OFF TO CALIFORNIA - SAYING GOODBYE

Well, yesterday was a hard day for me. As many of you know, I have recently retired from the Navy and my family will be settling in Northern California - a town called Oroville which is 30 minutes outside of Chico. Anways, my husband has actually been out there since the day after Christmas because that is when his new job wanted him and also to supervise the clearing of our land and the building of our house. Needless to say, it has been a difficult eight months with me here in Florida taking care of the three kids, three dogs, and getting the house ready sell. Oh yeah, and retiring, my son graduating, well you get the point. Our original plan was for us to join Tony in CA at the end of June BUT the house has experienced some delays (not to mention my house here has not sold yet) so we have been here. The house will not be ready until the end of September, however my kids start school out there on the 6th of August so I packed all of their belongings and put them on a plane to be with their dad (who is staying with his parents who live nearby). All I can say is thank goodness for in-laws because I don't think we could have pulled this off without them. So, it was with a heavy heart that I put my kids on their very first solo plane ride (they have flown many times with us) and I will not see them again until the end of September. Here are a few of the pictures that I took of them at the airport. The airport personnel took pity on this poor emotional mom and actually let me follow them out the security gate and watch them board the plane! How nice was that??!!! I miss them already but I have no excuses not to get crackin' on clearing out closests and such in anticipation of the movers. We have moved every two to three years for the last 23 so I am glad this will be the last - at least for a long while. I am ready for us to be a family again - my several months in Iraq added to the separation now has turned into a very long time apart from my man whom I love and miss very much! Kayla and Tyler held up pretty well at the airport, only tearing up a little bit as they walked out to the plane. I think it was much harder on me than them - LOL! I have talked to them both and they are doing well and are now seasoned travelers! They are enjoying seeing their dad again and their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I will join them all soon and we can all be together again! I hope to have something stamped for you tomorrow but for now, this is what I have to share!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Hi all! I thought I would share the pages that I made for my workshop the other night. The girls seemed to enjoy doing them and we had a lot of fun! Here they are with the recipes for each. Of course all materials used were SU! since it was a workshop, and I got to use a lot of the new designer papers which I absolutely love! Here is the recipe for the first one!
Papers: Dashing and Wintergreen Specialty Paper , Textured Wild Wasabi, Whisper White Cardstock
Ribbons: Wild Wasabi In Color Ribbon
Inks: Wild Wasabi In Color Ink
Stamp Sets: Punch Pals Accessories: Stampin Dimensionals, Mellow Moss Brads, Ticket Corner punch, Scallop Circle Punch

This next one was really fun to do because it really reminds me of Christmas and I absolutely love snowmen! Here is the recipe for this one!

Paper: Soft Sky, Whisper White Cardstock, Winter Green Specialty Paper
Ribbons: Soft Sky Doublestitched Ribbon
Inks: Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Bashful Blue
Stamp Sets: Flaky Friends, Best Friends Alphabet Upper
Accessories: Stampin Dimensionals, Snail Adhesive, Stampin Sponge, Blender Pen, Scallop Circle Punch, Large Tag Punch

And, last but certainly not least is my favorite page because it uses the bold brights which I absolutely adore (sorry Kimberly!) I just think they are very cheerful and for me they remind me of happiness! This page to me is Christmas, the bright, cheery colors make me think of opening presents and wrapping paper everywhere! This was also the favorite of the group so I might be on to something here *wink* Here is the recipe for this one!
Paper: Dashing Specialty Paper,Glorious Green, Real Red, Whisper White Cardstock
Ribbons: Wild Wasabi Doublestitched Ribbon
Inks: Black Stazon, Real Red
Stamp Sets: Big On Christmas, Punch Pals
Accessories: Stampin Write Markers, Snail Adhesive, Mellow Moss Buttons, Real Red Brad

I hope you guys enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed making them! Have a super weekend!

A QUICK POST OF MY HOSTESS CARD

Hi all! I thought I would post a quick picture of the card that I made for my hostess tonight. Beth is one of my very best friends and just recently decided she wanted to try her hand at scrapbooking. So, she asked me if I would do a workshop for her - would I??!!! Of course - any chance to showcase SU! *wink* Anyway, here is the card and the recipe. I showcased our new punch box since it is one of my favorites AND on special next month! Hope you like it!
Recipe: (all products SU!)
Cardstock - Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamps - Three for You Punch Box and Stamps
Accessories - Groovy Guava Ink, Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon, scallop circle punch, dimensionals, paper piercer, snail adhesive

I AM STILL HERE...

Hi all, I did not desert my blog BUT I have been crazy busy getting ready for a scrapbook workshop I am having tonight - what fun! So, I have been working on my designs for that and have not had much time at all to do any other stamping! So, I promise that I will post the layouts I am using once the workshop is over (not fair to the gals if I post earlier) and see what you think!

MY DAUGHTERS CARDS - AREN'T THEY CUTE??!!

Happy Monday to everybody! I have not had much time to post as I have been working on my swaps for Convention - I don't get to go but I have wonderful friends who will do some swapping for me! Aren't I lucky - I sure feel like I am!!!! Smooches to Kim Barbour and Kimberly Van Diepen for being such great gals - I luv ya girls!!!

My daughter has always loved to do crafts with me - whatever I was doing, she wanted to do too. So, when I decided I wanted to start stamping, so did she! I got her her own stamps sets, some ink pads, markers, pencils, and off she went! Last night she sat at the table and decided that she wanted to make some cards for her brother Zach at the Naval Academy. Kayla writes to him faithfully everyday and wanted him to have something she made. Here are the cards she came up with - I think they are darling and when I told her I was going to put them on my blog, she was thrilled! She asked me if anyone would comment on them and I told her of course they would because they are beautiful! So, if you have a chance, leave Kayla a comment and tell her what you think - she would absolutely love it!

MY BLOG HAS BEEN RATED....UMMMM PG????

Hi all, nothing stamped today I am afraid BUT I did have my blog rated and I had to laugh because it was rated PG - and here are the reasons why:
This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
punch (9x)
drugs (1x)

Oooookkkkkkaaaaayyyyy.....I guess I better be careful what I say. Punch - who knew??!! And the "d" (can't spell it out because they will count it again - HAH!) word, well I think the ones doing the rating are the ones using them - LOL! Anyway, as a fun add-on, I put the little icon they sent me on the right side of my blog. So, if you want to figure out what YOU are rated, click on the icon, enter your blog address and it will tell you! Have a good one!

ANOTHER BAROQUE CARD

Good morning! I told myself I was going to use a different stamp set but Oh, I love this baroque stamp set, and the new paper! So, I had to make another card! I don't think I will be getting much stamping done because I really hurt my back - doc says I tore the muscles in my lower right back and gave me all kinds of good stuff to take. It has been a slow couple of days, I can tell you that! Anyway, here is the card, I hope you like it!
Recipe: (all products SU!)
Paper - purely pomegranate, river rock, brocade background
Stamps - Baroque Motifs
Accessories: wild wasabi and black stazon inks, three for you punch, large oval punch, dimensionals, corner rounder, vintage brads, and certainly celery ribbon