Only Three Days Left!

Only three days left for what?  You can earn an extra 3% when you host an event with sales of $300!  That is a sweet way to start your holiday shopping, don't you think?  You can place your order online here.

Don't wait!  Deadline for online orders is 11:55 PM (MT) November 9, 2015.

Preparing for the Holidays

Yes!  That's what I said!  It is hard to believe it is November already.  Fall is probably my favorite time of the year.  I love the changing colors on the trees and the cool days, not to mention the smell of apple dumplings and pumpkin anything!  So, in keeping with my love of Fall, I want to share some Thanksgiving cards and maybe even a Christmas card!

This card was made with the Wondrous Wreath stamp set from Stampin' Up and the matching framelits.  The wreath is stamped with Sahara Sand first and then with black.  The flowers are stamped with Daffodil Delight  and punched out using the Itty Bitty Accents Punch.  Bitty Banners Framelits were used for the "thankful" greeting.  I just love this stamp set.  It is so versatile and easy to use.

Here is another example of what you can do with this set.  On this one I used Rich Razzleberry for the card and stamped the wreath with Hello Honey.  Check out the Hello Honey ribbon - DIVINE!

Okay, here is my  last Fall inspired card for today.  Although this card uses some retired designer paper, it still looks fresh when adding a sentiment from the current catalog.  Heartfelt Sympathy is a new photopolymer set found on page 27 of the annual catalog.  The feathers come from the Four Feathers stamp set and are so easy to cut out using the matching framelits.

Now, I promised at least one Christmas card, so here you go!

Sometimes all you need is some pretty paper to make an awesome card.  As you can see, there is not a lot of stamping on this card, but it is so cute!  I used Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper from the Stampin' Up Holiday Catalog.  I cut the Santa from one of the paper designs and attached him with Stampin' Dimensionals.  I used gold foil under the designer paper to give it a little shine.  The sentiment is from the Oh, What Fun photopolymer stamp set found on page five of the Holiday Catalog.  Then I added a wooden snowflake element with a rhinestone to finish the look.

That's it for today.  Hopefully next week will be a better week for photographing!  It has been rainy and overcast all week.  Have a blessed evening!

Anxiously Awaiting a Delivery

Tomorrow is Friday, and my first order from the new Stampin' Up Occasions Mini Catalog is due to be delivered by the end of the day!  This order also includes some free items from the Sale-A-Bration promotion going on now.

While I patiently wait for my new "toys," I have been busy making these cute magnetic calendars.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Head over to The Rounded Corner on Etsy to see our full line of exclusive paper creations!

Sale-A-Bration Begins TODAY!!!

Yes, today is the day!  I always look forward to a new Stampin' Up Catalog and today is so very special because, not only does the 2015 Occasions Mini Catalog go live, it is also the beginning of Sale-A-Bration!

For those who are not familiar with this great promotion, let me explain.  Beginning today and continuing through March 31, you can receive free Stampin' Up products for every $50 you spend.  Purchases from the new Occasions Mini Catalog or the Annual Catalog are eligible for this free product promotion.

I have added links to the Sale-a-bration brochure and the Occasions Mini catalog on the side bar of my blog.  You will love the new products.  They are SWEET!  I will be featuring sample cards using these new items just as soon as the UPS man delivers my box on Friday!

Interested in purchasing,  you can shop and place your order HERE.

Fall is for BAKING and an Update on Robin

Now...

As promised, I have another baking treat to share.  I come from a long line of great cooks!  Both my grandmothers and my mother could really throw down a meal.  My sister and I used to run around my grandmother’s house between the meal and the dessert, just so we could make room for whatever had been baked for the day.  I am surprised we didn’t get sick from doing that, but can’t remember that we did.  All I can remember is how good everything tasted and how much love was put into preparing it.

So, this is what I made yesterday (and a second one today!).  This is my mother’s Buttermilk Pound Cake.  When we were growing up, my sister and I would grab a slice of this as soon as it came out of the oven and spread homemade blackberry jam over the top.  You see, whenever there was freshly made blackberry jam, it was time to make this cake.  It is a wonder I don’t weigh 300 pounds!

UPDATE ON ROBIN:

We are waiting for the insurance company and Robin’s doctor to come to an agreement about the medical necessity of the IVIG therapy.  Yep, the insurance company is questioning our doctor about what he believes will help Robin.  Exasperating! 

As we wait, we will keep trusting that God will open doors as He has on so many occasions throughout this journey. 

Robin is also taking some herbal therapies to fight Bartonella.  These therapies are in liquid form and she starts with one drop, twice a day and gradually works up to 25 drops, twice a day.  There are several different ones and you start with one and then add the next and she is on a different number of drops for each and it can be a nightmare to keep up with.  Especially since if she has an adverse reaction and needs to go down a drop on one of them.  Are you confused yet? 

But, Robin and Ken keep it straight.  I am so proud of them and so thankful for their determination to stay in the fight!  I probably would have given up by this point.

And Then...

(finally back from a long commercial break)

Robin spent the summer of 2008 at home.  David and I wanted her to concentrate on her health, first and foremost.  She was able to earn a little money by babysitting and helping a friend clean houses.  She helped me by making dinner most nights and helping with the cleaning. 

There was only one trip to the doctor over the summer.  Robin was experiencing stomach pain.  The doctor’s diagnosis was constipation.  This was the first indication of a problem in the GI tract. As our story unfolds you will see that this was just the beginning of a long struggle with digestive health for Robin.

Return of the Missing Homemaker

Now...

It has been far too long since I posted to my blog.  Life gets busy and the time flies by!  But seriously…..over two months without an update?  I will do better, I promise.

So, as I ease back into blogging, I want to share some things that have been keeping me busy for the last two and a half months. 

As my blog title indicates, I love to stamp and sew.  But, I also love to bake.  Already out of the oven this morning are these beauties – Gluten-Free Banana Bread.

This is one of my old favorites that I converted to gluten-free, dairy-free for Robin.  She and I both agree that the conversion does not take away from the overall goodness!

This is what I used for the gluten-free version of my recipe:

Banana Bread

½ cup Earth Balance Vegan buttery sticks (one stick)

1/1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup potato starch

½ cup tapioca flour

½ cup white rice flour

1 t vanilla

1 t baking soda

4 T Tofutti Sour Cream

1 cup banana pulp

¼ t salt

Cream butter and sugar.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Dissolve soda in sour cream.  Add to mixture.  Add banana pulp, salt and vanilla and blend well.  Add flours and blend again. 

Grease and flour three mini loaf pans.  Divide mixture among the pans.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes.

My stamping adventures lately have been focused on Christmas.  Here is a sample of the new Christmas cards that will be posted in The Rounded Corner Etsy shop in the near future.  We are currently taking custom orders for Christmas cards, so visit our store to place your order!

Last, but not least, I have been attempting to finish some of my quilting projects that have been laying around in various stages of completion.  Earlier this month, my friend Laura, invited me to come and play with her long-arm quilting machine.  Wow!!!  My husband has heard more than he cares to hear about how awesome her set-up is.  I have nothing to complain about.  I basically have our entire den dedicated to my sewing area, but quilting a large piece on my machine is tiring to say the least.  With Laura’s machine, I was able to complete this beauty from start to finish all by myself!

Tomorrow, I will share with you what is in my oven now!  Did I mention that I love to BAKE?

Blessed Beyond Measure

Now...

I am blessed beyond measure!   How, you might ask, can I say that and really mean it considering the circumstances of my life.  I have a son who has walked out of our lives and rejected our faith and beliefs.  Heart wrenching!  I have a godly daughter who is seriously ill with Chronic Neurological Lyme Disease.  While friends and acquaintances my age are trying to decide what their grandchildren will call them, I am preparing myself to accept that I may never have any grandchildren.  The medical bills continue to roll in.  Most of the medications and procedures to treat Lyme are not covered by insurance.  My days are spent caring for a 25 year old college educated child who on some days can not even get out of bed because of the pain.

But, I am blessed beyond measure! 

Here is how I can say this and really mean it.  Today, as most days, I went over to Robin’s house at 2:00PM.  Snickers went with me today because Robin says he is therapeutic.  I gently open her bedroom door and watch her as she begins to wake up.  Yes, at 2:00PM she is still sleeping, because at 7:00AM she is still awake trying to cope with the pain.  I hate to wake her because she looks so peaceful, but I know I must.  I give her a drink of Burbur and Parsley, herbs that help settle her nervous system.  I go to the kitchen and make her a gluten free waffle and a cup of coffee.  As she eats, we talk about her evening and I get an idea of just how bad her night has been.  Last night was particularly bad.

I asked Robin what she thinks about when the pain attacks come.  She says that sometimes she begs God to take her.  Other times she concentrates on Ken, and her Dad and myself and how much we mean to her.  Today she shared with me that despite the pain and the isolation, she knows that God is still good.  Even when the pain is so intense that she cannot control her body and she flails all over the bed, she acknowledges that God is good.  Tears begin to flow as the words spill from her heart about her struggles and her hope and her faith.  I can’t repeat word for word all that she shared with me today, but I will tell you that when we both were overwhelmed with our tears, I knew that I had experienced something that most of my friends and acquaintances will never experience.  I have seen into the heart of my daughter.  What I see there is a sweet, strong, godly woman trying to make sense of the suffering.  Trying to find the good in a tragic situation.  As is often the case, she talks of how her suffering is preparing her to help others who are in pain.  She wants her suffering to be a bridge for others with undiagnosed health issues, to find help.  But ultimately, she prays that her experience with a chronic illness will point others to Christ. 

I love my daughter.  I love her heart.  We did not choose this path in life, but God knew that we must travel it together.  I am so proud of Robin for her determination to stay in the fight despite the sleepless nights of pain, the shattered dreams, but especially for her decision to praise God in the toughest of times.  He has worked out every little detail from providing a Lyme literate doctor in our area, to a job for Ken and an apartment and then a house at just the right times.  Were it not for Lyme, I doubt my daughter and I would share our tears, our hearts or our breakfast as we did today.  God is surely good all the time!

That is why I can say I am blessed beyond measure! 

And Then...

To be continued…..