Sandy Wellumson's Thank You Gift

 I made this tag for Sandy's package using the Watercolor Trio stamp set .  I stamped the flowers and weeds with Vanilla craft ink on Basic Black card stock.  I love this look!  The "Thanks so Much" was stamped in Sahara Sand ink to match the Scalloped Oval layer.  The tag itself was embossed with the Perfect Details embossing folder.  I love how it looks like fabric.  Last of all I tied a bow around it with some retired Kiwi Kiss Ribbon to match the card stock that I was giving to Sandy as a hostess gift.  She loves that color card stock and was sad that it was not going to be one of our returning in colors.  Here is a picture of the finished package.

Greetings from Milwaukee!  I have been a busy girl, waiting here for my new grand child to arrive.  I spent one whole day sewing.  I made a topper for the babies dresser with jungle animals that match his room theme.  I had some left over fabric and I sewed 2 pillows that just need to be stuffed,  and 3 burp pads.  While I was working on these things, Jenna was cleaning out her closet and found a whole stack of things for me to mend.  I hate mending, but I got it all done, except for one jacket that she needs to find a button for it.  Jenna keeps me busy, we have been doing lots of things to get ready for the baby.  She worked so many hours during this pregnancy, it is like trying to get everything ready in 4 weeks.  Yesterday, we hit some garage sales.  We found a real cute Halloween outfit and two brand new Halloween bibs that have cute pictures and sayings on them about it being baby's first Halloween.  They will be adorable for picture taking.  She also found some other little pants and shorts for him too.  I didn't find much, but found a whole bolt of heavy green fabric for $5.00 that I think I will make tote bags out of. and a couple of smaller chunks of fabric.  We also stopped at Hancock fabrics and Jenna picked up a couple of chunks of fabrics that she wants me to make some nursing covers with.  So I have another project to do.  I cut out a market bag last night and had intended on sewing that some time today but that didn't happen.  I slept on and off since about 11 pm last night till about 3:30 this afternoon.  I was up and had breakfast with the kids and then I did dishes and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards.  I was on the computer a little bit and got so sleepy that I went back to bed and fell asleep.  AND....I had almost a three hour nap yesterday afternoon!  I guess it is all catching up with me and I needed the rest.  I have to be ready for those sleepless nights we will soon be having!  :-D  Elaine

Computer problems

Hello-
I am sorry that it has been awhile since I have posted.  Between the busyness around here and my laptop giving me troubles, I haven't had much of a chance to post.
Sunday we went to a cookout/birthday party for Madilyn, Antonio's God daughter.  The party was at Lake Geneva and they had rented a great big bouncing house with a slide and a snow cone machine.  All the kids that were there loved that.  Maddy is a blonde haired, blue eyed, chubby little cutie who turned two.  She throughly enjoyed her day and didn't conk out till around 5 o'clock around the time everyone was leaving.  She loves Elmo and received several more to add to her collection, along with lots of adorable clothes, and other toys.  There was another little one toddling around and she was adorable and she reminded me so much of Sarah when Sarah was that age and my sister Lenore when she was little.  Just about the same colored hair, except Sarah's was a little lighter at that age, but she had the same ringlets in the back, just like Sarah and Lenore did.  She had dark eyes and the cutest little smile.  She slipped her feet into Jenna's sandals, started to walk, and waved bye bye at me.  It was just too cute!  When it was time to leave, Jenna didn't know that one of her sandals was missing.  We hadn't seen her take off with it.  I spotted it about 20 feet from where we had been sitting!  It was a beautiful day for a cook out.  Jenna got sunburnt though and applied Aloe Vera many times trying to get the sting out.  I didn't get burnt but I stayed in the shade all the time.  With the medications that I am on, I just fry now, so I have to be extremely careful about that.
Monday, Antonio was at work, and Diana went back to her mother's for the next week so Jenna and I spent a quiet day at home which Jenna really needed.  She was just wiped out yesterday.  I spent most of the day sewing, and Antonio's friend Edwardo came to look at my computer after they got off of work.  He got it up and running again, and I made another trip to Best Buy with Antonio last night to pick up a new power cord.  It is a long story, but Best Buy had told me the night before that my computer was shot and that I needed a new mother board to the tune of 400.00 and that I would be better off to buy a new computer.  The lap top is only one year old, and the warranty expired last month.  I was very upset about this to say the least.  Trip #2 to Best Buy, I talked with the manager, and he spotted that there is a piece missing on the DC adaptor.  I definitely do need a new cord, but also need the DC adaptor replaced which may or may not be a separate part, or it may be attached to the motherboard and he told me the cheapest was to do it would be to order a part from Dell, if it is separate and have Edwardo sodder it on the motherboard  if he knew how, or take it to Milwaukee equipment(?),  So I spent an hour on the phone with Dell being transferred from one department, and of course repeating the same information to each operator only to be told it would need a new motherboard, ....maybe ??? to the tune of 359.00 but if it didn't they would refund this and that, how do I want to pay, etc. plus I got disconnected.  I already had a headache, so I didn't try to call back.  I called and left a message with my nephew Bobby, who is good on computer's, had supper with Antonio and Jenna, was on Jenna's computer a little, started to watch a movie with them but couldn't stay awake and my head hurt too bad so I went to bed.  I woke up around one  and decided now would be a good time to drop you all note.  I am very much enjoying my time here.  It is really nice to eat real meals with other people, and I really enjoy the family time we spend at night in the living room.  I am not used to sitting around at night and watching tv with people and talking.  It has been a lot of years since I have had that.  I do miss everyone at home though, and I really miss the cats.  I hear that they are doing fine, but I am sure that when I do get home that they are going to want to be held non stop, especially Molly, as she isn't letting anyone give her much affection.  She is definitely a one person cat, and wants all her loving from me.
Please write, I can't really call home unless it is an emergency or if I use Jenna's phone after 9 or on weekends.  My trac phone uses double minutes when I call out of this area so I burnt through a slew of minutes the first week so I am being really careful only to call home to cancel appointments and things that I have to take care of from here.  I would love to hear from you.  Have a great day!  Elaine

Rain, rain, go away, come back some other day!

Yesterday, we got caught in a tornado warning and flooding.  We drove through four bad patches of water on the way home.  It would come up on you and you didn't see it until right till you were in it.  Fortunately Jenna had followed another car into the left lane so we were always in the highest part of the three lanes but could only see the curb on the left side and just an inch or two of the road.  It was scary and all I could think of is all the times you see on TV not to go through water when it is flooding and of cars floating like they are on a river.  But it wasn't something we could avoid and fortunately the car was ok going through it.  We saw a lot of stalled cars and the last batch of water we went through was the worst and there was a fireman standing on the right side of the road in it with water up to his knees.  Not a good situation and from the news, we were not in the worst of it.  But all is well, and God brought us safely home.
Today was another adventure when the air conditioner, frig, washing machine, and microwave all went out this afternoon.  The land lord had to come over and change the fuse.  He was coming anyways to fix the bathtub faucet and some other things.  Diana and I went to Barnes and Nobles and spent a couple of hours looking at books, and then we went to Joann's and picked her up something to do, jewelry making stuff.  We also got some fabric so that I can make a topper for the babies dresser.  Adorable fabric.  I will have to shoot some pictures when I get it done.  A last stop to Walmart and we picked up some pop and chocolate.  I needed my fix....lol  We were gone over four hours so it gave Jenna a nice break, although part of the time she had some errands to run.  She is not sleeping well, and I am trying hard to get her to slow down.  I think I finally got through to her tonight and I also talked to Antonio about it after she was in bed.  After he gets done with work tomorrow, he and I will go to pick up Madeline's birthday gift so that Jenna doesn't have to worry about that.  That was his idea and a good one.  He is very considerate of her needs.  I washed my clothes from the week tonight and got them all put away again in my plastic tote.  I decided that it would be easier to live out of that than a suit case and it is working out real well.  I'd better scoot to bed, we have company coming in the morning.  Miss you all.....drop me an email!  Elaine

Distractions...

Good Morning!  This is an unusual time of day for me to doing a post but you will probably be seeing a lot more of it.  I am finding it hard to get my blogging done here as either the TV is on, or someone is talking in the background or to me.  It is hard to concentrate.  But right now Diana is sleeping on the couch, Antonio is at work, and Jenna is sleeping or resting in her room, I am not sure which.  She hasn't slept well the past few days, so I am hoping she is getting some good sleep.  She had her doctors appointment yesterday and everything looks good.  The baby was hiding yesterday and they couldn't hear the heart beat at first which scared her a little but then they found him and the heartbeat was strong and normal.  Her blood pressure is normal and everything looks good, so now we wait.  It is funny, she is not impatient for him to come although she is looking forward to meet him, she just seems to be enjoying this time, and there are things she wants to get done yet before he arrives.  She asked her doctor and the doctor said that she won't let her go more than one week over due.  And that is only because she would rather things start naturally.  Her doctor does want us to go tour the hospital so we will do that soon.  It is 7 miles from here.
My mom just called and I got an update on things back home.  I decided to have some left over french toast from yesterday while I was up ratting around, and so that I could take my meds as I am suppose to take them with food.  We were going to get up early and do errands and I am the only one up and ready to go, but it is pouring out, so it is just as well.  It is no fun running around doing that stuff in the rain.  At least this trip I remembered to bring a jacket.  Last time I was here we spent a whole day running around in the rain and I didn't have a jacket.  It was hot enough for the most part but by the end of the day I got chilled.  At least I am prepared this time around.
We watched the movie Blind Side last night with Sandra Bullock and that sure is one good movie.  The best I have seen in a long time.  I highly recommend this one, especially if you have children.  It is a good one for them to see how many blessings they have.  I will warn you, this movie is a tear jerker, and I had a very wet face at the end of the movie!

Mexican Food

Corrinne just posted a comment, saying that she would like to taste authentic mexican food and was wondering how close it was to the stuff that you get in the restaurants.  There is a restaurant in town that Antonio and Jenna have taken me to that has authentic food but otherwise I have found that it tastes very different than the food that is served in restaurants.  This morning, Antonio made hueno ranchero's.  They are layers of tortilla's, fried eggs, salsa, and a piece of bacon on top.  It was very different for me to eat that combination and especially for my first meal of the day but I liked it.  It had 3 fried eggs in the stack, runny, which kind of mixes in with the salsa and tortilla. 
Right now he is making enpanada's.  Diana just brought me a small piece that Antonio wanted me to try.  They are very good.  Diana says we will top them with something, and I know that Jenna went to buy sour cream, so it will be interesting to try these out.  He is using the fryer that I bought them.  Well...off to eat supper.  Good night!  Me

Cell phone case

Hello!  This is a cell phone case that I made with the Big Shot.  The body of the bag was made with the Top Note Die, and the flower was cut with the Bloomin Blooms die.  The handle and leaves I free hand cut.  I gave it to Diana when she came yesterday.
Today, we have all been busy working.  We cleaned,  Antonio and Jenna rearranged and cleaned their bedroom, moved their clothes into their new dresser, and moved their old dresser into the baby's room, and the bassinet is now in their bedroom.  Their room is finished.  I cleaned the mirror, vanity, and the glass dining room table.  My next project which took hours, was to take tags off all the baby clothes, from the baby showers.  You wouldn't think it would take that long to unpackage things but all those little things had those little plastic things punched into them to hold them in a package.  Every pair of socks etc, and I had to be careful not to snag things trying to clip them off.  So I filled a laundry basket full of little things to be washed.  I also took all the clothes that had already been washed and got those sorted out by size and put in the dresser drawers, hung in the closet etc.  Then I tucked extra stuff  in the room away in the closet, put diapers under the changing table, etc.  There are still a couple of boxes in the room, but the room is looking pretty good.  Diana was doing dishes and cleaning out a closet.  Jenna was vaccuming, cleaning, and  doing laundry.  Antonio did the lawn and is now making supper.  Everyone is tired and we are going to relax and watch movies tonight after supper.  I am hurting but it was good to get a lot done.  Have a good night!  Elaine

If you like Pina Colanda's, and getting caught in the rain....

Remember that old song?  I was thinking about it last night at the cook out at Roberto's and Edith's house.  Edith made us Pina Colanda's last night that would knock your socks off.  You never quite know how they are going to be there, but I love them any which way.  At the baby shower last month, she made 2 batches, one with a regular amount of alcohol in it and one batch with none in it so I got quite the surprise when they were strong last night.  The second batch that Antonio made, seemed to be like a normal one, but who could tell after the first one...hee hee.  Roberto was running the grill, and mexican music was playing.  They have a big dining room table that they keep in the garage and they put that out in the yard with wood dining room chairs when they have a cook out, plus had another white plastic table for the kids. It is strange to be at a big table like that outside, but is much more comfortable than sitting at a picnic table. Their cook outs tend to be different food wise than most peoples.  Lots of different meats, tortilla's to put thin steak in, a bunch of different type chips and guacololie looking stuff that was very hot.  I didn't try it but other people were, some could handle it, some not.  Some other chopped tomato and onion thing that you put with the meat on the tortilla's that I have seen before and I asked Diana if that was hot and she said yes, so that stayed off my plate too.  So I had the steak in the tortilla's, a piece of chicken, rice, chips, and Roberto's wonderful cake.  Plus I had a bite of some sort of orange looking sausage that Jenna gave me a piece of.  It was good, kind of spicy, and just having one bite was a perfect amount of it.  I don't think I would have wanted a whole one. The cake was to die for very chocolaty, with a fudge sauce on top and a coffee flavor to it.  Yummy.  I think I like that one the best of all the different one's I have tried.  I had fun playing with a cute little 2 year old girl.  When she first came she was telling her dad that they needed to find a snake, trying to get him to play.  I had a clean straw sitting by me, so I pretended it was a snake and she loved that.  She was playing with the straw pretending it was a snake and chasing the little boys around with it all night long and would pop over and give it to me to tease her with it or she would tease me that she was going to get me and of course I would act scared, or silly.  She would just squeal and giggle.  Just proves that you don't have to buy kids a bunch of toys, if you encourage them to use their imagination!  She absolutely loved playing with the straw.  I asked her dad if she spoke spanish and he says that she understands it but doesn't like to speak it.  But she did ask Edith in spanish for a bottle of water, Antonio told me, and then she gave it to little Saul.  He thought that was so cute.  Both of them turned 2 in March.  It was a fun relaxing evening.  I so enjoy cooking out, sitting outside and relaxing.  It is one of those things you don't do when you live alone, so I really enjoy it when I am invited to a cook out.  Antonio is still trying to teach me Spanish, a very hard task for sure....ha ha.  He wants me to learn because of the baby.  They both want their child to be fluent in both.  I can pick up a few words here and there when people talk but have one heck of time trying to say anything.  Yesterday's word that I learned was Bonita.  I am not sure of the spelling, that is how it sounds.  It means pretty.  On Sunday, I learned the word Orchata off the food channel (to try and impress him while he was at work).  It is a rice drink.  He is off today, so who knows how many words he will try on me today.  I told him he has to do it one word at a time!  I am a slow learner....lol  He says you have to learn Mama, for the baby.  I said that the baby won't be talking for a long time yet!  :-D  Have a great day!  Elaine

Watercolor Trio Mini Cards

 

Hello!  These are some 3" x 3" mini cards I made for samples for Sandy Wellumson's stamping party.  I made them using some of the new ink colors and matching card stock.  From left to right, these are the colors:  Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler, Early Expresso, and Cajun Craze.  I made these using the stamp set Watercolor Trio.

Today, I attended Jenna's church with her at Mount Olive.  It was such a delight.  It is a beautiful old church.  Old wood pews, upper balconies on both sides of the church, breath taking stain glass windows and alter.  I would have loved to shot some pictures of it.  A very nice service, but it was terribly hot.  I was watching Jenna closely as I didn't think she felt well, and by the time we left we were both soaking wet.  The pastor is a jolly fello and I told Jen in the car that he reminded me of a little elf.  She laughed and she said that he had reminded her of friar tuck from Robin Hood.  She said he is a very nice man, and I can believe that, it he seemed quite joyous.  We did a few errands after church and then returned home for an afternoon and evening of watching the Godfather II, Cold Case, and naps.  I am getting hooked on Cold Case too.  I sewed a tiny bit before reading myself to sleep.  I just woke up for a bathroom stop and decided that I would work on finishing this post.  I sure wish the temperatures would cool down.  I am tired of the heat.  Hope all is well with all of you.  Miss you!  Elaine

Halloween Tags

The pastTheThe past few days have been a whirl wind.  I talked to Jenna on Thursday night about when I was going to come to visit.  The plan was that I would come for a few days to help her get some things done before the baby arrives.  During our conversation, she told me that Antonio really wanted me to come now as he was nervous about her being alone while he was at work.  I had been getting nervous about it also the past few weeks.  So we decided that I would come the next day, on Friday.  So I made arrangements for house/cat sitters, ran up town that night and bought more cat food, gassed up the van, and dropped off some stuff I had in the van at the flea market.  Then the fun began of getting everything packed, trying to think I what all might need for a month or more, things I needed to take care of before I left, etc, etc.  I packed till around 2am and finally went to sleep around 4 am.  After about 3 hours of sleep, I was back up and getting more things taken care of and left for Milwaukee a little before 1.  It was an uneventful drive here which was good.  I got things settled into my room.  I brought a couple of little tables which fit absolutely perfect at the end of my room so I have a place to sew and work, and set my things on.  Jenna is getting me addicted to Law and Order!  We have been cooking together, relaxing, and visiting.  I rearranged the refrigerator last night to make more room and freed up a shelf in there.  Jenna had went grocery shopping before I got there plus I brought some food from my frig so it was pretty packed.  It looks much better now and there is a lot more room.  Talk to you later!  Elaine

Apple Shaped Card

Hello!  Yesterday, our entire family met at House on the Rock to celebrate my mom and dad's upcoming 50th  wedding anniversary.  They will be married 50 years on July 23rd.  We had a great day going through House on the Rock and after wards Jenna and her family headed home to Milwaukee and the rest of us went back to Sarah and Zach's house for a cookout, and Zach's mom and dad joined us.  It was a very fun day.  I was wiped when we got home and I fell asleep before 8 last night and slept on and off till about 10 this morning.  All my muscles hurt today from walking.
Today, Mom and I went over to Jeannette's for lunch.  She is home for the rest of the summer.  It was so good to see her.  I have missed her so.  She is still wild and crazy, and makes me laugh so much and she always has the funniest stories to tell!  She asked me when my next stamping event is as she would like to come to it.  So that would be fun.  Rosella, her tenant and friend joined us for lunch too.  When we were leaving, she told Jeannette that I had been "kissed by the angels".  Jeannette and I both looked at her and she was pointing on her face as to where my dimples are.  Funny.  That must be an old expression. I hope to see a lot  more of  Jeannette while she is home.
I had a short nap this afternoon before Tammy stopped over and woke me up.  Then I was on the phone taking some outside order's for Sandy's party, and I got after wards I entered the party into the computer.  Sandy is coming tomorrow to finalize things and then I will shoot it in.  She was going to come over tonight but we decided that it probably wasn't the best idea with the storm and tornado warnings out.
Tomorrow looks like it is going to be another busy day with lots of people in and out, so I decided that I'd better get done what I could tonight.  I got Nancy's hostess gift made for her party on August 9th, and I also designed and cut out Project #1 for the party.  So I am very happy to have that much done.  With it only being a month away from Jenna's due date now, I want to get a head start on things.  I was typing this post earlier when the power went out. It scared the dickens out of me as at first I thought the computer had been hit by lightening.  But everything was dark on the street too so I made my way to the bed in the dark.  We sure had a nasty storm tonight and I am surprised that I managed to fall asleep during it. I didn't think I was going to be able to.  I must have fallen asleep praying for myself and for my family, for God to keep everyone safe during this storm.  He probably got tired of listening to me and zonked me out!  LOL
The power just came back on and woke me up.  I had the desk lamp on by the computer when the power went out so had to get up and shut that off so I figured that I might as well finish this while I was up.  Unfortunately I am wide awake now so will have to start the sleep process all over again.  Have a great day!  Elaine

Projects we made at Sandy Wellumson's stamping party.

Here are the projects we made tonight at Sandy Wellumson's stamping party.  The top card features the stamp set Water color Trio.  The bottom card uses the stamp set Sweet Scoops.  Both of those are currently in the Summer Mini catalog.  I love them both, but especially love Watercolor Trio, it is such a versatile set.  This is the new flower that the gals learned how to make this month.  Sandy Renner especially loved it and said that she was going to be putting these flowers on EVERYTHING!  Too funny, and I am so glad that they enjoyed making these.

The little firecracker's birthday card!

This is the birthday card I made for the little firecracker aka Susie Smith.  You are probably wondering why I chose to do this card with all of the cards that I could have made.  Well, we both have the Cricut cartridge Create a Critter.  I know that Susie hasn't had time to play with her's yet so I thought I would make one with it for her so that she would have one as an example, and could duplicate it.  And that little bear is just too sweet!  I also told her what settings, etc. I used to make it.  To spiff the bear up a bit, I added a bow around it's neck and used a punched heart to put in it's hand.  I also used one of my favorite retired sets, Hugs and Wishes.  Do you remember this one?  I used to use this sentiment all the time when it was current.  Love it!
This morning I went to bible study and today, Beth Griffith and my mom also came to it.  They really enjoyed it too and plan on coming again.  I think that Sandy Wellumson is going to join us at it next week, which is wonderful!  Speaking of Sandy, we had her stamping party at the church tonight and had a great time as usual.  Susie brought in all the new goodies that she had ordered out of the catalog and everyone oohhhed and ahhhed.  It was fun to see and touch it all.  She also made up some cards for us to see, and used as many of the new products on them that she could so we could see what they looked like on cards.  Wasn't that sweet!  We sure do appreciate it that you showed us all of your new goodies!  Sandy Renner brought a bunch of cards in for show and tell.  She is helping out at summer school with the art class and learned a new technique with chalks.   She share how they did it and had a whole bunch of samples for us to see.  The gals loved them.  She also brought in a card that she used an old book page on so she received an extra little goody for making an item with a current trend, that I talked about last month.  Beth also brought in a bunch of cute show and tell items and one of her projects had twine on it, another current trend, so she received an extra goody also, and so did Susie for bringing in all of  her new stuff to share with the group.  Door prize winners were Sue Bartels, Gerry Fernchuss, and Diane Dilworth.  Di was already gone when I drew names so she will get to pick something out next month.  Everyone received a free bingo card and the challenge is for them to make something with the bingo card on it.  It can be a 3D item, card, or scrapbook page.  If you were not there tonight and would like to participate, stop over and pick up a bingo card.  You can do what every you want to the card, alter it, tear it, whatever, you just have to have part of the card on your project.  Bring it to our next event on Monday, August 9th, starting at 5:30pm.  Nancy Sorensen is the hostess.  I can't wait to see what you all bring in for show and tell!  As usual, everyone is welcome to attend, just let me know so that I know how many packets to prepare, and so that Nancy prepares enough food.  Make it a great day!  Hugs!  Elaine

Another rainy day in paradise

Hello!  This is going to be a quicky post as I am not feeling the greatest right now and need to get down and to sleep again.  I had a migraine after the flea market today, took meds, and slept it off, felt better, and now I am starting to feel yucky again.  Time for some more sleep I think.  Nadine was over tonight and we had a nice visit.  We were rearranging her house from here...lol....to give her a bigger stamping room!  I think it will work out great for her and for all of the entertaining that she does. ;-)
Today's tags use the same stamp sets as yesterday, Twick or Tweet, Dotted Autumn, and the addition of Pumpkin Patch.  I also used the Sizzix sizzlet button #5 die to cut the buttons out of textured cardstock, tied crochet cotton through them, and popped them up with some dimensionals.  Don't they look real!?!!?  I also used our small star punch, and popped that up too.  Monday is Sandy's party...I am really looking forward to seeing you all!  Elaine

Twick or Tweet ?

Here are some Halloween tags that I made using some retired stamp sets.  The one on the far left is made with the Pumpkin and Pumpkin face from Holiday Blitz.  The middle one uses the set Twick or Tweet, and the last one on the right uses the stamp set Dotted Autumn.

Quilted Pins

These are some pins that I made.  They are hand quilted and I selected miniature buttons to sew on each one.  They would be great to leave on a jacket in the fall, or to stick in a greeting card as a little gift for that special friend.

Jumbo paper clips

This was one of my projects that I worked on last week.  They are jumbo paper clips that you can use to hold papers together or as a bookmark.  I used the retired stamp set Garden Greetings to make the flowered ones.  I just love how you can get such a 3D look with it.  The butterfly's I punched out with the butterfly punch and then ran them through the Big Shot with one of our embossing folders.  I also used the 1 3/8" Circle and Scalloped Circle punches on this project and pierced the scalloped circles.  The finishing touch was running crochet cotton through the buttons and tying teeny tiny bows.  When I was working on these, I was thinking that my stampers would be howling if I made them do that.....lol  But they turned out so adorable, it is was well worth the monkeying around with.
First thing this morning, Beth stopped over for a visit and to pick up her stamping order.  Later on Doris stopped in to pick her's up too.  Di invited me to come out to her house today.  She is in the process of moving her stamping room upstairs into the spare bedroom and Beth was helping her get organized.  I helped a little bit but by the time I got out there, Di was tired of working on it.  I know how that goes, been there done that with my own projects around here.  We had a fun time and a great lunch.  I went home with a bag of stickers and die cuts that Di was going to pitch.  After my nap, I had a ball making tags with her trash.  I mixed and matched stuff of her's with my drawer's of elements that I have all prepped for these type projects and popped out 31 tags tonight!  I can't wait for Di to see them.  She will laugh as usual.  I also got some cleaning done today and did dishes tonight and cleaned out the coffee maker so I really did get a lot accomplished today, even though I was gone part of the day and had about an hour nap.  Have a great day!  Elaine

Priceless Bookmarks

I amde

Hello!  Well I had my test today, Di brought me home and I went on the computer for a bit and then slept the afternoon away.  They had given me something to relax, and demerol for pain and I was just dopey so needed to sleep it off.  I woke up about 6 tonight and feel great.  I am trying to catch up on my blog reading and am chit chatting with Colleen from Oregon.  Have a good one! Me

Flower Tags

Hello!  Tomorrow is the big day for my colonospy so I have been busy drinking the prep stuff tonight, and stamping in between things.  Every time I came back from the kitchen, I would be saying...this is nasty sh....!  I just couldn't help it, it was the thought that came in my head immediately after drinking it each time.  The hint I got from Joann today really helped though to drink it out of a straw, but even so, the first glass had tears running down my face while drinking it and the last one had me ready to barf, and I said this is "enough"!  Pure torture, that is for sure.  I am sure glad that I am over that part.  Corrinne told me today that she was on the "ten year" plan.  I want to be on the never again plan!  LOL  Other than that, there isn't much new around here.  I did make a couple of really adorable cards tonight, so you will be getting some good eye candy shortly!  And I wanted to let you know that I used Itty Bitty Bits stamp and punch for the center of the flowers on these tags, and the swirls stamped on the tags are from the stamp set Priceless.  I just love both!  Too cute!

Tags

Good Evening!  It is hard for me to believe that the day is almost over.  I feel like I haven't gotten anything done today, although I designed and cut project number #2 for our stamping event on the 12th.  It is oh so cute!  Diane stopped over this morning and we had a nice long visit.  Jenna had her first day of vacation today, which goes straight into her maternity leave.  Only 5 more weeks till baby Mason is suppose to arrive.  I can hardly wait!  We talked a long time on the phone too, plus Mom called, and I talked to Sarah a little bit and I got my stamping project done during this time.  I had a nap this afternoon, and made spaghetti for supper tonight.  I need to get motivated to do something.  I feel like curling up and watching a bunch of All My Children episodes that I am behind on, but am also thinking about sewing.  We will see what wins out!

Tags #2

Happy 4th of July!  We got a little pitter patter of sprinkles around noon and then around 2:40.  At 2:40, everyone was afraid that we were really going to get hit so they were packing up, and I closed then too.  But it was a good busy day, and we are fortunate that we didn't loose the whole day today to rain!  I was pleasantly surprised with lots of visitors today.  Carol, Erin, Jason, and the little cutie pies stopped in for a quick hi.  Di brought in her son Donny, and wife Mona, and great grand child Lucas.  This was the first that I have seen Lucas, he will be a year old soon!  The little birthday girl came down also to sit with me for awhile this afternoon and even brought water, just in case I was out again today.  I wasn't out, but wasn't that sweet!  Sarah was over for a long visit this morning too.  I hope I didn't forget any one else that stopped in to say "hi" today.  It was a busy day and I may have.  And one of the fun things is making NEW friends too and I seem to do that every weekend.  If they take my card and are going to read the blog....I always tell them that they will know more about me than they want to!  Ha ha!
I am glad to be home and in my air conditioning.  It was another scorcher!   I didn't even realize till I got home in the air that all my clothes were soaking wet!  It sure was humid.  I hope you are not sick of seeing pictures of tags.  I loaded up a whole bunch of pictures last week, to posts so that all I would have to do this weekend is just write and not have to mess around with uploading pictures.  It is nice to have some posts ready, and not have to take the time to do that.  I have gotten fairly fast about getting things up and loaded, but you would be surprised how many hours a week I spend on the blog.  In the past, I wouldn't post on the weekends because of  lack of time, or fatigue.  Now I post almost every day.....lucky you!  Ah the joys of technology!  Off to rest with the kitty cats....!  Me

Happy Birthday Susie!

Happy Birthday Susie Q....you little firecracker!I hope that you are having a wonderful birthday!  Man, it sure was HOT HOT HOT today!  That is all I can say.  My neighbor next door at the flea market had 103 degrees on his thermometer in the shade.  And it sure felt like it!  I was taking melted ice water and putting it on my arms, and neck, trying to cool down some. Marlene from Madison and her friends were in to see me today, and it was great to see her!  I also had lots of other "regulars" in today.  So many people I know by there faces but I don't know their names.  One gal was so kind to bring me back a bottle of water today after I had run out.  Water was selling good today!  Ruth Petersen was in to see me too, and we caught up on things!  A lot of crafts went out today, and tons of catalogs, old ones and new ones.  It always motivates me to work when the crafts are going out the door good!  Ha Ha!  Right now I need to go lay down awhile and get my feet up.  I am suppose to be laying down an hour a day with my feet elevated as I am having a lot of trouble with my feet, and legs swelling up to my knees.  I am guessing that I will fall asleep...it wouldn't surprise me!  I could use a napper!!

Wonderful Favorites Tags

 Happy 4th of July Weekend! I have been busy finishing up Halloween tags, packaging them, and pricing all the stuff I made this week so it is ready to go for the weekend.  I also did some cleaning today....I know....hard to believe.  Even the cats were amazed.  They were following me around, and I would imagine they were thinking that it was about time I left the stamping cave!   Taffy has been tired of me being in there.  She will come and meow at me, especially at night.  She wants me to go to bed so she can get petted.  Molly just demands petting time when I am at the computer.  She has got that one figured out, that I can scroll and pet her at the same time.  They are smart creatures, that is for sure!   I just finished having some soup and my stomach is throwing fits.  Sure hope they figure this out next week and start me on a treatment plan.  It sure is not fun to eat these days.  Otherwise I am feeling good, and pretty rested.  I should be though as I have been home all week long, and have gotten lots of rest.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Stop down and see me if you get a chance.  Elaine

Sewing Machine Picture Frame

Good Evening!  When I was shooting pictures of a bunch of projects that I have made, I thought you might enjoy seeing the sewing machine picture frame that Lady Di brought back for me on her trip.  Isn't it just da bomb!  I love it.

Today has been nutso around here with lots of people stopping in and out, and phone calls.  I tried to take a nap late this afternoon and every time I fell asleep....4 times to be exact....I got woke up by the phone, or a honking car horn...we won't name any names as to who drives in the yard and honks, for curb service.

In between things, I was working on Halloween tags.  I had a pile of scraps laying on the table from using the scalloped envelope die yesterday.  So I got this hair brained scheme that I would use them on some Halloween tags, and that it wouldn't take long to use them up.  Eight hours later...lol....and 24 tags, I still have a few sitting on the stamping desk.  Now if you had seen this pile, you would call me crazy and would have immediately thrown it out.  But you will be pleasantly surprised to see all the cute pictures of all the different tags I made.....another day!  Right now, I smell a cat box that needs cleaning....:-(  , the only negative thing about the little darlin's, I wish they would learn to clean their own litter box, or potty train themselves!!!  Have a good one!  Elaine