myasperations 3-9-24

    An exciting, change of life, announcement- As of March 4^th… I am retired! (Well, sort of retired.) Read on if you’d like to know details… or just skip right to the card details below if desired!

     Last fall I'd decided that I'd like to retire this Spring. In my 13 years on the job, my Department has grown pretty drastically, with our annual budget rising from $near 100,000 to over $400,000 and the number of our Prevention Staff doubled. I discussed my plan with our Executive director, and she began advertising for a replacement to take over my many responsibilities of managing the agency’s Prevention Department. We started interviewing candidates and we were blessed to find a wonderful person, named Sherry, who was willing to take on the challenge. But she had one request… that I’d continue to work at least 3 months to help her transition into the job. Within a short time, I came to realize the almost unbelievable number of details (and reports) our five programs required due to their many federal, state, and county grants. Sherry was a quick learner, but her first few months on the job were pretty intense for both of us. From December through February, my time was consumed with training Sherry, while also cleaning/organizing the many files in two cabinets, developing timelines, checklists, etc. to help Sherry control of the many “behind the scenes” tasks that the job required. On March 4th, I handed the reins for the Department to Sherry. Since she is tech-savvy, I have a feeling that she will do an excellent job improving upon the way I performed many of the key tasks! The current plan is that I will continue a day or two a week for the rest of the school year to finish up some of our school-based programs. (I love teaching and have several standing requests for High School Health classes I’ve provided every May. After that, I think I’ll be ready to 100% retire. Until then, after this week, I have more time to dedicate to crafting, blogging and hopefully return to doing acrylic portraits! (Stay tuned for more on that hobby/passion this summer!) 

   Now onto my blogging. Earlier this year I posted a card I made with a sweet 2024 New Years digi from Gerda Steiner Stamps which made me smile… and it was FREE… which made my smile even bigger! (You can see that card and details posted HERE.)  I’d made over of dozen of them to send to family members… however, due to an unexpectedly busy workload at the office that never occurred! I found the pile of cards already addressed but never mailed tucked away with Christmas tax documents. I decided I’d send out the belated letters next week, adding an “Asper Update” letter that details the reason the card is late, i.e.  life changes plus my increasingly dingy brain! 

   I also recently found a handful of similar card fronts, that I’d printed for New Year 2023, but had never colored. I decided to make them into humorous, and purposefully belated, cards to send to a few dear friends I know will get a kick out of them. I’ll include a copy of our “Asper Updates” letter to share the current news with them, too!

    I was excited to get an email from Gerda Steiner Design a few days ago that included a special WM with an invitation to join in a fun Easter Egg Hunt by adding it to any cards made with their wonderful stamps or digis. So, you’ll see that colorful WM on my card… and can also find it posted on the GDS FB page!)

   The funny dog digi on the inside of the card is a freebie from illustrator and children's book author Elizabeth Dulemba, who created hundreds of digis and coloring pages that she offers for free download! (This cute pup can be found HERE.)  I traced the pups sash onto a scrap of white copy paper, fussy-cut it, handprinted “2024” and adhered it atop the original. Then added “frosting” to his nose and front paw, plus a spattering of tiny Sprinkles clipped from very thin strips of pastel paper scraps. Tedious… but so worth the results!

                

Supplies: 

·   Digi- A freebie from Gerda Steiner Design (No longer available, but Click Here and HERE to nab two other freebies!)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers, Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen. 

·   Inside Sentiment- Computer Generated

·   Inside Digi- freebie from Dulemba.com. (Coloring pages can be found HERE.) 

·  “Frosting” on pups nose and paw made with Scribbles Shiny White 3-D Paint from 

       JoAnne’s Fabrics 

·   Pioneer Black Photo corners 

·   Photo of cookies from the web, and all other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends- #225

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #637-638

Di’s Digi Stamps- For a Child or With a Child  

Paper Funday- #63 Anything Goes

GSD Stamps FB Page- HERE

I was happy to discover the Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge last year and have enjoyed entering it since then. This month's challenge is to add some green to a coffee-themed card. Some of the background Christmas digis (freebies from Graphic Fairy) amd paper behind the unique silver wire coffee cup brad, which  I bought at Oriental Trading Company during 60-80% off after-Christmas sales over 10 years ago. (It’s amazing what a person can find when organizing/cleaning a craft room!)

Supplies: 

·  Graphic Fairy Freebies (Santa and Christmas Stamps) from HERE and HERE

·   All Sentiments from Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Christmas Cheers)

·   Vintage lace and ribbon scraps from my Mom’s craft box

·   Inside- cookie embellishments- colored then fussy-cut from an old coloring book

·   Silver Wire Coffee Cup Brad, cardstock and parchment paper scraps from my stash.

Entered into:  

Beccy’s Place Challenge- March   

Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge March #27 Coffee + Green      

Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge- AG (optional: Add some green!)

Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday (Christmas)

Outlawz Challenge- March 2024 Linky

   This card was created to enter into the current ABC Christmas Challenge-C is for Cats. I acquired this fun digi and sentiment from the QKR/Eureka Challenge where I served as a DT for several years. (Sadly, the challenge is no longer being offered as the owner of the stamp lines is looking for a buyer of their wonderful lines. I do hope they find one soon as they offered so many great wood and rubber stamps and digital images.)   

  I’m entering this card into several challenges including Park Hopping-My Happy Place (I discovered this challenge last year and it has become a favorite of mine. I’ve learned much about amusement parks mainly because the challenge host, Makira, provides a listing of “inspiration” to help learn more about Amusement Parks around the globe. As a grade school student, I remember seeing the always sweet and gracious, Walt Disney, talking about the park he had built in far-off California. It looked both amazing and magical, but little did I know that stray cats actually got to live there! Thanks to a link that Makira posted, I learned about “The Cats of Disney” and now you can, too!)

Supplies: 

·   Digi and sentiments- Eureka Digital Stamps (Currently Not Available)

·   Pioneer Black Photo corners- available from several sources

·   Crystal star sticker, patterned paper, googly eyes, cardstock, and other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

ABC Christmas Challenge-C&D (C is for Cats or D is for Dogs)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Add a Sentiment

Crafty Catz Challenge- Anything Goes #667

Allsorts Challenge- Week 771 Use Yellow (on Christmas bulbs)

Polkadoodles Challenge- Week #10 AG                                          

Park Hopping-My Happy Place (March)

Show Us Your Pussycats Challenge- Furry Thing Goes-#98 March