High Tide - Wow!

This weekend the weather was spectacular!!  I think we broke records both days with high's in the upper 70s.  I loved it.  I'm guessing this beautiful weather is south of us too.  Ashley is on her annual Rock Boat Cruise with her friends and I am sure they are having a great time.  This year, she is doing back to back cruises!  When they return next week, I think they have a day in Tampa before heading out on a Train (musical group) Cruise.  Oh to be young again!!

My daughter in law posted a wonderful picture of her youngest daughter on Facebook.  I just have to share with you!  She is dressed and ready to go to the Tim Tebow Foundation's Night to Shine Prom!  It is put on annually for special needs teenagers 14 and up.  It is hard to believe she is so grown up.  I have not seen Cassidy in about eight years and she is now 16!!  I know she had a blast!

My son with Cassidy

Every time I think I've found my favorite stamp set in the Occasions catalog, another one beckons me to it.  This time it is High Tide!  I absolutely love this stamp set!  I've had it for a couple of weeks and wasn't so sure I could do it justice.  See, I really like lighthouses.  I don't know what it is about them but I like to go off the beaten path to find an old lighthouse.  I've been to Cape Hatteras here in NC and also to Peggy's Cove Lighthouse in Nova Scotia just to name a couple.

This first card is my favorite I think.  A lot of sponging went into it!  First I made a mask for the sun and the lighthouse before I started adding color.  The colors that I used were Crushed Curry, Perfect Plum, Tangerine Tango.  For the water I sponged Marina Mist and added a little craft White for the ripples.  The lighthouse is stamped in Smoky Slate and Cherry Cobbler.  This is a two-step stamp.  I stamped the rocks with Smoky Slate.  Then I stamped them again with Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder to give the illusion that the rocks were wet.  I also stamped them a third time with White just for some added dimension.

After looking at a lot of images of lighthouses, I discovered that most of them are white.  But that is the thing about stamping - you can make them any color you want!!  Below are some color combinations that I tried.

My next lighthouse card also had sponging - on the sky and the water.  I used the negative mask to sponge the sun.  It's hard to see, but I pulled some of the Crushed Curry down into the water to make a reflection.  The lighthouse was stamped in Smoky Slate and Cherry Cobbler but I added a little touch to this one.  I used an old Blender Pen and the craft White Refill ink to paint the white areas on the lighthouse.  Instead of rocks I stamped grass around the lighthouse.

This card is a lot like the last one except - NO sponging!  I used a piece of DSP from the Serene Scenery Stack (pg 174).  I love this paper.  This was going to be my card for Stamp Club this month but I have used up most of the DSP (which is very unusual for me!)  I painted the white areas with the white craft ink like I did in the card above.

This next card will be the card for Stamp Club this month.  No sponging - just stamping so it should be ok.

Another thing I love about this stamp set is the sentiments.  Make sure you check out this set in the Occasions catalog on page 25.  I'll have more High Tides to share with you later in the week that are water colored.  There are so many possibilities with this set!

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.

MDS Monday 103 - Saguaro National Park

I almost let the challenge for MDS Monday get away this week without doing a page using the sketch.  It is a fairly easy one this week.  I dug through some of my old photos and found these pictures from 2005.  We went to visit Jeff and his family and they took us to Saguaro National Park.  It was amazing!  Who knew cactus could be so beautiful?  I learned to identify the saguaro cactus from the yucca and the barrel cactus and the prickly pear cactus .... who knew there were so many different cacti?  The kids were pretty young at the time.  It's hard to believe looking at these pictures now that Torri is 6 months pregnant and Kennedy will be graduating from high school this year!

Hope you enjoy my scrapbook page and a look back at a happier time.

Check out the sketches by the design team and the sketch I used for this page HERE.

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.

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

MDS Challenge - Embellishments

Hope your extended weekend was a super one!  We were pretty lazy all weekend.  We spent Saturday and Sunday on the lake, playing cards, reading and napping!  Yesterday was lazy but at home.  Thunderstorms were predicted so we didn't want to risk taking the boat out.  As it turned out, we would have been fine.  The storms didn't roll in until late in the afternoon / early evening.  We met Marianne and Greg in Cornelius last evening for Italian food.  They went camping this weekend in Mt. Airy and had a great time - except for the beginning and the end!  Friday they had a tire blow out not long after they started their trip and yesterday the radiator went out on the car on the way home - about one exit from home!!  A fun but expensive trip for them!

Last night I decided to do a My Digital Studio challenge on Facebook.  Here was Kimberley's challenge:

Today's challenge is all about embellishing. Embellish, Embellish, Embellish. You should have a TON of embellishments in your software. This week we want to see you really use them.

Remember, you can crop them, color them, slice and dice..

I pulled out some of the pictures from Jeff's West Point graduation in 2001 and made a page that had me reminiscing about that special day.  How proud we were!  How do you like it?  (click on page to make it larger)

Check out this week's deals:

Pictures from Texas

I brought a bad cold home with me.  Luckily it didn't hit me until Friday.  I have not been out of the house since I got home and have not gotten out of my sweats!  Sonny was a sweetheart and went to the store for me yesterday and bought a case of ginger ale (which I have drunk half of it in two days!) and a decongestant.  One of my tricks for fighting a cold is to use Mentholatum ointment on my nose.  I rub it all over and inside my nose and it helps me breathe.  It grosses Sonny out!  I felt a little better today compared to yesterday so hopefully Monday will be a much better day. 

While I was in Texas, we had a visit from my son, Jeff, his wife, Darcie and their son, Jayce.  Oh, it was so wonderful to see them.  We have not seen each other in almost 6 years.  They came to Ashley's house on Dec 26th after their flight from Tucson.  We had a good visit, had Christmas with them, took them over to the Quadrangle at Fort Sam, and then went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  The next day Sonny and I drove to Austin and spent some time with them at Zilker Park and then enjoyed some BBQ at Stubbs. I had such fun with Jayce and it was such a joy to hear him call me Grandma! He is a typical boy and reminds me so much of Jeff at his age - very precocious, stubborn and definitely has a mind of his own!  I kept trying to take pictures and he would run and hide from me.  I finally was able to get a few pictures ... on the sly!  Such a sweetie!  Also, it was wonderful to spend time with Jeff and Darcie and catch up with their lives.  Just wish we'd had more time.

Darcie and Ashley

Darcie, Jeff and Jayce

Darcie took a picture of all of us.

Jayce and me

Jeff and Darcie
 

Jayce, me and Sonny at the Quad

Salute to our troops on Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day to all those who are serving our country or who have served our country with their service. 

I read this article in Sunday's Parade Magazine and thought it worth sharing today.  Perhaps there is something in the list that you can do to show your appreciation for our veterans and those still in uniform.

• Upgrade a soldier's helmet
  For $35, you can provide a service member cushioning helmet pads to help protect against traumatic brain injury.
  operation-helmet.org
• Foster a companion animal
  Pets for Vets pairs shelter dogs with veterans in an effort to ease the emotional wounds of war. Volunteers are needed to offer foster care for rescues, as are professional trainers to prepare the dogs for their new roles.
  pets-for-vets.com
• Help throw a baby shower
  Celebrate an expectant mom whose husband is deployed or injured by sending a gift or volunteering in person at a party hosted by Operation Shower.
  operationshower.org
• Mail a care package
  Look up specific requests for reading material, DVDs, games, and relief supplies from service members in all five branches of the military; pack the items with a letter of thanks and ship them off.
  booksforsoldiers.com
• Tune in to Tim McGraw
  As part of his initiative with Chase and Operation Homefront to provide mortgage-free homes for vets and service members in need, the country star is performing a concert tonight for military families, to air on the Pentagon channel and on his website (8:45 p.m. ET).
  timmcgraw.com
• Support a Mission Continues fellow
  The Mission Continues fellowship program allows post-9/11 veterans to continue serving at home by volunteering for 26 weeks with organizations like Habitat for Humanity and American Red Cross. Your donation can help vets finds ways to channel their skills as they transition back to the civilian world.
  Missioncontinues.org
• Share your points
  Transfer your hotel rewards points to Fisher House Foundation’s “Hotels for Heroes” program, which provides accommodations to the families of military service members who are undergoing medical treatment.
  Fisherhouse.org
• Offer a vet a ride
  Join the VA’s Volunteer Transportation Network and you can drive veterans to and from their appointments for services.
  Volunteer.va.gov
• Donate gifts for kids in Iraq and Afghanistan
  Operation Give collects toys and school and art supplies that our troops can then distribute to to local children in the areas where they are serving.
  Operationgive.org
• Share your expertise
  Sign up to teach a class or be a mentor to wounded veterans interested in exploring business opportunities after they leave the hospital.
  100entproject.org
• Send a holiday card
  To date, amillionthanks.org has delivered more than six million letters to service members and veterans. This holiday season, express your appreciation for our troops with a festive card containing a personal message or prayer, postmarked by December 1.    http://www.amillionthanks.org/

Ashley with her cousin's son - the day before she left for Iraq

Jeff when he was in the Army