Beautiful leap day

Wow, it's just a gorgeous leap day here, but rain is on the way. I check on my flower beds just about every day, and I've been finding crocus (I think that's the name) flowers on the ground but never see them in actual bloom, until today. I just had to take some pictures.



Happy gardening!

Believing God

Last night, some ladies at our church began Beth Moore's "Believing God" study. The first session was absolutely wonderful! I'm looking forward to digging in God's Word, which has been lacking in my life lately. I love Beth's excitement about God's Word and the way she gets me excited. I want that all the time - the excitement about hearing from Him, the deep hunger and thirst for righteousness. One thing that really impressed me last night was that often times my theology doesn't merge with my reality. I've fallen asleep spiritually, settling for mediocrity and whining about my life instead of actively looking for my promised land, believing and receiving the Word of God. That's some good stuff! The Holy Spirit really impressed Joshua 3:5 upon me last night. "Then Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' " I need to consecrate myself, be holy, and set apart so he can do a wonderous work in me! I can't wait to share more of what the Lord lays upon my heart.
Hugs,
Mel

Party Animal

N's crazy uncle Tom has a birthday coming up and when I saw this Muppets "Animal" sticker, I immediately thought of him! I made this card in the wee hours of the morning after working on Vefficient (my business). I checked SCS just before I went to bed and sure enough, sketch challenge 165 (SC165) was up, so I thought I'd whip this baby out. The only stamp I used was "Happy Birthday" from A Muse, but I just didn't think it needed anything else. Animal is so loud and fun - you can't help but laugh out loud when you look at him!

Dad answers

He always does...but often times it's not immediate, which is usually when I want an answer. This week, however, he chose to answer immediately. I've just got to share my joy! You see, I've had a virtual administrative business for a while now but haven't really done much with it. I've made the occasional post to Craig's List, and even researched local companies that I want to contact, but I haven't actually done anything yet. Well, in order to keep the peace at home, I made myself contact at least 2 people on Monday. Yep, this is just cold calling, as I don't have any business contacts here. I get anxious just thinking about it. LOL Anyway, I was so anxious, I had to pray about it because I needed some peace. Dad answered my prayer almost immediately. The first call I made didn't work out, but the second call, I was able to talk with the HR contact and make an appointment for tomorrow morning. They providentially have extra work that needs to be done; she sounded shocked that I had called. {smile} I'm super excited that I have this opportunity to present my services in person, but I'm once again filled with anxiety, which I must ask Dad to bear for me again. :) If you think about it, I'm meeting with the HR contact and company president tomorrow morning at 9 and I could certainly use your prayers!

Thanks,
Mel

Happy Birthday, Noah (late)

It's been a crazy day today, running errands, working on Vefficient, and going to Ladies' Fellowship. I didn't have any time to stamp today, but here's a fun card I made for Noah's birthday. Unfortunately, it's late...his birthday was Sunday, but at least he'll get a little something in the mail that he won't be expecting. :) I colored this cute little monkey in with markers (not the fancy schmancy Copics or Prismas) and cut him out. I thought he would be cute swinging from the ribbon vine. I really like these colors together...it's bold and bright, baby!

Happy Stamping!

Hip Hip Hooray

Here's another card I made yesterday while stamping with Anne. I originally made it thinking I was following Beate's challenge, but when I went to post it, I realized the sketch wasn't right! Oh well, I still like it. Hopefully this will brighten someone's day! The little blue box on the bottom is actually a pre-made tag. I rounded the corners and stamped the "Hip Hip Hooray" on it. As I was digging around in the craft closet, I realized that I have so much stuff that I really need to use. I challenged myself to use a tag yesterday and I loved how it coordinated with this paper. :) There may be more tags to come.

Happy Stamping!

Enjoy your day!

Today is Monday and I'm having a wonderful day! My friend Anne came over and made me stamp today. {wink} We had a lot of fun, and like always, I think I chatted more than I worked on cards! I actually finished 2 this time and started on a group of some more. I'll share one today. This one was made for the SCS Monday TLC157 challenge, "I'm all mixed up," to create a card using 2 or more pieces of designer paper. I have tons of dp, so the challenge for me was deciding on which ones! I can't imagine there will ever be a day when I will run out of dp...I'm sure husby can't either. :-) I finally chose 2 pieces that I have been hording for months now (seriously). I didn't want to "mess them up." I also used Jen del Muro's weekly sketch (again). I'm really diggin' it. :) I love how this came out and am so tickled that I finally used the paper. I can't wait to use this paper combo for more fun cards!
Enjoy your day!

Taisy & Damon

These cuties are Taisy & Damon. I fed and played with them while our friends were gone. They're both labs and very sweet. Taisy was a little mess-pot and missed Meagan so much one night that she wriggled her way out of her crate and tore up the garage, consoling herself with a Costco pack of organic chocolate milk. Just like a woman...going for the chocolate! She got sick, but she's fine now that they're back. I really enjoyed playing fetch with Damon. He was "one with the ball" whenever he had the chance. :) They were real cuties and I'm looking forward to our next play date.

Pottery Barn Inspiration

I find inspiration for stamping in all kinds of places such as nature, art, and even catalogs. I received the Pottery Barn catty today in the mail and was inspired by their beautiful, springy yellow and white bedding.
Here's my card. I used SCS sketch challenge (SC164) for this card. I know I've said it before and I will say it again...I love Holly's Stem Silhouettes set!

Happy Sunday!

Chuck-It

Bex just loves his chuck-it. Dad & Kathy got it for him for Christmas and the grass is finally drying up enough (after a week of sunshine) to play with it without the yard becoming a full-blown mud pit. We had fun playing out in the warm sunshine today. I made this card to send as a thank-you for this wonderful new toy. :)

I used Jen del Muro's wonderful sketch for this card. She has some great sketches that I've loved playing with! Head on over to her blog and check out her cute cards she made with this sketch. Thanks Jen for another fun one!

Flower World

I've got one word for ya: WOW! Flower World rocks! I had no idea that such a huge flower nursery, complete with gorgeous grounds, was only about 5 miles away. Rochelle and I had so much fun "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing" over the flowers. We 're both still in the planning stage and were able to resist the temptation to buy some cute pansies, but who knows how much discipline we'll have next time. I was busy shutterbugging (taking pictures) and taking in everything. I had fun playing with my telephoto lens and trying to capture individual flowers. I've got lots to learn! Seeing all of the beautiful plants and flowers made me want to get home and do some more clean-up around the yard. I can't wait to get a small veggie garden going later this spring and I'm looking forward to cleaning out the pond/waterfall area and get that looking nice. So many things to do! Click on the flower below to see the rest of the Flower World photos.

Baby Thanks

Seems like the weeks are just flying by. We've had a full week of sunshine and it has been wonderful. I've enjoyed being outside, but I've missed stamping. :-) I thought I'd share some thank you cards I made for Wendy to thank all of the loving people that are showering her (and Taylor) with gifts. Her family and friends are celebrating with her in Ft. Worth today. I was just thinking about her and thought I'd share these. I really like how they turned out. Each onesie was hand-cut - yes, I'm crazy. I made 10 of these and cut 91 onesies (I lost one). :-) I also decorated some of the plain ones and popped all of them up on dimensionals. I might make more of these, as there are lots of babies these days. I think something might be in the water at church. :)
Have a fabulous weekend. I'm off to hit Flower World with my friend, Rochelle. She said she was in need of some color!

Hints of Spring

We've had a beautiful week of nothing but sunshine so far, and I'm loving it. :) I couldn't stand being inside (even with a migraine for 3 days), so I mosied out and had some fun cleaning out my beds. I haven't touched them since we moved in last August. I actually found some new growth and a rose bush (that I didn't even know was there) in this front flower bed where Nathan parks, and my tulips that I planted in December are starting to peek out of the ground. I'm excited to get a few veggies in the ground later this spring when the scare of frost is gone. I'm going to start very small, with only a couple of veggies so I can test the area and see how well it does.

Happy gardening!

Rubber Duckie, You're the One

I made this for a friend of mine who's having a baby, but they're keeping the gender a surprise. :) This little "bagelope" was the SCS technique challenge Monday. A couple of weeks ago, I made a card just like the front of the bag and made enough for an extra. I thought it would be so cute on this envie. :) The "bagelope" is just a large envelope cut on both sides and left in the middle to form a handle. The instructions said to use the large SU tag punch, but since I didn't have it, I just used a ruler and scissors. :) TFL!

A color challenge and Jen's sketch

I made this card for Splitcoast's color challenge 154 (CC154) for using Orchid Opulence, Celery, and Pumpkin, and Jen's sketch this week. This is super simple, but I'm liking simple these days! I am loving this Stem Silhouettes that I borrowed from Holly! I may have to try to find a used one for me. :-)

The Garage that Love Built

Okay, my love didn't build it but it did a complete overhaul on it! For N's Valentine gift, I cleaned out and organized the entire garage. I really wanted to repaint the walls, storage cabinets, and work bench, but didn't want to spend the money right now. Besides...it's a garage! I did, however, buy a nice mat for the floor in front of the work bench and some bins for organization. I scrubbed everything from top to bottom (it was FILTHY), bought some tool hangers for the wall boards and hung some frequently-used tools, and organized his nails, screws, nuts, etc. into some bins he bought a few months ago. We intended to do this together shortly after we moved in but never got to it. I thought it would be a nice gift, since N receives love through acts of service. Here's the final look & his card. :) I think he liked it and likes knowing that it's organized.


I made the card for the Ways-to-use-it challenge (WT143) on Splitcoast. We were challenged to use some kind of tape on our card, so I chose duct tape. :-) The tool belt and screws were all made from duct tape. Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Estrella Family Creamery

We had a wonderful day at the Estrella Family Creamery on Saturday. The Estrellas go to church with us and their farm was recently damaged by a wind storm. So, Saturday, we were blessed to help our brothers and sisters in need. We cut up downed trees, formed and burned brush piles, fixed a barn roof, fixed the electric fences, and got the truck starter working again. There may have been other things done, but that's just the stuff I knew about. I loved being on the farm - the smells of manure, livestock, and fresh farm air did me good! I absolutely loved it! I got to see goats and cows being milked, which was a new thing for me, and the baby calves and goats were SO cute!

The Estrellas are in the cheese business, so it was fun to see all of the cheeses they make (and taste them, too). Some of their cheese has received international awards and local fine dining restaurants come to the creamery regularly to pick up the Estrella cheese. One of the neatest things at the farm is a cheese cave. I think it's the only underground cheese cave in the United States. It was neat and nearly full of cheese.

My pictures can be seen by clicking on the photo below. Enjoy!

Nathan makes me happy

It seems I'm always making cards for others, but rarely ones for my hubby, my best friend. My friend Holly loaned me a couple of her stamp sets and I fell in love with Stem Silhouettes! I began this card for a Featured Stamper challenge (FS53) on Splitcoast. I cased this card of Sarah's and changed the colors, stamps, and corner tabs. After making this card, husby asked if it was for him and I quickly responded "YES!" I thought it was fitting, since he does make me so happy!

Accepted!

Yay! I was accepted to the local community college. I really don't think they turn down anybody because I got the acceptance email before submitting my transcripts. Anyway, I'm excited to be making this commitment to finish up school, and I look forward to the challenges and the reward at the end!

Will you be mine?

I made a few Valentines and some of them served dual-purpose as anniversary cards. :-) I am so blessed to be loved by friends, family, and my sweet husby. I hope I am returning the love to you! Hope your day is filled with lots of love, too.

Little Bits O' Love

Like I've said...I've been a little grumpy lately. So, to make up for it, I made a small token of love for my sweet husby. I was washing out a creamer bottle for recycling the other day, when it occurred to me that I could alter it and fill it with little somethings. So, I decorated it and filled it with N's favorite m-n-ms. I made it for his work, and even used coordinating papers to match his calendar, but he brought it home. Maybe it was too girly for him with the ribbon? The piece of paper from the scrap pile wasn't long enough to go all the way around, so I snapped some eyelets in there using my handy-dandy cropodile and laced some ribbon through. Maybe this was the part that was too girly...the corset tie? Oh well...hopefully he felt a little bit o' love.

Love Overflowing

My husby loves me dearly. He does so many wonderful things for me and showers me with love and affection. He is just wonderful. I got the sweetest *early* Valentine's gift from him Monday. He usually doesn't give gifts for holidays, much less ones that aren't useful many times over, so this was special. He was so cute, as he was just excited to give it to me as I was to receive it! He had gone out and found a unique gift that he knew I would just love, and now I have flower power! Oh my goodness, this is some of the yummiest smelling stuff!
The box itself is so bright and pretty...you can bet this will be inspiration for a card someday in the future. :) I also kept the pretty red and yellow ribbons so neatly tied into a big bow!

This beautiful box is filled with handmade, organic soaps, bubble bath, and perfume. The orange & yellow one is called "The Happy Pill." I haven't tried it yet, but the smell of it sure makes me happy. :) I usually take tubbies in the evenings, so I just don't want to waste "happiness" in the evening! I've been really grumpy lately, so this could be a good thing. Maybe husby got this just entire box just for the happy pill! I wouldn't doubt it. :) I'm telling you...I've been really grumpy! So far, the blue bubble bath "slice" is my favorite. The bubbles last FOREVER. I take really long tubbies...so long that the water gets too cold I need to get out. There were still bubbles when I got out. I love the color too, as it turns the water blue like the Caribbean. Definitely a PLUS!
One last amazing thing about this bucket o' greatness is that the tag is made with wildflower seeds. I can actually plant the entire tag and have a small patch of wildflowers!
Since I'm filled with flower power, I'm off to clean out the flower beds! It's actually nice out today...a balmy 42 degrees with some sunshine playing hide-n-seek with the clouds. :)

Will I ever learn?

Last Thursday while I had Bex with me and we were out and about, I stopped into this cute little dog shop in Redmond. While browsing, and really just using it as an excuse to get Bex out and walk him around a bit, I found this neat little toy. He used to love his soft toys, so I thought it was perfect for him. It was soft, washable, squeakable, and floatable. Wow! AND the best part, it's rated a "9" on the "tuff" scale of 1-10.

As you can see in the following picture, after 10 minutes of playing, he had already ripped off part of the edging.After 2 days, he has conquered the "Tuffie."
Needless to say, I was disappointed, but maybe I'll learn the lesson this time... Soft toys + Bexar = Destruction and quick loss of money

Getting the Ball Rolling

I've been thinking of going back to school lately and am getting very excited about it. I submitted my application to a local community college today, so I'm finally getting that ball rolling again. I'm looking forward to hitting the books and finally getting my college degree. I'm sure it will be tough at times...especially when I have to take Calculus...but I'm determined to get my degree and do more than I am right now. This kind of comes at a funny time because we're finally getting involved in a lot of things right now and God has given me a peace and actual enjoyment (am I admitting this?) with housework and cooking. Alas, this is something that I've wanted to do for a while, and N and I both think I will excel in Accounting. I guess this is the season for involvement. So keep me in your prayers that I will not give up (which I am ashamedly so quick to do when the going gets tough) and finish the task with energy and a willingness to learn.

Dryer balls

These things are really amazing. I got these when we got our new washer at Fry's. They claimed that you would never need to use dryer sheets again, which apparently clog up your dryer lint catcher and can ultimately be a fire hazard. Anyway, they really work. I've been using them for I think 5 months now and my clothes are so fluffy when they come out. So...if you're looking for a romantic Valentine's day gift for your practical spouse - (LOL) - they're perfect! (I also saw them at Linens n Things this week.)

Happy weekend!

A little sunshine

For a cloudy, rainy, Seattle day!Though it's tough to see, this card has lots of dimension to it. I paper-pieced the rays (I know...crazy!), and hand drew the clouds and used liquid appliqué to outline them. The big "S" is a stamp that I doodled on and the rest of "unshine" was some old stickers I had. I also added oodles of glitter and then some Amuse bling to a couple of corners.

Happy stamping!

Ly, my PT

I've had a very long day today and am just pooped! Today was my first day at physical therapy, which the doctor recommended for my knee pain. I learned some really interesting new things. My physical therapist, Ly (pronounced Lee), is such a sweetheart and seems like she really knows her stuff. She believes the pain in my lower back is causing my knee pain. So, if we can fix the lower back pain, hopefully everything else will fall into place. In order to fix my back pain, I need to strengthen my core muscle, that runs along the spine. We do this is several ways: by doing some really weird muscle squeezing (that I won't get into), strengthening my left buttock, and strengthening my abs. She discovered that one hip (my right one) was a little higher than my left, which was effecting my back. So, with a couple of yanks of my right leg, she pulled it back down into place. :) I also learned that my left leg is a little weaker than my right, which was a surprise to me. The two real weaknesses in my left leg were the butt and hamstring. All in all, it was quite a learning experience. After just a very short time there, I could already feel a difference by tightening that back muscle. I'm excited to do my exercises and see (and feel) the difference!

Foss River & Tanga Ridge Snowshoe

We had a wonderful snowshoe trip on Saturday, walking along Foss River and going up toward Tanga Ridge. It was a beautiful day, with the sun out for a while until the clouds rolled in that evening. We saw a beautiful frozen waterfall, met another Rottie (little 85-pound girl named Emma), and saw a gorgeous snow-covered mountain that I think was Beckler Peak. We carried our packs so we could train some for a snowshoe trip we want to take in March, where we summit St. Helens. It was such a fun day and we were so glad to soak in the hot tub when we got home!

Happy Birthday Caitlyn

Cait, aka "Little Bit," (N's cousin) had a birthday today. I hope you had a fabulous day, dahling! She's a horse lover, so I tried to make her a card similar to her tastes without having any horse stamps. Not sure if she'll like it, but I tried! These are my favorite color combos right now and have been for a while. :)

Happy February!

I can't believe today is already February 1st! This new year is flying right on by! To begin the month of extra-special love, I made a fun little calendar that fits inside a CD case for N's office. I thought he needed some cool (and of course useful) stuff for his desk.I also made this cute little Valentine decoration using up some chipboard I got from Archivers (while at the Mall of America over Christmas). I painted these first, then stamped on them and embellished them. I think they turned out purty cute...and all for about $2! I already had the bamboo skewers and the potpourri that I used to fill the vase. Valentines candies would also be a cute vase filler. :)Happy Friday!