Hello and 2016 Winter CLBH

Hello, it's been a while. Life has kept me hopping lately. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving my dad (who turns 87 on the 14th), had quad bypass surgery. After a four hour drive to the hospital, I spent the next three days with him. You would not believe this man. His last pain medication of any kind, including Tylenol, was at 6:00 AM Wednesday morning. He did so well, that the surgeon released him on Friday to a rehab place, and this morning he's headed off to my sister's house for one night, then home. He's promised me and my sisters that he won't overdo things; he wants to be ready for golf season this coming Spring! Thank you Lord for keeping him safe!! While I was up north, our daughter came to stay with DH while I was away, which was a blessing. DH is struggling with some health issues, and between 'nursing duties' and doctors' appointments, I've been a bit busy. Now. While there have been challenges around here, life is still good and we have been incredibly blessed. So that's where I've been. Not sure how often I'll be back crafting and blogging, but hopefully next week the doctors can give DH some answers, and we can manage better!

I've got two cards for today. This first one is for the 2016 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, created, supported, and magnificently run by Amy Tsuruta and her team. I'd gush tons more, but if you're here, you know exactly how wonderful she is, as is her DT, and just how much fun it is to play along.

My card looks like this:

Made with scraps of white, red, and gray, plus one of Verve's stamp sets with a touch of some from Ellen Hudson (the steam). The Mama Elephant's Smoke ink shows up so much nicer irl, too. Added some Stickles to the poinsettia's centers, as well. 

And I wanted to show the card that my granddaughter, Lily, made on Thanksgiving. She and granddaughter Lizzy hit the craft room between dinner and pie much to my delight. Lily is 8, and Lizzy is 18. So sweet to see them crafting together!

She found my gold pen, and created her own sentiment. Wouldn't that make a fun font?! This one's a keeper for the memory box. Someday soon, she and I are going to have a full weekend of card making here in the old craftroom. Raise your hand if you want to join us...she'll make you smile, and we'd all have a blast!

With that, I'm going to run. I want to get a few things done before DH gets up and my day really begins. If I don't get back here, or to your blogs before then, have a blessed Christmas. May God richly bless you all. Happy dances everyone.

CASology Featured Designer Final Post, and Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a pleasure to have been November's Featured Designer over at CASology. A huge thank you to Melissa for having me. I've enjoyed sharing with you all. Be sure you make time to play along with their challenges; you'll find Melissa and the whole Design Team as wonderful as can be, and the Cue Cards are always inspirational.

By today, all my American friends should have tummies full of turkey, dressing and all the fixings. And pie...Oh yes...pie! We're celebrating our Thanksgiving today; some of the children or grandchildren had to be elsewhere yesterday, so we're dishing up today. I have made Thanksgiving Dinner for more than 35 years. Hosting small dinners, or full-on feasts. This year we'll be 16 only. Poor Tad and his family had to attend a wedding in Cancun...isn't that just a shame...? Missing out on cold, wintery blasts in Minnesota/Wisconsin and having to spend time on the beach instead? And no pie! Don't worry, though. We've decided to have another "Thanksgiving" type meal at Easter time so he doesn't miss out on mom's delectable dressing and the rest of his favorites!

Last year, when all the little ones were here, they wanted to help grandma with the meal. Now I love my little helpers, but pans full of boiling potatoes and such aren't conducive to their help. So I have them do other things; they set the tables, they fill relish and veggie trays, and still they want more. Last year, a light bulb went on in my head and I made up place cards that they could color, put together, and write names on. I managed to grab a few after the meal. Most of the family and guests took theirs home. What a delight to see all those little ones in my craft room having a blast. Here's what last year's place cards looked like:

They were so proud! And I was delighted to have them feel like such an integral part of the festivities. Gotta love Kaylin's pink turkey!

We've also started the tradition of an olives on the fingers photo. Here are all those little helpers from last year:

Back to front and left to right:

Carter

Grant and Drew (my little ginger-haired boy)

Kaylin, Samantha, Lily and Avery.

Like most families, the kids sneak olives from the time they're set out on the table until we sit down to eat. I keep enough on hand to refill the dish several times, and just laugh, remembering all the olive snitching over the course of my life. Several generations now...

I have one last photo for you. Again it's from last year. This was one of three tables set up, and it was the kid's table. Guess which table grandma sat at? Mmm-hmmm. The kid's table!

Drew loves grandma's cooking; I think they all did. And see those three big granddaughters on the rightish? Guess who helped with dishes? Aren't they wonderful?!! I couldn't find a shot of the whole table where you can see everyones face, but Drew's face...too cute not to pick this one! That's my dil, Katie on the far end. I sat next to Drew and Lily, about where Jess is. I'll be at the kid's table again this year and it will be lovely. 

DH and I have been blessed with a large family. We are very thankful for our children and grandchildren, and all of our families and friends. We are very thankful for all the blessings God has given us. I hope your holiday was filled with family, friends and delicious foods. You are blessings in my life and I am truly grateful to count you as friends. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

CASology Featured Designer, Week Three

Thanks again to Melissa for having me as CASology's Featured Designer for the month of November. I'm having a blast, and if you haven't, play along with this week's Cue Card! Melissa and her team are truly wonderful people, and the challenge is always fun!! Last week, you all had a little peek into my craft room. I'll admit I was a bit nervous about sharing photos of my crafty space, as it's not as coordinated as I wish it were, but it is organized...at least mostly. However, it's not really as tidy as it appeared in the photos I shared. Not when I'm working anyway. I'm not the kind of crafter who makes one card then puts the supplies away before starting on a new card. When I'm on a roll, my workspace shrinks to about the size of my folded up MISTI. The 'tidying up' happens at the end of a craft session. Or a craft day. Or a couple of days. But if I'm not using a tool or papers or ephemera, I do like them in their place, which usually means behind closed doors or inside drawers. And I'm dyslexic. Now that doesn't have much meaning except to say that my brain doesn't work normally (hahahahahahahaha, as if it ever did, hahahahahaha) and I have to have things organized in a way that works for me. If you go back and look at the photo of my credenza from last week, you'll see those sweet boxes containing my clear stamps. There is no order to them, except by company; all stamps from each company are together and none are in any kind of alphabetical or theme order. But sitting here without turning around, I can tell you, from the furthest right box to the furthest left box, exactly which company is where. It works for me.

Moving right along, here's what my craft desk looks like this morning (she said, cringing and wondering if she should just continue the lie about neat and tidiness).

I'm working on two sets of CAS, monogrammed notecards for granddaughters Jessica and Melissa for Christmas. My desk will look much neater by the end of today. Maybe. I hope. And because I can reach the counter to the left of my desk without hauling my butt out of the chair, here's what that looks like:

All kinds of goodies just piled up until I finish these notecards. And finished and half-finished cards. And tags. If I wanted to use my Silhouette, the easiest way would be to open that top drawer and sweep everything in. Not that I've ever done that... And this too, will be put away later today.

Golly, I hate the way that looks! But creating is a process, so I guess I'll have to tolerate the mess for a few more hours. 

How about some cards? Ones I haven't published. Okay!

None of these are CAS, but since I've been on a CAS roll, I thought I'd show you something a bit different. As you can see, I run the gamut from CAS to layers and froo-froo. And since I've talked your ear off once again, as I'm wont to do, I'll stop. Make sure you stop back next week for my final feature; it'll be full of thankfulness! Happy dances everyone.

On A CAS kick

Not exactly sure why, but these last few days I've been making Clean and Simple cards. Oft times, I like a bit of layering and die cuts and such, but this week it's been pretty much CAS. There are two offerings today, a tag and a card.

The first card will go into Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags, my second entry, and then into this week's Lawnscaping Challenge.

For this tag, I was inspired by Sarah Gray's tag from Day 8 of Tracey's Challenge. I love the look of gold and white. The stamp and snowflake die are from Lawn Fawn. I heat embossed a scrap of white and then die cut the snowflake. The sentiment is also heat embossed.

Next I have a card for Addicted to Stamps. 

My card looks like this:

That's a SSS snowflake die cut 4 times, stacked and winked with Stella. The "snow" was done in ME Apple ink, with Altenew's letters. It looks really lovely in person. Fresh.

Hope your weekend is delightful, and happy dances everyone!

CASology Featured Designer, Week Two

Well, and a Happy Friday Morning to you all! I'm back up at the CASology blog today, and thought I'd give you a little peek at where I craft. Since all of our children are grown and living elsewhere, I have the luxury of having my very own craft room/office. It's located right next to the family room where, when he's not in his office, DH spends most of his time, making it easier for me to keep an eye on him. For those of you who are new to my blog, DH has some health issues and needs a little extra TLC these days.

This is the east wall of my craft room. I got that credenza for free a rather long time ago, and it sat for years in the basement, filled with papers that DH just had to save (he's a retired academic, and still an author...so he has this thing about papers...). About two years ago, I couldn't get this thing out of my mind; it was being wasted! It was also uglier. It was this horrid old 1950s office beige, and had a few dings and multiple scratches. I got my sil and his buddy to haul it up from the basement and out to the garage where I could sand and paint it. By the way, this weighs an absolute ton; getting it up from the basement and then back into the house was no small feat! It took me all summer in 2015 to sand, paint, sand, paint and get it looking as you see it now. On the top it holds my BS, and bins of dies and stamps. The open shelves hold all my 6x6 pads, other small paper pads, and finished cards. Behind the closed doors are boxes of ribbon and twine, plus cards I've received and letters and pictures made by the little ones in my life. The top drawer contains hanging file folders filled with scraps. The bottom drawer is fairly empty right now...

Next to the credenza is my paper tower. 
"Hello, my name is Bev, and I'm a paperaholic." Yes the drawers are pretty much full. It's arranged by color. Here's a shot of one of the large drawers, "blue patterned." Hmmm...I see there's still a bit of space in there...might have to go shopping, lol!!

Moving around to the north wall, is my hand-me-down desk. This is my main work space. Copics and Ziggies in the tower. Ready to use die cuts in the boxes in the center, and the blue box contains my everyday tools; tape runner, scissors, craft knife.... You can see my Misti and trimmer. A stencil hangs on the wall.

I pulled the chair away, and boy!, does my desk look small! It really has plenty of space. The door from the hallway is to the right. To the left on the west wall is a looong counter which you'll see in in two photos:

This is my west wall. The drawers under the counter contain my inks, embossing powders, washi tape... The thingy on the counter in the corner has a whole bunch of 'stuff' inside all those cubbies. Mostly I use the stickles and glitters in the big jars. There's my huge Mac, and a cup of coffee, yum!! This counter continues thusly:

You can see my scoreboard next to the Mac, and a few of the cards I've received recently. Plus some really, really important artwork.

That's me, as drawn by granddaughter Lily. Notice that she gave me dark hair and put me in fishnet stockings! Granddaughter Lizzy did the post-it note when she was little, and left these all over the house; she didn't want her older brother and sisters 'following' her. She also did the note when I took her to work with me back in the day. Granddaughter Jessica, who is now in her second year of law school, made the paper plate. It reads, "I love you, love Jessica" How cute is that??!! 

There's a door to the family room on the south wall, and it's covered in more artwork by the grandkids. I love it! So while it's not beautifully coordinated, it's my comfy crafty space. Hope you enjoyed this little tour. See you next week right here at CASology!

Going With It...

Mojo is still working, so I'm back again today. I know, I know, what's wrong with me, right?! Nothing today so far. Oh, and before I get to the cards, I wanted to let you know that DH's appointment yesterday went fine; we got a referral to another doctor whom we'll see after Thanksgiving... Ugh. Nothing life threatening, just generally irritating and life interrupting. He'll be fine....

Onto cards...Two cards today, both pretty darn CAS. This first one will play along with the current Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge, and the second one will head off to CASology.

 

So I used the far right row down; CAS, Builder Stamps, and Pearls for my card.

That's Altenew's Peony Bouquet stamp set, and a trio of different inks. The rectangle was cut with an MFT die. A sentiment from Studio Calico and a smattering of pearls. EZPZ!

The next card is my take on the word "Team." I think you know what might be coming, hahaha! "Go Cubs Go!"This one will go in the box of cards that I'll give to my daughter Cathy for Christmas. She'll love it, I can guarantee that.

TADAAAAAA!!!!!

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!! Can you tell that this just cracks me up?! Inside it says, "thank you," which will work perfectly with the front of the card. I made the logo with my Silhouette, and then used a Hero Arts stamp for the sentiment. Seriously, I'm cracking myself up...chuckle, chuckle, chuckle. And that's about it for today. Happy dances everyone.

Striking While The Mojo Is Hot

I know, it's Monday. But I'm retired, so it's just another Saturday for me, lol! I let DH sleep in this morning before I have to run him up to the doctor (nothing to worry about...I think), so I had time to make a couple of much needed thank-you cards. First time tries, too! And they went together like nobody's business, woohoo!! Love it when that happens. Let's get started before I get too wordy....

This first card will make appearances at Virginia's View Challenge, AAA Cards, and Time Out.

My card has stripes, and being a 'thank-you' card, actually contains the word, thanks. See what you think:

Every single bit of paper has come from the old scrap drawer. Love it when that happens! The flower stamps are some NBUS from Uniko, and I LOVE them. The sentiment is from RC. I used some ME Hazel ink, and then colored the flowers/leaves with Copics. A few gems, and done!

My second card for today is headed over to Little Tangles. I've wanted to play there, but nothing was coming to me. The die was sent by a sweet friend, and it adds just the perfect amount of interest to my card.

Pretty sure this one qualifies...

I just love white on white. Now the sentiment is an older one, but it was exactly what I wanted to say so I embossed it in silver. I added three little blings and that's it. So very simple, but I like the way this turned out! (thanks TK & Geri G.) And that's it for me. Happy dances everyone.

Couple of Things

Just dropping in quickly today. DH is under the weather and yours truly got a migraine IN CHURCH!! What the heck??!! Daughter Cathy, sil Jerry, and two of my all-grown-up grandkids were coming over following the service, so I couldn't just come home, take a pill, and crash. Nope. Made (as I promised I would) Ableskiver brunch. You've got to google them. Delish Danish pancakes. But am still in a huge fog. So will cut the chatter, and get down to brass tacks.

I have a card that fits three challenges, Curtain Call, Time Out, and SSS Work It Wednesday.

I've used felt, used a portion of the theme, "Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart," and used a SSS stamp on my card.

A scrap of blue patterned paper with a burlap tag diecut with a WPlus9 circle. Some oooollldd felt flowers that happened to fit the bill, and a nod to the silver candleholder with my silver Poppystamps branch. A trio of light yellow enamel dots, and a SSS sentiment which I adore. 

Next, I want to play at Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. I fell madly in love with her very own tag from Day 4. Feast your eyes upon this:

I didn't have a fancy fonted 'Merry Christmas,' so I used a really pretty snowflake. And Anita, I had to shop after hanging out with you and Geri at the LH....

That's a PPP tag die for the base and a SSS snowflake die. It looks positively pretty in real life. Leaving you with happy thoughts and happy dances. 

Some Pretty Cool News

I have some pretty cool news to share, and oh my goodness, I'm over the moon about it. I got an email from Melissa Chipperfield asking if I'd like to be the Featured Designer at CASology for the month of November. Without hesitation, I dashed off a reply and very happily agreed. Oh. My. Gosh!! I'm very excited about this honor, and I hope you'll join me for the next four weeks over at CASology.

Thought I'd show you that I actually do play along with CASology; I've even won the challenge a few times. Here's the card that took top honors way back in 2012. Even after all this time, I still like this one! My photography skills weren't so hot back then; I hadn't gotten a light box yet. Providing the weather cooperates, I'm a better photographer these days. 

 

A few years and over two hundred challenges later, the Cue Card this week is:

 

An idea for a "Welcome" card slammed into my brain. It took all of five minutes to make, and I really like the CAS feel to this. Hope you do too. 

All stamps and dies are C9 (Thanks Lynn!!!), and the inks are PTI Ripe Avocado, Stampabilities gold, and some Mustard Seed Distress ink. Two little green blings finish off this card. The pineapple, as you know, is the symbol for welcome, as well as hospitality and friendship. I had to place mine slightly askew to match my personality...I hope you don't mind! I also hope you'll play along with me, the creative geniuses that are the Design Team, and those already in the gallery. It'll be fun, I promise! Happy dances everyone.

It's A Great Day To....

...Be A Cubs Fan!!!!!! Just in case you didn't know, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series last night. Since most of us who follow the Cubs are tired of hearing how long it's been since they last played in, or won a World Series, I won't go into that. But last night, in extra innings, playing against a very good Cleveland team, they won. I hope you don't mind me posting about this as I have no choice in the matter. In my instance, being a Cubs fan is genetic. My great-grandmother, my grandfather, and my dad have passed the Cub fan gene down to me. It has skipped a few of my children, but some of my grandchildren have inherited the gene too! So....WooHoo!

That being said, I have a card to share for the Muse Challenge today. Estelle has given us this sweet card as an inspiration, and it took me a day or two before my ideas clicked. Didn't she do a beautiful job?! And since my card fits into both the SSS Monday and the SSS Wednesday Challenges, I will play there too!

I used the trio of leaves, the woodgrain, a small bow, and a cranberry color, as my inspiration though they're not quite the same as what Estelle used. My card looks like this:

Even though you can't tell from the photo, the background paper is woodgrained. I used a ME die, some NBUS MFT Flashy Floral leaves, an AE bow die, and a Gina K. sentiment stamp. The brown ink is ME's Hazel, Ranger Cranberry and Altenew's Buttercream. EZPZ lemon squeezy! And with that, I will leave you for today. Happy dances everyone!!!

Good Saturday Morning

Hope your Saturday has started out well. Mine has. After all, it can't be anything but good when you start the day off with a delicious cup of coffee and warm weather. Well, warm for Wisconsin in late October, anyway...(60+ degrees at 7:00 in the morning). In between saying 'good-bye' to company and getting to the cleaning and errands earlier this week, I have played a little in my craft room. Hopefully later today after more of the same, I can sit down, do some commenting, and maybe even make a card or two. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see what happens.

Since I hadn't played at Muse or CASology as of late, I thought that it was about time to remedy that. There's a sweet card by Lucille for our inspiration at Muse, and a fun cue card at CASology:

For my Muse card, I stayed pretty much with Lucille's sketch and colors. Just changed things up a little bit.

mmmm....coffee.... Bought this Jillibean Soup kit a few months back, and I'm still having fun with it. Except for the cardstock scraps and base, plus the ME die, everything is from this kit. Pretty fun and pretty EZPZ.

When my kids were little, a bandaid was the cure for every little boo-boo. Well, that and a kiss. So that's where I went with my "Cure card."

I love this darling little stamp set from Taylored Expressions. That bandaid is adorable in my book. Beside the matching die, I used a couple of WPlus9 circle dies and called it good. Pretty darn CAS, if you ask me. So that's what I've got for this morning. Hope your weekend is blessed and happy dances everyone!