Looking For A Place To Sleep?

I'm not sure if you can see the bear. We aren't exactly sure how to "zoom" on our camera.

Well, anyway, Ray and I pulled into the driveway the other day after work and as we were getting out of cars he glanced across the street and said "Go get the camera!" I looked over and saw the back end of the bear going behind one of our neighbor's outside storage buildings.

Ray tried to get as close as he could without getting into any trouble with Mr. Bear!

I guess the bear decided he was finished at the neighbors so he strolled across the road and went through the bottom part of our yard and headed back to the pine trees. I'm thinking he's looking for a place to sleep! When do they hibernate? Soon I hope! We have gone through MANY bird feeders and have picked up our garbage that was spread throughout the yard the last couple of months.

I know, I know, why keep buying bird feeders! I love to wake up in the morning and hear the birds singing and I love to wash my dishes and look out the kitchen window and watch them enjoying their birdseeds. It's a "no win" situation I guess - the beauty of living in the country!

Where O Where?

Oh my goodness! Where oh where is the time going? I can't believe it's the end of October already. My month flew by and I have no idea where it went, what I did, why it flew by so fast! I do apologize for any of my faithful readers that I have neglected this site.

TGIF

WOW! TGIF!!!!! What a week - it was great but I'm not sure where it went! Two clubs, back to back nights and then I had some other things going on this week so it just flew by. When my alarm went off this morning I was so happy it was Friday.

I will post pictures of the card candy we all swapped this past week. Planning on getting to that sometime tomorrow. Ray's working a half day in the morning and I'm hoping to get up and at 'em bright and early. I have some chores to do around the house (I've neglected some of my chores lately) and then do some blog prep work.

Penn State vs. Michigan tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. and we are invited to a Penn State party. I'm making my famous seafood chowder and looking forward to getting together with some friends we haven't been with in awhile.

Check back and hopefully I'll have some additions.

October Stamp Clubs & Swaps

Tomorrow, October 14 is our October Stamp Club for Lake Hauto. It will be our first Stamp Club swap in addition to our regular projects. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see what everyone made to share. Our swap for this month is Card Candy - a few people in all three clubs had some problems with the concept of "card candy" but I think they all understand now.

Wednesday, October 15 is Weatherly Stamp Club. There are only two members from Weatherly plus myself - that makes three - that are participating in a swap. Cecelia from Pocono Club is being added to the Weatherly Swap to make it a 4-person swap. They will exchange their swaps in addition to working on club projects on Wednesday night.

I will post pictures of the swaps and I will also post pictures of our club projects AFTER all three clubs have met. Pocono Club is not meeting until October 29 so you will have to be patient and wait for the club projects until the end of the month.

Sesame Street Card

Louise needed a card for a one-year old's birthday. This is what I came up with -- gathered everything she would need to make it and packed it all up in my SU blue tote and when I got to work on Thursday I gave her all the supplies and during lunch she made the same card I took in as a sample. Sharing it with you .....

Jen's Afghan

A quick picture or two of Jen's afghan. Isn't it beautiful? The colors are great! Rumor had it she was going to finish it last night - all she had left to do was finish the border.

Did you get it done Jen?

Girl's Day

We had a GREAT day Girl's Day out yesterday! The weather was beautiful, the company was wonderful and I think our shopping was successful. 8:00 a.m. we left Weatherly and met Joyce and Jen at Strawberry Sampler in Chadd's Ford. We visited, laughed, shopped, laughed, enjoyed Strawberry. Stopped at a little shopping village between Strawberry and Limerick to check out some quilting supplies at a quilting store. Fabric Jean and Jen know what they are doing when it comes to quilting - we were just hanging out! Went to Champs at King of Prussia for lunch. Drank iced tea, laughed, some of us changed our minds a few times before the waitress came back for our order, laughed some more, had a fabulous lunch! Headed to Limerick to the Just Cross Stitch store.

We spent a long time at Just Cross Stitch since we all had some serious projects to take care. We left some framing there for the girls to do. Purchased more projects and actually kept them open for about an extra hour. Normally, the store closes at 4:00 p.m. but we were still in the back room and buying linen and cloth and having it surged at 5:15 p.m.

Headed up the road to AC Moore and made some purchases and said goodbye to Joyce and Jen. Jeanne, Danielle and I headed right next door to Target and did a quick trip in and out to make some purchases.

We called it a day and got ourselves into the "Snack Buggy" (Jeanne's SUV) and turned MiMi (the GPS) on and headed North to the Turnpike!

I Promised

I promised I would post the pics of my unfinished stitching projects that I was taking to get framed tomorrow --- here they are!!!!! Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed stitching them!

I Promised

Isn't this the truth? Where did the summer go?

My Stitching Before Framing

My Stitching Projects

I have my stitching projects all ready to pack up and take to Limerick tomorrow to have them framed. I added all the buttons, beads, embellishments and hooplifiers last night to finish them all up. I want to take some pictures of them while they are unframed and post them on here to share with you but I ran of Thursday yesterday! I am hoping things are a little calmer today when I get home from work and I am planning on getting out the camera and snapping some photos. Look for them! Maybe I'll do the "before and after" -----before framed and after framed.

Come on back later and look at my stitching!

CRAZY CRAZY WEEK!

If you are wondering where I have been since Tuesday - it's been a very crazy, crazy week for this Desrosiers couple. It just seemed like there was a big black cloud hanging over us all week and I'm so grateful that today is Friday and the week is going to be over in a few hours.

The one thing I'm looking forward to is tomorrow! Saturday we are doing our Girl's Day Out and our annual/bi-annual stitching extravaganza to the Philadelphia area. Not exactly sure who is going as of this morning but I know three of us for sure - Jeanne, Danielle and me. We will meet up with Joyce and Jen and head to Strawberry Sampler in Chadd's Ford and then Joyce always finds awesome places for us to have lunch. After lunch we will head over to Limerick to another great stitching store. Our finale will end at AC Moore so we can gather up whatever odds and ends we need to do our projects. Rumor has it "Fabric Jean" would like to stop at the quilt store in Chadd's Ford. Danielle and I are a little excited about that.........even though we don't quilt (it's another addiction) we are very interested in looking at the supplies, materials, samples, etc. Who knows - maybe someday!!!!!

Priceless Anniversary

Just a quick post to share an anniversary card with you. I used Priceless stamp set and some gray cardstock. I stamped the heart on shimmery cardstock - it looks much prettier in real life. Using a flat back pearl from the Pretties Kit on the heart gave it some WOW. Love the taffeta ribbon -- it is so easy to work with.

Summer Fun Scrapbook Page

What do you get when you take some great SU stamp sets, some SU products and some great summer pictures? A Summer Fun scrapbook page! I used the Big Deal Alphabet set and stamped some of the letters on the cardstock "Summer" and then stamped letters and cut them out individually and mounted them on the page. Stamped and cut out starfishes and clams from Crab & Co. and mounted them onto the page. Some of them I mounted with mono-adhesive and others I added some Stampin' Up! dimensionals to give them a raised effect. Other accessories that I used were some buttons, linen thread, mini glue dots to mount the buttons, the photo corner punch, the new scallop edge punch. The colors of the cardstock I chose complimented the colors in the photos. If you would do a scrapbook page similar to this you would take your pictures and try to use colors to compliment your photos.

Pocket Silhouettes

Here is a card we made at a workshop last week. I used Pocket Silhouettes out of the new Fall-Winter catalog. I love this set!!!! The main cardstock color is Creamy Caramel layered with Night of Navy, Sage Shadow and Naturals White. I used two different stamps from the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set - stamped the first one with Sage Shadow and then stamped over top with a different stamp set from the same set with Chocolate Chip. Tied a chocolate ribbon. Very simple card to make yet it looks like you spent some time making it. It would make anyone you shared it with feel very special.

If You Ever Considered.....

If you have ever considered becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator NOW is the time to really consider it. The deadline for the Demo Special Offer is effective until October 11 - that's only a few days away! You can choose from three different Starter Kits with three different focuses - depending on your interest - and each one is only $99.

The three Starter Kits to choose from are: Stamp Focused Starter Kit, Scrapbook Focused Starter Kit, Home Decor Focused Starter Kit.

There has never been a better time to join the Stampin' Up! family. If you would like additional information please contact me at your convenience.

Some Dates to Remember

The current Specials and Promotions being offered by Stampin' Up! are as follows:

October 4-11 World Card Making Day - 20% off of our colorful Simply Sent Card Elements and easy-to-use Simply Sent card kits. (See pages 176-177 of the Fall-Winter catalog).

October 1-31 Stampin' Up! is celebrating their 20th birthday and have decided to throw a party. If you spend $20 on regular items you can enjoy 20% off of a select group of Birthday stamp sets. The stamp sets included in this special are:

Page 62 Big Bold Birthday
Page 63 Party Hearty
Page 64 Bitty Birthday
Page 64 Crazy for Cupcakes
Page 65 Simple Birthday Thanks
Page 65 Time to Party
Page 68 Crab & Company

Craft Fair

This Saturday, April 4, there will be a Craft Fair at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Weatherly (formerly St. Nicholas). April Walters, a SU demonstrator, will have a boothe at the event. If you get a chance - stop by and see what she has to offer. I did check with her and she told me she was going to have post it holders, notebooks, snowman kisses, pumpkin poop, snowman poop, reindeer food, halloween candy tubes, tile coasters and trivets. She mentioned she would have other small items also that would make some great little gifts.

Danielle and I are planning on making a little trip into town to see what the craft fair is like. Hope to see you there!

Cute & Scary

I'm sharing a little bit of both with you today - Cute & Scary! The cute card is made on Kraft cardstock just by stamping leaves from Autumn Harvest in a circle on the front in chocolate chip. Stamp BOO from Big Deal Alphabet onto Kraft cardstock and cut out each letter individually. Stamp the pumpkin on Pumpkin Pie in Basic Black ink and cut the pumpkin out and sponge all around it with chocolate chip ink. Stamp leaves on Summer Sun, Ruby Red and Old Olive in Basic Black and cut out and sponge also. Attach the leaves with Stampin' Up! dimensionals to give them a little raised effect.

The scary card is simply done on Only Orange cardstock and using the Arachnaphobia wheel you will wheel the spiders in black all over the front of the card. Using the both size oval punches you can punch out the eyes in black and white layering them on the front of the card.

We Are a Team

We make such a good team because we support each other's interests. Ray is such a train fanatic that he can understand my passion for stamping, stitching, etc. He really doesn't get much time to work on the layout in the summer. Too many other things to do - yard and garden work, swimming, hillclimb, picnics --- so the time spent in the basement is limited mostly to rainy days.

The layout is 200 square feet. Ray makes everything from the rocks and trees to the building and the cars. He even uses some of my stamping supplies! He was working on a building and decided to put shades and/or curtains inside the windows so he used some of my cardstock and the tearing edge to give it a torn look. It actually turned out great!

Another Addiction

I just finished reading a Danielle Steel book that has been sitting on my bookshelves for a few months. This is just another addiction that I have - reading. I have approximately 100 books in my bookcase that I haven't read yet but it just seems like I must buy another book when I see one that I don't have!

The book I just read was H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness). I had some trouble really getting into it in the beginning but that could have just been me. I thought it was a little slow and I never find Danielle Steel's books slow to start. I'm usually hooked on the book by the second page. Halfway through I think it picked up a little bit and I was curious to see what was going to happen. The end was good - a typical Danielle Steel book.

Picked another book off my shelf last night before I turned out my light. I read the first chapter and it was VERY GOOD! I'm anxious to get back to it tonight. I tend to read the same authors but this book is one that I have never read anything that she wrote. It is "Just Between Friends" by Sandra Steffen. I believe the copyright inside is 2005 so it isn't a current book. I'll let you know what I think!

David's Birthday

Found some pictures from David's birthday party and wanted to share them with you. Judy and Patrick had family and some neighbors for a backyard picnic. Everyone had a great time!

Sock Monkey

I thought this was a fun project. We used Sock Monkey and learned a new technique. Paper piecing with the Chocolate Chip designer series paper - this is a great stamp set to use for the paper piecing technique. We pieced the hands, feet, tail tip and his butt with the dsp. You could also change it and leave those areas chocolate chip and paper piece the body. In addition to the new Patterns Designer Series Paper, the other new SU items used to make this card were the Bella Rosa Designer Series Paper, a new In Color Riding Hood Red cardstock and stamp pad, the wide oval punch, the scallop edge punch and the red button from the Designer Buttons. Isn't he cute? There are tons of possibilities with the Sock Monkey stamp set and the additional Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set.

By the way, Lauri from Hauto Club, has decided that the Sock Monkey is going to be the Hauto Club's mascot!

September Club Projects

One of our projects for September club was a Halloween card. Cardstock: Basic Black and a Whisper White strip sponged in Green Galore, 1 3/8" circle punch was used to punch out three circles - one in Tangerine Tango, Green Galore and Lovely Lilac. Stamped images from Batty for You onto Whisper White and punched them out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and sponged with Tangerine Tango, Green Galore and Lovely Lilac. Mounted the sponged circles onto a circle of an alternate color. Used black gingham ribbon and tied some small pieces of lilac, pumpkin pie and green 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. Don't forget, if the ribbon is not available in a color you have on hand you can dye the ribbon by using the stamp ink pad or using reinkers. We finished the inside of the card with a piece of Whisper White and stamped the cat in the corner and a Halloween message.

So Proud of Myself

I ran to Hazleton earlier this afternoon to pick up my "wrap tray" at Weis. Before going to Weis though I went to WalMart for some things I needed. I did wander back to see what kind of beads and jewelry making supplies the Hazleton WalMart carried and I did pick a few things up but I was so proud of myself ---- I did leave some beads there! I need a big pat on the back!

Yummy!

Yummy! Aren't these just toooooo cute! I made cupcakes for Pocono Club tonight and decorated them with Batty for You mounted on a black scalloped punch. Yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing and orange sprinkles -- no diet tonight girls! Last week when Weatherly Club met here I did the same thing but had chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing dyed orange with food coloring but made the same decorations. They were a big hit!

Getting Ready - Pocono Club

Working on getting ready for tonight - Pocono Club. I get so excited when it's club night! We are doing three projects - Halloween card and frappucino bottle, Sock Monkey learning the paper piecing technique and making an altered folder to help keep our club handouts a little more organized and in one spot.

She Has Created a Monster!

Monday morning, bright and early, I have Pocono Club at my house this evening and I should be concentrating on that. I must get the food ready and I'm still finishing up some laundry that is lingering from the weekend, should be getting all the paperwork together - club agreement, wish list, flyers regarding all the specials, icing cupcakes, etc. etc. etc. the list goes on when you are entertaining but........do you know what I want to do when I run to Hazleton to pick up the "wrap tray" from Weis????? I want to stop in at the Hazleton WalMart and check out their bead supply! Yes, you heard me, BEAD SUPPLY!

My good friend from Hauto Club, Deb, and her mom, Jean, and Deb's sister, Lauri, created a monster! Helped me make the "serenity" bracelet for Danielle and now I'm one of them ----- a "beader and jewelry maker wanna-be" --- I'm a novice so I'm just playing around right now with some ideas. I did go shopping on Saturday and bought some of the basic tools, pliers set, crimper, crimping beads, spacers, some cheap beads and wire and a magazine so I could practice.

I have caught myself on the computer and searching the internet for beading supplies, checking my credit cards as to how much is available, making a list, thinking about beads, beads, beads!!!

Here we go again ----- I did the same thing when my sister-in-law, Jeanne, took me on my first counted cross-stitching shopping trip, the same thing when my daughter, Danielle and sister-in-law, Jeanne, took me to my first Stampin' Up! workshop at Geri's. It's a condition and I have it BAD!!!! I think the abbreviation for it is OCD --- love those abbreviations --- CAD, DSP, CS, EP, CE ----- that explains a lot doesn't it?? OCD is just another abbreviation that fits right into our vocabulary.

It's scary because do you know how many colors, styles, sizes, shapes of beads there are? LOTS! I know I can't have them all but I can have some.......Thanks Deb!

As Promised

I promised to post pictures of some projects I have done. Since the weather was so yucky on Sunday and I had my "computering for dummies" lesson from my brother-in-law on Friday night I'm in my glory!

Deb Kashi had a workshop last Monday and since there were going to be some mothers there with young children I thought they would enjoy making a fun and easy bookmarker. We used Bugs and Kisses and all primary colors in cardstock and inks. Layered cardstock after using corner rounder to finish the corners and attached a Jumbo Eyelet using our Crop-a-Dile (what a fantastic tool the CAD is!).

Popcorn Holder

Just another project from last season. We made popcorn holders with the Batty for You stamp set. Crimped the band which was made out of Designer Series Paper and tied a black ribbon.

TV Tonight

Tonight's a big night on TV for everyone that watches Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. I can't wait! Only about another hour to go until those beauties from Wisteria Lane entertain us for a new season.

During the last week it was great to watch Grey's Anatomy and Survivor. I was anxious for the new fall season to begin. We don't watch a lot of tv but we do have our favorite shows during the week and of course our weekends are filled with college football (GO PENN STATE!) on Saturday and pro football (NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS) on Sunday switching back and forth to Nascar occasionally.

What a Wonderful Weekend!

WOW! What a wonderful weekend! First weekend of Fall - watched football, stamped, stitched, cooked - it doesn't get any better than that in my eyes. Looking forward to my last vacation day tomorrow. I love long weekends! Pocono Club will be held at my house tomorrow night and it will be the same as the Weatherly Club -- "mystery hostess" -- so I can't wait to see who the hostess will be tomorrow night. The menu is going to be hamburg barbecue, potato chips, pickles, Italian cold meat wraps, salsa and scoopers, apples and caramel dip, and cupcakes for dessert. I tell my hostesses NOT to go crazy with food because we really don't have much time to eat, after all, we are there to stamp. The only reason I'm preparing so much is because it also will serve as Ray's supper. Gotta feed our men!!! I know I have to feed mine or he can get mighty cranky after a long day at work.

I took some pictures and will download them later. It was a great day to do stuff like that. I got a lot of odds and ends tied up since the weather was kind of yucky all day. Rainy and damp all day so that was my excuse to hang out down in the basement with my stamping stuff.

Halloween Card

This Halloween card is one we did last year ---- I'm going to drive you crazy because I'm playing with my computer and trying some of the things Phil showed me how to do tonight.

My week

Well, I certainly had a very exciting week! Let me tell you a little bit about it -- one day at a time!!!!

Monday - I had a SU workshop at Deb Kashi's. We had a wonderful time! So much fun and some new faces to learn about stampin' and scrappin'. It was great to see the stampers that returned from previous workshops and events. Betty, Laurie, Carol, Toni, Vicki, Sandi were rookies. The new faces were Connie and Wendy. Connie is a "red hatter" and Wendy is a busy mom. So much fun girls - thanks for the great night!
Wednesday - Weatherly Club had their first get-together at my house. We did "mystery hostess" and guess who the "mystery hostess" was? Danielle - my daughter. It was fair - we put tickets in a basket and Ray came down and pulled the winning ticket. Weatherly club welcomed two new members - Sue and Jessy. I think we broke them in the first night - lots of laughing and we had loads of fun.
Thursday - My good friends, the Hauto Club girls, offered to teach me how to make a "serenity" bracelet. I always wanted to learn how to make bracelets (another addiction I guess I'll have to venture into). Deb talked about this bracelet and I asked her if I could buy one from her and she suggested I make one myself since it was going to be a gift for my daughter. She said she thought it would make it more special if I made it myself for her so.........I ventured on down over the other side of the hill and I had my "bracelet lesson". IT WAS GREAT!!!!! On my way home I went through my first sobriety checkpoint. Got to Hometown intersection at 309 and turned at the red light to head north on 309 and all I see were headlights facing me and tailights in front of me ----- cars, cars, trucks, and more cars. Almost looked like a parking lot ---- I truly thought there must have been a terrible accident and thankfully there wasn't. Got up a little bit closer and considered turning down the road and scooting through the little development to get back on 209 and head toward Nesquehoning and come up over the Broad Mountain BUT the St. Clair police cruiser had the road blocked - there was no trying to get out of the mess. Finally I saw the sign "Sobriety Check Point" and thought oh well, I guess I need to get through this. Of course, I didn't have my seat belt on so I scurried around to try to find that and get it all situated and pulled up to the nice policeman and he asked me where I was going, where I was coming from, what did I do tonight ------ I know he was checking my speech, smelling to see if there were any odors, etc. and the two cops on the other side of the car were shining their flashlights in the car to check for any evidence ---- of course, there was none!!!! When the nice policeman asked me what I did tonight I told him - I even asked him if he wanted to see the Serenity bracelet I made for my daughter and he said, "sure" so I took it out of my pocket and showed him. He shook my hand, said he was glad to talk to me and to have a good night. My first checkpoint - wow - 7:45 p.m. I couldn't believe it!
Friday - My brother-in-law, who is a computer genius in my eyes, was here and added more RAM to our computer. Then while I had him here, I decided to take advantage of him. Yes, I said take advantage of him! I had him show me some things to do on the computer that I just haven't been able to master on my own. I'm not a person who can read instructions or directions and figure out what to do --- I'm much better at show me and I can do it. We had a crash course in "computering for dummies" ----- I'm so excited and that's probably why I'm on here right now because I'm practicing.

What's New

What's new? Well, lots of things are new. New catty, new products, new In Colors. I'm very excited about the upcoming stamping year. If you need a Fall-Winter Idea Book & Catalog please do not hesitate to get in touch with me and I will be sure you receive one.

I'm Still Here

I bet you all thought I dropped off the face of the earth ----- well I didn't. I'm still here. I am struggling with my blog. I am not a highly trained computer person and this is a challenge. I'm trying though - so please bear with me. Every day, every week, every month it's a new challenge and my blog is my BIGGEST challenge right now!!!!! I am going to conquer this though so I hope you are all ready for the ride of your life if you're on this one with me!

Thanks to my good friend, Nancy M., I have downloaded Picasa2 onto my PC and I'm hoping that will make my "blogging life" a little bit more bearable.