HOC - Friendship

Howdy!

Wow, can you believe tomorrow is October 1st already?!  I swear time is going so fast, I feel like I'm missing a few days somewhere.  The woman I was hired to replace, announced her retirement a couple weeks ago.  Her last day is tomorrow.  To say that I'm stressed is an understatement, but I've been running the show on my own for a couple months now.  I guess it's just the realization that I'm losing my "safety net", that's causing my stress.  I've interviewed a couple people for the admin assistant position I have available, but so far no one has been a good fit.  I hope someone qualified will apply soon.  Until then, I'll be working from sun up, to sun down, trying to get everything accomplished.  I'm used to that, so no sweat.  I'm thankful that my daughter understands my situation, and is patient, and unaffected by my lack of presence.  I'll make it up to her when things calm down though.  She can count on that.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. lol  I have a new House of Cards project for you.  This week is the 5th week, so it's your choice of style with a photo for inspiration.  For all of the details, click HERE.  Here is the inspiration photo we have to work with.  I love the beautiful fall feel to it.

And here is my card.

I think it turned out nicely.  This card is a bit more special than any other I've ever made.  If you look at the top of the card, I have a strip of multicolor orange tatting, under the bakers twine.  This tatting was from an old pillow case that my great grandmother made for my mother.  When the actual fabric of the pillow case fell apart, my mom carefully removed the tatting.  When we were looking through some old boxes, she came across it and asked if I wanted a piece.  I doubt this card will be donated to anyone, ever, but I am happy with being able to use it creatively. 

I'm happy to be able to combine the following challenges in my card:

Delightful Challenge - Happy Fall Y'all!
2 Sisters Challenge #163 - Anything Goes
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #49 - Flowers
Come and Get It - Fall Colors
Pile It On #39 - Leaves

I do hope you'll head over to see what the other DT have made for you.  They will be showcased throughout the week, so you'll have plenty of eye candy.  And, they're all pretty fabulous! 

I'm off to start another busy week.  Hope yours is a good one!
Hugs!

House of Cards - Happy Anniversary

Hi!

I hope you had a great weekend, and that your week is starting off well.  I dislike Monday's, but I've got quite a bit going on today, that it should go by quickly. 

Today is the next challenge at House of Cards.  This is the 5th week in the month, so it's a photo inspiration challenge, and you get to pick whichever style you like.  For all of the details, click HERE.  Check out the inspiration photo.

And here's what I created.

I needed a card for an anniversary coming up, so this is what I made.  I LOVE these crochet mats I bought from Jessi Fogan.  They are gorgeous!  I kept it simple, to focus on the sentiment panel.  I'm hoping it will make it through the mail ok, considering it's quite bulky.  I guess we'll see, huh? lol 

Anyway, I hope you'll head over to the House of Cards blog to see what has been posted.  Throughout the week, all of the DT's projects will be posted.  Lots of eye candy this week for you!

Have a wonderful day!
Hugs!

Use Your Words - Sweet

Good day!

I hope you've had a good weekend, and are rested, before heading back to work tomorrow.  It was a nice weekend around here.  We went to the Clay County Fair yesterday, and boy did we have a great time.  We walked around and saw everything, then I let the girls do their thing.  They ate tons of fair food, and rode every ride on the midway, quite a few times.  To say that they were exhausted is an understatement.  Having that much fun is a lot of work, apparently! lol

Since today is the 15th, there is a new challenge posted at Use Your Words.  Our challenge this week is the word Sweet.  For all of the details, click HERE.  Here is what I came up with.

I needed a card for a friend, who doesn't speak English.  The word "dulce" in my sentiment, means sweet.  A direct translation of this sentiment is, you're so sweet.  I thought it worked perfectly, even if it was in a different language.  I received my Simon Says Stamp card kit not too long ago, and this is the first time I've had to play with it.  The colors and papers, and elements are beautiful!  Since I'll be mailing this card to my friend, I kept it simple.  Hopefully, she'll like it.

I do hope you'll head over to the Use Your Words blog, and check out the other projects posted today.  They're gorgeous!  I'll be back with my next project tomorrow.  Hope you'll check back then to see what I've got for ya.

Have a great day!
Hugs!

Thank You Tombow!

Hey y'all!

How's your holiday weekend going?  I did have to work a bit yesterday morning, but I'm glad that I did.  I will be ahead of the game when I get back to work tomorrow, and things are crazy, which they always are after a holiday.  I did, however, get time to make a card.  Yay!

Recently, the wonderful people at Tombow gifted me some of their awesome goodies, in celebration of their 100th birthday.  I received some lovely bright markers, some really nice colored pencils and some adhesive.  Check it out!



I wanted to use all of these items on the card I was going to make, but wasn't sure what to do.  Then, I saw the CAS-ual Fridays challenge (from two weeks ago...yep, I'm behind lol) and loved the color combo of aqua, green & orange.  So, here's what I made.

I stamped the large butterfly, twice, and colored them with the colored pencils.  I then stamped the small butterfly, and colored it with the markers.  I layered them together and added a pearl.  The dimension on this butterfly is SO awesome!  I love how it turned out.  I was excited that the colored pencils matched the background chevron paper almost perfectly.  I added a pop of yellow, teal and orange, and my card was good to go.  It's simple, and lovely. 

If you get the opportunity, check out the festivities at the Tombow blog.  In celebration, they're donating to the Council for Arts Education.  What a great thing to do!

I'll be back soon, with another something crafty. 

Have a wonderful day!
Hugs!

Use Your Words - Tough

Hi!

I hope you're having a great holiday weekend, so far!  I'm excited to have a day off, and be able to sleep in for three days straight.  Sometimes it's the little things, right? lol  We don't have much planned for this weekend.  I was hoping to take a road trip, but I couldn't make my budget work.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful daughter, who doesn't complain or get upset when things don't work out as planned.  She really is an amazing person.  So, we're going to cook lots of good food, and watch tons of movies together.  That's pretty cool, in my opinion.  I'm thankful that at almost 17, she still enjoys doing things with me.  Gosh, I love my girl!

Anyway,  it's the start of a new month (can you believe it's September already?!) and we have a new challenge posted over at the Use Your Words blog.  For all of the details, click HERE.

The challenge word this time, is TOUGH.  I knew I wanted to include a picture of my daughter.  I wanted to document how far we've come over the last year, and how tough she is to overcome everything she's endured over the last few years.  But, she's very private and doesn't speak to anyone but my mother and I about things she's struggling with, which makes it difficult to journal sometimes.  I didn't want to expose her in any way.  I decided that I would just include my feelings on the journey we've been on, and how she's maintained her composure, and strength, no matter what has happened.  I really like how this turned out, but I did have a bit of a time trying to get a good picture.  I love this photo of her, doing what she loves...swimming.  I took this picture of her while we were in Denver.  In my opinion, you can see the calm strength in her eyes.  I am thankful my new Studio Calico kit arrived shortly before I created this.  It had lots of great elements in it.  I used THIS sketch, although the challenge is now closed.  I tried not to overdo anything, as I wanted to focus on the photo and the meaning behind the layout.  She loved it, so I'm good. :-)   

I was able to combine the following challenges in my layout today.

Crafts Too Challenge You #2 - Sumer Days (Twist: Beach Colors)
Inspire Me Fridays #118 - Anything Goes
Happy Campers Challenge #21 - Use A Stamp
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon # 200 - Pretty Polka Dots

I do hope you'll head over to see what my friends have created over at the Use Your Words blog.  As always, they're absolutely gorgeous!

Have a safe and happy rest of your holiday weekend!
Hugs!