Photo of The Past

I just came across this photo of my daughter Lori. It was taken at my sisters home in 1975 on the 4th of July. Lori was born in 1974, so now I am "telling" my age, but I just had to "share" it as it is so dang cute!!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

Thank You Thank You Thank You

To all that have served out great country and to those that still are, we all know that Freedom isn't Free....THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

With so much going on in our country with the war, gas prices soaring, people losing their homes, all the tornados, wild fires, and such, I didn't want to forget what today is all about, so I made a Memorial Day card to thank all that have a part or have had a part in trying to keep this crazy world we live in to be safe. When you see a vetern at a store front, selling his "poppies", just don't walk by, but shake his hand and say "thank you", he doesn't want much more then that!

The card was made using Stampin'Up!'s set So Happy for the stripes, Classic Backgrounds for the stars, Seeing Spots for the thank you, and a brad from the mini catty Styled Silver.

Meet Rachel

Meet Rachel, my newest peony in the garden! She is the only one blooming yet, but she "came that way"!

Also check out the poppy heads, and this is just a small portion! Can you imagine what they will look like when blooming??? I have 3 colors, bright red (which everyone wants), bright orange, bright white and a salmon pink. Only one bloomed today, when they start to pop out I will post a picture!!! Finally, my garden is "coming to life"!

Workshop Cards

I had a worshop last night and these were the two cards we did. The first card was with the Stampin'Up! set "She's All That". I somewhat "cased" the card from the mini catty!

The second card is a favorite stamp set also from the mini catty called "Friendly Flowers" . I did another of the Two Way Cards, this time using SU's DS paper Olive Press. I LOVE this paper! I added SU Very Vanilla and Old Olive paper, and used Old Olive ink. I think it turned out quite nice and was a very fast card to put together, perfect for the workshop! I really, really like this stamp set and hope to make some other cards with this to post later!

Stampin'Up! Fresh Cut Sneak Peak

Sneak Peak from Stampin'Up's new fall catalog, due out on Aug 11th. You may purchase this sneak peak set "Fresh Cut" stamp set for $21.95 and the Fresh Cut Notes for $5 when ordering the stamp set. Limits of 1 note set per customer at the $5 special price, additional sets are at the regular price of $8.95. Be the first to own this beautiful new set, available for ordering June 1st thru June 30th. If interested in placing an order, please leave me a comment and your email address here, or visit my Stampin'Up! web site http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampinwithnellie/ and I will get back with you. My set is due to arrive on May 20th, I can't wait to use it!

Hostesses: Hold a $400 worshop between June 1 and June 30 and receive both the stamp set and the note set FREE! This is in addition to the other free hostess items you would normally receive!

More Thrifting At The Nest

I spent Friday and Saturday morning scouting the local garage sales for more items for my "collections"! These pictures show only SOME of the items I found.....was a good day of "thrifting"!

I am always on the lookout for vintage tin trays and tin containers...the one tray I found was awesome, I feel if I can find even 1 tray on my hunts, its a good day! I also am always looking for glass dishes with lids, they just appeal to me for some reason. The lamps I found were $2 each, the shades are Laura Ashley and were $1 each, and check out those wood pull toys, they are made in Greece, perfect to put in the grandkids toybox! Since I am a Stampin'Up! demo., finding the 1997 set of 8 SU stamps for $4 was like heaven to me, as was the great wood, silver box, and it even had about 12 serving spoons in it, all for $1. I got the Longaberger planter for $2, and 4 (not shown) longaberger basket liners for 50 cents each! I loved the lighthouse print, I will frame that, now keep in mind even though I live in a log cabin, some of these items will be going to the lake house, much more the cottage chic look! Now am waiting for next weeks "finds"!

More Cabin Life

Its been busy here, trying to get all my newest perrenials planted, the garden weeded, all inbetween all the cool, rainy weather we have had. I haven't had much time to get any cards made and posted, so am sharing a few of my outside "cabin life" photos. We get a pair of geese that visit for a short time each Spring, just passing thru I guess, we also get a pair of ducks. They seem to stick around, but in all the years they have been coming, I have only seen the baby ducklings twice, but maybe with the outside cats we have, that is a good thing!

I Went Thrifting!!

My sister and I love other people's "junk"! We spent Friday morning "thrifting"....this is just a quick post of a few of the things I found.....an old scrabble game, vintage platter, glass swan jar, 2 old tins (I collect those along with tin trays), vintage hankies, a hat box I am going to make into a "cake", yes really! A fruit bowl I am going to paint and use for a planter. I also found (not pictured) a few pieces of furniture I am going to paint and a few vintage linens.

We are off to "thrift" again on Saturday...you never know what you might find!!!

Rollers On Lake Huron

Last weekend we went to our "North" house on Lake Huron. One of the best things to me of living in Michigan are the Great Lakes, I love it when we can get away and I can just relax! Well, last weekend the lake was just "roaring", so because today is such a busy day, I thought I would do a quick post and share a few lake photos with you. First photo is the rollers, we left our slider slightly open (brrr) and the noise of the lake just lolled us to sleep. Second picture is of one of the freighters that go by, and third is just a side view of the house, you can see how close the house is to the water....wish I were there!!

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Look What I Got

Last month I joined a composition journal swap from Speckled Egg, and this is my lovely journal I got from Karen B. (I will add her blog to my favorites list later today). Not only did she send such a nice journal, but she added a bunch of vintage goodies for me to use on future projects.....what fun!!!

Tomorrow I will show you some ATC's I received from another swap I did!

Onsie and Bib Baby Cards

I have a baby shower to go to at the end of the month, so I decided not to wait until the last minute as usual and get my card done. I had decided to do a onsie that I had seen the tutorial on Lauren Meader's site, and I got my color combo from erinescott on Splitcoast Stampers. She used Stampin'Up! Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip, I even "cased" the moon and did what she did and added silver glitter, I stamped mine with SU craft whisper white. The stamp set was from the Sale-A-Bration set "So Many Scallops".

The Bib was my own idea using the carousel notes, I embossed it with the swiss dots folder from Cuttlebug, and again used the "So Many Scallops" set, I used SU Pretty In Pink ink and cardstock to add the details and of course the scallop punch. I really need to perfect it, but it was fun!

Monogrammed Birthday Cards

About a week ago I made the announcement to my hubby that quote "We will never buy a ready made card again" unquote. Well, he thought that was pretty neat, until I added that each handmade card costs about $100 each to make....hahhah...but if "y'all" have as much stamp "stuff" as I do, then you know what I mean...$25 stamp sets, $125.00 pen sets, and oh yeah, I have to have that ribbon, its only $1.99 ( and that you do at least 500 times), oh and these brads are a good deal, 20 for $6.95, but I need them in 10 colors! I think you get my drift.....but my way of thinking is I could have much worst habits...enough said!

So, anywho, he tells me this week (I think it was the $100 a card statement) that "he" needs a birthday card for Friday for his daughter-inlaw, I tell him that's easy as I have "tons" of them made up....he says, "really, you do?"...now "where has he been???

I had just made a monogrammed birthday card for my Mom, hers was the 6th, and thought it was fun and "special" just for her, so I would do one for Melissa, too. On both cards I used the Dew Drops VersaMagic chalk inks for the flowers, I like these little inks as they come in a stack of 4, and the colors coordinate so nice! The center of each card with the monogram was stamped with Stampin'Up!'s Seeing Spots, you ink it, then off stamp it first, so it comes out lighter to stamp the letter on. The flowers on the two cards are different, the one with the C is from a retired SU set, and the one with the M is from the latest SU "Three For You" punch box...this is a fantastic set!

Of Thee I Sing

Another fun card to do (aren't they all)! I used a housemouse stamp I purchased a few weeks ago at Hobbylobby for half off. I colored it in with Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils. The flag is actually a sticker I had forever, the flag pole is a ribbon I rubbed ink on for the color I wanted. Background is a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The sentiment I printed on cardstock on my computer and then punched it out with Stampin'Up!'s large star punch, inked the edges and it was done!!

Something's Fishy!!!

Fun card I made using the Stampin' Up! something's fishy jumbo wheel! I am not sure what drew me to this wheel, except that it just looked like fun!!! The big fish bowl is an unmounted stamp I bought on Ebay a year or so ago and this is the first time I used it (of course!)

I did the reverse mask effect with it and then added Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects to the water part, might be hard to tell on the blog, but it looks like real water..just a "be silly and have fun" card!!

Babies By The Cabin

My stepson lives just down the road on the family farm. While we were gone this weekend his horse had a baby! Just thought I would share a few pictures...only a few days old! I also have a picture of one of his miniature ponies.