It's Sunday

Good evening my legions of fans. I had a super fun day with my stamping pals yesterday. We had a refresher session on how to use that crumply foil on paper to make pretty thingies. Oh bother, I forgot the technical name, but I love doing it. We made mostly leaves since fall is here...tho' you would never suspect it if you lived with me here in AZ where it was 102 today, I tolerate the heat well and I actually drove to church with my windows down. Gotta luv our dry heat.
So, we didn't make any cards, but chatted away and ate snacky things (including 2 desserts..small portions - honest). So I will have a nice autumn card for 'yall with my efforts soon. In the meantime, here is a card that I designed all by myself for one of my sisters in Christ who is home after undergoing successful surgery. We hope to see her soon at our study. The sentiment is from SU's Thoughts and Prayers. The flower is a Studio G clear dollar stamp. I don't know why...but I just luv this flower. I seem to gravitate toward single blooms these days. I used my CB swiss dots on the blue mat and the corners are CB dies. The ribbon is SU. The "frames" are Nesties and so is the circle. I even used SU's retired pomagranite ink for the sentiment and flower. A little bling for accent and the flower center is a blob of crystal lacquer over a yellow colored center. I think I've coverd everything.
I hope everyone has had an enjoyable weekend. There were many blog hops and new releases to enjoy. I get so caught up in them sometimes. It's 6PM and I think opening a can of soup for dinner. I don't feel much like cooking, it's late and dh's appetite has suffered with this last bout of weakness.
God bless you as you live your lives this week.

It's been a while

Hello friends. I have been away from blogging for several reasons. I've been cleaning up lots of emails. I often have as many as 400. Scary, huh? Most of them are my subscriptions. If I don't get a look at each one, I feel as if I'm missing out. I've tried to unsubscribe often, setting a goal of 10 or 20. My unsubs rarely equal more than 5 or so. Sometime I already have links here on my blog to some of my subscriptions. Kind of redundant I guess. Then there's the issue of checking on a blog only to find out that there's a blog hop which I can't miss and then I find a new blog I've never seen and I have to subscribe to that one too. Well, I tell ya' it's a vicious cycle made especially worse because this is what I do to de-stress. Speaking of which. hubby is so-so. He has many different feelings toward me...anger, frustation, annoyance, and just don't bother me. I never know which of these attitudes I will have to deal with from hour to hour. The bedsore, which the homecare nurse believes he got in Rehab, is awful looking. It keeps an odor and I can't tell if it's getting better or not. And the nurse won't say. We have a primary care doctor appt. this Friday and I am hoping he'll be honest. Ed doesn't complain about it, and only takes pain meds at night to sleep. Sleep...did someone say sleep? I have to get up every 2-3 hrs. to move him...a chore I don't wish on anyone. Though I get back to sleep in minutes, this is no fun. So when my friends ask me what can they do to help. Just pray for my and his strength to endure, to be patient and kind to one another. What I do for him can't be done unless you are right here in my home. I am exceedingly blessed by my dd and her dh who visit as often and empathize with our situation. And then, of course, I'm exceedingly thankful for all that God bestows on me and I am humbled daily. Ed and I pray every morning and I implore him to pray constantly. I will be starting a 6 wk. Bible study on fasting on Wednes. evenings this week. The timing seems appropriate...right after dinner and just before Ed's bedtime. He will be totally occupied by TV during my absence. I plan on being blessed by my time with like-minded Christian women and their prayers, as well as whatever our Lord teaches me.
So today's card was a a quickie I designed in my very own little head. DD needed a Congrats card for a couple who eloped this past weekend after living together for some years. I probably should have used cream c.s. under the circumstances, but I didn't. The circle stamp is a clear one I have had a while. I cut out the middle and stamped the SU champagne glasses from "Cheers To You", and bumped it up. The script Congratulations is from SU's Warm Regards. Both are retired, I believe. I used SU white taffeta ribbon and Nesties to cut out the circles and the ribbon slide. That's my trustie CB textile folder for the white mat behind the circles and pearls to accent it. I plan on printing out a sentiment for the inside that I have from a book called, "Say It With Style", edited by Tanya Fox of Paper Crafts (the mag) fame. This is what it says...In all you dream and in all you do, may the love you share bring joy to you.
Gee, I could write an entire book about what I have dreamt in my day and what I have done. Hmmm, best not to go there.
Enjoy the rest of your week. I'm finding time to make cards, but don't know if I'll be able to blog more this week.
Erica

CONGRATULATIONS

What a day this is for Ashley Cannon Newell, her hubby Mac and her team. I can only imagine how much work they have and will be putting forth to make this a successful venture. I am both proud of and happy for them and wish them the very best.
To celebrate, they are already offering a prize for a challenge. I have put a gadget in my sidebar to take you directly there.
It's titled Kick-off with the December issue, "I Embellish." Just leave a comment on their blog and you'll be entered. The blog tells all the deets and it's easy peasy to follow for semi-techies, and that would be people like me.
Only one quickie card for you today. I am starting to get my Christmas cards ready and of necessity, they need to be quick ones or it ends up not being not fun. So I am definitely adding 2 or 3 simple designs. This is #1. I didn't have time to make it pretty, but you'll get the idea.
I had a disappointing day with my husband at the Rehab yesterday. He was not feeling well and plans we had to work on his getting in/out of our van with minimal help failed miserably. I had to suck up my feelings and be understanding. I wanted so much to be selfish. So, I'm not looking forward to visiting today. Tomorrow he comes home and it is anyone's guess as to how we are going to make it. So my scripture that I will hold in my heart today is Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? "Be srong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
May you be blessed this weekend and truly enjoy it.
Erica

Quick Post

 
I should have posted this an hour ago, but got really slowed down when I was at Craft Critique blog and read all the comments about SU's new policy for demos. Whow, the new document packs a wallop and is already having repercussions. SU demos overall are not happy. Go read them for yourself. I subscribed to the posts myself. You all know my short history with Stampin' Up. And isn't it odd that I posted just yesterday and the day prior about the many companies that I buy from. My former upline tells me this is going to be a bitter pill to swallow, but I believe she'll sugar-coat and down it with a glass of good strong iced tea. For an aternate view...in favor of the policy, read Jan Tink's view. So here's my card. This card measures 5 1/2 x 6 1/2. Quite large for me. In fact, I will have make an envie for it. I have a tute somewhere. The Our Daily Bread set I used is "Lift Up Our Hands." The CB folder is one of the newbies and the border on top is an MS punch. I used mostly SU papers. The sentiment is on a Nesties label mat. I distressed the praying hands. Everything is stamped in black. I put on a white silk ribbon on the side and covered it with a piece of brown lace I had hanging around in my stash. A little bling on the top of the border and I was done. This card passed the "dd" test. She proclaimed it "busy" but added that she likes it.
Well, we passed "hump" day and my alone days are almost over. Tomorrow, I will watch "Twilight" with that handsome devil Edward, uh, or should I say vampire?..with my stamping buddy El. We'll munch on cucumber salsa & chips (got the recipe from a blog somewhere). She doesn't know it, but I'm gonna bbq us some chicken wings and corn on the cob for dinner too. Should be a fun afternoon.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Hugs, Erica

Stamp Companies In Stores I Frequent

So, yesterday, or was it the day before?..I said I'd give the names of stamp companies I find myself buying from repeatedly which are readily available in local town stores. First I gotta tell ya' we had no stores at all here when we first moved from New York. It was a cows and horses town with a population of 33,000. Well it still blows me away that in less than 12 years, the horses are all gone, the cows have been removed to greener pastures and the population (and traffic) has almost doubled. It wasn't what I'd expected nor hoped for. But, alas, progress brings with it some good things. In short order, about 3 yrs. ago, the stores increased and Michaels, then Joann's and finally Hobby Lobby came to the rescue. Before that, I frequented a small stamping shop 20 miles away. I really didn't mind. It's still open. The reason I don't shop there anymore is not because of the big craft stores, but because of the Internet and all the companies it has to offer.
So when I'm in the aforementioned big box craft stores, and I confess, it's far too frequently, I am attracted to stamps in particular by Stampendous, Stampabilities and Hero Arts, and Hampton Arts when I can find them. These are all wood-mounted stamp companies for the most part. In addition I am always buying Studio G's Dollar stamps. These can be found in clear (several tiny stamps on a sheet...a super value), or one single wood-mounted stamp. I find the latter to have better quality, but that doesn't stop me from getting the clear ones too. I seem to be collecting them and do a happy dance whenever I can get 5 to 10at once. I mean, where can you buy that many stamps for $10? Gotta luv it, right? Lately, due to space issues, I am buying more and more of the larger clear stamp sets which are increasingly prevelant. The company names are too numerous to mention here. I am almost always satisfied with their quality and design. Nuf' said about my tastes, such as they are.
Now on to that blogger I was telling you about who is making video tutes that are quite good. At Jan's blog I guarantee you will enjoy her style of writing too. She is a fun lady. I've been subscribing to her blog for quite some time and I'm so glad she's doing videos. I am a visual learner.
And finally to my card. I designed it for the mostly non-stamping ladies in my Bible Study. I used all SU papers includng ds. Even the stamp is an oldie retired from a set called Best Blossoms. I used Nesties for the mat and a little subtle bling. The technique I used is from Gina K's Stamp TV. And the technique is called Watercolor Spritz You can find a blinkie on my sidebar. Luv that place.

I'll be back tomorrow with a post and a card. Happy Tuesday.