I'm Baaaaaack!!!

Hi there friends! I know it's been a loooong time, and I apologize. My life got a little busy, and then I sort of lost my motivation to make cards. I finally got my mojo back today and inked up Shooter from The Greeting Farm. Shooter is one of the MANY stamps that I purchased during my "slump". I have quite a few stamps that have yet to be used, so you should be seeing new things from me!Here is a close up of Shooter:

Isn't she adorable?
I used the Farm Fresh Friday sketch from the Greeting Farm's Blog. This is the first card I've made in TWO months and so I needed the sketch to get me going.

I used Kraft paper from Stampin' Up for the card base, retired ribbon from SU as well as the brad to hold the ribbon on. The rust colored paper is from Crate Paper and the plaid patterned paper is October Afternoon.

One of the things that helped me get my mojo back was a card that I got in the mail a couple days ago. Guess what kind of card it was... a CHRISTMAS CARD!!! I couldn't believe it when I saw it in my mailbox. First I thought, "Why is Amy Young sending me a card?" Then I noticed the postage stamp... then I looked at the date stamped onto the front of the envelope and noticed the date... DECEMBER 4th, 2009!!! What the Heck?!?

Sure enough, when I opened the envelope, this gorgeous card was inside:

I double checked the postage, even asked the person at the package pickup window if I was seeing things but sure enough, it was from DECEMBER! The person at the window said "musta been lost somewhere" ROFL! You think?

Regardless, it was a wonderful surprise to get. I LOVE the detail Amy puts into her cards! Here you can see the the glitter on the Fairy's wings and the cool embossing on the sentiment.

In the next picture you can see the gorgeous liquid pearls on her dress, and the glitter all around the edges of the card.

Thank you so much Amy! I love the card!

Well, I'm signing off for the night. Hopefully I'll get another card done tomorrow... Although, I owe you all a TON of Scenic Sunday posts... and I did go on a cruise to Greece! Come back tomorrow to see a few pictures. Until then, be blessed!

It's April!

Hey there friends! Can you believe that it's already APRIL??? Wow, this year is flying by. Soon the kids will be out of school for summer break! Sheesh!

Today I have a sweet card to show you. I made this for the March Aloha RAK I participated in. I just hope my recipient doesn't see it here and spoil the surprise! I used Amy's Sweet November Fairy, Tangle Gobblinshimmer:
I was going for a soft color scheme and hopefully that was accomplished. I wanted this card to coordinate with the Fairy Calendar I made so I used the same papers. I sent both this card and the calendar for the RAK.
I also wanted to do something a bit different with the card fold so I just made it sort of like a gate card. The ribbon slides off to open the card and reveal the little message:
The sentiment is from The Greeting Farm's Whimsical Wishes stamp set (can't find it on the site right now, sorry! Must be out of stock). This card turned out really sweet, considering I didn't have any idea what I was going to do when I started! I hope my RAK partner likes it when she gets it! And now, just for fun, here's a pic of Angel Baby hanging out on Daddy's dirt bike:
Yup, the bike is in my HOUSE! LOL! We don't have a garage (yet... more about that later) so DH had to rebuild his bike in the house... he decided he likes the way it looks, so it is now part of the living room decor. Well, for another week or so, then it's going to be put in a garage... but like I said, more about that later! Heehee!

Well, that's it for today. Have a great first day of April and I'll see you all later!

Fun Mail!

Hey there everyone! So, the housing situation is getting all ironed out. We have a rental contract signed and stamped, and we are going to be getting the keys on February 4th. We also worked it out so that we can stay in the temporary lodging facility until the heat gets turned on in the rental. Thank God, because for awhile there we thought we were going to have to either pay out of pocket to stay here, or buy a bunch of portable electric heaters for the house! When we get the keys, I plan on taking a bunch of pictures of the house for you all to see. There are quite a few differences with living in Italy compared to living in the U.S.!
So, I've been getting a lot of mail lately. We mailed a bunch of stuff to ourselves, but also, before I left Hawaii I bought some stamps from a friend of mine and I won a blog candy. When Shannon mailed the stamps to me that I bought, look what she threw in the box for me! This set of dish towels is perfect for us since I'll be needing those when we move into our rental. And the study books are great! I started them today and I'm already loving some of the stuff I'm learning. Thank you so much Shannon!
And here are some pictures of the blog candy I won from Diana Gibbs! (I had to take several pics to get all the stuff photographed) First up, here are the cards I got with the candy:

Aren't they all great? These five cards are all so professional looking. I plan on keeping them as samples FOREVER! LOL! I also got a ton of die cuts:

These are going to come in handy since I don't have the dies most of these were cut with. And here is the rest of my goodies:

Wow, huh?!? There are THREE stamp sets, a snail adhesive refill, brads, ribbon, a quickie glue pen, a 2009 pocket calendar, and a pack of paper! I was so overjoyed that I won, and when I got the box in the mail I practically hopped home to open it! Thanks so much for the candy Di! (she won't see this post for a bit since she got to go to CHA. LUCKY!!!)

Well, that's all for this post. I do have some pics of a couple cards I made before I left Hawaii and never got around to posting, so those will be coming up in a couple days, and I took pics of our little temporary apartment so I can always remember the trials and tribulations of this PCS. Would anyone be intersted in seeing those?

AND... I talked about some blog candy to celebrate our orders, our move, my blogaversary and my birthday. Now that I'm here in Italy, I'm getting ready for that! I'm gathering up the goodies and I'll be posting that candy soon! Keep coming back and checking though because I'm not sure when I'll actually post the candy. Possibly around a certain holiday that's coming up...

Until next post, be blessed!

The Last Christmas Post

...Maybe! I have this last Christmas post for you all before the holiday. First up, a beautiful pink and red Christmas card from Adela! This is another card using nontraditional colors, and I love it! She stitched the vellum over the tree for a soft look. It's so pretty. Thank you so much Adela! And here is a little treat I left in the mailbox for our postal worker today.

It's just a little bag full of local-style cookies with an adorable little tag. Gio, from Doodlefactory's Santa's Sweet Shoppe fit perfectly on this tag I picked up at an office supply store. I just stamped and colored with copics. Because the copics bleed through so much, the back of the tag was a mess and there was no where to write on the tag. So I solved that little problem by gluing another blank tag on the back of this one and writing on that! It was so easy that I'm going to be making tags like this for tons of occasions.

Tonight we are headed to a Christmas Eve Football Game between University of Hawaii and Notre Dame. It should be fun and the weather is beautiful for it! I hope you all have the most blessed Christmas. The kids are in for the BEST Christmas gift on Boxing Day! I'll let you all know about that later.

Until next post, be blessed!!!

Christmas Stuff

Oh my goodness, has it really been NINE days since I last posted??? I'm so sorry! Things have been SO busy. I have a lot to talk about, but I'll try to make it brief. First, here are some wonderful Christmas cards that I have gotten. This first one is from Shannon. I love that she didn't use traditional holiday colors! Thanks so much for the card Shannon. Next, this card is from Rina.

Look at all that dimension! She obviously spent a lot of time on this card, cutting out the different parts of the image, embossing, coloring, and even adding fluff (flock?) on the sheep! Thanks so much Rina! This next one is from Liann.

This snowman is so adorable! I love how she cuttlebugged the white layer and then put it askew to the other layers. Thanks so much Liann! And this card is from Curt.

Isn't it elegant? It's all sparkly silver and gold, with embossing, and glitter, and lots of shine! Finally, I have a project that I made to show you.

I made this little stocking holder using one of the FREE My Timeless Templates from Papertrey Ink. It was so much easier than I thought it would be! I used My Sweet Shoppe stamp set from Doodlefactory to decorate the stocking, and put an adorable little snowman (filled with chocolate of course) inside. Isn't it so cute! I loved making this and I will definitely be making more of these socks. Probably for Father's day... I'll have to brainstorm on that.

Well, if you've made it this far into my post and are still reading, thank you! I have some news to share. We finally got our orders!!! It took much longer than anticipated, and when all is said and done, we'll be in Italy just about 8 weeks AFTER we originally planned, but it's all working out regardless! I had originally wanted to give out blog candy in celebration of our orders, but with the craziness of the holidays and our move, I'm going to have to postpone the candy for a little while. Besides, my birthday and blogaversary are coming up! I'll start working on a really good blog candy to make up for not having one now, and then I'll give it away after the move. I hope you all come back soon!

Until next post, be blessed.

Tis the Season...

...For Joyous Mail! I love getting stuff in the mail (who doesn't?) and Christmas time is when people send the most stuff. Even more than getting things in the mail, I love sending things to people in the mail. Well, I don't always know if all my card make it to their destinations, but when I get stuff, I like to let the people know that it got here and it is MUCH appreciated. This is the first handmade Christmas card that I've gotten this year.

It's from my wonderful friend Julie. I love how she made the snowman look like he was made from snow! Thanks for the Wonderful Card Julie, I always love getting cards from you!
Next up, I got an amazing project from my friend Carin!This is the first project Carin has ever made, can you believe it??? It's fantastic! Here is the inside:

I love the different pages. There's a little message on the first page, decorations on the second, a yummy packet of tea on the third page, decoration on the fourth, another yummy packet of tea on the fifth page, and the sixth page is decorated and glued to the cover. I hope you can click on the pictures to see them upclose, they are great! Thanks again for the little gift Carin.

Tomorrow I hope to have a chance to post because I made something that turned out really cute!

Until next post, be blessed.

Thank You Jean, Julie, & Debbie!!!

It's finally FRIDAY! Yea!!! I have been looking forward to today all week! lol! I think I just need to sleep in tomorrow morning, and I'll feel so rested. It's been a crazy two weeks, and finally I get a weekend to relax. Well actually, I don't know how much relaxing I'll get to do. Between another dentist appointment (don't even get me started on that!), two birthday parties, church and a Stamp-A-Rama, I'm going to be quite busy.
Well, here are some Wonderful RAK's I"ve gotten lately. This first one is a couple stamps and an adorably decorated lollipop from Jean over at Dandelion Designs. Jean illustrates these adorable little animals (there are some people too) and the sentiments that go along with them. I was lucky enough to win these off her blog a few weeks ago. She's a local lady, and while she's done several Make 'n Takes at my local scrapbook/hobby stores, I've never gotten a chance to attend one and meet her. Hopefully I'll get the chance soon!
This next RAK is from my dear friend Julie. She sent me not one, but TWO Halloween cards! It's hard to see in the pic, but the first card has some trees stamped on the black cardstock. They look all creepy and spooky since they are black (or versamark actually) on black. And the second one blew me away! I don't know how she did it, but I love all the layers of colors, the light in the windows, the moon, all of it!
And last night, my Mom came home from Sign Dance practice with this! A wonderful lady named Debbie gave it to me as a going away gift. It's 5 (yes FIVE) sets of Inkadinkadoo stamps! Here's a pic of the stamps that came in the set: Sorry it's not a great pic. Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of acrylic stamps? lol! It's not easy.
So thank you all once again for stopping by and reading all of my blather (yes, it's a real word, heehee). And just for the fun of it, here's a picture of my 5 year old being "cool" with Einstein looking on and wondering "What the heck?!?". LOL! Until next post, be blessed!

Did I forget to post this project?

Or have you seen this on a previous entry? I seriously can't remember! I think maybe I tried to post this project that day that blogger wasn't letting me upload... Anyway, here is a little box of 3x3 cards that I made for Jen Young's August Aloha RAK. I primarily used Melanie Muenchinger's Little Tees stamp set. Have I mentioned how much I love Mel's stamps? Ok, ok, that joke is old now. Sorry! The paper I used was a mixture of Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye, Stampin' Up! and Paperbilities. See what I did with the flowers? I punched them out with my Stampin' Up! punch and then cut between the petals to make them more dimensional. I love the way that makes them look. I also sponged the centers a little and the edges so they all match and look a little "shabby chic" (at least I think so!). The other stamp set that I used was Love You To Pieces by Gina K. Designs. The tee with all the puzzle pieces on it is the one I used that set with. The outside of the card says "Hope we can" and the inside says "connect soon". I thought it was pretty smart splitting up the sentiment like that! Well, it's been a pretty busy and quick weekend once again. Friday flew by really quick. We went to Chinatown for the first time and it was a neat experience. Ashton had been there before with his preschool class, so he played tour guide and showed us around. There was some really cool stuff to look at, and some really gross stuff too (you know, like pig pieces. UGH!). Then, Saturday came and went so quick I didn't even realize it was over. The kids and I went to the park and played follow-the-leader on the workout station, and then we went grocery shopping. I was stupid and dropped a can of frozen juice directly on my middle toe! It hurt so bad I almost threw up, but didn't. It is still throbbing, it's completely purple, and my toenail is going to fall off any day now. It really sucks. I didn't realize how much a little toe could HURT! OUCH! Now it's Sunday, and we didn't do much today. It was a nice day to just sit and relax, and keep my foot elevated so it doesn't throb so much. Tomorrow is going to be another relaxing day I hope. Thank you God for the Labor day holiday! LOL!

As usual, I truly appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to read my blog. Until next post, be blessed!

I got some goodies and another Owl peak!

Hi Everyone! Lately, I've been having some happy mail days. First, I got my Stampin Up! starter kit! Woohoo! I still haven't broken in any of my new stamp sets, but I will this weekend. That's the plan anyway. And yesterday I got this beautiful card in the mail! It's from Adrienne; you can check out her great blog HERE. We were partnered up for Jen's August Aloha RAK group. As if the card wasn't enough, inside were tons of stamped images and a stamp! I don't have any of these images so I'm so excited to play with them! And here's the peak I told you about! This is the other set of owl cards that I made for the owl swap that I'm in. I altered a daisy button to make the center a black, sparkly brad and added it to her hair... uh, feathers. I decided that this owl needed to be pink. She is a girl afterall, and this way she matches her red branch! You know what, the owl in the other swap cards are girls too. Did you notice the purple, sparkly eyeshadow on that one? You'll have to go back to that post and check it out! Well, thanks so much for stopping by again.
Until next post, be blessed!

Not much that I can post...

Some of the bigger projects that I've been working on are in the postal system right now on thier way to their new homes... So I can't post pictures of them! So here is a picture of one of the tee's that I made the other day! LOL! I know, I need to be a fashion designer, haha! And YES, I am a star! Kidding! I've had a lot of fun messing around with all the different ways to decorate the tees from the Little Tees stamp set. In a couple days I'll be able to post some of the things I've made with them. I did find the most adorable little favor bottles in the wedding section of Party City. I knew they would be perfect for a little project using my rubons. I completely forgot that I had some rubons from DCWV's Rock Star line, so I made this little "potion bottle." Andrew wants this bottle (of course) so he messed with it, frayed the ribbon and made the cork fall in it. Oh well, I guess it's not so "cute" anymore and it's scarier.
I also got some happy mail the other day! I love getting mail, especially when it's a just-because card. A while back I made a set of cards for a friend of mine and she sent me one. Thanks so much Melanie!
On another note, I got an email today that my Stampin' Up! Demonstrators kit was mailed out! WooHoo! I should be getting it by Monday and I am so excited about this new adventure! I can't wait to get all my new goodies and set up my first workshop/show. I already have a date set for September 20th (anybody wanna come play?) so now I just need to decide what projects to do! Well, thanks for stopping by my blog today.
Also, I guess I'm quite the influencer (is that even a word?) because another one of my friends has started a blog! Krystal has some funny stories to tell on her blog of her mommy-adventures with her little man. You've got to hop over there to check them out! Just click HERE and you'll go right over.
I'll leave you with a picture of some pretty Birds of Paradise flowers to gaze at. Until next post, be blessed!

Vain Birds

Happy Tuesday everyone! So, wanna see more wildlife from the tropical island of Oahu? Here are a couple yellow birds that are the vainest birds I have ever known! An upclose of one of them:Well, I know birds like mirrors, but geez, these birds take it a little far! I have seen them checking themselves out on my car, Grampabob's car, the neighbors car, even a car parked at the park! I think they are funny because they will hang out at the side-view mirror of cars and just CHIRP away! And just so everyone knows they've been there, they leave poop behind! Yup, I've got bird poop in front of my side view mirror! LOL! See the poop? lol! Well, on to some crafty stuff. Jen Young is a local gal who has been doing some weekly challenges on her blog. Last week, the third challenge was to alter something from around the house. I chose to alter some baby food jars (got PLENTY of those!) to hold some of my Basic Gray embellishments. I think the pictures speak for themselves... Next up we have the first card I made with my new basic Gray Euphoria paper. I love this paper and these hippos look great dressed in it! I paper pieced the hippos, added some white signo gel pen to their teeth, and colored their eyes and toe nails with Copic Markers. The embellies are Euphoria as well. I hope you can click on the picture to get a close up view because the hippos are so cute in their pink paper and purple toe nails! And last but in NO WAY least I got some happy mail yesterday! Linsey Rickett (my bff from Washington state-Blogging Friend Forever!) sent me this Wonderful card! The dragon is from Artful Inkables. I never heard of this company until I saw this card on Linsey's blog. I will have to check them out... although the stamping budget won't be allowing a purchase from them, poo!

Well, that's it for this post! I need to get going with my day. I've got 2 more signatures to secure for our PCS paperwork today and I'm determined to get all my paperwork completely TODAY! Tomorrow I will start posting an Italian word or phrase of the day. My hubby and I want to learn Italian and since my Wonderful Mamasita Bonita (my mom-lol) bought me the Rosetta Stone to learn Italian for Christmas, I am going to start utilizing it and learning that beautiful language. Since I have the Rosetta stone, Hubby asked me to email him an Italian word or phrase everyday so he can learn a little too. So, to keep me accountable I will be posting some Italian for ya here on my blog as well!

Until next post, be blessed.

Secret Swap, School & Einstein!

A little while back I was part of a secret swap. (I didn't post about this already, did I?) I sent this little gift set to Linsey Rickett. Since I downloaded all my pictures off my computer, I borrowed this one from Linsey (hope that's ok!). I covered a mini composition book, made a bookmark, a magnetic post-it note, and a double pocket card. I used the little animales from Hip Hop Accessories and DP from DCWV's Nana's Nursery. See the plaque on the cover of the book? It's a plastic tag from Gina K. designs with Making Memories heart brads through the corners. Also, the ribbon is Stampin' Up.

So... It's been a little crazy here at home. School has started up again and this is Ashton's first year! He's in Kindergarten, and even though he went to preschool last year, this year he's going to "brother's school" and it's full-day! Yea! He had an "orientation" day last week (they evaluate the kids and then place then is class groups), and this week he's been going more often. Next week he will go every day, just like his big brother. He loves school (thank you, God) but hates getting up in the mornings and getting ready. He's a typical 4 year old who doesn't want to do what he's told, he just wants to do what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. So, getting up and dressed and all that is not something he enjoys. Oh well, we're working on it. Here's a pic of the boys on Ashton's first official day of school with his teacher in his class (besides the orientation day): Ashton was ready to go! LOL! This was Andrew's second week of school so he wasn't all that excited anymore... He has a guy teacher for the first time this year and he likes his class. He says his teacher is cool cuz he's not strict! LOL! AND, the girl that Andrew has a crush on is in his class again this year. So far it's all been good. Also, it's been busy around here because we have a new member of the family! This adorable little guy is Einstein! He's a mini schnauzer, and the best little playmate ever! Angel baby adores him and loves to grab him. He doesn't seem to mind too much. I am trying to house train him... Yeah, that's a little bit of a task. It's going ok, but it could be going better if you know what I mean. Well, that's about it for today. Tomorrow I'm gonna post a pic of the card I made for my Grandpa for his birthday! Grandma, if you read this, don't let im see it until it comes in the mail! heehee!

Until next post, be blessed!