Look what I did with my new Amuse stamp store stamp

These are both of the finished products.

I got this stamp when Ellie & I went to the new stamp store in Charlotte a few weeks ago.
I made this pin following directions from this blog. Here is the front.
Here is the back where I glued the pin on.
I saw this on utube and made this cute post-it note keychain for your purse. Isn't this adorable too? :)

Here is the inside of the post-it note keychain. The final size you want to cut your paper is 3 1/4 x 2". Then score at 1 11/16" and 1 9/16".

It hit 82 degrees on Friday and today it was 42!!!

Here is that silly moose again. He sure is relaxing in his hammock isn't he? When Amy was here in January, I "made" her go with me to Home Depot to get TONS of paint sample cards so I dug one out and stuck it on this card. Its all purple.
This penguin is one of my newest stamp. He was $1 and I got him from here. Super fast shipping which is always a plus. I found that sentiment on a website and just copied it.
Again, these stamps were $1 each. Doesn't get any better than that!!

Hope you like my cards for today. Since it was too cold to go outside, at least I got some summer cards made :).

I just love Spring in the Carolinas

This is our Cherry Blossom Tree in full bloom. They are all over Charlotte. These are my favorite!!
You can see the cherry blossom tree in the background, behind the swing. I love my front porch!!
We have about 300 tulips getting ready to bloom. Here is just one and I think it will be anyday now. I love tulips!!
Not sure what this flower is. Charlie knows but he is out of town so he can't tell me. LOL
Aw, my daffodils are almost done blooming. I love these too as they last a few weeks, compared to my tulips which seem to not last but a few days.

Look at my veggie plants after only 1 week ...

The watermelon and the cantelope are doing the best so far and my carrots seem to be doing great too. Not much action out of my zucchini or squash but maybe they are just late "bloomers". LOL

Charlie left to go out of town for a few days

so I decided to play with my new Riley stamps ... more cards for you to see... On the 2 bottom cards, I used this awesome Maisy Mo paper. My friend Michelle (also known as Emmcee at the Stamp Shack) sells it in her new online store and I just love it. You can buy it here.

Spent another day during spring break going to the orthodontist ...

this makes 3 times in just 1 week! Geez!!!!!!!!! Anyway, it was Emily's turn today. She has been wanting a permanent retainer put on the bottom of her teeth so I took her in to see what that cost was. It wasn't bad at all so she will get one put in the same time Nicholas gets his braces in 2 weeks. I really like this orthodontist. Oh and we drove by the same train depot where George Clooney WAS supposed to be there yesterday and there was a huge crowd of people down there today so I really think he was down there today, not yesterday ... unless we just missed him yesterday. But i do think he was down there today.

More Riley the Moose stamps came today!!!

YEAH!! I had to make a few cards. They are so cute, aren't they?

George Clooney is in town with Renee Zellweger

filming a movie called Leatherheads in Kannapolis. This is 20 minutes north of Concord and that is where Nicholas' new orthodontist is. Anyway, we had to make a 2nd trip to the orthodontist today as one of his spacers already fell out. Back we went. No we did not see George Clooney but we saw lots of news trucks camping out it looked like. LOL

Tomorrow we will make a 3rd trip, this time with Emily. She wants a permanent retainer put in her bottom teeth. She keeps losing her retainer which she is supposed to wear every night and sometimes doesn't so we'll see what that will cost us!!!

Tri-fold card using the Changito monkey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R54Q-J33QF4&feature=related I learned how to make this tri-fold card here watching this video by Chicknscratch. She does awesome cards each week and she is very easy to follow along. Check her tutorial out when you have time. I took 2 photos so you can see the card closed and then it open. Very easy. Now your turn :).

Have you seen the cute Changito monkey stamps yet?

Stampendous makes them and Hobby Lobby has all of their stamps this week 50% off. I have been wanting these monkeys for awhile so at 50% off, who could resist. I came home with 2 of them. This one is the same stamp, I just added a button to the one to cover the "thank you" so you could use it for any occassion. I also got one that says Happy B-day so I will play with that one tonight and post it later. Here is what I made today while sitting at the orthodontist waiting for Nicholas to get his spacers put in and they had to make a mold of his mouth. He didn't gag too much. lol

Happy Easter!!

Today is Easter and when you have 2 teenagers its hard to know 1) do you still get them an Easter basket filled with "stuff" and 2) will they still want to go on an Easter egg hunt at this age? Well, the answer to both questions is YES. Now at first, Emily was saying she was not going on an Easter egg hunt but once Charlie said he had hid a $20 bill in an egg all of a sudden she decided "hey I will hunt for eggs now". lol Nicholas ended up finding the egg within the first 5 minutes. Charlie thought for sure he hid it so good, he would have to give them hints. Nah!! Didn't work like that. LOL So now Nicholas is 20 bucks richer and he's thrilled :). Its just us this year so I am making a ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, rolls and strawberries with pound cake for dessert. I woke up feeling much better (thank goodness) so I will be able to eat what I fix :). Here is a photo of the extra hidden easter egg. Also, you will see a couple of photos that show my little sprouts are starting to pop up. One is cantelope and the other is carrots. Its only been 3 days!!

Baskets for the Cure ....

My friend Ethel has made a website called Baskets for the Cure. She used to be a Longaberger basket consultant and she is now selling some of her baskets with all proceeds going to help fight breast cancer. My other great friend Teresa is walking in the 3 day breast cancer walk in Michigan in September. If you go to Teresa's blog you will see she is walking in honor of Lesa who is currently fighting breast cancer and also in memory of my dear friend Robin and also in memory of Dr. Deborah Duerden McDonald who both lost their battles last year. Please consider bidding on Ethel's awesome Longaberger baskets or making a donation to Teresa's blog. Any donation will make a difference!!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Easter tomorrow!

Since my dogs don't have any Easter ears I found this cute photo on the "net" :). Have a wonderful Easter!!

Woke up not feeling so great

actually went to bed not feeling so great last night. Must be some stomach "thing". I hope its over fast. Tomorrow is Easter. How can I cook a huge Easter dinner plus I will miss out all my fun Easter goodies that the Easter bunny will bring me!? lol

At the Stamp Shack, they have a challenge this week to make a card in the shape of something. You know instead of just a square card, make a shaped card so i found this template here and made a ladies shoe card. Its not my best but it came out ok. I love that saying don't you? Now I think I will go lay back down. PS Its in the low 70's today and Emily is outside tanning in her bikini. She was invited to go on a cruise with her friend Elizabeth this week (since we're on spring break) but it was way too much money so she stayed home. Said she will just tan out by our pool. That a girl!!

Its time for Nicholas to get braces

Yep the time has come. Nicholas (or Nick as HE prefers to be called) will be getting his braces on April 7th. He has to go to 2 other appts before then to get his impressions made (he hates that part where they put that goop in your mouth, it always gags him). He will have to also wear an expander with his braces for about 7 months so he will get that put on the same time as the braces. We will have to crank the expander with a key every other day for about a month I think. This is his 2nd expander. He had one put in a few years ago but he needs it again. Oh well. At least in 2 years, his teeth will look FABULOUS!!

My pop-up card using my Stampin Up word window punch

Look what I found on this blog. Jackie shows how to make a pop-up card using your Stampin Up word window punch. I had to try it and it is super easy!! Here is my card. Try it!

Cupcake stamps by Lockhart Stamps. Girl stamp by Sugar Nellie.

The SU wheel I used is called Scatter Sunshine.

Happy Birthday with sprinkles on top is by Justjohanna.

Have your cupcake and eat it too stamp is by Savvy Stamps.

Happy First Day of Spring!!

With it being the first day of Spring, I decided we should start planting some vegetable seeds inside for our garden. Why not get an early start?! This year, we bought the following seeds: watermelon, 2 different kinds of cantelope (had the best crop last year ever!), zucchini, squash and LOTS AND LOTS of carrots. Carrots seeds are the tiniest seeds ever so I just kept planting them. We have rows and rows of carrots compared to everything else. The dogs will love that since that is what their treats are. We also bought some already growing spinach and romaine lettuce which you will see next to the row of seeds. We hope to plant those plants next week. This dome planting thing (not sure the proper name) came with dirt and everything. You just add water and the seeds and watch them grow. We will buy our tomato plants later once the freeze threat is over. BTW, the news is saying we may get snow flurries on Monday. WOO HOO!!!! :)

I made a few cards last night while watching American Idol

What do ya think? (Sorry for the crooked jeep photo but I sent that card to Traci and can't re-take it). All stamps are by Bella.

I can't believe its been 6 months this week

that my wonderful dear friend Robin passed away. I miss her so much!! I just want to pick up the phone and ask her how she's doing and I can't. I am meeting Lorraine and Mary at Dunkin Donuts for our monthly "gab session" and then I will go by the cemetary on my way home. Still hard to believe she's really gone!!!!

First day of Spring is next Thursday and my flowers

are starting to pop up out of the ground. Remember when we planted like 500 bulbs last year?! Or was it the year before? I just remember I thought we would NEVER get them all planted. Took us forever. But now they are coming up nicely and the whole yard will be in full color before too long. The days are staying later which means I need to get out and take a nice long walk after dinner. Yes I must do that!! Here are a few photos I took today. The trees are not blooming yet but they do have their first buds on their branches :). Enjoy!

My flights are booked ....

for the West Springfield, MA Heirloom Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival June 7-8th and I can't wait!! I will be meeting up with Lesa, Joanie, Teresa and Patty. We are gonna have so much fun!!

Emily is taking sewing this semester.

So far she has made a pillow and this awesome tote bag. Is this not the CUTEST tote bag ever!??!?! Next she will make a cosmetic bag and she has had a few requests from friends wanting her to make them a pillow. We went to HL tonight and picked out some really cute fabric.

Ellie & I went to check out La Carta Bella today

the new stamp store in Matthews. It was a very cute store with lots of great stamps. All stamps are the newest ones out there which is great since other stores such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels never carries the newest line of stamps. She had lots of Bellas which was great too. She even had lots of Bella accessories and I bought some pink Bella bling that I will have to use and put on a card. Neither one of us took our camera so we couldn't shoot a cute photo :). The address is down below (in 2 posts down from here) for those who want to check it out. Call first to make sure she is there.

Graduation isn't too far off ...

I decided to sit down and play with my new owl sets I got the other day. Graduation cards are always hard for me to make and I find myself at Target buying them at the last minute when they are all picked over so I decided to make a few cards with my new stamps while i watched American Idol last night. Tell me what you think.

In case you love these owls so much and want to go buy a set, this is where I got them here. Its from the Kim Hughes line of stamps. I just love all of Kim's stamps.

There's a brand new rubber stamp store in Charlotte, NC

and Ellie and I are going on Thursday to check her out. Its actually in Matthews but that's just right outside of Charlotte so its not far at all for us to go there. Its called:

La Carta Bella
10833 Monroe Rd Ste 15
Matthews. NC.
(704) 841-8218

Right now she has limited store hours and those are:

Friday. 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Saturday. 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Sunday 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM

She carries Amuse, Elzybells, Bellas, Memory Box, Lizzie Anne, Copic markers, Stickles and is thinking of carrying Rosie's Roadshow stamps and Great Impressions (I think).

She is having an open house this Saturday March 15th from 11-7 so check it out!!!

I got some new stamps yesterday

They are from Stamping Bella. Love them!!

Breast Cancer Survivor cards for a great cause

I was surfing around Splitcoast Stampers when I came across this post and she is trying to collect 15 breast cancer cards from each state to give to breast cancer survivors who are in the Relay for Life in Pennsylvania. She is trying to raise 700 cards total. I knew this was something I have to do so today I sat down and made a few cards. I am making 15 and am doing these 3 versions. I have the layouts done, just need to finish the coloring. If you want to help out, go to this link and sign up like I did. Its such a wonderful cause!!