Update

Thank you so much for the prayers and concern. I am headed back to my hometown this weekend to help family/friends with the clean-up. I have asked all my friends here for donations of water to take with me. Since Kip is unable to go, I can load my Jeep completely and just leave enough room for me to sit. I will be posting cards again next week. After the flood last year we were offered and received so much help and I want to do my little part and pay that forward. One lesson I learned from that is that even though I can't wield a chainsaw and move trees, there are a thousand other ways I can help, even if it is making sandwiches and passing out cold water. Thanks again.

Prayers Please

I had a card that I was going to post this morning but after seeing all the destruction for yesterday's storms and tornados, I didn't want to post a happy cheery card because my heart is too heavy. Please keep all those affected in your thoughts and prayers. Lots of families are grieving today because of lost loved ones. Many other families will be facing some major financial hardships in the days to come. The area my family lives in was hit pretty hard and there are at least eight deaths in their town, most of them seemingly one street over from where my grandparents live. I was panicking a little last night because I was unable to reach any of them. Finally my sister called and let me know that they were all without power but they were all safe and that houses were intact. Phone lines were down and cell batteries were getting low. This morning I was able to speak with my parents, grandparents and brother. Lots of broken and downed trees, Mom and Dad are missing shingles off their roof, my brother's house only had broken trees, a few missing shingles and a demolished storage building, my sister and her family are fine. One cousin has some pretty major damage to one side of their house, but they are also unharmed.

Also, if you could remember the Robertson and Bryant families. I grew up knowing theses families and both have suffered losses in the past couple of days.

Thank you.

Oldie But Goodie April Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the April Oldies But Goodies Blog Hop! Hopefully you arrived here from Barbara's blog. I happen to be a part of the Designing DIVAS group. We originally started on Splitcoast but we also have a group on Facebook. The goal for this Blog Hop is to get up to pull out images and supplies that we haven't used in at least six months. I have been having so much fun doing this each month! Not only does it inspire me to look through my stuff for some something to use, lots of times seeing what the other ladies has created reminds me of stamps that I know I have too. So for me I get double the inspiration! If you would like to start at the beginning and hop along with us, you can start at Vickie's blog.

I have had this darling little Flopsy stamp since it was first released by My Favorite Things. I have had it forever and I don't think I have ever even used it! I know i have used my other Flopsy several times, but I can't remember using this one and it looked super clean. Image is colored with Copics and the papers are from Cosmo Cricket. I have had that paper packet for a while too. I love Como Cricket paper, but I hoard it. Seems too pretty to cut into.

Thanks for visiting me today. The super talented Linda is your next stop on the hop!

You've Got a Friend

Good Morning! Another Monday, so I thought I would post something bright and cheery this morning, especially since it is also tax day here! If you have read my blog before, you know I love the colors yellow and orange. They just make me happy. When I am making cards to cheer someone up I reach for those colors a lot. This image is from Shirley's 2 Girls and was colored with Copic markers with a little orange Stickles in the center of the flowers. I added a panel that had been embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and used ribbon from Target's Dollar Spot and paper from DCWV. Off to work now, have a great day!!

Get Well Card

Good Morning! I am so happy that is is Friday! I am normally off on Fridays and can spend the day in my craft room, but we've been kind of busy so I am working today. I needed to make a get well card for my Aunt. She was in the hospital a week or so ago. She is home now and feeling much better but I wanted to send her a card to let her know I was thinking about her. A while back when I was visiting home, I had brought my Copics and a bunch of images that I had stamped. She is into scrapbooking, but not cardmaking or stamping. She watched what I was doing for a few minutes and I asked if she wanted to join me. Well, you know how addicting Copics are so you can guess the rest of the story! We colored for most of the afternoon. After I left she went to Hobby Lobby and bought her first ones. Then the next week she bought a couple of more. Then she ordered a set or two. Then my Uncle called just to "thank me" for getting her hooked on stamping, markers and making cards. She still spends most of her time scrapping, but likes to color too. The Magnolia images are her favorite so I knew that is what I had to use to make her a card. It is rainy and gloomy here so getting a great picture was just not happening. Everything is colored with Copics, paper is DCWV, lace and pearls are from my stash. Thanks for visiting with me today!

Fluttering Butterflies

Hello! Ahh, it is the middle of the week. Now that spring is getting closer and closer, I am loving my time on the weekends. It's been nice enough most days to enjoy my coffee or tea on the patio with a good book, I just love that. My card today used Fluttering Butterflies, which is a Ching Chou Kuik image for Sweet Pea Stamps. I decided to go with a more black and white look here, even deciding to leave my background white to make the image and the vibrancy of the orange stand out even more. Everything was colored with Copics and the papers are from DCWV. resturaunt

I have an odd question; does anyone make their own crackers? We used to go to a resturant that served freshly made crackers while you were waiting for your food. My Dad and I were telling Kip about it a while back and I have been craving them ever since. I found a great recipe for a whole wheat cracker, but am looking for a white cracker that has been tested by someone. In my quest to eliminate most all processed foods from our diet, I have been having fun experimenting with different foods like that, foods that I normally purchase without a second thought, just because I have always bought them.

Have a great day!

Happy Monday!

I had another great weekend, lots of fun and relaxing time. It was another weekend full of movies for us. Over the course of the weekend we watched Hanna at the theater and on Netflix we watched An Education, an episode of the original Mission Impossible, and Food Inc. Kip bought the disc of Tron: Legacy, so we watched that too. Then last night I hung out with my MIL while Kip worked on my FIL's computer and we watched part of a TV movie. We don't normally see so many movies in a weekend, or at least I don't! I taught a Copic class at the LSS too. Great times!

I have another easy-to-mail card to show you. I used an image from Shirley's 2 Girls, I knew this would be a perfect image to use for any of my dog loving friends. I colored everything with Copics and used one of my favorite color combos; pink and gray. Have a great Monday!

New Baby Girl

Hello! The challenge this week on the Riley and Company challenge blog is "For the Girls". Perfect timing for me since one of my friends just had a baby girl and I needed to make a Congratulations card to send them. I always forget how tiny new little babies are! She is just precious and every one is doing great, Mom and Dad both say she is just so easy going. I used my brand new image Bundle of Joy. I made sure I ordered this stamp on the night of the release to make sure it would be here and I would have plenty of time to make the card and then get it to them soon after the baby arrived. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make them a card with this image.

Image is from Riley and Company, papers are DCWV, buttons are American Crafts, floss is DMC, and the chipboard heart is from my stash. Copics used: E31, E33, E35, antlers-E37, E29, blanket RV10, Rv11, RV14.

I am really making some progress using things I have on hand and not buying too much new stuff. The chipboard heart on this card has been in my stash forever! I mean, at least six or seven years. For some reason I buy lots of chipboard embellishments, but I seem to rarely use it. So look out, you might be seeing lots of it in the future!

Spring Sweet Pea Card

Hello! I am so happy to be seeing signs of spring around me in Middle Tennessee. I love not having to wear a coat. I pulled out some of my warmer weather clothes this weekend and was inspired by all the brighter, prettier colors that I saw. The challenge on the In a Sweet Pea Dream blog is to make something that reminds you of spring. One of my favorite spring/summer color combos is pink and orange, add my favorite color yellow to that and you have this paper! I had some problems getting a good picture of this for some reason. Those pink accents and the piece of pink framing the card and image are the same color. I don't know why it looks like I used three different pinks. I tried to adjust the colors and edit the photo, but everything I did made it look worse. I tried retaking the photo too in different light, but they still look different, so pretend with me that it all matches! The image is a Ching Chou Kuik image from Sweet Pea Stamps called Black Haired Lady and was colored with Copic markers. Papers are DCWV (I think), ribbon is American Crafts and the little accent pieces were cut out using Nestabilities.

Have a great day!