I'm Still Here!

Wow, I can not believe it has been over 4 months since I have posted here! As you all know, "life happens" and sometimes priorities change. I have had some busy months where I have had to concentrate on family issues, mostly relating to the health of one of my kids. So, I am afraid my blog has taken a back seat. The funny thing is I really did not think anyone would notice. But, then I got word that many of you actually DO check on me and were disappointed in my lack of posting. Well, first of all I am sorry. But second of all... I never realized!! I was really shocked to learn I had so many "fans" ;-) I am so flattered and thank you so much for your interest! So, I think I will not wait until New Years to start on what should be my New Year's Resolution: To pay more attention to keeping this blog up!

I hope I can live up to my expectations of being more attentive here. I also hope that you who have left me comments will continue to do so, and those who have not yet will be so kind as to jot a few words down for me as well. I LOVE comments! :-)
And hopefully I will get this blog in shape enough that those who are not yet among my "followers" will decide to be added!

Anyway, given that Christmas is less than a week away, The pic I have chosen to share with you is of the treats we made for my daughter's classroom the other day: Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods with candy sprinkles. They are so easy, kids love to make them, and everyone seems to enjoy them.
All you do is buy the Wilton Candy Melts at Michael's. I am sure many other places sell them, too, but that's where I get them. They look like discs and come in lots of different colors. In a pinch, I have used Tollhouse Morsels, but the chocolate re-melts easily and gets messy. The Wilton Candy Melts will stay hardened pretty well. I know this because on Friday it was well in the 80's here and we had no problem :-) Anyway, just follow the directions to melt them in the microwave. Spoon the coating over about 2/3rds or so of a pretzel rod. Then kind of shake off the excess and, over a bowl or plate, sprinkle the candy pieces until well covered. Then just place on wax paper. I put them in the fridge until I am ready to transport them. Then put them in a pretty box or container (they will look much better than here on the old cookie sheet, lol!) and there you have it! Easy peezy!!

Well, having said all I just said, please keep in mind that it is just a few days until Christmas, so honestly I can't say for sure when I will post next. But I do plan on doing it again soon. Certainly not months from now!

Thanks for taking the time to look. I am sure you are super busy, too! Merry Christmas!!

More Notecard CASEing

Since posting the last CASEd cards I did, I decided I should also post some other notecards I CASEd. This card was made by Sherri Barron, and can be seen on her blog here

 

I really loved the card (I love that Bella Rose dsp, too!) and this was another one of those great classic cards that you could just switch colors and patterns around and easily get another great card. So, that is just what I did. I used the new Razzleberry Lemonade dsp from Stampin' Up! on all three of them.

 

 

 

I hope you like my variations of this wonderful card and that you may be inspired to make some for yourself. Thanks so much, Sherri, for letting me share your wonderful work!

CASEing

Don't you just love this card?

Well, I have finally found some time to get back to card making!
This beautiful card is one that I CASEd. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, CASE stands for "Copy And Share with Everyone". I spend a lot of time on the SplitCoastStampers website and it is where I find much inspiration. Once in a while (okay, more often than that, lol), I will come across a card that I just absolutely love and I end up CASEing it. That is just what I did over the weekend.
Now, when I do CASE, I like to give credit where credit is due. I have never put any card up on this blog that I did not design myself. But I really want to share this with you, so I contacted the designer of the card, Kirsten Kennedy. She couldn't have been nicer and gave me the go ahead to show off her lovely work. So, here is my copy of Kirsten's (aka KKID on SplitCoast) card.
All I did differently was change the sentiment stamp, and I did not round the corners, as Kirsten did. Other than that, it's the same. I just love it.
If you want to see Kirsten's original, visit her blog here

So then I decided that with such a great layout, I could make all kinds of cards by just changing the papers, ribbons and sentiments.
There is some new designer series paper from Stampin' Up! called Cottage Wall. Each pack has 2 each of 6 sheets, with double sided designs. I made three more cards using the Cottage wall papers and thought that these would make nice teacher's gifts. I plan on packaging two of each card for a six card set. With three different sentiments, I think this gives a nice card assortment.





Thanks so much Kristen, for sharing your wonderful card and giving me the inspiration I needed to get back into my studio and making some gifts. Summer will be over far too soon and I know I will be glad to have these card sets all ready for my kid's teachers!

What A Day!

 

Today was a crazy day! It started out just fine. But later, as I was sitting at my computer reading the sad news of the passing of Farrah Fawcett, the day just kept going down hill. I suddenly heard that awful (loud) sound of glass breaking and instantly I was filled with fear as I sprang from my chair to see what had happened. With three of my kids at home I was in panic mode as I darted through the house to make sure all of them were okay. I heard my 16 year old son yelling from up in his bedroom and when I got there I found him holding his hand with the other one and saying "I'm SO sorry!". I then saw the window behind him shattered and with big shards of glass sticking out every which way, and lots of glass on the computer desk and all around. I yelled to my other kids to stay away and to get the dogs out. I quickly checked out my son's hand and then called the doctor. They were all out to lunch but got a nurse on the phone who told me she'd contact the doctor. They soon called me back and said to go to a walk in emergency clinic or a hospital. I chose the (closer) clinic. Well, off we went and to skip all the details I will tell you that we really got out light! The doctor seemed equally as surprised as I as we reaized how minor the injuries were compared to how really bad they could have been.

Shortly after getting him patched up, I got a call on my cell phone and learned that Michael Jackson had just died. What a shock! So much sadness in Hollywood in the last day: Ed McMahon's death just yesterday; Farrah's this morning, and now this.

When we got home I had this strange reminder of Michael Jackson: as I looked at my son's bandaged hand it reminded me of the one white glove Michael Jackson was so well known to wear. To be sure, his had "fingers", but somehow this struck me as an odd reminder of a very talented, hugely famed pop star. Despite all the craziness in this man's life and all the ugly accusations and wild stories, he was one heck of an entertainer. I will never forget when my husband and I went to see him on his "Bad Tour" in 1987 (or was it '88?). What a show! We had 4th row seats on the floor of the Hartford Civic Center and it was quite possibly the best concert I have ever been to. At one point (and we have looked back and laughed at this many times) he got on to this platform of sorts- kind of like an "arm" that moved out over the crowd and performed. He ended up directly over our heads. He was so close to us that he actually was sweating ON us! I remember not knowing weather to be totally grossed out or thinking it was somehow cool that I got his sweat on me, lol! Oh, the memories of life when I was young, haha! Anyway, those are concert memories I will never forget. Amazing that at only 50 years old he has died. But what an imprint he left on the music/ entertainment world!

So, as I wrap up this day, I can only hope that there is much less to "report" about tomorrow. I will wish for a somewhat uneventful day- unless it is just filled with lots of fun and good times. It's Summer; the kids are thrilled to be out of school and the weather report is for a lovely day. Here's to making it a good one!

My Silver "Diamond In The Rough"

Well would you look at this nasty looking old thing I found! I was cleaning out some cabinets and came across an old platter my mother had given me many years ago. I had shoved it in the back of a big upper kitchen cabinet and forgotten all about it for years!

But as I was pulling things out for a garage sale I am getting ready to have I came across it. Hmmm.... this brings back memories, I thought, as I recalled the many times I witnessed my Dad carving the Sunday dinner on this platter. But it looked so bad that I actually thought for a moment that I should just chuck it!
But after thinking about it a little more, I decided to get out the silver polish and see if there was any sense in trying to clean it. I really didn't have much hope, but after a bit of silver polish and a lot of elbow grease, I started to see some amazing results!
Lo and behold, the end result was stunning! And despite all of the scratches from all the years of use, it is sill quite pretty, I think. I showed it to my hubby who was astonished. He could not believe this was the same piece. He said he saw the old relic in the laundry room (I was adding it to the junk pile I have out there destined for the garage sale) and figured it was, understandably, going to be trashed. 

I am so glad I decided to put a little work into it. (Okay- maybe more than just a "little" work, lol!) In any event, it sure was worth it. I love how it turned out! Makes me want to see what other "junk" might be lurking in the backs of my cupboards ;-)

Floral Surprise

 

The other day as I came walking up to my front door, I decided to take a peek at the side of the house to see if we had any more roses blooming. I was pleasantly surprised- but not by roses- by these beauties! Aren't they gorgeous? My dear friend Claudia's husband Joe planted some bulbs for us last year and I totally forgot about them. OMW- what a lovely surprise.!

Thanks, Joe! I am so glad your green thumb touched my yard. I love these!

Happy Birthday To ME!

Well, I guess turning the "Big Five- Oh!" is not so bad after all! :-) At least it wasn't for me. I admit, I have had a couple of birthdays that bothered me a bit: and it's funny to look back and remember that 30 was one of them! Yet, I had no trouble at all with 40. But approaching 50 was kind of giving me the creeps, until the day actually came. That's when all the good things happened to remind me of just how very blessed I am and to be thankful that I am the age I am. (After all, think of the alternative!)

First I received two dozen long stemmed roses from my wonderful hubby. They are gorgeous!
And just a short time later, the doorbell rang and it was the florist delivering this absolutely beautiful arrangement of flowers from our dear friends Gail and Bill (who just happen to be our daughter Katie's in-laws). These are so, so pretty and so unusual. The colors are lovely! I was so touched by their thoughtfulness! They are surrounded by some of the many gorgeous birthday cards I received- almost ALL hand made! This little nook in my kitchen is such a bright spot now!
And I was totally spoiled by receiving way too many awesome, fun, thoughtful and wonderful presents! Here I am opening an autographed CD by Mandisa, from my son John. Sitting next to me is my dear, precious friend Sue chatting with my hubby. Don't know why he looks so serious, lol- we had an awesome, super fun night!
And would you check this out! This is the amazing card that Sue made me. It is so cool in real life. She is SO talented! I cherish every card she has ever made me. They are all so beautiful!

And finally, my beautiful cake: made by my favorite bakery, of course. I was just going to have flowers on it, but they came up with the Easter Egg idea since my birthday was just the day before Easter. It turned out really pretty, too. It was soooooo yummy. I won't even tell you how much I had of it today ;-)

Anyway- I did have a great birthday. I was surrounded by "most" of my family- my hubby and all of our kids were here, except poor Bobby was up in bed. He came home from work early due to being sick :-( That was a bummer, but I knew he would have been down with us if he could have been. Katie and William were here- tired as ever (they work too hard!) but they were so sweet to spend the evening with us. And having Sue and her hubby Ron here really made it special. You can not ask for more wonderful friends then them! 

And to top it off, when I came downstairs this morning sweet Caroline announced to me that I am not old. She said that I will not officially be old until I am 80. At 75, she said, I will start getting kind of old, but won't really be old for another five years after that. So, I have 30 years to go! Whew! I guess I was sweating it for nothin'! :-)