M.I.A.

My apologies for being absent from the blogosphere lately-life threw me and my family a few hard balls-but we are all well now and getting back to normal. For those of you who were thinking of us-thank you so much.

I have been very busy creating this past few weeks (good stress reliever)-scrapping and stamping both! My laptop (to which I upload all my pics) has been in the shop for 2 weeks...yikes...but I promise that I'll be posting up some new creations soon.

Showcase!!

Here's some long overdue pics from Showcase. It was my first time attending the National Creative Memories Conference and it definately won't be my last!! It was so much fun. Showcase was held in Calgary this year, at the Hyatt hotel. DH and my DD had a wonderful time while I was busy with the conference. They visited the zoo, the science centre and enjoyed a lot of room service. We also made our first trip to the Rocky Mountains-truly majestic.

The goodie bag was wonderful-lots of traditional and digital scrapbooking items, plus one of our new Frame Frames. I shopped at the Marketplace and you'll see the cute t-shirt I bought for my 20 month old.

I enjoyed the networking, the great food, the new friends, old friends. I truly was inspired by the success stories that were shared on stage. The Conference ended with a great banquet-the theme was a throw-back to Ancient Greece in honor of the Beijing Olympics. I learned many great business ideas and am looking forward to a successful Fall and Winter.

I will be posting up some of my new CM creations this week! Love the new Christmas power palettes.

Busy Summer!

Hi Everyone!!

I have been having a very busy summer! We have been away most of July and now each weekend in August so far. I apologize for the lack of activity here-but that will soon change!!

I am going to the upcoming Creative Memories Showcase National Conference in Calgary, Alberta at the end of the month. I am very excited for this! It will be my first time attending Showcase and I know that there are lots of great new products coming out!!

I thought I would post up a card I did recently. This one is done with Stampin Up Card Stock-Orchid Opulence. I used a lot of Stamping Bella products: Halobella (isn't she cute!) is the main image and then I used the Curly Leafy Flourish with Versamark for the background, "You're an Angel" Sentiment, and Bella Dots (love these!) for an embellishment and then I used my SU Corner Ticket Punch on my white Card stock for an added touch. Of course, Bella is colored with my Copics!

I will soon post up some more creations with my CM products!!

Baby Gift

I recently helped to host a baby shower for a good friend. She was blessed with a sweet baby girl. I just knew that the Papertrey Ink (PTI) egg box would be great for this, as well as a matching altered paint can. Of course, to my luck, PTI released their Bitty Baby Blessings line just in time!

All paper used was from PTI's Bitty Baby Blessings, with Lavendar Moon and Lemon Tart Ribbons. I used a local dollarstore find for the Chipboard Letters "Katie" on the paint can-which I think matched perfectly! I used the Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set for the paint can and egg box. On the egg box I used the Just Hatched PTI stamp set for the top stamp. I used my trusty Marvy Punches to punch out the "Just Hatched" image and layered it with a larger punch. On the sides of the egg box lid I stamped from Bitty Baby Blessings the image "Sweet Little Baby" and then added baby's name using the Simple Alphabet by PTI.

To add something "extra" I just had to use my new Stamping Bella Dots in solid light plum. You can see the Dots on top of the Egg Box and by the large elephant image stamped on the can.

My apologies for the off-lighting, my regular camera is in for repair.

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers-19

Hello to my SBS19 Sisters! I'm looking forward to hanging out on all of your blogs and getting to know you all. Thanks Bela for telling me about the SBS19!!

Father's Day Cards

I promised some of my Card-Making friends that I wouldn't neglect them when posting on my blog! So, I thought I'd post up two Father's Day cards that I made. My first passion is Scrapbooking, however I am also a stamper and card-maker!

The first card is one that I made using the Father Knows Best stamp set from Papertrey Ink. I made this one for my Dad and my Father-in-law. The second card I made for my DSS and DD to give to my DH. It's done with one of Gina K's Kindred Dads stamps and the sentiment is from Kindred Greetings for Him. It's a really cute line of stamps! The brads on both cards are Screw Brads that come from Gina K Designs.The other supplies are from Stampin Up (my good friend is my enabler when it comes to SU).

Here are a few more pages from my Earthy 8x8 Album. The entire album is 12 double-side pages (so 24 pages).

I haven't put all of the pics up, but think that you have gotten a good idea of how simple and fast it was to make this album-yet the pages all look unique and look great too!

Top: Tearing Tool, Corner Rounder. Lower Photo is matted on one of the photo mats that come in the Power Palette.

(I just love the pic of John and I on the bench. We really enjoyed Reynolda Gardens in Winston-Salem!)

Middle: Corner Rounder, Tearing Tool, Oval Pattern from the Custom Cutting System

Lower: Corner Rounder