It's been a while....

.....since I have last blogged.  Not sure where the time went! 

I am still working on orders, seems that I do that a lot.   A good thing though, right?  Yes!

Summer is filled with all kinds of busy stuff!  Of course, the very very very best part of summer is TLC Camp!  It is the best week of the year!

Amanda and Thalia.  They have been friends since they met at TLC Camp in 2008!  Friends forever!

Also during the summer are Farmer's Markets.  I do two of them and totally enjoy the day out!  I am in Aurora on Wednesdays...  sadly, it is not as great this year as it was last year, but I am doing well enough!  Thursdays, I am in Bolingbrook at the Promenade.  I share a tent with Soap Creek Design and we always have such a fun time!  Look for the tent of laughing crazies!

We have also started fostering kittens.  My daughter, Amanda, works at a shelter and is the emergency foster.  So we get tiny kittens.  Our first kitten was Juliette.  But she had a name change at our home.  She became Merida.  She was afraid of everything and after working with her for 2 days, she got her Brave on and became Merida.

                                    

Merida was with us for just a few days and then she was paired up with another tiny kitten and went to another foster home.  

After Merida, we got Liam and Lexi.  They were 3 weeks when we got them and we still have Lexi!  Liam reached his goal weight of 2.2 lbs after 7 weeks with us and was adopted in just 10 days!  I miss him!  Lexi is a tiny girl.  She is now 12.5 weeks and still under 2 lbs.  That is okay with us, we are not sure if we are giving Lexi back!  Shhhhhh, don't tell Keith.

                                     

Lexi at 11 weeks.  Sleeping in my Copic marker tote.

Riley and Liam at about 4 or 5 weeks.

Liam, right before he went back to the ACL for his surgery and NEW HOME!

The day Liam went in, we brought home Pong.  She was 6 weeks old when we got her and went back to the ACL today for her surgery.  She will be up for adoption tomorrow!  And will go right away, I believe...  she is the purrrrfect kitten!  Sweet and sassy!  

Buddha belly, Pong

Helping me kraft!  They all love to kraft with MeeMaw!!

On to the business of kard making....  I could go on about kittens forever!

I thought that I would show you the tutorial for the Side Step Kard this blog!  It is a cool little kard and one I really enjoy doing!

Here is the tutorial!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCvVJD4kg9U



Go...  give it a try!  It really isn't too difficult to do!

Here are some that I have done.

Now it is your turn.  Go.  Make kards.  Have fun!!

Pop Up Kard

It has been a crazy time around here.  I have been working on orders, which is great, some of them on the fly!

I have done 50th Anniversary invites for my Uncle and Aunt, many baby kards, birthday kards, and a bunch of Disney kards.  Book korners are going like hot cakes!  As fast as I make them, they are gone! I have been donating a lot of them also, to different charities that are using them for goodie bags!  Harley helping hands and the MS Walk are the most recent.

Speaking of MS walk, I am walking this year.  I have to dear friends who have this horrible disease and just feel like I need to do something.  I am trying to raise as much money as I can.  Here is the link, if you feel the need to help!  Any amount, small or large, is so very appreciated and needed!!  MS Sucks!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/ILDWalkEvents?px=11914160&pg=personal&fr_id=20258

I discovered, with a little help from my CM friends, a new Pop Up kard that I just love.  I have made a few of these, mostly for birthdays, but I have done a couple for other occasions too.  Here is the link for you to watch and try.  It really is easier than it looks.  Takes some time to decorate, but cutting the kard out is not difficult.  Like most of them, the folding in several directions at the same time seem to be the toughest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhFCTsfzcHU


Here are a couple that I have done!!

Now it is your turn!  Watch, try, have fun!!

Happy Day!

And the light bulb went off.... errrr, on?

As I have said, on numerous occasions, I want to blog.  I really do.  I just don't know what to blog about.  I mean really,  how many times do you want to look at the kards I make?  Or the ideas that I borrow and revise?  Or the stuff I come up with on my own?  My husband, bless his heart, keeps saying I am the perfect person for blogging.  Really?  He thinks that because when I get something in my head and become obsessed with it...   well, that makes me the perfect candidate for blogging.   Not sure, but I think he just called me a little miss know it all!  Humph!

Well, it got me to thinking.  Dang it...  now I will have to give him credit!!  I love to make kards.  I think you all know that.  I love love love to make kards!  I also love to share my kards.  Whether you buy them or I just give them away, I love to share!  I want to share.  More.

I have decided to pick a kard a blog and post a "how to"...   now keep in mind that it won't be me doing the how to.  I am going to post the same how to that I learn from.  Then I will post several kards that I make in that style.  I would love for you to make your own kards.  Or to try to make your own kards.  But if you just don't want to, and you fall in love with the kard I show you....  I can make it for you!  The bulk of these kards will be my $3.00 specialty kards.

Let's get this ball rolling...

This is the link I used to make a Center Step Kard.  You will find hat I use Splitcoast Stampers tutorials a lot.  They are really easy to follow.  They are easy to understand and to make on my own.  You will also notice that I never duplicate the embellishments.  I do my own thing.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/centerstepcard/

I tend to print up the directions, staple them together and then refer to them often!!

Now here are a few Center Step Kards that I have done.

Well, I hope that this is a blog that you can use.  That you enjoy.  That encourages you to pull out a sheet of paper and make a kard.

Let me know what you think!

Happy, Scrappy Day!

Happy 2013

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2013 brings you all that you deserve.

I "rang in the New Year" with a new little guy that I was sitting for,  Chip!  Chip is an 8 lb. yorkie, that has become the newest client of The Critter Sitter.  He is a cutie.  I was able to hang with Chip from 12-27 until I came home late this afternoon.
I enjoy Critter sitting.  I figure that everyone's fuzzy babies should be home, safe and sound, while Mom and Dad are away.  I am blessed with an awesome kennel that my Riley loves to be at, but not everyone is happy taking their fuzzy ones to a kennel.  So I go to their homes and move in while they are away.  Everyone is happy!  Mom, Dad and, most of all, fuzzy one!!
Right now, I have three fuzzy babies that I hang with, but I am booked for two more dogs and a bunch of cats!  How much fun is my life???

Presley

Hines

 Chip

I am entering the krafting world in 2013 with a bang!  I have 1 order to get done right away and then I am making the invitations for my Aunt and Uncle's 50th Anniversary!  I am so excited about this!  I did a 25th Anniversary last year and now this!  Super excited!  I can't wait to look at papers and embellishments!

I have been making more and more book corners.  They are addicting little buggers!  I have made Noms (googlie eyes and teeth), Clops (one googlie eye and teeth), Potts (Harry Potter paper, eye glasses and scar), Sirs (mustaches and monocles), Hello Kitty, Darth Vadar, Angry Birds, Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, College Teams, Japanese paper collectibles, Santa Claus.........  and the possibilities are endless!!

2013 will, hopefully, bring Percy Jackson, Military and more character book corners!  Like I said, they are addicting!   To make and to own!!

Happy, Healthy, Scrappy 2013!