Labor Day is Monday

Good Wednesday morning!

Labor Day is next Monday!  Summer is winding down.  Do you have plans?

If you do, remember to take your camera to capture lots of shots of the people you like and love.

It’s a great get-together time for all.

Set your camera to “burst” and get a series of shots while your friends and family are going through their normal routines of visiting and having fun.  Then choose the ones that capture their personalities and share the pictures with them in a card!

What great keepsakes these will make!  They will have wonderful times going through them in future years.

Start doing it this year, and then each year after.  Then put the pictures in a pdf and email or mail them on a disk.

Start being the “keeper” of family fun times!  You will always be on their party list!

Take these offerings today and save them for scrapping each card.

My purpose here on this blog is simply to share some tools to make it easier to make cards of your own to send out to your grandchildren, moms, or friends.  If you need some communication tools, I’ve already done the creative work, and made a template for you to use.  I hope you do use them.

And now, onto the REAL SHARING.

Here is one template for one today.  Use it to insert your own picture.

 

This one is an example using an old picture of me at Halloween as Kiss.

 

 

 

 

 

I made three sets of stickers today. 

These are great to add to your cards or to use in your scrapbooking projects.

*Also check 8.22.16's post for four Funky Punk Critter stickers.

 

Set 1.  I used the first one in one of the pictures today.

 

Set 2.

 

Set 3.

 

This is just a little extra fun.

I’ve been working on sketching boxes and round objects.  I have quite a few now.  This would be great for the kids to color on Labor Day.

Adults can jazz it up with adding patterns and shading.  Try some repeating patterns.  Do a search for “zentangle” or “doodles” or “repeating patterns."

To make creating easier, you can buy blank cards with envelopes.  I use those from time-to-time, when I need a quick card in a hurry.

 If you’d like to take the next step, and need tools to do it; look no further.  Go on!  Just right click, copy, save as, and start your journey today!  Put a smile on faces.  Erase the miles between you.  It’s fun!  And now, it’s so easy.

If you take the challenge, here's my card to pass around, to send out with physical cards, and just to share, share, share! Help spread the word.  It’s totally free.

 

For ways to use these graphics, please check the first two weeks of posts.       

I’d appreciate any and all comments, and you can pick up my free journal coloring book by sending me an email to cjzphone at gmail dot com.  Allow 24 hours for a response.

 

 

If you have trouble posting, try several times.  It took me a few times, and others have said that it was hard for them to post.  You can also reach me at my personal email address, which is cjhampton at wideopenwest dot com.  (You might also try right clicking on the comment to see if that brings it up.)

Have a terrific weekend, and see you Wednesday.

Cj at Grannies Print Shop.blogspot.com; designed to help grandparents reach out to their grandchildren, so that closing the miles equals smiles.  Make a connection again, and let your grandkids know you are thinking of them.  If you consider making a physical card, you are remembering how wonderful it used to be to receive REAL MAIL from friends and family.  It’s a dying art, so I hope you’ll help keep the tradition alive!

Also find me on Intagram at cj.hampton.  Thanks.

Cookies are enabled per BlogSpot.  Continue only if you accept cookies!

 

Smile Cards Will Make Them Smile

Good Monday morning!

Smiles can make you appear more attractive.  If you give one away, you often receive one back.

A smile can make a gloomy day feel a whole lot better.

A smile costs you nothing to give it away.  It’s a free gift, so smile, smile, smile!

A smile is positive, and it is understood in any language.

And smiles are contagious.

A smile is healthy.

It’s a little thing but with big results.

So go on, and put a smile on your face, even if you don’t feel like it.  The “feel good” feeling will kick in!  And that, my friend, is a great thing to spread around.

Now go on and choose one of the templates today, and make some smile cards.  This is another great way to make those you like and love feel good, too!

My purpose here on this blog is simply to share some tools to make it easier to make cards of your own to send out to your grandchildren, moms, or friends.  If you need some communication tools, I’ve already done the creative work, and made a template for you to use.  I hope you do use them.

And now, onto the REAL SHARING.

Here is one template for one today.  The first one is with a Funky Punk Critter: Whiplash, as the example.

The base of the card is a fractal creation done by me.  This one could be used as a card front.

Here is the same card with a different saying.  Again, this could be a card front.

Here, below, are four blanks for you to add YOUR picture.

Here is the blank to the lead-in picture.

And four more blanks.

 

This little critter is Blip.  Sure he’ll bring a smile to your face!  And to the people who receive the card.  Just look up some “smile quotes”, and add them to the template!

All of these are also fractal based templates to add to a card.  You can buy blank cards with envelopes.  I use those from time-to-time, when I need a quick card in a hurry.

 If you’d like to take the next step, and need tools to do it; look no further.  Go on!  Just right click, copy, save as, and start your journey today!  Put a smile on faces.  Erase the miles between you.  It’s fun!  And now, it’s so easy.

 If you take the challenge, here's my card to pass around, to send out with physical cards, and just to share, share, share! Help spread the word.  It’s totally free.

For ways to use these graphics, please check the first two weeks of posts.      

I’d appreciate any and all comments, and you can pick up my free journal coloring book by sending me an email to cjzphone at gmail dot com.  Allow 24 hours for a response.

If you have trouble posting, try several times.  It took me a few times, and others have said that it was hard for them to post.  You can also reach me at my personal email address, which is cjhampton at wideopenwest dot com.  (You might also try right clicking on the comment to see if that brings it up.)

Have a terrific weekend, and see you Wednesday.

Cj at Grannies Print Shop.blogspot.com; designed to help grandparents reach out to their grandchildren, so that closing the miles equals smiles.  Make a connection again, and let your grandkids know you are thinking of them.  If you consider making a physical card, you are remembering how wonderful it used to be to receive REAL MAIL from friends and family.  It’s a dying art, so I hope you’ll help keep the tradition alive!

Also find me on Intagram at cj.hampton.  Thanks.

Cookies are enabled per BlogSpot.  Continue only if you accept cookies!

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Good Friday morning!

Actions do speak louder than words, unless we’re really listening!

I’m sure you have played Simon Says.  It starts with “Only do what I say to do if I say Simon Says first!”  You go along a little bit, and you start with “Simon says RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND!”  On and on you go, but eventually, you say, “Tap your left foot!” and you begin tapping your left foot.  Usually everyone else does, too.  Except for the person really listening.

My stepmother used to say, “Do as I SAY, NOT AS I DO!”

Most of the time we’re NOT listening, but following whatever mom does.

We imitate behavior.  We don’t listen much!

If you get road rage when you drive, it’s very possible your child will do the same when they are old enough to drive.

If you curse, they will curse.  My sister cursed once when she was young.  My stepmother yelled, “What did you say???  You are NOT allowed to curse!”

“Well.  You curse all the time,” my sister responded.

I feel the best way to get your point across is to be a leader of what you want displayed.  Lead by example!

I listened to my mom.  When I saw some of the things she did, I thought, “I don’t want to be like that anyway!  I’m going to do it differently.  I’m NOT doing what she does when I have kids!”

You want to be a role model.  If “it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for them” was always my thought premise.

Now, most of the things my mom did weren’t horrible at all.  Most of it was “laziness”.

Things like, “Go get me a Kleenex.”  She could do that for herself, but she didn’t want to get up.

I even read that there are team ice breakers where they use this type of game.  When the group screws up, the person leading the game says, “Hey!  What went wrong?”

It’s important to set the role models we want our kids to learn.  So why isn’t that something we’re seeing in the next generation?

In today’s economy, we are stressed!  Over jobs or job loss.  Over both parents having to work to make ends meet or, heaven forbid, one of us loses our job.  We send our kids off to pre-school, so they will get socialized, and so we can work!

Instead of our kids observing us, they are observing others.  So they are learning from others how to act.  They grow up learning from other adults over them, as well as their peers.  Enough said.

So every other week, out go my little letters.  I want my grandkids to know I love them.  And, I am thinking about them on a regular basis.  It’s an action, but my words are also written down for them to read and reread.

In my letters, there is always a section at the bottom about me.  I talk about all kinds of things with them.  My childhood.  My younger adulthood.  Their parent that was my child.  I share me as much as I can.

And while they are spending time with me, I try my best to listen.  Sometimes, it frightens me to hear how they relate with each other today!  “Why would your friend punch you like that?”

My own daughter is homeschooling her second child because her first child has gone through the school system.  She wants more control over how her second one relates to the world.

I am sure many of you feel the same.

And there are some who may totally disagree with me.  That is your right to disagree.

But I still have the right to also disagree with you.

It makes me think of a serial killer being caught, and people saying, “Why?  He was such a nice kid.  What would ever make him do that?  He was the last person in the world to ever … blah, blah, blah.”

I know we can’t just change the world overnight, but we can start with one child at a time.  I want mine to know just how special they are to me.

My purpose here on this blog is simply to share some tools to make it easier to make cards of your own to send out to your grandchildren, moms, or friends.  If you need some communication tools, I’ve already done the creative work, and made a template for you to use.  I hope you do use them.

And now, onto the REAL SHARING.

Here is the template for one today.  The first one is with me as the example.

The picture is a little old, but yep!  That's me.  The base is a fractal I created to use in my artwork.

This is a blank template.  Add YOUR picture.

This one would make a cute card, if you agree with the quote.  It's my own quote.

Here is another that would be cute for a card.  I am retired, so this is how my days goes now.  It's wonderful!  Quote is my own.

Here's another template; again I am in the example.  Fractal-based again!

And here is the blank.  Add your own picture/s, and words (title).

I made some positive words stickers over the past few days, and thought I'd put them here!

Set 1.

Set 2.

Another fractal based template to add to a card.  You can buy blank cards with envelopes.  I use those from time-to-time, when I need a quick card in a hurry.

If you’d like to take the next step, and need tools to do it; look no further.  Go on!  Just right click, copy, save as, and start your journey today!  Put a smile on faces.  Erase the miles between you.  It’s fun!  And now, it’s so easy.

If you take the challenge, here's my card to pass around, to send out with physical cards, and just to share, share, share!  Help spread the word!  It’s totally free!

For ways to use these graphics, please check the first two weeks of posts.      

I’d appreciate any and all comments, and you can pick up my free journal coloring book by sending me an email to cjzphone at gmail dot com.  Allow 24 hours for a response.

If you have trouble posting, try several times.  It took me a few times, and others have said that it was hard for them to post.  You can also reach me at my personal email address, which is cjhampton at wideopenwest dot com.  (You might also try right clicking on the comment to see if that brings it up.)

Have a terrific weekend, and see you Monday.

Cj at Grannies Print Shop.blogspot.com; designed to help grandparents reach out to their grandchildren, so that closing the miles equals smiles.  Make a connection again, and let your grandkids know you are thinking of them.  If you consider making a physical card, you are remembering how wonderful it used to be to receive REAL MAIL from friends and family.  It’s a dying art, so I hope you’ll help keep the tradition alive!

Also find me on Intagram at cj.hampton.  Thanks.

Cookies are enabled per BlogSpot.  Continue only if you accept cookies!

Corner Mailboxes Are Disappearing

Good Wednesday morning!

I read an article today that says corner mailboxes may disappear soon!  Frankly, they already have in most neighborhoods.

Remember when every neighborhood had them on the corner?  They weren’t on EVERY street, but they were sprinkled throughout here and there.  This made it easy for us to mail our mail every day.

But writing letters is quickly becoming a dying art.

If we put it in our mailbox outside our house, we can raise the little flag to let the postman know we have outgoing mail.  But that also alerts everyone.

It’s just not always safe to leave our mail there.

My mailman does not come till 4 pm or later.  When I was working, there was no one else home to keep an eye out until my husband retired in about 2014.

People just roam around today, and those “raised flags” can cause a lot of concern.  People no longer fear the dread of a federal offense.

I remember coming one day, before I had retired.  It was several years ago.  I had just gotten in, and went into the kitchen to get an ice water. I was looking out the window as I watched a boxy, yellow car pull into the driveway of the house across the street from mine.  The car quickly backed up at a speed not meant for backing up, and they ran right over the top of my mailbox.  It was put in the year before, so I was horrified.

Not only did they run it over, they continued up into my front yard.  They quickly slammed on the brakes, then sped back onto the street, and made a getaway as quickly as they could.

My cell phone was not handy at that moment, or I could have caught a picture or video or something.  But, it happened way too fast.

I did used to use the corner mailboxes until I realized they were disappearing, so when I read the article about things disappearing soon, I knew it was true.

If you still have one close by, but it doesn’t get used much; it will soon disappear or be moved to a location that brings it more traffic.

You should still be able to find them in populated locations like shopping malls, bus stops, and grocery stores.

Since the ones close to my home have already disappeared, I already carried my mail along with me to my grocery store to use the box located there.  That was when I was working.

I do use my mailbox outside my house now that I am retired. My office faces the mailbox outside of our house, so it’s easy to keep my eye on it.  And phone is always ON MY DESK now.

So every other week, out go my little letters.

My purpose here on this blog is simply to share some tools to make it easier to make cards of your own to send out to your grandchildren, moms, or friends.  I’ve already done the creative work, and made a template for you to use.  I hope you do use them.

Here is the template for one today.  The first one is with me as the example.

On the right is ME, year ago, when my children were still young and living at home.  The picture on the left is me at my second wedding. I was 50 years old, and that's a prom dress I'm wearing.  Yep!

This is a blank template.  Add YOUR pictures!

Here is one without the quote, in case you want to add your own quote or words.

The two below are just some additional artwork that would make cute cards.

This lion is actually a clay creation I made.  I took a picture of it and made it into a tube.

And this a bigger version of the one at the top.  It is a fractal card, and I really enjoy doing fractals for artwork!

If you’d like to take the next step, and need tools to do it; look no further.  Go on!  Just right click, copy, save as, and start your journey today!  Put a smile on faces.  Erase the miles between you.  It’s fun!  And now, it’s so easy.

If you take the challenge, here's my card to pass around, to send out with physical cards, and just to share, share, share!  Help spread the word!  It’s totally free!

For ways to use these graphics, please check the first two weeks of posts.       

I’d appreciate any and all comments, and you can pick up my free coloring book by sending me an email to cjzphone at gmail dot com.  Allow 24 hours for a response.

If you have trouble posting, try several times.  It took me a few times, and others have said that it was hard for them to post.  You can also reach me at my personal email address, which is cjhampton at wideopenwest dot com.  (You might also try right clicking on the comment to see if that brings it up.)

Hope to see you back here on Friday.

Cj at Grannies Print Shop.blogspot.com; designed to help grandparents reach out to their grandchildren, so that closing the miles equals smiles.  Make a connection again, and let your grandkids know you are thinking of them.  If you consider making a physical card, you are remembering how wonderful it used to be to receive REAL MAIL from friends and family.  It’s a dying art, so I hope you’ll help keep the tradition alive!

Also find me on Intagram at cj.hampton.  Thanks.

Original Communication Toppers

Good Monday morning!

Just a few treats for you today.  Use them in your emails to others, in letters to your kids and grandkids, or to friends far away!  Great little original communication toppers.  (This is Funky Punk Critter: Myrtle.)

There's no doubt that I love communicating through words.  That's why I journal.  That's why I do this blog.

I love sending out little special letters and text cards to my kids and grandkids.

Someone has a celebration?  Someone has a loss?  These graphics are great for creating.

I love it when my sister tells me how much my stepmother loves getting my letters and artwork.  She is in a nursing home, and while she enjoys the community, physical letters really brighten up her week.  She gets one every other week.

I create every day, and I've been doing so since 2005.  I've been able to look over all the years and see how much my creations have changed and improved.  *My old blog was HomeSpunGraphics dot blogspot dot com.

I think communication through physical means, like writing letters, is become a lost art.  With families living all over the country, we use email, Skype, chats, Facebook, and so many apps to communicate.  This is terrific!  But a physical letter in the hand is more uncommon today, but such a private, personal way to reach out and touch someone.

You may not want to communicate as much as I do, but can you imagine just doing a real "snail mail" letter once a month?  It's so totally private ... and personal.

I know there are others out in the internet world that know exactly what I mean.  You journal!  You scrapbook!  You are creative!!!  Right?

I know that's me!

If you'd like to take the next step, and need tools to do it; look no further.  Go on!  Just right click, copy, save as, and start your journal today!  Put a smile on faces.  Erase the miles between you.  It's fun!  And now, it's so easy.

If you take the challenge, here's my card to pass around, to send out with physical cards, and just to share, share, share!  Help spread the word!  It's totally free!

For ways to use these graphics, please check the first two weeks of posts.

And now!  On to the graphics.  I hope you enjoy them!

Myrtle's paper:  with Myrtle square and green box already on it.  Print it out as is or add your own loving words to somebody who needs to hear them.

Blank Myrtle background paper.

The large white box for your picture.

And below, a few other papers I made over the weekend for you to enjoy and decorate yourself.  These are my Little House papers.

Here's three with Punky Lemon.

I was going to stop here, but found these to add today in my blog folder.  Add them to your creations!

I'd appreciate any and all comments, and you can pick up my free journal coloring book by sending me an email to cjzphone at gmail dot com. Allow 24 hours for a response.

Hope to see you back here on Wednesday!

Cj at Grannies Print Shop.blogspot.com; designed to help grandparents reach out to their grandchildren, so that closing the miles equals smiles.  Make a connection again, and let your grandkids know you are thinking of them.  If you consider making a physical card, you are remembering how wonderful it used to be to receive REAL MAIL from friends and family.  It’s a dying art, so I hope you’ll help keep the tradition alive!

Also find me on Instagram at cj.hampton.  Thanks.

Cookies enable per BlogSpot; continue only if you accept cookies!