Rough weekend

Saturday I took Luna to her new home.

I think she will be happy there.

The woman seems to be very nice and 

have a lot of knowledge about birds.

She said I can check in any time to see

how Luna is doing.  I won't go over to

her house or anything, just email her.

It's been quiet which is what I want,

but I still miss her .  It's just hard.

I worked on this over the weekend

and I think it came out really nice.

I think I'm going to give it to my mother.

I wanted to go see her yesterday but I

had a bit of a mishap.  I kept smelling

oil when I was driving.  Since I spilled

a little the other day I just thought

that was why.  When I got home from

church yesterday I opened the hood and

guess what?  I didn't put the oil cap 

back on!  I guess stress causes your mind 

to not pay close attention.  Oil everywhere.

The good news is that the cap was still

there.  The other good news is that

apparently it didn't spray much oil.

I don't think I'll even have to add

any.  The bad news is that it's

all over the place.  including the

garage floor.  My brother in law

is coming over today to take a look but

says he's sure everything is fine.  That's

important because tomorrow I'm

supposed to go to Detroit and see 

Rod Stewart!!!!!

How cool is that?

 

I only took one picture on Friday when we

were looking at the barrels.  This one is called

turning water into wine.

 

Pretty great, huh?!

 

Things are going to change a bit

at church.  Pam and Coleen are going

to take turns on the sermon and Judy

and I are going to take turns on 

the songs.  No more one or two for

me, all 5 at a time.  I've only done

that once.  That ALSO includes

the prayer and signing the 

announcements.  That's scary stuff,

but I think at this point I need to be

thrown in and see if I sink or swim-

glug, glug.   It's not that I can't

do it.  I can.  It's just that if I get

hung up on a word I panic and then

forget to keep on going.  But Coleen

(my wonderful mentor) is going to

be there to help me when I get

stuck-which should be about every

other word, LOL.  So pray for me.  :) 

 

Happy Monday!

 

 

Quote from Mother Teresa

I don't use this stamp much, but I

love the sentiment.

The sentiment is popped in the center

so it doesn't blend in with the stitching

around it.  I love how this came out.

This is for an awesome friend who is 

giving me some huge help this weekend

taking Luna to her new home.  The

inside says, :  "Each of us will be a blessing

to the other:  Romans  1:12  Coleen certainly

has been a blessing to me in so many ways.

I think, especially in signing.  She is my

 mentor and is always available to help

whenever I don't understand something.

She's making a schedule for the next 

few weeks and asked me on a scale

of 1-4 how confident I would be doing

all the songs one week.  Each number had 

something assigned  to them: 1. confident,  

2. fairly confident, 3. 1 0r 2 songs, 

4. you are scaring  the (bleep) outta me!  

  She's pretty funny.

Anyway, I told her I didn't want to do

all 5 songs because I probably wouldn't

know them all but I would because I

can follow her from up front if I

don't know all the signs.  A big step for

me but I guess you have to step out of your

comfort zone at some point. Or in my 

case, I need to be pushed out, 

by me or someone else.

I'm meeting (church) Pam this afternoon and we

are touring the painted wine barrels in

Auburn (did I say this already?)  Her

daughter, Samantha, and a friend painted

one of them.  So that will be fun.  Then an

early dinner and deaf coffee  chat.

  I am looking forward to a relaxing

 afternoon and not thinking about 

anything stressful for a few hours anyway. 

Happy Friday!

Perfect poppies

At least I think these are poppies.

My knowledge of flowers is limited

to roses, daisies and pansies.

Other than that, I'm not too good at it.

I didn't get the picture too straight,

I see.  I take it on my phone and

don't always notice that the picture

is a little skewed.  I'm happy with 

how it turned out.  

The card, not the picture!

 

I had a nice visit with my mom yesterday

but I can see she is getting weaker.  I

think there have been more TIA's 

but I don't think they've done any tests

to find out.  She's having trouble getting

her right hand to work and it's difficult

for her to feed herself.  It takes a long

time.  It's very hard to watch.  I try to

help when I'm there but I don't want

her to feel like a child who has to be

fed.  She's lost enough dignity as it

is, not being able to care for herself

properly, like showering.  I can't

imagine how difficult it must be, how

humiliating, to have someone else have

to give you a shower and all you can

do is be moved around.  She told me

yesterday that she doesn't want to

live like that and that death would

be welcomed.  That was hard to hear.

But I understand how she feels.  I

wouldn't want to be in that situation 

either.  At 80 years old, she has 

lived a long life and knows what's

waiting for her on the other side.  She

and John can hang out and drive

each other nuts, LOL.  So please say

a prayer for both of my parents.  My

dad hasn't been feeling well and he

told me he fears she is giving up.

Sadly, I think he's right.

 

I think I have a place for Luna.  It's a 

rescue in Fort Wayne.  I think it's pretty

small though, so she wouldn't have to

compete with a large shelter of

animals.   It's for small exotic animals 

only.  No dogs or cats to worry about.

She said she has a talkative

Quaker for Luna to talk to.  I think Luna

has missed Sadie since she died last year. 

I just want a good home for her.  That's

all.  John would want that, too.

 

 

 Happy Thursday!

 

 

 

Ethereal girl

I saw this card on pinterest and kind

of made it my own, but  used it

as a jumping off point.

Isn't she  sweet?  I wish I'd have 

used the swiss dot folder for the

whole thing, but thought the different

folder would make a separation of 

sorts.  Now I think it just looks goofy.

 

It turns out I didn't give blood yesterday

after all.  I was up on the bed and everything

and my veins are too small!  They looked on

both arms and said they just couldn't

do it.  I'm glad they didn't try and poke 

around looking.  That would have been

painful for no reason.  I guess I'm

dehydrated.  Must be all the diet coke

I drink.  I had no idea you should drink

a lot of water the day before.  I drink 

pretty much zero water.  If I ever go

to do it again, I'll know.  At least I tried.

 

I'm going to see my mom in just a 

little while, so I probably should start

getting ready.

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

Giving blood

This will be the very first time I've

given blood (willingly) and I'm not

sure how I feel about it.  I was 

talked into it, kind of.  There's a certain

person at church who shall remain 

nameless (Pam) who kept nagging me.

So yesterday I told God if she texed

me again I would do it.  Never make

a deal with God... !  I'm not

needle phobic, but I hear the needles

are big.  My daughter in law, Pam,

told me she had done it once and

would never do it again because she

felt like she was going to pass out

and had to stay for two hours!  I

hope that doesn't happen to me.

 I checked the list of meds thinking

maybe they wouldn't want my polluted

blood but none of the meds I take are

on the no-no list.  Hopefully I don't

chicken out at the last minute.  That

would be embarrassing!

This is the second anniversary card.

It came out OK.  I was looking for just

small gemstones at  hobby lobby 

yesterday, killing time while B'Elanna

was being groomed.  Usually I buy a

package that includes many sizes,

most of which I don't use.  I found 

small boxes of one colour each 

that don't have adhesive on the

back, but I glue them on anyway,

just in case.  I got three although the

choices were hard to make.  They were

also half off!  So I am well stocked

in the gemstone department.  I

didn't realize I had this brick embossing

folder.  It's really cool, but I

don't remember getting it.    Maybe it

was during one of my excursions to

Hobby Lobby in my sleep.  They open

just for me at night.  Don't tell anyone

though, because then everyone will

want to shop at 1 AM!

Sunday night I went to my first business

meeting at church, now that I am 

a member.  It was pretty interesting.

I still don't know a lot of the people

who are deacons and elders, but I'm

sure they are fine people.  They have the

congregation split up by last names and

each of the deacons has a group of

people which I think is kind of cool.  You

know who "your" deacon is and exactly

who to go to should you  need guidance

or whatever.

Happy Tuesday!

Sweet couple

This image is one of 6 of this

same couple that I purchased 

years ago.  Each of the poses

is a little different.  It's the perfect 

image for an anniversary card and 

since I have two coming up next

 month I thought I'd better get started!

Aren't they adorable?  The main 

mat was made with silver glitter paper 

and the mat under the picture is

black glitter paper.  I love that stuff,

but you have to use a very strong

adhesive (I use red lined tape) to

adhere anything to it.  The red lined

tape is very sticky and gums up my

scissors not to mention the static

that comes from peeling the plastic

liner from the tape.  It sticks to the

walls and anything else nearby-

including me.  I think it works better

than glue, though.  I usually use a

tear tape but I'm out of it right now

and the stuff they sell around here 

isn't any better than the double stick

I use for ordinary card assembly.

 

I woke up this morning thinking I

didn't have a thing to do today.

Then I remembered it was Sunday.

For some reason I thought it was

Tuesday.  I'm not signing today,

so maybe that's why.  I didn't

spend the entire day yesterday 

practicing!  Some of the songs I

can just do.  Others require me to

practice a LOT and then I still

mess them up!  Oh, well.  God

knows I do my best and He's the

only one who matters, right?!

 

Happy Sunday!

 

Birthday twin

I actually have two birthday twins

in my immediate area-one lives 

right next door.   I met a doctor 

a few years back in Angola who also 

 was my (much younger) birthday twin.

 This card is for the lady who lives

next door and calls herself my

old birthday twin! 

The image was downloaded from a 

site that has tons of free images.  I

picked a few little girl images that

were really cute.  I think it looks

great with the stitching.

I'm planning on going to see my mom

for a little bit this morning.  The last

visit went pretty well until she wanted

me to rearrange her clothes-again.

She's always been a perfectionist, but

now she's kind of obsessed as well.

I managed to  convince her it

would be better to wait until my dad

arrived.  Smart, huh?!

We had a great thunderstorm this

morning although I fell asleep in the

middle of it, I think.  I did hear the

rain pounding down and we really

need the rain very much.

Happy Saturday!

Absolutely awesome

This is the coolest stamp ever.  

And it was 40% off.  You can't

beat that.

I've never made a starburst before, either.

 I think that turned out pretty well.

I saw the stamp, though, and I just

had to have it and had someone in mind

for it before I ever picked it up off the shelf. 

I love this stamp!

 

I think I have grass spiders again.  I used

to have them in the bushes which is one of

the reasons I wanted them gone.  Now they

are all over the grass again and also in the

vinca.  I don't see funnels in most of them 

but I did see one in the yard that had a funnel

down to the ground and a hole in the ground.

 I'm not sure how to get rid of them short of

calling pest control and having the yard 

sprayed.  My neighbors do that every year

because of ground bees-which I have had

three times.  I imagine it's expensive.  I

sure don't want them coming into the

house, though.  My house is locked up

pretty tight and I rarely even get a fly in

here, and although I'm not technically

scared of spiders, I would prefer not

to live with them.  Maybe I'll call the

pest control peeps out and have them

give it a look.

 

Yesterday my brother in law and sister

in law came over and we tore apart that

huge 80's tv stand which has been dominating

my living room for the past 18 years.

I can't BELIEVE how much better

 it looks in here!   It looks a little bare at

the moment because I'm used to seeing

that behemoth, but I'm loving the

cleanness of it.

 

Happy Friday!

 

Playing with hairspray

Whaaat?  Hairspray in the crafting room?

It's true.  Crafters come up with some

strange things.  I've been thinking of

trying this technique for quite some

time, but I didn't have pump hair spray

and never remembered at the store. 

This time I put it on this list!

You use glossy card stock and pump

enough hair spray on the card to

make it moist but not dripping.  Then

you sprinkle alcohol inks on it-as many

colours as you like.  I wish I'd taken a

picture at this point, but forgot.

I took my finger and smeared the

ink around the card.  It didn't turn

out as pretty as the card on pinterest

but not too bad.  I then pumped a

few more sprays on it and it came out

like a galaxy on the orange one! At least

I think it looks that way, even though

it's orange.

This is the card I came up with for the 

purple one.  I haven't done anything with 

the orange one yet.  I was busy playing

with a new stamp I got at hobby lobby!

I'm not super crazy about it to tell

the truth.  it seems kind of plain.  Maybe

with the orange one I will leave it as a

background and not cut it.  It's hard to

see some of the stamping on the inchies,

also.  I guess that's from the flash.

 

Happy Thursday!

 

Another sympathy card

I hate having to make sympathy

cards.  It's so hard to lose someone. 

My friend, Nancy, whom I met online,

lost her husband yesterday.  He had

cancer.  It's hard to watch them die

and it's hard to be left behind to pick

up the pieces.  I will be praying 

for you, Nancy. 

When I heard the news, I remembered

I'd seen this card somewhere and was

able to find the pattern.  I think it's 

 a perfect image for a sympathy card.

On a lighter note, my grandson, Sammy

got his card exactly on his birthday.

 Isn't he a cutie?  All three of them look

like their momma, but I think I see

some of their daddy, Andy, 

in them too.   I like that she sends

pictures of them when their cards

or something else I've sent arrives.

I'm lucky to have three fantastic

daughters in law:  Heather is Andy's 

wife, Crystal is Nathan's wife and

Pam is Cody's wife.  Maybe someday

I'll have all of them together at

the same time and we can have

a picture of the three of them.

I'm hoping my brother in law and

sister in law will be able to come over 

today or tomorrow and help me start

tearing down this behemoth of a TV

center that was John's.  It takes

up two thirds of the living room and

as it is from the 80's or who knows, 

maybe even the 70's.  No one wants

that stuff anymore.  Everyone want

small and compact.  So rather than

try to drag it out to the street and

hoping  someone will take it

we're just going to disassemble  it

and get it over with.

Happy Wednesday!

Polished stone technique

I will get the cards over  with before

I rant and rave about last night!

I've seen this technique before but

never tried it because A-I didn't have

re-inkers and B-I thought it looked

too much like alcohol inks.  A friend

of mine sent me a bunch of re-inkers

(Thanks, Kat!!) a while ago, but I

just kind of forgot about them.  Then

I saw this today and decided to give it

a try.  It's really different  from alcohol

ink, I think.  Much softer.  So here's

my version.  I stamped the images in

distress ink which stays wetter for

longer, then embossed it in clear

powder.  It almost looks like glitter,

but there's none.

This is for my grandson, Bradly, whose

birthday is next month.  After I embossed

it I looked more closely and though, "Oh,

no, I didn't get the whole image stamped!"

When I looked at the actual stamp, it's

not fully drawn out on the grille.  I was

relieved!

 

It's hard for me to say which one I like

better.  I think I like the green/brown hues

just a little better because they are more

subdued, but this one is so

pretty, too.

 

Now, on to the concert!  WOW! There are

no words to describe it.  We were standing in

line and I heard someone behind me say,

this will be the third time I've seen them.

I said, "My fourth!"  Everyone was so excited.

The opener, and sorry, I can't remember his

name, sang several songs, one was, "I need

you" and Coleen and I signed the whole song.

We also signed some of the Newsboys songs

although they were singing a few that we

either didn't know well or were new.

I had such a wonderful time!  They are so

talented, and it is always such an experience

to be worshiping with so many people

all at one time.  I told her on the way home

that even though I'm not ready to go, I

hope that if I am alive when Jesus comes

in the clouds, I hope it is at an awesome

time like that.  Not that any time wouldn't

be awesome, but you know what I mean.

 

In November we are going to see Matthew

West!  I love him!  He's got some songs

that speak to me so deeply.  Coleen got

4 tickets, and Judy, you'd better be

ready to go-November 11.  We'll make

sure Pam is going too, or we'll have

to drag her there by the hair, LOL!!

 

Happy, Happy Monday!

 

 

Clear embossing

I'm sure I've done this before and

perhaps even put a card like this on

my blog before.  If so, sorry for

repeating. 

I think clear embossing on black is

just so beautiful.  The sentiment is

embossed in silver.  This card is going

to a pastor in NC.  I wrote a year ago

about his granddaughter, Mya, and her

struggle with cancer.  They have a page

that he writes on and I'm subscribed.

Their grief is still so raw.  I cannot

imagine the pain that would come

with losing a child.  Especially one so

young.  What he wrote yesterday just

brought tears to my eyes, so I wanted

to send him a card and let him know

I was praying for him and his family.

I'm signing two songs today, "Almighty",

which I already know, and "He knows

my name" which I've never heard 

before.  It's slow, though, so I can

handle it.  Sometimes I have to jump

in and do songs even if I don't

know them well or they are fast

and I'm not comfortable with it.

If I don't, I will give up too easily and

I'm not about to do that!

I'm beside myself with excitement

for tonight's concert!  Coleen and

I are going to have so much fun!

We always do.  She's a blast to be

around.  And seeing the Newsboys,

well, what can I say?  I think if I

had the money I would be a groupie, 

but I do see them every time they

come to this area.

Quick joke I saw on facebook this

morning:  A pastor came to dinner at

the home of one of his parishioners.

After he left the woman told her

husband, "I think the pastor stole one

of our spoons!"  This bothered her

for a whole year but she didn't say

anything.  Finally they had him to

dinner once again and she couldn't

hold it in any longer.  She said, "Pastor,

last time you had dinner here, did you

steal one of our spoons?"  He replied,

"No.  I put it in your Bible."

 ROFL!!!

 Happy Sunday!