Roarin' 20s plus a Wild! Swap

There’s nothing more exciting than gathering with a couple thousand of your favorite people to celebrate the joys of card making, rejoice in our successes from the past year and plan for the future.  This past week’s Stampin’ Up! Annual Convention (called Inspire Create Share 2015) was just that – a lot of reuniting, a lot of celebrating and a lot of new stuff.  What a fun week!  But if I am totally honest, this was not the best Stampin' Up Convention I have attended (I have been to 5 total.)  We have always gotten at least 3 free stamp sets plus other "all attendee" give aways during the week.  This year, we received 1 stamp set and 3 all attendee gifts which did not amount to much (package of Holiday Catalogs, the new archival black stamp pad and a package of DSP.)  I really felt short changed this year.  Things were so very different than past years in many other ways too.

We all love to see new products and hear about new techniques for our businesses.   We love papercrafting and sharing wonderful ideas for new projects.  Still, at the heart of it all, Convention is all about the people.  I love the opportunity to gather with stampers from all over the U.S. and Canada as well as the members of Stampin' Up's staff.  What fun!

Thursday night was Awards Night and there was a party afterwards.  Awards Night was themed this year – we were challenged to dress in “The Roaring ’20’s” outfits.  Marianne and I turned out in our feather boas and jeweled headbands in our hair!  We found Debbie who looked great in her black and white 20s outfit too.

Here is one of the swap  cards I made.  I'll be sharing more swaps in the next several days.  This card was super easy to make using the Little Letters thinlets and the Go Wild DSP stack.

Convention Gifts

These are the convention gifts I made for my two downlines (Debbie and Marianne) and my upline, Carol.  I only see Carol at convention once a year since she lives all the way across the US from me - in Washington.

I got this idea from the very talented Becky Roberts.  Sonny bought the handles for me and drilled holes and screwed in the handles for me.  Then I just had to decorate and fill them.  Since I have more than enough retired DSP, that is what I used on them.

This one of course goes to Marianne who loves purple!

This one is for Carol.

And this one is for Debbie since she likes pink!

And of course, we have to have goodies inside!

These were really fun to make and very easy.  They were what I was trying to finish up when the electricity went out!

Build A Birthday with Pop Up Candles

Sorry - I've been MIA for a while!  Busy, busy, busy!  Think I'm ready for convention though.  I finished up Stamp Club yesterday and got my order sent in to Stampin' Up.  After cleaning up, I was going to finish up a few of my 3D swaps that I had started over the weekend and start packing.  Well .... Mother Nature had other ideas.  We had a storm here and our power went out!  We were without power about 3 hours.  I was able to work with just the light coming in the window for a little bit.  Then it wasn't enough so I retreated downstairs where I read in my Kindle, napped and finally decided I'd just have to eat cold cereal for dinner.  Around 8 pm, Sonny and I started lighting candles.  We had just gotten the last one lit, when "ta-da", the lights came on!  So, blow out the candles and start packing!  Think I got to bed close to 1 a.m. this morning!

Here is a card I made last week from a tutorial I found on-line.

I used Build A Birthday to make the cake with Pacific Point, Watermelon Wonder, Daffodil Delight and Cucumber Crush.

The fun part is when you open the card and the candles pop up!  They are adhered to strips of clear transparency.

Fun, huh?

Over the Rainbow

I have Stamp Club this Thursday and next Tuesday .... then I'm off to convention!  Can't wait!

One of the stamp sets we will be using at Club this month is Over the Rainbow.  I think this is such a great and versatile stamp set.  I got carried away and made 4 slightly different cards and will let the gals pick which one they want to make.  I also dug out my Circle Card Framelits that I haven't used in such a long time to make the cards.

FRONT OF CARDS

INSIDE OF CARDS

FRONT OF CARDS 3 & 4

INSIDE OF CARD 3 & 4

Not much happening here.  I finally got my peaches yesterday!!  Yum!  I am missing talking to Ashley or at least being able to email back and forth.  We did finally get a short email from her last night.   Malaita, the island she is on has absolutely nothing to do with 3 restaurants each with the same 3-4 menu options since they all shop at the one market in town.  She is eating the snacks she took (and some that I sent her) so she will have a lighter load when returning to the ship at the end of the week!  The hotel she is staying in is very basic with cold showers.  That would not cut it with me!  I love my nice long HOT showers!  She was able to sent us the email from the Mental Ward last night which is the only available internet!  She is a very organized person and some of the coordinating details there are not to her liking.  She spent the first two days at a local clinic but was supposed to be lecturing in the hospital on day 4 but she got bumped for a different lecturer which irked her. She is not sure where the communication screw up was - with the planners of the mission or on the local side.  She will be headed back to Guadalcanal on Sunday which will make her happy!

Over the Rainbow Shoe Box

I have found another favorite from the new catalog!  It is Over the Rainbow!  I have made a bunch of cards today with that set.  It is a really versatile set - good for sympathy, congrats, good luck, love you .... endless ideas!  Here is a card I made for my shoe box swap at convention.

How about that for bright colors?!!  Love it!  I also love the sentiment.  I scattered small pearls on the card that I colored with a few Copic markers (missing those Blendabilities!)  You could also color them with Sharpie markers.

I had a pretty quiet weekend - which is just fine with me!  Sonny and I went to breakfast yesterday in Denver (NC) and afterwards wandered around the Farmers Market buying a few fruits and veggies. Then we drove out to the Peach Stand, which was the main reason we went to eat in Denver, but they were already SOLD OUT!!  It wasn't even noon.  I really believe they never opened.  How could they have sold everything by 11:30????  I'll be traveling out there again one day this week I guess.  Today I got Sonny to go to the neighborhood pool with me to exercise there.  We did pretty good and were there over an hour and the pool all to ourself most of the time.  That is the coolest way to exercise and I don't know why I don't do it more often.  Gonna make a resolution to do that.

Garden In Bloom

I am loving the two-step stamp set, Garden in Bloom.  (Think I have said that before!)  Here is another card I made using the set.  The striped background is from the set, Brushstrokes (pg 128) using Tip Top Taupe ink. I cut an oval from the center of the striped piece and put a piece of Whisper White card stock behind it.  I stamped several of the flowers and leaves through the oval.  I stamped the large flower and leaves on a scrap of white, cut it out and adhered it to the front with dimensionals.  The sentiment is white embossed on the Delightful Dijon card stock that is punched out with the Tags & Labels Framelits.  I tucked a small piece of Mint Macaron ribbon behind the sentiment and a butterfly on the front.

My mom came through her dental surgery with flying colors yesterday.  I went over to sit with her today but really didn't need to.  She was not in any pain - only took 2 pain pills yesterday and none today.  I fixed her a couple of smoothies and took her to the dentist for a follow up before leaving to run a few errands.  She even went to her clubhouse tonight to play bingo!

Ashley has arrived at her next group of islands - this time the Solomon Islands.  They had to move off of the ship because it can't stay docked at the pier.  They will be staying at a compound which is the Australian military compound that is now minimally staffed with civilian police.  She will be taking a 5-hour ferry ride to another island and staying in hotels.  But she has been told there is nothing to see or do there.  She surprised us yesterday with a phone call to check up on her grandmother.  (I have been bad this week and not emailed her much with updates.)  She sent a quick note to us today to say they had arrived and were moving off the ship so she is not sure if she will have internet.  Also to tell us that an earthquake had hit the islands yesterday before they arrived.  Prayers for them that they don't have another one while she is there!

Build A Birthday

There is a really cute birthday stamp set in the catalog this year called Build a Birthday for only $16!  Below are two cards I have made using the set but you will be seeing more in the very near future!

On the card above I stamped the cake layers on to white cardstock and stamped the sentiment on a piece of Vellum card stock and layered it over top of the white.  Then I punched little holes in the top of both pieces and threaded the silver ribbon through it, tying it into a bow.  I adhered it onto a piece of Lost Lagoon DSP (unfortunately, I realized just now that the DSP is retired!).  The base card is Lost Lagoon card stock.

The second card (above) is directly from the catalog.  I participated in a recent "Copy the Catalog" swap and this is the card that I made.  The top and bottom layer of the cake is  Cherry on Top Washi Tape.

One of the neat things about this set is that you can use the stamps as cake layers or as candles! 

Yesterday was one long day!  I don't know how just sitting around all day can make a person so tired but that is what happened to me yesterday.  I took mom to the hospital at 11:45; she was finally wheeled back for the scope a little after 1:00.  Poor thing - the nurse really had a hard time trying to put the IV in her arm.  She finally got one in on the third try!!  And Mom is going back for another procedure today and another IV!  As it turned out, the doctor's suspicions were on target.  A pill had gotten stuck in her esophagus and formed two ulcers on either side - called Kissing Ulcers!  He had no way of knowing which pill it was as it had dissolved by that time.  But he said there were several pills that were the worst for that happening and two of them mom is taking - Fosamax and an antibiotic.  He said to prevent this from happening, you should follow three rules when taking meds:  

1. Drink plenty of water 
2. Eat something with meds
3. Stay upright for 2-3 hours after taking meds.

One of the things I harp on my mom about all the time is to drink more.  She just doesn't.  I hope she will listen and start drinking more water.  He also gave her a diet of things she should and should not be eating.  I know she will have a tough time following that though!  Some of the things to avoid:  coffee (she loves her coffee), fried foods, french fries, ice cream, citrus, carbonated beverages, citrus (she loves lemon in her tea, water, coke ....), creams, gravy, chocolate .....  When I got her home yesterday, I found a chicken breast in the freezer and baked it with a tiny bit of Teriyaki sauce to give it a little flavor and cooked some lima beans.  She was able to eat most of it if it was cut up really small.  But her favorite thing has been the smoothies I  have been making for her!  I have just been putting milk, fruit (peaches, strawberries, blueberries), yogurt and ice in a blender and she drinks them down!  My sister is taking her today for her tooth extraction.  I think she wanted me to take her but this is Angela's day off and she can do it.  I am exhausted!  I am going to get busy getting cards together for stamp club next week.  Plus I just signed up for one more swap at convention so need to figure that out too.  It is only for 12 cards so not too bad.

 

Garden In Bloom

Another swap card.  I was going to use this one for my shoebox swap but too many pieces to have to prep for!

This card uses one of my favorite new stamps from the catalog (photopolyment, pg. 119) - Garden in Bloom.  It is a two-step stamp and that is my favorite kind!  That is what got me into Stampin' Up in the first place.  I like the look of Lost Lagoon paired with Mint Macaron.  The striped paper is a piece of the Envelope Liner Paper.

My mom ended up staying at the hospital Sunday & Monday nights.  They did all kinds of tests on her and actually were discharging her around lunch time Monday.  As she was trying to eat some lunch, the GI doctor came in as she was hurting every time she swallowed solid food.  So, he changed the discharge papers for her to stay another day & put her on a liquid diet until he could do an endoscope.  He thinks she could have one of her pills lodged in her esopahogas which causes a cyst to from around it.  Marianne stayed the night with her and I don't think either of them got much sleep. I was just headed out the door this morning for the hospital when Marianne texted me that the GI dr. had come in early and wanted her to stay another day until he could get the results of her stress test back & schedule the 'scope.  Shortly after he left, the Attending Physician let the nurses have it because he discharged mom yesterday.  Said the GI Doc did not have the authority to extend her stay!  She was only there for observation & Medicare will only pay for 1 night.  So, back to the discharge!  I took her home around 9 a.m. and made her a milkshake.  She drank all of that.  She slept most of the day while I was there.  I am headed back in the morning to pick her up and take her to the hospital for the 'scope.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that he can fix the problem tomorrow and she will still be able to have her dental surgery on Thursday.

We got a surprise phone call last night from Ashley.  They are on the ship heading to the Solomon Islands.  She was just calling to check on her grandmother.  We didn't get to talk long because an alarm started going off on the ship and she had to evacuate that area.  I got an email from her today and she crossed the equator yesterday.  So she is now offically a "shellback."  There is a traditional Navy line-crossing ceremony.  (You can read about it here.)  She didn't tell us much about what they did - only that it wasn't as bad as she was expecting since they probably cannot do hazing anymore.  She said the seas have been rough on their crossing.  She forgot to take her seasick meds when they left Micronesia and the seas got the best of her.  She was 0 for 3 on keeping her meals down on the first day.  She is taking her meds now and the seas have calmed down so she is ok.  They are due to arrive in the Solomons on Friday.

Here is a great story which just emphasizes the wonderful work Ashley and the team are doing.
Midwife Saves Baby
Sure makes me proud!

Convention Shoebox with Flower Shop

I am participating in a shoebox swap at convention.  After trying several different cards, I finally decided on this one.  I needed to find something that was easy to do for a shoebox and one that I didn't have to take a ton of supplies to make it.

I have already stamped, punched out and put a dimensional on the back of these flowers from Flower Shop (using the Pansy Punch.)  The zig zag lines at the bottom were made with a stamp from Work of Art and markers (Watermelon Wonder, Daffodil Delight and Mint Macaron.)  The leaves are punched out with the Bird Punch.  

This was another idea for the card but I decided on the top one instead.  So, I will just be using this one for a swap card.

We have had a pretty lazy weekend.  Sonny and I had hoped to go out on the boat this weekend but the weather just wasn't cooperating.  We did go to Mooresville Friday night and watched the fireworks.  I wasn't sure they were going to put them off since we got a pretty good rain storm about 9 pm when they were scheduled.  But, finally about 9:30ish, the rain let up enough to let the fireworks light up the sky.  We gave up hopes of  going on the boat & seeing more fireworks on Saturday about 5:00.  We just didn't want to get stuck out on the lake in a storm.  So, we drove to Statesville and had dinner at Outback Steakhouse instead.

My mom is not doing well.  She called me yesterday and was hurting at the top of her diagram - around her breast bone.  I had no idea what the matter could be and advised her if she kept hurting and thought it was something serious, to call 911.  She never did but when Angela came home from work, she took her to Urgent Care.  By the time they got there, she was feeling better so they did not go in.  After church today, they went out to eat and Mom started hurting every time she would try to eat something.  So Angela took her to Urgent Care - this time going in!  The doctor thought it had something to do with her reflux and possibly a stressed esophagus from her back pain and worry about going to the hospital later in the week.  He gave her a stronger Reflux medication.  Later in the afternoon, Angela called me to tell me Mom was hurting worse.  She ended up taking her to the hospital ER and they admitted her for the night just in case it could be something with her heart.  She has never had a history of heart disease.   So, please say a prayer that everything is ok with her and she will be coming home tomorrow.

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???

PLxSU Calendar Challenge - Graduation

I had a little time at the beginning of the week and decided to try another PLxSU challenge using My Digital Studio.  The challenge was to use a calendar on your page.

I dug back into some of my older pictures and found these from when Ashley graduated from medical school at UT-SA in 2003.  It was such a fun day with so many of our friends there.  That evening we had a joint party with several of her friends who graduated also.  They are all still good friends and see each other whenever their busy schedules permit.

Fly Away Like a Butterfly!

This has been a week of doctor's appointments and taking care of my mom.  She has not had a good week.  I may do like these butterflies in this card and just fly away!!

This is another swap card that I have made for convention.  I used the Watercolor Background stamp for the background (Pool Party stamped off) and then just die cut 3 butterflies from the Butterfly Framelits and adhered them to the center of the Whisper White cardstock.  The corners are rounded and the white card is adhered to a Wisteria Wonder card.  I drew in the antenna with a black Sharpie marker and added a pearl to the center.  Quick and easy card.

Mom called me on Tuesday complaining of her ear hurting.  It was on the same side as her teeth that she is having extracted next week so I assumed they were all tied together.  I took her to the dentist and they gave her another prescription for an antibiotic.  Then yesterday she bent over to pick something up off the floor and pulled her back out again.  She has been going to the chiropractor now for a week and was feeling much better - even, quit taking pain pills last weekend.  So, I took her to chiropractor yesterday and he did a few adjustments.  He thinks she will probably need to have a cortisone shot.  But she is going back to see him this afternoon and he will decide then.  My sister just texted me that she had a rough night and was really hurting today.  I am headed over to pick her up this morning for her pre-op appointment at the hospital for her teeth extraction!  In the meantime, I realized yesterday that I had missed my doctors appointment that was scheduled for Tuesday!   Hoping things will calm down soon!

Ashley finally made it back to Pohnpei safely and went straight in to work.  She is having her phone interview today for the Pediatric Program Director at Madigan in Washington.  Keep your fingers crossed for her!  She is guessing they will make the decision in the next couple of weeks.  She feels like she is fighting an uphill battle since she is the only "outsider" applying for the position.  The other candidates are already at Madigan although that is where Ashley did her residency so she won't exactly be a newcomer.

Another Wetlands swap card

Here is another swap card I made using the Wetlands stamp set along with Feels Good.  Isn't that the truth .... the best thing in life aren't things .... but hugs, kisses, love, respect, .....

I think Ashley made it out of Chuuk finally today although she wasn't too hopeful when she got up this morning and messaged me.  She said it was still rainy there and stormy.  But the last time I talked to her, she was heading to the airport to meet the military plane that had just flown over to pick them up.  It is a 2 hour trip back and forth.  She is supposed to email me when they arrive safely.  I'm saying prayers for their safe return.  She has missed two days of teaching the Babies Breath class.  Luckily, there was someone back at Pohnpei that could teach for her.

I went to the Y today and took a stretch class.  It had been too long!  I love the stretch class on Mondays.  Unfortunately, I play bridge just about every Monday and can't go.  This was the 5th Monday of the month, so I did not have anything scheduled.  After exercising, then Sonny and I went to Pomodora's Italian and had pasta!  Probably not the best idea!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Stampin' Up's  BONUS DEALS!  You can save up to 30% on Weekly Deals or up to 60% on extra items in the Clearance Rack (while supplies last).  The Weekly Deals discounts are available in limited quantities before the items return to retail prices.  You can order ONLINE by clicking on the ORDER ONLINE button above.  When you are asked for a Hostess Code, enter ZTUM7QAT please.

Wetlands Swap

I am on a roll with my convention swaps.  I am not making a bunch of one design - too boring. Instead, I am pulling out stamp sets and finding some inspiration and making a card.  Then into my convention swap bucket it goes.  Here are a couple I made this weekend using Wetlands (one of my favorite sets.)

For the card on the top, I used the masking tape technique.  I took a strip of masking tape (get some of the sticky off first) and pat it into the ink pad (Soft Sky, Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake)  Then lay it onto your card and kind of pat it to get the ink off.  With the Mint Macaron, it was a little dark so I put it on a piece of paper first to get some of the ink off.  Then I stamped the oats on top with Tip Top Taupe and added a bit of glitter to them.  I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white and punched it out with Oval Punch.  I punched a larger oval from Mint Macaron & backed it.  I wrapped the Bermuda Bay twine around 2-3 times before adhering the piece to the Soft Sky card.  I used dimensionals under the sentiment.

This card is very similar. But I didn't use masking tape this time.  I inked up the large background stamp, Watercolor Wash (pg 129) first with Soft Sky and stamped the top of a piece of Whisper White (5 1/4" x 4"); then I inked the background stamp with Tip Top Taupe (and after stamping off), I stamped the bottom of the white card - making sure it met up in the middle with the Soft Sky.  Then I stamped the oats in Mint Macaron on two sides and stamped the birds in the center with black ink.  I tore the top and bottom edges and had to sponge a bit more ink on the torn edges.  I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white, sponged Soft Sky on it and made a flag on one end.  It is attached using dimensionals.  I attached the white torn piece to Mint Macaron and then to Chocolate Chip card.

I have been able to chat with Ashley this weekend via Facebook.  She has internet in her hotel in Chuuk.  She was supposed to fly back to Pohnpei on Sunday morning on the military plane but the weather was bad and the flight was canceled.  The plane only holds 7 people and it had already shuttled two groups back.  Ashley was scheduled for the final group and got canceled.  So she took advantage and had a massage.  I have just been chatting with her again and there is still bad weather and the plane is still in Pohnpei.  There was a United flight that her group tried to get on but when they got to the airport, there was only one seat left.  She put one of the junior officers on the plane and went back to the hotel.  She is hopeful that the military plane will still make it to pick them up later (it is Monday afternoon for her.)  The next commercial flight is Wednesday!  Hopefully, she won't be stuck that long.  They have turned in their rental cars so they are pretty well stuck in Chuuk!

Here is a gorgeous sunset picture she took this weekend.

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.

Joy Fold Card

I love thie new Ronald McDonald Stamp set - Sprinkles of Life.  Here I used it to create a "Joy Fold" card.  I also used another favorite - DSP from the Cherry on Top stack!

You can find this stamp set on the inside back cover of your new 2015-2016 Catalog, and the new coordinating Tree Builder Punch on Page 167.  Did you know that every time this stamp set is purchased, Stampin' Up! donates $3.00 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC)?  To date, over ONE MILLION DOLLARS has been donated to RMHC and their network of local RMHC chapters from Stampin' Up!!!  That means it is going back to your community to keep families together when they are receiving medical treatment far from home.  Every year a new stamp set is created by Stampin' Up! to make a difference just for the RMHC, and I think this year's set is the best (yes, I love ice cream and cupcakes!!).

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.

Convention Swap Card #1

I have been working on some card swaps for Convention in July.  I am doing two organized swaps and one shoebox swap.  They are not too crazy this year.  I have to make 15 cards for one swap; 12 cards for the other swap; and two different cards for the shoebox - one I finish completely - 14 cards and the other one, I cut all the pieces for the shoebox - again, 14 cards.  So I have finished my two swap cards.  I have made one card for the finished shoebox so just have to duplicate it.  And I guess tomorrow I'll be browsing Pinterest for my other shoebox card although I have an idea in mind for it. That is always the hardest part - coming up with the design!!  That's why I love Pinterest and Google Images.

Here is one of the swap cards:

I used Kinda Eclectric and Feels Good stamps.  The hearts are from Perfect Pennants.  I really like this color combo - Hello Honey and Watermelon Wonder with a little bit of Tip Top Taupe.  What do you think??

Stamp Club for June

This is the third week of the month which means it's Stamp Club.  I had my first group over yesterday and the rest (that are in town!) will be coming tomorrow.  These are the cards we made:

This Blackberry Bliss beauty uses the flower from Garden in Bloom - a new two-step stamp.  I love the new Brick Wall embossing folder.  It is a bigger folder than the usual embossing folders.  I used the white gel pen to color in the "mortar" on the bricks.

This card was actually a CASE from my friend, Allison.  She did a card very similar to this one in our New Catalog Swap last month.  I wanted a chance to use the Layered Alphabet stamp set and this was perfect for it.  I gave the gals a choice of color - Cucumber Crush or Watermelon Wonder.  They both look great paired with Basic Black.

I love this little koala but haven't used it much.  I think I was trying to color him in and it just didn't work.  This little guy, I stamped with Early Espresso and didn't color anything except for the flower and added a few tiny dots around the flower and the sentiment.  I used the Score Board to score vertical lines on both sides of the bear and backed it with Marina Mist that I added lines to with the gel pen.  Since this was a square card (4 1/2"), we also used the Envelope Punch Board to make an envelope.

We also made the Slider Card I shared HERE.

I really enjoyed having a new member join us and a guest who I met for lunch last week.  Barbara is visiting her son in Mooresville and lives in Florida.  She is also a SU demonstrator.  I was glad she was able to come to club and have a creative day with us.  My new member is Gayle who just moved here from Florida too.  It's funny - she found me through either my blog or contacting SU directly.  As it turns out, she moved in to the same neighborhood as me.  And to make it even more coincidental, her back yard backs up to my front yard so she was able to just walk over yesterday.

Some good deals this week - I have my eye on the Sweetheart Punch and you can always find a use for White Ribbon - use it white or dye it to match.  Here are the Weekly Deals for this week:

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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!!

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!!

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

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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.