Hey!!!!

Did you miss me? I've had a wonderful vacation, spending the last 11 days with my hubby. He leaves again tomorrow. :o( I just wanted to let you know that I'll be back to my regular posting. I also wanted to make sure that everyone has what they want from the retiring list. If there is anything else you need before it's gone let me know. I can place orders through tomorrow.

Have a great night everyone and I'll see you in the New Year!!!!

Before & After

I must say, I have the most photogenic niece and nephew. I think these pictures are proof. These pictures were just too cute not to scrapbook. I didn't want to eat at chain restaraunts in San Diego (except ones we don't have in Indiana or Ohio) so I found this diner called Studio Diner. It's outside of a movie lot and there's been a few shows filmed at the diner. The food was excellent and of course since we were on vacation we had to have dessert. We all opted for an ice cream dessert. So the before is Taj and Faith eating their ice cream and the banana split that Becky, Gebe and I were going to share. The after is how messy the kids were from eating the ice cream and that we finished the banana split. Taj kept most of his ice cream on his face, but Faith had it all over herself, including dripping down her shirt. Yum!!!


Recipe
Stamps: Big Deal Alphabet
Ink: Close to Cocoa, More Mustard
Paper: Close to Cocoa, More Mustard
Accessories: Antique Brass Brads, Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon


Thanks for checking out my blog! You probably won't see any more posts from me until the New Year!!! I'm on vacation!!!! Happy Holidays everyone!!!!

Phlippin' Cute

It's a scrapbook marathon around here!!! Well, the weather was nasty this weekend. Lots of ice and I just didn't feel like leaving the house. So, I got a lot of scrapbooking done.

Here's another girly page for you. Faith just loved the dolphins and kept wanting her picture taken with them. Imagine my surprise when this dolphin popped up right behind her pose. I'm so glad I was able to snap this picture. I also snapped a few pictures of the dolphins playing around and showing off.

I used the retiring Petals & Paisley Designer Series Paper for my base. I love the colors in this paper. I mounted the picture of Faith and the dolphin on a piece of Barely Banana and added some Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon on a Pewter HodgePodge Hardware ribbon slide. I added my pictures of the dolphins to a strip of Pretty in Pink and added the Tempting Turquoise buttons between the two pictures as well as a tab punched with the Round Tab punch. I wrote Dolphin Discovery on the tab with my Old Olive marker. I stamped my title "Phlippin' Cute!" in Tempting Turquoise on Whisper White using Short Order Alphabet and journaled just a wee bit with my Old Olive marker. The journaling reads "Faith loved the dolphins. The dolphins seemed to love her, too." I added some flowers from the coordinating stamp set Polka Dots & Paisley in Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, and Old Olive and mounted it on a piece of Old Olive. I also stamped some flowers in Barely Banana on Whisper White and punched them out with my 1" circle punch and layered them on Barely Banana and Old Olive cut out with my 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches. Those were added to my page using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Just in case you haven't had enough scrapbooking, I have a few more pages to share later in the week. Also, starting in January I am having a monthly scrapbooking class. On the 3rd Friday of every month I will have a class where you can come and make 2 12x12 scrapbook pages featuring the theme for the month. January's class is on the 18th and will feature Valentine's Day/Love. Check out my calendar above for more details, or my SU! website.

Wrapping Up The Holidays

Hey, everyone! I just wanted to let you know that the Wrapping Up the Holidays promotion has been extended through Dec. 31.

Monkey See Monkey Do

I took a look at the challenges from this week on SCS and then took a look at the photos that I still needed to scrapbook from my San Diego trip and I found that this weeks Color Combination Challenge coordinated perfectly with the colors in the kids' shirts in the second picture. Taj's shirt has Pumpkin Pie and Certainly Celery in it, while Faith's shirt has Rose Red.

I started with a Pumpkin Pie base and did several dry runs of how I was going to lay out my pictures and title. I finally settled on this one. Now this was a stretch for me because I have never overlapped pictures on a scrapbook page before. But it was the only way I could put all three pictures and such a large title on a page. I stamped my title on a strip of Rose Red and a strip of Certainly Celery in Whisper White with Jumbo Outline Alphabet. Originally I was going to do a curved title, but I didn't like the way it turned out, so I modified it. I stamped some circles from Polka Dots & Petals in Pumpkin Pie on Whisper White and punched them out with my 1" circle punch. One was mounted on a piece of Certainly Celery cut with my 1 1/4" circle punch and layered on a piece of Rose Red cut with the Scallop Circle punch. All 4 were adhered with dimensionals. I also added some strips cut with the Word Window Punch to add a little more interest. As a finishing touch and because I thought the upper corner was a little bare I added a piece of Pewter HodgePodge Hardware.

Meanwhile.....

Now, you've already seen how Taj spent a part of his day at the zoo. Here's what Faith did while her brother was sleeping.

I was so excited to make a girly scrapbook page. I never get to scrap girly. So I used a base of Ruby Red and stamped some flowers from Time Well Spent (Spring/Summer Collection Level 3 Hostess set) randomly on the page in Close to Cocoa. I colored all the dots in with my white Signo gel pen. I added my photos and then stamped some flowers on a scrap of Barely Banana in Close to Cocoa and cut them out to add to the flowers on my base. I stamped my title "Meanwhile" in Close to Cocoa again on Barely Banana. I cut it out and adhered it to my piece of Whisper White. I then added my journaling with my Basic Brown journaler. I also stamped the 3 flowers on with Close to Cocoa and colored them in with my Barely Banana marker. I thought it needed to be more girly, so I added some Barely Banana flower eyelets (retired) using my Crop-a-dile. As a finishing touch (and to fill a gap) I added a piece of Whisper White grosgrain ribbon which was threaded through holes I punched with my Double Circle Punch.

New Catty Sightings!!

So, some lucky demos in Canada have already received their complementary copies of the Spring/Summer Collection catalogs. The demo side of SCS is crazy!!! I think I'm going to love this catty. I can't wait to get my copy. And I can't wait to place my first order!!!!

I've been tagged!!!

Chris and Lynn tagged me and I'm supposed to tell you 7 things about me, so here goes:

1. I'm originally from NW Indiana. I now live in Ohio. One thing that irks me about Ohio is that everyone assumes I'm just going to become an Ohio State fan now that I'm here. I graduated from Purdue. No chance of becoming and OSU fan here. I'm a Boilermaker through and through.

2. I have many hobbies. I love to stamp and scrapbook. I also sew. I also make stained glass mosaics (although that's been put on the back burner due to stamping). I dabble in carpentry. I've built two cornhole sets (I love power tools). And I like to paint.

3. I drive a VW Beetle. It is my dream car. I wanted a Beetle all my life. My bedroom as a teenager was decorated in bugs, peace signs, and flowers. All all sorts of funky colors (lime green, yellow, purple). I really wanted an old one, but I really need a trustworthy car, so I have a New Beetle.

Oh, this is harder than it seems..............

4. I'm a faithful follower of Days of Our Lives. I've been watching it for about 12 years. (I'm watching it right now).

5. I love being a housewife. Unfortunately I don't get to be one right now, since I'm working. I prefer to spend my days cleaning house, planning dinners, running the errands, baking cookies, taking the dog for walks.

6. I ran a half marathon. I started training in the spring and I ran the marathon in October. I finished, which was my only goal. It was hard and I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I'd do it again. I don't mind running 3 or so miles, but 13.1 is a little much for me.

hmmmm......one more........

7. I'm a picky eater, but I LOVE seafood. I would eat seafood every day if I could. I had seafood for dinner every night while we were in Hawaii and almost every day while is San Diego. I always want to get seafood when we go out for dinner, but I usually can't get anyone to agree to it.

OK, that's 7, and I guess I have to tag more people now, so, how about.....
Kate
Ema
Heather

Nap Time at the Zoo

My little nephew is so cute. He just saw so much as the zoo his little mind couldn't take it any more. He needed to rest. Good thing we rented a stroller. So, this is my page for Taj sleeping at the zoo. I used the colors in the stroller and his jacket for my layout. The base layer is Garden Green. I mounted my photos on Brilliant Blue and I added a Yo-Yo Yellow Round Tab to the vertical picture. I stamped my title in Brilliant Blue on Yo-Yo Yellow using my new Jumbo Outline Alphabet and also Rough Edges Alphabet. I added strips of Brilliant Blue behind the Yo-Yo Yellow title before adhering it to my page. I journaled (again!!!) on a piece of Yo-Yo Yellow with my Garden Green marker. I added a piece of hemp twine to the bottom of the journaling and tied two hemp twine knots.

This page was a bit of a struggle for me because I felt like it needed more. I stamped the alphabet, but I wanted to stamp some more, but I didn't have any stamps to use. Oh, well, I'm happy with it.

Shamu!

More scrapbook pages!!!!! These are my favorite pictures from the whale show at Sea World San Diego. I took a ton of pictures, but these were the ones I felt were scrapbook-worthy. I just got Big Deal Alphabet so I was dying to use it. So I immediately jumped in to a two page spread that was begging for titles. I started with a sheet of Whisper White for both my pages and then took a 12x12 piece of Not Quite Navy cardstock and ripped it in half. I mounted it on the bottom of both scrapbook pages to mimic waves. I stamped my titles in Basic Black on Not Quite Navy and layered them on Basic Black. I mounted all my pictures on a piece of Basic Black cardstock as well. I used Rough Edges Alphabet to add San Diego on the first page. The pages are a little plain, but I was really stumped by what else I could add. I did add two black brads in the corner of each page to add a little dimension. I then called them done. Again, I'm a simple scrapbooker, so I'm happy with them.

Polar Bears

I'm not one for using patterned paper much, but with the DSP promotion last month I ended up taking a chance on it. So, here is another scrapbook page using DSP. For this one I used the DSP as my base layer. This piece is from Dashing. I tried to mimic the circles from the paper with the partial circles in two corners. I cut those out in Very Vanilla with my Fiskar's Shape Cutter. I mounted all my photos on Old Olive and mounted them on the page. I then felt that I needed to journal on this page. I have such a hard time journaling, so this was also a challenge for me. Again, I cut a piece of Very Vanilla with my Fiskar's Shape Cutter and wrote a little about the polar bears using my Old Olive marker. I mounted that on an Old Olive square to mimic the patterned paper.

A simple page, just the way I like it.

ETA: I forgot that I had tied some hemp twine on Old Olive buttons to add this page, but when I was cleaning up my stamping table I found them. So, I added 3 buttons on the upper circle. Two small and one large. I'll try to update the picture here soon.

Oh, and on a side note I placed a pre-order for some sets out of the Preview Brochure today. I wasn't planning on it, but demos were offered 15% off all stamp sets from the brochure, so I broke down. I ordered two stamp sets and some more DSP. As soon as they arrive (probably next Friday) I will post some wonderful creations!

Beach Babes

Well, I was able to get some scrapping done at my PMS night on Friday. This is one of the pages. Boy, do I wish I was on that beach right now. These pictures were taken at La Jolla beach in January earlier this year. The water was cold, but the temperature outside was not. Here in Ohio it is freezing. It's only 30 degrees. And it's supposed to snow tonight. I am a wuss when it comes to cold weather. And I hate shoveling snow......I hope the meteorologists are wrong.

Anywho, back to my page. I love these pictures of the kiddos playing in the water. They had so much fun and were the only ones brave enough to go in the water (at least without a wet suit). I stepped out of my comfort zone on this one by using Designer Series Paper (Linen Prints). I ordered 4 packs of it with the November Paper Party promotion, so I thought I better use it. I think this pattern works well for the beach. I also used Twill Tape and Pewter Jumbo Eyelets for the first time. I stamped my title on the Twill Tape with Chocolate Chip ink and added the Jumbo Eyelets using my Crop-a-dile. I love both the Twill Tape and Jumbo Eyelets and see myself using them a lot more in the future. I mounted my pictures on Chocolate Chip layers and added Not Quite Navy corners that I punched with my Photo Corners Punch. It needed a little something more, so I added the piece of Not Quite Navy that I stamped with Short Order Alphabet in Chocolate Chip. I also added some photo corners in Chocolate Chip. As a finishing touch I used my Basic Brown Journaler to add the kiddos' names.


That's all for now, but I have a few more scrapbook pages to share with you later.

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers - 3

OK, so I've been checking this out and decided to take the plunge. I'm joining the Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers. The sisterhood was designed to encourage each other and get to know our fellow blogging stampers.



My first mission of the sisterhood is to tell you about me....so here goes.

I've been married to my wonderful hubby, John, for just over 4 years.We met while at school at Purdue. He is the reason we relocated to the Dayton-area. He is a rocket scientist (he hates when I tell people that) and works for the Department of Defense. I work part time at a Dermatologic Surgeon's office. I am the computer person as well as involved in marketing and creative design. The funny thing about that is that I went to college for Health Science and I never thought of myself as computer smart (probably just because hubby is computer smarter). I am also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I just finished my first year as a demo and I love it!!!!

John and I have a 3 year old dachshund, named Oscar. He is the funniest little dog. He can be overwhelming at times, but he's so darn cute. You know you wanna see a picture of him, right?That's all I can think of right now, so I'll leave it at that.

Now I'm in the Christmas Spirit

I've been making Christmas cards for months now. It seemed weird, especially in July. But now that Thankgiving is past and the Christmas decorations are up it ain't so bad. So this morning I made these blocks. They are 2x2 blocks decorated with Dashing DSP. This is one set of blocks, that are reversible. You can have them say Peace or Joy. I painted the blocks with Ivory acrylic paint, stamped my letters using Short Order Alphabet on Dashing DSP. I punched the letters out with my 1 3/8" square punch and adhered them to the blocks with Modge Podge. I added more squares of paper and cardstock around the remaining sides of the block. I stamped a snowflake from The Snowflake Spot to add a little fun when you're displaying Joy. For a finishing touch, I added some Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon on the first block. These would look so cute displayed on a fireplace mantel. If you can picture these on your mantel head over to my store 'cause they're for sale.

The List is Here!!!

The Retiring List that is. Check it out! These stamp sets will no longer be available after January 1st. Let me know what stamps you need before they're gone!