a different kind of okay

Hello.

I'm having a hard time starting this so let me start by saying Thank You for all the kind words and thoughts and prayers that came our way.  They were very much appreciated. 

Thank you.

Let me show you a few of the thank you cards I made for Dad's nurses and other special people that made up his support team. 

Blooming with Kindness and Dictionary.  Crumb cake and watercolor paper.  Black Stazon and crumb cake inks.  Rose red, more mustard and garden green watercolor crayons, pearls and vanilla seam binding.

I know the watercolor crayons are discontinued but I'll never give mine up.  I don't seem to like stamping with this flower any other way.

This saying was perfect.  I don't know what I would have done without his great support team.  They really did make all the difference. 


I ended up driving to New Mexico by myself.  Well 2/3 by myself.  13 hours one way.  I picked up 19 at her school along the way.  It was the first time I've driven that by myself in 29 years.  I was looking forward to the alone time. The rest of my family flew in on the day of the funeral.

But after I had a little too much of my own head, I popped in an audio book.  19 received 2 audio books last semester, The Fault in our Stars and Divergent.  Let me tell you, 8 hours on the road with an audio book felt like 2.  It was AWESOME!  I highly recommend them if you are doing a road trip. I also highly recommend both of those books.  Good stories and the actresses that read them were great. 

On the way home, well on the way to dropping 19 back at her school, we had a little extra time and I got to do something I've been wanting to do for years. 

We went to the Barringer Crater! 

Okay, it says Meteor Crater on all the signs.  I was confused that I had the wrong crater there for a while.  But really, how many craters are there in Arizona? 

btw.....I asked and it is also called the Barringer Crater.

19 took this pic with her phone.  Pretty cool!  It was a perfectly beautiful day.  I'm glad the other yahoos didn't come with us because they would have said it was dumb.  I thought it was cool.  Thanks for humoring your old mom honey.  Shes a good sport.


One last pic and then we'll be back to our regular programming.

This was on each bed at the hotel.  Well thank you very much Hampton Inn.  I just thought it was kinda funny. 

Alrighty then, thats it for today.  Again, thank you so much for your kind words. 

Blessings, b.

{big sigh}

Good morning.  I can't believe its been a whole month since I've been on here.  Geez

Lots has been going on around here.  Mainly we went to New Mexico to see my dad early in Jan.  Since I did not get a Dec. Daily done this year I thought I would do a Week In The Life documentation instead. 

And now in retrospect, I'm so glad I did.


Here is a post I wrote about my dad a few years ago.......just to give you a little background

I used the Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors.  My Week In The Life album is 8.5x11 so I just cut these ones down.  I used clear packing tape to close up the open edges.  I also used the journaling cards from Becky Higgins.

The number stamp is the old Headline Numbers set.  I used regular whisper white cardstock for my larger journaling cards.  Becky, you should come out with some 4x6 journal cards.  Maybe you already do, I just haven't looked.

I am going to add a few last words to the back of this page.  I just haven't done it yet.  I'm so glad I got this done so soon after getting home because a few days later, my father passed away. 

I had a feeling it was getting to be time.  I knew before we got there that he was just waiting to see us all so we could say good bye. I'm so glad that we were able to.

We are going back next week for a memorial.  So it may be awhile again before I post anything.  I need to make thank you cards.

I am humbled and blessed to have such an outpouring of love and support from my friends.  Thank you all for being here. 

Blessings, b.

Love you dad.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

Blessings, b.

merry

Hidey Ho!  9 days left and I don't even have my tree.  We are waiting for 19 to get home.  Which she will be tomorrow.  Although the train is 3 hours late!  Really? 

Anyhow while I'm waiting for her to get on I thought I'd pop on here.  I'm not sure how a whole week has gone by already. 

Here we go:

Evergreen and woodgrain stamps.  Crumb cake, whisper white and real red cardstock.  Black Stazon, wild wasabi, whisper white and choc. chip inks.  Big shot, expressions thinlits, labels framelits and aquapainter.  


I really really love this card.  We actually made this card at the September holiday card class.  Once I got all the components cut out it was super quick and easy to get together. 

I love how the word goes across the window. 

Alrighty then, short and sweet tonight.  I haven't done much with the Dec. Daily.  My heart just isn't in it this year.  I'll get something together but I'm not going to stress out about it. 

I've placed an order that will get here on Wed. (I hope) so I can get my Christmas cards done.  Procrastination is my middle name ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

hello baby

I know, I know.  Why am I showing you a baby themed tag when its Christmas time?

Its just that I'm cleaning several piles off my desk in preparation for my Dec. Daily and it was sitting here. 

And babies are born at Christmas time too. 

Storybook Friends and Teeny Tiny Wishes sets.  Confetti white, marina mist and whisper white cardstock.  Pear pizzazz, marina mist, smoky slate, sahara sand, whisper white and black Stazon inks.  Deco label framelits, big shot, polka dot embossing folder, aquapainter, very vintage designer buttons and linen thread. 


We had a dual baby shower at work last week.  One boy and one girl.  Envision the girl tag with a melon mambo (because that is the only pink cardstock I have) tag.  There is actually a whisper white tag behind the marina mist one so I could write on it.  I used this in lieu of a card.

 

I just love the Storybook Friends stamp set.  For this, I inked up just the little lamby and left off the words.

You can hardly tell but I slid the whisper white ink pad across the raised polka dots.  

The Hubs thought the words, "hello baby" sounded like a pick up line.  Well, hello baby..................

Geez.

Alrighty then.  I do have lots of holiday type cards to show you but I really need to get my Dec. Daily up to date too.  I've got to get my rear in gear. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

November?

How did November go so fast?  I can't believe today is the last day. 

Tomorrow I'll be starting my December Daily.  Yes, I love Ali Edwards.  Here are my past Dec. Dailies, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 to inspire you.  I'm not at all ready for it this year.  I have been so preoccupied lately that I have nothing together or planned for it.  I'll worry about that tomorrow and show you what I get together. 

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?  19 came home on Wednesday morning and went home tonight :(
 I cooked up a storm on Wed. and Thur. and brought it all to my in-laws house.   We even did a little shopping on Thanksgiving. 

Yesterday 19 took me to see Catching Fire.  AWESOME MOVIE!!  I just got done rereading the book and a lot of the lines in the movie were straight from the book.  Really good.  But I saw that they are dividing up the last book into 2 movies.  That seems to be the thing to do lately. 

Alrighty then I wanted to show you a card I made a few months ago for 19. 

No Stamps!  Crumb cake, choc. chip and very vanilla cardstock.  Crushed curry ink.  Big shot, square lattice embossing folder, finishing touches edgelits, sweater weather DSP, gingham wheel, scallop circle punch. 


Now those of you that are One Direction savvy, know this phrase.  19 loves 1D.  

The sunburst is really easy to do.  I'm trying to remember but I think I cut the DSP into 1.5" x 2.5" rectangles and then cut them on the diagonal. 

Okie dokie that is all for tonight.  Thanks so much for stopping by and getting cozy.

Blessings, b.

I used the current leaf die this time!

Hey everyone!  I'm just hanging out tonight waiting for 19 to get on the train.  I can't wait to hug and kiss on her tomorrow. 

So I thought I'd show you a card I made with the Autumn Accents die.  Just in time for Thanksgiving.

Woodgrain background, Blooming with Kindness and Banner Greetings sets.  Very vanilla, choc chip cardstock.  Crushed curry, marina mist and crumb cake inks.  Big shot, chalk talk framelits, autumn accents die, naturals designer button, linen thread and sweater weather DSP. 

I have a pic of a Mini Muslin bag with these leaves on it.  There is no watermark on it so I have no idea of where I got the pic from, but that is where the inspiration for this card came from. 

After I got the tag part made I had to adjust the size of the card.  I ended up with a 3.5" x 5".

I don't have any Crushed Curry cardstock so I used my brayer and some very vanilla cardstock and made my own.  I then inked up the flower in Blooming with Kindness in Crushed Curry and stamped it. 

I also don't have Soft Sky ink which is what is in the Sweater Weather DSP.  So I took my Marina Mist pad and stamped off once and then stamped the tag.  It doesn't match perfectly but pretty good.  By the way, Soft Sky ink is on sale this week ;)  Apparently I need to place an order.

Alrighty then, she just got on the train.  Only 33 min. late.  I'm going to bed so I can get up really early to go get her. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Blessings, b.