Didn't have time to blog, catch-all post! :D

Ugh, it's gettin' crazy over here people!! The usual pain/no sleep thing has joined forces with the "moving stress" thing! At least we are finished the school year (which I totally flaked on posting!! Bella is now a sixth grader!!!), and I can focus what energy I have into this move. I cleaned out A LOT of the house while Thomas was on his field exercise, and now I have to keep going and finish up. Then this weekend I will be packing our suitcases (which we will be living out of for about 7 weeks!), because the movers will be here every day Mon - Fri! Mon and Tues will be for storage, and that will clear a lot of things out because we are only allowed to bring half of our usual weight allowance in household goods to Korea! Then on Wed they will pack our unaccompanied baggage - stuff that will arrive first in "approximately" 30 days after we arrive. That leaves Thurs and Fri for the rest of our household goods. That will probably be the most stressful because they will be packing up Bella's toys and my toys. Fingers & toes crossed that there isn't any more damage done to my WorkBox - the poor girl can't take it!

Some good news though, we were able to get our new mailing address after all, so we can mail some things to ourselves, and order some things I've been waiting to from Amazon, including my new crock pot!! Oh.Happy.Day! I should think that things will just taste better in a NEW crock pot, right??? Also, we are allowed to bring three suitcases instead of two on the plane!!! Of course we have to pay for it upfront and be reimbursed "eventually", but this is still great news! I bought a new suitcase JUST for my crafting goodies!! My plan is to ship my Copics and cardstock to myself, have my new suitcase for stamps and dies, and order a new Big Shot from Amazon - (Bella will get my old one when it arrives with our stuff). I will stamp out images to color (and my coloring books!), with my colored pencils in my carry-on bag. That way I will still be able to make cards and pocket letters (more on that in a minute!) and not have to wait months and months like before!!! Of course I will miss whatever isn't with me, but at least I will have the things I use the most. We're going to be in a much smaller apartment after living in a large house, and using Army furniture for months....so a girl has to have something to brighten the day, right???  Right!!

Thomas' birthday was on June 4th, and it was his 44th!! Happy Birthday to my Sweet Baboo!! I made him a nice dinner (can't remember what right this minute, but it was good!) and a devil's food chocolate cake!

And I made this super cute card for him!

It says, Happy Birthday from the whole herd inside!

When I was on Pinterest a while back, I sent some links to my friend Charlie over in England for Project Life printables. She's big into the PL scrap booking thing. Me? Not even, lol!! I also sent her a link for this letter thing using the PL plastic sleeves. I didn't think any more about it until we got a lovely package in the mail last week!! POCKET LETTERS ARE AMAZING!!!!! She made one for The Bella and one for me!! They are now my new obsession and I can't wait to make them for all of you!!!! So.Much.Fun!

This one is Bella's and she made a sleeve for it. So stinkin' cute!! Bella was over the moon for it too, and loves getting mail as much as I do!!  There were all kinds of pretties in the pockets for Bella to use on her crafting! Isn't it pretty?!?!?? Love!!

This one is mine! Instead of nine separate pockets, it's a WHOLE SCENE!! Love the adorable Lawn Fawn farm set!!! And the shaker clouds? Brilliant!!! You know this had to have taken a ton of time and care to create - she's amazing!

Mine included some lovely tea (which is delish - thank you!) and gorgeous sequins. Sequins and microfine glitter are my newest favs and I'm so excited to be using them in my cards!!! I've started Charlie's (because with pocket letters you HAVE TO send a return one!!!) and one for Christina, but I got sidetracked with other things. Those will be sent out next week at the latest though, ladies!!!

Here is Thomas, coming home in the middle of the day!, to bring me my very last crafting orders to come to Germany!! Latest goodies from MFT Stamps and Lawn Fawn! I just couldn't wait and they are soooo cute and fun!! Love them! Love my Sweet Baboo!!!!! These will definitely be coming with me in my suitcase!!!

So, people, we need to talk about Pocket Letters! Seriously, they have changed my life!!!! I was feeling rather blue and down in the mouth because this no sleep/chronic pain/moving stress thing was really getting to me. And that is NOT conducive to good crafting!!! I lost my way to my Happy Place!! But getting Charlie's package in the mail really brightened up my whole perspective, and after I Googled what exactly this whole thing was, I was even more excited!!!

There are no RULES with pocket letters!! They can be themed, or not! They can be about things you like, or things the recipient likes. It can be totally random. Whatever!!! It's just a plastic sleeve of HAPPINESS!!!!! You use those baseball/card game sleeves (sold everywhere, super cheap!) and fill 'em up! This is so easy and fun and anyone can do this!!! No special supplies are needed besides paper, adhesive and your imagination! Usually the back side has "pressies", but these don't have to be crafting supplies. They can be candy, gum, fun stickers, flower seeds, cute post-it notes - whatever! It's fun, it's a surprise and it fits in a little pocket!!! How much fun is that??? I know you all want to get one and make some, right?? Leave me a comment if you're in on this fantastic idea!!!! I will have my supplies with me!!!

So in my "Googling", I discovered a super fun YouTuber in Florida! Her name is Sarah Woolley and her channel is Something Different. Definitely check her out and enjoy all her "magic and whimsy"!!! She's so fun and I'm pretty sure she invented enthusiasm, lol! I made her a pocket letter and sent her a box of some of the things I thought she could use for her pocket letters (she's new to crafting!) from my overfull crafting studio. They were just going to go into the storage shipment, so it's better it's getting into the hands of someone who will use it instead, no??

My pocket letter to her featured some of my most favorite travel adventures! It was so much fun to make and the memories all came flooding back. We have really been so blessed the past five years here in Europe!!! I think we've done a great job traveling around and seeing & doing so much!

Back Page

It's too hot now to send other German goodies.

Her husband is also in the "show" that is Something Different, you have to watch!!!, and I wanted to make her husband a card too. It won't make any sense unless you watch the video where he's grilling outside. Hysterical!!

Envelope

His card

Sarah's envelope

Sarah's card

Isn't this a fun shaker card??? As I said, they live in Florida, so I got to use my newest stamps and dies featuring this awesome flamingo!! I made it "different" by die cutting some chevron ribbon for the wing and giving her a pearl necklace. "Something Different" - get it?? :D

So now I have to hustle, hustle, hustle to finish the clear out here in the house. THEN, to separate things as best we can for the different shipments for the movers. I also have to pack our bags this weekend. It's going to be go-go-go until next week!!! Then we basically sit around and supervise the movers. It's boring and makes for a very long day!! THEN we will be in the hotel on post. I'm hoping to keep busy in the hotel making pocket letters, although I will only have my limited supplies with me, and no Big Shot!! How does someone craft without a BS anyway??? It's essential!! And of course I will gorge on Mozart truffles and doner sandwiches while I still can!!! Our German adventure is almost over!!!!

Works in progress....but do I remember how to FINISH???

Remember that HUGE order from Lawn Fawn??? Yeah. Well, I got two of the sets out, stamped them, die cut them.....and then put them in a baggie so I wouldn't lose all the little pieces I worked so hard on!!! These will get made into cards. Whether they get made into cards in Germany or South Korea remains to be seen!

 

Peel-off stickers on water color paper, and water colored with Distress Inks!

More peel-off stickers, this time using a microfine glitter and then colored with Copics. These were sooo much fun to color, but sadly haven't found a home yet!

Mini figures peel-off stickers, with glittered frames and Copic colored.

 Glitter-tastic! :D

 Larger peel-off stickers, and colored with Distress Ink on water color paper.

Look!!! A finished card!! This one was made for my Alex, included in a package I sent her. I bought rainbow colored microfine glitters for the rainbow technique. LOVE how this glitter blends!!!

Another finished card!!!! Something simple to add to another package.

This was a huge rainbow, and ALL the colors were showing!! By the time I got downstairs the colors had diminished quite a bit, but if you enlarge the photo, it's still pretty good!!

Huge catch-up post on Crafty News!

It's been so long since I've blogged regularly!! February was NOT a good month for me, and I'm hoping March will be much better. I had such a nice bit there where I was feeling better and sleeping like a champ....and then BOOM! right back to square one again. It makes no sense, and I've given up trying to figure it out. I'm "lucky" to get 4-5 hours of sleep at night, and that's not straight through either. Even with a thermacare on my lower back and gobs of bengay on my legs, I can't keep the nerve pain at bay for long. It's much, much worse in the evening and night-time, although I've had several pretty bad days too. *shrugs* It sucks, but it is what it is I suppose.

So I have a ton of photos to share with you! This batch is from February 6th! I got Bella a sewing box kit (sewing for beginners basically) from Amazon, and there are quite a few projects included with it. Here she is with her first project, a stuffed cat. She finished it, and then completed a stuffed elephant. She did a great job and really loved making both!

She got the blue buttons from my crafting stash, as the ones that came with it were really small and she didn't like them. I have quite a few retired embellishments from SU that I probably will never use, so I was happy to let her dig through them and pick these out.

The next set of photos is from February 11th. I was using my then new set from Lawn Fawn Bugs & Kisses. As I've been doing lately, I stamped a ton of images out, colored them and then die cut them. Then I had quite a collection to make into cards.

My desk was invaded by bugs, lol!

Cards I made with them and sent out:

This last one I was revisiting the bokeh technique, and I was trying for a blended, night-time sky. It came out much lighter than I anticipated!! Still I'm pretty happy with it. I ordered new, better quality paint brushes and I'm going to use them the next time I water color. I'm thinking it might make a huge difference in how the backgrounds come out....we'll see!

The next group of photos is dated February 17th. I had made a few more cards, and took photos of some new crafting goodies that had come in.

This card was sent to the woman who had made my stuffed hedgehog! I colored him darker and added gold highlights to match my George! I think it came out pretty cute!

This was a simple card using a small set from Lawn Fawn called Hello Sunshine. I used the rounded journaling die that had just come in.

This was made using a background die that I had had for a longggg time, but had yet to be used yet. (Ooops!) And the Lawn Fawn set Life Is Good. A friend of mine is about to go on a cruise, so I sent this to her to set the mood. I'm hoping it gets to her BEFORE she leaves - stupid, slow mail!!!

I splurged a bit and ordered these amazing dies from Tattered Lace. They are crazy expensive for dies, but the detail can't be beat. (Click to enlarge images!)

A trio of animal print embossing border folders

Journaling die set from Lawn Fawn

Butterfly corner die set from Spellbinders

Swirly background die

Super cheap glittery water color set. I'm going to try them for backgrounds.

I didn't even know I bought these super nice Japanese water color markers!!! I had looked at them but didn't realize I bought them until they arrived. Told you I was tired!!! Nice surprise though. Much like Distress markers, you can paint with these. Very cool!

I'm rather disappointed in these stamps from Taylored Expressions. I thought they were MUCH larger!! Trying to color them has been a real bear, and won't work for me with my pencils, which is what I was aiming for. I'm going to try heat embossing them on water color paper and see if I can paint them with any success. If not, they will go in the sell/donate pile I've been creating!

I bought these WOW embossing powders because they contain glitter - very sparkly!! I used them on the ballerina die cut shown earlier, but I wasn't happy with how it turned out. I'm going to wait and try them on a different project. Stay tuned!

This photo is from February 19th. I was having one of my bad days, so Thomas agreed to bring home dinner that night. Along with the food, he stopped by the florist for this lovely bouquet too! LOVE THAT MAN!!!

Our 13th wedding anniversary was on March 2nd, and I made Thomas this card!

I wasn't feeling well, but I still made a nice dinner, baked a cake and made him a card! And it was all worth it, because the next day he came home in the middle of the day to bring me this...

Finally!!! My huge Lawn Fawn ordered had arrived!!!

These are from the winter CHA and I had been admiring them online for months!

Of course the first card I made was for Thomas!

So there you have it. Not a lot of crafting going on, but a little here and there. I have two sheets of card stock stamped up with some of the new sets, and I will be coloring those up next. It's hard to get the energy to drag myself upstairs to stamp when I'd rather be comatose on the couch!!! But these cards aren't going to make themselves, right??? If I'm going to spend all this money, I need to USE them!! :D