CRY ME A RIVER.....

Here's the stamp set to which I say, "I can't get over losing you...." - I still remember the day SU handed this stamp set out to all attendees at Leadership....it's embarrassing to admit this, but I actually cried tears of joy.....and cards danced in my head all the way home....if you were to peruse my SU gallery back a ways, I had a hard time using anything else.....so sad, sad, sad, day for me when I saw it on the discontinued list.  How could they do this to me?  I am broken-hearted.  In the depths of despair.  Crying a river......but hey, I said this before and I'll say it again, it's time to BUILD ME A BRIDGE, and get OVER it.  There will be new stamps on the horizon.  We have a whole new catalog FULL of them.  Life will go on.....the sun will still rise, and the sun will still set.  I'm trying my friends, but it ain't easy.  At any rate, I can promise you this is one stamp you will NOT see at my yard sale of discontinued sets.  And it just might pop up in my gallery every once in a while too......make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold.  Will the artist who created this set PALEAAZE make some more like it????  Until next time..........Karen

OH HAPPY DAY!

SUO Blog challenge today is for butterflies.......and I can say Oh Happy Day....because SU brought this beautiful butterfly back this year in their BEST of 25 YEARS series, available NOW!  Back in the day, this butterfly was much larger, and I actually like this perfect size much better!  This was actually one of the cards I created for a recent color challenge but ended up using a different card.....so it came in handy now - These are some pretty funky colors together, no??  I usually RUN from Melon Mambo, but it looks nice here in a mini dose with accent on the Eggplant instead.....and River Rock is just sad, well you know what they say, over all these discontinued stamps, and inks, and papers, they say, CRY ME A RIVER, BUILD ME A BRIDGE, and GET OVER IT~~It's about time I stop crying now over what I have to say goodbye to, and start smiling over what I get to say HELLO to!! Like Blushing BRIDE is back, and that sure makes me SMILE!  And a new catty is ON THE WAY!! That's all for now folks...Until next time, no more tears, and keep on stampin'!

ODE TO EVA ROSE.....

The SUO Challenge this week is a Monochromatic card....and I decided to share and show the card I made for the feminine half of my new twin grandchildren, Miss Eva Rose.  She's a most feminine and pretty little girl, and right after she made her debut as Grandaughter number EIGHT, then along came her adorable brother Luca Daniel, as Grandson number ONE.  That's right - we have EIGHT grandaughters and ONE grandson.  Anyway, I bought the knitting stamp set by SU just to get this one stamp.  I looked at it for a couple of years before I did it, since I do not knit and do not ever plan to learn how.  Stamping is enough for me - I am a one hobby girl, can't have anything distract me from my stamping.  ;) BUT I REALLY wanted this little sweater stamp, it floats my boat.   Okay - just a wee little entry this week, just a sweet little girly card for a sweet little girly girl. ~~ Check out my stamp studio under this card, where it all happens. ;) Until next time, happy stamping, Karen

MY VINTAGE HAPPY PLACE

So here you have it!! My VINTAGE HAPPY PLACE!! I have been saying I am going to post pictures of my stamping studio for-ever....but then when I went back and looked at the first pictures I took I had changed SO MUCH in settling in....and the old pictures may have looked less "vintage cluttered" but they weren't capturing the essence of my happy place! I could spend my entire life here, especially since my family can visit - what with the TV and all, and of course, what grandmother's stamp room would be complete without the GRANDCHILD CORNER? (That's the one with the teddy bear in the SU apron sitting on the weeny chair)  When I had my old stamp studio, you had to step over the debris to find the table,,,,and my husband insisted I would have this one looking like that in no time at all, but I told him it was the space issue - this USED to be our master bedroom, and we are in the old stamproom at night now,,,,(when I finally turn the lights out here in my new stamp room and retire;)) But my husband is quick to admit now that he was wrong, I hardly EVER let this room get messy because I love love love love love it soooooo much!!!  And it's pretty easy to keep it clean because I organized it so much better, and it's quite a bit larger then the other room too.  ANYWAY, SU has some kicking specials going on right now and I'm about to tell you about them NOW!! Please check this out below, and then if you have enjoyed my little tour here, do me a favor and go stock up on paper while this great sale is going on!!  JUST CLICK ON THE 24/7 SHOPPING BUTTON AT THE TOP OF MY BLOG - IT'S UP THERE SOMEWHERE, AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A SPECIAL OR TWO AND I WILL RISE UP AND CALL YOU BLESSED!!!  THANKS EVERYONE! HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS LITTLE TOUR OF MY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY PLACE!!

ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!!!!
The first is FREE SHIPPING for THREE DAYS, April 6-8th with no minimum order!!!! So stock up!!!!

and the second big announcement is:

Stampin'Up!'s color refresh!!  I love color and I know you do too!! Color is fundmental to who Stampin'Up! is and what they offer.  It's important for us to stay up to date with color trends so I am thrilled to share Stampin' Up's updated line of colors, and hope you will be as excited as I am at the new possibilities!!!

Why now?  In 2010 Stampin'Up! did a big color renovation and shared plans for smaller color refreshes every three to five years to keep their colors on trend.  Well it has been three years and I am excited to announce that the upcoming 2013-2014 annual catalog will include 10 new colors (most of which are returning In Colors from previous years) Stampin' Up! is welcoming back some of your old favorites, moving some colors around, and introducing one brand new color - so here are colors that are returning -  DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....

Blushing Bride, (yay!!!) Crushed Curry, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Soft Sky, (double yay!!), Pear Pizazz, (triple yay!!! these are my absolute favorites that I am yaying about), Wisteria Wonder, and Bermuda Bay!  They are adding a new soft gray called Smokey Slate. 

These are the colors that they are retiring in order to make room for the new ones, (and I will refrain from one big BOO, but I will be ordering lots of stock on the first one listed because it needs a great big giant BOO, but like I said I am refraining - those colors that are retiring are:

Baja Breeze, :(, More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, River Rock, Bravo Burgandy, (it's about time - Bravo on the Bravo Burgandy), sorry, I digress....and let's see, oh yes, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Riding Hood Red, and Not Quite Navy.  SO STOCK UP ON YOUR FAVORITES HERE BECAUSE THESE BABIES WILL BE GONE AND THEY ARE ONLY SELLING STUFF WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!!  I WOULD CLICK ON THAT 24/7 BUTTON NOW IF I WERE YOU AT THE TOP OF MY BLOG AND TAKE CARE OF THIS NOW!!!! ;)  YOU WILL BE SO SORRY IF THEY ARE GONZO WHEN YOU GO TO BUY THEM!!!

OKAY, WELL, THERE ARE OTHER GREAT SPECIALS GOING ON....AND YOU MIGHT WONDER WHY MY BLOG DOESN'T HAVE ALL THE NEAT UPDATES LIKE EVERYONE ELSES DOES, AND THAT'S BECAUSE I AM A BIG FAT COMPUTER LOSER....AND I HAVE TRIED FOR FOUR HOURS NOW TO UPLOAD THOSE NEAT LITTLE THINGS SU GIVES US TO UPLOAD AND I CAN'T GET THEM ON HERE.  MY BLOG MAINTENANCE PROGRAM CONTRACT THINGEY RAN OUT AND WHILE I TRY TO DECIDE WHAT PLAN TO GO WITH THIS!! I CANNOT DO IT MYSELF!!! 

THERE ARE GREAT STAMP SETS OF THE MONTH YOU CAN ORDER, THE BEST OF BIRTHDAYS, LOVE, BUTTERFLIES AND FLOWERS AND HOW I WISH I WAS SMART ENOUGH TO ATTACH LINKS HERE,,,,BUT GO ON MY 24/7 AND YOU CAN ORDER FROM THERE!! MEANWHILE, I'M GONNA GO ORDER THAT PLAN TO GET THE BUTTONS FOR PROMOTIONS BACK ON THE SIDE OF MY BLOG.  FORGIVE ME, BUT FEEL SORRY FOR ME.  IT'S REALLY SAD TO BE THIS HELPLESS COMPUTERLY SPEAKING.  AS YOU ARE FEELING SORRY FOR ME, ORDER SOME PAPER AND INK!! HAVE A GREAT TIME SHOPPING EVERYONE!! I MUST GO ORDER SOME BLOG MAINTENANCE NOW.......!!!!! UNTIL NEXT TIME, KAREN

THINK SPRING!!???? HOW??

SUO challenge for today? Think SPRING....which is kind of hard to do considering the snow that is falling even as I type.  I remember when I was in Africa, (just over a week ago) and the temp was upwards of 100 degrees one night and I said to my husband in the middle of the night when the power went out and the fan went off....."I really hope when we get home winter isn't completely over" - OH man, I could EAT those words!!!  We had an awesome and wonderful trip and time with our precious family in Africa.  Three weeks of vacation - so nice to get out of our regular routine.....it was heavenly.  I plan to download some pics to this blog soon, I just got my pics organized over the weekend.  It's one of those things - we looked forward to that trip for so so long, and then in three short weeks it becomes a memory.  Aren't you thankful for memories?  And we made some really really happy ones.  Our grand daughters are precious, and we wouldn't have ever wanted to leave them except for missing our precious grand children HERE!!  Life is good and in the end, you have to remember, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."  And thinking about that trip, well it does just make me SMILE.  Happy Tuesday everyone!!  Happy Stamping!!

SUNGLASSES, ANYONE??

WOW-WEE ZOWEE THESE ARE SOME BRIGHT COLORS HERE, chosen by my friend Vicki Dutcher...colors that make my lips freeze when I first hear them for sure!!  But see when I put my big girl panties on I can rise to the challenge!!  THE SUO blog challenge is also featured in this card, and that challenge was to use SALEABRATION goodies on our card, and I have used the Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set for my sentiment, and the ribbon and button are from SALEABRATION!!  So I kinda killed two birds with one stone here, since time is short before we take our trip to see our kids in Africa!!  The count down is here, we leave in less then two weeks now, and I feel like I have still have a gazillion things to do!  Anyway, last week when I made the CAS valentine, I really did not like it - and it was my kinda colors, but this week, I would not have chosen these colors by myself at ALL, and yet I really love this card!! I really must challenge myself MORE!!! ;)  Okay - well - off to bed with me, several late nights in a row here and I am exhausted.  Happy Tuesday everyone!!

CAS VALENTINE TIME.....

The challenge this week is for a CAS Valentine......and in real life the ribbon on my card actually matches but in the photograph, not so much. CAS is CAH for me, Clean and HARD, not Clean and Simple.....I have to spend more time making a CAS card then I do a regular card. This is not my favorite ever card. That's life, you like some, you don't like some. :) Happy CAS Valentine day to all! Until next time, Karen