Counter Celebration: 20,000!

**This blog candy post is going to stay at the top til the end of entries. Please scroll down to see newer posts!**

I just noticed my blog counter turned over 20k! Wow. Y'all have been blurfing up a storm lately! Maybe it was the funeral for ol' red that bumped up traffic! :)

So . . . with the milestone, it's time for blog candy, right?

Well, I'm going to make this one tasty: a $20 gift certificate to HMStamps, plus a homemade card from me! The owner, Dick, is such a sweetheart, he did a fundraiser for my cardsforheroes.org project. The card above is one I sent to Dick to thank him for his efforts . . . the Snoopy stamp is one of the ones I purchased from him. Here are a few of the others I've purchased from HM, which will be going to Operation Quiet Comfort for injured heroes recovering in combat support hospitals:

To be entered into this drawing please follow these directions carefully:

1. Tell me your post # - if the person before you did not indicate a post number then simply look back to the last person to give a post number and take the next number after that. Anyone not indicating a post number will not be in the drawing.
2. Tell me your name in your post
3. Post a comment and tell me which line of HMStamp's lines of stamps you'll probably pick from if you win! (You won't be held to that, I'm just curious to see what people like!)
   

Entries will close Friday 2/29 at 11:59pm Pacific time and the winner will be announced sometime Saturday. One post per person.

Good luck, and thanks for celebrating with me!

Read more...

Home-Bound

The trip is nearly over; I got to spend last night stamping with Debbie, and oh what fun we had! I got to stamp some of her SU images and made a card with the ones above. We had so much fun laughing, talking, sharing techniques, randomly changing topics, risking our lives on the way home from Hobby Lobby (I'll let her tell you about that, lol!) . . . we came up with some fun ideas for the future (a SUPER fundraiser for cardsforheroes.org!) and ways to get her to let go of some supplies so she can justify some Copics in her life. Yes, another addict!

I want to squeeze out another card or two before I leave, and then I get the joy of coughing through the flight. Pray that these germs I've now developed will not infect the other unsuspecting souls on the plane! :(

Tsuki, I'm on the way home, baby . . . Auntie Marg told me you missed me, and I'm glad you were nice to her while I was gone. We have lots of snuggles to catch up on!

Read more...

The promised photos: Four Seasons

This hotel is just the sweetest little place. It's called the Four Seasons in Glasgow, Kentucky—definitely a place to stay if you're in the area. (On their website you can look at the room I'm in, 106!) Such a quaint house, the staff are very kind and hospitable, the rooms are comfy. There's a big ol' wraparound porch outside, and it would be great to sit out there on a warm day. Not much snow left once daytime hit, but it really was snowing last night when I arrived! Today was chilly with off and on snow, but little or no accumulation.

This evening, I sat by the fireplace in the lobby and just snuggled in with my markers . . . currently I'm awaiting a call from the printer, but it feels good to have spent some time creating, even if it's "only" coloring! Many thanks to Deloris and all the others who have sent me images, I really *am* working my way through them, really!
Some of these that are drying have some Glossy Accents on them, if you see something shiny . . . shhhh don't ask how it got here on the plane!

Read more...

Just because this blog gets lonely . . .

. . . I saved a few recent cards to upload while I'm out of town! I love to keep you all entertained even when I'm not at home being productive. But this is all I have shots of, so you might get videos for a few days!
These were all sent to OQC signers to write messages on for the injured heroes. The mice, are (of course) House Mouse, bought from HM Stamps—don't forget to sign up for the drawing on the post at the top of this page!

The ticket is from a pack of stickers RAKd to me---they all say things like Hero, etc on them, and as soon as I saw the "for your country" I knew it HAD to go with this stamp!

Yes, I'm out and about; the project at work (the World Vision Gift Catalog) is on press this week, and I get to approve color as they go. So it's work-a-few-hours, let them print for many hours, then work-a-few-more-hours, wait a bunch more. I brought some work with me as well as a bunch of stamped images to color (and my Copics and Twinkling H20s!), but I always forget how tired the weird hours make me! The crazy travel (cancelled flight, rerouted, delayed while finding a crew—who'd a thunk they need a crew to fly a plane—then driving 2 hours in a snowstorm to the hotel . . . 15 hours to get to Kentucky from Seattle!) plus working at 2:30am . . . what day are we in right now? I'm lost! lol.

The hotel I'm at is the sweetest little place! It's kind of a big old farm house, and after the cold weather outside it was fabulous to arrive to a fire in the fireplace, comfy chairs beside it so I could thaw out! There's a wrap-around porch around the whole place, wood floors everywhere. Just CUTE! I'll have to get some photos to post; if you ever come through Glasgow Kentucky, I highly recommend the Four Seasons!

I'm going to go sit by the fireplace in the lobby and color a while . . . see you later!

Read more...

Return to sender

Just little postcard I made for the last boxes of cards going to Iraq. I am so curious as to how long the P.O. takes, so I addressed this to myself and asked the recipient to jot down what day the box got to him. Stamps by SU, Art DeClassified, and Sugar Lump Studios.

Read more...

Email from Scapa

Okay so, I have been struggling this weekend with Old Red's carcass. If I hold her by the top, she still dribbles out tape . . . I'll be just coloring this week so she might not have to suffer the indignities any further . . . because I received this email from Scapa:

Hi Sandy,

Good news. I have entered a request for a new TD-1 gun to be sent to you.

The guys in AppSupport sent your request to me because I recently launched a marketing campaign promoting our TD-1 gun and T002 tape for scrapbooking and they knew I'd be able to take care of you.

Attached is the informational sheet I put together for those that scrapbook.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you,

Andrea L. Gross

Marketing Coordinator

WOOOOHOOOO! Thank you all for your prayers during my grief, your support has meant so very much!! BUY SCAPA! :) Here's the flyer they sent, click on it to make it larger and readable:

Read more...

Weekend Packing Party

This weekend I packed up two more boxes to send to Iraq . . . just when I think my month is done, I have enough to send more! Stay tuned for a new challenge on the Homefront Blog, it will be a very important card drive—with candy! (and you know you all love blog candy!)



Many thanks to those who sent in cards this week!

Read more...

Weekend Packing Party

Well two more boxes are ready to roll...and I am wiped out! I would be posting photos of them, but, uh, Blogger seems to be doing very strange things tonight. It's missing a bunch of typically clickable boxes, including the one that allows me to upload images. Or make things bold, etc. So - keep an eye out later in the week! Nighty night!

Read more...

Tags

I have a drawer full of tags...some decorated, some blank, all sorts! So when I saw Louise's sketch I jumped right on it!
Dotted border above is doodled with my Signo pen (love love love that pen!); silver sentiment is done using alpha stickers.
Image by Penny Black.

Both cards will be headed to Operation: Quiet Comfort for our wounded soldiers.
And now I'm going to bed, I need to catch up on sleep from being up so late last night!

Read more...

RAK it forward

Check out the blog candy at Military Wife's Stamping Spot!

Okay so by now many of you have heard of the "Pay it Forward" idea, right? Well, I'm starting something I'm calling "RAK it Forward!"

I've been thinking of ways I can help all the people who send cards to me for the troops—a few that I know of are financially or otherwise challenged in getting enough supplies to make as many cards as their hearts want to. And as those who've followed my Hoarders Anonymous posts, you know I don't need more stuff! But I had a brainstorm: enter blog candy drawings, and instead of providing my address, ask the hostess to send it to someone who I know needs it! It will be tough on some of those that have extra-yummy candy, but . . . I know I can do it!

How about you? Know someone who needs a little something? RAK it forward! (If not, send it to me and I'll get it to someone who can use it!)

Read more...

Tagged!

Steph tagged me a while ago and I'm just now getting to it, ack! I am just no good at these games! The rules:

1. You must post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name.
3. Each fact must begin with that letter.
4. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.
5. Then tag one person for each letter of your middle name.
6. Be sure to tell them they've been tagged!

Allllllrighty then, my middle name is: LEE!

• Last night I was up til 3am coloring! I got a bunch of new rubber this week and just HAD to play. I didn't even know it was 3 til I nearly fell asleep with a Copic in my hand!
• Elephants are one of my favorite animals, ever since a dream I had many years ago. I dreamed I was a baby elephant, and drew a picture about it that you can see here.
  
• Ever since I was a child, I've been completely silly. Oh, you're not surprised? This tag only asked for a fact, not a new fact!
  

So I'm going to tag people I don't think I've tagged before: Nathalia, Judy, and Claire!

Read more...

Tutorial: Pebbles Chalks & Cheesecake

Ooooooh a new toy! I treated myself to these since I had a coupon at Impress:

This probably doesn't qualify as a tutorial since it's the first practicing I'm doing with these, but oh well. I needed to call this post something, and tutorial works in my tired brain at the moment!

These chalks seem to work nicely with solid or near-solid stamps; the image is stamped in Versamark and the chalks are applied with the little pompoms held with the clip-on-a-stick. It's hard to control teensy areas with the pompoms, but most colors of the chalks dust off with a tissue after completing the chalking. (The dark colors seem to stain the paper wherever it hits, and will streak when dusting off the finished piece with the tissue, so darker colors should be applied with care.) The colors mix together fairly easily, but practice will help.

The shimmer is hard to photograph, but I hope I took some that give you the idea.






The cheesecake background seen in this last photo is something I learned at WinterStamp on Two Peas recently; place a piece of cheesecloth over the cardstock, and ink through it---I've done it here by sponging on the chalk inks through the cheesecloth (taped the cloth down so it won't move much), but you can also use a very very soft brayer. You can also carefully remove some threads to make more space for ink to go through the cheesecloth. (And have a piece of cheesecake while you're working. I kept calling this the cheesecake challenge during WS, and it'll always be that for me!)

Read more...

Condolences received

Many thanks to all who are holding moments of reflection for Old Red. (See last night's post.)

There is a wake being held at Two Peas.

Read more...

Rest in peace, dear friend

I'm sorry . . . I hardly have words right now..

I am simply distraught.

I lost my best crafting friend tonight.

She's been a friend for so long. Or at least it seems so. We met last spring, and have spent just about every day together since then. Every day. No matter the weather, no matter what day of the week. She was right there by my side. Working alongside me—she never refused a crafting date, even stayed up late when I was in a creative mood and needed company into the wee hours.

And oh, the talent she had. She could start with a loose idea and unite paper and embellisment together to create a work of art. I hardly know what I'll do without her, I'm not sure I can even attempt to put card front to card any more.

But now, she's gone.

The accident was tragic, but she was brave. Not a peep. Not a scream. Just the bang of impact, then . . . silence. I took a deep breath, and just stared at the carnage.

I hesitate to show the shocking photos here. It's really graphic, I warn you now. If you're squeeamish, please don't scroll down any further. If you choose to look . . . be sure you're sitting down. Might get the kleenex.









Yes, my ATG is broken.

*sniff*

Read more...

Friendship CASE

This is a card I enjoyed making more than is probably legal. It's a CASE of Nancy—"Wildheart" on the TwoPeas Stamping Board. The card I CASEd is here, and I could have copied her pretty exactly since I now own her military stamp set from her company, Sugar Lump Studios, but I decided to at least veer off a little.

The Friendship image is a stamp from Art DeClassified, and I just love these old guys!

Read more...

CJ: Tsuki Makes Me Laugh

Home again today from work. Last night was no fun—I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say, it's darkest before the dawn. But I'm feeling significantly better this afternoon after a series of naps...hooray!

This is a circle journal entry I mailed out a while ago; I was waiting til the recipient received it so she'd be surprised. Her theme was "Make me laugh". . . and the funniest thing in my daily life right now is Tsuki! So I used the wonderful poem that Leslie wrote, combined with photos of my little nutcase, and a trail of holepunches across the layout (one of her favorite things to do, leave a trail of bits and pieces of embellies behind as she runs across the middle of EVERYthing!). The lighting on this photo didn't work too well; the title at the bottom says "tsuki" using stickers and "makes me laugh" with alpha stamps.


The tag has my photo on one side, but my Two Peas avatar on the other:
And what is a circle journal, some of you may be asking? Each person in the "circle" chooses a theme, and each month someone else in the group creates a 2page layout on that theme. It's their interpretation of what the theme means to them; and at the end, you end up with a book on a theme, with pages designed by a lot of other folks. Great for inspiration and getting to know other crafters!

The theme of my book is "Heartsongs: What inspires you?" Meaning: share what makes your heart sing, whether it's what makes you creative, or what makes you want to be a better person. Whatever. I was in a CJ last year that fizzled, and I have a lot of blank pages in that book (and I was lucky to actually get the book back!). So I continued the same theme, and am just adding to it. The tags (like the one pictured above) are the "sign-in" for the book, usually containing the name, address, email, etc of the person who did a page for your book, and often a photo too.

Read more...

Yummy copics

No energy to post much . . . I was home from work today, a headache and the blahs. This evening I ended up all kinds of dizzy, it's been very very strange. But my blog seems so lonely without anything . . . so here's a card to entertain you while I recuperate from this. I made this one the other day, using a stamped image someone sent me, and a sentiment by CTMH.

Read more...

Our God is Faithful

. . . with a capital F!

Last weekend, I asked the Lord if I should mail all the cards in my house, or hold back some because I knew one more envelope of St Patty's Day cards was on the way. Seemed reasonable to think I might want to have some cards to mix with the new batch, and since they need to get mailed pretty soon, I wanted to be sure I had a ready package to add that last batch of cards. The answer I received to my request of the Lord:

"What, do you think I can't get you more cards?"

I shrugged and said okay, I'll pack 'em all, but when I have only a dozen cards all for one holiday, it won't be because *I* didn't think ahead. (Hear me second guessing what I had just heard?? Sheeesh! I am one audacious daughter of the King, eh?) So on Monday, I shipped out 4 boxes, and that was that. I was practically waiting to tell God "I told You so" by the end of the week. But guess what?

He came through.

He was faithful once again.

And I am repenting from my doubt—yet again.

Am I the only one who just keeps doubting, even when I've seen God come through with flying colours? Is it that easy to forget His faithfulness over a lifetime—to forget even the recent amazing blessings I've received? Am I just that dense? lol.

Three more boxes are going out tomorrow; can you believe it, 500 cards received in one week?










These are all thank-you and get-well cards—the ones on construction paper were done by Scout troops in Florida, and they are the sweetest thing you'll ever see! Many of them will go to Operation: Quiet Comfort; some will go to our contacts in the battlefields since some of the messages tell them to "stay safe." (Hopefully a hero recovering in a hospital doesn't have to worry about safety, only has to think about getting well!)

Read more...

Frozen Grand Central

Gotta love performance art!

Read more...

The Free and the Brave

Or maybe it's called the Brave and the Free? Anyway, it's a brand new set from Stampin Up! and I love it! Here are my first two cards with them:

Read more...

My funny valentine

My little friend Claire just makes me smile. She left this for me on my desk along with some Hershey kisses and stickynote messages when she came to the office with her dad last night. Love you, Claire!! We need to have a playdate soon!

Read more...

Sugar Lump Studios

These new stamps from Sugar Lump Studios are just perfect for cards for Operation Quiet Comfort! They ink up so beautifully....quality rubber!

Read more...