Finally home!

I'm doing the happy dance today.  My hubby is finally home from the hospital. It's been 6 long, scary days.  Even our dog, Chloe, was happy to have her master home.

Steve will have to have daily blood draws and give himself injections. No, I can't even think about doing it.  Needles freak me out. Always have. If he really needed me to do it, I would, but he is fine doing it himself.  Thank the Lord!

He will head back to work on Monday and prayerfully, be on the road to complete healing and health. I'm so blessed by God's faithfulness. He is a GOOD God, all the time.

Hopefully, I will be able to make some projects this weekend and be back to my normal posting schedule. I'm really anxious to create with the new products I received last week. They have been calling my name for quite few days!

Make it a wonderful Friday tomorrow and a blessed weekend and as always, stay CRAFTY my friends!

Hugs,
Bernadette

Just an Update

First, a Very Happy and Blessed New Year!

I was hoping to get up and running since I came back on December 29th. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

On Friday, January 2, my husband passed out at home and had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance.  He has not been feeling well since the second week in December,  cough, low grade fever, no appetite, and shortness of breathe.

He was brought to the emergency room and after several tests and questions, he was diagnosed with a Pulmonary Embolism. They found 4 or 5 blood clots in his lungs and 2 in his right leg. He was put on a Heparin (thought is was Warfrin)drip and had a mesh "basket" put into his Vena Cava to collect the clots as they broke up. His prognosis is good, but he is not too happy about the Heart Healthy diet instructions! He had been in ICU until last night and now is on the mend. Praise the Lord.

They feel this condition was probably caused by all the travel he had done between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We had traveled to Scottsdale, AZ (11 hours round trip by car) and North Carolina (approx. 12 hours round trip by plane).

We are rejoicing in the faithfulness of the Lord for His hand on him. The outcome could have been very different. We had a mighty group of prayer warriors who prayed and have stood by us, both here in California and North Carolina.

This is the beautiful new hospital he is here in Escondido, CA Palomar Medical Center completed in 2012. It just "wowed" me. He is getting excellent care by both the attending doctors and nurses. The food is decent and the rooms are beautiful.

I did receive my SU order on Friday afternoon, opened it , but have not had a chance to "play". It looks like that might not happen until after he comes home from the hospital, perhaps by Wednesday or Thursday.

Thanks for hanging in there for me and stay CRAFTY, my friends!

Blessings,

Bernadette

Trying to get back to normal...

Whatever NORMAL is! 

Hello friends. It's been quite a few weeks since I posted and today's post will be very short. I just wanted to stop and let you know I am really alive and well.

Like most of you, the Christmas holidays before and after that wonderful time of year, takes a lot of our time and energy. It seems I have been on the run since before Thanksgiving. Today I'm playing "catch up". I returned home from a 13 day stay in North Carolina and Virginia on Monday late evening. Gosh, I hate those 5+ hour flights, but had a wonderful time with my family, so it was worth the hours, not only in the air, but the layovers.

I am going to be working on New Year cards, Thank you's, and a brief newsletter, hopefully in a few days. Yes, I didn't miss type New Years cards. :} I was able to send out family Christmas cards, but did not get cards out to friends and extended family. Maybe next year I will do a better job at that. We'll see how that goes!

What are your New Year plans? I hope something safe and fun. My hubby and I will not be attending our churches New Year activities tonight which includes playing games, worship and communion to usher in the New Year. He came down with a cold the second week of December and unfortunately, it has turned into bronchitis and he has not been feeling well for 2+ weeks. He finally agreed to going to Urgent Care yesterday afternoon. That was a 3 1/2 hour ordeal, but he did get some prescriptions to help his healing along. He will be staying home the rest of the week, which is so unusual for him.  I think in the 34 years I have been married to him, he has only taken perhaps, 2 days off from work because of sickness.

Have a Blessed and Happy New Year  

and I hope you will have a chance to do something CRAFTY!

Hugs,
Bernadette

What a Wonderful Time of the Year!

I just returned home from Scottsdale, AZ  late last night. Steve and I left the day after Thanksgiving to visit friends and take care of our little "cottage" there.  We will be renting it out again from January through March and I wanted to wash curtains, windows, dust blinds, and do some scrubbing.We also bought a couple of pieces of new furniture and I did some rearranging.

This was taken several years ago before and added landscaping.  Although we didn't add much. This little place has given me so much pleasure even though it's a 1983 Mobile Home. I enjoy it as much as my new 2013 manufactured home here in San Marcos, CA.

I love my front porch here in San Marcos

My favorite side of the house

We had a wonderful time, although Steve had to leave on Sunday afternoon to be back to work, I stayed until Wednesday early evening. What a joy to spend time with old friends. 

Do you find when you have good friends, no matter how long you've been apart, you just pick up that relational bond when you do see each other? They always make me feel special when I see them and go out of their way when I'm there. It truly was a time I needed to regroup. Thanks, Barb, John, Sue, Alan, Randy, Wendy, Linda and all the rest of you who blessed my heart while I was there. You and Road Runner Lake Resort is certainly a special place!

Might post title was chosen, because as a Christian, this time of year is so wonderful and so special. A time to lift the name of Jesus and remember how important His birth was, not only to believers, but to the world who are desperately in need of Him in their lives.  

John 3:16 NIV

  For God so loved the world that he gave his one 

and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but  but have eternal life.

 What a promise, what a Saviour!

Hopefully, I'll be back on track with posting cards and projects here within a couple of days. Stampin' Up! has a new catalog reveal and I'll be posting information about that.

Make it a great Thursday and do something CRAFTY my friends!

Hugs,
Bernadette

MOJO373 Tall and Skinny

Today's card is using the new MOJO373 Tall and Skinny Sketch for the end of the month challenge.  I cut my card 6x7 and will have to make an envelope to fit it, but I prefer this size.

I did keep it fairly simple  using only a few layers and 2 embossing folders.  The sketch didn't call for an embellishment in the left corner, but that spot was missing trees and really needed to be filled in.

I hope you make it a great Monday evening and will get to do something CRAFTY!
 
SU PRODUCTS
Santa and Company DSP
Old Olive CS, Soft Suede CS, Naturals White CS
Retired Wood Buttons
Woodgrain EF, On Point Textured Empressions  EF
Retired stamp: Christmas Messages


Hugs,
Bernadette

 

Twirly-Whirly Birthday

Good morning! Today I am posting a card that I have linked to two blog challenges, MOJO372 and Color Throwdown319.

The focal point on this card was spurred by Linda over at stampingschool.com. It is the Flat Pinwheel technique which is a technique that was popular 3 or 4 years ago, although this is the first time I have made one. I really enjoyed putting it together and there are endless possibilities for colors and papers.  

WARNING, these can become addictive!

I knew this would be work great for the MOJO sketch, and since I had to make a feminine Birthday card, the Color Throwdown  challenge was perfect.

I decided to use a retired SU stamp, Wishes Your Way, since it originally came with a matching Pinwheel die cut.

The pattern paper is just some I had in my stash. I was pleased it matched well with the the Pear Pizzaz. The Blushing Bride was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots EF.

To add the blue in the color combo, I used a strip of Night of Navy CS embossed with the retired Lattice EF,  matching ink and a circle punched with the 7/8" Scallop Circle punch. A Blushing Bride button, Candy Dots and some white Bakers Twine finished up my card.

I hope you make your Thursday a great one, and as always, go do something CRAFTY my friends!

Hugs from CA,
Bernadette

Thanksgiving Re-designed Cards

Today I'm posting 2 re-designed Fall/Thanksgiving cards that I had previously posted here on my blog.  

I needed 14 cards, and I needed them ASAP. Why do we card makers either NOT send cards we've created, or are scurrying to get some made? It's still a mystery to me...

 

I really love both of these cards, but needed something a little less time intensive and using the products I had on hand. Here is what I came up with. What do you think?

Inside of Early Espresso/Crumbcake card

Both cards were stamped using the sentiment that came in the October 2014 Paper Pumpkin Kit. (I corrected this. I inadvertently put November PP Kit)

I was thrilled with this kit. So, so pretty and so MUCH product.

Here is a link to the YouTube Video Stampin' Up! has uploaded so you can see all it's GOODNESS!

If you would like to get a "Creative 30 minute Fix"and get a new project every month, you can CLICK here and subscribe under my business page. I would love to be your Creative coach, answer questions, and occasionally give you alternative projects using the months kits.

Stampin' Up! also offers a 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month subscription at a savings. Why not give it a try? You won't be disappointed.

SU PRODUCTS:
Paper: Early Espresso, Crumbcake, Old Olive, Naturals White
Ink:Tangerine Tango, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede
Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder
Labels Collection
Brights Candy Dots
Large Oval for pumpkin pieces
Modern Label for stem
Bird Builder Punch for leaves 

I hope you make this a great Tuesday and do something CRAFTY, my friends!

Hugs, 
Bernadette