Elephants

Hi There

Thank you to all you beautiful people who keep stopping by and leaving me such lovely comments even though I haven’t been able to return the favor lately. I’ve just been so busy, family, garden, life in general.

We are dancing on the ceiling and turning cartwheels here. Tuesday morning we received a very long awaited phone call. Our dearest friend John was on his way to the hospital for a KIDNEY TRANSPLANT. Can’t tell you how happy, nervous, excited and worried we were for him. This morning John called to say all went well and his plumbing is working beautifully. Thank God! Sadly John lost his wife to breast cancer just two months ago, wish she could have lived to have seen this. John is Welsh and from Wales but retired to Valencia, Spain some years ago. Sure wish we could visit with him and give him a hug. My card will have to suffice.

For my card I stamped ferns on to my green card, layered on my printed sentiment, a strip of variegated Lip Smacki’ Ribbon and three paper punched homemade candy covered with Glossy Accents. My elephants are by Rubber Stampede, colored with pencils and fussy cut. I used a bit of liquid pearls on the tusks. Sadly by the time I completed the card the ink I used to stamp my ferns faded into the paper and are all but gone.

Please consider becoming an organ donor. In my career in the medical field I have seen far to many pass away for lack of a donor. I’ve also seen the monumental chance organ transplant can bring not only to the recipient but to their loved ones as well. I am listed as an organ donor on my driver‘s license. The thought that I may one day save a life, give someone sight or just make their life more comfortable brings me great joy. John’s donor was an elderly gentleman who died of natural causes. Bless his soul for his generous gift.

Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings
Bernie


Click here to give --- It’s Free


　

Snowflakes

Hello

Busy, Busy, Busy here so this will be short and to the point.

My card is for Sandra’s Rudolph Day Challenge.

To be sure my openings lined up perfectly I taped my white card to the blue and cut both at the same time using SB Standard Circles Lg. I then embossed my white card and lightly chalked the snowflakes. I cut silver and blue snowflakes using Sizzix Snowflake #6. I glued them back to back with a length of clear nylon thread between them. I suspended this in the window. When the receiver opens the card the snowflake spins.

I had planned to use silver cord but couldn’t find any in my stash so resorted to a bit of white ribbon and a punched EK Success snowflake to finish.

Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie


Click here to give --- It’s Free


　

Spring Storms

Hi There

I hadn’t planned to be away but Jim felt well enough for a day out. That doesn‘t happen often, when it does I drop everything and off we go. We went out to lunch and afterward went for a lovely drive past orchards and homes with all their beautiful apple, cherry and dogwood trees and spring bulbs in bloom. Shortly after retuning home we had the most spectacular storms roll in. I can’t remember when I’ve last seen it rain so hard. We had wave after wave of thunder and lightening storms day and night. I simply LOVE storms, I find them exciting and invigorating. When my sons were little we’d drive out to the vineyards so we could watch the lightening off in the distance.  Now if he is here my grandson and I sit on the deck wrapped in blankets and sip hot coco while watching the show. It is still raining out but the electrical storms have passed so its safe to be on the computer. 

My card today is a thank you for my nephew Mark and his OH Maile who sent me the most marvelous surprise package filled with wonderful goodies from Hawaii and a lovely framed family portrait.

I was inspired by the beautiful blue Forget-Me-Nots in bloom at the moment and the Morning Glories which are just peeking out of the ground but will be covered with gorgeous blue blossoms before long.   IMHO there are far too few true blue flowers in nature. 

I’ve used MS Garden Trellis, MS punch for greenery and EK Success punch for my flowers. The Rubber Stampede butterfly was stamped with StazOn and colored with pencils. The sentiment is a Studio G $1 stamp.  Recollection rhinestones  and glitter glue to finish.  Except for the base card everything came from my scrap/snippet files so I’m sharing in the playground where our lovely Di holds her weekly Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge 17.  Won't you join in the fun. 
Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie

Click here to give --- It’s Free

To Much Of A Good Thing

Hello

As the US Northeast is being blanketed by snow in the Pacific Northwest we are experiencing a heat wave.  We broke a 50+ year record by 20 degrees yesterday.  I am generally very careful to drink lots of water, wear a hat and take brakes to cool down when I play in the garden but I did none of that yesterday.  I simply didn't realize it had gotten so hot.  I am paying the price today but I'm sure I will be feeling fine when our cool temps return later in the week.  

The remaider of this post has been sitting as a draft since Dec. 

       
I ‘met’ my friend Jake on line about nine years ago when we were both on a gardening forum.  As a 12 year old gardener he stole my heart, especially when he began calling me Auntie Bernie.  I have ‘watched’ Jake, his garden and ponds grow thru the forum and e mails.  I can't believe he is now 21 and in college.

Jake is a cellist. For his 21^st birthday I found a free clipart of a cello and printed it on a scrap of cream cardstock. I stamped the background, with C# Minor by Seaside Stampin’ Ink and my SU setiment in brown ink then brushed over both with my duster in the same ink to age it. I’m not sure where that ribbon came from, a nice scrap of it just seemed to turn up one day.   

Cheap Tricks: I have two for you today.

I picked up a pack of two Poly flexible cutting boards for a dollar at the Dollar Tree and have been using one in place of a craft sheet. I had planned on this being a temporary solution but it works wonderfully, clean up is a breeze and takes up no storage space at all.  The perfect alternative for a tight wad like me.
    
In my small space, even a small travel iron can be disastrous (ask me how I know).  I use a Hair Straightening Iron to iron the wrinkles out of my ribbons instead. Works beautifully, takes up very little space and there is little danger of burning myself, again.  Of course I found mine in a thrift shop.

Have an Amazing Day!

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

Warning!!!! All Bloggers and Picasa users!!

 Michelle had a dreadful experience and was kind enough to post a warning for us Bloggers and Picasa uses.  Just thought this may save someone a BIG headache.  Check out her post here.

Happy Earth Day

Good Morning

In honor of Earth Day I challenged myself to make a card using items which would ordinarily ended up in the trash.

My flower was made from a plastic veggie net bag that held lemons. The pearl is a button from an old blouse. The leaves were cut from an aluminum can using SB Foliage and colored with Sharpie Markers. I used a Recollections stamp to stamp my butterfly with StazOn on to a bit of a SB packaging and colored on the reverse with Sharpie Markers then fussy cut. The little blue strip is a bit of another plastic net bag.

I am entering this in the Stampendous April Challenge Recycle
That’s it from me for today. I’m headed to the garden. I am determined to win the battle of the dandelions.

Have an Amazing Day!

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

Flutterflies & Phlox

Good Morning!

It’s a glorious day here and the garden is pulling at me so I wont keep you.

My SIL Norma and I share a love of yard sales and thrift shops. From time to time we will find something the other can use and pop it in the mail. I’ve made Norma this card to thank her for a lovely little surprise package she sent me this week.

I was inspired by the beautiful carpet of pink phlox and hyacinths which are blooming in my garden and the butterflies fluttering around them.

I use the letterpress technique for the first time. Although I got a few smudges I do like this technique and plan to us it again. I’ve raised the blue card and white frame with foam tape so the butterflies are recessed a bit.

The larger of my butterflies is from Rubber Stampede and the little ones are Impression Obsession. All colored with color pencils and fussy cut. I used the smaller flowers from MS 3 in 1 Hydrangea punch.
Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

Spring Is Here

Hi There
I do hope you are all well and Mother Nature is smiling on you.

Spring has finally arrived in our neck of the woods. I’ve been playing in the dirt amongst the gorgeous flowers and in the glorious sunshine.   Can't tell you how much I've enjoyed myself in spite of the sore muscles. We are having spring showers today, good excuse to pop in here and let you know I‘m still alive. I have found time to play in the Closet as well. Seems all my cards of late have been inspired by the flowers in bloom around me.

My card today was made for my DIL Ludy. I like to personalize my cards whenever possible, as Ludy is originally from the Philippines I used the traditional Filipino birthday greeting in the Tagalog dialect. It translates to say Happy Wishes on Your Birthday!

I followed Beata’s tutorial to make my Swing Z Fold card.  At the moment there are King Alfred daffodils, forsythia and lovely dandelions blooming in my garden and the Gold Finches are visiting the feeders.  Their lovely yellow colors have inspired the color of the flowers on my card.

Except for the base everything on my card came from my scrap files so I will be sharing it with the gals in Di’s playground for Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge - Number 16  Why don’t you get out your scraps (we all know you have them unless you’ve never made a card in your life or heaven forbid toss them out) create something and join in the fun. 

Have an Amazing Day!

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

Green Eggs No Ham

Hi There 
Isn't it amazing, Easter, already.  Each holiday brings with it cherished memories of childhoods past.

My Auntie Alice always went out of her way to make every occasion special for everyone in our family. Each occasion meant a large family gathering at my grandparents home, a fabulous meal and something special just for us kids.

For Easter Auntie would boil, color and hide dozens of eggs for us to hunt. Since there was a wide range of ages between my brother, cousins and I, she'd leave eggs out in the open for the littlest ones but made them progressively more difficult to find for the older kids. Each age group was assigned different colored eggs. One year the oldest kids were assigned blue and green eggs. After the hunt we discovered one egg was missing, a green one. Auntie questioned each of us as to where we had found our eggs as she tried desperately to remember where she had hidden that green egg.  In spite of the adults helping we couldn't find that egg. Eventually we came to the conclusion Auntie had miss counted and there had never been a green egg.

A month after Easter the older grandchildren gathered at my grandparents for spring yard clean up. Weeding, pruning, trimming, mowing, etc. Those were the days before powered tools, well at least before we had any. We used push mowers and sickles. Do you know where this is going? 

Billy, being the eldest, was using the sickle when he found the elusive green egg. Poor guy lost his breakfast and lunch that day, the rest of us took off running to get up wind.  Sadly Grandma's house was down wind.

Auntie only hid bright orange and yellow eggs for the older kids after that. The blues and greens were left out in clear sight for the little ones to find.

The people who shape our lives and bring us such joy as we are growing up leave us far to soon. I’ve raided the scraps files and made a few Easter cards for the remaining elders in my family.  I'll be entering these in Di's Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge.  Put on your Easter bonnet, bring your basket and come join us.  The Easter Bunny may be leaving some goodies, hopefully no green eggs, it's bound to be a lot of fun.  

For my first card I used another NOID stamp found in a thrift shop.  I stamped it with Stazon and colored it with color pencils. I cut it with SB Labels Four.  The ribbon is from an Easter hair band.  The embossed cards have been sitting around since I got my Cuttlebug last year and went crazy embossing eveything that didn't get out of my way.  The sentiment was computer generated.

  
I was inspired by the many tutorials on Easter Bonnet treat boxes showing up all over the web for my second card. My bonnet was quite simple to make. I punched a 1 ½” scalloped circle and a 1” circle. I placed three layers of foam tape between the two and glued a band around it. I then covered it with tulle and tied my ribbon in place then added a tiny flower to decorate it.  I've had bits of this glittery ribbon in a zip bag for 22 years.  It was in a grab bag of ribbons and lace I got when Ben Franklin closed it's doors.     

     /) /)
     (-.-)
    0_(“)(“)

Have an Amazing Easter!

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



   

Happy Easter

Hey There
I am almost afraid to say it but the weather was gorgeous today.  Oh how I enjoyed the sunshine.
I made this little cutie for my grand-nieces.  I love that my sister refers to her granddaughters as her Little Ladies.  Poor little things have been quite ill lately, hopefully this will cheer them up a bit.  

My background paper is a free download from Debbie at Doodle Designs Online.  My Bunny stamped with StazOn and colored with color pencils, is from the Hey Chick set by Our Craft Lounge.  I won it in their Easter Hop last year.  The ribbon is from a little girl's hairband found at Wal-Mart.
Cheap Trick:  I don't know the reason for those pesky StazOn inner lids but I am very happy I found Candee's tip for dealing with them.  It's one of those 'why didn't I think of that' ideas and works beautifully.  Candee says its an old tip but I'd never heard of it before.  You can find the tip, instructions and photos here.  While you are there check out Candee's lovely cards, new craft room and wonderful storage ideas.   
    
Have an Amazing Day!
Blessings
Bernie
Click here to give --- It’s Free

So Proud

Good Morning!!

The weather guys were right, the sun did come out yesterday. Still cold and breezy but otherwise it was glorious. If the guys are right Wednesday is supposed to be perfect for gardening, I can hardly wait.
I am so proud of my DIL, Vona, I could just burst.  I'm rushing off to the playground to show and tell Di and the girls all about it.  Come join us at Di's Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge  and see what my marvelous playmates create with their snippets/scraps.

I've loved Vona from the day I met her.  I must say I couldn't have picked a better wife for my son Kai or step mother for my grandson Cody.  She is a wonderful Mom to her own daughter, Callie, as well.  This family has been on a VERY LONG and very hard road for the last several years but Vona is like a circus act.  She can keep all the plates spinning and the balls in the air with a smile on her face in the mist of a hurricane.  Having had to drop out of college some 14 years ago I am sure returning was daunting but Vona did it. She has completed her prerequisites and has been accepted into nursing school.  I couldn't be more proud of her if I tired. 

I really wanted to make a special card to tell Vona how we feel and to encourage her but my mojo had taken a hike.  I finally resorted to Goggle for some sort of inspiration.  When I ran across a 1910 ad for a nursing school I knew instantly what I'd create.  What a difference 102 years can make.  I did love when nurses wore those crisp white uniforms and lovely hats but having worked in the medical field myself I know they really were most impractical. 

 I printed the ad, sentiment and little caduceus on a scrap.   I cut out the caduceus, threaded a gold thread thru it, coated it with Glossy Accents and set it aside to dry.  I found an Swiss Dot embossed red card not right for a previous project but perfect for this one. I added my ribbon, bow and flower from my stash and a few MS punched oak leaves. I then layered the ad and frame cut with SB Labels Three and over lapped my sentiment. Recollections pearls and the caduceus as a charm to finish.  At this point I debated on a black or white card to mount it on.  My in-house critic insisted on black, since he is almost always right...

I used more scraps and followed Beate's tutorial (I shortened the fronts by one inch) to make Vona a few page corner bookmarks, I know she will be buried in her books for the duration.  

Have an Amazing Day!

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

A Little Something Something

Hey There

What to do you do when your Cuttlebug plates become  warped and distorted to the point you know one more go and it'll surely snap.  Well if you were me you'd fix your wonderful son a nice dinner, say Pretty Please and before you know it you'll have a pile of new plates. 

My son Matt works for a sign supply shop.  They supply all the sign shops in the area with anything from canvas to metal and everything in between.  They often cut supplies to order and Matt, being his mother's son, can never bring himself to toss the bits and pieces that are to small to sell. He stores them in a corner of the shop and when a customer needs just a bit of something he will give it to them.  Good customer relations.

When I got my Cuttlebug it didn't have a C plate.  I gave Matt the dimensions for both C and B plates and he found just what I needed in his little corner.  The C plate is opaque but that has never been an issue for me.  On Thursday I showed Matt my sad B plate.  He measured it and Friday he dropped off FIVE plates.  Bless his heart.    

I've left the protective sheets on four of my new plates as it is rather difficult to photograph a clear plate.  You can see my C plate on the bottom of the pile.  Okay so it doesn't say C or B plate and the corners aren't rounded off like the real thing but they work like a charm.  SO if you happen to live near a sign supply shop or may know someone who works at one you might just ask nicely.  The worst that could happen is they'll say no and you'd be no worst off but you may just get lucky and walk away with a few free plates.

Have an Amazing Day!

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

Happy Birthday Cody

Hey There

It’s another dreary, rainy, blustery day here. It’s been raining nearly none stop all week. I am in serious need of some sunshine.

My grandson Cody turned 16 this week. Gosh it happened so fast, seems just days ago he was a little guy crawling around on my floor, now he is 6’ 2” and still growing. Funny kid, he knows I can’t get over how tall he is so he likes to put his arm around my shoulders, look down at me and smile. I’m 5’7” not exactly short but next to him I feel like a mouse. 

Cody is learning to drive and needless to say he is mad about cars, in particular Ford Mustangs. I printed a Mustang and a seat belt buckle found on a Ford sales site. This is a tri-fold card. I used Labels Three to cut out my window and frame from mirror card. For my background I used strips of card mimicking the colors in the Mustang logo and mounted the car onto it. I used a bit more mirror card and the belt buckle as a closure. On the inside I used black ribbon to form a seat belt. I hope he gets the not so subtle hint. The Celebrate sentiment was die cut from more mirror card using a Cookie Cutter die. The Happy Birthday sentiment was computer generated.

The weather guys say we will see sunny weather on Sunday. One lives in hope. Hope you all have a spectacular weekend and Have an Amazing Day!

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

Snowman

Hi There;
Hope you are enjoying some beautiful spring time weather.  Someone should be, it is spring isn't it.  I have a feeling we are going to go straight from winter weather to summer weather over night, it's happened before.  Thankfully the flowers don't care about the weather and will bloom in spite of it.  My forsythia is covered in buds, can't wait for that riot of yellow.

This sweet snowman stamp is another no name thrift shop find. I love those tiny birds. I stamped him in Stazon then masked him and used my duster and DI to create the clouds. I then colored him with color pencils, his scarf and hat were paper pieced. The stamp has buttons on it but I covered them with a little red button from my stash and those adorable little button brads found at Big Lots along with the little snow flake at the bottom. The large snow flake was cut from mirror card with a Sizzlet die.  All mounted on a snowflake embossed card.

I am entering this in Sandra's 3rd Rudolph Day Challenge.  What's that?  Sandar has challenged us to make at least one Christmas card and or a tag ever 25th of the month.  Why not join in, you'll be glad you did come Dec. and you may even win a little something too. 




Have an Amazing Day!

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

Good Afternoon

Hi There

I don't usually post at this time of day but you’ve all been so sweet and supportive I feel dreadful for not updating on Jim doctor’s appointment. Things have been a little frenzied here and my head it’s quite screwed on tight.

I only won half the battle with Jim’s doctor. He has agreed to taking Jim off the one medication we have felt has been doing him more harm then good but he wants to see how Jim does before considering increasing his dose of prednisone. Jim says he is already feeling better, he isn’t dizzy anymore and I‘ve noticed his memory has improved, some. Some of the other issues may take a bit longer to get out of his system but we feel we may be on the right track. Yesterday he actually felt well enough to go out to lunch and a drive around town. Can’t tell you how long it’s been since we’ve been able to do. Nothing special but it was a lovely afternoon.

Regarding the A2 size cards.  I must admit when Terry asked I needed to look it up. It seems several of you are unfamiliar with that term as well. An A2 size card is 4 ¼” X 5 ½” folded.

My card reader seems to be on the fritz. Until I get it replaced and can upload current photos I thought I’d share a card I made some years ago for my granddaughter Whitney. I don’t remember where I found the tutorial for this card. I do remember I found it confusing and ended up with a LOT of scraps as I had a dickens of a time getting it scored and cut properly. I also remember I took an oath never to try to make another like it. I don't know why but when opened flat every photo came out blue, the first photo shows it's true colors.

Okay what happened to spring?  We had one glorious day of sunshine and a brake from the winds, ONE day and it was gone again.  It is cold, overcast and blustery here.  Even had some snow, not a lot, it didn't last but still it was snow.  Come on spring!

Be Well and Have an Amazing Day!

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

Snippets

Hi There

I do hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend. Sat was brilliant here. Beautiful weather! My lovely hair dresser Mary gave me a fabulous hair cut. Had a wonderful lunch and a long over to catch up with a former co-worker. A trip to Michael’s with one of the last of my Christmas gift cards and a 15% off everything coupon. Couldn’t ask for more. Sunday was over cast, damp, cold and windy again. Spring is bound to win out soon.

I’ve been told it’s high time I let you all see what the old lady in The Closet looks like so I’ve add a profile photo. Let me tell you Mr. Blogger fought me on tooth and nail. I know I'm no raving beauty but good heavens I didn't expect him to kick up such a fuss. He would not allow me to up load that photo. When I finally won that battle I discovered ALL my followers had vanished, every last one of you, on top of that our Dear Mr. Blogger would not allow me to comment on any one's blog. I guess he's done pouting because all is well now. After all that I'm not sure I like me looking back at me but…

In updating my profile, I realized I never told you all we have a beautiful new great granddaughter. Hiilani was born on Nov. 14 '11. I haven’t asked permission to post her photo but I will and if it’s okay with her parents I’ll post it later.

Terry asked if my cards were A2 size. Yes Terry they usually are. On occasion I will make a larger size but I find them more difficult to do.

My card today is for my little sister, Donna. It is an easel card attached to a white A2 card. I had two little pieces of PP in my scrap file and managed to just fit them together and cut them out with SB Labels Three. The blue card beneath it is made up of two more scraps. The band across the top not only turns my square into a rectangle but hides the uneven edges of the papers beneath it. I traced a butterfly template and cut out three butterflies in three different shades of blue then ran them thru the Cuttlebug in three different EF. I distressed the edges with Broken China DI, then mounted them on to the easel with foam tape between each. I tucked the gold wire antennas into the foam tape and added a few half pearls. The flowers, feathers and pearls are from my stash.

This card was made of odds and end, bits and pieces so I’m sharing at the playground. If you don’t know what I’m talking about head over to the playground here and join the fun.  Di our lovely hostess and the Snippeters would love to have you I'm sure. I hear there are cupcakes and milk to be had and kites to be flown this week.   

Cheap Trick: I have rarely used foam tape because the white  isn’t aesthetically pleasing to me. I saw somewhere there is colored foam tape available but you all know I’m to cheap to buy all those different colors besides space is always a consideration. My solution is to use a marker and color the edges, all but makes it disappear. I adhere the tape to the underside of my project, color with marker then remove the protective cover and adhere it to my project, no inky fingers.

Have an Amazing Day!

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

Congratulations ~ 100th Post Winner

Hi There

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth.  I've had a bit of a bug but I'm feeling just fine today.  I do hope you are all well and enjoying spring like weather.  Spring and Winter are having a battle here.  I am always fascinated by how different the weather can be just a few short miles from one place to the next.  We live very close to the foothills of the Cascades.  In the higher elevations it is snowing gang busters.  It keeps trying to snow and hail here but gentle rains are winning and I am sure before long Spring will win out.   We are still experiencing strong winds and although we are damp here, just a few miles down the road it is very dry and the winds are causing dreadful dust storms.  Visibility has been so poor there was a 20 car pile up on Sat.  There have been several other accidents since then so the powers-that-be have been closing roads off and on since the weekend.  Thankfully no one has been injured.

I can’t believe this is my 100^th post!  I really can't believe you are actually sitting there reading what I have to say.  As promised I have a small candy to celebrate.  Truth be told I don't know how to use Mr. Linky and Random whatever,  I don't have the time or inclination to learn how they work at the moment.  Besides I wanted one of my followers to win, not someone who only stops buy when a candy is offered and I don't think you can stack the deck if you employ those.  Anywho, I've decided to simplify things and go old school.  I put the names for all my lovely followers in a bowl and had my grandson pull out a name. The winner is:

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Carys!

of CarysL Cards

Carys is only 14 years old and although my candy isn't very big I am thrilled to help fill her craft space with a few stamps, ribbons and a little flower punch. 

Congratulations sweetie. If you will send me your snail mail address at berniescraftcloset@gmail.com I’ll get this off to you as soon as possible. 

 

With all the weddings and graduations coming up I’ve made a number of these simple Congratulations cards for the craft fair. Isn’t this a fabulous stamp!  It is another well loved stamp found in a thrift shop. I suspect it is rather old, save for the manufactures name, Rubber Stampede, I could not find any other information about it.     

Cheap Trick:  Although some of the stamps I find in thrift shops are new or clean, most are not, actually some are incredibly dirty.  I give those a good scrub with Dawn dish soap and warm water then let them dry completely, usually over night.  I then use my adhesive eraser to erase the remaining ink then wipe with a baby wipe.  This almost always gets all the ink off the image and gives it a bit of 'tooth' as well.  It even gets off StazOn ink.  I've been doing this for years and can't remember who to give credit to for this great tip.  

Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings
Bernie

Click here to give --- It’s Free

Super Heroes

Hello Dear Friends;

Thank you all for your sweet comments and well wishes, they do mean a great deal. We got Jim’s test results, I’m afraid they didn’t show anything of significance so nothing will be done for him. I do believe his doctor is being far to conservative with his treatments. He has another appointment on the 21^st at which time I plan to speak to the doctor regarding it. I do realize increasing some of his medications can have some unfavorable long term side affects but we all know with end stage emphysema there is no long term in his future. I want him as comfortable as possible in the time he has left. Whatever happens we will just make the best of life as it is.

When I saw these little Valentine trading cards and a box of birthday candles in the discount bin marked 75% off I had to have them. I immediately pictured birthday cards for little boys. What little boy doesn’t love Spider Man or Transformers and since they are lenticular I’m sure they will be fascinated by the changing figures as well. The cards only measure 2 ½” X 1 ½” so I needed a big sentiment, this Studio G $1 stamp fit the bill and I believe goes well with the candle. I’ve made several of these for a craft fair.

Same cards different angle.

Have an Amazing Day!

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

A St. Patrick’s Day Card

Hello!

Thank you all ever so much for your well wishes for Jim. His chest X-rays, CAT scans and lab work went well and most amazingly we did not have to wait more then a few minuets for each.

The blood gas draw was another story. Since Jim’s vision is poor I am the designated driver in this household. Jim has had blood gases drawn before and knew it would be very painful. He was more then a little apprehensive on the way to the hospital and insisted on telling me how to drive. When he screamed (and scared the living day lights out of me) that a car was coming ( the car was actually going the other way) I told him if he wasn’t quiet I was going to gag, blind fold and stuff him in the trunk. Honestly it’s a wonder I don’t drink.

Drawing blood for gases is not only painful but difficult under the best of circumstances. At the hospital a lovely gentleman tried once but was unsuccessful. He said he didn’t feel comfortable trying again so a sweet young lady took over. I could see on Jim’s face that it really was painful but he was being so brave. Apologizing profusely for hurting him she quit after two tries. Jim was very happy to hear the hospital’s policy is to only try three times. ATM we are waiting to hear test results and if the doctor will insist on the blood gases being done.

Poor Jim, to add insult to injury I insisted he use a wheelchair. Not good for his ego but best for him in all other respects except maybe having me as his driver. The first few tests we had a normal size wheelchair which I had no problem driving. Jim finally said ‘rolling is better then strolling‘ sat back and relaxed. He shouldn’t have spoken so soon. At the hospital we had a super size chair for people with wider then normal backsides. The lab was DEEP within the bowels of the hospital. According to Jim, yours truly managed to hit, bang and generally run into and or over everything and anything that didn’t get out of my way going and coming. I don’t need advice when driving a car but I’ve never driven a wheelchair before. Really, he could have given me some warnings, especially about the little old lady with the walker. I do admit to taking the paint off a few doorways but no one was hurt. Okay enough of that, on to my card.

Our dearest friends are Irish giving me an excellent excuse to make a St. Patty‘s Day card. I’m not sure why but I’m not totally pleased with this card. I began with an embossed dark green card and layered on a scrap of olive green paper. I wanted to high light my sentiment with a darker green but found my SB circle dies were either to small or to large so I embossed it with two different sizes at the same time then hand cut at the embossed edge of the larger size. The sentiment was computer generated then cut out with a lacey circle die. The toile ribbon is from Little Black Dress Designs. The shamrock was made by punching three hearts and inking the edges . The Happy St. Patty’s Day sentiment is a Studio G clear $1 stamp, cut out by hand as well. Finished off with ’brads’

Cheap Trick: I make my own ‘brads’. I use a standard office paper punch to punch out little circles then used my embossing tool to shape them. A little pop dot inside helps them to keep their shape on the card.


Have an Amazing Day!

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

Mariposa Sympathy

Good Morning!
What a difference a sunny day can make.  It was a bit nippy and a little breezy but the sun was shinning and the sky crystal clear and the bluest of blue.  I donned my hat and coat and I sat on the back step just letting the sun beat down on me. It was glorious and I do feel so much the better for it.   The weather guys say today is supposed to be a repeat of the same.  Although I'll be spending the better part of the day waiting on Jim as he has his CAT scan and lab work I do plan to find some time to sit in the sun.  I do hope you will all enjoy a lovely sunny day as well.

March is National Craft Month.  Anyone who has followed me for a while wont be surprised to hear I've saved a few of my Christmas gift cards for the March sales.  This weekend every craft shop in town has a sale, the coupons have already been printed and more are arriving in the mail daily.  I'll leave you all to guess what I'll be up to this weekend. :)            


My cards today are quite simple as once again I’ve allowed this lovely paper from DCWV Mariposa matstak do all the work. I simply cut inside the printed frame, inked the white edges, threaded my ribbon thru the frame then added my sentiment behind it all. The paper seemed to lend itself to a sympathy card so I went with it.  I'm loving this matstack so much I think I'll get another. 

These are for an upcoming craft fair. I was not able to get a table at the Come On Spring craft fair as I’d hoped. It is always THE event of the season. They don’t announce a call for vendors, instead it is done by word of mouth. The mouths that promised to let me know DIDN'T.  Althought it's been treated as Top Secret information I have managed to get the name and number of the event coordinator.  Hopefully she’ll have a table for me at Christmas. Although it was the event I’d really hoped to take part in there will be others.

      

Have an Amazing Day!

Blessings
Bernie

Click here to give --- It’s Free