MIA

I have been missing from action for the past few weeks. My father-in-law, whom I love like my own, is in the final stages of COPD. He developed pneumonia in late February and finally agreed to go to the hospital on March 1st. We brought him home from the hospital today after two weeks not because he is improving but because there is nothing the doctors can do for him in the hospital that we as a family can do at home where he is more comfortable. For those of a mind to, please pray for my FIL (his name is Bob).

With all of the time I have been at the hospital I haven't been able to surf for sometime but thanks to someone in my in-laws neighborhood with a wireless router I have been able to visit some of my favorite blogs on my laptop while Dad has slept. We're working out a schedule for being here so my MIL is alone with Dad as little as possible. She is the sweetest woman. She cleared off a small table in the spare bedroom so I can color and "do my crafty stuff" since I'll be at the house so much.

Wishing you peace!

Lori

TGIF!!

Hi Everyone!
TGIF!! I'm hosting a baby shower tomorrow at my home for about 30 women. It should be a lot of fun. I've been scurrying around getting ready for it this week but did take Wednesday night off to go and play with my friends at Marge's. Here is what Marge had for us to make...I particularly like the card using SU's Bloomin' Beautiful. I don't travel with my Copics so I missed them when I colored these, especially being a CERTIFIED COPIC INSTRUCTOR!! (I so wish you could see the cheesey grin on my face!!) My friend Donna and I made the drive to Long Branch, NJ and participated in the class being offerered by Sally Lynn McDonald. It was awesome! I can't wait for my schedule to open up so I can spend some time in my craft room.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bits and Pieces but not much crafting!

Hello All,

It has been a wild couple of weeks for me with little time for crafting :( One of my best friend's mother had a catastrophic stroke on the last Friday in January. She wasn't expected to live but I can say with a grateful heart that she is alive and very slowly improving--if you are of a heart, please add Marian to your prayer list.

School is starting to get a little manic...the all important testing season is nearly here so I've had extra work above and beyond teaching my classes and working on grades, which are due next Monday.

Toss into the mix a baby shower being held in my home next weekend for a dear friend from church and the regular running around having a seven year old boy brings although I must say Cub Scouts has been particularly active lately. We're heading to Trenton, NJ tonight for a minor league hockey game with his pack. (Hi Lori!! I'll think of you tonight at the game.). My son is really excited because they will let him play broom ball on the ice between periods.

The big crafting news for me is a seat at the COPIC Certification Course tomorrow in Long Branch, New Jersey!! I was a able to swing a seat for myself and my friend Donna. I can hardly wait!!

I hope you have a great weekend!!

How Sweet it Is

These cards were inspired by a wonderful card over on Michelle's blog. I just loved the colors and the use of the heart embossing folder and wanted to put my own spin on their use. The stamp is from My Favorite Things (How Sweet it Is) and the card stock is all DCWV. The background on the large heard card is from SU...it is a discontinued jumbo wheel. I am off to lunch in a quaint little shopping area known as Peddler's Village then my friend and I are hitting the new papercrafting store that opened a few months ago. It is called Creative Inkling. I am just excited to have a brick and mortar store in the area again.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Light unto my Path

These cards are about as simple as you can get. The image is from SU and the DP is Wild Asparagus. I have a few more things to post but will have do dig out my camera to do so. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Christmas Cards in January and more things to share...

These cards were made after attending Copic 101. On the way back from the class I was talking to my friend Donna and she was saying how she was going to make 10 Christmas cards a month so that when Christmas 2009 rolls around, she'll have plenty done. I thought about it and decided to give it a try (on a smalller scale). Here are my first four cards. The House Mouse stamp seemed like like a good place to start since I wanted to practice the skills I had learned in the class. There isn't much to them, just a little left over DP from one company or another, a piece of crimped card stock and a few brads.

The next three are variations on a theme. Same basic layout using a different stamps. There are a couple of ladies at work that are out with long-term illnesses so I wanted a few cards to send that were bright and cheery. Have I ever mentioned that I really dispise tying bows???

The "Here's a Hug" card is my stepped-up version of the other three. I added a blittle bling, stamped and cut out some flowers.








This last card of this post was made with a blogging sister in mind (it left my mailbox yesterday, I didn't trust it to my husband ;) ) I bought this Autumn Leaves set from Paper Garden I don't know how long ago but haven't really done much with it but then I was at Michael's and saw a card that had a similar little monkey with the Hang in there..." saying. I bought the saying and set out to see what I could do. This is it. The leaves and vines are airbrushed using the corner of a Spellbinder die. A couple of flowers from Michael's and a piece of my Wild Asparagus DP to mat it. I really like how it all turned out.


I have a bunch more to share but will wait until the middle of the week or so. Hope you are all healthy!!


PS.......If you've noticed my blog looks a little different I'm working on sprucing it up a bit. It is kind of sad that a person who makes her living teaching children how to use computers hasn't figured out how to personalize this space a bit better.

School Picutres

Sometimes all a page takes is a set of stickers, the right piece of paper and a seven year old to put it all together. This simple page took my son about 5 minutes to do. My son has the only green background so he stands out.

This page took me forever to do because I couldn't decide on anything for it. In the end, I was happy with the look but still think it needs a little something.....


The paper is SU and the big swirl was cut on my Cricut Expression and airbrushed with my Copics.