So, its time for my last letter. The letter “J”.

Before I go into all my “J” for Julie ramble, I hope all my PSF’s know it was hard to pick only a few to shower with “mytime” mail. I tried to spread the love to PSF’s whom I had not ever done much for, but are deserving all the same.

If I had the time I would make each PSF a letter. But its not a perfect world :C. So I hope none of you feel sad or slighted in anyway, as each of you are important 😀 I also appreciate all your friendships.

OK So upon my search I realized that there are hardly any GOOD words that start with J! WOW!

Here are some random words-BUT we wont say all of them are associated with Julie OK!

Jezebel, Juicy (HA! HA!), Jiminy, Jeepers, Jealous, Justify. Jump, Jinx, Joker, and Jewels!

But one GOOD word was JOY!

She has brought alot of JOY to us.

Did you know that she bought Alexa is “talking, light up Tinkerbell wand” all the way from Disney! Now she doesn’t live there, and it kept going off through their travels. She begged her hubby NOT to chuck it out the window! Everytime the wand goes off-(usually off one of the other kids heads) I remember her story. Alexa LOVES the wand BTW.

Thank you Julie for everything. Here is Julie’s Letter-

I think this was my favorite of them all! Because it was so different, and maybe because it had butterflies! AND Julie’s favorite color was purple-just like me 😀

I used the “Joy” , which is lightly stamped in the bkgd from the PTI set Serene Snowflakes, and the sentiment is from Green Thumb.

The butterflies are from my favorite Stampin Up! set-Garden Whimsy . Of course there is dazzling diamonds on the wings. I had to add Prima’s to coordinate.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Now Julie wanted to learn to sew! So, I did some on her letter, and sent her one of the famous sewing machine’s I got for myself! Sorry people, I got the last 2 they had and the other was MINE!

So I hope she liked her package of goodies.

I’ll be right back with todays sketch!

Till then

Today’s letter is R.

R is for Remarkable, Radiant, Romantic, Reliable, Responsible, Reasonable, Rich, Regal, Riveting, Resourceful, and Rea-for a REAL Friend! Not just a PSF (PRETEND Stamping Friend).

R is also for Renee. Renee is the FIRST original PSF. When my daughter got Leukemia, Renee was the first person to contact me, and start this revolution of amazing friends, that Alexa calls the PSF’s!

She coined the term when all of “mommy’s computer friends” would send her gifts and cards in the hospital.  She would ask WHO sent it to her. I would tell her Mommy’s stamping friends from the computer. So, because she never met them, and couldn’t see them, she said “Oh they are your PRETEND Stamping Friends”. So basically she thinks I type to FAKE people that don’t exist all day! LOL! Then they magically send her her little cards and things too. Oh the mind of a child 😀

Renee is a special person, and will always hold a special place in my heart. I hope to meet my pretend friend someday.

This woman took a tragic time in my life, and gathered so many women, who not only reached out to us, but who became my rock through the storm.

They were there to get me through the toughest times in my life. How can you say Thank You, to all of them. Through that I have made some of the BEST friends a person could ever ask for. Each one has truly blessed our lives, and touch it forever.

So to all my PSF”s I love you, cherish you and thank you for everything. Your friendship has meant the world to me and my family. You all saved me mentally and emotionally, on days that I didn’t think I’d get through.

Now that I’m all teary, I will share the letter with you-

For info on how this letter was made into ART, click—->HERE

I used chocolate chip card-stock for the base.  I stamped it with Beautiful Blooms, and adhered some $1 spot paper flowers (like Primas) to some of the centers. Dew Drops are in the centers.

Here is a view of the sentiment-another CTMH one.

“We can do not great things, but in rising up every-time we fall”

How suitable for Renee. She helped me rise up, when I thought I would fall.

The birds are by Inkadinkadoo. I love them!

And that my PSF’s is that.

Now I really need to go stamp. Then get the kids home from school so I can go INSANE!

Yes, my kids have been awful lately. What’s the word to describe them Rebellious, Rabid, and Ridiculous! LOL!

OK Im sorry if this post bother’s you or offends you but I just could NOT resist.

What do you get when you have a new puppy, and a 5 year old, who doesn’t wear shoe’s?

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You get one unhappy boy, who stepped in a pile of puppy poop!

I couldn’t resist taking this picture, I did refrain from the photographing him throwing up as Jason cleaned off his foot 😀

Gotta love it.

OK  I need to be totally HONEST here.

This week’s blogger’s challenge is to use the color-River Rock, Blue Bayou, and Real Red.

Upon seeing this combo I thought-HMMM, OK I can totally do that. It will be fun.

Um, yeah, not so much.

Just THINKING about this challenge all week and waiting till the last minute to make it destroyed my precious, free flowing MOJO today.

So here I share my card.

I did only a “touch” of red, since I was totally NOT feeling this, this week.

Make sure you check out the other member blogs-Im sure theirs are fabulous.

New Home

This is the Bella Dream House, andSellabella. I LOVE my concept of using the two-again dont like the overall card though.

The tag is by Making Memories.

Not much else to say. Just a case of the BLAH’s!

“B” is for BUSY -that is me this week! I got all my stuff in at the SAME time, and have all the same deadlines :C YIKES! Not complaining though, its a happy busy. I do my best work when I have a TON to do. It get’s my mojo in high gear. I’m really proud of what I have done so far.

Enough about ME-lets talk about the letter B (Did that sentence sound like you were reading an episode of Sesame Street or what! LOL!).

On that note, I bet you can’t guess what my favorite puncuation is?

Answer-(!). Shocking huh? OK sorry-back to B.

In this case B is for Bonnie and her favorite color BLUE!

Some other words that come to mind-Birds, Beautiful, Best, Bodacious, Bright, Breezy, Brainy, Bashful……and I’m Bewildered there aren’t many more NICE words that begin with B.

BECAUSE……..Bonnie is one amazing person! Despite all she has on her plate, she thinks of others all the time. She is just the BEST! LOL!

OK enough of that-

She was one of my other Secret Friends-so here is her letter I did for her.

If you want the details, on HOW my letter’s are made please see this——->POST. It will give you the blah, blah blah, as to how they are made into ART 😀

This one was done using Prism cardstock-in Perfect Baby Blue Light. LOVE that cardstock, and that color.

I stamped one of my most favorite flourish designs by TAC ( The Angel Company ), called Deco Designs. You may recall I used it HERE as well.

I used Brilliance ink in beige for the main image-then colored with my Twinkling H20’s and Lumiere.

Sentiment is yet ANOTHER from CTMH (close to my heart). I LOVE all their sentiments!

Is that not beautiful or what?

I seriously LOVE doing these letters!

OK well back to work for me. I have a ton to do and a ton to share, but not till tomorrow!

2 more letter’s to share, and I have our Blogger’s Challenge tomorrow, and the Saturday sketch!

Till tomorrow!

Pretty, Punctual, Precious, Peaceful, Polite, Popular, Professional, Possible, Plesant, Perfect, Positive, Priceless and PROUD!

Or PAULETTE 😀

All of these adjectives not only start with “P”, but describe the person this letter was made for.

I told you yesterday I would share a great gift idea, and here it is.

For the person who has everything or anyone really-and you want to do something special.

I made these altered MDF letters for some friends recently. I purchased them at Michael’s.

They are part of a Secret Friend Swap. So if you got a MDF letter-the SURPRISE! Its from me:D

 I tried to make them  for each person so they would match their creative space!

I have 3 more to show you through this week. Each one special, and different from the next, to match the people they are made for.

This one was made with Paulette’s room color in mind, and her general peaceful, relaxed way.

Another important thing, she bought me this stamp from Penny Black. I LOVE it! What a way to showcase her gift to me huh?

For each letter I used Copper Foil, normally used when making Microscope slide ornaments, or stained glass wrap. It is sticky, so I just ran it along the edges of the letters, and ran my Scor-Tool over it to really secure it on, and smooth it out.

It really adds a much more elegant look than just PAINT!

The cardstock is River Rock textured cardstock.

I adhered each letter with Monomulti Glue, then brayered over each one for a nice seal.

Stamped the images and sentiment (from CTMH) with black StazOn (prior to adhering), and colored with my Twinkling H2O’s, and Lumiere. I also added some copper pen touches, to the flower centers.

I then added some gorgeous May Arts Satin ribbon-that will also be delivered to Paulette’s as part of her gift from Jody’s Ribbon share 😀

I needed “something” so I got a tag from Making Memories, and stamped the butterfly/sentiment from the SU! Priceless set. I colored the tag with my Sharpie markers, then sanded it.

 Another view

P-for PERFECT and P-for Proud!

I hope you enjoyed my little project.

My friend Erin is due THIS Friday to have a baby girl! They aren’t entirely sure it is, so I will alter one for “whatever” she has! LOL! Her baby is suppose to be named Avery-but Im not putting anything permanent YET!

I changed Amber’s name from Rebecca to Amber after to was born!

The other 2 were named, while I was pregnant too, and it stuck, but not her. She was almost Brielle, or Lily (now our cat’s name! LOL!), but those just didn’t fit.

Amber came out of no where!

Come to find out, when Jason’s mom was pregnant with him (at 17 and told no one till she was 8 months), she thought HE was a girl. She was going to name HIM Amber. She would “talk” to him by that name all the time. No one ever knew that.

So Amber’s arrives, and we had not agreed on a suitable name.

She reached out and grabbed his thumb, from under the warming lights.

Here is the photo-my most cherished I think!

He turned to me and said “What about Amber?”

I looked at her and knew that WAS it! She has soft blond hair, and a sunny look to her. She was so precious. Amber-A precious jewel-is the meaning. PERFECT.

When his mom came to visit in the hospital we told her we named “Rebbecca” – “Amber” instead. It was then that we heard the story!

Is that not the coolest thing ever! It subconsiously stuck with him, somewhere all these years.

Goes to show babies can “hear you” in there.

Thanks for reading.

I have a few more I’ll post this week.

Till tomorrow.

OK I got tagged, and Im wicked sorry! I cannot find WHO it was that sent me this email :C

I just went copy/pasted and went back later to find “you” and now it is stuck amongst my many INBOX messages-SORRY! Let me know WHO you were! 

1. Name your 2 favorite Scrapbooking topics.

YUCK! I hate to scrap! But I like Smileboxes so, it would me my kids, and I guess our dog-Daisy. She’s really funny.

2. What are the two best places you’ve been to?

Paris and Hawaii

3. Name two things you do every day. Clean and stamp

4. Name two things that pretty much everyone knows about you.

I love to stamp! AND I have a little OCD so try to keep the house as clean as possible with  kids.

5. What are your two favorite stores?

TARGET!!! And any craft related place to shop.

6. What are your two favorite accessories to stamp/scrap with?

Ribbon and BLING

7. What are your two favourite occasions to make cards for?

Thank you and Birthday-most commonly used.8. What are your two favourite SU! Cardstock colours?

I LOVE celery and soft sky

OK there you have it.

I dont sound very interesting-but hey that me! BORING 😀

Have you ever made something that you LOVED, but no one else seemed to really notice?

Doesn’t it drive you crazy?

This happens to me all the time. I think I have bad taste!

Even with submissions. There will be something I’m not sure about sending, and its the first thing picked! The things I LOVE-no go!

Well, I came across one of those creations today! An under loved piece of magic (:D)

I was scanning through my files, so I could update my published list, and found my VERY FIRST EVER Papertrey Ink card! I felt since I stayed up till 12:35 am, to get in my order-(YES! The site crashed AGAIN!) that I should share a sample with you.

Here it is-

 Butterfly Kissed Thoughts

When I saw the Butterfly Kisses set I knew that Papertrey Ink would KILL my pocketbook. I was in love.

So, back to my thoughts-I LOVED this card. I mean REALLY LOVED. I don’t think anyone ever noticed it. Its still, to this day, one of my most favorite I have ever created.

Now since I am in a spring mode, after our foot of snow-

I figured I’d share a tin I made with you (2 months ago!!!), using the NEW! Lizzie Anne Dreaming of Dots. Now I have to tell you how much I LOVE this set. Its so hard to “sit” on projects sometimes.

But now I can share away!

 Bloom dots tin  

 Click for larger view. Inside fits 4 Ghirardelli chocolate squares.

You have to LOVE Martha Stewart’s wide adhesive ribbon! That is what is on the bottom portion of my tin. It matched the SU! Guava ribbon PERFECTLY!

Now this tin can seriously be whipped together in UNDER 5 minutes! Minus the time for the liquid pearls centers of the flower’s to dry.

Is it not so cute?

These are cute for Easter-if you give Teacher’s anything.

Anyway-I must run. Got to run the kids around today.

Hope you enjoy the day.

I’ll be back tomorrow to share some WAY cool thing I have been doing! You really will want to see this!

Unless you don’t want to spend anymore $$$ (wink). Yes, its THAT good.

HINT-Another great gift idea.

Till tomorrow-

How can you resist this face? Seriously!

I know most of you can’t because I think if I breed Daisy just from the requests here she would have to give birth to almost 40 puppies-and that’s just online! Doesn’t include family requests 😀

She is getting fixed though on the 31st. A tough decision in some way, since I believe EVERYONE should have a Daisy in their life. How sweet would it be to spread the joy.

But we aren’t doing that. I’d feel so bad. Plus we would have to keep ONE.

Is she not the most adorable thing ever! Of course she JUST had a bath, and we get hit with A FOOT of snow. Heavy, wet, sticky snow.

Daisy LOVED to dive face first in the snowbanks.

Here she is coming up for air. She found a flyer under the snow and had to “rescue” it.

All this snow got me back into a Christmasy mood! LOL! We won’t acknowledge the fact that I have yet to Smilebox the kids Christmas photos!

OK Kidding about the Christmas mood- but I just got this Snowy House in from Em at Stamping Bella, along with my order of Valentine Bella stuff. I HAD to play with it ASAP! Plus since it was snowing-it was perfect! (for the record, Yes I also got the Bella House too)

I’m thinking simple-future Christmas cards perhaps-

DID YOU KNOW she had stuff other than the Bella’s?! GASP!

I feel like I have been living in a cave or something.

She has some rockin images, let me tell you. I can’t wait to ink them up.

I mean really cool stuff. I had no idea-then I stumbled upon some of it, and it became a MUST have.

So look for more of that in a few!

I colored this with my Copic’s and used some American Crafts paper. SU! Wide olive ribbon.

Had to have some bling! The lights are done with my cheapo Sam’s Club glitter pens. So pretty in person.

The sentiment and swirl is from the Cat’s Pajama’s

Sorry its a quick one today peep’s. I am a stamping machine-most of what has been “work” related, so cannot share-YET!

I will say I HOPE to make it for the Papertrey Ink release. Not looking too good, since I am wiped out.

If I dont PLEASE save me some sets and tins OK!

Till tomorrow.

 Mug Shot-

(I made the little “filmstrip” using my 1/4 square punch. Bkgd was stamped using Behind the Scenes. )

So as you can see, I did finally cave and get the Crafty Secrets Coffee & Tea set. I just loved the 1950’s look of it. Its retro, and fun, AND so not my usual style.

My friend Paulette took a trip to our LSS (without me! SHOCK!!!), and I had her pick it up for me. Thanks Paulette-you are the BEST!

I have to say I was VERY nervous about this purchase. I had put a lot of time and thought into debating on weather or not I NEEDED this set. Finally I said-To heck with it! Just suck it up, and buy it.

Now why the big debate you ask?

My “issue” is, that with certain companies, like Crafty Secrets and A Muse, to name a few, I get intimidated by their “style”. Now, while I love their products, “I” am not a creator who has their “signature style”.

 I KNOW you KNOW what I mean.

So, when I create with their products I feel I HAVE to design just like THEIR style. I know I don’t literally HAVE to, but that is my thought.

Well, that doesn’t work for me, and I end up NOT using what I originally loved. NOT GOOD.

So I made this set fit “MY” style, and you know what, I think I rocked it!

Yes, I said that “I” rocked it!

Now I don’t care if anyone else thinks that or not. Or if my stuff doesn’t look like “theirs”, because I created it to ONLY please myself. Isn’t that why we stamp?

If so, then why do we try to be like everyone else, or make sure everyone else LOVES it. Its awful!

I am proud I took a set I was “challenged” by and made it all my own. That I let myself go of the pressure to be like them. Or make it like anyone else’s. That I overcame that mental obstacle only “I” put there.

There is no disclaimer when you buy something, tha tyour creations have to be a certain way. Like I said, its something I created in my own mind.

Now I will also share the other cards I made-which yes, I rocked those too! LOL!

We as women need to give ourselves credit, and have pride in our accomplishments.

So before I share the rest of my stuff-Challenge YOURSELF today! Doesn’t have to be stamp related. Let me know what challenge you are facing, and how you plan to over come it today. No matter HOW small.

Today my challenge is to avoid chocolate like the plague. I start me “better living, and eatting” life today. Cross your fingers, and ONE day at a time right.

So here is what I did next-

  Gimmie some SUGAR!

Is this not adorable? Don’t you love my “sugar-cube”?! Just added some micro-beads to where I needed them to be. Not revolutionary, but I thought it was pretty darn cute.

The tab-extends past the card. I thought it was different than anything I have done before, so like that.

 click for larger view.

Next up is one HOT mama

 Perk Up!

SWEET & SIMPLE

I think it helped I watched the movie Pearl Harbor with Ben Affleck, when I created these! LOL! It was on TV that night.

Again, I used my Scor-Pal to create the dry embossed border. Easy as pie.

Wanted to keep the 1950’s appeal so I added some gingham ribbon, and scallops.

Now LAST, but not least-

 Perculator of friendship

How cute is this image? I paired this with some scrap paper by Chatterbox. Not sure which collection though :C had to dust of my Scallop circle nestabilities for this one 😀

I do think I may have over did this one-but that’s ok. We will call it my version of shabby chic! LOL!

So there you have it!

In front of you-my challenge defeated. That was my it-to overcome my own SECRET hang-ups! We all have them, right?

Thanks for reading, and if you decide, sharing your thoughts 😀

 Till tomorrow