I'm back - then gone again!

Hi! It's been too long since I've posted. There have been a lot of changes for our household. We are moved in now, and all the essentials are unpacked. I can cook and bake in my kitchen, and more importantly, stamp in my stamp nook! I have 95% of my stamping gear unpacked, in arranged to allow some usability. It's not the final configuration, but I need to give that a bit more thought before I purchase any furniture or storage arrangements. I did sort through my Stampin' Up sets to decide which ones will got to new homes since if I kept all my stamps, I wouldn't have room for any new ones (collective gasps of horror are then heard throughout the nations!). (And before you think I'm being presumptuous about my readership, I get hits from the US, and from all over the world. Not in enormous numbers, granted, but enough to justify the little "s" on nation.)

In other changes, we have started with a new daycare since the move (it was very hard to say goodbye to the old one) and DD1 has started in a new school (Grade 1!). It's very nice to be closer to family, and I took advantage of being closer to the cinema and went to see Mamma Mia (soo, sooo good!).

When faced with the big box of stamps to find new homes for, I felt badly about selling some of them since they hadn't been loved enough here. I decided that I would play with those in particular to "get them out of my system" and to see if I really couldn't part with them.

This card was the first set chosen, a hostess set from a couple of catalogues back, Reason to Smile. I have loved this set since I saw it, but never stamped with it. I remember seeing an awesome card done with it by Julie Buhler (blog - Paper Pleasing Ideas) where she coloured in all the flowers different colours. It looked stunning. Not one to take the easy route when stamping, I wanted to give that a whirl. I coloured each type of flower (and there are six, all very tiny) a different colour. Various flowers are accented with stickles and my glitter pen. Once that was done, pulling the card together didn't take that long (mostly because I was tired and it was time for bed). The background flowers are from Polka Dots and Petals, stamped in Platinum Brilliance. The ribbon is retired organdy ribbon that I had out to cut lengths as a little gift for my stamp club members for filling out my new catalogue Scavenger Hunt. It's the orchid colour, and it matched quite well.

Thanks for looking and don't hold your breath for my next post. I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for Victoria for a family wedding this weekend, followed by a trip for work, also in Victoria. The work trip sounds really interesting and I'm excited about it. And who would turn down a trip to the West Coast!?! It will be great to see my family too, a rare and special pleasure. My aunt is a stamper too, so I hope to have a little time stamping with her in her fabulous stamping room. I hope once the wedding dust settles we'll get a chance.

Thanks again for stopping by.

Happy stamping!

Supplies: stamps: Reason to Smile, Polka Dots and Petals; Ink: chalk ink - warm violet, French blue, platinum brilliance; paper: PTI white, orchid opulence, cool Caribbean; other: orchid organdy ribbon, flower brad (Making Memories?), Tombow markers, stickles, glitter pen, deep well of patience.