Focus on the Family Marriage Conference

Gerry and I spent today at a Marriage Conference sponsored by Focus on the Family. It was by live satellite from Colorado Springs, CO. The theme was "Seeing Your Marriage Through the Eyes of God". All of the speakers were outstanding. Over 500 different churches sponsored the conference across the nation and Canada and over 70,000 people had registered for the conference. It was held at Sunset Christian Church in Rocklin. A continental breakfast and box lunch was included.

I am challenged to love and respect the husband God gave me more than I have because it is what God wants of me.

My prayer is that Gerry and I, together will take all that we heard today and apply it to building a stronger bond between each other and a marriage that will withstand any trials that may come our way.

A Most Enjoyable Friday at The Flower Farm, Loomis, CA

Gerry was the ride leader for his bike club's ride today. Last Saturday he went on a club ride up towards Auburn. He got as far as Loomis and stopped at a place called The Flower Farm for some lunch. He decided to do the club ride today up to The Flower Farm. Yesterday after we picked up our grandson Andy from school and took him to Aunt Elizabeth's house, we drove up to The Flower Farm to see how many miles it would be from Beal's Point at Folsom Lake. The ride was going to be on the American River Bike Trail to Beal's Point and then from there it would be on surface streets.

He told me I could drive out today and meet him if I wanted to so I decided to do it. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and it was probably about 60 degrees. The Flower Farm is located in Loomis which is kinda north-east of Sacramento. It is mostly farms, ranches and huge homes out there. I got there a little after 10 am, he told me they'd probably be there about 10:30 am. The riders started arriving around 10:20 or so. Gerry was in the last group getting there. Because he was the ride leader, he had to make sure that no one got lost. He got there after 11 am. There were 2 women who are new to the club on the ride and he stayed with them to make sure they found their way. There were over 40 people today on the ride. I did the ride sheet for him and made 20 copies so there weren't enough copies for everyone. Some of them said they didn't need a ride sheet so it worked out. A lot of them went to Folsom to Karen's which is a restaurant/bakery/deli that they go to a lot of the time. Twenty-two people went out to The Flower Farm. It is a nursery, cafe, B&B and a large barn where they can accommodate banquets, weddngs, etc.

I sat in the car for awhile reading the paper then got out and wandered around the garden for a while. I found a stone bench to sit at and watched the hummingbirds, there was a robin looking for worms and a couple of geese flew overhead. The sun felt great and it was the most peaceful setting.

The cafe has a large deck on the backside and there are chairs and tables in the yard. Last Saturday Gerry had a bagel sandwich for lunch so we ordered the same thing today. It is a bagel served open face that has been spread with cream cheese, thin slices of cucumber, red bell peppers, slivers of red onion with a thin sauce of some kind topping it. The cost is $4 and for $2 more you can have slices of smoked salmon on top. It was a messy sandwich with the sauce, however, so very good. We shared a sandwich, last week Gerry ate a whole one. I don't know if I could eat a whole one, it was pretty rich with the cream cheese and smoked salmon. They have all kinds of drinks and lunch specials. I had a raspberry Italian soda and Gerry had coffee. The lunch special today was cream of tomato soup with a roll or lasagna.

There also were different things for sale in the cafe, art prints, t-shirts, tote bags and handmade cards, among other things. I did look at the cards, they were all very nice.

I am sure I will be asking to go out there again for lunch on another lovely spring day. I didn't think to take my camera with me, I will have to remember to do that the next time we go out there.

Birthday Card & Post-It Note Holder for Sherri

This card is for Sherri who I worked with at Juvenile Court. The butterfly is from a SU set and the two different leaf stamps are from Judikins. One is a leafy bamboo and the other is a fern. I used 2 different green chalk inks for the leaves then sponged all around the leaves with one of the green inks. I stamped the butterfly on a piece of white c/s, colored it with Copic markers then cut it out. It's mounted with a thin strip of foam tape in the middle of the butterfly and it's wings folded up so it appears to be in flight. The card base is a bright green, then black, a pale blue, another black layer and then white. I need more practice in coloring. I knew what I wanted the butterfly to look like, however, I am not sure I accomplished that. It looks alright, I think. What do you think?

Then I made her a post-it note holder. These are so easy to make and I like making them. Well, hope she likes her card and post-it note holder.

A Birthday Card for Shane

Shane is a young man at church. While Gerry was in Idaho, he reminded me that Shane had a birthday coming up. I forgot to get one done and in the mail in time for his birthday. So last Saturday night, I was up late trying to come up with an idea for a guy card. I struggle with making these, mainly because I don't have very many stamps suited for guys. Gerry was looking in my stamp cupboard and saw this SU set that has different trucks. I decided on using this one. I must confess I searched SplitcoastStampers for some inspiration. Here is the card I came up with. The cardstock is all SU, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, kraft and natural creamy. I stamped the truck in black and then went over the grill and bumper with a silver Spica glitter pen. I used the Canvas SU background stamp on the kraft layer with close to cocoa ink. I sponged the natural creamy c/s with close to cocoa ink. The piece of ribbon is brown, ivory and a dark orange strip. I used a staple to adhere it to the card. The card is not very exciting, however, I think it turned out pretty good.

Bumper Cards

I am on an email list for Craftengineer who lives in Austin, TX. She is on the design team for AMuse Art Stamps based in Seattle, Washington. The end of last month she sent an email saying that she was going to start a Bumper Card List and if those on her email list wanted to participate to send our information to her, name, address, etc. I had no idea what Bumper Cards were but thought it would be fun. What it is, is a list is made up of people that want to participate. A card using AMuse or Saltbox stamps is made and sent to the person whose name is below yours in the list. It needs to be sent before the month is over. Here is the card I made for the person whose name is below mine on the list. She lives in Bowling Green, KY. The base is an AMuse red polka dot 4-bar card. It opens on the side. I used a piece of black cardstock and topped it with a piece of white. The stamps I used are all AMuse. I used Copics to color the bird, mushrooms and grass. The bee and beak of the bird was colored with a Spica gold glitter pen. I used a Spica silver glitter pen to color the dots on the mushrooms. It's probably not clear enough to see that. I used a fine point black pen to do the "line" that the bee makes from the mushroom and then went over it with crystal Stickles. I then used Copic Cool Shadow marker to outline the images. It was finished off with black stitched ribbon from AMuse. I thought it turned out really cute. AMuse cards are very simple and I love that style.

Here is the card I got from the person who had to send a card to me. These are some of the new AMuse stamps for Spring and the card base is also new. She stamped the clouds and top of the tree first, then stamped them again on blue and green polka dot card stock, cut them out and used foam tape so they are dimensional. I really love this card, so cute and fresh looking. The scalloped trim is a Fiskars border punch called Threading Water. I've been wanting this punch, have not been able to find it in any of the stores I shop at for stamping stuff. I have found it online so I may have to order it. It is such a cool punch. Absolutely love it!!

I'm signed up for next month too and should be getting the new list next week sometime.

A Valentine Card for Gerry

This is the Valentine card that I made for Gerry. The card base is black, I added a layer of red and then stamped the image in red chalk ink. I got a little frustrated trying to stamp the image, took me three tries before I got it and I still didn't get a good stamped image. On the right the shape of the heart is rather faded. So I remembered I had the saying "you make my heart melt". I thought "problem solved", it fit perfectly the part of the heart that didn't completely stamp. :) He liked it and so it was worth the frustration of trying to get a perfect stamped image. :)

He got home from his trip to Idaho about 6:20pm Thursday evening. I didn't expect him until about 7. So it was a little over 2 hours from the California state line. He dropped off Jason first in Roseville and then got right back on the freeway and home. Yesterday we spent an enjoyable day playing around town. He went on a ride this morning, called a little bit ago and had gone 41 miles and will double that getting home. It is a beautiful day here in Sacramento, however more rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

Birthday Card for Rachel Marie Townsend

Our granddaughter, Rachel celebrates her 19th birthday tomorrow, the 22nd. She is the daughter of Gerry's oldest son, Erik. They live in Mt. Home, ID. Gerry was just with them on the yearly ski trip to Bogus Basin, ID. I have used this particular stamp for several cards. It is fun to color. Rachel's favorite color is purple. The card base is orchard, then there is a layer of a pale turquoise, a layer of white that I embossed with the Cuttlebug, then I repeated the layers again. I used copic markers to color the flower and added a sheer polka dot lavender ribbon. Gerry told me Rachel loved her card.

More Bind-It-All Projects

Along with the birthday cards I made for Alena, Michelle and Esther, I made each of them a post-it note holder. These are so fun to make. All three were covered with scrapbook paper and then I used 2 coordinating ribbons on the wires.

They looked fantastic, however, as usual my picture taking is horrible. One of these days I will get it right. :)

Birthday Cards

These are cards I made for 3 friends that I worked with at the Juvenile Courthouse. This is Alena's birthday card. Her birthday was in January. I tried something new with this card. The card base is a dark brown. I then adhered a piece of Basic Grey cardstock on top of the base card and used a SU stamp set to stamp directly onto the designer cardstock instead of stamping on a separate layer. The leaves were stamped in a brown and the flowers in red. I used crystal Stickles in the center of the flowers. I was not real thrilled with that, I should have used a different color. Then with a fine point pen, I drew short lines and dots around the edge of the layer. Unfortunately, the lines are not straight. The inside of the card was finished off with a layer of ivory cardstock.

This card was for Michelle. She sits up at the reception window of the courthouse and is usually the voice a person hears when they call the courthouse. I made this card as a Mother's Day last year in black and white. The cardbase for this is an olive green, then a layer of dark brown that I put through the Cuttlebug. A layer of peach, brown and then ivory. The stamp set is SU. The flowers and vase were colored with Copics and I used a SU corner punch on all the layers.

This card was for Esther whose birthday was this month. I've made this card in teal and kraft. I used a dark green as the card base for this card with a layer of kraft that I put through the Cuttlebug on the top and bottom. Then I scored double lines where the embossing ends. I punched a butterfly using a Martha Stewart punch and popped it up with foam tape. The "Celebrate" was stamped with a dark green chalk ink. I added a layer of kraft paper on the inside and another punched out butterfly. The dark green ribbon finishes off the card.

A Quick Hello

I have terribly neglected my blog for the last couple of weeks or so. There's been a lot going on which is really no excuse. I do have some things to post just need to get motivated and do it. I do have some exciting news to share with my blog readers.

I belong to SplitcoastStampers, an online community for stampers and other paper crafters. One of the members sent out an email to other members of SplitcoastStampers who live in the Sacramento area. She wanted to know who would be interested in participating in a Shoebox Card Swap. She suggested a few dates and wanted people to vote on which date they would want to hold the Swap. Saturday, April 18th is the date that has been chosen. The swap will take place at her house in Rancho Cordova.

What each person that attends does is make a card then prepare all the elements to make that particular card for each person attending. So if 20 people are attending, then there needs to be supplies for 19 people to make that card. Each person would go home with 19 cards plus the one they made for the swap.

A potluck is planned for lunch as the swap will be held from 10 am to 4 pm. At this first swap, there will be discussion about holding these swaps on an ongoing basis. I have offered the clubhouse at the mobile home park where we live as a place to hold a future swap.

My friend Michelle is going with me. I am really looking forward to this and it should be a lot of fun. Candice is the name of the person organizing this first swap. She is also compiling a list of Stamp Stores in the area that people shop at and has asked that we submit our favorite websites that we shop at too. She is going to make a list of those places to hand out.

I will certainly post and let my blog readers know how it turns out.

My husband has been in Boise, ID on a ski trip with some of his kids and grandkids. This is a yearly event that happens the weekend of Presidents Day. He and his son Jason who lives in Roseville decided to drive this year. They left here last Tuesday evening and are heading home tomorrow, Thursday 2/19. Erik, his oldest son lives in Mt. Home outside of Boise and he is the one who organizes this trip each year. Another son, Keith, who lives in Ft. Worth, TX comes along with Wendi and Joyce, daughters who live in So. California. Joyce's 2 daughters, step-daughter and husband are there too. Erik's 4 children are there too for part of the time. This year, a former daughter-in-law joined the group for a couple of days. They rent a couple of condos at Bogus Basin where they go skiing, snowboarding and tubing. It's been a long 9 days since my husband left and I will be very happy and relieved to see him tomorrow night. I don't do well while he is gone on these trips. This is his 5th trip. On this trip he was able to get a season pass to ski free because he will be 70 years of age this year. This season pass is good for next year too. He was pretty excited to get that. Next year the original group will celebrate 10 years of these ski trips.

Of course with him being in Boise, we missed seeing the Tour of California, a bike race, that started in Sacramento last Saturday, the 14th. Weather wise, it was an awful start for the race, as it was non-stop rain and high winds. Today the race started in Merced and ended up in Clovis and it was a beautiful day with lots of sun and dry roads. While in the mountains east of Merced there was still snow along the side of the road and the higher mountains were covered. The scenery was beautiful. Tomorrow they head back to the coast from Visalia to Paso Robles. The race ends this coming Sunday in Escondido which is in north San Diego County. My husband is an avid cyclist and so we have enjoyed watching the Tour in person at some point along the way since it started 4 years ago. All the big names in cycling are in this tour including Lance Armstrong coming back from retiring 3 years ago.

I will be posting some new projects soon. Until then take care and thanks for reading my blog. Leave me a comment, I love to hear from my readers.