Where Does the Time Go?

    Here it is the last week of January 2014... does anyone else wonder where time flies?  

    A few announcements... Tomorrow starts Sale-a-Bration with Stampin' Up!  Whoot Hoot!!  What does that mean?  Well... it means that for every $50 you spend, you get something totally awesome for FREE!!  We've got punches, stamps, embossing folders, designer paper, and more!  Since I'm new to this blog thing, I plan on posting pictures of the items tomorrow, and I need to teach myself how to do that...
    If you can't wait that long, please check out the goodies on our website, www.stampinup.com .  If you click on the STORE stamp in the upper left corner, it will take you to a menu that lists all of our specials and promotions going on at the time!  Don't forget to check out the clearance rack, and the Weekly Deals!  
    It is Stampin' Up!'s 25th Anniversary and they have rolled out the red carpet of deals this year!  Don't miss out!
     Today was card class at our local Senior Center!  It's always a blast getting together with the ladies!  Today we made little Valentine Treat cup bookmarks!  Gonna have to order some more of those things!
    Tomorrow my daughter and her family will be pulling into Keesler AFB, Mississiwipi (as Beckett says it!).  It's been a long drive from Minot, ND but at least they'll be a lot warmer!  Can't wait to see them again!  Too bad they're so far now!  Road trip!!!!
      
    Toodles!!

Uh oh... sheee's baaaacccckkk!!!

After some time away, I've decided that it's about time I got back on here, and continue with what I started!  I'm bound and determined to keep it up.  So here we gooooooooooooooooo!

     Since the last time I wrote I've been teaching card making at our local senior center, and have met some absolutely wonderful ladies!  They are so much fun, and I thoroughly enjoy coming up with four cards every week for them to do!  It's grown from about 7 or 8 of us to about 16 - 20!  No pressure here... just more kits to make, but hey, once you've come up with the design, it's no problem cutting a few more!  Besides, it's just way too much fun doing it!

     Now that I'm a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I get to use all my gorgeous stamps and inks and paper and , and, and... oh my!  There is no end to the creativity pouring out of this old (young) mind!  Of course, PINTEREST has been a huge inspiration and I'm on there daily posting tons of things!  Check it out if you're interested... Valerie Sanchez.  I've got a board that's dedicated to Stampin' Up, and plenty more of all sorts of things!  I've even got one called Val's card designs!  You just gotta love this computer stuff!  Now, just to learn more about it so I can be more tech savvy!!! 

    Anyhooo.... tomorrow my goal is to post a picture.. Wonder if I can figure that one out?!

Toodles for now!

Valerie

Sunny Days

Hi everyone!  Today was absolutely beautiful!  We had temperatures of 62 degrees!  It's amazing how much some sunshine and warmer weather just makes you feel good all over! 
   I had a nice lunch today with Linda, and then some awesome shopping at Joanns... then it was off to Lil's card class with all the ladies!  What an awesome bunch they are!  It's always wonderful to walk in and see all their smiling faces!  Plus, we are making cards!  I love it because I am at least getting 3 or 4 done a week for Operation Write Home!   This coming Thursday, we are meeting at the Roy Community Center to get together and make whatever!  If you'd like to join us, come on down!  We are meeting at noon, and would love to visit with ya!
     Well, been busy designing things for Fancy Pants... I'm including a few photos of some projects.  I've also been working on a baby book for a friend of ours from England, who is having a baby girl in a few months!  The first photo is of a layout I did with the BE YOU line... I absolutely love this line!  There is so much you can do with it!  It's got Alanna in it... all the way back to her 16th birthday!  Cannot believe my 'baby' is going to be 23 at the end of this month!  Sheesh... where does the time go?

    The next photo is one I made using the CHILDISH THINGS line.  It's of Beckett eating his spaghetti... If only I could post a video of him eating, and then throwing it all over the house when he was done!  Ed-grrr was loving all the spaghetti on the floor!

     The last picture is of Miss Piper face playing at the base water park!  Dave and I had so much fun watching her, and were amazed at how much she is JUST LIKE SOPHIA!!  It was like watching a mini-Sophie!  I love how blue her eyes look in the close up of her!  This layout is done with the SUMMER SOUL line... another beautiful line to work with!

    Hope you enjoy the pics, and get some good ideas!  Next time, I'll start posting the pictures of the baby book! Thanks for visiting, and God Bless!

Toodles!
Valerie

Valentine's Day...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I hope you have all had a wonderful day celebrating the love you have for your family!  On this very day, 29 years ago, my husband and I went on our first date... we went to see the movie STRIPES, with Bill Murray.  It was hilarious, and we still watch it sometimes!  After the movie, we went to my apartment, and I made us tacos.  The rest is history, so to speak!  To celebrate, we went to our favorite mexican restaurant for dinner tonight!  Margaritas and enchiladas... yummmm!
    Now on to other things... specifically, scrappin'... My news I mentioned in my last blog post....
 
I have been invited to be on the Fancy Pants design team!

   I've already completed my first assignment... it is a little envelope booklet using the LOVE STORY line... this line is so much fun!   I had a blast creating each little layout!  I am so glad to have been given this opportunity to 'play' with Fancy Pants products!

This is probably  my favorite layout... as soon as I saw the little envelopes, I knew I had to make tiny peek-a-boo windows!  Yes, I was having way too much fun!

Wow! I can't believe Christmas is over, and it's almost 2012... Where did 2011 go? I guess when you're scrappin' and creating, it goes pretty fast!  Had a busy year; driving to North Dakota to see the grandbabies, stopping in at Mt. Rushmore...

 bringing Miss Piper Grace back with us for a month!  Boy was that a lot of fun having her here!   Looking forward to doing it again, but with both kids!  Although Beckett will probably run me ragged!!  I might have to have Dave take off work so we can both deal with an energetic little 2 year old!

(Piper all settled in the back seat playing on Gramma's phone!  Soooo glad we had this for the trip! She was loving playing Fruit Ninja!)

     I'm sure I'm not the only scrapper out there with a disaster in their scrap room... so I spent the last 2 days organizing and tossing tiny scraps that I thought for sure I would be able to use, and just didn't over the last year!  My husband walked in and said, "Wow, this looks really nice in here... now let's keep it that way!" Yeah, sure, honey... no problem... It's obvious he doesn't understand how a creative mind works! 
     I will have an exciting announcement to make in the coming weeks (and no, I'm NOT pregnant... that ship has sailed!).   I am very excited about it, and if you could see my face, it would be grinning from ear to ear!

    Okay, enough blabbing for now... time to get scrappin'!  Toodles for now ya'll!!
    

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Here is my Pocket Book created using Fancy Pants St. Nick line!

 This is the cover... used the flocked transparency... love it!

 I made a little paper pieced quilted heart, and a lace border punch for the pocket... On the right, I hand cut 2 candy canes and applied glossy accents to make them shiny!

 For these pages, I punched some small christmas lights, and used linen twine to wrap the "cord" and created a string of lights!  Tedious, but worth it!  For the envelope I found some darling little velum envelopes, and stuck one of the cards inside of it... embellished the tree and snowflakes with bling!  The left is a pocket with the tree border I fussy cut and glued on top of a stripe.  I used the flip side of the "bite" out of the top of the pocket to create a scallop border under the stripe!

 Ahhh... my fireplace!  As soon as I saw the stockings, I knew I had to make a fireplace!  The green stripe made perfect "wallpaper"!  I used gray, dk. chocolate, black, red, white and brick red cardstock to create the fireplace..and the santa feet!   I used scraps to creat the candles, and used the mini-christmas light punch for the "flame"! There is a hidden pocket, and I made a folding "tree" to slide in there for pictures!   For the page on the right, I cut lines along the stocking lines, and fussy cut some larger stockings.  There is also a pocket behind those for pictures!

 This page was inspired from Lisa Tenney... she had made a little "mini card" in her daily album, and I fell in love with it!  I was using the 6 x 6 St. Nick pad, and knew I had to make a page of Christmas cards!

 Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without some presents under the tree; or in this case, my little pocket book!  So I made some "present pockets" for pictures!    The page on the right I used a full sized "border" and created two diagonal pockets for pictures... I used two antique copper tree brads for embellishment.

The back cover was easy because of the leather look Saint Nick Paper!

Well, the tree is up... finally... really behind the curve this year!  But I sort of have a good excuse... I've been scrappin' like crazy!  I designed the cutest little "Pocket Book" using the St. Nick line from Fancy Pants!!  I don't know if my favorite page is the fireplace, the cards, or the large packages holding photos!  One thing I do know, is that is was so easy to come up with this using the St. Nick line!  The papers are wonderful and provided plenty of inspiration!

  The next project will be using the "Winter Wonderland" line from Fancy Pants... It is stunning, and I can't wait to play!!  Be on the look out for some sneak peaks!!

Happy scrapping!!

Thanksgiving...

This year, Thanksgiving brought much reflection of all the blessings the good Lord has blessed me with.  I have a wonderful husband that supports me in all of my endeavours; two beautiful daughters who have made me laugh so much over the years!  Two absolutely adorable grandchildren, Piper and Beckett, who made me realize what 'love' is really all about.  I am thankful for my whole family; dear mother, two wonderful sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins, and the list goes on! 

   With all this 'love', who couldn't help but be inspired to create!  If I figure it out right, I have posted pictures of my "Thankful" kit...  I went a little crazy with the glitter glue... what can I say?  Do I ever go halfway with anything?  lol 
   I have also posted pictures of my layout made with Fancy Pants Summer's End line... Love love love these papers!  They made it soooo easy to come up with this layout!  It is similar to the one I made above, but I had the opportunity to make this for Jodi and the Fancy Pants family, and when a layout works, it just works! 
   Speaking of Fancy Pants, I am putting the finishing touches on a cute little 6 x 6 mini album I am calling my 'POCKET BOOK'... due to all of the pockets for stuffing with pictures and other memorabilia!  I am entering it into their contest sponsored on their website... fingers crossed!!!  lol