Thank You To My Secret Santa!

Hello to all my dear stamping and blogging friends. Life has been hectic, as usual, and it seems my stamping and blogging has had to be put aside for awhile as I continue to settle into my new position at the bank. I am still loving my job, although I do missing stamping and blogging and working from home. I miss spending time with my sweet little Willow but she is always waiting at the top of the steps for me . . . tail just a wigglin' . . . when I get home from a long day of work.

Now I have to tell you all about this awesome Ten Days of Christmas we have going on at work right now. For the past nine days I have been receiving special surprise "treats" everyday in my office from my Secret Santa. On the tenth day I will receive my gift and Santa's true identity shall finally be revealed. Whoever has my name is certainly spoiling me. I have received a lot of chocolates, cookies, chocolate covered peanuts, Frescas, Caribou gift cards, chap stick, and this Chatterbox designer paper. Hey . . . how did they know I can't resist some great designer paper??? LOL . . . I guess they all know I'm a card maker.

So for this card I decided to make it a thank you card for my awesome Secret Santa. I used the beautiful Chatterbox designer paper and I dug out my SU Delight In Life stamp set because I thought the flowers would match the paper perfectly. I loved the rich chocolate chip and blues and greens in this beautiful paper and tried to coordinate my ribbons to bring out that beautiful brown in the paper.

I also wanted to show you some pictures I took last weekend when my sweet little Willow had a sleepover with her best friend Izzy. Look how cute these two are together. Don't let that cuteness fool you though . . . those little girls were wild!!! They love to play together. I can't believe I could get them to sit still long enough for these pictures. Look at those little cuties!!!

I hope everyone is having a great week and getting excited for Christmas. Thanks for stopping by and I will see you again soon!

Big hugs!!!

~ Pegi

Life Is So Sweet

Hello to all my dear stamping and blogging friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend and that all is well with you and your families as you prepare for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

I am so excited to report that Kristina, Paris, and I had a great Saturday at the Christina Huddleston Elementary School Craft Show. I want to thank everyone who came and bought my cards, journals, picture frames, and altered items. Big thanks go out to Amy, Tami, RuthAnn, Lisa, Sonya, and Kim for coming to visit us. We sure did have a fun day and I can't wait until we can do it again. Craft shows are so much fun.

This is one of the cards I made at my stamping retreat two weeks ago. The image is stamped using my Words We Love set from Technique Tuesday. I love these stamps. The images stamp so nice and clean. The designer paper is new from Cosmo Cricket, and the ribbon and crystals are from Archivers.

And now a couple of pictures of my booth at the craft show. I especially want to thank Paris' husband Brian for making that awesome chicken wire tri-fold frame that held 100 of my handmade cards. I also want to thank my dear sweet friend Paris for tying those cute little ribbons on all 100 of those clothespins . . . and for dragging in all the tables and the table cloths for me to use for my booth. I also want to thank my dear sweet friend Kristina for the beautiful little Department 56 Good Luck Charm she gave me at the craft show . . . it brought me good luck . . . and for hanging all 100 of my cards on that frame. Life is so sweet, and good friends make it all that much sweeter!

Big stamping hugs to everyone!

~ Pegi

I Love These Little Guys!!!

Who can't resist a cute little penguin? These two cute little guys are all ready for winter in their hats and scarves. I made these cards last weekend at my stamping retreat. The funny thing about these two cards . . . no stamping . . . they're rub ons. Who says you can't drive 2 1/2 hours to a stamping retreat and not stamp? Just kidding . . . I got plenty of stamping done too.

The paper, rub on penguins, and rub on sentiments are all from SEI. The ribbon is from Stampin' Up! and Creative Impressions. Those cute little red dots . . . Cloud 9 rain dots. They come in a lot of colors and they even have little snowflakes out right now. They are such a nice alternative to brads because they just stick right on your card.

So the big Christina Huddleston Elementary School Craft Fair in Lakeville, MN is tomorrow. If you live in the area, please stop by and say hello. I will be there with my dearest stamping friends Paris and Kristina and we would love to see you. Paris' husband was so awesome to make me a chicken wire tri fold wooden frame to set on the floor and Paris (bless her heart) made clothespins with ribbons on them to display my cards and frames. I will take lots of pictures of the craft show to show everyone. I can't wait!!! We are going to have so much fun . . . if I get some sleep tonight. I keep looking at my pile of to do things and keep wanting to make more things for the show. I better call it a day on that and try to get to bed so I am refresed for tomorrow. There will always be another craft show.

I hope everyone has fantastic plans for the weekend and I can't wait to share my craft show experience with you.

Big stamping hugs!!!

~ Pegi

To All My True Friends

Hello to all my dear stamping and blogging friends. I hope all is well with you and your families as you begin to prepare for the busy holiday season. Life has been good for me . . . hectic as usual . . . but good. I just went on my first ever stamping retreat last weekend and had such a wonderful, peaceful, productive weekend. My dear friend Paris Otremba from Inky Art organized it and she was the perfect hostess for our fun-filled weekend.

I had so much fun stamping and getting to know all the wonderful ladies that were there. We had so much fun talking, laughing, eating, and sharing funny stories with each other as we stamped well into the early morning hours.

I was on a mission to finish my things for the big craft show this weekend, and am very happy to report that I am just about where I wanted to be with having enough items to take to the show. I will have a lot of cards, small journals, large journals, altered picture frames, and a few altered items at the show. I hope they sell. You just never know with things like this. I will take lots of pictures of our booth and will give you all the report next week.

The card I made in this picture is my first time of using my Stampin' Up! True Friend set. The card base is SU's Old Olive, the designer paper is from Fancy Pants, the ribbon is from Creative Impressions, and I used various punches from SU to create the layered look for the sentement.

Tomorrow night I am going to a high school production of High School Musical and then Saturday we are off to the craft show. On Sunday I will be making 12 invitations for the company holiday party and finishing my ATC's for Taylor's swap. Big weekend with lot's of fun stuff planned.

Thanks again for stopping by and I will post more pictures soon.

~ Pegi

Infuse Gift Set

Hello to all my dear stamping and blogging friends. It has been a very busy week as I continue to settle into my new job, get ready for my stamping retreat this weekend, and prepare for the big craft fair on Saturday, November 17th. If you live near Lakeville, Minnesota . . . please stop by Christina Huddleston Elementary School that day where my dear friends Paris from Inky Art and Kristina from Balance, as well as myself, will be selling our handmade items. We would love to meet you.

I made this gift set for the craft fair using my favorite line of paper . . . Basic Grey. This particular pattern is from the "Infuse" line. The first picture shows the 5 x 7 tin covered in the designer paper and decorated with a band around it using my new Nestabilities from Spellbinder. I was so excited to find out that Nestabilities works in the Quickutz Revolution machine. It doesn't emboss, but it does cut. I finished off the band using the flower from SU's Doodle This stamp set and the stems are from SU's Doodle That stamp set. I used my watercolor crayons to color the stems.

The second picture shows all five cards as well as the tin. I used SU's Close to Cocoa for my card bases, Basic Grey's "Infuse" paper, ribbon from May Arts, swarovski crystals, scallop rectangles from Nestabilities, and a combination of SU's Sassy Stems, Doodle This, Doodle That, and Oh So Lovely stamp sets. The third picture shows the cards a little closer up so you can see the detailing.

I want to thank you all so very much for continuing to read my blog and for all your beautiful compliments, comments, and e mails as I continue to grow and learn and improve my papercrafting and stamping skills.

Thanks again to everyone for stopping by . . . and big stamping hugs to everyone!!!

~ Pegi

Christmas Journals

Over the past few months I have had a lot of fun making little journals for my upcoming craft show on November 17th at Christina Huddleston Elementary School in Lakeville, MN. I have made well over 100 of these little journals, in a variety of different styles, and I only have 40 left. My friends, family, and co-workers have wanted to see what I have been working on and they have all been buying them. I just take the proceeds and go buy more little naked journals at Office Max and make some more. They are really fun to make and I think they make a nice little gift for friends, family, teachers, etc. Last night the ladies at my stamp club were getting a chuckle out of the fact that the naked journals cost $1.29 to start with at Office Max and by the time I put the paper and all the embellishments on them I have well exceeded the $5.00 price I am asking for them. LOL . . . No wonder people are jumping on these for five bucks. Do you think I should up my asking price at the craft show?

Here is one of the journals I designed for my Stamp Club to make at last night's monthly meeting. I used Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding designer paper for the journal and the little decoration on the front is a piece of round Bazill chipboard covered in Figgy Pudding paper and decorated with a die cut from last year's Quickutz "Holiday" set. I recently purchased the set at Archivers on sale for 75% off . . . I paid a whopping $12.48. It came with two Christmas trees, the words Happy Holidays, and an embossing folder of Season's Greetings. What a steal of a deal!!! The photo corners on the journal are also a die cut from Quickutz. I use my Revolution machine and I am happy to report that I have just found out that Nestabilities are compatable with Quickutz machines. I am going out today to buy the square scallops at Anchor Paper Express in Burnsville, MN.

Thank you everyone for stopping by today and I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. I do have a couple of questions for all of you today. So if you get a chance . . . please leave a comment. My questions are . . . "Do any of you sell your handmade items at craft shows?" "What kind of items do you sell?" "What kind of prices should I be putting on my items?"

Thank you for any advice you can give me on the craft show thing and I will talk to you all tomorrow when I will have a very special announcement to make . . . so stay tuned.

Big stamping hugs to all of you!!!!

~ Pegi

Bella Willow's Going To A Craft Show

As if my life isn't busy enough . . . I sign up for a craft show? Originally I signed up just so I could hang out for a nice leisurely day with my dear stamping friend Paris. She is always so busy with her SU business, her children, and all her other activities that I thought it would be a great way for us to have a nice fun day hanging out together. I have been to a couple of craft shows with her over the past year and it was so much fun. Paris let me bring a few of my stamped items and we put them at her table. So this time I decided to get my own table and really do it up. We also invited our dear friend Kristina so she could hang out with us and bring some of her stamped items too.

So . . . for the past month . . . I have been working on small and large journals, cards . . . lots of cards, and lots of altered items. Here are two cards I made this morning for the craft show.

The card base is from Archivers, but I'm sorry I don't know the color off hand. The designer paper and embellishments are from Paper Adventures. The ribbon is from May Arts. The stamped images are Ollie and Olivia from Stampendous and that cute little bear is from SU's Bundle of Joy. I fun flocked Ollie, Olivia, and that sweet little bear. I never seem to have any baby cards or wedding cards in my stash and I thought these might work. What do you think? Can Ollie and Olivia pass for a wedding card?

I hope everyone had a great weekend . . . and you didn't forget to set your clocks back. I will be back again this week with a lot of stuff I made for the craft show.

Big stamping hugs!

~ Pegi

I've Been Tagged . . .

. . . by my dear friend Kristina Lewis. In this game of tag, I am supposed to list what I was doing ten, twenty, and thirty years ago.

Ten Years Ago 1997: It has been exactly ten years ago that I bought my very own car for the first time and got my very first Minnesota driver's license. I always had access to cars, but preferred to walk, ride my bike, or take the bus. I had just moved out of the City though, and was working a lot of crazy retail hours at the Men's Wearhouse, and really needed to start driving. How many people remember when they were younger and they walked, and biked, and took the bus everywhere? Now when I go somewhere I am so short on time, or so dang tired from my hect life that I drive around the parking lot until I find the closest parking spot. How sad is that?

Twenty Years Ago 1987: I remember this year perfectly. I moved from my hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska to Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 2, 1987. The Minnesota Twins had just won the World Series a couple of weeks before and the Twin Cities were still celebrating when I got here. My best friend from college and her family lived here and there were so many more job opportunities than back home, so I came. I remember when I first got here they took me out to Figlio's in Uptown and I had Calamari for the first time in my life. If they had told me it was squid when we ordered it . . . I know I would have never tried it. Thank goodness they didn't tell me and that was just the beginning of so many new and wonderful things in my life.

Thirty Years Ago 1977: OMG . . . what an awesome year!!! I graduated from Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, Nebraska that year. I went to Adventureland in Iowa with three of my high school girlfriends right after graduation and then I moved away from my parents' home and was off to go live and go to school at the University of Nebraska where my major was interior design and fashion merchandising. I met my very best friend in the whole world, Terry, and we are still friends to this day. We listened to a lot of the Bee Gee's that year and I was so in love with their little brother Andy Gibb. I even got to see him in concert that year.

It seems like everyone has already been tagged, so if you haven't been tagged already, you're it!!

Big stamping hugs!

~ Pegi

It's Figgy Pudding Time!!!

It's finally here . . . the long awaited newest Christmas paper from Basic Grey . . . Figgy Pudding!!! My dear friends at the Apple Valley Archivers know how much I just adore Basic Grey . . . and they always manage to call me right away when the latest line comes in so I can get my 6 x 6 pads. I just love those little pads for making cards.

So in honor of Figgy Pudding's release . . . I broke out some Christmas stamps and made this little card. The card base is SU's Chocolate Chip, the designer paper is from a 6 x 6 pad of Figgy pudding, the main stamped image is from SU's Flaky Friends, and the sentement is from Hero Arts. I used SU small brads on the corners, Bo Bunny decorative brads on the cards, SU's 5/8" chocolate chip ribbon layered with Creative Impressions organdy dotted ribbon. I paper pieced my snowmen and colored in the buttons and carrot noses with SU markers. I used glitter on the edges of my snowmen for a little "bling" as my dear friend Taylor would call it.

On another note . . . a lot of my stamping and blogging friends have asked about my new stamping room that I converted from my unused guest room into a fabulous space where I can make all the messes I want . . . and then just close the door on it. I recently added a second table so I can have stamping friends over. I try to keep the room clean in case I have friends over to stamp, but sometimes . . . like tonight . . . it gets a little out of control and takes on a life of it's own.

So without further ado . . . here is my new space . . . before my Figgy Pudding card . . . and after.

I sure did make a mess tonight . . . but had a lot of fun stamping and just hanging out. Anyone wanna come over and help me clean up?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day tomorrow!

~ Pegi

P.S. I got tagged . . . twice . . . by my dear friend Kristina Lewis . . . so I will be back tomorrow and post more about that for you.

Also . . . it appears that this little 'ol blog is fast approaching the 10,000 mark . . . and we all know what that means . . . Blog Candy!!!

Big stamping hugs!!

Life Is Good . . . And Hectic Too!!!

I am feeling like the worst blogger ever right now! Life continues to be good . . . but very hectic!! My new mortgage job is going great and all my marketing attempts are finally starting to pay off. I absolutely love my job . . . don't get me wrong . . . but I sure do miss stamping and blogging and visiting my friends' blogs and just basically working and living and enjoying life at my own pace.

Being self employed for the past three years has definitely had it's advantages. It has allowed me to have a work life and a fun life for the first time in 10 years. You can work from home in your pajamas . . . which is awesome!! You hardly spend any money on gas. Waiting for an important call from a client or an underwriter . . . no problem . . . just go clean out the cat box or do a few dishes or empty the garbages while you're waiting. Sitting there waiting for that 50 page fax to go through . . . hey . . . go into your stamp room and play a little bit. I was the "Queen of Multi-Tasking" . . . and now I'm just the "Day Late And A Dollar Short Girl"!

So . . . as time goes by . . . and I settle into my new life going outside the home to work . . . I continue to learn how to live life the way most people do ~ crazy, busy, hectic, schedules with never enough time to do the things you want. My house isn't so clean anymore, Willow misses me terribly . . . or maybe it's me that misses her . . . or maybe a little of both, and I can never find the time to stamp and blog and just relax like I used to . . . but I have to say . . . Life is good!!!

Now about my card . . . I spent last weekend at my dear friend and SU upline Paris Otremba's house for a stamping slumber party and I got to bring Willow with me. Our dear friend Kristina Lewis was there and we had so much fun. Paris challenged me to an SCS Sketch Challenge and this was the one she chose. It is Sketch Challenge 38. I made this card using Regal Rose as my card base and Fancy Pants designer paper for the card. Life Is Good is a rub on and the brads are SU's Regal Rose. It was a very simple and fun card to make. Sometimes you just have to make a simple card.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Pegi

Basic Grey Christmas Card Class

It's never too early to start making Christmas cards. I think I need to start making Christmas cards year round though so I will have enough of them when Christmas actually gets here. Here's what usually happens . . . I start making my cards in July or August with leftover paper and embellishments from the year before . . . I put them in my stash for safekeeping and wait anxiously for the new paper and embellishments to start coming out in October . . . when the paper finally gets here, I make more cards with the new paper and put those in my stash . . . I've got most of my Christmas cards already made by November 1st and I can focus on my gift shopping . . . then my non-making card friends come over to my house and start going through my cards to see what last-minute birthday, anniversary, new baby, and thank you cards they might buy from me . . . they know I love to sell my cards to them because they gush all over them and tell all their friends that "Pegi made it" . . . and then . . . they spot the stash of Christmas cards and decide that they hate the store-bought Christmas cards they had to get and want to buy a few of mine for a couple of special friends . . . oh and a cousin or two . . . and they forgot about that client . . . and the boss . . . and the neighbor down the street . . . and before you know it . . . my Christmas card stash is gone and I have to scramble at the last minute to make my Christmas cards because I didn't have the heart to say no to my dear friends . . . and . . . well . . . everybody already knows me as the day late and a dollar short girl . . . so why break tradition. And this year is going to be no different. I am still a day late and a dollar short and will probably be scrambling at the last minute to make my Christmas cards . . . it's a tradition.

One very different thing about this year is all the beautiful friends I have met from all over the world through stamping and blogging. I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. So as I continue to scramble to get all of my Christmas cards made, and beat myself up for always being a day late and a dollar short, I will manage to say a little prayer and count my blessings for all the wonderful friends that are always right on time with their friendship, love, and support. Thank you ladies!!!

Oh yeh . . . about the cards . . . I made these three cards for my October card-making classes at Memory Creek. I love teaching classes, but have found it a bit difficult to come up with something that people will be able to make. My biggest challenge is that number one . . . I can't use anything Stampin' Up! . . . and number two . . . Ann doesn't carry any stamps in her store. Okay . . . so how do you teach advanced cardmaking/stamping without any stamps? Easy . . . you either go through your stash of what you may have at home . . . you go to Archivers and purchase what you may want to use . . . or in this particular case . . . you score a really cute Stampendous Christmas Tree stamp at a garage sale for $3.00. The other two stamps I already had at home in my stash.

Have a great night everybody . . . I'm off to get started on my Christmas cards . . . and I will be back again tomorrow with a frame I made for my craft show.

Big stamping hugs!

~ Pegi

All Spruced Up . . . In Basic Grey!

Hello everyone! I can't believe it has been a week since I had the time to sit down and blog . . . ugh!! It has been a crazy busy week. Work has been very hectic as always. I am preparing for a big speech next Friday in front of 200 CRS (Certified Residental Specialist) Real Estate Agents. I have never done any public speaking in my life . . . so if anyone has any pointers . . . it would be much appreciated. We had a very successful Clean Sweep sale at Memory Creek last weekend. It was a lot of fun and my dear sweet friend Kristina Lewis was there to help me and join in on some of the fun. You will have to ask Kristina about her great bargains she found at the sale! I guess I have been having too much fun lately and not taking very good care of myself, because I have been a little under the weather most of the week. Hopefully, I will start feeling better soon because I have a very busy week ahead of me. I am counting down the days until Friday when Paris, Kristina, Chris, and myself leave for our big stamping retreat. I can't wait!!!

I just joined my very first stamp club and I am so excited. That Kristina Lewis is so amazing and I have been having so much fun hanging out with her and her beautiful family and meeting all of her stamping friends. We had our very first meeting on Friday evening at Artsy Tartsy and had a shoebox swap. I had never done that before and it was a blast. Our dear friends Tami Wood and Kathleen Hopperstad were there and I met some new ladies too. Ruth Ann, Wendy, and Darlene. We had so much fun and I can't wait until our next club meeting.

So here is the card that I designed for my next stamp club meeting. I am getting a head start on all my Christmas cards this year . . . especially with the upcoming craft show at Christina Huddelston Elementary School in Lakeville, MN coming up on November 17th. If you live anywhere near the Lakeville area, Paris, Kristina, Niki, and myself will all be there. We got three tables right next to each other and plan on making all kinds of fun stuff to sell.

This card was used with Basic Grey's Fruitcake paper and SU's Fun and Fast Notes stamp set. I used the new 5/8" ribbon from SU and layered it with organdy dotted ribbon from Creative Impressions. I paper pieced my tree and finished it off with Cloud 9 red rain dots. I am in the process of designing some more Christmas cards and will feature them all week.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend, and thank you so much for all your beautiful comments and for the emails I got asking if everything was okay since I had not been here all week. I can't believe it was a whole week with no stamping and no blogging. I have a lot of catching up to do around here.

Big stamping hugs to everyone and I will talk to you all again soon.

~ Pegi

Introducing Lily!!!

I would like you all to meet sweet little Lily. Lily is actually Willow's baby niece (Willow's father is Lily's grandfather). Lily is 16 weeks old and . . . well I don't have to tell you . . . absolutely adorable!!! Lily is staying with us until she can go to her new permanent home. A few people have wanted to take Lily home with them . . . I mean who wouldn't . . . but Lily's breeder has to find the perfect home for this little cutie. For now we are giving her lots of hugs, kisses, and love as I try not to become too attached to her and not want to give her up. My sweet little Willow has taken Lily under her wing and is being the perfect auntie to this sweet little baby. They play together, eat together, and I even just caught them napping together on Willow's bed. It doesn't get any cuter than this!!

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for leaving a comment about your big weekend plans. Sounds like you are all keeping busy and having some fun this weekend too. The cleaning didn't sound like much though. The winners of the card giveaway are Tami Wood, Rita, and Michelle. Ladies, please send me your snail mail addresses and I will get those to you right away.

Thanks again for stopping by and for all your fun comments. I am just finishing up a fun project and I will try to get it posted in the morning.

Big stamping hugs from Pegi, Willow, and baby Lily!

Friday Card Giveaways!!!

Hello everyone!!! Did you think I forgot about our little tradition here at BellaWillow? I know . . . a day late and a dollar short as always . . . so today I have three cards for our Friday Card Giveaway.

I designed these cards for my first month of card making classes at Memory Creek where I am a card instructor. The classes were fun and I met some wonderful women. We had a lot of fun trying out some new stamps, punches, and techniques. I hope they will join me again next month.

My cards were made using Bazill paper for the bases and the designer paper is from Bo Bunny's Shabby Princess line. The stamp set is Just Picked from Technique Tuesday. I am loving these Technique Tuesday stamps. Oops . . . the first card is made using the Hippie Flower stamp from Limited Edition and the sentement is from Amuse. The other two cards are Technique Tuesday and the sentement is from my computer. Hey . . . if you can't find the right stamp . . . wing it!!

If you would like a chance to win one of these cards, please leave a comment on my blog and tell me about your exciting plans for the weekend. I will put all the names in a hat and draw three lucky winners out tomorrow night and announce the winners Sunday morning.

I hope you all have great plans for the weekend and thanks again so much for all your kind words.

Big stamping hugs,

~ Pegi

Bridal Party Bellas Dressed In Stella Ruby

When my very dear sweet title closer Cassie first approached me about making six cards for her bridal attendants, I was flattered . . . but a little apprehensive. All I could think of was wedding . . . white . . . lace . . . fru fru . . . yuck. How could I come up with something for that? She then explained that they were going to be part of the girls' thank you gifts, that her colors were red and pink, that she really liked my style, and to do whatever I wanted. We did agree that it would be nice to somehow incorporate each girls' name or first initial on the card to really make it their own. Okay . . . I could do that.

Bridalpartybella . . . that was my very first thought and so I took her to the Stampingbella website and she loved the stamp and immediately ordered it for me to use. My next big challenge was finding a designer paper that worked well with The Bellas, had red and pink in it, and was true to my funky vintage style. OMG . . . Basic Grey Stella Ruby was perfect and she loved it too!

So now that you know how the planning went, here is the card I came up with. Thirty paper pieced Bellas, each with their own unique dress on, 84 corner punches, 60 Swarovski Crystals, and 12 ribbons just to name a few.

Big hugs go out to my very dear sweet friend Kristina Lewis of Balance for helping me with the initials. She picked out the Quickutz letters from her magic bag of tricks and punched each one out for me. Thank you Kristina!!! I think these letters put the finishing touch on these cards. The funky style lettering goes very nice with the Stella Ruby paper and the Bellas.

And of course my dear sweet little puppy had to get in on the action too. "Look Momma . . . you dropped something!!" Do you remember the story of how Willow sits under my stamping desk and waits for any piece of paper . . . no matter how small . . . to drop from the sky? Well it looks as though she has caught herself a little paper treat. In case you can't see it . . . Willow has a small piece of paper stuck on her mouth. Can any Stampin' Up! fans tell what that is stuck to her sweet little face?

I hope everyone is having a great week . . . I know I am!!! Lot's of fun stuff going on here and I will have to sit down later and tell you all about it. Have a great day everyone . . . and thank you all so much for continuing to read my blog and for all your wonderful comments as I continue to grow in this craft. A very special thank you goes out to Kristina Lewis for all your beautiful compliments. You make me want to try new things as I continue to spread my wings and come out of my shell in this whole crazy stamping/papercrafting world. Big hugs to you and your beautiful family!!

Big stamping hugs to everyone from me and Willow!!

~ Pegi

I've Been Tagged . . . And Then Tagged Again!!!

There is a lot of blog tag going on right now and I'm happy to join right in on this fun game!!!

First of all I was tagged by Taylor and here is how her little game of tag works.

1. YOUR ROCKSTAR NAME (first pet, current car): Mia Jetta . . . okay this game might be kinda fun . . . that sounds like a famous rock star or a rock star's daughter.

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie): Chocolate Chocolate Chip . . . okay that's really gonna impress all my gangsta friends. "Word up . . . Chocolate Chocolate Chip here . . . holla back if you wanna go to Archivers and stamp with me tonight".

3. YOUR FLY "GUY/GIRL" NAME (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name): P-Tay . . . P-Diddy . . . okay that might work.

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Pink Cat . . . okay I guess that works . . . wasn't the Pink Panther a detective?

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Sue Lincoln

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters last name, first 2 letters first name): Taype . . . not a big Star Wars Fan . . . would that be pronounced TAY-PEE or just TAPE? Either way . . . it sounds stupid!

7. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, & add "the"): The Blue Fresca . . . what kind of a crazy superhero is that?

8. YOUR NASCAR NAME (first names of your Grandfathers): Harold Heye . . . okay . . . I think Harry drives a mean race car.

9. YOUR STRIPPER NAME (favorite perfume, favorite candy): Chanel M&M's . . . I better do like Cher, Prince, and Madonna . . . use my first name only!

10. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (Mother's & Father's middle names): Louise Lee


I was then tagged by my dear friend Kristina and here is how her game of tag works.

Four Tidbits

Four Places I have worked:
1) IMS Mortgage Services, Inc.
2) Midwest Lending
3) Men's Wearhouse
4) Sears

Four Places I have lived:
1) Minneaolis, MN
2) Des Moines, IA
3) Columbia, SC
4) Lincoln, NE

Four Places I have been on Vacation:
1) St. Thomas US Virgin Islands
2) St. Maarten
3) Sanibel Island, FL
4) Seattle, WA

Four Favorite Foods
1) CHOCOLATE!!!
2) Pizza
3) Mexican
4) Chineese Buffet

Four Friends I'm tagging that are most likely to respond:
1) Paris Otremba
2) Sheila Oliver
3) Michelle White
4) Tammy McBeain

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and now I am off to go stamp and will hopefully have some fun cards to post.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Pegi

The Blogger Babes Are At It Again!!!

I had another fun evening with one of my very dear friends . . . Kristina Lewis. She came over to my house tonight for dinner and an evening of stamping. Why is it . . . whenever us Blogger Babes get together for stamping . . . we do everything but stamp? Kristina and I had so much fun talking and laughing and playing with Willow and Izzy. They absolutely adored her. I can't wait till we can do it again Kristina!

This card started out to be a sketch challenge over at SCS . . . and it just got a little outta control with all the layers . . . 14 to be exact. It has so many layers it won't even stand up on it's own . . . it keeps tipping over. It sure was fun to make though. I was in the mood for something Fall looking and I don't have any leaves, so I made a Fall looking flower instead.

The card base is SU's Close To Cocoa and the dp is Basic Grey's Aged&Confused Vagabond line. I used SU's 5/8" Chocolate Chip ribbon and added brown organdy ribbon over it. I used some Hodgepodge Hardware from SU and the flower is from the SU Doodle This set. The sentement is from SU's Short & Sweet.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Pegi

The Blogger Babes Enjoy An Evening Of Stamping ! !

The Blogger Babes . . . what kind of a silly name is that you ask? Well that is what we call ourselves . . . Kristina, Kathleen, Michelle, Paris, and myself. Ever since our dear friend Taylor came to town last weekend for Scrapfest at the Mall of America, and got us all together for dinner, we have been e-mailing each other, calling each other on the phone, checking out each other's blogs, and last night we had a stamping evening at Archivers in Apple Valley. Paris couldn't come because she was out of town ((((((((we missed you Paris and we hope you can come to the next Blogger Babes' outing))))))). So Kristina, Kathleen, Michelle, and myself each rolled, carried, carted, and toted half the contents of our stamping rooms over to Archivers and piled our table up high with all kinds of stamp sets, inks, paper, ribbons, embellishments, tools, etc. and settled in for a six hour stamp fest.

Okay . . . so I bet you are all thinking that we sure got a lot of stamping done . . . well I am sorry to disappoint you but there was more laughing, talking, and shopping at Archivers going on than there was stamping. We had most of the inventory from Archivers and Stampin' Up! already on our table . . . but we are all out in the store checking out what we might be missing for our big evening.

Okay . . . so it wasn't all laughing, talking, and shopping for the entire evening. We did manage to get some things done . . . we made a card. Yup . . . thats right . . . we made "a" card . . . "one" card . . . in six hours! LOL. It was probably the most fun card I have ever made though because all four of us designed it together, and shared in the making of it. We had so much fun making that little card and each one of us are going to share it on our blog.

Our Halloween card is made using Bazill "Parakeet" paper for the card base, Daisy D's "Taylor" designer paper ((((((((((((((Taylor did you hear that . . . you were with us in spirit)))))))))). The cute little cat on the broom is from SU's Haunting Halloween stamp set. Michelle reached into one of her many bags and pulled out that cute little sentement. I am not sure where it is from, but it worked perfectly ((((((((((thank you Michelle))))))))). We used two kinds of ribbon from Anchor Paper and layered it. Kathleen showed us how to use the watercolor crayons on our cute little cat. We used a black watercolor crayon and you have to dab it on a piece of paper or a napkin before you bring it to your paper, otherwise it goes on way too dark (((((((((((thank you Kathleen))))))))))).

So that was pretty much our fun filled evening. We did take a little break half way through the night and the Blogger Babes came over to my house (two miles away from Archivers) so they could see my townhouse, my stamping room, and of course my sweet little Willow. Willow was a little shy at first (she hid under the couch and kept peeking out) but the more they come over to visit the more she will warm up to them. She did manage to give Kristina lots of kisses though ((((((Kristina . . . I can't wait for our next stamping fest on Wednesday))))))).

And here is a picture of Willow standing on my stamping bag all ready to go on the next outing of the Blogger Babes.

Have a great week everyone and I will be back to share more creations, stories, and pictures with you.

~ Pegi

Technique Tuesday vs. Stampin' Up!

I have been using mostly Stampin' Up! stamps because I really like the quality, and that's what my friends use, and I'm a demonstrator and I get a great discount. However, recently I was asked to be a card instructor at Memory Creek in Farmington, Minnesota and I can't very well be teaching card classes using my Stampin' Up! stamps. The owner of the store, Ann Manthey, has also asked me to sell some of my cards in her store, and I can't sell any Stampin' Up! images either. So because of these things, I had to search out some alternatives. I came across Technique Tuesday and instantly loved the way they stamped. They are not rubber like SU, and I have just found out that they are not acrylic either. They look like acrylic stamps, but Technique Tuesday claims they are not acrylic, and according to the nice young lady that I spoke with, they aren't giving away their secret sauce recipe. So I have no idea what these wonderful little stamps are made of, but I love them all the same. There are so many stamps out there on the market, and some of them stamp like crap, so it is always nice to find a stamp that works good.

Now don't get me wrong . . . I do not plan on giving up my Stampin' Up! stamps anytime soon, but it is nice to know that we do have choices. And it's nice to know that there are other stamps out there just as nice as our beloved Stampin' Up! So if you find yourself in a situation where you can't use SU products or you just want to try something new, I recommend you give Technique Tuesday a try. I think you will like them.

So for this little card I used my Just Picked set from Technique Tuesday. The card base is Bazill paper and the dp is from Bo Bunny's Shabby Princess line. The ribbon is from SU and the brads are from Karen Foster.

I hope everyone is having a great week, and thank you for stopping by.

Big stamping hugs.

~ Pegi

Funky Shabby Chic Sassy Stems

Everytime I look at this Infuse Paper I think of Funky Shabby Chic. I love the paper . . . I love all the Basic Grey papers. I can't wait for Basic Grey's new Christmas line to arrive next month . . . Figgy Pudding.

I made this card using SU's Chocolate Chip cardstock for my base, I layered Basic Grey's Infuse paper for the rest of the card, and I used SU's Sassy Stems and Warm Words sets for my image and sentement. I stamped them on the Basic Grey dp and instead of coloring in the flower, I paper pieced it. I used SU's Hodgepodge Hardware for the sentement. The brown ribbon is from SU and the pink ribbon is from Archivers.

I hope everyone enjoyed the recap of Scrapfest. We had so much fun and I am so excited to stamp with Kristina, Kathleen, and Michelle at Archivers on Saturday night. We are going to have so much fun. I will post pictures of our stamping night and hopefully a project or two for you all to see.

Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for continuing to read my blog and for all all the wonderful comments you leave.

I thought you might enjoy seeing this picture of my little stamping helper. She sits right here next to my stamp table chewing on her flossie anxiously awaiting any small scrap of paper that might fall off my desk. That's her cue to grab it up real quick, run out of the room, and then run around with it in her mouth for the next 10 minutes taunting me and just daring me to try and get it from her. When she has had enough of the game, she takes her new prize under the couch where Mama can't get to it and stashes it away and then she comes out and waits for the next piece of paper to fall down from the sky and we play that silly game all over again. It's a wonder I get any stamping done at all.

Have a great day everyone!!!

~ Pegi

Welcome To Scrapfest '07!!

For those of you who didn't get to attend this year's Scrapfest . . . the nation's premier scrapbooking and paper-crafting event! . . . let me be your guide for this fantastic three day event that was sponsored by Archivers and held at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota . . . 15 minutes away from my house.

Our first stop on the Scrapfest tour takes us to the Stampendous booth where our dear friend Taylor VanBruggen is hard at work making sure everyone is having fun doing the make and take. The first picture is of Taylor (in the middle) with the two Stampendous girls she came to Minneapolis with. The second picture is of Taylor working at her table and Michelle, Kathleen, and Kristina taking part in the make and take.

Our next stop on the tour is the Daisy D's booth where Paris and I were so lucky to meet designer Kelly Taylor. Kelly came all the way from Utah to host this fabulous card making class using paper that he had designed. We had a wonderful conversation with Kelly and he told us that he had just gotten back from a trip to Boston where he was scouting out fabric for the upcoming 2008 line of paper. He works about a year ahead of time. I can't imagine working a year ahead of time . . . well of course not you say . . . you're the day late and a dollar short girl. We asked him to tell us about what me might see in the future at Archivers and he told us to be watching for the 2008 line of Valentine paper from Daisy D's called Maybe Baby. I love Daisy D's paper and I can't wait to see what wonderful paper Kelly has designed for us. Here is a picture of the card I made at the Daisy D's booth and Kelly was so gracious and autographed it for me.

Our next stop on the Scrapfest tour is the Cosmo Cricket booth. Does Cosmo Cricket remind you of anything? Don't you feel like you have seen it somewhere before? Well if you said yes then you probably know that Cosmo Cricket is the creation of married designers Eric and Julie Comstock. You might have heard of Comstock before. Eric and Julie are the original creators of the Comstock Collection. The Comstock Collection is still being featured by We R Memory Keepers at scrapbook stores all over the country. They have recently decided to go on their own and Cosmo Cricket was born. Same look . . . but a different name . . . and their very own company. Cosmo Cricket you ask . . . how did they come up with that name? Cosmo Cricket is an anagram of Eric Comstock. He typed his name in wordsmith.org and that's what came out.

Look at these beautiful items featured at the Cosmo Cricket booth. I especially love the ornaments and that cute little birdhouse.

Our next stop on the Scrapfest '07 tour is the Westrim/Autumn Leaves booth where we met the sweetest woman, Illiana. It was nearing the end of the day and the lines were still very long at each booth. Paris and I started talking to Illiana about the cute little Rhonna Farrer butterfly stamp they were featuring and that I was going to go up to Archivers after the event was over and try to find it. Illiana informed me that Archivers had already sold out of it but if I came back to her booth in a few minutes she would give me that cute little butterfly stamp to take home with me. How sweet is that!!! So I went back and Illiana gave me the butterfly stamp and the word flourish stamp that she had used all weekend at her booth. She took great care in cleaning them up for me and was concerned that they were a little dirty still. I told her that they had received much love over the last few days and I was honored to be receiving them. Illiana was fabulous and I hope we see her again.

I hope everyone is enjoying their guided tour through Scrapfest '07. Our final stop on the tour today will be some of the display boards featuring some of the wonderful projects that were offered in the workshops. Enjoy!!!

This concludes our Scrapfest '07 guided tour. I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did. Thanks for stopping by today and I hope everyone is having a fantastic week.

~ Pegi