~ 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.