Good Bye to Elebration

A quick reminder .... TODAY is the last day (midnight April 30) to order from the Occasions Mini catalog AND the Summer Smooches Promotion ends as well.  The Retired Accessories are available while supplies last.

So, here is another card I made with a retiring stamp.  This single stamp (Elebration) is one I have had my eye on all year because I kept seeing so many cute cards made with the darling little elephant.  I finally broke down last month and ordered it.  Wouldn't you know it?  It's retiring!!  Oh well, it is a single stamp so is pretty cheap.

I used some retired supplies on this card.  The DSP is from the Holiday Mini (Frostwood Lodge) and the Corduroy Button was retired last year.  I still have quite a stash of them though.  I used Copics to color the image.  The ribbon is a piece I found in my Ribbon Jar.

Sonny & I took two Red Cross training classes this weekend in Charlotte.  The first one was Deployment 101 and was quite informative.  They gave us the information we need when we are deployed - how much advance notice we will get (24 hrs), how long we will be expected to stay (2 weeks), what to pack, how much money we will be allotted for each day, how to get to where we are going and what to expect when we arrive.  In the afternoon we had an abbreviated Defensive Driving course.  I can just tell you, I was tired of sitting by 3 pm!!

MDS - Scrapbook Pages

I'm slowly putting together my scrapbook of my last trip to Texas with My Digital Studio.  I do a few pages a week and use new downloads as I'm working. 

These pages are of the beautiful peacocks that were strutting around for us at the Army base!  On Ft. Sam Houston, there is an area called the Quadrangle that is really old - dating back to the 1800s.  It has walls all around and animals roam free in the area - deer, peacocks, ducks, etc.  It is really cool.  You can read more of the details on the pages below.  You can click on the picture to view it larger.

Season of Friendship final hoorah

How do you like my new blog banner and background paper?  This is the Summer Smooch collection that will be in the new catalog.  I love the bright colors ...  I am a Brights kind of gal!

Things have been kind of crazy here. Yesterday I left the house at 9 a.m. and returned home at 7:30 pm!  I went to the "Y" and then out to lunch with Newcomers Out to Lunch Bunch at Firebirds at the mall.  So, of course I had to do some shopping while at the mall!  Plus, I had a $25 coupon for Coldwater Creek that I couldn't let expire.  But, I also went to Belk's and bought my mom's Mothers Day present.  After shopping, I met Marianne back in Mooresville and we went to the movies.  We saw "The Lucky One."  Zac Efron is sure dreamy!  We both enjoyed the movie.  My only complaint is that I thought he seemed a lot younger than Taylor Shilling (his love interest in the movie).  He is 24 and she is 27 but he seemed a lot younger than that.  But it was a great chick flick and I would recommend it. 

Sonny and I are on a new Red Cross National Disaster Team.  This is a pilot program for Lake Norman Red Cross.  There are about 18-20 people on the team from all over the Piedmont.  Sonny and I and the Team Leader are the only ones from the Mooresville office - the others are from Charlotte, Kings Mountain, Morganton, Gastonia, Salisbury, etc.  We will be doing all our training as a team and will be traveling to the various cities for our training.  Saturday we were in Charlotte for our first meeting; Monday night we had a Forms Class in Morganton and today we took an on-line (3 hours!) course on setting on and closing a shelter.  We have a class scheduled Saturday in Charlotte and over the next few weeks, we have 1-2 training classes a week.  The plan is when a disaster hits, we would be ready to deploy as a team of about 4-5 people within 24 hours. 

I have another card to share using a retiring stamp set, Season of Friendship.  I had to use it one last time before sending the stamp to a friend in Georgia who is buying it from me. (Cathy - it will be in the mail tomorrow!)  I actually saw a card similar to this one on Pinterest in pinks.  But I wanted to use Poppy Parade since it is retiring.

I stamped the tree in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla card stock and the leaves in Pear Pizazz.  Some of the leaves I stamped and cut out and mounted them to the tree with dimensionals.  The flowers are punched with the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch with a Pearl in the center of each one.  I stamped the sentiment on the side.  I really like this card!

Get Em While You Can!!

Get 'em while you can!  The Accessories Retiring List has been announced and it is quite extensive.  You can check the list out HERE. 

Over 300 stamp sets, retired accessories list is 12 pages long! 

• The Simply Adorned Jewelry Line is retiring
• The Definitely Decorative Line is retiring
• We are getting a new style of ink pad, with a firm foam pad,
• 12 x 12 paper is going to be packaged differently
• Individual Markers are also going to be packaged different, so if you need some colors, pick them up now
• 2010 - 2012 in colors, are retiring
• Lots of tools and Big Shot Items retiring

 When you see the Accessories list you'll notice the ink pads are retiring ...  not to worry.  All the colors are staying with the exception of the In Colors (2010-2012) ...the ink pads are getting a make over as well as some of the tools (marked with an asterik on the list).  Several of the punches and dies are making me sad to see them go - Butterfly Punch, 5 Petal Punch, Snowflake Punch, Eyelet Punch, Leaves Die (which I just ordered!), Movers and Shakers, Daisies Die ...  So if any of these are on your "must have" list, you can order them on-line or by contacting me and placing an order.

My Stamping Queens Sketch Challenge is today also.  I made this card using My Digital Studio and a couple of the new releases, Fantabulous You and Decorative Overlays.

Party This Way, Elizabeth!

I have two cards to share with you today that I've hardly used at all.  But, I'll hang on to them a while because I like them and can still use them to create with.

 This card uses the single stamp, Elizabeth.  I love it and just may use in card class next month.  I stamped it with Concord Crush onto Whisper White cardstock and used markers (Wisteria Wonder and Pear Pizazz) to color with.  I stamped "happy birthday" from Teeny Tiny Wishes in the center.  How do you like the ribbon flower?  I found a tutorial on line .... actually from Pinterest .... and followed it to make the flower out of Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon.  I also used a forgotten item on the card - mulberry paper.  I have a bunch of mulberry paper in various colors that I've probably had for 5 years or more.  When I first started stamping, mulberry paper was all the rage.  I still like the soft look you get from tearing the edges of the paper.

This is the first time I have used this stamp set, Party This Way.  I actually got it free during Saleabration so it's ok.  But, it's a great stamp set for birthdays so I'll hang on to it for a while.  The DSP is from an old SU Stamping Kit from a year or so ago.  I also put Crystal Effects on the balloons - you can see them close up in the next picture.  Also, I didn't have Brilliant Blue ribbon so I took a piece of Bashful Blue and my Brilliant Blue marker and colored the grosgrain ribbon to match.

Supplies used:
Card Stock:  Brilliant Blue (retired), Bashful Blue, Real Red, Whisper White, Party DSP (don't remember name!)
Stamps:  Party This Way
Accessories:  Big Shot, Nestabilities, Crystal Effects, Black Marker, Bashful Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals
Ink:  Brilliant Blue, Real Red,

My Helper and my Monday Mailer card

This is my Monday Mailer that I sent out last week.   I used the Beau Chateau Side Notes to create the card.  The Side Notes are uniquely shaped die-cut tags and accents that quickly add dimension, texture, and journaling to any project. They are heavyweight felt-weave paper and come with 24 total notes.  I ordered them a few months ago and forgot about them.  So, when I was trying to decide what to make for my Monday Mailer, I found these on my desk.  I think they worked great for this card.  What say you? 

Supplies:

Paper:  Pretty In Pink, Mocha Morning DSP

Ink:  Soft Suede

Stamps:  Sincere Salutations, Creative Elements

Accessories:  Beau Chateau Side Notes

It's been a rainy cold day here today.  I don't think the temperature got past 55 degrees!  Pretty unusual for late April but we really needed the rain.  And since I didn't have anything planned for today other than doing the laundry, I could stay in my sweats all day!  I talked to my son and his family earlier in the day and he told me it was about 99 degrees there.  What a difference!  I'll take my 55 degrees any day!

I worked on making a few cards today using some of the retired stamps before it's too late.  While working on my cards, I had a little helper!  Can you spot her in the picture below?

This is a drawer unit that I have in my room.  The top drawer wouldn't stay on the tracks, so I removed it.  Sammie loves to jump into the drawer and go down in the back of the drawers.  Don't know what is back there that is so interesting to her.  She has definitely come out of her shell in the month she has been at my house.


This is her favorite spot though.  She likes to stretch out on my table and nudge my hand away from the mouse and onto her head to scratch her.



More April Club Cards

I have a couple more of the April Club cards to share with you.  Although my Tuesday group only ended up making the Anti-Bacterial Soap Holder and two of the cards. They took too much time watercoloring!!  I seem to always think they can work faster than they actually do.  But, no matter, the cards will be here next month!  We'll see what Thursday's group gets accomplished.

This is a very pretty white on white card using Kindness Matters (which didn't retire!!)

HOW TO:

•  Cut two pieces of Whisper White cardstock:  10” x 4 ¼” AND 4” x 5 ¼”
•  Emboss smaller white piece with Stripes Embossing Folder and Big Shot
• Wrap pleated green ribbon around and adhere to white embossed piece
•  Die cut an oval with Big Shot & Oval Decorative Embossing Folder.  Adhere to card with dimensionals.
• Stamp “thanks” and one of the butterflies from Kindness Matters onto a white scrap and punch out with large Oval Punch.  Adhere to the embossed oval with dimensional. 
•  Stamp butterfly on scrap of white with Pear & Pacific Point markers and cut out. Adhere to card with dimensional.
•  Make a bow using Seam Binding Ribbon and glue to side of card.
• Punch small flower and glue to top of bow.  Adhere a small pearl in center of flower.

This great card uses two of my favorites - the stamp set, Field Flowers and two-step stamping.

HOW TO:

• Very Vanilla cardstock:   10” x 4 ¼”  and 2 ½” x 4”
• Black cardstock:  2 ¾” x 4 ¼”
• Mocha Morning DSP – 4” x 5”
• Adhere DSP to Vanilla card.
• Adhere small Vanilla piece to Black cardstock.
•  Stamp leaves & stems from Field Flowers onto Vanilla card stock with Early Espresso ink..
• Insert brad in lower corner. Adhere matted vanilla piece to the DSP & card.
• Stamp flowers onto scrap Vanilla – use Crumb Cake ink for the solid flower & Espresso ink to the other flower (two step stamping).
•  Cut flowers out and adhere to card using Dimensionals.
• Stamp sentiment onto Vanilla & punch out with large Oval Punch
• Punch  Designer Label in black.    Mount Oval onto Black label.

Sketch Challenge 35 AND Blog Candy!

I made my Queen's Sketch Challenge card this week using My Digital Studio.  I think it really turned out good.  What do you think?

Supplies Used:
Certainly Celery Paper
Summer Smooches DSP
Apothecary Art, Fundamental Phrases, Frames With A Flourish, All Scallops Stamp Sets
Circle Punch
Labels Collection 1 Punch
Certainly Celery Bow embellishment

This week, there will be Blog Candy to be given away on the website for participating.  We have an easy sketch this week so make a card and post to HERE and you might just be a winner!!

April Club Cards

Just finished getting everything ready for my club this week.  My Tuesday gals will be here late this afternoon for some stamping fun.  I just love having gals over to stamp with.

Here are a couple of the cards we will be making today:  They both are using sets that will be retiring May 31.  So, if you love these cards, you better order the stamp sets so you can CASE me.

I think this is my favorite!  I made my own DSP by stamping a piece of white card stock with various flower stamps from FLOWER FEST.  What's super about this stamp set is that all the flower stamps coordinate with punches so you don't have to cut the flowers out - you just punch them!

 SUPPLIES USED:

• Stamp:  Flower Fest, Happy Birthday to You (both retiring)
• Card Stock:  Peach Parfait, Whisper White, Watercolor paper
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Watercolor Crayons, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Top Note Die, Big Shot, Aqua Brush
• Punches:  Flower Fancy, 5 Petal Flower, 2 3/8" Scallop, Butterfly, 1 1/4" Circle

HOW TO:

•  Stamp flower stamps randomly all over 3” x 4 ¼” white card stock in various colors   Adhere to bottom of Peach Parfait card
• Die cut Top Note from white cardstock.
•  Stamp sentiment about the middle and to the right side on top Note with Black Ink.
•  Stamp flower images from Flower Fest stamp set onto Watercolor paper using Versamark Ink and emboss with white embossing powder.  Heat with heat gun.
•  Color flowers & leaves using Aqua Brush and Watercolor Crayons.
•  Punch out flowers using – 5 Petal Flower Punch,  2 3/8” Scallop Punch, Butterfly Punch, Fancy Flower Punch,  1 ¼” Circle Punch.
• You have to cut leaves out with scissors and adhere to the card.
• Stamp Butterfly antennae in black and cut out.

This card uses a great stamp set - Inspired By Nature.  I'll be sad to see this one go.  I also used a Wheel for the Textured background.  I seem to forget about my wheels.

SUPPLIES:

• Stamp:  Inspired by Nature
• Card Stock:  Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade, Confetti 
• Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Poppy Parade
• Access:  Textured Wheel, Dauber, Scallop Oval Punch, Blue Denim Ribbon, Dimensionals

HOW TO:

Not Quite Navy cardstock:  8 ½” x 5 ½”  /  Sahara Sand cardstock:  4” x 5 ¼” 

Poppy cardstock:  4 ½” x 3 ¼”   /  Confetti cardstock:  4 ¼ ” x 3”

• Use Textured large wheel and wheel the Sahara Sand card stock using Not Quite Navy ink.  Adhere to card.
• Stamp flowers from Inspired By Nature onto Confetti cardstock using NQN ink.  Adhere to Poppy card stock.
• Stamp sentiment with Poppy ink on scrap of Confetti.  Punch out with Scalloped Oval.  
• Tie ribbon around Confetti  card stock.   Adhere using dimensionals.

Surprise Monday Mailer Package

Last week I received a package from Pam, my Monday Mailer buddy.  I was totally surprised!  She sent me a beautiful anniversary card plus a little 3x3 box with a few note cards and envies from the new Summer Smooch sneak preview plus a little purse made with the Summer Smooch Purse Die.  They are just so cute!

This is a beautiful card with embossing and white satin ribbon and pearls!  She used the Apothecary Art stamp set from the Mini Catalog.  It is so much prettier in real life!

This is the little purse that she made.  It is so elegant!  She punched the Marina Mist handle on either side with the Hearts Border Punch and adhered the Lace Ribbon down the center.  The button on the flap has a little rhinestone in the center and the three itty bitty flowers in the corner each have a rhinestone in the middle.  So much detail!!

 

 

 

 

This is the little box that she made with the Summer Smooch DSP and stamp set.  Again, the button has a small pearl in the center.

These are the three note cards (3x3) that are in the box.  They also use the Summer Smooch stamp set.  So cute and colorful!!

If you would like to order any of the Summer Smooch items, you can!  Stampin' Up is giving our customers a chance to order a "sneak peek" from the upcoming catalog.

 Check out the flier HERE. 

This offer is only good until the end of the month!!

Retirement Is Here!

Stampin' Up has announced it's retired STAMPS.  This is by far, the LARGEST LIST that Stampin Up has ever presented, with over 300 items!...They decided with the NEW catalog format, size and date of release, it was also a great opportunity to revamp the entire content, so, while you may be sad that so many are leaving - Be JOYFUL, that we are getting a WHOLE CATALOG of new exciting Products!......these stamps will no longer be available when the new Idea Book and Catalog goes live June 1st, and sometimes they also sell out.....so if you have a favorite on this list, consider ordering soon.

View the list HERE .  

Contact me with your must haves!

Those Were The Days!

 Someone recently sent me this and it is just too good not to share! 


Black and White (Under age 40? You won't understand.)


You could hardly see for all the snow,
 Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
 Pull a chair up to the TV set,
 'Good Night, David.
 Good Night, Chet.'
 My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

 My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter and I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e..coli.

 Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

 The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.
 We all took gym, not PE...and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.   Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

 Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.   We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses?  Ours wore a hat and everything.

 I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.
 I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.  Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either; because if we did we got our butt spanked there and then we got our butt spanked again when we got home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off.  Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house.  Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family.
How could we possibly have known that?  We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes.  We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!

How did we ever survive?

Stamping Queens Sketch plus CLEARANCE items added

 

Yesterday was the Stamping Queens Sketch Challenge.  I designed another card using My Digital Studio.  It was a pretty easy sketch this time. Here is my take on it using the stamp set, Fabulous Florets.  Click HERE to see the cards the other gals designed with the sketch.

Margaret has been visiting me for a couple of days from Texas.  We went to Charlotte on Monday to pick her and Graham up and stopped off on the way home at the Original Pancake House .... yummy!!  Sonny and I took them to the airport this morning  - an almost costly trip.  We were driving back home just talking when flashing lights pulled up behind us.  We were on a highway that we hardly ever travel on and Sonny thought the speed limit was 60 or 65.  NOT!  It was 55.  Don't know how fast we were going - the officer did not tell him, just that he was speeding.  After he ran his license, he ended up only giving him a warning.  Such a nice guy!!  Whew!

NEWS FLASH: 

 55 NEW Clearance Rack items have been added to my Online Store, including a number of punches, dies, and accessories.  I will be putting an order in this weekend for Clearance items.  If you want to add yours to mine to save on postage, let me know.

Monday Mailer from March

This is a card I made for a Monday Mailer in March.  When I was in Texas, I forgot to share it with you.  I love this card and the stamp set.  I need to dust it off and use it more.  I used Field Flowers, Just Believe and the Butterfly Embosslits with some masking.  The flowers are stamped in Daffodil Delight and Peach Parfait using the two-step stamping technique.

Friendship Card

 

Here is a card I made last month to send to an old friend who has been having all kinds of medical traumas.  I hope it cheered her up!  I found the tag shape in a stash of stuff I had.  It was already distressed and had the background stamped on (from It's About Time) so I stamped the sentiment (from Blessings from Heaven) and tied a pretty ribbon on to it.  I used my heat gun to melt the ribbon a bit and make it crinkle up.  I found a flower in my jar of flowers and using a glue dot, attached it to the card.  The doily is cut using the Doily Die.  A pretty simple card but sometimes simple is best.

Spring MDS style

Spring is such a beautiful time in North Carolina!  These are some pictures I took when the pear trees were in full bloom around my area.  I scrapbooked them in My Digital Studio.  Enjoy!!

Happy Easter 2012

Many people wonder what Easter actually means, as the true meaning of Easter has been lost. What I can tell you is it isn't about cute little fluffy chickens, nor does it have anything to do with Easter bunnies. It isn't even about Easter eggs.  Although an egg can represent 'new life' because new life hatches from the egg, and Jesus was resurrected on the third day - giving us new life in Him. But just like Christmas, the real meaning has been forgotten.  Easter is the day when we celebrate Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Jesus is the Son of God and heroically gave His life to die for our sins. On the third day after He died -- the day we now celebrate as Easter Sunday -- His friends went to His grave, and found that He had risen from the dead. They saw an angel who told them, "Don't be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here! He has been raised from the dead, just as He said it would happen." Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday; now He offers to you the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

Celebrate this gift of Jesus today with your friends and family.  I will be going to church with my Mom and sister in their brand new church.  This will be their first service to be held in the new church and they are so excited to see it.  I only wish I could also be celebrating Easter with my daughter and my son and his family.  

39 Years!

Today is our 39th wedding anniversary.  Wow!  Hard to believe.  We've had our ups and downs like any couple but hung in there and made it work.  I think young people today don't understand that concept.   I read an article several years ago that said statistics tell us that first marriages today stand a 45 percent chance of breaking up and second marriages a 60 percent chance!  That's a lot!  Divorce has increased not only in frequency but also in acceptance it seems like. And even if we don’t focus on figures per se,  today far more marriages end in divorce than a couple of decades ago.  I attribute a lot of these failures to the "Me-Now" generation.  Why stay in a difficult or loveless relationship? Move on! Find whatever it is that will provide happiness.  I grew up and saw divorce in my own family.  My mother was divorced when I was about 2 years old, my grandparents divorced (but later remarried plus it was a family secret about their divorce and I didn't even know it until I was in my teens because they had always been together in my lifetime.); my uncle was divorced, my aunt was divorced .... So, my cousin, who was my best friend back then, and I were afraid of marriage and determined that when we did marry, it would be forever.  Unfortunately, that was not the case with her - I think she is on her third or fourth marriage.  So you can understand how important 39 years together is to me.  Just hope we live to make it to 50!!

Here is the card I made for Sonny.  I saw the sentiment on the front of the card somewhere and just knew I had to use it.  I created the circle with the sentiment on My Digital Studio, printed it and punched it out with my Nesties.  I used the Nautical DSP that is now retired (but I can still get it on MDS.)  The DSP trim piece was cut using the Tasteful Trim Sizzix Die.  The heart stamp is from the SAB set, Sprinkled Occasions.

Inside - uses the sentiment from the retired set, Love Matters.

Was I really that skinny?

Monday Mailer cards from March

I received some wonderful Monday Mailers last month.  My partner was Pat Wilkerson and she is a great stamper.  She always makes the best cards so I was super glad to be paired with her.  Here are the last two cards she sent me which I will be CASE-ing!

I think this is what is called a Cascading Card.  It is wonderful!  I just have to take it apart and figure it out.  It uses Mixed Bunch from the mini.  I think it looks harder than it really is!

Isn't this a cool one?  Fold the card stock into a bird house and use Language of Friendship for the bird!  I just love it!

Opened bird house

My brother-in-law flew back to Texas today.  I think he had a good trip.  I can't wait to see what their adventure will be next year.  They are talking about looking into a train trip out west.  I suggested they take Route 66 and see where it takes them.  We had a fish fry last night and invited my mom and sister to come help us eat the catfish.  It was fish that they caught last May when Jack was here and I had frozen it.  It's easier for Sonny and I to go out to eat when we want fried fish than to cook it for 2 people.  But I made macaroni salad, brownies, hush puppies and fish.  Sonny cooked the fish and hush puppies outside so I didn't have the smell in the house.  It sure brought back memories.  When we used to go to visit my sister and brother-in-law and my dad and step mother, we would always have a fish fry.  My mother in law made the best macaroni salad and I use her recipe and Debbie (sister) always had sweets - usually a batch of brownies.  One year when we were there, we had a very memorable fish fry and it is always mentioned whenever we get together.  The guys - Sonny, Jack and Papa - had gone fishing all day and had a few lot of beers.  When they returned home, they went out back to get the fire started to cook the fish.  Our kids were pretty small so we went ahead and fed them first with the first batch of fish.  When the adults sat down to eat and we all had put food on our plate, Helen (my step mother) looked at her fish and asked Papa when he started putting pepper on the fish.  Well, about that time, one of us noticed that the pepper was moving.  It was not pepper but it was ants!  The grease they had used had been outside and was full of ants which of course, they hadn't noticed!  Debbie, Helen and I all dumped out our fish out but the guys knew better.  They just kept eating and telling us how great it was and that those ants wouldn't hurt us.  It was several years before our kids found out that we had fed them fish with ants!!  It's a family story now that none of us will forget.

Summer Smooch Time!

My hubby is on his way home.  I think he is a little jealous that he missed our impromptu surprise guest last night.  Ashley has been at Yale (Connecticut) meeting with a couple of professors that she will be doing a research project with since Sunday.  She was scheduled to fly home last night.  But unfortunately, she had to go through the Dallas airport.  Since there were 6-13 tornadoes that hit that area yesterday, the Dallas airport was closed.  When she called to tell me that, I suggested that she see if she could get re-routed to Charlotte.  And she did!  I picked her up at the airport a little after 9 pm and we paid an unexpected visit to her grandmother who was quite surprised to see her.  She came home with me; we watched The Voice; went to sleep and I drove her back to the airport this morning for a 10 a.m. flight.  Short but sweet visit!   

I also have had another visitor since Sonny left .... Sammie, my mom's cat!  For some reason, the cat does not like my mom and has bitten and/or scratched her several times in the past year. (Might have something to do with the fact that Mom is legally blind and probably steps on Sammie!!)  He did it again while I was in Texas and we decided that was enough.  My sister, Angela, took Sammie to the Humane Society last Wednesday but they wouldn't take her.  So, I told her to bring Sammie to my house and I would keep her until Sonny returned and we found a no kill shelter for her.  Unfortunately, we have not found anyplace for her and I am getting more and more attached!  The funny thing is I have hardly seen Sammie since she's been here.  She's the type of cat that likes to stay hidden and wants to play with you on her terms.  It took me a couple of days when she first got here to even find her.  I finally found her under the couch.  But once I found that spot, she found another hiding spot - in my closet on a shelf!  I discovered that spot by accident so now she hides behind my clothes and shoes on the floor.  Ashley looked for her last night while she was here - in the closet - and told me she wasn't in there and shut the door.  I opened the door and there she was!  She did come out of hiding last night while Ashley was here and we played a while before bed time.   So, I may have inherited myself a cat!  We'll see when Sonny comes home.

I love the name of Stampin' Up!'s April Promotion…Summer Smooches.  Since Summer is such a great time of the year,  the products put me in mind of all the fun activities to do in the summer.  The cute little set, Bright Blossoms, is just SO fun and fits my idea of summer.  AND… the Summer Smooches Designer Paper is so bright and cute and wonderful, I know it will be a favorite!   Fabric Buttons, Fabric, a new PURSE die, ribbon, a Decor Elements Stencil…just look at all those great things!  Stampin' Up! is giving YOU, our customers, a chance to get the Summer Smooches products early in April, prior to it being released in the big catalog on June 1st!  So…take advantage and order yours today! 

You can order Stampin' Up's Summer Smooches products now!

Products in the Summer Smooches suite (click to see) will only be available through April 30--and then won't be available again until the new 2012-2013 catalog is released.

Just a reminder -

The Retired Stamp List will be released on April 15, 2012.

The Retired Accessories/Décor Elements Lists will be released on April 25, 2012.

2010-2012 In Colors will also be retiring.  Stock up now before they Sell out!!!!