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.

Catalog Wish List

I give my customers a Wish List every year.  Some are really good about checking things off and others just buy what I demo each month.  I tend to do both.  I prepare a Wish List when the new catalog is in my hands and as the year progresses, tend to order things I didn't have on my list but I've seen other people make some great projects with the item.  Last year there were several items on my Wish List that I ended up never ordering.  My likes and dislikes change during the year.  Right now these are the items I have included on my Wish List.  Some I have already ordered and others are out there waiting for me to order them and then there are several not on this list but I might end up being persuded to get during the year.

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What's on your Wish List?