Freebie Word Art

Sorry I don't have a few more for y'all, but my back is really bothering me & it hurts to sit here for too long. I'll be back if I can get some made up tonight. Right now it's time for more Tylenol & a warm rice pack....

Enjoy!

K.I.S.S.

Told ya I'd be back! *LOL* It got REALLY HOT here earlier (85° inside with the fans on) and I just about lost all of my energy. It's still hot in here & I hope it cools off before bedtime...this chubby chick CANNOT sleep when it's hot! Kinda wish that I could take all of this "winter insulation" and mold it around on my body to where it actually looks GOOD! *ROFL*

I did manage to make 3 simple projects that will look pretty mounted on a card or hanging from a gift.

This first one uses the 2 smaller pieces that I told ya about a couple of days ago out of the "Life So Big" stamp set that is a Limited Edition release from The Angel Company. I took an ATC, stamped the branches in staggered pattern to make the background (Wheat VersaMagic Dew Drop), then stamped the butterfly on randomly (Jumbo Java VersaMagic Dew Drop), and shot it with my newest mix {#6} of homemade glimmer mist.
It looks wet, but that's the shimmer of these mists. I love 'em! I'll share the mix recipes this week on my Helpful Stuff page, along with Tim Holtz's video that I used, for those of you that are interested.
These are just a couple of price tags, like you'd use in a garage sale, stamped with "handstamped by" & "a cherry hello". These are available now AT NO COST TO YOU. That's right, for every $30 you spend, you can choose 1 of 4 different gift-with-purchase stamps. {Handstamped By - Wheat VersaMagic around the edge, image Memento Rich Cocoa} {A Cherry Hello - Memento Ladybug Red, Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, & Ivy Green}

Now, I'm gonna go think cool thoughts & color this little sweetie that arrived last week...
Think I'll use colored pencils & OMS for him....

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Another thrifting share & a gift

Hi, All! I'm still working on today's KISS project, but I wanted to share another thrift store find. I picked this little gem up the same day I got my scissors, but every picture I took of it kept coming out fuzzy (thought at first it was my eyes, but nope - it was the photographer's crummy skills)...so I waited & decided to try again today. Finally, decent pix!

I was going to paint it white & antique it a bit, but Cordell insisted that I leave it the original blue for a while. "It's actually pretty this way & already fits in with your craft stuff, Mom." Okay, sold...you smooth talker! *LOL*

I just loved the carving on the doors. Kinda prim & vintage-y at the same time. And lookie...it holds all of my MS glitter jars perfectly!
It even has this little drawer on the bottom for my smaller tubes of glue & pots of flocking.
AND....it's already got this "chippy" and whitewashed finish on it. The ONLY thing it needed was for me to re-glue one of the little knobs that had broken off. No biggie! If you look you can see the price tag - $4 for cute storage. Gotta love it! As I walked through the DI with my treasure, I actually had women stop & ask me if they could have it. Ummmmmm......no, sorry. I was taught a phrase a long time ago growing up around drag racing ~~ ya snooze, ya lose ~~ I was just tickled that something worked in MY favor for a change! *LOL*

And this is my very first try at word art. It's a saying that I stitched on a pillow for Cordell a few years back. It's kinda simple and I hope that it's easy for you to snag. If you use it on a project, please leave me a link in my comments box so I can stop by and see it...or send me a pic by email & I'll post it here for ya. If y'all like it, I'll try to put together some more & maybe offer up a couple a week for ya to play with. Just right click to open it in a new tab or window, then right click again & Save Image As to a file folder of your choice.I'll be back in a little while with my KISS post. Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your day!!

Challenge worthy?

This was a HUGE undertaking for me. Even more ambitious than my altered composition books. Usually, if I do a "big" project, it's an embroidered piece, furniture or curtains...something of that nature. I started out with an idea for Thespa's hymnal pieces over at Vintiquities Workshop and ended up with something that I could enter at Sir Stampalot, as well. Let's do the breakdown & you'll see the complete piece at the end of the post. Here we go:
Upper left corner: punched border made with MS 1" wide doily punch; cotton crochet lace; 8x8 square paper doily (grunged up with Ranger Distress inks & homemade glimmer mists); antique buttons from my Bestest Sistah; Scrapper's Floss; pearl swirl from Basic Gray; black cardstock; digital image from Digital Two For Tuesdays (colored, distressed, & antiqued with Ranger Distress Inks); background mat from K&Co, punched with Fiskars heirloom corner punch & distressed with Ranger Vintage Photo; wooden "button" from my friend Myrna in Oklahoma {waving}; punches under flowers two different MS branch & rose leaf; roses a mix of Prima & some I found at Big Lots a couple of summers ago, colored with my homemade glimmer mists.
Lower left corner: tag from K&Co, distressed with Ranger Tumbled Glass & Vintage Photo; pearl brad, antique buttons & crocheted flower from Sharron {waving}; Scrapper's Floss; butterfly stamp from The Angel Company (Life So Big), stamped in Ranger Tumbled Glass, flowers again a mix from Prima & Big Lots, colored with my homemade glimmer mists; foliage a mix of the MS branch punches & rose leaf; another pearl swirl from Basic Gray; silver pieces are flattened bead caps & spacers from Hobby Lobby's jewelry section
Lower right corner: vintage polka dot paper from K&Co; edged with Fiskars ladybug scissors & distressed with Vintage Photo; two pieces of my homemade vintage seam binding (1 pc colored with COPIC BG10 refill & 1 pc sprayed with my homemade glimmer spray mix #4); flowers from Prima; foliage two kinds of punched branches from MS
Upper right corner: hymnal piece "The Sunshine of My Heart" from Vintiquities Workshop; crocheted heart from Myrna {waving again!}, distressed with a touch of Vintage Photo & sprayed with homemade pearl glimmer spray; flowers from Prima & Big Lots; wood bead from Myrna; foliage, again MS punches; large white double flower with rose center from Prima; rose leaf punches; creamy white antique button with Scrapper's Floss; blue button from Making Memories

Here's a look at the entire 12x12 project....The chipboard in the back was painted Folk Art "twill" then antiqued with Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo, & Faded Denim, and finished with a light spritz of Walnut Ink. The brown paper is from K&Co. I used some antique pewter jumbo eyelets & my Big Bite to set them through all of the papers & chipboard, then used three strands of twine to make the hanger.
And here it is, hanging from a shelf in my she-cave.
I'm linking this to:
Vintiquities Workshop - contest to use Thespa's vintage hymnal titles - got one of 'em in there!
Sir Stampalot - punch it - punched the HECK out of it! *LOL*

While Chris is on a Memorial Ride with his Club tomorrow, I'll be crafting some more, so stay tuned. I have a poll over on the right & I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote & help me make a decision. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

My thrift store find/share

I went thrifting last week & found a pair of wooden scissors at the Ogden Rescue Mission. They had this UGLY bit of 80s country frou-frou on 'em, but I figured for $1.95 I could make it work for my craft room.
And there was this little piece on the handles that had busted out but was still with the piece. They were actually hanging on the wall by that broken spot. It's a miracle that it didn't drop to the ground & I miss seeing it altogether!
So, first thing I did was unwrap all that dust-gathering crud off of the scissors. In doing that, I discovered a hanger already attached to the back...BONUS! *LOL* I wiped them down, fixed the broken spot & let it sit for a few hours, then took them outside with my brushed nickel spray paint.
Once the paint was dry, I took a piece of brown paper bag & gave them a light sanding/buffing. Here's how they look now (below).
MUCH better and just PERFECT for the wall in my she cave. I'm a happy craft girl!
I have a contest entry to share, so I'll be right back!

'K! So about Sunday's KISS share...

I messed up. Turns out, that I WAS able to show you the card I made. It's not part of the upcoming catalog release, as I had thought {smacking palm off of forehead here}, but instead it's part of our Jubilation sale that is currently underway.

This is what happens when you have a hubby out on the road for a LONG holiday weekend, two teenagers parading an endless stream of friends through the house (forcing you to put a lock & chain on the refrigerator to keep ANY sort of food for survival), AND a 7 yr old that's as bouncy as the neighbor's chihuaha! The summer widow's brain turns to OATMEAL!! *LOL* Definitely falls under the "MIBAD!" category. Now, with that long-winded apology out of the way, here's what I made for you.....
Isn't it pretty?!? Look at that detail! This is part of a 3 piece Limited Edition set called "Life So Big" (TAC 3282). It's available through the end of June & can be yours for only $3.95, with a qualifying $30 purchase. If you host a $100 FUNshop, or place a $100 personal order through me, you can get the set for FREE. Worth it either way in my book...it's just so elegant. The set has this large piece that I used in my card, a complete butterfly, and a "branch" for edging a project or making a coordinating background. I'll play with those tonight & share them with you ASAP! Here's the complete card:

It's mounted on an A2 base, the ribbon is from the $1 bins at Michaels (2 summers ago), and is stamped in Palette's "Noir Black" ink (available as either a full-size pad -TT220 - for $6.50, or as a 4pk of "spots," along with white, umber, & gray - Escher TT223 - for $7.95).

I've got more to share, but duty calls...MOM duty that is! *LOL* It's time to get the munchkins into bed, toss more laundry into the wash, get another load of dishes washed (we don't have an automatic washer & I absolutely cannot stand waking up to a sink full of dishes), and call it a night. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

I wish I'd seen this sooner...

It deserved to be shared during Memorial Day. I found it today, in a blog that I follow, but it moved me to tears and I felt the Holy Ghost whispering..."It NEEDS to be shared some more. People have quit caring & that must change." So, here I am...sharing.

GETZ: Seeing a fallen soldier home

Gratitude should be foremost in American hearts and minds

His name was Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson - although I did not know it when his life brushed mine on March 25 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Lance Cpl. Wilson was not there in the terminal that afternoon; at age 24 and newly married, he had been killed in Afghanistan on March 22 by a roadside bomb. A coincidence of overbooked flights led our lives to intersect for perhaps an hour, one I will never forget.

I did not meet his family that day at the airport, either, although we were there together that evening at the gate, among the crowd hoping to board the oversold flight. I did not know that I had a boarding pass and they did not. I did not know they were trying to get home to hold his funeral, having journeyed to Dover, Del., to meet his casket upon its arrival from Afghanistan.

I also did not know that they already had been stuck for most of the day in another airport because of other oversold flights. But I did not need to know this to realize what they were going through as the event unfolded and to understand the larger cause for it. No matter how we as a nation have relearned the lesson forgotten during Vietnam - that our military men and women and their families deserve all the support we can give them - despite our nation's fighting two wars in this decade, it is all too easy for most of us to live our lives without having the very great human cost of those wars ever intrude.

But it did intrude heartbreakingly that day at the airport gate. It began simply enough, with the usual call for volunteers: Anyone willing to take a later flight would receive a $500 flight voucher. Then came the announcement none of us was prepared to hear. There was, the airline representative said, a family on their way home from meeting their son's body as it returned from Afghanistan, and they needed seats on the flight. And there they were, standing beside her, looking at us, waiting to see what we would decide. It wasn't a hard decision for me; my plans were easily adjusted. I volunteered, as did two women whom I later learned sacrificed important personal plans.

But we three were not enough: Six were needed. So we stood there watching the family - dignified and mute, weighed with grief and fatigue - as the airline representative repeatedly called for assistance for this dead soldier's family. No one else stepped forward. The calls for volunteers may have lasted only 20 or 30 minutes, but it seemed hours. It was almost unbearable to watch, yet to look away was to see the more than 100 other witnesses to this tragedy who were not moved to help. Then it did become unbearable when, in a voice laced with desperation and tears, the airline representative pleaded, "This young man gave his life for our country, can't any of you give your seats so his family can get home?" Those words hung in the air. Finally, enough volunteers stepped forward.

I had trouble sleeping that night; I could not get out of my mind the image of the family or the voice pleading for them.When I met my fellow volunteers the next morning at the airport, I found I was not alone. One had gone home and cried, and another had awakened at 3 a.m.; all of us were angry and ashamed that our fellow passengers had not rushed to aid this soldier's family and consequently had forced them to be on public display in their grief. We worried that this indifference to their son's sacrifice added to their sorrow.

It turned out my destination was his hometown, so I was able to learn his name and more. I learned he had been a talented graffiti artist and had married his sweetheart, Hannah, the day before he deployed to Afghanistan. They planned a big wedding with family and friends for after he returned home. I learned how proud he was to become a Marine in January 2009. I learned that he and his fellow Marines liked to give the candy they received from home to Afghan children. In sum, I learned that he was the kind of honorable, patriotic young person we want defending our country and how great our loss is that he had to give his life in doing so.

I posted a message to his family on the online condolence book. I told them I was sorry for what they went through in trying to see their son's body home, but because of it, many more people were going to have heard of Justin and his dedication to his country: I was going to tell everyone I knew about what I had witnessed and tell them his name. And I have.

I thought that was enough, until I received a thank-you note from Lance Cpl. Wilson's father-in-law.It was a completely humbling experience; he wrote that he was glad I had been able to learn about Justin, and he wanted me to know that Justin "served knowing the risks, but felt it was his obligation and privilege to serve his country." At that moment, I realized that in this day of an all-volunteer military and a distant war that touches so few of our lives directly, more people should hear the story of Lance Cpl. Wilson and his family.

I've thought a lot about what happened that day in the airport, and I choose to believe my fellow passengers were not unfeeling in the face of a soldier's death and a family's tragedy. They were just caught off guard - they were totally unprepared to confront the fierce consequences of the war in Afghanistan on their way to Palm Beach on a sunny afternoon.And I believe it was for this reason that people did not rush to the podium to volunteer their seats. It was not that they did not want to, and it was not that they did not think it was the right thing to do. Rather, it was because they were busy trying to assimilate this unexpected confrontation with the irrevocable cost of war and to figure out how to fit doing the right thing into their plans - to fit it into their lives not previously touched by this war. In the end, enough of us figured out how to do the right thing, and it turned out as well as such a painful situation could.

But still I wonder: Barring some momentous personal event that necessitated a seat on that flight, how could any of us even have hesitated? How could we have stopped to weigh any inconvenience to our plans against the sacrifice Lance Cpl. Wilson and his family had made for our country? In such circumstances, it is not a question of recognizing the right thing to do; we should know it is the only thing to do.

From what I have learned of him, in his short life, Lance Cpl. Wilson created a legacy of courage and patriotism that will not be forgotten by those who knew him. I hope there's a greater legacy as well. I hope through this account of his family's struggle to see him home, if ever again the war intrudes unbidden on my life or yours, we will know what we must do, and in their honor, and for all those who serve and sacrifice, we will do it.

Colleen M. Getz works in the NATO policy office of the Department of Defense.

© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC.


I'll have crafts to share with you in just a little while, so thanks for putting up with my posts. If you have someone in your family serving our Country, thank them for me & hug them tight whenever you can.

I'll see you again in a little bit....