Operation Julie's Smile!!! :)

Hello out there! I'm sure many of you have heard by now that Nicole, Owner of Sweet Stamp Shop, has been putting together a blog hop for our friend Julie Ranae Murray who is pretty well known in our crafting world. She is the creator of CAS-ual Fridays and The Play Date Cafe. She is also the Design Team Coordinator of such companies as The Twinery, Lil' Inker Designs and OF COURSE, Sweet Stamp Shop. I'm pretty sure there are a couple of others that I missed, but you catch my drift... she is involved with a lot and I'm sure you all know her or have seen her face somewhere along the way. You can also get to know her better on her own blog, Julie's Open Window. This is the story about our friend who has lost her smile... for now!!!

Many may know that a few weeks ago, Julie Ranae had to have emergency oral surgery resulting in the removal of her two front teeth. The dentist at that time believed the best course of action would be to remove the rest of her teeth and replace them with permanents. Relieved at finding a solution to her major dental problem, she visited the office for dental surgery. Unfortunately, it wasn't the visit she was expecting. After the consultation and scheduling the surgery, the surgeon's office informed her that she would need to bring $4000 back to the appointment with her and they would proceed. This amount would not include the 'dentures' she would need as well.

Here Julie is today, sitting without front teeth that were pulled with the belief that they would be replaced immediately. This has been an overwhelming experience for our dear friend and one that I hope our creative community can help with.

Join us beginning October 7th for a blog hop to benefit Julie called 'Operation Julie's Smile'. There are a variety of companies and design teams who will be participating in this hop to help raise funds for this benefit.

Julie is such a sweet person and befriended me quickly even having never met her in person. She takes the time to get to know you even if you think you're a "nobody" in this crafty blogging world sometimes. I have my own thing in the works that I will be sharing more publicly soon and she's been willing to help and offer me advice. Again, having never met. I just love her and want to help in any way I can.

I called Nicole today to tell her I would be donating a couple of stamp sets and was WOWED at the fact that my donation brought the running total up over the $2,000 mark. Can you believe that?!?! How AWESOME!!! The blog hop will run October 7th - 9th and everybody that donates will be entered to win some fabulous prizes that have been generously and lovingly donated by fellow stampers, scrappers, businesses and FRIENDS alike. You can help, too by donating any amount you feel comfortable with. Every $1 counts and is appreciated deeply. I will also be making a monetary contribution and sincerely hope YOU will as well. We can make a difference!

Let's see our friend SMILING again SOON!!!

{{{Hugs}}}

Butterfly Elegance

I had a chance to play around and made this card a week (or two) ago. Time sure does go by quickly I tell ya!!! I had used Stampin' Up!'s Manhattan Flower Cuttlebug folder. I bought this from a friend who hosted a party a couple of years back and it really is quite lovelyl. I embossed it on SU!'s thick vellum paper, mounted it on black cardstock and adhered it to my grey card base. I used a piece of flower ribbon, punched a large butterfly out of black cardstock and added some silver bling to the body to complete the card. Really easy and really beautiful. Gotta love that!!!

Who wouldn't love this blog candy?!?!

La-la Land Crafts is giving away some SUPER blog candy!!! Couldn't help but share for my chance to win!!! :) HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, Marci and Luka! Visit their website as linked above to do the hop!!!

HIP, HIP, HOORAY, Marci and Luka had a BIRTHDAY!

On August 1st, our Marci and Luka finally turned ONE!

We want to thank each and every one of our customers for your continued excitement and support as we celebrate this amazing milestone! We couldn’t have done it without you, and we want you all to know…YOU ROCK!!

Are you ready for some birthday FUN?!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we have a special surprise for you!! We’ve brought back some La-La Land Crafts’ alumni and friends to celebrate Marci and Luka’s birthday with us….YIPPEE!

On top of our special guest bloggers, we are offering up a HUGE BLOG CANDY for this exciting event.

Take a look at this prize package!!



This Blog Candy contains the following:
~ Set of 12 Copic Markers in NEW 2011 colors
~ Spica Glitter Pens (set B)
~ Pack of X-Press It Blending Cardstock
~ New Scor-pal
~ Pack of ¼” Scor-Tape
~ 3 sets of 12x12 Basic Grey Collections paper packs
~ $20 gift certificate to the La-La Land Crafts Store

To be eligible for this FABULOUS blog prize, you must follow these 3 easy rules:
1. Become a follower and/or subscribe to our Blog.
2. Display a picture of our Blog Candy on your blog with a link back to THIS POST.
**if you don’t have a blog, please spread the word
3. Leave ONE comment BELOW after completing the blog hop answering this question:
“Which stamp used on the projects in this hop is your favorite?”

You have until August 31st to leave your answer below in our comment section (one comment only please).
We will draw the winner’s name on September 3rd.

Butterflies are my FAVORITE!!!

About a week or so ago, my friend Brenda came over to play with me. I didn't have much mojo going on so I just stamped this little My Favorite Things Pure Innocence stamp from the set Butterfly Kisses. Of course I HAD to have this one since she is a BUTTERFLY after all and you know how I feel about those!!! Or maybe you don't? My name is Vanessa which means "butterfly" in Greek (though I'm NOT Greek! LOL). My mom had an affection for them herself and actually has a butterfly tattoo on her chest. Shhh, don't tell her I told you!!! hehe So I suppose my own affection for butterflies began before I was even born. I just simply ADORE them!!! My son's new thing is to say things are his "favorite". For instance, the other day out of nowhere he says "Avery (his little sister) is my favorite!" Yesterday he told my husband "Oatmeal is my favorite!" So, this inspired the title to my post today... "Butterflies are MY favorite!!!" :)

Last night, I was wanting to get up to my scrap area to play but I was glued to the TV watching Cupcake Wars! Luckily, the next episode that was on was one I'd seen before so I did eventually make my way on up. LOL I really need to get cable up there, I think I'd be more inclined to visit my space more often. I do have a TV/VCR up there so I popped in a movie (My Life in Ruins) and decided what I wanted to do with her! I had already paper pieced her with papers from the DCWV All About Girls mat stack so I thumbed through to find a background paper for my card. I really liked the words "Set your <3 on something beautiful." I have something in the works so I will update you on that SOON! I will just say that I am super excited!!! I ended up using some pink velvet paper to fill in the space on the side... and the TOP due to my paper trimmer being uncooperative. :P I added some teal colored ribbon along the top to balance the border on the bottom and to cover up where my paper was pieced together. Lastly, I added a BEAUTIFUL pink rose by Prima Flowers and some self-adhesive pearls. I hope you enjoy her!!!

Three is ENOUGH! haha

Just wanted to post a current picture of my three babies... Devin, age 15, Andrew, age 3 and my baby girl, Avery, age 1. Although, this was taken on 7/17 and she turned 1 on the 23rd. Pardon my heading, but I don't know how people handle more than 3 children. I have my hands FULL and am happy with my family of 5. Nothing against anyone else who aspires to have a larger family of course! They are quite good looking though, aren't they?!?! :)

You Are So SWEET!

Hi, everyone! This is a really quick post because I am exhausted and just burnt my hand embossing my card for this challenge. But, hey! Quitters never win, right? :P

The challenge from Cas-ual Fridays blog was to make a simple and sweet card. Honestly, this came out even a little more simple than I'd hoped but it took all I could to cut it out after burning my right hand. Urgh! Here's the proof... LOL

Sending you a line...

To let y'all know I'm still alive!!! HAHA It's been 10+ months since I've last posted on my blog and I won't lie, it had been a long, long time since I'd done much crafting at all. I've been busy with my little ones. My youngest son turned 3 in April and my baby girl will be turning ONE on July 23rd. I can hardly believe it, she's growing up too quickly! I will post a few pictures on my next post. In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of shopping (so many enablers out there in the crafting world! LOL) and rearranging my craft area a bit. In the house we're renting, there's a large loft area outside of the kids' bedrooms. I *thought* I could put them in their rooms and they'd play BUT I was wrong. They are just so up my behind that almost as soon as I put them in there, the baby's crawling out to find me and she's not 100% stable on her feet so she falls and it just goes on and on! Then by the time they go to bed, I'm too wiped to do anything. It was a miracle that one night, I dragged myself up to my table and made not one, but TWO cards. They're both pretty simple but they took me a while since I was so out of it for a while. I used kraft for the card bases and cloud paper for the background. The stamps are from Unity Stamp Co.'s Watermelon Gazpacho Soup. I tried paper piecing then I tied some string into little bows and attached them to the ends of the line. I definitely need some practice (not thrilled with the pink bathing suit) but I do like the effect. I also made a little boo boo (I'm good at that! HAHA) and got a little extra ink around my sentiment. I used some white puffy paint and drew a little cloud around it to cover it up. Not sure if it looks better or worse. :P On the second card, I just used the "For You" sentiment with a few butterflies... my FAVORITE! Hope you like them!!! And, I'm happy to be back!