Cherokee Legend

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him. Moral of the Story: Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there.

Gracie's First Birthday

She got to see her card, but her hands were already into the cake, so she didn't actually "touch" the card (it probably would have gone straight into her mouth anyway)

the cake was yummy (and it felt good too!)

" no more pictures please!!!"

hey, kiddo, I only took 46 photographs plus a quick minute of video...

Happy Birthday, Dear Susan....

...happy birthday to you!




In my haste to get her gift and card to her on time, I forgot to photograph the birthday card. Anyway, here's a pic of the altered DVD case complete with notepad AND a mechanical pencil.

Some stunning pictures

I found this blog during one of my blurfing sessions where I got adventurous with the "Next Blog" button. Tons of photographs and some pretty cool artwork. Here are links to some of my favorites:

Assorted interesting & beautiful pictures.

World's largest chocolate fountain

Graffiti Art

DJ this one's for you - she's a huge rubber duckie fan

Egg art

Could you eat anything so beautiful?

More art - love this style

Vacation dream of mine = to go watch these being constructed

Ingenious ideas

Motivational Wallpapers - I saved off a few for future use

Simply stunning pictures

Make sure you have more than a few minutes - this is VERY engrossing blog site!!

A Bunch of Cards

With coordinating envelopes.

A friend of mine has been after me to make cards for her. After several hours of playing around at my crafting table - here are some of the results.

I went positively nutty with the patterned paper, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

On the envelope flap for this one, I made a teeny, tiny envelope with a heart, just like on the stamped greeting.

So I Just Remembered...

...that I forgot to post the pictures of the cards we made at our last stamp club meeting!!!

It was so much fun getting together with this bunch of ladies and cutting up (in more ways than one) - if you know what I mean!

This one was like the Christmas ornaments we made last year - we used the scallop punch to make the ladybug's wings three dimensional.

We got to build a brad on this one. Plus the bird is embossed and we did some tearing along the edge to add "visual interest" - not to mention the Versamark flowers on the inside page and the ribbon.

This one is my first attempt at paper piercing. Not sure if I'm crazy about this technique or not. If I wind up doing more of this, I will be very tempted to bust out my sewing machine to do the job.

And here's my "Circle of Friendship" card We layered the circular greeting stamped in two different colors and placed them on the omnipresent scallop.

What Do You Get....

...when you give a six-year-old girl Post It notes and Scotch tape????

Give up?

Shoes of course!!!

(Flip Flops to be exact.)

Another Birthday

Our grandson is going to get some tickets to go see "Kung Foo Panda" - should be loads of fun (as long as he doesn't try to practice any moves on me or his little sisters!)

Walt's Party

Dave, Kathy & the kids bought him every "Old Fart" item that Spencer's carries along with this lovely pressure washer.

The cake was decorated by the Price Chopper bakery - Kathy just told them she needed a cake for her dad who was turning 70 - the baker was quoted as saying "I know just what you need!"

Walt's Special Day

Non-Cardstock Project

This heart was supposed to be strung on leather lace, but that really wasn't working out for me...so I used wire instead - it should hold it's shape a little better this way.

They Grow Up SO Fast...

.....don't they?

Happy Birthday - Dianna!