Inkin' up the Dogs!

My blog is officially on hiatus....

Hello! Just a quick note to let everyone know that everything is okay in my world--just very busy!!

I'm sure it won't come as a surprise, since I haven't posted in almost 6 weeks...but I have to give up blogging for now.  I decided to go back to school, and study a new career.  After being in banking for 20 years, I am following my passion and studying Veterinary Technology.  I am an animal lover, and for several years I have had a dream to work with animals.  Life is short and I'm not getting any younger!  So at the age of 40, I am going back to college!  My program will take about 2.5 years. 

In the meantime, I still plan to be a demonstrator for Stampin' Up!  In the event that I have time for stamping (16-20 hours a week studying leaves me NOT much time!) I will do my best to share it with you.  The posts will most likely be few and far between though.

Thanks for understanding, and I hope you are all having a great summer!!!

Catching up.....and a Thank You card!!

The past couple of weeks have had their ups and downs!!

On February 24th, I turned 40 years old!!

 

I know, I know....I only look 25!! You don't have to tell me.  People tell me every day!! LOL.

For my birthday, I planned a very small dinner with a few family members and a couple of friends.  No big deal.  My husband wanted to surprise me, so being the great organizer that he is, he surprised me with a lot of surprise guests!!! It was really nice.  What was supposed to be a dinner of a few, turned into a dinner of about 20 people I think...maybe more!! 

He also surprised me by asking my friend Sherri to come and stay the weekend of my birthday.  Sherri drove all the way here from North Carolina!! She had to drive through snow and everything.  What a trooper!! Here is a pic of us soon after she surprised me at my door..I am on the left and she is on the right.  Don't mind the dogs...they are always up to something!!

 

Then on February 27th, the happiness turned to sadness when my dear Grandfather passed away.  He was 86 years old, and while it wasn't totally unexpected, it breaks my heart nonetheless.  He was a wonderful Grandpa and I will miss him dearly!

 

So I apologize I haven't been around much lately.  Things have just been really busy and I haven't had any time to stamp, until today!

I needed a few thank you cards, so I made this card:

 
 

I played around with the ribbon placement a little bit.  I never did decide if I like it better on the top or the bottom... what do you think?

The main image is stamped in Crumb Cake ink on Crumb Cake card stock.  The stamp is from "Eastern Blooms".  The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip.  I added a punched flower with a self adhesive rhinestone in the center.  The bottom of the card is accented with a strip of Wild Wasabi card stock.

It's a very simple card, but as you know, many of my cards are!! I actually got the idea for this card from a sample in the current Idea Book & Catalog.  I don't have my book in front of me, but they had a cute sample that was made in a smaller square card, and I based the layout and color ideas directly from it!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope to be back again soon!

  

 

 

 

 

 

Where have I been?

Well...let's see.  This is what I would LIKE to say:

 - On a 3 week vacation to Cozumel (or Tahiti, Jamaica, Hawaii---insert your own dream destination here)

OR

 - Meeting with our attorney trying to figure out what to do with our millions that we've just won in the lottery (although really--this would probably create it's OWN set of problems, wouldn't it?)

OR

 - Stamping away the days and nights--and now I have hundreds and hundreds of projects prepared and photographed--ALL ready to post on my blog so I can entertain you the whole year through! 

 

But...in reality....that is NOT where I've been.  I don't really have a good reason to say why I've been MIA for 3 (plus!) weeks.  We've just been BUSY!  If it's not one thing, it's another.  Much of it has been fun--weddings, birthday parties, stamp clubs, spending time with friends & family, etc.  Most of it, however, has just been day to day regular life activity!! 

So for those of you who have missed me, I THANK YOU!  For my blogging friends whom I've also been neglecting lately, I'M SORRY!  I hope to visit you all again REAL SOON!

In celebration of FINALLY posting today, I'm giving away some blog candy!!!  I have a new & unmounted stamp set called "Classy & Fabulous".  This set is not in the current catalog, but IS still available on the dormant list.  Here is a pic for you:

 

Do you likey?? If so, please leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered into my drawing.  I'll draw a name next weekend.  How about Sunday, one week from today.  Around 9:00 am??  Sound good?   Good luck!!

 

Color Inspiration by HGTV (also some pics from my garden)

I watch a lot of HGTV when my husband isn't watching ESPN.  There is a show that uses the colors of this card as part of it's intro.  Don't ask me what show it is, because I have no idea!  Every time I see the intro though, I think "I need to make a card with those colors!"  Since Baja Breeze will be retiring soon---I figured I better hop to it!!

 

I didn't start out with the intention of making this a sympathy card---but after I had it about finished, I remembered that Brian had asked me for one.  I looked in my stash, and I had NONE.  So---a sympathy card it became!!  Certainly Celery may have been a more appropriate green for a sympathy card rather than green galore,but the green part is so minimal- I think it's okay.

I stamped the image in Baja Breeze classic ink, and then used a blender pen to remove color from the stems and a few flowers.  I then used my markers to color in with the Green Galore and Close to Cocoa. 

The pretty ribbon is from the Valet Ribbon Originals----which are currently on sale on the Retiring Accessories List!!  There are still some available, so scoop them up while you can. 

 

Supplies: Upsy Daisy & Close as a Memory stamp sets; Baja Breeze, Green Galore, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla card stock; Baja Breeze & Close to Cocoa Classic Ink; Green Galore & Close to Cocoa markers; Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch; Valet Ribbon Originals.

Sorry my blogging has been so sporadic.  We did some major overhaul in our yard this year, and it has been taking up a lot of my time.  The shrubs and plants were in and the mulch was down a long time ago---however, now all that stuff needs lots of water!!  We have a new patio too, and I find that I really enjoy just sitting out there enjoying the beautiful weather!  The "project of the week" this week was trying to repair bare spots in the lawn.  More watering!!!  You catch my drift?

I did take some pictures recently of some of my plants, so I will share a few with you.  (Click on them to see them close up.)  I really enjoy taking care of things outside.  Ask me again in August when it's 100 degrees outside, and I might feel differently!! But for now, it's fun!!

 

Anemone........... Blue Hosta.......... Cornflower

 

Dahlia.................Shasta Daisies.............Coleus

 

 

Labrador Retriever!

 

Thanks for stopping by today!!!  My new catalog arrived today, so I am going to go look through it (again!)  Customer catalogs will not arrive for about 3 more weeks.  Everyone is going to love it.  I think there is a great variety of stamps in it, and a lot of fun papers and accessories. 

See you soon!

Taking a blogging break.....

I'm taking a little break while I get some work done in my yard.  I have a LOT to do, so I won't be stamping for the next week or so.  See you next weekend!!!

Minor Changes.......

Sorry for my lack of posting this week!!  Creatively, well....I haven't really been that creative!  Brian and I have been spending a lot of time watching TV.  Last weekend the Love Comes Softly Series was on the Hallmark Channel.  We recorded 6 movies and we've been watching them all week.  They are based on the books by Janette Oke.  I always loved watching Little House on the Prarie when I was growing up, and these movies remind me a lot of it.   So we have 4 movies down, and 2 to go.  I know there are more than 6 books in the series, so hopefully there will be more movies to follow!

I do have a few things to show you.....but they're not totally new.  I made minor changes to  a few cards I had recently posted, so I will show them to you. 

First card was the Bird with Leaves Christmas card.  Instead of using the Sanded background, I tried it with the Polka Dot background and LOVED it!  I also changed up the ribbon just a tad.  Here you can see my original card on the top, and the new version on the bottom:

   

I really like the Polka Dots, and I think the new ribbn style makes the card less busy so you can enjoy more of the bird.  What do you think??

 

It also occurred to me about a week ago, that the house image from the "To You and Yours" looks amazingly similar to my house! Why did I not notice this before??  Here is a picture of my house:

 

Can you believe all the snow we've gotten already???? 

Just kidding!  This picture is from last winter.  If you look real close you can see Colby in the middle of the pic.  I was really taking pictures of him in the snow this day. 

So I decided to change up my version of the "To You and Yours" card a bit to reflect a red brick house.  Original version is on the top, and my changed version is on the bottom:

 

You have to look closely, because the changes are minor.  I colored the new house red, and I also colored the door brown.  It's a perfect match to my house.  And I changed the sentiment on the front to read "From Our House to Yours".  I can't believe this didn't occur to me sooner!!!  I was so excited after this and I showed the new card to Brian and I exclaimed "Honey! Don't you think this totally looks like our house???  Isn't this a great card for us to send out?"  and I got the typical "That's nice dear."  Oh well.  I like it!  Here is a close-up of the new house:

 

So that's about all I've been up to lately....besides preparing for my monthly stamp clubs.  We meet starting on Saturday.  Once I finish the preparations for that today, I hope to create some fun stuff.  Maybe I'll be back later with something new!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

New York Giants vs. Cleveland Browns

This is what my husband and I did last night.  He is a NY Giants fan.  I got him tickets for his birthday this year to go see this game in Cleveland.  We had fun, despite the final outcome.  We had great seats.  Here are a few pictures from the game:

 

Giants pre-game huddle:

 

Melina Kanakaredes (from CSI NY) sang the Star Spangled Banner:

 

This is Eli Manning warming up:

 

 

This was the view from my seat.  I was literally straddling the 50 yard line:

This was the upper view from my seat.  This is Key Tower rising above the stadium.  I work for KeyBank and this is our corporate headquarters.  This is how I got our tickets. 

 

and here is a picture of me and Brian in our seats.  I had to take the picture myself so it's not the greatest.  I was afraid to hand my camera to a Cleveland fan.  LOL.  It's kind of a scary thing when you're in their stadium dressed in opponent's gear.  Cleveland fans are very serious about their team!

 

We were there really early, so the seats around us are still empty.

For those of you that didn't watch the game, the final score was Cleveland 35 to NY 14.  YIKES!  They kicked our butt.  Eli and the team didn't have a very good night.  It was a good game to watch though, and we still had fun. 

I've been MIA!

Have any of you wondered where I've been???  Did you think I forgot about my blog???  I didn't!!! Things have just been really crazy this week.  My friend Michelle (who is also a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator) and I had a booth at a local festival this week.  So I've spent a lot of time preparing for that, as well as working a couple of late nights at work.  I also didn't get my normal Thursday day-off, so my whole week has just been a blur.  But here I am....and I have a little project to show you.  I will put it up shortly.

 

Happy Birthday to my Mom.....and my new car came in today!!!!

Today is my Mom's birthday!!  Her name is Cheryl.  Happy Birthday Mom!!!  She reads my blog, so feel free to leave her Happy Birthday comments!

Create your own glittery text at pYzam.com

In celebration of her birthday, I am going to pick up my new car!  Okay...well one thing doesn't really have anything to do with the other, but it sounded good, didn't it??

I ordered my new car back in July.  It's a 2009 Ford Escape.  It seems like I have been waiting for it FOREVER.  I ran out of miles on my lease this past weekend, so I have been on pins and needles waiting for it.  I have been driving my husband crazy!  He is my car salesman.  (We met when he sold me a car about 8 years ago.)  I've been asking him every day for the past 2 weeks where it is.  Here is why I am so excited:

**28 MPG Highway Miles vs. the 16 MPG that I am getting in my Explorer now. 

**Navigation System!!!!!!!!!!! (I think it's even voice activated!)

**Electronic Jukebox with enough memory to hold 2,400 songs!!!!!!!!!  I can download songs from a CD into the memory, and it even has a USB port to hook up my flash drive.  Plus there is a plug-in for my MP3 player.  I don't think I'll be needing my MP3 player with that kind of memory though!

**Sync!! (I can tell it to dial my phone, I can tell it to TEXT for me, I can answer my phone without picking my phone UP! I know there is a whole slew of other things it can do, but I'll have to figure those out)

**Heated Leather Seats!!!!!!!! (I know!  I'm spoiled!)

**It plays DVD's on the Navigation system!! (Unfortunately not while I'm driving though.   Dang it!  Why do they have to ruin all my fun just for a little safety??)

I pretty much got it loaded.  I really LOVED my Explorer, but I just couldn't afford the gas anymore.  I was a little bummed about having to go down to a 4-cylinder (I have a lead foot!), but I think all the bells and whistles will cheer me up.  Thankfully, Escapes are cheaper than Explorers, so I could afford to add some fun things!

Here is a picture of it on the delivery truck.  Brian just emailed this to me less than an hour ago (sorry it's not a great quality pic....from his cell phone):

 

 

So if y'all don't see me posting for a few days, you'll know it's because I'm busy loading songs into my Jukebox! LOL

Just kidding!!!!!