Update and Thank Yous

I want to thank everyone of you who expressed concern for Jim and sent such warm well wishes. It meant a lot that you took the time to drop a line. Thankfully the fires are out, the air is clear and Jim is doing well.
A special Thank You to Mary Marsh of The Charmed Life for the lovely blog candy. Sorry I didn’t take a photo of it all but Mary was extremely generous. 

I am sorry for my long absences. I took an unplanned last minuet trip. With Jim’s illness I am not often able to leave him for long. Whenever he feels well enough I drive the three hours to visit with friends and family.

Earlier this year I purged my craft closet and gave my niece Maggie everything I no longer needed for her scrapbooking. Since then I found some wonderful storage at a yard sale and I’ve reorganized The Closet. This eliminated my need for quite a few old storage items including several sets of leftover metal grid storage cubes. As crafters we all have a tendency to make a mess but picture a 16 yr. old crafter with no storage system at all. Maggie and I spent several fun filled hours setting up cubes and organizing her supplies, much to her mother‘s delight and relief. When her parents came home from work I left her to do the finishing touches. They are such sweet friends and I do wish I could have spent more then a few hours with them but my time was limited.

It was a joy to visit with my son and family. Just sitting and get caught up with my oldest son was wonderful. My 16 yr. old grandson thought it was fun to put his arm around my shoulders and look down at me. He is 6’1” tall and still growing. My DIL and granddaughter took me to a few thrift and craft shops which was a lot of fun and I did find a few bargains. All to soon I was on my way home again.

As some of you know I have a bad neck and periodically it goes out on me. Once again I turned my head 'just so' and out it went. Thankfully I am recovering but I haven't felt like creating or even visiting any of you. I plan to take a few more days to heal completely.

My Mojo has taken a hike to parts unknown and taken my inclination to create with it. I’ll be back when they’ve returned and I have something to share with you. In the mean time I will be stopping by to visit with you all again.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to all of you who have so kindly left your sweet comments and well wishes for Jim.
Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Kick Up Your Heels

Hi There; Sad news this morning. There is a forest fire raging here in SE Washington State. Although St. John’s Monastery and Bakery were saved by the feisty nuns and firefighters many homes and barns have been lost. Thankfully no injuries have been reported but the fire is totally out of control and the outlook is grim. Thousands have been evacuated.

I’ve mentioned before my Jim is ill, he has end stage emphysema. Although we are in no danger from the fire the air is filled with smoke which is making breathing much more difficult for Jim and others with breathing problems. Please keep our wonderful firefighters and those suffering in any way as a result of this fire in you thoughts and prayers.

I did something new to me on my card. I stamped one boot masked it then stamped the second one. It may sound silly but I was just tickled that it turned out so well. Learned a lesson, don’t mask with cardstock it leaves a little gap at the edge, paper next time. In this case quickly remedied with a marker. I watercolored the boots then heat embossed silver EP on the spurs. Big Scalloped Squared was used to cut and emboss. A few iron on studs were glued to the corner and a bit of jewelry hemp to finish.

Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Happy Birthday Pat

Seems summer isn’t going to give up without a fight here. It’s gotten a bit to warm for my liking but when I think of what the weather has been doing around the US I realize I am truly blessed. My heart and prayers goes out to those who have lost homes, businesses, crops and loved ones as a result of the dreadful weather this year.

My card today is for our dear friend Pat.   Pat, his wife Lynne and Jim and I have been friends for over 25 years. We now live three hours apart and with Jim’s poor health we don’t see them as often as we’d like but distance can’t hurt a true friendship.

I spent more time taking pictures of this card then I did making it. No matter what I did I couldn’t capture it properly. The colors are much more vibrant IRL. In a way this card designed it’s self. When I pulled out my green scraps file the branch fell out onto another lighter green scrap. Wa La a card was born. A little glue, a bit of jewelry hemp, a sentiment and it was done. Just wish all masculine cards would be so easy to make.

Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Happy Birthday Susie

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend. We all enjoyed our BBQ. It was so good to see Donna be able to enjoy food again. We all enjoyed the food.  Although we each only ate a few bites of each there were so many different dishes we were all so full we could barely move afterwards. All in all we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. Even the weather was beautiful.

My card today is for Susie, my dear friend, of 50 years.  We started out as friends in a prior life as neither of us are really that old.  :} The doily is the pointy end of a large heart shaped doily. I used one of the organza flowers I made.  Spellbinders Foliage, MS punch and a few curled Cloth Stem Wires were used for the greenery. I have a Possibilities Box. When I find something I think I may possibly be able to use one day I put it in that box. I found the stings of beads in there.  I believe they originally held a toy to the box of my grandson's Christmas gift. My butterfly was a complete surprise to me. I stamped it with chalk ink on to velum, heat embossed it with Sparkle EP and cut it out. It was so pale it blended into the card so I decided to watercolor the back of it. I didn’t realize velum would curl up when wet but I was thrilled with the result. A bow and sentiment finished it off. I will be trying the velum treatment again. Wonder if velum has a vertical and horizontal to it as paper does.            

Have an Amazing Day!Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Candies

Hi There
This is my second post today scroll down for a peek into my garden.

Some of the lovely ladies I follow regularly are offering candy this month. I’ve added links to them on my side bar.

Mina is offering a lovely Multi Frame Square Snowflakes die. While you are visiting her blog have a look around. Mina always uses the most stunning images and does amazing coloring with distress inks.

Lori has some marvelous ribbons and a whole lot more up for grabs. Lori uses the sweetest images and colors them so beautifully with her Copics. Have a look around her blog; I’m sure you will enjoy her cute and cheerful cards.

Brenda’s candy is a surprise this month but I’m sure it’ll be wonderful. Brenda is a magician with a brayer and makes the most lovely cards. You must see what she does for yourself.

Good luck.
Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

From the Garden

Busy, Busy, Busy. No time for crafting so I thought I’d share a few flowers blooming in my garden.

Queen Elizabeth

Love

Double Delight

Montezum

No Name

Confused Oriental Poppy Shouldn't be in bloom this time of year.

Don't know what this is called but it is considered a weed here.  The angels planted it and I wanted to see just how tall it would get.  It's as tall as the roof and still growing.  Excuse all the seed heads, a friend is coming to collect them this weekend. 

Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Quick and Easy

Today we are having a big old fashion BBQ. We are celebrating our daughter Donna’s completing her breast cancer treatments. The Chemo was rough to say the least.  We had promised her when she could enjoy food again we would fix her anything and everything she wanted. This weekend she has chosen everything.  Jim and I have been busy preparing.  When they arrive we plan to sit back and relax while the kids take over the finishing touches, the grilling and most importantly the clean up.   There will only be eight of us but the menu is big enough to feed an army. Everyone will be going home with a dogie bag.

Today I have three quick and easy note cards. I like to have a few on hand. I got out the scraps files and pulled out the biggest scraps I could find. If I don’t use up those big scraps they have a way of turning into lots of little scraps. I stamped each piece with Versa Mark and used a border punch on each. I found pieces of lace just long enough for each card in my fiber scraps jar. Added a scarp square of white and a flower. 
Another one for Jules' Crafty Snippet Challenge Week 34

On the pink I used MS Cherish Hearts punch and used the little pink hearts left after punching on the corners. I was short one so I put the corner of another scrap into the punch and punched out just one tiny heart.

On the blue I used a Fiskars scalloped punch and some rhinestones.

On the green I used MS Lattice Arch punch and half pearls.










Here in the US it is the long Labor Day Weekend signaling the end of summer. I hope everyone will have wonderful weekend and you will all be safe. Please Don’t drink and drive. If you must be on the roads please watch out for those who do.
Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Happy Birthday John (again)

Hello; Just a quick post today. My card is for our dear friend John who lives in Valencia, Spain.  John and my Jim worked together in Saudi Arabia nearly forty years ago and have been friends, more like brothers, ever since.  Over the years John and his lovely wife, Beryl, have visited us a few times and we have all become quite close.   

This entire card was made from scraps. The corrugated bit was packing around some salt and pepper shakers I purchased years ago. I am entering this in Jules' Crafty Snippet Challenge Week 34














THANKS for stopping by and thank you for your lovely comments.

Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Butterfly Rainbow

Hi There
September, really! I need to get a job. When I worked the weeks were endless and weekends, especially long holiday weekends, could never come soon enough. Now that I’m retired the weeks and months just wiz by. I need to get a job and slow the clock down.

My card today was inspired by and made possible by the LOVELY and EXTREMELY GENEROUS DI. When I complained of my unsuccessful attempts with the brayer and assorted blending techniques Di sent me these wonderful Inkylicious Ink Dusters. 

Thank You Di!! I love them although I’m not crazy about TH distress inks. I only bought them this week but they seem rather dry. I can actually see a line showing the pads aren’t completely saturated. I found I had to pounce on the pad quite hard before I got ink on my brush and I got some bristle marks when I pounced on my card. I didn’t have the proper color for this card but in playing I found my old Adirondack inks were much easier to work with giving me a much softer result. Back to my card. When Di posted her card here Annie suggested a rainbow. I remembered an old paint company’s ad where they’d used butterflies to show their rainbow of colors available.

I set about to recreate a scale down version of that ad. I pulled out my scraps and punched MS butterflies, then put them all in a Swiss dot EF and ran them thru the Cuttlebug then glued them to my cloud background. The sentiment is a clear $1 stamp.
I am entering this in Jules' Crafty Snippet Challenge Week 34  








Thank you for taking the time to visit today. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Have an Amazing Day!

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

Happy Birthday Dave!

Hi there ladies; I’d like to extend a warm welcome to my new followers, so happy to have you. I hope you will come back soon and find some inspiration.

Wow it’s been a while since I’ve posted a card. I have been busy. I had to make the most of my time with my grandson before he went back in school this week.  It'll be a while before he has another brake.   
Sept. will be a busy card month for me. A few of my girl friends and several guys will be celebrating birthdays. Since the girls may check in I will post their cards after they’ve been received. The guys are not likely to stop by here so I think I can safely post the cards I’ve made for them. Gosh do you have as much trouble creating for men as I do? I must admit I really need to stretch my creative muscle when making a masculine card.
 

Today’s card is for my brother in law Dave. Dave’s eye sight isn’t the best so I wanted to make him something that really popped. I sat the card on a log out in the garden in full sunlight just to show how much it shines. It’s a gate fold card. I used my homemade stamp positioner to stamp my flourish with Versa Mark then heat embossed with silver EP before stamping and embossing the next one. I used Starburst Crayola printer paper for the scallop, the sentiment and the border around it. The sentiment was cut with QuickKutz Cookie Cutter Die and the scalloped border with Fiskars punch.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Have an Amazing Day!

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

Thanks For The Memories

Happy Rudolph Day! For my card I water colored the 1998 Penny Black Santa Memories stamp. I added Crayola Glitter glue on Santa’s beard and the stars and Diamond Glaze on his glasses. I layered it on to a scrap of Christmas scrapbook paper, green card and onto my card base with a bit of ribbon to finish it.

This stamp filled my head with warm childhood memories. My Aunty Alice made every occasion special for my family and she loved Christmas. On Christmas Eve she would gather our entire family at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. After a wonderful dinner Aunty would get one of her brothers to dress as Santa. At the appointed hour we would be told to sit in the living room. We didn’t have to wait long before we’d hear HO, HO, HO as Santa came up the front steps. It was sweet agony waiting as he stomped on each of a dozen red wooden steps till he finally came in the door. He’d stand in front of one child after the other and ask ‘Have you been good?’ Of course the answer was always ‘Yes Santa.’ Then he’d say ‘What about the time you did…’ Santa really did know if you were bad or good. He’d pull from his sack a brown paper sack tied with red curling ribbon. Inside was an orange, an apple, a handful of nuts in the shell and a cheap little toy. Not a lot but we loved it. As I grew older I would sit at the end of the line and when Santa would finally get to me I’d give him a hug and whisper in his ear ‘I love you Uncle or Daddy‘. Why did Santa come to our homes so early on Christmas Eve? Well we lived on Maui and Santa always started his deliveries in Hawaii before crossing the ocean to complete his rounds. Hey it worked for us.
THANKS for taking the time to stop by and thank you for your lovely comments.

Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings

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

Sympathy

Happy Hump Day! Just a quick post today.

For those who haven’t been following my posts for the last two days, my uncle passed away. I have been posting a series of sympathy cards and childhood memories. This is the last in the series. 

I made identical cards for my two remaining Uncles. For my cards I used: Rubber Stampede’s Cherry Blossom, Swiss Dot EF, an old Stampin’ Up sentiment, black half pearls and a little red Rattail fiber.

Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings

BernieClick here to give --- It’s Free

More Sweet Memories

Hello; Hope you are having a wonderful week.  It's gotten a bit to warm for my liking but I'm not ready for summer to end so I wont complain to loudly.
As I said yesterday my Uncle passed away last week.  This post may make more sense if you read my previous post.
My card today is for my cousin Cindy. My Aunty and Uncle were thrilled beyond words when she was born but I remember I was not the least bit happy about her arrival. She’d stolen my limelight. A week or so later Uncle went back on the evening shift I was asked to keep my aunt company again. I did not want to go but Mom insisted. I must have been a sad sight dragging my feet over there and like Mom was so found of saying ‘dragging my lower lip‘. I really didn’t want to have anything to do with that baby and I can remember sitting on the sofa pouting. I’m not sure how she did it but my aunt soon had me madly in love with the little thing. When Uncle kissed my forehead and said ‘Bless You’ that night all was right in my world again and I've been very fond of my cousin Cindy ever since.

For my card I embossed a scrap of white card.  I've added a doily and ribbon then I added my water colored image which was cut and embossed with Standard Circles Lg and layered on Petite Scalloped Circles Lg. The sentiment is computer generated and the heart charm is from my stash.

Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings BernieClick here to give --- It’s Free

Sweet Memories

Hi There; Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

I learned Friday evening my Uncle Walter had passed away. My father was one of eight, with Uncle’s passing there are only two brothers left. As a child nearly all of my family lived on the same country road. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and LOTS of cousins. My daily life was filled with family. Sadly over time most move away and because of his poor hearing I hadn’t spoken to my uncle in many years. Still as I made cards for my aunt, cousin, and uncles sweet childhood memories filled my head.

When they were first married my Aunty Violet hated being alone at night while Uncle Walter worked. I was just a little thing but every evening just before dark I would walk next door to keep her company till Uncle got home. I don’t really remember what we did all evening but at bed time she’d tuck me into Uncle’s side of their big bed. When he got home he’d gently pick me up and carry me to the guest room. Most nights he’d wake me but I always pretended I was asleep because I knew just before he’d put me into bed he would kiss me on the forehead and whisper ’Bless you’ then tuck me in. It always made me feel like a princess.  

This card is for my aunt. I began by embossing my card base with Lattice Rectangle. I wrapped my ribbon around the card base and added a printed prayer on the inside to hide the ribbon. I printed my sentiment then cut and embossed it with a smaller Lattice Rectangle. The leaves are Spellbinder’s Foliage. The flowers from my stash.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings
Bernie

Happy Birthday John

Hello! Wow it’s Friday already. I’ve enjoyed playing in the garden and yesterday with my grandson but I am looking forward to a little more crafty time this weekend.

My card today is for the sweet gentleman who delivers Jim’s Liquid Oxygen every Monday. John loves Jalapeño peppers, as a thank you for all he does for Jim I plant a few plants just for him each year. I am so severely allergic to hot peppers I’m afraid to pick them but John is happy to pick them himself. Monday is John’s birthday and the first peppers of the season will be ready for him to harvest. Couldn’t have timed it better if I’d tried.

It’s a simple card. I scored my card with a space just wide enough for the ribbon to sit in then positioned it in the stars EF to emboss just the top portion and ran it thru the Cuttlebug.  I’ve layered this onto black card then on to my blue card base.  The ribbon is layered on a strip of white then black card stock, just to make it appear a bit broader.  I stamped and embossed the sentiment, black half pearls for balance and it‘s done.

‘Cheap Trick’ Get an ATG gun. Over the years I have foolishly spent a fortune on glue runners, red sticky tape (name escapes me) and a variety of glues because I thought they were cheaper. I got my ATG with a 50% off coupon at Michael’s. It came with two rolls of tape, the glue is wonderful, holds well and lasted for such a long time. I find I use far less of it then I did the glue runners. I no long rely on glues and red sticky tape to make up for the glue runners short coming. Although it hasn’t eliminated the need for glues and red sticky tape, ultimately I find the ATG is a great money saver. Of course I only buy refills when I have a coupon.

Lace It Up

Hi There; I hope are all well. I’ve been playing in the garden for the last several days. Lots of pruning and weeding, does it ever end! Of course the fun part is harvesting and eating fresh veggies. I had my first tomato sandwich of the season. Yummy! There will be many more to come but that first tomato is always like a little taste of heaven to me. I got to play with my grandson on Friday. We went grocery shopping and just had to stop into a few thrift shops and craft shops. He loves them as well but he enjoyed his swim time most of all. I’ve been baking and entering again. I baked banana nut bread much to the delight of Jim and the neighbors. I have keys to my neighbor’s homes and I love to surprise them by dropping off goodies while they are gone, thus the term baking and entering was born. I did find some play time in the closet. 

I made this card for our daughter Kim, today is her birthday. I water colored my rose to look like the Double Delight rose blooming in my garden. I cut it out with Rectangle Lattice. It is layered on a scrap which I cut out with my craft knife around the same die. I’ve had eyelets in my stash for years but never used them until I saw Mandy’s card here. I loved how she laced her card and although I like the lacing on my card I think Mandy’s card is much prettier. The butterfly charm is from Michael’s.

Thank you for stopping by, your visit is always appreciated.
Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Cherish This Day

Hi There;  Happy Wednesday! 

This card was inspired by a challenge on SCS some time ago.  There were some very inspiring cards summited, each using a lattice.  For my card I trimmed some white scraps to size. I cut two frames with an original Sizzix Frame Scallop Oval die. I wove and glued my lattice to one frame then sandwiched it with the other. I ran it thru the Cuttlebug in a Swiss Dot EF. I backed it with some pale green PP although the pattern doesn’t show here. The background was stamped with Versa Mark using Great Impressions’ Rose Background stamp then chalked lightly. The Sentiment is from Printworks, Alphabet Soup, Celebrate Life. The large leaves are Spellbinders Foliage. I made the purple organza flower added some MS greenery and a few EK Success flowers.  

‘Cheap Trick’ Make your own stamp positioner. I made mine out of two layers of foam core. Until I mistakenly pitched it out I had one made our of several layers of chip board aka cereal boxes. I’ve hear of people using Lego blocks. As long as you have a right angle that is deep enough to position your stamp within that angle it should work just as well as any pricey manufactured one.  
  
THANKS for taking the time to stop by and thank you for your lovely comments.
Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings

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

Authentique Candies

Authentique is a brand new manufacturer located in
Utah and all product is produced locally.
Authentique comes to the paper crafting world with
an excellent pedigree with over 40 years combined
experience in the paper craft industry, the founders
being previously My Mind's Eye, Girls Paperie and
Doodlebug.

Mina at Pinkpuds is offering Authentique’s Pink paper pad and Bunny Zoe Crafts is offering Authentique’s Blue paper pad. Both look so yummy! Mina makes beautiful cards and her coloring is absolutely amazing. Mina is on the design team at Bunny Zoe Crafts, she and her fellow DT members are all marvelously talented. I think it’s well worth your time to have a look at both these wonderful blogs. 
Good luck!
Blessings
Bernie

Scraps - Snippets

Whatever you call them they do accumulate.  I agree with Jules, they do seem to breed and multiply. These were to small to keep or were they. I have such a difficult time tossing even the smallest bit of paper so I put little matching pieces in snack size zip bags and keep them where I'll see them often and hope for inspiration. When I learned a friend will be having a little boy in Dec. these blue bits spoke to me; “We’d be perfect for a baby quilt card.” And really, I had to agree.

Edit:  I entered the wrong link at Jules last week so I've entered this card again at Jules' Crafty Snippet Challenge -Week 32

I cut my squares and strips to size, adhered them to a scrap of printer paper placed it in an EF and ran it thru the Cuttlebug then layered it on to another scrap and on to my card base. Our ‘Big Lots’ doesn’t have much in the way of craft supplies but I did find some cute brads there including this sweet little teddy bear.  I had just enough of this ribbon to make the bow.  I just accordion folded it and used the brad to hold it together then fanned it out. A few buttons and it’s done. Didn’t make much of a dent in my scrap file but they didn’t get tossed so I’m pleased. I will enter this in Jules’ Crafty Snippet Challenge - Week 31.  Check it out, lots of inspiration on how to use up those snippets/scraps. 
Thank you for stopping your visit is always appreciated.Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Happy Birthday Anniversary

Hello!  Today my friend and neighbor is celebrating the 23^rd Anniversary of her second birthday. Yes you read that right. You see on 8-8-88 Lanette was blessed with a bone marrow transplant. Her brother was the perfect match. As a result she was completely cured of her leukemia. She calls Aug. 8^th her second birthday and this is the 23 anniversary of that most important day. So my card today is for her.

I embossed a scrap of green cardstock with the Swiss Dot EF and lightly sanded the dots. The pink is a scrap of the cardstock I used a few days ago already embossed with those sweet little hearts. I layered on some lace then the purple which I found already scalloped in my scrap file. The sentiment was cut with QuicKutz Cookie Cutter Dies Basic Phrases. I made the flourish using my homemade acetate template and some silver pearls from Michael’s. The butterflies were stamped with versa mark on velum and embossed with white EP, hand cut and layered one on top of the other with iridescent beads for the body. The rhinestones in the corner changes color from a pale pink to a dark purple when the card is moved. I love how the feathers soften the feel of the card. You may notice the lower feather has slipped out of place but it was properly secured before I gave the card to Lanette.


Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free