100 posts and a tag!

This is my 100th post. Not hard to believe if you know me in real life! But just as I went to post today I checked comments first and Leslie had tagged me! My first time ever. Thank you for the tag.



I am supposed to list 7 random or weird facts about myself and tag 7 other people. So here goes.



1. I HATE chocolate! Yup, and they let me stay in the girl club anyway!



2. 6 is my favorite number. Born 6/26/76. and maybe because no one else ever picks it! Poor 6.

3. I have a hard time seeing in the dark, especially transitioning from light to dark and that is how my husband ended up holding my hand on the first date because it was dark walking out to a quarry to watch fireworks.



4. I think fireworks are romantic because we went and saw them on our first date. Before that I could have cared less about them but now I really love to see them, and hold hands with my sweety!



5. I wanted to be Secetary of Education when I grew up. Combine teaching, law and politics. Sounded good to me.



6. I cried so much the first time I got a B+ on a test in college I was hysterical on the phone with my mother and dumped my date for the night. I got an A in the class anyway.



7. I am a BIG planner, but having three kids has made me way more flexible.


That's it. Now to tag others. Almost all the blogs I visit have been tagged. I'm not exactly the first. :) So I searched for some blogs and thought I would share. Enjoy!

1. http://stamplikecrazy.blogspot.com/
2. http://mystamplady.typepad.com/my_stamp_lady/
3. http://canyousayaddictedtostamps.blogspot.com/
4. http://mylittlecreativeescape.blogspot.com/
5. http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/
6. http://www.jademingmeidesigns.blogspot.com/
7.http://memystampsandi.blogspot.com/

Are you a sparkly kind of person?

I am! I love bling! Oh! Jewelry, new shiny kitchen stuff and shiny stamping accessories! Well my dear friend who is NOT a sparkle kind of gal must REALLY love me because she made me this incredible box and matching card (of course with hand dyed ribbon to match!) for me! Eeeee! She said there was glitter EVERYWHERE! Now she will think of me and laugh everytime she finds more in her stamping room! HA!

It was a FANTASTIC birthday. My sweet husband surprised me with a HUGE carrot cake from my favorite bakery in town. (Too bad they spell their name wrong. It should be Kirsten's Bakery, NOT Kristen's Bakery!) Those lobster rolls I mentioned were ENORMOUS last night! I could not finish mine but my 8 year old bottomless pit finished his and had room for ice cream! It was just a great night. Plus I have something to look forward to still, my presents are still coming. The post man is not always accurate with delivery times but some things are worth the wait!

Well the Tart and Tangy class is tonight. I am way excited now that it is all prepped. I did not realize until I started that I was prepping 100 cards and ten boxes. Geez!!!! But I got it all done, organized and even made goodies for the ladies! Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Have a fantastic day and if you hear bouncing, that's just me on a sugar high from the cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

It's my birthday!

Thirty-two years ago today George and Bonita had an 11lb 13oz. baby girl! Yup, an overachiever from the beginning.

Since it is my birthday I thought I should make a list of things I am thankful for. I have been incredibly blessed in 32 years and I am reminded more and more of that when I look around me! You don't have to read my whole list, but you might want to make your own.

- I know I am a daughter of God and my Heavenly Father loves me very much!

- I have an incredible husband that is the perfect balance for me and he tells me every day, several times a day, that he loves me. Even on the phone from his office with people around!

- Three fantastic kids that are healthy, smart and a lot of fun. They teach me everyday about something new and make my life so much better!

- A wonderful family with a brother, sister, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins on my side and my husbands.

- Friends that are there with me through everything and love all my qualities, even the nutty ones! And they are THE most fun to laugh out loud with!

- Hobbies, time to pursue them, the friends they have brought me and a husband that lets me enjoy it all.

- A home that is safe, conforting, enjoyable and happy.

I could go on of course. And I think I will in my journal today. It overwhelms me how much I have to be grateful for and really makes this a special day not because it is about me, but because I have all of you!

Now that I got all sappy, I am going to party! Well, not yet though. I still have all the usual swim lessons and errands of the day. But tonight we will all go to Kimball Farm for Lobster rolls, waffle fries and ice cream! YUMMY!!! I think the fam enjoys it as much as I do!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Challenge #2

The second challenge I took on from the same blog as above was "black, white and..." I was already in the blue from the other card and just kept going. Not sure if all the layers and detail translate well in the picture though.

It's my birthday - almost

I am the kind that still loves her birthday! Yup, proud to be 32, almost! And I am ALSO one that

likes to drag it out as long as possible. My actual birthday is Thursday, June 26. And one awesome stamper has already sent a card. I thought I would share her talent with all of you.

More challenges ahead, and I don't mean the kids, this time.

I have taken on two more challenges from fellow bloggers. I can't link you to the blog since it is a password protected area so I thought I would post the pics here for the general public. The picture below was the inspiration for this card. In Real life it looks more vanilla and the blue butterflies are little more vivid. Oh, well, back to photography class!

Can you see the difference?

I stamp so fast sometimes that I sometimes miss a detail. With three kids I don't get a lot of time. Only later I go back and notice something was off or missing. It's like one of those puzzles in the Highlights magazine in the doctor' office. Can you find the difference?

Blogger challenge

Raise your hand if you blog hop? I have a list of about 25 blogs I check on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes it is less than a 30 second visit. Maybe like some of you here. :) Check out the new stuff and if it inspires you enough, you stay a little longer and look around. Then you start checking out their favorite blogs and suddenly you lost an hour! Ooops, dinner? Oh well. That is how I found KWERNERDESIGNBlog. Her latest entry has the most inspiring colors! Then I looked back through others and was so excited at the color ideas.

This color combo instantly made me think of argyle!!! I went through several other styles too trying to find one I liked. My favorite is at the top of the page here. Funny part is, I made that with scraps and stuff I found on my desk. That is usually the best card, the ones that I did not think about. Just can't let my brain get in the way of creativity. :)

Try her challenge out for yourself.

Now where did I put those tweezers?

The SU tool kit comes with a great pair of tweezers that I used to make this fun little tag. I wove the ribbon around a 1 inch square piece of paper and then added the bow on top to make it look like a fancy present. I used this same technique for a card before but there were a lot less squares this time. The only problem is I can not find my tweezers now. Grrrrr!

ETA:

I'm sorry you have to look at this sideways. That is not how I took the pic or how it looked in the preview but no matter what I do it will not go up right so I hope no one's neck hurts! Sorry!

SERIOUS bag issues!

I'm back. Miss me? We had a great time camping but coming back and the last week of school has made everything a bit chaotic! What else is new? :)

But you did not come here to hear all that, you want some stamping stuff. Let's start with the workshop. These are two of the cards I did and I also threw in the popsicle card, everyone needed that for summer birthdays. So cute and easy. I recently saw a double popsicle on a blog that I will case when I get time. Oh I am funny, like I get time!!!!

Now for the bag issues. Not purse issues. I have very few of those and I am VERY picky. But bags, I could adopt a million! They all need good homes and are so much easier than animals. My husband should be grateful. Tee hee!!!

This bag is a copy from the cover of a Stampin' Up! publication available to demos called "On Stage". I knew I wanted it as soon as I found it! So I grabbed the bag from my stash, the felt flowers, buttons and ribbon are all SU items I already had. Well... Except the pink ribbon. I HAD it, and used it! I gave up hoarding. So I put out an SOS to my SU sisters and one of them was VERY generous and GAVE me the ribbon I needed. I returned the favor by making her a mini version of the bag with the leftover ribbon. You can see it on her blog here.

This second bag is from Michael's curteousy a 50% off coupon from JoAnn! It SCREAMS "Take me to convention and use me to swap!" But alas it did not come with the airline ticket, and free babysitting services tucked into any of the adorable pockets. I bought it anyway to give it a good home. Besides it was the last green one in a sea of pink ones and I felt sorry for it. :) But it makes a great project bag. When I am working on a project, like this little tag I did for my swap this month, I like to put all the stuff into a basket or bag and carry it with me so I can work on it any spare moment I might get.

Retiring Stamps!

The list of retiring Stamps is available in either alphabetical order or by page number (my preference for going through the catty) and available on the Stampin' Up! website.

If you would like to place an order before items are gone on July 31st let me know. And don't forget that the Mini catalog items disapear on June 30th.

Do these look like fish?

I think my dad will get it. He is Mr. Fisherman. I thought it was kinda retro. And green since I reused the petals I took out of the laser cut notes to make the fish. Can you see? Anyway I have one Father's Day card done and one to go. Gotta make one for that sweety of mine!

Another version

Usually there is more than one version of what I create for a workshop. Either I don't like the way something came out and I change it or I have a new idea. This time I liked it the very first time I made it (see that sample after Thursday) so much that it inspired me to make these. LOVE these laser cut notes. They look fantastic and are so fast and simple to make. Plus accessories are always fun to add. I got the preview stamp set and the notes were just $5 (June special) but now I will NEED more notes! Shucks. :)

Why do I have other things besides stamping to do?

Don't people understand I NEED to stamp? Gracious. They want me to do silly things like get cars inspected, take care of children, keep the household running and food, what is up with that demand? Not to mention just a little bit of heat with humidity in our little neck of the woods. Yeesh!

Someday... I will get back to stamping. I did mange to plan my projects for our workshop on Thursday. And since you can not simply make what you need, there must be creative juices flowing, I got started by picking up my desk a little and found a bench I had colored and lost. That ended the cleaning and began the creating. Get back to cleaning later. Doesn't this place look cool to sit? I mean the cool refreshing kind of cool.

Off to make lemonade!

Three spots left for my class on June 27 for the Tart and Tangy stamp set and the sign up deadline is THIS Thursday.

Wrong pictures

I spent a lot of yesterday baking! I made a cherry pie with lattice crust, a chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting and candybars and gummy worms and last but not least, a spice cake with cream cheese frosting, white chocolate curls and a dozen buttercream roses on top. And do I have pictures? NO!! I was too busy trying to get all of that done and a casserole AND clean up after myself! Geez. But it was all for a good cause. It was a potluck dinner and a pie and cake auction for the boy scouts. Lots of laughs and fun. The limit was $25 and I am proud to say my cakes immeditately got bid for $25. The pie was only $23, guess I better work harder! :) Actually a lot of the items maxed out and that was terrific for the scouts earning money for camp!

So what DO I have pics of? A gift I gave away. A very kind friend has been generously helping and encouraging me to keep my teacher certification. And I wanted to say thank you. This is what I made her. I did not give it very well. The little kid in me gets too excited. So I just ran up to her and handed it to her. Silly me! that whole presentation thing gets forgotten when I spent so much time on the gift.

We go pick up the atomic blue Honda today. So no stamping planned. (who knows what can be done when not planned - bad!) Upcoming projects SHOULD be a birthday card for Makenna, Father's Day cards for my dad and honey and a workhsop with three cards next week. Yup, three, could not decide so they all go in, again. :)

And just in case you are interested, look at the next post down for the Tart and Tangy class. I now have 6 signed up and spots are filling fast. The sign up deadline is the 12th.

Have a great day!

Tart and Tangy Class offered

I have finalized the date and details of my Tart and Tangy class.
See this post for the pictures of the terrific projects.
The class will be Friday, June 27th at 6:30 at my home. Only 8 spots are available since that is what will fit at my table. It is first come, first serve so sign up quick. Deadline to sign up will be June 12th and payment is due by then. There will be an additional $5 fee for anyone signing up after that.

The class will include all the card stock and paper to make the adorable box and 2 each of the five cards for a total of ten. It will also include the Tart and Tangy stamp set and three markers (red, olive and pumpkin). The price is $35 due by June 12th. If you have those color markers you may substitute but must do so by the June 12th sign up deadline.

IF you have the stamp set you can stiil join the class for a $23 class fee with cardstock and markers included.

To make class move as quickly as possible I ask that you bring your own scissors and adhesive of your choice. Everything will be cut, scored and packaged for you. All the samples will be available to see and touch and you can move at your own pace.

If you have any questions please leave a comment, e-mail or call me.

ETA: There are 3 spots left at 10am on 6/6
And there are envelopes included with the cards!

Crafter's yardsale

A good friend of mine and I are having a HUGE crafty yardsale this Saturday at 8am at her house. We are both BIG stampers and crafters and it was time to clean out, to make more room for more stuff. :) We will have stamps, papers, accessories, magazines and more! Even a $10 Sizzix machine! I will not be posting a list of items on my blog or in e-mails. That takes more time then I want to put in and I do not want to run to the post office. Our plan is to take everything out, plunk it down and sell it cheap so it does not come home with us! We will be putting an ad in the local paper too.

If you would like directions feel free to e-mail or call.