Gina K. Designs TTC Swap!

Recently I participated in a swap where we all made trading cards that fit into altoid-style tins. This swap was so much fun because we had to use Gina K. Designs stamps and all the GKD fans that participated made beautiful cards! At first the swap was open to 10 stampers, but so many people wanted to participate that it was expanded to 30! I kinda wish I had been in the 3rd group also, but I figured that being in 2 groups was enough work and I didn't want to gte in over my head.

On another note, I have 3 followers! Have you clicked on their images and checked out their blogs lately? I have and they have some great projects to show you so you should go check them out. Another blog that I found a while ago, then lost, then found again (heehee) is Curt's Blog! Not only does he craft, but he has two giant schnauzers that look just like giant Einstein's! Here is are a couple pictures of Angel and Einstein playing together recently.

They have a ton of fun together, and Einstein doesn't mind Angel pulling on his hair very much (usually).

Well, I better get going here. I have some stuff to finish up for Angel's birthday party tomorrow and dinner to cook.

Thank you all so much for stopping by! Until next post, be blessed.

Happy Birthday Angel Baby!

One year ago today, October 1st, Angel Rose came into our lives. Her birth was full of miracles. Angel was born 12 weeks premature, but was a fiesty little fighter from the beginning. Here is a picture of her just a couple hours old. It was the first time I got to hold my littlest miracle. Through many prayers, love, and blessings we brought Angel home on Thanksgiving day! Here she is visiting with her Great Grandma (Abuelita) a couple days after she came home.
Even though Angel's birth was difficult, we all knew that through God all things are possible. We have celebrated a year's worth of blessings with Angel including her first Christmas.

Today Angel is a happy, healthy and very loved little girl. She truly is a light in our day. All we have to do is see that little face smile up at us and we all just melt! Here is a picture of her that I took today. She wouldn't keep the bow in her hair! LOL!Happy first birthday Angel Baby! We love you!

Stamp-A-Rama!

Hello Blog readers! How are you this fine Sunday? I hope you are all having a great day. My mom and I are dancing with our church's sign dance team this morning at Waikiki Beach. We are dancing to Fantasia's "I Believe". This will be my last dance with the team since we are moving in November. It's been a fun time of fellowship with all the ladies and some good quality time with my mom, and I will miss those things.
Well, last Sunday I went to Jennifer Thompson's house for our team's monthly Stamp-A-Rama. We all brought a shoebox swap to participate in. (A shoebox swap is when everyone brings the supplies for everyone else to make a card, or project and we all make everyone else's project to take home with us. Clear as mud? Good!) I took the Snow Swirled Christmas card I showed you a few days back and I got to make these lovely creations: I don't remember who brought what, but I know that the sympathy card was brought by my upline Alisha, and the brayered "you're on my mind" card was Jennifer's contribution.
This neat little desktop calendar was fun! We colored the flowers directly on the stamps with Stampin' Write markers, sprayed them with a little water, then stamped for a watercolor effect.
See my little boo boo on the flower petal? Oh well, that's what handmade looks like! I remember that this was the shoebox swap from Julie. I just met her for the first time that day. Hi Julie!
Isn't that owl cute? We used a bunch of punches including the scallop circle punch, round tab punch, and boho blossoms punch. Talk about enabling me to want more punches! LOL!
This project is so great! We used the scalloped square punch and the curly lable punch (which I have both of!) and made embellishments! Now I know how to make frames and cute photo corners for my scrapbook pages. WooHoo!

The Stamp-a-ramas are always so much fun because I get to hang out with fellow demonstrators and make stuff. I really miss that. When we lived in Vegas I had my "stamping buddies" and we could hang out and craft or show eachother what we'd been making. I hope I find a fun group like that again when we get to Italy.

Speaking of Italy, I am selling off some of my retired stamp sets to make room for more... uh, I mean... to have less to move! LOL! You can read the list of stamps and prices HERE and if you are interested, let me know.

Until next post, be blessed!

Can You Praise Me Now?

A little while ago, my best friend's Mom, Mary Lou Miller, passed away from cancer. Many of you have probably read my blog post to her from a couple weeks ago. When she was alive, she wrote many bible studies. There is one in particular that she wrote on January 20th, 2002 that is applicable to our lives today. This bible study was included in the program at Mary's Life Celebration. It is just one of MANY that she wrote. She really wanted to get published, and her daughters have decided that they are going to do that for their Mom. One way or anther, Mary's words will be published. She may not be on this earth any longer, but her words can be here for many years to come. Here is Mary's bible study, "Can You Praise Me Now?"


Can you praise Me now? I've heard that question in my head several times over the past week or so. I've had several good reasons to not praise Him now. I've had some anger and disappointment and I've blamed Him. Help me to thank You in the tough times, God - maybe not for them, for You do not send hurt and heartaches just to teach me or help me grow. But help me to praise You in them, in spite of them, because of Your goodness throughout them.


"Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee." Psalm 31:19


I understand the tendency we have to blame God when what we've prayed for and dreamed for and wanted doesn't happen. The feeling is such a lack of hope and deep despair and 'why Lord' that it overwhelms us. Why do some prayers get answered and other don't? Was it the way I asked? Was it what I asked for? What did I do wrong? Well, if you're a Buddhist you just chalk it up to bad karma, man. In your next life, things will be better. But if you're a Christian or a Jew, then you wonder if you've angered God and are being punished.

Jesus, in all the messages He gave, never once said "Follow Me and things will be easy." He did say to trust Him in all things and to be thankful. Hey, if things were always easy, trusting in Him would be a breeze. But how are we to learn to submit to Him and trust in Him if we don't have trials and pain to go through to understand that only through His Will can our lives improve?

"My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:2

Sometimes we have to be reminded to trust in Him. We have a tendency to handle all our problems ourselves and only when we've exhausted all our options do we turn to Him. And when your prayers have been answered and yet things don't go smoothly, then what? Do we despair? Do we give up? Do we quit? It's at times when the worst is happening that God expects us to be strongest. Positive prayers at the darkest hour bring Light to a situation. But without the positive prayers, God can't shine through the anger, accusations and blame.

I've praised Him and thanked Him but it's been through gritted teeth and with thoughts in my head about why, again, do these awful thing happen. And yet again, His peace comes to me and my anger cools. My need to find a reason and to blame recedes. I may have started my prayers in rebellion but they end on a positive note. I wish I could share that peace with you, but it isn't mine to give. It's God's and the only way to receive it is through humble submission to Him. We are all sinners and we all fall short of His Glory. Until and unless we treat each other as blessed children of God, regardless of our sins, His Peace cannot be shared.

Bad things happen and sometimes there are no reasons for them. God isn't going to reveal everything to us and it's His Will that we don't waste time wondering why things happen. It's His Will that we accept our lack of knowledge, our hurt and pain and trust in Him NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS. Then His Peace can surround you and comfort you. Can you praise Me now?

I hope everyone who read Mary's bible study was touched and enlightened. I know I was. His word is always there, whenever we need it. It gives encouragement at just the right time. Well, until next post, be blessed!

I have an assignment

My Mom works for the Army. She works with a lot of soldiers who get deployed. One of those soldiers asked her if she knew anyone who did scrapbooking. Of course my Mom mentioned me. She signed me up to make a scrapbook for a Dad to give to his son before his deployment. I still have about a month to get this done, but I needed to get it going because I don't want to procrastinate and have to rush through it at the end! On these two pages, imagine a dad changing a diaper in the first one, then blowing raspberries on son's belly in the second one:I am keeping the pages VERY simple and as "manly" as possible. This book will be in the hands of a preschooler and I don't want it to be easily ruined. I want it to be durable for a little man's hands so there isn't any extra embellishment to these pages. I covered up the pictures for privacy-sake, but the pages really do look much better when you can see the pictures!
Also, I totally scored with this paper! I got a few packs of paper with 25 pages each at Borders. They were on sale for only $6 a pack! I'm so glad I got them because they have just the right colors and patterns for a "manly" scrapbook. The titles on all the pages so far are stickers from American Crafts that I have picked up along the way on sale.
So, wish me luck with the rest of the book. I hope the Dad and Son love it and they treasure it for years to come.
Until next post, be blessed!

Cammie's "Heart to Heart" blog candy

Happy Thursday everyone!

This post is all about a wonderful thing that Carolyn King (aka Cammie) has organized. Cammie recently released her newest Stamp Set with Gina K. Designs called Whimsical Autumn (you can click on the name and see the set). ALL of Cammie's profits from this set will be going to the Alzheimer's Association in honor of her Grandmother, forever. Cammie will never receive income from this set that she designed because the money will ALWAYS go to the Association. Cammie's grandmother passed away in June from complications from Alzheimer's. Well, Cammie didn't stop there.

September 21st was World Alzheimer's day and Cammie wants to do something special for another group of people who are affected by this disease everyday, the caregivers. So, Cammie wants everyone who participates in her Heart to Heart blog candy giveaway to make a card for a caretaker of a person affected by Alzheimer's. Then, send that card off to the caretaker just to show them that they are very appreciated. there are a few other rules for this blog candy and you can read all about it HERE. Of course, everyone who follows the rules and participates will be put into a drawing to win the best blog candy ever (and I'm not just saying that). Cammie contacted a few companies, and people, to get a little prize for this great cause. She ended up getting more support for this than she ever imagined. There is OVER $1000 worth of gifts as the prize for this blog candy! I think it is so incredibly touching that so many companies and individuals wanted to contribute to this great act of kindess!

Even though everyone who participates will only get one entry into the contest, I decided that I needed to empty out my little stash of Thank You cards and send them all out. I sent one to the wonderful woman who helped take care of my Grandpa before he passed away. I sent another to the home where Cammie's Grandmother lived (the address is on Cammie's blog if you want to participate and send one there) and I sent the rest (with the exception of the Riley card-that went elsewhere; it just happened to be in this pic) to past caregiver's of my Grandma. Since the contest specifically asked us to make a card, I made this one for a very special caregiver. This card is going to go to my Mom. My Mom takes care of my Grandma on a daily basis, has a full time (somtimes more) job, and helps me take care of my kids. She deserves a HUGE thank you and acknowledgement of all that she does and I hope this card at least makes her smile.
Here's a closeup of the adorable image from Stampin' Up! Also, this card meets the requirements for Jen's weekly challenge. the requirements were to make a card that fit's into a size 10 envelope, so it is 9 1/4 by 4 inches. I like this shaped card and I might decide to make a few more!

Thank you all for stopping in to read my blog again today. Why don't you go participate in Cammie's or Jen's (or both!) challenges? Until next post, be blessed!

I've neglected you...

I've neglected my poor blog and my blog readers! I am so sorry! There has been a lot going on. I had my first Stampin' Up! workshop and while it didn't go as well as I'd hoped, it was still a success and I got one, possible two bookings from it! Also, I didn't feel as intimidated as I thought I would feel, because I only had a few people to talk to. That was nice. The scrapbook page that I showed you before didn't end up as the final idea to use for the workshop. My upline, Alisha, (Hi Alisha!) came over and we played around with a few ideas and finally decided on this scrapbook page:

And here is the page my Mom made: This is her and her husband last Halloween!

I really wanted to do a Christmas card with the Snow Swirled Stamp Set (since it's on sale) so Alisha and I came up with this card. We found a few cards on Splitcoaststampers that were similar to this, just changed the colors or layout a little.

On a personal note, Angel Baby had her second-to-last physical therapy appointment yesterday. She did so great! The therapists said she is right on track for her corrected age (and a little ahead on some things) so we will only have ONE more appointment! Isn't she adorable? She is pulling up to the standing position all on her own, and she will cruise along funiture sometimes too. She still won't put herself into the sitting position and she still crawls like a soldier instead of a baby, but that's ok with us! She is getting into all kinds of mischeif now that she knows she can get around!
I hope you all have had a great week so far, and that it continues to be a great week for you. Tomorrow's post is a special one. It will probably be long too, so be prepared. ;) Thanks so much for stopping by and ready all my blabbering.
Until tomorrow, be blessed.