It was time to reveal myself to my secret sister

I joined a secret sister swap at the Stamp Shack and my secret sister was Merry Mimi from the Stamp Shack. For 4 months, I had to send her a little item once a month along with a stamped card. As my reveal I sent her this card and on the inside I sent her a poem. Now for those who know me, I cannot write my own poem, so I went to my stamping buddy, Mary who writes really great poems. You know the kind that rhyme really great. She has done this for other secret sisters for me too. You can read it on the card. Thanks again Mary. I just love this poem! It was just perfect. And Merry I enjoyed being your secret sister!!!

When school was cancelled the other day for the flooding,

the kids were jumping up and down with joy. I'm sure you can picture it now. HA Well, last night we got the dreaded call that they have to make up the lost day. When? NEXT SATURDAY. Yes, on a Saturday. Both kids were like "What? On a Saturday?" Its just a half a day which I said "Well, that's better than a full day on Christmas break which is what is what was considered at first." So both kids will be going on school next Saturday whether they like it or not. NOT!!!

All of that water is completely gone from yesterday's photos

that I took ... so that's a relief. I was shocked to watch our news last night and how many had been effected in Cabarrus County (where we live). We noticed a ton of water in one of our empty garbage cans so we measured how much water we had in there and it was 15" and that was over a day and 1/2. That is a TON of rain!!! There were some shots of some houses had water up to their roof tops!! The creeks had overflowed that much that fast. I just could not believe it. They managed to get out in time thank goodness and now are in shelters. Nicholas came home today telling stories of some kids in his classes who had some flooding in their basements that went all the way up to their ceilings. Some teachers hadn't seen this kind of flooding in 30+ years. Too close to home!!!

We felt the effects of storm Fay last night

and had some flooding near us so I was out and took some photos of a nearby creek. We are fine where we are but this is not far from us. School was cancelled due to all the flooding in our county. You can click on the photos to see them bigger.

Its back to school - WOO HOO

Here are the kids. Not sure they look as happy as I do but I didn't want my photo taken this early in the morning. Emily is driving herself now. Oh my how can this be? HA HA Anyway, here is Emily driving herself in the jeep. She could not wait to go in the jeep. And here is Nicholas with Tudi planted by his side. Ladybug is in the back seat, you just can't see her..

I came across this cute owl card on Splitcoast and its made with all punches

and I just had to try my hand at it. It was very easy too. Of course, I only made one owl and its not actually a card, its just the owl but I still think its pretty cute. Here is the card I saw and here is my lonely little owl below but I still like him. The punches I used were:

face - Stampin Up round tab
eyes - 3/4" circle Stampin Up
nose - Stampin Up photo corners
wings - Stampin Up scallop circle
body - Marvy blue scallop circle
feet - left over from where i cut his wings

My hairdresser Amanda is getting married in October

and I didn't know what to get her but she is getting married in a barn and coming down "the aisle" in an actual John Deere tractor so I wanted to get her something with a "country-feel" to it so I came up with this idea. I found a plain white tin and decorated it with rooster paper and then I found some rooster recipe cards at AC Moore. But at the time I only found 1 pack. I had everyone hunting high and low for more rooster recipe cards. Thank goodness my stamping friend Shelley in MA found 5 more packs and shipped them to me so I could complete my project!!! Thank you so much Shelley!! Anyway, I finished my recipe box - I copied down 75 of my favorite recipes and stuck them in Amanda's box so I hope she likes this gift. Here is the finished gift.... (You can click on each photo to see them larger)

I've been tagged by an old and dear friend Robin Lehman

I have to say Robin's last name because I had another good Robin who passed away a year ago and alot of you may be confused if you see I was "tagged by Robin" so that's why I put Robin's last name in there. Anyway, I have known Robin since we were 15. At least I think we knew each other since then. Maybe longer. I barely remember way back then!!! We grew up in the same neighborhood. LOTS AND LOTS of memories Robin and I have. Anyway, she is new to the whole blogging scene and she has tagged me which means I have to come up with 7 things about me. Some random, some weird. Let's see what I come up with. HA Here's Robin's blog if you want to check it out.

1) I laugh and I laugh alot. But I think alot of you already know that about me. I would have to say I get the laughing from my mom. She laughs alot too. So does my sister. When we 3 are together, watch out.

2) I own 14 pairs of flip flops. I thought I had more but I just counted so that is the accurate count. Charlie insists I always have a pair in every room of the house. Go figure!!

3) My natural hair color is brown. Not too dark but brown. I have been coloring my hair blond for quite awhile. Its getting grayer the older I get (thanks Mom!).

4) Everyone "thinks" I am the most organized person in the universe. I am organized when it comes to being on time, knowing when a birthday is, having a birthday card ready to mail out but when it comes to finding things in my stamping room, I can look for hours for a single item. I mean, yesterday I spent a good 45 minutes looking for this one thing and I never did find it. Could it be because my stamp room is always a mess? I need to get more organized in my stamp room I guess!!!

5) I've never met a Coach outlet I didn't like :).

6) I love worcestershire sauce (but ONLY the Lea & Perrins brand) on hard boiled eggs. Don't knock it till you try it!!!

7) I can't think of a 7th thing to write about myself. LOL

Now I am supposed to tag 7 friends but I have already done that many posts back so instead of doing that, I will just let that part slide. Is that ok with everyone? :) Have a great rest of the weekend. We have school tomorrow! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I joined this swap at the Stamp Shack

and it was for Halloween ATC's. While I was at Michael's the other day I saw this cute Frankenstein door hanging "wooden" thing that needed to be painted and I knew the hostess of this swap would love it. Chris loves anything Frankenstein. So I bought it, took it home and painted it. Here is the before and after. I told my friend Traci about it and sent her a picture of it and she said I had to mail it now. She was doing a Stampin Up party at her house today and she wanted to see it too so I sent it (the ATC's aren't due till OCTOBER). Well, Chris got it yesterday and she already has it hanging in her stamp room. HA. So now I can post it on my blog. I thought it came out pretty good considering I have never painted anything in my life before. Could there be more painting in my future? Stay tuned :).

A fun little memory game .. please pay along!!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Ok, I lied ... 3 posts in 1 day ...

I wanted to add this note about my great friend Lesa. She has a new website that I would love for you to check out. She has started this awesome new free service. Yes, its absolutely free. She is a breast cancer survivor currently going through active treatment and she is sending handmade cards to other women who have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer - her website is called Little Life Preservers and can be found here. Please consider donating anything to this worthy cause. Thank you so much!! You can also check out Lesa's blog and read about her journey here also. She is truly amazing and in inspiration to others.

2 posts in the same day!?!?

This day is just about over but I thought I would post how our lunch went with Judy, Robin's mom. Lorraine and I took her to Panera's Bread. We missed you Mary! Mary had to go and register for college classes at a college in Greensboro (need to find out the scoop on that Mary when you get a chance!). It was great catching up with Judy. Judy lives about an hour and 1/2 away and we haven't seen her since Robin's funeral which was about a year ago. She is still having a really hard time and we all miss Robin so much. We all met at Robin's house so we were able to see Jeff and the kids. It had been too long!!! I'm glad we got together.

On the way there, I stopped at Stampers Alley in Mooresville and new to me was a green punch by Marvy. Its called the Extra-giga. Not sure how long its been out but since I did not have this size I had to get it. I got the oval scallop. I will go back and get the circle scallop next :). I hope you have a great weekend! School starts on Monday. I know "I" am ready, not sure the kids are but "I" can say "I" am :).

I got my latest Scrap & Stamp October issue yesterday

and there I was on page 42. I submitted like 20 cards to this issue and all they picked was 1 card. I was shocked they picked the card they did. I sent in a bunch of breast cancer awareness cards and halloween cards. Also on these pages are some other stamping friends of mine - Thanh, Joan and Awna so that's cool that we are all on the same pages!!! Here's my card they chose.



Lorraine, Mary and I are meeting Robin's mom for lunch today at noon. We're all looking forward to that. Its hard to believe its been almost a year since Robin passed away. We all miss her so much.

I am hosting a few ATC swaps (notice I say a "few" ATC swaps?) LOL

over at the Stamp Shack and here are some I've made lately. The first one is my favorite Christmas movie ATC - Elf. The second one is Hot Cocoa ATC.

Josh goes off to UNC Chapel Hill

and this is the card I made for Katherine. She got it yesterday so now I can post it too.

College is starting for so many this week

and I had to make a few cards for those "moms" whose "babies" are leaving home. I know I will be having it rough in a couple of years and I know these next 2 years will go by fast. This first card is for Joanne. She is my stamping buddy over at the Stamp Shack. Her son Corey is going to Georgia Tech. I made her this card and she got it today so I can now post it for all to see. Joanne, I know its hard that he is now gone but he isn't too far away and he will be home for the holidays before too long. I will be back with another card in a few days as I have another one for someone else but I can't say who in case she sneaks on here since Josh left today for Chapel Hill. (wink wink Katherine!)

More photos from the Spaghetti Factory

If you haven't ever been to a Spaghetti Factory, I highly recommend it ....
It was soooo good!!! I had something called Mizithra Cheese and Browned Butter Spaghetti ... WOW, was it good!!!! It isn't even a sauce but it was cheese and it was just the best cheese ever!!!! I had 1/2 with that and then 1/2 with marinara sauce (as you can see in the photo) LOL it was really good. We even took a photo of our waitress Tonya. She was very nice.

Back from Cincinnati, Ohio ...

This is the line to get INTO the stamp convention (before it opened)


Missy's 2 white labs


Missy and I


What a fun weekend I had!! Cincinnati from Concord is about 500 some miles. Took me about 8 1/2 hours. It was actually longer than I had expected but I forget all the long, windy mountain roads you have to take to get there. I started out very early on Thursday morning. My aunt and uncle took me to a great chinese restaurant called Twin Dragon. It was a BUFFET and it was soooo good!!! The next morning they headed off to Washington DC on a bus tour that they had booked months ago. So I am glad I got to see them a day early before they left. Friday I hung out with my friend Missy before Traci got there. Missy and I went to DSW Warehouse, Archivers, Stamp Your Art Out (where I got our stamp convention tickets) and we ate at this really great mexican restaurant for lunch (I cannot remember the name of the restaurant but they had the best mashed potatoes ever!!!). Traci got in that afternoon. Her and I spent the night at the Country Inn Suites and the next morning met up with Chris, Robin and Debbie and spent the day at the stamp convention. WOW, was that place crowded (see photo below). Went to Spagetti Factory for lunch (had the BEST spaghetti) and then went to IKEA (again, SUPER CROWDED!). After we said goodbye to Chris, Robin and Debbie, Traci and I headed back to the hotel where Traci took a power nap. I had a headache so I laid down too (it was like 4 in the afternoon) and I must've fallen asleep too because the next thing I know it was 9:30 PM and I look outside and its totally dark and all I could see were headlights and tailights. We must've been exhausted!! LOL We got on our pj's and got in bed and went back to sleep!!! Never even ate dinner!!! Were we party animals or what!?!? It was a great weekend!!! Here are some photos!!

I will be leaving for the Cincinnati Stampaway Show in the morning ...

Its not until Saturday but I am going up a few days early to spend a day with my aunt and uncle in Fairfield and a day with my friend Missy. Saturday I will be meeting up with 5 other stampers from Ohio, Michigan and NC so that will be fun. I will report back when I get back on how much fun we did have!!!

4 posts in 1 day .. what the heck????

I wanted to show off the latest monkey ATC swap I hosted. I think they all did such a cute job and I never knew there were so many cute monkey stamps out there.

Today is my Uncle Jimmy's birthday ...

My Uncle Jimmy lives in Cincinnati, OH and I am going to the Cincinnati Stampaway Convention this weekend so I will get to see them while I am there. This is the card I made him. When "The Gods Must be Crazy" movie first came out, I must've been a teenager (I do not remember when it came out, I do remember it was a LONG time ago and I thought the movie was the most boring movie ever). My dad and my uncle (they are brothers) just laughed and laughed during that movie so I decided to make him this funny b-day card. I used this tutorial to make it and it was so easy making it how she did.

Here is Josh surprised ... 85 people (not sure the exact amount) showed up ..

and Emily with Brittany and Amber

As some of you may or may not know, I do not scrapbook

so when I am asked to make a scrapbook page, I FREEZE up. LOL I made these 2 scrapbook pages for Josh. He is Charlie's grandson who is going off to college. He is going to University of NC, Chapel Hill in just 10 days. I kept them simple, we were asked to write a little note to Josh and provide a photo if we had one. So I stamped 2 pages and then asked Charlie's mom and brother to put their photo too. This is what I came up with. What do you think?

Another cute stamping project that is EASY ...

I found this paper wallet tutorial here and it will hold cash AND 4 gift cards if you wanted to stuff it full. Of course, I had to try it and this is what i came up with. I think this is what all the "men" will be getting for Christmas this year ... tell me what you think.

These are the measurements you need to know:

Outside piece (with the rounded corners) 9" x 3 1/2" scored at 4 7/16" and 4 9/16"
Inside piece 8 1/2" x 3 1/4" scored at 4 1/4"
Larger pocket 4 3/16" x 2" Cut 2
Smaller pocket 4 3/16" x 1" Cut 2
Basic Black 1 7/8" x 2 1/8"

I used my TAC "crackle" background for the backgrounds that I used. I also paper pierced the inside of the large paper and it would've been better if I had turned the paper over and pierced the outside. That way when you connect the dots with your black marker, it would look better. I will do that on the next one.

I didn't get much stamping done last week

while Grandma Thacker was here. But I did find a really neat tutorial here of how to make a circle purse. Its so easy so I made one today. I am going to make some 3x3 cards with matching envelopes for someone with an "A" initial - hmmmm, I wonder who this could be for. I'm not tellin!! But here is how mine came out. Isn't it cute? (You can click on each individual photo to see them bigger if you want).