This, that & a giveway!

I have no excuses. 

The rest of the summer simply .... got away from me. 

Life got busy. 

My friend posted this on Facebook the other day:

"I'm eliminating the word "busy" from my vocabulary. It's a lazy, default answer to the questions "How's life? How've you been?"

There's no virtue in being busy and pretending to have more going on than others. We're all busy. We all have work to do, families to spend time with, friends to hang out with and support. 

Next time you ask me how life is, I'll have a better answer."

I love this. I am soooo guilty of saying life gets busy, I need more hours in the day, there's too much to do. Nobody has more than 24 hours in their day. I'm going to try to be better. I love my blog, my readers, my blogging friends, & I miss everyone. 

So what have I been up to since we last chatted?

* My son got his temps. He's been driving with me quite a few times & he's had his first behind-the-wheel lesson (on a dark, rainy, windy night, no less). I'm so happy for him I could cry. Ahem. 

* I've been seeing my brother about once a month. In September he & I hung out all day together, just the two of us. We went to the Farmer's Market, the lake, & he took me to lunch for my birthday. This month, I took the boys there & we attended a Science Festival, went to lunch at the University Union, & went for frozen custard. My SIL & niece went too & it was just a fun day hanging out with them. 

* Working LOTS. New account for our company = lots of extra hours for Michelle!

* Getting ready to get some much needed improvements/ repairs done on our house. Some major, some minor, all necessary. Will take photos as we go! 

* As "busy" as I am, I am finding more time for my friends. I find myself meeting friends for coffee, drinks, & dinner a lot more often than I used to. My boys are older now, so I don't have to try to work around my husband's schedule if I want to make plans. I just do. If the boys are home alone, so be it. They spent all summer alone together (LOL "alone together"? I'm pretty sure that's an oxymoron. Or something like that.) They have become responsible, trustworthy young men & I am so proud & grateful for both of them. 

*Last weekend, the boys & I went to the zoo for their Halloween goings-on. Fun all around. I shared these on Facebook but in case we are not friends on FB, or you missed them, here's a quick recap of our day: 

It was another perfect day spent with my boys! 

And .... if you've stuck with me through this whole post & all the pictures .... I have a small giveaway. I've been trying like mad to get rid of all my stamps & supplies. I've sold some on Ebay, some on SCS, some here (see my For Sale page) & some through Craigslist. I'm running out of time (there's that busy thing again) & patience. So .... every once & a while I will be giving something away. Nothing big .... just a stamp here .... maybe a pad of paper there .... 

Today, I choose Juliette's Leap of Faith from High Hopes. You can see the image on their web site HERE. It was drawn by my favorite artist, Crissy Armstrong. I loved being on the High Hopes design team & will always love every stamp of theirs. Some I will never let go of. But it's time for at least a few of them to live somewhere where they may receive a bit more love than I can give them. So ..... leave a comment for me if you are interested .... & I will pick a name .... oh, I don't know ... some time before my next post. Ha!! 

Steamy Sunday

It was HOT today - first really hot day we've had this year. Can you tell how steamy it is? 

And that was at 9:00 this morning, before it even got *really* hot!

So you are not going to believe this, but I made another card! That's TWO since January! Woohooooo I'm on a roll! 

I was going through my beloved High Hopes stamps & found Swinging Shannon. Since it IS officially summer I thought it was perfect!

Not only is my coloring a bit rusty, but I also found out my scissor skills aren't quite what they used to be. I mean, I've always hated cutting - but it was like I forgot how to work the little knife thing!

I had ordered a whole bunch of SU paper last year, & they are all still sitting in the box. I needed a really really dark brown & nothing I had in my drawer even came close - until I looked through the box. I was just going to sell it all, since it was all unopened. But wait -- what's this gorgeous dark brown called "Early Espresso"? It's perfect! So ... I guess I won't be selling that pack, since I clearly HAD to open it! It went with the  Basic Grey Porcelain perfectly!

And it just so happens the High Hopes' blog theme this month is SUMMER! I think this qualifies :)

I'm linking up to Everything Etsy's Crafty Girl linky party HERE. Go check out the fun - there's a giveaway involved :)

Hope you have a super week!  

Sundays with Crissy - color combo

Hi everyone! Friday the 13th -- eeeek --- I'm pretty sure I shouldn't risk going to work today. It would be much safer to hang out at home :)

So today is my day to post over at Sundays with Crissy. The theme this month is Favorite Color Combo. You've GOT to be kidding! I can only pick one?? Well I'll tell you what I did -- seriously, I listed 5 different combos --- & did "eeny meeny miney mo" LOL. I asked my boys to pick one of the 5 combos & they just rolled their eyes, so I had to do it! And pink & green won! Not just any green though -- it MUST be some shade of olive green :)

Is this not the cutest lil dragon you have ever seen?? This is Baby Dragon & I've used this cutie quite a few times, it makes a very unique, very CUTE baby card! But I have to tell you what I did --- or didn't do, as is the case. I had the cutest eensy weensy pink flower -- I mean this flower is TINY, & I added an even teenier rhinestone in the middle. I set it right by my image so I wouldn't forget to put it on her head. And I JUST NOW realized as I'm uploading my pictures, that after spending so much time fussing with my card I FORGOT to add the flower. I am so sad, that flower MADE the whole card! But it is late & this post is due in just a few hours so I must get over it & move on. I will HAVE to remember to add it before I list the card for sale though **sniffle**

Ok so if that's the worst thing that happened to me today, I've had a pretty good day, right? LOL Anyway, I decided to use a bunch of scraps for this card so I picked a few different Basic Grey pads & found some lonely strips, put them all together & what do you know, they made a pretty good background! 

I kept the rest pretty simple -- since the TEENY FLOWER was supposed to MAKE the whole card, sigh. ok, get over it, Michelle!

I did sparkle up her nuk -- & see her little pink nails? LOL --- well you know I DO have boys, I gotta spruce up my girlie images :)

Be sure to check out the rest of the gang's projects at Sundays with Crissy & heck, post a card while you're there!  

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:

Bunny Zoe's Crafts -- Ribbon/Twine

Make It Monday -- Always Anything Goes

Tomorrow is the last day of my kids Spring Break, so I'm leaving work a bit early & we're heading to Kenosha to visit the Jelly Belly Store! It's not the actual factory, but we do get a tour of the warehouse & some fun samples! I've never been there so I'm really looking forward to it. Of course, I'll be posting pics :)

**don't forget to comment on THIS POST for a chance at some paper I bought for myself, but decided I really didn't need, so I'm giving away**

+++EDIT +++

OK ---- you knew I was going to do it --- I was NOT going to sleep until I got a photo of Baby with her flower, lol --- see, isn't this SO much cuter? 

Ahhhhhh now I can sleep......

Sundays with Crissy - Animals

Hello all, happy 13th!! I love the 13th of the month, because that's my day to post over at Sundays with Crissy! This month's theme is Animals -- we want to see you use any animal on your card or project.

I know I've mentioned once or twice that I was on the High Hopes design team with the fabuloso Crissy Armstrong. Did I happen to mention how long we were on the team together? 3 years! 3 years!!! Which means every time she released new images, I got them. Do you know how much RUBBER that is?? And do you know how much of that rubber was in the shape of an ANIMAL?

While I am eternally grateful for my time on the team, & all that rubber --- my point is that it makes picking an image out each month impossible. An animal. ONE animal? Well I guess I could have made it a party & picked more than one. But after going through every single image I own, I decided on She-Baa Sheep. Because 1) it's an animal, 2) it's a great image for Easter, & 3) *she hadn't seen ink before* shhhhhhh...that one's a secret!

I colored She-Baa ( I just love that name) with my Copics -- practice, practice, practice -- one of these days I will be as comfortable with my Copics as I am with my pencils. This actually didn't turn out too badly --- I used lots of dots hoping to get the woolly effect. I stamped the image in gray Memento instead of black, since my plan was to keep the card a bit simpler & softer than my usual.

I added lots of Stickles on her bow, the flowers, & around the edges of the layers, just like my glitter idol Kim. Surely you know Kim, she's the master! The papers are SU's Basic Gray, Blush Blossom, & Cryogen Shimmery White (which is also what I stamped the image onto). It even probably would have looked better without the flowers -- but I just can't ever help myself, it's like an internal force -- one minute the flowers were in their jars, the next they were all glittered up & glued onto my card!

I do hope you'll join us at Sundays with Crissy -- the challenge goes the whole month so you still have lots of time to enter!!

Thanks so much for visiting me!! I hope you have a great week -- it's definitely spring here in Wisconsin (I know!! It's only March!) so I know I'll have a great one!

Here's the dirt!

Hello all ....long time no see! Today I have another High Hopes "oldie but goodie". I treasure all my High Hopes stamps -- I amassed quite a collection in the 3 years I was on the dt -- & have been slowly revisiting them all. 

This is "Tidy Up Tillie" -- with her matching sentiment. But here's the funny part about the sentiment -- I printed this one on the computer. I don't think I have the sentiment -- although I was on the design team at the time of this release, so I *should* have gotten it -- but I sure can't find it. Well, I used the same font so you probably never would have known if I hadn't told you :)

Tillie is colored with pencils -- the papers are Basic Grey Marrakech - lots of punched flowers & that wonderful crinkle ribbon. Here's something funny - the corner die is from Quickutz. It's discontinued. I paid more than I should have to get it on Ebay. Guess what? Whimsy Stamps just released a set of 4 dies --- for $8!!! For crying out loud --- that's way less than I paid for the ONE flippin' die! Argh --- I should have known to wait -- but I had to have it & caved. Ah well -- if you like this die & wasn't dumb enough to pay way too much on Ebay -- go check out the NEW Corner Dies Set HERE.

I really needed something for the empty spot UNDER the die -- & as usually I thought of brads AFTER the card was put together -- so instead I punched 3 navy circles -- & added Clear Glaze -- VOILA -- faux brads :)

I'm entering this into the following challenges: 

Allsorts --Anything goes

The Crazy Challenge -- Use a die or punch

Simon Says Stamp -- Use 3 papers

One more thing before I go ..... I've been really good with not buying anything new...I figure if I don't have time to use it why should I buy it? Then I went in search of a Doohickey die I *had* to have -- a lot of my usual online stores don't carry them anymore. So I went to Stamp & Create. Lacey & I have been friends since we were on the High Hopes dt together -- she is such a sweetheart! And while I have perused her store many times, shamefully, I've never ordered. Well I ordered this week because she had the die I wanted -- & while looking around at the Magnolia stamps I decided to splurge a bit. A belated Christmas gift to myself, lol. She had things in stock everyone else is out of. And -- the best part -- I ordered on Sunday. Monday was a holiday so she shipped it on Tuesday & I got it TODAY. I'm so thrilled & can't wait to play ...let's see....according to my schedule I should have 20 minutes of free time next week Tuesday! Seriously, though -- I hear so many complaints about prices....customer service....shipping....& I just want to say that Lacey has awesome prices & FREE shipping over $55! Check out here store HERE! PS --- she carries High Hopes stamps :)

Thanks for visiting & I hope you have a FAB weekend!!!

Sundays with Crissy ~ Happy Birthday

Hello & welcome to my day at Sundays with Crissy! Our theme this month is birthdays ~ so come join us & post your birthday card or project!

For my card today I used Retired Raymond & It 's Your Day sentiment from High Hopes. I colored Raymond with colored pencils, AFTER tossing the one I colored with Copics. That one was a major fail. It's really an ongoing learning process for me. The papers are K&Co Julianne & Basic Grey Pyrus. I kept the card fairly simple since it's a MAN card -- no flowers on this one -- just a bit of raffia & some brads (brads that I thought to add AFTER putting the card together). 

Please check out all the talent over at Sundays with Crissy ~ & definitely post your birthday card or project over there! 

Have a super week!

Sundays with Crissy ~ Beating the Blues!

Hello all, happy Friday the 13th! Eek! Wish I didn't have to leave the house today -- think they'd understand if I took an "unlucky" day at work? 


Today is my day to post my card for Sundays with Crissy. This month's theme is "Beat the Mid-Winter Blues" -- which is quite open to interpretation :)

Well right away, this is the image that popped into my head. One of my very favorite High Hopes images -- "Time Well Spent". I had intended to color the image with pencils so I stamped it onto regular ole GP paper. But then I decided on Copics -- which was more of a challenge than usual because I really don't like this paper for Copics. I usually use Papertrey. But now I hear there are MANY awesome papers available for use with Copics & as much as I'd like to test them out, I've been really good with not spending anything on crafts -- so I will have to make do. Anyway, I kept the card pretty simple -- papers are Basic Grey Pyrus -- added some twine & a flower -- YES a flower  -- it's a MANLY flower -- with a button. And twine. Manly. 

Be sure to visit us this month at Sundays With Crissy & be sure to link up your project -- you could win some free digi's!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend! We got lots of snow here in Wisconsin -- FINALLY! I really wanted it for Christmas but better late than never. Funny thing is, the day before the snow came -- my husband cut the grass!! We had temps in the 50's! Crazy midwest weather......

HOW many more days???

Ok, before I start my holiday freak-out -- you MUST try this!!! It won't work with Internet Explorer -- but it works with Firefox & Chrome. So FUN --- go to Google -- & type in "let it snow". Go!! RIGHT NOW!!! You can finish reading my post when you're done.


IS THAT NOT THE COOLEST????? Did you write your name in the snow?? Don't pee in the snow! Just write your name with your mouse. Seriously WHO comes up with this stuff??


NOW to my holiday freak-out .........




WHO thought it would be a good idea to have Christmas on December 25th this year?? Who moved it up??


You'd think by now I would learn to start Christmas shopping a week earlier. Because I always need just one more week.


Since I'm behind on everything -- I thought I'd post another card from Christmas past.




(Yuck - the photo looks really dark to me. Maybe it's just all the red flowers. Sure wish I could say my photography has improved -- but the picture would probably look the same if I took it again today LOL)


Rather appropriate - as right now I feel like that cat hanging from a branch, lol! The original post is HERE. Wow, I thought it was from last year but it was from 2 years ago!! I love all the High Hopes images, but I think the Christmas & winter images are my favorites :)  I can't believe I've only been able to make one or two Christmas cards this year -- & NO projects :(  I'll have to be really original & give my kids teachers GIFT CARDS! In store bought envelopes!! *gasp*


We went to my husband's work holiday part last weekend & I really want to post a few of the pictures here. If you're my friend on Facebook, you can go to my album to see them all (you LUCKY ducks!!). Otherwise I will post them here in the next couple of days. Just a couple. Wouldn't want to bore you -- like the people who want you to see their vacation slides -- only 352 of them!


Here's a picture of my son helping me make some cookies yesterday.....

See??? I've done SOME holiday stuff!!! 

Non-traditional Christmas colors

Hello & happy Sunday to you! I know my posts seem fewer & farther between these days -- lol -- my spare time gets to be less & less each week -- & with the holidays coming -- oh boy -- I don't even want to think about it!

This week's challenge at Sundays with Crissy is to make a Christmas card using non-traditional colors. That wasn't the hard part -- the hard part was trying to pick an image from the HEAPS of Crissy images that I own! I finally decided on Herald Angel from High Hopes. I envisioned her in pink & yellow & I think it turned out ok -- although my photos stink. It was quite rainy & dreary here in Wisconsin this week so getting a picture in natural light was quite a challenge.

She's colored with Copic markers -- papers are K&Company -- lots of Glamour Dust on her wings -- & a big ole cheescloth bow to finish it off. What, no flowers? Nope, I kept it pretty simple this time. And I guess this would be my very first Christmas card of the year. I'm not behind at all. Not at allllll.....

I hope you all have a great Sunday -- a bit windy here but it's supposed to be 60 so I'm not complaining!! Thank you so much for visiting me :)

Sundays with Crissy -- Thanksgiving

Hello & happy 13th!! The theme this month over at Sundays with Crissy is Thanks/Thanksgiving. I have dug into my High Hopes rubber archives once again..



How CUTE is this turkey? This is Tom's Plea & he makes me giggle every time. He's colored with pencils & Goo Gone -- I printed the sentiment on the computer & used my new-to-me Magnolia Doohickey tag die thing to cut it out. Papers are Basic Grey Indian Summer -- a few Primas here -- a few Dew Drops there --



I hope you join us over at the Sundays with Crissy blog -if you do you get the chance to win 5 free digis!! Read SARAH'S POST for all the details!

And....believe it or not... I am ahead of the game this time & this card is already in my Etsy shop!! That never happens till weeks later! Click HERE to find the listing :)


Soooooo....my older son turned 13 yesterday. Sigh....and last night we were cleaning out our cabinet that our tv sits on because they ran out of room for all their Wii games....and he actually wants me to GET RID OF all his old Blue's Clues, Little Bear & Pooh vcr tapes!! Can you believe it?? I just don't think I'm ready.....come to think of it, I'm not ready for ANY of this.....it's going to be a looooong 10 years, lol. Seriously though, he's a GREAT kid & lately he has done nothing but help me around the house & yard. I know we're going to have our ups & downs ....it wouldn't be right if we didn't.....but please let there be more ups than downs!

Thanks for visiting!

Sundays with Crissy - Lenny

Oh, how I am loving being on the Sundays with Crissy team -- so talented & so darn sweet!! So it seems appropriate that the challenge this week is FRIENDSHIP.



I used another High Hopes image for my card - shocking, I know. This is Lenny's Love Me Nots. I stamped the image onto SU's Naturals Ivory -- which I love but always forget I have -- & colored it with Prisma pencils & Goo Gone. The papers are K&Co McKenna, I added some Stickles & used one of my newer Nesties for the frame. The sentiment is also from High Hopes.





Come join us in the fun at Sundays with Crissy -- what's so extra fun about this challenge blog is that instead of everyone posting at once, we are all scattered throughout the month. So there's something new to look at every couple of days :)

I hope you've had a great start to the week. My Monday was pretty ok, as far as Mondays go. Still trying to get back into a routine with the crazy early hour that I'm up. I'm SO wanting to make fall & Halloween cards -- my very favorite to make -- & I just haven't found the time yet. Hoping to before the season comes & goes, lol!

Sundays with Crissy - Choppers Chilaxin'

Hello all & happy Saturday!!

I am so excited to share the news with you all -- I am a proud new member of the Sundays with Crissy team! I have not been shy about telling you all how much I *love* Crissy -- as a person and as an artist. She is my favoritest. We worked together on the High Hopes team for quite a long time & I was devastated when she stepped down. Well now we are back together & I couldn't be happier! Except --- **GASP** -- the first theme was to make a SIMPLE card. Simple?? What? I had to look it up in the stamper's dictionary! I just don't DO simple!





While I *love* all of Crissy's current designs, I am partial to the High Hopes images she drew. I do plan on using some of her newer images -- as you saw in my post HERE -- but I will also be using lots of the High Hopes so expect lots of blasts from the past! For my first card I really reached into the archives -- Choppers Chilaxin -- I think this is one of the first stamps I received from HH & it's always been one of my favorites. I stamped him onto Cryogen White (love the shimmer) & colored him with my Copic markers. I *had* to add the matching sentiment of course. Added some scored lines around the image & voila -- a simple card. I had to then hide it so I wouldn't add anything more to it. I'm lucky I found it to take the photos!





Hope you can see the Stickles I added to the water -- & a bit of clear glaze to his lemonade & sunglasses.

Thanks again to Crissy for allowing me to be part of your team!


Well I am off to get some errands done -- we were at the State Fair yesterday ALL DAY -- a total of 12 hours -- I am exhausted & way behind on everything. School starts soon -- in fact my son has his open house for middle school Tuesday -- & I haven't bought so much as an eraser! Lots to do -- LOVE this time of year :)

Trendy warm wishes

Hello all! Hope you are staying cool where you are -- guess I got tired of the CRAZY heat wave we are having here in Wisconsin -- because I chose to make a winter card this week!



I've always loved all the High Hopes snow ladies -- & yes I actually decided to give watercoloring another shot! I am so bad at it -- but I cheated this time & used my blender pen to blend my ink instead of that darn water brush. I *loathe* the water brush. I *heart* my blender pen. I had used it before with the SU markers but hadn't tried it to blend inks. It worked great! I used 3 or 4 different Distress Inks, then a bit of Twinkling H2O's for shading. My H2O's never look as good as everyone else's, but I guess I say that about everything, lol.

I had to laugh at all the "trends" I used on my card. First, there's the ever popular cheesecloth that I am seeing on everyone's cards -- love the touch of shabby!! Then, there's the snowflake with Glitter Glass -- made popular by my idol Anna Wight. Did you know Glitter Glass is actually shards of glass? I do now! Oooooo I really shouldn't be allowed to play with shards of glass!!

Finally, there is the crazy crinkled seam binding trend. I had seen rumpled ribbons on quite a few cards --figured everyone is just buying it from Etsy or Ebay or some such place -- I don't get to SCS these days much so I had no idea everyone was MAKING THEIR OWN!! Until I read the unfortunate thread in my Ebay sellers group chat board -- they were all talking about buying this seam binding (they were even kind enough to share the Ebay seller's name, just my luck!) & dying it using Glimmer Mist. Well of course I had to do some research -- found a whole thread about it on SCS!! Turns out there are MANY WAYS to dye this fabulous seam binding. So....sigh.. I purchased a roll (just one? What was I thinking??!) & started dying my own. Ahhhhhh it *is* fun. I'm saving money, right? Now I don't have to buy all those colors, right?





Not sure if this was ever a trend, but I did just find Snow Writer at Michael's & since I love making winter cards I decided I had to give that a try too!! Added some Glamour Dust while it was wet -- turns out makes *groovy* snow :)




The Anna-inspired sparkly snowflake......

I am entering this into the Sundays with Crissy design team call -- & also it's my lucky day because Simon Says Stamp's challenge this week is Anything Goes -- my favorite kind -- so I am entering it there as well.

It's already been a busy week here -- the County Fair begins tomorrow & my boys joined 4H this year, which means they got to make projects that were judged & will be displayed all week at the fair. Both of them did great, I'm proud of all the hard work they did. And guess what -- little did I know *I'm* eligible to enter projects as well! Too late this year, but you better believe I'm thinking about what I want to enter next year!! I'm gonna earn me a blue ribbon or two!

Have a super week! It's only supposed to be 97 tomorrow, the day we will be at the fair all day! Whew!!! The good news is I took off of work Thursday & we will be hitting the beach :)