A Danish Princess :)

Here are a few snaps of Mejse and her date, Clay. Also, the group picture is of all the couples that rode in the limousine.
Isn't she darling? Every parent I spoke with said that she looked so adorable. Her dress is my favorite one, of course...but I could be a wee bit biased! :) How she stood in those shoes though, remains a mystery to me....ah to be a teenager again.....or not ;) Blessings, all!

Prom Day! And Benefit Concert Day!

Today is prom day! Today is Benefit Concert Day! Our girl from Denmark, Mejse, is going to prom and our girl Kelsey is part of organizing a benefit concert this afternoon! Pray for sunny and bright weather as right now....BIG STORMY RAIN! But things are brightening up to the north, so.....come back later and check for prom pictures and benefit concert updates!
Happy Saturday!

O Happy Moms Day!

Happy Mom's Day People!!!

Blessings to all the moms, aunts and grandmoms out there! Enjoy your children today, in person, by phone or satellite :)

And enjoy your day! God loves you, Moms, Aunts and Grandmoms!!

PS This is one of my two greatest creations...she took the pic herself!

Faith Hope Love

This was the other card that I made for the Papercrafts "stamped background" Category. These images are all Papertrey Ink. I love their acrylic stamps...they usually build on one another, making them extremely versatile. The ribbon is also PTI...chocolate :) yummy! Click on the pic to see it close up...you can see the two step process better!

My friends, we can't make it in this world without faith, hope and love....but remember, the most important of these is love :)

Blessings to you today, my friends!

Not quite royalty and something special to do

Hi all!

Here's a card I made months ago and I actually sent it in to a Stamping Royalty contest for PaperCrafts magazine. The time has passed for when they said they would have chosen the winners, and I haven't heard a thing, so I'm going to go out on a limb and figure it wasn't my time to be published :)

The entry was for a card that was to use stamps to make your own design/background paper. All the stamped images are Stampin' Up, but I used alcohol inks to make the background color. I love alcohol inks...they are BEAUTIFUL! And so easy to use. I made two cards actually, but I'll share the second card in a different post.

Tomorrow is one of my favorite things to be a part of....SPECIAL OLYMPICS! I go and cheer on all my friends, old and new! I get to see kids I've worked with over the years, many of whom are now in their late teens and early 20's {yes they were TWO when I first met them}! And also, the kids I work with now. I cannot tell you the pride in my heart when I see them win a wheelchair obstacle course, softball throw or bean bag drop. There is even a switch hitting competition that some of my girls have received a gold medal in! And some of my kids {3!} have even carried the torch! My daughter has volunteered since she was a wee thing, as I have always brought my kids. It is a wonderful morning!

Be well, friends! Have a good weekend!

Survivor

By: Rasna 69 Copyright ©2009

This is a tribute post to my friend, Gigi, who lost her battle with cancer this weekend. Gigi wasn't all sweetness and light...she was a survivor...she took on whatever came her way and went all the way with it. She was tough and courageous; a person who strives to thrive no matter how hard the ground is. She was a real survivor: courageous and down to earth. She was a wonderful, strong woman who loved her children fiercely and gave her laugh and her smile generously. She was a mom of a child with disabilities, but she never waivered in her desire for her child to do all she could do to grow up like everyone else. Her sense of humor was fantastic and she always made me smile.

Gigi, you will stay in our hearts and minds and someday, we'll see you again, beautiful friend, whole and healed. Please pray for her teenaged girls and her husband to find comfort in the memories of their dearly loved one.

Love ya, Girl!

Celebrate life!

In this world of super depressing news on every channel, TV and radio, disasters and violence all over the front pages of the newspaper and messages of doom and gloom coming from all quarters, we need to remind ourselves that this is not the worst time in our history and God is not bound by our choices, our mistakes, our little brains....He is all knowing, all powerful and very importantly, He wants to bless His children. This has been a tough week for me....a good friend has been told she has only days to live, I lost a beloved Great Uncle and several family and friends are being attacked in a battle with that insidious enemy, cancer.

And yet....I've seen so many new babies, more and more of our friend's kids as well as some of our good friends are getting married, kids are graduating high school and college and we have a roof over our heads and food on the table. Today my family attended an Eagle Scout ceremony for a young man that my DH and I are blessed to have lead in Boy scouts when he was just a kid...and today he received the highest award in Scouting. God is so good! And no matter what, have to look BEYOND the latest depressing news and negative circumstances and look for the GOOD in life. AND CELEBRATE IT!

Today's card was based on a challenge sketch from Clear Artistic Stamp's Cottage Studio Blog.

The card uses several of Belinda's sets including Moments of Lace and Whispers in the Woods. It also uses her new shimmer paper, although you can't truly see the shimmery-ness of it here...trust me, it's so beautiful! (click on the pic for a better view) I used my copics to make the design on the cake an a Sakura glitter pen on the bride's dress. The butterfly on the cake is my favorite part...once I started using the Shimmer paper, I couldn't stop! Belinda is having a special in her store for all May orders...you may win some FREE STAMPS, or some other bling....go check it out!

Good news!! God is alive and he seeks to bless YOU! We are already VICTORIOUS! Happy Blessed Sunday!!

So Kind :)

Thank you for the birthday well wishes and for the cards I received....your kindness goes above and beyond and I appreciate you all so much! This card is for my DH to give to a sweet and generous customer on his mail route who gives him a card and a little gift for every holiday.

These are some more pictures from Easter weekend. We went down to the lake in Charlotte, NY (Lake Ontario) and walked down a pier on Good Friday. It was a REALLY chilly afternoon, even more so on the lake, but the girls braved the elements to walk all the way to the watch tower and here are some pix my girl M snapped of my girl, Kelsey. Isn't she GROWING up so fast?! LOL! I guess these are considered trick pictures, as this tower is about 12' tall!

And here's a close up of both of them in front of the tower...did you notice the little elephant at M's feet? Cute, huh? {I meant the girls, of course! ;)}

My birthday has been full of sunshine and blue skies, so it's been a nice day. I've had a chance to do some stamping and some stuff for a summer project I'll be working on with my friend Betty. Friends like you make special days really wonderful. Thanks for stopping by :)

Love ya!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Blessed Day! Praise God for His life, His Sacrifice and His Glory!

He is Risen!

We had a wonderful Easter day here...every Easter Sunday, our church has a big breakfast buffet at the beginning of the service, along with special programming and Pastor preaching while we sit and enjoy the good foods of God's provision! Easter is a celebration Jesus' resurrection, which we know is the "whole ball of wax" when it comes to our Christian faith! How tremendous is the love of Christ in our hearts on this day, knowing all that God has sacrificed that we might become children of Heaven! Praise God!

We were blessed to have all our children here for the celebration! And my in-laws as well! My son and his long time girlfriend were here, along with my girls of course. 'M', our daughter from Denmark, had her first Easter experience here in the US when we sat and dyed hard boiled eggs the night before Easter. It was fun to see the two 'sisters' coloring eggs...and nostalgic for me, because my daughter will be at college next Easter, making it a bit trickier to find time for such family traditions! {sigh!}

This morning we went to church all dressed up for service, and ate yummy stuff. We then came home for a little egg hunt (in the living room) and then Easter basket yumminess and fun, and hanging out. In the afternoon, we had a great dinner cooked by my amazing hubby :) And after dinner, some of us went for a walk near here where there is a bit of waterfall. All in all it was fun and blessed day! :)
Here is my dear hubby cooking his butt off :)

Here are some more camera shots of our fun!

Kal lounging, M doing sodoku

Geoff and M learning to yoyo again since they've grown up :) My daughter K was on the computer and not too much into the mom photographing :)

And our little falls near our house

Here's a pic with me at the bottom and the girls and my DH at the top :)


Hope your holiday was fun as well! :)
Have a blessed week!

Good morning! A friend of mine sent me a link to this Pantene commercial...given all the awful, offensive and ridiculous commercials out there, this one is refreshing and wonderful and worth a minute of your time.

Amazing Commercial

We have a bit of snow...ewww....but not a lot. Yay! Enjoy your day!

Wishin' a sunny day to you!

I'm on vacation (staycation anyway) for two weeks with lots of errands to run, but I hope for time for stamping in the midst of it all! I'll be sure to post! Have a wonderful day!

For you!

Happy April 1st! Aside from the fact that today is April Fool's day here in the US, it is also a special day for me as it is my Grandma Arietta's birthday. My Gram and I shared this month of birthdays and that has always been very important to me. She used to tell me she was glad I was not born on her birthday as that would make me a fool. She was funny like that. Interesting to note: My Gram went to be with Jesus years ago on my birthday, April 16th. At first I wasn't too happy about that, but then over time I came to realize it as an honor. We always shared this month of birthdays and we continue to share my special day as a day when she got to meet the Savior up close and personal. Wow, huh? Happy 97th Birthday, Gramma!

This is the final card of the set of cards I made to send to Dorothy. The neat thing about sending the cards? She will give them away to some people who need encouragement and she asked that, if we wanted, those of us who made the cards could write a little note with our names and where we're from. And Dorothy is up in Canada, so now I can think about the fact that cards I created and prayed over will find their way into the hands of those that needed a lift of spirit :) God works everywhere doesn't He? And I'm an instrument of His Peace and Grace! To God be the glory! What a joy!

And today I want to wish YOU God's Peace and Grace for YOUR week! It seems around me I have so many friends and family in need of encouragement. Be encouraged! God is in control and HE SEES. He does! Sit quietly a bit and let His grace SINK IN. Wallow in it. And you will feel PEACE in your MIND, SPIRIT and SOUL! Be refreshed!

And be blessed, my friends!

O Happy Day

I love birthdays and celebrations of the kind when we can be thankful for another year of blessings and life :) Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and birthdays are no different than that...another God given chance to celebrate all that He is in our lives...'cause without God, no life would be here :) This card is another one I sent to Dorothy...I couldn't get it to be less fuzzy, sorry...but I again used this sweet little girl swinging on her swing. I also used Red Riding hood trimmed ribbon from Stampin Up...love the stuff :)

This is an extra set of images I made to give to my friend Wendy for her birthday. It is the same idea I used for an image swap I did with some SBS sisters...I hope they've all received their images!! Using Red Riding Hood CS from SU, this is a simple holder made with 1/2 a sheet of 8.5x11" CS and only a few folds. I CB'ed the front flap to make it fancier and added a flower sticker! Fun!
Finally, here is a picture of our daughter from Denmark blowing out her candles and opening presents after her 17th birthday dinner last week. We are so thankful that her mom and dad and family shared her with us! We know that it must be hard for them not to be with their girl on her birthday, but we thank God that we could be here for her to experience a birthday celebration in the States. I cannot believe how time has flown by since she first came in August! She will be going home in only a few short months! Eek! And I am not very good at goodbyes....lalalalalalalala (fingers in ears, can't hear you!) Change of subject!

The second picture is a snapshot of both girls :) Love 'em!

I hope you are celebrating blessings today! Be well and smile :)

Content to Be :)

Hello friends :) This is another card sent to Dorothy for encouraging others. I love this image for a good reason! I thought up the name for this bella image "Content-to-be-a-Bella" and STAMPING BELLA's Emmabella HERSELF LOVED IT ENOUGH TO KEEP IT!!! We were on the cruise last October and she was taking suggestions! I looked at the expression on this particular bella and thought...she looks so content! And who wouldn't be content to be a Bella?? So, it was with great pleasure that, when she released the stamp image to the public for sale early this year, the name on the website was my "baby"! How very cool is that!?

Oh that we could be so content in all our circumstances! And yet I strive to be like Paul in the Philipians 4, content in all things....

I rejoice greatly in the Lord ....I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Isn't that the truth!!

Blessings for all

Hi again! Here's a card that I made to send to Dorothy over at her Neverenoughrubberstamps blog . She is collecting cards to give out to people in need of a little encouragement. I made up several cards and this is one of my favorites. I received this stamping up image from Wish RAK and coloring her with my SU markers relieved some stress...don't you love to color?! This card was unique in that it is actually 2-in-1! You can see below that the little card with the image opens up with a little message (my calligraphy) and then the big card that it is mounted to also opens for a handwritten note. The little girl is so sweet and the bird on her hat made me smile! Can you see where I cuttlebugged the Cameo Coral paper too!? I really liked how it turned out!

As the card says, please have a blessed day! And rejoice in His handcrafted goodness today, won't you?

Off the map :)

A sunny hi to all my Frog Faithfuls!

First of all thank you for the emails I've received wondering where the heck I am...it is always a blessing to be thought of and cared for :) You could say that I have been *off the map* for a few weeks...in fact, I've actually been off the computer! My neck and back have been a pain recently and I just couldn't fathom sitting down and typing for any length of time. If I am on the computer for more than 10 minutes, my back goes numb up by my neck and pain goes lots of places. Don't worry though! Dr. Jesus and my earthly physicians are on the case!

I thought I'd share a few things in the next few posts that I've had a chance or two to work on these past few weeks. Most of the time, it was a "parts and pieces" approach. I'd ink up the images one day, color them the next, layer a few, etc until finally they were complete cards!

The one I want to share today is actually the last one I made (and finished a few minutes ago!) It is for a StampTV challenge set by Kurtis of Stampin' Kub fame. Kurtis' blog was one of a small handful of blogs that inspired me a few years ago to begin my own blog. In fact, Kurtis was the first person to comment on my blog! His style is always so clean and simple, so it was no surprise that his challenge was to make a Clean and Simple card using his sketch. Here it is!

The CS is Papertreyink's Lemon Tart, the ink is Ranger's Adirondack inks: Bright Orange and Terracotta and the stamps are Cornish Heritage Farm's Victorian Butterflies. Quite clean and simple, wouldn't you agree!?

The sun is shining so beautifully in New York this week, you'd almost believe that winter is over....but I've been living here for 45 years...I know better!

Through it all, remember, GOD IS SO, SO GOOD!!

Blessings!