Here is a recent photo of our dog-Daisy.

She loves sleeping hung over the arm of our couch. She is just adorable.

Funny when I don’t show up for a day, I get lots of emails asking if all is well. That is so sweet Thank you.

Yes! I am here. Just letting the mojo flow, and not stopping it by blogging.

I get lots of emails about Daisy. Prior to be a dog owner I wouldn’t “get it”. I really wasn’t a dog person before we got her. OK Ill ramble on to dog stuff later in the post-keep reading

Well in just 6 days you will get to see the first peeks at the fruits of my labor! I’m also gearing up fro Stamp New England. Sometimes Im amazed at what needs to get crammed into a day here.

I am B-U-S-Y! Plus I have my niece again today, so that throws a huge wrench in my plans! I’m actually praying she sleeps a good part of today. Three kids, a dog and a new baby-with DEADLINES………………that is juggling!!!

I am gearing up for my template peeks, and thePTI countdown! I think one of the templates this month will make LOTS of people HAPPY!! HINT! HINT!!

Anyway-lots to share, little time.

I’m still spinning over the Bachelor stuff, but won’t give it anymore of my energy.

You may remember I was the FEBRUARY Guest Designer for Queen Kat Designs Stamps. (WOW! Where DID Feb. go?) There is more stuff on their blog–>HERE!

Im in love with their Butterfly Writing bkgd, Doodle Tulip, Mini Sweets, Hooters, Love Birds and of course Flutterby!!

I just saw Their March Fairy Release and may have to pick that up!

I had been sent a set called Rocker Kat. As I said before it allowed me to step outside the box.

WATCH OUT!! This is where I go off deep into thought!

I made a little photo holder of Alexa and I, from when she was a baby.

 About 11 months old here. I am 22.

Its amazing what ONE photo can stir up in us. The memories it holds. ONE moment, captured, can have so much meaning.

I LOVED this photo. It was the beginning of a very happy time for me in my life, which has only continued.

I was a single mom, and I felt like if I could take care of her, and juggle everything that I was, I could do ANYTHING!

 It was actually a great time in my life. I never thought that being a young mom to a child, with special needs, and going through a divorce nonetheless, I could be happy! But, I was. It only took about 6 months for me to find out that I would be OK. Life would go on, and in fact, get better. I was stronger than I ever thought. I learned SOOOO much about what I wanted, didn’t want…….I could take on the world.

It was the first time in my life I was able to find “myself” and truly be on my own. I was only 21 – 22 at the time. Definitely “older” and more mature than most at that age.

Before that I didn’t know WHO I was or WHAT I wanted. NOW, I WAS happy.  Life alone was much happier than being in a miserable first marriage, to someone who made me feel “not good enough”, and endless fighting. Definitely the type of house I didn’t want my daughter growing up in. We brought out the worst in each-other. I also left knowing I tried my best, and even though everything fell apart (he was having an affair for 2 years before I knew. His entire family helped him keep the secret!) it wasn’t my fault.

I did my best, but when only one person works on a relationship- it isn’t going to work! Its like having a row boat, and only ONE person rowing. You get now where, except go around in one big circle. In the end, his infidelity was the final straw. The minute I found out I left. Of course, I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do, and HOW! But I put one foot in front of the other, and just did it.

It was hard and scary. Leaping into the unknown. Leaving my “comfort zone”.

 I was scared to be a single mom, but in reality I already was. Erik had checked out of our marriage long before that, and had hardly embraced “fatherhood”. That was hard too because I thought he would have been a fabulous dad. He was the one who pushed to start our family. Now I think he really just wanted to “trap” me. He actually even admits to a lot of that. Another long story that I just assume forget.

I think from then to now how much I have changed, and all that is in my life-would not be, had those event NOT taken place.

In the end, Erik did me the biggest favor in the world! I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be happy, or have my AMAZING husband, or my other 2 children. I would be in a loveless, empty marriage. I am so thankful.

Now I don’t know WHY all this just poured out today. I think looking back on the photo and remembering that time in my life just inspired me to share.

Maybe if YOU are in a situation, maybe life is going all wrong, and don’t think you can do something, or are afraid to take a leap, know that things will be better. There is a purpose! Someday you will look back and remember when……

You can and WILL be happy again.You are stronger than you think. Life can be better than imagined. Sometimes when things go bad, we don’t know why. I know I wondered WHY all that happened to me. Had I known the day I “thought” my life was falling apart, I’d have the life I do now, I would have thrown a party! LOL!

Just like when I found out Alexa had Down Syndrome. One of the hardest days of my life. If I had a crystal ball, and saw her now (cancer and ALL) I wouldn’t have shed a single tear!

Same thing with her Cancer. had I known she would definitely be OK, and we would weather the storm like we did, I wouldn’t have worried so much. But ALL of it made my family what it is today. ALL of it had a purpose. Every moment-good and bad. It all lead me here, where I sit telling you my whole life story in ONE post! LOL!

I don’t know-maybe this will help someone else? Maybe you can relate?

Its was just another puzzle piece to my life.

For all of it I am grateful.

Anyway-

Alexa was the BEST baby in the world. She was actually fabulous period till like age 7! LOL! Then ATTITUDE came into our lives I hear its a good thing. Makes her like every other (now 9 year old) girl her age.

OK getting back to the CARDS!! Sorry about all that. Felt good though to think back.

I stamped the cat, and cut it out. I then stamped the hat on Pink Passion and cut it out. Added a row of BLING!!

Then keeping with the BLING theme (if is ROCKER CHIC!) I made this card in purple colors.

I liked the glittered star so much that I did this SUPER simple one

More glittery stars! All 3 samples using that same set.

I want to thank Vicki for having me asa  guest, even though between the 2 of us it was most likely the WORST Guest Designer in history scenario! LOL! We both had major computer issues.

Speaking of KAT’s I thought Id share another recent photo of our dog Daisy

I get LOTS of dog lovers asking me how she is, since they haven’t seen photos in a while!

Isn’t she cute.

Since she is now “behaving” I don’t have those naughty photos and stories to share anymore. She is really good. Only ocassionally will she eat a Barbie! LOL! Granted, if its left on the floor unattended I think it SHOULD get eatten!!!

Those who don’t know-she is a cockapoo, and is now 1 years old.

Daisy enabled many families to get a cockapoo when we got her last year! LOL!

Daisy has been great!

I have to say I don’t know what we did before we got a dog! She is pretty amazing. Always everywhere we are. She “stamps” with me everyday, and yes, sleeps in our bed. She does lots of things, pre-dog owner, that we said we’d never do! Like sleep with us and eat people food. With 3 kids keeping her away from people food is near impossible. Her favorite treat is Cheese Doodles! OH MY! Open a bag of those and she will get up on her hind legs and twirl in a circle for them, begging! HILARIOUS.

NO! My dog doesn’t LIVE on Cheese Doodles or people food, but she tries.

Daisy is amazing with the kids-all kids-big or small (well not babies! She want to lick thier face off), and other animals. We have 3 cats and she “plays” with them daily. Her and my boy cat sleep cuddled together, and they even eat together. STRANGE!

When people come in she gets SO excited. Sometimes she pees! LOL! But that has gotten better, as has the jumping up. That part is owner error. Its hard to make her NOT jump when you have 3 kids who run around palying with her, encouraging her to JUMP for a snack, JUMP for a TOY and whatnot.

Anyway-she is a love!! Weighing in at a whopping 15lbs-perfect for our family. I do get her groomed every 6 weeks. Mainly because her hair gets long quick and I can’t keep it untangled.

I would definitely recommend her breed to anyone.

I even thought about getting another! But that would be INSANE.

OK now Im back to the daily grind

Thanks for reading all my RANDOM rambling.

If you skipped it, I don’t blame you! LOL!

Till tomorrow

First I NEED to talk about the TV show the Bachelor! OMW!! Do you watch that show??

I have watched every episode since it began in like 8 years ago! LOL!

If you don’t-skip past my rambling to this post (after the ——— line). I LOVE this show and after last nights SHOCKER I have to “discuss it”.

I thought when Brad didn’t propose to Deanna or Jenny (Like 2 or 3 seasons ago) that was PRETTY crazy! Granted I honestly don’t think ANY of these couple should get engaged after dating (not even exclusively) only 6 weeks. I mean look at the ROMANTIC settings and stuff they get placed in! You could fall in LOVE with SHREK with all that romance.

Then back to REALITY and life isn’t so chocolate, wine and roses-so it rarely works :C Its kind of sad.

SO onto LAST night-even my husband watched this INTENTLY!! His jaw was on the floor.

I felt Jason and Molly would be a good fit from early on.

When Jason broke down after sending her home my heart broke for him. I mean really, it has to be hard dumping someone you think you love, just because you think you love someone else, and its “time” to send someone home, when 1) they did nothing wrong 2) you aren’t sure WHO you love more 3) you didn’t get enough TIME.

So I felt so sad for him.

Then-forward to AFTER the ROSE! When he PUBLICALLY breaks up with Melissa! (I do think she had an idea he was going to do that because she didn’t have the ring on, and was “cold” looking coming out) How hard is that!!

OMG! I couldn’t even believe it! POOR Melissa! To think you are going to marry someone, only to find out they are pining away fro someone else? BUMMER! Now he dumps her ON the show, then is going to ask Molly for a shot right after. WOW! That is heart wrenching.

What is worse than doing nothing wrong?! This girl keeps getting dumped, and everyone says “nothing wrong, she is the sweetest girl.” I think she should be the next bachelorette!

I do think he did the right thing though. As awful as it was!! He should follow his heart. You can tell he was a mess over the entire situation, which was nice to see a man have some emotion. Most of them don’t get so torn up over it.

Poor Ty (his son) he must be SO confused now.

I KNEW he’d end up with Molly from the beginning, although he said Melissa reminded him of his EX wife, and DeAnna-which should have given him a big RED LIGHT that it wouldn’t work! LOL!

 Would you want some guy marrying you, while he regretted his decision and was thinking of someone else?!

I wouldn’t want to be 2nd best. I think he honestly tried, but just couldn’t get her out of his head/heart. They BETTER make it now!

Molly was in shock. I guess I expected a different reaction than she had. Must have been COMPLETE shock.

Anyway-I know Im lame. I get all wrapped up in these people’s “lives”.

Makes me SOOOOOO happy to have found my Jason, and NOT be dating anymore.

True love finds you when you aren’t looking. I remember the night I met him. I didn’t want to talk to ANYONE! I was so done with men. Then I saw him! LOL! When we met I never thought I’d see him again, but he put in SO much effort to get me to go out with him, I was in awe! He honestly seemed to perfect to be true-but 8 years later-he’s only gotten better. I always think “How did I get so lucky?!”. He still treats me like we are dating, and looks at me the SAME way. Trust me, in the morning Im no walk to the park! So to see that same look in his eyes amazes me I always feel so loved and special.

OK so feel free to leave your feelings on the show here! NONE of my friends watch it, so Im DYING to chat about it!

———————————————————————————————————

Now onto the other stuff. Sorry I had to do it.

Now I come into my busiest time of the month! From NOW until the 16th I’m usually running crazy-daily (hopefully!). If I miss a day of that 2-3 hour stamp block time I am really running.

This is the week usually most my assignments arrive in the mail! I VERY exciting time.

Add that to my sudden stampers ADD (when I get sidetracked doing stuff Im snot suppose to be doing) and designing even MORE templates, taking on other projects, and HELLO! LIFE, I’m really in over-drive. I do have 3 kids that need me a zillion times a day, and like to play games, and need to eat. SO balancing is important

The funniest thing is, the MORE I have to do, the more my mojo flows, and the MORE energy I have. I usually have a 2 week “lull” where I don’t have any release stuff to do, and its much harder creating like that. I’m always moving on to whats next. I think I thrive on BUSY! Not sure why. I love the ever going TO DO list, and how it feels crossing stuff off.

OK onto the family stuff:

Noah is healing well. First day back to school. We got MAJOR snow here yesterday. I needed that extra day before beginning the week again. The “area” I THINK is looking OK. I pray that school goes well, no injuries.

Having my niece was great, and utterly exhausting. I forgot how busy a few feedings, burping and changing diapers can be, and just how much that activity will actually FILL your day. I had Amber when I was into stamping but I wasn’t OBSESSED yet! I can’t imagine all you addicted new moms!!

In the 2 days I had her I had a bajillion ideas running through my head for templates, projects, and videos. All having to wait.

I did see “adding a 4th” wouldn’t be that bad! LOL!(That CAN’T and won’t happen BTW! We are done!) I had 3 kids entertaining her and helping at her ever whimper. She is a VERY good baby!! So it was nice to get my fill-then take a nap when they left! LOL! I needed it. I remembered the early days with my kids and it was nice. Jason was reminded of WHY he got his vasectomy! LOL! Too funny.

OH the early days.

I appreciated the sleep-FILLED nights now. Granted with motherhood there are MANY sleepless nights, when they are ill, and I have had my share, but the night feedings are just different.

OK onto card stuff.

All That Scraps release 4 sets are NOW! Available!!

With this release we had:

Amy R’s Friends Sentiment

Cookie Crumbs Mushroom Friends

Ginger Snaps Spring Thing

and Hunny Bunny

So here are some samples for you

My favorite:

Long time friend

I created this box using the Friends sentiment, and the butterfly from Spring Thing.

The patterned paper is by Stampin Up!

Cardstock (and ribbon) is from PTI. (Dark chocolate, white, summer sunset)

The large GIGA flower punch in dark chocolate is by Marvy. The scallop is also Stampin’Up!

I stamped my sentiment. Then my butterfly-colored with Copic’s and added some glitter!

Its a great size box!!!! I LOVE boxes

Next up-Rain, rain.

Also from Spring Thing.

The duckie really stood out to me. What a great “pick me up” card for someone having a BAD day!

This one was VERY simple. Love the puddle and the colors this has. Im just so in LOVE with that duck, I can’t even stand it. My favorite image from this release!!

My second fave image was the bunny!

Also from Spring Thing-sentiment from Friends Sent. set. Carrot from Hunny Bunny

Very simple card. I masked the bunny to sit ON the carrot. I felt it went well with the sentiment. I added flock to the bunny tail

Simple, and cute.

Well that does it. I have exercises to do, errands to run, projects to plan, a house to clean, lasagna to make, kids to drive to dance, and everything in between.

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to check out the WHAT’S NEW! section at ATS!!

Thanks for stopping by

 Well its Monday!

That means its time for another Monday’s with My Time Video!

If you use a Google reader or other program you will have to watch it here, on my blog. SORRY! Not sure HOW that all works.

All I can say is due the vacation and sickness, then my new video editing (which I was UNABLE to use :C GRR!) I had one heck of a time making this one today! I’ll spare you the details, but I think the end result was worth it, and hope you do too.

My goal for today is to help you learn some photo software so you can create your own sketches and such. That is something I get asked about a lot.

I was leery about continuing videos, but I will move forward since so many asked I don’t quit! I have my disclaimer-that I will include with every post!!

NOTE: If you click ON the thumbnails AFTER the video it takes you to the Veoh site. Some of the content there I am told is “R” rated and you may not want to do that around young children. So if you just watch the video here on my blog, and avoid the thumnails you should be OK. Not sure WHY they don’t have ONLY stamp related videos pop up, but I guess some aren’t.

Bottom line: Click at your own risk!

I am not responsible for content that links to the videos from the Veoh site.

Thank you

I hope you enjoy today’s video!

This is the Sketch that I will show you how to make from the beginning drawing (and the inspiration source), to creating it on my computer, to the making of the actual sample, as seen here!

No Lion, you are the best!

This is card I will create on the video, utilizing the sketch above.

This card uses Life’s a Jungle by CTMH.I got mine HERE. I think its SOOOO adorable. I needed MORE boy stuff. I got rid of most of it, then when its time to MAKE a boy card I cringe! LOL! Granted it can be used for ANY theme with the sentiments.

I also do MORE Copic coloring, and use Fun Flock in the video.

I decided to make yet ANOTHER boy card (for my stash!) for all of you out there who beg for more BOY themed ideas This is an area I promise to work on more!

Genuine Boy

I love Dress Up Billy for Boy stuff! The dog is from the Lily & Billy accessories set (a must have!).

I think he looks so cute, skateboarding off the card!

Used MORE Stampin’ Up! patterned paper. Feels good to actual SUE what I have instead of BUYING more stuff I really DON’T need (right?).

I had fun with the layering of it all.

I hope you get to try the sketch OR if you can make your own!

Should be fun! The entire video is PACKED with info.

Well that’s all fore me now. I talk enough on the video to last a lifetime

I love to hear your feedback.

Thanks for visiting me here.

Till tomorrow.