TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY!!

Sorry, don't have a project to post today - I have been ferrying back and forth to the airport picking up everyone coming in for the ceremony tomorrow! I can't believe I am actually going to retire....I don't think it has hit me yet. Soooo, I am off AGAIN to the airport in a couple of hours to pick up my last houseguest and then off to bed I go because tomorrow is going to be a LONG day!!! Toodles!

LAST MONKEY CARD - I PROMISE!

Today was a REALLY busy day - we had practice for the retirement today and all I can say is I am glad we are practicing again tomorrow! I am sure by the time Friday gets here everything will be perfect, but today it was not even close!! I am at the point where I want the retirement ceremony to come and go - I am ready to be DONE!!! I am going on vacation and then will have a little time to just relax (can you stay scrapbooking and stamping) before I pack up the house here in Florida and head off to California to start my life as a retiree! I am really looking forward to getting settled there so that I can start my SU! business and share my love of this craft with everyone around me!!! So, I decided I needed to share another monkey card today - I know you are probably sick of them by now but I promise this is the last one! I really like this one - it was my personal favorite! I hope you like it as much as I do - the recipe is listed. I made this one for my guest speaker on Friday - I wanted a little more masculine feeling and the rich regals seem to say that IMO. So I decided to go for it and I think he will like it. He used to be my boss and I have really missed him this last year since he transferred but he is flying in from Washington DC just to speak at my ceremony. So, this card will accompany some really nice cigars as a thank you from me to him! Enjoy!
Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, and Summer Sun
Stamp Set: Monkey Business
Inks: Chocolate chip and Summer Sun
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Ribbon, Antique Gold Brad, Dimensionals, Corner Rounder, Giga and Mega Circle Punches (Marvy Uchida), yellow stickles, Paper Piercer

The Grand Speech and Another Monkey Thank You

Well, I finally finished my retirement speech that I will be giving on Friday! It was a lot harder to write than I thought it would be. There is so much you can say, but you want to narrow it down so that what you do say is meaningful and not lost in a long speech. So, I think I have it down to about ten minutes, which in my mind, is plenty long enough! I am looking forward to it being over - it's a lot of work retiring! But, I am getting excited because my husband (who has already been in CA for six months since that is where we are building our new home) my mom, and my best friend are all flying in on Thursday - whooohoooo! I can't wait to see everyone! Then, the ceremony on Friday followed by a big party at the house. Then, next week we are going on vacation and taking the kids to Disney for four days so it will be a busy two weeks.

So anyway, on to the card: it is another monkey card that I made as a thankyou for one of my staff members. I had fun making this one and I think it turned out really cute! (all products SU! unless otherwise noted). I used Old Olive Cardstock as the base, then used my ticket punch on Whisper White Cardstock and mounted it on to Summer Summer Cardstock using the punch again. I sponged old olive ink on the whisper white cardstock and then stamped the monkey from Monkey Business in Chocolate Chip. I stamped the trees and leaves from the Three Trees Set using Chocolate Chip and Garden Green ink. I then stamped bananas into the trees using Summer Sun Ink. The sentiment is garden green and part of the Monkey Business Set as well. I hand colored the grass in garden green maker because I thought it added personality (mine!) to the card. Lastly, I added a chocolate chip piece of ribbon because I feel no card is complete without at least some ribbon - LOL! I hope you like my little monkey card!

MONKEY THANK YOUS

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! It was really busy for me trying to get organized for my retirement next Friday. I spent time making some thankyou cards and then went to a wedding (my friends daughter) which was gorgeous! Anyway, still have a lot of running around to do but wanted to post one of the cards I made with one of my favorite SU! sets Monkey Business. I am soooo glad that set is not retiring because I foresee me using it a whole lot! Anyway, on to the card: (ALL products used are SU! unless otherwise noted) Sorry for the poor picture quality - my new camera is on its way, my son has my standby, and so I am using my old one. Anyway, I made the card base from old olive cardstock and faux stitched the edges in chocolate chip marker and using my paper piercer. I then cut 2" strips of chocolate chip cardstock and adhered them to the base. I punched my giga scalloped circle out of summer sun cardstock, stamped my monkey in chocolate chip ink and adhered the whole thing with a chocolate chip brad. Using my new (I could not resist) rectangle scallop punches, I punched the larger one using chocolate chip cardstock and the smaller one out of summer sun cardstock. I used dimensionals to adhere the smaller rectangle to the larger, stamped the sentiment in garden green ink, and added a small piece of maize ribbon. Then, I stamped bananas on to the strips and outlined them using yellow stickles. This card was easy and fun to make! It is really cute IRL - I wish the colors showed up better here. I hope you like it! I will try and post another one that I made later - if not, it will be tomorrow!

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'!