Happy Birthday Vicki

Vicki of Stamped Smiles blog is having a party for her birthday.  In honor of her special day she is offering all of us the chance to win some Blog Candy!! : )

This card is for you Vicki.  I hope you have a tremendous birthday WEEK!!

I thought I would share a bit about how I created the background for my card.  I simply sponged some color on to piece of cs and then cut my China Town scene from a  cover plate by Papertrey Ink.  Next I cut the same cover plate from plain white cs.  I glued the two together off-setting the two pieces just slightly.

It's Travel time at Seize The Birthday Challenge Blog!! Take whatever transportation you like best and join me in the gallery!!

Please visit Vicki's blog and wish her the very happiest of Birthdays!! : )


BIG (((HUGS)))

Supplies:
China Town Cover Plate and Cable Car by Papertrey Ink
Happy Birthday die by Penny Black

Hope You're on the Mend

Hello friends : )

I pulled out some nifty products that a friend recently gave me to make this card.  I sketched the flower, from one of my Watercolor books, on to a 2.5 x 3.5" Matboard Square from Inchie Arts.  I painted it using Shimmerz Paint (which leaves a totally cool - shimmery finish).  The Matboard is not water color paper but because I only used a small amount of water it handled it fine without damaging the surface or causing it to warp.

I think I am figuring out that Inchie Arts is no longer in business which is really sad! because I liked the outcome of painting on this Matboard but perhaps another Matboard is available out there that would work just as nicely. I'll have to investigate : )

Have a wonderful weekend friends!! : )

Supplies:
Sentiment by Papertrey Ink (so sorry I cannot log on to PTI's site any longer because of my ANCIENT computer : ( but I'm guessing you should not have any trouble finding it if you want it.  It may be called "Stuck on You" if I remember correctly : ))

Inklingz "She Packs a Punch" by Shimmerz
Creameez " Piggy Pink" by Shimmerz

Art Squares from Inchie Arts LLC



BIG (((HUGS)))

CAS Christmas Wreath

Snowing in New Mexico today? not hardly but I wanted to join Loll's CAS Christmas Card Challenge.  This is the first card I have made from my new crafty space and it felt so good to be playing with paper again! : )

There is still time to join Loll's challenge! I hope to see you there : )

Penny Black Supplies:
A Blizzard #51-268 
Snow Time #51-177
Crystalline #30-018



Thanks again for all your prayers and well wishes for our adventure! : )  I wanted to share a little about the move itself and then a tiny bit about our new place.   I am not known for short posts! LOL  but I will TRY to keep my stories brief (ish). heeheehee

Off to a great start!

Until....

The crazy thing is this actually happened TWICE!! on the same day!  The first time, pictured here, it was bad but at least it was light out.  The second time it happened after dark on a busy rural piece of freeway in a wind and rain storm.  The second time BOTH tires blew at the same time.  When the Highway Patrol walked up to our truck window the very first words out of his mouth were:

"Sir I am very sorry that you are having such a bad night but it could have been SO MUCH WORSE!"

My husband responded with "I know, I cannot believe I was able to keep this rig on the road" and the policeman said "I can't believe you kept this rig on the road!"

Praise God who answers prayers!! : )

We hired loaders and unloaders to help us on both ends of the trip.  The delays we had threatened to really mess up the schedule for the unloaders but incredibly they worked with us and came out on a Sunday on Labor Day weekend when we called to say we were in town! Nice guys!!!

I have a great big craft room that I have managed to stuff full! LOL it will be fun making it really "work" as I go along but basically I'm set up! including a place to leave my "photo studio" area set up full time.  I am especially excited about this so that spontaneous card making for challenges etc. will be a breeze now : ) The picture is really distorted because I took a "Pano" with my phone but these panoramic images are neat! my sister showed me how to take them - now I'm a "Pano" addict! giggles



This is by far our favorite place in the whole house! A climate controlled sun room stretches along the entire back of the house.  We are taking all of our meals out there and lots of breaks in between.    We planned to buy a new living room set when we got here but instead we are shopping for rugs and plants and a nicer table and chairs for this beautiful space.  There are tons and tons of sliding windows with removable shade screens.  It is incredible really. I could just live out there full time LOL

I didn't mean to lie when I said all our surprises were happy ones! Actually as far as the house is concerned it is true but about the second day we were here I went in to the garage to get in the car and a giant Wolf Spider was sitting on a 4' wooden crate just opposite the car.  I called my Knight in Shining Armor to come remove it! and he arrived with his protective armor and javelin!!

The thing is, what we didn't know - but now we do know, is that a characteristic of Wolf Spiders is that they jump! Hello!  This spider was about the size of the palm of my hand!  Well when "the javelin" came down the spider jumped.............. into the open window of the SUV! Gulp!!!  Yep! Welcome to the South West!!

I promised not to let this get too long by sharing the whole ordeal but even though a friend of mine suggested we set the car on fire! LOL we called for "Gloria" our exterminator, and current best friend, to come and........ exterminate!

Here is another Pano of our view from the back yard.  The distortion makes it look like these mountains are a long way away but really they are only about 4 or 5 miles at the closest part.  The sun rises behind these mountains but when the sun sets it casts such beautiful lighting and color and we call it our mini Grand Canyon.  When this picture was taken there was a storm over the mountains and we were treated to a beautiful shot of a rainbow.  I hope you can see it in the picture.

The landlords are having some construction done on the property right now so the grounds are in terrible need of WATER! but we easily overlook it in favor of the pretty view beyond.

That is it for me today.  Thank you for hanging in there with me : )

Have a wonderful day!
BIG (((HUGS)))

Simply Amazing!! : )

Today I want to share a sneak peek of a card I made as a Simplicity Sister for Penny Black.  Grab your sun glasses and join me on the Simplicity At It's Best Blog to have a look at my whole card! : )

BIG (((HUGS)))

Greetings from New Mexico!!

That's right! we are finally moved and working hard to get settled. Some aspects of the move went  perfectly! and some not so good but when we arrived at our new home, (seeing it for the very first time other than pictures), we were prepared for some disappointments.  I am thrilled to tell you ALL the surprises were happy ones! and we are feeling incredibly blessed.

The following is a post that I actually scheduled to go live on August 27th.  The thing about computers is that they are so ... so... LITERAL! giggles.  Just because I put in the schedule date as 9/27 instead of 8/27 you'd think , being computers are so smart!, that it would just know what I meant! LOL   I was pretty surprised to turn on my computer in my new crafty space only to realize my post never went live at all but was dutifully waiting for September 27th.

Thank you for taking a few minutes to read my, now stale, post and I promise to give you something fresh very soon!!

Thank you all for your support and prayers - we needed them and they were answered! We are here safe and very very happy!! : ) 

Just taking out a minute for a coffee break... or in my case a tea break! to show off my CAS card as a Penny Black Simplicity Sister! : )  These products make life as enjoyable as a steaming cup of your favorite brew!  Take your coffee break at the Simplicity at it's Best blog for some delicious eye candy to go with it!! giggles

Two paramedics were dispatched to check on a 92- year old man who had become disoriented.  They decided to take him to the hospital for evaluation.  En route with siren going the questioned the man to determine his level of awareness... leaning close one asked sir do you know what we’re doing right now?  The old man slowly looked up at him, then gazed out the window.  Oh he replied I’d say about 50 maybe 55.

Today the movers are coming to load up a truck! Bright and early tomorrow morning we will be headed to our new home in New Mexico! We are as tired as a couple of 60+ year olds can get and soooo ready for this to be over with!!  Everything has gone perfectly and we are excited to begin the next leg of our adventure!! : )

I am guessing that some time in the middle of October I will be back to blogging in full swing : ) I am itching to get out in Blogland to see what all of you have been up to but alas! after this post goes live I will be shutting down my computer for the move. eeeek! moving day is finally here!! : ) See you soon! and thanks a bunch for all your support and prayers!! : )


Penny Black Supplies:
51-375 Snowflake Stitched Frames
40-456 Saying a Latte!

BIG (((HUGS)))