Italy bound! Sadly not me :(

I have literally fallen off the stamping map but I want to share with you what has been happening in life. :)

After we returned home from our Victoria holiday it was time to get Andrew ready for his school trip to Italy.  Last minute list writing, clothes shopping, getting Euros, haircut, ortho appt, etc has consumed the past several days plus why not schedule 2 clubs and a Stamp a Stack in there as well. Crazy!

Two nights before he left I had a dream I boarded the plane with him. No clothes, money or passport but once I got on the plane I was mad I didn't have my crochet with me. I just re-learned to crochet in Victoria, thanks Steph. Weird, I know.  

The night before we had the suitcase packed, a mishap with the money wallet and Andrew almost strangling himself (many,many laughs later), I think he was ready to go (fingers crossed). A last minute list remembering what to do each time they check out of the hotels had my mind at ease 1) passport 2) money 3) electronics and 4) retainer. Hey, those teeth were expensive!

A last minute possible general strike in Italy had me up a few times on Friday morning checking on his plane!

Here is the proof he made it safely to Italy and definitely wasn't in Canada anymore. Just breath taking isn't it!

Milan Cathedral

I know he is going to have the time of his life and will make ever lasting memories. Just wish he would maybe check in every once in a while.  Pete tells me to just go with it. It's Andrew.  Should have put "TEXT YOUR MOM" on the list :( 

Oh well, counting down the days until he gets home and I can stop waking up at 5am checking to see IF he turned his phone on :)

Until then I plan to be stamping during spring break!

Please keep checking back and I hope to get some new cards up soon!

Cheers, 
K




 


 

I'm back from California!

I was so fortunate to have spent the past weekend in Newport Beach on a Stampin UP Getaway trip! Thank you to all my customers, friends and family for supporting me in my business!

I took my sister, Stephanie, on this trip since 1) Pete couldn't come because he had to work and 2) she has always gotten the babysitting duty on my other Stampin UP excursions. Now it was her turn. It was an amazing sister bonding trip, gorgeous weather and fun times, now I wish we could go back!

Here are a few pics of my trip.

We arrived on Thursday and the first night was a group dinner at Cucina Enoteca.  We dined with demonstrators from Hawaii, Detroit, New Brunswick and a Stampin UP corporate team member.

Each night I was greeted with a special pillow gift.

Night one was treats for us!

We had a special SU exclusive shuttle to take us to Laguna Beach.  A hot humid day but such a lovely walk along the beach, and wonderful lunch at Tommy Bahamas.

Dinner was at Cheesecake Factory - Luau salad and Avocado rolls. WOW. I forgot to take a pic of the cheesecake but trust me it was heavenly and included chocolate.

Pillow Gift #2 - OMG! A big box of great Stampin UP goodies!

I joined a late night swap with Getaway Achievers - they were all gorgeous!

Every morning we were treated to a hot breakfast buffet in the Rose Garden.  Just a tad picturesque.

And the hotel lobby had these fresh flowers greeting us each day.  The smells were sooo good.  I wish I could have bottled it and brought it home.

 

A morning of paddleboarding.  A belated birthday gift from Steph.

And we didn't fall in!  That was the biggest surprise of all!

There was a bit of pool time each day.

Pillow Gift #3 - A matching tote to go with the Zipper pouch I received at the beginning of the trip with our travel documents.

Last food pic - Chowder Fries from Slap Fish.  French fries with Clam Chowder and bacon.  The Californian Poutine?

Time to head home. Thank you Stampin UP! It was amazing!

Hope you didn't mind me sharing all my vacation photos!  It was such a great trip I can't wait to earn the next one!
Cheers,
K

Long weekend re-entry

Today is the BEST day of re-entry after a long weekend! 

It's pre-order day for Stampin UP demonstrators! This early morning I was able to place my order for new Holiday goodies that I saw at the Stampin Up Convention a few weeks ago!  I was NOT shy! What better way to celebrate Pete's new job than with some Stampin UP treats for him.  Ooo, I can make them into pillow gifts for him!

I have sent these out to my club members and past hostesses but if you'd like one please contact me! I have a stack coming!

While I can't show you the treats inside the catalogue yet I can show you something we made at Convention. We REALLY DO stamp at Convention(and this may or may not be a stretch of the truth as this is the first time in a long while I have actually completed my make n' takes at Convention). Let's just say I felt how my customers feel when they come to a class. It's hard to stamp under pressure.

This is a new stamp set called Your Presents. Everyone at Convention received this set!

I do have some amazing swaps to share with you this week and some (believe it or not) Christmas cards I have been working on. One way to stay cool is to stamp snowflakes :)

This weekend Pete was home so it didn't leave a lot of time for ME stamping time but I want to share some pics of our busy weekend.

There was some bike riding  . . .

 some driving or more appropriately sitting in the passenger seat with Andrew driving . . .

 Lots of puzzle time (kind of obsessed with these right now) . . .

 And an amazing hike to Lake Moraine with the family and SIL and BIL too.
 

 PLUS we camped in the backyard! So much fun jam packed in to three days!


Hope your re-entry day is equally as great as the weekend we had!

Cheers, 
K

Happy Thanksgiving weekend

Sorry I didn't post yesterday but we were out WAY late at the Vancouver / Calgary hockey game.  Bad mom moment when we rolled in at 11:40 on a school night!!  Eeeek!  Oh well, it is the first game of the season!  Sacrifices!

We had a great time or at least Van fans did.  It was definitely not the smoothest, slickest game but fun was had and we won 4-2!

I have loads to share next week as I made a variety of cards using the Wonderous Wreath stamp set and framelits.  Be sure to check back next week!

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Cheers, 
K

Weekly Specials

Happy Tuesday!  It's usually a Monday when I'm saying this but because of yesterday's holiday I'm all turned around!

Hope you had a fantastic day off with your family.  We had a shopping day (because it was supposed to rain and shopping is a good inside activity) and we needed a few new clothes for my growing boys.

Andrew's grade 9 celebration is coming up and Nathan is heading off to outdoor school this week so we were in desperate need of a shopping trip.  I was lucky as both of them were on good days and it wasn't too painful for them. 

Believe it or not Andrew picked these handsome new threads and despite his detest for purple he actually AGREED with me that the purple looked better with the his gray suit (HE PICKED OUT).  Shocking I know!

Plus a few other firsts such as a REAL TIE (Nathan picked it out) and it even has a small pattern on it!!  WHOA!  Now to hold on and hope he doesn't grow too much before June 5th :)

Okay, now on to some stamping business which I'm sure is why you checked in!

Here are the weekly specials and time is a ticking on the retired list items.

Remember retiring items are all while supplies last.

Retiring Stamp sets

Retiring Accessories


I hope to get lots of accomplished today and back to regular blogging tomorrow. 

Have a great day!

Cheers, 
K

Happy April 1st!

I can't believe I can type April 1st and there still be piles of snow on the ground.  Who is kidding who here.  Last week was our spring break although there wasn't much of the fun spring happenings going on at least anything outside!

Over the break we celebrated Nathan's birthday with his choice of cake (chocolate with vanilla icing and blue whales to decorate) and a full day of skiing!

And I won Best Mom of the Year!  Why you ask?  We bought him a ping pong game with an anywhere net and paddles.  So when mom doesn't have classes guess what we do in the living room!  Hopefully my walls will survive!

You may have checked in to see the WOW class for this month but I'm going to have to postpone this month's class.  We have a busy schedule with Science Fair, Ball hockey playoffs and try outs and my parents are coming for a visit so I'll be holding the next WOW class in May.

Check back tomorrow to see a cool waterfall card on my break!

Cheers, 
K

Happy Monday - And back to reality!

It's quite amazing how a two week vacation can go so quickly! Two weeks of family time!!

We played board games, went skiing, tobogganing, skating; you name it and we did it!  Lots of movie watching, tv shows to get caught up on and sleep in, jammie days!

Despite having one kid at home today (an extra day off for Andrew) I hope to get a lot achieved before I head to Stampin Up's Leadership meetings . . . in HOUSTON!  Woo hoo, I don't think the weather will be great but at least there won't be any snow!

Thought I'd share a few pics the fun we had.

On Dec 21st we welcomed our new great niece and 2nd cousin, Annie Elizabeth.  She is adorable!

Tubing at Norquay

Skiing at Sunshine

Just one of the games we played on games night - a new fantastic game we found is Pandemic, and lots of Monopoly, Pay Day, Life, Rummikub and Jenga.  I lost this game.

Christmas morning with my cutie pies!

Another game -perfect in a house full of boys.

We bought a new table and chairs!!  Woo hoo!  Very excited about this new purchase.  NO Big Shot and punches allowed on this table for now!

New Year's Eve dinner - Crab for Nathan and the rest of us starve!

Getting some air time,

Skating like a pro,

And good old fashioned snow angels!

So much fun, I can't wait until the spring.  We'll probably still have snow!

Cheers, 
K