Ladystamper

Yesterday was our first Christmas without Brad. It actually went really well. We usually have the kids draw names and buy for one other person, but this year I decided to have them buy for everyone. I thought it might help our 'view' of Christmas as a time of giving. They had fun picking out things for each other and then on Christmas, giving their gifts to their siblings. It was a lot of fun. All of my family came over and spent most of the day after present time. I may not like how we 'got' here, but I am so grateful to 'be' here. I love being by my family and having the kids get to know their family. It has been quite a blessing! My 'in law' family came over Christmas eve and we had fun playing, putting together the basketball hoop (it took hours! Thanks Jeff!!), and playing Apples to Apples. This picture is all of my inlaw family. Quite a nice looking group, no? :o) This pic is of Ben and his cousin Morgin. So cute!! On Christmas, my family all came

I feel bad for not posting for so long! thank you to all my faithful friends that check on me when I am absent. You are the best! Things have been going really great for me and my family. I have been doing well at school....although the past few weeks have been crazy busy with project finishing and final studying. Another week and I will be done for the semester. yay! I have loved it!! I feel like I have a brain again! Amazing..... The kids are all happy and healthy and driving me crazy most days...so, normal! This last weekend we took a trip up to Sedona with some friends and did some hiking. It was so beautiful!! This picture is of my father in law with me, Mae, Sarah, Ethan, and Ben and two other boys that came with my friend. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was breathtaking, and I even managed to do the hike with out embarassing myself! LOL It was a really great time. I should have some cards to post soon....gotta get those Christmas cards made! After finals most likely....

Yes, you read that right, I no longer have a camera. This is why I haven't been posting lately. I dropped my camera....not once, not twice, but three times. It still worked after the first two times, but I think the third time totally offended it. So, it died. ;o( So, I am looking for a new camera! I would love some input on cameras that you all like. Here are my 'desires' as far as a camera go. I like for it to fit in my purse, so I can take pictures all the time. I also like to have the camera do all the hard work like, focusing, for me. I'm not lazy, just really not talented or patient enough for that. But, sometimes, I would like the option of the manual adjustments.....rarely. Another really important thing is the ability to take pictures of the school stage from the audience and to actually be able to see more than dark shapes on the pictures. I guess that would include the zoom and flash....? Anyway....the last requirement is that it not cost an arm and a leg! So

This card is a great example of an...."ok" card...that is WOW once you add some glitter! I used the poppin pastels technique on the top half to get the multi colored image...and it looked okay, but when I added the glitter, it really looked great! I tell ya....who needs diamonds? Only Dazzling Diamonds for me! LOL Tomorrow is the first day you can order the new My Digital Studio digital scrapbooking program from Stampin' Up! I am LOVING this thing!! If you have never tried digital scrapbooking, you have to try this!! It is so easy to take those pictures that are hiding on your computer and make great pages in a snap! You will be hooked! Email me or visit my website to order one tomorrow!

I have a huge amount of card samples at my house. Even after moving and giving away tons, I still seem to have just loads of them! I love digging through them to get ideas. There are so many great ideas out there! I do take lots of samples to my classes too. I try to take only things I have made....but sometimes I take more. There is a version of this card that I have shown for a long time. I don't remember who made the original, but it has been a hit with my customers. Now that we no longer carry the Spectrum cards, I don't always show it, but for my class last week I decided to go ahead and make this card. I punched out a circle from a post it note using the largest circle punch, 1-3/4" and stuck it in the middle of my card front. I used the Desert Heat spectrum...or maybe pumpkin patch....doesn't really matter since we no longer have them, but....anyway! The real point is that I used regular cardstock and a foam attachment to my brayer. Normally, glossy paper is th

Stampin' Up! has created a clearance rack! They are featuring loads of great retired stamps and accessories at up to 80% off!! Check out my Stampin' Up! website to see what is offered. www.beckiecarlson.stampinup.ne t click on 'shop now' and the clearance rack will be listed on the left. These items are available 'while supplies last' so, don't wait! These items are great additions to your stampin/craftin supplies as well as perfect gifts for your crafty friends! the holidays are coming....like it or not!

Last Friday, the bloggers challenge was to use Designer paper on our projects. It just so happened that I had a stampin class last week and made a card using DSP! Perfect, right? Well, it would have been if I could have found my sample! I don't know if I left it with the hostess by mistake or if someone slipped it into their bag by 'accident.' I could not find it anywhere! That is why it is Monday and I am just now posting it! Not that it was a hard card, quite the contrary! It is SUPER easy! Two strips of DSP on a white card base, ribbon wrapped around, and a cute stamped, embossed, and punched focal point...done! I used Real Red Craft ink and irredescent ice embossing powder for the ornament. For all of you that have whined and said you wanted Stampin' Up! to make a punch for every single stamped image....this is one more for you! This ornament punch (#116794) is awesome! It works great with this Delightful Decorations set (#1166517) from the Holiday Mini Catalog. Th

For all my preparedness junkies out there.... Emergency Essentials is giving away a $10 gift card if you put a link to their site on your blog. I order from them pretty regularly. They ship quick, have great sales, and have a great selection of food as well as other emergency preparedness items. My daughter was excited to see that they even have some vegan items. Right now, their powdered milk is on sale for a great price. Something you can never have too much of in your year supply I think. Another item they carry that I really like is their freeze dried shredded cheese. I know, it sounds weird, but it is actually really cool. It is great to put in soups or even to layer in your lasagna! Not only does it soften up in there, but is uses up some of the liquid to make your lasagna hold together better. (Nobody wants lasagna soup....) so there is my sales pitch for today. I think they should send me $20 for that! If you are interested in added the link to your site or just want to chec

Yes, Halloween is just around the corner! I don't usually do Halloween cards, but I just loved this new stamp set Stampin' Up! has in the mini catalog! our family is full of joking and sarcasm so, it totally fits us! This little stamped image also reminds me of my good friend Shari's dog Cosmo. Let's just say...he is a friendly guy! :o) For the background, I rolled the new Haunting Hill jumbo wheel (#116539) in craft white ink, across the black cardstock and then layered on some Night & Day specialty paper (#116768) layered on Only Orange cardstock strips. The skeleton is stamped with basic and highlighted just a tad with a bashful blue marker. The little dog...(shall we call him Cosmo? ) is colored in with close to cocoa ink. The cute button is a corduroy button in Pumpkin Pie (#114342). I used my scallop punch (#109043) to create a faux 'bite' in the lower right hand corner....just for fun! I layered some white cardstock inside the card so the bite was e

I have been having a ball at school. I can't believe I waited this long to go back. Everyone is so nice and I am learning so much! It has taken up a bit of my time tho. I am glad I didn't take more classes than I did. I am just dying to stamp and create but haven't had much of a chance lately. I did take some time and play with My Digital Studio again last night. I had these pictures of Mae and Ben from last month when we were at the mall. I can't wait to scrapbook my pictures from the circus we went to last night...that should be fun!

We all love being on hold! I know! I was sitting in front of my computer waiting and waiting and thought to myself...I could be scrapbooking! So, I opened up My Digital Studio and started scrappin away! How cool is that? No mess, the pictures are all right there...it was great! I was almost annoyed when the agent came back on the line....I asked if he could hold for a minute....LOLHere is a page I did using the 'create your own' option. I put it all together all by myself. It is so easy! You can even resize and crop your photos in the program. I am loving it!

At the Stampin' Up! Leadership conference in January, I was the happy winner of  the new My Digital Studio digital scrapbooking program from Stampin' Up! I have been anxiously waiting for it for months! They wanted to be sure  all the bugs were worked out and that it was ready to go before they made it available. I got my prize in the mail today! As soon as the kids were in bed, I opened it right up and installed it. It is Super easy to use!! I am going to have fun with this! Here is the first page I made. Now, don't worry....I don't think I will do all my scrappin this way....I love the hands on way of scrapping too much. The hours of sitting with friends, digging through buttons and ribbons and stamps....no, I'm not going all digital! But, it is fun to see the 'other' way of scrapping. There are tons of images, embellishments, and other doodads in the 'studio.' And, if I can use it....anybody can figure it out! It retails for $79.95 (item #118108)

I had a workshop Friday night. My mom was the hostess. My mom has been very supportive of my Stampin business over the years, but frankly, she isn't a stamper. So, instead of doing a stamp workshop, we did a vinyl workshop! Decor Elements to be exact. We had a total blast! Normally, at a workshop, I give everyone an opportunity to stamp a card or something. Since this was decor elements, our project was a bit bigger. My mom's car! Yep, we all went outside, in the dark, and personalized my mom's mini van with some awesome polka dots. The Decor Element set is called "Spot On." She picked the brown, green, and pink set. It is so darn adorable! Here are a few pictures of us in action. My mom had to go to the hospital with her dad, so we got started a bit later than we had hoped.(hence the darkness) I was so glad that Grandpa was okay and that mom was able to come to her own party!

School has been amazingly fun! I love being back in the 'learning' department. I'm just soaking it all up. The only drawback is homework. When am I supposed to do that? After stamping, of course!  Actually, I think it will be fine. I've organized my week so that I have a full study day on Wednesday, as well as each night before bed. It helps that I am interested in everything I am taking!  I went to a little sewing class on Tuesday night at the church. We made the cutest little dresses! These are meant for girl's sized 2T-4T (approx) but the project just opens up all kinds of other ideas! I gave the one I made to my sister for my niece so I don't have a picture, but it was totally cute! Check out this link to see the original design and a really wonderful tutorial. If you are an eyeballer that likes to just jump into a project, like me, you will love this blog! She has all kind of projects that are easy peasy and totally cute!! All the credit goes to the blog au

Because of life and all the changes our family has gone through over the past few months, I took a bit of a break from the Friday Blogger Challenges. But last week, I decided I was ready to jump back in! So, I made my card and had it ready on time! Unfortunately, it was also my mother-in-law's birthday card and I walked out the door to her suprise party without a picture! Arg! So, I had to make it again. It is a super easy card, but I love all the dimension on it! Our challenge was 'punches or dies.'  Believe it or not, I went for punches this time! You know I love that Big Shot, but my punches were feeling a bit neglected. The card I made for my MIL was actually Real red and Tempting Turquoise, to match the cool gift box I bought her. It looked surprising good together!  I had seen these two new In Colors together somewhere and decided to try the card with them. I love it! The colors are Bermuda Bay and Rich Razzleberry. Razzleberry looks a lot like the original Eggplant f

Here is my last page using Karen's sketch from Sunday. I don't know if this one is as close to the sketch as the others, but I like it. These pages are 8-1/2 x 11, to fit in a little album I got on clearance at Micheals. I had been wanting to try this page size, with the landscape layout for a while. The base of this page is actually designer paper. A full sheet of polka dot paper in ..... old olive I believe. You can just see the dots around the border. They lined up perfectly! yay me! I layered the original album paper over that after I trimmed it down a bit. It is a light creamy/white color. The brownish colored block is the new Soft Suede In color from Stampin' Up! this year. It just looks soft! I love it! I added a scallop square that I made with my Big Shot to the right and a green heart made with the same paper as the base. I sponged the edges of the heart with more Soft Suede to 'soften' it up and then added some fun ssuede letters also made with the Big Sho

Here is the scrap page I promised. I used the same sketch from Karen Gs Sunday sketch as I did on my card yesterday.  I am making an album of pictures I love. No time line, or theme, just pictures that make me happy. I love this one of Mae. She is so happy and full of innocent joy, I just love it!  The background paper is from a retired stack...blue bayou I believe. I loved the soft look and the fact that all the paper coordinated so well! Gotta love that!  I added some fun white rub ons and silver brads for more interest.  The white scallop border is made with white cardstock and the scallop border punch from Stampin' Up! I just tucked it up under the patterned paper. The JOY is actually a brown rub on from a Christmas set from SU. I brought in some brown taffeta ribbon to ground the joy and then used aquapainters and classic ink to color it in. The cool thing is that the rub on kind of repells the water and ink so the color stays inside the letters. (Unless you get too much water

As many of you know Karen Giron has a wonderful Sunday sketch each week. I look, but I don't usually play. Especially lately. Just too much going on! This week I decided I was going to do it! I pulled out a bunch of stuff and starting working and ended up with not only a card using her sketch, but two scrap pages too! Sometimes all we need is a little push to get our creative juices flowing. :o) Thanks Karen!  Here is my first try, with a card. The papers are from a stack I got at Joanns some time back. They looked a bit 'out of this world' so, that is what I paired with my new Stampin' Up! "Greetings earthling" set.  Check back tomorrow to see the scrap page I used this same sketch for!

Okay, you have heard me say it before. I love brown and pink together, but the combo makes me think of neopolitan ice cream! Something that is totally not allowed on my current diet. Darn! Oh well, at least I can still get some satisfaction from some crafty creating. My daughter and I stole away and hid in my room Sunday after church to do a bit of scrapping. I love that she enjoys crafts like I do! We had a great time and got some good stuff done. I decided to pull out this awesome new stamp I bought from the new Stampin' Up! catalog this summer. I have been wanting a big medallion stamp like this! How did they know?!  I stamped the medallion in chocolate chip on layers of regal rose and close to cocoa. The little bird is stamped with close to cocoa and sponged with chocolate on the edges and regal rose chalk on the wing. I added a bit of detail with my chocolate marker too. It was a pretty easy card to pull together...and I didn't even drool on it while I thought about ice c

okay, so today wasn't the first day of school, and even on the first day, I didn't get pictures of everyone, but....here are a few! My kids are getting so big! I can't believe that Sarah is in 6th grade! She is getting so big and beautiful! Ben looks extremely tall these days.... maybe the new duds?  We are in our second week and they are doing great. I am really pleased with the schools here so far. Everyone has been very patient,open, and good at communication. What else could you want? These pictures are taken in front of our new house, but the house you see is the one next door. The pretty yellow flowers are in our yard tho.....the sun was just too bright the other direction! I'll get more pictures up soon. I couldn't sleep last night so I did some major organizing in my new stamp closet. Those pictures are coming tomorrow....hopefully! I'm almost ready to stamp! Can't wait!! 

Or so my mother always said. I don't know about that these days. I have had tons of changes going on in my life, but I don't exactly feel rested!  We are all moved in and functioning well. Almost all the boxes are gone....if you don't look in the garage. I am really enjoying my new house but missing my old 'home' and friends terribly! I appreciate all the calls, emails, and cards from everyone. You keep me going! I haven't set up my office enough to stamp yet and it is driving me crazy!  My goal was/is to get the kids areas all set up first so they could be settled to start school. Everyone but Jared started last week. He starts tomorrow. Then, maybe, just maybe, I can get MY stuff together! I did do something creative the other day tho....I had ordered these Ginormous Flowers for my white van but then changed cars. My sister really liked them so we attacked her suburban with them. Aren't they great?! We did both sides and a few on the 'tail', all wi

Okay, you might be like me and have been putting off getting the Sizzix Big Shot doctor bag because...well...maybe it was too expensive? No more! Stampin' Up! has put it on sale for this week only! I actually splurged and bought it last month and didn't get this awesome deal. I'm so sad, but...I love the bag! Not only is it totally cute on the outside with the black and white gingham print, the inside is pink with black and white polka dots! so totally cute! You need it!! Order it from me and you will be entered into a drawing for a free die! You can email me to order or order directly on my Stampin' Up! website here . Do it today!! Period Item # Page # Description Regular Price Special Price July 6, 10 AM (MT) through July 13, 9:50 AM (MT) 113474 194 Sizzix Big Shot Doctor's Bag $69.95 $49.99

Dates: July 15 - August 31, 2009 Become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator with the limited-time $85 Mini Starter Kit. The Mini Starter Kit contains the following products: Item Code Page #* Description Retail Value** 115360 118 For All You Do stamp set $28.95 115658 155 Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad $5.95 115656 155 Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad $5.95 115659 155 Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad $5.95 115654 155 Dusty Durango Classic Stampin' Pad $5.95 115655 155 Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad $5.95 115657 155 Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad $5.95 100730 155 Whisper White card stock (8-1/2" x 11") $7.50 115315 155 In Color assorted card stock (8-1/2" x 11") $7.95

We are finally in Arizona and almost unpacked! Okay, the house is mostly unpacked, but my room is out of control! I don't have a dedicated 'craft room' in my new house, so I am being forced to be creative. LOL My 'master' bedroom is going to be a dual purpose room. I thought I could fit all my craftin supplies in one of my large walk in closets, but...apparently, my craftin goodies multiplied while in transit. I know I didn't have this much stuff before I left! Thankfully, my bedroom is pretty large. I will share pictures of what I figure out when I finish. IKEA here I come! Needless to say, I haven't done any scrappin or stampin for a few days. Hang on! I'll get some projects on here soon! :o) happy July!!

I love to bake with my kids. In fact, if we are sitting around bored, that is usually the first thing I suggest. "wanna make cookies?" I don't know why...maybe good memories of baking with my mom? maybe.... Ben gets into baking. The hat, the apron, the whole package. I love it! For this page, I used a piece of Textures DSP from Stampin' Up! I love the border and pattern on it. You really don't need much more! I added "chocolate" on another piece of cardstock (don't tell, but I stamped it directly on the background and botched it, so I layered! Creative opportunity!) The scalloped piece is a chipboard cutout from Stampin' Up! with chocolate (of course) craft ink sponged on it. I added a few build a brads for fun and ... done!.....I'm hungry....where's Ben? LOL

For Sarah's birthday last year, she decided she didn't want a birthday cake. We really aren't too big on cake in our family. Unless there is ice cream in it, and then....we may leave the cake part anyway! We did a strawberry shortcake instead. I used my funky flower tart baking pan from Pampered chef to make the angel food cakes and then we stacked them up and put berries and cream all over them. It was...interesting! But, it totally went with this cute stamp! (I totally didn't plan that....) I went with the strawberry theme for this layout. Red and white polka dots and green polka dots. I added a bit of black for contrast and some metal edge tags for embellishments. Fun and easy! Just like the birthday party!

By now, we should have gotten all the way to Arizona, gotten the truck unloaded, and maybe, just maybe caught our breath. No guarantees on that one. I will be heading out to Utah to pick up Maegan. I can't wait to see her and to hear all about her adventures. I have always admired my daughter. She is so strong and intelligent. She is also oober creative (tho she won't admit it) and has the ability to see the good in everyone. I made this page simple and beautiful, just like her. The base is a sheet of patterned paper from Stampin' Up! It is one of the new textured sheets. I love it! I added some simple punched flowers from a punch....I think Kim has? Anyway, I had punched them out of white cardstock and then when I added the memory paint for the journaling, I realized it was cream paint. Shoot! Since I didn't actually have the flower punch, I just painted the flowers to match! The centers are build a brads from SU! with DSP behind them. I made the M from a coaster and D

Here is another blast from the past page. Pictures that I found while packing and purging......will you look at that hair? Gotta love the 80's and the 'helmet head' syndrome! These pictures are of me and my roommate in 'college.' I say college very loosely as....I did go a bit, but mostly I was just working and playing. I do regret that now, but it was fun at the time! These pages are the last in the Lisa Bearnson kit. Fun colors and no stress layout. I tweeked it a bit by adding a nice large journaling box on the left instead of what she had. The flower brads are Stampin' Up! Ahh....memories....These pictures are from Mesa Az,.....and Here I am, moving back. Many years later. I feel like I've been gone a lifetime!

Christmas in June? Why not?! This page was a lot of fun to put together. I pulled out a Simply Scrappin kit from Stampin' up! to use. I love their rich colors and heavy duty cardstock! Even the patterned paper is nice and thick. The green 'wish' block and the fun tag are all self-adhesive-die-cuts from the kit. How much easier can it get? Seriously! I added some chocolate brads and white ribbon and popped everything up with dimensionals. For the word border along the bottom, I used the Peace&Joy&Love&Cheer border die with the Big Shot and some patterened paper. I love how it turned out! I admit I did run it through my Xyron machine to get adhesive all over the back. I didn't want it moving around. Here is a close up of the tag. I love what it says. What more could we ask for?!

We did a great page at my stamp a stack and scrap several months ago and I promised to share it. But...I just couldn't find the right pictures to put on it! I finally decided on these shots of Sarah and Ethan in a tree. I could make a whole album of my kids in trees. They are part monkey I believe. (on my side I have to admit!) This page was totally fun to put together! The birds and branch are chipboard from Stampin' Up! that I colored with craft ink. I love the little legs! Aren't they adorable?! The flowers are stamped with saffron craft ink, embossed with clear embossing powder and cut out and layered. I know, a lot of work, but they are shiney in person and look great! The patterned papers are from the Urban Garden collection and I love them! I added a bit of Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon and a wavy strip of cardstock for the date. Fun page!

Nothing ages you like your kids getting older and passing major milestones. When mae got her lisence last year...I started feeling old. sheesh....can I really have a kid that age? Then I remember...when my mother was my age, she was a grandma! Holy cow! I've always been glad my mom was so young. She is more of a sister to me at times. It is fun to have people say we look like sisters. Believe it or not, people say that about Mae and I sometimes. THAT makes me feel young! Keep those comments coming! This is another layout from the Lisa Bearnson kit. Very simple and...I didn't change it TOO much. Just the photo layout and the journaling blocks. I loved the funky colors and thought they went well with Mae and her day of increased freedom. I did add the ribbon to the button and stamped "sweet 16" at the bottom with memory paing and a Becky Higgins stamp. SUPER easy page! We're still on the road....having so much fun...

This is a super easy layout that can work for any occasion really. I tend to do a lot of 'film strip' like layouts because I have a lot of pictures. With six kids...how could I not? I love this series of pictures with Mae and Fantine. They are cute together. Fantine always looks so matronly in pictures...she is really a crazy pup, but puts on a good act for the camera. The patterned paper is from Stampin' Up!, of course...their paper is so yummy! I love this paisley print! I added some wide chocolate grosgrain, stamped "smooches" with the new alphabet set and swirl from a stamp by Becky Higgins. I should be picking up Mae in a week. I can't wait to see her! I have missed her sooo much! Today we start our long journey to Arizona....this should be fun. ;o)

Today is my last day in Florida. It is truly a bitter sweet day! I absolutely love it here. I have met so many wonderful people that have enriched my life. I will miss you all! Please stay in touch! I got an email from my friend Laurel P this morning with the following list. It just embodied how I feel about life so I thought I would share it with you all as my parting 'see you later.' Have no fear, my blog will continue! "Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written." My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more: 1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. 2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. 3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. 4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch. 5. Pay off

I teach a lot of classes on scrapbooking and stamping and I almost always mention how therapeutic these creative ventures can be. I joke that it is cheaper to buy stamps than to pay for therapy. I always thought it was true, but never more than when I did these pages. My daughter Sarah wanted to scrap book so we were up in my craft room at 'the table' getting set up. I looked at pictures, moved stuff around,....but I just couldn't do a thing. I felt like a big wall was in front of me and I didn't have the energy to climb over it. I can't remember feeling quite that way before. A few days later, I received a package in the mail from Lisa Bearnson. No, we aren't friends or anything, it was her new scrapbooking kit that I had ordered. I opened it up and felt a surge of excitement! I finished what I was doing and then Sarah and I tried the scrappin again. It was so awesome to be able to sit down and have everything planned for me. The whole page was laid out, all

These pictures are from Ethan's last birthday and frankly, I'm feeling pretty good that I got them scrapped before his next birthday! Again...it seems like just last month that he turned 9. Where did this year go? This birthday was fun because Brad and I surprised Ethan with a new bike. We were doing presents and Brad asked Ethan to go out front and get something for him. He went out and saw the bike and asked who's bike it was. He was totally surprised when we said it was his! I love this picture of him so excited and smiling! He is just the sweetest boy! For the page, I kept it real simple and used patterned paper from Stampin' Up! from the hostess set this year. The paper is light, but if you look close you can see that it is lined like notebook paper. There is a little kite and string printed in the bottom right hand corner of both sheets. I covered the one on the left with a large patterned circle and the one on the right with a glittered cupcake I cut with the Big

You may recognize this layout from yesterday. I used the same basic one on the pages with Sarah. These pictures are actually from the same day. Instead of combining the pictures of both kids on one layout, I decided to do two. I wanted to show the movement of thier 'trick' in the layout. If I had taken the pictures from the other side, they would have been perfect, as it is...they are moving backwards, kind of. Anyway, instead of the circles and butterflies, I went for a more 'manly' theme with Ethan's pages. Some bold stripes and a soft leaf print on either side of my film strip and some metal edge tags with leaves stamped on them were my base. I cut out ETHAN with my Big Shot letter dies and then added loads of colored brads to add to the movement feel of the page. I don't know why these pictures seem so fuzzy...it may have something to do with my new photo software. I am having a hard time figuring out how it works. Wish me luck!

May was national scrap booking month and I did make it a point to scrapbook. I just didn't get pictures of the pages posted in May. This page was inspired by a layout I saw in one of my many many scrapping magazines. I changed it quite a bit, but kept the circle on the left. LOL Funny how an inspiration morphs! These pictures are of my daughter Sarah on her birthday almost a year ago! It seems like only last week....this year has gone by amazingly fast. I can't even wrap my brain around it! I cut the big circle with the new Circle Scissor from Stampin' Up!. This isn't the old scissor...this one is new and improved and SO easy to use! The blade goes either way, a real improvement from the one we carried years ago. It is super easy to make circles of all sizes with it. I use the butterfly die to make the butterflies and also to make the soft background butterflies. You can barely see them here, but I used the negative left from when I cut out the butterfly and then spon

This card was made by Paula Goff, a blogger friend. I love the simple elegance of it. It is obviously a sympathy card, but could easily be a wedding or anniversary card. It is just stunning in person. This second card is from Kim and Gayle...I think Kim made it but can't be sure. It is a mother-daughter combo here so.... I love the faux quilt look of the card. These patterned papers are some of my favorites!

Lisa Martz, Blogger challenge member, made this card. I love love love how she used the tag! Sometimes the simplest little things catch my eye. I just thought it was very clever. This is definitely a card I would demo at a workshop. You could even modify the layout for a 6 x 6 scrap book layout. Very cute! The packers should be done today...then the fun begins. A week without any of our stuff! Air mattresses, paper plates, and laundromat. It is a good thing we have cub scout camp all next week...we won't be home enough to notice the missing stuff!

Kelly Rae Cooper made this card. I have to say,I have admired her work for some time. She is a sideline member of my stampin family and I have seen lots of her swaps go by. I actually called her once to ask her about a card she did and she pointed me to Pat's Technique Junkie newsletter. Althought I think she does get some great ideas from pat, Kelly is oober creative all on her own! This technique is called Faux Seersucker I believe. The white focal area has been textured so that it really feels and looks like fabric! Very cool! Day 2 of the packers....will it ever end?

I admit it...I pre-scheduled a bunch of posts so that you all could hear/see from me while I was moving. For some reason, blogger has decided to post random posts early. hmmm...not sure what is up with that. So, if you get on here and see the date of my post and think you somehow missed a week of your life, sorry about that. I was just attempting to be organized and prepared. LOL Today, the packers are coming and well, golly, that is just going to be too much fun. sigh....I hate to move.....

From the moment I saw this tree set, I knew I had to have it! I actually was trying to come up with a logo for my scrapbooking company a few years ago (200Trees) and wanted a tree just like this! I tried to describe it to my various designer friends, but couldn't quite get it the way I wanted. This tree is perfect! This sweet card was made by Lisa Bohler, another Bloggers Challenge gal She does awesome stuff! I love the brown and blue together. And, polka dots are my favorite! Thanks Lisa! I love this tree so much that I actually put the decor elements tree on my living room wall a few months ago. You may think it is sad that now I am leaving it, but...It took me all of 20 minutes to put it up. I can just buy another one for my new house! If I had stenciled or painted it on...I would be really sad! You gotta love the Decor Elements! Today the Movers are scheduled to come and start packing. This should be fun.....

This card really caught my eye when I opened it. The colors really seem to pop off the page! Ashley is a stampin friend that lives just far enough away that we don't get to see each other very often. She is a demonstrator is Morriston, Fl. So, if you are in that area and need someone, give her a call! I love how the little butterfly just seems to be flitting about on here.

This card was made by Karen Giron. Many of you know her. She has a weekly challenge on Sunday on her blog here . She is a fun and creative person as well as a great mom. I love the colors she used here. The green with the cool blues. Very fun and funky without being over the top. This second card was sent by my friend Page. Page is someone I met through the local MOPS group right after I moved to Florida. She is a wonderful person that always seems to be doing something for someone else. She is either volunteering at the elementary school, doing something for MOPS, running in a race for charity or taking something to someone in need. I admire her for her great sense of compassion for others. I'm so glad I met her!

My dear friend, and fellow Twilight addict Lee sent this card. She is always saying how un creative she is....then she comes up with things like this! I love how she used the background under the words too. It totally ties it all together. I also love the way the flowers look stamped on the orange cardstock. Almost like a fabric print. Very cool.

Pat Huntoon sent me this card. If you know Pat at all, you know she is the most creative person around! She has a bi-monthly newsletter that she puts out that is full of fun new stamping techniques. It is called the "Technique Junkie" newsletter. You can find more information for it on her website at www.patstamps.com . Tell her I sent you! This card is full of great techniques from her newsletter. I can't share them here, for copyright sakes, so check out her site! She is amazing!

I have received so many sympathy cards from friends, family, and people I barely knew recently. It has been so wonderful to know that so many people have been thinking of me and my family. I have always said that stampers are the best people in the world, and I still think so! This card was sent to me by Nikki Bond, a very creative gal that I met through the Bloggers' challenge group. I thought it was so sweet of her to send me a card! Isn't the internet wonderful? We can make friends all across the world, with just a few clicks! I love it! This second card is another by my friend Shari. I love how beautifully she watercolored this flower. It is simple yet very pretty. Both of these cards also have great texture. I just love them!