FUN picture day today!

Morning All! I have a ton of things to share with you today! First, I know you guys want to know who won the blog candy and what that candy will be. Well, I received about 152 signatures in my guest book (but a couple were duplicate) and the random number generator choose 135. So, from my calculations Christi B. from Woodbridge, VA won! What did she win, you may ask? Well, she wins a NUM Delight In Life PLUS 10 Giga Scalloped Punch Circles (in her choice of colors) PLUS 6 Cuttlebug backgrounds (in her choice of colors and backgrounds). So...Christi, e-mail me and we'll talk!

Now, for some other fun news. I got a Blogger RAK yesterday from Amber! It is the cutest Beachabella! She used the Polka Dots and Paisleys Designer Paper from the Spring Mini, and lots 'o glitter! LOVE the glitter, Amber! The best part? She sent me a couple of Beachabella images for me to make my own fun card...YAY!!! Go check out her blog you guys...Amber is a fantastic stamper and such a nice person!

And, lastly, I want to share some pictures of the newest member of our family, Mitzy. If you read the post yesterday you know that I went to Yakima to see her and talk with the rescue person (Hi Elly!) about adopting her. Well, it all went really well and Mitzy is now at out house. Mitzy and Tara (our first dog) seem to be doing well. It'll take a few days but we know all will be fine. Mitzy is so cute. She is very loving and LOVES to sit on your lap and sleep. Yesterday she was so busy exploring things that when I put her on my lap to watch t.v. at night she fell right to sleep. Oh, and she snores...loudly!!! It is very cute! So, you'll see in the pictures that we are all getting along with her quite well. The picture of Scott also shows you our other dog Tara. If you haven't read Mitzy's story HERE is a link. Also, if you live in Washington take a look at the other dogs at the rescue shelter and see if one would fit your family. Oh, and tell me something...how do you not love a face like Mitzy's? I LOVE it when her tongue is hanging out the side!

That is it for today everyone. Go...have a Super Saturday!

Only 3 Away!

My goodness, girls! I wake up this morning and find that I'm only 3 views away from 15,000. I need to be thinking about some blog candy, huh? I'm so not sure what I'm going to be giving away but you know me...it will be great! Here is how you are going to get the blog candy this time...by signing my guestbook by midnight tonight...Friday 5/4. If you already have...you are in the running for the candy. If not...go to the bottom of my blog and sign the guestbook. If you can't for some reason please let me know and I'll do it for you! I'll post the winner and the loot sometime tomorrow.

Onto something I was so excited about yesterday. Ready for the background story? Okay, I had been ready on a couple of my Yahoo groups and on some blogs about some fantastic designer paper (at a fantastic price $13.59) that Costco had for sale. So, since I happened to be in Yakima yesterday and needed to stop at Costco I checked to see if they had it and indeed they did! Woohoo! it is 3 sheets of 120 unique designs from Magnolia and Wild Asparagus. Can you imagine? 360 sheets of designer paper for $13.59!!!! Wanna see it? Isn't it just fantastic?

Today I'm running to Yakima again as we are adding a new member to our family. Todd and I have been looking for a small(er) dog to join our family for a couple of weeks now and it just hasn't been working out so just Wednesday night we decided to just let it go for now. Well, last night I got an e-mail from a place that I had put an application in at to adopt a specific dog but someone had already contacted them. The lady told me if it didn't work out for some reason she would let me know and that is what the e-mail was for. The other family didn't work out and they think we are a great fit for Mitzy. So, I'm off to meet Mitzy and, hopefully, bring her home! She has a horrible story and I'm just so excited that we can make a safe and loving home for her! I will post pictures tomorrow of her homecoming. I hope!

I'm also thrilled that today is Friday because....Todd comes home today!!!! Yay! Only two weeks from today I won't have to say that anymore as he will be home with us again, graduated from the academy. Okay, he won't be home because Todd and I will be going on a mini vacation for a few days but you know what I mean! ;0)

Have a fantastic Friday everyone!

More New Stuff!

Morning everyone! I found some more new stuff from Stampin' Up! to show you! It looks like there will be a new Punch Box available this year and it has tons of stamps in it! I just love the 3 flower punch! Also...new chipboard! If you've been online for very long you know that chipboard is quite the rage. You can do anything from color it with ink to cover it with paper and get great, really fun, results! And now with more "stuff" to alter you'll look even more like a pro!

Okay, so I can't get the pictures to line up all nicely...sorry about that! I'm still dealing with my creative block. I've never had so many problems making a Bella card before. I think it is because I want it to be so WOW! that I'm probably placing a little bit to much pressure on myself. Also, because it is such a large swap...I have to be careful what I use for the sample card. I have to make sure I have enough of whatever I use to make 17 more just like it! :0)

I hope you enjoyed the 2nd sneak peak into the new SU! Catalog! Are you thinking of some fun things you can do with that stuff? Me too!

Have a fantastic Thursday!

Baby Blanket

Morning ladies! I have to be honest and tell you guys that I've hit a bit of a creative block! Very frustrating! I need to get going on my Bella cards but I just can't pull something out of the hat. I'm still working on it but I hope that it gets MUCH better soon...like today!

Although I don't have a card to show you today I do have something else to show you. One of my neighbors is having (actually I think she may have had) a baby boy. She was due on the 25th and there has been lots of activity at her house the last few days. Anyway, my other neighbor, Angela, and I decided to make her something for the baby. We went to Craft Warehouse to maybe make a quilt (I have limited experience with quilts but figured I could do it.). Well, what we found was a very cute blanket that didn't require quilting just sewing together. I figured I could do that...and I did. Angela tied the little ties on the front, which I did not want to do and I cut and sewed the material together. It should have been a very easy project to sew but the really soft, silky fabric we chose for the back...yeah...it move around like crazy. So, we have a blanket for them but it is a bit puckery. I figure the baby won't care and maybe his parents will over look it. It is very soft and I would have loved receiving something like this from a neighbor so I hope that they like it!

So, I'll be trying to be creative today with Bella and hopefully I'll have something to show you tomorrow. Tonight is the mother-daughter banquet at church. I was invited by a friend of mine to go but it seems that she will be out of town helping out her daughter who just had a baby girl. I've invited Scott's girlfriend to go with me so it will be just Trista and I and about 100 other ladies with their daughters. Oh, and the men of the church help out so I'm having Jon and Kyler go and help as well. They aren't too thrilled about it but they will survive won't they? :0)

***Also, Alex, I received your e-mail but I get an error when I try to respond. Please try me again!***

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Stampin' Up! Retirement List

Well, ladies...it is that time of year when SU! puts out their retirement list. I didn't stay up and wait for it but did check it out first thing this morning. I went through my book and marked retired and highlighted the retired sets I have on my list. Wanna know how many of my sets are retiring? 80 sets and 7 wheels! That does not include sets from Mini Catalogs...yikes! This year they have the sets separated into two lists for us. One is Alphabetical and one is Numerical, by page number. The cool part about this is that I waited to order an incentive set that I earned until this set came out so I would know what was retiring. Now...do I order a set that I really like that won't be around much longer or do I buy one that I know will be around? Decisions, decisions!

I must run for now but hopefully I'll be back to show you some artwork later. If not...see you tomorrow!

How to earn a desk.

Now, this is a teacher!

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock , did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she took all of the desks out of the classroom. The kids came into first period, they walked in, there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desk?" And she said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them." They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades." "No," she said.
"Maybe it's our behavior." And she told them, "No, it's not even your behavior." And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period, the same. By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren's class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the day, Martha Cothren gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. And she says, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks That sit in this classroom ordinarily." She said, "Now I'm going to tell you." Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and As she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. And they placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. And by the time they had finished placing those desks, those kids for the first time I think perhaps in their lives understood how they earned those desks. Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here
responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it."

I want you to know that I did go to Snopes and make sure this is true before I posted and, indeed, Mrs. Cothren taught her kids this amazing lesson. Now, it is up to you to teach it to your children!

I know! I know!

I know...you were all waiting for me to post some pictures yesterday weren't you? Well, honestly, I didn't get the cards done until much later in the day than I thought I would soooo I just decided to wait until this morning. But, since you had to wait so long, you get to see both cards I made yesterday. I made two baby cards, one boy card for my neighbor and one girl card for my friend's daughter who just gave birth to a baby girl this last week. they both have the same layout just, obviously, different color and choice of image.

I just realized (because an e-mail prompted me) that I need to get to work on my one of the Bella swaps that I am a part of. It is a really large swap (17) and I rarely do more than 5 soooo it will take me awhile to get them all done. Guess I'll be working on those this week! I'm still trying to figure out which Bella to use. I got some great images of the stamping Bella's this last week that might be cute but I'm not sure if I have enough. I wish my order with my new Bella's were going to be here on time but, alas, they will not. What do you guys think? I'm wondering if I should use something that it seems not many other people have or if I should use something that everyone can copy should they want to?

Have you noticed that I'm getting closer to 15,000 hits? Well, when we get there...it is blog candy time so keep a lookin'!

Here is how I made the cards:

Materials for boy card will be listed first then the girl card.

Stamps: Bundle of Joy and Congratulations from Lockhart Stamp Co.
Ink: Stazon Black, Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Real Red, Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red, More Mustard, and So Saffron.
Card Stock: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Pool Party Designer Paper, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Petals and Paisleys DP.
Accessories: Stickles, Dimensionals, Gel Pen, Ribbon from Basic Grey, Sweet Shop Ribbon, Round Tab Punch, Cuttlebug, Baby Embossing Folder for Cuttlebug, and Aquapainter.

Real Quick

Just a real quick note to let you know I'll be posting some artwork later today (when it is finished)! In the meantime...check out the new, very cool guestbook I have at the bottom of the blog. I had to put it on the bottom because it was the only way to let you guys see the entire thing! Now, go...sign the guestbook!