FYI....

This is a card I made for a Unity Stamp Co. Swap over at SplitCoastStampers.com
Supplies: Have a Diva Day Kit by Unity Stamp Co.; Prismacolor Pencils, Copic Spica Clear Pen, Brilliance Ink, Palette Hybrid Ink, PP is by The Paper Studio & CS is by DCWV, Threading Water Punch by Fiskars

This is another one for that same swap (I was in two groups.)
Card Base is from Target; Unity Stamp Co. Kit Echo Chic, Distress Inks,Square Nestibilaties, DCWV Cardstock, Quickutz Tab

Birthday Card for a TS'r. Supplies: Handmade Blue Paper (have no clue), Ribbon is Heidi Grace, Sequins unknown, PP is The Paper Studio, Ink is Momento, Margartia & Saying Stamps are by A Muse.

Card for another TS'r. Supplies: Magenta Ladybug Stamp, DCWV Cardstock, Copics to color, Copic Spica Glitter Pens, Hero Arts Love Stamp, Square Nestabilities

Then this was one of the first images I colored with my Copic Markers. I absolutely love those things. It is CRAZY! I only used two greens and he came out so beautiful! Most of these things were from my stash.
Supplies: Turtle by Stamping Bella, Green PP - Wordsworth, Polka-dotted Paper - CTMH, Ribbon is Offray, Hello Sticker is from Michael's $ bin, Corners Rounded with EK Success Punch.


So there are all my newest creations to share. I still need to upload my projects from the retreat I recently went on, but that will have to wait. I am preparing a new blog. This one will remain open for a while. Not sure if I will keep this as a blog about our little family, my OCD or what. But I will be "journaling" posts here. My new blog will be ART ONLY. Links where I find stuff, etc. I will not say that nothing personal will NEVER jump over onto the other blog, but we'll see.

I am trying to prepare a fun, creative place for you all to visit, so please stay tuned for the link when I post it. And look for changes around here as well. :o)

update...

lots of photos to share, but don't have the patience today. It has been a busy couple of weeks around here. I went on the annual Tennessee Stampers Stamping Retreat, then Friday night we had the annual St. Jude Auction. So I have been packing, unpacking, making baskets, shrink wrapping and more. And feeling very odd at a Chili's function, when we no longer "belong". Very odd...

Also I had an allergic reaction to some meds and didn't have the MOST fun Saturday night the weekend of the TS retreat. I am feeling better now, but not all back to normal. Amazing how you can take a drug for only a week, but it takes longer than that to get out of your system. OH well.....

Remember to cherish your friends, and even though it seems hard to find the time sometimes, ALWAYS remember that you have to give to get. You have to be there for your friends, if you want them to be there for you. And remember that sometimes we don't all know we need that support, so be aware of your friends and their changing lives, and that they might need you even when it isn't convenient. Yes it takes effort to be a friend, but it should be welcomed effort because of what that person means to you. Life is so fleeting and we need to remember to tell the ones who love us, and those we love how much they mean to us.

Lots of Pictures to Share...

Here we are at J. Alexander's on our anniversary. We usually have the typical "sitting at the table" picture. But we asked them to take it in front of the cool wine rack! Dinner was SOOOOOOO yummy. WOOHOO 8 years!

These next two pictures are of some things I embroidered to donate to my mom's church for a fundraiser they are having. They are making up baskets. I sent more than this, but the only things I made/embroidered were the onsies and of course I made the bows. :O)


This first card is from Sue on my stamp group - so sweet of her to remember me on my wedding anniversary!!! I love the bicycle!!!

And one more card from Tisha on my stamp group. LOVE is so cool b/c it is a piece of wood!!! Thanks for thinking of us Tisha!

Ok now it is 2am, and I have to go to bed, I have to be up at 5am, well Ia m supposed to be - to get the yard sale ready. YIKES!!!

Keith's new Ride

It is a 1994 Eagle Summit/Mitsubishi Gallant. Yes, I know sounds weird, but it is one of those where they made it and put an American name on it so they could sell it here. It has a Mitsubishi key. So funny! It is 2 door, gets 40 miles to the gallon, has GREAT A/C!!! So great - our insurance has dropped 1/2 the price, and We will save over $800.00 a month in gas. WOWOWOWOOWOWOWOOWOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW! The Excursion is FOR SALE! WOOHOO! We've named him "Stealth" b/c he is SOOOOOOOOO stealth. We got some mats and seat covers last night b/c the seats are a little banged up, but it rides good - it looks good. I mean we TOTALLY got a great deal on this car, and are so thankful to have it!!!

Here is a picture of my HAPPY PLACE! Keith bought me this swing when we poured the patio. He got it all put together, now it is MY place. I love to swing. I have ALWAYS wanted a swing, but never liked the styles we saw, until this one. I LOVE IT! And with all the stress of the ID fraud and stuff, I have been SWINGING A LOT at night while the girls play in the yard. And today is the PERFECT day to chill in the swing and relax while Keith is at work.

So here's to saving money and relaxing!!!

My altered dresses

These dresses started as little sheets from a notepad that Kathie (from TS) sent to me for a swap. I made three: sent one to Kathie, one to another TS'er, and kept one for myself. As soon as I opened the envelope I knew these had to be COVERED in flowers. So I went straight for my flower basket. It was so fun to dump them all over my desk and "paw" through them to find co-ordinating flowers. I got them sent off last Wednesday with my row houses & they seem to be arriving at their new homes. I also received an altered dress from Connie - very pretty! Another long day in the people like to hack into my private information life, and forgot to add that Thursday night as we were leaving our favorite Mexican restaurant (where we go on Thursdays to play Trivia) Keith's truck would not start. So since Friday I have not be able to go anywhere. Thank goodness for my MIL who picked me up on Friday and took me around to get all this mess straigtened out. Truck is off to the shop tomorrow, I am off to therapy (I am going to get my money's worth tomorrow b/c I have A LOT to say about a A LOT of things and I might need an extra hour to get through all my anger and hurt I am feeling from a lot of different places right now). And hopefully we'll get to the new PetSmart with our free $5.00 coupon with Mazie & Marlie to show them off.

it's sunday...

and I am tired. Friday morning I realized that about $2500.00 was about to be deducted from our account, that I had NOT asked to be deducted. I froze the account and started the journey of people stealing your id. Then Bank of America ticked me off, so now all my money from checking and savings is in my wallet - local bank here we come. I have changed email. closed accounts, changed passwords and usernames and so much more I cannot even think about right now. I am nervous, I am anxious, I am TIRED.
"Sometimes life is hard to bear when a friend is just not there."
---William Franc

Unity Stamp Company

I discovered this new company on Patter Cross' blog a few months ago. Click on today's title to go to their site. Their stamps are awesome, and SOOOOOOO reasonable. I also get their Kit of the Month. July was my first kit, and WOW - what awesome stamps and what a DEAL. Plus they are EXCLUSIVE to kit members only. Here are two awesome things I have made lately with their stamps.
This kit is Delectable Delights. I stamped the three images with Momento Tuxedo Black Ink. Then I colored each image with Copic Markers. The bow on the Lollipop is colored with a silver Prisma Pencil. And then the Sprinkles on the Cone are Glittler Glue. I inked the edges of the white cardstock with Distress Ink, mounted it onto pink, then onto a brown Card. The ribbon is Heidi Grace, and I doodled around the edge of the Ribbon with the White Signo Pen. I stamped "Have a Sweet Day" in Brilliance Moonlight White Ink.

This is an altered Row House I made for a swap on Tennessee Stampers. I made 24 of them. I cut the blanks with my Klic-N-Kut, which was nice, b/c the machine did ALL the work for me!!! I layered three patterned papers by The Paper Studio, and then a cream cardstock stamped with a Stampendous Paisley cube. Black Cardstock (unknown) was scalloped with a corner rounder. Trim is from Hobby Lobby in the fabric department. Finally I used the tree from the Unity July KOTM, stamped in Chestnut Brown Chalk Ink on the top of the house for dimension.

I am really pleased with how both of these turned out! And it was fun to use the unmounted Unity Stamps from Delectable Delights, and then a wood mounted cassette from the July KOTM.

Spent the afternoon at Maw's house. Keith goes over to trim the weeds every week when he mows our yard. By the time it got cool enough for us to go over there, it was about to rain again. But he did the weed-eater, and I used the blower to blow off the sidewalk. MAN that made my hand sting - LOL! And he planned to come back home and mow our lawn, but it was too wet. Oh well...

Tonight we used our gift card to La Fuente (we won it 2 weeks ago playing trivia), and went to eat dinner tonight. Of course they play trivia on Thursday nights, and we were hoping to win another gift card, but we missed out. We had a couple of HARD questions (for us) tonight. But it was so much fun. We like spending the time together, and it is a cheap date night - dinner and trivia - when Keith actually has a Thursday night off (which is rare!!!)