My Latest Addiction

When I was younger I was obsessed with R.L Stine and Christopher Pike books. I used to read a whole book in one sitting or during the drive up north for a camping trip. I grew up, went to the local college, and got a job and didn't have time to read like that. A few years ago some of the gals at work were reading those Janet Evanovich books. I was lent a few of them and really enjoyed them. Recently, for some strage reason, I decided I wanted to read again. Maybe it was so I could grab some time for myself and not feel as guilty about it. So I decided to go back to Janet's books and start at the beginning of the series. They are hilarious let me tell you. I also thought I should try out Harry Potter since I had enjoyed some of the movies. So as of now I have read the first two books in both series and I am about to start on the thirds.

My habits in blog reading have also been changing lately. I was into checking out all the stamping blogs but now I have found some that are more about people, people who are different from me and have really enjoyed reading about them. I shared a few recenlty and now I want to share the one that has me obsessed lately. Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. I just finished reading her whole blog from the beginning to the present and it is hilarious! It is amazing to see how much has happened to her in the past year and a half because of her blog. I want to move my husband to OK and turn him into a chaps wearing cattle rancher so he can make my hiney tingle the way her Marlboro Man makes her hiney tingle. I think hiney is my new favorite word. She has also inspired me to learn more about my camera and to try and take better pictures. There is nothing I hate more than looking at a site with out of focus pictures. And if you don't want to read about all the ranchin' stuff you can check out her cooking site and try out some of the yummy sounding recipes!

Have you heard about the gal that put those pokemon cards her kids snuck into the grocery cart up on Ebay? She has a blog too. Because I Said So . Now her life isn't so much different than mine, but she is funny too. It is amazing to see how much the internet has changed these peoples lives.

I'm back!

Actually been back for almost a week. But I just haven't gotten around to posting. We drove 22 hours straight to get home. Vacations are exhausting with 3 little ones and we just didn't want to drag it out another day. I shouldn't have said we in regards to the driving. I offered plenty of times, but Corey insisted on doing it all himself so he could brag about it later. Men. I did drive for a little bit on the way there. I was begging to drive so he would have to be the one to deal with the kids every two minutes. But he wasn't falling for it much. I've got lots of pictures to share, but I want to save those for another day. Last night I was playing with my camera and my settings must be off. I don't know much about my camera. I have to pull out the book. I try to keep it on the default but Corey must've switched something on it. Here are some funny pictures from last night.

Twisted on a Smaller Scale

I recently participated in a Twisted ATC swap. No vendor restrictions so I decided to try out one of my Bellas that have been hiding in my contraband box. I have a contraband box full of non-SU stamps that I buy and look at. I took them to my pals house recently to show a couple of my fellow SU demos the unmounted stamps and acrylic stamps. My upline Tracy actually put ink on one and stamped it. Did you see the look on my face Crystal? I was in shock. She took away my Cosmo Bella's virginity in a flash just like that in front of my eyes! I eventually got over it. Anyway, I buy these stamps and then don't use them unless I have a reason to. I rarely get to stamp just for fun. I have to sign up for swap so that I have a reason to stamp and then my husband has to let me and most of the swaps are SU swaps and prepping for stamp camps is all SU stuff so my contraband sits in it's lonely box. But Cosmo Bella has been out a couple of times since she lost her virginity. And this is one of them.



Sorry the picture isn't the greatest. I didn't make any extra and needed to get them in the mail. Three kids were waiting impatiently to leave while I tried to snap this pic.
The saying is "People like you are the reason I drink!". The colors are Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip and Blush Blossom. Her shirt is some desiger paper from one of the SU minis that I can't think of the name of. There is some bling on her drink. It is a little crystal thingy from Amuse.

On second thought...

Friday wasn't as good of a day as I thought it was. It was a day of ups and downs. After I posted I ripped a whole in my jeans. That was bad. So at lunch I went out and got a new pair of jeans that fit really good and were on sale for $16. That was good. I also picked up quite a few clothes for Morgan who is growing like a weed and they were clearanced on top of the marked down. That was good. I picked the wrong line at the check out and that TOOK FOREVER. That was bad. Ok well enough about Friday.

Today I have a couple more cards from the DKOS swap to share.

The first is a Donut Card made famous by JanTink, well famous to me anyway. I got to use my scalloped circle on this one before it started acting up on me. The card base is Rose Red and I used the Spot On Jumbo wheel in white craft ink. I put a Certainly Celery scallop circle on the front and punched a 1 3/8" hole through it and the front of the card. Then on the inside I have layered circles and images from the Seeing Spots set in Cameo Coral and So Saffron.
This one is made with the Touch of Nature set. I also used my Weathered background on it. The base is Almost Artichoke and then I have Brocade Blue and Bravo Burgandy. The ribbon is the bluebird grosgrain SU retired. I watercolored the flower with Peerless Transparent watercolors from www.stampingfreak.com and I also used the oval scalloped frames and doodles from stampingfreak with my Giga Scalloped Oval. This one is kind of off center because I decided to add it after I punched and didn't get it lined up quite right, but the ones for the swap were all good. I'm not thrilled with this card. Not sure if it just isn't my style or I am missing something...

It's a good day, really it is

It started out with my 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum because he didn't want to wear his spiderman shirt. He wanted to wear his incredible shirt. We have 3 Incredible's shirts and he already wore two of them this week. I told him spiderman was lonely and missed him. So I had him dressed and he went into his room and found the last clean incredible shirt. I told him not to put it on...mainly because he had spiderman shorts on and it wouldn't match (yes, I am a bit anal when it comes to these things) and also because I just didn't want him to get his way after throwing a fit. So I go into the bathroom and help big sissy get her teeth and hair brushed and come out to find Dad putting the incredible t-shirt on him. I lost it. Gave Dad a lecture on giving into a 3 year old after throwing a tantrum and when we left the house everyone was dressed as I had planned.

Got to day care and found out that one of the gals from the infant room is going to be leaving. Barb is a really sweet lady and I will miss her. Morgan is going to be transitioning to the toddler room next week so she wouldn't be spending much more time with her anyway. Yes, they are kicking Morgan out of the infant room. She is the oldest in there and there are new babies that need spots. Plus, she looks longingly through the french doors to the toddler room most of the day, I am told. Morgan takes all the toys from the less mobile babies too. She is the big bully of the infant room. No not really, but she does hog the toys and push the other babies around in the walkers. They need to get it on video. It is like walker bumper cars with Morgan leading the pack, or so I am told.

Then I come to work and check my email to find that the velvet wine bags my upline ordered to test for our next camp work. THEY WORK!!!! We will be doing velvet stamping on the bags for one of the projects for our Christmas camp. Woo-Who!! Can you tell I am thrilled? The first bags that came in did not work. So we were looking for alternative projects, but now we don't have to. So our Christmas camp will feature the velvet wine bags, a candle & tile candle holder set, a little purse thing with 3X3 cards in it (I think that is it), and 3 simple Christmas cards.

And now for a card...
This card features the Doodle That set (didn't make the big catalog). The colors are Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard and Always Artichoke. I did some DTP on the card base. I roughed up the edges of the chocolate chip with the distressing tool in the cutter kit. I used the word window punch for the little tab thing. I used my scalloped circle punch and other circle punches. I also used a stardust pen on the swirly vine part, but it is hard to see here.

It's About Darn TIME!

I took some pictures of the stuff I had been working on in the last MONTH or so. Here is a card I did for Crystal's non-convention goers swap.
Sorry it is kind of dark. I took it outside because it is usually brighter, but a cloud must've passed by. This is the Baroque Motifs set. So classy! I used Not Quite Navy, Soft Sky, Basic Black and Whisper White. The swirl image is stamped in Soft Sky on the white and also stamped in versamark and embossed clear.




This card I am aweful proud of. It was for the Different Kind of Swap #13. The rules for this one said we had to use It's Your Birthday, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore and brads... What a crazy color combo, huh? Well I went looking for my Au Chocolat paper (which I didn't find and I know I have to have some left) and instead I found this paper I got at Joann's before Christmas. And can you believe it actually had those colors in it? Well close enough for me any way. I added some Apricot Appeal paper and used Real Red brads.


I've got a few more pics to share, but I will save those for another day.

Sorry for the lack of stamping stuff lately

I need to take pictures of some of the cards I made the weekend before last... Maybe tonight.

I've got a couple of projects I need to get done this weekend and then we will be going on a family trip across country to Colorado to visit my Dad and Grandpa. It has been a long time since I have been out there and Corey and I are really looking forward to it. The kids are really excited too. I'm kind of nervous about spending 20 hours in the car with 3 kids ages 5 and under, but we will survive.

I've been wanting to share this blog with you. It isn't a stamping blog, but I have become fascinated with it. Her life is just so different than mine. It looks like it is straight out of BH&G or something like that. I think she actually is in some kind of magazine. Go check it out and see if you get sucked in like I have... When I have a rough day I can imagine I live in her world.

Posie Gets Cozy

Ok and here is another cool blog.

Inspire Co

I WON!!! I WON!!! I WON!!!

I don't believe it! My pal Kimmy sent me a message saying I had won GinaK's latest Blog Candy and I had no idea. I won a GIGA SCALLOPED CIRCLE!!!!!!!

Go check out GinaK's blog... http://blog.ginakdesigns.com/ She has just announced the next Stamps for A Cause set and it is for Make a Wish. How great!

And check out Gina's store http://www.stampingfreak.com/. I ordered my 1st NON-SU stamps from her and they are great. Super quick shipping. And the Peerless Transparent watercolors are cool. Take a peek at those. I just used mine this weekend.

Pictures from My Yard

Tonight is the last round of the current stamp camp and we are already in the planning stages of the next two. We've got the dates and we are working out all the details. If anyone lives near Shelby Twp, MI and would like to come to one of our stamp camps leave me a comment and I will forward you the announcements and details.

Here are some pictures I took in my yard last Friday while the kids were riding bikes.

I have the most beautiful day lilies. There is a man who lives not too far from me that has gardens full of them and he does botany stuff and comes up with new ones all the time. I would love to get more from him but they are kind of expensive and my front yard has these, and my back yard is pretty over grown so I need to take out stuff before I can put more in.






This is a weed in my yard. Isn't it pretty?














This is lichen or whatever you call it growing on my tree. Exciting, huh? I was playing with my camera.

My 100th blog post!

And I just noticed that my blog is over a year old. Oops! Hadn't really paid attention to that.

Here is another tin. Ok last one for a little bit. I was on a tin kick. This tin I made for my convention buddy who is in Denver right now having a great time I am sure. One of these days I will get to go again. In the meantime I have to settle for regional seminars.

Her tin contained a pack of the new Theater Ribbon Originals. Oh they looked yummy! And I need to get myself some of those.

Changing it up!

Decided to change things up a little today. What do you think?

I also swore I had something to show you saved on my computer, but I can't find it... Hmmm.
I guess I will share these pics from our camping trip over the 4th of July. My oldest learned how to ride without her training wheels and these were some of the pictures I took during the training sessions.
Daddy helping Carter on the bike.














Maddie and Carter in their helmets.
The big push off...














Maddie coming down the hill and running over her brother who is standing next to me and I am too busy trying to take the picture that I don't see what is about to happen.

Finally!

...it has happened to me, right in front of my face, my something something can describe it.




Just kidding. I started typing and then that song popped into my head.





Any way...I am finally posting something. I have a few things I could post and just don't know which one to pick...Umm let's go with the stamp camp items I mentioned before. Last night was round two of the camp and these were my projects.



The first was a one sheet box - you can find a tutorial by Beate Johns on SCS under resources or I can just give you the link... Here

I used Baroque Motifs. They did three boxes. One in Purely Pomagranate, one in Wild Wasabi, and one in Blue Bayou. Some had a tone on tone background and some had the white as you can see here. Also did some different things with the main image. I like to change up some minor details and give them options at the camp.

The next project was a Gate Fold card. Beate also did a tutorial for this on her blog. Hers is square and mine is regular card size 5.5 x 4.25. To do that you score at 2.75 inches from each end of the 11 X 4.25 piece of cardstock. The colors on this are Certainly Celery, So Saffron and Cameo Coral.

I used Zoofari. We did some with the markers and some with the pastels and blender pens. I like the look of the pastels and blender pens better and went back and added some shadows/dirt to this one and my other samples after I took the picture. I'll have to post and updated version next week when I get my samples back so you can see the difference.

I'm back and have been running ever since!

We came home on Sunday and then had to get back to work on Monday. Spent Monday night trying to catch up on laundry and put the camping stuff away and then Tuesday night had to run to the grocery store and wash all the kids and prep for the stamp camp we had last night.

The stamp camp went pretty good. It was the 1st of 3 sessions of the Fabulous Folds camp. My upline and I do them together. I do 2 different cards/projects (usually they make 3 of the same design) and she does 2. So they have a total of 12 items when they leave. We usually have 3 sessions because she can only fit so many people in the stamping area at once and the demand is high enough that we fill up 3 nights of the same camp (mostly her customers - I have 1). Is this all making sense? The fee for the camp varies depending on the projects. Usually around $18-$24. The more expensive camps we have done were for the tins and the alphabet one we did with name frames and such, I think. I'm bad at the $ end of it. My upline usually figures out the pricing and I say ok sounds good to me.

So my projects were a gate fold card and a one sheet box. And my upline took on the triangle tri-fold and the magic slider card. We try to balance each other out. So her projects were more challenging and mine relatively simple. I don't have any pictures yet as I was switching cards and hadn't made my boxes until midnight the night before the 1st camp! I might be able to snap some pics tonight....

The 1st order of duty today is to buy my son a new bike. He had inherited a 12 inch bike from his cousin and was really getting into riding it instead of the trike because his big sister kind of learned to ride with out training wheels this past weekend. And also he got pulled over by the cops on his trike in the campground. The officer put on his lights and told Carter he needed to slow down, he was going too fast. Carter's response was "I can't go dat fast on my bike". So I think he was ready for a bigger bike. Anyway... while I was stamping last night the kids were home with dad and riding bikes. My sister in law had put the bike together with the front wheel on backwards so my dear husband told Carter he needed to fix it. He proceeded to take the bike apart and couldn't get it back together so Carter is rather upset with him right now.

Oh yeah - I got tagged twice in the last week or so. 1st by Emily W. Her site is on my list over to the right of Blogs I Like to Browse. And the second was from Robin. I have to add her to my list still. I recently came across her blog... I met her at a stampin' get together near Lansing a few months ago. She is a really sweet, funny and talented gal. At any rate I'm supposed to tell you 7 things, tag 7 others, etc. I'll tell you 7 things, but this time I am feeling lazy and don't want to tag anyone, besides it seems that most people have been tagged already recently. Let's see...what didn't I tell you a couple months ago when I was tagged.

1. My favorite accessory is ribbon. I want to buy ALL of the new ribbon in the SU catalog.
2. I don't know that I have a favorite SU color. I like quite a few of them and I go through different combos quite often. The last card I made uses Certainly Celery, Cameo Coral, and So Saffron.
3. I placed a small order from the new catalog yesterday and wasn't able to pick a stamp set from my wish list to add to the order so I didn't get one. I figured I would wait until I could put in a bigger order and just get them all at once. I'm bad.
4. Continuation of #3... I think I may get a different stamp set that I didn't even have on my list. I liked it, but I am trying to be more selective so it wasn't list worthy. I see that a lot of other people have gotten it/are getting it and now I want it too. Priceless.
5. What did I get on my small order? Well, I had to get more cardstock for the stamp camp, because I misfigured and wasted a bunch trying to get my original card plan to work out. But the exciting stuff was the pomegranate double stitched ribbon, kraft taffeta ribbon, bashful blue grosgrain, and the scallop circle punch. I also got the Theater Ribbon Originals, but they are a gift for my convention buddy who really likes green. And she is in the Army, you think she would be sick of it!
6. I have a box of contraband stamps (non-SU) most of which have never been inked. I had to have them... I have a couple of SU stamps that haven't been inked, but I am getting better about that. I force myself to use them for camps.
7. Some of the stamp sets on my wish list are: Simple Snowman, Big on Christmas, Wonderful Favorites, and Sanded.

Sorry It Took Me so Long!

Here is my altered tin ensemble. You can click on the pic to make it bigger and see it in all its glory! This is going to a pal from a yahoo group I am in. I hope she likes it. I did the tin and matching post-it note holder, pin, notepad and pen, paper clip things, little tin with magents, and a picture frame all with the petals & paisley papers. I'm also throwing in some stuff for her to alter and some envelopes.

Well I've got to go finish packing for our annual 4th of July trip. Happy 4th to everyone out there!

Just wanted to say thanks...

to all of you who have visited my blog lately and to those of you who have left comments. It is really appreciated. I hope to get some pics of the other tins I did this week posted tonight or tomorrow.

Something to Show You

Oh lookie what I have to show you. See my wonderful tin that I made with the Petals and Paisleys designer paper. The ribbon is from the ribbon originals that was in the winter mini. I've been hoarding it. But now that I am using it I really like it. And under the tin is a little something else... do you see it? It isn't mine. I had to borrow one from Crystal because mine aren't coming until tomorrow!!!!

Funny story about this tin. I put the ribbon around the "belly" of the tin and couldn't get it to match up good. It was in the back so I was just going to leave it, but then it was bugging me. So I put the bow on it to cover it up. I felt weird about my tin having a bow on it's butt so I took it off and turned it around to the front. I couldn't get the sticky strip off, so I put another layer on top and it just isn't sticking well so I think I am going to have to take it off and use my hobby blade to try and get it off and start over. I think I may have to keep this tin for myself. Oh well. I have 2 others in the works. I need one for a tin exchange I am in and the other will probably go to my convention buddy. I couldn't make it to convention this year so I got a buddy who is going to give me the scoop and maybe pick up a little something from the momento mall. Well, off to go look at the catty some more!

All is well

The catalog did start arriving in California on Friday. I got the scoop on what I wanted to know and now I just can't wait to see it!!!

I got a chance to make cards for my friend Crystal's non-convention goers swap. I only signed up for one spot and I took the time to make a fantabulous card, if I do say so myself. I don't know if I have ever made such a complicated card before in my life. No one thing about it was particularily difficult, it just has a lot of steps.

I used the Double Line Doodles set we got at regionals and it will be in the new catalog. I also used the Doodle This set which our friends in CA were able to confirm is in the new catalog. Now the little companion set Doodle That and the alphabet did not make it, I believe so if you want those you can still get them from the spring mini through the end of this month and if you are at all on the fence about Doodle This you may also want to get that now because come July 1st the price on it goes up.

The card base is Summer Sun and the next layer is Rose Red. On the Rose Red I stamped the doodle from Doodle This in Rose Red and in White Craft ink. Then there is a little strip of Old Olive that I did some DTP on the edges with my Black Craft ink. On that is tied the Black Gingham and the Turquoise Grosgrain. Not too bad so far, right? Now the main image is on Whisper White ultrasmooth and layerd on black. Both of those are Ticket Corner punched on all four corners. I stamped the flower from Double Line Doodle in Tempting Turquoise 3 times and the stems in Old Olive. I then went over the stems with my blender pen. Now the little flower centers were done by taking Rose Red and Summer Sun cardstock and pressing the versamark pad to them then using Irridescent Ice embossing powder and my heat tool. Once I did that I stamped the little flower doohickeys with black stazon over top of the embossed cardstock. Then I cut out all those doohickeys and attached them to the flowers with Earth Elements brads. Now the colors of Earth Element brads are Ruby Red, More Mustard, Old Olive and Not Quite Navy and even though they weren't the same colors I used on my card the Ruby Red brads were close enough to the Rose Red and the More Mustard brads to the Summer Sun that they worked in this case because I used them on the opposite paper. Now if I was trying to use the Ruby Red on the Rose Red and the Mustard on the Summer Sun it probably wouldn't have worked.

*Sigh* Still Nothing

No one on SCS has gotten the catalog yet. Or if they have it they aren't saying. Looks like we won't hear anything until next week. This is the last of the cards I made a few weeks ago that I haven't shown. I plan to do some stamping this weekend, some nights next week, and next weekend so look forward to some new stuff. My oldest two will be with grandma so I get to stamp when Morgan is preoccupied or sleeping.

Let's see we have Almost Amethyst, Pixie Pink and Cool Caribbean. There is also some Amethyst paper from the Palette o Prints sampler we were able to order. This was done for a different kind of swap where we have to follow the directions they give us. I think this one just said we had to accessorize the elephant or whatever animal we used from the wild about you set. I decided to make it a baby card and used the It All Adds up set (which I am selling by the way - See June 18th post) for the accessory and the background. I had cuttlebugged some paper and didn't know what to do with it so I threw it on these cards. Also the clip thing is a weird paper clip I think I found at the dollar store.

OMG I am going nuts!!!!

HELP ME! I can't stop looking and checking. Someone pull me away. Those cattys need to arrive already.

It is that time of year again

When I sit with my eyes glued to the monitor looking for as much info I can find about the new catalog before mine finally arrives. I got caught up in the retired accessories list yesterday. And now some of the new regional locations are listed and I'm trying to get an order submitted and waiting to clear some things up first. Just one of those days. So enough of that. Here is a card or two for you to look at.

Since it is the 1st day of summer lets go with a couple of summery cards.