Beate's Weekend Challenge #45

This card was made with a Lasting Impressions template. I love this little dog. I have pop dotted him, with another dog exactly like him underneath. Hope you enjoy today's card. Was fun making it. I love dry embossing, but don't seem to do it often enough. Hope your day is a bright, nice, easy day! Thanks for stopping by, and come back often.

Toota-loo,

Karen

Groovin-The Rascals-1967

I have placed it here for you also to enjoy.

Groovin' On a Sunday Afternoon

I found this song appropriate for today. You can be groovin’ no matter what you are doing. Perfect day to do whatever it is you like. I watched a video featuring this song. It is on here for you to enjoy!

The video is very relaxing, just like the song. Lately, I have been getting into older songs and their wonderful lyrics and rhythm. That might be a sign that I’m getting old, although my 14-year-old son seems to like them as well as his metal bands. I’m happy about that. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Today, I’m using another card that I made some time back. Everything on the card is from Stampin’ Up, except for the buttons and ribbon. I really like how this card turned out. Of course, it is so rewarding when something comes together pretty well. I hate sitting at the craft table for hours and not succeeding at something I had in my head, from it not turning out as well as I wanted, or had pictured. Sometimes it is very hard to get it down on paper. I did work on a card that I’m okay with and will post it soon. I like the way the flowers turned out on it. I just have to glue everything to the card. I sure hope your Sunday is a “Groovin” kind of day, and you enjoy my card. Hope you enjoy the video, too. I sure enjoy you stopping by. Love looking at the counter, watching the numbers go up. Please stop by often. Thank you for doing that. Have a great one!

Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea

Let the Sun Shine In!

Well, we have been pretty lucky here in the Southern Ohio Valley over the past couple of days. I love it, 80 degree temperatures. Starting Saturday, it looks like we are taking a turn for a cold front, but that is part of spring. I’m thinking it will be time to clean the pool and prepare for swimming soon. I love that stuff!

Went to Tennessee this past weekend to a Rod Run, and had a blast. My husband is rebuilding a ‘72 Mach One Mustang, and he was inspired by what he saw. Of course, according to him, his will be so much better looking than those he saw at Tennessee. If you had a car there or know someone who did, don’t take offense to this. He is just a normal man!

What I liked best about Pigeon Forge, Tennessee was the Scrapbook Superstore. WOW! I had so much fun spending money in there! Their Clearance Store was awesome. It was a separate building. Everything in this store was 50% off. Got some stamps and all kinds of extras! You know all that stuff we cardmakers/papercrafters cannot live without. Way too much fun! Made my trip complete. It was right up there with laying on the front of the boat, reading a book and eating candy! That is something to me. Well, if you make it to Pigeon Forge, definitely check out the Scrapbook Superstore.

I’m posting an item I made sometime back. It is a tiny lunch box which I bought at Dollar Tree. It is plastic. I covered it with paper and decorated it with all kinds of embellishments. I tied ribbons to the handle and it looks just like the big ones, only about half the size. It would probably hold those little 3 x 3 cards a lot better than the regular size cards. I just thought it was cute. I made one for my niece, and she used it to put Valentine’s from preschool in. It is a good size for that.

Okay, that’s it for now. Hope you have a wonderful evening! Thanks for stopping by and come back often.

Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #43

Hope it is okay to do a side view on Beate's weekend sketch challenge. I did mine laying down, so to speak. I've titled it Wishing You Love!

Wishing You Love - Always wishing you love. Love is definitely what makes the world go round. When you listen to the news you think that there cannot be much love in the world, but what you don’t hear is all the love that comes out of all the bad news. People are so full of love that when something bad happens, they will stretch out their arms and help others to do whatever they can to make things better. We have seen a lot of the strength of the American people over the past few years, with their willingness to reach out and help others around the world in need, as well as right here in our nation. But, you can also see the kindness and love in others that show up to help search for a missing daughter or mother, as we have seen on the TV lately. Actually, we have seen way too many missing people stories lately. Something bad did happen to cause these people to come lend a hand, but they show up and that is love at work. God is love! That is God bringing the good out of the bad. We are so lucky to have such a loving God, a God who has given us love. Thank you, Father, for allowing me to have love, to be loved and to love.

Sure hope you don’t mind the sermon. Just a small story to go along with my card. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have to so many loving people around me. I hope that you are surrounded with love today. Stop back by tomorrow to see what new thing I have for you to glance at. Have a wonderful Monday!

Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea

Stamps: SU for a friend. TAC - girl stamp
Paper: CS - SU. Bo Bunny - green polka-dot, Doodlebug sugar coated pink
Embellishments: Ribbon, rhinestones, gel pen, paper piercing.

Hanglar & Stanglar Blog Candy!

Katharina's Creative Place is the spot to check out! She is giving away one of those most wanted Hanglar & Stanglar stamps. I love those little things. She shows some wonderful talent and you should make sure and check out her work. I love her style. Don't miss out, or you'll be sorry you did!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to post something for you tomorrow. I've enjoyed some down time today. I've been surfing and checking through challenges. I believe I have a couple ideas for things to work on tomorrow. So, hope everyone has a nice night and checks back by tomorrow.

Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea

I've been awarded!!!!

One of my talented, sweet friends has gone and nominated me for this award! Tessie, The Mountaineer Stamper, is one of the most talented paper crafters I personally know. Her creations are awesome and she presents a style all her own. I hope you will please check out her blog. Thank you, Tessie, for nominating me for this honor. So, now I get the honor of naming 5 others this award should go to. It is a very hard thing to do, because limiting myself to just 5 is difficult. There are so many talented people in the stamping/scraping world! Hooray for that!

So, here is what you are to do:

1. You pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. List the names of the people you chose to receive the award on your blog and link to their blogs. Then go comment on one of their posts to notify them that you have given them this award and link to the post on your blog.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of the person who gave them the award and link to their blog.
The Award-winner and the one who has given the award have to show the link to the Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

1. aloadofoldblogocks.blogspot.com
2. flutterbyatomicbutterfly.blogspot.com
3. dawnanewday.blogspot.com
4. carlastamps.blogspot.com
5. whatchastamping.blogspot.com

Thanks & Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea

Princess, Queen . . . GODDESS

Another Tingle Heart Stamp. You know, if you have read my blog before, that I love these stamps. I got this stamp new this week, titled Goddess. The corner stamp is Tingle Heart as is the sentiment. I made this card for the Wednesday Challenge on SCS - SC171. It was a challenge to use ovals on your card. I made my ovals using the cutting system by creative memories. I used a gel pen to jazz up the edges on the pale blue oval and dot the centers on the flowers on the yellow oval. The “Goddess” is colored using colored pencils, again one of my favorite tools, as is the corner stamp. I used tempting turquoise from SU to stamp the sentiment stamp. I used gel pens to make the beads in her hair pop and rhinestones on three of the corners. The paper is crimped and lifted off the cardstock with pop dots. I used gel pens on the crown in the corner for an added touch as well. Another fun coloring project. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you have a wonderful evening! Come by tomorrow and see what I have for you.

Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea

INSPIRATION - FINALLY!

Okay, a little inspiration! Finally! I got an order from Art Gone Wild today. So Happy! Got some new Suzy Toronto stamps, and can’t wait to color on one. Anyway, I did this little card today. I got this Girlfriends stamp from Stamping Bella - Best Friends Forevah! I was stumped on colors, but figure these worked out okay. This is a tri-fold card. Started with a 12" piece of off white cardstock which is 4-1/2" wide. I scored at 3-1/2" and at 7-3/4" and folded it in. As you can see, I put two eyelets on the large fold in at the bottom and ran pink grosgrain ribbon through it and tied it. There is a piece of SU DP, ½" across the bottom of the front flap, and I rounded the corners on it. The “I just love you” sentiment is from SU Double Line Doodle. The flower is an actual artificial flower cut from a stem and I placed a paper flower in the center with a Queen & Co brad. There is a little rhinestone on the flower center on the pigtailed friend’s dress. The friends are colored with colored pencils. On the first flap on the inside, there is a sentiment from a TAC stamp set, which I cannot remember the name of the set. On the final open of the card, the sentiment stamp is again from TAC. I hope you can read them from the pictures. The sentiments are so good.

Check out Art Gone Wild’s web site: http://www.agwstamps.com/new.htm. Because I ordered a large order, I got a catalog free. Plus, with the catalog they sent along all kinds of leaflets of different stamps. I will be a week going through all the stamps in these books, but I’m so excited. There are some of the cutest stamps in these books. This place will be getting a lot of my husband’s hard earned money, I’m afraid to say. Okay, I will calm myself down from my excitement and just say that I’m so happy to have a little inspiration back today.

Thanks for praying for me! I heard from the doctor today and I’m having an ultrasound in the morning on my upper thigh/hip area. I like that promptness. Well, hope everyone has a wonderful evening, and will stop back! Happy Stamping!

Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea

Lack of inspiration but a word from "Paul!"

I haven’t posted in a while, and I feel so bad about it. I decided that today I am posting, even though I do not have a card or something to post along with my chat. The lack of inspiration has crept upon me. Sitting at my table, staring at all my stamps, inks, embellishments, I just cannot seem to put it on paper. "Brain Fog!" That has to be it . . . "Brain Fog! Do you ever come up against something like this? It is like I have so many ideas, but it is all just floating around in this space, however, I cannot seem to reach anything to pull it out and use it. I feel like screaming!!!!!

My children and I attend Community Bible Study every Wednesday morning. My kids are home-schooled, and this great group caters to home-schoolers. I love that! Anyway, we are studying the book of Ephesians. Often, in church, we have referred to the book of Ephesians in discussing bible lessons, but I have never actually started at the beginning and studied the book. We just finished Mark, which was unbelievable. I absolutely saw it in a whole new light! Too good! Anyway, Paul, of the New Testament, never ceases to amaze me. He is in prison, under house arrest, and he is writing to the Ephesians telling them how to show believers and Gentiles God’s love. Now this man, who truly loved the Lord with his whole heart, has everything in the world to be mad about and he is telling others to show love to others. I was thinking about Ephesians 4, where he is telling them to have humility, gentleness, long-suffering, patience, strive to keep unity within the body of Christ, the church, and bearing with others in love, and telling them it is a worthy life to do these things. Of course, a person really should, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds, is it? I mean, patience? Humility? Who really wants to be humble? You have accomplished something great, and you can’t tell everyone about it? Patience? Yeah! Wait more than 60 seconds in a drive-thru and let’s see your patience. It is the truth, that these are all great qualities to find in a person, and I want to possess them all to the fullest. I have grown in some of these qualities over the years, only by God’s grace, of course. It all comes from knowing Him, reading & studying His Word, and having a relationship with Him. Through Him, I have the patience to deal with the things going on with my health, dealing with tests, and the length between visits. With humility, I will do what I need to do to get better, going through all kinds of different pokes and jabs, I’m sure. I will definitely strive to keep unity in Christ’s Church, the body of believers, and witness to those that are not members, in hopes that they will become members. I will also bear with others in love, try to do all things in love, and in my daily walk do all things with love, because Christ is Love, and I want to show others I have Christ’s love. Now, I need you to pray for me! As you can tell, I’m talking myself into this.

I guess I didn’t really have to say all that, but I was just thinking about my day. My appointment with the urologist is on Friday morning. At least I do not have to wait for weeks! My appointment with the GYN is not until April 23rd. They have not called me about seeing a surgeon or scheduling a test of some kind for my hip, but I should find out in a day or two. I talked with them yesterday, and they were going to get back in touch with me. I’m a sun lover, so if there is any cutting to be done on my hip, I would like to have it done before tanning time! Also, I have a pool and enjoy spending afternoons there in the summer. Okay, let me practice love and self control here. I was thinking about me, me, me again! I always tell my kids that you have to practice "nice." We are born into a sinful world, and it comes naturally for us to be sinful. But, in order to be nice, you have to practice it! Can I get an Amen? Hope your Thursday is a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by, and hopefully I will have something for you to look at next time!
Toota-loo,
Karen

A Big "Hi" for a Friend

A Big “Hi” for a Friend!

Well, I finally get to post something. I made this card yesterday, but couldn’t decide how to decorate the front of it. My daughter said that the butterflies I wanted to put on the front yesterday were ugly! Don’t you love your children’s honesty? Well, I threw that away and started over. Today, I thought about this. Hope you think more of this one that she did the other one. I love the new felt punch outs I got from Oriental Trading. They come 6 sheets to a package, 2 blue, 2 green & 2 red, I believe. Anyway, I pulled out the blue, since it match this card colors and punched out the whole sheet. Several different designs, a shovel, fence, the word GARDEN, birds, water bucket, flowers, swirls, etc. Really nice! Forgot I had this designer paper from Stampin’ Up. I like it. Don’t quite remember the name, but I think it is something like Dashes & Dots. Something along that line. They don’t carry it anymore. Anyway, this is a standard size card, laid down the corner of the designer paper and cut it off where I wanted it. I then used the zig-zag stamp from CTMH Simple Stitches set & stamped up the edges of the DP. Stamped a saying from SU Curvy Verses set, and placed my flowers were I wanted them, as well as the word “hi!” The letter “h” is an “h” chipboard covered with pumpkin pie CS. I just cut the little “I” out of pumpkin pie only. The flower dot is a Queen & Co plastic flower as is the center of the felt flowers, and the brads are Queen & Co. Fun card, hope you like it!

Okay, received some news today! I called my Mom and said to her, “I got good news & bad news. What do you want to hear first?” She told me she wanted to hear the good news first, of course. I said, “I’m not pregnant!” She laughed and said, “Okay!” She already knew it would be a miracle of God that I would be pregnant due to modern medicine, I will say! Anyway, the bad news is that I have a blockage in my left kidney and a cyst on my left ovary, as well as possible fatty tumor or mass in my right hip. “Is that all?” she asked. Well, I feel pretty good about it all. Taking it well. It was weird, because this morning I was driving to my weekly bible study, and I knew that I had to go to the doctor to find out my results today. I started praying about it, and I knew that there was something wrong. It was one of those things you just know. I figure I know my body better than anyone and there is definitely something wrong. Well, I just ask God to be in the situation and help me be all that I can be for Him. I figured since I just had the ultrasounds on Monday, the doctor would have to call for the results. That wasn’t the case, they faxed them to the office, and the office called my home asking me to come to the office earlier. I showed up at my appointment at 2:15, and didn’t even know that they had called me to come in earlier. The PA was very good at explaining everything that she could. She then said they would set me up with a GYN & Urologist. So, I guess I will know more after I see them. If any of you out there pray, say a little prayer for me! I know God will help me through this, with no doubt. It is mostly the wait and see. I mean waiting for your appointment, wait and see what this physician wants to do, what test results come in, what procedure will have to be done. I have already did the antibiotics, so the next step seems to be a look to see what is happening. I can handle just about anything, or at least I think I can. Keep me in your prayers. Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day!

Toota-loo,
Karen Linnea