Jim

A quick post tonight to ask for your prayer for my Jim. What he thought was a nasty bug has turned into far worst.

After 11 days of Jim refusing to go to a doctor I could not stand it any longer and demanded he go this morning. I took him to the ER and after many hours of blood tests, CAT scans and assorted other test we learned Jim has a bowel obstruction in one part of his bowel and an infection in another area.



As many of you know Jim has end stage emphysema. If he were a young healthy man they would operate. Because his lungs are so very bad they are doing everything in their power to avoid surgery. If they do operate they would have no option but to use a breathing tube and put him to sleep. If they do it Jim will probably never be able to get off the breathing tube for the rest of his life. This is something Jim has been terrified of for years.

Please pray that the treatment plan is successful. He is in quite a bit of pain and prayers for his comfort would be nice but praying he doesn’t need surgery is more important at the moment.

In my defense Jim hid a great deal from me. He hid his pain and hid his distended belly from me and lead me to believe he was getting better. Had I know he was as ill as he is I would have taken him to the ER a week ago. Why on earth he did this is completely beyond me except he is just about the most stubborn man I‘ve ever known.

Thank you all for your support, cards, calls, gifts and comments. Each one touched me and meant a great deal.

Love, Hugs & Blessings

Bernie

Mojo Monday

I’ve managed to steal time away from my maddening world long enough to make a card for my friend’s wedding anniversary. 

Not the best photo but it'll have to do as I don't have time to take another. 
I found these Mrs. Grossman’s butterfly stickers in the closeout bin for 50 cents. Everything else came from my stash and scraps files. I’m entering this in Mojo Monday 246. And Di’s Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge 26.

Fingers crossed I will be back blogging again soon.    

　
Hugs & Blessings
Bernie Click here to give --- It’s Free

Oniony Days

I made this card as a way of encouragement for my sister Donna.

Last night I read a fabulous post by Darnell at djkardkreations. Darnell is a new playmate in the Snippets playground. She says as opposed to life handing you lemons when you are going thru really tough times it is more like life handing you an onion as our problems are usually multilayered. I invite you to read her post here as she expresses it so eloquently.

Donna and her family are going thru a very rough patch right now. Darnell calls them Oniony Days which seems so very appropriate as there really are many layers to this family’s problems. It will take a long time, a lot of determination and no doubt many tears for this family to peel thru the layers of this situation and get back to some resemblance of normalcy. Donna is having an especially difficult time dealing with everything. If you would say a prayer or send positive thoughts her way it would be much appreciated.

　
It is amazing to me how one person’s problems can act like a pebble in a pond and affect those around them. At the moment I am emotionally caught up in the ripples of several different situations. The worst of it is there is nothing I can do to help any of these situations improve. Everyone has to peel their own onion but I am feeling somewhat emotionally overwhelmed and useless to those I love and care for.

At the moment I am finding it difficult to leave cheerful comments on your blogs. Until I can get my head in a better place and get my spirits lifted I am taking a little brake from blogland.

Again quoting Darnell, I wish you all cotton-candy, sweet peach and strawberry-daiquiri days. See you soon.

I'm sharing with the playmates at Di's Snippet Playground.


Hugs & Blessings
Bernie Click here to give --- It’s Free

And the Winner Is

Good Morning

It’s time to announce my candy winner. Before I do I’d like to Thank you all for all your lovely comments and words of encouragement over the past year. I treasure each and everyone of you. Welcome to my new followers. I do hope you will let me know you’ve been by so I can visit you in return.

Now without further ado: As promised I’ve put all your lovely names in a bowl and my grandson has drawn the lucky winner.

TAMMY!

Congratulations Tammy please contact me at berniescraftcloset@gmail.com


If you haven’t already, you must visit Tammy at Creating Somewhere Under the Sun. She shares the most beautiful cards and a few 'dreaded man cards'.  I simply love her style.

I have a little boy pop up birthday card to share. I’ve used another one of those lenticular Valentine trading cards. This one is Transformers. 

Different angle

Kids love Transformers and they love that the image changes. I’ve embossed sparkly card stock with the Stars EF them fussy cut the stars. For a little movement one of the stars on the inside has been mounted on a bit of wire I’ve coiled around a pant brush handle.

　
Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings
Bernie

Click here to give --- It’s Free

　

　

ONE YEAR BLOGAVERSARY!!!

This post will remain at the top until June 15th, when the Candy Closes. For NEW Postings, please scroll down.

Hi There
I hope you are all enjoying a lovely day. 
My birthday, Mother’s Day and our Anniversary all fall in May and spring has sprung, it’s been a busy month for me so I am running very late in celebrating my 1^st BLOGAVERSARY!!! 

I can’t believe it’s been a year already! When my sweet friend Di helped me start up this blog a year ago I had no idea what I was getting into, no idea it would take me around the world where I'd me the most wonderful, kind and creative people who are willing to share so much. Thank you ever so much Di, this has been so much fun.  Thank you to everyone for your encouragement and inspiration. I love all your comments and I appreciate every follower!

To celebrate I am having a GIVEAWAY!!

One lucky person will get this little stash of goodies that includes: Stampendous Cling 'Jumbo Thank You' and Jumbo Clear Handle, two Sizzix embossing folders (I believe these are by Tim Holtz), Hero Arts cling 'Snowflake Circle', Great Impressions 'Snowflake Swirl', Inkadinkado 'Baby Animals', Fiskars 'Girls Night', two sets of Studio G Adhesive Gems and a pack of clear acrylic half marbles.

There is only one rule to win my candy; leave your name on this post. Easy Peasy! On June 15th I'll write down your names, toss them in a bowl, and draw one at random. I'll post anywhere. Although it’s not necessary to win, if you have a blog I would appreciate it if you would spread the word by posting a picture of this blog candy on your blog and link it back to this post. I’d love for you to followed me but only if you want to and again it’s not necessary to win.

Whatever you have planned for the weekend I hope it'll be fun.  To my US friends have a safe Memorial Day weekend.  I hope you will take a moment to remember all those who gave the ultimte gift for our freedoms.

Blessings
Bernie Click here to give --- It’s Free

Sympathy

We’ve received the sad news that Jim’s niece Kanani has lost her two year long battle with colon cancer. Although I only met her a few times and didn‘t really know her, my heart aches for her family, Jim and my step-children.  Kanani was my kids cousin, they all grew up together and were very close. My card is for her parents. It’s quite simple but I hope it brings them some comfort knowing they are in our thought and prayers.

You have till midnight to sign up for my Candy here.

Blessings

Bernie

Help!!

Sorry I don't have a card to share today.  I’ve had one of THOSE days. First my paper trimmer blade was so dull it frayed my card stock. Changed the blade only to find my ATG was out of adhesive and I didn’t have another roll in my stash. Get dress, run up to the craft shop and me without a coupon! Home again, load the ATG and put the card together. All it needed was to trim the ends of the bow. What could go wrong?  I nipped the tip of my finger with my new scissors! Who would have imagined such an itsy bitsy teeny tiny little cut could bleed so much!  You know I bled all over the card. AAGGHH! I’ve turned out the lights in the Closet for the day. I’m afraid of what else could happen in there.

So why do I need your help? I have three white gel pens, Marvy, Tombow and Gelly Roll and I can’t for the life of me get a drop of ink from any of them. They are all new. None of them have that little seal on the tip and I have tried pushing on them to try to get the ink to the tip. Any suggestions before they all go in the trash along with the bloody card.

Hope you are all having a fabulous crafty day, at the very least better then mine.

Blessings

Bernie            

　

　

　

　

Blue Birds

Hi There
I hope the weather where you are is lovely.  The sun didn’t shine for long, it’s back to cold, wet, windy and dreary here. I hope those few hot days we had in May wasn’t our summer.

I am so in love with my SU Bird Punch. You may see a lot of these fabulous birds. I’m sure I’ve seen something similar to this card before or maybe it’s just one of the many ideas I’ve had in my head after longing for this punch for so long. I’ve cut out a window with a SB circle then embossed my base card. An EK Success border punch and organza ribbon were used to simulate the roof of the birdhouse. My lovely sister in law Norma sent me these adorable tatted flowers some time ago. They are so tiny it‘s taken me a while to figure out how to use them so they wouldn‘t get lost. I’ve backed them with punched flowers which seems to highlight them a bit. I think Norma will be happy to see them on her birthday card.

Check out my candy here.


Whatever you have planned for the weekend I hope it'll be Amazing!

Blessings
Bernie

Click here to give --- It’s Free

Summer Leaves

Hello
Hooray the sun is back!  Still cold and windy but it is good to see blue skies and sunshine.  My heart goes out to the victims of the flooding in Wales.  Hope the sun is shining where you are.

A few months ago I was one of three very lucky winners of the Dreamweaver Stampendous joint blog hop. A huge thank you to both companies for the Yummy goodies.  Today I am using one of the Stampendous stamps I won.  I've never used stencils before but will soon do so and share my results.

I‘ve used Stampendous ‘Summer Leaves‘ set for this Father's Day card. I stamped my background with two different size ferns from this beautiful set then embossed with an EF for texture.  For my focal point I stamped the larger fern with VersaMark and heat embossed with Detail White EP. I then stamped with Peeled Paint DI stamped off and stamped again for the faded background.  It's been cut with SB circle then layered on a green SB scalloped circle. I found the free printable sentiment here. A bit of raffia to finish.

I will be entering this card in Stampendous June is All About Summer Challenge,   CardzTV: Father's Day/ Masculine and Di's Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge 24

I am trying to learn the names of my embosing folders, can you help?  Anyone know the name of the one I've used on this card?   

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me today.  A big warm welcome to my new followers.  I hope you come back often and please let me know you've been here so I can visit with you as well.


If you haven't already done so, you can comment for my candy here.


Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings
Bernie

Click here to give --- It’s Free

Rain Rain Go Away

Good Morning!
It never fails, I wash my car and it turns cold and rainy.  I had a lovely stay in my PJs all day crafty Sunday.  I had so much fun so I don't really want the rain to go away.  Did you watch the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant?  It was wonderful! I thought the Queen looked absolutely fantastic and seems to have enjoyed it all in spite of the rain.

My Internet service has been spotty at best lately and as it is available ATM I will take advantage of it and post all three of my snippet cards at once.

My first card is for our niece Maggie’s birthday. Maggie loves orange and green. I find orange a difficult color to work with so lots of green. I’ve stamped my background with a flourish stamp using ColorBox Celadon ink. I’ve used SB Labels Seven and MS butterflies. The butterflies were painted with glitter nail polish which sparkles IRL but doesn't show up in my photos.  And a little tip, don't fold your wings until your Liquid Pearls has dried.

My second card is for our granddaughter Kili’ohu’s birthday. Kili loves hot pink, another difficult color for me so again lots of green. I’ve used the same layout and background. I’ve wanted this fabulous SU Bird Punch since it first came on the market but anyone who knows me knows I can’t bring myself to buy anything unless I have a coupon or it’s on sale. Jim got fed up with me being such a tight wad and insisted I get it for my birthday or as he said he would find a way to get it himself. Bless his heart. I LOVE IT! My flower is made up of a number of flowers layered together. 

My third card is for our niece Vicky who will be having surgery this week. I’ve used my lovely SU Bird Punch, Sizzix Branch w/ Leaves, EK Success 1” Circle, Scalloped Border and Flower punches, MS Hydrangea punch, Darice Wood Grain EF and SB Classic Oval Lg. All that and I still feel something is missing.

I always punch out more foliage then I need so I've dipped into that little stash of extras and used a bit on each card. Everything not mentioned came from my stash as well.

You don’t want to see the mess I’ve made in The Closet. (I don’t what to see it either.) It’ll take quite some time before everything is back in order. I should be cleaning but I’m headed to the playground to share with Di and the gals instead. I know I’ll need to dry off the swing before I get on but I much prefer that to burning my fanny like I did last time. Come join the fun at Di's Snippet Playground.
Check out my candy here.

Whatever you are up to today I hope it will enjoy yourselves.

Blessings
Bernie

Click here to give --- It’s Free