Ahhh, Summer!

Warning - the first half of this post is not stamping-related, so scroll down if you only want the stamped goods!

Here's what I picked up at the Farmer's Market on Sunday: fresh mozzarella, fresh bread, tomatoes, green beans, garlic, carrots (with the greens still attached), green peppers and potatoes. YUM! The garlic is so potent, I made a batch of hummus using only one clove, and you'd better have mints handy after eating it :)

Before work today, I picked a couple of big zucchini from the garden. We have one tomato that is about to turn red, and something is eating my eggplant!! Seriously, one plant is half gone and another had an eggplant that *would* have been ready now, but some critter had dinner with it before I could! UGH...For dinner tonight I had a sandwich with hummus and cucumbers and lettuce on the bread I purchased Sunday. I could eat like that every night, but only do when DH is out of town. I feel like I have to serve him some meat each night, or I'm failing in my wifely duties.

Now on to the stamping - I participated in the Divine Secret Siblings swap on SCS this past round. It has been tons of fun spoiling my "little Sis" each month with treats. This month, it is reveal time. I made a little package for her and included this criss-cross box filled with Tootsie Rolls and this Post-It Holder. The pad inside is a "B" for her name and I made a buckle closure for the pad holder. I only used a few sheets of Elegant Eggplant CS and some scraps of dp, and white cs. The stamps are Verve, Filigree Fantasy. I added some bling and sparkle with my white gel pen and Gelly Roll Stardust pen, and also a crystal brad in the centers of each main image. I hope she likes them!

OK, off to bed now. I'm exhausted after working today and yesterday. Why is it so hard to come back from vacation??

Thanks for looking!

My First ATC Swap

The sisters in my SBS12 group held an ATC swap, and I decided to jump in because I have never created one of these little treasures. Truth be told, I was a little intimidated by their mini size, but oh, it was fun to make them. Here are the group's creations:

Clockwise from upper left corner: Dawn, Rachel (USA), Rachel (UK), Me, Elisabeth. Aren't they gorgeous???

This is a closeup of Rachel's card that is a tri-fold. I love the details she put into the edges, sponging the embossing.

For mine, I used Bohemia paper, Verve stamps and some ribbon I had in my stash that I found worked perfectly with the paper.

I'll be back with more this week. It was a long day at work, but DH is heading out of town tomorrow, and that means evenings are free after DS goes to bed! Thanks for looking!

Great Blog Candy Alert

Silvia has some great candy to enter for HERE

Please tell her I sent you and post on your own blog for extra entries!!

Thanks for looking!

Back to Reality...

We got back from vacation late last night, and we spent the day getting unpacked and putting the house back in order. Sadly, tomorrow brings a return to work. Hopefully in the evening I will have more stamp time than I did today. But here are some pics from our week. We went to the beach one day and had a blast, other days were spent lazing at my aunt's pool and relaxing at my mom's. Of course, we dragged DS shopping much to his chagrin. Saturday I worked a vendor/craft fair with my mom as a fundraiser for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. DS was very excited to see DH's new toy when we arrived home. Here he is ready to go for a ride:

It was a good week - it's always hard to return to the reality of day-to-day life...

Thanks for looking!

In Case You Were Wondering...

I'm still around. I'm staying at my parents' house in NH for a week, relaxing and catching up with them. My cousin graduated from college and we had a party for her this past Saturday. Since I didn't want to miss it, and I am doing a craft show for my Avon Walk this coming Saturday, I decided to just spend the week up here. It's so peaceful and green! We are hoping the clouds clear up today so we can head to the beach. DS is getting to spend lots of time with his cousins and is having a blast.

Hopefully I'll have time to create something later - you should see the box of supplies I packed up with me! However, evenings are often spent playing Scrabble (there's fierce competition in my family where that game is involved) so I can't promise when or what.

I hope you are all doing well and please don't go away while I'm taking this break!! Thanks for looking :)

Birthday RAKS (And My First Slide Show)...

Here are some gorgeous cards I got from around the world for my birthday!! Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to send one :)

Back From Vacation, Checking In...

Well, we are back from a very relaxing, completely unplugged vacation! It was great, and the campground was very nice and clean. Our cabin was cozy and across the road from the sandy lake beach. Perfect!! We sat on the porch in the evenings and listened to the quiet and watched the lake. During the day, the cousins all played together and we even took a hike on Sunday. Here is the view from the top (Lake Winnipesaukee is in the distance).

While I was away, I received some birthday cards from the Send a Birthday Card organized by Karin. They are from stampers overseas and are just gorgeous! The first is from Gonny and has a cute Minnie Mouse embossed image on the front. Next is from Canne in Scotland, and has a pretty swiss dots embossed panel and great swirly butterfly image. The third is from Ria in the Netherlands and features the MOST beautiful stitching I have ever seen. I hope the close-up image can show you the detail. The flowers are all popped up and it has a great 3-d effect. Thanks for the birthday wishes, Ladies!!

I'm getting some things ready for a vendor faire on July 19th. I'm doing it with my mom and am selling some items to raise funds for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer that I will be doing in October in NYC. Wish me luck! I hope I do well, and once I have stuff prepared for that, I will be back to stamping. My SIL gave me the A Little Bit of Happiness set as a gift and I'm itching to trim and ink it up!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July, everyone! I'll be back over the weekend with more photos and creations :) Thanks for looking!