A Cheerful Heart is Good Medicine

This is my hubby on his Harley just 6 days after knee replacement surgery! And he is not just sitting pretty either ... Kevin zoomed off into the sunshine with his cane inside his saddlebag. I'm not sure if my sweet self is recovering from his surgery as well as he is!

We believe that you will never meet another set of faces on the planet that has been graced more than us! Throughout the time leading up to, during, and after surgery, a wonderful support system of family & friends showed us buckets of love. So many prayers, visits, calls, cards, emails, and help ... too numerous to count. I'd like to share a little project that Nurse Kay put together for sharing with our church family this morning.

First, I made two sets of tags. One girlie tag which represents the thoughts of yours truly, and a manly man tag that represents Hubby Harley. More tag detail later. While I was busy tag-making, a yummy Chocolate Zucchini Cake was baking in my oven. Several of our Sunday School friends have the gift of garden, and they regularly share with us. I like to say that going to church is like going to the Farmer's Market!

The recipe entitled "K&K's Knee Replacement Chocolate Zucchini Cake" is computer generated and adhered to cardstock. This is the best most moist slice of cake you will have this side of heaven! Works very well with apples too, instead of zucchini. It's a multi-seasonal recipe!

After cutting and wrapping cake slices, it was time to assemble gift bags. I used birthday party loot bags, which I have a fetish for whenever they are on sale. It's handy to have a drawer full of all shapes, sizes, and colors to use for cards, gifts, and the like. A fun tip from Mish that I enjoy is to clip bags closed with a decorated wooden clothespin, but I chose to use pretty ribbon for a tight closure on my food project. In short order, I had a basket full of goodies!

It was so much fun and more than a little humbling to distribute these thank you bags at church this morning! While some scurried to help Kevin find a seat as he trotted off on his walker, I mumbled a silent prayer for the blessing of ministry & fellowship of God's peoples, not to mention the enjoyment I had from this project after a very long week!

I used a Sizzix Scallop Tag Die, and Marvey oval and scallop punches for the stamped designs. I chose Proverbs 17:22 for my girlie tag sentiment -- part of a clear inspirational stamp set by Stampendous that I picked up a few weeks ago at Shipshewana (SHOPshewana!). The heart trees are from a past Unity KOM, and the thank you is from Papertrey's Vintage Picnic set.

"If You obey all the rules, You'll Miss all the FUN" is the perfect sentiment for my Hubby Harley's Manly Man tag! It's from The Paper Company Clear Stamp Set Playful Expressions which I scored at Michaels with a 40% off coupon! SO many good sentiments - SMILE! The tiny motorcycle (is that a dichotomy or what!) stamp is by Inkadoo and it has helped me make great wrapping paper and tissue on other projects! Have a beautiful day!

You Make My Heart Flutter

This month's Unity KOM is FABULOUS! Best investment on the planet and top notch style month after month after month. Today's card is for a 50th wedding anniversary for a very hip couple in our church. Who knew you could be so hip after being married for like-ever!

Didn't have a whole lotta time for this one, girlies! My hero husband had knee replacement surgery on Monday so my week has been a little more mixed up than usual. My cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder was already out on my desk, so I first stamped the Unity heart and colored it with copics, then I embossed it. What a pretty effect! A little bit of dotted paper compliments the "dot theme" together with a snazzy Unity "Happy Day" stamp! All cut with spellbinders rectangle dies.

Short-n-sweet and snazzy and full of Unity Hip! I'm telling ya, Unity stamps hold their own baby! No need for lotsa foo foo, if no foo foo time is available! But foo foo is ALWAYS good in MY book!

Nurse Kay Signing Out

Serving Up!

My good blogarooni friend Lori inspired me to post these pics using the SU chef set! This chubby chef can serve up just about anything! These are just two things he's served up lately!

One is a birthday card, serving up a cake which comes with the SU set. The other card is a graduation card, serving up a diploma from the $1 bin at Michaels. Both chubby chefs sport some happening bloomers thanks to paper piercing! Then I copic colored their jackets and embellished the buttons with brads. I used a sponge dauber to highlight with antique linen ink to add some depth. I thought chubby chef needed to be walking on a wooden floor, so I lightly inked the edge of an acrylic block and made "floor slats" to ground the big guy! Overall, these cards were just crazy fun to make! Thanks for the inspiration Lori!

Flower Girl

I didn't feel like coloring today, instead I felt like clean and simple lines. My Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder got a little workout with this bunch! It sure packs a great design punch, especially when mixed with an art stamp like this one! My camera didn't capture the colors well, so be sure to check out the Papertrey cardstock colors of Aquamist, Spring Moss, Berry Sorbet, and Enchanted Evening. Yummy!

This gift set has an assortment of different sentiments, taken from Papertrey Vintage Picnic Sentiments and Kim Hughes Silhouette Blooms II. So many cute ones to choose from! I bagged this set and clipped with a decorative wooden clothespin, and will be delivering it to one of my dearest friends for her b-day this week. We are both AUGUST b-day girls! And we are both turning 29 again!

The Good Life

What does one do when you retire? Some good friends of ours threw themselves a retirement party! About 100 peoples had fun in the sun, got wet in their swimming pool, and ate hot dogs and hamburgers until it was time to stuff ourselves with frozen fruit salad. I wanted to make a gift set of cards for HER and a separate gift for HIM - what do ya get the couple who has everything? So I made three additional cards to match up with this set and it was the perfect HER gift!

If you don't have a stash of Papertrey Clearly Creative Card Boxes, you are missing out on a clearly easy peasy way to package your talents! Tie with a pretty bow and wa-la! I knew that I wanted these three cards to say "The Good Life" so I computer generated it using word art shapes, inspired by the Karen Lockhart sentiment on this post.

The HE gift didn't get photographed -- sorry! I separately wrapped three of Rick's favorite candy (Neapolitan coconut bars) and paper crimped the ends before tying the entire stack with a bow and a "Good Life" tag. But wait! The good part is that I stamped black and orange cardstock with little motor cycles and the words "Happy Place" and then wrapped and crimped them. Did I mention we ride cycles together? :) It was cute! As cute as Harley coconut bars could be!

Be Still and Know

Early in the summer, we went on this road trip, and I scored this beeeeutiful rocking chair stamp! I remember every single thought I had at the time I saw this stamp. I taught my granddaughter to say Grandma Rocks as soon as she could talk! Also, I already had a stamp that says "You Rock!" So I'm betting you will see this rocking chair another time or three. But I can think of no better way than to christen this stamp than today's bible verse.Be Still and KNOW that I am God. Psalm 46:10. I wanted this scripture card to remind me that whenever I feel God's presence, or I feel He is working out details in my life, or I feel His love ... I want to challenge myself to replace the words I feel with the words I KNOW. Perhaps it is God's work in the small silly details of life that astonish us the most. A God who does things with personal significance only He and we could have known. So, let's be still and KNOW that he is God today.

Bible verse stamp is from Verve. And yes, Virginia, there really is a Top Note Die from SU and I finally finally finally got it! The pot of flowers sitting next to the rocking chair is from this stamp set used on this post. I paper-pierced the pillows - just think of the possibilities! I think this stamp really rocks!

Gardners Know the Best Dirt

A friend of mine loves to flower garden in the spring and summer months. So it gave me a chance to break out these new Lockhart stamps and make her a set of note cards. Patio Petunia's is a new release this year and it's a perfect match for the "best dirt" sentiment. You know those little plastic flower ID's that are stuck inside the plastic containers of flower flats? Wouldn't it be cute to gift a friend with a flat of garden flowers and simply add this sentiment on a lollipop stick in the dirt? Mental note for next year .... ha.

The funnest part of this stamp was paper-piercing the garden gloves. I remember having some pretty gaudy looking 99 cent ones over the years! A white ink-essential pen dots this pair of gloves and all the petunia centers. These colors worked great together for a summery flower feel, and I like the thin brown cardstock strip as a divider - just sets it off. These cards were so quick and easy. I stamped a white cardstock background with chocolate chip ink using Papertrey Polka Dot Bascis, which makes your DP papers s-t-r-e-t-c-h so much further since you are not covering the entire card front. I added a double row of two different kinds of scallop punches, and when I pop-dotted my stamped image on the card - wala it was done! "Best Dirt" sentiment was cut, embossed, and stippled with a Labels Trio Spellbinders die. I hope Donna enjoys these "dirty" cards!