I started this last night. I worked on the Cruz Wedding programs for most of today. I finished this Photo Wallet this evening. I really like the way it turned out. The stamp set I used is Baroque Motifs.

I made a rose out of torn paper for the front belly band. It turned out really nice for my first torn paper rose.

I am loving the new Kiwi Kiss In-color from Stampin' Up. I had seen a Christmas card made with a cat and decided to try using Cool Cat on a Christmas card. This is what I came up with. It's different! I used Cool Cat and Perfect Presentation stamp sets, Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss color combo, 1", 1 1/4", & 1 3/8" circle punches, and Liquid Applique on the hat.

I hope everyone made it through Tropical Storm Fay! We were without electricity for 17 hours Thursday and Friday. Once the lights came back on I braved the weather to go pick up Madison and Catherine. They had both been stuck in the house four days and needed a change of scenery. I kept them Friday and Saturday night. We were all a little goofy at that point. Here is the location of the card contest that I won..... http://www.impressrubberstamps.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=summer go take a look! I received my prize Saturday. I got fifty matching blank cards and envelopes and my card published on their site. Sweet! It must be one of every color that they carry. I need to get busy! Here is a little gift bag that I made out of two sheets of 12 x 12 designer paper. I think this is the last of my Bella Rose paper. I really like those Jumbo Eyelets.

There will be no school on Thursday due to tropical storm Fay. That's three days we will have to make up somewhere. Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks will be shorter. I received great news today. I won a card contest at Impress Rubber Stamps. I am so excited. I entered it at the last minute, thinking that if I don't enter these things I can't win. I won! My card will be on their web site soon. I will send the link when I get.

Our first day of school went well. I have 15 students right now. They were all very well behaved. Well, at least for today. School has been canceled for the next two days due to the tropical storm "Fay". Last night was my Stamper's Ten club meeting. We had a great time and everyone loved the projects. We will make the same little box on Thursday's meeting. I did change the card a little. Here is the one that we will make on Thursday. I love this paper, it's the new SU designer paper called Bella Rose. I have used ten sheets of it already. I need more! We still have a few openings in the Thursday night club if you are interested.

I'm all pumped up for tomorrow. I have a full class this year. I am starting out with 14 self-contained SLD students. We will be doing a lot of discipline this year. They can't help but get into each others space.

I hope everyone is ready to start the new Stampers Ten groups. My Ocala group will meet tomorrow and my North Ocala group will meet this coming Thursday. Here is a sample of Mondays club projects:

I changed this just a little. The one we will do is smaller and it only has one flower and one bud. The colors will vary. These are so cute IFL.

I had to prepare the projects for my club meeting Monday. I finished the projects for Thursdays club meeting too. It's nice to have that behind me. I also finished the touch-ups on that wall I was working on. Now, all the furniture can be put back in place. I have a few things that I want to organize before Monday. Tomorrow I need to work on the programs for the Cruz-Lopez wedding.

Here is the door prize that I will give away on Monday. Yep! Solid Milk Chocolate Mini Hershey candy bars. I covered each candy bar and made a matching belly-band. Glitter, don't forget the glitter!

I'm back at work. My days are filled with meetings. We have to get all our ducks in a row before they open the doors for the kids on Monday. Lynnor came in Monday and unpacked lots and lots of boxes for me. Thanks Lynnor, your the best!

I haven't had time to stamp this week. I am pooped when I get home. It will take a day or two to get back into a routine. Here is the living room wall that I was working on. I still have some touch-ups on the dinning room section.

I started tapping the seams before I realized that I had not taken a picture. In the second picture the wall is textured but not painted. Here it is painted.

My Aunt Polly passed away yesterday morning. She will be dearly missed. I have some very fond memories of her as I was growing up. My sympathy's go out to all her loved ones and the lives she touched.

I finally got that piano pulled out from the wall and painted the section that expands into the dining room. It looks good, I have a few touch-ups to do. I want to move the furniture around, but Sonny is fighting change! What am I going to do with him? You would think he was blind and would not be able to find his way through the house. Hopefully I will win this battle.

I did manage to stamp last night. I worked on my sympathy cards. I need quite a few to send out this week. I just found out that my Aunt Audry in Maryland passed away in July. I can't believe that no one bothered to tell us. Such a strange family. My mother's mother didn't even come to mom's funeral, and she was right here in Ocala visiting another Aunt. Sad!

I used the same layout in different colors, the black one is my favorite.

Here are another set of scrapbook pages that I finished up yesterday. I'm back to work tomorrow, I hope I will still have time to scrapbook. I'll just have to make time!

We took the boat out again yesterday. I was hoping to catch our limit on shrimp again, but alas, they were too elusive for us. We got enough for dinner along with some catfish.

I am having trouble with my scrapbooking. I have noticed that I don't seem to be able to leave any plain color blocks of space. You know, I think I over-do-it! My embellishments tend to be overbearing and my pictures take the backstage. What do you think? Do I need to chill a little?

I am still scrapbooking my Disney trip. Here are my latest pages: I have had so much fun getting back into my scrapbooking. Now, if I could just reach a balance between my scrapbooking, card making, and crafting. Then I have to figure out how to squeeze in sewing, reading, and fishing. Oh yea! Work has to fit in there somehow! I need to work on a schedule. Catherine and I spent the day in my stamp room. She made a few things. This was the first time I let her use the heat gun by herself. She did a great job. She'll be out creating me before long! I just got back from Orlando. Zack conned me into taking him down there to spend the weekend with a friend. I am going out in the boat in the morning, but I will take the orders and New Catalogs to Priceless later in the afternoon. Not sure about the time, most likely around 3:00-3:30. If you ordered the Mat Pack, it is on back order, I will let you know when it comes in.

I have the New Catalogs!!!! Here is just a little preview: Catalog and DP Here are a few of the new stamp sets. That's all, your have to wait to get the book in your hand.....

Here are the scrapbook pages that I completed last night. I'll be working on the Disney trip for a while. This was a two page layout.

Alright! It's official, I have to get back to work. I went to have my eye exam today and my new glasses cost over $400. I wasn't expecting that.... I need a paycheck! I will take exceptionally good care of these!

I took a day for myself. I ran some errands in the morning and met the Tuesday Stamp Club at Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I had a delicious California Salad. I think they could have fed a small country with it. I spent the rest of the afternoon at Priceless, just hanging out with the girls. I had fun, a big thanks to everyone for letting me hang out. Here is a scrapbook page that I finished today. I have got to get busy with my scrapbooking. My pictures are out of control. I may need an intervention.

Congratulations Kelly Besser. Kelly has started her own blog. I hope everyone will go to http://www.kellyscraftcorner.blogspot.com/ to view her new blog. Great job Kelly. Now, we will be lurking around to see what you are up to. lol

Madison loved her dress. I wish I had the camera ready when she got to see herself in the full length mirror. She was just too cute!

I bought Madison some little pots and pans and a baking set. Since there are several small pieces I bought a plastic tub to store them in. Then I decorated it for her. Zack asked me to make a birthday card from him for Maddie, here is what I came up with. This is a new set called Sock Monkey.

The shrimp are running! I put up 6 quarts of shrimp after we cleaned and removed the heads. That's not bad for our first shrimping day. I forgot to put any sunscreen on and I can really tell now. My back is fried. The seas got a little rough latter in the day and we had to pack it up. I couldn't keep my balance on the bow of the boat.

It was getting late by the time we finished cleaning the boat and the shrimp. I had a steak left over from the night before, so I cut it up and fried it with some onions. I added some cheese, wrapped it in tortillas, cooked some vegetables and dinner was served. Then we both crashed on the sofa.

I know that this birthday card does not seem to fit a princess, but you have to remember, this little princess loves Monkeys..... Here is Madison's birthday card. I used "Changito The Monkey", by Stampendous Clear Stamps, and "Friendly Greetings" by Hero Arts. I colored it with regular colored pencils and Gamsol.