Saffron Daisies **LINK ADDED**

Here is a sneak peek at one of the projects for my SOTM class this Saturday. I just adore using textured white for my card bases, they add a very clean yet elegant feel to the card. The main image is faux embossed using craft White and More Mustard. I used my pal Joanne's trick (the link works now) with the slot punch for the ribbon. Funny thing about this card is that when I showed my hubby he said "I think it needs a small strip of yellow on the bottom"....so there you have it, pigs are officially flying because my hubby is now helping to design my cards!!! You shoulda seen the monkey that flew outta my.........well, you get the idea.

So I went to use my Crop-A-Dile last night to set some eyelets and I kept flipping the top knob around to find the setter for 1/8" eyelets. Hmmm where is it? I know I'm supposed to use a certain one (can you tell I don't use it much for eyelets?). As I looked closer to side "C" I saw a white mark in the center of the hole....hole?!?! Um shouldn't there be a small rod thingy on the C side?!?! Well yes, it's officially broken and I have no idea when or how it broke. Do you think Memory Keepers has a warranty on these?? It's metal! I'm pretty sure it's NOT supposed to pop off, eh? So there's my tragedy of the week. Poor little crop-a-dile... such a short, unfulfilled life.

Stamps - Upsy Daisy, All Holidays
Cardstock - Textured White, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron
Ink - Whisper White craft, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Accessories - Chocolate Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch,

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

How amazing are all these goodies?!?! The Prettie Girls sent me a package filled with handmade love!!! I just sat in awe as I opened each special item made just for our new home, I even got all teary. And everything was made with my all time favorite paper (Crate Paper, Seaweed collection) and it matches our house perfectly!! I'm guessing you weren't actually painting your house and needing color suggestions, eh Prettie Mama?? ;)

Charlie embroidered the adorable tea towels with our initials (Scott & Jillian Winters), Jules made the precious little house that has the date we officially owned our home, Danielle stamped some fantastic tiles (always wanted a set of those!) and the phrases she picked were SO us!!! Jana made a super cute photo frame with matching journal (which I can't wait to use) and Jesse gave us two big coffee mugs with my fav rub-ons on them (even the hubby said "sweet!") and an amazing 'welcome' sign that just took my breath away. Even my hubster said to tell you all thank you, he was extremely surprised and impressed with such thoughtful and tasteful goodies. I can't wait to hang them up and put them all to use! THANK YOU GUYS SO VERY MUCH!!!! XOXOXOXO to the Prettiest Girls in the world!

Sweet Angel

It's rather hard to think about Christmas when it's 106 outside but when I saw this stamp I just had to ink her up. This is Angel Sophia, she is the October SOTM over at Paper Pretties, so if you've signed up for the club then this will be in your mailbox soon!!! For those that aren't part of the club, sadly you'll have to wait until November to purchase her so you might want to think about signing up (you'll FLIP when you see the Nov Sophia OMG)!! I just adore her and of course I had to use my new fabulous Doodlebug Flock that I just got.
Does it get better? Why yes it does!! Paper Pretties is extending their sale for one more week!!! 45 % off EVERYTHING, how fantastic is that?!?! I got some fabulous paper, ribbon, brads and of course some stamps I've been wanting to add to my collection. $100 worth of craft goodies for $55!!! Use the coupon code "Labor Day" when you checkout, sale ends Sept 13th.

Inspired by Nichole...

I was catching up on my blog surfing the other day and I found myself reading all the old posts on Nichole Heady's blog, I just love her simple and elegant creations. She made an adorable card using fabric and the flower cuttlebug die and I really liked it, so I altered it a bit and used items I had. The flowers were punched using the SU scallop circle punch and textured white cardstock and then I popped them up with dimensionals. I made a ton of these with various sentiments so I'll have them ready when I need them. I've really been trying to make duplicates when I make a card, Michelle Wooderson always says to create in bulk, that way you're not so hesitant to give away your precious card. ;)

Stamps - Polka Dot BG, Heard from the Heart
Cardstock - Textured White, textured Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Kraft
Ink - Craft White
Accessories - Brad, Grosgrain ribbon, Scallop circle punch, 3/4 circle punch

The good and the bad

How was everyones 3-day weekend?? I had a fantastic Friday & Saturday. Friday night was a BLAST!! 14 ladies scattered in my living room, family room and dining room. We had a taco bar and everyone brought one ingredient. YUM! Then we had ice cream sundaes for our treats with brownies & cookies on top. DOUBLE YUM!! We stamped, laughed and socialized until 2am!!!! Then I was up early to let the cable guy in, that took all day. I had some gal pals over for lunch and stamping and next thing I knew I had cable!! Sadly, the internet wouldn't connect so I still don't have internet at home. Hopefully they'll get the problem fixed sometime this week....I was ready to throw the computer out the window. LOL

Monday I spent the day baking cookies for my neighbors. I hadn't gone over to say hello yet and we've lived there for nearly 2 months already. So I whipped up a few dozen Chocolate Chip & also my favorite Coconut Oatmeal cookies and went to say hello.

The card is quite cute but didn't photograph well. I used textured white cardstock for the card base and then added a little paper piercing on the Saffron and used my Scor-pal for some dry embossing around the edges of the stamped image layer...

Ok now the fun stuff.....Paper Pretties is having a huge sale!! I mean GINORMOUS!!!! Everything in the Boutique is 45% off!!! And some items were already on sale so they are now almost 80% off!! HOLY COW that's practically FREE!!!! So get your tails over there quickly, it's only while supplies last and at this sale price, my guess is they won't last long!!! Enter coupon code "Labor Day" when you checkout to get the discount.....what are you still doing here?!?! ;)

Stamps - Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock - Textured White, So Saffron, Old Olive
Ink - So Saffron, Old Olive
Accessories - Scor-Pal, Paper Piercing Tool, Brads, Word Window punch

Happy Friday!!

I am so excited to start the weekend!! As I left for work today, the streets were lined with RV's and boats. My poor hubby looked like a small child sitting outside the candy store with no money. Anyone with a boat want to adopt two fabulous fun friends??? ;)

So I've rejected Pacific Point almost completely, but Baja Breeze is definitely a must have color this year. It pairs really well with chocolate and Not Quite Navy, love them! I used Shimmer White cardstock for this simple sympathy card. I stamped the main script image from the Fresh Cuts set using Baja Breeze and then filled it in a bit using NQN. I did stamp NQN on NQN for the border strip but it doesn't show up well in the photo. Lastly I added a little doodle piercing to the bottom.

Tonight I have 14 women coming over for my Stampin Fun night and I'm so excited!!!! Then tomorrow I'm having another small gathering for a friends birthday and we'll be having lunch and then stamping the rest of the afternoon (while the cable guy is installing my connection to the outside world). Saturday night I'm going out with the girls for some wine & laughs and then Sunday I'm spending the afternoon in a pedicure chair. Monday night is SIYJ so I'll be running back and forth from my stamp room to the office to hang out and spend time with my Prettie Girls!!! Ahhhhh what a weekend...now if only I could find that friend with a boat, any takers??? ;)

Stamps - SU Fresh Cuts, PTI Out on a Limb
Cardstock - Baja Breeze, NQN, Chocolate Chip, Shimmer White
Ink - Whisper White, NQN, Baja Breeze
Accessories - Paper Piercer, Brads

I miss my camera

My pictures aren't coming out very well and I apologize, I'm using my mothers camera at the moment because it hooks up to her computer so I can get photos onto the web. Come Saturday I'll have my OWN internet, I'm so excited!!!! Here is a quickly I made to show off the new Upsy Daisy set which I absolutely adore!!! I snagged this layout from the latest SU Success and switched up the colors and the tag. I wasn't sure how I would feel about the new colors but I must admit that I love the Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Red Riding Hood and the Pink Pirouette....the jury is still out on the Pacific Point & Tangerine Tango. :) I used textured Chocolate Chip for the small strip at the bottom and the ticket tag is popped up on dimensionals.

I love KISS-ing (Keep It Simple Stamping...ok it's supposed to be Stupid but I like my version better!). If I spend 4 hours on a card, odds are I'm not going to give it away. ;) One of my favorite blogs is Stampin Kub and he's really been talking a lot about keeping it simple lately, so my goal is to do just that AND get them in the mail (I'm horrible about that).

Stamps - Upsy Daisy
Cardstock - Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink - Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
Accessories - Brads

Is it Friday yet?

So this week seems to be dragging...anyone else having that issue? Perhaps it's because I'm looking forward to the 3-day weekend a bit too much. The hubby will be out of town helping a friend move so I'm having the gals over Friday night and Sat afternoon for stamp time. What better chance to take over the house, right? ;)

Here is the card I made for the Stampers Club this last weekend. The technique was Faux Silk and it was a real challenge to keep this card simple so 1. it would be quick for 12 gals to throw together and 2. keep the focus on the technique and not the design of the card. Everyone LOVED the new scallop border punch, even me! I'm so hesitant when it comes to punches these days (they are so flimsy and they break all the time) but SU has yet to disappoint me so I'm hangin in there.

I'm also excited for Monday night, Sept 1st as it's the monthly SIYJ (Stampin In Your Jammies) over at Paper Pretties. I haven't been able to attend these for months due to the move and lack of computer at home but as of Saturday I'll have internet again!! YAY!!!! So bet your tail I'll be planted right in front of my computer on Monday night stampin' with the Prettie Girls!!

Stamps - Fresh Cuts, All Holidays
Cardstock - Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Vanilla
Ink - Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa
Accessories - Paper Piercing tool, Scallop Edge Punch, Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon

Floors, paint & stamps...oh my!

I love you guys!!!! I had no idea when I posted my last little blurb how many of you 1) were still around and 2) are so fabulous and wonderful. Thank you all very much for your well wishes, it is my goal to start making time for myself and my health. We get cable next weekend (whoo hooo!) and my sister made me promise to TiVo the Yoga channel and do the easy stretches at least 3 times a week. There is no way to eliminate stress out of your life but you can take 30 minutes a few times a week and try to help your body cope with it, right? And even though I prefer ice cream therapy, my growing jean size would like to see me quit. LMAO

Ok so here are some pics from the house, since I know you're all dying to see what we've done thus far. I'll be taking more as we go, I just had these on my camera card and FINALLY got over to my sisters house so I could put them up on here to show you!

Here's the large family room, this area was all carpet which then transitioned into linoleum in the kitchen to the right. We put this tile flooring throughout most of the house, hallway and bathrooms. Now only the formal living and master bedroom have carpet. Walls were nasty beige so we changed it to a soft custard yellow with white trim. All new baseboards as well...they are 6" and I love them!Here is the laminate flooring that I DID in my stamp room (it will go in the guest bedroom as well).

We've also done the laundry room, guest bath & master bedroom but I didn't have any pics on my camera from that so I'll have to take some. I did have a fabulous weekend of friends, family and I even managed to squeeze in a little stamp time! More to come this week as we head into a 3-day weekend. Anyone have any grand plans coming up?!?!

XOXO

GASP

Pssst, anyone out there? Greetings from beyond the grave! Ok, so not the grave but there is definitely dirt involved. LOL So it has been 8 weeks or so since I've been able to blog and now that I have the chance, I don't know where to start!

The house.....coming along but we hit some road bumps and had to take a break. We STILL don't have internet or cable at our new home but we're getting by just fine. Installation is scheduled for Aug 30th so, fingers crossed, I'll be able to check email, blog, post pics and get back in the swing of things.

Stamping.....I've been trying to get things organized enough to sit down for some good ol' stamp time and by this weekend I'm sure I'll do just that. My new Stampers Club starts this Saturday and I just can't wait to see everyone. Plus I've gone through all of my old stamps & accessories and have tons of goodies that will be looking for new homes!

Health.....getting better. For those that know me, I'm not the average bear. And this bear got hit with a large bolt of stress + heat = flare up. I have MS, Multiple Sclerosis and when the magic bolt hits, my body just lays down until it's over. I lost my vision for 5 weeks and I swear I was going to lose my mind if I had to lay in bed one more day. Shortly after that, my vision started to return and I began to lose use of my hands. Well as any stamp addict knows you CAN'T lose your hands!!!! So the doc pumped me up with magic pills and now my hands are listening to me again and doing what I say. ;)

So there is my update, I'm sure there are only about 3 people left reading this blog but I assure you once my stamp groove is back, you'll be checkin' back more often and loving this blog once more. Plus I'll post some killer blog candy just to bribe you into reading for a while. LOL

XOXO