Camping Trip

Hi Everyone!
We just got back from a few days of camping so I thought I'd share a few photos.   We went to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana - and boy was the scenery beautiful!   I didn't see any turkeys though - go figure.

We did see lots of trees though.   We've camped in a few places that don't have a lot of trees on the campgrounds and well - camping in direct sunlight all day is not fun.   The trees made it nice and shady.

We also met some interesting friends on this trip.   My girlfriend was talking to me this morning and stopped mid-sentence and said "You're not afraid of bugs are you?" LOL.   I turned around and found this little critter on my chair.   I have no idea what it is but as we inspecting it and photographing it someone wondered aloud if it could fly - and then it did.   I also made friends with a little butterfly who perched on my arm and wouldn't leave for about 20 minutes.   What an awesome experience that was!

This photograph is from a short hike we went on this morning.   I'm a wimp and only do the easy trails but this one was really cool.   We were in one area with large rock formations towering on both sides of us and it was just amazingly beautiful.   There's nothing like walking in the midst of God's handiwork on a Sunday morning - and in fact I felt like we were in a sanctuary He made instead of one with four walls.

We had a great time on this trip.   We got to see one of the big wind farms out in the cornfields on the way down, the scenery in the park was gorgeous and of course it was wonderful to spend time with friends - and bugs! :o)

I hope you all had a great weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Flowers Anyone?

Hi Everyone!

Look what I did the other day --- well really I've been doing it for a couple of days.   I decided to dig into my quilling supplies the other day and well - one thing led to another.   I figured if I was going to make one I might as well make a hundred, right?   Really I only made about fifty of them because I had to cook and clean house and sleep.   You know how it is.

What would possess someone to make all these flowers you ask?   Well, I was thinking about using them as embellishments on my cards - because they're much cheaper than Primas, but now I've got some other ideas rattling around in my head too.   I'll be back (hopefully) later this week to show you what I did with them!   Until then - have a beautiful week!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Trip to Chicago

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to share some photos of my trip to Chicago last Friday.   My Sister in Law and my son and I took the train into the city and headed right for the Art Institute.   I just love those big lions out front!   Inside, we made a beeline for the Impressionists and spent quite awhile in those galleries.

Being the avid gardener, I always swoon over the Monets - especially the big ones like this iris painting.   I could literally sit and stare at these things all day which - probably makes me a little weird.   :o)

I had to get a picture of his signature too.   Don't ask me why.   Just seemed like a good idea at the time.

My second favorites are the Renoirs.   I just love the beautiful colors and all the little details in his paintings.

And of course I had to pay Vince a visit - since I was there.   A few years back my Aunt Jo and I went to the museum solely to see this painting and after searching for it for about an hour we discovered it was on loan to another museum.   He was there this time though!

This is also another favorite of mine by Berthe Morisot.  

This is my lunch - not art.  LOL.   BLT salad and a roll that we ended up feeding to the pigeons in the courtyard.   I wish I could post all the pictures I took but I don't think they give me that much space per blog - plus I'd be here all night downloading pictures.    We spent about 3 and a half hours in the museum and then headed across the street to Millenium Park which is TOTALLY AWESOME.   I finally got to see the big bean in person.

My reflection is on that bean somewhere LOL.   After that it was time to head back to the train and home to Indiana.   I love visiting the city and all the spectacular sights but .... I still love home best.

Well, I think I'm going to turn in early tonight as we had a rather late one last night.   My son and I went to the book store yesterday evening and when we pulled onto our street we found a little baby racoon that was injured.   A friend of mine has rescued them before, so I called her and she was nice enough to come over and get it.   But alas - the poor little dear didn't make it.   I've been wondering why God put that little critter in my path if it was just going to die - but then at church this morning I think He answered me when the word "compassion" just popped into my head for no reason.   I do believe that everything happens for a reason - even if it's just to teach a simple little lesson - so that's what I'm going to take from this experience.  

Boy - I'm really running at the keyboard tonight.  LOL.   Seriouly though - my Advil PM is kicking in so I'm signing off for the night.   I hope you all had a great weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

More Collage Cards

Hello Blog Friends!

I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying your summer.   I've been running like crazy with Vacation Bible School this week.   It's a TON of work but it's so worth it.   So far this week we've made little rainbow fish and bookmarks.  Tonight we're making faux aquariums of out blue plastic plates and foamies (gotta love foamies), tomorrow we're making jellyfish (I'll post pics of these later this week), and Friday we're making fleece blankets that are going to be sent to Africa through Samaritan's Purse.   I'm really excited about that one because all our little kidlets are going to make something with their hands and send it to another child who has next to nothing in this world.   The kidlets are excited about it too and keep asking every day if we're going to make blankets yet.  LOL.

So I thought I'd share some more of my collage cards today as I haven't been in the craft room much this week - well - except to cut foam bookmarks.   The one above was made using a ton of scraps in my handy dandy little scrap bin.  The circles were all cut on my Cricut, and the texty flowers were made with the Cuttlebug.   Other materials include stickers, chipboard, buttons, and sticky rhinestones.

Here's another one!   The little turtles and butterflies are from a sticker sheet I bought at the Dollar Store (gotta love the Dollar Store too).   Again I cut the circles on my Cricut, and added paper flowers, brads, clear dew drops, and some dry embossing with the Cuttlebug.   As soon as this week is over I plan on making a bunch more of these cards, both for my Etsy store and some to go in a gallery that my friend has just opened.   The green card above is still in my shop but this little bug one and the blue one I showed you last week have already sold.

Well, I'm off to finish prepping crafts for tomorrow night.   Thank you all for your sweet comments!  I'll talk to you soon!
Sue :o)

Collage Cards

Hello Crafty Friends!   
I know I've been a bit MIA lately but seriously - I've been busy!   We went camping, had a birthday party for my DH, had a 4th of July party (same day as DH party), and now I'm in the midst of preparing for VBS the week after next.   I betcha can't guess what I'm in charge of this year.   CRAFTS!   Ha!  You won't hear me crying about that --- well --- until the last day of VBS when I have to clean up the craft room at church after a week of little ones wreaking crafting havoc!   It's all good though.   VBS rules!

So I've been feeling a little stuck lately.   You know the rut of doing the same thing all the time until your mojo just leaves without saying a word?   That was me.   So as is often the case when I've got crafter's block, I went searching for some inspiration on blogs.   I found a really cool idea here on this blog - and boy - I spent nearly an hour looking over Christine's embellished paper doilies.   That was the jump start I needed - an idea - so I went to work and came up with this.....

Now I didn't do it exactly like Christine did, but I did use the idea of embellishing circles and using lots of layers and embellishments, and well --- I like it.   This is only one of six cards I fired off in one week.   I'll share more later - otherwise you'll be here all day!

I used a variety of materials on this card.   The circles were cut with my Cricut.   I also used some Nestabilities dies, punches, sticky backed pearls, die cuts from K&Co., dew drops, ribbon and oh yeah - the polka dots embossing folder for the Cuttlebug.   This is a lot different than what I usually do and trying something new really helped me get my mojo back.   If you get a chance go check out her blog here and be prepared to be amazed!

I hope you all have a wonderful, sunny, blessed weekend!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Stormy Weather

Hi all!   I just wanted to share some pics of a "lovely" little storm that rolled through NW Indiana tonight.   I'm not usually one to take pictures during these things but I was intending on taking some pictures of my garden when I saw the clouds approaching.   Within about 5 minutes of this picture, this is what I saw....

Then it started getting a little scary...

This is the last picture I took before the tornado sirens started going off.   That's when I decided to go inside and get in the basement.

Pretty scary stuff, huh?   Thankfully there was no tornado, but when I saw that sky - yikes - I was worried!  My son and I went in the basement and prayed (hubby was upstairs watching - grrrr) and thankfully God kept us safe.  :o)

I hope you're all having a happy sunny week so far.   Thank goodness the forecast is good here for the next couple of days!
Hugs!
Sue :o)

Pink Treats

Hello Everyone!   I thought I'd share a little project I made on my Cricut the other night.   I thought it would be cute to make a matching tag for the card this time.   Both the cake and the ice cream cone were cut with the Sweet Treats cartridge and I used DCWV Sweet Stack paper.

Now that I've really gotten used to the Cricut I'm finding that I like the images better when I add details to them before assembling.   For instance on the ice cream cone I used my stylus to add a crosshatch pattern to the cone, I added chalks to the edges of each piece, and then finally added highlights with my white gel pen.   I did the same on the pieces for the cake, and then added dots along the scalloped edge on the top of the tag.

I finished off the inside of the card with some punched hearts that I sponged with ink on one side and then accented on the other with the white gel pen.   I suppose I could have cut them on the Cricut but that would have require switching cartridges.   Looks like I'm going to have to get that thing (I think it's called the carousel) so I can avoid having to switch out cartridges in the middle of a project.

Well I hope you enjoyed my project today.   I'm heading back downstairs to play until dinner and then I'm going to work in the yard this evening.   My vegetable garden is really coming along and it's time to stake up the tomato plants and weed again after all the rain we've had.  I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Hugs!
Sue :o)