Update

Coffee of the Day - Butter Rum

Just wanted to thank all of you who have left such kind and thoughtful comments and emails. My family & I truly appreciate your love and heartfelt wishes! Seems this past week has been filled with travels back and forth to hospitals and doctors' appts. - for almost everyone in the family but myself.

We are still smiling though! and Easter is just around the corner!!!! :)

So Sorry.....

Coffee of the Day - Kahlua and Cream

I am sorry to have been a bit in posting..... it was a really crazy week last week and we are just starting to come out of it.

David received some pretty devastating news from the dr. on Thursday. we are all coping with it as he makes huge changes in his life. I will share more later as we make adjustments and get used to everything......

Ryan did well in the musical, but did miss the entire production Friday as he was in the Emergency Room. he has a hematoma on his arm that we are carefully watching. all that we can figure is that it is from a fall he took several weeks ago that had just recently caused blood vessels to rupture. the feeling in his fingers is gone, so that has me concerned, but his outlook is good and he was more concerned about letting everyone down in the musical. what a guy!

The sun is still shining, the birds are still singing, and we can still smile. Life doesn't stop being good because some bad things happen. love to you all! Jennifer

Chocolate Bunnies and Peeps.... kinda

Coffee of the Day - Vanilla Nut

Hello! sorry I am moving slow this morning getting this post up..... last night was the dress rehearsal for Ryan's musical at the high school. by the time we got home and everyone wound down, it was close to midnight. whew! and it all happens again tonight with Opening Night! :) lots of fun! Tyler comes home tomorrow to see it, so that will be great!

Today's project is all about CANDY!!!!! yummmmmm...... Ryan is our big candy-a-holic. gosh, that guy is a sugar addict from the word go. he cracks me up with his love of every sweet morsel, nothing escapes his desire for candy, candy, candy! I love to cover these great big candy bars for something a little different to do, so when I saw the wonderful rabbit and duck in the Shady Tree Studio set, 'Eastertide', I knew at some point I wanted to create a chocolate bunny and Easter Peep with them. Hopefully I have accomplished that look here. I embossed the images by first stamping in versamark ink and then into the various SU! classic inks. I did this because I don't have craft inks that correspond to the colors I wanted to use - marigold morning and early espresso. this is a great trick I learned from the master, Michelle Zindorf. gosh, that woman is truly a master!

a month or so ago I was blessed to win a My Favorite Things gift certificate. I have quite a few of their fabby stamps, so decided to get some of the dies that they have started to carry. I bought the grass and flat bottom clouds dies with my certificate and have used them here. the papers are all from the Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety collection. I punched the little baby flowers with my SU! flower trio punch. Ribbons are from an assortment I won a while back, as is the felt flower & button, so I apologize that I don't know manufacturers for those. the mulberry flower is Prima.

Try making one of these yourself! it is a great way to dress up a fun giftie! :)

Washing Dishes can make you BLUE! :)

Coffee of the Day - Texas Turtle

Happy Monday to you! it is pouring down rain over here in Ohio..... but I happen to really love rainy days, so this one brings a smile to my face. and if it's cold, even better! I think it is going to warm up quite a bit, well at least for here.... into the 60's today. should be good for the maple trees and tree tapping. Our big Maple Festival that celebrates the maple syrup our county is known far & wide for is coming up, so we pay attention to these kinds of things......

okay, on to the crafty! Don't let my title mislead you..... I actually spend a LOT of time hand washing dishes these days. our dishwasher broke several years ago, so Dawn detergent & I are close buds. I must admit that I don't put on my pretty dress to wash mine though.... although I did get a spunky short hair cut over the weekend, so I guess I look a bit more like this wonderful vintage image from A Day for Daisies. Working on getting as thin as she is, too! :)

I was thrilled when I found this digi in my stash of 'already printed off, but waiting to color' things that I keep in a big Ziploc bag. I no longer have this image since my old compy died, so this was exciting indeed! after watercoloring, I sponged over the apron with my white craft ink to give a little distressed look - almost like denim. Papers are Basic Grey Marjolaine, pretty resin flower is from SU!, buttons are from my vintage stash, stitched ribbon is retired SU!, and baby flower in bow is a Prima. the doily behind the image was sprayed with both walnut ink & walnut gold glimmer mist. a Martha Stewart border punch was used as well.

Believe it or not, washing dishes really does make me happy. I have learned that it is a perfect time to relax, ponder things going on in my life, pray, look out my back window at the trees & wildlife in my backyard, and just do a small thing that helps to take care of my family. so the tag is appropriate! for me anyhow......... just don't ask me to iron! giggles!

Challenges:

• A Day for Daisies - stitching (stitched ribbon)


• Totally Gorjus - sketch (I switched the oval and rectangle mat)


• Gingerloft - Got the Blues


• Paper Sundaes - Spring Blossoms


• Stampin with the Dragon - Spring Cleaning (tag is tied with string from a tea bag - tea stained, too!, doily)


• Stamp Something - digi


• Pals Paper Arts - punches


• Card Making Mamas - Embellish It


• Little Miss Muffet - stitching (stitched ribbon)


• Shelly's Images - get punchy


• Whimsie Doodles - punch it out

He's Just soooooooooooo Huggable!

Coffee of the Day - Chocolate Peppermint

Last year before Christmas I came across a fun designer by the name of Cheryl Seslar. She draws some of the most adorable images, including prim ones that make me squeal with delight! I saw at the beginning of March that she was doing a fun little contest using this Easter Bunny. you had best believe I was all over that!!!! per usual I am 2 days late for the contest...... too much in life got in the way of my completing the card. But I wanted to finish it up anyhow. She was so kind to gift it to me, plus gosh, it is CUTE! ;)

I have combined several challenges with the making of this card, but one that is brand spankin' new to me is the Etsy Inspired challenge. now any of you who are familiar with my blog know that I am head over heels nutso for Etsy. so this challenge is right up my alley!!!! Here are my inspiration photos from XS Baggage Co.

I used papers from the Cosmo Cricket DeLovely collection. The felt flower, paper flower, and rhinestone flower are all Prima. the button is one of my faves from my vintage stash. The little Easter egg was covered in stickles to give a pretty sparkle! The sentiment comes from Create with TLC - a most PHENOM place!!!! I gave faux stitching a shot again........ man, I just can NOT make straight stitches, but actually they are straighter than my real sewing...... isn't that sad?!

Have a wonderful afternoon! We are relaxing here, as this upcoming week is a biggie here. Ryan is in the musical at his high school and it starts on Thursday. Big fun!

Challenges:

• Etsy Inspired - XS Baggage Co.


• Allsorts - Blooming Blossoms


• Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle - glitz


• Mark's Finest Papers - animal highlight


• Make it Colourful - use bright colors (even though my scanner seemed to wash them all out..... sorry!)


• Sweet Stamps - Easter


• Bee Crafty - Easter


• By the Cute & Girly - cute & girly


• Crafts & Me - use yellow


• Digis with Attitude - Anything Goes


• Your Next Stamp - stitching


• If the Shoe Fits - sewing


• Tuesday Throwdown - florals


• Stamp Something - use a digi


• Crafty Creations - bunnies


• Create with TLC - Sunday Showoff


• The Pixie Cottage - sketch and/or stitching (I just went with stitching)


• Card Cupids - stripes and dots (what a great organization! I am so glad I came across this one!)


• There She Goes - markers down (yep, I watercolored again. I know you are shocked! grins!)


• Crafty Pad - flowers


• Stamptacular Sunday - Buttons, Bling, and Bloom


• Crafter's Companion - Flowers (I used stickles that they carry. you oughta see the flower fairies in their store! wow!)


• Cupcake Craftroom - Fresh & New

I know, I know.... it's about time I posted again! ;)

Coffee of the Day - Caramel Truffle

yep, it's been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long since I last posted a card or any crafty project over here on my blog. sorry about that. stuff going on here at home with illness in the fam and dr. visits, weekend guests, Tyler coming home from school :), snow+snow, and just other stuff that seemed to keep me from crafting. but have no fear, I am back tonight to remedy that!

My card uses stamps from the beautiful 'Eastertide' set by Shady Tree Studio. You know how much I have enjoyed playing around with this set. I did decide it was high time I made another actual EASTER card since the holiday is just around the corner. Today a lovely little envie of seam binding arrived from one of my fave Etsy stores, ChristopherPines, in this pretty purple card. I decided to repurpose it by making this card! ;)

I pulled out one of my embossing folder, ran it through my most beloved Big Shot, sponged white craft ink over the embossed portions, sprayed it with purple glimmer mist, and then lightely highlighted certain portions with my white craft ink pad. gorgeous irl!!!! shimmers, white that sits on top but also seems to glow from underneath, & little splashes of purple on the lavender bg. The only bit of patterned paper is a floral piece from Basic Grey, Porcelain collection, cut with my Spellbinders frame die, as was the white cs of the main image. the Basic Grey matted piece was accented with champagne chunky glass glitter by SU!. The Prima flower was spritzed with the same purple glimmer mist and a bit of glitter added to the center. the leaves were sprayed with walnut gold glimmer mist. The gold lace net trim is Webster's Pages. some lavender scrunched seam binding and a pearl pin finish this off. Enjoy your weekend and I hope to see you again before it's all over! :)

• Fab 'n Funky - Shabby Chic


• Basic Grey - recycled (my card base! grins!)


• Top Tip Tuesday - Nature Inspired


• Cooking it Up With Katie - Sparkle, Shine, Shimmer


• Crop Stop - Shine On


• Craft Us Crazy - Spring or Easter


• Spoonful of Sugar - Easter


• Tuesday Throwdown - floral


• Scrappy Frogs - Flowers and Lace


• Paper Pretties - Bling


• Creative Craft World - Easter


• The Rubber Cafe = Spring Floral


• Gingerloft - die cuts and/or punches


• Verve - Color Me Spring


• Prairie Fairy- Oh So Spring


• Charisma Cardz - Bling and Sparkles


• Paper Romance - Bling


• Bee Crafty - Easter


• Tellen's Place - Embossing


• Stamping Scrapping - Sparkle


• Kaboodle Doodles - Spring has Sprung


• Frosted Designs - Bling


• Colour Create - Pastels with optional Easter


• Karen's Doodles - Easter