BLOG CANDY!!!

Hello ladies!

Now who doesn't want blog candy? Well to celebrate 5000 hits (WOW, I can't believe it) I'm offering up some blog candy!!! I can't believe you all come over to my little corner of the world to visit with me. I started my blog in July & 5K came so fast for me! Your all so terrific & talented & I enjoy talking to all of you, via the blogs or email, you all make me happy! What a fantastic close knit community this is, don't you think? I am really grateful to all of you for helping me learn so much about stamping & card making, I could not have done it without you & the close friends that I have made here in blogland. I love ya all & thanks again for stoppin' by! Ok, I know, enough already, you want to hear about the candy, right? Here we go, this is what you have to do:

#1. Leave me a comment on this post. It can be about anything your little ole hearts desire!

#2. Sign my guest book for another chance, if you signed it already just let me know & I will put your name down twice.

Oh and this is open to USA & Canada only, sorry. I have a limited budget & shipping is way too expensive for me!

That's it gang, I will have my hubby pick a name out of a box. I will cut out your comments from the post with your names & add your name again if you signed my guest book & let me know that you did. I will pick a name sometime on Monday December 3rd. Good luck everyone!
Does that make sense or am I babbling again? Oh well, you love me anyway!!! Hehehe!!!



Here's what you'll get:
Stamps: Autumn Leaves Big Swirls by Rhonna Farrer
Notepad with pen
Metallic ribbon in gold
Fiber thread or ribbon (don't know what to call it) in red

Good luck!

Hugs...Rita

I Received a Bella Card!!!

Hi ladies!


I received some great mail the other day, my very good friend Malieta sent me my first Bella card! She knows how much I luv, luv, luv Bella, she's such a beauty, isn't she? You made my day Malieta, I luv it!!! Thank you soooooo much!
I just bought a Bella & I need to ink that baby up real soon. Jen sent me some Bella images a few months ago & I made my first Bella card a couple of weeks ago & I was so thrilled that I just had to buy one right away & I did. Hehehe!!! I'm waiting for my acrylic blocks to arrive before I can ink it up, I found the tack it over & over the other day while shopping at Michael's, so when I got home I put that on the stamps & let it dry, so all I need now are the blocks to get going & I'm waiting patiently!!!

Well have you seen my counter? I'm almost at 5000...so expect some blog candy real soon! I'll try & get a picture of the candy up maybe tomorrow or the next day, so look out for it ladies. Take care, will talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs...Rita

Birthday Card for Hubby

Hi ladies!

Here's a card that I made last night for hubby's birthday today...nothing like cutting it close. I was so afraid that the stickles were not going to dry so I could cut the image out, so I helped it along by using my heat gun (usually I just let it air dry over night) & still letting it dry for a few hours then cutting it out before I went to bed last night. Whew! It came out good. I had made another card too that I wanted to try, but it's a good thing I had made two birthday cards 'cause the other one bombed :( I tried to versamark on black cs then put dazzling diamonds on it, it looked beautiful & I really don't know what to do with DD so I used the heat gun too. I didn't touch it for awhile but when I ran my finger over the DD it all came off. OMG! What did I do wrong? It was my first attempt at using DD & I so like the way it looked & don't know what I did wrong. Dawn is the DD queen, she makes some beautiful cards using DD. Help me out Dawn PLEASE!!! Can anyone tell me what I did wrong? Well anyway here is the card that I gave to hubby. It looks so much better in real life, it sparkles so much. Take care & thanks for stopping by.

Hugs...Rita




Card Details
CS: Choc. chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky & Creamy Caramel
Stamps: Make a Wish, Corner is from Totally Cool, & swirls are a $ acrylic stamp set from Michael's
Ink: Cool Caribbean, Basic Black & Le Plume markers
Ribbon from Michael's
Golden Rod & Icicle stickles
CM custom cutting system circles
CB embossing circles that I sanded to age it & make it pop




Here's a close up of the sparkles, this card really shines & the candles sure do look like they are on fire!

Hanna Christmas Card

Hi ladies!

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving with family & friends.

I'm back...between cleaning, cooking, shopping til I dropped on Friday & Saturday I'm extremely tired & need to relax for a day before I tackle the windows & change curtains. I need to get that done this week so I can have my daughter Jessica & Steve come over next Sunday for breakfast & decorate the house for Christmas. Jessica loves getting together to do this, it's another tradition at our house, Marc doesn't come (it's not his thing...it's a Jessica thing) & I like to have the house in tip top shape & spotless. I need to free up my time to get some hand made gifts done for the holidays, so I need to get the decorating out of the way.

Did you all get to go shopping Friday? Jessica & I have gotten up early to go shopping on Black Friday for the last 5 years & this year we invited my son's girlfriend Sarah (I like this girl a lot & hope this works out for them both) to come this year & join us & we girls had a blast!!! It was so much fun & Sarah enjoyed it as well, so glad she came along! My Christmas shopping is done except for 1 more gift. After the decorations are up I plan to start wrapping gifts & writing out my Christmas cards.

Here is a Hanna card that I made about a week ago & didn't have a chance to post til now. I really didn't have the right acrylic blocks for this big stamp but I had to ink it the minute I got it in the mail & managed it using my SU ink pad (the only thing I could think of to use) & it worked after awhile (I think I went through 2 sheets of WW trying to ink this baby). I just ordered some blocks that were on sale, so I should be all set & will stamp some more of these beauties when the blocks arrive. I luv this set & just ordered the shopping Hanna set. I just got the tack it over & over to put on my Bella stamp that I just got & can't wait to ink that beauty soon (my first Bella stamp), I'm soooo excited!!! Seriously, I think I'm addicted to Bella (as is everyone) & will be getting more in the future...even if it's 1 at a time! Well I think I've rambled on enough today...hope I didn't bore you, hehehe!!! Talk to you soon & thanks for stopping by today. Happy Stamping!!!

Hugs...Rita




Card details:
CS: WW & Real Red
DP: unknown
Stamps: Hanna "Tis the Season" stamps
Ink: Staz-on Jet Black & Le Plume markers
Icicle & Golden Rod Stickles
Brads: M&M snowflakes, & $ bin at Target
Ribbon: unknown
I paper pieced her top & skirt with scraps after I stamped & cut them out

Happy Thanksgiving

Here are some Thanksgiving cards that I made, the first one I sent to Jana as a thank you card for the RAK she sent me with Thanksgiving images. Thank you so much Jana, your a sweetheart! Go check out her blog, she has some really cool ideas & great looking cards.
Well I'm not going to post anything till the weekend, I really need to get my housework done for Thanksgiving & start on some cooking. So I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving & don't eat too much turkey or you'll turn into a turkey, hehehe!!! God Bless.

Hugs...Rita




Card Details
CS: SU WW, Real Red, & Gold (unknown)
DP: Provo Craft Fluttery Things
Images & sentiment are from Jana's RAK
I colored images with Le Plume markers & CM Gold pen
Ribbon: A.C. Moore
Leaf buttons are from Wal-Mart

I'M BACK!!!

Hi everyone!

Hope your all having a great weekend. Hubby & I got back home around 12:30 AM, we did not win anything but had a great time in Atlantic City & that's what really counts, right? We saw a comedy show & laughed so much I thought I'd come apart at the seams, hehehehe!!! We were informed by a few people that we missed some excitement the day before we got there, (we were going to add another day to our trip but decided 3 nights was enough so we cancelled Tuesday night at the last minute, I'm soooo happy we did) There's a bus that takes you to different casino's from the hotel & someone went on board & had a bomb under their jacket & took hostages on that bus...so the FBI was involved & for some reason had to evacuate the hotel guests & they did not get back to their rooms till 5 AM, I really don't know the whole story but I'm really glad that we were not there. I asked our waitress & she said yes it was true & she was not there at the time either, I never saw it on the news & we got there at 1 PM & everything was back to normal, never guessed anything had happened. We had asked the waitress if they got the people out that were gambling in the casino (closed it down) or let them keep playing but she didn't know, we were just wondering...guess we'll never know.

Here is my "Pay it Forward" that I sent to Jana, Malieta & Maria. It's safe to post now 'cause I think they all received it. This is what I was working on last week & could not post the picture. I cased this folder from Corie & thought it would be a great folder to put stamped images for an RAK. Go visit her blog she is one terrific artist, your going to luv her work!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend & thanks for stopping by!

Hugs...Rita

Note Card/Image Folder
I used the 1/8" hole from the crop a dile to punch holes for the ribbon, & I sponged River Rock around the edges of the stamped images. I really liked the way this came out, & had to have one for myself to put images that I have received from RAK's from some of my blog buddies. Now I have a place to store those images...how cool is that?






Card Details:
CS: Very Vanilla & Not Quite Navy
Ink: River Rock, Not Quite Navy & Bravo Burgundy
Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Ribbon: Michael's

My RAK to Tess in Australia

This is my RAK to Tess in Australia. She was my November RAKer for JT's Monthly Aloha RAK Club. She just emailed to let me know that she received it today, so it took 8 days to get to Australia...pretty cool hah!!! I have to say that I have met so many terrific people through this great craft of stamping, what a fantastic community we have here. I am so very grateful to all of you for all of your help whenever I ask a question or just want to talk, you are all terrific. I luv you all. Have a great week & I will be back on Sunday.

Hugs...Rita

NOT A CHRISTMAS CARD

Hi Ladies,

Hope your having a great day today. It's almost 3:30 pm & I need to start packing for my little mini vacation. We are going to Atlantic City for 4 days & leaving early in the morning, hopefully, if we can get out of bed on time, maybe we can beat some of the work traffic. It will take us about 5 or 5 1/2 hours to get there, I hate that drive, it's so hectic. Well we just have to deal with it, right? Right!!! I will be back blogging again on Sunday or Monday. Take care ladies & keep on stamping!!! thanks for stopping by.

Hugs...Rita



Card Deets
CS: WW & Old Olive
DP: CM Tuscany Photo Mats
Ink: BB to stamp image & Old Olive, I water colored image with aqua painter pen
Stamp & Ribbon: $ bin at Michael's

Snowman Card # 2

Good afternoon ladies,

Hope your all having a relaxing Sunday. This is just a quick post today, I'm trying to do the windows in my bedroom & wash clothes before going out today & then when I get back I want to hang the curtains in that room. Hope I can get that done by tonight. I'm really trying to force myself to move it & get some of the rooms done by Thanksgiving! I need some MOTIVATION!!! I'll be working my but off at the last minute to get it all done if I don't at least get some of it done in the next few days before going on a little mini vacation (4 days) to Atlantic City.
Well that's the end of my little break, back to work for a few more minutes before taking my shower & going out. Have a great day & thanks for stopping by.

Hugs...Rita




Card Details
CS: SU WW, Shimmery white & CM Shades of Purple
DP: unknown
Stamp: Canadian Maple Collections from A.C.Moore
Ink: Basic Black & Marvy Le Plume markers
MM Brads
Silver ribbon from A.C.Moore
Icicle Stickers
Cuttlebug slidders die plate

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Jana. Here are my answers to these 5 questions.

1)If you could have 100.00 pounds worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose?

I would choose embellishments, I already have lots & lots of paper.


2) If you had to choose between using only stamps or rub ons which would you choose?

Stamps , of course. I luv them & don't have many.


3) If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts, but could only do one for a year which would you do?

Cards, because then I could share them with all of you, my blog buddies, family & friends. I think a card puts a smile on peoples faces when they receive them. I know it does that for me & I luv getting cards!!!


4) Would you rather own a scrap booking store or have your own scrapping room at home (can't have both,lol,)?

I love having a scrapping/stamping room all to myself at home.


5) And the last but not least, what is your current cardmaking or scrapping style?

I'm not sure yet...I'm kind of doing everything. I just started a few months ago (stamping 5 months) so I don't have a style, I like being all over the place right now & still learning lots of things.


I'm not going to pick anyone because I think this has been all over the blogs & I don't think I know anyone who has not gotten this one yet.


Have a great weekend everyone!!! Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs...Rita

Lots of Good Mail & a Retirement Lunch

Hi Ladies,

Well today I went to my friend Sandi's retirement lunch, just a few of us got together to have lunch & say goodbye to her because she's moving to the western part of the state & boy am I going to miss her! :0( (insert very sad face!) She was my partner in crime at work, we were always getting into trouble for too much talking, our cubicles were next to each other. It made the day go by a lot quicker when we talked all day, & sometimes we would go out & get a starbucks Latte & sneak back in, yeah right, as if no one knew...they could smell the coffee the minute we opened the door. Heehee!!!! We worked hard but had lots of fun too. Well anyway I made this card for her, (a gift card holder) & put a gift card in it for Starbucks. A small reminder of us going to get Lattes. Now that she is retired as of 2 PM today, she is joining the club of us retirees with BIG SMILES on our faces all the time!!! I'll put a picture or two of us at the bottom.

This week was a great mail week for me, I'm always happy whenever I get some mail that isn't a bill or junk mail, don't you agree? I have some pictures with details of the happy mail below. Have a great evening & I'll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for visiting today.

Hugs...Rita


Sandi's Card details:
CS: WW & Taken with Teal
DP: Unknown
Stamps: G Studio Michael's
Ink: Basic Black, Marvy Le Plume markers
Brads: MM
Ribbon: unknown
SU dimensionals & ticket punch




This pretty card & lots of images came from Jana . She heard that I had no Thanksgiving stamps so she sent me some images & some Brazilian candy (it was delicious), how sweet is she...thank you so much Jana, now I have to make some cards for Thanksgiving. It's always great getting images because to me its like having new stamps to play with, I don't have a lot of stamps 'cause I'm just starting out & most of my purchases are for the essentials & tools to make the cards. I buy a few stamps here & there but I've only been at this since June so it takes time to build a stash.




I got this beautiful thank you card from Allison today. WOW! I luv it, it's so beautiful Allison, thank you!


Sandi & me



All who attended the luncheon for Sandi

PAY IT FORWARD

PAY IT FORWARD!


I picked 3 ladies out of a bowl of names of bloggers that I visit every day to play "Pay it forward" I had been one of the first 3 to post a comment on Stampingranny"s blog last week so she picked me to play along. This is a fun game, so I agreed to play & pass it along.


The lucky 3 are:



Maria
Janaina
Malieta


I will be sending your goodies ASAP, and if you want to play, now you in turn do the same on your blog! You can recruit your blog buddies anyway you want to, and name as many as you desire. So have fun. Happy stampin'!

Now hubby & I are off for the day, talk to you all tomorrow & thanks for peeking!

Hugs
Rita

Be Mine

Good evening all!

Well the day is almost over & I'm finally posting, oh my! I've been on & off the computer all day today. I have a project that I've been working on today & I'm making 4 of them...I loved it soooo much I decided to make one for myself!!! Hehehe!!! It's about half done & I will finish it on Thursday because hubby & I are going out tomorrow. I'll talk about it on Thursday & will post the finished project some time next week. I know...your anxious to find out, but I'm devious that way, hehehe!!! You'll just have to be patient, people!

Here is a card that I made with the stamps & cards that I won from Mary's blog, I like this cute little monkey & how the card came out. Thank you so much Mary for the great blog candy! Go visit her blog, she has some great cards & you'll love her blog!

I don't think I will be posting tomorrow, so I'll talk to you again on Thursday. Thanks for stopping by my blog & looking, have a great day tomorrow.

Hugs...Rita




Card Deets
Card base is A Muse note card - Madeira Blue
Stamps: A Muse
Ink: Chocolate Brown & Red & Brown Le Plume marker
Banana is yellow CS scrap
Ribbon: Michael's
CS: WW & CM Brown
This card is 4 3/4" x 3 1/2"

Colorful Thank You Card

Good afternoon Ladies!

It's beautiful & sunny outside today, hope your all having a great day! I'm getting ready to go to A.C. Moore to try & get some holiday paper for cards, they are really late in getting Christmas holiday products out this year, has anyone else had that problem with their Michael's & A.C. Moore? Well hope they have the Basic Grey that
I'm looking for today!

Thanks to all of you for your comments on my post about the storm. The tree is only half cut up & due to the fact that it gets dark early now (ugh!!!) because of time change, we (they) won't get to finish cutting the tree till the weekend.

Well it's safe to say that Mary from "It's All About the Journey" has received my thank you card that I sent her for winning the blog candy on her blog. I love this card because for the first time I used such bright colors & love how it all came together. So here is a picture of the card I sent her. Check out her blog, she has such wonderful cards & is very talented. Thanks again Mary.
Well I'm off shopping, so have a wonderful day & thanks for stopping by, Happy Stamping!

Hugs...Rita



Card Details
CS: Taken with Teal & WW
DP & Ribbon: unknown came from Deb's Blog Candy
Stamps: Michael's
Ink: Basic Black & Marvy Le Plume markers
Brads: MM
Punches: SU Ticket punch
Dimensionals

Storm & Cleaning up afterwards

Hi Ladies,

Hope your all enjoying your Sunday afternoon. We had a little excitement here yesterday, we had a lot of stormy weather here & the electricity went on & off a few times but never did go out for a long time, we were very lucky. I was still on the computer when I heard a lot of wind & then a great big bang, scared the living daylights out of me. I look out the window & saw that a big tree fell right outside of the window in the den where I was, thank God it fell away from the house. Hubby had just gone down the street to get some milk & when he came back he was surprised when I told him. We have been doing a lot of work on our house & land in the last 5 years, so we were very grateful the tree fell away from the house.

My neighbor offered himself & his father to cut up the tree, (we no longer have a power saw)& we would give him the wood to haul out of here & that was a big help to us. They are still out there chopping & cleaning & hauling the branches away to the dump in my neighbors truck. Gotta luv my neighbors. We have always been a close knit neighborhood here, there are only 8 houses on our street & we have always gotten along in our 30 years since these houses were built. There are only 2 houses that have new owners (next door where the tree fell & across from our house), all the rest are original home owners. I took some pictures for you to see.

Take care & thanks for stopping by...happy stamping all!!!

Hugs
Rita











These two pictures were taken from my neighbor's yard. The tree fell right over the property line.




Clean Up, day after the storm!
These last 3 pictures were taken from my bedroom window.



It's a big tree!

Penguin Card

Hi Ladies,

Well I heard from a lot of you telling me that I am not alone when it comes to not having Thanksgiving stamps, so that made me feel good. I think because we have so much going on for Christmas like Fall cleaning, getting ready & cooking for Thanksgiving, then jumping into gear with decorating & shopping & making cards, etc, etc, etc. I'm so tired just thinking about it already!!! But it's so much fun, don't you think? Then when it's all done, oh my, I for one get into such a low for about a month, then I have to pick myself up & get back into the groove of things again. Well I can't sleep so I figured I would do my post early or would 2:20 am be considered late? Either way here I am typing away & I'm getting a little tired all of a sudden...so here's my card for today. I had a lot of fun making this card, but then again I luv penguins so it was fun & easy. Enjoy & thanks for stopping by. We're supposed to be getting some bad stormy weather later today with high winds so I don't know if I will be on the computer later due to electric outages that is expected, but when it passes I will be back. I'm off to bed finally, have a great day.

Hugs...Rita



Card Deets
CS: Real Red, WW & Shimmery White
DP: unknown scraps
Stamps: SU Warm Words & Penguin is from A.C. Moore
Ink : Basic Black
Accessories: Antique gold Brads MM, Ribbon Michael's, & SU Gold Cord
Stickles in Xmas Red & Waterfall
Punches: Mega & Giga square punches, SU Small Tag punch & SU ticket punch
Crop-a-dial was used for the hole on tag

On to the Next Holiday

Hello Ladies,

Hope you all had a fun Halloween! Now it's on to the next holiday...Thanksgiving!!! No, I don't have a thanksgiving card for you today, I don't have any stamps for thanksgiving. :-( So, I made a Christmas card instead. I really had fun making this card, I spotted this card some where while blog surfing, (I really need to write down the blog & name of the person when I print out the picture) but don't remember who it was, so please forgive me & if you know it's yours please drop me a line & let me know so that I can put a link to your blog & give you credit for your design. I happen to have a stocking stamp & it was perfect for this card. I cut out the stockings (the stamp had 3) so that it looks like they are hanging from a mantle.
Today I promised myself while printing out tutorials that I would take the time to write down the person's name & blog site where it came from for future reference. I hope I can remember to get into that habit of writing it down, persistence pays off if its a constant. So there you have it for today's post. Thank you so much for dropping in & looking and if you have time PLEASE sign my guest book. Keep smiling ladies, lots of new stamps out there today. Talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs...Rita



Card Deets
CS: Real Red, WW, & Cream color (unknown)
DP: Creative Imaginations Snowflakes
Stamps: Canadian Maple Collections
Ink: Real Red & I scrapped edges of cream CS with River Rock & Le Plume markers
Stickles: xmas Red, & White Lace on stocking tops
SU Silver Cord