For the Cause!!

Happy Thursday friends!  EEEKKKK!  I leave at 6 am tomorrow morning for San Jose and I have soooooooo much to do today (per the usual lol).  My main work is all done but as always its laundry, packing and organizing supplies. I also had to trash a suitcase—yep too many miles on it and zippers are broke and it looks like its been thru WW3 LOL!  TSA is not very nice to luggage eh’—so I’m off to buy a hardcase suitcase today which I’m hoping is still on sale LOL!  We’ll see how long that one lasts, poor things!  And I’m flying Southwest so I will fly to Denver first and then onto San Jose and yep I have to rent a car.  I’m taking MY Garmin GPS this time so I’m hoping it doesn’t lead me up to Seattle or Canada in my travels this time LOL.  I already have that funny buzzy feeling that something is gonna happen (shhh I won’t go into how I think I’m slightly pyschic, yes I really do) but I’m PRAYIN’ its funny stuff not the BAD stuff KWIM.  I don’t want to be involved in any kind of newsworthy or tragic event---I’m only up for fun kind of stuff ok I say to the higher ups somewhere up there LOL.  Hubby likes to poo-poo my psychic abilities at times but even he has to admit that I am right on the money with my predictions 95% of the time!  YIKES—so stay tuned for all that!!  And yes Suzanne is setting up her mobile office in the airport in the morning and you can follow me on Facebook cuz I usually am there posting weird stuff and funny pics along the way!  Hey I gotta keep myself entertained at all times LOL!  So for those in CA, I’ll see y’all soon   And you can come to a Copics class with me too---go to www.cmcroad.com for all the locations and info!

Ok---I love, love music—you know this right? I spend so much at ITunes that it ain’t even funny--LOL!  Then YOU MUST listen to this beautiful new song by Christina Perri HERE.  Its haunting and beautiful!  I’ll share another fave with you tomorrow LOL!

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Gina K Sneak Peek Blog Hop

We are very excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs October Release Party. We have a fun evening planned for you - chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp sets reveal, design team shares, and most importantly, at the end of the party you will be able to go shopping!
If you came from Sharon Harnist’s fabulous blog you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.
Hope to see you at the party, here are all the details:

• When: Today, Thursday, October 20
• Where: StampTV Release Party Forum
• Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (CST)

So today the Gina K DT is sharing some sneaky peeky samples of the NEW RELEASES which will be up for sale after the release party this evening!  I cannot be at the party this evening (boo hoo) because hopefully I will be in bed at a decent hour since I have to be at the airport at 4:15 am tomorrow morning (ugh—double ugh).  But I am happily sharing my project made with Theresa Momber’s AWESOME set for Gina K called “Strength & Hope”.  A portion of Theresa’s profits will go to Breast Cancer Research for the first month of sales---so go buy this set for sure.

I know for most of you, like myself know someone personally or thru a friend or co-worker that is battling breast cancer. I have quite a few DT sisters and friends going thru this battle right now.  So purchase this set, help out and do your part—we women will ALL benefit from more research.  One in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetimes!  That means for every 8 of your friends or female relatives its possible that one of you will develop breast cancer---that is SCARY stuff!!  So please be proactive, do self-checks and visit your doctor regularly (and teach your teen daughter’s how to start this too---I am teaching my daughter to be proactive).



So I love, love this set “Strength & Hope”—it is awesome in so many ways!  I chose to use both this awesome sentiment by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the fabulous butterfly that incorporates the cancer ribbon.  The sentiment was cut out using the fabulous die set from Spellbinders called “Twisted Metal Tags & Accents”. I love the shape and swirls—you know how I love my curly-q’s LOL!  The In the Navy cs from Gina K was embossed with a CB folder. I kept the color palette to just navy and cream with a touch of light pink on the ribbon for an elegant look.  The pearls were made with my Viva Décor Pearl Pen in Cream.



I stamped the butterfly in navy Memento ink and then colored the ribbon in Copic Color R20.  The whole butterfly got a thick coat of Stickles in Stardust and then while it was wet I sprinkled my fave Deco Art Glamour Dust on top for extra bling-i-ness!!  So I have a special friend that I will be sending this to next week, hopefully it will cheer them and keep them strong in their fight!

Ok now you need to hop on over to Tami Mayberry’s wonderful blog!!

See you tomorrow!

You’re a Star!!

Happy Wednesday everyone—how the heck are ya!?  I am doing pretty good and staying super busy getting ready for my trip to California to teach this weekend.  Hoping the weather is very nice for me cuz you know I like it super sunny and warm.  This time I’m flying thru Denver instead of Chicago---so watch out Denver Airport hee hee---I spent a lot of time there too this year.  My last teaching trip of the year is to Bloomington, IL in November and then I’m done for the year.  I have had a blast this year traveling and meeting so many fun & awesome people but I have to say Suzanne is ready for a break that’s for sure.  Just some breathing time, I can finally unpack my suitcase---I have NOT fully unpacked my suitcase or packed it away since January of this year, LOL!  I’m going to add up all the miles I’ve done this year soon just for fun to see how far I’ve traveled—I’m sure it might be shocking LOL!  But I am blessed and so fortunate to have been able to do so this past year.  My first trip of the new year will be to CHA in Anaheim, CA and yep I will be teaching before the show again this year---I’ll have sign-ups at www.cmcroad.com very soon.

NewsBitz:

-Want to come to a Copics class with me?  Visit www.cmcroad.com to sign up for my last 2 locations of the year!

-CMC Copic Class 5 is up for pre-registration now HERE!  You can read the class description there—it is the largest of my online Copic classes and it is also my last one sadly but I jammed packed it with lots of fun stuff and some surprises that you won’t know about until it debuts   But if you sign up now before Nov.5th you get a bit of a discount—class invites will be sent out after Nov.5th!!

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Card Drive for Kids with Spina-Bifida

Join us for a Card Drive for Kids with Spina Bifida blog hop! Members of Gina K.'s Design Team have come together to host a hop where we will share with you cards we created for some very special kids! You can find more details on this special cause over at StampTV.

If you came from Theresa Momber’s awesome blog you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop and more information on the card drive.  Create a card and CHEER a child up that may need some extra sunshine in their lives!  If you do you will be entered to win so head over to StampTV to find out how to participate!

I was thrilled to create a card for such a fabulous cause and I chose to create my card for Tanner who is celebrating his 3rd birthday in December—you can read his story HERE!  I used an oldie but goodie—in fact this was one of the first Gina K sets I ever bought a few years ago.  This is cute seal is from “Jumping for Joy” illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger.  I used some papers from my scrap pile in all boy colors that were bright and happy and used a circus-star theme.  The border was done with a MS border punch and the stars are done with my SU star punches and then I topped them with some red buttons.  The Gina K lipstick-red cardstock was embossed with a CB embossing folder “Polka Dots” and then I added rhinestones to bling it up just a bit.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

365 Cards Challenge (color challenge--pp has the green lol)

Forever Friends Challenge (anything goes but w/ animals)

KB CUte Monday Challenge (anything goes)

Stamptacular Sunday (anything goes)

And yep he got colored up with Copics (C grays) and then perched him on his fun circus stand (R24,R22,R20 & B37,B34,B32) and added stickles for some sparkle.  The seal got a thick coat of Crystal Lacquer to make him look nice & shiny!

I sure hope this brings little Tanner a smile when he opens it and maybe bring some rainbows into his day!  I also hope you all will make a card for one of these sweet children and cause someone to smile

Now you need to head on over to 

Melanie Muenchinger’s beautiful blog

to see what she's sharing with you today!

Feelin’ Better?!!

Hello friends and a Happy Monday to ya!  The weather was beautiful this weekend in Virginia thankfully.  We all had a fantastic weekend and it was highly enjoyable.  I went to Alexa’s Pep Rally on Friday afternoon and watched the cheerleaders do a few fun routines but the Senior Powder Puff Boys get the prize for their hilarious dance routine—I was ROLLING! (let’s just say big football guys in booty shorts doing a Beyonce dance is always a funny show) Friday night hubby and I sold football tickets for the high school football game with another couple who we are friends with (thankfully we were in a booth out of the wind lol). And YAYYYY our football team won it’s Homecoming Game so it was a great way to start the weekend.  Then my mom came up on Saturday and we spent the day prepping Alexa for the dance, LOL!  We got her hair done which turned out beautiful, the girl did a fantastic job turning Alexa’s vision out on her PIN STRAIGHT hair LOL.  Then I did her makeup like always—no department store makeup counters for her—I used to work for Lancome & Clinique as a makeup artist a looong time ago.  So I do her makeup with mineral makeup to keep it natural—she has gorgeous skin so why cover that up KWIM? (she normally only wears eyeliner & mascara everyday so to put a clown face of makeup on her is just funky)  Then she got dressed and transformed into a beautiful princes---totally stunning, freaked me out a bit as to how old she suddenly looked but I guess they all grow up huh?  Hubby, me and my mom took her to a friend’s house where the large group of 17 kids were meeting for dinner—all the kids brought a dish or two and the parents got to take video & pictures (yayy).  So I have a ton of pics below in the slideshow for you if you want to take a peek.  I’m really proud of this group of kids—they all have brilliant grades in school & take it seriously and they are all in a sport or other club at school.  Good kids and they were all looking fabulous.  Alexa had a “date” this year so she was both excited AND nervous, LOL, but he was really sweet and got her a hand-corsage in their high school colors.  After the dance they all returned to the same house for a bonfire, sweets and afterparty—then the girls all had a sleepover.  Riley meanwhile went to the Capitals Hockey Game Saturday night with friends—so Mom & Dad didn’t get to bed until 2 am.  So Sunday was pajammy day, football day and hang around the house day for us ALL! LOL—but lots of good memories were made this weekend! **And oh yeah I was on my BEST BEHAVIOR LOL, I only did a few things to embarrass her hee hee**

NewsBitz:

-I have a few spots open for my Copic classes in San Jose, CA this coming weekend--if you'd like to come.  Go to www.cmcroad.com for more details!


-Hmmm maybe some non-calorie blog candy below for ya ;)


Slideshow Below (if you get this by subscription you need to come to my blog HERE to see it):

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Somebody Need a Doctor???

Today the Magnolia-licious DT is having a super fun Blog Hop that we are describing a bit like this “We have "Only One Life to Live" "As The World Turns" at the "General Hospital" with the "Young and Restless" featuring Nurse Tilda & Dr. Edwin!”.  So some of the projects are a bit more Soap Opera-themed LOL!!  

Dr. Edwin is a Limited Edition Stamp at Magnolia-licious so snap him up now while you still can!

Basically the team all used either Nurse Tilda and Dr.Edwin or both (in either large or mini styles) from Magnolia-licious for their projects today!  I decided to create a Get-Well Set with my mini Magnolia stamps since I haven’t made one in awhile and sooo many people around here seem to be sick lately.  So I have a jar of soup that I decorated and a Feel Better Kit using both stamps!  You can find out all the details on the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog HERE!




I started making these Feel Better Kits a few years ago after seeing them on a blog—I tried to link the lady’s blog that originated the idea but she no longer has her blog online They are super easy to make and I have also made them with a closure tab to change it up a bit too.  So basically you only need a piece of cardstock measuring 3.5x10” and then score it at the 4.5” and 5.5” marks.  Then it fits a pack of travel tissues, a Chapstick (or other lip moisturizer) and a throat lozenger.  I used Mini-Nurse Tilda #307 (see larger size Nurse Tilda here) both from Magnolia-licious, on the front of this kit and colored her in more vintage colors to match the papers—E44,E43,E42,E41,E40 / E29,E31,E50 / E11,E00 / R29,R24,R22,R20.  I distressed the papers with my Zutter Distress machine and inks.  The sentiment is from PTI and then I used my Spellbinders dies to cut my mats out.  Finished off with a bow and button treatment for some fun.

Then to go along with it I have a jar of soup (nope not homemade sorry, I was too tired to do that LOL).  I used my Spellbinders again to cut mats out for the jar top and then added cute Mini Dr. Edwin from Magnolia-licious (he comes in regular size too).  The sentiment on the tag on the front is from Gina K and I anchored it with matching red buttons.  Just a fun Feel Better Set for someone who’s not feeling so good and cheer them up a bit!

Want some Blog Candy?  I haven't had any in awhile hmmm...so let's give away 2 Magnolia Stamps of your choice, a pack of Cryogen Cardstock and 2 Copics of your choice!! 

Just tell me "What soothes you the most when you are sick--what makes you feel better?"

Leave a comment by Friday, Oct 21st here on this post to enter!

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Now you need to continue on the Blog Hop to my friend Sharon Caudle’s Beautiful Blog!  

Have fun on your hop and finish up at the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog! 

Buzzinnnn’ with Joy!!

Well hello and a very happy Thursday to you all!  It is raining again but that is a-ok as long as it clears out by tomorrow evening for the weekend!  Tomorrow night hubby and I have to take tickets for the first half of the Homecoming football game and then we can go and watch the 2nd half. Everyone that has a student athlete has to volunteer and I’m not really into the Concession Stand anymore LOL—I got assigned the dumb fryer ONE too many times and I hate it!  So we got ticket taking which is fine with me hee hee.

Today I have work to do, errands to run and then I’m having lunch with a good friend that I haven’t caught up with in awhile—this summer was just crazy and I feel bad we haven’t gotten together.  So it will be fun and we are going to a fave restaurant of mine that my hubby doesn’t care for LOL.  He’s not a big seafood guy and you all know I would eat it everyday soooooo my friend is like me and we usually eat the same things at restaurants LOL so it will be fun!  Get out of the house for a bit, change of scenery will do me good.  Then the homecoming fun starts tomorrow and thru the weekend!  Then I am off to San Jose, CA for the weekend to teach and see some sites in San Francisco—I’m sooo excited, I cannot wait.  I have had the Golden Gate Bridge on my Bucket List for a very long time, I’m giddy with excitement (I know, I know it’s a bridge but still).  And yep I’m sure I’ll have some travel stories LMBO—hopefully nothing too scary hee hee!

NewsBitz:

-Want to take a Copics Class with meeee? LOL!  I will be in San Jose, CA next weekend and then Bloomington, IL in November!  I'd love to meet you!  All info is at www.cmcroad.com !

-7 Kids College Fund has new goodies up!  Cute, new SWALK stamps here, Sew Ribbon tools and new La La Land stamps!

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Buzzinnnn’ with Joy!!

Ok this little cutie is sure to clear out any dreariness in your day today!  Isn’t she a cutie-patootie?  This is a stamp by Sylvia Zet for SCACD and her name is “Loli & Shellie”.  I love using black in my projects—it always makes such a statement whether funky fun or elegant.  Even though I used bumble-bee colors I wanted it to be more elegant than funky and perfect for any occasion which is why I left off a sentiment from the front!

I’m entering this into the following challenges today:

Top Tip Tuesday (designer papers)

Craft Your Passion (any occasion)

Woodware USA (anything goes)

Cutie Pie Challenge (Bingo—mine is glitter, flowers,p.paper)

The Pink Elephant Challenge (photo inspiration)

The papers I used are by Authentique in “Blissful” and I love the black, grays and yellows in this paper pad—such a great color combo.  Those fabulous borders were done with some awesome exclusive dies from Scrap Happy Ohio, she has some beautiful ones and yep you can buy them at her online store! I love the delicacy of this die and all those lil’ holes in each scallop popped out easily too.  The scrolls are by Cherry Lynn Designs and the flowers I just stacked some Primas together.  The lil butterfly is an embelly that I got a few CHA’s ago in a craft booth—I forgot I had them LMBO (that is not surprising if you see the state of my studio right now, ugh)!




Little Loli and her friend was colored with Copics – YR23,Y18,Y11,Y000 / C9,C7,C5,C3,C1 / E11,E00,R20 / YG67,YG03,G11.  I added stickles to her headband and tulips (I love tulips) and then on the cute snail I added Diamond Glaze to her shell and then sprinkled Glamour Dust sparkles in it (they suspend in the liquid—so cool).



So hope this cheered you and brought a smile to your face today   See you back here soon!  Have a fabulous day!

Puttin’ Fires Out!!

Hi there my friends!  Sorry for no post yesterday---I was having a “goober kinda” day and just kind unmotivated and non-creative feeling.  Just some stuff I had to deal with and trying to clear it all out.  I call ‘em goober days cuz’ when the kids were young and they were having a bad day or off day I would tell them they were having a “goober day” LOL.  That would usually make them laugh---in fact Riley asked me yesterday if I was having one hee hee and yep I was.  And the weather was a tad gloomy too which never helps---I’m a sunny day kinda gal

But I have a TON of stuff to do and its homecoming week for Alexa.  She has spirit days this week and then a pep rally that I have to go to on Friday to see her cheer dance, then hubby and I have to be ticket takers along with some friends of us for the football game (pray to god for no rain lol).  Then Saturday is the actual homecoming dance so we’ve got nail & hair appts to get her to, I do her makeup and get her dressed and to the waterfall for pics with her friends.  She has a “date” this year—oh my LOL—he’s a friend although me and “her friends” agree he likes her more than a friend. She just cracks me up though cuz she DOES take after me A LOT which is a TAD scary!  So she tells him (after they agree to go to the dance together) that he SHOULD ASK HER TO THE DANCE in a VERY ORIGINAL WAY!!  So below is what he did for her yesterday---he put a question on her locker and then had a rose inside saying he was happy to be going with her.



Awww isn’t that sweet?  See, some guys still have it in them hee hee!  He’s a good kid so even if they don’t date, I’m glad he’ll be looking after her and they have a HUGE group of friends so they all go as a group too which is fun. They are all bringing a dish to a friend’s house to eat before and then onto the dance, then one of her friends is having everyone over afterwards for a bonfire!  Nope she still can’t officially date until she’s 16 so Mom & Dad will drop them off at the dance—bummer hee hee! Oh Well!  I’m just happy we have a dress we BOTH like, she got her shoes (too high in my opinion but apparently they all take them off to dance, who knew) and jewelry.  Now for her to decide on her hair—first she wanted it half up, now she wants it all up—OMG teens are soooo much fun I tell ya! LOL!  But they will have fun, hopefully everyone stays safe and that they come away with a lot of great memories.  And DUH of course I’ll share pics with y’all on Monday or on Facebook if you follow me on there

NewsBitz:


-Wanna take a Copic class with me?  I have classes next weekend in San Jose, CA and then in Chicago in November (Saturday is full but Sunday has spots open for Chicago)  These are the last classes of the year for me! Then I will start up again in the new year!

-My new Copic Videos (there are 3) are up on YouTube showing how I colored the Wee Stamps fairy from this post HERE!

Fairy #1 Folds - http://youtu.be/1I-p82LtEcc
Fairy #2 Wings - http://youtu.be/RvXKWjTxgvE
Fairy #3 Hair - http://youtu.be/jrac7RHkbLc

-Swimming for Katie!!  From October 10-12 some of the best stampers are joining together to support and encourage our friend and fellow stamper, Katie Renz, who is currently battling inoperable gastric cancer.  If you're not familiar with her, Katie’s cancer story started just before Christmas last year.  Katie & I were on some of our very first DTs together years ago and she is super talented, married and has young kids of her own. She got the bad news about her incurable stomach cancer and has been fighting it as hard as she can since! Her first post about it is here.  The idea of “Swimming for Katie” came from her recent post here.  You can read more about how to help, buy stamps or just donate for a chance to win some awesome prize HERE!!!!  Let’s help support one of our fellow crafters ok!!

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Fire, Fire!!!

Ok,ok I hear ya! LOL—I get a ton of requests to create more boy/masculine cards and projects.  I have no problem with making them, they are always fun but I have tons more girly-girl stuff in my possession LOL!  But La La Land makes such cutie-pie boy images and they are sooooo much fun to color!  This is an older image called “Fireman Luka” and he’s just so cute!  I used all my son’s fave colors on this—he loved primary colors when he was little and he LOVED fire trucks too!  You can all the NEW La La Land stamps for pre-order right HERE!

I used some fun papers from my scrap pile on this (I'm trying my darndest to use them scraps up lol).  I embossed the goldish/yellow cs with a fun CB domino embossing folder.  I used some star punches from SU and then added a fun sentiment—perfect for a young birthday boy.  I distressed all the papers with my Zutter Distress Tool—love that darn machine!

I'm entering this cutie into the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly 

(use 3 shapes on card--mine are square, triangle & circle)

Heart Song Inspirations (die cuts or sponging)

Karen's Doodles Challenge (distressing)

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Pollycraft Challenge (Boys)

He got colored with Copics:  R29,R24,R22,R20 / YR24,YR23,Y15 / E11,E00 / B28,B24,B21 / E25,E31,E50.  I added some Diamond Glaze to his hat’s badge, eyes and the hose for some fun shine and sparkle.  The corners were done with triangles of Magic Mesh I cut out---just some fun boyish-texture.

Hope you enjoyed that today and I’ll see you back here soon!

Oh My Pumpkin!

Hi everyone & Happy Monday (& happy Columbus Day for those in the US)!  Yep that means my kiddos are home with me today—oh joy LOL!  Actually I’m taking Riley to get his hair cut and Alexa to get shoes for her homecoming dance this weekend and then I have work to get done.  WOW—what a fabulous weekend of weather we had here in Virginia, absolutely perfect.  Sunny, blue skies and in the mid to high 70’s each day---I loved it.

 I saw this sign and it made me chuckle—thought you might enjoy it too LOL!

We spent most of the day at the Pumpkin Patch out in Bluemont, VA in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains goofing off and having lots of fun (see slideshow below).  There is a picture of Riley next to a “height chart” and he’s hitting the 6 foot mark now but when we started going there 5 years ago he was barely reaching the top of the pumpkin—my how kids grow huh?  Well we did our maze, drank cider and ate Kettle corn, raced on the tube slides and then took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins.  Alexa of course picked one wayyyyy too big for her to carry, LOL, even though our rule has always been---“you pick it, you carry it” LMBO So it was a bit comical to watch her try to carry it thru the patch and yes I laughed the whole time!  Then we rode up to one of the mountains where a winery is and took pics—they have huge boulders there that make great posing platforms for some fall pics.  We finished off the day at my fave restaurant in Leesburg called “Lightfoot” and ate outside on their patio enjoying the beautiful weather!  I had my fave Oysters Rockefeller (yummers---if it comes from the sea then I luv it)!

Oysters Rockefeller—my fave!

Then Alexa went to a nighttime corn maze with her friends and had a sleepover with the girls at her friend’s house.  That left hubby and me to hit the movies at 10:30 pm to see 50/50 which was really good, I highly recommend it—I laughed a lot and cried a bit.  A very REAL look at friends and how we deal with cancer or crisis in our lives—I loved it!  We also chaperoned our son & eight 14-year old boys to the movies so they could see “Real Steel” and then got most of them back home---we are the neighborhood hang-out and chaperone/chauffeur service dontcha’ know.  Its because we are the vampire parents---we are always up till 2 am so we get relegated to taking care of all the teens LOL. 

Yesterday hubby and I cleaned up the yard, trimmed bushes, planted some new shrubs and decorated the front porch for fall.  I gotta get some cornstalks for my columns but other than that its all good.  We had dinner outside in front of the fireplace and roasted Smores with some of Alexa’s “guy friends” who came over.  There is NEVER a moment when there is NOT a gang of teens in my house I tell ya—its like a freaking teen magnet LOL!  I don’t mind most of the time and at least I know what they’re up to KWIM! 


our front porch

New Copic Videos--

I’ve got 3 NEW YouTube videos up featuring how to color the Forest Fairy Card I did with the Wee Stamps “Silver Fairy” by Sylvia Zet if you are interested in seeing those.  You can see the card and all the card details at this post here!

Video #1 – Coloring the Fairy Dress & Folds
Video #2 – Coloring the Fairy Wings
Video #3 – Coloring the Fairy’s Hair

Slideshow of pics (if you get my blog by email you must come to the blog website to view them):




I don’t have a project to share yet but I will have one for ya tomorrow! Stay tuned and have a fabulous day!

Nostalgic Much?!!

Hellooooo and a very happy Friday to you all---can I hear a Yeahhhhh for the weekend anyone?  YEAHHHHHH! I’m so excited to have alll my work done so I can enjoy my first full weekend at home in a long time LOL.  The weather is supposed to be sunny, in the 70’s and we are headed to the Pumpkin Patch tomorrow—yeehaw. Gonna do a lil’ pumpkin pickin’, hay ridin’ and apple cider drinkin’ y’all under the shadows of the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains.  We go every year no matter where we have lived and I’m sure hubby and I will go once the kids are in college and then maybe one day with grandkids (shhhh I don’t want grandbabies for a LOOOONGGG time lol).  And I have been on a roll the past few days—the sun and getting some long needed rest has energized me even more (yes hubby is very skeeered).  I groomed my dogs, made and ordered all my Xmas cards and photo books, bought frames and ordered my Maui & beach pics for a wall collage, made homemade dinners, baked, and cleaned my closet out (again).  whoo hooo! I like it! Sunday we are going to prune all our bushes outside and put in new door hardware (do you hear my hubby groaning) but gotta get it all done early cuz Sunday afternoons/nights are reserved for FOOTBALL baby hee hee. Redskins & Ravens have off this week but we watch any game lol so its all good.  Last night hubby and I sat outside on the patio with a fire roaring—that’s one thing I love about fall is fires and punkin’ patches See pic below!  Anywho I hope you have a super fantastic weekend and I will have my video up on YouTube by Sunday for y’all ‘kay!

our outside patio fireplace

NewsBitz:

-I’m coming to San Jose, CA and Waco, TX this fall so sign up if you wanna come to a Copic class with me.  Always fun and I would love to meet you in person—I promise to not wipe you out or fall on you ‘kay? LOL!  www.cmcroad.com

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Nostalgia!!

Are you a nostalgic kinda person?  I know I am—I can smell something and it takes me right down memory lane or if I see a picture then I’m right back there again.  I am obsessed with red barns (yes I have lots of obsessions including forest fairies, skin care, Tim McGraw & Luke Bryan and Cherry Coke to name a few).  My dream house one day will be a low-country farmhouse near the water in SC perhaps with a red barn and stream (yeah I never ask for too much hee hee).  I love red barns, they remind me of my grandparents farm they owned in New York—I loved spending summers there in the country. Bare feet, mudpies, swimming in the streams, smells of the grape vineyards and laundry in the breeze—not too mention ice cream and goodies made by my grandma.  So I wanted to recreate that feeling a bit with this card—equal parts rustic and romantic and nostalgic. 

This is my project for my new “Free For All Friday” Challenge over at StampTV today---hope you will get a chance to join in!  Its all about KRAFT and RED—use kraft cs and the color red in your projects.  I’ve got some inspiration photos as well you can use too if you’d like!

I'm also entering this into these fun challenges:

365 Cards Challenge (rustic-thurs)

Do You Stack Up? (browns)

Moving Along with the Times (autumn leaves)

Paper Play Challenges (autumnal colors)

The Pixie Cottage (Fall fun)

I used two different stamps sets from Gina K on my project. The main image is from “Farm Life” and it has some beautiful images in it, all gorgeous and this is the last one that I hadn’t used.  And of course my barn HAD TO BE RED, duh! LOL!  All my patterned papers are from my scrap pile but the cardstock is Gina’s Pure Luxury Kraft, nice weight to it too.  The vine-like die cut out is new from Memory Box—its actually a wreath but I cut it into sections to wrap the corners of my image with.  The sentiment is from Gina K’s “Dreams” set and I love it---cuz you all know I’m married to James Dean right?  Yep that’s my hubby’s name and his dad was Jimmy Dean, LOL!  ( a movie star & the sausage king)  I distressed the papers with my Zutter Distress It tool and then added a bow with my Bow Easy topped with some Prima flowers and some pearls.



For the barn I wanted a rusty red color---Copic has a range of rustier reds from E07 to E19 but they weren’t exactly what I wanted.  So I colored the barn in R29,R24,R22 & R20 and then went over the R29 with E35 to brown it down a bit.  I also took E31 over the lighter reds too and then topped it with the reds again—kinda like a sandwich.  That’s the beauty of Copics—you can layer colors to create new colors to your liking   I used a mix of colors on the fall trees—E08,YR24,YR20,YG03,E31,YR12 and then added stickles to make them sparkle.  The roof of the barn was done with my W grays and the silo in C grays.

Alrighty I wish you all a fabulous weekend and if you get a chance join in on the challenge with me at StampTV HERE—anyone can play!

Forest Gatherings!

Happy Wednesday to you all!  Hope you all are having a fabulous week!  Guess WHAT??  My daughter finally settled on a dress for homecoming—OMGoodness what a horrendous experience it has been LOL.  She had wanted this dress that was quite “inappropriate” (that’s a kind way to say it) and I was adamant that it would NOT be happening.  SO many tears and much screaming & slamming on her part we came to a conclusion.  I would order a few more dresses and if she didn’t pick one then she wouldn’t be going—I offer quick and easy ultimatums in my house (hey that’s how I am, lol).  While I was spending quite a bit of time in airports between Kansas, Chicago & Tampa I perused the internet and ordered her 5 more dresses that were in her “style” but appropriate for a 10th grader NOT a street walker KWIM!  I had a guy at the airport (cuz I always do) lean over and look at what I was doing on my laptop—gosh peeps are nosy huh—and ask me if I was buying a Homecoming dress for myself.  UMMM NO CREEPER LOL!!  So while I was in Ohio the dresses came and Alexa actually liked them all (pat on the back for good ‘ole mom here) but narrowed it down to 2 of them and then a final selection.  Its classy, pretty and age appropriate so Momma is a a happy girl and so is Alexa.  Now the battle for the shoes and jewelry will commence this weekend, so please send prayers my way---this could get ugly LOL.  NO really I hope this part will be easy but we always get into the conversation of pretty vs practical and I really cannot say much because I will sometimes suffer for a pair of great looking shoes So we will seeeee….!  For those of you SUFFERING thru the same thing, I understand, you can vent to me and we can cyberly share a glass of wine and WHINE a bit ok!!  Next weekend is homecoming and my mom is coming up—so far the after party location has NOT been decided upon. But I have a feeling it will be here again like last year, lord help me and pray the weather is good so they can stay in the backyard, hee hee!

NewsBitz:


-The October CMC Newsletter went out yesterday—if you didn’t receive it you can always find it at the CMC Site in the CMC News Tab HERE!  Lots of goodies & events to read about!

-The Outlawz Challenge Group is celebrating its 1000+ members with a HUGE party and $800 worth of prizes.  So go help my pal Colleen and her girls celebrate!

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Forest Fairy!!

Today I’m sharing a project with you that just might be one of my faves this year.  Did I tell you I have a slight “obsession” with forest fairies LOL?  Ever since I was little I believed they lived in the woods and would make fairy houses for them—so when I saw this image I knew I had to have it!  Della, my good friend & owner of I Brake For Stamps asked me to be a guest artist for their new line of stamps they are carrying and I can never tell a friend NO LOL!   This stamp is NOW available at I Brake For Stamps along with some other cute ones by the artist Sylvia Zet so you MUST go check them out.  This one is called “Silver Fairy” but I reinterpreted her as a forest fairy—isn’t she a beauty?  I cannot even tell you how much fun I had coloring her with my Copics—I might do her again but in different colors   And I video-taped how I colored her too---yes I darn well did, can you believe it LOL—I haven’t done a video in ages!  I don’t mind shooting them but I HATE editing them LOL!  It will up this weekend for y’all!

I'm entering this into the following challenges as well:

Anything Goes Challenge Blog (punches/dies)

Papertake Weekly Challenge (anything goes)

Crafty Cardmakers (anything goes)

There's Magic in the Air (go green)

Paper Sundaes (lots of layers)

**Also check out the I Brake For Challenges Blog--the new challenge is "Girl Power"**

So I decided to keep my colors fairly monochromatic—just creams and dk greens, very forestry eh? The papers are all by PTI and they are what really gave me my inspiration—I always pick my papers first before I start coloring!  The swirls are dies by Cherry Lynn Designs and the flowers are a mix of Primas and WOC Flowers—and guess what?  I Brake For Stamps carries the Wild Orchid flowers here in the US so you can get them faster, LOL—I love FAST!!  I added a few pearls to finish it off.  The image was dramatic enough that I didn’t want to overwhelm it KWIM.



She’s colored with Copics of course and I used YG97,YG95,YG93,YG91 / E43,E42,E40 / E25,E31,E50 / E11,E00.  Then I added stickles to some parts of her wings and flowers and arm/leg cuffs for sparkle.  I drew in a bit of grass with my Copics as well and then used my Inkssentials Blending tool to soften the edges of my image with SU ink.




Ok so I’m off to visit with my pal Marti for a bit (yep she still loves me even after the Ohio trip LOL) and then work on some projects and edit video (e-yuck)!  See you on Friday!!  Make sure to check out the stamps at I Brake For Stamps too!!

You Skeeeered?!!

Hello my dear friends and a Happy Tuesday to ya!  It is STILL raining here in Virginia—I am so sick of the gray, come on!  I want some more sun & warmth before fall really comes into town---work with me Mother Nature ok!!

So I’m thrilled that soooooo many of you found my trip home from Ohio so funny-ha ha ha ha, NOT!  No just kidding, it WAS pretty funny and I still chuckle to myself when I think about certain parts (if you missed it, read below post lol).  A lot of you STILL said you’d want to travel with me but I’m not so sure you REALLY know what you might be committing yourself to LOL!

Ok so I want to talk skincare today with y’all!  I have been a skin-freak since I was 12 years old and started getting “TEEN” magazine.  I’ve always been obsessed with squeaky-clean, wrinkle-free skin and I’ve tried many things in my 37 years.  I also have sensitive skin so I have to be pretty careful with what I use and I use a lot of organic/natural products like Mineral Makeup (a faithful Bare Escentuals customer for 13 years) and Mario Badescu products.  I was wearing sunblock on my face/neck long before it was popular and I pride myself on not having very many wrinkles hee hee.  BUT I have a genetic problem (thanks Mom & Grandma) that terrorizes us all---I have deep set eyes and my upper eyelids, right under my brow are starting to droop and when I'm really tired I almost cannot open my eyes!  It’s a problem, I HATE it, it bothers me A LOT more than anything else and yes it is VAIN but I CANNOT help it LOL!  So I was actually researching non-surgical methods like botox and products the past 6 months to fix it.  I had researched Nu Skin quite a bit and when I went to the Women’s Show last month in Charlotte they had a booth and well I had to visit them. Of course I didn’t realize they were gonna take off all my makeup, arghhh (yeah thanks Pat - I'm still giving you the evil eye,lol) but they did and OMGoodness I loved the results this machine had in just one treatment.  I had heard so many good things about it but until I tried it I just wasn’t sure—and it had fabulous results on my friend Dana too.  So yep I bought the whole system and I’m gonna use it every Tuesday & Thursday and I will let you know how my results are in 3 months ok.  Apparently the gels you put on are charged when you use the machine and it breaks down the wrinkle enzyme we all have on our skin, it’s a lot of scientific stuff but you can read about the system HERE!  I am not a spokesperson for it LOL but I am a real-life user so I’ll let you know my opinion as you know I won’t hold back or lie about it LMBO!!  If it works then I will be thrilled cuz’ Botox was an option but not one that I really wanted to try—something weird about putting a known disease into your body KWIM? ucky!  And let’s see how I do with a machine that charges electrons and such---hopefully no weird incidents—I’ll be the first woman to be electrocuted by the machine LOL!

NewsBitz:

-Want to come take a class with me?  Cuz I’d love to see you!  I have classes coming soon in San Jose, CA / Waco, TX and Chicago and then that’s it for this year.  You can see more details at www.cmcroad.com !

-I have added some fabulous new ladies to my CMC Challenge DT and I’d love you to welcome them---see all these ladies bios/work HERE!  Also the new challenge is up at the CMC Challenge Group and it’s a fun one—everyone is welcome to join in!

-Books!!  My new Book Club pick is up at my BookEndz Group and its one of my all time favorite books—its not a new book but it is FANTASTIC!  It’s “The Mercy of Thin Air” by Ronlyn Domingue and perfect for October (no its not a scary read cuz I don’t do scary—read post below lol).  I read it about 9 years ago and it was a pick for my old book club and everyone loved it so I’m bringing it back LOL!  Right now I’m currently reading “Girls in White Dresses” by Jennifer Close and “The Explorers Code” by Kitty Pilgrim.

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Don’t be Skeered!!

Ok so I’m sharing a super fun project with you today, I had sooo much fun making this LOL!  For the Magnolia-licious DT Challenge, our lovely hostess Maureen Kuppe challenged us to a sketch, octagons and orange and fall/Halloween.  Well I got all of ‘em correct BUT the sketch LOL.  I SUCK at following sketches cuz I get an idea and it just goes to pot after that!  So I added an octagon in the sentiment so I tried hard LOL!  You can find all the challenge details at the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog and see the DT’s projects too (yeah they followed the sketch hee hee).

I'm entering this into the following fun challenges:

Craft Your Passion (anything goes/ribbon)

Heart Song Inspirations (anything goes)

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Paper Creations Ink (black & orange)

Stamp With Fun (Halloween)

The Pink Elephant (Halloween)

For the background stamp “Haunted House”, which is from Alota Stamps, I embossed it in black Ep powder and then added some color with my old SU markers (Copics can sometimes make black ep bleed so beware).  I also added Stickles to the moon and windows for sparkle.  The black bats are made with a MS punch and the sentiment is from PTI.



I used this super cute “Brother & Sister” stamp from Magnolia-licious—I love them!  I thought they were PERFECT for this card, it looks like they are scared and he’s protecting her right?  I love to use stamps meant for other things for OTHER things LOL! (this stamp comes in mini form here too)  I colored them with Copics—B16,B13,Colorless / YR18,YR15,YR12,YR00 / E11,E00,R20 / YR24,YR20,E35 / E25,E31,E50 / C9,C7,C5,C3,C1.

That’s it for me today—I’m off to work on some magazine stuff and finish a few projects too!  Hope you have a fabulous, SUNNY DAY!!!

Truly Unbelievable!

Well happy Sunday evening my friends! It is another dreary, rainy day here in Virgina—I swear we have had more rain in the past 6 weeks then we ever have before, seriously depressing! But I am home from teaching in Ohio at Scrap Happy and I had a blast up there (waving hi to all the fabulous Ohio ladies) teaching---if you are ever in that area stop by and say HI to Suzy who is the owner.  I’m sure you’ll have fun shopping in her store filled with yummy craft goodies. Her store also has its own lie of dies that are fantastic—see here—you will see me use some real soon!

So the following story is very true, unbelievable but true and I’m still not sure if we were hysterical laughing or crying—at some point I was just delirious!!  The trip up to Ohio was pretty non-eventful which should have been a “sign” to me that something might be amiss.  Marti and I got in to our hotel around 7:30 pm Friday night, I took a shower and did some work and lights out by 10:45.  It was rainy & cold on Saturday and ding-dong Marti had no coat and only a t-shirt LOL so she was a wee bit cold.  I ALWAYS check the weather before I leave cuz’ I’m SMART like that <wink> and I was dressed appropriately.  We went to dinner with our pal Ann Shuman after classes and then I got gas and we were headed home … umm at least we thought we were. GPS says we will be home by 3 am!  WE MISSED A FEW ESSENTIAL CLUES on this trip so I will lay them out for you!  I used James’ GPS (otherwise known as the wicked Glinda) and hit the HOME button which is always programmed with our home address.  We set out down the DARK(no moon), flat roads of Ohio and we are cruising along just fine.  Pretty soon we get on the turnpike and I notice a city skyline (CLUE #1) and I ask Marti “Hey we didn’t see that driving up right?” and she’s like “nope” but I didn’t think too much about it because the GPS sometimes re-routes on the return trip home.  So we go thru Cleveland (very pretty skyline) and pass the Indians baseball stadium and there’s no traffic so we’re still cruising along.  Its getting close to 11:15 pm at this point and Marti has to pee so we pull off to this rest stop—no cars just semi’s and dark as night (also located in a place called Hell Hollow Wilderness---I KID YOU NOT and it was creepy and lots of cornfields).  We run up to the restrooms and get in the bathroom, lights are off and then they blink on and Marti runs into the hand-blower and it comes on loudly. We both jump scared and hurriedly pee and then run back out to the car—we DID NOT WANT to be one of “those stories” KWIM!!  Headline—“GIRLS KILLED IN OHIO RESTSTOP in Hell’s Hollow” LOL.

Get back in the car and I’m thirsty and need a drink so we go for a bit more and get off on an exit and get a soda for me, ice cream for Marti and head back out.  So we are driving and driving and I notice how close we are to Lake Erie and I comment to Marti about it cuz the wind is blowing and its starting to rain now (oh boy fabulous).  So I zoom out on the GPS a few times to see where its heading us and lo’ and behold the GPS has our “home flag” firmly situated in TORONTO CANADA PEOPLE!  YES CANADA!  OMG we both looked at each other and started laughing hysterically, I almost peed my pants and we were hyperventilating.  If there had been a camera in the car to record our faces I’m sure it would be priceless—stunned looks and then laughing!  I’m like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO this cannot be happening, I need to get home, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  So I quickly pull off at a truck stop to evaluate and sure enough GPS has us headed to Canada and we would reach the border in about 20 mins.  We are still laughing like lunatics and Marti’s like “OMG I am posting this on FB cuz no one will believe it” and I’m like “oh yeah they will lol”!  So our NEW home arrival time suddenly becomes 5:45 am and I am ready to cryyyyyy.  So lovely Glinda recalculates and takes us on this back road, not sure what it was but it was like going thru the tunnel of HELL.  Dark, curvy and pouring rain and more DARN CORNFIELDS (do you see a theme here).  We are still laughing like maniacs so I call James and I can barely speak but I’m like “hey we are gonna be a LITTLE LATE cuz’ apparently we were headed to Canada” and he’s like 'how did that happen” & I say “you don’t wanna know but your GPS is seriously messed up dude”.  He says in all seriousness (you have to know my hubby to really get this) “ok well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon” LMBO—yeah no not that late I hope!! (CLUE #2)  I hang up and UH OH something darts out into the road and I hit it HEAD ON LOUDLY—yep a very LARGE RACOON just lost its life because of me and Glinda.  I scream and Marti grabs the car handle (on the ceiling) and screams “holy mother of god did YOU HIT A BODY!!” and I lose it.  I laughed so hard I had to stop the car in the middle of the road (trust me there was NO traffic in the tunnel of death) to gather myself, I was laughing, crying, totally delirious at this point.  I swear we laughed for a solid hour and I can still see Marti’s face every time!  At this point Marti is like “NEVER-EVER invite me on one of your trips again cuz’ I ain’t coming!” (she lies cuz she loves me and she needed an adventure Suzanne-style hee hee).

Marti falls asleep around 12:30 and I turn on the a/c and crank the tunes to stay alert.  It is raining like crazy and dark as hell out, no moon, no stars, no sign of CIVILIZATION anywhere.  Finally reach the turnpike and its still raining but I’m happy to be on a main road.  Driving, driving and get near Breezewood, PA and suddenly see blinking lights up ahead (Clue #3) – “rut oh” me thinks, this CANNOT BE GOOD!  Apparently the FREAKING UNIVERSE WAS OUT TO GET ME and they had a “falling rock” incident and Rt. 70 is closeddddd!  Nooooooooooooooooooo!  They send me on a detour and you know how much I lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve detours—NOT!  Glinda has recalculated and yep I’m checking up on her regularly to make sure we are moving towards Virginia.  I end up on another road thru hell, windy, raining and going up hill and NOW THERE IS FOG PEOPLE—not light fog but soupy thick fog.  AND MORE FREAKING CORNFIELDS—like Marti said “FARMING IS STILL ALIVE & WELL” and we saw every farm, every small town from Ohio to Virignia last night I kid you not.  I could hear banjo music and evil laughing the whole ride home, it was like I was in a Halloween movie of some sorts that I didn’t ask to be in KWIM!?  Weird named towns like Nova, Spira and then Marti wakes up and says where are we and I laugh a bit evilly and I’m like well “it says we are in Africa and at this point I have no clue if we are still in the US” (I kid you not we were in a town called Africa)  She sits up & is like “WHAT” and I repeat the falling rock story and why we are now still traveling in a tunnel of hell with no Virginia on the horizon—at this point its 3:40 am.  I have to pee sooooo bad and Marti says “so I guess it doesn’t matter that I really need to pee” and I’m like well I can stop in the RAIN and you can run your ARSE out to the cornfields cuz they seem to be the ONLY thing we have seen the WHOLE DARN TRIP!!

Well I don’t know where GPS Glinda took us but we ended up NOT going thru Baltimore but circling all the way around, thru the mountains and dump out close to Hagerstown, Maryland---yeah Maryland.  Now that’s my old stomping grounds so I’ve NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY TO SEE A SIGN OF FAMILIARITY IN MY LIFE.  I take Marti home and NOW IT STOPS RAINING---I MEAN COME ON!  It rains the whollllllllle way home and I’m now 15 mins from home and it stops—UGH the universe conspires against me for sure.  I get in the driveway at 6:20 am, grab my suitcase and run up to bed—hubby is sleeping and he’s like oh what time is it and I just mumble, fall flat into bed and don’t remember a thing until noonish today.  I have never been so tired in my whole life and I’m thankful that I’m such a GOOD, ALERT driver (so yeah Marti, there lol) and we got home safely….I won’t mention the red light & stop sign I blared thru in one of those small towns hee hee.  TRUST ME there was NO TRAFFIC so it was just fine, LOL!

So there you go, a complete NUTSO story, totally true and one that encapsulates MY WHOLE LIFE---yes this is how things usually go for me.  If you thought it was a fluke, well I’m here to tell you its NOT!  So now you all that said you WOULD LOVE to travel with me, might want to re-evaluate or at least ask Marti first LOL!  Love ya Marti and that was truly a ride home for the storybooks!! (but hey—let’s never repeat it ‘kay?)

Now that has completely exhausted me so I will share a project with you all tomorrow evening---I need another nap apparently LOL!

Hope your weekend was less stressful and less exciting---cuz hey BORING IS GOOD!!  See ya!