Showing posts with label Ashley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashley. Show all posts

Friday, June 26, 2015

Another Joy Fold

Whew!  Has it been HOT here!  But I think there is a little bit of relief in sight - Sunday's predictions are for the 80s!!  I've spent a lot of time in my car the past few days going back and forth to Mooresville.  Mom called me Tuesday morning with back problems .... again!  The way she was describing it, I thought it sounded a lot like the re-occuring sciatica and I suggested a chiropractor. Absolutely not!  A little bit later (after talking to Marianne who gave her the same advice), she relented and I was able to get her an appointment for the afternoon.  I was in town anyway having my annual check up with my doctor and a much needed hair cut.  So, I grabbed some lunch and got Mom to the chiropractor who I think helped a little bit.  I went back to town yesterday to take her for another visit.  Angela will take her on Friday.  Afterwards, she and I had lunch and it dawned on me that I had tickets for us that evening to see Chicago at the Davidson Community Theatre.  I went home for a few hours and then came back to town to pick mom up and see the show which was very good.  Each time I pick her up, I have to first get my sister's car as Mom can't climb up into my SUV with the back pain!

My other patient (Sonny) is doing great!  He has really surprised me that he has not been grouchy during this whole ordeal.  I know he has been bored but he is handling it well.  He is driving now. Today he had his first PT visit that wasn't in the home.  I dropped him off while I had my annual mammogram and when I came back to get him, he was walking without the cane!  He was surprised (and me too) that he has progressed so far.  He still uses the cane sometimes but he can manage without it.  He will be going to PT twice a week for the next 8 weeks.  I was kind of surprised he will go that long.  By the time, he finishes, it'll be time to do the second hip!

Ashley is now in Micronesia on the island of Chuuk teaching the mid-wives there the Helping Babies Breathe program.  The plane they took there only held 7 people she said so several trips were made.


She is staying in a hotel while she is there.



Ashley is one of those people who runs into someone she goes everywhere she is.  Well, Micronesia is no different.  She said one of her college sorority sisters is there and they are going to try to get together on Sunday when she returns to Pohnpei.

Meantime, I have been working on convention swaps.  I am expecting some more goodies tomorrow from Stampin' Up that I will play with over the weekend.  Here is another Joy Fold card that I made for a swap.




Monday, June 22, 2015

Happy Fathers Day - PLxSu Trio Challenge


Since Stampin' Up retired My Digital Studio, MDS Monday also quit doing their challenges.  I loved those challenges and it made me do some digital pages and stretch myself.  So, I discovered another digital challenge last week and made a layout for it.  It is a Project Life Challenge also.  I have not done much with Project Life and really had to put my thinking cap on for this one.  But I did it and found out this morning that I won the challenge last week!!  That made me happy!  The challenge was to make a Project Life page of a dad - any dad.  Since Ashley was not here with her Dad for Father's Day, I decided to make my page about her and her dad.  I love how it turned out.  My intent was to print the page out for him for Father's Day but I made it in 12x12 and couldn't print it with my printer.  So, I just shared it with him.


Here is how I described this page for the challenge:

My first challenge for PLxSU Trio. I am still using MDS & this was my first try at a Proj Life page digitally. I did this page for my daughter. She is in the Army and on deployment so will not be with her Dad for Fathers Day. She and her Dad have a love for sports (yellow and gold sports!) and she is definitely a "daddy's girl"

We had a pretty quiet weekend.  I took Sonny to the Galway Hooker (Irish pub) for Fathers Day since Dads ate for free and right after we got there, we got a call on my cell phone from Ashley.  She is now in Micronesia - arriving Sunday morning (Saturday for me).  She said the trip there was fairly uneventful.  I think it took them about 4 days.  It seems these islands have a bit more civilization than Kiribati.  She left the island of Pohnpei (never heard of it - I had to google it) today and was taking a small plane to the island of Chuuk for a week or so.  She will be staying in a hotel there (probably not equivalent to the Hilton .... or even Days Inn!)  When I googled Chuuk, I found that the island is known for it's wreck diving and that is about all there is to do there.  There are two rustic hotels on the island which are air-conditioned but with few amenities.  This part of my research disturbs me a bit - It is best to observe the cultural norms of each island. For the most part conservative dress and manners will do much to ensure you have a safe visit. Women should NOT wear shorts or short skirts and bathing suits should only be worn at the main resorts. It is best to wear a T-shirt over your bathing suit if you will be swimming near public beaches. Speaking to a local of the opposite gender can be thought of as an open invitation to a more serious relationship. When on the main islands, avoid going out alone after dark. As in many places around the globe men have more freedoms to behave as they choose. Many use the darkness, and a few too many drinks to behave as they would like. For the most part they will be more aggressive and overt in their attention seeking behaviors. They will over-react if they believe their ego/reputation has been questioned."

But I am sure they have been briefed as to the culture there and how to act.


Monday, June 15, 2015

CongratYOUlations



Another Congratulations card that I sent to Ashley in her packet.  I made it for her promotion to LT. Col but she forwarded us an email she got that is another "feather in her cap."  She just continues to amaze us.  Here is the gist of the email - "Through a process involving your consultants, GME leadership and/or research institution leadership, you have been recognized as a star within the Medical Corps in the areas of clinical care, academics/scholarship and/or research.  Less than 7% of the Medical Corps' Officers were submitted to be included on this list. "

She called us Saturday night and told us about the ceremony they had for her promotion,  She said it was really nice.  They held the promotion ceremony on the flight deck of the ship.  The chaplain from New Zealand opened the ceremony with a prayer; the medical lead introduced her and the commodore of the ship administered the oath of office.  The audience included Army, Navy and Air Force as well as military members from Australia, New Zealand and France!


Wow is it HOT here!  100 degrees today.  I played bridge and my car was really hot when I started home.  It never cooled off (with the A/C on high) all the way home.

Sonny is doing great.  He has gotten the pain pills down to 1-2 a day and is just using a cane to get around.  He is going out with the guys on Tuesday and is excited about that!!



Saturday, June 13, 2015

She Believed She Could!


And the inside says ..... Congrats to You!

This is the card I made to celebrate my daughter becoming a LT. COL today!  I am so proud of her. She has worked hard and been an inspiration.  When she makes her mind up to do something, she usually does it with flying colors! I've got my fingers crossed for her as she is trying to reach her next big goal.

They are going to do a small promotion ceremony onboard the ship.  (With the 16 hour time difference, she has already had the ceremony.)  The Commodore (Navy 06 who is in charge of the whole ship) will pin on her rank and the New Zealand chaplain is going to say an opening prayer. What a unique experience!  Wish we could be there.  I'll be sharing pictures as soon as I get them. She said the Public Affairs Team will be taking pictures.

All of her rank promotions have been unique.  When she graduated from medical school, she was promoted to Captain.  She had that ceremony at the Alamo where her brother pinned her rank on her. He was still in the Army at that time.  When she was promoted to Major, she was stationed in D.C. and had the ceremony at the National Archives Building near the Declaration of Independence.

Jeff (on right) pinning rank on outside The Alamo
Luckily I was able to send this card to her wherever she is via a Navy pal of hers who is leaving on Monday from Calif. to meet up with the ship that Ashley is on.  I went through my stash of cards from swaps, clubs, and those that I had made and came up with 20-25 cards.  Sonny and I signed each one with a little message inside and I put them in envelopes and sent them in a package with goodies to her.  That way, even though she can't receive mail on the ship, she will have a card to open every week or so.

I think this deployment was custom made for her!  She helped one of the interns resusitate a 29 week preemie a few days ago.  She treated a child who came in to the clinic that was malnourished.  She said the little girl was 8 years old but looked like she was 1!!  I can't even imagine what she is seeing there.  She told us we wouldn't even be able to imagine a place so poor.  The typical home is a raised platform (maybe 10x10) with a thatched roof but no walls.  The typical home has 13 people living in it.   She told her Dad he could not live there since they basically always sit on the floor with their legs crossed Indian style!  Another reason to be thankful we are living in America!!

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Swap cards

Busy, busy!  I can't wait for Sonny to get better!  I'm getting worn out being a nursemaid, garbage gal, cook and bottle washer plus doing my own stuff!!   He is waiting now for the Physical Therapist to come.

I had a wonderful surprise early (6:30 am) Monday morning.  The phone rang and it was Ashley on the other end.  Luckily I don't sleep as soundly as Sonny - he never woke up even though I tried to get him to so he could talk to her.  She filled me in on what she had been doing in Kiribati and I filled her in on her dad's surgery.  She said she is seeing things over there that she has only read and seen in her text books.  This deployment was tailor-made for her!

Monday was super busy for me.  I went to bridge and afterwards, stopped at Five Guys and got him a hamburger; took it home to him and got my things together; then met Marianne back in Mooresville & we went to dinner, to the mall and did some crafting. I didn't get home till about 10. . I told Sonny when I left for bridge to answer the phone if anyone called, even if he didn't recognize the number (he is really bad about not answering the phone!)   About 2:00 I got a call on my cell from the PT that she had tried to call the house twice but no one answered!!  She was headed over to the house so I told her to go on - he was home.  When I got home, she had already come and gone.  He was in pretty good spirits - unlike Sunday which was his worst day, so far.  He actually called the nurse Monday morning about the swelling he was having.  She told him to elevate it on a step stool.  Seems like they should have told him that.  I know it is common sense but they make such a big deal about not getting your knees above your hips, that we wouldn't have done that.  She asked him when he was returning to the dr - when he told her this Thursday, she said that was too soon; that they usually didn't see you again for 2 weeks.  So, she called the dr. office & found out the dr is going out of town next week.  The PT looked at his leg & seemed to be ok with it.  He was mostly excited because the PT had him walk around our kitchen island without his walker - just holding on to the counter.  She is preparing him to use just his cane.  

Tuesday I met up with a gal who is in Mooresville for a couple of weeks visiting family. Barbara is a SU demo who lives in Florida.  Judy & I met her at Stampers Alley & then went to lunch at Pomadora's   Of course, when I got home I found out Sonny had gone upstairs by himself because he needed to use the bathroom (I have put a seat on the downstairs one but he didn't trust it's stability!)  We've started backing his pain meds down to every 5-6 hours and that seems to be working.  So hopefully by the weekend, he can just take Tylenot or something like that.  He wants to be able to go with the guys on Tuesday to the shooting range.  He won't be ready to shoot but he can ride around the cart with them and go to lunch.  Plus I'll be having Stamp Club and he doesn't want to be here!!

I participated in a swap recently and got some really nice samples to share with you.  We had to use products from the new catalog preview so there wasn't a big variety of stamps used.  But it was nice to see the different ways people used the stamps.  I've already shared the card I made HERE.



Karen Kunkle's card

Toni Campana's card

Kathryn Lovell's card

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sprinkles of Life Clouds

Hope your weekend was sublime!  Ours was pretty quiet with me playing at nursemaid and Sonny (not playing) at being the patient.  The Home Health Physical Therapist came on Friday and was here about 2 hours.  She did a lot of paperwork with him and checked out the house - the shower, the bed, etc. as well as having him do some exercises.  He took one of his pain pills right before she came but then forgot (or thought he didn't need them) and it was about 6 hours before he took the next pill.  He found out real quick that he can't do that!  He was in a lot of pain and ended up going to bed about 9:30, which for him is super early!  Yesterday he was much better but today his leg is really swollen and he has already gone to bed (9:30 again).  He is just really frustrated that he has to take the pain pills every 4 hours and they make him sleepy.   Our other problem is finding a good chair for him to sit on and is easy for him to get up from.  He was sitting in a recliner but that was really straining his leg when he'd try to get up.  So last night I moved one of the dining room chairs in the den for him.  It has arm rests and made it better for him.  But tonight, he decided it was just not comfortable and is why his leg is swelling.  His patience is wearing thin with the whole process!!  I keep telling him he has to just be patient!!

I have another Sprinkles of Life card to share with you.  I am loving this stamp set!!


I also love this color combo of Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush with Black.  I stamped the clouds onto Vellum with Silver ink and embossed them before punching them out with the Tree Builder Punch.  I also had to punch out 3 clouds from white card stock to put underneath the vellum ones so the black didn't show through.  (Next time, guess I could just stamp & emboss the white and not use the Vellum.)  The raindrops are also from the Tree Builder Punch - but not the bird - I hand cut him.  I can't wait to get the Triple Banner Punch so my banners will line up better.

Ashley sent us another cool picture of the ship being re-supplied.


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Sprinkles of Life Shaker

I've been playing around with the Ronald McDonald stamp set, Sprinkles of Life.  For every stamp that is sold, Stampin' Up will donate $3 to the Ronald McDonald Charity.  This set is proving to be a very popular one this year so that makes me happy!

Yesterday I made a Shaker Card with the set.


Isn't it fun and colorful?  The DSP is from the Cherry on Top stack and I just love it!  I CASE'd this card from another demonstrator but now I don't remember who!

I thought I'd share a picture of Ashley's ship as they were leaving Hawaii.  Hers is the one in the foreground of the picture below.  The other is the Mercy, the hospital ship, which she will join in August to travel to Viet Nam.


She seems to be staying pretty busy.  They were due to land at the first island on their mission on Monday (or maybe Tuesday with the time change.)  She said they went to bed Saturday night and woke up Monday morning - lost a whole day due to the International Date Line.  There are 2 showers for 30 women but so far, she's been able to shower every day.  They were shutting the water off for a couple of days though to get the water purification system working.  She was pleasantly surprised to find that they have laundry facilities - she had been told not to expect that.

I heard today on the radio that a hospital ship had hit the dock where the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor is moored closing down the Pearl Harbor Memorial for a week.  I looked it up on the internet and, while it wasn't the ship Ashley is on, it is the Mercy, which is traveling with her ship on the mission!  Here is the news story.





Thursday, May 28, 2015

MDS Monday .... Final (take #1)

Hi friends!  It saddens me to write this post and show you my latest creation for MDS Monday since this will be our last challenge.  It is still hard for me to believe MDS is being discontinued.  I will continue to use it because it gave me such delight to create with the program and it is so easy to scrapbook my memories digitally.  This week for MDS Monday we are supposed to feature our favorite downloads.  That was a tough one for me!  My mood changes and it will depend on my picture as to what download I might use. Or I will notice a new download and everything will change!  Recently when I was working on my New Zealand scrapbook, I almost had it done when I saw a kit I didn't have.  So, I immediately purchased it and downloaded it into MDS and started my New Zealand book over!  I do tend to like the digital kits and ensembles because a lot of the work has been done with you in terms of coordination of papers, stamps, embellishments, etc.

So for this one, I looked through a lot of my old pictures and found this one of Jayce when he was just a baby.  I had taken my mom to Arizona to meet her first great-grandchild and we were having fun in the pool at our hotel.  A lot of work went into this page!!



My favorite things on this page are:
Overlays, Beautiful Today Kit, Splatter Stamps, Watercolor Wash (In Any Event) and the Flag Punch.

The background paper is white with an Overlay from Hello World (Colored Chalk Dots).  I also used the Torn Edges for the sides to give it a torn look.  I love overlays and tend to use them quite a bit.


Embellishments
    Watercolor Wash\In Any Event - watercolor

Stamps
    OVERLAYS & BACKGROUNDS\Hello World Overlays.embellishments\Hello World - overlay colored chalk dots,
    Splatters\Ink Splatters\Ink Splatter 4, Color = BASIC GRAY
    OVERLAYS & BACKGROUNDS\Torn Edges\Torn Edges - distressed scallop
    Splatters\A Split Second\A Split Second - splatter 1, Color = BASIC GRAY
    Beautiful Today\Beautiful Today - small wash 2, Color ,WATERMARK
    Beautiful Today\Beautiful Today - small wash 1, Color WATERMARK
    Designer Kits\Chevron\Chevron - 5 grunge
    Designer Kits\Chevron\Chevron - 8 grunge
    Splatters\Ink Splatters\Ink Splatter 6, Color = BASIC GRAY
   OVERLAYS & BACKGROUNDS\Torn Edges\Torn Edges - hand torn,
   Beautiful Today\Beautiful Today - polka dot,
    Beautiful Today\Beautiful Today - cloud,
    Beautiful Today\Beautiful Today - heart,
    Beautiful Today\Beautiful Today - wonderful life,
 
Punches
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch
    Basics\Flag Punch,  Filled with: all patterns from Designer Kits\Beautiful Today

I will be sharing another page I made tomorrow.  I couldn't decide but this one is my favorite!

As I said yesterday, Ashley sailed off yesterday for her deployment.  We had thought that she would not be able to keep in touch with us but it seems we were wrong!  Yay!!  I already received an email from her today. She said they were sailing slow yesterday waiting for a helicopter to land on the deck but that they picked up speed during the night.  So far, she is not sea sick!!  The food has been good so far with a nice salad bar and fruit at every meal.  But she was told not to expect the fresh fruit and veggies for long!  She thinks she will have a mailing address so we can send her packages.  She wants pictures for the inside of her locker so I will be printing some out (with my new printer that I got today!)

Enjoy your Friday!

Stippled Blossoms

Just a few more days to be able to order from the 2014-15 Stampin' Up Catalog.

Here is a card using the beautiful flower from Stippled Blossoms.


Here is the view from the top:


I used Smoky Slate card stock and stamped the flowers in Rich Razzleberry.

The sales periods for the 2014-2015 annual catalog, the 2015 occasions catalog, and the 2015-2016 annual catalog will overlap on June 2 in all markets. Please note the following about the transition day of June 2:

  • All carryover items from the 2014-2015 annual catalog and 2015 occasions catalog will keep their 2014-2015 prices on June 2, while brand-new items in the 2015-2016 annual catalog will follow the 2015-2016 printed price. Beginning 3 June, all 2015-2016 pricing will take effect.
  • Current host program benefits will remain in effect on June 2. Beginning June 3, all new host benefits will take effect.
  • On June 2, hosts may choose host items from the 2014-2015 annual catalog, the 2015 occasions catalog, or the 2015-2016 annual catalog.
  • Beginning June 3, hosts will no longer be able to choose host items from the 2014-2015 annual catalog or the 2015 occasions catalog, and the new Stampin' Rewards program will begin.


Ashley called me today as they were setting sail to say good bye.  She is pretty excited about this new adventure.  I made sure she had a journal with her so she can write everything down and share with us when she returns.  There are about 6 computers on board (for a couple of hundred!) so she figures she'll be able to e-mail us a couple of times a week.  She posted a picture and information about the ship on Facebook that I found quite interesting.


The joint high speed vessel USNS Fall River (JHSV 4)

Here is the article  - The Millinocket is being deployed with the USNS Mercy, a hospital ship for an international disaster response preparedness exercise.


Monday, May 25, 2015

Happy Memorial Day

Did you enjoy your Memorial Day?  Ours was pretty quiet.  We went out on our boat Sunday and Monday.  The weather was very enjoyable - temps stayed around 80-81 degrees so it wasn't bad at all.  We stayed in a cove protected from all the jet skis, fast boats, etc., read our books and played a little backgammon.

I made this card today in honor of Memorial Day using the stamp, Blended Bloom.



Ashley left for her deployment this weekend but they haven't left the port yet so I have been able to talk and text her.  I'm not sure when she will set sail - probably in a couple of days.  They are doing training for a few days first.  She posted this picture on her Facebook page so guess it's ok to share here also.  This will be her home for the next few months - as she says, "her next great adventure."



She has been pretty lucky.  A couple of her girlfriends from San Antonio flew down with her.  They are there for the week for a promotion ceremony.  So Ashley has been able to have them come and pick her up for dinner tonight and spent the day with them yesterday.


Wednesday, March 11, 2015

MDS Monday Clown Sketch

This is my sketch for this week's MDS Monday.  I have had so much fun this week going through old pictures.  Monday I got a box full of slides from my mom that belonged to my aunt.  They were mostly from the early 60s and I have been posting a lot of them of my sisters and cousins on Facebook. 

This picture was taken when we lived in Birmingham in the early 80s.  Ashley and Jeffrey had gone to Clown School!  I don't remember what tricks they learned but this was the result of them applying their own clown make-up!!




Here is the sketch we were to use:

 Check out the design team pages HERE.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Hoping your Holidays were Good!

Hi friends!  I hope you have been enjoying the Holiday celebrations that this time of year brings.  I have been neglecting my blog but enjoying some nice relaxing time with my family.  I decided to  not worry about my blog  so I could enjoy Christmas and not stress out too much!  I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful time with your family and friends.  I did and am so thankful.

We went to Virginia / DC the week before Christmas to pick Ashley up after she had completed her course and took my mom.  We all had a good time.  We stopped at Monticello on our way to Ft Belvoir to tour Thomas Jefferson's home.  We visited DC taking the Metro and seeing the Christmas tree outside the White House.  It was really, really cold!!!!  We also went to the National Harbor and rode on the (climate controlled) ferris wheel.  I don't usually ride things that take me up in the air, but decided to be a sport.  It was really a lot of fun.  The view from the top was spectacular and it was a beautiful (cold) clear day.

National Harbor Christmas tree and Ferris Wheel

Selfie of Ashley and I at White House Christmas Tree

At Ashley's graduation ceremony - Ft Belvoir

The after-math of Christmas - Bogart is tired out!

Thanks for stopping by.  If you haven't already, stop by the Online Store and take a look at the year-end close outs.  There are a lot of good items as much as 80% off.

And beginning January 6, you can order from the New Spring Occasions Catalog and take advantage of the Sale-a-Bration Catalog.    During Sale-a--Bration, you can choose from a selection of great products FREE with every $50 you spend.   The Spring Catalog and SaleABration Catalog has already begun arriving in homes.  Let me know if you would like a copy.

Monday, September 8, 2014

I'm Back with Paper Craft Crew Sketch 108

I'm baaaccckkk!!  We had a great trip and a great visit with Ashley.  But you know how it is - as great as it is to travel, there's no place like home!!  Sonny and I feel like all we did this past week was eat!!  Guess that means I won't be doing much cooking this next week!!  (A gal can hope, can't she???)  We left early Wednesday morning in order to get Ashley to Ft Belvoir by 3-3:30 so she could in-process for her course. Fort Belvoir was a huge base - not what I was expecting at all.  It is only about a 30 minute drive (depending on traffic) to Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church and DC.  The base is practically a city in itself with a population of about 7,000.  We spent Wednesday evening in Alexandria just wandering the downtown area and having dinner at an Irish Pub we remembered from when Ashley was stationed in DC.  Thursday evening we took the metro to Bethesda and walked to our favorite restaurant to have strombollis.  Friday we met Ashley's friend, Debbie for dinner in Falls Church.  Saturday we drove to Arlington to check out the National Harbor which is 350 acres of shopping, waterfront activities, offices, hotels, etc.  There is a Carousel and a Ferris Wheel there.  We did not see the Carousel but you couldn't miss the Ferris Wheel.  Neither Sonny nor I like Ferris Wheels so we had to disappoint Ashley and say no to a ride.  We thought it would be too hot but I have since learned that the gondolas on the Ferris Wheel are climate controlled.  Maybe next time we visit .... it would be great to see the Washington DC skyline from 180 feet in the air!  
Of course, Sunday found us searching for a Steeler bar to watch the nail-biter game!  We won but considering we were ahead 24-3 at halftime and ended up making a field goal in the last 5 seconds to win the game, it was the usual Steeler nail biter to the bitter end.  The bar that we found was PACKED with real Steeler fans!  It was standing room only by the time we found a parking spot about 6 blocks away.  This morning we got up early and made the drive back to NC in the rain.  We have two happy cats who were glad to see us walk in the door.  We are babysitting Ashley's cat, Bogart, while she is at Ft Belvoir for four months.  In fact, while we were gone, they somehow set off our motion detector on our house alarm. Marianne called me about 5:30 a.m. Friday morning since they called her when they couldn't reach us at home.  She was on her way to work so was able to meet the police at our house to make sure all was ok. She had to call Angela to come over since Angela had the spare key to our house!  Family is nice!!


I did this card before I left for the Paper Craft Design Challenge using My Digital Studio.


Here is the sketch:


Monday, September 1, 2014

For All Things

Sorry for the lack of posts.  Ashley arrived on Friday a.m. and it has been non-stop since!!  When we picked her up at the airport, we headed over to The Original Pancake House in Charlotte for breakfast and then a quick stop at the Peach Stand in Denver on the way home for a box of peaches - yum!!  After dropping her stuff - and her cat, Bogart - at home, she and I drove into town to Kohl's for her to get a Ninja Blender and to Target.  When we got back home, we packed up and went out on the boat until dark.  Saturday morning she and I left the house at 8:30 a.m. to go to a Stamping Extravaganza at Allison's house.  It was great and we left with 20 cards and 4 projects.  When we finished our stamping, we stopped off at Stein Mart to check out the Labor Day specials before meeting Sonny at the Galway Hooker for dinner.  Sunday morning, again we set out early to attend church in Charlotte at Myers Park Methodist Church.  That is where Sonny and I were married 41 years ago and I haven't been in that church since.  I thought Ashley would like seeing that beautiful church.  When we left there, we headed over to Old Meck Brewery for lunch a few brews.  It is a neat place off South Boulevard in Charlotte and has a biergarten outside.  It was too hot to sit out there but I bet Sonny and I will return in the fall.  We took a tour of the brewery that was fun too.  After a couple of hours there, we drove over to the NoDa Brewery.  It was really crowded and did not have near the atmosphere of Old Meck.  We also went to another brewery right next door but basically walked in and walked out it was so crowded!  Then back to Old Meck hoping to meet up with Margaret and Graham who are in town visiting their daughter and the new baby.  Unfortunately, they were running late and we could not wait for them.  We had to meet my family at 6 in Concord for dinner.  We had a nice visit with my brother and his family and Mom and my sister before heading for home - exhausted!!!  This morning, it was nice to not have anything scheduled.  Ashley and I stamped a few cards and now we are getting ready to go out on the boat to RELAX!!  I need it!  Tomorrow we have lunch plans with my mom and we are getting messages in the afternoon.  We are hoping to also get together with Margaret and Graham before leaving on Wednesday a.m. for D.C.

I don't think I have shared this card.  I got this single stamp as a Convention give-away.  The "dots" are a technique I learned at convention.  Scribble a Blendability pen onto the (non-stick) Silicon Mat and drop Crystal Effects on top of it.  Let it dry and you have colored dots.



I will be in Washington D.C. until next Monday so I am not so sure about posting to my blog.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Keep This Memory

Shh .... I'm supposed to be cleaning!  But MDS was calling me and I wanted to put a page together of a happy time in our lives.  We were so proud when Ashley graduated from medical school and officially joined the Army.  And what made us even prouder was the fact that our son, Jeff, was there for the occasion and was the one who pinned her bars on.  The ceremony was held at The Alamo in San Antonio and was quite impressive.  Hopefully, Ashley will have time to see this today and it will cheer her up a bit.  She is in Cleveland for work and will be returning home on Thursday .... and flying here on Friday.  Yesterday she found out that one of her interns from the Transitional Program (she is the program director) hung himself.   She was really upset and feeling a little guilty that she was not there and the guy who is taking her place while she will be gone is having to deal with it on his first day.


Food for thought.... what is holding you down? Stopping you from growing? If you are depressed, then stopping you from recovering or feeling joy again?

Life is so short.  We need to keep the good memories and do away with the bad ones!  I am in hopes that Robin Williams' death will awaken people up to depression and they will get help in their lives when they suffer from that disease.

OK - enough depression - on to happy!!


I have done another MDS Monday Challenge.  The challenge on MDS Monday this week is to use Overlays.  I love using overlays and do it quite often on my scrapbook pages.  On the page above, I used the Texture Overlay in white over my background paper and set the opacity at 60%.  I used two overlays over the large square punch - a checked overlay from Tickets and Tags that I recolored to match the uniforms and the Hexagon Overlay from Keep In Touch in white. In keeping with the hexagon theme, I added a few hexagons (paper filled from Keep This Memory) and tucked them under the pictures.  The "memory" text is from Keep This Memory.  I even played around with the top picture where Ashley is being sworn in and blurred the guy next to her so she would stand out.

Background
   Designer Kits\Keep in Touch - designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 10

Embellishments
     embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)
    embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)
    embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)
    embellishments\Keep This Memory - hexagon frame (re-colored)

Stamps
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Be Awesome Today - texture overlay,
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Tickets & Tags - overlay,
    _Designer Kits\Days to Remember\Days to Remember - picture perfect memory,
    _Designer Kits\Keep This Memory\Keep This Memory - arrow,
    _Designer Kits\Keep This Memory\Keep This Memory - keep this memory

Punches
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color
    Basics\Hexagon Punch,  Filled with: designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 4
    Basics\Hexagon Punch,  Filled with: designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 8
    Basics\Hexagon Punch,  Filled with: designer series paper\Keep in Touch - 2

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Paper Craft Crew Challenge



Wednesday was the date for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  I did my card a few days ago but forgot to post it yesterday!  Oh well, what's the saying?  A day late and a dollar short?

This was the sketch:
Paper Craft Crew Card Sketch #103

And here is my interpretation of the sketch:


I used the MDS Beautiful Today.  This is one of my most favorite kits for MDS.  I just love the soft colors and the watercolor washes that are in it.  Also the download features a video tutorial that teaches you how to align and space objects.  By following along the tutorial, you can create your own Daily Affirmations Journal.  For $14.95, this is great bargain!
We got some good news today.  Ashley called this morning to tell us she is on the list to be promoted to LT Colonel next summer!!  We are so proud of her.  Last year's promotion list did not include many girls on it at all.  She was not eligible last year so we had our fingers crossed this year for her.


Monday, July 7, 2014

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.








Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Charleston, Blendabilites and Endless Wishes

I was in Charleston last week and had a great time.  We met Ashley there.  She was attending a medical convention of some sort (and was one of the lecture-ers!)  But she still had time to spend with us.  We took a  bus tour around the city Wednesday morning before she had to go to work.  On Thursday our plans got changed around a bit. Originally, Sonny was going to go to Fort Sumter with one of Ashley's friends who was flying in from Houston and I was going to go to one of the local beaches.  Well, best laid plans .... first off, it was pouring rain most of the day Thursday so the beach was out. And to top it off, Julie missed her flight and instead of arriving in Charleston at 11 a.m., she didn't arrive until around 5 p.m.!!   So Sonny and I drove over to Wadmalaw Island to tour the Charleston Tea Plantation where Bigelow American Classic Tea is made.  It was very interesting to see what goes into making a tin of tea.  I didn't realize that tea is grown from a version of the camelia plant.  Right down the road from the tea plantation, we found the Firefly Vodka Distillery!  They have a tasting room where you get a tasting shot glass (to keep) and you can select 6 alcohols to test.  I had only heard of Firefly sweet tea vodka so I was surprised they have many flavors of the sweet tea vodka but also rum, bourbon, liqueurs, and moonshine, too!  You do only get a sip of each, which ends up being about a shot in total.  Despite the fact that Sonny is not that into infused vodkas or 'fruity flavors,' we both had a fantastic couple of hours here. Indeed, at the end of it, the tasting was just a very small part of it. We walked away with Lemonade Vodka for me, Apple Pie Moonshine and Chocolate Pecan Pie Liquor for Sonny!  For a beer drinker, he surprised me!  The Irvin House Vineyards was next on our list!  It is owned by the same people as Firefly.  Sonny does not drink wine so he came in and sat next to me during my tasting.  The wine was right up my alley .... a sweet muscadine wine!  They have 5 varieties of wines and I walked away with the Magnolia Wine (for my health you know)!! Muscadines, once thought of as "the fountain of youth", have been praised for its significant levels of resveratrol, an organic molecule and powerful antioxidant. A study by the National Institute of Health found that muscadine wines have seventtimes more resveratrol than other wines.  

Good to the last drop!

Vineyards

Me and Waddy having a "cuppa" tea
 
tea fields





I was playing around last week with my Blendabilities.  I really love them!!  They blend really well and makes me look like a great water-color-er (is that a word???).  Anyhoo ... here are a few images I colored using the markers.


For the Birds stamp - Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities

Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities

Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities