A Gorgeous Day to be Joyful!!

Today is just a gorgeous fall day here in NY! Breezy and cool but with a snap of color! I LOVE fall!! I went to a Body Shop at Home party this afternoon with my daughter...now my feet feel OH SO PAMPERED!! I also got to 'hang' with my new friend Angie....we share a love of things crafty and she is a scrapbooking/stamping fan, too. She showed me her "pink room"....and I fell in love with it! I adore inspiration and her room was full of inspiring things...a bright window, feathers, jars of buttons and stuff and piles of ink...sigh. Just a wonderful space! I also shared my latest Bella card with her. Let me share it with you too!!!

Actually these are two cards using the same image and general layout. One I gave to my friend Ann with the card kit I gave her last week and one is for my friend Nikki....can you tell which friend prefers BLING?? (I am also sending her glittery earrings so the inside says: Every birthday girl deserves a little bling...I made that up! Tee hee!) One card used SU Palette o'Prints DP and the flowery DP is from Imagine That (Walmart). Both card's images are Loveybella and were received from one of my "bella sistahs". I used SU markers to color them both and then added glittery earrings and necklaces to them using my 'Gelly Roll STARDUST SILVER Pen' by Sakura. I LOVE that I can make her so adorable!

Speaking of adorable, my cat Ollie is meowing for attention right now and looks so picture perfect, I thought I'd snap a shot of her as well! Isn't she so fluffy and PRETTY!? Between she and my other cat, Grace, Ollie is my favorite :) She's also a big scaredy cat, so Grace tends to be the boss. Hey, I didn't teach her that!!! Yeah, I know what you're thinking!!

I also promised that I'd share a pic of my hubby in his canoe. Well here he is :) Isn't his solo canoe so PRETTY??
He is into his canoeing as much as I love my stamping, so while he's on the water, I'm at my table making cards and stamping images to swap. Makes for the perfect time to have time to ourselves. Then we can hang out for dinner or movies and have time together too!! Probably why we'll be celebrating 24 years of marriage next month! And if you thought stamping was an expensive hobby--for some of us anyhow ; ) -- try canoeing!


Well, friends, I must go!! I have some evaluations to write and some other school paperwork to finish! I trust the Lord is blessing you all today whereever you are! God is faithful to give us the desires of our hearts everyday we walk in His light! Have you talked to Him today? He loves you!!! And in ending this blog, I quote Em, Stampingbella herself---

MWAH!!!

Kim

PS As fun as this month has been, I'm looking forward to going green again...I can only take so much PINK!!! ;)

Joy in the new week!

Happy Sunday and happy new week! God has really been speaking to me this week and the message has been the same, "Be anxious for nothing!" It's not like I have a bunch of things to be anxious about, just the everyday little things...like my daughter's concussion in her soccer game, my hubby being away for a few days, my car's grinding noise (John says it's the brakes that need replacing) and stuff like that...really no big deals! But God wants me to be reminded again, for when life gives me lemons :) And God has been faithful in all things...He is sovereign!! Yeah! Imagine if I had to take care of everything in my own strength and power! Couldn't do it! I'd be a mess! But Jesus living in me makes me strong! And he can do the same for you! HE CAN!!

I don't have a card to share this day; my hubby took the camera on his canoeing gathering weekend...but maybe I can post one of him this week. I have been making cards with bella images I've received this week following the sketch of the card I made last week. They are all a little different, so I'll post the latest one soon. I also made a card kit for my friend Ann who will miss work due to surgery. She is a stamper, so I wanted to give her something to do. She is also a knitter, so I included knittabella and some sentiments in the kit...I can't wait to give it to her tomorrow!! Stamping really has blessed me as I bless others! How GOOD God is to give me such a happy, healthy addiction....yeah, I know, work on that addiction part. I will! Have a grand week, will ya??
K

Home today!

Another day off for me although there's no leaping! Kelsey got slammed to the ground in soccer last night and is home recovering from a mild concussion! Ouch!! So, I must keep busy with my blogging, right? Can't spend time worrying when God tells us to "be anxious for nothing"! She is just waking up now and feeling well enough to call her 'person of interest' to check in :)

While I'm here, I may as well add a card! This is for my friend Lizzie's birthday! She has been having a tough year and has a new job to cheer about....so a new card will perk her up, too!!

I wished for this embossed butterfly image from SU's Wonderful Wings set and my wish was granted from Wish RAK on SU Only orange cardstock. You can't really tell in the photo, but I used a bleaching technique on the wings of the butterfly. I also used Certainly Celery CS and designer paper from K and Company. The primas were wishes granted too!

I love stamping!

enJoying the Day!

Happy Columbus Day and Happy Thanksgiving to Canadian Friends! It's a beautiful weekend and I hope all of you are enjoying a day off and family time! We have a soccer game tonight with my daughter playing under the lights, which is always more exciting (plus the concessions usually have salt potatoes! YUM!).

Here's a card using CHF's Stamp of the Month for September. It's actually a birthday card for a friend, but it works for Thanksgiving, too....obviously!! :) I colored it like I used to in grade school....we always had a turkey with fall colored feathers! The background paper is actually for an adverstisement for our health insurance company! LOL! And behind the turkey, I used a piece of paper with the faux wood grain technique I learned on Splitcoast stampers. Cardstock is all SU Chocolate chip, twill tape and hodgepodge hardware is stampin' up as well. The leaf is actually from Walmart's Harvest holiday trim :) Isn't that turkey so CUTE?



It was world cardmaking day on Saturday, but I was at a craft show all day. I made up for it on Sunday evening though. I've been stamping some Stamping Bella stamps off for an image swap....Bellas are so fun and sassy and I love sharing them with online friends who love bellas, too! If you've never been to Em's Stamping bella site, check it out here! Below are some of my images I'm trading. Grumpabella is my favorite...although there are so many adorable ones!





I also made a card from an image that was sent to me. That's what I love about swapping images... you get to use a particular image even if you don't have the stamp itself!

This card is for my friend Betty's b'day. We are having a girl's only party on Thursday night. Betty has FIVE BOYS and she needs to be pampered! ;)




The image is Flowahbella and the designer paper is from SU's Palette o' Prints. I also received the Prima flowers from Wish RAK, a forum of Splitcoast stampers where you grant and receive image wishes! So fun! Of course, she has to be a redhead! (should I have added a little grey? Nah!)


Oh! I have to go! Soccer game!!

Enjoy the day!!

A great reason to LEAP!!! (a lot!)

It's been a really good week....a short school week for my students due to the holiday weekend, but so fun!! And we had a conference day today learning more about working with kids with autism in the public schools, and the speaker was great, so with that double reward, it went fast!! And the weather?? G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!! The fall colors are out and it is sunny and beautiful!!! It's supposed to be a great weekend overall

And my reason to leap?? I am a winner!!! (Well, yes, God's love and being His child makes me a winner everyday....but I mean, I won a contest!) If you are a stamper and you haven't yet visited Cornish Heritage Farms store and blog yet, you gotta!! This week, Liz had a 'treasure hunt' introducing a new line of Kim Hughes stamps...we visited blog and blog of their new designers (14 stops in all), collected clues and signed up for drawings to win FREE STAMPS!!! And I won one!! Yippeee!!!! You see, CHF has the most awesome backgrounder stamps at such GREAT prices!...I get mine unmounted and using an acrylic block, make awesome impressions...they are so versatile!! Here are my presently owned BGers (stamper's lingo for backgrounders) from CHF:

I already have 14 (um, yeah, a LITTLE obsessive!!) , and the stack of them is only 41/2 inches high!! So EASY to store! (That's how high 4 of my wood mounted BG stamps stack!) And then you only need one acrylic block for all of these; you just reuse the block over and over! Wanna see a card I made with one?










This card uses stamping Up's Friendship's Journey, but the BGer is CHF...Victorian Flower BG. So pretty!! This card is being sent out for a swap I'm taking part in on CHF's forum. Swaps are cool in that you send out and are sent four cards and you get to experience techniques, cool stamps and cards to give away or be inspired by...AND you get mail! How COOL is THAT?? Oh and now you know all that.....


Wanna see the CHF BG stamp I won?? Here it is!! This makes 15!! Love it!


The owners of CHF, Richard and Liz have a farm, which is out west...click here to read their blog...and Richard tells me that this is an image of an actual cheesecloth from some cheese they made on the farm!! Being a person who loves to learn stuff like that, I am so pleased to have a story to tell when I send a card made with the image :)

I love winning stamping stuff....feeds my obsession!!


I am also happy for this weekend to attend the Letchworth State Park Craft show....I live minutes from the "Grand Canyon" of the East and every year my mother in law Joyce and I go and wander and eat....so fun! The weather being so good, it will be crowded, so we are going early. Hopefully, I can post some pix of the leaves changing...still early yet for peak, but still PRETTY!

So hey, what are you all up to this weekend?? Hope it's special! Feel free to comment on my blogs....I'm going to try to post more regularly and maybe sometime soon post some blog candy!! Wouldn't that be a blast?

Be well and blessed this week! God is faithful! Be sure to pray for our soldiers and our president and other government leaders this week! If we don't, who will???

Joyfully Going pink

Hey, even a redhead like me can appreciate the need to go pink once in awhile!! In support of women everywhere who have battled this dreaded disease and gone on to triumph in life or be healed in God's hands, I am keeping my blog pink all month!! Your job?? Learn more about breast cancer and how you can be involved in helping to eradicate the enemy!! and if you have a blog, check out this site and GO PINK!! http://pinkforoctober.org/