An emotional mess

This weekend has been a little odd.  My father-in-law who has been sick since October 2009, got ill on Thursday and I had to take him to the hospital.  He had stage 4 edema and congestive heart failure (he has had this for years).  They admitted him and figured out that his kidneys were not working.  Into CCU he went so that they could repair the damage.  Yesterday morning I went to visit him.  He was on a bi-level oxygen mask, and had to lift the mask so that I could hear what he had to say.  He was jolly, he was concerned about his dear wife, my mother-in-law.  I took her home and drove the 20 minute drive back to my house.  One hour later the hospital called and told us to get there now.  Some of you can imagine how we felt making that 20 minute drive.  He had coded because he aspirated.  They worked on him and brought him back.  They put him on a vent.  The last 24 hours has been the most critical.  He is fighting for his life.  His body is so weak.  Today a tiny miracle, even with the vent he has been able to communicate with us via those eyes, head shakes, nodding and squeezing our hands.  You can see the love he has for us and how he wants to touch us.

We have been blessed with so many that are praying for him.  Praying for my mother-in-law who thinks the world of him and needs him so much.  April 16 will be their 60th wedding anniversary.  60 years is a long time...a long time in which they have grown to rely on each other for EVERYTHING!!!

I came home from the hospital today counting my blessings that my parents are healthy, that my kids are so wonderful and feeling so proud of my husband who has had to make decisions in the last 24 hours that he never thought he would have to make.  Decisions he thought were made and were not.  Decisions that he does not want to make.  He is so brave so strong!  I am so proud of him!  I know I said that, but I am.

I had to come home and make some cards to calm down my emotions.  I thought more detailed folding would ease my mind and give me time with my thoughts so I could reflect on the last few days.

All patterned papers are by K&CO (Viola Viva, Mira, Bailey, Wild Saffron, Que Sera Sera)
All inks by Tim Holtz
plain cardstock from my scrapbin
word stamp, dot stamp and pear stamp by Technique Tuesday
Bird cage collage stamp by Tim Holtz
tag by K&Co
ribbon by Hobby Lobby
border punch by Fiskars




One more thing, for those of you praying for him, I thank you.  Thank you so very much.

Just read a book!!!

I think I have said this before, but when I was in high school, reading a book was the LAST thing I would do.  I was too cool to read the assigned books and tried very hard NOT to read them unless the teacher required us during class time.  I did read the book A Farewell to Arms because we were required to do so in class.  I fell deeply in love with the story and to this day it is one of my favorite books.  I even love the movie with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones.  I read this book every year because I love it so much.

The other book I fell for while in high school was The Mayor of Casterbridge.  Again, a wonderful story with a crazy but effective story.  If you have not read these two books you must!

Gone with the Wind was my next book.  This was the book that did it for me.  This is the book that hooked me to reading.  This is it.  I began to realize that in a book you could lose reality, you could imagine people, things and scenery.  I have currently read GWTW 39 times.  That equals one time for every year that I have been alive. I hope to keep it going and read it once a year, we shall see if I can do it.  

Since the introduction of my smartphone, I don't read as much as I did.  I also scrapbook A LOT!!! So there is another thing that takes up my time.  At one time in my life I read around 300 books per year.  Now it is more like 75.  It may be my attention span too, it is worse because there are so many things to distract me.  And then it could be that my kids are more involved in things now.

Still I love to read and love to share that love.

Now I am not talking about the Bible, there are so grand stories in there, and those I read over and over so don't think I am discounting that. I don't believe that counts.  That is the best book and the one you can use for real life.  So basically I count it on a different scale. I guess that is because mainly I read novels for my escapism.  The Bible I read for my soul!

 I made this card for our librarian at LOHS.  She reads books so I made her a bookmark holder with 2 bookmarks.  This was an experiment because I had never made a card with bookmarks.   I am pleased with the result. I am rather pleased with the way it turned out.  It is a two sided card. I stitched it up after I added the pockets. 

This card uses:

Tim Holtz's distress inks in Broken China, Dusty Concord, Fired Brick, Seedless Preserves, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries, and Weathered Wood

Also DMC thread

Stampendous embossing powder in midnight black

stamps from Inkadinkadoo (Birds Galore)

Patterned paper by K&Co Viola Viva

Sunday Afternoon Workshop

I have never been invited to a card workshop before and was very excited when a scrapbooking buddy (Kelly Veach) invited me to her monthly card class.  The teacher was Gina Fraser and she was GREAT!  Bubbly and excited with TONS of grand ideas!.

Today I am going to share the cards that she created for us to make.  I did change mine a tad.  On most of the cards I used inks to distress a bit or add some dimension.  One card I changed a lot the pennant card. Her card featured 3 flags that went across the card, I simply can't do that straight across stuff so I made mine at an angle and I must say it is one of my 2 favorites.  My favorite is the grey and pink card.  Gina's card was PERFECT and needed me to change NOTHING.

I had a wonderful time.  I was quiet because I was soaking it all in.  The room was so inspiring.  The chatter from the girls was great to be around.  The learning to use a big shot was AWESOME (thanks Jennifer Hodges for showing me how to use it)!  I can't think of anything that could have been changed to make the afternoon better.

I am grateful for the chance to go to this class.

Spring Break Goals

I tend to be more productive if I have a list.  I tend to hold myself accountable when I share that list.  I have a week off starting today and I have some things that I MUST accomplish on this week off.  Today I am going to share this list with you.  What?  I know I can't believe I won't be on a cruise ship either, but no the cruise is later, a staycation is first.  These items are above my usual daily cleaning chores. (Maybe I should post them, yes there is a daily list)

1.  Make 50 cards
2.  Submit at least 40 of those designs
3.  Fix the cracks in the driveway
4.  Reseal the driveway
5.  Stain the deck
6.  Clean the windows in my house
7.  Possibly paint the utility room (still thinking about this one)
8.  Day trip to Nashville
9.  Fix crack in sidewalk
10.  Weed the flower bed (possibly raise it---this depends on funding)
11.  Fix lattice on deck
12.  Try to take apart or fix basketball goal
13.  Having any work needed done on vehicles
14.  Clean the carpets
15.  Clean out the garage and storeroom (this won't take long because I keep them tidy all ready)
16.  Clean out Trevor's closet and toy box


things I wanted to do but finished all ready
1.  Cleaned out hall closet
2.  Weeded the herbs
3.  Worked on the bed frame
4.  Cleaned all the bathroom and kitchen walls
5.  Cleaned behind washer, dryer, fridge and stove
6.  Reorganized the store room shelves
7.  Cleaned out hall closet
8.  Reorganized my closet


Have a great productive spring break, I know I will. 

Good Friends

I don't think I have been lucky here. Sometimes I think it's me, sometimes I think I choose unwisely, sometimes I just think that maybe I am unlucky.  Oh, but I do ramble.  

I just mainly wanted to state that I feel that I have gotten in too deep in an area I should not have, who among us has not. I was seeking something. I still have not figured out what it was. I look at what I have and I see I am blessed beyond measure. Way more than I deserve. I have a loving husband that treats me like a princess.  Two VERY good kids that are just incredible.  A possessions I don't deserve but am grateful for none the less.  

I am not going to dwell on the things I have screwed up or left in the past.  I am going to focus on the here and now and my blessings. 

 

Two quotes to leave you with today:


'Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” CS Lewis


1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

The act of kindness

Luke 6:31...one of my favorite Bible verse of all time....

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I have been working very hard on this goal this year.   To appreciate those that do things for me and let them know that I do.  I have achieved this goal by making cards for the people that do things. I am not going to tell you who is going to receive this card, but I think they will love it.  

The person I made it for is one of those rare breeds these days.  She puts herself last in so many instances. I have seen her forgo her own comfort and utter exhaustion and keep pressuring on because there was a goal to be met.  Even though she was going to gain nothing for it, she pushed on.  I guess actually if you think about it she would reap the rewards one day.  This Christian lady will for sure have a home with Jesus one day. I can think of no better reward!!

I decided to use this card for this week's Mojo Monday.  I did like this sketch very much and it worked perfectly for me because I wanted to create a gate fold card.  

Materials used:

Wild Saffron by K&Co patterned paper

Brown paper and paper behind so kind stamp is from my scrap bin

So Kind Stamp by Stampin UP!  

Thread by DMC 

Brown flower made by Michelle's Musings (me)

Brown ink by Stampin UP! chocolate chip

Brown ribbon from Hobby Lobby (cut by the yard)

Ruffle ribbon bought at a vendor at CKC, it was white and I colored it using  Mustard Seed Distress Inks by Tim Holtz.  I used my ink blending tool and colored the ribbon as I do paper.  Then I set the color using spray mist. 

 Button by Making Memories

If you have not check out Mojo Monday at

www.mojomonday.blogspot.com

card being opened

close up of my flower and stitched design

Handmade paper flowers

I found this pattern on the internet (I wish I could remember where, if you know please tell me).  I wanted to show you how I put together the flowers.

Start out first with a flower template. 

I printed the template on a sheet of regular paper.  I think put that template on top of 2 sheets of cardstock.  I cut out the template and the cardstock at the same time.  This way I would have 3 flowers when I finished.

Next I took my Tim Holtz's distress inks (in Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Festive Berries, Evergreen Bough, Peeled Paint, and
Worn Lipstick).  I may have done this step backwards but I wanted the edges to be inked that is why I inked it this way. It was more difficult I won't lie but I like the way the edges look.  I inked both sides of each flower.

After I inked the flowers, I dropped drops of water on the flowers, and then I scrunched up the petals into flower type shapes.  This is sort of time consuming but I think it is totally worth it.  

After I scrunched the petals I took the heat gun to the whole flower.  When it was completed I rolled the flower starting at the widest point.  When I got to the small point (center) I tucked the end around the flower and used hot glue to hold in place.

The purple one after scrunching

Here comes the rolling

In an instant it is gone

In January 2011, a friend and I said that we would like to grow our hair out for locks of love.  It was fine in the beginning. I could pull it back, I could pull it up, basically I could do anything.  Then my lovely naturally thick, bushy, nasty redneck texture took over.  It started to become a 1970's nightmare.  I went for the first time and had it thinned....massively thinned.  This seemed to become a pattern over the next year.

I promise to you that I have spent more money on haircuts/trims/thinning since I began this project then I have my entire life!!! January 1, 2012 hit and I wanted to see how close to my goal that I was.  The goal was ten inches of growth.  1.5 inches too short....UHHHHHHH!  More growing to do.

Sometime in February I thought I might keep it.  I was starting to like the buns/ponytails/elegant updos....all that changed last night.

I went to the Hunger Games premiere....I had worn my hair in the hairdo that Katness wore on reaping day, to school Thursday.  That afternoon I came home and got my shower and had to wash my hair.  I decided to braid it again in Katness fashion for the premiere.  It was all fine until I got up this am.  It would not straighten, it would not hold curl, I had no time to fight with it. I just pulled it back and said I am done with you.

After school today I was exhausted but had to take Trevor to get his hair cut.... On a whim I signed myself up for a spot too. I had decided just to cut about 5 inches off and thin it.  Angie sat me down and measured my hair....I had plenty of hair to donate so I said "DO IT!!!"

Now to begin again.....

I can't stop this color combination!!!!!

I am getting obsessed with the pink, orange and yellow color combo.  These colors are PERFECT together!  Now that I am trying to appreciate the yellow more and I am diligently trying to use it in layouts....I actually am starting to like it A TAD....don't get all excited or anything.

Actually I was using all the scraps in my yellow, orange and pink file folders (the place where I store the scraps) and I could not help but make more cards with these colors.

The beading gives it something different.  I strung the beads.  These are beads that I have had for years.  A jar of mixed seed beads. I think they are going to last me forever!  I used a pattern to cut out the doily looking thingy.  I made the rosettes using a scorboard.  The pebble is from a vase that sits in my living room.  Inks are by Tim Holtz, Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick and Festive Berries.

I cut out some of the black parts of the card so that you could see the pink in on the second page of the care.  I like that effect.  The thinking of you stamp is from Fiskars. 

With this card I was using a bunch of different styles of rosettes.  All three rosettes were stamped with Technique Tuesday stamps.  The words stamp is from Time Flies,  the 2 layered rosette features the houndstooth stamp and the large rosette features the harlequin stamp.  The One in a Million stamp is by Fiskars.  The inks used are Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick and Festive Berries.  The black card stock is Bazzil.  All other papers came from my scrapbin. 

 Just for you features a small piece of a ribbon from Hobby Lobby.  It features an "ruffled" circle that I hand cut using a pattern I found on the internet.  Again I have used the Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Festive Berries and Worn Lipstick.

To get the watermarkd look, I spray water onto my hand and flick it onto the rosette.  I then dry it with a heat gun. 

I have used the same inks again and have added a black Ranger archival ink for the star on the rosette (that stamp is from Technique Tuesday).  The thinking of you stamp is by Fiskars.  I made the ruffle by scoring the strip on my scoreboard (and after I had inked it).  This ruffle is one of my favorites. 

Twas Michelle's version of the Madness in March

 Twas the summer of madness and all through the room
everyone was screaming even my groom.

The brackets were hung on the board with care
in hopes that a win would soon be there.

The players were tired and red while visions of a win danced in their heads.
And ma with her marker and pa with his cap
had watched while the team settled the gap.

When out on the court there arose such a chatter
everyone asked "what's the matter"
Away to the bench the players made a dash
because the points had just been slashed.

With a little old coach not at all sick
we knew in a moment we saw a trick
more rapid with their game
everyone was calling out their name!

On Wildcats, Go Big Blue, on Coach Cal, UK all the way!
To the top of the bracket we all want to call
Now win it, Win it! Win it all!
 

He screamed out the word and the team whistled
shooting that ball just like a missile.   
But I heard them explain as the ball took flight
NCAA champs for all and for all a good fight. 

******************************************************************************
My card this week has NOTHING to do with March Madness other than the fact that it makes me happy like March Madness makes my hubbie happy.

All papers are from my scrapbin, so I cannot tell which paper was made by which company.  The flower was made by me.   The "Just for You" stamp is by Heidi Grace.  The inks used on the card stock are all Distress inks by Tim Holtz in the colors of Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Festive Berries, and Spiced Marmalade.  To get the watermark look I squirt water in my hand from my mister.  I squirt quick a bit of water into my hand.  Then I flick it onto the paper.  I flick more in some spots, and then I pick up the paper and allow the water to run a tad.  I then take my heat gun and dry the water. It leaves a fabulous effect!  The ribbon is also from my scraps. 

Bunking Bronco

This was from Splitcoasters. If you have never been to that site and you scrapbook, you are crazy!  It is like a MUST DO!  I learned this technique from them.  I am just putting it together in my way. They did theirs as a hula dancer and it was so cute!!!  

The purpose of the technique is to make something on your card that moves.  I stared with a cardboard base for my card. I inked it with Walnut Stain, Old Paper, Tea Dye, and some Black Soot; all distress inks by Tim Holtz.

You have to choose an image that could "move" and not look silly. I chose the bronco because I felt it might look like the horse was bucking.  You make two stamps of the image. I used Ranger archival ink and white scrap cardstock. 

 You will then fussy cut one of the images (the one that will go on top).  Since my bronco is bucking I used this whole image. On the splitcoasters site, they cut out the grass skirt (brilliant).  On the image that will be put onto the card (the main image) you will use a craft knife and cut a square in the center.  I did not photo this part, but they do show it on the website.  I will provide a link at the end so you can go check it out.  On the back of the image with the square cut out you will place a penny.  On the front of the square you will place a glue dot.  Make sure it is on the penny and not your image.  On the second image you will put a glue dot on the back of it and place a second penny there.  You will now use another glue dot to put the pennies together.  Do not put any of the glue dot on your images, the pennies are going to act like a little hinge along with the glue dots. 

Here is my finished card with the bucking bronco.  This is him in the normal position.  And the photo below shows the bronco bucking around on the card front.  This is a very fun technique that I know I will try again.  

The stamp is by Stampin' Up.  The it's your day stamp is by Fiskars.  All inks by Ranger or Tim Holtz (which is really the same thing).  The gold paper behind the cowboy is also from my scrapbin, so I have no idea who made it.  

 

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/tilt_card/

Check out the original design on splitcoasters and thank you to the person who created this great card.  

The dam tour

One of my favorite scenes in the National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation is the scene of the dam tour.  It is so funny on so many levels.  We folks here in Western Kentucky also have a pretty cool dam....no not anywhere near the caliber of the Hoover Dam, but it works.

Ours is actually two dams, but I prefer one over the other.  We have Barkley Dam (named after  a former Vice President Alben Barkley) and Kentucky Dam.  It is the later that I like.  Ever since I was a small child I have always liked driving over the dam.  It feels so much safer than a bridge and it is awesome.  A few years back they rerouted the road that went over the dam.  It is not as thrilling as driving on top of the dam, but you do have a great view of the spillway.  And when that water is pouring over the top, it is a grand sight.

In May of 2011, we had just finished getting rained on from what seemed like forever.  Everything was flooded.  The floodgates were installed in Paducah to save our town. Levees were blown so the flood waters would not drown Cairo Illinois.  People were homeless because their homes were flooded.  Businesses where ruined because of flood waters.  It was pretty much as bad as the ice storm was in 2009.

The sunshine of this day was so welcome.  It was the day before Mother's Day, the day before my birthday, and God had put a rainbow in the sky just the night before...the flood was over!!!

For my birthday, John wanted to take me to Patti's and of course I was more than okay with his decision.  I just put the stipulation that we could go over the dam.  I was sure it was fuller than I had ever seen it.

So here we go, taking the dam tour.  I have many pages documenting the flood of 2011 because it was so vast. Most are for documentation purposes only and not much to look at, but this one is my favorite.  Take the photos out of context and you can just see the beauty of that water spilling over the dam.  Put them back in context and it is hard to image that something so lovely can be so terrible!!

I was inspired on the layout by Mojo Monday 231.  It was the perfect way to showcase my dam photos.  The circle to me could represent the "cloud" I wanted on my layout.  I have puffed it out because it represents all the days of rain that we had.  The flowers represent the rebirth/life that would come from that little cloud.  My color choices are happy colors because we would be happy again!  We had all banded together to help each other and it was beautiful like my color choices.  It is a time I shall never forget, but would not want to relive.  I am so grateful that God saved our towns. I am sorry for the crops and homes that were lost, but thankful that to my knowledge no lives were lost.

Hopefully we will not ever experience a flood like this here again..

You are the best

I promise to you that I am doing good at my goal to send more cards so that people know that I care or am grateful for the things that I have been given or for things that have been done for me.

Today's card is another extension of that....we don't often tell people when they do a good job, but we are all over  them when they screw up.  I tried to do this when I was working at Olivet...praise people for a job well done.  I am continuing this tradition now.  Here is a card that I made for someone that I know has very low self esteem, I only hope this makes them feel a little better about themselves.

Sometimes a little encouragement can go a long way. I know in my case I absolutely blossom when someone says "job well done"....but we all know you don't here that much.

Here is my card, I hope that it inspires you to be kind to someone today.   

I am entering this card in the CR84FN challenge...if you scrapbook/make cards and don't know what that is...check it out.  It is a great starter/springboard that can lead you to get inspired or to try something that you might not have tried without their prompting.  If you don't want to play and just want to browse, just clip on some of the thumbnails.  There are some extremely talented ladies out in this world.  I thank them for sharing their talent.  

The Yellows of March

Beware of the yellows of March!!!  Yellow keeps coming back to haunt me.  I do believe that the powers that be are determined to make me appreciate some yellow.  I will admit, I am trying hard to quit being a yellow hater.  I used yellow on much of the samples 3here.  I was trying to experiment with things and use my new stamps too.   I have 2 different cards here.  One that uses the Brono stamp by Stampin UP!  and one that uses stamps by Technique Tuesday.

The Brono stamp features a font called Bleeding Cowboy that happens to be one of my favorites on my computer and I use it often. The inks used are Chocolate Chip by Stampin UP! and Walnut Stain Distress ink.   It is a simple card  that did not take a lot of time.  I basically wanted to try out  that new stamp.  I am very pleased with this stamp and believe that it will serve me well. 

The second card took more work as I first inked the entire card base using Distress inks in walnut stain, mustard seed, iced spruce and spiced marmalade.  I then dripped water onto the surface and let that dry. 

Then I used strip of patterned paper  that were left over from another project.  I punched a circle near the top and stamped a star (by Stampin UP!) on the inside of the card.  The 3/4 circle above the punch is a technique tile by TT and it is inked in mustard seed.

Grugeboard serves are the base for my sentiment.  The edges are inked in mustard seed and the font is by TT.  I watercolored yellow inside the letters.

The rectangle at the bottom is also TT as well as the very cool stamp.  I colored the inside with yellow watercolor paint, a gray watercolor pencil and a brown sharpie.

The last card features another stamp set that I just bought, So Very by Stampin UP!!  This one features vintage photo, tea dye and old paper distress inks.  These inks make up the background of the sorry part and mustard seed "paints" the card base.  All the patterned papers are from my scrapbin, I am trying so hard to get rid of the stuff in there. 

The water droplets on sorry are just that....water.  I love the way water reacts with  the distress inks.  That is my favorite part about them.