Another Sympathy Card

Here's the other card I made for one of the girls who's foster mom passed away this week. This really has been a crazy week. My hubby's still not home, and my girls andI are are in over our heads cleaning the house for a slumber party for my daughter's birthday tomorrow night, after trick or treating of course, and I was busy all afternoon digging up photos of my FIL for a slideshow that'll be played at his funeral. Unfortunately my hard drive crashed a few months ago and so I don't have any digital pictures and I had to scan in my scrapbook pages and crop them all etc. Then in the middle of my photo searching, my neighbor called and needed my extra bunny hutch for a friend's daughter and needs it "today"...so I had to *find* the pull out try in my husband's very messy shop and go scrub it out...in the rain. And this was between getting off work and picking up kids from school. HOLY COW, can I just say once again that "when it rains, it pours!" When will this week ever end?!

OK, on a positive note, my husband had flowers sent to me yesterday since he's out hunting all week. Awww...he's a sweetie. Oh, and then my daughter's teacher called today and said she's getting Student of the Month again tomorrow for October at the assembly...yea! So, I guess with taking cupcakes to school tomorrow for her birthday, I can "kill 2 birds with one stone." Talk about an emotional roller coaster!! As I mentioned before I woke up Monday morning with a little cold, but went to work anyway, then Tues. I tried going in, but with all the sad news and feeling the flu coming on, I broke down crying to my boss--YA, that's not a good thing to do, LOl!! But he IS a pastor, so I'm safe. FYI, I am lots better today, but just overwhelmed. Sorry about all the venting, but then again, It's my blog and I can cry if I want to =) lol.

Just want to say again how much I've appreciated all your sweet comments, and prayers. Thank you Gina for [all] your e-cards you've sent -- they are wonderful. I wish my MIL had internet and I could pass them onto her.
{{Inky♥Hugs}}

Gentle Thoughts...

First of all, thank you all so much for your kind words, emails and e-cards you've sent. My husband did call late last night and got the message about his dad passing away, but didn't say when he was coming home. Guess time will tell. His cell phone still won't work where he's at.

Unfortunately, yesterday was quite the day!! Not only did I wake up with a bad cold/flu, I got another call yesterday that a lady in my church passed away unexpectedly on her way to an eye dr. appt...well, someone else was driving her and she just fell asleep in the car and never woke up. She's an extraordinary indian woman who fostered 2 girls that are my daughters' ages, and 2 boys that are special needs young adults. I have the 2 girls in my children's church class on Sundays. Her services are tomorrow, so I was in need of some sympathy cards for the girls, which I just finished, and I still need to make some for the guys. I had them both in my classes when I taught Middle School special ed. Anyway, here's one of the girls' cards:

This angel is from my Paper Pretties stamp of the month club. Isn't she pretty? I used her once before as a Christmas angel, but I think she is great for this ocassion as well. The sentiment is from Garden Collage. It was all I could think of using and had room for. I had these stick on dew drop-type hearts in pale pink that I thought would add alot to this, as well as Dazzling Diamonds on her wings and trim. I'll show you the other cards soon. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers!!

{A beautiful web page about Heaven}
{{Inky♥Hugs}}

Gone Hunting...Bad Timing

Well, hunting season is upon us. My husband and his friend just left this morning for a week of elk hunting/camping, so it's just the girls and I. My oldest daughter is turning 10 this Saturday, and it'll be the first time her dad will miss it. Or, maybe not. I got a call today (about an hour ago) from my BIL, telling me that my Father-in-Law passed away today. We talked about the possibility of this happening before he left, because they just moved him into an assisted living place on Friday. My hubby took the girls to see him yesterday--he wasn't doing too well. He said the day before yesterday that he's "suppose to die tomorrow" and mom asked him, why do say that? and he answered "he told me" and she said, "who told you, Jesus?" and he said "uh, huh." Anyway, my husband is one of 5 kids and they are all a close knit family, so they all came down this weekend. I tried calling my husband on his cell to tell him, but he's out of range. Mom said he doesn't have to hurry home, but I know he'll cut his trip short to be here for the rest of the family. So, I guess he'll be home for his DD's birthday and Dad's funeral.

His dad (Glen) was a WWII veteran. He got married and farmed for a living. He had 6 kids, but one was still-born. He had a good but hard life, living on very little money. They always went to church every Sunday and taught Christian values to the kids and they all ended up very respectable adults. He developed late-onset diabetes, suffered a couple strokes and had heart surgeries. About 5 years ago, he had to have both of his legs removed above the knee and was bound to a wheel chair, which was pretty hard on mom, also being in her late 70's. But she didn't want to put him in a "home." Their family is so close that each holiday, all the kids would come stay with them for a couple days, and each year around dad's birthday, even his 3 sisters would drive over (a 7 hr. trip)...they even made it over a few weeks ago!

Anytime someone we know dies, the first thing I think about is, "I wonder if he/she was a Christian?" Well, I am certain that his dad IS, and therefore, although we mourn because he's not with us, we know that we will see him again one day in Heaven. We love you, dad and will miss you.

Didn't mean for this to be so long. I also know that this doesn't even come close to a "respectable tribute" to dad, but wanted you to kindof get a glimpse of him. I am predicting that this week will be pretty full, so I might not get any card projects done. I don't even feel creative at all anyway. Well, gotta go pick up the girls soon and tell them about grandpa. Wish my better half was here.

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

Happy Pumpkin Day

Hello stampers! This card is made with an image I got in a swap from Bela, and I just felt like coloring it today (I think it's by High Hopes?) The main image is layered onto Chocolate Chip c.s. and the horizontal piece behind it is actually brown satin ribbon. Sorry my picture is too dark or something to see that. The striped piece seemed to have all the colors in it that I used to color this, so it was a perfect fit.

DON'T FORGET!! Kelly's Scrappin' and Stampin' online Store is offering 40% OFF of your whole order through the end of October!! She's got some really great stuff like Nestabilities, Cuttlebug folders, C.C. Designs stamps and MORE!! If you place an order there, PLEASE be sure to mention I sent you-- (she's got a refer a friend rewards!) and type "NEWSTORE" when checking out! =)

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

A {Heavenly} Challenge

It's Wednesday...and you know what that means? ALL THAT SCRAPS challenge!! It's also the sketch challenge over at SCS, so I combined them both for this card. The ATS challenge this week is this color challenge:

I did substitute Purely Pomegranate for the Bravo Burgundy (after all, it does look like a shade of burgundy, right?) But the other two are very close! This gorgeous designer paper was sent to me from Rose Ann and is by Basic Grey. When I went to tape on my long strip, I accidently taped it on with the card upside down, so my sketch is backwards, but hey...it works and is just as pretty I think. However, I think I went a little wrong with my corner punch choice. I did that after coloring her in and didn't want it to go to waste, so... it is what it is.

BLOG CANDY!! My friend Irene, aka. Shani's Mom, is hosting her very first annual Blog Candy and is giving away a $50 gift certificate to any store of your choosing!! WOWZERS-- it closes the end of October, so be sure to go check it out and leave her a comment!! =)

PLEASE READ!! Have you been clicking on the Breast Cancer Awareness button every day? I changed my button to this cute penguin (top left of blog), and if you click him, it'll take you to the Breast Cancer Awareness site with another pink button to click. Please click that once a day, and they will provide FREE mammograms to women!! That's all you have to do. There are additional things on their site that you can do, like send a "pink" e-card to your friends, etc. to also generate free checks. Please remember to click once a day!! Thanks!

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

In Everything Give Thanks

I'm back, and what a fun week it was last week! I've gotten to know the winner of my blog candy a little bit more through emails--what a blessing you all are to me! This card is made with Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. I did kinda go simple on this, using some of my new dp [from Rose Ann] as my background. The pumpkins are from my old SU! set called Fall Whimsy. This isn't one of my favorite cards... I really had a tough time with the coloring on this because my waterpen blended it too much. I think I must've put about 5 layers of colors of these suckers and the ground. But, it's nice when it's all put together. Oops, gotta run to pick up my girls. Ciao for now!

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

We Have a WINNER!

Congrats to Lablady2007 Please email me your snail addy and I'll get your winnings out to you tomorrow!! =)

This has been the most FUN I've ever had on my blog in the past 2 years!! I want to just say how thrilling it was to get so many wonderful comments each day of this contest!! You ladies are so sweet. Some of you were new to my blog this last week, and some I've known since I started blogging. I really appreciate every one of you and consider you my stamping friends.

OK, now I'll tell ya how Marie and I picked our winners. We decided that since we are celebrating 2 years, and really wanted to reward someone who either has been on our journey and remembered something from way back, or someone who would take the time to go back into our archives and look around to find their favorite, the one who picks our oldest post would win. SO, I just want to say that Lablady2007 not only commented on 5 of my posts including the oldest of the ones that were linked, she actually discovered my cake blog and left comments there too! THANK YOU!!
-------------------------------------------------------
Hope to have a new card for you tomorrow. Thanks again for joining me on this blogging adventure--it's truly life enriching!!

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

It's My BLOGIVERSARY!!

...and I'm celebrating with Blog Candy!! THIS POST WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP UNTIL THE END OF THE BLOGIVERSARY CONTEST (OCTOBER 20TH). PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR NEWER POSTS!!!!!!

I started blogging on October 20, 2006, and not only that, I recently discovered that my blogging friend Marie at From Combat Boots to Rubber Stamps also started her blog on the exact same day!! So, in honor of our 2-year blogiversary, we are BOTH offering some fun crafty items as a way of saying "THANK YOU" to our loyal blog readers! How about this...

...and how about one of these cute boxes? (ready for you to peel the covers off the red tape and assemble)

...and, how about 18 Sugar Nellies and Magnolias to put IN your box? (stamped with black stazon)

BUT, We're NOT done YET! You could ALSO win this BOOT LOOT over at Marie's Blog!

OKAY... now here's what you have to do to win!!

• Leave a comment telling me what your favorite post is on my blog (go ahead and look back through my archives if you would like). You can either link the post to your comment, OR if you don't know how to do that, make sure to tell me the title of the post and date it was posted so that it is easier for me to find. Please limit it to ONE answer, not several that you like. :)



• Visit Marie's Blog and do the same on hers - you DON'T have to tell me which one of hers you picked - tell her!!!



• Feel free to link this post on your blog so others will want to participate and get the chance at winning.

The first two things are what you HAVE to do to be considered to win.

We will each announce a winner at 5 PM (PST), 8 PM (EST) on Monday, 20th. The same person might just win on both blogs, so be sure to check back to see if it's YOU!

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

The RACCOONS are Invading!!

This morning, we went to see why the dog was going bazurk, and we saw that these raccoons were gathering in the tree just outside her pen. There are 3 of them up there. My daughter, being the animal lover that she is, named them: this is "Inkabob"
and this is "Suzie"

and the other one was too high in the tree for us to get a picture, but, if you've seen one, you've seen em all, right? Lol.

And now, I have a HUGE "THANK YOU" that goes to Rose Ann!! Look what she sent me!! 4 big packs of designer papers, and a JustRite Stamper kit, along with this "tweet" card!! I had done some minor tweaking of her blog a little while ago (turning 2 columns to 3 and resizing her banner) for free--but she was overly generous to reward me, so THANK YOU SO MUCH, ROSE ANN!! *Muah!*

and one more thing to mention... My hubby took the girls shopping yesterday and Maddy came home with this cute owl sweatshirt. I'm like, "OOOH, that matches my blog! I'll have to post that! " SO, here you are:

ONE MORE THING: I have some blogiversary candy to give away, and you only have until 5 PM (PST) Monday evening to post your comment HERE, so Good Luck to you!! =)

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

STOP, DROP, and SHOP!!

Have you gals checked out Kelly's new online store, KL Stampin N Scrappin Store? If not, you HAVE to at least go check it out!! She's offering 40% off right now if you use code [newstore] when checking out, AND, if you do go place an order for any amount, please mention that I referred you cause she has a "refer a friend" rewards!! She has these really CUTE C.C.Designs stamps like Olivia's Birdies that I used to make these cards with

...and some Christmas ones too! She also has Spellbinders dies and Cuttlebug folders. REALLY!! So, stop and drop whatever you may be doing right now, and go shop! Go right now!! =)

NOW, you want a chance to WIN some cool stuff for FREE??!! You have 2 more days to get in on my Blog Anniversary Winnings!! Anyone can join in. Here's the Post... Good Luck!
{{Inky♥Hugs}}

The Cutest Li'l Witch

=) Isn't this little Hanglar image cute? I'm not into Halloween at all, but this witch is just too fun to color!! Nikki sent me some images to play with and I didn't have any halloween sayings, so I found a stamp from my SU! Edgy Eloquence set and since my black c.s. was already cuttlebugged [with the spots and dots folder], I hand wrote the saying in white gel pen.

Then I got to laughing, as I originally thought I'd send this to my BF's kids, but when I thought about it, I think it'd be funnier to send it to HER!! LOL

Ok, maybe not heehee, although she's used to my sense of humor! :)

SO, I found this sketch over at Whiff of Joy Challenge Blog but the sketch is an older one--3 or 4 weeks ago. But I liked it anyway and it fit what I was wanting to do with the papers better than the current SU! sketch this week. I added some rain dots to some of the circles, machine stitched some layers (dd picked out that funky stitch on the striped one) and doodled with markers. Whatcha think?

Don't forget...my BLOGIVERSARY contest going on at THIS POST for a chance to win some really cool Inky Stuffs!! =)
{{Inky♥Hugs}}

Step It Up - TLC

This week's Technique Lovers Challenge was to create a card using this "stair step fold" (aka. accordian fold). These are so much fun to make--you could stamp directly on the card base, add punched items, create a scene, etc. Here's the GALLERY for more inspiration. And now, here's a side view:

I'm really amazing at proportionate (sp?) my images are, considering they came from so many different stamp sets/companies!! Here's how I did it: I cut my card base out of Certainly Celery at 10.5 x 5 inches and scored at 1.25, 2½, 4.25, 6, and 8.25 inches. Then you fold them as an accordian with the 1.25 in. end folded down in front. This looks really tall, but when you fold it all up at the end, it measures 5"x 4.25" so it will fit into a regular card envie =)

• STAMPS: Magnolia (girl), CuddlyBuddly (tree), Sugar Plum: Olivia's Birdies (birdhouse and birds), Sugar Plum: Scenery (flowers, grass), A Chemistry With Paper: Big Backyard (fence, dog, rock).

{{Inky♥Hugs}}

Sad News...Happy News!

I got some really sad news today. Some of you know I live in a very small town, but we do have a beautiful little scrapbooking store called Raining Fresh Daisies. I stopped in there today after work and when I got home, I had an email from them saying their doors will be closing next month! This makes me very sad as we do not even have a Michael's or JoAnne's here--we have to drive an hour one-way to get to one, and with kids in school and me working 2 PT jobs, I just don't get to go often enough.


Last week (actually on the same day), my sister and my dad both lost their jobs. My sister up in WA had worked for a house-cleaning company for 5 years, and then she and another gal broke away from the big company to start their own. They've been doing pretty well the last 2 years. But then the other lady hired her best friend (who had no experience) and with the economy, they just aren't getting enough work for the 3 of them, so she kept her best friend and fired my sister. Then, I found out last Wed. that my dad had been layed off last Monday as well. He lives here. He'll be okay though as mom's working 2 jobs and he can start drawing retirement in January. 3 of our major businesses layed off hundreds of workers this year. My husband's work is starting to feel it--he works in agriculture and many farmers are not purchasing the seed...afraid prices won't go back up.


Please join me in praying for our economy--I'm sure it's not just here, but all over. I do know that God is in control, and I try not to worry, but you know how that goes. Hope you and your families are doing well.


And now for some HAPPY news:
My girls love to play restaurant! So, Sunday after church they got on their aprons, made up some menus and had their dad and I "call in our reservations." It was so funny. Our 8 yr. old played hostess while the 9 yr. old "cooked" (kinda). They took the leaf out of our table and since they couldn't find flowers for the vase, they shoved a doily in it and it wasn't bad! They found these old valance and wrinkled up placemats and some silverware napkin holders that are about 15 years old and I forgot they were pushed clear to the back of the drawer! Their menu included items like:
corn dogs, mushrooms, soup, sour cream, flat bread sammies, left-over mashed potatoes/gravy, sunkist (orange) floats, milk or water, fruit salad which she cut up the apples and bananas with a butter knife. Needless to say, we had a very interesting lunch Sunday, LOL. Kids are so funny. OH YES, I forgot the "entertainment"...wish I could've gotten it on video for you. The chef came out with tap shoes on her hands a did a silly dance like a crab (?) Well, she was supposed to resemble a crab, LOL.


MORE Happy News!! Tomorrow I will be posting my blogiversary candy post!! Have you taken a guess yet as to who you think I'll be celebrating with? You have until 8 p.m. tonight! THen join me tomorrow morning for the announcement.

{Sneak Peak} Blog Candy Extravaganza

How would you like to win this mini pizza box? How about if it was filled with stamped Magnolias and Sugar Nellies? Well, I don't want to give away too much info, but that's just a small part of the FUN happening this Wednesday!! That's right...on the 15th I'll be posting my 2-yr Blogiversary Extravaganza!!

Not only will I be posting a bundle of cool stuffs for you to win, but I have a secret... a blogging friend of mine is celebrating hers on the same exact day! (ooops, did I spill the beans?) I'll tell ya what...if you can guess who it is that's going in with me by 8 p.m. Tuesday night, I'll award YOU a little prize as well! Come Join the fun on Wednesday!!

{{Inky♥Hugs}}