Our Chesapeake and our youngest grandson enjoying some quality time together.

If your dog was a teacher you would learn stuff like:

*When loved ones come home, always run to greet them. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.*Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.*When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.! Let others know when they've invaded your territory.*Take naps.*Stretch before rising.*Run, romp, and play daily.*Thrive on attention and let people touch you.*Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.*On warm days, stop to lie on your back in the grass.*On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.*When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.*No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout..run right back and make friends.*Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.*Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.*Stop when you have had enough.*Be loyal.*Never pretend to be something you're not.*If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.*When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

People I would like you to visit

I need to tag a few people, so here goes :
Amy at: http://amyko.blogspot.com/, becasue she thought we didn't read her blog!
Kat at: http://doodlesanddragonflies.blogspot.com/, becasue she is a nurse in labor and delivery, what an awesome job that is!
Melinda at: http://endlessembelishments.blogspot.com , because her brother trained at the army base in SC near my daughter.!
Tracy at: http://www.inky-doodles.blogspot.com , because I know her and she has the cutesest little boys!
Maria at: http://cardinspired.blogspot.com/because she is from Hawaii. I will be going there next Feb. for my 60th birthday!
Jan at: http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/, becasue she is so funny!
Emily at: http://waterpixie.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ becasue she has just done something cool with her hair!

Spazzgirl tagged anyone reading her blog

Now is my chance to list 7 things about me.
1. First and foremost is my greatest role in life: Grandma to two wonderful boys.
2. My first job was a waitress at the White Tower. I received great training there and loved meeting new people everyday.
3. We retired to the mountains of NC, where life has become so busy, I wonder how I have time for all I do. I volunteer at Hospice twice a week, and the Library once a week, I teach stamping classes once or twice a month, I teach Sunday School every week. I lead a chapter of TOPS every week. I go out to lunch with my Red Hat group once a month. We try to visit the grandchildren at least once a month. My husband and I are members of the British Car Club, and Friendship Force. We had to retire, how wold we ever have time for all our activities?
4. We Took a trip to New Foundland in 1975. This trip required an 8 hour Ferry trip from Nova Scotia. That Ship rocked and rolled for 8 long hours. I got sooo... sick! I told my husband I don't care how we do it , but I will not take a Ferry off this Rock. We flew home instead. (Little did I know at the time, but part of my problem was I was pregnant.
5. I was a college drop out. After 3 months of college, I decided it wasn't for me and got a job with the telephone company as a long distance operator.
6. I did go to college later in life, after my children were in school. I started out working in the school as a teacher's aide, but decided that I would rather be the one at the head of the class. My son and I graduated the same year, he from high school and me from college.
7. My mom was my hero . She got her GED and enrolled in nursing school and graduated at the top of her class. Watching her study at the kitchen table each night was an inspiration. Mom died of lung cancer 17 years ago, I miss her very much.

I held a stamp camp on Saturday. After we finished I realized I had called it a stamp camp and it was really more of a scrap camp. We did no stamping, but we used scrapping kits and accent tins to create an explosion card, a photo folio, and an altered altoid tin. My daughter was visiting this weekend and joined the class. It was fun to show her what I get so excited about. I am in a couple of swaps and I am teaching a technique class this wek, so I will be busy stamping all week. That is after I buy groceries, plant some sunflowers, and plant the beautiful yellow rose bush my daughter gave me this weekend. Lots to do so I had better get started. Have a great day everyone.

How I started

I was first introduced to Scrapbooking at a CM crop (1997). With the impending birth of my first grandchild I knew I had to scrap his entire life. Thus my first scrapbook. About 5 years later I was introduced to Stampin' Up! It was love at first site. When I moved to NC, SU was my first way to meet new people. SU is very popular here in NC. I soon became a demo and have been happily stamping and scrapping ever since.

Greetings from Grandma's house

Well the grandsons are back home now, I am trying to recover from the cold I caught from the youngest one. We had so much fun with them. I love being able to spend special time with each of them. In case you didn't know, I love being a grandma. Truly one of my greatest blessings.

Check out my blog roll. I added several new bloggers to the list of places I visit. There are really some talented ladies out there. They inspire me to be more creative with my blogsite. I will have to post the cards and projects I do at my stamp camp and technique class in the next week.

We made some great projects at the demo meeting this week. It is always fun to get together with other demos and share ideas. My Sunday Stampers is a great group of fellow SU demos.

Grandma's House Has Been Crazy

It has been impossible to get any stamping done with a 2 year old around. I am under the gun because our monthly demo meeting is at my house tomorrow. I had to work on the swaps today. I made two cards: a non pink Mother's day card (a request by one of the demos) and another card to show off one of the punches from the Spring Mini. I have been lost for ideas this week, so I visited Maria from Hawaii's site and got some inspiration from her card challenges. Check her site out if you haven't been there. She has lots of great challenges. I also have to design an altered Altoid Tin for tomorrow's meeting. I am going to show the girls how to do one. I want to use the Accents & Elements from the Spring Mini too. I thought it would be a good way to showcase items from the Spring Mini. I've never made an altered Altoid tin before, but how hard can it be??? I'll let you know.

This week at Grandma's

Just letting you all know that I have my youngest grandson here all week. He is 2...enough said, I will be too busy to post anything most of the week. I will try and check out what others post on their blogs. Have a great week!
Gail

Stamping going on at Grandma's House.

My grandson wanted to stamp today so he is making some calendars for himself. I showed him the one's I had from a CD calendar swap I was in. He doesn't want my help, just my stamps and inks. He has been stamping away for an hour now. I love that he likes to stamp too!

Another busy day at Grandma's house

I volunteer at Hospice in the Bereavement department one day a week. Today was my day. I also had my weekly TOPS meeting tonight. We had installation of officers and awards tonight. I am the leader so I had a lot of prep work to do for the celebration. I think it all went well. Tomorrow is my Library volunteer day. One of the best things about being retired is being able to do this volunteer work. I really enjoy it.

The poison ivy is doing much better, the itching is gone and the rashes and redness are much better. I want to plant some flowers with my grandson on Friday, Hopefully I won't get into any more poison ivy. I will look very carefully before I choose where we plant the sunflowers. Have a great evening everyone.

All's Quiet at Grandma's House Tonight

My grandson is sleeping and I am spending some time working on my Stamping Newsletter for April. I just finished it and sent it out to my customers and my family. I use Microsoft Word and it is usually just my own creation. I have thought about using one of the on line places like Constant Contact to send it out, but have yet taken the time to set it up that way. Do any of you use the on line marketing places to send out newsletters?
I want to start sharing some techniques that I have tried. I like trying new ones and trying some of those that have been around for awhile. I will try to post a picture of one I have done. I scan several sources looking for techniques to try. I will try to give credit whenever I can. Most techniques I have used are not my original ideas. I do try to use them on cards that are my own design. I found this technique in "Eileen's Technique List" hochstein@sprynet.com that I downloaded a couple of years ago.
"Serendipity Technique "
1. Using pigment ink, color, scribble, mark and or paint on your background paper. You want this to be a mess, with no rhyme or reason - be bold - use colors outside your comfort zone.( You may use gel pens, markers, pearl ex anything you want to). When you are satisfied with your colorful mess, go to the next step.
2. Randomly stamp image on the background paper with you black ink. Once you are happy with the amount of stamping, add your clear embossing powder and emboss the entire sheet.
3. Take entire sheet and cut into squares and play with the patterns until satified. Attach to your card.

Poison Ivy, YUCK!!!

I love gardens especially in the Spring when everything is coming to life again. My Azealas are beginning to show their colors. One of the things I liked about this house when we bought it was how nice the gardens are. The weather was so nice last week that I decided to pull some weeds and do a little trimming around these beautiful bushes. Unfortunately for me, I think I came in contact with some old poison ivy vines. I have broken out in rashes everywhere. I don't do poison ivy very well. I am headed off to the doctor later this morning to get something for this terrible itching.

More later .........

Just returned from the Doc's. He gave me a shot, some samples for antihistimines and a script for steriods. I should be feeling better in a couple of days. I can't wait.