My Other Pages

To make it easier to read about our trip to Ireland, I have made a page that is just for that. There is a tab above for Ireland Trip 2014 or click on the Home tab to read my other posts. I have also created a new page for My Weight Loss Journey if you are interested in that, click on the tab above.

Friday, November 30, 2012

15 things you probably don't know about me

One of the blogs that I follow religiously is
I enjoy her posts immensely, I don't know how I found it, but I'm glad I did. It was from this blog that I got the idea to write this post.
It occurs to me that most of the people who follow me have never met me and only know me by what they see posted here on my blog.
So here are 15 things you probably don't know about me.

1. When I was a kid I wanted to be a garbage man, I guess that would be a garbage woman, I don't have a clue why I thought that would be a good profession, but it's what I wanted.  I moved on though and wanted to be a Home Economics teacher (if you are under 50 you may not even know what that is.  My kids called it 'home and careers')  Once I gave that idea up I wanted to be a forensic pathologist. At the time I didn't know that's what it was called, I just knew I wanted to be the doctor that figured out why people died and how it happened.  Then I realized that I would have to go to medical school and since I really didn't like school all that much, and I didn't think I was smart enough to get through it, I gave it up.  My guidance counselor wanted me to be a dental hygienist, but I was grossed out at the idea of sticking my hands in peoples mouths!  So I became a registered nurse and stuck my hands in all kinds of other stuff.  I haven't been in nursing for almost 30 yrs. now.  But through all those things I ALWAYS wanted to be a Mom and that I am and will always be.
 It's the best job I've ever had!
 
2.  I took baton lessons for 10 years of my childhood. 
And you know what? 
I was pretty darn good at it.
 
3. I was the co-editor of the yearbook my senior year of nursing school and did most of the photography, other than the formal shots.

4.  My father was a portrait photographer and I married a photographer.  Dave, my hubby, doesn't do portraits though. 
If you are interested to see what he does, check out our website at www.lashotphotography.com

5.  I've always been a lover of crafts and when macrame was the craze, I did a ton of it.  I made a hanging lamp/table combination that hung in my parents living room for a very long time.
 Hmmmm, wonder where that ever went to!

6.  I taught myself to knit and crochet and when I was in my 20s I made a dozen or so sweaters and lots more afghans and don't have a single one of them for myself.

7.  You know how pregnant women's feet get bigger while they are pregnant?  Well, mine got bigger and they stayed that way. AND my teeth changed too. They started moving.  The dentist office staff laughed at me, but my OB said it's pretty common. I used to have perfect teeth, but now I have a big space between my 2 front teeth.  Isn't that strange?

8.  I took a water color class one time.  I drew a beautiful picture of a rose and painted it.  When I took it in, the teacher looked at it in dismay and said I should be in her drawing class, because I have real potential for drawing, but I ruined the rose with my painting. OH BROTHER!!!!  Isn't that what she was supposed to be teaching me?  How not to ruin it!

9. I don't have hardly any favorites. 
I do have a favorite singer - Johnny Mathis (I know! I'm old)
 and a favorite book - Christy by Catherine Marshall
 and a favorite movie - To Sir, With Love
but I don't have a favorite food, or color, or scent or anything like that.  So if you ask me for a favorite, be prepared to hear "I don't have one"

10.  When I was in my 20s I decided that I should learn to ride a motorcycle, so my brother was teaching me.  BUT I crashed it, landed on my face on a sidewalk. (You didn't think I was born with a face that looked like this did you? LOL!   Luckily, I didn't run into the house
that was a matter of a foot or two away.

11.  I have never broken a single bone in my body, but I do have a fake hip, so there's that.

12.  I can recite "This Little Piggy" in Swedish.
Both my Dad's parents were from Sweden and he must have taught me when I was a kid, the funny thing is that I don't remember ever having it done on my toes.

13.  I think moose are one of the coolest animals on the planet!
 Every time I go to Vermont I say "I'm gonna see a moose" and I say it a lot, but I never see one.  Last time we were in New Hampshire we even asked about local places to spot them, but no moose for me. 
One day I'm going to see one in the wild.

14.  I have a bucket list.

15. I sleep with a teddy bear.  I know you think it's strange that a 57 yr old woman would sleep with a teddy bear, but I bet you sleep holding a pillow or some bunched up covers.  And I don't really care if people think I'm strange, there are stranger things about me, but I'm not tellin'

So there are my 15 things.
Now leave me a comment and tell me something I don't know about you, or which thing you think is strangest, or funniest, or that you already knew about me, or just anything.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings today.
 Next post I'll be back to some thing crafty.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

QKR Blog Challenge for November 30th

Hi everyone and welcome to my post for the
QKR Stampede Blog Challenge for this week.
Our theme is
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"
I decided to use
"Med. Winter Moose" (#22302) and
"Tree" (#14501)
Both of these I have in rubber,
but they are available in digital format,
so you could make them whatever size you would like.
Each Christmas I receive some kind of moose
 from my husband.
I think moose are the cutest ever
and one day I will see one
when we are traveling in New England. 
 I say I will see one every time we are there
and it hasn't happened yet. 
So I will have to be satisfied, for now, with this cutie.
For the background I stamped
"Tree" randomly on a piece of white card stock.
I then used a blending tool and Distress inks
 to color the sky and trees.
A little Liquid Pearls was added as snow.
For my moose friend,
I stamped him onto white card stock
and colored him with FlexMarkers,
fussy cut him and adhered him with foam tape.
I hope you will take the time
to visit the other design team members,
 leave a little love along the way
and be inspired to create something for the challenge.
For all the particulars pop on over to the
Thanks for stopping by today,
I'd love to hear what you think of this little cutie,
so feel free to leave me a comment. 
Then come again soon.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Joy and Holly

"There are no mistakes in crafting,

just opportunities to be more creative."

You can ask my crafting friends,
they'll tell you, this is my motto.
This card is a prefect example of that motto.
I made it with
"Joy" (#15703) and
"Holly" (#15701)
I stamped both images onto white card stock.  
The Holly is not a background image,
 I stamped it several times randomly over the card stock.
Then I colored them with FlexMarkers.
 Once I had this done,
they were just boring,
they just weren't right,
so I got out my blending tool and my Distress Inks
and added a bit of color around the edges
of the background piece.
Absolutely hated it! 
 The color was all wrong,
but I stuck with my motto
and kept playing with it and adding different colors
and I ended up with a card that I really like. 
It isn't what I was going for when I started out,
but that's okay.  I like it now!
So next time something isn't looking right,
 remember my motto and just mess around with it. 
I know, sometimes there is just no cure,
 but it sure can't hurt to try.
Thanks for stopping in to see what I have been up to,
I hope you'll stop back again soon.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!



Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Holly Background & noel

Hello blog friends!
Today I have a Christmas card I made with
"Holly Background" (#26701)
from Eureka! Stamps and
noel from the "friends" word set(#46202)
I stamped the Holly Background onto white card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed with black embossing powder.
I then used Distress Ink and a blending tool and applied it over the entire surface.
I did this twice with the background stamp and used the same technique with the noel stamp.
I also inked the white card base, then layered the holly onto red card stock and layered them all onto the card. 
This was one of those cards that I started out not having a clue what I was going to do, but I love the results.
I hope you do to and maybe you're inspired to do some
embossing or inking or layering.
I hope you'll come again soon.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Snowman tag

Hello blog fans!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't eat too much.
Now that Thanksgiving is passed it's really time to gear up for Christmas.
I decided to make a couple gift tags to show you.
I used
"Snowman To and From" (#23705)
This first one was stamped onto white card stock and colored with FlexMarkers.  The sky is inked with a blending tool and Distress Ink (Broken China)
 
This one was stamped onto a white tag and colored with FlexMarkers.
They didn't take much time to make at all and I think these little guys are adorable.
Why not pop over to the Eureka! Stamps store and see what images you might want to use to make some gift tags?
I used a rubber stamp, but they are also available in digital format.
Thanks for stopping by today.
I hope you've been inspired in some way, come again soon!
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!
 
 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Eureka Challenge - For the Kids

Hello Blog friends!
Today we are kicking off another challenge on the
You can find all the particulars there on the blog.
The theme this week is
"For the Kids"
I thought a cute gift card holder would be fun to make.
I used 2 stamps from the Balloons and Holder series 
"Christmas Balloon" (#16402) and
"Elf Balloon Holder" (#6509)
I used rubber stamps, but these are also available in digi format.
The Elf and Balloon were colored with FlexMarkers
and fussy cut, then adhered to the polka dot paper with
foam tape.
I used "bakers twine" that I made
for the string holding the balloon.
I made a pocket with red card stock to hold the gift card.

Here you can see the card for inside that holds the gift card.
Maybe not the appropriate kind of gift card for a kid,
but it's what I had.  LOL! One of my favorite restaurants!  Chili's!
I hope I've inspired you to join in the challenge
and show us what you make.
These balloon holders and balloons are such fun to work with.
Stop in to the Eureka Store and check them out,
there are many different ones for
every holiday and occasion.
Thanks for stopping in, come again soon.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Naughty or Nice?

Welcome to the QKR Stampede Blog Hop!
If you just happened upon the hop, you'll want to start at the beginning.
If you have come from Gemma's blog you are on the right track.
Today we are all working with the same image and the theme is
"Santa is checking it twice."
Be sure to leave comments on all the posts in our hop, there will be winners from 2 "mystery design team members" who will win this wonderful digi image.  There will also be a grand prize winner chosen from the comments on the QKR Stampede post.
Now on with my post.
For my post today,
I'm sharing a layout that I made of my daughter's 1st Christmas. 
You can see I'm a bit behind on my scrapbooking,
since she is now 22 yrs old.

QKR digi 24240
I have just started to use digital images recently and this is one of the first ones that I have used.  I have to say that I really loved working with this digi stamp.  I could adjust it to the size I wanted for my layout, I used Flexmarkers (alcohol ink markers) and the printed image didn't smudge at all.
The rest of the images I used on this layout were done with unmounted red rubber stamps.  They are all from QKR Stampede.

"Decorations" (#9411)
Colored with FlexMarkers, the ornament is covered with Glossy Accents

"Pine Sprig" (#15702)
Colored with FlexMarkers and the bells were also covered with Stickles.

"Holly" (#15071)
Colored with FlexMarkers, bling was added for the berries.
I didn't have red bling, so I used a FlexMarker to color them.
I hope you have been inspired to use some stamping on your layouts. 
They can add so much and make wonderful embellishments.
Now I'm sending you off to see what
has to show you.
Now don't forget to leave some love along the way,
someone is going to win,
maybe it will be you.
has a lot of other wonderful Christmas themed images
in both unmounted red rubber and digital format,
so be sure to pop in and see what you might like.
 
I hope you'll stop by again soon!
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Friday, November 16, 2012

QKR Stampede Callenge - Winter Wonderland

Hello!
Today we start a new challenge on the
Check out the blog for all the particulars.
Our theme this week is "Winter Wonderland"
 I have a created my card using
"Snowman Scene" (#23701) from QKR Stampede
If you check out the image on the QKR Stampede site
you will see that there is much more to it than
 just the snowman and bird.
I decided that I just wanted to use the snowman,
so once he was colored (with FlexMarkers) I fussy cut him.
Then adhered him to a background
 that I had inked with Distress Ink (Broken China)
The trees in the foreground were cut
from a piece of white card stock that had been embossed. 
This is just the bottom portion of the folder.
I inked the trees with Distress Ink (Peeled Paint)
then fussy cut them and adhered them with foam tape.
I used my Martha Stewart Scoring Board
to add the scored lines around the outside of the
image panel as well as the yellow card base.
This card will be a hand delivered card as it turned out quite large
measuring 6" square.
I used the unmounted red rubber stamp of
"Snowman Scene" which  is fairly large.  
It is also available in digital format,
which would give you the option to size
it to what ever size you need.
 
Thanks for stopping today.
I hope you were inspired by my card. 
Maybe you'll use "part" of an image or embossing folder. 
Don't be afraid to experiment. 
Use a bit of this and a bit of that, you might like the results.
So the next time you check out the images at
think about what size you might want
the image to be and how you may
want to 'break' it apart to create something a little different.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Pumpkin Background

It's that season!
Time for pumpkins, turkey, mashed potatoes and giving thanks!
This weeks Eureka! Stamps challenge theme is 'give thanks' and I thought I would go along with that theme for this card.
I used
"Pumpkin Background" (#26601)
I stamped Pumpkin Background onto kraft card stock with VersaMark ink.
Then I brushed on some gold Mica Powder.
Eureka! Stamps carries several color sets of Mica Powder,
just click on the "Metallic/Mica Powders" link on the left sidebar of the home page at the Eureka! Stamps Store

Here is a close up that shows the gold shimmer of the Mica Powder.
 
Next I stamped the Pumpkin Background
image again and colored just parts of it with FlexMarkers 
and fussy cut them. 
I adhered those pieces to the background with foam tape.
The sentiment is rub ons and also popped up with some foam tape.
 
Thanks for stopping by today.
Leave a comment if you will.
I hope you have been inspired in someway.
Why not check out the wonderful images at Eureka! Stamps as well as all the other wonderful products they carry, like the Mica Powder I used on my card?
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Twisted Birthday card

 Happy Birthday!
Today is my birthday,
so I thought it would be appropriate to
show you a birthday card.
I made this with
"Happy Birthday" (#36314) from Biblical Impressions
and my favorite paper line of all times.
The paper is from TaDa Creative Studios
and unfortunately is no longer available.
Now if you want to know more about how I made this card
where you will find my monthly post which explains it with a picture tutorial.  It's really quite simple so go check it out!


Handy little pocket for a gift card,
or you could add a money gift, or a few pictures,
whatever strikes your fancy.
 
Thanks for stopping, now pop over to
and find out how to make this cool card!
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Give Thanks

Hi all!
It's time for another Eureka! Stamps Challenge.
for all the particulars, hop over to the Eureka! Stamps Blog.
This weeks challenge theme is
"Give Thanks"
For this I chose to use
"Cornucopia" (#16305) I used a red rubber stamp,
this image is also available in
digital format (#digi16204) from
I colored the image with FlexMarkers and
inked around it with Distress Ink (Antique Linen)
The sentiment is done with alpha stickers.
The card base was also inked with Distress Ink.
 
Thanks for stopping by today.
I hope you will leave me a comment
and let me know what you are thankful for.
I hope you have been inspired in some way today.
Come again soon.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Elf

Hello crafters!
How fun it this little guy?
I made this card with
"Elf" (#18904) from QKR Stampede
I used FlexMarkers to color the image.
I added a bit of Stickles and Glossy Accents
 to give it some sparkle and shine.
This little guy will be headed to someone this Christmas.
He is just such a happy little guy
and I hope he will give someone a smile.
 
There are lots of wonderful images in the QKR Stampede store,
so why not pop over and take a look.
All the images come in unmounted red rubber and digital format.
There is something for everyone!
 
Thanks for stopping in today,
I hope my little elf gave you a smile.
Leave a comment if you will and come again soon.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Eureka! Stamps Blog Hop with Mystery Winners!!!

 Hello Blog Fans!
Today is the Eureka! Stamps Design Team Blog Hop.
Our team has been hard at work and we are showcasing one of the wonderful images from Eureka! Stamps.
For this hop we have used
"Turkey Dinner" (#10104)
I have also chosen to use
"Happy Thanksgiving" (#10203)
I used digital images, but these are both also available
in unmounted red rubber.
If you have come from Cheryl's blog, you are on the right track,
if you have just happened upon the hop, you may want to go to the beginning at the Eureka! Stamps Blog, so you don't miss a thing.
If at any time, you run into a 'broken' link or get lost, just pop back there where you will find a full line up.
Be sure to leave comments along the way as there will be
 two mystery design team members
who will each be choosing a winner from the comments left on their posts!
These winner will each win our featured Eureka! Stamps digital image.
There will also be a
Grand Prize winner
chosen from the comments left on the last stop,
which is the Eureka! Stamps Blog.
This lucky winner will receive 5 new digital stamps
of their choice from the
Now, on to my card!
I colored "Turkey Dinner" with FlexMarkers.
Once I cut the image panel to size,
I added the score lines and inked it with
Distress Ink (Antique Linen)
I used the same process for the inside of the card.
 
Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to leave a comment as you never know who that mystery team member might be.
Now you'll want to hop on to see what inspiration
has for you. I'm sure it will be something wonderful!
 
You will have through
Saturday, November 10th to hop along and comment. 
Winners will be announced on
Sunday Novemeber 11th on the Eureka! Stamps Blog.
Be sure to leave comments on all the blogs,
you never know, you may be the winner!
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!
 

Friday, November 2, 2012

QKR Stampede Challenge - Give Thanks

 
It's time for another QKR Stampede challenge.
You can get all the particulars at the
Our theme this week is "Give Thanks"
and what better way than to create a Thanksgiving card?!?!
I used "Hunting Turkey" (#14515) from QKR Stampede
I colored this cute little turkey with water color crayon,
and inked the edges with Distress Inks.

Inside I used the digi version of "Happy Thanksgiving" (#digi10203)
I know this is a QKR Stampede challenge,
but Eureka! Stamps is a sister company,
so it's all in the family! LOL!
I hope you will check out all the inspiration at the
QKR Stampede Blog,
be inspired and create something to enter in our challenge.
Someone's going to win some digi stamps of their choice
and it could be you!
 
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll leave a comment
and come back soon.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Autumn Corner

Hello! 
Happy Autumn!
I have said before that I'm not much of an autumn fan,
but that's mostly because I don't like the cold weather.
I do love all the harvest type things,
the pumpkins, the colorful corn, the colorful leaves.
And I love this image from Biblicl Impressions
"Autumn Corner" (#33506)
I colored the image with FlexMarkers
and used Distress Ink (Antique Linen & Vintage Photo)
to ink around the image.
I love how this card turned out, very simple, yet so beautiful.
 
Thanks for stopping for a visit.
Be sure to stop in again soon.
Leave a comment if you will.
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!