Happy Thoughts

Today is the first day of school for my boys. It's hard to believe Benjamin is now a sophomore in high school and Nicholas is in the 7th grade!

Today is also my husbands birthday - Happy Birthday George!

CASEing Mary Brown again!

Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Stamp Set: Hello, Doily!, Field Flowers

Ink Pads: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso

Accessories: Big shot, baby and Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Rhinestone Jewels

Tomorrow is the LAST day to order from the Occasions Mini Catalog and the last day to take advantage of Stampin' Up!'s August promotion - BUY 3 GET 1 FREE Designer Series Paper.

Place your orders online from the convenience of your own home, right HERE.

After today it's all about Halloween, Fall and Christmas with the new Holiday Mini Catalog!

That is one of the best parts about being a demonstrator -preorder from the new Mini Catalogs. *Ü* I've had my Holiday mini catalog and my new stuff for a month and can't wait to show you what I've been up to!!

With the fall holidays upon us, this is a great time to start a Stampin' Up! business, or even get the discount for yourself! E-mail me at yasou@cableone.net if you would like info on my Inking Everything team!

Framed Frankie

Playing with some new Halloween things!

Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Basic Black, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Frame It, Spooky Bingo Bits,Distressed Dots
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Old Olive Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Versamark, Clear Embossing Powder, Black Brads, Window Sheet, Old Olive Marker, Frightful Sight Designer Series Paper

Don't forget this months great special. It ends Wednesday!

Stampin' Up!'s August promotion is the BUY 3 GET 1 FREE!

Who doesn't love free stuff? With the upcoming holidays creating so many stamping opportunities, this is the sale for you!

Promotion Details: During August, you will get a FREE package of Designer Series Paper when you buy three! It is the perfect time to stock up on all your favorites, including brand-new designs from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog.

Place your orders online from the convenience of your own home, right HERE.

My Northern Idaho Friends

Remember when I flew to Moscow, Idaho over Mother's Day weekend to demonstrate for a group of demonstrators there? We had so much fun, they decide to take a road trip to Boise. It's probably because Diane has moved here and they wanted to see her...but I'm sayin' they came to see ME! *Ü*

From left to right: Darcie, Julie, Patty, Diane and Tonya

Diane hosted it at her house plus served up quite a smorgasbord for lunch! I'm not showing you the projects we made just yet. I'm sharing them with my downline first as they were exclusive projects for them. After that I will change them to Halloween theme projects and will share them with all of you.

After we got done stamping, we had a card swap and a 3D swap. So fun!!

Darcie's card and 3D swap. She had a beautiful necklace inside each pillow box for each of us.

Julie's swap was a 3D with mini cards inside. SO cool!! She said she has instructions. I will edit this posting when she gets them to me. I want them too!!!

Patty's card swap and 3D. Love those smores with the flat marshmallows!! The box is two of the Box #2 die-cuts glued back to back.


Diane went Christmas with her card swap and I guess since she served lunch she thought she didn't have to participate in the 3D swap! She gave us pretty reusable shopping bags though - that worked Diane!

Tonya's card swap and 3D. This card is really pretty with my favorite Flower Fusion die-cut!

Thanks so much ladies! I loved getting together again!!

The Last Summer Vacation

Ahhh...it's so nice to be home! I love traveling but I really love coming home.

From Jackson Hole we headed past the beautiful, but kind of hazy on this day, Grand Teton mountains on our way to Yellowstone National Park.

Old Faithful. Even though she wasn't too big today at the noon blast, it's still so cool!

Driving around the park looking for animals and sure enough we found them. I asked George to pull over so the kids could take a closer look...

...and look who was laying in the parking space in the parking lot!

We stopped at most of the the geysers and usual stomping grounds we love so much. A lot of the painted pots were dried up! Kind of sad to see the climate changes affect the park.

I love walking behind my guys. Every year I snap a shot of them and frame it to see how much they've grown. We've been doing this since Nicholas was born and over George's shoulder and Benjamin was still walking with his arm around the inside of his leg. I miss those days. *Ü*

This is the lower falls from the top. See that microscopic spot in the middle...that is the bottom. We hiked down to the bottom of it and back up again with the boys. Nicholas was insistent on going and I had on flip flops but being the supermom I am by golly, I did it and lived to tell you about it! Those boys will never be able to say 'Mom wouldn't do it'! And surprisingly, no blisters from the flip flops and no sore legs even 2 days later! Yeah me!!

After the hike...see, I made it! Oh and did I mention I it was 90 degrees outside and the water was in the car? Ok, I'm almost done complaining about it..

Elk getting a drink in the river.

Yellowstone and Jackson Hole are such breathtaking places, we absolutely love visiting there. I guess that is one great thing about being back in Idaho, we are so close to things we love to see. But I'm ready for my ocean and a little 'real' city shopping too. *Ü*

Tomorrow I will show you the swaps from my stamping day last Friday with the Northern Idaho girls.

Lollipop Cards & Matchbox Suitcases

I had so much fun stamping with my Northern Idaho friends last

Friday. Of course we had to swap, this time we did cards and 3D items. Man, did I ever get some cool things to share with you later this week.

Lollipops are made by stamping the image from the Sweets for the Sweet set. Punch out with the 1" Circle Punch. Mini Glue Dot them to a lollipop stick. I cut about 1" off, it was too long. The bag is a 2x2 Ziploc bag with the Ziploc part cut off and tied with a bow.

The little suitcase is the matchbox die cut. I punched a 1-3/8" circle in the front and added a handle. I just made a slit with an E-xacto knife to inset the handle made from the new 1" square punch (coming soon). They are filled with yummy Godiva caramels!

After we got done stamping, I headed home to pick up my family and drive over to Pocatello for the Greek Festival.
George's family was in charge this year and the boys were both going to work a shift.

Benjamin cooked rice pilaf with Yaya.

Nicholas handed out programs and greeted the guests.

We had a great time visiting with everyone and catching up. And the food was awesome!!

The next day we headed over to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to see my sister and play for the day. Look what we saw on our way out to Teton Village! He was right there on the side of the road...so COOL!!!!

Tomorrow it's Yellowstone National Park for the day before heading back home. It is nice to get one last trip in before school starts on the 30th.

A Lot of Handbags!

I was searching for a photo I couldn't find (and still didn't find it!) and kept coming across all these handbag photos.

Wow, I've made a LOT of Tres Chic Handbags this year!! Here's a look back at some of my favorite ones.

If you would like to make one, the Tres Chic Handbag tutorial is available on the right hand sidebar or the tutorials page of this blog. These are gift card size or 3x3 notes & envelope size.

Funky Wedding Card

Something fun for Kortni's wedding shower to match her crazy and fun eclectic turquoise and yellow wedding.

It looks better when it's with the present...man, it's bright!!

Don't forget this months great special!

Stampin' Up!'s August promotion is the BUY 3 GET 1 FREE!

Who doesn't love free stuff? With the upcoming holidays creating so many stamping opportunities, this is the sale for you!

Promotion Details: During August, you will get a FREE package of Designer Series Paper when you buy three! It is the perfect time to stock up on all your favorites, including brand-new designs from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog.

Place your orders online from the convenience of your own home, right HERE

A Gift From MAMMa

My friend Marlene, some of you may know her as MAMMa from Diana Gibbs blog, gave me the cutest gift at convention!

Just looking at it I was in love. I didn't even know what it was!! The flower was all sparkly and embossed and the rose on the front is adorable.

When I lifted it out I saw that it was a container for the new Baker's Twine!! She used one of the embellishment containers and put a hole with an eyelet on the side.

She saved one of the middle plastic things from a ribbon spool to put the twine around. Isn't this such a cute little gift for a fellow stamper?? AND a great way to reuse!! Love it Marlene and YOU too!
Edited To Add: The spool is not attached, I just have it in the center for the photo. It's lose in the container.

Timeless Portrait Designer Series Paper

When this Designer Series Paper came out, I was wondering what Stampin' Up! was thinking - man, this paper will NEVER sell. Well...as is often the case, Stampin' Up! knows best, and this is turning into one of my FAVORITE papers!!!

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Timeless Portrait Designer Series Paper
Stamp Set: Delightful Dozen
Accessories: Fancy Flower Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Rich Regals Buttons, Very Vanilla 1/8" Grosgrain, Night Of Navy Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

Our friend Pauline from Australia sent the boys these hats. We will have no problem with flies in the Outback now...providing we ever make it to Australia! They love them Pauline, thank you for the fun surprise!

Don't forget this months great special!

Stampin' Up!'s new promotion is the BUY 3 GET 1 FREE!
Who doesn't love free stuff? With the upcoming holidays creating so many stamping opportunities, this is the sale for you!

Promotion Details: During August, you will get a FREE package of Designer Series Paper when you buy three! It is the perfect time to stock up on all your favorites, including brand-new designs like Timeless Portrait shown above, from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog.

Place your orders online from the convenience of your own home, right HERE.

New Stamp Clubs Now Forming!

If you are in the Boise/Meridian/Eagle area and would like to join my stamp club, registration is going on now. I have openings in both Thursday and Friday night groups.

Thursday night starts again in September.
Friday night starts again in October.

If interested, e-mail me at yasou@cableone.net and I'm happy to give you the details.

Birthday Backpack Goes Back To School

It's that time of year again - Back To School! Almost as good as Christmas Day!! *Ü*

Well, not really, but I do love making teacher stuff!

Here is the back side.

The new Petite Pocket die-cut envelope and ribbon covered Hershey Nuggets.

This lined paper is in the Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper pack. School bus is in the Every Little Bit stamp set.

The colors for this ensemble are Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight. If you would like to make a backpack for your back to school project, the tutorial (Birthday Backpack Tutorial) can be found on the right hand sidebar or the tutorials page.