Excused Absence

I have been missing in action for awhile and I can't get my mind into punching.

My dad was in the hospital all last week and now he is under hospice care at a nursing home so I've been on the road - to and fro - across Dallas once or twice a day.  And this will continue for awhile - who knows how long?

Daddy has been lucid a few times and one night told me that all you could ask is to live a live filled with love and that he had certainly had that - he felt he had been very blessed.  Good thing he can't see well anymore cause the tears were rolling down my face.  He knows we love him and leaving that dear old worn out body will be a good thing but it is hard to watch him struggle as he leaves us.  We are very grateful that the wonderful folks from Hospice will help ease any pain.

Thanks for waiting for me.  I'm hoping the Inspiration Fairy will be back - but right now I have no interest in listening for her.  I know you will understand.  Thanks for all your kind words and positive thoughts.

Baseball

World Series here we come!

Woo Hoo

Go Rangers!

Owl and Butterfly

I had a flashback and remembered a post from about this time last year when I gave y'all a lesson on eyes.  I remembered one of them screamed "owl eyes" so I wanted to test it to see if it would work on the owl from SU's owl punch.

It worked.

So I did another.

And one more just for fun.

I love the butterfly punch AND the owl punch so you know I love being able to use them together!

Yawning again

Another late night at the ER...  I'm just getting home at 2:30 AM and am exhausted but too wound up to fall asleep.  Different "oldie" this time.  And we don't have a diagnosis yet.  

Let me repeat a line my FIL loves to say...  "Growing old is not for wimps"

On the plus side there was a TV (no sound) in the room in the ER.  No sound required - I got to see most of the game as the Rangers whooped up on the Yankees EIGHT to nada.  That was the only bright spot of the evening but it was a very bright spot - it kept us distracted as we sat FOREVER waiting on test results and FOREVER again waiting for a room when they decided to admit him. 

I have some new stuff punched but not photographed or documented.  Give me a day or two to get the old folks under control again and I'll be back.

Mad Scientist

For today I made a Mad Scientist.

NOT mad as in angry, you broke an expensive test tube.

This is a MAD (as in crazy, about to create a monster with a head even bigger his own) Scientist!

Head - 1.25 inch circle, small oval

Eyes - small Heart to Heart and 1/8 hole punch (retired - use a black marker)

Nose - small circle (don't remember which one) trimmed flat on sides

Moustache - modern label punched at end of modern label hole to get just a bumpy sliver

Eyebrows - same as moustache - just snipped off the ends of the sliver to get two small parts

Hair - scrap cut like grass

Body - modern label - trimmed flat at "feet" - drew dots all the way down

Feet - small Heart to Heart

Sleeves - ends of word window

Hands - small circle from itty bitty punch pack at ends of modern label

Test tube - part of word window in vellum - retired slot for end (use a tiny scrap and try to round the ends)

Total Height - 3.5 inches of crazy!

The Ballpark in Arlington in OCTOBER

Friday night - my first time to be at THE BALLPARK IN ARLINGTON IN OCTOBER!!!!

We lost that night after having the lead for seven innings- so sad.  But we beat the Yankees on Saturday afternoon.  The first time our Texas Rangers have won a playoff game at home.  Long time coming.  I hope to one day be at one of the home victories!  The young guys we had drinks with after the game are from Houston and said if the Rangers make it to the World Series they will be at the game even if it means listening to it on the radio from the parking lot. 

Not really the Ranger uniform but I just HAD to make something baseball related today to celebrate.

I'll be glued to the games this week.  GO RANGERS!!!!

Petal Punch Ideas

Liam Pucher has some great ideas using the Petal Card Punch (which I have neglected)

Look HERE and scroll down a few days.

 

Ebenezer

Someone (can't remember who) did a great Scrooge last year but since I can't remember who - I also can't link you to it (amazing how that works).  But this is my Scrooge using tag punches which I rarely grab (need to work on that).

EDIT:  Thanks to Ruby (who is evidently WAY more organized than I can imagine) - THIS is the link to the "other" Scrooge which was created by Carrie Gaskin.

Here's the details in case you NEED to make this Ebenezer

Hat – 1.25 circle trimmed on each side, modern label on edge of paper so you just get one bump width

Face – small oval

Chin – circle itty bitty punch pack

Nose – wing from two step bird

Eye white – small heart

Eye black – tiny owl or marker

Hair – large oval – cut in like grass

Coat – small tag, tag, ½ small oval for pocket, modern label trimmed for sleeve

Pants – modern label stamped with solid stripes stamp – trim flat at bottom

Shoes – narrow heart to heart cut in half to get 2 shoes

Draw on mouth and cleft in chin

Add ribbon for scarf

What is it with me and old men lately?

Darling Halloween Owls

The owl punch is so much fun - even if you don't use it for really weird stuff.  Just dressing him(her) up is a blast. 

Today I'm sending you to see what Barbara Diane has done for Halloween.  This is her blog - you need to check out all this week (and maybe a whole lot more) cause she does such great stuff (in addition to being a super sweet lady)!   The owl has so many Halloween costumes on her blog I've lost count.

Super cute so don't miss them.

Seasonal Recipe Cards

Yesterday I shared my Cheeseball Season recipe.  Today you get to see what I got from my Upline, Sidelines, and Downline friends.  These are all recipes they make during the Holiday Season.

This is a jello salad that Jenifer's mom made - the cherries are the 3/4 inch circle and the stems are the branch from the Two Step Bird punch.

Eileen swears that EVEN I can make these squares.  I'll let you know when I do.  The lesson here is in the border.

Not a Stampin' Up! punch but this idea may come in handy for you - she had us punch the border - then punch the leaves and put them back in the leaf holes - but we left the acorns spots empty so the brown would show through - and if the leaf didn't get "fit" into the hole perfectly - you get a great shadow effect.

Here is Becky's Pumpkin Roll - I've never made one of these either.  I used to have a neighbor who made me one each year.  Gosh I hate it when the good cooks move away....

This is Samantha's stuffing recipe - it sounds yum.  Notice how she mixed different stamp sets on this page - looks great huh?

This recipes sounds fabulous too.  I love Madeline's idea with the YUM tags.  I wish I had threaded the cord through the buttons instead of "tying" behind.  I think I can use this idea many times for different recipes - way to go Madeline!

Football? No, it's CHEESEBALL Season...

There is baseball season, football season, basketball season and CHEESEBALL season. 

I have a cheeseball recipe that we make EVERY year for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We limit it to that time for 2 reasons

1) to keep it "special"
2) the Roka cheese it called for was only in the local grocery store seasonally.

Last Fall there was a CRISIS!  Kraft totally quit making Roka blue in the little jar. 

OH NO! 

I had a kid coming home from school expecting her favorite cheeseball and I really didn't want to disappoint.  I emailed Kraft and they suggested a substitute recipe to replace the Roka so I cut it in half and merged it into the original cheeseball recipe.  Four ingredients to replace one little jar of cheese - but you do what you gotta do for TRADITION and for your kids.

And now, I can make the cheeseball in the "off season" since I don't have to hunt down the jar of Roka.  Which makes this little story another example of "every dark cloud has a silver lining...."

Cheeseball - So Saffron 1.25 circle repunched with small circle punches - sponged edges with so saffron ink
Baseball - Whisper White 1.25 circle - use "hole" as a template to draw the curved lines - add tiny dashes
Basketball -Whisper white paper, pumpkin pie ink, retired Just Basketball stamp - you could punch a pumpkin pie circle and add white lines with gel pen - sponge edges with pumpkin pie ink
Football - soft suede 1.75 circle repunched with same - sponge edges with chocolate chip ink - draw laces with white gel pen.

Easy Shark

Inspiration is everywhere!

This idea was from a t-shirt one of my sidelines had on. 

Body – wide oval cut in half

Teeth – large oval punched over and over with retired small star (you can nip in with scissors)

Eyes – standard hole punch, white gel pen highlight

Lower fins – small oval cut in half

Top Fin – 1.25 inch circle next to same hole (to get curves on both sides)

Tail – Full heart – repunched on both sides with a large oval. (put on a post it note so you can hold on to it)

Mixed Up Holiday

I know, I know... I'm supposed to be working on Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas punch art but you know how fickle the Inspiration Fairy can be - she gives what she gives...

And she showed me ground hog clip art. 

So this is either really early or really late. 

You decide.

Owl Pizza

No - this is not some weird recipe page for pizza using owl meat.

Remember "Man of Mystery"?

When I made the little detective using nothing but the Owl Punch?

Oops, I did it again

(sing along with me and Britney now)

This time I did a little chef makin' his pizza pie.

This is the title element for a page on our favorite family pizza - (not Mom's fave but the one the family has eaten for a zillion years)
Seriously, the ONLY punch needed to make this chef is the Stampin' Up! Owl punch. 
 
You'll also need a black marker, a post it note and scissors to make a couple of snips. (And adhesive, of course)

Hat - breast turned upside down - drew on the scallops and colored above them with a black marker (no trimming required)  The little "v" notch will be covered by his "hair"

Hair - feet  - three of them - two are 'toes down' on each side - then the middle one is 'toes up' to hide the notch

Head - breast

Nose - small circle

Eyes - tiny circles

Moustache - large circle punched around small circle hole - cut in half to get both sides of his moustache

Coat/Shirt/whatever you call it - breast - draw line and buttons

Pants - breast upside down (you will need to trim a little at the fattest part or it will stick out past his coat

Shoes - heart  (1 for each shoe)

Arm - heart

Pizza - breast - put on sticky part of post it note and repunch with breast

Pepperoni - tiny circles

Here are the "in process" photos for you visual ladies:

Punch parts shown here

 Now assembly in process - when I outlined the nose I didn't go all the way around - I left the top flesh toned

 On the next photo you can see that I slimmed his waistline to fit under his coat and started the pizza - this is the owl breast on a post it note

 This shows the owl breast (on post it) reinserted in the punch to get the pizza

 Here he is again

******

Thank you for your kind thoughts and words about our health situation.  FIL is out of CCU and possibly going home today.  He has minimal damage to his heart and is in great shape for 89 years old.  Of course if he lived in a rural area and hadn't gotten such fast response from 911, the situation might have been very different.  Cities have their downside but they have their advantages too. 

Hubby is thinking our retirement home should be on some secluded golf course in the Texas Hill Country and I'm thinking it should be next door to a major hospital.  (I bet we could learn to sleep through ambulance sirens)

Yawn...

It is 2 AM and I'm just home from the hospital - FIL had a heart attack tonight - HE IS FINE.

He had the sense to dial 911 and they were there in a flash.  The doctor put in a stint and FIL was laughing and joking when I left the hospital - with a list of things he needs and social events to cancel.

Some new punch art in work but you may not see it for a couple of days - I'm not sure how much I'll be home this week and it is not "finished".  I'm sure I'll be at the hospital most of the week and the other oldies have doctor appointments too.  I think even I have a check up scheduled.  Health care is the theme of the week around here, I guess...

So when I'm caught up on my beauty rest AND off medical duty, I'll be back.

Sorry to disrupt your (almost) daily punch fix but that's life!

Old Days

Toga Man

Long Explanation Below

After several posts admitting how old and gray I am, I decided it is time to share a layout I did with photos from 25 years ago - pre gray days.

Let's do the math  (And even you gals that flunked algebra can follow this.....)

Ready?

Here is the equation:

Bad Photos + Good Memory = X

X = Scrapbook Layout

Therefore
Bad photos that bring back good memories should be used in your scrapbooks!!!

Here is my example

March 16 1985

We were newlyweds and renting a great house with horrid carpet

This gives us another good equation:  Large House + Bad Carpet = PARTY

March 16  fell on a weekend and was exactly half way between the Ides of March and St. Patrick's Day - What could we do except have an Irish-Toga Party? (this was the 80s ya know? - check out the leg warmers!)

Too busy partying to take many photos but someone got this shot of me in my "Irish" outfit and the really bad photo is a Polaroid of some of the guests raising their togas.  Other photos existed but I believe they were borrowed and destroyed by some of the attendees in the interest of career advancement.  It WAS a very fun night. 

Lessons:

The paper folded back is hiding a huge white blur on the polaroid photo - bringing your attention to those "sexy" legs (file that idea away if you have old photos - and be grateful that we have moved to the digital age where you don't have to mess with crummy photos like these)

Be careful cropping - I nearly cropped this photo closer to "me" but then I noticed that I am talking to a guy that is about 11 feet tall - I have no clue who he is but I decided I shouldn't crop him out - I might find out he is famous or infamous! (I told you it was a FUN party)

And the lesson you might really care about is How to Make Toga Man (just in case you decide to throw a toga party yourself)

Head – Owl – feet and ears cut off – (I guess the ears would be hidden by the hair)

Hair – Bat – upside down – head and feet snipped off with circle from itty bitty punch pack (or other small circle)

Eyes – small heart in white, tiny circle from owl in black

Nose – circle from itty bitty punch pack

Toga – wide oval – flat on bottom – shoulder snipped off with large circle (I think I grabbed the 1.75)

Chest – wide oval (just a piece)

Neck – word window

Arms and Legs – oval rings (large oval around small oval hole) snip off pieces you need

Hand – circle from itty bitty punch pack around tips of modern label

Feet – large circle from owl

Sandals – retired slot (can substitute thin strips from your trimmer)

I sponged some soft suede on his five o’clock shadow (no underage boys at this party)
Outlined pieces in black
Drew on mouth and a few lines on his toga to indicate folds in the “fabric”

This is certainly not one of my best scrapbook layouts, but I share it to show you that not everything has to be a masterpiece - you can make so-so layouts using bad photos and if it records a good memory you were a smart girl to record it. 

My girls got such a kick seeing this photo of me.  This layout has generated more joy than any of my "fancy" layouts that I'm so proud of.  Don't think every layout has to be "pretty".  

Older

Thanks for all the birthday wishes - it was a fabulous day and I have new music, new clothes, new movies and new books to enjoy.

I was a pig ALL day long and had a jolly good time at the trough.

The only bad part of the whole thing was the actually adding a year to my age and really  - who cares?

Oh, the driver's license bureau did.  They didn't let me renew by mail this time - so I had to give up the one GREAT license photo that I EVER had (and had for a long time) and get a new one.

So after taking my new photo the girl behind the counter asks "did anything change?"

Well, duh....  Can you see me?  Can you see the old photo? 

"I think you need to list my hair as gray now - it is not brown any more" 

So she does look up at me and enthusiastically agrees.  Then she has the nerve to ask about weight.  (It isn't shown on your Texas license but evidently that confidential info is in the files.) 

Hmmm ....what does it list from last time?

REALLY? 

I weighed that little as an adult human???? 

REALLY?  (I must have lied when I gave them that number) 

Ummmmm - guess you better add 30 pounds. 

With age comes honesty.

So OFFICIALLY, I am a year older and heavier and yet happy as can be - 'cause I don't quite look as bad as this guy - inspired by the birthday card hubby's best friend and his family sent me.

It was a Hallmark-er and said

"So what if your crabby, a little bit flabby, or take the occasional snooze?

So what if your gassy, or prone to be sassy, or yell at some guy on the news?

So what if you're addled, your memory's skedaddled, you struggle to get out of bed?

It's no bed of roses, what everyone knows is...

It sure as hell beats being dead!"

And on the back "Well, I'm all cheered up. How about you?"

If you need to make a confused old man for a birthday card, here's the 411
Bathrobe - 2.5 inch circle flat on one side - draw on belt and collar
Sleeves - narrow Heart To Heart repunched offset at bottom
Legs - narrow Heart to Heart repunched offset at bottom - snip one side shorter with your scissors so the leg end is shorter than the foot end - point of heart is his heel
Slippers - part of wide Heart to Heart
Hands - itty bitty circle around tips of modern label
Head - wide oval
Ears - wide heart to heart  - cut in half to get two ears
Nose - word window
Eyes - word window repunched to shorten
Eyelids - word window fold in half and snip diagonally to get identical eyelids with one cut
Eyebrows - retired slot punch (can use tiny scrap) snipped like cutting grass but on the diagonal - rough up with finger nail
Draw lines on face and black of eyes
I used Blueberry Crisp paper for his bathrobe - remember to use pattern paper in your punch art - it can really make a difference.

*****

Sorry for going missing on y'all for a few days.  I got some really sweet emails from ladies concerned about me.  I appreciate your concern and assure you I am fine.

It was a combination of birthday celebrations and old folk emergencies.  As in, I was starting to compose this post when I got a call and had to get one of the dear oldies to the emergency room.  All is fine now.  Another bullet dodged and different pills for him to take.  Phew!  More doctor visits with them this week so if my posting is spotty - don't worry - I'm just off doing my "other job".