"We Are Finally Moving!!!"

We got the good news Thursday. Tony has accepted a position with a different agency in Des Moines, IA! With his current agency we weren't going to get back home, so he applied with a different one. He applied in July of 2008 and we just got the official offer Thursday. Woo Hoo!!! We have known since June that we were going to go to Des Moines but had to wait for the "official offer" Man, the government is slow. The good news is that we are only going to be 3 hours from home. I can't wait. It is going to be so nice to be within driving distance from friends and family. The girls are also excited to move. (well 2 out of 3 of them) Katie (14) is ready to leave today, Molly (7) just wants to live in a house with stairs and wanted to start packing when Tony told her we were moving, and Sarah (8) is absolutely devastated. She has a lot of anxiety and apprehension about the move. She will get over it, but for now I have to watch how I word things around her. (she's my OCD child, she likes things organized, she makes lists, and she likes routines) Moving is not part of her plan. The bad part of the deal is that Tony leaves this weekend for training for 6 months!! The girls and I will be here until the house sells. We are thinking between 4-5 months. It will be tough not having Tony around for 6 months but we are all willing to take that sacrifice in order to get back home.....well, almost home.

I would like to thank all of you for sticking with me while I have been gone. Life took over and I didn't stamp much. I still teach my class once a month but most of those projects were cards and stuff that I have already made so I didn't want to post them again. But I am going to get back into it soon. I miss it soooo much.

Oh one more thing. I have been working out with a personal trainer 3 days a week and I have lost 24.5 pounds in 12 weeks!!! I am a work out machine. I love it. I am at the gym 6 days a week. Three days with my trainer and three days of cardio. I have to be honest, it's hard but now I am starting to see results and I am so happy and proud of myself.

I am going to go for now, I just wanted to give you all an update. And thank you for your e-mails and for sticking around. I do miss you all! And I will be back!

Oh, and if any of you are from the Des Moines area, we are looking for a house to rent in Ankeny. We picked Ankeny cause we know several people that have lived there and loved it, we also heard great things about the schools and the softball programs for the girls.

"Princess Castle"

This is one of the stamp sets that Shelly got from her friend. I can't think of the name if it right now either. Anyway, I stamped the castle on the card, and colored it in, the roofs are stickled, which I don't think you can see in the scan. But it looks pretty in real life. I stamped the clouds on the card and then again on a separate piece of paper and cut them out and pop dotted them on top of the ones on the card. This isn't one of my favorite cards but it's cute. Great for a little princess.
Stamps: Stampin' Up
Paper: Pixie Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Stazon Black
Accessories: Markers, Pop Dots, Square Punches

"Kids Birthday Card"

This is another card I made while in MN. The paper is from DCWV. (die cut with a view)The green is a glittery paper which you can't see in the scan. I colored the giraffe with markers and filled in his spots with stickles. The greeting is a clear stamp and I don't know who makes it. I didn't bring anything with me for stamping this trip. I just used everything of Shelly's. She has soooo much stuff and most of the things I also have so that's cool. I have a class on Friday that I am finishing prepping for this week. Most of the cards that I am doing for the class I have posted before so I'm not going to re-post them. This class is a cuttlebug class, so most of the cards will use the cuttlebug. Which is fun. I think I am going to add a waterfall card too. We haven't done that before and they will think it's fun.
Stamps: Stampin' Up
Paper Pink Passion, Whisper White, DCWV DP
Ink: Stazon Black and Pink
Accessories: Pop Dots, Ribbon, Circle Punches, Stickles

"Cheesy Birthday"

I know it's been a long time since I last posted. Sorry about that. I just got back from three weeks in MN. I did get a chance to stamp with my friend Shelly for a couple days. I only made 16 cards though. Which sounds good, but it was 4 cards 4 of each design. Her friend gave her a big box of stamps. Mostly stampin' up ones and most of them weren't even mounted. So Shelly decided to fill a box of cards for her that were made with the stamps that she got from her. Shelly and I went shopping at Anchor Paper and I got two cool border punches, one of which I used on this card. The mice and the cheese stamps are from Clear Dollar Stamps and I think the candle and greeting are stampin' up but I'm not sure.
Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps, Stampin' Up
Paper: Yo Yo Yellow, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Stazon Black, Red Stazon
Accessories: Bubble Border Punch, Pop Dots, Markers

"Orange Crush Gift Set"

Well, soft ball is officially over. Both girls loved it. Between the two of them we had 4-9 games a week plus 1 practice. We were super busy. Tony was the coach of Molly's t-ball team and the assistant coach of Sarah's softball team. It was a lot of fun. We are having a pizza party for Sarah's team tonight. They are getting their trophies tonight. They took 1st place in the league this year. Woo Hoo!! I made each of the girls a little something to congratulate them.

Bag toppers:filled with those orange slice gum drop things. Sarah's team name is Orange Crush. I printed orange crush off of the computer and stamped the orange slice in only orange and then went over the segments with orange stickles.

RSVP pens: I haven't made these in a while. I forgot how much fun they were. I know the girls will love them. I went to Wal-Mart today to get the pens and my Wal-Mart doesn't sell them anymore. I was bummed, but I found them at Staples. However, they cost more there. Boo!!!

Peppermint Sammiches: I love making these. I whipped them up in like 10 minutes today. I love how easy they are. I just finished putting all the stuff in clear goodie bags and will pass them out to the girls tonight at the pizza party.
Thanks for being patient with me in my absence. I am getting more time to stamp lately so I should be getting back on track soon. Thanks too for your e-mails. They are getting me more excited about stamping, and getting back to my blogging friends.
Stamps: Tart and Tangy
Paper: Only Orange, Whisper White
Ink: Only Orange
Accessories: Silver Brads, Orange Slice Candy, Orange Stickles, SU Scallop Punch, SU Circle Punch, Peppermint Candy, RSVP Pen, Tacky Tape Sheets, Address Labels, Micro Beads, Heat Gun

"Upsy Daisy Card Set"

I went to LA last weekend to stamp with friends and get some inspiration. Of course I didn't get much done but I like what I did and it really felt good to stamp again. I seem to have a talking problem, I can't stop doing it. Which keeps me from stamping. Oh well, I made 12 of these cards, three of each color. I plan to give them to the teachers for end of the year gifts. I used tango tangerine for the orange but pumpkin pie is actually the matching color for the DP. I guess I got caught up in the stamping and didn't pay attention. At least it doesn't look too bad. I think I have to get nestibilities. I really love them and how they look.
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Tango Tangerine, Whisper White, Washington Apple DP
Ink: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Tango Tangerine, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Nestibilities, Word Window, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

My parents are here for a week so I won't be stamping this week. I have a class coming up on April 3rd so I will be sharing the cards and stuff that I will be doing for my class when I get done prepping them. Have a good weekend and week, see ya soon.

"Saffron Blooms"

This card we made at stamp camp. It is cased from this card on SCS. I love it. The colors are so good together. For the vase we punched out an oval from the oval punch and cut off the tip, then added white gel pen to highlight. We stamped the flowers with stazon, then colored some in with the so saffron marker and the rest we used the saffron ink pad and blender pen to make lighter versions of the color. Then we popped them up on dimensionals to look like a bouquet.
Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Hugs and Wishes
Paper: Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Delicate Dots (Sale-A-Bration)
Ink: Basic Black, Stazon Black, So Saffron
Accessories: Dimensionals, Blender Pen, Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Oval Punch, White Gel Pen, Scallop Border Punch, SU Marker

"Seed Packets and Tea Bag Holder"

We made this set at my stamp camp a couple weeks ago. It's a seed packet holder and tea bag holder. Both are easy to make and fun to give. The pattern paper is from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. I love it. I wish they would put it in the regular catalog. It is so pretty.

My demo used the same dimensions to make these but her score lines were different. Here is how I make mine.
Cut card stock 9 1/4 x 4 1/4
Score at 3 1/4 and 3 3/4 Round the corners and decorate outside, I used brads to close it but you can use eyelets too. You might remember I made these last year for the teachers at the end of the year.
Here is the link to those. I printed out the greeting "Thanks for helping me grow"
These 10 cent seed packets were found last year. But I found some 20 cent ones at Walmart.

The tea bag is a little difficult to describe, so here is a link to directions to make them.

Here is the tea bag holder open so you can see how to do the inside. The inside paper that holds the tea bags is not adhered to the cardstock.
Stamps: Lots of Thoughts
Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Delicate Dots DP (Sale-A-Bration)
Ink: Sahara Sand
Accessories: Scallop Square Punch, Silver Cord, White Organdy Ribbon, Tea Bags, Hand Held Hole Punch

"Cuttlebug Birthday"

Hey everyone!!! I am back to stamping....(again)I'm ok, thanks for the e-mails to check on me. I'll tell you what happened. Facebook sucked me in and I can't get out. I am sooooo hooked on Facebook, I have re-connected with people from high school that I haven't heard from or seen in 20 years and friends from my old jobs in MN. It's been real great. Also like many of you know, sports can take over as well. Tony is coaching Molly's T-Ball team and assistant coaching Sarah's softball. They both practice twice a week, but when the season starts they will only have one practice a week but games one to two times a week. I am so busy. I also have been named team photographer so I will be at most of their practices and games.
Ok, on to the card. This is one we made at stamp camp. I love the simplicity of it too. I am going to do this on in my next card class.
Stamps: I can't remember, I will have to look this one up
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Washington Apple DP
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Star Eyelets, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder, Slit Punch, Star Punch

"Card Class Card"

I have my class tonight. I picked this card to make since it is kind of a masculine birthday card. We never make those and I never think to do it. Poor guys, they are always getting left out. Ha ha ha. The stars are punches and dies. The big ones are the stampin' up star punch and the others are a sizzix die. It is an easy card to make. Took a long time to prep for though. The pattern paper is retired East Coast Prep (I think)
Stamps: In The Stars
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, East Coast Prep
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: SU Star Punch, Sizzix Star Dies, Dimensionals

"Birthday Bella Rose"

I decided to make some birthday cards this weekend. I made some birthday cards for a set. I made three of these with the pearls and then I made three of the same card only without the pearls. I am kinda mad at myself cause I only have this one to share. But I am excited about stamping again. So I will be doing more this week and hope to get back on track. I know I keep sayin that and I do have good intentions but I just seem to get busy and forget about stamping. Tony will be gone next week so I will for sure stamp my heart out and I have a class on Friday March 6th so I have to prep for that. I placed my order and as soon as that comes in I will get busy.
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Bella Rose
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Pearls, Stickles (on the candles) SU Scallop Border Punch

"Allison Ohran Case"

We made this card in stamp camp last weekend. It is a complete case of Allison Ohran's card. It is beautiful. Allison is a very talented stamper, you should check out her SCS gallery if you get a chance. Her cards and gifts are simple, which I like the most.
The colors and the layout on this card are so perfect. I did see another one in the SCS gallery that used the same stamps and layout but she used different paper and colors. But I love the pink, red, and brown together. The hearts and greeting are embossed with white embossing powder. The hearts are punched out with SU's heart punch and the greeting with SU's word window punch.
Stamps: Love You Much
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Close to Cocoa, Candy Lane DP
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: White embossing powder, Linen Thread, Hand Held Circle Punch, SU Heart To Heart punch, SU Word Window Punch, Corner Rounder, Dimensionals

"Itty Bitty Buds"

I love this card. We made it in stamp camp. It is simple, full of color, and a very cool layout. The paper is the new Raspberry Tart and the stamp set is the hostess set Itty Bitty Buds. There is no greeting on this card cause it is an all occasion card. You could make a bunch of these to give as a set. Which I think I will do. The layout is perfect for using up all those extra strips of designer paper that you might throw away cause you don't know what to do with them.
Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Old Olive, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart DP
Ink: Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Regal Rose, Old Olive
Accessories: Dimensionals

"Ghirardelli® Box"

This is another project that we did at stamp camp. It is a box that holds Ghirardelli® Chocolates. There is a tutorial on splitcoast which you can find here. However, our box only holds three chocolates, the one on scs holds 4. It was super easy to make too. Another fun gift to give to teachers. Just remember that when you put the dimensionals on to put them on the bottom of the scallop so you can tuck the lid under the top of the scallop to keep it closed.

Paper: Always DP, Pink Pirouette, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose
Accessories: SU Scallop Border Punch, SU Scallop Circle Punch, SU Hearts Punch, Dimensionals, Tacky Tape, Ghirardelli Chocolates

"Bath Salts"

We made this fun project in my stamp camp last weekend. My demo got the containers from a friend. We filled them with bath salts. They smell sooooo good. These are fun easy things to make for teachers, neighbors, friends, etc... You could use any tin container. We wrapped the paper around the tin, filled it with bath salts, added the paper on the lid, wrapped the ribbon around it and called it done. I wrote bath salts on the tag on the top so who ever gets it will know what is inside.
Stamps: Punches Three (hostess)
Paper: Pacific Point DP, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Pacific Point
Accessories: Large Scallop Circle Punch, Circle Punch, SU Scallop Square Punch, Pacific Point Striped Ribbon, Bath Salts, Tacky Tape, String

"A Little Love"

This is another card we will be doing in my class Friday. I also made this one several years ago when I took the class that I am now teaching. Once again a simple card that packs a punch. Gotta love simple. The chair stamp is from the retired set A Little Love and the word valentine is from Everyday Flexible Phrases. I am almost ready for my class. I just need to come up with a 3D project. You would think that would be easy for me but it isn't. Most of the people in my class take it every month so I would like to come up with something new and different.
Stamps: A Little Love, Everyday Flexible Phrases
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Black Stazon
Accessories: Red Gingham Ribbon, SU Red Marker

"Valentine Card"

This is one of the cards that we will be making in my class on Friday. I made this one in my stamp classes a few years ago. It's pretty simple, that's probably why I like it. Both of stamps are retired. Most of the other cards that we will be making I have already posted. I am excited for my class. Although I am not ready. I still have a lot of prepping to do. I am still trying to find a job. I did get the lunch lady job but I haven't started yet. I am tying to get a part time waitress job. What I don't understand is why places want you to come back for two and three interviews for a part time minimum wage job, and then you don't get it. I have 11 years serving experience and no one wants me. I am almost running out of places to apply. LOL
Stamps: Loving Hearts, All Year Cheer 3
Paper: Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Pink Passion, Pixie Pink
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon

"Saffron Beauty"

Ya know, one good thing about me not posting in a long time was that my blog kinda reset itself. I am now able to schedule my posts. Before my blog got tagged as spam cause I had so many links to other sites and I wasn't able to schedule a post. This was a fun card to make. I like the layers that are pushed all the way to the right side of the card. I think it looks cool. I also like the orange gems that we added, they really add to the card. The greeting is from Party Harty. I inked up just the word party with real red marker. The image is popped up with dimensionals.
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Party Harty
Paper: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Washington Apple DP
Ink: So Saffron, Riding Hood Red, Real Red Marker
Accessories: Gems, Tangerine Striped Ribbon, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, Word Window, Dimensionals, SU Marker

"Beautiful Bella"

I love this card. I think it is the color combo that I like the best. This card was inspired by Dawn Olchefske (dostamping) We made this one at stamp camp last weekend. I have been a big fan of Dawn's for a long time so it was fun to make a card that was inspired by one of hers. When I move back to MN I am going to become a demo and I am going to sign up under Dawn. I really like the ribbon on this card but the back of it is white and when I made my first bow I one of the pieces was white and the same thing happened when I made a knot. So I made the bow like this so that you wouldn't see the back of the ribbon. I don't know if you can see it or not but the middle dot in the greeting has a stickles on it. Gotta love stickles!!
Stamps: Think Happy Thoughts
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Bella Rose DP
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Rose Red
Accessories: SU Scallop Punch, Paper Piercer, Stickles, Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals