Twofer Challenge #8

Well here it is August already, and we're all set for this month's Twofer Challenge, are you?!! The Design Team has come up with awesome cards, as have our Guest Designers Cheryl and Brenda. I can't wait to see where this month's prompt takes you! I had so many ideas, both conventional and unconventional, but chose to go with the ping that popped into my brain (or in this case, a double ping!!). You're going to love this prompt, I promise!!

I know, right...!!! Tons of ways to go with this one! Here's where my pings took me:

Did you know that triangles are the strongest shape found in nature? Yep. It's because any added force is evenly spread to all three sides. Little bit of trivia for you today...

As you can see, I went 'conventional' with my cards.  

For my birthday card, I used various scraps of papers to cut my triangles with MFT dies, as well as some MFT striped paper, a ME rectangle die, and a HA sentiment. Using the same size triangle as the blue one at the top, I cut four more from more scraps, added a 'hooray' from W&W for my second (congratulatory) card, all on an AE rectangle popped up on some fun foam to give it a bit of  dimension. Two different cards for two different occasions using the same die on both cards. I wish you could see these in real life; they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

It's your turn now. I'd love to see what you make with 'geometric' shapes! Go forth and create!! I'm scheduled to have a cardiac procedure in a few days, but hope that it's just a quickie and that I can get to commenting on all your cards soon afterwards. Take care, and as always...

So This Thing Happened...

If you read my last post, you'll know that DH has been having health issues. I'm happy to report that he's greatly improved, much stronger, and will be home Saturday. While he's been in the Rehab Unit regaining strength, this has been what my day has looked like:

1. Wake up at 4:00AM, and try to go back to sleep until at least 5:00AM. Fail miserably, and get up anyway.
2. Clear the cobwebs out of my brain with some coffee, and get cleaned up.
3. Start a load of laundry, wash any dishes, and get the easy tasks out of the way.
4. Finish up, or continue to work on those deep cleaning projects that have been let go. You know, washing walls, cleaning out closets, wiping down shelves, cleaning cupboards, tossing the stuff that he won't miss and we don't need, cleaning light fixtures, vacuuming and cleaning drapes and curtains, well, you know what I mean...
5. Shower, make a lunch, and head out to the rehab center to hang with DH, talk to Social Workers, Physical and Occupational Therapists, and nursing staff. Spend hours cheerleading and being supportive, and nagging when necessary (tee-hee).
6. Come home, work on those deep cleaning projects some more, eat a little supper, and fall asleep while trying to catch 15 minutes of a Cubs game in my comfy chair. Give up, go to bed and then start the process all over again.
7. And let's not forget the grocery shopping, the oil changes, the banking, and all those other errandy things we all have to do.

Well.....All that caught up with me. Or maybe it was just my body's timing. I don't know why what happened when it happened; it just did. A week ago. Before I tell you, you need to know that I'm home and fine. But it could have been otherwise.

Standing in the shower, I went into Ventricular Tachycardia. Rapid heartbeat. Really rapid. Like 235 bpm. I won't go into too many details, but suffice it to say that my BFF Jennifer whom I called, saved my life. She came over, called 911, and off I went with a whole squad load of really cute EMT's. If I were only 35 years younger, lol!! A stop in the ER, then up to ICU for two days. My son (the family practice doctor) dropped everything and drove over from Madison, stayed with me the whole time, and translated the medicalese when I needed it. We have told DH some of this, but not all until he's home and can see that I'm fine and fully functioning. Had a million IV's, endless lab work, scans, x-rays, medications, and a heart cath. NO blockages, narrowing, or plaque buildup. I've been diagnosed with SVT, and will have another heart cath next month with ablations and the possibility of a defibrillator implanted. I'm in no danger. And other than being tired from the medications I have to take, I really am alright. I'm also learning to say "just stop." Stop cleaning so much. Stop thinking I'm super woman (though with a diagnosis of SVT, I pretty much am, lol). Just stop. Wow! Is that hard or what?!! I have an amazing daughter and sil, plus adult grandkids here in town who have been blessings. And my friends and neighbors are kind and helpful as well. So I'm covered. God is good, and watches over fools like me. I wanted you to know a bit of what has happened. It might be a few more days, or until the next Twofer Challenge before I post again, but now you'll understand why. With DH coming home, and multiple tests, dr.'s appointments, and getting into a new routine for both of us, that has to be my priority. But I'm here. I'm fine. And by God's Grace, I'm alive and well.

Card, you say? Haven't had much time, but here's a little one I made as a thank you note for my neighbor. Rather appropriate for my situation, don't you think? Playing along at CASology.

And we did "Zoom" right along to the hospital, lol!

That's an old PS ambulance stamp, a LF dotted line, and MFT dies. A bit of Copic coloring and some GA on the window and red light. I'm off now. Take care and blessings to you all.

Twofer Challenge #7

While I've been mostly absent, I took a few minutes throughout the last Twofer Challenge to peek at all those wonderful tree cards. You all have such amazing talents!! Congratulations to the winners and the Honorable Mentions! Hope to see you in the gallery for this challenge, where the prompt is, "Beverage." Oh so many choices! I almost went with a beer bottle stamp, but instead chose coffee for my cards (big surprise there, right?!).

Here they are photographed together:

And separately:

The card with the chevron panel is actually a birthday card for a dear friend, while the second card is for my friend and hairdresser who came to my house to give me a haircut when I couldn't leave DH for an hour to go to her salon. I've used a vast variety of stamps and dies on these cards, and the list is as follows starting with the top card:

Doodlebug chevron paper, MFT wonky frame die, PTI cups, Verve sentiment, MFT hearts.

And the bottom card:

Hero Arts green cardstock, unknown gingham paper, Verve sentiment, PTI cup, Poppystamps leaf die, Mama Elephant scalloped border die, MFT scalloped circle, and a WPlus9 circle die.

Now...if you haven't popped over to the Twofer Challenge Blog yet, I'd encourage you to do just that! My teammates have once again really smashed it out of the park, and you'll be amazed at their creations. And be sure to check out our Guest Designers, Bonnie and Marianne, too! Once you've been inspired by all the lovely cards you find there, I hope you'll play along! Just make two different cards for two different occasions using the same stamps and/or dies. Don't forget to photograph them together when you're ready to pop them in the gallery.

(You can skip this next part if you want...)

In case you've been wondering, DH has been dealing with some health issues since the first of the year. At nearly 81 years old, these things happen sometimes. He'd been losing strength in his legs, and after three angioplasties in his lower legs, which helped his circulation, the strength continued to decline. About six weeks ago, he literally collapsed in a chair and couldn't get up. After a trip to the ER, and a four-day hospital stay, he's been in a rehab unit rebuilding his abilities. Our house was pretty well set up for his using the walker, but it needed to be tweaked a bit. So that's what I've been doing in between driving to and from the Rehab Center and spending time with him there. I finished all the big projects and he did well on a home visit with one of his Physical Therapists in attendance. She was pleased with our 'set-up,' and with his maneuvering around the house. He should be home in a few days, and once I get him into a good routine, I hope to be back much more in blogland. But for today, I need to go spend time with my sweetie pie. Take care, and ...

Twofer Challenge #6

Hi Everyone! This time, the Twofer Challenge, which runs from the 10th -24th, is all about "trees." I couldn't find a tree stamp in my collection, at least not one that I liked, so I did a little shopping and found a really fun die set from MFT. My twofer consists of a Father's Day card, which uses the dies in the traditional manner, and the second is an Easter card, which got my thinking not only outside the box, but possibly all the way into the next room. However, both cards follow the rules of the challenge. Now, just because my cards are vastly different from each other, doesn't mean you have to follow my example. Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team, and our lovely Guest Designers to see what they've made!

These are my two cards, photographed together:

And separately:

You must be wondering where the tree is on the second card, right?! It's there, I promise. Let me show you the dies...

Tree dies. Nice tree dies. Trees. Or eggs, or cookies, or carrots.... Now, I could have gone with something like this...

...but I didn't. You can, though. You can make two different tree cards; keeping them as trees. I saw the dies, and one of my famous pings went off. I saw an egg. For those of you who know me, you know that I have to follow my pings. So I went with it! I used the egg-shaped tree top to make Easter eggs for my bunny. They (pardon the pun) crack me up. (hahahahahahahaha) 

All the papers on all the cards are from my scrap files (yay!) The grass dies on the Father's Day card are MFT dies. The 'cherries' are also from an MFT cover plate. Uniko, SC, and AE sentiments. And the funny bunny is from Inky Antics.

So. Get busy. Pull out those tree stamps and dies. Make a couple of cards and join me and the rest of the Design Team in the gallery. You can do it! I'll see you there...And as always...

Just Wanted to Wish You...

A very happy Mother's Day! I know I'm a day early, but considering I'm not posting/commenting/doing anything (or so it seems) online, I wanted to 'strike while the iron was hot.' DH is having some (more) health issues following three medical procedures. So you can see where my heart and duty lies. When I have a few minutes between caregiving stuff, I stop and take a peek at your blogs, but don't have the time to comment very often. For that I apologize. It has taken me two days to make this rather CAS, and might I add, cute card. Plus one day to take the photo and write up a quick post. *sigh* And because we've got company here (they're in Madison at the moment, hence time to post) to help our granddaughter Jessica celebrate her graduation from Law School, there's more for me to do. We watched the ceremony live on YouTube. How nice to live in this age of technology! This is the "my so funny," granddaughter. When did she grow up???!!

Our Jessica. Smart just like her grandma, lol!!

I made a card for CAS on Friday, where we're to use a cute stamp. Here's my cute little bunny:

I know right?! It's a Clearly Whimsy stamp set, and I used two MFT wonky rectangle dies. A little Copic coloring and done. The polka dotted vellum is a scrap from Darnell that I snatched up at the Lake House. It added dimension without too much fuss. That image just makes me want to say, "Awww!!" 

And don't forget to play along with me and the rest of my teamies at the current Twofer Challenge. You can find all the details here. 

As always...

Twofer Challenge #5

Well. I've got butterflies! Not in my stomach, but you'll find them here on my blog and you'll see more fluttering by over at the Twofer Challenge! Because I didn't have a large enough butterfly image, I had to go shopping. Isn't that just too bad?? Not!! I found this lovely stamp set at The Stamp Market, and just had to have it. So glad I did!! Let's get to the cards, shall we?!

Here they are together:

And here they are individually:

Polka dots. Does it get any better than polka dots?!! Now you see why I just had to have this set! I masked the birthday card and stamped the butterflies in black and then with a variety of colored inks. The oval is from MFT, and the sentiment is from HA. The thinking of you card has just the one butterfly, which was fussy cut, and it's been popped up on that gorgeous hydrangea. I stamped the flower and the sentiment while at the Lake House over a year ago, and have been hoarding saving it for just the right time. I think this butterfly was meant for this bloom, don't you?! And I apologize to the maker of both the sentiment and the hydrangea, as I don't know who made them. All I know is that I quite like them! I watercolored the bloom with my Ziggies, cut the panel down and added a purple base to fit my card front. EZPZ lemon squeezy! 

So now it's your turn. Dig through your stash, look at your database, or search in your Evernote for that butterfly stamp and come play along at the Twofer Challenge. You can use the butterflies in a traditional manner like I did, or you can think outside the box and create two cards, using the same stamp in a non-traditional way. It'll be fun I promise!! See you there!!!

Twofer Challenge #4

Happy April everyone, and welcome to this month's Twofer Challenge! I'm sure you're going to enjoy this one. I know I did! Here's our prompt for April:

Do you automatically think of cats and dogs? Or birds, hamsters, lizards, bunnies, and ponies? We used to have a couple of kitties around the house, Cinnamon and Sugar. They were the most fun critters, and I do miss their antics and the lap-sitting with their purrs going. And even though I had cats, I went with a dog stamp. I'm eager to see what you make, so grab your pet stamps, create a couple of cards and join us!

And "who-knew?!," I happen to have a couple of pet-themed cards to share with you today. Here they are together:

You can see that I've made one pet sympathy card, and one birthday card. Let's start with the sympathy card:

A dear, dear friend lost her sweet pup a bit ago, and I wanted to let her know I was thinking of her. The base was covered with a piece of SU vellum that Geri G. gave me at the Lake House. The NBUS sympathy sentiment is from Avery Elle, and the pup is from Pinkfresh Studios. I tried to give the little sweetie a bi-colored coat, though I'm not sure it worked as well as I hoped it would.

Next is the birthday card:

You can see I used the same pup for this birthday card, but stamped him in an aqua blue. The balloon is from the same Pinkfresh Studio set. The die is from Pretty Pink Posh. I tossed a few yellow sequins on, and made some 'grass' with my Ziggies. 

I hope to see you all in the gallery this month! Grab those stamps, pet-themed this time, and let those creative juices flow! Hope to see you over at the Twofer Challenge!! 

Two Cards for Today

I'll just get right to it before DH needs anything. Lots going on around here, but since I needed several birthday cards for family and friends, I thought I'd post them real quick.

The first card will head off to SSS Wednesday Challenge and Color Throwdown. 

I think this birthday card turned out lovely in this color palette:

I found various circle stamps in my stash and used ME pink and red inks, and the green is a DO in pistachio. I cut the SC sentiment twice; once in black and once in mint and off set them slightly. A few blings in the same colors finishes it off nicely. Looks happy to me.

The next card is off to play at Poppy Stamps Challenge, Happy Little Stampers April CAS Challenge, and the Stamping For Autism Awareness Blog Hop. Do head over to Veronica's blog to learn about how Autism has impacted her life, and join in by making a card, too. 

The blue in the photo is in the teal family, and the darn thing photographed more in the green range as opposed to the blue. 

I've framed my card with a chevron paper from LF. The giraffes are from Poppystamps, and I just love them! I upcycled a chevron bag and used it behind the giraffe cuts. An old Syzzix label die with a PTI sentiment and done! An EZPZ, CAS card. Hope to get the chance to visit your blogs a bit later today, too. Have a great weekend, and as always...

(ETA: As per Carol's suggestion, I'm also entering the second card at Cards In Envy, where we are to accentuate the negative space. Thanks C!!)