Happy Memorial Day!

I am so thankful to be living in the Land of the Free, and I would like to take this time to thank our military for protecting and defending our country.  May God Bless you all.
This little chick is glad the holiday weekend is over!  I am pooped!  I came home today, hit the bed with the lap top and in about 10 minutes I was out like a light.  I slept 2 and a half hours so I will probably be up awhile but that is okay as tonight the Retirement lists come out for Stampin' UP! and our new catalog sneak peeks!  I am sure many demonstrators will be staying up late tonight as it is one of the most exciting days of the stamping year!
Speaking of stamper's Sue and Shari were in the stall today with their husbands.  I discovered that where they stay when they are up here is their mother's place which is right down the road from Nancy's house, on 11th Ave. between Cypress and Hwy 21.  They are a part of a group that I sometimes get together with that are stampers from all over the state.  I haven't seen them for awhile and it was good to see them!
Lady Di spent most of the day with me today, and we had a lot of fun.  She bought a bike today from Breeze for her grandson Tanner.  Breeze comes riding over on it and we got quite the laugh at that to see this 70 year old man riding a little banana bike.  He is such a nut!  And later on he walked up behind Di and scared her to death.  I don't know how many times she has about jumped out of her skin as she doesn't hear him coming.  LOL  It is pretty funny to watch, although I worry that one of these days she is going to have a heart attack.  I don't think he was really trying to scare her today, but he walks pretty quietly and doesn't say anything as he comes up.

Super Cool Dad

I promised you yesterday that I would post a picture of the other 2 Father's Day Cards I made last night.  Well here it is.  Kind of a fun cheerful card and a good way to use up some DSP strips.
It was even hotter today and it was pretty miserable to be out in but I am thankful that it wasn't raining.  Di came down and spent the afternoon with me which was really nice.  And, she even watched the stall for me so that I could go down and see Debby and Carol today.  On my way down to see them, I hit the jackpot!!  The crafting jackpot that is.  I saw a big box of felt sitting on the ground at one of the spaces and I bent over to look at it and the minute I touched the felt the gal said I could have the whole box for $5.00!  Wow....that was exciting!  I quickly paid her, and left the box there to pick up on my way back.  I picked up a few stamp sets from Debby after chit chatting a bit.  Melissa Varga and Barb Cook stopped by there while I was visiting too.  Both were surprised that I had escaped from Alcatraz....LOL   The man with the felt woman, carried the box of felt up for me to the stall.
Sarah was down this afternoon and we had a nice visit and Jenna called this afternoon too.  She was on her way to Madison as she had to work the closing shift at Olive Garden.  She has a speaker phone so we talked for most of her trip from Milwaukee to Madison until she started entering the city.  We decided that I am going to have to come to visit her in both June and July.  The first trip we will get Diana moved into her new room and the second trip will be to get the babies room set up, and to buy what ever else she needs.  Fun times, that is for sure!  It is definitely going to be a busy summer.
I watched the Season finale of 24 that I had recorded after I got home today.  Boy that was good.  I am sorry to see that show end.  I made a couple of card samples tonight for Nadine's party with Inspired With Nature.  I think I will go to bed now.  My back has been really tired today, and feel's weak.  Not a good sign, kind of a warning signal for me to cool it so I better hit the hay!  I hope you all had a good holiday weekend!  Elaine


 

Oh what a hot one!

Man, it was a scorcher today!  Fortunately I sit inside the stall so am not in the direct sun.  But even so, by 1 today the air was pretty dense.  Now and then we would get a little breeze and that felt so good!  Isabelle was down to see me today and she about turned inside out, she was so happy to see me.  I got the longest hugs from her today, two in fact, it was my lucky day!  I worked on stitching snowman towels today in between customers.  I prepped 8 of them last night before I went to bed, besides baking muffins, making Suddenly Salad, and I baked the shower cake and stuck it in the freezer.  I even ironed my clothes for the weekend.  I can't believe how organized I was.  I wish I was that way all the time, and had the zip to do it!
I got a little cat nap in before Di called and woke me up.  We chit chatted awhile, and then I started working on Father's Day cards.  I had someone ask for one today and I didn't have any.  I made 2 of this one, and 2 of another design that I will show you tomorrow.  Well...I'd better hit the hay.  Tomorrow is suppose to be another hot one!  Elaine

I smell Beer Bread baking.....yum!

I just finished putting a loaf of beer bread in the oven for tomorrow's samples at the flea market.  It smells heavenly!  I am sure if Diana knew this, she would "blink" herself down here!  She said to me at the picnic when we were talking about my up coming visit to Milwaukee that we would have to make a loaf of beer bread when no one else was around (not sure when that would be !?!?!)  just for the two of us.  Jenna and Antonio love beer bread too and Antonio will take a baggie full of it and hide it....lol  He is absolutely crazy about it so is his brother Roberto.  And we make it with Mexican beer when I am there.  I am feeling a lot better today.  I was afraid to eat today, but finally did around 3 o'clock and so far so good!  I finished the second project today for Nadine's party (the 21st) and it is absolutely Gorjus!  We are going to be using the stamp set "For All You Do" for this project.  And if you don't already have it, you are going to want it!  It is a really pretty card and I know that when it hits the card rack at the flea market it will "fly" out the door!
This is the last project (I think) that I have to show you from the Years of Cards event.  I really liked this one a lot, it was really fast and cute!  The card itself is made with the Scallop Circle Die.  You fold your card stock in half first then put the "fold", just inside the scallops so it does not get cut.  The back ground was stamped with Itty Bitty Backgrounds, but when I recreate this card again, I will use the stamp set "Sprinkles" and it will even be cuter yet!  The flower is made with the Sizzix Daisy Die, and the stem is the Sizzlet Little leaves.  The verse is from Thank You Kindly, one of my favorite sets.  Now I bet you have been dieing to know what the center of the flower is!?!?!  It is a Pop Up Glue dot that we dipped into Fine Cosmo Glitter and then attached it to the center of the flower.  Too Cute!  Get a box for yourself so that you can try this!  Have a happy Memorial Day weekend and stop down and visit!  Elaine

Nap time

Just a quick post before I lay down.  I am not feeling very good right now.
I had another doctor's appointment in Mauston today, and I stopped and picked up my new glasses after I was done.  Then I stopped and picked up prescriptions and dropped some things off at the library.  I also put up a flyer at the Administration building for my sister.  She has their house by the lumberyard up to rent.  So if you know of a good renter, let me know.
Since I have been home I have been busy setting up my new Stampin' UP! Demonstrator website.  You will be able to order on line 24/7 from me.  I have put a link on the side of the blog that you can click on to get to the new website.  Their are lots of cool things on the website.  Take a look and let me know what you think.
I just finished a salad a little while ago and I sure am feeling yucky now. It did not set well.  See you tomorrow!  Elaine

Many things to be thankful for!

I have a couple more cards yet and I will be done showing you the ones from Year of Cards.  This one uses the background stamp Bella Toile which I have and love!  The twill is stamped with Thoughts and Prayers, another favorite of mine and the verse is from Wellness Wishes.  We used watercolor crayons to color the stamp with, then misted it with some water and stamped on the twill.  It gives it a cool water color effect and I had not done this kind of stamping on twill before.  I plan on bringing these cards for Show and Tell at Nadine's party on the 21st so you will get to see them in real life.  Only 5 more "sleeps" and demonstrators will be able to preorder certain items from the new catty.  Catalog changes are always so exciting for us.  I can't wait.  I seem to have a second sense at times when Stampin' UP! gets the website loaded with new things for us to see as I tend to wake up in the middle of the night, at the exact time it comes online.  My down line gets a kick out of this as I email them with news in the middle of the night, and they call me in the morning after they get my email!
Today I had another doctor's appointment in Mauston, plus they scheduled two more today.  I was teasing the receptionists that I was just going to bring a cot along with me and stay.  LOL  They thought that was pretty funny.  Kim rode along with me today, and she wanted to stop at Festival Foods to get a few things.  We had lunch at Subway.  I used my gift card that I got from Mom and Dad for Christmas again today.  Thanks for lunch MOM!  We stopped at Practical Cents when we got back to town and I found some pretty pink felt, brown and turquoise crochet cotton that I will use for running through buttons.  I was especially thrilled to find the turquoise today as I need that to tie Mason's baby quilt.  Once again, I found exactly what I needed at the thrift store, which I know is not a coincidence!  :-D  God is so good!  After I got home I headed to the bed with the phone and laptop and returned some phone calls.  Sandy Wellumson stopped over to pick up her stamping order and guess what she brought me!?!?!?  Fresh picked asparagus!  I made creamed asparagus over toast and it was so yummy!  Thank you so much Sandy!  It was a wonderful treat!! Beth was over to tonight and picked her order up and a few to deliver and we had such a nice visit as usual.  We have decided that we are going to start a book club, and read and discuss inspirational books.  Not any particular religion or necessarily religious books, just positive uplifting books and none that are fiction.  We both feel that there is too much negativism in the world.  Too many people hold on to grudges, are bitter, and are not living "in joy" like they could be.  We both really want to become better people and have had many discussions about how to do that, books we have read, etc.  It may just be her and I to begin with but if anyone wants to join us you are more than welcome to.  Just let me know.  Make it a great day!  Elaine

Mojo Monday Sketch

I needed to make a birthday card and I decided to use the new birthday set that I bought a month ago when Lady Di and I went to my doctor's appointment at the Spine Clinic.  I had stamped the cake and cut it out and thought, now what am I going to do with it.  I decided that I should find a sketch and follow it.  So I went to the Mojo Monday blog and this is this weeks sketch.  I knew what paper's I wanted to use, the retired SU Parisian Breeze paper's that were still laying on my desk.  This card went together quickly and makes a great masculine card.  I used Teeny Tiny Wishes and the curly label punch on the bottom of the card.

I'm a happy girl!

I just finished the quilt top for the baby!  YEAH!  I am so glad to have this part done and I am also glad to be feeling better.  Di is going to help me tie it.  We just have to decided when.  Both her and Susie were over today to pick up their stamping order's and for a little visit.
This is another card from the Year of Cards event.  The card is Pale Plum with Chocolate Chip.  It looks better in real life.  The buttons were precut for us with the sizzlet buttons #5 die and the Big Shot.  The scalloped border punch was used on the edges of the Whisper White card stock and the sentiment is from the Level one Hostess set, Picture This, that was in the Occasion Mini and it was punched out with the large oval punch.  Another thing we used from the Occasion Mini was the A to Z background stamp and which we stamped on Pale Plum card stock and then we punched it out with the large star punch.  A quick and simple card.

Give Thanks

This is another card from the Year of Cards event.  The greeting is from the Level one hostess set Holiday Best and is punched out with the wide oval punch.  The card stock was punched with the Scallop Trim Corner punch from the Occasions Mini catalog.  We used a needle and thread to gather the 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon from page 183 of the big catalog.  A Build a brad, page 179 and a stamped image from Little Flowers punched with a 1/2" circle punch finishes off the card.
I got my haircut this morning and it sure feels great to have it shorter now that it is so hot out.  The stamping order came in today and several people were here today to pick up their order's.  I placed orders today for Stampin' Up! and Tastefully Simple, and worked on getting some things cleaned up and put away.  There is still more to do, but it is a start.  I worked some more tonight on the quilt.  I didn't finish piecing all the blocks, I have them about half done but I did get 3 rows of the quilt sewed together so I am beginning to see how it will look.  It is very bright and colorful.

It's a Wonderful Life!

Today was such a fun day for me, although I started out the day feeling rotten again.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  I got down to the flea market a little late again but Sundays are a slower starting day so don't think I missed much.  People go to church, sleep in, or out to breakfast so they arrive a little later by us.  Any who...I had the pleasant surprise of having Corrine and Gus from Rockford, IL stop in for a visit this morning.  Corrine and I met many years ago when I had my store, maybe even before that when I was running Friendship Antiques, I am not sure.  She would come in with her friend Carrie who lives in Westfield.  Corrine and Gus have a cottage on Pleasant Lake at Coloma.  We became friends, and we kept in touch after I closed the store, she came to visit and I got her started (and hooked) on stamping.  I am so bad...such an enabler...but it is so much fun that I have just got to share my passion with everyone!  She has been a long time sewer and crafter and we have a lot in common.  It was so great to see her today.  I wasn't open very long today, only a couple of hours and then I headed over to Wilson's farm for the picnic.  It was so good to see all of them, and especially to see Jenna, Antonio, and Diana, as I haven't seen them for months, it has been way to long.  When I was hugging Antonio, I said to him, I have missed you.  When he was pulling away, he gave me this frown/pout and said to me "You didn't come to see me".  I said, "You didn't invite me"...and laughed.  He said that I could come anytime, so then I was giving him a bad time that he needed to get Jenna to invite me.  I did tell him that I would be coming in a few weeks and he wanted to know if I would be there for the baby shower that Edith is having for Jenna in Milwaukee, and I said "Yes".  He said that Edith had told him to tell me over and over that he was to tell me to come.  That she really wanted me to come to it.  I hope to get some bibs made to take to that shower, and of course I will snap some pictures for you to see.  Antonio immediately claimed dibs at taking home what was left of my Chinese Crunch salad after the picnic.  He is such a nut!  Jenna looks so incredibly cute pregnant.  She is round and glowing.  She had only gained 17 lbs as of her last appointment last month so she is doing very well at keeping her weight down, I think.  We sat under the shady trees at the Wilson farm and we all enjoyed each others company.  It is so nice to still be loved and accepted there as part of the family.  I talked a little bit to Sarah today but not much as they were busy playing this ladder game with another young couple that were there.  I hand delivered my baby shower invitations to all of them and they absolutely LOVED them, and Jenna got to see them for the first time too, and I was teasing that everyone had to show Jenna what dress she was wearing on their invite. I am so proud of Jenna.  She has been clipping coupon's and the Pick and Save has double coupons on Wed. and Sat through June 26 she said.  Well she said she saved over $60.00 with coupons and ended up paying $115.00 for her food.  She has been following the moneysavingmom blog that I suggested.  So I am tickled.  This sure will help them out. Jacqueline had told me how she had made a card for her boyfriend a couple of weeks ago and how she had taken one of the cards we had made when the girls came to class and she said she copied the layout.  Good job kiddo!  She is itching to get back to classes.
Today's card is another project from the Year of Cards event.  This one uses the stamp set Chic Boutique on page 63 of the current catalog.  I had never really paid much attention to this stamp set but really liked working with it.  There are some neat images in the set.  Someone had put too much reinker on the sponge that we used on this card and I got way more than I wanted on it, so this card really has a distressed look, a little more than I wanted it to be.  I am not too happy with it but oh well.
Oh and a little note for Lindacatherine.  I answered the question you had, under the post Close As A Memory Sympathy card.  Thanks for the nice comments you made.  I hope this helps!  Elaine

Together Forever

Here is another card from the swap.  It uses two Stampin' UP! stamp sets, Lovely Letters, and Together Forever.  Together Forever is stamped on the inside and I chose the letter "D" as both of my girls married names start with D so I figured I could use it for an anniversary card for one of them. (They never read the blog!)  The designer paper is from the Bella Bleu pack and is oh so pretty.  This card I think is much prettier in real life than in the photo.  It is a fairly simple card but quite elegant.  And both of the girls had Together forever on their wedding invitations, just with different stamp sets so either one of them would really like this but I think that I will use it for Jenna and Antonio's first wedding anniversary as Jenna loves blue.  Like her Mama.
First thing this morning, I had the pleasure of meeting Becky Gruenwald.  We have been corresponding through email.  Becky and her son came down to meet me today and she is very excited joining our stamping group.  I keep telling her how she will love all of you...so don't let me down gang...lol....I know you won't!  She has signed up to be hostess for October.  If you would like to be the lucky winner of the month of November, or later....let me know!  I work hard to make your party a success, and you get lots of goodies in return!
I am making good progress on the baby quilt.  40 square out of 60 are sewn and squared up, ready to be sewn into the top.  So I only have 20 to go, and I will be able to start putting the top together.  I have a list a mile long to do before the Milwaukee trip and the shower, and am not quite sure how I am going to get it all done with 2 more doctor's appointments added to this upcoming week, one the following week and maybe more will be added, but it all will get done some how!  I may have to do some improvising to my list and simplify some things!  Hope your weekend is going well! Me

Water Aerobics

I just received this information from Karen Sherrell.  If you are interested in car pooling with her, you can email her at 

zookeep@maqs.net

Thanks for sharing Karen!  Elaine

FYI,

WATER AEROBICS SHOULD  BE STARTING JUNE 14. 

MONDAY, 5:30 TO 6:20 PM; 

WED, 5:30 TO 6:20 PM

THUR, 4 TO 5 PM

I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG THE SESSION RUNS.  I THINK THE COST FOR OUT OF DISTRICT PERSON MAY BE $35.   YOU CALL THE NUMBER  847-6603 X 3305.  TIARA DELAPP IS THE SWIM DIRECTOR.

 

THEY ALSO HAVE ADULT LAP SWIMMING AND LESSONS.  YOU CAN GO ON THEIR WEB SITE…  www.mauston.k12.wi.us to see the flyer.

 

I’M PLANNING ON GOING AT LEAST 1 TIME PER WEEK MAYBE 2 X.  I CAN’T DO THURSDAYS BECAUSE OF SUMMER SCHOOL DRIVING.

I’M LEANING TOWARD MONDAY NIGHT & MAYBE WED PM.

ANYONE INTERESTED IN CAR POOLING LET ME KNOW.

KAREN

A Lady Di look alike!

Some of you have been reading my blog or receiving pictures from me for some time.  If you think back, several years ago I went with Lady Di up to Black River Falls to a place she had rented for a week.  On the porch there were a bunch of flowers and plants.  Well this one plant looked like a head of hair.  She says to me....I want to you to take a picture of me with that on top of my head!  I laughed as you never quite know what wild and crazy idea's Di is going to come up with.  So of course I obliged.  And  month's later  when I was demonstrating the stamp set "Enjoy every moment" at Sandy Wellumson's 1st stamping party in her home, I whipped out this 6"x6" scrapbook page with the picture of the plant I had taken, on Lady's Di's head.  Of course everyone roared....LOL  Any whoo...as you can see, I am up tonight when I should be sleeping and I found this blog with tons of pictures of hat's on it.  Magazine covers, catalog pages, etc.  Beautiful pictures of hats, and I saved a few for background papers that I am going to use with some of my sewing stamp images as some of them are like patterns to make the hats.  As I was scrolling through them, I found this picture, and immediately thought of Di and the plant.  This was shot it 1947...so someone beat you to it Di.  I still think you should let me send in my scrapbook page of you in to Stampin' UP! for one of the contests.....I am sure I could win....it is such a great picture....and you could say that you got published for your modeling work!!!!  Hee Hee  If any of you drive by and see me nailed to the big tree in my front lawn....or somewhere else....you will know that Di tracked me down and that I couldn't out run her!  :-)  LOL
Enjoy your friends!  Boo

Courage

This is another card we did at the Year of Cards event, and I think it was my favorite one.  This is the Stampin' UP! set Courage that is on page 67 of the catalog.  We stamped this on water color paper and colored it with water color crayons and an aqua painter.  The color flows so smoothly and easily on our watercolor paper and I love to color with the water color crayons.  I just touch my wet brush to the end of the crayon to pick up the color. Then color away.  I also do this with my water color pencils.  If you use them this way, they will last for years and years, and they look like you never use them!  LOL  I like that.  The gals crayons we used that day looked terrible, and some were broke in half.  She must not know this trick!  Any who, I really enjoyed making this card, and fell in love with this stamp set.
I believe this stamp set  is correctly named.  The people that serve our country definitely have a lot of courage, and they have my utmost respect.  We have them to thank for living in the world's greatest nation, a land of  freedom.  God Bless America!

Herb Expressions

I made this card at a swap I went to.  It is all stamped on glossy white card stock with the stamp set Herb Expressions.
I made 4 sample cards last night after my nap for Nadine's party.  They turned out very pretty, I think you gals will really like them.  Today was kind of a rest and relax day.  I slept in late as I was up late last night.  I paid bills today, and worked on the computer, and made some trades.  I ended up turning on the air late this afternoon as it was getting too warm in here.  I went upstairs to sew and the sewing room was 85 degrees!  I had the door shut though and in the ten minutes I was up there it already went down two degrees.  But I decided to set up a table in my stamping room for sewing as I only have a couple of weeks to get the baby quilt done.  So I moved a bunch of stuff around in there and in the bathroom and the machine is now all set up.  I need to cut some strips and then I will be able to start sewing.  I know I will get a lot more sewing done in general with a machine set up on this floor.  It will be comfortable temperature wise and the problem with being upstairs during the day time is that I can't tell if someone has stopped over as I don't have any windows that face the driveway.  The one window I do have in the sewing room, faces the street, and by the time you see them from that window, they have left.  So this should work out better for now.  Well, break time is over for me!  Have a good one!  Elaine

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me.

Hello!  I didn't get a chance to post last night so I will do a quick post right now.  Yesterday, Carol came over in the morning and we made these tags to put on the flower plants that the Board of Education will be giving to the Sunday School teachers for teaching this year as a thank you gift.  Then Carol took me out for lunch to Bar and Bowl and we had a nice lunch and visit.  After I got back I did some work on the computer, took a nap, then went to fibromyalgia support group.  I was only home a few minutes and an old friend from school stopped in for a visit.  Her name is Kim (Hein) Harris.  We went all through school together, and sunday school.  We sat and visited and she was just going out the door when Beth came over to finalize her party.  So we did that, and visited, and after she left I got the stamping order put in, and then Colleen was iming me and I think I finally got to bed around 1.  Today I had an eye doctor appointment in Mauston and Kim rode along with me.  I got my new glasses all picked out and then we went to the new China Buffet for lunch.  We stopped at Better Buys and picked up a few things, a garage sale on the way home (I didn't find anything), and we just got home.  Time for me to hit the bed for awhile.  Have a good one!  Me

Oh what a joyous day!

The weather was perfect today, a two sweat shirt day and I was very comfortable.  It was a day of surprises with lots of friends stopping by.  Debbie from IL and her cousin Judy from MN surprised me first thing this morning and I was so very glad to see them both!  We had a nice little visit and they bought some stuff.  They both told me how much they enjoy the blog and how they laugh out loud at what I write.  I am not sure if that is good or bad!?!?!?!?  LOL  Debbie was looking at my cards and she paid me the highest compliment, although I do not believe that it is true.  She told me that I have way surpassed her in card making.  She is one creative gal and I always enjoyed our brainstorming sessions when we used to design cards together.  We have had many good times together.  Judy came to one of my stamping events with Debbie when I still had them at the house.  She is so sweet, she actually made soup for me and the two of them brought it over while they were in town one time.  I am still waiting for some more..... :-D.  Just kidding!  Just come and see me more often!!!  I am sorry that they want to sell the place on Castle Rock Lake as I sure will miss them and all the fun we have had out there.  If you or someone else is interested in buying it, please contact me.  Next up on the surprise visits was Jane Bader, one of my long time friends, and fellow Yackette.  She was down there looking for my mom as our church is going to have a brat fry at the flea market in a few weeks.  Hmmmm.....then Dustin and his family, a neighbor boy who lived across the street from us, and is the same age as Jenna stopped in.  They were in a year ago in May and they were expecting their third baby any day then.  The baby girl is now a year old and she was fast asleep in the stroller the whole time Dustin and I were visiting while his wife and daughter were picking out Italian Charms.  He is such a nice young man, and I enjoyed having him in the neighbor hood.  Oh...and Eva who came to Linda Mohn's stamping party was in and we had a very nice visit too.  Little Allison, who I met at the Scrap booking summer school class I spoke at last summer, and her mom stopped in for a visit. They stop in whenever they are at the flea market now.  Allison sure loves to stamp and loves to try out my Tastefully Simple samples.  They had been tent camping at Buckhorn park for girl scouts last night so it was fun to hear about that, and to share scouting stories, as I went all through scouting and was a leader for a few years.  It is so good to be at the flea market again! 
Today's card, (I bet you thought I would NEVER get to that....hee hee) was really fun to make.  The main image "Stitched together with Love" with the rick rack border, is from a stamping set Lady Di got the last time we went to Madison that I absolutely LOVE!  The tape measure is from a strip of pattern paper out of the package of paper I got called Material Girl by Cosmo Cricket.  I had seen a lot of cute projects made with these papers and was tickled to find it at Archivers.  There are some benefits of having to go to doctors appointments!  I used some other pattern paper for the background.  I used a zig zag stitch on my little sewing machine and sewed kind of wonky around it which adds to the charm.  :-D  I punched out a little scallop border to go under the tape measure, and matted the focal image on a scalloped circle.  I felt it needed a little something more so I stamped spools of thread directly on to the pattern paper from K & Co. with a little SU stamp that I had in my collection.  That was just what it needed and the finishing touch.  I have quite a few sewing stamps.  You will be seeing more of them as I play with this paper.  I will be able to make zillions of cards with this pack of paper as I have so many stamps that coordinate with it.  And tight wad me will hoard it and use little bits of it here and there to make it last a long, long time!  And then of course while I had this stamp set of Lady Di's, I stamped 60 images with it, so that will stretch it even further!  As you know, I never do anything in a small way!  I was talking to Di tonight on the phone while I was stamping them and she was laughing when I told her I had 50 of them stamped before we hung up.  Nine pm is the witching hour...and she calls her sister Judi and they talk every night between 9 and 10.  Some times I have something really, really, important to tell her, and it kills me to have to wait till after ten o' clock to call her!
You will get a kick out of this....remember how I told you yesterday that I fell asleep watching Dancing with the Stars after I got home, well the same darn thing happened today.  I thought I was doing so good as I had stayed awake through about 3 dances.  Well, I was down for the count again today.  I woke up and their was only 3 seconds of the show left!  When I rewound it to the last dance I remembered, I had slept through 45 minutes of it!  Ha ha!  I did get it watched after that.  Now that I have written a book when I should be cleaning around here....I will say bonvoyage....and head to bed!  Make it a great week!  Elaine

Fresh Cuts

Hello!  I think this turned out to be such a pretty project.  It uses the stamp set Fresh Cuts, found on page 107 of the big catalog and Fresh Cut Notes, found on p.168.  It is stamped with Rich Razzleberry and a piece of Rich Razzleberry card stock is inside the card behind the cut out of the flower.  A rhinestone brad finishes off the center of the flower and you can put the greeting of your choice on the bottom.  The Happy Easter is from the stamp set Teeny Tiny Wishes.  It is stamped in Rich Razzleberry and then punched out with the Word Window Punch, and matted with a piece of Rich Razzleberry that has been punched out with the Modern Label Punch.  The envelope has been stamped to match with Rich Razzleberry and another stamp from the Fresh Cuts set.  Pretty!

It sure was a beautiful day today.  I wore two sweatshirts and was comfortable all day.  I did throw my rag quilt over the chair as the chair tends to be cold.  There were lots of vendor's today and lot's of people walking around the grounds.  It was fun to see old faces from last year.  Tammy Renner stopped in for a visit after she got done with work.  It was good to see her!  Stop down and see me.  I would love to have you come and visit!  Hugs!  Elaine

Things I Love....

I do not know where the day went today.  It just flew by.  Carol stopped in this morning to return my sewing machine.  She got her's back from being repaired yesterday.  I finished up putting the inserts into the invites and got them all stuffed and ready to go.  I also worked on the computer and getting the last of the order's for Beth's party.  I called her tonight and she is going to stop at the flea market tomorrow and we will get things finalized so that the order can go in.  I don' t feel like I accomplished a thing today.  I just had lots of email, paperwork, and loose ends to finish today.  I am starting to really hurt again so I guess it is time to get down for the night.

Boy, there have really been some good tv shows this week...24, Grey's, and Private Practice were fantastic I thought.  I watched them today.  Sure do love the DVR, and not having to watch commercials, or worrying about the phone ringing and missing something.  It sure is a wonderful invention!
Today's card is with the stamp set Things I love.  So many creative uses for this set.  I just got it during Sale-A-Bration and love it!  I am sure you will be seeing a lot more of it!

Yehaw! I finally got them done!

Well, they are finally done except for the inside.  I just finished assembling the last one.  I wanted to get a close up picture of the little tag on it so you could see the piercing around the circle.  But I had left my camera on by accident and the battery was too low.  I finally gave up, so click it on larger to see the detail.  When Jenna first got pregnant, she and Diana had read in the baby book that the baby was the size of a pea.  So they started calling him Pea pod, or Sweet Pea.  So I thought it would be fun to put a little tag dangling with that on it.  Now I need to type the inside on the computer, print them out, and attach them in the inside.  Yippee....I will be glad to be done with this project and be able to move on to something else!  I have been hurting really bad today.  I can barely move.  I ended up going to bed and slept for awhile till the phone woke me up.  I hope that tomorrow is a better day.  I am guessing that this damp weather isn't helping things.  Have a great night!  Elaine

A busy day

Hello!  I made this card this morning while talking to Jenna on the phone.  It is the stamp set Eastern Blooms and the verse is from Short & Sweet.  I used my ink pads and aqua painter to paint the flowers and I used liquid pearls for the gold dots on the stamens.  The other night I could not think of the name of glitter glue at stamping and I thought of it this morning while drying my hair.  They are called Stickles and come in all different colors.  The liquid pearls comes in a similar type little bottle that you squeeze.  It reminds me of the days when I used to decorate sweatshirts with squeeze bottle paints!  Any hoo....I digress.  I took a white gel pen to the leaves and it really made them "pop" out.  I also used the scalloped edge punch, large oval punch, and the scalloped oval punch.  I haven't played with this set for awhile, but I sure do love it when I do.  It is really fun to work with.  Mom was over this morning and I helped her with dad's new cell phone.  Then I quick popped in the shower and headed out to Lady Di's as she had asked me to go to the Rapids with her this afternoon.  Bernie had his hair cut.  So we had a couple of hours to shop.  We went to Walmart, Cartridge World, and to Lighthouse.  We ended the day with a trip to Apple Bee's for dinner.  We both had gift cards to use.  I am still using the one from my birthday from the girls.  I can eeek out almost one more meal on what I have left on it.  The gift that keeps on giving....lol  Until tomorrow!  Elaine

Winner of $5.00 Gift Certificate!

Barb Cook was presented a $5.00 gift card from me for bringing Pat Boyle to stamping with her.  If someone brings in someone new to stamp with us and their guest attends at least two events and purchases, I give the person that invited them to come a $5.00 gift certificate.  How would you like to be the next person to earn one!?!?!

Scalloped Envelope Die Purse

This was the other project we made last night with the scalloped envelope die.  It actually takes 2 of them to make the purse.  This is not the one that I made.  Some how during clean up I ended up with a different purse.  Oh well, no biggie!  You can put a gift card inside or chocolate, whatever your little heart desires.
Today I had a doctor's appointment in Mauston.  After the appointment I stopped at the thrift stores.  I walked out empty handed at the one store and the other one I found a few pieces of felt and some baby clothes for the baby.  I found the cutest blue and yellow button down shirt in a size 12 months.  I think I will make a little tie to match.  I bought a pattern for one on line about a month ago.  I can just see  Jenna taking little Mason to church in it.  She will love it!  I also found a little pair of baseball bibs, and a sleeper.  Then I went to Walgreen's and picked up 2 bottles of  Soft Scrub and 2 bottles of Soft Scrub spray cleaner.  They had them on sale for buy one get one free.  Plus I had a buy one get one free coupon, and 2 - $2.00 coupons so I got all four bottles for a little over a dollar, and most of that was sales tax!  A good score!  I sure wish we had a Walgreen's here.  They have some great sales.  I dropped off library books after I got back to town and headed home.  I haven't really accomplished anything since I have been home except for doing some things on the computer, I talked with Sarah, and I made supper.  I just don't have much zip today. Oh well...there is always tomorrow!

It's a cupcake kind of day!

Tonight was Beth's stamping party and we had a fun time as usual.  She made some awesome food!  I am totally in love with the grape salad she made and definitely need to get the recipe for it.  It is to die for!  Every thing was yummy....but that was my favorite!
This was one of the projects we made tonight. We used the stamp set Simple Birthday Thanks.  I decided to make a hinged card with it to show them that you could use the set to make a shaped card with it.  It can also be stamped and used on a card front.  Another cute thing to make with it would be to attach a box behind it with a cupcake in it, or you could make a bunch of the cupcakes and string them together like a banner.  Lots of cute things you can do with this baby.  The verse is from the stamp set Birthday Bliss and was stamped twice, once in Melon Mambo and a second time in Bermuda Bay, then mounted on Close to Cocoa card stock.  There are dimensionals behind it so that it pops out and it also holds the top of the cupcake in place.  The cherry was stamped twice, then cut out and adhered to the top of the cupcake.  The one on the outside has crystal effects on it to give it a nice shiny look and the sprinkles are made with the 1/4" circle punch and glued on.  A brad is attached on the left side to make the hinge on the card.

Wake me up when the warm weather is back!

Hello from freezin' Mayberry!  It was a cold one at the flea market today.  I didn't even go down there until after ten o'clock when it finally hit 51 degrees.  My stall faces the north and is usually about 10 degrees cooler than the out doors.  Wonderful in hot weather....not so good on days like today.  I stood out in the sun as much as I could and bundled up in my rag quilt the rest of the time.  I am ice cold and am going to go turn on the electric mattress pad and camp under the covers.  But before I do that, I have a little goody to show you!  This is the Mother's Day card that I made for my mom.  She thought it was very pretty.  The Happy Mother's Day and leaves are a digital image that I printed and colored with colored pencils and did some blending with an Aqua Painter.  The flowers were made with the Big Shot and the Birds and Blooms die.  The center is punched out of scraps with a 1/4" hole punch.  I keep a little drawer full of punched circles and use them like crazy for flower centers.  It just finishes them off.  I love the Birds and Bloom's die, and love the shape of those flowers.  It is so fun to mix and match colors and use up scraps.  "Love you" was stamped with the Stampin' Up stamp set Short and Sweet in Regal Rose and punched out with the small oval punch.  The pretty in pink buttons were embossed, and I am not sure if you can see it real well unless you click on the picture and enlarge it, but I made a strip of grass along the bottom of the flower.  The DSP is some retired paper out of my scrap bin and is mounted on Tempting Turquoise Card Stock, and the flower panel is mounted on Certainly Celery.  I used another border punch with a DSP scrap for the strip above the flower, and then a So Saffron strip I mounted underneath the card panel.  I really struggled making this card last night and haven't felt that way for along time.  It really took a lot of fiddling to make it look good.  Oh...and I almost forgot to tell you that the flower panel was sponged with several different colors, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, and Certainly Celery.  And I did paper piercing along the stem and sewed it with some green crochet cotton.  One last look....yep....that covers everything!  Off to my nice warm bed!  Elaine

Brrrr....winter is back!

So much for going to the flea market today, it was too cold and I didn't even leave the house.  My muscles can't stand 40 degree weather.  I talked to both Sarah and Breezy and it sounds like I didn't miss anything.  Breezy didn't even open up he said, and they were sitting in Sarah's car visiting.  Sarah would get out when someone would come in to Mom's stall.  She has a cold and was hoping everyone would go home so she could go home!  LOL
I was working on stuff for the baby shower today.  I combined all the emails that Jenna had emailed me with addresses onto one Word document, looked up a few, and then printed out a copy so I could address my envelopes.  I got those all done so once the invitations are done, the envelopes are all ready to stuff.  I sent a copy of it to Jenna so she will have it to write out her thank you's.  I made a few phone calls to line up some food and worked on getting the rest of my cutting done as you can see from the picture above.  My focal image is all done, cut, and glued.  Now all I need to do is design the card, print the inserts and then I will be ready for assembly work.
I also talked with Carol today and I just got off the phone with Jenna.  She called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day tonight as she won't have time tomorrow as she has to work.  Mother's Day is Olive Garden's busiest day of the year.  She said last year they served over 900 just during the lunch shift between 11 and 4.  I can't begin to even imagine that.  Have a great Mother's Day!  Elaine


I

Stamping Date changed

The date for the June stamping event has been changed to Monday, June 21st at 5:30.  Nadine Ashworth will be the hostess.  I decided that I'd better move it back a week as Diana and Brooke will be here.  So in June it will be the 3rd Monday of the month.  Please mark your calendars now!  Thanks!  Elaine

I found a great book!

I picked up this book at the library today along with a bunch of CD's I had ordered.  If you like to crochet already, or would like to learn, this is an awesome book!  I put it on my wish list at Amazon.  My amazon wish list will probably go on my Christmas wish list!  LOL  It has step by step instructions, charts, and photos for 200 stitch patterns and projects through out the book that are modern and up to date.  I also saw on the back cover that there are other books like this one and the topics they have listed are Sewing, Paper Crafts, and Ribbon Crafts.  If they are anything like this one, you will want them too.  It is a beautiful book with wonderful photo graphs and diagrams.
I just finished making some Thin Mints, and I have a casserole in the oven for supper.  I might do some other baking tonight.  A good time to do it while it is cool.  I am sure hoping that the weather forecast changes.  It is not looking good for the flea market tomorrow.  Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all of you mother's out there!  Elaine

A blast from the past!

My mom sent me this picture today that she received from her cousin Karen.  It is a picture of my Grandma Pabst (on the far left) age 24, her sister-in-law Myrtle, and her sister Julie.  When I was growing up, my Great Aunt Julie collected owls, and when I would go places with my Grandma, she would always be looking for owls for Julie.  They liked to give each other little gifts often and I remember that Great Aunt Julie was quite the crafter and quilter.  She was always working on something.  My Great Grandma, my Grandma, and my mom were also quilters and did a lot of embroidery and needle work.  I guess it was meant to be that I would do this too.  Now Brooke is showing interest in learning to sew.  She will probably be the quilter in the next generation, or maybe Sarah.  I hope I get to see it happen!  Elaine

Ice cream any one?

I bet you thought you would see a finished baby shower invitation today!?!?  NOT!  LOL  I did get them all colored though.
I have found it is best to work on whatever the mood strikes me that day and today I felt like sewing.  I love to hand stitch.  Some days my hands are too clumsy due to my neck problems, but some days I can.  So today I made these pincushions.  I love how they turned out.  So cute!  I left the tops loose so you can take them off and fill the bottom with pins, button's or whatever your little heart desires, or leave them just as they are.  Let me know what you think of them by leaving a comment!  Elaine

A peek into Mass production

Hello!  A lot of times when I blog I tell you about what I am working on that day but the pictures that I post are of something that is I have already made.  Today I decided to give you a peek of my world today and what it is like when I make things in quantity.  I am working on the invitations for Jenna's baby shower.  I am using a set that Jenna bought for me.  I had this on my Christmas list a couple of Christmases ago as I thought it was adorable (and the other stamps that are in the set) and felt it would be a good set to have in my collection for producing cards.  In the next picture it shows how I stamp it over and over, 4 sheets full for a total of 32 images.  I am not sure exactly how many I need yet so stamped a few extra just in case, and will make any left over images into regular cards.  I am going to paper piece the dresses and the next picture shows all 32 dresses in a pile.  I have a drawer that I keep smaller designer paper scraps in just to use for paper piecing.  It really saves time to have them all sorted that way.  I could quickly pick out patterns for the dresses.  It was funny when I was looking through them as I was stamping as there is an orange print with tiny dots on it and I was thinking...I don't dare use this one....Jen would never wear that!  She'll kill me!  And what is funnier yet is that she will never even see them after they are all made up!  I am sure the stamper's will recognize a lot of these paper's as we have done projects with them.  In the last picture it shows one of the dresses cut out.  I have to cut around that skinny little arm which is some precise cutting.  You have to work slowly and pay attention to make sure it is perfect.  This was my work up till about 2:30.  Then I was ready to move to the bed, with the bed table and color and watch TV.  I have one sheet completely finished coloring, and the other 3 are in various stages.  I also did some cutting to mix things up a bit.  Mom stopped over for a visit and I had a nice long break from it all.  Back to work, I hope you enjoyed the pictures!  Elaine

Another day in Paradise

One of the things I often hear at my stamping events is that sometimes the gals don't want to send out there cards to people as they put so much time, effort, and love into them and some people just quickly throw them away.  I quickly made two of this card tonight and thought it would be a good sample to show at Beth's party on Monday night.  It could be used for male or female and has a nice clean look to it.  The card base is Taken with Teal, then Whisper White, and the squares are punched with the 1 3/8" square punch and rounded on one corner with the corner rounder.  I used the colors: Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal, Summer Sun, and Garden Green.  The stamp set I used is called Party Hearty and is such a nice set.  It is on page 69 of the catalog if you would like to take a look at the other images in the set.  Also if you look on the side bar under Party Hearty you can see what else I have posted on here using that set.  The CELEBRATE YOU fits perfectly in the scalloped circle punch.  I just love that.  Then I stamped the package and punched that out with the 3/4" circle punch and popped it up with a dimensional.  The stamp-ma-jig makes the party hearty perfect on the bottom to give a professional look.  I was paid a very high comment this weekend by a stamper looking at my greeting cards.  She told me that I do such nice work and that they look very professional.  I thought that was really nice.  Maybe she will join us sometime.  It is always fun to have new people!
Not much new around here.  I started the baby quilt last night and got 10 blocks done.  Today I was picking up some things around here, did some paper work, made Meat-za-Pie, and Breezy mowed the lawn.  Jenna was off today and I spent several hours on the phone talking to her.  I think I will go play in the stamping room for a little while before heading to bed.  See ya tomorrow!  Elaine

Garden Whimsey

Good Evening!  Boy it seems like forever since I have posted.  It sure was a beautiful weekend, perfect weather for opening weekend of the flea market.  I  was a tired camper.  Saturday I took a two hour nap after I got home and yesterday almost a 3 1/2 hour nap!  And still slept from about midnight to seven!  But I feel pretty rested today, and I got some things accomplished.  I made Apple bread and Oatmeal Scotchies this morning, and made a trip to the bank.  I just walked in the door and Melissa was calling.  She was at Practical Cents and there was a Red, White, and Blue quilt she thought I would like.  So I made a trip down there, got that and a few pieces of fabric and a bag of thread.  After I had a sandwich, I made 2 of these cards, rested awhile, and just finished making cauliflower soup.  I am eating some right now with some apple bread and boy is it yummy!  Taffy and Molly are thrilled about the new quilt.  As I was tossing it out on the bed.....they were right under it.  And after I got it all situated, they each took their spots.  I walked by and about laughed out loud as they looked like two princesses on their thrown.  I do believe they think I bought it for them!  Little do they know, I did!