Because I Care

I have been needing alot of sympathy, praying for you, and thinking of you cards lately.  My "go to" stamp set at the moment is the Stampin Up! Because I Care set.  This is a Level 1 hostess set and it is truly a beautiful set!

I love hydrangea plants and we just cannot grow them here in Central Nebraska.  I have a brother-in-law that lives in Omaha and he has beautiful hydrangeas in his yard and I remember my Grandparents neighborhood on Whidbey Island, Washington had wonderful, purple and pink hydrangeas growing.  The only way I can enjoy them here is on a stamp!! 

I liked the clean and simple look of this card just using white and browns - kind of the monochromatic look!  Once again I used the Stampin Up! NEW Decorative Label punch.  I left the inside blank except for a tiny flower (which is included in this set) in the corner so I have lots of space to let the recipient know that I am truly praying for them. 

The next card I used the same colors but I liked the idea of just using just a portion of the stamped image.

I stamped the image on whisper white and used the SU!

1 3/8"  square punch.  I embossed the kraft paper with the finial press embossing folder.  I have used this folder quite and bit.  I love all of SU! folders.

Both cards are simple but I think make a statement. 

Our snow is finally starting to melt this afternoon.  This morning it was, once again, really snowing.  Makes calving season difficult!  At work today, everyone that came in the bank said they just wanted to see the sunshine someday.  Maybe we will get a peek of it Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by.

THANK YOU!

This weekend I made this Thank You card from a retired Stampin Up! set called Wanted.  It is a western set and I have used it for alot of my birthday cards for the men in our family.  The current available set Charming has a circular image that would work also - I may have to make another one using that image.

I used kraft cardstock for the base of the card and distressed the edges using soft suede.  The brown cardstock was soft suede and I turned it into "original design paper" by stamping on the cardstock with another retired stamp from Boho Backgrounds using SU! Chocolate Chip ink.  The thank you sentiment is from SU! Short & Sweet (NOT retired!!).  I use this set alot because it is little enough to fit into the Stampin Up! Modern Label Punch and it is such pretty writing.  Besides thank you, there is welcome baby, wish big, very merry, best wishes, and love you.  A very versitile set for not alot of money :)  

I also like to sew on my cards when I can so I added some sewing on the front.  I learned this from my buddy that I found online - Pam Speidel.  Pam and I even got to meet this past summer.  I went up to her home in Norfolk, Nebraska and we had a great day!

I added some SU! brads, a little ribbon and some corner embellishments inside.

While taking the picture of the card outside on my deck, this is what was flying over the field south of our home.

Canadian geese heading up north.  They make alot of noise when they fly over!  We live about 1/4 of a mile from a river and they bed down at night in the field close to us.  We have also seen beautiful white swans in the area, and the whooping cranes and bald eagles later on in the spring.

Thank you visiting - I would love to have you comment!

PICTURES FROM THE PAST!

I have a relative that lives is town and he is moving to California this spring.  He has been cleaning, sorting and packing up his house and the other day he shared these photos of some of my relatives!  The above photo is not dated and has no names written on the back.  So many times this happens.  We need to remember to write first and last names and date out photos so that others, many years from now, people will be able to know who these people are and when the photo was taken. So many times I have been to auctions and they are selling old photos of people and no one knows who they are pictures of.

The relative (my father's cousin) thinks that this photo is "John Grint's" mother and father.  It was taken in England in the 1800's. 

Below, is a picture of John Grint.  Doesn't he look happy?  I have always heard that in old photos, people were never smiling because it took so long for the photo to develop that they got so tired of standing there! He looks like he is telling the photographer, "Hurry up and get this done!" 

My Dad's cousin brought the photos to where I work and I had brought my camera and I actually photgraphed the photos.  I was pretty happy how they turned out.  I think I can go to one of those photo machines and crop it so only the photo shows. 

I would love to get more information about these people.  Does anyone know some good websites that help you get more information?

I have always thought it would be fun to go back in time - just for a short time - and see what it was like way back when.  I have always been a fan of movies like Somewhere In Time, Kate & Leopold, even Back To The Future!! 

If I find any more information, or he brings in more photos, I will share them!!

Friend

I thought this card was so cute and it was so easy to assemble!  The flower is made using the Stampin Up! small oval punch.  I punched 5 small ovals in Blushing Bride paper and one in So Saffron. I Added faux stitching around whisper white in Early Espresso. On the petals and the Blushing Bride cardstock, I faux stitched in white.  I punched an opening up top with the SU! window punch and stamped "Friend" in Pear Pizzazz on whisper white and attached it through the window!  I had a scrap of green polka dot paper that matched perfectly.  Assembled the whole thing on Pear Pizzazz and you have spring in a card :)

This idea came from Kay Sha (just love her blog!) Hope you have a great Saturday and remember to set your clocks ahead tonight!

I AM READY FOR SPRING!!

I came home from work today, reheated last night's chili and after dinner - went upstairs to relax in my craft room and made this card! 

I am sooooo ready for spring!!  This morning when I got up I noticed we got more snow last night!  But after the sun came out, I noticed there were little birds out today singing and sitting right in front of my downstairs front window!   I thought about grabbing my camera and trying to get a picture but didn't know if I could get a good picture through the window and I knew if I went outside, I would scare them off. 

This image I used is from some blog candy that I received quite awhile ago and I finally decided to use some of it!  The ribbon is Baha Breeze Stampin Up! seam binding ribbon.  It is so pretty and just perfect for the vintage look - which I love so much.  Added a mini vintage tag with a "love life" stamp image from SU! right on the tag.  Colors of cardstock are baja breeze, river rock, kraft and very vanilla.  I added some stitching and distressed it up a little, a few pretty brads that matched the baha breeze and tadaa!

Thanks for stopping by and also for leaving comments!  I love to know that there are people out there reading my new blog {{smiles}}

Baby Calves - The twins!

Well, these are the twins!  The first two born this year.  Aren't the cute?  When they are first born, they are so darn soft and curious.  See Mama in the background keeping an eye on them (and keeping an eye on me peeking through the gate)!  Both babies are little heifers (girls).  What should we name them?  I usually name the babies that become "bucket calves". 

We have been helping Mama by giving them a bottle of milk replacer in the morning and evening.

Bent over giving them their bottles are my husband, John and my youngest son, Jeff.  The calves are still adjusting how to suck from a bottle and it takes a little coaxing but they are getting the hang of it.

This is our Border Collie, Buddy.  He is a real good cattle dog......when he stays home.  He likes to go visit the neighbors and stays there until we come looking for him.  We tie him up a few days, let him go and he sticks around for awhile and then goes visiting again.  He is giving me that look that says, "I'm a good dog....really I am".

Leave me comment, what I should name the twins!!

A Masculine Card!

I seem to have a hard time coming up with cards for men.  This new set from Stampin Up! is called Plane and Simple - perfect for those masculine occasion cards! 

I have to admit, I did not come up with this card.  I cased it exactly from Sandy Hancock at Udderly Awesome.  I tried to distress the plane image up and ran the crumb cake paper through an embossing folder to give it texture.  The red I used is another "new color" called Poppy Parade.  It has some orange tones to it.

Today was a beautiful day in Nebraska!  I went for a walk during my lunch hour and just enjoyed the time outside.  Tomorrow we are supposed to get some colder weather coming in with a slight chance of the "S" word.  Hope not - it always seems to get bad during the weekend.  Oh well, I have to work Saturday morning so I guess I don't have much going on.

Hope you had a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.  I am still trying to learn all of the different things you can do on this blog and so far, this is fun.  Why did I wait so long ?