Birthday Cards!

This post is a little belated since my birthday was about two weeks ago but I wanted to showcase the beautiful cards I received from my wonderful stamping friends.  They are all so talented and I was so honored to receive these! 

This first card was made by my 18 yr. old grandson Alan.  What a wonderful surprise that he made me a card for my birthday!  I think he did a fabulous job!

Amanda's Card

Gloria's Card

Mary's Card

Kathy Winland's  (ScrapKathy) Card

Rose's Card

Angie's Card

Jen's Card

DM's Card

Linda's Card (my SU Upline)

Cindy's Card

Jane's Card

Another Card from Amanda!

Card from SCS Brak Group

As you can see these are all fabulous cards and I am very blessed to have such wonderfully talented friends!  Thank you all for thinking of me on my birthday!

It's Been A While!

Wow! It's been quite a while since I posted!  I've been away from blogging for a while but on the encouragement of my stamping friends I am ready to start back up again! 

I am still very much involved with the Meade Girls and a few new ladies have joined our group!  Unfortunately we have also had to say goodbye to a few members who have moved away.  We continue to get together for swaps, trips to Amish country, shopping, lunch, and of course to stamp!

We have recently initiated our second "Secret Sister" swap, where those that want to participate are assigned a name and we anonomously send cards and little gifts throughout a specific time period to our "secret sister".  Our current swap is running from Feb. 1st to May 1st.  The swap will end the first week in May where we will get together for lunch and reveal who we are with a handmade gift for our secret sister.  My Secret Sister has already been busy sending me cards and goodies!  I received this adorable card about a week ago:

Isn't she just the cutest? Then today several of us got together for lunch and when I came back to the table after filling my plate at the buffet, I found a mysterious package on my chair!  My Secret Sister had apparently snuck in to the restaurant and left me some goodies!  What a wonderful surprise!  There was an assortment of pretty valentine colored ribbon in red, burgundy, pinks and whites, along with a bag of my favorite candy, M&M's in valentine colors no less!  And to top it all off she had made me the cutest Valentine card you would ever want to see!  It is absolutely adorable and I just love it!  Here is a pic of my goodies along with the card:

Thank you so much Secret Sister, whoever you are!  I am feeling very spoiled already!!

I'll be back tomorrow with another post of all the beautiful birthday cards I received!





Angler

Two weeks ago I attended a wonderful Shoebox Swap in Laurel, MD hosted by ScrapKathy.  It was a fantastic stamping event, all the cards were fabulous and the food was scrumptious!  A great time was had by all!  This is one of the cards for us to make at the swap.   I wasn't able to complete the coloring of the image at the swap (I'm slow!) so I brought it home to color with my Copics.  My son and his buddy are avid fishermen so this card will go to one of them for their birthday this year!  I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, I hope you like it too!

Meade Girls Challenge Card

The latest card challenge for my group of stampers, The Meade Girls, is a sketch challenge given to us by Dawnmarie.   Don't you just love this sketch? 

Here is the card I submitted for the challenge.  It really was a fun sketch to work with!

Card Ingredients

Stamp:  Great Impressions

Paper:  SU Green Galore, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Cool Carribean (retired), GP 110, DP- Basic Grey Lemonade

Accessories:  Flower, Ribbon & Brad from my stash, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Dew Drops, Dimensionals, Copics

Easel Card

I've been seeing so many easel cards on everyone's blogs and I really liked the look of them so I decided to try my hand at making one.  I followed Beate's tutorial on Splitcoast and it was super easy!  With  all the snow and cold weather we've had lately I wanted something that would say Spring!  And since Easter is just around the corner I decided to make an Easter card.   

Card Ingredients 

Stamp:  SU A Flower For All Seasons
Paper:  SU Cool Carribean (retired),  Melon Mambo, Kiwi Kiss, GP 110 White, DP -Basic Grey Lemonade
Accessories:  Ribbon from my stash, Metallic Dew Drops, SU Scallop Border Punch, Dimensionals, Copics, Sakura Stardust Clear Gel Pen

Our New Foster Dog Lizzie

It's been a while since I've posted!  So much has been going on around here the last couple of weeks!  This is our new foster dog Lizzie!  She is part Golden and part Sheltie.  Since I've gotten involved with Golden Retriever rescue I had been wanting to foster a dog in need.  Carol from Almost Heaven GR Rescue in WV asked if I would take Lizzie and of course I was happy to!  Lizzie had been a resident of the sanctuary for over two years and during that time not one person inquired about adopting her.   She had a little anxiety the first day or so since she wasn't used to being in a home for so long but it didn't take her long to settle in and become part of the family.  She is really a sweetheart and we have gotten very attached to her already.  I love how she lays with her paws crossed, apparently that is characteristic of Shelties, according to several friends who have them.  She gets along well with the boys and the cats as well.  More than likely she will become a permanent resident, I don't think I could give her up! 

Snow, snow and more snow!

We got hammered over the weekend by that huge snowstorm that slammed the Mid-Atlantic area on Friday into Saturday!  By the time it finally ended around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday we had 27" on the ground.  We started digging out Saturday evening but today was the major dig-out!  There is so much snow we just don't have anywhere to put it so we piled it up in the front yard! 

Dusty, Sammy and I managed to get a little walk in around the block and Dusty was loving being off-leash where he could run ahead of Sammy and I.  Dusty can be trusted to come right back to me but not Sammy, he will take off in a heartbeat!  They enjoyed their little walk, including knocking Mom down in the snow at one point! 

And now we are under another Winter Storm Watch for Tuesday into Wednesday with the potential for more heavy snow!  I have no idea where we will put it!  Fortunately throughout the storm we didn't lose power but quite a few people in MD did, including some friends.  We hope everyone has power restored very soon!