HAPPY FRIDAY TO ME!!!

Okay, today was not the greatest day. I ran around like a crazy woman trying to get everything done that needs to be done for my ceremony next Friday. BUT, the print shop lost the programs and now have to do a priority rush on the new proof I had to send them. Sheesh - I about had a heart attack! Then, I decided to try my hand at some stamping today (I have not been able to stamp or scrap for about a month since I had surgery on my right hand) and managed to hurt myself and bust open a stitch - dummy me!

THEN, I went to the mailbox - and I got the nicest RAK from Kimberly VanDiepen who I feel very privileged to have as my upline but more importantly as my friend. ANYTIME I get an envelope with her return address label, I have an instant smile on my face because I know the envie will have something fantabulous in it! AND, of course it did! She sent me this beautiful tile that she made for me with my initial on it and with the gorgeous french script in the background and the really pretty flowers as an accent. Kimberly, you made my week and turned my Friday into a wonderful day! HUGS TO YOU GIRL - YOU TOTALLY ROCK!!! For those of you who don't know Kimberly (hard to imagine), please go check out her blog, she does some awesome stuff!

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!

WHAT A GREAT DAY!

Today my staff took me to lunch at Olive Garden to say goodbye. It was really nice and they gave me some wonderful gifts. I received a wonderful Vera Bradly purse and a beautiful blanket with the Navy Emblem and my dates of service and name embroidered on it. I was very touched that they thought of me in this way. That is the one great thing about being in the Navy - you get to meet some really great people along the way!

I wanted to share a scrapbook page that I made of my son and his girlfriend at Military Ball. My oldest son Zach graduated from highschool this year and was extremely active in the NJROTC program all four years. In fact, he will be attending the Naval Academy and has to report by the 27th of June to start his journey. I can't believe my baby is all grown up (sob)! Anyway, here is

the page. I used bazzill cardstock and a piece of basic gray paper(I can't remember which one) for the background. I double matted the pictures in old olive and certainly celery from SU! and used my EK Success heart corner punch to frame the pictures. The letters were cut out of old olive with QuickKutz and run through my xyron. I then stamped with the SU! Doodle This Stamp (have I mentioned how much I LOVE this set??!!) and outlined the images with green and silver stickles to make them pop. I also added some green stickles on the hearts framing the pictures. The flowers are primas and are held together with a green SU! brad. Lastly, I added a small green and small orange ribbon just to add some dimension (they were from my scrap pile so don't remember where I got them). I think the page turned out pretty good - more importantly, Zach and Nikki (his girlfriend of two years) really liked it! Thanks for stopping by!

A LONG DAY AND A CARD FOR MOM

Gosh, today was a long day! Many of you may know that I am an active duty navy officer, but may not realize that I will be retiring Friday the 15th of June after 23 years. I am really excited about this because I will then be dedicating myself to my SU! business full time (can you stay stamp and scrap all day - yippee!) Of course, I will still have the kids, laundry, house chores, errands, and carpooling to and from various activities, BUT I will be able to have more time than I currently do since I do all that now PLUS work my full-time Navy job! So, I am looking forward to next Friday! The days are long right now though as I transition my job to someone new, try and finish up the last details needed for my retirement ceremony, AND complete all the paperwork the Navy requires before you pack up and go home. It will all be worth it though!

Today I thought I would share a card I recently made and plan on sending to my mom. She is one of my favorite people in the world and I hope she likes it! All products are SU! unless otherwise noted.

The card base is green galore which I wheel stamped with my petals wheel in the same color. Then I layered the card with a piece of gable green which I corner punched with one of my EK Success punches. I sponged gable green all over the background. I then stamped a bouquet of flowers from my Heartfelt Thanks set onto a piece of whisper white cardstock, softly sponged gable green all over it, and decided to try my hand at watercoloring. For my first attempt, I think it turned out pretty good :-) I used my color spritzer tool and colored in the flowers with yoyo yellow ink and slightly accented the flowers with only orange. The stems were colored in using green galore and gable green ink pads. The flowers themselves were stamped in green galore (I love this color!). The saying is stamped in glorious green with a stamp from the Love Matters Set (one of my favorites!) The oval was punched out of yoyo yellow cardstock using my small oval punch, placed on the card with dimensionals, softly sponged with green galore, and I handwrote MOM. I really hope she likes it! Have a great night - Happy Stampin'!

MY FAVORITE CRAB!

I thought that I would share this birthday card that I made for one of my friends. I love this crab and starfish and have used them on many projects! This card was fun to make and brings a smile to my face because the crab completely cracks me up! So, here it is:

All products used are SU! unless otherwise noted. The base of the card is yoyo yellow which is stamped with the linen stamp in yoyo yellow ink. The strip across the top of the card is only orange, and I used the slit punch to make the scalloped edge which I then outlined with white gel pen. I then stamped my saying in black ink. I sponged real red and I stamped Mr. Crab in black Staz-on on whisper white cardstock and then used my blender pen and a very light coating of real red ink to color him in. I popped his eyeballs and his crabby claws to add some dimension and used fruitpunch stickles on his smile and claws. I then added the little birthday hat stamp. Then, four starfish and two seashells were stamped in black staz-on and accented with, yep, white gel pen (love that thing)! I decided it needed something more so I used my paper piercer along the base of the card and the white square and used my white gel pen and my real red marker to create the faux stitch look. Lastly, I used some only orange and yoyo yellow ribbon to top off the card. I hope you like it - I am very happy with how it turned out and think my girlfriend will love it! Happy Stamping!

CHECK THIS OUT - $25 JOANN GIFT CERTIFICATE!

Yep, and it's a no strings attached kinda deal! Just go to The Wooden Porch, leave a comment and voila! you are entered! OR, you can link from your blog and you will be entered five times! I learned about this great deal from Sharon over at PaperFections - you have to check out her blog, it's one of my favorites! Thanks Sharon for all the help! CYA all tomorrow!

FIRST PROJECT POST - ALTERED CLIPBOARD

Since I recently had surgery on my right hand, I have not been able to do much of anything for the last three weeks and I have been going a little stir crazy. My doctor thinks I should be able to handle some crafting in about another week or so. With that in mind, I will post some projects that I have taught in some recent classes. This is a 12x12 clipboard ordered from Oriental Trading Company that I altered with paper and stamps. First, I painted the front and back of the board with apple barrel green craft paint. Then, I took a piece of SU! paper from the Dots&Dashes Series and cut it diagonally. I then used both of the diagonals and cut them again, making to large triangles for the bottom and two smaller ones for the top. I adhered the paper using modge. Then, using the SU! Doodle This and Doodle That Set (love, love these stamps!), I stamped (using black STAZON) a large doodle above both large triangles of paper and one smaller one in the upper right. I then adhered four prima flowers to the left side, securing the smaller flower to the larger one using SU! green galore brads. Using icicle and orange stickles, I added some POP to my stamped images. I then covered the whole board in modge podge front and back to seal everything. Once dried, I added a chipboard 'n' (for notes, ya know) which was painted with apple barrel orange craft painted and then used my Doodle This stamps and stickles to decorate. I added some Green galore buttons on each triangle, and topped it all of with Su! Turquoise, Tangerine, and Apple Green Grossgrain Ribbon. Voila! Done - this was a big hit with my gals and we had a lot of fun doing them! Thanks for stopping by!

WELL, I FINALLY DID IT!

I have been asked by several friends to please start a blog. I am a "blog stalker" *GRIN* myself so I was a little intimidated to put myself out there, but have decided, why not?? I love to scrapbook and stamp and who knows, maybe something I do will inspire someone else or at least bring a smile to their face. So, here it is - my little ole' blog with nothing much on it yet. Give me time though and I hope to have something to share. Until then, TTFN!