RETIRED STAMPS 10% OFF & FREE SHIPPING

The Retired List is here ... the Retired List is here!!! This always generates a lot of excitement because once you see the Retired List you know what's coming next -- a new catalog!

Stampin' Up! has come up with the best deal -- retired stamp sets for 10% off and FREE shipping on orders of $70 or more from December 9-23, 2008. Note: Free shipping applies to your entire order of $70 or more, however, the 10% off is only on retired stamp sets.

Hurry to take advantage of these great deals because these stamps will go fast. Don't forget you can order on-line. Your discount will appear when you enter the item number. Go to my Stampin' Up website and click Order Now.

Crop the Night Away - Christmas

Tomorrow night is my monthly Crop the Night Away crop. I'm a little late putting up the layout -- just a little busy with all the holiday rush. These are pictures from Christmas 2006 (the only ones I could find that I printed). I was inspired by Julie's Blog. She has some awesome scrapbook layouts -- be sure to check out her blog. I think my version turned out cute.

It's a "Holly Jolly Christmas"

Still eating turkey and thankful

What a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a houseful of adults, teens and little ones. It was very noisy and crazy but I was so thankful for a loving family (and friends) to share a special day.

There were 26 people at our Thanksgiving tables. We had all the usual holiday dishes -- turkey, stuffing (3 kinds), mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie (along with 4 other desserts). We were stuffed and a little sleepy after eating all the delicious food.

Just as we were enjoying the blissful L-tryptophan coma, our three teen niece and nephews plugged in the PS2 Rock Band. Now the noise level rose even higher, however, my grandchildren loved it and began to dance. Little Grace's (in the brown dress) nickname is "Rock Star" and she definitely lived up to it. She was twirling, dancing and screaming to the music.

After everyone left and the house was once again quiet, I reflected on my blessings. I'm thankful for my children, my 11 grandchildren, my home, my job that allows me to put food on our table, my husband and three dogs (yes, dear, I list you before the dogs!), our good health and leftover turkey. I'm thankful that Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior and continues to bless my life. All is good!

Reindeer and Little Girls

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and a memory comes flashing back? Well, that happened to me the other day. I've been listening to a local radio station that is playing all Christmas music 24/7. I know it's a little early but I LOVE Christmas music.

The song was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I hear that song by all different artists about 20 times a day. This particular version was by John Denver and the words go like this:

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer)

Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)

And if you ever saw it (saw it)

You would even say it glows (like a glow worm)

All of the other reindeer (reindeer)

Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinochio)

They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)

Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly)

Back in December 2004, my granddaughters, Courtney (then 9) and Megan (then 7) and I were decorating our Christmas cookies. Megan began singing that song. Well, I had never heard that version and I thought it was the cutest song. I kept telling them, "Sing it again." I quickly learned the extra words and we sang it together over and over. Each time we stopped we would giggle. It was such a special moment with my two granddaughters. Even with all the giggling and singing we still managed to decorate some cookies.

My sister, Teri, joined us and she sang with us and helped us decorate cookies. That's when we decided to take this picture of the three reindeer! It was such a fun day -- just being silly.


I hadn't thought about that song in years so when I heard it on the radio that wonderful, heart-warming memory came flooding back. I cranked up the volume on my car stereo and with a big grin on my face I sang along. It took me back for a moment to that day -- that day about reindeer and little girls!

2009 Create-a-Calendar Class

I have been trying to figure out what to do with Stampin' Up!'s Create-a-Calendar kit since I first saw it in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I'm a sucker for calendars. I usually try to create one each year. One year I made the SU 12x12 scrapbook calendar. It turned out cute but it was so labor-intensive! Another year I made a cute desk calendar using plastic CD cases -- much easier than the scrapbook calendar. It's just hard to come up with something different each year. So I was very excited when I saw that SU had made it easy for me by designing a kit. Unfortunately, I wasn't too excited about the way they were using it. I started searching the blogs that I follow (which is where I get a lot of my inspiration - thanks, ladies!) and found exactly what I wanted. Here is what I found on Jan Tink's blog. If you haven't heard of Jan Tink, you've got to check out her blog. She is my idol!

I changed the front a little to represent the four seasons and I stamped each month with seasonal images. What do you think?


I'll be holding a class for this 2009 Calendar at my house on December 13, 2008 from 9:30-11:00. The cost is $15 which includes the Create-a-Calendar kit. If you are interested, please contact me through my email.

Enjoy the day!!

Tuesday's Stamp-a-Stack

What a wild class I had Tuesday. I have a wonderful group of stampers (8 women and 1 man) who stamp a stack of 10 cards (two of 5 different designs) every month. They keep me challenged by creating all sorts of cards -- every day greetings, seasonal cards and holidays. The evenings are fun, busy and I think a stress reliever for many. Well, this last Tuesday everyone was in rare form. They were down right silly -- bantering, friendly bickering and GIGGLES galore! It was so entertaining. I love my Tuesday Stamp-a-Stack group. They are why I love what I do!

Here are the cards we made:

I cased this card from Patty's Stamping Spot.

I got the idea for this card from Angela's blog.

Found this card here.

Isn't he just the cutest little snowman? I just love this card. I got the idea from SCS.

Lastly, this is my FAVORITE. BTW I love snowmen and I love the snowflake die. This card I cased from SCS.

As you can probably tell, the first place I look for inspiration is at Splitcoaststampers. It's a wonderful resource. I usually try to change a few things on these ideas but sometimes I figure why mess with perfection!! Thanks for stopping by. Please come back soon.

Christmas Stamp-a-Stack

I've been working for the past week designing the above cards for my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack using the I Wish Simply Scrappin' Kit. These are just six of the cards we'll be making on Saturday, November 22. I actually cased these designs (making a few changes) from this blog. Why recreate the wheel when Jen did such a good job! I love using the Simply Scrappin' kits to make cards. My customers love it too. The Christmas SAS is usually my most attended event. I make it a fun day of stamping -- we even have a light lunch together. My sweet husband has been know to make some delicious soup for all of us to enjoy. It's a nice break from all that ink and glitter.

I've Been Busy!!

I can't believe the last time I posted was October 31! I've been very busy getting ready for my Stamp Camp which was this last Saturday. I've also prepared for my "Crop the Night Away" which was the night before my camp. I know -- I'm crazy to schedule to events back to back and work full-time -- but everyone knows I'm crazy!!

I spent the entire week struggling with the "Thankful" theme for my Crop the Night Away (CNA). As you can see, I used the new Autum Vine DSP and the coordinating stamp set
Season of Friendship from the Holiday Mini Catalog. For the title I used my Cricut. However, the sketch I picked didn't use a lot of photo mats so to make it work for the class I needed to find photos to help my participants visualize the layout. Many times I design layouts without having photos. About Tuesday night I began looking through my digital photos but couldn't find any from family Thanksgivings past that would work. I wanted the layout to be about Thanksgiving but if some of my customers didn't have Thanksgiving photos it needed to be flexible enough to change. That's when I came up with my title "Count your Blessings." Blessings can take any form and come at any time. However, it is during Thanksgiving that we set aside time to reflect and thank God for all he gives us. I quicky tried to find pics of all of my six grandchildren that live in Illinois with me. The pictures are from the past year. Little Ben is now close to his first birthday so he has changed a lot!!

Well, it ended up taking the entire week to create -- I hated it at first -- now I think it may be one of my favorites. I've truly been blessed with all the children, step-children and grandchildren in my life.

What do you think?

Happy Halloween

A quick post to say HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I was adventurous this year and carved something other triangle eyes & nose with a toothy grin. I think it turned out pretty darn cool. I'm sure my grandchildren will love it (and the candy I have for them).

Enjoy the day and stay safe!!

Holiday Stamp Camp - November 8th

I can't believe it's time for my Annual Holiday Stamp Camp. My fellow demonstrator, Sue, and I have been putting together this stamp camp for about 4 years. It's always well attended -- well, Sue has more customers come than I do but it's always a fun time for both of us. The event is being held at my church. If you are interested in attending, please send me an email.

I wanted to give everyone a "sneak peek" at what Sue and I have designed (cased) for the event. There are 8 projects. Here are the 4 cards everyone will make.

Participants will also make 4 gift items. Here are peeks at 2 of the giftables. The little snowman is a neat gift card holder and the Merry Christmas bag is a "genie" bag.

As an added bonus, everyone will make a mini Name Badge Holder "brag book." I don't have a picture of the brag book. I'll post it this weekend. I made it using the Frosty Days Designer Series Paper. It's adorable if I say so myself.

I'm off to cut paper for our event!

A Fall Day with Guinevere

A few weeks back, my almost 4 year old granddaughter, Guinevere (Guin), stayed with my husband and I for the weekend. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and we decided to go to the park. Guin was hesitant at first to go done the slides. She seemed a little afraid of heights. But before long she had made a friend, Ella, who helped her go down the slide. However, Guin still didn't want to stand up and walk along the walkway between the slides -- she would crawl on her hands and knees. She was so cute.

Swinging was Guin's favorite. She kept telling me, "Higher, higher, Grammy!!" Apparently heights don't bother her on a swing. She swung with her friend Ella for what seemed like hours. We finally coaxed her off by telling her our next stop would be the pumpkin patch. That worked but she was all tears when she had to leave Ella. Guin told me she loved her and didn't want to leave her. I sure hope we can meet up with Ella again because they became such close friends that afternoon.

Guin enjoyed the pumpkin patch. It is a little farm just up the road from our house. She helped us pick out the perfect pumpkin for our front step and she got a "little spookie" for herself. It was a great day!


I didn't get any stamping done that weekend but it didn't matter. Time spent with my grandchildren is precious and I wouldn't trade it for anything. They grow up too quickly -- every moment with them is special.

"Crazy for Cupcakes" Birthday Kit

Here is my Emergency Birthday Card kit that will be a class with my stamp group next Friday. I got the main idea from one of my favorite blogs. I used my new favorite (I change each time I use a Designer Series Paper) DSP - Sweet Always. I also used my FAVORITE stamp set - Crazy for Cupcakes. I've always loved making and eating cupcakes. Well now I can stamp and color them too!!!


I had so much fun designing the cards. It's fun to make the cupcakes look yummy. You almost want to eat them!


One more picture of the cards. If you would like to have a workshop and create this fun Emergency Birthday Card Kit, please contact me by email.

World Card Making Day

I know World Card Making Day was October 4th but I held my event at my church on Sunday, October 12. We made cards to donate to our Care Team Ministry. The Care Team sends cards to shut-ins in nursing homes, retirement centers and members who are ill. The group was small but there were some first-time stampers and it was exciting to see how amazed they were after they made their first card. They soon became comfortable and I'm hoping that some may have found a new hobby and will try one of my classes. Besides making two cards of each design, everyone could make a card of each design for themselves to keep. Since I was donating all the supplies, I tried to use up some of my retired paper. Below you'll see the cards we made.

More Holidays/Christmas/Winter Swaps

I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful cards made by our Gateway Glitter 'n Ink group. We have a fantastic group of stampers and I get so many ideas when we exchange swaps. This particular swap has provided me ideas for the remainder of the year. The card below is by Rochelle. She is one of my favorite stampers and a very successful demonstrator. I'll probably be using this design for my Stamp Camp in November. Thanks, Rochelle.

by Rochelle E.

Here's another card from a very talented stamper, Sarah. She is a good friend and another successful demonstrator. She is always an inspiration to me. At our group meetings she always gives us a motivational "pep talk" to help us keep balance in our lives and enjoy what we do. Her card is simple yet graceful. Thanks, Sarah.

by Sarah K.

The last card today is from Sue. She attended her first convention this summer and came back energized and full of great ideas. This is my favorite stamp set from the Holiday mini. I know it has a lot of coloring to it but the kid in me still loves to color. I also love the glitter. I'll be casing this design (minus some of the glitter) for my personal Christmas cards. Thanks, Sue.

by Sue D.

Winter/Holiday Swap

I joined a swap last month with our Gateway Glitter 'n Ink group. The cards were to be anything Holiday, Christmas or Winter. Here is my submission. I love the "Snow Swirled" stamp set. The technique is embossing resist -- I sponged Baja Breeze over the tree to make it pop. I cased this idea from Tessa Wise. The card design is SCS challenge SC173. I used the new Ski Slope DSP and Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. It turned out so nice that I'm going to use it at my Christmas Stamp Camp on November 8th and for my Christmas cards this year. What do you think?

Crop the Night Away - Oct. 10

I can't believe it's October already. It's one of my favorite months.

Here is the Halloween layout for my October 10th Crop the Night Away. I used my Cricut and the new SU Designer Series Paper. It says "No Tricks - Only Treats." I hope you like it.

We had fun at last month's crop so I'm looking forward to Friday. Participants come to my workshop, make the layout and then bring projects they are working on and use my stamps, inks, etc. We crop until midnight, have a lot of fun and get things done! It's a fun way to spend a Friday night with friends.

Stampin' Up and Country Living

Here is some exciting news I'd like to share. I know it looks like an "infomercial" but this is something I don't want you to miss. FREE STUFF! Here's the deal: Stampin' Up has partnered with Country Living magazine to design the Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit that will be featured in the December 2008 issue of Country Living. The special Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit will be available from November 1-December 31. However, I don't want you to miss receiving your very own copy of the December 2008 issue which will contain an 8-page Stampin' Up section. So Country Living is offering Stampin' Up! customers a special magazine subscription rate:

Subscribe to a year of Country Living for only $12 and get a FREE mini stamp kit! For just $1 an issue, you'll receive great craft projects, articles on collecting, makeover features, recipes and entertaining ideas-all delivered to your home each month. PLUS, Country Living will include the exclusive Stampin' Up! mini stamp kit. Use it to design note cards, menus and anything else that inspires you! To take advantage of this great offer and to make sure you receive the December 2008 issue you need to subscribe at the Country Living special website. Click on the title of this post above to subscribe today. Tell your friends -- give them the link to this great offer.

Stamp-a-Stack

Every third Tuesday of the month 7-9 ladies come to my workshop for a Stamp-a-Stack (SAS). They're a great group of friends that love to make cards, laugh and have a fun time. They get to make 2 cards each of five different designs. I like to use new techniques, new products and glitter!!! They love glitter. Last night was our monthly SAS. This is one of the cards we made (no glitter) using one of my new favorite stamp sets -- Upsy Daisy. The minute I saw it in the new catalog I knew I just had to have it. I used the Green Tea DSP (which is also one of my favorites) and inked the daisies using Baja Breeze and highlighted the tips of the flowers using the Not Quite Navy marker. I think it turned out nice. The design was card sketch challenge SC187 from SCS.

Here is another card. The technique is called embossing resist. I used White Craft ink on Whisper White cardstock and embossed the image with clear embossing powder. I then used daubers with Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive inks and "burnished" the color over the embossed flower so it would pop. (Wipe off excess ink on the embossed image by using a tissue.) I used Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Riding Hood Red cardstock, DSP and ribbon. Simple card but it was a hit.

Weekend Fun

I had a free weekend to play with my stamps, paper and inks. I still had to get caught up on my laundry but I definitely had a lot of time to play.

Saturday I started with my new pillow box die. I don't have the Big Shot that Stampin' Up offers. I'm not sure I'm going to invest in it because I have a Cuttlebug. I figured the dies would also work in my Cuttlebug. Well, that was not exactly accurate. The pillow box has creases in it where you need to fold. Unfortunately, the die needs a Sizzix crease pad for it to crease properly and the pad doesn't fit in my Cuttlebug. It still worked using the two cutting pads but some of the creases were cut instead of creased so I had to tape the inside of the box. I guess I may have to rethink investing in the Big Shot.

These pillow boxes are made using the Haiku Designer Series Paper with old olive and pumpkin pie ribbon. Each pillow is filled with chocolate. I made these for my Tuesday night Stamp-a-Stack class. I hope they like them -- who wouldn't like a "pillow" filled with chocolate!

Some of my favorite things

Spending time with my beautiful grandchildren. I never imagined how special being a grandparent would be. They keep me young -- from the babies and toddlers to the teens.

Meet Grace (21 mons.) and Michael ("Bubby")(22 mons.)

These beautiful children are from my husband's kids. Michael & Ella are brother and sister. Guin, Amber, Ben & Alyssa are siblings. Grace as of right now is an only child. We really had a baby boom begining in 2005!

Meet Guinevere (3 1/2 yrs.) & Amber (2 1/2 yrs.)

The best part of all is the time they spend with Grammy & Grampy -- especially one-on-one. But you can also imagine how much fun family gatherings are now. We get lots of little hugs & kisses!

Meet Gabriella ("Ella")(almost 3 yrs.) & Ben (10 mons.)



Alyssa is a good big sister to Guin, Amber & Ben. They love to play with her.

These are just some of the blessings God has given me. I love them all.

As you can see, I also love to take pictures of all of them which gives me plenty to scrapbook!!


Meet Alyssa (9 yrs)

Saturday's Swap

Last Saturday I attended the Gateway Glitter 'n Ink demonstrator group for our quarterly meeting. Lynn, Karen, Sarah and Rita really know how to treat their downlines. They are talented stampers who encourage, motiviate, share and love what they do. You leave their meetings energized, excited to try out the new technigues they teach us and we always have many swaps and make & takes to share with our customers. Kudos to L, K, S & R!!

Here is the swap I made for the meeting. I needed a boost on what to create so I went to SplitcoastStampers to check out a challenge. It's a great community website to get ideas and they provide weekly challenges to keep your creative juices following. This card is for the card sketch challenge SC191 and the WICKED Aug. 08 color combo. I'd been looking for a purple to go with our new Tangerine Tango In Color and I think Perfect Plum is perfect (no pun intended). I love the Tasty Sweet stamp set. What do you think?

Crop the Night Away

I've been trying to attract more scrapbooking customers. Some of my friends laugh about how much stuff I have in my stamping workshop and that they would love to come and just use my stamps, inks, tools, etc. So I thought why not -- I'll have them come over and they can work on their projects and use my supplies. I also know through personal experience that scrapbookers like to stay up late and scrap, scrap and scrap! So I came up with "Crop the Night Away" (everytime I say that the Van Halen song -- Dance the Night Away -- comes into my head. I was even thinking of playing that song while we cropped!) I also thought it would be fun to make it a monthly event, give it a different theme every month and design a 12x12 two-page layout for them to make based on the theme. I love it when I have those brilliant ideas!

Last Friday night was my first Crop the Night Away event from 7pm to midnight. The theme was BACK TO SCHOOL and I designed this great 12x12 two-page layout using the green apple paper from the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper. (I was thinking -- an apple for the teacher! Plus, this was the only DSP that was included in the new catalog that I had so I didn't have to order any new stuff.)

Now I had to come up with my "themed snacks." I went for pre-packaged snacks kids would put in their lunch boxes -- small packages of chips, snack-sized candy bars, snack-sized packages of animal crackers, peanut butter & jelly Uncrustables by Smucker's and to drink, of course, Capri Sun pouches. Four scrapbooking friends came and we had a blast. Two of them stayed until midnight and we actually got some scrapbooking done.

Of course, my three dogs had to join in on the fun. Casey, a Sheltie mix, is my big paper-eater. She loves to sit next to you and wait for little pieces of paper to drop. One of my friends dropped her small "apple" embellishment and she didn't pick it up fast enough -- Casey had grabbed it and eaten it!!

My pointy nose sheep dog!

Libby, an English Springer Spaniel mix, is just lazy and slept on the bed in my stamping workshop.

My couch potato!

Then there is Luke. He is my baby (even though he is the oldest at 10). He is an English Springer Spaniel who is truly a lover. He made the rounds to all of my friends that evening wanting them to pet him. Of course, he is too cute to resist so he got plenty of love that night.

My lover, Lukey!

I'd say my first Crop the Night Away was a success. Now I must get busy and design my next 12x12 two-page layout for October. The theme -- you guessed it -- Halloween. I LOVE HALLOWEEN. This one should be fun!!