Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010

This past year has been so crazy that 2010 has got to be a better one. I wanted to get where I was posting a project or card everyday but life got in the way of that and I actually have not gotten the chance to stamp in apx. 2 months. Making a long story short we had our house listed for sale at the beginning of the year, were in the process of a sale when the purchasers backed out last minute and by last minute it was exactly that. We had the whole house packed up and ready to move when they backed out so we had to unpack the house, but have not relisted and are not sure now that we will. There are so many more details that go with it but I am not going to bore you with them but it was such a horrible experience for us. Following that my grandpa had several heart attacks and was in and out of the hospital, he is doing better now - in between all this him and my grandma got into a car accident, my grandma had to have surgery. Again, they are home and doing good now. My other grandma found out she has cancer, and had to have surgery - so I have been taking her to all her appointments and was down at U of M every day for a few weeks while she was down there, she starts chemo next week but is doing good now. She actually looks better than before her surgery. I have been so busy with all of this and so much more that I have neglected my stamping, projects and you - for that I am sorry. This year I have many goals but my top three include being able to make and post more projects on my blog along with making some tutorials for you all. I wish for all of you to have a great year this year.

Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010
Happy New Year!!!

Just a quick hello!

Hi Everyone,
I am finishing up the scrapbook/purse tutorial but can't post it until I get back to Michigan - we are hanging in Myrtle Beach this week. Pictures to also come when we get back to Michigan. My son Brayden learned to swim today on his own and Bryce let go a couple times, I think by the end of the week he will be on his own also. I also have finished up a video tutorial of the puffy box/cd box and will be posting that as soon as I figure out how to upload it.
Just wanted to get in a quick hello to everyone letting you know where things were at.
Have a fun week!!!

Remarkable Retreat in Pennsylvania!!!!

It has been a really long time since I have posted anything, I have been so darn busy this summer with work, the kids, vacations, and getting ready to move to a bigger house that I have not had much time at all. I did make time to take a weekend away with my friend and sideline Ann. We spent the weekend in Pennsylvania last weekend for a Remarkable weekend away. Our upline Janet Wakeland was the host of this fabulous weekend away and she did one heck of a job - I can't wait to go again in April. I have several pictures to share with you right now and will post some more in a few days - I have almost 300 pictures to go through. Be sure to check them all out and I will also have a tutorial for the purse/scrapbook page at the end of this post in the next week or so. First off is a picture of the Christmas project I made to swap, it is just a wooden plaque that I painted white, added some rub-ons and some die cuts made with the big shot. I also recieved a gift in return but have not gotten to the picture of that yet, it will come later.

Here is the bag I put my christmas gift in.

The desk clerk was so darn kind to make a copy of some directions for me that I wanted to make a quick little thank you gift for him and run it back up so here is what I whipped up at 3am the first night (that was when he made the copys for me). There are leaves around the whole box.

Here we are the Michigan girls - on the left is Dinne Gill, Ann Finton, myself, and Mary Swan. Ann and I drove out together, Dinne went out alone and Mary made a vacation out of it traveling out before the retreat with her darling husband Bill.

I also whipped up this little gift for my upline Mary Swan - she is a great gal and I am so thankful to know her.

The theme for the weekend was Jungle Safari so it was quite interesting when Ann and I were leaving Monday to wait on a Tiger before leaving the hotel. This is the hotel's garbage person in his Tiger truck.

Front view of the tiger, notice his plate of Gr-rrr

When I arrived back home, my children were so happy to see me. I gave them the hats and glasses we recieved at Saturday nights dinner - they have had such a bal with them. First up is my 2yr son Bryce (he never wears glasses on his eyes)

Next up is my 2yr son Brayden who usually wears his glasses correct but decided to follow Bryce this time. How darn cute are they.

Finally is the purse/scrapbook page that I took for the share table, I had 4 pages of email addresses left with it wanting directions so I am in the process of making a step-by-step tutorial for this project - the post will be coming soon. Here is the folded up outside look of them.

And here is the inside open view of them - I didn't include the outside open view but you get the idea. Be sure to check back often as I will be starting to post more and more and I am going to start offering classes soon.

Thanks for checking out my blog as always.

Never forget (GCA50)

This card was made for Ann's challenge this week. You definately want to check out her site, she is giving away an awesome prize as this is week 50 for her challenges. Awesome job Ann. Her challenge this week included three things - one a tree topper card, two using orange, yellow, green and white and lastly NO flowers. My base is only orange, then summer sun and finally old olive. I wrinkle my old olive and put some old olive ink on it to try and make it look a little more like grass. I then used the small leaf from Lovely as a tree stamp set, stamping it in summer sun, only orange, and old olive to make it look like it was fall with leaves on the ground. My main stamp and saying this week are not Stampin' Up, they are from a site I found online called Viva Las Vegasstamps! I was searching around for a set to remember 9-1-1 and this was one of two that I found. I used summer sun, and only orange to try and make it look as the sun was setting on the skyline. It is hard to tell in the picture but the bottom portion of the stamp is sponged with old olive for the grass part. My skyline stamp is up on dimensionals, along with my saying of never forget, never surrender! Be sure to hop over to Ann's blog and join in on the fun.

Musical Expressions

I actually made this card awhile for a swap at one of my Stampin' Up! meetings. I used the stamp set Music Expressions, My base is always artichoke, then chocolate chip stamped with the background stamp set En Francis'. I then used only orange, and craft. The craft is stamped with the image and heat embossed, then colored in with stampin' markers, the violin is again stamped on very vanilla, heat embossed and colored with a blender pen and put on dimensionals. The ribbon is very vanilla. I really like this stamp set, and needed to make sure and use it sometime - and need to use it again.

Christmas 2009!!

I had seen a red and white snowflake christmas card on splitcoast stampers and somehow it inspired this card. I used basic black base, and the simple flower die fore the big shot, along with little leaves die for the flowers. My saying is in whisper white and is from Many Merry Messages. On the inside (which I forgot a photo of) is white using the new scallop along the bottom and another saying from the Many Merry Messages. I think I might use this as my Christmas cards to send out for this year.

A blog award - THANK YOU Ann!!!

Ann, from Ann's Creative Nook, gave me this wonderful blog award a week or so ago and I am just now getting the chance to post it!!

Thanks Ann for thinking of me and passing this award onto me!

Now, as with any of these blog awards, the idea is to pass on the appreciation to fellow bloggers.
There a couple of fun "rules" (well, more like guidelines) to this award:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

My fellow bloggers are the following - please check out these wonderful and talented ladies creations too.

Becky - Inking Idaho

Dawn Marie - Dawn's Special Creations

Jill - Stamps, Paper, and Ink! Oh My

Andrea - Sunny Stampin'

Patty - Patty's Stamping Spot

Kerri - Cards By Kerri

Sharon - Inklined to Stamp

Ilina - My Creations

Laura - Daydreams and Dandelions

Debra - Debra's Stamp Life

Maureen - Mo'z Art

Michelle - My Inky Fingers

All the Ladies - Mojo Monday

Julee - Poetic Artistry

Sarah - Mustang Sarah's Creations

Welcome home (GCA48 and MOJO94)

Hi girls - I have not had a chance to post anything in awhile, summers are so crazy around here. I made this card for two challenges this week - Ann's and Mojo Monday, be sure to check out both places and join in on the fun. I was not sure what I was going to use when I started but for Ann's challenge we needed to go back to basics, so for me basics was a paper cutter, paper, a couple punches and markers. My paper is DSP teagarden, and the stamp set is Welcome home. I used pretty in pink, whisper white and lavender lace along with the DSP. I colored in my stamp using Stampin' Up! markers, placed it all together and there ya have it.

Fifth Ave Rose (GCA47 & Mojo93)

It's been a couple weeks since I posted anything, we have been really busy around our house now that it is summertime. My card this week is for Ann's challenge and the Mojo Monday challenge. For Ann's challenge, it was to use reds, pinks, oranges and yellows so I used real red base, that is dry embossed with the swirly texture plate from Stampin' Up! My other colors are only orange, and yo yo yellow. I used the watercolor re-inker technique on my flower and placed that along with the saying on dimensionals. My swirl on the yellow cardstock is from Baroque Motifs, and my saying along with the rose are from Fifth Avenue Floral. I embellished with red ribbon, and orange rhinestone brads. Be sure to join in on the fun, check out the challenges and submit your own entrys.

Summer fun (GCA44)

I have had no time to stamp lately - too much going on in life. I whipped this card together today for Ann's summer challenge. My base is kraft cardstock, I used Nesties to cute out the gable green and white cardstock. I then sponged the white with tempting turquoise for more of a water look. Sophie is colored with copics and I made her beach ball with a circle puch then colored with matching colors. I almost forgot for more of a sand look on my base, I sponged creamy caramel and basic brown ink. I colored white grograin ribbon with a tempting turquoise marker and added the saying on it. Be sure to join in Ann's fun each week.

Simple (GCA43) & Dream a little (Mojo89)

For my first card I made it Clean and Simple (CAS) for Ann's challenge this week. This was very hard for me to do because it looks very plain and boring to me and I normally would add more to a card - I am not sure I care for it much but it is a simple cute card for sure. I used riding hood red cardstock for the base, a strip of basic black and added a flower/rhinestone from the pretties kit. My saying "may all your dreams come true!" is a stamp from Michaels.
For my next card, it was made for the Mojo Monday challenge this week and I think this one turned out adorable. I used So saffron for the base, a walk in the park dsp, certainly celery and whisper white cardstock. My butterflys are in kiwi kiss, and I added some buttons and rose ribbon to spice it up a little. My flower I made dimensional as you can tell more in the second picture below. I colored in my flower with regal rose stampin' marker and just used the same marker to go over the lines to make it look darker. I used the stamp set Dream a little and took the small flower to make the decoration on my circle part.

Be sure to check out both blogs and join in on the fun and challenges.

RETIRING!!!

It's here the retiring list for this years catalog - we will be going into the new catalog soon so be sure to get the things you want before they are gone. Contact me for your purchase or order direct from my website which is linked on the right. Be sure to get your new catalog also. Keep your eye out for my challenge cards this week from Ann's site and the Mojo Monday site.