Friday, February 23, 2024

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Hi there everyone, how are you doing this month??? Oh, my how the days are flying by. Yesterday I wrote a check for February 22.....how did this month fly by so fast????

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all. Here are a few cards from the last couple of years. The one above is an old card I made at a card making class.....not sure I have this card anymore, but at least I have a picture of it.
Now this card I still have or at least a copy of the card that I can run off on the printer and color them in. Cute frog hiding in the britches. 
More old cards that I don't have any more but still have the pictures. 
I could make more of these cards because I have a copy of him that I can run off on the printer.
I always liked this die and can make more of these cards anytime, they turned out nice for St Patrick's Day!!!! I have a few more cards in the making but have not taken pictures of them so I can post them on this blog.

Hospice meeting is on March 1st. So, I have 7 days to get some cards put together, guess I am running behind at this point. Think I will have a few more St. Patrick cards, some Easter cards, Birthday cards and Thinking of you.

I feel so behind in everything right now, things I should get done, just sit and don't get done. The dishes can sit in the sink for days and I just keep adding to the heap, then finally I get tired of looking at them and finally do them in phases. After I get done with these dishes and cards, need to sit down and do the taxes for 2023....not one of my favorite jobs. 

Well, that is about it for this blog, not much going on here, just trying to live life and get through each day and the only thing that keeps me going is my faith in Jesus Christ. Been reading Acts a little at a time. Have you ever heard the saying, "Read the book of Acts and get ready?" Yeah, get ready for the second return of Jesus, he is coming again and soon and I can hardly wait!!!! We will be reunited with Jesus and our loved ones...gonna be a great day!!!!

Talk to you all later, maybe something exciting will happen like Spring is just around the corner. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Sunday, February 4, 2024

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi there everyone, Happy Valentine's Day this month to you, better late than never!!! So here are a few cards I made for the Valentine season.

In the top set of cards and second set of cards, these were made last year. The top cards were a print off the internet (I think, sometimes hard to remember because I pick up pictures along the way and from other people.) The second set, bottom two cards were copies from original Valentine cards from the old days. The top two were cards I put together with odds and ends I had in my "Valentine card stash" All these cards ended up going into the collection of Hospice cards last year.
These butterfly cards were made at the Thompson Center. One of the ladies let me use here die, Only made a few of these, so very classy, Maybe one of these days I can borrow this die from her again and make a few more cards like these.
In this picture, this rose die was at the Thompson Center, someone donated it, sure did make a lovely card. I still have about 12 cards left over, the rest went to Hospice.
In this picture, I had ordered on -line from Scrapbook.com a roll of Valentine stickers that look like stamps. I just place them on cardstock and layered glitter glue around each stamp to keep them from falling off. Made quite a few of these and gave them to Hospice.
Now these were fun to make, and I have this die in my personal stash. Except for the butterfly corner punch. The heart was colored in with Distress Ink then covered with the Heart die. Thinking of you added for the verse.
So there you have it, Valentine cards for February. Next month will be St. Patrick cards. I am not usually into to St. Patrick, but guess what, I will have a few cards made up which will be going to Hospice. One of the men in our group gave me a folder with St. Patrick stamps, stamped on paper that I could run off on my printer and color, and make into cards. So that is what I have been doing the last week or so, making St. Patrick cards.

Not a whole lot has happened this past month, I did find out that I won't have to move like I thought I would, whew, such a relief off my shoulders. I just did not know how I was going to manage the move if I had to leave, and I really did not want to leave. So now I have found out I don't have to leave....I just got wrong information. Thank God I got wrong information and got the RIGHT information.

Time to close this blog, you all have a great month, I will, now that I have a load of bricks off my shoulders and now maybe I can enjoy living in my home. Take care and keep looking up, better days are just around the corner.

Cheers ~ Louise

Saturday, December 30, 2023

End of Another Year on to 2024

Hi there everyone! Hard to believe another year has passed us by....where did it go???? Seems like just yesterday it was JUNE!!!

I have not done a lot of blogging this year. Guess if you look at the side panel, this would be my 10th blog for this year 2023. Been a little bit lazy, oh, been making lots of cards, but just plain lazy putting them on this blog. I shall try better in 2024.
Not sure what the new year will bring, none of us do, but it sure is good to know we have Jesus to lean on as we travel through this life's journey following in His footsteps. I feel bad for those that don't have that faith, maybe some, through the storms of life will ask Jesus into their lives. I guess for some it takes longer to hear the message of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified and let it settle in their hearts.

I have been watching the "Chosen" Sunday nights and the "Bible" on the History Channel during the Christmas season. I've also been reading through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John these last couple of months and the miracles and healings that Jesus preformed all go hand in hand. I wonder where I would be, if I lived back then, would I be a believer or an unbeliever??? Jesus said, "Blessed are those who believe and have not seen" They saw and yet they believed not!!! I get so mad at those Pharisees and Sadducees, they were so blinded by the devel. They saw, and still hated Jesus and what he did....they were Sad.u.see!!!!

So today I took a little trip to "Kwik Trip" for some gas and "Pic n Sav" for some UNO pizza from Chicago. I got the cheeseburger flat bread (meh, not so great). Think I will freeze the leftovers and try the cheese pizza tomorrow, hopefully that is better. If not, I shall not waste $$$ (2/$12) on UNO again and just get a local pizza from here in Appleton. Maybe it is better to get UNO straight from UNO in Chicago.

Nothing much is going on in January. I do have a few Dr. appointments. A bone density test on the 4th and another blood pressure check on the 10th. Hopefully the pills are working, and my bones are at the right density. Hopefully no more appointments till April and then the A1C is due. 

Well, time to close here, I don't lead a very exciting life, maybe that is why I don't blog as much. I often wonder how people that Vlog on You Tube can possibly do vlogs every day and not run out of things to vlog about. But there are quite a few people I follow that have lots of content that makes their vlogs interesting. If you ever get a chance, go to "Chateau Diaries" or "Escape to Rural France" or "The Pethericks" or "Sadie from France" or "A Wonderful Life" or "Life of Ryan" to name a few. They are all enjoyable to watch.

Hope you have a great 2024 with lots of blessings!! Cheers to you all ~ Louise

Monday, November 20, 2023

My Birthday Today November 21st!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me today!!! I made it to 77 years old!!! God's perfect number, I hope it will be a perfect year!!!! I added a few birthday cards to this post, a new one and a few old ones. 

Today I will be going to the Thompson Center to make some cards, maybe work on Christmas cards, that is coming round the corner pretty fast. 

Yesterday I went shopping for my Birthday and Thanksgiving dinner. Buying a small turkey breast and a steak for the BIG birthday!!! Hope there is a $5.00 bouquet of flowers to buy also!!!!! 
Looks like there will be rain and snow on my birthday....no surprise....it ALWAYS snows on or before my birthday, good tracking weather for the deer hunters.
OH!! just got a call from a friend, she is taking me out for Chinese food Wednesday for my Birthday oh yummy!!! What a surprise!!
So, this is going to be my Birthday dinner, gosh this looks delish. The date says Dec. 25th, 2017, it was our Christmas Dinner 6 years ago!!! Not too sure my dinner will look like this. I will have to take a picture of what my dinner will really look like.
Will have to find a bouquet of flowers or at least something to cheer up things around here. I bought a new little white Christmas tree for $18 and will put red decorations on it for a simple change. My old green one will go outside, it's over 20 yrs old. This may be my last Christmas here as I may sell the house in 2024. Not sure when though.

Well, going to close this blog for today. If you are celebrating a Birthday, I would like to wish you a Happy Birthday and a Happy Thanksgiving!!! Keep looking up better days are coming!!! 

Cheers ~ Louise
 

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Where Did September Go????

Yikes! Time is flying by!!! As someone said to me, "I shut my eyes Monday night and wake up, it is Friday morning already" Yep, it's true. Why did time go so slowly when I was younger and speed up so fast as I grow older???? Never will understand this concept of old age!!!!!

Well, can't believe 5 weeks have passed since my last blog, either I am lazy or just running out of mojo to blog, either or, just not much happening in my life (for now), which is fine with me at this time in my life. My Chicago Blackhawks have started their pre-season games and October 10th is the first of the regular season. So, this is good! I like hockey, then NASCAR, then Football. Hopefully the Packers do well without Arron Rogers. Oh, and the Blackhawks do well without Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Time will tell, I guess.

Hospice meeting was yesterday, always fun to meet together and see what the others have brought to the table as donations to the "card ministry" to Hospice.

So, these were some of my offerings. The cards above were fun to make, an idea I saw on Facebook. I really should make a template next time, so the pieces will be uniform and fit. I sort of pieced together the segments, so no, they were not uniform, each one was a bit different, but maybe that was part of the fun. I shall have to make some more like this, maybe some Christmas cards and Valentine cards too.

The bottom card, another pieced together card in a different design. Liked the new "blessed" word for this card, just bought it recently, filled up the space that did not have a blocked design.

These two cards were made at the Thompsom Center. There is a room set aside for Scrapbook and card makers. All the supplies have been donated, so the classes given are free. They usually have two teachers that give of their time showing us how to make cards. Then on the days they are not there, it is free time, and we can do what we want using the supplies that are there. So, this is what I came up with, the medallion was there to use, and the leaves die I brought from home to use there.
In this picture is another leaf card I made at the Thompson Center. The card on the left was made at home with my laminator and foil and ran a strip of green cardstock down the center and then placed the "blessed" word on it.
The cards below were an idea I found on the internet, not sure where. But I found the marbled cards from Hobby Lobby and thought they would make a nice card, I added the flowers and "just a little note" and left the inside blank.
So, this month of October will be "yard clean-up month"? The big tree in the back yard will dump millions of leaves, last year I never finished the whole yard, maybe this year will be different. The front yard, I have to cut down the peonies bush, daisies, my large porch vine and whatever else I can get too. Yeah, a lot of work for this old lady at this time. We'll see how it goes.

I have been going through some more of JP's old files from the 80's and 90's, gosh he had a lot of stuff. There were a few tracts intermingled, so I will be able to send them to Bob, who has been passing out all of JP's tracts that he had in his office. I moved all of JP's prayer journals to where the files were kept and put JP's ashes with his prayer journals, kinda keep it all together. Then there will be room in the file/safe to put a few other of JP's keepsakes. Along with a folder I am putting together that is titled "In Case of Emergency and/or Death for Louise E. Gatti" Everything that I can think of that has to do with JP, Louise, this house, Insurance, Wills, etc. so whoever the Executor is will know all there is to know and where to find it. Is that all possible???? I don't know, but I have been told to do this by a couple of people, it is a gift to those left behind that will have to take care of everything after I am gone. A morbid thought!!!!!

Can't think of much more, the time is 4:30 and I have yet to accomplish anything around this house. I am going to make a chicken dish tonight that I saw on Facebook that looked really good. My tomatoes are starting to ripen so one tomato will be used in the dish. I will take a picture of it, if I remember and don't eat it first.

Talk to you later, keep looking up better days are coming!!! 

Cheers ~ Louise

Monday, August 28, 2023

More Cards in My Stash!!!

Hi there everyone, how's it going with you??? September is right around the corner...where did this summer go to???? 

My husband and I would have been married 50 years yesterday, August 27th. I still remember what we were doing that day, of course, every woman remembers her wedding day!!! Mine was kind of weird, as JP was racing cars and just could not take time off for a wedding. So, we got married by the "Justice of the Peace" in Chicago at 11:00am. When we came out of the courthouse, JP went to get the car and there was a ticket on it, good grief!!!! The day was hot and sunny, I think we might have gone out to eat. No, our family was not there, as they did not appreciate the way we got married, they had already said, "It would not last!!!"

At 3:00pm we were signing the papers on our new little house in Arlington Heights. I had told JP I would not move into that house unless we were married, otherwise he would have been very happy had we never got married. He was very unconventional to say the least!!! The paper saying we were married, and the ring meant nothing to him. Oh, I had to buy my own ring, because he had no time for that!!! Oh well, water under the bridge. Here it is 50 years later, I guess we did okay, his racing ended after we got married in 1973. He got the Track Championship with fastest car which still stands for that year, because the track was torn down in 1980 or so.

Now on to some cards I made for Hospice. I am definitely into these lovely butterflies; they make such a nice card that can be used for anything actually. I used yellow vellum for the background and the butterflies in black with pearls colored yellow.

This next card was done the same way but with blue vellum and gems embossing them.

Both these cards were done with a corner embossing folder and cut out with a die. The top card was covered with silver past and rubbed on gold paste to enhance the rose, flowers and center of daisy. The bottom card, I rubbed on the gold paste and enhanced with the silver paste.

These two cards are a sampling of the Veterans cards I made, the top card was strips of paper layered on a pattern and embossed with button as the center of interest. It's kind of like and "Iris" fold card without the folding of the papers. 

The second card is a napkin glued on to cardstock and smoothed out like wallpaper and then embellished with the "Freedom is not free" and blue stars. We will be making Veterans cards every month now because these cards will be going to the Vets that take that plane ride to Washington DC to see the Wall and out to Hawaii to see Pearl Harbor.
This last card is another Christmas card I will be making for this Christmas. It's a stamp which I colored in with copic markers.
So, there you have it a few more cards for Hospice, our next meeting is September 1st, so I have quite a few cards in my stash for the next few meetings. I just need to add a verse of Happy Birthday or Thinking of you or Thank you in the rest of the cards.

I have been getting a few vegies from my gardens. Beans, cherry tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and dill. Actually, the chipmunks have gotten quite a few of my tomatoes, here's hoping they get a stomachache after eating too many tomatoes!!!!! I kind of gave up getting tomatoes from my garden.....not like the old days when I was not so hard to garden around my house.

Well time to close here, need to get some things done around this house and water the plants outside. All those putsy everyday things to do. You have a great day and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise


Friday, July 28, 2023

Some New Cards

Hi there everyone, hope you are enjoying this HOT summer!!! I have no air conditioning, so it really gets miserable warm in this house. Oh, I have the fans going, ceiling fan, floor fan, little fan by the chair, yep, fans a blowing everywhere and no place to cool down. I also have one of those little artic air conditioners, but it in no means cools down a room, it does cool me down while I sit by my computer. Today, the artic conditioner is not on, as it is still kind of warm or at least not HOT in this house, but comfortable.

So, today's cards, some were made at the Senior Center and some at home. The butterfly card (above) was made at the Center. People donate a lot of stuff, and this butterfly die was a donation, I sure do like it, it made a lovely card. Think I will make some more diagonal cards at home and when I go to the Center, hunt up this die and cut more like it, hopefully it will still be there and did not walk away.

The above cards, the diagonal grey with leaves was made at the Center. The other card I made at the Center a couple of months ago. Now the bottom card, "yellow daisies on a black background" is a new die I bought from "Scrapbook.com". It came with a 3D embossing folder and the die to cut out the corner flower. My technique was to use the Tim Holtz Distress inks and with a steeple brush (hard bristles) color the flowers and leaves. I have also tried gold and silver paste and smeared it on the flowers. Those cards will be in my next blog.

Now these two cards were a lot of fun to make. They reminded me of the "Iris folding" technique. They were made at the Center and finished at home. The top card has a pattern to follow, and the strips cut out to fit within the pattern. I made quite a few of these cards last night in different colors. The butterfly card was made at home. One of the ladies that comes to the Center brought the pattern and directions to make more of these cards. Now if I can just figure it out, I will make more of these in the coming days.
Here is my new Christmas card using the iris fold techniques. The "falala" die was free with my order to Scrapbook.com. Will have to make a lot more of these in the next coming days. I have to make Veteran cards for the Hospice meeting September 1st. So, I think I will make Veteran cards using this method. Fun, fun, fun in the next few days.
Well, there you have it another round of card making. I extended my stamping room to the dining room table as it is a bit cooler in the dining room. My stamping room is a bit stuffy and too warm to make cards, so I just go in there to get supplies. I also extended the dining room table to make it a bit larger. The table can sit 12 people, well that would be about the length of the dining room, so that would be WAY too big for this room. I shall have to settle for this size in this room. Lots of fans blowing on me so it makes it bearable, making cards.

My little garden is starting to produce, YAY!!! Onions and greens, dill, 1 cucumber, got some green tomatoes that the chipmunks found and green beans!!! Hot dog and green beans for lunch today....Yum!!! I noticed I have lots of cherry tomatoes growing, if they make it, just need to remember to water them, they let me know when they are thirsty, they wilt!!!

Another funny oneliner from Brenda's blog; "Big shout out to my fingers ~ I can always count on them!!!"

Well time to close before this gets toooooo long of a blog. Talk later and keep looking up, better days are coming!!! Cheers~Louise
 

Monday, July 10, 2023

Some Cards I Made at the Senior Community Center

Hi there everyone, Hope you are having a good summer. It's going way too fast though, before you know it August will be here, and the kids are going back to school again. When I was young, time went sooooooo slow and I always wished time would go faster. Saying to my mother, "I can hardly wait for my birthday, I can hardly wait for Christmas, I can hardly wait" for whatever exciting experience was coming up!!!! My mother would say to me, "Don't wish your life away Louise, it will all come soon enough!!!" Never knew what she meant, but now I do, time does fly by fast!!!!!
So, I thought I would give you a small taste of some of the cards I have been making at the Senior Center every Tuesday. It's like my field trip once a week and meeting up with lots of other people my age and have a little fellowship with like-minded card making people. Most of the cards here will be going to Hospice, a few I might keep, and send to people. 
BUT....that might be less, as the price of 1 stamp is now $.66 cents. Price just went up yesterday, how crazy is that. Pretty soon we won't be seeing the mail man visit us with bills or cards anymore. Will be just TOO expensive to send in the mail. 
I took a bunch of pictures with my cell phone the other day of how my garden is growing. But don't know how to transfer those pictures to this computer, I suppose there is a way, have not figured it out yet. That might be my next blog...."How is my garden growing" Looking forward to my Italian green beans and tomatoes. BUT that means the summer is rolling along FAST!!!!! Fall is right around the corner!!!! Aren't you having fun reading my blog..........TIME IS FLYING!!!!!!
This is kind of a rough month for me, I suppose if I let it be that. JP will have passed 2 years ago this month on the 25th. Not too sure how I will handle this memory. Most people go to the grave site and put flowers on the grave. JP's ashes are still here in the house, so he is in so many ways, still here. I told the in-laws that when I pass, to cremate me, mix our ashes together in a bag and drop us in Lake Michigan. I always liked the water.
Well, here we are at the last picture. As you can see, I used Copic markers to color most of these cards. The fisher boy included at the very beginning.

Our next meeting for Hospice is September 1st, so there is still 7 weeks to go...how fast will that go????? I need to get some Veteran cards made and then everyday cards along with Fall cards and then start thinking about CHRISTMAS AGAIN!!!

There you go one blog that covers the whole year...lol!!! Oh, I must tell you, I had another miracle in my life. God surely does take care of the widows.

I had a tree growing next to my foundation and the neighbor cut it for me and then I mentioned the limbs hanging over my roof. I wondered how I was going to get that taken care of without calling a tree trimmer and spending 1-2k that I did not have. The neighbor said, "let me take a look" and he said, "I can do that"....well, he cleared off the roof of branches!!! Oh my gosh, that was a load off my shoulders. God is so good!!! I asked him what I could give him $ wise and he said, "nothing" that again was a miracle to me. 

Now mind you, I have not talked to this neighbor or his wife for 7-8 years because they crossed the line and complained about the fence, we were having put up was taller than their fence. The people were not even done with the fence building, they got 3 warnings from the neighbors, and it caused a lot of trouble for the project manager. I thought it was very rude of the neighbors....they should of kept their nose in their own backyard till the job was done.

Well, that's about all for now, I have a funny one liner for you that I read on another blog today, thanks Brenda!!!

"Never use a GPS when going to a cemetery. It's too scary to hear, "You've reached your destination."

That cracked me up, talk to you all later and have a good one.

Cheers ~ Louise
 

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Some Flowers Around the House

Hi there everybody!!! Been a while since I last blogged. Thought I better get something going here and flowers came to my mind. Been doing a lot of cards lately but have not taken pictures of them yet. So, a few pictures of my perennial flowers should be in order. 

The below flowers usually bloom around September 1st. The vine is still growing and is not even quite up to the banister. I like this flowering vine; I call it a "Star Clematis" because the flowers look like stars. It gives me lots of privacy on the front porch.

These guys, JP used to call them the "choir" their real name is "Bee Balm" they have taken over the whole garden. The red flowers make for a good tea. They should be blooming in the next few weeks.

Here are my "Black-eyed Susans" I love them. They have been showing up every year in this spot for the last 8 years. The bottom is this year's growth this month. The top picture is from 2016. The blooms will last 4-5 weeks or until a bad storm knocks them over.
Here are my lovely pink peonies, the plant has gotten very big, I really need to cut the plant in half and put the other half someplace else. Never have done that though, the thought is there though. Well now the blooms are done blooming, and it is time to cut back the plant.
Now, this is my "Mystery Rose Bush." I think when I planted it, it was supposed to be a white rose. 2002 when we had the porch replaced, it got trampled on by the workers and did not grow for a couple of years, I was going to dig it up but then the next spring, it started to grow. All it did was grow green branches which we would cut down....I guess it went wild for quite a few years. The last couple of years it started blooming these pretty red roses near the bottom of the base of the plant for the last few years. This year it has bloomed more flowers than ever before. I hope it blooms all summer; we will see. I never took very good care of it all these years cause I did not know what it wanted to do. I have been watering it now and maybe I will give it some "Miricle Grow" just to see what it's next step is. Yes, it is a "Mystery Rose."
Now, here are my ever-faithful purple clematis. They are right next to the "Star Clementis" so these bloom way ahead of the white flowers. Wish they would last all summer, but no they don't.
Well, there you have it a slight change from the cards but all so pretty as cards. Flowers growing around my house (ha, along with the weeds). I will miss these flowers if I should have to sell this house, hopefully not for a while though. We will see, glad I don't know the future, that is in God's hands.

You all take care and enjoy the summer if I don't return to blog. But if I do return to blog, it will be about cards. Talk to you later. Cheers ~ Louise

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