So thankful! And busy!

These hazy days are filled with preparations for my trip to Mozambique in August and packing for my road trip next week to the CHA convention with my friend Betty! I just wanted to show you a few small things I have been working in!

One project has been sending these thank you notes to those who have joined my prayer team for my trip! These little 3x3's use Cornish Heritage Farms Delicate Wings stamps, which were a stamp of the month last winter. You can still buy the stamps individually. The cardstock I used was from Current, Inc a company that I used to buy A LOT from in the "old days". The colors of their CS is just so vibrant and beautiful. And it seemed to fit my project perfectly!! I love Monarch butterflies! I tried using PTI's Plum pudding in and a bit of the ribbon on this next one....I think it turned out just as beautiful, don't you??













This next card is for a co worker...these are also images from Cornish Heritage Farms. Asela Hopkins designed these flower stamps, as well as the butterfly. And this sentiment is one of my top 10 favorite sentiments ever! I used SU's CS Confetti White and a scrap color as well as PTI's Spring Moss Twill ribbon.

Finally, here's my challenge entry to Jackie's blog. The challenge was to make a card with a scottish theme....and well, this little scotty dog is the closest I could come! This is a bella card as you can see...I received this image in a bella swap a long time ago...I checked my WishRAK DP stash and voila! Plaid (what clan? I have no idea! But some Scot women must have pink and green in their family plaid, right?? LOL!) The buckle made it seem more Scottish to me for some reason! Hoo boy! Although I happen to love all plaids and scottish accents, can you tell I'm Irish?? Well, Jackie I hope this will do! It was fun to think of how to make it work :) Thanks for the challenge! You know, she's opened up this blog candy challenge to everyone! Why don't you all try it??

Cheer up, all! It's a good day!

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!! ;)

A Dad and His girl and more!!

Happy Sunday! Some things to post that I've had in the wings.......

These are some pics of the Whitewater rafting trip that we took on Father's Day! My church sponsored the event and 78 people participated! If two went from the same family, dad went
free! It was a lot of fun and here is my DD and her dad at a spot in the river where we took a break. It was such a great time to be with each other and honor the dads! There was a picnic at the end and boy, were we hungry!! We rafted 6 miles of river. Cool!

Also here are a few creations I've made recently...the pad of paper I made as a going away gift for a speech teacher who was working with me this year. I, of course, love all things "K" and this set from Stampin' Up (retired)! Her name is Katie, so it worked out perfectly... the DP, CS and ribbon are all from Papertrey ink's Perfect Match collection.


I spent any stamping time I had this weekend working on SCS' Card for troops challenge at the Wish RAK (random acts of kindness) forum. For those of you who don't know about Wish RAK, it's a wonderful forum where you bless others with images they are wanting and you in turn are blessed with wishes for stamped images you are wanting. The blessing is two fold for me actually:

1. I don't have to have every stamp set in the world, but can get some images from sets I like and use them to make cards. Much cheaper!! (Like FREE!)

2. I can actually use some of the sets that sit in my "stash" unused because there is someone out there who will use the images I stamp! It makes me so happy to bless them and I don't feel I've wasted my money to have it just sit there.

Wish RAK is open to everyone, but you have to join Splitcoaststampers first, then the RAK forum, then you "apply" to join the Wish RAK...then you are given three "free" wishes and are free to grant others' wishes...for every wish granted, you receive a bonus wish to wish for something else!! Really, the only cost is postage, which isn't at all bad for what you receive! You can actually mail 6-8 quarter pages of cardstock with images for only the 43c postage stamp. You can even wish for things like Prima flowers or cuttlebug shapes or whatever is stamping related. Some generous soul will see your wish and grant it. The whole blessing thing really is addictive once you start granting wishes to other people, too. I just would love to stamp images all day and fill envelopes!! Think about it! Go over to SCS...if you've joined already, click on forums at the top, scroll down to WishRAK and see what I mean! Let me know if you join! Fun!

I'll post my Troop Challenge cards tomorrow! Enjoy the day!!

Edited to add: {PS Hey all...I did figure out the blog staying on top deal...actually, I didn't solve it, I just tried again and it worked this time!! LOL!! Don't forget to put a link to your blog entry or gallery (CHF, SCS9, etc!) so we can all see it!! I'll post them in a separate post closer to the deadline!
Blessings!

A Blessed Holiday to you!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Thanks to all our men and women who have given their lives and their time to bless us with freedom and the chance to be independent every day!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!! We are visiting my mom today in the hospital and my sister Kelly is bringing in a cheesecake! Mom can only have artificial flowers in her room, so I'm bringing in a big bouquet! Here's the card I made to give to her! This Magnolia little girl was part of the images sent to me in my SBS secret sister package...paper and all! She loved me using my copics to color her...here's the rest of my package:

My SBS sister must know I LOVE GREEN! This DP is gorgeous! And I don't know if you can read the stamp set, but it talks about hugs being healthy. I was so excited to get this little set....it's magnetic! Something new and fun! And I am ALL ABOUT THE HUGS! My DH just said "hoo boy! Did you pay this person to send you hug stuff just to get me to hug you more than I already do?" I told him, "Not at all...it's just a GOD THING!!" Tee hee!!!

For those of you who are asking....I'm more than half way to my goal for my trip! God has been so amazing to me...It is so wonderful to be Fully Relying On God..... and you know I love that acronym!! FROG!!! LOL!!

Have a safe and blessed Holiday!

My first Belli Challenge Post :)

These are some gifts I've made to say thanks to some friends who have helped me tremendously!!

They are unwavering in their faithfulness and always willing to go the extra mile!!

They are the teacher aides and assistants that bless me all year long with the commitment to the children we teach. Most of my favorite students brave multiple and severe disabilities. Most of them have an aide assigned to them specifically. They all get speech services from me. I love these kids, but I know that without the tireless help of the aides and assistants, my job would be impossible! I salute them every year with a little thank you gift.

On my limited budget, I made myself think long and hard about how I could bless them without breaking the bank. So this is what I came up with!

I made these pins using the Define your Life stamp set from Stampin' up. I used Papertrey's DP from their Guidelines 6x6 DP pad and PTI's Plum Pudding ink. I used some peel and stick pin backings I buy around Christmas time by the bagful. I let each person choose the pin they felt reflected their personalities. I was really surprised by some of the choices. Just goes to prove I don't know everything!! **gasp** :)



This card was also made using some DP I have in my stash...most of it small pieces. The BG DP is from an old SU patterned paper pack. Thanks to the hint from my friend Holly Brown, I realize that both of these projects meet the Belli Challenge!! Hey, who am I to hold back fate?? Challenges are fun to do....you should try one sometime!! You can win prizes! Check out Chris' blog for the challenge and you could be her next winner!

My sketch is up!! Try it for a challenge! And a prize!!

THIS POST WILL REMAIN ON TOP! SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MY MOST RECENT BLOG ENTRY!!!

My turn! This is the SBS9 challenge sketch for the month of July. Use the sketch to create a card, then comment on this blog post with a link to your blog or a card gallery where the card is posted!



Here's my take on the sketch card!!


AN IMPORTANT NOTE: I made my sketch and card red, white and blue!! You can follow ANY COLOR scheme!



I will send out TWO prizes! One prize goes to an SBS9 sister and the other prize goes to a NON-SBS9 card maker....and you will have a few extra weeks to get your card into the "drawing" as I will be out of country July 30 until August 11th. I promise to give out prizes when I come back! So get creative!!

This post will stay at the top of my blog for the month of July so you can find it easily. Be sure to scroll down to see my latest posts!

This is my first ever sketch challenge...I don't have any of those fancy graphics programs, so I used my computer's Paint program...it's very NOT user friendly so forgive the off center shapes. Someday I'll have to get photo shop or whatever it is everyone uses...I can't even get it to make a water mark to put "on" my cards...sigh. Poor me, huh!? ;)

Oh! The card's images are Cornish Heritage Farms. They have the greatest images and this is from Kim Hughes' America the Beautiful Collection.

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!

Celebrating the Joy!

Celebrate each day and each blessing! Make each gift of God the BIG picture in your mind and each distraction or disturbance tiny. Be amazed at His goodness in the midst of chaos and realize He is here and He is God. These are pictures of my kids: my DS on His college graduation day and my DD dressed for prom with her date. Aren't they wonderful?

Isn't the day bright and the moment special? Miracles happen every day and God is about miracles in every circumstance. Take time to rest in His goodness today, won't you?

Celebrate!