Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Wow...

since I have posted last I have turned 50, celebrated with my family and then celebrated by walking the Susan G Komen 3 Day 60 mile Walk for a Cure.  It was amazing, spectacular....in fact I am not even able yet to process how I feel and so I will write about it....I just need to decompress, s look at my photos, reflect and put it into a perspective that doesn't sound too loony, over the moon happy about it!  But, that is how I feel and I am soooo glad that it was such a gonzo experience for me.  It was a totally out of the box event for me to take on.....and here I am talking about the fact that I was publicly acknowledging that I was going to be fifty.  50.  Five-O.  And, it has been good.  A good birthday.  A good three day walk.  A good 60 miles.  I will write and post pix...but today, I have a card that I thought I uploaded last week and now see that I didn't.  So, here. it. is.


The main image is a Northwoods Rubber Stamp Co.  and then I complimented the patterned paper with Hero Art's Fabulous Flourish stamp.  I used a Spellbinder Die Cut and a Tim Holtz metal sentiment and there you go!  My card ;-D  Thanks so much for stopping by and I really am appreciating the comments and private messages of late.  Toodles!

Be well, 
Sheila

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Over the....

top.  Yep, we got bling, metal, multiple layers, glitter, color, embossing....did I forget anything? Yeah, probably did but the point is that this card is NOT shy.  It is loud and proud and it is for my friend who is going through some very challenging health issues.  She has received some news that is not the news that she was hoping for.  It is not happy news and it is going to take a lot of her strength to go the next step in her journey.  And I feel for her.  And, I can't do a whole lot for her....to help her except to let her know that I am thinking of her.  That I know what she has ahead of her is scary but that I also know that she has it in her to dial back her fears and increase the volume on her hopes and that, yes that, is what will get her through the next few months.  So, I wanted a card that was vibrant, and hopeful. And, unfortunately,  a card and a prayer is all I can do for her at the moment.


And this is the inside because I am trying to finish off more of my cards on the inside.  Just trying to be pretty inside and out ;-D  


I am also going to send her a pair of very bright, very fun shoe laces.  Because, I know she will be up and about again and when she is I want her to have some fabulous, funky shoe laces to be-ribbon her shoes.  Thanks for stopping by.....I hope you all are having a good day ;-D

Be well,
Sheila

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Thank....

you and you and you.....  Actually, thank all of you who either left me or emailed me such sweet, special comments.  It has really touched me a great deal.  I think all of us want, as we journey through life, to feel that we have some sort of "value"....some sort of positive way that we touch another person, another soul and I feel so privileged that some of you "out there" feel a connection with some of my recent comments.  I am sure that could we meet for coffee, tea, (okay, wine) we would find all sorts of common ground to talk over.  My family laughs because as the kids were growing up I harped and harped and nagged and nagged about the dangers of the internet....be careful of the strangers on the web etc.....yet, here I am "friends" with strangers on the internet!  And, it has been a very nice, very positive experience for me. AND, some of you I will have the pleasure of meeting in person for the first time at Scrapfest next month! Yay!

Well, onto the biz of the blog....a card.  So, I colored up another Mo' Manning for Penny Black stamp and again, this little senior citizen makes me smile.  The sentiment that goes with this image is "never stop dancing" and that line of thought is one that I can relate to.  I am an AWFUL dancer.  Really and truly bad.  My kids call me Elaine Benis and for you Seinfeld fans out there you will know EXACTLY what that means. One time, and I have no shame in admitting this, but the day after a particularly GREAT night out dancing, a night where I was REALLY feeling it and totally "got my groove on", that next day I had two very badly bruised and sprained thumbs.  Yep, I snapped my fingers until I pulled muscles.  So, yeah, not a great dancer BUT what I lack in technique I make up in unbridled enthusiasm.  Enthusiasm and energy.  Lots of enthusiasm and energy....utterly no skill.  But, hey-it's all about having fun and believe me....I have a good time out on the dance floor.  By the way, I am the only one if our family that can't dance.  My husband and kids are all fabulous dancers so I tend to embarrass them.  But they will get over that!  So, the card.  I love this image and love this sentiment.  I think it is great that this babe is still shaking her booty at the social security stage and I wanted the card to reflect that sense of "anything goes at my age" vibe that I get from her.  Hence, the polka dots, the bling, the patterned papers etc....No rules, no matching per se....just a smattering of classic vintage-y papers set off with some bling and some sequins.  And the inside, well the inside is highlighted with a paper that makes me think of the frosted lipstick '60's.....which would be when this particular dancing queen would have been in her prime.



Really a fun, fun image to color.  And, I find that I am starting to get more into the "construction" of the cards I make and that has also been fun.  By that I mean the layers, die cuts, shapes and patterned papers or distressing.....just more "construction" and that has been a learning curve for me but fun.  Thanks for coming by....

Be well,
Sheila

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

It's time....

to pull out some more "mature" images for birthday cards.  I have lots of fun little images to be used for birthday cards and to be completely honest, I tend to gravitate towards floral images for most of my birthday cards.  But, I am loving these Mo Manning images that are in cling form from Penny Black.  I have two of this particular lady....and she just rocks!  One shows her dancing and the other one is the one that I am blogging about today.  I really like that this image shows an aging individual who is still active, happy and rocking out to her own groove.  I want to be this lady.....in 30+ more years.  But, as I approach my 50th birthday next week I can relate to the energy that this lady emits.  She is having fun riding her bike and NOT worrying about how she looks, about falling.....heck....she isn't even concerned about osteoporosis!  My kind of gal.  The inside of the card reads "You only live once.  Enjoy the ride."  When I was younger I didn't enjoy the "ride" as much.  Maybe it is a youth thing.....I think the teen years through the mid thirties are filled with so many worries,  concerns....maybe just more stress about "keeping up."  But now, who cares about keeping up with the neighbors, the other parent's at my kid's school, the other work spouses.....I want to spend more time riding bikes, coloring, hanging with my kids, my husband and LESS time trapped in my own head worrying and playing out "what if?" scenarios.  I think that I am going to like my 50's.  I have already given up on dying my hair....I started to go pretty gray in high school and was dying by 17.....so when I finally gave up the plastic gloves and goopy hair gunk about 10 years I was ready to embrace the more "natural" look.  So,    I am happy about all the other ways that I can be "lower" maintenance so that I have more time for "fun-tainence".  Today, I took my youngest, Corm, out to take his senior picture.  We had a blast.  We brought several changes of clothes for him and and then he and I just went to 2 or 3 spots and I snapped away.  It was really fun.  It was something that 10 years ago, when I was turning 40 I would have been too nervous to do....as though the pics wouldn't have been good enough.  But now at 50.....who is to say what isn't "good enough" right?  I feel like I am FINALLY able to understand and relate to those old commercials that had the slogan "You've come a long way, baby!".  Yes.  Yes, I sure have.   ;-D  So, anyways....here is my card.  And, I hope you like it.


Thanks for stopping by today and thanks even more for wading through my loooong post.  I hope your day/week is going well! Cannot believe it is almost the end of summer....

Be well,
Sheila

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Just gotta...

...share this card with you.  I made this card for my husband's Aunt's birthday.  This would be the famous Aunt Rose....a super sweet, super fun and SUPER young lady in her 70's.  I wanted to make her a fun, artsy type of card because she is a watercolorist and I knew she would really appreciate something quirky and different.  We saw her yesterday as a lot of my husband's family met in Milwaukee, Wi for the premiere of the the movie Honor Flight.  If you are aren't aware of what Honor Flights are I will fill you in very briefly.  They are one day trips to Washington DC for any WW2 veteran who is interested in going to see the the WW2 monument.  It is a flight that treats these men and women like the heroes that they are and each veteran has their own "guardian" on the flight with them taking care of them each step of the way.  Each day 900 of these veteran's pass away and Honor Flight is the organization that is trying to get each veteran to DC to let them see the monument site that was made in their honor.   There was just a movie made about this organization and detailing one of their trips and it made it's world premier last night at Miller Stadium in Milwaukee.  It was trying for the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people attending a premier and last night we beat the old record by having over 28,000 viewers in attendance.  Very, very cool experience to be a part of!  But, now to my card.

I was happy to see the CR84FN Color Challenge for this past week.  It is purple, blue and green and those were some of the colors that I wanted to use for Rose's card. Isn't it great when the moon's align that way?   I love this Whippersnapper Image for it's versatility....I have used it in many different color combo's as well as for many different purposes and so thought that CR84FN Color Challenge's colors would make this image look fabulous.  And they did!  Here is the challenge color spectrum:


Gorgeous right?  And here is my card-



I went a little crazy with lot's of the elements that I love....coloring, colors, layers and bling.  I am happy with how this turned out. The photo is kinda skewed though and makes it look crooked I guess....in real life it isn't.  I added a HA sentiment to the inside.  I just love this sentiment and it is a "life view" that I am really trying to keep in the forefront of my mind lately.  I interpret "beauty of the day" pretty loosely to include savoring an exceptionally good cup of coffee or sharing a giggle with one of the kids.  Beauty is where we find it right?  This card also has LOTS of HA bling in the form of these little "water droplets".....I have no idea what they are called but that's how I see them  Very cool little embellies.


Thank you to all, both those who posted on my blog and those who sent me private emails regarding my last post.  I really appreciate what you all wrote and am so glad that anyone was able to take something positive away from my posting!  That will be so sustaining for me for quite some time ;-D

Be well,
Sheila

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Groove issues....

Hi Folks....I am trying to get back into the crafting/blogging groove after a 2 1/2 months of sporadic craft play.  And honestly, I have missed it even though my life has been so full in it's other arenas.  My husband and I were walking the other night and were talking about balance and how summer really throws our house out of balance.  The kids are up later which means he and I are up later.  The noise level is higher and more constant as our house tends to have other kids over alot.  Which we LOVE but it is different when the kids are in school and I know I have a guaranteed "me" time during the day.  But like I said...my summer has been sooo nice and therefore I really can't complain....I just need to make choices and up to now my choices have been more outside time, more family time and less (well, honestly....hardly any at all ) time for crafting. On Sunday, for example, our son was part of a relay team for a triathlon with two of his friends.  He did the swimming leg while his two buds did the biking and running.  They are just going to be high school seniors this year but they won the whole relay division!  And, Sunday was going to be a mom day....but that all changed when this triathlon came up. My husband and I sort of found out that this was planned maybe around Monday/Tuesday for a Sunday meet. Really typical short notice of teen boys! So instead of crafting and fishing we woke up around 4 to get Corm up and then started to get ready ourselves to travel to the town where the race was held.  And would I change anything?  (Well, yes....I would probably change the starting time!)  No not really.....I mean can I pick a card or a scrapbook page over the "being there" for the actual event?  Absolutely not.  And I say this because I know of lots of moms who instead of being at their kids events on a Saturday they have their spouse take pics so they can stay home and scrap.....saturday after saturday after saturday.  And, I am not judging them because they have lots of wonderful scrapbooks made up while I have lots of pictures to still scrap!  But now that my kids are older and ready to leave the house I can sit and scrap and remember how good  it felt to be there with them at their successes and to hold them up at their failures.  When I was a new mom the scrapbooking craze was just starting and it was really a decision on my part....how much time could I devote to a hobby.  Like playing golf or any other sport.  How much time away could I take away from being with  my family?  And my answer was "not much".  So, as my time with my kids winds down....I say this as my oldest is 22 and living in another state, my middle is 19 and in college in another town and my youngest is 17 and a senior in high school who will be leaving for college this time next year.  I am glad that I have TONS of images to scrap....glad because I feel that will help me skip down memory lane when the door to my son's dorm closes next August and I go back to a house that is "kid-less".  I suppose this post is not what you were expecting.....this year is going to be a lot of "lasts" for me....last of sporting events, last of music festivals and concerts, last of plays and last HS graduation.  And that is all fine.  It is how it should be and I really believe that I am ready for the next phase of life.  And my husband and I have talked about what we will do....what we can do now that we will be a little free-er with our time and day to day responsibilities.  And we will be young still at 50!  So, I think that my blog will evolve to reflect that change.  I am still absolutely going to post my crafting pics....but crafting is just part of my overall life....as it is for all of you.  And so, here are a few pics of my fabulous Sunday morning watching my son emerge from the lake in his triathlon.




 And here is the pic my friend Kathy took of the two proud parent's who gave up an early morning fishing outing and a few hours of quiet crafting to see their son swim .  And, we have no regrets.  My husband always throws his fish back anyways,  and my inks and pens won't dry up but Corm....well, Corm will continue to grow and mature and find his path away from us.  Just as his sister's did before him.  As it should be.

Isn't this a good picture?  We laugh cuz as a family we generally take AWFUL photos....well, actually that is usually just me who takes bad pics!  But this one I like. I feel our "happy" just jumps off the page.  I can't wait to scrap it someday!

And I do have a card btw!  My son had his wisdom teeth removed the day after the triathlon so I had lots of time to sit with him and color and this little image is a quick one that I colored up for the lady that I am a chemo angel for.  I sent it to her along with some amazing natural healing balm for her to use on her radiation spots.  I love this little guy and the sentiment inside the card is "sending you a little sunshine".  Nice and to the point. 


I feel like I should have "grounded" this image but oh well, it is already packed and sent!  It's funny how some cards look good until you go back and look at the photo taken!  Take care!

Be well,
Sheila

Friday, August 3, 2012

Loving...

my summer!  It has been hot and happy around the Hnilicka household.  I am really not a true hot and humid weather person but for whatever reason it has been a wonderful summer to be outside and walking.  I have mentioned before but at the end of the month I will be doing the Susan G. Komen 60 mile walk and that also coincides with my 50th birthday.  What a better way to celebrate!  I have loved "training" this past summer and it has reintroduced me to the joys of walking...usually 2-3 hours a day and all the solitude and contentment that goes along with having that chunk of time to oneself.  Bliss.

I did make a card, finally!,  and I made it for my little lunch buddy.  Lunch buddy's are kids that are paired with an adult to have lunch with once a week through out the school year.  My little buddy from last year sent me an adorable card and letter that she had written and I wanted to return the favor to her.  I have only a few images that are fun and silly and this was one that I thought would be perfect.  On the inside I have a sentiment from Hero Arts that is perfect for this little girl.  Sorry for the quality of the pic....I took this on my phone as I forgot and left the camera in my husband's car ;-D  The image is a Whippersnapper Stamp Co image....made right here in Wisconsin!



I stamped the inside of the card with "You're so Special" in purple ink and then double matted it on patterned paper.  It looks adorable.  Would've been great had I thought to photograph it!  Oh well!  I hope you are having a wonderful day.  I am planning on going to a place called "Glaze" with my middle daughter today.  It is a place where you can paint pottery and then have it fired and glazed for pick up at a later date.  Take care!

Be well,
Sheila