I'm Back from Connecticut!!

I have returned from our Stamping Around Connecticut event and finally feel rested! We had so much fun!! I can't even express how exciting it is to meet so many people in person that until this weekend we only knew through email or blog posts. Our attendees were wonderful, the instructors brought us amazing projects, and our sponsors rocked our event with a boatload of door prizes! For today, I'm posting my project, which was sponsored by Unity Stamp Co. Can I tell you how much I love Unity stamps and I was overjoyed that they sponsored my class! I was able to give away a number of their sets and the winners were thrilled! My class consisted of a mini box, which held four mini cards (3.25" x 3.25"). We got to use our Copics and white gel pens (my new fav medium) and explore a number of blending techniques and fun tricks using a colorless blender pen. In other very exciting news...Our new web site, www.stampingaround.com, is live! You can check it out for details on the design of our site, more photos from our CT event, and information on our upcoming events! Enjoy!

Day One in Connecticut!!

Julie and I are safe and sound in Connecticut and are just back from our very first "Stamping in your PJs" class! It was a blast and wonderful to meet our attendees and catch up with old friends! Check out the cute welcome sign the hotel put out for us! Here's my best Vanna impersonation...while sporting my "in public" PJs!

Julia Aston taught our first class and she created these simply adorable birdhouses...aren't they just fabulous! The pattern is from Papertryink (it's one of Nichole's free downloads!) as well as the paper and ribbon. Can you see how Julia created a clapboard front on the larger birdhouse? Darling! Oh, and here's what I was sporting on my feet...of course ladies, had to work the bunny slippers... :-)

Stay tuned for more pictures from our classes tomorrow...WooHoo, we are having a blast, which you were here!

Stamping Around Connecticut - Sneak Peek

Turns out I'll be teaching a class in Connecticut! Yippee! Here's a sneak peek of part of my project...it involves Basic Grey, Copics, and Unity Stamps! What a sweet combination! Julie and I leave this afternoon for Connecticut and we can't wait to meet everyone and start stamping! We have a "stamping in your PJ's" party planned for tonight! WooHoo! I'll be back later to share photos and my entire project...as well as the other instructor's projects...and let me tell you, they are amazing!! Thanks for hanging in on this rather dull posting week...Be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week!

Documenting a Month in Photos

A long time ago I created this amazing chipboard tag album, which came as a kit from Melodee Langworthy. I highly recommend her blog and her kits, they are all amazing! I purchased a second one last Christmas. Of course I have yet to put it together but I've got it! When we were packing our old house I realized I had never posted the photos of this. Since this is an insanely busy week - prepping for the Stamping Around CT event happening this weekend - posts may be few and far between until next week so I thought this would be the perfect time to share! Melodee's kits come with everything you'll need to create an album, with the exception of the stamps and photos. However, she makes great recommendations on stamps to use and I ended up picking up a set for this album. The size is 4" x 6" so it was a breeze to add photos, simply needed to round the corners. There is a photo on one side and journaling on the other. The idea for this album was to take photos for an entire month and then pick a photo for each day of the month, which would fit on each tag. It was a great experience, as I have a tendency to forget to photograph special moments, and it's helped me to remember to take my camera along, especially when I'm with the kiddies! I didn't photograph every day's photos but picked out a few special ones to share...Enjoy!

Just up from a nap...Love that sweet face.

This was our baby's first trip to the beach and he hated the sand!

He finally touched it with his hands but refused to put his feet anywhere near it!

He stayed on this chair for a long time...

On the other hand, our oldest loves the water and the sand and he

had no problem plopping right now in the middle of a pile of sand.

Do you think I'm an overly protective Mother? For goodness sake, the poor boy

can barely move in his neon green turtle floating bathing suit! No way

he's going to get lost on the beach!

We did get the little one to enjoy some pool time though...No icky sand around!

Just one of those cutie shots...

Can you see the look of agony on our baby's face? He appears to be pleading

with me to stop taking his picture...

This one cracks me up...The "please let me go" cry...

Ah, the pain and agony of being the little brother...

Stay tuned for details and photos from our stamping weekend and I'll also have a SALT creation to share later in the week!

SNR "Oh Say Can You See" 4th of July Blog Hop

CODE WORD: can do

Welcome to the Scrapbook News & Review "Oh, Say Can You See" 4th of July Blog Hop! WooHoo! Are you having as much fun as we are? If you landed here first, be sure to go back to the beginning of the Blog Hop so you don't miss any of the wonderful creations, tutorials, and/or blog candy offered by the talented ladies participating in the Hop!

**Prize alert**

When you visit each of the staff blogs during the Blog Hop you will find a code word.

Visit each blog and jot down the code words and see if you can figure out this famous quote.

Mail your answer to games@scrapbooknewsandreview.com before

Monday, July 6, 2009 (10 PM EST)

to be entered into a drawing for a FREE one year subscription to SNR!!

On with the show! Happy 4th of July!! I hope that you, your family and friends are having a wonderful weekend! We're enjoying a typical 4th celebration...a cookout with friends while we wait the arrival of fireworks (my favorite part!) I thought it might be fun to share some details on the history of July 4th and I found that History.com has a nice review on their site. This is the write up from their home page (you can follow the links below for more info), "Independence Day is more than a chance for family and friends throughout the country to gather for barbecues and fireworks displays, it is an annual celebration to commemorate the courage and faith of our founding fathers in their pursuit of liberty. "Uncover the history behind America's birthday and the sacrifices made by the extraordinary leaders who, at great personal risk, struggled to unite a young nation. Read the Declaration of Independence that laid down the foundation for the U.S. Constitution, endorsing the fundamental principles of freedom we still uphold to this day. " Now the card! I chose to work with non-traditional red, white, and blue colors. Something a bit more muted...and oh yeah, I had to throw in a splash of pale green. ;-) I also wanted to stick with a clean and simple layout, a form of stamping that I grow to love more each day. The supplies used for this card are from Stampin' Up!. The trail behind the star is a stamp from Unity Stamp Co. To get the type on the chipboard star, I stamped a sentiment onto white cardstock before adhering the star to the cardstock. I then simply cut out the star and sanded the edges. The "bumpy" green paper was created by running it through my Cuttlebug, using a "bubbles" (have no idea of the actual name!) embossing folder. I then flipped the paper over, displaying the indented side vs. the embossed side. I hope you enjoyed your stay at the Paperie Petals blog! Thank you so much for visiting! And now from here you're going to want to 'hop' on over to Suz Gray's blog to see what goodies she has cooked up for you this holiday weekend!

Happy Brithday Godelieve!

Today's card is a belated birthday wish for Godelieve! I adore Godelieve's work, not only is it truly beautiful but it is one of a kind! Godelieve's blog was one of the first blogs I stumbled upon when I started blogging and I can thank her for introducing me to Odd Bird Planet stamps! She is the OBP design queen! :-) My card was inspired by a card found in this month's CARDS magazine. Aren't the little pieces of ribbon an adorable touch? Thanks to Renee Morris-Dezember for this wonderful idea! This might just become a favorite technique for a quick, colorful card! Oh, and I also love stamping an image (with no coloring even!) on kraft paper! My paper and ribbon supplies are from Stampin' Up! and all stamps are from Odd Bird Planet. Godelieve, I hope that you had a wonderful birthday and am sending you best wishes for a blessed year!

Snapshots from Every Day Life

Remember the "smoke detector" incident? Yeah....it's still pretty fresh in our minds as we continue to experience nap and sleep issues with our youngest. (I think it's been something like six weeks...not that I'm keeping track or anything) At least we've been able to get him to stay in his bed but we have to promise, cross our hearts, and pinky swear, that we will not leave the office, which is located across the hall from his room. And last night, for the first time, he slept in his own bed until 6am...at which time he came screaming and running down the hallway into our room. Sigh... Interestingly, he shares a room with his brother and you'd think that being with someone else would comfort him. But as we leave his room each night he'll plead, "but I need somebody to tay with me." After a few nights of this, his brother said to him, "I'm with you! I'm not a nobody! I am somebody!" You gotta love that logical response from a five year old! Alas, it was of little comfort...so we looked for other solutions... One of them, which lasted about a week, was to provide him with some ear coverage to muffle any sounds. I'm pretty sure my ski headband (meant to keep one's ears warm when skiing) didn't do much to cut down on sounds but it seemed to ease his fears for awhile. I couldn't help sharing how darn cute he looks sleeping with that giant headband around his head! And if it fell off in his sleep, he woke up and put it back on! Talk about having a hard time not laughing as he stumbled into our room in the morning, bleary-eyed, sporting major bed head, and that thing wrapped around his little ears...precious.

He's given up the headband...probably a good thing as he'd most likely lose weight from how much he'd sweat with it on his head in the heat of summer, which BTW may never arrive here in rainy New England...I think this global warming thing is a scam because this afternoon I could see my breathe outside...in June...but that's a topic for another blog post... Ah, I hear the sounds of my weeping little one now so I'm off to do my motherly duty and comfort him...may he once again, one day, return to his normal sleeping habits...