Cards for troops!

I know I talk too much, but it's kind of my special talent ;) Hey, I happen to make a living with communication! But I've decided the cards can speak for themselves today, so here is mostly cards, less talk!

Each card represented a different challenge over at SCS' WishRAK but we also were supposed to try and use something we've received through WishRAK. I chose my favorites here, but I made 13 new cards and am sending a total of 35....including my eagle card from my sketch. Want to send some cards you don't want/need? Email me and I will mail you an address! More is better!

Card recipes are in my album {kimmet123}at SCS if you want to see everyone's cards. Just type in WR4thCC08 plus numbers 01-17 after that (eg. WR4thCC0806 to see all the anniversary challenge cards) into the search. Anyone can see them without even joining, I think. Try it!

The first card was my fav! It uses Kim Hughes' Fall Silhouettes set from Cornish Heritage Farms! It was so fun to plan out the circles on the card! The other images are Gina K, Karen Lockhart, and of course Magnolia stamps! What fun!!


















What do you think about this less talking thing?? Yeah, me neither!! ;)

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!!

More to share!

Happy new year, everyone!! We had a great time welcoming in the new year with some good friends in our town's church, playing games and watching a movie...we saw Secondhand Lions...if you haven't seen that movie, I suggest you rent it...I loved it! Great family movie!

And here I am again...to share some of my card making mania! I know Christmas is over, and you have all finished your cards and such, but it's never too late to get inspired for next year! On Splitcoaststampers, they have a Christmas card challenge...you make just 10 Christmas cards a month , same or different, and by Christmas next year, you are all set for cards! What a great idea! No, I probably won't do it, but I could!! And so, I hope these cards inspire you!

Most of you know that my DH (that's darling hubby!) is a letter carrier. He receives nice thank yous from his customers on his route. He has been very blessed this year, as many of his "people" love and appreciate his smile in all kinds of weather and how he will go out of his way to bless them. Of course, he wants cards to thank them and of course he wants HANDMADE cards!

Awww, forced to stamp! Poor me! Tee hee! Today's post highlights all the cards I made up for him....I actually had to keep making more as he was REALLY blessed on his route! The warm winter wishes card above used CHF's Prizm Ice Gold cardstock....BEAUTIFUL, addictive stuff!!! Hard to see well in the picture, it is white with a gold undertone. I actually ordered it by mistake, but I LOVE it! I used SU's Warm Winter Wishes stamp set and Frost Blue Kaleidoscope ink pad. I also used Encore's Metallic Gold ink as well as SU's gold cord. I think it came out pretty...warm and cold at the same time!


Now this card is my favorite I think! I GOT A
CUTTLEBUG for Christmas!!! It's a cool "press" machine to emboss paper in just seconds!! It was number ONE on my Christmas wish list, and my hubby got it for me!

So, you will be seeing LOTS of use of it in my cards! The background of this card is embossed with the D'vine swirl folder and I used Gina K's Got snow? and Let it snow stamp sets. I colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol mineral spirits. I used SU's retired Liquid Applique for the snow falling....isn't it adorable? Notice the boy wearing my two favorite colors...Kermit green and Syracuse orange :)


This next card was also "cuttlebugged" with D'vine
Swirl (I only have two embossing folders so far!) And this card also uses Gina K stamp set, Punchy words. The holly paper is from a Walmart DP pack my girl gave me for Christmas :) and SU's Real red paper is the card base and strip. I used Perfectly Clear stamps for the bric-a-brac strip inked with SU's craft white ink; I added a bit of glitz with SU's Dazzling Diamond glitter while the ink was wet. Love that sparkly stuff! I punched the scallop and edged it with the white ink. Simple, yet kind of elegant, don't you think?




Finally, I made this card using some DP I bought from Current, Inc. a million years ago! I added some gold snowflakes from SU's Warm Winter greetings set as I used the Ice Gold paper for the tag and inked the Make merry stamp in the metallic gold ink (stamp from SU's tag set). The beautiful ribbon is from Hallmark and the cardbase is Real Red. A gold brad for the tag and I was done!

Do you know that I made more cards for his Thank Yous than I made for us to send out? That's what happens when you make 10 at a time....hmmm....maybe that Christmas challenge is something I should do!!

Well that's it for today! I have some projects to show you later in the week, so stay tuned! I wouldn't want to overwhelm you! (Who me??) Isn't this so FUN!? (By contrast I must now work on my lecture notes for the grad class I am teaching this Spring semester...love augmentative communication and all, but it's not as FUN as stamping!)

Hey, feel free to leave me a comment! Lots of you send an encourageing email, but it's nice to know you've been here! I check in when I can!

Blessings to you all, for today and for all of 2008!

Kim

PS The "spots" on the pictures are not on the cards...my camera has ghost spots that turn up here and there...gotta figure that one out! :)

Yes, I'm still leaping for joy!

Welcome back to my blog (for me, too)!! Well, I've learned that blogs are funny things....I love to read them and I'm really glad I started mine, but then it greets me everyday with a blank page.....not unlike the day the Lord had made today! And then the obligations come in and then the choices are wide and open and things get juggled and the list grows and morphs and here we are...end of September!! These certainly have continued to be busy months! We have thankfully "recovered" from our Algonquin wilderness trip! (Let's just say we weren't the ONLY Leaches in the water!!) I promised a pic or two so here you go! You'll see one of the sites we stayed in and what early morning looks like on the water. See our ultra light tents??? You pack really really light when you carry everything everywhere everyday!! All the water you see....we paddled through and back!!
We got back from Canada and spent a week downloading our stuff, our knotted muscles, our brains, our pictures and our days!!












Now fast forward to September and along with getting back to school, this last month I've been planning for our church's yearly missions emphasis for the month of September...the last four Sundays! It's been a lot of planning and juggling speakers and fun and exciting mission focused stuff....but it is time consuming....today was the last day and it was just AWESOME!! We had speakers this month that minister in China, all of Latin America, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, the middle East, Egypt, Turkey, Kazakhstan, even in Rochester, NY and every country in between! When we realize that God has given us the charge of spreading his word of love, peace and redemption for eternal life to the entire world, I get fired up!! :) (My husband will tell me this is the first sign of trouble! :0

But I loved the summer, finding time to stamp, usually late night when I'm just not tired enough for bed...I've recently joined the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) forum on Splitcoaststampers.com and the WISH RAK as well....so I get to send lots of cards and grant image wishes to people I don't even know!! It's such a blessing to use my stamps to make others happy! If you are a stamper and have never been to SCS it can be overwhelming at first--it was to me....so I decided to take it one step at a time....and what a wonderful group of people! I have already received three welcome to SCS RAKs, one welcome to Wish RAK from my mentor, Dorothy and some Bella images, too. Being part of this reminds me that I have a big family of people I DO know who don't get enough cards from me, so I am going to start RAKing them and see what happens!! (Good things always do!)

Since school has started, though, even finding time to sit in one spot and breathe is hard to do! So stamping has taken to only the weekends....at least til soccer season quiets down! I did manage to stamp a few cards for a swap I am in on the Cornish Heritage Farms forum; I'll try to post a pic of one as soon as the recipients receive them! I did make a card for a sympathy card swap, but neglected to take a picture! Here are some cards I stamped this summer:



This was a b'day card for my friend Sandy....the stamps are Gina K's sea friends and the sentiment is Hero Arts. I used all in colors '08 from Stampin up and some Cuttlebugged paper my friend Kathy G let me emboss with her machine (I am SO getting one for Christmas!!)

My favorite part of the card was the little guy on the envelope....I drew in the cupcake (tee hee!)






This one I made for a "Cards for the troops" contest. I love this God bless America 9/11 commemorative stamp from Stampin up. The backgrounder is Cornish Heritage Farms (retired) and the 'hero' word is my own handwriting! SU Brilliant blue and Real Red are the inks and the sentiment is also Hero Arts.

Please please pray for our troops in all the world...we just had another young man from our church go out and we want the hand of God over all their lives!! We cannot thank them enough for their daily sacrifices!!

Well, I should go do my homework now! I am so hoping to check in more often and share my cards and musings! thanks so much for spending some time here! And thank God for another new and shiny day tomorrow to fill with new and exciting stuff! Blessings to you and your family!!

PS Forgive the space issues on the blog....I'm still a newbie with layout and what I see on preview is not what I set....ah well, at least it shows up :) Thanks to God for the blessings! :)