Sentimental Flourish

This card is for the Flourishes Getting Sentimental Challenge using the sentiment as the focal point of your card. This challenge is for a new release party and the prize is for all three sets in their new release. They have beautiful stamps so go check them out here.

The picture quality isn't too good but that's the best I could get. The paper is an adhesive mat stack from Autumn Years and the sentiment is a K&Co rub on. I don't like them very well. They are a little too "distressed" for me. It just makes it look like I didn't get the rub on right. The flowers are from my stash and I bumped up a bit with a touch of chalk ink.

This is Tuxie watching out for me while I'm crafting. I have my craft area set up in an alcove off of my living room with the couch hiding the mess. He sits on the back of the couch to make sure I'm doing everything right. You can see more in this picture as to why his name is Tuxie. It would fun to put a bow tie around his neck and take a picture. I seldom find black hairs running stray but everytime I put on my black jeans, they have white hair all over them!!!

Chloe runs back and forth between the living room and my craft room bringing her "ball" (she thinks all toys are called balls) back and forth for me to throw. If I ignore her she leaves me little "packages". It gets hard to concentrate on a project when I have to throw her ball every 30 seconds. When it warms up a bit I can take her in the yard and run her all around so she'll be tired before I get started crafting.

Blessings to all,

What a Difference an Hour Can Make

If you haven't read my last post, scroll down and read it before this one.


This is what my yard looked like an hour after the previous picture was taken. This is the Boise that I know and love. Rarely do we have snow that sticks for the entire day; especially in March!!!

This is Chloe in the same spot she was in for the previous picture.

Blessings,

Snow in March?!?

I went to take Chloe, my dog, out at about noon and it was snowing very lightly, I just went out and this is what it looks like now!!! I live in Boise, Idaho, aka the Sunbelt of Idaho. We don't get snow in March. I remember having picnics for Pesidents Day weekend (my Dad and brother's birthdays). It's really hard to believe we have global warming when you see this!!!

This is Chloe playing in the snow. You can't hardly see her. If the snow sticks around till dark, I'll have to put her in her little red coat so I can see her.

Blessings to everyone,

Just My Sketches Challenge

Deanne at Just My Sketches is having a challenge to celebrate 10,000 blog visits. Her blog is a great place to go to for inspiration. Not only does she have great layout and card sketches, but she also gives some beautiful samples for each layout. I made this card from her sketch in April 2007. The paper is all from Basic Grey-2 Scoops except the corners. That is some velvet paper I got at S.E.I. factory store. The sentiment is a K & Co rub-on.



Thanks for taking a look.

Blessings to Everyone,

One World One Heart Giveaway

I won a wonderful gift from Louise at Pink Gate in the One World One Heart blog hop. She gave a $35 gift certificate to Paper Whimsy and Gale at Paper Whimsy matched that gift so I received a $70 gift certificate. Isn't that awesome!!! This is what I ordered with the gift certificate.


3 bottles of Moon Glow Glitz
Perfect Pearls
a whole bunch of flowers
beautiful ribbon (the lilac ribbon is silk)
Key to Your Heart embellishments (2 of them)
key clear stamps
and a 6x6 pad of Basic Grey-Blush

Can you believe I won all this stuff? I picked out things I thought I could use making collages. I have wanted to try my hand at that art for a long time. Thanks so much to Louise at Pink Gate and Gayle at Paper Whimsy.

Blessings to everyone,

Blog Candy!!!

Janet at Pink Gem Designs is giving away your choice of 4 of the stamps that she designs. They are such cute stamps everyone will want some. Head on over there and enter her drawing.

Blessings to everyone!

One More Thing

I wanted to say one more thing about my recent post that I forgot to say after typing all of that. The reason I wanted to tell my story was to encourage everyone to become organ donors. My donor saved 5 lives and gave 2 others the gift of sight. If I can get one person to become an organ donor, I have done something. If I get everyone who reads this to become an organ donor, I've done my job. Thanks so much for listening!!!

I put a button at the top of my sidebar where you can go and learn about organ donation, and if you choose, you can enter the required information to become a donor.

Blessings to everyone,

My Heart Story

A blogger friend of mine sent me an email that there was an article about Paul Cardall, a local musician who is waiting for a heart transplant, in their morning paper. I went and looked at his blog and it made me realize I need to tell my story on my blog. But before I start, go look at his blog and the newspaper article (links above). It is very inspiring.

When I was 36 years old, I had a massive heart attack caused by a spontaneous artery dissection. After the heart attack, I had Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) with an Ejection Fraction (EF) of 33%. Normal is above 60. My EF remained in that range for several years and I always felt pretty good. A little slow and I sometimes got tired easily. I pretty much could do what I wanted, just at my own pace.

From the Mayo Clinic: "The term "ejection fraction" refers to the percentage of blood that's pumped out of a filled ventricle with each heartbeat."

To get from there to the gory details, in about 2002, things started getting worse. I'm not sure why, but the CHF started to get worse. My cardiologist here in Idaho sent me to Dr. Edward Gilbert at the University of Utah for transplant evaluation. His team at the time thought I would be better served in the Heart Failure clinic.

Dr Gilbert referred me to an electrophysiologist who immediately put in a Bi-Ventricular pacemaker (I already had a defib but I wasn't being paced). For a few weeks things seemed to be improving. Then I caught a very bad cold and got shocked by the defibrillator 3 times that week. Things never seemed to get any better after that.

Over the next couple of years, I just kept getting worse. I had to quit work in 2004. Because of a paperwork error (insurance companies fault, not mine), I was without insurance for a few months until medicare kicked in. I had to skip one appointment (I was going every 3 months). When I was able to get medicare and go back to the doc, my EF was in the low to mid teens. It was in the low 20s at my last visit.

The doctor said it was time to be evaluated for the transplant again (I had done this twice before). This time the numbers said I needed a new heart. I went through some more extensive testing (two days worth) and before I left the clinic, the doc said that they were going to present my case before the transplant committee the following week. That was in July 2007.

I moved to Utah within 2 weeks. I was lucky that my sister lived in the vicinity so I was able to stay with her for the next several months. Luckily, I only had to wait six weeks for my heart and I got a new to me heart Sept 6, 2007. A beautiful 18 year old woman died in an auto accident and I received the most wonderful heart. She was a very caring person with a big heart. Since she was 13, she went to South American countries on missions with her church to bring wheel chairs to people in need.

My brother-in-law took me to my first clinic appt. While we were at the clinic, my sister fell off of a step stool and feel and broke her back. So my brother-in-law had to take care of both of us for the next week. Then my sister and mother took turns coming down from Idaho to help out around the house until I was able to get up and start doing things for myself. My niece was also a great help when she came home for the weekends. I still couldn't lift so she did my laundry for me. After a week or two, I could do the laundry but not carry it up and down the stairs so she would carry it for me.

I had my share of issues but none too bad. Mostly, I had low white blood cell counts so I had to pretty much stay to myself so I would get sick. In those times, I would go stay with a friend who has a basement that I could stay in all by myself and not worry about other peoples germs.

I'm doing pretty well now. They continue to reduce the meds so some of the side effects will go away. My big problem now is that I have a lot of pain in my legs and feet and migraine headaches. I've been going to various doctors for this. They have put me on even more meds but hopefully these will help with the pain.

Thank you to the transplant team and all of the doctors at University of Utah. Thanks to my family for all the help they gave me during my recuperation and still do. My sister comes over once a week to empty my kitty's litter box because I can't since I take the immunosuppresants. And thanks to Sharon who continues to let me stay in her basement when I come to SLC for clinic appointments. Thank you the most to my donor and her family. May God always be with them.

Blessing to everyone!

Anna's Birthday Card

I made this card for a little girl in my sister's Sunday School Class using the sketch on the Triple the Sketch Challenge. I've been thinking about this card for awhile and thinking about how to did it. When I saw this sketch, I new that I would do it this way. I water colored it again. I'm really liking the pencils but I think I could have done better on this.

Blessings to all!!!

Box Accordian Album

I made this little box for my Mom when she had to put her doggie to sleep. One of the seams in the accordion album came loose so I brought it home to fix it and thought I would take some picts and show it off. I made this before I started blogging.

That's my Mom shaking hands with her dog Tuffy.


The top picture is my Dad and Mom with their Tuffy and, of course, the bottom one is also Tuffy.

Both of these are Tuffy, of course.

The top one is my Dad and Tuffy. You may think the bottom one is Tuffy, but nooooo. It's their previous dog, Rusty. How can I tell, you might ask? Rusty's ears stand up and Tuffy's lay down.

This is a family picture from Christmas in 1993. We have 5 of the 6 siblings here (plus in-laws and kids). Not bad, huh? It's hard to get all 6 of us in one place at the same time. If you're wondering, I'm 2nd from the left in the back. A family friend was there so we were able to get everyone in the picture. You can click on any of the pictures if you want to see them bigger

The bottom picture is the Cockatiel, Kale that I game my Dad for is birthday. My neice named him when she was 4 and, no, he isn't name after the vegetable.

That's Rusty again and the bottom picture is my brother-in-law, Dell; my sis, Rose (Dell's her husband); my Mom; my sister, Alice; my Dad (I think, it's really hard to tell with his hat on); and our dog, Boots. The picture was taken at Payette Lake in McCall in the 1970s.

The top picture is my cat, Tuxie and my previous dog, Annabelle. I miss her so much. It took me hours to take that picture because every time I got the viewfinder set, Tuxie would run away. Cats are just that way. The bottom picture is my Mom on Mother's Day 2007 with my dog, Chloe. They next picture is my sis Rose's dog, Bear.

And last but certainly not least, this is my sis, Alice's dog, Star and her previous dog, Matt. He was so named by the nieces and nephews because when she adopted him from the Humane Society, his fur was all matted. I used to call him Matthew Mark Luke.

I hope you enjoyed the little peek into my family.

Blessings to all.

Sweet Little Girl Card

I made this card for the Rainbow Lady's Challenge (which is "people") and for the Crafty Creations Challenge sketch. I got the image from the Graphics Fairy's huge library of wonderful vintage images.

Blessings to everyone!!!

Oops - I forgot. This card is also for ABC challenge which is "child".

I just found a new (to me anyway) challenge blog One Stop Craft Challenge. This card meets their challenge for this week whic is to not use any designer paper.

Cupcake Challenge 28

I did this card for the Cupcake Challenge. They had a sketch this week. I think this turned out cute. I bought the ribbon at Michaels; I thought I might make a wreath or something for the door with it. It was sitting on my craft table while I was looking at this sketch and this whole card came to me. I don't usually make cards with yellow or green as a main color; this card has both.

I "made" the background paper by stamping the butterflies with Versamark and chalking it up. The butterflies are cutout with a Quicutz die I bought on Friday and have now used it on two cards already. I really like the 3-d effect.

I'm going to send this one to the Spread the Smile Campaign. I need to make one more and I'll get them in the mail.

Blessings to everyone,

Candy Alert

Check out the Blog Candy section in the right column. I've added some new listings!!!

Fabbie Award

I can't belive it. I received my first award from Coralee at Charms of Ordinary Days where she treats everyone by giving us peeks of her wonderful collection of vintage items. Thanks Coralee!

Now, I get to list five of my favorite things and pass the award on to five of my favorite bloggers.

1. My pets, Chloe and Tuxie
2. Chocolate
3. Gardening (soon, very soon)
4. Reading
5. And last, but certainly not least, my family

Now to pass it on to five others:

1. Rose, my sister.
2. Trisha, my neice.
3. Kimberly, my neice. (It is so wonderful to keep up with what they are doing even though we live apart.)
4. Kel from Creations by Kelly, and
5. Marianne from Marianne's Musings, both of who give me inspiration.

Now all of you need to pickup the award and list your five favorite things and pass it on to five of your favorite blogs.

Thanks again Corallee!

I Love the 50s

This sketch from Lili of the Valley Challenge reminded me of a line from S.E.I. called Retrospective so I had to make a card using those papers.


Actually, I ended up only using one paper from that line (the boomerang print). I used my punch from McGill Craftivity for the cutouts, the button is Basic Grey and the sentiment is a sticker also from the S.E.I. Retrospective line. I feel like it looks unfinished; maybe because it doesn't have a bow on it.

Now it's time to go to bed.

Blessing to everyone!

VW Bus Card Re-do

I redid the VW Bus Card and I really like how it turned out this time. I changed it quite a bit. I used the sketch for the Truly Scrumptious Challenge and the Saturday Challenge is "Transportation".

When I was at Archivers I bought a set of watercolor pencils so I watercolored the bus this time. I really like the watercolor pencils. I'll be using them over and over. I thought I had watercolor pencils but they are both color pencils -- just two different brands. This was my first go with water color pencils. I think it went pretty well.

I also bought a Quicutz butterfly die at Archivers so I changed the flowers to a butterfly because that has special meaning for me. When I first bought my bus, I took it for a drive in the mountains and on my way home, a butterfly flew in the window and road on the floor the rest of the way. I shushed her out when I got home.


Thanks for stopping by,
Blessings to everyone!

Free Vintage Clipart

I I found some wonderful vintage clip art for free courtesy of the Graphics Fairy. There are some wonderful pieces and a lot of them!!! Go check it out. You won't regret it.

Free Paper?

I went to Archivers today to get my Free Cardstock (they send a coupon every month) and of course I had to use my 30% off coupon. Then I had to look at the clearance items. My free paper ended up costing me $42.50. I think that's what they have in mind when they offer free cardstock, huh?

Okay, One More Post

Life, One Layout at a Time is giving away a Cricut and a Bind-It-All. All you have to do is leave a comment. The 1000s and 1500th comments will win the prizes. Wow, what a generous giveaway. Go on over there and leave a comment. If you do, let them know I sent you.

I'm a Card Making Fool Today!!!

I guess I really got in the mood to do some crafting today, huh!!! I should have been cleaning house (LOL!). I made this tag for the Tag Your It Challenge. It was Circles and Swirls this week. I wanted to keep it flat so I could use it as a bookmark. I'm always losing bookmarks but that's okay because I love making them!!! Hopefully, whoever finds them enjoys them as much as I do.

They Don't Always Turn Out Like You Think

I made this card for for the Sketch Saturday challenge but I don't think I will submit it, yet.

I got this stamp a couple of months ago and decided I need to make a card with it today. I used to own a red VW Bus. It was actually orange because the paint was so oxidized. I was trying to go for a hippi/flower power thing. Everything was going well with this card until I got to the flowers. There are blue, green and yellow flowers in the brown print paper, but the flowers I made don't seem to go. I guess there isn't enough of the colors in the brown paper.

Next time I go to Archivers, I'll take this card and probably get some shades of red. That will look better. I think I'll go tomorrow 'cause I have a coupon that expires at the end of the month for 5 sheets of free cardstock. I can get the colors I want for free -- Yay!!!! And then I can submit it for the challenge.

Jen's Birthday Party, Basic Grey Challenge, and Amy R's Challenge

There's lots of fun going on today!!! First of all, Jen at Pieces of Me is having a birthday celebration and she is having a giveaway every hour. It's not to late to get in on some of the fun. For one giveaway, she asked everyone to make a Birthday card for her. Here's mine.

My camera wasn't working right (the battery is probably low) so I scanned it. The seed beads are actually pink.

This card also qualifies for Amy R's sketch challenge and the Basic Grey Challenge which is pink and grey. All of the paper except the yellow card stock is Basic Grey 2 scoops.

Thanks for dropping in!!! Now I'm off to charge the battery in my camera.

Free Stamp Giveaway for Everyone

Let's Get Jazzy! is having a giveaway for one free stamp. All you have to do is follow a couple of rules and they will mail you a free stamp. Hop on over there by the 28th and get your stamp!!!

Primitive Folk Art Blogiversary and Scorpal Giveway

Stephanie from Primative Folk Art is celebrating one year blogging and she is giving away some wonderful stuff. Head on over there and chek it out.

Also, Paper Therapy is giving away a scorpal. They are a really neat tool so go take a look.

Friday Sketchers 40 & Cute Card Thursday #48

I made this card for the Friday Sketchers. When I got back to my computer I realized I didn't exactly follow the sketch. I hope it works anyway. I used some scraps from paper I bought last year. The image and sentiment are Hero Arts (I think). {Note to manufacturers of clear stamps, put your logo on the acrylic backer.} Ribbon is Daisy Hill, flowers were a special buy at Robert's so they are probably Provo Craft. The pink flower in the center was white and I dyed it using a stamp pad. The jewels were from the Hotspot items at Archivers. I also put seed beads on the frosting for sprinkles but they don't show up very well. I tried to take a close up picture but it didn't turn out very well. I used Pebbles chalk to color the cupcake and a Souffle pen to color the frosting.

It's a fun card. I love cupcakes!!!

P.S. I just realized that this card also qualifys for Cute Card Thursday. There theme is "Signs of Spring".

Spread a Smile Campaign

Never Enough Stamps is doing a campaign where she is collecting cards and then she will give them to the homeless and elderly thoughout the spring and summer. It is a wonderful idea, isn't it? I'm going to make a few cards for her campaign.

This is my first one. I used my Cricut Walk in My Garden cart to cut out the sentiment and butterflies. All of the paper is Basic Grey 2 Scoops. I don't remember who the sentiment stamp is; I got it at Archiver's.

If giving cards to those in need is not enough, she is giving really yummy candy to those who participate!!!

'night All

Elzy Bells

Elzy Bells Art Stamps is showing a new release on their blog and you can win the whole set in the release. They are very, very cute; both rubber and clear stamps. Go over and check it out here.

Who's a Lazy Susan

Cupcake Challenge #27 is to alter something. I've been wanting to do this for some time so I thought this was as godd a t ime as any. I got the idea from a show I saw when I was in Utah over a year ago on Studio 5 -- KSL.



This is how it looks with all my stuff in it. The base is an old style Rubbermaid lazy susan that I got at the thrift store. Soup cans around the outside and a Pepperidge Farm Pirouette cookie tin. I covered everything with Basic Grey Two Scoops (I love that paper) and the stickers that came with the kit. I'm not sure if I'm completely done with it. I also have some Two Scoops buttons. I think maybe it's something that will be a work in progress for awhile.

Transplant Support Group

The Transplant Support Group in SLC has started a blog -- http://transplantbuddyz.blogspot.com/. Currently, the only thing on it is the schedule, information about the guy who does the blog, and some good transplant links. Hopefully, they will be making some posts.

I'm working on a project that I will post tomorrow. It's pretty cool. I don't want to get back to it tonight because I wouldn't be able to get it finished before I go to bed and then I would just dream about finishing all night. If I'm close to finishing something, whether it be a craft project or a book or something, I just want to get back to it to finish it so I dream about it all night and don't sleep very well. Does anyone else do that?

New Toy -- I mean Tool and a Teapot Card

When I was in Utah last month I got myself a Cricut. It came with all the things you see. Like I need another paper cutter. This makes three and I seldom use any of them. I have the We R Memory Keepers magnetic cutting mat set so I use an Exacto almost all of the time.

My sister, niece and I made bookmarks all afternoon the day after I got it. It was very fun. Now I've got it all set up at home. I made this card for my Mom for Valentine's Day.





I got the idea here http://cutestuffinside.blogspot.com/2009/02/tea-for-two.html. I think her card is a lot cuter. I used K & Co paper from a stack I got for Christmas last year from my sis. I used my Cricut (George cart) to cut two 3-1/2" heart and two 1" hearts, a 4" circle (cut in half) and a 2" triangle. I cut the handle and spout freehand. I glued a big heart and little heart onto the back to hide the uglie. Thanks so much to Marsha for the idea.

My sister just came over to change my kitty box (I can't because I'm on immunosuppressents--I have not idea how to spell that) and brought me some cupcakes, so I'm off to eat a cupcake while I fix something for dinner. See ya later.

I Won -- I Won

I won two things on the One World One Heart Blog Hop.

First I received a digital package from http://nannascraps.com/blog, as well as some expert advice about digital scrapbooking.

Then, I received an email from http://pinkgate.blogspot.com/. I received a $70 gift certificate from Paper Whimsy (http://www.paperwhimsy.com/store/home.php). Yay!!!! When I get the stuff ordered and received, I will take a photo and post it.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in One World One Heart and especially to the two who gave me a prize.

The hop was very fun, not only for the prizes, but all of the great blogs that I bookmarked and visit regularly now. Thanks to Lisa from http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/ for sponsoring the blog hop.

Rainbow Colors

Since I love rainbows, and photographing them, I couldn't resist this quiz. Here is what it said.

Your rainbow is intensely shaded pink, violet, and yellow.

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate everyone around you. You are a good listener and your friends are glad to have you around in difficult times. You're good at getting people to like you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

What colors are you?

Valentine Boxes

My sister told me about this project that was on KSL in Utah's Studio 5 show at noon. I think everything on it is so cute. I'm going to make one of them for my friends. I wish she lived near me so I could give her one. I don't know how to embed the video like she does so I'll give you a link. Hopefully, she'll read this post and show me how. (I have tried like a dozen times to add a space after this paragraph it keeps deleting it.)

The project sheet also includes a little purse box, a pyramid box and a slide out box (match box style) just the right size for Hershey nuggets candy bars.

http://studio5.ksl.com/index.php?nid=61&sid=5463964

More Giveaways

Wow -- I know what your going to say. I need to get a life. I've spent the better part of the last few days blog hopping in the One World - One Heart Blog Event. There are over 900 blogs to visit and register for giveaways. They had almost anything craft and/or art you can think of: jewelry, beading, glass fusing, altered art, creative writing, painting . . . it goes on and on. Here is the link http://oneworldoneheart.typepad.com/one_worldone_heart/2009-participant-links.html. Next year I'm going to be on of the hosts. I'm thinking right now about what I could giveaway.

I don't even care if I win anything (but it would be nice). It was so fun and inspirational. Now I know some of the new projects I want to start: Artist Trading Cards, Collages and Altered Stuff (books, tins, stuff like that).

I can't wait until tomorrow to clear off my craft table and get started.

Giveaways

I found this site that is giving printable images in a file each day until Valentines Day. Some days include more than one so there are about 27. They are very cute romantic vintage and retro images. http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

Those who make cards and stuff would really enjoy these images.