When we lived in Bartlesville I lost my wedding ring. I had no idea where it was. I searched and searched but finally gave up when I knew it was not to be found.

Fast forward five years. We were getting ready to move from our home and we wanted everything to be as good as possible for the new owners. We hired a plumber to come and replace the drain pipe in our bathroom because it was a slow drainer.

The pipe was replaced and water went down the drain quickly and smoothly and we were happy as could be. Actually, “happy as could be” was only a short-lived feeling because about two hours after the plumber left, my phone rang and he asked, “Do you happen to be missing a ring?”

The realization that my ring was probably in that pipe sent me shrieking over the phone lines. The plumber told me he was preparing to throw the old pipe in the trash pile when he turned it upside down to shake the water from it. As he tossed it to the pile he saw something fall from the pipe.

A quick search divulged a barely discernible wedding and engagement set lying in a pile of mush. The rings were solid black. But, when I described my rings to the plumber he told me, “What was lost is found!”

The solid black rings were barely recognizable and I was sure no amount of cleaning would repair them. After a couple of weeks I got a call from our jeweler who told me the rings were as shiny as if they were new.

Just like my rings, I was gone from this blog for a while. However, unlike my rings, I don’t have an amazing or fantastic story. About a year ago my site got corrupted and I was locked out of my website. I just didn’t find the time to fix it and figured I would eventually get back into a blog when I had time.

The Coronavirus quarantine has given many of us a LOT of time to do things we have been putting off or that needed a dedicated amount of time to accomplish. I have found the time to begin sorting pictures that go back 40+ years, I have visited with family members via Zoom and FaceTime, I have tried new recipes, and I have been given time to figure out how to get my website fixed. Actually, it gave me about 10 hours to work with my hosting company to get the problems worked out. As I told them, “I am a total idiot, uneducated to website programming/operation, and know NOTHING about what I’m doing.”

Thanks to their great work and my patience (I was on hold off and on for about 7 of those ten hours) I am ready to begin posting again!

My Favorite Things Stamps recently offered a free digital printable that could be used to create greeting cards for healthcare workers around the world. Making people feel good is one of my favorite things to do and I knew that healthcare workers would be feeling a lot of extra stress and pressure so this freebie created a perfect project for me.

I have recently been learning to use Copic alcohol markers and took the opportunity to use the freebie to create 20+ thank-you cards (I have actually made about 100 but only 20+ with this free digital stamp). Since I have a few friends and family members who are healthcare workers I sent them cards and then I creeped some of their Facebook pages to search for other healthcare workers I felt might need a boost in the morale side of life.

In addition to the free digital stamp, I used Small Sayings Volume 3 by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen; and Totally Random Sayings, Essentials By Ellen to create the Thanks sentiments on the cards.

I had not done much work with skin tones or hair color so by making many cards it enabled me to work on lots of skin tones and even some hair texture that I really enjoyed. I know I need more practice but for a novice I am pretty happy.

I have to give a shout out to Sandy Allnock at Art-Classes.com for the hair texture lesson. She is a great teacher and has a calm, positive voice. When she is instructing she doesn’t carry on about anything other than what you are learning. I like that style! If you are interested in learning how to draw, color, or paint you should check her out. She even has some Bible journaling classes.

The free doctor and nurse printable digital stamps by Birdie Brown (designed by Torico) are available until the end of April. After that you can buy the dies and stamps at MFTStamps. If you should decide to print some of these stamps to make cards be sure to credit #mftstamps in your social media as a thanks to them for the FREE stamps.

I have also been busy creating cards to put out for our grocery delivery people when they make a drop off. I am thankful they are willing to do my shopping while I try to stay home and away from the public.

I would love to hear about your interesting ways to acknowledge people who have been working hard to keep your world running during this pandemic. Just click in and comment.

Feel free to click any of the links I have provided for card-making products. I do not get paid in any way when you click my links, I just wanted to provide you an easy way to access some of the great products I like.

I promise not to wait a whole year before I post again.