Kindness

Like many crafters, I enjoy sharing what I make with others.  I recently made paper bag albums with a Halloween theme for two little girls I know. I sent them in the mail, so they would get happy mail.  One arrived one day and the other the next day.  Next time I need plan a little better. Kids get a little disappointed when one receives something and they don't.  

Now Jennifer McGuire has started a Share Handmade Kindness campaign. Encouraging everyone to make something and share it with others. It can be a card, a baked item, a letter, anything handmade. Last night I came across this Riley Funny Bones sentiment stamp that Mitchell encouraged me to buy quite awhile ago. Suddenly I was inspired to create a card using the Pebbles Happy Day paper and the coffee cup die I got a few months ago.  Here  is  the card I  came up with last night. Isn't this a great sentiment ?  So perfect for your coffee and wine drinking friends!  

I  will be linking this to Jennifer  McGuire's share handmade kindness challenge  and then sending it out to a friend who will get a big smile when  receiving this fun card.

Oh and I just have to share the Halloween albums, here the larger one is still in progress, I did add more ribbon. :)

Thanks  for stopping  by, I  hope  you take some time to share a little  kindness today. 💜💚💙💛

Friends with Flair

Well hello there!  My second blog post in less than a week, a rare happening these days.  I vowed to use my Unity Stamps more often and today I thought I'd see what I could come up with to enter Unity's Friday Friends with Flair challenge. And I'm happy to report that I came up with a card! I spent some time looking for this stamp I won from Unity last year.  I lucked out twice last year and won liking and or sharing cards made with Unity Stamps. I stamped a few different colors and sentiments and decided to stick with the So Special stamp that I won.  Angela is very generous with her fabulous stamps. 

Here is my Friday Friends with Flair entry.

I like using "office looking" printed paper and the file folder die cut works with it perfectly. Distressing with my fingernail and some distress ink is another technique I like to use. I like the dimension distressing gives the card or project.  

Thanks for stopping by again. I hope you enjoy your weekend and spend some time getting creative!

Scrappin' & New Friends

Welcome Welcome!  How was your weekend?  Did you get a chance to create?  I finally did!  One of Mitch's coworkers is around my age and has been telling me about a scrapbook store she goes to.  She couldn't go to see Mitch in Footloose the same night as we did because she was scrappin' at the store.  I told Mitch to remind her to let me know the next time they were going to crop.  So she mentioned this past Friday, but there was a cost, so I said I'd have to see.  Then she let Mitch know that Sat was a free time to crop.  So I decided it's time I get out and meet some more people.  I'm always a bit reserved or shy at first meetings, even though I've talked to Dawn before, I still can have a difficult time.  Any friends reading this would laugh at that statement, but here is the perfect explanation.

It turned out pretty well.  Mitch decided to come along more to chat and be our entertainment.  I think if he goes next time he'll bring his laptop!  Dawn lives in Altoona too and picks up/brings home Mitch when their schedules mesh.  I met Dawn's sister only to find out Noah spent a lot of time at her place hanging out with her daughter Leah!  Now, you think it's a small world, right?  Well after Dawn mentioning that her maiden name was Sessions I asked if she was related to my uncles by marriage.  She talked to her dad and apparently they are like 3rd or 4th cousins to them.  So the world just got smaller.  Well I suppose you'd like to see what I did?  I finished up the inside of a comp book - a gift for Dawn, made three cards and repaired a title of a scrapbook page that the letters were falling off of.  So here are the cards.

For this one I used kraft paper as the base then added the orange cardstock scrap, Crate paper Carnival pp, scrap of turquoise scrap paper and Fiskar's stamp.

For this card I again used kraft paper, BoBunny pp, a LYB chipboard snowflake and a pigment ink with an Imaginesce clear stamp.

Here is my last card. I used Nestabilities Mega Curved Rectangle to create the purse/bag body.  The ribbon I found at Michael's for $1.  The pearl beads I won in a giveaway.  The stamp is Unity.

 We had a lot of fun chatting and getting to know each other.  I can't wait until I can go again with these gals!  Although packing for it is the hardest thing for me. I know I should be able to get it together and create kits for the photos I want to scrap.

Since I was on a roll with my mojo yesterday I created a scrapbook layout too.  It took me the better part of the afternoon, evening and even a little bit more time this am.  After much thought and playing around with cardstock and design ideas this is what I came up with. I did add the chipboard elements and puffy letters this morning. The backgrounds is Scrapworks which I got at a LSS's rummage sale back in the Spring.  The scalloped circle is Making Memories. The plain brown cardstock is Bazzill I think. A paper doily, Kaisercraft rhinestones, FX ribbon, American Crafts Chipboard accents and Making Memories puffy alpha round out the rest of the layout. This is me 50 yrs ago this month and my parents who look like kids themselves. 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful week.

Have a Ghoulishly Happy Halloween!

 
I just thought I'd drop by and wish all my friends, family and followers a Happy Halloween! I really feel for those of you in the Northeast that do not have power.  Actually I am hoping that by now you do have power and that your Halloween activities are back on again!

My son Mitch works as a cashier at Goodwill.  Of course as such he is able to dress up for Halloween.  He also gets to dress/decorate the mannequins (which are just wire) weekly.  He had them pink for Breast Cancer Awareness, 80's for Footloose and now of course for Halloween.  As I'm sure you know well, Goodwill stores get very busy this time of the year.  Here are a few pix of his creativity.  

 I asked him how he got so talented when he was getting ready one morning.  He's like umm you!

Of course, I can't leave you without pix of the other child.  He didn't get dressed up, but he and his girlfriend are proud parents of a mouse. So here is baby Cotton.  

 

And just for fun and old times sake here is a pic of me from 30+ yrs ago. I was maybe 18?? I recently found some long lost friends on Facebook.  Really am enjoying catching up after all these years!  Hi Dan, Hi Scott.

That's it for now!  I'll be back to post some creations soon, I promise.  Hope you have a wonderful Halloween night and a great rest of the week!!

Blog Candy Winner!!

I want to thank everyone for entering my blog candy giveaway! I enjoy meeting new people and getting a chance to visit new blogs. Over the past 2 yrs I've found a lot of new friends and hope to keep for a long time to come! I know how much I enjoy getting encouraging comments and I like leaving comments just as much as getting them. It's always fun to see what others are creating and I'm usually inspired by everyone. By seeing what you do I get the needed boost to try new techniques. It's been hard for me lately with school and home stuff to post as often as I'd like to, but hopefully after this semester is over I'll be able to post a bit more often.

Sorry about the delay...got side-tracked with family stuff.

I've chosen the winner of my blog candy, however, I've not been able to verify because her? blog is not public. So I haven't been able to get a hold of her. Her name is Leigh and her blog is listed as Charity Crafter. I think she just needs to change something in her blogspot profile. If anyone knows her could you please try and contact her to let her know? I will wait until Tues 4/6 and if I do not hear from her, I will choose a new winner.

Oh and if any of you are so inclined my son Mitch started his own blog. If you'd like to visit and leave a little love here is Mitch's blog.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter Holiday!

Sweet

This week for challenge 32 at House Mouse and Friends is Something Sweet. Either sweet in food, or sweet awww or the word sweet. My sweet friend Carolyn sent some stamped images and this is one of them. I love the mousies eating the popsicle. I recently picked up some clearance paper and thought it would be perfect for this. And I love, love, love creating Joy Fold cards. Colored with Prisma color pencils and OMS. Oh and I covered a star from the goodies Carolyn sent me for my birthday to use as a closure. Sentiment is a Studio G clear stamp. Thanks for taking a peek!

Thank You's and a Gift

I just wanted to post some goodies I got for my birthday. My best friend Barb sent me a Visa gift card. It was really quite a surprise. I thought I might use it for some SU goodies that I ordered, but it turned out that the gift card wouldn't work. So I decided to head to Target. Previously, I had seen a cool scrap tote that I wanted to get, but couldn't justify the expense. I feared the tote wouldn't be there and figured if it wasn't then it wasn't meant to be. Well we got there and the aisle had been changed around a bit so I did not see it at first. Then Tim says isn't that the tote you wanted. Here it was right behind me on the bottom shelf! I have always liked these type of totes but either didn't like the color or was hoping to find them on sale. I love the sage green and black together on this tote. And the circles add a nice bit of scrappin style :D. I started putting goodies in it right away. On the bottom there is a box and you can fill it with goodies and unzip one part and slide the box out without opening it totally and get any goodies stored there. It's nice to finally have something I can carry my 12" trimmer in! I'm usually throwing that in a plastic grocery bag to take to crops. Another cool thing is this tote has a magnetic carousel thingy. You just put it on the bottom and the tote becomes a lazy susan tote! Thank you Barb for surprising me with such a wonderful gift!

Tote-ally Cool Tote by AMM:

I posted small photos but you can click on them to enlarge them.

My new dear friend Carolyn sent me a box of goodies that arrived on Thursday last week! I was so thrilled to receive such a generous gift. She altered this wonderful tin, added spa goodies, stamping/scrappin goodies and some wonderful images. I used the box she sent the goodies in to store some stuff and realized there was one more thing in the box! Good thing I didn't toss the box out because there were some Easter/Spring stickers on the side of the shipping box. Thanks Carolyn!! Here are the photos of her yummy goodness:









Tim also got me some scrappin goodies he got me a Purple Cows trimmer and 4 House Mouse stamps. I got Bunny Bath, You Snooze You Lose, Monica with Blankey and Easter Surprise. If you notice Carolyn sent me Easter Surprise too! Thank you honey! So look for those in upcoming HM challenges :)

Carolyn's son is graduating boot camp this week. He is in the Army and I believe will be training for special intelligence missions. Sorry Carolyn if I remembered that wrong. So I wanted to make a flipbook for him or her. I wasn't sure if I should give it to Carolyn or her son. A friend mentioned that I should just send it and let her choose. So that's what I did, although Carolyn mentioned she was making a book for her son, then I thought she'd keep this one. Well she wants to give it to her son. I can't wait to see it with the added photos. Here is a peek of it

A Quick Post

I just wanted to post this video. It's for all my friends and family...some of you got this in an email, but since we're working on my computer I thought I'd post it here as I haven't gotten everyone's email back in my outlook contacts. This is Kelly Corrigan and I've had the pleasure of reading and enjoying her heartwarming book.



I hope you enjoy!

Carm

Grateful

I am so very grateful for the love and support of friends and family. It has been just over a year since Tim was diagnosed with rectal cancer. He's had pre-surgery chemo, surgery, an ostomy put in, post surgery chemo and radiation together for preventative measure. I am grateful for everyone's thoughts and prayers. I am grateful for the anonymous benefactor who sent us a gift card to the grocery store, not once but twice! I am grateful for his dept at work that they chose us for their holiday family and we received some food and great gifts. I am grateful for the doctor's, surgeon, nurses and other health professionals involved in his care. I am grateful that he was able to return to work after all of this. Especially since I had just lost my job three weeks prior to him ending chemo and radiation. Everyone said he looked so good and so healthy, this includes his doctors, nurses and most people who know what he has been through. He has gained weight which isn't good for most of us, but I said you know for what you've been through it's much better to have extra weight then to be thin and frail. I am grateful that Tim has been able to remain positive through this whole journey. It's not to say he hasn't had his days or we haven't had our days, but all in all he's remained positive. I am grateful for Tim and his love for me, for his support of my scrap booking. He realizes that it can be great therapy and a great way to preserve memories for future generations. He went with me to a recent scrapbook convention and one of the guys in the booth said you're either in trouble or just a good guy. I turned to the man and said he's a good guy! I'm grateful to my scrapbook.com friends and to my SIT friends. Without your support and hanging out scrappin or scrap shopping I'd probably be lots less sane.

Lessons Learned

Yesterday while reading The Toledo Blade I happened across an article about a auction site I hadn't heard of yet. It's www.propertyroom.com its an auction site that sells items from police confiscations. I thought wow that would be awesome to be able to get something for a few $$. So I logged on to see what they offered. I found laptops, computers, bikes, apparel, etc. I looked at the laptops with longing as I want one someday. Long story short I ended up bidding on a laptop. I later found out I didn't read the description as carefully as I should of and was still the winner up to an hour before the bidding was to end. The condition of the laptop was poor it booted up but no picture could be seen on the screen. I was not happy that I bid on something and couldn't get out of the bid. Thankfully while on the computer last night I got an email that I was outbid. Whew! what a relief. I probably should stay away from auctions as I've even had problems with live auctions when I was younger (I think I was in college). I thought I was bidding on a set of jute rugs and here I was bidding per piece! There was something like 3 rugs for $10 each and I didn't have $30 to spend nor did I want all of them. At least I was able to talk myself out of that and got my one rug. So you would've thought I'd learned my lesson there :).


Last year about the time Tim was being diagnosed with cancer I found out a dear friend of mine from Milwaukee was waiting to see if she had MS. About a month later I was chatting with her and found out that yes she was diagnosed with MS. This year she will be walking the 3 day 50 mile walk for MS. Cindy has done many walks for others diabetes, breast cancer, etc. Now she is walking for herself and many others diagnosed with MS. If you would like to support my friend please stop at her page and leave a donation. I know she'd be so grateful for your support. Cindy was Mitchell's daycare provider and has been a friend ever since. She is always willing to help others out. I hope this link from my email works. If not you can email me and I'll send you the link. Here is the link Click here to visit my personal page

Lastly here are a few cards I've made in the last week or so. I really like to hang out at www.splitcoaststampers.com and see what challenges they post to see what I can come up with. Oh and I may as well show you the layout I did of Sam and I when we were just toddlers.