Getting caught up while it storms . . .

Thunder and lightning kept me awake all night! Trained to be afraid of storms by my mother, . . . and scared from my bad experiences as a child, I am on alert as soon as I hear thunder. I swear our houses...both of them, both on the same road...we're lightning magnets. From lightning bolts coming in the windows and bouncing all around the kitchen looking for a way out, to our phone pulling a lightning bolt down the wire and blowing our phone up and burning the kitchen counter it was sitting on, to our well pump being hit several times, I grew up with a healthy fear of summer storms. I can't blame my mother for being so afraid, since she lived most all of her life on that road. First in her family homestead, and then up the road a bit when she married my father . . . the boy next door. He was a farmer, so it just made sense to buy the neighboring farm and set up housekeeping with his bride. When I was a teenager, he bought my mother's homestead from her father, and we moved back down the road about a mile, and my mother was back "home"!

I made a pot of coffee at 3 a.m. just in case we lost power. I am rather addicted to my morning brew! A sleepless night with no morning coffee could be a bad combination! I checked my Doppler radar weather app on my phone often during the night! The storm circled around us and came through in waves. A few claps of thunder were very loud. I think it was probably much worse north of here.

I have been working on a few special projects that I am not ready to reveal yet. I am trying some new things that are challenging, but also fun. You will see them in the future!

With this post,  I am finally caught up with photos of my handmade cards. Each of the photos below has a description in the caption.

It is pretty obvious this is a birthday card!
I layered the flowers with brads.
The stamped and layered sentiment was cut with my Big Shot and popped up for dimension.

The envelope was embossed in my Big Shot machine.

Because this birthday card was so dimensional, due to the handmade roses, it required an envelope box.
I used a new die to cut the sentiment out on paper.
The layered die cuts are popped up for dimension.

I am always challenged when I need to make a masculine kind of card.
The burlap and corrugated paper are a big help in achieving the look, as is the printed kraft card stock.
I cut the banner and also layered the sentiment, which is on vellum, over the card stock and framed it with black paper.
The flowers and leaves were cut on my Big Shot machine.

Birthday card for a 14-year-old boy.
I stamped the "Happy Birthday!" on the front with my wooden block stamps.
Again, the use of a corrugated card base adds to the masculine feeling of the card.

The banner was fussy cut from the paper and placed on a cotton cord.
The paper has been in my stash for quite a while, but was just right for this teenage baseball player!

The embossed envelope and card.

The layered flower is held together with a pearl-top brad.
The layered hearts were cut from a die.
The little cards at the lower left are held in place by a metal embellishment.

The interior . . . and more layered hearts that I cut out with my Big Shot.
There is a space to write a sentiment.

I fussy cut the balloons from the paper and placed them on brownish/burgundy paper and cut the shape again.
They are on pop dots for dimension.
The sentiment is stamped on card stock, cut out and layered and popped up, also.

The interior with more fussy cut balloons and with space to write a sentiment.

A step card I made for my cousin, who is a diesel mechanic.
I thought the die cut and layered gears, the paper and the little touch of hand-dyed seam binding
peeking out the pocket, to look like a hankie were just right for his card!

Here is a close-up of the "hankie".

The storm is over and it is daylight now. I can get on with my day and will probably need a nap later on! On the agenda this coming week is some real estate, as usual . . . and some sewing and more paper crafting. There is a definite feeling of late summer in the air and many of the maple trees are beginning to show tinges of orange and red on the tips of their leaves. As much as I like autumn, I am not ready for it to start showing already! Although I have always felt that September is the beginning of the new year more than January, and it usually brings a feeling of a fresh start and something new and exciting ahead. I still miss the routine of buying new school clothes and notebooks and find myself wandering through the aisles looking at the paper, pens and pencils when I go to the store! In fact, I think I will go shopping this morning to check out the sales. ;-)

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog and checking out my cards. As always, your comments and questions are welcome. There is a place for you to do so at the bottom of this page.

I hope you find happiness today, and until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy