Part of Who We Are

We all need to read these over and over until it becomes part of who we are!


HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Try everything twice. On Madams tombstone (of Whelan's and Madam) she said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice...loved it both times!

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. (Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches.)

3. Keep learning: Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.

6. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love: Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

A Chocolate Vase

Isn't this just the cutest vase of flowers you have evah' seen?! I received this in the mail today from my darling daughter ~ SU! stampin' daugher that is!! LuAnn (lizzy3) over on SCS.
You can see her gallery here

LuAnn taped the Hersey bar with sticky tape then wrapped the band of white cardstock around the middle and then glued it

.

Thanks soooo sooooo much LuAnn for sharing your talents with me ~ this is going to be a blast to show off!! (and probably very likely CASE too)

You are such a sweetie ;o) Stampin' Huggs to you!!

~TFL & Enjoy~

Time For You

I joined a card swap for the upcoming Occasions Mini that will be unveiled soon from Stampin' UP! The stamp set is called 'Time For You' ~ its just adorable! I completed my cards Wednesday night and got them mailed off to the hostess.

While surfing SCS recently I ran across this card made by Julie 'jeweleintn' that I thought was just adorable! I took her layout and changed the stamp set to use on this card! Thanks Julie ~ yer' a gem ;o)

I chose my colors from my ole' SU! Color Coach -- my right hand when it comes to color design!! So Saffron is the base, with Close to Cocoa as the second layer, Bordering Blue as the third layer and then I repeated the Close to Cocoa and Bordering Blue again and finally chose Confetti Cream as my final sixth layer.

I used the swirl out of the 'sweet shapes' stamp set and clear embossed those randomly across the close to cocoa cardstock using UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel). Always time for you and the clock are stamped with Chocolate Chip ink ~ just to give it a bit of a darker look.

I was excited to use the new Old Olive Polytwill Ribbon on this card ~ that too will be unveiled in the Occasions Mini!!

I mounted the clock punch/stamped doodad with two stampin' dimensionals to make it pop just a bit.

These were fun to make ~ I hope the other girls in the swap like them too!!

As always, here is my recipe:

Stamp Sets: Time for You, Sweet Shapes
Card Stock: From the Color Coach – So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Bordering Blue, Confetti Cream Stampin’ Pads: Chocolate Chip, VersaMark
Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8” Punch, 1 ¼” Punch, Stampin Dimensionals, UTEE, Old Olive Polytwill Ribbon (from Occasions Mini)

~Enjoy & TFL~

A Delivery For You!

FLORAL DELIVERY..

I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend while I'm here than a whole truck load when I'm gone ...

SOOOO THESE ARE FOR YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Happiness keeps you Sweet,

Trials keep you Strong,

Sorrows keep you Human,

Failures keep you Humble,

Success keeps you Glowing,

But Only God Keeps You Going!

God Bless you today and everyday.

Wanna join me?

I thought this was just the funniest little cartoon bleep I had seen in a long time --- and its soo fitting as it has been 'one of those weeks' here ... I am sure you have had those days/weeks too! LOL

"Welcome to the PMS Diner. Our special today is Hershey Bar lasagna. That comes with M&M soup and mashed Snickers with hot fudge gravy."

Smile For You

Hello!!

Sorry the writing here is soo small -- I recently received this in an email and wanted to share a smile with you! Here is what it says:

Smile for You

Smiling is infectious; you catch it like the flu,

When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin

When he smiled I realized I'd passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile and then I realized its worth,

A single smile, just like mine could travel around the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected

Let's start an epidemic quick, and get the world infected!

Keep the smile going by sending this on to a friend.

Everyone needs a smile!!!

B My Valentine!

It's hard to believe that we are approaching Valenties Day! It's this coming week already!!!

Here is a little pouch that I created and demo'd this past week at a SU! demo. It's super cute and very easy to make! The size of your pouch all depends on what you plan on putting (attaching) in it. This was designed for either a tea bag or a small fun size candy bar. Its approximately 5" wide and 10" long.

On one end I punched it with the slit punch. Then just simply fold the other end over so the other end of the cardstock goes into the slit punch - then you just make your fold on the other end. That way you know they will close properly!

Then I just randomly stamped the heart flowers all over with basic black ink. I dabbed each flower tip with the Zig Painly Pen ~ silver end! It just adds a bit of extra with hardly any extra work at all!

I used both sizes of the tag punches, added some ribbon and whoola! Its complete. I suggested to use the pop up glue dots to attach your goodies to the inside - those work wonderful for this kind of project!

As always, here is the recipe:
Stamp Sets: Happy Heart Day
Card Stock: Real Red, Basic Black, Confetti White
Stampin’ Pads: Basic Black, Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker
Accessories: 1/16” Circle Punch, Slit Punch, Black Gingham Ribbon, Tag Punch, Small Tag Punch, Zig Painty Pen, Pop Up Glue dots (to attach treats to the inside)


Enjoy your Heart Day!!
~TFL & Enjoy~

Embrace Life

TGIF to you!! Yeah! The end of the week is finally here ~ do you just have some weeks like that? They seem to last forever? This week has been one of those weeks for me! I'm looking forward to a few days to just hang around the house, even though I must spend time on getting our tax paperwork ready for our appointment this coming week!!

Here is a card that I demo'd this past week -- I love the way it turned out! Special thanks to SCS'er MCCFipps's for her inspiration on this card - I just love the knots in the middle of each flower!

I chose my color combo from my beloved SU! Color Coach -

For the knots for the middle of the flowers ~ I just took a short piece of ribbon and tied a knot in the middle and then just thread both ends of the ribbon thru the hole that I had punched in the middle of the flower. Then I just secured each end to the back of the flower with some SNAIL adhesive and used two stampin' dimensionals to attach the flower to my green stamped background.

As always, here is the recipe:
Stamp Sets: Embrace Life, Canvas Background
Card Stock: From the Color Coach – Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Naturals Ivory
Stampin’ Pads: Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Rose Red
Accessories: Bravo Burgundy Wide 5/8” grosgrain ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, 1/8” Circle Punch, ¼” White Grosgrain Ribbon, ¼” Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/4” Bravo Burgundy Grosgrain Ribbon


Have a great weekend!!

~TFL & Enjoy~

A Pretty Dahila

WOW! These fun flowers are just addictive! They are called Dahila flowers ~ they started popping up in the SCS gallery so I tracked down the deets!

For the Dahlia fold you will need 8 circles made out of a double sided printed paper. The circles can be any size--just the tinier they are, the harder they are to fold. I found that the SU! 1 3/8" circle punch makes a great size to work with. When folded, the 1 3/8" circles make a Dahlia flower that is just shy of 3" across.

Here is where you can see how to make them step by step!

I made this card for a SU! demo last week ~ I loved the card that SCS'er shestamps72 had made and I decided to CASE it ;o) I did make mine a bit simpler though since I would be demo'ing it and I wanted it to look and be a bit more do-able for my customers.

I also used a SU! 1/2" circle punch for the middle along with a rhinestone brad for a bit of 'bling'! I used the tool in the crafters tool kit to make a hole thru the midde of all it to push my brad thru - that worked great!

I also used the new SU! Twill background on this card - stamped in Old Olive ink on the Old Olive cardstock - I like the look that this background stamp creates!!

As always, here is my recipe for this card:
Stamp Sets: Twill Background, Much Appreciated
Card Stock: Old Olive, Rose Red, Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper
Stampin’ Pad: Basic Black, Old Olive
Accessories: 1 3/8” Circle Punch, ½” Circle Punch, Rhinestone Brads (ice circles) Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, Crafters Tool Kit

~TFL & Enjoy~

~Life is Good~

Despite our cold winter weather ~ Life is Good!!!

This is a card idea I created Sunday afternoon for a swap that I am participating in -- soo simple but I really do like it!

The base of this card is Bravo Burgundy and the second layer is Apricot Appeal. I started out by stamping the Sanded BG with Apricot Appeal ink on the Apricot Appeal cardstock. Then I used the More Mustard stampin' pad and the Baroque Motifs frufy wing-ding (is that a real word?) stamp and stamped that in the corner. Then using the new Text & Texture stamp set and Black stampin' embossing powder I stamped 'Life is Good' in the corner.

Next, I punched the corners with the ticket corner punch and then placed one Vintage brad in the lower right hand corner of the card.

I think this turned out looking really sharp - and just change the saying for a totally different looking card!!

As always, here is the recipe again:

Stamp Sets: Text & Texture, Sanded BG, Baroque Motifs
Card Stock: Bravo Burgundy, Apricot Appeal
Stampin’ Pads: Apricot Appeal, More Mustard, VersaMark
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, 1/16” Circle Punch, Black SE Powder, Embossing Buddy, Vintage Brads

~TFL & Enjoy!~

Baby, It's Cold Outside!!

Cold but pretty! I snapped these pictures on Sunday after going down the lane to get our Sunday papers out of the mailbox. It was just foggy/frosty enough over night that everything was coated white!

Our poor little truck that we decorate for the seaons looks soo cold and alone! You can check out the fall pictures of our truck back on my blog from, I believe, Fall 2006 - boy does time fly!

Ok, back to trying to stay warm out of the elements today!!

~TFL & Enjoy~

Thinking of You

Is Spring near? lol We have lots of snow to melt before this happens!

This is another card that I did for a swap that I particiapted in awhile back ~ It really does look better in person - my developing colors didnt seem to turn out very well!

The little flower in the bottom right hand corner actually is a separate little flower popped up with stampin' dimensionals.

This entire card (plus basic black) is done with the 08' In Colors - The base is River Rock, the 2nd layer is Basic Black, followed by the 3rd layer of Purely Pomegranae, the 4th layer is Blue Bayou, and the little single flower is punched out of Soft Sky.

I used the Three for You punch and punched out three rows of flowers out of the Blue Bayou cardstock. I then used a new pencil eraser and added little Purely Pomegranate ink dots as the center of the flowers on the Purely Pomegranate cardstock. I stamped and punched out the Soft Sky flower and added that with a stampin' dimensional. Stamped below this is 'thinking of you'. The four corners of this was punched with the 'ticket corner' punch.

I used the Prep School Ribbon Originals ribbon and wrapped that around PP cardstock. I used glue dots to hold it to each side of the flower punch piece. Then I added just a little piece of copper cord on the left side.

As always, here is the recipe:

Stamp Set: Three For You
Cardstock: River Rock, Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky
Stampin' Pads: Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Prep School Ribbon Origionals, Copper Cord, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Ticket Corner Punch

Have a great weekend!!!

~Enjoy & TFL~

~ A Very Big Heart ~

I thought this card would be fun to post this today ~ as we wrap up the 'week of Gretchen' today since it is February 1st!

Isnt this card just the cutest? She stamped ON the ribbon!! What a clever gal!! I just love this 'Happy Heart Day' stamp set and love seeing all of the ideas you can do with it! What a cute idea to cut the little feller' out and place him on the scallop punch!

I believe this will be something that I will be CASE'ing for my upcoming workshops too!! Whoo Hoo!! Thanks so much Gretchen!

Here is Gretchens recipe:
Happy Heart Day; cs - real red, whisper white, regal rose; ink - basic black, basic black craft, versamark, regal rose; Irridescent Ice EP; Clear EP; aqua pen; signo uni-ball white pen; regal rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon; mini glue dots; dimensionals. Inspired by Judi Carpenter on Sudsol.

~Enjoy & TFL~

Cute as a bug!

Happy Thursday to all of you -- the last day of January 2008!! That is hard to believe!!

Well, as you know the theme this week as been 'all about Gretchen'!! She is a wonderful stamper!! Here is a cute card to share with you today-- cute as a bug that is ;o) This is such a fun uplifting card!!

Here are all the deets - direct from Gretchen to share with all of you!

Bugs and Kisses stamp set; Whimsy Jumbo Wheel; CS - ballet blue, brilliant blue, whisper white, certainly celery; ink - ballet blue, brilliant blue, basic black, versamarker; Irridescent Ice EP; Hodgepodge Hardware; certainly celery 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.

See you all tomorrow, February 1st!!

~Enjoy & TFL~

Embrace Life

Good Morning Everyone!!

I am continuing on with my 'Gretchen Week' here on my blog!! Here is yet another card that Gretchen (gbarron over on SCS) sent me with her swaps recently!!

What a pretty card this is and I just love this stamp set ~ there are sooo many different things you can do with it! Gretchen has an awesome layout and color combo here!

Thanks soo much Gretchen!!

Here is her recipe for this card:

Embrace Life stamp set; Sanded Background stamp; cs - ruby red, river rock; ink - ruby red, stazon black, river rock; watercolor wonder crayone (earth elements); blender pens; Ginger Blossoms DSP; river rock double stitched ribbon; stamp-a-ma-jig; dimensionals. Inspired by degrffn.


~Enjoy & TFL~

It's just like you to be so nice...

Happy Tuesday! It's "Gretchen Week" here on my blog -- and here is her card I would like to share with you today ~ made by Gretchen (gbarron over on SCS)!

Isn't this card just the neatest?! I totally love these colors together ~ they look soo sharp together. The middle of the flower is done with a 'build a brad' -- those are just soo fun! If you havent played with those yet -- what cha' waiting for??? lol

Here is the recipe direct from Miss Gretchen herself -- to share with all of you!

Just Like You Stamp Set; It's Beautiful Jumbo wheel; cs - whisper white, purely pomegranate, only orange, chocolate chip; ink - purely pomegranate, only orange; purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon; stamp-a-ma-jig; build a brad; punches - 1/2" circle, 1 1/4 " circle, 1 3/8" circle; scallop circle punch. Inspired by justbehappy on SCS.

Thanks again Gretchen ~ you are a sweetie!!

~TFL & Enjoy~

Thank You Gretchen!

I just recently hosted a card swap for other SU! demos over on SCS. It was a very successful swap - 10 groups of each of the 6 stamp sets that we will unveil on Feb 1st.

Gretchen, (gbarron over on SCS) was such a sweetie and sent me a wonderful bonus!! A pkg of her cards!! Here is the first one I want to share with you this week. I have asked for her blessing to post them on my blog and she was gracious enough to email me her recipes -- so I'll share those here too!!

Here is her recipe: Spring Solitude Bundle (stamp set and wheel); CS - barely banana, bashful blue, mellow moss; ink - real red, mellow moss; coluzzle, round scallop punch; 1 1/4" circle punch; rhinestone brads; dimensionals. Inspired by Itsapassion.

You do awesome work Gretchen! Thanks soo much for sharing with me!! I am just tickled ;o)

Stay tuned everyone ... it's a 'Gretchen week' here on my blog ;o) lol

A Tour of my creative space ~ Come In!

Here is a look at my space that my DH constructed/created for me! I'll post some more up-close pictures but overall: The space is 14 feet wide and 9 feet deep. The countertops are all extra deep---36". (and interesting enough the color of the countertop is called 'canvas' ~~lol!)The cabinets are all made by Kraftmaid and I requested that they all be 20" deep (standard is 12")---room for the 12 x 12 and larger stuff! The lower cabinets have roll-out drawers so the entire cabinet space is accessable/usable. The two lower corner cabinets are the lazy susan type. The under-the-cabinet lighting really adds extra light that makes it super for stamping!

After you look at this picture and the next few, hopefully this will make more sense of the picture I am showing....I have all colors of SU! 8.5 x 11 card stock stored in two hanging file totes. My DH made me a holder/roller so I can store it under the cabinet and roll it out when I need it. It works perfect! So once I am seated, it rolls out behind me and all I have to do is turn around in my chair and grab what I need.

Also, to explain the 'filing system' each color has a tab stating the color and those are in ABC order with the exception with the confetti white, whisper white, etc those are in the front. The tabbed (or labeled) hanging file folder has a manilla folder that holds only full sheets of the card stock. Then the hanging file folder just in the front of that one also has a manilla folder and that one holds all scraps of that color, anything less than a full sheet. This system has worked wonderful for me and it is sooo easy and fast to find just the piece I need without wasting a new piece!

Here is a close up picture of it -- because if you are a visual person like I am this might help!

Here is my paper wheeled into it's 'home' under the counterop!

Here is the new from my chair. My stamp pad holders are from the home improvement store, they are the nuts, screws, bolts organizers. They hold 3 of the new (and old!) stampin' ink pads perfectly!

The stamp pad holder in the corner holds all of my SU! craft stampin' pads---great way to keep them separate but yet right there!

Here is a 10' PVC gutter that my DH cut down to two 5' pieces...great for ribbon and punches! My fave thing about the ribbon is that I can take out individual spools without having to disrupt any of the others. I used to have them on dollies and that was hard when I wanted the one in the middle to take along for demos, etc.!

These are two of the Making Memories magnetic boards. Thanks to SCS'er 'MissMike' (my SCS Sista') for bunches of ideas on my board here---you are such an awesome stamper!!

Here are some of my stamp sets---works great to have them in the cabinets right above me, to the left and to the right of me! (left side not shown in this picture)

This cupboard is just to the right of my chair and I keep alot of my accessories here----hodgepodge hardware, buttons, eyelets, fibers, re-inkers, wheels & wheel ink, watercolor crayons, watercolor pencils, embossing powders, chalk inks, glue gun, embossing gun... etc. etc. etc.....lots o' stuff in a small space for an easy grab!

My DH built me a lazy susan for this corner cabinet. He made it tall enough for the SU! 12x12 paper holders and yet there was enough room left that I also have a 'shelf' on top of the spinning LS too!

Hope you have enjoyed the tour of my Creative Space ~ I just love to get away to this space when I can!! You are welcome to come join me here anytime too ;o))

~Enjoy & TFL~

~ Snowy Week ~

Snow! Snow! Snow! That has been the story here in the midwest this past week! We just received another 3 inches or so yesterday -- they say we are to record numbers for the season already -- I guess I can believe that! lol

So I thought this card would be fitting for today! It's a card I did awhile back for a swap that I participated in ~ Its a total of 8 layers -

The base is basic black, the second layer is Soft Sky with Soft Sky ink -- I used the Jumbo Snow wheel to run across the background.

Then I used VersaMark and Silver Embossing Powder to create the silvery image on the basic black square. I then mounted that on Soft Sky and Basic Black again for a 3 layer piece look. I wrapped this piece with a the In Color double-stitched ribbon.

Next, using the Snow Burst stamp set I stamped some little snowflakes on Soft Sky cardstock using Soft Sky ink again. I mounted this to a piece of basic black cardstock and wrapped some silver elastic cord around it and adhered it with a few stampin' dimensionals to give it some height.

Next I silver embossed some snow flakes on Blue Bayou cardstock and punched them out with two circle punches. On the larger embossed snowflake I added a rhinestone brad to the center just to give it some sparkle! The three snowflakes were then adhered using stampin' dimensionals too!

As always, here is the recipe:

Stamp Sets: Snow Burst, Jumbo Snow wheel
Card Stock: Basic Black, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky
Stampin' Pads: Soft Sky, VersaMark
Accessories: Silver embossing powder, Silver Elastic Cord, Rhinestone Brads, Double Stitched Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch

Enjoy your weekend!!

~TFL & Enjoy~

Thanks JoAnn!!

This is called a Free Standing Pop-Up Card!! Isnt it just go-jous? Thanks soo much to JoAnn (SCS: jreks) for making this and sending it to me with a recent swap return!! It's just awesome and I can't wait to try this myself -- But I think I'm gonna wait to get a Scor Pal first -- maybe for my birthday in March? ;o)

Here is tis' from the side -- I want to try to clearly explain this to you from all dimensions!

Here it is folded down -- yes! You can mail these beauties!!

Ok, so for the deets! Here we go!

Cut cardstock in the following sizes:

11" x 4 1/4" piece A (main body of card)

5 1/4" x 2 1/2" piece B (main image)

2 1/2" x 1 1/2" piece C (front greeting)

Decorate piece "A". Turn over and score at 1", 2 3/4", 3 3/4", 5 1/2", 7 1/4", 8 1/4", 10". On the center line, (5 1/2") mark 3/4" from both sides. Cut a line 2 3/4" long between the two 3/4" marks.

Stamp your main image on piece "B". Be sure not to stamp on the bottom 1" which won't be seen.

On piece "A" mark the center on the 1" score line on both ends. On piece "B" mark the center for the bottom only. Thread the bottom of "B" through the center slot of "A". Align and glue the two center marks of "A" and "B" together with B in the center.

Stamp a greeting onto piece "C" and adhere to front of card. When finished, the card will slide up and down through the slot. It's flat for mailing, but free standing once its opened.

It's just soo sweet!! Get creative!! What different pop up designs can you create?

~TFL & Enjoy!~