HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

BEWARE!!!! Well, just in case you were wondering....Yes, we survived the Halloween Party last night. There was LOTS of eating, screaming, eating, squealing, eating, and fun! They are so funny to watch......oh to be in Jr. High again........WAIT! What am I thinking!!! No thanks!

Here's a few pictures from last night......First of all.....What would Halloween be without candy ?!

This is all of them eating dinner......there were 15 kids total. Steve and I were definitely outnumbered!!

It was pretty chilly (for us in California that is) last night, so here's a picture of my favorite fire fighter......He kept the fire nice and hot.....just like him :-D

I didn't really get any group shots of the boys.....boys are not ones who stand around in a group and hug one another like girls.....The boys were busy playing volleyball, soccer, wrestling, trying to scare the girls so they would scream (that wasn't very hard), eating, and just generally running around. So here are a couple of pictures of the girls......

They all had a good time last night......in fact, I can't get them to go home :-) Four girls spent the night! Girls are SO FUNNY!!! They LOVE to talk....and talk all at the same time. If you don't have a daughter you should borrow one for awhile......it will make you really appreciate your sons and the sound of silence!!!

Have a great Saturday and Halloween!!! Until next time....

Blessings........Cindy

CLASS CARDS

Happy Friday everyone! It's Halloween's Eve........don't be too scared this weekend! Steve and I are gearing up for a frightful night though. Tonight the kids are having some of their school friends over for a Halloween Party.....oooooo scary!! Not really!!! They are going to eat, eat, eat and eat, play volleyball, eat some more, and then we are planning on having a big bonfire and roasting marshmallows so they can all go home totally sick to their stomachs from all the junk they will have consumed. But, I'm sure they will have a good time gorging themselves :-)

Well....I didn't fulfill my goal of getting all moved into my new space yesterday, but I did make some progress.

I wanted to show you a card that I made on Monday at stamp class. I think it is quite elegant. It is just black and white. We stamped the image with craft black ink and embossed it.....and the DSP is the Night & Day Specialty paper from the Holiday mini catalog.

And as an added bonus.....it even contains a gift! We made a bookmark that is tucked in behind the front panel. We made the bookmark out of the Stampin' Up Two Tags die and then covered it with a window sheet that had also been die cut....the window sheet is included in the Night & Day Specialty DSP from the Holiday mini. We added a rub-on and a bit of ribbon and voila!! you have a fabulous little bookmark!!

I think this card is just so beautiful!!! I know I probably say this a lot.....but.....this is one of my favorites!!!

Well, I better get on my broom and start flying around getting ready for the Halloween Party.

Until next time.

Blessings......Cindy

END OF CONSTRUCTION ZONE!!!!

Well, the end is near!! Yeah! Last night Steve put the last of the drawer units in place. Now it's up to me to get moved in!! I was so excited last night that I started putting things away.....once I actually start stamping I might find that I will have to move some things around, but for right now.....wooohooo.....I'm thrilled!!!

Ok.....here is how my stamping area will look (minus the junk, of course).....

Here are some of the drawers that I organized.....These will be home to embellishments.....

This cubby is now home to my sewing machine and Big Shot....

Next to that, the drawers hold my Big Shot accessories and dies.....Top drawer has pens, camera, and other miscellaneous stuff that I use.....like my chap stick peeking out there on top.

Right next to my work station are drawers that hold my adhesives, markers, cutter, Mat Pack, etc. Look! I even have some EMPTY drawers!!! Probably not for long though :-)

Today my goal is to get moved in. It will be SO NICE to have our home back in order after having it in shambles for almost a month.

Thanks for checking in, reading my blog, and for leaving me sweet comments and emails!!! Sometimes I find it incredible that anybody other than family would even be interested :-) I have truly enjoyed "meeting" new people from across the USA and even in the UK (yes, I mean you..Lesley) who I hope one day I will have the privilege of meeting.

Until next time,

Blessings to you.......Cindy

GETTING IT TOGETHER & A CLASS CARD

Finishing is definitely harder than starting! We are ALMOST done with all the renovations that we've been doing around here......now it is mostly getting things put in place and back together.

Tonight we put together the last of the desks.....a computer desk in the family room for the kids to use for their schoolwork. In order of us to put the desk up, it had to be assembled, the piano and all the furniture needed moving, then the floors and baseboards needed cleaned under and behind where the furniture was, then we were ready to set up the desk. Whew!!! That is what we did this evening. I'll take a picture of that too once I clear away all the other junk that is piled up.

Here is what the room looks like right this very minute.....

Actually, the room looks better in the picture than it does in real life :-)

I have been working at putting all my stamps and supplies away......here is some of what I have done so far.....

I have organized all my paper into the boxes and labeled them. The large black boxes are perfect for 12x12 sheets and the smaller white and green boxes are just right for 8-1/2x11 sheets. I've broken them up by color family and also I sorted my big scrap bin into color families as well. I also used one of the black boxes for a neutrals scrap bin.

It's been soooo nice to be able to have the space to spread out.....I think it will be much easier to be (and STAY) organized!

With all this home makeover business.....I haven't had ANY time for personal stamping. I have been going to Karen's class each Monday and have gotten my "ink" fix. Below is a Halloween card that we made a couple of weeks ago. The background is made using a technique that uses wax paper that has been embossed using the Big Shot. I don't have time (or the brain energy) to post the instructions now....but if you're interested, leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Well....that's about all I can post tonight. Once all is done, I'll try and figure out how to do a virtual tour of some kind of all our changes.

Until next time,

Blessings........Cindy

CLASS CARDS

Hi!! Thanks for checkin' in!

Today I have been doing some major cleaning and organizing.....moving into my new space!! It feels good to clear out some things (junk is more like it!!) that has just piled up.....my garbage is getting quite full! I'm having a ton of fun though!!

As you probably know....on Mondays I go to a stamping class that my friend Karen Angel teaches. She always has great projects for us to make. (Thanks Karen for all your hard work!!!) Below are the 2 cards that we made this past Monday......

This card was made using the Eastern Blooms stamp set.....this card has a great layout and can easily be changed up depending on the colors and stamp sets used. LOVE IT!! She provides us with envelopes that we are able to stamp to match our cards.....I normally don't think to take a photo of the envelope, but....behind the card is the envelope I made for this card.

The next card was just too clever and too cute!!! The crow is made entirely from punches. If you are interested in all the punches used just leave me a comment and I will email those to you. It was fun to put him together!!

Well....that is it for today. It has been hard for me to sit still and blog when most of my house is torn up....I've been totally pre-occupied with getting "my world" back together. So, I apologize for not being more detailed.

Until next time, find some time for stamping!!! or getting organized!!!

Blessings......Cindy

ROOM UPDATE

Hello! I know it has been some time since I posted, but we've been busy beavers over here! I thought that I would show you how my stamp room (and oh yeah....and Steve's office) is progressing.

Here's a picture of some storage units being built.....These were originally going to be mounted on the wall above the desk units, but when Steve held them up they just didn't look quite right...too much space between the cabinets and the desks. So since they could also be for the floor, we just switched them.

Now....here's what they look like all done!! Steve did a GREAT job, plus he has worked like a dog!!!

I've now got TONS of storage......ummmm..... what can I store in there?? :-D

I bought a bunch of their paper boxes.....I LOVE these boxes!!! They are not only great for storage, but they also add some color! Those 2 middle openings were originally going to have cabinet doors, but I was afraid it would look to stark.....so I axed the doors and added the boxes for color.

By the way....the green is a perfect match to Stampin' Up!'s Old Olive :-)

Well....we're still not quite done! I will post the other side of the room when it gets done.....but here's a sneak peek......

This almost seems too good to be true!!! What an outrageous blessing!!!

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

Blessings......Cindy

PS: Don't get too jealous!!! :-D

CLUB - DASHER CARD

Hi and thanks for checking in. We are still in a "construction" mode over here so my blogging is going to be hit and miss. But hopefully not for long :-)

On Monday I was able to clear out my stamp room enough to make room for my club to actually stamp in it....I am working out of boxes. Despite the surroundings and my having to dig around and find a couple of things.....we had a great time!!

We made a couple of cards.....but one card was based on the card that I had made in my stamping class with Karen....I just changed it up a bit. Here it is......

I just added some DSP and ribbon and a small eyelet punched piece. This card just might become my Christmas card for this year. I love the layout....you can do so many things by just changing the colors and the images. Love it!!

ROOM UPDATE

Well....Steve has been busy assembling all the Ikea pieces....our family room has become his workshop. He is just about done. Here is a picture of him and his handiwork.....

The above drawer units will not be stacked.....they will be supports for the desk tops. He has Friday off from work and from what I understand we will be installing some things. I will be sure to take some pictures. I am going to have to disconnect the computer, but will post some pictures as soon as possible. Can't wait to get it all together!!! I'm so excited!!

Well....that's it for today! I will not be posting tomorrow. So, until next time,

Find some time for stamping!!!

Blessings......Cindy

PS: This is my first time posting on our new iMac! I might add that I've been quite iFrustrated in learning how to get around.....but overall I'm in iLOVE with it.