This past weekend David and I went camping with our next door neighbors Brad and Allie.  These two are straight up hilarious, they even  have a Nascar kiss!  It was the first time we had spent any real exclusive time with them and hey, what better way to get to know one another than to pack up minimal supplies and head into the woods? No pressure. 

Since Allie had never been camping before and is preggers with their first baby, it was important that a few creature comforts be present.  We had large tents, air mattresses, bathrooms and a car close by. We stayed at Montgomery Bell State Park, which is about an hour from our place. We hit the trails and the swimming hole (though swimming is a term used loosely for the shallow roped off area).  We took naps in the hammocks and roasted a LOT of marshmallows. The conversation was easy, fun and friendly.  We had such a great time with Brad and Allie and are looking forward to many more good times to come!

 Here are the boys putting up the tents.

 Hanging hammocks.

The 4 of us before we left the campground.

I made this card when I got home Sunday evening. I was feeling Christmas.

 All supplies are SU! Layout was CASE’d from this post. It might still need a little something extra, but I am loving the mix of patterned papers.

Once again, I would like to say how grateful I am for my husband.  I know I devoted a full 7 posts to him in June, but he really deserves so much more.  Sometimes I marvel at how giving this man can be.  I was laying awake in bed one morning, relishing how lucky I am to have a mate who knows how to show me love in the tiniest details. 

Here is the list of things I am grateful to him for today:

*I am grateful that he lets me sleep in longer than him on Sundays. 

*I am grateful that he has an idea of what to do with all the things in our fridge!

*I am grateful that he enjoys grocery shopping.

*I am grateful that he cares about his appearance enough to sacrifice sleep to stay in shape.

* I am grateful that he really likes at least one of our cats. 

*I am grateful that he likes to try new things and is not afraid to fail.

*I am grateful that he appreciates my art, in it’s many manifestations. 

*I am grateful that he reads the same books I do. 

*I am grateful that he is patient with my spontaneous impulses.

*I am grateful that he doesn’t care much about what kind of car he drives.

*I am grateful he likes to work in the yard.

*I am grateful he keeps gas in the cars.

*I am grateful he cleans the litter box.

*I am grateful he smells good.

Both of these cards are made with SU! products, though the embellishments are from who knows where. I did faux stitching on the pinky card with the tool kit and a white gel pen.  Also used a gel pen to do the dots on the the “wonderful” card. Grateful, like me.  Wonderful, like my husband.

A couple weekends ago my friend Brandi came to town.  She is a fellow papercraft fanatic and we were up ’til the wee hours of Sunday morning creating cards.  Here are a couple examples from that design session.

We decided on a friendly challenge that evening.  We agreed to each make a card inspired by this bag. 

This is my result.

I like the mix of floral and geometric and wouldn’t have normally gravitated toward this type of combination.  I appreciate that the resulting card is equally suitable for a man or woman. It’s not obvious in this picture, but there is a little red dot in the center of the geo pattern, I was able to work it in.

I am perplexed. Puzzled. Befuddled.

Today a friend and I went to a decent sushi shop for lunch.  We had service that was less than impressive, but at the end of the meal, came a real shocker.  I asked the waitress for a bowl of red bean ice cream and, after glancing around the restaurant, she replied, “We don’t have time.”  The restaurant was not packed out, there was no one waiting for my seat.  I was caught completely off guard and almost laughed out loud.  My friend looked shocked. 

“We’re out” or even “We don’t serve that anymore” are answers I would understand.  How does one in the hospitality industry determine which menu selections warrant said time? Sushi, yes. Miso soup, yes. Ice cream, no.  It’s like a Saturday Night Live skit. “The Choosey Waitress”.

If you wait tables for a living and can’t find the time to bring someone the item they ordered, you might want to re-think your vocation.  Or loosen up your schedule.

A few months back I got a couple Martha Stewart butterfly punches.  One didn’t punch right so I had to take it back and exchanged it for a dove shaped punch because they were out of the larger butterfly and of course I didn’t want to wait.  And I have a thing for birds.  SO – now I have a dove, a multi butterfly punch and a postage stamp shaped punch from good ol’ Martha.  She has a really beautiful crafting line available at Michaels.  The cards below were all made with said punches (but no dove examples yet).  

This card was inspired by one of my favorite card making bloggers July 6 2009 post.  Check her out! KWerner.

My sister in law Melissa gave me the fantastic sentiment stamp below (or let me borrow it for a very very long time…can’t remember!) .  I love what it says and had the perfect little high heeled shoe embellishments to use with it!  Products are from a mix of companies including SU!, Marvy and others-  word stamp is by Dawn Houser for Inkadinkado. 

I borrowed this SU! stamp set from my friend Stephanie.  I had some ideas I wanted to try but don’t own the set.  It is so convenient to have friends who stamp and are willing to share!

I think I will leave the insides of these cards blank for the time being because they could be used for a myriad of occasions.  I also considered hanging a little sentiment from the knot of the red one- whatta ya think?

This is my older brother Mark, his wife Melissa, and their boys Ezra and Lincoln.

This card totally reminds me of Melissa.  When I think of her, I think elegant with a splash of spunk.  She moved around a lot growing up so she experienced a lot of different styles and cultures.  She is great at choosing paint colors, accessorizing, successfully mixing the trendy with the traditional, entertaining and creating comfortable home environments. She has an eye for spatial layouts and I always seek her opinion when I have ideas for my home. She is a thoughtful giver of gifts and lets me borrow her clothes:). In addition to being a virtuoso of interiors and a loyal friend, she is also an awesome mom to the boys.  I love this lady and am so blessed to have her in my life!

All supplies are SU! with the exception of the Prima Flowers.

and this is Melissa

Today I am thinking about friendship.  This has been on my mind a lot lately. God has blessed me with so many wonderful people, in so many interesting ways! There are people I never would have known had it not been through some connection within my family.  Then there are those I met in completely random places like a bathroom or a furniture store. School, church, neighbors, work…no matter where the connection originated, I am so grateful for my friends.

I like the retro look of these stamps and have some new ideas I am looking forward to getting on cardstock. I made these a couple  years ago and if memory serves correctly, they were CASEd from an SU! publication.

These are two more cards I made with the discontinued Gifts of the Orient set from SU!.  On all four of these cards I stamped the images on white cardstock, then again on patterned paper.  I then cut out the little kimonos so they would look like fabric.  I used some Japanese papers out of a mixed bag my friend Brandi gave me for these.  Most everything else is SU! with the exception of a piece of paper from Basic Gray’s Mellow collection and the Japanese foliage stamp from Plaid Enterprises, Inc.