Stamp Happy

Wanted....

If there's anyone out there that is good with blog banners, I would dearly LOVE to have something that looks more interesting and professional than the blog banner I have on my blog for the store....  Stamping at Toyrifix.  I'd prefer something that includes the photograph that's already there.  I'm not looking for anything fancy, but some added graphics might be neat!  If you like to play around with that kind of stuff, give me a holler, show me what you've already done, and I'll email you the photograph.  I don't really have a budget for this kind of thing, but maybe swapping a banner design for product would be a possibility?  Thanks!

Word Verification

Dontcha' just hate those things?  The Word Verification that you have to type on a lot of blogs before you can post a comment?  I guess hate is a strong word.  I strongly dislike them, but recognize that they are a necessary evil.

Lately it seems that some are easier to type, and some tend to even spell out some funny words!  Like a new "blogger" language!  This one I got the other day when posting a comment on a blog really takes the cake, wouldn't you say?

 

It's like it knew me!

Thought you'd find it amusing!  Have a great day!

Tagged!

Since it was hubby's birthday yesterday, I chose to spend the evening watching TV with him instead of stuck in my studio stamping!  I did sit and color a bunch of stuff while I was with him, though!  I have a big Halloween project I'm finishing up as a little surprise for all the girls who work at the store, and am making a few extras for my daughters' to take to school and give to friends, so I'll have that to show you tomorrow.

In the meantime, my awesome stamping friend Kimberly Crawford tagged me on her blog, and since I love the fun questions on this tag, I thought I'd play along!

Things I Love:

1. The Lord, and my family

2. Stamping, and my job (which are one in the same!)

3. Chocolate

4. My Barry (my new TrailBlazer)

5. Music and singing in the choir at church

 

Things I Don't Love:

1. Housecleaning

2. Laundry

3. Fleas that won't go away on the dog and cats!

4. The gray in my hair

5. Being cold (I'm huddled in front of the ceramic heater on my desk as I type!)

 

Songs on my mp3 player:

1. Hootie & the Blowfish

2. 3 Doors Down

3. Nickelback

4. Rascal Flatts

5. Creed

 

Favorite Foods/Drinks:

1. Diet Coke

2. Chocolate

3. Pizza

4. Breakfast (anything... eggs, pancakes, cereal, bacon, bagels!)

5. salty snacks

(is it any wonder my butt is so big?)

 

Tag 5 others:  (I always hate to single out just a few people, but I'm going to pick a few this time because I know I have some new readers with awesome blogs you should see and I know a few new bloggers, too!)

1.  Pam Speidel

2.  Charlene Driggs

3.  Deb Felts

4.  Lynn McAuley

5.  Darlene Pavlick

 

*edited to add - I knew I was forgetting someone!!!  One more to tag...

6.  Nancy Holland

 

Have a great day!  I am picking my daughters up after school today and taking Kaylie around to pick up some job applications because she needs to get a little part-time spending money/gas money/car insurance/savings job!  Then both girls have haircut appointments and then we're having a little Mommy/Daughter dinner out!  So I'm looking forward to my afternoon with my girls!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

"Team Cookies & Cards"

Do you like to bake?  When I posted the recipe for those Apple Raisin muffins a few weeks ago, a lot of you responded with comments that you were going to make some, too.  So I know there are some bakers out there!  Do you like to make cards?  Of course you do!  You wouldn't be here on my blog if you didn't share this passion with me, right?

So I'd like to challenge you all to join a team that I just joined!  It's called Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support)!  All you have to do is bake a batch of cookies, make 10 holiday cards and send this package to a soldier!  You don't even have to pick a soldier... it's already been done!  You can read about Wayne here.  And to get signed up for Team Cookies & Cards, go to Erika Martin's blog here.  There's a link in that post to get signed up!  If you have any questions, just email me!  I'll get the answers for you!  One question I had for Erika was how much it would approximately cost to mail the package.  Erika said she was able to get her package sent in a large Priority Mail box at a cost of $10.95.  Not a bad price to brighten the day of many of our troops serving so graciously overseas!

C'mon... won't you join me on this team?  My daughters and I are already gearing up to do our baking next weekend, and get our package on its way to Wayne on Monday morning!

Happy stamping!

Meet Barry!

I'm so excited, I just had to share!  My poor old mini-van just can't take it anymore.  She keeps conking out on me, she stalls as I'm driving down the road, her windshield wipers don't work, her blower doesn't work and therefore I have no heat, and she's just tired!  "Bubbles" (as she's been affectionately called for years!) is almost 14 years old and is ready to be put out to pasture.  It was time for something new (or almost new!)

Introducing (Blue)Barry!

 

Isn't he handsome???  Barry is a 2004 Chevy Trail Blazer and he rides like a dream!  I'm so excited, I just had to share!  Thanks for letting me show off my new wheels!

Don't forget about the Blog Candy!  (No, I'm not giving away Barry!)  Leave a comment on this post to be eligible to win!  I'll be drawing a winner in a little over an hour!

Autumn Goodness

It's been a number of days since I've stamped anything.  I've just been so busy catching up on other things lately, and I think I'm suffering from a little bit of burn out and lack of motivation.  But I thought I'd share with you these fabulous muffins I made tonight!  Oh my cow, are these things good and the house smells yummy too after making a double-batch!  I don't know why but I had TV Food Network on the other day, and saw Paula Deen make these muffins.  I had to give them a try.  Luckily, Kaylie needed something for a bake sale tomorrow!  These are Apple Raisin muffins and trust me when I say they are delicious!  See that one near the top middle of the picture?  The one with the big piece of apple sticking out of it?  That one has my name on it!

If you'd like to give these a try, here is the recipe.

Apple Raisin Muffins

1 c. water
2 c. sugar
2 c.  peeled and grated apples (I used Johnathon)
2 c. raisin
1 c. butter (2 sticks)
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. ground cloves
1 c. chopped walnuts
2 t. baking soda
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

Combine water, sugar, apples, raisins, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in a saucepan; bring to a boil.  Remove pan from heat and cool completely.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir the nuts and baking soda into the flour.  Add the cooled mixture to the bowl and stir until blended.  Fill greased mini-muffin tins with batter to the top and bake for 15 minutes.  (I made full-size muffins.  I baked for 25 minutes and tested them with a knife for doneness before removing from the oven.)

Enjoy!

Musings...

Remember this white-on-white card I did last week for the Stamp Simply challenge?  Well, I was just thrilled to receive an email last night letting me know there was another comment on this card.  The comment came from Vickilyn over at Paper Hugs and Die Cut Dreams, and she wanted to let me know that she liked the card so much she created her own version of it, and it's FANTASTIC!  Be sure to take a little trip over to her blog (the blog design is so stinkin' cute, too!) and see her card!

Also, I've been wanting to share this photo of my beautiful daughters!  I try not to do too much Proud-Beaming-Mom stuff here on my blog, because I feel that you come here for stamping, not to hear about my kids.  But I just can't resist showing off my pride and joy every now and then!  Aren't they gorgeous?  Good thing they don't take after their Mom!

Thanks for stopping by!

Come Stamp with Me!

As of yesterday afternoon, this was the MESS that is my stamping table!  Call the National Guard... declare a state of emergency... close down the borders!  It's a disaster!  I am the kind of stamper that likes to have everything close by, within reach.  Hence I have a lot of miscellaneous, "use-it-all-the-time" stuff all over my table or directly behind me on the shelves.  Makes for a very untidy-messy space.  (Notice the one tool in the bottom left corner of the picture that always has to be within reach... the very necessary diet Coke!)

BUT, the Stamping Angels were watching out for me yesterday and look what I found in a local thrift shop!

I have been fighting the urge for MONTHS not to buy the Desktop Carousel from Making Memories, and now I don't need it!  This thing is fabulous! 

So, this inspired me to do some major cleaning and reorganizing in my stamp studio yesterday and since today I'm cleaning house and getting ready for my husband and oldest daughter to return from the mission trip, I don't have any stamping time.  So I thought I'd share pictures with you today of my Stamping Sanctuary!

I use this corner of the room to display cards I've made and cards I've received from friends.  My husband built me that awesome black display board several years ago.  That whole counter along the wall can be cleared off for extra space when friends come over to stamp with me!  The two chairs facing each other on the opposite side of the table is where either one of my daughters come to sit and watch TV while I'm stamping.  I love it when they do that!

More diplay and storage space.

 

Here's the opposite side of the room.  It's easy to just scoot my chair around my long table to get to my sewing machine.  I store all my wood-mounted stamps on that metal display rack I rescued from going to the dumpster at the store.  On the far left is some of my paper and cardstock storage (also another awesome thing my husband built me!)

This is that "within arm's reach" area directly behind me when I'm working.  I can just spin around in my chair, scoot around and grab whatever I need!  Those are 4 long dowel rods in the upper left corner holding my ribbon spools.  There's also ribbon in the white basket below, and in the little 3-drawer storage unit on the lower shelf, AND ribbon scraps in the container to the left of the drawers.  There are also smaller spools in the glass cookie jar on the second shelf!  And in case you're wondering... no, it's not enough!  :)

And here's my new little lazy Susan, with all the little cubbies filled up with my necessities!  I LOVE IT!  My acrylic blocks are there on the top right, and that blue organizer holds more items inside and out!

And look... I don't even have to pick up the remote!  Just turn the unit so the remote is aimed at the TV!  LOL  (Maybe it's lazy Tammy and not lazy Susan!)

Anyway, thanks for visiting my Stamping Sanctuary today, and COME STAMP WITH ME sometime soon!!!  I'd love to have you over!

Mom's Braggin' Rights

A Mom just has to brag a little sometimes!

Here is my 11 year old daughter Kelsey playing goalie today at her soccer tournament!  She did a heckuva job, but her team didn't win.  She's disappointed, but looking forward to some soccer camps this summer to improve her game.

And look out world, there's another teen driver on the road!  This is daughter Kaylie who is 15 years, 8 months, and she got her learners' permit today!  She spent some time navigating a local high school parking lot, and a church parking lot today, then I let her drive some back roads on some errands.  My nerves are completely fried, but she didn't do too badly for her first day out!  When you see her coming in my old blue mini-van... LOOK OUT!

We're having beautiful weather here in Northeast Ohio today!  Sunny, warm and a great breeze blowing!  I hope your weekend is wonderful, too!  I'll have some stamping for you later tonight or tomorrow!

Thank you!

Just a couple of notes...

We're off for a busy day of soccer and softball, so no cards to share yet today but maybe later tonight!  Depends on how the softball tournament goes as to when I'll get home!

I'm not going to count my chickens before they're hatched, but I think I might have the iTunes problem fixed!  Thank you to everyone who responded!  I'll try to get back to you personally, but it might be later this weekend!

Also, if you're interested, Kitchen Sink Stamps is beginning a new contest!  Check it out here on the Kitchen Sink Blog!

Happy Saturday!