New Stuff!

My Stampin' Up order from my party last week is here!! It's always fun to play with new stuff. I ordered the Big Shot finally and can not wait to play with it.  I had the fiskars texture plates but that little tool that you were supposed to use with it was a joke. I had thought about the cuttlebug but liked the idea of the big shot so I could use the plates I already had plus I have some original sizzix dies still that I can use with it. It just seemed like the most versatile machine so I got it and it's here!! I also ended up with most of the sale-a-bration stamps, some new paper and the "a good egg" set so I can't wait to get busy, work on some challenges and get some new cards posted for all of you!! If you don't see a new card on here within the next day, someone needs to give me a swift kick in the rear.

Clear Dollar Stamps Challenge

Before Decemeber would never have considered myself a stamper but I have bought stamps before to use on a couple cards here and there but mostly for my scrapbook pages. Now after finding SCS and MANY wonderful blogs I have not done a layout forever! When I get free time, I stamp. I never knew there were so many stamp companies out there. Most of my previous stamp experience was from Stampin' Up parties so to find all these great companies like Clear Dollar Stamps, has been an eye opening experience. They currently are having a guest designer call and I would LOVE to be chosen for this. I am sure I am not as experienced as many that will be entering but I would definately put my heart into all the projects. I think it would be so much fun and to win CD stamps to boot!!! The challenge was to use purple on a card or project. I used some beautiful purple bazzill cardstock, an old cherished teddies image and colored her dress using various shades of purple. The ribbon is purple and green and while it is a simple card, I rather like it. Even if I do not get a guest dt spot, I am happy with the results of the card.

Here is my loot!

Here is the terrific blog candy that I won from Tina a couple of weeks ago. I got it in the mail a few days ago but didn't get around to taking a pic to post it. She sent me a cute spool of purple ribbon, a retired stampin' up stamp set that has 32 stamps in it! and 3, did you hear me, 3!! Copic markers!! I have been wanting and wanting to try those but just haven't been able to break down and buy some yet, so I was totally thrilled to get these, especially the cool shadow one!!! Thank you Tina!!

Snoopy card

I made this card for a friends new baby to match a small rag quilt that I had also made. I am not sure what's going on but all the photos from snapfish are loading very small and when i try to make them larger they are getting very blurry. Guess I won't be using any more of my photos that I have stored on there. lol. The snoopy image is actually a piece of fabric that was cut from the material used in the rag quilt. I stamped the word baby on a piece of acetate with foam stamps and acrylic paints, then sponged the back of the acetate with white paint to give it more of an opaque look.

Meanest Mother Paper Bag album

I made this paper bag album as a Mothers day project for Ebay a couple years ago. I love how it turned out. There is a really cute poem that goes with it. I have posted it below but it uploaded in one long paragraph and Unfortunately the pictures uploaded very small even with it set to large.

The Meanest Mother"

I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids atecandy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When othershad cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you canguess, my supper was different than the other kids' also. But at least, I wasn't alone in my sufferings. My sister and twobrothers had the same mean mother as I did. My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. You'dthink we were on a chain gang. She had to know who our friends were andwhere we were going. She insisted if we said we'd be gone an hour, thatwe be gone one hour or less--not one hour and one minute. I am nearlyashamed to admit it, but she actually struck us. Not once, but eachtime we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased. That poor belt wasused more on our seats than it was to hold up Daddy's pants. Can youimagine someone actualy hitting a child just because he disobeyed? Nowyou can begin to see how mean she really was. We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. The other kids alwayswore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insults becauseshe made our clothes herself, just to save money. Why, oh why, did wehave to have a mother who made us feel different from our friends? The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each nightand up at eight the next morning. We couldn't sleep till noon like ourfriends. So while they slept-my mother actually had the nerve to breakthe child-labor law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, makebeds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laidawake at night thinking up mean things to do to us. She always insisted upon us telling the truth, the whole truth andnothing but the truth, even if it killed us- and it nearly did. By the time we were teen-agers, she was much wiser, and our lifebecame even more unbearable. None of this tooting the horn of a car forus to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by making our datesand friends come to the door to get us. If I spent the night with agirlfriend, can you imagine she checked on me to see if I were reallythere. I never had the chance to elope to Mexico. That is if I'd had aboyfriend to elope with. I forgot to mention, while my friends weredating at the mature age of 12 and 13, my old fashioned mother refusedto let me date until the age of 15 and 16. Fifteen, that is, if youdated only to go to a school function. And that was maybe twice a year. Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We could not liein bed, "sick" like our friends did, and miss school. If our friendshad a toe ache, a hang nail or serious ailment, they could stay homefrom school. Our marks in school had to be up to par. Our friends'report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red forfailing. My mother being as different as she was, would settle fornothing less than ugly black marks. As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was putto shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behindus, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed thepleasure of being a drop-out. My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of fourchildren, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of ushave ever been arrested, divorced or beaten his mate. Each of mybrothers served his time in the service of this country. And whom do wehave to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You're right, ourmean mother. Look at the things we missed. We never got to march in aprotest parade, nor to take part in a riot, burn draft cards, and amillion and one other things that our friends did.She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults. Using this as a background, I am trying to raise my threechildren. I stand a little taller and I am filled with pride when mychildren call me mean. Because, you see, I thank God, He gave me the meanest mother inthe whole world.written by Bobbie Pingaro (1967)

I won!

Yeah! I won Tina's blog candy over at scrappingalz!! I have NEVER won anything I have entered before. Thank you Tina!

Nugget boxes

These are just a few of the little Hershey Nugget boxes that I am making for my upcoming Stampin' Up party next week. (I am just hosting the party, I have not made up mind as to what company, if any, I am going to sign with yet.) I have invited many friends to come to this and would like to be able to give them all a little something extra for coming so when I saw these here, I thought they would be perfect!! I just hope that the candy really fits in them ok. I didn't have any of the nuggets here (chocolate does not last long in this house!) to make sure of the fit and since I have them almost all finished I would be very upset if they didn't fit. On the other hand I followed directions exactly for once and I see them clearly in her pictures so I am sure they will be fine.

Help Her Celebrate!

Tina's blog is a year old today and everyone needs to stop by and wish her a bloggybirthday! She has some great blog candy she is offering too.

Wow, I am in shock!

It turns out IRW is closing. I just received my wonderful order from the guy in the big brown truck a couple of days ago and was excited to start doing more parties and crops. Now I am at a dilemma as to what I want to do. I have looked into acbailey designs and they carry alot of the same products IRW carried, including the wishblade and other Xyron items as well as some great items that are geared toward card making and digital scrapbooking. Their catalog can be viewed here (it is a large catalog) I have also thought about joining Stampin' Up because since I am really into card making now I need to grow my rubber stamp collection. Here are my concerns, with the economy the way it is could I sell enough of either to actually make it work? People have heard of Stampin' Up but I think AC Bailey is kind of like IRW and not well known at least in these parts. Because of that there are MANY stampin' up reps in my town alone and only 3 Ac Bailey consultants, not sure if that's a help or hindrance. So which would you prefer to attend a show for? I'm just on the fence as to what to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

** Now I have one more option I am throwing in to think about, Memory Works** Great, I have a hard enough time making decisions as it is, lol. But if anyone has any other scrapbook companies they know about please let me know or if you have opinions on one of these ones. I am just so in shock over this. It happened kind of out of the blue.