Last zip of Autumn elegance freebie

This is it, the last of Autumn Elegance and the last of regular posts, at least until next year. As I said earlier, I'll probably post a little something during December but I am not planning on having a regular schedule, not planning on making large kits. But check in now and again and you might find some surprises.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0tytxv9r0jeq95/ws_AutumnElegance_21.zip?dl=0

Sale you won't want to miss at e-scapeandscrap

Have to share this sale news with you.
https://www.e-scapeandscrap.net/
Lots of beautiful kits on sale for $1! I love G & T Designs, but you know I don't buy much breing on limited income and also designing myself. However, at $1 per kit, I had to indulge. The kits I bought will be wonderful for my art journaling. Trying to do at least a page a day. Here are a couple new ones. The first was made with G & T's Inked Again & my stamp of a gentleman:

And another (not G & T):

*** Big oops! This post should be

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ure85y5ivblrxfe/ws_AutumnElegance_20.zip?dl=0


Thanks readers for letting me know about this error.

I was looking through my collection of quotations, hoping to come upon something inspiring to begin this post. Or just anything that caught my eye and seemed meaningful.

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

― Marcel Proust
Giving thanks for the gardeners in my life.

Last week of Autumn elegance. Today's zip goes back to a more generic autumn theme.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/12jb00h9z0v3v33/ws_AutumnElegance_19.zip?dl=0

Page I made with "Pom poms" from Anita at Just Art

Holiday Weekend and more Autumn Elegance

Sending big hugs to all my internet friends. I appreciate all the lovely notes I received and wanted to give you an update on things here. Near last minute we learned that we could have Larkin for the day on Thanksgiving. Hubbby picked her up at 10 a.m. and didn't take her back home until about 9 p.m. She is still very active at age eight and still shows attention deficiet problems despite being on medication. Hasn't grown much but her hair has darkened and seems to have red highlights in it now. Larken is a very loving child, sometimes smothering in her need for attention and affection. But overall it went well. When we told her Tyler, who is her half-brother, was going to try to come for dinner, she got so excited. Hasn't seen him in a long time. (After H.S. graduation, Tyler wrote his mother a letter breaking off all communication with her because of her addiction and other behaviors, but mostly because even when he tried to visit and be with her, she ignored him.) Tyler had a prior commitment he couldn't get out of with family in Suffolk but called to say he would still stop by as soon as he could. He got here just after our dinner and it was heartwarming to see him and Larkin reconnect. She wouldn't leave his side and smothered him in kises and hugs and massaged his head. It wasn't a lonely day after all. But we were so tired that we decided (my husband instigated) this would be our last Thanksgiving at home. Just too much for two old people with disabilities. Next year we will head to a restaurant for a meal. My son, Jeremy, called just before hubby took Larkin home. Our card and housewarming gift (check) arrived on Wednesday so he wanted to wish us Happy Thanksgiving and also thank us for the gift. Wanted to be sure we could afford to do that. He and his wife understand retirement isn't always good financially. But our parents had helped us when we bought our house and we wanted to do the same for them. Thanks to a little left-over from my inheritance, iit was possible.

Did you have a good holiday? I sure hope so. Did you go out for the Black Friday sales? We stayed inside away from the mobs but I have done the Black Friday thing in the past when the children were young. I checked out Amazon's Black Friday sales but all I bought was a Barbie playset for Larkin's Christmas and a small gift for my husband, which wasn't on sale.

Unfortunately, I got a shingles outbreak yesterday - just one small patch - and started the antiviral. It seems to be helping - no itching, little pain, nothing spreading. But it sure wipes me not! I have slept so much these last few days.

Now here is today's zip of Autumn Elegance:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/12jb00h9z0v3v33/ws_AutumnElegance_19.zip?dl=0

Happy Thanksgiving! & freebie

I imagine a lot of us are preparing for tomorrow's big meal and family and friends gathering to give thanks for our many blessings. Just wanted to quickly leave a note to thank my readers and give you a little Autumn Elegance zip that is Thanksgiving themed:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2f4dqaaplyhkghs/ws_AutumnElegance_18.zip?dl=0

See you again on Saturday.
Hugs,
SherryD

More of Autumn Elegance & some family news

I'm happy to read the comments saying you are enjoying this series. And I so appreciate all the sweet comments of support and understanding. I know I'm not the only one for whom holidays are difficult this year and my heart goes out to all the others. We did get some surprising news yesterday. Our grand-daughter, Larkin, whom we haven't seen in months is available to have Thanksgiving with us! My husband will pick her up Thursday morning and return her around 7 pm or so because she will be spending the weekend with her aunt. Grandson, Tyler, is on his way home from University of South Carolina. Poor boy gets spread thin trying to see all his family when he is home but when we told him we will have Larkin (one of his half-sisters) here on Thursday, he said he is going to try to get out of other commitments so he can come here for dinner and visit with Larkin. It doesn't look like it will be lonely after all! Got an e-mail from son today with photo of the snow they got in PA this past Thursday, a day before their big move to new home. But the move went okay and they have until 12/31 to clean up the old apartment and move any of the small stuff left there. He and his wife will be working during Thanksgiving and Christmas too this year. Sure miss them. Maybe we will be together for the holidays next year.

Running late today. Here is zip 17:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xrxsgkrvfnwehac/ws_AutumnElegance_17.zip?dl=0

*** Will be posting your Thanksgiving zip tomorrow instead of Thursday.

Extra freebie and announcement

I'm feeling down; the holidays will be difficult, sad. I'm having trouble getting motivated to do anything and just wish I could turn the calender to January. I used to enjoy the holiday season so but that was then and this is now. Still haven't gotten back to myself since Dad's death and can't muster the energy to do all I used to do with cheer. I won't continue to whine but just want to say I've come to a decision. The Autumn Elegance kit will continue, with zip 21 being the last of it. I will not be doing a Christmas kit next month. Shouldn't be a big deal really as there will be dozens of free Christmas kits available to you on other sites. Further, I don't plan to blog much in December, at least nothing on a regular basis. I'm certain I'll pop up from time to time with a little something like some of the stamps I'm working on or maybe experimental papers, templates, whatever. I need time to finish up some personal business before year end. I hope to start 2019 in better shape physically, mentally and spiritually. I intend to have my home clean and organized and a plan to better keep it that way. I intend to get back to doing some crazy quilting, write on a regular basis, work in my art journal, maybe get a little travel in. I'll continue to meet twice a month with my lunch group (they lift my spirits), get my pool exercises in 3x/week, and play in PS. In short, this is not the last you will see of me.

That said, I have a stacked paper that didn't quite fit into any of the last Autumn Elegance zips. Didn't make a preview as it is just the one paper. If you want it, here it is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6sj0paei4sx4xb/ws_Autumn%20Elegance_extra.zip?dl=0

The first time I saw a gingko leaf was autumn of 1985. I'd parked in front of the Virginia Commonwealth University gym on Franklin St and as I walked around the car to put money in the meter, a golden yellow leaf floated down and landed on me. I was charmed by the lovely fan shape. I also remember something I misinterpreted that day. There was a faint nasty smell like vomit nearby and I hurried away thinking someone had drunk a little too much the night before. Only recently did I learn that the female gingko tree drops it's seed pods in the fall and until the outside dries, they emit a nasty smell like, yes, vomit. Gingkos are popular trees in many urban planning designs but cities have learned to plant only male Gingkos because of the nasty seed pods. And yes, the nuts (they don't smell) inside those pods are used in ginko biloba supplements.

Today's zip includes some gingko leaves and the zip is a bright departure from yesterday's woodsy hues.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6q3salxgfzdqhaw/ws_AutumnElegance_16.zip?dl=0

Whoo's there? A little Autumn Elegance freebie

Gloomy, wet and windy today. All I want to do is sleep but I've got a chore list to complete. Hope you like owls because today's zip has an owl theme.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/658bpkirpx96gbt/ws_AutumnElegance_15.zip?dl=0

Zip 14 of Autumn Elegance freebie

Getting ready to head out to dentist. They need to make another impression. Sure hope he isn't going to have to numb me for this because at noon I'm meeting the girls at Bahama Breeze for lunch. Had a surprise visitor yesterday, The guy who cuts our grass was next door. He'd persuaded that man to have his grass cut and it really needed it. It was over 6" in his backyard. After awhile we get a call from the grass cutter telling my husband that a big black snake with red stripe came out of neighbor's backyard and was headed towards our house. Now the grass cutter is a younger guy - about 30+. He couldn't do something about it? My husband is 67 and has bad neuropathy in his feet; he sure can't move fast. So snake was gone when hubby got out there to look for it. Can't you imagine, I'm a little freaked out?

Today's zip has 2 papers, ribbon and bow, border and frame. Thank you all for kind comments. Hope you like this one too.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxov3rg9na7rlhu/ws_AutumnElegance_14.zip?dl=0

Saturday freebie

Hope you are having a nice weekend. We finally have some autumn weather but mixed in are a couple hot days. That's Tidewater. I got to the dentist, something I neglected while Dad was ill and in the aftermath. Knew it was going to be bad. For sure, I knew there was a molar with an old filling that had cracked and I'd need a crown there. Thursday had that started and have a temporary crown. Also painful jaw because I have TMJ and it always hurts after having to hold my mouth open for any length of time. The bad news is I need two more crowns; the good news is that one of them is for a tooth I thought I'd have to lose. It's a bicuspid that cracked years ago; the dentist I saw for that emergency didn't do a great job and it has been problematic off and on.

In other news, I finally went to the shooting range with my husband to try out the 22 handgun he had bought me for our anniversary. I don't like guns and didn't really want to mess with it but he got it for my self defense. Maybe he's right, as crazy as things are now and old as we are, we sure can't run from danger so if someone tries to break in and harm us, we should be prepared to defend ourselves. To our shock, I did very well at the target shooting! My only problem was difficulty pulling the slide back but we've fixed that now. He'll drag me to the range every now and then so I don't forget what to do. I hope I never have need to use it.

Here is today's zip of Autumn Elegance:

Nice and colorful, don't you think? Tomorrow while hubby watches football I'll have to get next week's zips together.
Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/thgdnat1nbuyxcp/ws_AutumnElegance_13.zip?dl=0

Let's get a little woodsy with this zip of Autumn Elegance freebie

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5x23fevogzo815o/ws_AutumnElegance_12.zip?dl=0

I entered a November challenge at Just Art using a kit called Whimsical Winter for Rosie Designs.
Here is my first page:

I made a stamp of a public domain photo of sledders in Central Park and tried to give it a ghostly, memory feel.

There was some cute wordart and little birds that I used in this page:

Having a lot of fun with art journal pages as you can see.

A little pastel in freebie

Today's zip of Autumn Elegance is on the pastel side:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/30s85idtsnkeph9/ws_AutumnElegance_11.zip?dl=0

Saturday freebie of Autumn Elegance

Really tired so keeping it short. Here is today's zip:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gj7xlm171oqg61v/ws_AutumnElegance_10.zip?dl=0

Happy November! Autumn Elegance 9 freebie

I've had a very lazy day, accomplishing nothing. Got some extra sleep. Nice!
Here's today's zip:

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7x019zu97p5s6w/ws_AutumnElegance_9.zip?dl=0