Long time no see....

Holy cow it's been a long time since I posted! I haven't made a thing since that flower pot card except for bracelets! Katie and I started beading a few years back and we made a bunch of earrings. Recently I bought a couple of new blouses and wanted to make matching bracelets so that's what I have been doing lately. But the month of May was really busy for me. I had my brother and sister-in-law visiting and we had the burial for my uncle. My boss was on vacation AGAIN so I had to work a lot. Katie decided to go to another high school prom even though she's in college now, so we had fun preparing for that. The kids have been very active with Taekwondo this year and Monday is their last day of school. Right now, Katie and one of her best friends are vacationing in California. They flew out yesterday. And hubby is guard training this week. So the kids and I have been trying to come up with things to do! Last weekend on the 6th was my birthday so the kids and I went shopping and out to dinner, which was really fun. We didn't get home until 10:30 pm! My boss decided she wanted to deploy overseas to work at an AAFES there and she leaves in July. We have been desparately trying to find another employee since I will be temporarily promoted to her position. We need someone to fill my position while she's gone. I can't work in that store by myself for 6-7 months! Her timing really sucks because with hubby deploying early next year, he's training a lot this year and I wanted to take some time off. With her gone, I can't do that so I was really upset when she announced she was leaving. But I just have to deal with it and make the most of it, right? Anyway, I can't believe it's been so long since I checked in. Sad to say but I just haven't had the time! But I appreciate you continuing to check in! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and hopefully I will see you soon!

Flower Pot Pocket Card TLC215

I loved making this card!! What a fun challenge. A little time consuming because you have to glue lots of layers together and I had to use tweezers but it was relaxing to be honest. I love how it turned out. I used a multitude of flower punches and leaves and the branch punch. I used dew drops and brads for each center. This requires LOTS of wet glue; not glue stick or glue tape runner thingies. I used a paper piercer to apply the glue to the backs of each flower to stick them on. My husband came down and I showed it to him and he said, "now why don't you mass produce that and send it out to people???" I whipped my head around to look at him with this dumbfounded look on my face and said to him, "WHAT???.......do you know how long it took me to make this card????" LOL I started making this last week! Then I got sick (brochitis) and I finally finished it this afternoon! Sometimes he kills me! LOL

This is a technique lovers challenge on SCS. I posted the link in an earlier post but in case you missed it, here it is again. You gotta check out the gallery; so much inspiration there! Here is the card laying down so you can see the dimension.I used a larger size stylus and a foam pad and laid the flower on the pad and made little circular motions with the stylus in the center of the flower. This brings the petals up and pushes the center down. Then I glued each layer together and added a dew drop. The ones that have brads, I didn't use glue to put the layers together. The brads hold the layers together.Here you can see the embossed pot and the punched edge of the pot. I used a Martha Stewart border punch and I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the pot. After both of those things were done, I used a sponge and close to cocoa ink and swiped it across the pot so the dimension would pop.Here you can see the card with the flowers taken out. I used the same border punch to punch the blue cardstock.

This was fun fun fun! And not that hard. The instructions for the pot are very simple and you can find those instructions by clicking here.

Thanks for stopping by today! I am glad you checked in! What do you think of my cute little pot? :)

Happy Sunday

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking in! Kids are on spring vacation this week. I am so excited I get to watch my shows tonight and stay up late and not have to get up early tomorrow! LOL. Today I am taking my daughter to her play date while I run some errands.

Spring has finally sprung here in Vermont..........I think! LOL. Our mountains still have snow and they have still been getting some random snow even into April. But here, we are in the high 50's low 60's and my daffodils are sprouting! I love living in a place where I can plant perennials once and forget about them! :)

With Spring here, I've really been wanting to make a card called the Flower Pot Pocket Card. Have you seen it? SCS has a great section dedicated to challenges. They have Color Combo Challenges, inspiration challenges, cards sketches, etc. The flower pot pocket card is in the Technique challenge. Look at the gallery of cards people have made. They're awesome!!! You can find the directions to make this card here. I have made the pot portion but haven't gotten around to making the flowers yet! LOL. You should check them out. You will probably get farther along than I did! LOL

Have a wonderful Sunday......I am off to get ready to take my daughter to her playdate! I hope you are enjoying your spring weather as well!

Happy Saturday!

Hi everyone; thanks for stopping by and checking in with me! I have a busy weekend planned starting with today and birthday shopping! Lauren turns 7 on Monday! I can't believe it! She has some birthday money she wants to spend today starting with going to get a new bike! So we are visiting the mall, Toys R Us, Walmart, Michaels (for me), and then daddy is meeting us for dinner. He has drill this weekend. :( Tomorrow is Lauren's party. She chose to have a bowling party with 5 of her friends. We did this two years ago for our son and Lauren had a run in with a bowling ball and busted her chin open. She swore against bowling parties forever! Poor thing. But she recently had a day trip to the bowling alley with a spring vacation camp she was in and she saw that the step she tripped on at the bowling alley had been removed and now the whole bowling alley is flat! She loved it! LOL She she was eager to have her party there this year. Monday, I am taking cupcakes to her classroom, so I have to get all the fixins' for that as well. A busy weekend with not much time for playing in my room. But that's okay; it'll be a fun weekend for the family. The only downside is that yesterday I came down with a cold! I don't feel horrible but it's just irritating! Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I bet most of you are enjoying the long-awaited springtime weather! We are just about there temperature wise but we are getting one rain storm after another these days. I do not like "mud season." LOL. Have a great weekend and I will see you soon! ;)

Punched Bunny and Easter Card

Hi All! Can you believe I have a couple of projects to share? I can't! I seem to have no time for fun this year! But I saw this little bunny on Amy's blog, and had to try one. I went over to a friend's house and together we read Amy's great instructions and made one! Look how cute!I love him! He's much smaller than I originally imagined; only fitting maybe two chocolate nuggets inside. But the great thing is that he's made from punches only! A little bit of white gel pen and black marker, ribbon, pompom, and dew drop, and viola! You have a bunny! I love this little card. He came in a clear stamp set from SandyLion. I found it at Michaels. I stamped him on SU watercolor paper using India ink, colored him with SU watercolor crayons, filled his belly and ears with fun flock, and cut him out. I stamped flowers from the same set using the Rock n' Roll technique. I then sponged in clouds, and the grass and added some yellow with a sponged on top of the flowers. I then cut a strip of garden green cs and made tiny little cuts in it and rolled the top edge with a pencil and my fingers and attached it at the bottom. I added sheer ribbon and three dew drops. He's a little more yellow than I intended but I think he's pretty cute! :) Watcha think? Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week!!

I unsubscribed from my updates....

Hi all! Thanks for visiting me! I wanted to explain something that I did today......I have a TON of blogs that I subscribe to. I've accumulated quite a list of updates in the last year. So much so that I had almost 2000 emails in my inbox!!!! I can't check my email daily like I used to and I got overwhelmed by all the updates. So I'm in the process of deleting them from my inbox which isn't fast with Comcast, I am down to 1437 now! LOL .....I went to FeedBurner and unsubscribed from all my updates! Not sure if I am going to regret that in a few days or what! lol........But I wanted to let you guys know that I didn't do it as an insult to any one of you. And I didn't pick and choose from my list; I deleted them all. I DID put all of you on my favorites list so I can visit you all often though! I realized afterward that individually, you will receive an email stating that I unsubscribed from your blog and I wanted to explain why so that you wouldn't feel I was being mean.
I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend and thanks for checking in and reading my explanation! :)

St Patrick's Day card...third post today

Hi again! Just got back from soccer and grocery shopping. Even got my van washed today! The weather has been awesome the last few days! Spring might be here.....lol. But I won't hold my breath because you never know when a freak snowstorm will hit here in Vermont! I made this card a couple of weeks ago. I love how it turned out. It's much better IRL though! I have to admit however that this is not the layout I intended when I started making this card! There weren't supposed to be 5 mugs going across the card, but I made a boo-boo and had to cover it somehow. Believe me, cutting 5 mugs out wasn't my first choice for this layout, but when I finished I loved it! There are lots of dimensionals on this card!

I used my Prismacolor markers to color the mugs in. And I love this Martha Stewart border punch. This card was a little time consuming but in the end I think it turned out pretty cute! :)

Thanks for stopping by and visiting me today! Have a wonderful day!

Second post for today

These cards were really fun to make. Sorry I am showing them to you so late! lol I really love the card with the scallop cut out at the top. This idea came from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts.
Have a wonderful day! I am off to take the kids to soccer! Thanks for stopping by!

More pics related to yesterday's post

Hi again! Thanks for stopping by today. I couldn't get back to my computer yesterday so here I am today. These pictures are related to the cards I showed you yesterday but with different angles; just to share with you the depth of each card. It's amazing how much detail a little dimension adds to your card!

In the card above, I used a square punch and then cut the middles out with scissors. I don't have the photo corner punch otherwise I would have used that. The scalloped one is a Cuttlebug die. I added dots with a glitter pen.

On the card with the lion, both of those stamps are from Rubber Soul. I stamped the lion on the card itself and then I stamped him again on a scrap piece of paper and then cut the head out to add to the card. The red heart is on a dimensional and I used a glue pen and glitter to make it stand out from the other hearts.

Thanks for stopping by today; I do have more photos to share....have a wonderful day!

Wow it's been so long!

Thanks so much for checking in! I haven't been on my computer for 12 days! And I haven't posted on my blog in over a month! So sorry I've been away for so long. I don't have the time I wish I had to create, or even be on my computer. But I do have some pictures to share with you. I did manage to make some cards while I've been gone! lol. I had a friend over to make Valentine cards last month. I was happy with what I was able to finish! Now I know Valentine's Day is long gone and we are fast approaching St Patty's Day but I really wanted to share them with you. Some of these ideas I saw on Dawn's Stamping Thoughts. She is super creative and her layouts are so fun and easy to recreate. For these cards I used a combination of Stampin Up paper and a paper pack from Michaels. The inks are Stampin Up.

Here's a supply list for all the cards above:

Stamps: Stampin Up Love You Much set, Bear (Rubber Soul), Hello Friend (Wordsworth by Rubber Soul), tiny Heart (Rubber Soul)

Ink: Stampin Up Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Markers from Stampin Up and Staedtler, Glitter pen, glue pen, Martha Stewart border punch and glitter, heart punch from Love You Much Bundle, 5/8" circle punch from EK Success, 7/8" circle punch from EK Success. Marvy scallop circle punch, Stampin Up Scallop Circle Punch, dimensionals and foam tape, paper piercer, white gel pen, Cuttlebug and embossing folder.

I have more to share with you but I will come back in a little while and post again. Thanks for stopping by!!!!

MIA...

Hi everyone! I've been MIA lately. But that isn't much of a surprise is it? LOL. Life has been a blur these past couple of weeks. I haven't been able to sit down and make anything for awhile. Well, since my last kitty card! I am itching to try so many things but don't have the time or the motivation right now. I hate those days! I have a new MS border punch that I wanna try, and several Valentine's Day stamps.

Today I have some running around to do, but later on today I might be able to get down here and make some cards. That's if my hubby goes to play basketball tonight! LOL. So I may see you later. Have a wonderful Monday!! Thanks for checking in!

Valentine Kitty Card....3rd Post

My camera isn't the greatest these days! Sorry about that! This little kitty comes from DRS Designs, as well as the sentiment. Isn't he cute? I colored him with my Prismacolor Markers. I added some detail with Diamond Glaze to his nose, Martha Stewart Fine Glitter around the scallop circle, which I punched with my new Petite Nesties, some piercing along the bottom of the card, ribbon and dimensionals.

Bedroom Pictures I Promised....2nd post

Back at Christmastime I promised to show some pictures of a gift I received from Katie and my husband. Taking pictures slipped my mind and I just forgot about posting it. Well here they are finally! I came home from work the day before Christmas Eve to find my bedroom door covered in wrapping paper and a big silver bow in the middle of it. Katie and her friend had spent the day changing the bedding and the curtains so when I came home from work, this is what I saw.....
It just happens to match the paint color that I did a few years ago too! Before, nothing seemed to match and nothing seemed to "belong" in this room. Now it all looks like I meant it to look this way! LOL Thanks for stopping by! I have one more post today.

My Uncle's Wake

Hi Stampers! I am home from work today because I have to work on Saturday and the company doesn't like to give out a lot of overtime, so I am enjoying my day off with Jared.

I went to my Uncle's wake on Monday evening. I was extremely saddened that day while waiting for 7 0'clock to roll around. I was dreading the trip to the funeral home. When we arrived I was struck by how many people were there and that somehow, someway, we were all related. There had to be at least 200 people there in that little funeral home. Most of them I had never met! I did not take my younger two children, so they stayed home with dad and I took Katie, who is 18. When we walked in, we were taken aback because he reminded us so much of my dad, her grandpa. So to see him brought us to immediate tears. We were also struck by a picture taken in 1956 that was in the casket with him.........it was a picture of both my dad and my uncle ages 19 and 23, respectively, in a bar in Japan. I wasn't expecting to see that picture. This infamous picture was at my dad's funeral as well 8 years ago. I knelt in front of the casket and sobbed. I discovered that this picture was my uncle's favorite and that he kept it in a frame at his bedside all these years. One of my cousins made several copies of this picture and gave them to anyone who asked. I learned many things about my Uncle that night as well as my dad from all the people who approached me, many of which I met for the first time. It was amazing that so many people were my cousins and I didn't know them! They all spoke so highly of my father, which was heart warming.

My Uncle looked peaceful and he had all of his favorite things with him; his hat, his military ribbons and buttons, letters, pictures, and even a deck of cards. There was laughter and stories and many tears but most of all I felt an overwhelming love in that room. It was a beautiful wake and a lovely celebration of his life. His funeral and burial won't be until the spring and he will have full military honors.

He was a strong, happy, funny and very much loved man! He will be sorely missed. Thank you to those who left comments for me here on my blog and as SCS. Your support has been wonderful and appreciated.

Big Hugs!
Rachel

Sudden Passing of my Uncle & Information on JustRite Stamps

Hi everyone~ sorry I haven't posted in a few days; been a rough weekend. Starting with the sudden passing of my Uncle on Friday afternoon. Tonight is the wake and I am trying to decide if my younger two children should go or not. They have both said they want to go but neither of them have been to a funeral/wake and neither of them have seen a deceased person, so I am nervous and it's worrisome to me how they will react. Have any thoughts or suggestions???.........

I wanted to share some info on JustRite stamps that I find very helpful. Here is a valuable link about using them for the first time. If you are like me, have purchased them but haven't used them, OR you have used them and are unhappy with them, visit this tutorial that Sharon did for SCS.

Today I am just hanging out; cleaning, doing laundry, maybe some playing, but mostly being nervous about tonight. Please keep us in your thoughts today; I would greatly appreciate it!

Cuppa Love

Hi all! I missed posting yesterday; sorry about that! I wanted to share this card but I was out most of the day. So here it is....Supplies Used:

Stamps: The Stamp Barn (Ottawa, ON) Cuppa Love, Hero Arts Polka Dot background

Inks: Adirondack Pitch Black, SU Ruby Red, Pretty Ink Pink, Close to Cocoa

Paper: Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink from SU, Watercolor Paper

Accessories: Zig 2-way glue pen Squeeze and Roll, Crystalescent Glitter Pink Ultra Fine, Pop Dots, Ribbon from American Crafts, EK BrusH2O Pen Detailer Tip, Sponge

Do you like cute things?

Do you like cute things? And do you like cute things falling asleep? This morning I was watching the Today show and saw a man who started a blog with just videos of cute things falling asleep; like puppies, kittens, babies, bears, bunnies, and more! If you are an animal lover like me, and love any baby version of an animal, you have to check out his blog. It's so cute! Here's the link.

Well, it's the weekend! Yay! I got some new Nesties in the other day but haven't been able to use them yet. I plan to soon! I also have some ideas brewing for Valentine's Day projects. So stay tuned.....

Hopefully you all had a great week! What are your plans for the weekend? Thanks for checking in. I will be posting tomorrow and will have something cute to share with you! Big Hugs!

In Loving Memory...

Sometimes things happen in life that we just can't explain. It's amazing how our blogging friends become such a huge part of our lives, and that it's hard to picture a day going by without checking in with them on their blogs or receiving an encouraging word from them. They are friends just like the ones we have next door or in the next town. We become just as close and their friendship is unconditional. We share so much in common and share so many of the same pitfalls or frustrations. We also share the same excitement and joy when we've made something that puts a smile on someone else's face. We enjoy and cherish those friendships but don't always tell them how much they mean to us. I wanted to take this time to thank each and every one of you who come here to visit me, drop me a note, encourage me in some way, and open your own hearts and creativity to me every day!!! I can't tell you how much it has meant to me.
Joanne Johnson, {My} Adventures in Cardmaking, died suddenly on December 12th after touching thousands of people through her blog. Her family made a final post on her blog on December 13th. If you visit her blog you'll see that everything appeared normal even the day before her death. I have read many posts where Joanne mailed Christmas cards the day she died and those people received those cards on December 13th. This just amazes me; that life is that unpredictable. That life is just that short. We take so many things for granted. We live our lives sometimes with total disregard for how quickly it can be taken away from us.
This year, I plan to tell those I care about how much they mean to me, how much I care about them, how much I value their presence in my life, and how empty I would feel if they were gone. I speak from experience when I tell you that having regrets after someone dies is a horrible feeling!! Don't go through life wishing you had said something, done something or written something to someone. You can't get that time back, you can't get that opportunity back once it's gone. Live every moment as if it's your last!!
Please visit Joanne's blog, see her work, see her creativity, feel her spirit through her family's post and all the comment's left on that final post. Remember those bloggers who you visit everyday and just make sure you appreciate all of those friends you've made in this wonderful stamping world. Because each of them have been blessings just like each of you have been blessings to me!!
Thanks for visiting me today! Big hugs!!!

Get that thing outta my face!

Did that title intrigue you? LOL My Jazz needed a bath BAD and I thought that would be the perfect time to get a few pictures of him since he would be locked in the bathroom! LOL Well, here he is, Mr. Scaredy Cat! This is my daughter sitting on the toilet; yes she has shorts on! LOL And he has his head jammed between her back and the toilet tank! Could he be any more pathetic?? This is how much he hates the camera!Here I've coaxed him out long enough to give him a treat, but look at him........he's still got that eagle eye on my camera! LOL
Maybe if I stare long enough at this door, or press my nose really hard against it, it will open! LOL.

I just had to share these pathetic pictures of him! Thanks for stopping by and visiting! Did you see, I've changed some things again. I've re-arranged some elements on the page and I've added to my slide show. I also added a new feature at the bottom of each post. There are 4 little rating boxes. Isn't that cool? :) So now maybe it will help me with making my blog more interesting or helpful! Have a great night!

Teacher's Gift Set

Hi everybody! How is your weekend going so far? I have some pictures to share of one of the teacher gift sets for my daughter's teacher. They are really fun to make! The hard cover book is a blank-page sketchbook from Ben Franklin (Creative Habitat). I have also seen them at Michaels but I happened to be a Ben Franklin that day. The smaller book is a 2009/10 calendar that I found in the dollar bin at Michaels. I just took it out of the protective cover and recovered it with red cardstock and some pattern paper from the DCVW paper stack. The jar is from Michaels and the basket is from Michaels. I used my Cricut with the Mini Monograms cartridge to make the scallop circle and the regular circle. The scallop circle for the apple is from a Cuttlebug die. The apple is colored with Prismacolor Markers. I used white craft ink from SU to stamp the "make every day one to remember" and close to cocoa to sponge the edges of the scallop circles. Thanks for visiting me today! Have a wonderful weekend!