Card Making Mood

I have had so much focus on my photography and photo restoration this past year to get my home buisness going that I haven't spent a lot of time on my scrapbooking or cardmaking. I have had to teach myself a lot with a new slr camera and photo restoration projects and still have a long way to go but decided to do something different for a change and make a few cards. I managed to make a couple of cards, two being for my dad and my MIL and one UN-Valentine card for a friend.

<<<< The Un-Valentine Card ;) for those friends that say they don't like Valentine's Day.

See there is a card for every occasion!

Another weekend of Exploring

Last weekend, my MIL and I decided to look for another trail to explore. We had to make a trip to Monticello, Georgia, so we were looking for something close by to check out. Well...we thought that we might find a walking trail in the Oconee National Forest, Cedar Creek WMA, but wound up just riding down I think every dirt road in Oconee National Forest. We found several spots that we could have jumped on a trail but decided to just ride and see what we could get into. What we found.....

Several sites for mating and nesting of the Red - Cockaded Woodpeckers. We stopped several times and listened to their calls and only caught a glance at one next to a creek. I tried to catch a picture but I believe that little guy was a bit camera shy. He darted around the tree hanging in the shadows making it just about impossible to get a picture. I hope to go back soon and see more and maybe I will get a picture then. Until then, you can follow the link above and learn more about these woodpeckers. A very interesting read...they actually form family groups with one mating pair and the group members help raise the young.

We also found several very well maintained ponds with duck nesting boxes. We did see a few geese and a wood duck but they were just to far away to get any good shots of them. I didn't have a lot of luck in the nature photography department this trip at all.

Our mystery find was Lane Creek Cemetery in the middle of the National Forest. It is very overgrown and has not been maintained at all. I believe it to be a family graveyard. At first, I was a little creeped out when we walk up to this site finding a fire pit at it entrance, like someone had been camping out right there in the cemetery. Don't know what that's all about and not sure I want to know but you wouldn't catch me wanting to be in a cemetery long enough to have a fire there. Anyway...we walked around checking out names and dates on the headstones that were readable and found one that really just caught our interest. Pictured here is the headstone for Corp. Littleton Johnston. He was in the Revolutionary War. I found on ancestry that he died July 7, 1842. I have requested more information on Mr. Johnston from his family through Ancestry but have not received a response yet...so he is still a mystery but I thought I would include him in my blog today to remember him.

My Blog message for today... Explore what's close to you, you never know what mysteries you might find.

Pictures along the way

Today, my mother in law, Laura and I decided to go check out the trails in the Hard Labor Creek State park close to home. It was a gorgeous day for a walk. We walked both the Beaver Pond Trail and the Brantley trail and captured a few pictures along the way. I thought today I would share our walk in pictures.

My Friend Keely

I have a friend, her name is Keely, she has lupus. She's 10 years old and was diagnosed in March of 2008. I have not known Keely that long but I have an attachment to her already. I helped her grandmother with a project for Christmas and Keely was there several days while we worked on things. The day we finished the project Keely had been working on her Christmas cards for family and friends and she made a point of giving me a card. She overheard her grandmother and I talking about the project being done and asked me if we were still going to be friends. I am guessing she thought because we were done with the project she wouldn't see me anymore. I told her she would see me again and that I would always be her friend. I went home, which is just up the road from her grandmothers, and picked one of my home made cards with a quilled snowflake I had made and carried back to her. I think that sealed our friendship.

Keely, the last few weeks, has really been sick with her lupus and been in the hospital with a really bad flare up that had prevented her from being able to eat. The doctors have tried her on many medications trying to find that one that would put her lupus in remission to no avail. This last flare up has caused the doctors to resort to chemotherapy and it may be several weeks before her doctors will know if this is going to help. She is doing better and did get to come home this week. I don't know a lot about lupus but am learning more every time I talk to her grandmother and mom. Her grandmother told me that this is a disease you don't hear a lot about like other diseases and I told her that I wanted to help people learn more about this terrible disease.

Keely's mom and grandmother are working on getting together a team to walk in the Walk for Lupus Now campaign to raise awareness and funding to help patients and families and national research efforts. I have joined their team, Keely's gang. If you would like to make a donation to help Keely and others with this terrible disease, please follow this link. https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=292575&lis=0&kntae292575=1C8FE988E81749E294773210792B2740 Event information from the Georgia Lupus Foundation of America's website: The Georgia Chapter’s Walk for Lupus Now is a 1.5 mile walk, beginning at the Meadow at the 10th Street entrance to Piedmont Park, opposite Grady High School.

Crafty Salutations: Mushrooms!

Crafty Salutations: Mushrooms!