Guess What???!!!!

No, I'm not pregnant. No, I'm not the newest DT member anywhere. No, I didn't win the lottery (darn!). Give up? Well...okay, I'll tell you. The day after our oldest son and his fabulous family left to go back to Arizona, I had the wonderful and exciting chance to meet and spend a few hours with none other than Carol of Just Me: C!!!!!! She let me know that she and her dear, sweet Andy would be passing my way on their way back home with a trailer full of bike equipment, and would I like to get together?! Oh heck yes! She called the night before, and let me tell you, I had a hard time getting to sleep that night, and I think I was wide awake peering at all the yellows and blues in my bedroom as soon as the sun rose. Excited is too tame a word, let me tell you! I stopped off at the legendary O&H Bakery to pick up a couple of our famous Danish Kringles because you can't visit Racine without having a taste of this delectable Danish delight. (Don't be fooled by imitators; this is the ultra best...) Then it was off to Starbucks to wait. I was early. Couldn't help it; couldn't wait a second longer to get there. Not too long after I arrived, up drove Carol and Andy. We greeted each other like old friends! You know exactly what I mean, don't you?! Immediate comfort and perfect rapport. She's a bit of a thing, and as sweet and nice as you'd imagine. I wish you all could have been there to meet her too. We fell into conversation and discussed everything from our passion for cardmaking to travel, work and husbands, little children, and everything we could in the time we had. She's entirely captivating, and I know you'd love her too! I'm blessed for even having the few, short hours we shared. At the very last, Andy took a few photos. I'll share one with you here:

You know how you have that little place in your heart where you store up those special memories? Well this is going in there too. And that way I can pull out a sunny summer morning spent with a sweet someone whenever I want to! 

*happy sigh*

And now onto a couple of cards.... One for CASology, and one for Uniko, as well as Less Is More.



Uniko's theme is 'black and white, with the optional twist; a splash of color,' and LIM's is to use snippets. That card used all scraps, except for the base! Yippee!! First up is the CASology card:

Lots and lots of white space. Michaels white, and a scrap of blue for papers. LF paper airplane die and MB cloud dies. The sentiment is on the inside and reads, "Flying by to say hi." I really like the simple look of this card. 

Here's card number two:

Other than the Michaels white base, all papers are scraps - woohoo!! The circles were cut with my favvie WPlus9 dies, and I used an NBUS (been in my stash waaaay tooooo long) MFT eyeglasses die. The sentiment is from Verve, and stamped with Versafine ink. And that's about it for now. I've got to make a get-well card for my 93 year old boyfriend from church; he's having surgery next week, nothing too major, but I want him to know I'm thinking of him, plus another million birthday cards, anniversary cards, and a sympathy card...it's a good thing I'm retired, lol! Anyway, happy dances everyone! It's good to be back, and I'll get caught up commenting soon, I promise! : )

Happy Birthday Geri!!!!

Today brings a birthday. A very special birthday...Geri Greening of Manitoba Stamper is celebrating today! Woohoo! Don't you just love birthdays?! Don't you just love it when special friends have birthdays?!! Let's PARTY!!!  (Okay, okay, so "Today" was Monday. I know....I'm late, or is it that I'm just extending the celebration?!  Yeah, I like that excuse much better....)

Setting the stage for the party with a few decorations

A few refreshments... (mmmm...!)

Curling cupcakes, and a celebratory cake too...

And of course a few little presents (just as soon as I win the lottery....)

(Sorry...issues with placements here...still figuring out how this new computer works. Bear with me. {Arrrgggggghhhhh}) And I'm late. Really, really late. I think I'll blame the company we had for over a week, and then DH getting sick the day they left. My heart was in the right place, however. Card you ask?? But of course. It's a CASE of one of Geri's, though I'll admit that hers is way better. (Colors are much nicer irl, too.) Still, I know she'll appreciate my efforts...right? Geri?....Geri?....

So here's her card:



And my little tribute:

With that, we've come to the end of the "party" part of the post. Now for a special wish or two. Miss Geri, may your summer be long, your winter be short. Let the fish swim, the flowers bloom, and the skies be ever blue for you. Here's hoping your birthday is as wonderful as you are, and all your wishes come true. Birthday cheers to one of the most kind, sweet, funny, and lovable people in the whole wide world. xoxo

Let the Craziness Begin (and the cleaning...)

Maybe the title of this post should be "Let the Cleaning and the Craziness Begin..." I must apologize to you all for the comments not left. I have grandbabies coming for a week-long visit on Saturday, one of them is a 14 month-old, so I've been working around here trying to baby proof the house, and get things ready. Their parents will be here, so grandpa and I won't be totally and fully exhausted, but I still want floors to be extra-extra clean, and temptations and dangers taken care of before they get here. Hence, my near lack of visiting your blogs, and leaving such few comments. I also have what seems to me to be 20 bazillion birthdays to get to this month, so I still need to get a few cards finished. I made a couple, after giving up on the third "hello" card, and if I play my cards right (hahahahahaha) I can slip one into the City Crafter Challenge, and one into Addicted to Stamps and More. Then it's onto more cleaning and tidying and all those chores that I need to get to. I will apologize again, as I'm pretty sure that I won't have much time to blog or comment until after they leave. I will definitely try to, but can't be sure if it will happen.

Over at CCCB, we're to use predominately yellow. I think this one qualifies:

This card, and the next use pretty much the same supplies. The big difference is the colors. All the papers except the Michaels white, are from Fancy Pants. An AE frame die, a PTI ginko die and stamp with ME Smoke ink.  While the leaves looked okay as just a die cut, they really made me happy after I stamped the leaf image onto the dp. (Thank you Misti!!) A Verve sentiment, and a few yellow blings and that's it.  I love this card. 

This second card will pop into ATSAM, where we're to "make our marks." For my marks, it's the leaf stamping on the dp, and the sentiment.

A mirror of its yellow counterpart... And blue sequins instead of blings. So now I've got to get moving. If I don't "see" you, know that I will soon. Enjoy your summer everyone, and happy dances to you too!

Happy Friday

Today started out amazingly! Got that 'special' phone call, and headed out to the chosen meeting place. As Michele and Tom were making their way home, they were kind enough to stop and have a quick cup of coffee before they made their way around Chicago and up the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. What a pleasure! And yes...she's as sweet in person as she is in the blogosphere. She's got more photos, but I'll share the one I have so you all can drool a bit. It's a real treat to be able to meet bloggy friends in real life, isn't it?! Someday, we should all have a convention....

It wasn't the most lovely of spots to meet, but it was right off I-94 where Tom and Michele could jump back on and head for home. Hope the rest of your drive went well and you have a good night's sleep in your very own bed!

I do have a card. In fact I have two. I was going for the trio, or quartet, but Mr. Mojo got overtired. But I'll keep working on it/them. These two are for the Lawnscaping Challenge, and the first one up is going in the gallery. 

My "sparkle and shine" are rather subtle as you'll see:

For this first card, I went with the LF 'hello' die. And if you look closely, you'll see I used a rich turquoise glitter paper and inlaid it into that delicious bit of striped paper (a snippet from Kim when we were at the Lake House. and I've been hoarding it. and I still have a teeny bit left...) The base is  a half sheet of aqua but no clue as to who made it. An MFT die for the rectangle, and three sequins for a bit more 'sparkle and shine.'

The next one refused to photograph well. I have no idea why...but it makes me happy irl. 

I got really sad when I was making this one. It was the last large bit of this sweet polkie dottie paper by Pebbles. But I managed to remedy that by finding a couple more sheets at one of my all-time favorite LSS, Polka Dots out in Mukwanago. Yay! The 'hello' is in glitter paper and there are 3 matchy-matchy pearls in the lower right hand corner. Pretty simple. Now. Go forth and have a great weekend. If the day remains nice, I'm headed out to dig weeds and do the outdoor chores (yuk). Happy dances everyone.

Got My Mojo Workin'...

Well, how do you like that? Mr. Mojo put in overtime yesterday. Could scarcely believe that he hung around long enough for four, count 'em, four projects! And if that weren't enough, he has more plans for today! I'm totally thrilled that there will be two good days of crafting in a row, as the rest of July will most likely be busy with company, and meeting friends for lunch and shopping, and coffee, and outdoor work. Life is good. Really good!

Onto the projects now before this post gets out of hand. So first up is a tag I made for the current Tag Your It Challenge. Erin has created this gorgeous tag. Don't you just love that tulip? I didn't have one that I liked well enough, so went with a poppy instead as you'll see.

Mine looks like this.

I found some old LYB dp in my scrapbox, and went with that. In the cardstock scrapbox, I found a snippet of kraft. One more scrap for the poppy - a newsprint piece which I stamped with my NBUS Verve stamps in ME red and Jeni Bowlin blue. There are three PTI raindrops in the poppy's center, which of course you can't see well. The sentiment is also Verve. A few sequins, a bit of tan twine, and a little glittery burlap ribbon and done with this one!

Next is a card that will go into CASology. My popsicle card got an HM from the DT, so a big thank you for that! Love playing along at CASology, so it was a real treat to see that this card had been chosen! Thanks again Melissa, Tracey, and the DT over there. This week's Cue Card is:

 

I had a completely different idea for this, but the card (with some help from Mr. Mojo) morphed into what you're about to see:

My repeat is the "thanks." Layers of brightly colored cardstock surrounded by a bright yellow panel and more white. The die is from WPlus9, and all the cardstock are scraps except the Michaels white base. A few sequins and another one done! This is sooo happy looking irl. 

This next card uses more NBUS which I won playing along with the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. Miss dEb Davison kindly sent the goodies you're about to see. Thanks! I'm playing along with Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, where the theme is "Coffee or Tea." I'm guessing that many who hopped along with Amy's CLBH will be playing here too!

Check it out:

Every single thing, except the inks were goodies from dEb. I started with the little coffee pot (don't you just love it?!), which is painted wood, and is popped onto a Prima 3x4" journaling card with the most enjoyable funky green color sentiment and coffee cup. The green panel behind that, is one I made with the stamp set dEb enclosed. Using my MISTI, I stamped a 4 x 51/4" white panel in a matchy-matchy Studio G green ink. Gotta love it when that happens! I added some VersaColor Sand ink to the edges to pick up the krafty color of the journal panel. It's not my exact style, but going out of my comfort zone is a good thing sometimes. Tell me what you think about this one...

And last, but certainly not least, is my Muse card. One of the newest members of the DT, Joan Bardee, has this incredible, incredible card to inspire us, and boy oh boy, the pings started going off in my brain as soon as I saw it. How fun is this??

CAS with lots of interest! My take looks like this:

Right away, I absolutely knew which scrap was going on the front of this card. Sorry I don't know who makes it, but I love this paper. (There's Halloweeny stuff on the back.) It looked like Joan used a ME die, so I did too. I found these brightly colored pleather flowers (which I think are from Target), and used them to pick up the reds and greens of her card. Went with a hand cut flag onto which I used a portion of more winnings, this time from SRM Stickers (thanks ladies!), for my sentiment. A smattering of red blings, and finished! And so am I. Bet you're tired of reading this...so I'll stop. Have a wonderful week, and happy dances everyone. 

No Chatter Today...Unless I Can't Help It....

There's less than an hour before CASology closes. I made this card yesterday, but got busy doing less fun things around the house. So before I miss the deadline completely, I'm going to get right to it. Here's the Cue Card:

 

And here's the card I made. I'm pretty sure you can see the "pop" in it.

The vivid turquoise didn't photograph well, dagnabbit! Michaels white base, LF stamps, three sizes of WPlus9 circle dies (LOVE them), a couple of Copic markers, and a sprinkling of sequins. Now, I'm going to run, but will get to more crafting after I get the grill cleaned and a blackberry cobbler made. At least I hope so... Happy dances everyone. 

Happy Birthday Darnell!!

You all know her, you all love her, so let's celebrate our lovely friend and fellow blogger, Miss Darnell Knauss. Well....she isn't really a "Miss", she's got a fine Mister in her life, I just call her that. Or Miss D....Moving right along... It's HER birthday today, and I thought I might wish this dear and wonderful friend a happy birthday and toss a card in for good measure. When you're finished here, do stop by her blog and wish her the heartiest of happy birthdays, too!


You may know by now that I've switched from my sweet old PC to a new iMac. Still trying to figure out a few things, and because my brain isn't quite working, I can't throw a birthday party here just yet. My most sincere apologies for that. Sure hope I get my act together so that I can share parties here again soon! Anyway... I do have a card, (that is going to be late) but the wishes are there every single day of the year. Those aren't polkie dots, they're itty bitty stars, and each one (plus an additional infinite number) represents a special wish for all good things for her birthday.

May all your dreams and wishes come true today and always dear friend. You're one of those special people in the world, and I am truly blessed to know you. Consider yourself birthday hugged, and sure wish I could take you out for a birthday lunch and shopping excursion in person.  Happy, happy, happy birthday Miss D. 

Ring and Run

I live in a great neighborhood. Mostly adult couples with a few smatterings of children, but mostly grown-ups. Right next door to the west lives Michael. He's just about the best neighbor anyone could ever have. You should see his yard...nearly perfect lawn, and gorgeous flower beds with a beautiful variety of Spring to Fall bloomers. He gives me a hand with some of my yard projects, okay...it was all his doing, trimming the low-hanging and dead branches from the evergreen tree in the front, but I pulled them, piled them, helped to cut them down to size, and bagged them. We laughed and talked the whole time. The two of us often laugh and talk over the split-rail fence between our backyards. So yesterday my friend Mary and I went for a walk along the Lake, and when we were done, we decided to sit on our front steps and visit. We got to talking about Michael, and I got this brilliant idea to play a prank on him. Mary laughed and said I was naughty. True, but I convinced her to come with me and hide behind his Jeep while I did a ring and run. So I tiptoe over and push his doorbell about 10 times and hightail it back to the Jeep. Nothing. We wait a few more seconds, still nothing. I figured the doorbell wasn't working, so I sneak back and pound on the door. And run. I make it to the Jeep and Mary and I couldn't stop laughing. He comes to the door in his stocking feet holding a wine glass. And we laugh even louder. Michael said he knew right away who had done it as soon as no one was at his door! Then the three of us visited in his driveway for about a half hour. I hope your neighbors and your neighborhood are as wonderful as mine. Sometime soon, Michael, me and DH, and the neighbors to the east, Tom and Martha, are going to have appetizers and drinky-poohs on the patio and spend a summer evening just being neighbors. Wanna join us?!

Now to the cards...I actually have a couple of those made. First up is one I've made for The Card Concept 38, with this as an inspiration photo...dreamy...

And it's also going to play along at Uniko, where the theme is Anything Goes with the optional twist of a Masculine card. Mine has no twist, unless you count the grays as 'manly,' lol. 

All the papers, except the Michaels white base, are scraps! Yippee!!! Even the large yellow cardstock panel. For the polkie dots, I used my newish, but NBUS AE Finished Frames die; love that die since it was first released. But the NBUS are the stamps from Verve which I won from the CLBH (thanks Amy!!!). Stamped with black Versafine and ME Smoke. A few gray sequins, *sigh*, and that's it. A bit of a happy card, if you ask me.

Next up is a card I'm popping into a couple of places, and it honors fellow BABE, Kim Heggins from Cupcakes, Cards and Kim. Every now and then, I want to CASE a friend's card, and put it into my BTYB page. You can click on the tab at the top and see a few more, and I will try to get more of you special people in there as time allows. And being retired, you'd think I'd have all the time in the world to do that, but I feel like I'm busier now than I was when I was working. Go figure... Anyway....Miss Kim is one amazing person, and an incredible card maker. She's on several DTs, and did you know she sews? Her craft room is something to behold, decorated with The Mouse and Lucy. I had the privilege of spending an entire week with her at the Lake House, and let me tell you, a sweeter, more gentle person you'll never meet. I just think the world of Kim. You will too. Go visit her blog, you'll see exactly what I mean! 

The card that honors Kim will also go and play at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, where it's anything goes. There's still lots of time to play, so I encourage you all to join me in the gallery there.  First I'll show you Kim's card, which I CASEd:

Extra-extra special, don't you think? And my card looks like this:

Michaels white for everything. RC flower stamps and dies. NBUS Verve sentiment (LOVE that font!). Fancy Pants sequin mix. AE Finished Frame die. WPlus9 Circle die. And a scrap of ribbon. Nothing more fun than a shaker card, is there?! And since I've kept you here, reading and reading, I'll shut up now. Have a great weekend and happy dances everyone!