Christmas Tag

I just realized that I forgot to post the tag that I made to go along with my Roses' decoupage project for September. I love this double sided ribbon with dots on one side and stripes on the other. Stamp from Stampin' Up.

The craft room is now officially a bedroom! It took a while but all my "stuff" is neatly organized and packed away. It will be like Christmas when I can unpack it all again. What will I be doing since I won't have my paper crafting??? Let's see, I've got to learn how to speak Spanish; some of you may remember a piece of Christmas cross-stitch that has been unfinished for many years and a stampTV member helped me locate a pattern -- I'll be taking that project with me and hopefully, I'll have a picture to show you one of these day of it all finished and beautiful! Beth Moore's "Daniel" bible study will also be traveling to Mexico with me; I had taken this course at church a few years back but know that there's so much more I can learn by going through it again. I mentioned that I wanted to organize my digis on my computer and of course, there's the time that I'm going to be spending by the pool and in the hot tub!!

I'll be leaving on Sunday morning, October 3. I'll still be connected to you all via the internet so you probably wouldn't even know that I wasn't still in Texas if it weren't for the fact that I look forward to being able to show you pictures from this lovely area where I'll the living the next couple of months.

Betty

Buds and Vases by Melanie

"Melanie Muenchinger is releasing a companion to her "A Year of Flowers" called "Buds and Vases", a die cut stamp set filled with brand new flowers and containers, this Thursday night, September 30 at 10 PM CST from Gina K Designs! Be sure to check out her sneak preview of the set on her blog and enter for a chance to win the set!"

Go by Gina K's blog for another chance to win!

The card above was made by Melanie and is a favorite of mine. She stamped the outline of the vase on patterned paper -- How much patterned paper do you have????? How many different looks could you get from this one stamp??????? You're only limited by the amount of paper in your stash!!

If I can't win this set, I sure do hope that you will!
Betty

The Peace Project

Here's my 3-D decoupage project for the Roses' September challenge. This was made using wooden blocks that were left over after unmounting my rubber stamps. I love the Christmas colors, papers and ribbons. I painted the chipboard letters with gold paint. Does it look even a little bit like the ribbon goes all the way through the block??? Actually, it's just glued to the edge of each block but I was hoping it would provide a bit of an "optical delusion"! My peaceful blocks are sitting on the mantle above my fireplace even though Christmas is a while off yet -- however, "peace" is welcome any time of the year, right??

Big Change A Comin'

Well, girlfriends, we have a made a decision here and it’s a bit of a drastic one! I am going to head off to the Lake Chapala Mexico area in the next couple of weeks to stay for two or three months. I am hoping that the gentle climate there will help to heal my lungs. If I notice a definite change for the better, we will continue to live there. I am going by myself to begin; DH will stay here and put our home up for sale and work with his mother to make decisions about her care (she is currently in assisted living here in our area).
I am in the process of disassembling my craft room. Got to get it looking more like a bedroom since we want to sell here! Due to the asthma problems, it’s going very slowly, but coming along. I’ll not be taking card making supplies with me – will take digis to color and hopefully will be able to get my digis organized and much easier to locate on my computer. Can I stand two or three months without card making????? Seriously, it’ll be hard but I’ve got to concentrate on getting my health back in shape.
Will keep you all updated and let you know before I take off.
Betty

Shaker Fishie Card

Hi friends! I have a card to show you that was the the most fun to make! I've used Gina K. Designs Pure Luxury Ocean Mist cardstock for the base of this card -- you can tell the difference in the weight of this cardstock the minute you pick it up!! Mama Fish is from Gina K. Designs, "obedient" fishes are from Stampin' Up and the little "wayward" fish is a brad. He is popped onto a plastic gadget that held the vials of albuterol that I've been having to use around the clock for my latest asthma attack. I slit open the end and poured in some microbeads to make a shaker card. Take a good look at Mama Fish -- she how she is keeping a close eye on the little fellow who wants to make his own way out in the ocean -- mamas just have to do that sometimes!!
On a personal note, I am beginning to feel better. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm going to keep heading for it!!
Betty

Thoughts of Love

Sue McMahon is hosting Color Challenge #6 at the Crafters Digital Art Center that you can find here. She provided this free colored digi image for us to use on our project. I rotated the second image so they would face each other and the sentiment is computer generated "Sending thought of love to you From across the waves". Can you guess that it's another card for Operation Write Home? I like the way it turned out but for some reason it seemed to fight with me all the way from start to completion -- maybe that just means that when it arrives in the proper hands it will be the perfect card that they need! I love Sue's image and she shares her gorgeous inspriation photo with us as well -- come on over, see the beauty and join the challenge!
Betty

Out on a Limb

This is my card for the Jolly Holiday Greetings Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. We had a set of these bird ornaments when I was a kid and they were always my favorites -- the first thing I would grab to put on the Christmas tree. They didn't all survive but I still have one that holds a place of honor on my tree each year. So this particular stamp was the first thing that caught my eye in this set by Flourishes, All That Glitters. The inside sentiment is from Gina K. Designs, Festive Frame, illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger. My stack of Christmas cards is getting larger, I'm pleased to say. Dare I hope that I can send each person on my list a unique card this year???? We'll see!
Betty

Tons of Love

I made this card to send to Operation Write Home and I followed these challenges:
The Color Dare 76 -- Old Olive, Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant and Not Quite Navy
There's Magic in the Air -- Sketch challenge and using digital image from Paper Cupcakes.
Used my Nestablilities Ovals for the computer generated greeting and Martha Stewart's Double Loops border punch. Added a little paper piercing and a heart button and this sweet little elephant is ready to carry mom or dad's love back to their little sweetheart at home!
Betty

Projects for Ashton's Room

SEcond post today.......
This framed project was made by my daughter, Amanda, for her 6 yr old (almost 7!). He said that he wanted something with an outdoor theme, particulary deer. We knew that he really liked this stamp set of mine from Stampin' Up so it was pretty easy to choose what to make. Mandi has given it to him and he is so very proud of it!

Ashton's BeeBee wanted to make something for him too. I used blocks that were left over after I removed the stamps to mount on cling foam. Thought he'd like something with his name on it and continuing with the outdoor theme, I decoupaged some leaf punch outs on some smaller blocks. Don't know if he'll like the ribbons (although I think they're "boyish") but if he doesn't they can be removed and patched up with a bit of paint.

Thought you might want to see the little person we went to all this trouble for. He and his sister Brianna CAN be nice to one another "occasionally"! This is a card that I made for their mother to keep on her desk at work.
Betty

OWH Christmas Card

Hey Everybody! I had to spend all morning in the doctor's office this morning with my asthma. Had to take 4 breathing treatments (he told me: Do NOt Do This at Home!) and even with that the oxygen level in my blood didn't improve. However, the coughing and wheezing was better. I've been working with an alternative treatment center for the past three weeks or so, with the main goal of becoming prescription free, controlling my asthma through acupuncture, chiropractic and nutrition; so, I almost cried when my medical doctor gave me a long list of meds to take, inclucing the dreaded prednisone which gives me awful side effects. However, trying to look at it positively, if I can get this flare under control, I can continue to work toward my ultimate goal.

Hope you're all still with me after the "complaining"!! When I got home, I needed to do something fun. Checking my emails, I found that Theresa Kline is hosting a sketch challenge at Operation Write Home to make a Christmas card for a soldier to send home to his/her family. Hope you can join me in this challenge. Link your card at the OWH blog and you have the chance to win some goodies. Also, check out Theresa's blog and you can win a lovely Verve stamp set by leaving her a comment.

Will be back later to show you what my daughter and I made to hang on her son's bedroom wall. Hint: he requested an "outdoor" theme.

Betty

Smiles and Laughter

Isn't this a sweet card? The image is from Phindy's Place. I really like the colorful striped paper and I even used it to punch the little butterfly. The grass punch is from Martha Stewart.
Wishing you all smiles and laughter -- there are a lot of us needing some of that!
Betty

Fall Cards

I made two cards today and since they are in the same color families I am sharing them with you in one post. The card on the left was made for the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge 69. It is my clean and simple rendition of their sketch. Paper is from K&Co. (solids) and Basic Grey (patterned). The main image is from Annabelle Stamps (Thoughtful Stems) and the small sentiment stamp is from Stampin' Up. My camera didn't quite catch the true colors of the solid cardstock; it's really a lighter and darker green.
The card on the right was made for the color challenge at stampTV. The sentiment is from Gina K. Designs, (Say It With Flowers), illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger. The main sunflower image is from Just Inklined which I received from imagEnation and colored with colored pencils, blended with baby oil.