MERRY CHRISTMAS

I pray that you all have a blessed Christmas!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Hugs, Cindy

TOMATO CAGE TREES

I don't know how many of you are in Pinterest....but I think I'm addicted to it!!  I love going on there and getting inspired....not only for stamping....but also for cooking, decorating, and anything else you're interested in.

Well, a few weeks ago while I saw a great idea.....to wrap Christmas lights around tomato cages to make outdoor lighted Christmas trees.  Isn't that a cool idea?!

I started with a basic large cage that I found in the back.....so here is my "naked" cage.....

Then I just wrapped lights all around them....started at the top and ended with the plug at the bottom.  I made a total of tree.  Here they are outside....

Here is a picture of how they look from the road....

  You need to be "invited" to join, so if any of you need an invitation, just let me know and I'll send you one.

 

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!!

Hugs, Cindy

QUICK GIFT CARD HOLDERS

Last Thursday was my office's Christmas party and after dinner we exchange gift cards.  Well, I couldn't take our gift cards "naked" to the party....so I quickly made a couple of gift card holders for them using the 2 Tags Die.  Here are the fronts.....

 Here are the insides.....

You can see how I made them in the picture above.....I just placed a folded piece of card stock right above the cut line of the tag and ran it through the Big Shot, making sure the end didn't cut.

We had a great time!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Hugs, Cindy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON!!

Today is my sweet daughter, Madison's, 15th birthday!!

 Below are some fun pictures of her.

 Here she is at a swim meet in the warm up pool...

 

This is her and Andy right before they were to ride some thrilling ride in Santa Cruz....both of their expressions just crack me up!  To me, it totally shows their personalities!

 Here is when she actually received her birthday gift back in October......Justin Bieber concert tickets.

 

 I feel so BLESSED to have my sweet Madison.....I look forward to watching her grow into an even more beautiful young woman than she is now!!

 

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON!!

We LOVE you beyond words!!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Hugs, Cindy

TREE TOPPER

Last year right before Christmas, my friend Jamie came over and we made beautiful rosettes.  I loved how they turned out, but at the time I wasn't exactly sure how I would use mine.  So, this year when we were pulling all our decorations out.....it came to.....TREE TOPPER!!  It looks GREAT!!!  Finishes the tree perfectly!!

I also made these cool and VERY EASY outdoor lighted trees that I will show you in another blog.  I got the idea from Pinterest.....my all time favorite place to go for all kinds of inspiration.

That's it for me.....THANKS for popping in.

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Hugs, Cindy

MONTEREY GETAWAY!

A couple of weeks ago, to celebrate our anniversary Steve and I spent 3 days in Monterey, CA.  We took our bikes and rode on the Monterey Peninsula Recreational Bike Trail.   It is a WONDERFULLY paved bike path that goes for MILES!  We rode our bikes all 3 days.....we never moved the car after we parked it at the hotel.

If you have ever been to Monterey, then you know that it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!  The weather couldn't have been better either.  We had gorgeous sunshine....in fact, I got a bit red on my face.

Below is a picture of where we stopped to have a picnic lunch.....of course, the photo doesn't even begin to show the true beauty of this Pacific Grove beach. 

I also just LOVE to beach comb.....I can walk for hours and hours looking for beach glass (which is my favorite thing to find), pretty shells and anything else that looks interesting likes rocks or drift wood.  

This trip I found quite a bit of beach glass, one sand dollar, and a few really pretty shells....the shells were pretty small except for one.....it was a BLAST!

My sweet husband is very patient and just sits and watches.....sometimes he watches me fall down (which happened once during this trip) trying to escape the waves when they come up further on the beach than I expect them to, or when I'm so focused on the ground that I forget to look around :-)

Here we are walking in the late afternoon on the big sandy beach that is on the northern end of Monterey towards Sand City.

Here is a picture of us standing on the edge of a small cliff!  I was pretty freaked out, but Steve assured me he wouldn't let us fall to the rocks below :-)

We had such a great time!!  I am so blessed to have such a sweet husband who treats me like a QUEEN!!

I wasn't ready to go home and back to reality when we left and I'm definitely ready to go back again!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

THANKSGIVING CELEBRATIONS

Our family had a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving on the Tuesday before because Steve had to work on Thursday...the real Thanksgiving.  It was just our family and Steve's mom. 

For our pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving....I made name cards for us.....here is one of them....

 They were a simple tent card with some textured vanilla card stock and some retired Fall DSP.....I also used some left over leaves from the favors I made for our church's holiday tea.

On Wednesday evening the kids and I traveled to my mom's for the Thanksgiving weekend.   Of course, we couldn't leave our new little baby at home....so here is our little Miss Gussy all packed up and ready to go.  She's really getting BIG......she's so smart and sweet and CUTE!!  (I'll do another post about her soon!)

 Wednesday night after we got there, we roasted some marshmallows.  Sorry for the blurry picture.....I had my camera set on a night setting which had a long shutter time so if there was any movement it blurred.

I always forget to take a bunch of pictures before and during dinner....but here's a really cute one I took of the girls.... including Gus....

We have much to be thankful for!!!

 

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Hugs & Blessings, Cindy

A FUN LUNCH!

Today I could kick myself for not having my camera with me! The reason is because today I had lunch a new friend, Gloria.  Meeting Gloria proves that it truly is a small world.  

Gloria's cousin, Karen, is an old neighbor of my husband when he was growing up.  We have had Karen to our home a couple of times for dinner and recently after one of her visits, she was talking with Gloria about her time with us.  The funny thing is.....Gloria is a follower of my blog!  Crazy, isn't it?!!  Anyway, after Gloria asked Karen a couple of questions, she realized that it was me! 

So, today we finally were able to meet!  It was so delightful!!  We are going to get together sometime and have some real fun....STAMPING!!!

Meeting Gloria makes me want to blog more.....because I have meet the sweetest people because of my blog.  Granted, most of our friendships are "virtual", and we may never meet in person, but I just LOVE to hear from these gals.......like Lesley in Great Britain! 

So, THANK YOU to whoever reads and follows my blog!!  

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Hugs, Cindy

TEA FAVORS

Today is our church's bi-annual Holiday Tea.  

My "job' was create a favor to be given to all the ladies at the tea.....my budget was .50/each.  That was quite a challenge!  

Thankfully, years ago my husband worked for many years at a paper company (perfect job for a stamper's husband) and during that time he brought me home TONS of ivory/vanilla colored card stock.....this enabled me to make the following refrigerator magnet. 

 I printed the verses out on the computer and then punched them all out with the Decorative Label punch.  All the leaves were cut by a friend of mine, Janeen, on her Circuit.

I bought the Christmas fabric that SU has on sale for .99 in the Clearance Rack to use for ribbon....it was much cheaper (and I think it turned out much cuter!) than purchasing ribbon.  So we just tore the fabric into strips for the bow on the cello bags.

Here is a picture of all 296 magnets.....wrapped and ready to go!

Here is a picture of what the ladies will be receiving....

I, of course, could not have accomplished this without LOTS and LOTS of help from friends at church!!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Blessings, Cindy

CHICKEN NUGGETS

Last Saturday, Steve was at work and Andy was at a civil war reenactment for the whole weekend....so that left Madison and I to fend for ourselves.  Well, thankfully, Madison was in a cooking mood and made us a very yummy dinner.....homemade chicken nuggets and fries.

She cut up chicken into bite-size pieces and rolled them in seasoned flour, dipped them in some beaten egg, and then rolled them in Panko bread crumbs.  She then fried them in some oil and placed them on some paper towels.....don't they look good!!!!

 Madison then plated them with some BBQ sauce and a ranch dip....YUMMY!!!  No restaurant could beat that!!

I didn't take a picture of the fries, but she baked up some ymmo fries to go with our chicken nuggets.

I love it when she is in a cooking mood!!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Blessings, Cindy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Until next time, find some time for stamping,

Blessings, Cindy

CORNER BOOKMARK (AGAIN!)

My husband's aunt has been visiting this month and she wanted to give a bookmark as a gift to one of her nieces (who is approximately my age) for a birthday present.  

I gladly told her that I would be happy to make her one.....so, here is what I came up with

It's almost too pretty to stick in a book :-)

I have been working on a BIG project for our women's holiday tea at our church that I will show you shortly.  I now have them all done....all 296 of them!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Blessings, Cindy

SELL-A-STAMP SPOOKTACULAR

Stampin' Up! is having a Spooktacular one day stamp sale. 

Almost every stamp set Stampin' Up! sells will be 15% off today

Monday, October 29, until 11:50 p.m. (MT).

Stamps reduced to 15% off include:

• Almost ALL stamps in the current holiday and annual catalogs.
• Personalized name stamps
• Cookie press stamps
• (new single stamp choices added on 10/25, including 3 never before seen stamps)!

Stamps NOT included in the sale:

• Hostess sets
• Bundled stamp sets
• Digital stamp brush sets

There is no minimum purchase and no limit to the number of stamps you can order.

Call me to place your order!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Blessings, Cindy 

A NEW BABY & AN UPDATE

I thought I had better give you an update on my mom....she is doing GREAT!!   She had a pacemaker put in and came through with flying colors.  She still has to take it easy for another month, but after that she should be able to resume all her prior activities.  My mom is very active and social.....she goes to a dance club each week, is a member of the local garden club, has a group of girlfriends and they call themselves "The Birthday Girls", is a docent at their local historical society, and a bunch of other stuff.  She tons of fun!

Well, our sweet Jesse has been gone about a month now.....and life just isn't the same without a dog.  So yesterday, we went and picked up our new baby.  

We named her Gus (I call her "Miss Gussy").  

It's a long story, but for those of you who ever watch the show "Psych" on tv, we named her after Gus on that show.  I know he's a guy, but Gus (on the show) is sweet and he's black.....and so is our Gus.  Her face reminds me of Jesse's.....so incredibly sweet.

She is 7 weeks old....(totally not use to a puppy.  Jesse was slow and steady.......not so much with Gus).   She is a black lab/German Shorthair mix...her mom is a purebred German Shorthair that, unfortunately, jumped the fence and made friends with a lab.  So she looks like a lab with a longer snout and has the short hair of a German Shorthair.  And to top it off....can you believe she was free?!

To say the least....we haven't gotten much done since yesterday after picking her up.  Who can resist the sweet smell of puppy..... so we play with her and then we let her nap.  Do you think she'll grow into those paws?  :-)

 We are loving the new addition to our family.....I think she will fit right in!

Until next time, find some time for stamping.

 Blessings, Cindy

PLEASE PRAY FOR MY MOM

Sorry I haven't posted a stamping project in awhile.....I even have a couple to show you....but my mother has been giving us quite a scare. 

 Please pray for her....yesterday she had a pacemaker put in.  She is doing great now and is coming home from the hospital today.   I am going up this afternoon to see her and probably spend the night.  

Until next time, give your mom a hug!

Blessings, Cindy

BIEBER FEVER

As an early birthday gift we bought Madison two tickets to Justin Bieber who was in concert here last night.  She chose to take her cousin, Natalie, with her.  

Natalie came over early and brought stuff for them to make shirts. 
I think they turned out pretty cute!

  Here's the back....they have their names and the date of the concert...

 

Here is the "Biebs" doing what he does best......

They had a great time, but their ears were ringing from all the screaming :-)

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I am SO READY for some cool weather here in California.....it's October and we're still having 100 degree temperatures!  Weatherman promises that we're suppose to be cooling down in the next few days.  Then again.....it'll cool down and I'll whine about it being too cold :-) 

Today's card is one that we will be making on Monday at Stamp club. 

I used the French Foliage set....such a beautiful set!!

This card was inspired by a card that I saw on Stamping Connection.....it is a demonstrator only website where there are thousands of examples for endless inspiration.

That's it for today.....thanks for stopping by!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFT

It's only October, but Stampin' Claus is coming to town! Get a FREE Festive Paper-Piercing Pack when you purchase the Ornament Keepsakes Set and Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper. Choose from the following options:

Item	Description	Retail Value	Special Price
132260	Christmas Gift Pack (wood-mount) Includes Ornament Keepsakes Set (wood-mount), Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack	$55.85	$47.90
132261	Christmas Gift Pack (clear-mount) Includes Ornament Keepsakes Set (clear-mount), Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack	$44.85	$36.90
132262	Christmas Gift Pack (wood-mount bundle) Includes Ornament Keepsakes Bundle (wood-mount), Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper, and Festive Paper-Piercing Pack	$70.85	$62.90
132263	Christmas Gift Pack (clear-mount bundle) Includes Ornament Keepsakes Bundle (clear-mount), Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper, and Festive Paper-Piercing Pack	$63.85	$55.9

Until next time, find some time for stamping.

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

HEARTBREAKING DAY

 Today was a very very hard day for our family.  

Our beloved family dog, Jesse, died today.  

She was our 13 year old black lab that was truly one of the
sweetest dogs I've ever known.  

We are all so heartbroken.
It is especially hard on our children who cannot 

remember a time when she wasn't a part of our family.

JOY

Today's card is the second card that we made at the "Stamp for a Cause" event.  

A very pretty and simple Christmas card.

The next few days are very busy for me.....Remember....I'm now working all day on Thursdays and Fridays.  I'm adjusting, but still not use to it yet.  I come home pretty bushed!  It's forcing me to think about Thursdays dinner today.....the crockpot is becoming my friend.

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!!

Hugs, Cindy

A DAY IN YOSEMITE

Last Saturday, Steve and I went up to Yosemite National Park with a group of friends from our church for a day of bike riding around the valley floor.  It was SO BEAUTIFUL!!  We couldn't have asked for better weather.   Yosemite is just spectacular....and one of the best parts is that it is so close to where we live.  We can be in the valley floor within a 2 hours drive.....each time we take a trip up there we always say, "Why don't we come up here more often?!".

Here is a picture of us with some of our dear friends.....this picture is taken from a famous lookout before you reach the valley floor.

When we rode up to Mirror Lake (which is just a big sand bar now) we took a big group picture which somebody is suppose to email me.  There were about 16 of us that went.

Steve and I at that same lookout.  After I downloaded the pictures onto the computer, I noticed that his head is blocking out Half Dome....oh well, it still shows a good picture of El Capitan on the left.

Half Dome from Mirror Lake....even after all these years and countless visits to Yosemite, I am still in awe of the scenary.  WOW!!

This last picture is Steve and I stopping by the bike trail to enjoy the view....

God is good to us!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Hugs, Cindy

THINKING OF YOU

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a "Stampin' for a Cause" event that my friend Karen had at her home.  The "Cause" was to benefit a church friend of ours' daughter whose home burnt down.  We made 2 cards....here is one of them...I'll share the other one on another day.

Isn't it CUTE?!  

We all had a great time stamping, talking, and eating!  

Thanks Karen for organizing such a good time.

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Hugs, Cindy

MERRY CHRISTMAS MUGS

Here is the second card that we made at Stamp Club on Monday.  We used the Scentsational Season Bundle that is in the current Holiday Mini Catalog.  

That bundle is a bundle of joy to me!!

This is a bright and cheery card....I'm kinda beginning to like the new In Color Gumball Green.  Wasn't too sure at first, but now I'm thinkin' I just might have to get the stamp pad for that one....currently I only have the set of markers.  It's just a cute, fun, and upbeat color!  The red is the always fabulous Cherry Cobbler....a deep, rich color of red!

Also, I'm loving the Be of Good Cheer DSP that's in the big catalog.  

The Gumball Green ribbon used was one that I received for FREE for ordering $40 of SU goodies!  Click HERE for all the details on the "Back to Spool" promotion going on now!

That's all for today.....THANKS for visiting!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Hugs, Cindy

FRENCH FOLIAGE

 Today's card is one that we will be making tomorrow in Stamp Club.  I used the Triple Time Stamping technique......it's super easy and yet looks super cool too!

 I didn't have a place to put the sentiment I wanted to use.....so I just left the front plain and put the sentiment on the inside.  Here it is.....sorry, the picture came out yellow for some reason

The skeleton leaf  is stamped in Crumb Cake after "stamping off" once.....the leaf would have been too dark under the writing without stamping off first.

I will share the second card we made next time...so come back for another visit!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!

Blessings, Cindy

MAY WE NEVER FORGET

Today is the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers, Pentagon, and the downed plane in Pennsylvania.  

My prayers and heart goes out to those thousands of people who lost loved ones on that horrible day.

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

THANK YOU CARD

Today's card was sent to us from a long-time family friend of my husbands, Karen,  after we had her over for dinner when his brothers were here visiting recently.

This cute card was made by Gloria Clet, who is not only Karen's cousin but a follower of my blog!!  Can you believe what a small world it is?!  I have never met Gloria, but I'm looking forward to sometime in the NEAR future!!  Are you reading this Gloria? :-)  We will have to get together and do some stamping!  Maybe we can even see if Karen would like to join in on the fun.

Gloria, Thanks for making such a cute card!!  

To me, receiving this card just re-enforces how important, and special, handmade and handwritten cards are in this techno age of emails, texts, and tweets! 

There's nothing like good old-fashioned snail-mail.

Well, today I start my working all day on Thursdays and Fridays....hopefully I won't come home "punch-drunk" from having taxed my brain almost beyond its ability :-)

Thanks for visiting!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

PS: Gloria: Leave me a comment!

QUICK SNOWFLAKE CARD

Today I'm posting a card that I quickly made last night.  I was in need of a major "stamping fix"!!  

I was inspired by a card that I saw on Pinterest by Darlene Adamo.....and here is my version....I added SEWING (please don't look too closely....I'm not a very good seamstress).  Sewing isn't something I normally do....although I love how it makes cards look.

I'm just wild about the Distressed Dots background stamp....it adds so much with such little effort...LOVE IT! 

I used a base of Crumb Cake card stock with a Chocolate Chip liner....the DSP is some retired Christmas paper from last year, sentiment is from Contempo Christmas stamped with Chocolate chip, sponging is also with Chocolate Chip, and the final touch is the Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine.

Thanks for visiting.....let me know you were here by leaving a comment.

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

HAPPY LABOR DAY

Well, here's hoping that you don't have to labor on Labor Day!!

Today, we are heading out to the ski lake for a day of fun in the sun with some friends.

Labor Day always has the "feel" of being the last day of summer.....although where I live, sometimes September is hotter than August!

Enjoy the day!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!!

(I know I need to!!)

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy

BACK TO "SPOOL"

While the kids are heading back to school, Stampin' Up! is going back to 'spool'! 

For the month of September, get a FREE package of 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon-an $8.95 value-for every $40 you spend!

Choose from the following ribbons:

126848	Gumball Green 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon	$ 8.95
126847	Midnight Muse 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon	$ 8.95
126844	Primrose Petals 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon	$ 8.95
126845	Raspberry Ripple 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon	$ 8.95
126846	Summer Starfruit 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon	$ 8.95

Spend $40 get one free, spend $80 get two free, spend $200 and get all five FREE...there isn't a limit to the number of free ribbon!!
Perfect time to stock up on ribbon for the upcoming holidays!!

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!

Blessings & Hugs, Cindy