~ Hi ~

As you can tell, it has been a great while since I last posted. There has been so much happening and lots of good news.

As of February 1, 2009, I am an official Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. This blog will be used mainly for family and friends information.

My new Stampin' Up! blog is : www.prettyinky.blogspot.com
That is where I will be sharing my SU adventures with everyone.

Last Saturday February 21, I had my introductory workshop at my home. It went very well. As a result I will be hosting a class at my home on Saturday, March 14. If you would like to attend, please contact me at: Lindam530@cox.net

The girls, Keira and Kaely are doing great! Next Tuesday, March 2nd, they will be six months old, can you believe that? They are two little baby dolls and I love them so very much. I visit with them as much as I possibly can.

Will post some new pictures soon.

Thank you for visiting and hope that you are enjoy Life wherever you are.

Love & Blessings,
Linda

~ This Past Weekend ~

This past weekend, Ken and I along with two other couples whom are good friends of ours, went up to Clarkdale, Arizona to board the Verde Canyon Railride. I had done this day trip about twelve years ago and remember that it was simply splendous, especially at this time of the year.

The day was in the mid 70's, clear, crisp and cool as we traveled aboard the train's historic trip along the Verde River. As you can see, from the photos, it is teaming with trees, wildlife, and endless beauty. Surely, this is the most beautiful place to be blessed to live in, this awesome, diverse state of Arizona.

~ Linda

~ Keira & Kaely ~

Things have been quite busy in my life since becoming a Grandma. I go and help out with the girls a few times a week and I devour every single, precious moment that I spend with them. Now I know what it means to be a doting grandma, for sure.

Hope that you like the picture of the "girls". They are even cuter in person.

~ Love, Linda

~ Fall's Harvest ~

Here it is, the end of September with Fall on our minds...the summer finally coming to an end for this year...and, indeed, what a year this has been!

My little sister Angela, my nephew Thomas and her fiance Rich came to visit Arizona. We all met at our home in Prescott and had a wonderful time as family with my DH Ken and our two doggies, Sean and Bebe. It was a full house!

We cooked ate and toured the Prescott area and found some lovely places to make memories. We went to the Heritage Park Zoo and strolled around downtown and simply enjoyed ourselves at home in the cool temps of the High Country.

We visited with family far and wide in Arizona. My sister and I have an aunt in Sun City and met with her for dinner one evening. My son Joseph, his fiance Becky and all of us came together for a BBQ one Saturday evening where my DH made his famous rub for flank steak.

And, of course, we went to see "The Girls", Keira and Kaely. The new family are doing fine and I enjoy visiting and helping out with feeding, changing and loving them up.

So, you see. all of the Love that has grown this year has just blossomed exponentially from family and friends. I am in awe as Autumn approaches and we count our Blessings this season.

Love to All...
Linda

~ The Girls Have Arrived! ~

Last evening I had the blessed opportunity to welcome into this world my two adorable granddaughters Keira Kathleen who weighed 4 lbs. 7 oz. and Kaely Kathryn who weighed 5 lbs. 12 oz. They were born at 9:08 and 9:09 PM at Scottsdale Healthcare Hospital here in Arizona. My son Artie and dear daughter in law Angie are the happy parents and everyone is doing fine. The girls are like little dolls, I got to see them shortly after their birth.

This afternoon I am planning on visiting the happy family and taking some photos of everyone. I will post them later.

Love,
Linda

~ Blue Fantasy Dress Card ~

Blue Fantasy Dress was created for my monthly Dine n Swap group this month. I Love this dress stamp and had to use it for swapping and sharing with my fellow card making enthusiasts. Please enjoy!
Love,
Linda

~ Today ~

This past weekend has been amazing. My sister and I own a home in Prescott, Arizona and I spent Saturday through Tuesday there, getting it ready for her visit when she arrives Saturday September 6 with her significant other and son, my favorite nephew, Thomas.

Being up in the "High Country" as it is known here in Arizona is so very different than living anywhere in the entire world. Prescott is a small town, and definitely has its' own character and flavor. There is a town square where people gather at differing times of the day for various purposes. Along the parameters are shops and restaurants to wander in and out of and through and catch a bite to eat or a drink to quench one's thirst.

The air is crisp, clean and invigorating to all of one's senses and I definitely got that feeling for having been there for a slightly extended stay this time.

This past Tuesday, I met my dear friend Nancy for lunch at the Victorian Tea Room which is located near town. Upon entering, I immediately caught her eye and was also delightfully captured by the ambiance that the tea room exuded.
The food and company were most memorable and I hope to visit there and have lunch and tea with friends, old and new in the not too distant future.

Just thought that I would share some of my in state get away time with you all.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

God Bless,
Linda

~ Approaching August ~

As the month of August approaches and July rests itself into the recesses of our memories, let me say that this July was a truly memorable one in my life.
My little sister and I purchased a home together in the High Country, Prescott, Arizona where the air is cleaner, cooler and fresher than here in the Valley of the Sun. We are busily pulling this home together in anticipation of her moving here permanently within the next three years.

There are a few new stamping and paper crafting stores in Prescott that I have visited and plan to take classes at some point in the near future. I look forward to expanding my crafty friends circle to encompass some new ladies up north.

In July I created some cards for a swap with my Dine n Swap friends which the theme for the month was paper embroidery. I cleverly incorporated some leaf embroidery into the rubber stamped part of the card entitled "For You".

Thank you for visiting my blog and I wish you much happiness in whatever it is that your heart desires and your travels take you.

~Linda

~ Twin Girls Grandma ~

Sometime this August I am going to be blessed with two grandgirls. I have never been more excited in my life, except for having my two sons and marrying my DH.

Tomorrow is my son Artie and his wife Angie's baby celebration party. All of the family is invited to attend, men, women and children. That is wonderful! I went shopping yesterday at Babies R Us and had no clue as to what I was looking for, it has been so very long for me to shop for baby items. I love the baby smell from the lotions and creams and diapers.

Anyway, I created a card for them, cased from my Big Sis from Splitcoast Stampers. I can not give her dur credit, because I do not know who she is exactly, except that she has a nickname of "Peanut".

Oh, also, I recently purchased a Cricut. I LOVE it! No more scissors, punches, ... I made the little babies and the LOVE word from it.

Hope that you share in some of my enthusiasm.

Love,
Linda

~ June News ~

Happy Stamping to all of my stamping friends...I have begun to branch out from exclusively creating cards to...drumroll please...a mini scrapbook, yes that is right...I finally did it!!! And I really enjoyed doing it too.

Also, I madea note card stamp set with a tote to match. I will post these items at a later date.

Today my sister Angela and I celebrate our purchase of a vacation home in the beautiful city of Prescott, Arizona. I have forever loved Prescott fromt the first time I visited there when I moved to Phoenix just over sixteen years ago. Every time I would visit Prescott, I would glance at the swiss chalets as I drove into town. The home that my sister and I purchased is a much more than anticipated dream. We both are looking forward to making many special memories in the not too distant future when our families will be gathering up in the cool hills and valleys of one of Arizona's most picturesque cities. More news to follow in future postings.

Other than that, all is well...My DH and I will be vacationing towards the end of this month in beautiful Telluride, CO where the Wine Festival will be taking place. This will be our third year of escaping the desert degrees of dire temperatures to the cool mile high pine topped mountains of Telluride to savor foods and wines from around the world.

TTFN ~ Linda

~ Happy May ~

This month is my favorite month of the year. It began with my attending a "Rush" concert with my oldest son Artie. We had a great time! The music was awesome too. One would never know that the band was in their late 50's. They all put on a spectaular performance. The drummer went for nearly 30 minutes solo and the guitarists, I have not heard anything worth listening to on the radio lately, but this group and the whole experience was great!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. It will be the first time that I am not able to celebrate with my dear mom, call her up and send her a card. I am very sad about that. However, something wonderful is happening...my little sister, Angela and I are becoming closer...I am very excited about this! We are buying a vacation home in Prescott, AZ.

Also, I am going to take on the title of "Grandma" sometime in late August of this year. My son Artie and his wife Angie are having twin girls!! I am very excited about having two little granddaughters to spoil with girly, girl things.

As for paper crafting, card making, I have been busy in that area also. Made some cards utilizing the crayon resist technique. Today I created some cute "Cupcake" cards, just for fun.

So, you see, life has its' ups and downs, it is all good.
All for now...

~ Linda ~

~ Happy New Year ~

Hello to all of my fellow stamping/card crafting friends out there!

This will most surely be the year of all years, I can just tell by all of the excitement that has crossed over into the New Year.

There are many, many new projects to work on so far for my Splitcoaststamper Divine Secret Sister Group, my Dine n Swap Group, an online community: Stephaniessecretsisters and so much more...classes, crops and shopping.

My Chateau de Papier studio is pretty much settle for now, we will see how long that lasts, as new ideas come forth, I purchase new stamps, paper and other toys.

Got to go now and work on some cards for birthdays, swaps and special occasions...who knows...one of you may be my next RAK :)

Take care,

Linda

~ Merry Christmas ~

This has been a very different Christmas season this year. My little sister Angela and I have become much closer as a result of our dear mother's passing a few months ago. I have inherited some of my mom's precious jewelry items and I wear the occasionally to have her close to me. In order to heal from the grief that all this has brought up, I created about 60 Christmas Cards this year. One of them is posted next to or near this blurb.

Last night, I attended my Dine n Swap group's Christmas Party. It was awesome! Everyone was so giving and friendly. We exchanged some wonderful gifts and cards and chatted away in between dinner, bites of chocolate, dessert, and coffee all coordinated by our gracious moderator Renee Nowell of Tempe, AZ.

For next year, I decided to stay with the group and also joined the Secret Sister monthly exchange. I also look forward to learning new techniques, making new friends and simply enjoying our get togethers and sharing new ideas and whatever else comes to pass.

My DH and I will be hosting a Christmas Dinner for about twelve people. We will be serving a roast leg of lamb, several side dishes to accompany and of course, dessert...my DH plans to make Chocolate Eclairs from scratch. Sure wish that you could all be here with us :) Maybe next year.

~ Time to Give Thanks ~

With Thanksgiving being a few days away, I thought to check-in with my blog and post a short update.

These past four months since my dear mother has made her transition have been a whirlwind of emotions, probably why I have not posted regularly. I am grateful that I have not fallen into a deep depression, my life overall is very good. I am thankful to have a wonderful husband, two healthy young men as my sons, and friends far and near that I keep in contact with regularly.

Lately I have been re-organizing my Chateau de Papier (Paper Studio) which has helped me to cope quite well emotionally with my feelings. My DH put together a beautiful stamp cabinet in which I have neatly organized all of my loose rubber and clear stamps. Bookshelves were moved around in order to incorporate a shabby chic daybed for my little sister Angela's visit next February. She, my nephew Thomas and her significant other are planning to purchase a vacation condominium in Prescott sometime next year. That is something that I am very excitedly looking forward to. I made a trip up there a few weeks ago to scope out some properties that she and her realtor had planned for me to look at. The trees were turning and it was 20 degrees cooler there than here in Phoenix.

And, so to speak of Thanksgiving...my DH and I have been graciously invited to a mutual couples' home for the day's festivities and will bring along a wonderful Black Forest Trifle that my DH will make from scratch.

As for the weekend, we might do some shopping locally in anticipation of the forthcoming Christmas holidays. I look forward to decorating our Christmas tree, which will probably go up around the second week of December. Although I do not over-do the rest of the house, I am still mesmerized by the beauty, lights and decorations, along with all of the memories that a Christmas tree holds.

Drop me a note to let me know how you are doing this time of year. Perhaps if you live in town, we can meet for a cup of tea at one of the Tea Houses in Glendale to share our love of rubberstamping, card making or simply sit and chat.

~ Peace ~

It has been a while...

...since I last posted on my blog. My life has changed dramatically.

In July I received a frantic phone call from my sister in New York telling me to come asap, hat our mother was in the hospital with pneumonia and was undergoing some tests to determine the underlying cause of her condition. I made an airline reservation that evening, flew out the next day, got there and my life will never be the same without my mom. She passed away, peacefully and painlessly with my sister, brother and myself taking turns to make sure that she would not be alone when her time came. She went in her sleep.

It has been almost two months now and I still can not believe that the woman whom I shared so much of my life with for the 51+ years that I am alive is not longer available to call and tell her how much I love her.

My faith in God is steadfast and still I am feeling the loss so deeply. This is something that I have no idea how to handle, only to do what I love as much as possible...which, of course, is to stamp and create cards and send them out to people that I care about and others through the RAK group at Splitcoaststampers.com.

All of my close friends have been very supportive at this particular time in my life. I have received nearly a hundred cards from friends, relatives and fellow card crafters.

What else can I say? Life goes on...

The most recent card that I created was from a Stampin Up set Summer by the Sea. I reminded me of when I was little and our family would go to the beach for the day and picnic, swim in the ocean and have fun.
Those are wonderful memories that I have from my childhood growing up in New York with the best parents anyone could ever want to have...both of them gone now...forever...together...again...in Heaven.

~ Dine and Swap ~ Celebration ~

This past Wednesday evening, June 20, I attended my Dine and Swap group gathering for the month. It was held at our coordinator's home and what a splendid home she has. Along with creating some very precious and beautiful cards, she also paints. These were display throughout her home. Her speciality in that modality appears to be rugged western scenery. Truly awesome!

We all had a great time. She cooked delicious burgers along with salad, beans and lost of treats!
The cards that I received in trade are fantastic! I am so inspired by these get togethers to create more on my own to send out to family and friends in Celebration of our great country's Birthday!

My DH and I are planning to have an Italian evening this Saturday. It is a small dinner party and we enjoy having some of our closest and dearest family and friends over to enjoy my DH's favorite hobby of gourmet cooking. He will be making lasagne, not your ordinary one though :)
And I will be creating an antipasto dish...one that I remember fondly while growing up in Brooklyn, New York and Bay Shore, Long Island, New York.

Although I might not have much stamping time this weekend, I will be thinking of what to do with what I have in anticipation of my next themed swaps and projects...ABC and Paper Dolls.
So, if any of you have any suggestions, I would definitely appreciate your comments.

Au Revoir!

~ Fleur de la Dame ~

Now that I have learned a little more French, I decided to name this post "Flower of the Lady".

Over the past few weeks, I have been extremely busy with getting cards ready for a few swaps that I am involved in, beginning with the Music cards with the little birdie in the middle. I had so much fun with creating those cards, they came together quite effortlessly.

Then on to another project of creating red white and blue themed cards for my Dine n Swap group which will be meeting this coming Wednesday evening in celebration of the 4th of July.
I am very excited to see what everyone else has created. This is a group of very talented card artists and all of the swap events that I have attended were so much fun!

And, to top it all off, perhaps I have saved the best for last...a stamp that I truly love and dedicated this blog post to...Flowahbella!!! I joined a Bella swap on splitcoast and these lovely ladies are ready to be sent off to other bella loving card artists. I have to admit that this little lady is the most loved of all of my stamps...perhaps she and I have something in common...well, some of you may already know how much I love flowers...truly, I do. I was able to use some scraps of floral backgrounds for these cards, therefore there is some variety to this set. I find it difficult to create too many cards all exactly alike.

That's about it for now. I may need to rest my weary little fingers for a few days, perhaps making a card here or there. My DH and I and another couple are taking a trip to Telluride, CO in ten days to participate in the Wine Festival there. We are so looking forward to the cooler temperatures and fresh mountain air.

Hope that you all are enjoying Life as much as I am...

Au Revoir!

~ Birthday Thank Yous ~

These are the ~Thank You~ cards that I have been working on today.
They will be going out in the mail in a day or two to all whom have
celebrated my "29th" Birthday with me again this year :)
P.S. It is not over yet...there is another celebration this Sunday...

TTFN,

Linda

Happiness Is...

...a perfume which you cannot pour on someone without getting some on yourself."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

That is such a profound quote. When I came across the stamp with those very words etched upon it, you know I just had to have it! I enjoy using it over and over as a sentiment in the cards that I create. Those are the words that resonate in my heart as I create cards for family, friends, and loved ones.

~ God Bless You All & Keep You Safe ~

Linda