Last night we got hooked up with cable and I finally got a look at the retirement list and preorder items. My order is placed (everything but the robots). I can’t wait to check out the new catalog.

 I posted the retiring sets that I have in my for sale page if you want to take a look. Reserve over $75 of the soon to be retired sets and you can pick one of the older retired sets (or older SAB sets) for free as my thank you gift.

http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/stamp-sets-for-sale-starting-july-first/

Hopefully life will settle down soon and I will get back into my stamping groove again. My stamp room is now combined with our dining room. The house we moved in was built in the mid30s. Crazy! Small closets, tiny bathrooms, far away detached one car garage…..but one the plus side it has a basement for storage and a screened back porch.  

Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs and smiles

Today’s challenge hostess is Jenn Balcer.  Make sure to post the link of your entry on her blog.

I am a total flaker again, but…I finished the last book in my series. Now I have to wait until #12 comes out this November.

The book series is called Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. If you like fantasy, this might a book series for you.

I am not sure if I will get to stamp today either. Katrina and I are going to the outlet malls first, then to see Ghost of Girlfriends past. I can’t believe I am going to the first showing on the first day of the movie release. I usually wait a whole week before going to see new movies. I don’t like crowds. Oh well…

Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs and smiles

I wrote two different tutorials with Impressabilities. Here is the sample for my first tutorial: Embossing with Impressabilities.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip cardstock folded in half, followed by a 4″ square of Whisper White cardstock.

The red cardstock 3 3/4″ square as well as the white cardstock heart are both from the same sheet of Core’dination Cardstock. It is super cool cardstock that has a different colored core. This particular piece is from the White Wash Collection.

The Flower is from the Pretties Kit from Stampin’ Up!, so is the Chocolate Corderoy Button and the Chocolate Satin Ribbon (retired). The sentiment is from Gina K.’s stamp set “Framed Flowers“. It was stamped on the same cardstock in Chocolate Chip ink and punched out with Stampin’ Up!’s large oval punch.

Even if I don’t stamp a lot these days, I had to create a matching inside.

I used a leftover scrap from my embossed red cardstock from the front, added a Chocolate Eyelet Border underneath and taped both to the bottom of the bottom of a 4″ Whisper White Square.

The top right was paper pierced with an Ornare Paper piercing guide.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Again, I am flaking out! I will get back in the swing of things….I just don’t know when.  The last days of school are approaching and we only have 5 weeks left before the movers arrive. The sun is shining and I am stuck in a 11 book series (started the last book now). I have a hard time stamping!!! I figure I better enjoy the summer weather while I can. Plus I am working out 5 days a week again to get rid of my extra weight I gained in Germany. (excuses, excuses…I know).

Anyway….

Here is this weekend’s sketch. Sharon Harnist is this week’s hostess. Make sure to post the link of your entry on her blog.

Have a great weekend. Hugs and smiles

I had a horrid time getting over my jet lag and now I have a hard time getting back to stamping. So I will be sitting this challenge out.

Thanks to everyone that wished me Happy Birthday and/or send me a card. That was really sweet of you and made my otherwise pretty horrid birthday better!

Here is this weekend’s sketch. Lori Craig is this week’s hostess. Make sure to post the link of your entry on her blog.

Have a great weekend. Hugs and smiles

Saturday we stopped by Burg Eltz, one of my favorite castles on our way to see my Mom’s side of the family.

It was a bit hazy, but still nice.

Saturday we tried to catch a Rhine Boat tour, but they weren’t running until Saturday! Just our luck….LOL

No matter. We drove up to St. Goar and checked out the ruin of Burg Rheinfels, the largest castle (ruin) overlooking the Rhine.

You can find more photos in my facebook photo album.

Friday we went to downtown Mainz and visited the cathedral and St. Stephan’s church there.

It was a rather short trip for us, but we needed it. Sightseeing is a lot of work!!!

More pictures from Mainz can be found on my facebook album.

The kids and I always go to the Felsenmeer in Odenwald to climb the big boulders. They are all over a big hill and were used by the Romans for buildings in this area.

Every time we go we try to climb up all the way to the top of the hill. Thursday we went and Austin and Lucas made it all the way up. Rick and I waited with Rebecca and my Mom for them to come back down.

You can find a lot more pictures in my facebook photo album for that day. 

Hugs and smiles

I knew I wanted to use the beautiful flower stamp from Soft Summer. To do so, I had to make my card a bit bigger then regular. I would mail this one with a business size envelope.

The card base is a 8″ Basic Gray square folded in half. Both Designer strips are from the Walk in the Park Designer Paper pack. The upper one measures 2 1/2″ x 7 3/4″, the lower one 2″ x 7 3/4″. I overlapped them slightly.

 The layers for the main image measure 3″ x 5 1/2″ for the gray layer. The bottom was punched with the Eyelet Border punch. The Kiwi cardstock measures 2  3/4″ x 5 1/4″ and the Shimmery White Layer is another 1/4″ smaller.

The flower was stamped with Basic Gray ink on the left hand side of the Shimmery White cardstock. I stamped the flowers again, colored them with Aqua Painter and classic inks (Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze), cut them out and layered them over my main image. The sentiment is from from the Soft Summer stamp set as well.

I added a white Jumbo Grommet through one of the big flowers from the Pretties kit and added a Baja Breeze Ribbon knot in it’s center.

I am sorry I don’t list all the details, but it’s been almost two weeks since I made this card.

The inside of the card is kept pretty simple.

The 2 3/4″ x 7 3/4″ piece of Cameo Coral cardstock muted with White Craft Ink.

The designer paper is from the Walk in the Park Designer Parks.

Have a wonderful  day. Hugs and smiles