Anniversary Wishes

Happy Monday, everyone!  My parents are celebrating their 44th anniversary later this week.  I used one of my new (yay!) stamp sets - Memorable Moments, along with Tiny Tags and Four Frames.

The Memorable Moments makes it completely customizable!  I had to do some Stamp-a-ma-Jiggin' with this one, but that's the best way to make sure things line up straight.  Here is the inside:

Colors are Lucky Limeade, Pretty in Pink, and Very Vanilla.  The DSP is Tea for Two in the Spring "not-so-mini."

Have a fantastic week!
Michele 

Sympathy

Some dear friends of ours had to say goodbye to their beloved dog last week.  Pets are such an important part of anyone's life - but even more so when you don't have children.  I wanted to send them a hug in an envelope... this is what I came up with:

The colors are Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, and Expresso.  I know the Sympathy set is retired - and I think the embossing folder is, too... but the frame isn't.  But guess what!  Even though I just re-signed up on Tuesday, Mr. Brown delivered my box TODAY!  It's wonderful to live right next door to Utah when you're waiting for a box from Stampin' Up!

Have a great weekend, everyone.  We're headed to the slopes... pray for more snow.
Michele

PS:  I just looked it up... that's the Elegant Lines embossing folder and it's still current.  Yay!

I'm Official!

I did it!  I am officially a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator ONCE AGAIN!  The new tabs across the top of this blog will (for the most part) take you to my official demonstrator website.  I can't wait for Mr. Brown to deliver my custom start-up kit... it will be wonderful to have up-to-date products again.  And I can't wait to get my Open House scheduled... but maybe I should call it a "RE-Open House!"

Thanks, y'all, for all of the support!
Michele

Pink Butterflies

I made another version of the last card... not on purpose, but when I finished it, I realized it was the same layout.  I have no idea if any of this stuff is still current - I haven't done a complete clean-out yet.  But until I can place my first order (January 22nd is taking an awful long time getting here!), you'll all have to just keep looking at my old stuff.  Colors here are Pink Pirouette and Regal Rose, with a touch of Expresso.  Notice the rhinestones... one is on the butterfly, and the other is dotting the "i" in "believed."

I am also gaining a better understanding of why my photos are looking (to me) so horrible.  I have a new MacBook and it has that fancy retina display where everything is supposed to look good.  Well, I use Chrome as my regular browser, but I was told today that Chrome doesn't support the retina displays yet.  So, with all that said, I have no idea how these last few photos have come across on your computers, but I sure as heck hope they look better than they do on mine!

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Michele

Gettin' Back in the Groove...

I'm just trying to get back in the groove... I'm much happier with this card than the last one, but what I am NOT happy with is how my camera and/or photo editing tools are capturing it!  Both of these cards are so much prettier in person.  I have a lot of catching up to do.

You'll have to forgive the outdated DSP.  I don't have anything current right now, and I really like to use DSP on my cards, so I pulled some from my stash.

The colors here are Naturals Ivory, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, and Early Expresso.  I used the Just Believe stamp set and colored the stamps with my markers to get the two colors.

This is fun!  I gotta go make some more...
Michele

Sending Many Thanks!

Now, I don't want anyone to fall off their chair, but I have a card to show you!  I actually took some time today to go through what I have and see if I have anything that's still current.  I do have several things that are retired and I imagine I'll be putting them up for sale soon, but first things first.  Here is one of the two cards I made today... (the first will most likely NOT be making an appearance on this blog, the poor thing).

I'm a bit rusty at making cards (I'm not completely satisfied with this one), and I'm even more rusty at editing photos of them.  But hopefully, you'll go easy on me.  I felt very handicapped without any current DSP.  But I chose the sentiment just to tell you all THANKS for supporting me!

I used French Foliage and Petite Pairs with Expresso, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake on a Naturals Ivory base.  The ribbon is old... I discovered that I don't have any current ribbon.  No worries.  That'll be taken care of soon. *wink*

Have a fabulous weekend,

Michele

I'm So Excited!!

You all spoil me. Do you know that?! I'm a sucker for a compliment, and I am AMAZED at how many of you are still out there "following" me!

After reading all of your wonderful comments and tremendous displays of support, I am SERIOUSLY considering re-joining Stampin' Up! during Sale-a-Bration later this month. I am truly excited about this, for I have missed Stampin' Up! a bunch. At the moment, it seems to be dominating my thoughts and I can hardly wait until Wednesday when my kids go back to school and I can go downstairs and dust off my desk!

Question:  I sold a lot of my things last year, but I still have most of the basics and several clear stamp sets.  I am a bit out of the loop... As I start to pull together a list of the products I want in my kit, what would you say are the most important? For instance, I still have the older ink pads. Is it worth upgrading right now? Or are there other gadgets that I should get first? What are your favorite new stamp sets? Favorite accessories? Remember, I haven't placed an order in over a year, so anything new within that time frame will be new to me. I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Thanks everyone... you all are the best!!
-Michele

Happy New Year!

I am curious to see if anyone still receives feed from this blog.  If you do, leave me a comment... it will help me in making some decisions.  (keep reading)

Here's the scoop.  I am no longer homeschooling my boys.  As of this past October, they are all back in public school.  Our oldest is a Freshman, and that was the catalyst for the change - we knew that we would send them to High School when the time came... and it has.   Then we decided to give our little one a taste of what school is like and let him have some time with kids his own age (since he only has the two big brothers around), so we enrolled him in public kindergarten.   That left just our middle son at home with me and he was miserable and lonely without his brothers.  So... into school he went.

And where does that leave Mom?  Sitting at home missing her boys!!  I am enjoying the extra time I have by getting the house back in order (ie: cleaning out closets and other jolly, time-consuming tasks such as that), but I have been eyeing my stamp desk and longing to sit down and get my hands inky again.  What's more, I am tossing around whether or not I should revisit my Stampin' Up! demonstrator status.

*GASP*!!  Did I really just admit that?

Well, now that it's out there... I am curious to see who (if anyone) has read it and what you might think.

I miss you all...
Michele