Bugs, colds, flu and general yuckiness.....

........have abounded in our household. Despite all preventative measures, the winter maliase has spread itself around in ever differing forms meaning that as one of us got better, the other got sick and then the one that got better got sick again, leaving us feeling a little like

And the weather has been awful which has added to the gloom but yesterday spirits were lifted by the arrival of the mailman with happy mail. Not one, but two packages that I was not expecting! The first package was from my sister - it had 24 packets of crisps (chips) in it - total cause for celebration.!!!!
In Scotland we take junk food very seriously and there are chips in flavors not even imagined here in the US - Prawn Cocktail, Roast Chicken, Cheese and Onion, Worcestershire Sauce and Smokey Bacon to mention only a few. I've pretty much adjusted to life without these simple delights (harder than it sounds actually )but I really, really miss Smokey Bacon crsips most of all - now I have 12 packets to savour.... and my DS has 12 packets of Cheese and Onion which he really, really loves. I also have an issue of Good Food (another little thing which I really, really miss) and DS has a Tim Minchin DVD (impossible to find here) so it's all very good. My DH doesn't understand the rationale of spending way more in postage than the actual value of the goods in the package - what does he know?

In the other package was a bunch of goodies from a Scottish stamping friend, including a beautiful hand crafted Halloween banner, a bunch of stamped images (Magnolia and Hanglar and Stanglar) and some new Magnolia stamps - she is a honey!! Thanks, Dawn
I "met" Dawn on SCS - even although she lives about 40 mins from my hometown, I had to move to another country to find her. The internet has made the world a very small place and SCS has made the stamping community even smaller. That forum is one of my very happy places - if you are a stamper and have never checked it out (where have you been, in a closet for the last few years?), rush over there right now to see what all the fuss is about .

Serendipity

The much anticipated, brand new spring supplement/magalogue from The Angel Company is here with 48 new sets, including new hostess sets, a ton of great tips, ideas and card sketch ideas and our revamped hostess rewards plan. I love the whole thing! And I love most of all that the company has listened to its demonstators and is changing to meet what we and our customers want, especially now, when every crafting dollar counts. I'm very excited to see what other changes this year is going to bring to TAC!

Serendipity goes "live" for ordering tomorrow so I'm sure it won't be long before it's available for viewing on the website, but if you can't wait, I'd be happy to mail one out to you . If you cover the cost of the supplement ($2.95) then I will cover the cost of shipping (media mail) Just e-mail me and let me know.

Vacation's over...

My sister has been and gone - boy, did that week go fast! We shopped and talked, ate and talked, enjoyed a few adult beverages and talked, shopped some more and talked some more..... I think you get the picture!

She's not a stamper, so there was no stamping done at all. This is a card I did for a challenge but I did it the weekend before she arrived and I don't remember which one. I think it was a sketch on the CPS blog, but I'm not sure. The paper is TAC and so are the images, apart from the wings which are Stampendous (I think). The glittery hearts came from the Target $1 spot originally but have been in my stash for a while.

Reading this post, it would appear I have the retention powers of an ameba. I will try to do better now that normal service, such as it is, has been resumed!

New Stamps from The Angel Company

This is one of the new sets which will be available in the new spring supplement coming soon from The Angel Company. How cute is she?

We were able to pre-order a preview bundle and although I didn't take advantage of the offer, my upline did and she kindly sent me some images. Very kind of her...... now I think I "need" this set, which I didn't before I saw them in real life.

You also get a sneek peak of my messy stamp room hiding in the background. Usually I edit it out, but today I didn't - no reason, I just didn't.

So you think it doesn't get cold in Florida?

Oh, it gets cold...... just not the "cold" those of you up north are thinking of. I realize there's not much pity around for me, but this is cccooollddd for us hot house Floridians. Almost record breaking cold, which is just typical, since my sister will be here from Scotland on Tuesday. With hopes of getting away from the cold - which it doesn't look like she will be doing. Ah, well at least it will be sunny and cold as opposed to grey and cold. We will just be forced to shop at the indoor malls. I can feel the pity pouring off of all of you as I type......

Friday Sketchers

It sort of sums up my life that I completed the Friday Sketchers challenge on Sunday...... that's okay, better late than never, right?

I used one of my favorite Angel Company images from the set "justdream" and the papers are also from TAC - the Mimi Collection.

I don't know if you can see it, but I used some Martha Stewart Snow Glitter at her feet. I was going for a cloud effect, but I think it was one of those inspirations that looked better in my head than on the paper.

I'm loving the challenges! It really makes me try different things and that's what this year is all about.

The Angel Company 50% sale

My order is in! (If you don't know what sale I am talking about, scroll down for details) There were a few sets on my wish list that are now on their way to my house...... at these prices, how could I resist? I got:

Glitter Goblins - love Halloween! Loved this set when it came out and resisted......

Seasonal Icons - how cute is this? I can think of lots of uses for this set. Such great value for money and that is always a good thing

Date Discs - another set I have had my eye on for a while now. Lots of potential here too, don't ya think?

Fore - DH is a golfer -'nuff said!! I don't complain too much though as we have an agreement. I don't ask how much he spends on golfing, and he don't ask how much I spend on stamping. Works for me

Spooktacular - yip, love Halloween. You can never have too many Halloween sets IMHO ........and today I learned how to add these animations to my blog posts. Bet you would never have guessed ?

The Sugar Bowl Challenge

One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was so I could join in all the fun bloggers seem to have, including the blog challenges. This is my very first blog challenge, so it works very nicely that this is also the first sketch challenge over at The Sugar Bowl, the new challenge blog for Sugar Nellie stamps. These stamps come all the way from Scotland (have I mentioned that I do too?) and these little lovelies have been in my stash for quite some time now, so it's good to be challenged in to using them.

I can totally see why people get addicted to these sketch challenges! I was a little "challenged" to get all the different layers of paper on the card (may have cut them too big to begin with) so my finished product may be more in the spirit of the sketch rather than technically correct, but isn't inspiration the whole point of the challenges?

It's also a fantastic way to use up paper scraps. Most of what you see here is Basic Grey - I can never get myself to throw any of that delicious paper in the trash can......

Sugar Nellie is also the newest member company over on SCS. Check out their forum and find out all about them!

Scottish Thistle

As soon as I saw this Magnolia stamp, I knew she had to be mine! Magnolias are still fairly hard to find here in the US, so I dropped several heavy hints to my mum. Lo and behold, look what showed up for me in a little package just after Christmas! Since she was kind enough to listen to my hints, it seemed only fair that I make her a thank you card. I am very guilty of making cards and not sending them and it's one of my goals this year to get better about making it to the Post Office!

For those of you who don't know, the thistle is the emblem of Scotland and I really haven't seen too many rubber stamps featuring them. I'm pleased with the way the card turned out - not so pleased with the way the picture turned out. I have a ways to go with the photo editing skills it seems...

SPEC-TAC-ULAR SAVINGS!

Check this out! If you've ever wanted to try out The Angel Company, there's never been a better time than now!!


www.theangelcompany.net


www.theangelcompany.net

Happy New Year!

Over on Splitcoast Stampers, there is a thread all about 2009 Crafting Goals. Here are mine:
1. Use what I have until I have made a sizeable dent in the stash!,
2. Clean out my stamp room so I can find what I have in order to accomplish goal number 1. Sell, donate or trade excess stuff!
3. Make more cards rather than spending so much time looking for inspiration on SCS, on blogs and everywhere, then bookmark all the stuff I like, then never do anything with it.
4. Use those cards to support all those causes (cards for heroes, cards for cancer survivors, cards for sick children) that I always say I will and then never get around to.
5. Finish unmounting those stamp sets I am keeping
6. Make some Christmas cards every month so I actually send hand made cards to everyone next year
7. Learn how to scrapbook digitally.
8. After 3 half hearted attempts, actually work on a blog so i can join in all the cool blogger stuff!9. Squeeze in an extra couple of hours to each day in order to accomplish list.

This blog stuff is harder than it looks - and it's easy to get discouraged when you see all the cool sites out there and can't work out how to make your own look like that, but I am on a mission.