Rainy Sunday & Beach Trip

Hello everyone.
Can you believe it, we are halfway through July and we are still getting rain - where is our SUMMER !!! Mother Nature is flirting with us by giving us one or two days of nice weather and then 'wham', we are back to our cloudy and sometimes wet days. Although I will say that it is not really cold outside, it just makes it more muggy which I do not like.

How is your summer going so far? I am doing well and we took a fun trip to the beach, oh it was so nice to smell the ocean air and listen to the waves - how relaxing. One of my favorite stops was at Cooks Chasm, located south of Newport. It was along a rocky section of coastline and you could hear and see the waves crashing up against the rocks. It even had little cave areas where the waves would crash into them and cause a geyser. Here are a couple pictures for you to enjoy. This first one was taken at a park (forgot the name of it) way up on top of the hills which gave a perfect picture of Cooks Chasm below.

Earlier in the day, we were at Newport and walked along the waterfront. They have a lot of shops and other activities to do. We especially enjoyed the art galleries, oh so many beautiful things. Here is a couple pictures of my hubby 'Doug' with my sister 'Doreen' and the other picture is of me with my sister. The weather was sunny but cool and breezy. The last picture is of the Yaquina Bay bridge in Newport.

I am looking forward to another beach trip soon.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend.
Hugs, Karen

Sunny Days

Happy Saturday everyone.

I have been silent for quite some time, so many other things that have taken priority. I have a busy summer schedule, both with fun trips and needed projects around the home. I had a feeling that this would happen since we only usually get about 3 months of nice weather a year and that draws me outside most of the time.

My hubby was lucky and had a stretch of 5 weeks without a seizure - Praise God!! But he is back to his old pattern of every 1 - 2 weeks. This past weekend, he had a run of them (4 seizures) and the extra medicine did not work so I had to call his doctor for advise. He told me what he wanted me to do and that seemed to stop them.

Even though I have not been making any cards lately, my sister has and I will be sharing with you some of her creations. This first one reminds me of my mom... she loved to collect frogs (not real ones) and they used to be hard to find. Now I find them everywhere and they are so cute. I know she is in heaven having a blast creating all these wonderful frogs for our enjoyment.

I do not have the stats on what she used but I thought you would enjoy seeing them. She is wanting to start a blog of her own but until then, I will share with you her creations and mine when I can get myself back into my craft room.

Have a blessed weekend.
Karen

Happy Birthday to Me

We are having very nice weather this weekend.... oh how I am soaking up the sun before it goes away for a few days.

Well today is my birthday... not that I want to be a year older but I really do not mind. We do not have any definite plans... we will be getting a web cam call from our son and family, which is fun... then I think we may go buy a few flowers to plant in the yard.

Yesterday I had a really fun day... my sister planned a birthday party at her place and we all played Mexican Train, ate pie and of course - presents. We had a lot of laughs and fun.

Well I am off to play a little of my 'addictive' facebook games and clean house.



Have a wonderful day and stay safe!!

I leave you with a picture of one of our cats... her name is Abby. Very sweet and energetic, she can jump high and has the longest stretch I have ever seen on a cat.
Hugs
Karen

Challenges in Life

Hello everyone.

Have you ever struggled with getting up as tired as you were when you went to bed and not feeling like you could tackle the world or even get excited about doing what you had planned. Well that is what has happened to me.. I have felt this coming on for quite some time.

Lately, I have noticed that it has been getting worse for I have a hard time getting myself motivated to do anything, including the things I love. I went to see my doctor and she confirmed that I am depressed.

With the very long extended crummy spring weather, we have not had any sun to help perk my spirits and with caring for my husband, it all has taken a toll on me. She gave me a presciption for some meds to help, which I just started taking so I am looking forward to feeling better in the next couple weeks.

That is why you have not seen any new craft projects, just could not get myself motivated but I am hoping that I will be back to my old self again soon and crafting.

I appreciate all of you that has stopped by to check my blog. I will return.....

I hope you like this cow, I thought he was just too cute.   :-))

Hugs
Karen

Swirls and Flowers

Happy Wednesday everyone !!! 

I do not know about where you live but where I live, it just seems like spring is having a hard time coming out of hybernation. I do take advantage of any days nature provides so I can get some yard projects done. Oh so much to do and so little time.

I have an easel card to share with you today. I made it in a nice sunny yellow to bring in a little sunshine at least on paper. I mixed in some purple... I love these colors together. You cannot see from the picture but the swirls are punched out of a shimmery cards stock. I found a small flower and it fit perfectly in the center of a flower on my designer paper.

Supplies
CS & DP - DCWV
Image - SU
Sentiment - Hero Arts
Dies - Spellbinder
Punch - EK Success & Martha Stewart
Flowers - Silk & Prima
Others - Rhinestones, brads and beaded spray

Thats about it for this one, I hope you like it.
Until next time...
Have a great day.
Hugs, Karen

Calm Before the Storm

Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope that this finds you all well and happy.

Yesterday, we decided to clean up the patio, it had items that should have been put away last fall (I suppose that is part of my lazy side...lol) and just a few misc trashy items... oh where do they come from...lol.
Then we cleared everything off and used the blower and then the power washer to really clean the patio.. oh my, it was a lot dirtier than I thought but it looks so nice now. So now everything is in it's place and awaiting the finishing touches which will be pots of flowers that I will plant later this month when I KNOW that the weather is cooperating with us.

Today, we (my sister, friend, hubby and I) took a lovely drive around the various neighborhoods (especially the larger expensive homes) to get ideas of what plants they used and how they looked after they have matured. We need to replace a few of our shrubs for they have or are dieing. I think we have some in mind and will do some on line research to decide which ones we will get. We also went to a LARGE nursery that we have always wanted to go to and they had just about any type of plant you would want.... oh so cool. We will go back there again soon. We drove to a nice park to eat our brown bag lunches and enjoyed watching the people and kids playing.

After we were home, I mowed the lawn since it was the day before our lawn recycle day and before it is suppose to rain again. While I was pulling weeds, my hubby was edging and then decided to use the blower to tidy up a few areas.... while doing this, he had a seizure. I am so thankful that he wears his helmet for he did hit his head on the curb and it could have been so much worse. After he came out of the seizure, I helped him into the house to sit and rest. Unfortueatly he has had three more since then.... he had low blood sugar and so we tried to balance that but after dinner, it shot way too high and I had to give him insulin to balance it yet again. By his normal bedtime, his blood was looking better but I have had to give him two doses of this special medicine. Now I pray that the seizures will stop and he will be able to rest during the night. We were going to do some errands tomorrow but looks like we will be staying home so he can rest... seizures take a LOT out of a person.

Well I will sign off for now. Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs from the Pacific Northwest.
Karen

Tilda with Peach

Happy Monday everyone... at least here it still is for a little longer. I hope this finds everyone happy and well. We are FINALLY starting to get some normal spring weather and have been taking advantage of it. We had been so cooped up for so long, I enjoy to get more fresh air and be outside.

I apologize for not sending a post sooner, been busy doing other things. I have completed a card that I want  to share with you. I colored up this Tilda image and liked how the colors blended together but struggled at finding the right papers to compliment her. I punched out some leaves and put them together to create the look of tree branches, a perfect combination for Tilda who is picking some peaches. I colored a white little flower to better accent the card.

Supplies
Image - Tilda picking peaches from Magnolia
Sentiment - Dream Impressions
Card Stock & Designer Paper - from Stampin Up
Flowers - from Prima
Punches - Leaves (Martha Stewart), Corners (EK Success), Circle Dies (Spellbinder)
Ribbon and Pearl to finish it off.

I hope you like her and would love to read your comments.

I will try to get a new card posted at least once a week unless something requires my attention. As I had mentioned in an earlier posting, my husband has epilepsy and it can be challenging for they (doctors) have not been able to find anything to control them. He struggles with multiple seizures every 1-2 weeks and I need to keep an eye on him and help as needed. It can be stressful for his congnitive abilities are continueing to decline. I am not complaining, just stating a fact that affects my daily life.

Hugs,
Karen