Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

Skulls and Lace

Hello crafty friends!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

We are showcasing Tim Holtz Products this week.  If you have any of these products, we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge. 

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store.  You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

Once again, I made two cards for this challenge. I had to balance out the masculine with the feminine because not only was it my husband’s Birthday yesterday, but it was also my Mother-in-Laws. I love how these two balance each other out.

I started out with an A2 sized piece of black card stock. I prepped it with my anti static powder and heat embossed the Bubbles stamp set by Tim Holtz using clear embossing powder.

I set my background aside and started working on the center piece. Taking a piece of slate card stock, I stenciled this cool crossbones stencil by Tim Holtz with distress texture paste in black. Once that was dry, I die cut this kinda tombstone-y shape using a nested globe die.

I popped my centerpiece up with some craft foam and added a few screws hardware brads to the bottom.

For my sentiment, I used one of Yana’s layered script sentiments dies for the Birthday portion and the “wishes” was a stamp I had in my stash. I used Tim’s Idea-ology metallic kraft stock for the top layer of the “Birthday” and then I added 2 more layers using black card stock.

I heat embossed the “wishes” with white embossing powder and I popped it up with a black foam strip.

For this next card, I’m just going to add a few pictures. It’s pretty self explanatory but unfortunately I took a break to go to dinner for my hubby’s Birthday last night and then I felt like crud afterwards so I’ll be lucky to even get this post done at this point. Unfortunately, this is now my life. As soon as I eat anything by mouth, I feel awful until the food has passed through me. Most of the time I get sick which is why I’m on IV food for the rest of my life for the nutrition. Most of the food I eat by mouth just comes out the tube I have in my stomach but if it doesn’t come out fast enough, it makes me sick. But, at least I’m alive and I’m home, not stuck in a hospital so I’m not complaining. Hope you enjoy these cards I made this week!

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

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   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

Slimline Reveal Wheel

Hello crafty friends!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

We are showcasing Lawn Fawn Products this week.  If you have any of these products, we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge. 

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store.  You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

I had so much fun making these interactive cards. I had never made a reveal wheel card until this challenge. Lawn Fawn makes a really great video showing exactly how to make these interactive cards so if you’d like to see the mechanics of it all, just click HERE and I’ll take you to that video.

So this card was a little different because the Reveal Wheel is made for an A2 sized card, but I wanted to change that up a bit. So I basically took the reveal wheel die, lined up the cutouts on my card front where I wanted them, I traced the side notch where you turn the wheel and then I kept the original cutout window in place by taping it down and ran just that through my die cutting machine. So it left me with just the cutout window where the words are going to change. The reveal part of the wheel. Then I hand cut the side notch where you turn the wheel.

I had to do this a couple times because I kept cutting it either too high or too low. It has to be right in the center so that I can fit foam tape above the wheel and below the wheel. Now I really wish I would have taken pictures as I went. Once I got the opening cut in just the right place, the rest was easy peasy.

The stamp sets and coordinating dies that I used were Lawn Fawn’s Reveal Wheel, Coaster Critters (which unfortunately are no longer available at Simon), Coaster Critters Flip Flop, Wheely Great Day, Tiny Friends, Reveal Wheel Sentiments, Reveal Wheel Arc Frame Add On along with the Reveal Wheel Essential Shapes Templates, which make putting this all together a breeze. I colored all of my images with my Copic Markers, die cut them and then set them aside.

I made a very simple background using more Lawn Fawn products. I used the Cloudy Stencil for the sky and the Brick Stencil for the ground. I put my reveal wheel together and then I started adding all of my little characters.

I popped some up with foam squares but I only used the .04″ foam squares since the entire card front is already popped up with foam tape. That’s what makes the wheel actually able to turn.

To finish off my scene, I added a few birds from various stamps in my stash. I added some finishing touches using my white gel pen and my Reveal Wheel Slimline was complete.

So this was actually the first card I made. I made the A2 card first just so I could figure out how the reveal wheel worked and then I stepped it up a notch and made the slimline, mimicking the reveal wheel since the reveal wheel die is for a standard A2 sized card.

For this card I used Lawn Fawn’s Reveal Wheel die cuts along with Wheely Great Day, Tiny Friends and the Reveal Wheel Wheely Great Day Add On dies. I also used the VERY handy Reveal Wheel Wheely Great Day Templates. The interactive part is super easy with the reveal wheel die cuts. The coloring is what took me the longest on this one.

Once I was done with the coloring, I set all the images aside and worked on my background.

I used Lawn Fawn’s Cloudy Stencil with some Merman ink to create my sky and I did this using Hammermill 100 lb. Card Stock. For the grass, I used Bristol Smooth card stock and I ink blended Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron. I cut the grass using Lawn Fawn’s Slimline Grassy Hillside Borders die.

I used a Sentiment Labels die by Simon to cut out my banner and I fishtailed the ends with my scissors. The sentiment is from the Coaster Critters stamp set that unfortunately isn’t available at Simon anymore, but is at Lawn Fawn’s site. The bottom sentiment is from the Reveal Wheel Sentiments Stamp Set. I heat embossed the sentiment using Alabaster White Embossing Powder. I attached my reveal wheel to a piece of Sea Glass Card Stock and I attached everything to a top folding card base.

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

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   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

Happy Birthday Simon

Hello crafty friends!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

We are showcasing products from the one, the only Simon Says Stamp this week.  And it just so happens to be Simon’s 15th Birthday!! A great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Simon for 15 years in this beautiful business. I’d say 90% of my craft room is from Simon so I honestly don’t know where my passion would be without them. So if you have any Simon Says Stamp products (which let’s be honest, most of us do if you’re here reading this), we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge. 

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $50 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store.  You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

I love how this card turned out. I started out with an A2 sized piece of Neenah Solar White 80 lb. Card Stock and I embossed it using this gorgeous embossing folder called Sparkling Facets by Simon Says Stamp. This is about the only time I use the 80 lb. card stock anymore is for embossing. Usually I use the 110 lb. for most of my projects.

Cathy Zielske did this wonderful video recently where she colored the petals of this die to get more color variations and I knew I had to follow suit. The die I’m using is called Layered Perky Flower. To see Cathy’s video, you can click here. I die cut this image first in Green Leaf Card Stock and then again in Cotton Candy. I ink blended all three petals using Bubblegum, Peony and Watermelon Pawsitively Saturated Inks.

I cut out a frame using Simon’s A2 Thin Frames and this gorgeous Luxe Glitter Card Stock. I then trimmed my embossed panel down to fit inside the frame. Look at that lovely sparkle!!

For my sentiment, I used CZ Design’s Happy Birthday die. I die cut the top layer 3 times so that I could stack them and add dimension and I used Fog Gray Card Stock for the shadow layer.

Next I started to put everything together. I used a top folding card base and I attached an A2 size fog gray background. I adhered my glitter frame to the embossed panel but then I wanted to pop that next panel up a bit so I used some craft foam to do that. I glued my flowers in place and then I attached the sentiment.

To finish off my design, I added a few Iridescent Color Drops here and there.

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

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   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

With Sympathy

Hello crafty friends!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

We are showcasing Hero Arts Products this week.  If you have any of these products, we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge. 

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store.  You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

I really struggled with this week’s challenge for some reason. No matter what I made, I just wasn’t happy with it. This was the best of all 4 cards I made. And the bonus is that it was super easy to make! I started out with an A2 sized piece of Plum Punch card stock and I embossed it using Simon’s Vine Canopy embossing folder.

I used an old MFT stitched rectangle die that I had in my stash and I die cut a small rectangle. Then I used a stamp set called With Sympathy by Hero Arts and I stamped some images on my small rectangle.

I trimmed a couple of strips of glitter card stock from Altenew’s Glitter Gradient Card Stock Set Milky Way and I adhered them to my embossed panel. I attached the small rectangle over the top of the glitter strips and then I attached the entire panel to a top folding card base. To finish her off, I added a couple of hearts from various dies and popped them up with some foam squares. Lastly, I added a few Satin Silver Sequins and my card was complete.

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

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   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

My Favorite Peeps

Hello crafty friends!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

We are showcasing Picket Fence Studios Products this week.  If you have any of these products, we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge. 

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store.  You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

I started out with an A2 sized panel of Hammermill 100 lb. card stock. I surprisingly discovered that I really like this card stock for ink blending. I’ve always been a Bristol Smooth kinda gal, but then I decided to give the hammermill a try because I had it and I wasn’t using it for anything else and I really didn’t want it to go to waste so I thought, why not? I originally purchased it because I had heard other crafters say that it works really well with hot foil plates, but I just didn’t have that same kind of luck. Therefore, it was just sitting in my card stock organizer collecting dust. I do still love my Bristol Smooth card stock as well for ink blending though. The Hammermill is a brighter white than the Bristol so when making a card like this where there is quite a bit of white around my ink blending, I’ll choose the Hammermill. That will help me decide in future projects which route I choose.

I ink blended Simon Says Stamp’s Bubblegum and Lemonade Pawsitively Saturated Inks with a cloud stencil from my stash and created these beautifully soft, fluffy clouds. For my grass, I used Green Apple Card Stock and I die cut it with the Grassy Edges die but then I went around the edges with some Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide ink just to give it a little depth.

I took my grass and clouds panel and I die cut this adorable scalloped rectangle with Simon’s Chunky A2 Scalloped Rectangles die. I set that aside and I started coloring my images. The stamp set I used here is called Spring Chicks Are Back in Town by Picket Fence Studios. I colored my images with my Copic Markers and I fussy cut each image. But there are coordinating dies to go with this stamp set.

I popped my panel up with some craft foam and set it aside to finish my background panel. For my background, I used one of my new favorite embossing folders by Simon called Neatly Knitted. I ran a piece of A2 Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80 lb. card stock through this embossing folder and then I attached it to a top folding, horizontal card base.

Next, I heat embossed my sentiment on a strip of Black Card Stock with Alabaster White embossing powder. I adhered my sentiment to my scalloped panel and then adhered the panel to my embossed background. To finish off my scene, I added a few tiny flowers from an old Simon die in pastel colors and added them here and there. I popped my basket up with some foam squares and called her done!

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

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  Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

Kiss Me, I’m Irish

Hello crafty friends!! Happy (early) St. Patty’s Day!! It’s time for a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

We are showcasing Pretty Pink Posh Products this week.  If you have any of these products, we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge. 

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store.  You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

I almost forgot how much fun it is to play with alcohol inks!! Especially when you have no expectations. Which I’ve learned it the way to go, for me personally. I used to get frustrated because I had a different picture in my head of how my final outcome would look and it just never lined up for me. But now, if I go in with no expectations then I’m never disappointed! Hey, it works for me.

I used several different shades of green, which I’ve linked all of them below, and I just went to town. I left some areas white and on the darker sections while my ink was still a bit tacky, I added some gold foil by simply pressing the foil onto my panel and burnishing it a bit and then pulling the foil away. It left me with this gorgeous marble looking foil.

After my background was done, I used the Shamrock Shaker die by Pretty Pink Posh and some gold glitter cardstock to cut out this beautifully large shamrock. I decided to cut it out a couple more times using green card stock just to pop it up a bit off my background panel.

My sentiment is from Pretty Pink Posh’s stamp set called Lucky. I heat embossed it with green embossing powder and then I used the coordinating dies to cut out the Lucky and two additional layers to add some dimension.

The sub-sentiment is also from the Lucky stamp set and I heat embossed this part on green card stock with white embossing powder. I popped it up using some foam squares. I didn’t feel like this card needed any additional embellishments so I simply rounded the lower left corner and I attached it to a top folding card base.

I thought it would be fun to make an additional card but this time turning the shamrock into a shaker card since that is the name of this die, Shamrock Shaker die.

I made this one exactly the same, except I added the shaker element.

Ok, this is so cool. As I’m sitting here in my craft room typing this blog post, I stopped to look out my window because I saw that the sun was finally starting to shine today (it’s been raining all day) and right outside my window is this BEAUTIFUL rainbow!!! Fitting for the post I’m writing. I only wish I could photograph it, but they never quite look as magical in picture as they do in real life. But I still wanted to share that with you. Thank you so much for stopping by today. Have a great day!

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

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  Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Cardmaking · Challenges · Design Team · Handmade Greeting Cards · Simon Says Stamp

Sending BIG Hugs

Hello crafty friends!! Please join me for a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week the challenge is

For a Child

We are showcasing Lawn Fawn Products this week.  If you have any of these products, we’d love to see them used, but it’s certainly not a requirement to join the challenge. 

As always, the generous folks at Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a $25 voucher to one randomly selected winner to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store.  You can enter 5 times which means you can make 5 different projects following this week’s prompt and have 5 chances to win a shopping spree!! Sounds like a win/win to me!! I’ve linked all of the supplies that I used at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

 

Lawn Fawn has SOOO many adorable stamp sets that any kid would love to receive on a card. In fact, if I were to actually give this card to a child, I would also include a couple coloring sheets for the child to color themselves. I don’t know any little kids nowadays. My son is in high school and all of my nieces and nephews are older as well, but if I did that’s what I would do.

I fell in love with this Giant Sending Big Hugs die by Lawn Fawn and so of course I had to also have the Happy Hugs stamp set that coordinates beautifully with this die. I started out with an A2 size piece of patterned paper from an old Lawn Fawn paper pack. Lawn Fawn has several rainbow themed paper packs so even though this pack is no longer available, there are still a few to choose from.

I used the largest of the Stitched Scalloped Rectangle die by Lawn Fawn to Frame my card. I die cut it 3 times with Neenah 110 lb. card stock. I glued all 3 layers together using my favorite Bearly Art craft glue. I set that aside and started copic coloring my cute little critters on X-Press It Copic Blending Card.

I die cut the giant sending big hugs die using Simon Says Stamp Rose Gold Glitter card stock and then I cut out another layer using black card stock. I really wanted the die cut to look like it was popping off the page. The offset black background makes it look like it has more layers of dimension than it actually does.

I used Lawn Fawn’s Grassy Border die to add a little grass to the bottom of my card and I ink blended Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness distress oxides on Bristol Smooth card stock. I colored an extra set of mice so I used those cuties on the inside of my card.

I added a few Pink Opalescent sequins from Spellbinders for a little embellishment and then she was complete!

So now it’s YOUR turn. Happy Crafting!!    

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

  Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

   You have until Wed  8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

We also have the Kid’s Challenge going on right now until the end of July. It’s for ages 2 to 16. Click on the picture below for all the details.

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Herd You Had a Birthday

Howdy partner(s)!!!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Are you ready for another super fun theme this week at Always Fun Challenges???  If you’d like to see what I created for last week’s theme, which was One Layer, click here.  Now, for this weeks theme, this was totally out of my comfort zone, but I made it work.  The theme is Down On The Farm.

I didn’t even get this one completed until Saturday afternoon.  I had a heck of a time coming up with this one.  I’m so glad I did it though.  Like I said, this took me out of my little comfort bubble, but check out the result.

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I used a never before used stamp set (AKA NBUS) called Lunar Animals by Mama Elephant.  I used a NBUS paper pad and a NBUS die from MFT.  Too bad Darnell wasn’t doing her NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) challenge right now, this one would totally qualify!!  It may not be going on now, but you should check out her blog for the NBUS challenge that she does a couple times a year.  It’s a lot of fun.

This was another one that I completely winged it as I went.  I had no idea how this was going to turn out.  While this is not my normal style, I still think it turned out ok.  I think it would be perfect for a kid’s Birthday.  The inside reads, “Have a Moo-tiful Day!!”

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Another out-of-my-element fun fact is that I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens to color these cute little farm animals.  I’ve had these pens for awhile now, but I’ve been quite intimidated by them.  I tried them when I first got them and I just didn’t like them.  Or I should say I didn’t like my results.  But the more videos I’ve seen of people using them, the less intimidating they seem so I decided to give them another try.  I was actually pleasantly surprised.  I really like them!!  As long as I had a water brush right next to me at all times and a super fine paint brush, I felt comfortable.  I felt like I could handle it without holding my breath the entire time.

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Anyway, I hope you’ll join us over at Always Fun Challenges this week by clicking here and linking your “Down on the Farm” creation.

Zig Clean Color Real Brush

Horse: Mustard 67 (body), Oatmeal 64(mane), flesh color 71 (nose), mid brown 65 (hooves), pale pink 28 (ears)
Pig: pale pink 28
Cow: black 10, light gray 91 (horns), pale pink 28 (ears, nose)
Chicken: Lemon Yellow 51, bright yellow 52, wine red 24, light brown 61 (beak)
Sheep: Blue gray 92, light gray 91, gray 90 (hooves and nose) cheeks pale pink

(Affiliated links used when possible at no cost to you)

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Let It Snow

Happy Holidays, my crafty compadres!!  I’m back just in time to share a Christmas creation with you.  I’ve joined back up with my talented friends at the Always Fun Challenges blog to share this months theme which is “A Christmas Carol”.  I went with the obvious.  Let It Snow is one of my all time favorite Christmas carols so this was an easy one for me this week.

This card was simple and quick, just my style.  I’ll list the products I used below, as always.  While I do love the song, unfortunately we don’t get any snow here in Northern California.  I know some of you may be snowed in even as we speak.  Sometimes I wish I lived somewhere that it snowed, but then again, I wouldn’t want to do all that shoveling…

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Aren’t these snowflakes absolutely gorgeous??!!?  I just can’t get over how much I love them!!

I’ll keep this short and sweet, but I did want to update you guys on what’s been going on with me.  I had my surgery last month and while I did have a couple of little setbacks, I am well on my road to recovery.  Thank you so much for the well wishes and prayers.  That’s what gets me through all of these surgeries.  I had a 6 inch cyst on one ovary and the other one was twice as big on my right.  But they were able to save my ovaries!!  I wasn’t expecting that.  They also repaired a hernia that I got from too many abdominal surgeries.  I guess when someone has as many surgeries as I have, it weakens the abdominal wall, making me more susceptible to hernias.  Lucky me.  What’s interesting, is they used biological mesh to repair the hernia.  Biological mesh is also known as pig skin…  Yes, I have pig skin inside of me now..  My dog kept smelling my belly when I got home (they cut me from below the breast to below my c-section).  I don’t know if he could smell the wound or smell the pig.  I guess I’ll never know.  Anyway, I’ve been having a real hard time with the pain this time around, which is why it’s taken me so long to get back into the swing of things.  But the important thing is, I’m here now, I’m healthy, I’m with my family and I no longer have to worry about whether or not those cysts are cancer!!  WOOHOO!!  Life is good.  God is good!!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you get to spend time with someone(s) that is special to you and I hope you all take a little time to reflect back on 2017.  Cherish the memories that mean the most to you and learn from the ones that don’t.  I’ll meet ya in 2018!!

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #86 as well.  The theme this week is Anything Goes!!

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Amazon, Simon Says Stamp, Scrapbook.com, Blitsy Disclaimer:
These are affiliate links. What that means is at no cost to you, I will receive a small commission if you purchase something from the links I’ve provided. That small commission will help me maintain my blog and youtube channel while still providing the links to all the products that I use. Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it. And if you have any questions on any of these products, please feel free to ask!! I’ll always give you my honest opinion.


Cardmaking · Handmade Greeting Cards · Haul Goodies · Life

Simon Says Stamp Haul Video

Hi guys!!  It has been 10 months since I’ve done a haul video!!  Can you believe that?!?  Wow..  I’ve been a good girl for quite a while now.  But it was my Birthday on October 2nd and I decided to treat myself a little.  Actually, I needed to restock a few things after a fairly large card order that I recently did so that’s my excuse for placing this order.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself (and my hubs) anyways.

I also wanted to let you guys know that I won’t be blogging or posting videos for a couple of weeks.  I’m going in for yet another major surgery on November 13th and I’m planning on spending a week in the hospital down in San Francisco.  I hate being so far away from home when I have these surgeries.  That’s one of the hardest parts.

I think this will be my 21st abdominal surgery that I’ve had in the last 10 + years.  Hopefully it will be my last.  But I’ve said that many times before too…  Just to give you a little background on me, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when I was 25 and a year later, I had to have my large intestine removed.  I was so sick at the time, what should have been a 3-5 day hospital stay (because it was a laparoscopic surgery), turned into a 3 week hospital stay.  Every complication that I could’ve had, I did.  This was before I met my hubby and had Jayden though.  I had a few medical errors made on me that led to many more complications.  They really snowballed after I had Jayden though.  When he was 6 months old, I ended up with a perforated bowel and came pretty darn close to leaving Jayden without his Mama.  My local hospital wouldn’t fly me out because they didn’t think I would survive the flight to S.F. so one of my surgeries were performed locally.  All the rest have been in San Francisco.  Over the years, it’s been one thing or another.  I was flown out once because I had adhesions wrapped around my small intestine and my ovaries and basically cutting off circulation.  Another surgery I had to have because my small intestine kept kinking in one area, causing me to have one small bowel obstruction after another until they finally operated and put a stint in.  Now because of all these surgeries, I have a 6 inch cyst on one ovary and another 6 inch cyst on the other…  They don’t think it’s cancer, but they’re so big, they are now causing me to have small bowel obstructions so it’s time for them to go.  That’s why I was in the hospital back in May, it was another bowel obstruction.  Nobody wants to operate on me though!!  It’s crazy!!  They will try to save my ovaries, but I’m preparing to have them both removed.

So I have to head down for a few more tests before surgery and I’m still having iron infusions once a week so between that and trying to wrap up our football season, I’ve decided to just take a little break from card making and blogging.  I’m trying to tie up a few loose ends before I go in and spend as much time as I can with my boys.  But as soon as I’m feeling up to it, I’ll be back on here, sharing my weekly projects!!

I’ll leave you with this oh so fun haul video and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks!!