SORRY~

Sorry to all that I have not been posting as much as I would like. You see, my sister and her family moved 45 minutes away from the end of last week. Thats pretty darn close as their last address was about 700 miles away!!. Now my parents are coming to see her new house and will be staying with me for a while. I will be driving up to Fayetteville (about 2+ hours) to get them at the Amtrak Station, as my Dad will not fly.
We will be helping her set up her first house which should be alot of fun. But that will take some precious time from my card making for a bit. I promise I will be back this week with some goodies to show, but for now here is a picture of my boys from a Christmas long ago. The little one in the photo is in college now!! I happen to come across it and thought it was pretty funny. My older son always liked to dress up- here he is a magician. And the younger one is showing off a reindeer hat he made in school! Enjoy, and many thanks for stopping by...

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!!!!!!!

Its true! Its a Christmas in July day for me today. My brand spankin new- not yet releasedCopics arrived~
I had read about 12 new colors being released later in the summer from Marianne at the I Like Markers blog. She descibed how pale and beautiful each would be, and how they would make a great addition to a growing Copic collection. And anyone that uses them knows that the collection is always "growing". Since my birthday is in September, I thought they would make a great gift.
Much to my surprise, there were a very few select sites that got some in this week~ When I saw them on Ellen Hutson LLC, I could'nt believe my eyes. They're really here, I thought- 2 full months before my birthday! With that said, I quickly clicked on the "add to cart" button. I am so excited!
Later that day (only a few hours) there was an email from Ellen stating that they had already sold out of their limited quantity. I was so glad I did not procrastinate this time, (as I tend to do that). The next shipment wont be for some time.

Well here they are in all their glory. I am off to play with them now. Yipee !!!!!

Many thanks for stopping by...

The Fresh Batch Challenge SASSC22

Hello~ I am doing the challenge again this week from The Stamps and Smiles blog. They always provide the best sketches to work with.
Here is their sketch.... And here is my card.....

I have used Bazzill cardstock, Prima flowers,and asst. embellishments.

The pretty polka dot paper is my newest acquisition from my LSS and its called Playful Petals by Daisy Bucket.

The sand colored paper is Hit The Beach by Flair. Its so colorful and I just love those fresh summery hues.
This closeup shows how I used tiny real shells for the centers of my flowers.

Here is a closeup of Emma from C.C.designs june collection. She is of course, colored with my beloved Copics. Did you all see the new really pale shades that just came out? They are so new, that only a handful of stores even have them. I oredered mine from Ellen Hutson LLC just a few minutes ago. I cant wait to get them.

This photo is a closeup of Emmas sand. I colored the area in with a pale beige Copic, and then added some glue and randomly sprinkled Golden Woodland Microbeads from Martha Stewart to give the sand a 3-d look.

Many thanks for stopping by and please visit The Fresh Batch to see all the other beautiful samples made from this sketch!!!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!

Happy 4th of July!!! Hope you are still celebrating this wonderful holiday! Our little city is known for its huge 4 day celebration. We plan for it all year. The little city of Southport, with a population of about 2800 swells to 40,000 each year in the beginning of july.
Its good old fashioned small town fun. There are craft fairs, food vendors, a 5k run, activities for kids, multiple acts of live entertainment on the riverfront stage, the parade, and of course fireworks!!! This is my husband and son before the parade started. It is always a really hot day in the 90's, so we look for shade where we can get it.

Here is TT and I with our annual festival T shirts on.

Even AJ wore his fireworks scarf, although as you can see~ he is unfazed by the whole hoopla.

Her are some Confederate Soldiers. They recreate the battle during the day on the property of Fort Johnston.

How cute is this little pony and her rider??

An antique firetruck with a face-painted rider.

These guys are Shriners, and my family and I love these little cars. They go so quick, and come so close to everyone on the sidelines. Here they are doing figure eights.

This cute raccoon must be really hot in there!

A Shriner marching band~

Many thanks for stopping by...

PRETTY IN PINK

A little beach cutie for you to enjoy! She is Emma from C.C. Designs spring collection. With her, I colored her in first, then choose my paper to go with her colors. I have used my Copics and scraps from my bin.
The hearts are a Martha Stewart Valentine Heart Punch, and under the black plaid ribbon, you can see where I have used a Fiskars puunch- Threading Water on the dark pink piece.
The tiny gold dots on her bathing cap were a little goody in my envelope when I ordered something from Susanas Custom Art and Design online store. Whwn I first got them, I wasnt quite sure what to do with them as they were quite teeny, but as soon as I saw Emma, I knew where those little dots were going. They give her a little "beach bling" LOL I also used Stampin Ups corner ticket punch on the 2 sides of the pale pink, but since the sentiment covers one of those corners up~ I added a pearl colored dew drop to the bottom corner, so it would'nt look so empty.
Many thanks for stopping by...

I WON!!!! I WON!!!!

I won this beautiful new release stamp set from Verve Stamps over the weekend!! I am so excited, as their new release had so many great sets this month.
If you havent checked them out, go to Verve Stamps.com. The fonts they use are beautiful and the images are always classy and timeless.
This is a wonderful sympathy set and although its not any cardmakers favorite card to make~ it is necessary at times.The set retails for $24.00.
After I have it in my excited little hands, I will make a card with it and show it off to you. Many thanks for stopping by....