Spring Break 2011 - Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee!

We spent the week of Spring Break 2011 in Gatlinburg, Sevierville (Severe ville) and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee which are all right in the Smoky Mountains!
I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!!!!

Here's a view of the outside of our timeshare... the property was gorgeous!!!

Here's the view off our back porch... look down, there's a stream!

Here' the inside view of our cabin in the woods. All the modern conveniences, but SO beautiful in the mountains!!!
I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!!!!!

Here's my husband... we drove through here every day... even in the spring with the trees just starting to get their leaves, it was SO pretty!!

The Great Smoky Mountains. It had rained that morning, and we canceled plans to go into N. Carolina - but instead drove up to Clingman's Dome that day. It was TOO foggy to see anything!!!

OH, the waterfalls!!!! The were everywhere! Driving along the road it was a surprise to look over, and there was a waterfall just back in a little recessed area.

This is a place called "The Sinks". It's very dangerous, so no swimming! It was a really amazing place for listening to the water, and taking pictures. Why is it called The Sinks? Because on the left, where the water drains from the stream, there's a huge hole... a meander, and then the stream makes a 90 degree turn!

Another view of The Sinks...

OH! Another waterfall!
I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!! AND WATERFALLS!!! :)

I walked a long distance for this one down the road... it was WAY back, and this is even a telephoto shot!
I LOVE WATERFALLS!




I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!!! (Have I said that yet??)

Here we are, trying to get to Clingman's Dome - it was closed! The first day we drove up, we found out that it was closed... but couldn't see anything because of the fog. The 2nd time we drove up, we found out that it was closed until March 31st!!! We were too early! :(


This is a picture of Cades Cove. It's an 11 mile drive right in the midst of the Smokies...

He never moved!!! We took the picture, and drove past him... and a family drove right near and took a picture with the kids in the foreground...


Well, here I am! One of the FEW pictures I like of myself....
I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!!!!!

We spent one day in N. Carolina at the Biltmore... what an AMAZING place! It was totally worth it... Thanks to Dad for allowing me to have his Audio tour! It wouldn't have been the same without it!!!
You can see my parents in this picture... the are walking towards the mansion/castle.. in a blue coat, and brown/white vest.

Here they are! Mom wanted to go to this restaurant called Bullfish. Food was GREAT! Service was FANTASTIC!!

I'm so happy they are able to come with us on our trips.


Your comments are always appreciated!

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The Liebster Blog Award!!

The Liebster Blog award is given to bring new blogs to light. It's a great way to share blogs that might not otherwise be seen or ones you want to share with others.

As a recipient you must share the love and pay it forward by:

1. Creating a post where you blog about the Liebster award & reveal your 3 - 5 blog picks.
2. Let them know you chose them
3. Copy & paste the blog award on your blog
4. Have faith that your followers will rally & show their crafty love back out to those you awarded
5. Have fun !

I am pleased to honor 3 - 5 others to bring awareness to other wonderful blogs!

1. Sonya at Appel Quilling Garden
2. Shirley at Okieladybug's Scrap N' More
3.Mary at Kreates Kards

Please check these sites out and give them some love. Their blogs are full of creativity and talent. Thank you all for sharing this talent and giving me inspiration.

Sue V.

Your comments are always appreciated!

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Branson Regional Stampin' Up Swap Card!

This is the swap card I made for today's Stampin' Up Regional Event in Branson, MO! I ended up with 53 of them! I can't wait to see what the other demonstrators have for swapping!

I used two stamp sets, and only 4 inks for this card!
Stamp Sets:
Awash with Flowers
Thanks for Caring (2011 Occasions Mini)
Ink:
Concord Crush
Regal Rose
Wild Wasabi marker for the leaves
Going Grey for the flowers.
Punches/Dies:
Sizzix Embossing Folder; Framed Tulips
Sizzix Top Note Die
Decorative Label Punch
Ribbon:
Victoria Crochet Trim 5/8 "
Stampin' Dimensionals
Glue Dots

The flowers are stamped with the Concord Crush and Regal Rose inks, and the Sympathy piece punched with the Decorative Label is double inked with both colors.

Your comments are always appreciated!

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Five Question Friday!! - February 18, 2011

1. Have you worn the same outfit more than one day in a row?
Yes, I have. 1. Only when the clothes are clean, and 2. Only when I'm doing something completely different from the day before. :)

2. If you had to choose any LARGE city to live in, which would it be?
HOUSTON, TX!! I lived there for 2 years, 2004 to 2006, and LOVED it! So many activities... Broadway shows, top restaurants, AWESOME Chinese food, lots of cultural activities, and the traffic, but that never bothered me. :)

3. Fly or drive with the kids on vacation?
Drive! When I was a kid, we always drove for vacations, and now, though we have no kids of our own, we still drive everywhere in the states.

4. What is your idea of "spring cleaning"?
Hmmmmm 1. Clean all the windows; inside and out (one story house). 2. Wipe down all the blinds with a weak bleach solution. 3. Run the Kirby with the shampoo attachments around the areas that need some deep cleaning. 4. Sort through boxes and make donations to Goodwill - get rid of things we haven't used/don't need. 5. Vacuum the mattresses.

5. What is the best book you have ever read?
The Mummy by Anne Rice I can't tell you the number of times I've read this book.
Wait Til Helen Comes - a children's book I always read to my classes... it's a ghost story, and they LOVE it!

Your comments are always appreciated!
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Two Requested Baby Cards

Hey there!! Here I am, still snowbound in Okielandia!! SO many days with schools closed, and I'm just happily playing around my craft room.

When Mom was here in December with our yearly calendar project, she had a chance to look through some of the cards we made during club this year, and LOVED the quilted card. Click HERE for the link to the original card. Not so strange that she'd love it since her thing is making actual quilts (and winning awards for them).

Since she had a shower to attend in April, she requested one card of each.. a girl and a boy card. With Sale-A-Bration going on, I was able to get the baby bear stamp set free, and found some very pretty pink shaded and blue shaded papers in the catalog. I also got the Welcome Baby tag as part of another Sale-A-Bration set!

I love it when a plan comes together!!! LOL

SO, here are my 2 cards, with views of the insides as well.

I used Pretty in Pink cardstock, Lap of Luxury DSP, White Organza ribbon for the bow, the Top Note Die, and the stamp from the Punch Bunch set in the Sale-A-Bration catalog. I also embossed the edges of the card with Framed Tulips. Both cards carry this detail; The Top Note quilt piece was embossed with the Swiss Dots folder, Going Grey marker to make stitches, and Champagne Mist to make the quilted piece sparkle.


The inside of the card is a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock clipped on the corners with the Scallop trip border and inked with Pretty in Pink. The bear is colored in pinks and burnished in Creamy Caramel(ret.) and Close to Cocoa(ret.).


Here's the boy card - very similar to the girl card, except with Pacific Point cardstock, Blueberry Crisp DSP, white satin ribbon colored with Pacific Point ink.


Since it was a card for a little boy, I made it a little less fussy - the bear is colored with shades of blues, and burnished with the same colors as above.

I'm not really into the Build-a-Bear anything... but I saw this stamp set, and knew with all the babies coming up, this would be just perfect in cards!!!

Your comments are always appreciated!

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Sympathy Card

I found out this afternoon that a lady that did me a great favor many years ago passed this past Saturday.

I put this card together for her son and daughter-in-law. They were high school classmates I see infrequently, and I wanted them to know how much I appreciated her gift to me.



inside the folded over Top-Note die, I wrote a message for my classmates.


SO many details on this card! I used two Sympathy stamp sets from Stampin' Up, the Build-a-Blossom stamp set from SU, Diamond Stickles, a damask embossing folder (Sizzix), the Top Note die from SU, and an old corner punch I've had for quite a long time.

Ink colors used: Concord Crush, Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango.
Markers: Barely Banana, Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal.
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Almost Amethyst, Concord Crush, and a SU envelope

Your comments are always appreciated!

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Cards for Soldiers 1/8 to 1/28

The theme for this Cards for Soldiers was 'Scrap your Stash'... with blues, greens, and purples since we already finished and got our Valentine's cards out.

I have these finished, but since we're snowbound here, I'm not sure when they'll get in the mail! They'll go out as soon as possible for sure!!

I really LOVE the happy birthday cut, and the cupcake just went perfectly with the background papers I had, so here again we have similar cards.






Your comments are always appreciated!

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Stampin' Up Club Cards - January 2011!

Even though I've now become a Stampin' Up demonstrator, my upline Kathy is still allowing me to come to the monthly club. YAY!! She's always got great ideas for us... and we have a great time!

Here are the cards we made for January. New fun stamp sets, and lots of great techniques!

Click on her name to email her and find out about GREAT Stampin' Up deals and product!





Your comments are always appreciated!

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2 Parties in One Day!!!

TWO parties in one day!! I think that's more than we've gone to in the past year! :)

The first one was a 2 year old's birthday party, which his Mama commissioned this banner. I used the Winter Woodlands cartridge for the lettering, ran them upside down through my Xyron, used my new (thank goodness I ordered it!) black Cosmo Stampin' Up glitter for each letter, then ran them back through the Xyron again to adhere to the banner. It wasn't difficult by far, but time consuming! WHEW!

Why these particular colors?? The party was themed for kids (obviously) with one of Ryker's favorite cartoons... Yo Gabba Gabba. After Shawnda showed me the characters, I tried to match the background papers to the characters.

:) Definitely worth it. She's a great friend that really appreciates my 'stuff'!!



Here's a closeup of one of the letters... the glitter showed up pretty well!!


Ryker's Momma is crazy for cupcakes... so here's the card I made for his 2nd birthday. It's from the Create a Critter cartridge.

I'm so excited to say that I FINALLY found a Happy Birthday cut on the Cricut I really like! I'll be using this one often, for sure!!


So later in the afternoon, we attended my husband's boss's Retirement Party. It was very well put together, and I was happy to finally meet him! Every time I went to the office, he was either busy on the phone or not there. They had a great PowerPoint over his years of service, and though I only had a hint that he liked to fish, I found out at the party that he REALLY LOVES to go fishing!!! This card turned out just perfectly!!!



After finally figuring out the Easel card technique, I really like it! It's a card, but also a nice display to look at!

Your comments are always appreciated!

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Valentine Cards for 2011

Here's a few of the Valentine cards I made as samples for our Valentine Stamp Camp. One of the sets is on special until just this next week (January 24th, 2011). It's a great special with the stamp set, patterned paper, and a set of free bitty buttons with purchase.

The following cards use a selection of stamps from the Filled with Love set that's featured in the sale. This set has lots of versatility for Valentine cards, Wedding cards, Anniversary cards, etc.









This Love set comes from the current catalog - Love You Much.




This new stamp set comes from the new Occasions Mini, and is called "Valentine Defined". It's got so many parts to the set... SO cute!!


I really love the bleeding hearts piece from this set! It colors easily with the markers, and stamps GREAT!!


This card uses the same "Valentine Defined" set, but I re-purposed an easel card base for this! LOVE the grass with heart tops! :) I also stamped that on the envelope for this card.




This stamp and punch combo is one of my all time favorites!!! It's called Build a Blossom. You absolutely want to get the two as a set!


Click on over to my Demonstrator site on the right to find these stamp sets! **If you order the clear stamps, don't forget the blocks! I can help you with the sized you'll need!Thanks so much for looking!!

Your comments are always appreciated!
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Husband's Checkbook Cover

I'm not sure how many of you are aware that my husband (who spoils me quite well) does not support my hobby of stamping and Cricut paper cutting.
He's not violent, but he does like to yell sometimes about it.

Imagine my complete shock when he REQUESTED.... yes, there it is again, requested a checkbook cover after he saw the one I made for my dad!

He's got a good collection of cowboy boots since he dresses western style most of the time, and he did find me when I was living in Texas!!!

Here's the checkbook cover I made for him.


**and a closeup of the front.


Your comments are always appreciated!

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Valentine Stamp Camp

This is one of the two projects I presented at the Valentine Stamp Camp we had this past Friday evening. Kathy, Robin and I each had one card and one project for our group to make. It's a take off on a wedding card I like to make.

This card uses the new Love Letterpress, white embossing powder, and 4 punches. It also uses Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, and Riding Hood Red cardstock. The inkpads for this project are Riding Hood Red, Versamark, and Bravo Burgundy.

It opens to an area for the sender to write a message, but closes for everyone to view the card, but only the recipient to read the sentiment.




This was my first project as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator. Our card club is pretty advanced in techniques, and everyone seemed to really like it. We got some wonderful comments.

Your comments are always appreciated!
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They MUST Have Been Cold!

So I just have to show off my very cute, adorable, 'mostly' cuddly kitties.

It's not really so strange to find Hank and Sandy curled up together, now that Sandy's a bit older, and they've worked out their pecking order, it's not really so strange.


BUT!!! To find the baby (Witchy Poo) curled up with the two older kitties... now, it MUST have been pretty cold to find them doing that!! Especially since Hank just screams... very loudly when the baby gets near him!


Notice the very smart Hankie keeps his eyes closed when the camera flashes so he doesn't get 'shot' in the eyes... the other two dumb bunnies haven't figured that out yet.

But I do love them!!!!!

What kitties I have!! :)

That Witchy Poo is a cuddler!! He cuddles up with me, Hankie (when he's not screaming, hissing, or growling at the baby), Sandy, and even my husband. He's a good cuddle baby!


Your comments are always appreciated!

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Five Question Friday!! - January 14, 2011

1. What movie could you watch over and over again and not get tired of?

LOVE this question!!
Pride and Prejudice 1995, Colin Firth; I watch it every weekend, holidays when I'm not working, and when I'm crafting. This has been going on since at least 2008. NO, I don't have a problem! :)
Xanadu - 198?, Olivia Newton-John; My sister and I watched this almost every day after school for a LONG time! Every once in awhile I'll get out the DVD.
James Bond - From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, etc. etc. Gotta LOVE the Bond marathons!

2. What's your biggest pet peeve right now?

People that don't keep their word. Seems so easy for people to tell you they're going to do something, and then just forget, or make an excuse. Granted, some excuses are valid, but some are just lame.

3. If you had to describe your best friend in five words or less, what would you say?

She is fun, smart, generous & kind.

4. If you did not have to worry about money or go to school what would you do for a living?

I'd be a philantropist... I'd help people, and spend my days crafting and shopping. I'd also be cooking in some capacity. I'd also see what I could do about helping the kitties... finding homes, making sure they're taken care of. I'd also travel - a Travel Blog?? What FUN that would be!!

5. What is your one "splurge" item, that you will always buy, no matter the cost?

Kitchen Toys!!! That's what my husband calls them ;) I got 2 new 'toys' for Christmas... an electric fry pan, another AeroGarden since my first one died, and I just got at attachment for my Kitchen Aid! I know, some people won't understand, but I'm having WAY too much fun playing in my kitchen!

Your comments are always appreciated!

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