The August gallery is open!! Yahoo - now I want all of you to rush over there to see all the great work the Design Team has done with the August kit. We worked with Rusty Pickle's Mayflower line and the papers are fabulous! Here is a layout I did with the kit. Our technique is using Radiant Rain, a new product from Lumiere, the people that brought us Pearl Ex and Radiant Pearls. While I didn't use it on this particular layout, I will be using it quite a bit for the August card class. If you love shimmer and shine, Radiant Rain is for you! More to come on that ...

Now I am working on scrapping this photo of my son, Michael. Can you believe he is only 9 in this photo? When I showed it to my husband, he said, "Oh boy - are we in trouble." He's almost 11 now, and I know that in a very short time, we ARE going to be in trouble.

What about your kids? Do you have photos of them that just blow your mind? I'd love to hear about them! Talk to you later.

Good morning! So ... with CHA done and everyone ready to hit the stores, what are your favorite new products? I have to tell you that my anticipated favs are from We R Memory Keepers, Daisy D's (big surprise there, huh?), Technique Tuesday, and

So, today's card was made for the monthly class I teach at Ilove2Create! The papers are the Limited Edition papers from Rouge de Garance and were the papers for the July kit from Ilove2Create. If you haven't checked out Ilove2Create, you are missing a great kit club. I've been there for over three years and am still loving it!
The card also uses stamps from Penny Black and Stampin' Up!

And now ... would you like a little sneak peek at the August kit????? OK - I just can't resist - don't yell at me, Melynda! This is a CD mailer that was included with the July kit and which I didn't have time to work with in July. But I thought it was perfect for the Rusty Pickle Mayflower line that is included in the August kit. Adorable, no? The chipboard hearts are from Stampin' Up!, and the ribbon is from my stash.

OK - time to scrap some more! And - I'm actually going to be stamping this week! We're getting together with a friend who broke her hip at the beginning of summer and doing a Stamp-A-Stack! So, I've got to design a card! Yahoooooo! And, of course, I'll post it here! See ya!

OK - question for the day? How many of you stayed up all night reading the last Harry Potter book? I must admit, I was up until 4:00 a.m. this morning reading and I'm still not done. I love to savor every word of good books and this one is a good one. So yes, I'm dragging a little today, but I'm not complaining, much - it was worth it!

The kids and I just returned from Florida this past Thursday. It was a lot of fun and we had several adventures along the way, from the boat trailer disconnecting from our car to Sea World (in 95 degree weather) to the 2-hour traffic jam coming out of Florida. But - all in all, it was a great trip. This is my father and the boys. They really enjoy seeing Grandpa and staying at his house in Florida. This is where I grew up, so I got to tell them lots of stories - and so did my dad!

Today I am splitting my time between Harry Potter, the kids and scrapbooking. The older I get, the more valuable my time, so notice that house cleaning isn't in the above list! One of these days, I'm going to do a layout about how much I HATE house cleaning! Just isn't on my top 10 list of favs, KWIM?

Hope your Sunday is awesome!

Wow! Remember the set that I showed on my last post? It's gone - poof! Someone saw it on Ebay and bought it outright. I'm so glad that it's going to a home where it will actually get used. I can't believe the number of sets that I'm selling that I mounted and never used, or prepared for mounting and then never finished. Go figure! Do ya think I have too many sets???? The one posted here is a perfect example. Mounted - never used ...

Well, as I promised, here is my first list of links to the sets that are on Ebay - I'll post more tonight, but with 40 sets to sell, I just couldn't get it all done last night. I'll finish tonight ... even though I'm leaving this week for Florida, my dear husband has agreed to mail all sales out for me. He's really good at that sort of thing!

All the Best
A Little Love
Ephemera
Flower Filled
Gently Falling
Garden Collage
Hope Is ...
Love Ya Bunches
Riveting
Sage Advice
Sassy & Seasonal
Simple Florals
Snow Flurries
Trim the Tree
Watercolor Minis
Winged Things
Wonderful Weaves
Wonderful Words II

Well, the Stampin' Up! 2007-08 Fall/Winter Catalog is out and boy is it gorgeous! There are incredible scrapbook papers, accessories and of course new stamp sets to fall in love with, and boy have I fallen in love. So much so that I am cleaning out out my stamp collection!

I have a bunch of retired sets (some from 1997) that I am finally, truly retiring. I have offered the sets to my customers first, and any that don't sell, I will be placing on Ebay later this month. I will put a list up here of everything I am selling with links to the auctions for those that might be interested - but that probably won't be until mid-July, since I'm heading off to Florida next week. No current sets will be offered, by the way, since that is in violation of SU policies and you can order those yourself from your Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. BUT!! You can't beat the chance to get some of these sets at a great price, and many of them are hard to find! I'll post again later, but wanted to give you guys heads ups!

Whew! Well, it's been quite a week!! My sister has been visiting from Virginia, and along with her came my 11-month-old niece, Kristie. What a cutie! I took over 500 pics of my sister and Kristie over the past four days!!! Wow! Glad I went digital, let me tell you.

The picture in this layout was taken in May and when I got my June kit from Jenni Bowlin, I immediately thought of it! Have I mentioned lately how much I love her kits? She has this knack of putting things together that just make you oooh and aahhh when you open the box. Just like Melynda at I Love 2 Create! Those are two kit clubs that you need to explore, my friends.

Speaking of IL2C, the July kit is almost out and wait until you see the papers in this kit! They are by Rouge de Garance, and are part of their Limited Edition offering this summer. You can see the entire collection here, and get sneak peeks of the July Kit at the IL2C Blog. I will be posting some teasers here this weekend, so make sure to check back.

See you soon!

Hey everyone! Greetings on this glorious day! Today I am sharing photos from my recent trip to New York City. Not your typcial NYC pics, I hope, but some will be familiar. Here I am on the first day with my dear, dear friend, Cantor Sharon Brown-Levy. She has been my inspiration! An incredibly talented woman, Sharon completed her Cantorial studies for both the American Conference of Cantors and the Cantors' Assembly in just three years! No mean feat, let me tell you! I can honestly say that if it had not been for her, I would not have made it through this year.

Here I am with members of the Certification Committee. These amazing Cantors were incredibly supportive to all of us sitting for our exams this past week. I hope someday to be able to "pay it forward" to other women in my situation.

And, of course, after the exams I treated myself to a Broadway show!! Being a huge Monty Python fan, I've always wanted to see Spamalot, so off I went to the Shubert Theater!

I was feeling particularly silly after two intense days, and so I asked some teenage girls who were shooting photos to take a pic of me for my kids. Can you pick out which on is me? You will be seeing all of these photos again in an upcoming layout, but for the next couple of days, I am catching up on family time, reading and enjoying some time with "ni" deadlines!