Live, Laugh, Love with LunarLana

Fishin Friends!

Good morning friends!  This is a card I made awhile ago with a Penny Black stamp. If you haven't caught on by now, I'm a big fan of Penny Black stamps! Woohooo!  The paper is from October Afternoon. I have used this a lot in the past too.  Don't these two hedgies look like they are having a good ol' day fishin'? 

I wanted to do a quick exercise check-in with you all. I haven't done one in a long time. I am EXERCISING MY FANNY OFF!   I am up to 181 miles so far since June 12th.  I'm most proud of myself for exercising during all of these rough patches with my arthritis and then my allergic reaction!  It hasn't always been easy, but I am determined.  My goal for the summer is 300 miles. It was a realistic goal, and I am far exceding what I wanted to achieve.  I am just going to leave my goal as is, and keep exercising.  I am motivated to do the best I can this summer.  I don't think my legs have ever been this strong. My knee is in good shape.  It makes me feel good to exercise, and it is the one thing I can control.  So how are you all doing exercising?  I just can't believe how much of a difference exercise makes in your life. Keep up the good work! Buzz me a note and let me know how you are doing!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Class Begins Now

Remember when I was telling you about how my friends and I were making up virtual classes together!  Today I thought I would share a class with everyone!  How fun! So grab some supplies and let's play!

This is a simple pattern that I got from my friend Mishie years ago! They make a nice little pocket card to send to a friend!  I put M&Ms in mine, but I have also sent stamped images to my friends in these. 

Start with a piece of card stock that measures 8 1/2" x 6 1/4"

Score the long side at 4 1/4".

Score the short side at 2".

Fold all scored lines. Clip the flap at an angle on the inside. 

The insert card measures 3 3/4" x 3 3/4". The inside layer is 3 1/2" x 3 1/2".

Add any embellishments that you chose to finish off your project!

I put M&Ms in my pocket, but I have also put in stamped images or other things.  You could even use this for a gift card holder. They are just a fun little card to send to a friend.  They are nice to have on hand, so I think I will make up a bunch!

I challenged myself to dig into my box of scraps for this project!  I have been on a mission lately sorting through my paper! YIKES!  What a collection I have! 

Happy Tuesday and I hope you enjoyed this virtual class!  Please share what you came up with!  I'd love to see it!

Read Project by Val from Cal

Since summer started some of my on-line friends and I started having virtual classes. It started off just sharing a project with each other, and the next thing you know it took on a life of it's own.  Some projects are from other people's blogs that caught our eye. Some we create ourselves. Even one we had to ditch and recreate because the measurements were not right!  It's been a lot of fun and keeps you making projects!

This project was an idea that Val from Cal came up with! I was so excited, too, because my package of new Whipper Snapper Stamps arrived so I could use them on my project! Isn't this mousie adorable? I love him!  So any ways, I put this project together and received extra-credit from the teacher for using the same line of paper she did!  You know me! I'm always looking for extra brownie points!

Today I'm vowing to get some things done around here. I spent the weekend stumbling over myself!  You know what I mean!  Everyone has those days!  Happy Monday, folks!

Serenity of Freedom

Good morning and welcome to the Sunday Post!  I've been a blog slacker the last few days.  I've been busy bonging all over the place around here. It's been really hard to focus on any one thing. I'm getting there though and I'm on the downside of the steroids so that should help me tremendously!

On today's card I used stamps from Artistic Outpost. I absolutely love their stamps. They have a lot of stamps in each set and that just makes the possibilities endless in my mind!  I played around with adding more color to the background again. I love doing that and getting a good contrast on the card.  I also used my vintage buttons on this card! YIP!  When I add them to the card I think about where they came from. I know! I'm a button freak!  What can I say!

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday. It looks like another gorgeous day is on tap for us here!

Burpee's Farms

Good morning! Good morning! It's going to be a beautiful day today in southern Wisconsin. Our temperature will be at a pleasant 75 degrees. This is my favorite kind of weather!

Today's card is made from Crafty Secrets products. This is a nice card for this time of the year. The gardens are growing. The flowers are growing.  This is the first year we have a real garden. Our neighbors cut down a big Cottonwood tree last year and it gave us some sunshine in an area of our backyard.  All four of us have been keeping an eye on the growing vegetables!  It's very exciting stuff.

I love using the Crafty Secrets Creative Scraps. There is no stamping involved. It's all a matter of layout and color.  Crafty Secrets also has some vintage patterned paper. So really all you do is match and throw the card together. I like to use foam tape to give the card some dimension. I look forward to making more of these kinds of cards! I love them!

Hanging out with my friends!

Good morning and happy Wednesday to you! Boy do I have a story for you. I better tell you about this card first! This is a Penny Black image coupled with My Minds Eye paper. What a great combination! This image is one of my favorites! Do I always so that?  I sure feel like I have a lot of favorites!  I popped the main image up with some foam tape. That is one of my key "go to" idea for cards. I like having the main image popped up more! I also like the sewn edge around the main image. I didn't use thread. I just sewed it along to get the holes. 

Okay, onto my story.  I had a little excitement yesterday.  In the morning I noticed that my elbow was very swollen. I've had arthritis pain in it, so that's what I thought it was.  Throughout the day the swelling around my neck and chin was getting worse and the swelling around my elbow.  I noticed in the early afternoon that a rash was forming fast on my elbow.  Then soon after that I could feel the swelling in my neck on my throat.  It didn't take me long to figure out that I better get in for some medical attention. I popped two Benadryls right away! Thank goodness my youngest daughter was home and could drive me to the hospital (she just got her license in May).  So off we went.  I was not in a panic. I talked it out with my daughter and told her that I was not having trouble breathing, but that I could feel that pressure from the swelling on my neck in my throat.  We were calm and cool. By the time we got to the hospital, I was starting to shake a little bit. I don't know if it was from the reaction or if I was getting nervous, because by then I was getting a bit nervous.  Of course, they didn't mess around with me. They immediately put me in a room and had a shot of epinephrine in my arm.  That got my heart beating good and I didn't enjoy that too much. Thankfully that was not long lived.  Then they put some steroids in me through an IV.  They took very good care of me and observed me afterwords. It didn't take long for me to feel an improvement. They sent me home with a prescription for some heavy steroids over the next 10 days and I will also be taking Benadryl for the next two days.  This should fix me all up.  I had an okay night. I dozed, then I woke up, dozed some more. I got more sleep than I figured so that is good! We'll see what today brings. I will be sticking close to home. I'm sure the steroids are going to have me out of whack for at least then next week!  Watch out people! LOL!

So that's my story!  Just giving you a little entertainment!  Today I woke up and I just laughed. Nothing is every easy for me!  What are ya gonna do! 

ETA:  The allergic reaction was from the Enbrel injections that I started for my arthritis. Some of you didn't make that connection and I didn't outright say what it was from in this post.

Pool Sharkie

Good Morning.  I have a quick post for you today. This card is made with a Whipper Snapper Designs stamp. I love their stamps. In fact, I just ordered myself a few to cheer myself up. Why do I need cheering up? Well I started breaking out in a rash on Saturday from the Enbrel injections.  I shouldn't be too surprised.  I am allergic to Humira which is a cousin to Enbrel. It was something we had to try though. I was able to get a little relief from it, so I guess I should look at it from that perspective. People comment to me all the time how cheery my blog is.  It is important to me to maintain a positive attitude in everything that I do.  Is my life always sunshine? No. If you ask my 5th graders they would tell you that Mrs. Lepinski wants a positive attitude from them. The groaning doesn't get you any where! So there you have it! My words of wisdom for the day! 

Sweet Harmony Revisited

Good morning and welcome to the Sunday Post.  A couple of Sundays ago, I posted a similar card to this one. I wanted to post this card to show you how you can change the look of the card with a little color.  I used my Blending Tool and Distress Inks to add more color and make this one more vibrant.  I love how this looks. Then around the edges I used Vintage Photo Distress ink (one of my favorites). It gives it that "old look".  I also dug out my vintage lace and added some of that. The stamps are from Lost Coast Designs. I really like that company because they are CHEAP! Times are tight people!  Buy unmounted and save yourself some money!

Today is going to be a beautiful day. We are turning the air conditioning off and enjoying some fresh air in the house!  Have a wonderful Sunday! 

Coaster Books

Good morning! Are you awake yet?  I'm feeling a bit sleepy!  Today I want to share a project that I was hooked on last week before we left for Good Ol' Uncle Phil's house. I couldn't stop making these coaster books with my Bind-It-All. On this one, I used Stampin' Up paper called Parisian Breeze Specialty. I used the longer rectangle coasters from Eclectic Paperie.  I cut the flowers out from coasters with my Big Shot and a Sizzix flower die.  It cuts like butter, I swear! 

At my class last week we made smaller 4 x 4 versions of this. I was hooked on those too. I just kept making one after another! You know how I like to keep little gifts on hand!  It's a lot of fun to coordinate the paper and the buttons and the ribbon and even the coil for the bind it all!  Yahoo!

Hey, it's Friday today! WOW! What a fast week.  I still can't keep up!  I think our little visit to my BIL's really got me all out of whack.  Oh and guess what?  We've been off of school for two weeks now. I have over 100 miles in on my exercise bike! I am going to BLOW my exercise goal to smithereens!  I am getting fit baby!  I hope you have a great Friday and a SUPER START to your weekend!

Teeter Totter Tin

Good Morning Sunshine!  I am up early today, and starving to death! This morning I'm going in to have some bloodwork done that I need to fast for. . . Do you think I will make it?  If I could have slept a bit longer, I would have been okay.  Oh well! I'm sure I will be okay! I'm trying to keep busy so that the time goes faster!

Anyways, enough of the blah, blah, blah.  Here is a tin that I made a few weeks back. I love these tins. They make such a great little gift.  On this one, I used My Mind's Eye paper (Pretty Please Collection) and a Penny Black stamp.

 

 

Here is a look at the inside of the tin. There is a little pocket on the left and then a notebook on the right. How sweet is this?  The whole presentation is just the coolest!  I like to have some of these on hand in cas I need a little gift!

Okay, I'm going to go jump in the shower and get ready to go. I can leave about 7:00. I want to get this labwork over with!  I have things to do people! Places to go! People to see!  

Enjoy your Thursday!