MY STAMPS FOR SALE

Here is the long awaited list of stamp sets and accessories I have put up for sale. Please do not hesitate to send me questions about anything you see here. E-mail me directly at "laura2471@yahoo.com"

If you do not like the slide...click any image once or twice to get to my flickr gallery and view the pictures/description/price in a list form.

Another Amazing Artist

I found this on Kristina Werner's blog today and had to post it here as well....love this masterpiece!!!

Back again!!!

I am finally back!!! After a little over a month without creating, I finally managed to set up my new scrap room and create a little something. It was so long since I made something that I felt a little awkward creating again...like I didn't know where to begin.

Anyhoo...I got these gorgeous stamps a while ago and managed to finally use one of them. This little girl is the cutest and she reminds me of someone I know...in Sardinia...ciao Eleonora.

Supplies: Gorjuss - Just A Girl Stamp (Sugar Nellie Stamps), scallop border punch (stampin'up), fleurettes flower kit (stampin'up), latte button (stampin'up) very vanilla cardstock and Linen Prints Designer Series Paper (Stampin'Up - retired), kraft tafetta ribbon, watercolor crayons - Earth Elements (stampin'up), red gelly roll pen.

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think....

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Just to give you a little update...I finally have a desk and a chair in my scrap room...now I need to put up all the shelving and put away all my little things.

Wanted to take a moment to wish all the mothers out there a very Happy Mother's Day...a very wise friend once told me that choosing the job of motherhood is a choice you can never take back...it's not like you can quit or get fired, you will have that job forever whether you do it well or not, you will always and forever have that title. I love that!!!

Here's a little video for all the mothers...don't take it too seriously!!!

THE VOCAL HUMAN ART

I just had someone share this video on Facebook today and I just had to share it here because I loved it!!!

NEW HOUSE AND A GARDEN!!!

Hello Everyone...did you miss me?

I finally got internet/cable/home phone installed yesterday after almost two weeks without any of those services. I could have cared less for cable/home phone but it did feel more like a month of being without internet. I was having major withdrawals...however, it was a blessing in disguise as I have managed to unpack and clean a lot since we moved to our new house in a town called Wayland (25 min. West of Boston). We got all our boxes and things and it is taking a lot of time and work to get our new place organized.

Spring has come here and it seems kind of short since we already reached 90 degrees here last weekend. Our yard is blooming!!! I took pictures of all the blooming flowers out there because it was so pretty.

I am getting ready to start my own garden now and my kids and I have planted herbs and tomatoes, peas and lettuce. Of course, the seedling are all in the house now but I plan to plant them all outside in a couple of weeks...this too is some work.

My stamping/scrapbooking room is still all in boxes and my hubby decided to use the legs of my desk for another desk which means I will need to get a brand new desk.

Here are the pics of the flowers in my yard...if you want to see crafty pictures today you will need to head over my Stampin'Up blog



















I am so inspired to already create a mini album with all these pics!!!

ANOTHER ENTRY FOR KRISTINA'S CHALLENGE

So I managed to find a little time to make a card for Kristina Werner's challenge this week. I had this card in my head for a while now and since I don't normally use these colors, I thought it would be a good challenge for me as well. I really like how this turned out and I really love the "Forest Friends" set in the new Stampin'Up Occasions Mini catalog. To get the mirror effect of that little bunny, I just stamped an image on white carstock and then the other image on acetate (use StazOn ink)...I then glued the acetate down next to the other image and cut out a circle with a coluzzle. Since I did not have my dear Rose Red cardstock but had my marker, I had to color some white cardstock with the marker as well as my chipboard..so good to know that even though I had limited supplies, I still was able to do this with these colors. This card measures 4 1/4 X 4 1/4


Here is a full list of supplies (all Stampin'Up this time):

Stamp Sets: Forest Friends
Paper: Good Morning Sunshie Designer Series Paper, Basic Black, whisper white, acetate
Ink: Rose Red, StazOn Black
Accessories: Eyelet Border punch, Heart To Heart punch, stampin' dimensionals, On Board Timeless Type chipboard, kiwi kiss satin ribbon, button from the Button Bouquet button kit

Let me know if you have any questions on this card...I am posting some other cards (after this post) I made with the same stamp set in my Stampin'Up website and you can go check them out HERE

A Beautiful House

You guys have to check out this house made out of recycled stuff ...all the furniture was either refurbished or found at dumpsters...AMAZING!!!

Too bad I was not able to see this house this past summer when I went to see the Joshua Tree Desert

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/garden/09joshua.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&no_interstitial

Happy Easter!!!

A CHILDHOOD FAVORITE

When I was a little girl and lived in Brasil I discovered Sarah Kay and Holly Hobbie and I was in love!!! I had stationery paper and envelopes collection with images of these little girls and I used to swap them with friends.
A few decades later, I discover these awesome stamps from Stampavie and all those memories came back and the love for those little girls too. I finall got the courage to play around with my watercolor pencils and make a card. I am terrible at watercoloring and I am hoping that I will get better so this is my first try at watercoloring these types of images. Unfortunately, this photo does not capture the embossed white cardstock in the background but trust me it is embossed.

Isn't this little girl the cutest??!!! This card will take off to brighten someone else's day soon...it will be difficult to part with this one.

MY FRIEND GIORGIA

I received this beautiful gift from my friend Giorgia a while ago and have been meaning to put it here for a while now. Isn't it GORGEOUS!!!
These kinds of gifts just make my life so much brighter!!!

The Good Life Mini Book

Here's a picture of my last finished mini album. This is the front cover. To see the inside and other details you can go to my other blog www.creativitywithstamps.typepad.com

EVERYTHING'S AMAZING AND NOBODY'S HAPPY

I just had to share this video that I found out about from a friend in Facebook.

I think it's a really good slap in the face that we all need sometimes...including me.

KWERNER CHALLENGE # 44

After a long time following Kristina Werner's Challenges, I have finally decided to finally participate...I mean this challenge had such yummy colors that I could not resist.



Yes, my love for owls is still pretty strong. I had a heart template saved in my computer and I used it to make this cute little heart tag ready to put on a gift wrapped box. Here is the list of supplies used:

Stamps: Wood Background (All Night Media), Grow-A-Garden (BasicGrey)
Cardstock: Pink pirouette, chocolate chip, whisper white
Ink: Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: American Craft Thickers chipboard stickers (inked in chocolate chip), stampin' dimensionals, Curly Label Punch (stampin'Up), hemp twine, Scallop Border Punch (stampin'Up)

I hope Kristina likes it as much as I do.

Valentine's Day gift for Hubby

I just posted the CD desktop calendar I made as my hubby's Valentine's Day gift. Here's one of the pages. You can check out the full calendar in my Stampin'Up blog HERE (and if you think it's nice or bad, leave me a comment...my other blog is getting pretty lonely!!!)

Little Birdie Card

I made this card for a friend and shipped it overseas...more info. in my Stampin'Up blog HERE

How To Videos

Yes, I'm on a roll with my blog lately...trying to make up for my lack of presence.

Here's a few videos I had found while browsing youtube. Enjoy the tutorials (I certainly did):

GIFT FROM A FRIEND

This is a beautiful gift I received from Barbara, a friend from Rome (Italy). I had spoken to her via skype (which I suggest you all to get; it's free and fabulous...www.skype.com). I had spoken to her about stampavie.com and she had mentioned she knew the owner and that she had a couple of their stamps. I loved this one right away and she had mentioned that she was going to send it over my way. Three days later, I received a padded envelope from Rome (yes, only 3 days later!!!) and this is what I received....look at the gorgeous card that she made me!!!

Thank you so much Barbara...I will never forget this generous gesture!!!

SOME NEWLY DISCOVERED TUTORIALS

I ran into a few blogs by accident yesterday and I did find a few awesome tutorials including a tutorial in making magazine file boxes. You can see the tutorial at Apartment Living


Here are a few other ones:

Bulletin board with shutters from Craftynest
Printing on fabric using your computer by Hanna Sandvig
Spiky Star by Swapatorium

P.S. We are all getting settled here in Boston...it is taking us a little while to get used to the cold and snow but we are all very happy!!!

A NEW YEAR - A NEW START...

Hello friends,

First of all...Happy New Year 2009!!!

Secondly...hubby finally got a new job and it's a really good one. Of course, it's nowhere near Sunnyvale, CA so we will be moving in a couple of weeks.

We will have a new place to call home soon and guess where it will be....



HELLO BOSTON!!!

A Beautiful Song

I just found this today and it made my heart smile...enjoy!!!

CCCCHHHHANGES!!!

Missed Me??? I know, I've been bad again at updating my blog but things in this household have changed quite a bit.

Hubby has been looking for a new job for almost 6 months now and we have had to make some drastic changes. My blogs have not been on my priority list for a while and probably will not be still for a few more months.

This life experience has really taken me and my family all by surprise and we have all been learning a lot here. We are all still going throgh it and the light at the end of the tunnel is still pretty far away but hope has not left us.

I have had moments of time where I still made a few creations and layouts. This is one that fits this post pretty well because that is how we all feel here lately...just plain WORN OUT!!! But in reality, this picture was taken this past summer and it was the only time my son had fallen asleep at a table while waiting for lunch. Needless to say, he has a lot of fun this summer and was always pretty exhausted from all the activities.

This layout uses retired patterned paper from a Stampin'Up. Love using thickers lately and the black ones are still my favorite...brown ones come second.
I used the negative of our exclusive Big Shot Top Note Bigz Die as a frame, some white acrylic paint, gaffer tape from 7Gypsies and a big felt flower from Target. This was an easy and quick page!!!

A Tutorial

Hello Friends...

Just wanted to let you know I posted my very first tutorial in my Stampin'Up blog for a cool mini album.

Here's a pic:



Just go to www.creativitywithstamps.typepad.com for the tutorial

oh...and leave me a comment if you like the project or the tutorial...the blog is pretty lonely without any comments

Lots of Hugs!!!

Just Keep Going, going, going...

Just got over a week long flu and the antibiotics almost killed me this time. Seriously, they made me so weak and finally today I started catching up on house work and actually got to send out my Stampin'Up monthly newsletter so I am starting to feel like I am breathing well again.

Kids schools are keeping me busy as well...they seem to have after school activities once or twice a week now. Once I start them on a sport, I think I may be either driving them a lot start coaching them into biking with me to places.

Since I am a youtube fan, I often have my kids with me and we all watch new videos together...it may be pretty lame for some but since we don't have cable and rarely watch TV, this is a really nice past time for us.

Of course, once we find some cool videos, my kids ask me to play them over and over again which results in us all having crazy songs stuck in our heads. Here's what has been stuck in our heads for two weeks...enough to drive the sanest person MAD!!! So here...get these stuck in your head too!!!

INSPIRED!!!

There have been so many people inspiring me lately!!! One in particular caught my eye so strongly I quickly went out to get a canvas and create something similar myself.

I have been a fan of Heather Nichols for a while now and stalk her blog quite often. As soon as I saw her canvas project, I had to give it a try and came up with this...which oddly enough, my hubby had more to say about it than just "that's nice"...which means he truly liked it. You can see Heather's project HERE

SIMPLE CARD

Hi there....

I've been creating up a storm lately in my room and it's been keeping my mind occupied from being in limbo...hubby has been looking for a new job in these past two months and I do often get anxious since I hate the feeling of not knowing what we're going to do next.

Here's a simple card I did for my dad's 61st birthday. I love the simplicity of it and even though I don't color all too well, I do actually like how my coloring turned out.

Isn't this stamp lovely? This stamp is actually a gift I got from my friend Serena in Italy at Impronte D'Autore

MET TIM HOLTZ

Yes, it's been a while....

Been scrappin', stamping, taking some classes in these past few weeks.

I started the month of august by attending my very first Tim Holtz class and it was soooo good. Tim is an excellent teacher and full of tips and knowledge. He is a very generous and patient man..yes, I guess the patience level does need to be pretty high with 36 + women in the class...all with different and unique personalities (if you know what I mean)

Anyhoo, here's a pic that I got with him...wish I had turned out a bit better but who cares!!!

What kind of FRUIT are U?

Ok...I normally don't do these types of things but I thought this one was cute and I do like the result...because it'a true.

You Are a Strawberry

You are friendly, outgoing, and well liked by many people. You are popular, but there's nothing you ordinary or average about you. You a very interesting person, and you have many facets to your personality. Sometimes you feel very conflicted. Your different sides of your personality pull at you. You are a very sensual and passionate person. You are fiery... you can't help it. In general, you keep your passionate side under wraps. You are only wild in private.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

BACK FROM VACATION

I'm finally home from our two week adventure vacation. I am pooped and after 4 full days of doing laundry for 8 people, I'm still trying to catch up on everything.

Here's a pic of all of us on vacation...we're in Carmel here to be exact and I think this is the only pic we managed to take of all of us at once...this was our first day so we all still look pretty good and full of energy.

MOVIE NIGHT

We celebrated Elisa's 4th birthday yesterday and had a chance to spend some time with friends. It was a lot of fun!!!

Today we decided to take it easy before our big two week adventure. We watched the Lion King II and we all enjoyed it very much. I really love Disney movies and they never give me nightmares at night.

Here's one of my favorite videos that reminds me of the Lion King!!!

I'M A WATER SIGN

Yes, I discovered this when I went to massage school and I am happy about it. I found a video (at the end of this post) that inspired me and I wanted to share it here.

I spoke to my friend Helen today...not only is she one of my best friends but also a person that has amazing intellect. I was reading a quote to her today from my journal and I decided to post it here (it's from a book called "Thinker Toys"):

We do not choose to be born.
We don not choose our parents.
We do not choose our historical epoc, nor do
We choose the country of our birth or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing.
We do not, most of the time, choose to die, nor do
We choose the time or conditions of our death, but
Within this realm of choicelessness,
We do choose how we shall live, with purpose or adrift,
With joy or joylessness,
With Hope or with despair,
With Humor or with sadness,
With a positive outlook or with a negative outlook,
With pride or with shame,
With Inspiration or with defeat,
With honor or dishonor.
We decide what makes us significant or insignificant.
We decide to be creative or to be indifferent.
No matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices or decisions,
These choices and decisions are ours to make,
We decide...we choose.
In the end, our own creativity is decided by what
We choose to do, or what we refuse to do, and as
We decide and choose, so are our destinies formed

Summer 2007 Album

Here's a pic of the front cover of an album I am currently working on...that Donna Downey inspired me so much with the fabric albums I decided to work my Stampin'Up chipboard book covers, cover them with canvas fabric and alter them. This will be a 9X9 album and I will use three rings to hold my 9X9 plastic sheet covers.

FABRIC ALBUM PART 2

Here are the final pics of the album