The Ducks are Back!

Sorry I've been absent - This past week has been kind of a blur for our family.  My dad was diagnosed last week with Esophageal Cancer, so we've been playing the waiting game - waiting to hear from the oncologist, waiting for next steps, waiting for next tests and researching until we're all cross-eyed to find out all we can about this disease.  We are optimisitc that they have found it in the early stages and he will make a full recovery.  We are thankful too to be very close to the University of Michigan Hospital and many doctors that are highly touted in this field.

So, I thought I'd make a funny little card to include in his care package, if nothing else at least he'll get a little chuckle, right?

Image - High Hopes Stamped Image (duck)

Papers - Coredinations cardstock & Little Yellow Bicycle (I think)

Technique - Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Sentiment & ? marks - Computer Generated using Snap ITC

Thanks for stopping by today and if you have a chance and wouldn't mind saying a prayer for my dad, it would be much appreciated.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

A Short Week.....

and progress to boot! 

We had yesterday off from work to celebrate Veterans Day.  Go figure, even though Veterans Day was this past Wednesday, the company I work for celebrates it after the fact - it is called 'Deer Hunting Day'.  We still celebrate Veterans Day at our house on the actual day as both of our dad's were in the service and we are so thankful for our Veterans AND our Soldiers!!!

Okay, so on that 'Deer Hunting Day' thought - Let me attempt to paint a picture for you - I grew up in a small town that actually has what they call a 'Buck Pole' at the local sporting goods store (a little town sporting good store).  All the locals on the first day of rifle hunting season that have gone out hunting and 'bagged a buck' brings their deer to the 'sporting goods store' and they all admire who got the biggest one......hmmmmm, sounds like a guy thing, doesn't it? 

Please let me remind you, we don't hunt, we feed bambi, we don't eat him (not that there is anything wrong with hunting if you do and use the meat).  I grew up in Hicksville USA, and this event each year made the front page of our local weekly paper.  It is BIG news, every year!  My dad used to go 'hunting' though it was more hanging out with his buddies, playing cards and drinking......just ask my mom about the year she packed his extra socks in his gun case and he never found them........

I digress.....be prepared for another one. . . . . right about NOW!  So, we both had the day off and a list of things we wanted to check off - we're getting ready for two Thanksgiving dinners next week, so a trip to Costco was a given yesterday.  I usually go, run in, get what we need and run out.  Well, yesterday we spent 2 1/2 hours wandering through.  It was time well spent, we got what we needed and a few 'extras'.  Believe it or not, there is a crafty reason I'm telling you about our Costco trip :) I have some new 'lighting' news to share. 

My studio is in our finished basement.  No natural light.  Several years ago, before I got back into scrapbooking and was cross stitching till my eyes crossed, my folks got me an Ott-light for Christmas one year.  I love the light it gives off.  Anyway, in my studio, I have three can lights in the ceiling and up until this point, I've been using your standard light bulbs.  Yep, the ones that kind of give off the yellow kind of hue.  Well, in our wandering at Costco, we found a 6 pack of the 'daylight' light bulbs (energy savers too).  Can I just tell you HOLY COW, what a difference?!  Even Glen was completely blown away by just the difference in lighting!  You know you're getting 'old' when you get excited about lightbulbs!  HA HA! :oD

I can't wait to get back into my studio tonight!!

Okay, now that I've blah blah blahed your ear off, I want to share with you a little quickie I put together last night for my nephew for Thanksgiving (with my new lights).  I love making cards for my nephew Colin.  From the stories I hear from his mom, he always gets a kick out of 'reading' them (he's 4).  Anyway, when I saw this Turkey on a Scooter, it seemed like a perfect 4 year old Turkey card!

I used the Scrap-Friendzy "Thanksgiving Recipe Challenge."  We had a list of items we could use and we had to pick 5.  I used:  Twine, Patterned Paper, Buttons, Embossing & Distressing.

 

Materials:

Papers:  Leaf print - Hobby Lobby, Brown, Rust & Green from my scrap stash

Image:  High Hopes Stamps (I stamped him and then enlarged him)

Technique:  Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Cuttlebug:  Argyle Embossing Folder

Miscellaneous:  Stickles - Diamond & Silver, Twine, Colorbox Olive Ink, Buttons from the button box

Thanks so much for stopping by and being patient with my yakkin' today!

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

The Good Friend Challenge Results

This week was the first week of our 'Good Friend Challenge' with my honorary sis Shelly and her mom Rhonda.

The challenge this week was to use the Pete the Scarecrow image (and any of his accessories) use the Magic Colored Pencil Technique, some type of embossing and at least 1 print and one plain paper.

So, here are this week's results.My 'Pete' Card above - I used some printed paper from my stash, D'Vine Swirls on the clouds and pop dots to pop up the sign, clouds & Pete.Here's Rhonda's cute Pete card - I LOVE how she used the Sunny flower as the sun! Great work Rhonda!! :)

And this fun little ditty is Shelly's. I absolutely love her sentiment inside - too cute Sis.
You can check out more of Shelly's creativity and this week's Good Friend Challenge on Monday on Shelly's blog here.
Hope you had a great weekend - we spent the day at a friends pool as the temperature was 93* with a heat index of 105* Guess summer's finally arrived. Here's hoping I don't have much of a sunburn.......
Happy Craftin'!
Min

A Weekly Challenge with A Good Friend

Wow, can you believe August is already here?? In Michigan, we're still waiting for Summer to arrive. Our high today was 78, tonight it's chilly, good sleeping weather however.
So, to kick off the first Monday of a new month, my friend Shelly and I decided it would be kind of fun to set up our own weekly challenge. We're both trying to increase our Cards in Stash while depleating the Paper in Stash - aren't we all now that CHA had introduced some amazing new products!!
So, each week for fun we're going to do this challenge, I've happily nicknamed The Good Friend Challenge. Shelly will pick one week, I'll pick the next. You're welcome to join in if you'd like. You don't necessarily have to use the image we're using, but we'd love to have you participate. The more the merrier! If you want to leave the link to your card in the comments, we'd love to see your creations!

This week is my week, so here goes -
Because I love to drop a quick card to family and friends on a regular basis, the theme this week is Thinking of You
- Dust off your colored pencils and let's put them to work!
We're going to use the Magic Colored Pencil Technique.
- Get out an image (Stamped or Digi) that's been collecting dust :o)
This week we're going to using 'Pumpkin Patch Pete' and some of his accessories from High Hopes Rubber Stamps.
- Use at least 2 different paper - 1 printed and 1 plain
- Use some type of embossing
The size of the card is up to you.
You can add anything else you'd like - So, how's that?! Inspiring? Too Challenging?
I can't wait to see what you create!
Happy Craftin'!
Min