I Actually Stamped!!!!

Well, I went to Miriam's (my Stampin' Up rep.) house on Saturday and stamped!! I usually need some kind of prodding to get going and Miriam always does the trick. She has some really good ideas for stamp use and is probably the most innovative user of stamps for ideas they were not intended for that I know. A few examples:

Who would ever think to use a Spring bouquet as a Christmas card??

Most people use this little street scene for "we have moved" cards. Miriam did a great job of decorating the little houses for Christmas!!

And, would you believe that this is a flame stamp for a birthday candle that was made into tree leaves? Wonderful!!!

There were 7 of us at Miriam's and we made masculine cards. Those are always so hard to come up with. So many flowers and girly things to be stamped that the guys get left out sometimes.

Ellen and Tina work on techniques.

Pam and Marian finish their cards.

So, we stamped, we were fed wonderful snacks and Miriam's 2 nieces, Kate and Claudia, were there to wait on us and run around and get supplies and stuff for us. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. And, on top of all her other creativity, Miriam has a beautiful backyard!!!

Such a pretty scene!!!

The whole yard is filled with pretty scenes!!

A quiet place to rest.

Love this fern.

Miriam specializes in Hydrangeas.

Note From A Friend

This was a note from a friend today. It was from someone in one of her stamping groups:

I have to share this with you before I go to bed.. At work today a young man and his wife came in to buy her a bathing suit. While she was trying them on I read the back of his t-shirt which said, "Pain is just weakness escaping from the body." I commented on it and when he turned around I saw "Marines" on the front. I asked if he served over seas and he replied, "Yes, he was in Fallusha (sp) and Afganistan when things were heated. I asked if he ever received gifts and cards from any rubber stampers.. His reply, "Yes, we got everyone one of them and loved them. It made us feel so good that we were remembered." I told him about the Yahoo clubs sending things and he was so appreciative. I then found out he is a buddy of my older son and I know his mom. I thanked him for his service and what he has done for us. I gave him a discount, lol, and we both felt good when we left. I know Kendall has related messages from her nephew but I just wanted to add this.. I know there were lists of soldiers being circulated with addresses and I sent out many a card and packs of cards and envelopes for them to use and send home to their loved ones.. Well.. it works and the gals and guys are getting them and loving them..All who have ever participated in this.. feel good tonight.. Many a soldier is smiling because of you..

I thought about this a long time and felt really bad!!! Because that is what I really feel called to do - make cards for our service men and women. And, I keep buying and acquiring and hoarding supplies and tools and not stamping for the people who really need some uplifting. Maybe this will get me up and at'em and stamping for a good cause. I hope so. Y'all please pray for me to get into gear!!!

Story of My Life

Okay. . . . . so we're leaving tomorrow morning for a trip to South Carolina for a wedding. . . . and, I need to stamp a wedding card for the happy couple. . . . so, I go out to my studio and get ready to stamp. . . . nothing!!! Oh, I had the idea for the card. I had CASE'd that from somebody else on Split Coast Stampers. What I didn't have was the right color of pink ink!! I have very DARK pink, coral pink, reddish pink, rosy pink, mauvey pink. . . .about 7 colors of pink from Stampin' Up. However, I didn't have Pretty In Pink which is the exact one I need. I remembered that I had made this exact same card several months ago for another wedding, so I'm trying to decide what I did for that one. Oh, yeah, I used one of my many Marvy Matchables. So, I go to the drawer where I have ALWAYS kept the Marvy Matchables. There are 4 stamp pads (none pink) in there. Where are the rest of my Marvy Matchables. I probably have 25 of those things. Where have they moved? I sure don't remember moving them. Maybe somebody snuck into my studio while my back was turned and they moved them for a joke. Not funny!!!! So, after 30 minutes of searching high and low for the ink pads, I have given up. We'll go to the drug store tomorrow on the way out of town and buy a stupid card!!! I have more stamping stuff than the law allows and yet this is what always seems to happen when I'm ready to stamp. I guess if I were creative enough to come up with my own designs instead of using what I get from others, then I could overcome this problem and do a card with whatever pink ink I have. Not happening tonight. I'm going to bed!!

My Kiln

Well, I haven't been blogging much lately because Ben and I went on a cruise to Bermuda. Had a great time but, as soon as we got home, my computer died!!! You know how bad that is!!! Well, after taking it to the All-Knowing Computer Guru, having the hard drive re-formatted and now having Ben reload all my important stuff - it's just now getting back to almost normal. I'm not going to post in any great detail today, but I had to mention this:

I had lunch today with my dear friend Rhonda who has been by my side for right at 30 years. We met at a craft class at church and then became antiquing and auction buddies. She has seen me through an awful lot of the craft collecting that I have done over the years. Anyway, she reminded me today that I didn't mention that I had bought a kiln back about 25 years or so ago. How could I possibly forget such a major piece of craft equipment?? She and I were doing the weekly ceramics classes at church and I decided that nothing would do but that I got my own kiln!!! You know how that is. . . . . Anyway, I found a kiln listed in the Georgia Market Bulletin and I bought it. It took a special 220V outlet, so the kiln sat in our garage waiting for the day that Ben would install the new outlet. And it sat and it sat and it sat. Finally, about 2 years later, we were getting ready to enclose our garage into a playroom and so I sold the kiln without it ever having been plugged in at our house!!!! Story of my life! LOL

Show Me Wednesday

Okay, so it's actually Sunday and I'm calling it Wednesday. Give me a tremendous break here. . . . . . . . I'm slow. I just came across Hazelruthe's blog where she is asking to see everyone's sewing machine. Well, this is my pride and joy sewing machine. Don't use it (which is the on-going theme of this blog), but I love it!!! Must be because it has my last name written right on it. I passed up one of these beauties at an auction years ago, then regretted it greatly!! Apparently, it's an English sewing machine and we don't see a lot of them here in the U.S. I spent another 3 or 4 years looking for another one and finally found it in an antique shop for twice the price it went for at the auction. But, by then, I had realized how much I needed a Jones Sewing Machine.