Ladystamper

I had lunch today with a dear friend. One of those friends that we probably all have. We have a totally fun time when we are together! We talk til our throats get sore, laugh til our sides ache and share our deepest darkest secrets. Then, we don't talk for months on end. Why do we do that? I don't know! I don't have all the answers! But, I do know that I totally love spending time with D. She is just a breath of fresh air. I am just so blessed to have such good friends. And to think...I didn't want to move to the south! I made this little Gratitude Journal for my lunch date friend. It is a simple little book on the outside because I want her to fill free to fill it with all that her heart desires. I know that she has loads to be thankful for and I hope this book runneth over! I used the Outlaw paper on the front with the cool spiral punch. I don't know how to make that fit perfectly so I had a little border around the edges. No worries! I used my Mocha chalk pad to ...

Today was such a fun day! I got to be the teacher's helper in Kindergarten. Let me tell you...if I was going to be a teacher, and I might be some day..... I would want to teach Kindergarten. I mean, you get to color, cut and paste, play with playdoh, read stories, get snacks and take naps! I think that author...Robert Fulgrum maybe? was right. Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten. Of course, it helps that this particular Kindergarten class had my baby Ben in it and the most amazing teacher. Mrs. M is the absolute best! I just adore her! I went to help get the day started and ended up staying past lunch. After that, I really had to book it home to get ready for my workshop tonight. That is when the real excitement happened. I was working on getting my last project packed up when Mae came to talk to me. I looked up to answer her and saw a HUGE brown spider abover her head on the ceiling. MOVE!!! I said to Mae and we both dove, literally, to the other side of the roo...

School is back in session! I should have loads of time! LOL Any mother of school children knows that once they all go off to school, it is time to clean up the mess that was made all summer! That is what I did yesterday. Well, at least, I started on that mess . Today I actually stamped a bit and....it is a bit embarassing to say this, but...I blew an hour and a half by watching the High School Musical 2 that I had recorded. It was so cute! golly....brings back memories of high school....all the fun times and hard times and...boy does that guy have blue eyes! Don't they just glow?! Anyway, it was cute. I don't usually watch TV at all! But, on to the stamping! I had ordered these long notes and hadn't had a chance to play with them yet, so they were my target today. I decided to use my Pick a Petal set because it filled up the long card well. This first one is done using the Guava note. I used Guava to stamp the flower petals onto white cardstock and then cut them out. I stam...

Tonight was my monthy stamp night. It felt so good stamp with my buddies again! I didn't realize how much I had been missing them. We had a pretty good sized group for our class tonight. I know several people couldn't come due to other commitments, but...we'll catch them next time! As promised, I am including a picture of my potato peeling crew from a few days ago. They were such great helpers! I am going to miss having all those extra hands to help me can when they all go back to school. This picture has three of mine and an extra child that was helping. If you are at out house when we can, you will be put to work! Here is a picture of the first project I did for our class tonight. This may look a bit familiar to you. I cased the little red coaster frame I showed a few days ago on here. It was so easy and fun to make! We did a Halloween version using the Creepy Crawly paper from SU. I am not a big Halloween fan. In fact, that particular holiday could disappear and I would ...

With all the back to school activities, I decided to can again! Why not? The kids are here to help for a few more days. So, no stamping again. And I REALLY need to! I have several cards that need to be in the mail now. Tomorrow....I will have to find time. Potatoes were on sale at my favorite veggie stand so I bought a mere 50 pounds. That may sound like a lot, but it really isn't And, it was pretty cheap! For about $30 I ended up with 32 jars or super yummy potatoes. In case you were just dying to know, potatoes are uber easy to do. We peeled them, cut them into approx 1" cubes (no, I didn't measure, but...just for a visual...) and cram a bunch in the jar, put about 1 teaspoon of salt in and fill the jar the rest of the way with water. I did these in my oven at 275 for 2-1/2 hours. I don't think they needed to go that long, but boy are they good! (Yes, we do open a jar the day we make them and try them out. ) Now we are even more anxious to do sweet potatoes. They a...

This week has been officially christened 'registration week' at my house. Between the elementary, junior high, and high school....that is all I'm doing! Do n't tell, but I'm thinking of registering at the community college as well. Maybe some online classes in my free time. LOL Since I have been either in the car or at a school all week, I haven't had much time to stamp. So, I am sharing another great swap from convention. I have been getting some questions about coaster ideas so I thought this was a great swap to share. This is a totally simple wow project. The artist is Annette Bogue. She took two coasters and stuck them together to make a little desktop frame. The front coaster has a square cut out of the middle and has black cardstock stuck over that on the back. It is open at the top so you can slide a photo into the frame. The front coaster was painted red and dotted with....the awesome white gel pen! yes! The back coaster was folded almost half way down a...

Okay, before you think that I made this, I am going to give credit to the artist. This adorable little project was made by Joanne Tofte. I got this in one of my WOW swaps at convention. Believe me, it is even more gorgeous in person! That is chalk tied on with the guava ribbon and when you pull it up, there is a coaster that has been painted with chalk board paint. It is so darn cute! Today was my local mini convention. We had a great time! It is amazingly hard to fit three full days of convention into three hours, but we tried. I'm interested to see how convention will work next year with it only being one session, but having been to many conventions throughout my Stampin' Up! career, the one thing I am certain of is that SU has been learning. Every convention is getting better and more organized. I have no doubts that they have really thought this one session thing through and that it will be awesome. So, if you are a demo, plan to go! If you are NOT a demo....let' s get ...

I'm getting things back in order after convention. It was so nice to have a week away...no laundry, no driving kids all over town, no cooking.....I'm paying for it now tho, I also had NO excercise. Although, I did opt for stairs (thanks Sarah-in picture with me) whenever I had the opportunity. Today I got up early (8:30) and did two miles on my bike. I know, not so very impressive for some of you, but dang impressive for me! Of course, then I ended up at UnderDog today and ate a ton of junk food. My will power is pretty much shot these days....what can I say? Warm cinnamon pretzels? Who can resist those, really!? The funnest part of the movie was watching my Benny jump up and down in excitement everytime the dog flew around. He was a riot! The movie is totally kid friendly and clean and just fun. It is also quite short. Only an hour and about 27 minutes. Just long enough for a 6 year old that doesn't like to sit for long. And, of course...long enough to eat way too much jun...

One of the great things about convention is the chance to meet up with old friends and make new ones. That is actually probably the biggest reason I like to go. The stamping and business info is invaluable, but...it really is all about the relationships. I have so many great friends that I have made through stamping. It is wonderful! At convention this year, I was able to finally meet one of my downline in person. April is a sweetie! We had a great time hanging out together. She brought me this awesome gift the first day. Isn't it adorable? The notebook was inside the can along with loads of yummy taffy and goodies. I thought that was so sweet of her! She also did a great job on these! April and Kimber were also the ones that accompanied me to the awesome concert after the awards ceremony. Aren't they beautiful?! We had a lot of fun! Here is another picture of the band I am gaga about today...It was amazing watching them play each other's instruments like this. The good ne...

We had SOO much fun in Denver! What a blast to spend four days with a bunch of crazy stampers. I believe stampers are the best people in the world! I will be uploading some pictures in the next few days of friends, fun and stamped samples, but tonight, before I collapse, I wanted to share the total highlight of the week with you all. The very last day of convention was the awards ceremony. I have been to loads of these and some of them leave a bit to be desired. This year however, it was wonderful! The entertainment was put on by Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band . It was wonderful! I am putting a link here for you all to check them out. If you have a chance to see them, go! I purchased ALL their CDs and am anxiously awaiting when I can see them in concert again. One of the things that made the band so awesome was the fact that they totally loved what they were doing. It was clear on every one of their faces and in everything they did. They were also am amazing bunch of musicians. wow. No...