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

Cards Made for a Birthday Gift

Hi there everyone, hope all is well with you and your family. So, in this post I am showing you some cards I made for a friend for her Birthday to send to Senior Citizens. She always liked my cards I made, so I thought why not make her a bunch of cards to send to others.

The above card is a die, I glued on white cardstock and colored in with different colors, mostly alcohol inks. The card looked a little plain, so I decided to emboss the card with clear embossing powder. I then embossed it a second time and it was so much smoother looking. Had a lot of fun doing these cards.

These two cards are my butterfly cards, both butterflies were embossed twice, with clear embossing powders. Same for the "smile". Simple little cards placed on backgrounds. The poka-dot background is a foiled background.

Now this "thinking of you" card, the flowers and birds were done years ago and I finally turned it into a card using some sticky background that was sitting around in my stash for years. Sort of fun to use up stuff that has been sitting around for years, turns into quite the challenge.

These two sets of cards, again they were sticky back, a metal type material which I ran through the cuttlebug. With just a simple "Thinking of You" tag place on the front.

Again, another card using a die and colored in with copic markers. The "Happy Birthday Blessings" was also dies and embossed twice with clear embossing powders.

In this picture is the birthday card to Mary, it is a flower I found at the Dollar Tree, made 6 cards with these flowers, think I will pick up some more of these flowers, makes for a quick card.

Last night another friend said he wanted me to make him a bunch of "Thinking of You" cards. He said he would send me the money and whatever number of cards he could get for the amount he sent would be good. He wants the inside of the cards to have scripture, (yes, I can do that). He wants the cards to have nice sceneries on the front, like farms and rolling hills, (yes, if I have the stamps to do that). He wants cards with pianos and pipe organs on the front with musical notes, (I think I could do that). Well, I have quite the order, will see what I can do. FIRST and foremost, I need to see the money!!!

I got involved with a Senior Center and go for card making classes for free every Tuesday.....I am really liking this class. Yesterday the other teacher was showing us how to use the Cricut (the older version, which I have). Wow, I learned a lot and now I have brought the Cricut from downstairs upstairs, and it is sitting on the dining room table. I have NO excuses, to NOT play with my Cricut now!!!!

One of the cartridges has a piano on it....there you go Bob, I have some old song books from church, I will cut out a page, glue it on cardstock and place the piano on top of it with a "Thinking of You" tag. There, a couple of those cards in his portfolio already.

Let's see, what else is on the agenda, I guess do some gardening, the grass is really growing, it already has been cut and needs another cutting. I am going to buy a tomato plant and cucumber plant and put them in the front of the house....they will get lots of sun all day!!! My backyard is in all shade because of the big tree behind the house. 

Well time to close this blog, bet you thought I was going to retire from blogging, guess as long as I am making cards, I shall always show you what I am up to. You all take care and take Jesus!!! Blessings ~ Louise
 

Here We Are....Two Weeks Into September!!!

Hi there everyone. What can I say.....I guess my blogging has been lacking lately. Not much happening, but then, a lot has in small ways. Least we are not facing hurricanes and typhoons and fires. Here, it's lots of rain, heat and lots of mosquito's that seem to find me no matter where I am. That's one good thing about winter, NO MOSQUITO'S!!!!

So JP lost some hours at work, which means finances have been a little tricky of late. I had to sell some old gold and silver jewelry  left by my grandmothers, mother and myself. Total income this time around was $315 which will go partially towards paying the rest of our house taxes. Then, we start all over again next January 31st 2019.

My doggie, Kylie has not been feeling well lately. I am so afraid that I will have to have her put down. I don't want to....God, could she just die in her sleep???? Not sure what is wrong...she is going on 14 years...hope it is old age. Now why, do we put dogs down and not people??? I asked my Vet that question, she said, because we care more for our animals then we do people!!!

Next Saturday, we are having company from Chicago. JP's brother and SIL...they usually take us out to eat, we visit a bit and then they leave late afternoon, so they are home for the evening....it's a "Kwik Trip" like the gas station. If you live in this area, you would know what I mean. We probably won't go out to eat though and just may order out and have it delivered to our front door. I am going to order a Pumpkin Cream Pie from Schwan's, which looks delicious....I always have the dessert.

Some good news, poundage wise, I have lost 30 lbs since last July 2017. Losing has been a very long and slow process....still have much to lose. My blood sugars have been much, much better. Hopefully I can eliminate the pills after a 50 -75 lb. loss. I am still doing the Atkins/keto diet which has proven to work the best for me. I have to admit though, I don't make it a religious thing, as there are some days I eat potato chips and popcorn, oh, and tater tots too. But pretty much stay close to eating the right things.

Well, I guess that is about all that is going on this month....and there is still 2 weeks left to go. So I thought I better put some cards up, as this is a "Card Blog" so following are some cards I made at Betty's last month....just a little slow in posting. Our next meeting will be this next Wednesday already....time flies when we are having fun???? Card making on my own has been at a minimal....as I have not been in much of a mood....need some inspiration, that's why I like to go to Betty's....there is always something that gets my juices flowing.

So this was a fun card to make, I actually made quite a few of these cards for Hospice. Birthday, Thanks and Thinking of you. I have the stamp set and the background stamp....so yeah, I think this will be my "go to" card for everything....easy and fast to make.

This was a fun card to make, punched out owls. We made the branches for the owls to sit on then pieced together the owls. Bright and colorful.

This was a pretty card. The flowers were embossed. The background???? You know, I forgot what we did. I shall have to ask, was it water color??? Anyways, it turned out really pretty.

This card was stamped and embossed, we colored it in with copic markers and sponged in the blue sky and water. Stamping the birds and verse. Betty always has the pieces cut, so we just have to piece it all together.

Thought you would like to see a few cucumbers growing in my garden....gosh these cucs made a great salad and tasted so good....just wish I had more.....maybe next year.

Well time to close here, you all take care and have a great couple of weeks. I may be back before the month is over....depends. Keep looking up, better days are coming!!! Cheers ~ Louise

Cards I Made the Other Night

Hi there everyone. Thought it was time to change the winter scenes....to something Spring-like!!! The weather is beautiful outside...sunny and in the 60's. It actually feels WARM and I turned down the heat in the house. Maybe I should bring the fan up from downstairs. Was looking at air-conditioners today at Walmart....guess I must save my pennies for a new one this summer. Our old air conditioner conked out, it never really cooled down the room and then it started spitting at me. So, I think it is time for a new one.

I made these Spring like cards last week. Need to make more....they were a very easy process and fun to make.

First I stamped the "Thinking of You" and "Happy Birthday" then taped the verses with painters tape.

Next step was to ink the top and bottom of the card with Distress ink....any colors you might have, after I got the desired look, I then sprinkled the cards with water to get the water spots. Dabbed with a paper towel to pick up the water. Let them dry for awhile.

I had these flowers already colored. The flower is from Stampin'up, I fussy cut out each flower. Each petal, I drew lines and colored in the tips of each petal with an ink pen. Then took copic markers and finished the petals off with different colors that would coordinate with the colored card.

WA-LA....a very lovely card. Think I will make some more like these for Hospice. I have two weeks to get about 60 cards done and 20 favors for Fathers day. There's still time.

Yesterday I went to a Revealing Party. For 6 months I took part in a secret stamping group. You send 12 images, could be a stamped, die cut or back ground to the name you received. Then make 2 cards with that image, one for your self and one for the person you sent the images to. Someone has your name and has done the same. So I came home with 6 cards from the lady I sent images to and 6 cards from the lady that had my name. Making sense much???

When I get the pictures taken of the cards, I will put them on my blog. My card and the other ladies take on the image sent and vise versa. I should add, that the reveal party was at a new stamping store in Neenah, and we could buy anything we wanted and get 10% off....dangerous place for me to go. Yes, I bought something, musical notes for another card I am making.

Well time to close here, JP just left for his job. I got our dinner planed out.....spare ribs in the pressure cooker....they turn out soooo good. Talk to you later...have a great night and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

7th Game - They WON and a Few Cards for Hospice

Hi there everyone....how are the first few days of November treating you??? Ours not so good....we got the results of my husband's prostrate biopsy. It's not a good report. He has cancer, but it is a "slow growing cancer" maybe that is a good report. At this point we are not sure what will happen. The Doctor says this could go two ways. We can watch it and see how fast or slow it is growing by doing more biopsies. Operation, and take the prostrate out. Or radiation, but he did not think that would be a good option.

Next week we have another meeting with the Doctor and if we have questions that is when we will talk things out. JP wants to talk to his brother first. John called tonight, so I was able to fill him in on a few things and he will call JP tomorrow.

The 7th game of the World Series is playing right now. So I thought I would blog a bit. I guess I could have gotten fancy and put the Cubs decal up or something. Maybe next post....(darn the Indians just scored 1-1, okay, that's enough Indians!!). Yeah...score is 5-1 Cubbies just scored again and while I was on the phone with John.

Our Heartland Hospice meeting is this Friday. I've got 75 cards put together, Christmas, Birthday, Thank You, Thinking of You and Thanksgiving. Following are some of the cards that are included in the box...these are not all of them. I simply would bore you with all the pictures.

In the picture below a card made with a Christmas napkin. The napkin is peeled down to the first layer then glued on card stock and smoothed out and left to dry. Then I glue the card stock on a card and embellish the card with speckles...see the glittery look? I made quite a few cards using this technique. Christmas trees, a few different snowmen and Santa too.

Here is my Great Blue Heron....I sure do like this stamp....will probably make lots more of these cards. The Heron is stamped and colored in with copic markers. The layered on card stock and lacy material paper (the name of this paper escapes me at this moment), then I ran some washi tape down the side and added a greeting.

The card below is a recycled card....layered it on sparkling wrapping paper and card stock. The card might have been a post card then I embellished the card with speckles for that glittered look.

The card below was a card I made at Betty's house. The flowers were stamped with different colored  inks, it was not necessary to huff on the inks to make them stamp, as they were special inks allowing you to ink and stamp. I think the flowers were then die cut and raised on the card.

Now this card is my favorite Christmas card....die cut sleigh and houses. "Silent night" is stamped and a pretty trinket added. The background is snowflakes run through the cuttlebug and silver speckles embellish the snowflakes and the edge of the card where the sleigh rides.

Last but not least are these Christmas cards.....I made a whole bunch of these cards a couple of years ago. The scene is embossed with gold then the card was run through a cuttlebug, cutting out the Christmas tree. I layed some sparkly wrapping paper under the scene to pop out the tree. Pretty simple, but very pretty.

Well, the Cubs and Indians are still playing....the score is 6-3, Cubs winning and we are in the 7th.

I think I need to turn the heat on...getting a little bit chilly in this house. Love the weather for November......maybe it will stay nice like this till my Birthday....but then, there is always snow falling around my birthday.......we shall see, as the 21st will draw near pretty fast.

Oh-OHHHHHH Not good, the Indians just scored, it's 6-6!!!!!! Will the Cubs win????? Now we are in the 9th and Cubs are up. It's starting to rain now in Cleveland.....what next!!!

YAY!!!! The Cubs won the World Series....how exciting!!! 8-7....what a game. 1908 was the last time they won the series....that is a very long draught!!!! You have a great day and keep looking up cause better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Made Some Cards Today

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a wonderful day today. I did, made some cards today and the Chicago Blackhawks won today.....life is good!!! The Hawks played the New York Rangers and won 5-3 and my favorite player Artemi Panarin got a Hat Trick....what fun was that???? He sure was a happy camper!!!

So today I went to Betty's house and we made these cards. A lovely thinking of you card....she has such neat stamps, if I wanted to duplicate this card, I'd have to use a different flower, but I guess that would be okay. Will have to keep this one in mind.

This was an easy card to put together....Betty has everything cut out for us, so easy peasy....don't know anyone getting married, so I guess this card will stay in my stash for a long time. Maybe I could use it for an Anniversary card and just change the verse inside.

This was a fun card using lots of Copic markers and lots of shading. It is sort of a stained glass window effect....I like it, guess it could be any kind of card you want.

This is Mr. Leprechaun...using different punches, a fun card for St. Patrick's Day.

Well, I am going to make this a short post...need to get some sleep. We are having JP's family from Chicago, here for a visit Friday, so I still have a few more things to get done around the house and do some shopping tomorrow.

You all have a great day and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Hospice Care Group and Cards

Hi everyone. Hope your day is going well. It's been kind of rainy all day and the roof is leaking "AGAIN". Leaky roofs do not make, for a good day, no matter how you look at it. Anyone know where I can get $30,000 to fix a roof, a ceiling fixed because of the leaky roof, 2 big trees cut down in our back yard, get a new snow blower???? Oh...that's just what I am looking at right now it's not including a few other things that need to be fixed. We are not among the rich of America (for those of you who live in other countries and are reading this blog) no, we are among the poor and getting poorer everyday. We are in serious trouble because of this Obama Administration.......very serious trouble.

Well on to better things. Tomorrow the Hospice group meets at Atlanta Bread Co. at 9am. Whew, pretty early for me, hope it is a more cheery, sunny day. I look forward to getting a cup of coffee there...it is always a good cup. I might have enough for a muffin too!!!

I have all my cards done...77 of them. I made some cards and some of the other cards people sent to me. I seem to hold on to them for a while. Hooray for Hospice, it is a good place to donate those cards that seem to accumulate that I don't want to throw out. So I re-design and rearrange them or put them on new card stock, making them all fresh and new looking. The inside of the card has a verse of blessing and saying it is from the Hospice Care Group. In the picture below are the cards all filed and ready to go, from Birthday, Thinking of You, Thank You, Christmas, Thanksgiving.

In the next picture are some birthday cards I made months ago. Found a tutorial on how to make tissue paper flowers using a round punch. Gather all the circles, punch a hole in the middle and fasten with a brad or something that holds the circles together. Krinkle up the layers of tissue and "WAH LAH" a pretty flower. The cards were stamped with Happy Birthday and Washi tape was placed on the card at different angles and the edges dabbed with ink.

Thinking of You cards are in the next picture. The picture on the right is a photo framed with card stock. I had that card laying around for a couple of years...good time to give it a new home. I am thinking of using some of my flower pictures to make cards for Hospice...that may be in my next collection of cards. The other two cards in this photo, the top one, was a picture from another store bought card and I framed it with some fuzzy stuff. The card on the left, a simple stamped card.

Thank You cards below. The card on the right was in my Etsy store which never sold. The top card was made with the cricut machine except for the turtle. The left card is just a simple stamped and layered card...I like that pretty lady, very elegant.

Christmas cards below...the top card and left card were in my Etsy store and never sold, but I am sure they will be appreciated now. They were colored with pens and layered and stamped. The card on the right....a mystery...made it years ago at a class, I forgot the technique...will have to ask the lady who made the card originally how it was made, as she will be there tomorrow.

Thanksgiving cards below...I made none of these cards...just refurbished them. I have not started on my Thanksgiving cards....can you believe it??? I have 3 thanksgiving stamps.....soooo I better get creative as to what I will do plus I have thanksgiving cards to send out to different people.

So, it will be a busy month again...getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas card giving. Plus keeping my Etsy store stocked....hopefully with a few sales.

Well, you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

My new Card Set

This is my new card set..........."Thinking of you" a set of 6 cards. I priced them at $15.oo (2.50 a piece) with $2.00 postage, as postage just went up on Monday, I suspect I will be eating some of my profits.........oh well, such is life, everything is going up. You can go to http://cards4ubylouise.etsy.com/ to buy my cards.

My next set will be "Thank you" cards. A set of 4 cards for $10.00. Have already taken the pictures and downloaded them to the computer, so in the next couple of days they will go into my store.

Well, I think I am going to cut this blog segment short, as I have a merchandising job to get done today.........going into two Dollar General stores to take down the Mother Day cards and put up the Father Day cards..........that should take me all day to do.............it's a fun job, but alot of steps to accomplish in the short time you are given to do it.

You have a good day and keep your best foot forward and don't look back........nothing you can do about it anyways♥

Louise