Can't help myself...

OK, I'm probably boring some of you but I can't help myself! I MUST post more pictures of Gabby in the snow. Hey, I'd take some of me and her if I had someone else who was willing to come out in the cold to snap them. ha! Hubby is snug inside!! In these shots, she's wearing her new Valentines "blankie" that Jessica picked out for her. It is pink and red and she's so cute in it. Look at her having fun. Yes, I'm a silly mom!!Here is our house in the snow this morning (round 4, as hubby calls it). 15.3 degrees was our low temperature this morning--really chilly for the "sunny South". Today is the first day ever that my 3 sisters and I all had snow at our houses--one lives at Isle of Palms, SC, I'm in the mountains of NC, and the other two are in the piedmont of SC. Amazing that we all got snow yesterday!OK, I'll post some cards later. I'm going downstairs to stamp now!! Keep warm!! Smiles, Laura

Valentine Fish...

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog today. I wanted to show you one last Valentine before Sunday (Valentine's Day). I think I’ve shown you most of the others I’ve made. Seems like I've been postsing them a long time--but then I do love Valentine's Day. First I’ll show you my fish card we are making in class this month. This one is a cute card to send to anyone for almost any occasion. Kids especially will love it. The bodies of the fish are made with the ornament punch. I know, I know, it’s retired but I’m HOPING SU will have it in the next big catalog and besides, a lot of you own it already. OK, on to the Valentine card. So I was thinking how cute these little guys would be in pink and red, so I made this card. Don’t you love them as a Valentine? I sent this one to Jessica as her Valentine from me. I hope she likes it!! Thanks for stopping by!! Smiles, Laura

Another "LOVE" card....

I thought I'd share this card today. It is pretty simple, but I like it! I used the I [Love} Love jumbo wheel for the basis of the card. I backed that with pink, red and white pieces of CS punched with the pinking heart border punch. I colored part of the words (mostly the LOVE words) using my aqua painter and pretty in pink reinker.

Hope you like it!! Come back often! Smiles, Laura

Note to Peggy

I'll post some samples tomorrow, but I did want to tell Peggy who wrote to me for instructions that I cannot get instructions to go through to your inbox. Please write to me again and send me an email address that will let me get a reply to you! Thanks, everyone, for tolerating me!
Smiles, Laura

Happy New Year!!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve and are ready for another new year! Did you make alot of resolutions? Not me! I know we never end up keeping them, so I just don't pretend I'm going to do so. Ha! But there are some things I want to get "on top of" this year (2010) and I'm really going to make an effort to do that! My stamp room is a disaster and I am truly going to try to get it cleaned up!

I got to stamp a bit today. Tomorrow is my husband's and my anniversary and I needed to make him a card. Here is his card I'll give him in the morning.

Ellen Kemper first made this "full bodied" bear with sunglasses and "COKE" on his red scarf. Hers really does look like the Coke bears! When I saw hers, I KNEW I'd have to make one. When asked what he wanted on his anniversary card this year, my husband said he wanted "a critter", so I decided to make this one for him. He is a cute bear and hubby will love him! He's made with punches (the bear, that is) and the "I {heart} U" is from the A Happy Heart set. The border was punched using the new Pinking Hearts Border punch in the new Occasions mini catalog.

I also needed a few "get well" cards for friends who have had surgery or have a broken bone (one friend broke an arm for the third time in 3 years!!) so I made this card to send.This designer paper is the Sending Love Specialty paper in the Occasions mini. I cut out two shapes from the paper to use on the wording and the red heart. You can't see the glittered parts of this paper, but it is gorgeous!! The red heart is punched and embossed with the Scalloped Heart of Heart embosslit. And of course, there's that border again using the Pinking Heart Border punch. The wording stamp is from the All Holidays set. I am planning to use this card as a "get well" card, but it would be appropriate for any occasion.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful 2010! Thanks for stopping by! Smiles, Laura

We're getting closer....

We're getting closer to Christmas and I'm excited. No, nothing special happening here this year, but still I'm like a kid about Christmas! What a wonderful time with family and friends. We have been in most of the week because of the snow we have on the ground so I have had time to stamp! I have been getting ready for my January classes. So I have some shares today.

You've all seen my polar bears I designed and shared--apparently they have become all the rage on lots of blogs. Funny, we have all thought of lots of other "critters" but not polar bears. I made some last year but didn't think to share them. Well, now my customers want to make them, but I didn't want to make a Christmas card in January--so I decided to make a winter card for Valentines. My previous bears showed a mommy and a baby bear. I decided for Valentines, I wanted a male and a female, so this time the one on the right is made larger--using the 1-3/8" circle punch, rather than the 1" circle punch. And I added hearts over their heads to show they are in LOVE. Ha! The heart is punched with the Heart to Heart punch. I stamped the I {heart} U from the A Happy Heart set. That one is my all time favorite Valentines set!!

You've seen the mouse I made earlier, too. Here he is again. Well, again my customers wanted to learn to make him but I wanted a Valentines mouse. So I designed this card (below). This little fellow is holding a heart punched with the Full Heart punch. I stamped the message "always on my mind, forever in my heart" from the Always stamp set inside a circle from the new I {Heart} Hearts set which will be available in the Occasions Mini. (You are going to LOVE the Occasions Mini!!) I just love this little mouse that Ellen Kemper and Lynn Pratt came up with!! Check out their blogs to see how to make him. (I'm sorry that I do not know how to connect a link to their blogs!! I MUST learn how to do that!)

Here's another card I made this week. This one also uses the A Happy Heart and the I {Heart} Hearts sets.

For this one I stamped the dotted heart and cut it out and mounted it on a black heart punched with the new Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit die that will be available in January from the Occasions Mini. (Did I say you are going to LOVE this mini!!) OK, the right edge on this card is alittle different--something new I learned from Debbie Henderson (debbiesdesignsblog.blogspot.com) via Lynn Pratt's blog. (Thanks, girls!!) It's a neat trick using the slit punch. Check out Debbie's blog for step by step instructions.

Well, that's it for today! Check back later for more samples! Have a wonderful wintery day!! Smiles, Laura

You've got to love those UPS men and women!!

If you LOVE getting your packages on time, you've got to love those UPS men and women who deliver to us. My regular UPS guy is David and he's GREAT! He has even put my packages in our cab of our truck and locked it for me when we've been away several days. And he's carried really HEAVY Stampin' Up! boxes inside for me--even though they are not supposed to do that. He and I have a running joke about Oreo cookies because we both LOVE them. I used to always get him the iced Oreos that are only out at Christmas, but for the last couple of years cannot find them. I don't think Nabisco is making them any more. So anyway, this year I got him two packs of the Chirstmas Oreos, with the red filling. He told me yesterday he's already eatten one whole pack and I'm to blame if he gains weight this year (of course he's thin as a rail!). So when I saw this UPS fellow on Ellen Kemper's blog, I just had to make David a Christmas card to let him know how much I appreciate him! Here is his card:Ellen has the punches used on this little fellow listed on her blog so I won't repeat them: Blinkthinkink.blogspot.com. I think I used a few different ones. My fellow's shorts are made using the small tab punch, with the "v" cut with the star punch. And my eyes are alittle different from hers. I did the wording on my computer and punched those ovals with non-SU punches. All the rest of him is made using SU punches. The Stampin' Up! logo on the box was cut from an instruction sheet that came witih my new punches I received yesterday.

I think David will really like him. What do you think? Thanks for stopping in today!! Smiles, Laura