Category Archives: Colorado Springs

Lotus Blossom

I never knew much about the lotus flower until I decided to post a photo of one of the cards I made using the Lotus Blossom stamp set by Stampin’ Up!.  After reading this article, you will probably say I still don’t know much, but I was at a loss as to what I should write.  Surely, you want to read about more than what paper and ink I used, right?  So, in my brief research (enough to make me dangerous) about the lotus flower, I found two websites that were helpful in giving me information about the symbolism and meaning behind this beautiful  plant.  You can click HERE and HERE to go to each of these websites for more in depth information if you are interested. However, this is a little of what I’ve learned about the lotus from my reading.  (Don’t you just love the internet?  We’ve got a world of information right at our fingertips!)

The lotus flower has significance in Hinduism, Buddhism and the ancient Egyptian culture.  A lotus is a water lily.  DUH!  I didn’t realize that so please don’t laugh too much at my ignorance.  🙂

In ancient Egypt, the lotus is associated with rebirth and the sun.  It is a symbol of rebirth because Egyptians believed the blossom closed up and sunk back under the water from which it grew at night only to re-bloom  (reborn)  the next morning.  They associated the Lotus with the sun because the sun also disappeared at night and re-emerged in the morning. “Therefore the lotus came to symbolize the Sun and the creation.”

In Buddhism, lotus blossoms are symbols of purity, spiritual awakening, and faithfulness since the flowers grow from the bottom of ponds where dirty water, pond sludge, plant debris dirt, etc. surrounds them. They are symbols of purity because they grow up from all of this muck without a spot of dirt on their petals.  From looking at the blossoms, one would never be able to tell of their “dirty” beginnings.  How often do you think of all of the “stuff” that is in the water they grow in when you see the blossom?  When I see the flower that is just what I see—the beauty of its perfection and its purity, especially if it is white.  Different colored flowers symbolize different things. Red represents love and passion; the pink lotus is considered sacred. Purple even has a specific meaning!

The lotus in Hinduism symbolizes beauty, fertility, prosperity, spirituality, and eternity with the white lotus having special significance. You can read more about the lotus on both of the websites where I got most of my information.

 

So here’s my card…

Lotus Blossom-1

Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

 

 

 

Best Breakfast

Some of the best memories I have of my children are from when I was a single mom and struggling financially.  That’s because when you don’t have much money, you have to get creative in order to make $1.00 buy what normally would take $2.00 to get.  One way I used to save money was to use the ends of loaves of bread to make breadcrumbs.  The kids refused to eat the ends on a sandwich, and I wasn’t very crazy about them myself, so I used to set them on a cookie sheet in the oven and let them dry out.  Once dry, I’d crumble them, add seasoning, and I never had to buy breadcrumbs.   And, I didn’t waste those two perfectly good pieces of bread.  Now if it were homemade bread from my mom’s table, we would have fought over who got to eat those ends, but this was plain white sliced bread from the grocery store.  So, what does this have to do with the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten?  Let me tell you…

One of the best gifts I ever received from both my children was on Mother’s Day morning in 1993; my first Mother’s Day as a single mother.  It was breakfast in bed.  My daughter was 9 years old and my son was six.  In retrospect, my mind remembers my children as being much younger than nine and six, but still…they were pretty young. On their own, my two young children prepared and served me breakfast in bed.

I didn’t hear them that morning  as I slept soundly.  I awoke to their soft whispers of “Mom…wake up.  Happy Mother’s Day!”

As I opened my eyes, there stood my two beautiful bare-footed and sandy-haired babies in their pajamas holding a tray containing the breakfast they made for me.  On the cookie sheet that doubled as a serving tray, there was a cup of hot black (lukewarm and light brown) coffee, toast (bread that had been sitting on a cookie sheet drying out so I could make breadcrumbs) with butter and jelly, a bowl of instant oatmeal (made with a little too much water), and juice.  Everything “looked” delicious!  I made sure I ate every bite!  In addition, with each bite I told my children how much I love them. I also made sure I mentioned that this breakfast was the most delicious breakfast I had ever had.

That breakfast was 21 years ago.  Today my babies aren’t babies any more.  My daughter is 30 years old and my son will soon be 28.  We’ve celebrated many other Mother’s Day breakfasts together at some very fancy places, and I cherish those times.  I cherish any time I get to spend with my children. But, no coffee has ever tasted richer, no bread ever sweeter than that Mother’s Day breakfast in bed!

Today’s card is one I made using the leftovers from my Perpetual Birthday Calendar kit.

Perpetual Birthday Calendar Note CardAgain, this is a 3-1/2″ x 5″ notecard, but it can be easily turned into a regular size card.  Hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

Place an order using hostess code FDHBZ7W9 in my online store and receive my Painted Petals & Blooms tutorial FREE.

Back From Leadership

I am back from Leadership, and I am exhausted!  My return flight landed in Colorado Springs yesterday at approximately 11:30 a.m., I stopped to get lunch on the drive home, and the rest of the day, I was in recuperation mode.  I napped all afternoon.  My husband and I flew to Orland together last Monday and spent a day in Epcot.  I had never been before.  It was fun, but I was a little disappointed in the fact that it appeared to be mostly restaurants and gift shops.  But, we did get to see some of the other attractions like Mission Space, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin’.  We were going to do the design a car thing at Test Track, but it began experiencing technical difficulties as soon as we got into line and it ended up being a longer wait so we skipped that one.

Hubby left Orland on Wednesday morning as my stampin’ friends began to arrive.  Leadership was a whirlwind of activities with many new announcements mostly relating to Stampin’ Up!’s renovation of their compensation plan and events schedule since it is quickly becoming a global company with demonstrators all over the world.

I left Orlando exhausted, excited about all the new changes, and loaded down with a lot of free product from Prize Patrol and give a ways.  I am anxious to get into my stamp room.

Today I am posting the card I made for our team swap along with a gift cardholder I made for my roommates.  A word about the card: the sentiment is done in Early Espresso Embossing Powder.  I used this color because the Soft Sued ink the rest of the card is done in didn’t appear dark enough.  It is stamped on white vellum.  Before I stamped the fern design behind the sentiment, I stamped off once.  I also stamped off once before stamping on the Crushed Curry circle.  Another thing you might want to know is I used Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper and ribbon from the Best Year Ever Accessory Pack which are both in the Sale-a-bration Catalog.  You get 1 item FREE from this catalog for every $50.00 you purchase.    The gift cardholder was cased from one I saw elsewhere, but can’t remember who I should give credit to.  Sorry.   The hearts are embossed on vellum using the Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Hope you like both.

Leadership Swap

 

Leadership Roommate Gift - 2

Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

 

Butterfly Basics Wood Stamp Set
$47.95
Butterfly Basics Clear Stamp Set
$35.95
Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set
$23.95
Soft Suede 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock
$6.95
Crushed Curry 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock
$6.95
Coastal Cabana 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock
$6.95
Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper
$0.00
Vellum 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock
$6.50
Soft Suede Classic Stampin’ Pad
$5.95
Versamark Pad
$7.50
Early Espresso Stampin’ Emboss Powder
$4.95
Heat Tool
$29.95
2-1/2″ Circle Punch
$16.95
Decorative Label Punch
$16.95
Elegant Butterfly Punch
$15.95
Tea Lace Paper Doilies
$2.95
Best Year Ever Accessory Pack
$0.00
1-1/4″ Burlap Ribbon
$7.95
Handheld Stapler
$9.95
Groovy Love Wood-Mount Stamp Set
$24.95
Groovy Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set
$17.95
Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock
$8.50
Real Red 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock
$6.95
Vellum 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock
$6.50
Red Glimmer Paper
$4.95
Silver Foil Sheets
$3.95
Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad
$5.95
Tea Lace Paper Doilies
$2.95
Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies
$39.95
Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
$7.95
Texture Boutique Machine
$29.95

The Bagger Chronicles; Part 2

Well, since our last visit it seems nothing much new has happened.  I continue to bag groceries at our local commissary and am soon about to begin substitute teaching for one of our local districts.  We will see which one I give up first.

The amount of pettiness that goes on among the ranks of commissary baggers and workers is perplexing.  The frequency with which my coworkers will run to “report” a minor indiscretion one might make while bagging groceries confounds me daily!  After all, how many “indiscretions” might one make?  And what “indiscretion” might be a reportable offense?  One would be surprised!  It seems I am always getting into “trouble” for one thing or another.  One day it might be for actually thinking and using my brain.  Another, it might be for simply following the rules by rote.  Here is an example.

Baggers wait in line until signaled to the cash registers to bag a customer’s groceries. The signal usually comes in the form of a black or orange flag…it is very high tech. The bagger waiting for a customer at an open check out flags an orange flag for the next bagger in line to come and help.  When the lead bagger takes the customer’s groceries to his/her car, the assistant bagger becomes the lead bagger for the next customer, and in turn flags either orange or black for his/her assistant. Yesterday, as I was waiting to be flagged, a cashier opened a checkout lane and I thought (that was my mistake) “She is going to need a bagger.” Just as I thought this and began to head toward that cashier, another bagger flagged me. Instead of going to the bagger that flagged me, I went to the newly opened checkout lane and sent the bagger behind me to the person that flagged. Immediately another bagger who shall remain nameless (mainly because I don’t know what her name is) got her panties in a bunch. You would think I had committed one of the seven deadly sins! “What’s the difference?” I asked her. “Either way works!” You would think. However, I learned that baggers can’t be choosers! Ba Dum-(b)!  🙂

Here’s a birthday card I created using the Balloon Bash stamp set  in the Occasions Catalog and ribbon from Best Year Ever Accessory Pack in Sale-a-bration.

Balloon Bash - 1

Hope you enjoyed your stop here today.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2