Yes, a REAL STAMPED CARD!!!!!

Along with Taz's birthday card from Julee (see the May 21 entry if you missed that!), I got some little Cat's Pajamas images from her. I decided to use one of them to make a card to send to Julee.... Now that she has it, I can post it here, because I really was quite happy with how it turned out.... From the new summer line at Cat's Pajamas, here's "Annette":



She's just too darned cute! I love the sunglasses... such total cattitude!!!! I really think what made this card was the raffia around the oval..... I stole it from Taz's favorite toy.... just 2 strands... she'll never miss it, so she actually helped with this one because she did the shredding! Got the paper at the local scrapbook store... I was feeling like using primary colors on this so the red and blue in the paper was perfect. The cardstock is Buckaroo Blue from Stampin' Up! and the markers used to color Annette are also Stampin' Up!.... Real Red, Brocade Blue, Old Olive and Barely Banana, I think. I also used my Stardust Clear glitter pen and my new Scalloped Oval punches. The brads are from Making Memories and the oval frame is from Stampin' Up!'s Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware.

I have an order on the way from Cat's Pajamas.... In it is their new Sprinkle doing the hula..... I can't wait to get that one!!!!!

My Preview is FINALLY here!!!!!

And they weren't kidding that the new In Colors look TOTALLY different in the print version than they do in the pdf version! WOW! I really like that Soft Sky.... I wish that had been around when I was making stuff for the twins.... it is a really pale minty-blue sort of color.

The only one of the colors I'm not wild about is the River Rock, but I'm not really big on yellowy-brown colors.

Normally I really dislike the color orange, but the Groovy Guava is a nice dark peachy color.... it will go well with Blush Blossom!

So now I'm just counting down the hours till I can spend more money with Stampin' Up! June 1st can't come quick enough!!!!!

We spent most of our day out shopping today..... bought a new bed for the guest room... buh-bye to the "crouton-futon" and hello to a platform bed with an innerspring futon mattress. It will be in either the 29th or June 5th. Then we went to Best Buy to get Russ a new monitor.... then to Fry's because they had one in their ad for a whole lot less. Ended up buying the monitor he liked at Best Buy over at Fry's since they had a $30 mail-in rebate with it. I'm going to run to the grocery store and get some hot dogs to BBQ tonight.... nothing like a slightly charred hot dog.... yuuuuummmmmmm!!!!!!

On a sad note.....

As I have probably mentioned, I am headed to Stampin' Up's convention in Denver this summer. One of the fun parts about Convention, since I go alone, is finding a roommate and meeting someone new. Last year it was CraftyKate from Splitcoast. Last month, I found a roommate - Roanne aka Roannestamps on Splitcoast. We have spent the past month or so, e-mailing back and forth, getting to know each other. I just got an e-mail from her yesterday around 4PM her time. She told me all about the 110 swap cards she did on Monday and the Microscope Slide necklaces (swaps) she was working on.

Roanne passed away suddenly last night. Cardiac arrest. She was somewhere around my age (her description was "just a bit older"). She was single, but leaves behind five kitties... Cleo-catra, Venice, Paris, Rio and Braveheart. She collected teacups (ok, got me on that one) and liked to play Sudoku (as do I). She also liked photography. We had a lot in common..... And for someone I never got the opportunity to meet face to face, I miss her. I am so terribly sad for her mother and her kitties and that I was so close to really meeting her and now that won't happen.

Just a reminder of how short and precious life can be..... Give an extra hug to your loved ones, including those with fur for Roanne......

Edited today, 5/27/07 to add that I now know that Roanne was 46 and that she was not alone when she passed, so that was comforting.... She knew she was dying and was able to tell the person with her that she loved them before passing. Should we all be so fortunate to pass in the comforting arms of a loved one.....

One Word.....

This was on Julie's blog, Paper Pleasing Ideas... Here are my answers.... (sorry, had to add an explanation to bathroom.... we have two of them, I just want a NEW one!) Feel free to play along!

One Word

You can only type one word. No explanations...

Yourself: Silly

Your Partner: Strong

Your Hair:   Long

Your Mother:  Responsible

Your Father:  Inspiration

Your Favorite Item: stamps

Your Dream Last Night: road-trip

Your Favorite Drink:  champagne

Your Dream Car: B9Tribeca

Dream Home: bigger

The Room You Are In: office/guestroom

Your Fear: fire

Where You Want to be in Ten Years: Gualala

Who You Hung Out With Last Night:  Hubby

You're Not: Pollyanna

One of Your Wish List Items: Bathroom (remodel)

The Last Thing You Did: Dinner

you Are Wearing:  shorts

Your Favorite Weather: Spring

Your Favorite Book: Watership Down

Last Thing You Ate: casserole

Your Life: average

Your Mood: sad

Your Best Friend: Justin

What Are You Thinking About Right Now: Roanne

Your Car: Forester

What Are You Doing At The Moment: Blogging

Relationship Status:  married  

What Is On Your TV: unknown

What Is The Weather Like: Dusk

When Is The Last Time You Laughed: today

It's been a REALLY long day.....

Which really started last night around 9PM..... Russ got a flat tire right as he got to church last night. 2 of the guys there helped him put on the spare but he didn't get home till almost 10PM. He asked me to drive him to work today and then get the tire taken care of. So I was up at 5:30 (which is a WHOLE LOT earlier than I normally have to be attentive enough to drive!). It's a 45-55 minute drive each way, so it was close to 8AM when I got home.

Then I had to take Taz to the vet for a 10AM appointment. She HATES going in her carrier, so that was fun. Not. We got home from the vet around 11:00, I gave her some treats for not killing anyone and then switched cars and headed for Les Schwabb Tires to see if they could repair the flat.

Score one for luck, it was repairable! 20 minutes later it was back on the car and the spare was even put back up underneath. AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN CHARGE ME the $11.50 they had quoted! BONUS! Helps take away a bit of the sting of the $101 vet visit....

Score two for luck when Russ called and said he had a coworker that was going to bring him about 3/4 of the way home, so I was only looking at 10 or 15 minutes instead of almost an hour each way! Right about the time I was going to go meet him he called again and said that his coworker was going to bring him all the way home! YAY!

Unfortunately, my Stampin' Up! Fall Winter Catalog Preview Brochure did NOT arrive in the mail today.....SIGH.... Everyone keeps saying that it looks much different in real life than the pdf file online does. I hate waiting.....

We have no real plans for this weekend.... we need to do some shopping for household stuff and get an oil change done on Russ' car (wish I'd remembered that today while I had it.... D'Oh!), but that's all that's on our calendar for the weekend. Maybe I'll actually get some stamping done.....

SURPRISE!

Every once in a while I get something in my mailbox that is TRULY a surprise. I've belonged to a couple different RAK (Random Act of Kindness) groups over on Splitcoast, so getting cards in the mail, while still TOTALLY AWESOME, isn't as surprising as it once was.

Until today.

In 14 years, this is a first... TAZ got a BIRTHDAY CARD!

Yes, boys and girls, MY CAT GOT MORE MAIL TODAY THAN I DID! LOL!

And should you be wondering who is sending my CAT a birthday card, it would be none other than Julee (Shadowcatcher) Tilman and her cat, Katie. Well, I'm not sure how much Katie had to do with it.....

Here is Taz, checking out her card (Mmmmmm.... RIBBON!!!!)




And here is a closeup of the card, The cat and sentiment stamps are by Cat's Pajamas. You can check out Julee's blog for tons of awesome artwork featuring their stuff! (there's a link over on the right under "Blogs I read")



Thanks, Julee and Katie!!!!

I cannot believe how TINY they are!

Here are the long awaited photos!

These were taken Friday at the ripe old age of 3 days. They are SOOOOOOOO tiny!!!!

This is Abigail


And this is Gregory


Adorable little peanuts, huh?

It's VSN Weekend, Baby!!!!!

VSN = Virtual Stamp Night. Used to be just one day and then it evolved to start with a "Tailgate" session on Friday night. If you have kids stamping along with you, it starts at 3PM (California time) today (4PM for the adults) and the last challenge tonight is posted at 8PM. Then tomorrow it starts at 9AM for the kids, 10AM for the adults and the last challenge will be posted at 8PM, one every hour. You get 45 minutes to complete your item and then 15 minutes to clean up, eat, whatever. If you are inclined to check it out, here is the link to the VSN forum on Splitcoast Stampers.

I have the house to myself (well, with Taz, whose birthday is tomorrow) till Russ gets home Sunday afternoon!

He will be at his mom's this weekend to help with her annual garage sale. He has been ordered to take his camera to the hospital and take pictures of the babies. I told him not to come home without baby photos! LOL!

I thought about going, but I *SO* do NOT do garage sales, and I'm certainly not going to spend my VSN weekend sitting in my mother-in-law's garage just to see the babies for 15 minutes. I can wait. Besides, the new mother is not letting anyone near them who shows any signs of anything but perfect health and it's allergy season for me, so I'm sure she wouldn't let me in there anyway. She told Russ last night that he wouldn't be allowed in if he wasn't feeling better today and he just had an upset stomach from something he ate! We'll see how long she maintains this level of strictness.... I'm guessing it will stop not long after she has the babies home and her hubby goes back to work! LOL!

I am now off to feed my caffeine addiction and go grocery shopping for hassle-free-foods for me to eat tonight and tomorrow. Can we say "buh-bye diet"??? Then I need to get home and clean off the DISASTER that is my stamp table! I need to print out the VSN Shopping list again (since I lost the first one in there!) and organize all my supplies. Sounds like I'm going to have a busy day!!!!

I'M AN AUNTIE!!!!!

Oh, and Russ is an Uncle.... LOL!

Abigail Mae and Gregory James were born May 15th weighing 3 lbs, 15 oz and 4 lbs, 1 oz. Mother and babies are doing fine, but due to their size the babies will be staying in the hospital for about a month. Sis-in-law was in labor for about 8 hours and had a normal delivery!

Russ will see them on Friday, so I should have a photo or two to upload come Sunday night when he gets back!

72 Days till CONVENTION!!!!!

OK. Now that the Baby stuff is done (shower was fun, the little mother is miserable at 32 weeks with 4 to 6 weeks left!) I can turn my attention to SU! stuff!

I am register for the (sold out) 1st session of Convention July 25-28. I am also registered for the SCS 1st Session Dinner. I am committed (in more ways than one) to 101 card fronts and 40 ATCs for swapping. I must be crazy! I spent 4 hours yesterday working on the first 50 card batch. I got all the layers cut, the punched piece punched and stamped and all 204 brads have been set. Today I decided I really needed craft ink instead of classic, so I placed an SU! order. Hopefully I will have that by the end of the week so I can work on the swaps this weekend.

Although.... this weekend is VSN!!!! And I have the house to myself! Russ will be going to his parents' Friday night (straight from work) and won't be home till Sunday afternoon! Saturday is Taz's 14th birthday, so I will have to set aside some special Kitty Time, but other than that, the weekend is MINE ALL MINE!

Tomorrow is our anniversary (14 years). I have my card all done (A VSN entry from November or January), so I'm ready! Russ stopped at Hallmark on the way home tonight. Nothing like waiting till the last minute! LOL!

The Baby Tins are DONE!!!!!

The shower is tomorrow at 1:30. The tins were finished around 4 PM today. Nothing like waiting till almost the last minute, huh? Of course, I still need to do a card and wrap them....

I did absolutely NO STAMPING on these. This was my first time doing anything like these little memory books, so I was kinda learning as I made them! They consist of 12 A2 size envelopes, each one with the month and year on them from July 2007 to June 2008. The envelopes are then glued into an accordion card stock spine which is then attached inside the front covers of the book. The book covers are just covered cardboard and the spine is double sided heavy paper. All the words are printed on adhesive vellum and cut out and stuck on. The words on the tins are die cut with the Cuttlebug or embossed with the Cuttlebug and cut out. The papers all came from Michael's with the exception of all card stock which is Close To My Heart (it is thinner than SU's and die cuts more easily). Here are the photos of the tins, the tins with the books, and the books open. I'll post the card later tonight.....

My head is spinning.....

Today (well, actually LATE last night) Stampin' Up! released their retirement list, telling us what stamp sets would not make it from the current Idea Book to the next one (which comes out July 1st). It's a pretty big deal and there were a bunch of us over on Splitcoast "stalking" its release. Once it came out, the shock wave spread.

In the past, they have retired around 150 stamp sets - not insignificant when you consider there are around 360 regular "sets" in the catalog. This year they retired 233 sets from the US catalog. It would have been easier for them to list what WASN'T retiring (129 sets). My personal collection took a HUGE hit. I had 35 current sets, I now have 15 and only 5 of those are "images"; the rest are backgrounds and word sets. This is in addition to the SAB sets and Hostess sets that we knew were going to retire.

I still have 4 sets from the past year's mini catalogs whose status will remain in limbo until the catalog comes out... I think one (Like it a Latte) will make it since the only other coffee set we had is on the list. We lost most of the Christmas sets, all but 1 baby set and even the floral stamps took a beating.

I had hoped to start making Convention Swap cards this week, but all the sets I had envisioned using will be retired and not usable for SU swapping. SIGH.... So, after careful pondering, I ordered 2 more sets that are NOT on the list so I can start swaps NEXT week. Just as well.... I need to get back to work on the baby gifts for the shower on the 12th.

Happy May, everyone!