Debi's Crazy Life;

Is it time for the kids to go back to school yet??? I only sort of mean that, I like being with them but we need to get back to a routine. And I need to get back to stamping!!! No stamping, no time to blog, haven't even walked into my office in almost two weeks, except to do laundry and stash the mega pack of paper towels I bought. I am hopeing by Wednesday to have a chance to stamp, but don't hold your breath because it will probably take me a couple of days to get the house back to "normal". That and I need to figure out what is wrong with my camera, the sd card with all of my pictures from Christmas is mysteriously blank. I need to find out if this is a camera problem or a sd card problem. In the mean time, until I have something post worthy, I have been tagged by Diane , check out her blog. The rules of the game: • Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. • Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want

This is the view out my garage door this morning. We got hit by a nasty nor'easter this weekend and are buried in about 14 inches of fresh snow. That is on top of all the rest of the snow we got last week, not to mention the 4-6 we are supposed to get today. Didn't even make it to church yesterday and school is canceled this morning. We have a ton of shoveling to do and really need to get my van unburied, since it hasn't moved since Saturday, but right now the view is lovely.

This set is also going to be in the new Spring/Summer Stampin' Up! catalog. It is called Happy Heart and I plan on using it to make my kids Valentine cards but in the mean time I figured I should show it to you. I think that this elephant is rather cute, don't you? What I used: Happy Heart stamp set, Polka Dot background stamp basic black, purely pomegranate, basic gray and naturals white card stock Bali Breeze designer paper Black Stazon stamp pad various reinkers for watercoloring, aquapainter purely pomegranate double stitched grosgrain ribbon

My new toys have arrived! I have to admit that December seems an odd time for me to be getting new toys since this time of year is all about the kids but this time it was my turn. With the release of the new Spring/Summer Stampin' Up! catalog literally only a couple of weeks away my preorder from the new catalog has arrived. I have to say that having new stamp sets before most everyone else is my favorite perk of being a demonstrator but I am nice and will share with you what I have gotten. This card is made with the new stamp set Embrace Life, which I have to say is my favorite of the new stuff I have seen. I am very sure that you will be seeing a lot of it in the future. I also used the new Bali Breeze designer paper. I have to admit that at first glance in the preview catalog I wasn't sure that I was going to love this paper but now that I have seen it in real life, I really like it and it goes wonderfully with this stamp set. What I used: Embrace Life stamp set White

Hi everybody. No stamping today but I have fabulous news. Our foster daughter Ellie was freed yesterday for adoption and we will begin adoption proceedings as soon as possible. We are thrilled beyond belief with this news and praise God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us. Having Ellie join us permanently is something we have only been able to dream about for the last several years since we took adoptive placement and then adopted two of her siblings. We are thankful for caring caseworkers that made reuniting these siblings a priority, a wise judge that truly was mindful of what was best for Ellie, and a loving God that has blessed us beyond measure. We also finally have our certificate of occupancy on the large addition on our house (a work in progress for 5 long years) and are busy finally, permanently moving into it. Also the lumber was just delivered to start our last major project, turning our old garage into a huge family room. Hopefully by Monday I will have my offi

It is time to bid Frosty a fond farewell for his time has come....he has been retired. In case you haven't seen the retired list check it out . I have a workshop this afternoon so today is all about using my retired set for the last time before the go into my sale bin to be sold off in January to finance the purchase of new rubber stamps. The Frosty card is a fairly simple one. I used an always artichoke card base with a couple of strips of Wintergreen designer paper. Frosty is matted with always artichoke and soft sky card stock. Frosty is stamped in basic black on whisper white then I stamped him again on a scrap of the designer paper and cut out the scarf, hat band and leaf and attached them to the main image. Used markers to color his hat, carrot and buttons. This card is just a quickie using Double Line Doodle. The card body is Very Vanilla and the greeting from Hugs & Wishes is stamped in basic black. On a scrap of very vanilla I stamped some of the flowers fr

How about a sneak peak into the new Spring/Summer catalog? Check it out. This card is made using the new level 3 hostess set Time Well Spent. As a demo for Stampin' Up! I was blessed to receive this set from them. I think it is a great set and you will be seeing a lot more of it in the future. What I used: Time Well Spent and Elegant Inscriptions stamp sets Basic Gray, Confetti White card stock Certainly Celery Prints designer paper Basic Black, Basic Gray classic ink pads Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue ink for water coloring Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, two way glue pen and glitter

My blog needed a face lift and after hours of paying around and a little help from my friends. It is done. What do you think of my new look?

I need several small little thank you gifts and this is what I came up with. What do you think? Personally I think they are adorable! I probably will change my mind after I make 20 of them. The card is 3x3 and the little box holds 3 Hershey's Nuggets candy. What I used: Perfect Presentation, Think Happy Thoughts stamp sets Always Artichoke, Sage Shadow, Confetti White card stock Wintergreen Designer paper Acetate sheets, whisper white grosgrain ribbon, various circle punches To create these adorable boxes check out this tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers

A couple of my online friends and I challenge each other weekly to make a RAK (random act of kindness) card and send it out to a specific person. This last week was Judy's turn to pick and she choose a woman from AZ who had fallen from her horse and was bleeding in the brain. She challenged us to use a stamped border. I could not seem to get a stamped border lined up to my satisfaction so I masked out the center of the card and stamped and sponged my border. To give the appearance the the horse is running I stamped the horse then moved the stamp about an eighth of an inch over (without reinking) and stamped again, moved the stamp and stamped again and again. I like how combining these techniques gave this card a lot of depth without adding extra layers of card stock.

I finally got a chance to stamp this morning instead of my usual Black Friday Christmas shopping. It has sort of been a tradition that I take one of the boys and go BUT (gasp!) I have already finished my shopping! Can you believe it? Guess I don't have any excuses to not do some baking this year, huh? Because I haven't been able to get out much this fall I actually did most of my shopping online this year. Alright enough bragging, back to stamping. Today's card was all about snowflakes. Since everything here is covered with snow, it sounded like a good way to start. Very simple. I stamped the greeting from Many, Merry Message in real red ink of confetti white card stock. The snowflakes from Snow Burst are stamped in going gray and basic gray. I used the mat pack and piercing tool to add some interest in the corners. Layered the white on basic black, added some basic gray taffeta ribbon then added the layers to a basic gray card body. Wish I had some red glitter

Really I am not dead and I have not abandoned my blog. The plague had fallen on the Southard family but everyone is finally healthy. The stomach bug had hit our family hard, bad enough that two of my children had it twice in a little over a week and worst of all I got it and everyone knows mama is not supposed to ever get sick. I finally have my house back in order, my children all back to school and the laundry is finally all caught up and yes my office is clean so I am back to stamping. My son Manny is rapidly approaching his 6th birthday and the other day he asked me if he could have a pirate (yessssss!) birthday party. Of course I was happy to get out Ahoy Matey to make the cards but I needed some inspiration so I headed to the gallery over on splitcoast stampers and found this fabulous card by claudiafromgermany. I am not really big on copying other peoples cards but this card gave me some fabulous ideas. The card is a gate fold card, meaning that the front of the card is f

Another Christmas card. I am thinking about using this card for some of my November workshops. I watercolored the main image using various classic reinkers and an aquapainter. What I used: Peace to the World stamp set Soft Sky and Basic Black card stock watercolor paper Wintergreen designer paper black Stazon ink pad various classic reinkers aquapainter Since today is Halloween and I have children we had to carve pumpkins last nights. Jeff ended up working late because of a long transport run and Daniel was buried in homework so the pumpkin carving duties fell to me this year. I cut all the tops off of the pumpkins so the kids could gut the pumpkins. Ellie did not enjoy that task at all and Manny has always had a hard time touching anything gooey but turns out Jessika is the pumpkin carving queen. She gutted 5 pumpkins in the time it took the other two to each do one and actually finished theirs for them. Then proceeded to carve the faces (using one of those safe carving things)

In my continuing search for the perfect Christmas card, I made this card. And no it is not the perfect card but it now brings my total up to 67 cards so I can't complain. What I used: Snow Burst and Many Merry Messages stamp sets Blue Bayou, Basic Black and Confetti White card stock Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and Basic Black classic ink pads silver brads, silver cord and blue bayou double stitched grosgrain ribbon two way glue pen and dazzling diamonds glitter, sponge What I did: I started this card by masking off an oval, the mask was cut from a scrap of card stock using my oval coluzzle template and cutter kit. I then sponged inside the mask using soft sky ink. I stamped some snowflakes in soft sky and some in blue bayou ink. I removed the mask and stamped a couple more snowflakes in blue bayou. I stamped "be merry" in basic black ink and added the silver brads. The main image was then layered on basic black and a blue bayou card body. I added blue bayou double stitc

Four millions things I need to get done today so todays card is really just a quick one. Nothing fancy except a little bit of glitter on the small pomegranate flowers What I used: Baroque Motifs stamp set Basic Gray, Whisper White and Purely Pomegranate card stock Basic Gray, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky classic ink pads Soft Sky and Purely Pomegranate double stitched grosgrain ribbon, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon Scallop punch two way glue and dazzling diamonds glitter

I had so much fun yesterday when I attended the Splitcoast Stampers Central New York Gathering. I got to meet almost 40 SCS stampers, some of whom I have chatted with before. But my big moment was meeting Michelle (Flaxychick) and finding out that she has moved to within an half and hour of me. I have admired her as a stamper since long before she became a dirty girl. My sister sideline Kim was there and I didn't know she was coming so it was nice to see her. But it shows how little I pay attention that I didn't even recognize her name on the list. Another highlight of the day was meeting a fellow "stalker" (one who chats while waiting for the challenge to post). I had "stalked" with Arin (Arinstamps) several times before and it was wonderful to sit and talk with her, which I did quite a bit since we were at the same table for the morning session. I now have a bunch of faces to connect to screen names and am already looking forward to the next gather

Can you stand one more boho western card? I hope so since that is what I am in the mood for this morning. I actually did a card yesterday that used the same stuff and I forgot to clean up last night so this is what was sitting in front of me. I love the stuff so you are stuck with it. Nothing fancy on this one. The only tricky thing is how I stamped the horse. I inked the stamp with chocolate chip classic ink. Stamped the horse, lifted up the stamp, moved it over about an 1/8 of an inch and stamped again, then repeated the process 4 more times. I also sponged the edges of everything with chocolate chip ink. What I used: Wanted, Much Appreciated stamp sets and Sanded background stamp Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Very Vanilla card stock Outlaw designer paper wide chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon hodgepodge hardware sponge

to have a jack-o-lantern this year because Jessi already looks like one. She lost another tooth last night bringing her total on currently missing teeth up to a total of four. She only has the center teeth on the bottom, with gaps on each side and no front teeth on top. Of course today is picture day at school!

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and we all have either lost a loved one, know a survivor or know someone currently fighting their battle with this disease, I thought I would encourage you all to stamp your heart out with pink today. I made another card this morning to send to lady at my church who is battling breast cancer, while her husband is also struggling to beat his own cancer. Today I think of those in my life who lost their battle and those who won. I pray for those who are fighting their hardest and know that if something doesn't change 1 out of every 8 of us will have to do the same. I will get my annual mamogram done this month. Make your appointment today. Okay off of my soapbox for now. Do you like it? I redid this card four times so you had better like it! The flower is paper pieced. I stamped the flower 4 times on pretty in pink card stock with the matching craft ink, so I could emboss it with clear embossing powder. I then cut out different

Todays stamping is something a little different, it is called a treat slider. When you pull the ribbon the treat, in this case microwave popcorn, slides up. These are really easy to make. I just I measured the card stock by wrapping the card stock around the popcorn package. I removed the card stock from the popcorn, then punched a whole through both layers in the top for the ribbon and slid the popcorn right in. The background is wheeled in whisper white with the whimsy wheel. I created the main image using Autumn Harvest and used a couple of masks when I stamped the images so that they would overlap comfortably. The greeting is from a retired set (sorry) All Year Cheer III but it is the only Halloween greeting I currently have. The main image is watercolored with various reinkers then layered. I added a black vintage brad and did a little paper piercing on the pumpkin pie layer. I added a strip of pumpkin pie and whisper white card stock across the bottom with some black gro

I am determined to get the new in color River Rock to work for me. What do you think? Did it work? Here it is paired with Basic Black and Basic Gray. I used the stamp set Moose You, the distressing tool from the cutter kit, the piercing tool and mat pack, and double stitched river rock grosgrain ribbon.

Upfront I need to apologize for the poor quality of todays photo. The kids were home for the holiday today so all the natural daylight was gone before I had time to take this picture. Because the card body is transparent it either disappears into the background or has a glare. Hopefully this is enough to give you a rough idea of what an acetate card looks like. I have admired the acetate cards over on Splitcoast for ages but I have never taken the time, before now to do one. (See why doing the daily challenges is such a good thing?) The card body is made from half a sheet of transparencies like you use in an over head projector, that I purchased at Walmart. They are available at any office supply store. I stamped the swirls (from Baroque Motifs) with white Stazon ink. You need a quick drying permanent ink like Stazon to stamp on acetate. The verse (from Elegant Inspirations) is stamped in Basic Black on Whisper White then layered on Basic Black and Purely Pomegranate. The m

Just a sweet little quick card today. I love taking any scrap of designer paper and a little bit of ribbon and making a quick little card. I had some scraps of cutie pie designer paper left over from another project. I layered them together added a scalloped border and a layered greeting and some ribbon and you have a fantastic card. What I used: Think Happy Thoughts stamp set Cutie Pie designer paper Purely Pomegranate, Certainly Celery, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock Purely Pomegranate double stitched grosgrain ribbon various circle punches, small corner rounder, dimensionals I need to head off to the grocery store. I have 10 or so teenage boys coming home with my son after school and before they play in the big homecoming football game tonight under the lights. Must go buy massive quantities of food!

I need to teach my stamping club members how to do the Joseph's Coat technique. I was playing around with it this morning for this card. Not completely satisfied so I am going back to the drawing board to come up with something better for them. The card isn't a total waste of paper so I thought I would share it and try to come up with something else to WOW you with later.

I need a little boy birthday card so I pulled out my Circus Train stamp set and the paisley background stamp. I love this set but never seem to use it enough. I tried a new color combination for this card; Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, Real Red and River Rock. You all know that I have been having a real hard time with River Rock because it just seems too green to me but this color combo really worked. I didn't do anything really fancy for this card but I did extend the smoke stack and smoke above the main panel but layered the main panel as usual. The main image is water colored using classic ink and an aquapainter. The background layers are stamped with the paisley background stamp and embellished with red eyelets and red gingham ribbon. The greeting is from the Hugs & Wishes stamp set. Now on to the bragging portion of our program today. This weekend we all went down to visit my oldest son at college. He is attending Messiah College which is outside of Harrisburg,