Our Halloween Costumes

Well, aren't we the devilish couple? Dennis went as Hellvis......notice how he HAD to pose with the Elvis snarl!!! The original plan was for me to go as an angel. I then went through the costume bin and found DD's old devil girl wig. I HAD AN IDEA!!! I went as an angel who couldn't make up her mind if she wanted to be good or bad.

So, this is how we answered the door.....with strobe lights, fog machines, spooky music, hanging plastic rats, spiders and cob webs. Yes, we are the Halloween freaks of the neighborhood. We are also the favorite house on the block (the kids tell us that....I'm not making it up)!!!


Anyway, I just wanted to show you what we looked like.

I hope everyone had a GREAT Halloween!!!

Happy Stamping everyone!!!

Did You Hear the News?

Stampin' Up! surprised everyone with a great limited time only special. From now until November 3rd, the fabulous Wishing You Cheer stamp set is now 20% off. If you are interested in purchasing this adorable snowman stamp set, send me an email. I would love to help you out!!!!!

Today is the third birthday celebration this week. My loving husband turned 40 on Wednesday, a family friend turned 7 yesterday, and today is my wonderful mom's b'day. Can you believe she is only 29? Wow, I don't know how she does it.....LOL!!!! We are going out to lunch at Olive Garden (Mom loves it there) then back to my parents' house for cake and watching football games.

It's another beautiful Fall day here in MN......the air is crisp, the sun is shining!!!! DH is so sweet....he is busily working on my kitchen tile backsplash. I will post a pic when it is done. It is looking SO amazing!!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday. Happy Stamping everyone!!!

Sick Today!!!

I apologize....I don't have a project to post today. I am not feeling so well today.....stomach, head, who knows what it is?

Anyway, I'm resting up so I can get busy with some stamping tomorrow!!!

Hope all is well with all my readers!!!

Happy Stamping everyone!!!

Life Lesson Learned!!

Okay, I do not have a stamping project to post today. I just finished making one, but it is so dark out now that the lighting on the picture won't be right. So, I will take a picture and post it in the morning.

So what's the life lesson learned? You know back in the days before digital photography when we actually had our film developed. You remember, right? Oh my!!! For the past two days I have been sorting and filing pictures that were thrown in big Sterilite tubs before we moved last year. I know, if I labeled all my envelopes and put them in photo boxes as they were developed, I would not be in such a predicament. I have one big box done. The other box has been labeled but yet to be filed in the photo boxes. I guess I can now start scrappin' some of these older pictures!!!

Well, I definitely learned my lesson.

Happy October 1st. Did you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month? If you are due for your mammogram, please call and schedule your appointment today!!!

I am holding a Holiday Stamp-a-Stack this weekend. Part of the class fee and 50% of my proceeds from any order placed this weekend will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Fund. If you wish to attend, please click on the "email me" button below my picture. The spaces are filling up quickly!!! I hope to see you there!!!

Happy Stamping Everyone!!!

I've Been Tagged

Emily Weems tagged me......so it here it goes!!!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Bridget Odyssey
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Oreo
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) P-CHE (love it....peachy)
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Purple Dog
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Che-Pa
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Pink Margarita
7. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Donald Bernard
8. STRIPPER NAME : ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Beautiful Snickers
9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Ann Louis

I think everybody and their mother (does anyone else use that saying???) has been tagged. If you have not been tagged yet, I declare that you have now been tagged by ME. Have fun!!!!

Happy Stamping Everyone!!!

I'm Still Here!

Happy Thursday everyone!! Sorry that I haven't posted in a few days, but I've been swamped here. I have been designing and prepping for a "Terrific Tags" class being held in Mankato tonight. I will take a picture of the tags once I get my digital camera back from my brother. They came out really cute if I do say so myself.

My other big project is setting up our Halloween village. Dennis painted our living room a gorgeous cranberry color. It took longer than expected as it required 4 coats (not including the gray primer coat) in order to get even coverage. It now looks amazing!!! So, now the building of the village scene is highest on the agenda. We're starting fresh this year......cutting styrofoam, painting, drybrushing......it's a lot of work, but it looks so cool when it's done. I have to make a Michael's run today to pick up some floral pins so I can build the waterfall. The plan is to construct a waterfall using clear silicone caulking, Saran wrap, low temp hot glue and some glow in the dark green paint. I am trying to mimic the awesome waterfall created by the designers at the Dept. 56 flagship store at the Mall of America. If you are in the vicinity, you should really check out this store. Their displays are PHENOMENAL.

I hope everyone has a great day. The weather here in MN is gorgeous.....70s and sunny. The weekend is supposed to be near 80. I think we'll turn on the pool heater and get some last minute swim time in before the pool gets closed up on Sept 29th. That is such a sad day because it only means that cold weather is on it's way.

Happy Stamping Everyone!!!

Happy Monday Morning!!!

Happy Monday!!! I don't have any projects to show this morning. I have BIG plans to stamp later on this afternoon. As always, the weekend just flew by. Most of it was spent staining and poly-ing all of our new windows. My fingers ache. My nail girl is gonna fly into a hissy fit when she sees what my acrylics look like. Good thing I don't understand vietnamese. I might get offended as she starts yelling at me....LOL!!!

I have a very busy week. I have a workshop to prepare for on Friday. Hi Marlene.....can't wait!!!! I also have my "Fabulous Fall" stamp camp on Sunday. If you are in the Chaska, MN area and want to make some FABULOUS projects, send me an email. There is a link to my email a little below my picture. I would love to have you attend my class. The fee for the class is $20!!!!

Life gets busy this week......dance kicks in to high gear, school curriculum nights, etc..... It's amazing how lazy we get over the summer.....just hanging by the pool, staying up late, sleeping in. THEN, all of a sudden, Labor Day hits and R-E-A-L-I-T-Y sets in......alarm clocks set for a number that starts with 6, homework, busy evening schedules.....UGH!!!

Well, I promise to stamp something today. I will upload one of the projects later. I'll make it a really good one, okay? I have some new goodies coming tomorrow.....yeah!!! I can't wait to play with some NEW rubbah!!! I also have a few personal cards to make this week. My nephew turns 7 this week. Unbelievable!!! Happy Birthday kiddo!!! Aunt Patti loves you a TON!!!

I hope everyone takes some time out of the craziness of September life to stamp a project today.

Happy Stamping everyone!!!!

The Kids are Off to School!!!

I can't believe the summer is over!!! My kids start school today. Amanda had full intentions of getting up at 5:30am to start getting ready. She must've slammed that "alarm off" button pretty darn quick because her sorry butt didn't get out of bed until I told her it was 5:51am. She was done early so she definitely does not need to set her alarm that early. Christopher got up on his own, and as usual, he was ready way before he needed to be.

It's very weird to be child-less again. I have to run some errands, but I definitely have some stamping time planned today!!! I am still recovering from last night's Foreigner/Styx/Def Leppard concert.

Foreigner was amazing. They are really the reason I went to this concert in the first place. The new lead singer (replaced Lou Graham) looked and moved like Steve Tyler from Aerosmith, but he sounded just like Lou Graham. They were incredible....did not disappoint.

Styx sounded great too. I was never a huge Styx follower so I couldn't sing along constantly like I did with Foreigner. I knew the choruses and some of the more famous songs. I kept cracking up through this concert because the keyboardist acted just like Austin Powers. His keyboard could spin and he would play and gyrate when the keyboard was behind him. He is very talented, but he is also quite stuck in the 70's/80's.

Def Leppard was another matter. The playing of the music was fantastic. The new lead guitarist (previously played for Dio and Whitesnake) was phenomenal. Joe Elliot, the singer, was TERRIBLE. All those years of drug and alcohol abuse have taken a toll on his voice and body. You could hardly hear him. He often made the audience sing the choruses because his voice couldn't hold out. During some of the songs ("Animal", for example), we couldn't figure out what song it was until he sang the chorus. Yes, it was that bad. Several years ago, my brother told me he was lip-synching during his tours. Towards the middle of the concert, there were many of us that were hoping they would "flip the switch" to put us out of our misery. Oh well, enough about my concert experience last night. Overall, it was a great time. I was glad to spend time with my husband and my brother. The three of us haven't been to a concert together in a LONG time!!!

Like I said, I will try to post one of my creations later on. I have a bunch of errands to run today!!!!

Happy Stamping everyone!!!

Happy Birthday Amanda!!!

Today my baby turns 13. I feel SO old. I now have two teenagers in the house. Yes, I can feel all your sympathy!!! LOL!!!

This picture was taken about 4 months ago....in the car....right after having her braces removed. She would freak if she knew I was using this picture for her b'day announcement.

I would take a picture of her today, but she is having a "teen moment". You see, she bought these new spiral hair curlers at Claire's yesterday. Yup, you guessed it, hair is now too curly......"Mom, you put them in wrong".......ah, the joy of having a teenage girl!!!!

Well, Amanda, I give you all my love...today and always!!! Happy 13th birthday sweetheart!!!

Love, Mom

We are Fine!!

I woke up this morning to several IMs and emails making sure we weren't affected by the I-35 MN bridge collapse. We are fine, and as far as I know, all of our family and friends are okay as well. It is mindboggling to see the devastation of this bridge collapse. I know there will be more bad news today since it is now a recovery effort. Please keep the families of the victims in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks again for your concern!!! Give your family some extra hugs today because you just never know............

Off I Go!

Well, it's off to Convention I go......yeah!!! I will post updates to my blog while I am gone, but I will not be posting pics as I am not bringing my laptop with me. I will post pics when I return this weekend.

Have a great week!!!

Happy Stamping!!

What a weekend!!

Wow! What an emotional roller coaster. Any Harry Potter "freak" will sympathize with me. You see, I have been spending most of time engrossed in that 7th book. I laughed, I cried (quite a few times), and now I am sad to say that I have finished reading the final book of the series.

Now that the book is finished, I really have to get my butt in gear to leave for SU Convention early Wed morning. I have about 10 more swaps to go to be ready for an upline dinner swap, my gifts are made for my friends and then it's off I go.....Denver for 5 days!!!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I am SO ready for a nap!!! I think I will try to steal an hour for some shut eye!!!

Happy Stamping!!

Getting Ready for Convention

I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first? Okay, I'll give the good news first. I really did A LOT of stamping today!!!! The bad news? I can't show it to any of you yet!

You see, I've been working on my SU Convention swaps. I will take pics and post them next week after I return from Convention. It's hard to believe that a bunch of stamping crazed women (ok, some guys too) are all piled into one place. The energy is amazing!!!

I also have my Christmas in July stamp camp tomorrow. So, I prepared all my projects for that. I will try to post a project tomorrow.

Happy Stamping!!

Back from Vacation!!

I am back from a ten day vacation to NY. We moved to MN from NY last August. It was so great to see all our friends and family who we have missed terribly over the past year. I apologize for not leaving posts, but there was absolutely NO network connectivity at my mother-in-law's house.

All of my new catalog goodies arrived while I was gone, so I think a blister on my finger is imminent. I just have to figure out which stamp set I want to play with first. My bet is "Big on Christmas".

I have a Christmas in July stamp camp scheduled for July 19th. If you live in the Twin Cities area and would like to attend, feel free to email me!!! Space is limited!!! If you wear a Santa hat, you will get a special prize from me!!! The fee for the class is $20.00.

Oh well, I will post a project later on in the afternoon. I have to take DD to the ortho as she left her retainer in a napkin in NY. Ugh!!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

I've been tagged!!!!

I've been tagged for the first time (thanks Jen). Here are the rules:

• I must post 7 random things about me
• Tag 7 other bloggers to do the same.
• Post rules and the bloggers I tagged here.
• Leave tagged bloggers comments on their site so they know they've been tagged.

Here goes 7 facts about myself:

• I turn the BIG 4-0 tomorrow!!!!
  
• The idea of getting a pedicure kinda freaks me out!!
  
• I will watch Alien vs. Predator and The Cave over and over (and admit they are totally stupid movies)
  
• My stamping goal this year is to get my name out there in the community and hopefully gain new customers.
  
• I have 2 kids and 1 golden retriever.
  
• I've been married to my best friend for 17 years, and I'm still happy!!!
  
• I love to cook!!!!

Now I need to tag 7 bloggers:
Diane: http://stampwithdiane.blogspot.com/
Laurie: http://justgivemestamps.typepad.com/
Andrea: http://andreawalford.com/
Heather: http://pinefeather.typepad.com/pine_is_here/
Kimmie: http://kraftinkimmieskorner.blogspot.com/
Jenn: http://www.thecraftystamper.typepad.com/
Alesha: http://aleshawalls.blogspot.com/

A Really Cute Card!

Okay, I promised you a really cute card. I made it, honest!!!! I just can't upload it because my stupid little USB thingy broke. I don't know where the cables are to upload directly from the digital camera. So, this weekend I will head out to Best Buy to purchase a new USB thingy (don't ya just love how technical I am about digital photography?)..

Will you still love me if I describe the new card? It uses Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Very Vanilla and Basic Black. It combines three different stamp sets: Unfrogettable (now you know why it's green), All About U and Polka Dots and Petals.

You have to trust me that it is really adorable. I PROMISE I will upload it here as soon as I rip the little USB thingy out of it's package!!!

Happy Friday and Happy Stamping!!!

The New Catalog is Here!

Yesterday was quite comical!! I knew my catalogs were coming via UPS. So, I basically did everything I could to keep myself busy until 2:30pm. I watered the lawn, vacuumed, dusted.....basically everything but stamp (that's why there's no card posted today....sorry!!!). Anyway, I finally jump in the shower and guess who comes to the door? Mr. UPS man.....with my brand new beautiful catalogs!!! DD is also in the shower, and it is our tradition to go through the catty together. So, I bang on the bathroom door telling her to hurry up because THEY are here. I throw some gel in my hair so it's not a totally bad hair day. DD and I then proceed to go through the new catty.....drooling over all the new goodies!!!

So what caught my eye in this new catty?

1. The layout itself is amazing. Kudos to the graphic designers.....it is so much easier to read and find things!!!

2. The samples are amazing. Yes, there are cards, but there are also TONS of gift project ideas in there. How many times have I spent $15 on an idea book that is disappointing? The idea book costs $9.95, has tons of great papercrafting ideas, the recipes for all those ideas and oodles of new goodies for me to play with!!

3. My favorite stamp sets:
Christmas - "Big on Christmas" - so cute, big words with a character for one of the letters
Floral - "A Beautiful Life" - a stunning daffodil set
Whimsical - "Garden Whimsy" - butterflies, snails, ladybugs.......so cute!!!
Useful - "Calendar" - oh the possibilities to make your own little calendars
Greetings - "Wonderful Favorites" - a great set for anyone on your cardmaking list
Background - "Sanded" - looks like it was sanded with a sanding block in both directions

4. The new accessories are incredible.......textured 12x12 cardstock, new In Colors, Pretties Kit (with dyeable flowers, pearls, rhinestones), Crop-o-dile, all the new punches!!!!

I hope all of you have an opportunity to caress a catalog of your very own!! I am sure you will find your own list of treasures!!!

I will try to stamp a card later tonight to post for tomorrow!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

My DH and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary yesterday. I can't believe that it has been 17 years already!!! Time just flies when you're having fun (okay, i'll admit that it's not always fun but that's what makes marriage exciting). I can honestly say that I married my best friend, and I look forward to every moment that we spend together!!

Since DD had her dance recital last night, Dennis and I had our date on Friday night. We went to dinner at Maggiano's and then we headed to St. Paul to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul 2 Soul concert. It was AMAZING!!!! We had incredible seats....we could actually see their faces and expressions. Faith looked gorgeous, of course. It gives you goosebumps to listen to them singing together.....it's like the thousands of fans aren't there and they are lost in themselves.

Minnesota AIDS Project

Today, Amanda (my amazing daughter) and I walked 6.2 miles benefiting the Minnesota AIDS Project. Amanda's favorite teacher organized the team. Together, the team raised over $3300 to benefit those people suffering with HIV and AIDS. The weather wasn't the greatest....it was chilly and it rained on us several times, but it was a great feeling to have people on the sidelines cheering us on as we walked. Poor Amanda is now suffering from some wicked blisters (she had to wear sneakers a size too small....she left her good ones in her gym locker). The best part of the day: crossing that finish line knowing that we made a difference in someone else's life!!!

I will definitely stamp a project tomorrow!!! I am now in my jammies resting my feet!! I have no energy to go downstairs and stamp right now....sorry!!!