IT SEEMS I HAVE THE FLU

Well, I guess it was inevitable that I would get it since everyone including my DH has been sick the last couple of weeks. I started feeling bad last night during my workshop and I feel horrible today. So, nothing creative today(sorry!) but I do have the fact of the day!

FACT#13
I have been an avid scrapbooker for years but only been stamping for one. I have taught scrapbooking classes in several different stores all over the U.S. It is my first love but stamping has added a whole new dimension to my creations, one I am hoping to continue improving upon!

Well, I am off to bed to hopefully get some rest and feel better tomorrow. Have a fantastic weekend!

IT WAS A GREAT DAY!!! AND, I GOT TO STAMP!!

Hi all! Let me first start out by saying a warm thanks to all of you who took the time to wish me a Happy Birthday - it was really wonderful!! So, THANKS!!!! It really was a great day! I thought I would share how my day went, but if you don't want to read this stuff, you can skip down to my card below! My day started with me having coffee and reading blogs. I then went to Target where I used my gift card for some goodies. Then, off to the bookstore where I had Starbucks and browsed through all the crafting magazines they had on hand - LOL! I also walked through the entire store and got all the new books I have been wanting thanks to my wonderful mom who sent me a giftcard. Thanks mom - I love you!! When I got home, Tony had picked up the kids and this was on the table to greet me! He then shooed me into my stamp room so he could make dinner. And, what a dinner it was! I got filet mignon wrapped in bacon, jumbo shrimp, parsley potatoes, and asparagus with hollandaise sauce - YUMMY!!! It was so good! Then, I had a beautiful cake which was a marbled cake with chocolate frosting and it was soooo very good. We talked, laughed, and joked all through dinner, it was such nice family time. My daughter made me a scrapbook page with her picture and a card, so cute! And, the kids and my husband all got me a day at the spa!!! Talk about spoiled! Tony always makes me feel so special because he really goes out of his way to make things nice! It was a great birthday! And, here is a card I made while my husband was cooking me dinner - how nice to be told to go and stamp, I wish THAT could happen more often -LOL! I used the new SAB set Merci which I have to say is my favorite out of all of them. I love the whimsical, doodled look of these stamps and see myself using this one alot! I made a card for each SAB item we have so that I can show them at my workshop tomorrow night - you will get to see them one at a time, okay, maybe two - *wink*. Anyway, the card is very layered with the base being Chocolate Chip, then Close to Cocoa and our In- color card stock Soft Sky. I then added a strip of our yummy new DP Afternoon Tea which is in the new Occasions mini coming out on March 1st - I love it, it is gorgeous!!!! I love being a demo and getting to buy things ahead of time - it is AWESOME!!!! Anyway, I digress. I folded a corner of the strip down to show the other side and put a vintage antique brass brad in the corner. I stamped on the Soft Sky layer with the small heart in the Merci Set using the In-color Soft Sky Classic Stamp Pad. The butterfly image is layered on the same three colors of Card Stock and stamped on Naturals White in Brown Stazon. I then stamped the butterfly image again on the DP, cut it out and paper popped it up on dimensionals over the image. I love to paper piece and have not done it in a while and really liked how this turned out! I added four more vintage brads, and using the sentiment from the set, stamped it on Close to Cocoa in Brown Stazon, and punched it out with my Small Oval Punch, mounting it using Hodgepodge Hardware. And, I finally broke into my Pretties Kit, took the small flower and lightly rubbed it on my Soft Sky stamp pad, added a rhinestone and then I felt it was done. I love how this card came out because I was shooting for a soft whimsical look and feel to this card and think I accomplished that. What do you all think? Sorry this post is so long - I will do better tomorrow! Oh yeah, the fact of the day!

FACT # 12

I always wanted to have my kids while I was young and told Tony that I wanted all our kids born before I was thirty. Well, Kayla was born on 16 January 1997 and I turned 30 three weeks later - LOL!

GO ALEX, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Good morning all!! Yep, today is my birthday - 41 years ago, my mom brought me into this world and I am blessed enough to still be in it!! I love birthdays - all birthdays, in fact! I love the cake, the candles, the presents, the special dinner, all of it! And yes, I still like my birthday - I mean, hey, it's better than the alternative right???!!! So, today I am doing things for me - not quite sure what those are yet, but I am working on it! So, I have quite a lengthy post today but please hang with me because I have some great things to share - okay?? First off, the card - nope I did not use Happy Heart, I did not use Berry Bliss, and there are no jumbo eyelets....*sigh* but I love it anyway. Here it is!! Well, what do you think? I used the Boatloads of Love set which I totally love and do not use nearly enough! It appeals to the Navy part of me - LOL! Anyway, I used totally different colors for this card because I was ready to try something new and I really liked the way it turned out. The base of this card is Nearly Navy and is layered with Bravo Burgundy. The DP is from the new series Western Sky and I adore it!! I forsee me playing with this series a lot! I then layered with Bashful Blue and stamped the image in Black Stazon onto Naturals White Card Stock. I did use my corner ticket punch on all the layers, I just like the way it looks. The image I colored in with my stampin' pastels and blender pen. For some balance, I added the picture corners using my punch and then added Nearly Navy brads to each. The sentiment is also from this set as is the cloud, which is actually a separate stamp. I used my small oval punch for the sentiment and popped it up on dimensionals, adding a small piece of Bravo Burgundy Ribbon. Voila - done! Pretty simple, but I like it!!! And now, for the fact of the day!
FACT #11(holy moly, still 89 to go!!!)
In keeping with my birthday, I was born 41 years ago at 10:23pm on 7 February in Bremerhaven, Germany, to the most amazing mom in the world!!! Yep, my mom is THE BOMB!!! I love this woman, I mean she is incredible!! Anyways, I am not sure how much I weighed, but I know it was less than I weigh now - LOL! I had brown hair, brown eyes, and apparently I was a cranky baby who did not take to nursing very well but fell in love with the bottle at first sight! So, there you have it!
Please stay tuned - I am posting blog candy today in honor of my birthday! What do you think of that - MY birthday, and YOU get presents!!! Whoo Hoo!! I had said I would post at 10,000 posts but you all are so wonderful that we blew by that number in a matter of days since my last blog candy so I decided to wait until today - so check back later!!!!!!

MY LAST ONE LIKE THIS - I PROMISE!!

Good morning! I swear this is the last little bag I am going to show you but I had to make this one for my daughter who loves sparkly hearts and wanted a bag of her own! So, I made one more, this time with Kraft and Real Red Card Stock and the Happy Heart set which is soooo perfect for my daughter! I used dazzling diamonds to give the bag the "sparkle" she loves. I think it came out cute, but more importantly, Kayla loves it! So, now I have to think of something else for Valentines Day - LOL! Here are the deets:
Bag Recipe:
Paper - Kraft, Whipser White, and Real Red
Stamp Set - Happy Heart
Inks - Real Red Classic Stampin Pad, Black Stazon
Accessories - Stampin' Pastels, Blender Pen, Real
Red Stampin' Write Marker, Two-way Glue pen,
Dazzling Diamonds, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon

And now, the fact of the day!
FACT # 10:
As a certified fitness instructor, I have taught classes in gyms all over the world. These included step classes, funk and dance classes, kickboxing, and strength training. At one point, I was actually the Head Instructor for Gold's gym, coordinating all the group fitness classes and training other instructors (and yes, I was still in the Navy!). When Tony and I met, I was teaching NINE classes a week - YIKES!! I made enough money just teaching fitness classes to pay for our honeymoon cruise!!! Needless to say, I was in a lot better shape then than I am now - LOL!!!
Have a wonderful day!

WORKSHOP SAMPLES - FINISHED AT LAST!!

Good morning all! I finally finished the workshop samples for Friday and I am sooo excited that I know what I am doing now and just have to cut and prepare my kits!! I am definitely using the Happy Heart Set and decided to show the Pun Fun set as well since it has a Valentines stamp in it that I adore! So, here they are! I am going to have them do two cards and this little treat bag and then I will just demo a 6x6 scrapbook page (pop in to see that tomorrow!) The first card is one I have already shown you and can be seen here in this post. It is the elephant card and works perfectly with the rest of them. I am happy with how these came out - they are simple enough to have beginner stampers make but still pretty cute, doncha think?? It is hard to tell but the bag is actually Rose Red Card Stock, sorry the quality of the picture is not what it should be! I also scalloped the bag flap which is not done in the picture. And yes, we are using jumbo eyelets because (1) I love 'em! (2) They really add to a project, and (3) I get a chance to show them the Crop-A-Dile which is definitely my favorite toy next to my paper piercer! And of course, the DP I am using is Berry Bliss because it totally rocks!! I colored all my images using Stampin' Pastels and a blender pen - where else can you get a choice of all those colors at once??!! So, I would love to have your thoughts on these in terms of using them as workshop projects - what to you think????? So, anyhoo, I will leave the recipe below for these but if you have questions, please ask and I will answer! Fact #9 below:

Card Recipe: Bag Recipe:
Paper - Close to Cocoa, Berry Bliss DP, Paper - Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Rose Red, Whisper White Stamp Set - Happy Heart
Stamp Set - Happy Heart Accessories - Sticky Tape, White Gel Pen, Stampin'
Accessories - Ticket Corner Punch, Pastels, Black Stazon, Regal Rose Grosgrain Ribbon,
Crop-A-Dile, Jumbo Eyelets, Stampin' Ticket Corner Punch
Pastels, Rose Red Brads, Pretty in Pink
Grosgrain Ribbon, Brown Stazon

FACT #9
Growing up, I was an avid soccer player. I played for about ten years, playing Varsity in High School - in fact, I was a starter and played forward and halfback positions. When I joined the Navy, they had a team on the base I was stationed on and I played for them for two years as well before injuring myself and that was that! It was such a physical game, but I loved every minute of it! All of my kids have played but none of them have stuck with it, choosing basketball instead *sigh*. I still love to watch a really good game though!

LOOKEE WHAT I GOT AND FACT EIGHT

Hi y'all! I have been very busy doing life things today- you know, returning movies, cleaning, laundry, groceries, that kind of stuff. That means, I have yet to get to stamp anything BUT I will be in there tonight because I MUST get ready for my Friday workshop!! However, I did get the most gorgeous birthday cards in the mail today from my SBS sisters and I have to share them. They are fabulous! The first one is from Suzanne who has a fantastic blog and is currently offering blog candy so make sure you check it out! Isn't it cute - I am love with this hedgehog and now I have a card of my own with him - thanks so much Suzanne! The second one is from Natalie (aka Natty) and is so stinkin' cute, I love it! Make sure you check out her blog, she does some really amazing things over there! Thanks Natty! I feel so special that you all thought enough of me to send me a birthday card - that is sooooo cool!! And, for those of you who HAVE to know (I was going to keep it a secret) I am turning 41 (yes, 41!!!) on the 7th of February!! Aaackkkk!! How did this happen!! Last year I was so depressed turning 40, but this year does not seem to be bothering me as much! I guess I am resigned to being in my forties!!!! So, on to the fact of the day!
FACT #8
When people ask me what I do (or did) in the Navy, most respond with Wow! That is such a big accomplishment, I bet that has made you feel so proud! And yes, it does, BUT it is by no means my biggest accomplishment, at least not to me. That would have to be my children - Zach, Tyler, and Kayla who are the light of my life and my reason for being! I thank God every day for blessing me with these wonderful beings in my life! Zach is 18 now and away at the Naval Academy on his way to the start of his officer career in the Marine Corps (yep, he left the fold!) and has turned out to be such a fine young man! And Tyler, my 13-year old who still hugs me and tells me he loves me no matter where we are or who is around (yep, even in front of his WHOLE basketball team), and my baby Kayla who just turned 11 and is so much fun to spend time with and go shopping with and do all of those girly things with! Yes, they are the singular most important thing that has happened in my life (tied with marrying my husband) and I feel so lucky that every now and then I have to pinch myself - LOL!
So, that's the fact of the day - pretty sappy I know, but it's me so what can I say! I will be back tomorrow with some of my own creations to share!! Toodles!

BEATE'S WEEKEND SKETCH CHALLENGE AND FACT SEVEN

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Whoo Hoo! We are going over to my SILs house for a party which should be lots of fun! I tend to do way more socializing than watching the game, but I enjoy it anyway. Before I go, I wanted to post this card - I did Beate's sketch challenge and it was definitely challenging for me! It is a lot longer than most cards which proved to give me fits - I really was not sure what to do! I saw so many great cards, but I could not come up with one myself. Then, I decided to get out Stitched Exotics because it has such great flowers in it and I figured I could come up with something! And, here it is! The base of the card is Bravo Burgundy which I layered with Berry Bliss - all three of the layers are Berry Bliss, just different but coordinating pieces. I used my ticket corner punch on all of them and then I proceeded to faux stitch around them all (remember gals, no sewing done by Alex!!) using my mat stack and paper piercer with my stampin write markers. I stamped the 5-point flower on Bravo Burgundy in the same color ink and then punched it out with my 5-petal punch - love this! I then added jumbo pewter eyelets (are you surprised??) to the centers, pierced the tips, and added some accents with my white gel pen. I then stamped the smaller 5-petal flower on pretty in pink card stock, punched them out with my 1 1/4 inch circle punch, added a pink rhinestone brad to each and popped them up on squares of Rose Red Cardstock. All the flowers are adhered to the card using dimensionals. The sentiment is from the SAB set Lots of Thoughts and is stamped in Bravo Burgundy on Pretty in Pink Card Stock then punched out using my small oval punch. I added a little Rose Red Brad and then I was done. Whew! I actually do like the way this card turned out, but for some reason, it was difficult for me to get to the finished project. I wish card making came more easily to me - I guess I have to just keep on practicin' - LOL! Now, on to the fact of the day!
FACT #7
I have a very eclectic taste in music. I ADORE country music and have it on in the car most of the time, but I also love to listen to the 80s, and oldies such as Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Mommas and the Papas, and Credence Clearwater Revival. I get this from my dad who always listened to all kinds of music and often played songs from these groups on his guitar (he is VERY musically inclined!). I in turn have passed this on to my children who think nothing of knowing all the words to Puff the Magic Dragon - LOL! My oldest son often sends me songs that he thinks I will like by current artists he listens to like The All American Rejects, Creed, Coolio, and Five for Fighting. Don't laugh, these groups have some awesome music and I often stamp to it! So, there you have it - yes, I am a music nerd!!! Enjoy your Superbowl Sunday!!!!