Lovely Floral Embossed Thank You

Hello! I knew it had been a while since I posted, but didn't realize it had been this long! Recently I have had a few people reach out to me to see if all was well because they noticed I hadn't shared in a while. Thank you so much, I truly appreciate that!

Things have been going well here, but truthfully I just haven't been finding the time to stamp in recent months. Many of you know that we were blessed with a precious granddaughter almost two years ago now. With her birth came a renewed interest in photography as I captured each milestone along with all the adorable moments in between. Lately, in my spare time I have put all my creative energy into learning more about photography so I can take even better photos. My stamping classroom has been transformed into a photo studio, so I have not offered classes since the Spring.

After seeing photos of my darling granddaughter, I started getting requests from others for me to photograph their little ones. Right now I am in the beginning stages of starting my own portrait photography business. It's exciting, yet a little scary! There are so many things to consider and I am learning so many new things as I go.

I'm sure you didn't come here to read my ramblings...LOL so here is a card I created for a wonderful and talented stamping friend/customer that I've had the pleasure to know through blogging. 

I feel SU! has really knocked it out of the park with their selection of embossing folders lately! This card uses two from the latest Annual Catalog. The main focus is on the Lovely Floral embossed panel. I used my Aqua Painter to watercolor the embossed design and then went over the color with Wink of Stella for some shimmer.

Also used here is the Stitched All Around stamp set and the coordinating Stitched Label Framelits along with the Tufted Embossing Folder.

Here is a little collage I created using some photos I took of our Maddy as we enjoyed a beautiful autumn day here in Michigan. She sure has brought so much joy into our lives!

For now, I plan to remain a SU! demo as long as I meet my minimums. I can still take orders, but I did cancel my SU! business website several months back. I am so grateful to all the wonderful people I have met over the years through my SU! business...both online and in person. With the colder weather I will hopefully find more time to stamp again, and with that hopefully share more posts here. Thanks for visiting today!

The Garden Isle of Kauai

As some of you may already know, I've been gone for a little while on vacation. Thank you for your patience and understanding with the few delays I had getting some of the tutorials out to you. There was a 6 hour time difference from home and sometimes internet service just wasn't there. Now I am home, and playing catch up around the house. I'm sure not complaining though!

I feel so fortunate and very blessed to have spent three amazing weeks with my husband visiting Hawaii to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. (Our real anniversary is actually not until August...but figured we would appreciate getting away more during our cold Michigan winter) The Hawaiian people are so friendly...we learned so much about Hawaiian culture, great spots to eat and beautiful places to visit while we were there. I must say, there is certainly no shortage of gorgeous places to see on all three of the islands we visited!

The first week of our vacation was spent on the island of Kauai, in the town of Princeville. My husbands brother and his wife joined us for this week. We enjoyed many mornings walking on the beach at sunrise with our coffee...and of course my camera was always with me to capture memories in the making!

I took over 4000 photos during the three weeks we were there! I couldn't help it! In each direction I looked there was a beautiful postcard view! Don't worry, I won't be sharing them all here, but I thought you may enjoy seeing a select few from each island. So today's posting are some favorite photos from the island of Kauai. Here's another gorgeous sunrise at Hanalei Bay.

Rising before sunrise is no problem on Kauai, we didn't even need an alarm clock thanks to these guys, jokingly refered to as the state bird. After a hurricane in '92 destroyed many chicken coops these guys were set free to roam where they choose with no real predators on the island.

We visited so many different beaches while we were there, and one of my favorites had to be Polihale Beach.

This is the last beach on the west side of the Napali Coast. The road getting there was memorable...an unmarked sugarcane road which was dirt & rock and really bumpy, but so glad we found it because this beach with miles of gorgeous sandy beach was simply breathtaking. It was recently just voted the world's best secluded beach by Travel & Leisure...and I can see why! If you continue on east along the shore line you would encounter the unbelievable beauty of the Napali Coast...

The red rock mountain sides covered in moss and trees, with many waterfalls, sea caves and crystal clear turquoise water is simply magnificent! The only way to see the Napali Coast is by boat, air or hiking the often treacherous 11 mile Kalalau Trail.

We opted to see it by boat! We went out with Captain Andy for their Sunset Dinner Cruise. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Here we are (L to R) BIL, SIL, me & hubby.

December thru May is the best time to see Humpback Whales in Hawaii. It is this time of year that they make their way from Alaska to the warmer waters of Hawaii to give birth,. We were lucky to see many whales throughout the duration of our trip. We saw quite a few that evening while out on the boat. It sure is an amazing sight to witness these 40+ ton creatures propel themselves out of the water...they make quite a splash! Here is one that we saw that night.

In the center of the island, backing up to the Napali Coast is the breathtaking Waimea Canyon, also known as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". We got there mid day and the clouds had already made for a hazy view...but still just incredible! 

Another memorable day was spent kayaking down the Wailua River. Calm waters with beautiful scenery. We parked our canoes and hiked some trails in to have a picnic lunch and swim at Uluwehi Falls or "Secret Falls".

It was very beautiful but very cold!

We ate so much delicious pineapple and tried some other exotic fruits while we were there. Cannot remember now what the red fruit was called but after peeling away the soft, spiny skin it had the texture and taste of a large, kind of sour grape.

Everywhere there were so many gorgeous flowers...even garnishing our food and drinks...what a treat! The hibiscus is one of my favorite. Isn't this color lovely? 

The Kilauea Lighthouse offered another spectacular view. That morning we saw a female whale and her calf frollicking in the bay right there.

We did a lot of hiking down rocky trails and carefully climbing up and down large rocks to get out onto cliffs near the sea to enjoy views like this one near the Queen's Bath.

and these petrified cliffs and sand dunes along the Mahaulepu Trails. We never knew what we were going to see, but always knew we would be rewarded with an amazing view for our efforts.  

One of the best surprises we came along one day was this guy (or gal?)...isn't he/she cute!?

Sadly, the Hawaiian Monk Seal is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. They come ashore after a long night of fishing to rest and bask in the sun.

I was so glad we got to see one again during this trip. We spent some time in Kauai only five years ago and saw several on that trip. I hope that doesn't mean that their numbers have diminished that rapidly since our last visit.

Aloha until next post! Check back if you would like to see some scenes captured on Maui. 

In stamping news...I do have a few more of my Butterfly Basics Watercolor Kits available that I can send out beginning of next week. Check this post for more info and contact me to receive a paypal invoice for this kit. 

Too Busy Clowning Around...

I've been so crazy busy this past month that I haven't had much time to post...sorry about that! We had our annual Halloween party this past weekend, and we spent a LOT of time getting ready for that. We hold the party in our barn, so we have to clear it of all tools, etc that are normally out there in order to transform it into a totally creepy, haunted space complete with zombies, witches, etc... It is mostly fun getting out all the props and creating new ones each year...but now I am stuck with the dreaded task of putting it all away until next year...not so fun!

I do have a card to share with you, but thought first I'd create a post sharing some of my Halloween creations, costumes & decor that I spent the better part of the month of October working on. So here goes...

New this year are these 7 foot columns topped with gargoyles at the entrance to our graveyard...which you must walk through to enter the barn. My hubby & I built them which turned out to be a much more time consuming task than I bargained for since neither one of us could be considered carpenters, lol. We got it done with very few arguments and are pretty happy with how they turned out.

Once we finished building them I painted the pillars and added some dry brush detail to the gargoyles and a little moss to make them look like they've been there a while.

No Halloween party is complete without a few carved pumpkins! Here are the ones we carved this year...plus our "little helper" Stevie.

I carved the grim reaper...here's another shot of him.

Along with pumpkins and decor we had to have costumes for the party, right? Here's my hubby & I clowning around at the party...

I don't sew, but I'm good with a glue gun! I was lucky to find the major pieces for our costumes at a thrift shop. (I know, it's hard to believe my hubby didn't already have those pants and shirt in his closet!) Have you seen the show American Horror Story? This year they have a creepy clown named Twisty on the show. I did my make up inspired by Twisty the Clown.

I even used a few Stampin' Up! products for my necklace...see the Basic Rhinestone jewels and the black Raven Lace on the skeleton hand cuffs? Here's the full view of my costume.

We had some pretty amazing costumes at our party this year...check out a couple of the winners:

This is my friend Amy as the Ice Queen. She won the award for the Most Creative costume. She looked just gorgeous with so many exquisite details including her staff which lit up and changed colors. We also had a couple of Green Army Men who hammed it up and stayed in character for a good part of the night.

They won the award for the Best Couple. I always try to come up with something different each year for the prizes...this year I made Boney Awards. I forgot to get a good photo prior to handing them out...but here are 3 of them...

The Boney Awards were "engraved" with category & date and of course made of solid gold! (spraypaint!;-) 

My dear Auntie who loves SU! came as a ghostly bride. Check out her headpiece...she used the Spiral Flower Die to create black roses for her costume.

We had a lot of good food...I make some and our guests bring some. I loved the guacamole puking pumpkin and deviled eggs with "spiders" on top that a couple guests brought. By the end of the night we have a hard time fitting all the food onto the buffet tables, so I tried to create some layers by raising some plates up higher. Here's one of the risers I created...

It's an urn planter that I picked up at the thrift store, spray painted it and added some Witch's Brew Washi Tape and a glittered spider. I forgot to take a photo at the party with my platter full of goodies, but it did work out well and I plan to make some more for next year. 

Some of the potion bottles I've made over the years are displayed in my witches cabinet...

Despite the bone-chilling cold weather, we had a good turn out...approximately 70 guests, most of which wore a costume. So it was definitely worth all of our hard work because we had a lot of fun seeing everyone and we made some great memories. Be on the lookout for scrapbook pages soon...In the meantime, I DO have a card to share as well, but will make a new post.

I've got an organized mess

Another Sale-a-Bration is behind us...so sad it went by so fast! A big thanks to everyone who placed orders with me or attended one of my classes during SAB...it sure was fun and I appreciate it! I drew a name from those who placed orders for the Everyday Enchantment Note Pad Set and Mary was the lucky winner! I hope to have that mailed out to you in the next couple days Mary, but as I said in my email to you I'm hoping to be able to find my tools & supplies needed to personalize your set. I'm in the middle of my Rubber Room Renovation! and there are boxes of stuff EVERYWHERE!!!

I really did try to plan and keep a small space open with my most used tools available so I could stamp if I needed to BUT...where did all this stuff come from!? I think I may have been only a few packs of paper short of being on an episode of Hoarders!

I think I need a bigger box! I didn't think I had that much ribbon!? (shhh...I also have a whole other large bin hidden away) Look at this unorganized mess I found...I don't know who could have done this???

At least I didn't find any long lost pets under any of my piles of stuff! (Hey, I saw it on an episode of Hoarders...so I'm not that bad!) I intend to make much better use of this 2 drawer cabinet once I put my room back together. (where have I heard that before?) These drawers held mostly painting supplies, (and whatever else I could cram in there) which are now better organized on a shelf in my utility room. Don't worry...I had help packing up my room...

I think Stevie had to jump inside every box I tried to fill...here I even started to pile paper in on top of him, and he didn't seem to mind. (I guess he missed that episode of  Hoarders I mentioned above!)

"Why do you have so much stuff!?", is what he was asking me in this photo. Hmmm...I asked myself the same thing!

Besides Stevie, I actually had some real help. Thanks to my wonderful hubby, the ugly carpet is now outta there! (Along with all the heavy furniture.) He even removed all the trim for me. (The previous owner had the room painted turquoise.) By the window I tested out my paint colors...Certainly Celery on the walls and Pool party for my peg board.

The room looks so much better without that nasty carpet! Here's another view, looking towards the closet.

Yesterday I put two coats of bright white on my ceiling, painted my peg board in Pool Party, and painted some of the trim in a glossy white. I'm so glad to be done with the ceiling...that has to be one of my least favorite things to do. It's such a killer on the neck, not to mention paint splatters all over face & hair...and trust me, I don't need any more white hair! Today I'm on to the walls, and I think Certainly Celery will look so much nicer in my hair than the white ceiling paint did!

It's paradise!

We have returned home safely from our Hawaiian vacation. We had the BEST time!!! It truly is like paradise! Gorgeous scenery everywhere you look...lush green vegetation, colorful flowers, all the beautiful shades of blue of the ocean were amazing...and the people...soooo nice! I already want to go back! Especially coming home to Michigan, when right now everything is drab...not a green leaf in sight, unless I count pine trees, but you know what I mean. Now I am really looking forward to spring when everything will come back to life and seem to turn green over night. Hurry spring!!! I don't have any new stamped creations, but I do have a few photos to share. I took almost 800 photos while we were there! These are a few of my favorites.

Sunset on Poipu Beach, Kauai

Rainbow over Wiamea Canyon, or the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" in Kauai

Wanini Beach, near Hanalei, Kauai

Kilauea Point Lighthouse

Me at the beach ;-) Actually this is a Hawaiian Monk Seal on Poipu Beach...they come up to rest during the day. We saw several of them while we were there.

We saw so many whales while we were there...it was so cool!

We saw lots of dolphins too...they are so cute and fun to watch!

Beautiful lava rock formations and arches...somewhere along the Road to Hana in Maui.

Me & my wonderful hubby on our lanai before we went to a luau. This trip was to celebrate our upcoming 25th wedding anniversary. (which isn't til August, but we wanted to go while we were having bad weather in Michigan.) With the 6 hour time difference between Michigan and Hawaii, I'm just getting back into my regular routine...boy that's been tough! In the next couple days I should have something stamped to share with you. Thanks for stopping by!