A Final SMT for 2013

I don't know about the rest of you, but the last two weeks of December have been nothing less than hectic for me.  It was a madhouse between Christmas baking and lots of socializing.  My Christmas decor this year was totally minimal, but that was good since it didn't take me long to undecorate on the Thursday after Christmas. I was so busy that I didn't even get over here to see that I was one of the winners in the last Show Me Thursday challenge.

Instead of thinking I could sit back and rest, it was back into design mode. I had a Honey Do shower invitation to make for a friend. What's a Honey Do shower you ask? It's a shower given for the groom in order to get him some gifts to take care of those Honey Do jobs that will certainly be on a list shortly after the wedding.

So here's the invitation. I found this poem on a invitation I found online and incorporated it in the invitation. I think these turned out very masculine.

I of course designed them in the Silhouette Designer Edition software. The only thing that was cut with the Cameo was the Honey Do tag.

So this is my final SMT post for the Sassy Cheryls Show Me Thursday challenge. You still have until tomorrow at 5 p.m. EST.

Ribbons and Bows

This week's challenge for the Sassy Cheryls' Challenge Blog is ribbons and/or bows. I sure hope paper ribbons count, otherwise I'm out for the count. Never fear, I still have a use for the card. It's going to my great grandson with his Christmas present.  He's not quite one so it won't matter.

I chose one of Cheryl's newer images called Max the Red Nosed Reindeer for my card. The image is colored with pencils. The papers are from a free download from I have no idea where, and the word art is from a Silhouette download.

So I basically squeezed in under the wire again this week. I'm sure hoping I'll find more time after the first of the year.

Open House Invitations

It's been at least a while since I posted a SMT post for Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday post, so I'm taking a quick few minutes to show you what I've been working on most of this week.

Christmas has slipped up on me. I spent the end of last week working on my walking Buddy's Christmas card and my Christmas Open House invitations. I didn't keep one of her invitations, but here's the Open House invitation.

I used my Cameo to do a print and cut of both the base and then print and cut the ornaments to attach to the base. The hard part was tying those bows on the ornaments with embroidery floss. I finally got  smart and ran the floss through some wax, so it was a lot easier.

I also created a return address that I printed on the back of the envelope. I did ALL of this on the Cameo.

I'll have to wait until next week to show you what else I'm working on.

A Winter Themed Challenge

It's a two week challenge on the Sassy Cheryl's Challenge blog due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. I am thankful for those two weeks, but I'm even more thankful that I have an entry. It isn't even Monday, much less my Wednesday near end of deadline posting.

I spent the entire day in TM yesterday. All of my time wasn't spent creating this card, but a fair share of it was.

For the challenge, I've chosen this delightful image called "That's Hot" from the Sassy Cheryls Stamp Store. This little fellow so reminds me of my grandson, MM. He loves being out in the cold and really loves hot chocolate. I've colored the image with my PrismaColor and Faber Castel pencils.

The DP papers are from Just So Scrappy 2's kit Snow Cute. The embossed paper is Neenah Metallic paper that is now being sold at Office Depot. It has the most gorgeous sheen to it. The card was designed and cut with my Silhouette Cameo, and the sentiment is from the Silhouette Online Store.

Our weather is turning cold starting today, so my cup is going to have a hot mocha latte in it this afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by and remember there's still PLENTY of time to get a card made and entered.

A Show Me Show Me Thursday

I didn't get an entry in last two week Sassy Cheryl Show Me Thursday challenge, and I'm bound and determined I'm going to make it for this one. I've been busy with babysitting Coleman, cleaning house(won't be showing you that), making Any Hero cards and working on 50th Anniversary Invitations.

 Thursday was a Coleman day. He was good up to a point with watching Dora, while I was working on getting things together for my card class at a local middle school. That said, we finally just had to get outside and play in the leaves.

I've also spent the last two Fridays at a local Middle School in their art department. I got to demonstrate different techniques to the 6th graders, and then they made Any Hero cards and wrote a note in them. These are pictures from the first week's.

I have to tell you, that they were like kids in a candy shop wanting to do all techniques on their cards. They couldn't quite grasp the idea of  "less is more", but you have to admire their zeal. Any Hero that gets one of these notes is going to be appreciative that's for sure.

 As many of you know my DH is one of 14 children, 13 of whom are still alive(pretty amazing when you realize the oldest is almost 91, and the youngest is almost 61). On December 22, 2013, the sister just older than my DH and her husband will be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary. This will make the 10th sibling to accomplish this. The only sibling older that didn't make this, never married, and he's also the one that has passed away. This family is an insurance actuaries biggest nightmare, because they don't follow any rules for average.

This is the invitation that we designed for the occasion. We used Neenah metallic glimmer Champagne(now sold at Office Depot) to print the top layer, and the base layer is Stardream Antique Gold cardstock(105 lb. and nicely heavy) from LCI Paper Co. The first picture was made with the flash on on my camera, so you can see the amount of sheen to the cardstock. The second was made with the flash off. My inkjet printer printed on the Neenah paper beautifully, but the inkjet will not print on the gold metallic envelopes from LCI. I've got a color laser printer(great deal and a good excuse for a laser printer:) ) coming to hopefully accomplish that task, because I really don't want to be hand addressing 150 invitations.

Come back later in the week, as I have a REAL Show Me Thursday Post. I'm going to show you how to create a silhouette cameo of your child for a great Christmas present.

A Blog Hop for Pulmonary Hypertension

Last weekend, I got an e-mail from my friend BreAnn McFarland, asking if I'd participate in a Blog Hop for Pulmonary Hypertension(PH for short). This cause has special meaning to me as my older brother and good friend suffered from Pulmonary Hypertension. BreAnn told me a long time ago, that I was one of the few people that she had mentioned the disease to, that actually knew what it is. Unfortunately, including BreAnn, I've actually known 3 people who have suffered or are suffering from this devastating disease.

Pulmonary hypertension - WHAT IT IS.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is an increase of blood pressure in the  pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein or pulmonary capillaries, together known as the lung vasculature, leading to shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting, leg swelling and other symptoms. Pulmonary hypertension can be a severe disease with a markedly decreased exercise tolerance and heart failure.  In  other words just walking 50 feet will have the person gasping and laboring for breath. 

You can learn more about the disease from this LINK.

FACT: While there are now 11 FDA approved medicines to treat pulmonary hypertension, zero are approved for use in children with PH.
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For my card, I chose this image from Sassy Cheryls called Firefly Frenzie - Maddie. The reason for choosing this image is in memory of catching fireflies with my big brother when I was a little girl, a task that would be physically impossible by someone suffering from PH. Be sure to note that  periwinkle ribbon to remind us of the PH cause.

She's colored with Prisma-Color Pencils and Faber Castell blended with Gamsol. The papers are from a digital kit by Correen Silk called Sandy Getaway from Computer Scrapbook.Com. I'm also entering this card in this week's Sassy Cheryl's Anything Goes challenge.

This is a two day blog hop, so be sure to check back tomorrow for the second round.

Here are the blog links for both days.

Saturday Line Up 

Betty http://simplybettystamps.blogspot.com/

Corinne - http://wishuponascrap.blogspot.com/

Darcy - http://craftingwithdarcy.blogspot.com 

Katya - http://kattyxotica.blogspot.com

 Shelley  - http://shelleyscreations.blogspot.com 

Irene - http://irenescardcreations.blogspot.com/ 

Karen - www.kraftykarensblogspot.co.uk/wordpress

Lisa - http://www.mindovermattercreations.com

Emily -  http://emilyshroom.blogspot.com.au/

 Veronica - http://www.artbyveronica.blogspot.com/

Shirley - http://tangentsfromtazmanial.bloghop.com

Sunday's line up 

Tamara -  http://thestampingchef.oo.gd/Blog/

Amanda P - http://Oldenough2beakid.blogspot.com/

Charlene - http://charlenescardcreations.blogspot.com

Kerrie - http://cardsbykerrie.blogspot.co.uk/

Sharon - http://www.mrslumpys.blogspot.com/

Amanda A - http://amandascolourcreations.blogspot.co.uk/

Petra - http://pscreations-sa.blogspot.com/ 

Corinne - http://wishuponascrap.blogspot.com/

Eleanor - http://ellispysselochdittadatt.blogspot.com/

Marji - http://www.fstampaholic.blogspot.com/

Tanja - http://craft-teeinthecity.blogspot.com

 Veronica - http://www.artbyveronica.blogspot.com/

What's Up This Week With Show Me Thursday

Well, I have to say that with SCAMP over, you would have thought life would be uneventful and back to routine. My husband wanted to know when things were going to be back to normal? My question is what is normal, because its for sure I don't have a clue.

Tuesday afternoon I babysat baby Charles. He and I took a two hour nap with him laying on my chest. Since it was  just him and me, I don't have a picture of that.

Then on Thursday it was a marathon day of babysitting. I picked Coleman up from pre-school and kept him the rest of the day. His Mom and Dad delivered Lucy Ann to me around 6:30 on their way to the MSU football game. This is a picture of Lucy Ann eating grape tomatoes and a grilled cheese(she's only 10 months old).

When her parents came to pick her up, I asked if she had a costume for Lucy Ann for Halloween. She was going to make her a Pumpkin costume. I have been keeping my nephew's Halloween costume since he was one year old, and asked her if she'd like to borrow it. Her fear was that it would be like everyone else's pumpkin costume, but I assured her that with the costume being 26 years old, there was no threat of that. So here she is in her pumpkin suit. She didn't care for the head piece at all.

Friday was spent making cowboy chaps for great nephew Corbin for his Halloween costume. The first pair I made was for my great nephew Robert 21 years ago for cowboy week at his pre-school. Coleman is attending the same pre-school, so I'll be making a pair for him before February. Here's Corbin in his regalia.

When we delivered the chaps to Tupelo, we made a stop by Harbor Freight. Terri, one of the SCAMPers brought us all these neat needle nose pliers that she had gotten from HF. I stopped and picked up some more needle nose pliers along with some other small wire cutters. I have to buy multiples since my DH seems to walk off with mine every time I buy them.

That's my week.   So what have you got going on in your life this week? You never know you might win a free image from the infamous Mz Sassy Cheryl. Just post a photo of what you have going on, on the Sassy Cheryl's Blog site.  In the meantime, I'm going to work on getting back to normal(if you know me, you know that saying normal is about as close as it gets).