Monday Montage #142

'Tis the season to be patriotic, right??? Welcome to Monday Montage, my friends!! I'm so glad I had this card made ahead of time ... this past week has been SOOOOO super busy!! Between work, helping my mom with getting new flooring put in at her condo, helping my oldest child with their move and trying to keep on top of things at home I am going CRAZY!! To top it all off ... I have had a headache for about a dang month ... seriously??? I'm ready for it to be over!!

Although this isn't actually an Independence Day card ... this colors are correct, aren't they??? I showed this to Cheryl Curtis (my BFF who is also a member of our Monday Montagers) and she said, "That looks SOOO 80's! Reminds me of Max Headroom!" HAHAHAHAHA!!! If you are too young to know to what she was referring, go and GOOGLE it!!! SO funny!! I LOVE this DSP! I'm going to be making a LOT of fun things with it!!

Stamps: Capture the Good
Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Poppy Parade, See A Silhouette DSP
Ink: Pacific Point, Black
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Dies, Circle Punches, Square Layering Dies, Subtle Embossing Folder, Trio Corner Punch, 1/4" Metallic Striped Ribbon (sorry!! I thought this ribbon carried over, but it is now RETIRED!)

Here's a blog roll just in case you get "stuck" trying to hop around ...

Monday Montage Hoppers
Amy O'Neill - Amy's Paper Crafts
Breelin Renwick - Craft-somnia Momma
Cathy Casey - Sugar Shack Designs
Charlet Mallet - Painted Orange
Cheryl Curtis - Pomp and Sustenance
Dani Dziama - Dani's Thoughtful Corner
Elizabeth Price - Seeinginkspots
Julie Warnick - Julie Warnick Stampin' Up! Blog - NOT PARTICPATING THIS WEEK
Melissa Stout - The Stamp Doc
Wendy Weixler - Wickedly Wonderful Creations - YOU'RE ALREADY HERE!!

In the past week I have signed up for TWO more races (I must be crazy, right???)! They are during the SAME WEEK at the end of July ... one is only a 10K, but the other is a half marathon. I'm pretty sure my ankle should be good by then! Sigh ... I hate hate hate it when I sprain my ankle!

Click "Next" to see what Amy O'Neill has created ... and "Back" to check out Melissa Stout's ... their stuff is GOOD-GOOD-GOOD!!!

Because I Knew You ...

Sigh ... my heart is heavy. My dear, sweet, kind, amazing, funny, generous and all-around amazing friend and next-door neighbor died last Wednesday. I have known Bert and his wonderful family for close to 35 years. My husband has enjoyed him as a next-door neighbor for his entire life (as we purchased his childhood home from his parents in 1990). Where do I begin??? Anything I tried to say or write here would not be even close enough to an adequate tribute to a man who has been more than just our neighbor. He has been a second dad to both of us. He has been the fun granddad to our kids. He has been an example of what it means to be Christlike. He was lighthearted, happy ... and FUNNY!! He knew more bad dad jokes than any other human being I have ever met!!! He was the king of water fights ... I can't even begin to say how much I ALREADY miss him shouting over the backyard fence at me ... "Yo, Wendy! This is your neighbor, Bert!" He was truly one of the best people I have ever known. He taught me through example, quiet wisdom and unconditional love. The hole in my heart is SO huge. I am by far not the only one who feels this at his passing. His incredible family are just about as close as a family can be ... and they feel his absence with immeasurable weight. The neighborhood, our church congregation, our community ... none of us will be the same without him ... but we are all better people for having known him.

I spent most of the day last Thursday making this floral wreath as a tribute to our Bert. It hardly seems enough, but I wanted to give his beautiful wife, Violet, some flowers that would last more than a week ... and that would convert some of the love I have in my heart for their entire family. I used some new things and some old things to put this together, and it still doesn't seem enough.

Stamps: None
Paper: Mint Macaron, Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Smoky Slate, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Mossy Meadow, Pool Party, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Whisper White, Festive Farmhouse DSP (retired)
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Flirty Flamingo, Pear Pizzazz, Highland Heather
Accessories: Magnolia Memories Dies, Succulent Dies (retired), Halloween Night Enamel Dots (retired) Leaf Punch, Sprig Punch, Pearl Accents, Linen Thread, 12"x12" shadow box, Cricut and vinyl (for sentiment)

'Til we meet again, my dear friend and Disney buddy, Bert. We all felt so much love and kindness from you. And because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

Monday Montage #141

What an incredible and crazy weekend I had!! Holy COW!! Is it possible for one person to get heat exhaustion AND sprain their ankle TWICE in the same 24-hour period??? Why, YES ... YES IT IS!!! But more on that later ... right now it's time to see what the Monday Montage girls are up to!! We are a little short staffed this week, as we have had a handful of friends who were making quite merry for Father's Day and such!

My father in law has impeccable taste. And he is better at what he does than just about anyone I know. Over 40 years ago he started his own business. Having apprenticed with a upholsterer in Germany as a young man, he honed his craft and his natural ability for shape, design, style and color. I can honestly say that there is no one else on the planet who can do what he does as well as he does it. He and has sons have built a wonderful business that has a stellar reputation and can handcraft the most exquisite furniture.

Having said all that ... a-hem ... I tried to make a card worthy of his taste. He is also a master appraiser of fine art. While this card is FAR from what I would consider any sort of "fine art" ... I did make an attempt at watercoloring my images. Basically I stamped and off-stamped each image and then used an aqua painter to kinda blend everything together. Even if it's not perfect (or even close), when I showed it to my husband he said, "How did you DO that??" Hahaha!! Like, REALLY?? Does he now know by now that I am AMAZING and AWESOME and can do #allthethings??? Bwahahahahaha!! That's what I keep telling myself!! Not really ... but this card was fun to make at least!

Stamps: Waterfront, Tasteful Textures (which I used to add a little something to the water), Itty Bitty Greetings
Paper: Crumb Cake, Mellow Moss, Watercolor
Ink: Balmy Blue, Pacific Point, Highland Heather, Garden Green, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Classic Label Punch, 5/8" Burlap Ribbon

Here's a blog roll just in case you get "stuck" trying to hop around ...

Monday Montage Hoppers
Amy O'Neill - Amy's Paper Crafts - NOT PARTICPATING THIS WEEK
Breelin Renwick - Craft-somnia Momma
Cathy Casey - Sugar Shack Designs
Charlet Mallet - Painted Orange
Cheryl Curtis - Pomp and Sustenance - NOT PARTICPATING THIS WEEK
Dani Dziama - Dani's Thoughtful Corner - NOT PARTICPATING THIS WEEK
Elizabeth Price - Seeinginkspots
Julie Warnick - Julie Warnick Stampin' Up! Blog - NOT PARTICPATING THIS WEEK
Melissa Stout - The Stamp Doc
Wendy Weixler - Wickedly Wonderful Creations - YOU'RE ALREADY HERE!!

I joined a team with 11 of my friends for the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay race this past Friday and Saturday. This was my fourth Ragnar race. They are done at different venues all over the country. I am lucky to live in Utah where this race originated, as the Wasatch Back was the very FIRST one. Suffice it to say that I ended my running season with kind of a whimper ... I came down with heat exhaustion after my first leg (which was only 4.4 miles). I felt SOOOO good when I started. My first mile was completed in 9 minutes 28 seconds ... which is STELLAR for me if I am NOT running downhill!!! The entire leg felt like it was slightly uphill. Anyway ... I knew I was in trouble around mile 3 (it was 80 degrees and I was running mostly on asphalt). Just let me tell ya that heat exhaustion is NO JOKE, my friends. I was able to finish the leg, but had an average heart rate of 169bpm and my body temp was WAY above normal. Luckily for me, I had some AWESOME teammates and had a medic helping me out within no time! My second leg, which began at about 2:10am and was 8.3 miles long, was a BEAUTIFUL run. I spent a good portion of it running along Echo Reservoir. The view with the moon sparkling on the water was FANTASTIC!! Alas, since it was a trail run the terrain was a bit uneven. And in spite of wearing a headlamp, I managed to step in a little hole and make a spectacular "graceful" fall to the ground (according to the runner behind me) whilst twisting my ankle. I finished the run. I was frustrated with myself, but vowed to finish my last leg, which was scheduled for about 1:15pm on Saturday. We were able to grab a 3-hour nap while we were waiting for the second half of our team to finish their legs. I slept like the DEAD those 3 hours. It felt so good. But my ankle was cranky. And, as happens in these relay races, my start time was bumped to about 1:45pm. It was another hot day. My last leg was 5 miles. DANGIT! I wet down my hair and wrapped my head in a cold and wet buff and off I went. My ankle was cranky. Did I mention that already??? I ended up somewhere between a quick walk and a slow jog. I was VERY aware of my temperature, and my teammates were being SUPER cautious and keeping a close eye on me. The good news is that I FINISHED! The not-as-good news is that it took me an hour and 18 minutes to complete five stinkin' miles!! SHEESH. And to top it all off, as the rest of my teammates and I were waiting for our last teammate to finish the very last leg so that we could all run to the finish together (another fun tradition of this type of race), I was a little over confident in my ankle's ability to hold me together whilst running through the grass that last 100 feet. Everyone was so excited and running at a pretty steady clip. In normal "Wendy" fashion, I rolled my ankle AGAIN and basically rolled my way toward the finish line. A couple of the guys on my team ended up carrying me across. How EMBARRASSING!!! But I can say I feel exceptionally blessed to have been surrounded by so many wonderful people. We laughed ourselves silly through the entire 28-hour journey. And we all raised a mess of money for cancer research. And we all like each other. And we all ate a ridiculous amount of junk food in the vans while we were driving from exchange to exchange. I even had a Coke slurpee and red vines for breakfast on Saturday. So there's that ...

THAT was a saga, wasn't it???

Click "Next" to see what Bree Renwick has created ... and "Back" to check out Melissa Stout's ... check out their beautiful creations!! And I DO mean BEAUTIFUL!!

Boyhood Dreams

SQUUUUEEEEEEE!!!!! New goodies are in da HOUSE, my friends!!! OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy!!! It's SOOOOOO amazing!!! What's NOT to love about having new and beautiful things to play with and with which I can create???? NOT A THING!!

This set ... holyCOW!! The image of the little boy imagining with the airplane??? Yep!! That's my hubby, alright!!! He has had a love for airplanes since he was but a wee lad ... and having taken TEN YEARS to build his very own airplane, I still see visions of that little boy when ANY sort of airplane flies overhead. It's wonderful to see!!! So this card is going to be HIS for Father's Day!

Stamps: Silhouette Scenes
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Gray Granite, Silver Glimmer DSP
Ink: Black, Wink of Stella (which is hard to see in this photo, but the silhouetted little boy is sparkling all over the place!)
Accessories: Sweet Silhouette Dies, Heirloom Frames Dies and 3D Embossing Folder, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Subtle Embossing Folder

Still working on the aftermath of the flood at my mama's condo ... flooring peeps, plumbing peeps and insurance peeps ... ugh ... what a joy!! I'm hopeful that by this time next week we will have it all worked out!! TOMORROW is Ragnar Wasatch Back ... it's grueling, exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. I can't WAIT!

Roses are SOMETIMES Red ...

As I was sitting lasting night (im)patiently waiting for my box of new Stampin' Up goodies to arrive (which are due to come TODAY), I decided to make a card to get the bee out of my bonnet!! So ... having borrowed this lovely "To a Wild Rose" suite from my bestie, Cheryl, it was time to get to work!

I feel like I had about 12-14 different stamp pads open on my table! I was trying every possible color combo that I could think of!! And trying them AGAIN ... because, of course, the ink looks mui-different when it dries, right??? I finally settled on this Blushing Bride/Melon Mambo combo (hahaha ... I like how that sounds!)!! I cut smaller versions of the rose out by hand so that I could layer them for maximum 3D effect. What do ya think??

Stamps: To a Wild Rose
Paper: Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink: Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Night of Navy
Accessories: Wild Rose Dies, 3/8" Denim Ribbon, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Frosted Epoxy Droplets

Since my mama had ANOTHER flood in her condo last Friday, I am dealing with insurance adjusters, carpet/flooring people and plumbers. UGH!!! I HATE all the hoops that need to be jumped through!! YIKES!! I'm hoping we have it cleared up sooner rather than later!!!

New Colors and Friends

What do you do when your hubby and your brother (who is visiting from out of town) sit down to watch various sports events AND Chuck Norris movies???? STAMP of course!! (And I'm not kidding about the Chuck Norris movie ... seriously??? Sheesh!)

I. Can't. Even. with this Purple Posy paper!!! This is just the most LOVELY shade of purple ... so-so-so much more lovely in person.  And while we are speaking of colors ... um ... Pretty Peacock anyone??? GAH!!! Honestly, y'all ... they are just SOOOOOO yummy!!! Speaking of yummy ... now I want a donut.  Which is GOOD since aforementioned brother has run to the store and promised to bring me back one!!! HOOOORAY for brothers!!

Stamps: Flourishing Phrases
Paper: Purple Posy, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Gorgeous Grape, Purple Posy, Pretty Peacock
Accessories: Flourish Dies, Well Written Dies, Perennial Essence Floral Centers

Kenny (my bro) and I are going to do one (or both) of these things today ... perhaps remove my mom's toilet and install a new one (which sounds like OOOODLES of fun, yeah??) or go visit the local aquarium (there's a water theme here ... can ya feel it???).  Either way, it should be a day full of ADVENTURE!

You Are My Sunshine!

What a lovely weekend this has been!! The skies are blue and the sun is shining (even though it is a bit more chilly - 61 degrees - than I would expect for the first week of June!)! My big brother arrived in town to come to our family reunion (which was yesterday). Got to see lots of family I don't get to see nearly as often as I'd like ... ate good food ... walked my doggie. AND because my brother arrived about an hour before I got the phone call that there was a flood at my mom's condo on Friday, I had the BONUS of having him jump right in and help get things under control. I would call that a WIN, wouldn't you???

This card reflects how I am feeling about life in general today ... grateful for those around me who do so much and make my life so full of love and joy ... so full of SUNSHINE. I am truly blessed!

Stamps: Tropical Chic, Detailed with Love
Paper: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Follow Your Art DSP
Ink: Gorgeous Grape, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay
Accessories: Layering Circles Dies, Tropical Dies, Frosted Epoxy Droplets

I am gearing up this week to do my last "official" event for the Huntsman Heroes team ... I will be running the Wasatch Back with a team of 11 other runners ... two days in a van with five other people ... sweaty, tired and FUN!!! Ragnar here I come!!!

Fab Friday #165

It's FRIIIIIDAAAYYY! This has been the loooooongest week (one of those where you think it is a day later than it actually is .. .all week long!)!! But the good news?? It's FAB FRIDAY time!! Woot! Woot!! AAAAND my brother is coming in town today for a family reunion. I LOVE when he comes to visit ... and the family reunion on Saturday will be so much fun! I LOVE my family!!

Not gonna lie ... the dies that come with this stamp set are the caYOOTEST things EVER!! See the paper clip on this card??? Not really a REAL paper clip!! It's a DIE CUT!!! Isn't it ADORABLE??!?? A little foil paper and you are good to go!!

Stamps: It Starts With Art
Paper: Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo, Whisper White
Ink: Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo, Blackberry Bliss
Accessories: Tufted Embossing Folder, Arts & Crafts Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Rhinestone Basics

Pretty cool, yeah??









Here's a link to the Fab Friday Challenge Blog so that you can play along:

Fab Friday Challenge Blog

Mindy Backes
Heather Heroldt
Brian King
Amy Koenders
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers

It's also Birthday Season in the Weixler Household!! My 2nd son's birthday was yesterday (my daughter's was two weeks ago), and my oldest son has a birthday in a couple of weeks ... it feels like a party every dang week! Good excuse to get together and EAT things!!

Monday Montage #140

Here we are back with the Monday Montage crew again!! You guys ... seriously ... we have had SOMUCHRAIN here this spring ... every dang day!!! Rain, rain, rain ... it's SO wet! At least it makes for good stampin' weather!!

I have the most AWESOME next door neighbors. My husband and I bought his childhood home from his parents after we had been married for about five years ... and these neighbors have been like a second pair of parents to both of us. They are AMAZING.

Bert ... how much we LOVE LOVE LOVE him. He was diagnosed with cancer last summer. He has been putting up the GOOD fight. He is one of the most life-loving people I know. The treatments have been getting to him. When I saw him at church on Sunday I gave him a hug (as I have so often done ... usually he initiates them!) and asked him how he was feeling ... he said, "Not so good." It broke my heart. And he continues to fight the good fight ... he has one more round of treatments. We are ALL hopeful that he kicks this mean and rotten cancer back into the black hole from whence it came. I knew I wanted to make a card for him, so this is what I made. And it's not NEARLY good enough for him ...

Stamps: A Good Man
Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Come Sail Away DSP
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Dies, Smooth Sailing Dies, Tailored Tag Punch, Corrugated Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Linen Thread, Pearl Accents

Here's a blog roll just in case you get "stuck" trying to hop around ...

Monday Montage Hoppers
Amy O'Neill - Amy's Paper Crafts - SITTING OUT THIS WEEK
Breelin Renwick - Craft-somnia Momma
Cathy Casey - Sugar Shack Designs
Charlet Mallet - Painted Orange
Cheryl Curtis - Pomp and Sustenance
Dani Dziama - Dani's Thoughtful Corner
Elizabeth Price - Seeinginkspots
Julie Warnick - Julie Warnick Stampin' Up! Blog
Melissa Stout - The Stamp Doc
Wendy Weixler - Wickedly Wonderful Creations - YOU'RE ALREADY HERE!!

My doggie doesn't care if it's wet/rainy/windy/cold. She wants to go out for a walk every dang day no matter WHAT the weather is doing. So I have been doing my best to keep happy, regardless of how wet it makes me!!

Click "Next" to see what Bree Renwick has created ... and "Back" to check out Melissa Stout's ... I love EVERYthing they created!