Can You Feel it in the Air?

I really do like summer...but I admit... the prettiest time of the year is Fall, in my mind anyway. It's not to cold and not to hot. But... it makes me feel sad that winter will almost be here as well. And then....

There's....

FOOTBALL!!!!!

Now I like a good game... and I love my Cowboys, but... what's up with Pre-Season, Pre-Game, Sunday night, Monday night... blah blah blah blah blah!!!

WHY oh Why do we need football EVERY single day???? Ok, maybe it's not EVERY day but dang.. with all the games on all those channels... it seems like it. And how nice is it that they offer that "season pass" on these cable and satellite channels? Come on!!!! It's either... we all watch football with dad... ALL weekend... or.... dad hibernates to the basement TV and we don't see him at all! Oy!!

You know what the kids and I DO like though... Carpet Picnics!!! Yep... first game of the season we lay out a blanket on the floor in the family room and boy oh boy... dad buys tons of appetizers on the blanket and we enjoy the game and pig out. THEN... we do it for the Super Bowl as well. LOL It's a free night for me of no cooking... can't be all that bad, huh? LOL

My card was made with Gina K's, "My Tailgate or Yours". I've had it for a while, and was waiting for a chance to use it. I did this for Brenda's Pot Luck Friday's Challenge. She decided we should do a card that was just about that... food... potlucks! LOL

I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the background and went over it a bit with my sponge using my Rich Cocoa, Momento Ink. I stamped my image and colored with Copics then roughed up the edges a bit and sponged on some Potters Clay, Momento Ink around the edges.

There is NO doubt in my mind this will be one my hubby's favorite cards I've EVER made. LOL Have a good day. *smile*

Funky Fresh!

I decided I wanted to do a card that was totally out of the box for me. LOL Now I admit... I DO love my colors!! But... I never think often about doing weird flower colors or odd combinations. But this card was something I felt goofy enough to try. LOL I'm not so sure how well blues and and navys are for REAL flowers or how well they go with pinks and purples... LOL ... but.... like I said... out of the box! For me anyway. LOL I actually like this card. I mean... the caterpillar is the color of what I think my flowers should be. LOL The stamps were all from Nina Brackett's last set called... "Bug Me Anytime". It's full of cute bugs and I just love it. Nina also designed some awesome digital paper to go with her stamps in two different sets of coordinating colors. You can get yours at Gina K Designs. I hope you enjoyed my wacky card... it's always ok to cut loose and do something out of the box now and then. Who knows, you may end up liking it. Hee Hee *wink*

"Birds of a Feather..."

I simply ADORE this stamp set from Melanie Muenchinger called "Cuddles and Hugs". I have a confession... I had told Melanie long ago that I had EVERY stamp set she has illustrated except for one. Well... darn it... I THOUGHT I did! Or, at least my intentions were to have ordered this set long ago! Guess my old brain never got that far! So, NOW I CAN say I have all of Melanie's stamps except ONE (and the only reason I don't have that one... is it's a Tin stamp set and she has TWO of those... so I chose the one I'd use the most.. ok????) I DO love this set and of course, it reminds me of LOVE! Hee Hee I designed this card for StampTV's latest Color Challenge to use pink and green as the main colors on a card. How hard is it to resist these birds when you are suppose to use pink??? I couldn't. AND.... I used my new punch from Gina K Designs, "Flourish", that I also had been planning to order FOREVER ago! Maybe my mind skipped a week? Ya think??? LOL Must have been the same time I was GOING to order Melanie's set!! Ok Ok... maybe it IS old age... sheesh... give a girl a break, will ya! *grin* I love pink and green together so this card wasn't hard for me and I honestly didn't think I'd do that well at coloring those birds. For some reason I thought the pinks would be hard to blend... but I think it turned out ok. I must admit though... whenever I see those words "Lean on me.." I get that song stuck in my head!! What did my friend, Cathy, call it.. a "tune wedgie". LOL I had to ask... I thought maybe she had musical panties! LOL LOL Ok Ok.. enough. *snicker* I hope you have a good day and IF you forgot to order ALL of Melanie's stamp sets... don't do what I did... hurry over to Gina K Designs and get them... NOW!!! What are you waiting for???!!! *smile*

Just a Note.... (Pad)!

Since I had such busy weekend, which part of was repeated AGAIN last night, I didn't have any time to stamp at all. *sad sad face* I attempted to 1) remove some shrubs from the front of our house (in preparation for a small deck) and 2) finishing leveling ground in the back yard and putting up an 18' X 48" pool for the kids (ONLY to find out the seam leaked!) The pool went back and we had to rebuild it again last night... *sigh* So I decided to show you a few gift items I created using note pads. This first notepad I made for my niece who requested one for school after she saw one I had made for myself. I didn't worry about going into the spiral area since I was covering it with ribbons and this made it so much quicker and easier. The best way to cover a notebook is to do all your work on your base CS and THEN applying it to the cover. Especially if you are adding ribbon that needs to be tucked under. I also made a pen insert to match the cover. She just loved it.

The next one I created for about four jewelery gals (myself included at the time) to use at convention in Dallas one year. They were certainly noticed but I didn't take orders... no sireee... we had to be different from everyone else. That's what it's all about at convention... everyone does something to stand out from the crowd. The card also matched.

This last set are "swaps" I made for a conference. I used the same stamp set for all and just changed the main colors. I added a highlighter pen simply by attaching it to the spiral portion of the books. I arrived with about 75 of these and left with NONE. People were coming to look for the girl with the notebooks... LOL And I was worried I'd take FIFTY of these home with nothing to do with them. Proved me wrong, didn't they??!!

Have a great day and make a gift out of a simple notebook. You'll be surprised how much they are liked.

Tis the Season???

It MUST be Christmas, huh? LOL Nawwww. This is the "gift" of Sharri Seffens... a very nice award for my blog spot! How sweet she is for giving this to me. I'm going to Wisconsin in August and Sharri and I are going to meet up at Gina K's. I can't wait to meet her AND the Gina K gang! The rules of this blog are: 1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award. 2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog. 3. Link the person who nominated you for this award. 4. Name seven things about yourself that people might find interesting. 5. Nominate seven Kreativ Bloggers. 6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate. 7. Leave comments on all seven blogs letting them know you nominated them. The seven (7) things about me you might find interesting are.... 1) I am married to "Mr. Three's A Charm"... yep.. he's my third husband. And honestly... I'm his third. LOL 2) I was 41 when I had my 2nd (and last) child. She was quite the surprise to me on April Fools Day when I was 40!! But she is my husband's first child. 3) When I was 17... (thinner AND cuter... LOL) I won the pageant for Miss Mexican-America, in Des Moines, IA. It was so much fun and involved lots of cool things... money, roses, a crown, going to cool places like... the Governor's ball where the seats were over $1,000 each (I got in free)... being on the radio... was featured in Payless Shoe's Store Nation-wide Newsletter (I worked there part-time when I was in high school.. hee hee)... being in parades (like the State Fair parade), and I got to buy lots of cool formal gowns to wear! Fun fun for a whole year. 4) Twenty years ago my father called me and asked me to help him figure out how to start his own business. Today... I'm still working for him, hoping he'll retire soon! LOL 5) I took violin for 8 years and can still play.... some. LOL 6) In my 34 years of working I have a big background in Law (worked for 3 attorneys)... Insurance (have my Cert. in Insurance).. and Human Resources (worked for the Director of Blue Cross/Blue Shield). 7) I can type at 140 wpm and can still take shorthand (which no one uses anymore) at 180 wpm. LOL Now I get to pick seven "Kreativ Bloggers" to send this award to... this is tough since I follow way more than seven blogs! Just remember... if I could pick you all, I would! Thanks again, Sharri... you rock! The blogs I choose are: Theresa Momber - http://www.craftingtheweb.blogspot.com/ Lynn Mercurio - http://www.stamperosity.blogspot.com/ Susan "Tillymint" - http://www.a-consuming-passion.blogspot.com/ Michelle Rogers - http://www.michellerodgers.blogspot.com/ Geri - http://www.geriscards.blogspot.com/ Brenda - http://www.stamp-it-up.blogspot.com/ Joanne Basile - http://www.stampedbyhand.blogspot.com/

Have a great day!!

Charming Graduate

Well, graduations are over... finally! We have such a big family it seems that every year there are at LEAST three-four kids either graduating from High School or College. Welllll... maybe not college... I never said we were a SMART family! LOL Just kidding! Either way... we have tons in our family and there are plenty of reasons to buy extra gifts AND cards! Rarely a weekend goes by in the summer where there isn't SOMEthing to attend for SOMEone in the family. My mother has 11 siblings on her side... my dad has 10. You do the math... my fingers AND toes are sore! LOL This card started out... and finished, I hope, as a very plain sort of card. Not to much embellishment and no to much frill. I made it for my niece... my namesake... my godchild (she is so much to me *smile*), Christina, who graduated this May from New School University in New York. She got her degree in Journalism. My favorite thing about her college is it's school color is PURPLE!! LOL Yep... see that cute little charm grad cap colored in purple??? Hee Hee I used Melanie Muenchinger's, "A Charmed Life" for the wine glass and charm. Before I cut the glass out I glazed it completely with Crystal Lacquer to make it shine. I embossed the background with my Cuttlebug and added the tag. Simple and kinda plain. But... Christina isn't much into frills and such so this seemed pretty straight forward to me. Especially since she KNOWS how much her Aunt Tina LOVES colors, frills and bling! LOL We are all pretty proud of her. She got accepted at another university to continue on and get her Masters but I'm not sure she's gonna pursue that yet, from what I hear... she is working on writing a novel in hopes of being published. I believe someone said her Professor thought she would also make a good professor herself but that she needed to be published first. So... we'll see.. and like I said... this is all just hearsay on my end. But I certainly wish her the best of luck. There is no doubt in my mind she will go far in this world. She already has! I hope you have a great day and I hope you don't have TO many parties to attend this summer. They are fun... but certainly can be costly too when you start buying those gifts. Remember... make your cards... save a bit of money. *smile*

Anything is Possible!

Once again I completed a card for StampTV's Sketch Challenge. I love doing these because you get such great ideas for new layouts on cards and sometimes you'd never think to put a layer here or there or add an embellishment right where you thought it would distract from your focal image. When you think you can't foresee another layout... bang... StampTV will hit you with a new way to jazz up your card. You simply must go over and see all the new ideas that everyone shares. May be just what you need to get that mojo flowing again! I think this little elephant from Rupa Shevde's, "Whatever Floats Your Boat" is just adorable trying to balance on that ball. Now, if you've ever gone to the circus... you know... there are LOTS of colors. That is just what I tried to do this this card... throw in a few colors... and then add even more!! What kid wouldn't love to get bright colored cards??? My "odd" embellishment this time was tiny little colored puff balls. Aren't they cute? I seriously need a clown to add these to but I decided to use them instead of brads or buttons or crystals. I think they are just perfect for a "circus-looking" card. Not to mention whatever little hands get this card, you know they'll have to feel how soft they are!! *smile* My DP is from Gina K's "Lime Rickey" paper pack. I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the colors in it! Great pack for summer cards! Obviously, the title of this post is what it says on the inside of my card. Sometimes a friend needs a little reminder, huh? Have a great day and enjoy the bright sunny days of summer!

Circle of Friends

I received this badge from Kerrie "Kezzam" and want to pass it on to these five friends: Melanie Muenchinger - http://www.melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/ Theresa Momber - http://www.craftingtheweb.blogspot.com/ Lee Murphy - http://www.luvleestamper.blogspot.com/ Geri - http://www.geriscards.blogspot.com/ Brenda - http://www.stamp-it-up.blogspot.com/ Just a few of the great friends I've made since stamping and StampTV!!

Just Me and My Babies...

If you recognize this image, you may be blinking and saying.."hmmm is THAT how it looks?". Well no... it's not. In fact... it's only 2/3's of how it looks. This stamp image is from Asela Hopkins, "The Journey". It has a female and male/boy image. If you remember back a few posts I did a card with the original image and saw it as an image of my son and I. Well now... you can't do a card with one child and NOT the other!! So, I improvised. I stamped the original image twice and cut the boy/child out and basically added it to the other side of the female. Hee Hee Now I admit... I did more than that. I cut the hair off the edges of the neck and drew in a bit of a flip and a longer look. Then I paper pieced a "dress", if you will, out of DP and adhered it to cover the shirt and shorts. To cover the line on the neck which was part of the shirt... I simply colored in pink line to make it appear as though my girl had a necklace on. I have to admit... there were NO curves to indicate "girl" when I paper pieced the dress, but hey... how about an "E" for Effort, huh?? LOL My kids saw me working on this and I asked... "Does this look like a girl now?" Since they both realized it was originally a boy... they said..,. "OH SICK MOM!!! You turned that boy into a girl!!!" LOL And it wasn't "sick" like the kids seem to say when they think something is cool nowadays either. LOL Well... at least I was thinking of BOTH of them, right???? When I showed it to my husband he said... "Family, huh? I'm not included?". So I opened the inside and said... "I was thinking...maybe... next time the kids and I go out of town on a small trip (like we often do for a short weekend getaway), we could send it to YOU!" The inside says... "Wish you were here." Touchy, touchy family I have, huh? You try to include them and they think you've done something "sick" and you include them and they think they are forgotten! *sigh* Ay yi yi!! Stop over at Gina K Designs and get your "family" set. LOL Have a great day and whatever you do.... please, please don't offend your family by making a card you thought was clever of you! LOL *smile*

By the Sea by the Sea....

I made this card awhile back but had the worse time trying to photograph it. Sometimes I think my eyes get funky and after a bit, I can't tell what's good, bad or ugly. LOL So... I finally got what I could live with here.. LOL I really wanted to use my "Ruched" paper fr0m The Paper Temptress so I decided to use the old standby ripping paper edges to create this card and to add to the ruching. I will tell you this.... that is some TOUGH paper!!! Reminds me more of fabric. It's just awesome! My seagull and pylons image is from Rupa Shevde's "Guiding Light" set on Gina K Designs. I love to use this set for masculine cards as well. I wish I had taken a pic of the inside for you. You can see the blue DP a bit on the right but on the other side I found some DP I had that looked almost exactly like the wooden pylons I colored. Pretty lucky of me to find that in my hoards of DP's!! LOL Have a good day and if you're "by the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea... " take a look around for that seagull and don't look up with your mouth open.. HA HA!!

Butterflies are Free...

I simply LOVE this set by Gina K, Take Flight. I admit they aren't free now... but they were. This was one of Gina's "Free with Three" sets months back that I just couldn't live without. These butterflies can be colored so many ways and I just can't get enough of them; rather it be ME coloring them or seeing ones done by others over on StampTV. They just are gorgeous! (You should go check out the NEW "Free with Three" set this month... not many days left to get it... but it's a HUGE winner as well!) I wanted a "simple" card but something that looked peaceful and soft as well. I used my Cuttlebug for the background and to highlight the embossing a bit more I took my sponge and lightly brushed up and down over the leaves. Then I used the sponge to add even more color around the edges. My butterfly, believe it or not, was actually in my "mulligan stew" box and I knew someday I'd use it. It was colored completely in pink and I added a bit of yellow to the mix to match my base card stock. I HAD to add a bit of glitz to the scene so I added my favorite iridescent sparkly ribbon and a few rhinestones on the tag. I also sponged my tag before removing it from the Nestabilities. Gina K has a complete video on using your Nesties and how to shade and emboss with them over on Stamp TV. Just click the "Videos" tab... so much fun there that she shares, not to mention her wonderful talented self. Have a good day and I hope you see a softly gliding butterfly today. *smile*

Punch A Bunch!

As much as I LOVE to stamp and scrapbook, sometimes... there are items I make that include very little stamping. Below are a couple things I've created using PUNCHES! That's right... nothing more than a punch here and a punch there and glue them all together and whatta ya got? Cool stuff as well!! LOL My favorite "punch" project was a card I made for my daughter's Kindergarten teacher. I used my "tabs" punch from SU and simply made ... apple cores. The seeds were done using the flower petals from another punch. Cool, huh? I did use a stamp wheel on the background to sorta/kinda make it look like wood. My second card was nothing more than different size of circle punches. That's it! I simply rolled them a bit and glued them in place. The leaves were free-handed with my scissors and ran thru my crimper. I did use a few Cuttlebug folders to enhance the background and one set of the circles for the flower. Again... one stamp used in the whole card. Last, I took a scallop punch and made a bunch of these little circles that fit perfectly into a wedding mint favor box. Cute cute! Simply glued them to a piece of ribbon... stamped a small design... punched a hole in the stop with my Crop-a-dile, ran a ribbon thru it and WAH LAH.. you have a small/mini scrapbook which you can fold into the tin and hang on your tree year after year to remind you of past Christmases. Cool, huh? Mine weren't done when I took the pic, but you get the idea. I also think it's a great way to use cute DP... maybe a different design for each side of the ribbon? Now don't worry, I am NOT going to stop stamping, but I thought I'd share just a few quick and easy ideas with you that most anyone can do. This is also a great way to get kids involved in card making. Punches don't ruin your stamps! LOL NOT that your kids would even consider messing with your "shhhtuff"... but hey... nothing wrong with side-tracking their minds with punches instead of your ink and rubber, right?!! Have a great day and try something new.. you never know. *smile*

Heartfelt Sympathy

I had made this sympathy card quite a while back for a friend whom I met down at our lake in Missouri who recently lost her husband. I don't like typical "prayer" or, religious pictured cards much when it comes to sympathy cards so I decided to do a cheerful color with this card and instead of using a "sorry for your loss" type sentiment I went with one I ALWAYS say to those I love when they have a loss... "take care of yourself". They know I love them, they know I'll pray for them, and they know we care about their loss so why repeat it over and over. I tend to want to say those things people forget... like "take care of you... I'll call you in a few days..." or instead of taking the traditional "dinner dish" over I will take "breakfast items". When my uncle had a loss a couple years ago he had more "young kids" at his house at that time then ever and WHO would think to take him chocolate milk or orange juice and muffins or cereal for all those kids he had staying there??? Sometimes we forget those "little" things that others need when they are thinking only of the fact that they are lost without the one they lost. So... I tend to try to think about those things we do every day and take for granted that they will not think of. My card was made with Rupa Shevde's, "With this Ring" set, believe it or not. AND... I used Gina K's, "Comfort & Peace" for the inside. I felt the teal color added a bit of a hint of "cheer" to the card. I don't know that I've ever but Chocolate and Turquoise together before but I really liked how this card turned out. Have a nice day and remember... a sympathy card CAN be bright and full of color (those fresh flowers we send are not all in grays and black now, are they?). *smile*

They're Gone... but still HERE!

I love flowers... all of them... and even those that only appear for a short while in Spring!

Tulips are just those kind. Can't ever seem to get enough of these because they "come and go so quickly around here"... (hee hee... I'm a HUGE Wizard of of Oz fan!). Every year we run over to Pella, Iowa for the yearly Tulip Festival. Pella has more tulips all over the city than I've ever seen in one place!! I LOVE IT!! Ok... I like the Dutch letters I can get there too, but... I don't stamp those! LOL

I made this card for the Color Challenge over on StampTV which was to use red, white and black on a card. Quite some time ago I had asked Melanie Muenchinger to do a tulip for me and to make it a white tulip with red bleeding up from the bottom. She did this and WOW was it ever beautiful. Well... I didn't feel comfortable enough with my Copic markers at that time to try it myself but now... I think I have a bit of experience and so I did three different red tulips here! NOT that I think I am anywhere NEAR as good as some of these other girls who have used them so much longer than myself... Melanie included... but, as always... I keep on trying new things and hoping to grow in my experience.

Of course the stamp set is Melanie's, "A Year of Flowers". Like tulips, I can't get enough of those flowers either! It's just a really good, all purpose card, type stamp set. Truly, what occasion can you NOT use flowers on???

I'm sure you'll see more tulips from me as I keep getting new ideas and truly, they are NOT my favorite flower... but... I do love the clean look of them. Now... who's gonna draw that perfect carnation for me???? THAT is MY favorite flower. They last forever it seems and I use to love changing the colors of them (when I was a kid) with dye and such. I never see enough carnations! Maybe one of my wonderful illustrators will see this and throw a carnation in one of their sets???? Stranger things have happened! LOL

Have a good day and if you got a minute... tell me what YOUR favorite flower is and why. I love to know silly things about people. Hee Hee

Scrappin Around...

Since we're in the scrapbook mode... or... we were yesterday... or I was. Hee Hee I can't stop yet!! Today I wanted to share with you a small scrapbook that I made. No... I didn't go buy a round scrapbook. I made it... out of "junk mail" CD's. Yep... that's right, junk CD's! I took about five of these and covered them in various DP papers and used my Crop-a-Dile to punch holes for my binder rings. It goes thru the CD's just like butter. I made this book for my ex-mother-in-law a couples years back for mother's day from my son. Though you don't need to, I kept with the circular theme and cut all my photos with either a circle punch or a scalloped punch. I've done a few of these and if you use a larger picture it looks really cool to place it on half of the CD matching the curve using the other side for either embellishments or journaling. Try one, they are really fun to work with.

Have a good day and remember... you don't have to BUY scrapbooks... make your own! *smile*

Say What????

I haven't had much time to work on my scrapbooks since I started doing so many cards and I decided to start getting them done, little by little. One of the coolest ways to do this is to hop on over to StampTV and do the Scrapbook Challenge that is posted weekly. It takes so much guess work out of HOW to lay out the page. All you have to do is take a look at the "layout design" and put your photos, embellishments, stamped images or anything else you like in the same spots. And... you can actually see a finished page as well. I figure if I do one a week, at least I will have gotten more done than I do now. Right?? Today I am sharing the first page I did for the StampTV Challenge one week. Of course... my daughter, will be one HUGE source of scrap booking moments. This is SUCH a typical picture of her. I'm telling you... who said you have to wait for the teens to get that "attitude"????? She's 7... I'm not sure I'll make it TO her teen years!! LOL Her dad and I always tell her.. "Boy, it's a good thing you're so cute. If you had been ugly AND mean, we would have had to shoot you!" LOL She USE to think it was funny... now she just gives us "that look"! LOL She knows we love her. She also knows she's a handful and truly doesn't care! LOL She told me the other day... "Well mom... I just want to always get my way." I told her I knew that and she goes... "But MOM.... I'm being honest with you!"... Yes... I know. So then she told me.. "I'm sorry.. I'll try very hard to be a proper young lady, ok, mom?" Awwwww *sniff sniff* (OK those were not real tears... I know she won't last a day! LOL) But still... she's not one you'd have an easy time NOT loving. This page shows her on Easter morning a few years ago. She had BEGGED and pleaded with her dad to buy this hat. And on Easter, we had to MAKE her wear it! *sigh* You get the idea! I used the rabbit stamp from Melanie Muenchinger's "Just so Hoppy" set. I think the rabbit and she are having a stare down! LOL Go check out StampTV...you'll see how easy and fun it can be to work on a scrapbook page that all the guess work is done for you. Just grab your stuff and glue it down! Not much easier than that! Have a great weekend!!

The Colors of Summer...

I LOVE seeing all the pretty flowers in the summertime! I'm not a green-thumb person at all!!! Trust me... when plants and flowers come to me... it's like the grim reaper telling them... "it's time". HA! Although, my DH has been known to rescue one now and then from my grip and keep it thriving. His last resurrection was a poinsettia plant I got from an Earl May for doing a vendor fair exhibit there. It was a HUGE one and I believe the price tag on it was $40. I guess he figured since I got it for free he should TRY to make it last. That was about 2 years ago... it's still going strong.. no thanks to me! For this card I used Melanie Muenchinger's, A Year of Flowers, and simply stamped them and colored each one with my Copic markers. I also added the flower from the Gina K Designs StampTV Kit. (Love that flower.) I cut each separately and mounted them using Pop Dots. The leaves I just stuck here and there. I used my oval punch, the LARGE one from SU, once again and used it to also cut off one end, making it appear to be a vase. I covered with DP and arranged the stems (obviously) so they were going IN the vase! LOL A small shimmery bow and that's it. I wish the front of my house had all these beautiful flowers, but they thrive better on paper for me... hee hee. Have a great day and stop to notice all the wonderful bright, cheery flowers around the world today. They make me smile!

Bright Sunny Wishes...

What can make you feel good or even better than things in yellow? Think about it... the sun... smiley faces... daisies... oh and... CHICKEN SOUP!! LOL All those things just make you feel better, don't they??? I do believe so! My card for today was done with Gina K's Eclectic Summer stamps. I love this flower, I've done it in other colors as well and I just don't think I've seen it in any color I don't like. Surely the recipient of this card will feel a bit better seeing such bright colors. Of course they should be facing the sunny window in their room AND eating chicken soup, right?? Hee Hee Have a good day and if the card doesn't make you feel better... call mom. She always kisses away the sickies. *smile*

Let's Ride!

As some of you may know... my husband drives a semi for the Post Office back and forth to Indiana. He's gone a few nights a week but mostly, we get him on Sunday, Monday and Thursday evenings. When he IS home.. he's always telling me.. "You know.. 'we' could get our own truck and 'we' could make even more money!" HA! Yeah right! So, I usually tell him (just to keep him thinking I'm ALL for it... "Sure... as long as it's a purple one!" LOL So today's card is for him.. MY purple truck! Hee Hee My image is from, once again, Asela Hopkins newest release, "The Journey". I love the images in this set... all of them... and the sayings she has with it are so appropriate. There are soooo many ways you can do this truck and one of the coolest ones I've seen recently is on Melanie Muenchinger's blog... her "Hot Rod". You must stop over and see it! I did break up the saying on this card (it actually says.. "The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step" and IF I had photographed the inside, you could see that I actually combined Melanie's "Hand in Hand" set with this. I stamped one of the images of the two hands together down in the corner of the inside and the saying I put on it says... "A friend is a hand always holding yours, no matter how close or far apart you may be." It seemed appropriate for my husband and I since we always tell our kids we ARE best friends first. And with him being away so often, it seemed to fit the bill. I know... we're BOTH sentimental fools... but don't tell him I said that... he likes to refuse it's so. *wink* Then again, he WILL occasionally say... "WHAT??? I can be all sentimental and shhhhhtufff." LOL One thing I notice with Asela's stamps... she has a way of adding those areas in her illustrations that leave all the guessing out as to where to shade. I like that about her stamps as well. Of course you can get both Asela's and Melanie's stamps at Gina K Designs. I hope you have a great day and that YOUR best friend isn't to far away... or at least close in heart.

NEW contact Info - PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!

For those of you who follow my blog, please note that I am changing the URL for this site. If you cannot get into my blog tomorrow... please change your information to direct you to.. http://www.tinagmemories.blogspot.com Also... my e-mail for stamping will change to ... tinagmemories@aol.com I will be keeping tinastampsup@aol.com for a bit to make sure everything is switched over to the new address above. Thank you for your support, I'm glad you visit my blog.

Son...

Today I thought I'd share a card that I intend to give to my son. He QUIT looking at my blog 'cause he said... "Mom! I get mail EVERY day saying you have a new article on your blog... can I delete that?" LOL Ohhh sureee... no problem son... *sniff sniff*... Ha! Aren't kids great?! Honestly... he IS and I am very blessed that God gave HIM to ME! I have a very very hard time trying to get pregnant when I was younger... tried for THREE years. So... at the ripe old age of 37... God blessed me with Steven, whom I call "my angel baby". At 12 years old.. he doesn't mind me calling him that. Though... I've never done it in front of his friends. LOL THAT may gain a whole different look if I did! LOL I know when Asela's newest stamp set, The Journey, came out, lots of the girls over on StampTV looked at it and saw two kids. I look at it and see me and my son. Now.. mind you... I think it must have been a few years ago... 'cause he's WAY taller than I am now. He's 5'6" and mom is only a mere 5' 1.5" (yes I DID put that .5 in there!). He loves that! LOL But... I also admit... my daughter had hair that length and I was thinking... hmmmmm I bet I can put a skirt on that little figure????!!!! Hee Hee And... I was blessed on APRIL FOOLS day at the OLD age of 40 to find out about her!!!! So... I imagine she'll get one too... later. For now... I want to think of my YOUNGER days. LOL Have a great day and go enjoy your kids... no matter how young you are! *smile*