Happy Friday!

Last week I received an e-mail from my designer idol Tammy DeYoung asking if I would make a card for her for someone to give someone. Ü Sound confusing? LOL! Anyway the end recipient is in the hospital with foot surgery and she LOVES turtles.

So here is the card (outside and inside) I designed special for her. I hope she loved it and is on her way to a quick recovery.

The images are designed by Tammy DeYoung for Inky Antics.

*medical note: the doc is going to have me try a new med starting with a baby dose and hopefully be able to work up to an adult one. the plan is to try and prevent me from getting so sick whenever I'm around sick people. Ü During spring break I have to have a CT scan of my lungs to see if they can tell what is going on.

Feel Better Soon

This Millie Mouse is dressed up as a nurse and is sure to brighten anyone's day! Isn't she sweet?!

I will work this morning and then see the lung specialist this afternoon. I hope he can give me some answers (AND that I'll like them. LOL!)

CHA Display Board

This is my second post, so be sure to scroll down to see my first one. My friend Melissa sent me this picture from CHA. It is one of the display boards with my Teacup Mice cards. Oh how I wish I could be there!

Meet Millie

Yesterday I told you I wanted to call the teacup mousies Tillie. That's because this is Millie. Isn't she cute (esp for a mouse! LOL)

There are more in the set and I will be sharing those later.

Yesterday went well for my first day back to work after being gone a week. I was wiped out after the day, but it felt good to be back.

Pantry challenge:
last nite we had deer steak, rice, and oatmeal bars

Teacup Mousie

I have two more cards to show you with the Teacup Mousie set. These are designed by Tammy DeYoung for Inky Antics and I am sooo excited that I got to play with them! I'm thinking they should have a name like Tillie Mouse. I will tell you tomorrow why I think her name should be Tillie. Ü

These cute cards are at CHA. I hope they inspired many business owners to buy from Inky Antics!

Pantry Challenge Update:

Even though I've been sick, we are still doing this. Bruce is a great cook and has always said we have alot of food in the freezer and pantry, so he has just cooked away with what we've had. Ü

However, with the long weekend and me being home on Sunday (when I usually get groceries), we are out of veggies (except carrots and a little bit of lettuce and spinach) and milk. I will pick some of that up today. I still need to post what I've spent and will try to put that up tomorrow.

I didn't eat much as I slept so much and don't remember everything we've ate. But here are a few things we've had:

chicken and noodles (one egg to one cup of flour and a little salt is our recipe for noodles, then add flour as needed to roll out)

deer steak

beef and noodles

baked chicken

chicken sandwiches

beef and/or pepperoni pizza (the cheater kind with tortilla shells)

baked potatoes

salmon and green beans

chicken roll ups: Sundried Tomato tortilla shell with honey mustard, mushrooms and onion (fried in a nonstick pan til golden brown), thinly sliced chicken breast, fresh spinach

and provolone cheese. Roll up and eat, yummy!

treats:

pudding, tapioca pudding, pear cobbler, chocolate chip cookies

Okay, that's all I can think of for now. It's time for me to go to work after being home for a week. I hope I can last the day!

Blessed!

Thank you so much for the e-mails and get well wishes. I am still fighting the blood pressure thing, but hope to get that figured out soon. I am going back to work tomorrow and will be closely monitored by my friend who is the school nurse.


Today I am sharing two cards I rec'd Saturday (thank you Gail and Pam!) as well as a super fun gift pkg a few weeks ago from my friend Michelle.

This card was designed by Pam Speidel:
This one by Gail Slagle:
And this cute altered bird box by Michelle Pearson. Look at the fun goodies in the box. I love all these lovely works of art ladies!

Inspiration~Echo

This card was made for Splitcoaststampers Inspiration challenge today. Echo is an online store that we were given the link to to find something to inspire us. I love this pillow. It's so fresh and clean. I made a white background for my card and it was too bare so embossed it. I wish I would have had a Nestibilities large scallop die for my card, but I didn't so used a flower off of my George cartridge and cut it with my Cricut.

Splish Splash

Aren't these turtles taking a bath adorable? I think these would be cute to make a set to go with bath bubbles and accessories as a gift. I love the turtle shell bathtub. Ü

Speedy Recovery

This is my wish for myself and anyone else out there that isn't feeling so hot.

These two cards along with several others are now on their way to CHA in California! If you're going to CHA be sure to stop by the Inky booth and tell Jackie "hi" for me. Ü

Medical update:

I tried to get Bruce to let me see if I could do a 1/2 day of school and he said "no way", so I'm home again today (which is really the dr's orders, but I thought maybe it wouldn't hurt to try part of a day). Monday is a teacher's in-service again, so I should be ready to go by Tuesday. I just hope I'm not too weak and can do a whole day. The school nurse will monitor me, so all will be good.

I see the lung specialist Thursday and am hoping to get this figured out so I don't have to keep going thru this stuff and getting worse every time.

My IV's are over!!!! YAY!!! I am hoping to try some stamping during my sitting up periods today. I just have to stay off my feet as much as possible, so hope I have the energy to sit and stamp.

Pantry challenge update: still eating from the pantry/freezer/etc. Some of the things I remember eating have been: beef and noodles, salmon and canned veggies, potatoes, leftovers, and lots of yogurt (which I bought on sale and will post that total later). Oh and Benjamin made a cherry pie from cherries we picked this summer. I'm not a cherry fan, but Bruce and Benjamin have enjoyed the pie and I see it's gone.

I haven't felt like eating much, so it hasn't taken much from out pantry. The boys have stayed with g'ma some, so we are really getting off easy this month for this pantry challenge. I am thinking of doing it again in June. I may try again before then, but things are going to get really busy with graduation just around the corner, so not sure another month before then will work. I will keep you all updated.

Wednesday nite Mom brought over some frozen corn (dad plants the corn and we get together in the summer to work it), pumpkin bread (my favorite!), oreos and pizza sticks (not sure what they are, but she put them in our freezer), so may have that tonite. Aaron is my pizza lover so I know he will enjoy that.

Bruce is a good cook and I am blessed big time in that way! He is taking very good care of me.

Get Well sneaky

I thought this card was appropriate since I haven't been feeling the best. These turtles drawn by Tammy DeYoung for Inky Antics just make ya smile no matter what.

These images are being released at CHA next week. Be sure to sign up for Inky Antics newsletter (scroll clear to the bottom to sign up) so you will know when all the new images are available.

I am headed to the hospital for my last IV and then this needle comes out! YAY!!! I should celebrate somehow. Ü I will be going in with the boys to school and then spending the day at my in-laws and then come home with the boys to save on some gas money.

updates

we are still doing the pantry challenge (dh and boys just don't know it Ü)

Bruce has been doing the cooking and is just using what we have on hand. We did get some milk yesterday. I will update the total I've spent so far later.

I am not getting better as quickly as I should and now have a set back...my blood pressure is dropping, to the point where the dr. is not letting me go back to work for a few days. She said she can't belive I haven't been passing out. My legs have been feeling weak, but I didn't think to say anything the other times I had been there due to my bronchitis and that was more on my mind.

I had a very bad day at the hospital today and am exhausted. My veins are very hard to find and it took over 2 hours and 4 people to finally find one before they were ready to have a port inserted (WHEW!) The new IV is in a very uncomfortable and slightly painful (slightly compared to what I went thru this afternoon) so it is hard to type.

I have some sneaks I can show of new Inky Antics and hopefully will be able to get up and post one a day while I am homebound.

Musical Flower

YAY! I can post something. Ü I still haven't stamped, but I can post this card that I made a few weeks ago for the Tombow blog.

I used Tombow adhesives to put this card together.

I love all things vintage and this paper by K & Company, the old shet music and vintage ribbon made this cute card that was inspired by this one of Dawn's.

medical stuff

This post is more for my records than anything, but will also tell you why I haven't been online.

Tuesday Jan 5th I was fine, by Wednesday (the 6th) afternoon I was sick. Went to the dr. on Thursday and had bronchitis (that is how fast it hits me). I didn't have sinus infection, which I usually have first, my sinuses were fine. She gave me Cefatin and told me to continue (I had started on my own) Albuterol breathing treatments 2xday.

By Sunday I was very sick (coughing alot to the point of gagging). Went back to dr Monday the 11th and had sinus infection and pneumococcal virus. She gave me Biaxin for infection and Tessalon 100mg/every 8 hours for cough. I continue to get worse and miss 1.5 days of work (which if anyone knows me knows I DON'T miss work even if I should).

I wake up Friday the 15th with hives....serious swollen hives! I am now allergic to sulfur. NOT a good thing as Biaxin was usually my last resort since I can't have prednisone.

So I am now going to the hospital for 4 days. I have to take Benedryl every four hours (which means I sleep ALOT) to help with the hives and itching (so far not working as I still itch and I started taking it at 9:15 AM yesterday the 15th). She also prescribed Coldcough PD syrup for my cough (and continue taking Tessalon). The dangerous part of the cough syrup is that I'm allergic to Coedine (went into shock) and while there is no coedine in this syrup, my pharmacist says that it has the same allergy reactions as Coedine. I almost didn't take it. She (my pharmacist) suggested that I take it at the hospital and get another opinion. If they thought it safe, take a dose there while I was doing my IV drip. I am to take 2 tsp (5mL)every 4 hours, but they suggested just take one. So far so good.

They are giving me two meds in my IV and I forgot one and will come back and edit this after my dose today, but the other is the lowest dose of Decadon which IS a steroid and scary to me to take.

I go back to the Dr. Tuesday morning to reevaluate. I need to get this figured out as I got the pneumonia shot, which if I understand right is really called the pneumococcal shot and should not have gotten this sick. This is definitely the worst I've gotten it. My school nurse thinks I could very well have COPD, which after reading about it I agree is a possibility, but don't know how that is going to keep me from getting sick.

Sorry to bore everyone if you read this far, but knew my nurse cousin would want all the details (oh yeah you can e-mail me and tell me what to do! Ü)

I haven't stamped since being sick and the IV is in the top of my right hand (it's taken a long time to type this Ü), so I don't know if I can stamp anything. I hope to be back soon with something creative to show you.

Off to take my benedryl...

Pantry Challenge for Sunday and Monday

I didn't get back on yesterday to post my Pantry Challenge/menu. I have bronchitis and spent as much as the day as possible resting (if one can rest going into bronchial spasms all day!)


Sunday:
breakfast: boys at at youth group (they take turns taking breakfast each Sunday; me: toast

dinner: bacon, egg sandwiches, raw veggies, cookies

supper: grilled marinated chicken breast (recipe for marinate will be below), baked potatoes, spinach salad, tapioca


Best Marinade:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP dried onion (I like to use green onion)
1 TBSP parsley
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Blend well and pour over 2.5 lbs chicken breast over nite or about 8 hours. Drain and grill chicken.


Today:
breakfast: pop tarts and apple cider (I know, not very healthy, but they are in the cupboard and I'm not feeling so hot)

dinner: oven fried chicken (I just brown chicken on the stove and then put in oven safe dish and bake until done), mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans

supper: 
hamburgers on the grill, potato salad, raw veggies, rice pudding


**I will try to pop back in today with a project. We have today off for teacher's in-service, so I'm hoping to get rested up so I can go to work tomorrow.

Altered box

This is a box that was natural wood that I painted and decoupaged paper on for my boss for Christmas. (you can get these at Hobby Lobby)

She has a sweet tooth and likes flavored cocoas, so I put cocoas and candy in the drawers. Sorry for the poor photos, I was finishing this up last minute and had to hurry with the pictures and didn't check them before I took it to work.

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Pantry Challenge:

Breakfast: There is a country church a mile from us that has a men's breakfast once a month. Bruce and Aaron went there this morning (Benjamin is at a speech meet) and I ate a muffin.

Dinner: Quickie Pizza, lettuce/spinach salad, ice cream

Supper: Vegetable Beef soup, whole wheat bread, oranges

note: "Quickie Pizza"-is a thick 6" tortilla with pizza sauce and favorite toppings. Super easy and the boys can put whatever they want on top. Today will be hamburger as I don't have pepperoni or chicken leftover.

Another sneak

Jackie posted both of these cards on her blog, so I know I can show a sneak of them as well. I just LOVE these new Inky Antic "Teacup Mousies" that Tammy DeYoung designed. I used papers from Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry. *************

Pantry Challenge:

I spent $12.87 at the grocery store last night. That bought 1 gallon of milk, 2 dozen eggs, 2 pkgs shredded cheese, 2 lbs margarine and 1 package cheese slices. It was so hard to buy anything, but I stayed within the "fresh produce and dairy" limits.

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Banana muffins (I only made 1/2 of them yesterday, so they are fresh today)

Dinner: boys- at school, Bruce -left over chicken noodle soup from freezer and me- left over beef and noodles

Supper: "clean out the refrigerator" this is something we do from time to time when there is only a little of lots of things. I cook it up and set it out like a buffet and they get to pick and choose what they want to eat.

A sneak, winter weather and pantry

**don't forget to enter to win blog candy here til Friday

I have been feverishly working on goodies for Inky Antics. I can't show you everything, but here is a sneak of what is coming. Oh my.... the new images are just so much fun! One of my favorite artists from when I used to make dolls and quilted/appliqued wallhangings is Tammy DeYoung. One of my very first stamps was one that she designed. So when I heard that she was designing some new images for Inky Antics, I BEGGED Jackie to let me play with them. Ü I didn't even know what the images were and then I saw a teacup and knew these were made just for me. Thank you Tammy! LOL!!

I used Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry paper. I love this paper and it was just perfect for this teacup mousie.

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Today we have a late start (so far) due to all the blizzard conditions from yesterday. We will have to really bundle up as it is bitter cold out there.

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Pantry Challenge day 2 (read post below if you are curious that this is about)

The boys wanted beef and noodles instead of chicken last nite, so we had that instead. We have canned beef in our pantry that we canned ourselves.

Today:

Breakfast: apple cider (from our HUGE abundance this fall) and banana muffins

**tip: I like my bananas FIRM, no softness whatsoever. So when we buy bananas if any get to soft I put them right into the freezer. Then when I want to make muffins, bread or cookies, I take out the number of bananas needed, let them thaw in a strainer, cut a slit in the peel and squeeze out banana into bowl. Super easy and they whip up perfectly.

Dinner: boys will eat school lunch, I will have spinach/lettuce salad, raw veggies and crackers, Bruce will have leftover enchilada from Monday nites supper.

Supper: Hamburgers and French Fries (made with our potatoes), raw veggies and Rice Krispie Bar

We are COMPLETELY out of margarine and cheese, so I will pick those up at the store after work. Tomorrow I will post how much I spent.

What's in Your Pantry?

**blog candy here**

I have been inspired by Monica's blog to take one month and just eat from the "pantry". From what I've read on other blogs is that you only buy dairy (milk, eggs, & cheese) and fresh produce. This will be a challenge, but I'm up to it.

Now it will seem like I'm cheating somewhat as the boys eat lunch at school, we butcher our own meat (so the freezer is full of deer, chicken and a little bit of hamburger), we can alot of veggies and fruits from the summer, and I make my own bread. But it's still a challenge.

Others are doing it for the month of January, but since I just read about this yesterday, I started then and will go until Feb 5th.

I've been thinking about how to do this. I will keep a running tally of what I spend and meals that I make from my "pantry". I will try to post recipes and/or links.

So yesterday we had cereal for breakfast, I had a lettuce salad and veggies for lunch (I take my lunch as I'm not very fond of the school lunch Ü) and Bruce ate leftovers. For supper we had leftovers for supper. (There have been lots of leftovers from the late Christmas gatherings due to the blizzards we had earlier....oh and speaking of blizzards, I am home as we are in another one...see pictures below)

Today's menu:

Breakfast: French Toast (which I WOULDN'T have made as we now only have ONE egg and I was planning to get eggs today before they called off school. I HATE buying eggs, but with this freezing weather, the chicks just aren't laying.)

Dinner: Spinach noodles with diced chicken (already cooked and shredded in the frig) and bacon and alfredo sauce, garlic toast and pear cobbler.

Supper: Homemade Chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes and garden salad and left over cobbler. (**I have some egg mixture left from French toast this morning and I plan to add flour to it to make my noodles so there is no waste)

here are a couple of pictures of the blizzard we are in today.

Turtle Smile

Don't these Inky Antic turtles just make ya smile? I've been making so many Christmas cards/projects that it's fun to now have put that all away and bring out some bright colors (despite the FREEZING snowy weather outside).

Don't forget I have blog candy here. You have until Friday to sign up. AND because I've gotten so many comments on how much you all like that pillow hanger, I'm going to include it AND the card I made to make the deal even sweeter.

PS: Susan, I changed my header just for you. Ü This picture was taken right outside my front door.

Skipping Stones Blog Hop and Candy!

Welcome to the Skipping Stones Design Blop Hop sponsored by Skipping Stones Design. If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Skipping Stones Design. You should have arrived here from Peggy's blog.

Along the way, the Skipping Stones Design Team (aka the Stamp Tramps) will have blog candy for you to enter. As an added bonus, there will also be 4 stamp sets (new stamp sets not yet released) will be hidden along the hop, but we’re not telling you where so be sure to leave some love as you hop!!! Make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! The winners will be announced on Friday January 8th at Skipping Stones Design.

**** Angela will have the master list on her blog (http://www.sparkleandbling.blogspot.com/) and it will also be posted on the Skipping Stones Website (http://www.skippingstonesdesign.com/)
PARTICIPANTS:
ANGELA THOMAS http://www.sparkleandbling.blogspot.com/
AMY SCHEFFER http://pickledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/
KIM TEASDALE – http://www.paperintheworks.blogspot.com/
ERIN GROTEGUT http://www.inkysmiles.blogspot.com/
BEV ROUSCH http://bevithia.blogspot.com/
CHELSEA VAN WYCK http://www.scraptasticvoyage.blogspot.com/
JEN DEL MURO http://iheart2stamp.com/
BELINDA CHANG http://cadnileb.blogspot.com/
KANDI PHILLIPS http://kraftykandikrafts.blogspot.com/
DEB FELTS http://withastampandasong.blogspot.com/
HOLLY MCMILLEN http://toyzhaven.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ MICHELLE GIRAUD http://twisted-chick.blogspot.com/
LATISHA YOAST http://www.crafteebee.blogspot.com/
AMBER HIGHT http://stampingscrapbooker.blogspot.com/
PEGGY RUSSELL http://beautifulgreetings.blogspot.com/
DEBBIE FISHER (me Ü) http://debbiedee.blogspot.com/
AMANDA GAUER-SEWELL http://inkspirations.blogspot.com/
Skipping stones Design – http://www.skippingstonesdesign.com/

Okay, so now on to the stamp set I chose to create with: In Stitches. I LOVE this set. I made a card and a gift. My card uses PaperTrey Ink paper and white ink.
This is my favorite. As soon as I saw the stamp set, I knew I wanted to do some embroidery project with it. Here are the instructions:

1. Stamp on flannel fabric with a light grey ink.
2. Layer the fabric onto cotton batting and stitch (embroider) over the grey stamped image.
3. Color leaves and flower with Copic markers and sew on button
4. Cut backing fabric the same size and front
5. Cut ribbon "handle" and pin to the inside
6. Stitch around all 4 sides leaving enough room at the bottom to turn inside out
7. Trim corners and turn right side out
8. Lightly stuff with fiberfil cotton
9. Sew shut
10. Stitch ribbon bows.

**The word "friend" is not part of the stamp set. I drew that on lightly with a pencil.

This is the set that I am giving away. Please leave a comment to enter to win. I will draw a name Friday the 8th around 6 pm CST.

Just Sittin' Here

Another one of my favorite Inky Antic images. This image just makes ya smile. Ü

Our vacation is officially over. Today we are headed back to school. The weather is to turn "frightful" this week again, so I'm thinking we could easily have another snow day. At this rate we will have to go to school all summer!

Be sure to stop back in tomorrow morning at 9:00. Ü I am participating in a blog hop for a company I hadn't heard of before and get to offer up some blog candy for them. WOOHOO!!

Fire Truck Birthday

This isn't the most professional looking cake, but Trevor knew what it was, so that's what really counted. Ü

Hang in There!

This cute cat and sentiment are from Inky Antics. I used Basic Grey papers and Gamsol and colored pencils.

Sealed with a Lick

Aren't these Inky animals just adorable? You can find the image and sentiment by clicking on the colored words.

Today we are going to my nephew's 4th birthday party. The theme is firetruck and they had me make the cake. I will post pictures of it after the party.

Happy New Year!

I want to take this time to wish all my reader's a great New Year! This year is going to be bringing some HUGE changes to our lives. The first being my oldest graduating from high school May 8th! WHERE does the time go and WHY can I so vividly remember his birth?

After reading Pam's post, I thought it would be fun to share a year in review with you. I hope you don't mind Pam.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December