4th of July Lake Living

These are pictures I took when my daughter was visiting us.  Luckily, our boat was out of the shop by the time she got here.  It had been in the shop for about 3 weeks.  They had to order some parts and install them plus we were waiting for a new bimini top to arrive.  We were lucky and they all arrived the day before Ashley did!

Sunset on July 4th - waiting for fireworks to start.

Ashley enjoying her time off!

Our captain!

July 4th group selfie!

Friday night - we stopped by King Canary Brewery to have a beer after dinner at Flock.

My patriotic card I made for the 4th!  I used my SU Blends to color this DSP (Flowering Foil from Sale-a-Bration)

Happy 4th of July Swirly Style

Here is a card I actually mailed!  Not sure if it has reached it's destination so this is going to be a spoiler.  I used the great set, Swirly Birds along with the framelits to make the flag.  The banner & happy is from Thoughtful Phrases and the "4" is from the Large Numbers framelits.  Fun card!!

Happy 4th of July!  Stay safe and have fun with family and friends today.  Today is the day to celebrate America's freedom, honor its history and remember all those who fought to keep us free!

We drove into Mooresville last night to watch the fireworks put on by the YMCA.  They were good, despite the drizzling rain, but not long enough.  They only lasted about 15 minutes!  Boo, hiss!!  I know, in the past, they have been at least 30 minutes.  Oh well ... what cha gonna do??  Not any plans for today.  Sonny is doing his "prep work" for tomorrow's colonoscopy so we'll be staying close to home if you know what I mean!  Ashley is celebrating in Hawaii - she got the contract on the condo she wants!!  She and I are looking at dates for me to fly there and help with the move - probably mid-August. 

My mom is at camp for the first time in 60 something years!!!  She is attending a week long camp at Camp Dogwood for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  (My mom is legally blind.)  She has been so excited about getting to go this year.  Angela dropped her off yesterday along with another lady who lives in mom's neighborhood who will be her cabin mate.  I'm sure Angela's car was weighted down with all their stuff.  Both of them have walkers plus their suitcases, and Mom was taking a shower chair, a potty seat and who knows what else!!  The camp is located on the lake (just a few miles from my house) and they offer boating, fishing, swimming, tubing, arts and crafts, mini golf and various off campus trips.  I hope she has a great time!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th weekend!  Hope you are doing something fun and patriotic this weekend.  We started our weekend last night by going out to dinner.  Since I've been doing WW, I don't like going out as much.  It's just too hard to find something low cal on the menu!  But last night, I told Sonny I had been pretty good all day so I deserved a splurge!  And boy, did I!  We went to a fairly new Irish place in Cornelius and I enjoyed fish and chips!  Now, I didn't eat all the "chips" (french fries) - only about half and took some of the breading off my fish.  I also put vinegar on the fish instead of drenching it with tarter sauce.  And of course, I had a couple of beers.  Today we went out on the boat for most of the day.  It was pretty hot but we found a shady beach and pulled the pontoon onto it.  We bought a watermelon last night and enjoyed it.  My first watermelon of the year!

I did have a little time this morning to make a festive card to share.  I guess you've figured by now how much I love the Jars framelits and stamp set!  I actually CASE'd this card from one I saw on Pinterest.  Isn't it the cutest?!

Good news from Ashley this week.  She put a bid in on a condo that she liked in Kaneohe.  There were multiple bids on the condo but she was the winner.  Now they are in counter negotiations back and forth.  If all works out, she should have a contract early next week.  And in other news .... she called me last night and asked me if I would come out in August to help her get moved in.  Hmm - think that could be a possibility!!  Her car arrived a week ago and her household goods arrived on Friday.  They will go to storage until she is ready for them but she is happy to have her own car now.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  Have a safe one!

I made this card for all those who are currently serving their country - near and far.  Thanks!

We are headed into Mooresville tonight (Friday) to watch the fireworks.  We usually go to my mom's church parking lot where we have a good view of the fireworks that are set off by the Y.

Not sure what we will do tomorrow.  We'd like to go out on the boat and drop the anchor where we could watch the fireworks that will be put off on Saturday.  But, the weather may not cooperate with us!  We'll have to see.  We badly need rain but couldn't it have just waited until after the weekend???

July 4th Thank You

I made this card and sent it last week to Ashley to thank her for her service to our country.  I used the new Stars Framelits for this card.  The red striped square is Fancy Foil DSP (pg 193).  The stripe is actually silver but I colored it red with my Blendabilities!!  I made this card for a challenge to use a word bubble but I can not remember whose challenge it was!!

Saturday when I was checking out a few other blogs, I ran across a blog by Erin Gonzalez who lives in San Antonio too.  She said that her family made a pact to spoil some of the many service men and women that they ran into around town on July 4th. (If you have never been to San Antonio, believe me, they will have no trouble finding any military people.) They were going around with treats, thank you cards and other goodies to give to the service men and women that they came in contact with.  Erin said that she wanted her kids to know the sacrifices these service men and women make.  Isn't that cool?!  If you get a chance, check out Erin's blog and leave her a comment on her July 4th posting as I did to thank her for what she and her family did on July 4th.

Here are a few of the photos I took on Saturday while we were on the lake waiting for the fireworks.

Happy 4th!

Well, I spent most of the day working on my new blog header.  Do you like it?  When I get into My Digital Studio, I just lose track of time.  I try so many different things until I get just the look I want.  But it's fun!

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the rain holds off for the 4th of July activities.  The YMCA is doing fireworks tonight (Thursday)  We are meeting Mom and Angela for dinner and then going to their church which is on a hill a few blocks from the Y and has a good viewing area for the fireworks.  Tomorrow night (Friday) there will be more fireworks put on at Queen's Landing on the lake.  Sonny and I plan on taking the boat out early and getting a good spot in a cove to view the fireworks.  So keep your fingers crossed for the weather.

While I was in My Digital Studio, I decided to make a card for the 4th.  I used a card template that was already there and just changed around some colors and inserted the 4th stamp set and stars.

Hope your 4th of July is a safe one!!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope your day is a good one - stay safe!  I also hope that your fireworks viewing is better than ours was.  The YMCA in Mooresville puts on a fireworks display every year.  This year they chose to do it on July 3.  Not sure why but .... they didn't ask me.  The weather has been pretty bad here all week - raining every day and Wednesday was no different.  It rained off and on all day.  We were going to enjoy watching the fireworks from my mom's church.  They were also planning on having an ice cream social.  But with the rain, they canceled the social.  The rain let up a little bit about 8 so we drove to Mooresville at 9 to watch the fireworks with Mom and Angela.  They were supposed to start at 9:30 but .... they started them early!  So we got to see about 10 minutes of the fireworks!  Oh well, better luck next year!

A template from MDS - easy peasy!!

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG,
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ,

AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS,
ONE NATION UNDER  GOD,
INDIVISIBLE, WITH  LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!


For all of our other military personnel, where ever they may be.
Please  support all of the troops defending our Country.

And God Bless our Military who are protecting our Country for our Freedom.
Thanks to them, and their sacrifices, we can celebrate the 4th of July.

We must never forget who gets the credit for the freedoms we have, and to them we should be eternally grateful.

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform;
so young, so tall, so proud.
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
he'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil;
how many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
NO, FREEDOM ISN'T FREE !

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
when everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant 'Amen.'
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
of the mothers and the wives,
of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

Happy 4th!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!



made with MDS

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!  We joined my mom and Angela last night at their church to watch the fireworks put on by Lowe's YMCA.  We have usually watched the fireworks in the parking lot very close to where they put them off.  I think I like that location better - seems like you are right under them.

Tomorrow night we will probably go out on the boat to watch fireworks again.  These are put on at Queens Landing over the lake.  I enjoy laying down on our boat and watching the display.

It is Wednesday and time for the Stamping Queens Sketch Challenge.  We decided to all do a patriotic card this time in honor of the 4th.  Here is mine:

Happy 4th of July

Hope you are having a great 4th of July and are staying cool and safe.  We stayed pretty busy all weekend so today we decided to just "chill" at home!  Saturday night we watched fireworks from our boat.  They were shot off from Queens Landing and we threw anchor in a cove across the lake and had a great view.  We took a picnic dinner and enjoyed that with my mom and my sister while waiting for the fireworks to begin.  Sunday we were out on the boat most of the day.  It was pretty hot and I stayed in the water most of the time.  I was in an inner-tube and rigged a pool-chair in front of me that I was able to prop my book up on.  So, I stayed pretty cool while reading my book and not getting it wet!  Later in the evening we drove to Mooresville and had dinner at Hickory Tavern.  After dinner, we set up our lawn chairs in the parking lot and watched fireworks put on by the YMCA.  

I have made a couple of cards in honor of the holiday and also as a thank you to my daughter and all the others out there who are away from their family and serving their country. 

 These cards use a retired SU stamp set, Liberty for All and they are stamped on a piece of scrapbook paper that I bought several years ago.

Thank you Ashley.  You will be home soon.  Although I am sad to report that she will not be returning as soon as we thought.  She was informed yesterday that she will not be able to come home early like she had been told a month ago.  She now will return with the rest of the troop sometime toward the end of August.  She has been packing her things and getting rid of stuff she didn't need to take home - even threw away her sheets (except for 1 set) last week.  She had already gone around and gotten all the signatures she needed on the paperwork to return July 21.  AND, we had made airplane reservations to meet her the end of July.  Of course, the ticket is non-refundable so guess we will just have to pay the penalty to change it when we know a different date.  I just haven't felt like dealing with it and will do something next week about it.  Needless to say, Ashley was pretty upset and I was too.  But, what can you do when you're dealing with the government?

Happy 4th!

Hope you have a wonderful ... and safe ... Independence Day!  As you are celebrating this weekend, think about what this holiday means to you.   The meaning behind the 4th of July Independence Day holiday came about as the result of the valiant efforts and strong commitment of our American forefathers not so very long ago.  Brave and restless people uprooted their lives, left everything behind, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to come to this land where they sought freedoms and rights not available to them in their homeland. They formed settlements and organized into various groups of towns and colonies with their own local laws and rules, while still under the authority of the King of England. The country was being born and the ideals of just how and what those freedoms would entail were ironed out through controversy and cooperative efforts of the differing opinions of the day.  We, as recipients and inheritors of their magnificent efforts, must hold our heads up high as we express our thanks and jubilation  that we live in such a great country, and we should be encouraged to work together to resolve our problems and differences in order to maintain the integrity and values that the great and famous document, the Declaration of Independence was founded upon.

We went out on our boat this early in the evening and found a good spot to watch the fireworks.  This is the first time we have taken the boat out at on such a busy holiday weekend.  Usually, Sonny does not like to be out after dark and when the lake is so full of crazies!  But it was wonderful to practically sit under the fireworks and watch them explode above us.  They were just beautiful.  It is hard not to smile while watching fireworks, don't you think?  It doesn't seem to matter how old you are, you just love them.  Although I can remember a time when my daughter was young and was scared to death of the loud noises of the fireworks.  While we sat outside watching them, she curled up in the back seat of the car covering her ears!  Now, she buys her own fireworks for her 4th of July party. 

I want to share a card I made for last week's Monday Mailer.  I saw a card similar to it in Paper Crafts magazine and had to give it a try.

I made the flag out of grosgrain ribbon and used half-pearls from the Pretties kit for the stars.  It is layered on a black card.  I used my white gel pen around the edges and stamped and embossed  "thank you" in white craft ink!