We All Need a Little Sympathy

My club gals want to stock up on sympathy cards so that is what we will be making in October.  Unfortunately, sympathy cards are always needed .... especially at our age.  So, I played around today with a few of my stamp sets and made several sympathy cards.  I'm not sure which ones I'll have them do - I still want to make a few more and use Thoughts and Prayers.  But here's what I came up with today.  Some of them were CASE'd with me changing colors or stamp sets around.

This one uses the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes - a must have stamp set!  The grass is from Inspired By Nature.  I did a new technique with this one.  I don't remember the name but what you do is this:

• Cut a piece of glossy white cardstock the size you want your design.
• Cut 2 pieces of acetate the same size as the glossy white.
• Punch out your moon & mask it where you want it using 1 1/4" circle punch.
• Rub an ink pad over one of the pieces of acetate (I used Marina Mist).  Then put it face down on your glossy paper and rub with your fingers.
• Rub another ink pad (used Blushing Bride) on the other piece of acetate and do the same thing.
• Remove your mask and stamp your image (used Basic Gray).

Another card using Inspired by Nature and the sentiment from Thoughts and Prayers.  The butterfly is a Sizzix Embosslet.

This card was so simple, but I just love the look of it.  I stamped the French background onto the Plum (retired) cardstock and layered it on black.  I stamped the floral image from Elements of Style onto white cardstock.  I always think I have to color the image in, but I really like the simplicity of leaving it white.  The sentiment is again from Teeny Tiny Wishes using the Oval Punch.

This is another favorite of mine!  I stamped the flower images from Just Believe onto the Baja Blue cardstock in Baja Blue, Craft White and Pacific Point (that I first stamped off).  The little white pearls I colored blue with my Copic marker!!  How cool is that .... they match perfectly!

I'm still "batching" it.  Sonny & Jack went to Charleston today and took the ferry over to Ft. Sumter.  They called about 4:00 and said they had decided to drive over to Myrtle Beach since Jack had never been there.  I bet they ate some good seafood tonight!!

Ashley sent out an e-mail today to all her friends chronicle-ing her deployment so far.  The title was "2 weeks down .... 50 to go."  Not that she's counting or anything!  They have 2 docs there, a physician's assistant (with one more to join in October), a dentist, physical therapist, and social worker/mental health provider. Their basic job is to provide day-to-day primary medical care for a battalion of about 400 people.  They will be doing "sick call" for acute problems every morning from 8-10 (including weekends) and will see "routine" appointments in the afternoons.  One provider will be the "duty doctor" every day.  Anything they can't handle will get transferred to the base across the street   where the Combat Support Hospital is located.

Monday Mailers for September

I had a nice day today playing bridge with friends.  I haven't played in about a month.  The morning started out great with me having good cards but after lunch, it went down hill.  Oh well .... I had fun anyway!  After bridge, I was good and went to the "Y" to do a little exercise.  I had a book I wanted to finish so decided it would be a good excuse to get on the stationary bike and finish it.  Then, I went to Target & M's to pick up some items Ashley had requested to perk up her quarters.  I want to give a "shout out" to the nice cashier at M's (Karen).  She made me feel like a celebrity when she told me she enjoyed reading my blog!  Hi Karen! 

I forgot to take a picture of the Monday Mailer I sent to Jana last week but she posted a picture of it today so now I can share it with you.  Our theme this month has been holidays.  I did a couple of Halloween cards, a Thanksgiving card, and a Christmas card.  Here is the Thanksgiving card I sent last week:



French Foilage stamp set



inside of card

I really like this stamp set and needed a good leaves set.  This one (French Foilage) is from the Holiday Mini Catalog (pg 6).  I also used some of the In Colors that I have been neglecting - Concord Crush and Peach Parfait.  The "gratitude" definition comes from Define Your Life.  I used Glossy Effects (or Diamond Glaze) over the Peach leaf after I cut it out. 

Who woulda thought it?

3-0! 3-0! 3-0! Who would have thought this is where the Steelers would be after three weeks of football?  Well believe it friends, because the Steelers stayed undefeated by knocking down the previously undefeated Bucs 38-13.   The Steelers were doing so well that the Bucs fans started leaving around halftime. By the fourth quarter, the Tampa Bay Stadium might as well have been Heinz Field as Steelers fans vastly outnumbered Bucs fans at this point.  The Steelers are only one of two teams that are 3-0.  The Ravens are the only team standing in our way of going undefeated without Big Ben. They are 2-1 after coming off a close victory today against the Browns.  This means that if we want to keep the lead in the division, we must beat the Ravens next week in Pittsburgh. After that, it's the bye week when Ben is finally allowed to come back.

During the game, I actually got a message on my cell from Ashley!  She was listening to the game through her computer!  Modern technology - gotta love it!

I had some time yesterday to make a few things.  My brother-in-law flew in yesterday from Texas.  We were supposed to pick him up at the airport at 5:30 but his plane was delayed and it ended up being 7:15 before he got in.  So, that gave me the whole day to be creative!

I followed a tutorial on Splitcoast to make this card:

I cut the circle our with my Nestabilities and also cut the green polka dot frame out with the Nesties.  The tree is cut from the retired Sweet Pea DSP.  I tore the grass from Old Olive cardstock and a piece of green from the DSP.  The blue DSP is some really old SU paper that I found in my scraps.  The directions called for the blue paper to actually be on the inside back of the card but I needed to cover up my tape so changed it up a little.  The piece on the bottom is accordian folded so the card can stand up. 

I also made these cute luggage tags.  I picked up these little tags somewhere - I think CKC and used some vellum tags on them.  I love making these flowers!

I'm "batching" it for a couple of days.  Sonny and Jack (brother in law) left today after the game to do some fishing down at Cooper Santee (SC).  Hopefully, they'll come home with a bunch of fish!

Fall Preview

This is a picture of Ashley and the Hug Lady of Killeen before she left for Iraq!

Today I finished up a lot of odds and ends of projects and made a couple of new things while I was at it.  All while I was watching some of the new shows that debuted this week.  When I got the Sept. 17 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine, they had a run-down of all the new fall shows.  There were a lot that sounded pretty good to me (for a change!)  So our DVR has been doing double-time.  We have a DVR downstairs that records shows Sonny & I watch together ... and some he watches without me and I have a DVR in my craft room that I record all my shows.  So far, here are my takes on the ones I have watched:

• Dancing With the Stars - not new show but surprised that it was Hasselhoff who went home - I thought surely it would be Margaret Cho!  But wasn't Jennifer Grey something?
•  Chase - I think I am going to like it, verdict is still out.
• Lone Star - recorded but haven't watched it yet - waiting for Sonny to watch it with me because I think he will like it.
• Glee -  I didn't watch it last year but spent this summer catching up since they rebroadcast all the episodes.
• Raising Hope - Thumbs Down - only watched about 10 minutes before erasing.
• Running Wilde - Thumbs Down - I so wanted to like this one because Keri Russell went to high school with Ashley in Coppell.  But, only made it through about 20 minutes before deleting.
• The Whole Truth - I really liked this one.  I think Sonny would like it if he would give it a chance but it's one I recorded upstairs.  It's by Jerry Bruckheimer and has Maura Tierney (from ER) and Rob Morrow in it.
• The Defenders - Nope - not for me - too much James Bond, spy stuff for me.

So that's all I've watched so far.  I know I spend entirely too much time watching tv!  I've been pretty lost this week though during the day.  I've watched As The World Turns (soap opera) for more years than I care to admit and it has been canceled.  The last show was last Friday but I didn't watch it until Tuesday.  I just couldn't bear it.  Now I don't watch any soaps.  First they canceled Guiding Light and then As the World Turns .... what's a girl to do?

Here's a cute little Grandma's Brag Book I made today.  It is accordian folded and goes into a little plastic box.  I got the kit this summer at CKC.

Quarterly Recipe Swap

I got to talk to Ashley this morning via Skype which allowed me to see her as well as hear her.  She was able to see Sonny & I but couldn't hear us since I didn't have a microphone.  So I was typing all the conversations on this end.  I'm still just learning about all this!  I sent Sonny to Best Buy today to get us a mic so tomorrow we'll see how it works.  While we were talking to her, she took us on a video tour of her quarters.  She wanted to show her Dad around so he could give her some advice on how to fix a few things!  We were quite impressed.  She has her own place with a bathroom and a walk-in closet!  The person who had her room before she did left her a couch/futon, desk, chair, shelving that they had built plus shelving in her closet.  They also left a small refrigerator, microwave and tv.  So she doesn't have it too bad.  She plans on buying a larger tv so she can watch some Steeler football (hopefully)!  I don't know what kind of tv shows she gets there but I think she can pay for cable as well as internet coverage.

I want to share the 6x6 Recipe Swaps from Quarterly.  I wasn't too thrilled with my card but the others were great!  I'm going to put them into a book.

My Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup

Kathy Hunt's Easy Taco Salad

Marianne's Pineapple Cheese Ball

Mary Bergere's Stuffed Jalepeno Peppers 

Mary's Recipe - peppers

Gwen Phillips Yummy Chicken Pie

Cathy Snipes Candy Bar Pie

my favorite!  Janie's Ham Rollups

Dina Wilson's Fudgy Brownie Cookies

Pat (I think - no name) Super-Chunky Christmas Cookies

Danielle Blech's Apple Cheesecake

Tina Lesson's Easy Cream Cheese Pie

Nancy Carr's S'more Meltaway Pie

Janet Marks' Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Aren't they great?  If you can't read a recipe and you want one of them, let me know and I'll send it to you.  These make me want to cook now!

Quarterly Holiday Card Swaps

I got an e-mail yesterday from Ashley letting me know they arrived safely in Mosul on Tuesday.  They ended up flying straight from Kuwait to Mosul.  She already has her computer hooked up in her quarters.  So, hopefully tomorrow we'll try out Skype!

As promised, more swaps from Quarterly.  These are holiday cards that we swapped.  A few more ideas for my Christmas cards - and prehaps yours too!!

no name - but I love this little bunny - image from the Holiday Mini



by Lynn Creech - just love the monochromatic Soft Suede!



by Janie Murphy - using the new Waffle paper

by Marianne - don't you love how she did the circle?  It's the scallop circle.  Then she took the 1/4" circle punch and punched into the scallops.

by Chaille O-Neal - that cute bunny again!

by Danielle Blech - using the Build A Bear image

by Nancy Lewis - a nice Thanksgiving card

by Marcia Enns - she used her acrylic block for the shadow stamping background.

by Becky Campbell - love that smooch spray - it's on my list!

by me - I used the Decor Elements stencil to sponge inside before stamping the Bells & Boughs on the ornament.

no name

no name

Quarterly Shoebox Swaps

Sorry I've been slow about putting my swaps and projects from Quarterly on my blog.  I've been working all day on the Newcomers Newsletter that I usually do on the 15th.  Just a tad late this month!

Without further ado, here are the Shoebox Swaps we did at Quarterly.  I know there are several who were unable to go who are waiting for pictures.  I tried to put the originator by the ones that I remember!



by Becky Campbell



by Jane Hunt

by Marianne Webb

by Janie Murphy