A collection of my many interests: rubber stamping, health and nutrition, all things Market America, my spiritual journey, and the mishaps and quirks of my everyday life.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Stamp Club

    Three-fourths of my stamp club got together today (we missed you, Nancy!), and I would like to show you some things that were accomplished, but not by me! I didn't manage to finish the one thing that I worked on all afternoon. My friend Tammy and her daughter  Jessie were here, and Jessie made some beautiful things with a heart stamp that Tammy carved herself. I don't know if some of the hearts I took pictures of were stamped by Tammy or not; I think maybe a couple of them were done by her, but most were stamped by Jessie. They used the new distress inks, and after the first stamping they misted the stamp with perfect pearls, moved it around with their fingers until the whole stamp was covered, and then stamped a second and third time. The results were really beautiful! The best one was the first one that Tammy did, but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of most of her work. I will have to go over tomorrow and take some pictures because she did some great things.So without further ado, here are the hearts and the 2 cards that Jessie made (she always gets a lot done when we get together; we talk a lot and she listens and stamps!):








Aren't they beautiful? Jessie is such an artist!
   Next is the card I made for my granddaughter Amelia's birthday. I don't think she was too impressed with the front of the card, but she really liked the inside, which I didn't take a picture of, of course. It had a little mouse and hedgehog.

I really like the polka dot tennis shoes!
   I will try to get pictures of Tammy's work on here tomorrow.
   On another  note, if you did not see the Canadian ice dancers skate, please look it up on You Tube and watch it, because it is the most sublimely beautiful thing I think I have ever seen. You should watch the US couple too; they skated to Phantom of the Opera, and it was wonderful! I don't know when I have ever seen an Olympics where I have enjoyed the skating more, and the reason is that this is the first time that the judging has been fair. Can you believe that the men's figure skating gold was won by the USA skater? And the silver in ice dancing was won by the USA? Wow! This has been great!
Blessings,
Janis

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Heroes and Husbands

   I read a lot of Inspirational Romance books, and I am getting really tired of the wimpy, angst-ridden men in these books. I keep saying, "Can't they write something about a hero who is not afraid to step up and do the right thing without all the reluctance to love and risk?" That made me want to write something on here about my husband, Andy, who is a true hero.
   Early in our marriage, Andy worked at the fire department in Wilmington (eight years). and he was gone 24 hours at a time. then he worked a few months as an insurance salesman, and was gone all the time. Next he went to work for CP&L at the Sutton Plant, and for a few years he worked a decent schedule most of the time. Of course when they had outages, he worked 12 hour days. Then he transferred to their traveling crew, and he was gone weeks at a time, working 6 or 7 12's a week. He did this for years, and it was very hard for all of us, but we, the kids and I, still had our lives; Andy just worked. He did not have a problem doing what needed to be done to provide for his family. I am afraid that a lot of men today would not work like that; I have seen too many who left rather than work that hard. When he transferred to the nuclear plant in Southport, he worked a lot of 60 to 72 hour weeks; I can remember one three or four month period when he only had one day off, and he worked 12 hours every day. He missed most of the special times that we had with the kids and family, but he didn't complain. As he would say, he did what needed to be done to get the coon. I am so glad that in the last 15 years he has had time to relax and do some things that he wanted to do, rather than work all the time. I believe that Andy is a true hero, and I love and appreciate him with all my heart.
Blessings,
Janis

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Snow and Stamp Convention

   Ok, let's start with the snow pictures. First up is the view behind our camper in Jackson, SC. It was beautiful, but I would have enjoyed it more if the transformers hadn't blown.
Doesn't that look cold? Believe me, it was! I wish the picture had come out better, and if I had photshop I could make it look better, but, oh well.....
It looked a lot whiter in person!
I don't remember that the ground wasn't covered any more than that. Oh well.......
This was across the street from the campground:
 Now this is more like it! The other views were as pretty as this, but the pictures sure don't show it!
   Next are some pictures that I took at the stamp convention, and they are all from the Stamper's Anonymous booth. If you click on the pictures you can see them better.

Oops! Actually, this picture is from another booth. I had forgotten about these. I don't remember the name of this booth; I will have to go look it up. Here's more from this one:
  NOW we are in the Stamper's Anonymous booth. Love that Wendy Vecchi:

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Fun Weekend!

   What a great time I had last weekend, in spite of the weather. I went to stay with Andy so I could go to a stamp convention in Columbia, and of course it snowed Friday, transformers blew all over the place, had no electricity, had to heat the camper with a burner on the gas stove. It wasn't the best thing to do, but it beat freezing. Somehow I managed to fix my face and hair the next morning and go to the convention. It was so wonderful to be in a room with all those stamps and other supplies! I didn't buy much until I hit the Stamper's Anonymous booth. They have the stuff that Tammy and I have been wanting for so long and can't get anywhere. We bought Tim Holtz stamps and Ideaology embellishments like there was no tomorrow! Now that I am home, I remember things that I saw there that I should have bought, and now I can't find them online. Oh well, I'll know better next time. Buy everything! You might need it! If anyone knows where to get Sugar Dust, please let me know. This is a great product for vintage style stuff. And how I wish I could have gotten some of the stamps and punches that went together. I have a problem with cutting, and being able to stamp something and then just punch it out is a great thing.
   Andy and I went to an antique mall in Columbia while we were there, and I found the greatest thing! It was a box of old candy tins in different shapes, and it was only $4.00! I couldn't believe my eyes; I never find stuff like this! I am hoping to make some things with them that I can sell on Etsy. Hopefully I will get my Etsy shop off the ground in another month or two. 
   I took some pictures of the snow, and hope to get them on here later today. Check back tomorrow and maybe I will have a lot to look at.
Blessings,
Janis

Friday, February 5, 2010

   An update: The man with diabetes told my husband that he had gone jogging this morning! What a miracle! This man was in very, very bad shape when we met him, and now he's jogging. Praise God!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

   It just occurred to me that I hadn't looked for comments on this blog. I am sorry that I didn't see your comments until now, and thanks to everyone who posted one; I will check more often from now on.
   Here's an update on the microwave steamer that I bought on QVC: it works really well for potatoes, which is the main thing I wanted it for. That is the only thing I have cooked in it, and I had trouble with it only one time. I checked the potatoes with a fork, and they were hard, so I cooked them longer, but I think they were hard because they were already overcooked, and I just made them worse. Most of them were ok, but some of them were too overcooked to eat, so I won't cook them so long next time. I am going to try some other vegetables in it next week with some herbs and garlic. Hopefully it will infuse the flavor into the vegetables. I will let you know how it works.
Blessings,
Janis
  

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

   I am so, so excited to tell you about a wonderful testimony. A few months ago, Andy and I went to Norfolk to attend the reunion of the ship he was on in the 60's, the USS Henley. We hung around with a group of guys who were on the ship with him, and one of them was diabetic, so we talked a lot about that over the weekend. He had neuropathy in his fingers and toes, and his toes were turning black and would eventually have to be amputated. I told him about Market America's #1 product, OPC-3, and how it aided in circulation. He has been taking it for 6 weeks now, and he has blood going to his fingers and toes again, and his toes are turning pink. Praise God! This is what I live for!

   Hopefully I will have some more samples on here in a few days. I have just gotten home from SC and am up to my eyeballs in paperwork. I did stamp some yesterday with my friend Tammy, but didn't do anything that I could put on here.

   We visited our free believer friends, Susan and Richard, last Sunday. What a great visit, and great day! It was loads of fun, and great to be talking about God with someone after missing three Sundays at home. I am really looking forward to getting together with everyone this Sunday.

   I just found a note that I wrote on an index card years ago. It says: It all boils down to this: Jesus has to be enough. I had just read an email devotional from Chip Brogden about how Jesus isn't enough when we are unhappy, anxious, etc.. There's a lot of food for thought there!

Blessings,
Janis