swaping and stamping

today I have worked hard trying to get all my cards for the card swap done. i will mail them tomorrow. I really had a good time with some of them and really struggled with some of them LOL. Surprisingly enough i had a harder time with the Wedding cards than the Thank You or the Thinking of you.LAURIE--- don't read this is you want to be surprised when you get your cards-------I really had a good time with a technique from split coast stampers that used hair gel and a small zip lock bag.. I am trying to post a link post a link... let me see if i can get this work http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/gelcard.php. I haven't scanned any of mine yet. but i took the idea and used several SU! stamp sets to make jars and little bags with flowers and goldfish.anyway--getting of this computer so i can sew a little --maybe. i have 3 quilt squares to make and some material for skirts and jackets that I want to try out

here is a LO I made for DD's book

sorry for the flash mark- unable to get a picture without it. This is a LO about how much my DD loves the Egyptian culture and how she is now making it her career path.

this is not a very good pic but this depicts the fun K and her friends had trying on clothes in stores-- all during their high school years

making cards

well, i haven't been scraping much but i have been making cards. I am in a card swap on about.com and need 15 cards for that. I have been tyring a lot of new ideas. I am going to post the ones i have made on here at the beginning of the week. I have to really struggle to load pictures on here. i just don't feel really comfortable doing it somehow.
today has been a beautiful day especially after the recent storms. It is cool and clear mostly. We have some slight clouds and bright blue sky.
i was looking for a place on blogspot advertised at a local restaurant--- http://sonshinecreattions.blogspot.com -- but there has been nothing added since January. Looks like It is for something about scrappy . i am trying to figure out how to link up with her.
well off to scrap and sew
i am trying to attach some of the last pages i have done-- they are for my DD's book. i made her an album from extra pictures i had and gave it to her for Christmas. now i am trying to finish all the pics for it and move on
i also can finally say i have used my bug-- look what i made! we have a newly wed at work and i decorated her cube to welcome her back

tagged by Laurie

I'm not tagging anyone back because i dont know who else to tag--so if you read this and you have not been tagged---Please consider yourself tagged by me LOL!

Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself


1-I am a really picky eater
2-I love to be organized--i just hate getting there
3-I love to sleep--I'm just not good at it
4-I will take pictures of almost anything
5-I want to learn how to be selfish
6-I want to change my career to something creative instead of being a care giver

So if you get tagged, copy and paste this to your own blog, and put in your answers, and then tag 3 other people. Here goes….

10 years ago I was: really in the sandwich generation-- taking care of my dad, my dad,hated my old job and was looking for a new one----I'm in a much better place right now


Things on my to do list for today: 1-finish putting away my wonderful ATC's 2- put the 200 stamps i have ready in my albums 3- use my new wood burning thing to make holes in my memory board and get that done 4-sew on my quilt pieces 5- try to get my extra Nancy Drew books on EBay and 6-- cook

4 things I would do if I became a billionaire:1 Retire--both of us 2-Travel 3-pay KT's college loans off 4-help my friends and with secret needs (never telling them- I love to be anonymous)and give generously to my favorite charities

3 bad habits: 1-sloth 2-procrastination 3- nagging

5 jobs I have had: 1-clerk in a dime store 2-cook at McDonald's 3-file clerk in college 4- hosiery mill--folder 5- nursing on the floor

6 Things most people don’t know about me:

1-I am a really picky eater--some things I wont touch under any circumstances
2-I am obsessive/compulsive about some things
3-I am a hoarder (OK most people may know that) but I hoard stamps, paper, all things scrapbook,material etc
4- I am the keeper of the family treasures (Like the most of the quilts both of my grandmothers made, historical documents, etc)
5-i would love to have my own creative business
6-love having clean and orderliness-- just not good at keeping it that way

i'm taggin Becky, Sasha and Roni--but i gotta see if they have been tagged yet LOL

Monday, Monday

....do you remember that song by the Mama's and the Papa's? I don't remember them from when they were first around but i do like the music--- i was just a kid in the 60's but I imagine it must have been something to be a teen during that time- - - - exciting, terrifying, changing and scary. Not only was the whole hippy,free love, drugs and rock and roll thing going on but also the Vietnam war (conflict??? from what i remember looked like a war to me)-- the draft, the cold war, the recent assignation of a loved president, corruption. EVERYTHING was changing.
Somehow doesn't seem all that different to me now with all the changes going on in our world right now--- it is different from the 60's but a changin it is--- like it or not. We still have a war (conflict-- funny---still looks like a war to me). Seems we still have the "free love" too--- the morals of people are so changed from when i was growing up-- unfortunately we still have the drugs. although I'm not sure the music that is prevalent nowadays can be counted as rock and roll though. We may not still have the cold war and the Berlin wall but we are still "cut off" from a lot of the world, we still have the corruption, not the draft but still loosing some of our best and brightest in a war. Guess that old saying is true--- the more things change the more they stay the same.

Our Daughter came home this weekend and brought her new beau. he seems like a nice young man. he is older and more established. I think K was worried about bringing him home---although we live in a nice enough house it is not a mansion. nor is it a dump. I think she is a little ashamed of our house or something-- she seems to have avoided bringing him home as long as she could---- but i digress. She is all excited about graduation and starting grad school and a new part of her life. She ordered her graduation announcements last night.....sigh

well i guess that is enough observations for now-- LOL going to go read what everyone else has to say before my lunch time is over and i have to go back to work

faeiry search...

'm on a search for the “perfect” faeiry. I want a smallish, dainty faeiry with pointed ears and feet that have the little curls on the toes. I see her in a dress that is ethereal and gossamer. She must have a halo of flowers in her hair. I look every once in a while at the we-sites that have pictures of the fae and Google “fairy” images (be careful if you do this because you can get some really scary sights ).
Katie thinks I'm too old to be getting another tat—but heck I was 45 when I got Eeyore! Furthermore she things that a faeiry is very passe. But if you didn't know Fae is my middle name and what better thing could I have on my body? It will someday give the nurse's in the nursing home something to talk about---- old lady with tattoos. LOL but at least mine is on a place that is not gonna sag or bag too much(my ankle) . If I can find the faeiry I am looking for she will go on my foot or my other ankle or maybe the other side of the ankle that is already tattooed. Mine is in a place I can always cover up if I want to.
I've scrapped today—so it is a good day. Three pretty simple LO's done for Katie's album. I do like the way they look. I need to take a picture of them and figure out how to post them here. I made some ATC's out of polymer clay—but found they were too fragile to be mailable. Roni has posted a couple of them on her site Ink Stains if you would like to see them. I hope to take a couple of pictures of them and post them here. I put the ones I kept in a picture frame and covered them with 3-d lacquer since they are so fragile.(that was Roni's idea—thanks Roni!!)
I wish for you the best my friends—stay safe and healthy and love the ones you're with

Sometimes.......

ife is too confusing... just last week the Rheumatologist said 'I don't think you have Scleroderma...blah blah blah...” and drew some labs.
Today I get the test results this is all it says “ANA (antinuclear antibody) Positive Screen Other Test: Scleroderma antibody is still positive (3.3){ which is more than it was before} Comments I believe some type of autoimmune disease may be evolving---It is not “differentiated” so that we could be specific-- Connective Tissue Disease”

that's it—-that's all it says-- Nada-- nil--- now my question is “ what the heck does that mean exactaly”

I am soooo black and white-- need to know a answer---i can not deal with the not knowing what is wrong with me.........I don't know whether to be happy or sad or mad or what the heck

so it looks like I am right back to where I was. And I was just getting back to a hopeful me....sigh

and to think this was to be a happy blog and a place to show you my creativity—turns out it has been anything but...........

I had a great news day!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I cant tell you how much all of your thoughts and prayers have meant to me in the past couple of months! I have had a really hard time dealing with all of this health stuff-- Now the good news. God has seen fit to answer our prayers in a great way.
I went to my long awaited Rheumatologist appointment today... He took a very very detailed history and did a good physical exam of my hands, and skin. Just for the record I found him a pretty strange individual ---he had a disconcerting habit of rolling his eyes so only the white part showed and talking with his eyes closed---- little strange but anyway.... his initial impression is that I do not have scleroderma YEAH!!!!!!
he says that despite my positive SCL-70 and all he thinks it is a false positive!!!!! he says it doesn't happen too often so I am hopeful. He also said with my symptoms – if 'someone held a gun to my head and said 'you have to give me a diagnosis for Brenda right this second what is it?” I would say she has sjogren;s disease”. now like I explained to my brother Sjogren's is not the best thing to have but it is a heck of a bunch better than Scleroderma! Sorta like they are the same family but Sjogren's is Scleroderma's younger weaker baby brother. They are both auto immune problems-- but I am probably not going to die from Sjogren's.
Now he did say that I could have primary Sjogren's and secondary lupus or sclero starting up-- but at this moment in time he does not think I have sclero and defiantly don't have Rheumatoid Arthritis (my mom had this) So tomorrow I start a new drug tomorrow that is kinda bad for eyes but at least in the next couple of months I should start to feel better. Maybe back to my old self 9who remembers what that is???)
Anyway---for this moment in time-- I am going with the probability that I have Sjogren's and not scleroderma. PRAISE GOD-- and thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers!! It's a good day in my part of the world!!

http://www.sjogrens.org/

photo ornaments al la Carol Duvall

If you know anything about me, and even if you don't, you may know that I love anything to do with pictures , paper ,creativity and Christmas. I especially love making Christmas ornaments that include any or all of these elements. These ornaments I am finally ready to share with my friends are especially wonderful to me. I love family history, photos of family and looking back at the way we were. Gosh! Makes you wonder where Katie got the whole love of history thing LOL
Back in the day—when I was a SAHM—about 15-21 years ago I discovered 'The Home Show” and Carol Duvall. Now you may be fan of Carol , you may not like her or you may not have even heard of her at all. But I need to give credit where credit is due and she demonstrated these years and years ago. I have taken her idea and with a few changes these ornaments have really become part of our family decorations over the years.
When I first started making them was in the days before good photo adhesives and when scrapbooking-as-we-know-it-today was just a dream. When I first started making these Carol suggested constructing them using super glue (!). Now that there are wonderful adhesives out thee especially made for photo's I suggest the red line tape—AKA Terrifically Tacky Tape. I have had to remake several of ours because the super-glue didn't hold. Another reason I would suggest the Tacky Tape is because the fumes of the super glue can “fog' the photo. A lot of my ornaments have these but because there are no duplicates (and this was waaaay before digital copies) and I have no idea where the negatives are. Another change I have made is to strengthen the hollow dome a bit by adding a bit of acid free paper (really thin like tissue paper) to the center of the geodesic dome. It just seems to make it a little more sturdy with not much weight. The only other thing I have done differently is add some bead tape with a bit of glue on the places where the edges of the photos meet (because my edges don't always match) and one panel with the year that ornament represents.
With those editorial comments I am adding the link to Carol's directions because hers are much more concise than mine would be and then will add a few pictures of the ones I have made.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_cds/episode/0,1806,HGTV_3822_13364,00.html



Let me know what you think-k??

beads, paper and organization

I have been a bit out of whack for a few days. Got a cold from all the sick people who I hang out with (namely my dear sweet hubby and my co-workers)- missed work today but I think I am doing better and will work tomorrow.
i have been beading for a few days. I have been making lanyard type/necklace thingies. I wear a badge to work every day. I have my main badge on a badge holder that has a clip on the back to attach it to the edge of your pants pocket, lapel etc. My problem is that most days I don't wear pants or jackets that have lapels. I am a skirt and/or dress type girl and never wear a jacket unless I am forced (because I am always HOT in our office). Anyway, I bought this little ribbon deal that hooks together and has a small charm on the end that you hang your badge on--5 bucks--. Well-- i bought the one so i could have a pattern. I have been making all kinds of them with different colored beads to match what i wear. Now, have a little wardrobe of them- - -actually I think I have made 6 so far. Anyway much easy to make--way cheaper than $5-- and cute.
i have not had time to play with my paper goodies much. I did get some paper containers that are 12 x 12 size and moved all of the paper to them. i have the solids all in rainbow order and then the prints sorted by something that makes sense to me..... I have flowers,plants and leaves as one section, geometries as another, textures as another, and vellum in another.... i have a few that are not too easy to classify. i don't really know what to do with the cartoony ones, the ones that have a slight pattern on it and other stuff like that.
The worst thing is that I found some mulberry paper i bought to make tear bears out of. Becky had given me a bunch of patterns and tips and ideas. She gave me a whole book of them. Now with all the cleaning and such I cant find them. i have the other stuff she gave me----but i can not find the book of patterns! wonder where in the world i put it????
Katie got a new (older) car on Friday. It is a green Toyota Corolla. 1999 I think she said.--I'm not very good with that sort of thing. She seems to like it well enough. She has already taken it to Memphis and back so I guess it runs OK. LOL She complains about spending so much on gas but then she is driving a lot too so that is no surprise. I don't know how many miles it is to Memphis from her place but it takes about 3 1/2 hrs. but with gas at $3 it adds up fast. i just cant get over that it has been almost a month since the wreck and that she is OK-- every time i look at the pictures----ewwww--- i cant believe it
well better hit the bed so i can go back to work tomorrow.