Valentine Kitty Card....3rd Post

My camera isn't the greatest these days! Sorry about that! This little kitty comes from DRS Designs, as well as the sentiment. Isn't he cute? I colored him with my Prismacolor Markers. I added some detail with Diamond Glaze to his nose, Martha Stewart Fine Glitter around the scallop circle, which I punched with my new Petite Nesties, some piercing along the bottom of the card, ribbon and dimensionals.

Bedroom Pictures I Promised....2nd post

Back at Christmastime I promised to show some pictures of a gift I received from Katie and my husband. Taking pictures slipped my mind and I just forgot about posting it. Well here they are finally! I came home from work the day before Christmas Eve to find my bedroom door covered in wrapping paper and a big silver bow in the middle of it. Katie and her friend had spent the day changing the bedding and the curtains so when I came home from work, this is what I saw.....
It just happens to match the paint color that I did a few years ago too! Before, nothing seemed to match and nothing seemed to "belong" in this room. Now it all looks like I meant it to look this way! LOL Thanks for stopping by! I have one more post today.

My Uncle's Wake

Hi Stampers! I am home from work today because I have to work on Saturday and the company doesn't like to give out a lot of overtime, so I am enjoying my day off with Jared.

I went to my Uncle's wake on Monday evening. I was extremely saddened that day while waiting for 7 0'clock to roll around. I was dreading the trip to the funeral home. When we arrived I was struck by how many people were there and that somehow, someway, we were all related. There had to be at least 200 people there in that little funeral home. Most of them I had never met! I did not take my younger two children, so they stayed home with dad and I took Katie, who is 18. When we walked in, we were taken aback because he reminded us so much of my dad, her grandpa. So to see him brought us to immediate tears. We were also struck by a picture taken in 1956 that was in the casket with him.........it was a picture of both my dad and my uncle ages 19 and 23, respectively, in a bar in Japan. I wasn't expecting to see that picture. This infamous picture was at my dad's funeral as well 8 years ago. I knelt in front of the casket and sobbed. I discovered that this picture was my uncle's favorite and that he kept it in a frame at his bedside all these years. One of my cousins made several copies of this picture and gave them to anyone who asked. I learned many things about my Uncle that night as well as my dad from all the people who approached me, many of which I met for the first time. It was amazing that so many people were my cousins and I didn't know them! They all spoke so highly of my father, which was heart warming.

My Uncle looked peaceful and he had all of his favorite things with him; his hat, his military ribbons and buttons, letters, pictures, and even a deck of cards. There was laughter and stories and many tears but most of all I felt an overwhelming love in that room. It was a beautiful wake and a lovely celebration of his life. His funeral and burial won't be until the spring and he will have full military honors.

He was a strong, happy, funny and very much loved man! He will be sorely missed. Thank you to those who left comments for me here on my blog and as SCS. Your support has been wonderful and appreciated.

Big Hugs!
Rachel

Sudden Passing of my Uncle & Information on JustRite Stamps

Hi everyone~ sorry I haven't posted in a few days; been a rough weekend. Starting with the sudden passing of my Uncle on Friday afternoon. Tonight is the wake and I am trying to decide if my younger two children should go or not. They have both said they want to go but neither of them have been to a funeral/wake and neither of them have seen a deceased person, so I am nervous and it's worrisome to me how they will react. Have any thoughts or suggestions???.........

I wanted to share some info on JustRite stamps that I find very helpful. Here is a valuable link about using them for the first time. If you are like me, have purchased them but haven't used them, OR you have used them and are unhappy with them, visit this tutorial that Sharon did for SCS.

Today I am just hanging out; cleaning, doing laundry, maybe some playing, but mostly being nervous about tonight. Please keep us in your thoughts today; I would greatly appreciate it!

Cuppa Love

Hi all! I missed posting yesterday; sorry about that! I wanted to share this card but I was out most of the day. So here it is....Supplies Used:

Stamps: The Stamp Barn (Ottawa, ON) Cuppa Love, Hero Arts Polka Dot background

Inks: Adirondack Pitch Black, SU Ruby Red, Pretty Ink Pink, Close to Cocoa

Paper: Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink from SU, Watercolor Paper

Accessories: Zig 2-way glue pen Squeeze and Roll, Crystalescent Glitter Pink Ultra Fine, Pop Dots, Ribbon from American Crafts, EK BrusH2O Pen Detailer Tip, Sponge

Do you like cute things?

Do you like cute things? And do you like cute things falling asleep? This morning I was watching the Today show and saw a man who started a blog with just videos of cute things falling asleep; like puppies, kittens, babies, bears, bunnies, and more! If you are an animal lover like me, and love any baby version of an animal, you have to check out his blog. It's so cute! Here's the link.

Well, it's the weekend! Yay! I got some new Nesties in the other day but haven't been able to use them yet. I plan to soon! I also have some ideas brewing for Valentine's Day projects. So stay tuned.....

Hopefully you all had a great week! What are your plans for the weekend? Thanks for checking in. I will be posting tomorrow and will have something cute to share with you! Big Hugs!

In Loving Memory...

Sometimes things happen in life that we just can't explain. It's amazing how our blogging friends become such a huge part of our lives, and that it's hard to picture a day going by without checking in with them on their blogs or receiving an encouraging word from them. They are friends just like the ones we have next door or in the next town. We become just as close and their friendship is unconditional. We share so much in common and share so many of the same pitfalls or frustrations. We also share the same excitement and joy when we've made something that puts a smile on someone else's face. We enjoy and cherish those friendships but don't always tell them how much they mean to us. I wanted to take this time to thank each and every one of you who come here to visit me, drop me a note, encourage me in some way, and open your own hearts and creativity to me every day!!! I can't tell you how much it has meant to me.
Joanne Johnson, {My} Adventures in Cardmaking, died suddenly on December 12th after touching thousands of people through her blog. Her family made a final post on her blog on December 13th. If you visit her blog you'll see that everything appeared normal even the day before her death. I have read many posts where Joanne mailed Christmas cards the day she died and those people received those cards on December 13th. This just amazes me; that life is that unpredictable. That life is just that short. We take so many things for granted. We live our lives sometimes with total disregard for how quickly it can be taken away from us.
This year, I plan to tell those I care about how much they mean to me, how much I care about them, how much I value their presence in my life, and how empty I would feel if they were gone. I speak from experience when I tell you that having regrets after someone dies is a horrible feeling!! Don't go through life wishing you had said something, done something or written something to someone. You can't get that time back, you can't get that opportunity back once it's gone. Live every moment as if it's your last!!
Please visit Joanne's blog, see her work, see her creativity, feel her spirit through her family's post and all the comment's left on that final post. Remember those bloggers who you visit everyday and just make sure you appreciate all of those friends you've made in this wonderful stamping world. Because each of them have been blessings just like each of you have been blessings to me!!
Thanks for visiting me today! Big hugs!!!

Get that thing outta my face!

Did that title intrigue you? LOL My Jazz needed a bath BAD and I thought that would be the perfect time to get a few pictures of him since he would be locked in the bathroom! LOL Well, here he is, Mr. Scaredy Cat! This is my daughter sitting on the toilet; yes she has shorts on! LOL And he has his head jammed between her back and the toilet tank! Could he be any more pathetic?? This is how much he hates the camera!Here I've coaxed him out long enough to give him a treat, but look at him........he's still got that eagle eye on my camera! LOL
Maybe if I stare long enough at this door, or press my nose really hard against it, it will open! LOL.

I just had to share these pathetic pictures of him! Thanks for stopping by and visiting! Did you see, I've changed some things again. I've re-arranged some elements on the page and I've added to my slide show. I also added a new feature at the bottom of each post. There are 4 little rating boxes. Isn't that cool? :) So now maybe it will help me with making my blog more interesting or helpful! Have a great night!

Teacher's Gift Set

Hi everybody! How is your weekend going so far? I have some pictures to share of one of the teacher gift sets for my daughter's teacher. They are really fun to make! The hard cover book is a blank-page sketchbook from Ben Franklin (Creative Habitat). I have also seen them at Michaels but I happened to be a Ben Franklin that day. The smaller book is a 2009/10 calendar that I found in the dollar bin at Michaels. I just took it out of the protective cover and recovered it with red cardstock and some pattern paper from the DCVW paper stack. The jar is from Michaels and the basket is from Michaels. I used my Cricut with the Mini Monograms cartridge to make the scallop circle and the regular circle. The scallop circle for the apple is from a Cuttlebug die. The apple is colored with Prismacolor Markers. I used white craft ink from SU to stamp the "make every day one to remember" and close to cocoa to sponge the edges of the scallop circles. Thanks for visiting me today! Have a wonderful weekend!

Bedtime Stories

Hi all! As planned, we took the kids to see Bedtime Stories today. It's a really cute movie! Very funny. Adam Sandler cracks me up and that guinea pig is so goofy looking! Great family movie!
After the movie, we went to Best Buy and I got a flash drive to clear up some space on my puter. And guess what?? I need to get another one! I had copied all kinds of documents to the flash drive and then I wanted to transfer some pictures over.....I discovered that the pictures that I download from my camera are taking up a whopping 4 1/2 gigs of memory!!!! OMG!! I didn't realize that they take up so much space! No need for that! So I may weed through them and delete some that aren't worth keeping and then transfer the rest to another flash drive. Crazy huh?
I also downloaded the trial version of a video editing program tonight. I can't wait to play with it tomorrow. Supposedly, you can download directly to You Tube. I get to play with it and see how easy it is for 30 days. Hopefully it isn't too difficult. I can't stand it when my computer has one over on me ! LOL
I am still dying to dig into my new JustRite Stamps! It's killing me that I don't have the free time that I used to. And I want to place an order for that Love You Much Bundle from Stampin Up! I see all these samples and I am chomping at the bit! LOL Tomorrow is going to be another sub-zero day so I imagine the kids and I will stay home and we can all play with our new toys! ;)
Anyway, hope you all had a wonderful time for New Year's Eve!! Nobody's left me any comments yet and I can't wait to hear what y'all did! Talk to you soon! Off to bed now...

Happy New Year!!

Woohoo Happy New year! I hope you all had a safe and fun New Years Eve!! We stayed home last night and watched Dick Clark, who makes me cry everytime I see him. :( We also put together a gingerbread house which I forgot to do on Christmas Eve! LOL. Lauren didn't have a clue, nor did she feel she missed out by not making it on Christmas Eve. Jared didn't want to make one unless he could just sit there and eat it! LOL.
Yesterday I worked until 3 and then went to Best Buy to look at movie editing software. Decided I wanted something and was going to get it until I realized my computer is ancient in computer world! I don't have a DVD drive. And I guess that's what software comes with now to download it to your computer! So I am investigating an online download. So far this video tutorial thing has me beat and when that happens, it drives me crazy until I come to a successful, or tolerable :), result! LOL. I will keep you posted....
Today we are hanging out. Kids can't play outside because it's less than 10 degrees out and with the windchill, forget it! We might go to a movie though. That would be fun. What are you doing today? What are your New Year traditions? Jot me a line; I'd love to hear what you guys do for ringing in another year!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!