Simply Create Too Challenge No. 3

Good mornin' stamper friends. It's coming down to the wire. I had finished all of my cards, but needed some gift card holders. Stamp TV to the rescue. Gina K., has a tute this week in two easy to understand episodes...love these freebies... for a cute holder and I totally took advantage of it. I used dsp from a forgotten CTMH package and SU for the base. Instead of a bow, I opted for a belly band..easier to get on and off than to fumble with a ribbon. Som ric rac, a little Santa had with stickles and a blob of glossy accents...woulda' put on a pom pom, except I need to mail this. And I am off to make several more of these. BTW, this sample used a gift card I had sitting around the house. I've purchased the Merry Christmas themed cards since then. So go check out Stamp TV to learn how to make one of these. More importantly, take some time out for yourselves and visit Simply Create Too where you can get some inspiration to join us for this challenge.

Hugs & Blessings,
Erica

How Do They Do It!?

OK, stampers. I've been trying to get it all done. I'm not going to go there, because I know you have the same stuff to do as me. I take comfort in knowing that I'm Not Alone. That said, you quite understand why this card appears at Simply Create Too for Challenge no. 2 in the mid-week entry, but didn't have a post to go along with it until now. You will also quite understand why I shall not be going on and on with how I did it and what I used to make it. Just understand that there is a reason why I'm so blessed to be a part of the best design team I know and they let me get away with this.

Having said how I feel, posts for the next few weeks will be sporadic and brief as I celebrate the rest of the year. And I hope you will be doing the same.

                                               Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Blessings,
Erica (who is far tooo busy, and pooped,  to find a proper holiday widget and re-design her blog in holiday splendor as many of her fellower bloggers have done.)

Whimsical Elf

Hi Stampers. Here is a fun little elf image from CTMH. They come four to a sheet. Each one is adorable and fun to color. This little guy is ready for Christmas, don't you think? I added a strip of dsp and mixed red and green bakers' twine wrapped around the Gina K luxery white card base. I colored him with a mix of copics and Bic markers.

Well, I'm off to see my grand-daughter in a Christmas show. She is four...should be cute.

Blessings,
Erica

Little angels

Hi Stampers. Hope your week is going well. We have just finished a trio of rainy days, a rare phenom in Arizona, but one much-needed. My tiny garden and newly planted citrus trees are quite happy about it.

So, I'm still making Christmas cards. I thought I was done, but my dh needed about 10 cards. It looks like I'll be pulling my stuff out again. Although I tidied my room up, the holiday stamps are still within reach. So here's one that I couldn't part with. The sketch is CASED, but the papers and adorable angel stamp are all mine. Aren't they just the cutest and doesn't the senitment really match. My dh says the papers don't quite fit, but I can't say they don't. Bakers twine tied in a bow and then snipped over a piece of SU olive ribbon are eye-catching, don't ya' think. I used a Nestie die to frame the stamp and an MS punched snowflake touched with a bit of Rangers glitter glue and with a teeny blingie star in the center. I colored with copics.

So you will see a few more Christmas cards before the end of the year. Tomorrow, I will post a mid-way card for the embossing challenge at Simply Create Too. There's another week left to submit your embossed card. And here's a heads-up...hope the team won't mind me telling. There will be blog candy coming soon.

Blessings,
Erica

Where Is the Time Going?

Of course, I'm being quite rhetorical. Once December comes along, one may as well say good-bye to the year.

Over at Simply Create Too, we're embossing away on our cards. I love this technique...both dry and "wet"?.
Just for the heck of it, and since I was doing a rather thorough cleaning/neatening of my craftroom, I counted the embossing folders I own. The grand total was 45, and I'm still buying...YIKES! I do not own much embossing powders. Once I discovered glitter all over my bedding...noo, I don't craft in bed, just in my PJs, I gave up glitter embossing, except for the rare occasion when the stamp shouts at me. And that my dear stampers, is what this beautiful medallion stamp from Stampin" Up did, so out came the SU Encore gold inkpad and the Rangers fine gold embossing powder and my seldom used heat gun and away the powder blew. The result, nice and shiny and cause I love me some gems, I popped a blue one in the center. The sentiment is a Michael's dollar stamp and its all done on Gina K's pure luxury cs.
There you have it.

Happy Sunday Evening.
Erica

Christmas Cards continuing

Hi Stampers. Here's another card. This one is a bit mor fussy, but was still fairly quick to make. The dsp is from a stack by "g c d"...nope, I never heard of them before either. The design name is Scandia jul. It is very Nordic style designed paper. I didn't think I'd like it, but it was on sale, and the more I leafed through the papers, the more it grew on me. It's now my "go to" paper for the season. On the ribbon from my stash, is a metal epoxy brad from Studion "G". Would you believe it was a dollar at Walmart. They have begun to carry a few Studio "G" products. That's kinda nice since it seems like I live in WAMA. Nothing like one stop shopping, right? The sentiment is a quite old stamp form Northwoods Stamps. I used Colorbox warm red chalk ink.

More Christmas cards tomorrow. I only need to make a few more, how about you?

Blessings,
Erica

A Christmas card AND Super Exciting News!

Hi Stampers. I'm trying to hit upon a Christmas card that is simple, as in easy peasy to create, but still fun and inexpensive to make. This card uses a Michael Studion G dollar stamp. I have sooo many of these stamps. The base is black cs and the mat is riding hood red SU embossed with an SU folder, Petals A Plenty. I used a Nestie for the tag shape and then some gingham bias tape...which I thought was ribbon when I bought it, but it works. I used a Viva Pearl pen in gold go make the cute dots that really make the tag pop. Button and bakers twine are from my stash. Easy peasy to color with Sharpie pen markers.
I like it...it's bright and festive. We'll see if I make more of these.

Now for the news. I have been waiting for more than six months to get a check from my government penison plan. It's a cumulative amount of dollars, owed to me from when I became 62 this past July. It's finally here, and right on time for me to take advantage of Cyber Monday sales. Goodie for me, I found the
Silhouette Cameo on sale at Overstock for $249.00.There was free shipping and somehow they have not been forced to charge tax, so it really was $249.00 exactly. I haven't seen it anywhere for this price, so I jumped on my Paypal account and hit all the submits fast. Overstock shipped it today via UPS. Not to advertise or anything, but I have bought sever crafty and home things from Overstock and find them to be a very good on-line company to order from.... so I should be doing the happy dance by Friday!. Am I ever excited! Put a Silhouette Cameo on your Christmas list. Google it for lots more info, or just use my link above.  I did lots of research and in my book it could be compared to the Cricuit, but surpasses it in many ways. For one thing, no pricy cartridges.

Blessings,
Erica

Welcome to Simply Create Too!

Hi Stampers. Thanksgiving is over...sort of. If you're anyone like me, you will have had to struggle to fit the leftovers into the frig. Fortunately for me, I have two in my home. A rather common occurrence for people in Arizona. You see, we need to keep plenty of ice in the hot, dry and often dusty state. Actually, my food hoarding addiction is right up there with my stamping addiction. During the next few days, I'll be making turkey noodle soup, turkey salad, ham salad, split soup with ham, and a few other dishes. Wheeeww.

But there will always be time for stamping, right? And that brings me to the new and improved stamping challenge
Simply Create Too Challenge no. 1. Our team moderators, Diane, Marjo and Ruth have worked diligently to bring this re-vamped challenge to you. And what fun it's going to be. We already have blog candy for you. How cool is that??

To start off our challenge, we chose an easy peasy one. Now that Thanksgiving is done, we need to be starting those Christmas cards. My card has a base of SU's riding hood red and a non-SU mat that I embossed with an SU folder. I die cut the dsp with an SU die, as well as the SU bird done with an SU punch. The double red and cream diecuts are from Nestibilities and the sentiment is SU. I stamped using Memento dye inks. I love all tlhe Christmasy colors and the dsp. I'll probably make several more of these.

So, do join us at Simply Create. We'd love to see you there.

Blessings,
Erica

A Few Thanksgivings Cards to load

Hi Stampers. Hope you're having a great Friday. I am feeling a bit rushed and frankly not doing anything on my to-do list. I have a get-together with two of my stamping friends tomorrow. Need to get my projects going.

I am undertaking my first fast for a campaign my church is supporting. I know...before you say why is she blurting this out for the world to see, since the Bible clearly states we are to be very modest when it comes to telling people about undertaking a fast. However, I view this blog as a journal and therefore, I write things in it that are meaningful to me. So I won't go on about it, but it's definitely a part of my day.

I didn't notice many T-Day cards on blogs. Lots of Halloween, but lately, I've been feeling as if Thanksgiving Day gets lost between Halloween and Christmas everywhere I go it seems. I send out about 5 cards total. I enjoy making them and have several holiday stamps. My dear 90 yr. old aunt back east loved this day, as do I. She went all out with food and decorations, as do I, and I will cherish many memories in her home. Now she is spending her first T-Day in a nursing care facility and since she has all her wits about her, I'm sure she is trying her best not to be sad. I hope and pray this card will perk her up a bit. You can see a peek inside of what I have already written. I will pop it in today's evening post (love the word post...very British), and she should have it by Tuesday.

My card uses SU olive green for the base and some scrap for the MS punched mat. I found this lovely scalloped beige lace in WAMA....love it...should have bought two, DUH! The orange paper and green check paper are from DCWV's Amber Autumn fall stack collection last year. I am using every scrap of this pad...love it. I used several different stamps, MS doily shape, Stampendous pumpkins, CTMH sentiment embossed with a copper embossing powder, Did some die cutting with my Nestie. I colored with copics and added a little bling and I am off to post..smile.

So, are you getting your menus together? Do you plan on going to friends/relatives homes? I have my menu planned. There will be 9 of us including little ones. My eldest dd is a fine cook, but couldn't get off from work earlier than Wednes. PM. She will be driving with family into the wee hours of T-Day from CA, so I won't have her to help much. But not to worry, I will be 'cooked out' by Friday AM, and I'll have her making us a fab brunch. Please feel free to share any of your plans in your comments. Even if it is just to relax with a glass of wine and be thankful. That's perfecto in my book too.

Blessings,
Erica

Less Is More Challenge no. 41

Hello Stampers...hope your weekend was a good one.
At Less Is More, the divas have given us lots of inspiration with leaves. I love leaves as much as I do flowers. Often a leaf can be more beautiful than the flower it is with. And I have plenty of leaf stamps. For this card, I reached way back into my stamp days to create a wreath using Rubber Stamp Tapestry Lily Fern Paradise. These are tiny peg stamps that come in sets of leaves and flowers. This set contained several leaf pegs. The idea for this card is from Tami White of Stampin' Up fame.
Tami's tutes are fun and simple to learn. Go check her out. The link takes you directly to her tute page.

I used Rangers Distress ink in pine needles to stamp, with the stamping off technique, and then dotted berries on with a Viva pearl pen. Aren't they nice and shiny? This stuff does not flatten out, unless you crush it. I have several other colors which will see much use during the holidays. The sentiment is from CTMH's Holiday Trinkits (ret.), stamped in Colorbox warm red chalk ink. The card base is SU's whisper white and is an A2 size.

This card could take on many different effects according to the leaf shape stamped, but they do need to be small leaves, unless, of course, you make a larger sized card.

Hope you all enjoy the upcoming week. It's getting close....Christmas...not the opening day for Twilight (smile)!

Blessings,
Erica

Simply Create does Bears

Good morning stampers. At Simply Create we are being challenged to use bears on our cards. I own few bear stamps. I did have a very old SU set..1995...YIKES! It was a gift from a fellow stamper. It's called Button Bears and it was a very good value with 17 stamps. I believe she got it from EBay. The bear is so versatile and today he is all done up for Christmas, but I twisted the colors a bit and followed along with dsp I had from last year. So pink, green, and red are the colors I used. Other supplies are my trustie Nestie to create a frame with Signo white pen dots. I have added a Sizzix Basic Grey snowflake folder. I am loving these folders. The impression seems to be deeper than Cuttlebug folders, and they make many A2 sized ones. I used my newest MS border punch and an old MS snowflake punch with a white "pebble" in the middle. Nesties circles for the sentiment. I did all the coloring with Copics. The card base is 5 1/4 x 5 1/4. I think he's a cutey and this from not much of a "bear" girl.

Have a Happy Weekend. I will be prepping for a stamping get-together for a few friends next weekend. That means lots of YouTube vids to check out  for projects.

Blessings,
Erica

No Matter What, Give Thanks

 
No matter what is going on in our lives, we have so much to be thankful for. I continue to reflect on Katie Renz and am at a loss for words today. Everyone in my immediate family knew about Katie. I often spoke of her to my grandson who is her eldest son's age, and to my daughter who is her age, to my SIL to remind him that his wife is a gift, and to my dh to remind him though he is aging and somewhat uncomfortable, he is still here, and we love him.

So, just a card of thanks today using CTMH stamps and a mix of papers and othe stuff.

Hug your loved ones today and be kinder.

Blessings,
Erica

Just a Reflection

Dear Katie Renz passed away Monday morning. I had been subscribing to her blog, My Paper Haven, (see my blog list), well before she announced her cancer. I never missed a post. She was so very brave. So much so that she shared many details during the course of her journey. I needed to hear it, having two close relatives die from cancer, but never being allowed to share in their struggle. Yes, I say that, because I don't believe we should leave out our loved ones when it comes to this issue...such a shallow word. My feeling is that we need to know, we need to be involved. I so appreciate what Katie did for me. I am sure I will ramble if I go on, as it's late.

Rest in peace Katie and may your family find the strength to go on, changed, but with the sure knowledge of your love for them.

Blessings,
Erica

November Already

YIKES! I can't believe it's November already. The rest of the year will just fly in a whirlwind now.

News on the homefront...finally got my fruit trees...one each lemon, grapefruit and orange. It will be three years before they will bear, but I am patient and God is good.

I had one last card to share made with freebie paper from Gina K. Aren't they fun patterns? No deets, gotta get to my "to do list", now that I played on the I-net for the last 3 hours.

Blessings,
Erica

Simply Create Challenge no. 55

Good evening stampers. Super busy today as I am getting ready for Thanksgiving. I'll be having family in from out of state, so it will be fun but lots of work. My dd is great at chatting away the day...and night, but of little help on the mundane side...feeding a passel of folk and organizing the day to give them something to do. It will be work, but it will be fun too.

Now for my card. Simply Create is having its 55th challenge. Trish, our leader has asked us to be conventional and use pumpkins. But we have a sponsor, Jellypark, who graciously supplied us with this adorable little boy in a pumpkin costume. Isn't this a fun digi? I am just beginning to try to work with digi stamps. My dd taught me how to use Microsoft to re-size them. I don't think that is the program most people use, but it worked for me. The papers are from DCWV's Autumn Amber Collection, except the base which is SU's riding hood red. I colored with copics. Other items used are an MS border punch, Nestabilities die, bakers twine, button ,gems, and a black felt butterfly which was in a goodie package from a fellow SC Design team member....thanks Janet.

Well, I'm gonna try to get a few T-Day cards done and treat bags made before I abandon all card-making other than Christmas projects.

Happy stamping for the weekend.
Blessings,
Erica

Happy Monday stampers. It is finally slowly cooling in Arizona. On my busy weekend, my grandson and I planted our very small vegatable garden. I haven't gardened since I moved in with my dd,sil and grands 2 1/2 yrs. ago. This time, I am trying container gardening. We put root veggies in which are appropriate for this time of year, cilantro, and pansies. Did you know you can decorate foods with pansies and actually eat them? I'll let you know if we get enough for a nibble. Gardening can be so fun.
We will see how things develop.

On to my card. This all-white anniversary card was supposed to be much simpler so I could enter it into LIM's challenge, but it got away from me and now it's lots of Nestie layers. There are some embossed polka dots on both the hearts (die cut with the CB. I doubt that the divas will accept this, so it's just for my stash and enjoyment. I high-lighted around the hearts with a Sakura sparkly pen.

So thanks for looking. Gonna work on a Mojo Monday card. I have just the image for it and I can use it for my DT submission at Simply Create.

Blessings,
Erica

Less Is More Challenge no. 38

Good Morning Stampers. I feel like playing with Less Is More, challenge no. 38. It's all about polka dots. As a little girl I had a favorite dress in navy blue with white polka dots that I loved to wear. I cried when I grew out of it. Since then, my polka dots have been more subdued in the form of an occasional blouse. Uh, an entire dress would no longer work on this 60ish frame I inhabit. So what a great way to have fun with polka dots by using them on cards. In fact, I own a BG polka dot stamp, and three embossing folders of various sizes of dots. I sure do love 'em.

This is a top folded A2 card. The beautiful big flower is from Hero Arts, and is called Tall Flower...simple enough huh? I also stamped the flower on a piece of scrap maize cs, and dry embossed with one of the polka dot CB folders. Then I cut the largest blossom and mounted it with pop dots. Hmm, do pop dots count as polka dots? The sentiment is from a Hero Arts clear set called All Occasions. It's my "go to" set when I need an all on one line sentiment. I colored with Copics after stamping the flower in Memento tuxedo black. The sentiment is stamped using an ancient stamp pad from Personal Stamp Exchange in Bubble Gum. Thank goodness I had the sense to buy a refill for it long before I knew I was to be addicted to stamping.

Blessings, Erica

More Free Paper from Gina K

Well hi stampers. The weekend is half done. My day was fun and busy. After a great family breakfast, I made three cards for you to see...one at a time though. Here, I've put to good use another Gina K freebie dsp. Isn't this pattern interesting? It speaks masculine doesn't it? Once again, I used the SU sentiment from Perfectly Penned. The image is a dollar Michaels Studio G stamp. I spend quite a bit of time in the dollar stamp bin sorting through to get the best ones. I saw this one once, grabbed it and never saw a duplicate again. I just love using it. Not much else to say about this card.

In the afternoon I went to Ikea with my dh. Since I made the difficult choice not to buy an IPad 2, I decided to finish installing...that is, my SIL will be doing that part....the wall cabinets in my craft room. A lack of funds left me with a most unfinished look. I still have to purchase the bottom drawers to go under the counters and it will cost me a small fortune. I thought I had my room well thought out. Alas, the money wasn't as well thought out as the plans.

Ah well, I shall stamp away the weekend and be comforted.

Blessings,
Erica

Free Paper from Gina K

Hi Stampers. How is the end of the week treating you? I had a run-around day and it ended with me doing my best not to buy myself an IPad 2. I just happen to have some $$$ burning a hole in my pocket.

I subscribe to Susan's blog, Simplicity. She links to a blog called Miss Minimalist. I ordered Miss M's (aka, Francine Jay) book, the joy of less...yup, even the title is less as it uses lower case letters for the title. I'm head over heels devouring this book. I want to begin to live a minimalist life in every sense of the term. I need to begin somewhere. Why not with electronics. I already own an Iphone 4 (bless your life Steve Jobs). Apple provides upgrades every month or so. I absolutely love this piece of technology, still marveling at its very existence. I am asking myself, isn't this enough? Miss M writes about duplicates. Isn't an IPad a duplicate of an IPhone? No, not in every sense of the word, but surely near enough. So this will be my first big personal battle in learning to be a minimalist. I will be writing about this subject periodically here.

My card today is minimalist, more commonly known as clean and simple. Gina K is offering a lovely set of four black and white designer papers. You gotta have these. I am not a big fan of digi papers. I want to see my paper in person and feel it. But I thought I'd give these freebies a try. Love 'em and if you check Stamp TV, there is a video on how to "alter" them with color for an entirely different look. See my righthand sidebar for a link to Stamp TV. I'll be showing you how I used each design to make a card. The other items used include Nestibilities dies...same die for two mats with the position reversed...good idea, huh? That is a very ancient stamp of the world globes. My sentiment is from CTMH, stamped in Palette Noir Black...decided to give the Memento tuxedo black a break since no coloring was done on the image. Card base is standard A2. Get ready for another minimalist card tomorrow.

Blessings,
Erica

Betcha Can't Guess what this is for real!

Hi Stampers. I have a friend who is quite the artist and absolutely enamoured of all things Halloween. It was her turn to host our monthly stamping get-together for October, and along with her co-hort, they put on quite a show. The theme was food and the menu was indeed ghoulish. Here is the "brain-food." This was sooo authentic-looking, that one of our group couldn't even eat it. Actually, the recipe called for Jello, cream cheese, shredded carrots and a bit of food coloring. And a mold was used for the uhh, fun shape.

Do you serve Halloween foods....other than the traditional stuff?

Blessings,
Erica

No Witty Title, Just Him

Hi Stampers. Sometimes witty titles don't come forth from this tired brain. But I did have sufficient energy to make this card. It started out as my Design Team member entry to the Simply Create challenge going on here.  I didn't think it measured up to my standards and I made different one which was lovely, but,I missed the team deadline. So now my cards will be entered with all the entries. This is a ready-made card base from a Paper Studio box of cards. You can see the inside is white. These cards can't be beat if you're in a super hurry. I added CB die cut corners and Nestie frame dies. The MS butterfly is punched 3 x, glued together and mounted so that it 'pops' off the card. The sentiment and flowers are part of an older set from Our Daily Bread Designs. They design some of the most beautiful verses and accompanying images. I colored with Copics.

Hope your week is starting out beautifully for you.

Blessings,
Erica

Simply Create Challenge #54, Shades of Black

Good Evening Stampers. I worked on this card for a long time....too long unfortunately, and I didn't get it up for our challenge this week. Our fearless leader made some changes to our submission calendar meant to help the design team and I put them on the back burner and, well, the best laid plans of (wo)man! But it doesn't mean my blog readers can't have a looksie. I must say photographing black and white is agonizing. I can see why I totally need to purchase and learn all about, a light tent. It is not on my wish list, BUT, if I'm gonna show-off my cards, maybe I'd better find a way, because justice is not being served in this photo.

So, my card base is 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 Gina K Gina K Designs. heavy weight cs. It is matted with a black cs 5 x 5 piece on which I did diagonal scoring with my Martha Stewart scoreboard. Then I used my new Cheery Lynn Designs doily die in SU gray cs and exotic butterfly die on a scrap of white using my CB to cut it out. Circle diecuts were made with Nestabilities. The sentiment from Gina Ks Fanciful Tags is punched using a partial portion of an EK Success label punch, a little trick I learned on-line. The border on scrap white is Cuttlebugs' Fancy borders. I've added a gray satin bow made with my Bow Easy, a stickpin from CTMH, (already made up for you) and pearls from my stash. The crochet white flower and the center antique brad are from SU.

This card belongs in the fussy card category, but it was worth it, I think.

Have a Happy Weekend. Don't forget to check-out Less Is More early tomorrow for another challenge.

Blessings, Erica

A Trio of Christmas cards

Hi Stampers, I've been putting off making Christmas cards. It's not like I don't have plenty of material to use. It's more like if I wait until November, like I did last year, they won't get made. As I grow older...mature, I have fewer people to send to. Most of my friends are still alive, but have chosen to send out those rather one size fits all newsletters telling me all about what every grand-child is up to, the cruises they went on, etc., I'm not gonna lie and tell you I like this sort of communication. Quite the contrary. I'd much rather receive a beautiful card simply wishing me a Merry Christmas and/or A Happy New Year. Yep, that's really all I want. And if I do want more, I'll call them after  the holidays...just being honest here.
So, I kept to my word of what I wanted and I made a trio that fit the bill. I kept them simple. I do not enjoy making the same card repeatedly, so though the sketch can be the same, little else is.
I was inspired by new stuff I ordered from Gina K. First time I've given her company a go and I'm happy with my stuff. They ran a special for World Card Making Day last week. Instead of contributing a card, I was happily bargain hunting on-line.
Two of the three cards use dsp from a BasicGrey "Jovial" 6x6 pad, (available at Gina K.) The stamps are from Gina K's Fanciful Tags. You get three borders that fit the Nestibilities Fancy Tag Dies and  oodles of sentiments. Can one ever have enough sentiments?..you need different fonts and sizes and directions, etc., which reminds me, if you haven't heard, Joanna Munster just posted about her brand new store with stamps galore. She has a design team search open too. Might just give that a try myself. I love her work. Check out her store and leave some good wishes.

Hope you have a great week. Get those holiday cards going.

Blessings,
Erica

2nd Submission to Simply Create

Hi Stampers and Happy Monday. Here's the second box I made while in my boxy mood. This is another template I have had for some time and there's a video tute Top Note Box tutorial, on YouTube for it . I've had the ribbed felt flowers forever and the tiny maple leaf punch and the Nesties dies I used are not new. Note, I subbed my Nesties for the SU Top Note Sizzix die. I wanted a smaller top and bottom. And the Nestie has various shapes with just the one I wanted. The paper is SU. I used Crystal.Effects on the leaf, but it is missing that 'something', so it kinda' just is. I have to work on that. I punched a sort of 'opening' with an oval punch.
This is the same scripture I used on the weekend from Dee's here .

More Than six Months

Hi Stampers...I have been totally wrapped up in a busy weekend and my project is up for  Simply Create, but I haven't posted the accompanying post. I'm very sorry about that.
So, over there  where life is a lot more simpler than it is in my neck of the woods, we can use anything we have that you have had for more than six months. I've been stamping for 7 or so years, and I hardly ever throw anything away and rarely give anything away either.

I am in a boxy mood. I'm trying several different sorts of packaging so I can figure out what's best to give away some small goodies in for the T-Day holidays. This is fom a template that was a freebie on Lauren Meader's  My Time, My Creations, My Stampendence blog.  Lauren is one busy woman. In addition to many family responsibilities, she designs templates and dsp every single month specializing in packaging.  I love her stuff and am a frequent buyer. This cute little crayon-style box was one of her first. I don't know if it's still available. All of the items used on the box, with the exception of the scripture, are quite a bit older than six months...some retired. The scripture is from Dee here. Yet another designer who is kind enough to share her talent. Her forte is a scripture each Tuesday free to her readers. See, you don't always need dollars to hone your stamping skills.

Off to continue my busy week. I was given some fresh organic beets and I found a salad recipe in the Food Network October magazine...this is one of the few food-related magazines that's less than $5.00, on the newstand. Love the price and the magazine. Have a great weekend.

Blessings,
Erica

DSP Makes the Card

Hi Stampers. Well, I'm rested from my LIM Blitz. I have done some fiction reading. I seem to be on a vampire binge and after reading several True Blood novels, I'm on to Laurel K. Hamilton series. I've caught up on Bible study homework, and baked a couple of quick breads (zucchini pineapple), for the family. I slipped in this card yesterday, cause I just had to make something.

Sometimes dsp can just about make the card. Though I have labeled myself as a clean and simple stamper, I believe you can use dsp and still make the card, well, C&S. I think achieved that with dsp from DCWV's Mariposa matstack. I added some SU lace, a button, a bit of twine and a lacy circle die from Nestie. The base is white. The sentiment is from SU's sorta' new Whimsical Words. It is stamped in Memento london fog.

Now for a bit of personal but good news. I try not to complain about finances for several reasons. Of course, the main one is that I know God is the Great Provider. I confess that it gets the better of me when faced with challenges. The "plan" my husband and I had for ourselves, was like that of most retirees who have worked and have pensions and social security coming. The dh has been getting his for more than a decade and we lived off it, but I was looking forward to mine. So, I turned 62 in July and applied for everything. Because of some unwise choices I made, my pension was two thirds of what I expected. This wouldn't have been an issue except that I can no longer take care of my dh on my own. For my health and sanity, I had to hire some nursing assistance for a few hours a day. Poof, there went the plans. Well, God is so good. No, I didn't win the lottery. I just worked the budget is all. Made some changes to our lifestyle, and was blessed my my youngest dd, whose family we moved in with and it looks like we can do this comfortably. Yes, I will have to curtail spending on stamping toys, but I can't kid myself, I have a boatload of stuff already. We all know it's the nature of the beast to want more. I just have a good feeling about the rest of my life in comparison to two months ago and I know I'm so blessed. Praise God!

Blessings to You Readers
Erica