More is More

It’s been another incredibly busy week.  I even missed the TECC yesterday.  Curt is one of the people in charge of a Car Show at our church tomorrow afternoon.  If you’re in SoCal please stop by Bethel Grace Baptist Church – 10:30 for service and 12:00 for the Car Show which will include free hot dog, a bounce house for the kids, a live band and over 20 custom. exotic and vintage cars.

So tonight while working on a bunch of last minute details for tomorrow, our doorbell rang.  It was a soccer mom – we live just two doors down from a school where the field is used for soccer on the weekends.  Another lady at the field had found a little dog, but they were all here from out of town and couldn’t take the dog with them.  Plus we figured the dog was from the neighborhood somewhere….so I volunteered to take her to try to find her owner.  Like we didn’t have enough going on already.  *sigh*

She’s adorable and sweet as can be to me, but she growls as men – including Curt.  She’s fairly clean and has a pink collar, but no tags.  One of the soccer moms had already taken her down to the vet hospital (just half a block away) to check for a chip, but no.

We managed to get some signs up around the neighborhood and we stopped and bought some dog food.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with her while we’re at the Car Show tomorrow.  I sure hope her owners see one of our signs and call soon.  No way can we manage a dog right now and it would break my heart to take her to a shelter.  Please pray that we are able to locate her owners who must be missing this sweet little thing!

If you want to stop by the Car Show Sunday afternoon, we’d love to have you…info here.

Hope you’re having a wonderful long weekend.  I hope to do some stamping on Monday.  Wondering if I can stamp with a little dog in my lap????

Oh my heavens – I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!  I’ve wanted a new blog banner and overall look for quite awhile and now it’s here!  I was so lucky to get Nancy McKinney to work out this fabulous new design for me.  She’s the graphic designer who works with Taylor to create the Whimiscal Wishes line of rubber stamps at Taylored Expressions.  She also designed Taylor’s blog and lots of others over the past few months.  She has an awesome offer to do a blog banner and sidebar labels for a $50 donation to a charity for sick kids.  I know she’s swamped right now, so I’m not sure if she’s currently taking new requests, but boy oh boy am I ever glad I got on her list when I did!  She was so patient with me and just really *got me*.  Most of her blog headers have a bit of a *cleaner* look than mine…but you know me…well…afterall More is More!  Nancy you are uber talented and an absolute doll to work with!  Thank you!!! (To contact Nancy click on her name in green above and that will take you to her blog.  Scroll down to see links to lots of blogs she has done.)

The digital paper that Nancy used in my header is a free download from Mindy Terasawa.  She has some really cool stuff, but I see that her blog hasn’t been updated in quite awhile.

My avatar is one of the portraits taken by Curt’s cousin Megan when were in Texas last Winter.  Please check out her website at www.meganparks.com  – she does amazing work and if you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area I highly recommend her!

My incredible Rocket Scientist husband sat down with me tonight and programmed all the html (I am completely clueless when it comes to that) to get my sidebar changed around like I wanted.  I still need to do quite a bit of work updating my blog roll and categories, but I’m so excited and thankful for everything he did to get everything else updated!  I finally have a link in the Stampin’ Up! logo to go to my business website and shop, as well as a link in the TE logo to shop there.  Oh and I now have a search feature – don’t know what took me so long to get that done!

It’s been such a busy day around here.  Curt went to OSH – twice- to get bark nuggets at the 2 for 1 price.  He had to go twice because they had a 20 bag limit and 20 bags just wasn’t going to cut it for us.  Then we decided to go shop for plants to start getting the backyard Summer/BBQ ready.  We ended up going to 3 different nurseries, plus a stop at the bird store for food and nuts.  That means tomorrow will be the manual labor day.  *sigh*  I am soooo not a gardner.  I’M A STAMPER!!!!  LOL!

Speaking of stamping – I do have a card to share, but it will have to wait till tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please let me know what you think about the new look here at More is More!

I’m really sorry I missed the TECC this morning.  It seems like so much has happened since I posted last Friday.  Saturday my day started out great, but got ugly in the late afternoon/early evening when I began to exhibit symptoms of food poisoning or stomach flu.  It turned into one of the worst nights ever.  I won’t go into the sordid details, but I just have to say how thankful I am to have a loving husband who takes such good care of me when I’m sick.  I don’t know what I would have done without him!

I was better by Monday, but just completely wiped out.  Monday was the monthly DDA Challenge and I was the hostess.  I had a card half done when I got sick on Saturday and I was so sad not to have it completed for the challenge.  It’s still sitting half done and I still plan to finish and post it at some point.  As I began to feel better, I needed to focus on the Saints Alive Dinner at church this week.  It was last night and I was the event coordinator – my first time in charge of an event since we started attending this church.  This is a twice a year ministry for the senior members and I was really excited about it, but I was also very behind from being sick.  Tuesday night one of the gals who was working on the dinner with me, Veronica,  was coming over to help make favors.  I also called on my Club and two of them (Thanks Barbara and Carol!) came over and helped make quick work of the 50 favors.  Veronica had baked cookies and bought cello bags to put them in.  We stamped 2 different Bible verses from a retired SU set and punched them with the scallop oval punch.  We ran Glorious Green cardstock through my CB with the Top Note die and wheeled it with a jumbo wheel to form the topper.  This was an Italian dinner and our color scheme was red and white with a touch of green (based on the Italian flag.)  The favors were set in the middle of the place setting.  You can click on the photo below to see a full table setting.

On Wednesday afternoon several of us met at church to do some of the food prep.  My wonderful friend Darla was in charge of the food for 60 people and she had never done anything quite that big before.  She’s a great cook and I knew she could do it, but this was new territory for most of us.  Thankfully my friend Lori has lots of experience in this area and she had given us a recipe she uses often for a pasta bake.  So our menu consisted of salad, pasta bake, garlic bread and lemon cake.  Everything was super yummy!

 Here is a photo of the centerpeices.  Such a simple idea and it looked so cool.  It was just 3 different sized/shaped glass bottles filled with roses from clearance bin at the supermarket (what an awesome find!) and some tealights.  We had a little game going throughout the evening and the winner at each table got to take home the centerpiece.

I had worked with an initial team of 6 women to plan this event and each person took charge of an area (Darla and Stephanie on food, Denise doing table decor, Veronica the favors and Lisa handled ticket sales and the youth), then we also had 5 more women join us last night to help with execution.  Plus we had a dozen of the youth come to serve the tables.  It was such a blessing to be involved with such a wonderful team of volunteers and to see how well thinsg work when everyone is using their gifts.  Not only were we able to be a blessing to the seniors, but we were so blessed by the building of relationships and the joy of accomplishment.  And those of you who know me or have ever seen me at a StampMania know that I am never happier than when I’m running an event and managing a team!  🙂

LOL!  The girls told me I had to take a picture of my Tasks Poster.  I had a big poster in the kitchen listing all of the tasks we needed to accomplish and the order they needed to be done in.  We checked things off as they got done.  Of course I also had a typed up time line to use as a guide.  I was actually shocked at how close we came to it in the end. 

On Wednesday evening I had the idea that I would really like to have a little thank you gift to give each of the ladies on the volunteer team.  At that point there was only time to work with stuff I had on hand so I searched through my alterables and found a bunch of little note pads that I knew I could fix up quickly – see hoarding can pay off!  *wink*  I simply cut and scored some covers out of cardstock and added some dp and stamped images punched with my Marvy scallop punches.

Oh and I also found a package of mini gel pens so I incorporated those as well.  It was really fun to have a little token of appreciation to give each lady.  I just wish I would think of things like that sooner.  I am mean, I am a stamper afterall… why do I always think of stamped stuff at the last minute?  LOL!

 I took my camera to the event to take people pictures, but once I got the table photos beforehand we got so busy that I never got back to taking any more.  I really need to have someone in charge of photography!

Just when I thought I would have a day to catch up on bills, groceries, laundry and errands my sweet sweet hubby e-mailed to say that he could get off work early so we could use our Disney passes this afternoon.  So off we went.  All those chores (and hopefully not any late fees) will still be there tomorrow!

 So now you’re caught up on my week.  I hope you are well and having a fantastic weekend!

-Jami

I held a second Stampin’ Up! Class this month and it was yesterday afternoon.  We made the two cards I already shared below from my Friday night class, plus this card.

I used Taylor’s Friday sketch (TECC63) for the layout of this card.  It was perfect to showcase this beautiful sentiment from God’s Blessings.  The girls could also choose the wedding sentiment from the same set if they prefered.  The vine image is from Fresh Cuts.  The large fabric flower from the Pretties Kit was cut in half and we colored them with a sponge dauber and two colors of Stampin’ Pastels (Regal Rose and Rose Red.)  Card base is Regal Rose and the dp is Raspberry Tart.  We added Kiwi Satin ribbon (my very favorite ribbon!) and a pink square rhinestone brad.  The sentiment panel is layered onto Kiwi Kiss and Rose Red cardstock and is popped up on dimensionals.

I haven’t had a chance to blog all week, so I wanted to share a photo of Curt and I on Easter – especially since I had told you all about my sort-of-free dress and hat in this post.  Easter was such a lovely day.  We attended morning service at our church and Pastor Jeff delivered a very powerful message.  (You can download the message Christ the Risen Lord of the Church by clicking here.)Then we had family over for a lunch and managed to squeeze in a little nap before heading back to church for a Fish Taco Dinner (because you know Jesus ate fish – could’ve been fish tacos – to show the disciples he was real after His resurrection!)

As you can see, my dress is mostly white and if you’ve ever met me in person you know that I am very fair skinned.  I’ve been wanting to try a Mystic Tan for awhile and I don’t know if it was this dress or watching Danincing With the Stars that pushed me over the edge, but I decided to go for it before Easter.  I went on an internet search and found this Hollywood Tans just a few miles from my house.  Oh my!  What an experience!  Of course all I could think of was that episode of Friends where Ross just keeps getting sprayed over and over again on the front!  You are in a small shower-sized metal booth, where a female voice tells you where to place your feet on 4 numbered foot pads and then counts down a warning for the spraying to start.  You get sprayed all the way up your body 4 times, turning a quarter turn in between each spray.  That part was fine.  The hard part was holding my breath during the spraying.  Normally I could hold my breath just fine, but the minute I knew I had to I began to panic and feel claustrophobic.  At one point I think I snorted in just as the spray was nearing my face. D’oh!  And in between sprays the small booth is still filled with the mist, so you really don’t want to breathe too much.  I was so freaked out that I had to actually open to shower door for a moment to stick my head out and gasp for air as the voice is counting “Spray will begin in 3…2…1” QUICK CLOSE THE DOOR!  LOL!  What a dork!

As soon as it was over I thought “well, I’m never doing that again!”, however I was honestly so happy with the results that I have been rethinking that.  It really turned out great – darker than I expected, very even and a good natural color and has lasted well.  So we’ll see if vanity takes over for me to try it again.  They really need a booth that only goes up to your neck and leaves your head out to breath!

Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll be back tomorrow for Cupcake Friday.

-Jami

Around Mid-day Saturday, Curt went outside and realized that it was such a nice day that we should go somewhere!  So he asked if I wanted to go to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad about an hour away.  I said “sure!”  We hadn’t been there in about 10 years because the bloom season only lasts a couple of months and we miss it every year!  It’s a commercial site and they mostly grow Ranunculus – such gorgeous flowers – in a whole bunch of different colors.  We were really surprised at how crowded it was and what a tourist attraction it has become.  If you decide to go, you’ll definitley want to buy your tickets on-line and print them out before you go.  That saved us from standing in a shockingly long line!  There’s a concession stand selling hot dogs and other lunch faire, but you can also bring food in and eat at picnic tables.  There are two stands in the parking lot selling super yummy and huge bowls of strawberry shortcake.  We split one.  Oh so good!

They have a playground for kids, a sweet-pea maze (I hate stuff like that and had to get out!), face painting and some other activities.  You can ride around on an antique tractor tour listening to a recorded message about the history of the site. 

For us SoCall city-folks, these beautiful flowers are quite a sight to behold!  Curt got some really pretty pictures and I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

We had such a lovely day!  Wouldn’t these make lovely stamp images?  (Funny how my mind works, huh?)  I hope this was a bright spot in your Monday.  C’mon back tomorrow when I’ll have a card to share.

-Jami

Yes!  He finally called and 20 years ago today I was positively giddy over our 2nd First Date last night. 

For those of you have hung in over the past two weeks – thanks – it’s been fun to have you along for the ride.  For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll want to start with my post on March 11th and read in order from there.  Last night we celebrated the 20th Anniversary of our 2nd First Date (we’ve always called it that since our first date was a double date and a blind date – it was the 2nd date that was really the start of everything.)  Last night wasn’t quite as poetic as the celebration of our 20th Blind Date-iversary two weeks ago since Curt is just getting over the flu and the restaurant we originally ate in recently closed.  Despite all that it was a special evening to reminisce and laugh a lot and realize how lucky and how glad I am that he did finally call!

And this time I was interested – very interested.  I wasn’t going on this date without a new outfit.  1989.  Remember shopping at The Limited?  Oh how I loved The Limited!  Black leggings, black mock turtle neck and a teal jacket with shoulder pads (the same color as the top I wore last night).  I was a skin-and-bones size 8.  My best friend Ruth lent me silver jewelry.  Long red hair curled with hot rollers – Caruso steam rollers to be exact! Uh-huh….I was pretty hot if I do say so myslef.  LOL!

On that night 20 years ago he picked me up and we drove down to Long Beach Marina along Ocean Blvd in his brand new red convertible Chrysler LeBaron.  He gave me a cute little blue stuffed animal that his friends’ son had won in a machine in a pizza parlor and had told Curt to give to me.  (Apparantly his friends were excited about the date too – LOL)  I thought that was so sweet and so cute!  The restaurant we were going to was Simon & Seafort’s, so I named the little guy Simon.  I still have him…somewhere.  I desperately searched for him yesterday to take him to dinner last night (goofy I know) and almost had a melt-down when I couldn’t find him.  I found lots of other stuff in the process, but not Simon.  I know he’s here somewhere!

That night when we got to restaurant and pulled in the parking structure, Curt took the ticket from the little machine and promptly lost it into the dashboard of his car.  No kidding – gone.  We never found it in all the years we owned that car and that night he had to just pay the maximum. The restaurant was across the water from the Queen Mary with a gorgeous view of the harbor. 

Curt always gives me a hard time about the fact that I reached over and took food off his plate without asking.  He thought it was weird.  I just tell him that I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t like him so much!  LOL!  It was a habit I had…er…have.  Last night we went to another seafood restaurant in that same area with a view of the Queen Mary as you see in this photo.

That night after dinner we headed over to the Queen Mary to hang out in the Observation Lounge and listen to a 1940’s group called The Goils.  We walked around the ship and looked in the windows of all the closed up shops.  In one window I pointed out a beautiful glass rose which Curt later went back to the Queen Mary (during the Long Beach Grand Prix when all the streest are blocked no less) and bought to give me at my house warming party just a week or two later.  That night it was already dark when we got to the beach area, but last night we were able to enjoy the incredible sunset.

We had our first kiss that night and really we were a couple from that evening forward.  Marcia and Bill (who fixed us up) later told us they knew we would never break up because we are both a couple of “clip-on bears” (remember those little clip-on bears?  All my friends called me that because I was such a hugger!) AND because we were both people who got broken up with, but rarely did the breaking up (sad, huh?)  So they figured we’d be stuck with each other.  *snort*

Seeing each other was a little tough since Curt worked regular engineer day hours and I worked crazy dance studio night hours, but we managed.  We spent all of our weekend time together and Curt would usually stay up waaaaay late one night a week to see me after work – as in I rushed out and got home by 10:30 pm when he was normally asleep before 10.

Two years after we met, on Good Friday we got engaged.  I had helped to pick out the ring (you don’t think I’m the type to leave that to chance, do you?) so I knew the question was coming soon.  He wanted to plan some big romantic event, but I got impatient…very very impatient (hey I was 29!) and kind of forced his hand…wanting to show off my ring at a gathering we were having at my house after church service that night.  We got married in November.  I can honestly say that 1991 was the best year of my life!

I’m so thankful for a man who loves me so much, who has stuck with me through the good, the bad and the ugly (and there’s been plenty of all 3) and who still makes me laugh every single day!  If you haven’t guessed – he’s a keeper!

***I love you Sweetheart and I’m confident that the next 20 years will be even better than the last 20 years!!***

-Jami

PS  All that being said…no…he will NEVER live down not calling me for those first 10 days!  LOL!!!

 Hey there – just a  post to share a card that really makes me smile.  Ever since I saw the Flower Soft booth at CHA with their adorable samples, I’ve wanted to use black Flower Soft on a penguin image (which I have plenty of!)  I needed a birthday card for work today since it was my turn to be in charge of the birthday card and gift.  It was the perfect excuse to play with penguins, Flower Soft, TE Black Ice Glitter and the TE Easter Key Ingredients.  I chose this cute Whipper Snapper guy and added balloons from SU Crazy for Cupcakes (which is funny because just the other day I was thinking how dumb and useless that balloon image was in that set!  LOL!)

This card is 5″ x 5″ square and all the cs, dp and shimmer flowers are from the Key Ingredients kit (except for the shimmer white the penguin is stamped on).  I actually stamped him 3 times, colored with Copics,  and cut out his tummy and beak and scarf and layered them to go with the dimension of the Flower Soft.  I colored the black portions with N10 Copic, then put down an even thick layer of the Flower Soft adhesive, sprinkled on the black FS and then immediately sprinkled on the Black Ice glitter.  The matching color of glitter is really needed to get the totally solid coverage look.

You know I love adding black to almost any color combo and this was the perfect chance to do that with a black nestie layer and some black polka dot organdy ribbon from my stash.  I added a double layer of eyelet border punch, some hot pink corner brads, some teal Kaiser Craft pearls, and some white opal liquid pearls.  The doodle frame and balloon strings were hand-drawn.  Balloons were paper-pieced and sentiment was done with JustRite Small Letters.

Blind Date-iversary Saga – tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of our 2nd First Date.  We have been planning to go out to dinner to celebrate, but my sweet guy has the flu.  He’s on the upswing, so I’m still hopeful we might get to go out.  Either way I’ll be back to conclude my story either tomorrow or the next day.  Thanks for hanging in and following along!

Jami