Vacation time

A few months ago my sister told me she was going to be traveling to Australia to visit with friends and do some touring and asked if I wanted to meet her when her visit with her friends was over. Now that is a silly question. Of course I wanted to, the real question was would I be able to afford to. It turns out that I am able to afford it and next week I will be leaving for about 3 weeks in Australia.
We will be in Brisbane, Sydney and Cairns and the surrounding areas. I hope to post lots of beautiful photos! I just love adventures!
Danielle

Changes

     I haven't been on my blog in forever! Life has a way of throwing us sucker punches and I got one last year,  when my husband of 30 years confessed that he had an affair for the past several years. I forgave him and stayed for 7 months trying to work on our marriage, but finally realized he was not concerned about my wants and needs at all, but only about how he appeared to the community and his own wants.
     Now I am adjusting to a totally different life and feel like I am doing well. I hope to be posting a lot more in the future. Life is hard, but God holds us through all our struggles and I'm doing my best to rest in Him.
 

Big Day

Huge day yesterday for our family. Kristen, my oldest graduated with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. My son-in-law, Chris, (Amy's husband), graduated with an associates degree. My youngest, Rachel, had her senior prom. Today I am exhausted!

This is a photo of Rachel in her prom dress with Kristen, after we got home from Graduation. We were only home for about half an hour before Rachel left.

I've been having lots of trouble with my computer and haven't been able to post on my blog at all, I finally got around to taking it to the tech place and at least I'm able to post, but there is still lots wrong that I can't figure out. I've got photos of Amy's wedding dress and a number of cards I want to post and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to post them. I haven't dissappeared, so keep coming back and I'll try my best to figure out how to get my blog back in shape!
Danielle

WOYWW

I haven't participated in WOYWW for months, but today I am proud to show off my work desk! On my work desk is the beginning of my daughter's wedding dress. There re also some favor boxes that we have been putting together, but they are pre cut, not something we made. Now I need to get busy on the rest of the dress, because the wedding is Friday night! Have a great Wednesday! Take a peek at everyone's desk at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/
DanielleP

Wow...it's been a long time!

I knew it had been a long time since I had posted, but not a peep since August is terrible! One of my goals for this year was to post at least once a week. Well, I didn't make that goal, but a lot has been happening in my life and I just didn't make the time.

When I got back from my wonderful vacation to Ireland and England I went back to work with a vengence. I've been working a lot of overtime in the last few months. I've also work nights for the last month. I don't know how people who work nights all the time do it. After the first of the year I am saying "No" to all those extra shifts!

I also spent a lot of my time with my parents this fall. My dear Daddy, who has been bed ridden for the last year and a half, died in November at age 92. Before his death the whole family had been helping Mother take care of him. I was so glad to be able to help with his care. Dad gave his life to Jesus a long time ago, and because of my faith, I "do not grieve as those who have no hope". I look forward to the day when all of us will be rerunited in Heaven! Here's a picture of Daddy with a few of his favorite girls, my Mother and my daughters, Amy (in cream gown) and Rachel (in purple gown).

Flying home

Trying to get home from England has been a 2 day process. I flew from London to NY yesterday, but couldn't get to DC. Spent the night on the floor of JFK airport, then went to Atlanta this morning. I am finally on a flight to DC. Just hoping I actually make it this time

Vacation!

off to ireland today. flight delayed due to thunderstorms. i hope i dont miss my connecting flight. not a very good start. also forgot a few things, but i will survive without them.  esides hubby and daughter will be joining me in a few days and they will bring them for me

I'm still here...

just haven't been able to post anything lately. Life is busy, work's been draining and when I'm home it feels like all I can do is sleep! It may have something to do with the strange schedule I have had working nights, then days, then nights again, then evenings! Now I will be working days after a single day off. Maybe I will even have nough energy to do some crafting this week. Wish me luck.
Danielle

So many crafts, so little time.

I've been working lots of long hours the past 6 weeks or so, and when I've been home I've been too tired to craft. I"ve bought a bunch of new stamps recently and several paper stacks and am itching to use some of them! I've been looking at some of the challenges that have been posted and thinking about how some of my new stamps would be perfect, but I just haven't had the time to put anything together. I think I'm going to have to forget about sleeping for a few nights, so I can get some projects completed. lol
Danielle

Wedding photo

It's been a month and I am finally getting around to post a photo of my daughter and son-in-law at the wedding! I have been way too busy at work this past month and every thing else has just been put on hold. But no more excuses and here is the beautiful bride and handsome groom! A lovely couple if ever there was one!
Danielle

Notecards for Kristen (and Kyle)

Kristen (my oldest daughter) got married on April 1st. I wanted to make some note cards for her and decided to use the couples initials. I looked over all my fonts for the Cricut and found one that I thought was perfect for these note cards. I mounted the welded initials on a double marquee cut. I used background papers from a stack by Me and My Big Ideas, all in black and white. I thought these could be used for Thank You cards, announcements, or just about anything they might want to use them for. Kristen loves the contrast of black and white and I thought these papers would appeal to her. I picked a variety of papers because I didn't want all of them to look feminine, since they are also for Kyle. The black and white card stock is from AC Moore-just there bulk packaged card stock. The marquee cuts are from Storybook and the font is from Songbird. I used the Gypsy to weld the initials and also to cut everything out. I popped the double marquee with foam tape for dimension.
I am entering the following challenges with these note cards:
1. Papertake Weekly Challenge- http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ Anything Goes
2. A Spoonfull of Sugar Challenge- http://aspoonfullofsugarchallenge.blogspot.com/ White with one color

It's WOYWW and I have been MIA for weeks!

so it's time to once again dig out my camera and snap a pic of my workdesk and post away. If you haven't joined in the funn of WOYWW and are wondering what it is I'm going on about, hop ever to Julia's blog at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ and have a look around. Just beware-it's addictive! So, on too my desk...I have a screen printing kit and a handful of clear stamps I bought last week, but haven't been able to do anything with because I've been working for the past 8 days and I have 2 more to go until I get a full day off. I'm trying to save lots of money for my trip to Ireland and England in July, but I would like a little more time off. I haven't been able to do any crafting for weeks. After Kristen's wedding I started to make some note cards for the newlyweds, but haven't gotten them finished. I have the weekend off so I'm hoping to finish them. Hope every one has a great day!
Danielle

Ah, Spring!

I don't think I have a favorite season, but there are things I love about each season. Spring has finally arrived in Western Maryland and today on my way home from work I was thinking about some of the things I really love about spring and thought I'd share.
1. I love the way the green creeps up the mountain. Right now there is the barest hint of celery green at the bottom of the mountain and day by day as I drive home from work I will see the color deeped to a vibrant green and it will slowly make it's way to the top of the ridge.
2. I love the orchards in the spring, especially if it is a newly planted orchard. All those baby trees bursting with blooms looks like babies all in a row dressed in lace.
3. I love the sound of the birds singing early in the morning as the dawn is breaking. It's almost like they are singing the sun up.

Hope you are enjoying this lovely time of year where you are!
Danielle

I've been MIA ...

I've been scheduled to work every dy since Kristen's wedding except Tuesday. I did get to be off Sunday also, because I wasn't needed, but it's been a really busy week! I didn't even get a post in for WWOYW! Of course, there wasn't anything interesting on my desk to show anyway. I do have some note cards in the planning stage for Kristen and Kyle. They can use them as Thank You notes or just as plain note cards and I hope to have them finished by early next week. I will post them as soon as I get them done.
Danielle