Inky Hugz!!!

It's Baaaaccckkk

2011-11-22T18:24:00.001-05:00

Great news!!! My mojo seems to be coming back. I'm so thankful. I went for over three weeks without doing any crafting whatsoever. I've never gone that long without crafting, unless my health prevented me from doing so. I was getting a bit worried. Here I have ALL of these craft supplies and I had no desire to make a thing. What if I stayed that way forever? lol Normally if my mojo is a bit lacking I at least putter around and make backgrounds or color images. I didn't even do that. I hope my mojo had fun wherever it went. I'm thinking it was somewhere warm and tropical. ;)

The awesome rubber stamp I used is from Heart and Soul Rubber Stamp Co. Sue carries a fabulous selection of Christian stamps and lots of other great stamps too. If you're on a tight budget, you will really appreciate being able to get any of Sue's unmounted stamps for just $1.50 each. Sue also offers her stamps on cling mount and wood and has grab bags available. A friend sent me some card stock embossed with the Cuttlebug Allegro folder, because I love that folder and don't have it. It makes a beautiful background. I'm hoping Santa will leave one in my stocking. :)

Challenges I'm entering:
Word Art Wednesday
Scripture Thursday @ Little Birdie Blessings
Stampin Sisters in Christ - Make a card of praise using music

Blessings

My dh has been able to start the process of laser surgery on his lip. Ask me about this if you want to hear the details of how God worked this out. We didn't think dh would ever be able to have this surgery.
My new Ott light. A wonderful gift that is helping me see so much better when I'm crafting.
My doctors. Parts of Kenya have only one doctor per every 50,000 people and I have multiple doctors who care for me. I'm beyond blessed - I'm spoiled.
Giving to others. There are so many in need and there are lots of ways to give - not just money.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Fall Tag Banner

2011-11-18T19:21:00.002-05:00

Hi friends. I'm slipping in here with this Autumn project before November is over. I know many of you are already on to Christmas projects, but I march to the beat of a different drum. :) Many thanks to Keri at Pressed Down, Shaken Together for the idea and tutorial for this banner. Keri also has a great tutorial for a Christmas tag banner . I apologize for the poor quality of my pictures. The light in my living room is terrible. The wall paint doesn't even look like the color it really is. Not that you're here to see my living room wall paint anyhow. lol

After I saw the picture of my banner I decided that I wanted to add a piece of a flourish die cut to the pumpkins to look like a vine. I was too ~~busy~~ lazy to take a new picture. Sorry.

I'm linking this to:
Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Anything but a card
Crafty Purple Frog Challenge - Use orange
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday at Shelly's Images - Anything Goes

Blessings

I've lost 40 lb. now!!! That's 80 lb. total lost since I was on a high dose of Prednisone long term.
Christmas music - I love it and couldn't resist any longer. I've been singing all day.
Rice cheese - A great alternative when you have food allergies.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

To Trick or To Treat?

2011-10-23T22:34:00.005-04:00

Hi friends. I hope you all had a good weekend and were able to squeeze in some crafting time. My eyes are coming along, but still very painful if they get too much light, so I'm not taking time to comment on blogs yet. But I am briefly visiting a few blogs each day now as long as I have my dark glasses on, so I'm making progress.

The digital tree image and bats on this card are freebies from Create with TLC. The digital sentiment is a freebie from Artifact by Rebecca. The moon is a circle that I cut out and inked and the background paper is some Basic Grey from my stash. I used some vintage seam binding for the bow. I cut the tree and bats out by hand.

Here's a close up that shows the awesome texture in my vintage seam binding. I love how it is frayed with age.

And a close up of the sentiment. I want to be sure everyone can read it. It's such a great sentiment. :)

Challenges:
Create with TLC - Use their tree image
Allsorts - Halloween
Basic Grey - Autumn/Fall/Halloween
Di's Digi Designs - Halloween
Fashionista Friday - Spooky Halloween
Delightful Challenges - Halloween
Inky Impressions - Trick or Treat: Halloween Spooky
Crafting for All Seasons - Halloween or Color Challenge
Just Some Lines Saturday Challenge - Halloween

Blessings

Phone time with my mom
Family night
My computer. Not being able to use it very much lately has made me realize how much I depend on it for so many things.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Blog Hops

2011-10-21T15:43:00.000-04:00

Today and tomorrow there will be two different blog hops going on to help raise $13,000 to cover holiday shipping costs for Operation Write Home. Operation Write Home is a not-for-profit organization that collects and sends handmade greeting cards to our nations troops for their use in keeping in touch with their families back home.

Today's blog hop starts at Connie's blog.

Saturday (October 22nd) a different blog hop will start at Jan's blog.

Please come hop along and show your support for our troops.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Special Cause

2011-10-17T00:05:00.005-04:00

***I'm unable to visit blogs for now, because my eyes have flared up. The light from the computer is painful. I'll be back to visiting as soon as possible. :)***

Hi friends. I made this card with two digital stamps from a set that is being sold in a fundraiser for Operation Write Home. Operation Write Home is a not-for-profit organization that collects and sends handmade greeting cards to our nations troops for their use in keeping in touch with their families back home. They need to raise $13,000 to cover holiday shipping costs. K 'n K Designs will be selling 7 new digi sets designed exclusively for this cause. Each "set" includes an image and several greetings, in both Jpeg an PNG file formats. These sets are just $2 each or in various value bundles (e.g. get them all for just $10!). All proceeds (minus Paypal fees) will be donated to Operation Write Home. The sets can be purchased at the K 'n K blog (NOT their store) from October 17th thru noon November 1st. For those who don't use digital stamps, but would still like to help you can donate directly to Operation Write Home here.

Four of the sets are by Katlyn Traxler and three of the sets are by Deedee Anderson. The set I used for my card is "Thoughtful Teddies" by Deedee Anderson. I love that sweet teddy sitting there with the dreamy look on her face. :)

Challenges:
The Squirrel and The Fox - One for the Girls
Crafter's Companion - Pink and Green
DigiDesigns - Girly Creations
Little Miss Muffet - Girly Girl

Blessings

Rain, which we needed badly. Our wildflower patch is happy.
Fall decorations from a friend. So beautiful!
A good dvd

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Blog Candy Winners!!!

2011-10-16T16:04:00.005-04:00

Yes, you all voted to share the candy between two winners. I love that you did that. :) Thank you all for the lovely blogaversary wishes and for taking part in my blog candy. I'm going to keep this short, because my eyes are flared up and the light from the computer is painful. Soooo, the winners are.........................................................................................................................................................

Tammy @ My Craft Central

Anne-Marie @ Little Applefalls

Congratulations gals!!!! Send me your address at webe34him(at)bellsouth(dot)net and I'll get your candy on it's way.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

For my BBQ King

2011-10-05T18:32:00.001-04:00

Happy Hump Day! Be sure to sign up for my blog candy, if you haven't. A warm welcome from the sunshine state to my new followers. I'm so happy to have you here. :)

I really enjoyed making this card for my husband's birthday. The BBQ king image is a terrific freebie from Melonheadz Illustrating. I used it, because hubby does all of our grilling for us. (And actually the majority of our cooking too.) The dog image is a wooden stamp with no markings on it. My mom got it for me in Michigan, because it looks like our dogs. I used it, because our grand dog shares my hubby's birthday. :) The September calendar and circle sentiment are two marvelous freebies from Bluebirdflats. Last, but certainly not least, the banner is a wonderful freebie from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I colored the images with Prismacolor markers and Prismacolor pencils. I added some clear gel pen to details. I used sepia ink on the calendar and sentiment and attached the banner with two sizes of brads.
ETA: After I sent Cindy at Bluebirdflats a link to this post it dawned on me that I forgot to mention that I cased her card when I made this card for my hubby. So, Cindy not only provided some of the freebie stamps, but also the inspiration for the whole card. Thanks so much, Cindy.

Challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers - Anything Goes
The Crafty Pad - One for the Boys
One Stop Craft - Just for Men

Blessings

Decorating for Fall
Friends :)
Music

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Wrung Out! Hung out!

2011-10-02T17:20:00.002-04:00

Hi friends. First of all, be sure to go sign up for my Blog Candy, if you haven't already. Also, a warm southern welcome to my new followers. It's great to have you here. :)

I used two wonderful, free digital stamps from Create with TLC to make this card. Be sure to check out her blog. There's a blog hop going on right now, among other things. There's always something fun going on there. :)

I colored my images with Prismacolor markers, Prismacolor pencils and ink pads. I inked the edges of all the papers and added some baker's twine, which my sister, Sheila, sent me as a gift and I've been hoarding. lol A simple, but fun card, especially when you know I made it for someone who had to under go a Colonoscopy. I thought the sentiment was very appropriate for the way you feel after preparing for a Coloonoscopy. ;)

Challenges:
Create with TLC - World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop
One Stitch At A Time - Use a Digi
Catch the Bug - Anything Goes
Drunken Stampers - Get Well/Thinking of You
Mark's Finest Papers - Use Polka Dots

I had a bit of excitement yesterday. I went to get out of bed and my little dog, Princess, was sitting at my feet with a small snake she had killed there in our bedroom. Hubby was home and disposed of the nasty thing for me and sealed the place we think the snake got in. Princess received very lavish praise. Such is life in an old wood frame home.

Blessings

I received some very special happy mail, not just once, but twice this week. How blessed can a gal be?!?
Hubby brought me a pot of pretty, miniature mums to brighten up my craft room for Autumn.
Hubby and my dd each earned a $25 gift certificate. What a help with the holidays approaching!

Have a terrific day!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Blog Candy Time!!!

2011-09-28T18:36:00.002-04:00

Blog candy is now closed.
Hi friends. My blog turned 3 years old this week. It's time to celebrate my blogaversary with some yummy blog candy! I have an Autumn/Halloween themed package of blog candy and a Christmas themed package of blog candy. You, my readers, are going to decide if ALL of the candy should go to one winner or if it should be split between TWO winners with the Autumn/ Halloween package going to one winner and the Christmas package going to another. When you leave your comment, tell me if you want all of the candy to go to one winner or if you want it split between two winners. Your comments will decide the fate of the candy. :)

What do you need to do to win?

1. Become a follower of my blog if you want to - it's not required to win.
2. Leave a comment.
3. Tell me if you want all of the candy to go to one winner or want if you want it to be split between two winners.
4. Please link my blog candy on your blog or side bar. (Not required to win.)
5. Check back on October 16th to see if you are one of the winners. You'll have a week to claim your candy.

Here's what you could win: (click on image to enlarge it)

The Autumn/Halloween Candy
1. Inkadinkado Clear Stamps - Autumn Foliage
2. Jolee's Boutique - Boo
3. Jolee's by You - Pumpkin Basket
4. Jolee's Boutique - Funny Pumpkins
5. Jolee's Boutique - Acorns
6. K&Company Halloween Rub-On Magic

The Christmas Candy
1. TPC Studio Clear Stamps - Christmas Glamour
2. Jolee's by You - Holy Dove
3. Jolee's Boutique - Christmas Tree
4. Jolee's Boutique - Merry Christmas
5. Making Memories Mistletoe Trims & Treats - 69 pieces
6. Provo Craft Gold Mini Scraps
7. Provo Craft Green Mini Scraps

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Celebrate Love!

2011-09-18T23:29:00.000-04:00

Hi friends. I'm calling summer 2011 "The Hospital Summer". I'm happy to be able to report that my sister and mom are doing well now. A big, heartfelt thank you to all of you for your concern and prayers. You really touched my heart. Shortly after my sister and mom got out of the hospital my husband landed in the emergency room and then five days in the cardiac unit with his heart condition. He gave me a nasty scare, but he's doing well now. The doctor has him on new medications and except for being tired from the medication he's back to normal. While hubby was in the hospital I was using his van and someone backed into it in a parking lot. Ruined the back bumper, but we were fine, except that it upped my stress level. :) Hubby is principal and a teacher at a residential boy's school and the boys were back for the start of school three days after hubby was released from the hospital. So much for his easing back into things like the doctor told him to. The humorous thing is that hubby honestly thought that WAS easing back into things. Plus he had worked some on the 3 days in between. lol

Next our daughter had her turn at the emergency room due to her doctor insisting she go there during an office visit. It ended up being a waste of time and money seeing they didn't diagnose her problem. Just gave her pain meds she had an allergic reaction to and told her to go to a specialist. So she's seeing the specialist now and having tests.

Okay, enough of that stuff. On to my card. I made this for Mark for our 30th wedding anniversary. Thirty years and we're more in love than ever. :) Can't beat that! The sentiment is from a digital set called "Celebrate Doodled" by Create with TLC. The hearts are from the "Amore and More" clear stamp set by Scrappy Cat and I used my "D'vine Swirls" Cuttlebug embossing folder for the background. The sentiment is
on a Spellbinders "Labels Eight" die.

I used clear glaze pens on the sentiment to make it shiny and raised and I used clear embossing powder to do the same for the hearts. I inked the edges of the hearts with silver ink.

Challenges:
The Corrosive Challenge - Punches or Dies
Wee Memories - No Pattern Paper

Blessings

We had a very nice, but too brief, visit from hubby's brother.
Juicy watermelon!!! Better than any candy. :)
Fun, family time. :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Prayers please

2011-07-28T15:27:00.000-04:00

Please pray for my family. I received a phone call a little while ago saying my mom had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance with chest pain. My mom has two artificial heart valves and a pace maker.

My sister, Sheila, had to have emergency surgery a week ago and is still in the hospital due to complications. Sheila has two young daughters that she is anxious to get home to.

They're all in northern Michigan and I'm here in Florida waiting for news. I so wish I was there.

Thank you for your prayers for all of them.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Fresh Srawberries

2011-07-14T20:04:00.000-04:00

It's a beautiful, sunny day here in Florida. A nice change from all of the rain we've been having. We really needed the rain, but it's great to have a whole day of sunshine for a change. A warm, southern welcome to my newest follower. Thanks so much for choosing to follow my blog. :)

I love this digi image by Designed2Delight that I've used on my card. Fresh fruit is such a treat and strawberries are a favorite of mine. When I was a teen there was a "Pick Your Own" strawberry farm just down the road from my dad's house. I used to spend a great deal of time there picking strawberries just so I could eat the strawberries fresh off the plant. If they had weighed me before and after picking they would have charged me extra. ;) The sentiment stamp is from International Greetings. The image is colored with Prismacolor pencils. The punch is from Martha Stewart and I added some dew drops to the card for a bit of embellishment.

Challenges:
Designed2Delight - Free Digi Challenge
Fab'n' Funky - Baker's dozen!

Blessings

Nice fruit on the clearance table at the produce stand.
A new devotional book that I'm getting so much from.
Mark has been finding lots of used books for me lately - gotta read or a day isn't complete. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Dead Hippo

2011-07-08T21:53:00.002-04:00

Greeting from rainy Florida. No thunder or lightning though, which is strange for us, especially during the summer.

Do you ever get a mental block about a stamp? I get a mental block about coloring the fish on this stamp. I avoid using it for ages, because of that. Then once I force myself to use it I end up liking the way I color the fish better than than the way I color the rest of the image. (Rolling my eyes at my own foolishness.) I colored/painted this with my watercolor pencils and a few gel pens. The stamp is from Inkadinkado and I've had it for ages. The rest is card stock from my scrap stash.

Challenges:
Art Impressions - Something from your Stash
Paper Crafting Journey - For Him
Inspire Me Fridays

You may be wondering what a dead hippo has to do with my card. The answer is, "Not much, except that the odor of a dead hippo under my home does tend to affect my creativity in a negative manner.". We live in an old, wooden home that is built on stilts and from time to time an animal dies under our home and the odor is very unpleasant. A few weeks ago a hippo died under the bathroom floor. How do we know it was a hippo? Hubby figured it out, because it's taking longer for it's odor to clear away than any other animal we've had die under there in our 30 years in this home. Makes perfect sense to me! I just hope that it was a skinny hippo, so that we get some relief soon. ;)

Blessings

I had some delicious, fresh grapes for a treat today.
A coupon to get 30 pictures developed for free!!! I'm going to have a lot of scrap booking to do with all these pictures I'm getting developed lately. :)
Life's simple joys - an exceptionally funny day with the dogs, relaxed time to chat with hubby and daughter, seeing a squirrel do some amazing acrobatics on a tree limb.

I hope your day is also filled with blessings and simple joys.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Flower Fairy

2011-07-07T20:47:00.000-04:00

Hello friends. This sweet fairy stamp is from Stamps Happen. I'm not sure if this stamp is retired or not. I really enjoyed coloring it. I used my Prismacolor pencils. I added some Shimmerz on her wings.

Challenges:
Flutterby Wednesday - Open Week
Crafts and Me - Favorite Stamp/Image
Clear It Out Tuesday - Wing It Out

My little dog, Princess, loves nature. She will try to make friends with almost any creature that comes along. The other night she tried to befriend a Blue Land Crab. Fortunately, it was on the other side of the fence or she may have ended up with a nasty pinch on her nose. The crabs are about 6" across.

Her favorite friend is one of the squirrels in our back yard. They spend a great deal of time entertaining each other. Here are photos of the squirrel peering down at Princess from the tree and Princess peering back up at the squirrel.

Blessings

Our beautiful, nature-filled back yard. One of my favorite places.
I've been able to make some cards lately.
A good report for my daughter from her doctor.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Summer Delight

2011-07-06T17:38:00.001-04:00

Summer Delight is what I'd name this digi stamp from Designed2Delight. It includes so much that I love - the beach, flip flops and a star fish. It's so me. ;) It's a freebie from the Delightful Inspiration blog and you can get it through tomorrow. The sentiment is from a digi set by CDSKT. If anyone knows what the initials stand for, I'd be happy to include the entire name and link. Sometimes I can't remember a company name when I only have the initials to go by.

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils. I popped the starfish and the sentiment up with some ds foam tape to give them some dimension. I paper sculpted the flower in the dp to give it some dimension too. I meant to ink the edges of the image and sentiment, but was chatting with Mark and watching tv while making the card and forgot. Which just goes to show that I can't talk and craft at the same time. lol

Challenges:
Designed2Delight Image Challenge
Scrap Creations - Summer
The Stamping Boutique - Summer Scene
The Crazy Challenge - On the Beach

Here's a picture I took of a butterfly on a Zinnia. The Zinnia was beyond it's prime, but the butterfly is so beautiful that I had to share. I so enjoy nature.

Blessings

A voucher to have 101 pictures developed for free!!!
A sweet phone call from a friend.
A new color of nail polish that my dd gave me. I can't wait to do my toes. :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Gray Wolf

2011-07-02T19:30:00.000-04:00

Hello friends. Summer is here and with it comes a different schedule, which makes it difficult for me to fit in crafting and blogging time. But I'll pop in whenever I can. A warm welcome to my new followers. I'm so happy to have you here. :)

Here is a masculine card, which I enjoyed making. Usually masculine cards are a real challenge for me, but this one was fun. The beautiful stamp, which I borrowed from my daughter, is from Sarasota Stamps. I colored it with watercolor pencils.

I'm entering these challenges:
CES Challenges - Woodland Creatures
Inspire Me Fridays - Always Anything Goes
Hanna and Friends - Card for a Man
The Stamping Boutique - No DP

My hubby has had some vacation days and he has spent some of that time working on a nice wooden counter in my craft room. He only has a bit of trim work left to do on it. It's great to have a handy and loving hubby to do things like this for me. In fact, he's the one who came up with the idea, so that I could better use my space.

Blessings

My wonderful hubby and the new counter that he built for me.
Some much needed dresses that we've found new and used at terrific prices.
Lots of rain - we need it so badly.
Some awesome happy mail.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Gasp A Card!

2011-05-20T21:04:00.001-04:00

Hi friends. At last I've made a card once again. It's for the OWH Stars and Stamps Sketch Chellenge #69. Sketches aren't my strong point. Maybe because I started stamping waaayyyyyyyy before there was such a thing as a sketch or maybe I'm just too literal minded. LOL Anyhow, working from a sketch is a real challenge for me. I do find the OWH sketches more user friendly than most. Here's the sketch:

I used some pretty dp as my background, added some embellishments and that was it! The colors in my photo are quite off. The paper colors are off, the green flower is a different shade, the gemstone is peridot colored, the trim is a lighter green and the hemp is brown. But it gives you the general idea and I couldn't get the colors to adjust better no matter what I tried.

***Please pray for a friend of mine who is in labor with her first baby today. It has been 20 hours so far and she has some pregnancy related health concerns. Another friend of mine could use your prayers too. She's preparing all of the food for her daughter's wedding tomorrow. She's working on it today and tomorrow morning. It's going to be a feast, but a lot of work for her.

Anne-Marie at Little-Applefalls has passed on the Stylish Blogger Award to me. Thank you sweet friend. Please visit Anne-Marie's blog and leave her some love. You'll fall in love with her wit and beautiful cards.

Here are the rules of the award:

- Thank the person who gave this to me and link back to her blog
- Share 8 things about myself
- Pass this to 8 other bloggers
- Leave a comment so they can pass along the recognition

Okay, eight things about me:

1. God is the center of my life.
2. Family means everything to me. We're very family oriented.
3. I have a collection of pretty marbles. Just a pint size jar of them. They sit in front of the window on my desk to pick up the sunlight. I got them to remind me of my marble collection I had as a child & because they're so pretty.
4. I also have a beautiful collection of seashells, because I love everything to do with the ocean. The majority of them I found myself on various beaches. I use some of them in my decor.
5. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the constant barrage of new paper crafting products that keep coming out and wish for the more simple way things were back when I first learned to stamp many years ago.
6. I make a lot of my own earrings. It's fun to be able to make exactly what I want to go with an outfit.
7. I read myself to sleep every night. I like the Yada Yada Prayer Group series, the Sister Chick series, Lori Wick, Hannah Alexander, Terri Blackstock, Mary Higgins Clark, Lillian Jackson Braun and so many more. Mystery & suspense are my favorites, but I'll read romance, if it's clean.
8. I'm allergic to dogs with fur, rather than hair and cats. I love cats and slept with one in our bed for the first few years of our marriage. After I had two sinus surgeries and discovered the cat allergy, our cat had to go. :( Now our household revolves around non-allergenic little dogs and I adore them. :)

I'm going to bend the rules a bit and pass this lovely award on to ALL of you. If you claim it, please leave me comment, so that I can read about you in your post. It's fun to learn new things about my fellow crafters. I hope to see this award on YOUR blog. :)

Blessings

A lovely 87 degree day today.
Hubby found some great used books for me today.
Happy mail!!!

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Happy Hump Day!

2011-05-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

I've been awarded the Liebster Blog award by Bri at Beauty Blogger Bri. Thanks so much, Bri. Please stop by Bri's blog to visit and leave her some love. There's always something interesting going on there and Bri is super friendly.

"The Liebster Award is designed to bring well deserved additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 300 followers. If you receive the award you link back to the blogger that nominated you and nominate 3 more blogs."

I nominate...

Thea of Thea's Musings

Sheila of Crazy & Lovin' It!

Becky of My Adventures in Stamping

Please drop in to visit each of these lovely ladies too and leave them some love. Tell them I sent you by. :)

I'm keeping my grand dog while my daughter pet sits for the week. He's used to my ways and schedule, because he spends each day with me while my daughter is working, so he's very well behaved for me. He came complete with his own little bag packed with his favorite toy, shirts, and his favorite dvds. He loves to watch tv and we don't have any tv reception, so he brings dvds when he comes to sleep over. lol He also brought a few Princess dvds along for my dog, so she wouldn't have to watch all boy shows. :) He and my little dog get upset if they don't get to see each other every day. They're very attached to each other. This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them, even though it doesn't show their faces. I think it's so cute.

I've decided the delivery men who come to our house regularly must think I have a dog with a strange personality disorder. Seeing both dogs seldom go out to the potty at the same time most people who don't know us well only see one dog at a time and assume it's the same dog, because the dogs are alike in coloring and size. That's where the similarities end. My grand dog is the watch dog and when a delivery man comes barks and carries on like he wants to eat the poor man. Then a week later the same delivery man can come back and my dog, who is the social butterfly, will be the one on the closed in porch and she'll be all waggly tailed and grins. Can you imagine how whacked out this dog must appear to be? rofol

Blessings

Two kinds of fresh squash from our garden.
Lots of the smaller size sunflowers in our wildflowers this year. I love sunflowers!
A good report from a friend who is seriously ill.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Hello

2011-05-09T16:33:00.000-04:00

Hi friends. I've been missing for quite awhile and several of you have very kindly checked with me to see if I'm okay. So I figured I better add a quick post and let everyone know what is going on. I've been very ill with a combination of things that have kept me out of circulation. I'm doing some better, but still not up to creating or doing many other things I need and want to do. But the good news is that my spirits are high and I know this will pass and I'll be back to doing my normal things. I have a great support team between God and my family.

I wanted to let you know that my sweet friend, Deedee, will be closing Deedee's Digis on May 14th. So if you want to buy any of her digis, this is the final week to do so. Deedee is offering a whooping 75% off of all of her digis right now. That is practically giving them away! So be sure to stock up on what you want before this wonderful store closes forever. The code you need for the discount is on the home page of her store. Below is one of Deedee's $1.00 sets that I love.

Blessings

The help and pampering my husband and daughter have given me while I'm ill.
The out pouring of prayers, get well wishes, cards, & gifts from family & friends.
A wonderful Mother's day. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

That's A Lot!!!

2011-04-07T00:15:00.010-04:00

Hello friends. This is a special card for my hubby. This sentiment says it all. lol This is the More Than Chocolate set from Deedee's Digis. It's another one of Deedee's terrific $1.00 sets. I adore these little sets. You can afford to buy a new set for any and every occasion or just because. I apologize for my poor pictures. I had to take them very early in the morning before the sun was bright enough to give me the best natural light. It made the white areas have weird shadows. I used a Cuttlebug Embossing folder on the lower portion of my card. I tied a bit of hemp through my button to add a slightly masculine touch. My hubby will be okay with all of the pink on the card, because it's from me and he knows how much I love pink.

This close up view of the chocolate shows the bit of shine on it to make it look more like the real thing. Are you craving chocolate yet? lol I colored the image with Prismacolor markers, Prismacolors pencils, gel pens and glaze pens.

Here's the rest of the sentiment on the inside of the card. Isn't it a perfect sentiment for a chocolate lover to give to someone they love?

I'm so sorry I haven't been getting around to visit and comment on blogs. I'm battling several physical problems above and beyond my normal ones and to be honest I've been feeling awful. I'm undergoing tests. My afternoon out with hubby on the weekend was absolutely awesome, but a bit too much for my strength right now. It was so worth it though. :)

Blessings

A very uplifting testimony from a young woman who has been through severe physical battles.
Hubby found some good, used books for me. I love to read.
Unexpected phone visits with several family members.
Safety driving to the Dr. in a bad storm yesterday while I was feeling terrible.

I believe my pretty little bird I spotted the other day was an Orchard Oriole. They only pass through this area during migration. They like sweet foods and we have humming bird nectar out. It has been disappearing at an extremely fast rate, so we suspect the Orchard Oriole has been enjoying it. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Sunny Day!

2011-04-03T17:02:00.002-04:00

Hello friends. I hope you all are enjoying your weekend. I've been having a fabulous weekend!

I made my card with an old stamp from Hippo Heart. I made the yellow layer of my card using the Polished Stone technique. It's layered on a dark green card. I used a charm with the word "Dream" on it for my sentiment. I sponged around the image with a sea sponge. I love the texture a sea sponge gives.

I heat embossed the image with gold embossing powder and watercolored it with Tombow makers. To do this, scribble the Tombow markers on an old plastic lid and pick up the color with a waterbrush or wet paint brush. Then paint in whatever watercolor style that pleases you.

Here are some samples of the Polished Stone techniques papers that I made. The picture doesn't show them at their best, because I took it at night. Some are made with dye re-inkers and some are made with alcohol inks. You'll notice that I didn't add any metallic ink to the yellow paper. It was easier to match the yellow paper to my colored image, but I think the papers with the metallic inks in them would look gorgeous as backgrounds for cards with sentiments as their focal point. Here are a few links to learn more about the Polished Stone Technique: Stamp tv, Split Coast Stampers, Sara Janes Studio.

Today's Tip: I save the paper that has been printed on from our computer printer. I use it as a mat under my paper crafting to catch adhesive, ink, paint and other messy things that I don't want on my desk surface. Once I've used the paper for a mat it's ready for the recycling bin. This way I get double use out of a sheet of paper before it gets sent to the recycling bin. Another small way to help keep our planet green. :)

Challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday
The Crafty Pad
Paper Sundaes
Scrappy Frogs
Allsorts
Pattie's Creations

Yesterday My husband and I spent a wonderful afternoon together. One of the things we did was have a picnic at a park at the beach. It was a perfect day for it- warm and sunny, but not hot. We didn't go down on the beach itself, because it was too windy there for the Trigeminal Neuralgia in my face, but I did snap a few quick pictures of the ocean from the boardwalk. The ocean was extremely calm - no surfers - one man in a kayak fishing. :)

I never grow tired of the beauty of the ocean. I'm so blessed to live this close to it.

Blessings

The chance to spend special time with my best friend & soul mate, my hubby, yesterday.
A fabulous answer to prayer that I'll elaborate more on as I can!!!
Another precious phone call from my little niece. Such a great surprise. :)
A safe trip for our friends that were traveling a long distance.
I saw a beautiful new species of bird out back yesterday morning. I have to do more research to find out what it was. It sure was pretty and one I've never seen in 29 yr. of living here.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Eggstra Special!

2011-03-31T00:15:00.002-04:00

Hello friends! As soon as I saw this beautiful new set from Deedee's Digi's I knew I had to make a glittery, shimmery egg shaped card with it. This is the Dollar Set at Deedee's digis this week. You can get it for free by participating in this week's Happy Monday Challenge and using one of Deedee's digis on your entry. The sentiment "Happy Easter!" is included in the set.

This view shows how shimmery and glittery my card is in real life.

Challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie
Sweet Stamps
Incy Wincy Designs

Magical Monday

This is a picture of one of the two big Oak trees in my back yard. This is the one that I can see from the window of my craft room. This tree is one of my blessings. The tree itself is gorgeous and I love the wild life that it shelters. Everything from birds to raccoons. When I opened the back door to take this picture I spotted a squirrel and 5 species of birds in my Oak tree at a glance. I would have seen more if I had taken time to study it more carefully.

Blessings

The boy's ranch where we work and live just celebrated it's 46th anniversary! To God be the glory!!!
A surprise long distance call from my 8 yr. old niece. That's something I'll treasure. :)
Fabulous happy mail!
A lovely answer to prayer for some special friends.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Nice Surprise :)

2011-03-26T19:15:00.000-04:00

It sure was nice to find this Versatile Blogger Award waiting for me. It was awarded to me by Bri from Beauty Blogger Bri. Thanks so much, Bri. You made my day!!! Bri has a very enjoyable blog. Please stop by and say hello to her.

Guidelines

1. Thank the person who gave you the award

and link back to them in your post.

2. Tell us 7 things about yourself.

3. Award bloggers who inspire you.

4. Contact the bloggers and let them

know they've received the award.

Let's see seven thing about me, huh?
1. I love the beach & everything connected to it, especially seashells. (My parents chose the perfect name for me. lol)
2. I love babies and children. I so enjoy cuddling and rocking a baby.
3. I love to read, especially mysteries.
4. I seldom go shopping for anything, due to my health. My hubby does 99.9% of the shopping. He even shops for clothes for me. He's so wonderful! When I'm able to get out to a store, I love our local recycling store. It has so many wonderful treasures and bargains to discover.
5. I love nature - birds, butterflies, animals, flowers, mountains, the ocean, etc. Everything except snakes, rodents and creepy crawly things like lizards and suction cup frogs.
6. I sing or hum often around home, though I'm not a very good singer. My little grand-dog adores my singing. Gotta love that! lol
7. I hate to iron. I only iron if all other methods to remove the wrinkles have failed and that doesn't happen often.

In no special order, these are the bloggers I'm awarding, because each of them inspires me in some way:

Heidi's Crafts - Heidi-Mari
Crazy & Lovin' It - Sheila
PurpleStamper's Musings - Sue
little-applefalls - Anne-Marie
My Craft Central - Tammy
Random Hearts - Clytie
VIBGYOR Krafts - E.T.

Blessings

I'm feeling some better from the flu I've had.
Sweet messages from family & friends.
I can see God working in a situation and it's such a blessing!!!

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Pocketful of Joy

2011-03-24T00:45:00.003-04:00

Hello friends. It seems hard to believe that it's already Thursday. This week has flown by for me.

My card is made with the Pocketful of Joy set from Deedee's Digis. This sweet set is only $1.00. It's so versatile and uplifting. I just love it! I feel like the center of the card is rather bare looking, but it's too late now. :(

I colored the image with Prismacolor Markers, Bic Mark-It Markers, Prismacolor pencils, chalks, and gel pens.

I embellished my card with Sizzix flowers and leaves, Cuttlebug vines, various buttons, and a darling bird stick pin that my mom sent to me. Thanks mom. :)

Challenges:
Cooking It Up with Katie
Clear It Out
Digital Tuesday
Top Tip Tuesday

Today's Tip: Thin a thick, white glue (such as Elmer's Craft Bond Glue) with water. Paint it over a stamped and colored image. When it dries, it makes a beautiful semi-gloss finish. I especially like this finish on my moon stamps.

Blessings:

A wonderful answer to prayer!!!!
Terrific happy mail!!!
A friend who is battling cancer received good news.
A fabulous family day.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Time to Bloom Blog Hop

2011-03-18T00:30:00.020-04:00

Spring is such a marvelous time of year! A time of warming weather, of lengthening days, and best of all, a time of vibrant colors and new life -- a time to BLOOM! Join the Deedee's Digis Design Team this weekend as we celebrate the start of this very special season with a "Time to Bloom" blog hop!

If this is your first stop on the hop, be sure to go to the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog, where you will find the directions for participating in the hop, a chance to win the grand prize of a $15 credit to our store, AND a little gift for you! If you get lost along the hop, you can also go back to the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog to find the list of blogs.

My project for the hop was inspired by my sister, Sheila. She makes gorgeous pen bouquets and I thought I'd give it a try for our "Time to Bloom" Hop. The flower pens were quick and easy to make. My sweet husband made the majority of these. :) Here's a link with instructions.

I used stamps from several sets to decorate my flower pot. The little bear is from the Lucky Teddy set. I snipped off the clover that the teddy holds and replaced it with a flower from the BEE-LIEVE set. The sentiment is from the Early Bird set. I colored my image with Prismacolor pencils and oms.

This is what the pen looks like when it's in use.

Before you go, please be sure to leave me a comment in order to be entered to win $5 in free digis of your choice from the Deedee's Digis store! You have until 12 noon Eastern Time on Sunday to comment. I'll choose a random winner then, and all winners will be announced on Monday at Crafting with Deedee's Digis -- be sure to check back then to see if you've won. Thanks so much for joining us today, and may all the blessings of Spring be yours!

Your next stop on the hop is Stephanie.

Challenges:
Delicious Doodles
Mami Doodles

Stamping with the Dragon
Wags N Whiskers

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Christ Is Risen!

2011-03-17T02:25:00.006-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!! I hope you remembered to wear green today so that no one pinches you. :) I was thinking I might have to spend the day in my jammies in order to wear green, but remembered an outfit I have with green in it. Bummer! There goes a good excuse for a comfy day in my jammies. lol

My card is made with the gorgeous Christ Is Risen digital stamp set by Deedees Digis. I kept my card simple, because I wanted the beautiful cross image to be the only place your eye is drawn on this card. I colored my image with Prismacolor pencils and oms and then coated it with a glaze pen to give it the appearance of a stained glass window. I scored the edges of the dark purple layer and the corners of the shimmery lavender card, added 3 small rhinestones and that was it.

Maybe you can see the shine on the image better in this close up view.

Again, I kept the inside of the card simple, so that the focus would be on the words of this lovely sentiment, which is part of the Christ is Risen set.

Challenges:
House of Gilli
Lexi's Creations

Important!!!
Don't forget that the "Time to Bloom" blog hop for Deedee's Digi's starts tomorrow morning. I'm so excited! We have great things in store for you. Beautiful eye candy, prizes at every stop, a grand prize and a freebie. Deedee has really pulled out the stops.

Blessings

For the past two nights a Mockingbird has been singing in our back yard between 12:30a.m. and 2:30a.m. A very unusual, but beautiful occurrence.
We figured out what was making our little dog feel so bad and she's doing better.
My sweet husband, who is always there for me. He's such a special man.

Have a wonderful day!!! Don't forget to share a smile with someone. :)

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Quiet

2011-03-14T15:53:00.000-04:00

Hi friends. Sorry I haven't been around to comment on your blogs in several days. My primary care Dr. left the practice and the Dr. I was handed over to has made two mistakes with my asthma and allergy medications in the last week. We're at the peak of pollen season here, so it has left me feeling lousy. I'll be back out "socializing" when I feel better. :) I miss you, but just don't have the energy to do anything about it. lol

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Prayer Wave

2011-03-12T18:56:00.000-05:00

·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸PRAYER WAVE¸.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ Going out to all those affected in Japan, the Pacific and everywhere else affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Keep this going. Please post this on your blogs for our friends that are in it's path. Stay safe my friends. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

A Basket of Easter Blessings

2011-03-10T02:00:00.005-05:00

Hi friends. We're in the midst of a glorious spring here in Florida. (Except for the pollen. lol) I hope that spring will soon arrive in your area, if it hasn't already. This Easter card is made with an adorable set called Gifts of Spring from Deedee's Digis. The set is a terrific value at $2.50 for this darling image and three lovely sentiments.

Here's the inside of the card, which shows one of the sentiments from the set.

Challenges:
Free 4 ever
Crafty Creations
Paper Pretties
The Pixie Cottage
Ladybug Crafts Ink

Please hop long on our blog hop at Crafting with Deedee's Digis, March 18-20th. We guarantee you a blooming good time with beautiful projects, a free digi, prizes at every blog stop, and a grand prize at Crafting with Deedee's Digis.

Blessings

Lots of happy mail!!!
Listening to a Mockingbird sing while I sat on the porch swing with the dogs.
Special notes from my family and friends.
Some outside noise that was interrupting my sleep has stopped.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Lucky Teddy

2011-03-03T01:19:00.000-05:00

Hello friends. I made a tri-fold tag for St. Patrick's Day using digital stamps from Deedee's Digis and lots of bling. I love the little teddy bear. He's so cute and cuddly. There's a new project to see every day at Crafting with Deedee's Digis and don't forget the Happy Monday Challenge. Every week Deedee offers a free digi stamp set if you make a card using one of her digis. If you need a digi to get started, you can pick up a free one to try at her store. The winner of the challenge gets to select a stamp set from Deedee's Digis.

Here's a close up view of the tag, so that you can read the sentiments more easily.

Challenges:
Doodle Pantry
Tip Top Tuesday
Tuesday Throwdown

Blessings

My niece was in a car accident today, but she's okay. A family friend, who is a former police officer, passed by and was able to help her. That's not a coincidence.
Happy mail!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Hearts of Gold

2011-03-01T23:13:00.001-05:00

Hello friends. Today's card was inspired by a card that my friend, Erum, made and shard on her blog VIBGYOR Krafts. Erum's card has gold hearts on it and I told Erum that I was going to have to make a card with gold hearts and so I did. :) The card itself is Micca shimmer card stock, the red and gold strips under the mesh are textured, and the printed card stock has gold shimmery glitter on it. The hearts are cut from different textured gold card stocks with my SU heart punch. I added some pearls and scored the edges with my Scor Pal.

Lindsay at The Frugal Crafter has a set of 12 ProMarkers to give away. Go check out the details. While you're there be sure to watch the great tutorial video she made about coloring with ProMakers.

Challenges:
Papertake Weekly
Woodware USA

Blessings

The butterflies are back with the warmer weather. They're so pretty.
I have an answer to prayer that is too personal to share, but I'm praising God for it big time!!!!
I won this sweet Teddy Cuddles stamp from Bizzy Becs.
Phone visits with my mom and sisters. :)

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A sweet heart!

2011-02-26T18:20:00.000-05:00

Hello friends. I hope you are having a great weekend. It's another beautiful, sunny and warm day here in Florida. These aren't the colors I had planned to use when I made this card, but I'm glad I changed my mind and did something a bit different. The digital image is a beautiful freebie from Sugar Creek Hollow.

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils, chalks and my clear Stardust pen. If you look closely you can see that I embellished the heart with approx. 63 tiny pearls and one of the beautiful pearl stick pins, which my sister sent me. I added a dragonfly punch and Prima flowers to the card itself.

Challenges:

One Stop Craft

Simply Create

Stamp Something

This is a fun set of Q&A from my friend, Bri's blog. Feel free to copy it and use it on your blog, if you'd like.

Do you have any pets?

I have a sweet, little Maltese/Yorkie mix dog named Princess, who was a gift from my sister. My nieces named her Princess and she has lived up to her name. The household pretty much revolves around her. lol Most days I watch my grand-dog, Caesar, who is a darling little Lhasa Apso. They are great company for me.

Name 3 things that are physically close to you.

My laptop, my blanket, the phone.

What's the weather like right now?

Sunny and warm!!!

Have you ever been in a car crash?

Yes, it lead to my becoming disabled.

What time did you wake up this morning?
6:00a.m. because I forgot to turn the weekday alarm off. Silly me! But, after convincing the dog that we weren't getting up, I went back to sleep. :)

What was the last movie you saw?

Letters to Juliette. It was so-so. I'm glad it was only from the $1 rental box. lol

What does your last text message say?

I don't text.

Have you ever been to a different country?

Yes, I've been to Canada a number of times. It's beautiful!

Do you like sushi?

Haven't tried it.

Where do you buy your groceries?

Publix and Walmart

Have you ever taken medication to help you fall asleep faster?

Yes

Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?

Laptop

Do you wear contacts or glasses?

Glasses - can't wear contacts.

Tell me something you are planning to do today.

Wrap some packages to mail. Work on some cards.

When was the last time you cried?

I'm not sure. It was when we watched something touching on tv.

What is your perfect pizza topping?

I can't eat pizza due to food allergies, but I like black olives on it.

Which do you prefer - hamburgers or cheeseburgers?

I have an occasional turkey burger - no cheese.

Have you ever had an all-nighter?

Sometimes I'll stay up most of the night laughing and talking with my daughter. :)

What is your eye color?

Hazel. The eye Dr. says I have a perfect ring each of green, blue and brown, but they look green.

Can you taste the difference between (diet) Pepsi and Coke?

Definitely!!! Diet Coke tastes best. :)

Blessings

The first rose of the season bloomed on my hubby's rose bushes. Beautiful!
We watched the space shuttle launch safely the other day. A plane load of sky divers jumped at the time of the launch, so that they could watch it from the air. Wouldn't that be amazing? We had quite a show with the space shuttle and the sky divers. :)

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

O Give Thanks!

2011-02-24T02:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Thursday friends!! Wow! It can't get much better than it is here in Florida right now. We seem to be having an early spring and I'm really enjoying it and am so thankful for it. My wall hanging has a verse about giving thanks. The verse is a digital stamp from Deedee's Digis. Visit the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog to see a great new project every day. The ribbon is a $1 roll from Michaels, the gems are by Darice and everything else is bits and pieces from my stash.

Maybe in this close up view you can see that all of the papers are sparkly.

Challenges:
Crafty Creations
Paper Pretties
Sweet Stamps

Blessings

Each day more leaves are starting to open on the bushes in the woods. Things are becoming green again!
Special happy mail!
A homemade M&M brownie. You all know I adore plain M&M's. This was an awesome combination. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Create With TLC Blog HOP

2011-02-19T04:00:00.017-05:00

Thank you for stopping by the on the Create with TLC blog hop. I made this framed saying for my husband, who is a teacher. The saying is a digital stamp from Create with TLC. Create with TLC is having a great President's Day sale through Sunday. Check out the details here. Be sure to visit the Create with TLC blog too. Paulette offers updates on new digital stamp sets, freebies and fun games.

If you're looking for the beginning of the blog hop, go to Create with TLC. Hop on over to Heather for your next stop on the blog hop.

Blessings

My hubby found a great book for me at The Dollar Tree. Gotta love that price. :)
Happy Mail!!!
Good news from a friend who has been going through a crisis.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Stop and eat the daisies!

2011-02-17T04:00:00.076-05:00

Good morning, friends! I made this card for my DT post on Crafting with Deedee's Digis. I used the new release set, Seize the Daisy. I love the sentiment, plus I wanted to use googly eyes on the goat. :) It's such a fun set. Check out the rest of the new release sets at Deedee's Digis. Remember, you get 50% off your order this week in celebration of the Grand Reopening! Use the special coupon code found here.

I colored the image with Prismacolor markers and Prismacolor pencils. I used some burlap paper to add to the farm feeling and faux stitched the edges of it. I popped up the daisy in the goat's mouth, added a popped up daisy to the sentiment, and gave the goat a shiny nose and googly eyes.

Blessings

The Jacaranda tree out back is starting to get leaves. It's a warm weather tree, so I'm hoping this is a sign of spring. :)
I won blog candy at Holley's Blog!!
It's a gorgeous, sunny day!!!!!

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Exciting news!

2011-02-13T15:37:00.000-05:00

I'm very happy to share that I'm now a member of the design team for Deedee's Digis. As you all know, I love Deedee's stamps. They're so full of joy. You can't help but smile when you see them.

Deedee's Digis has big news today. They're opening a new web store and to celebrate they're offering 50% off your entire order using a special code!!! You can read all about it here.

Today's card is for the CDAC Sketch Challenge, which is hosted by Deedee's Digis. You receive this sweet St. Patrick's Day set to use and the winner will get to choose 2 digi stamp sets from Deedee's Digis.

I colored my image with Prismacolor markers, Prismacolor pencils and ink pads. You can see in this close up view that I popped up two of the shamrocks, the snails body is shiny and it's shell is shimmery.

Blessings

My new Design team position.
Everything in the woods behind our home is brown and dead from the hard freezes we've had this winter, but there's one green bush with beautiful yellow flowers all over it. I've never seen this bush before. It's so pretty.
I've lost 25 lb. now!!!
Had a great, early Valentine date with my hubby Friday night. :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Doggie Delivery

2011-01-31T11:31:00.001-05:00

Hello friends. I haven't been doing much crafting this past week. I'm still battling worse than usual pain and it tends to zap my creativity. lol

This shabby chic card was made with an adorable dog image from The Graphics Fairy. This image reminds me so much of my grand-dog, except it would be beneath him to sit up like that. He has Lhasa-tude. lol I used a couple of my antique and vintage buttons on it, some lace, a stick pin and a glittery flower for embellishments.

Challenge:

Stampin' Sisters in Christ

Blessings

Saturday Mark moved our bed into the room that we're using to keep warmer during the winter. There's nothing like your own bed!
I had 3 big Pileated Wood Peckers and a very tiny sparrow visit at the same time. What a contrast! Praise God for His wonderful creations!!!
Awesome happy mail!
A terrific answer to prayer. Thank you, Lord!!!

Have a great day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Fairy Bear

2011-01-21T18:50:00.001-05:00

The weekend is almost here! I hope each one of you is able to do something you enjoy this weekend.

This was a fun card to make. The adorable fairy bear is a digital stamp from Bugaboo Stamps, the sentiment is a digital stamp from Scrap-a-licious-times and the little hearts in the middle of the sentiment are a rubber stamp from My Paper Moon. The sketch is from Catch the Bug Challenge.

I used Angel Wings Shimmerz on the wings, rhinestones on the antennae, and my clear glaze pen on the eyes, nose, and heart. Some of the vintage rick rack that hubby bought for me recently and some skittles finished the card off.

Challenges:
Bugaboo sketch
Die Cut Dreams
Incy Wincy
Stamp Something
Tellens Place
Totally Paper Crafts
Wags n Whiskers

Blessings

Another good rain today.
I needed a new computer cord & hubby was able to purchase it for free due to a coupon he had.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

What's Green and Red and full of bling?

2011-01-20T00:39:00.001-05:00

A frog birthday card, of course! This fun digital image is from Bugaboo Stamps. The sketch is from OWH Stars and Stamps.

Maybe in this close up you can see that I used my clear glaze pen on the eyes and lips and my Stardust pen on the party blower. The party blower is a piece that I cut from another birthday digital stamp by Bugaboo Stamps. You can't have a party without a noise maker. lol

Challenges:
Bugaboo
My Time to Craft
OWH Stars and Stamps
Creative Inspirations

Thank you all for your concern and prayers for me. You make me feel like I've had a big, warm hug. :) My pain level is still very high, but with time, rest, and medication it will get back to a more manageable level. I did too much the other evening and am paying the price for it.

Blessings

My sil brought us some of her delicious homemade soup that she knows we love.
Another good mail day!!!
It was lovely out today. At 4:00p.m. it was still 82F. Bliss!

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Purple Passion

2011-01-18T23:49:00.001-05:00

Hi friends. My pain level is very high this evening, so I'll keep this brief. The image and sentiment for this card are a set from Deedee's Digis. Be sure to check out Deedee's challenge blog, where you can earn a free set just by by using her stamps when you enter the challenges. Can you tell that I like purple? :)

Challenges:
Crafting with Deedee's Digis
Sentimental Sundays
Phindy's Place
Wags n Whiskers
The Crazy Challenge

Blessings

Happy Mail today!
Hubby found a season of Family Affair at the library on dvd. I used to adore that show when I was in kindergarten. He's always doing thoughtful things for me. :)
Good news about a friend that has cancer!!!!

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

More Clean and Simple

2011-01-17T18:43:00.001-05:00

I guess technically CAS wouldn't have any layers, but I consider this a clean and simple card. This is the sketch this week at There's Magic in the Air and it caught my eye for a CAS card. The image is a digital stamp from Bugaboo Stamps and unfortunately, I don't know who makes this nice sentiment. If you know, please tell me, so that I can give proper credit. I made the solid blue paper by doing the color wash technique with my Twinkling H2O's. In person, it's nice and shimmery. Bugaboo Stamps is having a whopping 60% off all of their stamps this week for their first anniversary, so go shop!!!

Challenges:
Bugaboo
There's Magic in the Air
Mami Doodles
I Did It Creations

Blessings

A really nice time with my daughter today.
I saw a humming bird outside my back window today. We very seldom see them here.
We received some more much needed rain today.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

The Vein Whisperer

2011-01-17T01:06:00.002-05:00

I love today's card, because it's humorous. That's my all time favorite type of card to make I kept my card simple, because I didn't want to distract from the image. The fun sentiment which says, "The Vein Whisperer", is a freebie from Create with TLC. (I think I'll make this into a wall hanging and take it to the lab next time I get my blood drawn.) The nurse image is by Just Inklined. Read below about this special image.

This is just one of numerous digital images donated by 14 companies as a fundraiser for Katie Renz. Katie is
a fellow crafter, who was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer in December. She is undergoing
Chemotherapy. Jak Heath has put together a wonderful fund raiser to benefit Katie and her family. It's awesome to see our crafting community coming together to help like this. Please check out the fund raiser and help if you are able to. And please, please pray each day for Katie and her family.

Challenges:
Crafty Pad
One Stitch At A Time
Stampin' Sisters In Christ
All three of the challenges I'm entering have a "New" theme. The new thing I used on my card is my nurse stamp. I used it for two reason. 1. I just love it. 2. I wanted to get the word out about the fund raiser for Katie and I thought this would be an eye catching card.

Blessings

My sweet, sweet hubby made me some delicious homemade macaroni & cheese with soy cheese and rice milk, because I'm lactose intolerant.
Extra time with my hubby today.
Answered prayer. God cares no matter how small or large our need.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Fluttering by with thanks!

2011-01-14T23:00:00.003-05:00

I broke out of my rut and made something besides a rectangular card. The sentiment ticket on this card is a freebie from Stamp Happy! and the digital image is a freebie from Paper Cupcakes. The cute flowers originally came on a box of Godiva chocolates. I acquired the flowers from my local recycling center, so I didn't get any of the chocolates, but the flowers were a good find. :) You can't tell in the picture, but the butterfly is dimensional.

Challenges:
There's Magic in the Air
Meljen's Designs
Crafty Sentiments
Crafty Catz
Fairy Knoll

Blessings

A really nice family evening.
My CardMaker magazine came today!!!
A special note from an online friend.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Shimmer & Shine

2011-01-13T21:24:00.003-05:00

Many years ago when I first started to stamp I heat embossed on almost every card. I seldom ever heat emboss these days, but did heat emboss in gold on this card. I painted the image with Twinkling H2O's and added some gold cord and Cuttlebug Vintage corners for embellishment. Three of the challenges I'm entering are about pulling out older, unused products and using them. The other challenge is embossing, which came about, because I used products I hadn't used in a long time. Fun stuff!

Challenges:
OWH Stars and Stamps
Sassy Studio Designs
Some Odd Girl
Oldie But A Goodie

My poor little grand-dog gets cold so easily. I'm not sure why, because he has a nice, thick coat and we keep him dressed warmly. The little guy will be shivering so violently that his teeth chatter, even when he has double shirts on in the house. (Though our house is hard to keep warm.) He loves electric blankets. Here's a picture of him in the hat that his mom made for him. :)

Blessings

Hubby brought me some M&M's today. I love M&M's and they boost creativity you know.
Toilet paper! For some reason, known only to himself, hubby doesn't get more toilet paper until we've depleted the supply of toilet paper, kleenex, and most of the napkins. Right now we have an ample supply of toilet paper. Life is good. :)
We kept warm enough last night. We've moved into a different room while it's so cold & it's easier to keep warm than our bedroom.
Happy mail again today!!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Feelin' the Love

2011-01-12T22:20:00.001-05:00

Good evening from chilly Florida. We live in an old home that is very drafty and we're struggling to keep it warm tonight. It's supposed to get down to 33F. Not typical Florida weather, though we've been having far more than usual of that type weather this winter.

This card will warm your heart. The elephant is a digital stamp from Deedee's Digis. Deedee gave away the set with the elephant in it last week for taking part in her challenge. The love ticket is a freebie from Stamp Happy!. I used my SU Heart to Heart punch, my Fiskars heart border punch, rhinestones and a tiny button for embellishments.

Challenges:
Crafting with Deedee's Digis
Scrap Creations
Bunny Zoe's Crafts
Lexi's Creations

Blessings

Happy Mail!!!
Sweet friends. :)
New audio books from the library to listen to while I craft.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

It's Party Time!

2011-01-10T16:48:00.002-05:00

This is my sister's birthday card and was made with lots of love. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and oms. The sentiment is a freebie from Create with TLC and the darling image is from Doodle Dragon Studios. (I linked to the blog, because they will soon be moving locations & this gives updates.) Be sure to check out the hop at Create with TLC.

I'm entering my card in these challenges:
The Crazy Challenge
Incy Wincy Designs
Kaboodle Doodles
Crafty Pad
Paper Sundaes

Blessings

It's a beautiful, sunny 80F day here in Florida!!!
An out of state friend arrived here safely.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Just Bee-cause!

2011-01-09T20:35:00.003-05:00

Hi friends. I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was very good. Our daughter arrived back from a pet sitting job and it's so nice to see her.

This cheerful card is made with a digital stamp set from Deedee's Digis. Beware, her digis are addictive. :) Some day I hope to own her whole collection. I added a silk flower with a button center to embellish my card.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Crafting with Deedee's Digis
Do You Stack Up?
Sentimental Sundays

Blessings

My daughter has had plenty of pet sitting business with the holidays & she has been safe throughout.
Watermelon in January - what a yummy gift!!!
Phone visits with my mom & both of my sisters. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-23T20:33:00.004-05:00

I couldn't let Christmas pass by without popping in and wishing all of my online friends a wonderful Christmas. I hope you all have a joyous Christmas and that 2011 will be a great year for you!

The project I have to show you today is a Christmas wall hanging. I found the wonderful vintage image and the vintage background music for my wall hanging at The Graphics Fairy, which is a terrific blog. Karen offers thousands of vintage images for free. I used vintage lace and antique buttons for embellishments.

I wanted to share a few pictures with you from the evening that Mark and I went out looking at Christmas lights. Our evening ended with our own private light show by a policeman, because the van had a light out and we didn't realize it. :)

This first picture is my favorite, because it shows a Florida style Christmas - a Palm tree wrapped in lights.

This picture was just too cute to pass up. :)

Blessings

My dear, sweet husband, who has pitched in to do so much for the holidays.
Someone gave us a phone system, in great used condition, that is what I needed to accommodate my neck problems.
A special time with family at a gathering.
That we have Christmas to remind us that God gave us His only son.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Fairy Song

2010-11-07T12:03:00.004-05:00

Hi friends. It's great to be back!!! Weeks of only limited use of my arms was very boring. lol Thank God for audio books. I'm still not back to 100%, so won't be able to leave many blog comments yet, but that too will come with time. Thank you all so very much for your prayers, messages, emails and cards. They have meant the world to me.

This card is for the Flutterby Wednesday Challenge, Alys Sunday Sketch, Raise the Bar, Paper Play Challenges, Crafty Catz Weekly. I used Shimmerz on the wings and accented the pocket heart and hair flowers with Stickles.

Blessings

The love and caring from my family and friends as I have recovered from my surgeries.
My husband finished his last class with a 99.8% grade average!!!
I lost 8 lb. due to feeling so bad from the surgeries! Please pray I can keep it off.

It is unseasonably cold here. It dropped 20* the other day and it has sure been a shock to this warm weather lover. :~) I don't know how people deal with winter clothes, blankets, etc. on a regular basis. They're so cumbersome. Okay, enough whining. lol

Have a terrific day!!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Have to be away

2010-09-29T18:17:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow morning I'm having the first of two neck surgeries. The second one will be on October 13th. They were scheduled for a week apart and I chickened out on having them that close together. lol I hope to be back feeling more creative after I'm healed up. The amount of pain I'm in has really affected both my creativity and my ability to create. See you in awhile.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

So blessed!

2010-09-15T19:25:00.001-04:00

I won stamps from two different blog hops and hadn't posted about it yet, because I was hoping to make cards with the stamps I won to go with my post. Due to very bad pain I've been having, the cards are partially finished on my desk and I'm not up to completing them right now. So, I'll show you the stamps I won and another time I'll show the cards.

First, I won a darling set of clear stamps called "Celebrate Sophia" from Paper Pretties. I love this set. The multiple sentiments make it so versatile and Sophia is so sweet that I just fell in love with her instantly. Thank you very much Heather and Paper Pretties for this fabulous set of stamps.

Next I won 5 digital stamps of my choice from Paper Cupcakes. It sure was hard to make up my mind, but I finally chose the five I did, because I love the delightful little scenes that Nina draws. Thanks so very much Nina and Paper cupcakes for these awesome digital stamps.

Ronan and Izzy - Christmas Surprise

Now you can see why I'm feeling so very blessed. :~)

Have a wonderful day!!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Stamping Cat-astrophe

2010-08-30T22:36:00.000-04:00

Both of these stamps are old favorites of mine. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the names of the manufacturers. If anyone knows, please let me know. I added Crystal Lacquer to the eyes of the cat to make them look real and used my clear glaze pen on the stamped paw prints. This card is for a friend who is battling cancer. Please remember him in prayer.

I'm entering my card in these challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Dieing for a punch- No die cutting machines or punches can be used.
Stamping Sister's in Christ - Proverbs 27:17 -Use Metal
CES challenge - Anything Goes

Blessings

Received my first Zentangle from a friend. Awesome creativity!!!
Hubby found some good used books for me. I was almost out.
A phone call from a friend I hadn't talked to in awhile.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

All that Glitters!

2010-08-29T17:00:00.001-04:00

I found this piece of glittery dp in with some paper that I received in a swap and I fell in love. I think I could become addicted to gliitery dp. lol Today's card is also for someone special who is recovering from major surgery, so please keep her in prayer too.

The butterfly antennae are made from wire that I colored with alcohol ink. I added some touches of Stickles to the butterfly. The background papers and parts of the butterfly that looks black are a rich brown IRL.

I'm entering my card in these challenges:
Flutterby Wednesday - Anything goes - must have butterfly, fairy or angel.
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Other than Christmas
Wild Orchid - Make It Sparkle
Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes
Paper Cutz - Use metal

Blessings

My doctor gave me two free inhalers.
Our friend, Lloyd, who was in the bad accident last year, is able to do some farming again.
My hubby got over $17 worth of cereal for $2!!! And it's healthy stuff too. What a guy! :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Pretty Posies

2010-08-27T22:48:00.003-04:00

I'm really sleepy, so I'll keep this short. This card is for the Sentimental Sundays Challenge. This weeks challenge theme is Words to Inspire. My main image is an older stamp from TAC. I used a word charm for my sentiment. The main image is painted with Twinkling H2O's, but you can't see the shimmer in my photo, unfortunately. Please pray for my friend that I made this card for. She's recovering from major surgery.

Blessings

I saw my first Monarch butterfly of this season.
Fabulous happy mail!!!
An evening out with my husband this week.

Have a great day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

From the House of Mouse

2010-08-21T01:20:00.001-04:00

Yes, we have a mouse in our house and not just on my adorable House Mouse stamps. This is the real thing! My daughter saw it, much to her dismay. I don't know why those little furry critters scare me so much when they come out of some place unexpectedly, but they do. I hope we catch this one soon. We've also had an abundance of the huge wolf spiders lately. Shouldn't the mice or spiders be eating each other? I shouldn't admit to these creepy crawlies. Now no one will want to come see me. lol

Anyhow, on to the real purpose of this blog entry, my card. This card is for the Stamping Sisters in Christ Challenge. This weeks challenge is based on Proverbs 17:22 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.". Our challenge is to make a humorous card. The yummy cake image is from Bee Crafty Digitals. I'm afraid I don't know who makes the awesome sentiment. It's a freebie, that I missed marking the company on, when I downloaded it. I sincerely apologize for this. If anyone knows who makes this digi stamp, please let me know, so that I can give proper credit.

Blessings

My hubby finished a class that was stressful for him and did very well. He finishes his degree in October!!!!
My sick fur baby is getting better.
New blinds in our bedroom. They look so nice and they're room darkening. Oh yeah!!!

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Wishing you a sunny day!

2010-08-14T15:52:00.000-04:00

It's time to flutter! This card is for the Flutterby Wednesday challenge. I used a sweet digital image from Paper Cupcakes.

Here's a close up of the image. Isn't that lady bug darling?

Blessings

Everything is looking so green and lush after the rain we've had. My back window looks out on to the woods and I so enjoy my view.
We received a free gift certificate to Woody's BBQ yesterday. That meant we could get take out for supper after a loooonnnggg week. :)

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Believe in Yourself!

2010-08-11T18:09:00.000-04:00

Today's card is for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge. This weeks challenge is based on Philippians 3:13-14 "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." I used a digital image from Create with TLC.

I printed the image twice, so that I could cut the flower out and pop it up with double stick foam tape.

Blessings

Air conditioning - we were married for about 6 years before we had air conditioning in our home here in Florida. I try hard to remember that it's a blessing not everyone has.

Our dogs - they enrich our lives with their love and antics.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Baby, it's cold outside!

2010-08-09T16:38:00.001-04:00

My card is a wintery theme, but here in Florida it's a typical hot, sunny August day. The sky is such a gorgeous bright blue with big, white fluffy clouds in it. My kind of day!

I made this card for the Ice Maiden challenge at Dezinaworld. I used a digital image from Pollycraft.

I added Stickles to the trim on the hat and coat and the snowflake embellishment. I used faux flower soft that my friend, Becky, made for me on the snow.

Blessings

My sweet daughter who checks to make sure I have my sunscreen on when I'm going to be out in the sun.
Friends - both online and in person. :)

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Just Fluttering By!

2010-08-08T14:48:00.000-04:00

Hi friends. I hope you all are having a great weekend. It's raining here, but I'm happy with that, because we really need the rain.

This card is for the Flutterby Challenge at Flutterby Wednesday. This week's challenge is to use your favorite color, so, of course, my card had to be pink. :) The template for this card is a nice freebie from Cuddly Buddly.

The other day when I arrived home from my water therapy this darling little guy was standing right by the fence watching me. He was so cute that I just had to take his picture. I find it amusing that the cows watch me like I'm interesting to them. lol

Blessings

Much needed rain several days this week!!!
My hubby found a whole bunch of good used books for me yesterday.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Very Stylish Award!

2010-08-06T01:10:00.001-04:00

I received this lovely award from Ira. It was such a nice surprise! Thanks so much, Ira. :)

I'm supposed to share 5 stylish things about myself.

1. My style of dress is casual and comfortable.
2. I love earrings. I feel naked without just the right pair to wear with every outfit.
3. My favorite colors for clothing are jewel tones.
4. I adore trying all different scents of bubble bath. My favorite is Tropical Delight.
5. I can't wear eye make-up anymore due to my eye condition and I really miss it sometimes.

Now I get to pass the award on to 5 very deserving blog owners. I've chosen these ladies, because I enjoy their blogs so much. Maria, Holley, Becky, Sue, and Tammy. Thank you for the inspiration I receive from each of you.

Have a great day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Breathless!

2010-08-04T18:06:00.000-04:00

Here's a fun card made with a sentiment from Create with TLC. I used my Stardust pen on the colored letters to add some glitz.

Blessings

My little dog cornered a possum and wasn't injured.
A phone visit with my mom.
My loving family who is always there for me.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

I'm Baacckkk!!!!

2010-07-31T00:09:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers while I was away. They meant so much to me. My eyes are doing well now.

Today's card is made with a digital image and sentiment from Create with TLC. I used real sand to embellish the card.

Blessings

My cd player quit and my hubby found another one at a garage sale that fits even better in my space. I love to listen to music while I craft.
Happy mail today!!!!
An answer to prayer for a need we had that wasn't in our budget. Praise God!!!

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Eye'll Be Back!

2010-06-04T21:28:00.001-04:00

Hi! This is Shelly's husband, Mark. Shelly asked me to post an explanation as to why she has not been active on her blog lately. Shortly after her last post, Shelly's chronic eye condition flared up, and she has been unable to engage in activities that strain and irritate this ailment. Although she misses sharing and interacting with her blogging friends, she will not be able to resume posting until her health improves. We pray that it will be very soon.

The #1 recipient of those Inky Hugs-
Mark

Hello Kitty

2010-05-22T19:38:00.000-04:00

Happy weekend everyone! I hope you're getting a chance to do something enjoyable. My birthday was yesterday and I must say that I had a wonderful day. It was filled with family, friends, phone calls, mail, email, FB messages, good food, chocolate and gifts. You can't top that!

I needed to make some things with Hello Kitty on them and all I could find to work with was party napkins with Hello Kitty. So that's what I used. A friend taught me a technique with napkins where they come out nice and glittery, so I used that technique on my projects. First up is a framed picture. IRL the background of the Hello Kitty picture is very glittery. These photos were taken at night, so I apologize for the poor quality.

Next is a journal and pen. Once again the background of the Hello Kitty picture is very glittery IRL. The pen is filled with glitter. I suggest gluing the pen shut if you do this, so that it can't be opened and spilled.

And here is the back of the journal. Once again the glittery background doesn't show in the photo. :)

Blessings

My nephew and niece were in a bad go-cart accident. We're very thankful that a broken arm was the only injury, besides bruises. Please pray for my nephew as his arm heals.
The outpouring of love from family and friends for my birthday.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

An Attitude of Gratitude

2010-05-16T19:31:00.000-04:00

I hope you're having a great day in your corner of the world. It has been a quiet, but good day here.

This card is made with a digital image from Meljen's Designs. Here is the link to her blog. From there you can go to her store or her challenge blog.

I colored the image with Primsacolor pencils and chalk. I added little flowers and crystals for some dimension. I used Crystal Lacquer on the bear's eyes and nose. I finished the image off with a few touches of Stickles.

A Favorite Thing:
Here's a beautiful visitor that I had in my back yard recently. The photo was taken through the window, so it isn't the best quality.

Blessings

Time spent with a special friend.
A card from my daughter with a very meaningful message.
My computer - I use it for so many things.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Fish Bowl Card for a Friend

2010-05-07T18:41:00.001-04:00

Hi friends. I hope you've had a great day. It has been a gorgeous day here. Sunny and very warm. I love bright, sunny days.

This was a fun card to make. I made the card in the shape of the gold fish bowl. I covered the front of the card with clear laminate to make it look like glass. I used Shimmerz on the gold fish. I apologize for the poor quality of the picture. I had to take it at night. It really washed out the colors.

A little side note about this card. The person I sent it to was playing a fish game on FB at the time, so he got a laugh out of getting a fish card. I love it when that kind of thing happens with a card. I believe God orchestrates even small happenings like that.

Blessings

A friend that's in the hospital has stabilized.
More happy mail!!!
A really good day, despite the fact that I have a lot to do and have some big things weighing on me emotionally.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Monkey Fun

2010-05-05T22:50:00.000-04:00

I needed to make some monkey theme items for a gift and this is what I came up with:

The card is fun and bright for a child.

I put a store bought necklace in this altered tin.

This is an altered pack of gum. :)

Blessings

My daughter achieved some goals that she needed to for work today.
Happy Mail!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Hidden Message

2010-05-03T22:49:00.001-04:00

Just a quick post, because I'm really tired tonight. This card had a hidden message for the person who received it. The flowers are a tag that pull out of the pot and you can write or stamp a message on it.

Here's a closer view of the flowers and pot.

Blessings

Our friend, Lloyd, is able to drive now with only a few restrictions. Some of you will remember that he had a serious accident last year. God has brought him so far!
Everything is so green and beautiful when I look out my windows and the flowers are all in bloom. It's gorgeous!!! I never tire of looking at it.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Back at Last!

2010-05-01T01:13:00.001-04:00

Wow! I sure was gone for a long time. I won't bore you with the details of why I was away so long. But one super thing did happen during that time. My mom spent the winter with us!!! That was so special, because I only get to see her every few years.

Lately I've made a couple altered pop top cans to hold birthday gifts or money. I've kept them on the simple side, because they were both for young guys. Plus my hubby and I both thought it was more fun to keep them looking like a can. If I ever do one for a girl though, I know I'll have to get the embellishments and glitter out. :)

Click here for the instructions to make these fun cans. It takes you to SplitCoastStampers. I think these would be such a fun surprise to receive in the mail and be able to pop the top off and find a gift or money inside.

One of the cans is a gift from my husband and his students to someone. My husband had each student write a note to the person and then he shrank the notes on the copier. The notes are in the can in a tiny envelope. We added a small magnifying glass for reading the notes. :) Plus a gift card and some candy, of course.

I loved my One Touch can opener even before I found out that I could use it to make these gift cans. But being able to use it to make these gift cans is such an added bonus. :)

Blessings

My husband's back injury has improved enough for him to drive short distances around town now.
Friends who mowed, trimmed and cleaned up the back yard for us without being asked, because Mark can't do that right now.
A terrific phone visit with my mom. I sure do miss having her here.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Pretty in Pink

2010-02-03T23:55:00.000-05:00

Here's another card made with some of the beautiful, new stamps from My Paper Moon. You can see them here. Use coupon code val20 at the checkout to receive 20% off your order. (U.S. orders only.)

This close up shot shows the images better. The different textures and types of surfaces on this card made it hard to photograph.

Blessings

My husband is starting to feel much better.
A nice phone visit with a friend.
My daughter is getting to spend some special time with my mom while she's here with us.

Please pray for Holley. She has the first of two brain surgeries tomorrow morning (Feb. 4th) and the second one on February 11th. Some of you probably know her from her blog, Holley's Blog.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Fairy Nice Birthday Card

2010-01-31T00:45:00.000-05:00

Hi friends. Today's card is for the Flutterby Wednesday Challenge. A big thank you to my friend, Jennifer, for this darling fairy image that I used on the card. She was so much fun to color.

I added Stickles to the heart on the cupcake and the fairy's hat. I painted the fairy's wings with Shimmerz. of course, the cupcakes had to be chocolate. :)

We've been having another visitor, besides my mom, and this one isn't nearly as welcome, although he sure is cute. A raccoon has been coming up on our back porch every night and eating out of our squirrel-proof bird feeder. Obviously the feeder isn't raccoon-proof. :) Our little dog chased the coon up a tree several times when we didn't know the coon was out in the yard. Now she thinks she a big, ol' tough, coon dog and drives me crazy wanting out every evening to get at that coon. :) This photo was taken at night, through the window, but you can still see the little rascal quite well.

Blessings

My visit with a new Dr. went very well.
Living in a place where I can enjoy nature.
We received some big, juicy apples - yum!

Have an awesome day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Sunnin'

2010-01-28T17:38:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. Wow! So much time has passed since I last posted. I've been battling Trigeminal Neuralgia for weeks now and that has really set me back. The really wonderful thing that is going on is that my mom is here for a 2 1/2 month visit!!! I'm soaking up every minute with her that I can, because I only get to see her every couple of years. There's no one that can take the place of your mom.

Today's card is another one of my Florida/beach cards that I love to make. We have tons of these little lizards around and once in awhile "in" our home, so this stamp seemed like it was made just for me.

In this close up view you can see that I used real sand on the card and Crystal Lacquer on the lizard's sunglass lenses.

Today's card is for a 13 year old girl named Amber. Amber is seriously ill and loves to receive mail. Please pray for Amber and her family and send a card if you can.

Amber Dougherty
c/o Tony and April Sharer
2766 Bald Eagle Pike
Tyrone, PA 16686

Here's a a bit more about Amber from her facebook group:

Amber Dougherty is a 13 year old from Tyrone, PA and is suffering from Severe Intractable Epilepsy, with a sadly grim prognosis. According to an email sent by a family member, the doctors don't expect for her to be with us next Christmas. Since Amber likes to receive mail, her family is organizing a card drive so that Amber can get mail from all over. She also has a more informative webpage at http://prayernet.geisinger.org Her case is labeled damo56.

Photo is from Jan 21

Join their Facebook Group if you'd like more info on Amber's progress, or would like to donate to help the family financially.
Blessings

Time with my mom.
Happy mail.
My family has been terrific about helping while I've been in such pain.
My daughter's friend had a safe trip here today.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Bronson and Beaker

2010-01-06T15:59:00.001-05:00

I got sidetracked and didn't finish showing all of my Christmas cards before the new year, so I still have a few more to show. This card is made with an adorable digital image from Pollycraft called "Bronson and Beaker Star". Be sure and visit the Tales from Pollycraft blog too. There are great challenges and free digital images there. My photos were taken at night so they aren't the best, but they're all I have.

I forgot to tell you that we got up too early for the dogs on Christmas. :) They weren't even interested in their gifts, because they were too tired. Later, after a long nap, they both were like different dogs and were all excited about their new toys and treats. Here's my sleepy grand dog before his nap.

Blessings

Loving family and friends.
Lydia has been making supper lately.
The most special husband there is.

Wherever you are located, I pray that you are keeping warm enough. It seems it's very cold everywhere right now.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

It's Red Friday!

2010-01-01T19:30:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!!! I wish you all many blessing in the coming year.

Today is Red Friday, which I set aside here on my blog to remind us all to remember our troops. One of the things that I like to do for our deployed troops is to make cards to send to them. I send my cards through Operation Write Home. I send cards to the troops themselves and also cards for them to send home to their families and friends. They can't exactly run down to their local Hallmark to buy a card, you know. :) We'd love to have you join us in sending handmade cards to the troops through Operation Write Home. Check out their site here for more info.

Today's card is a Valentine for the troops to send home. I made my card with the adorable "Fancy Surprise" image from Paper Cupcakes. This is an image that Nina gave away free during her recent blog hop. This card is for the Something Sparkling Challenge on Nina's blog, There's Magic in the Air with Paper Cupcakes. For the challenge we needed to use a Paper Cupcake image and have sparkling stuff on our cards in honor of the new year. I used a sparkly Micca card, glittery dp, lots of rhinestones, and Shimmerz Blingz for my cupcake frosting.

Here's a close up of the sweet image. :)

I was so thrilled to be one of the prize winners from the recent recipe blog hop that There's Magic in the Air had for the grand opening of Paper Cupcakes. I won the darling "Owls on Candy Cane" digital image. You can see it here. Thanks so very much, Nina.

Blessings

A super, nice visit from my dad and stepmom.
Wonderful fellowship with our church family last night.
Lots of happy mail.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T00:38:00.000-05:00

Christmas Greeting from beautiful, ~~sunny~~ rainy Florida!!! I was hoping for 82* and sun for Christmas, but we're getting a high of 76* and thunder storms. At least we're not getting snow or ice like so many places are. We'll have to go to the beach another day though. :)

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas!!! Happy birthday Jesus!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Light Up Your Holiday

2009-12-22T00:42:00.000-05:00

I have a few more Christmas cards to show before the year is over. My favorite part of this card is the sentiment - "Light Up Your Holiday with God's love!".

Here's a close up that shows the Crystal Lacquer on the large lights and the glaze pen on the small lights.

Blessings

We watched our friends' two youngest kids tonight. It was such a joy to have little ones in the house.
I think I'm finished with all of the Christmas gift and card preparation!!!! I wouldn't be if Mark hadn't done most of the wrapping for me. Thank God for my loving husband.
A phone visit with my mom. In the new year she's going to visit in person!!!

I hope you have been able to find time in all of the hustle and bustle of the season to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas - Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Wow! I won!!!!

2009-12-21T20:14:00.000-05:00

I've won several awesome digital images recently. I was waiting to announce that I had won them with hopes that I could show a card made with the images along with the announcement. But with holidays and the time I lost due to my fall I haven't been able to get the cards made. So I decided I would announce the images I won and show cards at a later time.

I was very excited to win the digital image of my choice from In Style Stamps. I chose Ava Leaning. I can't wait to make a card with this beautiful image. Watch for one coming in the future. Thank you very much, In Style Stamps.

I won the digital image of my choice from the blog hop for Busy Beauties Boutique. I was so excited to win an image from this great new store!!! I chose Baking Beauty. I have fun plans for her. :) Watch for a card in the future when I get caught up from the holidays. Thanks so much for the fabulous image, Carolyn.

I feel very blessed and spoiled to have these special new images to play with.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Another Sneak Peek!

2009-12-17T17:49:00.002-05:00

It's time for another sneak peek at the new stamps that will soon be coming out at My Paper Moon. I'm having so much fun playing with these stamps. For this project I used the sweet cupid stamp and the Love stamp. This calendar page fits in a 3 1/2" x 5" clear acrylic frame with a magnet on the back.
*** You can print free calendars at Red Castle , Inc. You can choose the size, format, font, etc. It's very user friendly. ***

Here's a closer view of the stamps. Aren't they beautiful?

Here's a picture of my grand dog, Caesar, wearing his wiseman costume. I don't think it put him in the Christmas spirit to wear it. lol Poor little guy is very shaggy. He has a date with the groomer this weekend.

Blessings

My husband's student's gave their Christmas play last night. It was so good and had a great message about the true meaning of Christmas.
Christmas cards and letters from friends and family that I don't hear from often. It's nice to stay in touch.
My niece helped me out in a small way last night, but it meant so much to me, because of her thoughtfulness.
God shows me that He is there for me time and time again in my life. It makes me think of the song, "Great is Thy Faithfulness".

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Wow! I won!!!!

2009-12-17T16:36:00.001-05:00

I'm thrilled to be one of the winners of this wonderful Christmas blog candy from Denise at KC242 Designs by Denise. Thanks so very much, Denise. I'm so excited and am really looking forward to playing with my awesome new goodies from you.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

It's Red Friday!!!

2009-12-12T00:11:00.000-05:00

I'm screeching in here at the last minute to post this after a good, but very busy day. I had planned to post it earlier, but some things came up and this is the first chance I've had.

I saw this video in the Homefront Blog and just had to share it with you. Let's remember to pray for our troops and their families over the holidays. It must be an extra hard time for them to be apart.

No card today. It was too overcast today to get a picture by the time I remembered that I needed to. Sorry about that. I'm a bit scatterbrained with the extra holiday stuff going on and then to add to it I ended up with a knee brace and a cane yesterday. That is sure slowing me down. But hopefully it will help my knee injury.

Operation Write Home is a great organization that collects handmade cards to distribute to the troops to send home to their families and friends. They need more cards to send. Please help if you can. They send cards all year long. You can find more info here.

Blessings

A really nice phone visit with my mom.
A special family time tonight.
Good health care.
My loving church family.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

There's Magic in the Air Recipe Blog Hop

2009-12-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

Don't forget about the recipe blog hop going on through December 13th to celebrate the opening of Nina's new online store. There are some terrific recipes along the way that I know I'll be using for holiday treats, beautiful cards, a whole bunch of great prizes, and a recipe challenge. Come join in the fun!! You start at There's Magic in the Air.

The sentence is: Paper cupcakes where the main ingredient is love.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

My Christmas Candy Winner!!!

2009-12-10T00:54:00.001-05:00

I enjoyed hearing about what makes Christmas special for each of you. Thanks for sharing. :) As usual, I wish I could send something to everyone, but that's not possible. So I went to Random.com and let it choose the winner of my Christmas Mini Candy. The winner is........

#2 gucanucksgo of Crafty Creations!!!! Congratulations!!!! Please contact me at
webe34him(at)bellsouth(dot)net with your mailing info.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

There's Magic in the Air Recipe Blog Hop

2009-12-10T00:37:00.000-05:00

The recipe blog hop for There's Magic in the Air started today and lasts through December 13th. The hop is celebrating the debut of Nina's new online store, Paper Cupcakes. Each blog will be showcasing a new image and sharing a delicious recipe. There will be prizes, a recipe challenge and a chance to be the Guest Designer for the Month of February. Go on over and join the fun! The hop starts at There's Magic in the Air.

Time for Some Christmas Blog Candy

2009-12-10T00:27:00.000-05:00

This post will remain at the top until my blog candy is given away. Please scroll down to see today's post.
I'm giving away some mini candy to celebrate Christmas. It's such a special time of the year for me. Most importantly, because we celebrate Jesus' birth. And also, because we spend extra time with family and friends enjoying traditions and making new ones.

My Christmas candy is a set of stamps by Inkadinkado called Peppermint Twist. I chose a set that doesn't have too many sentiments in case English isn't the language of the winner. I don't want you to end up with a bunch of stamps that are useless to you.

What do you need to do to be in the drawing for this candy?

1. Leave me a comment telling me what you like best about Christmas.If you don't know how to comment, email me at webe34him@bellsouth.net and I'll add your name in.

2. Please tell others about my blog candy.

3. Optional: Become a follower if you want. You don't have to be a follower to win my candy.

The candy will be open through December 8th. I'll announce the winner on December 10th.

My candy is open to everyone in the world.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Snowy Flight

2009-12-06T15:33:00.001-05:00

No card today. Instead I have a calendar page for you. My friend, Martha, made a calendar for me last year with a new page for each month that slides into a 3 1/2 x 5 acrylic, magnetic frame. I have enjoyed it so much that I'm working on new 2010 pages.

This image is a free digital image from There's Magic in the Air. Every Monday Nina gives away a free image and issues a fun challenge. This week's challenge was "Anything but a Card". Be sure to check out the fabulous projects that the DT members made. I made my calendar page for a second great challenge also. Easy craft Projects - Challenge is having their very first challenge!!!! The challenge is to "Make Something Using Turquoise". Stop by and see the wonderful projects that the DT made. The colors in my photos aren't quite true, but they're the best I can do with only a camera on an overcast day. I miss my photo editing program.

Here you can see the dimensional snow. I used USArtQuest Artist's cement for the snow. It isn't a true white, so I added the glitter. I used my glaze pen on the eye and buttons and Stickles on the hat trim.

This photo shows the frame (R) that the calendar fits in.

There's Magic in the Air is having a recipe blog hop Wednesday, December 9th to celebrate the debut of Nina's new online store, Paper Cupcakes. Each blog will be showcasing a new image and sharing a yummy recipe. There will be prizes, a recipe challenge and a chance to be the Guest Designer for the Month of February. Sounds like a ton of fun! The hop starts at There's Magic in the Air.

Blessings

A friend had a very special answer to prayer today.
The joy that crafting brings.
Enjoying quiet talk with Mark over lunch.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Dreaming of Summer

2009-12-05T20:18:00.000-05:00

It's a cold, wet day here in Florida. A bit unusual for us. It's a perfect day to be inside crafting. Today's card is for Challenge #48 called Dreaming of Summertime at Charisma Cardz Challenge Blog. I thought it was a very appropriate challenge for today. :) My summer card is a beach card. I live on the coast of Florida and this image makes me think of lounging on the beach on a ~~scorching~~ warm summer day. lol We actually go to the beach in the early evening during the summer most of the time to try to beat the worst of the heat. I've been on an orange kick with cards lately. Maybe it's all of the overcast days we've had.

This view shows the texture on the card. I used Crystal Lacquer on the toenails and waves and real sand on the beach.

Blessings

Soft, cozy pj's on this cold evening.
A husband who cares about even the small details of life that seem important to me.
Our medical insurance.
More rain!!!

God made each of us one of a kind - just like snowflakes. You're very special.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

It's Red Friday and A Sneak Peek

2009-12-04T19:04:00.001-05:00

If you're going out somewhere this evening, why not wear red to show your support for our troops? I have Red Fridays on my blog to show my support for our troops who are serving our country so that we can remain safe and free.

Another way I show my support for our troops is by making cards for them. I make cards for them to send home to their families and friends and I make cards with notes in them for the heroes themselves. I send my cards through a great organization called Operation Write Home. Operation Write Home is always looking for more handmade cards to send to the troops. Please consider helping out. This is a wonderful project to do with kids too. Below is a photo of some happy heroes that have received cards from Operation Write Home.

The two main stamps on my card today are a sneak peek at some of the new Valentine stamps coming soon at My Paper Moon. Aren't they fabulous? It's a privilege to be able to play with them before the release date. I'll let you know what the release date is as soon as it's ready for announcement. I love this sentiment. The little heart stamp is from My Paper Moon also.

Here's a close up of the fabulous Queen of Hearts image. This image was fun to color. I used my clear glaze pen on the roses and my clear stardust pen for the card border and accents on the crown. The white part of the card is painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz.

Blessings

It has rained all day here!!! It's literally showers of blessings for us since we are having quite a drought.
A fun family evening planned.
Friends - they sure do enrich life. :)

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

See It Shimmer

2009-12-03T15:53:00.000-05:00

Hi friends. It's an overcast day here on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I had a hard time getting a photo of my card. It's not the best picture, but you get the idea. :) This card is made with a technique I learned from Becky at My Adventures in Stamping.

Blessings

A wonderful online radio station with Christian Christmas music - this station offers that and so much more. And they broadcast in many different languages - you choose. http://www.bbnradio.org/
Mark added another light to my craft area. Wow! I feel like I went from a cave to a sunny beach. :)
Happy mail :)
The fun, teasing moments that happen every day around here with my family.

Be open to what God wants to do through you today.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A - Maze- ing

2009-11-29T16:56:00.002-05:00

A card at last!!! Between a flu bug and the holiday I just haven't been able to get many cards finished. I'll warn you in advance that I am very much a hit and miss blogger during the holidays. I like to cherish every bit of family time we can get and I get busy with preparations. And in the midst of all that I try to make sure that I take time to remember the real reason for Christmas - the birth of Jesus.

This card is for my niece, who just turned seven. I wanted to make something fun and I remembered seeing this maze in a Paper Creations magazine that Mark bought for me several months ago.

Blessings

A super, special husband. Mark cooked Thanksgiving dinner, because I was still feeling really sick. We're still enjoying the yummy leftovers.
My mil brought us cornbread dressing and apple dumplings for our dinner. She's a terrific cook too.
Back to my special husband - he surprised me with some warm pajamas and remembered the style, the fabric and size I like without asking. And they're pretty too. :) What a fabulous guy!!! The pjs have felt so good during this cold snap we've had.

Please pray for my daughter, Lydia. She's sick now.

Is there anything I can pray about for you? If so, leave a comment or email me at webe34him@bellsouth.net.

*** Watch for a bit of blog candy coming soon. :)

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2009-11-25T17:54:00.000-05:00

Wishing you and those you love a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

Inky hugs!!!

Shelly

Let's Say Thanks

2009-11-22T16:54:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry I've been absent without excuse. :) I've had several appointments and in between I've been either busy or not feeling too well.

I want to encourage you to take part in a great program that Xerox has called "Let's Say Thanks". It's site where you can choose a post card to print with a message and they will send it to a member of the military in Iraq for you to sat thank you for their service. How awesome is that? The Xerox Let's Say Thanks site can be found here. Please take a moment to let a member of our troops know how much you appreciate their service.

Blessings

The freedom we have in our country. That's something we should never take for granted.
A date with my husband yesterday. :)
Awesome happy mail!!!
We had rain last night!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Special Birthday Card & Candy Winner

2009-11-18T23:06:00.002-05:00

I'm still hoping to hear from my blog candy winner, Doris from The Stamping Tower. Please email me with your address, Doris.

This is the card that I made for my daughter, Lydia, for her birthday. The card is blue, because that's Lydia's favorite color. :)

The "sugar" on the cupcake is vintage glass glitter that my friend, Becky, gave me. It looks so real for things like this. The tulips are 3-d'd on double stick tape. Tilda's hair bow is paper sculpted to make it puffy. Tilda is 3-d'd on double stick tape.

Blessings

Some good news at my doctor visit today.
Happy Mail - I know you see this one often, but I do love to receive mail. :)
Our friend's birthday is the day after Lydia's. Our friend turned 99 this year! This dear lady still plays the piano for our Sunday morning church service.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Blog Candy Winner

2009-11-17T14:13:00.001-05:00

Thank you everyone for taking part in the Veterans Day Blog Hop. The winner of my blog candy chosen by Random.org is......
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#10 Doris from The Stamping Tower

Congratulations Doris!!!! Please email me with your address so that I can send your stamps to you.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Veterans Day Blog Hop

2009-11-14T06:00:00.131-05:00

Welcome to the Veterans Day Blog Hop. If this is your first stop, you may want to start at the beginning of the hop which is here at the Home Front Blog. Today's blog hop is being hosted by Operation Write Home. Operation Write Home is a wonderful organization that collects handmade cards to send to our nation's deployed heroes (troops) to send home to their families and friends. They also collect Any Hero cards to send to heroes that aren't getting much mail or just need a lift. I'm proud to be a card maker for Operation Write home and our nation's heroes. I hope you'll join us in making cards. Operation Write Home makes it so simple to get the cards to the troops. Their web site contains all the info you need to get started.

With Veterans Day in mind, I'd like to give a heartfelt thank you to the many people who have served and are still serving our country. We wouldn't have our wonderful USA if it wasn't for you.

My first card is an Any Hero card. Any Hero cards are sent with a note written in them and the envelope is addressed to "Any Hero". Upon reaching their destination these cards are handed out to those who need them the most. I apologize for the poor photo of this card. It came out dark looking no matter what I did.

My second card is a Valentine for a hero to send home to family or friends. Valentine's Day is the holiday that we're making cards for at Operation Write Home at this time. This is a fun little shaker card. I thought it might be something a bit different to send.

I'm offering this set of Inkadinkado Patterned Birds and Bugs clear stamps for my blog candy on this blog hop. All you have to do to win is leave me a comment. My candy is open to everyone. My blog candy will be open through Monday, November 16th. I'll announce the winner in the evening on Tuesday, November 17th.

Thanks for hopping by today. Your next stop on the hop is Maryellen's blog.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

It's Red Friday!!!

2009-11-13T13:29:00.004-05:00

Hi friends. I'm just popping in here for a few minutes to remind you about the Veterans Day Blog Hop tomorrow - Saturday November 14th. It will start at The Home Front Blog and there will be 75 blogs to hop through. Come show your support for our nations heroes, see some great cards and enter to win some blog candy along the way. I'll have blog candy here, so be sure to stop in.

Sorry I don't have a card today, but I'll have cards and candy tomorrow and another card on Sunday.

Blessings

Yesterday was my daughter's birthday. A good time to reflect what a precious gift from the Lord she is.
A too short haircut has proven to be a blessing in saving time when I'm getting ready to go somewhere.
A really nice visit with a friend.
Happy mail :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Christmas Preview

2009-11-11T23:33:00.009-05:00

Christmas is getting all too close and I don't have very many Christmas cards made yet. Here's one that I do have done. I painted the image with Twinkling H2O's. I used Star Dream card stock to go along with the shimmery paint. I dry embossed the black card stock with my Scor Pal to frame the image. This is such a beautiful image that I kept the card simple to keep the focus on the image.

Blessings

Mark & Lydia are always willing to lend a hand when I need it.
Time to spend in prayer despite my busy schedule this week. I need the prayer time to keep going.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugz!
Shelly

Thanks Sis

2009-11-09T22:37:00.002-05:00

A big thank you to my sister, Sheila. I wanted the above new header for my blog, but it had writing on it and I didn't know how to erase the writing and add what I wanted. Sheila surprised me by doing it for me! And then when I couldn't upload it on to my blog from the email she sent it in, Sheila even put it on my blog for me. Thanks for the surprise, Sheila, and for still helping me out even though we're grown up now. :)

Hugs,
Shell

Let Us Give Thanks

2009-11-08T15:11:00.003-05:00

Hi friends. Today's card is for the challenge at There's Magic in the Air. Every Monday Nina has a free digital image on There's Magic in the Air and then Nina or one of her DT members issues a challenge using the image. This week's challenge is to use buttons on your card. I really enjoyed coloring this beautiful Fall image from Nina.

I added Crystal Lacquer to the jar, Stickles to the candle flame and matte PPA to the candle to give them some realistic texture.

Nina also gave away two different sentiment to use this week. This one was my favorite. I made my buttons using a Sizzlet button die. I coated the buttons with Crystal Lacquer, tied thread through them after they were dry and adhered them to my card with double stick foam tape.

Blessings

A phone visit with my sister.
Happy Mail!!!
A husband who does the shopping due to my health problems.

Have a blessed day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Spread the Love

2009-11-07T16:36:00.004-05:00

Today's card is for an 11 year old girl named Jaimie. Jaimie and her mom were attacked in their home while they were sleeping. Jaimie's mom was killed and Jaimie was left for dead. The Spread the Love Blog Hop is going on to get people to send cards to Jaimie. You begin the blog hop here at Katharina's blog. You will also find more info about the whole situation there. I hope you will send Jaimie a card even if you don't have time to join in the blog hop. The address is:

Jaimie Cates
c/o Mont Vernon Fire Station
Main Street
Mont Vernon, NH 03057

You can also visit the main blog, which is Stamp Something for Jaimie.

Jaimie is very into sports, so I decided to use this surfing Tilda. Obviously Jaimie doesn't surf in NH, but I like this surfer Tilda, because I'm sending my cards from Florida.

I added real sand and shells to the card for a fun touch. The sun and the surf board are popped up with double stick foam tape.

Blessings

Mark made it home safely from a business trip that included evacuating his 5th floor hotel room in the middle of the night for a fire alarm.
Lydia just finished up a good dog sitting job.
Happy mail :)

Happy a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

I'm so excited!

2009-11-07T15:47:00.001-05:00

I won some fabulous blog candy from Loretta at Stamping with Loretta!!! I am so thrilled! I've been doing a major happy dance. :) Thank you so much for this very generous candy, Loretta.

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Inky Hugz!!!

It's Baaaaccckkk

Fall Tag Banner

To Trick or To Treat?

Blog Hops

A Special Cause

Blog Candy Winners!!!

For my BBQ King

Wrung Out! Hung out!

Blog Candy Time!!!

Celebrate Love!

Prayers please

Fresh Srawberries

A Dead Hippo

Flower Fairy

Summer Delight

Gray Wolf

*Gasp* A Card!

Happy Hump Day!

Hello

That's A Lot!!!

A Sunny Day!

Eggstra Special!

A Nice Surprise :)

A Pocketful of Joy

Time to Bloom Blog Hop

Christ Is Risen!

Quiet

Prayer Wave

A Basket of Easter Blessings

Lucky Teddy

Hearts of Gold

A sweet heart!

O Give Thanks!

Create With TLC Blog HOP

Stop and eat the daisies!

Exciting news!

Doggie Delivery

Fairy Bear

What's Green and Red and full of bling?

Purple Passion

More Clean and Simple

The Vein Whisperer

Fluttering by with thanks!

Shimmer & Shine

Feelin' the Love

It's Party Time!

Just Bee-cause!

Merry Christmas!!!

Fairy Song

Have to be away

So blessed!

Stamping Cat-astrophe

All that Glitters!

Pretty Posies

From the House of Mouse

Wishing you a sunny day!

Believe in Yourself!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Just Fluttering By!

A Very Stylish Award!

Breathless!

I'm Baacckkk!!!!

Eye'll Be Back!

Hello Kitty

An Attitude of Gratitude

A Fish Bowl Card for a Friend

Monkey Fun

A Hidden Message

Back at Last!

Pretty in Pink

A Fairy Nice Birthday Card

Sunnin'

Bronson and Beaker

It's Red Friday!

Merry Christmas!!!

Light Up Your Holiday

Wow! I won!!!!

Another Sneak Peek!

Wow! I won!!!!

Gasp A Card!