Heartfeltgreetings

I'm Not Dead!

2010-07-09T21:29:00.001-05:00

I know many of you have been wondering....so just to set your mind at ease let me be the first to tell you that I'm still alive!!! Woo-hoo! I know, shame on me for celebrating Mother's Day with you and then bolting.

I have to honestly tell you that crafting for me has gone by the wayside. Work has taken it's toll on me creatively speaking. It makes me sad, truly. I've got a room full of fabulous stuff and no desire to work it {insert sad face}.

To be perfectly honest there has been one other thing taking a bite out of my crafting time, and that's my Nikon D90. I'm sure a lot of you know that I have loved photography for a number of years now. It's my "other" love. And it has only been in the last 6 months or so that this love has taken on more meaning in my life. I have decided I want to try and take this hobby, or love of mine, even further. Now, instead of perusing card blogs, I have a million photography blogs in my Google Reader. I am constantly gathering as much information as I can about taking better photographs. I've bought wonderful books that I can immerse myself in even deeper.

I want to take this thing professional. I know, shocker. But that is a long way off. My first plan of action is to start booking some portfolio building sessions with friends to practice my shooting. My vision is to take bold, colorful images of children/families and seniors (the high school kind). You know me, color speaks to me in a way not many other things can. And I want to take that love of color and transition it into my photographs. And the more natural the poses, the better. No stuffy traditional poses for me. I want to capture the emotion, energy and love of everyone I am priviledged to take photos of.

So, what do you think? Are you surprised? Is there anyone still reading this blog (I know there are a few of you still left!)? I am also happy to share with you that I am starting another blog called Captured in Color, which is the name I chose for my new business. I think it captures what I'm about better than any other name I came up with. Bold, colorful images of beautiful people (not beautiful people in a stuck up way). I think I like it.

If you'd like to check out my new blog, I have my first post up. You can find me at Captured In Color. Stop by and visit me and leave me some love!

Margarita's and Mom's.

2010-05-11T16:11:00.001-05:00

These guys are the reason I'm called Mom. And I was lucky enough to spend the day with them on Mother's Day. They make life difficult for me once in while, since they're not perfect children. I don't know about you, some of you might have perfect children. But I assure you, these adorable gentleman are not. I've shed many tears on their behalf. I sometimes think I'm a horrible mother when they push me over the edge with their shenanigans. But, in the end, when the tears have dried, I thank my lucky stars God chose me to be their Mom. Even when they drop (and consequently shatter) a dinner plate at the Mother's Day buffet we went to at a restaurant in River Falls, WI Sunday evening....

This lovely lady is MY mom. She's as good as they get. Do you think we look alike? I love her so much and am so thankful she is still in relatively good health and good spirits. I am her only daughter, the youngest of four children. I can only hope I'm as good as her some day!

And finally, here's a card for you. I was feeling a little margarita-like one day and dug this stamp out of the hardly-ever-used anymore pile of stamps I have collecting in my stamp room. The paper I used was a piece I got from my friend Lue, and I ADORE it! It was in a 12x12 pack of paper from K & C I think. I need to go searching for it online, because I've never been lucky enough to find it in a store. The margarita stamp and sentiment stamp are both from Amuse.

Well, tonight is a great night for TV watching....IDOL, BIGGEST LOSER, and GLEE! And it's Taco Tuesday at the Westerman household tonight for dinner, so no big clean-up necessary. Gotta love that.

Hugs,

Amy

To Mother, With Love

2010-05-09T06:06:00.000-05:00

Without You

Mom, without you, there would be no me.
Your love, your attention, your guidance,
have made me who I am.
Without you, I would be lost,
wandering aimlessly,
without direction or purpose.
You showed me the way
to serve, to accomplish, to persevere.
Without you, there would be an empty space
I could never fill, no matter how I tried.
Instead, because of you,
I have joy, contentment, satisfaction and peace.
Thank you, mom.
I have always loved you
and I always will.

By Joanna Fuchs

In loving honor of my mom. She is my inspiration. I hope I am half the woman when I am older. Always loving, always supportive, always loved.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!

Your Daughter Amy

A Card and a Cat

2010-05-06T08:17:00.002-05:00

You'd be right if you thought life around here has been crazy since we accepted the new job offer! I'm happy to tell you that we found an apartment for Doug on the very first try--it's an efficiency, so it's small, but for now, it will do. Once he's had some time to live in it and see how he does, we'll know if he needs to move up to a one bedroom. The apartment is directly across from Lake Winona and the bluffs, oh my, is it a gorgeous view! And the caretakers of the apartment have been in their job for 18 years....their names are Cliff and Betty, and I have a feeling they'll take good care of the apartment AND of Doug, LOL! The good Lord was definitely watching out for us. It's clean and affordable.

The next few weeks will be crazy as well, trying to get supplies gathered to set up a second household (can you say garage sale???), and wrapping up the end of the school year for my oldest. He moves back home the same weekend we ship Doug out! It looks like he'll be starting his new job on May 17th. So excited for him!

Well, a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to go up to my friend Lue's cabin for a girls weekend (that's Lue in the middle and Teeny on the right) of stamping and scrapping. I got quite a few cards made, although not as many as I typically get done when we go away. Todays card is one of those I managed to get done. I love the colors of the paper and how I tied in the chair in to work with the paper. I don't worry about "perfect" matches, and I hope you don't either. As long as they are in the same color "family", you should be ok. You can see that the blues in the background paper and the blue I used for the chair are not exact matches, but close enough to work.

On a funny note, we had a great time at the cabin. However, let me tell you that Lue is a cat lover. Me, not so much, but only because I am horribly allergic to them. Teeny isn't a cat lover either. Well, there was this cat that would come up to the cabin sliding glass door all day long and meow, meow, meow to come in. Lue didn't know whose cat it was, but being that she is a cat lover, she would feed it warm milk and some turkey meat. By Sunday, we were so sick of the darn cat, so we tried to ignore it. But cats are persistent! This fella wouldn't leave us alone. From my stamping spot at the table, this is the shot I got of the annoying cat sitting on the deck railing (which is on the side of the house) and leaning WAYYYYYY over so he could get our attention through the window (at the front of the house) and meow some more!!!! Doesn't he look possessed???? Just looking at his little face makes me laugh all over again.

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for all the well wishes for the new job. Please keep us in your prayers that all will go well in the transition.

Hugs,
Amy

Finally. Wonderful News!

2010-04-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been 2 and a half long years, but I'm finally able to write the blog post that I've been itching to write for months. I wanted to let all of you know that Doug has been offered (and has accepted) a new job!!!!

His new position is with Winona State University, as the General Manager of the student run radio and TV stations on campus. Students in the Mass Communications degree program are required to participate on both stations as part of their major requirements, just like it was required of both Doug and I when we went to college at Bemidji State University so many years ago. In essence, Doug has come full circle. Twenty six years later, he’ll be hanging around the campus radio station once again, but this time as a mentor and as a teacher, not as a student. He is excited to have the opportunity to impact the lives of so many students. To this day, we fondly remember those professors at Bemidji State University that impacted us so greatly!

As far as moving goes, our plan is for Doug to live in Winona during the week, and for him to come home to Lakeville on the weekends. We have a 16 year old son who will be a junior in high school next year and uprooting him to a new school isn’t something we want to do. Both boys (Eric will be in his second year of college next fall) are extremely attached and involved with our church, Mt. Olivet, and the thought of taking them away from that is heartbreaking. We are thankful they love it and that they continue to want to serve there. We realize it will be a very rough road, but the road we’ve already traveled has been rough and we are confident the Lord will help us see this through as well.

I can't end this post today without taking a moment to thank all of you, my faithful blog readers. You know who you are, but I'll name just a few that have religiously prayed for me and supported me with your loving comments.....Jacki, Peg M, Jenn in GA, Julee, Kim C., Melody, Chelmom, Mudmaven, Janine, Bristowmom, Anita C, etc, etc, etc. I could go on and on. There are many, many more of you that never gave up on me and I thank you! Your prayers, love, and support have sustained me through many dark days. You constantly encouraged me and believed that good would come once again. Some of you believed when I had a hard time believing myself. Through it all, God has been faithful and has sustained us. Truly, it was not of our will that we made it through intact. We still shake our heads at the wonder of it. What we are confident of is that we couldn’t have done it without our faith, family, and friends. So thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. We are excited about our new venture!

Hugs,

Amy

A Card and an Easter Update

2010-04-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

Here's a simple one for you if you are short on time or energy! I made this at the retreat I was at in March and I loved it--I need to make some more of these!The heart stamp comes from the new SU! set, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called and I borrowed it from my girlfriend so I don't have it here. The squares were punched with a 1x1 inch punch. I used a bunch of Bo Bunny polka dot scraps. I told you I use this paper alot;0)!

So, what's up with all of you? Is there anyone out there anymore? I am wondering if anyone reads this blog or have you moved on to bigger and better things? I know that my readership of blogs has changed...and the types I read vary with what my interests are at the moment. I think I read less card blogs and more photography, decorating and quilting blogs now. So I get that, if that's the case. Maybe I've scared you all away because I share too many photos. I have another blog I plan on starting up again that will be strictly photography based. I love to share my photos but often wonder if this is the best avenue to do that. I think the card makers get bored with my photos, and if I invite people interested in photos only to come here they'd be bored with the cards. Oh, what's a girl supposed to do?

As far as life around the Westerman household, all is well. We are in the process of waiting to hear if Doug will be offered a job he interviewed for on Monday. The job would be PERFECT for him, but it would require a move from our home of 17 years. It would be tough, but we would be so thankful for the opportunity. It sounds like we won't hear for 2-3 weeks, ack! Why do employers do that???? Hurry up and wait.

Easter was wonderful! Here are a few photos (ok, LOTS) of the special day, which was held at our house. I think in total there was 20 people. But it was GORGEOUS, so we got to spend the day outside. Yay!!

These are my three guys while they were tossing the football around in the backyard before our guests arrived. Are they not the most handsome guys you've ever seen?

This is my nephew Daniel and his new wife Laura. I used a 70's PSE action on this photo to make it look retro. Love how it turned out!

This is me and my SIL Diane. Don't we look like a couple of Easter eggs with our colorful sweaters, LOL?

This is my adorable mom. When we all get together, we do a lot of this. Laughing.

This was one of the first attempts to corral the troops. By troops I mean cousins! We were missing one on Easter, but they were still in fine form without him. I'm sure you recognize my two!

Not surpisingly, this is the best picture I was able to capture where whey were mostly all looking at the camera and in a straight line. All the others were variations of the shot above this one! Usually we take one picture of the kids in chronological order, which is what they were probably trying to accomplish in the shot above this one. For this one, however, we had them line up from tallest to shortest.

This is my niece Rachel. The only way I could get a picture of myself to prove that I was actually present this day was to take a picture of my reflection in her shades, LOL!

This was a shot I took of the gang that was watching the festivities below from a safe spot up on the deck! From the left is: Liz (SIL), Laura (nephew's wife), Diane (SIL), Chris (brother), Doug (my hubby), and then my mom and dad.

After the group shots, I broke them off into boys and girls. I absolutely ADORE this picture of the 5 boys! They are, in order from left: Daniel, Eric (mine), Luke, Scott (mine), and Jacob.

It was finally the girls turn, and just let me say, I love having the chance to take pictures of girls! They love the camera (unlike my boybarians) and make my job fun! Here they were trying to be bad ass girls, even though they are the sweetest girls on the face of the earth.

Some more PSE 70's action! They are, from front to back: Rachel, Mary, and Jessica. Thanks girls, for playing along with your Auntie Amy!

Well, if you're still hanging around, that's it for now. Have a great day. Get out there and take some pictures. They tell a story that someday you're not going to be able to!!!

Hugs,

Amy

Easter Blessings

2010-04-04T05:59:00.000-05:00

I am wishing all of you a blessed Easter! He is risen indeed!!!

Hello Spring!

2010-04-02T10:05:00.002-05:00

Good morning everyone! T.G.I.F!

Sorry for the big delay in posting. It's been a busy week--I had to shop quite a bit to get ready for Easter. We had a mid-week concert at church (well, I didn't, but the boys did). Eldest Son came home from school for the night and then drove back the next day.

I am having about 20 people here for Easter Sunday! And they're all big people. No more little ones, all the grandkids have grown up! It has been GORGEOUS here this week, and I am praying it's nice on Sunday, so we can use the deck as part of our entertaining area. Otherwise, the house gets mighty small awfully quick with so many people. But I love it and can't wait to see everyone! We are having ham and all the fixin's. I am also going to try this brisket recipe from the Pioneer Woman. Doesn't it look delish? Even though it's a Passover Brisket, I can still cook it for Easter, can't I???

The card I'm sharing with you today is one I made at the retreat I went to a few weeks ago......I quick snapped a picture of it before it got snatched away from me by someone wanting to buy it. I love the colors and all the polka dot paper, which is from Bo Bunny. It's my favorite paper of all time! I buy it by the pound-ful because I use it constantly. The colors make me happy....lime green, bright pink, orange and yellow! Can you say Hello Spring????!!!

What do the rest of you have planned for Easter Weekened? I hope it's special!

Hugs,

Amy

Week 13-Dramatic B & W Photos

2010-03-29T20:27:00.000-05:00

This week's photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is B&W photos that are dramatic, emotional or moody.

I didn't need to look much further than this picture of my son, taken a few years ago. To me, it evokes emotion and is really moody too. He was about 14 at the time, and come on, what's moodier than a teenager????? LOL. It was taken with a flash, which is sort of weird, but I have loved it since the moment I saw it. He looks absolutely gorgeous, all snuggled up on the big new comfy chair we had just purchased.

Hope you all have a great day. Embrace the good in all things!

Hugs,

Amy

A Tip For You

2010-03-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

Just a little tip for you today when you are using those beautiful sheets of designer paper. Do you see that strip of pink paper at the top of my card? That is actually the strip of contrasting color/pattern often found on double sided designer papers at the bottom of the sheet. To me, it's way too pretty to throw away, I mean, come on--why not use every single piece of that paper that you can in order to maximize your dollars? I usually just cut it off and throw it in my scrap drawer to use at a later date. This pink was not a part of the blue polka dot paper, it was from other designer sheet. The reason I used it on this card was because I cut my blue polka dot paper too short and needed something to fill in the space....genius, uh?

I absolutely adore this birdy stamp from SU! It's part of a set called Of The Earth. It's perfect for making simple, uncomplicated cards, which, you can see that my card is!

I couldn't let today go without sharing a picture I took yesterday of our poodle named Copper. Copper will be 11 years old in May and is the love of our lives. He's such a wonderful dog. He was captured here sunning himself in front of the door yesterday afternoon. He LOVES sunshine and if he sees some streaming through a window or door, he'll snuggle in for a snooze!

I am enjoying my morning off today, I think I'll try and craft a little bit before I go into work.

Doug has a phone interview for a job this afternoon, so keep us in your prayers. There are a few full time opportunities in the works right now, so we are hopeful something will work out soon. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated! What a journey it's been for 2 years. Never in a million years would I have expected him to be out of full time work for so long after he got let go. A new job would put our anxious hearts at ease.

Hoping you have a glorious day. Embrace it.

Hugs,
Amy

10 Things You Might Not Know About Me

2010-03-24T15:02:00.003-05:00

I use 7 different products on my hair every morning when I get ready. I'd list them here, but I'm embarrassed to admit it!

I can't stand using a kleenex or paper towel that is ripped. I toss it in the garbage if that's what happens when I grab one.

I am a terrible housekeeper. A great fear of mine is unexpectedly dying and having someone come into my home to pack up my things and have them mumble under their breath about what a slob I was. You'd think this fear would make me do a better job keeping things clean, but I'm sorry to say that's not been the case!

I love to read, mostly meaningless, frivolous novels that I can get lost in. Reading serious, depressing stories (like all of Oprah's book selections) is a waste of time, IMHO.

I love photography and am obsessed with trying to capture the emotion of any given situation.

My parents are still married, my husbands parents were still married up until his mom died a few years ago, all my brothers are still married, and my hubby and I will celebrate 24 years next month! Our parents set a wonderful example for us.

I don't like conflict, and I care about what people think of me. Vain, I know.

I could eat pizza every day.

I am not much of an alcohol drinker. I'd rather eat the calories!

I love to create beautiful things with my hands.

I'm guessing you knew #10, but I just couldn't let the list go by without expressing it! Hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little better today, have a wonderful day!!!

Hugs,

Amy

Blue & Black Scrap Card

2010-03-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday morning everyone!

It turned out to be a gorgeous, albeit cool weekend here in MN. I'm telling ya, it's better than the alternative I heard the weatherman talking about earlier this week. I'm fairly certain he mentioned the "s" word at least once or twice, and as far as I'm concerned, once it's officially spring, there is no "s" allowed anymore! I think this week's weather calls for 50's, and that's just fine by me!

I made today's card at the end of January. The image, from PTI, was a "mistake" I had stamped on a piece of polka dot textured designer paper a very long time ago and then threw in to my scrap drawer thinking someday, maybe, I would be able to salvage it into a card if I was ever so inclined. Well, that day finally came. I love blue with black, so this card was born. All paper came from the scrap drawer. Every last stitch of it! I'm really not much of a blue person, but I'm loving how this one turned out!

Today is my busy day....work at 645am, then staff meeting at 115p, then I get to work out with my personal trainer at 2p. Before ya'll think I have a zillion dollars just waiting to throw at the feet of a personal trainer, know that I share her with another co-worker, so it's mighty affordable. And its the only thing that gets me off my fat butt and working out. She pushes me in a way I would never push myself! When I'm by myself and it starts to hurt, I stop. With Beth, she doesn't let me stop--she just pushes harder! Sometimes I call her evil, but she finds that a term of endearment!!

I pray you have a wonderfully productive day today!

Hugs,
Amy

I Heart Face Constructive Feedback Friday!

2010-03-19T07:51:00.000-05:00

Today is Constructive Feedback Friday over at I Heart Faces! The first 50 readers have the chance to have the professionals over there help us fix up one of our own photos and get advice on how to make it look even better! Exciting!

The picture I need help with is one I took this ;past summer. It was taken with my Nikon D40. It was bright and sunny out. I edited it in PSE 7.0. As you can tell, I'm not a pro in PSE. Well, I not really a pro in anything, but I do realize there is potential for this photo, and I'll take all the help I can get!!! Here are the details for those wonderful people who might stop by today to help me with my photo: ISO 200, Exposure 1/4000 sec, f/1.6, focal length 50mm.

What's bothering me about my photo? For one, half of his head is way overexposed!! I tried and tried, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I think the photo evokes so much emotion, and I would like that to be expressed in the editing.

This is the SOOC shot:

And here are my attempts to edit it:

I didn't do much, as you can tell, because I really didn't know how to tone down that BRIGHT WHITE HAIR that's overexposed!

Help!!!

And one final note, to my regular readers....one of the reasons I am participating in this event is so I can learn from those who know so much more than I do. If you should happen to read a comment that might appear critical, remember, that's how I hope to learn how to edit better. No one is leaving a comment to hurt my feelings. The purpose of this is to gain constructive knowledge from those who know way more than me! I am so hopeful I am one of the first 50!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kindred Spirits

2010-03-16T07:02:00.000-05:00

I just found this card that I never shared with you. I think I made it this past summer! Unfortunately, I haven't had time yet to photograph any of the cards I made last weekend at the Crafty Ladies retreat I went to.

Must do that soon!

I focused on making my quilt squares look like the Basic Grey quilt themed paper I used for the background. It's a little busy, but heck, I love busy. I don't love BEING busy though;0)!

It's been nice having Eldest Son home from college for spring break. Youngest Son gets to travel to Chicago for the weekend. The Cathedral Choir will be taking a little mini trip there to sing at a church on Sunday. Any of you from the Chicago area? If you are, and would be interested in seeing this amazing choir, drop me a line and I can let you know where they are singing at!

Lots to do on the agenda today. First of which is working. Second of which is getting a massage (we have massage therapists at our clinic and employees get a great deal on massages....YES!). And thirdly (is that even a word?), run lots of errands to get ready for St. Patty's Day at work. We like to have fun theme days at work, complete with dress up, and I am usually the one the heads them up and organizes them. It's fun. I have been working on a few limericks to share with everyone at work tomorrow!

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Amy

God's Special Purpose For Us

2010-03-13T10:47:00.001-06:00

Happy Saturday morning! Is anyone out there? If you are, ya'll have been awfully quiet these last few weeks!

I'm so glad it's Saturday--today we go pick up Eldest Son from school for spring break. The hubby is working the Big Ten basketball tournament in Indianapolis, so it will be just me and Youngest Son making the road trip! Scratch that, Youngest Son just informed me he is NOT going with me to pick up Eldest Son, so it will be just be Me, Myself and I making the trip. Fine by me, I will relish the peace and quiet!

I thought I'd start out my post today with a special thought for you. If you reflect on the words long enough, you might realize for yourself just how special your walk here on earth really, truly is. Where we are and what we are experiencing is all part of our journey toward discovering His purpose for us.

Each of us, you and me, have been purposely placed exactly where God wants us to be. If we are in the middle of a bad relationship, I truly believe He has us there for a reason. If we are in the middle of great suffering, there is purpose in that suffering as well. If you're like me, you might ask the question "WHY" quite often. Why me. Why us. Why now. Why, why, why. Honestly, I have yet to hear God's answer to my question. Truthfully, I think I haven't been listening carefully enough for His whisper. Sometimes, I'm too busy bemoaning my lot in life. Thankfully, many friends have answered the question for me. "Why NOT you?", they say. Why not me, indeed. God did not promise me a life free of pain and heartache. Far, far from it. But He did promise me He would be with me every step of the way. Whether I invite Him on the walk or not. When I realize I can't make the walk alone, He will be there to lift me up. If you're any bit as stubborn as I am, you might still be walking that lonely path alone. But how far can we possibly go it by ourselves? It gets tiring walking alone, doesn't it?

I'm starting to realize that. I feel like I'm walking in circles sometimes looking for answers. I am desperate to figure out what my purpose is in this world really is. What His purpose is for me. Sometimes, I feel like I'm on the cusp of figuring it out, and other times, I'm so far from it I make myself laugh. I probably make God laugh too!! Secretly, I have to think I am fulfilling God's purpose for me every time I help a friend in need; bringing a meal over to a friend who finds herself with extra houseguests because her brother-in-law is dying, or when I send an encouraging note to a devastated niece experiencing her first true-love breakup. I'm sure you do these sorts of things too. Perhaps God's great purpose for us here on earth is to simply help and love those in need, those whose suffering is greater than our own. Lifting up those unable to lift themselves. Extending love to those feeling unloved. It all seems so insignificant, doesn't it? I mean, God's purpose for us HAS TO BE bigger than this, doesn't it?

Do me a favor. Stop for a moment and think, "what if this is exactly what God had in mind when he created me?" Maybe His purpose for us is to simply live our days loving others. Live our days helping to lighten the load of someone else. Live our days loving others for the sake of Him. Perhaps if we realize this, then we could stop all the searching, all the longing for something more, something bigger, something better than what we have. One thing I do know, His purpose will be revealed to us at a time and place He has specifically chosen. In the meantime, I am going to keep re-reading my words so they sink in. There is no greater purpose for me right now than to live my days loving and helping others. It's that simple I guess. If God has some bigger purpose for me planned, which I don't know about right now, I suppose all I can do is strap on my seatbelt and get ready for the ride. For now though, join me in loving and helping others for His sake. Be confident and at peace knowing that if there's more He wants to use you for, He will make it clear to you.

Honestly, I'm not sure why I wrote about this subject today. The words just sort of started flowing. As I am getting ready to wrap this post up and hit "publish", I'm worried that by doing so, I'll be getting some "unsubscribing" notices in my email box soon. But deep inside I feel like God wanted me to write this today. Maybe someone really needed to read these words. I have no idea. Maybe I myself needed to read these words and absorb their deeper meaning for me. Whatever it is, I'm going to move forward and hit "publish post" anyways. If my words touched you today, I'm happy! If you feel you want to unsubscribe to my blog after reading them, that's cool too and I understand. In the end, I hope my sharing these words at the very least will cause you to think a little bit, help a little bit, and love....a lot.

Hugs,
Amy

Gracie 2

2010-03-11T09:51:00.000-06:00

First things first....have you ever seen anything so weird as a ground full of snow yet it's raining and thundering?? I'm a little nervous to even be on the computer typing today's post cuz it's lightening so much! Really, really, weird!

Ok, so. It's good to be back. A full week since I last posted. I'm happy to report my mom is doing well after her surgery, but once again, she had us nervous for a while! That woman, she and narcotics DON'T mix! She ended up having another full knee replacement--this would be her second on the same knee in less than 5 years. The first has been giving her fits since she first got it. It was a very difficult surgery for her doctor. I just hope this one works! Since she wasn't ready to go home yet, they transfered her to a rehab facility on Sunday. We are hoping she'll be out by this weekend??? Time will only tell. If she stops torturing the help and eats her meals like a good girl, she must might do it!

So, do you remember me telling you I joined a stamp group? My friend Deb has been in one for a few years and she's been inviting me to join them for a little while now. Since my mojo had been lacking so badly, I felt that it was time for me to do something about it or I would have to start selling all my stuff {GASP!!!}. Joining this group was the answer. I'm finally enjoying stamping again! We meet once a month, and this past Monday was the night we met this month. Our challenge was to make a card using the Acrylic Smash technique. I wouldn't be lying if I told you I was not thrilled about this challenge. I do not like to do complicated techniques (translate: messy) when it comes to making cards. The simpler the better is my motto! Anyway, being the trooper that I am, I gave it my best shot. Suffice it to say, there were many attempts, but crap was all I was managing to create! I started to panic. What the heck was I going to bring for my swap card? Finally, I designed something that wouldn't embarrass me too badly. I made sure that my acrylic smash image was AS SMALL AS I COULD MAKE IT to simply things. Anything bigger and I would have gone bonkers!

Here how my swap card turned out. That little birdie image? My new SU! favorite! I love, love, love it! It's from the Of The Earth set.

We also had a group project Monday night. It was a little photo album that was so adorable and easy. Turns out, that very day, I had some pictures developed of my mom's new kitten whom is being called Gracie. Now, the thing is, this is the second kitty my mom has had who's name is Gracie. About a month ago, my mom's little 7-month old kitty named Gracie died in her arms due to an infection. It turns out, Gracie had no immune system, so she was unable to fight off the infection. My mom was devastated to say the least. Before she went in for surgery last Thursday, she found another orange kitten via a local pet adoption service, although she had never seen her, only pictures via a cell phone. I had to drive over there last Sunday to drop off a down payment so I took some pictures of the new little kitty to bring my mom in the hospital. So, I was really excited to see our group project Monday night was this little photo album! I just added a few puffy letters to the front to spell GRACIE2 (Gracie Squared), and tucked the new photos inside to give to my mom when I saw her Tuesday afternoon. Here's a picture of the new little darlin'.....isn't she sweet?

I wish I wasn't allergic to cats, because I'd have one if I could!

Have a great day everyone!

Hugs,
Amy

Prayers Needed!

2010-03-04T06:05:00.000-06:00

I am off to the hospital to sit with my dad while Mom has knee surgery again. Would greatly appreciate prayers for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery. She has been in pain for a very long time, and we are praying this surgery will end much of her pain.

Will check in tomorrow with a card before I head out for a Crafty Ladies retreat. Can't wait!!

Hugs,

Amy

A Trip Down Memory Lane...

2010-03-01T18:22:00.002-06:00

Today is Hilarious Outtakes Day over at I Heart Faces, so I thought I'd search through all my photos and try and come up with five (yes, you could enter up to five photos for this challenge....usually you can only submit one photo) funny photos that might have gotten snapped through the years.

Now, I'm not sure any of them are what you'd call "hilarious", but they all bring a smile to my face for one reason or another, so I thought I'd share them with you today to see what you thought.

And FYI, I promise this isn't becoming a photography blog....it's just a passion of mine right now. Tomorrow or Wednesday it's back to cards, I promise...

This shot of my two boys was taken almost three years ago! My time flies when you're having fun. I took them out to our church retreat center one beautiful summer day to take some photos, and as usual, they were being very uncooperative, but at least they were having a good time doing it, LOL! I have about a million of these two like this, laughing, laughing, laughing. At one point, I told them to put their heads together (meaning move them together while looking at me) and they looked at each other, bent their heads down and put them together top to top! Smart alecs!

This second shot was taken a few summers ago. It is my eldest son and his two cousins. They were all going to be seniors in the coming school year, so we wanted to do a photo shoot with all of them together (we were at my other nieces grad party, so they were really squirrely). Since all three of them are a bunch of goofballs, they decided to strike the iconic Charlie's Angels pose simultaneously for me--it just makes me laugh!!!

This third picture brings back sweet memories! I look at this picture and think, man, I sure do miss those long summer days, sitting at the baseball fields, hootin' and hollerin' for my son. On this particular day, the boys had just won a tournament championship, and my husband snuck up on them (he was their coach that summer) just as I was taking their picture. My son is the one farthest on the right. Seriously, did I did this kid right or what???? He's still looking directly at the camera, smiling! That's my boy!

And finally, I smile a lot at this shot too-- it makes me giggle when I look at how funny her hair looks when she was dancing up at storm last summer up at COP! She was having such a blast she was oblivious to my taking her picture.
So, that's it today girlfriends. Thanks for sticking with me through today's trip down memory lane. Be sure and come back in the next day or two to see some of the cards I've been creating lately!
Hugs,Amy

Don't Let The Eyes Fool Ya.

2010-02-27T09:16:00.001-06:00

Uh-huh. This is the adorable little face that woke me up this morning at 4:10am by throwing up on my bed sheets and leg! Don't let his beautiful, soulful little eyes fool you, he's a stinker. Thank heavens the Hubster is traveling this weekend, or I would have had to go sleep on the couch for the remainder of the night (morning) since my sheets were covered with the bodily fluids of said dog!

It's been a good week. I managed to work AND get a little bit of crafting done. Gotta love that.

I just adore this paper by Cosmo Cricket paper (Early Bird). I used both sides of the paper (the red polka dot and the floral). The sentiment is from SU! and is called Hard To Say.

I was just watching the horrible news about the earthquake in Chile. It is frightening watching all these natural disasters take place, isn't it? I am amazed that the death toll so far only stands at only 80-something. I'm sure there will be more, but apparently the cities in Chile were built to withstand earthquakes to some degree. The largest one ever recorded was in Chile nearly 50 years ago at over 9.0 on the richter scale. My thoughts and prayers are with them as they begin the search and recovery phase. My prayers will also be with the people of Hawaii as we await word on a possible tsunami hitting them late this morning, as a result of the earthquake in Chile. Apparently, CA might possibly have to be on alert as well!

Please join me in prayer for all these precious people! Let's pray for God's mercy, his comfort and grace as the day moves forward.

Hugs,

Amy

Fix It Friday

2010-02-26T08:47:00.000-06:00

Remember that photography website I told you about the other day? I Heart Faces? Well, today is Fix It Friday, which is where you can edit a photograph they give you in any way you like using your photo editing software. It was such a fun photo today so I decided to play along!

Here is the original shot....

And here is my version, edited using Photshop Elements 7.0!

Doesn't isolating the color to just her dress really make the photo pop??? I love how it turned out! Not only is it fun to participate in challenges like this, it really helps fine-tune your editing skills. I am hoping it gets me more familiar with and proficient in PSE 7.0.

So sorry I don't have a card for you today. I need to get some photos taken of the cards I have managed to make this week....the good news is I've been creating, the bad news is I haven't been photographing anything! Hopefully, since I don't work tomorrow (can I hear a collective YAY! from the audience??), I can craft AND photograph this weekend!

Here's hoping you have a wonderfully joyous weekend to unwind, enjoy your family, and do something creative!

Hugs,
Amy

The Hands Have It

2010-02-23T05:51:00.001-06:00

I was surfing the internet the other day and came across a blog called I Heart Faces Photography. It's a photography site that's dedicated to everything FACES! They hold weekly challenges but this week they switched it up a bit and instead of having us take pictures of faces, they want us to photograph hands instead!

Seeing as I live in a household full of male creatures great and small, my attempt at photographing hands this afternoon did not go as well as I had hoped! Jeepers, can no one work with me here? My hubby was trying, but his staged hand poses were dorky! And Youngest Son's hands were a mess, as he uses them as his daily planner, writing his homework on them so he doesn't forget it! Ahhh, why didn't his parents teach him they actually MAKE daily planners you can write in with a pen or pencil--oh wait, I DID teach him about daily planners--he just decided they don't work and he thinks that writing on his hands works much better for him! Grrrrr.......

So, I had to search through the 10,000 pictures I've already taken to see if I could find some cool ones that contain hands! Here are a few that I found that fit the bill perfectly. I don't think I'll get around to uploading any of them for this weeks challenge, but rest assured, I WILL be participating in future challenges. It is my goal this year to step up my commitment to improving as an amatuer photographer, maybe even taking even further and taking some classes at a local college. That's a stretch, but I tell ya, I'm giving it some serious thought. I love, love, love taking pictures and want to create a future for myself in this field.

So let's get started! This fun b & w shot is of Vinny, the resident dog up at COP (Cathedral of the Pines). He's an absolutely gorgeous golden retriever who loves to fetch his sticks. I'm not sure whose hand this is that I captured ready and willing to play along, but I loved it!

This lip smacking photo was taken at the end of January at Dr. Tom's home. We had

our Christmas party there and we made pizzas in their brick fireplace pizza oven! Yes, they have a pizza oven in their home and it is beautiful! We had such a great time, and the pizzas were delicious! Every couple got to make their own, and as you can see, they had every topping known to mankind for us to use!

Finally, I took this last shot of the chalk board pantry door in Dr. Tom's kitchen because it showcases the important rules the family lives by daily. I think this is my co-worker Jeff's hand pointing at the most important rule of all when you have a household full of four children...OBEY! This wasn't a planned shot, I just got lucky!

I'm glad I got to share with you today some of my favorite photos. I plan on doing this on a weekly basis, since photography is so much a part of of who I am. I feel this is something I really want to pursue in greater capacity!

Have a wonderful day, and don't forget to follow Rule #7...be thankful!

Hugs,
Amy

You're A Star

2010-02-20T06:48:00.000-06:00

Here's a simple card I threw together a few weeks ago, in an attempt to use up scraps and other supplies I have in my stash. I have, like, a million scrapbook chipboard letters that I don't think I'll ever get into an album, so I'll try to use them up on some cards. Truely, nothing special, just something simple and easy. Gotta love that when life is crazy.

It's been a difficult week for me, let's just suffice it to say, I'm getting tired of crazy broadcast executives that make stupid decisions. Broadcast executives that make hiring decisions. This is the first week that I've literally, seriously, questioned my faith and if God is really listening to my prayers. I'm really thinking His promises don't include me. I know, I know, foolish thinking. And I think the rational, intelligent side of me knows that, but boy, have the two of us been having some words this week. Add onto all this working what feels like 24/7, my thinking is irrational at best, LOL. Faith is a journey, and right now, my faith journey is off-course and out-of-whack. He knows it, I've confessed it, and I'm dealing with it. Thank you for your understanding and love in the meantime!

I don't have any time to chat more than I already have. I have to work again this morning, and I need to get my head wrapped around it. I've invited my parents over for a turkey dinner later today, so I've got much to do. And one of these hours I've got to say hello to Eldest Son who got home late last night. I hope I get to see him before tomorrow when he has to go back. That's why my head isn't in the mood to work today. It would be wonderful to spend some time with him instead of working again.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,
Amy

Mustard Seeds

2010-02-17T16:08:00.003-06:00

For as much as you guys love Scrap Stash Saturday cards, I sure didn't hear from many of you after I posted Saturday's card.

That tells me one of two things....

1. you never saw it.

or....

2. you hated it!

I'm holding out that it was because you never saw it, cuz the latter would be a bummer, LOL!

So, moving on.

How's it going? The sun is finally shining here and it's in the 30's! That's like spring weather, folks! Only in MN would you see people breaking out the shorts and tanks in 35 degree weather!

I called in my reservation today for a March Crafty Ladies retreat that my church is putting on. Woo-hoo! I can't wait to get away--never mind that its less than 10 miles from my home, LOL. My friend Lue is coming with me and the both of us are so excited to just get away and craft. Lue lives even closer to the retreat center than I do! But when you're there, it feels like you're a million miles away from all the troubles and woes of your daily life. Can't wait!

The card I'm sharing with you today was the one I made for the stamp group that I am now a part of. My friend and co-worker Deb (hi Deb!) finally convinced me to join, and honestly, I'm glad I did. I figured it would help me get out of the crafting funk I was in and kick start my mojo. The challenge for this swap was that we had to use at least TWO of the following SU! colors...Bravo Burgandy, Pretty In Pink, Sage Shadow (do you see me sticking my finger down my throat in protest), Brocade Blue and Creamy Caramel. Well, if you know me at all, you know that MOST of these colors are like nails on a chalkboard for me, they give me the heeby-geebies! Especially Sage Shadow. So, do you see the colors I ended up using? Bravo Burgandy and Pretty In Pink. Pretty In Pink is the only color I use with any regularity! Oh, I used a tiny bit of Creamy Caramel.

The designer paper is from Basic Grey, and it's a stretch in the color category, that's for sure. The only color that matches is the pink! But I picked it out quickly one day, and so I had to make due. The sentiment is from Unity, and it's the first Unity stamp I've ever owned! I know, I'm behind the times. I don't buy much online and the only store that carries them in my area are over an hour from my house. I really, really love this sentiment, so maybe someday I'll buy a few more Unity Stamp when I get to the St. Cloud area. Can you say ROAD TRIP????

Well, it's time to run. We're heading out for an early bite to eat with my FIL, and then we're off to Ash Wednesday services at church. Son #2 is singing tonight.

Hugs,

Amy

Ugly Scraps Unite!

2010-02-13T06:29:00.003-06:00

Welcome to a Scrap Stash Saturday! Can I just tell you it felt so good to make a Scrap Stash Saturday card? It was almost like I had never stopped doing them, it was that easy for me.

This is not a joke! The papers you just glanced at are REAL and have not been altered in any way! Will you just look at these papers together! Polka dots, school etchings, flowers and quilt squares-you could look through thousands of blogs and NEVER see anyone else attempt to put together papers like these to make a card. I am the only sadist around crazy enough to give it a try!

Before I could start, I had to decide which paper to use as my primary focus. Can you figure out why I chose the quilted paper as my primary? If you look closely, it has the most colors in it that are found on all the other papers. It's got blue, which is the primary color of the polka dot paper. It's got reddish-Burgundy, a strong color on the school paper, and it's got pink, the primary color of the floral paper.

Ok, so where did I end up using all the papers? Well, first off, I used the pink floral paper as a mat under the quilt paper as well as for the heart on the left. The school paper was used to created the scalloped border that the white embossed paper is mounted on, as well as for the center heart. And finally, the polka dot paper was just used for the heart on the right. A pink button was centered on each of the hearts to tie it all together!

So, what do you think? Can you believe that you CAN take all those scraps you have lying around and use them to create something beautiful??? Will you take this challenge with me today? Will you grab a few unlikely characters yourself and put them together on one of your cards? It's not hard if you remember to use one of the papers as your focus and build around that with the remaining papers. If you decide to give it a try, please leave a link to your card in the comment section of this post and I will feature some of them next week! Step out of your comfort zone today and give this a try--you will be so glad you did!

Hugs,

Amy

Is It About That Time?

2010-02-11T08:40:00.003-06:00

I think I should re-name my blog to something pertaining to scraps, 'cuz you, my friends, LOVE when I do scrap cards. I think I must be on to something here, because it really resonates with my readers when I make something using my scraps! I'm thinking everyone's stamping spaces are being overrun by beautiful, annoying little pieces of designer paper that no one knows what to do with! If you're anything like me, it's hard to throw away such beautiful pieces of paper. I guess that's why I make so many scrap cards, hmmmm???? I'm wondering if it's time to do a Scrap Stash Saturday card one of these weekends...for those of you who don't know what Scrap Stash Saturday is, it's when I blindly (yes, my eyes are truly closed) pull out four different scraps from my drawer and try and create a beautiful card with them. Sometimes it works (check out this card, and this card, and this frame), and sometimes....not so much (check out this card that I didn't like so much!). What do you think...do you want a Scrap Stash Saturday card this coming Saturday???? Leave a comment of you want me to! The only catch is, I want some of you to try one too, and then post your link. I'll feature your cards later on next week. Scrap cards are something everyone can do, not just me, so give it some thought and join me, ok?

Well, it's time for me to run. I've got some quiet time left to stamp before I have to get ready for work. I want to make at least a FEW cards before I go. Be sure and let me know if you want a Scrap Stash Saturday card this weekend, ok????

Hugs,

Amy

Mix It Up

2010-02-05T09:32:00.004-06:00

Here's another scrap card for you....I just love giving all these little castoff scrap pieces new life!

I count four different pieces and patterns here, none are made to "go" with each other.

Have you ever given this a try? It's so easy, not as hard as you may think. Just find papers with like colors, and you should be good to go.

If you're feeling particulary brave this weekend, why don't you case this card and make one for yourself?

If you do, be sure to upload a link so I can see it, ok?

Not much going on here this weekend. The hubby travels for a game (to Philly), so that leaves me and Youngest Son home to fend for ourselves

Not that I don't love fending for myself sometimes! I work on Saturday too, and it's looking like it will be a busy day at the clinic. On Sunday, the Cathedral Choir sings with famed recording artist Robert Robinson, and after that, we'll head to UWRF to take Oldest Son out for brunch. He forgot some clothes here over break, so it's best that we get them to him pronto!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Three Hours Gone...like THAT!

2010-02-04T10:19:00.005-06:00

Funny story last night. The hubby and son left about 6pm for church choir and I stayed home to languish in the peacefulness of our humble abode.

On the dining room table sits a very, very, very difficult puzzle that's been sitting there since Christmas break. I bought it so my boys and I could work on it together, you know, sharing some special one-on-one time over the holidays.

Well, Son #2 wasn't interested and/or swayed by the opportunity to hang with Mom, even though he says he loves me dearly. And Son #2 left to go back to college before it was complete. So it was up to me to see if I could finish the crazy puzzle myself. It's based on the book I SPY, and the puzzle has a million, gazillion, bajillion little beads and baubles on it. It has been a slow, piece-by-miserable-piece process figuring out where each piece was supposed to go in the puzzle. Seriously, I kid you not.

So anyways, they leave for church, and I sit down at the puzzle. A bit later, the phone rings and it's Son #2 calling to ask me to go onto the parent portal to check to see if his final grades are posted yet. Once I tell him that no, they are not, I check the time at the bottom of the computer and it says 8:48pm!!!!!!! Say what? It was almost 9 o'clock?!!!! Yikes, I was so in the zone trying to finish the puzzle I completely whittled away nearly three hours of my life! Putting a dang crazy puzzle together! As if I couldn't have been/shouldn't have been in my stamp room instead! That has NEVER happened to me before-I can honestly say I have never, ever completely lost track of time like I did last night! I was/am completely flabbergasted how that happened. Have any of you had something similar happen? I would love to hear about it if you did!

Lucky for you, that's not all I have to share today. Here's a card I made last weekend with my scraps. I've been crazy into card making using nothing but scraps and stuff I have never used before (like scrapbook letters). It feels so good to use up what I have instead of buying new. I just can't justify buying much new stuff since I'm not making cards as much as I did in the past.

And finally, last weekend I was a cooking dervish. I made braised short ribs (delish, from Simply Recipes), Pioneer Woman's buttered rosemary rolls baked in a cast iron skillet (amazing), and last but not least, Pioneer Woman's restaurant style salsa. Let me tell you, the salsa was absolutely delicious, easy, etc! Here's a picture of it once I had in my bowl alongside a few cheesy nacho's. My, oh my, oh my. I think I'm going to go have a bite of it right this very minute. It's almost lunch time, isn't it?????

Hugs,

Amy

Thankful

2010-01-29T08:59:00.003-06:00

Today I'm going to take a cue from a talented woman who's blog I read regularly. Her name is Donna and this is her blog here, called Quiet Life. She is a very unassuming, kind, spiritual woman, and I find myself drawn to her inner beauty, as well as her photography. She started her day out today giving thanks. Don't get me started on my soapbox, but I am finding that I need to DO this for myself, merely for the fact that I can become so ungrateful and pouty so very easily when things aren't going my way. Sometimes I wish I could just slap myself! Enough said. Without further ado, here are the few things I'm thankful for today:

That little fluffy guy above. His name is Copper, and while sometimes he annoys me with his shrill bark or his bad breath, he still brings me great joy every day! Dogs love so unconditionally, don't they?
My job. It helps pay the mortgage, and for that, it's worth it!
Fluffy, warm sweatshirts. It's -6 this morning. Need I say more?
My hair stylist. Cuz she's gonna cut and color my hair today, which is in desperate need.
Fridays. I love the thought of two, consecutive days I can hunker down in the comfort of our home and do nothing if I want to.

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend. I am soooo happy to report I've made about 15 cards over the past two days! Do you know how longs it's been since I've been able to do that? Not because I didn't have the time, but because I didn't have the mojo! So thankful!!!!

Family

2010-01-22T08:18:00.003-06:00

Happy Friday! It's here at last!

I'm happy to report that all went well with Mr. Eric's wisdom teeth, he came through it with flying colors. I can rest easy now that all will be well when he heads back to school this weekend, after a 5 week break!

So what's new in your lives? Are you enjoying a more relaxed way of life now that the holidays are behind us? I can vouch that I sure am glad life is back to normal. There's something about a sense of routine that keeps me calm.

Once Eric heads back, it will be a lot quieter and calmer around here too. I'm amazed at the mess that kid makes everywhere he goes! That's one thing I won't miss when he leaves, LOL! He is starting a new semester, which is a very good thing. While he had a good time first semester (socially), his final grades left much to be desired. He will be on academic probation this semester, unfortunately. I'm surprised I'm as calm about it as I am. I think I'm finally coming to the realization that his motivation (or lack thereof) is his responsibility and not mine anymore. I can provide encouragement and love, but the will to succeed needs to come from within himself. He's going to have to learn to push himself, discipline himself. He knows that if he doesn't bring his grades up to a level acceptable to the university, he will be put on academic suspension. That means he will be living at home next year and going to the community college. Trust me, he does NOT want to stay home and go to the community college!!! He knows the stakes at hand. He knows what he has to do. All I can do from this point on is pray. Have any of you been through this same situation? If so, I would love to hear how you handled it.

Well, I think I'm going to try and get a card made before I head out to shop. The MN Vikings are in the NFC Championship game this weekend, so I want to look for some shirts for the boys. And after that, we are heading to my holiday work party, which in fact is going country skiing, ugh!!! This girl is NOT an avid outdoors person, that is a fact. I had to put out an all points FB bulletin looking for snow pants, etc cuz I just don't have any, even though I live in MN! After the skiing, we will be heading to the home of Dr. Tom, our fearless leader. It will be a fun night. Tomorrow my mom and SIL's are going out for lunch to celebrate my mom's 76th birthday and one of my SIL's 50th birthday! I can't wait to see my mom because she is sooooo sad this week. Her six month old kitty died in her lap this week of a rare illness. She is heartbroken, which breaks my heart. I hope I can cheer her up!!!

Hugs,

Amy

Pray For Wisdom!

2010-01-18T07:20:00.005-06:00

This handsome dude (my son Eric) gets his wisdom teeth removed this morning! They were bothering him and one of them was growing sideways, so out they must come. Please pray for an uneventful surgery and quick recovery. He has to go back to school on Saturday (he's been on Christmas break for weeks), so I am praying there are no complications!

Hugs,

Amy

I want to change blog providers!

2010-01-14T08:58:00.003-06:00

Ok, Blogger is Bugging Me. I am thinking of changing my blog from Blogger to something else. I know there's TypePad, but does anyone know anything about WordPress? Or maybe some other company I've never heard about? I've been gone from blogging for a little while, so you never know what's popped up since I left. Please leave me a comment with your suggestions and tips. In the meanwhile, I'll go do some research.

Hugs,

Amy

A Card and and Update

2010-01-14T08:16:00.006-06:00

As you all know, I'm desperately searching for my missing mojo. And since I can't seem to find it anywhere in my messy office, I am looking to other stampers for divine inspiration instead.

With that said, the inspiration for today's card comes from Nichole Heady, and this card she created recently for Heather Pine's new Papertrey Ink Valentines set called Simple Valentine. It was actually the layout of Nichole's card that inspired me. It screamed "simple" and I {heart} simple cards!

The layout is one layer (bonus), and allows me the chance to dig into my scrap drawer for a little bit of my beloved designer paper. The sympathy verse and the vine image both come from Papertrey's With Sympathy set. The white buttons are vintage, and I'm not sure where the blue buttons are from.

For those of you who read my blog just to find out what's going on in my personal life, I'll share a little bit about that with you today too! Let's start off with the hubby, Doug....

Well, he's still looking for a full-time job. But that's not to say he hasn't been working. He's still working a few hours at the local News/Talk station here in town. This past fall/winter he traveled quite a bit (like every weekend) producing college football games and NFL games. For now, he's done with the football games, as the end of the season is nearing for the NFL, and the college season is already over. He'll be traveling a little bit with the MN Gopher basketball team producing their radio broadcasts for the next few months. And he has been working on a 4 month consulting project for a new internet venture in town here started by a former local TV news anchor (BringMeTheNews.com). That should be done in Feb or so, with a slight possibility it might morph into a full time job. After that, we've got nothing. We're coming to the end of our rope I think. I don't know what will happen next. It's very scary, but God has brought us this far, I can't imagine he would stop providing at this point. I just can't think about it much, to be honest. I am trying to remain optimistic in the face of the unknown. But this has gone on for over two years and we are still alive and kicking. God has been so, so, good to us. But it's easy to get lost in the what-ifs of life and forget that someone besides myself is actually in control. Are any of you control freaks as well? It's easy to forget that I don't have to worry about this or have to steer the ship. Most likely, if He let me, I'd steer us off-course anyways! So, for the time being, we'll continue on and wait for the next step, which I trust will be put before us by God himself. Reminder to self: Let go and let God.

Hugs to all,

Amy

Boo!

2010-01-10T08:31:00.002-06:00

I know it's probably strange to be staring at a Halloween card in the middle of January.

But, true to form, I'm always a day late and a dollar short, LOL. In all honesty, I made this card back in October for a Moxie challenge calling for us to feature a household item on our cards. At the time, I had been using Lisa Johnson's Papertrey Ink On My Couch set quite a bit and I had the bright idea to connect the couch from her set with a Halloween theme.

Such a stretch, but boy, was this a fun card to make! So out of my normal element. I think it was the sentiment that actually spurred this design on.....replacing YOU with BOO?? Come on, admit it, it was pure genius;0). The designer paper is Basic Grey's Eerie line. The BOO letters are foam and are from my scrapbook stash of stuff.

The sad thing was that I never got this card uploaded for the challenge. And of course, since I wasn't blogging, you never saw it here. So that's why you're seeing a Halloween card on my blog in January. Cuz I thought it was cute and I wanted to share it with you! Hope you like it.

Even though I wasn't blogging on my own blog for the past few months, I was visiting other people's blogs. In fact, I sort of got hooked on blogs OTHER than card making ones. I am sort of fascinated by junking blogs, and quilting blogs, cooking blogs, and of course, photography blogs. I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you, just in case you're ready to branch out a bit too.....

1. Picky Palate

2. Lauren's Kitchen

3. Beneath My Heart

4. Better After

5. Get Your Martha On-a new blog I recently found focusing on finding our inner Martha's.

6. Room Remix

7. Artsy Fartsy Junk Finds-lots of great decorating ideas using junk!

8. Funky Junk Interiors-great decorating ideas.

9. Life In Grace-a Christian mom of like, a zillion kids. She looks like she's 20 though. Love her style of writing too.

10. Weekly Gratitude-a new blog I've found dedicated to filling our lives up with gratitude, something I really need to work on.

11. Snapshots of a Good Life-my all time favorite blog, for reasons I cannot really explain. I just love her transparent, REAL style of writing, and her AMAZING photographs. Someday I want to get into her online photography class, which currently has a waiting list of over 1200 people . Her photos are exactly what I strive for with my own. Until I can get in her class (and save up all the money to do so), I'll just keep stalking her blog;0).

12. Quiet Life-this is quiet, peaceful mom devoted to taking beautiful pictures of her absolutely beautiful daughters. She does quite a bit of feature writing for the Pioneer Woman Photography blog.

13. Thrifty Decor Chick-just another fun decorating for less blog

14. Trends & Traditions-a quilt pattern designer from northern MN!

I hope you have fun checking out these blogs today. Have a wonderful, family focused Sunday.

Hugs,

Amy

I did it!

2010-01-08T09:16:00.004-06:00

Well, I did it.

I fought through it and look what I did. I got a card made!!! Woot-woot! This is not saying that it was easy or that I didn't struggle every single minute I sat there, staring at the mess that is my desk. I struggled alot! And I'm not particularly loving this card, but, I'll take what I can get at this stage of the game.

My SIL Jayne is begging for sympathy cards for her gals out in VA, so I knew that when I finally did sit down to create, sympathy cards were first on the docket. To work through my creative block, I first picked out some designer paper that really appealed to me, and what creative person could ever resist a fabulous polka dot paper??? And since I really LOVE my EK Success large scallop punch, I grabbed that and a piece of scrap paper from my drawer and added a beautiful scalloped layer to the front of my card.

Next came the sentiment. I reached for my Papertrey Ink With Sympathy set because it has such fabulous, touching sentiments. I reach for this one often when making sympathy cards. I positioned the sentiment to the upper right hand side of the card. A few well positioned butterflies later, and I had a completed card. Except that the blank upper left side of the card was really bothering me. While I ended up putting in some flowers to fill that space (which is the completed card you see here), I originally had stamped a sentiment that said "Thinking of You" on a separate piece of scrap paper (which I had matted and attached with dimensional tape), but when I looked at it this morning, I noticed that there were some black ink smudges on it and had to remove it. That's the point at which I threw the flowers went on and I called it a day;0). My glass-half-full thought was that I had finished my first card (in a very long time), and I was happy. I had successfully navigated myself through the desert.

Well, I had planned to share another card with you today, one that I made back in October, but I am having trouble with Blogger. When I first started today's post, I uploaded two pics, but it wouldn't let me move the pictures where I wanted them in the text. So I deleted one and tried to upload it again, but then it wouldn't let me upload anything. Not having blogged for so long, I'm not sure if there was changes made to Blogger in my absence, or if today is just a bad day for Blogger. Anybody know?

Well, I am going to try and get another card made before I have to get ready for work. I am still working 5 days a week at the chiropractic clinic, but this week I work Saturday too. No plans for the weekend, other than just hanging out. It will be the first time the hubster's been home for a while (minus Christmas). Remind me to tell you about the funny story about my trip to Atlanta and Birmingham last weekend, OK? No time to do that today.

Hugs,

Amy

Finding That Lost Mojo

2010-01-07T06:42:00.002-06:00

Good morning! First of all, I want to thank all of you SOOOO much for the glorious welcome back you sent me via your touching comments. I was blown away. I seriously didn't think anyone would have still had me in their Google Reader after all this time. But, I'm thinking y'all might know me better than I know myself, LOL. Crafting and creating are two of the things that mean the most to me, and it appears to me that you knew better than I knew myself that I would probably be back someday. You can take away the time a girl has to craft, but you can't take away the desire, for the most part.

Unfortunately, I still haven't made anything. I don't know if this has happened to any of you, but I sit down here in my office, surrounded by all my fun crafting gear, and I freeze. I find ways to fill my time with other things (like surfing the net and/or playing FreeCell, sometimes simultaneously!!!), so I won't have to saddle up to the crafting side of my office and make a card.

I was up early this morning, cleaned up my stamping area so I could at least have a small 6x6 inch space to create a card, and then I sat there. Staring. Waiting. for. the. creative. lightening. to. strike. It never did. So, I'm left here wondering what the heck I'm going to do here on my blog. What the heck I'm going to share if I can't manage creating a card again? And then it occurred to me that maybe I should share my journey toward finding LOST MOJO. I've read enough blogs in my lifetime to know that I'm not the only one with this problem. I think it's a state of mind many of us go through now and again depending on our life circumstances. Maybe my struggles will help someone else out there reading this blog. Could it be????

So think. Think. Think. Think. What the heck can I do to kick-start my mojo? I can surf the blogs-which I already do. And I can tell you, my mojo is too far gone for that to work. I read my favorite blogs everyday, salivating and admiring all the beautiful cards you all are making. But so far, that hasn't helped me cozy on up to my own stamp table. So, next on the list might be getting in touch with SCS again. That IS something I can actively do. Over the last few months, I haven't visited there much at all. I don't know why. But I do know SCS used to be a place where I would venture daily to gain creative insight and inspiration.

So today friends, my goal is to visit SCS again. I will leisurely stroll through all the beautiful cards and find a few that spark more than a passing interest. I will search for those one or two cards that scream "Here I am!!! Aren't I amazing???" And then I will say a silent prayer to God, asking Him to unleash the creative juices that are screaming to get out of my body. And after that, I'll put one foot in front of the other, pick up some favorite designer paper and get to work.

And then I'll share my card with you. Good, bad, or ugly. I promise you I WILL get a card on my blog before end of week. I can't seek perfection right off the bat, can I? I just need to get something on paper to start the wheels turning. If any of you reading this are experiencing your own lack of creative mojo, please visit SCS right along with me today, ok? Then I will know I'm not alone in my struggles!!

Have a super productive day friends!!!

Hugs,

Amy

Comeback???

2010-01-03T15:47:00.002-06:00

To any of you still out there stalking my blog....I'm thinking about trying to make a comeback! Of course, that would mean I would need to start making some cards, or something like that. Or taking some pictures. Either would be acceptable. I am going to try and sit down at my desk right this very minute and try and make some sympathy cards to mail to my sister-in-law. We'll see how the creative mojo is going to take to this new relevation of mine;0). It might cooperate if I sooth it just right, or, it might rebel and shut me down. Time will only tell, I guess, right? Wish me luck.

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! I think this year is going to be a great one!

Hugs,

Amy

To Everything There Is A Season

2009-09-18T10:35:00.006-05:00

To Everything There Is a Season- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal ...a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance ...a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;a time to lose and a time to seek; a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

This post has been a long time coming, and it's only now that I feel I am ready to type the words that I've been feeling in my heart for a while now. Since it won't ever be easy saying them, I might as well just blurt them out right away....

I'm shutting down Heartfelt Greetings. Could be for a while. Could even be forever.

I've finally come to the conclusion that I am entering a different season in my life. A season of change. A season for figuring out what my purpose here on earth is going to be in the next decade. I guess only One Person truly knows what that purpose is going to be. But, I guess it's my job to step aside, quiet myself down and listen for His whispers. Truly listen for His direction. My life has been so noisy for the past few years that I haven't been able to hear anything other than my own wailing, if truth be told.

This season of change has literally drained me of every ounce of creative mojo that I have ever possessed and trying to create cards for my blog without this precious mojo is a lesson in futility! It's frustrating and really makes me sad, because I get great personal satisfaction doing what I do. When I don't have cards to share with you, I feel guilty and that's not healthy. The emotional toll these past few years have played on me is great, and I have a feeling that's the big reason why I can't create very easily anymore.

So, it's time for me to close the chapter on Heartfelt Greetings. It makes me sad, but it's really something I feel I need to do. I had such a blast blogging, though--please know that! I have met such WONDERFUL women doing it! You all made me the stamper I am today-so, congratulations. You have inspired me greatly! I still plan getting into my stamp studio as much as I can, if the creative mojo ever decides to return. In the meanwhile, I would appreciate your prayers. It's hard to quit doing something you love. I will miss you all so, so much. Your encouragement over the past two years has meant a great deal to me!

If you ever want to reach me, please feel free to email me at heartfeltgreetings@frontiernet.net. I would love to hear from old friends. In the meanwhile, I will definitely be checking in on all of your blogs for inspiration, and leaving you comments!

Much love and hugs,
Amy

D-Day Has Come & Gone

2009-08-30T11:00:00.002-05:00

We did it!!! We successfully got Eldest Son off to college with only a few teardrops falling from my eyes! In fact, I think Hubby and I shed about the same amount, lol. The day went really well. The school was SOOOO organized in the whole unloading process, it was wonderful. They had lots of established students in orange t-shirts helping unload belongings and answering overprotective parent questions! Eric was so excited to get there and start his new journey as a college freshman. I thought you might like to take a peek into our day yesterday....my neighbor Lori came over before we left to snap this shot of our family about to embark on the big day. I love the shot of the four of us together! This is a shot of the big welcome sign in the University Center window welcoming all the students for the new year. The only time I cried yesterday was when we were driving into the campus area for the first time when I saw a big WELCOME TO THE U of WI RIVER FALLS sign hanging across the street....it really hit home at that moment that this was the real deal. I was dropping off my son at a strange place to live with a strange new person and I couldn't do anything about it. Youngest Son kept trying to make me laugh so I would stop crying. I think he was worried I was going to hit one of the new students crossing the street!

Here are four men (boys) trying to figure out how to loft the beds in Eldest Son's new dorm room....I just stayed out of it and kept my mouth shut.

Here's a shot of the dorm Eldest Son will be living in for the next nine months.....

And here was all of his stuff unloaded to a temporary holding area.....all of his life belongings in one little pile on the grass....it took an army of 4 guys to get it all up to the 4th floor, where Eldest Son's dorm room is! Thank heavens it was 65 and breezy--it was gorgeous!!! Perfect for moving in...can't imagine if it would have been 100 and muggy!

Well, thanks for all the support you showered on me this week--your sweet stories and hugs were just what I needed to get through it. I am so happy it's over and now we can move on and enjoy this new journey with Eldest Son.

Hugs,

Amy

Welcome, Little One and More

2009-08-27T06:24:00.004-05:00

There's a group of cards I have the most difficult time making, and that's baby cards. When I sit down to make one, I am absolutely inspired-less, don't ask me why. Maybe it's because I don't like the papers out there for babies???? Maybe it's because I don't have any "baby" type stamps? Maybe it's because I don't have any babies in my life right now and don't have anyone specific in mind when I make one???? Who the heck knows. But I was thrilled when I managed to squeak this card out last weekend! I even broke out an oldie-but-goodie stamp set from SU too. Just doing my part to help the "green" movement that's so popular these days.....using a "must-must-must-must have stamp set more than once...!

The stamped image in the lower right corner is actually mounted on the inside of the card on the pink polka dot paper. I used a square punch to punch out a square (novel idea, I know) and then mounted the stamped image right in the middle of it on the inside. I'm gettin' fancy in my old age, aren't I?

I also wanted to share a little photoshop'd image I created earlier this week for my youngest son....remember how I shared in my last post about how he has been having a rough summer???? I finally uploaded this photo that I took a few weeks ago when we were ALL having a rough day, and decided that it would look great with an inspirational quote on it, one that lifts him up. He was actually sitting on the rocks next to the St. Croix River in Hastings, MN watching a train cross a bridge.

But he looks so solitary and a little lonely, doesn't he? I think it's a powerful picture, very emotional. It definitely tugs the heart strings, at least for me. I am hoping if you click your mouse on top of the picture it will enlarge for you so you can see it better. The quote says, "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is STRENGTH."

Two more days til D-day. Departure Day. We are all experiencing such a range of emotions here that if one of us looks at the other wrong, we snap. I think each of us just wants the day HERE. NOW. Let's get the ball rolling. Nothing is holding us back but time now. We're ready. Well, I don't think we're "ready" in the "everything's packed" sense of the word, but we're ready emotionally, at least for the actual move. But for the thought of having my first born actually leave home? I'm not sure I'll get my head around that emotionally for a while. I have to be honest and tell you I am sooooooo worried. About everything. Worried that College-Freshman Son is not going to be able to get by without his mom telling him what to do at every juncture. Worried that he won't be able to handle the workload. Worried that his roommate is going to be a crazy druggie who doesn't do anything but party. Worried that College-Freshman Son is going to party. Worried that he won't have any friends. Worried that he is secretly thrilled to be getting out of the house and leaving us. Worried that he'll never come back home.

I know, all irrational fears. I realize we've laid the best foundation for him that we could, and now it's his turn to draw on that foundation to build his new life. We've controlled his life long enough. Now it's his turn to control his own life. And I know he thinks he can do a better job of it than we can (don't they all at this age?). But can he really? I can only pray that what we've given him is enough. He now has to draw on his inner strength and do it himself, with us on the outside ready and willing to help him if he needs it. It's that crazy loss of control that is driving me batty. How did the rest of you moms with college kids give up that control that you've had on their lives for so long? I guess I was more of a control freak than I ever thought I was. Although I secretly think ALL moms are control freaks, because nothing would ever get done if we weren't!

My tummy is in a constant state of upset just thinking about it all the time. I just want the day to be HERE. I want this new chapter in our lives to begin so I can stop worrying. I guess I need to reread the chapter in Matthew (6:25-34) that talks about the fruitlessness of worrying. Verse :34 sums up the chapter the best.....So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.

Amen.

Hugs,

Amy

Hey there, Chickadee

2009-08-22T07:09:00.003-05:00

Morning everyone! I'm skipping out on Scrap Stash Saturday today...no time to blindly dig into my scrap stash lately, so you're getting a "normal" card today instead.

Still loving all my new PTI stamps that I received a few weeks ago (it's probably been more than that, but time means nothing to me these days as it's passing by much too quickly).

This card was made with a set called Everyday Button Bits. It's designed so you can add a button to the image to complete it, such as I did with the little birds here. I chose to add the eyes myself, because I thought the birds looked a little weird without eyes! In hindsight, I should have "grounded" the birds too (if I wanted to be politically correct the the stamping world), but quite honestly, I didn't think about that until just now. Maybe I'll go back and add some "grass" just to make it look a bit better later today. Isn't that gathered ribbon scrumptious? I got a few yards of it at Archivers a while ago. It stretches and it's gingham. Couldn't be any cuter.

Well, life around here has been crazy to say the least. I've been hearing from a few people that they miss my ramblings...in fact, they don't even care about my cards, they just want to know how I'm doing! That makes me laugh. Must mean my design skills are slipping.....!

To be honest, I'm just ok. Not great, not horrible. Well, some days have been horrible, but I'll spare you the ugly details of those days, lol! Doug has still not found a full time job, but for most of the summer, he has worked full time at WCCO-AM. Filling in a position caused by a termination. He's up at 345am every morning and works till at least 1pm. In the fall, he will start traveling again producing radio broadcasts for different NFL and college football games across the country. He'll be gone nearly every weekend from Sept through Dec. That sort of sucks, but, hey, you take what you can get, uh???!!!!

Exactly one week from today, we pack up Eldest Son and make the "dreaded" (for Mom that is) journey to college. He will be a first-year freshman at the University of Wisconsin/River Falls. It's a great school, and is just less than an one hour away from our home. For that I'm so thankful!!! His new roommate is from Baraboo, WI, and they have not met each other in person yet. They've talked over FB some, but that's about it. One of my son's very good friends is also going to UWRF as well as my niece, so let me say it again, I'm thankful!!! It really helps knowing he will know at least a FEW people going in.

While I'm thrilled for this new journey he's about to embark on, I will miss him so much! Sending a child to college doesn't only affect the child. Let me make that perfectly clear! It affects everyone, from mom and dad to annoying little siblings. Youngest Son is definitely going to miss his "loser" brother. He's even said so out loud--which touches my heart. The dynamics of our home will change. Much to Youngest Son's chagrin, he is not looking forward to being the only one that has to " _____________" (insert any number of appropriate chores, such as "take out the garbage", "fetch some paper towels", "unload the dishwasher", "load the dishwasher", etc, etc, etc.). In fact, I secretly think he's having nightmares about all the work he's going to have to do once Eldest Brother flies the coop. Come to think of it, maybe that's why he told his brother he's going to miss him. It's not, after all, because he loves him (like I foolishly thought it was), but it's because he's going to be stuck at our every beck and call 24/7! Poor guy.

Besides dealing with all the emotions and what not of Eldest Son leaving for college, I've had to deal with what's turned out to be an extremely rough summer for Youngest Son as well. Being 15 brings with it not only the privilege of being able to take Drivers Training (which, by the way, Youngest Son has not done yet), but also the privilege of learning some really tough life lessons, ones he'd probably wished, in hindsight, that he hadn't had to learn at such a young age. Who said teenage boys were easier to deal with than teenage girls??? Someone who obviously never raised any, that's who!!! I have to keep on telling myself (so I don't go jump off a cliff somewhere), that it's a privilege to help them through their turmoils, and how blessed I am to be their mom. Seriously. I kid you not. There were a few days recently that I seriously wanted to run away from everything. Problem was, I didn't have anywhere to run, so I came back home to face the music. I thought about getting drunk or stoned, but I don't partake in those vices either, so my only choice was to whisper a silent prayer to God and suck it up. I'm just being honest with ya. I know many of you out there handle your kids troubles with grace, dignity and reason, and God bless you for that! But if you do, I'm convinced you only have young children and haven't had to deal with the dreaded teenage hormones yet--just kidding! I know that being a mom is hard at any age, hormones or not.

So, that my friends, is my summer in a nutshell. What I'm doing and how I'm feeling. I am going to milk this next week for all it's worth--my last few days with my Eldest Son under our roof. Tonight we're going out to a drive-in diner in St. Paul called Dari-ettes (or something like that). We love to go as a family in search of great little eating establishments, and this place was featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives on the Food Network! Before that, I'm going to take Eldest Son out to pick up a few last minute dorm room things, and Dad and Youngest Son are doing a little work at the new MN Gopher football stadium! It's beautiful!

Have a great day. I'll try to touch base sometime again this week to let you know how things are going.

Hugs,
Amy

A Change of Plans...Slightly

2009-08-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

I've abandoned the Lemonade Collection today.

Only because I made this cute card with Crate Paper a few days ago and I love how it turned out. I figured if I loved it, you might too. Very presumptious, I realize, but a girls gotta try, right?

Isn't it cute? Look at that adorable polka dot chair from Lisa Johnson's On My Couch (Additions) set from Papertrey Ink! Ack--now I want a blue polka dot chair in my house too!

Well, the paper was the catalyst for all the funky colors in this living room. The blue chair, the red rug, and the multi colored heart frames on the wall....can you stand it? Actually, I created these particular wall hangings myself with a few different punches (square and heart). I outlined them all with a brand new gold Uni-ball gel pen (be still my aching heart...I *love* Uni-ball gel pens, especially my white gel pen!!!!)!

I could live in a room that looked like this, couldn't you? My guess is that the majority of you are shaking your head "no" at this very moment, aren't you? Actually, I don't think I could either. Ya wanna know why? Because the walls are WHITE, and I don't like white walls, LOL!!! Color all the way, baby! Bring it on!

Hope you loved seeing all the different cards this week that you can make using Lisa Johnson's new On My Couch stamp set by Papertrey Ink. I had a ball making them, and I hope you had a ball seeing all of them!

Hugs,

Amy

Lemons are Lovely/Couches are Comfy

2009-08-13T06:00:00.001-05:00

I picked up a little gift for someone very special recently, and thought it would be fun to decorate a little kraft bag to put the gift in. And, of course, I thought it would be extra fun to decorate the little bag with Basic Grey's Lemonade line and Lisa Johnson's On My Couch stamp set by Papertrey Ink! Surprise, surprise!

I started by using my SU polka dot background stamp to stamp pink polka dots all over the bag. Then I used Lisa's couch outline to stamp onto a piece of BG paper. I cut it out, colored it a bit with my Copic markers to give it some depth, and then mounted it on the bag using dimensional tap. I used just a little bit more BG paper down at the bottom of the bag for some extra color, and then stamped a fitting sentiment on the bag, just underneath the couch.

Overall, I love how the bag turned out. Too bad the sweeet little gift is dwarfed in size by the bag.

Hopefully she'll be able to find those tiny earrings in there.....

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Amy

Lemons and Couches, Oh My!!!

2009-08-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

Now, I have to be totally honest and tell you that this card is not an original design!!! Nope, it was inspired by the amazing Debbie Olson, a stamper I've long admired. Typically, I don't blog cards that I've cased, but this particular card was an exception, I must say.

Can you stand how cute it is? And what makes it cute is not ME, but the PAPER!! Basic Grey Lemonade collection. The chairs, uber adorable, are actually cut out from papers by Bo Bunny (the chair on the left...BLUSH DOT), and Piggytales (the chair on the right, Cinderella Collection). Can you believe how simple this card is, but how amazingly impactful it is at the same time? I've decided I want a pink and green chair in my living room. It might be a tough sell with the hubby, but maybe if I cry and pout long enough and loud enough, he'll eventually break down in surrender!

Besides couches, Lisa's On My Couch set includes some chairs too. And some pillows, and some pictures, and some coffee cups, and some books, etc! She thought of everything, seriously. I think she needs to have another add-on set though, next time, that includes an ottoman, and a bowl of popcorn, and some balls of yarn and knitting needles, and a book that can sit on the arm of the chair, and a clock, and.....Lisa...are you reading this? Nudge, nudge...write these ideas down if you are!!!!

Hugs,

Amy

Mildly Tart Lemonade and a Comfy Couch

2009-08-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Now you probably thinking, why is Amy so obsessed with this crazy lemonade line and those silly couches and chairs?

I can't exactly put into words WHY I love these two products so much right now other than they both make me feel happy! Colorful fun paper has always had an effect on me, and as far as the stamps? I don't know, I just find them so simple to use...I don't have to think alot about how to get started with them...they sort of speak for themselves. And the couches and chairs represent all that I love and strive for in my own home....comfort and coziness. I have my own great big comfy chair and ottoman in my livingroom that I often fall into at the end of a very long day. You won't find anything fussy when you walk into my home. Everything is meant to be sat on and lived in. That's what Lisa's couches say to me. And the sentiments she included in her set are so real...nothing corny or canned (ok, so maybe "I
chair-ish your friendship" is a little corny and canned!). Her sentiments are really part of our everyday vocabulary....let's get together....time to relax.....let's chat!....it's time for some girl talk....see what I mean? Real words for real people. That's what I am. No fuss, all comfort. Just real. At least I try to be;)!

So there. I hope you now have a clearer idea about why I love Lisa's On My Couch set so much. It's just so easy to play with! I hope maybe someday you get a chance to play with it too!

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Amy

Lots of Lemonade On My Couch

2009-08-10T06:00:00.002-05:00

Are you puzzled about the title of my post today? I bet you're thinking that I'm going to tell you that instead of blogging the past few weeks I decided to sit on my couch and drink lots of lemonade instead, aren't you?

As much as I'd like to admit that's all the better I have to do during the day, I'm afraid it just ain't so! This girl cruises in and out of every day at warp speed! No time to clean the house let alone make a pitcher of lemonade to sip sweetly on the couch......

No, my title today has more to do with the new Basic Grey paper that's all the rage with cardmakers right now, AND with the new Papertrey Ink stamp set designed by the beautiful Lisa Johnson (Poppy Paperie). I'm obsessed with both of these things at the moment, so I thought I'd feature a card everyday this week that I lovingly made with Lemonade and On My Couch. {{{{Squeeeeeal}}}}}!!! Can you believe it? You're going to get 5, maybe SIX cards out of me this week! Woo-hoo, give it up for me!!!!

Can't wait a single minute longer? Ready....Set.....GO!!!!!!

I can't stand how adorable every pattern in the Basic Grey Lemonade line is! Whoever designed this over there sure must be rakin' in the dough right about now. It's wildly popular, and can't you see why? Pinks, aquas, greens, and yellows, flowers and cherries! Spectacular!

And when combined with Lisa's little couches, it's cuteness quotiant is off the charts!

In Lisa's set, there are numerous options for couches that allow you to stamp either a couch pattern with different color inks, OR, stamp a couch outline on designer paper for paper piecing. For this particular couch, I used Pink Passion ink along with one of Lisa's patterned couch stamps. Then I cut it out and adhered it to my cardstock using some dimensional tape.

Now, before you go thinking the owl is part of the On My Couch stamp set, get ahold of yourself. It's not. Whoa....Nelly. Putting that special little guy on the couch was the brilliant idea of my stamping partner-in-crime, Lue. We were at her cabin stamping last weekend and I was using the owl paper for something else. She thought it would look adorable cut out and positioned on the couch. What a genius. And combined with that adorable sentiment...I mean, come on---can it be any cuter?????? I think not (ok, so maybe that's a subjective question depending on what you think is cute or not, but in my honest opinion-- it can't get much cuter than this!).

I hope you're as jazzed to see my Lemonade Couch Cards this week as I am to share them with you. Be sure to stop by tomorrow so you can see what else I've managed to create using these two amazing products!

Hugs,

Amy

Scrap Stash Saturday

2009-07-25T08:34:00.003-05:00

I don't feel like my photos do today's Scrap Stash Saturday card justice, cuz it is really cute in real life! My camera is about to make it's first journey to the Nikon Camera Hospital and I'm sick about it!

I must be honest and tell you that the papers for todays challenge sucked! Excuse the french. But it's true. Bold, brown flower like shapes (from Webster's Pages), some light pink and lime green polka dot baby paper, and the only sane one of the bunch, a plain, coral distressed paper. It took me a few days to come up with the final design. You can't really tell from this photo how ugly the papers are together!

Even though it took a while, I really love how the card turned out! I used Lisa Johnson's newest stamp set from PTI called On My Couch. I love the little vingette I could create using all of the amazing stamps Lisa included in her set. Pillows, cats, coffee cups, wall pictures, etc. She didn't forget a thing. I think her stamps are what saved this card from the garbage can;0)!

Just so you know, I used the bold, brown flower type paper as the bottom mat cuz it's SOOOO loud and I wanted to hide as much of it as I could, then the pink polka dot paper (which was really hard to photograph because it's such a light pink) on top of that. The coral paper was used as scallops on the pink paper and in the chair. There is a pillow on the chair that is stamped from the loud, brown, flower paper. In small amounts it's fine! In big amounts, ahhh, not so much.

Hope you like today's Scrap Stash Saturday card! I am so happy to have started this challenge again...it's fun to create something out of seemingly impossible papers! I encourage all of you to give it a try sometime with those scraps you have laying around your stamp room. If I can do it, you can too.

Have a great weekend. We are off on a family road trip.

Hugs,

Amy

Berry Much.

2009-07-23T08:18:00.003-05:00

Once in a while, it's fun to take out old images and see what new things you can create with them.

This card was made with an oldy from PTI (by the way, for those of you not familiar with PTI, it stands for Papertrey Ink, the stamp company headed by Nichole Heady) called Green Thumb. It had this sweet strawberry image in the set that I thought would be fabulous stamped in pink and then paired with all these fun papers, most of which had pink in them too.

The bottom paper, as you can tell, was blue and I'm sure you're wondering why the heck I put blue on this card, aren't you? Well, I felt that it really broke up all the pink from the other papers and ribbon that I used. It adds a fresh, unexpected twist to the card that you might not expect to see. You can't see it in this picture, but I also put diamond glaze all over the actual berry part of the strawberry to make it look a bit more realistic.

Yesterday my new stamps from PTI arrived! I can't wait to get some fun cards stamped up using Lisa Johnson's newest set called On My Couch. Oh boy, did Lisa outdo herself on these newest stamps! Hope to have some cards to show you soon!

Hugs,
Amy

Jessica Sprague Rocks!

2009-07-19T20:42:00.003-05:00

Look what I made in the Jessica Sprague Photo Editing online class I am taking! Jessica recently celebrated her 2nd year of blogging and helping people get more out of their photographs. To celebrate she gave away this free online class to anyone who signed up. I have to say, it was FABULOUS! It was two weeks long and it was filled with amazing tutorials on how to use Photoshop better. I can't tell you how much I learned! I CAN tell you that I will be taking more of her classes in the future. I thought I knew enough about my Photoshop Elements, but what I knew barely scratched the surface. A big thank you to Jessica for her generosity!

The handsome young man in this collage is the son of my boss; Dr. Tom, who is the chiropracter/owner of the clinic I work at. All the pictures were taken at the parade we were in last weekend. Little Will is adorable, and as you can tell, I couldn't get enough of him--he was so much fun to photograph! I am psyched I can make collages now! Be sure and head over to JessicaSprague.com today to sign up for one of her many scrapbooking/photo editing classes. You will not be sorry!

Scrap Stash Saturday

2009-07-18T14:00:00.010-05:00

A few weeks ago I was bored making cards and decided that I wanted to make something other than a card for a change. I wanted to offer something a little different to my customers besides cards, so I thought I'd make some tags that can be put on a bottle of wine that is being given to someone as a gift. A wine tag if you will, lol!

Here are the first two I made....quite scrappy, aren't they? Although they don't qualify as Scrap Stash Saturday card (because they don't contain three or more scraps), they are made completely with scrap paper, just not that many (and I didn't blindly pick out the paper either) all at once!

The first tag is for someone celebrating an anniversary. The big rectangle underneath the heart is in actuality a piece of fabric that I purchased recently that I absolutely love! I'm on a polka dot craze lately, which you can tell by the three papers I chose for the tag. The button is vintage flea market.

The second wine tag is for someone just moving into a new home! I cut a sweet little scrap of paper with my pinking shears, and then I added a few more vintage buttons right down the center of the tag. I found the trim at a fabulous little store near me that I was shopping at a few weeks ago. Same place I bought the fabric in the Anniversary wine tag, actually!

So, are you wondering about my card for Scrap Stash Saturday? I'm sure you are beginning to figure out that instead of a card for SSS I made a wine tag instead! Genius!

I did actually take a picture of the three papers I blindly picked out of my scrap drawer, but somehow I must have deleted it in my PSE organizer;(. So, you'll just have to trust me when I say there are three mismatched papers on this tag.....the first is the most obvious paper, the burgandy and gold striped. The second paper was a distressed orange paper, which is the paper all along the outside of the tag, cut with pinking shears (and the flower too). The third paper was a teal/aqua color with some orange and white flowers. I used that to make the die cut leaves for the flower, a strip underneath the flower, and I also used it in the center of the flower as well. Since there was already so much gold/orange from the other two papers, I used aqua foam letters to bring out the teal/aqua paper. After all the flowers/letters were on the tag, it still needed a little somethin-somethin, so I added the white pom-pom trim at the bottom. That helped alot!

Well, I hoped you enjoyed coming here today and seeing something a little out of the ordinary! It's nice to try something new for a change. I worked 6 days this week, including this morning, so tonight and tomorrow I plan on relaxing a bit. It's SOOOOO cold here, so no laying out in the sun (not that I do that anyways). It might be a good day to stamp.....!!!!

Hugs,

Friends

2009-07-16T09:01:00.002-05:00

Um, who stole 10 days from me just now?

I could have sworn I just blogged a few days ago! But according to my post log, it's been since July 6th since I last wrote. So much for good intentions.

Since then, I've marched in a parade (the Lakeville Pan-a-Prog parade) with the folks from my office, and celebrated the 18th birthday of my oldest son! Wow! We've successfully raised him to adulthood! Woo-hoo! Now it's his turn to continue the journey. I wish him all the best, he's such a terrific kid.

I don't remember exactly when, but over the past 10 days, I did manage to create a few cards, and then actually get a photo or two taken of them. One of my favorite PTI sets is called Friends and is the one I used on today's card. It makes it so simple to create a beautiful card. You can stamp it alone on a piece of cardstock in fun colors, or, you can stamp it on designer paper and paper piece it. I utilized both techniques on this card. Isn't it fun and bright and happy looking?

So what's new with all of you? Are you having a great summer? Is anyone getting some stamping done? It's so hard to stamp in the summer time, isn't it? We've been enjoying many meals out on our deck in the early evening. Last night we had some pasta out there and sang Happy Birthday to our son one day late. On his actual birthday (Tuesday), he was with friends all day and we didn't have any time together to celebrate. We are also wrapping up baseball season.....last night was our first playoff game and the boys won, yea! Doug's been working every day at WCCO-AM for the past two months, filling in for someone that lost their job. He has to get up at 345am to be at the station for the start of the morning show (5a). While it's a job, and we are blessed he's working part time, he's highly, highly over qualified for what he's doing, and it's driving him crazy! The bad part of working that early in the morning is that you have to go to bed so early in the evening. It's been an adjustment for me because I always went to bed early and then read for a while before sleeping. Now I can't do that anymore because he's already in there sleeping by the time I would normally go to bed. He works a later shift today so I got to read my precious magazine in bed last night like old days, woo-hoo!

Well, I hope you are having a great day. I will be back for Scrap Stash Saturday this week. Last weekend I missed it because I had to work all day. Be ready for something different!

Hugs,
Amy

A Card and Some Cheesecake

2009-07-06T20:25:00.005-05:00

Afternoon! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday weekend. We sure did. We got to see a movie (Proposal--SOOOO funny), play bean bags and munch on grilled pizza with friends (hi Deb!), celebrate my husband's birthday (on the 4th) with special friends and family (and eat ribs, chicken and shrimp, yum), watch fireworks, and then spend all of Sunday recovering from the fun we had. Seriously, what wasn't to love about our weekend?

Many of you expressed an interest in the dessert I made for my hubby's birthday, Keylime Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce. So, today, I'm going to share the recipe with you! I'll put the recipe at the end of today's post, ok? Honestly, it's the best cheesecake ever. Especially for the summertime. If you make it, be sure and let me know how it turns out for you!

So, ya'all know I'm into quick and easy these days right. Forget the layers, forget the sewing (for the most part, although I love to sew on my cards and am trying to add it more again), forget about seeing anything over the top here like I used to do. Today's card is the epitomy of that. One little layer and that's it. But, for some reason, I love how it turned out! Maybe what I really love is the paper????? It's from Cosmo Cricket (Snorkle line). And I've had that little ladybug in my embellishment collection for a long time and thought I'd just throw it on the card too, just because. The sentiment and lady bug have no connection whatsoever, I just liked it and wanted to use it;0)!

Ok, so it's time for the recipe....here you go! Have a great day and we'll see you Saturday here for another round of Scrap Stash Saturday!

Key Lime Cheesecake w/Raspberry Sauce

For Crust:

1 cup cookie crumbs

(I used Nilla Wafers)

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Combine cookie crumbs with butter and press into a 9" springform pan.

For Filling:

1 3/4 lb cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 limes to extract 1 tbsp zest and 1/4 cup juice

(I used a whole bag of key limes this time, which delivered exactly 1/4 juice--they don't come in a very big bag!!!)

10 oz. frozen raspberries, thawed

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/3 cup red raspberry or current jelly

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat cheese in a bowl until smooth. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time until smooth. Add juice and zest from lime. Pour mixture into crust. Bake 55-65 minutes or until edges are somewhat firm and center jiggles slightly when pan is moved. Turn off oven and let cheesecake stand in oven for 30 minutes with door open. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes. Remove sides of pan and cool to room temp. on wire rack. Refrigerate overnight.

For Sauce:

Drain raspberries, reserving syrup. Add water to syrup to make 3/4 cup. Combine syrup mixture and cornstarch in saucepan and mix well. Add jelly and simmer over medium heat 4-5 minutes, stirring until thickened and clear. Stir in raspberries (I threw in some fresh raspberries too!).

Cut cheesecake into individual servings and top with raspberry sauce.

Enjoy!

Hugs,

Amy

Scrap Stash Saturday Returns!

2009-07-04T11:07:00.008-05:00

Happy 4th of July! God Bless the USA.....

Hope all of you stateside have a glorious day of celebration. It's two-fold for us; the birthday of our country and the birthday of my hubby! Unfortunately, the sun isn't shining today. Isn't it always supposed to shine on the 4th of July????!!!!! I am hoping that by this afternoon the cloud cover will have blown over.

Yesterday, we went out with our friends to see the movie Proposal. Have you seen it yet???? I thought it was hysterical....I love Sandra Bullock. And whoever her "guy" was, he was adorable too;0)! After the movie, we went over to Deb & Matt's for some delicious grilled pizzas and a few rousing games of bean bags!

Today, we are having our great friends over, Sue & Mike, as well as Doug's Dad. We always celebrate the 4th with them. This year the festivities are at our house. We're having ribs (hubby's favorite), shrimp, and some chicken for those who don't like ribs or shrimp. Some grilled potatoes, fruit salad will round out the menu. For dessert, I am making my famous Key Lime Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce. Mmm, mmmm, good. Throughout Doug's growing up years, his mom always made him Key Lime Pie for his "birthday cake". Unfortunately, more times than not, the hot, humid weather ruined the meringue on the pie (it would separate). To try to keep the tradition alive, I found this amazing recipe for Key Lime Cheesecake, and decided to make that instead. I got the cheesecake finished a few hours ago and it looks divine!

As promised, it's the re-birth of my Scrap Stash Saturday feature as well today, one which many of you pleaded that I start again. I thought it was a perfect way to get me back into stamping again, so here goes! With one caveat though....I only used three different papers. Using four sounded too overwhelming to me:)

.....so, here are the three papers I pulled out of my scrap drawer (remember, I close my eyes when I pull the papers out). I kid you not....I pulled a 4th of July paper out!!!! Ha! The stamping gods were looking out for me yesterday! Unfortunately, I also pulled out a Christmas paper (turnaround is fair play I guess), and a Basic Grey quilt type pattern. None of them are what you would consider "coordinating", are they?

Well, I knew that with the papers I pulled I needed to put together a 4th of July card for my hubby....and so here's what I came up with...what do you think? Since I haven't been able to make anything much of substance lately, I was pleased with how this turned out! I forgot how much fun this sort of challenge really is!

First off, I used the BG paper to mat the Christmas paper, and then I matted the 4th of July paper with some Riding Hood Red cardstock. The star is punched out of the BG paper, and I matted the star with the Christmas paper as well. The botton and thread gives the card a completed look.

Such fun to be back creating again. I owe it all to you guys!

Big hugs coming out to you. Have a wonderful 4th!

Hugs,
Amy

A Quick Recap of June!

2009-07-03T08:02:00.007-05:00

Warning: LONG POST WITH TONS OF PICTURES!

Happy Friday! Happy 3rd of July!

First of all, a BIG HUMONGOUS hug to all of you for such sweet comments about my last post. Seriously, I was thrilled to see that you were all still hanging around even though my blog has been pretty quiet over the past months. You'll be happy to know that because of YOU GUYS, I've been inspired to start up again....with SCRAP STASH Saturdays! Many of you mentioned how that feature used to be one of your favorites here at Heartfelt Greetings, and I thought that it was a great way for me to get back into the swing of things making cards and blogging again! So, be sure and stop back again tomorrow for my first Scrap Stash Saturday card in a very, very long time! I actually got it made this morning, and it's a perfect one to kick off the July 4th celebrations tomorrow....

Until then, I thought you might like to see what I've spent my time doing the whole month of June, starting with our son's Graduation Open House, which was the very first weekend of June....

First of all, let me tell you that it turned out to be the stinkiest, coldest, ugliest weekend! Up until our party, it had been pretty nice....no rain, sun, warmth. But on Saturday of that weekend, it was rainy and freezing! It poured and poured and poured, and it was under 50 degrees! I felt terrible for all the open houses (not to mention weddings) that were scheduled for that day. We went to one open house that I literally froze my patootie off standing in the garage socializing! The good news was, it didn't keep the people away, but it sure made for a miserable afternoon! Thank heavens our open house was the next day. And while it wasn't nice for our party, it wasn't raining and it was a tish warmer than the day before. Here are a few pictures. I was planning on having our party in the backyard, but because of the rain, that made it impossible. And since I don't live in a McMansion, we opted for the garage, and then set up the tent over the driveway directly in front of the garage. You just do what you gotta do, right? By that point, I didn't care anymore. All in all, the day was a success. We had a taco bar with all the fixin's, mixed fruit, nacho cheese and chips (A HUGE HIT!!!), and cookies with "Eric '09" written on them. Oh, and a keg of rootbeer! Delish! I highly recommend a menu like this...it's so popular with everyone!

Oh, and I made some really fun water bottle labels for Eric that guests could take with them as a little favor! They turned out so cool! I had my little digital frame set up so everyone could see pictures from Eric's graduation ceremony too!

The next weekend, we had my niece's graduation party, and right after that, we headed up to C.O.P!!!! Yep, we had the whole truck packed before we went to Jessica's party and from there, we high-tailed it to Lutsen, MN for Family Work Week. Woo-hoo!

We were all desperate to see the pearly gates of this place, Cathedral of The Pines. Even the kids were exhausted from all the hubbub of graduation and needed the peace we've come to know when we drive through this gate for the first time each summer.

It was absolutely stunning each day we were there, which, if you know anything about the North Shore of Lake Superior, know that warm, sunny weather is at a premium this time of year. God truely was shining his light on C.O.P. that week.

As usual, we worshipped down on the shore one night, always a favorite event for us. I think I like that night most of all because it's so fun to take pictures with the view of Lake Superior in the background.

These handsome dudes are Doug (my hubby), Tom, Mike and Jimmy. Here are all the kids who have been coming with their families to FWW for years! My youngest is in the red sweatshirt in the front row, and my oldest is in the back row next to Lindsey who's wearing the yellow sweatshirt! I adore all of these kids!And chapel night on the shore isn't complete without a rousing round of camp songs, lead by the wonderful CS Men and JS Women.

Our trip up to camp wouldn't be complete without a drive further north into Grand Marais, another one of our favorite places to be. We skipped rocks with the Nelson's (some family friends), shopped at the Trading Post and Ben Franklin, and took the requisite family photo on the pier. Nice shot, uh? Best brothers...

In the afternoon, after we're done working, there are some wild games of softball going on. Usually it's the Old Guys vs. Young Guys, and I'm happy to say, I think the Old Guys won this year!
Here's my Young Guy (Eric), heading for home....he's a gazelle!

One night during Family Work Week, there's a family dance that all the kids raid the costume closet for.....That's Scottie on the right.... And that's Eric second from the right with the bird hat...

And I can't resist snapping a few shots of all my boys. Aren't they a handsome bunch?

Well, I think it's time for me to close this post out, but be warned, I'm not done documenting all of June yet. I took nearly a 1000 shots of my nephew's wedding last weekend! I'll share some of those tomorrow!

Thanks for sticking with me.

Hugs,

Amy

Don't Give Up on Me....

2009-06-30T18:10:00.002-05:00

Crap. I just can't seem to get it together enough to stamp or blog!

Just thought I'd post a little something to let all of you who care about me know that I wasn't dead or incapcitated in any way, but that I'm so overwhelmed trying to get everything done in my life that needs to be done. Stamping needs to be done, but no one seems to care about that, so it's not getting the respect it deserves;0)!

I am seriously wondering if I have any readers anymore....I don't even want to look at my feed counter because I know it's seriously hurting...readers are unsubscribing by the day! Can't say I blame them...there's nothing going on here for them to read. I really do want to get going on this again....it's really bugging me that I can't get my you-know-what together to stamp and blog.

Seriously, it's on the top of my list of things to do. I'm just not sure it's on the top of anyone else's list of things for me to do.....alas, therein lies the problem. Here's hoping I get to stamp tonight!

Hugs,
Amy

Life

2009-06-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Now that Eldest Son has graduated and his graduation open house is OVER, I want to get back to blogging on a regular basis. I mean, I still work 5 days a week, so I will never blog as much as I used to, but I think I can manage to get at least 3 cards made a week to share here. Since there's no time like the present to get started doing something you love, I managed to get three posts written up for this week while my family is away on "vacation" (I say "vacation" because it is really a "working" vacation, not a lay on the beach all day kind of vacation). It feels so good to get back to doing what feels good! I have so missed you guys.

For a while, I was stuck on this really easy layout to whip some much needed cards out for my customers. And of course, true to style, I dug into my scrap drawer exclusively for this one. It's very rare anymore that I cut up a new sheet of paper. I am very focused on "trying" to use up what I have. Tuesday I'll show you another card using this same layout. Could it be any simpler? And isn't that black checked ribbon simply luscious? Oh, how I wish I had a bunch of that. But unfortunately, I only have about three yards, so I've been hording it for a while. This is the first time I've ever used it.

As you can tell, there really isn't any need to give you detailed directions. how to whip this card up for yourself, but I will tell you that the stamp set is from Paper Trey Ink and was designed by Lisa Johnson. It's called Life. It has the most amazing sentiments in it but I find that I don't use it as much as I should. I think once I start getting into the studio a little more, I'll be using it again and again.

Well, it's time to say "ta-ta" for now. Hope you have a great day!

Hugs,

Amy

I'm Off....

2009-06-12T05:26:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow I am heading out to here.....

To focus on this...........

To sing praises here......

To sleep here...To gaze upon these....

And to serve others working here....

In other words, I am off to my beloved church camp, Cathedral of the Pines, for Family Work Week! Thank you Lord, for COP!!!

Hugs,

Amy

He Did It!!!

2009-06-07T07:06:00.007-05:00

Graduation Pictures: $500

All Night Party: $80

Yearbook: $78

Seeing Your Son Receive His Diploma: Priceless.

We're so proud of you Eric!

Wheels are spining....

2009-06-02T05:05:00.004-05:00

I've tried typing this post twice now and both times, what I wrote went away, so that's my clue I just need to post my cards and get the heck out of here!!!! No time to be blogging this close to graduation!!!!

Since we know lots of kids graduating this year, I've been making a bunch of cards for graduation. And since I'm short on time, I've consciously tried to make them super duper easy and uncomplicated. I used primarily scraps and a flower here and there. These are two of my favorites so far.....

The sentiments are non "graduation" type sentiments, but instead are geared toward dreaming of a brighter future and what is a better message for a graduate than that?

Hope these cards inspire you to make some of your own grad cards today! I probably won't be back until after Eldest Son graduates, so......until we meet again, adios! I can guarantee my eyes won't be dry for days!

Hugs,

Amy

Dreams

2009-05-29T08:37:00.004-05:00

In my never ending quest to use the supplies I have on hand already, I made this graduation card last weekend. I know it's not your "typical" graduation card, but Lord knows I'm not "typical". I'm one of the few of us card makers out there that luuuuvs to work with bright colors all the time. Each of these different papers were found in my scrap drawer. They are so different, though, even I am left scratching my head wondering what's gotten into me! Just kidding. I love all the colors and patterns, but I know this card isn't for the faint of heart.

We are on nearing the end of school. Eldest Son has three more days left after today, and Youngest son has 5. Graduation Day is in 5. This weekend will be a "put the pedal to the metal" weekend, finishing up the chores that need to be done to make the yard presentable, as well as running all the last minute errands yet to be completed before Graduation Day.

So much to do, and sooooo little time. I work this afternoon and then the hubby is taking me out for dinner. It's my 46th birthday today, even though it feels like I'm 91 in real life, ha. The day just doesn't hold as much sparkle for me as it has in the past. Does that just come with age? I am hoping I get more excited as the day goes by today!

Hugs,

Amy

Vintage Buttons

2009-05-24T09:27:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure exactly how long it's been since I actually posted a card on my blog, but I DO know it's been quite a while! Up until this week though, I didn't have time to stamp at all. But earlier this week I said "enough is enough" and I forced myself to sit down and make some cards. It felt wonderful! I sure do miss it.

I don't have lots of time to stamp these days, so I am focusing on cards that don't have a lot of layers and fussiness involved. As you can tell, this card fits the bill perfectly. Two different scrap papers were used, as well as some vintage buttons I had in my stash, some of which still have their original thread! I think that's so cool. If only thread could talk, what a story they might tell!

So, what's happening with all of you? From what I can tell by reading my favorite blogs, everyone is getting ready for school to be over! Eldest Son graduates in 11 days! And his graduation open house is in 13 days. So much left to get ready for that. Especially yard work. Have to have it looking spiffy for all the guests. I need to sit down and type up a "to-do" list this afternoon so I don't forget anything. And once the graduation hype is over, it will be time to head up to COP for Family Work Week. I can't wait.

Hugs,
Amy

Prom 09

2009-05-17T06:09:00.003-05:00

While I haven't spoken with my dapper young son yet this morning (it's early and he's still sleeping), I think Prom 09 was a hit. Personally, I'm glad it's over because I've never been so stressed in my life as I was trying to juggle everything yesterday. I was super relieved once the party bus took off with the kids so they could get away from the parents and begin their special night! Although it was sunny, the temp was only 62--but with the wind (super strong), it was in the 50's with windchill). This is Eric at our house before he left for his date Sahara's house. He looked so handsome in his super slim cut tuxedo!

Here they are at the Grand March ceremony at the high school. As they walked down the isle they were both so scared and uncomfortable. It was a first prom for both....which explains their uncomfortableness!

After the Grand March, the two of them wanted me to take pictures of them at the local park/swimming beach. Now, while these pics turned out for the most part, IT WAS WINDY AND FREEZING in actuality! I was freezing and I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and a jean jacket! Sahara was a trooper in that sleeveless gown, that's for sure. I was inspired to take some fun prom photos by one of my favorite bloggers out there, Karen Russel (My life, Just not the road I expected). She is a mom, scrapper, businesswoman, and one of the best non-professional photographers out there. Her storytelling is second to none, honestly. She posted her son's prom pictures last week, and inspired me to try and take some fun ones of my son and his date this weekend! Mine totally didn't turn out as good as hers did, but I was able to capture a few good ones. Thanks Karen!

Here is a shot I took that Eldest Son got mad at me for taking. He was lathering on about how kissing in front of your parents is super embarassing for teenagers. I could careless about the kiss, it was the moment of tenderness I was trying to capture! I think I succeeded, don't you?

Here I had the kids play a little hide-and-seek behind the big tree.

And finally, here are Eric and Sahara, and one of Eric's best friends Kevin and his date Kaylyn, squishing their big bodies onto really small ornate iron garden chairs. So thankful they didn't break underneath their weight! My name really would have been mud then!

These are the only photos I managed to get edited last night before I crashed. Today is the day for the wedding shower I'm throwing, and it remains to be seen if it comes off without a hitch. In trying to prepare for it yesterday in the midst of working and prom, everything that could go wrong did. I'm completely serious when I say that and am not exaggerating. So much so that I finally sat down and sobbed hysterically after I opened up the cream puffs I'd made the day before and saw growing on them. And it wasn't until 11pm last night that I finished the favors. By the way, I am having a dessert buffet for the shower. Hopefully it all comes together before 2pm today. A girl can only hope.

Have a super day.

Disappointed with Idol

2009-05-13T21:19:00.003-05:00

Danny. Gokey. Was. Robbed.

That's all there is to it. As I said on my FB status, I just watched my last week of Idol tonight. I have no desire to watch a over-rated rocker with a disgusting tongue and screeching voice compete against an extremely average guitar player next week in the finals. Both nice guys, but please...Chris Allen better than Danny? Hardly. I can only hope and pray Danny is as successful after his "loss" tonight as Daughtry was after his!

I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight I'm so upset, {sniff-sniff}.

Hugs,
Amy

A bold, fun card

2009-05-09T08:10:00.003-05:00

I honestly can't remember if I've ever shared today's card with you guys, but I really don't think I have. I'm pretty sure I cased it too, but I made it such a long time ago (a month ago) that I really don't remember! So, if you're stopping by my blog today and this card looks hauntingly familiar to you, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!

Isn't it scrumptious? The colors; the bold black, white and bright springy colors! Yummy. Best of all, you can use up some scraps for it. No cutting into a new piece of paper for this one!

The bow in the left hand corner is actually covering up a boo-boo I had with black ink. I swear, the minute I take out a piece of white cardstock for a base, some sort of ink monster sneaks up behind me and bumps my hand or elbow on purpose to wreck the white cardstock. Does that happen to any of you? It happens every time, I tell you!

So, all is well in my life. I am busy working, planning the wedding shower, and continuing with planning the graduation open house we'll be having for our son on June 7th. He graduates on June 5th, which, by the way, I can hardly believe. The days are winding down and it's surreal. My how the time flew by. It seems like just a few years ago I was walking him into the kindergarten room for the first time. Now he's poised for a new chapter in his life, one that doesn't include us so much {sniff, sniff}. I know he'll still need us (mostly for paying his tuition!), but it will be less and less as time goes by. And that makes me both excited and sad all at the same time. Excited to see him build a new life for himself, yet sad to watch those apron strings snap, one by one. I've created a video photo montage to commemorate his life, complete with touching music, but it's a tear jerker. I'll have it playing at his open house. When I just started creating it, I had my hubby watch it, and he started blubbering THEN. At that point, it didn't even have music attached to it yet! The songs I am using in it are Let Them Be Little by Billy Dean, My Wish by Rascal Flatts, Whenever You Remember by Carrie Underwood, Find Your Wings by Mark Harris, and The Time of My Life by David Cook. I still need a few other really good songs, so if you know any, please leave me a comment. This project has been wonderfully cathartic and I can't wait for Eric to see it for the first time!

Hugs,

Amy

A Photo Review

2009-05-07T12:15:00.003-05:00

The one thing I have been able to do a tiny amount of lately is take some pictures with my camera. Here's a peek at a few of my shots...

This is a view of the inside of our new/used patio umbrella that we inherited from Doug's dad after his move into his new condo this past week. I've always loved it and I thought this was a fun shot to show it off.

This is what the boys were busy working on last weekend, much to their chagrin....

...Eldest Son wearing his baseball cap backwards, only thing is, he usually doesn't wear baseball caps! In fact, he hasn't worn many baseball caps since he stopped playing baseball when he was in 2nd grade. But I do think he's especially adorable in it. The other thing he was doing while he was supposed to be raking was texting on his cell phone, grrrr....this was a rare moment when it wasn't glued to his hand....

And last but not least, here's my beloved Copper, in heaven since it's nice enough to hang out on the deck again!

All photos were taken with my Nikon D40 and my 50mm/1.4 AFS lens. I love this lens!!!!

Maybe one day I'll post a card again. Oh, and by the way, Youngest Son got his cast off today! Yea! No more smelly cast!! Woo-hoo!

Hugs,

Amy

Sweet Sophistication

2009-05-01T10:53:00.003-05:00

Well, I managed to get back to my blog before a full week slipped by between posts!

Ugh, working so much is definitely putting a dent into my creative time! It stinks! Besides work, all the stuff I have to do for graduation is getting in the way too. No time for play, boo-hiss!

The other thing getting in the way of creative fun is the bridal shower I'm throwing in a few weeks (I know, I'm a glutton for punishment!). The one creative thing I did manage to get done last weekend was the invitation for the shower. What I love about the invite is that the bulk of it was done on the computer and the remaining stamping was super-duper easy, thanks to this fabulous flower from PTI! It comes from my all time favorite stamp set from Papertrey, called Friends to the End.

I made the invite big enough to mail in a legal sized envelope. I definitely wanted something more sophisticated for the invite. The colors of the wedding are black and cream, and the bridal bouquet will have orange and pink flowers. Perfect, uh? Simple. I needed something fast and easy. Just need to "get'r done", I say.

Well, it's time for me to jump in the shower to get ready for work. I am hoping and praying I get some fun time in the stamp studio this weekend. I really need it.

Hugs,

Amy

Took One for the Team

2009-04-26T09:43:00.005-05:00

Since you all said you wanted me to keep blogging even if I didn't have any cards to show you, I'll share with you what mini crisis took up a good chunk of my time this past week.....

Yep, that's a cast you see on Youngest Son's left hand. Diagnosis: Buckle fracture of the first metacarpal. Baseball season: Over. Actually, it's not that bad of an injury. Cast will be on at least 2 weeks, and typically it takes 3-4 weeks to fully heal. Don't you love the black and red cast? Those are his school colors, and it was important to him to reflect his love for his team by doing something cool with the cast! After all, he took one for the team on this deal. He was catching, there was a big play at home, and the runner crashed into this gloved hand. Youngest Son held onto the ball and the runner was: OUT!!! Yes! Gotta love that, don't you? It was a key play in the game and secured us the win!

Well, have a great day....I am headed over to Lue's house soon to make our graduating seniors their Senior Posters! Does anyone else have to make senior posters for their kids?

Hugs,

Amy

A Card for Mom

2009-04-23T06:22:00.008-05:00

Still haven't sat down to stamp lately, although I will have to sometime today. I've got some wedding shower invitations that I need to get made or no one will be showing up at the shower I'm throwing for my nephew's fiance in May! I really love the plan I have for the invites, so when I get them done, I'll post them here.

Here's a Mother's Day card for you to look at today. I used two stamp sets for this card, one is the set Lisa Johnson recently designed for PTI. It's called Life. I love it, but for some reason, I am having a difficult time making anything I make with it look good! It might be the lack of mojo I have when I sit down to stamp these days. For some reason, I can't come up with an original idea to save my life. Being original is like pulling teeth. I'm pretty sure this layout is original though;).

The other stamp set I used is called Mother and it's from PTI as well. The paper is from My Mind's Eye, their Laundry collection, which I adore. The heart is a die cut from Cuttlebug. Overall, I like how the card turned out....maybe I'll use it for my own mom instead of sell it to someone else!

There's been a new twist to our insurance drama that I've been having to worry about and deal with the past few days. It's a long story that I won't go into here, but suffice it to say I'm getting slightly irritated of the constant barrage of "stuff" going on in our lives!

I've got a baseball player in the house that hurt his hand last night at his baseball game. It is very swollen and tender to the touch. I don't think it's broken, just a bad sprain, but I plan on bringing him into the clinic I work at today to have our dr. look at it just to make sure it's not broken. We have an x-ray machine, so a quick deduction can be made regarding a break. We don't have the money to go running into their pediatrician's office just to have him tell us it's a sprain, KWIM? If Dr. Tom thinks it's suspect, it's off to the ped's office we'll go. In addition, my clinic can do some ultrasound therapy as well to help reduce some of the inflammation in his thumb/palm. I am so thankful I have LWC to help us out in times like these now that our deductible is so high! Wish us luck.

Other than that, all is well. Doug just got back from my BIL's internment at Arlington National Cemetary in Washington, DC yesterday. It was an amazing ceremony for an amazing man. I so wish I could have been there.

Have a great day peeps.

Amy

Graduation for a Guy

2009-04-21T06:17:00.009-05:00

It's my goal this graduation season to make more generalized grad cards as opposed to color specific cards (ie school colors).

I figured todays card could be used for a guy, either

high school or college. I've had this stamp for a very long time (it's from Paper Bag Studios), and I thought it was perfect for a graduation card. I just added the word "graduate" and it was set to go. The paper I used was all from my scrap drawer, so I can't tell you who makes it.

Not a ton going on around here lately....but I did get a chance to get out with my camera over the weekend for a few minutes....

My husband found these little bunny babies underneath a bunch of dead leaves in the garden. There were 5 and most of them eventually scattered. They were TINY. I think something must have happened to mama bunny....

Snapped a few shots of the boys messing around outside with Eldest Son's girlfriend....

they had a chance to throw the football around for a few minutes too....

It's time for me to get moving, I've got to get Youngest Son to school for Early Bird. I am seriously thinking my wonderful blog is going to be biting the dust soon. Not enough time to stamp anymore, which means I really don't have time to blog either. No cards, no blog, right? I'll be thinking hard about it for a few days and then I'll let you know what I decided. Until then, have a great week.

Amy

Never, Never Give Up

2009-04-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today's card is a personal one for me. This motto is something I have to keep telling myself over and over lately. Yep...I do often feel like giving up, washing my hands of it all, and saying, "FORGET IT! Enough already! Take me a way, Calgon!".

Sometimes, I just want to run away from it all...escape to a simpler time in my life when worry wasn't front and center in my mind all the time. Winston obviously knew what he was speaking of when he said "never, never, never give up".

I guess running away just isn't a realistic option, is it? Not even for a week or two? Ok, how about a day? Can I just escape the worry for a day and experience pure, unadulterated JOY again? What a wonderful thing. I sure do miss it. For now though, I'll just keep on, keepin' on. I'll keep putting one foot in front of the other in hopes of brighter days. And of course, I will never, never, never give up.

Thanks for the pep talk, Winston. It's just what I needed today.

Hugs,
Amy

.

Great Graduation

2009-04-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

Speaking from first hand knowledge, graduation is right around the corner (my eldest graduates this year!). It's time to start thinking about getting a bunch of cards made up for my son's friends, as well as to sell to my customers.

I didn't want all the cards I made to be "school-color-oriented", so I dug around my scrap drawer to find some papers that were sophisticated enough for both high schoolers AND college graduates. Don't get me wrong, I make lots of graduation cards using school colors. But I didn't want ALL of mine to be that way.

I love how this turned out. First off, it was simple, and can easily be mass produced. Secondly, it's a card that can easily be adapted (by using the appropriate designer paper) for either a guy or a girl. This card is obviously geared toward a woman;).

The stamp set is from SU!, the '09 are rub-ons, and the ribbon is from SU! as well. Once again, I'm blanking on the paper. I need to get better at remembering my paper lines!

Have a great day.

Hugs,
Amy

p.s. don't forget to get those taxes in the mail!!!

Celebrating Mom

2009-04-13T06:00:00.001-05:00

I have been loving playing with my new PTI stamp sets.

This card was made with Friends Til The End (the flower) and Mother (the sentiment). I colored the flower with Copic markers. I don't remember who makes the designer paper, but I do know the ribbon is from SU.

Since I work all the time now, I am trying to post at least 3 times a week by writing them up in advance and then using the automatic posting feature Blogger has. I had a little spare time Easter morning to write this weeks posts, so we're good for the rest of the week, woo-hoo!

Work is going fine. It's taken some adjustment. I am not getting anything done around the house, and I am missing all my son's high school baseball games. That's a hard pill to swallow. But I keep telling myself it's not forever. At least I hope it's not!

Well, hope you're having a wonderful week. See you Wednesday! By the way, this is my lovely mother, on her 75th birthday a few months ago!

Hugs,
Amy

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T06:36:00.001-05:00

Have a blessed Keester! Ok, sorry, have a blessed Easter everyone!

I'll be posting three days this week!

Hugs,
Amy

New Tim Holtz Stamps.

2009-04-03T07:27:00.005-05:00

A quick thanks to all of you for your well wishes. I have lived these last two days a little less stressed out, so that's a blessing! I start my new hours next Monday, so I'm hoping to get some good rest this weekend to gear up for the change.

In the meanwhile, I thought you'd appreciate seeing a card today...a change of pace for once:). I was pumped when I this cool set of clear acrylic stamps from Tim Holtz recently at Michaels, and that I got them for 40% off. Now that's a deal! I really love the set, it's called Flight of Fancy.

I started by designing this cool tag, which, if you know Tim Holtz at all, know that he is famous for his tags. Then I used the tag as the focal point for the front of the card. I stitched around the tag, and then mounted it on top of the designer paper by My Mind's Eye. The big daisy is from my SU Sissix die. I made the flower using the same designer paper as I used underneath the tag. I added a vintage button as the center of the flower and the card was complete. I love how it turned out, especially the colors. It's funs sometimes to use tags, if you never have, I encourage you to find one and give it a try. And if you can't find one, make one! We're craft people after all, it shouldn't be that hard!

Well, I am going to get a little bit of stamping done this morning before I have to leave for work. On a quick side note, I did find out a little bit of bad news yesterday....my brother was laid off from his job, which is a big, fat bummer. He only started it about 4 months ago after leaving a long time job with Target Corp. I am praying he will be able to find a new job in short order, but in this economy, you just never know. Also, my dad's prostate PSA levels increased significantly recently. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer a year or so ago, but the drs chose to just watch it as prostate cancer is very slow growing when it is detected late in a man's life. The number nearly doubled in three months this last checkup, so it is highly likely he will begin a radiation treatment program soon. We will know more next week after he meets with the oncologist. Can you believe it? God must think I'm really strong because there's been a whole lot of ugly going on in my life these past two years! Remember what they say, God never gives you more than you can handle....I just wish he didn't think I was so strong:). Have a great weekend friends!

Hugs,
Amy

An Important Update.

2009-04-01T21:11:00.007-05:00

Uff da, the last week has been rough. And Tuesday was particularly rough, although the clouds have brightened considerably since yesterday afternoon.

You all know the last time I posted (Monday) I was down, down, down. The discontinuation of our health insurance was looming at midnight Tuesday night. I was literally sick to my stomach whenever I thought about it, which was pretty much 24/7. I knew our options were extremely limited--we had been declined coverage by a few different providers and we had begun the process to try and get insured through the state.

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Although I haven't worked full time in like, 10 or more years, I knew one of the only avenues left open to my family at this juncture was for me to work full time. So it was time to approach Karen (my boss) on Tuesday morning to see I could pay in full for health insurance through the clinic. My heart was pounding, but I was determined to try and get through the initial question with Karen without blubbering like an idiot. You'll be happy to know that I did get through that initial discussion without crying. Karen told me she would meet with Dr. Tom to discuss it that morning and then get back to me later in the day. At the end of my shift, Karen called and asked me to come up to her office when I was done.

When I got upstairs, Dr. Tom and Karen were both there and they invited me into their office. I still didn't want to cry, especially with Dr. Tom there so I plugged up the tears the best I could. They asked me if I was interested in working full-time to make the benefits work--they had managed to put together enough hours for me to qualify. I managed to keep it all together until we were near the end of our discussion...the tears started coming at the point I heard Karen on the phone informing our health provider that they had a new full-time employee on staff that she needed to get signed up for benefits as soon as possible! The relief I felt was incredible, I couldn't hold back the tears at that point. We were going to be ok.

Yes, you read it right. I am the newest full-time employee at Life Wellness Center, and I am now eligible for health benefits for my family. Dr. Tom and Karen were soooo amazing. They embraced me and my family and worked so hard to make it happen for us. I will be eternally grateful for everything they have done for us, I can't even begin to convey what their support means to me. They stepped in when the chips were down and I can hardly believe my good fortune. It's not really " good fortune" though, is it? Once again, even though I have doubted him over and over, God has provided for me and my family. You can't believe the roller coaster my faith has traveled over these past few months. Believe, doubt, believe, doubt, believe, doubt. It gives me a headache, and I can only imagine what it's giving God. How he must want to wallop me upside the head sometimes! Believe, believe, believe. That's all he wants me to do. And especially since he has shown me over, and over, and over that he is a God of his word. He has not left our side for these entire 18 months, even though many times I believed he had. He has so many earthly angels caring for us it makes my head spin. They are too many to name here, but a few more names can be added to that list after yesterday.

So, in at matter of 48 hours, I have gone from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. My poor body, the stress it has endured these past 18 months have wrecked havoc on it. I need to be really careful in this transition to full time that I give it the love and the rest it so desperately needs right now. But for the immediate future, I can rest a little easier at night knowing that my family will be protected. There is nothing more important to me than making sure my boys are ok. It is at the heart of all of us mom's and dad's. You will do anything to provide for them, and if that means that I have to work full time, then that's what I need to do. It will be hard to miss some of their events, but if doing so guarantees they'll be provided for should there be a medical emergency, I am ok with that. I'm just going to have to teach the hubby how to use my camera......

I cannot express how much your comments have lifted me up these past few days. You can rest easy tonight knowing your prayers for me and my family have been answered. I also want to thank those of you who offered useful tips on how to navigate the big, bad world of health insurance. They were invaluable to me. God's blessings!

Hugs,
Amy

A Card and A Confession

2009-03-29T09:02:00.003-05:00

Since I've started working outside the home, my cardmaking has become more simplistic in nature because I just want to get some cards done to sell. Gone are the days my cards are over-the-top beautiful, which is typical when you work on design teams. You should see some of the cards I've made lately (hopefully someday you will since I spent some time this morning taking pictures of them all)...whew, are they boring. I think it's just this stage of life I'm in...new job/no time, major stresses, kids...you know the score. I'm not finding alot of joy in it anymore...which bums me out! I hope that changes soon, because for a very long time, creating has been central to who I am.

I do have lots on my mind lately. This is a pivotal week for us as a family. At midnight on Wednesday (3/31), we lose our health insurance, and it makes me sick to think about it. We have been trying to find coverage elsewhere, but so far, no luck. One of the policies we were looking at denied the boys coverage this week, and I am anticipating they will be denying Doug and I as well soon. You see, we all have existing conditions, and insurance companies don't want to take you on with existing conditions. It made me so sad to read the letter telling us the boys were being denied coverage this week. I've never shared this before on my blog, but both my boys have ADHD. And since they take medication to help them in school, the insurance companies don't want anything to do with them. I know there is a cesspool of public opinion on medicating your children for ADHD. But I could careless. It actually was one of the best decision we ever made for our boys, because it has allowed them to learn and succeed in school just like any other kid. We use it responsibly, and they have reaped the rewards. We have never allowed them to use their ADHD as an excuse for not achieving their dreams. To think that now it's possible my boys won't be able to take medication to help them just pisses me off. Sure, we can pay out-of-pocket for the meds, but have any of you priced ADHD medication lately? It's upwards of $500 for a 30 day supply. And they both take it. So we are left with the decision to A.) go into serious debt to buy the meds ourselves, or B.) stop giving it to them. I want to cry my eyes out when I think we might be forced to do the latter.

For now, we've got a 90 day supply of medication left for the boys. That's 3 months. We are hoping and praying Doug's part-time job turns into full time within these upcoming three months. Otherwise, I don't know what we'll do. We plan on buying some student insurance through the school to cover them should anything happen to them in sports, but that won't solve our meds issue. So if I'm absent from my blog here and there over the next few months, you'll know why. I'm either too bummed out to blog, or I'll be out searching for a new full time job to get my family medical insurance. It's not something I want to do, but I feel at this juncture I have no choice.

Sorry to have dumped all this depressing news on you, but I just felt the need to get it off my chest. I've been holding it in so long it hurts. Your continued prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Hugs,

Amy

Daisy Mae

2009-03-25T09:24:00.006-05:00

Just because I know you love my daisies, I'm sharing another daisy card with you today. This one I made at the retreat I went on a few weeks ago. No instructions necessary. It is soooo self explanatory, no details required.

By the way, thanks for all the supportive comments yesterday about my late sleeper! He ended up waking up at 7a, right at the time his early bird class started! He waltzed downstairs, jumped in the shower and started lolly-gagging under the warm spray. I'm like,"YOU DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF A LEISURELY SHOWER THIS MORNING YOUNG MAN....GET YOUR BUTT MOVING!!!" I mean seriously, you're late and you think you can stroll through the morning at a snail's pace? He innocently claimed he didn't remember the alarm going off...yeah, right, and I'm a dead ringer for Charlize Theron. Get real rugrat. When will these kids realize we weren't born yesterday???

This morning I'm happy to report he was up on time and ready to go at the appropriate hour.

Lucky for him I can feed him again tonight;).

Hugs,

Amy

Flowering Sweetness

2009-03-24T06:12:00.003-05:00

Greetings!

Here's a really simple card for you to make today if you've got the amazing Sissix Daisy die from SU. This is an amazing die cut, I absolutely {heart} it!

Just cut two of each size flower (there are three sizes, a large, small and medium), glue each size together so the petals are off set from each other, and then glue all three sizes together to form one gigantic daisy. I just used scrap paper for my daisy, but you can really use any paper you want.

I had some scrap chipboard pieces laying around unused, so I used one of them with the word "sweet" on it for the center of the flower.

The stem is a piece of vintage rickrack I found at a flea market a few years ago. The leaves of the flower is a simple green satin bow.

I really love how it turned out and I plan on making some more of these today. This one was snatched out of my hand and bought the minute I made it, so it's time to make some more.

Well, I've got to run. I am teaching my youngest a lesson this morning by not waking him up for school. He's supposed to get up at 6am to leave the house at 640a for class (it's now 6:21), but he's been sleeping through his alarm and I've been having to wake him up more often than not lately. I'm not doing him any favors by waking him up every time. He's got to learn it on his own. He used to be so good at it, but for some reason, lately he's having trouble. Must be growing and needing the sleep. But, I'm still going to practice tough love on this one. He's got to learn to get up by himself, because Mom's not going to be around forever.....it's just something I really feel strongly about...I want them to be self sufficient and mommy holding their hand and doing everything for them is NOT doing them any favors.

So, here I go. I'm heading upstairs to see what's up. But I will NOT wake him up. He'll just have to take a tardy or not shower and eat breakfast to get there for his 7am class....wish me luck and strength....

Hugs,
Amy

Butterflies and Margaritas

2009-03-20T07:29:00.005-05:00

I wish I could say that the reason I haven't blogged yet this week is because I just decided to stay at the retreat I was on last weekend instead of come home. But, alas, that would not be true. I would have LOVED to stay, it was fabulous, but bummer for me it was only 3 days!

I just haven't gotten around to posting because it's been so busy for me this week. Doug's been out of town at the NCAA basketball tournament since Tuesday, which leaves all of the childrearing to me (ie; schlepping children to and fro'), besides working all the time. So, after I schlepped the cherubs to school this morning, I came downstairs and decided I'd check in with ya all to see what's happening in the blogging world. No, I'm not dead. A few of you left me a comment asking of my whereabouts....I'm happy to tell you everything is ok, it's just a tish busy these days.

I wanted to show you a card I made recently that was directly cased from Dawn McVey a few weeks ago. I absolutely loved her card and had to make one for myself. Here is her card....and here is mine.....

Isn't it fun? I love all the bright colors, not to mention it's a great way to use up those pesky, beautiful scraps!

One day last week, I needed a card for my boss who was going through some rough days. I looked through my stash of cards to see if there was one appropriate for her. There wasn't. But then I got to thinking I could adapt this butterfly card to one more suitable for her, so I made this one....

Ha! I chose to do the card with margarita glasses because my boss was joking at work one day about going home and have some margaritas due to all the problems she was having. I thought it was perfect and I love how it turned out. The inside, (which I tried to take pictures of but they turned out blurry), said "when life gives you limes, make margaritas!", which summed it all up perfectly! So fun. Hope you like it too. Thanks to Dawn for the inspiration!

Well, I've got to run. I've got a dr. appt this morning that I've got to get ready for, then it's off to work, then it's off to hang with my girlfriend tonight to stamp. Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Amy

Flowering Crabapple Tree

2009-03-13T09:19:00.005-05:00

I thought I'd give you a glimps of one more card this week before I leave for work and my retreat today.

I absolutely adore this idea for a flowering crabapple tree. I saw the idea on SCS and could not resist making one for myself. I love crabapple trees! I've got one in my yard and it's beautiful, so I was excited when I saw this idea. That's one of the best parts of spring...a flowering crabapple tree, no question about it! The stamp set is from SU and it's called Branch Out.

The paper is from My Mind's Eye, their Penny Lane collection. What perfect spring paper! It matched the flowering crab perfectly! There is a tiny bit of Basic Grey paper right below the Penny Lane paper too.

Well, I hope you like looking at this card as much as I like looking at a flowering crabapple tree....have a great weekend, and I'll be back next week with some of the cards I'm hoping to get made this weekend at my crafty ladies retreat.

Hugs,

Amy

Eerily Quiet

2009-03-12T10:08:00.004-05:00

It's eerily quiet around here.

My sweet boys just left for the airport, to fly to St. Petersburg, FL for their church choir trip. My hubby is in Indianapolis for the Big 10 basketball tournament. So I'm all alone in this big, quiet house.

Now, the funny thing is, I usually DREAM about moments like this! I dream, (ok-fantasize), about having the whole house to myself with nary a rugrat in it tugging on my sleeve begging for money...no one here throwing their belongings onto every stitch of furniture in the place. No fights to break up, no husband to entertain. Just me, myself and I. And the peacefulness. Unfortunately, now that I have it, I don't want it anymore! I miss the boys already! Dang. What a weakling I am. Isn't this the way it goes...we always want what we don't have, right? And then when we get it, we discover we don't really want it after all. Go figure.

Well, since no one was going to be around all weekend, I decided to go to the crafty ladies retreat that my church is having Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's at our church retreat center which is just a few miles down the road from me. I think it will be more fun to be surrounded by a bunch of other women doing crafts than to be by myself doing crafts in my eerily quiet house. Don't you agree?

Speaking of houses, what do you think of this fun card I'm sharing today? I love, love, love how it turned out. The stamp set is by PTI and is called Boards and Beams. I'm just tickled with it. I love how I was able to incorporate my love of patterned paper together with the stamps. The house is completely paper-pieced....doors, siding, windows, roof. It took some time to put together, but the overall look is exactly what I was hoping for! The button is vintage, from my collection that I got from my MIL's stash after she passed. This is an "Amy" card through and through and I'm glad I made it!

I hope you like it!

Have a great day! I'm going to go wander around my house now smelling and clutching my children's clothing so I don't miss them so much. Just kidding. I'm going to start packing for the retreat I'm heading to tomorrow night. Have a super day!

Hugs,

Amy

Thread Your Day

2009-03-11T07:03:00.003-05:00

Where the heck has the time gone? I can't believe it's been since last Friday that I posted anything!

Regardless, onward and upward, I say.

When I saw this sentiment sitting on the clearance shelf at my local scrapbook store recently, I snatched it up as fast as I could. I just knew I could use it with my PTI Quilt Sampler set, which had an image of a spool of thread in it. For weeks I had been thinking of an unique way I could use the image, and this sentiment sparked my imagination even more. The wheels started turning, and the idea for this card was born. I took some embroidery thread and wrapped it around the spool so it looks like a real spool of thread!

I first stamped the spool image on a piece of white cardstock. Then I colored the top and bottom of the spool with a brown Copic so it looked like a wooden spool. I cut the spool image out, and wrapped the embroidery thread around the cut image until it looked like a real spool of thread! I totally love that my idea worked! Next, I stamped the image again on another piece of white cardstock, only this time I did it in a color matching the thread, so the thread coming off the spool in the image would match the real thread I had wound around the cut image. Then I stamped the needle in grey ink, cut it out, and glued it on top of the thread so it looked like the thread was going through the eye of the needle. So fun! I ended up making this card in a few different colors, with thread as vibrant as the pink in this card! I'll show you a different version tomorrow (I hope:)).

Well, I've got to skidaddle. There's bible study this morning to get ready for. Hopefully I'll stay warm today...a cold front moved in over the past few days and it's -4 degrees this morning! Just think....between here and TX, there's like a 90 degree difference in temperature! Criminy! Bring on spring!!!

Hugs,

Amy

Embrace Happiness

2009-03-06T07:16:00.005-06:00

Oh my gosh! Get a load of this funny story.....it's not a lie, I kid you not!

I cased the layout for this card from the most recent issue of Stamp It! magazine (remember, my mojo is in the tank and I need all the help I can get???). In order to give credit where credit is due, I opened up the magazine this morning to get the name of the person who created the card so I could type it into my post for today, and guess what I found out? The person who made the card I cased is none other than Lisa Johnson, AGAIN! Ack! I really didn't know that when I cased it...I just liked the layout. So, for two days in a row now, I've cased a Lisa Johnson card! I think that is hysterical! See, I really am inspired by Lisa Johnson. I suppose it doesn't help that her work is everywhere you look, she's so stinkin' good, LOL! She was cool about the case yesterday (I emailed her to get her permission to link to her card), so I imagine she'll be cool about it again today too!

Anyways, so that's the story about today's card. I really love the three dimensional look of the pink butterfly. It is a stamp from Hero Arts (old), that I stamped onto a scrap piece of pink designer paper, and then outlined with my Stardust Gel Pen. I cut the butterfly out and then mounted him on top of the butterfly image (again) that I had stamped on white cardstock, and then colored with my Copics. I bent the wings up to give it that 3-dimensional look.

Well, I think I'm going to get a few cards made this morning before I run out on some errands. Then it's off to work for the rest of the afternoon. We've got no big plans for the weekend, except getting the boys ready for their big church choir trip to St. Petersburg, FL next week. Any of you live near St. Petersburg? They are singing at a church called Lutheran Church of the Cross. If you are close, please go and worship with them and listen to them sing! You will be blessed, I assure you!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oranges & Limes, Oh My.

2009-03-05T07:14:00.006-06:00

Does everyone know who Lisa Johnson is? Her blog is called Poppy Paperie, and she has to be one of the most talented stampers out there these days.

The reason I ask is because my card today is a direct case of one of the cards she posted late last week. I loved it so much I decided to make one for myself. When my mojo isn't quite up to speed, I often look to other stampers for inspiration to get me going. Lisa is one of those people I look to time and time again for that inspiration. A few other stamper's I look to for inspiration? Hmmm, that's easy...Nichole Heady, Melissa Phillips (I LOVE her style, but who doesn't??), Dawn McVey, Michelle Wooderson, Beatrice Jennings, Alli Miles, and Heather Nichols, to name just a few. Seriously, I love these gals now, but my style changes more than the weather in MN, so there are many, many others, besides these women, that inspire me on a daily basis. Just look at my blog list on the right....each and everyone one of these blogs are ones that I frequent every day (yes, every day), and who inspire me as well.

Well, without further delay, here is the link to Lisa's card, the one I cased....and here is my take on that card.....
I can't tell you why I chose this color combination...lime green and orange. I guess I just loved it. It's so refreshing...it reminds me of a big bowl of limes and oranges! Yum! And is says spring like nothing else. The paper is from Creative Imaginations. It comes in a multitude of different colors, I think, but I grabbed just these two. The flowers, again, came from my SU daisy Sissix die (love it). The checkered ribbon is from Michael's.

This card is going in my stash to sell. Sure hope someone loves lime green and orange as much as I do(Candy?????), otherwise it will sit awhile, LOL!

So, do you remember last week when I briefly mentioned in one of my posts that things were looking up in the Westerman household? Well, I think I can share now exactly WHY things are looking up. The good news is, Doug got a job!!! The only thing is, for now it's just part-time. But it's in his field, and it's a foot in the perverbial door, shall we say. Where did he get a job? He got a part-time job at WCCO-AM radio, which is the big, heritage News/Talk station in the Minneapolis metro! He'll be sort of a freelance producer (no set hours), filling in shifts, running the board in the studio for shows, producing radio remotes, etc. Plus a whole lot of other stuff they need done. He is ecstatic, and I am getting there. It took a few days to adjust to the fact that it wasn't full-time, but eventually, I came around to the realization that this job is a blessing from God, and who am I to question God's reasons for why he does what he does? Whether it's full time or part time, God continues to provide for my family. He has been ever-faithful, and for that I am grateful. So, some good news for a change, uh? Woo-hoo!Glad that I could finally share it with you!

Hugs,

Amy

A whole bunch of color

2009-03-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

My camera isn't taking the greatest pictures of my cards lately, which is bummin' me out. I wonder if it needs a quick trip to the camera doctor?

I'll have to mull that over. Anyways, as I said yesterday, spring has sprung in my little office here. And this card is no slouch as far as that goes. Aren't these three designer papers fabulous together? I think so! All three are new from Archivers. The top and bottom papers are from Bo Bunny, and the middle paper is from Creative Imaginations. The daisy is from SU, one of their new Sissix dies (which, by the way, I LOVE!). I think I've use a daisy flower on nearly every card I've made lately! See, spring/summer really IS on my mind.....daisy's are the perfect summertime flower!

Well, gotta run. I work again this morning. Have a great day.

Hugs,

Amy

Cruise Along with Me!

2009-03-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

That's it. I've had it.

The dreary, dull, boring colors of fall and winter are being locked away, and coming out are the bright, cheerful, happy colors of spring and summer!

If spring won't come to MN, then I'll bring it artifically to my stamp room, IMMEDIATELY!

Can you tell I've had just about enough of winter in MN? I ran in to Archiver's the other day, which I hadn't been to for a little while, and I was elated to see all the fun new spring papers out! Especially psyched to see the My Mind's Eye Penny Lane line! Of course, I snatched up as much of it as I could afford, and quickly raced home to see what fun things I could create with it. It was just what I needed to kick-start my sadly lacking mojo!

When I was in VA last week, and working on the photo boards for Ken's funeral, I had to run to AC Moore to pick up some supplies that we ran out of. Since I was right there, I couldn't resist taking a peek and caressing all the stamps that were boldly staring me in the face. I didn't buy much, but I couldn't pass up this A Muse girl cruisin' in her convertible. This is going to be me someday, I just want you to know. One of my secret desires (once the kids are on their own, mind you) is to buy a red convertible Corvette and cruise across the country with the top down and my hair flying in my eyes! Oh yeah, and singing along with the radio at the top of my lungs! What a picture, hmmmmm??? Since a red convertible wouldn't have looked good with this paper, I opted for a lime green one instead. Which, by the way, I would easily settle for should all the red ones be sold out the day I end up buying mine;)!

To make my fancy convertible, I inked up the stamp with black ink and stamped it onto a piece of lime green paper. I cut it out and paper pieced it onto another convertible image that I had stamped on white cardstock. Then I cut the car (and girl) out and mounted it on the card with dimensional tape. My favorite part of the card is the swirling exhaust coming out of the back end of the car! Genius! I just know this is gonna be me someday....my dream is going to come true and this card proves it;)!

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Amy

Happy Bird-day

2009-02-27T07:20:00.003-06:00

After I got home from work last night, I threw a pizza in the oven for the boys and I and then collapsed on the couch to watch Ugly Betty and AI!

I still have a love affair with birds and my cards. This was such an easy card that I know you don't need me to outline the details. What I will tell you is the bird was cut out from a SU die, and the branch is from a Hero Arts clear set I've had for a while. So cute!

I hope you all have a fabulous day--I am going to go stamp a little right now, yippee!

Hugs,

Amy

Been busy

2009-02-26T16:43:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone. I've been out all day, so I haven't had a chance to update my blog with a card. Hopefully tonight after work I will be able to check in with something fun. See ya!

A Card and a Recap

2009-02-25T05:55:00.003-06:00

This is one of the cards I made for my girlfriend who ordered 25 cards. 25 cards with no sentiments on the front I might add. Hmmmm, that was a tall order for me!!! I love my sentiments. This however, is one of the cards I made for her that I really liked and that I plan on making again for my own stash soon! Super-duper simple and super-duper spring like. I'm definitely wishin' for spring these days--it's been a looooong winter here. It's good though, because this week we are seeing temps in the high 30's! I can handle temps like this.

As you can see, I used some scraps from my favorite Basic Grey line, Urban Prairie. I can't throw a stitch of this stuff away, so you'll be seeing it alot in the coming months, I think! Kraft cardstock is so suitable for use with this paper line, it just lets the colors sing. I'm not sure where I got the stamp...it's fairly old, but I do love it's simplicity.

Thanks for all the warm wishes on being back. We had a great trip. As great as going to a funeral can be, I suppose. The funeral was wonderfully touching. There were three eulogies, and my hubby gave one of them. The other two were given by one of Ken's brothers, and one of Ken's commanding officers while he was serving in the USMC. Each eulogy allowed us a peek into a part of Ken's life that we might not have known about previously. The day was bright and sunny, and relatively warm...well, for a Minnesotan that is! Jayne and the boys are holding up amazingly well. Jayne was a rock for everyone else, of course. We were busy from the moment our plane touched down Wednesday evening until the moment it took off for home on Sunday. Ken's family is huge (he has 7 brothers and sisters), so it was a pleasure getting to know all of them as well. However, all the brothers look exactly alike, so it was freaky walking into Jayne's house on Wednesday...I thought I was seeing Ken again! Jayne's friends (Kathie, Elsbeth, Ruth, Anita, Candy, and Ann, to name just a few) rallied around Jayne and her whole family by providing homes to sleep in and amazing food to eat. I love all these ladies and consider them my friends as well. The sheer number of friends standing by Jayne, holding her up is really quite amazing, she is such a lucky woman. I have never seen anything like it in my life, honestly. The woman has never met a stranger.

Anyways, enough about all that. I am thankful we were able to fly out there for the funeral. Ken will be buried at Arlington National Cemetary on April 21st. I probably won't be able to go for that, but most likely Doug and his dad will be going. I totally wish I could though, what an experience that will be. Doug was able to take the boys to visit Arlington while we were there last weekend to show them where their Uncle Ken will be buried. I was glad they were able to see it since they won't be able to go to the burial ceremony. I've seen it before, so I stayed back at the house putting together the photo boards I made for the funeral. I made two huge boards. With as many wonderful photos as I had to choose from, I could have made a dozen more. Here's a shot of the memory table and one of the boards I made. It was an honor to do this for the family.

Well, I must be shoving off. It's bible study day today, and I get to have lunch with a friend I haven't seen for a while. Lucky me. I might have a shred of good news for you later this week, so be sure and come back again. Perhaps things are starting to look up again. Keep your eyes on the Lord! He is faithful!

Hugs,

Amy

p.s. Hi Candy!!! Hope you're reading this today. It was wonderful seeing you this weekend and spending a little time talking with you at your party. Wish we lived closer so we could see each other more! Take care of Jayne for us! Hugs!

Checking In

2009-02-24T05:24:00.003-06:00

We are back from the funeral. Give me a day or two to get my bearings and then I'll be back with another post. Just wanted you to know we got back safe and sound. Now all I have to do is get all my new rubber mounted and stamp some cards!

Hugs,
Amy

Thank You

2009-02-16T20:04:00.002-06:00

I just want to send a big thank you out to all my wonderful blog friends who sent me such beautiful notes following Ken's death. This card is for you! Your words lifted me up during a really rough few days!

Can you believe it? I finally got some cards made and photographed! Woot-woot! Feels great to finally post a card here again. I love the bright colors of this one, they are perfect for cheering me up!

Well, we are trying to get packed and ready to fly out to VA Wednesday morning. Ken's visitation and funeral will be on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The burial will come at a later date, as his wishes were to be buried at Arlington National Cemetary and there is a wait list do do that. Jayne asked my hubby (her brother) to give a eulogy, so Doug will start writing that soon. He thought the airplane would be a good place to work on it. We had to buy Youngest Son a new suit because he grew TWO sizes since his grandma's funeral a year and a half ago! Not good. But I was lucky to snag a suit on sale at Macy's last week that works perfectly and makes him look oh-so handsome. Hopefully it will last a while before he outgrows it again!

Well, I have a small window of time tonight that I can stamp some cards, so I'm off. Again, thank you for your loving support! This card's for YOU!

Hugs,

Amy

In Loving Memory....

2009-02-15T09:02:00.004-06:00

After a galiant year-long battle with cancer, I am sad to tell you that Kenny passed away this morning, just a few hours ago. I can't begin to tell you how hard it is to accept that he is not with us anymore. That his silly being is no longer. How empty the world seems without him....already. He was a hero to many. He was a friend to all. He will be missed more than he will ever know....

His Journey's Just Begun

by Ellen Brenneman

Don't think of him as gone away-

his journey's just begun.

Life holds so many facets

this earth is only one.

Just think of him as resting

from the sorrows and the tears

in a place of warmth and comfort

where there are no days and years.

Think how he must be wishing

that we could know today,

how nothing but our sadness

can really pass away.

And think of him as living

in the hearts of those he touched...

for nothing loved is ever lost--

and he was loved so much.

Rest in peace Kenny. You are now home in the arms of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. Dear Lord, take Ken's hand and welcome him into your loving Kingdom. He is seeing you face-to-face this morning for the very first time! Help us to take comfort in that fact, Lord. He is no longer suffering but is now rejoicing with you in Heaven.

Take good care of Kenny, Lord. We shall miss him tremendously.

Hugs,

Amy

Raw Emotion....

2009-02-10T18:53:00.003-06:00

So sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. My heart isn't much into it, I guess. We all have heavy, heavy hearts here because of Ken. He is resting comfortably in the hospital now. He is able to visit with friends and family. My nephew flew back from CO today, where he was taking a mini ski vacation. I am so, so thankful that he made it back before anything happened. Since I'm not such great company right now, I think I'll just take a bit of a break from blogging, unless I get inspired to make some cards and take some photos one of these days.

The job front (my husband's) has also got me down. For a long time now, I've been in pretty good spirits about everything and fairly hopeful. I guess today I don't feel so hopeful anymore. I am confident there will be a better tomorrow, but for now, this is how I feel. I'm just being honest with you. I'm sure Ken has alot to do with how I am feeling about everything else going on in our lives, so I just have to let it play itself out. I'm not one of those people that can blog or go about daily life pretending nothing is wrong if there is something wrong. Some people can do that, but I have never been one of those people. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and that's just the way I was wired. I can't apologize for the way God made me. I'd rather be a feeling person than a person that doesn't show emotion when they're hurting. I don't put on facades very well. It just is what it is. So, that's the reason your getting all this raw emotion today.

I promise to keep you abreast of Ken condition. Just keep the prayers coming, for both Ken and Jayne, and for their boys, Andrew and Matthew. They are taking this very hard.

Thanks for your understanding and loving me regardless of whether or not I share a card with you each day.

Hugs,
Amy

Jesus is the gatekeeper to eternal life....

Robert Robinson

2009-02-08T16:33:00.004-06:00

As promised, here is a video of the boys singing in church this morning with gospel singer Robert Robinson. Robert is amazingly talented, his voice is a gift from God and he uses it as such. My boys were blessed to have had the priviledge to sing with Robert, and we were blessed to have had the opportunity to listen to him shout his praises to our Lord this morning! He is so inspiring! You can find out more about Robert here.

Sorry I still haven't gotten any photos uploaded of new cards. My camera battery is dead and I keep forgetting to take it upstairs to where I think my charger is....I'm not quite sure where I left it last {sigh}. I've only got about 8 more cards to make for the 25 card order I received earlier this week...I desperately want to be done with it so I can stamp something with words on it again:)!

On a sad note, my BIL Ken is still in the hospital battling lung cancer. Remember he was admitted about 2 weeks ago with fluid on his lungs and heart? Well, now his kidneys are misbehaving (his creatinine level is at 5.0), and things aren't looking so good right now. It looks like they will start dialysis tomorrow morning. Please pray for Ken's comfort and peace in these next few days as they determine what will happen next.

A Little Birdie

2009-02-05T10:37:00.004-06:00

Another oldie but a goodie.

Schedule dictated another schlep into the archives to find a card to share with you today since I haven't gotten around to photographing any new cards yet.

I did get a chance to stamp yesterday because a girlfriend of mine ordered 25 cards that I need to get to her next week. She works at the U of MN and uses the cards to send to her clients. They have sort of become her signature thing. The only trouble is that she doesn't like anything on the front other than the main image. And she likes them to be nature themed.

Now, you might not think that's very hard, but for some reason, for me it is. Simple, you say. It would be if I could use all flower images, but I can't since she sends cards to both men and women. So, they pretty much have to be gender nuetral. I don't know why I'm sharing all this, because it doesn't have anything to do with today's card....but I sort of got on a roll about it, so forgive me if you will!

Like I said, this was made waaaaaay back in June. I'm fairly certain the paper is from My Minds Eye????? No, somehow, that doesn't sound quite right. I think in fact it might be from Crate. Anybody know? Anyways, I really loved the paper and thought it would look cute on the bird too, so I paper pieced him. The polka dot frame was cut using my rectangle Nestabilities.

Maybe tonight I'll get some time to take pictures of my new cards. There are a few in the bunch you might like. I think it might be a good tv night tonight (I'm an Ugly Betty and Grey's fan), so if that's the case, I'll be veggin' on the couch and not playing photographer.

I have to tell you, last night the boys had choir practice at church. On Sunday, they are singing with the amazing Robert Robinson, who is a big gospel singer here in the midwest (he has performed with Aretha Franklin, nine-time Grammy Award winner Andrae Crouch, Kenny Loggins, the Sounds of Blackness, Bobby McFerrin, Barry Manilow, Jermaine Jackson, among others). He is AMAZING! Anyways, he was rehearsing with the kids last night and my boys had such a great time (my oldest has sung with Robert before, but this was a first time for my youngest). Robert was giving them such a hard time for being "quiet Lutherans". He asked them if they had ever been to a Baptist gospel church before and of course, none of the "quiet Lutheran" kids ever had:)!! I can't wait to hear them sing on Sunday. I heard them rehearsing last night and it was amazing, truely. That he impacts my kids like that gives me goosebumps. That's saying alot for teenagers! I'm going to bring my camera and videotape them on Sunday singing with Robert and then I'll post it here,ok? If you are interested in hearing any of Robert's music, click on the link above.

Well, I've got to run. I have to work this afternoon.

Hugs,
Amy

MisMatched?

2009-02-04T06:23:00.002-06:00

I'm sure many of you might look at my first card today and wonder what the heck I was thinking when I put these two designer papers together. I mean, they do not in any way, shape or form "match". But I loved how they looked together, so I just went with it. I actually made the cards back in December, before Christmas, and since I haven't taken any pictures of my new cards yet, I decided to show you these instead.
As usual lately, I dug into my scrap drawer for the paper. In layout, both cards are really, really simple designs. The flowers on both were made using a Sissix die from SU. The large flower was actually cut out from the page of a book I had purchased at a flea market a few years ago. I distressed the page a bit with Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut and then layered it with another smaller flower. A button and rhinestone finish the flower off perfectly.
I used the same purple designer paper for my second card, and added a few scraps of SU designer paper, also from the scrap drawer. This card was even simpler than the first!

So, the mojo has seriously been lacking lately, is anyone else experiencing the same thing? I wonder if it's the weather. For me, I think it's a combination of things, most notably the lack of time I have to stamp now that I work outside the home. When I have been able to stamp for a bit, I find that I have not been able to come up with a layout of my own design for all the tea in China! I think I have to go back to some of the sketches I designed back when I did Super Sketch Sundays (or was it Saturdays?). That might spark the mojo a bit, hmmmm? In the meantime, I'll just do what I can to make sure I keep stamping regardless. I can't stop stamping altogether, can I? That would mean I would have to stop blogging too, since this blog is all about stamping! I'm not ready to stop blogging yet, but if things keep up, I might have to, as sad as that sounds. Pray for stamping time for me!!!!

I'm off to get ready for BSF this morning. Have a great day!

Hugs,

Amy

Cardless in MN....

2009-02-02T20:15:00.005-06:00

...or is it Hopeless in Seattle???

I'm pretty sure it's Cardless in MN because I wasn't able to steal a minute in my stamp room this past weekend. Tonight I managed to sneak away into my little hideaway and make a card or two....but shhhh, don't tell anyone I'm here, ok?

This past weekend was JAM packed with stuff to do. Friday night I was in bed, asleep by 830pm! That's right. 8:30pm. I couldn't keep my eyes open one minute longer than that. On Saturday, I worked at 8a, although I went in at 715a to try and get some stuff done before I had to work the front desk. That, however, did not happen as the scanner was giving me fits.

After work, I had about an hour to run home and get a minute of rest before I went BACK to work for our annual Christmas party. The itinerary was a surprise until we were almost at the secret location....get this....we went CURLING! Yep, curling. Do you guys know what curling is? It's an Olympic sport that entails sliding a stone down a rectangular sheet of ice that is specially prepared. It's very hard to explain, so I'll give you this link just in case you find yourself especially moved to want to learn to curl for yourself.

We were split into teams of 4, and then we proceeded to have a round-robin tournament. Do you know what a curling tournament is actually called? It's actually called a BONSPIEL. Each of the four team members takes a turn shooting (or sliding) a stone (which, by the way, weighs 42 POUNDS!!!) down the length of ice (which is about 150 feet) to try and get it to stop on the bulls-eye (or "house") and score a point. Let me tell you, getting that monstrous stone down the ice is hard work! I slipped and fell many times. And when you're not throwing your stone, you are then either the "skipper" down in the "house", or you are a "sweeper", sweeping a clear path in front of the stone as it's moving down toward the target. Keep in mind, you are running on ICE! This shot is of the Hubster, delivering his stone down the rink....

Whew. I'm exhausted just writing about it. My body is so sore you wouldn't believe it. I have a newfound respect for those Olympic curling champions, that's for darn-tootin sure!

Here are a few pics of the fun event. Oh, and by the way. I just have to tell you that I was chosen as the MVP of the afternoon by the curling professionals who run the rink...{{puff-puff, tongue-in-cheek}}. Yessiree, I was the best "thrower", "slider", "pusher", or whatever you want to call it, because I had a lot of my stones end up in the "house", scoring points. Now, if the MVP award was based on form while delivering the stone, I assure you, I would NOT have won this award. Let's just say it was beginners luck, LOL. This is me with my MVP award...an Owatonna Curling Club hat!

All in all, curling was a blast and if you ever get the opportunity to give it a whirl, go for it! Here are a few pics of our fun afternoon...

Here's Sarah and me, sweeping our little hearts out to get our yellow stone closer to the bulls-eye...Here are a few co-workers sweeping on down the rink in front of their stone....they are actually running and sweeping those little brooms back and forth as fast as they little arms could move!And finally, here's the whole gang after our bonspiel was complete. I'm in the front row on the right, and the Hubster is on the opposite end in the front!

Hope you enjoyed today's lesson on curling...hopefully I'll get a card photographed one of these days to share with you.

Hugs,

Amy

Hopeful Hearts

2009-01-29T07:00:00.003-06:00

Hey chicky's. What's up with all of you? I don't work until later today so I've got a little time to post something this morning!

Yesterday I actually got a FEW cards stamped, but nothing too exciting. And I certainly didn't have any time to photograph what I did make, so that's a bummer. But I did have this card to show you, which I stamped a few weeks back.

Don't you just love the brown and pink color combination? I'm trying to remember if I did this card based on a card sketch that I saw somewhere. I don't think so, but you just never know! The paper is from Sassafras, althought I'm not sure of the line. I carried the heart theme of the paper into the main images...hearts. The two hearts on either side of the center heart are from a SU set called Happy Hearts. One was stamped with Pretty In Pink, the other with Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan. The center heart is actually a little felt heart I hand cut. The pink ribbon was threaded through the button holes and then the button was glued onto the felt heart. All three hearts were mounted on a piece of white cardstock that I first stamped with a musical notes image, just for a little bit of interest.

As far as an update on Ken goes, he's still in the hospital and probably will be for the weekend, although I'm not positive on that. There is still fluid draining from the chest catheters, so until that stops, he'll probably stay in the hospital. They seem to have his pain managed well, so that's wonderful! My FIL talked to him yesterday and he sounded like he was in good spirits given the situation. Your prayers for his comfort and pain are greatly appreciated.

There really isn't a whole lot more going on here. I love my job, although I'm still getting used to learning how to work outside the home again. No job for Doug yet, {{{sigh}}}. And the current economy looks grim, doesn't it? Can you believe all the massive layoffs? I got really bummed reading all the doom and gloom in the newspaper yesterday. I think maybe I just need to stick to reading the Variety section only from now on....

So what's happening with all of you? Have any of you been touched by all the recent layoffs? If you have, my heart goes out to you....it is difficult, but we must fight to keep hopeful hearts for a better tomorrow!

Hugs,

Amy

2009-01-27T06:07:00.002-06:00

I don't have lots of time to post this morning, but I really thought I should get a card posted today so you don't all drop me from your daily blog reading list! It's just been crazy around here. I am picking up some additional hours at work to make up for the loss of my freelance work, so finding the time or energy to stamp has suffered. I think the last time I really stamped much was the middle of January.

Anyways, in an effort to use up what I have already on hand, I dug into some Scenic Route stickers I had and made this little card which could be used for Valentine's Day or just as a little reminder to the one you love. No stamping involved! The bird is from my SU dies, and the little heart was hand cut. I get so excited when I get to use up some of my fun pom-pom trim. The color matched the sticker perfectly!

It always feel so good when I can make a card using the supplies I already have on hand. I better watch out though, one of these days all my supplies are going to be gone and I won't have any new stuff on hand. There has to be a healthy balance between new supplies and old supplies, don't you think? Have a great day.

Hugs,

Amy

p.s. Ken is still in the hospital, probably at least until Thurday. He is in quite a bit of pain, with drainage tubes on both sides of his chest. He's got a pain pump now that he can control himself when he feels he needs it. Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and prayers.

Update on Ken

2009-01-25T09:50:00.003-06:00

We could really use your prayers....my BIL Ken was admitted into the hospital last night after difficulty breathing. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with plural effusion (water on the lungs) and pericardial effusion (fluid around the heart).

Remember, Ken was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer back in March. This morning they did a procedure to drain the fluid, and pulled quite a bit of fluid from the lungs and heart. I think they pulled 1500 cc's from the lungs and 1200 cc's from the heart. They decided to put in a permanent drain to make sure the fluid doesn't build up again. According to Jayne, the drs are mildly optimistic that perhaps the cancer has not spread to the plural lining, but the cells from the fluid will still have to be tested to make sure. Jayne was really pleased with the dr. that performed the procedure, as he was very articulate about what was happening.

It is so hard being so far away while my SIL and her boys are having to deal with this in VA. I am so thankful we went to see them over Christmas, I just wish we could be there with them right now. They have many friends to support them in Fairfax, but no family there, as we are all here. So all we can do here is pray. That's why I'm reaching out to you, my readers, to ask that you lift Ken up in prayer as well.

The photo above is Ken with my two boys, and the photo below is of Jayne, Ken and their boys, Andrew and Matthew.

Jesus looked at them intently and said, "humanly speaking, it is impossiblel But with God, everything is possible." - Matthew 19:26

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor foresake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. -Deuteronomy 31:8

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect me and comfort me. -Psalm 23:4

Hugs,
Amy

Birthdays and Quilts

2009-01-23T05:54:00.003-06:00

I'm just nuts about Basic Grey's new Urban Prairie paper--the colors make me uber happy when I look at them. That's why I try to use each and every piece my little hands are lucky enough to touch! And since it's so dreary and cold here in MN, these colors make me feel warm. Laugh if you will, but until you live in a super cold state, you might never understand the power of bright colors on the psyche! I realize some of you get hives thinking about using bright colors, but not me. Isn't it funny how different we all are?

I love how quick this little baby came together. While I {{{heart}}}} my new PTI Quilters Sampler set, I do not love the idea of sitting here forever coloring in quilt squares. So, I use the squares in small amounts, like the three I've got on this card today. Maybe I just need to color a bunch while I'm wasting time watching tv one night. But since I don't like to take a lot of time on each of the cards I make, using just a few suits me just fine.

The squares were colored in with Copics. Since the squares are soooo small, you need to use a very light touch coloring them in, otherwise your colors will run into each other. I recently purchased a 3/4 inch square punch so I didn't have to waste time hand cutting the squares with my scissors! The green polka dot paper came from the scrap drawer. I don't remember who makes it but it might be My Mind's Eye. Isn't the pompom trim adorable? Makes mailing a little difficult, but it will just have to be hand delivered to that special someone, right? You can't not buy adorable trim like this just because it doesn't mail well! That would be super silly, LOL.....

Well, today the boys are off school. Yesterday was the last day of the semester. So they'll be lounging around today doing nothing. Finals are stressful, so I'm sure they'll just lay low for most of the day. And for the most part, I'll let them.

I work this afternoon, and then I've got a girls night out with some of my basketball mom friends! I can't wait to see everyone, I am in desperate need of a night out with the girls! I also wanted to say thanks for all of your wonderful ideas on gift ideas for my mom. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do, so I best get busy figuring it out. Since I work both today and tomorrow, time is of the essence.

Hugs,

Amy