Little Rascal

I was watching a baby squirrel on our patio......scampering around. So thankfully I had the camera at hand and caught him/her in action! This is one of my hibiscus trees that I got last year and brought in during the winter. It has started getting new growth and this little critter decided he/she needed some nourishment!! I didn't know they ate leaves!!!!

My very first sweater!!!! (don't look Mom)

I have finished my first sweater. Well.....almost! I still have to weave in the loose ends and block it. I have come a long way baby!!! I started with scarves a few years ago, have many millions of them. Made a gazillion hats too. Maybe a dozen felted purses, then socks! And now I can add a sweater to my list! I picked an easy pattern that is knit from the top down and is basically knit in one piece so you don't have to sew up any seams. It took me a few weeks to complete but now I can't wait to make another! Once I fix all the loose ends and block it I will post a better photo! UPDATE: The pattern is by Knitting Pure & Simple and is called Split neck T Shirt for Women # 257 Here is a link to their site...it's down in the middle http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/page2.html

Starfish on the Shore

I love my Seaside stamp set! I also like this poem and wanted to put the two together on a card. This is a card to give to someone who has made a difference in your life or just to say thanks.

The base card is Bashful Blue and opens to the side. I typed the poem and printed them out onto Shimmery White CS. Then I used Weathered BG stamp and stamped over it with Close to Cocoa. This is then layered onto Close to Cocoa CS. I cut a strip of Close to Cocoa Prints DSP and put this to the left. The starfish is stamped with Close to Cocoa onto Shimmery White and raised up with dimensionals. The Photo corner punch and mini brads finish it off.

Dalias in Green

When I saw Mel's post on SCS I knew I had to make a card with the flowers. I printed the pattern on the back of some thin designer paper I had, and cut them out. This flower has 5 layers. I then used one of my cuttlebug embossing folders to emboss the bottom of my card that is 5-1/4 x 5-1/4. Above that, I scored 3 lines with my Score-Pal. I used my sponge dauber to add some Rose Red and Certainly Celery ink to the raised portions. I used a strip of Rose Red Prints DSP and a border punch from Martha's line and adhered it above the lines. Happy Mothers' Day is from All Holidays stamp set. And the brad is my favorite part!!!! It is from K&C Company and is called K-OLOGY Hannah Stitched Beaded Brads.

No Comments???

I need some feedback. I go to other blogs and see that they are very popular based on all the comments I see when I leave one. But my blog hardly gets them. Do I need to do tutorials? And if so, how do you do the video ones? My recorder is the small tape but I am clueless on how to get it to the pc. And I do have a digital camera that has a video feature but I don't know how to do that and get a great video............Need words of help please!

Pick me Up with Wild Wasabi

I love how this turned out! I used a card from the Wild for Wasabi promotion and made it into a pocket card. The fold is decorated with a strip of paper from the Prints Pack DSP(Hostess level 1) and the striped green layer is from the same pack, and this is layered with Real Red cs. I then stamped the truck twice. Once on the same floral paper and then onto Whisper White. I cut the tired out from the white and adhered to the truck. The flowers are stamped on WW and then I embossed with some embossing markers and Clear EP. I also used a transparency for the trucks window. I used a retired flower punch and the Rounded Tab punch for the pull out part of the card. I added brads from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware kit, and added Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon.

Celebrate your New Home

This card is made with the retired set Right at Home (I still love it!) and In a Row. The word is from Everyday Flexible Phrases. I used my black stampin spot and only inked up one of the houses. I colored it with classic ink and a blender pen. The background paper is Afternoon Tea from the Occasions mini. The other cardstock is Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, and Soft Sky. The ribbon is the Wild Wasabi Striped Grosgrain.

Tins of Thanks

I made a yummy Amaretto cake for hubby to take into work tomorrow for Secretary's day and made two of these Hershey Nugget tins too. So easy! I used Jersey Shore DSP and the Die Cut Blooms. The center of the flower is stamped from the retired set, Riveting. Yummy!!!!

Some see it as JUNK.....I see it as a TREASURE!

I am often accused of being a pack rat. I save things that I know I can use later......I almost always find a use!!! Well......I have a few of these tins. I get them at the local Asian market. I really buy these things because I like the container....but these cookies were pretty good too!

So here's what I did! I covered the tin with some paper from my stash. I think this one was from Glitter Stacks. I used my Big Bite Crop-a-Dile to punch holes in the lid. I punched more holes after I took the picture. I used my Marvy Scallop Oval punch and my SU Word Window punch to cover it up since it was pretty rough. I typed the words using my computer. The flower is decorated with my SU Scallop circle punch and a silk flower. I used some of the same paper and made the flowers center with a SU Build-A-Brad. Now I need donations!!!!!!

Signs of Spring

Our weather had been gorgeous......even the rain! You know.....April showers bring May flowers! I wanted to photograph some of the signs around our house. Now if you look closely....you can see we haven't mulched yet, and some of my shrubs seem to be dying...:(

A blend of dogs!

While dog sitting, they were sometimes playing, and others snuggled together like this. Hard to tell where one starts and ends! Snowy (my dog on the left) put Chatham in his place from time to time, but now that he is back home I think she really misses him!

Little Red Hat

Sheryl had a great tutorial on her blog on how to make these adorable hat favors! Aren't they they cutest! A little tedious but the end result is soooooo worth it! This little Hershey Nugget is all dressed up with somewhere to go!

Chocolate Skittles!!!!!

I love Skittles and just found some CHOCOLATE ones at Target!!! Ok.....maybe they have been out for a while, but I don't go to the candy aisle much! Too tempting! But I was looking for some black and white type of candy for tins.....didn't find any.....but did find these! And boy are they YUMMY! I wanted some small little candy to put in these tins that you get at Michaels. I used them at Halloween with some DSP and ribbon and stamps, but wanted to try them with my rub-ons! So look how cute this is and "Oh how easy!" I used a rub-on from A Perfect Day, and added some of our new Chocolate Chip Poly Twill ribbon!

Let Yourself Go.....to the beach that is!

I challenged myself to use a stamp in my drawer that hasn't seen the light of day in a while!!

This was a fun card to create! Wasn't sure about the colors at first, but liked the end result. The umbrella stamp is from Vippies. I stamped the image on watercolor paper and colored in with my Prisma color pencils and gamsol. I added the cuttlebug embossing folder for a wavy/watery look. The die cuts are Cuttlebug as well. I added some glitter with a stardust glitter pen.

Lion Birthday

I haven't stamped in a few days so I figured I had better post something that I did before! This was done with the Wild About You set. I love the colors on this! I used background paper that is now retired and a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Almost Done with Day 2!

So far so good! Don't want to jinx myself, count my chickens before they hatch, etc. etc. etc. I kept Chatham on his leash today and walked both of them. Wasn't the greatest walk of my life with both of them going in different directions. My neighbors probably thought I was doing some crazy dance as I spun around and twirled my arms to get untangled! But he pooped outside which was a GOOD thing! Has been attached to my hip all day. I took my life in my hands and put both dogs out a little while ago. They both tinkled.....and I didn't use the leash as I was hoping he wouldn't dart under the fence again. So I feel like I won today.......PLEASE don't let this post jinx me!!!!!! (this is an older photo of the dogs. It was taken last June. My dog Snowy on the rt is about 6 lbs and Chatham is much larger now!)

Dog Sitting Woes

My sister and her family are away for over a week in Mexico. I volunteered to watch their dog. He is the cutest little thing...............and so far, he is winning. We have a toy Maltese. She is jealous and isn't in the mood to play. Chatham, their dog insists! I have decided to keep a little blog journal of this adventure. Last night was the first night so I will start there. 4/5/08-pick up Chatham and bring him home. IMMEDIATELY put both dogs outside to do their business. Dogs come back in, play, growl, then plop on sofas. I go up to bed later in evening, notice pile of poop in living room......not my dogs. (Yes, I know the difference!) Our dog goes to sleep with son and I take Chatham in my bed. Chatham restless all night as he is not used to traffic noise. Hears EVERYTHING and jumps up. 4/6/08-wake up and take Chatham outside. He is out for a while so I assume he is done. I go about getting my morning coffee. He sits with me. I finish coffee and go downstairs to change laundry from night before. He follows. Walks around basement investigating things. I am folding clothes. Son comes downstairs and yells, "There's poop on the floor!" Sure enough, Chatham has pooped again! (this is in a matter of being let out 3 minutes prior!) I give him benefit of the doubt as I think he is used to being let out on leash. We have fenced in backyard so I don't see the need to have to walk him to poop! I go out to Costco to get some things we need. I get home and hubby says dog came to him and wanted to go outside. He goes out and throws up! Good Boy! At least it wasn't on the carpet! Now I am worried as I know my dog will throw up if she doesn't eat. I notice he is not eating out of his bowl. Figure he is out of sorts. I take some kibble and put a little pile on the floor and he eats it. This will be a fun week! LOVE YOU KERRI! (sis) Stay tuned................ Ok! This day wasn't quite complete! The doorbell rang, I answered, but only opened the door a CRACK! You guessed it! Chatham squeezed through! Proceeded to take off across the street. Neighbor kid who rang the bell took off after him. He ran more. So off I go with CLOGS on my feet! Keep in mind that I already have bad knees, and CLOGS are not easy to run in! He decided to play cat and mouse with me and would not come to me. Every time I got close to grab him, he took off again. Then he saw someones dog chained up outside and decided to say hello. I pounced! It has been raining, this other yard with dog is very un kept and muddy!!! No picture me with muddy dog trudging home! BAD DOG! Hopefully this will be the last for today! NOT!!!!!!! Getting reading to call it a night and decided to let the dogs go outside one last time to do their business. Mine goes out, comes back in. Chatham decides he needs to sniff around and take his merry old time. Uh OH! He sees a RABBIT! Chatham takes off after rabbit. Rabbit slides under slat in fence. Chatham SQUEEZES through slat in fence! Now he is off again, this time chasing a rabbit! I yell for husband and son! It is dark, we are outside trying to catch this dog! The scary thing is that he lives out in the country and has run but comes back. Here, we have a lot of traffic and right behind us is a major road. If he gets through the one large fence out behind our house he will surely get it! So think from now on he will have to be walked with his leash! My heart is still pounding!

Chalkboard/Dry Erase w/rub-ons!

I have been going through my stash of things to stamp on. I got these quite some time ago. I used a strip of the rub-ons from SU. I added ribbon to the top. (now in my Etsy shop!)

Retired SU sets for Sale

I have posted these retired sets for sale in a few different places. First come first serve. I will ship Priority mail only. (prices do not include s/h) If you are local, you can come and pick up. I accept paypal. Fruit Medley & Fruity Phrases (selling as a set) $23.00 Very Merry $6.00 Made from Scratch $6.00 Festive Friends $6.00 Simple Somethings $6.00 Alphabits $10.00 Fun Filled $10.00 Shapes & Shadows $20.00 Fish Frolics $20.00 Steppin Style $15.00 Sweet Treats $10.00 Some Like it Hot $15.00 On the Beach $20.00 sold Garden Pleasures (rare) $30.00 Daisy $15.00 Celebrate the Season (rare) $25.00 Wreath of Roses $15.00 sold Booglie Eyes $15.00 sold Fabulous Four $8.00 Year Round Cheer $ 6.00 Letters of Love $6.00 Holiday Hellos $15.00 Delightful Doodles (1 is mounted) $6.00 Watercolor Minis $8.00 sold Tropical Fish $25.00 Papa’s Pocket $20.00 reserved

April Fools

I didn't get a chance to do anything great this year! I did get Connor last night with glue on my hand. I let it dry on my palm, then said,"Oh my gosh Connor"! Look at the skin where I burned my hand!!!! He was really concerned and pulled some of the "dried skin" off while I whimpered! Got him! So he wanted to do the same thing to his father today. So when Mike got home from work he greeted him with his hand and a story that he got burned at school. Mike went off til he realized it was glue! hee hee! And I got Mike at work today with a phone call telling him we got an email about being audited. He was NOT a happy camper.

Pet Peeves

This isn't stamping or knitting related..............just some thoughts. I have quite a few pet peeves and two of them have made me wonder if I am the only one. Here in Maryland, there is a law that requires you to have your vehicles headlights on if you are using your windshield wipers. Therefore, when it is raining, you are required to have them on. I am amazed at all the people who don't comply. Especially when it is foggy too! I don't know what year this became law, but it has been a while. Now I know, I don't always obey the speed limit, but do for the most part. I also drive with my seat belt on, which is another law. The other thing that bothered me today was magazines! No, not the magazine itself, but all those pesky paper inserts. I HATE them!!!! I cannot flip through a magazine with them in there. When I a new magazine I go through and rip all of them out! (and I do put them in the recycle bin) Does this bother anyone else???