Mystery Virus

I have not fallen off the blogging planet but I am dealing with a mystery virus that has attacked my joints acting like extreme arthritis. It has made it painful to walk, do much with my hands or hold and open just about anything. My terrific husband has been incredibly helpful, I would be in big trouble without him. The docs have taken lots of blood and are running tests for a host of fun causes but nothing is conclusive at the moment. The hardest part is being limited and that includes not stamping. :( I am hoping the new medication I started today will show some good results quickly and then I will be back to stamping and blogging.

Thanks so much for visiting and I will hopefully be up to stamping and blogging again real soon!
Kirsten

Just when I said I wouldn't, I did

Yup, I did say posting would have to wait and here I am. I'm not trying to keep you on your toes, I just had a moment and thought I would post more cute stuff from Saturday.

Here is a 3-D WOWZER swap I got from Kerin Sylvester. It is an awesome CD tin (the best part is I have some already!) that she decorated.

I know how you feel, really I do!

My kids with their cousins and a few more to make a fun 8th birthday party for Carter this week.

I have a few (ha, ha, that number is all relative) favorite blogs I like to visit most days. They are a little bright spot and when they are not updated it is a little bummer. And MOST days I have my routine and schedule. That routine enables me to keep general order and accomplish one or two things that I like to do, not just have to do everyday like post to the blog, or stamp (hardly ever both in the same day), see a Friend or deep clean a spot. This week has had absolutely NONE of that!!! The kids are home from break and it has been a constant run of play dates, birthday, and people coming to the house. As we speak there is one crying, one asking for more food and one wanting to know when the play date is today! I have been grateful for gorgeous weather to play outside but NOTHING else has gotten done. I need them to all go away for one day and I could be superwoman and clean top to bottom. Then the good mom kicks in and reminds me cleaning won't matter but being with them will. Someone tell that to my guests on Sunday! :) And if you happen to be at my house this week, just pretend not to notice the dirty windows and floor and piles of clean laundry not folded and put away.

Well, that was a fun rant. You probably skipped it just looking for the goodies. I have lots of them from the weekend as promised. Let's start with this. This card is what I did for my WOW card. Do you think it was worthy?
This was a book I bought at the dollar spot at Target. I took it apart and modified it by adding the envelope pockets and then making it pretty then I gave it away as a birthday gift.



You'll probably see me next week and if it is before Sunday then you can really be shocked. I hope you are enjoying nice weather where you are!

It all started so simple but then...

I am stamping like mad this week. In between all the other weekly craziness I have been stamping up a storm for these 3 wow swaps I have due. And if you know how I create, just coming up with an idea can take a while. There can often be several different prototypes before I am satisfied with something. Here is how the wow card swap started. Basically a wow card needs to have some moving part or involved detail that takes it a up a notch . So I wove ribbon around a piece of CS. I thought it looked cool but then of course it was not enough so I just kept going. You will have to wait for those pictures later after I swap.

The other two swaps are 3-D. That means something other than a card or scrapbook page. Here are some good examples from the class I told you about the other day.

I forgot about these!

I have been busy this week and there is no sign of slowing down for a while. This week I have two workshops, the kids all school show, a class at Keene State and 3 WOW swaps due Saturday at a honkin' big fun Spring Fling! Did you get all that? :)

I actually have lots of things to post after the weekend so I do not spoil any surprises BUT I found some things I made at a class that I forgot about and thought you might like to see them. If you are a touchy feely person like me, they will be at the workshops this week, provided I remember!

Here is the first one. Love the bright colors. The clipboard is SU but the paper pad is not. All other paper, ribbons, stamps, etc are all SU! So pretty. One of my 3-D wow swaps was inspired by this. How was that for a hint?

The Birthdays of FABULOUS ladies!

Today and tomorrow happen to be the birthdays of two fabulous friends of mine. Happy Birthday to Avril!! And Happy Birthday to Marilyn tomorrow!!


I got a stamp a little while ago and have been waiting for just the right occassion. I do a lot of cakes but have to say I would much rather paper craft!!!! So in honor of these fab ladies how about a card with a picture of me giving them a cake? Is that cheating?

If you ladies see this first, you know what will be on your doorstep just as soon as I finish posting this! :)

Feels like spring

This stamp set makes me so happy. I really enjoy coloring and this theme of having time for others. I actually stamped the bench about 8 different times on watercolor paper and colored them all a little differently. I am slowly making each one into a card. I am sure you will see the others soon. This park bench looks so inviting.

Nice weather means no blogging

This is a pic of Makenna and Fran on Tuesday. It was so beautiful that after lunch we set up the chairs and hammock and enjoyed a warm afternoon together!

I had the nicest e-mail from a kind friend checking on me today. She was worried about me because she had not seen a post in a while. It was so sweet and I felt bad that I had not posted. I have lots of things I have stamped but the beautiful weather has had me outside with the kids. I know the rainy weekend is coming and I am trying to soak up as much warmth and sunshine as I can after a VERY long winter!


Here is a variation of a card I made for a friend and posted earlier. This one is a little more 3-D with the pearls and cut out butterflies. The ribbon is SU specialty ribbon and I love the velvet look with the pearls.

The weather does not look like it will be able to hold out another day for tomorrow so there will probably be posts again. :) Is that good or bad news?

Let there be light!

There are lights in the basement! Lots of them, but none in my little studio. Those will come next but that means shutting down the room for a few days. Sacrifices!

Ok, the snow did not last long so I am back to stamping spring time again. The flowers are from the Doodle set. I cut them out and curled the petals back then stuck them to a glue dot with bling in the middle. Do you see the clouds in the sky? Used a scallop circle as a stencil and lightly sponged with white to make the contrast. A little too uniform, will have to work on that.

Not an April Fool's joke

When I saw the snow this morning I was not happy and a friend suggested it was a really bad April Fool's joke. I am not laughing. I made a card to go with the dark feelings and actually like it for a masculine card. Do you think a masculine card can have bling? Now that I put the sparkly brads in the giant eyelets I want to do more. Layers of accessories, what could be better?

For my friend.

A good friend of mine is spending some unexpected time in the hospital this week. I feel bad especially since it all started on her birthday and I did not even remember it was her birthday. So I put together a little care package to take to her tomorrow and thought I would show you the stuff from it that I stamped. She is a stamper too so I know she will enjoy it.