Winner!

Finally, I've had a few minutes to pick a winner for the "5,oooth Visitor" to my blog. There were eight entries, so scientifically, I had Zach choose a number between 1 and 8. He chose 7, which would've been Kyle's comment #7. I said "NO!" Then he chose #3....Melissa! So, what kind of cards would you like Melissa? I figured you might need some thank you's right now, but I can do whatever you'd like. ;) I have a stamp set for you and I'll make 10 cards of your choice. Let me know!

Merry Christmas from Us to You!

Merry Christmas! From it's beginnings as this, our card turned into what you see here. Too much coloring, but I love how it turned out!

It is soooo cold here. Right now it is 14 degrees (I'm typing this on Monday, though it won't post until Wednesday). Yesterday it was 1. Tomorrow it is supposed to be around 30, so it will be thirty times as warm as it was yesterday. WOW! The wind chill is what is bad. I have no idea how cold that is making it, but I am sitting here shivering.

I hope you all have a nice and peaceful evening and wonderful day tomorrow. We are having the missionaries from our church over for Christmas Eve, so that will be fun. The boys always love having them over! When my brothers served their missions, I was always grateful to the families that took them in for dinners, especially around the different holidays. We want to do something special. Any fun ideas?

A Little Somethin'

Miracles do happen! I stamped last night. Okay, I was forced to because a swap was due, but still. I can't believe how busy I've been lately. It has just been so crazy. I've had this huge list of things to do and none of it has even been MY stuff. I'm finally through with it for the most part, and can start working on my own things. Christmas shopping.....yeah.....that would be a good thing to work on. Hmmmmm.

Anyway, this card uses a new Level 2 Hostess Set that will be featured in the Spring/Summer Catalog that begins on January 18th. The set is called A Little Somethin' and has six cute greetings including the following: Thanks a Bunch, Rock Star, Howdy, A Little Somethin' Somethin', Lovey Dovey & Friend. The Designer Series Paper is called Raspberry Tart and it is WILD. I love it! For this card, I stamped the Baroque "big mama" stamp on the DP with Versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder. You can kind of see it on the scan, but of course it looks better in person.

Gotta go get busy doing "a little somethin' "!!!

5,000

5,000 visitors........WOW! Leave a comment to this post and be entered in a drawing for cards and a stamp set!

Nursing Home Cards

About every other month I go to a local nursing home and stamp with the residents there. Sometimes they do the stamping, but lately, it seems that they like to watch me stamp. Last week, I made lots of Christmas cards. This is one version I came up with for one of the men. I just take vanilla and white paper, so I dressed this one up a bit. I take scraps of ribbon that I have left over from classes or other projects. They think ribbon on their cards is the neatest thing EVER. If you ever need an ego boost, go and stamp with some elderly people. ;) They think everything you do is magical!

Richard's Projects

The reason Richard built this last winter......

was so he could have a place to work on disasterous things such as this.......

and turn them into lovely --- um, I mean rugged, tough things like this!
It took him several months, but he had a great time working on this and now has a nice truck when he needs it. He even sold his other one a couple of days ago, so he must have some confidence in it. ;)

Customers ~ newsletter will be coming....

Stampin' Up! Customers: the December Email Newsletter will be coming, but I decided to wait until after December 10th, because that is when the Retiring List for the Fall/Winter Catalog will be released. I'll be able to include that, rather than sending a second message. Thanks for your patience. Hope your Christmas plans are going smoothly. My cards are soooo stinkin' cute (but too much work this year!) and I'll post them as soon as they are finished and in the mail! ;)

FYI: the last day to order for Christmas delivery with Stampin' Up! is December 16th. Gift Certificates are always available!

Customers ~ one more thing!

From December 1 through January 18, when you spend $20, you can get 20% off any stamp set in the Fall-Winter Catalog Sampler if you'd like. Sooooo - if you take advantage of the Holiday Extravaganza, and your subtotal is $20+, you might want to take a look at the Catalog Sampler and see if any of the stamp sets interest you. Timing is everything though ...... the Holiday Extravaganza only goes through December 1st, so you have a one day time frame to take advantage of BOTH! Also, since it is a "while supplies last" sale, there are disadvantages to waiting too. Decisions, decisions! ;)

Big Sale

Stampin' Up! has just announced a Holiday Extravaganza Sale! BUT -- it is only available through Monday December 1st, and only while supplies last. There are some great bundles and some are up to 50% off. Think GIFTS.....for the stamper in your life.....maybe even a little something for yourself. Be sure and check them out and let me know if you'd like anything! Orders arrive in approximately one week.

Updates

Shoulder update: two days after the cortisone shot, it truly did kick in....just like the doctor said it would. I got out of bed without having to "help" my arm out of bed. After 9 weeks, I couldn't believe it! I haven't had much pain since. I find myself cringing every time I reach for something, even though I don't need too. I just get ready for the pain because I'm so used to it. I'm going to Physical Therapy three times a week and I HATE it. It isn't painful or anything, I just hate setting time aside for it.

Mom update: my mom arrived on Thursday. It is always great to have her here. She usually comes every other year for Thanksgiving because that is how my sister and brothers are set up to go to their in-laws. It works out well. When she arrived, she started asking something about Twilight. I can't remember exactly what, but it turned into "You have those books, don't you?" She isn't any more of a reader than I am....before I started reading the Twilight Series that is! I decided to buy the first one in June, thinking that one of the kids might want to read it on our drive home. None of them did, so I decided I would give reading a try. I read a ton when I was a nanny, but haven't at all since. Just like Harry Potter got my kids to love reading, Twilight has gotten me to love reading again! I haven't stopped since.....except the last couple of weeks, when I really don't know when I would've found time. Most of the time I can only fit in a couple of pages at night, but it is fun and I look forward to it. I was telling my mom about Shelli, the founder of Stampin' Up!. On her blog recently, she wrote about her daughters urging her to read Twilight before the movie came out. She and her husband went on a vacation and all they ended up doing was reading. She had pictures of her reading everywhere. I laughed because it really does hook you. Well, my mom started reading Twilight on Thursday night and finished it Saturday. Too funny! She has been bitten, as they say. I keep hearing people who are skeptical say "isn't that about vampires??" Well, technically yes, but that definitely wouldn't be the first thing that came to my mind. I think of it as a very sweet love story. I want to go see the movie, but I know it can't possibly live up to the book!

Holiday Raccoon

I haven't stamped for 2 1/2 weeks! For this card I combined the Under the Stars set with the Mr. Twigster set. I wanted to do something unusual, rather than just the normal Christmas card. I think the raccoon looks cute holding the lightbulbs! I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to place them perfectly, and then watercolored everything by using an Aquapainter and squeezing the ink pads and getting ink from the lid. The Kiwi "tree" paper is from the Frosty Designer Paper. YEAH - I stamped!

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

You familiar with this children's song? Usually a real fun song, right? Well, not for me when I think of those particular body parts lately! I've had issues with each recently.

Since my nasty fall a couple of months+ ago, my shoulder has been giving me major problems. I finally got in to the orthopaedic specialist today. I think it won't be as bad as some people have warned me about. He gave me a cortisone shot (HATE those) that will hopefully start helping in a couple of days, some anti-inflammatory medication and I have to start physical therapy, which was the part I was dreading most, but at this point if it helps, I'm all for it! If those things don't work over the next month or so, then it is on to more yucky stuff, but right now, I'm hoping for the best.

Christmas Card Preview

Here is a very tiny preview of what part of my Christmas cards will look like......if I get them finished. Watercoloring 80+ cards probably isn't the greatest idea ever! However, IF you decide to watercolor, I highly recommend our watercolor paper and an Aqua Painter. Two products that are simply awesome to work with! I'll share the full card when/if I get them all mailed out. That won't be anytime soon! ;)

If you need supplies for your cards, now would be a good time to order and start working on them. Don't forget the envelopes!

Email Addresses?

A BAD thing happened yesterday! Something weird happened with my email, and I lost everything in my address book (300+ family, friends, customers), every past email (in other words...my memory), etc. If I normally email with you in any way, please send my a quick one so I can get your's again. THANKS! Hopefully Richard can figure this out for me, so we can retrieve the info. I'm not sure we'll be home at the same time until at least Sunday though.

Cute Fall Card

For Amanda's workshop last week, there were lots of new stampers, so I needed a card for them that looked great, but wasn't too overwhelming. This one was perfect! All of their cards turned out great! There was just a little bit of stamping involved, along with some punching. The pumpkin was made using 3 punches of the new Wide Oval Punch, and for the stem, we used the Word Window Punch.

(basic idea by Nancy B.)

Scentsy Booth this Saturday

Saturday I'll be at Elyria Catholic High School for their annual "March into Christmas" Holiday Craft Bazaar. Visit my Scentsy site for details. As you can see, Brandon came along as my helper at a show a couple of weeks ago, and said he may want to do that again Saturday. The boy loves to help! I'll have many items available for sale on the spot and anything can be ordered, of course. Orders take about 10-14 days to arrive. I usually have quite a few things at my home if you are in need of a last minute gift! Let me know if you need further details.

Stamp-A-Stack Results

Yeah! The Christmas Stamp-A-Stack for 2008 has come and gone. Everyone made 5 of each of the cards you see below. I couldn't find my camera for the Friday night class, so I want to thank Kyleen, Lisa, Jan, Ann, Sandy, Ambre, Anne, Amy, Kristen and Becky for attending that night. Debbie wasn't feeling well on Saturday, so Julie stamped for her and she'll put them together at home. See you soon Debbie!

Bonnie, Mindy and Donna got a little dusty over at the Snow Swirled snowflake card station.
(basic idea by Susan Adams)

Jan and Treena took a moment to glance at the camera, but Joann needed to keep busy working with Mr. Twigster.

Judy, Jill and Barbie were happily working on their Season of Joy cards.

Julie, Ellen, Karen and Ginny worked on the Snow Swirled tree cards, while Mary worked on the Punches Three cards.

I'm in one of my "I never want to do another class EVER" frames of mind right now. That generally happens after each class.....especially the big ones. They're fun and I love having everyone over....don't get me wrong, but only demonstrators who prepare classes (and their families) can understand how much work they are. Classes aren't money makers, that is for sure. The time we spend to be ready and have everything as close to perfect as possible is unbelievable. We just do it to keep our customers stamping and to be able to show them things that take a little longer than we could at a normal workshop. I called my sister after it was over, knowing she had also had a class recently. We shared many of the same feelings. Luckily, this frame of mind wears off after a while, and I'll be ready to go again, but it is definitely time for a break. The last few months have been NUTS!

The kids kept busy in the stamp room on the computer. Brandon made himself comfy. Don't worry, because, YES - I finally made Zach let me cut his hair on Sunday night. He looks very handsome right now!

S.A.S. Preview!

OK ~ Stamp-A-Stack attendees, here is a quick preview of one of the cards we'll be making at the class this weekend. It uses the Punches Three Hostess Set. I've been cutting and packaging like crazy the last few days. I *think* I'll be ready by the time you start arriving! ;)

Giant Pictures

I see that the pictures are gigantic and cut off over half of each one! I don't know how to get them smaller. I'll see if Kyle can help me tomorrow. EDIT: If you click on them, they come up normal. DUH! ;)

Rally Pix

Here are a few of the many pictures Nevarae (band member/photographer extraordinaire) took at the rally on Thursday. It was a lot of fun! There was a lot of "hurry up" and "wait" but all it all, a great day. The kids were awesome and definitely entertained the crowd.


Kyle is on the left, along with some of the rest of the band.

Jordan! along with more of the band.

Some of the great girls that we never have a problem with. Bridie, Mary, Sonya, Emily and Jessica.

Band moms! Kathy, Lisa and me.

John McCain shaking hands with students who were anxiously awaiting his arrival.

Megan and Cindy McCain, along with Joe the Plumber!

Rally ~ Band ~ Exciting!

WOW! Our band was just invited to perform at John McCain's rally tomorrow. When I say "just" I mean about 3 hours ago! I was asked to go along as a chaperone. I'm probably more excited than most of the band kids will be, but I hope they see it as a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing and appreciate the moment, regardless of their political beliefs. I just wish Sarah Palin was going to be there! I kinda like her.

Christmas Stamp-A-Stack ~ Last Chance!

Hey Stampers......... Thursday, October 23rd is your last chance to sign up (and pay) for the Christmas Stamp-A-Stack on Friday, November 7th. There is a morning session from 9:30-12:30 and an evening session from 6:30-9:30. We'll be making 25 cards. There will be 5 designs and we'll make a stack of 5 cards for each design.

Envelopes are included with this class. You must bring plenty of your own adhesive. If you need some ordered, let me know by Thursday. I need at least 5 people signed up to hold each class. I'll let you know by Friday if I don't have enough for your class. (Evening class is fine, morning isn't yet.)

A Few Pix

Cody is attending a school this year that helps focus on the police work he'd like to go in to, besides his regular high school curriculum. On Friday, they had a "Muffins for Moms & Dads" morning. We were invited to come and learn more about what goes on in their school and what they do in their lab.

The first thing he wanted to do to me was put on the "beer goggles" and have me "walk the line". WELL, if you know me, I struggle with balance anyway. I've never had a drink in my life, so I begged for the goggles with the least alcohol content (or whatever the terminology is) although he wanted me to try the highest ones! So I put them on and start out. He says "MOM - you're not even on the line!" I take them off, look down and my foot is 8" to the left of the line, but with them on, it really looked like I was right on the money. Another boy in his class told me to start on the line, then put the goggles on. I did that, took a couple of steps, and I felt completely sick. I didn't really feel right all day! No wonder our church teaches against drinking!

Anyway, Cody's instructor said "I just can't say enough good things about this young man!" That is always what a parent wants to hear!

Zach (middle of the picture) has his last soccer game on Saturday. The last few games has been amazing for him! He has played like he has been playing for all his life. It has been so fun to listen to all of the parents talking about him. (I get teary!) Most of the kids on his team have played for years and he is just starting his third year, so he has had a lot of catching up to do. He called me Saturday while I was at a meeting to tell me how his coach praised him as being the most improved for the season in front of the whole team. I cried again. So exciting for him!

Friday night was our last Band Festival. It was soooo good. Our band was awesome! Kyle met up with Ashley, a friend that lives within our stake. She is such a cutie and always so friendly. Their band is huge and did some really interesting things.

This is a shot of our entire band. Do you see Kyle over there towards the left???

I've had a fun year as a band mom. I've made some great new "band mom" friends and we have laughed WAY too much. I'll be driving down the road and just start laughing at things that have gone on. We've had a little too much fun this year!

5 Cards & a Recipe

These are the five cards we made at the class on Tuesday night. Everyone got to make two of each card. I'll just post the pictures, saving the tips and tricks just for the class participants. Unfortunately, you can't see the cute dry embossing we did on the pink and purple baby card.

Together Forever, page 57

Upsy Daisy, page 101

Wonderful You, page 96

Punches Three, page 17


Party Hearty, page 63 (on sale this month!)

Thanks to all of those who attended. It was a great night!

Sign up and pay for the Christmas Stamp-A-Stack by October 23rd!
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I made this carmel popcorn for a snack at the class and boy, was it a hit. I haven't made it for years. I'm hoping my sister-in-law won't mind me sharing her recipe.

WENDY'S CARMEL POPCORN

1 cup butter

2 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Cook to soft ball stage (Kari cooks to 225 degrees only). Pour over about 8 quarts of popcorn. I like to put out some wax paper and drop pieces on it and let it cool this way before returning it to the bowl. This way, it is easy to get to in the bowl later. This recipe makes a BIG tupperware bowl full. It is best on the first day. The second day it goes a little sugary. It still tastes okay, but not quite as good.

Party Hearty

This card was made with a great set called "Party Hearty" and is part of Stampin' Up!'s 20th Birthday Promotion this month. There are seven birthday sets to choose from. We'll be using this set at the class this Tuesday! (I've been working on class preparations the last few days......I'm so excited!)

Looking ahead, you can sign up for the Christmas Stamp-A-Stack through October 23rd. It will be held on Friday, November 7th, with a morning and evening session. See the right sidebar for details.

3x3 Birthday

This is a real quick little 3x3 card that I made for my church group swap. The Designer Paper is actually from the Ski Slope package in the Holiday Mini Catalog. Yes - it's Christmas paper, but as you can see, it can easily double as other things. Most of the patterns in that package can do the same type of thing. The stamps I used are from the Voila stamp set. I don't have a tons of sets right now. I really need to re-stock, but Richard isn't going for the idea, so I had to get creative. If you don't know what the Voila set is, it is the "chef" set! It's all coming together for you if you're a stamper now, right?!?

I actually started on my Christmas cards yesterday during General Conference! That is a first for me (doing them this early, I mean). Last year I didn't even do any. That is also a first, since I became a stamper 14 years ago. I felt awful about it, and have gotten several lectures from people who usually receive them, but my body just couldn't do them. I figured if I start now, I'll be able to handle it!

Woollybear Festival

Today was the Woollybear Festival in our town. I guess it draws the biggest crowd in the state. It definitely isn't my favorite event of the year, but we always end up going, since the kids have to march with the band. I always have to wonder why they have to do it on a Sunday. That drives me crazy! We had great weather today. Last year was H-O-T!

This is Kyle waiting for the M.C. to show up so they can do the Star Spangled Banner. He is usually late each year, however this year he was right on the dot. He is a local weatherman. I'm not a fan, but apparently a lot of people are!

This is a shot of the band marching in. They do such a great job. I love hearing and seeing them!

Kyle is the one to the right of the tuba.

This is Zach's first year marching. Here you see the middle school kids. They are kind of squished together!

Zach is a little blurry. Oops! This is his first year doing percussion. He started on saxophone last year, but is liking this much better. His shoulders really hurt by the time he was done though! EDIT: 10-6-08 This morning Zach has bruises on this thighs from the snare!

Cody was on "official police business" with his police explorer group for the day. However, each time we saw him, there seemed to be nothing official or police-like about it. Hmmm.
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As Brandon and I were walking around trying to be everywhere we needed to be this afternoon, we were talking about last year's festival. It was very different because nearly my whole family was here visiting for Brandon's baptism the day before. I can't believe it has been a year since they were here! That was such a fun time. I hope they'll be able to come out again, but I know how hard that is with soooo many little ones. We'll be here when you're ready......or any other family that would like to visit for that matter! ;)

Fox News

If you're up early, turn on Fox News and you may see Kyle playing his saxophone with the marching band!

Another Busy Day

I think I could title just about every post in the same way! This morning Brandon and I made Peanut Butter Bars before he left for school in preparation for tonight's activity (more later).

Today it was our ward's turn to do the luncheon for the missionary's zone conference over in Westlake. I always enjoy getting to help out with that. One of the ladies in our ward always plans the meal and does all or the majority of the cooking. She does such a good job at it. I hope I never lose her! She had several of us make cookies for their dessert, but she made yummy beef stew and rolls, then had applesauce for them. The missionaries are always so appreciative. It is such a fun afternoon.

After that, I fought to stay awake driving home, took a quick nap and started getting ready for Richard to have the Young Men and Young Women (ages 12-18) from church over tonight for a BBQ and bonfire. I ran Brandon to soccer practice, ran home, got a few more things ready, ran back to get him, ran home, got everything else set up, just in time for everyone to arrive. We had a fun evening with around 25 people here. The rain stopped long enough for us to enjoy the entire activity. It was just great! We can't believe our big huge pile of branches would even light with all of the rain we've been getting, but it went up just fine. It was kind of a cool evening, so the fire felt awesome. Yes - I should've taken some pictures, but of course they'd still be sitting in the camera!

We've had lots of changes in our ward presidencies lately and even our bishopric a couple of weeks ago. It is exciting to have so many new things going on at once. I've served as the Relief Society President (for the women in our ward) for a little over 2 1/2 years now. I'm so excited about my new counselors and my secretary who has stayed on. They have been just wonderful and I'm so grateful for them.

Hmmm....

40.

Upsy Daisy Kiwi

I wasn't sure if I should even post this card, because the scan just isn't near as pretty as it is in person. Since I haven't done anything else new this week though, I decided to put it up for you. This is the card I had everyone make at Judy's workshop last night. These ladies are so fun to get together with. I always look forward to seeing them. They get excited about everything. We inked up the flowers in Kiwi Kiss and then took the Always Artichoke marker and ran it along the tops of each flower for some added color. After showing this ribbon, the Striped In Color Ribbon Club immediately filled and I was able to get it ordered last night. Now we can fill up another one. Are you interested?

I demonstrated the Big Shot for the first time! (I told you I'd break down and get it.) I need some practice at putting the baskets together, but I really like them. They'll make the neatest favors for showers, teachers, classrooms, whatever!

Mr. Twigster

My downline card swap was due Monday. This is what I finally came up with for it. I wish I had more time to stamp! This cute stamp set will be in the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog, which comes out on October 1st and runs through January 18th. The cute new Designer Paper I've used is also in there. It is called Frosty Day. The striped ribbon is awesome. I do have a ribbon club available for it. It is available in all of the "In Colors" for this year. Let me know if you are interested. Don't worry! I didn't stamp each of those little letters. I ran the paper through the printer and used a Stampin' Up! font to print the saying.

We may end up using this set at the class on October 14th. If you'd like to come, be sure and RSVP by the 5th. Details are on the right sidebar! If you have questions, email me.

Upsy Daisy Blue

Another card from this FUN set! The Designer Paper I've used is the new Urban Garden. I really like the colors featured in this set of papers. The ink I used is Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy.