Tomorrow's the Day

Tomorrow at 2 pm I take the NCLEX. I was really stressed out about for the past few days but I asked several of my friends to pray for me so I much calmer now. Tonight I am going to the movies by myself as a nice relaxing treat for all of the hard studying I have done. Please keep me in prayer that I do well on the exam tomorrow. I will find out if I am an RN Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, I have a card that I posted on SCS but forgot to upload to my blog.

This card was for SCS Featured Stamper 126 and it is CASE'd from this card. The stamps are from Hero Arts and I used MS lattice border punch.

Introducing...

my sister Lyssa! Lyssa has been making cards and doing other paper crafts for about 15 years now. I used to tease her and her friends by saying they were the "Crafting Cult" as they would run off to "worship" at various craft "temples" to learn "spells" (techniques). They would come home with different "potions" (inks and paper) and "charms" (embellishments) and practice creating with them. She would invite others over to show them all the neat things she made to entice them into the cult. It took a few years but she finally converted me about 3 years ago. Anyway, the cause for mentioning her is that she received a very big honor as her latest creation has been chosen to be featured on the Faith Sisters blog for the His Holy Name Scripture Challenge! She has been very faithful in creating a project for each challenge word.

Lyssa does not have a blog (yet) however you can see some of her creations in the Faith Sisters Gallery here. Please leave lots of encouraging comments in her gallery and help me convince her to start a blog to share all of her wonderful creations!

Hope

This card is a combination SCS Inspiration Challenge 187 and SCS Sketch Chalenge 235. I found the verse in my sister's stash and it fit perfectly in the sketch. I learned that one of my fellow Graduate Nurse's has already taken the NCLEX and passed! I am so excited for her and I feel a little calmer to know that someone who took the same classes with same instructors as I did was successful.

Recipe:
Stamps: Always in My Thoughts, Pocket Sillhouettes - SU; Jeremiah 29:11 - unknown
Paper: VV, Soft Sky, Cranberry Crisp, Soft Suede, River Rock
Ink: Cranberry Crisp, Ranger Distress Inks, Stazon Black and Olive, Bravo Burgundy Craft, Garden Green Craft
Accessories: Square punches, Scor-It, Clear EP, Heat Tool, Butterfly Punch, brads, Sponges, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, Colored Pencils, Goo-Gone, Blending Stump

Just for You

This card I made for the Mojo Week 93 Sketch Challenge and the colors are from SCS Color Challenge 225. I have been busy studying for the NCLEX exam and making myself sick over it that I needed a break to just have fun. I made few other cards this weekend and will post them later.

Recipe:

Stamps: Soft Summer, Teeny Tiny Wishes - SU

Ink: Night of Navy, So Saffron

Paper: WW, Night of Navy, Craft, So Saffron, DP

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, Nestabilities, Sizzix Die, Brads, Twine, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Praying for You

Last week was full of sad events. The one that hit me the most was the unexpected passing of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Michael was the first crush I had. I was about 4 or 5 years old at the time. I remember seeing him and his brothers on old shows like Soul Train. I remember the Jackson 5 cartoon and "little Michael" was the one who always got in trouble. My friends and I always had contests to see who could name all 5 of the Jacksons in order. Yes, I was born in the 70's but I won't share the year.

When I was in elementary school, my friends and I would sing and dance to songs from Michael's beginning solo career. I could not get enough of "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and Workin' Day and Night."

Thriller came out when I was in middle school and I was really crazy for Michael then. MTV was my favorite channel and I would scream and act real silly as all the other pre-teen girls when the "Beat It" and "Billy Jean" videos played. I remember when the world premiere of the "Thriller" video was to air on MTV. I raced home from school and ran to the den to be one of the first watch it. MTV had become "Michael TV!" When Michael's hair caught on fire while filming the infamous Pepsi commercial, I cried. When Michael first debuted the Moonwalk on live TV, I wanted to faint.

As I got older I didn't have such an infatuation with Michael but I always considered myself a fan. I never got to see him in concert but every time one of his songs played on the radio I always listened to it and would sing a long. Even with all the problems he had in his life and the disturbing allegations against him, I still saw him as a great musician and entertainer. I chose to think more of him in his earlier years and often would wonder what went wrong with him that brought about the bizarre behavior in his latter years. Often I would pray for him to find forgiveness and salvation through Christ and then even healing.

On the afternoon of Thursday, June 25, 2009 Michael's life came to a very abrupt end. I, along with the rest of the world, was in utter shock. I was driving home when I first heard the news on the radio. I had to pull over to the side of the road for a few minutes to cry. When I got home, I couldn't pull myself a way from the TV news reports on what had happened and all the tributes to his life. I was in disbelief for a couple of days.

We may never know what Michael was thinking in those last few seconds before his heart stopped. I like many of my Christian friends who admired Michael, hope he had asked Christ for forgiveness and salvation, but on this side of heaven we may never really know.

This card was actually made the Friday before last. I wanted to play with some of my new SU stuff and use the new colors but the batteries died on my camera and I couldn't replace them until later. I didn't have anyone in mind when I originally made this card. I had no idea that we would lose 3 prominent celebrities all in one week, let alone 2 in one day. If I could, I would like to dedicate this card to the family, friends, and fans of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. My prayer is that you all will find comfort and peace in this time of grief by putting your faith in Jesus Christ.

Prayers Answered!

Sorry no card from me today, but I do want to share that I have been released from that holding place and things are moving forward. First, I want to thank all of you who have been praying my fellow graduate nurses and myself over the situation with our NCLEX ATTs. Last Tuesday I found out that my school's Director of Nursing had received the okay from the Registrar and sent our letters off to the Board of Nursing (BON). The BON was very quick to respond by sending out our ATTs, which most of us received by email on Thursday.

Another blessing is that on Monday before the above even transpired, I received my official hire letter from the hospital with a confirmed start date for early August. Wednesday I completed all of the pre-employment paperwork and received my ID badge.

Now all that is left for me to do is to pass the NCLEX on my scheduled date of July 15th. When God want's things to happen at a certain time, they really happen!

Now, even though I don't have any cards of my own to share in this post, I want to introduce you to my friend, and fellow Graduate Nurse, Shannon. Shannon is a new blogger. She has been making cards for a little less than a year and does beautiful work! She came to my home a few weeks ago and made couple of cards which you can see on her blog. Right now she is off on her honeymoon with her new husband. So please show her some love and a big welcome to the world of blogging stampers!

Last, I won another blog award! This one is from the Women to Women: Sharing Jesus blog.

The rules for receiving this award are as follows:

1. Post the blog award in a regular post on your blog with the explanation, including the original
link to WTW and the rules for passing the award along
2. Name five people (more or less is fine!) to whom you want to offer this award and link to their
blogs. The blogs need to obviously exalt Christ in some manner.
3. Contact the bloggers you have named to let them know they can pick up their blog award
from you.
4. Invite them to permanently display the WTW blog badge and/or the award on their blogs.
The badge can be obtained on the WTW site.

So I now will pass on this award to the following bloggers:

1. Stephanie
2. Becky
3. Giovana
4. Judy
5. LeAnne
6. Kerry
7. Deborah

Please check out the awesome and inspirational talent of these ladies!

Venting but trusting

I seem to be in a holding place right now. I am still at my current job and cannot start working as a nurse until I get my RN license. I cannot get my RN license until I take and pass the NCLEX. I cannot take the NCLEX until I get my Authorization To Test (ATT) from my state's Board of Nursing. The Board of Nursing can't send me my ATT until they get a letter from the college's Director of Nursing that I have fulfilled all of the requirements of the nursing program. The DON can't send the letter until she gets to okay from the Registrar's office. And why can't the Registrar's office give the okay? I have no clue. It is not just me who is in this holding place but my all of my fellow Graduate Nurses too. It is a very frustrating place to be in. But that is the way life is sometimes.

All I can do right now is just trust in the Lord as Proverbs 3:5 says. It all out of my hands as there is nothing I can do to make the process go any faster. I guess the good thing about this delay is that I am getting more time to study and prepare for the NCLEX.

More about this card. This is a combination of 2 challenges: The sketch is from the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge 5 that I found on Chris Olsen's blog (I just LOVE her cards!), and the second is the Treehouse Stamps Color Challenge that I found out about on Crystal's blog (she does such wonderful work!). I don't have any stamps by Treehouse, but I liked the color combo.

Recipe:

Stamps: Proverbs 3:5 - Verve

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Chocolate chip & Soft Sky DSPs

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, Nestabilities, Sizzix Die, Piercing Tool, Brads

Do you like my flowers?

This card is for the CCEE Catchy Name Featured Stamper Challenge. My blogging buddy Dawn (Flowergal36) was selected to be the Featured Stamper for this week. So for the challenge we are to make a card with flowers.

This card not only has a stamped flower, but also paper flowers that I learned to make from Bev's wonderful tutorial. It is so easy to make Prima-like flowers in any color or pattern that I wish.

I admit that I went a little crazy with the colors on this card as I colored in the image without thinking how these colors would go together. What do you think?

Recipe:

Stamps: Rose with Stem - Hero Arts, Designer Label - SU

Paper: Green Galore, Gable Green, Soft Sky, Rose Red, WW, DSP - SU

Ink: Stazon Black, Gable Green, Soft Sky, Cool Caribbean, Rose Red

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, Dies, Nestabilities, Colored Pencils, Goo Gone, Ticket Corner Punch, Designer Label Punch, Plastic Beads, Ribbon, Sakura Stardust Pen

Isaiah 61:3

The sketch for this card is from Mojo 89 and the colors are from the SCS Inspiration Challenge 183 using this image. Because I added a butterfly the card also fits with the Flutterby Wednesday #60 challenge.

Recipe:

Stamps: Isaiah 61:3, Grateful Elegance - Verve

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, WW, Rainbow Sherbet DSP, and Sweet Always DSP

Accessories: Nestabilities, MS Butterfly Punch, Stick on Gem, Ribbon, Button

Land's End Inspired

This card is for SCS Clean and Simple #17. The challenge was to choose a beach towel or tote design from the Land's End website and design a CAS card. This is the towel that I chose. I needed to do something quick and simple to get my creative mojo going.

Recipe:

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Green Galore, Garden Green, Barely Banana

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Dies, Ribbon, Sakura Stardust Gel pen

Enjoy Your Day

My big niece, Sweepie's mom, is turning 22 tomorrow. This is the quick card I made for her birthday. The sketch is from Viva la Verve! May Week 1 and I based the colors on the ribbon I used.

Recipe:

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Stazon Black

Paper: Cool Caribbean, Pixie Pink, Barely Banana, Confetti White

Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, MS punch, Corner Rounder, Ribbon, Colored Pencils, Goo Gone, Blending Stump

Butterfly & Pearls

Hurray! I am no longer a student nurse but now a Graduate Nurse! Despite what my graduation cap says, I will be a Registered Nurse when I pass the NCLEX. I am so glad that I finally completed nursing school. It was the hardest 2 years of my life. Now that school is over and done with, I can get back into crafting.

I want to say "thank you" to all of you who wished me well and prayed for me while I was going through the program. And a "thank you" to all of you congratulated me upon completion!

It has felt like an eternity since I last made a card. This one is for the Mojo Week 88 Sketch. I found this pretty lace with pearls on it at Wal-Mart a while ago and thought it would go great with this card. I embossed the butterfly and the Barely Banana background.

Recipe:

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Paper: Garden Green, Barely Banana, Pretty In Pink, and SU DP

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Die, Embossing Folder, Nestabilities, Corner Rounder, Pearls, and Lace with Pearls

Tomorrow's the Day!

I graduate from Nursing School tomorrow, YAY! I just ended a 4-day long NCLEX prep course that was grueling. It was absolute torture to sit for 8 hours each day to review all that we learned over the last 2 years. This morning I have a little bit of time to relax before I go to take my exit exam. So I decided to do something a little crafty...

Some of my fellow RN classmates and I decided we wanted to stand out at graduation so we decorated our graduation caps. We all have "RN" on our caps but chose different designs and colors.

Right now I feel as though I could sleep for a week! After tomorrow I will take a break and do nothing for a couple days and then get back into making cards. Oh, and I will also be studying hard for the NCLEX.

Clean and Simple Thank You

This card is the card I sent to the ICU Manager I interviewed with last week before I got the job offer. I used the colors from the SCS Color Challenge #215 again. The sketch is from the Clean & Simple blog.

Recipe:

Stamps: Warmest Regards - SU

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Basic Gray, and Pallet Of Prints DP -SU

Ink: Basic Gray

Accessories: Flower Punches, Ribbon, Martha Stewart Eyelet Border Punch, Stick On Gem

I'm a Soon-To-Be ICU RN!

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to share some great news and answers to a lot of prayers. I got an offer and accepted the ICU position that have been interviewing for! I have gone on a series of 3 interviews for the this position and I am so grateful to God and blessed by Him to have been selected!

It is are really great hospital just a few minutes from my home. There is a great benefits package and opportunities for advancement and to further my education. Excellent patient care is a high priority and many people I know have excellent things to say about the care they have received at this facility.

So after I graduate and take the NCLEX I will be studying up on critical care and practicing the skills at my schools lab. I would be extremely grateful to any and all advice from all you experienced RNs out there!