Hi Friends! This will be a short post. I have had so many projects going lately. I had surgery on March 5th and the recoup time has been going slowly.

I am finishing Suzanne Dean's "All About Hair" Class at Color Me Creative Classroom. I am absolutely loving this class and can really tell a difference in my coloring. Suzanne as I have mentioned before is awesome. Her teaching style is the way all teachers should teach. Suzanne focuses on detail while her instructions are easy to follow. These are three of my absolute favorites that I have done in the last week. I definitely had to step out of my comfort zone but I love the results. This first image is an image by the talented artist Krista Smith from her Saturated Canary Shop.  This Saturated Canary Image is titled "Lala"

I can't wait to add her to a card or a project. I think she is just beautiful. 

The next image  is another Saturated Canary "Kisses". I think she is especially gorgeous as her hair reminds me so much of Cassidy. She too was so much fun to color and I am anxious to add her to a card ...... preferably for Cassidy!

The final image is another Saturated Canary "Dreads" or "YoYo". I just love her dreadlocks and she was probably the most fun to color. I can't wait to color these images again in different color combinations. 

Thank you so much for stopping by to see what I have been up to.

I went back to work this year so my creative time has been ZERO. I drive 88 miles each way to work 3 times a week and then 115 miles each way twice a week. Working at least 8 hours a day doesn't leave time for much. I am working as a traveling counselor and loving it!

While recouping I am having a blast coloring again. Unfortunately I am not able to work on my jewelry right now. Hopefully things will get better and I can get back to that too.

My other project is trying to do a little remodeling on our house as we are planning on moving soon. I have been looking mainly at kitchens as I love to cook and would like a full blown professional kitchen in my new house. I can't think of anything better than entertaining and making some of my favorite foods for those I love. Both of my boys love to cook along with Cassidy's boyfriend Jason and we love to get in the kitchen and create! All three boys are fabulous cooks.... I really think they should be Chefs! We really have a good time whenever we can find time to get together. So far everything I have created has been met with rave reviews! I just don't have the room to do what I love to do. I am posting one more picture that I really think I want built into our new home. I think I could live in this room and truly call it home. Let me know what you think!

Rustic Kitchen by Chanhassen Design-Build Firms Knight Construction Design | Chanhassen, Minnesota

I hope to be posting more later! My goal is to start small and post at least once a week. Wish me luck!

Have a fantastic night!

Love to you all!

Hi Friends!
Okay, okay, I know it has been almost another year since I posted a new post. 
I have been so busy and not particularly happy with my latest photos so just haven't posted anything.
I recently purchased a new camera and I am loving it! It is a Sony Cyber Shot and the picss are amazing.
On May 19th I became a Grandma for the 2nd time. My new little granddaughter's name is Riley and she is just adorable! My two granddaughters are 15 years apart and I couldn't love anyone as much as I love them! Grandchildren are so special! Alyssia, my 15 year old granddaughter calls me "GoGo" which I love! I am attaching some a really cute pic of Alyssia and Riley.

I spent part of the summer in Colorado and certainly didn't want to return home to our high 90 degree temperatures. The warmest the temperature we had in Colorado while I was there was a walloping 76 degrees!  Can't wait until I call it home permanently.

In the meantime, I have returned to counseling! Woo Hoo! I am working out the Educational Service Center in Amarillo. I am currently the counselor at Happy High School in Happy, TX. My duties at this moment are to make sure the Juniors and Seniors are on track for graduation, alerting them to available scholarships, and financial aide. Anyone that has had a graduating Senior knows exactly how frustrating this process can be. Hopefully, I will be helpful in getting this process rolling. This poor school district hasn't had a counselor in quite some time and their last counselor although very dedicated was 86 years old when he was forced to resign due to a heart attack. I told my sister I thought they were pretty happy in Happy that I was there and she said, "Of course they are! You can see, hear, and walk by yourself!" She then just FONTFLHBO! LOL!
I have been taking a fabulous class at Color Me Creative Classroom taught by the wonderful Marie Gamber called Creative Backgrounds! Marie's backgrounds are so gorgeous! Marie's first video is Marbleized Backgrounds. I am attaching my first attempt at my marbleized background. I colored up a cutey by Some Odd Girl. I love the Denver BRONCOS if I haven't mentioned that before. I colored her up in Bronco colors and I am also using her as my avatar on Fantasy Football. Yes, I am an avid football fan. I was like the "Hump Day" camel, asking everyone what Thursday was! LOL! I would tell everyone, "It is NFL opening day! Wooo Hoooo!" 

I have made a 2nd attempt at the marbleized background. This cute little image is "Joy" by Sugar Nellie. I call her Sophie as she looks so much like my little niece when she was about 4 years old. I just love her!

Please leave me a comment or two about what you think about my little Bronco Cheerleader and Sophie. I love to hear your critiques good and bad! 
Have a fantastic day!
HUGGIES!

Okay so I am 3 days count them 3 days away from February! I haven't posted to my ignored blog since June 5th! More than half a year later I am finally checking in. This past year has been a year of unbelievable feats! I think I am still spinning and I know I have not fully recovered! 
After posting my last post I headed off to the beautiful state of Colorado to our mountain cabin. I always feel like I am in heaven when I am there so this was a pleasant escape! I took my beautiful granddaughter, Alyssia with me to meet my sister and her grandchildren. I am happiest when I am in the presence of little people so this was a trip not to be missed. Needless to say we had a marvelous time and Alyssia stayed with me for a little over a month. I brought her home the 2nd week of July however I immediately returned to the Colorful State!

Alyssia and I took some jewelry making classes while she was with me in Colorado. My dear friend Carol Fleming has a fabulous shop in South Fork by the new name of Rock, Paper, Scissors! At the time of our classes her shop was named The Blarney Stone which has now become a gift shop. If you are in the  South Fork area, stop in and say hello at either location and I think you will be pleasantly surprised! Anywho back to my jewelry making classes; we learned to wire wrap stones,work with polymer clay, and to crochet with wire. Alyssia is quite talented at the wire wrapping and not so much interested in the crocheting. I purchased numerous wires, cabachons, and various tools needed to do the wire wrapping. Following are a few of the pieces Alyssia and I crafted together. 

 After returning to Colorado, I continued working on my jewelry....taking classes online.....taking any classes I could find in the area......and reading everything I could get my hands on pertaining to the art of wire-working. I spent hour after hour learning as much as I could and hanging out at Carol's shop. Caroline who is a gifted jewelry maker and fantastic instructor actually set me off on this journey or jewelry making. One day while visiting the shop Caroline told me there had been an interest in the crocheting with wire class but no one knew how to do it much less be able to teach it. Well, I had been working on several projects using the crocheting technique so I quickly volunteered to teach some classes if they would like for me to..... lol, I hinted. Thankfully, Caroline took me up on the offer and I was scheduled for my first class. I had to return to Texas and my jewelry class was scheduled for the next week. I quickly returned and my teaching career was launched.I was visiting Carol one afternoon and told her I would love to stay in Colorado year round if possible. I asked her if she would possibly have an opening for me to work at the Lapidary Shop. Carol became excited that I might be staying the winter and told of course she could hire me to work part time in the shop. Rick is planning on retirement in the next couple of years with a plan on us moving to the Colorful State. With this in mind I thought it would be a good idea if I went ahead and moved to Colorado ahead of him. I am desperately wanting to go back to work and have been unable to find anything close to home.


 I have been studying under some fantastic designers and perfecting my jewelry skills in the art of wire-working. I have been working long and hard and am now scheduling classes to be taught in Amarillo at Hobby Time! That is right! I am now going to teach jewelry making classes in Amarillo! I am so excited to be teaching something again! I will be teaching wire wrapping, wire weaving, viking knit, and crocheting wire. I have been making jewelry and selling some of my pieces at the local pharmacy. Keith has added a section to the pharmacy for artisans to sell their art on a consignment basis. I have sold several pieces of which I am totally excited about! I am posting examples of some of the latest additions to my jewelry line. 

 
While in Colorado teaching my classes I was mauled by a friends pit bull. I was visiting Ron and Sherry at their home. I was friends or so I thought with Buddy their pit bull. I was invited to their home for dinner and a Denver Bronco game. After the game I was leaving and walked over to tell Buddy goodbye. I was petting Buddy on the head when the next thing I knew I was on the ground and Buddy was ripping the flesh from my right hand. Ron helped me up and took me into the house to clean up my wounds. It was apparent I needed stitches and I knew I needed a tenuous shot so I drove myself to Del Norte's Emergency Room. I received my tenuous shot and my hand was neatly stitched up. I returned with my two sheltiess to our cabin where during the night I became extremely nauseous and threw up most of the night. The next morning I wasn't feeling real spiffy, Ron came by to check on me and told me I really needed to get my antibiotic filled as soon as possible. The hospital had given me enough a few tablets to get by on for a day. Heading Ron's insistence, I headed off to Monte Vista to have my prescription filled.   My hand had become extremely swollen and I noticed a lot of red lines moving up my arm from my hand. On the way to Monte Vista I began throwing up in the Escalade. Instead of driving on to Monte Vista I stopped in Del Norte and back to the Emergency Room. The doctor took one look at the red lines moving up my arm along with the fact that I couldn't hold anything on my stomach and ordered my antibiotics to be given by intravenous injection. I found out much later that he wanted to admit me to the hospital but since I didn't have anyone to keep my dogs allowed me to go home with a promise to return every 12 hours for the antibiotics. I was referred to a fabulous orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jon McMillan who along with his fabulous wife, Gretchen not only became good friends but also treated me throughout   this harrowing experience.  I am so thankful that God sent Dr. McMillan into my life. My ordeal with what turned out to almost be a horrible case of blood poisoning was averted and my hand is almost as good as it was before the attack. It is amazing to look at my hand prior to Dr. McMillan and know that after it is all over I still have a fully functioning appendage! 

Prior to the dog attack, I had been diagnosed with a paralyzed lung and referred to a neurosurgeon by my pulmonary specialist. After an MRI by my pulmonary specialist, I was referred to a neurosurgeon due my 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th vertebrae being herniated. Not wanting to go through another surgery since my shoulder surgery in February 2011 I decided not to see the neurosurgeon until I returned from Colorado. Since Carol was hiring me to work in her Lapidary Store I was not planning on returning to the Lone Star State any time soon. While being treated by Dr. McMillan in the Del Norte Hospital my saturation of oxygen rate really dropped. Dr. McMillan became alarmed so I infor.med him of my lung diagnosis and also of the impending trip to the neurosurgeon. Dr. McMillan told me that the diaphragm which controls the lung is controlled by the 3rd and 4th vertebrae. Since those were two of my herniated vertebrae I decided to get in touch with the neurosurgeon as quickly as possible with a prayer that he could make my lung function again.

I returned to Texas in October with an appointment with Dr. Jeffery Cone an Amarillo neurosurgeon. Dr. Cone looked at the MRI done by my pulmonary specialist  and informed me that I would need surgery as soon as possible. Dr. Cone told me not get my hopes up of the lung coming back to life as that rarely happens.  He did say it was possible however so I signed up for the surgery. On the 19th of November I checked into the hospital to have my throat slit. Literally, I had my throat slit and the vertebrae repaired. Dr. Cone had to remove the discs from the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th vertebrae and insert plastic discs in each one. Dr. Cone also cleaning out and around the 1st and 2nd vertebrae and inserted a titanium bracket to hold it all in place. I still have a very stiff neck with a lot of pain so have started physical therapy. Hopefully physical therapy will help and I will have a good recovery. While at the doctor's office my saturation level was checked and was almost back to that of a normal person. I am hopeful my lung is responding. I will know when I return to the doctor in about 4 weeks. 

Since I have written the first of chapters to my new book I will sign off now. I hope I haven't bored you too much with my catching up. At least it doesn't take 7 months to read the spattering tidbits of  a little of what I have been through in the past 7 months. For those of you that have read through to the end I thank you. And to those that have skipped to the end I thank you for stopping by. I will try to keep my blog updated with my newest creations and look forward to have you visit once again!

Hugs!
Lisa

Hi Friends!

I have been busy trying to clean up some of my Scrap Room! Yuck! About the time I get something picked up and put up, I find something else that sparks a bit of mojo and I am pulling stuff out again. I truly believe it is a never ending story!  I am trying to keep the mojo flowing and stay up with challenges. I have created a couple of cards I wanted to post.

First I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my dear friend Armetha! I have been working on a gatefold card for a challenge going on at The Outlawz in their  Twisted Thursday. I can't tell you how many creations I ditched before deciding on this one. A big part on having such a hard time developing this card is that it is for Ametha's Birthday and I wanted something to let her know how special she is to me. I started out with some designer paper from Stampin' Up. My stamp is from Whimsy Stamps their Summer Garden Sentiment Collection. I stamped the Carousel Horse with Momento black ink and colored it up with my Copics. The sentiment on the front of the card is from the same stamp set stamped with Versamark Ink and sprinkled with white embossing powder with a little glitter added and heat embossed for a blingy look. The Happy Birthday Stamp is from Inkadinkado Best Wishes set stamped with Versamark and embossed with Stampin' Up's melon mambo embossing powder. I just love how it came out and hopefully Armetha will too!

Another challenge at The Outlawz is for Sunday's CAS (clean and simple) challenge. I tried to think of something that truly makes me happy and came up with my Copic Markers. I colored up this image Copica from Saturated Canary and added some happy colors. My sentiment is computer generated and I colored it with my Copics.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog! As always I welcome your comments as they truly make my day!

Big Hugs!

Woweee! I am on a roll this week. I hope I can keep my mojo flowing as I am having so much fun! I was so excited to get my email from The Outlaws ProMarker/Copic Group that Saturated Canary was sponsoring the challenge! I just coloring those darling images. The challenge this week is to do a beach scene. I pulled this little darling out and colored her with my Copics! I finished her early this evening but am just now finding some time to post it. I hope you like her as much as I do. I really recommend that you go to Krista's store and pick up some of these images! They really rock!

I finished a couple more cards today but my camera died just after I took this shot. I am recharging my battery right now so I can get them posted.

Thank you so much for stopping by and please leave me a comment. Your comments make my day!

Big Hugs!

Happy Last Day of May! Can you believe it? I am definitely not ready for Summer. I am a Winter Gal! Our temperatures here in Texas have been in triple digits for the last few weeks! Only makes me think this Summer is going to unbearable. Hard to imagine why I head to Colorado every year! I can't wait to get up there this year! I smell fly fishin', mountain air, cool breezes OMGosh I can't wait! I have doctor's appointments through the 15th so I am hopefully planning on making it to the cabin by at least the 20th!

The Outlawz Color Challenge Group's color challenge this week is to use the colors, moss green, queenly lilac, and deep plum. The twist to the challenge is to incorporate a tag into your project. I made this card to enter the challenge. Although simple I think it turned out well. The Outlawz is an awesome Group with daily challenges. I hope you will rush right over and check them out! You will love them! A great bunch of Super Talented, Super Nice Ladies!

Oopsie! I read the Outlawz Color Challenge wrong! Rather than incorporate a tag into your project, you are to make a tag using the colors moss green, queenly lilac, and deep plum. I really like the simplicity of the card so I carried the theme into my tag. I hope you like it too! I used my Cricut Expression 2 Anniversary Edition to cut my tag. The stamp is Stampin' Up from the tag collection. I inked the stamp up with Versamark and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I used the 1" square punch and embossed it with a  folder also from Stampin' Up, the postage stamp punch from Stampin' Up, and the small tag punch is also Stampin' Up.

I have another card for the Ooutlawz Greetings Challenge which is all about animal or zoo patterns! How fun is that? I really love how this one came out!

This is the inside of the card!

I am working on some more challenges so back to work! Woooo Hoooo! It feels good to be creating again!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and please leave a comment. 

Have a fantastic evening!

Big Hugs!

Good Wednesday Morning!

Kenny K Crafty Girlz Challenge is having a Design Team call. I prepared a page using Rock Dude for my entry. I printed the designer paper with my Cricut Imagine and the Imagine More Cartridge. I used Hannah Montana for the Rock Star and the little notes scattered about the page. I am not really a scrapbooker but really liked this image to prepare a page for my youngest son. He is such a talented musician and is in the process of building his 2nd guitar!

I used my beloved Copics to Color Rock Dude! I absolutely adore my Copics and they are perfect for Kenny K's images.

Wish me luck.... this would be like a dream come true!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I would love for you to leave a comment as I really value my peers opinions!

Big Hugs!