It's a Bella Saturday!

I participated in what turned out to be a fantastic Bella swap. I'm sure you guys remember my frustration with coming up with something would be be wonderful. Well, I received the cards a couple of days ago and they are great! I thought I'd share one or two each day for the next couple of days. Sound good? Well, what do you think of these two cuties? I LOVE the Beachabella. My friend got that Bella and I'm gonna have to ask her if I can stamp some images! This is just such a fun, summery, card! The colors and designer paper really pull it all together. There is no signature so, unfortunately, I cannot tell you who made it. And how about that Cosmo Bella? Where did Kristine Reynolds find that super cute martini olive? And the designer paper...to die for! The doodling around the image is fantastic, too! I am absolutely thrilled I went ahead and participated in this swap!

Come back tomorrow to see more of the great swaps that I received! :0)

Another Prize Swap Question

Hi Ladies! I still haven't heard from everyone yet so please e-mail me about your status. I've gotten an e-mail from a friend who would like to participate in the swap. That would make us 11. Please let me know, ASAP, what you think. Thanks all!

***Okay, ladies...we are going with 11. Thanks!***

The season for travel

We are heading into the season for vacations. I can't wait for the weather to be warm all the time! We are getting some really nice weather right now and I hope it continues! Anyway, my friend, Angela, and her family are going on a fun trip this summer and I decided that her kiddos needed personalized luggage/backpack tags. I had such fun making these! I tried to figure out what each child would like the most but honestly...it was hard so I kinda went with the age. The kids are in Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, and 6th grade. I actually had the hardest time with the 3rd grader as he really likes some things that I just don't have stamps for (if you can believe I don't have one stamp of everything! tee hee!). So, he got a new Fella from Stamping Bella. I sure hope they like them and that Angela doesn't look at my blog today before I can give them to the kids this afternoon! :0)

I got the tag holders at the dollar store so these can be a really economical tag to make. The only thing with this size is that it is really small. Only 3 1/2" X 2 1/8". It definitely makes it more difficult to place their names. When I do it again, I will most likely find larger tags. As a matter of fact...I'll be making a tag for Kyler for this summer's trip to see Grandma and knowing what I'll need to make his special for him I'll definitely need a bigger holder! He is a Pokemon boy all the way so I'll need to print some images off for his.

Did you stamp anything yesterday? I love to hear about what others are doing so drop me a line sometime! :0)

How I made the tags:

Stamps: Wild About You, Girlfriends, Surfafella, Silly Sea Life, Tall Tales Alpha, Whimsical Alpha, Rough Edges Alpha
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Real Red, Lovely Lilac, Buckaroo Blue, Pumpkin Pie, and Magnolia
Ink: Stazon Black, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Buckaroo Blue, Lovely Lilac, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, Going Grey, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Stickles, Flower Eyelets, Grosgrain Ribbon, and markers

PRIZE CARD SWAP

If you have signed up to participate in my Prize Card Swap please e-mail me. I need to know that you are still participating and how it is going. Thanks! :0)

I have to show you!!!

Okay, I wasn't going to show you this 'cuz I might use it as my swap card for my swap but I LOVE it so much! The layout is from SCS and is SC125. Don't ya just love the bling on the lady bugs? I just love how it all came together. The PAPERTREYink set is sooo great! I love all the different ways that you can use all the pieces to make different lady bugs. And the flowers and sayings...cute, cute, cute! You MUST go see this website. These are my first acrylic stamps and I must say I like them. It is easy to place them 'cuz you can easily see where they are going.

I have two swaps that I need to do cards for this week and next. My own on this blog and a Bella swap that I signed up for ages ago. I'll be busy working on those and my guest designer cards for the Paper Pretties site. FUN!

I hope the swappers are all getting a good start on their cards. I know one person is already done! Yay! This will be a great swap!

Alright, go, stamp...have a great day!

How I made the card:

Stamps: Little Lady
Cardstock: Real Read, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, White Craft
Accessories: Swarovski Crystals, Stickles, Cuttlebug, D'vine Embossing Folder, Gel Pen

Angel Tag!

Today is the final of the RAK's that I received. This cutie is from Darla who is a member of the SU Angels group that I belong to. It is so much fun to receive cool stuff in the mail! I couldn't get a good picture of it for some reason so this does not do it justice! The flowers on the left are embossed and it uses accessories well! Thank you so much Darla!

Well, today is the last day to sign up for the first Live-Love-Laugh-Create Prize Swap. We need two more people to make it 10 total BUT if everyone who has signed up wants to we'll do it with just the 8 people. Please let me know! Please go HERE for all the information.

One picture of Todd's graduation this morning. After Todd received his certificate and I pinned his badge on him he proceeded up to the stage area to wait for the rest of his class. It was really neat to see the entire class on the stage. I couldn't get a good picture that though because the lighting stunk! Anyway, here he is with some of his classmates. Todd is the 4th from the left.

Okay, can I show you one more picture? This one is of Todd and I just outside one of the buildings that is at the Academy. Awwww...aren't we cute?! Just kidding. I just wish I took as good of a picture as Todd does. He always looks good and I always look all puffy and stuff. Oh, well...he loves me anyway! :0)

I hope you all have a fantastic day! Please remember to e-mail me if you are going to participate in the Prize Swap!

What a fun mail day yesterday!

It was a great mail day yesterday! That is 'til my neighbor brought over a bill they got of mine in her mailbox. I was thinking...no bills, yay! Then over walks Austin with one. Oh, well! The blog candy that I received yesterday was totally over the top! I'm so excited! I got ribbon, a huge clip to alter, chipboard, round tab punches, a notepad, cuttlebug sheets, a stamp, a couple of super cute cards, and some die cuts from the Just Delightful SS Kit! WOW!!!! Thank you so much Staci! Her blog is called For The Love Of Stamping and I visit it every day and you should too!

I received my Paper Pretties kit while I was gone this last weekend, too. What fun is that! LOTS! I want to show you the card but I must wait until Christie posts it on the Paper Pretties site first. Am I a tease or what?

And one more Blogger RAK today. This one is from Allison over at Stamping When I Can. I LOVE her blog! She is great because she tells us who is giving away blog candy, who is having challenges, and where the new blogs are. This is another place that I visit daily! Also, she is a super nice lady. Oh, and she can stamp, too! Isn't that just the prettiest card? I love the solid rectangle. I totally wish I had that stamp! Thank you so much Allison!

Oh, and one last thing. I got new stamps yesterday. These are from Paper Trey Ink. I got the super cute Little Lady set on the front page and the Faux Ribbon set. You must go check out this store! They have Stampers Select White Card Stock. It is 110 lb (SU!'s is 80 or so) smooth, and beautiful! I cannot wait to use it. I think it will be great to use as the base for my cards! I'll let you know more about this stuff when I actually get to stamp with them!

I hope you all have a great stamping day! Oh, and if you want to sign up for the card swap please do so. One person had to decline being able to participate so we are short two. This will be a great swap so please join us!

Prize Swap Information

This will stay at the top until the swap is closed. Please check below for today's post!!!

***IT IS A FULL SWAP...WOOHOO!!!***

Now, you can sign up for the very first Live-Love-Laugh-Create Prize Swap. Here are the details:

Vendor Products: Any
Size: Any size but a full card not just card front so these can be used once received. Although if you do a card a size that doesn't fit into a regular envelope please include the envelope as well.
Quantity: Well, this will depend on how many people sign up total. I will let you know but there will not be more than 10 in any one group.
Layers & Embellishments: 2 layers plus at least one embellishment
Sign Up By: May 23rd.
Due To Me By: June 6th. I will swap them out and have them back in the mail to you by June 8th. Your swap must arrive on time as the week after this I will be heading off to school and will not be at home for two weeks.
Recipe is required but please do not attach it in any way to the card itself. Please print it on a separate piece of paper and insert inside the card. Please be sure to number and sign your card.
Mailing instructions: Place swaps in a large baggie for waterproof purposes. Write your name on the baggie for identification purposes. To make it easier for the hostess to sort the cards I always put my swap cards in clear envelopes. If you have some of those I would appreciate your doing that.
Swap Return: First Class: Place baggie inside a self-address stamped envelope for return mail purposes. the amount of the postage on your SASE should be the same amount that it takes to mail to me. To insure that there is enough postage to return the envelope please add in 2 additional stamps that will be returned to you if not used. I will not accept metered strips. Priority mail: Just send the postage and I'll provide the envelope.

I will e-mail you privately my address after all have signed up for the swap.

Alright! Please e-mail me or comment if you'd like to sign up for what is sure to be a great swap!

Live-Love-Laugh-Create Prize Swap
1. Lorie Ames
2. Debby Tillman
3. Mindy Gray
4. Amber P
5. Janel Malella
6. Kristine Reynolds
7. Heather Clements
8. Michelle Ide
9. Jodene
10. Jackie Randolph

We are back!

Good Monday morning to everyone! Todd and I are back from graduation and our trip to the coast. I like going and doing things but I definitely like being home, too! Graduation was a long day but a good one. I'll post some pictures later that will give you an idea of what they do here for graduation from BLEA.

Our trip to the coast was good except that it rained each day, our hotel was not nice for the price we were paying, and the people, yikes! For a tourist town you'd think they would be nicer. We went to several places in the area and I'd love to show you some fantastic pictures but....I'm an airhead and took my NEW camera but not the NEW battery that came with it! I had to buy a disposable camera and use the old fashioned kind of telephoto which is....just walk closer! I was so frustrated the entire weekend! When I get the photos back that I took with the disposable I'll show you a couple (if they turned out). The little town we stayed in was about 10 minutes north or south from other towns so we went to each of those, too. Also, we ended up going to Tillamook, OR the home place of Tillamook cheese. We saw Ft. Clatsop, Lewis and Clark's winter home, Ft. Stevens, the only place that ever fired a round on US soil against the enemy during WWII (they fired on a submarine), the air museum in Tillamook which housed blimps during WWII that helped our ships get safely out into the water by watching for submarines from above, we also stopped in at the Tillamook cheese factory...wow! What a huge factory! Lastly we visited the Astoria Column. It is a 125 ft high, 167 step column that rewards you with great views when you get to the top. So, you can tell we did lots and had a great time!

I have gotten a couple of RAK's recently which I'll be showing you today and tomorrow. This first one is from Jennifer Hensley. Her blog is called Stampinthemidwest. It is a great blog be sure to go check it out! Isn't this a great card?! I love the colors and the glitter on the inside of the flower! Thank you Jennifer!

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday and I'll see ya tomorrow!