Happy Anniversary to Me

It's been a pretty lazy day here. Today is my 8th anniversary. I've had a terrible headache, bordering on migraine, most of the day. I really worked hard for it not to turn into a migraine. It's been a while since I've had one - I'm not even sure if I have a prescription of Imitrex left - and I do hate how they make me throw up.

We went to Bernard's for dinner tonight. Bernard's is always fabulous. I got my usual caesar salad (they have a perfectly tangy dressing) and the filet bernaise. Yum, yum. Roy always gets something different - he's much more adventurous than I. He got his standard artichoke and palm salad. He really loves that. Tonight he got the pasta fruit de mer. He thought it was wonderful. They have great bread with really good butter (tastes French, though it might just be hand-churned) and pesto. Roy also ordered a mountain berry flan torte. It was very different but good. We didn't get gifts for each other this year, so no surprises there.

Overall, very nice. Hopefully I'll still be doing better tomorrow and will get to scrap some. I had planned to do that today, but my head prevented it.

Two More Layouts!!

I'm on such a roll right now! If only I didn't need to work, I could scrap all the time! I joined a kit club a long time ago. I finally stopped when they were piling up and I wasn't making the pages. They just didn't match my style and I didn't care for some of the stamps that were with them. I ran across these last week and decided to challenge myself to complete the pages using only the precut pieces available in the kit. I've long since lost any directions or pictures that went with the kits, so my goal is to use as much of the materials as possible to complete double page layouts. It's turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. One of the kits had seventeen pieces in it! Here are the products of two of these kits.

Bling Queens

Paper: bashful blue, whisper white, basic black, certainly celery

Ink: bashful blue, certainly celery, basic black

Stamps: You Make Me Happy, Short Order Alphabet

Accessories: bashful blue grosgrain ribbon, photo corner punch, stampin' journaler

Zoo Fun

Paper: tempting turquoise, whisper white, gable green, apricot appeal, ruby red, some unknown (don't remember) SU dsp

Ink: tempting turquoise, basic black

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Well Worn Alphabet

Accessories: scallop punch, red bead duo, white grosgrain ribbon, crystal effects

Technique: paper piecing

Oh Christmas Tree

I've been really busy today in the scrapbook room! I made one more DPS during Friday Night Scrappin'. I'm not completely happy with it, but it's done. I have a bunch of unassembled pages from clubs and kits. I took one of these sets and created this page (I didn't use all of the items). It really taxed by brain because the paper was already precut and I had to work with whatever they had planned (any instructions were long since lost).


Paper: certainly celery, bashful blue, basic black, whisper white
Stamps: friendly flowers, headline alphabet
Ink: basic black
Accessories: simon lower chipboard alphabet, basic black grosgrain ribbon, white gel pen, brads

Journaling: Christmas 2008 --- I was up late one night working on a paper. I looked over at the tree and thought it was a most amazing sight. The pictures don't do it justice. The plant lights shone on the tree at just a perfect angle to cast a large intricate shadow.

Christmas Day 2008

We went to my aunt & uncle's house on Christmas Day this year. It was a little impromptu, but we had so much fun! I got some time today in the scrapbook room and was able to make to double page spreads (DPSs) from that day. The girls had so much fun decorating gingerbread men and houses and we really enjoyed catching up with family we don't see often.

Paper: close to cocoa, ruby red

Stamps: Sweet Memories, Hung Up on the Holidays, whimsical lower alphabet

Ink: close to cocoa, ruby red, almost amethyst, gable green, summer sun, pumpkin pie

Accessories: dazzling diamonds

Paper: gable green, purely pomegranate, whisper white

Stamps: Sketch It, whimsical upper alphabet, whimsical lower alphabet, whimsical numbers

Ink: purely pomegranate, gable green, green galore

Accessories: purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon, brads

Merry Christmas!

Merry belated Christmas! I haven't written anything on the blog in the past couple of days! We've been so busy, but we've had a lot of fun. I'll update later on Christmas, but I do have a sneak peek from the Love You Much bundle.

Stamps: Love You Much
Paper: ruby red, pink pirouette, whisper white
Ink: ruby red, pretty in pink
Accessories: riding hood red taffeta ribbon, triple heart punch, fire round brad, dimensionals

Love You Much bundle

Look what's available today! Stampin' Up has a new bundle that is perfect for Valentine's Day but has SO MANY other uses! The bundle includes a precious designer series paper (double sided, of course!), a stamp set, and a matching punch. The punch is super cute! It perfectly cuts out one of the stamps with three hearts at once! The best part is that if you order all three pieces and get 20% off between today and January 31.

Look for sneak peeks on my blog for great ways to use this set! You can find this bundle by checking out my demonstrator website. You can also download the flyer by clicking on the picture of the flyer in the margin. Sneak peaks coming soon!

You can always order from my website, or you are always welcome to call or email me to place your orders personally. Happy stamping!

SheetLoad ShortCuts: A FROST-y Giveaway!

SheetLoad ShortCuts: A FROST-y Giveaway!

How fun is this? In honor of the frosty, cold weather that is now settling in, Alicia (AKA Crafty Al at SheetLoadShortCuts) is going to give away FREE Frosted Card Blanks to five (5) lucky readers!!Here is how you can be entered to win...- Leave a comment on her blog with your current temperature for one (1) entry- For Five (5) extra entries post a message, w/a link to this post, on your blog (or a public message board*), about our Giveaway. Then head on back to her blog and leave a comment here with the direct link.*Make sure if you post on a public message board, that it does not violate any TOUs. She will leave the giveaway open until Saturday, December 27th at Midnight CST.All of the entries will be put into a hat/mixing bowl/baggie, etc. and her daughter will pick out five (5) names at random.Each winner will receive a Large Pack (20 pcs) of our Frosted Card Blanks!!!

The fine print:- Your comment must include an answer to the question above.- The "extra entry" comment must go directly to the applicable blog/message board post in question.- If your comment does NOT link to a blog that has "contact me" info, you MUST leave your First Name, Last Initial and Email address in the comment. You are free to add spaces to your email address.- Any comments that do not follow the "rules" will be disqualified.- Giveaway is open to readers from all countries.

Christmas pictures at church

Our church is always decorated so beautifully. Since the girls were in their Christmas dresses today, I wanted to take advantage of all their lights, poinsettias, and trees. I ended up only getting seven pictures, but I thought they turned out so cute! I uploaded them and had Wal-Mart print the larger one in an 8x10.

Stamps: Hung Up On the Holidays, Live Your Dream, Big Deal alphabet

Paper: ruby red, old olive, whisper white

Ink: old olive, close to cocoa, brocade blue, summer sun, ruby red, old olive craft

Accessories: glassy glaze, simon lower chipboard, riding hood red taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Technique: heat embossing

Framed Art

OK. I never could get the picture to look right in the post below. Here is the picture. Read details below. Now to bed. It's 1:15 and I'm going to be evil today. In about 4 hours.

Teacher Christmas Gifts

I finally took care of the teacher gifts for Christmas. I had to - the last day of school before the break is tomorrow (or, I guess I should say today). I finally got up the nerve to make gifts for them. I made post-it note holders for the day care teachers. I made a post-it note holder and a frame for Eliza's teacher. Each gift is monogramed.

This is the Bella Rose post-it note holder.
Paper: Bella Rose DSP

Ink: old olive craft ink

Accessories: 5/8" old olive grosgrain ribbon, glassy glaze, acrylic 4x6 picture frame, RSVP pen, riding hood red taffeta ribbon

Technique: heat embossing

This is the Urban Garden post-it note holder.

Paper: Urban Garden DSP
Ink: not quite navy craft ink
Accessories: 1/4" bashful blue grosgrain ribbon, glassy glaze, acrylic 4x6 picture frame, RSVP pen Technique: heat embossing

This is the framed art I made.

Paper: whisper white, basic black

Stamps: Monogram S

Ink: old olive craft

Accessories: 1/4" basic black grosgrain ribbon, clear embossing powder, 8x10 black frame (5x7 mat included), dimensionals, love and happiness rubons

How Cute!

I just had to share this! Such a cute party dress! Wouldn't EG look so cute in that green?

Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Update on Roddey

Denise called me last night and asked me to thank everyone again for all the beautiful cards everyone has sent to Roddey. She said that there were over a dozen that they've received in the past month or so. He is out of the hospital now but is still very weak. He's still taking the chemo and doing dialysis. Also, he's been put on a transplant list for a kidney.

Again, thank you for taking the time to send him happy mail. It really means so much to him.

Blog Candy Winner!

And the winner is...

Here are your random numbers:4
Timestamp: 2008-12-12 23:35:47 UT

So, that is Loretta Rodger. Please email me or PM me on SCS to send me your mailing address. I'm hoping to mail all of my Christmas cards tomorrow, so I will definitely be hitting the PO in the morning.

Thank you so much for all of your cards. Denise emailed me today. She said the cards are meaning so much to him.

End of the Week Review

Well. It's been a week. It didn't start out well, it got worse, and frankly, I'm just glad it's over. I will be scrapping tonight as a escape. I think we have a scrapping party planned. I hope to get quite a few things out of the way. There are a few challenges to review and lots of pictures to cover. I may even get ambitious and pull some out of "the closet". Woooooo. That's a scary thought.

On the other hand, it's Christmas and high time for me to get in the mood. We've got to get that tree up. This weekend. I may send Roy working on that while I'm scrapping. Then the girls can decorate in the morning when I have good light. That sounds like a plan. They are already in the Christmas spirit with the decorations we have put out. Here are Santa's Helpers.

Celebrate Christmas - for yourself!

Woo-hoo!!! The Stampin' Up! retiring list was released this morning! Click on the linked picture of the list in the right column for a downloadable list of your own.

Here's the best news! All stamps are 10% off December 9-December 23 AND everyone gets free shipping with orders of $70 or more! I'm really excited about this! I had to let you know before I even sat down to put my own order together!

If you are wanting to get an order by Christmas, be sure to order by December 16. This is the best sale because it is now cheaper AND easier to order directly from my website! Click on the Stampin' Up! icon on the right or go to www.heathercarnes.stampinup.net to order directly. Have fun shopping!

Update on Blog Candy

Roddey is still in the hospital. He has been on the chemo floor since last Thursday. He started dialysis on Saturday and didn't have a very good day. Last night he was moved to the renal floor. Blog candy is still open until this Friday!

The Best Part of Christmas

My husband promised my daughter earlier today that we could roast marshmallows tonight. (After I went to the store, bought graham crackers, and Hershey's bars) We did just that tonight! Just before this picture, she turned around and looked at me and said, "Momma, this is the best part of Christmas." What made me smile so much is that she says it about almost everything we do - decorating, driving around looking at lights, shopping for gifts, opening gifts, going to church, singing carols in the car on the way home from school, going to the Christmas Eve service ... You get the picture!

Mystery Blog Candy & RAK Request

This is my first time to post blog candy, so bear with me (and feel free to offer suggestions since I'm a newbie at this!). It is MYSTERY blog candy (mainly because I'm not at home to take a picture of the collection of stuff I'm sending!). I can tell you that it will include stamps and a wide variety of embellies.

Here's the background: My mother's (since they were 4) best friend's husband has Wegener's disease. She is like a second grandmother to my girls. She takes care of them, attends school events, and is always there for them. He has been in remission for several years. His symptoms returned a few weeks ago and he is back in a full fledged episode. Chemo and steroids are not working like they used to or are supposed to. His kidney function is currently at 13%. He is being admitted to a local hospital this morning (right now). I've added him to the SCS RAK group and he did get several cards from those wonderful angels. Each time he received one, he made a point to call me and tell me how wonderful all of these people were to send him their beautiful cards. He truly appreciates your notes of encouragement and your prayers. Thank you so much. Just let them know you are friends of mine!

Here's the deal:

• Please send him a card. His name is Roddey Hogan. His address is 3306 Shenendoah Drive; Tyler, Texas 75701.
• Post a comment on my blog that you sent a card.
• Put in the card that you are friends of mine.
• Please pass this along to others who would be willing to keep Roddey and Denise in their prayers.
• I will use random.org to select a winner on Friday, December 12 (when I get home from work).
• I will post the winner, you can email (or PM through SCS) me your address and I will mail you a candy surprise.

Thank you so much!

Uggg!

I had intended to blog last night, but I was emotionally exhausted. I've been sick since Sunday and it's only getting worse. I have a terrible cold and am medicating to the max on DayQuil. To compound all of that pressure in my head, Eliza got "lost" yesterday. She knew where she was , but we didn't.

She had Odyssey of the Mind practice after school yesterday. It's usually over at 5. I worked last yesterday making phone calls and asked Roy to pick her up and I started home. He got there at 4:58 but the room was locked up tight. He called and I told him an alternate place to look. A few minutes later he called back and I could hear the panic rising in his voice. He told me that he had searched both buildings and she was no where to be found. He had also checked aftercare, but her name wasn't on the sign-in list and she wasn't in the auditorium. By this time, I was less than five minutes from home but I turned around and went speeding back toward the school. It's at least a 15 minute drive during 5 o'clock traffic, but I was determined to make it in less than 10. I broke at least 12 laws. Just as I was getting to the busiest part of the traffic, Roy called and told me he found her. She got out early and just didn't get signed into aftercare. I don't know if he was panicked and just didn't see her when he looked or if she went to the bathroom, but she was ok. What a relief. My stomach settled down and I was able to be a productive member of society (cooked dinner). My mother claims to have had 6 heart attacks in the 18 minutes we couldn't find her. Thankfully, it was only traumatic to the adults!

What a resource! (and flashback to the 80s)

I've started doing some blog-hopping. I love that technology advances (see side note below) have allowed us the opportunity to create and maintain sites to share our ideas for free! I stumbled upon this blog maintained by Courtney. She is amazingly talented. Check her out.

Side Note:
Ok. Thinking of this reminded me of just how far technology has come. I remember being in eighth grade (actually, three doors down from my current classroom) and taking Computer Literacy. We worked about half the time out of a textbook and got to get on the computers only after the chapter work had been duly completed. The computer lab (one of the best in the region) had Apple IIe computers. There were four BRAND NEW Apple IIgs computers and people fought to get the chance to work on those. We each had a 5.5" disk (or was it 5.25"?). All of our class work was stored on that disk. For mean-spirited "fun" the guys would rub the disk on the carpeted floor creating an static electricity charge, thus erasing some poor soul's year's worth of work. We learned to write programs in BASIC. There was no such thing as "Windows", but I was really good, by golly, at writing programs that would compute simple mathmatical equations. We did some typing in a very primitive word processing program, but it didn't really mesh well with our typing class. Though we were technologically advanced, we still learned to type on old manual typewriters with blanked keys (remember "click, click, click, click, ding!, left-hand-return"?). OK, that's enough of my 80s flashback. Happy memories!

Family Album

I've thought for years about creating a family tree album. I've just never gotten around to it. Last night there was a Micro-VSBN on SCS. I decided that there was no time like the present and got started last night. I created two pages using two of the challenges which were centered around the twelve days of Christmas. The first will be the title page of the album.

The challenge (...a partridge in a pear tree...) was to include a tree or bird. I included both by using the Season of Friendship stamp set. Because I stamped directly on the paper, it was a little stressful. I messed up one page as I stamped the title (the *very* last thing) and had to start completely over!

Stamps: Season of Friendship, Whimsical upper alphabet, Whimsical lower alphabet

Inks: basic brown, green galore, regal rose, garden green, brocade blue, riding hood red, tangerine tango (stamped off once), summer sun, baja breeze

Paper: whisper white, chocolate chip

Accessories: aged copper hodgepodge, chocolate chip taffeta ribbon, scallop edge punch

The second challenge (...two turtle doves...) was to place pictures side by side. An optional sketch was provided, which I mostly followed. I found two pictures of my paternal great-grandmother. The quality is horrible! It's probably the result of them being in acid-ridden albums for the past twenty years. I created the page and felt something was missing. I remembered that I had scanned in photos to my genealogy program several years ago. I found a younger picture of her in there and was able to print off a really good picture.

Stamps: Short Order alphabet

Inks: bayou blue, black stampin' journaler

Paper: rose red, bayou blue dsp, baja breeze

Accessories: crop-a-dile, eyelets, love & happiness rub-ons

Thanksgiving Pictures

I realized the last week or so that we haven't had any group family pictures in quite a few years. It used to be a tradition each year at Thanksgiving to have everyone gather outside to take a picture in the front yard. This year, I wanted to keep it simple (and the Cowboys game was on), so we took pictures in the living room. I got individual family pictures (does that even make sense?). You'll notice some wandering eyes toward the tv screen to the right of the picture taker. Here is a picture of most of our current family. David and Kate are with her family this year. Courtney's husband was working (police detective), and Chris's fiance was with her mother.

I'm so happy that I was able to get most of the family together again. I hope to make this a tradition again.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We had a wonderful day here. I think we had 21 people for lunch. Lunch consisted of turkey, ham, dressing, hen and dressing, cream crowder peas, green bean casserole, hash brown casserole, sweet potato casserole, broccoli salad, deviled eggs, relish trays (dill pickles, sweet pickles, bread & butter pickles, homemade green pickles, carrots, cocktail onions, cauliflower relish mix, radishes, green onions, olives), buttermilk pies (2), pecan pies (2), Italian cream cake, jam cake, egg nog pound cake, sweet potato bread, and Hello Dollies.

We are blessed to be a part of such a wonderful and loving group. Blessings to each of you. Running through my mind right now is the doxology, written by Thomas Ken in 1674. Based on James 1:17, it proclaims "Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host; Prase Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Rush of the Season

I've neglected my blog for a couple of weeks. I've created quite a few scrapbook pages and done little else. The biggest "news" is two-pronged. I'll post completed pages in the coming days (or hours...).

First, Stampin' Up! is having a Holiday Extravaganza sale. Click the icon in the sidebar for a flyer of everything on sale. SU! has grouped items into must-have bundles packaged for convenience. You can see and order these items on my website (www.heathercarnes.stampinup.net). If you'd prefer not to order online, you are always welcome to place these bundle orders directly with me and get the same offer.

Second, I'm adding to that sale with my own special promotion. I'm hosting a sale for Black Friday (and Saturday).

My Black Friday Email-a-Thon will begin on Friday, November 28 starting at MIDNIGHT (12:00 am) and runs to Saturday night at 11:00 pm. When you email me (heathercarnes@sbcglobal.net) I will email you back with the promotion offer that you received and the total amount due. So please make sure your order is complete when you email it to me. You won't be able to add to your order after you received your promotion. *** Please note that you cannot receive this offer on my Stampin' Up! website or from any other demonstrator. This is my gift to you as a thank you for your support.

***In your email please be sure to include the item number, description, qty and price. To qualify for the Email-A-Thon, a minimum merchandise total purchase of $30.00 is required. Once we hit 10 orders, I will start from the top of the list again with email 1. All orders will ship to me and payment must be received in order for me to place your individual order.

1st email - FREE Shipping
2nd email - FREE adhesive package (SNAIL refill and dimensionals - value $8.45)
3rd email - FREE Stamp a Stack Class - $18.00 value
4th email - FREE Classic Ink Pad (value $5.25)
5th email - FREE two markers (any colors) value $6.50
6th email - FREE medium envelopes - value $6.50
7th email - Free level 1 Hostess Set
8th email - FREE 8.5x11 single color paper pack - value $5.50
9th email - FREE Designer brads - value $5.95
10th email - FREE Ribbon - value $6.95 or less

Kidz Praise Thanksgiving Program

Eliza's children's choir program at church was tonight. They usually do a Christmas program, but due to moving into the new building in a few weeks, it was bumped to Thanksgiving. She's never really liked choir. She says it's "boring" and "not fun". I really hate that. I want her to enjoy it and I just won't/can't let her quit a church activity.

That aside, she was one of the well behaved ones. She was, of course, the cutest one there. :) And she knew every word of every song. Many of the kids looked completely lost. I was so proud of her. The program was "The Colors of Fall" or something like that. Eliza was assigned a yellow shirt to wear. Here she is after the program. I love this child.

Late night scrapping

Last night Momma and I stayed up to scrapbook. I was commissioned to "design" her two cards. How do you design something without making it? Basically, she wanted me to make those to cards for her. Durn. Nonetheless, we had a really good time. We stayed up until 2 a.m. Yikes! That's for people who don't have to go to work in the morning! I had a terrible time trying to get up.

I found one card we made a couple of months ago at the September Stamp a Stack. It has been one of my favorites since then. The set is a Hostess level 1 called Organic Grace. The sentiment comes from Much Appreciated. Paper: close to cocoa, really rust, mellow moss, very vanilla; Inks: close to cocoa, really rust, mellow moss; Acessories: dimensionals, twill tape. It is SUO.

The next card was one we made some time ago. I believe the stamp set is All Holidays. The only addition I made to it was to add the metal tag. The sentiment is from the Mini Mates set. Paper: chocolate chip, mellow moss, unknown SU DSP (retired); inks: chocolate chip, closet to cocoa, mellow moss; accessories: chocolate chip ribbon, river rock ribbon, round metal tag, brad. It is also SUO.

In the middle of all this, I made two scrapbook pages. The first is reminiscing about Box-a-saurus (see earlier post in November for more details). I thought the layout was a perfect way to showcase the progression of the project throughout the night.

The final dps was a the fall festival at the FBC South Campus. Each year my aunt and cousin ask to take the girls. It's a lot of fun (as evidenced by Beaver's huge grin) with bouncy houses, dozens of booths, a hayride, campfire, and literally tons of candy. It's always a highlight of the girls' year.

Aunt Cindianne's Christmas Card

Cindianne has just started stamping. She tried it once at a card class one weekend when she was visiting. She loved it and placed her first order for supplies to make a Christmas card. She wanted something that she could make fairly easily but that still looked nice. She brought her supplies back to my house this weekend for me to help her with the design. This is what I designed for her. She also has ideas on how to alter it to make adaptations on this card.

Paper: real red, bashful blue, whisper white

Stamps: To You & Yours

Ink: basic gray

Accessories: bashful blue taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds

The rest of my WOW technique class items

Whew. We had a really good club meeting. I started off with three and at least one who was out of town today and will come to later club meetings. In addition to the scrapbook page I posted earlier today, club participants also made a card and a hanging treat box holder.

The card, Near and Far, was my attempt to teach reverse masking. I included several other techniques as well: heat & stick powder, masking, sponging, and dyeing ribbon.

Paper: baja breeze, whisper white

Inks: baja breeze, versamark

Stamps: snow burst, star-studded season

Accesories: coluzzle, heat & stick powder, dazzling diamonds, heat tool, white grosgrain ribbon, aquapainter

The hanging treat box was a lot of fun! It turned out to be quite a hit. Everyone thought it was neat and would be great for Halloween. It's a really good idea for a quick and simple Secret Santa.

Paper: tangerine tango, whisper white, haiku dsp

Inks: basic brown, chocolate chip, close to cocoa, more mustard, ruby red, summer sun, old olive, garden green

Stamps: Happy Blessings

Accessories: 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop punch

Count Your Blessings

I created this double page spread in response to a sketch challenge on SCS. It is the scrapbook LO for my technique WOW class this afternoon.

This is the full LO of the DPS. Pictures of the individual pages (closer pictures) are in my gallery. I decided to use this weeks sketch challenge for my WOW class (nothing like waiting 'til the last minute, huh?). I had a hard time getting it to look right. I think it will look a lot better with pictures on it, but I really struggled looking through my picture files. I really want to use this page for the girls at Thanksgiving. So I'm posting the picture sizes to my class members and will update my pages in a couple of weeks. I used chipboard elements to create the buttons by punching the thread holes with a crop-a-dile. I covered them with DSP, sanded and distressed the edges, and threaded them with very vanilla ribbon. I stamped the background with Sanded. I used the big shot to cut letters from the wingo zingo alphabet.

I also created a card and an ACAB (anything but a card). It's is a hanging water bottle holder. I'll post both of those later. Thanks for looking!

Finally! Some pages uploaded!

I got up extra early this morning to upload some pages to my SCS gallery. I'm not counting any of these pictures in my November scrapbook challenge totals because I actually completed them last summer. I do, however, have as one of my goals the insertion of these pictures into albums. You'd think that would be a simple thing to do, huh? Not so much for me. I just never got around to doing it.

You Are Priceless

Stamps: Priceless

Paper: basic black, taken with teal, real red, whisper white

Inks: real red, basic black, taken with teal

Accessories: brads, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, simon lower chipboard letters, scallop punch

Deviled Eggs

Stamps: A Good Egg, taffy alphabet

Paper: chocolate chip, whisper white, pretty in pink, wild wasabi, bashful blue, so saffron

Inks: chocolate chip, bashful blue

Accessories: slit punch

Pool Fun

Stamps: I don't remember this set! Someone, please help me. I know it's retired

Paper: old olive, soft sky, so saffron, whisper white

Inks: old olive, so saffron, soft sky, blue bayou

Accessories: old olive 5/8" ribbon

Summer 2008

Stamps: Tart & Tangy

Paper: whisper white, summer picnic DSP, bashful blue

Inks: only orange, real red, wild wasabi, real red stampin' marker

Accessories: 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch

Working, working, and ... umm ... more working

Things have been more and more busy this week. I haven't had time at all to do any scrapbooking and I have so many great ideas and challenges. I've found some great blogs (I'll post links later) that are so inspiring chock full of ideas and sketches and tons of personality. Tonight I have two goa-- okay - three goals. In no particular order:

1) take pictures of my SUO scrapbook pages from April's (my SU upline) classes and post some of them as cases;
2) put pages into an album (I have at least two albums worth of completed pages still stacked uselessly); and
3) begin working on my WOW class for Saturday. I don't know what I'll do as a technique yet, but I don't have that many people attending, so it shouldn't be hard.

I'll update tonight with (hopefully) pictures. Oh, and hints for big news. I hope you'll plan to participate. :)

Grandfriends Day

Today was Grandfriends Day at Eliza's school. My mother has never been able to attend one of these. However, this year she was able to make it. Well, actually, I agreed to take her students to the King Tut exhibit in exchange for her presence at the program.

Last night we rolled Eliza's hair in hot rollers and had her sleep in them.

She said it was the best thing ever! There was a musical program that featured musical arrangements from the 1920s through the 1980s. Eliza's grade represented the 1980s by singing and dancing to songs from Flashdance. She wore a neon yellow/green shirt, khaki skirt, tights, leg warmers, big hair, and blue eye makeup. She was so cute! My mother said she sang and danced so well! I'm attaching some of the pictures from the day.

Latest scrapbook pages - 5K Grad

I've tried four times today to post these to my gallery on Splitcoaststampers. After typing it all in (I wasn't smart enough to cut & paste), it went through the entire process and then defaulted back to the "upload new pictures" page. Durn.

I really like the way this turned out. I started out doing the SBSC163. I was very intrigued by it, but I didn't know how to accomplish that chain thing in the middle. I reproduced the shape using the sizes of chipboard flowers. You could recognize that shape better before I put the DSP under it, but it was missing something. I found another challenge, faux sheers (SBVVC49) and incorporated that as well. I was able to use a lot of supplies I've been hoarding in my stash for years!

Paper: SU almost amethyst, Wild Asparagus "for my husband" line using the paisley pattern, the green swirl pattern, and the coordinating ivory solidStamps: finials and frames

Ink: not quite navy

Accessories: Versamark, heat & stick powder, unknown microfine celery glitter, vellum, basic black stampin' journaler

Techniques: heat & stick powder, heat embossing

Box-a-saurus

Eliza was assigned a project last week - to create a Box-a-saurus. We knew it would be a challenge to get it done. Roy was supposed to work with her over the weekend. Well, the weekend came - and went. And so did Roy - he's in Fort Worth the rest of the week for a science convention (woo-hoo!). This year I took away his debit card, gave him cash for meals and a little spending (he and the guys might enjoy a malted beverage while away). I hope that curtails a lot of the problems. Last year he came home with an African millipede. But I digress ... that's another story...

Anyway, we remembered tonight - yes, after school - that the dinosaur is due TOMORROW. Grrr. I had envisioned a night of crafting, however, this isn't what I had in mind. After much deliberation (actually done throughout the last week and not last minute), Eliza chose the Gilmoreosaurus. According to the project it was supposed to be done without parent help and using recycled materials from home. I think we all know (especially speaking as a teacher) that most of the parents did the projects for the kids. I did help Eliza with some of the details, but she really did the project. I will admit to doing some of the clay smushing. Being a control freak and perfectionist, it was pretty hard to let her do it all alone.

Eliza made her dinosaur out of an empty Gain detergent jug covered in some kind of clay mixture made of volcanic ash. She cut the tail and legs from foam sheets. She used a styrofoam egg for the head and pinned on two jumbo blue sequins for the eyes. Since it is an herbivore (she informed me that meant it was a plant-eater), she pinned *many* sequin leaves in place of a mouth. It was hungry after 80 million years.

We had a long talk about how beautiful I thought her project is and how proud I am that she did it herself. I told her about "some kids I've taught" that didn't do their own work and how much more I value their work if they do it instead of their parents. I hope that she took from that conversation what I intended: if other people show up with "prettier" dinosaurs, hers is still perfect because she did the work herself.

By the way, the ribbons are not permanent (I don't think). The foam sheets kept coming loose so Eliza had to devise a way to hold them in place until the glue dried.

Grrr!

I've put off posting for a few days because of time and because I wanted to post again when I was able to update my banner. I want a pretty & cutesy banner rather than this plain one. After doing some preliminary research, I found that the best way to do that is by digitally scrapbooking one. I tried to digitally scrapbook once. I failed.

So I downloaded a free kit (amazing stuff, by the way, at Fishscraps). I went in search of a free scrapbook software and found Scrapbook Flair. It is the one that turns up most on searches. It also happens to be the one I downloaded in my previous attempt and later uninstalled from my computer. I can't get it to work. Period. It's horrible. It is not user friendly. The backgrounds and elements that go with the site (the only ones I can get pasted on) are ugly and - to use a retro term - cheesy. Uggghhhh. So I've given up again. I can't justify buying Photoshop just for the banner and I won't be digi-scrapping in the future. Grrrr.

On another note, I joined a scrapbook challenge on SCS. I set as my goal 10 pages for the month of November. That is a real stretch for me. And I'm commited to *not* using April's pages as three of my layouts! Even with hers, 5 layouts would be more than I usually make. :) However, I got right on the ball and made my first layout, so I'm 2/10 so far! I used a past challenge sketch and modified it to be a double page spread. I'm really excited about how it turned out.

Some playing time

I'm almost a Stampin' Up purist. They could count me 100% if they would produce more Christian sets. I would love some really great line art to watercolor and Bible verses. As it is, I find some of my inspiration coming from Our Daily Bread.

I took a few minutes this morning to have some me-time and stamp. I wanted something completely different. I usually only have the opportunity to stamp (at the last minute, sometimes) for my Stamp a Stack I host once a month.

The set I grabbed this morning was "Light of the World" one from ODB. I made two very similar cards with different sentiments. On the left, I was aiming for a monochromatic scheme that would highlight the light in a dark world. On the right, I tried for a sunset idea. I'm new to pastels (I've only used them once before these cards), so I still have a lot to learn.

Psalm 27:1 (on the left)

Paper: not quite navy, blue bayou, very vanilla (all SU)

Stamps: Our Daily Bread - Light of the World

Ink: not quite navy (SU)

Accessories: brads (non-SU)

Technique: SU pastels

Psalm 119:105 (on the right)

Paper: not quite navy, ruby red, very vanilla (all SU)

Stamps: Our Daily Bread - Light of the World

Ink: not quite navy (SU)

Accessories: brads (SU)

Technique: SU pastels

Trick or Treat!

Wow, I'm exhausted! I certainly don't remember being this tired after an evening of trick or treating. Perhaps it has something to do with the thirty-some-odd years that have passed.

Roy's got the girls in the tub, but I can hear that they are still so completely wired. We only visited two houses - Dave & Kate's (my brother and his wife) and Denise & Roddey's (my mother's best friend). After that, we went to the church to the Autumn Festival. It was so packed when we first got there we could barely walk. It did thin out, but I bet they had over a thousand people there tonight. The girls got way too much candy. I bet they had seven or eight pounds together. (I know some students who'll be happy on Monday!) When we got home, they poured the candy out onto a chair in the living room and started digging. I tried to put the candy back into the buckets (so I could relocate the buckets to a much higher location) when Eva Grace threw her body on top of the cand and yelled, "That's my candy!" Had it not been so dishearting, it would have been funny.

Eliza was Wonder Woman this year. She told me for weeks that was what she wanted to be. I didn't know where I'd get that costume. I happened to be walking along in Wal-Mart and saw ONE costume left. It was a size too large, but after spending 30 minutes digging through every costume there, I discovered that it was the last WW costume in the store. Eva Grace didn't get much choice in her costume. She was a ballerina. She had little Isotoner slippers that she wore briefly, but she ripped the tiny bows off and refused to keep them on. Of course, they are/were the cutest ever.

Happy Fall!

Fall is in full force, October is almost gone, and the year will soon be a memory. My mother always says (around New Year's), "Before you know it, it will be Christmas again!" She's usually right. The days are getting shorter. The wind is brisk and the days cool. Fall is my favorite time of the year. Well, a close tie because I do love summer also! I love Christmas, but Thanksgiving has a special place in my heart. The colors and decorations are beautiful. The memories of family are sweet. Happy fall!

Great stamping week so far! I took Monday off work to work on cards and deal with the insurance company about my car. I wasn't terribly creative, but I made six very pretty cards for my October Stamp a Stack. Several of them were cased from some very talented stampers on Splitcoast. This first one is a direct case from luv my dolly. I love the stark beauty of the dove and the beautiful colors. I think I may use this for my Christmas cards. Someone mentioned last night, though, that you could use this as a sympathy card or - by changing the word to "Love" - a wedding card. More cards on the way! I'll post again tomorrow.

What a Day!

Wow. I had a non-stop bell-to-bell day.

It was tiring and my voice is still not 100%. I didn't have orchestra tonight. We were going to eat at the church anyway, but the weather was so nasty we didn't want my grandfather to fall trying to get up the stairs. So I ordered dinner from The Diner (http://www.thedinertyler.com/), picked up Eliza from school and headed home. I was sitting at a red light and all of a sudden we felt a terrible jar. We were rear ended. I pulled over at the gas station on the corner, called the police, and started getting the information we needed.

We were all ok. Eliza was shocked, Momma got a bad headache, and her back hurt a little. I was fine. The guy that hit us was young and just not paying attention. That tank I drive was barely dented, though I think there is some more significant damage than can't be seen - the computer parking sensors were missing off the bumper and the control panel is dinging with errors. As much as I hate that thing, I bought it for the safety features and it sure has held up. They guy's truck - an Explorer SportTrack - was pretty crumpled. It looked worse than mine.

I keep checking on Eliza, but she seems to be fine. We had a serious discussion about safety, seatbelts, and car wrecks. So often, I see dangers coming my way. I didn't have an inkling that a truck was hurtling toward us. It is a humbling thought that our existence is so fragile.

Check this out! Two posts in the same day. And I actually followed through with one promise I made! There are some pictures of the new puppy, Chloe.

She's cute and fuzzy. Her hair sticks straight out. She really is a ball of fur!

Next is a picture of Roy with Chloe. Roy calls her "his dog", "pup", and "darling". He really loves this puppy.

Back Again ... With Better Intentions

Well, here I am again. I am back again after an extended period of time MIA. Life has gotten so much better, you can't even begin to understand the difference. I feel alive again - I can breathe and have time to stop and notice life around me. I'm actually seeing my children and husband again.

I've done a lot of scrapbooking lately (well, in the past month or so). I would love to get some quality time in again soon! Unfortunately, I have class the next two weekends (I hate these double weeks). The good part is that I am half way done with this doctorate! Woo-hoo!!!

I plan to post some pictures tonight of recent (dubious definition) creations. Perhaps I can even spend a little time in my room tonight.

In other news, I had a terrible headache on Saturday and Sunday - no doubt my blood pressure was high (I had, um, forgotten, to take my medicine for a, um, while). On Sunday I was sitting on the couch playing SCS. Roy and Eliza went to Lowe's to get something for the yard. I leaned back and fell asleep. I woke up to them coming home. With a gift. A new puppy. She is very cute but COMPLETELY unexpected. I didn't realize that we were in the market for a dog. She is a golden shepherd, a mixed breed I had never heard of. Her father was a golden shepherd, but almost completely white and her mother was a golden retriever (I think I have that right). The girls were both really excited. Eliza had already named her Chloe before they got home. I'll definitely post some pictures tonight. Actually, I haven't even taken pictures of her yet. I'll do that this afternoon.

Long time since

Again it's been a long time since I've written. So much has happened. Perhaps (if I can finish out my summer work) things will finally slow down and I can have a real life again. Well, that's not true. But it will be a lot better than the last year. I plan to scrapbook tonight or tomorrow. I'll post whatever I produce. Maybe it will be good.

Where are you?

A fairly commonplace question was posed to me that truly made me stop and think. Where do I really see myself in five years? Ten years? We all answer these questions with our pipe dreams. "I want to be in a successful career." or "I want to have a new career." or "I want my family to be financially comfortable." or "I want to be married (or in some people's cases, divorced!)" or "I want to have children."

How much of my answer is fairy tale? What am I doing now to make a difference? I mean, a difference in my workplace, my family, my career? These things don't fall into place. What am I doing to consciously change my future? I heard someone say something a few weeks ago. I immediately emailed it to myself and I've pondered it since then.

"Isn't today the tomorrow we worried about yesterday?"

Wow. It still makes me think about my own role in my destiny. I believe in a fair amount of predestination, but I also believe that we have free will to make choices. My choices have not been stellar lately. Redirection. Clarity. Centering. Thoughtful.

Wow. Three whole months have passed since I last sat to write. I have finished almost a semester of school, but we still have about 75% of the work ahead of us. My girls are growing. I hated that they had spring break last week and I had to work, but I'm enjoying the time this week. They are at school but I'm getting to go eat lunch with them, attend their Easter parties, and generally be an involved parent.

I've been a Stampin' Up demo for about 8 months. I only joined for the discounts. I certainly don't have time to run a business on the side. However, I'm hosting my first class tomorrow night. I've called it a Stamp a Stack and they guests will make twelve cards - two each of six designs. I finally finished my designs tonight and cut out all of the papers. I think there will be six people attending tomorrow night. I'm really kind of excited. It was harder than I thought to come up with six designs that people could make in a reasonable amount of time.

Happy New Year

At the beginning of another new year, I want to pause to remember all the people for whom I'm thankful. My husband, my daughter, my family, my church friends, my cohort friends, my SCS friends. For these, I thank God.

On that note, I find it apropos to include a video that I found absolutely amazing. I got it just this morning. What a thought to begin a new year!

Who Am I (Casting Crowns)