Happy....

Happy


I made this banner to hang in my kitchen. It looks great and festive and makes me think of spring every day!

Birds are singing outside and the grass is greening up outside. The daffodils are blooming and sunny. Spring is here!

After I posted this picture, I realized that my snowman cross stitch, complete with reindeer, was still hanging in the kitchen. It has been replaced with a spring cross stitch that I did years ago. I'll post that tomorrow!

I've been creating up a storm!

Here is a card for Kristina Werner's color inspiration #45. You can find Kristina's

blog here.

Here is the color challenge:

This was a tough one for me! I love vibrant, rich colors so much! Here is my attempt:

celebrate the joy

"Skipping is just jumping for joy, step after step." Jessi Lane Adams

Love this quote! I have been trying to concentrate on my goals with JOY this year. Time to create has been precious and sparing, but I'm giving it my best!

One of my goals involves sending more cards to my friends. Before I can send them, though, I have to make them! Here are a bunch of cards that I have been working on.

Because I have been in a Valentine's Day mood,

Here is a beautiful Valentine's card. The sentiment reads "always on my mind, forever in my heart." This is Stampin' Up rose red cardstock, heart stamp image, scallop punch, sage shadow card stock and pink ribbon. The designer paper is from a pack of paper I bought at a craft store. Pretty, huh? Very girly, too!

Here is another version, but in more masculine colors.

Same Stampin' Up heart image, close to cocoa cardstock, pretty in pink cardstock and ink, close to cocoa ink, two sheets of designer paper and clear glitter. The pink ribbon is now retired, but I like how it looks tied on this heart. (Maybe I should have done it on the card above...?)

More girly! Beautiful designer paper from Stampin' Up..my favorite ever!

Kiwi green and pink pirhouette cardstock, five petal punch, riding hood red cardstock, flower fusion, silver brad, white organdy ribbon (retired) and stamped image from Stampin' Up.

I love this one! And we're going to make it at my next workshop!

A card for our family's college students: K and A. A went back to her college a couple of weeks ago. K just went back today. Ahhh, I already miss her! Here is a card I am going to send her tomorrow. {Shhhhh. Can you keep a secret? I sent cards several weeks ago so that they would be there in their mailboxes when they got back to school! Don't tell, OK?)

{cardstock by Stampin' Up, designer papers by ????, sticky letters, a circle stamp made out of a wine cork (!!!!), ribbon from Michaels $1 bin}

I was purely PLAYING when I was making these for our college girls. I started with the cool ribbon, and look where I ended up!

One more for today. This is another card we will be making February 6th. I have so much stuff for scrapbooking and card-making. So many tools, so much paper, ribbon, cardstock, stamps, stickers, etc. I love to layer, layer, layer all of this stuff on the cards, while trying to make them look super simple. Hmmm, it's a dilemma!

But sometimes (like with the circle from the wine cork above), I just like to stamp, stamp, stamp and watch the colors of the ink make magic on the page. Sometimes you just have to get back to the stamps. This is why I love Stampin' Up stuff!

{Stampin' Up banana cardstock and ink, apricot appeal ink and cardstock, regal rose and ruby rose ink, stamped off once, Simply Said stamps and my favorite Happy Birthday image from Voila. Also, scallop circle punch. All from SU!)

More soon! Time to create!

I've been itching to play with these block letters. They are NOT Stampin' Up, but they are fun to play with and cut out (I love cutting!), and they are the perfect size for a lot of projects. Here is this card:

{Stampin' Up ruby red cardstock, whisper white cardstock, ruby red ink, rose red ink and chunky glitter.)

I know that this is very "IN YOUR FACE", but I like its directness. It contrasts with some of the subtle cards that I have been making. And I LOVE THOSE LETTERS!

more cards!

Here's a card for my friend Shiela, who inspires me daily with her generosity, wisdom and creativity. I love to sit at her counter and sip tea and share our lives... {love you, Shiela!}

This is K&Company designer paper from a mat pack and Stampin' Up image and sage shadow & rose red cardstock. Also used, Top Note die, triple flower punch, rose red ink and the scallop edge punch.

I liked the look and balance of this card, and Stan did, too, when he came to visit me in my workshop. So, I made another one, even better I think!

This one uses all Stampin' Up materials. (riding hood red and pirhouette pink cardstock, bella rose designer paper, same punches as above, riding hood red ink, bold brights brads) We will be making this at my next card class.

More cards soon! Let's go out and create!

the beginnings of a card blitz

Here are some more holiday 08 pictures. I had a gingerbread theme in the kitchen and decorated an entire 6' tree with just gingerbread ornaments.

See the little guy sitting on the candle sconce in the background?

There's another, different little guy on the other sconce:

And one more picture of the kitchen. The hutch decoration:

I have been on a card-making mission lately. It is one of my goals for 2009...finding joy in my friends and telling them how much I love them.

Here is one of them. {More to follow when we finally have a sunny day so that my pictures turn out better. It has been too gray here lately in the middle of winter!}

for Angel, who loves frogs...it includes a pin I found at a yard sale (love you, Angel!)

all things "good"

What a beautiful Christmas! Peace, love, friends, joy, kindness, generosity & fun all abounded at our house. Life is "good" here! Here are some images of Christmas for you to enjoy!

(my dining room table centerpiece...it underwent many changes and variations between Dec. 15 and now, but here is one of the configurations. Stan gave me the beautiful centerpiece a couple of weeks before Christmas. The roses were full and beautiful red roses then.)

Now on to the new year. Hello, 2009! My little word of the year is
My goals for 2009 all revolve around joy...

*celebrate my joy in everything that I do, including teaching, parenting, scrapbooking, cardmaking, art and homemaking;

*rejoice IN the people that I have chosen to be in my life... my husband, my children, my family, friends and co-workers; rejoice WITH them whenever possible, too! Give more gifts, send more cards, make more play dates...

*exhibit GAIETY whenever possible...play more games, sing & dance & laugh more...show my joy more; try not to be so serious all the time...

*DELIGHT every day in how fortunate I am...and then thank God for it all...

*find {ORGANIZED} BLISS in all things paperwork...not only cardmaking and scrapbooking but all the tough paperwork...lesson plans, grading papers, grades....bill-paying, filing, filing, filing.... (this one will be a hard one for me, for sure)

*celebrate this JOY with others in regular, bi-weekly blogging...learning PHOTOSHOP 100%...

*DELIGHT in the moon every night on a walk with the dogs & my husband; study the moon phases (again) and REVEL in them.

now, a 2009 wish for you

(source: author unknown, some great cookbook I have studied)

Well, time to go into the workshop and create... Happy New Year!

bad to the bone!

In honor of el dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead), November 1st & 2nd, I gave my fellow Spanish teachers a gag gift of a skull toy. The bag and the card were pretty:

and used some Stampin' Up papers, stamp and ribbon. They were amused!

Stan & I went to a very nice Halloween party at S & H's house Friday night. We dressed up as a witch (me) and the ghost of a pirate (Stan). I would LOVE to show you a picture, but I am forbidden to share. (See me in person & I'll show them to you on my camera.....Hee, hee!) Thank you to S & H and P for a wonderful evening!

I had some time to create this weekend. Looking forward to some more tomorrow!

a perfect Thursday evening!

another strip pieced card...for my friend Jeri this time...happy birthday to you!
Jeri loves cats and has lots of them! She is an expert on all things CAT!

Ahhh, a perfect Thursday evening...sitting in my workshop....listening/watching the fighting Phillies and...CREATING!

Let's go!

que pasa, calabaza? nada, nada, limonada!

I love pumpkins! While orange is not my favorite color, it certainly does pop when you are doing something creative! Pumpkins make everything POP in the autumn months!





Here is a card I made last week and finished this weekend. Enjoy!

I am on a "strip-piecing" kick now. The card is much more vibrant in person.

Off to create some more!

a long time coming...& lots of pix

It's been a long time! I have been doing a lot of watching this:

hour after hour, day after day. The season is almost over! (Alas, no time to create when we are full in tennis season.) Jenni's doing brilliantly, having made all-stars and won the first level of all-stars, and winning 70% or more of her matches. She is a force on the team! Her nickname: THE HAMMER!

One very proud day, Stan and I went to her match after school, which she won, and then on to the academic award ceremony at the school, where she was recognized for her academic achievement. We were beyond proud to almost giddy! Who could ask for anything more?

I did have time to decorate the dining room table for fall:

Nothing fancy this time around. I also had time to make a card to send to Kelsi:

We went to North Jersey to see her rugby game last week. It was great! A beautiful fall day with a sparkling blue sky and plenty of warm sunshine and a fresh breeze. Lovely! Kelsi's team won, and she was a pivotal force on the team, scoring one "touchdown" (I forget what they are called), making tackle after tackle including a score-saving tackle, playing every minute with all of her heart. She is incredible! And strong! Her nickname: FRIDGE DINK!

Here she is after a hard-fought game:
And here are both of my beautiful girls: (October 9, 2008)

Aren't I blessed? Life is GREAT!

I have a couple of cards on the drawing board, so there will be a post later on this week!

Time to create!

are they really shooting the birdies? & cages

Stan & I went to Swedesboro/Woolwich Day yesterday. It was fun!

Here are some pictures of some civil war re-enactors who were demonstrating some of their wares.

Two little girls were next to me when these gentlemen were shooting their rifles. One girl yelled "are they really shooting the birdies?" It made me laugh! (They were shooting blanks, of course!)

I'm no photographer at all, but I love this picture. What a face this guy has! (in front of the Rulon House in Swedesboro)

Here is a picture of my mom's "cage" on her foot. I've been describing it (badly) for a couple of months. This is what it looks like in person:

My mom is so brave! And always optimistic! I admire so much how she makes the best of a difficult situation...and always with a smile! Only a few more weeks of the cage this way, and then she should get a shoe to put underneath it so that she can walk with it on. Then a few weeks like that, and the whole thing will come off. We're looking forward to her being hardware-less!

I hope to get to some creative stuff this week.

love american style x 49

...a tough week for all of us...first mom, then dad, in the hospital... Here they are reunited again after all the excitement...a love story forty-nine plus years in the making...
I haven't had a chance to do anything creative because of all of the family obligations, but here's an old scrapbook page from the summer---

Jen is so young in this picture. Look at that smile!

With creating on the back burner, go out and hug someone important!

new math

A new mathematical equation for you:

dominos + friends + food + beautiful house + live music = friendship + constant laughter + joy

Last night was wonderful. Thanks, S & P, for your incredible hospitality.

Thank you J & G & BB for your friendship and joie de vivre. Thank you, P, for the live music. Nice to meet you, D! It was wonderful to envelop you into this happy group!

Who knew dominos could be so much fun? Life is grand!

Time to create!

a log cabin sunday

Thanks to the amazing team of S&R for inviting me to their bonfire Friday night. You guys can do bonfire better than anyone! Your hospitality is always exceptional!


School starts in two days, so I'm finishing up my last few fun goals of the summer.

1. create a blog a



2. visit with friends like crazya



3. get my workshop organized so that other people can see it (here's to you G and M!)a



4. make lots of cards and scrapbook pagesa



5. print hard copy of all the pictures on CD'sa



6. get my sewing station up and running againa



7. work through my yoga CD and learn some new movesa



8. enter a card challenge on linea







Hmmmm, there were some other goals, too. I guess I didn't get those done!





Here's a card I made this week:

I'm still playing with the log cabin technique, but I stamped the strips with all SU images and then cut apart to use in the lob cabin.

Time to create!

domino delight!

Another great luncheon with my card- (errr, domino-) playing friends. Thanks to J for a great lunch and to S, BB and P for some competitive tiles.

(Ahhh, so sad, I will miss these Tuesdays so much when school starts again next week....boo hoo.... here's wishing you all a one-dot-three-dot piece...do you remember our lesson? Harmony!)

In my typical end of summer rush to clean up my workshop yesterday, I found a pack of scrapbooking frames that I bought at a scrapbooking yard sale for $1. There were at least 50 frames in the pack. They looked like this:

This is actually three pieces, an outside frame, an inside frame and the rectangle with the word on it by My Mind's Eye. I guess you would use the frames to go around pictures. Not me, though! In my use-everything, take it down to the basics and create way of thinking, I took the three frames apart, like this:

And then I cut them up into strips and played with putting the strips back together. Just like QUILTING!

Here are a couple of cards that I came up with after putting the strips back together...


...and...

And, of course, since I was piecing the paper together like a QUILT, I had to sew right onto the card! (I inked these pieces, too.)

Time to create!

a color challenge

I visit Kristine Werner's blog often to see what beautiful cards and scrapbook pages she is creating. She is an amazing artist!

Most weeks she has a color challenge. You have to use the colors that she has chosen from some current advertisement or magazine layout and interpret the colors in a card. Here are the colors this week:

This was a tough group of colors. Basic black, basic gray and white are so austere. This is only my second time working on a color challenge, and I will get better at this! Here is my card:

(Stampin' Up basic black, basic gray, whisper white, apricot appeal, SU stamp set Stitched Exotics, basic gray ink, clear embossing powder, brass embossing template, thickers stickers)

Go out and create!

domino delight

Played dominos all afternoon with my friends J, G, S, P and BB. We {used to} play penochle....now, with six of us, we have taken to dominos. And we are FIERCE about it! Who knew that dominos could be so fun?

Thanks to P and S for an amazing lunch and to everyone for the great camaraderie and competition. Hanging out with you all has been the highlight of my summer!

Here is another card I made for my mom, who is still recovering:

(Stampin' Up pale plum and perfect plum, prima flowers, SU fire brad,

the swirl is a Quickkutz die that I cut with my Cuttlebug)

Time to create!

spooky railroad bridge & romance

Sunday was a fine day!

Stan and I took J to her week-long TIGS camp in North Jersey near the Delaware Water Gap. We went the LONG way there, having headed up the NJ turnpike only to find that it was definitely the LONG {wrong} way to go. We made the best of it and arrived in plenty of time.

The way back was WONDERFUL. Just Stan and I. On an adventure. Like old times. We took the LONG way home, too, cruising a tiny little road along the Delaware River from the Delaware Water Gap down....sometimes it didn't even look like a road, but a driveway through someone's property...

It was wonderful to spend quiet together time this way. We didn't even listen to the radio, just talked and watched the river, the railroad tracks, the canals..at one point there was a railroad bridge that we road under, and even though the RR tracks had been abandoned years ago, there was an old, rusty train...lots of cars, including a caboose and a tender...on the tracks just sitting there, not moving. This was in a rather remote area, and it was kind of spooky...

Ahh, the adventures! We went again to Bull's Island, a state park and campground 10 miles south of Frenchtown and 7 miles north of Lambertville that we had camped with the girls several times. It is a WONDERFUL park and campground, with the Delaware River running on one side (complete with weir dam for swimming and entertainment) and the very beginning of the Delaware-Raritan Canal on the other side, and a walking-only, foot bridge over to Pennsylvania.

For us it is a rather romantic spot, and we walked around the campground {holding hands}, out to the point to watch the river and the boats and the people tubing...then around to the various sites that we have camped. It was great!

Here is a card I made last week with a very old Stampin' Up set lent by Ethel:

I used the stamp set to piece the image.

And here's a scrapbook page I have been working on:

The photo doesn't look very good in this picture of the scrapbook page, but in real life, the picture kind of jumps out at you on the page...

I stenciled this page quite a bit with paint and ink, there is a LOT of sewing, along the curvy lines on the left, around the photo especially, and I cut out the letters by hand. Here's to you, Mom and Dad! {Get well soon, Mom!}

Off for more adventures!