Did you plant these?

I am so not a gardener. A few years ago I planted a bunch of things that would come back every year and I wouldn't have to mess with them. Hosta, Daylily, Tulips, Daffodils, I've got some phlox, there were some peonys there already when we moved in. Well, I haven't done much with it since then and it is pretty over grown. Things need to be split and moved. Maybe next year.

So we have been ignoring the flower beds and every couple of weeks my husband takes the weed wacker and trims down the weeds. He left a huge thistle that I guess he thought was a flower. It turned all brown after it got taller than me and he finally got rid of it. We had some trees coming up that I took out and we had something coming up in an old flower pot that I had Gerber Daisies in a few years ago. That something turned out to be these sunflowers. I never put them there. Maybe the kids planted them?

My initial, slighty intoxicated, thoughts on the new SU! Catalog

Last week, my dear friend Crystal came to my rescue and brought me one of her preordered catalogs so I could drool over it. I decided not to buy a box this year and instead buy a couple from my upline since I only have one customer and do a workshop once every few years. She showed up in the midst of a crisis that didn't turn out as bad as I thought. My son had cut his lip and I thought he put his tooth clean through it, but he didn't. Anyway, once I got all the kiddies to bed I decided to indulge in a big glass of wine. It was like half the bottle mixed with a little sprite, because I am a sissy and a lightweight when it comes to drinking. If I drank more often I am sure I wouldn't get tipsy so easily. After taking only a few sips and perusing the catalog I decided to shoot an email off to Crystal telling her thanks and apologizing for the craziness and telling her what I thought of the catalog. I also sent this to Tracy, my upline, just incase she wanted to know what I thought too. I guess wine makes me chatty. Lucky for Crystal and Tracy I have a severe aversion to the telephone or I would've been chatting their ears off. So I thought I would share with you all what I thought since I know the whole world is dying to know what I think of the new catalog...

Thank you so much for bringing me that catty! I am so sorry all heck was
breaking loose when you showed up. I was going to make you look at Carter and
tell me if I should take him to the ER, but I didn't want to traumatize you or
Megan. It ended up not being that bad after we got it to stop bleeding and put
ice on it to get the swelling down. Phew!

So after all that I opened a bottle of wine and have taken two sips from my big glass and have been perusing the catalog. So don't mind the chattyness. Have you made out a list yet? Of what you are going to order I mean. This is my list. I need to talk this through. Hee hee.

Tasty Sweet - cute, but how many Halloween sets do I really need? I
have carved and candlelit, and have used it maybe once. It isn't current though,
but we aren't doing a Halloweeen camp so it would only be for personal use...
Hmm

Snow Swirled - really like this one. But how many Christmas sets does a
girl need. My projects for our Christmas camp don't really require stamping so I
don't need another, but I may cave on this one. I am such a sucker for
snowflakes.

Owl Together Now - I am disappointed in this one. The owls are
too little. I think I am going to have to get the one from CHF with the owls or
the PTI one.

Humor in High Heals - This one is a maybe... but
then I just looked at the price and am not so sure it is worth that to
me.

Cheers to You - Yeah I am getting this one and I know you
probably don't need to borrow it. Does it seem like the newer sets are
higher priced than they used to be? Well they are die cut.

Crazy for Cupcakes - Cute. Maybe. Giant cupcake on the next page... umm probably
not.

Putt Putt - Cute concept, but not for $24.95

Pocket Silhouettes - Cute, but too small for me I think.

Inspired By Nature, Kindred Spirits - both of these intrigue me. I'm not sure though.

Happiness is a Journey and Nature Silhouettes - I would like to have a masculine set. I like the saying in the first, but not really feeling the train. I like the images in the second, but I don't know when I would use the sentiment. You know I'm not all about that.

Under the Stars - Definately when it is on sale like I think I heard
it would be.

Say it with Scallops - I like it. I wish that lollipop image
was some where in a different set and bigger though. I like the lollipop
flowers.

Puns from the Past - I like this. I like puns. The images are kind
of small. I like bigger. It is in the preview catty so maybe when those sets are
on sale.

I'm so happy the Summer Picnic didn't retire and you have a pack
of paper you can use. If you want to borrow my Tart and Tangy someday you
can.

I don't like the Christmas paper so much and I need Christmas paper
for the camp. We are making some gift bags... I hope there is some cool paper in
the Holiday mini. But our camp is in October so I don't know if I will be able
to order that in time. Ok now off to finish my wine.

It Felt So Good

I actually stamped this past weekend. I went downstairs, dusted off the cob webs, literally, and cleaned my stamp area. Then I proceeded to tweak my stamp camp cards. And after all of that came this beauty. I had fun making it and I am happy with how it turned out. Isn't that what it is all about?


And then yesterday these came in the mail. I preordered these back in June before the promise I made to myself. I can't wait to ink these. I love my Rachelle Ann Miller stamps.

Same Ole, Same Ole

No stamping. I have my last two SU! orders sitting in their boxes still. I did open them to check and make sure they were all good and they were. But that is as far as I have gotten. I have packages and more packages of stamps, ribbons, brads, dew drops, gems, stickles, etc. that I have received from the PIF threads piled up on my desk. I need to put it all in its place and stamp again. I obviously haven't gotten anywhere on that promise I made to myself a few posts back. I need to stamp something if I am going to get anywhere with that. Maybe this weekend...

Got Sidetracked

I meant to post this last week after my order came and I added a button to it. Well, my order came and I was too lazy to add a button to it and take another picture. So I was going to post it and then all the new SU! catalog and convention news started coming out and I completely forgot about this card. Amidst all the excitement I got a gig as a temporary mod at SCS helping with the convention threads. I am like almost famous... in my eyes anyway. Hee hee!

This card features the Emerging Colors technique. And it has some of the new SU! colors. Tangerine Tango and Baja Breeze. I paired them up with So Saffron and Not Quite Navy.

I stamped!

On Friday I got together with Crystal and made some card prototypes for the next stamp camp. These are using all SU! products of course. The stamp set is Pun Fun. I wanted to make a card where they could pick any image from the set to use as the main image and with Pun Fun that is easy because they are all similar in size. Here are two examples of the same card.

The colors I used were Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue and Pumpkin Pie. I stamped the main image in black StazOn on Confetti White. I prefer to use a thicker cardstock when I am going to use aqua painters or the blender pens. For these I used the aqua painter with Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I borrowed Crystal's scallop border punch for the scalloped Pumpkin Pie piece and I added a dot to each scallop with the white gel pen. I tied a knot in the Pumpkin Pie striped ribbon and wrapped it around the Bashful Blue cardstock. The main image is popped up with dimensionals. I think for the camp we will stamp the Polka Dot background stamp on the Bashful Blue layer.

COMING SOON...

To a computer screen near you. SU! ONLINE ORDERING!!!!!! See that link on the right for my Stampin' Up! Website? I need to make it big and flashy or something cause soon you will be able to go there and order SU! products 24/7. You won't have to call me or email me. Of course if you want to that is fine too. But if you'd rather deal only with your computer you can have at it. More details to come.

Making a Promise to Myself

Sorry for the lack of creative posts! I haven't stamped since my last stamp camp. Oh the horrors. I have plans to stamp this Friday with my pal Crystal. Hopefully, I can come up with something good and it won't be a repeat of the worst stamp night ever where I made The Card from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks.

So the reason for this post is that I am making a promise to myself regarding my stamp buying habits. I have so many stamps that I had to have and that haven't gotten used. I am no longer going to buy stamps (other than SU!). I am going to earn those stamps that I want. How will I do this, you ask? I will use what I have, or get images from other stampers, and make projects to enter contests to win said stamps. Or enter blog candy drawings (don't laugh I have one two blog candy drawings in my life). Or get on a design team.

These are the stamps I want and I am going to earn (this list maybe modified):

1. Verve Anniversary Birds
2. The Cat's Pajamas It's a Mod, Mod World
3. CHF Kim Hughes URA Hoot
4. CHF Kim Hughes Making the Grade
   

Ok there are more I want, but maybe I should stop here and see where that gets me. Hee hee.

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.