The Furry Side of My Family

This is our old gal Sable. She is 10. We got her when we first started dating. Both of us were deprived of dogs in our youth so we are making up for it now. Corey was big into duck and goose hunting so he wanted to get a Lab. Sable is not the typical affectionate lab. I think she was separated from her mom too early. She is very independant and doesn't really care if you pet her. She pretty much just walks away from the kids. Carter chases her all over the yard and she just keep walking away from him. Sable has had two litters of puppies. One was planned. That one she had 10 babies. 6 girls and 4 boys. 6 of them were black and 4 were yellow like their daddy. The other time we didn't even know she was pregnant and Corey went out to feed the dogs and heard crying. We quickly moved them all into the house and set up a bed for her. She had two out in the kennel and had two more overnight in our basement. They were mixed puppies. We believe she hooked up with Ace's brother Duce that we had at the time, unbeknownst to us.


This is Ace. He is an English Pointer. I think he is about 4 year old. He is one placement away from being a champion field trial dog. He makes me a little nervous because he has a big strong looking jaw, but he has never tried to bite us. He loves attention and to be petted and he listens very well to my husband. Not so much to me. He looks at me like who are you talking to? especially if DH is around.

This is my baby Bailey. She is a Minature Schnauzer. She is the only house dog. The others all stay in the outdoor kennel that is heated in the winter. She is almost 2. Corey hates her because she barks at everything. The only thing that bugs me about her is that she always manages to get her tongue in your mouth when she gives kisses and she gives them when you aren't ready. Eww!

This is Dot. She is an English Setter. She is only a couple of months old. They are similar to English Pointers, but they have longer hair and don't get as big. She is a nut and likes to chew on everything including the kids. Morgan does not like her at all. There is Maddie sitting in the background.

And here is Daisy. Ace's girlfriend when she gets older. Also an English Pointer. About the same age as Dot. She is a sweety. And if you want to see the freckles on her butt check out the next picture. I stratigically placed a flower over the not so cute part. You can click the pic to see the freckles if you want.

THE END! Hee hee!

I've been away

We were "up North" last week. That is what we say here in the lower part of Michigan. In the summer you go "up North" camping or to the cabin, or whatever.
We had to tent it this year. Our lease was up on the truck the week before our trip and we ended up turning it in and are borrowing my MILs car during the week until we can pick up a car for DH to drive that we can pay cash for. So no truck meant no borrowing my mom's pop up and it also meant a very packed Chevy Malibu. I should've gotten a picture of that. When we left we had 2 kids, 3 bikes, a huge duffle bag and a packed trunk. When we came home we had 3 kids, 4 bikes, a huge duffle bag and a packed trunk. Oh and a dog we pick up on the way home. Don't even ask!
Ok, I can't just say we picked up a dog and not explain. Her name is Daisy. She is an English Pointer. We have a male English Pointer named Ace. She Ace'e new girlfriend. My DH had been talking with her owner and was going to buy her and I told him we needed another dog like a hole in the head and so he came to his senses and told the guy we couldn't afford her. They guy wasn't able to find a suitable owner and kept contacting DH. Eventually they came to an agreement that he would give us the dog in exchange for one of their pups down the road. She is a really sweet dog. She has freckles on her butt. Hee hee. She slept on my lap for the last hour of our ride home after we picked her up. I'll have to get a picture of her and all the other dogs we have.
I was tagged while I was away by Jana. I have to list 7 random things about me.
1. I have a blue M&M guy tattoo.
2. I love M&Ms.
3. I am so mad those Wildly Cherry M&Ms and the Raspberry ones were limited editions and now I can't find them.
4. I picked up some designer M&Ms at the store the other day. Way too expensive! But they look cool and the triple chocolate are really good. I am trying to eat them slowly.
5. I am addicted to blurfing.
6. I also got peanut butter ice cream sandwiches at the store the other day and they are really good too!
7. I just got this funny email from my aunt...

There is a factory in Northern Minnesota which makes the Tickle Me Elmo toys.
The toy laughs when you tickle it under the arms.Well, Lena is hired at The
Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00
am.
The next day at 8:45 am there is a knock at the Personnel Manager's
door. The
Foreman throws open the door and begins to rant about the new
employee.He
complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is
backing up, putting
the entire production line behind schedule.The Personnel
Manager decides he
should see this for himself, so the 2 men march down to
the factory floor.
When they get there the line is so backed up that
there are Tickle Me
Elmo's all over the factory floor and they're really
beginning to pile up. At
the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by
mountains of Tickle Me Elmo's. She
has a roll of plush Red fabric and a huge
bag of small marbles. The 2 men watch
in amazement as she cuts a little
piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles
and begins to carefully sew the
little package between Elmo's legs. The
Personnel Manager bursts into
laughter. After several minutes of hysterics
he pulls himself together
and approaches Lena .. 'I'm sorry,' he says to her,
barely able to keep a
straight face, 'but I think you misunderstood the
instructions I gave you
yesterday...''Your job is to give Elmo two test
tickles.

I am supposed to tag more people, but I am lazy so if you want to list 7 things about yourself, consider yourself tagged!

My First Mini VSN

This past weekend I participated in my 1st ever VSN (Virtual Stamp Night). This happened to be a mini VSN. The big one is in August. The challege this card was made for was to use numbers on a card. It was inspired by the Stephanie Plum series of books that all include numbers in their titles. If you haven't read them they are a definate must by Janet Evonovich.

I decided to make a long card and I used my old SU! Crazy Number set and the Stampendous Hugs & Laughs stamp that had been sitting uninked. The paper and embellishments are all by SU!

Happy Things

These are the things that are making me smile today.

Isn't this yummy? This is my new bracelet.

Here is some more of it. It was made by Patricia Robitaille. And HERE is her Etsy Shop. She makes her own glass beads. I love beads. These are so shiny and look like candy.
I took a class once on glass bead making. I have the torch and some rods still. Maybe one day I will give it a go again.

This is one of the items in the CafePress shop. A month or so ago CP added some embroidered items to the product line up. I applied this design to a couple of products and I ordered one to see how it would come out. I love it! It is fabulous. I will be adding the embroidered items in the other designs as soon as I get a chance to play with them.
The sale of these items help to fund the SCS Michigan Mingle. Some of them say "SCS Michigan Mingle" on them and others don't. So there is something for everyone there. Check it out!

Did I ever tell you how Rubber Lovers Unite! came to be? It is kind of funny. I am a co-organizer for the SCS Michigan Mingle. This year we decided to make t-shirts for the event that people could order through CafePress. We weren't sure what to put on them so we held a contest. We didn't tell the minglers what it was for, but told them to submit their favorite stamping related catch phrases/tag lines. Patty posted that they might not want to submit things such as Rubber Lovers Unite, and right then and there I knew I had to make it into a shirt. It works for stamping and promoting safe sex!

Tart & Tangy x 4

Orange

Scratch N Sniff Cherry

Scratch N Sniff Green Apple

Strawberry

These are some samples of the cards we did at the last stamp camp. They made the treat pouches too. Tracy's projects were an altered frapicchino bottle and cute peekaboo card with the A Little Birdie Told me set.

These projects used Tart & Tangy, Summer Picnic DS paper and various cardstock and ribbons in Old Olive, Real Red, Bashful Blue and Pumpkin Pie.

More Lily and We Went to the Zoo

Here is another Lily card that I made. I also colored this one with my SU! Markers. The colors are Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, and Almost Amethyst.

This weekend we went to the Detroit Zoo. Here is a picture of Morgan, Carter and I with the rinos.

This was in the kangaroo exhibit. You walk into an area where the roos are free and there is no fence between you and them. Not much excitement today. They were all resting.

Here is the prairie dog exhibit. They have a little tunnel where kids can go underground and pop their heads up through these tubes to see the prairie dogs close up. This is Carter in the tube.

Here is Carter and Morgan outside of the polar bear exhibit.

This is a polar bear in the grass. Just doesn't look right.

Here is a seal. This is in the underwater portion of the polar bear exhibit. I think these guys are separated from the polar bears or they would be bear food, don't ya think?

Lily & Milo

I was one of the 1st people in America to get my hands on these stamps. That is what the place I ordered them from said anyway. And did I touch them? No. I let Crystal stamp them. Last night I finally played with them a little and I must say I love them. They are fun to color. I used my SU! markers to color this one.

BTW - Check out my new watermark. Also by Veronica. She rocks!

CHECK IT OUT!!!!

Do you like it? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!! Veronica did it. There is a blinky near the bottom of the right column if you want to check her out. She is fabulous!
p.s. I'm talking about my new blog design if you didn't figure that out. If you are seeing yellow, red and blue then you need to refresh!

My Little Ballerina

This past weekend was the big recital. Ballet, tap and hip hop this year. Next year she says she doesn't want to take ballet and tap because the costumes always have polka dots. I don't know what her problem is with polka dots. I love polka dots.

So yesterday was Maddie's last day of school and this morning she left to spend the next three weeks with my mom. I won't see her until we go up North for the 4th of July weekend, but I will talk to her just about everyday. She doesn't really miss us when she goes to stay with grandma. She is pretty independant and glad to get some time away from her little brother. But we will miss her.

Tagged

I got tagged a couple of times in the last week and just haven't had an opportunity to post. Jennifer at Just Jennifer's Stamping tagged me first and then Patty at Paper Patty got me next. Lucky for me they were for the same game so I can kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Hee hee!

1- Life 10 years ago: I had just started my current job and just met my now husband. I was single, had no kids, didn't stamp or scrap, and we might have just gotten Sable our black lab.

2- 5 things on today's 'to-do' list: 1. Go to work and get caught up on what I missed Thursday and Friday. 2. Go to the PO. 3. Pick up the kids and go home. 4. Figure out what is for dinner. 5. Put the laundry away. Exciting huh?

3- Snacks that I enjoy: Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, M&M's, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Blizzards with Chocolate Ice Cream and Strawberries, or Blizzards with Chocolate Ice Cream and Oreos, or Blizzards with Chocolate Ice Cream and Cheesecake Chunks & Caramel.

4- Things I would do if I were a millionaire: Pay all my bills off, buy a bigger house, buy a house for my mom, buy a mustang, buy lots of M&Ms, put money in the kids college funds.

5- Places I have lived: Buena Vista CO, Colorado Spgs CO, New Baltimore MI, Mesa AZ, Phoenix AZ, Plymouth MI, Canton MI, Northville MI, Farmington MI, Waterford MI, Wixom MI, West Bloomfield MI, and Davison MI.

And now I am tagging:

Jana at http://indyemmert.blogspot.com/

Crystal at http://www.stampwithcrystal.blogspot.com/

Laura at http://lauraevangeline.blogspot.com/

Lynn at http://thequeensscene.blogspot.com/

Cindy at http://cindyvernon.blogspot.com/

For Peep's Sake Winner!

I used my highly techinical method of asking my DH to pick a number again and the winner is...

Cindy Vernon said...
I have been stamping for over 10
years!! The candy is fab!
5:35 PM

Congrats Cindy! Send me an email with your address.
stampsnmore@hotmail.com

Thanks to all that played and helped me celebrate my 2 year blogiversary!

Penguin Winner!

And we have a winner for the 1st drawing for the penguin stamps. The winner was chosen by telling my DH to pick a number between 1 and 7. Only the best highly technical methods are used around here.

Jana Emmert said...
I thought paper towel too. I'm guessing
Bounty (I know it's not Brawny...)The card is really cute!
1:25 AM

Email me with you address Jana!
stampsnmore@hotmail.com

There is still time to enter the other drawing. So give it a shot!

BTW - yes it was paper towel that I used for my backdrop. It was the cheap stuff from Aldi.

Happy Blogiversary! Happy Blogiversary!

Happy Blogiversary! Happy Blogiversary!

I'm going to do another blog candy drawing today. This one will be for the stamps, some coordinating papers, and coordinating ribbons from the For Peep's Sake kit. You can see an example HERE. I'm also going to include the Thank You stamp that I used on this birdie card HERE. To enter into the drawing leave a comment here and tell me how long you have been stamping. Winner will be drawn from the entries received by 8PM EST on Monday, June 2nd 2008.

Let's Get This Party Started!

Sorry this isn't the best picture. I took it rather quickly before running out the door this morning. This card is for a swap and I needed to get them in the mail. Can you believe I have had this set, and other PTI sets, since they were released and haven't made any cards with them yet? Crazy! I did use the Holiday Treats set on some nuggets at Christmas, but no cards until now.

BLOG CANDY DRAWING!!!!
Post a comment here and tell me what I used for the backdrop when snapping the picture of this card. 1 entry per correct guess. Tell your friends by posting on your blog about my blog candy drawing and including a link, then post a comment here with your blog address and you will get 2 entries in the drawing. So you can get a total of 3 entries for this blog candy drawing. 1 for a correct guess and 2 for telling your friends. What is the prize you ask? The winner of this drawing will get the 4 Imaginisce stamps in the A Shore Thing collection shown HERE(penguin dude, penguin chick, popsicles, and flip flops). This blog candy drawing will close at 8PM EST on Sunday June 1st, 2008.

More blog candy coming up so stay tuned.

Supplies
PTI Green Thumb and PTI Stampers Select White Cardstock.
SU! Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, and Whisper White Cardstock, Soft Sky and Groovy Guava ink, White Gel Pen, Top Boss Embossing Pad, Clear Embossing Powder, and Soft Sky Double Stitched Ribbon.
Marvy Scalloped Circle Punches.

200th Post!

And my 2 year blogiversary is coming up on the 31st. I'm gonna have to do some blog candy for that.

I haven't done much stamping lately. The weather has been too nice. I was outside with the kids all day Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I got a little burnt.

These are some treat pouches that we will be doing at the stamp camps coming up next month. I have some scratch n sniff cards we will do too, but I haven't made the samples for those yet.

Supplies

SU Tart & Tangy, Summer Picnic DS paper, Many Marvelous Markers, Whisper White, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, and Real Red cardstock. Scalloped Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Real Red and Bashful Blue Striped Grosgrain.

Is it summer yet?

Today doesn't even feel like spring here. It is kind of chilly. This weekend is supposed to be warm though.

Maybe this bracelet will help get me in the summery mood.

I made this on Friday when I went over to Crystal's house to play with her and Lorie. I cheated and used these already made Imaginisce brads. I went to the store and picked up some more brads and chain yesterday and hope to make more cute bracelets soon.

The owl has landed!

Ok there are several of them and they arrived last week sometime, but I am just now getting around to telling you this. This is the stamp set I won from Christine at All that Scraps. This is my first CC Designs set.

I thought it was really cool that they come in these tins. And it is rubber with cling mount so I can use them with my acrylic blocks. I need to trim the individual stamps out.

This is a closeup of the cling mount. This is the black EZ mount. Real thin. Cool! This is the first time I have seen it in person. I need to get a sheet or two for some of my unmounted rubber. I think I like it better than the gray EZ mount.

I did get to stamp a bit on Friday so I will have some more posts this week. Just wanted to share this first. Can't post all the goodies in one day ya know.

No Stampin'

So sad isn't it? I haven't stamped for a few days. But I I took Thursday and Friday off this week. On Thursday I am meeting up with some Michigan Minglers at the big Scrapbooking Mega Meet in Novi. I haven't been in a couple of years. The last time I went I bought stupid stuff that I never used... paper quilling stuff and fuzzy iron on things for your scrapbook pages. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I will dig those out and challenge myself to use them.

This year I am going to be extra careful what I buy because I don't want to make the same mistakes again and I don't have much dough to spend. Speaking of which, I got that stimulus rebate from the government last week. It all went to pay bills. Now if they would give me another I could possibly do my part in stimulating the economy. We've been wanting to get a swing set/slide/playscape thingy for the back yard for a couple of years and something always comes up and we aren't able to do it. At first we had our sites set on a Rainbow. Do you know what they are? They cost a few thousand. We gave up that dream and now we are trying for the $500 version at Walmart/Toys R Us/Home Depot but that is out of our reach at this time. Bummer. So for now the kids go to the park or ride their bikes or climb on the roof of the little tykes playhouse that they are too big for. Some day...

I got a new doo!

See the new picture over there ---------------------->

I got 8" cut off this weekend! Woo-who!!! I feel like a new woman. They were able to donate those 8". I guess that is the minimum and can be used for bangs.

A Day of Downs and Ups

I woke up this morning and went to check and see if the stimulus rebate had made its way into our bank account yet. It hadn't. Bummer.
I was blurfing and remembered today was the day that the Swanky Stamper for the month of May would be named. How exciting. Kept refreshing Alma's blog.
It finally popped up and it wasn't me. Bummer.
Went to lunch with DD and DH. Then came back to work. Checked my email and saw that I had won blog candy from All That Scraps. I am soon to be the owner of the new A Hootin Good Time stamp set!!! WOOO-WHOOOO!!! That kind of makes up for not being the swanky stamper. There is always next month...