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