2011 in Review

There are parts of 2011 that I don't wish to remember, but OWH wants us to show some of our favorite cards that we sent to our heroes in 2011. 

I must begin with this card from the OWH Design Seminar held in January on the Stars & Stripes blog.  This was a makeover to show ways to create a focal point on your cards.

 Next, I moved on to Father's Day.  I was learning to use digis from Stamper's Best.

After this, Sandy taught us a class on coloring digis with the cute little bunny.

After reading a tutorial on an OWH bloghop, I tried my hand at making a correspondence card.

OWH held a Virtual Cardmaking Day on Facebook, when I learned to make vest cards.

In March, OWH held another Design Seminar.  This one was where we learned to use Texture & Dimension on our cards.  Remember, this is when we first learned about Sandy's huge roll of foam mounting tape and we all bought them.  I still have lots on my big roll.

I remember how we all fell in love with the Ruffle cards and made lots of them.

Our next excitement came from the shirt and tie cards.

How can we forget the hamburger cards.  Lots of texture and dimension.

Remember all the pinwheel cards?

I really love the message conveyed to our heroes with the digis from Stamper's Best.

It appears that I have surpassed 10 cards, so it's time to move on.  I don't really want to remember the rest of they year any way.  If you would like to see all the other entries showing favorite cards from 2011, click HERE.

I'm rooting for a much better 2012.

Healing

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes.  I'm feeling stronger each day.  I'll see the doctor on January 2 to see how things are healing.  I know I'm feeling better and wish I could get out of the house.  I just can't drive yet and don't want to get dressed.  Robes are so comfy!

Home again

I had surgery on December 23 and returned home on the 24th.  It was a quiet Christmas, but it's good to be home.  I enjoyed some nice phone calls and plan to take it easy until I see the doctor on January 2.  Things are going well and I should be much stronger when all this heals.  Hoping for a better 2012.

Christmas cheer

Merry Christmas to all of you.  This is a little tree that was made for me about 15 years ago by my late sister-in-law.  It is made with a frame of clothes hangers, wrapped with a string of lights and green garland.  I added a few small ornaments to make it more festive.

I don't feel like celebrating too much this year, but needed a few decorations.

The satin balls were covered with needle tatting several years ago when I was teaching tatting classes.  The candle was made by my granddaughter a few years ago.  These bring back happy memories.

I made these trees with beads many years ago.  They are sitting on battery operated tea lights.

Tomorrow morning, I will be in surgery and will report back after I return from the hospital.  It will probably be after Christmas before I feel up to posting.

Happy Holidays to all of you.







Merry Christmas!

With this card, I think I will give up on making Christmas cards this year.  The creativity just isn't in me.  I finally unpacked some ink and embossing powder to add some gold to the card.  I just wasn't pleased with my first 2 attempts.  This set of stamps is by Inkadinkadoo.

Since I will be preparing to have surgery next week, I need to get a few things ready so I won't have to do them while recovering from surgery over the holidays.  As a good friend said, "This will be a distraction from the first Christmas without my dear husband."  I do miss him a lot all the time.

Keeping in touch

For those of you who are wondering what's going on with me, things are changing.  I have accepted an offer to sell the house, but it still has to be approved by the bank.  This may take a couple of months.

While I am waiting for the time to move to a new home, I'll be recovering from surgery.  My surgery is scheduled for December 23, so it will be a quiet Christmas around here.

Looking for mojo

After getting the news that there is an offer on my house, I became a bit happier.  I'm trying to get enough mojo to create a few Christmas cards.  Here's my first & second attempts.

1st card

2nd card

Happy Birthday, Dick!

This is one of my favorite photos of my late husband, Dick.  We were trying to get a good four generation photo and the dog wanted to be included.  His granddaughter is holding his hand and restraining the dog.  Dick's daughter is holding her granddaughter.  Lots of curiousity shows in both the dog and baby.  This was taken in May of this year.

Today would have been Dick's 78th birthday.  I miss him so much.  He was my Forever Friend.

Happy Birthday, Dick!

Work ahead

I mailed a box of cards to my OWH shipper yesterday and now have another job to do.  It was 23° here this morning and that wiped out the yard.  My flowers are frozen and leaves came off the trees and cover the lawn.  Looks like some yard work today, after the sun warms it up a bit.

View from patio

Tree nearly bare

Love card

This card is for OWH Archway cookie challenge.  It's very pretty, but hard to photograph.  A scan shows no refection from the gold.  It just looks black.  Here's 2 photos:

I took a lot more photos, but most of them had awful reflections.  This punched square was laying on my desk from a previous session.  I think it was made with a Martha Steward punch around the page set.  Now, I know why I didn't use it before.  That color just wouldn't go with any of my papers.

I found this alcohol ink background that was made ages ago. and the colors went pretty good together.  I used gold stickers for heart and sentiment, then backed the punched shape with glossy gold cardstock and made a framing layer with the same glossy gold.  It's all attached to a white card base.

More Valentines

It's a challenge to make cards after I've packed up a lot of my craft room, but I managed to get a couple more made today for the OWH cookie challenge.

The red, white and gold card has gold Brilliance ink on the swirls of the Cuttlebug embossing folder. The rest are stickers.

The pink card is made with stickers, embossing folder and Love rubber stamp from All Night Media. 

OWH Archway cookie challenge

I watched the OWHtv show last night and got motivated to make Valentines for the troops to send home.  It may take me a few to get the quality back, but this is my first card in months.

I attached heart stickers to the paper, then embossed it with a hearts embossing folder by Cuttlebug.  The sentiment is a rubber stamp by All Night Media.

This card will go to Operation Write Home for the Archway cookie challenge.  The deadline is December 10, so I must hurry and make a few more cards, so I can get them in the mail by Monday.

Ignoring holidays

Holidays are difficult after the loss of a loved one.  I tried to ignore this one by packing up my craft room.  I removed all shelving from walls and packed the contents in boxes.

Shade trees are wonderful in the summer, but they can create a lot of work in the fall.  I can't seem to keep up with the falling leaves.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I received this adorable turkey card from a cyberfriend from OWH, Dixie.  It was so thoughtful and had a wonderful personal message inside.

I'm so thankful for all of my internet friends and my family and personal friends.  I'm also very thankful to have good neighbors.  The neighbors who live behind me did a wonderful thing today.  They repaired the fence that has needed it for a while.  Now, we have no worries about it blowing down in the next storm.  They are so kind and thoughtful.

I'm also very thankful that they chose to plant that beautiful tree right next to my fence.  It has beautiful flowers in the spring and lovely colorful leaves in the fall.

This is the time of year that we think about all the things we are thankful for.  I hope you all take the time to reflect on the things that mean so much to us. 

I am very thankful for our heroes that serve our country in the military.  They make it possible for all of us to be thankful for our freedom.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you friends

I know my blog readers would love to see some cards for a change.  I still haven't been able to make my own, so I'll post some that I have received.  My birthday was 2 days ago and I got some lovely cards from my card making friends.  Enjoy:

Dorveda

Jodi

Pat F.

Wanda

Lisa H.



Karen L.

Now, last but certainly not least.  I received a beautiful calligraphy card from Joyce, across the Pond. 



Inside of card

Bookmark insert

Home for sale

Things are progressing in my life.  My health is improving since I'm not working quite as hard.  I needed a break from that hectic schedule while preparing my home for sale.  I have lots more to do and won't be able to move until someone buys this place.  To look at a movie version of the listing for this home, CLICK HERE

Here is a photo I took from the front yard in February of this year.  There is a park at the end of the street with pretty mountains behind them.  There isn't snow on them now, but will be this winter.  This is closest we get to snow, a view on the mountains.

Official listing

One more step forward.  The house is listed for sale on the Internet.  Now, I relaxing a bit to get my body and mind refreshed for whatever the future brings for me.  I'm working on getting my health problems stabilized.

This is a great place to sit in the shade and watch the leaves turn.

I'm hoping to get back to making a few cards soon.  I still have a box of them made for Operation Write Home and just need to write on the Any Hero cards and get them in the mail to my shipper.

House for sale

The For Sale sign went up in front of my house this afternoon.

House for sale

Craft room window from outside

Shaded craft room window

Pretty little palm tree

The sun finally hit the front of the house, so I took some photos.  Now, I just need to wait for a buyer to come along and fall in love, like I did 5 years ago.