Biography information...for those who care to know...

I am a "veteran" stamper... I got my first stamps in 1989 as a college graduation gift from a close friend! (and yes, I still have them.. sentimental value). I became addicted, although they were hard to come by back then (a few card and stationary stores had Hero Arts and AllNightMedia, but that was about it!). I then found DOTS (aka Close To My Heart), and then Stampin' Up... and then all the other ones came out of there dark closets and that was that!

I have been an artist as long as I can remember (I began taking painting lessons as a small child, and even have a painting I did at the age of nine). I love painting, drawing and colored pencils, but my fave is mixed media art using stamps!

Two years ago, I began targeting my art toward glorifying my Lord... I look for things in my daily life that will signify my beliefs and use those to create art to that effect. From cards to full-size art work, I try to make everything with a purpose!

On the non-art side, I have been married 23 years to my beloved hubby (Bugman), and we have FOUR kiddos ... all boys!... who we have been homeschooling for eleven years (ages 17, 14, 9 and 5). We also own our own business, which I run out of our home. I am also a native Texan, and live down along the Gulf Coast.

Fun Mail

Don't you just love mail? There is always something good in the mail... coupons, letters, and Magazines!

I got my March/April Somerset Studio today. Can't wait to get started perusing it this afternoon. I always bring something to my kid's martial arts class to read while they are in class.

I am so blessed to have three LSS's nearby my house: Novel Approach, Scrapbook Junkie, and By Design Scrapbook Boutique. There are two others within reasonable driving distance, too, making five stores. And that doesn't count Hobby Lobby and that other chain store with the good coupons and lousy selection. I admit, I am a paper arts addict, but luckily I love to use what I buy also.

Have you seen this video? Gotta get some of these inks (bet Novel Approach will have 'em!!) Waaaahoooo!

Happy Valentine's Day

I decided to make my dear hubby (Bugman) a card for V-Day. Well, as usual, I couldn't decide what to use, so I resorted to a Tag. I love making tags! Here's what I did, and believe it or not, it only took me about 15 to 20 minutes! (Cutting out the wings on the heart took the longest time).

I used a large manila tag from Office Depot (found that I could buy a package of 100 for about $6.00 there... wooohooo!). I sprayed it down with Glimmer Mists in Merlot and in Patina. While that dried, I tore a piece of paper from My Mind's Eye that says "You and Me" all over it. I inked the edge of this torn paper with a Tim Holtz distress pad in Red. I then punched a heart out of another piece of paper from My Mind's Eye, and punched out the "I Love You" from their page that has items you can use to make Valentine's (all these papers and the "I Love You" were part of a package for V-Day put out by My Mind's Eye). I used the same punch to punch a heart out of plain Grungeboard. I inked it with Glimmer Mist in Merlot. I stamped the wings (Lost Coast Rubber Stamps) and then cut them out, and painted them with Making Memories Scrapbook colors specialty glaze in Sea Foam. I glued down the strip of torn paper on the top (just a glue stick), glued down the punched heart and the I love You strip. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the Grungeboard heart, and added a key (a Making Memories brad). Then I glued it down with some Glossy Accents. I then added the wings underneath the heart, and adjusted them accordingly. When it dried, I added some fibers and a sentiment on the back (lol). I think it turned out kewl.

Now I'm working on another inspired piece... based upon a line in a sermon I heard recently. I'll keep you posted.

How to find the time...

I went to my LSS today. While I don't scrapbook, I can ALWAYS find something useful when I'm there. I love all the papers out there, ribbon, eyelets, brads... even the flowers. I am hoping to find time to make a Valentine for someone special, LOL.
Speaking of time, how do you work in the time to play in your studio? Between work, homeschooling kiddos and household chores, there is so little time to actually do something creative. Even blogging is hard to do, but that can be started and stopped and started again without much effort, unlike art. At least for me. If I go into create something, at least one child will follow, and if it's after they are in bed, then a husband comes a-calling. And since I'm NOT a morning person, it's hard for me to get motivated to get up early and work. Blech.

I signed up for the Houston Area Scrapbook Roundup! Yes, I know I said I don't really scrapbook, but hey, I get a cool tote bag (designed by Mark Jetton of Deadbeat Designs) and 20% off all my purchases made during that time!! Wooohooo!

And now, my new fave coffee mug:

I'm Baaaaaack....

Where have you been, you may wonder? Living the life of a mother of four children (check)... the owner/manager of a family-owned business (check)... and dealing with a crashing computer.

We bought our Apple MacBook in September 2006. Love it, love it, love it! In October last year, we noticed it was having issues. In November, the hard drive cratered. Lost everything. Yes, I had backed up... in September... (yes, I learned my lesson and now update weekly, but that's a different part of the story). In January, it happened again. Lucky for me, I had a more recent backup, BUT because the computer was just corrupt, so were many of my back ups. Sigh.

Happily, though, Apple was wonderful about it and gave me a brand new computer. Not new, same as the old one, but new, CURRENT MODEL computer! And we upgraded to Leopard (operating system) which is awesome also!!

Leopard (think Windows in PC talk) has this great thing called "Time Machine" which will automatically back up your hard drive whereever you tell it to... in my case, an external hard drive. It will also (sooooo cool!) transfer songs I had purchased through iTunes, that I lost in the crash but were on my iPod, BACK to my computer (Tiger, the previous operating system, would NOT do this). I was soooo happy (I had visions of many lost songs).

Anywhooo... I am planning to get back into blogging. If you read both my blogs, you will see some replication, so forgive me.

Meanwhile, have you seen this cool tool? I have resisted buying any of these die-cutting machines, but just may have to get this one: The Slice