Stop the madness!

Today we took a break from the craziness of the holidays. Christine and Kelly made tons of their Christmas cards, Sue finished her project, and I'm still working on mine. No surprise there! Kelly inspired me to make a card with Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla.. you'll have to check back to see it. Christine had the Punch Pals set, and I was jealous because I just love that penguin!! And not to mention the Short and Sweet set.. how have I missed that one? Thank you ladies for the inspiration! - and pleasure of your company!
The teenagers were in and out, and I even heard some studying going on (shhhhh!). The dogs and cat were relatively well behaved - Bella was Bella of course. All-in-all it was a wonderful day. I enjoy the get togethers and meeting new people, and enjoying a little relaxing time doing something we all enjoy.
So next time you see a Come On Over! event, please join us. I have no doubt you'll enjoy yourself.

Snow... Snow... Snow!

and embossing...
We had our first snow this morning. It was only about an inch but it was pretty and white. So when I finally had time to do some stamping, embossing snow just seemed to feel right. This card was cased from "card crazy" on Splitcoaststampers with a little of my own sparkle added. It was a bit labor intensive, but it was just what I needed this weekend.
With the economy as bad as it is, how can you help make some changes in your finances and lifestyle? As I watch my daughter learn about money management, especially emergency spending, saving for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas, I realize how much I need to go back to a simpler time. So we'll be making some gifts this year, and planning better for next year.
Stamping is so versatile, this new passion of mine will lend itself well to this downturn economy and change in focus to handmade, sentimental, and elegant gifts. It gives me another reason to explore new techniques and try new things.
I hope you'll come along for the ride!

Refueled!!

We are finally fully recovered from the flu... and now we're also recovered from the first wave of the holidays - Thanksgiving! Turkey Day was actually relaxing. Who knew? After a leisure morning spent with Maegan and the pups, it was off to Mom's for dinner with the family. For the first time we sat everyone around 1 table - no more kids table! The food was delicious and I could still move after getting up from the table. Then it was off to Aileen's Mom's for dessert and mild reverie. I haven't been there for a holiday in decades - it was great!

The rest of the weekend was relatively low key. I managed to do a little shopping, cleaned the house and did laundry.... AND STAMPED!!! Here's 2 of my new cards. The stamp set Heartfelt Thanks is a classic - I love this set!! Combined with the new In Color Baja Breeze and it felt new again. The silver Christmas card was more embossing than I've done in a while. The red "Season's Greetings" came out too high (I make myself crazy!!), so this is a first draft. More play time this week at my newly reorganized stamping desk. Ahhhhh... refreshing!

Flu? But I had a flu shot! I'm tired.....

I guess I wasn't paying attention... did they tell me on 11/11/08 when I got the flu shot that it takes about 2 weeks to become effective? So last weekend BAM down with the flu! I felt like I was hit by a truck.. and it didn't go away! What happened to the 24-hour bug?? 24 hours lasted 4 days. Even today I'm not quite up to par. Saturday's are generally busy and today was no exception: dogs out at dawn, vet at 8:30, budgeting, dishes, grocery shopping for holiday, dogs... and now I'm ready for a nap. I don't nap. I might today.
And I'm bummed I haven't felt like stamping. I have some time but I'm just so tired.
Why are we women so hard on ourselves? Why can't I take a nap? It will improve my day and tomorrow I'll have more energy to stamp. Hmmmmm... That sounds like a plan.
Another post tomorrow with some new artwork?
For today I'll post some pics of our dogs. They have both been to the vets and groomers in the past week, so they're healthy and handsome/beautiful. Here's Lucas and Bella.

Online motivation??

Another Christmas card done and it's still November! For me that's amazing!! It's been a while since I did any embossing... and glitter even longer. Combining the 2 was a first. This one's for you Aileen! I hope you all like this one.
Life has been really hard lately. While I use the stamping as concentrated time to myself, there's times life is so big I can't fit stamping in. So it lingers, hovering over my shoulder. I find this blog is motivating me to find the time. Is that weird? I want to share what I love, so I must create something to share.
You never know where the motivation will come from... at least I don't.

All the parts of me....

I was at the mall yesterday and stopped into Blue Moon. Yeah I'm into that 'new age' stuff a bit - love aromatherapy, still think incense burners can be works of art, love artisan jewelry compared to big box jewelry stores. Well there was a coffee mug that said something like "Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself". That one stayed with me. After my accomplishments today, I'd say life's a bit of both - and it's taken me a long time to figure that out.
Today I'm pretty happy with myself. Part of that is because I got a great night's sleep - way overdue! My early morning walk with our 16-month shih tzu puppy was invigorating - and before my coffee! If I'd made a "list of things to do today" I'd have crossed off a whole bunch of things.. and it's just 2:30. But best of all I spent time on my biggest investment - ME. Working on this blog is an investment in my stamping business (which I've needed to do to take the next step), but more importantly I learned something new. And it was a BIG new thing - something that belongs to my daughter's generation, not mine. Somehow melding art and technology made me feel energized and fulfilled. I've learned that feeling fulfilled can come in doses, it doesn't have to be a constant - and that's a relief.
Hmmmmm... I think I'll go back to my stamping. Will I make a card, plan a workshop, place an order (love to shop), or make a mini-scrapbook for a christmas present...... I'll just go to my desk and let it come to me.
You know, I think I'm going to like this blog thing!

Can an old dogs learn new tricks?

YES!!! I am persistent! Today I wanted to figure out how to add a link and pictures. As you can see I was SUCCESSFUL! This is SO exciting! Now the HTML part gives me an entirely new appreciation for my teenagers ability to design her own MySpace page. HTML codes, tags.... Say what??? It reminds me of how I felt the first time I went to a stamping event - totally out of my element! Baby steps! I look at this card and have a warm feeling of satisfaction. I've come a long way.

What's a Blog??!!?

It's taken me an hour to find out the basics about a blog. And finally I have one! Haven't seen it yet... but,hey, give me a few minutes! Maegan is chomping at the bit - waiting to design the background and use some of my card designs to color it up. And what about links? How does this work? Well, this may be really short, but it's a start. Wish me luck!