Stampin' Up! Summer Silhouettes & Weekly Deals

I'm feeling pretty blue this week.  I lost my kitty of 17 years last weekend.  Here he is holding my hand after I returned from the Leadership Conference last year.  He would follow me like a puppy dog for a week after I had been out of town.

And here he is a week ago, following me around the yard while I tried to take pictures of him.

His last week, not eating and losing strength, was so extremely tough for me.  I was late, later than usual, for swimming on Wednesday morning.  But I sat on the floor with him, while he headbutted me, purred, and nibbled on my sleeve. 

I needed a card to send to the family of a stamp club member that passed away recently.  In her honor, we gathered 132 cards for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, as per her request.  I want to send a note to her family to let them know.  The colors on this week's Fab Friday challenge was perfect for my quiet, subdued mood.  I also used a simplified version of Retro Sketches #109.

Of course I am also a dork.  After I stamped the dark brown, I found it was Soft Suede.  I swear I grabbed for Baked Brown Sugar.  Oh well.

Stamps: Summer Silhouettes; Paper: Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Whisper White, Sweet Sorbet DSP; Ink: Pistachio Pudding, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede; Accessories: Pinking Hearts border punch, Dimensionals.

Here are this week's Weekly Deals -

Brights Glimmer Brads Price: $4.95 $3.71 Gingham Standard Stampin' Around Wheel Price: $6.50 $4.88 Island Indigo Baker's Twine Price: $2.95 $2.21 Make A Cake Clear-Mount Stamp Set Price: $11.95 $8.96 Punch Pack Price: $16.95 $12.71 Recipes By Design Digital Kit - Digital Download Price: $9.95 $5.97 Secret Garden Framelits Dies Price: $24.95 $18.71 Summer Starfruit 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon Price: $8.95 $6.71

DSD All Time Fave Photobook

Morning Everyone!  The Digital Scrapbooking Days celebration is continuing over at mydigitalstudio.net.  Today's 50% off download deal is All Time Fave Photobook, perfect for documenting all your favorite things and making lists to remember it all.

You can see the download in action here.  I love the bucket list page idea.  I really hope I have time to play today, in which case, I'll come back later and share. 

Here's what I was up to yesterday, a super fun muddy race, described as "swampgrass turf mud grinder all day".  Luckily I was in the first race of the day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Skeeters - Ack!

Here's another swap card I made for the past weekend's shoebox swap gathering in Ilion, NY.  This is a twisted humor card.

The mosquitoes are well known up north, almost as big as birds!  I based my card on my trip to Canada, although we really lucked out this year with a light amount of bugs.

Here's the backside; I created this as a postcard type of swap.  Sort of like "Greetings from Canada... wish you were here!"

And I have to include an associated real-life photo of our fun... a bonfire on the beach.

Here's one more cute item.  As children, we used to sit patiently and train chipmunks ("Chippy") to eat peanuts off our toes.  I thought for sure my 6-year-old daughter wouldn't be patient enough to pull it off, but in the last few days there, she did!

Stamps: Wanderlust, Under the Stars, Roughing It, Woodgrain BG; Paper: So Saffron, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Whisper White; Ink: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Basic Gray, Versamark, Chocolate Chip marker; Accessories: Olive embossing powder, Scallop Circle punches, Brayer, Sponges.

Thanks for stopping by!

Where Are All the Moose?

We recently came back from our annual trip to the family cabin in Quebec.  It takes about 14 hours to get there... it is WAY up there.  But the quiet and privacy can't be beat!

So once I got home, there was back-to-school, stamp club, and a shoebox swap.  I had to get some stamping done up there.  Here's my horrible view while crafting, including some visits from the hummingbirds.

This is the ATC I created to swap and share.  I was definitely in the Canadian mood with this one.  Although, all the years I've been going up there (all my life, my grandparents built the cabin), I have never seen a moose. 

Stamps: Pines, Nature Silhouettes; Paper: Tangerine Tango, Whisper White; Ink: More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso, Early Espresso marker; Accessories: Brayer, White gel pen, Circle punch, Post-it Notes.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

There will be a slight disruption in our regularly-scheduled broadcasting.  We came home from a whirlwind weekend in San Francisco.  I'm not sure if I left my heart there, but the warm weather is certainly in the rear-view mirror.  It is taking some effort to recover from the red-eye flight.  Missy asked, as soon as we landed, "Are my eyes red?"  So literal... kids, these days.

We saw sea lions and visited Alcatraz.  There was tall redwoods, clam chowder, bridges, and cable cars.  I think we hit most of the tourist traps, and enjoyed every minute of it.  What an adventure!

I should throw together a scrappy page, but I'm exhausted.  In an effort to stretch the time until I have a crafty post, I'll share a couple of my favorite girl-time photos with you.  Here we are indulging in the ultimate chocolate decadence at Ghiradelli Square.

And people-watching at Union Square.  

Thanks for stopping by!

It's Been Awfully Quiet Around Here

We have been traveling lately, which has left my blog less than full and with less than stellar samples lately.  I apologize for that!  I've been doing what I could to get 'er done.

At the end of June we traveled to Taiwan for a family wedding; some selected photos below.  Then, while still jet lagged, off to the Catskills for some July 4th camping.  Now it is the big rush for club this week and SU Convention (yay!) next week in Salt Lake City.  I'll be bringing you stampin' updates during the week from SLC, so stay tuned for that!

I know many tune in for stampin' samples and ideas, but I know for myself I like to get to know the blogger behind the pictures a bit.  So, with that in mind, I share a little of our Taiwan adventure with you.  If you just want stampy-stamp stuff, tune out now.  :)

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Park in Taipei - 

There are many temples in Taiwan.  This one is in Chiayi.

There is a hike in Kaohsiung which has monkeys right in the trees above you.  The babies are sooo cute to watch!

Little Liuqin Island - 

We took a gondola up Maokong Mountain in Taipei, passing tea fields along the way, and headed to a tea house at the top.  Little Missy really got into the tea party.

Thanks for stopping by!

And Then It Snowed...

And then it snowed in the Northeast ... I don't remember ever trick or treating in snow. Mother Nature was playing a trick on us... no treats for her!

Many limbs down because most trees still had their leaves. Our wood stove chimney wasn't feeling too well after this freak storm.

We were lucky with our electricity, but after about 24 hours of no internet or TV... well, geesh, we can only stare at each other for so long.

Here's Little Missy at skating class yesterday...

... and trick or treating in the neighborhood afterwards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween, You Ghouls!

Happy Halloween, Y'All! Here's a couple more crafty and holiday-celebrating photos to help commemorate the day. Enjoy the day with the little ghouls in your life!

Stamps: Piece of Poison, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black , First Edition Specialty DSP, Pick Your Poison DSP; Ink: Basic Black, Basic Black marker; Accessories: White baker's twine, Antique Brad, Mini Jingle Bells, Mini Vintage Tags, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz, Sanding block, Decor Block, Chipboard, Simply Scored, Scallop Square die, Tasteful Trim die, Petal Cone die, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.

Little Missy found the costume box in the basement and discovered some costumes Grandma sewed back in the day for Mama and her sisters. In true girl fashion, she was able to utilize these for frequent costume changes during some pre-Halloween events. We are saving the best for the big evening tonight.

ETA: One more chance to play along with Shirley's Monday Monster Mash.

Got one last Halloween project to show? Come share it on the blog hop!



Thanks for stopping by!

Sunrise, Sunset...

Here are some Aruban horizon shots, a couple different sessions each...

These sunrise photos were not easy. The rest of the house are not early risers, and I'm not on the car rental agreement. So I had to hoof it. I had three incidences with pairs of dogs, making me feel less than safe. And one thought they had to worry about thieves while on vacation!

And I did finally get the house up to join me for a sunrise visit to the Alto Vista church -

And a couple sunsets -

Thanks for stopping by!

Exotic Pets

The family is into animals... BIG time! While in Aruba, it was a lot of fun to see many different kinds, up close.

Gecko in the cabana -

and baby gecko in the kitchen sink one morning.

Another (tortured) pet Little Missy found was a hermit crab at the beach.

The lizards run around here like squirrels at home.

We found iguanas sitting on top of the cactus right behind the rental house.

But even more up close, they were running around like cats on the Renaissance Resort property.

You think I'm joking... but I mean, literally...

Ok, maybe that was a little fake, because a tourist had just finished feeding them fruit.

One night a burrowing owl was after the (very large) toads in the yard, which had come out because the flying ants were around. We saw another one in Arikok National Park.

Wild goats, also in the national park -

There are boa constrictors here too (not indigenous but rather caused by someone letting one/some free). I didn't think you would want to see one that got squished by a car though.

Thanks for stopping by!