Just a few pictures...

Today I designed my cards for my workshop next week.   They seemed to love the ones I did last month, so I hope these go over as well.   :)     The bottom picture is my poor Bandit.   He has a double cone of shame right now.   Hopefully he'll get to take them off on the 23rd when he gets his stitches out.    I have my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that this surgery works and we won't have any more nights at the emergency vet with a cat that can't pee.  

Project 365 What HAPPENED?

I know, I know!   Where have I been?!   I have to confess, life totally got in the way of my picture taking and I'm wayyyy off track with my daily pictures.    I hate that and figured it would happen, but not this quickly.   :(    I guess it is good to be busy, but it was something that I really wanted to complete this year.  

So what's been taking up my time?   Well, Bandit has been sick yet again and we did a lot of back-and-forth with the vet and the ER vet.   We finally reached the critical point where we had to make some decisions and as a result, he had surgery on Wednesday.   He is home now, but has to spend some time isolated AND wear that lovely cone of shame for 2 whole weeks.   He gets his stitches out on the 23rd, but there is a lot of care between now and then.   He is not happy about being in the bathroom alone right now, but I go in and play with him as much as I can.   He is so sweet and loving right now; I'm beginning to think I brought home the wrong cat!

My class is also taking up a lot of time.  We have homework due at almost every class and it takes some time to complete.   I am not a huge fan of my instructor, but I like the content so far.  

The weather has also been a huge factor in picture taking.   It has been freezing down here...like 32 degrees and below!    I have lost a lot of my tolerance to cold weather, so I can't get out and take pictures without shivering.    Texas isn't supposed to be this darn cold!  Brrr!

Finally, my stamping business is actually picking up as well.   Nothing to shout about just yet, but I do have some new customers that want to meet monthly.   I am also having a little success at selling some of my things at the consignment shop, so that takes time to do as well.

So, between kitty, work (still working part-time), class, and stamping, I am just struggling with time.  I need to go get ready for work right now actually.  :)   I'll put a few pictures below just to show a little of the last few weeks.

My sweet boy a few weeks ago.   It was so cold that even the kitties needed blankets!

 Our neighbor's big plant HATES the cold weather and totally crashed to the ground.

 One of the Valentine's cards for my recent class.

 What?   Freezing in Texas?  Yep.   No snow, but we did get ice on  a few days.   I hate that; if it is going to be cold, give me some pretty snow!

Here's one of the bookmarks I made to sell.   It is bright and sunny on these cold days and I love it!

Project 365 Day 17 thru 22

It's been cold on and off down here and the kitties are always in need of some snuggling.   Sometimes they will snuggle together, sometimes with us, and if we leave the bedroom door open, they will pile up on our bed down at the bottom where the electric blanket is.   I decided to take a nap and not long after I woke up, my quilt was claimed as the cat bed.   :)

I woke up to this on Tuesday morning.  :)    I guess the cat toys get hungry at night?    Or there was a lot of "mousing" and he needed to show me how hard he was working so he could be fed?    Such a silly boy.

Looks fun, huh?    I started my class on Wednesday.   I don't love it yet, but we'll see.  I've been doing homework all weekend and I'm a little grumpy about the quality and information of the textbook.   I have never been so thankful for all the information available online.  It helped me finish up my homework and figure out what the heck my book was talking about!

See what I mean about them crashing on the bed?    The blanket was on and it was a bit chilly in the house, so I couldn't get them out of bed on Thursday.   Thankfully they made room for me so that I could sneak in a nap with them.   :)

That about sums up the week.  It has been cold out and everything is bare and looks so sad right now.   I love the colder temperatures, but I miss the leaves and flowers.

I finally have another Stampin' Up! event!   I get to do a workshop/club type thing for 3 ladies this week and here are the cards I came up with.   I hope they like them.   I had fun making them.

Project 363 Day 11, 12, & 13

PSA:   Don't mix cleaners, especially one with bleach and one with ammonia.  I went on a major cleaning spree on Tuesday and in my haste to get the shower clean, I randomly grabbed cleaners without looking at the ingredients.   That's a huge no-no and as a former chemistry major, I know better than to do that.   I made some lovely chlorine gas and ran out of the shower coughing and not able to breathe.   Thankfully some fresh air, a nap, and a good husband who cleaned up my error was all that was needed to fix things, but it did scare me for a bit.   

I usually post my card pictures over on my card blog, but this one come with some news.  I finally started an Etsy shop!   Now before you get excited, it has 1 item in it, but hey, it is started at least.   I have no idea if I'll ever sell anything, but I figure I should try at least.   I am going to donate $1 from each card or item I sell to my favorite SMA fighters, the Strongs.   I just need to get more items in there and hope that it will help out a little.   I also need a shop name and I think a header or something, but I'm still figuring that part out.   If anyone has more knowledge than I do about all that stuff, let me know!   I'd love some help/ideas.

Today I decided to fall back in love with my old favorite, reading.   I went to the library and picked up a few random books that caught my eye.   I'm now on page 92 of this mindless book about a serial killer and totally enjoying getting lost in a world not my own.   It has been quite a while since I picked up a book and I need to do a better job of doing the things I love.   I have sucked most of the joy out of my own life and that's just not good.

What's I've been up to this past week...

My Stampin' Up demonstrator, Denise, was kind enough to give me this stamp set at our last meeting.  I love it!

Love, love, LOVE the butterflies!

I have a stamp set that is designed to use buttons as part of the image and I finally got around to making the cherries.   So cute!

Denise also gave me a pack of paper that included this sheet with trees and clouds.   I thought it worked great with another stamp from the button set.

I had no Father's Day stamps so I found this one at Hobby Lobby.    I think it made a nice elegant card.

All I can say is YUM!    One of the ladies at my stampers group made this a few months ago and I fell in love with it.   She gave me the recipe and Jason and I tried it out today.   It is so light and refreshing, perfect for the summer heat!

Here's the recipe:
Fruit Salsa
Ingredients:
1 c. finely chopped strawberries
1 medium orange, peeled and finely chopped
2 lg. or 3 small kiwi, peeled and finely chopped
1 8oz. can crush pineapple, drained
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions
1/4 c. finely chopped yellow or green bell pepper
1 T. lime juice
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced

Combine all ingredients and chill for 6 hours.  Serve with cinnamon crisps.

Cinnamon Crisps:  Cut 12 8-inch tortillas into 8 wedges.   Spread wedges on a baking pan and brush with melted butter.   Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.   Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until crisp.

I finally got around to making cards this weekend.  Here are a couple of them:

New Birthday and Valentine's Cards

A few new cards...

Just a few more recent cards...I've been back in my craft room making a few this past week while Jason was working. It keeps my mind busy so I don't sit around and think too much. We are still selling them to raise money for FSMA. I had been thinking about putting them on Etsy, but I honestly think the listing cost plus the selling fee would eat away at most of the money I'd make on them. They are doing okay at the consignment store where I have them right now and I'm thankful to be able to put them there. Suzanne has been great about helping us with any of our SMA fundraising events and I can't thank her enough for that.

Recent Happenings

We did one final bake sale last night. We stuck with baking whole loaves and selling just those plus some Amish Friendship Bread starters. I think we were able to raise around $200! Thanks a bunch to the Marnae, Kim, and Sara who helped make yummy goodies for the sale. A big thanks to Suzanne for thinking about us and letting us set up for her mom's night out event! She gave special discounts for people buying from our sale or bringing items for Ronald McDonald House. I'll have to take a picture of the HUGE tub of donations I have to take down there this week!

Just a few more cards I've made this past week. Christmas time is here!

While I was at the bake sale on Friday, one of the other vendors there came over to give me a wonderful massage using her essential oils. We were talking and she had been following our story from around the time Eli was first sick. During our conversation, she told me her sister had lost 3 babies to Werding-Hoffman. That is the older name for SMA Type 1. It was sad to hear of another family who had experienced this loss not once, but three times. Thankfully her sister does have a 13 year old who is healthy.

Tonight came the sad news that we lost another baby in the SMA world. Beautiful Owen lost his battle with this horrible disease. Please keep his family in your thoughts (and prayers if you pray) this week. My heart is broken for them.

Today made 10 months that we have been without our beautiful boy and I miss him more and more every day.

Cats and cards

My craft room buddy.
I had already packaged this one, but wanted to still share it.
I wish we had fall colors down here...

One of my new favorites

Purple crab

Cards

I need to learn how to take better pictures of my cards, but I wanted to share more of them. We are selling more of them than what I even imagined, so hopefully we will earn a little money for Unite for the Cure. I just enjoy the distraction and going to do crafts with Rebecca. The donations are a bonus. :)

Busy Day...

Best part is, we are actually going to sell them as part of our fundraiser! Merry-Go-Round in Kingwood has been sweet enough to let me put some in the store to sell for Unite for the Cure! Awesome! If you need cards, let me know! $2 minimum donation per card. :)