{ August Happiness Giveaway Challenge }

**This post will remain at the top until the deadline...please scroll down for new posts**

Yup, it's that time again. Are you ready for another challenge?

This month will be a different Challenge in that it is going to be a Theme Challenge. I know it is August, but I am starting to think about my Christmas cards...that's right, I said Christmas. For this month I want to see your best Christmas creation using one of your favorite or newest Christmas stamps! It can be anything...card, tag, 3d item...whatever you like, but it must be a Christmas creation!

What are you playing for? Well...I have decided to do some purging of my stamproom. I have a brand new 'On Board Art Journal' from SU and I will include a mixture of ribbons and papers that I have. I will post a pic next week after we get back from our camping trip this week. I will also do up my own sample next week as well.

This one will be one entry per person and the deadline is August 31st @ 9:00pm MST. The winner will be announced Sept 1st.

Good luck and I can't wait to see all those Christmas creations!

{ Only a few more hours to go!! }

Don't forget to get your entry in for this months Challenge. I will be drawing the name of this months winner tonight and announcing the winner tomorrow!

Just thought I would leave you with one more Bella creation from last week.

And look! No Sanded on this one. ;0)

Have a great weekend all! :0)

{ Lookie what I got? }

I went to my friend Nancy's lastnight for a Purse Party. Never heard of this one before and I was quite intrigued by the thought. Also, do to the fact that I have never really been a purse girl before...the one I currently use is the size of my cell phone...literally!! But they had some very pretty purses...most still too big for me though. And then I spotted it! It was perfect...

Although, it is RED. I own nothing that is red and certainly not this RED. But looking at it again this morning...I love it! And hubby liked it too when I showed him lastnight ;0) Thanks again Nancy...I had fun! :0)

{ Another Veggiebella }

Okay back to more Bellas for today. Hope you like her!

Are you sick of my Sanded stamp yet? Too bad! I think I may have an addiction issue with this stamp. ;0)

Okay off to clean my house :0( Have a great day!

{ JT's August RAK received and Julee's 75K Entry }

I realized yesterday that I forgot to share this wonderful card with you all. I am a member of Jen's JT Aloha August RAK group and this month I was lucky enough to receive this beauty from Maria!

That background is done using the Shaving Cream Technique. How beautiful is this!?! Thank you again Maria. :0)

I was going to share another Bella creation with you all today, but I worked on my entry for Julee's 75K Sketch Challenge and actually pretty happy with it. So here it is...

First off the color combo...Sahara Sand, Bordering Blue, Whisper White and Basic Black. I had seen all of these creations with the Sahara Sand and Blue Bayou color combo and just loved them! However, I am not a proud owner of the Blue Bayou yet...yet ;0) So I did my own version. Then I saw this amazing creation by Debbi. I decided to give it a shot with a smaller version. Love it! The work 'Kind' was embossed in silver. I love this sketch...don't you? I will be using this one again!

Okay...off to get stuff done for the day! What I'm not exactly sure, but I am sure I have something important to do today ;0)

{ Do you crochet or know someone who does? }

Then please check out Shelly's blog... This Eclectic Life. She is looking for people with big hearts to crochet squares that will be made into afghans and given to kids with cancer. If you do not crochet but know someone who does, then please send them on over. This is a great cause and a great way to use up all those scraps too!!

{ Okay...one more! }

Okay... so I decided to post one more Bella for today. Thought I would get my post up for Beate's Sketch Challenge. I really liked this sketch, but used the normal 5 1/2 X 4 1/4 instead of the long one she had. I should do another one using the longer card, as I have not even tried one of these before! So here it is...

I used some DP I received in a DP swap recently. Love this paper! The circles were stamped with what else... Sanded! My Veggiebella was colored with my SU markers. I like this card although, I think the circles are maybe too small?

Off to do some more creating!! :0)

{ Blog Candy Alert! }

Just wanted to let you know about Alexandra's Blog Candy. Head on over now! And be sure to browse around her blog while you are there! :0)

{ Gonna be a Bella week! }

Yup, I have been busy! Busy makin' Bella cards that is. I have had a ton of bella images sitting and colored and waiting to be used. So this weekend I used them!! First off I want to share my girls first Bella creations with you all. Now mommy was busy in her stamp room too, so I just cut up a bunch of various DP and punched out some matching daisies for them...so they do not all match ;0) but I think they did a great job!!

And here is one of mom's creations from this weekend too! The photo does not give this one justice. The black flower buttons have a mini gem glued to the centre and once again I used my new favorite background stamp...Sanded! I have lots more Bella's to show off, but you will have to wait till tomorrow ;0)

Happy Monday All!! Actually a dreary, rainy Monday here...oh well. :0(

{ Happy Mail and some creations by...me! }

I received a beautiful RAK yesterday from Allison. Thank you so much, Allison!

I am workin' on some RAK's of my own this week...be on the look out!

Lastnight was my month class that I put on for some friends. This month we did the Shaving Cream Technique. Here are the ones that we did lastnight.

This technique is quite fun...although also quite messy ;0). I really love the Christmas one though. I have lots of shaving cream left, so I think I will make some more of these for my Christmas card stash.

Thanks for stoppin' by. Tomorrow I am going to be sharing a new Bella card and my girls did their own bella creations that I will share too ;0)

**I really am sorry about these lousy pics...I must get back to taking my time with my pics...just been lazy lately**

{ More blog candy winnings! }

Yesterday I recieved a surprise package from Catherine. I had won some blog candy from her awhile back and had actually kinda forgotten about it. Well was I surprised!! Look what I got!

* Clear Craft Keeper...this is awesome! Don't have one and really could use one of these.

* Snowflake Stickers...very pretty!

* Christmas rub-ons...been wanting to try some!

* Michaels Gift Certificate for $15!!! Woohoo!!!

Thank you soooo much Catherine! Can't wait to play with my new goodies. And hope your body has recovered from your Amazing Race! :0)

{ I am such a BAD blogger! }

I completely forgot to put a pic of the Challenge goodies I received from Maria last month!! She had an ATC challenge on her blog and sent out some goodies to everyone who participated. I sent her an email to thank her but forgot to add it on my blog. Here is an ATC made by Maria and some cute clear stamps...which I did not already have! Thanks again Maria! :0)

{ Bella ATC's in da House! }

I received my Bella ATC Swaps yesterday from Laura. The were actually delivered to my neighbors mailbox a few days ago and she brought them over lastnight. But the wait was definitely worth it!! I can't wait to make these babies into works of ART! ;0)

This last one is mine. Thanks again Laura for the swap. These ATC's are just too fun! :0)

{ 2 weeks left! }

To get your entries in for this months Challenge! I am lovin' all these Christmas creations! But one thing that I have discovered is that I don't really have many Christmas stamps! Can you believe that? I think I may have to fix that this week with my SU order ;0)

Anyway, just thought I would finally share what you are all playin' for this month. Here it is...

You will receive:

*1 SU On Board Art Journal

* 2 different Christmas ribbons

*6 Chipboard Coasters

*2 each of 6 different designs of some Michaels Christmas DP(6 X6)

I would love to see some more entries!! Lets see 'em ladies...and gentlemen!! :0)

{ Question for all you? }

I have been thinking about this for sometime now and would love to get some feedback from other stampers.

What do you do with all those Swap cards and Blank RAK's you receive? I am getting quite a pile of them and wondered what others do with theirs. I feel kinda of strange giving someone a card that I did not make myself. Is that dumb? I mean I use to buy cards that were made by someone else all the time(Hallmark)...it's really no different. And the designer of the card has their info on the back...I would never take credit for someone elses work. I am just curious.

Please leave me a comment.

{ Updates }

Just wanted to let you know that I finally updated my music pics and blog pics for this week. For the music pics I went with some classics...that are some of my all-time favs!! Queen is by far the *best* band EVER! Inxs and Jimmy Barnes? What could be better? And Bad Company? Okay...maybe not for everyone, but for me? Classics!! Enjoy!

I will be back with a pic of the prize for this months Challenge!

{ Messy but fun! }

I was playin' with the Shaving Cream technique lastnight and had soooo much fun! I am doing a class on this technique next week and had to come up with my samples. I will not share yet...don't want to spoil it for any of my ladies that check in on my blog ;0) But I am thinkin' this maybe a good future Challenge for my blog readers?? Who knows.

Here is the other card that I made the other night with my new Baroque Motifs set.

Sorry about the lousy pic...I will get back to my regular photo taking...I was just lazy ;0) I had this color combo(Chocolate Chip and Old Olive) out for a swap I did lastweek and loved it, so used it for this one too.Not only love the Baroque Motif set, but I *LOVE* the new Sanded background stamp. I have seen some stampers out there in blogland using this stamp on top of their DP and it looks amazing. Have to try this too!

Thanks for stoppin' by

{ Christmas stamping! }

I decided that it was time that I actually have a sample for my own Challenge(see top post for details) up! I decided to go with something a little different. Not the usual Christmas design...or at least not for me.

This was one of the first creations using my new Baroque Motifs and Sanded set. I absolutely love this stamp!! It is just a great stamp for creating quick cards. I plan to make a bunch of these in different color schemes. I also think I will make more of this particular one for Christmas cards this year too. This card was inspired by Nancy's card here. Thanks for the inspiration, Nancy! I actually made one more card lastnight, but I will save it for tomorrow's post.

We are now on our way to do some 'Back to School' shopping! Wish us luck ;0)

{ Kim's Baby/Kid Swaps are here! }

Okay first off...I am still alive! I ended up getting sick after we got back this week and have not been feeling well the past week! Hoping the meds kick in soon though.

I received my swaps from Kim's first swap...Baby/Kid Swap. Check these out!

Love these cards ladies! Glad to be in this swap with ya!

Now here is the one I made. When I was trying to decide what to make, I thought that it has been a long time since I actually used a technique of any kind. So I did the emboss resist technique on this one. Also, played with some faux stitching. Very simple, but it's okay.

I am hoping to try and do some stampin' tonight. I actually finished a swap this week, but forgot to take pics...duh! So that one will have to wait till I get them back. And I will be taking a pic of the giveaway for this months challenge too...I am so far behind on things!! Hope your still hangin' around ;0)

{ Check it out! }

Kim is having her first ever blog candy for her new 'Angel' blog. Go check it out!! Congrats again Kim on getting your wings. :0)

{ Great Contest! }

I just found this great contest over at Kim's blog. Over at 5 Minutes for Mom they are giving away a 37" Flat Panel LCD HD TV. This great contest is being sponsored by Bestbuy and is open to US and Canadian women. How cool is that! Go on over, but hurry you only have until the 17th to enter!! Go! Now! :0)

{ Off camping yet again }

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am off camping again this week. So I am not ignoring you all. ;0)

Not sure how this trip will go considering it is suppose to be raining the next few days and get down to like -1 celcius on Friday!! Oh well...that's what the furnace is for right. ;0)

Have a great week!

{ Blog style Scattergories }

I saw this one on Nancy's blog and thought it looked like fun. Here it goes

Your Name: Tracy
Famous Artist/Band/Musician: Train
4 letter word: Tent
Vehicle: Tahoe
TV SHOW: Tonight Show
City/Town: Tampa
Boy Name: Ted
Girl Name: Teresa
Occupation: TV repairman
Something you wear: Tiara
Celebrity: Tom Hanks
Food: Tomato
Something found in a kitchen: Tap
Reason for Being Late: Tornado
Cartoon Character: Thomas the Tank Engine
Something You Shout: Take off eh!

{ Summer Fun }

That is what I have been enjoying. I am afraid that I have not had much time for stampin' lately...too busy having some summer fun with the family!

Just thought I would share what we have been up to. Took the girls for their first hike in the mountains this week. They did awesome!! We went to Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park. It is a gorgeous hike with a lower and upper falls. It is just over 5Km...not too bad for a 4 and 5 year old.

Then went for a trip up to Lake Louise...so beautiful!

Then off to Bow Falls in the town of Banff and later a dip in the Hot Springs!

Fun, fun, fun!