Father's Day Card for my dad

Here's my dad's day card for my dad. Used this cool free image by BeeCeeArtistic Digital Images that I found on this COOL NEW Digi Stamp forum website! Check it out for a TON of free digi images til the end of June in THIS THREAD, then their will be more later in their forum!

Did these challenges:
1.Stampin Sisters in Christ---Father's Day Card
2. CPS Card Sketches 171
3. Creative Inspirations--one for the boys
4. Incy Wincy Designs---one for the guys
5. Rosie-D's---something blue/father's day
6. Crafter's Digital Challenge----use digi image from the site

DP2 & funny gift for a friend

This week DP2 had a challenge to make an easel card using one of Mo's images. I actually made a gift set, of sorts, for a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer and is having a hysterectomy tomorrow (Tuesday). This set was rather fitting for the occasion. If you aren't giggling yet about the set, you probably will be soon. Here is the card by itself:

This is the front with the card closed.

And here it is open. I feel like I'm teaching elementary school again. Closed. Open. These are opposites children. LOL!My friend LOVES cats. When I saw this image on Mo's freebie list, I immediately thought of this friend. The kitty really doesn't fit the card's front, but inside I said that I'd be praying for God's PURR-fect peace for her. It was a stretch, but a kitty is just SO fitting for my friend. She happened to have the first ever cat used in a nursing home for therapy. The papers are all from a DCWV stack---last year's spring stack. That may be my favorite all time stack with all different colors that can be used in so many different ways. The coral colors were close enough to peach and I had some coral colored card stock. The words were from a 12x12 sheet full of different sayings. I cut out the ones that I thought were fitting for this card. I love the inside sentiment about living out loud! One thing that popped into my head with Kathy's cancer was the commercial for Cancer Treatment Centers of America that says, "The doctor told me there was no expiration date stamped on my foot." As long as God gives us breath, we are here to LIVE. I used a sizzix die to cut the little flowers out of different pages, then added a button from Papertreyink to each bow and the inside to hold up the easel. The punch I used around the outside is one Kathy gave me, so I guess there's a bit of each of us in this card!

If you weren't laughing earlier at my picture, then you must think me cruel to be laughing when my friend is facing such a serious problem. Most of you know that my friend Kathy has breast cancer (though we are believing that is HAD cancer) and had a mastectomy in May. Just a couple of weeks after her surgery we found out our friend had this endometrial cancer. One of the things Kathy told her is that we were going to use a LOT of humor to get through this, because it was helping her get through her cancer. Of course prayer and faith in our Lord's goodness to us first, but laughter has sustained us often.

This may be a bit too much for some of you, so if it is, please feel free to stop reading (it isn't graphic, I promise! Just kind of "personal" type stuff). It is easy to make jokes about, well, breasts! One of my favorite stamps (which I have yet to own) is in one of Gina K. Design's sets called, "You know you're old when..." and the stamp I love ends with, "your bra size is a 38 long." Kathy said she is now a 40 half-long. Just a taste of how silly we've been when we can. We've discovered, though, that finding humor about a uterus, well, it's just not the same. However, I did a little word play & decided since the ovaries were coming out, I could find a bunch of EGG jokes & made our other friend giggle. I also asked her if the doctor would consider doing a 2-fer job & let me get rid of the parts while he was at it. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm done using them for making babies! LOL!

Well, last week as I was thinking of ways to cheer up our friend something came to mind: Maxi-pad slippers! A couple of years ago I saw these in an e-mail or something about clever uses for pads. As an aside, I still remember when my dd was about 3 & discovered some of my "supplies" in a box. She came out & said, "Mama, I found some white hot dogs in this box!" Then there was the time she decided to wall-paper with pads. Here's the story: the color of Endometrial or Uterine cancer is peach. Peach isn't that easy to find, but I found enough coral/peachy items to make a card and these fashionable slippers. Notice, they have an "awareness ribbon" on them. Plus "diamonds." A girl must have some bling on her maxi-pad slippers. I put some coral cardstock on the bottom to really make the colors pop.

So, now you know what I've been up to. Let me know if you are having a hysterectomy or if you've finally post menopausal. I'll be sure to whip you up a pair of pretty slippers! Bwahahahahahaha!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. When I was looking at the Awareness Ribbon pages, I saw some of the ones that we are pretty familiar with: Pink for Breast Cancer, Red for heart health, Yellow to support the troops, Multi-colored puzzle pieces for autism. Some of the colors are used for more than one type of issue or illness. For example, red is also used by MADD (mothers against drunk drivers) and DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). My FIL passed away in 2008 after a battle with bladder cancer. I was curious to find out what color ribbon stood for this type of cancer. I started laughing when I saw it. Sadly (or humorously) my entire family also finds it funny. The color for bladder cancer is: YELLOW! Okay, I'll stop now.

True's Blog Candy

True from True's Gifts from the Heart, has a huge blog candy giveaway going on right now. Here's a picture of some of what she's giving away.

You can enter by going here: http://truesgiftsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/

The first time I saw True's was on the Clear Dollar Stamps Design Team. She not only designs cards for CDS but also designs images. However, I had seen her talent prior to that without realizing it. There was a card on ebay that sold for some astronomical amount like $70 or $90 (at least in my mind that's what I think it sold for! LOL!) & I thought, "WOW, this crafter is one talented person!" When I visited True's blog the first time I saw the card (if you watch the slideshow at the top, it's the one with the pumpkin) & thought, "OH! She's a CDS gal!"

If you would like to add True to your prayer list, I read that she has just had surgery & will be out of commission for about 6 weeks (at least from work & such).

Thanks to Stampin' Em for posting this on her blog! I don't get to check everyone's blogs, so I'm glad she had it posted today!

SSIC & CDC

The Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge this week is to use one of God's animal creatures in your card. The verse that this week's hostess, Kathy Winter, chose is:
Genesis 1:26, "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.'"

When I took my girls & my 2 "borrowed" daughters to the Houston zoo a few weeks ago we saw some amazing creations. The ones that really struck me as being beautiful were the Macaws. They were in a cage, so the picture isn't too clear, but if you enlarge it you should be able to see the glorious colors. They don't even stand in front of a mirror to primp all day! Reminds me of the passage in Matthew 6 that tells us that God cares for each bird, and how much more he will care for us. Then Jesus said that the lilies of the field were "dressed" in even more splendor than King Solomon. If He dresses the lilies like that we don't need to worry about where our next outfit will come from. Yes, that is a very loose interpretation! The LNV---Lori's new version--not to be taken literally! : ) Anyway, seeing the birds just put me in awe of the Creator who clothes birds in such splendor and WE get to enjoy them! Stepping out of the pulpit now. LOL!

The Clearly Delightful Blog Challenge, which features Doodle Pantry Digi Images is a sketch challenge this month. Did you know that when you play in Laurie's challenges you receive a free digi image? Also, you can get a free digi image each month at Doodle Pantry, plus there are others free when you purchase $2.50 or more from her store. No, I don't get paid to say that and am not on her DT. I just happen to like Laurie's images a LOT and like Laurie & her precious kids even more!

Here is this month's sketch:
When we came home from the zoo, I started planning to color one of Laurie's bird images in the bright shades of the Macaws. I used a little artistic license to combine different colors than what we had seen. This was another quickly assembled card with no fancy anything, but after about a month of sitting at my sewing machine with fabric (which I love to do), it was nice to have paper in my hands! Okay, maybe not a whole month, but it felt like I hadn't made a card in years. LOL!

Hope you enjoyed these!

DP2 & Card Patterns Sketch 67

I used the challenges from DP2 & Card Patterns Sketch 67 for this card. I apologize for the photo quality. Still haven't found my camera battery charger. If you find it, will you let me know? LOL!

Mo's challenge (DP2) was to merge 2 images. I used Lookin' for Clues with Bronte and Louis. I typed the words to match the image. I used a Fiskars embossing plate, ran it through my Big Kick & then used distress ink Faded Jeans to make the tracks show up. Yes, I realize they are not doggy feet! LOL! It looks kind of messy, but I figured a dog & a boy with a cookie might be messy. Who am I kidding, I'm a big girl with 2 girls in the house & WE'RE messy!

The sketch challenge was this:I did this card rather quickly, so it's not a big WOW card, but it felt good to make a card from start to finish! Thanks for stopping by!

Introducing the Emily Anne Bag Trio

Okay, I've never used a 2nd name for a bag & will edit that later, but this just called for a middle name & I don't know Em's middle name, so I put mine in! Bwahahahahaha! It happens after midnight when your child is still not asleep & you are delirious.

My friend Emily wanted one of my ruffled bags, but she wanted it sized like her body, she told me (I didn't make this up!): short & wide! LOL! She's a nut! Also, like other fans of those fancy quilted bags, she wanted pockets. I gave her a few options, but the more I sewed, the more I decided I needed more & more pockets. THe downside is I have so much fabric, I hope it doesn't exceed the airplane weight allowance! ha, ha!








Em also wanted a make-up bag. I put some pockets in that, too.

What Emily doesn't know (shhhhh, don't tell her---LOL) is that I had wanted to make a billfold. As I was running out of time I decided to wait on this & mail it later. Well, last night that bag, my machine & I were not on speaking terms. It really wasn't the bag's fault. It was the bobbin's fault. But it made the stitching on the bag very ugly & not sturdy. So, I decided to try putting together this little billfold. I am addicted. It was so much fun and it turned out SO STINKIN' CUTE, imo.

These pictures are rough & unedited from my phone camera (since we still haven't found our battery charger for the real camera. I'll be "cleaning them up" and putting a listing on my Loribelle Bags blog with pricing info. Need to get this in the mail tomorrow.

Honored!

I feel honored to have been chosen as part of Clear Dollar Stamps Clearly Inspired Challenge's Top 5! With so little time to stamp, I'm thrilled that one of my cards was chosen! This is the card I made for that challenge.

You can see the new challenge HERE. You can win an ENTIRE MONTH'S WORTH OF NEW RELEASES! No, I didn't win that, but have one things from CDS & just love Lori M. & her wonderful bunch of employees and DT. BTW, it helps to have a name in the "Lori" group to work there, I've found. There's a Lori, Lorie & Laurie! LOL! I've teased that I need to work for them just b/c I have the right name. Think they'd hire a seamstress?

Between trips to Houston, the doctors, the dentist, MIL's, the grocery store & I'm not sure where else, I've been trying to get a bag (really 2 bags) finished for my friend Emily. I have lost my camera battery charger, so can only take phone pics right now. Thus not great quality.






Will try to make some cards when I finish these bags.

Have a great day!