Not much going on here now. I finally got a card made with one of my new stamps. This is for a great friend of mine and I made a similar card with the same stamp for my neighbor but forgot to take a picture of it before I mailed it. This is my new Spellbinders stamp Big Dose of Happy.  I love the sentiment and couldn't wait to use it. I just added a touch of WOS gold to the little heart and added a few gold sequins to tie it altogether.

I am going to enter this card at http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.com/.  The theme is anything goes clean and simple. Be kind to one another.

I've had some computer issues. I kept getting messages to upgrade. I needed to do a backup before that happened so I tried. And tried and tried. You know I am challenged by the computer but this was out of my realm. So I took the computer to Staples. The tech discovered the back up part was never set up and activated so he did that for me and we backed up, meaing him.  Then we (he) started the upgrade to 8.1. Am I behind or what? He said upgrade to windows 10 would not be a good thing for this computer and they had lots of peoople come in when they did that. The browser isn't compatible with win. 10. He thinks I should be good for a while with 8.1. He started the upgrade and paused it. I brought it home and coninuted with it. It took all day to do that. Then I didn't have an internet connection. That has happened several times since I got home but I called Staples and they walked me through it. Now I can connect by myself. Anyway, I lost a couple of days and was cut off from the world.

Then I have been bad, part one. This picture today is mail from several different places plus some new stamps from Nashville, IN. It is new stamp sets and dies and I have not made one card. Hence, bad,  part two. I have been running with several girlfriends and SIL plus I had my granddaughter over Fri. and Sat. and we were on the go that whole time.

It is truly an extreme heat wave here as well as most of the country. The Brickyard 400 race is today and it will be miserable for the drivers. The news is saying it will be 133 degrees inside those cars and helmets. Oh my, that is dangerous. I will be staying in all day. As you can see below, my helper isn't doing much because of the heat. I've finished three loads of laundry and unloaded the dishwasher. That's about it. I plan to make a card this afternoon for my neighbor who is going through a rough patch. Plus I am living vicariously on a trip with Darnell. I'm so happy for her to get to do this. Be kind to one another and stay cool.

Today's card is homework for the Online Heat Wave class. I embossed the flowers in white embossing powder and flicked water on the cardstock and added more embossing powder and heat set it.  I am obviously not good at flicking since it didn't go where I wanted it to. The hello was sponged with three blues of distress ink and the twine is blue and white in my stash. I am entering this card into the http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.com/ this week for tic-tac-toe. I used twine, monochromatic and no pattern paper. Be kind to one another and let's ask for every one to do the same.

I smooshed! I've tried and tried and could never get the hang of it. This time I used cellophane and it went much better. It was easier to smoosh around. I'm not crazy about the colors I used and should have stopped a little sooner and not added so much but I was so happy to be doing it I got carried away. This is my first card for the Heat Wave class. I clear embossed the flower and leaves and also the sentiment by Dylusions. Be kind to one another and prayers for France.

I have exciting news. Today I am the guest designer on http://citycrafter.blogspot.com/. My first time ever winning a  challenge and this is such an honor. The theme this week is borders.


For my card border I used a Memory Box die called Fairytale Flower. It is so light and airy and seemed perfect for this challenge. I sponged Distress Ink on  white card stock in blues and yellows and added the die cut. Two more Rhone Butterfly Wings Memory Box dies were used to cut the butterflies. The bottom one of turquoise cardstock that matched the card base and I sponged the same colors on the top die.  The sentiment is from Altenews Painted Inspiration set stamped in Versamark and embossed with Hero Arts clear embossing powder. I rounded the corners and added some gold bling to the border and butterfly. Be kind to one another.

My granddaughters are here for a few days. It's hard to get them together because the oldest one works as a nanny. That family is on vacation this past week so she was able to come and spend some time with me. I have so much fun with these girls. They have a great sense of humor and we laugh the whole time they're here.  I made this card for my girlfriends birthday. I used to work for her and we have stayed good friends. She used to make cards but has gotten out of it for a while as she is still working full time and just moved to a new home. I am entering it into the http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.com/. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder sponged with Distress Inks. The frame is Mama Elephant and the cupcake is a Stampin' Up punch. The frosting is a Marvy Snow Marker and WOS on the cherry.  The sprinkles are Copic markers. The cupcake paper is embossed with a Stampin' Up embossing folder.  Be kind to one another and pray for those in Dallas and for this violence to end.

I am also going to enter this card in http://virginiasviewchallenge.blogspot.com/ coloring fun.

We had such a lovely week of weather last week and yesterday the heat and humidity was back and today is thunder storms and heavy rain.  A good day to craft. One cannot run the vacuum when there is lightning! I had a nice time at my son's for the holiday and we had a beautiful fireworks display on Monday evening in our neighborhood.  Todays card is for my stash. I'm trying to make some ahead just to have to say hello or thinking of you. Very simple - just emboss a background stamp and add distress ink with a die cut hello. I added a few tiny little punched out flowers. If you emboss a whole panel, then use just a portion of it, you can color it in any color and it goes farther. Since I used a snippet of the embossed panel I will drop into Di's http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/2016/07/pixies-snippets-playground-week-236.html#comment-form.   I would like to welcome a new follower, Megan. Her blog is https://merrycardcorner.blogspot.co.uk. Be kind to one another.

Today I want to wish Darnell http://www.djkardkreations.com/ a very Happy Birthday. She is so witty and fun and a wonderful person. I hope her day is filled with birthday wishes from all her blogging friends, fun with family and lots of love.

I'm getting ready for the holiday weekend and hope you all are too. Grocery shopping, making pasta salad and crafting. Molly and I are going to my son's to celebrate the day with our family. Lots of good food, fun and fireworks. Have a wonderful weekend doing what makes you happy. I will have a card to share soon. Be kind to one another.

Oh my, what a wonderful day I had yesterday. Colleen of  http://onesmileliftsaspirit.blogspot.com/ is here in my home town and Sharyn http://mycraftyplace281.blogspot.com/ and I got to meet her. We  had lunch and got to visit for hours. She is as sweet in person as she is on her blog. Colleen and Sharyn both gave me some computer tips and I was able to add a blog list on my site when I got home! Meeting stampers in person is a wonderful thing.

I would like to welcome a new follower to my blog. She is Traci Cavitt. I don't have a link to her blog but I'm so glad she is here. Be kind to one another.