Armed Forces Day

We think of what it means to be free and what it takes to maintain that freedom. We thank you for your service, your dedication and the sacrifice you and your families have made on behalf of us, our country and for Freedom.

On  somewhat related note, there is still time to get your name on the VFW Memorial Day Register....... follow the link below.

On Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, VFW National Commander John E. Hamilton will travel to Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

He’ll also carry a VFW Memorial Day Register filled with the signatures of caring Americans like you who want to honor the sacrifice of America’s veterans. It will be presented to Patrick K. Hallinan, Superintendent, Arlington National Cemetery.

The VFW invites you to join Commander Hamilton on his journey to Arlington by adding your name to the VFW Memorial Day Register.

Thank you for remembering our freedom is not free

http://heroes.vfw.org/site/PageNavigator/2013MemorialDaySignRegister.html&autologin=true

OWH Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop SIGN UP NOW

http://operationwritehome.org/bloghop/

SIGN UP TODAY !

I am already signed up and have my project completed,

all I need to do is make time to write the blog post !

This years theme,

Make thank you cards based on one of our OWH sketches; post the sketch or link to it in your post. 
 Cards can be thanks cards for our heroes to send – or much more needed right now, AnyHero cards
 with notes inside written TO them!

Muddy Mess

The flood waters are slowly and steadily receding ! 

The water has made its way back into the creek banks,

out of the field as of Saturday afternoon. 

Still  above flood stage though, considered moderate flooding.

At one point there was nearly 5 feet of water in the field !

It got as close as the base of the tree near the driveway

and just creeping over the edges of the road. 

I'm certainly not complaining about the smelly, sticky, muddy mess

left behind in the field when there are so many people dealing with

this mess in their homes and loss of belongings.

 I'm so very thankful that the original

flood predictions did not come true, 

otherwise I would be cleaning mud from the house 

if sandbagging and pumping efforts

were not able to keep the water away. 

I was not looking forward to moving my entire craft dungeon

 to higher ground !

Pop Up Bouquet Card 2

Happy Mother's Day !

I made a pop up bouquet card last year and finally got around to making another !!!! 

Here is the link to last years card 

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2012/04/pop-up-bouquet-card.html

tutorial on how to make a pop up bouquet,
these are the instructions I used as printed in the book
and now posted online
http://www.marthastewart.com/907176/pop-card
YES, it is a tricky and time consuming project !

THIS is a much better photo taken in daylight and

after I added a couple of Pistachio Pudding card stock leaves

punched out with the retiring build a blossom punch.

The colors look more true in this photo, at least on my monitor.

The glitter doesn't show up very well in this photo though.

This card uses a few new sneak peek items from the NEW Stampin' Up! Idea Book 

(Demonstrators were able to purchase a select few items early). 

It also uses some of the new In Colors !

SUPPLIES USED:


Baked Brown Sugar (NEW!)  , Pistachio Pudding (NEW!)  , Strawberry Slush (NEW!), Very Vanilla card stocks

Copy weight / printer paper

Strawberry Slush (NEW!), Crisp Cantaloupe (NEW!) inks

ABC123 Sketch Alphabet (NEW!), Gingham Stampin' Around Wheel (NEW!), Mixed Bouquet, Flexible Phrases, Whimsical Words stamp sets

Window Framelits Die, Circles Bigz die,  Blossom punch , Lace Ribbon punch (retired), circle punch

Lattice embossing folder

Paper Piercer

Stickles glitter

Dimensionals

Stampin' Sponge and Brown Sugar ink to rub along the edges of the card front

I would recommend a stampamajig for the alphabet, I don't have one and had the worst time trying to get these letters to line up properly. I finally gave up and just used the sketchy letters alone, not using the outline letters set that match them. I still had issues with lining up the MOM as neatly as I liked, I called it a day with this, the best one of them all and yet still crooked. It may have just been me, too, getting frustrated and tired.


Thanks or looking =)

Countryside Pickup Truck (Altered Image) Card

I have always liked the truck image from the Countryside stamp set by Stampin' Up! , but did not care for the apples in the bed of the truck or the sign on the tail gate. Well, I finally broke down and got it and was able to oh so carefully tweak it to remove the parts I didn't want ! Oh how I wish Stampin' Up! would release more classic car / truck images. The old sets I do have are my most used sets !

This card also uses a couple of new sneak peek items from the upcoming 2013-2014 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog !

Countryside stamp brush set carefully altered 

Water colored with Cranberry Crisp, Baked Brown Sugar (NEW!), Smoky Slate(NEW!) 

Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green and Bashful Blue inks and an aquapainter

Midnight Muse, Baked Brown Sugar (NEW!), Smoky Slate (NEW!), Whisper White 

and Cranberry Crisp card stock

Perfectly Penned stamp set, Baked Brown Sugar ink (NEW!)

ABC123 Sketch Alphabet set (NEW!) and Cranberry Crisp (retired) ink

Artisan Label punch (NEW!) - only usrd half of it

This is the first time I've made something for quite a while.

This is also the first time the new kitten has hung out with me 

in the basement - she was going nuts with all of the new things 

to explore, climb, get into. 

She had the most fun with an empty card board box 

and crinkly brown packing paper. 

So much fun in fact, she needed a kitten nap in my chair

that I would have liked to be sitting in while I 

water colored the image........ oh well ! 

Thanks for looking =)