On the road to a Cure …

It’s been crazy busy around here.  Drew & Kate closed on their house; we’ve been trying to reorganize our house since we are now empty nesters; we’ve been trying to take advantage of the last few nice weekends at the lake; I had my benefit golf tournament for the upcoming 3-Day Walk; I’ve been trying to walk and train as much as possible.  Wow – I guess I know why I haven’t had any time to stamp!  I am working on thank you notes for the sponsors, donors, and participants of our golf tournament so I should have some cards to post later this week.

Our local newspaper ran an article today about me participating in the walk.  Check it out HERE.  Let me know how your fall is going.  Have a happy Monday :)

A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart …

Wow … two posts in the same week … and both are stamping projects! 

I had a chance last night to finish up some swap cards I’ve been working on.  I need to make five Thanksgiving or fall thank you type cards.  I have fallen in love with the Our Craft Lounge stamp set that I won during the Stamping Around Vermont event so I figured I’d ink some of the stamps up again for this swap!  The sentiment on the inside says ‘A thankful heart is a happy heart’.  These stamps are so great to work with.  I’m going to check out the OCL website for some Holiday stamp sets for a few swaps I need to get working on.

Card details – Stamps:  Our Craft Lounge; Card stock: Stampin Up; Patterned paper & brad: Recollections Autumn collection; Ink: Palette Noir; colored using Copic markers; Nestabilities; Martha Stewart punch.

Yesterday I took the afternoon off from work and went with my dad and step mom to visit my dad’s cousin who he hasn’t seen in 39 years.  We had a great time and hope to plan another get together soon.  Here’s a picture of all of us …

Front row:  My dad’s cousin Nancy (Cookie), My dad’s cousin Dorothy Back row:  Uncle Frank (Cookie’s dad), Julie (my step mom), Dad, Me, Jack (Dorothy’s husband)

We were at Cookie’s house and she got out a ton of old pictures and a book where she had written things that her mom and one of our aunt’s had told her over the years.  It was such a wonderful day.

Oh Baby!

My sister asked me if I could come up with some type of a book mark she could make for her DH’s niece’s baby shower.  Believe it or not I did not own ONE single baby type stamp.  Last week I stopped by a M’s while I was traveling and found some adorable acrylic animal stamps by Imaginisce for $1.49 each.  I bought an elephant, a hippo, a lion, a tiger and two different giraffes.  A few nights ago I played around and came up with this ‘prototype’.  Initially we were thinking of some type of book mark that could be laminated but after I popped up the animals and used a button there was no way they would fit through my laminator.  I stumbled upon these pretzel bags by Wilton this week and the book marks fit perfectly inside.  Last night Alison came over and we ‘whipped up’ 60 of these babies!  They are so darn cute but coloring and then cutting out 120 tiny images isn’t on my top 10 list of favorite things to do – UGH!  Anyhow, they came out great and I’m sure her niece will be thrilled.

Stamps:  Imaginisce; Ink: Palette Noir; Card stock: Papertrey Ink; Patterned card stock:  DCWV Nana’s Nursery Baby Boy; Button and ribbon from my stash; Bag: Wilton pretzel bag.   Images are colored with my Copic markers.

Stamping Around Vermont

Now that our boating season is coming to an end I am beginning to dust off my stamps and get back to my cool weather passion!  I attended Stamping Around Vermont last weekend in Manchester VT.  I got to spend some time stamping with some of my Cape Cod friends from the Shack and I got to meet some of my stamping idols for the first time! 

One of the instructions was Cindy Lawrence.  Cindy shared some awesome projects and stamping tips with us.  I was a lucky winner of the stamp set (an Our Craft Lounge set) she used for her class.  I inked up the stamps when I got home to make my September swap cards for my Shack swap.  The card on the right is one that I made over the weekend in Cindy’s class.  The card on the left is an altered version that I created for my swap.

 

The OCL stamps are great to work with.  I’m thinking I need to place an order soon to add to my rubber inventory!  So tell me,  what is your favorite stamp company right now? 

Celebrate …

  

I made this card one of my monthly swap cards for June.  It was such an easy card to make.  I Cuttlebugged the card base,  stamped a flourish for the flower step, punched out four heart shapes, stamped them, added the hearts to the card with pop dots, put a small piece of ribbon through the center of the button and adhered it to the card.  The sentiment is punched, stamped and adhered with double sided tape.  All products except the ink and the flourish are from Papertrey Ink.  The ink is from Stamping Up and the flourish is from an old stamp set I bought at Target a few years ago.  I gave this card to one of the owners of my Curves for her birthday.  The card is quick and easy to make.

It’s been a while …

Gary, me and Bentley

Goodness I haven’t posted here in ages.  I’m sorry – life has been so busy … I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m here although I’m not stamping much this summer.  We’ve been spending lots of time at Lake Bomoseen in Vermont.  Finally we got the internet connected but who wants to be inside on the computer when there’s so much summer fun happening outside at the lake!  I promise that I do have some of my monthly card swaps to post when I get a free second.  In the meantime here are some summer pictures.  I seem to check in on Facebook a little more frequently.  Please friend request me if you want to say hi over at FB :)

Evan doing a little water skiing

Drew dropping a ski

A slumber party on the porch

 

I hope you are all having a terrific summer.  Do let me know what you are doing for fun :)

Is it Coffee yet?

Actually I don’t drink coffee!  I love the smell of it brewing and I love coffee ice cream and coffee milk shakes but I never took a liking to a hot cup of coffee.  I chose for years to get my caffeine by filling my body with ounces and ounces of Diet Pepsi instead!   Last month I made a commitment to eat more healthy, work out on a regular basis, and give up my beloved Diet Pepsi.  Today it’s two weeks that I’ve gone without a sip of soda.  Those who know me best are in shock that I could go even an hour without a DP let alone FOURTEEN DAY!  It hasn’t been easy but I am determined!  Last Friday night we went out to dinner with a group of friends.  I actually sat at a bar and ordered water and then I drank a pitch of water all by myself at dinner!  I’m doing it!  I feel so much better and I’ve lost over ten pounds!

Anyhow – even though I never drank coffee I signed up for a coffee themed ATC swap over at the Shack.  This was the only coffee related image I had.  The image is from Lizzie Anne and the sentiment is from Hanna Stamps.  I used SU Chocolate Brown ink.  The white base is water coloring paper and the rest of the paper, the pearls, and ribbon are from my stash.  I outlined the steam and the coffee cup with a Sakura gel pen.

I am pretty much caught up on my swap commitments.  I have my Secret Sister swap for April and May and the monthly card swap that I host through December.  I’m holding off on signing up for any more swaps (I think) for a few months as we’ll be on vacation in May and then it’s boating season and time to kick my 3-Day training up a notch!  This is a tough fundraising year with the economy and having to buy a plane ticket to fly to Dallas but I’d do it!  (I hope anyway)!

TGIF – any plans for this weekend?