Happy 98th Birthday, Gram!

Happy April Fool's day! The sun is finally matching the warmth here and it's supposed to get to the 80's by tomorrow!!! No foolin'! Today also marks my grandmother Arietta Lucinda's birthday. She went to be with Jesus many years ago on April 16, which happens to be my birthday. That was hard at first, but not anymore....because we were always "birthday buddies" and that connection between the two of us has always been a joy and comfort to me! So since she always wanted me to be a writer, I always write about her on her birthday! If you follow my blog you'll remember the stories, so today I will just suffice it to say, Happy birthday Gram! You ride in the pocket of my heart! (an inside joke...she will get it! LOL!)

Remarkable

This post is dedicated to all the remarkable women in my life....you are all there always encouraging, lifting spirits, correcting (!) and sharing your joy of life with me! Thanks to my mom and my aunts, my wonderful sisters, my best girlfriends, my next to best girlfriends, my women friends at church and all my SBS sisters! We truly are remarkable women!

I actually made these cards a while back for my friend Erin's birthday...I also want to thank my girlfriend Roxy, who loaned me this stamp!! I adore it and she let me borrow it for, like, a million years! I will give it back, Rox....really soon!!! :)

Don't you love how you can represent so many women in so many different ways!? Praise God we are all different. I think that's why we become so close....don't you think!?

Blessings!

Real Inspiration!

Please take 4 minutes of your day to be inspired!

March on!

Life is pretty busy isn't it? Things come and go at the speed of a freight train at times and all we can do is hold on! Times that are most important seems to go by way too fast and those times where we are bored or scared, way too slowly. It's hard to believe I haven't been blogging since February and harder still to believe March is more than half over. But God has been good and the sun has been shining and I haven't had much time to just sit and BE.

Lots of fun and busy things happening all around and it's been nice to be able to be a part of it--it's what LIVING is all about. We've had friends for dinner and family visiting and of course March Madness brackets to fill in (yes, I am a college basketball fiend....GO SYRACUSE!!!) I've made a few swaps and even a challenge card (here below) for our SBS 29 sister challenge! It's a green challenge and my Mellow Moss cardstock just about makes it. I'm posting it before midnight, but not by much!! Just wanted you all to know, I'm thinking of you and thanking my God you are in my life!
I've also been working on going to Kenya this summer for a mission trip and if you'd be willing, I'd appreciate your prayers as I work on raising the $2000-3000 just for the ticket!! It's all in God's hands, but not without sacrifice...I am going through my stamp collection to see what I can live without to help fund my trip....eek, it's harder than I thought, but not as painful!! I'd post again soon....be blessed my friends!! Enjoy my card! Enjoy SPRING!

Love ya!

Sketch Challenge Winners!

Earlier this month I introduced a sketch challenge for my SBS 29 sisters and any non-SBS crafter that was interested in joining in the fun. (1 SBS29 prize and 1 non-SBS prize was available). Here are the entries that I received. Hope I didn't miss anyone! Thanks for playing along ladies!! The winners are announced at the end of this post!!

First SBS29 Challenge winner: Rhonda!!
Non-SBS challenge winner: Cheryl's daughter!

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH!

LOOK FOR A PACKAGE COMING YOUR WAY!! ;)

Ryan and His Mom

Hello, Frog Faithfuls!

I have missed you! Please forgive my absence! I had an event that rocked my world just a bit last week! It's a sad event, unfortunately. :( A friend of mine called and told me that one of the "children of my heart" had passed away. He was 16!

You see, I work with children who have many many physical and communication needs...the more needs that they have, the more I love working with them! I do love them all, please note, but every once in a while God places special children on my heart and my love for these children is unimaginably deeper than I can really express. They become "my children" in a different way than all the others. Ryan was just such a boy. I was his speech pathologist when he was just 2-1/2 years old. He could not verbally talk or physically walk, but he had eyes that were chocolate brown, a 10,000 watt smile and a mischievious glint in his eyes that you knew held great humor and love of life. He was wonderful to work with, but challenging too...his amazing mom always said he knew so much, but had no way to tell us. Ryan was very patient with me as we explored different ways to find a voice for him.

The only physical control that Ryan had consistently was head and neck control...after many trials and many errors, he finally let me try something crazy! I used velcro to strap a little flashlight to his temple, taped pictures up in our small speech room and turned off the lights. Then I asked him to point his "head light" to different pictures on the wall....he got them right 100%!!! From there it was all uphill! I could prove that he knew what he knew....within 6 months, we had a dynamic communication device for him (Dynavox) and the rest is HISTORY! He became an avid communicator, writer, poet and all around kid, who could keep up with the best of them. He was also a gold medalist in the special olympics for racing his electric wheelchair, controlled with several switches mounted behind and beside his head. His amazing mom continued to be Ryan's greatest advocate, his greatest asset and his greatest champion. When Ryan stopped breathing in the middle of the night last weekend, all efforts were made to revive him. But the Lord called him home.

As sad as it is to lose Ryan on this earth, when I went to the services and saw and heard from all those whose lives were touched by Ryan's life, I realize that he fulfilled his purpose here while we had him with us. He made us all better people, all around. Ryan's dad said, "God wanted Ryan the day he was born, but then He changed His mind and kept him here so we could all experience him in our lives." Nothing more true could be said.

I made this card for Ryan's mom, because I believe God gives these children just the right parents and I knew that more than any other identity or "character" trait she had, being Ryan's mom was the most important identity to her. When God places these children in my heart, he also gives me a special relationship with their mothers. And I cherish that relationship as much as the connection I have with their children. And I keep in contact with them throughout their children's lives. So I dedicate this post to all special children and their moms. Love ya!

Bless you all!

Valentine Hugs

Hi all! Hope your day is bright! Just wanted to share this with you! I sent a Valentine's Day package to my daughter at college. These little conversational heart sayings are from Pam at Fire Cracker Designs blog...aren't they darling? I used my friend Kathy's classic and scalloped heart Nestability sets and I think they turned out precious! This card is a little 3x3. I included the inside view too so you could see more sayings. Pam from FCD actually designed the page so there are something like 20 different sayings and they could be punched out or cut out easily.

Now, I'm sure many of you probably think that I would put cholocoate in this package...but you don't know my girl! Since she was little, she always preferred sugary candy over chocolate...she only gets one chocolate bunny in her Easter basket (my idea!) the rest of her candy is things like Skittles, Nerds, Ring Pops, etc....So for this package, I bought a few "movie theater" type boxes of sour Skittles and Lemonheads and covered them in SU Designer Paper.

Also, when she was little, my DD had this way with fluffy animals in the store...You know how the big dept stores have a "deal" at Christmas...buy $50. worth of their stuff and get this big Christmas bear/moose/bunny/etc for only $10.? And how they would have a million of them scattered throughout the store?? Well, Kelsey NEVER missed the opportunity to hug

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!

It took hours to shop every Christmas. So I saw this guy with the saying "Hug me" and I couldn't resist!! Tee hee!! Every college girl needs a teddy in her bed at college, right? Aw c'mon, it'll match that big fluffy duck she took when she went! :) Love our girl!

Have a wonderful Valentine's weekend my friends! God Bless you all!

A Simple Challenge

Happy Day, all! I am so grateful for a little bit of snow today, instead of what the rest of the northeast is getting! Yippee!!
This simple little sketch is the first challenge for my sisters of the SBS29 Group! I kept it simple 'cause it's our first and we are all very busy women! We are going to have a little prize chosen to a randomly chosen sister who makes a card and posts it on her blog by February 20. There are no color specifications as part of the challenge; I only included color in the sketch to give it contrast! And as you can see with my sample card, taken from my archives, the sketch can be creatively changed--as in changing shapes or orientation :) Just have fun!

Although this challenge is specific to the SBS29 sisters, I'd like to offer a little prize for a randomly chosen NON-SBS29 sister who wants to make a card following the sketch, too. If you would like to enter, comment in this post with a link to your card. How's that for a thrill!
Have a fabulous weekend! If I can, I'm going to post a WishRAK I received that brightened my entire week! Be blessed, my friends!

Hoppy Day! {because the snow isn't!}

This is yet another Thank-you card I made for my friend, Becky, who gave me the most adorable frog set of stamps :) That was so very nice of Becky, who bought the set just because she thought of me! :) I have loved frogs forever, with Kermit being my first :) I've tried to outgrow it, but people keep buying them for me and I have to admit.....I STILL LOVE THEM! And I even love the real thing....the "uglier" the world sees them, the more I think they are beautiful! I used a shimmer paper to stamp this little guy on...you can probably see it better if you click on the picture. I just thought I'd send a little bit of brightness your way, 'cause I've had quite a blizzard-y day, let me tell you!! Did I mention that the snow can stop now?! God bless us :) Have a wonderful weekend...and if you don't have a lot going on, would you stop in and visit my SBS29 sister's blogs...they are some amazing artists! Go see for yourself! The links are over here----> on the right column...Scroll down a bit!

Be blessed!

So sweet and so happy!!

My SBS9 sister, Lyzzy, gave me this award yesterday. Although I don't hear from many of my original SBS group sisters very often, I still love them like crazy!! And it was SO SO sweet of her to bless me! Click on the award to visit her blog. She's crazy creative! And like Lyzzy, I want to share some things I hold dear:
1. My faith
2. My Hubby and kids
3. All my family and friends (they are the same! They are YOU!)
4. My students
5. My Mission work
6. My crafting
7. My kitties
8. My health
9. Music
10. My gifts from God that inspire me to do whatever He asks!

I want to send this award onto some of my new blogging sisters, chosen randomly from my SBS29 sister list as every one of them is an inspiration to me...Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!

So, post this award on your blog and pass it on, ladies! :)
1. Joanne
2. Shelly
3. Julie
4. Kathy
5. Cheryl

Happy Weekend! And a prayer for our country!

This card is a thank you to my friend Kathy, who was so sweet and generous to stamp TONS of Magnolia Tilda images for her friends as a gift for Christmas this year! She followed up with even more images a week or so later, so I can be coloring copiously with my copics and having a blast! Her cards are always so full of texture and small details, so I did my best to honor her gift by coloring one of these sweet images to thank her! The glittery back ground is an old Stampin' up holly background stamped in Versamark and "blinged" with SU's Dazzling Diamonds. The CB embossing folder is Christmas Ribbons.

Also, I want to share this link that I received in an email. It only takes 5 minutes to watch, but it's a small bit of time for a big deal. I believe we are blogging for just such a time as this:

Praying for our Nation

Be blessed my friends! Thanks for all your comments! I am blessed by every one!
The tree comes down today! :)

So faux, so good ;)

A new technique in this project, another Thank-you card to a friend who gave me an unexpected surprise a few weeks ago at church. My friend Mary gifted me with a beautiful Kermit green leather bible cover (you don't think it CAME from Kermit do you?!? Tee hee!!) that she saw and thought of me! It was such a wonderful surprise gift, made even more special as it was a big cover, which it had to be because I have a bilingual Spanish-English bible and it's HUGE. I have been blessed to be a missionary to Mexico on many occasions and need to have both languages available for services and ministry. It's hard to find the perfect size cover and it even has handles to carry it easily...even better!

Once I thought about the TY, though, I knew I had to use the "faux leather" technique showcased over at Splitcoaststampers a few weeks ago. I just adapted it to a card, rather than a wallet. You'll need a cuttlebug, Versamark ink and clear embossing powder, along with the rest of the supplies, all of which I had on hand. It was so easy, I plan to make more of these cards, and maybe even teach the technique in a class. How fun! Check out the tutorial HERE and try it for yourself!

Have a blessed week!!

So many thanks!

This card was created as a Thank-you to all my DH's postal cutomers who blessed him with Christmas thank you gifts for his continued good service! Not too many people think to tip the mail man these days, but a faithful few do, and we are so blessed. Many give him coffee shop gift cards and homemade goodies. The first time I made cards for his work TY's he was hooked and now I made 20-30 cards just for his mail route. (He has 457 deliveries!) I wanted to use up some of my scraps from our Christmas cards, which is why I ended up with such a clean geometric design. I struggle to keep cards simple sometimes, but I just love how this turned out! (The green strips are from our cards....I made over 75!) As I noted in the previous post, this stamp and sentiment are from Cornish Heritage Farms, one of the best rubber stamp companies IN THE WORLD!!! If you've never seen their images, do check out their website! Beautiful!

I am spending the day chilling out, preparing for my grad class lecture tomorrow night and organizing the house post Christmas....all lofty goals, left until the last minute. I love holidays!

Please continue to pray for Haiti! Our missions team is still planning on leaving the first week in February. I am not going on this trip, as it is mid school year; I wish I was, though! Pray for our preparations and that our team will have what they need to help to the people as easily as possible! Bless you all!

Oh my! Mid January....what?!

Hard to believe, but it is almost mid-January! I mean, I know my tree is still up (it's so GREEN still, I can't bear to put it out to pasture yet!!) and I know it's still winter (snow can go now, you know!) and I know we've already had two snowdays from school, but I just can't believe it's gone by so fast! Can't this next week last for a few weeks?! {I have to start teaching college next week! I'm not ready!!!}

This card is a thank you to some friends of mine, but I didn't design it, Julie Stanton designed it at CHF! It was a Stamp of the Month set from Cornish Heritage Farms a few years ago and this is the card that was on the cover of the stamp set. Well, almost. I didn't have the same fabric background stamp so I used what I had. And I embossed the pine bough with clear embossing powder and old olive ink because I wanted it glossy. As she did, I used a white gel pen for the snow. I liked how it turned out!

In the next few posts, you will see a few more creations I made with this set, as I borrowed it from my generous friend Ann, and I thought I'd make good use of the images while I have a chance! :) Thank you Ann!

Have a blessed end of week!! I'll be blog hopping soon!!

PS PLEASE PRAY FOR HAITI AND ITS PEOPLE...we have missionary friends there....they are safe but it is a tremendous disaster and they need help! So many lost. Thank you!

Love it!

My first post of 2010 is about love :) And it's not because I am joining in the after Christmas rush to do all things Valentine's Day...I'm against rushing every holiday! Instead it's a CELEBRATION! of Love itself! We've just shared a day celebrating LOVE itself coming to earth as a baby sent by a loving Father who wanted to share love with his children. And as we begin this new year, I plan on sharing the LOVE I have for my family, my friends and my God with all of them! This is not a resolution either but rather a declaration that LOVE will be my focus and my goal for all I come in contact with! The love that Jesus gives to me...that's what I want to share with others! So in the vein of LOVE, here is my creation that I will be giving to my DH when he gets home...just to tell him I love him! My images are from Hand in Hand, Melanie Muenchinger's set by Gina K. I received this set from my DH for Christmas...and I'm entering this card into a Blog Hop Challenge by Melanie, too. Click here to enter into it! I've been wanting this beautiful set for SO LONG! And so I also thank him with this love note :) FYI....I'm the pale one...blame the red hair!! I also want to introduce you to my son and his girlfriend Kelly. They have just moved to Texas this week and I miss him already! Kelly is such a sweet nice girl and I thought a post about LOVE would be a nice place to show them off :) Isn't my boy handsome?! Looks like his dad, of course!! Well, friends! Have a wonderful Sunday! We've got snow here, but Life is Good! Yes?! Blessings!

Welcome SBS Sisters group 29!

Happy New Year!
Happy New Adventures!

Hi all! I'm so thrilled to begin another new year of life and with new years come new excitement! I have joined a new Stamping sisters group and this is my introduction post ;) Those of you who know my blog, including my precious SBS9 sisters, this is history for you, but hey! If you are patient enough to have followed my blog for so long, I know you are forgiving of my quirky ways!
So welcome to my new SBS29 Sisterhood group! I've now been blogging about 2 1/2 years and I still love it! Here is a revisit of what I call

The Kim Marie Tutorial ;)

I am a 46 year old wife, mom, speech pathologist, missionary stamper :) I have a million interests and obsessions (all healthy and clean, I promise!) and I love to laugh with my family and friends. I have two children who would argue whether they are still-indeed-children at 18 and 23 and two cats, Ollie and Grace. I don't cook much (my hubby is an AMAZING cook, but this is about me, tee hee!) but I DO love to chat and stamp! Card making is my real hobby...I've made a few small 6x6 albums without pictures, but I consider that making 20 card fronts and all is well. :) I've been married almost 26 years and plan on at least 40 more! We live in a rural part of NY near where my hubby and I grew up and, aside from the winter driving, love it! Our families are nearby, although my son just moved to TEXAS! I work in a public school and for a local university teaching just one class a semester. I am very involved in our church and have taken mission groups to Mexico and Mozambique, and look forward to whatever else God sets before us on our path! Given all that, we are very busy people. Stamping has allowed me to slow down a bit when the 'stuff' is overwhelming! That's me in a nutshell! For further info, follow my blog! I am going to make a great effort to post once a week....there, I said it!!! Now, to keep my promise... :) Oh, and, PS....I am NOT a KimBERLY....I am a Kim Marie....thus, my use of my middle name....so much better for me, as I am rarely "burly"! Tee hee :)

Off to make a Gina K card!

Profound Season's Greeting

Blessed Thanksgiving!

These are a few projects highlighted last month on Clear Artistic Stamps Guest Designer Spot! One is a Thankful Journal that the guests at my house this year will write about whatever they are most thankful for! The other picture shows some napkin holders I made. So easy!

Thought I'd share them today and say THANK YOU for hanging in there and hanging out with me this last year! You are a blessing and I THANK MY GOD FOR YOU! You make me so
May God's light shine upon you and may the warmth of His peace fill your hearts and homes! Love ya!

Doesn't everybody love a sale? How 'bout CHF and Unity??

Do you love Unity like I do? Cornish Heritage Farms, too? Today and Monday, my good friend Betty is running a 50% off sale at her store Ye Olde Outhouse! She sells lots of different stamps from many different companies, and she is having an inventory clearance sale. Her website isn't functional right now, but if you know of a set you've been wanting, give her a call....she is also giving free shipping and will send out your order to you within two days of your call! It's today and Monday only! If there's a set you've been waiting to get, here's your chance! So what are you waiting for?!?! {I'm heading out to her store today, myself! }

Here's the 411:

Ye Olde Outhouse

7899 Mount Morris Nunda Rd

Mount Morris, NY 14510

585-355-7489

To whet your whistle, here is a card set I made for my student teacher's birthday present :) I used Unity stamps!

Blessings to you today!!

Fall JUGS ;)

Here's a card I made for a swap with some of my cruise friends...a pretty neat swap, too....each one of the 8 sent only the supplies for eight cards to one of the other swappers and then each of us made a card with whatever items we received, so really the card is a collaborative effort! And more of a challenge, as we had to use all of the supplies! This is the card I made with the items I received from Mary Lu. The card stock and the ink are from my stash, but all the rest came from one of my buds :) The card also fits the Just Us Girls (or JUGS) challenge to use a dimensional flower! ;) Check out the other entries....these ladies are TALENTED!! Click on the blinkie on the side bar ----------------->

This last pic is my wonderful family celebrating my DD's 18th bday. Aren't we cute?! Another milestone!

Are you having a FABULOUS week?! Me too....God is just so sweet and kind right now. Is life easy-peasy?? Honestly, no, not really. But is God good to hang out with anyhow? You betcha!! We are SO SO blessed. Thanks for being around and hanging in there with me!
You bless me!