In Loving Memory

"When God measures a man, he puts a tape measure around his heart instead of his head."

In loving memory of Todd Dale Getgen

September 9, 1967 ~ July 21, 2010

42 years ~ 10 months ~ 12 days

Todd D. Getgen, 42, of Enola, Pennsylvania, was suddenly taken from his family on Wednesday, July 21, 2010.

Todd was an attorney for the law firm of SchmidtKramer for 13 years. He also served in the U.S. Army as a Fire Support Specialist with the 10th Mountain Division. During his service he was awarded the Army Achievement Medal, and the Army Good Conduct Medal, as well as many other medals and honors.

He graduated from Jersey Shore High School as valedictorian; then received his Bachelor's Degree at Pennsylvania State University. Todd earned his Juris Doctor from The Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, PA.

Todd was a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Southern Clinton County Sportsman's Association and served on the Board of Directors for UCP in Central Pennsylvania.

He is survived by his loving wife, Stella S. Getgen; adoring son, Ethan Charles Getgen; his mother, Claudius Getgen, of Rauchtown; 3 brothers, Don and Lawrence Getgen, both of North Carolina, and Richard E. Getgen, of Jersey Shore, PA; 2 sisters, Christine Hickman, of Jersey Shore, PA, and Gloria Stengel, of San Diego, CA. He joins those who have passed before him: his father Richard L. Getgen and brother Rex Kevin Getgen.

A visitation will be held 9:00 AM followed by the Funeral Service at 11:00 AM Tuesday July 27, 2010 in the Neill Funeral Home, 3401 Market St., Camp Hill. Burial will be in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.

For those wishing to honor Todd's memory, in lieu of flowers donations may be made to Ethan's College Fund at Members First Federal Credit Union, 392 East Penn Drive, Enola, PA 17025.

Forever earthbound are my feet,

upon the rocky road ahead,

but high among the clouds, my thoughts,

and so my heart is comforted.

And if one shoulder aches, I shift

the burden to the other side.

Remembering the times I've laughed,

and not the ones in which I've cried.

Too short indeed these precious years,

to let a dream die needlessly,

beyond tomorrow there awaits

a time and place designed for me,

and old hopes rising one by one,

are golden wings against the sun!

Job 3, Psalm 23, Psalm 46, Romans 8:18-39.

Rest, Little Brother. I'll keep watch for His coming and see you again one day. You live on in my heart, in my memories, and in my blood. I will never forget that you are part of me.

Tragic Family News

Dear Blogging Friends,

I will be absent from my blog for a week, perhaps longer, due to a family tragedy. On Wednesday, July 21st, sometime between 10:30 am and 2:00 pm, my younger brother, Todd Getgen, was shot and killed. Todd, who was an avid gun collector and hunter, was at a shooting range near his home in southeast Pennsylvania, apparently for some target practice, when he was murdered. The Pennsylvania State Police are investigating and have ruled the incident a homicide. We don't know who has done this terrible thing, or why. That someone would take his life in such a horrible way is beyond understanding. He was a good man, a loving husband and father, a compassionate lawyer, a gentle son, and an amazing brother. His loss is deeply and widely felt.

Our family needs your prayers. Todd was married and had a 6 year old son. He and his son were the "dynamic duo" and you almost never saw one without the other. Also, we have an 80 year old mother, 3 other brothers, and a sister, plus numerous nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Our grief is is devastating.

I have the comfort of the Lord in these days, but some of my family do not, and this is very difficult for them. I pray that God's peace will descend over them and hold them close. This is a fallen world and terrible things happen to wonderful people. We have trials in this world because this world is not our home. We will need all of the prayers of the Faithful in the coming days. My heartfelt prayer is that my brother has joined our father and another brother in Heaven with our Lord.

The funeral services will be early next week. I will try to update this post with more details as I get them. For those of you who want to express condolences to the family or if you wish to contribute to a memorial fund that has been set up by my dear friend Lauren, proceeds to go to my nephew, Ethan, click THIS link.

If you wish to contact me, you can use the email on this blog, but be aware it may be some time before I get back to you, and there is always the chance that my box will overflow. I will be traveling from California to Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 24th, with a tentative return on Friday, July 30th. If you are a DT buddy or a blogging buddy, you can also contact Rose Miller. She will be able to give you my contact information privately.

Graphic45 June Reveal #2

Here you go! Another Graphic45 reveal. This is a 5x5 card. (I know, go figure, me making a square card!) I used Transatlantique and Domestic Goddess papers.

I created the flower with Spellbinders Nestie dies and blue jean fabric, cross stitch fabric, and an old book. Is that fab or what?! AND! AND! I made my own fabric covered brad with the i-Top tool. woo hoo!

I added some twine and this cute sentiment...to "tie" it all together. {giggle}

Super cute card, right. But I sold it, so don't think any of you will be getting it in the mail. Sorry, maybe next time! I have lots more June reveals, then I'll start my July reveals, then CHA reveals....so much goodness still to come!

Graphic45 Altered Tin and Card Class

Hey there guys and gals. I am teaching this fabbie class on Saturday, July 24th at Ever After in Vista, CA from 10am-1pm. You will make this amazing altered CD tin (which can hold one of the cards, a gift card, or other small item). You get to decorate a Maya Road dress form shape to decorate your tin!

Check out this Graphic45 paper and pile of sweet trims!

Lots of lovely layers!

And lots of special details!

You also make two square cards.

Perfect for giving as a gift.

Hope to see you there!

Graphic45 June Project Reveal #1

Each month I am asked to make a selection of projects for the Graphic45 Design Team. Sometimes, the projects are not used on the G45 Blog, so once the month is over, I am encouraged to share them on my own blog and on other sites. So...here is one of my June projects for you to see.

This is a perpetual birthday calendar. I made a tall one for a class project, and loved the idea so much, that I created a square one. I used 6x6 chipboard for the covers.

The paper is from the Fashionista line (Tre Chic). The alphas are from the Domestic Goddess line.

Do yo love my fabbie rose? I made it from cardstock, then added some Stickles to "sparkle it up." I also added some lace ribbon. And oh those yummy pearls!

I created the pages on the computer and printed them on cream cardstock. Easy peasy. And I bound the whole thing with the Bind-it-All, which as since been laid to rest, a casualty of an unfortunate binding accident! Oh, here is a shot of the back of the little book.

Do you love it?! Do you want to see more? Ok, come back tomorrow for more reveals!

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Seems summer has ended....4 days, and poof. Today we are back to marine layer and 64 degrees. The extended forecast calls for 73 degrees with AM clouds/PM sun, which means heavy marine layer all morning. Phooey. This is May weather, not nearly August weather. What's goin' on?! I fear for us in the fall...that we'll have temps in the 90s with hot, dry air blowing all the dust around. Perhaps I can take a trip back east in the fall...maybe see some leaves...anyone got a spare room?

Ok, enough of that fussing! Here is my sketch and card for Christian Paper Crafts Sketch Tuesday. I like this sketch, but you can see from my card that I sorta cheated.

In my defense, I've been under some stress...ok, yeah, that's it...stress... But I pulled out my new Basic Grey Oliver paper and used it, which made me feel a tiny bit better. So cute!

I think this makes a good boy card. The stamp is Stampin' Up. I also used Spellbinders Nestabilities inverted scallop circle die. That's one I don't use much, but it's kind of cool to use for boy/man cards instead of the scallop circle.

Wednesday and Thursday I will have Graphic45 reveals. Then I'll not be around much for a few days. I will schedule some posts for you, but my Cyber Pal, Rose, is coming to visit and we'll be too busy having fun to care about blog land! {wink}

365 Cards Day 141 - Lauretta's Digital Stamps Week

Hey there ho there hi there. It's Monday. I had a looooong weekend. I worked my fingers to the bone making samples for the Graphic45 CHA booth. I hope I made enough items! There are a few things that I love and hate to part with...but...everything goes out in the mail this morning!

On to my 365 Cards Monday Challenge. There is a sponsor this week: Lauretta's Digital Stamps. I used THIS fabbie sun dress stamp. But, that Pam...she gave me an additional challenge....to put something hand drawn on my card. Is she serious?! Well, yes apparently she is. I tried to point out that Lauretta's digi was hand drawn, but no deal. Sigh...

I printed the sun dresses onto this super fab October Afternoon paper, then trimmed them down to look like aprons. I drew pockets on contrasting paper and cut them out. Then I drew ruffles on the bottom of the "aprons" with marker. Pretty tricky, huh? I colored a bit with Copics. I have neglected my Copics these past weeks...poor things had a bit of dust on them!

I used Cosmo Cricket paper for the background. I embellished with ruler twill, a scissors rub-on, and vintage buttons.

And because I wanted to show Pam she had not beaten me...I altered my sentiment...by HAND! HA!

Last ASD July Card Kit Reveals

Okey dokey, summer time folks. Summer is HERE, at least for a few more days. And summer heat for me means 80.... Hey, the sun is intense here! We have the a/c on and are staying cool. By Tuesday the temps will be in the low 70s. More my speed! They are also forecasting SUN instead of marine layer. woohooo!

To keep you feeling cool, you can look at these cards made with Scenic Route paper! The last paper line in the July Apron Strings Designs kit.

I even did some hand lettering on this Bon Voyage card. Not something I do often. This was also very hard paper for me to use. I'm not much of a fish person!

This card would be fun to use if you were having a beach party or something.

Love that cool ribbon! Next week I will have peaks of my June Graphic45 projects. So stay tuned.

In Memory of my friend, Connie Moorman, who lost her courageous battle with cancer and went home to the Lord on July 15, 2010. I will miss her quiet spirit and giving nature. May she rest in the arms of Jesus, her Savior.

More ASD Reveals!

The second paper line in the Apron Strings Designs July Card Kit is Cosmo Cricket! The July kit has three paper lines, lots of textured cardstock, and a boatload of yummy embellishments! All for the low price of $21. You all know that one of my top three paper lines is Cosmo Cricket - (right up there with Graphic45 and October Afternoon) - so you can bet that I did a happy dance when I saw this kit. Did you know that for many of the papers, you can buy a Second Helping?! How cool is that?!

Is this paper super cute or what? The red gingham ribbon was in the kit also (well everything you see was in the kit, except the bit of floss that I tied to my button). The letter stickers are Jenni Bowlin. You get a whole pack of those little guys.

And you can see there was plenty of cardstock in the kit for me to do my paper layering! I made 6 cards and a tag and had paper left over!

Check out the Jenni Bowlin border stickers! And the fabbie jewel brad. There was a whole pack of the Creative Imaginations brads in the kit.

If you need more inspiration, check out my flower tutorial on the ASD Blog! Super fun and super duper easy! I have one more paper line to reaveal...so come on back tomorrow!

CropStop Friday Embossing - July 16th

It's Friday and time to show you my CropStop embossing project for the week. I simply love the new Tim Holtz Fades. They make a very deep impression, which means you can ink them up and give them such a nice distressed look! I am all about inking junk up!

I used the Patchwork Fade today, and it comes as a set of two (Bingo and Patchwork). I embossed Basic Grey paper, then added some distress ink to bring out the pattern. Is that a great look, or what?!

The other background paper is October Afternoon, which is one of my favorite paper companies. I used some Maya Road pins (yes, I am ADDICTED to pins!). I also found a Petaloo flower in my stash, and this yummy lace!

This project also matches the Practical Scrappers challenge for this week...embossing! Perfect for me!

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Happy Thursday, everyone! Summer has finally come to the San Diego County north coast. It's very warm again today, but we still have an ocean breeze so we don't need the A/C. We don't run the A/C very often. It is mostly on in the late fall when the Santa Anna winds blow all that hot dessert air on us and stuff catches on fire! Camp Pendleton was on fire for the past few days with a lot of ugly smoke, but it seemed the wind was blowing the ash away from us. Fun times....

Well, since it's Thursday, that means it's time again for the Our Creative Corner Sketch! Here is Jennifer's baby...

And my card. I used Bo Bunny paper from my LSS kit, plus a scrap of Basic Grey. And this fabbie vintage image from Crafty Secrets.

I cut the ticket with the Tim Holtz die, then stamped with the Autumn Leaves Ticketed stamp set.

Our challenge for the LSS club was to use crepe paper...so I glimmer misted mine then pleated it to get this look. It was cool, but working with the wet crepe paper was a bummer. I finally wadded it up and left it to try...then came back a few days later and played with it. And y'all know how I hate to wait on anything! But I like the look of it, so maybe I'll play with it again. I am told that you can get lots of crepe paper at the $1 Store...

Last Chance Mini and ASD Reveals

Hello, folks! Just want to let you know that this is your LAST CHANCE to sign up for my Proper Gentleman mini album! After this, I will retire this book. I'm teaching at Jazi Crafts in Oceanside this Friday (July 16th) from noon to 4pm. The cost is $25 which is a STEAL for this mini! For those of you who are long distance, I may have some kits to sell. I'll keep you posted. I plan to open an Etsy shop before the end of summer so that I can offer my kits and things...more on that later.

Here are a few views of the mini. It's JAM PACKED with goodies and a perfect album to showcase the boys or men in your life. I only have 12 kits, so if you do want to join me on Friday, sign up now!

You will get o play with Stickles and lots of Tim Holtz goodies! Plus use this fabbie Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs mini! I was on the MOSD team for 2 years and can tell you they make a fab product! You will also get to use my new Cinch binding tool...since my Bind-it-All is broken! I took the plunge and purchased a We R Memory Keepers Cinch!
I also have a few more Apron Strings Designs reveals from the July Card Kit. The kit had some Jenni Bowlin papers and cardstock border and alpha stickers in it, so here is what I made with those items. First up is a tag. The tag was also in the kit.

I made one of my crumpled paper roses...the tutorial for that will be posted on the Apron Strings blog on Saturday! I spay my paper roses with glimmer mist to make them sparkly, and now ASD also sells glimmer mist in the ASD store, so check into that. I think it's the Maya Road brand. Below is a close up of the flower.

I also made a card. I love this brown and red combo! So yummy. Like chocolate and strawberries. mmmm mmm mmm!

I will have more reveals over the weekend, plus the rest of my July Graphic45 reveals. If you've not seen the new paper lines, check the blog to see that goodness. I've been creating like a fool these past few days...designing items for the CHA booth and for a class I plan to teach in August. I'm in love with the Steampunk Debutante line. Oh.my.lands!

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Once again, it's Tuesday and time for Christian Paper Crafts Sketch Tuesday! I can't wait to see how you use the sketch I created for this week!

I went all out with this yummy Pink Paislee paper and the Tim Holtz birdcage.

The chipboard bird is Maya Road, covered with paper. I cut the birdcage from grungepaper and then inked inked it with Black Soot distress ink.

The yummy flower is Prima and the pins are Maya Road. Some of these goodies were in my LSS club kit for June. Always fun! You will be seeing a lot of that birdcage as I've used it in a card I've designed for an upcoming class - plus I am almost sure it will be appearing in at least one of my Graphic45 CHA projects!

ASD July Sketch and 365 Cards Day 134

I have a two-fer today. First up is the sketch I made for Apron Strings Designs. I create a card sketch every month for ASD, not only to inspire those who buy the card kit, but for anyone who has extra paper around and needs to make a card. Scrapbookers can make cards too, ya know! {wink}

I worked with the ASD July Card Kit, and let me tell you the papers this month are FANTASTIC! Cosmo Cricket, Jenni Bowlin, Scenic Route! With lots of yummy extras, including a stamp set! Everything on this card, except the ink, comes in the kit.

I used the Cosmo Cricket floral paper in the corner, instead of flower embellies, but still think it's enough like the sketch...right?


The frame and sentiment stamps were in the kit. I hand-cut the frame, then used a Spellbinders die to cut a scallop mat for it. The flower in the center is cut from the Cosmo border paper. Wait until you see the rest of the cards I made with the July Kit! I'll be having peeks all the rest of July!

We have another sponsor at 365 Cards this week. Kim at Endless Inkabilities is sponsoring a fab prize this week! Go check out her blog. Here is my 365 Cards Day 134 card for the Monday Challenge. Pam gave me a VERY HARD "card recipe" for today. Hard mostly due to the size. What's that girl drinking?!

Here's the recipe we are to use:

4x4 Card - I used black American Crafts cardstock. And yes, I made it 4x4 instead of my usual 5x5!
4 printed papers - I used 4 prints from the new Basic Grey Olivia 6x6 pad.
5 blossoms - that was easy! I used 5 little roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.
Hand stitching - really?! Ok, I did stitch a little...it's pink floss...can you see it???
1 Stamp - I used an Ippity set called Devoted.
Sentiment - that's also my stamp...so I cheated a bit.

I don't think I was supposed to use cardstock to mat my sentiment, but....I did it anyway! I used an old Mojo Monday sketch for inspiration. Love those sketches!

I will have more ASD peeks this month, plus will be showing my June Graphic45 projects. They simply cannot post all that the DT sends, so at the end of the month we are free to share our creations. So stay tuned! Plus, I will be oh so busy creating goodies for the Graphic45 Summer CHA booth with all the yummy new papers! I got my DT box the other day and folks...let me just say...WOWZA to the MAX! Can't wait to make some stuff!

CropStop Friday Embossing - July 9th

CropStop sure got their money's worth out of me this week! Today, I have the July card sketch AND the Friday embossing project! I will admit that this sketch was kind of hard, but...just looking at the sketch, I could see the embossing folders I wanted to use, so just went for the gold.

I used the Quickutz Stripes Label, and Cuttlebug Oriental Weave, Swiss Dots, and Bloom Dots.

I also used circle Nesties and the Tim Holtz ticket die. I have to say that the ticket die is my favorite purchase so far this year! I love it! Especially since I found the Autumn Leaves Ticketed stamp set, and I read on Tim's blog that he's coming out with a set of ticket stamps, too! Be still my heart!

The little bit of printed paper is October Afternoon Fly a Kite. I am sitting by the computer waiting for OA to call me and ask me to be on their DT. {wink} I love their paper, even if I can only use a little bit at a time. It just makes me so happy!

Graphic45 Le' Romantique Mini Album Class

Time is running out to sign up for my Antique Tag mini album class at Stamping Details in Poway, CA! The class is scheduled for July 10th (10:30am-1:00pm). This mini is packed with cool embellishments and is a steal at $35. The kit contains an 8-page Kaisercraft album, a full 8x8 pad of Graphic45 Le' Romantique paper, a full sheet of tags, a package of pearls, and more! You get everything you need to create this album, including full-color directions.

You also get this amazing Prima flower that you can customize with glimmer mist and pearls! And a "fistful" of customized tickets to use as accents!

Here is another view of all the yummy goodness...

You will learn some fun techniques and use some very cool products.

The album holds up to 14 wallet-sized photos.

Hope to see you there! Call the store to sign up! (Stamping Details: 858-513-8024)