Heartfeltgreetings

Ok, first things first, and then we'll get to the good stuff! My mom's surgery went well yesterday. Both fortunately and unfortunately, she had to have two stents put in due to 80% blockage in two arteries. Fortunately because I'm so glad they caught it before it resulted in a heart attack and that she didn't have to have bypass surgery(!), and unfortunately because it was a shock to her and she had a rough time recovering yesterday. But, it totally explains why she was having trouble breathing and has been so tired in the last year or so. Let this be a lesson to all of you how differently women present their heart disease! It's a proven fact that they DO present differently than men. Both my mom and Doug's mom have been so tired the last few years and they both experienced difficulty breathing. No sharp heart pain, no shoulder pain, no numbing or tingling down their arms. If a woman you love is experiencing any of the things our mother's did, get her to the hospital! We are hoping Mom feels better this morning and will be released from the hospital today! Thanks for your prayers!

Now for the GOOD stuff! This week I received my August Design Team kit from Julee at Verve Visual. And let me tell you, it was FILLED with all sorts of fun goodies you're going to want for yourself. The most exciting thing was seeing Julee's next stamp release, Fancy Florals! My oh my, this set is a doozy! 28 individual stamps in one set. You can't go wrong. The stamps will be a perfect addition to your stamp collection. Just look at what I was able to create with them over the past few days....

The first thing I did was alter a wooden box I had sitting in my Things to be Altered collection. It originally held a bunch of silk flowers. I saved it because it could definitely be given a new life once I found the perfect paper for it. The minute I saw the paper Julee sent me from Cosmo Cricket, I knew it would be perfect for the box! This new line by Cosmos Cricket is called Gretel, and ladies, YOU NEED TO BUY THIS PAPER. OMGoodness, it's fabulous! I am definitely going to be stocking up on this stuff for the fall and winter. It's beautiful! Anyways, I covered my box with their patterned paper called Woodland. It was so easy to cover the box because both the latch on the front and the hinges on the back could be unscrewed and taken off. Made my life alot easier, that's for sure. All the paper was glued on using Mono Multi, but I sure you could use Modge Podge as well. I just didn't want to make such a big mess! Once the paper was adhered, I tied a beautiful rust colored May Arts ribbon around the box for some glamour.

The next thing I made was this mini photo album to be put inside my new altered box! I used my new Bind-It-All, coasters, and cardstock for the inside pages of the book. I covered it with more Cosmo Cricket paper, this time I used a pattern called Autumn. The flower on the front of the book was made using three Fancy Floral stamps, and they were all layered on top of each other and then held together using a large bronze brad. The letters on the front of the book (COP) stand for Cathedral of the Pines, which is our church camp in Lutsen. This book will hold our photos from this years visit! The ribbon on the coils is all May Arts ribbon from Verve. The chipboard letters are called Thickers and are by American Craft. I don't think Julee has these in her store....YET....but maybe I can convince her to carry them cuz I LOVE them! They are great for cards and scrapbooks alike.

Finally, since I couldn't put these new stamps and new paper down, I decided to make a card too. It's your lucky day today, isn't it? All these fun new goodies to show you! It's so fun! For the card, I started with a Kraft cardstock base. I used up some leftover Woodland and Autumn Gretal scraps. Using my new Janome sewing machine (more on that later)I sewed the Autumn scrap on top of the Woodland paper using a zig zag stitch. Don't look too closely as the stitching isn't perfect. I was trying to get used to the machine and was having a bit of trouble at first! Anyways, I used two different Fancy Floral stamps to make my flower on the front of the card. The first was stamped in Chestnut Roan on Whisper White, and the second flower was stamped on a piece of metallic red cardstock with Versamark and then embossed with gold embossing powder. Isn't it beautiful???? The sentiment is also from the Fancy Florals stamp set. There are 4 different sentiments in the set, all so useful: Happy Birthday, Thinking of You, Many Thanks and With Sympathy. Who doesn't need more of these sentiments on hand!!!! Finally, I added a brown and white polka dot ribbon to the card for a little pizazz! I distressed the edges of the paper too using my new edge distressor.

Well, I think that's it for today's sharing. I hope you like what I made using all my fun new Verve Visual stuff. Get on over there today and order up your Fancy Floral set, and if you do, DON'T FORGET TO BUY THE COSMO CRICKET PAPER! You won't be disappointed! I'm going to sign off for now because I need to get ready for my big "back to school" shopping date with my youngest son. We're heading to the Mall of America to buy fun stuff! We're both so excited!

Hugs,
Amy