INCREDIBLE HAPPY MAIL DAY! (warning: VERY LONG POST)

Yesterday I received the absolute most incredible happy mail ever!
A little background info is probably needed for everyone to understand: for several months on SCS I have been hosting a friendship appreciation thread. We are currently in round 3. It is somewhat of a secret sister concept except that people nominate friends that they would like to send a little happy mail to. The response has been tremendous (I think round 2 had something like 150 nominees). What I do is keep track of the nominees/nominators, send quetionaires to nominees that I send back to the nominators, keep track of postal and received packages. It is a lot of fun to see all the love shared and all of the wonderful friendships that people have made through SCS. This round I received a message from Renee (happystamper05 on SCS) that I was being nominated by someone her or maybe not her. I was totally floored. A week or so ago I received $25 gift certificates to Gina K and PTI from my secret friend "Renee or maybe not Renee". I was totally overwhelmed by the generosity of my secret friend/s. I used the Gina K gc to order Kindred Spirits Sentiments and Kindred Spirit Naomi. The PTI didn't last long either...I got TONS of fun goodies from them...ink, paper, ribbon...
After all of that, yesterday I received a HUGE box in the mail with a return address of Secret Friend (Renee or maybe not Renee). This was TOTALLY unexpected. The gc's were already INCREDIBLY generous. I opened the box and literally broke out into tears. It was full of WONDERFUL goodies! TONS of stuff! I still get choked up trying to write about this. Whomever you are you have totally made my day, week, month, etc.
The friendships I have made on SCS are so precious to me. I've gotten to know so many of you over the past several months/rounds and it is so fun to keep the friendship apprec thread going. When I first started this I wasn't sure if it would catch on or not, but after seeing the hostess appreciation thread I immediately wanted to start a friendship one. I know a lot of you don't know me really well, but I have to share this with you...before I "found" SCS I was a VERY lonely stay at home mom. I had quit my job as a scientist about a year before finding this site. I didn't really know any other stay at home moms and I felt isolated and completely depressed. After finding SCS and joining and hosting a few swaps I quickly found a few ladies (You know who you are) that I can honestly say are now my absolute best friends in the entire world. They have helped me through my hardest times and my happiest. I feel like I am so incredibly blessed to have found a family of such loving, caring, generous souls. As I've hosted this thread I've met some new and wonderful groups of ladies...PSF's, the dorks, and others. It has been awesome to see the love these ladies have for each other. The PM's I get are always so great...I have lots of people tell me that they wish they could send to more people. The love that goes into so many of these packages is so evident. The personalized items have so much meaning. I have absolutely loved doing this. I keep reading over this post and it honestly just doesn't come close to conveying the thanks and love I have for whomever (Renee or maybe not Renee) for brightening my day with this tremendous gift! You (all of you) are INCREDIBLE and I love you all dearly!

I found this poem that I felt very fitting to share:

My husband has finally gone to work
My children have finished their play
they've gone to bed their stories read
Now it's my time of day.

I've had one of those days
you know what I mean
so I sit back and relax
and turn on my screen.

I'll talk to all my friends
who know just what to say
to make my stresses go
and my troubles fade away.

My friends you're always there for me
whenever I feel blue
and though we've never met before
I know our friendships true.

And although we haven't been friends for long
in this short time it seems
we shared so many things already
our hopes, our fears, our dreams.

We come from different walks of life
but we share a common bond
and it's time to say that of all of you
I've grown so very fond.

So thank you friends for being there
whenever I've needed you
I know you're always there for me
and you know I'm there for you.






Here are some pictures of all of the wonderful goodies that I received. The envelope says Do NOT open until 5/2 (which is our reveal date for this round). Thank Goodness they didn't send the package any earlier as I am not very good at waiting! I'm being good this time though!
After opening the box it was almost as someone had been stalking me. A lot of the stuff was stuff that I have wanted so bad lately. The DCWV dp pack is something that I wanted SO bad but I'm currently on a spending freeze. I've put that pack in my cart at Joann's probably 20 times just so I can cart it around the store for awhile and then put it back. I LOVE it!!
I am still just completely overwhlemed. There is just so much stuff here!
Here is some Martha Stewart ribbon, some Art Institue glitter (my FAVORITE!), an adorable bella, some bing (also my FAV!)












I got TONS of glitter. If you follow my blog you know that glitter is my staple product. I pretty much make NOTHING without it. There is more Art Institute glitter (Once again my FAVORITE glitter evah!), some Martha Stewart glitter (I also love this stuff too!) and some totally cool chunky glitter. I absolutely can't wait to open these babies up!






I also got some stamped Elyzabells images. They are totally adorable. Along with those came this adorable tin filled with TONS of colored baubles. I LOVE these things!!!
















I also got TONS of embellishments. The BoBunny brads are some of my FAVS to. I can't believe how much stuff was in that package. There were these adorable Elyzabells stamps, Primas, more bling (you can NEVER have too much glitter or bling!). and OMG, these metal flower brads...I have wanted them SOOOOOOO bad. Every time I go to Michael's I look at them. They are totally gorgeous. Seriously, someone had to have been stalking me.
I also got this fantastic Stamper's Survival Kit. This is the first time I have seen this and it is totally adorable!
Also in the package was this awesome Camping themed frame. TOTALLY adorable!!! I love it!

I can't believe I'm still

typing. I got this FANTASTIC magnetic frame. I LOVE it! It is so special and I can't wait to put a picture of my kids on there. When I find out who you (or you all) are I'd love to know where I can get some of these frames! It is AWESOME! I got a bunch of scrapbooking embellishment packages. I love it all. LOVE all of the camping themed stuff. I have TONS of camping pictures that I need to scrap! Love it!!
I got another bella stamp, a vellum quote pack, and absolutely adorable clear camping set (LOVE THIS!) and last but DEFINITELY not least, a very generous gc for All That Scraps.

Whomever you are....YOU (you all) ARE AWESOME. I truly could never convey in words how much this means to me. Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!

It's Friday night, you know what that means...

a trip to the urgent care. This totally SUCKS! Honest to God if you have been with me since I first started this blog you know that this isn't our first Friday night visit to the urgent care. Annabelle was totally fine all day long and then at 6:30, totally out of the blue, her ear hurts. Thank Goodness there is a tornado watch, everyone must be scared and at home because for the first time ever the urgent care was almost empty. This was a total bonus because it was my turn to take her. Last time Tom took her it was over 3 hours. Not tonight. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. So 30 minutes and $50 later Annabelle has yet another ear infection. This is our 3rd month in a row. It breaks my heart when we go through this because she is in such awful pain. We are going to get an appointment set up with the allergy/asthma people to see if we can get to the root of the problem. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We have to wait until Monday to schedule an appointment but I'm guessing that they probably won't get us in until June or July but I guess we'll see. She seems to be resting on the couch now that she has some ibuprofen and antibiotics in her system. I hope you are all having a much better evening!

Monthly Swap Card

Hope everyone is having a terrific Friday. It is gloomy and stormy here. I just had to run something out to the mailbox and got completely soaked during the 10 seconds it took me to get there and back. A great day to stay in and stamp!

For over a year I participated in a monthly swap with a fantastic group of ladies. This past November I had to drop out due to several reasons but I still keep in touch with our tight little group. They asked if I would be interested in joining in for a month sorta as a "guest stamper" and I was thrilled to take a spot in May. I've known about this for over 3 months and now that they are due in less than a week, I finally got around to making them. The May theme was "use patterned paper". This was easy for me since it seems like I use patterned paper on every card I make nowadays. I chose the dp first and of coarse went straight to my handy dandy SAMS club pack. I love the flower pattern on this orange paper so it was an easy choice (especially since I had some orange Primas that matched perfectly). I used my old SU color coach to pick the coordinating colors (Barely Banana and Ballet Blue). The stamp I used is a wood mounted stamp that I bought at Hobby Lobby and then remounted in on EZ mount. Because of this I have no idea who the manufacturer is (sorry about that). I also used SU Linen and French Script. The pearls are from the $1 spot at Target.
I got tons of Happy Mail this week so tomorrow I will be highlighting several great stampers who showed me some love! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Blog Candy Winner....Lucky #6

I used random.org to choose a winner:

Here are your random numbers:

6

Timestamp: 2008-04-25 12:08:13 UTC

When I checked to see who left the 6th comment I actually had to laugh out loud:

mwebb said...

My favorites are Always, Sleepless in Seattle, My Best Friend's Wedding, and my number 1 is The Sweetest Thing. OMG, it is so funny, Bob even enjoys it!!!

I love those penguins btw, if I dont win, will you PLEASE let me know where to buy them? XOXOXO

April 20, 2008 10:23 PM

Congratulations Mary!!!

Here is the HUGE list of chick flicks that you all recommended:

A Walk in the Clouds (I own this one - LOVE it!!!)
Bridget Jones (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Catch Me if You Can (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
City of Angels (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Enchanted (I own this one - Great movie!)
Enchanted April (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Even Almighty (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Failure to Launch (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Freedom Writers (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Ghost (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Good Luck Chuck (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
In Her Shoes (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Just Like Heaven (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Legally Blonde (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Love Actually (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Miss Congeniality (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Mona Lisa Smile (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Must Love Dogs (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
My Best Friend’s Wedding (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
My Big Fat Greet Wedding (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
National Treasure (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
One Night With the King (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
Patch Adams (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Pretty Woman (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Sabrina (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Sleepless in Seattle (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Sweet Home Alabama (I own this one - LOVE it!!!)
That Thing You Do (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Breakfast Club (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
The Devil Wears Prada (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Guardian (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Lakehouse (seen it and LOVE it and will definitely be adding it to the queue to watch again)
The Notebook (I just rented this one a few weeks ago - OMG, I've never cried so card at a movie...EVER)
The Reading Room (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Ron Clark Story (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Sweetest Thing (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Wedding Date (Haven't seen this one - definitely going to check it out!)
The Wedding Singer (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
Under the Tuscan Sun (seen it but definitely adding it to the queue to watch again)
You’ve Got Mail (I own this one - LOVE it!!!)


Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions! I hope you all have a fantastic Friday! If you are blog surfing later today I will be posting a card that I made last night. Thanks again for stopping by!

Another sheet-load!

The sheet load template is so easy to use and you can use as little or as much of the template layout as you want. This time I totally cased my sheet load cards from Kisa. A few nights ago Annabelle wanted to watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban so I thought I would take advantage of the time and color some images. I colored 24 of these cute monkeys from CC Designs while we watched (I always try and multi-task when I'm watching TV). Kisa made some sheet-load cards with this stamp a week or so ago and they were SO cute I had to case them (BTW, her's are WAY cuter than mine). The cardstock I used is a mix of SU and non-SU and the DP is from that huge SAMS club pack. If you have a SAMS membership and they have these packs I highly recommend them. I think you get like 200 sheets (or something like that) of DP for $20 and it is thick sturdy stuff. I LOVE it! As usual I had to add a little glitter. I just wouldn't feel done without adding it. The ribbon used is from a variety of manufacterers.

We had a great time at the zoo today but now it looks like the rain is coming in fast! I'm so glad we had a nice morning though because I had promised the kids all week we would go to the zoo today (and these kids don't forget a single thing!).
I'm super run down from this cold but I really want to work on a sb page today so hopefully I have something to share tomorrow. I hope you are all having a terrific Thursday! Thanks for stopping by!

Not again!

Blogger is NOT cooperating again today. It won't let me upload anything. I will try again later today after we get back from an outing to the Madison zoo. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

It's Crazy Hair Day!

Today is crazy hair day at Annabelle's preschool. As you can probably guess from pictures that I have posted in the past, she has naturally crazy hair so we had to do something to make it even crazier....thank Goodness for the "Streak and Style". If you don't know what a streak and style is....it is a funky little contraption that uses sponges and colored gel to dye your childs hair different colors. By now, I'm sure you are wondering why anyone would have such a item. The answer to that is aunt April buys anything that mom won't. Annabelle wanted this for Christmas and I couldn't find it and/or wouldn't buy it. Luckily for Annabelle, aunt April did find it and buy it. My child is a totally punker already at age 4. She loves having pink highlights. You can't tell from the picture but her entire hair is covered in blue and pink streaks. Beckett wanted crazy hair too so I gave him a cute little blue mohawk.
Unfortunately I am still battling this darn cold, so I haven't felt like doing much of anything the past few days. Because of this I don't have any cards or sb pages to share but hopefully I will find some time and energy to do something tonight or tomorrow.
I hope you are all having a terrific day!

New Blog Banner!

Hope you are all having a terrific start to your week. So what do you think of my new blog header? It was made by my dear friend Kisa. As you all know I currently lack photo editing software so I sent this picture to Kisa last night and within, I think, an hour she sent me back this awesome banner that she made for me. I LOVE it! It makes me smile every time I see it! I warned her that I would probably be sending her a new photo every couple weeks :)
Now as for a card to share with you today...this is another wishRAK image (I think it is Whipper Snapper). I colored it with gamsol and Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment is from my trusty 7 Gypsies stampers again, boy do I love those things. I also used some of the Heidi Grace rub-ons that I used on the turtle card last week. Nothing too fancy but I think it turned out pretty cute! All the paper used is from Stampin Up!
Thanks for stopping by and don't forget about my blog candy. You have until Friday to leave me a comment here.
Hope you all have a wonderful day!

A Sheet-Load of Cards & Some Blog Candy...

As promised, here are some pictures of the Sheet-Loads of cards that I made yesterday. If you aren't familiar with Sheet-Loads (I just recently found them thanks to Kurtis- he was the guest designer this month), you should definitely check it out. These cards were just sheet-loads of fun to make!
Here is a close-up of the first card I made. The birds are from the clear Inkadinkado set "The Flourish Pack" and the sentiment comes from PTI's "Birthday Basics" set. The designer paper is from this awesome pack I bought and SAMS club and the rest is non-SU cardstock.
Here is the 2nd card I made. The stamps used are from a SAB set from this year (can't think of the name off hand). It is embellished with a Prima flower. The flower center is a glitter dot that I got from the Gina K store. Designer paper is from the awesome SAMS club pack again and the rest is non-SU cardstock.
Close-up of the 2nd card
And finally...Some blog candy! Woohoo!! A couple days ago I made my 100th post (this is actually my 105th post today). To celebrate the fact that I started a blog and actually continue to post on it, I have some fun blog candy. The prize package includes: 2 adorable clear penguin stamps, some pink and brown grograin ribbon pieces, some self adhesive pearls, a package of magic mesh and a package of self adhesive rhinestones.
For a chance to win all you have to do is leave me a comment and tell me your favorite chick flick. Why, you ask. Well, I've finally, for the first time in a long long time, started to find time to watch some movies that I want to watch instead of watching Disney Channel constantly. Because I have been living in a Disney/Nick Jr. world for 4 years I'm a bit out of touch with what movies have been out there. I'm a total chick flick kinda girl, so I need some suggestions so I can add some movies to our Netflix queue. I will pick a winner on Friday morning from all comments left.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!