Our second day on the road was fairly uneventful except for the smell of cows!  I have seen more cows than I have ever wanted.  The good news is that Russ and I can calculate very well how much gas we have left in the tank.  <sigh>  The weather has been beautiful and the kids are doing exceptional.  We stayed a day in Iowa at Russ' parents house to relax.  It was a GREAT day filled with the kids riding the golf cart (aka Gator), fishing and of course I had to get in a little shopping.  Life is good. 

Fishing is not my idea of fun.  I never liked it as a kid and nothing has changed today.  Mostly because I am extremely impatient.  I also do not like putting a live WORM on a hook.  It's nasty and I feel like I am hurting the worm.  I know, silly!

The kids on the other hand love to fish.  Anything outdoors they are game. Alexis still holds a fishing pole with a little fashion:

Brandon had dirt from head to toe at the end of the day.  You can tell from his picture that he is just happy to be out of the car and not stranded on the side of the road!

…and then there is Russ! This pic speaks volumes!  This is why I love this crazy guy! We have laughed at each other over and over again!

You might be wondering if we caught a fish… the answer would be NO! Russ scared them all off. 

We are actually sitting in West Virginia tonight.  The last leg of our trip is tomorrow.  It will take about 5 hours. Thank you to each of you for sharing your fun stories with me. Russ and I have enjoyed them and laughed together.  While moving is never easy it's been much easier when I can share it with you. 

While I've been on the road my little brother had a birthday.  Here is a card I made for him. It's not in the mail yet but will be in just a few short days.    He's also in the Navy so I thought this would be a fun card done in Red, White and Blue.  The stamp set comes from the Level 3 Hostess set called Playful Pieces. WOW this is a great set.  There are tons of pieces in it.  

I stamped each of these boxes in Craft ink onto Crumb Cake.  I really love Craft ink and love it even more on Crumb Cake.  I cut each image out and popped them up with dimensionals.  It's a super easy card including the cutting.   

I hope your weekend is fantastic!  Again, many thanks to each of you for your continued prayers, thoughts and laughs.  If you only knew what it does to a girl's spirit.  <wink>

XOXOXO

Just a quick post tonight.  I'm emotionally drained from the day.  The good: All the stuff is packed up and on it's way to the new house! The bad: Saying good bye!  Heart wrenching.  I watched my little girl say good bye to her best friend today and I cried.  Then tonight it was back to back good byes that just SUCKED.  Again, I know I will see many of these friends again.  I just won't have these great friends around all the time like I've had.  Sigh! 

Tonight's card doesn't have new stuff actually.  I was going through pics of cards I had made and wanted to share this one because I think it's fitting for how I feel today.  Honestly, I made this card for my dad's birthday which is at the end of the month. The birds however look like our little family today.  Big Birdie Dad and the rest of his flock following him.  That pretty much sums it up!

At the end of the day… this is how I really FEEL:

Today's card was completely inspired by a sample I had seen in the new catalog.  It's one of the great things about a Stampin' Up! catalog.  It's called and Idea Book for a reason.  This years catalog will impress you 1000x with the amazing samples inside.  Today, I used a stamp set that is in the current catalog and staying put! Along with that I used a few NEW colors along with some accessories that are retiring. 

This stamp set is called On a Pedestal (113814).  Great set with many ways to use it.  I decided to get scissor happy and cut a lot of the layers out.  This gave the card lots of dimension.  I also used buttons and white linen thread to add accents.  The layered cake was matted and then placed on a Pink Pirouette cardstock layer that was run through my Big Shot using the Polka Dot embossing folder.  These add perfect texture to any project.  Lastly, I added a bit of Shimmer Mist to the card.  Lately, there isn't a card that doesn't get a little shimmer added. 

Now, for a move update.  Packers came yesterday.  The stamp room is officially packed.  However the lazy bums decided that TODAY they would not come and they would finish on Friday.  I think they made a big mistake.  I cannot see how they will finish packing this house tomorrow.  I will simply keep my big nose out of it and let them figure it all out themselves.  I hate not being in control.  My only concern is actually leaving when we originally wanted and not prolonging the pain of leaving this great place any more than I have to.  The kids think the whole process is great.  Thankfully I've had awesome friends take them for play dates and my kids think this is ONE heck of a summer vacation.   

I'll keep you updated.  I hope your FRIDAY is filled with stamping.  I think mine will be all about supervising.  I'm pretty good at that.  <sigh>

XOXOXO

Oh boy! It seems like June is ticking away QUICKLY.  I know you must be excited about the countdown of the new catalog, but do you have everything on your retired list yet?  The accessories list is looking bare.  I would recommend taking just a few minutes to check to see if you have those favorite stamp sets you want.  This past January when the dormant list went away I totally forgot to order that Chandelier set that I wanted so bad.  I can't even think of the name of it, but I was just bummed.  I wanted to use that set for decor pieces in my house.  Needless to say… I'm outta luck.  Don't be outta luck.  Get the sets you want before June 30th. 

I want to share one of my favorite sets that is going away.  It's been used SO much.  I used this set for one of my rounds of Scraps in the Mail and it was a really great set to scrapbook with.  Here are two cards I made using it. 

Here is another one…

For both of these cards I used Bermuda Bay cardstock (Retiring) and Pear Pizzaz cardstock (New In Color-whoo hoo!)  Both cards use the Certified stamp set. The bottom card uses the Park Avenue Patterns.  You can see these sets HERE for all the images in the sets. 

I used Bermuda Bay ribbon as well on the bottom card and it's retiring too.  These are simple cards but fun! 

I can't leave today without showing you a few more fun photos of my great ladies I will be saying goodbye too….

This one below makes me laugh all over again.  <smile>

Have a SUPER week.  I am in the midst of a MESS! 

XOXOXO

I am super excited to tell you that I completed the agenda yesterday! Yes, I didn't blow away from the wind…although if you could have seen my hair you would of giggled.  Not so pretty!

I had a super fun time with my kids yesterday.  I painted Lexi's nails and she stamped with me.  Brandon had a few friends over after school so we had "US" time this evening.

I have a new playlist with some Glee songs I liked.  Sickly addicted to the show now.  Jeesh!

Then, most importantly… I brushed the dust off a FEW stamp sets and created.  Ahhhhhh!!!  The sweet sound of tap, tap, tap!

Here are the results!

For this card not only did I dust the stamp set off but my sewing machine too.  I just felt the urge to sew on a card.  This is the Level 3 stamp set The More the Merrier.  I love BIRDS! Skinny, chubby… love them all. I haven't used this set in MONTHS!

Oh, that Circle Circus stamp set.  Remember that one?  When the new catalog came out last year I used this set on everything.  Since then it's been on the shelf crying to be used.  Really had thick dust on it.  Another set I NEVER pull out and seriously I am just silly is the All Holidays stamp set.  OH MY!  I forgot what a GREAT set this is.  Need a sentiment? Look no further.  Isn't that Happy Birthday a fun font? This was a serious simple card.  Of course I used my favorite Kraft cardstock (AKA Crumb Cake!!!) and had to pledge the Flock Together DSP due to MASSIVE dust bunnies on it.  Love Tempting Turquoise on Kraft.  I used Whisper White craft ink on the base of the card with Circle Circus stamp images.  I used the new Satin Ribbon (White) and ruffled my ribbon with a little sticky strip. 

Last one… I kinda cheated!  I actually had the stamped images stamped for about 6 months sitting on my desk waiting to be used.  I borrowed this set from my girlfriend and stamped the images and they just sat there on my desk!  So I wiped the dust off and created.  This card uses NEW colors.  Oh boy!  The beautiful Cherry Cobbler and Daffoldil Delight are so pretty. 

I added glitter and a rub on for the sentiment.  This is a 4 x 4 card.  Cute and simple.  Used the Bitty Buttons again.  So fun!

The stamp set used was Greenhouse Garden.  Lovely images!!  It's a Two Step stamp too. 

It's another busy day.  Sure hope to get more fun stamping in.  I am on a SERIOUS roll and checking things off my list of To Do's.  Feels fantabulous!!