Perfect Day

I love the new circle patterns in the Wishes Book. Truly, if you like to make cards, you'll want to take a look at this book! My east garden next to the woods is coming up so nicely. I thought I'd nestle the card in one of the plants for you, my friend!

• X7100B Perfect Day Level 2 (the Wishes book has a CD with templates for cutting these great circle cards!)
• Z2166 Tulip Stamp Pad
• C1361 Buttoned Together Stamp Set
• Z1155 Clear Buttons
• Z1081 Colonial White Waxy Flax
• Z1126 Colonial White Designer Ribbon
• X1405 Fancy Cut Botanicals
• Z1149 Dimensional Elements Perennials
• Z1118 Spring Blossom Mini Medleys (Tulip Photo Hanger)
• Other - Red Sparkle, Making Memories Red Pin

And Who Will America Choose?

If you open up my blog, you know I am a die-hard Adam Lambert fan on American Idol. Tonight's the finale! So who will America choose? What you don't know is that I have loved Kris all along the way, too. He just sings an entirely different kind of music than Adam, but I can surely see myself plugging in one of his CDs for some easy listening. Adam will surely get the votes from my phone tonight, though, for one main reason. He has maintained who he is and been true to himself all season long. I like that! Otherwise he'd have taken the black polish and eyeliner off weeks ago. ;) Gotta love that Kris wore black polish on one thumb in last week's show!! LOL! Oh, and I don't know if I've ever seen anyone on Idol hold a note and change the ranges like Adam can!

So what I am saying is that this an awesome finale to watch tonight! Have fun and don't forget to vote!

Book Review: Scandalous Grace

I have owned this book by Julie Ann Barnhill for several years. It's a wonderful book to pull off the shelf when you need to be reminded of real grace - scandalous grace - and in a most humorous, tearful, and enlightening way all at once!

First I'm going to tell you where I encountered Julie Ann Barnhill. When I was homeschooling Shane, I attended a conference in Rochester called Hearts at Home. She was a speaker at the conference - and oh, so funny! I fell in love with her mixture of faith, humor, and how we accept.

Scandalous and grace don't seem like two words that belong together, do they? Shocking grace is what we find in this book. What I like about this easy read is that it's written as if Julie is talking directly to us. She's in the fitting room with us feeling our insecurities. She's uncovered the moments of doubt. She's understood fear. In this book she made me laugh over stomachs (yes, stomachs!) and cry over unwavering forgiveness. This mixture of laughter and tears is a unique quality in all of her books.

In all of our situations and relationships, we hope for grace. Whether it is a spouse, a friend, a sibling, a parent, a co-worker - we pray for an unconditional response. It just doesn't always happen. But God's grace and God's grace working through us, well that's just scandalous. And that's the grace that helps build us up to what we should be in all His glory.

Excellent read - over and over.

New Color Me Monday Artwork

Jeanette Lynton's Color Me Monday color challenge is just great! I love that she opens up her palette and gives us new ideas every week. I may not even put these colors together! Now, if you haven't checked out her blog, go to www.jeanettelynton.com.

I really loved the picture of my sister with grandsons. The colors this week are Indian Corn Blue, White Daisy, Sorbet, and Taffy. I've used all CTMH on this layout:

• Indian Corn Blue Cardstock
• Sorbet Cardstock
• White Daisy Textured Cardstock
• Sorbet B & T
• Indian Corn Blue Ink
• Sorbet Marker
• Picture Perfect Word Puzzle Stamp Set
• Taffy Organdy (this has been discontinued)
• Sorbet Designer Ribbon
• White Daisy Bigger Brads
• Dimensional Elements Perennials
• Fancy Cuts Botanicals
• Window Charms - Circle & Square
• White Daisy Button
• Indian Corn Blue Waxy Flax

The lines you see along the edge of the Indian Corn Blue, Sorbet B & T, and Sorbet Cardstock were done with the Scor-Pal. I just love that tool in my craft room. It's fast and easy to use. You score on the backside, flip the paper over, and then you sand. Isn't that a nice, easy look? You can also achieve this by using your scoring blade in your cutter or your embossing stylus in your cutter.

I took a close-up of the three dimensional elements at the bottom because I wanted to share a little tip. When you are grouping three larger elements like this, try popping one of them up with foam squares or pop dots. It gives your layout a lot more character and draws a lot of interest to that spot.

This is the dimensional element at the top left corner. The dimensional element is flush to the page, and the fancy cut botanical is flush to the element. I popped up the round stamped image and then covered it with a circle charm. Fun!

I hope you enjoy these tips and ideas! They are little things that add much to your pages and cards. Hopefully you'll think of them as you're crafting and enjoy what you've learned here!!

A Very Sweet Glass of Lemonade - Thanks!!

I received my very first Blog Award today from my friend Karen (http://karenpedersen.blogspot.com). What a treat!!! Thanks so much, Karen - it was such an honor to receive this from such a rockstar!! How did you know that it's a gorgeous day in MN, and that I'd be wanting a glass of lemonade with my friends today? You are awesome!

Now I'm going to pass this award on to some of my blogging friends, too! Let me tell you about the award:

The Lemonade Stand Award:

• comment on this blog
• cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog
• nominate 5 to 10 blogs that show great attitude and gratitude
• link your nominees within your blog post
• comment on their blogs to let them know they received the award

Here's who I am awarding the Lemondade Stand Blog Award to!!

1. Vanessa's Creative Visions - Vanessa willingly shares her artwork and her life's goals in her posts. I love that about her!
2. ScrapCrazyDiva - Jaime's blog makes me happy. The music is great, the blog is laid out great - fun! Keep posting artwork, Jaime!!
3. Jessica's World - I love going here to laugh. Jessica always makes me laugh with stories about my grand-nephews!
4. The Stampin Palace - Karen's art is beyond compare. She is amazing and has taught me much over time. Karen was my very CTMH recruit, and I have always had a strong connection with her.
5. ScrappingWithTammy - Tammy is a really, really good artist. And she's a great family person. I like reading her blog.

You can hook up to their blogs on the right under Place I Like to Visit. You won't regret it!!

Thanks so much again, Karen!! I will think of you fondly when I look at my Lemonade Stand!!

Baking Oatmeal Cookies

With that huge amount of oatmeal I found last week, I decided that I need to put it to use in some cookies this morning. Shane came into the kitchen and said, WOW! You are baking from scratch?!" Does that give you an indication of how little I have done in the kitchen in the last few years. I was busy working my business, and I had to work more conveniently in the kitchen. I can already tell that my husband and son are greatly appreciated that my home cooking is coming back. Yesterday they loved my homemade spaghetti sauce over stuffed shells. I have a hunch that things like yummy oatmeal golden raisin cookies will stick around a lot longer now that I'm cooking better meals again!

Golden Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 c. oatmeal

1-1/2 c. flour

1 c. golden raisins

3/4 c. chopped pecans

Mix butter, sugars, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs until well blended. Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir in raisins and pecans. Drop by spoonfuls on baking sheet until lightly brown. Do not overbake!

This recipe make a quick on the go breakfast, too. Instead of the 1 c. of butter, use 1/2 c. of peanut butter and 1/2 cup of butter.

Happy Birthday Linda!!

Happy Birthday to my sister Linda! I love this picture of you and your grandboys, Linda! Look at their smiles and how happy they are to be with you!! I am quite certain that you had a wonderful early celebration with them this weekend!

Let me tell the rest of you about my sister Linda. There are 5 girls in our family, and she falls into head position (notice, I didn't say oldest!). When I was much younger, I resented how well Linda carried on this God-given position. I can tell you this because she knows there was a time I felt this way. However, as I've grown older, wiser, and God has literally beat me over the head with insight - LOL! - she was the right one. I hope that all of you that have older siblings come to respect and love them the way that I do Linda.

She has great faith, and I could ask her to pray for anything. Look at the way she loves her grandchildren! That is not a picture - that is the way she loves them - wholeheartedly. I take many things I see in her and hold them close for when I have the honor of becoming a grandparent. She is a supportive wife, mother, daughter, and sister - through all kinds of trials I have watched her put others before herself. And wow - can she craft - she can create anything from a sewing project to knitting to crocheting to paper crafting to beading to quilting.

So this is a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you Linda! Enjoy the rest of the week and treat yourself well!!

A Couple of Days of Lots of This and That

I haven't posted any artwork the past couple of days because something else caught my eye Thursday evening. I took note of just how disorganized I had let my kitchen become during the past few years. Oh my!! This is what happens when you are working!! I just don't wasn't paying attention to where I was putting things or even what I had on my pantry shelves.

My dear friend Karen motivated me with her goals. (Thanks, Karen - really!!) I am planning to have a garage sale this summer, but it's important for me to clean out the house first. After 20 years of being a family, we have accumulated! So I cleaned out those kitchen cupboards, and WOW! - I had Jerry take 9 large boxes to the garage! I finally cleaned out "Monica's closet" (and if you watched Friends, you know what this is). I am basically a pretty good housekeeper and my house is generally always clean. But I've got that one closet that you'd better not go into or something might fall out on to you! LOL! So my youngest sister Julie named it my "Monica's closet." And she loved that I had it.

I was able to stock of my pantry. Do you have any idea how much oatmeal one can accumulate if you are not paying attention? Co-op oatmeal, Quaker tubs, instant - oh my gosh! We can eat oatmeal every day for the next 6 months and not run out! I think I'll be making oatmeal cookies....

When I showed my husband the fruits of my labor, he was so pleased! That was well worth the day's work. The kitchen feels a little less burdened, a little lighter, and I'm much happier in there. It's a 1985 little kitchen, so anything I can do to make it better, makes life good!

Today, my mother in-law and I went to the Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo. We had a really good time walking around and looking at all the fun things and the card samples. One of my favorite booths was the company The Paper Cut. They had some of the best cards bases and designs. I also found some new Nestabilities at 20% off with a great demonstrator. LOVE them. They are easy to use and make beautiful cards. And of course, it was fun to run into Jillene at the CTMH booth. She had such a big, beautiful booth. I hope she has great success there this weekend!

So as I said, it's been a couple of days of this and that! Productive, fun, and I am definitely ready for a rest!!

Lacey - What a Pretty Girl!

This is my sweet niece Lacey. I love this picture of her, and as soon as I saw it I wanted to scrap it. She is as kind inside as she is pretty outside - I think that's one of Lacey's best qualities!

For this layout, I grabbed:

• My Mind's Eye Laundry Line sugar-coated paper
• Matching accessories to Laundry Line - chipboard element and rub-ons
• Tulip Mini Medleys
• Creme Brulee Designer Ribbon
• Circle Window Charm

Wishing You a Wonderful Day

This is a cute new card pattern from Wishes. It's a wonderful card size - 3x6. How easy to make these cards from a 12x12 sheet of paper! And to top it all off, you get 4 cards per sheet - that is really economical! This size card would make lovely invitations or thank you cards.

I've used some Sorbet paper from Perfect Day Level 2 (I think it still holds the honor of being my favorite paper packet!). The half circle is made from a little leftover piece of Desert Sand B & T from the Stardust packet. (By the way, there is a wonderful CD in the back of the book that holds all your templates. No more worrying!) I sponged the edges with ink, used a little Heavenly Blue Designer Ribbon for a nice touch. The stamp set is TLC. Such nice little sayings that fit just right in little places.

Still Thinking About Mother's Day...

I am still thinking about what a perfect day Mother's Day was for me this year. I am really so blessed to have such gracious and loving son. He has learned so much my dear husband along the way as he has those wonderful qualities that Jerry possesses.

Jerry was making my coffee (which for those of you that know me is gift enough for me!), and he asked me to come up to the kitchen. Shane works late in Uptown, and somewhere on the way home, he stopped and picked up this lovely plant and pastries for breakfast. What a lovely boy! Of course, if you know me REALLY well, you know that I would worry about how I could keep this plant alive! LOL! Jerry told me to care for it gently like I do my precious cat, Sassy, and it all work out all right. Now that's language I can understand!

Shane didn't have to work on Sunday, so we took advantage of having that time with him. We went down to Rosedale for lunch. Somewhere along the way, Shane found one of these lovely new hydrangeas for me. It is pink and blooms all summer. I can't remember what it is called as I am typing, but I am thrilled to have it! I will have to find a special spot for it!

We found out there is a new Brighton store in the Rosedale mall. Oh my goodness! There was a wonderful sale, so Jerry treated me to a new necklace, bracelet, and earrings. I think it's probably dangerous that there is a Brighton store so close, but at least both of my men were with me. They loved the store, and both of them know they will never go wrong at the Brighton store!!

But more than all the goodies and that I was spoiled, it was that all three of us were together. As Shane grows older, and now that he has a more demanding job, it's not always easy to find this kind of time. I absolutely loved going out to lunch as a family. I loved walking in the mall together. I loved in the same vehicle. If I could have, I would have frozen time, so that I could have kept us right there in that moment.

Part of being a mother is letting go, letting your children expand their own wings, and find their own way. Discipline is hard - but this is harder. I've found that replacing that feeling of letting go with pride for what Shane is doing is helping me make it through. When our little nest is empty of a child, I'll have an easier time making the transition.

I hope everyone had a beautiful, joyous Mother's Day!