Hey all!

Hope everyone had a great Cmas! We sure did but I'm always so bummed when it's over! Here are a couple pics of the girls at Gma Kathy's. Santa brought them both guitars! Watch out Hollywood! =) Carly has always loved guitars because her preschool special ed teacher use to play hers for Carly all the time and Carly LOVED it!!! So, she has loved them forever and is happy to have her very own. Katie loves hers too, although, she thought she would be able to sit down and play it so it sounded just like Hannah Montana! So guess what she wants now? Yep, guitar lessons! Maybe...we'll see. On a stamping note... now that Cmas is over and it has settled down, my stamp room looks like a bomb went off in it. I'd take a picture but I'm too embarrassed. Although all of you die hard stampers KNOW what I mean. Anyhoo, my camera is goofing up again so wouldn't be able to get the mementous disaster on camera...ugh. So, hopefully I'll get my camera figured out, get my disaster of a stamp room cleaned, and get some new creative masterpieces made up and posted! Until then have a great week! Happy stamping!

Happy Wednesday!

Well, I had to do a post of Carly! She had her 5th set of E-tubes placed in her ears yesterday and she looks just so rough today! There was a little complication with the surgery...she aspirated and they almost had to intubate her! (SCARY!) But, she relaxed enough with some heavy IV meds (normally an IV isn't even used) and now I just need to watch her closely for pneumonia. It's so hard to watch her go through something she doesn't understand. I think surgery (even a small one like this) is hard on any 6 year old but especially for an Autistic Child who just doesn't understand why. She kept saying "all done" and was trying to get up to leave. Poor thing! Craig was out of town so I went by myself and brought Katie along too as I couldn't ask daycare to take her at 0520 a.m. However, Katie had a lot of questions this time about Carly's surgery and what happens and why, so it was good for her to come along and see what it was all about. She's so good with her little sister - everyone commented on it -that and her dimples. The rest of the day was pretty much spent napping and laying around. Carly seems a little better tonight...she just looks so tough! Her hair hasn't been combed since yesterday early morning and her piggy tails are falling out BUT she was a little more peppy & smiley this evening so hopefully she'll do fine with no complications from the aspiration. The picture attached is kind of blurry but my camera is acting up. I also added my Cmas cards. I've made quite a few different ones this year...the red & green one are Kate & my favorite...Craig liked the black & white. It was kind of fun doing different ones - both were quick & easy - not too fancy. You'll have to wait and see what you get! =)

Bring on the SNOW!!!

Well, we are officially in a blizzard!!! It's been so fun! The sad part is I had to come back from my annual scrapbooking weekend a day early but we had so much fun while we were there. We left on Thursday and stayed at a cabin down in Pequot Lakes. (I don't even know if I spelled that right) The cabin was absolutely beautiful! I went with a friend from work so it wasn't my usual crew that I go with. Shawna, Danielle, and I had a lot of laughs and (of course) created many works of art - most of mine included glitter! =) I tried my hand at doing an acrylic album. It was quick and easy and turned out pretty cute! However, having the pictures of the lake and swimsuits doesn't seem quite right with the blizzard going on outside. There is just something to be said about snow-days! It's just been a fun, lazy day without any commitments (they've all been cancelled), long naps, games, and some stamping. There are no school/special ed issues, therapy, Dr. appointments, home program, work drama, etc. It's just so relaxing! Reminds me of sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in. Enjoy every moment because we don't get many! Happy stamping!

Retired Stamp List & Specials!

Good Morning everyone! The retired list is here AND StampinUP! is offering a first time EVER AWESOME special with it - 10% off retiring sets and FREE shipping! First let's get to the Retirement list http://www.stampingup.com/ Here are the specials...... 10% off Retired Stamps & Free shipping on orders $70 or more from now until December 23rd!

Short version.....
*Retired Stamps are 10% off from Dec. 9th - Dec. 23rd.
*Free Shipping on all orders over $70.

Remember you can place an order with me 24/7 at http://www.stampinup.com/ or to get my own little extra special (for each $10.00 spent, you get placed in the drawing for the hostess stamp set and a little extra gift)! So, you won't want to miss out! I will be taking orders until Monday, December 15th! So, make your lists, check them twice, and I'll talk to you soon! Happy Stamping!

Christmas Smiles!

Over the weekend we snapped some pics for our Christmas cards! Carly is battling another ear infection (can't wait for her to have her tubes replaced next Tuesday!) so she wasn't in the best mood but they did giggle! =)

Christmas Ideas

Hey everyone! You all know I LOVE little scrapbooks! They are just my absolute favorite! I made this one using a 1/2 sheet of 12x12 paper and just some scraps! I love it! I might use these as little teacher gifts along with the pizza box (which the scrapbook fits into) and the peppermint patties. I'm thinking with all of Carly's helpers (betweeen her teachers, para's and therapists) I'll need about 10 teacher gifts just for her so I'm thinking this may be a good way to go...what do you think?

Pizza box with Peppermint Patties:

Katies Christmas Choir Concert

Say that 3 times really fast! =) Kate had her choir concert tonight! She did a great job and looked so grown up! She wanted her hair really curly and just doesn't understand yet that that isn't possible with just a curling iron! You can't see it really well, but it is full of curls in the back and there were little gems in her hair that she thought were "the best"! (Of course!) She's growing up too fast for her Mom!

Happy December!

I just don't know where the time goes! Anyhow hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you are getting into the Christmas spirit because it's officially on its way! I'm excited and the girls can't wait! My friend Kathy came over and we started making some little Christmas gifts. Now Kathy is the QUEEN of altering items! The things she comes up with to alter are just amazing! (For those of you that don't know what "altering" is....it's when you take one item and recover it and dress it up with paper, stamps, ribbon, etc.) I'm posting a notebook, glass candle, and Frapacinno bottles that she did - they are AWESOME! For the candle, she just used a rub on and some ribbon! Quick & easy! The other stuff is just some things I worked on here and there today. It's been so fun! So good to have a day just to relax and stamp! Tune in again as I hope to be making more Cmas cards, gift holders, etc! Happy stamping!

Well Katie & I have been playing around with the Big Shot again! We LOVE it! We made some pillow boxes for those who attended my stamp class last week! I made 12 of them in less than an hour. So they are quick, easy, and super cute. I did some that were just "cutesy" and then some that were more "vintagey" (what?...that's a word)! =) I just love the vintage look and some of the new papers are AWESOME! Enjoy!

A pastel Christmas...ABSOLUTELY!

Good Afternoon Everyone! It's cold and rainy here today and they are talking SNOW! I figured I better post the girls in the leaves as next it will be snow pictures! The girls are super excited about the snow...I am... not so much! =) However I suppose it's inevitable so...bring it on! All the talk of snow got me into the Christmas spirit! I decided to forget the house cleaning (not hard to do), sit down, and make some Cmas cards! All my stamping pals know I LOVE the soft subtle colors from StampinUp! They are my favorite so I decided to try some non-traditional Christmas card colors! The yellow card layout was an idea I saw at Archivers. The pink card uses the Pretties Kit (#109114) which I LOVE! The stamp set used for the poinsettia flowers is Spotlight on Christmas (#111694). I have used this set a lot already and its not even Christmas yet! Its really versatile AND it works with all of our punches so there is no cutting out! Which is great for me as I have became a really lazy stamper! =) Anyhow, I hope you enjoy...stay warm and happy stamping!

Love my Big Shot!

Good evening everyone! I finally got to play with my Big Shot tonight! I love it! It was so fun and it is E-A-S-Y! I used the basket & blooms die cut (#113484 in the mini catalog) and scrap paper! I love that about it - I used so many scraps just playing around! The cards aren't super duper special but I wanted to see how I could use the die cut for cards too and this is what I came up with...very quickly I might add. =) Of course they are PINK and have some glitter which (in my opinion) makes anything better! =) Another great thing about the Big Shot is that I bought some clearance dies from Sizzix.com that are more for kids so Katie cut some things out and is going to make some Cmas cards! She had so much fun and "yes" it's easy enough for a 9 year old to use! I told her I'd publish her cards when she was done with them so be on the lookout! =) Plan to add some more ideas soon so until then have a great night & happy stamping!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Can you believe that October is already over! Happy Belated Halloween! I've added a couple pictures of the girls in their costumes! Katie had a blast trick or treating with all the "boys" from the neighborhood. They would have kept going all night if we would have let them. =) I'm sure we walked around town for at least a couple of miles! Carly still didn't get the idea of trick or treating this year. She doesn't understand why you would ring the doorbell and not go in to sit and visit...so she only went to a few places. She was just really happy to be handing out candy with her Dad and Grandma Kathy and she LOVED seeing the kids at the door! Katie received enough candy for all of us put together so we really didn't need anymore! She made a hauling! =) Hope everyone had a great Halloween night too! Plan on getting some stamping done this week as my Big Shot arrived so be on the lookout for some new ideas! Have a great week!

I'm home!

It's good to be home (as I missed the girls) but Florida was a ton of fun! Kathrine & I can giggle non stop and at the dumbest things! Thats the best kind of travel partner! =) Our conference had us so busy that we didn't get to do a fourth of what we thought we would. We were in class all day (and some evenings too) so time was limited. Add in a 5+ hour visit to ER for food poisoning and then is was REALLY limited! But all in all, I had a blast! And learned a ton! Can't wait to scrapbook my pictures! Great sunsets! Be on the lookout for the scrapbook pages! Have a great day and happy stamping!

Spooktacular Scrapbook

Just wanted to get this on now that I've sent out my "official" blog site to everyone! This scrapbook in a tin is a class I'll be doing on Wednesday, October 29th in Bemidji. We'll be making this, a pillow box, and card. The cost is $12 or the fee is waived with a $25 StampinUp order. These are great ideas for the upcoming holidays. Let me know if you want to attend as space is limited! I'm a fanatic about little "scrapbooks"...LOVE THEM!

Photo cubes - my favorite!

I love old things! Antiques, old pictures, peeling "distressed" paint, etc. I tried my hand at altering a wooden block with pictures of the girls. I wanted it to look "aged". I think it turned out pretty good for my first time...and I do get lots of compliments on it! All I did was cut my paper & pictures to size & added embellishments. After it was decorated the way I wanted it I put a coat of modge podge over it to protect the paper & elements from dust & finger prints! I had bought the block at a scrapbook store in the cities but I think ANY old block would do! Hope you like it!

Well I've finally done it! I'm blogging! Yah! My downline, Laurie, has a beautiful site she started and she inspired me! Please be patient as I learn how to navigate this stuff. Thankfully, my sister in law is a whiz at blogging so I'm sure I'll be calling her often. (Thanks Tracy!) Between school conferences for the girls this evening and packing for Florida (yippee - I can't wait) I'm going to try to post some stamping & scrapping ideas...so come back and visit soon!