New Toy!

My wonderful hubby surprised me with the best bday gift ever!! He got me a Cuttlebug! *Bouncing up and down!!!* I asked him, "How did you ever know?!!!" and he replied, "Oh I don't know! Must have been the 40 times you mentioned wanting one!" LOL He is too good to me! He didn't get any dies because he wasn't sure how to shop for those, but we are heading to town tomorrow and I am going to peruse the die aisle!! : ) I cannot wait to play with it!! If anyone has any comments or suggestions for using it...please share! :)

It begins! : )

Please forgive my lack of a fun picture post today! Our soccer season has begun and it keeps us quite busy! My oldest son is coaching a U6 team and reffing, my hubby is coaching the team that my two middle kids are on and I am coaching the U10 team that my youngest is on! Besides that we run the show! Lining up refs, buying, organizing and selling concessions (my two middle kids do the bulk of the selling!), lining fields, field maintenance, game scheduling and attendance at all of the games. Doing all of this and still holding our own practices becomes pretty challenging! My U10 team had their first game today and I am so very excited to say they won! Yay!! Go Dragons!! :) 4-0. The other team had several more players than we did and we barely had enough to field 8, but my little guys held their own and played beautifully! What a fun day! 6 games down 90 to go!

I am going to try to stamp later, but in case I do not make it back today...have a great day!

AnnMarie : )

The beginning's of an altered paper bag album!

Several weeks ago I attended a scrap booking convention and saw some altered paper bag albums. I really liked them, but haven't had the time to make one yet! It is, however, #3,467 on my current to do list! While browsing some of the many wonderful blogs out there I stumbled upon some really beautiful altered paper bag albums on Stampin' D'Amour's blog. (I am sorry I have not learned to link yet...that is #3,466 on my list!!) ((Pamela, if you happen to read this please let me now if it is ok to add you to my blog roll!)) : ) Anyhow, her albums are gorgeous! I thought I would attempt to start one of my own! So far...I have just this one page! : ) The cover! I used three brown paper bags and some miscellaneous ribbon scraps to tie it together. I used Old Olive and Very Vanilla card stock. I used the Fabulous Flowers Stampin' Up! stamp set and Old Olive and Pink Passion ink. I embossed the flowers and used pop dots to layer for a 3d look. I put a Fire Ice Brad in the center and added some flower embellishments for some sparkle! I haven't decided yet what I am going to use this for but am looking forward to working on the insides! I will post more as I work on it!

AnnMarie : )

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday and I must be the luckiest girl ever! I have had a ton of really wonderful happy bday wishes wished upon me today! We had a homeschool meeting this morning (I co run our group with two really good friends of mine!) and I showed up to a bunch of hugs and wonderful birthday surprises! A very dear friend called and sang me bday wishes in two different languages (Thank you, Mario!) and my sweet hubby showed up and surprised me to wish me a happy day! : ) My very special kids made me signs and brought me yummy stuff and my youngest had everyone secretly sign a humongeous banner for me! I took a picture of a couple of my goodies! Anyone noticing a trend?! ((I seem to have a little chocolate addiction that the people who love me dearly are nice enough to feed!)) :) My mom and dad sent me money to buy some new...you guessed it stamps(!!) and my sweet grandma sent me money. I am such a lucky girl! : )

P.S. The diet starts next week!

P.P.S. In case you were wondering...today I am 20+17! : )

AnnMarie : )

I've been tagged! : )

I have been tagged by Princess Matilda (Hiya Michelle!)!

Ok! Here goes!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Pixie Sienna

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Rocky Road Chocolate Chip

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) Abry

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Pink Cow

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) None Denver

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Bry An

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Green Dr. Pepper

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Herbert Vincent

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Japanese Blossom Dove

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Jean Vincent

Giggles!! That was too much fun!

I tag: Cory, Mario, Kelly, Cindy and Holly

Fall card for Grandma!

My grandma is having kind of a rough time right now and has been on my mind a lot lately. I was thinking of her this morning when I made this card.

I used the With Gratitude stamp set from Stampin' Up! It has become one of my very favorite sets! I was drawn back to the colors that I used for my Holiday Card Swap. I used Old Olive, Really Rust, So Saffron and Very Vanilla. I stressed the edges with a fun tool that I bought at a scrapbook convention back in August! I antiqued the edges of my rectangles with a charcoal cat's eye stamp pad and used Old Olive for the rest of the stamped images. I used bright gold brads and ribbon that matches the old olive to a tee! I embossed the large maple leaf and used a pop dot to lift it off the page. I loved the way the gold and red melted together!

I wound up making a second card like this for my mom and a third for my new pen pal! So if you guys are reading this...close your eyes!! :)

Happy Monday everyone!

AnnMarie : )

Old bag, new bag!

I feel like I have abandoned my poor new blog! I have been having computer issues and my wonderful hubby has been kind enough to transfer the brains of my laptop to a loaner for me! I am very slooooow to adapt to change and have been fighting the transfer tooth and nail!! I finally caved when my poor laptop started playing taps! I am using new picture software that I am trying to get the hang of, so please bear with me!

Ok, just a quickie project to share! I needed a gift bag, but was fresh out of anything generic! So, I did what any stamper would do in a moment of crisis! I took out an old Bath & Body (LOVE them!!) gift bag and altered it! I used Blue Bayou and Very Vanilla card stock. Stamp sets were Baroque and Doodle This from Stampin' Up. I used Navy, White, Pink Passion and Old Olive ink pads and blended all of the color with a blender pen. I curled the large flowers to make them look more 3D and topped them all of with purple and green Stickles. I used jumbo flower brads in the center of the big flowers! My recipient went ga ga over the bag! In fact, she seemed more excited about the bag than the contents! Next time she just gets the bag! Big, toothy grin! :)

Have a great day everyone!

AnnMarie : )

Holiday Card Swap!

Here are all of the cards for my upcoming Holiday Card Swap! Making these made me want to put on a sweater and have a big ole' slice of whipped cream topped pumpkin pie! : ) Yummmy! Hurry Fall!

Holiday Swap Card!

I am participating in a holiday card (front) swap. You could choose any upcoming holiday. I chose Thanksgiving because Fall is trying to make an appearance here and that was the mood I was in! I LOVE Fall! We live in the Blue Ridge Mountains very close to the parkway and the world becomes an amazing beautiful place this time of the year!
I used Handsome Hunter, Old Olive, Really Rust, So Saffron and Very Vanilla card stock. The stamp set is With Gratitude from Stampin' Up! I paper pierced the corners of the so saffron and Really Rust. I made faux pierced white marks around the scalloped edges and raised it with a pop dot. I was pleased with the simplicity of this card! Did I mention...I LOVE Fall! : ) Here is a close up of the card.

Birthday Party Gifts!

My nieces both have birthdays in August and usually ask for duplicate gifts to avoid any arguments! I made each of them an altered letter and a mix and match flip card! I also filled tuperwares with art supplies which should keep them both busy for a while! I made each of them a name plate with a pinwheel to go on the outside of each of their boxes. I didn't get a picture of the boxes, but they came out real cute! Here are their letters and cards!

Flowers for my Mom and Grandma!

I had so much fun making the pinwheel flowers for my scrapbook page I thought I would make a couple more! I made these cards for my Mom and my Grandma. I used paper from American Traditional Designs to make the flowers and as the background. I used the small tag punch from Stampin' Up! to make the petals of the flowers and the leaves and then used jumbo brads as the center of each flower.

My sweet flower garden!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my youngest child! We were on a trip to Canada (driving from Virginia!) and she was mesmerized by the world passing by! She has the sweetest smile and it melts my heart to look at this picture!

I used paper from The American Traditions Company. I used the small and large tag punch from Stampin' Up! to make all of the flowers! I punched them, folded them and then glued them all down to a spiral punch (also from Stampin' Up!). I used jumbo brads to add a center to each flower. They were so much fun to make!