another mat stack 2 card...

Howdy,
Did you have a great weekend?? Mine was pretty uneventful, just the usual "weekend" stuff. I did get some stamping time in~so of course that always makes me happy; but since I was making another sympathy card (which is getting kind of old for me, 3 in the last 3 weeks), I was thinking about my dear friends who have lost their loved ones !!

This card is for my friend Judy (from high school). Her dad passed away a few days ago, she was so close to him (he lived with her and her husband, so she could take care of him); I wish I lived closer, so I could give her a big hug~but since I am across the country~I made her what I like to call a hug with a fold in the middle, a.k.a.: a card.



I used my Mat Stack 2 stamp set again (I promise to put it away for a little while, LOL) on this card; I also paired sweet blush and scarlett jewel (both PTI colors), and really LOVE the contrast!!

My hubby has today off (MLK day), so I decided to take the day off too :) Not sure what we will do (I have some organizing projects, which I am sure he will love~NOT, LOL!), but I just LOVE having Monday's off!!

Have a Terrific Day!!

better late than never...

Hi all, sorry I am late with my post!! Last night I ended up spending some time with my hubby watching this show, and was too tired to finish my post.

Yesterday was a stressful day!! It all started out pretty normal, until I grabbed my purse to go to work; it felt lighter than normal. So I looked inside and didn't see my wallet *insert sick feeling here*. I checked next to the computer (sometimes I leave it there if I purchase something online~which I did not), and it wasn't there. Well, I didn't really have time to search for it or I would be late for work. I called Mike in a panic. He asked me what I did yesterday....I went to work and picked up a few things at Walmart...so he suggested I call Walmart to see if it was turned it (which I highly doubted, but figured I would give it a shot). At this point I am remembering that I had lots of Christmas gift cards and the $$ Josh gave me to pay for his insurance in there (which made me even more sick to my stomach!!). Since I go to work at 7am, I had a hard time getting a hold of Walmart's customer service. Finally at 8am I talked to someone and they said they would check for me. After 5 LONG minutes on hold~they said they had it!!! I almost screamed with delight!! I asked if they could tell me if there was $$ inside, and they said they could not go through it...but either way, I was just glad my wallet was found!! Once Ashley came into work at 9:30 I drove over to Walmart to pick it up~can you believe that EVERYTHING was still inside?? I was delighted!! I asked the manager who turned it in~and she said a cashier found it. I wanted to leave her a $$ reward, but they would not let me (against store policy)~and unfortunately I can not remember who the cashier was that checked me out on Wednesday (cause I would have gone back to give her something~I am a rebel like that, LOL!). I told them to make sure they told her how grateful I was!! I always think the worst~and I thought for sure that my credit cards/cash/gift cards would all be missing, but to my surprise, there are still honest people in the world!! Thank you honest person for turning in my wallet!!!

I have reconnected with several of my friends from high school on Facebook, which I think is so cool!! I love that I can stay connected with that part of my past. One of my friends from way back, just lost her mom this week. I immediately sent her a message and asked her for her address (in a non stalker way, LOL!), so I could mail her a card. Sympathy cards are not fun to make, but here is what I came up with for my friend Christin.



I don't know about you, but I am so glad it is Friday!! Enjoy your weekend!!

HB to my niece...

Hi all~How is your week going? We are at the half way mark *woot* Friday is right around the corner *woot woot* (double woot on that one).

Today is gonna be kinda quick...
Here is a quick card I made for one of my favorite nieces, Allison, who is celebrating her sweet 16 TODAY!! Happy Birthday Alli!! I cannot believe that both of my nieces are 16 now~Boy, time sure does fly!!

I am really having fun with my new PTI goodies!!! Loving this new mat stack 2 die.



And last night I finally got my Christmas photos edited~whew!! I sure did take a lot of pictures, but I narrowed it down to 60 or so to edit (that was enough, LOL!). If you want to see them, they are here. And YES!! I am a crazy paparazzi mom who makes everyone pose with their presents~Even Nate has become a great "present model".

Make today a great one!!

WW, Celebrating Life, Pantry...

Hi all,
Happy Monday to you~did you have a nice weekend? I am still fighting this cold that my hubby shared with me last week~yuck!! I am hoping I start feeling better this week!!! I am tired of blowing my nose every 5 min!!

On Friday, even though I was feeling kinda yucky...I decided to go to my local WW meeting to find out about the new Points Plus Program. I was a little hesitant and nervous, since I had so much success with the old program; but the 0 point fruit was really making me CURIOUS!!! I am so glad I went, because I think I am really gonna like the new program!! Change is good, right?? (sometimes, LOL!!). So I picked up my new materials and one of these (*note these are cheaper at the ww meetings; I paid $16 US dollars) and have been eating way more on this plan than the other one~which makes me happy *smile* I don't really have much to lose, just a few holiday pounds~but I love how WW keeps me on track.



Saturday I went to celebrate the life of my friend Mark Cain (who passed away on 12/24/10). What a nice service it was~celebrating his life and hearing my good friend Cindy talk about him as a husband and dad. He served on the Hospitality team with me at church, and I will deeply miss his smiling face and willing heart to serve.

I made this card for Cindy, and will be mailing it to her today. She is such a strong person and has been through so much~just want her to know how much I enjoy her friendship and how I love her!!



And as promised, Here are the before and after photos of my closet to pantry makeover. It is still considered pretty small in the pantry world~but I am LOVING the extra space for all my canned goods and other food items. And my OCD is just loving the can organizers!!! It is still a work in progress; Mike is going to extend the top shelf (which isn't pictured), and maybe do something on the side walls. It is so nice when I go to Costco now~if something is on sale, I can buy it because I now have room to store it *smile*

Before:




After:



Notice...
*the gingerbread house that never got decorated at Christmas
*I was too lazy to paint the shelves, LOL!!
*we like rice :)

Have a Wonderful Monday!

an easy peasy thank you...

Happy Friday friends!!
Today is gonna be quick~my sweet hubby shared his "cold germs" with me this week, so I have been a little under the weather (isn't he so nice to share?? NOPE); I think I am on the upswing though *hooray*, so that is good news; because my PTI order arrived last night *smile* Hopefully I will have some time this weekend to play with my new stuff!!

Today I am off to my local WW meeting to find out what the new Points Plus is all about (I am a little nervous...because change is always a little scary, but I am so excited about the 0 point fruit!!). And I am hoping the weigh in isn't too painful after the holidays!!

I will have my pantry photos up on the old blog on Monday (I wasn't up to taking photos last night...sore throat/headache/tired/blah!); stay tuned.

Here is another easy peasy thank you card.



Enjoy the weekend Friends!!

masculine thank you...

Hi all,
How is your week going? Since I worked a half of week last week~this week is a piece of cake for me, not like last Monday, which felt like it would never end, LOL!

I am happy to report that Monday after work I went for my walk (My New Year Goal off to a great start), I even brought Josh's dog Kodi with me...let me just say~He walked me (that doggie is CRaZy and STRONG)!! I got quite a work out; and I had my new toning shoes on (which I wasn't sure if they would work or not; let me just say "they DO"), I couldn't go for my walk last night because my legs were killing me!! I guess that is a good thing right? I plan on going out again today~but without Kodi, LOL!

I am also making progress on my new pantry, and it is almost photo ready. Our new can organizer boxes arrived on Monday and my sweet hubby put them all together for me last night.

While I was stamping my thank you cards last Saturday, I remembered that I needed some "guy cards", which are always a little challenging for me. I used my new circle and Scalloped circle Nestabilities Dies (purchased with a gift card from a sweet friend), as a focal point, then just stamped some snowflakes on the circle and used a greeting from one of my favorite PTI sets Signature Greetings. I also used some retired SU! designer paper and retired cardstock. And I just had to add a button for fun!!



Enjoy Today!!

2011, thank you card & LOTS of chit chat...

Are you ready for the work week? (this said in the Monday night football sort of way), LOL!!.

I hope you, my sweet blog readers, had a Marvelous holiday season and are excited as we look forward to 2011. Did you make any resolutions? I personally don't~I just set goals for myself (much easier for me to achieve that way!!). My number one goal this year is to get back into walking every day, and to start counting my WW points more strictly (anyone out there using the new program?? curious what you think of it). I bought a pair of these to help me out~not sure if they really work or not, but worth a try right?? And they were on sale (gotta love that!!).

I tackled a lot of organizing over the past 4 days (it feels so good to get that stuff done!!), Mike and I never got to the garage re-organization, but you know, there are other weekends for that. My new pantry is coming along nicely (just waiting for these to arrive so I can take an "after"photo). Since we turned our downstairs closet into a pantry...all the "stuff" we kept in there had to find a new home (luckily we got rid of a lot of it).

My word for this year is "simplify" and for me lists help me to do that; I love writing things I want to accomplish down, so then I am ok to forget it, because it is on paper (it doesn't have to stay in my brain). I found some great lists you can download for free here. I am loving the pocket docket, since it isn't as involved. I write down my daily tasks and check off 3 MIT (most important tasks, for me to tackle first...that way if I don't get everything done~it doesn't drive me crazy!!). I even started a list for some bigger jobs that I would like to complete; like go through the old scrapbooking stuff stored under my bed, organize my wrapping paper/boxes/bags/ribbons, and re-organizing the garage (since it didn't get done last week) etc. That way it is written down, and if I have some free time and feel like taking on a project~it is right there for me.

I whipped up a few thank you cards on Saturday (it felt so good to get back into my craft room!!), for some really special people who blessed us this holiday season :) Here is one of the designs, I forgot how much I love that little button birdie!!



I am hoping to wrap up my DDA in the next week or two (great project btw, I will most likely do it again next year too). I am so glad I didn't put pressure on myself to keep up with it on a daily basis, (because that was just not happin-in'). Once I get it completed I will definitely post photos.

Ok, sorry for all the chit chat~but I have really missed blogging!!!
Enjoy your Monday!!