More April Paper Pumpkin

 More cards made with the April Paper Pumpkin Kit.

I fussy cut the stamped flower, misted it with water and scrunched it up.  After it dried, I used Glue Dots to adhere it to the card.

This card and the next one are both Z Fold Card.

I used the Handwritten background stamp on this card.  Don't those flowers look like a pig's face???

Everything is starting to fall into place with Ashley's move.  She has found a house in Silver Springs, Maryland and should be closing June 28!  Now we just need a buyer for her Hawaii condo.  A couple looked at it Sunday and have it on their top two.  Got my fingers crossed that they settle on hers!  Real estate is not going as fast in Hawaii as it is in the DC area.

Love Hawaii!

I have heard from a few of you that welcomed me back to my blog.  I really appreciate knowing that someone out there is reading my ramblings.  You make it worth it!  Feel free to leave a comment.  I actually heard from a good friend that said I should have ended the last blog post on a high note and gave me a couple of suggestions.  What I left out that was the big news for us in November that Ashley was one of only 16 chosen from the Army medical field to receive the 9A Designator recognition.   This designator is the highest recognition of professional excellence in the AMEDD.  It is an honor bestowed upon candidates approved by the Army Surgeon General for professional excellence, who have attained full professional status and have received national prominence in their field.  The candidates must be leaders in their specialty and have significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge in a particular field.  They must be a distinct asset to the AMEDD both as an officer as well as a professional specialist and they must have had at least 15 years of professional experience with at least 10 of those years being on active duty in the US Army.  Can I get a hip, hip, hooray!!

In other good news, Ashley applied for a position at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD and found out in early December that she got the job.  She had to interview while in VietNam on some phone app and was a bit nervous about how that would turn out.  She will be leaving Hawaii in June to start her new job as Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs.  So, this was probably our last trip to Hawaii although Ashley wants me to come back and help her get packed up in the spring - we'll see!  I am excited to have her closer to family!

We stayed in Hawaii for a month this time and sure enjoyed ourselves!  Here are a few pictures from our stay. 

Ashley always greets us with a lei!

The Bell Ringer was playing his ukelele and singing Hawaiian Christmas songs!

Ashley's birthday - she and I went to the beach!

Birthday glass (or 2 or 3) of wine!

Ashley with her Dad at a local brewery.

Beautiful sunset!

Beaching it!

Sonny at the Marine golf course!

My crazy life!

Well, it's been a while!  My life has been a whirlwind it seems like since I last posted on Inkie Fingers.  You have probably all given up on me!  Hope not!!

The last time I posted (October!) I mentioned that I was down in the dumps about some personal things going on.  Well that feeling stayed with me for a month or more.  My daughter (Ashley) had joined Stampin' Up in July so that she could go to Stampin' Up's 30th year convention in Florida with me.  We had big plans!  She was going to be in Orlando the week before convention and I made my reservations with that in mind, going a few days early to hang out with her.  Well, in October she got orders to deploy to VietNam for 8 weeks, leaving a week before convention.  I couldn't change my reservations so I just went and chilled for the extra days by myself!  My sister joined me a couple of days later and we enjoyed ourselves at convention.  We were able to talk to Ashley via an app of my phone so that made things a little better.  Convention was fun and we got to see some of the new items from the Occasions Catalog and Sale-a-Bration.  I came home with several new stamp sets but would you believe, I still haven't used them!  I used one new set yesterday but that's it!  

In November, I had the family for Thanksgiving as I have done for 12 years now.  It was nice but we all were missing Ashley.  We were able to all talk to her via the app.  She and another soldier prepared the Thanksgiving meal for the group - about 35 people.  It was a challenge since there was no oven, just a large toaster oven and several burners to cook green beans, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, mushrooms .....  They deep fried the turkey.  Her mission was to recover a soldier who had been killed during the VietNam war.  Unfortunately, they never recovered any remains before returning home in December.  But that was a story in itself!  When they left VietNam, they had problems with the airplane and had to land on Wake Island in the Pacific.  There is very little civilization on Wake except for a small military base where they stayed for 3-4 days before they could get another plane to pick them up and return to Hawaii.  She was more than ready to come home!  Luckily she got home before we arrived for Christmas (by about 5 days!)

 After Convention and Thanksgiving was over, I gave a wedding shower for my nephew's (Derek) fiance.  Ashley again was supposed to help with the shower as well as be there for it, but .... things don't always work our, do they?!  But, the show must go on.  We had a nice time and I think Morgan enjoyed it as well.  Sonny made a giant Jenga game for them and we played it at the shower.

In December, we flew to Hawaii and spent a month enjoying ourselves.  We just returned home this past Tuesday and I brought a cold home with me.  I feel better today but I was sounding pretty bad Wednesday and Thursday!  I will share Hawaii pictures in my next post.

Stitched From the Heart

Keep your fingers crossed that my computer doesn't crash.  It has been running so sloooow lately.  I've taken it apart today and cleaned inside and I am hoping that will help.  Guess I need to back it up - just in case!

How do like my new blog heading?  Those are some pictures I took last week in Sonoma.  

Anyway .... I wanted to share with you a new product that Stampin' Up just released yesterday - a fabulous new framelit called Stitched Shapes.   I already have them on my wish list and will be ordering soon!  I think they are going to add a lot to our cards.  I like to do piercing around my layers but don't usually do it because it is too time consuming.  This set includes 12 dies - 4 circles, 4 squares and 4 ovals with stitching around the edges.  And to add to the fun, the coordinating stamp sets are also on sale for 25% off for the whole month of November!!




And here is a sweet video featuring the Stitched from the Heart framelits.  Notice that JOY on the mantle!  I am going to M's and look for those and decorate the letters with the stitched red circles!!

Here are a few pictures from my San Francisco trip.  Of course, most of the pictures with me in them are on Ashley's camera!

Hanging on the cable car!

Panoramic view of Golden Gate taken from the Presidio right before we drove across the bridge.

These hearts were in a park across from our hotel.  This one was painted by Tony Bennett - I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

What will $6 Million get you?

I just have to share this house with you!  For the two Sundays that I have been here, Ashley and I have gone to Open Houses for places that are on the market.  We are just being "looky-loos" but we also thought we could get some decorating tips from some of them.  The first Sunday we went to a lot of the properties that she had looked at so she could show me what she was seeing and how you don't get much for your money here!  Last Sunday, we decided to limit ourselves to million dollar homes!  A gal can dream can't she!  Well, some of them, believe me, you wouldn't pay half that for!  This house below is one of them.  It is for sale for $6.9 MILLION!!  It is on the beach although you can't see the beach unless you are standing on the roof because the sand dune is in front.  It was built in 1934 and I don't think anything has been done to it since then!  The selling point is that it is right next to Kailua Beach.  I would think you would just tear it down and build something in it's place but the realtor said because of permits, the smart thing to do would be to build on top of the house and let the house be the garage.  Remember - you have already spent almost $7 million - how much more are you willing to spend?

The "front door" is just to the right.

View of the back yard - the ocean is back there over the dirt.

This is your front entrance!

Master Bedroom!

The bedroom closet!

Great Kitchen, don't you think?  HA!

Lovely shower!

Can you just imagine living there????  Beach or no beach - not me!  If you want to go online and look at the pictures or put an offer in, go to www.cliffshafer.hawaiimoves.com, MLS #201620001.  They definitely had a good camera and did some powerful staging to make it look as good as they did.  Except for that old bed in the picture above, there was no furniture in it on Sunday.

Ashley's condo is much better!!  Not even close to $6 million but much better!

Ashley on the lanai - both her bedroom and the den have sliding glass doors to the lanai.

backyard tropical plants

backyard - not much grass to mow - think she is going to put concrete steppers down.

Her bedroom - it is upstairs with a bath and there are 2 more bedrooms, bath and laundry room downstairs.

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.

Sympathy

Thought you'd enjoy this picture of Ashley and I at a Mexican restaurant in San Antonio.  Fun!

 This next picture was taken on Mother's Day.  I don't have many pictures of us 3 girls with mom.  Of course, I always tower over all of them!

 

I needed a sympathy card for a friend of Ashley's who lost her grandmother last week.  I love this white on white!  I used Botanical Blooms thinlets for the flower and leaves and added a bit of Marina Mist as a mat for the card.



 

 

This is the inside of the card.  I typed the sentiment and glued it inside.  I love the message.  When my dad died in 2001, Marianne sent me a card (we had different dads) with this message and I read it over and over.  It really helped me in that trying time.  Feel free to use it in your own sympathy cards.

 

Surprise Pop Up Balloons

I have a special card to share with you today!

This is called a Surprise Slider Card.  Here is what the card looks like closed.

Pull the little tab at the top and surprise!  Up pops the balloons!

I found the instructions for this card on Splitcoast HERE

I used the stamp set, Balloon Celebration (pg 12) from the Occasions Catalog  I won't tell you how long it took me to get all those gold bows and strings on the card!  That was the hardest part!  I just love the color combo of Soft Sky and Blackberry Bliss!  Add a Touch of Stella and they really sparkle.  I am not a big champagne drinker but I have two friends who live in Texas that love it!!  (yes you, Margaret and Sharon!)

I hope this card will hold you for a few days.  We are driving to DC for several days to meet Ashley at a conference she will be attending.  We are trying to take advantage of seeing her as often as possible while she is still on the "mainland."  She received her orders yesterday for Hawaii so it is official.  Her report day in mid June.  Now she can get started figuring everything out.  Her car needs to be shipped to Hawaii and that will take anywhere from a month to two months.  She has gotten the blood work and immunizations for the cat, Bogart, so he won't have to stay in quarintine when she arrives.  She needs to figure out what to take with her (she is allowed 4 suitcases); what to send to Hawaii and what to put in long term storage!  Glad it's her and not me!  It boggles my mind!

Merry Christmas

Dear Friends!!  I am so overwhelmed this holiday season as you may be able to tell from the lack of posts!!  Every day for the past couple of weeks it seems I have gone to some kind of event.  This week I decided enough was enough!  I was literally making myself sick.  I was making little gifts to take to my bridge, mahjong, etc., etc., groups and then forgetting them and leaving them at home!!  Monday night I was up until 1 a.m. getting ready for my Stamp Club on Tuesday (which as it turned out I only had two people show up!)  I was supposed to go to Southern Living Christmas party on Wednesday when I finally decided to just cancel.  There were going to be 24-25 people there and I didn't figure they would miss my little appetizer!  Then today I had three gals come to Stamp Club.  We had a great time making tags, gift cards and just visiting.  I was able to sit down and visit with them which is also what I did on Tuesday .... even making a few tags myself!  I don't know why I do this to myself every year.  A friend reminded me today that this rushing around and trying to get every thing done is not what Christmas is about.  I think we all need that reminder and remember why we celebrate Christmas.

With all that said, we are flying out in a few hours to spend Christmas with Ashley.  I look forward to some rest and relaxation and time to visit with my Texas family.  This may be the last time in a while that we will be going to Texas.  Ashley has been interviewing (still with the Army) for a new position and found out last weekend that she will be moving to Honolulu!!  She will be the Pediatric Residency Program Director.  It is a three year position but she could stay longer.  She will have a lot to do to get ready for the big move.  She will be putting her house on the market soon and looking into housing in Hawaii.  She is considering finding something on the base until she can figure out what to do there.  I don't think she will be leaving Texas until June-July so she has a little time.

I probably will not be posting for the next couple of weeks while we are gone.  So, please stay safe and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Happy 21st Birthday!

Hope you had a safe but fun Labor Day!  I did.  On Saturday, we went to the movies and saw No Escape.  It was not the best movie I've seen and was quite bloody but it was entertainment for the afternoon!  On Sunday, we braved the heat and took our boat out.  It was not as hot as it has been but it was not cool either!!  Monday, we drove up to the mountains thinking the temps would be a lot cooler - not so.  We went to the Apple Festival in Hendersonville - a couple of hours from us.  Hendersonville is a really nice little town and one we will return to visit in the future.  Most of the tents selling things were gone but we were still able to get some delicious NC apples - honeycrisp - my favorite!  We watched most of the parade but after a little over an hour, we decided to cool off in one of the two Irish bars that were downtown.  Later we found a German restaurant a few blocks away and had dinner.  Oh my!!  It was delish!!  Sonny has already put it in his GPS as a favorite with intentions of returning.

I was able to get a little stamping done too over the weekend.  I mailed this card to my daughter-in-law's oldest daughter for her 21st birthday which was Sunday.  I am quite pleased with how the card turned out.

I used a stamp set from the Holiday Catalog - Your Presents - which I received from convention.  It is great that this set is not just for Christmas.  The stars are from the Star Framelits and I stamped on them using a really, really old and retired stamp set - Itty Bitty Backgrounds.  The "21" comes from the Numbers Framelits.

The best news of my weekend was that ..... Ashley made it back home safe and sound!!  She left Guam Friday around noon (which was Saturday, noon, for her) and arrived in San Antonio on Saturday around 6:30.  So, she had two Saturdays!  Her friends made a "welcome home" sign and greeted her at the airport and another one of her friends had a welcome home sign on her front door when she got home.  Not sure when we'll see her but it sure was great to just pick up the phone today and call her.

Sneak Peek from Holiday Catalog

We got a call tonight from Ashley.  Of course it was Monday morning for her and she just wanted to say "Good Morning (from) Viet Nam!!  They had just arrived and she was getting ready to move off her ship (Millinocket) and move onto her new home for the rest of the journey, the Mercy.  She does not think her schedule will be too rigorous in Viet Nam and she will have time to do some sight seeing.  Hope so!

I thought I'd share a few more convention photos and give you a sneak peek of the Holiday Catalog.  I think it is a really good catalog this year and I have purchased a lot of stuff so far!

This set is called A Little Something and it coordinates with the new Square Pillow Box Thinlets that are also in the Holiday Catalog.  You can bundle the Square Pillow Box with the stamp set!  I love a good bundle deal!

This card uses All Ye Faithful stamp set.  And don't you just love that wood star??  

Next we have the Christmas Greetings Thinlets Dies - jolly, merry and peace.  Don't they look great cut from the glitter paper!  These thinlets also come in a bundle with the stamp set Holly Jolly Greetings (which I won in the prize patrol - but unfortunately, it didn't include the thinlets.)  They are on my list for sure.

 I think these Christmas Cuties are adorable!  I can't wait to get them in my order this week and do some watercoloring with my aqua pen.

It won't be too long until Halloween.  And these boxes will be easy to make with the Gift Box Punch Board and then do a little decorating using the Spider Web Doilies and Sweet Hauntings stamp set that also coordinates with the Note Tag Punch.