Let it Rain .... somewhere else! :(

Hee hee!  

Hi everybody!

I was able to get a few cards in this weekend 

and color up a TON of images, yet to be made into cards!

But it was productive, inky time and that's always fun!

Rain, alas, is not!

Now I do LOVE rainy days -  if I'm home!

or hiking through a trail with a light drizzle ♥

But since I spend my days on the road, 

rain is a disaster here in South Florida and, quite frankly,

terrifies me to drive in!

 

As you probably know, Splitcoaststampers is having a HYCCT

(hope you can cling to) card drive for the month of October,

benefiting many organizations

 and bringing awareness to needs of the community.

I've done 3/5 challenges thus far and this one was the first card.

The challenge is ......

So my challenge to you is to make a card representing your LEAST favorite weather condition.

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not. ~Anonymous British poet

My card submission ~

Since I went with a Bugaboo digital stamp,

I went ahead and followed their sketch challenge for this week

and will enter this in their challenge.

I'll also enter this to:  Crafting from the Heart - AG
Fantastic Tuesday - 2 Patterned Papers
Path of Positivity - Resilient (trust God!)

Whatever you may be weathering, know that there are brighter days ahead.

And remember to

Trust God through the storms ♥

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Monday morning 'brews' .......

Hee hee!

 

I've got the Monday morning brews - I mean, blues!

It's Spring Break here and ours started out with the flu!

Our son came home Friday with a fever & flu like symptoms,

just to go downhill from there and struggling with this whopper of a flu -

going on day 3 :(

Poor little boy is positively miserable and

we're praying we don't start dropping like dominos,

especially our daughter who is immune compromised :(

 

Needless to say,

I've been barely sleeping and being nurse to this poor little one,

lots of TLC for him,

lots of coffee for me!
Our oldest daughter has driven to Starbucks twice this weekend

just for me - she absolutely can't stand the smell/taste of coffee

so the fact that she did that, for lil 'ol me, well it just means the world to me ♥

 

 

How 'bout this fun image !

I wish I had a S'bux the size of this cup!
Ohhhh I'd be so happy ♥

It's actually my card submission for the Mystery Image swap by Imke

on SCS ~ Jo was our hostess this month! I found these super fun

papers in my stash pile and just built a card around them.

I also decorated the inside of the card panel with this

sentiment ~ such true words!

 

 

I hope your weekend was wonderful

and Spring/sunshine has started to show it's lovely self,

wherever you may be in the world!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

2013 - Card Year in Review!

 Farewell, 2013!

This is such a fun post every year, one that I really adore!

For my 2013 cards Year in Review,

 I'm doing it a little bit different than previous years ...

 rather than pick a 'favorite' card from each month,

I thought I'd reflect on crafting goals that I met, adventures I took,

sidesteps that didn't go quite as planned, friendships made and sustained :)

In all - many blessings!

January

 I began the year with a mantra to use my un-inked SU! stamps

and my crafting goal was to try new techniques.  I succeeded with both!

While I didn't use all of them, I sure put a dent in my unused/unloved SU stamps!  And tried new things.

Like this one. 

 I dusted off my aqua painter and my water color crayons!

February

For 3 wonderful months,

I was a guest designer for Bugaboo stamps ~ total fun!

March

I got lucky in March!

Okay ... um .... let me rephrase!  :D

I'm lucky that I have a great group of friends for the Dueling Darlings group,

 a group I dreamed up years ago and here we are - still dueling!
This card was created from a kit from sweet Kadie!

 

April

 This card was created from the generosity of a special friend

who sent me this fabulous birthday stamp! Thank you!!

She's also in one of my other fun card groups - The Calendar Girls.

  Hi!  I'm Miss February! ::: waving :::

Thankfully, there is NO swimsuit competetion ...

Just sayin'!

May

 My firstborn daughter graduated High School and 

jumped right in and started college in the summer term!  

So proud of her!

 

 June

I tried my hand at continuing my year of simplifiying ~

I drooled over a dahlia stamp in the SU! catty but couldn't afford to buy it 

at the time and found a digi stamp that was almost spot on for $2!

What a bah-gain!

AND this turned out to be my favorite card of the year :)

Who knew!

 

July

 The kids are officially out of school ~  I love having my babies home! :)

There is such great joy in having them close by and

 doing all the silly, fun, happy things kids do -  and they sometimes join in! :P

 

 August

Another fun card for a special group I'm in - the Stamp Addicts!

What a special, wonderful group of ladies - welcoming right from the start

and throwing down a guantlet of challenges. This one was probably my 2nd

favorite card of the year - the spotlight technique :)

 

 September

The Crafters of Faith, another wonderful group of faith-filled women, and 

another group I dreamed up after I had one night after a long night of prayer

and particularly grueling bible study I could not grasp.

I think God truly whispered in my ear "Try, try again .."

We had a free month to create an Anything Goes card :)

 October

 Spooktacular greetings brought to you by Riley - 

my favorite Moose EVER!!!

He just could not be any cuter!

I'm SUPER blessed to be on this DT :) 

 November

Earlier in the year, my dh rec'd a beatiful box of fruit from one of his Dr. colleagues.  When it arrived, all my crafty eyes did was

zero in on the gorgeous box!  The kids had yummy pears and plum and more, but what did my crafty self see?  The fuax stamped images on the box :)

Here is one small piece I saved .... and a lovely card it made!

Tis the season to be grateful after all.

December

Alas, due one super crazy life, my laptop dying and virtually

zero access to the internet/blogging, my December craft life

was pretty dismal! 3 cards people.  3!

In.  one.  month.

  Here's to a better next year!

However, one of the cards that culminates how the year was overall,

and the future ahead, was this one.  Amen!

Blessings and CHEERS to 2014!!

Thanks for your visit today

and I look forward to another year of crafty, friendship goodness

in the year ahead.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

I'll link this to Just Add Ink link up
and Debby's ( Scrapjourney's)  Favourite Five here!

It's a Friday Funny! :)

TGIF indeed! 

  Growing up in the military, this holiday always stands out special in my heart.  My dad retired after 25 years of active duty service and my brother is still serving :)  I spend quiet moments thanking all of our soldiers for their galiant and brave services to our country, and I'll be spending a sad moment visiting the military cemetery where dad is buried.  

To all the soldiers and families in the military, I salute you!

Now back to enjoying Friday, how about a Friday Funny!

I just love Stella from Bugaboo - she is so sassy!

Barb, who is mentioned on my blog often ::: Hi Barb! :::

is the hostess this month of the SOTC {that's the 

Sistehood of the Traveling Cards} card group, created over at SCS.

She just celebrated her bday in October + gave us this wickedly funny theme:

For September and October--due on Halloween, October 31st--we are not making Halloween or Fall Cards this year--but birthday cards! YUP--my birthday is in October and it is a pretty big one this year. So--I am asking everyone to make a humorous birthday card for the swap. It can have some of those comical "older images" or a funny saying-image or you can use some hilarious background paper--you get the idea. Funny, sarcastic, witty, anything that makes you laugh out loud when you see it! 
We all have friends and/or relatives who appreciate a card that makes them belly laugh when they see the card or read what is inside. Bring on the laughs and maybe tears if laughing too hard--let's Celebrate With Laughter!
I grabbed my Stella birthday image and got to work!

 Inside of the card sentiment!  LOL!  It's from Bugaboo w/ this image :)

I went with a red, white and blue theme in honor of Veteran's Day and Barb's

annual Red, white and blue swap that she holds - woot!

The inside is plainer than I would have liked but I was already 

behind in getting this in the mail and didn't have time to get fussy

with it - hopefully the swappers will forgive me this time - eeek!

Thanks for stopping by today ~ I wish you well!

I'll enter this into Bugaboo's Anything Goes,  Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes Bday!, Scrapping4fun Challenge #6 - Anything Goes and Patti's Creations - Birthdays 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card deets:
  Image and sentiment from Bugaboo Stamps:  Stella Birthday:
Cardstock:  PTI Red and white: and SU Not quite Navy:  DSP from SU!
Colored with prismacolor markers,
Cuttlebug and nestie, Fiskars paper trimmer, Tombo, red Kaiser pearls

*Snow* glad we're friends!

Happy Thursday, friends! 

 It's already mid-September, can you believe it! 

My son just celebrated his magical birthday by turning 9 on 9/9 -

He's already marking the calendar for 2014 when he will be double digits :)

Sweetness!

In between the back to school busy-ness, I've made a few cards ...

 some I can't blog yet *smile!* and sadly, some that didn't

 come out on my memory card.  An entire photo session came out white, blurry and super light ~  kinda like a snow day would be! LOL!

How I love and miss the snow - truly!  

I would even settle for a mild winter, 

complete with cooler weather, beautiful sweaters and boots! 

 Miami Christmases are pretty much flip flops and shorts :)

This card is one I made having fun with scraps!  

I reached into my scrap pile and these 3 papers were left sitting there, 

and I challenged myself to make it work.

Printing off one of my Bugaboo snowman digis,

I created this quick card to have one ready to go when needed!

I'll enter this into the Bugaboo September Challenge: Anything Goes, 

as well Word Art Wednesday's "Anything Goes", Scrap Creations "Polka Dots" 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

PTI Cardstock; Bugaboo Image "Chubby Snowman 2", computer sentiment;

Tombo, Basic Grey papers; Cuttlebug, nesties; colored with prismacolor markers; 

buttons from American Crafts