With Faith We Bring HIM Joy! Card

What a wonderful theme for this time of year…. Summer days are shortening into Autumn, and there is so much faith that everyone shares, even if it is just that spring will come again.  The card I made is multipurpose, for celebration or comfort. I picked one of my favorite verses that comforts me knowing that because of my faith, the savior has joy… it’s a great thing to know.  There is some great gospel art to download at lds.org, the one I picked was here. I opted to make the card as a print and cut with my Silhouette… one way to make a nice looking card with one sheet of paper (well, two in this case as the picture below is just the pieces for the card front, not the card base).

And with a little bit of dimensional tape, voila!

What a weekend!

Last Thursday night I discovered my upright freezer had somehow managed to lose its seal just enough to start thawing out a good portion of it! I was desperate to not waste anything, and was blessed to be able to pass some food on to people who needed it... the rest has been in the process of being canned or made into meals for myself for the next few weeks.
So far I've canned 12 pints of Beef Vegetable Soup, 11 pints of Sausage'n'Beans, 12 pints of Italian Sausage Pasta sauce, and 7 quarts of chunky Chicken Vegetable soup (so chunky I could easily thin it down with more broth and serve twice as much, or simply thicken it for a chicken n dumpling meal).  I have about 8 lbs of burger that I will make into mini meatloafs, and more thawed frozen vegetables that I'm considering drying for future use.  I can't believe that I've run out of pint jars, or I would be making more canned goods.
For anyone who wants some great ideas on what sort of things that can be canned, and proper methods of canning, I highly recommend joining the YahooGroup "FoodPreservationDryingCanningAndMore" It is an email group, and fairly active, but you can always set your email preferences to reading from the web. Subscribe by sending an email here. I think you might have to also create a profile with yahoogroups before you can join as well.  I will say that I have learned so much from this group that it is well worth it!
Hopefully things will be back to normal at my house next week. I'm not going to start filling my clean and defrosted freezer until the end of September (the reason why is another blog post coming up soon!)!!!

A Simple Embossed Card with Glitter

I was a bit concerned with the embossed theme at the Card a Day Blog… I use embossing folders frequently, but not as the main thing on the card. Everyone’s creations at the Card a Day Blog are so different, I’m sure they’ve inspired you as much as they have me.
I made a quick and simple card. I embossed the card front, applied glue and glitter to areas of the embossed design (one color at a time), and then printed and cut the sentiment and adhered it to the card…. super simple!
I think the glitter was just enough to make it extra special.
Cardstock: Ivory coverstock from Staples
Embossing Folder: Stylized Flowers from Cuttlebug
Glue: Quickie glue pen
Glitter… Glitter Ritz Opaque Micro Fine Glitter: “Green Mist”, “Moss Green” & “Copper”
Sentiment: 4 card sentiments by Samantha Walker , a print and cut with my Silhouette, adhered to the card with foam tape.

Come back tomorrow when Cindy Foster continues with the embossed theme!

A Poem for My Love

I can not believe that this is my 100th blog post. I wanted to do something special for it, and to share something special with you.
I wrote a poem for my dear husband who passed away last December.  Last week as a family, we met to honor him in a place he held dear for work and family life.  It is not the greatest poem I have ever written (for rhythm or rhyme), but it is the most heartfelt.  I hope you enjoy it, and remember him too.
Marcel
Mon cher, when I think about the life you've had, and the changes you've seen
like hauling blocks of ice and driving dog sled teams
Living in a tent in Valleyfield long ago, is probably one reason
our home was always hotter than it needed to be
Having Nuns for teachers, using outhouses for pranks________(I’m sure there are lots of stories out there to fill in these blanks!)________
Having fun with brothers and sisters, no matter what happened
good times or bad, your love for them grew
even though sometimes your knuckles got bruised
Hunting and fishing
enjoying the woods
Playing hockey and
doing everything as well as you could
Joining the army, in the PPCLI
having adventures with Reo & Peggy
in old Germany
Returning to Canada, being posted out west
meeting Nancy, the mother of your family
your children - the greatest treasure you ever found.
You worried about them, regardless of age
but your love and pride for them grew
as they started their own families and went on their own
Mining you loved, and talent you had
you were one of the best, and the work made you glad
You did it with ease, although it was hard
and when you stopped doing it, it left a hole in your heart
Yellowknife, Remac, Campbell River, and hundreds of places you've worked
were really just places you supported your family.
Although Remac was the best, a place you remembered
for the fun that you had
at work and a home
it truly made your heart glad
So many things you have taught me:

• It doesn't matter where you are, or where you live
• be true to yourself and your family
• love with all your heart
• work, laugh, and cry hard

The last lesson you gave me is the hardest I've learned
I know you would have stayed if you could have
your body just couldn't
I cannot express more except to just say
You'll always be in my heart, until we meet again.

Slide Up Pop-Up Card

For “My Choice” for the theme at the Card a Day Blog, I took my inspiration from Biata at Split Coast Stampers on Youtube… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vjtaZoAqPw  (I love her videos, they are so inspirational!)
This is such an easy way to make a card that can be as elegant or fun as you want.  I wanted to make it quick, so I did all of my designing with Silhouette Studio to make my card front and embellishment.  The card took one page of card stock for the base (4.25 inches square, top fold), and one page of cardstock for the front and embellishment. It is a neat way to do a print and cut, and now that I have the base saved as a project on my computer, I can do another slide pop up card so easily!
You can easily make this card without a cutter… I just like doing print and cuts so I can get the whole card color coordinated easily. I’m not going to go in depth as to how to make it as the youtube video is so good at that part of it (and she does it without a cutter).
Here is my card in the program:

Not shown is the area of this paper that I used to be the slider, the paper that is just to the left of the top right image.
Once I put it all together, I simply wrote hello! with an gel pen in the surprise area created when the ribbon is pulled to pop up the card. I also “painted” the embellishment with ModPodge dimensional magic.
I just love the way it turned out, and think I will have fun with the technique in future cards.

Thanks for visiting from the Card a Day Blog! Keep those cards coming in the challenges there as they inspire us all so much! Check out the challenges for August and enter!!!
The themes for August are:
Your Choice · Using Die Cuts · Embossed (Wet or Dry) · Milestone Birthdays · With Faith
Oh! I almost forgot! I am going to do a tutorial this coming month on how I make print and cuts with my Sihouette program using a great and inexpensive program to make the tutorial… more news on that soon!!!!