Progress is slow

The basement is stripped of flooring and walls back to the original cement . The drying fans are still running. Our neighbor works for a plumbing supply and got us the special part for the hot water heater. Bob managed to get it back together after a tricky fix but now we have to wait until the morning for it to work(with our fingers crossed).Thanks John!Still no washer or dryer and the furnace is still drying out. Thursday night is a town Q&A meeting to discuss the flood and who is actually responsible for the sewerage spill. It should be a lively meeting.

Words of Kindness

After spending 12 hours Saturday emptying the wet basement things with my family from the flood damage, we called friends and took nice warm showers there. What a joy!

As we worked, we soon realized the scope of the mess and hired a company to sanitize and strip the basement to avoid black mold etc.They worked for hours and left these giant sucking fans to run with the dehumifiers ( it sounds like airplane engines) moving the air around for several days in the basement & kitchen . Hopefully that will do the trick . Thanks to them for their expert work and kindnesses.Our block looked like Ghostbusters with all of the haz /mat clothing at everyone's home.

I called my brother who lives away from us to let him know about the flood. He is autistic and sometimes says the most profound things. He told me"As long as the television is safe,you will be okay". He loves the television so I took it as a big hug from him. Thanks Ken.

Mother Nature

and her never ending torrents of rain in our area of SE Michigan ; storms combined with a pumping station 90 miles away going off line equals more like 20 inches of sewage water in our basement. What a mess and it is the first time in 24 years in our home to have this kind of disaster. As we are blessed today with actually finding a utility pump in a Home Depot only 20 miles away ,we are now pumping ourselves out as this is being written. We are unsure about the status of the furnace, water heater, dryer,washer(just repaired by my husband for$ 250.00 a week ago)let alone all of those special heirlooms-Lionel Trains, my doll collection, Christmas items, our tree, and so many cartons of children's books (I was getting ready to donate to a school from my teaching days), and even my wedding gown and so many keepsakes. AAK... but as Bob said ,it is only things. Our photo albums were upstairs as was my special Norwegian costume from childhood. We have our health, each other and will work through this "inconvenient glitch in our lives". Our thoughts and prayers go out to those many people impacted more seriously due to weather conditions in recent days all over our country.
I am not expecting to be blogging for a while but I hope to have time soon again for papercrafting.

Busy, busy

I am taking some family time and will be back in a few days. I am also thinking of the terrible tornados traveling through our country and the impact on the lives of so many people. Stay safe on your travels with the Memorial holiday weekend quickly approaching.Happy crafting to all.

Request

I had a request for a military card from a church friend. I found this great set (So Far Away) at Firecracker Designs by Pamela before they closed last year. I had made several cards before to send to church members serving in the military. This time the card is going to a female proudly serving our country.I made it a bit softer but remembering the postal restrictions, added no flowers nor brads. I hope her Grandmom likes it tomorrow. The sentiment inside...You are not forgotten! Thanks to all who serve our country proudly.

Pinwheels

I have been seeing pinwheels on many blogs and tried this one myself. These directions came from -www .barbstamp.com-(Easy Peasy Pinwheel Card). To make this design, cut 2- 2 5/8"squares. Next from two different designer papers, cut 4 -1 1/4" squares(I used my old CM punch for this). Take the larger squares, turn them 90 degrees and glue together on top of each one. Placing the squares fitting into the corners of each of the points lightly glue them on the top. Add a brad to finish it off, in the center of the pinwheel. add to the front of a card using glue dots as the piece is a bit layered. I added a rectangle to act as a "handle" and placed my sentiment there. I will be making a bunch of them to continue to use up my scraps.
Happy Crafting!

Aah Daisies

There is nothing like a bunch of daisies to boost anyone's spirits. When we were dating in college, my guy bought me daisies. As the years have passed with the typical ups and downs, he still gets me daisies but Shasta or Gerber ones now. I pulled out this stored away SU Decorative Daisies set and thought it would be perfect to use for a thinking of you card. I double stamped each of the flowers with VersaColor inks,then added 3d dots to the second set on the top of the first layer of flowers. The vase was free handed using some vintage paper which looks like a spatter glazed vase .I had a bit of matching ribbon to add a bow . The sentiment is from Sweet n Sassy I'd pick You(#1071). The cardstock was edged with Distress Ink-Mustard Seed.
I had posted but lost a couple of postings with the Blogger issues recently. I'm glad that is over.
Happy Crafting.

New Stamps

This is the first card made with one of the new stamps (Stampavie-Gillian Roberts-Baking a treat)I bought last week at the Novi,Michigan Mega Meet. I thought she was so happy with her buddy bear keeping her company . The images were stamped with Mementos Tuxedo black and water colored. StarDust Stickles were added to both the bow and chef hat on the bear. The folder is from Cuttlebug, and the sentiment is from Sweet n Sassy.The ribbon is unknown and I water colored the Prima flower to match her shirt.
Happy Crafting!

Wishing all

a beautiful day especially to all of the Moms . It was a gorgeous day today. Our Mom/Daughter dinner event on Friday night was a big hit. We had over 85 in attendance and a hat contest with prizes along with a crazy fashion show. I was Ms. Stamps during the parade of wardrobe and created an outfit for myself with stamping items pinned all over it.
The food was great and the husbands waited on the tables and best of all did all of the dishes and cleaned up the church kitchen!!! After the dinner, I sold a bunch of my cards in the boutique area with all of the money going towards our mission work projects. These were the two most popular cards . The papers were from my trusty scrap box , I'm still working on that pile of papers. The card on the left includes a PTI Fillable Frame #10 shape that I bought from another crafter recently. That sentiment is from Sweet n Sassy.

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On Saturday, it was the big Mega Meet in our area for papercrafters. I went with some church friends. It's a girl's day out for us and we have fun checking out all the new things available from different companies in their booths. I did buy a few new stamps...but I went with a limited budget plan and my trusty lists so I wouldn't be too tempted. I made a splurge at the QVC outlet scrap booking booth and bought a Cosmo Cricket kit with 9,000 piece kit, originally $60.00 for $10.00. It includes 2 8x8 albums, frames, magnets, and all sorts of projects, included materials to create cards. I found out that all of us in our group did too. On the way home in the car, we decided we should have a project day to create gifts for the holiday bazaar from the kits. There were two different one kits to choose from there along with a smaller kit for $5.00. Since it was the last day of the show, several booths offered discounts on their remaining stock which was terrific . There were many make & take demos too. A great but busy weekend for us all!

Some cards are

hard to make. I recently found out a friend is facing a serious health issue with the possiblity of mere months ahead of him . How to make a thinking of you card, not sad but thoughful. I pulled out an old stamp from JKDesign-Faith. It was stamped with Mementos Sepia ink, and roughly torn around the edge. The DP is double sided and from American Crafts-Junior Touchdown.I trimmed it and then folded the corners. Using Dark Green Twine, the corners were sewn and knotted. It was mounted on a Bazzill white card. The inside was stamped with a PSX Keeping you in thoughts and prayers. Thinking of you buddy!