What a slacker huh???

I haven't posted in FOREVER!
I've just been busy.....with different things....good things mostly.
Spring has FINALLY sprung in these parts and I know it is MOST CERTAINLY welcomed by me!!!
Joe is still working in my 'studio' so I'm kind of inbetween rooms right now. I've managed to 'work' things so if I NEEDED to make a card I could but really, I just haven't been 'into' it. I think I'm just anxious to get everything moved over and put away. Once things are a little more organized I'll post some pics. I'm ALWAYS interested in and looking for better organizational and storage ideas so if you have ANY tips or tricks---PLEASE post a comment and SHARE!!
Anyways, for today........ a few pics...
We got a few poppy plants from a friend a few years back and I ALWAYS LOVE it when they bloom. They're just SO amazingly HUGE and BEAUTIFUL to me!! I went out two mornings ago and found our FIRST poppy (in the front). I KNEW I was going to HAVE to take some pictures!!
I think it was the next morning when I went out and I found this one emerging!
This morning when we went out......Sure enough, there are THREE!! My camera batteries are dead and I haven't taken the time to recharge them so no pic.
And LOOK!! Our strawberries are flowering and now there are even green berries!!!
I just LOVE Spring!
These beautiful flowers are from my BF, Kat. She gave them to me for Mother's Day. Aren't they beautiful?! Thank You Kat!!!! I think of you each time I walk up to our front door---well, and then some!! :)


A couple of summers ago we drove (from North Central Washington) to Connecticut (where I'm from originally) to visit my mom and dad. We brought back a BUNCH of stuff. One of my 'finds' was the old chair that these flowers are sitting on. I just washed it up a bit and put my flowers on it. I like it. I just makes me feel happy.

Hmmm, and what's this you say???
Kind of a funny story behind this one...............
I was getting ready for a funeral yesterday. I wanted to wear a skirt that I have that I haven't worn yet but didn't have the 'right' kind of shoes to wear with it. I went down into Nikki's room and found a pair that I thought MIGHT just work. Thing is she's a size 6.5-7 and I'm a 7.5-8. Well, she had a pair of size 7 black shoes that were CUTE and I thought they'd 'work'. Here I am clomping around the house in my young (SKINNY) teenagers shoes. I look outside to what USED to be part of our back yard---yep! That's part of it in the picture right above. You see, we live on the Okanogan River and with the super warm weather we had last week that melted the snow in the mountains we now have a swamp in our backyard--if nothing else, an extension of the Okanogan. UGH! So much for Joe's garden. ALL the water was just about gone until yesterday when it rose again. ANYWAYS, I happened to be looking out that way when I saw a momma duck with like 8 little baby ducks. They were SO cute just swimmin' around in my back yard--lol. My intention was to get a pic of the momma duck and her babies. Well, when i got to clomping out on the deck in those shoes I PROBABLY shouldn't have been wearing anyways it scared momma duck and her babies right away. :( So this is what I got!
:( Oh well. Better luck next time--and note to self--NO MORE CLOMPING around in shoes when TRYING to get pics of a momma duck and her babies!
Well, I go back to work tonight-for the next 3 nights so I'm SURE there won't be ANY creating for me.
I do have a baptism on Sunday so I guess SOMETIME this weekend I SHOULD try to come up with something for that!!
Until next time.......
Happy Stamping and creating!!

ALL Praise and Glory to God!!!!

I passed my RN NCLEX!!!!
ALL Praise and Glory to God-because it's only with Him and through Him that I was able to accomplish this goal.
I am SO incredibly relieved.

Minimal creating for me these last 5 days off. UGH!
I DO have a card but I haven't taken a picture of it yet so maybe tomorrow I'll get to it?! I DID make up a little scrapbook too--from a kit--as a gift BUT, again, no pics. Sorry. I found them at TJ Maxx for $5 (regularly $30-hello!? WHY DIDN"T I buy them ALL???? Good question because they are SO darned cute!!!) I guess I'm going to have to put in a call to my mom and have her run to HER TJ Maxx to see if there are any there. I just KNEW I should have bought them ALL but NO!!! I thought, 'what do I need them all for?' Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!!! I WISH we had a TJ Maxx close by---but NO! The closest one is THREE HOURS AWAY!!! GRRRRRRRR!!!!
Joe is about 1/2 done with the flooring in my new 'studio'. It is coming along quite well. I can't WAIT for it to be done. There is SO much work that needs to be done up there though. UGH. LOTS of stuff to be 'gone through'. BUT, I have a BUNCH of books to get rid of now--teeheehee!
It's back to work for me tomorrow night---geesh--5 days really DOES fly by!! So, I guess I won't be 'creating' again until MAYBE Friday or Saturday if I'm lucky.
So until next time.........
...Happy Stampin' OR Scrappin' OR BOTH!!!!! :)

It's Wednesday and.....

I'm OFF for the next FIVE NIGHTS!!!!!!
WOOHOO!!! I'm LOV'IN it!!
I look SO forward to my days off and I 'plan' to get SO much accomplished. Most times I don't get NEAR half of what I'd LIKE to get done, done but......that's the way it goes right? There just NEVER seems to be enough time in the day!
Well, this morning when I got home I decided, BEFORE I was going to lay down for a 'nap', that I was going to work on and FINISH a card set for a friend of mine. I wanted something SIMPLE because I wanted to be able to send these out for her TODAY. Joe went out fishing with a friend, I dropped the kids off at school, came home and went to work. These are what I came up with:













I made 4 of each card for a total of, YES! 12 cards! :)
All pattern paper is from a card pack/book I got from COSTCO forever ago. The cardstock is CTMH and SU!. Ribbon is Offray. 'J' stamp is from CTMH Believe Caps. I was inspired by Michelle Wooderson's blog, Mish Mash. If you've never been to her blog I encourage you to click here and check it out. She's AMAZING!!! I visit her blog at LEAST DAILY. No kidding!!
This is how I packaged them:
...again inspired by Michelle.
I purchased the clear boxes from PaperTrey Ink (If you've not been here yet either, you've GOTTA go!!!) and just wrapped it with some offwhite satin ribbon (Offray). I'm going to include a decorated pen and get them out to her later today!!
I'm SO glad I can get these off in the mail today!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope to be able to post something more later on today.
OH! and Joe's been working in my new 'studio'. He's pulled up the carpet and laid down the 'paper'. HOPEFULLY he'll begin laying the wood flooring later today once he returns from fishing. I'm SO excited to move into a bigger room. I don't know for sure WHEN exactly I'll be 'moving in' as we've talked about repainting as well and I'd REALLY like to get the painting done before moving everything up there.
Until next time.........
Happy Stamping!

Challenge

Are you interested in, or LOOKING for a new challenge each week?? Well, if you are, head on over to Stamp Something. It's a NEW challenge blog!! Each week (Friday) there will be a new challenge to inspire and motivate!!
This week the challenge is 'first's'-first technique, product, baby firsts, ANYTHING first's. Head on over to the blog for all the 'deets'.
Have FUN and happy stamping!!!!

Another card.....

'Boy card' numero dos!

Why am I having such a difficult time coming up with cards today? I dunno.

Guess WHAT??

It just started POURING here. Oh Well. BETTER than SNOW!!

One more 'girl' card to go.

The stamp sets used here are:

The Angel Company-again don't know the name of the set off the top of my head

One of a kind (SU!)

Inks: Moonstruck and Olive (CTMH)

All paper is scraps from my scrap files. I used a gem brad (Making Memories???)

Ribbon is American Crafts ELEMENTS and White Organdy (CTMH).

Little Birdie

I'm not SO crazy about the end result here but.....we'll see how she likes it. I'll have a back up card ready. :)

I did add some shading and a little very light blue to the background...it was SO stark white....and this little birdie looked like he was walking on air!!

If the batteries in my camera were being a little more cooperative OR my NEW batteries were charged by now I'd consider taking another pic but neither are so.......................it's ALL I got! :)

Another card for my friend....

Here is another card for my friend....... a girly one this time.

I REALLY need to get on the ball and get these done this morning. I told her I'd have them to her by this afternoon. I guess we know where and WHAT I'll be doing this morning. Both kids are in school, hopefully Joe will be busy working outside in the garage, leaving me to 'work' quietly in the house with, hopefully, no interruptions. We'll see..........

For this card I used:

Chocolate Chip cardstock (SU!)

Bubblegum and baby Pink cardstock (CTMH)

Patterned paper again from Vibrant-a paper pack book I found at Walmart.

brown and pink ribbon (Offray)

Stamp (The Angel Company--don't know the name of the set-sorry)

Nestabilities circle and circle scallop--SO love these!!! I ONLY wish I'd gotten them SOONER!

Oh, also scalloped scissors-I really DON'T like using these because I can NEVER cut straight, yet still I try!

I paper pierced the edges and I punched my scalloped circle with my fiskars 1/16th punch.

Until we meet again..........

WHAT a BEATIFUL day!!

Samuel 'lured' me outside......

He rang the doorbell and hid leaving me to find these:

He's such a sweet boy. Yes, those lilacs ARE in a cup that goes into that blender thing we have...yes, we USUALLY DO drink out of them. He's 8. Oh, and yes! Those ARE rocks at the bottom!

Since he 'lured' me I decided to go for a walk with him. He was SO cute...he wrapped his arm around me and just started walking--up the driveway.....but LOOK at ALL the FUN goodies we found along the way:

This is one of two lilac bushes we planted our first Spring here. This is it's first year blooming!! They're EVERY bit of 5 foot tall and I can't WAIT to see them in FULL bloom!! My Grandmother had ALL kinds of lilacs at her house--well, they're still there, but of course we don't live close by--She had pink, lilac and white. I used to cut them with her ALL the time while I'd wait for the bus and bring them to my teachers and such. I remember she'd wrap the cut pieces in wet down papertowels and then foil. :) Ahhh, memories! :)

These, I guess, are just some wild rose bushes. Joe hates them but they look SO pretty and they smell pretty too! This picture reminds me of a SU! stamp-can't think of the name of the set right now and I don't have a book handy.........

Of COURSE I took a few minutes away from clicking pics of all these blooms and all to take a few pics of my big 'little man'!!! :) He just brings my heart SO much JOY!

And LOOK at my hosta's poking through!! I just love them!! I don't remember if we planted them last year or the year before but we planted them inbetween a BUNCH of trees thinking eventually they will be NICE and FULL inbetween the trees making a nice border. I ESPECIALLY like it when they start flowering!!

And here is one of our raspberry bushes. Joe was SUPPOSED to transplant them last year but never got around to it. Oh Well! I guess we'll have to make a point to do it after they produce this year?!

That's as far as we got in our exploring today. We didn't venture 'down below' by the river. I just didn't feel like walking down there, maybe tomorrow?!

I didn't check out my hydrangeas either.....hmmm--

It's SO nice to see all these things coming up, all the beautiful green leaves and all. I just LOVE it. It almost seems like OVERNIGHT things have just totally greened up!

Spring is SO my ALL TIME favorite time of the year. I am so happy to have the next 5 days off to just ENJOY the beauty around me!

Baroque Motifs

A good friend of mine called last night and asked if I could make her up a few cards. I worked last night so I told her I'd work on them between today and tomorrow to get them to her ASAP.
I came home from work this morning, was exhausted, and went to bed for a while. After I woke up, not too long ago, I started working on them.
This is the first one I've come up with: (She needs 3 'boy', 2 'girl' cards). I'm hoping this one could be unisex???
I used:
Baroque Motif's stamp set (SU!)
Chocolate Chip ink & cardstock (SU!)
Crystal Blue ink and cardstock (CTMH)
Garden Meadow cardstock (CTMH)
Pattern paper (Vibrant-from WalMart)
I believe the satin ribbon to be Offray and finally a gem from who knows where....I think I've had them since Nikki (who is now 14) was little, little!!
Originally I had a different 'vision' but I'm happy with how it turned out. Hopefully she will be too!
I have the next FIVE days off!! YIPPEE!!
I have OODLES I'd LIKE to get accomplished within those 5 days so it'll be interesting to see what actually DOES get accomplished! :)
Until the next card.......
Enjoy the rest of your day!

Happy Birthday Party Chick!

This birthday card is for a family friend, Raechel. Today is her 8th Birthday. She LOVES Pokemon every bit as much as Samuel so ORIGINALLY my thought was to come up with some GREAT idea to incorporate a pack of Pokemon cards into the card and make a pocket for her gift card. Well, as life would have it, things got busy yesterday and by the time I was able to sit down to get going on her card it was already 11:00pm or so, SO, I opted for easy. The image is actually stamped on the inside of the card. While I was at Katrina's (my BGFF (BestGirlFriendForever) the other day I was looking through her card stack and saw a card she'd made up like that and thought about how EASY it would be with my nestabilities!! The stamp is a $1 Studio G clear stamp from TCW (The Craft Warehouse) that I picked up FOREVER ago and have been dying to use. I just think that little chick is TOO cute. There's another stamp in the little mini set that says 'party chick'. Inside I stamped, 'Happy Birthday Party Chick!' The lilac mist and citrus leaf cardstock (CTMH) are both embossed, using cuttlebug embossing folders (Happy Birthday and Swiss Dots). The little chick is colored in with colored pencils and blended with BABY OIL!!! I usually use OMS but it has a tendency to give me a headache. I keep reading so many people saying how baby oil works just as well so gave it a try. It DOES!! I've even gotten a little too much once or twice and thought 'OH GREAT!' ONLY to find out it dries without looking oil stained. NICE. I added stickles (Star Dust or Crystal I don't remember which) to the green dots and the pink top of the party hat for a little sparkle and Diamond Glaze to the balloon and the 'Party Chicks' beak. Patterned paper is some misc paper I had in one of my stacks-I got it from JoAnn's FOREVER ago in a pack/kit deal. The white organdy ribbon is from CTMH, striped ribbon is American Crafts. (I love their ribbon!!)
It's NO Pokemon card but it's cute and 'party girly', I think anyways.
Well, that's all for me for a few days. I work tonight and the next two nights there after so I KNOW I won't be doing any playing/creating for a few. :(
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

BLOG CANDY WINNER

I still haven't heard from Scrappy Girl...the winner of the blog candy--

Maybe she missed the post so I"m going to give her a few more days to contact me, via email OR a post to this blog. I go back to work Sunday night (Sun-Tues) so Wed morning when I come home I'll check my email and if I haven't heard from her I'll draw a another name.

I'm not sure if I'll get anything done today..........I SHOULD. Our son has a birthday party tomorrow afternoon for a little girl who's a family friend really so I am hoping to make her up a birthday card. Nikki has a friend who has a birthday too so I was hoping to use Mish's idea (MishMash) for a giftcard pack (I just bought some of the plastic card boxes from PaperTrey not too long ago) to go along with a giftcard. But we'll see. I worked Wed/Thur night-spent the day with my BFF yesterday so OF COURSE my house is a MESS. Ya just can't leave a man and 2 kids without any 'womanly' supervision for so many days and NOT expect a mess!! UGH! It's ALL good. They're worth the mess!!! :)
SO, visit back soon and hopefully I'll have something cute or fun or SOMETHING posted.
Enjoy your weekend!! I hope it's warm and SUNNY where YOU are!
-S