I won blog candy!

I can't believe it! I won blog candy on two different sites. I rec'd blog candy today from Erica. Here is a picture of what I rec'd. The scan isn't too great, but the card is AWESOME!! I love Bella stamps and this one is the Stampabella (I believe that is the name) and she put glitter on the bow in her hair, on the wheel and on the bag...tooooo cute!. The words say "you've been rak'd by a stamping bella". LOVE IT!

Erica, thank you sooo much for all the goodies. Can't wait to play with them.

I will post the other blog candy and site when I receive it. Ü Remember what I always say..."you can't win if you don't enter"

Punchy Idea

I have been a fan of Nicole Heady since I first saw her work in PaperCrafts magazine. She now has a blog and designs the coolest stamps (which I have two sets of and can't wait to get more-if you haven't seen her clear stamps from her company Paper Trey, you have to check them out). Today I saw this post and just had to try one of these. Is this not just the cutest tiny purse?! Here is my version with a couple of additions (you can click on the image to see it larger). I added a tiny piece of velcro to close the purse (which is not needed if you put a piece of candy in the purse, but would work if you added a couple of coins or something smaller) and I added a side. To make the side punch or cut a square (I used SU!'s 1.25" square punch) and cut in half. Then accordian fold about 1/4" (you will get five 1/4" sections). Apply 1/8" sticky strip to ends and press to the inside so it lines up at the top second "hump" of the purse (when folded). Here is the side view. I used patterned cardstock and stickers from SU!'s Friends & Flowers kit. To keep the sticker ribbon handle from being sticky (as well as the flower that sticks out over the edge of the "purse") I rubbed baby powder on the sticky side of the exposed stickers. This takes the sticky away. In keeping with the flower theme which reminds me of a tropical design, I added a Mango & Creme Cream Savor.

Benjamin note: We haven't heard from him, but Bethany (one of the youth leaders) has e-mailed us a couple of times. She says he is having alot of fun, working hard and had a crash course in swimming so he could swim with the sharks today. (Yeah, I really feel better now! LOL!!) We are counting the days until Sunday (actually probably EARLY Monday) to see him and hear all about his experiences in Belize as well as Guatemala. I will let you know about it when I hear what he has to share. Ü Thank you for your prayers for him and us. This is the longest we have ever been apart and hard on Bruce and me.

Sock Swap rec'd

Here is what I rec'd in the sock swap I swapped with Melissa. (You can see what I sent her here). I told her I thought I owed her more!! Look at all the goodies she sent me!

Here is a close up of the socks, so you can see the cool flower on the top of the sock. I love them!

In this scan you can see the bag that she sent the socks in. It is sooooo cool! She made it from Beate's tutorial called a one sheet box. You make it using just one 8.5" x 11" sheet of cardstock or patterned paper.

Here is another scan of the fun clear stamps and embellishments that she sent.

Busy busy busy

It has been so crazy the past few weeks! I am still here and hope to post something card/gift wise soon. We are now done with track. Benjamin did very well. He qualified for Districts and was 15 seconds short of qualifying for State. He is only a freshman, so I can see him qualifying next year. He had a personal record at Districts and we were pretty excited about that-shaved 4 seconds off of his previous personal best.

Last week we had rec'd a letter from school saying that six boys and six girls from each class were chosen for the Wall of Fame and that Benjamin is one of them and there would be a program where they would be honored. We had no idea what this was and neither did Benjamin. We were surprised when we found out that he had one the Most Representative of his class. Another was voted Student of the Year (who is voted by class peers) and the other 4 were honored by teachers. The principal told Bruce that he was very proud of Benjamin as it is uncommon to see a new student come in and do as well as he has done.

Tonight is the Industrial Arts Display and I am looking forward to seeing the night stand Benjamin made me. I haven't seen it except for a very rough sketch when we were helping him figure out the measurements.

He doesn't think he has to take any finals, so he should be done by noon on Friday. It will be good to spend some time at home with him before he leaves at 11:30 pm for Belize next Wed. (YIKES only a few more days and "NO" mom is not ready for this. I know he will have a great time and is excited, but I am a little nervous. I like my kids home at night so I know they are safe and sound Ü)

So even though I don't have any cards to show you yet, I wanted to let you know I'm still here and will hopefully do better once school is out.

Thanks for letting me brag about my kid Ü
Debbie

Sock Swap

This was a fun sounding swap that I read about on the Papercrafts website. It's called a sock swap. You buy a pair of socks and $5- $6 in matching embellishments. Make a coordinating card and package it all together in a matching/coordinating bag or some kind of packaging. I thought this sounded fun and presented this idea to my on line friend Melissa. Here is what I sent to her today...The socks were purchased at Dollar Tree. They had the funnest socks! You can't tell in the picture very well, but there are flowers on the soles of the socks with green and turquoise ribbing. Then I found the matching notepad, pen and notecards there and just had to go with it! The primas are from my LSS and the ribbon is some that I had on hand. I went over the dollar amount abit, but just had to put it all together. The flowers on the card are made with my Cricut again (love that bug!). I used loops of green sheer polka dot ribbon for leaves. Melissa, I hope you love this! Ü

Anyone else want to do this type of swap with me? Just send me an e-mail Ü

Remember you can click on the picture to see the detail better.

I took my friend Gloria to lunch the other day and she was asking me how I store my stamps. I will take a picture in the next couple of days and post it here. I always like to see how others store their stamp items.