Note to your younger self

I saw something the other day, I can't

even remember where, that said if

you could send a note back to 

your younger self what would you

tell her?  Where to begin, lol!

I think I would tell my younger self

to slow down, stop making stupid

choices and go to college.  As it

was I did finally go to college in

my 30's but the pressure of being

a single mom of 3 boys was more

than I could handle.  I did manage

to get all but I think it was 12 credits

to make my associate's degree.  My 

first semester I missed the dean's

list by 1 point and got a nice letter

from them.  I enjoyed it and I'm glad

I went but I wish I'd have gone as a

younger person and done something

with my  life.  I was planning to be

a criminal profiler.

I have also been thinking about going

to the zoo.  John and I went every year

and since he got sick I haven't been 

once.  We also went to aquariums 

together, TN, GA and MD being

some of them.  One of the most awesome

trips was to Columbus.  We knew Jack

Hanna would be there, so we planned

our trip around that.  He was such

a nice guy!!

I have a better picture of the three of us

but I can't find it.  

I made another pop out card but I don't

like it nearly as much as the butterfly

one I did a few days ago.  But my friend loves

hummingbirds.  I put some glitter glue

on the inside one, but I think it's hard

to see even in person.

A set of grunge cards.  I love these stamps!!

Finally a pink card.  What can I say?

SMILE!!!

More bokeh

Obviously I can't read a calendar

because  yesterday was 2nd June

not first... I woke up with a 

pretty bad headache today.  I hope

it goes away soon.  More whining, 

my a/c isn't

working right.  It runs and runs

but doesn't really pump out any

cool air so I have someone looking

at it on Wed.  Meanwhile, instead

of running up the electric bill for

no good reason, I've resorted

to old fashioned air conditioning-

opening the windows.  Before I

married John I didn't have central

air, and the window units were 

really pretty much useless in 

my opinion.  so I opened the windows.

John hated having

the windows open so I've gotten

out of the habit and besides, the air

is much better than the hot breezes

of summer.  But for the time being

open windows will have to do.

I put this on facebook and my friend 

Karen said she would give it a 

good home if it didn't have one, so

off it went to Cleveland.  I am in love

with the card and with the bokeh 

technique in general!

This is another flap card and is

for my ex's grandfather.  Such a sweet

man.  I haven't seen him in quite a while

because he lives in Norwalk, OH. which is

right by Cleveland.  He's in a nursing home

now, but doing well last I heard.  He

fell and broke something, a leg,

hip, I can't remember, and couldn't

stay alone any more, but I think at that

point he was in his 80's!!!

And finally crazy friends!  I saw

this card some time ago on pinterest.  

Yesterday I was in the mood to play

with the owl punch builder.  There are

many talented people out there

who take that punch that builds a simple

owl and make some amazing things.

I saw the other day someone had come up

with little tiny dresses they made with

the punch!  They've come up with 

super heroes, the star wars characters

I made with the card for my 

grandson, just all kinds

of neat things.  It's kind of a pain because 

it's hard to get the paper in if you only

need one tiny part.  The punch punches

out the entire thing, body, eyes, etc.  These

chicks use a scalloped half circle for

the wings.  The little thing at the

top of the head and also the beak are

made from the tiny heart which is

part of the punch as well.  It's

very hard to glue tiny things like

that, and I'm afraid I didn't

do a spectacular job.  I think next

time I'm going to use tweezers.  It

may be easier.

 

 

Hello there!

Hello first June!  I certainly hope

that the warm weather continues.

Although, a little rain would be

good too.  The grass is turning 

a bit brown although I don't want

my cherries drowned like last year,

they do need a drink to continue to

ripen!  Last year we had too much

rain and they literally rotted on the

branches!  This year I  hope to have

a good crop.  The tree is loaded and

the branches sagging.  I wanted to cherry

tree that I could pick and eat.  The person

we bought this tree from assured me

it was the closest to bing.  They just aren't 

very sweet in my opinion.  But my next

door neighbor took some 2 years 

ago and brought me a piece of pie and

a jar of jelly she made from them and was

so thrilled to be able to pick them. This

year Dianne will get first pick with my

neighbor (who is my birthday twin!) 

getting second.  Maybe I will

get another piece of pie!

I am quite into monochromatic right

now as you can see.  I still am enjoying

the bokeh technique too, but thought

it would be too boring all the time!

I like how these turned out.  They aren't

exactly monochromatic, but close enough.

I didn't have the right colours-again-

and had already started.  Don't you think

I'd check these things before hand?  Actually

not, as I just go with an idea and by the

time I realize I don't have what I want

I don't want to scrap the idea.  Also, I

pretty much have a craft store in my

craft room, so it's astounding to realize

I DON'T have what I need/want!  I

mean, how can that happen???

 

I got some awesome new stamps 

yesterday in the  mail and can't wait

to show off a card made with them.

I'm sure there will be more...

Front and inside of the card.  Isn't

it just so cool?  It's called glorious grunge

and the front of the card is actually

three different stamps!  I think

the stamp set is soooo cool!

I've been seeing it a lot on pinterest

and finally decided I just had to 

have it.  Ordinarily I don't buy

"Stampin up!" things because they

are expensive, but this set was

quite reasonable.

 

 

Sleepless in Seattle

Oops, I mean sleepless in Fremont.

I hate not being able to sleep.

But laying there really drives

me crazy too, so I end up just

getting up and doing something.

I got Neelix's ashes back yesterday

and look what they gave me.

Sorry it's dark, but it's 430 am and I
didn't want to turn on a bunch of
lights.  I was so touched.  I got back
in the car and just cried.  I miss him.
Everyone says I did the right thing, but
I still have a lot of feelings of guilt.
All part of the grieving process I
have learned.

The one advantage of getting
up early is that my muse works better.
She's been on point the last few
days anyway, so I have lots of
cards to share when I have a dry spell!

I don't like this card particularly but

I do like the closure.  It doesn't open

traditionally, obviously.  I love trying

anything that opens differently.

I'm going to make another today for

my ex's grandfather in the same style so

you'll get to see a better card.

I have had this panel sitting around for

quite a while.  I made it but then didn't know

what to do with it!  I came across it

while going through some other things and

finally had some inspiration.  The enamel

dots actually were the inspiration, believe

it or not.  For some reason they just

put the card together in my mind.  I 

love the verse and as I was putting

it on the card it reminded me of a

situation I've been going through the

past few months.  Thankfully it is

now resolved.  Sometimes you just

have to look back, smile, toss that

match and walk away.  I saw that on

pinterest and it just summed up my

situation perfectly.  I should put that 

on a card!!!

Graduation time

My son's ex wife, Annette,

had a little boy when they

got married, Jake.  I have

always considered him and

her children with her second

husband as my own grandkids.

Jake is Bri's older brother.

He just graduated so of course

I had to make him something.

I saw a cute grad cap box that I

will put a "little something" in

and also made him a card.

 His party is next month.  Bri says

he is planning on moving to Colorado!

He has an aunt and uncle and cousins

there and a job lined up. 

 I hope he will like it there.  I know

his sisters and brothers will 

miss him, though.

This is the box closed and opened.  I

think it turned out so cute.  The school

colours are red and white.

And his card.  I love how this turned

out!!!  The congratulations is embossed

in gold to match the gold accents

of the rest of the card.  I thought about

doing it in black but it just wouldn't have

stood out as well.

 

My grandson, Wyatt, has a birthday

in a few days.  This is Andy's youngest.

I saw this Star Wars card and thought

it was adorable.  It's made from

an owl punch.  It's amazing the things

people come up with.  It is also a

pain in the neck to cut out all those

 pieces (some of the punched pieces

have to be modified) and glue them

all together.  So I don't do it often,

but I couldn't pass up this card.

I have to take B'Elanna to her "beauty

parlour" appointment.  She LOVES 

taking rides in the car and  I love how

soft and fluffy and pretty smelling she

is when I bring her home.  I'm sure

they love my money.  So it's a win 

all the way around!

 

 

Happy Memorial day!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank

my father, my husband John, and

all the men and women who have or

are fighting here in this country or

on foreign lands for their service

and dedication to our freedom!

We take so much for granted and

don't stop to think of the sacrifices

that these people-and their families 

(speaking as an ex Navy wife)

make each and every day.  It's hard

for them to be away from their homes 

and families and hard for the families

to have their service member away

for long periods of time.  We need to

keep them in our prayers!

 

I made two more monochromatic

cards yesterday with the colours

I had gemstones in.  I love how they

turned out.  I think I'm on to something!

It's hard to read the sentiments for

some reason.  I couldn't get a good

photo.  They are clear stickers

so I think they were picking up too

much light.  The  blue one

has the verse Psalm 118:24

"This is the day the Lord has made

We will rejoice and be glad

in it."

For some reason, this has turned 

out to be Dianne's and my verse.

Not sure how it happened, but

we will sometimes text it to the

other in the morning to remind

each other, I guess.  So sometimes

I use that sentiment on a card and

send it to her. Naturally she's getting

that one as in addition to the

verse, blue is her favourite colour!

Sunday is always bird-free day.

(aka mental health day) .  I leave

them in their cages and just have a quiet

day.  I was able to get some

other cards done during the day which

I will share later.  I love my birds,

but I look forward to Sunday and just

a quiet, slow day.  Yesterday just

also happened to be Harry Potter day.

One of the channels was running a weekend

and even though I've seen them over and

over I watch again anyway.  Mainly

the TV is on.  I'm not necessarily watching

it.  I just like the noise, I guess.  But it's

nice to be able to go in the craft room,

make a card and then come back

out and know exactly what is going

on in the movie!

Pretty in pink

Bri and I had a great time Friday/

Saturday.  We went to the deaf

chat and that was fun even though

they still go way too fast for me.

I need more practice but there's

no one to practice with. 

When we came home we watched

Edward Scissorhands which

I had recorded on a freebie

weekend.  I don't generally

watch movies, so I don't

have any of the premium 

channels on.  Why spend that

kind of money when you don't

really use it.  If I want

to watch a movie I have

netflix for that.  Or the

ton of movies that

I have in my collection....

You know, the movies you love

and are some day going to 

watch again.  yes, those movies!

On Saturday we walked to the

ice cream shop, circled around

to the dollar store and then 

stopped to visit Pam for a 

few minutes.  That was so much

fun. We always have fun

together.

I love how this card turned out.  I

did want it to be completely monochromatic

but didn't check ahead of time to see

if I had the correct colours-which I

did not, of course.  I may make another

in green.  I think I have enough

gemstones in that colour.  But I

think the card is still pretty .

It's a little hard to see in the

picture.  In person it looks much

better I think.

 

Sign classes are over for the time

being and I'm going to miss

them, but maybe I should take

the time and clean the house.

Maybe not.  Pam (teacher

Pam as opposed to daughter

in law Pam previously mentioned)

said that she will probably have

a 4 or 5 week class during the summer

of just review, so I will attend that

of course.  I can't believe how

quickly I forget it if I don't study

a little bit every day.  Which I

don't.  I need to buckle down

and discipline myself.  In more

than one area!!