Happenings...

HI! Just thought I'd take a minute and share what's been happening here in the past couple of weeks.

Chris and I went to our first regular youth activity last Friday night! We had a great time. I've missed going on youth activities and hanging out with teenagers. This particular youth activity was a great one for being the first... it was very informal, and there was really no scheduled activity, so we just hung out with the teens and got to know them better. It was "March Madness," so we went to a place called Mr. Gatti's. It's a pizza buffet (kind of like CiCi's) with an arcade and special party rooms. We had a room with a big screen TV, ate, and then spent some time in the arcade. It was great to get to know some of the teens outside of our SS class (9th&10th grade).

Our Easter was wonderful... we had great services, and on the way home on the bus, we stopped so that all of our bus kids could have an Easter egg hunt. It was fun. Then, for our Easter evening service, it was basically a musical service with a 10-15 minute challenge from Pastor at the end. The choir sang 4 special numbers, and then we had 6 other specials, plus a bit of narration, and the orchestra joined the choir for two of the songs, I think. It was wonderful!

I LOVE our church's music... not "contemporary," but very meaningful and a wide range of musical styles. I was pleasantly surprised by this, since we attend a fundamental, independent Baptist church. No offense intended, but it seems like most of the churches I've attended have one, maybe two styles of music that they sing constantly. For instance, one of the churches only used Ron Hamilton songs and songs from the Wilds. I have NO problem with that music... in fact, I LOVE the songs, but a steady diet of that is a little much! :-)

ANYWAY... it also snowed on Easter. What a blessing that was (*can you sense the sarcasm*?) It was a little shocking since we had a beautiful sunny 70 degree day on Friday!After church Easter night, we went to Steak-N-Shake with two other couples and their kids. We had a great time of fellowship with them! I only wish our evening services were earlier so that we didn't have to stay out so late!

This week has been a pretty regular week. I broke my sunglasses last Friday (I'd had them since I was in college), and Chris surprised me on Wed. by telling me I could go to Sunglass Hut and pick out some polarized sunglasses. WOW - what a difference they make compared to my $15 pair that I've had for ages! I was expecting him to let me get a $20 pair at Walmart, not an expensive pair from Sunglass Hut! But I am so thankful, and my eyes are thanking me every time I wear them! My eyes are incredibly sensitive to the sun, so it's nice to put on sunglasses and not have to squint... even if you DO have sunglasses on!

Yesterday I went to a Pampered Chef show... the third one in the last month and 1/2! I don't buy anything, I just go for the fellowship! It was a lot of fun! And since Chris doesn't usually get home until late, it's a great way to pass the time that he's not here!

I've also gotten a couple of free gifts of stamping stuff recently. That always makes my day! My sis-in-law sent me a bunch of stuff that was passed on to her from a friend of hers that was cleaning out her craft room. Then a friend of mine offered to let me use her hostess benefits from hosting a Stampin' Up party! That was SO sweet of her! I'll have to do some more stamping. I've been tired recently, and have been reading a lot, so I haven't been doing much stamping unless it's out of necessity! I'm going to try to remedy that in the next few days, though!

Well, that's about it for now. D - the little boy that I take care of for work - is going to Cincinnati for testing this coming week (Sun - Thurs.) Please pray that he is cleared for the throat reconstruction surgery that he so desperately needs! Thanks!

Oh, yes... one more WONDERFUL thing... after 5&1/2 months, we FINALLY got our insurance reimbursement check for our FIRST IVF cycle! It is almost enough to pay off the credit card, and we should be able to do that with our paychecks! Hallelujah... that is a HUGE load off our backs! God is good! I'm also thankful that the insurance company screwed up initially, since they paid out much more than they SHOULD have according to our policy. Yeah!

more from yesterday...

I am excited... Chris let me buy some new stamps yesterday. :-)
We have a deal that any time Chris goes golfing or something like that for recreation, I get the same amount of money to spend on whatever I want. It works both ways... for instance, if he gives me extra money for stamps or something, then he gets the same amount to use on whatever he wants. (Although usually he gives me stamping money without using the other money in return. He is so giving!)
Anyway, yesterday, Chris was able to go golfing in the afternoon for the first time in 14 months. I've been after him for a while now to take some time off just to relax and enjoy doing something he likes to do. I bought him a gift certificate to a REALLY nice golf course for his birthday, but he didn't want to go to that one "cold." So, he went yesterday to a much less expensive course to warm up to the game of golf once again. He did pretty well, considering...
Back to my stamps... I have been looking for a Christmas sentiments set that is kind of "all around." I finally found one at Papertrey Ink. I am so excited to get to use it... this is my first acrylic stamp set, and I LOVE Papertrey's products. They are so simple, but so versatile. I've been drooling over them for a while, but hadn't actually been able to buy any.
I also was able to get a few things at the stamping party that I hosted... $15 of birthday money, then I earned $15 of free stuff. I ended up getting the new Purely Pomegranate ink pad and a refill (a BEAUTIFUL color!), satin ribbon, and paper in the same color. I also got some black embossing powder and a Ruby Red ink refill, since my Ruby Red is no longer crisp, but faded.
Thanks to Chrysler, we didn't have to pay for either the golfing or the stamps out of our own pocket. Chris gets a rewards card from them, and they put money on it every time he sells a new car. It has paid for all of our incidentals on our recent trips (food, souvenirs), and will now be saved to go for Christmas presents. God is good!

Happy Harvest Mix

I posted this on my craft site, but I'm sure that some of you don't check on that one as much, so I'm posting it again here. I just thought I'd share a little bit of a fall treat with you. My roommate in college my junior year made this (minus the Reese's pieces), and we ate it like crazy! I had forgotten all about it until I walked into Walmart a couple weeks ago and saw candy corn for sale. I bought the ingredients and made up a batch and gave it to some of our college students here. Anyway, here is the post from Stamps, Scraps, Stitches -n- Stuff:

Finally - I'm back to doing a little stamping. I'm not sure why, but I was in a stamping funk there for a while. I just didn't feel like stamping... maybe because I see what others post on their stamping blogs (of course, these are designers of stamps and they have ALL kinds of toys to play with at their fingertips) and rather than being inspired, I got a little discouraged. ANYWAY, I've decided that it doesn't matter what others do, I can only do what I can with what I have. So - today, I stamped a little bit:


Happy Harvest Mix
Recipe... (click on the picture to make it larger so you can get the details!)

The back of the little card.

So - here's a little treat recipe for you, if you want to indulge in a little fall sweetness. A handful of ingredients all eaten in one bite tastes a lot like a Baby Ruth candy bar.
Enjoy the season!

Stamps, Scraps, Stitches-n-Stuff

If you missed it, I just started a new blog for all my creative stuff. It's called "Stamps, Scraps, Stitches-n-Stuff" and you can find it here. I just finished posting all of the pictures that I had of all of my cross-stitch projects. Thanks to my SIL, Julie, who taught me how to cross-stitch... and, as my husband puts it, "Created a monster!" :-) I appreciate you taking the time to teach me, and I hope you enjoy the pics!

I am working on posting all of my past projects first in some kind of order, then I will add new things as they are finished.

Thanks for looking!

Closing date and new website

Dawn... this is just for you... we are set to close on the house July 16th. Everything should be fine since the house is only 4 years old, and financing shouldn't be a problem. However, there is always that chance...

Also, I wanted to let everyone that is interested know that I started a new blog specifically to post pictures of my cards, cross-stitches, crafts, etc. The name is "Stamps, Scraps, Stitches-n-Stuff". I haven't posted any of my stuff yet, but there is a welcome post on there. Keep checking it... I'm going to try to post all of my old stuff on there as quickly as possible. :-)

Now, my cards and cross-stitch pictures

This is the cross-stitch that I made for Nathan and Caroline's wedding present. Of course, this is the unframed version. I'll post another picture when I get it back framed. I actually used a lot of metallic and iridescent thread in this, so it makes it have a little more "bling."

Anniversary card for my brother and sister-in-law. I used gel pens on the picture to make things a little more sparkly.
"You Grow Girl!" I love the little colored safety pin on the tag. :-) The inside says... "Congratulations on your Swell News... Happy Waiting!"
Flutter by oh butterfly... Birthday card for my SIL
Flutter by oh butterfly... Birthday card for my MIL
I liked the idea from the first card, and just changed the colors and layout a bit for this one. I love the combination of the Cool Carribean with Chocolate Chip.

Father's Day card that I made at a stamping party about a month ago. The letters are chipboard, and we colored them so they looked like suede (sort of!) This one we sent to my FIL

Father's Day card for my dad. He loves lighthouses, and has the focal point picture (or one similar to it) on his wall at home. This isn't a typical Nautical color scheme, but I really wanted to use this ribbon.
Father's Day card for Chris' grandpa. He used to LOVE to fish. I messed this one up a little when I didn't trim the blue cardstock to the right size. And, as usual, some things aren't straight, but I like it anyway. I love the color combination. Father's Day card for my grandpa. I'm not sure that he is into trains, but I thought they were pretty cool. I like the photo corners that I made with my stamp punch, and also the embossed train at the bottom. I used distressing embossing powder, which is pretty cool.
Another card I made at a stamping party this week. We used Pearl-Ex for the focal pictures, and embossing powder for the background. These colors are REALLY cool, too... very masculine.

Fourth of July card - also made at the stamping party. This one used Pearl-Ex as well in the fireworks background and the children's parade image. The flag was cut out of patterned paper.

More cards

Here are some more cards that I have made recently. I'm on a roll with the masculine cards... I have 2 brothers and a BIL that have birthdays within a month of each other. Next up... more thank you cards, a SIL birthday, MIL birthday, and 3 more Father's Day cards! Stay tuned!

My future SIL's bridal shower card (I wasn't totally pleased with the result, but I couldn't figure out what else to do, and I had to get it in the mail to make it in time for her shower. The silver entwined hearts are from their wedding invitation.)

BIL's birthday card
Father's Day card made at the last stamping party

Country coffee Thank You
(another one of my favorites... the gingam is actually fabric)

My Brother's Birthday card

Masculine Thank You card

Recent Cards & Cross-stitch

Here are all of my recent cards that I have made, as well as a cross-stitch that I just finished for our niece. By the way, I created the pattern for the cross-stitch ~ I cut the lion and giraffe out of another pattern, and then did the alphabet writing myself. I know the bottom part is hard to read, but I didn't want it to be the focal point. The very bottom line says, "Stitched with love by Aunt Heather Beth." I have a lot more cards to make today, plus other errands, so I have to run. Enjoy the pictures!

Misc. Cards - April 2007

Here are some of the cards I made this month. I think I somehow deleted the pictures of the three FAVORITE cards I made... which I was very disappointed about. Anyway, there are patriotic ones, Mother's Day, anniversary, birthdays, etc. I apologize once again for the quality of some of the pics... I was told that you're not supposed to use flash when photographing cards, but the light in my house is so yellow that it turns out like this! I generally use flash, and then edit the pic to decrease the amount of exposure in order to make it look more like it does in real life. I'll have to make those 3 cards again... I LOVED them! (Go figure... it would be my FAVORITE cards that I delete pics of!!! Hope you like 'em!

Another Military Card

Since Dora requested that I send her the image "Godspeed" so that she could show it to her mom, I am posting the card that I made to send to her for that purpose. (Dora's brother is in Iraq right now.) I just bought the "Soldier..." stamp the other day, and love it. Anyway, here is a salute to our soldiers:

"Soldier~Because of your bravery, courage, and sacrifice, liberty & freedom are still ours. We are deeply grateful. GODSPEED"

Inside: "You are in my thoughts and prayers."
Back: "Missing you"

GODSPEED

"GODSPEED"

So, it's after 3am, and for whatever reason, tonight I can't sleep. Maybe I drank too much tea today and the caffiene got to me. Anyway, since I'm up, I figured I'd share with you what it is I do at 3am when I can't sleep!

Here is another card I made for our family member that is at Basic Training. A friend of mine owns this stamp set, which is now retired (meaning that I can't get it unless I come across it on ebay or something.) Being the good friend that she is, she stamped several variations of the images and sent them to me, so that I could use them. Since the set is retired, I am allowed to make copies of the images, which is nice. I cut out all of the images from the paper she sent, then put vellum over top to try to hide all the lines from the layers of paper. The word "GODSPEED" is stamped in red and embossed with clear powder on the vellum. The second picture I played with a little and you can see it stands out a little bit more.

Well, with that, I am off to bed to try to get some "shut-eye" before I have to get up for work in 3 hours! YIKES! I hope you enjoy my card, and remember to pray for our servicemen and women that sacrifice on a daily basis to provide us with our freedom. Thank you to those of you in the military!

Stampin' Party Cards 03-22-07

Here are some cards that I stamped at a stampin' party I went to on Thursday. We made 3 cards each of the get well & sympathy cards, and then 1 each of 2 Easter cards. Since I don't send Easter cards, I made the flower one generic to enable me to add sayings for later use. The first card shown in each of the sets of 3 is the one made exactly like the samples. The other cards are my own variations using creative license! :-)

BTW - at the party they had lasagna, garlic bread, and a decadent chocolate brownie dessert! All of these are close to being my favorites...especially the bread. However, I was VERY disciplined and didn't eat ONE BITE OF ANYTHING!! (I was very proud of myself, in case you couldn't tell!) :-)

The card below is one I made for a family member of ours that is in Basic Training for the military right now. I am excited to get my new stamping order because I bought another patriotic set to use for the cards I send to that person. I apologize for the color... I took the picture without using the flash, and the artificial light caused it to have a yellow undertone. It looked much better in real life, believe me! :-)

"Some Gave All"

Recent Creativity...

Precious Moments Cross-stitch for my nephew

(he was only born 2 years before I finished this!...But hey, you have to give me credit,

I didn't start it until 3 months before this Christmas, and finished it in January!)

Better late than never, they say!

For those of you who love stamping and crafts, I'm posting some more of my recent creations for your enjoyment. I'm not really fancy with the cards... that takes time and money! (Or at least more creativity than I have!) Also, please forgive the quality of scans/pictures. Some of them I had to scan b/c I didn't have the camera at home, and my scanner does not like cards that don't lie completely flat. I'll leave it up to your imagination to view the real thing! Hope you enjoy my version of art!

Recent Creativity... Thinking of You

Thinking of you warms my Heart

Sending Warm Thoughts your way
(latte)

Sending Warm Thoughts Your Way
(hot chocolate colorblock)

Sending Warm Thoughts Your Way
(hot chocolate colorblock ~ 2)

Delight in Life
(This one, too, did not take a picture well because of the light colors used)



Thank You spots

Thinking of You/Thank You Elk

Thinking of you/Happy Birthday

Scrapbook pages of Maryland house

Since we now have a contract on our house in Maryland, I thought it would be fun to post some scrapbook pages that I did to show you what the house looked like when we bought it, and what we did to it while we lived there. I really loved this house, and am somewhat sad that someone else is going to buy it. I know they are already planning to redo the kitchen, which I admit needed a little more work. However, the house had so much character, I'd hate to see what they are going to do to it. I am thankful, though, that they will be paying for it, and we won't anymore! :*) Oh, well, maybe one of these days I'll get another house to decorate.

Enjoy the pictures. I don't think you'll be able to read my handwriting in these pictures because it's so small, but you'll get the idea. Oh, yes, don't be too hard on me... I can't do anything straight, so you'll have to forgive me if the pages don't look perfect! Also, I took pictures of the pages in the protective sleeves, so there might be some glare on the pages as well.

Chromy 2007 Calendar Pages

Mitchell 2007 Calendar Pages

A GREAT DAY!

Praise the Lord for a great day! Here's why:

1. My husband took the day off after almost 3 months of working 6 days a week, 12 hour days (after I begged and pleaded and grovelled!) :*) Just kidding... well, sort of... I did ask him, though.
2. Chris and I got to sleep in and didn't get up until 10:45am.
3. Chris spent 10 minutes on the phone this morning, and sold a car on his day off.
4. While Chris was dealing with his customer on the phone, our realtor called. He called her back, and she told us that we have a contract on our house in MD!! (HUGE ANSWER TO PRAYER!!!)
5. Chris took me out to lunch at a place called "Cheddar's" which is like an Applebee's... casual dining. We had delicious food, and I have leftovers for dinner!
6. I got my new stamp order in! YEAH!!
7. We spent some time at the basketball tourney the Christian school associated with our church was hosting, and Chris caught up with a college classmate he hadn't seen in 10 years.
8. We went to the dealership, and Chris' customer came and finished up paperwork on the car, so it is officially sold.
9. While they were doing paperwork, our contract for the house came through on the fax. We finished that paperwork, and so now our house is pretty much SOLD! (Our closing date is March 30, 2007)
10. I got to spend the day with my hubby!!

Praise the Lord for proof, again, that He is in control, that He is good ALL THE TIME, and that He loves us!

Stamped Valentines

Love U Valentine card (outside)

Love U Valentine opened
(inside: "Happy Valentine's Day")

Monkey Valentine (inside: "Love ya bunches!")

Last night I went to a stamping party, and these are the cards that we made. I love stamping! Chris was a sweetheart and let me have money to buy 2 more new sets of stamps (and I get an additional one for free!) I always am so excited to get new stamps!

Chris and I don't usually do much for Valentine's Day - he is of the belief that it is just a holiday that the card & candy companies made up to get more money (in spite of my attempts to change his mind!) However, my father-in-law always sends me a box of chocolates... the good kind that I savor and eat one-a-day until they're gone! My father-in-law also makes sure to tell me every year that Chris can't have any of MY chocolate! His dad does this every year for his wife, all of his daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters. I received my first box from him the year that Chris and I were dating. I remember thinking that it was such a sweet gesture for my boyfriend's father to do that for me. Now I look forward to it. Chris' mom usually sends him a card with a little gift in it, as well. What a great tradition!

One of these cards will go to my hubby for V-day. The monkey one, I think, I will send to my dad. He, for some reason, has a monkey collection. I think it fits (the card, not the monkey collection)!

I'm hoping that I get my family picture calendars back in time to send them out to our families for Valentine's Day (they are really Christmas presents!) Our church has a small printing press that is going to do them for me, but they got pushed back a little bit due to a big job that needed to be done for PNC Bank ASAP. I will post those pages as soon as I get them back.

We should have a new niece arriving in time for Valentine's Day. (Chris' sister, Kim, is due on the 12th.) Her mommy&daddy are praying that she comes before Monday b/c her uncle, Burt, is going into the Marines on Monday and mommy wants to call her brother and tell him about his new niece before she is 8 weeks old! (I don't think they are allowed to have contact with anyone until they are done with basic training.) Her daddy is starting a new job (he got out of the Air Force in December) on February 19th. He is going to be a police officer in North Las Vegas. He is very excited about this new job opportunity.

Decorations & Cards

These are some pictures that I just took. I finally decided to put some decorations up in our apartment... the walls were looking a little empty after I took the Christmas decorations down. I had these curtains that my friend, Mrs. Carrie and I had made for our house in MD. We did so much work on them, that I really wanted to put them up somewhere here. Since we live in an apartment, I don't have a window in the dining room anymore. I hung the curtains there anyway, then added the coffee plaques. The other "window" with the gingerbread curtains is actually just an opening over the stairway (we live on the 2nd floor.) I'm not really sure why it is there, but it does let in a little extra light... and it's perfect for my curtains.

The cards are just some I had to make for birthdays coming up. I apologize for the pictures. I find myself highly challenged in the area of doing anything straight... (cutting, layering, punching, stamping, etc.)... and apparently it spills over in the area of my photography, too. (At least pictures of cards! I don't know if the cards just weren't laying flat or what.) Anyway, they look better in person, but you get the idea. I got the background paper at a new scrapbooking store we have here called "Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Scrapbooking Store." I thought that was a pretty cool name for it! The "Rock" part comes from a framed Bible verse they have on the counter... but I can't remember what it is. :-{

Anyhow... enjoy my art! :-)