Happy First Day of Fall!!

I don't know about you but I love this time of year, especially in the Carolinas. The leaves are just starting to change, a teeny tiny bit. I bet in a couple of weeks, they will really be pretty!! It was also 2 years ago today that one of my best friends Robin passed away from breast cancer. I still can't believe she's gone and I can't believe its been 2 years already. I sure do miss laughing on the phone with her and just having a great time with her!!! Lorraine, Mary and I are going to meet at the cemetary with some flowers at noon and then we will go to lunch. We used to go out once a month, the 4 of us. Now that Robin is no longer here, the 3 of us continue to get together when we can. Robin would like that!!

Oh my gosh -- I have 7 cards in the latest Just Cards magazine!!

WOO HOO. There are 9 other stamping friends in it as well. Congratulations to: Cindi, Chelsea, Vicki, Deborah, Jennifer E, Awna, Joan, Erin, and Susan T in England. CLAP, CLAP, CLAP... Let's keep it up girls. We have to keep submitting!! Isn't it fun!?!?!??! Here is what the cover looks like just in case you want to run out and buy it or something :).

A few more Christmas cards ...

Here are a few more Christmas cards I made this weekend ... The 2nd card I made the Christmas tree with snowflakes. I'm not sure I like it since snowflakes are not green but the tree has to be green. So that one I am still unsure about. We got that Stampin Up set free at our regionals meeting I went to with Traci last week. I really like it. The other 2 cards I used the scallop punch to make the Christmas trees. I got that idea from the regional meeting too. They are super easy!!

More on the Senior Project ...

Tonight Emily and I went to a puppy training class in Charlotte. All puppies in the class were from the Canine for Companions organization. The dogs ranged in age from 4 months - 13 months. They take this class every other week for the duration of their 18 month commitment. Tonight they practiced several commands such as "stay", "heel", "back", "lap", and several others. I asked one of the men why do they teach the dog "back?" And he said alot of people who get these dogs to keep are in wheelchairs. If they are in the restroom and the dog needs to get back out of the door, they tell them "back" so they can back themselves up while the person who pushes the wheelchair wheels themself out. It was fun seeing these dogs do as much as they do. Here are a few photos from tonight.

Here are some great cards I saw at the Stampin Up Regional Meeting

Back from Stampin Up regionals and it was alot of fun!!

500 Stampin Up women waiting for the doors to open



Once inside, alot of the girls swapped card fronts. I had only made 15 so I handed 15 out and got 15 new ones back. I wish I had taken more so I could've swapped more!!



They gave away LOTS and LOTS of brand new stamp sets throughout the day. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky and didn't win one.



Traci and I stayed at the Westin. A top notch hotel!!! The beds were so comfy!!!



Traci, Michelle, her 2 stamping friends and I met up Saturday night at Old Spaghetti Factory for some great spaghetti.

Traci and I spent the day Friday at the Stampin Up Regionals. I went as a guest (and no, I am not going to sign up as a Stampin Up demonstrator at this time! Alot of you are asking. LOL). We did some make & take's, saw alot of awesome card ideas, and we learned some new stamping techniques. The SU #1 demonstrator in the US was there to tell us her secrets how she does workshops. I left there with my mouth wide open thinking WOW, can this girl sell Stampin Up. No wonder she was #1 for 3 years in a row!!!! Unbelievable!!! Shelli Gardner, the owner of Stampin Up was there so that was awesome to meet her.

More Christmas cards ...

Did you know there are only 107 days until Christmas? Not that I am counting or anything. I came across this digital stamp website and bought these 2 digital images. It was super easy. They just send them in an email once you've paid for them and you can re-size them to whatever size you want. I have been to alot of digital websites but I just hadn't found anything I wanted to try out. Then I saw this one .... wow, some really really cute images!! So this is what I made. What do you think?

Emily's senior project

For Emily's senior project she has chosen to do Canine Companions. She wanted to do something with dogs since she loves dogs. She is doing this project in her English class which is this semester and her final presentation is due January 6th but she has several deadlines between now and then she has to meet. Today we went and met Julie who agreed to be her Mentor for her project. Emily will have to meet with her at least 4 times and document at least 15 hours on her project. Julie is a puppy raiser for a group called Canine Companions for Independence. She has been doing it for 6 years and right now has 2 puppies. One is 9 weeks old and the other is 13 months old. She gets the dogs from California and trains them to be "service" dogs for people who need them. She trains them from age 8 weeks - 18 months and then returns them to the Canine Companions organization and hopefully they will be ready to be a service dog. In 2 weeks Emily will go to a puppy training class in Charlotte with her and her dogs. Then she will take Emily to lunch one day with the puppies so she can see how they react in public.

Have you tried the baby wipe technique?

Its super easy. All you need is some re-inkers and some baby wipes. You can see the tutorial here and this is the reindeer card I made. I used a little red gem for his nose (got the nose idea from my friend Traci. Thanks Traci!)



Here are a couple of other Christmas cards I made. I think I have about 20 made so far. Only 50 more to go! LOL