take a basic sauce and layer it up with all the different herbs I want and I can taste each one.  It tastes soooo good!  Like the Maple Walnut Pumpkin pie I made last night.  It is the first recipe I have made that you don't sweeten the pumpkin, but instead make a streusel topping that starts out on top, but then ends up in the center.  The streusel topping only has 1/4 c sugar, and that is all the sugar in the whole pie!  Well, let me tell you, that is one of the best pumpkin pies I have ever eaten!  To top it off, hubby normally doesn't like pumpkin pie, but let me tell you he is all over this one!  lol.  Well, this is all a bit off the subject of food.  I talk of pie, but there are many who have only rice and water each day and sometimes not even that.  Again, I look at myself and know that God has blessed me to be born and live in a country where most everyone has at least one meal a day.  So yes, I am Thankful for food ;)  Blessings!

Day 8 of Thankfulness

Today I give thanks for the ability to walk.  I have a pup of mine that is getting ready to go to the show ring this weekend.  As we get ready for the show, I have been walking about a mile every day.  This doesn't seem like much to you, but for me it is a milestone.  At one time they thought I wouldn't walk again on my own two feet.  But God has provided generously otherwise.  I may not be able to go far, but go I can :)  A couple of months ago my Hubby and I went to MI while it was still hot out.  We went to the beach and I think it was 90 degrees that day, the sand was so nice and very warm.  We walked the beach that day and for the first time since the accident, I was able to walk miles without pain.  That is/was a very big deal, not only did I walk that far, but I wasn't sore afterwards and was able to complete my day as normal.  Praise God for miracles!  Now I can hardly wait for the next nice warm day at the beach walking in the sand.  Such a wonderful thought.

Day 7 of being Thankful

This seventh day I give thanks for my friends.  You know there are so many of them.  There are those from childhood, from church, my neighbors, and yes, even my dear blogger friends.  Friends give love and encouraging words when you need them most.  Many have delivered meals to our house during long recuperation times after my accident and the many subsequent surgeries.  You gave me rides when I wasn't allowed to drive because of the condition of my legs and feet.  I pray that I am there for each of you as you go through your ups and downs and trying times of life as much as you have been for me.  I love you, each and everyone of you.

The sixth day of Thankfulness

Today is Sunday.  It is beautiful outside, blue skies, crisp warm fall wind.  You can smell the leaves decaying.  I had the pleasure today of going to church and singing hymns of praise, celebrating God's mercy and Grace.  And while I was sitting in the pew this morning before service started, I knew what I was thankful for today -- I am a chosen child of God.  Nothing could be better.  He chose me to love me, to hear my adoration for Him and all that He does for me.  He chose me in all my ugly sinfulness and sent His son to die on a cross to pay my debt, so that I could be with Him when that time comes.  He can chose you too.  All you have to do is tell Him you are sorry for your sins, that you know and believe that Christ was sent to die and be risen again to sit at the right hand of God the Father, then tell Him you know that Christ is your Saviour and Redeemer.  He IS our Blessed Redeemer, our comforter.  He is with us at all times, through times of no money and plenty of money, through times of loneliness and times filled with friendship.  When you accept Christ as your one and ONLY Saviour, you join a family called the body of Christ.  He is the head of this body, and we are His parts.  He takes care of us as He cares for the lilies of the field.  He is wonderful and if you want to get to know Him even more, please, read His story.  A book of love, hate, tragedy, Grace, and more love.  The story covers journeys, building, destroying, running, walking, crying, weeping, laughing and more loving.  I pray that you too join our family, Chose Christ and you chose everlasting life.  Yes, I am Extremely Thankful for being Chosen!

Blessings,

Thankfulness, Day 5

Today as I was working out in my garden, I realized that I often forget how lucky I am to be able to see all the beautiful creations around me.  I can see colors, designs, still life, moving life, everything!  Not everyone has that ability, I am blessed.  I am thankful for my sight or I could not write this blog, and I would not be able to see if I spelled a word incorrectly.  We depend on our eyes so much, try and go a day without seeing.  Your shins will be sore in an hour.  Yes, indeed I am very Thankful for my eyes and sight <3

Day 4 of Thankfulness

Today I want to express my thankfulness for family.  I have three brothers, one of whom has a birthday in a couple of days, my mom and dad and my two sons with their families, my husbands: father, sons, brothers and sisters and all of everyones kids and grandkids.  Our family is very extended as we are blended on both sides.   We have 12, almost 13, grandchildren and they are all the pride and joy of our life.  None of our family lives near us anymore so we don't get to see them very often but when we do, it is always a joyous occasion.  Of our six sons only two are Christians, so we pray earnestly for our other sons and their families.  With all of our brothers and sisters with their families, our prayer lists are very long, but we love each and every moment that we are honored to pray for them in their daily walk in life.  We have one granddaughter who is very special to us as for the most part we had custody of her and raised her for the first 12 years of her life.  Family is such a wonderful gift, and there are so many different types of family, but today I talk of Marital and blood family.  Those who care for you and love you like no other.  My MIL passed about 6 years ago, but until then, she was a wonderfully Godly woman who raised my husband and his siblings with God's help. A wonderful woman, a wonderful man who produced God fearing wonderful children.  Yes, I am very Thankful for my blood and Marital family.

A Thank you turned Birthday

I have a Thank you card that I need to make for our Music Minister.  I have started making a card with the intention of giving it to him a couple of times now.  Today I took the MOJO sketch, grabbed out some different papers and started cutting and stamping away.  But about 3/4 of the way through, I noticed that the card was no longer going in the direction I had intended but had instead taken on a life of it's own.  As I continued to work the card I picked up a Happy Birthday stamp and used it.  Now I was committed and as I thought about it I realized that it was actually meant to be as one of my brothers birthday is in three days.  So I finished off the card and will mail it out tomorrow.  Here is the challenge:

Here is my take on the MOJO 213 Sketch:

I normally don't work with blue, and wasn't even sure I would have enough "stuff" to make this turn out right, but the more I pulled out, the more my mind started working and eventually I had enough papers to make this work.  I love to see tears in papers with another paper with a different pattern peaking through.  The main DP has light gray swirly waves on it, but it was just begging for more so I added some stamped swirls in a darker color.  I cut a doily out in white, but felt is was too white, so I sprayed some Tattered Angels Walnut gold and Blue Frost on it, and then I was much happier.  Next I grabbed some SB's Label 2, and cut out a mat and inlay.  I didn't want to put a flower on the card or anything like that because I knew this was going to be for a man, so instead I grabbed my Blueberry Twine and went to wrapping the diecut in layers.  When I was finished I didn't like the "white" on the twine, so I sprayed that whole piece with the walnut gold TA and again was much happier. Then I topped that with a blue stick pin, not to fancy, but something more "masculine" like.  All components for the stick pin came from PizzazAplenty.

Next I started working on the edges, used some verve flourish stamps first, then distressed.  Once I had that finished I inked up the edges with DI Stormy sky.  The raw edges of paper were touched lightly with the Stormy sky, but some Old Paper was added to it to give it a more grunge look.  Finally I pulled out labels 10 to make the spot for the sentiment.  I made the layers and even cut out a piece of transparency to put on top.  But the sentiment I wanted to put on this didn't fit, so as I looked around I saw Happy Birthday and my hand just picked it up, inked it in Stormy Sky and stamped it, I distressed and inked the edges, lined up the clear over the top and used two brads to hold the transparency down.  It looked like it still needed more, so I started tapping versa mark on the edges and adding embossing powder, light in some spots, heavier in others.

All the while leaving the peaky paper alone except to spray some TA on it.  Then I just put everything together and started working on the inside.

I again treated the back paper just like the front paper, let a piece of "wrought iron" fall askew and layered a lighter DP on top that was inked on the edges as well.  The verse is Verve.  I will be entering this in some challenges that will be listed below tomorrow morning.  I wanted to get this up tonight yet so I don't fall to far behind.  Hope you had/have a great day.

Blessings!

This card has been entered into the following challenges:
Mojo Monday Sketch: Sketch 213,   Moving Along with the Times:Card for male,   Crafts and Me :Something Blue, Scrap, Stamp and Doodle  :Monochromatic, Dream Valley Challenges: Anything Goes, Lollipop Crafts: Anything Goes, Pollycraft Challenges:  Anything Goes, Make it Monday:  Anything Goes,  Paper Playtime:  Anything Goes

Day three of being Thankful

Today is really easy to give Thanks.  Today I called my mom.  She is my best friend.  She lives about 10 hours north of me so we don't get to see each other very often and that really hurts sometimes.  We absolutely enjoy spending any time together that we can.  We can almost finish each other's sentences, we enjoy the same crafts/hobbies, and we both love nature and the gifts God has given us.  My mom is my role model, she was a SAHM while us kids grew up which was pretty normal in those days and is becoming so again.  My mother always wore dresses (when she was younger -- not any more lol) even when she shoveled snow.  She has a great sense of humor, she loves to laugh.  In those ways we are very much alike.  Simple things make both of us happy.  I wish I had discovered what  a wonderful mother I had when I was much younger.  Now that I look back, I see that I could have made her alot happier in a lot of simple ways.  So I take the opportunity as much as I can now.  God has blessed me with a Proverbs 31:28 mother, beautiful inside and out.  She taught me all she knew about God when I was a child, and she rejoices that I too am a Christian. 

God is so very good, and He has blessed me so very much.  Thank you Father.
 Blessings,

The Best Thing to Hold On to is

We have a very elderly couple in our church who are celebrating their anniversary this month.  They have been together since they were in their teens and now they are in their late 70's and early 80's.  Wow!  I have so much respect for any couple who sticks it out through thick and thin, through good times and bad.  Through times when you are not sure if you love each other and other times when you know there has been no other one you could have loved.  Wow!  I have a 8" X 8" Wedding paper pad from Memories and I had decided that I wanted to make their card from these papers.  And Verv's layout for this week was perfect for these papers.  So this is what I made:

The die cuts are SB Labels 10, Ovals, Classic Circles and Classic Scalloped circles.  The Sentiment in the circle is from Just Rite Stampers, the sentiment on the oval vellum over the branched paper on labels 10 is from an Anna Griffith stencil I purchased years ago.  The stencil had three elements to it, the sentiment, the border that you see in black on the upper third, and in white on the lower third, and fnally the light silvery leaf on the vellum around the sentiment.  The rhinestone/black pearl flourish is from Kaiser.  The ribbon is satin white from Michael's.  The roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The Cameo, most elements of the stick pin and the rhinestones in the upper left corner are from PizzazzAplenty.  Another look at the card from a different angle.

I know that this type of bow is supposed to be easy to do, guess I need to get on YouTube and look it up, because it gave me a dickens of a time.  But it's overall look with the cameo and stick pin is wonderful.  The silvery beads on the stick pin are really bright in real life, neither picture does them any justice.  I took a "closer" picture, but it turned out to blurry.  So this one will have to do for now.  Thanks for looking :)
Blessings!

This card will be entered into the following Challenges:
 Wags and Whiskers: Black and pearls,

Day two of Being Thankful

As I sit and reflect on my life and the gifts given to me, the second thing that I am the most Thankful for my dear loving husband.  During a time in my life when I had decided that I didn't need a man in my life, God showed me otherwise.  He blessed me with a man who was caring, full of passion, had humor and brought with him 4 sons to add to my own 2 sons.  Together we managed to raise all six boys to adulthood and they have blessed us with over 11 grandchildren already.  Five years ago, I was hit by another driver and the overall prognosis was not good.  But with God, my husband and my mother, I am a living testament to love.  My husband even to this day constantly worries that I am pushing my body to far.  He is always willing to help and I know he loves me more than I sometimes feel I deserve.  And I say this not because I know he reads my blog, but because I do truly love him.  More and more as we conquer our first 20 years together I can not imagine being with any other.  I love you honey <3 and I regularly thank God for you ;)

A month of Gratitude

I almost forgot something I had decided to do, something that I should do every day of the year and not just during November, but for now it is for November.  This month I will daily express a point of gratitude I have for things in my life. 

My first thing that I am full of gratitude for is that I am blessed to live in a country that permits and even promotes freedom of religion.  I am a Christian.  A very devoted Christian.  I love my God, I believe He sent His only Son to die for my shameful sins.  Then He raised His son from death to sit with Him in heaven and prepare a place for me (and other true believer's) when I die.  I believe in the Father, the Son (of whom I believe is my one and only Savior from death and eternity in hell) and the Holy Spirit.  And I am very grateful that I live in a portion of the world that allows this without persecution or prosecution. This is one of the most important things in the world, of my life, to me.

I am not sure why, but lately I don't seem to be getting to the computer until evening/night time.  It has been wonderfully beautiful out lately, so I have been spending lots of time out with the dogs and gardens the last couple of days.  Mornings have been spent working on cards and having fun while the chill of the morning warmed up.
So while I am waiting for it to warm up out side I decided to try something I have not ever done before.  I decided to try to make a single layer card, using nothing but Ink, embossing powder, stamps/stencils, and one punch.  This is what I came up with.  Not bad, but even better IRL.

I started with a piece of shiny silver cs, not sure who it is from, but I would bet Club Scrap left overs.  The first thing I did was stamp and emboss the butterfly and flower corner by Our Daily Bread Designs.  Then I took some white ink and a paint brush and painted all the daisy's white.  Then I went and got out my magical mica's from Lindy's Stamp Gang, sprayed a little water on my Teflon sheet, cleaned up my brush and went to work.

The micas and silver EP really sparkle here, sure wish you could see it.  Next I wanted to fill in the large vast space of the other half of the diagonal.  I knew right away I wanted to grab my Layers of Color (LOC) stencils.  Starting with Distress Ink, Pumice stone and the Victorian corner stencil, I laid a base with sort of a directional pointing in the direction the butterfly was going.  On top of that I laid down the Natural Flourish art stencil and began lightly pouncing a light sponge with white ink.  I kept turning the stencil to get the flourish to look very "wispy".  As I looked a the card, it said it needed a sentiment that was VERY full of flourish.  So I went digging through all my stamps and finally found this Happy Birthday on wood.  To make it stand out, I stamped it in black mixed with hologram - sooo sparkly.  When I was finished I took a simple Martha Stewart punch and did the edge.  The inside is very simple with a bit of the butterflies flow. 

Hope you enjoyed this.  I doubt there is or will ever be a challenge for this type of card, but it was ton of fun to do, and like I said IRL it is simply gorgeous.  It is definitely hard to believe that it has no layers or raised/touchable bling,  Bet this one fits in an envy!  lol, hubby will love it ;)