SMILING LEPRECHAUN

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Cross stitching is another hobby of mine that I love to do! I thought today was the perfect day to share with you something that I recently made for my sister. I enjoyed making this cute little smiling leprechaun for her, and she really liked it, so I guess it was a success all the way around.  :)

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

May the rains fall soft upon your fields 
and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

HAPPY EASTER!

I needed another Easter card for a challenge in an online stamp group I belong to called Card Camp. I dug through what I had for Easter stamps and knew right away this was the one I wanted to work with. Isn't this the most adorable little bunny???  The image is called One Good Egg and is made by Penny Black. Partnered up with a sentiment from Hook's Lines & Inkers, I knew it was going to be a perfect combination.

Brocade Blue and So Saffron by Stampin' UP! were my paper choices, along with a couple of different patterned papers I had by them as well. Copic colors used were B000, B02, B12, B14, RV02, R20, R22, E50, E31, E55, Y15, C1, C3, and YG17.  I tried all kinds of embellishments to finish off my card but nothing was calling out to me..... then I found a package of felt flowers and leaves (retired SU) in my stash and I knew it would give me the look that I was searching for.  I just love it when things come together.  :)

STAMP OF THE MONTH CHALLENGE

Quite some time ago, I used to participate in a digital stamp of the month challenge and really enjoyed it! Now that life has slowed down a bit for me, It's time to join that monthly challenge again and get my creative juices flowing. Your completed card needs to be posted by the 20th of each month, there is plenty of time left this month to play along. If you are interested, just click here and get all the particulars to play along! www.designed2delight.com and check out the store for lots of cute digital stamps at http://fromtheheartstamps.com  I decided to pick the Easter basket digi to create my card as Easter is early this year, but this delightful basket image comes in a series of three....a spring basket, Easter basket, and one full of cute little shamrocks.

I started off using Wild Wasabi card stock by Stampin' UP along with patterned papers from the Brenda Walton collection from K&Co. The two punches, the scallop trim border and the word window punch are also SU products. The large ovals that I used are from Nestabilities. Copics used to color it up were BV02, BV31, R20, R22, G40, G24, G21, Y15, Y11, along with E55,E53, E51, YR24, YR21, YR20 and YR00 to color the multi colored basket. I used a Spica clear pen to give a light glitter shine to the eggs although you really can't see it in the picture. To finish it up, I simply stamped the words Happy Easter using the Teeny Tiny Wishes set from SU.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

JUICING!

Several years ago I had an inexpensive juicer, one that didn't extract the juice very well, leaving me with a small glass of juice, and a whole lot of really wet pulp! It wasn't long afterwards that I gave up on it and got rid of the juicer.  BLAH....
About a week ago, my UPS man delivered a big, heavy, package. I had no idea what was in the box because I hadn't ordered anything.  To my BIG surprise, inside was this juicer, an awesome gift from my son and daughter-in-law. Come to find out, they had bought one exactly like this for themselves and loved it. They thought I would like it as well, and they were right!  It is the Breville Ikon Juice Fountain BJE510XL. Every morning I've been making freshly made juice with it. No more wet pulp....this baby extracts the juice right out of the fruits and veggies, leaving the pulp like sawdust! It's amazing.... There are so many healthy benefits from juicing!  Thank you Vin and Kat for this awesome gift!

THE BIG SHOT!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that Santa was really good to all of my stamping friends!

Wow, die cutting machines have come a long way. I had the original heavy, red Sizzix machine then moved on to the Cuttlebug. As much as I like my little bug, the Big Shot has earned it's name! It's a great machine and does a great job embossing as well as cutting. Santa brought it for me, along with a few new embossing folders to try out, and I plan on doing just that!

PUMPKIN FUN

The girls are getting into the fun of decorating for October. I had never seen these decorating kits before. They remind me of the Mr. Potato Head sets but are made for pumpkin decorating. Lily and Lucy had a lot of fun picking through all the pieces trying to find just the right look for their pumpkins and were quite pleased with how they came out.

Happy October!

STAMPS FOR SALE!

I am working on putting my stamp room together and have decided to sell some of my stamp sets as I just have so many! These stamps are priced from $2 - $10 and would be great for someone just starting out in this very addicting hobby! Please let me know if you are interested in any of them. Many of them are brand new and never used.  Please see the list of them on the right side of my blog towards the bottom. I will try to keep my listing updated as I sell and add more.

COPIC CERTIFIED!

Earlier in the month I had the pleasure of meeting both Marianne Walker (all the way from Copic Marker in Oregon), and Cindy Lawrence. Marianne is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Copics. If you had a question about Copics, she had the answer! Cindy helped with the training as she is going to be the new Copic trainer for New England (congratulations Cindy!) I took the Copic certification class to learn more about the product, along with blending, shading, air brushing, and to become Copic certified. Who would've thought you could do so much with a marker....but they really are amazing!


                      Cindy, Clara, and Marianne

Check out the newest Copic certification graphic on the right side of my blog.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Today is Father's Day. How strange it feels knowing I won't be able  to visit dad today as I do every Father's Day. Dad passed away at the age of 88, just before the holidays, after several years of dialysis and PAD. I still have a difficult time believing he's gone, but I will always hold him close in my heart so he'll always be with me. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

  ~THE DRAGONFLY~

Once, in a pond under the lily pads, there lived a water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple life with few disturbances. Once in awhile, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of the lily pad and would not be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was gone forever. Then one day, one little beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he found at the top.

When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun was so warm, he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue-tailed dragonfly with broad winds and a slender body designed for flying. So, fly he did! And as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had ever known existed.

Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they must have thought he was gone forever. He wanted to go back and tell them that he was now more alive than he had been before he left. His life had not ended, but had changed. But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they too would know what he now knew. So he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!

I'M BACK...............

I've been away from my blogging and card making for sooo long! When checking my blog, I found it's been about a year and a half since I posted anything on it which makes sense if you had any idea what the past year has been like..... Knowing at some point I wanted to start back with my hobby, I decided not to delete the blog. This is my first attempt at getting back into blogging! Postings will be somewhat slow for a bit longer as I try to put together my new stamp room, (just even making a place to sit in there! lol) but I plan on getting back into the swing of things. My blog will be a combination of tid bits that are going on in my life and sharing my cards and hobby.
I'm so glad to be back!!