Challenges that bless!

Yay!!! I can post again!! Blogger wasn't uploading last night, but it's a new day!! Praise God!

This first card is part of a blogging sister's challenge. I took the sketch and twisted it a bit. Here's the original June sketch by my SBS9 sister Alex:

Do you see how I just turned the card? I don't usually go "off sketch"...that's just my weird little quirk because a sketch is just a guideline, but I always want it to fit exactly, so you have to really encourage me to get me to be more creative than that! This time I hope I did okay ;) The image I used came from another SBS sister, Lulu, in an image swap she sent around awhile ago...I love that the girl looks like a drawing one of my school kids would do, so I colored her with swashes of color as my kids would do...and I love the effect...click on the photo to see it up close. I used my copics. This card is a thank you to a very special friend. Hope she likes it!


This next card is a color challenge card:
We needed to use pink and brown in the challenge. {obviously, right ?! LOL!}

Sometimes I feel like my cards get too complicated and it takes away from simple beauty. I decided to STOP and not add any more to this card. I still feel that "maybe one more thing" urge...but I am fighting it!! This will be another thank you card to a wonderful friend who has blessed me tons!!

Now I have a lot more to share, but I don't want to put it all in one post!! Let me tell you though about an event we had at church on Sunday.....


I think you all know about my mission trip to Mozambique. We leave at the end of July. I just got my typhoid, Hep A shots this week and am ready with my malaria medication....I continue to raise personal support for the trip ( I have raised about $1600. so far including my own savings from not getting stamps...which has been a blessing, really!!!) but we as a team must also raise support for the materials we need in country....the total need is $48, 000!!! The team is much bigger than the 6 from our church, praise God and they have raised much of the money....our team was asked to raise the rest, so we had a BREAD OF LIFE auction at church. It's a really neat way to have fun, get everyone involved in the trip. People from the congregation donate loaves of bread and homemade baked goods. After church, we hand out numbers like the one my hubby is holding here:


Then we have an auctioneer--My friend (below) Sam did an AWESOME job! He usually starts the bidding at $5. and on we go! It is pretty hilarious to see us Christian brothers and sisters in bidding wars for a big loaf of Sunflower bread! The most expensive loaf sold for $125.!! Amazing! (FYI: The bidder's husband tore up her number after that! LOL!) We had a total of 22 bidders, 56 donated items and raised $1339.!!!!! Wow! How exciting is that!?


This picture is the Cafe we have in our church for our after service Coffee hour that we hold weekly. This is the first "event" we've held in the Cafe as this is our first year in this new building...it was a party house before we purchased it! Our church is called Celebrate! and we certainly do! What a great thing God is doing here!!


Well this post is HUGE! But I wanted to add in the tag questions that my SBS sister Louise tagged me for:


10 Years Ago: I was a young 35 year old with a full schedule including working as a speech path, mission leader, children's ministry coordinator, a new job in the public schools and much more energy for taxi-ing for my kids around to play soccer!! I did weigh the same, so that's some consolation, right?? Well, I could have worked harder to be skinnier then too, I guess!! LOL!


5 Things On My To Do List: 1. Tidy up my lecture notes for the grad class I teach in the fall.
2. Write a list of things to take to Mozambique
3. Go to the library with my daughter for our summer reading.
4. Call my mom and see how she is feeling today.
5. Make more thank you cards for those people who have blessed
me by joining my prayer team for my mission trip!


Fav Snacks: Oh gosh....salty pretzels or anything mint chocolate!!


If I Was A Millionaire: I would definitely go on vacation in Hawaii, own a a small house in Mexico on a beach, go on mission trips every year and bless my church with money to build our dream youth and family support center. Bless my mom and sisters. Oh, and have a big stamping room with a sky light and lots of storage and counter space!!! And tables for all my friends to come stamping too!! :)

Places I've lived: Rochester, NY (23 different places including inside the city itself as well as suburbs of Gates, Greece and Webster), Williamsport, PA, Leicester, NY and Geneseo, NY.

I don't know who hasn't been tagged because I was tagged so long ago, but if I think of some, I'll add them!! Thanks, friends for stopping in!! Look for my SBS 9 sketch soon...I have July assigned to me!!!


O happy day!

Blog candy chance! Go, win!

Hey, there is some awesome blog candy over at my friend Wendi's blog...if you want to win an AMAZING set of clear stamps from Clear Artistic stamps, head over there and put your comment in...add my name to it and I get another entry! Hurry, it's only good this weekend! And you will LOVE Belinda's stamps...they are wonderful and whimsical! Quick, go! :)http://www.kaputkrafts.typepad.com/

How does that happen?

How does it go from June 8 to June 28 so QUICKLY??

Sorry I've been absent, faithful readers and friends! As of yesterday {I went in an extra day to do paperwork :( } I am NOW finished with school (yahoo!!) and will be getting back to being in touch soon! I have been sneaking a peek at blogs when I could, but commenting takes a bit of time...I have a lot to catch up on!

My mom is still in the hospital...has had some more surgery, but does seem to be on the better side of this health issue. We are hoping for a transfer to a rehabilitation center...but they say it will take MONTHS to get her walking again after being in bed most of the last 7 weeks. Please keep praying; especially for the family dynamics. That's all I can say now.....I have had a second or two to make cards over the last few weeks. I will post them soon! And I just HAVE to get in on these challenges!! I have July for the SBS9 sketch....I actually made it last month so I'll have it ready to go, but first I've got to make June's sketch! And the Pink and brown too! Whew!

And something fun is happening at church tomorrow to raise funds for materials for the church I will be helping to build in Mozambique this August, I'll have to share that later...gotta go get stuff ready!

Love you all! Blessings!


PS thanks, Manna for being wonderful and Louise, thanks for tagging me! I promise to get to that soon too!! :)

A few challenges

Morning all! Finally, the right kind of challenges!! (As opposed to the stressful kind!!) I had some time to myself yesterday, so I made a few cards for a challenge over at CHF. Kim Hughes is one of the AMAZING stamp artist and card designers over at Cornish Heritage Farms forum and there is a Kim Hughes Blitz challenge going on this weekend. Saturday's challenge was called "Wonderful Wings". We had to use one of her "winged" images in our card. I made two for this challenge...Here's the first:

You can find a tutorial for this card on Sharni and Clair's blog, as well as a few other places. I've always wanted to make a Onesie card and finally decided yesterday was the day!! I used all Prism Cardstock and Kim Hughes' Cute curls and Scripty word sets. The eyelets are actually a deep pink color, although they came out red in the photo. I used Mahogany Distress Ink by Ranger.

Here's my second try; it's a card for my DH for our 25th anniversary in November...inside says "...all over again... Happy 25th!!" (Shhhh...don't tell...I'm hiding it 'til November). These images are from Kim Hughes' Fall Silhouettes collection at Cornish Heritage Farms. The base of the card is actually a clear acrylic that CHF sells. IT IS THE BEST AND THICKEST ACRYLIC OUT THERE!! It comes in 8.5 x 11 and if you want a good product to stamp on...get some! You can make two A2 cards per sheet! This card was inspired by another designer I admire: Lisa Silver. Check out Kim's and Lisa's blogs for inspiration!! It's guaranteed!!

It's crazy humid and hot here in NY, so stay cool, won't you?? Have a grand week!!

PS Also check out what's going on over at Clear Artistic Stamps....new releases that are beautiful!

My fellow stampers!

Happy Saturday! I thought I'd share a few creations made by some of my favorite stampers...my friends who share a love of fresh rubber (and acrylic!), juicy ink and a crisp clean image! Here are some of the 3x3's that we made for our last swap: Great job goes out to Becky, Wendy, Roxanne and Deby (mine's the purple one in back...click to see it!) Keep reading for the rest of them!

And in the next few photos, I've spotlighted my friend Kathy G. These cards include her 3x3's which are always meticulously cut out and carefully planned! One of the cards is from the last swap, but the bird theme made me want to post them together! Kathy is a talented seamstress and she helped us with my daugter's prom dress! She applies every bit of her craftsmanship to all her creations. You are also seeing the card she made me for my birthday...isn't it scrumptious!?(It's cuttlebugged, versamarked and embossed!)Whoa!

And finally, one of my favorite 3x3's designed by my friend Ann D! Isn't this JUST adorable?? I showed Ann how to paper piece awhile back....and she used her newfound talent on her swap card. I just love Snoopy and Woodstock! And isn't that car just the best "vehicle" for paper piecing!! LOL!! As I had two "slots" in the swap, I ended up with two cards. Lucky me!!

This one is the sentiment inside...cute clip, huh?!

If you think hanging out with all this amazing talent is easy....you'd be right!! Quite a blessing!

My Super girl!

As many of you know, my mom is still in the hospital recovering from heart surgery (finally out of ICU this week!!) Our house has been less than bubbly much the time, even with a graduation, Memorial day picnic and a prom...let's just say it's been a long hard whirlwind of overwhelmed. (I know you can all relate!) In the midst of all this, my daughter has been a trooper; coming and going to the hospital without a peep, getting her homework done, keeping her grades up, practicing her parade pieces for marching band, thinking about colleges and majors, babysitting at church on nights of bible study, raising $ for soccer camp AND just last week winning a sectional title in her track and field event: Triple jump! We are so proud!

But, to go back a bit, 3 weeks ago, she was practicing her high jump and landed on her back on the bar. She ended up with quite a bruise (and always has a bruise SOMEWHERE, athlete that she is!) and swelling but got better and kept going on in life and sports. Recently, though, her left leg started to get numb on and off, so we made an appointment with the Chiropracter...long story short? After her Tuesday appointment, the stretching (all good) caused a tendon in her inner thigh to spasm painfully...today....on the day she is jumping for qualification to the state tournament!!!!!

SO, we were in the the drs. office this morning at 7 am for more stretching and ice and such. The Dr. told my DD that it was up to her to decide what to do, but that if the pain was too great, not to jump (hop, skip and jump, actually). But I have a tough girl. She listened to a mother's heart as I drove her to school, but I do not know if she will jump. It's likely the event is happening right this minute.....

I am not at the qualifier meet because it is too far away to take two cars and my DH went from work (half as far for him from work) so I have no idea how she is doing, but I wanted to share the card I made for her when she gets home....what do you think?? I used SU's Dazzlin' diamond glitter and it is everywhere!! But doesn't she deserve some bling?? :)

Sparkly hugs!!

Kindnesses

Thanks so much for all of your kind words about the pictures of my wonderful kids! They are my favorite boy and girl in the world!

This card is a sketch challenge, albeit a belated one, for my SBS9 sister, Tracy's, blog sketch. The superwoman card was

supposed to be the sketch, too, but I turned it sideways so I wanted to make one better...and wanted to use that cool nestabilities die set, Paisley, that my friend loaned me. The CS is Prism from their Amethyst collection and the image, colored with copics, was received in a WishRAK pack I got recently (Stampin' Up). The ribbon is PTI's lemon tart. I love purple and yellow together. Although all the pieces of this card have been sitting around on my stamping space, they finally were glued together yesterday! Does this happen to you??

AND!!! LOOK!! Yesterday, I received this wonderful Secret Sister surprise from my SBS sister!! We are sending out packages to one of our SBS9 sistahs for the next 3 months! How fun is that...I don't know who my SS is, but she has to be from across the pond...the soccer ball on the DP says FOOTBALL over it!! There are such great boy/man designs on the DP and there are some great embellishment stickers and some mylar flowers...great cards to come!! And the best part???????

I now have my very own Tilda Stamp!!!!
This is still unbelieveable to me! What a blessing! And isn't she adorable?? I will be inking her up very very soon!! Thanks, SBS sister!!!

Finally, I know you will share in my excitement at winning some blog candy over at Sheetload of Cards...the monthly theme was using Dollar stamps in your cards....I guessed it correctly and my name was picked randomly!! For those who don't know, I am trying VERY HARD to save $$ for a mission trip to Mozambique this summer...so I've been cutting back BIG TIME on my stamp purchases...and God is so faithful to me!! Look what He is sending!

I know, right? God is good!! Hey, everyone! Have a blessed week!

For you prayer warriors, Mom remains in ICU...please continue to pray! Also, Kelsey's friend in the car accident a few months ago is now out of his full body Halo and has a brace on so he can go places...he came to prom!! He continues to heal and thanks again for praying! I thank my God for all of you!