September Stamp of the Month - Treasures

Every year during the Labor Day weekend, the county fair comes to town. Yeah, I love rollercoasters but not the county fair type,unless they're mild - like maybe the Merry-Go-Round. I know, that's not very nice to say but you won't get me on the Zipper flipping upside down and going every which way, spinning the entire time. BUT...put me on California Screamin' at California Adventures and I could ride that thing forever. The best part of our Fair weekend is the Kettle Corn. I'd love to know how to make that myself so I can satisy my cravings for it during the year!


A new month also brings a new Stamp of the Month. This one is just wonderful! You can get it only during September so be sure to place your order by e-mailing me or on my MyCTMH website.

See you next time!

Dry Erase Board Idea

I don't know about you, but I wake up with the best of intentions every day. Do I follow through with each plan for the day...ahhh, I wish it were that easy or I was that disciplined. Sometimes I get ready to accomplish one task yet I find that I get sidetracked. So what?? Oh, I just wait for a new morning when I can, once again, wake up with the best of intentions...only these are from the day before. Eeeek! Suddenly I'm a week behind! So then, it all defaults to "life", and all of the curves we're thrown on a daily basis. For me, I've had more curve balls the last 10 days than I've had in 10 years. But, stretching my ole arm out, I'm catching, by golly. And we're gettin' through.

This cute little frame serves as a reminder for various errands or appointments that come up throughout the day or week. It's a regular 4x6 photo frame but what makes it unique is that you can write on the face of the glass with a dry erase marker. When you're ready to change the message, a swift swipe with your bare fingers will remove all the writing in it entirety! Pretty cool, I think! How do you like the left section where there's a stack of Post-It-Notes? Handy, huh? I thought so when I used this thing over and over this week to remind me to call the insurance folks who don't want to make good on our policy, or to pick certain items up from the store. You could also incorporate a photograph in either the left or right section of the design.

All is good! The sun came up this morning, went down by evening, and we harvested a ton of tomatoes in between. So complaints? Oh, there are none tonight! Praise God.

Until next time~

Fall Winter 2009 Idea Book is Here!

September 1...just a few minutes away! And you know what that means? The new Fall/Winter Idea Book goes LIVE! New scrapbook themes, accessories, stamps and so much more...this book is an amazing kick-off to a fun and exciting Fall. Three times a year the anticipation builds and builds...now you can relax, start shopping, and planning for a creative season of stamping and scrapbooking. With the release of the new Idea Book, you'll find a multitude of products for the seasons that await us...everything from Fall and Harvest products to Christmas. And as usual, you'll be amazed at how versatile the products are, especially the Background & Texture papers.

Don't forget that Studio J is just around the corner. You'll want to stay tuned for updates as to when the product will be available.

Gotta love classic color combinations like this one. Chocolate goes with just about any color...doesn't it look warm and inviting when pared with Dutch Blue? Your everyday can be more than an average day by creating beautiful card projects from our September special, Delight in the Everyday. There are a ton of terrific products in this kit. Visit my MyCTMH website, click on the image in the center that matches the one here on the left and you'll get all of the nitty-gritty details. Love, love, love our card kits! Oh, how they make my life simple when I most need it that way.

Let me send you one of our new catalogs. E-mail me for details.

See ya soon!

Got Beasty Boy!

Thought I'd post a quick update on the little beasty boy....we got him! I know, I know...it's a heartless thing but do we really want a little mouse running amuck in the house? Not especially. My daughter even disposed of him properly...ewww! She has some gene that I surely don't have because I'd have 1) called Joe in or 2) dialed 911. I'm a wimp, yes, it's true.

Apparently my mom told Joe about some mouse stories and mice in the house when I was growing up. Supposedly I don't remember...or maybe I blocked it out. It goes like this...When I was growing up, we occasionally had mice in the house. We lived out on a ranch so although I don't specifically remember seeing a mouse in the house, I'm sure we had plenty. Mom had a heart like mine but rather than set a snap trap, she set a HavAHeart trap. They're named for a good reason, don't you think? However, once they were humanely caught, she flushed them down the toilet. Okay...gotta admit here.....Mom, I'm seriously confused! What's the diff?? You're gonna have to splain that one to me shortly. Okay, I don't think I want to talk about this anymore!

For a welcome change of pace, here are some lovely images of my daughter in her later pregnancy. She is a beautiful girl! We're having a boy...and we're so excited! If you have any clever games to play at baby showers, please post them here.

It's all a big bunch of Belly Love!

Baby Shower Invite & More

My daughter looked at the price of store-bought baby shower invitations and quickly decided to make her own. Kind of a no-brainer for us stampers! Simple and cute, she designed this invite with some classic background & texture paper from Close To My Heart days gone by. The title "It's A Baby Shower" was printed out on plain white copy paper using a Close To My Heart font, Dot Dash from our Expressive Font CD Volume 1. Some things are better left plain and simple...and this is a perfect example!

A little update on the leak in our house....the plumber was here this morning and able to use leak detection devices to isolate the leak. Once he jackhammered a nice 2 foot deep hole in the cement of the living room, he came to within 3 inches of the leak in the pipe. Pretty darn good, I'd say! Good, that is, until the insurance adjuster came by and gave me her "news".

We've been following everything by the book...it's been a phone circus with different people from insurance calling to line up various people to take care of the problem. On Monday, one of the insurance guys I spoke to said any damage caused by the leak would be covered. Access to, repair of, and closure to the leak isn't covered. But, carpet would be covered since it was water damaged. Leak detection services would also be covered as would be the services for drying out the area. Great, I understand this.

Okay...fast forward to today...some random adjuster lady drove 2 1/2 hours to stop in this morning, peer at the hole, whisper something to the plumber so that I couldn't hear, and got out her tape measure to measure for carpet. Then she excused herself to go to her car and make a phone call. She came back in a short time later and said she had bad news...nothing is covered. WHAT?????????? That was a complete contradictory statement to what I had been told!!! Now, if I used foul language, I might have cussed her out, given her a quick boot to the arse and a slammed door behind her. But instead, it all stayed in my head and I asked a few questions then told her to leave. Am I furious? You bet! Soooo, exactly why do we pay homeowners insurance?? I'm not quite sure other than to make someone else's life very, very comfortable. (If you're an insurance agent reading this...don't take it personally.) We'll see what our local agent has to say...he's a reasonable guy, right?

So, Jill, my darling neighbor, bailed me out again. I wanted...no, I needed...a Diet Coke for lunch and the box was empty. Since everyone living here seems to have discovered all of my Diet Coke emergency hiding places, and the plumber was here, I phoned Jill up to ask if she had any extra Diet Cokes...(or hard liquor since I had just finished up with the adjustor lady)...and guess what? She did! (Diet Coke, that is.) Ah, at least I could drink to my frustrations with a cold soda. Thanks, Jill:) About the hiding places? I'll be finding some new ones as soon as I replenish the soda.

No news on the mouse front. Pierre, bless his passive little heart, slept all day yesterday in Karliann's room, where the mouse was last seen. Good grief dude...get up and hunt that beasty boy down! Maybe we should quit feeding the cats for a day or so and let them get good and hungry.

Until next time!

Of Mice and Butterflies...

Doesn't really have much of a ring to it, does it? Each one is so opposite! I need to discuss both here so I figured I'd make the title a bit on the curious side...kinda like the mouse we can't seem to find.

Let's chat about the pretty card to begin with...it's one that I featured recently in a monthly card making workshop and the ladies loved it! The butterfly is attached to the insert card along the body area. The wings are cut out and backed with a coordinating piece of cardstock. The paper is Close To My Heart's Amore, one of my favorite color schemes. The right side of the card insert with butterfly attached, slides out to reveal a message. Embellishments include brads, pearl paint, and ribbon. Really pretty and super easy to make!

Alright, do you want an update on beasty boy? This morning I woke up to a note on the kitchen counter that read..."will someone PLEEEEZE get a mouse trap today?" According to Karliann, she caught the silhouette of little beasty boy zipping across the windowsill behind a sheer curtain early this morning. (Kinda reminded her of a scene from a creepy movie.) She hollered for dad, who came running with a shoe. A shoe?? Karliann had a fit at the thought of a squished mouse on her windowsill so she suggested that her dad choose a more humane method of catching the speedy little imp...so...how about a box? A box?? What, are you gonna catch it with the box or smack it silly? Well, it was time for school and once again, the mouse is on the loose and not at the forefront of my mind today since I'm dealing with a very flooded living room and difficult insurance folks.

It's great to have friends who have got your back because my good friend and neighbor, Jill, had mine today. Remember, according to my kids, one must posses a hunting license in order to purchase a mouse trap so that was going to be a significant delay in my mouse hunting today. But, didn't turn out that way since Jill and Karliann chatted about the mouse "situation" on the way to school. Shortly thereafter, I went over to Jill's to borrow something and she was on her way to my house "bearing gifts." Ohhh, cool, I thought...a belated birthday present that would help fix the leak in the house! No such luck...but something way better...illegal mouse traps! Complete with peanut butter. The best part? By the time she left, they were all set. So far, no one has showed up at my door asking about possession of illegal mouse traps so we should be good, at least for the night.

If beasty boy ventures into this water-damaged room, he'll have cold feet, for sure. And maybe wet! The carpet is gone and the cememt is not real welcoming. There are holes to fall into, tack strips around the edges, and dangers lurking around every corner...that is, if you're a mouse. This photoshows the living room (and my workshop area) where the leak is. The carpet was the first to go and as long as we have water turned on, we're sucking it up with that wet/dry vacuum over there in the corner. Ahhh, it's just a minor inconvenience. It will all be sorted out soon enough and we'll be celebrating new carpet!

Maybe tomorrow I'll have good news about beasty boy...good news, that is if you're on my side. See ya soon!

Some days are diamonds...

...some days are stones...

And so the song goes. It's one of my favorites by John Denver and every time something really good and exciting happens, I think of the day being a diamond. On the few occasions when things go wrong, those days...well, they're the stones. The last few days seem to be stones. Want to be filled in? I don't think you'll want pictures for these things...so it will be text only today!

Over a week ago, as 7 or 8 of us were sitting in the living room, most of us girls which doesn't help the impending situation. Silly me...I had left the screen door open slightly so the dog and cats could come in and out for a little while, and all of a sudden I saw our adorable, passive cat appropriately named (by my husband...not me), Pierre, come sauntering in the house with something in his mouth. It had a pointy nose and skinny tail so obviously I screached! Apparently Pierre did too and dropped the little beasty boy and off it ran...but not out the door. So, we spend a good while shaking the couch upside down, poking under other furniture with a yardstick but little beasty boy was gone. We sorta figured he come out of hiding when he got hungry or maybe we'd find the cats arguing over who was going to have him for dinner but so far that hasn't happened.

Fast forward now over a week later to today....we were on our way home from moving our daughter into the dorm room at the University of Reno (yes, emotional for me). "Home" showed up as calling my cellphone, wondering what happened to the mouse this morning. Huh?? What mouse? Who saw a mouse this morning?? Heck, I thought it had been eaten by now! Well, nope. Our daughter was getting ready for work in her bathroom and saw something small and grey with a pointy nose and long skinny tail scurry across the floor and hide in some towels. (Her fault that there are towels on the floor!) So, the question posed to me on the phone was "who's gonna trap the mouse?" I replied with "Beats me! How about whoever saw it last? Go get a mouse trap and set it, for heaven's sake! There's cheese in the fridge!"

Well, we just returned home after a long day of driving and there's no mouse trap set and no one to report they saw beasty boy direct himself outside so I'm supposing he's still making the best of a comfy house for a little while longer.

Okay, now you know where we stand on the mouse situation...I'll fill you in when (and if) it comes to an end...Ohh yeah, one other thing...my other daughter informed us of a California state law that goes something like this: In order to set a mouse trip, one must have a hunting license. My eyebrows are raised here and I have a bit of a crooked smirk on my face...guess I'll look that one up in the books.

We've had lots of company over the last couple of weeks, including two of our daughter's college roomies so there's been lots happening around here! Everything but cleaning, that is...

Yesterday morning I was up early preparing to leave around lunchtime to go photograph a lovely wedding up at Convict Lake, about 40 minutes from home. I stepped on the carpet in the front room (where I do all of my workshops) and the floor was soaked. Hmmm, I though...Charlie had better not have gone potty on the carpet. I looked more closely and no color, no smell but I took another step and squish went my foot. We now have an entire room with a soaked carpet and pad and can't find where the leak is coming in. It's tricky to access the water main in order to turn the water on and off, especially in the dark. For tonight, the carpet and pad are all removed and now we await the plummer and insurance folks.

So, it could have been worse and we could have hit a deer the other night AND tonight...but we missed both times...it did temporarily get worse when I flattened a cute little skunk right smack in the middle of the road last night. I hope the little guy is in heaven for skunks...must be a pretty special place. And the wedding? IT DIDN'T RAIN on the outdoor ceremony! The rain waited for today. The light was ideal for a photographer and it was a wonderful group to photograph. Watch for some images.

So why haven't I posted anything cute and creative on here in the last week? #1, not much extra time, #2, too much chaos!, #3 room flooded, #4 had to move daughter out to college, #5 photographed a wedding, and the list could go on! But, I can't complain...it's just a few minor inconveniences.