Sunday freebies

Running down paperwork for taxes this afternoon. Never fun! Managed to lose the paperwork we needed to fill out for husband's visit to cardiologist tomorrow. I'm terrible about putting things where I will be able to find them and not remembering where that was. Got to get more organized! Seems that so much paper keeps coming in the house that it is difficult to keep up with. Oh well, at least while looking for the medical paperwork, I found my good watch (it had slipped off the chair side table and gotten buried under something) and one of the tax forms I thought had not come yet. That's something, right?

Thought for today:

I think this quotation would be good to start a journal page with. This month I will be taking some of my favorite quotations, chosen at random from a digital file, and use them to start an art journal page.

And today's freebies. For A Purple Pause:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_9.zip

And for Motocross Fun:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_10.zip

Enjoy!

Tomorrow starts a new month

It's 2:40 in the morning of 1/31 here and I'm waiting for my hair to dry before going to bed. I put the February blog header up, as you can see. It's made from my Wonderland Scraps, Love, Tweet Love kit, sold the last year I sold in Digi Style Designs. I also made our February goal page and goal report page from that kit. But before I give you that, I want to ask, did anyone use your goal set for January? How did you do? If you did the goal setting page but haven't done the report page, let me warn you that my use of the glitter paper was a bad idea. Writing doesn't show up well as you will see from my example. I would suggest you make some shapes in a solid, coordinating color to write your reports on. Here is how mine came out. Here is my goal page:

And my report page (going to see SIL today so nothing much will get done here):

See what I mean?

And now your February goal set:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/goal%20sheets/ws_Feb2016_GoalSet.zip

Something to think about and freebies

Yesterday we buried my mother-in-law, Pauline. It was a brief service with only one non-family member attending. I tried to gently remind those who were grieving that the body resting in the coffin was just that, not Pauline, just the shell she had inhabited while here on earth. She was not there; she had gone Home. No matter what you believe, how prepared you think you are for a loved one's death, it always comes as a surprise and leaves a hole in the fabric of your life. With Pauline, we were lucky, if you can call it that. She simply went from working her Sudoku puzzle to slipping quietly away. Yes, it was a shock, even though she was nearly 89 years old, but having watched my mother slowly die of lung cancer over a period of three years, I believe her family was lucky. There was not the gradual fading away of someone with a terminal illness. Watching my mother bravely try all chemo and radiation therapy that was offered, just to buy my father a little time to get used to the idea of being without her, was very painful and tiring. I knew too, because we had discussed this when other members of her family were diagnosed with cancer, that if my father were not in the picture, she would have refused all treatment except that which would hold the pain at bay. Mama thought, before she left us, she could teach Dad things he had never had to learn before. Simple things like how to do laundry, wash dishes, cook simple dishes, write checks. She succeeded somewhat. But day by day we had to watch the misery of the treatments, the loss of quality of life as the disease progressed, the person we knew slowly slipping away from us while the body remained. And when the cancer reached her brain and she thought things that were not at all like her, such as thinking she was going back in time, even to believing she was starting to menstruate again, let me tell you that I grieved more then rather than when we were told she had died. Why tell you this? Two reasons: 1 - if you have a loved one who has to make decisions about his/her health and treatments, please be certain they are aware of all options and the side effects of each - how it will effect the quality of his/her remaining days. The choices about those options should be theirs alone. You might not like what they decide, but you should respectfully support their decision.
2 - I came across this while idely surfing the web and picking up quotations (more about that later) and want to share it with you:

Something for us to think about.

On a brighter note, here are your freebies. First, Motocross Fun:

Link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_9.zip
And A Purple Pause:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_8.zip

Clearly these will run over into February and for me, it is just as well. Need time to make a Valentine for you plus February goal sheets.
Hugs!

Quick note

As you know, my MIL passed away on Sunday. Naturally, we have been busy making preparations for the funeral which will be Friday morning. Just wanted to let you know that I have finished up what I'm going to do on A Purple Pause and Motocross Fun. I spent some time this evening packing things up. Got all the Purple Pause zips ready to be loaded to Dropbox and posted to the blog. Tomorrow, if I can, I will finish up the zips for Motocross Fun and pack and load those. My plan right now is to get all the remaining zips posted, if not by 1/31, something each day until finished. There will be a total of 12 zips for Purple Pause and 14 for Motocross Fun so please check back to complete your kits. Hugs!

Remembering Pauline

My husband's mother died in route to the hospital today. She was 88, her signature color was purple (hence purple in my page above), was famous for her Sicilian style pizza, loved life, had fantastic, fun stories from her youth, and always told us that there is enough to cry about in life. We should take every opportunity to laugh and enjoy life. She was talking with her daughter and working a Sudoku puzzle when she just slumped forward and slid out of her chair. At first they thought she had fallen asleep and BIL noticed her breathing was shallow. He started doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and then the youngest daughter walked in and checked her heartbeat. She had some training as a paramedic and began CPR while SIL called the EMTs. EMTs told the family they would take her to ER but were doubtful she would make it as her heartbeat was irregular and slow. While she will be missed, We are thankful that God took her home gently.

Sunday freebies

Sorry I was MIA yesterday. Due to ice and wintery mix we had some hours without electricity and once it was back, time sort of got away from me. I do have 2 freebies for you today. First up, Motocross Fun:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_8.zip

And another zip for A Purple Pause:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_7.zip

Today's Purple Pause freebie

I have a little story to tell about today's paper. I went into the folder of my (homemade) overlays and thought one would be pretty in purple. Now the overlay is one I made from a William Morris print and consists of a black background with the flowers and stems transparent except for details. Thought about making a simple damask style paper but I was really seeing it, in my mind's eye, with more color. First I needed to turn the black background to purple. I then added a layer under it and filled it with the pinkish color. But those leaves and stems wanted to be green. That meant spending some time to color them green, then -going back over the pinkish layer to find errors - things that should have been left pink and places I didn't have enough green. Kept me occupied quite some time lol. Sure hope Deb likes it. I do feel very good about this zip with the pinkish bow and ribbon in satin to coordinate with the paper. Hope you like it.

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_6.zip

P.S. Our snow has turned to rain but more snow is coming behind it. So glad hubby is retired and doesn't have to drive in what are sure to be icy conditions. Also, he loves to cook and now has more time to do it. Tonight he made macaroni and cheese from scratch and fried up some fresh flounder he picked up yesterday. It was so yummy!

My art journal entry to Luna Girl Images January challenge

While taking a peek to see what is new at Luna Girl Images - a great place to find vintage art - I noticed she has a challenge running for January with the theme babies and children. She is also giving away 2 free images and one of those reminded me of my favorite childhood poem. This is the original image as it appears on her blog:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglhhCgKzwxa9zXUSexUucsL_x_KmTJDOfJh0MJeESMVgh_Aivci9Nc-nJnZK72SWAOgXilnWafdIuXlFsO-fGlkgy5IeNaVUBd1J3ZJotvFuItX4lu6m1jYNcmaM7LSU90nmUbT4flG-k/s320/Lunagirl-babygirlwithbird.jpg
I adjusted the color and re-colored the bird like this:

I used the image to make an art journal page featuring the poem and this is what I came up with:

Do visit LunaGirl Images here:
http://www.lunagirlmoonbeams.com/2016/01/january-challenge-theme-babies-children.html
Be sure you check out all the images she offers. http://lunagirl.com/ Great collection.

Motocross Fun freebie

Got snow? We do here in Norfolk. Started out big, fluffy flakes but now is small and light. Anyway, thought I'd go ahead and post today's Motocross Fun zip so I can go watch the snow fall.

The tire track you see is a border you can use on any of the papers.
Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_7.zip

Waiting for snow & a couple freebies

All the weathermen are predicting "The Big Snow" and as usual, people are hitting the grocery stores hard and listening for announcements of school closings. Hubby did go to the store this morning because our bread was about gone and picked up a couple other things. But mostly, we were lazy again today. Having him home doing nothing is not good for me. Makes me think I should do nothing too lol. Did put together a couple zips for you.

Not sure how well these, especially Motocross Fun, are going but maybe you will find uses for them. Today's Motocross Fun is:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_6.zip

And for a little Purple Pause:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_5.zip

And now off to the kitchen to do a little clean up.
Hugs!

Wednesday evening - 2 freebies

Having hubby home all day and watching him play - train simulator, making music compilations, watching TV - is a bad influence on me (not that I need one). About all I've done today is read and cook dinner. Did a little work on your kits too. Today I've got Motocross Fun 5

Not sure I remembered to add credit but for the paper I adapted a free vector.
Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_5.zip
And for today's installment of A Purple Pause, I have a lavender theme:

The paper was adapted from a Vectoreazy design.
Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_4.zip
It is still cold here 33 degrees and cloudy. It is supposed to be clear tomorrow but snow for Friday. Stay warm!

It's really Wednesday already but here's the Tuesday Purple Pause freebie

Heading for bed but not before making this post. Here is Tuesday's Purple Pause zip

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_3.zip
see ya later today!

Motocross Fun freebie zip 4

Trying to do a number of things this evening but do have a zip 4 of Motocross Fun ready to go:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_4.zip
Thanks to Kristy for additional information on motocross. I don't know how well I can fulfill her hopes for a Motocross kit but I'm going to give it a try.

As for our Purple Pause, today's installment isn't quite ready but I hope to post again before I go to bed. Right now I'm taking it easy after a delicious ravioli dinner prepared by my husband. Think I picked up a little tummy bug somewhere and over last few days have had some chills off and on and tummy complaints. Weather here has turned cold and weatherman predicts we will be hit by winter storm for weekend. Hubby did some grocery shopping early today and as far as I can tell, it looks like we can stay inside all cozy and warm.

I would, however, like to make a run to Hancock Fabrics and Hobby Lobby (maybe tomorrow). I want to make some of those insulater things for putting bowls in microwave. Don't know what to call them but it's a cozy that you sit your bowl in. Then when you are ready to remove the bowl you've got these points on the cozy to help you remove the bowl and keep from burning your hands. Need 100% cotton batting and 100% cotton fabric for this project. From Hobby Lobby, I'm looking for stuff to make a cool hat to wear for Go Red event later this month. It's a Red Hat event to promote heart health awareness for women and many will be sporting heart themed hats. Also need to pick up some magnetic tape for the bookmarks I'm making for my granddaughter. I'll share the patterns to print out if anyone is interested.

And now to do a little kitchen clean up before NCIS comes on.

Hugs!

More freebies_ Motocross Fun zip 3 & A Purple Pause zip 2

Just taking it easy today after doing a lot of coughing last night. Last couple of days have had short episodes of chills but don't know why. Stayed in PJs today, watched daytime TV with hubby and did a little bit with the new kits. In a few minutes I'll deal with some dishes and put some folded laundry away. I'd best get it together and accomplish something tomorrow.

Sandi, one of the ladies in my Red hat group posted her photos from yesterday and I created this page:

Notice the caption in upper left corner.

Now for today's freebies. Motocross Fun zip 3

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_3.zip
Kristy, thanks for info. I hope you got the fixed link.

And for A Purple Pause, zip 2

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePause_2.zip

Hope these are okay.

It's Sunday and . . .

my Red Hat Society chapter "dragged [ourselves] to brunch" at Crocs in Virginia Beach.

Crocs is a local restaurant that is a green (eco-friendly) bistro that features Mediterranean & Middle Eastern fare. On Sundays they have a "Drag yourself to brunch" with drag queen entertainers. I don't remember who recommended we try this but we made reservations well in advance, or so we thought. Today was one gloomy and cold day with mixed precipitation. We dressed in our Red Hat clothing and hats and arrived at the bistro in the rain. Our tables were in the corner, in the back, near the "stage" door. The place has a huge bar set in the middle of the restaurant and we were behind it. Turns out that the entertainers go in and out of the door by our table but do the performing mostly on the other side of the bar, which meant we didn't see much. We could, however, see the DJ from our position and he was hamming it up, dancing along with the performers from his platform. I expected what I consider typical brunch food that is, some breakfast type items with some lighter lunch items. Nope. There were salads, crab cake plates, a burger plate, and a couple appetizers. I got the hot crab dip from the appetizer menu, hoping it would be similar to what I make at home. Not! There was a huge dish of it with tacos chips (?) and while I ate a little of it, I found the taste too strong. My Bellini was strong too! A couple of our group managed some photos of the few entertainers who stopped by our table. As soon as they post to Facebook, I'll make a page to show you. Coming home we stepped into icy water as we went to the car. Rain changed to sleet mixed with a little snow. The change from the warmer weather we'd been having made my lungs unhappy and I coughed pretty much all the way home. Took a little nap and am now having a hot toddy as I write to you.

I'm sorry the link for the first Motocross zip didn't show up. I have edited the previous post and it is showing now. Heard from Kristy requesting I add another color to the swatch, a Kawasaki green

This is what I found on Google. That what you need? Have a second zip for you today:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_2.zip

And here is the first zip of A Purple Pause (couldn't think of a good name):

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/APurplePause/ws_APurplePausse_zip_1.zip

Hubby's Pittsburgh Steelers are on TV battling the Denver Broncos which is Tyler's girlfriend's team. John is busy yelling, "Throw the ball, Ben!" and talking to the TV. I don't enjoy football so I'm in the computer room with my hot drink. Will have some time to work on these new kits.

Wishing you all a good Sunday.

New Freebies in the works

I'm sorry I missed yesterday. Weather has been bouncing around here and I had a severe sinus headache with nausea. Earlier today it was much the same. Then it began raining and with the barometric pressure change, some Benedryl and Tylenol, I almost feel normal!

I got two requests in response to my question about what you would like to see. Kristy needs some papers and elements to scrap motocross photos of her husband and son. I don't know very much about motocross but have done a little research and found this color swatch on COLOURlovers that I think will do:

Since motocross is a dirty sport and primarily masculine (I think), I'm going to go with a grungy, masculine style. At least that is what I'm aiming for. Because I am running behind, I'm going to start giving you "Motocross Fun" a little at a time, starting tonight. Tonight you get one fullsize paper and 2 elements:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/MotocrossFun/ws_MotocrossFun_1.zip
Deb would like to see something in purple. Purple reigns supreme in my husband's family with MIL, SIL, and one niece claiming it as their signature color. Of course, there are many shades and tones in the purple color family. I've pulled some color swatches thinking in terms of a largely monochromatic kit, but haven't decided on which way to go. Here are some of those swatches. Some of the swatches, as you can see, have accent colors.
Please indicate which row you like by number or submit a swatch you'd prefer.

CU freebie

It's been quite a while since I posted a CU freebie and since January is going to be a mix of freebies, thought this one ought to be CU. I collect vintage buttons and find I like to use digital buttons in my scrapbook layouts too. This batch is black (I especially love mother-of-pearl and jet buttons).

These buttons were left large - some as much as 3" - deliberately so they are easy to manipulate and re-size as needed. I have also included a button border which shows up in web size below.

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/ss4cu_BlackButtons.zip

Touch Of Color freebie

All best plans . . . the internet was down last night when I tried to post. Today I have A Touch of Color freebie for you. Okay, white isn't a color per se, but the combination of all colors, but we aren't going to get technical, are we? Here are the papers:

6 full size personal use. Of course, you can also re-color them to meet other needs.
Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/white/ws_TouchOfColor_White_papers.zip
And the elements:

Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/white/ws_TouchOfColor_White_elements.zip
Enjoy!

2016 Reading Challenge Freebie

Yesterday, we had a visit from grandchildren, Tyler & Inara, their mother, Rachel, and Tyler's lovely girlfriend, Olivia. It was a late exchange of Christmas gifts and much catching up. Learned that not only is Rachel's father recovering from a stroke, but her mother has another fracture in her spine! Tyler's girlfriend loved the necklace we gave her but didn't know what the Claudaugh symbolizes. When I explained, we were wishing her love, friendship and loyalty, she seemed even more pleased. Tyler was well pleased with his skinny jeans and his Redskin gifts. He was wearing 3 layers of Redskin shirts in preparation for the afternoon's playoff game. (He was sorely disappointed when they lost the game.) Inara was pleased with her books and her Zoomer Zuppy, Pupstar. However, we learned that the interactive electronic puppy has some pretty complicated instructions. The rest of the day passed quickly with hubby watching football and me zoning out with a mild headache. Not surprising with weather going back and forth here.

Not going to be doing anything big in way of kit this month as the month is speeding by. Had hoped to give you a Color touch kit yesterday. Might get that posted later today. The rest of the month will be smaller stuff but I do hope to have something up every day from here on out.

Meanwhile, I zipped my reading challenge (changed those *s to numbers) and the blank report I made for keeping track. Here is an example of the reading report showing where I am so far:

Now you can see why I changed the *s to numbers - much easier to note the category or categories that a book fulfills. And here is the link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/SherryD_2016ReadingChallenge.zip

Remember too that 2015 freebies will be removed from 4shared & dropbox by 1/15 to make room for 2016 zips. Haven't gotten any suggestions about what you might like to see so just playing it by ear. If you do have suggestions for themes, colors, types of scrap stuff you'd like to see, please comment here rather than on 4shared or dropbox as I don't often look for comments there.

And now I've off to do something useful: laundry, dishes, cook beef stew.
Hugs!

Doing a little catching up & a freebie

Here we are in 2016 and I don't know about you, but these first nine days (nearly 1/3 through the month!) have been busy and productive here. Some people asked me if I was doing New Year's Resolutions this year & I thought about this cutie I snagged back when:

If anyone knows who created this, please let me know so I can give credit.
No resolutions for me this year. I think monthly goals- 3-5 at most - are more reasonable. I gave you the first of monthly blank goal sheets. Have you filled out your January goals yet? I'll show you mine. Correction, I will when I can figure out which folder I stashed it in! It's not where it ought to be but I found my work-in-progress goal report. Anyway, I started creating a blank goal report for myself using the NY kit. Make a journal block out of the rectangular frame too. So here is the preview of the January art journal set:

and the link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/goal%20sheets/ws_Jangoals.zip
Each month I will have a new goal page set for those who want to use them.

Came across the above photo one late night when I had a few minutes to web surf. Gee, if I'd seen it sooner, I could easily have done that for Christmas. Didn't get my tree up because I didn't have time or energy but the book tree - super easy.

I knew I'd be signing up for the GoodReads reading challenge this year. Signed up to read 50 books last year and was short by about 3. Saw lots of reading challenges and decided I'd make my own. For one thing, some had silly items like, Read a book with a yellow cover. Really? So I downloaded a bunch of good challenges, read and compared and added my own ideas. I will read 50 books or more for the GoodReads Reading 2016 Challenge. Additionally, I'll share my list of items to be included. Some of the topics can apply to either fiction or non-fiction and some books will cover more than one category. Overlap is fine. Here's my reading challenge for 2016:
* A book that has been on my TBR for more than a year. [TBR means To Be Read]
* A book published in 2016.
* A book which has won an award (National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize etc.).
* A book in the fantasy/sci fi genre.
* A murder mystery.
* A dystopian novel.
* An autobiography, biography, or memoir.
* A book by a favorite author.
* A book by an author I've never read before.
* The first book in a new series.
* A book I own but have yet to read.
* A book that was banned at some point.
* A book published before I were born.
* A book translated into English.
* A book at least 100 years older than me.
* A book about a culture other than my own.
* A book about science/medicine
* A book about a historical period.
* A book with non-human characters.
* A book of short stories.
* A book based on a true story.
* A book about some place I would love to visit.
* A book about a favorite past-time.
* A self-help book.
* A book about religion or spirituality.

If anyone is interested, I'll pack up my reading challenge along with the form on which you can track what books you have read. And I came across this listing about classics and checked off those I have read in green. Had to make a box for one that was covered by a book cover. You might want to check off what you've read in another color.

And on a final note tonight, I thought this was good:

Happy New Year!

First day of a New Year. Here's hoping that 2016 will be kinder to all, healthier, more peaceful, more enjoyable. I've tried multiple times to add a graphic but it's not working! This year I've decided to forget about resolutions and instead set 1 - 3 sensible goals for each month. Each month, I'll be sharing 8.5" journal pages on which to record that month's goals. And I think it would be good to follow up at month's end with a journal page about how and whether those goals were reached. Imagine, you set one reasonable goal a month every month of 2016, you accomplish each goal and have made a page about doing so. Then at the end of 2016 you will be able to look back at your pages and see what you did in 2016. Well, it's an idea anyway. Here is the January goal setting page I made (no I haven't filled mine in yet - will do so today):
(Won't take preview!)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2016%20freebies/goal%20sheets/ws_January_goal_%20page.jpg
My paternal grandmother, who was born 1/1/1900, used to say that what you do on New Year's Day, you do all year long. So be sweet, be kind, be understanding and so on.