Scenic Sunday

Hello all! Sorry my post today is late. We've had a busy day! The kids and I dropped David off this morning so he could catch a bus to the Airport. He'll be on a TDY for two weeks. We already miss him, but the 2 weeks will fly by; especially since school starts tomorrow! YEA!!! The boys are all packed and ready for their first day. Clothes are picked out, hair is cut, supplies are ready, and so am I! I love my boys but it takes a LOT of patience to have them home everyday, all day. They are the type of kids that need their "own" time, and school is just that for them. Ok, so enough of my blabber. Since David took the laptop he also took the picture I wanted to show you all today, so you'll have to settle with this: It's the Spam Musubi we made a couple weeks ago. No, it isn't pretty (we used the wrong rice and the nori was too small to wrap around) but it was TASTY! Here is a pic of Angel enjoying her little piece:
She liked the Spam ok, but ate all the rice and left the Nori on the floor. Here is Andrew making his Musubi:
YOu can see the mess of the counter! lol! And here is a pic of some flowers my David brought home to me, just cuz:
I was joking with him and asked him to pick up a few essential things from the store on his way home. I listed: "milk, bread, flowers..." but of course I was joking. He actually delivered! It was a great surprise after a stressful day!
I hope you liked my Scenic Sunday and I'll see you all later!
Until later, be blessed.

Miraclulous Friday!

Hello Hello! Thank you all for coming to my blog. Have you seen how many comments I've gotten on my blog candy? WOW!!! Each and every comment brings a smile to my face so I thank YOU for stopping by and saying Hi! Today I have a little something different to show you. It's a card without a TGF image on it! *gasp* I know! lol! I was sent a little thank you from Tuesday Morning Sketches for advertising about their new blog a while back and I finally made use of the goodies. Melissa sent me a great piece of DP, ribbons, buttons, a wonderful stamped sentiment, and the cutest little Pixie image! This is a Swiss Pixie named Gretel from CC Designs: I have seen this stamp on All That Scraps and I want it! But I'm on a spending fast when it comes to my stamping hobby; at least until I use more of my new goodies, sell off some of my old stuff, and pay off a credit card. Anyway, I loved coloring her with my copics and I don't know what ink or paper she was stamped with/on, but it was WONDERFUL with my copics. I wish I knew what it was so I could get myself some! What do you think of the card? I came up with the sketch myself because I wanted Gretel to be lounging on the sentiment block. Here is a picture of the card from an angle so you can see the dimension:

I just realized that I forgot to draw a shadow underneath Gretel. I'll have to do that! I hope you all liked my post for today and that I'll hear from you again soon! I'll be back on Sunday with a couple pics. And just to keep you in the loop: The Greeting Farm is having a Farm Fresh Friday challenge and Club Anya is having a "I wanna be just like..." challenge. Go check them out! I've already finished my submissions and you'll see them next week! OH, and both TGF and CA are having DT calls... yup, I applied! heehee!

Thanks for stopping by and Be Blessed.

Candy ends on Wednesday!

Hey there friends! I forgot to tell you all when the candy would end. You have until Wednesday, September 2nd to enter. I will tally the entries on Thursday and post the winner that afternoon/evening. Now, I am in Italy, so my Wednesday may be your Tuesday if you are in the States... so my candy ends Wednesday, September 2nd @ midnight, ROME TIME! (that would be GMT+01:00 for all you savvy time people). Just enter before then! See you all later!

I'M BACK!!! with Candy!!!

Candy is now closed. Thank you all for entering!
Congrats to Carrie; she's the big winner this time!

Hello, hello, hello!!! What a fabulous Wednesday it is! I have something to show you... It's my messy desk! LOl! You all know what a messy desk means, right? It means Mr. Mojo is back in town! I got crafty last weekend and my desk is the proof! So, I made this first mess, cleaned it all up and did this:

I made a second mess! I just HAD to ink up one of my new Miss Anya Dressy stamps because the Anyone For Anya Challenge blog has their first challenge up! The challenge is "Sugar & Spice & All things Nice" and when I hear that, I think of THIS Miss Anya:

Isn't she just the most adorable thing ever?!? I have been wanting to make some TGF notebooks, and these Miss Anya's are the perfect size (taller and thinner than regular Anya) for these little notebooks. And I love the way my bow turned out. Look!

I haven't untied it since, I don't want to mess it up! I don't know if this notebook will ever get used... maybe I'll send it on to someone else... Here is a close up of the sentiment I stamped and embossed with my sakura glaze pen:

And here is a close up of Miss Anya herself:

I colored her with my Koh-n-oor pencils and OMS. I love the vintagey look that came about. And... did I mention CANDY???? HERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is a looooooooooooooong time coming, but here is the promised Candy! I have a pack of 6x6 Sunny Glen paper from The Greeting Farm, about 1 yard each of 4 different ribbons, a pack of sticker crosses, a quickie glue pen, a BUNCH of buttons, a BUNCH of felt flowers, clear acrylic sentiments stamp set and a MISS ANYA DRESSY stamp set!!! AND, the winner will get to choose SEVERAL stamped images from my collection of TGF stamps. I will email the winner a list of all the Greeting Farm stamp sets that I have and they can choose which stamped images they want. ALSO, I will probably be throwing in a few handmade items... ahem, the notebook, ahem...

So, in celebration of my new job, my recent promotion, my (over) 10,000 blog visitor hits, and my ABUNDANT BLESSINGS, leave a comment and be entered to win my yummy candy! You don't need to do anything special, just leave a simple comment here, but if you want to spread the word... I'll give you a second entry into the candy! Just let me know you are spreading the word and how (on your blog, through emails, etc.).

I hope you like my candy, and my project for today!

Until next post, GOD bless you ALL!

I'll be back!

I promise, I'll be back with a really good post soon! Maybe in about an hour... Heeheehee!!!

Scenic Sunday

A short worded post with some pretty pics. I have a LOT to do today to prepare for Ashton's 6th birthday party this afternoon! Had so much fun at Bunco last night too. Looking forward to the next one. Here's some pics I took a while ago. A cute little church at the end of a cute LITTLE street: LOVE the old brick wall on the right and the narrow street was fun:
A view from halfway up the mountain:
There will be more photos soon; they are still in the camera. Have a Super Sunday and until next post, be blessed!

Fabulous Friday!

Hello Friends! Today is a wonderful day. It's barely after noon, and I have gotten so much accomplished! I feel like my to-do list is shrinking and things are getting done. Yea! Unfortunately, I haven't gotten crafty in almost TWO weeks. I know, GASP! I have crafty plans for today and the rest of this weekend though, so we'll see what I can get done. Here is a card I made a while ago for a Tuesday Morning Sketch:

I embossed Flutter Anya and colored her with my copics. I used Martha Stewart bows and a generic tag from an Office Supply store. The papers are all Crate Paper; I love the texture of this paper! So, since it's been almost a week since I've posted, How are you all? Still around? Any news to share? I don't have much... just something brewing in the future... but I'll let you all know about that later, heehee! And Yes, the Blog Candy is coming! I promise! I just got the last stamp set in the mail that I was waiting on, so now I need to gather and photo all the goodies! Look for that SOONER than SOON! Woohoo!

Thanks for stopping by again, be blessed!

Scenic Sunday

I've decided that Sunday's would be a good day to show you all a picture or two (or more) of things that I like to look at. Or things that are interesting to me. Or just things I took a picture of! LOL! This is my version of Pinch My Salt's "Wordless Wednesday." My "Scenic Sundays" may not be wordless, but they will have non-stamping/crafting related photos for you all to admire. For my first Scenic Sunday here are a few places that I see almost everyday. First up, the cool looking Italian home across the street from a stop sign that I always stop at: I want to take another picture of it now that the plants are growing and more colorful... maybe next week. Here is the front door of my work:

LOL, not the most glamorous, but I like it. And here are the front windows of the Parent Co-op I volunteer at:

Again, not the most glamorous but I love it! I hoped you like the pics today. I guess this is a little glimpse into my "real" life!

Be blessed!

Hello Kitty Angels

I haven't been very motivated to get into my craft room lately, but I find that using a fun sketch, and an adorable digital image can help my lack of motivation. I decided to make a few Thank You cards to donate to the Spouses club here in Aviano so I used a sketch from Sheetload of Cards from a couple months ago, along with an adorable Hello Kitty Angel image and made these: Here is a close up of the purple card:
All three cards use patterened paper from DCWV and the solid papers are a mixture of Stampin Up and some scraps that I had. Here is a close up of the Pink one:
I colored the HK Angels with my copic markers and then added glitter to the wings with my Sakura glitter pen. Here is the blue card:
I also used some self stick rhinestones to add a little sparkle around the card as well. These were super simple and quick to make. I still don't have much motivation, but when I see my un-inked stamps and un-cut papers, I feel a longing to get them onto a project! I hope the mojo returns soon, I miss my craft time!
I hope you are all having a fun weekend. We saw the movie Up today (cute!) and drove around town a little. Turns out that this weekend is some Italian holiday and all the shops are closed! Oh well, we had fun anyway.
Until next post, be blessed.

I'm Alive!

Hey there friends! Are any of you still around or have I lost you all from my lack of posts? I promise that my posting will pick up again, it's just taking some time for me to get used to the changes going on in my life right now. I love my new job, and guess what? Because of some staffing changes, I am now the Manager! I know God has me on a path leading somewhere fantastic and I am enjoying the ride. It's going to be an adventure and I can't wait to see where I'm headed. So, wanna see what I got in the mail last week? LOOK: It's my Grand Prize Winnings from The Greeting Farm! Woohoo! I still haven't gotten a chance to play with most of it, but hopefully this weekend! Here is everything spread out on my table:

I couldn't believe it when it got here. I still don't believe it until I look at my box of stamps and actually touch them, lol! Here is a card I made for a Challenge on Club Anya to CASE Amy:

I inked up Pretty Hat Anya and her doggy friend and made this round card very similar to Amy's round fairy card. I didn't end up posting it in time for the challenge deadline, but that wasn't my goal anyway, I just wanted to make the card. I love Amy's work and wish my stuff could look so great!

Well, I have discovered that with more responsibilties comes sacrifice. Actually, I've known this for awhile, but right now I'm definitely feeling it. Since my job takes me away from my hobby 2-3 days a week, I'll be cutting back on some things in order to stay sane. I won't be blog hopping as much (which I needed to cut back on anyway) and I won't be participating in as many challenges. Also, I've learned to value a decent bedtime EVERY night of the week in order to function! lol! I will be around blogland still, and I will be doing a blog candy. I have a lot of blessings to celebrate!

Thank you all for stopping by and get plenty of rest!

Until next post, be blessed!

Very Quick Post

Hey there friends. I am so sorry that I have not been around lately. I started a new part-time job last week, and I really love it. It is just two days a week, but I have a lot of fun interacting with customers and my fellow employees. AND, it takes a lot of time out of my days. I haven't been as crafty as usual so I don't have anything to show you today. I have decided to schedule a few posts every week so I won't feel obligated to hop on here every day, and that way you will all have something to read! And what do you all think about "Wordless Wednesdays"? I read a blog called Pinch My Salt and every Wednesday she posts just a picture for us to admire. I love it! There are so many interesting places and things that she has seen! Since I live here in Italy, I take MANY pictures of things that I would love to share, such as the Corn Fields ripening, and the grape vines with their grapes turning from Green to Purple! I would love to have a day a week to just post a picture or two for you all, what do you think? I probably won't call it Wordless Wednesdays, and there may be some pics of the family as well as the countryside, but it would be fun; I think.
Also, I have not forgotten about my blog candy. I will get that together VERY soon and post it for you all. I have SO MANY goodies for you all!
One last thing... we are having a MAJOR storm right now! It's so cool! LIGHTNING, THUNDER, RAIN pouring out of the sky! I love it!!! I better go though. We've already had lightning hit the house once and I am afraid to lose my internet connection before this post goes up.
Thank you all for not abandoning me despite my lack of posts.
Until next time, be blessed!

Random Post

Just for fun I decided to post some things that have nothing to do with crafting. I was reading Amy's blog and she found out her fairy name from www.emmadavies.net/fairy. She also found out her mom and sister's names and then drew up the Fairies from the descriptions! You can see the fairy she drew of her MOm on her blog HERE. I decided to find my name and this is it:

Your fairy is called Gossamer Moontree

She is the moon goddess's messenger.

She lives in spiderwebbed wonderlands and insect grottos.

She is only seen when the first leaves fall from the trees.

She wears tiny black spiders on her dresses. She has beautiful blue butterfly wings.

I thought that was pretty neat!

Also, I was given a fabulous blog award from Michelle and I was supposed to list 7 things about me and then nominate 7 bloggers. Well, I will be nominating YOU! Yup, if you are reading this and you have a blog, you have been Awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award! There is no way I can narrow it down, so I think if you come here to read my blog, you deserve this as well.
Also, I have decided that instead of doing the 7 things about me, I'd do this:
99 things about me! I got this off someone else's blog and I can't find it right now, but I thought it was fun so here it goes. I will be highlighting all the things I have done in blue. So if you want to know more about me, read on!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world/Disneyland Paris
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Made a Snow Angel
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (I plan on doing this soon!)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Stood in the rim of the Grand Canyon
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an erupting volcano in person.
36. Taught yourself a new language (still working on this one)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (I plan on doing this soon!)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (gonna do this too!)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre (my first job was at one!)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Cookies for charity
62. Gone whale watching
63. Been given flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (they told me never to do it again-I go into shock!)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited Buckinham Palace
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt or blanket
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Been to the top of the Empier State Building
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

My score:38. I actually thought I would have had a higher score, but that just means I have a lot more living to do! Well, if you made it this far in my blog, THANK YOU.
Until next post, be blessed!

ABUNDANT BLESSINGS!!!

It doesn't seem to matter if I've been good or not, or extra deserving, God always spoils me anyway! Seriously, lately I have gotten some of the best little blessings that have added up to SO MUCH! It's the little things that I sometimes look over. Add those to one or two big things... that makes me realize how much HE loves me and takes care of me! I want to share my blessings with all of you who come here and read about my life and crafting. So, first I'm going to show you some of my blessings... SOON, I will be sharing some of my blessings with all of you! You'll have to read on to find out about that. First, here is a wonderful card I received from Kim, my OCS partner for July: Isn't is sweet? OCS is One Card Swap. I sent her one card and she sent me one. Just some fun Random Act of Kindness to brings smiles into our lives!

Also, I won Superstar Anya from Tammy, and she threw in a White Gel pen that I desperately needed! (I didn't get a pic of them, sorry.)

Next, here is a picture of an awesome Candy that I won from Joy:She even included this checkbook cover and matching pen!

And this adorable card with one of the girls from The Greeting Farm's Hope & Grace set!

I love them all so much and I will definitely be using the snowflakes die for my Christmas Cards! Here is yet another blessing, only this isn't the actual blessing:

I made this card for the Club Anya Couture contest (you may have seen it at the bottom of my last post) and I WON!!! I couldn't believe it! My card was actually CHOSEN as the winner! I won a wonderful new stamp set called Miss Anya Dressy only... I already won it! YES!!! I won the random draw as one of the THREE GRAND PRIZE WINNERS from The Greeting Farm!!! As a Grand Prize winner I won ALL of the August Releases, plus my choice of 5 single Anya's, 5 single Ian's, AND 5 stamp sets!!! AND a pack of Sunny Glen SP and a pack of Dirty Rodeo DP!!! I still can NOT believe it! And what am I going to do with TWO of the same stamp sets?? Hm.... we'll see! And the blessings don't stop there! OH NO! Here is a pic of a RAK project I made and then entered into the Himawari challenge, remember this?

It won runner up! So I'll be getting some goodies from Denise in the mail soon! Here is yet another wonderful blessing:

I won Jen's 3 year blogaversary RAK and got these super stamps in the mail! And they are perfect since I was looking for a Thanksgiving set, and I need a Christmas tree! Also, I was so lucky to snag some amazing Designer Papers from Taylor at Taylored Expressions before she moved. I got a TON of papers dirt cheap! Look!

There are probably 200 sheets there! Wow! AND, that's not all He has showered me with! I also won a sweet little RAK from Jean at Dandelion Designs:

I love her stamps but I can't get them here at all! Not only did she send me those 4 adorable stamps, but inside the Birthday Card was a Gift Certificate to Joann's and I bought some much needed stamp storage and an acrylic block! It's not my birthday, but it qualified as a Half-Birthday gift!

AND... I was nominated and awarded as ACES (Aviano Community Enlisted Spouses) member of the Month for July!

AND... I just found out that I won some amazing, handmade Crochet Flowers from Elena!
AND... I got my first ever (I think) Blog Award from Michele!!!

I'll be completing the blog award criteria on another post. THANK YOU MICHELLE for my award! You inspire me too!
You would think that would be enough spoilage for one innocent, little, not-the-best, Christian girl to recieve, right? Well, NO! I also got a part-time job! It fell into place so perfectly and easily, I KNOW it was from HIM!!! I start tomorrow and I'm very excited. It's my first "out-of-the-house-real" job in 6 years. Seriously, has it been that long? WOW!

From this post it probably seems like I spend all day, everyday just sitting on my laptop, blog hopping and entering in all the contests/candies I can find. But I DON'T! Really! I have entered in a few here and there, and I love challenges so I enter into some of my favorites, but all this is so overwhelming! I'll say it again. It's all from God, it's all Him. HE knows what I need and when I need it, and if what "it" is is a little candy, a little encouragement, or a little bit of paper hugs, then HE provides!

THANK YOU to all the ladies and blog friends who have blessed me these past couple months, and THANK YOU GOD!

Now... I know you want to know what I am going to do with an extra set of Miss Anya Dressy stamps... Did you see my Hit counter on the left panel??? HOLY COW BATMAN! Have I really had almost 10,000 hits? It's time to give a little blessings back! Want some blog candy??? I want to give you some but I need to wait. SORRY! I know, it's like a huge tease. Well, it takes about 2 weeks to get goodies from TGF to me since I have an APO address ALL the way over here in Italy... So when I get the goodies, I'll be posting a BLOG CANDY of my own!!! And it will be worth the wait, I promise! There will be more than just a stamp set to be won! Come back soon and hopefully I'll be able to show you ALL the yummy loot up for grabs.

Until next post, I am truly blessed!

Happy Bithday TGF!!!

Hello Everyone! Are you here for the Anyaversary Blog Hop? If you are; WELCOME! If not; go HERE and see what all the Hulabaloo is about! For The Greeting Farm's first birthday I wanted to make a fun birthday card. Here it is: I used my favorite Anya for this card. I stamped the cupcake from Stampin' Up, paper pieced it and popped Rockstar Anya onto it for a fun birthday card. Behind the card I added a little 2.25x6.5 piece of cardstock folded in half for a space to write a greeting on. Here is another view of the card for dimension:

I added bling for the cupcake sprinkles to make it more "rockstar-esque" and the sentiment is from Stampin Up as well, punched out with a circle punch. Here is a closeup of my favorite Anya:

I stamped her on watercolor paper, colored her with Copics and added sakura glaze to her headband, dress and boots to make her shiny like a rockstar! I also added sakura glitter pen to the Pickguard (yep, it's called a pickguard-I asked my brilliant musician hubby to make sure!) on her guitar to make it shiny as well. Now, because TGF is ONE year old today, and because that is a SUPER exciting occassion to celebrate, I thought I'd post up a few pics of my FAVORITE TGF creations! There are a lot of pictures here, so be prepared! If you want to go back to the TGF blog and hop on to the next stop, feel free, my feelings won't be hurt;)

Here is one of my favorite projects using Dahlia:

Here is my favorite project using Hello Ian:

And here is my favorite card using the Pirate Set:

Here is my favorite blue haired Annika project:

And here is my favorite Purple haired Annika project:

My favorite Sweethearts digi image project (still in need of post-it notes):

And last but certainly not least, my favorite altered Anya project made just this week for the Club Couture contest at Club Anya, and for a DT call for Anyone for Anya:

Oh, in case you were wondering, I used Mermaid Anya for the top half of her body and Dress up Anya for the bikini botom and legs. I masked off her closed eyes and drew in my own open eyes. I also drew and cut out her shades and cocktail and glued them onto her hands. The paper is Cosmo Cricket and the sentiment is Gina K. Designs. The buttons were from Walmart. I hope you liked some of my favorite TGF projects! I couldn't show ALL my favorite projects... I know you have other things to do today besides hang out at my blog! LOL! Have a Stupendous Saturday, and HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TGF!!!!!!!!! Now hop over to some other blogs for MORE celebratory posts!

Until next post, be blessed!