Look Mom, no braces!

Kayla got her braces off today! She's had them on less than a year and a half so we were amazed when Dr. Sullivan said she was done! We did some early intervention with palate expanders which really made a difference in the length of time she had to wear them.

Here she is in the orthodontist's office before:



and after:


She had a caramel apple tonight and tomorrow we are having corn on the cob! She's really looking forward to the gooey Halloween candy. Hmmm.......maybe I should've made the appointment AFTER Halloween!

Elegant Autumn

It's October in the Pacific Northwest and we've had some unusually sunny weather which makes the changing Fall colors even that much more spectacular! A Muse has a new release coming that is absolutely lovely and will give you the perfect excuse to do some crafting on those crisp Fall days. Here I'm giving you a little sneak peak of the Oak Leaf Flourish and a new Beautiful Autumn sentiment. The tree is from the Trees 1 Clear set embellished with Autumn Flower Soft (so fun!).

Be sure to check out the A Muse Blog and from there you can hop over to some of the Creative Team blogs to see some more of what's coming up!

I am teaching "Falling into the Holidays" at the A Muse shop on November 8th so be sure call and reserve your spot!

A Muse Challenge #8 No Coloring Zone

This is for the A Muse Challenge #8 No Coloring Zone. I used my new Fiskars webbing texture plate on a Blackberry notecard, then sanded the embossed parts so the white of the card came through. The spider is a Martha Stewart punch. I bent the legs a little, then popped it up on some extra thick foam squares to make it look spooky real! (for added effect you could flock or glitter it up!). I stamp the "Boo!" on a Paprika notecard and punched it out with my EKS Dog Tag punch, inked the edges up in black and there you have it.......no coloring required!

I can't wait to see what next month's challenge is. Is always so fun to play along!

Calendars for a cause

Have heard the news? The A Muse calendars have been released! This year proceeds from the sale of these calendars will go to benefit Water 1st. Water 1st's mission is to serve families in the poorest communities in the world as they implement community-managed projects that integrate water supply, sanitation, and health education. Please visit the A Muse blog for more information about this awesome project!

The calendars are a download and come in 4 different sizes. The great thing is that you can print them as many times as you need to! I have some great projects and gifts in mind but for now I used the new full size version to make a reading chart for my son. He's what some call a "reluctant reader". He can read but he doesn't really enjoy it and he often starts books and doesn't finish them. We are choosing a stamp to represent each book he reads and stamping each day that he reads to me for 30 minutes. He started out the school year with a Star Wars book so we used the Tiny Star stamp. Now he's reading "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh" so we are using Humphrey the Rat. I stamped "reading" at the top using the Barney Clear Alphabet set which is such a fun font. I really hope this helps to keep his interest and enables him to see his success. I LOVE to read and I really want him to also!

I apologize for the poor photo. I had a heck of a time trying to get a good picture and my main desktop computer is down which is where my good photo editing software lives. After much frustration I decided you'd get the idea though the photo wasn't that great.

I've updated my class schedule. My Fall classes are listed in my side bar to the right. Please call or visit the A Muse shop to register. You can also register online and while you're at it, donate to a great cause and download some fun calendars!

Witchy Day

Ever have "one of those days"? I think this witch is! When I first saw this new image I knew I had to use that sentiment with it!

Don't you just love the new Halloween release from A Muse? They have really outdone themselves with this time! I am absolutely IN LOVE with the new Blackberry note cards. Those of you who know me know I LOVE purple and this is the perfect shade......PERFECT!! The new Paprika is a really nice orange too.

Be sure to check out the A Muse Blog and the Creative Team blogs for more peaks at the upcoming release. Only a couple more days to wait and then you can play with them too!

Sparkles & Sunshine

I am in love with these cute new Mandy's World stamps from A Muse! Amanda has really created some fun images and this Bubble Girl is my current favorite! I love adding clear gel or Spica pen to the bubbles to really set them off.

One of our dear friends is also an A Muse fan and I knew she'd love these cute stamps so we gave her a few for her birthday and made this cute card and notebook to go with them. Hopefully, she'll share the stamps with her mom (*wink*).

We just got a big Martha Stewart order in at the shop and I couldn't resist this Loopy Edge punch any longer. It's SO cute and fun! There's a corner punch that matches it so you can go all the way around a card or page. I've added it to our next order and hope it comes in soon!

So Proud!!

We are having a busy and eventful summer so far along with some crazy weather! The Seattle area had record breaking temperatures....over 100 degrees!!

July is always busy for us between the annual I-CAN meeting, Kayla and Dean's birthdays and swim competitions. Kayla hasn't had a birthday party in 2 years because we are never in town during her day but this year we were and it was a milestone birthday. My girl turned 13! A teenager, YIKES! Summer parties are hard but we managed to pull together a few of her friends and took them camping overnight at our camping lot. My friend, Marilyn, went with us and we brought our boys too. The girls all slept out in the tent while the mom's and boys slept in the trailer. They did a scavenger hunt, ate, played games, swam, oogled teen magazines, roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores! We all a great time. On the way home we stopped at Celestial Coffeehouse in Startup where we had a fabulous custom cake, ice cream and Italian sodas (Thank you Kathryne and Lori!)

Kayla competed in 2 big competitions last month. NJDC (National Jr. Disability Championships) were held in St Louis and she took first place in all of her events. From there we flew straight to Edmonton, Canada for the summer CAN-AM meet where she earned a gold, a silver and 3 bronze medals. In May she broke the American record in her classification for the 50 m butterfly and at this meet she bettered that time twice! She had an awesome week of swimming and we were so pleased but hardly prepared for the awesome news we recieved when we got home. She's been selected by the US Paralympic Committee to compete with Team USA at the Short Course World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this Fall! We are amazed, shocked and honored to have this opportunity and are so proud of her!

I apologize to my crafty friends for not having any eye candy for you, I hope to remedy that soon. I am in love with all the new A Muse stamps and can't wait to get some play time. If you haven't checked out the Back to School release and the new Mandy's World stamps yet, you are going to fall in love! Head over to the A Muse website right now and check them out!