Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Here's a glimpse!

Here's a glimpse of a work in progress. Not a card!

Yesterday my dear friend Donna and I came up with this for my dining room...

We were shopping together in October when I saw the gorgeous display featuring the silver reindeer and an array of products in silver and aqua/turquoise. I had not updated my Christmas decorations in  quite some time  years, and with Donna's help, the vision came to life yesterday after I had whipped up the table runner.

Here's a close-up of the sideboard display.

The twinkling lights under the snow are my favorite part.

Now I'm wondering if my dining room is too pretty to eat in, lol!

Hope you enjoyed this personal glimpse of my other-things-in-life besides stamping. <g>I really am in the mood to get my Christmas shopping and other holiday stuff done so there may not be much stamping over the next day or two. I do hope to dig into my box of Occasions Mini goodies soon!

Enjoy!

Back in Action.... with JOSIE

Hi everybody, hope you are having a glorious day!

Some of you have noticed that I've been missing in action. When life gets busy it is hard to find time to create. I can almost NEVER go a day or so without creating but it has been in the form of cards and projects for classes. I can't WAIT to make something new today and tomorrow and the next day...

When busyness and sickness hit at the same time, it's even worse! I am mostly over my bad bout of bronchitis and so grateful to feel peppy and full of vigor to enjoy this fall day.

I am however, NOT left without a project to share with you today, but it may not be exactly along the lines that you are picturing. It wasn't at all what I envisioned either. This sort of project took place almost as if by magic. Of the beagle variety!

I received a beautiful handwritten note (do you know how rare and special they are these days?) and lovely card which I read and placed in the middle of the table to share with my dear husband. By the time he got to see it, however, it looked like this:

Don't EVER think that the expression "the dog ate my homework" is just a fiction of one's imagination!  My letter was torn into a gazillion bitty bits which were strewn in EVERY corner of our kitchen!  I left Josie for 20 minutes and what a HEYDAY she had. Paper is one of her favorite things, and for sure some ended up in her tummy. I can just imagine her whooping as she tossed each tidbit in the air and chased it as it fell.

We could hardly stay too mad at her becasue of all the laughs we've had over this photo. I thought you'd like to see a few more. Here's Josie, our one-and-a-half-year-old-and-very-playful-puppy.

Pondering her missdeed?

Enjoying the moment!

Never failing to love a good romp with her frisbee.

Did I say, BEAGLE?

Yup, that's my girl.

I want to let you know how much I appreciate you for stopping by today and everyday to my blog. I'll go dig into my Stamps, Paper, and Ink to return soon with a card to post.

A long time coming!

I've been spending a day or two organizing some more in my craft room. I shared initially on THIS post. I've decided it's time to share a few photos updating for you as long as we can have an understanding about it. *wink* Picture me now using my best 'teacher' voice and smile to explain two points.

One. I've seen the pictures of craft spaces that look just as picture perfect as an ad in House Beautiful. That's NOT what you'll see here! While I am so blessed (and hugely grateful!) for my spacious craft room and all that's in it - functionality is what's most important.  I'm showing you my space as it looks. Lived in, well loved. Used often!

 That's me - what you see is what you get!

Two: I don't make a profession of photography or organizing. More than likely they are areas I dabble in as needed! Please keep in mind that all is not finished yet - this is definitely still a work in progress.

With that understanding, here's the picture tour, starting with my printer, computer and desk area under the window.

To the right, I have two wooden doors forming an L around the other side of the room, beginning at this end where I have my Big Shot and cutting center, with all my card stock organized by families in the drawers below.

This makes it so easy to prepare my card packets for classes since after I cut I have several feet of space to spread them out and assemble them.

The space where I stamp is opposite the desk space. The drawers on the left side hold my punches, and there is another set of drawers on right of the chair for DSP, tools, markers and embellishments. I have one drawer dedicated only to heat embossing supplies.

It's so great having my supplies handy and within easy reach. You can catch a glimpse of the other side of the room which is my sewing and ironing area.

This pennant (isn't if fun!) was our make and take from convention. I never almost never finish those projects, but this year I finished it at home to brighten this very spot.

A ribbon keeper and a few more cards on display. Not the tidiest rolls maybe, but I dig into those babies at least once or twice a day!

I have a little inspiration corner containing my Bible, quite a few mags, a DVD, my favorite stamping mascot, and a timer. Gotta have the timer! In these drawers I keep my Stamp n Scrub and mist, a SNAIL or two, and my clear blocks. Have you wondered where my stamps are?  They are on shelves on the opposite wall, which I'm not gonna show you, even if you say pretty please. I want you to only imagine how many stamp sets I have!!!

I'll end with one tip: To help me keep my card stock and pads in order by color families, I made a copy of the front of my marker case. Paper and inks are arranged in the exact order as the markers, and this chart is handy to help me make sure I put things back in the right place.

Have you enjoyed seeing these pictures of my happy place? I hope you'll let me know what you think!

Coming soon: a giveaway for you!

 

Hello, my friends!

If you've been wondering where I've been, I am here to tell you all about it today! I've been in a whirlwind of traveling, and I just got in late last night from my second trip this month. Except for 3 days to regroup, I've been gone since July 12th!

This time my husband and I went together to attend the beautiful wedding of my nephew and his sweet bride. He is such a great guy - I wish we didn't live so far away. The celebration was lovely and I'm so glad I was able to be there to spend wonderful times visiting with my family. We were in such a gorgeous setting, surrounded by the beauties of nature on every side. Here are a few pics and I'm sure by the end you will guess the location!

Rocks, hills, and woodlands...

water on every side,

rocky beaches, boats everywhere! We sailed on a schooner almost out to the open sea!

Mount Desert Island, Maine is one of the prettiest places I've ever been!  Now you know what I've been up to. If you can take one more non-card related photo, can I say how happy my family was to have us back?  And look who's not wanted to leave my side....

JOSIE!

As promised, I do have a card for you in keeping with a natural beauty theme.

This card was inspired by the GROW theme at Convention, and the beautiful stage set up. It changed colors and when I saw this calming combo, I got the idea for this card using the My Friend set. The silhouette was stamped and embossed in white. I preferred keeping the layers simple so that this card could be made in minutes! Hope you'll give it a try.

Hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse of my summer. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes here today, I love being able to share with you!

 

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps:  My Friend

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Versamark

Accessories:  White EP, Jumbo brad, Decorative Label and Corner Rounder punches

 

Blog Awards and other Snippets

Hi! How's your day going?

Well, there's something going on behind the scenes.I want to let you know that I've received two blog awards recently.

Tara Bilbao was so sweet to pass on the Liebster Blog award to me. I am happy and sometimes surprised to find out that my cards and chatter here have inspired others. Thanks, Tara! You should check out Tara's beautiful work at Tara Bee Ink . You'll find some fabulous ideas.

I also received the Stylish Blogger Award from Ann Schach, who is an artist I truly admire in the stamping world! I was in awe of Ann when she joined the Dirty Dozen Design Team during my stint there. She is an amazing stamper with such a gorgeous vintage style that is all her own. Since then Ann has become my friend and one of the very nicest bloggers I know who has a way of making you feel so, so special. I am still in awe of her exquisite work and totally blown away that she nominated me. Thanks, Ann.

I want to pass these awards on but first comes the requirement for the Stylish Blogger Award that I share eight things about myself that you may not know. Here goes!

1. My daily-must-have is a cup of tea with breakfast. No cream or sugar, just GOOD hot tea! My fav right now is Tower of London and I even have my very own Harney & Sons tea supplier. **Waving, Ruth Ann!***

2. You know when you are encouraged to make a list of your good traits?  I always start out with these two items. I. I am a good speller. 2. Dogs like me. Want to know what I am particularly bad at? My customers know - it's math!

3. The animal that is most like my personality type is an otter. Pure otter. Outgoing and extremely PLAYFUL. Fun-loving. I think some of this comes across in my cards. I wish more of it came across in my day-to-day living.

4. I was a cheerleader in high school and am married (for 37 years so far!) to my high school sweetheart. When we ride around town in the car, he sings to me. Still makes my heart flutter!

5. At my house I am called the Popcorn Queen. It's my comfort food, and tastes best when reading a good book and eating one small kernel at a time. Now whenever I make popcorn, I save a little baggie for Josie (our beagle puppy.) She is good at catcing it!

6. My mother is German but because she had a hard time learning English as a young girl when she came to America, she never taught me the German language. I did major in foreign language to become a teacher in college, and I learned Spanish and French. Later when my husband and our family traveled and spent 6 years in Germany, I added German to my list of languages.

7. Here's some real nitty gritty. I never go into the stall of a public rest room without looking for a spider in there somewhere. I laugh at myself EVERY time I do this. (Surely some of you do this too!)  Must be an old habit I learned in years of tent camping. So if you ever hear someone chuckling in the stall next to you, it just might be me. :->

8. I seek to give glory to God and acknowledge Him in all my ways. He has blessed my every step. My Creator is the giver of every good and perfect gift. I especially thank Him for the gift of creativity.

Sorry this post has gone long! Now to pass it on to bloggers that I admire, here are a few of them!

•  Two of my first friends that I met online are Great Swap Girls and fabulously Great Stampers, Kristin Moore and Vera Schoeters.

• It should come as no surpise that I am always amazed at the sweet sketches and gorgeous samples of Karen Giron at The Sweetest Thing.

• Vicki Burdick inspires me weekly with her creative, beautiful samples.

• Amy Rohl has such a playful style and a great eye for color and clean design, I LOVE her work!

• Heather Klump uses crisp colors and layouts and always inspires me with her cards and scrapbooking skills.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your work and talents with us, week after week. 

 

A Big Dose of Puppy Cuteness

I keep my blog focused on stamping and cards MOST of the time, but in the interest of being a bit more chatty ( have you noticed?) I began sharing about Josie, our 4 month old puppy. Watching her grow has been a delight. Training her has been a handful. But I'm happy to say we've turned a corner. She now obeys sit/stay commands at doorways and stairs. Eventually.

Our daughter Emily got these great shots of Josie in her happiest haven of all - the backyard. I just couldn't resist sharing them with you. When we got Josie she was 8 weeks old, and just a bit smaller than my husband's tennis shoe. She has more than doubled in size from that but is still just under 10 lbs. Small, but a big dose of cuteness. Have a look!

Like any puppy she loves to chew...here's she's nibbling a camera strap.

  

She runs to us with great abandon (ONLY when she wants to, LOL!) but it's a happy thing to see those ears flapping. Someday she'll grow into those ears!

The next one is my favorite. Josie loves to be VOCAL.  To her, in fact, yeowling is the next best thing to chewing. The picture is cute. The sound is LOUD, especially when we are trying to eat dinner! But we think she's adorable. What do you think?

  Hope you've enjoyed these little glimpses into life at my house. We'll be back to stamping talk tomorrow!

 

I hear it happens to everybody....

I need to make a true confession. No excuses, explanation or filler.

I've lost my mojo.

I hear it happens to everybody sometimes. Lots of times I've written advice to other people about it, but now, none of those tricks seem to be working for me. If you have any thoughts on this topic, I'd love to hear them.

I even made it up to the craft room today, but here I sit, taking a break from cleaning and tidying up. No stamping. It's a funny feeling. Hope it goes away soon. Hope you'll stick it out with me, dear readers.

Hugs~

Remembering....

Yesterday we talked about a new month and now I am jumping ahead...or back really..... to thinking about a new school year. I always loved back to school time, when I was a kid in school, or a teacher at school, and especially as a home-school Mom.  I loved spending time at the pool planning out lessons for the year while our younger children had swimming lessons. I loved the smell and feel of the new books when they arrived, and putting away the new supplies, and making a place for another desk as we added a new kindergartner to our study routine. Because our kids are spread out in age, one year I had one of each: a high schooler, middle and elementary student and a pre-schooler! That's what I call a foot in every door!

One of nature's reminders that it's almost time for school to start is that our Rose of Sharon bush blooms prolifically, attracting bees and hummingbirds that we can see from the kitchen window. Here's how it looks today.

These blooms were just perfect for dissecting for our Biology lab projects. By the way, for those of you in other parts of the country, schools here do begin in the middle or the end of August.

This year there is NO back to school for me, as this is the first year after 22 years that I will not be teaching. Being a home-school Mom is a job you aim to grow out of! Since three of our children are attending college in the fall I plan to enjoy the rhythm and make some new transitions of my own. Teaching stamping is something I really love!

Now, would you like to see the card?!?!?! I'm sure you would! I love how this card turned out.

I used my Stampin' Write markers and scribbled the colors I wanted to use on a clear acrylic block, then picked up the color and added it to the paper using an Aqua Painter.

Still loving the Antique Brads. Since one wasn't quite right on its own, I added a rosette made from the Crochet Trim. (You'll find a tutorial HERE showing how to do that and featuring one of my creations displayed at convention.)  I so enjoyed making this card but felt happiest when I wrote a note inside to my own Mom and put it out in the mail THAT DAY. Isn't sharing what makes what we do so beautiful???

I hope she'll like it. Hope you do too.

Hugs~

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up! unless noted *

This card measures 5" square.
Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Word Play
Paper: Newsprint Designer Series Paper, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack (Subtles)
and Ink: Black Staz-On

Accessories:Crochet Trim (Chantilly), Antique Brads, Designer Buttons (Regals),Linen Thread, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, *Nestabilities

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

Don't you wish you had this much energy at 5:30 AM?

I thought you might like an update on our puppy, so here's a video clip for you! Josie is finding pure joy in chasing an empty vitamin bottle around my kitchen floor.

Don't you wish you had this much energy at 5:30 AM?   I do! There's an abundance of laughter all around with antics like this morning, noon, and evening.

Sometimes, Josie looks like this. Sweet and adorable, such an angel! But rarely sitting still for long, lol! As I write she is wrestling and chewing on this very pillow.

Have a great weekend and happy stamping.

Here's what I've been up to...

Well, here I am posting, of all things! It seems I will be sporadic for a week or two more and then be able to keep up the pace of regularly creating and posting again.I thought you might like to know what I've been up to~all good things but there's a bunch of 'em with a card at the end, don't miss it!

keeping up with a busy household

going out to lunch with a friend on my birthday

going to pick out a PUPPY! (details to come)

long phone chats with my Mom

going out with another friend for my birthday 

posting for the June Dirty Dozen gallery

Accompanying my kids to String camp = 8 hrs of driving + four hours of excellent and inspiring music!

Having the best tea party EV-uh with dear Ruth Ann

getting ready for a big family reunion bash

getting the car fixed

counting the days until we can go to get our puppy (details to come)

going to see Toy Story 3

designing cards for the July Dirty Dozen gallery (love the work, it's the deadlines I have a hard time with!)

looking at the new SU catalog and often adding to or re-adjusting my Wish list

trying to catch up and fit in all the things I didn't do when I was out to lunch, lol

Receiving Beautiful birthday cards and being blessed that my life is so full and I have the health to enjoy it.

Here's a very special card I received from my delightful friend and Great Swap Girl, Vera. You'll find more of her outstanding work on her blog, Verastamps.

Vera's card could not be more beautiful in my book, I love her color choices and the delicate elements. Her cards are always embellished with just the right touches~perfectly placed. Thanks, Vera!

Thanks to all of you, for checking back with me and being patient. Coming soon - puppy details.