HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETH

This card was made for my only daughter's BD just before Thanksgiving. She had come for a visit and I had to wait to mail it, so it got to her a couple of days late. (Sorry Beth. I didn't want you to see me working on it.) I really like this small flower stamp and thought it would look good in fall colors. With three flower panels, and "happy" there three times, it kind of goes together. I tried to carry out the colors of the flowers in the matting. I liked that beige print against the brights. The card was larger than most and so I had to make it an envelope to match out of the beige DP. If you enlarge the picture you can see the red and orange thin sheer ribbon that criss-crosses behind the images and sentiments. It adds another design element to tie all four rectangles together. I am happy with it. Thanks for stopping by.

MASCULINE THANK YOU

I needed to say Thank You to my daughters BF who was in India this summer and shopped for a sari for me. He did a wonderful job of it. They tend to have bright, orangy colors with gold and I can't wear those colors successfully. He picked a dark shade of blue and another which is light blue. They both are gorgeous and I am thrilled with them. Now to learn how to wear them and get the other parts for it too. Thanks, Sujan.

This card is pretty simple. I chose the dotted CS first for the subtle manly colors. I tore the edge and layered over the gray/blue shade on the bottom. I matted with black and added a golden/brown ribbon that has ridges on it. I used the Cuttlebug to cut out the die shaped saying, edged it with a medium blue cs, and popped it up over the ribbon. I had been playing with a corner punch from Martha Stewart. I cut the pieces and slipped under the saying above and below, kind of as a metal looking piece in black. I was happy with the results. Thanks for stopping by.

BARE TREES

There is something about the fall and bare trees. They look so strong and majestic without their leaves. I guess they have to be to make it through the tough winter. They raise their limbs up to heaven in awe of the Creator. They are grounded by a root system that sustains them in all kinds of circumstances, that nourishes them all year long and provides what they need to grow and thrive. And they give us shelter (wood for our homes). shade from the sun, and a special beauty all year long with their many shades of green foliage for spring and summer, brilliant hues for autumn, and their bare limbs for winter. Oh how I love the seasons and bare trees as part of it all.

My card is made using a bare tree background stamp I have had for some time. I believe it was from Cornish Heritage Farms. I colored a piece of white card stock using my Stampin Up markers in red, golden yellow, orange, peach, bright yellow, and pale yellow. I blended them with each other as I added the rows of horizontal colors. Then the bare trees were stamped with Momento Tuxedo Black ink. I trimmed this and matted in an orange from Basic Grey, a shiny yellow CS and a black. I used tiny sheer ribbon in red, orange and black to tie around the trees and instead of a fussy bow, I just knotted it and let the 6 ends be my "fluff". It is a bit more subtle that way. I chose a saying from Coleridge "Friendship is like a sheltering tree" and matted it the same. I know, I know...there are no leaves on the trees, but they carry with them the promise of shelter and the sky background is full of bright colors and hope for a new day. Thanks for stopping by.

MY WINTER WONDERLAND

Welcome to my Winter Wonderland! It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas and it is only Nov 13th when these photos were taken by our daughter who is visiting from TN for a long weekend. She has a knack for capturing special views in my opinion and I wanted to share some of her photos with you. This is the view from our front door. The house light was off but the flash made the snowflakes look like stars that had come down. I love it.





The second photo is of the front of our house from across the street. We used to have another tree in the middle of the front yard, but it blocked out the sun and was killing the grass. So we had it taken out. These pictures all were taken about 7:30am and with the recent time change, it was still dark. Of course the sun never came out since it snowed all day and we had over 7 inches.







The third picture is of our beautiful Colorado Blue Spruce in the front. It was only a 5 ft tree 23 years ago and now is as tall as the 2 story house almost. It is planted near a sprinkler head and gets a good "drink" in the summer and that might be why it has grown so well. We used to put Christmas lights on it when we could reach, but now we just enjoy its pristine beauty as God made it. The flash sure lit up those snowflakes again. Wish I could capture that look on a card. Hmmm! Have to think about that one.



Lastly is a photo of our backyard from the decking one story off the ground, We have about 8 mature oaks that are 60-70ft tall and a few Colorado Blue Spruce trees I have planted through the years. They have always been my favorite tree and I love MN/WI because of all the tall, beautiful deciduous and ever green trees in both states.

We have about 1/3rd of an acre and these trees continue to add their beauty to our home, even in winter. Thanks for stopping by to see my Winter Wonderland.

TRIP TO TEXAS

I recently was able to go back down to Texas to visit with my mother when she needed to go in the hospital for her pacemaker "generator" change. I arrived 2 days before afraid that since I fly stand by, I might not get there exactly when I wanted. But all went well, and we were able to get some pre op tests out of the way on Weds. Thursday we arrived at 11:30am, and the procedure had been scheduled for 1:30 but they got behind and it was 2:15 before they did it. All went well and mom was in recovery about 4pm. They let her rest, fed her some light foods since she had not had anything since 5am and we were home about 6pm. She is a pretty good looking 89 yr old lady, I think.

She had to leave her bandage on for 4 days and then could remove it the 5th day. Boy, they used some good sticky tape because it really pealed some of her skin off. But she is all set for another 20 years.

My nephew John and his wife from Little Rock came by and surprised Mom and me on Tuesday. John was able to bring my sister, Gloria, back up on Thursday for a good 4 hr visit. They had to drive 2 1/2 hrs to get there. We had a nice Barbequed brisket dinner and played Glorias favorite game, Skipbo and my taxi arrived at 4pm to take me to the airport. On their way home through San Antonio, a dump truck had lost its load of gravel on the highway, and they were stuck in traffic an extra two hours. This would be very frustrating to all of us but was particularly difficult for them. My sister is in a wheel chair and it had already been a long day for her.

Here are a few photos...one of mom and one of my sister and of course one of John and his wife Cindy, whom I had not seen for several years. I am very thankful John took the time and effort to bring us all together for a little mini reunion. I had not seen my sister in a year. She is 2 years younger than me and suffered a couple of mini strokes in the last 6 months. She also had been in a car accident and suffered through so much from that. I admire her spirit and her determination through it all. Her belief in Jesus has remained strong. All the women in my family ROCK! May I grow up to be as strong and resilient as they are. Thanks for stopping by.

EARPHONE AUDITION

Is Matti auditioning for a job at the radio station? Nooo. She is wearing earphones to listen to the Disney movie while her grandpa reads his book. She thought it was pretty cool being able to hear it and no one else could. We have a wireless head set and use it when one is sleeping and the other wants to watch TV. Bill has hearing aids and using these allows him to hear at the level he needs and not blast me out of the room. My hearing is still good, thank goodness.

The girls worked on a couple of cards while visiting me. They make a card just about every time they come over. The mummy card they did collectively for their "mummy". They each colored their mummy, cut it out and put it on the purple background. The grass is a Martha Stewart punch and the pumpkins are stickers...well, they are little girls and love stickers too.

Emma helped with the spider web in the corner and inside it says "We love you mummy". Too cute!



The last card is from Matti. She really loves hearts and stamped the small heart w/ bow four times. She colored them all the way she wanted and cut them out herself. Please note, they are not alike which adds so much to the charm of the card. I did mat them for her with the green which she picked out and she punched the heart border using a Martha Stewart punch which she picked out. I think part of the fun for them is picking out what to stamp, what to punch, what to color, etc. Isn't that what is fun for us too? The process is the same no matter how young or old we get. Creating on paper is just FUN! Thanks for stopping by and letting me share my grand daughters with you. They are "grand".

KINDERGARTEN GIRL

Here is a photo of Emma getting off the bus after school. We occasionally have the privilege of being there when she gets home. We make an after school snack with graham crackers or vanilla wafers and frosting or something interesting to her. Sometimes we get to pick up Matti from daycare and make treats with her too. No matter what we do, we seem to have a good time together. Thanks for stopping by.