L-INKed with Friends

New Jersey

A trip to NJ has always been fun for me. I grew up here.  I love the area I lived in.  All country, small villages, small rolling mountains, horses, and lots of farms. Everything is so green.  There is a good reason why NJ is called the "Garden State"!  This trip is a little different as I am spending time with family in the final months with my mom.  Some of it is fun...the precious moments sharing, remembering, picture taking, goofing around (I love doing this with my parents.  Most of the time they get it but occasionally I will see this really puzzled look on my mom's face).  We have done alot of crying this trip. It still does not all sink in.  Each week, we see some decline.  We look hopefully towards her returning to how she used to be.  This is a dream; a wish that we could go backward in time. A return to our childhood would be so refreshing.  But life does not work that way.  Death is a part of life. As one can prepare for a new birth, we have been given a gift of time to prepare for a death.  I am blessed to have been given this time to get ready and I try to cherish all my moments with my family...good and bad. I still feel numb sometimes but I gain a bit of clarity each day as I get used to this new life journey.  I try to journal my thoughts each day so I can go back and process it when my mind is clearer.  It helps to put down those thoughts and then let them go. 

I will get back to stamping and crafting at some point.  My mind never stops designing.  I hope to do some painting here and brought a canvas for my mom too.  I picture that we will laugh and be free in our painting.  I hope that is the way it happens.

Reason I have not posted in so long..

Many of you may be wondering where I have been...What have I been doing, and why haven't I posted?  My Mom was recently diagnosed with cancer and all of my energy has been going into absorbing this information and wondering how to deal with it all.  It is only now that it has really sunk in and my sister and I are working on automatic as we deal with the day to day struggles of watching our mother and dear friend decline rapidly.  I have so many thoughts about it all but no energy to share.  So many profound things happen when you are faced with losing someone so close to you.  I thought I really knew how to deal with this.  I had no clue.  I think about posting and I think about stamping....my body and mind just don't kick into gear.  I will be back.  No fear of me stopping this wonderful artistic outlet.  Thank you for thinking about me and I ask for your prayers for my mom and dad and all of our family.  Hugs, Janet

Can I please stamp now?

Where the heck have I been?  Good question.  I would also like to know why cleaning, taxes, work, doctor appts.,cooking, and general small activities take such a LONG time when I have important things to do like...STAMP!  I am just getting back into it after a long time and I couldn't be happier.  I have had quite a bit of help from the furry rug rats too.  Meet Nanni (or as she thinks of her name.... "Nanni, NO!")...Nanni loves to be in front of me and glued to my side.  Stamping time is her favorite time as we lock out the kittens and she gets me all to herself...kind of.  Nanni likes to be in the center of the projects.  She sheds.  She likes to crumple paper.  She wants "Mom" to pet her non-stop.  These wonderful things don't work well with stamping.  Like the time Nanni pushed the large container of Dazzling Diamonds off the table and then proceeded to jump in it. I swear she did it on purpose.  And then there are the loads of paw prints in my studio.  They are all lovely colors but not something I had in mind for a decorating scheme.  who knows what she in mind next. I'll let you know....

Silver Weave

This card is part of a series I am designing for a Chocolatier.  Simple design but takes a bit of time to make. Can't have enough sparkle in life so I used Brushed Silver Cardstock and a clear Rhinstone brad.  TFL and have a "Sparkling Day"!

Birthday RAK

A big thank you to Karen Mackie (SCS name Brad'smom) for the great Birhday RAK she sent!  Love the colors and what a wonderful surprise.

Furrbabies

One of the many things I like to take pictures of is wildlife.  We have LOTS of wildlife inside our home. Five indoor cats (two of them kittens with Tons of energy) can be found leaping from all sorts of surfaces.  One of the kittens can usually be found in the highest part of a room.  No surfaces up there to jump on?  Tops of windowsills will do just fine.  Here is our laid back guy, Chino.  We are not supposed to have favorites, but.....

Details..

I turn __ on Monday.  Not excitedly, but a bit reluctantly. There are so many things I want to do in life and each birthday makes it more clear that my time to do that lessens.  I want to take time to look at the details.  Two years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Italy with my son and his school.  I took so much time looking at textures and colors that I got lost when we had free time to roam on our own.  Those images remain in my mind as if I was still there.

DH realized that all those details were important to me to capture.  So he bought me a camera.  Not just ANY camera, but the one of my dreams!!! The Nikon D80!!  I have been researching point and shoots for some time now and many of you have been very helpful.  I was pretty much sold on one and maybe down the road (when my children stopping sucking the money out of us), I would get a Digital SLR (interchangeable lens).  I am still in shock.  I have so much to learn.  Here is the first card picture I have taken with it.  It was very poor light but I thought I would give it whirl...what do you think?

 

My New Banner

I am totally in love with the new banner that Nicole Seitler designed for me.  Nicole designs digital scrapbooking products and has a wonderful website/store called Sugarplum Paperie.  You can view it here.  Thanks so much, Nicole!

I've been favorited!

Riley on Splitcoaststampers favorited me this week for this card.  I am so honored!  I have not spent as much time on SCS as I would have liked these past couple of weeks.  I am have been designing some big projects..I will share with you all soon......

Photoshop Elements

I am working on changing quite a bit of my blog.  What a learning experience!  Slow but coming along.  One tool I am trying out is Photoshop Elements to edit my photos.  BIG learning curve here but, with suggestions from fellow bloggers Beate Johns and Kelly , I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. (The light quality in the tunnel isn't that good but Photoshop Elements should clear that up in no time :))   I am also getting a new camera.  The process of reading hundreds of reviews is very overwhelming.  What I REALLY want is a digital SLR but funds are putting that dream off for a bit. If you have suggestions for a REALLY good Point and Shoot, leave me a message.  Any help narrowing this decision down is greatly appreciated.

my first PS Elements edit...