OPERATION WRITE HOME Bunny Hop Day 1--EXTENDED!

MY APOLOGIES, I had this set to auto schedule for 8:45 am  and it did not do it. I have been away all day, I am so sorry. (I extended the original deadline due to this snafu)

 Welcome to My little piece of the 

OPERATION WRITE HOME  

Spring Bunny Hop (blog hop)

Hi, you should have arrived here from Allison http://allisonscreations.blogspot.com
if you happened upon my post by accident or did not know about the hop it starts here.

Today I am challenging all of you to make 

a Mother's day card with NO FLOWERS on it at all...

no floral paper, no added flowers, no stamps with flowers, no ribbons with flowers, no flowers whatsoever. 

I have a couple of examples:

This card is just a piece of Neenah Solar white Card stock, that I wove ribbons on, then used part of one of the Nestabilities (Labels 16) and stamped Happy Mother's day, and a flourish(all by Inkadinkadoo-clear)  on with Momento Tuxedo black ink.

Stamps set is retired by SU, Card stock by SU, Ribbon-misc. Ink and markers-SU
It is a scan and not a photo (as with the card above) but this one got cut just a bit.

Did I mention there is a prize? no, well there is one for the lucky winner that my husband picks, this is what you will win:

A Bow Easy and a BN set of clear cling stamps by Autumn Leaves, these stamps are large-ish and fun and whimsical...there is the word Love, Always, Grin, & Imagine along with 2 other coordinating stamps.

Please add your card for this challenge below using the blue froggy! You have until Monday March 7 at 9pm EST to upload your picture. The Hubster will pick the winner at 11pm EST.

  

Please go along to see the next stop on the hop, the lovely GrandmaLee, who I am proud to call friend. :)


If you like come back tomorrow also for a short tutorial, and I will have a small blog candy for one lucky commentor. 

EDIT: I regret that only 3 of you were even eligible for this challenge. having said that it is not fair to have a challenge with only three players. therefore (as stated on numerous occasions) there is no challenge.   however...Ann, Terri and Donna, please email me your mailing info and I will send you all a little something.  Thanks, Susan

Alphabe-Thursday...U (late)

this week we are studying the letter "U" over at Jenny's Place.


The word is UNDER...as in some of you NEED to check the posts UNDER this one.

ok...just a few unders...

UNDERtakers

UNDER the sea

UNDER wear

UNDERground

UNDERground Railroad

I hope you liked my visit to the UNDERS

the left over prize from my big candy...

That I listed again, and asked for the original commenters to come back and comment if they wanted to win it.

I was supposed to draw on 2/27 but there were only 2 people. so I waited a bit longer, I got a third. so I decided to do the draw, 3 names in a hat of hubby's. hubby picked.
the 3 names were:
Aisha
Celtic dragonfly
Jenny

The name hubby picked out of the hat:
Jenny

so congrats Jenny on the coffee set, the decorative tape and some wedding embellishments.
Please email your mailing info.
Susan

My picks for the "Life is Good" award

Today I get to share what I think is a lovely award:

The LIFE IS GOOD award

I am to share this with 10-12 bloggers.

I have decided it should go to 10-12 bloggers that EXUDE that statement!

People who remind us that life is good, no matter what, people who make us think of the good in life, people who smile a lot, people that make others smile.

so without further adieu, I give you my picks, and I am going to ask them to do one thing only, on top of sharing the award.

I want you post one thing, that makes you remember that life is good, no matter what

and then share it with 10-12 bloggers. do not forget to take the award with you.

Dear Jenny over at Jenny Matlock off on my tangent

a good friend Nicole always a with positive thoughts even when her lupus is getting the better of her, find her at Beadwright

sweet and selfless FaerWillow over at Serendipity (she can use prayers and energy and thoughts of the healing nature right now)

Courageous Debbi (writer girl dreams) over at The Sacred Ordinary ,when you read any of her blog you are transformed, and enlightened, as she battles a great enemy, an enemy of all women

The talented and perky Jacque, (at the end of her battle and VICTORIOUS!) find her at Jacque's Joie de Vivre

the "mother" who cooks for us all, Jennifer, who can be found in front of the stove over at Confessions Of a Kitchen Witch

Lisa, creator and manager of ONE WORLD ONE HEART for 5 years and now, a new endeavor, she sure is a Whimiscal Bohemian

 friendly and thoughtful June of Dezinaworld

The happy-go-lucky Pat of Mille Fiori favoriti

The talented and generous Valerie of The Sum of All Crafts

Allison of FREE Digital Stamps for doing all the research and all the work to find use all the great freebies everyday!

I do not know her/his name but they are at Pondside and they always make me smile with their wonderful pictures and stories!

First an apology, then something fun!

I said I was going to come back on Tuesday and post the blogs I chose to share the friendly award with. I had also planned a small post about some of the upheaval in my life right now.  I am sorry I did not do so.

Things have not been good with my entire family (extended) for a while and my older daughter who has been estranged from everyone for about 4 years (this round). My son has ALWAYS been a handful, always for everyone. I do not know if I told you the entire story of what led to him moving back out, after only moving back home for about 6 months.  I will tell the whole story but not today. Today I just want to say that for about the 1ooth time he has broken my heart, and I do not think it can be repaired this time. My husband is disowning him, and has said so since Tom's "evil plan" emerged, and we caught him it in.  But being the mom, I kept saying he is coming back to go to the dentist on 3/1 let's give him til then to calm down  etc. He is cutting off his own nose...here he has medical insurance at least for 1.5 more years, he has a car, he has a cool phone, he has a roof, food, his pets, etc.  well he stopped over to bring back my husband's electric clippers and the phone (a palm 3 that we bought for him) yet he did not bring the chargers etc. I tried calmly to talk to him, calmly I was even sitting down, and one point I started crying. The whole time he did nothing but scream at me, berate me, wish me dead, and actually threatened 3 times to "slit my throat and dispose of my body" (If i knew exactly where he lives I would call the cops for his threats--Hubby's and daughter's suggestion, and I have to agree) Ron pointed out to him several times, look at you, you are freaking out, your mom is calm and speaking in her normal tone of voice. His answer was I only act like this in this house and I then told him that I was looking into ways to rid the negative energy in the house and that i had thought about that a lot. (I notice all of us are more short tempered in this house etc, and it usually leads to a domino effect) We both suggested he stay, and see someone, perhaps get on anti-anxiety meds ( he needs more than that, and was on more than that before becoming of age to refuse) he said, "I do not need meds, I need HER to be out of my life, she is the DEVIL!"  I was floored by this statement, speechless, hurt, angry, broken. I started to pull inside myself, and vaguely remember Ron telling Tom, that THAT WAS IT, he had to go.  Later I thought about this, my son considers himself a Wiccan but I have never really seen him do anything for his religion, and I noticed his is not wearing his pentacle, he left it here. Wiccan's do not believe in the devil.
So I am not really sure how to take what he meant.  But OBVIOUSLY the true meaning of his words were evil, and certainly threatening my life.

I am not myself right now, I feel about as badly as I did before getting on anti-depressants, I am not sleeping well, and when I do sleep it is in fits with very strange dreams. I am weepy, I want to do nothing but hide under the comforter. I have made commitments with my blog, with swaps, with my husband who needs me. I feel like none of the above. I am NOT the type of person that quits or backs down, this is killing me inside. Then I get a letter from my WC attorney with new dates to go see these 2 quacks for the hospital that I used to work for...I saw them already, I do not know why I have to see them again? The lawyer's office assures me that that this is their prerogative, they have that right since in between I had my one knee replaced.. both doctors are clear on the other side of the state, one at 8 in the am...impossible for me to do, the other at 7pm at night about a week apart.
I am trying to get them rescheduled for a more convenient time for us, and my lawyer's paralegal is giving me a hard time, "don't I realize they have limited hours etc", I am like don't you realize transportation is an issue for me, and moreso now that my daughter has moved out.
so this is just the icing I needed right now.

SO, it is no excuse but I feel bad that I am slacking here. I need to get away to somewhere happy!

OK NEXT POST is Happy news for some friendly bloggers!

Tuesday first of a couple of posts...

Hi There first we have a card for OWH Stars n Stamps challenge for an "Any Occasion" card, this is for "Encouragement"  I would say for a female. and as usual I can not seem to get a good picture of my card, the days I DO, is sheer luck! LOL  So First a picture on the "portrait" setting. and then one on "Macro"  Portrait is a bit blurry and the macro is blurry AND poor resolution. I am simply disgusted, I think it was better when I used to scan my cards. This card I will admit, was in my "started cards folder", and from an old  SCS Saturday style challenge, which was a picture of a bathroom renovated with these colors and both strips and flowers, thus...why I mixed papers.

Today I added the sentiment, brads and ribbon...which appears much darker and much bluer than it is, it is actually more like a periwinkle color, but a shade darker, just not this dark.
This card is also for This past Thursday's "Anything Goes" challenge over at Do You Stack Up challenge blog

 Portrait above: colors more accurate (with the exception of the ribbon, which actually looks better below, but still not right) but blurry

Macro below: colors off, resolution off, but less blurry. I can tell you the Card stock is SU, and the flower paper is DCWV. The rest is unknown or forgotten

I'll be back to share my new award with 10-12 friendly bloggers, and maybe chat about some stuff that's going on, I'll go with where the keyboard takes me.

Congrats to my Blogoversary winners....

Here are my winners, thanks for celebrating my First blogoversary with me!!!


You will need to contact me by email susanscraps AT comcast DOT net, to get your winnings or instructions on how to get your winnings.

Magic Moon soapworks 10$ GC...Wendy @ the Year of the Cats

Nicole's own bead backing sampler/Beadwright...Kathy @ QuiltQueen

DezinaWorld's Rosey Lee Giant collage sheet set...Jacque4u2c @ Jacque4U2C

Frog's Attic Vintage Valentine pouch/bag/box...Jody @ Tumbleweed Trails

Bugaboo Stamps 5 free digi stamps...Micki @ IrishMuses

Love You More Designs 15$ GC...Jenny @ Jenny Matlock off on my Tangent

My 2 ACEOs and goodies... Sara @ Seaside Diaries of a Kimberline

PLEASE make sure to thank your winning vendor, and remind them that you are there through my blog, and their generous donation. I hope some of you will give these vendors some of your business in the future, remember keeping the little businesses afloat is what keeps our economy afloat.

a quick post for a card

This card is for a challenge at the OWH blog--Stars and Stamps

The challenge was to add some paper flowers or other elements to a piece of card stock, and then emboss it.

The main part of the bird and the branches were attached before using the embossing folder.

Then I added the wing, sentiment and border, then attached it to the card, then I added the string beads and black rhinestones.

 I used glue lines under the string beads, so after a bit when I know they are really stuck on, I'll powder the part that shows, which should dull it down and it won't be shiny.

All Card Stock is Stampin' Up...Black, Sahara Sand and retired Mint Melody, Scalloped punch by EK Success, Border punch by EKSuccess, Bird combo punch by Stampin' Up, string beads...can't remember, black bling by My Minds Eye, embossing folder by Cuttlebug,

Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black

Today I am a guest blogger...(edit)

Over at THE WHIMSICAL COTTAGE with Danni, She is celebrating the FAE for the month of February. For those not in the know, Fae encompass all the fairy creatures. I highly recommend you check it out over the weekend, all the posts are fascinating!

This may not happen til Sunday, if it is I'll be back to let you know.

LAST DAY for Giveaways for my blogoversary

if interested now is the time! click the champagne glasses at the top of my sidebar, and FOLLOW the instructions.


The giveaway are all donated from web stores and etsy shoppes (except one from me)

Thanks, Susan