I Scrapped!

Hooray! I found some time to do some scrapping! For some reason lately it seems that finding time for this is next to impossible, and when I DO have time, creativity is somewhere else entirely. So I am very excited this weekend to have accomplished something. No, they are not my best pages, but the fact that I finished them is QUITE an accomplishment, so I wanted to share. I used up some of the retired papers and accessories that I have been hoarding (GOOD JOB, Kristine!!) I used the Retired "Treehouse" Designer papers, and the 2006 "In Color" cardstock and ink. The stamps and accessories used here include: Office Accoutrement, Genuine Article, Big Deal Alphabet, Short Order Alphabet & Numbers, Priceless, Everyday Flexible Phrases, On Board Chipboard, Spiral Punch, Jumbo Eyelets.
The photos are from last November, when My son Ethan and I did an overnight trip with the Cub Scouts. We took the train to San Francisco, where we spent the night in the Aquarium - slept in the shark tube! Then we took the bus to the Exploritorium. It was an awesome trip. I have a ton more photos, but am sadly out of this Designer paper, so will have to do the rest another day when creativity strikes again. I am off to try to do a few cards or simple stamped items before bed, as I still have a few hours in me! Have a great day!

What a Day!!

And since I have no one else to whine to at the moment, guess what! You get the joy of hearing about it. It's not all bad, but I am beat! My 8 year old son, Ethan, is sick. He has been complaining since Friday of a stomach ache. Now, no big deal you may say...but this is Ethan. And Ethan has an abnormally high tolerance for pain. Last year by the time he let us know that he was sick, he required a week in the hospital, and surgery. And when he broke his thumb, we did not realize it until the next day when he woke up and his hand was a purple balloon. So if he says it hurts, I have to assume it is serious! For the first couple of days, he just whined that he had a tummy ache, but by last night, he was crying and I got pretty worried. I opted not to take him to the emergency room on a holiday, given that he had no fever, no other symptoms, and I figured they would just send us home - but then I spent all not worrying. I took him in today, and they feel it is just a virus, and he will be fine - whew! But in the meantime I called in sick to work for the first time - and feel rotten about it, and I have not slept - which means I am really not my best. Oh well - tomorrow is a new day!


Some of the day was great though - it was Lauren's first day of preschool. She was so excited!! We set her hair in rollers last night just for something new, and boy, how cute!! She is so independent, didn't even bat an eye when I left her. I am so proud. Here she is looking cute as a bug! I just wanna squish her. She is such a big girl!!

Well, this is a stamping blog - not a tell you my life story blog, so I am off - maybe I can turn the day around completely by spending the rest of it stamping! Have a great day!

Let the SWAPS begin!

Alright, so I have never understood the concept of swaps. I know many people that participate in MANY swaps, and I just never got it. I make cards. Why in the world do I need a collection of other people's cards? Right? Well, I have been sucked in. I kept reading posts about swaps on SCS (a serious addictions of mine) and decided a few weeks ago to participate in a demo swap. It was really fun! I still don't know what I will do with all of the cards - although my mother has graciously offered to take them off my hands! lol
Anyway, I really enjoyed sharing my work, and seeing the ideas and styles of other demos first hand. So, I have decided to participate in 2 more swaps this month - heck, I needed something to keep me busy, right?
Here are the cards I am planning for the swaps - unless I change my mind a hundred more times before they are due.


















This first card uses my new FAVORITE set, Garden Whimsy. I really REALLY love it, and have been dying for an excuse to play with it. I am really happy with the way this one turned out - fun and happy . I used the following ingredients:

STAMPS: Garden Whimsy, Whimsy Wheel
Paper: Soft Sky DSP, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava.
Inks: Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava.
Accessories: Pomegranate Double Stitched Ribbon, Ticket Corner Punch, Three For You Punch, Rectangle Handheld Punch, Two Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Sponge Dauber, Dimensional Adhesive.



I also think I will swap this card. Some of my customers may recognize this one - I did a variation of this card at my Christmas Card class last year, and it has always been a favorite. I love to make it, and thought it would be a fun one to share!






The ingredients for this one are:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Aida Cloth, Hugs and Wishes.
Ink: Ballet Blue, Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant.
Paper: Glossy White, Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, Ballet Blue.
Accessories: Brayer, Ticket Corner Punch, Silver Brads, Silver Elastic Cording, Sponge Dauber, Signo White Gel Pen, Dimensional Adhesive.

To create the background on this card, I brayered the glossy cardstock with Ballet Blue Ink over the top 2/3 of cardstock, moving quickly to blend the color before teh ink dries so that the snow and sky meet smoothly. I added snow to the trees with the Signo Gel Pen. Trees are "stamped off" to add dimension.

Finding time to stamp...

How do people do this??! I think this question is one that simply can not be answered. I am so jealous when I read the blogs and web pages of people that seem to somehow find the time to stamp every day - and even to write about it! Sigh... I will have to be satisfied to sneak in a few minutes here and there. I keep thinking that the "busy" that describes my life will subside - but there really is always something. So I am doing my best - today I got up early and grabbed a few minutes to make this simple card.
























I can't tell you how much I LOVE this mini catalog set - Merry and Bright. It is just so clean and simple, and so stinkin' cute! This is a 5 1/2" square card, made with the following ingredients:
Stamps: Merry and Bright, Linen, Many Merry Messages
Paper: Soft Sky Textured (LOVE IT!), Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Real Red
Ink: Basic Black, Soft Sky, Real Red, Watercolor Crayons
Accessories: Blender Pen, 5/8" Red Grosgrain, Dimensionals, Square Punch

I am off for now - I have about 20 more minutes before I have to get to a meeting at the school and then to work...that is 20 minutes to stamp! Have an awesome day :)

Pictures of my Peeps!

Yesterday I held a Christmas Card Stamp - a- Stack, AND I remembered to bring my camera! I rarely think to take photos of stamping events, and even though I brought the camera I only took a few shots, and most were not very good. But I am excited to share a few (and I am sure they will be so excited to have their faces on my blog lol). I had a really great time at the SAS, although I think I have decided that I prefer the smaller classes so that I can get to visit with everyone - big groups are so overwhelming sometimes! Yes, I love to have everyone join in the fun, but we might just do that once in a while - whew! What a day :)





Here are a few of the sweet and fabulous women that joined me yesterday...
I hope that they had as much fun as I did!

Sunflower Wiper Card

Edited on 9/13/07 to add: HEY!! How cool is this! I learned today that my card was selected as one of the winners of the Virtual Stamp Night that I submitted it for. WooHoo! I'm feeling pretty cool today! Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Okay, so I finally took some time out just to stamp for fun. I have been so busy with the kids activities and getting ready for my Stamp A Stack, I have not had any PLAY time for a while. Yes, I should be cutting for the class, but I needed to play - and I needed to make my mom a (belated) birthday card, so I went for it. Tonight on Splitcoast is a pre-VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) challenge to make a Wiper Card...really fun. The tutorial to make this, by the amazingly talented JanTink, can be found here.
The card opens and a little pop up swings up - like a windshield wiper
motion ...here is the open card. This stamp set (Serene Sunflower) has been in my stash of stuff since June, and I have not even had a chance to ink it up, so I was glad to finally show it a little love! For this card I used:
Stamps: Serene Sunflower, Linen, Weathered, All Holidays, Amazing to Zany
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Really Rust, Confetti Cream
Ink: Craft in Sumer Sun, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Garden Green
Classic in Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip.
Accessories: Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon, Crystal Effects, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig

I had a ton of fun playing...now off to have some serious caffeine so I can get my cutting done! If you are looking for the choices for my Stamp A Stack, you can find them here.

NO, I DIDN'T...

...Drop off the face of the Earth, that is. I know, it has been a REALLY long time since I have shared anything with you. All I can say is, life has been crazy. Yes, it is always crazy, but recently even more so. My family took an amazing trip to Disneyland. It was my 4 year old daughter's first time, and it was truly magical for her - she met the REAL princesses and all of her favorite characters and was simply amazed. The boys of course loved it too! They had both been there before, so they knew exactly what to expect and boy were they excited!
We did a 5 day trip - and honestly by the end every part of my body was in rebellion. I don't remember ever being so tired! It took me a while to recover.
I bought a beautiful new camera so that I would take great photos of this trip - got the Canon Digital Rebel XTi - seriously, I love it. I got some great shots! Then I loaded them to the laptop, and it had a "moment" and all 731 pictures were gone! I was truly sick. Anyone that knows me knows that my pictures are SO important to me, and losing them was such a devastating loss. I was a real mess for a while. The good news...my fabulous computer guru friend was able to recover them, and the computer. It took nearly a week, and I am pretty sure that I was holding my breath the whole time - it was a ROUGH week! but I am so delighted that I have the photos to preserve our wonderful memories. I did go out and get an external hard drive, and have spent most of my free time this week backing up ALL of my photos. I am delighted to share a few of my favorite Disney shots with you now!

This is Lauren just after our arrival at Disneyland. We entered just as the parade was crossing Main Street, and she was just amazed! It was so worth everything just to experience her excitement.




And this is Lauren with Alice in Wonderland. She crawled under the table when the Mad Hatter approached, since the boys had convinced her that he was scary! Alice plopped down and crawled under with her. They had a nice long talk under the table and she got her smiling again. It was really one of the highlights of our trip.

And of course, the teacups are always fabulous. I have some really silly pics of the kids spinning.






How cute are these boys! I have a feeling this is the last time I will be able to get Christian (12) to pose with characters...I am so delighted to have them now!



And one of the family --a rarity since I am always behind the camera, so I take what I can get!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the peek at our vacation. We had such an amazing, exhausting time! I only have about 725 more photos - can't wait to find time to scrap them!