Stamping Spotlight-Darcies

Why do I love stamping?  Many reasons......
1.  I love to make things and cards with rubberstamps don't take as long as other things.  It's all what you put into it.
2. The images can be stamped over and over again colored in with many different mediums.
3.  The possibilities are endless with the cardstock, colors, ephemera.
4.  I love the feel of the wooden blocks, the acrylic blocks, the rubber unmounted, and the acrylic stamps. 

Here are cards I made from the Darcies  stamps that I have.
It has been really fun making them and I hope you equally enjoy  viewing them. 
I now have a stash to put away when I need them.
The first picture is the card, the second picture is the inside of the card and the envelope.

Hint....I also love getting handmade cards.....if you want to send me one, drop me an email and I will give you my address plus I will send you one back. 

Don't Stop Believing

This song gets played at the Detroit Tigers games.  My husband Tom and I love this...it mentions Detroit in the lyrics and also "You Don't Stop Believing" that your favorite team will win. 

While looking today on You Tube he found a very fun video made by the PS22 chorus in New York. These kids are great....I love their faces...you can see who puts their heart and soul into it and who is the aspiring class clown.  PS22-Don't Stop Believing

Since the tragic event of the Colorado Theater Shootings-Don't Stop Believing that there is still more good in the world than bad. 

My heart goes out to all the victims.

I am so sorry for the families.

naturally beautiful

This is the Angel Plant.  I thought that I had done something wrong and it was never going to bloom again.  I am thrilled to see this pink growth and there are two so I should have some flowers again. 

Tonight we had a teeny bit of rain, but it was enough to make a rainbow.

And a double one to boot!

First tomato of of the patio plant.
It was tasty.

This is the patio plant, I put nasturtium seeds around the sides.

This dragonfly we found in the garage.  I don't know if it died of heat stroke or what, but it is in perfect shape.  The details on the wings is fabulous!

This great big moth is deceased also.  It was found outside. 

Here I am showing how big they were compared to my hand.

Awww, he is so sweet I had to sneak this in. 

The caladium bulbs are going to town now. 

This is what they look like after they were first planted. 

This is the left side.

Huge!

I didn't know I was going to get a flower also!

A new Caladium leaf, I am also very thrilled with this because of the colors.  That will add some dazzle to my arrangement.

on the lookout

Here is Sebastian at his favorite spot looking out the window.
There was one gloriously cool morning this week where I had opened the windows and he lifts his nose and smells the air, so happy....Until he hears two cats fighting outside.  Cats always sound so crazy and horrific when they fight.  It brings all 3 cats out from each corner of the house.  I was pinning hearts to this memorial quilt to applique on trying to keep them straight.  I had to contend with Sebastian walking across it to get down so he can walk to each door and growl, because he loves a good rumble just like every other cat.  He must have paced the house for 15 minutes growling.  Then he had to get back up and look out the window to find "the fighters".  He says, "if only, I could get out and mix it up too. I would show them."

save room for dessert

Last weekend we had a graduation party for Kevin and here was the homemade dessert table, except for the M & M's of course.  Fat chocolate chip cookies, a silver white cake with lemon frosting, chocolate fudge cake with white chocolate frosting. 

French Silk Pie

Blueberry cream cheese pie

Peanut Butter Fudge Pie

Pumpkin Sour Cream Pie

It was so hot that we moved it into the house, and it was a good time with good friends. 

Book Review-700 Sundays by Billy Crystal

This book was published in 2005 and let me tell you that there were parts that were laugh out loud funny.  I was reading on my front porch one night  and just burst out laughing and couldn't stop...I had to go inside. I love Billy Crystal....when he hosts the Academy Awards I cannot wait to watch.  Along with laughing it also made me shed a few tears too.  He had the most interesting family, immediate and extended.  His stories were great, I had to read a whole chapter to my husband about the baseball that they played and the Yankees that are Billy's favorite MLB team.  My husband laughed out loud too!  Billy's father died of a heart attack when Billy was 15 yrs. old.  His father worked two jobs and the only time they had him all to themselves was a sunday.  He only had his father for 700 Sundays.  It talks about the jazz era and his uncle started Commodore Records and sold music in the Commodore Record Shop in New York.  There were always well known artists in that shop, Louis Armstrong, Billy Holiday to name just two.  He went to see his first movie with Billy Holiday, it was Shane and it had Jack Palance in it, who ended up being a co-star of his in the City Slickers movies.  This was a very quick and enjoyable read.. 

Happy July 4th

I made this easy and tasty dessert tonight for our dinner.

Here is the recipe....

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients

2 pkgs. refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

fruit of your choice

Spread the sugar cookie dough in a 15 X 18 sheet pan
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes
take out and let cool.

While it is baking beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together.

Spread on the cooled cookie sheet and add your fruit design.

Anything works:
grapes
kiwi
blueberries
bananas
apples
strawberries
etc....

Electricity and a book review-The Bodyguards Story by Trevor Rees-Jones

On friday afternoon 6/29/2012, we lost our power before we saw a drop of rain...probably about 2:45 p.m.  The storm was fast moving with violent winds.  We have no trees that could be toppled but we are amazed at the trees and branches down in the area.  One house near us had a HUGE tree in the back fall on his barn and a HUGE  tree in the front snap and fall into his front yard.  The tree in the back just fell over with the roots coming out of the ground.  The base is probably two adults high if one stood on the others shoulders.  The strangest thing we had happen was that the wind picked up our cast iron table and chairs along with the rug that we had on the back deck and fling them all into the neighbors yard.  Thankfully they did not hit their house or anything in the yard.  We have a generator that we are able to run lights and take showers, watch television.  We held up in the basement and stayed cool with our fans and didn't venture too far from the house.  The electricity was restored at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night.  We are so thankful for the hard work of the workers.  We feel fortunate that it wasn't that long because we know others that don't have their electricity on yet here on a humid monday morning.

While we were without electricity I finished a book....The Bodyguards Story by Trevor Rees-Jones.

 This book was written in 2000 for many reasons.  1. To raise money to pay for his lawyer fees. 2.  To get money to put away because he did not know if his body would hold up after it was so damaged after the crash.  3.  To tell his story because Mr. Fayed was throwing out accusations that were not true. 

Trevor Rees-Jones never sold his story to the highest bidder, being the only survivor of this horrendous crash.  He was Dodi Fayed's bodyguard and because of the choices that Dodi made Trevor was to take the brunt of the publicity, unwanted as it was. 

I enjoyed this book, it tells of the weeks leading up to the crash. It explains in detail the French Police report what exactly happened in the crash, why Diana died because of her injuries.  It explained why the supposedly engagement ring could not be true and the accusations of an assasination plot was unknown. 

Because of his money Mr. Fayed was a very controlling person.  He had the means to buy off, pay off many, many people.  When he finally burned his last bridge with Trevor to try to control what he said about the crash he then angrily threw out accusations that it was all his fault.

Trevor was a very unassuming person along with his family.  During the time of the crash he was getting divorced from his wife of two years.  She sold her story, a distant friend of his, sold his story to the tabloids.  Trevor never wanted to cut his ties to Mr. Fayed or think the worst of his.  It took a very long time and he had to come to the conclusion on his own, even though his family and lawyers tried to get him to see the truth.  I give him credit for doing it his own way.

He and his family only wanted to start living their normal life again in the small village of Owestry, Shropshire.  I hope because of this book he did receive compensation to put away money for his future, because at the end of the book he had not received anything because of the French laws.   

fun and useful

 My friend Suzy and I had a fun day out on Friday.  We went to a quilt show in Topeka, Indiana and then went into Shipshewana to shop and see more quilts.  This is in the heart of Amish Country and we went to an all purpose store called Yoders.  It seems as if it had anything that was needed in the way of home goods.  Suzy pointed out this ice cream scoop that has antifreeze in the handle.  The ice cream does not stick on the spoon.  It cannot be put into the dishwasher though.  It works great! The ice cream slid right off into the bowl.

This is a butter keeper.  It holds one stick of butter. 

The butter goes into the lid part and a little bit of water goes into the bottom.  It serves as a seal to the butter, and now the butter is left out to be soft when it is time to use it.  No more holes in my toast. 

This I picked up on my Home Goods trip with my friend Theresa to Indianapolis.  It is just a pretty decorative piece. 

I was really excited to see my caladium leaves bloom.  One of them is supposed to eventually have red on it.  I will keep you updated.

I get amazed at that sweet potato vine.  It is just growing like crazy.  The other side is longer and I am going to have to give it a trim.

Book Review-50 Shades of Grey Trilogy

Warning:  If you are appalled by strong language, erotic, kinky, submissive and domineering sexual scenes...these books would not be for you. 

Christen Grey and Anastasia Steele are the two main characters in these adult romance novels.  Christen is 27 and has become a very wealthy entrepreneur.  Anastasia is an undergraduate college student getting ready to graduate.  She does a favor for her "under the weather" roommate to interview Christian for the school newspaper.  Both become attracted to each other and he begins to pursue Anastasia but he wants her for his "submissive" rather than a romantic relationship.  Personally once I got past the first book and the shocking, sexual activities that happen I was able to get into the deeper part of the books.  Many questions come about as to why Christian is interested in the "Dom" role.  It's great to read about the rich and the advantages that they have, houses and jets and boats.  After all books are to take you to other lands and places that you don't go.  He won Anastasia's heart over but made her question herself many times but she sticks with him because even though he is handsome beyond belief and rich and funny...he comes with a lot of baggage.  She works through this with him though and as the books go on there are many action parts and surprises.  I have read other reviews and one of the biggest complaints is the repetitious use of writing the same action, lip biting, words over and over again.  I also really got tired of Anastasia questioning, worrying and analyzing Christians every move. 

I could not put these books down.  I had to get my fix each day of the lifestyles of the rich and famous and I am a sucker for romance.  I was happy with the ending and it left me with a finished feeling, I did not crave any more.  This was good because it took up a lot of my life reading to see what was going to happen next. 

A friend of mine just came back from the beach in Florida and walking down along the water, these books were the most popular for the big summer reading.
Just remember my warning. 

The Flowers of Summer

So many different day lilies on the first day of summer.
It's been warm here....mid nineties.

I wish we could get a little more rain please.

full weekend

Happy Fathers Day to my dear husband with our two great sons. 
You're the best!

A wedding card I made for a wedding and reception this weekend. 
It was one of the nicest we have been to for a very special person and her new husband.

The inside of the card.
Many best wishes to the Bride and Groom.