I MADE IT!!!!

Hi all! Well, I made it safe and sound and I am enjoying being reunited with my family - oh, how I have missed them!! The surprise was indeed a surprise and it was wonderful to see the shock and joy on their faces! We have been really busy these last two days getting totally reacquainted and me trying to juggle my time so that both of the kids had some mommy time plus catch up with my husband. I am loving every minute of it and don't want to go back to Florida, but the good thing is, I only have to go back to pack up and head out here. I thought I would share some pics of the moment they realized I was here - it was great! My DH was up at the property supervising the final pieces of the construction and I popped out of the backseat of my SIL's car - it was priceless to see! I was sooooo excited to see him! Then, I was in the back room when my kids got home from school and walked out and just started talking to them - their mouths were hanging open and I got the biggest hugs you could ever imagine! Today, I am going to spend some quality time stamping while they are all at school and work so I will actually have something to share creatively *wink*. I am driving into Chico this morning to check out the LSS to see what they have. How fun - I could get used to this no job thing! I have been cooking for my family again, taking care of doing my daughter's hair, playing games with them, making sure homework gets done - all the things we all do that we don't realize are so precious because in a blink, they will be gone. I intend to enjoy every single moment and remember how wonderful each one of them is! Until later!

CYA IN 10 DAYS!!!!

Well, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go....know what song this is - LOL?! So, I was talking to my SIL and she said that since my MIL does not like to do much on the computer at home, they have dialup so uploading to my blog may take some time but I AM taking some stampin supplies along so I will post every chance that I get! I am going to be posting BLOG CANDY when I get back since we are sooo close to 5000 hits - I am AMAZED by that so stay tuned until then! Now, I have to go to bed since four in the morning will be here before I know it - Ugh!!

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!!!

Oh, how fun! Dawn Easton over at Treasure Oiler Designz tagged me! If you have never been to Dawn's blog, you need to get over there and check her out because she is a rockin' stamper - I just love her creations! Okay, so here goes:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) -Daisy Toyota
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) New York Super Fudge Chunk Oreo (hah! how fitting - LOL!)
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) AHOB
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Pink Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)- Ilse Bremerhaven(i sound like the older bioch with money - teehee)
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - HOBAL
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Blue Lemonade
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Harry KarlHeinz ...nah, not redneck enough - LOL! (I do live in Jacksonville ya know!)
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Heavenly Chocolate - how's that for a stripper's name!
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Walburga Revilo (no way would anyone find me with THAT name - LOL!!)

That was REALLY fun - I love reading them all too! So, now I get to tag five blogging friends so here they are:

(1) Deb aka Stampingranny
(2) Nikki aka Military Wife Stamping Spot
(3) Shannon aka Stamp Till You Cramp
(4) Julie aka Stampin With Julie
(5) Debbie aka StudioBeeCreations

If you have never checked these talented ladies out, you need to because they do awesome work! I can't wait to read what they have to say *wink*

HOW CUTE ARE THEY??!!

Hi everyone! Well, I finished the garage (mostly, just have DHs tool area to do) and it feels good to be done! I spent the entire weekend in there and let me tell you, fall does NOT come to Jacksonville so it was HOT!!!!!! But, it is done and all my treasures are safe for the movers to show up - LOL! So, tomorrow I will be flying out to CA for 10 days to finalize some things with our new house out there which means I get to see Tony and the kids - I am SOOOOOOO excited!! And, they have no idea I am coming, I just shared that with my SIL who is picking me up at the airport. I cannot wait to see their face when they walk in tomorrow night and I am sitting there in the kitchen!!! Hee!hee!Hee! I am going to take a few stamping supplies with me for this trip so I can post while I am there so you will still here from me. My MIL has dial-up so I am not sure how all that will work but I will figure something out. I received some GREAT tips on what to bring with me when I DO actually pack out (mid October is the actual moving dates) so I appreciate that! I have a big ole SUV so me and the three dogs AND my stampin supplies will be traveling across country to CA. Speaking of, I wanted to share these pics that I took last night of the puppies in their new Halloween costumes - Clyde is a criminal (it fits, believe me) and Bonnie is a ladybug. Aren't they so cute?? I think so! I am going to do Beate's challenge later today so check back later for a card. Then, packing and stuff - ooohhh, I am soooooooo EXCITED!!!!

NO TIME TO STAMP BUT CHECK OUT THE RAK I RECEIVED

Good morning all. As you know, I am moving to California - well, the packout is quickly approaching so I have been getting ready for the movers. Yesterday and today is the garage - YUK!!! I spent 14, yes 14 hours in the garage yesterday as this is where all my crafting supplies are kept. I went through and purged, reorganized, and safely stored all my treasures so the movers don't destroy my stuff, especially all my delicious paper! It makes me a little sad to know I won't see my stuff for about 6 weeks (yep, you heard me right) because it will have to go into storage until we receive a cleared occupancy permit for our new house. So, I will definitely be going through withdrawals. Okay, now I have a question for all of you and I would like to hear your thoughts - if you were me and had to take a few supplies just to keep going with stamping, what would you take? I am trying to figure out what to whittle it down to but still have enough where I can play. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say - please don't tell me everything though because that would require a moving truck all on its own - LOL! Now, on to the wonderful RAK I received from my blogger friend Deb. We have struck up a blogging friendship, she is the sweetest, most generous lady! AND, talented to boot! Check out her blog - she does beautiful work! Look at the cute fluffles and pumpkins and scallops she sent me. And, these beautiful bella notecards, WOW! Love them! Thanks Deb - you rock!! Now, I am off to work in the garage. Have a beautiful Sunday all!

A PENGUIN CHRISTMAS CARD

Happy Friday to all of you! I am fully recovered from my two-day shopping spree (although my wallet is not -LOL!). And yep, I made yet another Christmas card - sorry! I love Christmas and I got such cute sets from SU! fall/winter collection that I just cannot help myself. So, if you are tired of my Christmas cards, I promise to post something different tomorrow *wink* BUT for now, here it is! This one is made in the traditional card size - I know, not square! I wanted something bright again as I love those colors for Christmas so the base of my card is Garden Green cardstock. I layered this with Dashing DP, isn't this paper yummy??!! I of course used my corner ticket punch and then faux stitched using my mat stack. All the stitching on my card is highlighted using my stampin write markers. I often wonder what I would be doing if I had not discovered this fun tool??? But, gettin' back on track....For the main image I used three pieces of paper - Real Red cardstock, Dashing DP, and then Garden Green cardstock on which I background stamped little snowflakes from the Punch Pals stamp set in the same color. I used my corner ticket punch again and faux stitched the bottom two layers. I added Real Red brads to each corner and then stamped the little penguin (isn't he dang cute??) from the Punch Pals set onto Whisper White cardstock and colored him with my Stampin Write Markers. I popped him up on dimensionals and then adhered all three layers to the main card. The scallop circles are done using my two larger circle scallop punches from Marvy and my new small scallop circle punch from SU! . These are done in Real Red, Dashing DP, and Garden Green paper as well. I pierced the two larger scallops along the edges and then used the Tis the Season Stamp from Punch Pals on my smaller scallop as it fits perfectly - I love that! I popped the two top scallops up on dimensionals which gives this card a really neat 3d look that is hard to see in the picture. I added a small piece of red and green Xmas polka dot ribbon that I got in the $1 bin at Joanns because it matches my DP perfectly. I had a lot of fun making this card and I hope you all like it! Have a fabulous weekend - I am off to work on Beate's latest sketch challenge!

MY FLIP FLOP SHOP HOP SUCCESS STORY

Hi everybody! I have spent the last two days dashing all over central Florida going to all the different Independent Scrapbook and Stamp stores participating in the Shop Hop. What a blast! Vicki and I had such a great time but man, are we tired! We found some great things though to add to our respective stashes and I have found out a sad truth - when it comes to scrapbooking and stampin, I have very little willpower BUT they say, the first step is to recognize you have a problem - LOL! So, I would like to share with you some pictures of all the wonderful loot I personally will be hiding within the stuff I already have! First of all, the paper - oh, the wonderful, glorious, stinkin' cute paper! All the new Halloween papers from CHA arrived in most of the stores and of course I had to have some. And, I found all kinds of very cute beachy papers, little boy and girl papers, animal papers, pet papers, Christmas papers....it was a beautiful thing! I even found some paper that talked about drinking coffee with a friend and some awesome grandparent paper which I adore. What was nice was that all the stores had such a different array of papers, stamps, and embellishments that it was like Christmas in every one! Check this paper out - is that stinkin' cute or what?? I even found some paper that is about the construction of a new home which will be perfect for the book I am making about our new one in CA! Now, on to the embellishments! Oh, they were sooooo wonderful and I wanted them all BUT I was trying to be good so here are the ones I ended up bringing home with me (along with some more paper). I found the cutest M&M punch/embosser which I plan on using for a lot of projects including our

trip to the New York M&M factory - yummy! I also found these way cute die cuts, some great stickers, and these medals that will be great for my son's book. And, at this

great store out at Amelia Island, they make these custom die cute overlays - too cute! I wanted them all, but settled for these three because I have projects these will be awesome with! Look at that monkey - OMG!!!!! But, I digress....let me show what else I got. I couldn't help myself - I broke my cardinal rule about buying stamps other than SU! but they had this large Michaels down in Daytona and well, they had all these really really cool dollar stamps and I had to have them -*sigh*. I know, I need help, but dang this was soooo much fun and I am sooo happy that Vicki and I had the chance to do this before I leave here in a few weeks and start across country to CA! Now, one last picture - this is what I picked up to make my book for shop hop - pretty cool, huh?! You can't make a book for the Flip Flop Shop Hop Event and not have any Flip Flops - LOL! I hope you all have a fabulous evening and I will post a project tomorrow! Until then....