"Getting Ready For Stampmania"

Today I am starting to pack for LA. This is my 4th stamp mania. I can't wait. I am leaving Friday morning at 7am. LA is a 7 hour drive for me. I love the drive though. It is mostly one freeway so it is easy. It is also a very beautiful drive. Mountains, vineyards, and orchards practically the whole way. I plug in my I-Pod and sing the 80's as if I was in the band. I just downloaded Monster Ballads and I can't wait to hear them again. Remember Cinderella, Warrant, Firehouse, Winger, Kix, Europe, and Foreigner just to name a few. Last year, I lost my voice a little singing on the drive down. I don't care who sees me singing my heart out. I don't get embarrassed about that. You are going to die when you see all the stuff I bring with me. You would think that will be stamping 24 hours straight with all the stuff I am bringing. Friday I am meeting some of the ladies at the Fabric Barn then we are going to the hotel to stamp all night. The fabric barn rocks. I think there is about 12 bolts of fabric and the rest of the store is wall to wall ribbon. All match Stampin' Up too. Oooooo I can't wait. I am getting more excited as I type. I didn't stop at the fabric barn last year cause I still had a big bag of ribbon. I still have a bunch left but I need some new fresh colors. Saturday's event is from noon until 9pm. Stamping until 6 then we go to dinner at the same Italian restaurant. They have a buffet for us. Good food, good friends, and good times. I will try to post something later today. Right now I need to get my crap together. Can you say crap in a blog? LOL Have a great day everyone.

"Paying It Forward"

I want to tell you a cool story that happened to me. When my parents were here I had to pick them up at the airport in San Fran. Before the Bay Bridge you have to go through the toll booth. Where 18 lanes of traffic turn into 5. Yeah, it is unreal. Anyway, when it was my turn, I drove to the gate and the guy said, "go on, the car ahead of you paid your toll." I was completely caught off guard. How cool is that. A total stranger paid my $4 toll. It really makes you believe that there are good people out there. So the other day I wanted to pay it forward. I went through the Starbucks drive though and I bought the coffee for the lady in the car behind me. I wanted to catch someone else off guard and make their day. She gave me a honk as she passed me when I was at the light. Let me tell you. That $3.65 purchase made me feel good all day long. I was letting people go ahead of me at stop signs, and at the grocery store, I even let those annoying people in that wait until the very end to get in the lane from the on ramp on the freeway. That usually makes me mad, but nothing could make me upset that day. I just felt great all day long. So why don't you find someone to pay it forward to. It really makes a difference, for you and for a complete stranger.

"Tagged Again"

I was tagged again the other day by Adela. Check out her blog if you haven't already. I have to list 7 weird random things about myself. Hmmmm.... What don't you know about Rochelle Wick.
1. My favorite animal is the Siberian tiger. (I have two Siberian tiger tattoos)
2. When I was little I collected frogs. (real ones)(I don't care much for them anymore)
3. I am a HUGE baseball fan. (Go Twins!!)&(Go Yankees) I have loved the Yankees since I was little but I am also a die hard Twins fan.
4. When we moved to CA I passed my drivers test with one wrong.(my husband got two wrong)
5. I am a photographer and know how to develop my own pictures. (I have all the stuff for a dark room but no room in my house for it right now)
6. I love the sound of crickets at night
7. I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good thunder storm. We don't get thunder her where I live. In the past 4 1/2 years that we have lived in CA I have heard thunder 6 times total. When we lived in MN I looked forward every year to the July thunder storms.

Here are the people that I am going to tag.
1. Jamie over at Jamie Stamps
2. Dawn over at Amusing Musings & Things
3. Nancy over at Cards-n-Stuff
4. Melissa over at Hand Stamped with a Little Lagniappe
5. Tammy over at Stamp with Tammy
6. Melissa over at Simply Pink
7. Kimm over at Kimms Daily Grace

"My Embarrassing Day At The Gym"

I have to tell you a funny story about what happened to me at the gym. I was on the treadmill minding my own business and this guy decides to get on the treadmill next to me. This is the one day I don't have my headphones with me cause I brought the girls and they were in the kids play area and I wanted to be able to hear myself being paged if something was wrong. All of a sudden this guy is like, "Come on down, you're the next contestant on the Price Is right", I'm like, ok this guy talks to himself. What ever. Then he says to me. "Hey! Are you watching? Pick a number" I was like what? and he said, "pick a number 2 4 7 5 or 9" I didn't know what he was talking about and then he said, "hurry up" so I picked 2 and then he said, "I pick 5" then he tells me that we are biding on a 2008 camper. I was thinking, ok why are you talking to me? I don't want to play. I just want to work out. I don't even know you and you are kinda weird. (I won the camper by the way) Then he started talking about politics, gas prices, the war, how he doesn't like Drew Carey and he shouldn't be hosting The Price Is Right, and then he asked me if I watch that show about the lie detector. I said no, I don't watch it. I thought the conversation was going to be over. Boy was I wrong. He said that it is a great show and that I should watch it. And he proceeded to tell me I swear every question from every episode, kinda loud too. And if you don't know what the show is about apparently there is a lot of questions about sex. And he is talking very loud. It was weird. I didn't want to be rude but I didn't really want to talk either. I had only been on the treadmill for 20 minutes when he jumped on his and I wasn't done yet and I think it would have been rude for me to jump off my treadmill and go to another one. So I toughed it out. After 25 more minutes I was done with my cardio and was going to move on to the weights so I pressed stop on my machine and all of a sudden he yelled, "YOU GO GIRL!! LOOK AT YOU!! YOU BURNED 600 CALORIES!! WAY TO GO!! YOU GO GIRL, YOU GO!! I was so embarrassed. It is funny now but not at the time. I saw him again yesterday but I didn't make eye contact with him. I don't think he saw me. LOL

"Egg Roll & Dining Room Table"

Here is my new "stamping room" Ha ha ha. My old table was here before we got the new one and it wasn't against the wall so I had some stamping stuff behind the table. Now I can't really do that anymore. I will figure out something though. I have most of my stamping stuff in tubs to the right of the table in a built in cubbie. Our house is small (1500 sq ft) so it is hard to find space. When we move back to MN (or anywhere else) I am getting my own space for stamping. I just have to figure out what works best for me right now. When we lived in MN we had a 4 level 2400 sq ft house with a basement. So it is a big change for us to have a small house. I can't really keep much in the garage cause that is our "basement" When we moved here we had a rummage sale and had to sell about half of what we owned cause it didn't fit in the house. So the garage is our storage room. I keep about 4 tubs out there with paper and stuff that won't get damaged by the heat and humidity.

A lot of you asked how our egg roll went this year. Thanks for asking. We had a great time. Here are the girls rolling eggs. We propped the ramp on a folding chair and let the eggs roll. We rolled 4 eggs down first so they would have something to aim for. Good Times.

Our ramp this year was an old shelf. Good thing we got the new table because this shelf was on the wall by the old table and I didn't have anything else in the garage to use as a ramp. I can remember some years growing up when my dad would grab a big cardboard box from the garage and it would have a big oil stain on it cause it was under the car. LOL Now he has a "special" ramp that they use every year. Our shelf worked great through.

Molly was the big winner this year. She won all three games. They had such a blast. They wanted to do it all day. Seriously, if you guys don't do this, you should try it. The parents have as much fun as the kids.

Here are my girls on Easter. The weather was perfect. Check out our new fence behind the girls. This one isn't going to blow down in any storm.

"MIA"

I know that I have been MIA since Easter. I don't know what is wrong with me. I swear ever since we got a new dining room table, I haven't been able to stamp as frequently as I would like. I do not have a stamping room so before we got the new table, I would keep some of my stuff behind the table and the rest of my stuff in tubs a built in cubbie next to my table so I could just grab some stuff and stamp. Now we have a pub style table, which is a high table and it is bigger than our other one. This one is a giant square that is pushed up against the wall. So I can't keep my stuff in the open, I have to have it all in the tubs and it is a hassle to take it out. I feel like I have lost my mojo again. I am trying to get my stuff together for my stamp class April 4th. I have 3 out of the 5 cards prepped but I am still trying to come up with another card. I haven't posted them because some of them I have posted before. I guess I am casing my own stuff this time. I am also trying to figure out what to do for stamp mania. I like to do a 3D item instead of a card for the shoebox swap. This year they want all 3D projects approved prior to the stamp mania. I got my first project rejected. Which makes me kinda mad. Apparently they want the 3D projects to have as many supplies as if you were making a card. My thought is if you are going to approve the projects then you should approve the cards too. Sorry, I am a little bitter on this one. This is my 4th stamp mania and we never had to get a project approved before. One year I did a wrapped Hershey bar, the next year I did a covered 3 x 5 notepad and I threw in a beaded pen, last year I did a shaker magnet. This year I wanted to make the gum holders. I think they are so cute. But I got shot down. It wasn't big enough and didn't use enough supplies. So I decided on doing the pull up m&m holders. That got approved but now that I think about it, that project actually is more supplies than a card plus each one uses 24 inches of ribbon. I don't know if I want to do that one anymore. The shoebox swap is for 10 people plus your sample, 4 extra ones for the people running the event and extras for people that might make a mistake. I do have my shoebox swap all prepped but I might change my mind and do a wrapped Hershey Bar instead. Last night I thought maybe I would do a card holder. I want to use the tart and tangy set. I don't have a lot of current SU stamps so it is hard for me to come up with something cute with what I have. So I made two different samples of card holders last night. One was orange and bashful blue and the other one was orange and red. They both looked hideous. So if I can't think of anything fun to do I guess I will have to do the m&m holder. Sorry I am rambling. AGH!!! Ok, I am going to pull myself together here.

I have been tagged by Marie over at The Perky Pomegranate. 7 random things about me.
1. I have been stamping for 3 1/2 years
2. I have 6 Webkinz (3 actual animals and 3 that I won from trading cards)
3. My favorite food is bacon cheeseburgers
4. I love the smell after it rains
5. My birthday is on the first day of summer (and the longest day of the year)
6. Before I was a stay at home mom I was a waitress at Red Lobster for 11 years
7. I am a gamer. I LOVE video games!

I would like to tag the following people.
1. Sara at Sara's Studio
2. JoAnna at JoAnna's Creative Expressions
3. Doris at The Stamping Tower
4. Lisa at Us 4 Vol Fans
5. Amy at ZoeLife Creations

"Happy Easter"

Happy Easter everyone. I am going to take the day off to spend it with my family. Saturday we went to the park for the "eggstravaganza" The kids had a blast. They met the Easter Bunny, did the egg hunt, played games, and did the petting zoo. The adults had fun too. It was a beautiful day. After that we went out to lunch and then went home to color eggs. Fun fun fun. We will be doing the "egg roll" on Easter. I don't know who is more "eggcited", me or the girls. LOL So, I hope you all have a great day with your family. Happy Easter!!

"Q and A"

I didn't get to stamp Saturday because my little Sarah was real sick. She has a cold and had a fever of over 100. I was up with her all last night with her fever reaching 103. She is feeling better today, her fever is down to 100 and she is resting. So I am going to do a little Q and A. Someone asked what adhesive I use.

I use Scotch Quick Dry Tacky Adhesive. I love this stuff. I have used it for almost two years exclusively. I honestly can't remember the last time I used a tape runner. (with the exception of stamp camp) You want to put a small line around the edge of the paper and you have about 5 seconds to get it where you want it. It dries super fast and your cards will never fall apart. You can use it on glass, metal, cork, paper. You can use it on practically anything. I get it at Target in the scrapbooking isle. A 2oz bottle will last me at 3 months. They sell a 4oz bottle at Michael's. The ONLY downfall about this glue is that it makes the cards very stiff. But that is it. I can deal with that.

Another question: How do you keep so much chocolate in the house and not eat it? I will tell you how. I am not a chocolate lover. I like it but I do not have to have it. I like salty way better than sweet. Give me a bag of chips and I am super happy. That's why I don't make wrapped potato chip holders. I would end up wrapping just the bag wrapper. And that's not fun to give away an empty bag of chips. LOL Although I do have a problem with the Hershey cherry cordial kisses. I will eat a whole bag of those. But that is the only chocolate that I can't control myself with. I have bags of candy sitting about three feet from my stamping area and I don't even notice it.

If you have any questions about stamping produts or supplies that I use or what ever, feel free to shoot me an e-mail or put it in a comment and I would be happy to answer your questions. I hope you all have a great day. I hope to stamp later today. I got some new stamps and paper yesterday.

"We Have Visitors"

My parents are visiting us for a week so I don't have anything to post today. I will be finishing up two gift sets that my mom wants me to make and I will also be making some kind of candy holder for my mom to take back to MN for my nephew's pre school class for Easter so I will have something soon.

Also, I am such a DORK!!! My daughter was looking at the chipboard card I posted yesterday and she was like. Did you notice that you put the U and the 2 backwards on your card? I was like, What? so when I looked at it I noticed that It says Birthday hugs and wishes U 2 instead of Birthday hugs and wishes 2 U. LOL oh well. I guess I will have to flip that 2 to the other side of the U. AGH!!!

"Amish Friendship Bread Challenge"

Have you ever heard of Amish Friendship Bread? I had never heard of it until last Saturday. My demo gave me a small loaf of banana bread last Saturday morning. It was soooooo good. We had stamp camp later that afternoon and she gave me a gallon size zip loc bag with some white goo inside (which is the starter mix) along with a recipe for Amish Friendship Bread. When we were talking about it and as I was reading the directions for the bread, I almost got sick. (not literally) The idea of the bread is that you make a batch and then take out three cups of "starter mix" and give them to three friends along with the recipe for the bread. Then they make the mix and pass it on to their friends and so on.

Here is the problem. The starter mix has milk in it and it sits on your counter for a week before you make the bread. Also the starter mix I got from her, she got from someone else, who got it from someone else, who got it from someone else and so on. Who knows how long this starter mix has been going around. Doesn't that sound not safe? But the bread was so good. I am on day 6 today so I am going to add more milk and stuff and then keep it on the counter until I make the bread on Saturday. I think it is very weird and unsafe, although the bread was super delicious. I am going to follow through on this, I know it is safe cause I didn't get sick and if the Amish do it, it has to be good right? My challenge to you is for you to do it and let me know how it turns out for you.

Also, have you tried the new M&M's? Dang it that they are a limited edition. They are DELICIOUS!! I am a sucker for anything cherry too.

"Tagged Again"

I was tagged again by my friend Roz
A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.

C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.


10 Years Ago:
I was working as a waitress at RedLobster and living in Minnesota. (The greatest state EVEA!!!)

Things on my to-do list today:

1. Get ready for my stamp class tonight.
2. Pick up the girls from school.
3. Get dinner ready for my hubby and the girls since I won't be home.

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
I would move to Minnesota and I would life the life. I would give my family a ton of money. I would set up a fund for my kids and their kids and I would go shopping. Maybe even every day.

3 of my bad habits:

1. I bight my fingernails
2. Tailgating
3. Drink too much pop. (pop is what we mid westerners call soda)

3 places I have lived:

1. Duluth, MN
2. Minneapolis, MN
3. Sacramento, CA

5 jobs that I have had:

1. Candy girl at the drive inn movie theater
2. I worked at Target
3. I worked at an upholstery place as office manager
4. I worked at the post office
5. I was a waitress for 11 years

5 Things people don't know about me:

1. All three of my girls were born by C-Section. They were all breech too. I don't think they wanted to come out. (LOL)
2. I met my hubby at the hosiptal where we both worked. (in the kitchen)
3. I used to play volleyball in high school. (I never played in any games. I was a bench warmer for three years) (LOL)
4. I am related to Hannibal Hamiln (Vice President to Abraham Lincoln
5. For my 16th birthday I got a Pope John Paul key chain. No car, just a key chain. Seriously, don't do that to your teenagers. I am still bitter 22 years later.

I would like to tag
Joanna G My gift set competitor. (LOL)
Sarah B My SBS Sista
Kristine R My friend, who is so good to me.

"I've Been Tagged Twice"

I have been tagged. By my sista stamper Sara
Sara's tag is the middle name game. Why couldn't I have a short middle name like Pam, Jan, Ann, or Jill. No, I have to have the longest middle name. Elizabeth. Oh well, here it goes.
These are the rules:- You must post the rules before you give your answers. You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details.) .
E~ Easy! As in easy to get along with. (Get your minds out of the gutter!)
L~Loving! I love to do things for others.
I~ Imaginary! I have a huge imagination.
Z~ Zany! I think I am zany, goofy, and silly.
A~ Adventurous! I went skydiving, I think that counts as being adventurous.
B~ Bashful! You wouldn't think so but I am kinda shy.
E~ Energetic! I seem to have a ton of energy(mostly at night though. I am a night owl. How else am I going to get all my stamping done. LOL)
T~ Thoughtful! I care so much about everyone.
H~ Honest! One of my best qualities.

"SCS So Cal Stamp Mania 5"

Who's going? I'm going. This will be my 4th one. I can't wait!! It is a 7 hour drive for me, which is fine. I love the drive. It's a straight shot so that helps. Lots to look at too. Many orchards. Fruit, nuts, and vineyards. Gorgeous mountains and a couple of pretty lakes that you can see from the freeway. I plug my i-pod in to the radio and sing the 80's music until I loose my voice. Good Times. I have a routine now. I stop at the same places on my way down for gas and to eat and to shop. I bring a big suitcase, medium suitcase, my paper tote, and regular tote with my can't live without supplies. All for stamping. And a small suitcase for clothes. I bring all my inks. At least 10 of each color cardstock un cut and 4 of each color cut and folded into cards, all my punches, markers, cuttlebug, and pretty much anything else you can think of. I will take a picture this time. You will die. But I have to bring it all in case I need it right? I stamp all night Friday night. Get up Saturday, have breakfast stamp a little more, go to stamp mania all day. Meet the girls for dinner. Go back to the hotel and stamp all night. Get a few hours of sleep. Wake up Sunday morning, have breakfast, put all my stuff away and pack up the car. I hit the Fabric Barn on my way home to get ribbon and I like to stop at the Michael's in Burbank too.
If you want to sign up here is the link to the thread.

So if you are going, find me and say hi. I would love to meet you. I have met some great ladies through past events and look forward to seeing them each year. Last year there were ladies from Hawaii, Missouri, Texas, and of course Karen from Canada who is joining us again this year. So c'mon and sign up, I will see you there.

"Busy Busy Busy"

I don't' have anything to share today. I have been so busy. I have been asked to do two more tutorials for the Scor-Pal. I am truly honored. There are no words for how excited I am. They will be in the February/March online magazine. I will post the link when it is up and running. So today I was busy doing my tutorials.
I also have more big news. I am going to be teaching stamp classes at the parks and rec. I am totally nervous. I have taken the classes before but I have never taught one. It is a stamp a stack so they have to leave with 12 projects. I hope they like what I came up with. I am going to do a Valentine gift set with 5 different wrapped candy items and I bought them all one of those cute tin buckets from the $1 spot at Target to put them in so they can give it as a gift. I am also doing a cris cross card, 4 birthday cards, 4 different colors but the same design, and two more cards that they will make two of each. They are actually leaving with 14 items so I hope they are happy. So today I cut and scored (with the Scor-Pal of course) everything for the class. I am still waiting for some supplies so I can prep the last two cards. So that is what has been going on with me. Whew. I plan on sharing soon so stay tuned.

Q & A..."How I take my pictures"

I have been asked about how I take my pictures of my items and cards. Here is what I do for my cards. I have a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of basic black cardstock. I took my cutter and cut a slit in the paper just enough to slide the card back through. Then I scan it and crop it. That is how I get the perfect black background around my cards.

For my gift items. I have a black towel that I drape over the couch cushion and partly on the floor. I take all my pictures during the day with as much natural light as I can. If I use regular lights, the pictures are more yellow. I also do not use a flash.

My husband got me a photo studio in a box to take pictures of my stuff. It came with two backgrounds. One blue and one grey. I don't like either one. I am going to get the black and white ones and then I will start to use that. It is really awesome. It comes with lights and a camera stand and is so easy to set up. You get the perfect lighting and it works great. I just don't like the backgrounds so it sits in my room.

So that is how I take my pictures.

"Rain Rain Go Away"

This is what we woke up to this morning. We are getting a bad storm here in Sacramento. 60 to 85mph winds. We pretty much get the same storm every January. A couple years ago we had the section to the left of this one blow down. The poles are rotten and they just snap at the ground.

I took the girls to school and when I came home there was another section down. The wind and rain is going to be bad all weekend. They said that tomorrow is going to be worse than today. Today is also garbage day. Everyone's cans are all over the streets. I had to get out of my car twice in the mile drive to the school to move cans so I could drive down the street.

Now three panels are down and I am thinking that the whole thing is going to go by tomorrow. I think I have a plan to get back home to Minnesota. I am going to pack a small bag for everyone and give them all umbrellas. Then the wind can blow us back home. Sounds like a good plan ha? HA HA HA HA. I have to laugh to keep from crying.

"I'm a Guest Instructor for Scor-Pal"

Have you heard of the Scor-Pal? It is awesome. You can do multipal scor lines and you don't have to move the paper. Plus the score line is nice and deep. As you know, I do a lot of gift items in bulk and this is the perfect tool for me. Anyway, The Dec/Jan on line magazine is now up on the Scor-Pal website and guess what? I am in it! I was so excited when Diana e-mailed me and asked if I would do a tutorial for this issue. I told her I would be honored to do it. This is only their second issue and I am excited to be grouped in with so many talented ladies. My tutorial is the tent kisses I made. Only we are calling them "Kisses Kit n’ Kaboodle" Here is the link to the tutroials for issue 2. Check them out. There are some great projects. You should also check out the rest of the site too. Lots of fun stuff.

"JoAnna's got blog candy"

JoAnna is giving away some blog candy. All you have to do is tell her which thing she has made is your favorite. If you haven't checked out her blog before. You have to. She doesn't make many cards but she makes a ton of altered things and wrapped candy items. You thought I made a lot. She is the queen of treats.

"Citrus Everywhere"

I don't have a card to post today. I had to go to the ER last night and get more stitches. I had my stitches removed on Thursday but last night I hit my incision on the door knob and it split wide open. It didn't hurt but I had to get it stitched up. I got 6 stitches this time. I only had 4 last time. The ER doctor also found two pieces of the tumor that didn't get removed. So I was so mad. If it hadn't have split open, the left over tumor would have grown back. So I guess the accident was a blessing. Anyway, I thought I would show you my citrus trees.

This is my dwarf tangerine tree. We planted it in June and it had the non ripe fruit on it. They looked like little green golf balls. I think these will be ready in a few more days. I can't wait to try one of these little cuties.
This is my lemon tree. I sent Tony out to trim it two summers ago and he trimmed it to 5 feet tall and very very bare. This is the first crop that we will have since then. I was so mad when I looked at the bare tree. But it came back bigger and better than before so I am over it. LOL

There are already 100 lemons ready to be picked. We give away a ton of them all year long. The lemon season is January and February. We will have lemon water and iced tea with lemon all year. I have also found some good chicken recipes to use with the lemons. And not just lemon bars. Which are fantastic. When we had our first crop, I made lemon bars and sent them home to MN for my family.

"New Rubba"

I picked up my stamp club order last night from my demo. I was the hostess for our November stamp camp and I had a $600 order. I didn't get anything fun though. I only got stamp cleaner refill, gel pen, and a lot of paper. I am waiting for the new catalog in January. I really don't like much in this catalog. There is nothing that I "have to have" but I always need paper. The only new rubber that I got was three hostess sets. I picked Oh So Lovely, Party Punch, and Garden Silhouettes. I did get them mounted last night and the plan is to stamp tonight.

My demo asked me if I would be interested in taking over her stamp classes at the parks and rec in February and April. I am a little nervous. The last two classes that she had were full. Which is only 10 people but still. I have to come up with 12 projects. February's theme is Birthday and Valentine's Day. So far I have come up with three gift items and I have three card ideas. So that is 6 things. I can use retired stamps too because it isn't a "stampin' up" class and there is no promoting. I am going to wrap this up now cause I am going Christmas shopping for the girls today. When I get home, I am going to stamp till I cramp.