If I could have you read on blog post, this would be it

Truthfully, I’d love for you to read all my blog posts, because usually I am blogging for someone else, but today I am just writing to get some things said.

I really hope you will come back tomorrow for the blog post I have scheduled.

Tomorrow is my RubberMoon post and it is a tribute to my mom who would have been 70 tomorrow.

She was born April 14, 1944.

She passed away in September of 2008.  When I think I have my mom, I still have so much grief and I was comparing it to how I feel about my grandma who passed away in 2002.

My grandma’s death doesn’t have the sting and deep ache like my mom’s does and I wondered why?  With my grandma, we all had ample time to prepare for her death.

She was on hospice care and died at home, my mom’s home, which is where my grandma lived from the time I was about 14 and on.

I wouldn’t say her death was peaceful, but she was ready and it was a relief to have her be at rest.

Fast Forward 6 years, my mom had been hospitalized and was in the ICU.  She wasn’t  a healthy person by any means.  She was very overweight, diabetic and had complications from both diseases.

She was in the hospital for something to do with her heart and her breathing.  They were having a hard time getting her to keep her oxygen levels normal and she was having a lot of trouble breathing.

I had visited her on a Friday night.  We lived about an hour away from where she was in the hospital.  I had 7 kids, ranging from 15 years to 1-year-old at home.  Getting to see my mom wasn’t an easy task.

 But I wanted to see her every day.  I couldn’t be there on Saturday and Sunday proved to be futile also.  I called in and spoke to the nurses but she was always sleeping and promised they’d let her know I couldn’t make it to see her but that I’d called to check on her.

Monday morning I got a call from the hospital letting me know that I needed to get to the hospital immediately, my mom had slipped into a coma and was unresponsive and was on life support.

They told me they could not get a hold of my dad and I needed to contact him as well.  Imaging having this stress on you, lining up child care and then being in control enough to make the hour’s drive alone.

I got to the hospital and met my dad there.  They were just wheeling her away to have a CT scan done.  They brought her back and we waited.  She was just a shell in that hospital bed.

The doctor came in with the bad news, she had suffered a brain aneurysm and was not going to come out of the coma.  The brain had been to badly damaged to ever recover.

We had 2 options, let her live on life support, or follow her wishes and take her off of life support and allow her to pass on.  This wasn’t even a thing to discuss.

 There was no way we could keep her in the vegetative state she was in.

Another doctor came in, a sort of 2nd opinion, and did all the tests they do to confirm that a person is “brain-dead.”

Here is where my heartache begins and never ends.  He checked her eyes, mouth, nose and different nerves, etc.

He lifted the sheet covering her feet and I caught a glimpse of the state her feet were in.  How badly she needed something so simple as a pedicure.

Diabetics tend to have unhealthy feet and hers had gone so long without being cared for, the image will never, ever leave me.

 I have big ol’ crocodile tears running down my face, even typing these words.

But, there is a reason I share this.  I don’t think anyone can ever hear enough that you have to live today like it could be your last.

You do not know when you say goodbye to someone, when you will see them again.

With my mom, I would do anything to have a better memory than the one I have when I close my eyes and I see her poor little feet.

I’d give anything to bathe those feet, clip those toenails, smooth those calluses and paint those toes a shiny bright pink for her.  She so deserved it and couldn’t do it for herself.

So, learn from this…look around you, who do you love?  Is there someone you meant to show kindness to?

Don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today, because, tomorrow they could be gone.

Thank you for reading, if nothing else, I needed to get this out.

Please take the time to watch this beautiful video that makes me think of my mom, every time I hear it.

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Authentique Paper Tribute

This was and extremely hard project for me to do.  I have to say that this is the first layout I have done and actually shed some tears.  My time with Authentique Paper is coming to a close, as many of us on the Design Team are wrapping up our assignments with the company.  For me this is by no means and easy thing.  I have gotten to know these people on a personal level and I have a deep love and respect for them, (you know who I am talking about BC & SWC).  So my layout today is a tribute of sorts to this company that I adore.

I am using a sketch from Tally Scrapper by my fabulous friend.

Here is the sketch:

But I rotated the sketch and used it this way..

I needed a title and settled on using the word, ELEGANCE.

Definition of ELEGANCE

1a : refined grace or dignified propriety : 

b : tasteful richness of design or ornamentation 

c : dignified gracefulness or restrained beauty of style :

There could not be a more perfect word to describe Authentique Paper and for the wonderful owners.

I am using mostly paper from the Genuine Collection. The base paper is from the Blissful Collection.

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Since a lot of the Genuine embellishments deal with friendship, it was the perfect choice for this layout.  I was very specific about the Diction stickers I used, only choosing those that described my feelings, mainly for sweet Samantha.

I had so much fun using real denim scraps and my sewing machine.

Denim, lace, pearls, the perfect combination with Genuine.

Top left corner..

Top right corner..

Bottom right corner…

Bottom left corner.

This has been quite the journey for me and I have to say I am not ready to say goodbye.

So, if you are still with me, just know that I have had the time of my life with Authentique Paper.  What and honor and privilege it’s been to design with these wonderful papers.

 On that note, a close-up of my hand written addition..

This note is especially for Samantha, but also to all of the staff at Authentique Paper…I love you all and will be your biggest fan…possibly FOREVER:)

This has been Jeannie from The Polka Cabana with today’s gushy post.(sniff***sniff)

Sketch Challenge…Are you ready???

As it is September 11th, I could not write a post and pretend that my thoughts are not heavy with memory of this day 10 years ago.

 This will be my “I know exactly what I was doing” when the events of 9-11-2001 happened.  This is a picture from a very old scrapbook of mine.  This was taken on 9-12-2001, our firestation had the flags at half mass and my kids were gazing up to the flag.

A friend of mine asked to have this message shared:

“On this 10 th Anniversary I would wish everyone take a minute and remember what happened on 09/11/2001. Don’t ever forget. Be humbled by the loss and strengthened by the heroism. If you see and member of the armed forces, thank them for their service and be respectful of this date. The date that will forever be etched into our lives and our Generation. May the Angel’s fly high and the lost soar to the heavens with the glory and peace as their comfort.”

I just wanted to share my thoughts before delving into the Crafty things I have to share today.

Now, to switch gears, to my project for today’s post:

One of the teams I am on, Paper Issues, is the sponsor for the new Sketch at Sketch Inspiration!

There will be a prize for a random participant with us on this challenge.  Here is the prize up for grabs.

This kit includes: Black and Kraft Dot Reverse, Black and Ivory Owls, Spooky Words on Ivory, Black and Kraft Ravens, Chocolate and Kraft Diamonds, Black and Kraft Mini Dot and Spooky Diamonds on Kraft from Canvas Corp.  One Sheet of Bazzill Swiss Dot in Black, Kraft Top Note Die Cut, Length of Black Maya Road Zipper Trim, 1 yard each of Canvas Corp Black Jute, Natural Jute, Maya Road Brown Satin Ruffle Trim, 1 yard of Orange Tinsel from Pink Paislee, Spider die cut, Tim Holtz Memo pin, Halloween clip, Candi pieces, felt flower, buttons, Canvas Corp burlap star, Maya Road chipboard pieces, mini spool, gingham flower, resin flower and Trinket Pins.
This kit will come in handy when you make your Halloween projects!

Paper Issues is dedicating the whole month of October to Halloween.

You can come back and link up your projects to win even more prizes!

We will be featuring some of the projects made with this sketch all week.

Hope you can play along!

If you go over to Sketch Inspiration you can view the details of the challenge, click HERE.

Here is our sketch for this challenge:

This challenge starts today, September 11, 2011 and goes through till September 17, 2011.

Right now on Paper Issues our theme is LEARNING CURVE.

I have a habit of forgetting my camera at home and had to ask for a volunteer for some 1st day of school pics…

Luckily I had a taker and here is my creation for them, based on the sketch above.

This was a fun, FUN page to make.

To begin with I have to put a plug-in for Tally Scrapper.com.

Most of the paper is from the September Tally Kit.  Fabulous things all matched and coordinated for you by one of the most talented designers I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

You can order yours HERE:

I thought the paper was perfect for this little girl layout! The apples are from a file from My Scrap Chick.

Everything else is just a mixture of coordinating things I had on hand.

I especially love the made up heart “APPLE”.  I love just making up my own things.

I used to think that things like dimension and sewing on pages was a total DIVA thing, but I guess I have turned my self into a DIVA because now, I love to sew and add dimension to my pages and cards.  I have learned to never say never, that’s for sure!

I know you will love the prize shown at the top of this post.  You have a week!

Meaning a whole week to get a layout done and get yourself entered for that prize.

Get yourself over to Sketch Inspirations, get the sketch printed and start scrappin!

If you do, link back to me or let me know so I can see what you have created!

For now..I am off to clean up one very messy and unorganized scrap room!

Wish me lunch and have a great rest of your Sunday.

Cheery Lynn Designs and Core’dinations go Native!!

Today I am paying tribute to my heritage. I am Native American and part of the Navajo tribe.

I was inspired to focus on some Navajo designs for today’s post.

Here are 2 of my favorite images I found that my cards today are based off of.

Where do I begin to tell you what Core’dinations paper and Cheery Lynn Designs dies I used?

For my paper I used paper from the Core’dinations Whitewash and Vintage Collections.

As for dies, I used the Fanciful Flourish as a mask for the card base and sprayed some Turquoise Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist to create that beautiful background. I then took as assortment of dies and cut and or embossed all the detail for my “pottery” vase. The pottery base was embossed with the Burble/Cheesecloth Embossing Plate. I used the following dies, listed in order from the bottom of the vase and working my way up. Japanese Lace, Wittle Wicker, Border Carnivale, Ribbon Eyelet w/Piercing, Pennant, Japanese Lace, Border Carnivale, Daisy Chain and Heart Chain.

For my lettering, I used the Optimistic 1/2″ dies. Ya’at’eeh means HELLO in Navajo.

I did a lot of sanding on these cards, I mean a lot. Core’dinations has a wonderful tool called the Sand It Gadget which makes sanding pretty painless. I do want to pass a top secret Polka tip onto you however. If you have narrow pieces or small pieces like I do in today’s cards, lie the Core’dinations paper “sanding needed” side facing up on a piece of fine sandpaper. You can see in my photo below I have all my pieces on the sandpaper, the Sand It block is pictured towards the back. By placing your pieces on top of sandpaper and then using the Sand It Gadget, your pieces will stay put! The sandpaper underneath works like velcro not allowing the paper to move while you sand. You still want to hold the pieces in place while sanding, but trust me this works like magic!

For this card I mostly used paper from the Core’dinations Black Magic Collection.

I cut paper in 4 different colors with the Dottie’s Ric-Rac die. I cut pieces from both sides of the paper and then intertwined them together.

The yellow frame is the Japanese Frame. I also used the Stitcher plate on the black background to give it texture.

I used tons of extras on this to make it special. I used twine, hot fix silver studs, jewelry findings, glass beads, silver charms ribbon and silver string.

What do you think? So colorful, don’t you agree?

I hope you enjoyed seeing my cards today!

I might have to mail these to my Grandma…look at her, isn’t she adorable?

Now be sure to hop on over to the Core’dinations blog and see what their DT has made with the Cheery Lynn Designs dies….

Have a Fabulous Friday and a great weekend.

This has been Jeannie from The Polka Cabana.

A Cheery Lynn Designs tribute to The Girl in the Garden

For one of my other jobs, I get to Book Reviews for the SIMPLY STACIE blog.

On June 22, 2011 my review of THE GIRL IN THE GARDEN was posted.

To see the review go here.

The book was WONDERFUL.  

Now if it wasn’t enough to have a fabulous book sent to me to read and review,

I was able to interview the author, KAMALA NAIR also.

My Q & A with her is located at:

http://simplystacie.net/q-a-with-kamala-nair-author-of-the-girl-in-the-garden/

There is some sort of GOOGLE thing that will not allow me to put the whole content here on my blog,

so be sure to head over to SIMPLY STACIE to see the interview.

For our CHEERY LYNN purposes, you can see, this card is a tribute to the wonderful book cover of The Girl in the Garden.

Isn’t it a GORGEOUS cover?

Here is my card based on the cover.

Here are the 2 side by side.

This was my first time working with the new die called EMPEROR’S SWAN.

I was amazed at what an easy time I had cutting this out. My secret?

My brand new CUTTLEHUG Metal Adapter Plate.

You can see how intricate and delicate this die is; the CUTTLEHUG made this painless for me!

I also used the VICTORIAN PICKET FENCE, TROPICAL FLOURISH, GRASS BORDER and PRETTY PETAL.

I hope you like what I have created today.

Be sure to see these 2 links for a chance to win a copy of this book!  

Chance #1 – http://simplystacie.net/book-giveaway-the-girl-in-the-garden-us-can/ 

Chance #2 – https://polkacabana.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/good-news-and-giveaway/

As for my card, I will be sending it to Kamala Nair🙂

The winner of the BOOK GIVEAWAY on my blog will get a duplicate of this card for themselves too! 

Be sure to leave me a comment on the Book Giveaway post and This post for a chance to win this card.

If you ever get in a rut and need inspiration, it is really all around you.

Do you have a stack of books?

Go look through the covers and if one inspires you to make a card, I’d love to know and see it!

Look everywhere there is beauty and ideas everywhere!

My challenge for you is to go out and find it somewhere unexpected:)

This has been Jeannie from THE POLKA CABANA with today’s post!

Products used in today’s post:

EMPEROR’S SWAN

CUTTLEHUG Metal Adapter Plate

VICTORIAN PICKET FENCE

TROPICAL FLOURISH

GRASS BORDER

PRETTY PETAL

A long overdue gift…

If a law were to be passed that said we all had to change our names to highlight our hangups or weaknesses, my name would have to be, “I really meant to, had the best intentions, where did the day go, DeGruccio.”

I have a wonderful friend and co-worker.  I have had many plans over the 7 or so years I have known her to MAKE things for her.  Awhile ago I made her some cards and she loved them so much, she said she’d never use them..oops!  So, I knew the next time I made her something it’d have to be a gift that she did not need to give away. My lovely friend is a Krishna Devotee.  Now, before you think back on any movies you have seen with Hollywood’s version of the Hare Krishna’s, that is not Judy. 

 I tend to be somewhat open-minded when it comes to religion.  I mean that I think in this life we are living, there really needs to be more acceptance and love for the religions we have.  We were not put on this earth to judge one another or ones, beliefs, that is not our place.  Maybe I am more open to listen and appreciate other religions because I myself, belong to a church that the mainstream media loves to distort.  Goodness, I think there is even a HBO show that has tried to bring back the whole idea that our church still practices plural marriage!  ****ROLLING MY EYES!!!!*****  Since my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, tends to be a religion that some love to hate, I am very sympathetic and unwilling to believe stereotypes of others too easily.

Judy, has to be on of the most gracious, kind, peaceful, loving unselfish, (I could go on and on here..) people I know.  I would trust her with my life and would do anything to help her, or make her happy.  She is just GOOD! 

Keeping that in mind, and back to my LONG OVERDUE GIFT, I have had an idea of something to make for her for a while.  This is where one of other favorite people come in.  THERESE TRAVIS, the brilliant artist behind all my fairies and other creations, made an Angel for me, based on Judy.  I emailed her this picture of my friend:)

This is Judy at home in front of the Temple that she and her hubby built on their land.  It is truly beautiful and they welcome, any and all to come and visit. 

 Without further ado, here is the Angel Judy.  This is the DIGI STAMP version.

 

Here is another picture, I always love to try to photgraph the layers and detail.

 

Now, because Therese is just AWESOME, she also did a .svg file for me.  Here is a larger version of Angel Judy, done on my Cricut.  I thought I was done and then I realized I’d forgotten to put her earrings on!  OOPS!

 

Here she is with her earrings, some additional work to her hair and her wings!

 

Another close-up for you.

 

My little ones, seriously could not keep their little hands off the finished product!  My 6yo son looked at Angel Judy and said, “Mommy, you are just so good at making crafts!”  Is that sweet or what?

Lastly, Judy had asked if I knew how to make business cards.  So keeping that in mind while photographing Angel Judy, I was able to turn my creation into a Digital image to use over and over again.  I knew she wanted her name on the front(she thought I was going to use a photograph of her) and on the back she wanted her chant written.  As soon as I got done with her real gift, I whipped this business card up.  I told her we can fine tune it to suit her needs, but she just smiled and said, “I LOVE THEM!”

 

I hope I have kept your attention for this whole post.  I have some around me who do not understand why I make things.  It might seem like a waste of time and yes I have a house that could be much cleaner, if it were not for my hobbies.  But, the look on Judy’s face and the pure joy I knew she felt to look at and hold what I made for her, reminded me why I do this.  Not for freebies, not for money(although that’d be nice…right?)  I do it because, I love creating things and even more, I love creating things FOR others.  Might seem crazy, but that’s me!

Thanks for joining me again.  Remember to stop by THERSE’s PAPERFACES DESIGNS and of course check out RHINESTONE HUES  inventory while you are there.  This project would not have been possible without either one of them!

Valentines with Cheery Lynn Designs and Sweet Stamps

This is a very FULL post today!  You are getting a 2 FOR TUESDAY, a DOUBLE WHAMMY a 2 FOR 1 deal today. 

Since this is my 1st post for SWEET STAMPS, let me share my creation I have made with their things first.

 

Sweet Stamps will be having challenges for all to participate in.  The winner of these weekly challenges will receive a $20.00 shopping spree at Sweet Stamps.com.

This week our challenge is PINK.  Create something PINK.  Here is what I came up with. 

 

 

The Sweet Stamps I have used in this card are:  CHERRIES 311 and CHEERY HELLO 9024.

 

 

Just look at all that PINK!  Do you all know how much I love Cherries? 

 

 

The inside of the card gets a Cherry too!

 

 

One last look at my card, I just love this one!

 

 

Be sure to head on over to Sweet Stamps blog.  See what the other Design Team members have created for you to look at for the PINK CHALLENGE.  Remember, if you play along and you are the weekly winner, that $20.00 shopping spree at Sweet Stamps.com could be yours!

 

 

Now we will switch gears and move on to my Cheery Lynn Design project!

 

I think it is great fun to dedicate posts to people who have inspired me.  So, todays post is dedicated to CASSIE BOX.  She has inspired me for today’s project.  I have to say she is the BANNER MASTER. 

 This is my CHEERY LYNN version of what she does best!  Actually she does it ALL best!! 

I have wanted to make one of these for a while.  Have you seen a ROUND one of these somewhere?   I haven’t and thought it’d be great to try.

 I love the way it has turned out. 

My LOVE banner.

Here is a close up of each letter. I used some large letters I had and on each letter I used the OPTIMISTIC font dies to spell LOVE.

The heart buttons are from the BUTTONS5 set. The ladybugs are from LADY BUG FRAME.

 

The backgrounds and base are made up of the CIRCLE – SCALLOPED STACKERS
and the ITALIAN FLOURISH DOILY. 

 Let me pause a moment to say here, that the ITALIAN FLOURISH DOILY, just might be the best die in the world.  I am so in love with this doily die!

 

My flowers are my own made up version of the roly poly’s you see everywhere. But you have not seen those roly poly’s paired with these beautiful leaves from the DIMENSIONAL LARGE LEAVES #1 collection.

 

 

There you have it! My Valentine’s Day banner!

 

Hopefully I have inspired you!  There is still plenty of time to create things for Valentines.  Get your dies, paper and glue out and make something fabulous!

 This has been your Cheery Lynn designer JEANNIE, hope you all make yourselves a great day!

The Cheery Lynn Designs dies used in today’s Cheery Lynn projects are: OPTIMISTIC font dies, BUTTONS5 set, CIRCLE – SCALLOPED STACKERS,ITALIAN FLOURISH DOILY, DIMENSIONAL LARGE LEAVES #1, LADY BUG FRAME and WITTLE WEAVERS.

Cheery Lynn Designs used in today’s Sweet Stamps project are:  DOTTED SWISS and FRENCH PASTRY DOILY.

Are you ready for a Tiffany Doodles Challenge?

Late post here.  Sorry, I have been at WORK all morning.    There is a new Tiffany Doodles challenge for you starting today and there are a few changes to note.  First, the challenge will last for two weeks.  Second, we want to encourage you to use your Tiffany Doodles images — a $10 voucher for the Tiffany Doodles store is up for grabs for a project using a Tiffany Doodles image. 

 An additional $5 voucher is up for grabs for any other entries (TD image or non-TD image).

So our challenge to you is to create a Valentine’s or love themed project.  Tiffany has some fabulous digis in the store that will work perfectly for this.  For my post today, I have made 3 different cards with the same stamp.  I use the digi stamp called STAINED GLASS HEART.

Here is my 1st card:

This was a joint collaboration with my 12 year old daughter.  I told her to color it in any color scheme she wanted.  After she colored the base, I added the glitters and the lacquers.  I think it turned out GREAT!!

 

Card #2 is just a “TOTALLY ME” card.  I love everything about it.  I used my new dies called Wittle Weavers from Cheery Lynn Designs, to create the base of this card. 

 

There are actually so many steps to making this card, I will not bore you with all the detail.  You can just look and enjoy it and know that I did indeed put A LOT of work into it!

 

Since I called my last card a ” TOTALLY ME” card, I guess I need to call this next one the “TOTALLY MINE!” card.

A lot of us on the Tiffany Doodles team think Mr. Bon Jovi is great eye candy, so this card is for ALL OF US!!

I hope you have enjoyed my Valentine’s today!

Make sure you check out the other fabulous DT creations.

Tiffany Doodles

Tiffany Richards

Collette Landwer

Donna Mikasa

Jeannie DeGruccio

Jill Foster

Jodi Ann Lee

Joy Taylor

Karen Baker

Kim Schofield

Lindsay Amrhein

Lisa Summerhays

Pattie Goldman

Peet Roeven

Shannon Neparko

Simone Naoum

Sue McRae

Willemien Katerberg

 

Also, go by the Tiffany Doodles blog to read all the guidelines and extra info on the February Challenges. 

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!!

 

Never forget, the REALLY important things!

This is going to be a very small post today.  I have been on a Mini Vacation with the hubby and our two smaller kids…

He says, not much of a vacation for me, because I would not allow the little ones to stay at home with someone else.  When my kids are little, I have never been one, who could just leave them.  Even for a vacation.  Oh well!

My thought is that, hopefully when they are older, that is my time for quiet vacations.

Hey I allowed the other 5 to stay at home (Note, they are all older, and are staying with friends, etc.)

Tomorrow I will get back into the swing of things.

 

Today I have a lovely tribute to share with you.

Awhile ago, my Groovy Team Leader, GROOVY DEB, had asked us to all compile our PINK projects together.  As it turns out, I guess I use PINK  A LOT.

We were not able to get this put together in time to share with you in October, but that does not matter.  The message is still the same.

In Groovy Deb’s own words,

“PLEASE take the time to listen to the beautiful words of songs by Mercy Me playing as you take a look at the women we have lost, women we love still, the women who are not even grown women yet.

…Sorry we could not show this in October, but EVERY month should be October when it comes to this cause!!! We are in this together, so please fight for the cure so that WE Women stand united against the uninvited!!!”

I hope you take the time to watch this, I loved putting this together for the IF IT’S GROOVY blog.

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