FAREWELL . . . and there is a card in here somewhere!!!

Farewell to 2010 and a welcome to 2011!

It has been a good year for the Fox family. The only real downside was the loss of our beloved fur-person Brigit in November. She was a sweet, funny, stubborn, wonderful friend and we love and miss her so much.

Here are some pictures taken at church at Christmas of my DH Chuck and Mom, my special 94-year-old MIL.

This year Chuck learned to play the guitar and as he is the Cantor at church, he can now sing and play the guitar which comes in handy when both of the keyboard players are not available. While he has a musical background (he was a concert trumpet player in his younger days), his progress at playing has been quite remarkable to me. He is also training for his second California Coast Classic this coming September. This is a bicycle tour from the San Francisco Pier to the Santa Monica Pier over 8 days and 500 miles to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation. He will make this ride just after his 70th birthday!!!

Mom crocheted over 2,000 afghan squares this year for Warm Up America! along with 10 or 12 complete afghans and wheelchair lap blankets. These go to disaster stricken areas, battered women's shelters, homeless, etc. Mom has crafted most of her life and we have so many lovely things around the house that she made. She is an inspiration to me that I might continue to do God's work regardless of my age and maybe even through my passion of paper crafting.

 

As for me, my most important accomplishment was creating over 850 cards for Operation Write Home. Many of them are posted on my blog which I started in February of this year. I have made many new friends and increased my stamping knowledge (and stash) by leaps and bounds! I underwent a total hip replacement due to osteoarthritis and have a hip that is as good and functional as when I was a teenager. This has allowed me to begin walking in a serious way and so far I have lost 25 pounds!

All in all it has been a great year for us!

Now for what will be my final cards for the year. I made several of these as I do almost all of my cards. It was a fun card to make and I just loved the DP which came from the Best of K Collection. The stamp is from Cherry Blossom by Flourishes. The ink color is More Mustard and the sentiment from Sincere Situations is by Stampin' Up.

I thank all of you for your continual support and inspiration. A special thanks to Sandy of Operation Write Home and her team who work so hard for our heroes and to create a fun, informative, and inspirational environment for all of us stampers.

And last, but certainly not least, I wish for all of you great peace and joy in this coming year.

ALL ABOUT THE BOYZ

So glad the Holiday Vacation Challenge #6 at OWH was extended until Sunday evening. Kudos to Eric Dull for his darling digi. I had some time this afternoon and wanted to play, so here goes:

I especially love this image because when our beloved French Bulldog Brigit was alive, we would put her Doggles (dog goggles) on her and she would jump in the child's trailer behind Chuck's bicycle and we would all go for a ride! She absolutely loved riding and feeling the air and smelling the smells, but her eyes were protected by the Doggles so they didn't water. She looked so, so cute in them and everyone who saw her would always have this wonderful smile on their face!

Hope all of you are having a wonderful and blessed Christmas day! Blessings,

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS

Our family wishes for you the blessings of this Holy Night when the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated! God is with us.

Louise , Chuck and Mom

VALENTINE BLAST CARD

When I looked at the design of this card, I didn't know if I liked it or not as it seemed to "blast" my eyes with red and white, but Mom and my DH Chuck both quickly said they liked it. Now they don't say that about all of my cards in the initial design stage, so I do trust them.

It is a very quick and easy card to make as there is no stamping or Copics involved - just a Martha Stewart paper punch, a Spellbinder die set, some Gina K paper and some ribbon. I did the sentiment on the computer and printed it in red.

I am not sure if I can post twice for the Midweek Throwdown, but I will give it a try. Have a wonderful week and a blessed Christmas everyone.

WILL YOU BE MINE?

I am happy to see the Midweek Throwdown from Operation Write Home is a Valentine card as that is what I am working on right now! Good timing Jan! 

Once again I do not have the artist who this digital image came from. I am so much better at this now than I was when I first began using "digis". The title is Love Buds so if anyone knows, I will be appreciative if you would leave a comment. The sentiment is printed on the computer at the same time as the digital image, which makes it a very easy - and I think - clean and simple card which could be sent to a spouse or a child. I colored everything with Copics. After the card was photographed, I decided to add coloring to the red hearts with a Red Star Gelly Roll by Sakura. It really gives it a nice pop! Sorry I didn't have the time to re-photograph the card.

I wish you sweet blessings this week and I hope you have a little time to catch a breath and look at all the beauty around us this holiday season!

A SPECIAL DAY

What a special day this is - and why you ask? - because it is the one we are living now! It is Sunday, so it must be time for the Sketch Challenge from OWH.

Here is the sketch:

  And here is my card:

It is not my most favorite card, and I admit that it seemed that every time I turned around something was just not right with the card or an element had disappeared altogether! (The sentiment got attached to my Score Pal which I had put down by my chair - who would think to look for it stuck to the back of my Score Pal? I finally found it after 5 minutes of hunting for it when I went to get something out of a drawer it was leaning against!) My DH Chuck always says each time I can't find something that Martha Stewart must have taken it! She gets accused a lot in this house!

The DP is K & Company and the leaves and flowers I cut from the same paper. The card base is pink, the belly band is Burgundy; and the sentiment is green cardstock made from the Beaded Oval Spellbinder die. The gold beads are from my stash.

Blessings to you all,

CONGRATS OWH AND THANK YOU JOANN

We did it! OWH won the $25,000 prize from Joann.com. Can you imagine the additional possibilities that are available now to serve our heroes and our country? Congratulations to Operation Write Home and a HUGE THANK YOU to Joann Fabric and Crafts!

I made this thank you card for Joann:

The DP is from Far East by DCWV; the cardstock is Cranberry Tart and Moonlit Fog from Gina K; the ribbon is Offrey; the paper punch is Martha Stewart; the die cut is beaded ovals from Spellbinders; and the rhinestones are bulk from eBay.

I can't help but think of the possibilities of what might be done in our world by the simple actions by a group of creative individuals like you joining together for good! I find it both intriguing and exciting!

OWH MID-WEEK THROWDOWN

Happy day and thanks for stopping by today. Here is a very easy and quick card to make - and you could use any shaped die cut you might like or have. Now I know you have seen this card layout a thousand times before but I especially liked the effect of the ribbon, which is what our challenge is all about today.

The DP is DCWV; cardstock is Gina K In the Navy and Sweet Corn; I used a Martha Stewart edge punch and Offray ribbon. The die cut is Spellbinders Beaded Ovals, and the sentiment stamp is Sincere Salutations by Stampin Up.

Thanks again for coming by. I would love to hear your comments! Blessings,

A POST TODAY - YEA!!!

Hello my friends. I am soooooooo happy I am able to make a post today! I am feeling much, much better and I have so much more energy these days. So I got up and thought I would try out this morning's OWH Stars and Stamps challenge before we leave for church.

Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

The stamp is by Heartfelt Creations - I received my first stamps from Heartfelt for my birthday and I absolutely love them, especially those which have matching Spellbinders dies! I have ordered several of their stamps now and love, love, love all of them. Their website is www.heartfeltcreations.us. Just yummy! The designer paper is from K & Company. Along with all the Heartfelt stamps, my DH Chuck purchased a 380 page paper pack entitled the "Best of K & Company" which is such a fun present. The papers are all fabulous and I will be able to make lots and lots and lots of cards for OWH with this 2 inch tall stack of fab papers. The card stock is from Gina K (Little Boy Blue and Sweet Corn) and Stampin Up (Not Quite Navy). Then, of course, the flowers are colored with my Copic markers (I also received 10 new markers and refills from DH - great birthday huh?)

This was a really fun challenge and I am so happy to be back on my blog. Have a wonderful and blessed week.                          

Dear Friends and Family

I wanted to leave word for you so that you might know I will not be posting on my blog until probably after the first of the year. I will be undergoing some medical tests and with the holidays coming up, I think my time will be fairly consumed. I don't want to sound mysterious about the medical stuff, but I have been having some tests done and so far everything is negative. But whatever it is, it can be fairly debilitating some days. It does seem as though we are diagnosing the condition by elimination - whatever is left when the tests are done is what I will have! LOL Mentally I am taking all of this in stride and plan to use the time when I am not able to sit and work at my craft table to look at new techniques on the web and explore new possibilities with paper! 

Whatever takes place, I am blessed to have a wonderful husband to care for me and love me like no other could. I am also blessed with a wonderful support system including all of you who read my blog - and I thank you.

I  wish all of you a blessed holiday season and most especially a Christmas filled with the peace and love of God. Blessings and love to all of you.

OWH MID-WEEK THROWDOWN

I made these cards for the Operation Write Home's Midweek Throwdown. I know it is hard to believe, but the deadline for Christmas cards is upon us as October 31st is only just a few days away! Here are a couple of very simple cards to make!

and

They are very easy cards to make and you are welcomed to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) them in any way you would like. I used the same papers on both cards - Gina K's Red Lipstick and Fresh Asparagus. The tree stamp is from Stampin Up from the Lovely as a Tree set. The dies are all from Spellbinders and the background is from a Cuttlebug embossing folder called Snowflake. The ribbon is from Michaels which I just purchased very inexpensively on sale - it a beautiful red and green metallic and adds so much to the cards.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you will enjoy looking around a bit. Blessings,

ALWAYS

Great topic for this week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge and Cindy has given us some truly lovely examples for inspiration. These are absolutely my favorite kinds of cards to make, so I am feeling right at home with this challenge!

The colors are a little departure from my norm - but I really like the card and think it will be a good masculine card for a male hero to send to his wife. The background and sentiment paper are Smoky Slate and Sweet Corn by Gina K. The Smoky Slate is not quite as dark as the picture would have you believe and in retrospect, I would dry emboss the Smoky Slate to give it some dimension. The DP behind the beautiful digi from Stamping Boutique is from my scrap drawer, but I remember it came from Wal-Mart. The ribbon and pearls are from my stash.

As I write this, they are bringing the mine workers in Chile up from the abyss. I am so thankful for their safe return to their family and friends and I pray for them, as perhaps the hardest part of this journey for them is yet to come! Blessings and joy,

"loved"

It is such a wonderful day filled with a gentle rain that is needed so very much! We live at the top of the Grape Vine just off of Interstate 5 and if you head north and drive down the mountains about 10 miles, you will be at the beginning of the Central Valley which is where a large amount of the food is grown for the U.S.A. The immediate area near our home is largely cotton, carrots, table grapes, almonds, pistachios, onions, and garlic, so as you can imagine, rain is critical in this area.

Here is a card I made using the view from the window at my crafting area as an inspiration. It has gray accents because it is overcast and yet all the flowers are still very much in bloom, especially my petunias in the front planter which were especially spectacular this year!

I used a digi, but from an unknown origin (It's one of my weaknesses - I find a digi I really like and get so excited to create with it, that I don't properly note where it came from). The papers are DCWV Near East and Gina K's Moonlit Fog. I used Spellbinders dies, Copic markers (of course), and ribbon and half pearls from my stash.

I like it as it is a simple, clean design just perfect for use by Operation Write Home for our deployed soldiers. I hope you are having a joy-filled day! Blessings to you all,

CELEBRATING WORLD CARD-MAKING DAY

Hello everyone. Thanks for coming by in celebration of World Card-making Day. I wanted to offer a card for the fun of it - because I think everyday should be a card-making day! This card will go to Operation Write Home for one of our heroes to write in and send home to a loved one.

It is a super easy card to make and one can use any materials or color combination. I hope you will CASE (copy and share everything) this card using whatever materials you have on hand and donate your card to OWH for one of our brave heroes.


Blessings on your day!

FOR THE GIRLS

This week's Operation Write Home Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to create a card our heroes can send home to their female loved one, be it wife, daughter, mother, etc. I have to admit this was easy for me as the majority of the cards I make are for husband/wife heroes to send to their spouse. If anything that can be done to enhance communication between husband and wife during their separation, it is a "very good thing" as Martha would say. Thank you Heidi-Mari for the beautiful sample you provided for this challenge. I also enjoyed reading about you and your family.

This card was taken from a Stamp TV feature called Bleached Leaves, so it is not an original idea, but I must say I am so very pleased with the results. The stamp I used was from a vintage Stampin Up set called Fantastic Foliage. The papers are Gina K: Wine with Everything, Pumpkin Spice, Black Onyx, and Sweet Corn. The sentiment is also from Stampin Up and the ribbon is from my stash. I used Twinkling H20s and mica powders to give the leaves their color and dimension.

Hope you are having a blessed week!

MORE LOVE FOR OWH's SKETCH #36

Another week has passed - wow! I think I am beginning to understand what "they" mean when they say the older one gets, the faster time goes by. We had to make several trips to the doctor for my 94-year-old MIL (tests, etc.), which takes up the entire day as we live in a small community and have to drive more than an hour one way to go to the "big city".  . .  AND if one is in the big city, of course they must go out for late lunch/early dinner. I was also able to quickly stop by Michaels for a big sale on ribbon and pick up some great deals in colors for fall and Christmas.

Looking out the window from my crafting table, the deciduous trees have turned beautiful shades of yellow, orange, purple, and caramel. They are dotted in with the pine trees and the view is stunning. My heart leaps with joy at the thought of winter and snow coming!

Here is this week's sketch:

 And here is my card:

 

It was a simple card to make and I will probably make more of them. I am really enjoying this image from the Stamping Boutique, one of our dear sponsors for the Birthday Bash. Lots of great digi images there! I colored the image with Copics and used "At You Spica" for the flower centers , the bands on the watering can, and highlights. The papers are DCWV Near East and Gina K's Everything with Wine and Sweet Corn. The stamp is a vintage Stampin Up stamp from 1992 I Love You Mini set, stamped with Baroque Burgundy ink.

 

Here's hoping you have a wonderful week!

Blessings and love,

I STILL LOVE YOU - HONEST

I have been SO negligent posting my blog the last couple of weeks as the Fox family has been very busy recently and, as well, we did take a few serendipitous days away to play! Here is a card I created with a stamp set I "stole" from eBay.

The stamp set is God's Beauty by Stampin Up. The DP is from the Luxury Stack by DCWV. I colored the flowers and leaves with Copics and then used Crystal Lacquer on the flowers. The cute mini buttons that are the center of the flowers and the gold bands are from my stash; the belly band was done with a Martha Stewart edger punch. I am making several of these to send to Operation Write Home. This flower looks great as a single flower or by stacking a couple of them on top of one another. It is a quick and easy card to make and I hope that as many people as possible with CASE it (copy and share everything) and send the cards to OWH! Blessings and joy in your week.

3 CARD CHALLENGE

I just came across a 3 Card Challenge along with a couple of really cute FREE digi images on Yolanda's blog Imagine. Make. Share.! So here I am to post some cards I worked on yesterday to go into my OWH box. Please go on over and see the wonderful post on Yolanda's blog!

I am so into Fall colors and themes right now and I am enamored with Gina K's Pumpkin Spice paper; the color is soooo rich. I have had this ribbon, which matches perfectly, for a long time that I purchased not because I loved it, but because it was too great a deal to pass up.


Recipe:
Stamps: Beautiful Blossoms (JustRite); Thinking of You (Stampin' Up)
Paper: Pumpkin Spice, Sweet Corn, Black Onyx (Gina K)
Ink: Assorted Copics, Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up)
Ribbon: Stash

Still wishing you a wonderful Labor Day and many blessings in your week.

HUGS AND KISSES

This week's Stars and Stripes Weekly Sketch Challenge #34 provided us with another fun card to create. It was especially fun for me as I used our own Sandy's wonderful free digi image from Ciara's Family Challenge. I think I may be getting better at coloring images of people and animals as I do more and more of them and Sandy makes it irresistible with these adorable images! Thanks also to Cathy for her inspiration card. And I promise, I started coloring this image several days ago and didn't copy from Carol at Our Little Inspirations (although it wouldn't have been the first time I have cased one of her beautiful cards). I guess great minds just think alike!

THE Sketch:
MY Card:

Stamp: Free digi from Stars and Stamps Blog; hugs and kisses (Stampin' UP)
Ink: Copics; Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up)
Paper: Indian Summer (DCWV); Faith (The Paper Studios) Lipstick Red (Gina K)
Accessories: Heart Brad (Stash)

Hoping you have a blessed week and a wonderful Labor Day!

PUPPY MAIL

I had so much fun doing this image for the Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge this week! This image I learned about from my friend Carol at Our Little Inspirations. She is very creative and one of my favorite card artists! The digi was offered as a freebie from Sliejke Digi Stamps where you will find many terrific digis all available for free as the artist enjoys sharing her "God-given talents" as she describes it. There is so much to see both on Carol's and Sliejke's website!

The Sketch:


My Card:
Isn't this digi image just absolutely adorable? I usually go for the florals, but since the day I saw the card that Carol created, I have wanted to make a card using "Puppy Mail"! I colored the image with Copics and put a border of Everything with Wine followed by a Sweet Corn embossed strip (both by Gina K). The DP is from DCWV's Far East Stack. The half pearls are from my stash.

I didn't post last week as I was on jury duty - a very long and interesting week. As well, having to drive off the mountain for an hour one way into the 105 degree heat was the worst torture possible for me. But I lived through it and my service is completed, so I am happy and am looking forward to a relaxing and cooler week coming up!

I hope and pray that you, too, will have a wonderful week. Blessings,