My Boat

Happy Veteran's Day!

2009-11-11T15:55:00.004+01:00

I love this holiday. It's not my favorite, but I love that there is a day set aside for us all to remember our military members, past and present. The military has always been a HUGE part in my life. I grew up an Army brat, and now I am an Air Force Spouse. I truly love our United States Military and the people who serve in it. Thank you to all our Veteran's! I would like to say a special thanks to MY veteran's.

Thank you David, my husband. I love you and I am truly proud and honored to be your wife. Not only are you supporting our family through your military service, but you are serving the rest of our country as well.

Thank you Mom! You are one of the strongest women I have ever known and I know that your years of military service helped shape you into that SUPER woman that you are. You are a wonderful role model to me.

Thank you Grandpa Ed! Your years of service in the military make me so proud to say that we are a third generation military family!

Thank you Dad! If you hadn't joined the Army, Mom would've never been your supervisor and I wouldn't be here! lol! I love that I can say both my parents were in the Army and served our country!

Thank you Brothers! To Nathan, Joe, and Patrick. You all joined the military to better your lives and you all set great examples for me and my children.

Thank you Grandpa Pete for your service and sacrifice for our country. I am honored that I was able to know you and call you Grandpa.

And last but not least, to all the wonderful Spouses, Children, Moms and Dads of our Veteran's. Without you, our soldiers wouldn't have the support they need to keep serving our country.

Now I wish I had a patriotic project to show you, but I don't, lol! I hope you all like this card that I made a little while ago. It's happy and festive!

I made it for a TGF challenge called "Home is where the.... is" and my home is where the PARTY is! lol! Between our 3 kiddos and their friends and all the events/occasions/things we have going on, it feels like a party sometimes.

On another note, I am finally cleaning out my stamps! I have a link on my right panel that you can click on to go to my Sale Blog and see what's available! Please check it out and help me pay off some of my Credit Card debt. I have a New Year's Resolution... scratch that... a GOAL. To be credit card debt free by the end of 2010! I'm getting an early start. lol.

I hope you all have a BLESSED VETERAN's DAY!

Scenic Sunday

2009-11-09T07:27:00.003+01:00

Oops! I'm late! Sorry about that. For some reason I totally blanked out on getting my Scenic Sunday post up! Well, this week I wanted to share something with you that Europe in INSANE over! HELLO KITTY! Seriously, she is EVERYWHERE. I didn't quite realize how much Hello Kitty has infiltrated this country until we went on our little "touristy" trips with my Mom and Brother last month. Here is a picture of a window display to show you what I mean:

This was just ONE picture of the TONS of displays that we saw! And in a similar display, here's another kitty:
Isn't it cute? This kitty was just hanging out in his basket while hundreds of tourists walked through the little market! And to leave you all with a smile:
LOL! I love this! I shoulda bought one, but I'd never wear it. Could've gifted it to a friend of mine as a gag gift, but I didn't! lol! I hope you all have a wonderful week. Hopefully I'll be posting more this week since it's a short one with Veteran's day smack-dab in the middle. The kids only go to school 2 days this week, then they have a 5 day weekend! SHEESH! With parent/teacher conferences thrown in on Thursday, and some other non-eventful events, I hope this week is a smooth one... we'll see. I'm waiting for some BIG news today, but I'll share more on that later. Just pray for God's Will, please!

Have a Blessed day!

I know, I know...

2009-11-04T07:34:00.002+01:00

Yes, I know it's not Halloween anymore! But I have just one more card to show you! I made this card for the Spooktacular Mystery Monday challenge on The Greeting Farm as well as the Farm Fresh Friday sketch challenge on Club Anya.I used the Vampire Ian from the Spooktacular stamp set and the skull from the Matey's stamp set. The coffin was just sketched out and cut by me. I wish I had a die cut for it though, sheesh it was a bit tricky! Here is a close up of Vampire Ian and the sentiment.
I put sakura glitter pen on his wings and some of his hair to make him sparkle a bit, and glaze on the sentiment. Oh, and the skulls are stamped in silver in and embossed. Well, I'm off to work this morning so I hope you all have a blessed Wednesday!

Oh Happy Day!

2009-11-02T17:16:00.003+01:00

Hey all!!! Before you freak out, no, I did not make this fabulous card! LOL! this card was made by the UBER talented AMY of A Thousand Sheets of Paper. TODAY all of her fabulous fairy stamps are available for purchase at All That Scraps! Woohoo!This card is a part of the wonderful blog candy that Amy is having in celebration of her new line of stamps. Here is a picture of the candy in whole:
If you want a chance to win this amazing candy which includes this fabulous stamp as well as the card and lots of stuff to make MORE cards, then go to Amy's blog and enter! I hope you all are enjoying your Sweet November (the name of Amy's line of stamps, heehee) and that it is a truly blessed one. I have cards to show you later that I made, so come on back another day!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2009-10-31T22:02:00.004+01:00

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had/have a wonderful Halloween with lots of fun and not too much scariness! I am not a "scary halloween" person! lol! I will post more about our Halloween tomorrow. Today I don't have a card for you cuz I haven't gotten crafty since my Halloween cards, and because AMY gave me this awesome blog award!Thanks so much Amy! The second part of the blog award is to answer these questions with one word. So, here goes; enjoy!
1. Where is your cell phone? Dunno!
2. Your hair? dyed
3. Your mother? Hawaii
4. Your father? California
5. Your favorite food? delicious
6. Your dream last night? forgot
7. Your favorite drink? Coffee
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. What room are you in? living
10. Your hobby? stamping
11. Your fear? loneliness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? un-retired
13. Where were you last night? movies
14. Something you aren't? rested
15. Muffins? chocolate
16. Wish list item? copics
17. Where did you grow up? Barstow
18. Last thing you did? Simpsons
19. What are you wearing? pajamas
20. Your TV? Simpsons
21. Your pets? none
22. Friends? everywhere!
23. Your life? busy
24. Your mood? sleepy
25.Missing someone? lots
26. vehicle? 4runner
27. Something you're not wearing? shoes
28. Your favorite store? internet
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? minute
31. Last time you cried? days
32. Your best friend? far
33. One place that I go to over and over? sleep
34. Facebook? frequent
35. Favorite place to eat? home

Well friends, if you made it to the end of my list, THANKS! I think I was supposed to pass this on to 5 more bloggers, so here goes. I pass this on to Gabby, Joni, Jo, Nicole, and Lisa! Have fun ladies, and thanks again Amy!

Have a Blessed weekend friends!!!

Parking is a Premium in Italy

2009-10-25T11:37:00.001+01:00

While walking around Cinque Terre... We saw a guy with the BEST parking spot for his TINY truck.
Happy Sunday Friends!

It's Trunk or Treat night!

2009-10-24T18:10:00.002+02:00

In about 10 minutes we'll be heading to the base to enjoy the Trunk or Treat festivities but before I go, here's another Halloween card I made!I used all the same "ingredients" as the last Halloween card in the last post, only I used the adorable Pumpkin Head from TGF's Spooktacular stamp set instead. The kids are ready to go so I'm off to the Base for some fun CANDY gettin'!!!

Have a Blessed Weekend!

It's almost Halloween!

2009-10-22T06:24:00.002+02:00

Are you all getting excited about Halloween? We are getting ready and getting our costumes together. Since Italy doesn't celebrate the holiday, the base has a Trunk or Treat celebration for the families. We literally trick or treat from one vehicle to another on the base. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'll post pics after we attend! So, in the spirit of the holiday, I finally made some cards! YES! I MADE SOME CARDS! And I used this card to participate in a challenge! YES! This is for the Farm Fresh Friday challenge called "Sans Frills". There are no girly frills on this card whatsoever! Here is the card want to share one with you today:The adorable Sentiment, Mummy, Witch, and Bride of Frankenstein are from the Spooktacular set from The Greeting Farm. The Ghosts, candy strip, pumpkin and Cat are from Making Memories. Here is another view to show you the dimension on the card:
I had so much fun putting this together. I made another one too, but you'll have to wait a day or so to see that one. It feels so good to have my Mojo back! I just hope it sticks around for awhile. Thanks so VERY much for stopping by and be blessed!

TGF Swap Cards!

2009-10-20T05:58:00.003+02:00

Hey Everyone! Remember when I told you about the TGF swap I was in? I got my cards back and I love them! I want to share with you so here they are. First up, the card that made me want to join the swap by Amy:Isn't it great? She altered one of the Miss Anya's and turned her into a Pixie. And talking about Pixie's... Amy has some of her own pixie stamps designs coming out in rubber! In case you didn't see the little announcement on yesterday's post, head over to my right sidebar and click on Amy's Awesome Candy and you can read all about it! Anyway, here is another card I got in the swap. This one is by Twila:
I love the use of the background! Next up in another fabulous card and this one was made by OhioMary:
I love that DP! I think it's Cosmo Cricket! And here is another card from the swap. It was made by Carol 9sorry I don't have a link):
And the way this card opens is so cool! Look:
Sorry about the blur, I just couldn't get a clear shot. Here is yet another fabulous card. This time by Darlene92:
I love the blues and the use of punches! Finally, here is the last card I received. This one was made by either Linda or Lisa (it wasn't signed, sorry!):
So those are the cards from the swap! I hope you enjoy them as much as I am!

Have a blessed day!

Things are Looking Up!

2009-10-19T13:58:00.006+02:00

Hello my Friends! I know, I know... where have I been? Well, life is just insane sometimes and things (like my blog) get neglected! I won't make excuses, but I'm hoping for the best and hoping that my mojo will return and I can start to blog more regularly again. I haven't made anything crafty in WEEKS but here is something I made a couple months ago (hopefully I haven't shown it to you already):I got this adorable image of a bunny looking up at the flower from a swap before last Easter. I never used it but I really love the idea of the bunny "looking up"! I colored it with my copics and used some of my favorite DP and came up with this card. I made the button flower myself with some ribbon from SU!, a button that has been in my stash forever, and some floss. Here is a close up of the image (I don't know where it is from, sorry!) and the ribbon flower:
Now, I really hope I haven't shown this card to you before, because I remember posting it somewhere but if I have, I hope you enjoy seeing it again! I'm going to try to make a card now, even though I don't feel any inspiration at all! I've cleaned off my desk and done a little organizing. I've also purged some stamp sets that I'll be selling on here soon... hopefully I can get back into the grove of things!

I hope you are all blessed today and I'll see you in the comments section!

ETA: Amy of A Thousand Sheets of Paper has an awesome blog candy going on right now! In celebration of her very first line of rubber stamps, she's giving away one of her stamps and some other yummy goodies! Click on the picture on my right sidebar and go check it out! I'm so excited for her!

Scenic Sunday-Pisa

2009-10-11T09:33:00.002+02:00

We had a lot of fun while my Mom and Brother were visiting. Our first tourist stop was Pisa!We went enjoyed the warm day by walking through the town and looking at the sights.
There were a lot of cool buildings and statues too.
And some interesting people as well.
Have a blessed Sunday!

I owe you!

2009-10-06T22:01:00.002+02:00

I owe you all MANY posts and pictures. There has been NO crafting going on here... but LOTS of "touristy" stuff. Here's a sneak:
Where was I? LOL!

Have a Blessed Week!

Scenic Sunday on Monday... and more!

2009-09-28T08:17:00.005+02:00

Happy Monday Morning! I tried to post yesterday but it was NOT working. Let's try again because I have some FUN stuff to share with you! And be sure to read all the way to the end, because I have a super exciting announcement! First, here are the photos that my son and I took for you yesterday. Here is a "secret garden" behind a row of trees:That's my boy, Ashton in the foreground. Can you see the secret garden through the trees? There is some fruit tree growing back there, but I'm not sure what it is. And here is a Bean Field at dusk:
What kind of beans are they? I just don't know. Here is a close up of some of them:
They are fuzzy right now, and some of the fields are very yellow and dead-looking with dark brown pea pods. It's odd! Well, there is your scenic Sunday on a Monday! I hope you like the little glimpse of Italy this week. I'll have FUN stuff for you next week since my Mom and Brother are coming for a visit and we have fantastic "touristy" things planned! And now on to the crafty part of my post! Last Monday we had our VERY first Mystery Monday at Club Anya. Here is the card I made for Joni's Rule of 3's card:

Every year the ACES club here in Aviano does a Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. This year our theme is "Real Men Wear Pink!" so I used that theme as inspiration for this card! Ian looks so handsome in pink, don't you think?
And I hand-wrote the sentiment:
And of course, I had to make a pink ribbon:

I loved this challenge... and guess what? This week it's MY TURN! YES!!! Jessica asked ME to be the Mystery Monday Hostess! WAAAHOOOO! You can click HERE and read ALL about it. I'm so excited! This is starting off to be a fantastic week.

May God bless you this week, just as He has blessed me!

Scenic Sunday delayed

2009-09-27T20:11:00.002+02:00

I can't upload photos! UGH. If it isn't one thing, it's another. We've had an easy, cool Sunday. Went for a little bike ride and took some pics for you to enjoy... but I can't upload them. I hope to do that tomorrow, and I have something to share with you as well! See you tomorrow and have a blessed night.

TGF Swap!

2009-09-25T21:45:00.002+02:00

Hello Hello! I'm so sorry about not posting for almost a week! I honestly have no idea where my time is going. Things around here have been pretty darn busy, but I think it's all getting under control. We've prioritized some things, cut some things off of our daily to do list (sorry soccer, maybe next season) and I think the family will be getting a handle on it all very soon. And hopefully we will have a second vehicle soon. We've only had 1 for the longest time (even at our last duty station) but it just isn't conducive to have only one vehicle in our lives now so I think we'll be getting another one soon. Hopefully this weekend! lol! It's been a busy/fun week. Let me give you a quick run-down:

~Monday: Got up and got everyone ready and out of the house/on the school bus, took David to work, came home and finished getting ready for the day, went to base for my CPR certification class, brought Angel and her BFF Orion home, Boys got home from school, went back to base to drop off Orion and pick up David from work. Dinner, bed, busy day!

~Tuesday: Got up and got everyone ready and out of the house/on the school bus, took David to work, came home and finished getting ready for the day, I worked at a very busy job; we all got home late, ate late dinner, went to bed late.

~Wednesday: Got up and out of the house, took David to work, went to Open Rec to get the backpack Andrew left there the day before, took the boys to school, went back home cuz I forgot Angel's shoes and my cell phone (mommy brain at work there!), I worked at a very busy job; met a blog reader! WOW! HI MANDY! (on a side note; It was so cool to meet someone who "knew" me online! It was like meeting an old friend even though I didn't know her before!) we all got home late, ate a late dinner, went to bed late.

~Thursday: Did the morning thing. I worked at the co-op, came home with Angel and her BFF Orion, and we played until the boys got home from school. Rushed out of the house to pick up David from work, hung out at the soccer fields to drop off Orion, got home earlier than usual, ate an earlier than usual dinner, went to bed late. (??? yeah, dunno why)

~Friday: got up, did the morning thing, and took David to work, came home and took my TIME getting ready for the day, took angel to the Co-op, ran a few errands, had a fabulous lunch with Angel's BFF Orion AND his Mommy! LOL! Picked up the boys from school, ran a couple more errands, killed some time, picked up David from work, came home, had a quick dinner, went to Angel's BFF Orion's house and hung out with his family for "Survivor Night" came home and blogged.

WHEW! And that's just a summary of the week!

Well, want to see something crafting related now? lol!
I signed up to be in a TGF card swap with some SUPER talented ladies on SCS. This is the swap I mailed off. I really hope it gets there on time. I don't want all of my cards back, I want my swapped out cards back! Here is a closeup of one of the cards:
I used Fairy Tink because she is one of my favorite's and I needed to use a fairy. See, AMY inspired me to be in the swap and she is amazing at altering the Miss Anya's into fairies. Actually, she is amazing at ALL her paper crafting, lol! Here is a closeup of the image:
All the card pictures look blurry on my computer, sorry about that. I tried to do the shiny hair on these pixies, but I don't know if I totally achieved it. Speaking of SHINY HAIR... Gabby shared her tutorial on her blog! Remember this post HERE when I told you she emailed me a picture tutorial and I was finally able to color shiny hair? Well, I asked and she agreed to post it on her blog for everyone to learn from! So if you commented to me that you wanted to see the tutorial, hop over to Gabby's blog! Gabby is just spectacular, I tell ya! AND, not only can she papercraft, she can crochet! LOOK:

This is my Angel Baby wearing a crocheted beanie that Gabby made for her! AMAZING isn't it?!?Angel wasn't in the best of moods for this pic, but I wanted to snap it anyway! I'm trying to get a better one when she's happier, but 2 year old girls are a little temper-mental, lol!

So that's my long post for this Friday night. I'll be back this weekend at least once with a Scenic Sunday post for you all, and this time I'll try to get an actual "scenic" picture for you! lol! Oh, and I have something super exciting to share with you... but not until Monday! HEE HEE HEE!!!!

Until next time, have a blessed weekend!!!!!

Scenic Sunday-fail

2009-09-20T17:30:00.003+02:00

In the words of my DH "Epic Fail!" Yeah, I have no Scenic Sunday picture for you today. I'm so sorry. I can't believe how incredibly busy my life is now that I have a job. I only work 2 days a week for crying out loud! LOL! So I have not taken any pictures lately that would be Scenic Sunday worthy. I hope you will all forgive me! Instead, I decided to post this card that I made for the club Anya VSN last Monday: This is the only card I was able to get done on time since the VSN took place way too early in the morning for me. I used nothing but scraps on this card (except for the card base) and colored the digi image of Dorothy Anya with my watercolor pencils. The pic looks blurry on my monitor; I hope it's clear for all of you. Well, I hope you all are having a very blessed Sunday. Ours has been pretty nice. But we missed church again. I really need more motivation to get up and out of the house of time. If I don't do it, the rest of the family won't either. Ok, well I hope to hear from you all soon, and next time there will be an awesome Italy pic for you!

Until then, be blessed.

A (not so) Wicked Pixie

2009-09-18T21:58:00.001+02:00

Hello Hello! Yes, two posts in a row! Haha! I'm a poet and I didn't know it. Ignore my silliness, I'm tired and pre-posting this, so I'm being a little silly.

On Monday, Club Anya had a VSN on papercraft Planet. Of course there were tons of prizes to be won and challenges to do, but I only got a chance to complete ONE. I CASEd one of the DT members, Traci a.k.a. the Wicked Pixie. HERE is the card I cased and here is my card:

Since Traci's "other" name is the Wicked Pixie, I turned Miss Anya into a pixie! I simply drew some wings behind the stamped image and colored them in. Yes, they aren't perfect and they are a little smeared, but they are hand drawn by a NON-illustrator! lol! I also tried the shiny black hair here, but this was prior to Gabby's tutorial that I mentioned yesterday. Here is a close up of Miss Pixie Anya:
What do you all think? Did I do a good job CASEing? I kept the color scheme, layout, and stamp the same. Traci said she likes it so that made me very happy!

I hope you all have a happy and blessed Friday!

Super Duper Quick Post

2009-09-17T21:26:00.003+02:00

Here's a Super Duper Quick Post because I'm supposed to be sleeping! I just wanted you all to know I am still around. this week has been insane with David's work schedule, the kids in school and soccer, my work schedule, and just life in general. Pray for slower days, please!!! LOL!

My FANTABULOUS online blog buddy, Gabby, emailed me a picture tutorial on coloring shiny hair. And here is what happened!
Woohoo! I was finally able to do shiny black hair thanks to Gabby. I guess I just needed the step by step pictures and explanations. I made the card black and purple cuz purple is Gabby's favorite color, and I used Megan from TGF's Wild Sprout collection because (1) the tutorial used her and (2) I hadn't used her on a card yet, poor girl. Here is a close up of Megan:
In other news, I just started using Google Chrome for my internet browser, and I really like it so far! The blogs I frequent look so much nicer in their layouts, and things upload so much faster. I still have a few issues with getting Facebook to work, but I think that is Facebook's problem so I don't care. So, if you've been thinking about trying it, try it!

I better get going. I hope you have had a blessed week, and keep on accepting His blessings!

Scenic Sunday

2009-09-13T10:42:00.001+02:00

Not much to say, just enjoy the pic:

They used to be all green... soon they will be WINE! ;)

Have a Blessed Sunday.

Wonderful Wednesday

2009-09-09T12:00:00.000+02:00

First off, THANK YOU. Thank you all who have come by and read my little vent on this post. I truly appreciate all the support and kind words you have all given. I also love hearing how you all feel about the situation. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person feeling like this is a not-so-great situation. So, on to other business. I did the "I Wanna Be Just Like..." Lisa Hjulberg challenge on Club Anya. Here is the card: I used Pretty Hat Anya and The Greeting Farm patterened papers from the Sunny Glen pack and the special Birthday Anyaversary pack. Well, that's it for my short Wednesday post.
Until next post, be blessed!

Happy Labor Day!

2009-09-07T12:00:00.001+02:00

2nd post for today, scroll down to read about new Doodlefactory Stamps!
Hello my friends! I hope all of you in the US are enjoying your day off of work and relaxing a little! Well, I know you all are getting a little spoiled with me posting something THREE days in a row, but don't get used to it! LOL! I just really wanted to with you all a happy Labor Day and to show you another card I made this weekend. I used the full size Tink from TGF on this card. Here she is:

I have been having a blast learning to color with my new red Copics, so that is why she has this hair, heehee! Here is the card in full:

I used the Anyone For Anya sketch challenge for this card. I didn't get it done in a very timely manner, but I did it anyway! And now there is a new challenge up. You all should head over there and check it out. The link is on my left sidebar. Well, have a fabulous day, and be blessed!

Quick Question and Doodlefactory!

2009-09-07T09:54:00.003+02:00

Hey all! So I noticed that when I come to my blog, I don't hear any music. Then I checked out my player and it's telling me that because I'm in Italy, I am not authorized to hear the songs. POOH! Can you all hear the music? If you can, I'll leave it be, if not, I'll switch to another player. Onto other news! LOOK:!!!: Doodlefactory has NEW rubber and it's Halloween! How adorable are these images? I think the werewolf is my favorite in this set. To be honest, my DD stamps are getting a little dusty since they haven't been used in awhile, but I think I'll be dusting them off soon, now that I've been inspired on the DD blog. I would love to win this for free... but you have a chance to win it too. Go HERE and check out the details.

Be blessed friends!

Scenic Sunday...sorta

2009-09-06T11:01:00.003+02:00

Hello there friends! So, today's Scenic Sunday is going to be a bit different because I still don't have the pictures I want to show you! David is supposed to be home next Sunday, so his computer will be home also with the pictures in it and hopefully I'll be able to show you the pictures then. For this week, I have a couple different types of scenes to show you! Here is a Card Scene that I made last night! I didn't start out this card with the intention of making it into a scene, but I love how it came out! I used the Never Ever set from TGF and the Trendy Trees Set from SU! I combined two challenges into this card. The cover of this card uses Tuesday Morning Sketch #9 only I turned the sketch on it's side. Here is a close up of Wendy: (at least, I think she's supposed to be Wendy)

My Mom is INCREDIBLY AWESOME and she sent me a BUNCH of copic markers! She sent reds and grays and some refills, so I decided to play with those. I tried to give Wendy black hair but Ashton says she looks like an old woman so I guess it's a little gray. Oh well! I'll just practice some more! Here is a close up of the mini Tink stamp from the same set as Wendy:

Here you can see the DP I used for the scallop behind Tink. The DP is from the Sweet Slumber Specialty DSP by Stampin' Up! And here is the bottom of the card:

I used the trees from Trendy Trees set and stamped them in Versamark on Sahara Sand cardstock. Then I went over them with my chalks to give them a little color. Oh, and I used my blender pen and some close to cocoa ink to draw in the little hills. The other challenge in this card is the Farm Fresh Friday challenge for this week called "It's what's on the inside that counts!" so I decorated the inside of the card:

Again, I used the same DSP and stamp set.

I masked off Peter's lower body and stamped him in Close to Cocoa ink to make it look like he's leaning on the edge of the paper.

And above is a close up of the right-inside of the card. I stamped mini-Tink in Close to Cocoa to decorate the corner a little.

Now Finally, another little scene for you all to enjoy today:

This was the breakfast scene at the table this morning! Fully candid, these are my kids chowing down on their cereal! LOL! I find it interesting that the boys are dressed for completely different seasons. Well, I hoped you like this Scenic Sunday, even though it was a little different than normal! See you all later, and have a BLESSED SUNDAY!

I need to vent a little

2009-09-05T09:04:00.004+02:00

Hi all,
I don't have any pictures for you today because I'm on my new laptop and there are no pictures in it yet. But I need to vent a little and ask for your opinion. I will end up making my own decision of course, and I think I may already know what I want to do, but I would like some other points of view please. So I just re-signed up with Stampin Up. I had issues getting them to change my active status to a military status when we moved over here. According to the SOFA (status of forces agreement) that the AF has with Italy, I am not allowed to have a business. So, I can NOT sell Stampin up products while living in Italy. Not a problem for me at all since I am not a sales person and the actual "selling" part of the business is my least favorite part of it all. So, i finally got dropped as a demo because I hadn't met the quarterly minimum. I decided to go ahead and sign up again, order the special starter kit for $85, and just enjoy my discount on Stampin Up products for the next 2+ years with no worries about minimums. Ok, sounds sweet right? Well, I've been hearing a buzz about some new rule on not promoting other company's products. I finally went to the SU! website today and got the lowdown in detail. Well, I don't like it. Frankly, I just don't like it. In my case, I can not LEGALLY sell, promote, or engage in any in-home business activities while living here in Italy that could bring income in for me. So, I don't! I have no problem with the SOFA rules at all. I am not a salesperson. I just want my discount. LOL! But now I can't even enjoy and share that enjoyment for other companies. At least, that's how I feel I'm being restricted. I realize that promoting competing companies is bad business, but I'm not in this for the "business." Just the fun and the discount! Ok, so I LOVE my Copics, and I LOVE TGF's style of stamps. But because I just typed that sentence, I am now in violation of the SU! contract. I don't think I can continue with SU! if this is going to be the case. It's no secret that I want to be on the TGF or Club Anya DT (I didn't make it this time btw) but now I can't do that and be a SU! demo. So, I think that I will have to quit SU! before I've even received my new starter kit. It was a waste of my money, apparently, to re-sign. I just can't NOT promote other companies and products that I lvoe to use! Well, the saying goes, "when one door closes, another opens" so we'll have to see what happens. I'll enjoy Stampin Up products as long as I can, but I'm a little sad that I won't have easy access to the products anymore. Honestly, the style of stamps is not entirely my "cuppa joe" but the cardstock and accessories are things I really enjoy. Especially all the coordination. Oh well, things change and that's ok. Change can be good. What do you all think about this? Am I doing what I need to? Should I stick with Stampin Up even though I don't have the freedom to create with what I want? Ok, so I can use what I want to create, but I can't let you all know where it came from! Ok, enough blabbering. If you have made it this far on this extremely long post, thank you. I truly appreciate you taking the time to listen to (read) my vent.
Until next post, with pictures, be blessed!

IT's THURSDAY!

2009-09-03T15:46:00.002+02:00

It's Thursday, and you all know what that means, right??? Blog Candy Winner!!! First though, I'm going to make you look at another of my BRIGHT cards: This was for the "I wanna be just like..." Pam Varnell contest over on Club Anya last week. I challenged myself to use the bright colors, and even though I don't entirely love the way it turned out, I think this card has personality. heehee!
So, I know you all didn't come here to look at a card... Without further ado, the winner of my blog candy is........ CARRIE!!!
Congratulations Carrie! Email me at: angie lilavois @ gmail . com (no spaces) with your mailing address and I'll get your winnings out to you asap!
I hope you all have a blessed Thursday, I'm off to soccer practice for the boys!