Wednesday freebie

It's 24 degrees right now but it is said the high tomorrow will be 60. Wacky weather. Today we have some word art and a border:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3mrl76nl51on5ke/ws_SnowQueen_22.zip?dl=0

Socializing & freebie

Had a full day of socializing - something rare for me any more. First, I went to lunch at Red Lobster with some ladies I had worked with at Optima Healthcare. It's been years since I saw any of them, having lost touch when I had to go out on disability. (I worked in financial recovery for some years after leaving VCU) I had run into one of them, a woman who had been my mentor when I started with the company, in Costco recently. We talked there for the longest time and exchanged phone numbers. She told me about a group that met monthly and asked if I would be interested in joining them. There were six woman and one husband (one of the ladies has Parkinson's and since it had started to snow, her husband felt it best to drive her). I knew 3 of the woman from years ago and the other two turned out to have interests in common with me. We were there for 3.5 hours! Catching up, discussing books and movies, and quilting and just about everything else under the sun. I haven't laughed so much in ages! Iam looking forward to the last Tuesday in February when we will meet again at a different place.

Came home in great spirits, snow flurries over and done. Only had about an hour home with husband before the two of us left to meet our niece, Rachel, out at the Hooters closest to her home. She and my husband had been talking about chicken wings last time she was here and he told her we'd give her a call and take her for wings one Tuesday after she left ODU. By the time we got out to Chesapeake it was freezing cold with a pretty good wind kicking up. We ate and hung out with Rachel for a couple hours. She decided she'd come over on Sunday and join her Uncle John to watch the Super Bowl. I'll sit with them a while then slip away when the noise gets too much for me.

Now, today's freebie, another frost overlay and paper, plus cluster and border.

Link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8c4qe4r9zffunnp/ws_SnowQueen_21.zip?dl=0

Last week of Snow Queen freebie

Slow day for me today due to fibro pain. Today I have another frost overlay, example paper and a few white elements.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u0w3w8sl2pv3ygc/ws_SnowQueen_20.zip?dl=0

Working at Valentine's kit but can't give you any hints because I'm still going from one thing to another and am not sure where it will end up.

Saturday Snow Queen freebie

That's another frost overlay and example paper plus a snowglobe.
Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i0791vuu75rzcz8/ws_SnowQueen_19.zip?dl=0

Ended up with another 6 days of Snow Queen to come!

Quick post for freebie

Today we have a frost overlay, a sample paper made from it, and some flowers:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fmxyc5d7vrkxpwo/ws_SnowQueen_18.zip?dl=0

Saw Dad today and he looked pretty good. Peaceful actually. Didn't say much but that's been typical. Just got home and will be going to dinner with my Aunt Sissy whose birthday was yesterday.

Hugs to all

Snow Queen freebie and update on Dad

Nurse practitioner at the nursing home called today. Dad has ascites and it could be from congestive heart failure or kidney disease - both of which he has - or liver disease. Found both liver and spleen enlarged. Blood count very low - anemic. He was grumpy when she saw him and complained of back pain - arthritis? or kidney disease? She asked if I wanted her to put him thru a "million dollar" workup or just initiate "comfort care." No point in putting him thru all that testing as it isn't likely to make a real difference. So they will continue his regular meds, give him oxygen if he needs it, and start giving him Norco for pain when he needs it. He doesn't quite meet Medicare's rules for hospice yet and we think it best not to move him anyway. Called my brother to give him the update and learned that both he and his wife are down with the flu.

Today I have zip 17 of Snow Queen. It's a frame cluster and floral cluster.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fuaapsauwszkfji/ws_SnowQueen_17.zip?dl=0

I've been struggling with February kit(s). My guess is you will want romance/Valentines. But I haven't come up with a theme that inspires me. Red and pink are so commonplace as color schemes but most people seem to prefer those. Toying with idea of some blue and/or lavender but haven't made a decision. Have a folder going with ideas, colors, resources. I did notice I have some beautiful resources I bought from Jaguarwoman some time ago and have never used. If you are familiar with her work, you know she uses highly saturated colors, paints gorgeous roses, and her overall style is elegant, luxurious. So, you might just get a Romantic Luxury kit.

Oops! late on freebie

Just about to head to bed when I realized I hadn't posted for Tuesday and now it's Wednesday! Tuesday I caught up with my friend, Mary, and we went to a movie, did a little shopping and had dinner out. Saw The Commuter with Liam Neeson. Action packed! Headed out to Hobby Lobby then did soup and salad at Olive Garden. After I took Mary home, spent rest of the evening with my husband.

Tuesday freebie is a couple borders and an element:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5qhc3yfoa30bn7x/ws_SnowQueen_15.zip?dl=0

And for today 2 elements and a cluster:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5jbil12eyr7cfy/ws_SnowQueen_16.zip?dl=0

Freebie_ more Snow Queen QPS

Had a nice visit with my God-daughter, Rachel, yesterday. We all enjoyed it so much she says she would like to start visiting every other Sunday. She's a tea drinker too so I loaded her up with samples of teas I have on hand and we talked about having a little tea party like we used to have. She even has my youngest neice drinking tea now but Kristina will only drink fruit flavored teas. Rachel came over after doing volunteer work at the Virginia Beach Aquarium and helped my husband with a computer problem. She will be graduating in May from Old Dominion University with a degree in marine biology. No talk of graduate school yet. She's eager to leave home and move out on her own.

Today Dad will be getting some bloodwork done. He has ascites (fluid buildup in abdomen) and the nurse practitioner found his liver to be enlarged when she visited last week. Had an ultrasound of abdomen and a chest x-ray done Friday. Will be getting a call this week when all results are in to tell me what the treatment plan is. Ascites can be caused by a number of things: congestive heart failure, advanced kidney disease, or liver disease. We know he has congestive heart failure and was at stage 3 of kidney disease. This is the first time I can remember any mention of liver problems. I saw him Friday and he appeared alert and wasn't in any pain, for which I am grateful.

Today I have a couple more quickpages for you:

Here is what I did with one of them:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5b5k7mmv0xy9g32/ws_SnowQueen_14.zip?dl=0

Last of this week's Snow Queen freebie

but more to come. Today we have 2 papers and 4 elements:

Link:https://www.dropbox.com/s/un2i636kkmfq93w/ws_SnowQueen_13.zip?dl=0

And an overall preview where you can see what is yet to be posted:

I know, it's tiny but will give you some idea.

Zip 12 Snow Queen freebie

About ready to run out to see Dad and do some errands so posting quickly. Todays' zip consists of 2 more quickpages:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/phmqdd5tyuwwmn7/ws_SnowQueen_12.zip?dl=0

Above freezing and more Snow Queen freebie

Yes, it is now 37 degrees and most of yesterday's snow (only a couple inches) has melted. Just finished paying bills and have a ton of laundry waiting to be caught up. Have been reading a lot the last couple days. About one third or more into Dan Brown's Origin and have also read several e-books on Kindle. The thing about e-books is that many are self published and the quality is all over the place. Sometimes the description leads you to expect one thing and what you actually get is something else. Some present themselves as factual when in fact they are ill informed. Others have a good story idea but are poorly written and more poorly edited, if at all. I can see why a number of well respected authors have been reluctant to have their fiction and non-fiction made into digital formats. Still, e-books offered for free or at low prices can be entertaining. My preference is still books in the old fashioned paper format. And speaking of books, I recently came across an article by the American Library Association about banned books. Bibliophile that I am, I had to do a copy paste of the list to see how many I've read and/or at least know about. Didn't find any that I wasn't aware of and marked with * all I've read. The primary reasons the books ended up on this list include profanity, sexual situations, racial issues, and religious issues. Of course, social mores change over time so what was prohibited reading at one time may be acceptable at another. Aren't you curious to see how many of these you've read?

Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century

* The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
*The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
*To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
*The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Ulysses, James Joyce
*Beloved, Toni Morrison
*The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
1984, George Orwell
*Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
*The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
*As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
*A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
*Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
*Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
*Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
*Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Native Son, Richard Wright
*One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
*For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
*The Call of the Wild, Jack London
Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin
All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
*The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
*Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
*Sons and Lovers, DH Lawrence
Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
*A Separate Peace, John Knowles
Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
*Women in Love, DH Lawrence
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser
*Rabbit, Run, John Updike
*Lord of the Flies, William Golding

Getting away from discussion of books, today's Snow Queen freebie is a set of geometric templates based on quilt blocks. I choose these because they reminded me of windows and in freezing weather we spend a lot of time indoors looking out. You have already seen one of these templates made into one of yesterday's quickpages. For the other I made up an example page using nothing but kit papers where you will probably use one or more photos.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8np978lp0lf3csz/ws_SnowQueen_11.zip?dl=0

Want you to know I really appreciate all the positive comments you have made about this kit. Happy to know you are enjoying it.

More snow & more Snow Queen

The last couple of days we have been warned of a coming cold front that might bring an inch or two of snow. Last night they revised that to say 1-3 inches and said if the temps drop lower than expected there will be more accumulation. There are several inches on the ground right now (at least that is how it looks from inside) and snow continues to fall in small flakes. Will be interesting to see what happens as it gets even colder. 27 degrees right now. No worries though as we don't have anything planned for next few days.

Today I have something in Snow Queen that a number of you asked for - a couple quickpages:

See the one with a candle? Later on you will be getting a template of that one.
Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmz2jlu0ig5yxfe/ws_SnowQueen_10.zip?dl=0

Long Day & more Snow Queen

Had doctor appointments today and woke to find electricity out again! At least I didn't over sleep and miss my appointments. After appointments there were errands to run. On one of them (Costco) I ran into a woman I haven't seen in 12-15 years! We were heading for the exit with our carts at Costco when I recognized her. We pulled the carts over to the side and talked for over an hour, exchanged phone numbers and plan to get together once a month to do something fun. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and happy to hear my husband say he'd cook dinner (my turn tomorrow). The cold front is coming through and we are expecting snow again tomorrow at about the time I'll be at another doctor's office. Crazy how all these appointments bunched up together this month. Still, we think it's only going to be an inch or two of snow this time. But if wants to snow more I won't care once I get home as there is nothing else on schedule for rest of the week.
And now today's zip:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ds3xtifqhi1rx6/ws_SnowQueen_9.zip?dl=0

Mid January - freebie

Hard to believe it is mid January already! I'd intended to be super motivated at this point, but I'm not. It's cold again and there may be more snow (just a little) on Wednesday. All I want to do is snuggle up under my cuddly throw with a book and big cup of tea close by. Goofed off all yesterday while my husband watched football. He's a Steeler's fan so was disappointed but not surprised when they lost. In the middle of the first half of the game we experienced a crazy rolling brown-out. Electricity on one minute, off the next, back on and off again. Seemed to go on forever. No idea what was causing it but after an hour or so it settled down. Congratulations to Kristi and other Viking fans! Know they are happy with yesterday's game.

Going to settle down and get some work done today but first, your freebie, some stormy gray today:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ofrew7rihxz6aq2/ws_SnowQueen_8.zip?dl=0

It was a success! And Saturday freebie

Last night we had dinner guests: grandson, Tyler and his friends, Alec and Katie. My husband cooked them an Italian meal including homemade "gravy" (spaghetti sauce), hot sausages and homemade meatballs cooked in the sauce, rotini, manicotti and garlic bread. The young people devored several plates full and still had room for dessert. It pleases my husband so much when people like his cooking and there was no question it was enjoyed. Our young visitors stayed 3 or 4 hours, a nice visit before they head back to college tomorrow.

Football is not my thing at all but the nice thing about playoffs and Super Bowl for me is free time to myself. No one cares where I am or why I'm not keeping them company when football is on lol. Today I found time to finish the third set of fingerless mitts (I'm making some for my SIL and some of the women at the nursing home) and was able to create a new character for the Snow Queen kit. You will meet her soon. Meanwhile today I have zip 7 for you:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5wgytevpq50bby9/ws_SnowQueen_7.zip?dl=0

Much to do & freebie

Much to do today to get ready for our young guests tonight. Will just skip ahead to today's freebie:

In today's zip you finally get my Snow Queen character. You will also notice I decided to throw in a pop of color with some red. Made some quickpages last night so those will be coming along soon.
Link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zskbie77mx9zgw0/ws_SnowQueen_6.zip?dl=0

The scent of Italian cooking is in the air & freebie

It's 61 degrees here today! Had a care plan meeting over at the nursing home and I was so happy to be able to go out in jeans and a tee-shirt. Saw Dad a few minutes, then went to care plan and told them not to make him get out of bed and come in. He can't hear what is going on, just knows we are talking about him. Nothing new but I got a chance to ask a few questions that have been worrying me. Turns out they will be able to do pain management right there when/if he starts having kidney pain. Or, if I prefer, I can transfer him to hospital hospice. Also talked to the activities director and offered her two bookcases from Dad's house and told her I will be bringing books to her for the residents. Also offered to help with craft supplies since I'm going to be trying to downsize some of my stash. Got his January bill paid, then went back and spent about an hour with Dad. When I got there, I found an old woman in her wheelchair in Dad's room with her hands tight on Dad's wheelchair and trying to move it. She wouldn't respond to me and wouldn't let me move the wheelchair back where it belongs. Had to get an aide to come in. The aide spoke to her nicely, telling her this wasn't her room or her chair and tried to move her away. Suddenly the woman started screaming "No! No!" which had other staff coming to see what was happening. We got Dad's chair away from her and moved her back to wherever she was supposed to be. Dad still asleep! He did wake up for awhile though.

Came home to learn our grandson and two of his friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow. My husband has been making spaghetti sauce, meatballs, Italian sausages to feed the kids. Smells so good!

Have been reading your comments and will definitely do some QPs for this kit and perhaps some templates too. Today we have zip 5 (I pictured using the big snowflake like a tag):

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ffg0brfguv3l8w8/ws_SnowQueen_5.zip?dl=0

Still up from Tuesday so going to post freebie

Should be in bed already but just wasn't ready to call it a night. I am making a daily trip to the gallery at Just Art because the ladies there are so talented. Their art is inspiring and they are all so kind. Also finished looking at those recipes I mentioned yesterday and am feeling inspired to try a new recipe this week. But not today. Today hubby will be in the kitchen making one of my favorites - manicotti! So instead of cooking I'll busy myself with some laundry and general clean-up, plus a couple phone calls. Today I will spend less time on the computer and more on that dreaded thing - housework.

Todays zip:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/agyzkwhzam6a8b7/ws_SnowQueen_4.zip?dl=0

Tuesday - things going back to normal & freebie

We have 45 degrees here today, which is a normal temp. Snow on lawn mostly gone but we get good sun here. Back in my father's neighborhood which is full of trees, I imagine it's still pretty icey. We tromped through the snow yesterday and got some things done. Didn't have as much trouble getting the car out and onto the street as we expected. Went by Dad's house to make sure everything was okay and water still dripping into tub. Streets back there were snow covered ice and I made my way to the door through 8-12 inches of snow. Wind ripped off the For Sale sign so I will have to replace that soon. All good there otherwise. Next on to Walmart to replace the microwave that died during the storm. Had a number of groceries we needed to pick up too and thought it would be a one stop shop. No milk! Actually they did have a couple gallons of some unknown brand of 0 fat organic milk. It was very expensive and looked like chalk water. No deal. Got what we could, then stopped in at out local Food Lion on way home. No problem getting milk there and picked up some fried chicken and cold salads too so I could skip cooking. Then on to the Post Office to mail a package to Dad's supplemental medical insurance carrier. His January coupon book didn't reach me until the 3rd which is when it started snowing, and since we weren't getting any mail delivery and couldn't get out, that was the first I could mail it. Called today to let them know what was going on and that I'd sent copy of POA along with bill and where they can contact me. Going in and out of the intense cold yesterday made it hard to breathe and wore us out. Put groceries away, ate some dinner and that was it.

Feeling a little croupy today but nothing serious. Had some intense dreams last night and this morning. When I got going, I realized I was dehydrating so have been forcing fluids. Another not too productive day, but I've got split pea soup cooking now and when it's done will run it through blender and cream it, then add chunks of ham. Finally got mail today - bills and a notice from Medicaid stating they got our application and a big list of what they need. It's all stuff I've already given the attorney so tomorrow I've got to forward a copy there so they can mail it off. I'm sure not going to copy all those pages again myself! We anticipate them saying there will be a 6-8 month penalty period before they begin paying anything. Next up will be getting everything together for taxes. Dreading that and know it's going to be costly.

Have you seen the recipes on the Land 0 Lakes Butter site? I followed a PInterest post and ended up there. Wow, they have so many recipes and, though I'm picky about what I eat, a lot of recipes I'd like to try.
https://www.landolakes.com/recipes/

But how are things where you are? Are you doing anything about your New Year's resolutions or January monthly goals? Got any new projects going? Reading anything interesting?
I decided my January goals would be:
1) Filing the rest of Dad's 2017 papers, making copies of anything I haven't already sent to attorneys and organizing it all. That's a big project right there.
2) Catching up with my friend, Mary, and going to lunch and/or a movie before month's end. Been a good while since we've gotten together.
3) Starting The Work by Byron Katie.
http://thework.com/en

Thanks for responses to my questions about what kind of freebies you like. Today we have zip 3 of Snow Queen:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ye0eu57oxey6zsk/ws_SnowQueen_3.zip?dl=0

Monday freebie of Snow Queen

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8la4qisyonqyrm/ws_SnowQueen_2.zip?dl=0

18 degrees outside & I'm being lazy & thinking

Asking questions on FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/SherScraps4CuWonderlandScraps/
Or you can respond here.
Do any of you art journal?
Do any of you make artist trading cards (ATC)?
What kind of freebies do you like best? ex: daily download kits, quickpages, templates, brushes,clusters, borders, other

And for PSP and users of products other than PhotoShop or Photoshop Elements, a question about brushes.
In PS brushes have an abr suffix. What other programs can use this type of brush? I've been told that PSP uses jbr suffix and that you can often take an abr brush and change the suffix to jbr and it will work in PSP. Is that true? Asking so I know if it is worthwhile making and offering free brushes.

Okay going to go do someting useful now.

I've been playing

in multiple January challenges over at JustArtScrapbooking and would like to share with you.

There is a photoless challenge - good for me since I don't do photo scrapping any more - the challenge part for me was to work in only black and white. Kind of fun. Here is what I came up with:

The first challenge I played in included a free steampunk style kit by Rosie called "It's About Time." Here is my journal page entry:

As sson as I saw that crow with the head dress, I thought he'd like to be a peacock so that's what inspired me.

Also participated in the January quote challenge. There was a large number of quotations to choose from but this one seemed to fit me.

And now that I've played all day, I'm going to take my shower and then do something useful.

It's Ephiphany & I have a new freebie for you - Snow Queen

It's 23 degrees here today but feels like 16. Clear skies and sun is trying to melt some of the snow but it's got a long ways to go. Next few days are supposed to be cold but weatherman predicts that by Friday we will have temps in the 60s. Crazy! We haven't dug out and intend to let the sun do the work. We are doing okay on supplies but our microwave gave out yesterday morning with sparks and noise. Having to resort to old ways of heating stuff. Funny how we get used to doing things one way and just take it for granted. We are getting low on bread, so I'm contemplating mixing up a homemade loaf. Good day to have oven on for sure. Hope wherever you are, you are safe and warm.

Seems Snow Queen is quite appropriate. Here is the first zip:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4lfblf0nw2zntci/ws_SnowQueen_1.zip?dl=0

Back on Monday with more Snow Queen.

*** 2017 kit links will disappear soon to make room for 2018 so if you want them, please grab now. They will be gone by the end of the month.

Speaking of snow . . . freebie alert

check out Poki's pretty new freebie collection, Let It Snow:
https://pokisproject2.blogspot.com/2018/01/personal-collection-let-it-snow.html

It's a blizzard!

It's 13 degrees right now in Norfolk, VA. We are in the middle of a blizzard, a rare thing for my area. Started with some flurries and dropping temps yesterday afternoon. I went over to Dad's house to set the water in the tub to dripping for fear of freezing pipes. By the time we sat down to eat dinner (hubby made homemade ravioli), the snow was beginning to come down steadily. Small flakes at first but getting larger over time. Still quite windy and snow still falling. Predicted to end around 6 p.m. No need to go out so I'm enjoying looking at all the white while safe and warm inside. That worrisonme pine tree behind us is so heavily laden with snow, some branches are sweeping the ground. My husband is worried about it falling on us but I don't see any point in worrying as it won't accomplish anything. Here are a few local photos.