Mackinac Island, Michigan

WHAT a WONDERFUL vacation this was!!!! I  loved it there. The perfect weather...the picturesque views...the lighthouses....couldn't have been a more perfect time to go. Chad and I had a great time...we stay inland and took in some sights there on the first day. The second day we took a ferry to the island and enjoyed it all. We rode bikes all around the island...8.5 miles around...lol. All they had was bikes, horseback riding, or carriages. Definately a time in the past...so peaceful and seren...gorgeous place to visit. I plan to go back and see some of the things we didn't have time to see this visit.

Thank you, Hon, for such a great trip...Luv'd it and the adventure we had together made it even more special. Love you!

♥R

Chad and I at the beach on Lake Huron side

Mackinac Bridge...divides Lake Michigan and Lake Huron

Chad at the beach...it was a gorgeous view!

Me at the beach at Lake Huron

View at the bay...GORGEOUS!!!!

Grand Hotel....it is enormous...and beautiful

Transportation to the Grand Hotel

rock on bike route

Crop with Friends

What a great time I had at this crop!!! OMG...we had ladies from everywhere here...Canada...Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio...and other places. IT was the best weekend....friends, great food, and crafting. WHo could ask for more? It was great to meet alot of the ladies from the Cricut Message Board....long time  overdue!!!!  Looking forward to the next one!!!

ScrappyChick (Heather) and Jenny came to my house and we rode over to Galesburg, IL for the party....such sweet gals...we had a BLAST!!!!

HUGS
rhonda

GrandmaJ (Janice) and I ..she hosted the swap

ScrappyChick(Heather) doing cuts on her E and G

Jenny...she isn't a crafter..but we enjoyed her company!

       Photo of the **Crop with my Friends** group. IT was truely a great experience and can't wait for Crop 2  next Oct.

Happy 5th Birthday, X-man

Today is  my wonderful lil' grandon, Xavier's  5th birthday. I hope it is filled lots  of love, laughter and kisses. Mammaw misses you sooo much....LOVE YA MOSTEST, baby boy!

love always
x♥x♥
Mammaw

Vintage Christmas Box

I altered a plain kraft square box for a swap on the CMB. Heaven was my partner.  I used alot of the images from a vintage theme pack of papers. I love how it turned out. Used a Tim HOltz knob for the top of the box. Then I filled it with some much desired wishes Heaven wanted.

 

The papers are from Hobby Lobby...I colored the seam binding in a Christmas red and crinkled it...soo easy!

 

♥ R

 

Lid to the box

side one of the box

side two of box

side three of the box

side four of box

 

In Loving Memory

THis is for my wonderful and precious furbaby that is no longer with us  physically...but spiritually and emotionally she is. Kahlua you have been the best baby anyone could have had. Such a happy and loving dog. Always there to greet me at the door...loved to run and play...ohh and such a ham in front of the camera. YOU are greatly and deeply missed! No other can replace you...my heart will carry a missing piece forever more. Rest baby girl....you have deserved it. The passion and committment you have shown as a loyal companion will never go unmissed. Enjoy the time with family that is there with you and I'll see you again at Rainbow Bridge....With all my love, tears, and kisses...

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Mommy

Kahlua relaxing

Kahlua and her baby!

♥   Me and my baby,Kahlua....love and missed DEARLY!    ♥

♥ Kahlua and Daddy ♥

A BROKEN HEART

Hello...

Just 6 days after posting the last post...my BELOVED furbaby, Kahlua had to be put down. It KILLED me to do it too. She is deeped loved and missed beyond words. She was the best companion anyone could have asked for.  We had her cremated and today, DH picked up her ashes and brought her home for good. I just broke out into tears again...seems like I've done more crying lately than ever. Miss ya baby girl...love ya always.....

♥ Mommy.

Kahlua....Mommy's Girl

Here is a photo of me and Kahlua. SHe is everything to me. I've raised her from 2 months old to now...and she will be 13 yrs on in Nov. She isn't in the best of health these days and it saddens my heart to no end. I cherish each day as it comes to spend it with her. I couldn't have asked for a better pup or company. She had a vet visit yesterday and we found out that she has  UTI and now is on meds for it. I hope it helps my baby.

LOVe and hugs baby girl
Mommy

Crop Frame

This photo frame is altered and for  the HOSTESS of our INTERNATIONAL CROP next weekend in Galesburg, IL. I LOVE how it turned out....better than expected. love when a plan comes together.  I took a HL frame and painted it with chocolate brown paint. ...dried with heat gun...and then added a buttermilk paint to it in strips...then wiped it off to give it the worn/distressed look. TOOO COOOL! THen I sanded areas of it even further and on the edges. The saying in the lower  left-hand corner is from the CIRCLE Cart...Everyday Cricut. It's soo fitting for this frame. I painted it with SU Lil' Red Riding Hood ink and glued it in place. The red/white large flower in the upper rt-hand corner is from Recollections and it's canvas. LOVE IT! The smaller deeper red is a HM flower from a swap. I used black gem , champaign and chocolate pearls. The cream vintage ribbon from my stash..and the 2 brown-toned butterflies are from Jenni Bowlin.  LOVE IT!!!

♥~~~
Rhonda

Frame in process of brown paint

Completely painted

Painted buttermilk and aged

RT-hand corner embellishments

One of two brown butterflies

Pin Up Girls

Next weekend I will be in Galesburg, IL for a weekend crop with the CMB ladies. I'm soooo excited to meet them. Two of the ladies, Heather and Jenny will be arriving here at my home and then we will drive up together. We are making items for each person attending all different. This is my item for each of the ladies. I hope they enjoy them. Who doesn't love Maggies?!!!! I love how they turned out and only 2 are duplicates...so my  maggies are growing in volume. YAHHHH!!!!!

♥ N' Hugs
R~~~

Maggies...sooo cute!

With friends tag

glued pin backs on

Close up of those cuties

CLOSE Up....

DR visit in Carmel

I had my follow-up visit after the surgery yesterday. Doc took the bandage off...yahhh...and the sutures out. He said it was looking good. I then worked with  an Occ. Therapist for exercises to stretch it out. It feels really good soo far...but looks horrible. The other hand didn't bruise like this one did. Go back at the end of September.

HUgs to all

rhonda

No Pain

Tomorrow I have another DOC appt in Carmel, IN for my hand. The surgery was last Thursday for Carpal Tunnel Release and it went well Tomorrow's check-up will be just in time for us to take off on vacation on Monday evening. YAHHHH...I"m more than ready too. Long overdue..and me and DH need the time away. Mackinac Island, Michigan here we come!!!!

♥ R~~~~

Match box

Here is an altered match box I did for a swap on the CMB. My partner said to open with my ideas and I went for it. I love the paper from Once upon a Springtime  is sooo adorable. I loved it and how this box turned out. I hope she does as well. I also had to make a charm/dangle , 3 stickpins...and some handmade flowers.

HUgs~~R

Empty matchbox

Finished Matchbox

Goodies Inside the matchbox

Domino Affect

I've altered these for a swap on the CMB. I used the Prima ledger stamp with black staz-on ink first...then used Tim Holts distressed inks in tattered rose...vintage photo and brushed corduroy to give it the aged look. I then used the heat gun to set it all. I used small brown Prima flowers added glossy accents to the petal and dried them to give it a sugared look. Add black Prima gems to them and a magnetic strip to the back...Voila...DONE....Soo vintage and soooooooooo pretty.

HUGs

rhonda

Relaxing on the beach

On the CMB we had to alter an item with a beach theme for a pin cushion. Here is my take on it. I found this lil' adorable beach chair at a thrift store and painted it a creamy buttermilk color...added splashes of TH Blue Jean crackle paint. Added a lacey vintage doiley a cricut book and pins I altered as well. I do hope my SS, Barbara enjoys it.

HUGS~~R

Bottle Cap magnets

I have made two of these....each for a different person for a different swap. THis is how they started out....

The first one is for Love2Craft....Karrie. She loves purple. It's not a fav color of mine to work with...but I believe it turned out quiet lovely. It was for the Summer Swap on the CMB. We had to make a handmade item...I did this for her.  Enjoy it Karrie.

This is the one for Karrie...I used TH alcohol inks in a pearl...Twilight Purple..and  Cool Peri . The alpha was a white letter to start off with...but glimmer misted it with a Lavendar fields...and gave it a nice purple color. The mini roses were from Prima . Used MS 3 N 1 buttefly punch ...I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

THis is the one I made for J-bear...Jamie. She likes pinks/browns so I used TH latte and hazelnut along with Mountain rose and Pearl on hers to add color. Set it with the heat gun.  I then used a HM pink rose given to me by Jenn...thank you! and a mini brown rose by Prima. I used white crocheted lace and tied it into a bow. I used Ranger paint dabbers in Expresso and Pink Sherbert on the alphas. Added small butterfly and silver pearls on it's back.  Once finished...I then added magnetic tape to the back of both of these caps.

HUGS
rhonda

Let Banners Wave

This is a *BANNER* I made for one of my swaps. Shannon will enjoy it in her scraproom...I do hope. I cut the ovals with letters from the George Cricut Cart...and the framed ovals from the Jasmine Cricut cart. I sooo loved how it turned out. I then cute the printed ovals so they would peak thru the solid color. I then added pearls, skittles and gems to make it pop!!! The ribbon was perfect to bring out the printed paper thru the alphas.

HUGS~~R

Crop Countdown

I'm more than excited...ECSTATIC maybe. Only 34 more days until my Scrap Retreat in Galesburg, IL....and Heather and Jenny are going with me. YAHHHH. THey are coming here from Ohio and we are riding together to Illinois for the weekend retreat. Lots of crafting, laughing and meeting friends. Sooo anxious...What a wonderful way to spend the weekend....Come on September 9,10 and 11th....woooooo hoooo

♥ N' hugs
rhonda

Guest Designer Card

Hello to all....

I'm a  Guest Designer this month for http://www.onecrazystamper.com/category/new.htm. I can't believe I was actually chosen to be one!!! I'm soo happy. This month's theme is **Fun in the Sun** and here is my take on just that...**Fun in the Sun**.  I chose to make a Center step card using the Whimsy Doodle stamp...Biker Girl. This is me to a *T*. I love to ride with DH on our bike. THis stamp was actually a gift from a wonderful friend...THANK YOU TIFFANY!  I have enjoyed coloring it with Copic Sketch markers. I used Bazzill pink cardstock....GinaK Luxury White cardstock. The patterned papers are from stash. The larger mini flower was a RAK from a  friend...thank you Jen....and the small pink and brown from Crystal as a RAK. I used Tim Holtz memo pin to hold his adage ticket that says PLAY. Then a mini clip to hold the stamped phrase **Destination Unknown** in the upper right-hand corner.  Between the two flowers on the left lower-hand corner...I used a pink/white and brown/white baker's twine.  I hope you leave some kind thoughts.

Love and hugs~~~~
rhonda