Fun Stamps

I have found some stamps by the company Rubbernecker and they are sooooo much fun.  I had a great time pulling this card together.  You can find these stamps here: http://www.rubbernecker.com/

For this card I used "Ethel Swimsuit" (Really Mom, that's what it is called.  Too funny).  She cost $4.95 and the saying is also from the same company.  Love them!!
The paper is of course, Stampin' Up.

Just Love It!!!!

Have a Great Day!





I Sewed!!!

OK, You know, Sewing is taboo to me.  I've tried it in the past with NO success.  I look at the sewing machine and in my mind it not only looks back, but it seems to grow and loom over me with a crazy, mocking grin. 

OK, so you've got the picture.  Me, Sewing Machine, not friends.  Anyway, one day I was shopping at "Big Lots" and they had this "mini" sewing machine by singer, The Pixie.  Now the box said it was perfect for crafting and people 14 and over.  Ok, whatever, right.  I thought ok, I'm crafty and I'm over 14 years of age (barely, haha!) so surely I can use it too.  Well, to be honest the "monster" sat in my closet for at least a month before I brought it out.  I spent one day looking at it and reading the directions.  Then I looked at it some more.  Well, it took me two days to try it.  I know Mom, what's the big deal, right? Mom always sewed and sewed well, but I did not inherit that trait. 

OK, back to the monster.  Well I won't keep going on about it, I'll show you it now.


Stop laughing at me.  This thing is a monster to me.  It took several references
to the manual and a few re threadings of the needle, but I think I finally got it.
YEAH!!! me

You're probably wondering, What did she sew?  Well here it is.

I know it doesn't look great, but I am very proud of it because

I sewed.  This goes on a card.  I know that the stiches aren't

exactly right, but it's a "rustic" card, so it looks ok.

I made this card for the Sea to Sea Stampers card swap this month.  They haven't even received it yet, but I'm so excited about the sewing part I'm going to share it with you  a little early.

Wait for it....................................... (Amme, that's for you)



I hope you like it.  It is suppose to have that vintage, rustic type look.

I used Stampin' Up's new stamp set "Welcome Christmas".  I love this set.  I won't tell you how long it took me to make 10 of these baby's, but they are now on their way to my fellow swappers and that's all that matters.  I just hope they like them.

Kyle's Birthday Party

Well we had Kyle's birthday party this past weekend.  It's aways an interesting adventure.  I'm sure everyone had a really good time.  At first, Kyle felt ripped off because we didn't have as many people over as we usually do.  Usually, we combine his birthday with an end of summer Labor Day party.  This year we didn't do that, but he did get to have a sleep over.  He had three boys spend the night.  Yhep, three boys.  I had a total of 5 boys in the house overnight.  They're good boys, no worries there, but Sunday morning we woke up to rain, rain, rain.  I'm not really complaining about the rain, because Lord knows we needed it, but being stuck in the house all morning with five very active boys is a whole different story.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the opening of gifts.  I can't believe I didn't take more photos.  What's happening to me??? There was an event and my camera was not hanging from my neck........Life is busy!

Getting started! (Josh (Michelle's son) came later)



Cards with money is a favorite with Kyle :-)



Happy Birthday Bud!

This is a little blurry, but you can see he was enjoying himself.  He was
patiently waiting for a piece of cake.  His request for this year was
homemade ice-cream cake....Yummy!

Enjoy your day!

Bow and Arrow Time

Ok, so we spent some time practicing with the bow and arrow in the back yard, and it actually went very well.  The boys both showed a lot of responsiblity on handling the bow and arrow.  I was very proud of them both.  I even gave it a try, but I'll spare you the fright of looking at that picture.  So without and any further ado here are my two little men and the bow and arrow.

Kyle all decked out in his camo getting ready to go out and practice

shooting his bow and arrow.

Look at the concentration on his face.  He
was so ready to let go of that arrow.

My boys are growing up way too fast.

Big Brother, Kurt, trying to show Little Man, Kyle how it is one.

Kurt is really concentrating too.  I'm only afraid that he is going
to bite his lip off if he concentrates to much harder.

Whirl Wind

My eight year old baby!  Opeining the first present for his Birthday!

Wow!  The last couple of days have been a whirl wind of activity.  Kyle's birthday was Wednesday, September 8th.  I can't believe my baby is 8 years old already.  Time really does fly.

The first look of surprise!!

Kyle was so excited about getting his bow and arrow.  I
was and still am nervous about it, but he loves it.

Kyle's Birthday

My yongest  son's birthday is this coming week, so I spent some time today making his birthday card.  He loves 4-wheeling, so I thought I'd just stick with that.  The shinny background is aluminum foil cut with the Big Shot Top Note die.  I love how it turned out.  The stamp set I used today is "Off Road" by Close to My Heart. I also used CTMH's Extreme Caps (for Kyle's name) and the Birthday set for the Happy Birthday.  The card is colored with copic markers and CTMH ink.  I think he'll like it.  Now if I could just figure out what to get him as a present........

Peach Pie

I don't know about the rest of you, but my family's favorite dessert in the summer is peach pie.  We buy our peaches locally and my husband, Kevin, came home with a load of them last night and said "this is about the last of the peaches, can you please make us pies?".  So of course I complied.

Peel and slice up about 6 cups of fresh peaches.

Add 2/3C Sugar, 1/3C all purpose flour, 1/4tsp ground cinnamon,
 1/2tsp of lemon juice (plus an extra little squirt).  Then mix up gently.

Turn the peach mixture into a pie crust.
 (This is when my youngest son, Kyle, and I like to steal
 a couple peache slices to eat).

Add your top crust and pinch edges together.  Using about 1Tbsp of butter apply
 small pieces of butter all over the top of the pie and cut your slits. 
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 45 minutes, covering edges of pie.

Whalaa!  All done.  Enjoy!!

Getting Started

Hello Stampers, Crafters, Family and Friends,

This is my first “blog” and I am hoping that someone finds it useful or at least entertaining..

My boys had a friend over last night and all day today. I love when their friends come over and feel very comfortable in our home. The only problem is, they never want to go home. LOL. Not that this is a bad thing, but I have to say when the boys are so involved in playing with their friends, I almost feel lost and lonely. Ah, the empty nest thing will be hard for me and my husband, but fortunately for us our boys are young and we are safe for a few more years.

Anyway, I will be posting some of my work (cards and scrap book pages). I am going to try and do that often as well as update you on our life here in Southern Maryland, our little piece of Gods Country.



For starters, this 8 foot 300 lb + Bull Shark was caught in our local waters, the Potomac River. The creatures are not suppose to be here in our small town tributary’s. There are lots of waterman here in Southern Maryland and this brut was caught in Mr. Deans pound net. What a surprise. Because this was such an unusual occurrence we received a lot of attention from the news media and of course, I think every local resident went down to get his or her picture taken with the star of the week, including my own family.

My son Kurt with the Bull Shark caught in our local waters.

Full length shot of this brut... (picture by Wanda Trossbach)

Can you imagine having this stare you in the face??  EEKK
(picture by Wanda Trossbach)

Mr. Willie Dean (right), David Ridgell (left) and Mate were lucky?? enough to catch this SURPRISE in Mr Dean's pound net (picture by Wanda Trossbach)

Ok onto the fun stuff. Here is a card I made for the Sea to Sea Stamper swap. I love doing this swap. The ladies are so talented.

This card was made using Stampin’ Up products. The colors are; so saffron, old olive, crumb and (my new favorite) cajun craze. The stamps used are; Lovely as a Tree, Little Tags and Punch Pals. It’s hard to see in this picture but the so saffron is stamped with small snowflakes using so saffron ink for the tone on tone look.  The tree is embossed with clear embossing powder and sprinkled with diamond dust.

I’m going to add a couple more samples of my work that was done for previous swaps. I hope you like them.

This card was also done for a Sea to Sea swap. The stamp set is Stampin' Ups, King of the Grill and it was used as an invitation for a Fourth of July cookout.

Stampin' Up stamp set Elements of Style.  I love this stamp set for it's versatility.

This card was cased from the Stampin' Up, Summer Mini.