Off we go again!

I'm telling you, this traveling is getting tiring!  We're heading out to see Dave's family this weekend.  Should be fun, though, unless Isaac washes out all the fun!  Bryan and Erin are coming, too.  Almost everyone will be there - they always get together over Memorial Day and Labor Day.  I hate traveling over those two holidays, but hopefully we'll get gone before everyone else gets on the road.

My card-making mojo still hasn't returned, so I guess maybe it's a good thing that I'm taking a little break.  I tried really hard to do some stamping today, but nothing worked the way I wanted it to!  I tried to do some watercoloring on cards and that looks very amateurish, so I'm not very happy with it.  I guess I'll just wait until Tuesday now!  I think Dave is going to work a couple of days next week, which means I won't get interrupted while I'm trying to "create".  Perhaps that's the main problem!

It's still hotter in SE Iowa than it is in Florida.  Today it was in the 90's here and only in the 80's there.  I know that's going to change dramatically pretty soon, but it's been this way pretty much all summer!

More later...

Brain Block!

I'm having brain block today.  Usually I've got an idea of what cards I'd like to see us do for our next stamping class...but not this time.  I just can't come up with any ideas.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better!  I need to get my mojo going again!

Dave was home a bunch today.  It was so hot and muggy out!  He worked on the brush pile behind our house and the neighbor's house.  He got it all loaded and tarped.  Tomorrow morning he's going to go unload it.  He said he just got too hot outside today!  I was sitting around this afternoon wanting to have a tenderloin for supper tonight, when Dave said, "I think I want a tenderloin for supper tonight, what about you?"  I think it's a hoot when we do something like that!!  I guess you must do that after you've lived with someone for 22 years!

I finished another book today.  Have I told you that I LOVE MY KINDLE!!  I know I have!  This one was the first book in the Brides of Culdee Creek series.  It's a series of Christian fiction.  It was a good read, but this morning when I was finishing it, I sat there sobbing!  I've always gotten into a book's characters, even when I was young!  That's the mark of a good book in my eyes!

More later...

A First for Me!

When I gave blood today, I had a first.  I felt "funny" - kind of short of breath and hot - like a prolonged hot flash.  I feel fine now, but I must have gone too fast or something, cause that's the first time I felt weird after giving blood.

I had typing to do today, so I was able to get most of it done this afternoon while I was recuperating from my blood donation.  I did get into my studio a bit this morning.  I sorted out some more old cardstock to put into my garage sale.  I've still got a long ways to go to be ready for a sale, but I'll get there!

Tonight I'm going to share some of the cards I made with the new butterfly punch and with the stamp set, Papillion Potpourri.  All of these cards are made with Stampin' Up materials.  On the first one, I used papers in Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum and Old Olive.  Notice the rhinestones...I "dyed" them to match my papers by coloring them with Sharpies.

This card is basically the same as the last card only I used various designer papers and made a card that will fit in a business envelope.

For this last card, I used the Papillion Potpourri stamp set and used Certainly Celery as well as Baja Breeze ink.  I also embossed the Baja Breeze cardstock with the new Chevron embossing folder and punched the butterflies out with our new punch.  The pears are colored with Sharpies!

I really, really like these products.  You'll probably see more butterflies in the days to come!

On a somber note, today would have been my mother's 101st birthday.  I thought about her today a little more than normal.  I sure do miss her!!  More later...

Good Monday!

Mondays aren't so bad any more - since I retired!!  I take my time getting up and around most Mondays.  I have Bible Reading Time at 10:30, so I can eat my breakfast and read the paper leisurely before I have to get around.  Today there were 9 of us at BRT - we didn't get chapter 2 finished, but we made it down to verse 22!!  Pretty good progress for us.  Chapter 2 of the book of John tells of the miracles/signs that Jesus did during his ministry - like turning the water into wine.  Very interesting discussion today!

I worked most of the day in my studio and actually got my Stampin' Up paper organized.  All of my current papers are in folders and filed alphabetically.  I even typed labels for the file folders!!  Speaking of stamping, I need to show you some cards that I made over the weekend.  They are so cute in person!!  The pictures don't really do them justice, but they're as good as I can get!

I told you we went to Ethan's birthday party on Sunday and this is the card I made for him.  It's made from Designs with a View papers that I had in my box of miscellaneous papers.  You can't really tell, but all of the cross-hatching is glittery.  I thought cupcakes were the way to go for the little guy.  I put his gift card inside it with just a very simple note of encouragement!

I think I also told you that our neighbors had twins about a month early.  They've now gotten to come home. So I made these little onesie cards for them.  These papers are not Stampin' Up.  Again, they are just made from papers I found while I was organizing my cardstock.  The bow and the trim around the sleeves, neck, and legs are all from SU.  The bow is made from white ribbon that I used Pink Pirouette marker on to make it pink!  The front buttons are from my mom's button box and the 3 buttons at the bottom are pearl buttons from Muscatine from Aunt Helen's button box.  I used a pink Sharpie on all of the buttons to make them a pale pink!  Fun!!  Dave thinks the little girl's name is Kaylee.

This is the one I made for the little boy, whose name escapes Dave.  I used blue card stock for the base and some designer paper (just from my stash) to make it look striped.  I put a little pocket on it and used buttons from Mom's button box.  Cute!    

We put both of these cards into a larger envelope along with a gift card from Target.  I hope they like them!! I had a blast making them.  I got the pattern from a lady on the internet...sorry, I forgot to make note of her name!

More later...

Busy day!

This morning when we woke up, it was still raining - hallelujah!  We went to church and didn't even get the umbrella out - just wanted to walk into church in the rain!  It'd been so long since we'd had a good rain!  We only got half an inch, but some friends over near Ollie got 5.2"  so it was spotty, but we're not complaining.  Every drop of rain we can get is appreciated!!

After church we had Sundae Sunday downstairs in the Fellowship Hall.  The Deacons served ice cream sundaes for a free will offering.  The ice cream was from Grahams and was wonderful!!  About 11:30 we took off for Des Moines for a 1st birthday party for little Ethan.  When Ethan was born a year ago, he wasn't expected to live and here he is at 1 year old!  He's still got many, many problems, but at least he's beat the odds for life expectancy.  Every day is a miracle.

No we're just hanging out - I couldn't sleep last night.  In fact, I was still awake at 3:45 AM so I'm really, really tired.  I sure hope I can sleep tonight!  More later...

Little raindrops!

Raindrops were fallin' on my head!  Dave and I went to WalMart to get a couple of gift cards (which we forgot and had to stop at Target on the way home to get some there!!).  It rained a bit before we went and then drizzled on us on our way out of Wally World!  As we turned onto Hwy 34, I remembered that we forgot the gift cards and Dave said he wasn't going back there...we could get them at Target because it was on our way home!!  What a hoot!  While we were in line to check out, Dave was thinking about the lady in front of us who had one cart heaping full - $348+!!  I was thinking about the beautiful blonde girl who was running the cash register.  If she would have smiled, I'm sure her face would have broken!  She didn't even acknowledge us until Dave's credit card wouldn't go through and she had to ask for it so she could scan it on her side of the register.  She definitely wasn't having fun on a Saturday evening working!!  Poor girl!!!  If she'd talk to people and enjoy her job, her hours would go way faster!!  Just saying!

I did get some of my cards uploaded today, plus I've just about got the cards for the new twins next door done...and I need a 1 year birthday card for tomorrow.  I'm blogging early so I can go finish them!!

Here are the 3 cards we did at class on Thursday.   I demo'd the first two and Juliene did the last one.  All products are Stampin' Up, of course!  I love this fall leaf card.  It has lots of color and lots of texture, AND it was fun to make!

 The Christmas card this time was super simple and yet very striking!

This card is the one that everyone struggled with, and I can't figure out why.  It looks so simple to me, but they really had trouble with it.

This is the card we made at stamp club on Friday.  Jan demo'd the use of hexagons because she had purchased some new dies that cut that shape!

She cut her hexagons out of maps and also used dies to cut both the car and the sentiment.  The designer paper at the bottom of the card is "the yellow brick road"!  (That's what she called it!!)  Fun card.  I also worked on another one using the quilt pattern of Grandma's Flower Garden, but I'm not done with it yet, so I'll post it when I finish it!!

More later...

Friday Ponderings

I was busy today!  I was sleeping so soundly this morning, when my husband so rudely woke me with breakfast!!!  I just wanted to sleep some more!  I got up though!  This morning I had stamping club at the church.  There were actually 7 of us today!  Made a couple of cute cards.  I'll try to get them uploaded tomorrow while Dave's gone to Habitat!  I've got about 10 to upload!

I went downtown to the Lucky Rooster and picked up lunch for Dave and me.  Good food!  On Fridays they have free sides, so that's when I like to go.  I really like their broccoli-bacon salad and their potato salad isn't too bad either!  Dave worked outside in our yard most of the day.  He's finally got all of the mulch replaced in all of the garden areas.  He goes out, sits on his little wheeled seat and pulls weeds, etc.  He's such a good guy!  The yard looks beautiful - except for the brown grass!

This afternoon, I went to Dr. Allison to have my eyes checked.  I needed a bit of a correction in my prescription, so I decided to get new glasses, too.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any Easy Clips (with the sunglass clip) that my trifocals would work in.  So, I got a pair of glasses that are different for me and I'll get prescription lenses put into the frames I have now.  It's not quite as convenient, but it should work out fine.

When I returned home, my eyes were still dilated for much of the evening, so I didn't do much!  I did, however, get my card supplies put away so that I can start on the next set of cards!  Next class isn't until September 13th, so I've got a little time.

More later...

Hot, Hot, Hot...Again!!

We're back in the sauna tonight!  It's still 82 degrees with virtually no air movement.  I was dripping just loading my car after class tonight!  Speaking of class, we ended up with 13 or 14 people.  I'm not sure which.  I know that the card I thought would take a long time ended up being one that didn't take a long time!  The ones that were simple took longer - go figure!

Today I started a clean sweep of some of the paper that I no longer use in my studio.  I took about 200 sheets to class tonight and sold several.  Unfortunately I've still got a bunch left...I'm afraid we're going to have a garage sale in September - yuck!  I hate getting ready for a garage sale!  Marking everything is so tedious!

Tomorrow I have a very busy day.  I have Stamp Club in the morning and then I go see Dr. Allison in the afternoon!  Dr. A is my cousin, Steve's, daughter, Jessica.  She's an eye doctor, so I decided to switch to her.  She's fresh out of school!

More later...

I fibbed!

I guess maybe I didn't really fib, I just had high hopes dashed.  I turned the a/c back on today!  It was up to 94 at one time here and I gave in!  It's funny - as soon as I turned on the air and closed up the house, my sneezes went away!  Guess maybe a/c is a good thing when you have allergies!  Tomorrow is to be in the 90's again - I'm not looking forward to that!

I saw the funniest thing today...I check the bird feeder several times a day because squirrels like to get up there and eat all of the sunflower seeds.  Well, today there were two squirrels on the feeder at one time.  I scared the first one away immediately but the second one couldn't figure out how to get down.  He/she finally jumped and I'm sure he/she could have qualified for the Olympics in the long jump!!!  He/she covered about 25 feet in one single jump!!  Another funny thing I saw today was a cardinal male with all of his head feathers gone.  He looked like he had a vulture head with a cardinal body!!!  My life is so exciting!

Tomorrow I've got to finish packing for our stamping class tomorrow evening.  We've got 16 pre-registered.  Should be fun!!

More later...

Perfect day today!

We are still in a holding pattern with Dave's dad.  He seems to feel better, but he's convinced he has cancer in his intestines.  Of course, we don't know that he doesn't, but I think that's what the colon screenings and subsequent surgery were for.  Anyway, keep him in your prayers.  We're trusting the doctors to know what is best.  

It was absolutely gorgeous here today.  I've had the a/c off for several days now...and I'm hoping I don't have to turn it back on this year.  It ran waaaaayyyy too much this summer!!  

I got my Stampin' Up order today so I was able to make my second card sample.  Tomorrow I'll get things cut out and organized and then I'll be ready to go on Thursday night.

More later...

Family!

Today we had to attend a funeral for a church friend (and an ISU friend).  His daughter, who happens to be a minister, spoke about the things her dad had taught her and her sister.  It was a wonderful service, full of love.  Our church was pretty much full - he was a special man!  RIP, Al Seim!

I'm glad I chose this day to share family with you.  My father-in-law is in a hospital in Indiana with some post-op problems.  He had a colon re-section a week and a half ago and is in a lot of pain.  His fever is gone this evening, so we're hoping everything is going to be okay.  Keep him in your prayers, if you would.

I told you last night that I would share pictures of my family with you tonight.  So, here goes!

This is my brother and his wife...Bob & Ann.

These are my brother's three daughters.  Vicki (the youngest), Linda (the oldest) and Rhonda (the middle child).  I didn't get any pictures of Linda and her family, because it was their son who got married this weekend.  I guess I'll probably get a family picture from the professional photographer.

This is Rhonda and her family - daughter, Cheyenne, and husband, Steve.

 Vicki's family consists of her, her daughter, Allison, and her husband Al.

Bob and his girls!....Kyle was a little busy inside so we're missing Kyle in this picture.  Kaylee (the bridesmaid in the green dress) is Linda's daughter.

To finish it up, here's a picture of Bob and his daughters.  They're lovely young women and I love them very much.  I'm also very proud of them, as you can tell.

That's it for tonight.  More later...

Another wedding is over!

We got Kyle and Cassie married on Saturday.  What a long day that was!  If you were a member of the wedding party, the day started at 7:30 with hair and nail appointments.  Picture sessions started at 9:00 AM with the wedding scheduled for 1:00 and reception starting at 3:00.  Then dinner at 5:30 and dance at 8:00-11:00!  Weddings now-a-days are all day affairs!!

So, here are Kyle and Cassie after the ceremony!!

This is just a picture of the wonderful church where they were married.  It is in Gilbertville, Iowa...who knew!?  It was just gorgeous!

After the ceremony, all of the wedding party boarded this party bus and went bar hopping for about 3-3 1/2 hours while we were at the reception waiting for their arrival!!

One of the first things they did when they arrived at the reception was to cut the cake.  Ooops, maybe not!  It was a fake cake!!  In fact, Kyle's best man and his wife had used the same fake cake at their wedding!!  Fooled me - I took 6 pictures of it and thought it was just beautiful!!

This morning, after we'd all helped clean up the reception center, we went to Linda & Al's for brunch/lunch and present opening.  Both K & C like to fish, so this is one of their gifts!  They're going on their honeymoon in a couple of weeks, but for now they're just going to take care of legal business and go back to work!  

It was really a beautiful and fun wedding!  This week we recuperate from a lack of sleep and get back to normal.  Tomorrow I'll share pix of my family!!  More later...

It's chilly!

We had .9 of an inch of rain last night - hip, hip, hooray!  It's been a long time coming!  Evidently a cold front went through because right now I'm actually chilly.  We've still got all the windows and doors open, but the night air is a bit nippy!  I think I'm going to have to close the window beside me!

This weekend is Kyle's wedding.  I sure hope it's a fun wedding and that I don't blubber all the way through it!  It's hard to believe that Kyle is old enough to get married, cause I still see him as a little Ninja Turtle (his favorite character when he was 2!!)  Again I won't be taking my computer, so there won't be any blog posts until probably Sunday night.

Enjoy this wonderful change in temps!!  More later...

Gorgeous Day!

The air conditioner is still off!!  I'm thinking about turning it on to sleep, though.  It's not that it's so hot in here, but I'm having allergy issues and I know the a/c would help that!  I'm going to take an allergy pill and then it'll be good night, Gracie, for me!!!

We had Mr. Fix-Its in our two bathrooms today.  One of the guys was repairing grout and sealing it in our master bathroom while the other guy was working on the walls of the guest bathroom.  It's nice to get all of that done and poor Dave didn't have to do it himself.  So, while those guys were here, Dave was outside cleaning up the perennial beds around the house and putting down new mulch.  When he mulches in the spring, some of the flowers don't come up (I think they're allergic to the mulch!).  So, he decided to try it now instead.  We'll see how that works!

Tonight we went to the Recovery Room for tenderloins and then we went to Craig & Sue's.  It's Craig's 60th birthday, so we had to go welcome him to the club!

More later...

Ooops!

I'm sorry - I guess I forgot to blog last night!  Dave was in Des Moines and I stayed up until almost 1:00 AM just so I'd be sleepy.  I don't know how I forgot to blog!  Must be a brain fart!  Sorry!

I even had a picture or two that I wanted to share.  While I was on my computer yesterday afternoon, I looked out my window and this is what I saw!

 I sneaked out the front door and took a couple more pictures.  I even did a little noise so they'd look at me.

 The little buck seemed the most interested.  The does just kept on eating!  Look at his fuzzy antlers!

Today out my window, I had lots of hummingbirds, squirrels, a cardinal that keep clicking, but no more deer.  I had the windows all open today.  In fact, they're still open.  Just giving the A/C a rest after a long, long hot summer!!  Back in the 90's tomorrow, but for tonight we're going to enjoy God's air!!

Dave got home about 2:30 this afternoon and we both fell asleep in our chairs for a bit.  I had a sorority meeting at 6:00, so I left about 5:45 and just got home about half an hour ago.  Tomorrow is an easy day.  It's also our friend Craig's 60th birthday!  Poor baby!!

More later...

Home again for a while!

What a wonderful weekend we had, but it's sure good to be home again for a while!  We went to DSM to the State Fair on Friday, along with about 100,000+ of our best friends!  There were so many people at the Fair that it wasn't very much fun...every place you went was crowded...even the Grand Concourse.  When we got to SE Polk, where we usually park, cars were parked on the grass even - we've NEVER seen that many cars at the school.  The line waiting for the buses was 200 people long!  So we decided we'd pay for parking and get a little closer to the grounds.  We started into town and there was a wreck so it took us about 5 stoplights before we got past it.  Then by the time we got to the place we like to park (by the northwest gate), they were pretty full, but they found a place for us.  They used to charge $5, then a couple of years ago they were charging $10.  Not this year - they charged us $15!  From now on, we'll park at SE Polk and wait!!!  It was a gorgeous day for fair-going...it wasn't too hot.  The chocolate moose was scrumptious looking.  The 4H exhibits were wonderful...the photography was exceptional both in the 4H building and in the Cultural Center.  We saw the butter cow and Snow White's dwarfs from the upper level!  The Varied Industries building was so crowded you couldn't even get into the bathrooms!!  The lemon shakeups in the Pioneer Hall were wonderful as usual and the ride down the hill on the glider was restful and quiet!  Saw some old friends - Cindy Adam and Dean & Marcia Holst.  Of course, we saw Reggie the big boar, the big buck sheep, and the big bull.  A very successful trip!!

We got to Ames in time for supper and our plan was to go to Hickory Park.  However, we were still too full from lunch, so we went to Taco Time instead.  Taco Time is my favorite fast food joint in Ames!  Then we went shopping!!  Saturday morning we went to Story City to the outlet mall...another successful trip.  We even found some kringla at Harlan's Food Market!!  After a light lunch there was time for a short nap before we got ready to go to Gilbert for THE wedding.  I have to say, it was the coolest wedding I've ever been too.  It was such a relaxed wedding!  The bride and groom had written their own vows and the minister had known Tyler for his entire life!  Amanda's colors were gray and yellow.  Her attendants all wore beautiful gray dressy dresses and held yellow daisies and other flowers.  Her gown was gorgeous...no veil, just a cute little headpiece.  The males didn't wear jackets - just gray pants, white shirts and yellow ties.  Even Tyler didn't wear a jacket...just a gray vest.  She gave herself away and they had about 15 little kids give the bride & groom daisies in honor of loved ones who couldn't be there (most had passed on).  It was really cool!  The reception was at a winery about 5 miles from Gilbert.  The wedding party rode to the reception on a hay rack covered with white cloths and yellow bouquets, pulled by Joel on one of his antique tractors.  There were activities for old and young alike outside, with a bar and dinner inside.  Instead of a wedding cake, they served pie and homemade ice cream, cranked by the pto of another antique tractor.  FUN!  The first dance was outside on the grass, in front of the vinyards!

This evening, we ended our weekend by attending evening services at First Presbyterian.  Great weekend.  God is good!!  More later...

Cool air!

Dave came home from church this afternoon, declaring that he was cold!!  He had ridden his Ruckus to church and when he came home, there was a north wind blowing and a little bit of mist in the air.  I cracked up and wondered if he was going to get his long undies out now that he was cold!!!  He's such a wuss!

He's been working in the garage cleaning up his truck.  I've been working in the house trying to get organized.  My desk is a mess again...or I should say, was a mess!  It looks pretty good this evening.  I have most of it "dealt with."  I made some cards today, so my work surface upstairs is a mess still!  It's just going to have to wait until we get back.  We're going to the State Fair tomorrow and then up to Ames for a Saturday afternoon wedding and evening  reception.  Should be fun.

I did get some cards uploaded to show you.  These are from our class on Tuesday night.  Everything on these cards is from Stampin' Up!

I caught a little grief about this one...because everyone thought this was cardinal and gold.  In reality, it is Daffodil Delight stamped with Summer Starfruit, then Raspberry Ripple and Whisper White layers are put on top.  Someone in class said something about the fact that we always use blues in our cards, so I wanted to change that!

Juliene demo'd this one.  It's got Gumball Green, Cajun Craze and Pumpkin Pie - we thought we should show some fall colors!

This was her Christmas card.  Yes, it's blue!  Actually it's called Midnight Muse and it's one of our new In Colors for 2013-14.  Love it!

We're watching the Olympics again tonight.  I'm getting a little tired of diving  - just like I got tired of the swimming events.  I watched team synchronized gymnastics today - they were fantastic.  And, of course, I loved the women's volleyball and the races on the track!  Go USA!!

I probably won't take my computer with me this weekend, so I won't be blogging until we get home.  More later...

Some rain!!

Yay!  We actually got .3 of an inch of rain today!!  That was a nice surprise.  I don't know if it was enough to bring our yards back to green, but it certainly didn't hurt!  Even this evening, we had some thunder and a promise...but just a few sprinkles.  I guess Des Moines had flooded streets, so maybe the clouds rained themselves out before they got here.

I had a luncheon today for a lady who will be initiated in our PEO chapter next week.  We were able to answer a bunch of her questions, plus we had a good lunch!  Then this afternoon I had Stampin' Up orders to deliver AND a massage!!  Tonight I'm just hanging out watching the Olympics.  We got to watch Misty and Kerri win the gold in Beach Volleyball - a 3-Peat for them!!  I hate to think that we won't get to see them play together any more, but Misty says she's done playing.  Sad!

More later...

Bummer

This was a bummer of a day for my Olympic favorites.  Poor Lolo Jones.  I wanted her to medal so badly - she got 4th.  Then Gabby fell off the balance beam - that was a bummer too.  At least the women's volleyball team won, and I didn't hear how the beach volleyball team of Kessey-Ross came out.

Dave and I both got our hair cut today.  I think mine is as short as his is!!  It will grow, though.  With this heat, it really grows fast!

Tonight Juliene and I had a stamping class.  We had 12 people tonight.  Everyone liked the cards we did again!  They're all getting better because we actually got done by 8:00 tonight!!  It took us a while to clean up, though.  I'll try to get pictures in the next day or two.

More later...

Monday Again

I had a good day today...didn't do much, but I still had a good day!  I was doing some exercises this morning, which I usually do before I get out of bed.  I decided to watch the Olympics while I was doing my exercises.  I was sure glad I turned the TV on, because it was time for the women's 100 meter hurdles - Lolo Jones' event.  I got to watch her run - love that event!  She did a great job.  I hope she can medal in the finals.  After I finished my exercises, I got ready for Bible Reading.  I also finished a card that I'm planning to demo at our next class later in August.

BRT was really good.  We missed Mary, though, and her reading from Barkley!  We're ready for the third pericope of Chapter 1 of John.

Since Dave's not working now, we had lunch together in between him working at church.  After he left this afternoon, I worked in my studio getting ready for tomorrow night's class.  Off and on, I watched some of the track events and men's volleyball.  I've got mixed emotions about these Olympics.  I'm going to be sad when they're over because they're fun to watch.  However, I'll be glad when they're over because I NEVER have the TV on during the day usually.  I get far more done when the TV is off!!

Tonight Dave and I watched The Closer.  That's a show I'm really going to miss.  It's a great story with very believable and likable characters!  Next week is the last show of the series.

More later...

Happy Anniversary

...to us!  Twenty-two years ago, Dave and I got married in Davenport.  It was on a Sunday just like today.  We went to church, then to lunch, then back to church to get married.  Sometimes it seems like we've always been married, and then sometimes it's as if we just got married yesterday!  I'm reminded of "Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be."  I sure hope that's true because we've had a wonderful 22 years!

After church this morning, we went to lunch with the Lunch Bunch.  We went to Courtside and FROZE!!  I even stood up on the bench and shut off the register right over us!  Dave went out to the car and got a blanket for Karie and I - it was that cold!!  It took forever to get our food, too...not good when you're freezing!  When we finished we all stood outside in the sun to warm up!  I watched Nascar and the Olympics while Dave took a nap.  We had opened up the house - the outside air was wonderful today!

Then this evening we went to church again...we had a casual service outdoors.  We had a good crowd, sang some good songs, and heard a good message.  It was a beautiful night to sit outside and worship God!

I am going to share a couple more cards with you tonight.  This is a technique called Triple Time stamping.  I demo'd the first one at our class.  It's done in all Baja Breeze and Whisper White.  I used Reason to Smile stamps and the sentiment is from Petite Pairs.  All Stampin' Up!  For another example of this technique, I showed the class that you could make this card using brighter colors and bolder stamps...in this case, I used Betsy's Blossoms in the new In-Colors for 2013-14.  All products are from SU except for the ribbon on this second card.  It's just some ribbon I had in my stash.

This is a fun, easy technique that makes a complicated looking card.  I hope you enjoyed seeing them.

More later...  

Track Time!!

I'm going to have some trouble tomorrow - which track am I going to watch...Nascar or track & field???  Tonight we've been watching the 400, the 400 hurdles, and the 100 - both men & women!  That is really fun!  I'm glad the track events have started...I can only take so much of Michael Phelps.  I know he's really good, but there's something about him that I don't like.  It can't be his cockiness, because I really like Usain Bolt and he's the epitome of cocky!  I just find myself almost gagging when he's on camera.  He says this is his last Olympics, but I'm betting he'll be back in 4 years.  He's only 23 now.  He'll get the urge again, I feel sure!

We had a great day today.  It actually rained a bit...not much, but it's more than we've had for about 2 months.  It would have been nice if it would have rained all day, but at least it cooled down.  It's only 75 here now...most evenings it's been 90 at this time of night.  Thank you, Lord!

Tomorrow's a big day - church in the morning and then church outside tomorrow evening.  Should be a good day!

More later...

Oppressive heat go away!!

Can you believe it's 92 here at 8:30 at night...only 80 in Largo, Florida.  Today was about as sticky as it could possibly be.  I walked over to my neighbors and I was drenched coming back home about 11:30 in the morning!  We actually have a chance for some rain tomorrow and then 80's for a few days!  The dog days of August hit very early, I'd say!

Dave pulled the two shrubs that were on either side of our front door out yesterday.  The house looks so much better without them there.  Now I've got to try to decide what to put in their place.  Probably nothing until we get some rain.  Everything we've planted is struggling this summer.  I may wait and plant in the fall before it freezes.

We had PEO this morning - only 22 of us there today.  I went out afterwards and delivered some of the yearbooks that hadn't been given out yet.  I've still got one to go...she can't come to meetings, but she still deserves her book.  I'll try to get it to her this weekend.

Here are a couple more cards for tonight.   The first one is a make & take from our upline meeting.  It's not quite finished - I need to add a sentiment and maybe some bling.  It's a little bare.  It's made with Gumball Green and Primrose Petals satin ribbon and the Mixed Bunch punch.  The paper is also Primrose Petals...it's a very simple card to do and yet very striking in real life.  It's on a Whisper White card base.  All products are from Stampin' Up!

This card is very attractive.  Juliene made this one for our upline swap.  I have one pretty much like it, but for some reason I scanned hers and not mine!  Oh, well!  We used the tulip border embossing folder on a Very Vanilla cardstock base, then added a Raspberry Ripple label and a VV label on top of it.  We colored the butterflies with a blender pen and Stampin' Up inks.  Even the twine is from Stampin' Up!

I'm crushed tonight.  My Todd & Phil got beat out of the Olympics today.  I told Dave I may not watch any more of it!  They just acted really, really tired today.  (This is my lower lip sticking out - I'm pouting!)  Dave reminded me that Track & Field events started today and I love them, so I guess I'll just suck it up and go back to watching!!  Go USA!

More later...

Oh my!

Exciting Olympic events tonight!  Loved the Beach Volleyball - both men and women!  Swimming events are something else - poor Ryan Lochte!  Men's water polo - wow!  Then there's Gabby Douglas...thru 3 events, she's holding on to the gold.  Even Dave is enjoying the Olympics!

Speaking of Dave, he hired his electrician friends to put up a big spotlight, which lights up the whole front and side of our house.  It is so dark here normally, that I've been worried about someone breaking in while we're gone.  Well now, we're lit up!  It's like daylight out there.  It doesn't appear that it's going to bother the neighbors either.  If anyone complains, it'll be the neighbor on the east side of us.  But he'd better not, because his front light shines in my eyes every night when I'm in bed.

I've got a couple more cards to share with you tonight.  The first one is a Christmas card using products from the new Holiday catalog.  The Holiday Frame embossing folder makes a beautiful card, even without the ribbon and the oval cutout.  I made this card with the Shimmery White cardstock because it's heavier and didn't distort with the embossing folder's pressure.  I fell in love with this card the first time I saw it in the catalog.  All products are from Stampin' Up!

I made this card for our upline swap last Saturday.  The colors are Lucky Limeade and Primrose Petals.  I also used the Fan embossing folder and punched out the butterfly with our new butterfly punch - again all Stampin' Up!!

Hope you enjoyed these cards.  I really, really have fun making them and demonstrating how to make them at our classes!  Now I'm going back to watch the Olympics!  Tomorrow I have PEO so have to get up and get going in the morning!

More later...

Interesting Day

I had an interesting day today.  This afternoon, I went to church to help with the First Presbyterian Food Cupboard (not the right name, but I can't think what the right name is!)  I got there at 2:15 and left about 4:00.  There were about 25 of us volunteers and we were in a half-circle in the fellowship hall.  At 3:00 the "clients" started forming a line downstairs.  I was a personal shopper, along with 5 others of us.  That meant that I went with the "client" and helped them pick out what and how many of each item were available to them, based on their family size.  All of them were very appreciative and very polite.  I enjoyed myself a great deal.  I love to interact with people, so this was right up my alley!  I left at 4:00 because my back was hurting...so instead of going right home, I stopped at the chiropractor's office for an adjustment.  I feel much, much better this evening!

Tonight I'm watching the Olympics.  Misty and Kerri pulled one out today in beach volleyball!  That was scary - first time they've ever lost a set in the Olympics.  But they came back in the 3rd set strong!  I love watching them!

I told you in yesterday's post that I'd share some cards with you tonight.  This first one is a non-traditional Christmas card, done in Bashful Blue and Soft Suede.  We demo'd this one in our card class.  All products are Stampin' Up!  Love that Fancy Fan embossing folder!

This is a card I plan to give to Kyle & Cassie for their wedding.  Again all products are from Stampin' Up!  The paper I used is Shimmery White and Basic Black.  Behind the black scalloped circle is a scalloped circle cut from our Silver Glitter paper.  When I get to Waverly before the wedding, we're going to stamp all of the wedding programs with the "happy I do day" stamp, so I thought this was an appropriate card.  I wish you could see it in person because it's really striking - very sparkly!

Tomorrow is a laid-back day.  Dave has an electrician coming here to do some work, so I'll have to get up and around a little earlier than usual!

More later...