For Quintin...Football Is Life!

Hello Friends!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! We are finally getting some much needed rain!

Today's card was made for my grandson, Quintin. He just played starting quarterback for the first time (as a junior) on the varsity team! He played the entire game and they won!! 10-0!! We are so proud of him! The entire team was so supportive and they all rallied as a great team!

Quintin is not just a good football player but a wonderful young man. He works hard at school, helps his single mom with a much younger sister and two foster siblings, smiles for everyone and, best of all, he is not ashamed of his relationship with God! At sixteen, he is quite the fellow!! OK, I'm through bragging now! I just can't help it when it comes to my grandchildren!!

I started with a base card of SU Brilliant Blue. I layered white cardstock next with a punched and faux stitched border. A layer of stashed patterned paper was next. The football player was made with a clipart image. The sentiment was cut with the Sports Mania Cricut Cartridge. A simple card, but I thought I should let my grandson know I was proud of him!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! It is always a joy to hear from you! Hope you will come again! Have a wonderful week and I send you all...

Blessings,
Vicki

Glitterbees Challenge Thankful

Hello Everyone!

Today I have a very special card to share with you! It is for the Glitterbees Challenge to use Teal, Peach and Orange hosted by Amy! Even more than the challenge, this card represents how thankful I am that a turn of events this week had a blessed outcome!

This past weekend my girls' father and my former husband suffered a heart attack. He made it to the hospital and after a battery of tests, it was found he had blockage in almost ninety percent of his arteries. This is a retired US Marine with a family history of heart disease. The sheer fact he made it through the attack was miraculous! He had quadruple bypass surgery on Wednesday and came through with his usual Marine style. Surgery was completed early with a very short recovery time and he was off the heart and lung machines, breathing tube out, sitting up and talking in less than three hours! Even though we are no longer married, we share two wonderful girls and he is very important to our lives. Needless to say, there was much prayer going on and stress levels were still high. We are all blessed that God's grace and mercy and healing are evident in our lives. That is why this card is even more special to me. I am so thankful for the blessings and love that covers me, my family, my friends, and, yes, even the man I was once married to. Thank you for letting me share this story with you and for all the prayers and good thoughts that came from my wonderful blogging friends!

I started with the deep orange card base and adhered DP stock from the DCWV Fun in the Sun Stack. I was a little perturbed that the base stock peeled even though it was scored. So, plan B was to distress all the edges! I was actually happy with the look afterwords. I punched an accent flower and added a button to the center. I also added buttons to the flowers printed on the DP stock. I used dental floss for thread in the buttons. I stamped the "Thankful" sentiment with a Fiskars stamp, which is a candy prize from Ms. Loretta, in Chestnut Roan Chalk ink.

I haven't decided what I am going to do with this card yet. My first thought (and the one I will probably go with) is to display it in my craft room as a constant reminder of all I have to be thankful for!

Sorry for the long post! I don't usually like to share too much personal info here, but I felt I needed to share this with you and maybe remind us all again of the many blessings we share in our daily lives! I hope you will visit again soon as I am planning a much more festive post the next time!! Have an awesome weekend and hug those you love with a little more gusto, OK??

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Happy 101st Birthday Aunt Ethel!

Hello Friends! It was a busy weekend but we had a family milestone reached again! My Great Aunt had her 101st birthday! We are all amazed and thrilled that she gets around as she does and still knows most of us. She still works her word find puzzles everyday, too!

It was a wonderful celebration with family and friends! We all enjoyed the cake and ice cream! But no one as much as Aunt Ethel! The picture shows her in all her Christmas finery right down to the birthday crown!

If you think about all the changes she has seen in her years, it is mind boggling. She saw cars driven for the first time, the first telephones, the beginning of radio and television just to mention a few. It was a hoot to watch when she used a microwave oven the first time! She taught elementary school for almost forty years so you can imagine the changes she saw as the curriculum changed! Wow! We are so proud of her and so fortunate to have shared her stories and tales!

Thanks for letting me share a little about this very special lady. My hope now is that the "gene pool" trickles down a few generations!! I am now living in the house she was born in and I feel the presence of each of them here every day! It is wonderful to be one of seven generations to share the experience!

I hope each of you has a blessed Christmas and gets a chance to be with family and friends this holiday!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Thankful Days !!

Hello Everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was truly blessed as we gathered with dear friends and shared a delicious buffet feast! For those who could still move, we cleared the table and brought out the sales flyers! There were five pounds of those things in our local paper! Five pounds!! Imagine the trees we could have saved! But, being the people we are, we succumbed to the urge to shop! We made our lists and then made plans for Black Friday! We left at 4:30 AM the next morning and shopped til we dropped! Literally! We found a few bargains, but mostly just enjoyed ourselves looking and watching. There are going to be some very happy children come Christmas morning if what we saw is an indication!

I hope each of you had a fun relaxing time (once the food was served) and were able to be with ones you love for this very special holiday!

Even though we get caught up in the hooplah of the business world, we still take the time to share what we are thankful for. I am most thankful for my Savior who died for me that I may have eternal life. I am also thankful for the eyesight I have been left with. I so enjoy my crafting and cooking and seeing all those I love and hold dear. Which leads to my gratitude for each of you! You make my world such a better place with your love, support and inspiration! Each day is enriched by your thoughts, comments and suggestions! God bless you!

Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company....wait! That's a song, isn't it?!?! Sorry Mickey! Now it's time to concentrate on my favorite time of year. I love everything about the Christmas season! I love celebrating the birth of our Lord and the giving spirit we all share! I pray that each of you knows the beauty and peace of this holiday all year through!!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Sweet Dreamers Challenge A Blessing Is Born

Hello Everyone! We are doing the Happy Dance with the Sweet Dreamers as one of our own has given birth to a baby girl! It's so exciting! Welcome Lilah Marie!
The card I made for the occasion was a labor of joy! Pun intended!

I used a white card stock base and then layered the pink stock that was stamped with a flourish stamp. I also dry embossed this layer with the D'vine Swirl folder and cut the corners with a deco punch. The black layer was stamped with an image from PSX and cut out with a Labels Four Nestie. I used deco scissors to make a white layer in between. The black layer was also sponged with craft white ink. The sentiment I printed on a ribbon tag cut with Nesties. I threaded white organdy ribbon and attached it to the card with dimensionals. I then punched two small holes at the top of the black layer and inserted the white ribbon again for a bow.

It is so much fun to be creative when you have such a blessed occasion to celebrate! Now we want to see pics of the little one!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in our celebration! Hope you will come back often!

Blessings to you,
Vicki