Wowser.....October 1st Already!!

Hi there everyone. How are you all doing?!?! October 1st....my, how time flies. Sure glad August and September are gone, gone, gone!! Those were tuff months for me. JP was getting less hours at work, now we are reaping what has been sewn. 

Kylie was sick and we (or I) thought we would lose her. But she bounced back, she always bounces back. Vet did blood tests, and x-rays. ($400) They say, she may have cancer because they found a mass. She is not in pain the Vet says, so, we will just try and make her happy, with all her favorite things. She had a couple of seizures, but no more since the last one. I have been giving her hamburger and rice and she gobbles that up. Snubs her nose at Freshpet and Beniful….oh but hamburger and eggs..."two please" she says!! We will just go day to day with her. She gets around pretty good, is going blind and hard of hearing, but her sniffer still works good. So hard to watch a doggie go down-hill, but this little dog is a fighter and just happens to want to hang around a little bit longer. I have a picture of her at the end of this blog.

So following are some cards I made at Betty's. This seems to be my only outlet for now. The month of September I did not even touch making cards except for at Betty's.....not sure what is wrong. I need to get into the swing of things again. Hopefully, October will be a bit better for me. Card wise. Plus, I have a month to make cards for Hospice with the next meeting being November 2nd.

The end of this month I will be going to a Stamp Reveal party that I am involved with....someone sends me 6 images in 6 months and I do the same and we make cards from that image sent and cards from the image received...it's fun, but I am behind on that also. One more image to send, which I will do tonight.

I love the saying of the first card, "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a Butterfly" Betty had the saying and butterflies stamped and embossed already. We colored them in, sponged and stamped the dots. Cut out the butterflies so you could see the black background and added sequins and speckles.

Let's see....if I can remember  how this card was made above. We used copic markers to color in the can, flowers and pots. The background was those stamped dots and sponged ink, the beige was copic marker, then we layered the papers and added the bow.

This next card was pretty and very simple. A circle cut out then sponged in the blue, from dark to light. Stamped the flowers and saying and embossed. The dragon fly is a die-cut. Guess you could use a butterfly if there are no dragonflies in your stash.

This last card is a tree with the leaves and 'Thinking of you" around the border of the tree and truck. The truck colored with copic markers and cut out. Easy-Peasy if you have the car and tree. So many times we make cards and I would like to make more.....but alas, I don't have the stamps to make the card at home. Bummers!

So here is a picture of Kylie going to the vet for her x-rays...we were just leaving the driveway and I thought I better take a few pictures, before I forgot. She looks pretty perky here. I had to take her in at 8:30am and leave her there till we came to pick her up at 2:00pm for the consultation. So yeah, I was kind of nervous to hear what they would say. It was soooo quiet in the house, I do believe it's the dogs and cats that make a house a home. Don't you think?!?!?!?

Well time to close here, I hope I am more diligent in blogging this month....guess I experienced a few days of depression where I did nothing cause things around me seemed to be caving in. I got tired of seeing Kylie sick and JP dealing with his arm pains and sore feet. God knows I need a vacation, but there was no place to run to.

Hockey is starting, so if you don't see me around, I will be watching Hockey or football....Go Blackhawks and Go Packers!!! Hockey my number one passion then football. I understand Hockey better then I do football....and hockey is so much faster and when there is a check....it can be crushing. One guy got hit so bad last night they are not sure the guy hitting the other will even be playing or will be suspended. Have not heard on the guy that got hurt yet.

Well time to close here, JP will be leaving for work at 3:45pm and work 4 hours, if he takes his full 4 hours....time will tell!

I have to keep looking up, as I always tell my readers, better days are coming and I am still waiting for that too!!! Cheers ~ Louise

Revealed Cards from the Party Last Week Part 1

Hi there everyone. Well, here we are, one week into November already. I shall be 71 years old this month....yikes!!! My mind still thinks young but I give myself sooooo much to do, problem is my body is having a hard time keeping up with all the things my mind wants to do. Okay....maybe someday I will figure this out. My mother never told me old age would be tuff.....she always said, "Everything is calm and quiet." I am still waiting for those calm and quiet days!!!!

As promised in my previous post, these are the cards from the revealing party a week ago already. We are starting a new session, but I have yet to receive the name of my new partner in crime.....I already know what images I will be sending for the next 6 months, so it will be fun to see what the new friends images will be.

So in this froggy picture, I did the card on the right and Janine did the card on the left. Ribbit....ribbit...ribbit!!! Janine sent the frog images, so I have 10 more frogs in my image stash....lol!

Janine sent the images of the Master Gardener, garden tools and seeds. Her card in on the left and my card on the right.

I sent Janine 12 bird images. Her card is on the left and my card on the right. I actually like Janine's card....so cute!!!

I sent the Dragonfly images, my card is on the right and Janine's is on the left.

I love this blue heron....so glad he is in my possession. I sent Janine 12 images of this lovely bird.  My card is on the right and Janine's card is on the left.

In the card below, I sent Janine 12 images of the rose and pineapple. My card is on the right and Janine's card on the left. As you can see she cut three roses, very pretty.

I have some more cards from the revealing party to share with you....that will be in my next post. 

Not much happening the rest of the this week. We are still raking leaves and getting the yard ready for winter. So much to do and winter is right around the corner. You all have a great night and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Some Stampin'up cards

Hi there everyone. I guess I have been MIA again. Just basically living life to the best of my ability. Let's see, my last post was March 15th....I think I made cauliflower soup....which is long gone, JP really liked it and thought it was great!!! Although he has said he likes two kinds of foods......hot and cold, I guess that covers everything. But, since the cauliflower soup, I have made Green Pea Soup made in the pressure cooker....omg....was that delicious! I will most certainly do that again. Did not take pictures....but next time I will.

So Sunday the 19th I went to the Stampin'up camp. It was a nice day and a change of pace and I learned a few new ideas. There is always refreshments, a door prize and a chance to use new Stampin'up supplies that I don't have at home. (most definitely the supplies are on my wish list). Like this stamp set below...the girl with the umbrella and a girl dancing, I forget the name of this set, but it is on my list to buy next time.

This next card is a very pretty sympathy card, the gold flower is a die cut, I think the papers used, help in making these cards very pretty. I like the softness in the colors.

Now this next card is very pretty, I was able to duplicate this one, as I have the dragonfly die cut (see the above blog header lots of dragonflies and bee's). I have made a bunch of these cards already...probably most of them will go to Hospice.

Another Sympathy card. One thing about Stampin'up....they make pretty papers. I bought a set of papers a couple of months ago and have yet to use it.....what's up with that!!!!

In this picture is the door prize I won....YAY!!!  Well, there were 3 of us ladies and 4 door prizes....so we all won something!!!

Not much went on this past week. Pretty soon it will be time to start working outside.....I hope this spring I have a little bit more motivation to work then I did last year. Lots of weeds grew in my gardens....hopefully I can keep ahead of those pests.

Well, time to close, JP will be home in about 45 minutes. So I better get my bike riding in for the day. Didn't get to take Kylie for her walk....raining tonight, we did not want to get wet.

Have a great day and keep looking up....better days are here again.
Cheers ~ Louise

"Dragonflies and Flowers"

Here is my newest card, made last night. I ordered a few new stamps from an Etsy store on Wednesday and was totally amazed that yesterday I received the 2 stamps in the mail so soon. Gosh that was fast service!!! The two stamps had to be mounted on backing for use on acrylic blocks. Buying the unmounted stamps is much more cheaper then mounted ones....so, I did not mind buying them unmounted. Gave me time to think about what I wanted to do with the dragonflies. The other stamp says, "1 cross +3 nails = 4 given" I thought that was so apropos for Easter..........The gospel in a nut shell!!!

Anyways this is what I came up with......as I had a piece of vellum sitting in front of me, I thought, well lets stamp it and color the dragonfly in with copic markers on the backside so it would not smear the black ink. WALA, then the thought of a vellum flower came to mind and punching the bottom of the card with Martha Stewerts punch then adding liquid pearls to the card really added a touch of elegance to the card.

I probably will be adding a few more of these cards to my Etsy store as I get them made and maybe a set of 3 in different colors. This is my plan.......it will keep me busy and occupied for a while.

You have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draweth nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

More Garden Walk Pictures

A Yellow Hanging Bogoina plant in the midst of a beautiful garden.
This is a picture of the side of the house with a rain barrell that catches the water for all the plants. I wish we could do this but the water that comes off the roof is black from faulty cheap shingles.

This waterfall is at the High School in the court yard. Made by the students.

I love the sound of a water fall.

This is the center of the court yard. the plants, walking stones, most everything is done by the students.

I got this picture of a REAL Dragon Fly in the High School Court Yard.....cool huh? He stayed long enough so I could catch him on my camera.

Now this is a picture of a Dragon Fly walking stone made by a student in art class. If I could figure out how to make something like this, I would like to try. Well I hope you like the tour of the garden walk. I have a few more pictures but they are of flowers and bushes....maybe in the next blog I will show just the flowers I took. Have a good day and take 'er easy and stay cool!! Cheers ~ Louise

Newest Friendship Card for Etsy

Here's my newest card that I shall put in my Etsy store today.....been awhile since I last posted on my blog so thought I would put this "Friendship card" up today. I got a lot of the paper, vellum and cardstock from the "CTI" paper company on Friday at their annual sale. This is what I came up with, just piecing it altogether. I am very happy with the outcome and am thinking of doing a set of cards like this.............but not with the inside, as seen below. Maybe a set of 6 cards "Friendship, Marriage, Celebration" Those are the three stamps I have that could be used for this card. Thinking, thinking, always thinking.

The inside of this card with done with folding the paper, first to each corner, then one fold across, then the 4 corners were folded, a little confusing at first, but when figured out, turns into a really neat card.

Well, I think I shall close this blog for tonight and go to Etsy and post this card there. If you would like to see it got to: http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com/

Have a good day and cheers~Louise