Madison Stock V 1

I made a dozen friendship cards in this design for Madison. Here are 4 of them.
















The message inside is "Your Friendship means the World to me". There may be 12 of then but each one is different. They all features a couple of map pieces, postage stamps, a postal cancellation stamp and the world map. I will be selling them for $2 a piece to make in easy on the people running the sale.

50% of the proceeds from the Madison sale will be going to WINGS (Women In Need Growing Stronger). WINGS helps homeless and abused women and children by offering integrated services that meet their needs for shelter, education, guidance and support. We provide safe, secure living environments, through transitional housing and emergency shelter, in residential neighborhoods that allow women to go to school, work, and care for themselves and their children.

I have a lot of work to get done before the sale. I will post series cards but not individual ones unless they are really standouts. I will just not have the time.

E stories

Friday night at his daycare center they had a hoedown. We went out and bought him a cowboy, badge, bandana set -- good thing Halloween is coming soon, it made getting a set easier. I brought his 2 horses (sticks with plush heads) to school after work along with his cowboy gear. He decided against the gear in a big hurry and I ended up wearing it. I had a bandana for myself so I tied it around the neck of one of his classmates.

The horses didn't last very long with the group of rough riders that were at the party, 5-year-olds can be vicious. Each horse lost their head, one was hanging on by a cord the other popped right off. I will need to work some mom-magic later to repair these poor ponies.

One of the teachers was painting faces and E finally decided he could do that. Each opportunity that has presented itself in the past has been met with violent protest. This time peer pressure and knowing the artist helped. I even had my face painted with a black nose and whiskers. The artist opted for black for my nose because, as she said, "pink wouldn't even show up on you". Yes folks I'm that white, er pink.
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Today E asked for a drink. I offered milk or juice. "NO," he said with a fist full of cup and attitude, "I want water it really unthirsts you." I love that he is trying to figure out the language but I could do without the attitude when my E.S.P. isn't working.

Well it's late and I still have to change the clocks. E doesn't know the time is changing and will be up an hour earlier than usual. If I don't change all the clocks tonight we will be extra early for the early mass tomorrow.

We've got a big day of Halloween prep planned with Aunt K and a lot of yard work to do when he's napping. I'm so glad she's going to be here to help get the patio furniture into the attic.

tootles

Hell Week

Big P Co is publishing a special Holiday section and the deadline was Tuesday. We've been so busy that today is the first day this week I have left on time. I left 45 minutes late yesterday and was giddy that I was getting out "early".

Sometimes I have to bring E back to work after picking him up from daycare. Last time I did that he just wanted to put pennies in the vending machine. I wouldn't let him. He went to a co-worker and asked if he could have green paper. She looked at me puzzled and I explained that he was begging for money. He dragged me into the kitchenette and showed me the "picture of green money" on the machine. When he was a learning to speak I was really the only one who could figure out what he was saying. Now that he speaks plainly sometimes I am still the only one that can figure out what he means, I get E-logic.

I am going to get busy with making cards for Madison now. I will scan a few in later, but I have to make them first.

Prayer Request and a Quickie

I'm asking for your prayers for a friend of mine, E knows him as Uncle Joe, who's had a stroke. He is recovering his speech but has no feeling on the right side of his body. If you can say a prayer for his recovery I'd appreciate it and so would Joe.

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E and I were talking about family relationships a few days ago. I am his mother, Nana is my mother, etc., etc., etc. Yes he had to name practically everyone we know. He is a very smart kid, he knows that Nana (who is much shorter than I am) is older than me. Generally little kids equate height with age but he knows better.

A day or so after this long conversation we were driving home from school and out of the blue he says, "When I grow up I'm going to be a dad."
"What's that going to make me?" I ask thinking he will say "a grandma".
His reply, "Very, very happy."

Commissioned Work

A friend asked me to make a some thank you cards for veterans day based on the cards previously posted here. My first commission. She's given me permission to post these in the hopes that other people get the idea to thank the veterans in their lives or in their community.

This card is for her Uncle Art who served in WWII in the pacific. I was lucky to find this picture in an old encyclopedia year book.







This is for her other Uncle Art who served in Europe. He was an army pilot.














This is for her cousin who served in VietNam.









This is for someone she knows who is just back from Iraq. I have a cousin who recently returned and I think I will make him one of these too.

Two quick stories.

Confidence boosters This weekend I made $10 from my cards. I brought them to show other stampers and a stamping newbie was there and liked what she saw. She bought a small stack which really gave me a boost. I am going to be sending a box of cards and possibly some other stamped items to a craft boutique in Madison, WI. It's a pre-Christmas sale where people can buy homemade/handmade items. It's held in a private home that is opened up for the event. I was asked by my stamper friend, Dame Catty to send stuff and this sale has really shown me that my work is sellable.

Dame Catty sent a friend a link to "The Heaven Sent Fart" and the friend scrolled down and looked at the cards posted. Her comment to Dame Catty, "Holy Crap they're Beautifullllll." Another shot of confidence. Look out Madison.

Working Late Sometimes it is necessary for me to work late. This is no easy fete when you have a small child and no child care. I had to go get E from the daycare center and bring him back to work. It's dinner time after work/school so we went through the McDonald's drive-thru and grabbed a heart attack sack. He loves coming to work, it's an adventure and you get a Happy Meal what could be better?

This evening I was on the phone with the customer whose job was keeping me late and E was under the desk speaking into the running fan. It's a favorite thing to do — try it some time. He kept saying, "I am a robot," in the monotone reserved for mechanical things, like robots. Suddenly in as normal a voice as is possible when talking into a fan he said, "Aren't I a precious child." I nearly lost it. He is most definitely a precious child but I never expected to hear it come out of his mouth.

The Heaven Sent Fart

It's been very cold here the past week or so. I was doing laundry on Sunday night and discovered the reason. There was no pilot light in my furnace, it was just blowing cold air out. As I got closer to see for sure I smelled gas, this is always cause for a call to the gas company. So I dialed them up and the woman said, "Don't turn on any appliances."
"I just threw in a load of laundry."
"Don't change anything," she tells me as the panic in her voice grew, "Don't turn on the dryer whatever you do. A technician will be there within the hour."

I went upstairs to check on E and he wasn't in his bed. He decided it would be better to be in my bed. He was wide awake waiting for me. He had a late nap that day that lasted 3 hours so he wasn't tired at all. I explained what was going on and told him I wanted him to stay upstairs in bed. Well this might as well have been an invitation to come downstairs.

Being the softy I am I let him on the condition that he lay down on the couch until the guy gets here. The results were mixed but I got a little bit of a sweet cuddle. When the tech knocked E wanted to open the door but I was able to make it there first.

I let the guy in and he turned on a device that measures gas in the air. It immediately began making a ticking noise and my eyes became the size of saucers. "Is there that much gas in the air?" I asked with the same panic the woman on the phone had. He explained that it makes that noise when it is warming up and the sound is different for gas in the air and he went into the laundry room where the furnace is and sat the device on the washer and himself on the floor in front of the furnace.

E and I watched from the doorway as he tried to light the pilot light. He put matches in his mouth, to make them burn slower, and E asked, "Why are you putting sticks in your mouth?" He explained what he was doing and why. "Can I see?" E asked.

"Sure. It's safe," the tech said. E took two steps toward the furnace and ripped the loudest fart I've ever heard come out of the kid. The gas measuring device went nuts. The tech picked it up and started waving it at E's waist as we all laughed.

E asked, "What's it doing?"

"It's smelling your fart," the tech explained. E farted 3 times during the tech's visit. It was hilarious (E's new favorite word - now that he knows what it means). I was told it was time to call someone to repair or better yet replace the furnace.

The next day I looked up heating on Angie's List and called the closest, highest rated company offering coupons. The price to walk into the house was $89 + $26/15 minutes. The minimum cost was going to be $200 to see what the problem was and possibly fix it. I told the woman on the phone that I wanted to get a new one and asked her to give me a ballpark figure, a range. $3000-$10,000 was the reply. I started thinking credit card debt, home equity loans, cold winter nights.

Tuesday I called a friend of mine that has 2 little kids, he would definitely enjoy the fart story, everyone with kids does. (Those without kids or who don't know E thought it was mildly amusing). He told me his brother does HVAC and can get me a much better price. The response from the brother was almost immediate. The work couldn't be done until today (Thursday - the day of the first snow) but it was going to cost me less than half the other guys lowest price for a new furnace.

I believe God said, "fart now kid!" I never would have called my friend about the furnace, I didn't know his brother did that kind of work, without the fart. God really does provide for those who believe he does.

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My life has changed so much for the better since I started acting on the knowledge that God will provide. I am not as afraid to spend money on things that make me happy (rubber stamps) because the fruits of my labor go to help other people. The cards I made for WINGS are helping them now. The profits I make from the cards I sell at the Craft Boutique in Madison in November will be going to WINGS too.

I have finished the cards for my first commission sale. The buyer has given me permission to post the cards here in the hopes that it will prompt others to thank their veterans this Veteran's Day (November 11). I will be posting them tomorrow as it is getting late and I need to go to bed. It's so warm here now it's making me sleepy. : )

The good, the bad and the lucky

Joann Fabrics near work is closing, they lost their lease and are selling to the bare walls. This is great for a bargain craft shopper like me but it is bad for my pocketbook. I raised eyebrows with the basket full of stuff I bought today at lunch. I'm so happy and so broke -- everyone gets crafts for Christmas!

I have my first commission for cards and I figured out how to package cards so they don't get soiled from people handling them and I can price them without touching them. Last Christmas my sister gave me a vacuum sealer for the kitchen. It was the cheapy kind from Walgreens. I've had very little luck with it when it comes to food. Well it works GREAT for cards. I don't use the vacuum but I do use the sealer. It's great.

I have hundreds of ideas now. If only I could find hundreds of hours to stamp. Think I'll go get started now.

One of a Kind cards

I love the watercolor pencils, they work great on old encyclopedia pages.

Again with the watercolor pencils. I don't know who Minnie Fiske is anymore but she was holding a fan and I decided to go big on that idea.












I got lucky with this card. I didn't go looking for the Intoxication, Alcohol entry it just jumped out at me as I was thumbing through old encyclopedias.






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Promise more E stories soon. Just got back online today after some unexpected time away. A tech had to come out and tell me the modem wasn't plugged in properly. Apparently when the power cord is loose you have to completely disconnect it for a few seconds, you can't just push it all the way in and expect it to work. SILLY ME.

Promises, Promises.

The answer to the Christmas riddle will be revealed next week. If you know the answer post it here, if you don't stayed tuned.

More cards coming.