WOW! Busy, crazy weekend!

I opened this window today and was a little surprised- it didn't seem like I could have been away since last Wednesday! Then I started thinking back over the time interval- and then it was no surprise.

I did very well with my organizing- everything was packed and moved to my brother's by Friday evening, except little necessities like food and my toys, lol! Saturday AM DS and I had breakfast then he moved while I cleaned. We left the little house spotless and shining- except for the one thing I ALWAYS forget- the broiler pan in the stove.

I must have some kind of mental block about broiler pans. I very much like food broiled and cook that way often. And, EVERY time I do, there is suddenly an interesting aroma in the house the NEXT time I turn on the oven.

I discovered THIS time's goof when I went back to the little house about 1:30 because I couldn't find my earrings and remembered I had left them on the dresser. Our landlord let me in and laughingly asked "when did you broil?" As I turned totally red, I told him that I always forget that. His very nice answer was that considering how immaculate the rest of the house was, he didn't care at all. He had had to do nothing (other than clean the broiler pan!) to get ready for his next tenants, so he was perfectly happy. He also reminded me that if I want more weeks for next year to make sure I called the real estate office at the first of the year- so I took that to mean he *really* didn't mind and would welcome us back.

I did get a lot of playing in on the last couple days at the little house. After deciding to make all those images, I realized that I already had a bunch of colored images finished but not turned into cards. So that, along with some Silhouette playing, was done in between packing and organizing Thursday and Friday.

Friday night I attempted to upload some of the finished cards to SCS and I dont know what went wrong so they never got there. A few of them will be the bottom of this post.

DH arrived Saturday evening and our friends came down on Sunday for a day at the beach and a cookout. The weather did NOT cooperate- BIG TIME!! There were violent storms most of the day, which sadly resulted in one death and several serious injuries from lightning strikes along the Jersey coast here, as well a major wind and rain damage throughout the Atlantic Northeast. We had a lovely day anyway but it was inside rather than outside. Oh, and guess *how* I cooked the steaks that were originally destined for the grill?

Today is laundry and sorting and getting everything ready to help my DSIL when she arrives Wednesday evening for the movers coming on Friday. It's going to be another busy week.

Time for some links for you:

One of my favorite stamp companies is Firecracker Designs by Pamela. One of the things I like best is her blog where she combines information about her company with really good tutorials.

Another stamp company I really like is Stamping Bella- her Bella stamps are wonderful and she has a lot of other great stuff as well. Her blog is a riot- no one announces new releases or new products the way she does.

Definitely check these two out!

So, I finished a bunch more cards last week and here are a few samples:

You might be getting tired of this image by now, but I doubt I ever will. This version of Hometown Pride by Thomas Kinkade from Cornish Heritage Farms was done using pebbles chalks. I really like the softness of the image. I did the flag with Marvy-Uchida markers and purposely used an intensely colored mat- I think it makes the image "pop".






This was a fun image to do. I ran a brass stencil through the cuttlebug, then colored the whole thing using chalks. Both the chalks and the stencil are from The Stencil Collection- a company that you will often see at shows and which now both sells direct and through HSN. I'm not affiliated, just a customer who always enjoys their demos at shows and really likes the products. I'm entering this card in the "masculine card" challenge at SCS for the special FanClub event going on this week.








This is a card I really like how it turned out- bad English, but you know what I mean. The stamp is from a Stampin' Up set, and I colored it with Pebbles chalks. I thought all the different shades of purple fit the sentiment perfectly. The other result of doing this one is that I've been walking around for about 4 days now with the old Shirelles' song in my head.

I found a cute video of the song on Youtube, so if you also love those doo-wop oldies like I do, go check it out.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy all the links!