Hi There!

Hi everyone!  Just touching base with you all....I have not been well which has held me back from any coloring or crafting lately.  Although I hope to color tomorrow and have a project up on Wed for you...crossing my fingers & toes...thanks for hanging in there with me.

I thought I'd share a few things with you though to catch up, in case you don't follow my other blog here OR on facebook.  Sick or not I still try to squeeze every moment, every drop of life that I can out of each day...we get this great gift called LIFE so you can't let it waste away.  I try not to even on days I feel as though I may be dying...because I never know if its the last day...but I sure want to enjoy it while I can.

This is my daughter's Senior Year so we just had her last Homecoming Dance this past month .  I'm so thankful that she prefers classy and pretty styles over..well...you know the "other" trampy kind LOL. But she is picky so I usually order 4-5 dresses online that we both pick out and this one made the cut...we both agreed it was pretty, appropriate and looked lovely on her.

The girls did their own hair and makeup this year...I think they did a lovely job!

Alexa and her BFF Grace....they're a little goofy...as it should be ;)

No dates...most went in groups...they prefer to have fun with friends instead of the stress

of being with someone...gotta love that!!

Always a Daddy's girl!

3 Generations...me, Alexa & my mom

My son didn't go this year as his friends and him decided that it was more fun AFTER the dance.  Last year they all went to Buffalo Wild Wing so this year they ALL came here instead for yummies, Xbox wars and lordy knows what else was going on down in that basement with all of them LOL.  So they had a good time. It was his free pass...I told him he HAD to go next year ;)

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If you don't follow me on my other blog...well you can if you'd like HERE...but I share all kinds of projects and recipes over there as well.  This is my current post if you'd like to hop over and see...making your own Beautiful Mercury Glass items...easy & inexpensive.

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And my CMC Challenge is always ongoing...its open to everyone to join...and runs every 2 weeks.  This week our challenge is all about DUDES, MALES, BOYS...masculine projects...I know some struggle with them but they can be so much fun.  Our sponsor is Dr. Digi's House of Stamps and he has some super humorous images for MALE cards that are irresistable.

Below are my CMC DT's AWESOME creations they made for the challenge....lots of great ideas...if they can rock it..well I KNOW you all can.  So hop on over and join in on the fun!!  And share on our CMC Facebook Page too...we'd love to see you there!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Happy Tuesday to you and Happy July 2nd to you!  Thursday is the Fourth of July and we will be in DC for two nights celebrating.  First with a Nats baseball game and then to see the fireworks from the top of hubby's workplace roof which has a great view of the Mall and fireworks.  We are always in DC for games and events and of course hubby works there...but we haven't done the Smithsonians and monuments in awhile so we plan on doing that one day.  We like to stay at the National Harbor at the Gaylord when we are doing things in DC.  Great place to stay and you can ferry over to DC or Alexandria if you don't want to drive and then hop on the metro. 

And yes we are still in the Keys having a blast...gonna be hard to go back to the REAL WORLD next Monday LOL!  If you follow me on Facebook you've seen a lot of the pics I've been posting but I thought I'd put up a couple more and then the rest will go in a slideshow when I get back.  Sunday we took a ferry to the Dry Tortugas for a day of tours, beach time and snorkeling...James and I have been before but it was the kids first time and they LOVED it.  Weather was perfect, water aqua blue and a good time had by all.  Last night we went to see "The Heat" with Sandra Bullock & Melissa McCarthy..what can I say...I'm still laughing...funniest movie I've seen all year.  If you don't like bad language it MAY not be the movie for you...for us, it was right up our alley LOL..too much fun!  Pefect duo those two!  I hope you have a fabulous week and stay safe on the fourth...for those in Canada, Happy belated CANADA DAY to you as well.

 me and Alexa (we don't match purposely trust me lol)

Fun at the Dolphin Research Center

me and the teens

A day at the Dry Tortugas...snorkeling and fort tour

 No vacation is without naptime...James drifted to sleep in the pool LOL!

nothing better than water the color of turquoise

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Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

This card I created for my husband's Grandfather who turned 90 before we left on vacation...Grampa as we all call him.  We celebrated his birthday in DC at Nats Park watching...what else...a baseball game because he loves baseball as much as us.  (He used to go to the Senators games when they played in DC many moons ago so it was fitting for him to have his party at a Nats game and we WON whoot)  We had a party suite for family and had a great time...well anytime I'm at the ballpark I'm having a great time LOL!  So when I saw this Dr. Digi "Slugger Sam" digi image...I KNEW he'd be perfect for Grampa!  Grampa loves baseball and turning 90 is a BIG deal so I was happy to make this for him!  He loved it...thankfully and went around showing everyone the card I made saying "she made each part of this"..so glad he was happy with it..that was its sole purpose :)

The baseball is a Silhouette Cameo cut file that I distressed and inked.  The 90 was cut from Cameo too and then I created the # hashtag meself because Cameo didn't have one to match the numbers...go figure LOL!  But I thought it was cute to have the #90 for the birthday card!  The papers are all by Authentique called "Original", I love the blue jean prints in this pack.  The "Happy Birthday" was stamped on a Tim Holtz Ideology ticket...and I added some Magic Mesh, love to use that on masculine cards.  Lots of distressing of paper and use of distress ink pads to "dirty" the papers up a bit.

Colored with Copics:  E44,E43,E42,E41,E40 /E25,E31,E50/ E11,E00 / B39,B37,B34,B21

I inked around the edges with distress ink pads and then lightly stamped a PTI "text" stamp around the image and added a couple of vintage paperclips.  Diamond Glaze on the bat and his shoes for shine.

That's it for me today!  We are gonna soak up some more Florida sunshine and enjoy our last day here in the Keys!  Enjoy your day!