This 'n That

I've got some photos and stuff that I've had in my files, and none of it was enough to make up a blog post! So...I'm just going to lump 'em all together and clear them off my hard drive, lol!

When Thomas was home on leave, he helped me make pasta for the first time, and it became this beautiful lasagna!! It was so good, and Thomas was quite proud of himself!

This is what eight dozen cupcakes looks like!!! I baked them, frosted them and then decorated them for an FRG bake sale. They seemed to be popular though!

For years Bella has been dressed in "cute, girly" costumes for Halloween. But for the past couple of years, she's begged to be a werewolf! She HATES scary things, but nothing could dissuade her. So, this year I gave in and let her get this costume!

When the package arrived, the mask was kind of smooshed in, so I filled the nose with bunched up paper towels, and placed it on the angel vacuum cleaner cover I have. (Due to space, it has to be stored on the front hall landing, and this helps my OCD make that OK, lol!) So instead of a sweet, serene angel face, it now has this rather scary mask on it. I waited the next morning to see if The Bella would notice, but she walked right by it, without noticing. After breakfast however, she walked by it again and let out a SCREAM!!! LOL! Soooo funny! She quickly calmed down when I told her it was part of her costume and not real. She said she was going to scare a lot of children on Halloween night....said rather gleefully I might add!

Thomas loves to dress up just as much as any other kid, and this year I let him get whatever he wanted. Naturally he wanted an expensive costume, lol, with some "extras" to make it even better!!! All I can say is that he looks amazing in it and I can't wait to take photos on Halloween night! Kind of makes sense that my soldier hero would want to be a knight, don't you think?? We got our costumes at costumeexpress.com and as always, the service was amazing!

I had a hankering the other day for something different, and decadent, for lunch, so I whipped up some potato pancakes!! Dipped in sour cream....YUMMY!!!!

Before you get all impressed, they're from a box mix! Still, they were heavenly!!!

I've been trying to win the prize package that Jacque gives away each week for years, and last week I finally won!! So exciting!! 13 flower bunches, ivory & gold butterflies and a set of  Christmas stamps! Yippee Skippee!!!!

This is something I totally want for Christmas (*hint, hint THOMAS!!),....The Walking Dead monopoly game!!! Soooo awesome! It's available on Amazon, starting on October 2nd. It's already in the cart. Easy peasy!!!

Super cool board, AND check out these game tokens!! I want the RV, lol!!!

And last, but not least!, I got a Good Mail package from Christina! It took forever to reach me, but it finally did last Friday!!! My very own Vikings jersey!! Woooo Hoooo!!!!! I've bought tons of them for Thomas and the kids, but I've never had one for myself! So stinkin' excited!!!! Thank you, Christina!!!

AND.....she also sent me these gorgeous crown votive holders!! Love, love, love them!! I seriously have the bestest friends in the whole, wide world!!!!

AND....seeing how I finally had my very own jersey, AND I had to order season two of Homeland because our crappy PX doesn't ever carry anything good, I put in this stinkin' cute hat in the order too. To get free shipping. *wink*

There! All caught up again!! Hoping to get upstairs now and get some crafting done. I'm wayyy behind on some over-due cards, plus I also have two Blog Hops to get ready for as well.

Win A Wii Game....or not!

My longtime friend is giving away an awesome Wii game - Jump Start Family Fitness! But seeing how you don't want it and I realllllly do (so much I'm even blogging it!!!), that you don't need to even enter for it. But feel free to pop over and say hello!! :D

Paper Players Challenge #2

Another new week - another new challenge!!

This week with the Paper Players, we have a color challenge. It was SO HARD to keep this card a secret because I love it soooo much!! You can tell, because I took a ton of pictures of it, lol!!

My design card for this challenge:

Recipe:
Stamps: One of a Kind, Baroque Motifs
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue, Old Olive
Paper: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White
Access: SU buttons, SU gingham ribbon, embossing foler, SU Boho Blossoms punch, scalloped oval nesties, dimensionals, Dazzlin Diamonds glitter

Just a hint of glitter for some sparkle!

Lots of texture!

Now it's YOUR TURN!!

Come on over to the Always Playing With Paper blog, take a look at the fabulous Design Team's cards, and link up your masterpiece using this week's colors! You'll love it!!

Curtain Call Color Challenge - Act 33

I missed the cutoff for this challenge at Stacey's Stamping Stage - NUTZ!!!!! Oh well, I guess I'll have to be more prepared for this upcoming week, huh??

This was the card I made with their colors:

Recipe:
Stamps: Punched Posies, Baroque Motifs
Paper: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, W. White
Ink: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery
Access: topnote die, large flower punch, five petal punch, 1" circle punch, scalloped circle punch, Bashful Blue brads, Certainly Celery brads, Cuttlebug embossing folder

I'll be ON TIME for next week!! :D

Play Date Cafe - Challenge #33

I was invited to play with the girls at The Play Date Cafe this week! Who wouldn't want to be invited to a play date, lol??? For some reason I really had a hard time deciding what to do with the colors this week, despite the incredible inspiration cards they had posted. It took me a while and I'm not sure if I'm completely happy with the final results or not.

My card for their consideration:

Recipe:
Stamps: Cute By The Inch, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Kraft, W. White, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise
Access: topnote die, scalloped border punch, 1 1/4" square punch, word window punch, modern label punch, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder

We'll see how they like it! *fingers crossed*

Paper Players Challenge #1

It's Game Time Stampers!!!

It's the very first week, and first challenge of The Paper Players! I so hope that if paper crafting is your "thing", you will join us this week!! This week's theme is quite timely - a Father's Day card or other masculine theme.

This is my offering for inspiration:

(This card is available for sale too!)

It was soooo much fun to be a Guest Designer!! I love having the "inside scoop", lol!! Ready to play along?? I hope so! Go ahead and check out the other FABULOUS creations by The Paper Players team and link up your masterpiece!!!

Woooo Hoooo!!!!!!!

It's time for some Happy Snoopy Dancing!!!!!

I DID IT!!!!!!!!

Yep, that's right! Your very own Queenie Jeannie was picked to be the June Guest Designer at Always Playing With Paper!!! And I'm quite sure that all your votes and words of encouragement are what set me apart from the very worthy and talented competition! THANK YOU SO MUCH BLOGGY FRIENDS!!! This is going to be fantastic!!!

I entered this contest HERE, but wasn't sure I stood a chance! I still can't believe that they picked me!!!! June is going to be full of awesome challenges and I hope you stampers out there will join in on the fun because this is a brand new challenge site!!! So exciting! It's going to be so interesting to see the "other side" of challenges too. Fun, fun, fun!!!!

So again, huge thanks to the Paper Players for choosing me and for my bloggy friends who are always so encouraging and loyal!!! You all rock my world!!

ColourQ Challenge #32

Another new challenge!! Although our group didn't win the paper packs, I did get "honorable mention" for my card last week and was voted a ColourQ Courtier (see that wicked cool badge over there on the left sidebar??)!! Not too bad for my second challenge EVER!! Woooo Hoooo!!!! When I saw the colors this week I knew exactly the card I was going to make...and for once...just once...my card turned out just like it looked in my vision!

My card for this week!

I used black heat embossing on the vanilla cardstock, and versamark ink on the Kraft cardstock.

How perfect is this brad??? In my stash from Hobby Lobby!

Using my new Elements of Style stamp set & vanilla hardware.

Keeping my fingers crossed this week!!!
What do YOU think?

Want to play along, or see the other cards? Go HERE!

ColourQ Challenge #31

Ohmygosh, what pretty and awesome colors this week!!! Love it! And thanks to my competitive spirit (or something, lol!), Christina and I are now semi-famous!!! So this week I not only coerced invited Christina to play again, but also included my stamping pal & neighbor Rachel!! The more the merrier, right???

Now with the stakes raised a bit I wanted to make an OUTSTANDING card. But which stamp set(s) to use? Which embellishments? What technique? Yikes! I was pretty much paralyzed with choices!!!! But then I won this card from Dawn - my utter stamping hero!! And seeing how that card of hers was lucky (she made it and I won it), I decided to case it for good luck!

My offering for this week’s challenge!

Sideview

Lots of dimension and I love that!

So what do you think? Will this be my lucky card?? Only time will tell…

PS: If you're looking for the Caturday post, it's right below this! :D

ColourQ Challenge #30

I've seen this challenge around on various blogs and always wanted to enter! Last week the colors were awesome and I had a killer card in mind.....but alas, I got my headaches and that idea went out the window. Of course when I did finally do mine (this afternoon!), it was cutting it pretty close to the deadline, lol! You still have time to submit a card though, so go for it! You can check it out HERE and see everyone else's cards too! These are NOT my favorite colors or combination of colors, but I would have never come up with this card otherwise and it's kind of growing on me...

What do you think???

Who knows...maybe I'll be this week's Color Queen!

What does your TODAY look like???

Good morning Bloggy Readers! Remember that photo contest I told you about at Communal Global? No? OK, go here then. All set now? Fabulous!!

Here is my entry:

This is "today" to me!
My two favorites, happy and smiling!!

Good luck to everyone who enters, and if by some miracle I wind up in the top ten, I'm counting on your support to vote early and often, lol!! Now it's your turn....Click HERE, and submit your photo!!!

** Attention Bloggers!! **

Communal Global wants YOU....and your pictures!!

(from their post...)

We want you
to enter a picture contest.
A very cool contest.
About your day.

Any day.
Every day.
Just a day.

The girls at Communal Global
have gathered up some AMAZING prizes
and are hosting their first ever picture contest.

Here is what you need to do:

1. Find a picture that says
'today' to you.

It can be anything.
It can have a person
or people.
It can have pretty architecture.
or scenery.

or toes.

or gum stuck to the bottom of a table.
Whatever.
The sky is the limit!

2. Do a post with your picture.
Link back to Communal Global.
Enter your name on Mr. Linky. (opens April 1^st)
Then cross your fingers and HOPE
the judge will pick you.

The Judge is going to pick her ten favorite pictures.

Then, we are going to open up the polls
and you can vote.
and get your friends to vote.
and just maybe,
you will walk away with a super fantastic prize package!

Hurry! Hurry!
Mr. Linky opens on Thursday, April 1.
You will have 5 days to get your submissions in after that.
It is going to be so fun.

What does your today look like?

Keep reading below to see more of ours.

Happy today-ing!
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There you have it bloggy Readers!! I KNOW you're totally going to enter, right??
RIGHT???

And the award goes to...

Congratulations to our
Blogiversary Bracelet Winner!!!

My Sunday Blessings

Holy Moly! What a week it's been!!! This time last week I thought I was either dying or wishing I was, I was so sick. I honestly don't remember EVER being that sick in my life - it was that bad!!! So take note my peeps: ** DO NOT EAT RAW ONIONS IN ANY TYPE OF RESTAURANT!!!! ** And if you use onion at home, don't put the leftovers in ziplock baggies to use "later". Throw them out!!!! Otherwise they are just bacteria and virus factories!! Onions are cheap. Your health is priceless!

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I'd never seen this one before.
It made me laugh. A lot.
Draw your own conclusions...
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Progress being made on UN-mounting my wood mounted stamp sets.
I bought 160 DVD cases....and even though I can usually get 2 sets in a case (sometimes 3, sometimes only 1), I think I'm going to need MORE cases and MORE cling. Ugh!!

These cases were stacked up until just under this ribbon rack.

Getting there!
So no, I'm not done yet. Not even by half.
Christina? I'm so jealous of you, lol!!!
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I won two incredibly awesome bloggy contests, and from the same blogger!! How awesome is that?? HUGE thanks to Sweet Jeanette!!!

This beautiful, hand made quilt is actually a wall hanging. Here you can see my Bellaboo showing it off. She thought it was awesome too! It will look amazing in my villa in Italy...

AND I won her handmade bookmark (so cute with flip flop charms!!!) and this good-enough-to-eat heart ice cream cone!! Love it!!!
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Another reason I couldn't blog much (you know besides being sick as a dog!!), is that I had my 5 for $5 scheduled for Friday morning!!! It was my idea to change the time from evening to lunch time and have a fancy, Moms only lunch! I really cannot believe I completely forgot to take pictures!!! But it was reallllly pretty! I made little paper spring baskets filled with chocolates for each place setting, and set the table with my good china and gold flatware!!!! Normally I only use them twice a year and isn't that pretty silly? So now I'm going to use them....All.The.Time! Life is short; use your good china often and eat dessert first, lol!

Here are the cards I designed for this round:

Each guest got to pick what color & types of flowers to use and the greeting. Perfect for sending a loved one those school pictures!

Birthday Card

Lovely Parisian "hello" card

Simple St. Patrick's Day card

Releasing that inner "kindergartener" card, lol! Everyone could color this adorable mouse card, or leave it as is.
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Last Monday, the 22nd, marked my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF QUITTING SMOKING! I can't believe I've finally done it because I've tried many times before and it never stuck. I was just too addicted and enjoyed it so much. I still have times when I miss the stress relief I used to get from them, but NEVER miss the cigarettes themselves. I simply cannot stand the smell and get sick to my stomache immediately when I smell it on others. I'm so grateful to be free!!!!

To mark the occasion, Rachel made me this fantastic card!! Isn't it awesome??? She's always been such a great friend and a huge support to me! Love ya Rachel!!!!
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Even though I'm not a "real" Demonstrator with Stampin Up, I was still pretty tickled when I received this promotion certificate!!! Basically, it means I'm a really dedicated shopper with them, lol!
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I've received some new bloggy awards!

The first two are from Charlene at The Balance Beam. Thank you so much!!

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This one is from Christina at Christina's Creative Expressions.
I think she is pretty gorgeous herself!!!
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This one is from Melissa at The Scholastic Scribe.
You WISH your kids had her for a teacher!!
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I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember who gave this one to me!! I received it twice before and posted it, but then I got it again just before I was sick and now I've forgotten. Thank you very much though!!!!

As always, if you don't have any of these awards, please take them with my blessing! I hate picking and choosing people because I hate to make anyone feel left out!
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Today is my 3rd Blogoversary!!
Three years of blah, blah, blah blogging, lol!!!

I had intended to have a week long celebration like we did last year, but frankly, I'm just too busy and too tired to monkey around with all that fuss. Just think, next year I'll be in Italy and have lovely Italian goodies to give away!!!! (squeal!!!) I did however have a lovely bracelet made again this year to give away to one lucky follower of this blog!

Isn't it lovely??? Rose quartz, sterling silver chain with crown charm, with pearls and crystals!! It's realllly pretty and I wanna keep it for myself, lol!
But I'm not - it's for YOU lucky reader!!

Huge thanks to Pyper Dow at A Girl's First Gems! She did an amazing custom job for me and has a lovely Etsy shop. Please do check her out because her prices are insanely low and the quality is top notch!!

Love it!!!

Worth playing for? Of course!!
Rules:
1. You MUST be a follower of this blog!
2. Leave a comment about the ONE THING you like most about my blog.

That's it! Easy peasy!! Contest open to all followers until midnight EST Saturday, March 6th. The winner will be drawn by The Bella next Sunday and announced on next week's Blessings post. Good luck everyone!!