Veggies and Update

Hi everyone.
Not much card making for me these days as I am too busy with the garden produce. Today I got the picking of green beans blanched and laying flat in the pans to sharp freeze before I bag them. Nice picking the last two times and I am sure with these I will have at least 17 pints in the freezer and this is only the third picking off the vines. I grow the bush variety.

Also all washed up and ready to cook until semi tender are the beets. We gathered in the biggest ones and will let the rest grow more. Had to thin them out. These will be frozen also ready to eat in the winter.

So as you can see I have been busy. But it is fun for a change to work with something other than cards. I always did love the garden and all the good foods we get from it. I also froze pod peas and Swiss Chard earlier.

And I have been doing some baking so that when our family get-together in August comes I have plenty on hand. That way I can spend more time visiting and having a more relaxing time. We are looking forward to having all our children and almost all of the grandchildren here. Only two will be missing: our daughter in law Shizuko and our grandson Henry who will be staying at home in Japan. She could not get off from her job as a nurse.

I have all the bedding washed up and ready to be put back on the beds. We have a big upstairs floor to house the family for a few days. Not all will be here the entire visit of my son and his oldest son though. Some have to work and could only get a few days off.

We also will be having baptism of the newest family member, Anna, during that time period so it will be a busy but fun reunion for us.

Now to the confession part. I neglected to tell all that when I was at my daughter's helping with the new baby that I fainted the second day there. My body reacts to stress that way and although I did not feel I was stressed, apparently I was. I ended up in the ER with a laceration on my cheek from my glasses bow breaking off and gouging in. Also had a black and blue forehead and black eye. No stitches needed but did need it taped up. It is mending very nicely now though. I looked like I had been in a fight. LOL All my vitals were checked out just in case and I did not have a heart attack or stroke. Then since I broke the bow on my glasses I had to find a optician place to see if I could get my lenses put into new frames. Luckily I found a pair that worked.

I sort of missed one day of chief cook and bottle washer for the family.  I was supposed to be helping them, but that day I made things worse. But the rest of the week I was of some help I believe. Anyway, they are all doing fine now. I did get to hold the baby a lot though so that was fun at least. And, they happened to have a walker at their house and being I was really stiff and sore with bruises on knees and toes from that crash on the kitchen floor, I used that for several days.

Then the next week after I was home it was time for my physical which I get around this time of the year. All was good with that too except for a small infection again in my leg that always seems to get ulcers. So I am on antibiotics again for that.

And, if that was not enough, this weekend I lost the front tooth out of my upper plate. I think I ate it because I can't find it anywhere. Oh, dear! So I called the dentist office and got an appointment for tomorrow to get it fixed temporarily and maybe get impressions or set up an appointment for a new set of choppers. I guess I worked them too hard, but I do believe that when I fainted I loosened that tooth up and so it was just a matter of time that it would be falling out.

Well, hopefully, things will be much better from now on. At least after tomorrow I hope I don't look like an old haggard witch with a gaping hole where the tooth used to be. And, thank the Lord I did not have anything major go wrong with me yet! But if it does, I am sure He will help me cope with it too.

I hope all of you are doing well. And, thanks for the comments. I messed up and accidentally deleted one comment and I feel so bad about that. I tried to find a way to retrieve it, but had no success. I was using the iPad and my finger apparently missed the mark when trying to push the Publish area and instead got the Delete. I am so sorry and I hope the person who I did that too will forgive me.

God bless,
Verna

Special Birthday

I recently did a blog hop at Repeat Impressions and saw these amazingly done card creations by the designers and one that particularly stood out to me were the images of the beer mug, foam and awesome "beer" sayings that went with them. Since I have a few gentlemen and a few lady friends who all like beer I thought these would be nice and handy for fun looking cards. I decided I would use those images to make a special birthday card for a gentleman who will soon be turning 60 and who loves a beer now and then.

The background made with the confetti and streamers stamp and the circles with the numbers inserted are all stamp images from Gina K. Designs. I did random stamping to fill the whole page with those confetti and streamers with Gina K. Designs Black ink. I also stamped all the other images with the black ink. My ribbon is from Gina K. Designs and by using a layer of black behind the panel I think I have a fun and cool looking card. :) I colored the beer mug with my Bic Mark-It alcohol ink markers as they were handy at the time.

Well, I know I had fun creating this card so my day is a good one. I hope your day is going great too! Thanks for stopping by.

God bless,
Verna

Birthday Card

This is a bit different from some of the cards I do for birthdays but I wanted a card that might appeal to all genders and ages.

Hey, I figured all ages and genders like balloons and birthday cakes. And, I used both a stamped and embossed background. The stamping is with the quotation bubbles from the Gina K. Designs Let's Talk set by Debbie Corbari. I chose that because the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder has oodles of different birthday sentiments all over it so I thought they might work well together. But I am still not sure about that, so I will let all of you be the judge. LOL

I chose the Gina K. Designs ink colors of Sweet Mango, Blue Raspberry and Cranberry Tart for the inks and card stock. I also used some Gina K. Designs Black ink and some Gina K. Designs Ivory card stock.

I colored the stamped images of the cake with the Gina K. Designs inks and the balloons were colored with Distress Ink markers which seemed to match fairly well. By adding lots of the colored layers I hoped to achieve a more bright and cheery card design. I also added some rhinestone flower gems which were almost the same as on the embossing folder. I colored each little flower and some I placed a rhinestone over it. The ribbon was added for more embellishment.

I am going to enter this in the Mix It Up Monday challenge at Stamp TV. For this week's challenge we were asked to use both stamping and embossing on our card.

Take care all and thanks for stopping in and commenting. I appreciate each and every one.

God bless,
Verna

Meet our newest addition!

Well, I am back from several days helping out with the new baby and new mommy and daddy. I am telling you that was so fun and so much pleasure to hold that littlest addition. Anna Luella is so sweet, but at the same time she has a mind of her own too and from now on the world in that household will revolve around her.

Someone said I had to post a picture of her and me. So here it is. She is the cute and adorable one! LOL

Now it is catch up time at home as garden produce has to be tended to. I am not sure if I will be doing much for other creative work these days. Also over the weekend we had company and I traveled back just in time to see them for a few hours. But for a few weeks we will be having an extra hand as the oldest grandson will be helping around the farm.

Anyway, I had a blast with that little cutie and already miss her. Grandpa's turn is next as he will stop by when he goes through town next week. I am sure he will be reluctant to put her down as much as I was.

Take care all and have a great week.

God bless,
Verna

A Beautiful Granddaughter

We are so happy and excited that a sweet little girl has joined our family. Anna Luella was born Saturday, July 5th, and she is so beautiful! Both her and her Mommy and Daddy are resting now as it was a long ordeal for them. We had happened to be in the area at a belated Fourth of July get-together so while we were close by, late last night we stopped in and saw our littlest member. Since we got home around 3 o'clock in the morning we all slept in but it was a sleep of happiness and relief as finally she was born with a C-section. Needless to say this Grandma will be staying with her for a few days after she gets home to help out as much as I can.

Below is a card I made from a stamp set I won which was designed by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K. Designs. It came at a most appropriate time and I feel so blessed to have had that set given to me. The set is called Wee Tees.

Inside the card this is what I wrote: Hi Mommy and Daddy, I have been wanting to meet you for quite some time now. I am so happy to be here with you today! Thanks so very much for having me and may the Lord bless our family. Love, Anna

Grandma Verna had to help her out with the card and I would love it if someday she would love to stamp with Grandma and create even more cards. Heaven knows! Grandma has lots of stamping supplies she an share.

Anyway, I wanted to share the news and I am feeling very blessed with our new little bundle of joy! Thanks to all who stop in and look and share in our good news.

God bless,
Verna

Please Help!

Hello, dear blogging friends.

One of our blogging-paper-crafting-friends, Sue Drees, recently shared some sad news.

Her sister fell on June 22, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. On June 25, the tumor was successfully removed. However, the biopsy brought back devastating news - a fast growing Brain Cancer. Sue's sister is determined to fight this all the way. She began physical rehabilitation on July 4.

Sue and her sister Edith live in the North East (USA). Sue and her husband transport Edith's husband to the hospital each day and check up on changes and quality of care.

While Sue did not ask for help, I've kept in touch with her and asked if Edith would enjoy receiving cards of encouragement and support.

Sue was so grateful that the on-line community might help in this way - it was something she had not considered.

Edith enjoys Quilting and LOVES flowers! Edith's beloved fur child is a little pug, and both miss each other very much.

Will you please consider sending a note, tag, or card (or two or three? LOL) offering encouragement? Edith valiantly fights other illnesses in addition to this new challenge. She is a very courageous soul.

Cards can be sent addressed to Edith c/o Sue and she will take them daily to the hospital.

To obtain the mailing address, please write:

thinkingofyou@tampabay.rr.com

Thank you for making a difference in one person's life, by bringing in a little sunshine.

God bless,

Verna

God Bless the USA

In honor of tomorrow being the Fourth of July I decided to show an example of the cards I made for the shut-ins which I sent to them so they could enjoy a bit of celebration ahead of time.

The blue stars and the red zig zag stripes are from Gina K. Designs. The center image stamped in black ink is from Stamper's Best and the red top sentiment is from Unity Stamp Company. I went with a one layer design and tried to make it look patriotic in design.

I believe this is a tribute to our country and the men and women who served to keep our nation's freedoms and hopefully, no one will ever be able to take that freedom away from us. And, when you get together with your family and friends to have some fun celebration remember the real purpose of this holiday!

God bless you and God bless the USA! Have a great Fourth of July!

Thanks for stopping by and I very much appreciate each and every one of you and the comments you leave.

Hugs, Verna

Opposites Attract

I found a good excuse to use up some of the leftovers from other projects where I only had a few small pieces of card stock left. The challenge at StampTV for this Monday was to make Split-Negative designs. Well, one that I created fits the category perfectly but the other one is a bit off.

Here is the proper one:

I used the big daisy image from the Especially for You duo set from Gina K. Designs. The pattern paper is from the Gina K. Designs Poolside Paper pack. And, the base card is a navy/white duplex card stock so I thought that fit in quite well with the theme. I did not have navy pearls so I colored some with alcohol ink markers. I also cut the shank off a button, popped out the center of it and colored that navy blue and popped it back in so that I had a decorative center for my daisy. The die cuts are from a prize package so I do not know what company made them but they seemed to work well when I placed the two opposite of each other to form a frame for the daisy. I used white embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle on the navy portion of the daisy. For the white part of the daisy I first inked up my daisy with Versamark ink and then inked again with the Gina K. Designs navy dye ink. While it was wet I stamped the daisy and then used Sparkle N Sprinkle clear embossing powder on it.

Here is the one that was not quite up to snuff, but still is gorgeous in my opinion, so I will share it with you regardless.

This design would have worked well but the pink embossing powder I had did not match so I decided to just use black on both of them. And, again I used the daisy image on some scraps of card stock. The beautiful frame is from a friend who used her Silhouette to cut out this black frame. The pattern paper I used on this card is from the Gina K. Designs Petals & Wings Paper pack. I used black embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle.

Oh, did I mention I love gingham. It seems I am always grabbing gingham if it fits the bill for a creation. So hope you didn't mind that both of these cards are gingham delights in my opinion.

Well, hope your day is going great and I thank you for stopping in and looking.

God bless,
Verna