Remembering My Mom

My mom passed away peacefully this morning around 7:20. She was never in any pain that we were aware of, so that was wonderful. She was too young (83) but that's the way it is. We have our great memories of her to last forever. Thanks for all of your prayers.

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For You, Mom

As I said in my last post, I bought this file for my Cameo Silhouette with the intention of making my mom a Mother's Day card with it. Since it appears that I will not be making her a Mother's Day card, I made her this card instead. It's not really a valentine, just an "I Love You" card.

I matted the pink piece with red and mounted on foam squares. I embossed the background piece with my Swiss Dots folder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Grandkids' Valentines

I took a few minutes today and finally made valentines for our grandkids. I used two from a few years ago and then made three new ones. VERY simple and not my best, but here they are:) The hearts are all cut using Lifestyle Crafts dies. They are all mounted on foam squares. The patterned paper is from a stack from Recollections.

My mom is still doing about the same. Eating VERY little and sleeping a lot. She will finish up her radiation on Friday and move to a nursing home on Monday. It still seems very surreal. I'll keep you posted. I made a card for her, too, today. I bought a "MOM" file from Silhouette and was going to make a Mother's Day card for her. Had to use it sooner. I'll share it with you tomorrow or Friday.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

February Calendar Page

Funny how having your mom in the hospital (and being away from home) can make you forget about life's unimportant things. So, here is February's calendar page.

The heart panel was cut using my Cameo Silhouette from pink and red cardstock. The background was embossed with a Swiss Dots folder and I used my Scor-Pal to add a line below the embossing.

Update on my mom: She is about the same.  She is not eating (well, VERY little) and they are not giving her any nutrition. She is only being hydrated through her IV. They did start radiation on her brain on Monday, so she'll have her fourth treatment of ten this afternoon. She is still fully aware of everything going on around her and can talk to us and let us know what she wants and doesn't want. My dad brings her a little something from home every day. She has had lots of visitors and lots of phone calls. Both of my brothers and my sister are in town from out of state. We just take things day by day, but I believe she is comfortable. That is the goal - to keep her comfortable. If she makes it until next Friday, we'll have to figure out where to move her. Thanks again for your continued prayers for my mom, my dad and the rest of my family.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Update on my mom

Short update on my mom. She was unable to start radiation on her brain last Thursday, per the plan. She had a stroke when they came to pick her up. She is basically on a "keep her comfortable" plan. However, it was decided this morning that she will get a try at radiation starting today. It's not a "cure" but it MIGHT help make her more comfortable. Thank you all SOOOOOOOO much for all your kind thoughts and prayers. We appreciate them so much!!!

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Prayer Request

If anyone has any extra prayers, my family and I would appreciate them. My mom is in the hospital right now. They have found masses in her heart, brain and lungs. She had already had a couple biopsies on her lungs and the samples had come back with no sign of cancer. However, it is assumed to be cancer. She will begin radiation on her brain today. Other than than, the course of action will probably be to do nothing other than to make her as comfortable as possible. If you feel so inclined, would you please pray for her comfort and also guidance for us as we decide how to proceed. Thank you very much.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Mint and White (and Stitched) Birthday

I've had all the pieces for this card cut out and ready to put together for about a week or more. I finally decided to put it together and post it. I'm still not sure if I like it or not!

I greatly admire Leslie's cards. She often has stitching on her beautiful cards and I keep meaning to try it again. I've had my sewing machine out on my stamping table for a few weeks, and even got the tension all adjusted for cardstock:) I think I'll have to try again, though. The die cut shapes are Spellbinders. The flower is two pieces put together with a brad - from the wedding section at Michael's years ago. I also added mini white brads to the sentiment piece. The sentiment is mounted on Pop Dots and so is the flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Simple Stair-Step Birthday

Well, this is my last daisy like this. I did it - I used something up! Of course, now I will be missing them:) I wanted to do something a little different with this last daisy - different than my usual white, yellow and black daisy cards. I happened to have some stair-step cards cut and scored and decided to use one of those. (You can find the directions and videos on-line, but if you want to check out my previous stair-step cards and instructions, you can find them here.)

I embossed the matting on the card front with my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I had this die cut sitting on my table from when I was experimenting with new dies and my Grand Calibur. I really didn't know what I would do with a piece like this, until I realized it kind of looked like leaves, if I covered up the circle part:) I added another die cut piece in the middle section. The sentiment is from an old Stampin' Up! set. I added some scoring and some more Swiss Dots and matted with the same green as the die cuts.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Thursday

I almost didn't get a card done for today, but I "snuck" some time while Wyatt was napping this morning. 

I made this card for three challenges - the Christmas Card Challenge blog, CAS(E) This Sketch, and my own personal challenge to post a Christmas card on Thursdays. The Christmas Card Challenge this week is to make a one-layer card. As much as I love Clean and Simple, I very rarely make a one-layer card. I used a Nestability to cut the square out of some scratch paper. Then I positioned it over the card front and sponged on two shades of blue ink. (Buckaroo Blue and Soft Sky - SU!, but likely retired. Not sure and too lazy to check right now!) The ornament is from a Recollections set. I stamped it with Midnight Muse and embossed it with clear powder. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set. Edited to add: Actually now this card is for four challenges. I just checked SplitCoastStampers, and the challenge (for me, since it's cold!) is to use cool colors. This qualifies.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Another Guy Card

I have lots of die-cut pieces to use now, after experimenting with my dies and Grand Calibur. Here is a card I made using one.

I stamped the sentiment on the die-cut piece with Versamark and embossed with detail gold embossing powder. I mounted it on Pop Dots. The matting is shimmery gold. I added some Washi tape near the bottom and scored beside it. I also scored lines on the sides and the top. I matted that piece with black.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Poppies Again - and my thoughts about my Grand Calibur

OK - so here are two more cards I made using a Poppies die from Spellbinders. I wasn't able to cut through anything using the die and my BIGkick, which I have always loved and had no problems with, so I ordered a Grand Calibur from Amazon using a gift card I received for my birthday. I'll give you my thoughts on that at the end of the post.

For this first card, I cut the poppies out of olive cardstock and then again out of reddish-orange. I glued the red flowers over the olive. I cut a panel of white and added Washi tape around the edges and mounted on foam squares. I glued the poppies on the panel. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

For this second card, I cut the poppies out of a black, shiny, textured cardstock. I cut a circle out of red and glued the poppies on that. Then I cut a square from white and matted with black. The sentiment on this one is also from Papertrey. The base is kraft.

OK. My thoughts on the Grand Calibur. I'm not really sure what to say. Although it cut the poppies a lot better than my BIGkick, it still didn't work perfectly. I had to do just a little bit of cutting with my scissors. Then I tried cutting pieces using all of my new dies and the Grand Calibur. I hadn't tried them all in my BIGkick, but I had tried several of them and had failures with lots of them. I will say that for the most part, the dies did cut all the way through using the Grand Calibur. That was the problem with my BIGkick - not cutting through. So, that was better. I've heard from others about not being able to get the cut pieces out of the dies. That certainly was a problem. I used parchment paper between the paper and the die and that helped. And I would much rather have that issue than not cutting everything out. The Grand Calibur requires a lot more winding to get the platforms through. So, overall, I'm satisfied with the Grand Calibur. Honestly, though, I wish I hadn't bought the dies that I had problems with, and then I wouldn't have "needed" a new machine! And I just bought new plates for the BIGkick, so I'm not going to quit using it. I'll just have to use two for awhile. When I'm ready to give up my BIGkick, I'll have to get another plate for my Grand Calibur, as it doesn't come with a plate that you can use with embossing folders.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

One More Yellow/Black and Daisy Birthday!

 

Love this combo:) I only have one more of these daisies left, though. You may be seeing it again soon - who knows! I'm not sure I've ever used anything up before!

I cut the black circle with a Spellbinders die - using my Grand Calibur. I was going to do a post about it today, but I have to think about it more. It should be ready for tomorrow's post. The yellow patterned paper is from a Recollections stack. The daisy is from K&Co. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I embossed the yellow panel with a Sizzix folder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Guy Birthday

When I was trying out some new Spellbinders dies on Tuesday (and having so many problems with them using my BIGkick) I ended up with some pieces that worked. Two of them were this design in navy and burgundy. I wanted to make another one, but didn't have exactly the same colors (I had been using scraps) so I ended up making all new ones using my oldest matstack (that I've had for about eleven years! Maybe I'll use it up some day!) I glued them to a white panel and matted with the same burgundy. The sentiment is stamped using an equally old ink pad that has never even been reinked. Amazing! (Ranger Archival Plum) This card is going to my nephew.

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CAS(E) This Sketch #60

I made this card using the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch #60. It's a very simple sketch, but I really like it.

I stamped the leaves using a Papertrey set. Then I stamped the sentiment, from another Papertrey set. I scored lines above and below the sentiment. The flower is from K & Co. I think I only have three of those daisies left. I might actually use something up! (And then I will miss them, for sure. LOL!) The patterned paper strip is from Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Sketch Challenge - Plus Washi Tape

I had a little time (while Wyatt was napping. Thanks, Wyatt!) to make a card for the SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge for Wednesday. 

I got some Washi tape for Christmas and thought this would be a good use for it. The flower was pre-made, but I stuck a little Washi tape on a scrap of cardstock and punched out a circle from it for the flower center. The sentiment was stamped with the birthday stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Banner Greetings using Gumball Green ink. The greens match a lot better in real life! I mounted it on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Thursday

I've done "Christmas Sunday" for the past couple years, but I think I'll change to "Christmas Thursday." I link them up the to Christmas Card Challenge blog, and their posts are on Sunday, so I can never do the "theme" for the week. This way I'll be able to. I'm not quite sure I'm in the mood for doing Christmas cards, but I'll give it a try!

The theme this week is polka dots. I started with the patterned papers, which are both from Recollections. I stamped the sentiment, which is from Hero Arts. Then I stamped the snowflakes, which are also from Hero Arts. I matted with red cardstock and I mounted the sentiment panel on foam squares. One done! 

Thanks for the comments on my last post about the Grand Calibur. I ordered one on Tuesday! I got a gift card from Amazon for my birthday, so it was a perfect way to spend it, even though until Tuesday I had NO plans of getting a new machine:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Birthday, Terri!

A birthday card for a friend. Happy Birthday, Terri!

I cut the poppies and the background out with Spellbinders dies. (I struggled and struggled with the Poppy one. Anyone else have problems??? I ended up having to cut a lot of the center portion with a scissors. I am not happy about that! I tried again and again, and I really don't think I'll be able to use the die.) I glued the poppy piece right on the labels 27 one and then mounted that panel on foam squares. The patterned paper is from a stack I got at Archiver's from Pebbles. The sentiment is from The Paper Company.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Hello Friend!

A little card to send along to a friend. 

The flower is from the Secret Garden set from Stampin' Up! I stamped it with Primrose Petals ink. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is stamped in SU!'s True Thyme. I sponged ink partway around the edge of my matting piece. After I even had the glue on, I decided to turn the mat around. I had initially planned to put the dark corner in the lower left. Not sure which way I like it best, but once I touched it to the paper, there was no turning back! 

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

A Cheery Hello

I made this card is for yesterday's SplitCoastStampers Free 4 All challenge. The challenge was to make a card specifically for someone and mail it out. This card for the woman who cut my hair for MANY years but moved away to Arizona. She has sent me a Christmas card the last couple years, but I hadn't reciprocated. So, I'm sending her this card (along with our Christmas letter) to say hello and thanks.

The bottom layer was embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The yellow and white layers were cut with Spellbinders dies. I added a flower with gems for the center. The sentiment was cut with my Cameo Silhouette.
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Winter Thank Yous

 I was actually in the mood for stamping yesterday afternoon, and Wyatt cooperated by taking a nice long nap! :) I needed a couple thank you cards and also wanted to check the challenges on SplitCoastStampers. The Ways to Use It Challenge is to use snowmen, snowflakes, etc. Perfect!

For both of my cards, I used a Dreamweavers brass stencil and white embossing paste. After using the stencil and paste, I sprinkled with ultrafine crystal glitter. The navy paper has slight texture and the snowflake paper is from a matstack by Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!