Christmas Card

This is the last card I worked on during vacation.  I hadn't used the burgundy ribbon yet, and I didn't want to have travelled 2600 miles with it for nothing!  hehehe  The circle sentiment and wise men are from JustRite Stamps, and all of the paper except the white and green leaves is from a stack called Gold and Silver.  The background paper was printed on the offwhite with only gold, and I colored it in using my SU markers.  I couldn't find my "Bow-Easy", so my bow is hand-tied using my hand to wrap the two loops around.  I must have left it at home!  My craft room looks like a tornado hit it, and my daughter was scrapping in it while I was gone, so it's going to be a search and destroy mission to get everything back where it belongs so it's a usuable space again!  I'm NOT posting a photo of that! hehe

I stamped the circle sentiment and wise men in versamark, then sprinkled and heat set with gold extra-fine embossing powder.  The papers came already embossed.  I made the curly cues, and the leaves with Stampin' Up cardstock, and the roses I had from a stash, but purchased in the bridal area of Joann's.

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Vacation Updates

Hi, again!  I just wanted to share a little more of my vacation with y'all!  Washington, DC was amazingly busy, and I'd never been there before.  The buildings were magnificent, there were many, many people walking everywhere from all parts of the globe!  The Smithsonian was very interesting, although we only went to the Space Museum - the ol' foot swelled and wanted to sit.  The only complaints we had was that there were only metered parking spots, of which we had  trouble finding one.  When we did, we put all our change in and it came to a little over an hour.  The meters are only good for two hours!  We would have had to keep coming out of the museum and going a block and one-half away to put more change in!  We asked and found a parking garage, and it cost us $98 for four hours!  How?  Eighteen dollars for the actual parking, and $80 for the tow company to come unlock the truck because the keys were locked in it!  hehehehe  The other thing we didn't like was that we couldn't get close to any of the landmark buildings we wanted to see because of all the baracades!  You'd think the President was close by or something!  ha We did have many laughs on the trip - it's the only thing we could do.  Thirty years ago, we wouldn't have been laughing!  We would have been arguing over who locked the doors, etc.

This is a sunset shot in Virginia during the first week.  At home, we live on the northeast side of a hill with very tall trees all around.  They block our view of all sunsets so we were awed by the ones we saw!

At the campground in Virginia, called Misty Mountain, while Mike was checking in, I was still sitting in the truck, and happened to glance over to a butterfly bush and saw a butterfly I've never seen before!  I jumped out of the truck with my camera, (which I don't think ever left my hands) and was able to capture it on film.  Anyone know what kind it is?  It's beautiful, even though I've never thought of brown as beautiful!

Next post will be cards or projects, I promise!  I hope you're all having a wonderful end to your summer, wherever you may be!  It's still hot in Nashville, but supposed to cool off by about 10* next week!  Yay!

We're Home! A Broken Window & Avoided Overpass!

Boy, is it good to be home! 

Last Monday, the dealership was gracious enough to get our truck done first thing, so Mike got a call at 10:30 a.m. that it was done and ready to pick up.  He left to return the rental car, and go get the truck - it was only the water pump that had broken and was covered under the warranty!  Thank you, Lord!  He was so happy when he got back to the campground and backed the truck up to the trailer to hitch it up!  Like a little kid at Christmas!  Just like when he bought the truck!  I was all ready to go, and the trailer was all tied down and ready to hitch up, so we were done and out of there by 1:00.  We drove for 11 hours to get to the next campground.  We were so tired and looked forward to just an easy week at this last unexpected stop.  We drove into the campground, and the first site was taken, with all of the trees lit up with orange and purple lights, and pumpkins EVERYWHERE!  Not real ones, but the kind of spongy-rubber ones you can get.  Not one was the same - there must have been 200, even in the trees!  We drove around to find an empty spot just to sleep in, and we would check in in the morning with the office and pay.  It was midnight Tuesday morning.  We came to the end of the campground, and decided we needed to turn around and go back up closer to the front of the place.  Now, we have never arrived anywhere at night, so backing the trailer up in the dark (they don't have back up lights) was very difficult because Mike couldn't see anything!  He knew there was a tree in a little island in the middle of this kind of a circular turnaround, and he was trying to avoid hitting that, and the branches hanging off one on the other side of the road.  He turned too sharply, and the front corner of the trailer hit the side edge of the back window of the truck, and BANG!  The whole window exploded out and showered glass everywhere!  It scared us so badly!  He had done this once before, and left a dent in the metal of the truck next to the window on the other side, but it didn't break.  We weren't that lucky this time.  We got the trailer parked, and then at 1:00 a.m., with broom and dust pan, we walked to where the glass was and cleaned it up.  What a mess!  It was everywhere inside and out of the truck and on the street. 

We didn't get much sleep, and prayed that it wouldn't rain.  At 9:00 that morning, I called the insurance company to get the name of a glass company in the area.  State Farm was great in providing the location and phone numbers of the people we needed to contact.  Mike was fortunate enough not to be really busy that afternoon, so he took the truck to Safelite AutoGlass and had it replaced.  That night it rained, and rained, and rained!  I laid in bed and just listened to it hitting the roof of the trailer, and it was so nice!  Mike never heard it - he was dead to the world, and SNORE, boy, did he snore!  Poor, tired man!  It rained all of Tuesday and partially Wednesday, then the sun came out again.  It was warmer in KY than in PA.  I watched a praying mantis on one of the trailer tires, and he was very interesting.  We got to talking about bugs, and how the female eats the male.  Yuck!  On Friday morning, I was outside folding the picnic table cover up, and our little green friend was still there on the tire.  I got a stick and put him on the tree next to us, where he sat looking around, contentedly.  Within 30 minutes, he was gone.  I've never seen one fly.

We left the campground at Boonesborough, KY, turning left onto a two-lane road.  It wound around and around, up and down, and Mike said, "I don't remember coming this way."  We didn't - we were out in a "holler" of Kentucky, and it was slow going because of all the trees hanging down, and a passing car once in a while.  We went down a little hill, and came to a railway bridge over the road we were on, and we came screeching to a rough halt.  We almost had another calamity!   The sign on the bridge said it was 11 ft. 2 in. high.  Our trailer is 12 ft. 2 in. high, so if Mike hadn't noticed that and stopped in time, we would have cut off about 12" plus some off the top of the trailer!  Can you imagine??  The truck behind us didn't like it too well when we stopped so quickly, but when you have about 10,000 lbs. of trailer pushing you down the hill, you hope the brakes hold!  God was with us, because right where we stopped was a dirt driveway going up to a mobile home next to the road.  It was situated so that we could back up into their big dirt "parking lot" and turn around. 

I have to say that this trip was so enjoyable, and we had a lot of fun!  Yeah, some things happened along the way, but we weren't hurt in any of them, had the extra money to pay for them in cash, didn't charge anything, and arrived at home with cash left over!  We can really see where God was in all of this! 

I hope each of you is having a wonderful weekend, and enjoying the "not-so-hot" as three weeks ago, weather we're having.  It's about 20 degrees warmer here than it was in Pennsylvania.  Not that I'm complaining, but I really like the cooler weather better!  I hope you're all well and doing great!  Happy crafting!

One final note - I made the Heartfelt Creations Design Team!  I'm so excited! 

Joan's Gardens Blog Challenge #14

I have a couple of cards that I'd like to enter into the challenge this time!  The requirements are that the card be red, green and brown, and hopefully use Heartfelt Creations dies or stamps for extra points, and a punch of some kind.  She also specified using lace, but I didn't use lace on two of them because I didn't have any at the time of making them.  I apologize for the color differences.  The "burgundy" is actually brown.  I picked up a bunch of beautiful acorns on a walk through the woods at the campground where we were "stranded". 

There's a real oak stick on the card too!  This next card coming up is a favorite - sometimes I surprise myself at what comes from a few hours of work.  Usually I can't think of a thing as far as layout goes, but this one came together quickly!

It does have lace on it at the bottom.  I love the way the apples look with the Stampin' Up Crystal Effects on them!  Good enough to eat - I can hear the crunch and munching now! 

This is making me hungry for warm apple pie! 

This next card is one that I made for Heartfelt Creations, using their new Cardinal stamp sets and dies from Spellbinders!  Awesome sets!  I had so much fun playing!  The window is a template by Marianne Designs Anja Style.  I used some leftover cellophane from a package of dimensionals for the window panes.  There is "snow" on the window and drifting down outside.  I like to use a lot of the little "leftovers" from punching - the little white swirly things in the top corners are some of those. 

This close up shows the ribbon I wound around through the "beads" of this Spellbinders Nestability Beaded Ovals, and I chalked the dots with Stampin' Up's Handsome Hunter.  The holly berries have SU's Crystal Effects on them.  I will be using these stamps and dies again!

This card was my first to make for Joan's challenge, then I really read the directions, noticing that I was supposed to use lace.  I had so much fun experimenting with my corner punches and making snowflakes with them.   Becca Feeken has a wonderful tutorial for how to make them! 

I used a lot of the little "clippings" left over from punching for the "bird seed".  I mixed "snow" with SU's dazzling diamonds to make glittery snow, and glued it in various places.  The roofing is made from one of the pine cones off one of the trees in the campground.  I was lucky to have just this one to work with since my hubby used the others for kindling to make a fire!  ha ha  I used real feathers on the cardinals, too!  I like the layout of this "Joy" Card and the paper used inside is from Debbie Mumm. 



You can see the feathers well in this shot.


The inside of the joy card is show below.  I punched a SU Handsome Hunter cardstock cardinal out and placed him along with some of the corner punch snowflakes on the inside.  The large white snowflake at the bottom is from the new Spellbinders Snowflake pendant die.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing all the creations I've worked on while on vacation - truly fun and play to me, not work!  I appreciate any comments you may leave.         

ALSO, CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL YOU LADIES THAT MADE THE HEARTFELT CREATIONS DESIGN TEAM!  Way to go, Girls!

Vacation Update!

Hello, everyone!  I wanted to update you on my 2-week vacation that has now turned into a 3-week vacation, which I'm still on!  I was supposed to be home in Mount Juliet tonight, but our truck broke down two days ago.  We had to drive it to a Dodge dealership for repairs yesterday, with it spewing antifreeze all over the engine.  Of course, on a Friday afternoon, there's no chance of them getting to it, but they did order the parts they needed, and they will hopefully be in on Monday morning!  If so, they should have it fixed by Monday afternoon, and we'll be on the road, headed to Kentucky.  Mike has to be at work no later than Wednesday morning at the hospital in Kentucky.  So we'll be going straight there from here.  We had to rent a car, and it looks so small next to the big trailer here in the campground in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  We went for a ride this afternoon to the Mucheax National Forest, and we found the most beautiful campground, much nicer than the one we are in.  Next time we'll be staying there!

Too big to tow!

On the third day of the trip, we were still at the Putuxant NAS, and we drove up to Washington, DC.  I've never been there, and Mike was about 16 when he was there.  That was a long time ago, so he must really be old!  I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, but it wasn't anything like what we experienced in WDC!  There was so much road construction, and roads that were closed off because they came to close to the Capital Building.  People were walking everywhere, and there were beautiful statues, buildings and museums to see!  We couldn't find anywhere to park except for a 2-hour parking meter, and a quarter gave you 9 minutes, a dime 4 minutes, and a nickel 2 minutes.  We only had enough change for an hour and twenty minutes.  We fed the meter everything we had!  We knew we couldn't go through even one of the Smithsonian museums in that time, and Mike would have had to get change somewhere, and keep running back out to the meter, which was about a city block away.  He went back to put more change in it, and I waited on the steps to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.  I had foot surgery a couple of months ago, and could only wear flip-flops, so I needed to sit for a minute.  Instead of putting more change in, he drove up to the curb, and waved me to the truck.  A guy told him where a parking garage was.  Well, the garage wasn't where the guy said it was, and we asked two more people where it was.  We finally found it, and drove in.  The maximum height of vehicles capable of going into the garage was 6 ft. 6 inches.  Our truck is 6 ft. 2 inches.  There was only 4" of leeway between the ceiling, pipes & fire sprinklers and the roof - when we drove in, it sure looked like we were going to hit!  Well, he did hit a post inside the garage, which flipped the right side mirror towards the door!  Luckily, it is made to do that, just for that purpose.  It scared me though because I wasn't expecting the bang, and it was right at my window!  A garage attendant directed us to a place to park temporarily, and he would move the truck later to a different location in the garage.  We parked behind some cars, which blocked them in, so if the owners came back and wanted to leave, they couldn't!  WHY?  Because someone left the keys in the ignition like the attendant asked, then one of us (and it wasn't me!) hit the lock button and shut the door.   We were both swearing it wasn't ourselves that did it, and the attendant just shook his head.  We called a "rescue" tow company and they sent a guy out in about 45 minutes to unlock the door using his special door-unlocking tools.  While waiting for him to show up, we went upstairs in the air-conditioned elevator and found a little French Bistro where we got a very good lunch.  We took it back down to the stifling heat of the garage.  The big fans didn't help much and it was record heat that day.  $80 later, we were finally in the museum, cooling off, and enjoying the space shuttle.  See the guy in the red shirt?  He's the door locker! 

Door locker!

After the museum, we drove around "the mall" and saw many of the beautiful buildings, the Pentagon, the Washington Monument, and others.  It was very neat to see, and yet at the same time, was so very busy, and crowded, and confusing.  We drove back to Pax NAS to the campground and made dinner. 

So that's now Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC we had been in.  We're now in Pennsylvania, and will go through West Virginia on our way to Kentucky.

The Curcio Calamities! & Card Gift Box

Hello, again!  I was inspired when I saw a set of cards in a box that someone had made as a gift.  I have been at a loss as to what to give my secret pal from church, so I decided to make her a gift set!  I wasn't sure of the colors going together at first, but then they grew on me, and I wanted to keep making more cards, and on and on and on...  I'm not sure of the names of some of the stamp sets or who made them, but I will get that info after I get home.  I'm still on vacation in Pennsylvania!  We are in the trailer at a campground in Carlisle, PA, and our truck is being repaired somewhere about 15 miles from here.  It was not driveable and certainly couldn't pull the 5th wheel trailer home as planned. 

Also, yesterday Mike was showing me how to put the awning up, and when I did, it tore off.  The fabric was dry-rotted so badly that it felt and tore just like paper!  I thought about what I could make out of it on a card!  ha ha 

So, here we sit until we hear from the dealership about the truck repairs.  Mike is supposed to be in Kentucky on Monday for work, Wednesday at the very latest!  I hope they get it fixed by tomorrow.  I was looking forward to going home today.

I could make some more cards!  That's a good idea!  I should post the things I have made, so will do that instead while I have internet.

Back to the Card Gift Set and Gift Box...

As I was saying, I like the way the colors came together, and I think my secret pal liked it, but I won't know until our Christmas party in December!  he he

Four Card Gift Set and Gift box. 

I used some sticker edges from the Walmart clearance bin, and punches for the others.  I'm sorry I can't list them for you at this time - some of the stamps were purchased at Michael's, Hobby Lobby or Joann's, and I think they are Inkadinkadoo.  The red polyester ribbon is from Offray.  All cardstock is from Stampin' Up except for the patterned paper, which is from a stack called Mariposa.  I used some of the embossing folders, and a Marianne Design Anja Style Template with paper piercing on one of the cards.

 I colored all the stamping with Stampin' Up markers in Riding Hood Red, Handsome Hunter, Garden Green, Summer Sun, Brilliant Blue, Brocade Blue, and Black.

The vellum flower was punched with a Stampin' Up punch, and I rounded the ends of the petals with scissors.  Two flowers were used, glued together in the center.  The center was a punched 1/2" circle by Stampin' Up, and I used a black SU marker to spot the outer ring and color in the center.  I then applied flocking to the center in black.  I knew if I spent enough time on this post, that I'd remember what the fuzzy black stuff was called, and I did!  Flocking!

I love Psalm 37:4, and I really believe it!  The green background beneath the sentiment was embossed with a floral folder.  I believe the punch for the red border was a Martha Stewart Arches (?), and then the Walmart clearance bin white edging.  I used some Riding Hood Red ink on a sponge for the side edges.

I CAN do all things through Jesus Christ who is my strength!

I used a branch embossing folder and a swiss dot folder on the green cardstock from SU, and a Spellbinders Fleur-de-lis pendant die on the red background.  The flowers are flat vellum lined with the black pen, and the patterned paper is from the Mariposa stack.  The little butterfly was stamped and punched using a SU stamp at a class, and scissors.

The flowers on this card were punched with a SU punch, and I used some generic yellow rhinestones from my collection for the centers.  The embossed edge at the top was sponged with SU's Garden Green classic inkpad.  The ring around the sentiment was stamped with a JustRite stamp, and the sentiment is a Verve stamp.  I sponged Riding Hood Red ink around the torn inside edge of the ring frame, and on the face of the sentiment, sponged some Brocade Blue on.  If I have any of this incorrect, I surely do apologize!  When I get home, it will be fixed!  This card has the Mariposa patterned paper on the bottom, and the blue above is embossed with a Marriane Designs Anja Style template.  I also pierced some of the pattern on the blue, but it's not real noticable here.

I loved the floral embossing folder used on the blue background.  I used my fingernail to roughen up the edges of the green oval behind the sentiment.  I hope everyone believes this!  He is Amazing!  And Grace!  And Love!  And Mine!  And Yours, Forever!  I didn't use the red vellum this time on these flowers, but just colored them with SU markers, and stamped them twice, popping the second one up on dimensionals.  I didn't do all of them though.  I had received some ribbon in the mail from somewhere, and there was just enough for the top.   The white edging was punched with the Martha Stewart Deco Fans punch.  I've got it with me on vacation!  =) 

This gift box was made out of one sheet of cardstock, to fit around a 10 oz. box of Nonni's Biscotti.  I put my secret pal's name on the tag, but to prevent her from seeing it, I have put a big black blob on it.  Please don't look at her name above too closely!  he he  The little butterfly is punched with an EK Success punch, and just various SU punches for the other tags.  The red ribbon is Offray satin.

  

This is the top of the box, where I popped up a whole Poppy alone.

 Below is the gift box open, showing the placement of two large
square green eyelets, one in the center of the 1/2 circle punched
with a large 1" punch placed halfway over the front edge
of the box.  The other is on the front flap of the lid, then the
ribbon is fed through both and tied in a bow.

 Thank you for viewing my blog, and I hope you've enjoyed your stay! 
I appreciate your comments and your visit!

Oh My, Vacation Happenings!

I am still on vacation, and in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, sitting in the trailer on a very cool day (feels like Heaven to me!) waiting for my husband to get back with the rental car.  We were supposed to be driving half-way home today.  You won't believe what's been happening! 

Mike and I left Mount Juliet, TN, on August 29, to vacation at several different campgrounds in our 5th wheel trailer and truck.  We drove for about 5 hours that first day, and stopped at Misty Mountain Campground, in Virginia.  The second day we drove about 4 hours to Putuxant Naval Air Station on the Putuxant River in Virginia, and stayed in their "FamCamp" since Mike is a 21-year retired veteran of the Air Force.  This is on the coast of the Atlantic and the photo shows the humungous pine trees that stood all around and over our trailer in the campground.  It was beautiful there, but hot, and we forgot our swimsuits!  But, that's OK, because there were warning signs that the beaches were closed due to jellyfish infestations!  Yes, jellyfish infestations!  We walked from the campsite about 100 yards to the Potomac River (looked like an ocean to me!) across the street, and out onto a T-shaped dock where about 100 seagulls were sitting.  Amidst their squawking protests of being uprooted from their poop-covered perches, we went to the end of both sides of the dock.  Looking over the side, we saw nothing but green water, then we saw some really long skinny fish with pointed noses swimming against the current in one place.  Mike said they were Alligator Gar.  I said they were ugly!  We saw some shiny slivers of silver occasionally, and I thought someone had thrown some steel or aluminum foil into the water, but then they'd shine somewhere else.  We realized that the sun was glinting on the shiny scales (or skin) of some very quick and large schools of fish that were swimming by.  We watched for a little bit, and all of a sudden the whole school came to the top of the water in a feeding frenzy.  The water looked like it was boiling!  Then they were gone.  We saw some small, really soft looking stuff floating by with the current, and then we saw a large transparent jellyfish outlined in white, with long white tentacles, opening and closing to transport itself, but still floating along on the current.  Looking closer at the water, we saw that there were hundreds of thousands of the small, soft looking circles which were immature jellyfish just lazily floating along.  Everywhere we went that was on the water, we saw them, so we were glad we forgot our suits!  We saw blue crabs, and other fish too, not to mention the birdlife.  Next stop on the tour is Washington, DC, and boy, did I screw up there up!  Next issue...