Hi All! I can't tell you enough how much appreciate all the love and support I have received from all of you as I travel this very bumpy road. Life has been hard these last two months, but each day things get a little bit easier. I am focusing on my children right now as my son will graduate high school this year, and I want him to remember all the good things about this year, and not what is happening right now. So, I am neck deep in prom plans, graduation night, his 18th birthday, and plans for his future. My daughter is struggling and we are at odds a lot, but I am confident that with the passing of time, she will adjust because she knows I love her and I will always be here for her. I have just had knee surgery to fix the problem that happened a year ago, so I am off my feet for six weeks! So, I have been doing some stamping, and I am hopeful that I will start posting some fun things for you soon. I felt that I had lost all of my mojo, nothing seemed to turn out right and I have lots of card stock in the trash can, lol! BUT, I managed to eek out a few cards and that makes me smile again. I am facing several court dates in the near future, and that is hard, but I am going to push through them, and know that my future will hold something good for me. I never thought I would find myself in this position; I guess none of us do really who go through this. However, I have a strong faith and believe that God must have some other plans for me so I am putting my trust in Him and moving on with my life. I am unbelievably sad right now, but as I am often told, "this too shall pass".  I am reaching deep inside myself to find the courage and the strength that I will need to make it through the next two months with my dignity intact. I will then concentrate on what is next for me and my children. I have not been really doing my business right now, but I hope to start it back up again sometime in the near future because I absolutely love what I do, it makes me so very happy.  Thanks again to all of you wonderful ladies, your comments, emails, and cards have maid me smile on days that I did not think it was possible. I love you all; you have reinforced my belief that crafters have the biggest hearts of anyone!

XOXOXOXOXO

Hi all! I wanted to pop in and thank all of you for your kind and encouraging words. Things are really tough right now emotionally so I am taking the time I need with my children to heal.  We are taking it one day at a time, and I am hopeful that in time, things will feel happy around here again. I appreciate the cards, letters, and emails from all of you, and please know that they indeed do help to make me feel less alone! I love you all and hope to be creating again very soon!

Good morning all! I know it has been a long time since my last post, and it will be a few more days for some crafty things to post.  My husband of 21 years has decided he does not want to be married anymore and moved out and left me and the kids behind. We are all devastated as this came out of the blue.  My kids are my priority, and right now they really need me to be there for them. They are very hurt and angry, and my heart aches for them. It is a sad time for us, so please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers and know that we are going to be okay. Thanks for understanding and I hope to be back up and doing crafty things very soon. Time heals all wounds, and creating makes it go that much faster. This is a deeply painful and personal thing for me, and I need time to come to terms with my new life.

Good morning stampers!! I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous weekend - I am sitting here drinking coffee in a quiet house! The kids are out doing things with friends, my sweetheart is golfing, and the dogs are snoozing :-) Later on, my friend is coming over so we can plan out the crafty things for her daughter's baby shower - YAY! So, it is a good day here in sunny California (although it is really not too sunny today).  I am going to be prepping things for my next downline meeting, but I thought I would share the project we did at our last downline meeting. I like to have a couple of stamping projects for my team to do using new products, techniques, and ideas so I decided to do a mini page for them this time, and they loved it! Okay, I know I shared the bird yesterday but I just love it so you have to see it again - at least it looks different, right??! Heehee,  I see lots more birdies in my future :-)  This is a 6x6 mini page that will eventually end up in an album, but I need to make the matching page for it and then decide what book, lol! We used a lot of new products on this page, and bright, fun colors from this year's In-Color family. The base of this page is Calypso Coral card stock, which made it easy to choose my designer series paper- Enchanted!! LOVE it, and it is also a FREE pack of paper from the Sale-a-Bration catalog so it makes it that much better :-)  I seem to reach for this paper again and again, sooooo pretty! The wing of the bird is also from this same paper pack, I just love the pretty colors! We also played with three of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, which is always fun because they too were FREE :-)
The bird is stamped with an image from the Fresh Vintage Stamp set; we just stamped at an angle all the way across the bottom of the bird to give it some texture. See the frame around the sentiment? Well, that is a stamp from the set called Elementary Elegance, and it is beautiful! We stamped the frame on Poppy Parade card stock in Soft Suede Ink (Yummo) and then trimmed around the frame, which is popped up on dimensionals. This frame is gorgeous and can be used in several different ways - there is even a little crown at the top of the frame so I could totally see a picture (of me, bwahahahaha) in that frame wearing it :-) The sentiment is from the Sprinkled Expressions stamp set - isn't it fun??! The whole stamp set is super cute; it's on page 8 of the SAB catalog which can be found in the sidebar of my blog - just click on it, and it will take you there:-)  The other new product used on this mini layout is the ribbon. The ribbon is also a SAB freebie and actually comes in a two pack of ribbon with matching brads and they are FABULOUS!! The whole pack is called the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack and so of course it coordinates beautifully with the paper! I hope you like this fun little layout - I will have to make the matching page and share that one too, and add some pics too *wink*  If you like the products you see here, all you have to do is place a $50 order for each item you want FREE and you can do that in my online store OR you can email me your order and I will be happy to place your order for you!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I am off to get ready to stamp the afternoon away on fun baby items!
Layout Recipe:
Paper - Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede, Poppy Parade card stock, Enchanted Designer Series paper
Inks - Soft Suede, Poppy Parade classic inks
Stamps - Elementary Elegance, Sprinkled Expressions, Fresh Vintage (all SAB sets)
Tools - Big Shot, Elegant Bird die,Crimper, Scallop Ribbon punch, Fancy Label punch, Dimensionals
Accessories - Everyday Enchantment ribbon, Basic Pearls

WHOOHOO!! It's Friday!! I love Fridays because that means no homework, no practice, AND lots of stamping :-)  I actually have two workshops in the next two days - one tonight, and one tomorrow! I am excited because that means stamping with new friends and seeing some old friends :-) I just love getting together to make pretty things, it's the best part of my job! Heck, every part of my job is amazing :-) I also hope to get some scrapbooking done this weekend as I have not been able to do much lately and I miss it!  I did get a chance to one layout and I wanted to share it with you today! It is one of my daughter and her very close friend Sam - these two girls are glued at the hips, but they are so much fun together! I have never heard so much laughter, they make me smile every time they are here at the house together :-) I used a lot of new products on this page, and I love the way it turned out! I wanted something soft and pretty, and that is what I got! Not a whole lot of stamping going on with this page, but the sentiment is one that makes me smile every time I see it - "Friend Good" by Frankenstein! LOL - it is part of a set called Smarty Pants, and I hope it never retires, it is one of my all time favorites!!
Oh, but look at that beautiful patterned paper!!! Isn't it just gorgeous??!! It is from the Gorgeous suite of papers called Attic Boutique and is in the Occasions Mini. I just love all the patterns and color combos in this pack, it is all soooo very pretty and definitely has the vintage touches that I love!  The pretty details of each pattern make this an ideal suite to use for all kinds of projects - and I have *giggle*. The strip across the bottom of the page is also from the same suite, it's just the flip side of the pattern used on the main strip. It is mounted on Melon Mambo card stock, which I border punched along the bottom with the Pinking Hearts border punch! I often forget I have this punch, and it is an awesome punch, I just love the little hearts border it makes!
Ooh, and look at that pretty birdie!!  Sorry for the shadow, I had a heck of a time with this close-up, lol! However, you can see enough details to know that his is a gorgeous die, and so much fun to play with! I cut the body out of another piece of the Attic Boutique suite, and the wing is Regal Rose Card Stock. See how the wing has some beautiful texture? That's because I ran it through my crimper and oh, I just love how it looks!!!
I added some pretty ribbon (whisper white) and one of the new buttons from the mini from the Twitterpated suite - I love how super cute they are and you get tons of them in different shapes and designs in two different colors! 48 buttons for $6.95 is a heck of a deal :-) I also used a couple more buttons on the bottom right hand side of the page - aren't they just so pretty??!  Most of my little embellishments on this layout are actually dies for the Big Shot - I use my Big Shot every day and I honestly have no idea what I would do without it! So many fun new dies, and embossing tools - I have lots of fun mixing and matching and just playing around with them!
See the hearts? They are so cute, and I actually used two different embosslits to cut these. One is called Scalloped Heart of Hearts and is actually the bigger hearts at the top of the page - soooo very pretty!  I love the textured look at the pretty finished edges it creates. The smaller hearts are from the brand new embosslit in the Occasions Mini called Fashionable Hearts and it has different sizes and patterns for these hearts. You can see them scattered on the page and the close-up of one in this picture. I actually used that heart to cover up the camera that my daughter is holding since they took that picture while looking in the mirror at themselves - ROFL! Silly girls, right??!

Embosslits are fun and easy to use, and at $11.95, they are a great deal to boot!  I really love that our new embosslit has so many different patterns and sizes to choose from because it gives you an instant variety to your embellishments, especially when you mix and match papers and colors to cut them out with! Super cute! Another one of our new products that I used on this layout is our new frame designs. I used the Labels Framelits for the sentiment pieces and I love them! They all nest together so well, and you can use both the negative pieces (just the outline) or the whole shape like I did here! The great thing about these frames is they also coordinate with one of our new stamp sets called Apothecary Art, and, although I did not use it here, I have played with that as well, and it makes cutting out those shapes quick and easy.  I love this layout and now I have decided I need to make a matching page so that both sides of my book are complete, lol! I like double layouts, it keeps all my books looking pretty :-)  So, hopefully I will have time to do that this weekend and I can share it later on next week! If you like any of the products that you see here, you can buy them in my online store, or you can email me your order and I will be happy to place it for you! Don't forget: with every $50 you spend, you get something FREE from the Sale-a-Bration brochure and you don't want to miss out on that!! I love FREE, don't you??!!  Now, I am off to do the last minute prep for my workshop tonight, and hopefully do a little stamping before it is time to go! The kids both have plans tonight, and Tony is enjoying a golf weekend with his buddies down South so it is just me and the dogs! Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to take some creative time for yourself!!
Layout Recipe:
Paper - Regal Rose, Soft Suede, Melon Mambo card stock, Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper
Inks - Soft Sued classic stamp pad and stampin' write marker
Stamps - Smarty Pants
Tools - Big Shot, Labels Framelits, Fashionable Hearts embosslit, Heart of Hearts embosslit, Elegant Bird Bigz Die, Crimper, Pinking Hearts border punch, Scallop Trim border punch, dimensionals
Accessories - Whisper White thin grosgrain ribbon, Twitterpated buttons, Basic Rhinestones