Hope Springs Eternal

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never Is, but always To be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-from "An Essay On Man"

by Alexander Pope

The above two pictures were taken yesterday. I had just gone to an appointment with my son at the Children's Hospital (which we must do at least once a week now) and as always, we stop by our church afterwards. I love walking around the grounds, reading the walk of faith stones, and drawing a sort of "spiritual renewal" I get from the serenity of the surroundings there. This also gives me a chance to go down to the Memorial Gardens and have a little "visit" with my brother. As you may know, he died unexpectedly this past Christmas Eve, and I am still working on coming to terms with the shock and adjustment of his sudden passing. But at least I am able to go to this beautiful place where I can feel close to him and reflect on things.

Anyway, after my time with him yesterday, as I came up the steps from the cemetery, feeling the warmth of the sunshine and the breeze through the palm trees, and hearing the sound of many birds singing, I turned to my right and was taken aback by the beautiful view in front of me. It was almost as if I was seeing this place for the first time- in that it was so breathtakingly beautiful. I actually thought to myself that this may well be the most glorious weather I have ever experienced, and combined with the spectacular church buildings, statues and grounds, I felt as if this might just be a little bit of Heaven on Earth.

Only moments before, I was feeling heavy hearted, missing my brother and once again asking "Why". But as I stopped to take in the moment, I was reminded of hope. I was also filled with the feeling of eternity. The assurance of eternity which can only come from our Heavenly Father. I know my brother loved Jesus Christ, and I know he is with Him now. I have the assurance that I too, will someday be there and will never have to miss my brother again. Ever. But for now I am here on Earth, where there is hope...

.... and Spring! :-) God has given us so much beauty here! And you can find it right outside your own front door!

This morning, after taking my daughter to school I found a little "hidden treasure". I couldn't help but notice the fabulous bright color of the bougainvillea right alongside our house. And as I walked up towards my front door, I decided to take a closer look. That is when I found a single, closed red rose- and a couple of big, opened pink ones, too. I never noticed them before. I guess I hadn't really been looking.

Yes, hope does spring eternal. But we need to open our eyes- and our hearts to it.

Bird Call

I love making cards using bird images. I think it started with the fact that my mom really loved birds, and when I would make cards for her I'd try to find images she'd really like. And birds were always her favorite.

Now, it seems, birds are all the rage. Every time I get a new bird stamp I think "Oh, Mom would have loved this!" The images really make me think of her and her love of feeding the birds and watching them from her kitchen window.

These are some of my favorite bird cards I made for her. What I really like about these are the pretty details... brass findings, ribbon, and lace.

And I love the soft colors and beautiful background papers I found hiding in my stash.

I am not very good at watercoloring, but I gave it a try.

I love feminine cards, especially those with a vintage or Victorian feel. That was what I had in mind when I was making these. My cards never seem to end up the way they start out in my mind, but all in all I was very happy with how these turned out.

Here are the three I have left. Originally there were more in this set, but I didn't have a chance to send all of them to my Mom before she passed. I know she really loved them, and now even though she's gone I still enjoy making bird cards. They always make me think of her.

I'll be back again soon. Hopefully I'll have some scrapbook pages to show you next.

I'd love to hear what you think; I always appreciate your comments! Thanks for visiting!

Birthday Surprise

A while back I told you I'd be posting more about my birthday gifts. Well, here was my big and totally unexpected surprise:
Last month I posted about a recent trip to our favorite antiques store, and told you the story about going in there to take a second look at a beautiful pearl necklace I had seen.

But alas, the pearls were gone, and I realized any chance of owning them was gone.

Well, there is more to the story....
Beautiful, aren't they? As it turns out, when Mike went back into the store to buy me the silver bowl (to make up for my disappointment about the pearls!), the store owner told him that the sales lady was mistaken: the pearls were gone, but not because they had been sold. The owner of them (this is a consignment store) had just come in and picked them up. She was having second thoughts, but might sell them if she knew there was a buyer after all.

So, she called her up on the phone, told her she had someone there that was interested in them and wondered if she would reconsider. The lady said she'd be there within the hour! So, Mike bought me the bowl, told them he'd be back in an hour, came to the car and acted all innocent, lol!

He took me home and then went out to "run an errand at the hardware store"! I never suspected a thing! After all, when we were in the antiques store and I saw the pearls were gone, I teased him and said I thought he had bought them for me. Mike swore that he had not, and I knew he was telling me the truth! It wasn't until he went back in for the bowl that he found out he could still buy them.

So, after I had opened what I believed to be all of my wonderful birthday gifts, Mike had a funny grin on his face and said "come here". I went over to him, sat on his lap (yep- after nearly 26 years of marriage I still like to sit on his lap) and he handed me the box all wrapped up. I had no idea even when I removed the paper what was inside. Imagine my surprise when I opened it and saw these pearls!
Isn't this clasp just gorgeous? I think when I wear them I will turn them so the clasp shows :-)

And I can not wait to wear them! :-)

His Holy Name (HHN 09) Challenge: JUDGE

I love Patter Cross's Scripture Challenges on SCS from last year. But I could never seem to keep up with them! However, I don't think it really matters... His Word is the same today as yesterday, and every bit as good no matter when you read it! Anyway, last August one of the words for the challenge was "Judge". I actually studied this last Fall. I put it aside, and now thought I'd share it with you. Here is how my study of "Judge" ended up on paper for me:

It just so happens that at the time I was studing, I was really feeling judged by someone, and this was a good reminder to me that God is the only real Judge! It is not the place of others- weather they be strangers, acquaintances, friends, family members- or even ourselves to judge us. You should not feel you have to answer to them. It is The Lord who is the ultimate Judge and to whom we will all have to answer. Yes, we have laws and a court system in which judgement takes place, and I am not referring to that. I am talking about on a personal level.

And it's all too easy for us to be judgmental, too.

We may have thoughts or opinions, but we need to leave the judging up to God!

Oh, There is Stamping Fun In My Future!

I must have the most awesome husband any (stamper) could ever hope for, lol!

Mike often travels to some pretty cool cities for his job, and of course there are many times those cities just happen to be home to some awesome stamping and scrapbooking stores. He is so sweet and such a good sport as he is always willing to go on the hunt for me :-)

And today was no exception!

He was in Las Vegas, so I sent him to find none other than "Viva Las Vegastamps!" I have ordered from them online before, and figured that since their website said they have an actual store, I should see if Mike could check it out.

I had seen a really fun card on SCS just a few days ago using a couple of Beatles stamps, and I knew I just had to find them. My brother Rich was the biggest fan of the Beatles that you could ever meet (seriously- no exaggeration here!) and I have been planning for some time to do a scrapbook about him and figured some Beatles stamps would be great to use.

I told Mike that, if possible, I would love 3 of the 4 on the list I gave him- not knowing what they might have in stock. I also listed some other various stamps that looked neat, just in case there were no Beatles stamps. After all, I certainly wouldn't want him to go to all this trouble only to come home empty handed ;-)

Honestly, I really didn't know what to expect.

Well, not only did he get me ALL of the Beatles stamps I had hoped for, but a few I didn't know about as well!

Aren't they cool?!

Mike said he actually had fun in there. He said it was a really great store- and that I would have been in my glory there. (Ya think?!)

He got joking with the other customers in there and told them that he knew "who" they were and what they were all about. He said that he has seen them sitting around his dining room table many times. They all got a kick out of it and had some good laughs and fun, while the very nice and helpful staff as well as customers helped him pick out my awesome gifts!

So... I think my creative plans for the weekend have changed. I *thought* I knew what I was going to be working on, but now I have some new rubbah to introduce to ink!!

Thank you, Mike! Gee- now that you know where Viva Las Vegastamps! is, you can go to Vegas on business any time! :-)

Pocket Card

I remember when this set came out. It was one of those sets I was trying to resist (since I always have a huge SU! wish list going!). But there were so many great examples of it in the SplitCoastStampers gallery, that I caved in and bought it.
I think the sentiment is so sweet. And just about that time, I was in a stamper's group and we were doing swaps. The requirement was to make a "Pocket Card". Well, I had never made one before. So this, as it turns out, is the very first pocket card I ever made.
I recall that all the details I did on it ended up taking a lot more time to complete than I anticipated, and yet it doesn't really appear that way, lol! Oh, well! But I really was happy with the outcome. It's still one of my favorite cards I have made, actually. I LOVE all the "wood" background stamping!
I also love the pretty, soft colors and the DSP. And boy do I miss all the organdy ribbon Stampin' Up! used to carry! :-(

Anyway, I just thought I'd share with you an "old favorite"I pulled out from my stash. I love pocket cards; they are perfect for a quick little note. I also love decorated envies, so I really like the pocket idea. Hmmm... maybe I'll make some more of these, since I haven't done them in so long.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Tunes

Time for another "Little Something" about me:
I not only love music, but have what I think most people would consider to be a rather large collection of it. It started long ago. And by the time I was engaged to be married, it had come to the point where it might actually have been considered obsessive, lol. Mike and I have rather similar tastes in music and he had more records than most people I know- certainly more than any guy I had dated (no, that's not why I married him, haha). So, as we were preparing for life after the ceremony- the part about me moving into his apartment, we decided to have a garage sale and not only sell duplicate "stuff" we didn't need, but our duplicate record albums as well. Turns out, that meant selling over 600 records! Yep- those were just the duplicates! So... if that gives you any idea of how many records I had, then I guess it should come to no surprise that now that I am more than twice the age I was when I got married, my music collection has increased a bit.
However, I must admit many of my records came from either my brother when he worked at various radio stations and got promos, or the years that I worked at a record store and got an employee discount as well as many promos!
Well, now we also have cds. I don't feel as if I have "that" many, but maybe a lot of the reason is that they take up far less space ;-) But I do have a decent amount to say the least. I also have quite a number of autographed cds. I have been very fortunate to never have had to stand in a line to have a single one signed, though. I am happy to say I never had to feel like a groupie to get one done lol! Due to my husband's job, he meets and works with many artists and either can get me to meet them, or has them sign cds for me. Anyway, for my birthday my sweet man gave me two more autographed cds to add to my growing collection: the new one by Point of Grace (as usual, he got them all to sign!) and the latest by Scott MacIntosh. So, as I was putting them away I thought- gee, I really do have quite a number of autographed cds! I hadn't consciously "collected" them, but I think at this point they could be considered a "collection". So, I threw a pile together to show you just a sampling of them (about 50 here... I don't even know how many I have total). Thank you, Mike! I love my birthday tunes!