ICSketch #44

My granddaughter, Sarabeth, had a birthday this week. I can't believe she is six years old!!! I used Dawn's sketch (Inspirational Card Sketches) to make her birthday card. Minnie Mouse was cut on the Cricut using the Mickey and Friends cartridge.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

Happy Thanksgiving

May the bounty of the season fill your heart and your home.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

ICSketch #42

I needed a birthday card for a young man in my office who will be 39 tomorrow and decided to use Dawn's ICSketch #42 to make the card.

I know I have been MIA from blogging recently. I went back to work on November 2nd and that was an exhausting week for me. Then last Monday my dear mother-in-law passed away and her funeral was on Wednesday. There was a lot of family in town for her funeral and needless to say, it was another exhausting week.

And according to my doctor, my lack of interest lately in cardmaking, machine embroidery, sewing, and blogging (all things that I love to do) is a natural part of the depression that I am expierencing after my heart attack. He says it will take me at least three months to work through it. So please bear with me and my erractic postings.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

Goodbye to Mollie

Today we will lay my dear mother-in-law Mollie to rest beside her beloved Don. She gave up the hard fight early Monday morning and is at peace now.

My sister-in-law expressed it beautifully. She said she could picture her Daddy waiting there, holding out his hand for Mollie so they could go dancing.

Mollie on Valentine's Day, 2009

Judy

Tiger Girl

I have finished Addie's tiger costume for Halloween. She will wear a long sleeve shirt under the sleeveless top -- she says she is wearing an orange top. Robin found a cute headband and tail set to complete the outfit.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Autumn Splendor and Happy Chanukah

Nina has another wonderful free image this week at There's Magic In The Air and I used it to make a Thanksgiving card. I colored the image using Copics and Sharpies and added just a little bling to the flowers with Stickles.

The Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Scrapbooks Etc has a Chanukah card that I just had to copy. The candles in the menorah are scraps of ribbon. I cut small hearts on the Cricut for the flames and glittered them with stickles, then added a couple of really neat Star of David brads.

I received a desperate phone call from my daughter Robin last night. Could I make a Tiger costume for Addie for Halloween? They were at the store and had found some material. Naturally, Nanny said "Yes, of course I will make her a costume." Robin dropped the material off this morning on her way to work and that's what I will be working on today.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

IC Sketches #40

I needed to make a birthday card today for the manager of our Little Rock production office. He will be 60 on Friday and since I won't be back to work until next week, I need to get it in the mail. Dawn's sketch today worked out just perfect for his card. You can see her sketch here. The patterned paper came from a K & Company Carolyn Gavin designer paper pad and I did the sentiment on the computer.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Happy Mail

I was so pleasantly surprised with some happy mail from my friend Carol, ScrapMomof2. Carol, you really made my day shine on what had been a rather bleak day. Here is what she sent me.

Yesterday was a teacher workday at Addison and Sarabeth's school so the girls spent the day with Ronny and me. We had lots of fun and some rousing games of tic tak toe. Here's a picture I managed to get of them.

I have finished one Christmas tote made with quilt blocks pieced together and am working on a second one.

The doctor has released me to go back to work next Monday, Nov. 2nd.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

ICSketches #38

My creativity mojo has up and left me this past week. I just haven't been able to settle down and get much done. I did manage to finally finish a card using Dawn's sketch #38 at Inspirational Card Sketches. I used paper from a Recollections Autum designer mat stack, primas, brads and buttons.

I also embroidered a couple of shirts for Addie and Sarabeth but didn't get pics of them before I gave them to the girls.

This morning I have been sitting in my craft room looking at the mess that seems to have taken over. I'm going to have to take some time to sort and organize (especially my fabric). I've got several projects in mind that I would like to work on while I am off work so I need to get myself organized and motivated.

I am feeling pretty good...just need to work on getting my strength back.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Magical Monday, Sketch Girl, 2S4U, & ICSketches

Again, thank you all so much for your well wishes. I am feeling good but find I tire easily and get a little depressed at times. I have spent some time in my craft room the past couple of days and made some cards for challenges.

Nina has come up with another adorable freebie digital image this week at There's Magic In The Air. This one is titled Mouse Candy and I fell in love with it when I saw it. The challenge this week is to make a card using the image and the colors black, orange, and a third color of your choice. I decided combine two sketches into one card and used the Sketch Girl sketch #6 for the layout of the card.

This is a card that I made using Laura's sketch 36 at 2 Sketches 4 You. This was a very easy card to make. I used scraps from a DCWV All That Glitters paper pad and added a flower stack and some gems.

This last card was made using this week's Inspirational Card Sketch. Once again, this was an easy card to make and places emphasis of the selection of paper.

For a change in pace, I am going to try to get some machine embroidery done today. I'll see what I have in my stash to work on.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

Thank You for Your Prayers

Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes. It has meant so much to me to know that I have such wonderful friends who were pulling for me while I was undergoing a very scary medical event.

As Robin told you, I started experiencing chest pains while I was getting ready for work Wednesday morning. In a matter of minutes the pain kept intensifying. I woke Ronny up and told him I was having chest pains and asked him to call 911. You have to understand that, for me to do that, the pain was really bad and I was really scared. The fire department was the first to arrive and that was probably within 40 minutes of when I first started having pains. Then the EMT's arrived, started working on me, and transported me to the hospital.

According to my doctor, I had a massive heart attack which on the scale used to measure severity peaked at 64. Anything over 50 is considered massive. The good news is that it peaked at only 64, he was expecting it to peak at about 90. By mid morning he had me on the way to the Cath Lab and did a heart catherization which showed 100% blockage in an artery. While he had me on the table he put in a stent. Once that was in place, the pain finally went away.

I came home from the hospital yesterday and it was so good to be back home. I am slowly moving around the house as I feel like it but also taking it very easy.

The ultra sound showed that my heart is weaker than the doctor thought it would be so I need your continued prayers that medication and life changes strengthened it. And I do have some major life changes to make with diet and exercise. I will start cardiac rehab in a couple of weeks.

So for now, I am looking for appetizing low sodium, low cholesteral recipes, making grocery lists for Ronny, taking short walks throughout the house, and waiting for my concentration to return full force so I can sit in my craft room and make cards. I am blessed that I have a lot of extended leave time accrued at work so I don't have to worry about a paycheck while I recuperate.

God bless each and every one of you. And thank you for your continued prayers.

Love,
Judy

Update on Mom

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. We greatly appreciate everyone of them. Mom is doing well. She gets to come home tomorrow. I know she is ready to get out of the hospital. I am sure she will update when she feels like it. Again, thank you for all of your prayers!--robin

Prayers for Judy

Hi, this is Robin aka robindiane, Judy's daughter. Mom had a massive heart attack this morning. She was having chest pains while she was getting ready for work. She woke up my dad and had him call 911. Fortunately, she did not wait any longer than she did. She had 100% blockage in one of her arteries. The doctor was able to put in a stent. She is in CCU but she is responding well. Hopefully, she will be moved to a regular room tomorrow. I will keep you updated. Please say an extra prayer for Judy!

Dancing Hearts

Today's Magical Monday free image at There's Magic In The Air is called Dancing Hearts and the challenge is to make it sparkle. When I saw the image I immediately thought of an anniversary card. I knew I didn't want a red and white Valentine color scheme so started looking through my stash for something different and a little offbeat. I found some stripe paper that I liked and solid cardstock to go with it. This then gave me my color scheme for the image which I colored with colored pencils. Since the challenge was to make it sparkle, I went over portions of the image with stickles. The sentiment was cut on the Cricut using the Stamping cartridge. I added some more sparkle with gems and one flower stack. And here you have the results which can be used for an anniversary or even a non-traditional Valentine's card.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

BBTB Blog Hop

I have the day off today and what better way to spend some of my down time than taking part in the Bitten By the Bug blog hop. I must admit that this is the first time I have ever done a blog hop and what fun it has been. So everyone, hop on over to Bitten By the Bug and see what the DT has done. Go visit their blogs -- they all have some wonderful blog candy up for grabs.

How do you like my Halloween look? My daughter Robin did it for me.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

Friday Sketchers #71 and More

I challenged myself this week to use at least two cuts from my Cricut on each card that I made. I decided that this is the only way that I am really going to become more comfortable using it.

Jeanette is the host this week at Friday Sketchers and she has a really wonderful sketch. The DT has some really wonderful cards that you need to check out. I decided to make a Christmas card using the sketch. For my image, I used the gingerbread man on the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I gave him a red bow tie and used red mini brads for his buttons. The sentiment was cut from the Beyond Birthdays cartridge. The patterned paper is from a Provo Craft pad.

I made this card for a cousin's birthday next week. The paper is from a K & Company Que Sera Sera pad. The butterfly was cut from the Stamping cartridge as was the sentiment. I cut the butterfly out of solid color paper and then cut a shadow out of patterned paper. Gems were placed down the back. I used stickles on the wings to give a little glitter and then did some distressing with Tea Dye distress ink after the stickles had dried. Ribbon and flowers were added.

This card was also made using paper from the K & Company Que Sera Sera pad and the Stamping cartridge. This is quickly becoming my favorite cartridge. I used the butterfly cut again adding gems to the back and mounted it on the card with small foam dots. The sentiment is also on the Stamping cartridge.

I couldn't get a very good pic of this last card. It looks much better than the pic shows. The frame was cut using Accent Essentials, the sentiment is on the Stamping cartridge as are the small butterflies. I lifted an idea from my friend Carole for the flower. I cut several flowers which are on the Walk in My Garden cartridge increasing the size 1/2 inch for each cut. I then embossed the flowers with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. We finally have some sunshine so it should be a great weekend.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

ICSketch #35 and BBTB

As always, Dawn has come up with another great sketch this week for the Inspirational Card Sketches challenge. I decided to combine her challenge with the dragonfly challenge at Bitten by the Bug. The challenge calls for using the dragonfly cut from the Camp Out cartridge and the wings have to be polka dot. Well, I had to fudge a little bit 'cause I don't have this cartridge. But there is a dragonfly on the Doodlecharms cartridge. Granted the dragonfly is shaped a little differently from the one on the Camp Out cartridge but I think it adds a nice touch to my card. Here is the finished project.

One of my friends at work has a birthday next week and I plan to give this card to her.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Magical Monday - Eldon with Flower

Nina has done it again with another cute free image at There's Magic in the Air just waiting for you to snag. This image called Eldon with Flower is an adorable caterpillar perched on an overturned flower pot. For my card using Eldon, I colored him using colored pencils and lightly went over some of the coloring with blue stickles so give him a little umph. The plaid paper is from a big box of K & Company paper that I got on ebay. Pop on over here and see the wonderful cards that the design team made using Eldon.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Another BBTB Contest Card

Here is my second card that I have made for the great contest at Bitten by the Bug. As I told you in yesterday's post, there is a great contest where you use a vintage image from Peggy Loves Vintage along with at least one cut from any of the Cricut cartridges. For this card, I cut a frame for the image using the Accents Essential Cartridge and then embossed it using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I cut the sentiment using Beyond Birthdays cartridge. I love Peggy's vintage images...they are so sweet.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Friday Sketchers #70

It seems like I have been on a card making frenzy this weekend. The arthritis in knees and hip has really been acting up with the low pressure and damp weather that has been sitting on top of us for days so I have spent most of my time staying off my feet. And what better way to do that than crafting. I even took the time to get my flowers, brads, and buttons organized.

My Cricut jukebox that I ordered came Friday and oh wow, I love it. It makes using the Cricut so much more convenient. I have probably used the Cricut more these past two days than I have in the last six months.

Friday Sketchers has a great sketch this week by Jacque. I used it to make two Halloween cards. On this first card, the ghost was cut using the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge and I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut the oval. The ribbon is some that I got last year at Hancock Fabrics. Flowers, brads, and gems completed the embellisments.

For the second card, I flipped the sketch and once again used the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge to cut the fence and black cat. I added some Halloween ribbon from Hancock Fabrics, flowers, brads, and gems.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

BBTB Contest

OMG.......you have to check out the latest Bitten by the Bug contest sponsored by Peggy Loves Vintage. Create a project of your choice using one of four adorable vintage images provided and use at least one Cricut cut from any of the many cartridges. Two lucky winners will get to choose three sets from Peggy's two Etsy shops. You can submit two projects. I have finished my first card for the contest.

I cut the frame for the image using the Accents Essential cartridge and also cut a swirl using the same cartridge. I inked edges, added gems and Primas. Isn't she a sweet little angel?

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

ICSketches #34 and Just Christmas & Birthday #45

I got a new Cricut cartridge today, Stamping, and decided to use it for this weeks Inspirational Card Sketch. The owl and the sentiment were cut using the cartridge.

Here is the card that I made using this week's Just Christmas and Birthday Cards sketch #45.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Friday Sketchers 69

I decided to do another Halloween card this afternoon and created this one using this week's sketch from Friday Sketchers.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

2 Sketches 4 You Sketch #34

It's been a long time since I took part in the sketch challenges at 2 Sketches 4 You and I decided to use Laura's sketch #34 to make my first Halloween card of the season. The paper came from my stash and I used a K & Company demensional sticker of a witch. The spider and lettering were cut on the Cricut.

I also made a card using Latisha's bonus sketch. I used paper from a K & Company Marcella pad. The image was stamped using a stamp from Hot Off the Press Vintage Ladies set. I colored her with Copics and then used pink stickles very lightly over her dress for a little sparkle. Then carefully cut her out and mounted her. I think she is just marvelous.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Sketch Girl #4

I put together this card this evening using sketch #4 from Sketch Girl using paper from a DCWV All Dressed Up paper stack. I added a flower stack fastened with a brad. A very simple, quick to assemble card.

I spent all day in the truck today riding along with hubby. We headed out up I-40 about 8:00 this morning and stopped at the Hanes Brand plant in Clarksville to shop in the employee store. Found a few good bargains there. From there we cut over to Greenwood where he conducted a foreclosure sale at the courthouse at noon. When we left Greenwood, we headed to Van Buren so he could announce a postponement of a foreclosure sale scheduled at 1:15.

We found a scrapbook store in Van Buren just down the street from the courthouse and stopped to browse before heading back home. I picked up a few things there. Got back home about 4:00 and was very glad to get out of the truck.

Tomorrow afternoon we are going to an ice cream social honoring grandparents at Sarabeth and Addison's school.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

ICSketch #33 & Magic in the Air

Nina has another adorable freebie image for you to snag this week at There's Magic in the Air. Her challenge is to make a card using the image on a sketch she has provided. Here is my take on the sketch.

As always, Dawn at Inspirational Card Sketches has another wonderful sketch this week. I used one of Nina's free images from a couple of weeks ago on this card.

And lastly, my son-in-law Danny has a birthday Friday. Here is the card that I made for him. And yes, I used another of Nina's freebie images from August on this card.

As you can tell, I have played catch up this week using Nina's freebies that I didn't have time to use during the week that they were posted. I must say I am getting more comfortable with coloring images. I have found if I use several different coloring techniques on one image -- copics, brush tip markers, ink, stickles, etc --that I wind up with a finished product that I am much happier with.

I am taking vacation days this week. I spent Monday and Tuesday trying to play catch up on some things in the house. I'm not worth very much today...feeling the effects of too much work for this old body along with bad allergy problems. I am going to ride along with hubby tomorrow when he heads to Northwest Arkansas to hold some foreclosure sales. We plan to stop in Clarksville at the Hanes Brands plant so I can shop at the employee store which is open to the public. You can get some really good deals there.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

ICSketch #32 and There's Magic in the Air

Oh my gosh, it seems like forever since I have done a card challenge. Sewing projects have kept me busy and you can check my last post to see the latest one.

This week I have combined two challenges to make a card. I used Dawn's wonderful Inspirational Card Sketch #32 to use There's Magic in the Air adorable free digital image of Gigi. The challenge is to use Gigi on the card and also do some paper piecing.

I printed the image out twice and colored the first printout using Copics and dual brush pens. Then I colored the umbrella on the second printout, cut it out and mounted it on top of the first umbrella using foam dots. I used a foam makeup pad to spread blue ink for the water and then went over it lightly with blue Stickles. I very lightly chalked with blue for the sky. Overall, I am pleased with the way it turned out.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Cheerleading Uniforms

I haven't had time the past week or so to be creative with card making. All of my spare time has been spent working on cheerleading uniforms for my five year old granddaughter Sarabeth and her friend Kelly. Both of the girls are taking cheerleading and are "mascots" for a cheerleading squad that cheers for one of the Future Panthers league teams in their town of Benton. This league is made up of 4th through 7th graders. Anyway the moms didn't really want to spend $125 on a uniform for a kindergartener so Joy asked me if I would make Sarabeth and Kelly's uniforms.

This turned into quite a project trying to get them to match as closely as possible the big girls uniforms. Now you know that I like to sew for fun but at some point working on these uniforms ceased to be fun. I think it was when I had to rip a zipper out because I had stitched it too close and it wouldn't open. These old eyes had a terrible time seeing the navy stitches on the navy material.

We took the uniforms to Joy this afternoon and I got a pic of Sarabeth in her uniform.

I was so happy that my new embroidery lettering software has some sports fonts and I was able to copy the style of lettering that the big girls uniforms have on them. I used ribbon to mimic the tri color braiding on the skirt and the top yolk.

I am so glad that this project is finished.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

First Day in Kindergarten

Ya'll pop on over to my daughter Robin's blog and check out her wonderful post on my granddaughter Addison's first day at Kindergarten. She has posted some wonderful pics.
You can view it here.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

IC Sketch #29, Birthday Sewing, & Magical Monday

Our little great-niece Raegan turns two years old this week and her birthday party is Saturday. I knew that I wanted to use Minnie Mouse on her card so I used the Cricut Mickey & Friends cartridge and cut and assembled her and also selected some paper that I wanted to use with her. I then decided to wait for this week's Inspirational Card Sketch to see if it would work for Raegan's card using Minnie. The sketch is perfect and here is my card.

Now for the reason that I wanted to use Minnie Mouse on the card. My new embroidery machine is a Disney machine so I have all these wonderful Disney designs to use. For her birthday present, I made Raegan a denim jumper and embroidered Minnie Mouse on it. I added ribbon trim and decorative stitching at the hem line. I also made her a matching hair bow. I 'm not sure she has enough hair yet for a bow but we will see.

While rummaging through my stash of sewing things, I found that I still had a child's pink ball cap. I embroidered Raegan's name on it and added a bow and some hot fix crystals to give it a little bling.

You need to check out this week's Magical Monday at There's Magic in the Air. Nina has another free digital image that you can snag. The challenge this week is to made a card using the image and a sketch that she has provided. Here is my take on the sketch.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Another Orson with Cake Card

I love this printable stamp from There's Magic In The Air so much that I just had to make another card using it. I used a totally different color combo for this card and I think it really changed up the look. Check out my zig zag stitching -- it is straight!!!!! My new Duetta 4500D is fabulous stitching on paper. I even sewed the buttons on using it.

I am going to give this card to one of my co-workers who has a birthday next week. Here is the sentiment that I did on the computer for the inside of the card.

Time is running out for you to snag this adorable printable stamp freebie. So you need to pop on over here to get it while the getting is good. I can't wait to see what Nina will be offering on the next Magical Monday.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

ICSketch #28 and Sketch Girl #2

Dawn's challenge this week at Inspirational Card Sketches was to make a Christmas card using her sketch. I rummaged around and found a me & my Big ideas pad of Christmas paper left over from last year and used paper from the pad for my card. I stamped and colored a couple of Christmas trees using a stamp from a Paper Studio set of Christmas stamps. I then added a couple of gems and used some Stickles.

This next card was done using sketch #2 at Sketch Girl. I love the black, white and red color combo -- I think it looks very elegant. The black and white paper is from the DCWV The All Dressed Up stack. I then used the Accents Essential cartridge to cut the black and red flourish and background for it. A red flower stack finished it off.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Orson with Cake

My blogging friend Curt, Curt's World, has been selected to be on the design team for a new card challenge site. This is a well deserved honor as Curt's talent and creativity is truly amazing. This new blog is There's Magic in the Air. This week there is an adorable free printable stamp called Orson with Cake. The challenge is to create a card using the printable stamp with a theme of "celebrate". Here is my card which really was a challenge for me to create.

As I said, this card was quite a challenge for me. I rarely use colored images on cards as this is way outside my comfort zone. It took me 3 tries to come up with one that I would use. First, I tried using colored pencils and did not like the way it looked at all. Then I used Copics. I liked the look but had difficulty staying within the lines so it was very messy looking. Finally on the third try, I had a colored image using Copics that didn't embarrass me. I then gave the icing and flame a little punch with Stickles. The wonderful Celebrate stamp is by That's Jazzy Stamp Dreams.

I hear thunder rumbling outside so I guess we're in for more rain today. According to the weather on TV, we must have had some storms during the night. Thankfully, I slept through it.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Mickey Tote and Monogramed Towels

I finished the Mickey Mouse tote this morning. As I said in an earlier post, my daughter, Robin, laid claim to this tote bag when she saw the embroidery work finished earlier in the week. I think he turned out cute.

I also monogramed a set of towels today. My hubby went through the fonts on my new embroidery lettering software and picked out this font to use on the towels. He also selected the thread to use.

My new super duper machine.

The finished product.

I've still got lots of sewing projects to work on. I spent my lunch hour yesterday at Hancocks with my daughter Joy. She got material for several projects for Mom to do -- mini flags, cheerleading costume for Sarabeth, tote bags, etc. Plus, I have some that I want to do for myself.

But, I think I'll do a couple of card challenges before I do any more sewing/embroidery.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy