Still Alive

Yes, I am still alive. Life has been hectic since being chosen to adopt our baby girl. Our birth mom is due in just 6 weeks. I can't beleive how fast time has gone by!

I have kept myself busy with lots of quilting projects, a couple of cakes and shopping for baby! Up until tonight I hadn't stamped in literally months (other then the once a month stamp club which I haven't been to in a couple of months).

Well tonight, I found myself itching to stamp. Rather then just going to bed like I did the last time I wanted to stamp, I opted to stay up and "scratch the itch" to stamp so to speak.

I popped in the movie Sense and Senseability and stamped away! I finished 16 cards just as the movie ended. Not too shabby! Most of the cards are 1 layer cards, but I love the way they turned out. I will take them out in the morning and take pictures of them. In the meantime, I thought I would share with you some photos that my friend Ashley of Monarch Photography took of us with our birth mom. For her privacy we refer to her as K and ask that if you know her name, you do the same. We also don't show her face to protect her privacy as well. We have a lot of photos with her face, but like I said, for her privacy, here are a few for you to enjoy that don't show her face. These photos were taken on Memorial Day when K was 31 and a half weeks. She is now 34 weeks. Almost Baby Time!! Enjoy these photos and tomorrow I will have some cards to share with you!

Happy New Year!!!

I can't beleive it is 2010 already! That's just crazy!

It's around this time of year that people make resolutions. I normally don't like to make resolutions just because I know I won't stick to them. But this year, I thought I would make some crafting resolutions. I have been in a stamping funk for the last several months. And so to get myself out of it I decided to make resolutions.

First of all I'm joining a stamp club. Which I am totally excited about. My mom joined with me as well. I'm hoping it will help get my creative juices flowing again.

Next, I am determined to make at least 5 Christmas cards a month. This way I won't be scrambling at the end of the year when it comes time to mail out Christmas cards again. Each of the 5 will probably be the same. I don't like mass producing, but 5 isn't that many to mass produce. So I will have 10-11 different styles. :D

I also want to get my birthday box going again. A couple of years ago I made a birthday box, with index cards for each birthday and anniversary in our family. I made cards and put them in the box and then at the end of the month before I would get the cards ready to mail out for the next month. I stopped doing the birthday box right around the time we started getting ready to move. Now that we are settled I want to start that up again.

Another thing I want to do is just stamp. Stamp for fun, stamp for me. It's been a long time since I've done that. Stamping cards to put in my box of "hey, I need a card" cards. ;o)

The final thing, I need to come up with a way to raise funds for our adoption. Not sure if it will be stamping related. I know we could sell the ink storage units again. Hubby is starting college next week, in addition to his full time job, which is in addition to the Army Reserves, so he is rather busy right now and doesn't have the time to work in his shop. Plus he says it is waaaaaay to cold to be out there right now. So I need to figure something out. I'll let you all know so that if you want to help you can get the word out.

Things have been eerily quiet on my crafting blog these last several months and I'm determined to change that. I fell down the stairs early early Christmas morning and I'm still recovering from that. But I'm getting better every day. So be ready! Cause craft room, here I come!

Picture Tag

My Sister-In-Law Andrea tagged me. It's been a while since I have been tagged and frankly, this one looked like so much fun that I had to do it. Here are the rules:

1~ Go to your document/picture file

2~ Go to the 6th file

3~ Go to the 6th picture

4~ Blog about the picture

5~ Tag 6 friends

Anyone who knows me and/or has seen my house knows I like to be organized. Ask my husband. I reorganize my house probably once a month. Seriously, I try to find ways to make things function better. So I like to reorganize. (Does this translate into being a neat freak? Not really, I just like things clean, but I wouldn't say I'm a "neat freak") Anyhow, my pictures are no exception, they are organized into categories, and sub categories etc, so when the rules said to go to the 6th file and then to the 6th picture, I had to go a little further.

I went to the 6th file which was our family photos category, then to the 6th sub category file which was wedding photos, from there I had 3 files (bridal pictures, engagement pictures, wedding pictures) so I went to the 3rd one (since 3 twice equals 6 right?) which was my wedding photos. From there I found a 6th photo, now I want to share the pictures just before and after this one too (cause they are cute and I will use any excuse to show off my wedding pictures. *wink*)

So just before that 6th photo that I finally came to we see this:

My photographer was trying to get a photo of my sweet hubby and I with our parents. She told my father-in-law to scoot in a little closer. So he scoots in closer and hugs my mother-in-law. Rebecca (our photographer) realized where Jacob gets his affectionate ways from. So after she snapped that photo she took this one of us with our parents, (this one was the 6th photo that I was supposed to post in todays picture tag)After this photo she had Jacob and I kiss (again, we did a lot of kissing pictures, after all, it was our wedding day!) and have our parents act annoyed: And this final picture is my favorite in the line of photos with our parents. This time Rebecca asked the parents to kiss and for us to be shocked. Now, my stepdad right after Rebecca told us what to do for the photo asked why we would be shocked that they were kissing. And then he said, "after all, we are married", then he grabs my mom and plants one on her, so my look of shock, is real! I hope you enjoyed my little story through pictures. As for who I will tag, I don't know if any of them will do it, but just in case they want to, I want to tag, my mother-in-law Alice Ann, my sister-in-law Ruth, my other sister-in-law Janele, and my friends, Robyn, Lydia, and of course, Shelly.

Would you let your kid do this?

Today was church. Boy was it a doosy. I almost didn't go because I was hurting so much. My back was killing me before I even left the house. By the end of 1st hour I was in major pain. By the end of the 2nd hour I could feel the fluid pressure building up in my spinal cord. Now having Syringomyelia, I know, fluid pressure is not a good thing, the step after that is blacking out, which has happened twice to me. But silly me decided to try and stay for the 3rd hour anyway. Wrong move!

I was sitting there in Relief Society (a meeting for just the ladies) and this other sister (we call each other brother and sister in our church) came and sat behind me with her two and a half year old. He should have been in nursery but wasn't. He was apparently acting up in the nursery so she brought him to RS. No big deal... until... the kid starts kicking the back of my chair! So much so in fact that he is actually moving the chair. Seriously, this kid wasn't big, he was pretty little, but yet he is kicking my chair and moving it! I'm not a small girl! So those were some powerful kicks to be doing that. What does his mom do? Nothing! She laughed and thought it was funny. O.k. back up a sec. He first started shaking my chair. She giggled and told him that wasn't nice. So he laid down and started kicking. She did at one point tell him that if he didn't stop she would send him back to class. O.k. I don't know about you, but nursery is a place where the kids get to play with toys for 2 hours while their parents are in other classes. It's not supposed to be a threat or punishment! Did she ever tell him to stop kicking my chair, or take him out? Nope! She just let him continue and when she noticed he was moving the chair with his He-Man kicks she laughed! So with each kick, I have sharp shooting pains going up and down my back. Luckily I didn't pass out. I was waiting for it because like I said, it has happened twice before when the fluid pressure got too bad. I did start seeing spots. I think if I had to sit there for any longer I probably would have passed out. By the end of the 3rd hour the pain was excruciating and unbearable!

Why did I just sit there and not get up you ask? Because, get this, I was afraid of offending her! She doesn't come to church that often, in fact it was the first time I had seen her there in a month. So I thought if I offended her she may not come back for a while. So I just sat there. In retrospect maybe I should have just got up and left, but like I said, I didn't want to offend her.

After the disastrous 3rd and final meeting, I endured the 30 minute car ride home. Not easy when you're already in excruciating pain. But I got home and had a hard time moving. I tried to do as much as I could in the way of getting things for myself. My hubby has a hard time seeing me like that so I try not to show it when I am in that much pain. He knew I was in pain but I think I hid the extent of the pain pretty well. I don't like taking my pain meds so I took 4 advil and hoped that would dull the pain a little. It didn't. After dinner I laid down on the couch with my heating pad. That did help slightly and I fell asleep.... for 4 hours! I didn't wake up until almost 10p.m.! So now here I sit, 12:30 a.m. and unable to sleep. Oh, and I am in almost as much paind now as I was by the end of that 3rd meeting.

Seriously, the next time I decide that I can make it through all 3 hours of church when I am already in a lot of pain before even leaving the house, just please, somebody kick me! Oh, wait... just have the little boy kick my chair again! *rolling eyes* Here's hoping next Sunday will be better....

Randomness

Why is it that I relish being able to work on multiple projects? Is it because I'm crazy? Probably! Is it because I have time on my hands? For sure... Is it because I get bored easily? Most definately!



Right now I am working on several projects. My hubby's birthday is in a few weeks and he asked me on Sunday if I was going to make him a cake. I asked him if he wanted me to make him a cake. He again asked the same question, was I going to make him a cake. I took that to mean that yes, he wanted a cake for his birthday. So I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. He answered by simply saying Chocolate Fondant. I asked him what kind of actual cake did he want under the Chocolate Fondant. He stated that he didn't care as long as there was chocolate fondant on the outside. Should I be a smart alec and make Chocolate Fondant and then put it in a cake pan and give that to him so that there is no cake, just chocolate fondant? I'm kidding. I will make the cake covered in chocolate fondant. My friend Belinda has a yummy recipe for said fondant that tastes like fudge. yum! So I will have to email her to see if she still has the recipe.



Another project that I am working on is of course baby blankets and receiving blankets. I realize that it may be a few years before we are actually chosen by a birth mother. I just would like to be working on something in the meantime. I have a bit of a control issue. Right now there isn't much in the adoption process we can be doing, so I figured I would go ahead and be proactive (in otherwards, have control over something in this whole crazy, stressful, wonderful, amazing process) and make blankets and such. Because, after all, it may be a few years, but it may also only be a few months before we are chosen. It happened with two people we know at church. Both couples were chosen very quickly. 1 couple was chosen with in 2 weeks of being approved for adoption, the other was chosen with in a few months. Although we know that it happening that quickly is not normal, but just in case.... Speaking of which, we have our very first appt. with the case worker on Friday. YAY!! Then we get to do mounds and mounds of paperwork and interviews and home studies. We are told that should only take a month of so depending on how quickly we get the paperwork done, which hopefully we will get on Friday as well.



Yet another project is the Christmas stockings for hubby and I. Since I have my daughter's done (had that done before this last Christmas of course) I can now work on the ones for the two of us. I will do one for the baby after we get him or her. But I don't have to have that one done until his or her 2nd Christmas. I want to have a baby's first Christmas stocking for the first Christmas. :)



I am also working on some scrapbooking and cardmaking as well. The scrapbooking is for our adoption profile. We will need to have that done in a month or so, as soon as we are approved, so I am getting a head start. Although I do have plenty of years to catch up on with other scrapbooking as well.



My photography is going well. I am getting more and more ideas. I am hoping to do a fundraiser for our FRG (Family Readiness Group, for hubby's Company- it's a military thing) where I will take family photos and put them on a disc and give each families pictures to them on the disc along with a copyright release so that they can then print any of the photos they want in whatever size they want along with posting them online as well. All my time and effort is donated. The money will go 100% to the FRG. But this way the FRG will be able to raise money and I will get photography experience taking family portraits. I went out today scouting for places to do said photos. Sadly, WSMR where I live is very dull and not in the slightest bit picturesque. So the hunt for a location continues. I find that photos on location are nicer then with a plain backdrop, but given with the surroundings I have to work with, I may have no choice but to go with a plain background.

I am also working on putting together the final details for the sale of ink storage units. The plans are all done and put together. I am just trying to figure out what we will be charging and all the details. But hopefully I will have that hammered out soon and up on this blog within the next week.

Anyhow, enough randomness for today. Tomorrow I plan to work on a schedule for myself so I can be a little more organized with this chaos that is currently in my head. ;) I hope to get some projects done to show you too in my stamp room. :)

Labels and Lists

I have been doing some work to my blog. Did you notice? I am working on labeling each of my posts (it's going to take a while since I have been keeping this blog since 2006) At the end of my posts you will see a label, or a category for that post. That way if a post is stamping related and you want to see more stamping related posts just click at the bottom of that post on the label you want and it will pull up all my other posts that are under that same category. Clear as mud? I just figured that since this blog is about so many different things such as stamping, cake decorating, the newly added photography, not to mention random posts and personal posts and all the other crafty things I do, this way it would be easier to find what you may be looking for on my blog. Seriously, clear as mud?

Now, I also have added new and updated blog lists. I added the blog lists that show not only the blogs I like but also when they were updated last. How cool is that? I love that blogger offers that.

Anyhow, I am still working on the label part and I have to update the friends and family blog list but I hope you enjoy what I have done far. :)

Thank you Luna!!

So back in August I made and posted a card for the VSN on SCS. The card was supposed to be based on our favorite children's book. I had 3 favorite books, one was Good Night Moon (but I figured a lot of people would do that one), One that I thought was called The Highway Takes A Vacation (which I couldn't find proof of so I couldn't do that book for a card) and Stand Back Said The Elephant, I'm Going To Sneeze. I chose Stand Back to base my card on. Here is the original post: http://mystampingworld.blogspot.com/2008/08/stand-back-said-elephant-aka-vsn.html

Well, the other day I got a comment to that post from a lady by the name of Luna who had gone searching for the book The Highway Takes a Vacation. The only thing she found online was my blog post. So she did some more searching and she found that she and I both were remembering the name wrong. The name of the book is actually "The Runaway Road" by Stanley Mack. http://www.amazon.com/runaway-road-Stanley-Mack/dp/0819310174

Thank you Luna! I absolutely loved this book growing up and I really was sad that I couldn't find it. My hubby and I are in the process of adopting and I'm so excited that I can now get this book for our soon to be little one. :) Who knows, maybe even my daughter will like it. Sure she is a teenager but this book is timeless! Thanks for making my day Luna! :D

ASB Design Team--- Open Calls!

We're making changes on A Shade of Blue, and we want your talent!



As of January 1st Blue Heaven (ASB's Design Team) will be going public! We're looking for talented Stampers, Scrapbookers and Digital crafters for our new Blue Prints teams.



Requirements

Design team members will be asked to make at least 2 samples each month for a project or product that they've been given.

Designers must stay active participants on ASB, posting and commenting on a regular basis.

Designers are asked to participate in challenges as often as they can, and host a random challenge once a month.



Perks

Design team members will regularly receive packets of free goodies from our monthly sponsors to create projects with!

Design team members will have help in submitting their work to magazines, e-zines and other publications to help build their resumes.





The design team will be divided into 4 new teams:

Stamping

Scrapbooking

Altered Arts (I'm the team leader of this one)

Digital Art



You are welcome to apply for more than one team as long as you can fulfill the commitments should you be selected.

If you are interested in applying for a Blue Prints team, please upload 5 samples of your work into the Design Team Call album in the Gallery.

Be sure to upload into the album for the team(s) you are applying for.

All applications must be submitted by November 30 2007.

At that time the mod squad and Blue Prints Team Leaders will select the new teams, and an announcement will be made the following week.

We can't wait to see your submissions!

Black Background

Scrapjanny's weekend challenge on ASB this last weekend was to do a card using black as your background color. I immediately thought of a technique my friend Jenn showed me a year or so ago called the chalkboard technique. I couldn't quite remember how to do it during my late night stamping session of making this card so I improvised. I promise, this card looks waaay better in person. Not so dusty.

(All Supplies Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)

The first thing I did was take my Basic Black cardstock and stamped it using In Full Bloom. I bought IFB three years ago because I loved what the ladies on SCS were doing with it. I thought, I can do that! So I bought it and have since used it 4 times including this card. I just can't get it to work for me. That'll teach me to give in to enableing huh? Nah! lol

Anyhow, I stamped the images randomly using Craft White ink. Just before the ink was completely dry (cause I'm inpatient) I took my daubers and applied Stampin Pastel chalkes to the images. I did this in a swirling motion because it covered faster (I said I was inpatient didn't I?). Then I realized that by doing this it made way too much dustiness (is that a word?) on the black so I promptly got out a swiffer cloth and dusted the excess chalk. Not like you can tell from the photo but trust me, it doesn't show this much IRL and it was waaay worse before I dusted it. Anywho, then I added some yummy green grosgrain ribbon with pink polka dots to the card. I think I got the ribbon at Hobby Lobby but who knows. LOL Then I stamped From The Heart from the Holidays and Wishes set using White ink on the BB cardstock and mounted it on Pink Passion CS. Added that to the card and decided to mount the whole card to a pink passion base.

*Off topic Alert* LOL This card is a total departure for me because I hate, and I do mean hate, as in loathe the color pink. I think that comes from being a red head when I was little. When I was younger it was a bad thing for red heads to wear pink. Ecspecially bright pink. *sigh* I hated pink so much that when my DD was a baby she very little pink in her wardrobe and what she did have was certainly not bought be me. I have gotten over some of my hatred of pink. I used to hate it times 5. Now it's just times 2, so I've gotten better. Maybe someday it will just be a dislike. LOL O.k. I know, totally off topic. What can I say, I had an energy spurt that lasted a few hours and unpacked more and cleaned and organized my kitchen last night to include scrubbing scuff marks off the floor with my friend the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. (Love that product!) So it sent my back into spasms so I had to take my pain meds which are still in my system and making me loopy. So that's my excuse. LOL As if I needed another one huh? O.k. I'll stop for now.

I promised a few posts ago another contest to celebrate 100 posts on my blog. And now here I am 106 posts and no contest. I haven't forgotten. I have been working out the finer details. I will post about that within the next day or two. So stay tuned. For now, it's time to go baby shopping with my very good friend who is expecting in a few months! YAY!!

Circle Journal

So some of my friends and I are doing a circle journal. We each got to choose what we wanted our journal to be on. We send it to the next person on the list and that person adds to the journal using the theme and when done they will send it to the next person. This goes on until it gets back to the original person. Clear as mud? lol


So for mine, I chose the theme Recipes of Friendship. Corny huh? The book will be a collection of recipes from my friends. I went to a friends house today and I sat down (after finishing the swaps for my swap group) and I made the cover for my book. I started the sign-in pages and such for the book but messed up so I have to do those again. But when I get those done I will post pictures. But for now, here is my book:

(All Supplies from Stampin Up!)

For this I used the 5x5 On Board Journal and I covered it using paper from the Always Artichoke collection. I chose the polka dots and stripes. I used the spiral punch to punch the holes for the spiral coils on the side. I used adhesive to attached the paper to the journal and then I added some white grosgrain ribbon in the center to tie the two patterns together. Then I stamped the chef from Voila onto Whisper White CS using Staz-On Black ink. I like to use Staz-On when I watercolor because it doesn't run. If I use other kinds the water will make the black ink smear. Then I added the spagetti bowl from Voila To Go from the new catty. I watercolored it all using the watercolor crayons, perfect plum for the chefs top and hat, Basic Gray for the pants, Going Gray for the tray, Always Artichoke for the scarf and bowl, and then Blush Blossom for the pasta and Really Rust for the meatballs. I watercolored it all using the aquapainter. Then mounted that to Perfect Plum cardstock and mounted that at an angle to my book to add visual appeal to my image.

I used to only use the blender pens or most recently a watercolor brush when I would watercolor. I hated the aquapainter when I first used it at a workshop because I had a hard time controlling the water flow. Then I got a kit (I think it was one of the simply sent kits) that came with an aquapainter and can I just tell you, I LOVE the aquapainter. I haven't used my watercolor brush or my blender pens in ages! It took a few trys to get the hang of it, LOL but now I love love love it!

Anyhow, I will be adding ribbon in Purple, Artichoke, and White to the spirals but that will come when the book is complete with all the pages.

I'd like to thank Belinda for letting me use her spiral punch and such. Now I have to buy that too. LOL I didn't think I would want it but now I do. *wink*

Anyhow, I also stamped something else late last night but it's upstairs and I'm too lazy to go get it right now. ROFL! So I will be posting that tomorrow (actually since it's 1a.m. that would be in the morning).

Unpacking is going o.k. I have only done a little bit. Not nearly as much as I was hoping but oh well. My sweet friend Jenn is lending me her DD this Saturday to help me get more done. Anyhow, that's it for now. Night all!

A week off...

I have a great technique planned for these week but right now I am still trying to get the last of my house unpacked. So I have decided to take this week off from the technique. But next week I will have a great one for you! I promise. It is one that someone has recently asked me for directions on. *wink* I'm going to try to fit in a little stamping this next week so that my blog isn't completely empty though. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

100 posts, I CRACK myself up!

LOL I had to come up with something clever for the title of my 100th post! Can you believe it? Boy do I talk alot! LOL So, in honor of my 100th post, I have been cooking up another contest. What I'm going to do yet, I don't know but I will have more details later this week. In the meantime, why does 100 posts CRACK me up? Well, it doesn't really, just thought it would be a clever title to tie in my 100th post with today's technique. I know, I know, I need to get out more. *wink* So, today is the 22nd week for the technique challenge, what did I choose for you?



One that I absolutely love to do, but rarely get around to. CRACKed glass! (does the CRACK myself up part make sense now?) I'm making myself roll my eyes, can't imagine how all of you are going to get through this post. LOL O.k. so, on to business, Here is how you do cracked glass:



First, you want to stamp your image on your cardstock, then you will color it as desired. Next, apply versamark over the entire piece of cardstock. Next sprinkle your Glassy Glaze or UTEE over the piece. If you don't have Glassy Glaze or other UTEE, use crystal clear embossing powder. Cover entire image and tap off excess powder. Heat the powder with your heat gun until melted. while it is still hot, add another layer of the Glassy Glaze or UTEE and heat again. If you are using the Glassy Glaze or UTEE you will want to do this 3 or so times, if you are using regular embossing powder you will need to do this step around 6 times. (If at any time the previous layer is cooled before you can get the next layer on, it's o.k. either reheat it or add more versamark -this is what I do) once you have enough layers and you have a completely smooth surface put your piece in the freezer for a minute or two. Afterwards take your cardstock out and carefully bend the cardstock in various directions. Your piece should now crack. Once you get the look you want, finish your card as desired.



I had someone ask me how I keep my CS from rolling up when I heat emboss it, here is my answer: I use a pair of Bamboo tongs to hold onto the CS. I always leave an extra little bit on at the end that I don't have the EP on so that I have that to hook the Bamboo tongs onto (keeps my fingers from burning) and then I am constantly moving the heat gun around. The moving helps the CS not to curl as well. A little curling will happen, I'm not sure there is anything that can help that but all of what I posted above does help cut down on the curling.



I hope that makes sense to all of you.



Here is my sample:

My sweet friend Jenn let me come over one day (since all my stuff was packed) and let me use her stamp stuff to create this fun card. I'm sorry about the darkness of the picture. My scanner doesn't seem to work on my new computer so I had to take a picture but since the flash always glares on the "glass" I just turned the flash off so it turned out a little dark. But I promise, this is so pretty IRL.

Progression

Well, I am about 3/4 of the way unpacked. O.k. that may be stretching it just slightly, but it's somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4. I stamped a little yesterday. I had to unpack my stamp stuff because a friend and customer came over and asked me for some help with some announcements she is doing. I will post pics of the sample we came up with later. I'm thinking tomorrow will be a day of unpacking again and then this weekend, I plan to spend at least a few hours stamping. I have kind of lost the desire to stamp lately. It's been over 6 weeks now since I packed my stamp stuff at my old house. I decided today, that I just need to hop back to it. So I'm not promising my work this weekend will be any good, but I will have something to show you. I have to prove that I haven't forgotten how to stamp after all. LOL

Getting Settled

well, the move last week went o.k. On Tuesday a friend came over in the morning to help pack up the rest of the odds and ends. She brought her three kids whom we had load some things in my van and her H3. Things like clothes and breakables and such. Then we brought them over to my new place and the helped me bring everything inside. After I gave them a tour of the new place of course. Tuesday afternoon I went and picked up my UHaul. Another friend took me to go get it since I couldn't drive my van and the UHual. I may be talented, but not that talented. ROFL! I got there and realized I may need proof of insurance to get back on the military post. So I gave my keys to my sweet friend and she went to go get the proof of insurance while I drove to the gate I needed to be to in order to get in. She would meet me there. I got there only to discover that that gate was closed and I had to go to different gate. So I tried twice to call my friend. Couldn't get a hold of her. Figured she would see the sign saying the gate was closed and she would meet me at the gate I had to go to now. So I get to the other gate, try to call her again, no answer. I go inside to get my pass allowing me on post and find out I don't need the proof of insurance. So I try to call my friend again. No answer. So I decide I can't wait because there people at my house waiting to load the truck. So I get to my house only to realize, shoot! She has my keys, all my keys, including my house key for both houses. Crud! What was I going to do! I tried to call her again. No answer. (She forgot to take her cell with her) So I have one of the people who is there to help move things take me over to the housing office. It will be open for one more hour. So I go to the housing office and thankfully they have a spare key. So I was able to let everyone in to load the truck. About 10 minutes late my friend gets there and apologizes and so did I. 4 people were there to help load the truck. It was smaller because that was all they had so we had to make two trips but we got it done. Then on Wednesday, another sweet friend sent her kids over to help me paint. We are aloud to paint our rooms any color we want but we have to cover them over with a nuetral color before we leave so they were there to help me do that. Then on Thursday some ladies from my church came over and helped me clean. We had our final inspection to sign out of the old quarters on Friday and passed with flying colors. It's been a heck of a week. On Friday afternoon I went to a friends house to pick something up, we ended up going out to dinner and then hanging out at her house till it was time to go buy the new HP book. I have been reading it off and on ever since. *grin* I am a little over half way through. Would be more but my back has been in so much pain that I have been having to take my pain meds. So needless to say I have been falling asleep while reading. That and I keep going back and reading more and more. Love this book! It's the best yet! Sad that it's the last in the series but she sure did end it with an awesome book! Anyhow, back to reading.

Bare with me

I know, I know, it's monday night and still no technique. I needed to ask you all to bare with me for a couple of weeks. While I thought I would be able to post a challenge today, I was wrong. I was supposed to get my keys for my new place tomorrow morning. So when I called first thing this morning to confirm, they told me that my new quarters were ready and I could come get the keys today! So I started moving in today. My internet is being shut off here tomorrow morning and will be turned on at the new place sometime on Wednesday but I will be so busy for the next week or so that I won't be able to post until probably close to the 1st of August. But, I promise you, when I start posting again, it will be good! I was walking around my new place today and was surprised to see a HUGE closet in the upstairs hallway that will be perfect for my crafts. I had feared that they would have to be in a corner in my room or something. But instead they will be in this closet. So I am very excited about that and the hamsters in my brain are already running on their wheels giving me ideas for new projects to share. So bare with me my faithful blog reading friends. *grin*

Slight change

O.k. so your probably wondering why it's almost 10p.m. CST on friday and I haven't posted the weekly technique yet. There is a very good reason for it. This morning Anne, the owner of ASB IM'ed me and asked me if she could change my challenge day. So, the day for my techniques will no longer be Friday's. But just so you have a post to read anyway, I thought I would post some pictures of what I have been up to lately. As some of you know, I am moving next week from our current quarters:

(you can see where ours begins at the middle of the porch to the drain pipe, that's our whole place. *rolling eyes* This is an old picture too)

To new quarters:

(you can see where ours begins at the garage and ends in between the porch on the left) The new one is a much nicer and newer neighborhood. People more our age and not to mention, the house is a little bigger. AND! we will have a garage with tons of storage space too! I can't wait, 4 more days till I get the keys! In the meantime, here is what I have been working on. You can see what my stamproom looks like now. It is a stamproom turned storage rooms for all the boxes. The pictures don't do it justice. It has way more boxes and furniture then what you can see.
So now you know why there has been no stamping going on at my house. But, like I said, 4 more days and I will get the keys to the new place and will get to move all my stuff in, clean this place, clear these quarters and then unpack the new place and get back to stamping. *grin*

Blog Tag!!

So I got Tagged by Susan over at Blue Robot. What a fun blog she has! She has got the most darling waterfall ATC's. Go check em' out! And today she has got a fun tutorial on how to make umbrella cards! Too cute! Thanks Susan for the TAG!

O.k. so here's the deal, I have to tell you 7 random things about myself. So here goes!

1. I got an email from my brother's ex girlfriend on my myspace acct. I haven't talked to her in 18 years! Small world huh!

2. In addition to stamping, I also like to make ceramics from start to finish. I do everything from pouring the slip into the mold all the way to painting them after they have been fired.

3. I love checking out real estate sites and dreaming about the house DH and I will someday buy.

4. I am a family support group leader for my husband's company. (o.k. so some of you know that, but this is harder then I thought)

5. I am getting satelitte TV and 5 MEG DSL at my new house (o.k. so some of you knew that too but, it's hard to think of things!)

6. My new favorite TV show is Army Wives on Lifetime. (O.k. so some of you.... alright, you get the picture)

7. I had a dog names Dusty who was a miniture Lassie when I was little.


O.k., wow! That was hard!

O.k. now, I have to tag 7 others:

1. Belinda over at Belinda's Stamping Space. Belinda is a huge source for knowledge and is awesome! It helps that she and I are friends IRL.

2. Jenn over at Jenn's Stamping Corner. Jenn is my wonderful friend who let me stamp at her house the other day and is absolutely awesome! She's my friend IRL too!

3. Kristin over at Artfully Inking. Kristin is awesome! She is the one I told you about who has her own stampline now! Her Turtle and Friends are to die for! I had the fortunate experience to meet her in Dec.

4. Kathy over at Kathy's Kreations. She is one of my blog readers and she has an awesome site too!

5. Anne over at Storm's Cellar. Anne is an awesome lady! She is the owner and creator of A Shade Of Blue.

6. Toni at Stamping Diva . If you haven't checked out Toni's blog, you're missing out! Seriously!

7. Cyndi at My Little Stamping Heaven. Cyndi and I have been chatting for about a year now online. She is so talented.

O.k. so there you have it!

Artful Inkables!

O.k. so I have been meaning to post and tell you all about this awesome new stamp designer for ages now and I keep forgetting. My mind has been elsewhere to say the least. Well, I have 2 minutes before the new season of Big Brother starts so I thought now would be a good time to post. My dear friend Kristin has designed her own stamps. She is amazing! You have to check them out! Her blog Artfully Inking has some samples of her new stamps. You can see them all at Starving Artistamps. Be sure to check out the Turtle and Friends in the Critters Plates and You know I HAVE to get that Elephant to make a card for DH. *grin*

Big Brother's on! *grin*

I'm baaaack!

O.k. so I took more then just a vacation from the challenges. I took an actual vacation. LOL I went home to Utah to visit family and friends, but most of all to visit my daughter who just turned 12 on Wednesday. Which is why I went home. I wanted to be with her on her birthday. She has just grown up so much. I came home though to some issues at home. We apparently had some rather large storms while I was gone and due to power surges and yes, lightning, I have to replace a few items. One of them is that I have to replace my computer. A dear friend let me borrow her laptop until I can get a new computer so I can still stay in touch with everything and everyone. This same friend is really good with computers so she is going to help me find a new computer. *grin* Payday is Friday so I plan to get one then. Then I will be able to create and upload and update more on my blog. For now, here is a picture of me and my daughter that my brother in law took while I was at home.