Merry Christmas!

Here is a quick photo of my tree. My hubby wasn't thrilled with the 9 foot tree I picked out but he ended up liking it. It was a lot of work getting it into the house and in the stand. The big ladder was needed to decorate the top! My boys were thrilled when they saw it. We've always had short 6 footers because of the ceilings in our old house.

We had a nice time unwrapping here and ate a breakfast casserole and cinammon rolls, a tradition, and then headed to my aunt's house. I had such a good time visiting with my cousins, aunts, uncles. One of my cousins was in from Oregon, another from NYC, and another from Washington, DC. It's always nice to catch up with them.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Any early Christmas....

I can't remember if I posted about winning on Let's Scrap with my very first challenge. It's just a random pick, it's not about the talent! Anyway, I got my goodies in yesterday's mail. It came from Apron Strings. I got the three shown in smaller than a breadbox (?).

















I am so looking forward to getting back to stamping and scrapping, it's not even funny. Before I do that, I need to get my cork floor installed in my new room. Before that, we need to clear out the room. It's currently our junk room.

Whirlwind...

Boy, there's been a whirlwind of activities at my house! I took part of Thurs. off so that the electrician could finish the jobs my hubby had for him. I watched the crew digging up my well in the frigid temps and felt so bad for them! I did take a couple of pictures from inside the house but they are at home on my camera. Then I went to work and my hubby waited for the furniture delivery.

WELL.....they tried to deliver the wrong color. It was supposed to be sage green and it came in saddle tan. It was a special order which we ordered back in Sept. because it takes 8 weeks. Then it came in but I was in temporary living so I put the delivery off for three weeks. All that to send them away!! Today they called to make it right. They are redelivering the tan furniture so we have something for Christmas. The funny thing is it looks like the tan might end up matching the walls and carpet better than the sage. We could end up keeping it. Either way, we'll have the tan furniture until the other comes in, or until we decide it looks nice with the carpet and walls. Whew! That delivery will be 12/23.

The cable boxes weren't working in my mom & son's bedrooms. Hubby called Comcast and they are having an issue with the boxes only in NH and they don't know what the problem is yet. Weird. It seems whatever can go wrong has so far!

On the good side, it's starting to look and feel like home.

Gotta love those ebates...

No, it's not a typo. I joined Ebates a while back because I got a free $5 to sign up. I've been using it every time I shop online and I've been racking up the dough! My first rebate check was close to $25 and I already have $14 toward the next bunch.

All you do is click through ebates when you shop online and you get a certain percentage back. For example, today I purchased a book on Barnes and Noble. I got 8% back because that's what B&N is offering. I never get spam from them, just an email telling me the latest deal. When it came to the end of the time period (I think it's each month?), they just deposited the money in my paypal. How easy is that?

So....if you shop online and you'd like me to send you an invite, please leave your email. You'll get $5 and I'll get a referral fee.

Pounding, pounding....

My poor hubby worked like a dog on Sun. and last night painting the my mom and my son's bedrooms and we finally cleared the furniture out at 1:30 a.m. He had to get up and go to work.

I know it sounds horrible but I'm thrilled to hear pounding on the floors above. I am finally getting carpet in our bedrooms and family room. Now we can get settled in the rooms and my mom can move back in. We still have to do the closets over in two rooms though and also paint our bedroom.

Anyway, the kitchen, dining room and two bathrooms are unpacked and looking decent. This week will get our family room close to done. Our new t.v. will be delivered tomorrow and sectional on Thurs. Then we will need to order some tables, paint and hang pictures. Somehow we have to find the time to get a Christmas tree and do all that this weekend. Oh yeah, and I still have some shopping to do.

p.s. I also have to find curtains! The funniest comment was my hubby saying, "We'll have curtains before Christmas, right?" I said, "Are you kidding me?! NO." He said it was going to look funny in the Christmas photos. I don't care.

Views....

I promised to update with a picture. Here's the view from my family room. We are up pretty high so it's a nice view. We have a few apple tress out back. Our neighborhood was an apple orchard way back before they developed 7 yrs. ago.

I'm so exhausted and I have no idea when I'll be settled or decorated for Christmas. I know I will not get to the Christmas cards this year. I just cannot do it. Next year I'll be organized once again!!

Sorry to my FB friends! I'm begin redundant.

We have two of these windows in the family room. If you know of any great decorating ideas, please let me know. I have no idea what to put on these without covering them, yet we need some coverage for at night. The second photo is looking out toward the side/back yard at some apple trees.

YES!!!!!!!!!!

After a LONG two months, we finally closed on our new house. The movers came early on Sat. and worked all day. Every muscle in my body aches. We have so many stairs!

The kitchen is organized and I cleaned bathrooms and unpacked a few other things but it's going to take forever to be completely settled.

I wanted to post the view from my window on Sat.morning but it's on my laptop at home. I just love being able to say that word!!! I'll try to update tonight.

Those gorgeous temps from last week are long gone. We got 3 inches of snow on Sat. and it was 24 degrees when I left this morning. Brrrrrrrrrrr......

MIA and warm temps...

First off, my hubby just called to say that the thermometer in his car reads 70 degrees!!! Can you believe it? December in New England and 70?!! It's crazy.

Anyway, we are hopeful for a closing tomorrow. I just wanted to say that I can't get cable/tv/internet for a bit so I won't be here much. I guess it all depends on when I return to work.

I made a card last night, or I guess you could call it that. I have no ribbon or embellishments to match so I may go out on my lunch hour. Tonight may be my last night to play for a while!

It's been a crazy two months and I seriously hope it's over tomorrow.

No news is bad news....

Quick update - no closing yet this week. We have not heard from the bank. We are now being told Friday afternoon which meant a few delivery/installation cancellations. Now if we close Fri., mover will come on Sat. and we won't have the new t.v. or Comcast service (cable, phone, internet) until the 14!! Needless to say, I am not happy.

Disappointment and disconnection....

Ugh...today had to be one of the most disappointing days of my life! After a long 6+ weeks, I thought we were going to close. We did the walk-through on our house and were driving toward the closing when my attorney called. He was waiting for a final approval from the bank and it didn't happen. While we were waiting to find out if it was off, we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and it was closed. Gotta love Mondays. So we headed to another and had burritos and margaritas. I should have had a few because then we found out it just wasn't happening today.

Tomorrow is another day and I seriously hope I don't waste more vacation time. I'm waiting until the last possible minute to leave work.

If we do end up closing, we will not have internet service at home until Friday.

Let's Scrap...

Found a new place to play called Let's Scrap (see side bar for link). This site has scrap/stamp sketch challenges each week. This week I got picked for my lame card made with limited supplies. I'm so excited! It's my first. I forget what the prize is but it looked pretty sweet! I'll post if I can find it or when I receive it.

Anyway, I can't wait to unpack and get back into scrapping. I love the sketches I've seen so far.

p.s. Could be sooooooon!!

Thankful for you...

I just wanted to say I am very grateful for having each and every one of you as online friend (a couple are IRL as well). I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. Gobble til you Wobble!!

More sweet candy....

I just found this blog through Ink Something. From there I went to Creative Jeans and then to Simply Beautiful. Check out the candy at Simply Beautiful. Don't cha just love finding new blogs to browse?!! Have a good weekend, everyone!

Fun stuff....

Well, I didn't finish any cards the last two nights but I sure did have fun on Tuesday night. My son and his girlfriend stopped by to visit and she's been saying how she needs a hobby. I was coloring in some images and she was watching me. I told her to color. She colored in an image, getting use to my Copics. Then she did another and asked how she makes it into a card. I promptly showed her how to cut, glue down and embellish with what little I have! She was so happy with her completed card. I told her we could make much better ones once I get into the house and unpack my stash! I hope I've turned her into a stamper. I'm thinking that will be her Christmas gift - a little starter kit. I just love passing along my addictions.

Thankful?

It's been a while. I have no good news to report so I've stayed away. I have a feeling Thanksgiving will come and go and I won't be able to say I'm thankful for my new house. Our agreement says 11/30 or before. My gut tells me it will be on the 30th and I'm not too happy about that.

Anyway, I made this card for a good friend last night. They are all starting to look alike since I have no Nesties, Cuttlebug, buttons, ribbon (except su old olive), etc. This is a Dustin Pike free digi stamp. He's very talented. You should go and check him out if you haven't already! I haven't decided whether or not to put a sentiment on the right. I'll see if the right one hits me....something like gobble, gobble. The papers are all SU. Thanks for looking!

** Edited to add that it's for Stamptacular Challenge #33. I never enter challenges. There's way too much talent out there. Anyway, my incredibly talented friend, Paula convinced me to enter so I did.

















I decided to just put a little "gobble, gobble" on it since I have no circle punches or shapes.

Saweeet candy.....

Wow, check out the delish candy at Passion for Crafts! I follow her amazing blog daily!

This Bud's For You....

Ok, you are going to get sick of seeing Razzleberry dps in my posts! I don't have any other dp with me that matches any inks. I have a nice Soft Suede pack but don't have the ink, or any other inks or Copics that match. I will be so thrilled to get settled into a room all to myself but I think it'll be a while before I can get to it.

I think this one is for my realtor. Her birthday is coming up. She's fantastic so I don't want to forget her!

I used SU Rich Razzleberry, SU Old Olive ribbon (the only one I have with me) Bazzill olive, and a digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles I got some cute new ones the other day but I have to buy some white cs so I can print. I didn't bring enough.

Thanks for looking and sorry for the same ol' colors! Also, I'm not too sure about the colors on the turtle but it's done.

Another update...

Well, still no news on our closing date. We are told they are getting close. Could have fooled me! I've lost my patience.

We are bored to death in this awful apartment. We've been out shopping for furniture, paint, carpet, etc. It's so hard when you aren't living in the house yet. Our kitchen & dining room furniture are ready, the washer and dryer are ready and I just keep putting them off on delivery dates. We have our carpet picked out and ready to order but we're afraid to do so until we have a date.

It is a gorgeous day out there so I took a ride. I've been trying to find papers to match this cute bedding that my cousin picked out. I need to make a scrapbook but it won't be done in time for her shower. I'll have to give her an IOU. I bought a gift today so that she has something to open. I've looked online, at my lss, the local craft store chains and I can't find enough of one product to do a whole album. There's a cute line by Doodlebug but they only have a set of stickers and three papers. Another cute one is by Little Yellow Bicycle which I may end up buying at my lss. All they have are die cuts on a sheet and two or three papers. If you know of a place to purchase these or another cute safari line, please let me know! ** I keep meaning to edit to say that this is the Babies R Us photo of this room, not my cousin's baby's room. LOL




I think I'll play for a bit to see if I can come up with a card. I can't do one for the shower yet because I didn't bring any blues or baby stamps. I did find an adorable set with a lion, giraffe and hippo though. I held off from buying for now.

I didn't think I could...

Made this for my good online friend. I'm hoping she doesn't look here. She's not a blog reader (fingers crossed). Her birthday is next week and she's always sending me cards. I was going to try and find one in my stash but I thought I'd play with my new Copics instead.

It's not the greatest but it's done. Remember, I have a really limited stash of supplies (see pics below). The colors match much better in real life. I used SU Rich Razzleberry and then had to use a Bazzill stack I bought at Mike's for the olive and yellow. This cute Willy Worm digi stamp is from Victoria Case.













p.s. Still no date.
p.p.s. Maia - I'm still looking for Katie's winner!

Happiness in small amounts....

I had a horribly busy day today. No news on the house even though we were told we'd have a closing date by the end of the day. My hubby went to our PO box and picked up mail. I got home to a pile of things. One was a can of soup. I must have signed up for a free can at one point but I don't remember. It's a full sized can of Progresso High Fiber soup. I'll let my hubby try it. I'm really not a soup lover.

I got the cutest Halloween card from my friend, Tracy. I also got my small order of Copics from oozak.com. I've been looking for colors to match the new SU In Colors. I ended up getting a Dark Red (R89) that looks great with Rich Razzleberry. I also got a Blue Green (BG09) that is similar to the green/blue color (forget the name). I think I'll play some tonight. I realized some of these were upside down when I took the photo but my battery died right after so this will have to do.

An attempt at stamping...

This card isn't really posting worthy but I wanted to say I DID make an attempt at stamping this weekend. Got my blender pen at Mike's and they also had clear stamps at 40% off. Yay! You know I couldn't resist that so I got a flower set that has different messages for the middle and stems and all that. It's cute. I used the Hello from that set but I didn't adhere because I don't like it. I plan on stamping "deepest sympathy" when and if I ever get to my stamps in storage. The flower was a digi stamp and I used my blender pen to color in the flower part and Copics for the stem. I love these SU In Color and designer papers! What was I thinking when I didn't pack brads, flowers, ribbons? I just got this ribbon so I had to make it work.

Forgot to add that the digi stamp is from Crafting in Croatia.

Wowza.....

You have to check out this blog candy!! Go to Twinkles Glow With Stamps and post for a chance to win!

Katie's Candy....

I've been following Katie at Both Sides of the Paper for a while now. I first *met* her on a scrapbook message board that we both frequent. She's a talented cardmaker and alterer. She is giving away some blog candy so go on and visit for a chance to win!

A no pumpkin fall....

Sorry I've been MIA but I have nothing happy to post! Still no closing date but it will be Nov. 30. Wow, exciting. It better be MUCH before. My attorney is working on it. I'm missing the little house decorations - the mums, pumpkins outside, the cute tin jack-o-lanterns, the glass pumpkin jar filled with orange and black treats, you get the picture. I don't even know if I'll have trick-or-treaters. I better have a bag, just in case. There could be a few little kids in the building but others can't get in.

I need to buy some thank you cards, embarrassing as it is. I did the ALS walk on Saturday and I need to thank those who sponsored me. I usually pull out my Just Rite stamps and spell out ALS Walk around the circle and thank you inside. Anyway, the walk was gorgeous even though it was a bit cold. The leaves were so pretty around the lake. Here's a photo of my aunt, me, my cousin and my stepcousin.




I'm home sick today. I still have the cough from last weekend and it will not stop at night. I've barely slept in three days so my boss told me to sleep in. I tried. It lasted an hour and then I started coughing. My head is pounding and my eyes sting from lack of sleep. I'm going to read on the couch next to see if that works. I always fall asleep reading...

Misc. mumbles...

Well, what a weird weekend we had. It snowed yesterday! It didn't stick because it rained first.

My hubby had band so I was going to stay home and do laundry. I went out to put money on the laundry card, get some groceries and pick up my Stampin Up Order. Got the groceries and my Stampin Up stuff and headed into the office building in the rain. The machine was out of order. I about screamed at that point. I am having so many issues with the temporary living. Would you believe they were going to clean the place every OTHER week?! We were told weekly. Am I supposed to sleep on the same sheets for TWO weeks?!! I flipped. They came over to clean and said they would be doing it weekly for us. That's because I told them I'd be finding a new place and moving out.

Anyway, I gave up on laundry. I wasn't going to go to the laundry mat and spend $5 per load.

Oh yeah, and my son called after the one trip out. He asked me to bring him some food to work at the mall.

I decided to pull out the small stamping bag I brought. I was anxious to use my new In Colors. I didn't end up doing a thing because my Copics didn't match the In Colors and all I had was images to color in. I think I'll get a blender pen or two today to see if I can color in some images.

Sorry for the scattered rantings.

Fluke or a sign of what's ahead.....

It is snowing in MA this morning. I'm not happy that it may ruin our pretty leaves!! I hope it's just a fluke and not a sign of the winter ahead. We need to hurry up and get into our new house (promising signs) and get things done! We need a shed which means we need to have gravel delivered, we need to expand the driveway for our fleet of vehicles, winterize the sprinkler system, etc. It doesn't look like we'll get in before 11/1. I'm ok with that as long as it's not much longer than that. I'd love to be completely settled in by Thanksgiving.

This is out the back of our temporary apartment. Not sure if you can see the snow coming down. It's pretty but if you look to the other sides, it's city. I'm definitely a country girl.

A little better....

Well, I got a decent sleep last night and feel somewhat better. The bank is trying to work with us on the house so it may not be scrapped altogether. The waiting is what kills though.

We lost all hope and started looking at brand new houses the other day since non of the previously owned were working, or if they work, they're short sales. Anyway, it sounds like there is a possibility after all but I'm not holding my breath.

It's amazing how discombobulated you feel after living in the same house for 14 yrs. and then you're dumped in this two bedroom apt. I don't have stupid things like my little milk container to take to work for my cereal. I cannot find it. I swear I packed it in my car. I'm buying a new one just as soon as I can get to the store. There are a lot bigger things but this is one little annoying one. The laundry isn't easy either!! I run down the three flights, put it in, go back up and then have to go back down to check. If it's not done, I repeat, up and down, up and down. At least I'm getting exercise, right?!

Whew...

My hubby was sick the other day and I was sick yesterday. I hardly ever get sick but I was feeling feverish and had a sore throat, ears, etc. I feel better this morning, thank God. I have the holiday off today and have a lot to accomplish. I need to get this temporary living down (laundry, trash, etc.).

Hoping to have lunch with my oldest son today. He's coming down to see our new digs. Have a good day!

The road to nowhere...

Our last two nights at the house were awful. We packed until 2:40 on Wed. night and got up at 6:30 for the movers. After the movers left on Thurs., we ran around all day and cleaned that night until 11:30 p.m. and got up at 6:30 for the walk through. We still had to do shower cleaning and pack up the bedding, clothes, etc. and clean out the fridge and pack the cooler. We barely got out the door at 8:45. The buyers and realtor were there. My hubby was locking up the house and said, "goodbye house, we had a lot of good memories here." I just about bawled my eyes out but I held it together. I was so tired, disappointed about our closing on the new house (didn't happen), I just drove out.

Our cars were filled to the brim. I couldn't even see out the back. We had to hang out at my realtors office for a while because we had no home to go to after the closing. We finally found temporary living quarters and got settled in. We could barely make it up the three flights with all our stuff. Had a good night's sleep though. The place is ok but not great. The people I see in the parking lot look a little sketchy but I"m not used to living in the city. The location I wanted was full. Well, this will be our home for at least 6 weeks so I better get used to it.

Sweeeeeeet emotion......

Ugh, still no word about Friday. I've lost hope. I can see us in a temporary place for a bit.

I thought I'd be ok emotionally because I've been way too busy and way to tired to think about it. I have been looking at things along the way to work that I won't see any more (the pretty ponds and all that). Well...The movers wanted to take whatever we had packed or didn't need today. We have so much stuff, I think we scared them. Anyway, as I was driving out this morning, the trucks were pulling into the neighborhood and I almost started to cry. I'm not an emotional person so I typically only cry when someone dies or watching a sad moving.

The buyers came by last night and we let them look around and ask all kinds of questions. They are first time homeowners and very new to it all. We gave them all kinds of info and our phone numbers in case they have questions and they were grateful. I was telling the wife about the neighbors and Halloween and all the other things and I was feeling sad but I was ok. I'm afraid of what it will be like on Fri. driving out for the last time though.....


This is a driveby photo of one of the ponds I pass. Not great, but you get the idea...

Don't worry about a thing....

I have been a major worry wart lately. I can't help it. We still do not know if we can close on Fri. It's just ridiculous at this point. I can't do change of address cards at the post office or to my creditors. I'm an organized person who would have taken care of this a month ago. It frustrates me. I don't know if I need temporary living at this point or not. All I know is my movers will be taking everything on Thurs. except our clothes and air mattresses so we can sleep at the empty house for the night. Fri. we will close on our house and be homeless!! We are trying to remain calm but it's very hard.

So....on my way in this morning, the first song that came on was Ziggy Marley's, "Don't Worry About a Thing." Do I take that as a sign it'll all work out?!! It's stuck in my head and it's my new mantra.

On a good note, if and when we ever get into this house, this will be my view.

Boxes everywhere....

Just thought I'd post a quick update. We are still packing and tossing. It seems like it will never end. This is what I'm looking at in the basement. We are now down to eight days until the movers come and take it all away.

I'm excited, sad, nervous and completely exhausted. I haven't been sleeping because we aren't sure if we can close and/or move into the new house on time.

So here is the sad part, my temporary scrap/stamp location in disarray. I hope it's not too long before I can unpack and organize...

Fun week....

I first want to say I wasn't too happy with my hubby packing up my scrap stuff. He was grabbing things that looked like they could fill holes in the boxes he was packing and that's not how I wanted to do it. He's the packer, I'm the organizer. Oh well! It's pretty much all gone. I do have a little travel bag I usually take to classes. I snuck a few images in there along with my Copics. I don't have paper and embellishments to go along them though.

I've had a fun week. My hubby, the boys and my mom took me out for my birthday dinner (yes, it was on the 22nd). Then last night my aunts and cousins took me out for dinner. Yum, it was so good. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to drink since I had margaritas the night before. The bartender asked if I'd like a blueberry martini. Oh yeah! It was delish so I proceeded to get another....we all ended with some amaretto on the rocks. Needless to say, my head hurts a tad and I'm very tired today.

I got lots of nice things. I just have to figure out what to spend my gift cards on. One was to the lss, one to Target, an Amex gc and some cash, along with several nice things. One was a really cool small purse that's made from recycled items. Mine is made from upc codes. If I can find the link, I'll post. Sometimes she uses candy wrappers or gum wrappers. Ok, it's Nahui Ollin . I guess I didn't realize this was meant as a camera bag. Cool!! I hope mine fits.

I have one more dinnner coming up on Fri. I hope I can rest up! Grey's starts tonight!!

Packing and more packing...

I feel like we don't have a life any more! We've been packing whenever we're not working or sleeping. NOT fun. Tonight we kind of took the night off after dinner. I ended up taking food to my son at work. I called to see if he wanted a cheeseburger when he got home and he texted back a fast YES! He was starving and when I was describing the macaroni salad and the cheeseburger sub I made him, he said he couldn't even talk about it! He asked if I could bring them up to the mall where he works. My mom and I took a quick ride up so the skinny thing could eat.

My hubby had to practice his guitar because he has a "jam" tomorrow morning. Yay! Gave me time to play online. I should have stamped! Oh well.

I think I may try to pack up my stuff tomorrow while he's gone. It'll be so hard. I haven't had time to use it, but it's there. LOL Maybe I can sneak in a quick card before it all goes in the boxes. ;-)

This will give you an idea of how we've been living....

A pleasant experience...

Well, maybe pleasant isn't the right word but...I took my mom in for gall bladder surgery today. First off, all medical professionals look at her chart and then back at her and at the chart again. They can't believe she's 70!

Anyway, I was prepared with a book and a few magazines. I sat in the waiting room for about half hour while they got her ready. I read a Real Simple issue that was in the waiting room. Went in and kept her busy until they wheeled her off to the OR. Ran up to Bob's and got some shoes for work and then ran home to grab a quick sandwich because I felt shaky. The dr. called on my way back and said she was through the surgery and to come back in an hour. I was shocked it was so fast. I am so impressed with everyone at the hospital. They were great! I will have to switch when I move to NH.

My mom is still up and walking around. She hasn't taken any pain meds, just Tylenol. It seems like it was a breeze but I'm holding out to see how she feels in the a.m.

p.s. Never got to finish my book or magazines!! That's a good thing.
p.p.s. Becky is pretty close. Stacy you're right but I'll be 49 from now on. ;-) Marianne, I haven't moved ... not for a few weeks.

They say it's your....

I have a BIG birthday coming up and I'm not too happy about it! I'm calling it the "f" word and it's not forty!! I may not even have time to celebrate. It's so weird that we make a big deal out of birthdays in my family but we didn't do much for my husbands "f" birthday. That was because he wasn't feeling well for about 6 mos. I told him I do NOT want a party under any circumstances. I'd like a nice dinner and cake with my boys, dh and mom. And if the "girls" want to take me to dinner, that'd be fine too. The girls are my mom's sisters. They are between 50 and 75 and we all get along well so they call me their sister too. We've also talked about a cruise in Feb. since we never celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary the right way. So... enough rambling. I will hopefully be back soon.

Any guesses on the date?

Time off for good behavior....

It was so nice to have the weekend off. We got to relax. The weather wassn't great though. We took a drive to Chatham to see the lighthouse and then walked the downtown area in the drizzle. We went out to dinner and had some delicious fried clams, scallops and shrimp.

We hoped to wake up to sunshine today. It didn't peek out at us until we were packed and ready to go home. We didn't bother going to walk on the beach because it was cool and cloudy. Oh well..it was nice to get away. Here are a couple of pics.

Chatham was crowded because everyone was looking for the great white sharks that were seen recently. We saw a lot of seals poking their heads out but that was it.


















I would be completely freaking if these birds were following my boat!!

Still packing...and waiting....

We had a few issues with the inspection, nothing structural or major. We are now waiting to see what, if anything, they'll fix or give credit for. I wish we could get it over and move on!

We took one night off from packing because things just happened and it didn't get done. Last night we had a few things to delay us but we did end up getting a good part of the basement done.

I am seriously dreading packing my stamp/scrap stuff. I have tossed a ton of magazines but I have a long way to go. How do they pile up so fast?!! I really hate to have my stuff in boxes and no way to get to it so I'm putting it off until the last minute. I'm dreaming that I'll be packed early and then I'll have time to make the last few Oct. cards I need! ROFL

Labor Day Weekend...

So this is what Labor Day is supposed to be? Filled with work?! LOL I've never worked on Labor Day before. We started packing yesterday and got our upstairs hallway done and my guest bedroom which used to be my oldest's bedroom. There was a tall bookshelf filled with books and a closet full of crap. That one is done and now we move onto the dining room today. That will be a chore and a half. We have two china cabinets to pack.

We decided to spend the extra money and get a mover. I honestly don't think my hubby would make it through without lots of help. Unfortunately my boys are really busy. My youngest just got a co-mgr. job - YAY!!!! He's working a lot of hours. My oldest is in a band that's serious about getting signed and he also works full time.

Wish me luck tomorrow. We are doing our inspection on the new house. That will determine whether we stick with this one or move on to #3. We've decided #2 is too expensive. Anyway, I'm off to pack with a vengence!!

Still mia...

I guess I will be mia for a bit. I know I'll be packing on this long glorious weekend!! Not really pumped for that but it has to get done. I hope I get a little time to play but I highly doubt it.

Fingers are still crossed for the new home inspection on 9/8. I will feel so much better if we can get that behind us so I can know for sure if that's where I will live. Otherwise we move onto House #2.

It's funny though, we have been going to look at carpeting, furniture, etc. and we still say, "well, this would work for house #1 but not #2 or 3." I want to just move full speed ahead at house #1.

I will admit, it felt pretty funny seeing the SOLD sign when I drove up to the house the other night. I took a photo for scrapping purposes.

Very exciting day...

Ok, I can finally say it but I'm still holding back on some of the excitement. We sold our house!!!! It's been a long time but it's finally done. We signed the P&S today. While we were sitting at the realtor's office signing away, the phone call came in that our offer was accepted on another house. Now we have to get going on inspections, etc. for the new place.

It's been a long wait and a lot of stomach aches. I still have them because I'm not sure that we'll be able to pull off getting into the new house on the same day we move out of the current. It's all about our extras. If it had been just the two of us, we would have been in a nice condo by now. That didn't work because there are four of us to park and we don't feel like playing valet parking each and every day. We have my mom and my son and we may get our other son back soon. This is why we weren't able to DOWNsize. We've resigned to the fact that we may never be alone! LOL

I'm excited about picking out some new carpet, paints, furniture, etc. The paints and window treatments are very much my style so we can do things gradually. The house is currently owned by a scrapper/stamper! I think it was fate!! More later.

Another way....

Sorry to be MIA and now I'm going to be boring. I made another thank you using the digi mouse stamp and I still can't find the source so that I can give credit.

I decided I didn't like the white space on the top left corner in this image so I stamped my sentiment right there to fill it in a bit. I think I may like this one a little better, not sure.

I hope to be back with regular posts soon. I just have so much going on and I can't really talk. It's all a waiting game and it could be good or it could be bad. I'm really trying to be patient but it's not easy. Thanks for stopping by and for your patience. I'd love some good thoughts and vibes if you wouldn't mind. ;-)

Stamp club....

Here's what we made last night. Mine is a wallet/gift card holder that my friend, Kristen, taught us to make when she was doing workshops at her house. I've used this several times for birthdays and Christmas. I Cuttlebugged the front and filed it using CTMH paper. We colored and cut the cupcakes and then painted frosting with stickles.






This gorgeous shutter card which was a LOT of work:





And a pretty transparent card. It's very hard to photo. I have it on top of a file folder so it looks vanilla-ish. I didn't bother to trim the ribbon because I'm doing it over. It's crooked but it really stuck so I couldn't fix it. I may try Un-du but it may ruin the transparency.

Thank you, thank you!

I had two thank yous to make tonight so I colored in this digi image twice. I hardly ever do that. One is a bit larger than the other and I ended up cutting it into an oval with my nesties so that will be a different lo. I wish I could figure out where this digi stamp came from. It's one of the first I got a while back. I will search and update if I can.

I used a sketch from Shari Carroll at Hero Arts. I thought it was a cute sketch. I wish my sentiment came out darker but oh well. You can't really see the Shimmerz so I took another photo. The only reason I colored in the flowers is that my red Copic didn't exactly match the SU Rose Red. The red shimmerz helped a bit so I colored in the other two as well. Thanks for looking and please excuse the bad photos and missing credits!!

** Edited - still looking for the source of the cute digi stamp! Also, to answer Maia's question, I don't usually get that lucky with a bow. I took a pencil and rounded out the ears but the knot in the middle just came out that way!

I forgot to say that I also shimmerzed the brads to make them match a little better.

A challenge from my friend....

My friend, Tracy, is such a fun person. She is incredibly generous and she makes me chuckle. She emails me just about daily and tells me a funny story and also listens to my complaining. Things have not been fun lately (house) and I really need the laughs. I would be lost without her emails! Did I tell you that we've never met in person? We are online friends until some day when I can fly to her state and visit or meet up somewhere else!

So I got home to a nice package in the mail from Tracy. I was so excited to see all the things she stuffed into that envelope. There was a beautiful card she made, bunches of brads (I'm a bradaholic), a cute moose stamp that I hid from my hubby so I can make an anniv. card for him, some images of a corset that you saw in one of my previous posts. She stamped the corsets on funky printed paper and said it was my challenge.

We lost cable today after a nasty thunderstorm so that means no internet, tv, telephone for a while. I started cutting out a corset and put together this card. It was so nice to have that distraction!! I thought the oval sort of resembled a mirror. I used SU cs in Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi and I think that may be Bravo Burgundy. Weird combo but I think it worked with the paper. I painted the flowers with celery Shimmerz.

Anyway, Tracy, I treasure your friendship, even if it's only online. Thank you SO much for the fun package!! You're the best! And I hate to tell you this but you never bore me to tears so keep on typin'! LOL

Thoughts of you...

I took a couple of vacation days off but they turned out to be major errand days. My mom ended up feeling sick and going to the dr. last week. She has to have her gall bladder removed so that was one errand yesterday. I took her to meet with the surgeon. My hubby had all kids of things for me to do like look at houses, etc. My son had me run him down the st. so he could get an oil change and not wait. I could go on. Bottom line is I had two days off and didn't get one card made, no baking done (bananas are in the freezer), etc. Oh well, I guess I should feel lucky that I have so many things to do, right?!

I have this awful feeling that I won't dig my toes in the sand at the beach again this summer. I did make it once last year.

I made this over the weekend. I am still building that sympathy/thinking of you stash because you just never have enough! Thanks for looking.

Scalloped cupcakes....

I made this quick card the other night. I'm still trying to come up with something other than a regular cut card for my stamping night. I bought some scalloped cards and I have a few left that I could use. I really wanted to try cutting with Nesties to see how it would come out. They're smaller than the one I recently made (a few posts back - July 7) http://shellsq.blogspot.com/2009/07/put-your-shades-on.html
but they're easy to do. Thanks for looking!

Corset's your birthday....

LOL, that's all I could come up with for a sentiment on this card. I left it blank because I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to add anything to it. A friend stamped a bunch of these and I was bound and determined to try one. Glad I did. It was fun and so not my usual which is nice.

I'm stressing about the next time I get together with the girls for stamping. Each of us comes up with a project but I know mine will be the lamest!! One is making a shutter card and I'm not sure about the other. I have a few things in mind - a gift card older, a scallop circle shaped card or a technique (not sure what). I don't know why I stress myself out over it. I know I'm the least talented and I don't want to be so maybe that's it. Anyway, I am procrastinating by getting online. Thanks for looking and if you have any ideas, please post!!

An oldie....

I made this a couple of days ago for my dad. I'm thinking I'll put something inside like, "Don't think of yourself as old, you're a classic" or something like that. got this image from a friend a while ago and had no clue what to do with it. I seem to be using this SU sentiment a LOT! You can't see the chrome parts I painted with silver shimmerz.

I am feeling better. My headache is still lurking but it's mild. Thanks for checking on me, Linda!

Another day, another card...

This could be the one for my boss, not sure yet. I pulled these old images out from stamp camp a long time ago! I don't know the name of the set but it's SU and the pp is CTMH. Thanks for looking. I'm headed to bed with a sinus headache. Hope it's gone in the a.m. There's nothing like stress, a sinus headache and lack of sleep, all rolled into one!! :-(

Card Makin' machine...

I was on a roll for part of the weekend. I made one card yesterday and 3 this afternoon. I wanted to rebuild my sympathy card stash and loved working with the Raspberry Tart paper from SU. Couldn't decide if pearls were ok for sympathy but I needed some white to balance the card out.

Thanks for looking. Had a bad day today so I will leave it at that. I won't be posting anything fantastic in the next few days. Life goes on.

Missing again....

Oh boy, my life has been interesting. I can't really post until things are settled and I hope that will be in a few days (HA, in my dreams!!!). All I can say is I am stressed to the MAX! I haven't had one minute to create and I probably won't for a bit. Again, I am so happy I made my August cards early. I do have two friends bdays coming up and I hope I have the time to make a card.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I have a family reunion to go to at my aunt's. I'll be seeing close cousins from OR, Washington, DC, NY, etc. It'll be a blast! I hope the weather is nice Sat. because it's a pool party.

A bright sunshiny day....

Wow, it was gorgeous out today! We took a ride to Bob's during a showing. Got my son a couple of things. I felt like we were back-to-school shopping but he's not in school.

I decided I wasn't nuts over the terrific card below so I added a flower and a few dots. I also made another card which is bright. It may be for my boss. I'm not sure yet but she does like brights. I used some old Basic Grey paper and ribbon.

Hope tomorrow is as nice as today. We are going out to a couple of open houses and then relaxing.

Wow, is all I can say....

You HAVE to check out this blog candy. It's amazing!!!!! Go to Pricilla Styles for a chance to win this. Now I'm off to see her creations!

Terrific...

My friend sent me this image and I just love it. I'm not sure who makes it but it must be the same co. who made the one a few posts back (woman on chaise lounge).

Anyway, I had fun coloring her in with Copics. I just found this Bo Bunny paper at the lss for .10 and thought I would give it a try. And this is one of my favorite ribbons too. It reminded me of her hair. This is so easy to tie because it's stretchy. I think I *need* to find some more!!

I think she looks like she's saying something really sarcastic but I wasn't sure what. I have the SU Amazing to Zany set and I never use it. I found terrific and a few others that may work (amazing, marvelous, Hey!). I went with terrific. I can see myself saying that on a bad day.

Thanks for looking. ** Edited**