Vacation!!

We are leaving this morning for our vacation!! The boys are soooooo excited!! We're going to Jellystone for a week. We went there last year and had a BLAST!! They have indoor and outdoor water parks, huge skate park, paddle boats, fishing, mini golf, play parks, huge game room, kids craft room and all kinds of activities going on. They also have a theme each week and this week is chocolate lovers-gotta love that!! At night they play movies and also sometimes have a band. There is so much to do at Jellystone maybe we will be lucky and not have to hear "I'm board" for a whole week-lol! *wink*

Since we will be gone I won't be posting anything for a few days. Sorry I haven't been able to post much lately, life has just been busy. I have been working on my ATC's for this month--what a challenge!! This month our theme was to make an ATC all about yourself. I have to say I spent some time thinking about this one! I have never done any SB LO's or anything like that where it's all about me so this was really a challenge for sure!! But I think I'm happy with the outcome.
I used a picture that I took of myself and desaturated it (made it B&W) and then used a filter called photocopy which made it into like an outline. Then I colored it in with chalks. The top piece is transparency and I wrote different words on it (with a sharpie marker) about me and then on the back side I added glitter around the edges. I also stamped, chalked, glittered and cut out a fairy (CTMH) and two butterflies (stamp craft) and glued them on the front of the transparency and then put crystal effects over them.

Coming Home!!

I was going to post this on Friday and and then I realized the batteries in the camera were dead and I wasn't able to get any of the pictures off of it!! I have added a picture, it's one from the morning when they left and I will post more about the trip with some other pictures very soon.

This picture was taken about 5 minutes before they left to head out to the Pine Ridge, SD. It was a very beautiful morning with the sun shinning and we all gathered in a huge circle holding hands. We were singing and then Father Jim said a wonderful prayer. We took a few pictures and then they headed out.

Our oldest son is coming home today!! He has been a mission trip this past week with our church. This is the 1st time he has ever been on a mission trip. Last Sunday 25 Adults and Teenagers left to go to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in SD. I have missed him sooooooo much!!!!! He has been to Boy Scout camp and for that they are gone for about a week and I am used to him doing that every year but this is so different!! I hope and pray that he had a good time. They say it is a very good but yet very long and hard week. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is the 2nd largest one in the US and it is also the 2nd poorest place in the nation. Part of the week while they are there they give back to the community and the paint houses, do small home repairs and stuff like that. Then the other part of the week they spend with the kids doing all kinds of activities- crafts, singing and just having fun being a kid. Everyone that went last year said it was truly a life changing experience. I am so very proud of him and I can't wait to give him a HUG and hear all about the mission trip!!! He should be home between 7-8 tonight!! Here are some pictures of them speaking in front of the church about a fund raiser that we did. I was so excited about the fund raiser!! I was in charge of a fund raiser that we did to try and help out with expenses for the mission trip. We had about 25 of the adults and teenagers (most who were going on the trip)get together for two weekends and do a ton of stamping!! We made 400 cards and packaged them up and about 80 stationary kits. We gave the sets of cards and stationary kits as a Thank You for the donations and I must say people were very generous!! We raise about $2600.00!!! Here are some pictures from the morning they left. I am hoping he took a bunch of pictures over the past week so I can post some of the things he did!! I also want to say thank you to our family and friends for all of your support and prayers!!!

I am only posting one picture this time and will post more soon. *wink*

8 x 8 Birthday Book

This is a Birthday Book that I made for my Mom and gave it to her this past Christmas. I took and 8 x 8 album and altered the front of it. On the inside there are two pages for each month, one has the month and a place to write birthdays and the other page is actually a pocket. The pocket can be used to hold all of your cards that you would need for the month. Most of the pictures are of the pockets for each month. I also made 30 some cards to go along with the birthday book. Hope you enjoy & thanks for looking!!

Going From Printed Paper to a Card

There are soooo many different kinds of PP (printed paper) for all of us card makers, scrap bookers, and paper crafters to choose from that it can really make your head start to spin!

I like to take the PP and make a card using a large portion of the printed paper but changing it up a bit. I think it can be a fun and a bit of a challenge to see how much of the 12 x 12 PP I can add to the card.

This is the piece of 12 x 12 PP that I started with.
This is the card that I designed using most of the PP. This was a graduation card for my friend Kelli's Daughter. There is no stamping on the outside of this card, but instead painting. I used twinkling H2o's to do the painting. The water was done by painting with the twinkling H2o's and then crystal effects and then adding little micro beads. I also added lime green stickles (Ranger) to give it so added sparkle and some colored acrylic flat beads (The Robin's Nest) to add some dimension.
Hope you have a great day and thanks for looking!!

Little Lady in the Roses

I had a lot of fun making this card! I was playing around with the new SU On Board Blossoms & Basics and thought I'd create a little Lady(bug). I think it turned out so cute and of coarse I had to add a touch of glitter!! I also love the SU Wild Rose stamp set. It's a great set to be able to make the three-dimensional roses. The little ladybug was made using the 1-3/8" circle punch and On Board Blossoms & Basics and Daz. Diamond Glitter.
Stamps: Wild Rose, Baroque Motifs Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black Ink: Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate, Real Red Accessories: On Board Blossoms & Basics, Ticket Corner Punch, Daz. Diamond Glitter, 2-way Glue, Dimensionals

Really Quick Post!

Just wanted to show you a couple of cards I have been working on. These are two of the New Stampin' Up! 2007 Fall & Winter Collection Stamp Sets, Baroque Motifs and Pick a Petal. I LOVE both of these sets!! There is so much you can do with them!! I will come back and post all the info later, gotta go for now!


Ok here is all the info on both cards~

Vanilla Gold Cherish Card~
Stamps: Baroque Motifs Paper: Very Vanilla, Brocade Background Ink: Whisper White Craft Accessories: Gold EP, 2-way Glue, Daz. Diamonds Glitter, Lg Oval Punch, Spring Flower Bouquet Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Dimensionals, Vanilla Ribbon

Pick a Petal Dragonfly~
The dragonfly was created using Vellum for the wings and On Board Blossoms & Basics for the body.
Stamps: Pick a Petal, Baroque Motifs, Warm Words Paper: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Vellum Ink: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi Accessories: On Board Blossoms & Basics, 2-way Glue, Daz. Diamond Glitter, Signo Gel Pen

A few days off

I took a few days off from the computer! *gasp!* The 4th of July is a busy time. For several years now our town has celebrated the 4th of July a day early with having the parade on the 3rd of July. We are known for having a great parade and they are able to bring in so many more floats and bands with doing it a day early. This year Mother Nature just wasn't on our side!!! About 10 minutes into the parade the Tornado Warnings were sounded!! This is a first!! A lot of people thought at first that it was coming from the fire trucks and was part of the parade. Then when they realized what it was I think a lot of people were thinking now what and where do I go! The police came out and started telling people to clear out and that the parade was canceled. So everyone was picking up and taking off not really knowing what was going on. We had the radio on and found out that most of the storm was north of us but because of the new laws they have to sound the warnings if anything is happening in that county. We took all the food inside and then hung out outside for about 20 minutes and then came the rain! We were very lucky that we only had rain and strong winds. But one second it was sprinkling and the next it was a total downpour!! By the time we grabbed a few things and got inside the house we were soaked all the way through!! Mom and I were just laughing because we were both soaked!! Standing there with water just running off of us!! What a mess, but what can you do.
Then the power went out! I put up everything that needed to go into the frig and once it calmed down outside we went out to pick everything up. The table and chairs were all flipped over, the only thing still standing was the grill. I guess this will be one for the history books of our town!! But we really did need the rain and thank goodness we didn't have a tornado!!
For the 4th we enjoyed the awesome display of fireworks!! We went down to the lake with Mom and Dad and we had ordered a pizza ahead of time so we hung out, had pizza, watched all the boats and a beautiful sunset and then to top off the night the fireworks!! Hope you enjoy all the pictures!!

A day at the beach

Just wanted to share some fun pictures. We went to the beach yesterday and the kids had a blast!! However I wasn't able to stay out very long, bummer! The sun and I just don't get along all that great. :(
I thought this one looked kind of neat in B&W.

Catchin' some air--as the boys would say. This is Eric and my stepson Chase, he gets to come and spend the summers with us.Evan and Daddy

Dusty, our oldest, is out on another adventure. He's at boy scout camp. His summer is sooooo full, I'm jealous! Oh to be a kid again...

Hope you all have a wonderful night!

Stamping Classes for the month of June.

I know June is over but I wanted to post the cards that we made in class this last month. I always have so much fun doing the classes and I love seeing the out come of all the design work. I also love seeing all of the ladies in the class and their reaction to the cards we make each month. Here is the 1st cards we made. I am posting a few different pictures so you can see the different outcomes. Depending on what kind of leaves you use and the amount of colorwash you use you will get a different look every time. I love these shades of green! It just seems so fresh and crisp to me. For these two cards I used leaves from a flowering phlox.~
This is also using phlox.~
Here is another one using ferns.~
This is the 2nd card we made. I had posted a card not too long ago that I designed for an order and I liked it so much I wanted to doing something similar but on a smaller scale. Here is the 3rd card. This is another technique using a colorwash. I really enjoy working with the colorwashes, it is always a different outcome each time.
There are several different brands of colorwash out on the market but if you would like to have some fun mixing your own special blend here is a very easy recipe for colorwash.

Supplies:
Small fine mist spray bottle (you can even use a small bottle from hairspray or a body spray.)
Rubbing Alcohol
Reinkers (dye inks)

Fill your bottle about 1/2 inch from the top with the rubbing alcohol and then add anywhere from 50 to 75 drops of ink. It might be more or less ink depending on how vibrant of a colorwash you would like. If you want to check the color just put the pump on and spray a few times onto white paper. Tips**Don't forget to label your bottle and how many drops of ink you used. Also give it a little shake if it sits for awhile in between uses.

And the WINNER is...

Before I announce who the Winner of the Blog Candy is I just want to say THANK YOU so very much for coming and checking out my blog!! This has been a lot of fun and I have enjoyed reading all of the wonderful comments!! I hope that you will stick around and keep coming back!!
Again THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Ok, I know enough rambling-just get to the drawing, right! LOL!

Check out this basket full of names!

The drawing... (my DH)

and the WINNER IS~~~~~
Amie said...

Wow, really great cards! I love it!

June 27, 2007 3:46 PM

CONGRATULATIONS AMIE!!!!!

I will be sending you an email to get your postal address and get your package sent out asap!

Once again thanks so much for all of the great comments!!

Our Little Man!

Where does the time go...
When your a mom and you look at your children sometimes it is all to fast and you wish you could make it stand still, if only for a moment to keep them little.

Our little guy just had his 5th Birthday this past week. He is becoming such a little man. He will be going to kindergarten this fall and he is soooo excited!! He keeps asking if it is time yet.

Here are a couple of pictures from his birthday.

I'M 5 YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!WOO-HOO!! A NEW BIKE!!!
Happy Birthday Evan!!! I hope you have a wonderful year full of blessings and many new, fun and exciting adventures!! I love you!!
Love,
Mommy XOXOXOXO

Classes at The Stamp Studio

Just recently I taught a class at our LSS (Local Stamp Store). This was my 1st class at The Stamp Studio and I was very excited about doing it. We had a great turn out, 14 ladies came for the class! For the class each person received a kit with all of the supplies needed, stamp set, paper, adhesive rhinestones and a bottle of stickles. We also used another very small stamp set but the main focus was on the larger stamp set from Making Memories. The set is a foam mounted stamp set called Floral/Dingbats. I designed three different cards using this stamp set. The ladies made one of each design, two standard size cards and then one larger card. I demonstrated sponging the Distress Ink onto Stardream (like a shimmer paper) card stock and changing the color, pearlex, stamping an image several times and then cutting out parts to layer giving it more dimension and using stickles glitter to change the look of printed paper. Here are some pictures during the class~

Here are the cards that we made~Supplies~Stamps:MM Floral/Dingbats, Studio G-Clear Stamps by Hampton Arts Paper:Script CS (unknown), Basic Grey PP, Olive Green CS, White Stardream Text Paper Inks:Distress Ink (Ranger)-Frayed Burlap, Versa Magic-Spanish Olive Tools:Sponge Embellishments:Green Velvet Ribbon, Diamond Stickles (Ranger), Brenda Walton-Adhesive Rhinestones

Supplies~Stamps:MM Floral/Dingbats, Studio G-Clear Stamps by Hampton Arts Paper:Light Green Stardream CS, Purple CS, Printed Paper-Paper Heart Fanciful Green Filigre, White Stardream CS Ink:Versa Magic Spring Pansy and Spanish Olive Tools:Square Punches- 1- 1/2 & 1-3/8 Embellishments:Brenda Walton Adhesive Rhinestones, Diamond Stickles (Ranger), Pop DotsSupplies~Stamps:MM Floral/Dingbats, Studio G-Clear Stamps by Hampton Arts Paper:Black Stardream CS, Basic Grey PP, Black CS, White Swirl Stardream CS Inks:Stazon Black & Baby Blue, White Craft Ink (pigment) Tools:1-3/8 Circle Punch, Distress Tool Embellishments:Perfect Pearls (Ranger), Stickles (Ranger), Brenda Walton Adhesive Rhinestones, Blue Velvet Ribbon, Pop Dots

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the class and the cards they made. A lot of ladies said they probably never would have bought this stamp set (some because it is foam and others because they wouldn't have known what to do with it) but after taking the class they were inspired and very excited to go home and play around with the set to see what they could come up with.
Hope you enjoy the cards!

A Perfect Blend and Some Blog Candy!

The Wizard and the Cuttlebug, I don't think you could ask for a better match! They blend together so wonderfully! The best part is, the Wizard is the only tool I need to get the job done!! I personally think that is one of the best selling points about the Wizard, you can use almost any die, embossing plate or folder and brass templates that is out on the market in this one machine!! How Great is that!? I don't know too many people who can afford to go buy a die cutting machine every time the newest one hits the shelves.

Here are a couple of cards that a friend of mine ordered. She wanted to have some really special Thank You cards for her daughters teacher and school nurse. I used the Wizard and the Cuttlebug together on both of these cards.

On this 1st card the flowers are done with the Wizard. I love that die! It is called Flower Creations and it is so fun to work with. The die has six flowers and three flower centers. So many possibilities! The white embossed paper behind the picture was done using the Textile Embossing Folder by Cuttlebug. The embossing looks like lace. To create this card I pulled all of my inspiration from the picture. The flowers to match the little girls dress and the embossed piece to match the lace in the wedding dress. I also added just a touch of pale yellow for the bouquet of tulips.On this 2nd card I pulled all of my inspiration from the colors in the picture. I used the Wizard Butterflies die and matching Impressabilities Butterflies stamp set to make the double butterfly. The die has two butterfly shapes and there are four butterfly stamps in the set. The paper with the embossed flowers was done with the Cuttlebug. I used the Stylized Flowers embossing folder. Can you believe that started out as just white paper!!

So what do you think? Is it the perfect blend? Let me know what you think and you just might win some Blog Candy! Post a comment on here and I will put your name in a drawing, post on your blog telling your friends about the blog candy and I will add your name five more times!! If you make a post on your blog let me know so I can check it out and then I will add your name five more times. The Blog Candy will be a box filled with Wizard die cuts (flowers, butterflies and bugs, tags, cameos and broach, ladies fashion buckles) and from the Cuttlebug several pieces of embossed card stock. I am also going to put in some ribbon and some fun embellishments. I will keep the drawing open until Sunday July 1st and then I will draw a Lucky Winner and announce it Monday July 2nd. Thanks for posting! Have fun and Good Luck!!

WOW!! Thank you so very much for all of the great comments!! I just wanted to add one more note--If you post a comment and you don't have a blog or if you don't want to post your email that is understandable but please check back on Monday July 2nd for the winner. I just don't want someone to win and then not be able to get a hold of them. Thanks so much!!
Smiles~
Heidi

It’s Official!!

I have been published!! I sent in some card samples a few months back and then about two months ago I received a postcard in the mail that said keep watching our magazine you’ll soon see your submission on our pages. So I have been waiting to see what was picked! I am so excited I received a complimentary issue in the mail. My card was published in the July/August issue of The Rubber Stamper. The submission call was for Alcohol Inks and I sent in three cards and a set of four dominoes. The card that was chosen has Alcohol Inks done on mirror paper. If you get The Rubber Stamper magazine check out page 44 at the top. My card is the butterfly one.

Yesterday I got more news to add to my excitement!! I received a package in the mail from The Rubber Stamper magazine and they were returning my cards. As I was looking through everything I realized that one of my cards was not enclosed in the package. There was a letter that stated if your items are returned and you do not find all of your submissions enclosed, we are considering them for future publication!!

Woo-hoo!! I’m keeping my fingers crossed!! Thanks to all of you so much who encouraged me to submit my design work!!

In Loving Memory

This past week has been a really hard one for our family. As some of you may already know my Cousin Lana’s little girl, Alexandria Mae, pasted away last weekend. She was only 19 months old. This was a post that her Mom and Dad and Big Brother Chance had on her (Alex’s) Caring Bridge website.

SUNDAY, JUNE 17, 2007

For those who have not already heard. God has taken our beautiful ^Alexandria^ to be with him early Saturday morning.

This was quite a surprise for all of us, since we thought she was doing so well. We feel Alexandria's little body just wouldn't let her do all the things that her big heart wanted to do. It is our hope that she went peacefully and that she will always remember all of those that love her. She will be so greatly missed.

Through all of our grief, there are so many questions. Why? Why now? We know in our hearts that she had a greater purpose than we will ever know, and we are better to have known her. We are better for the time that we had with her, even as brief as it was. We have to believe that she is running, laughing, and doing all of the things that she just couldn't do here on earth. We have to believe that she is happy.

Thank you to all of you who have put Alexandria in your hearts and prayers.

Lana, Swanny, and Chance

I also wanted to say thank you to so many of you that I know have kept Alex and her Mom and Dad in your prayers over the last year and a half and also now during this time. Your prayers are very deeply appreciated!!

On Sunday my aunt Becky called to see if I could do something for them. I had no idea what it was going to be, but I was willing to do anything I could to try and help out. She asked me if I could paint something for Lana and Swanny. One of the times when Alex was in the hospital the nurses had made a three dimensional heart shaped mold and in the center was a mold of Alex’s little hand. My heart just sank. I felt very honored but so heartbroken at the same time. All that she asked is if it could be something pretty and in pink. The first night I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, I just looked at her precious little hand and cried. By Monday night I was able to focus a little better and sketched something out. I wanted it to be prefect! I painted into the late night and early the next morning I was able to finish it up. It turned out so beautiful and was placed on a table with several pictures of Alexandria. I painted four rosebuds to symbolize their family - Alexandria, Lana, Swanny & Chance.

Once again thank you all so much for your continued prayers…

In Loving Memory~ Alexandria Mae

Alex with Nana and Papa