Hand Stamped By Lacey

A Field Trip and Lady Antebellum Concert

Hello stamping friends!! 

Last week was Teacher Appreciation week. So I was busy getting little gifts together for the teachers. They do so much all year, they deserve a week filled with being pampered for all they do! 

We gave them 2 single flowers on Monday, a reusable plastic up with straw on Tuesday, chocolate covered oreos on Wednesday, on Thursday they got a set of cards (will share pictures of those soon), and Friday they will got a handmade card with a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant (well, one is getting a gift card to a book store since she said she loves to read).

Last Thursday we went to the Lady Antebellum in concert! The tickets were a Christmas gift from me to Scott. Apparently I purchased "floor -standing" tickets. Now, on one hand that's great because you are REALLY close! But on the other hand, it's "standing only" so after 3 1/2 hours of standing in my heal boots, I could barely walk to the car!!

Here are some pictures taken with my iphone (I have an older version so no flash and the quality is not great)...

My husband got this great shot of the stage. Those are the huge screens behind the stage (they must have been on the cat-walk when Scott took this shot). There was a group of people who were brought down from the upper-deck of the area and put in the "pit" in the center of the stage. You can see them near the bottom blue lights. We were about 10 feet back from the stage. We got there early enough to have been within inches of the stage but I don't like crowds so we hung back a little so we wouldn't get trampled.

Again, sorry for the poor quality. My phone does not take good pictures indoors!! Especially when the subject of the photo is moving!!

Here's a blurry picture of Scott and I before the concert. 

Thompson Square opened the concert

And Darius Rucker was there was well. OMG! He was so great! He played some Hootie and the Blowfish songs as well. Along with Prince's Purple Rain and Hank Williams Jr Family Tradition ("Hank, why do you drink?" - love that song)!

It was a great night!

Of course, we had a little "issue" with our plans that night, though...both kids were scheduled to have ball games that night!! Luckily they pushed Ryan's game back a day because of rain earlier in the week. A friend took Ansley to her game while Ryan stayed home with a babysitter. We almost decided not to go to the concert!! But luckily we got the plans worked out and found a babysitter who could work late on a school night. 

Anyway, with all of the crazy schedule of last week, I had also volunteered in Ryan's class to help chaperone a field trip to the movies to see Chimpanzee. It was a cute movie. 

Afterward, we had a picnic at the park...

I have some crafty stuff done, but haven't had the time to finish taking pictures. I will share those later. 

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

I'm still alive

Just a quick note to say that I am still alive!!

I was hit with a nasty, nasty cold this week. It started with a fever Monday afternoon and took over the rest of the week. The final diagnosis was a bad sinus infection. But I felt like I was going to die! Massive head ache, ear ache, sore throat, sneezing (oh, the sneezing), nausea, aches, etc!! Tuesday I think I went through 2 boxes of tissues from the running nose and sneezing. Wednesday I went to the doctor in the morning and ended up in bed the rest of the day with nausea. I started to feel a little human on thursday and got a little work done Thursday afternoon.  

But I am now a few days out on my antibiotics so I am feeling much better. I actually managed to get all orders packaged up and taken to the post office today, too. 

Anyway, the bad news is that I have been too sick to even want to stamp...so no crafty inspiration from me! Maybe I'll have a little time on Sunday?!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy stamping!

Hello from East Tennessee!

Hello Stamping Friends!!

Just a quick hello from our Spring Break vacation. We are visiting my in-laws in East Tennessee. The kids are having a blast and the weather has been mostly beautiful.

There is a sale going on at Stamp and Create this week.

10% off your whole order when you use discount code spring (all lowercase) at check out.

The sale runs through Friday, March 23rd. Orders will ship out on the 23rd when I return. 

Here are some pictures from Saturday and Sunday. We have been hanging out in my in-law's community...

Having leaf races under the bridge...

Making silly faces with Nana and Papa (Daddy's in there, too)...

Making wishes...

And spreading seeds...

Getting lessons on skimming stones...

Posing for pictures...

And going for walks!

I hope you are all enjoying your Spring Break (or did, or will whenever you have yours)!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

Been Busy, but now sick!

Hello Stamping Friends!

Sorry I've been quiet this week. I've been a little busy. Over the past month, I have been working on sewing window treatments for the family room/breakfast area downstairs. This is what my room looked like for the past few weeks...

I brought in a 6' table to help with laying out the curtains.

I finally got them finished this week in time for me to host a Bunco party on Friday. But halfway through the party, I got a relapse of my head cold and haven't gotten off the couch since! I've been sick as a dog all weekend. I'm so glad tomorrow is a postal holiday so I don't have to worry about packing up customer orders! 

Anyway, here is the final results...

I had a hard time taking a good picture because of the back light from outside so I have a few closer shots that are more clear. But basically, I made 3 valances for the windows and curtains for the sliding glass doors. I've worked on this on and off for a few weeks - taking off Christmas and New Year. 

The family room...

The kitchen/Breakfast area... (please ignore the recycles on the counter in the kitchen!! hehe)...

Here's a little closer shot of the breakfast area...

I created 3 panels, added a brown border at the bottom and brown inside for the pleats. I promise, I will NEVER do window treatments with 2 toned pleats again!! Not fun!!

Here are the curtains for the doors open...

And closed...

None of the pictures show the colors well since the silky fabric made the flash bounce off it. But it's a tan'ish/Gold'ish silky fabric with embroidered diamonds (in ivory) and ivory and brown velour crosses.

It really helped finish off the decor in this area. We've been in this house for 9 months, so it's really time to make it feel like "home"! 

Next up: Craft Room decor (you can see some of it in the first picture on this post waiting to be hung), Game Room, Laundry Room organization, and finally finishing off Ryan's room - oh, and window treatments for the Master Bedroom! Whew!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

Happy New Year!

Hello stamping friends!!

I just wanted to post a quick Happy New Year wish for you.

I don't have anything creative to share at the moment. I have been traveling and hosting family over the Holidays and haven't had any time to craft. But I do have a card for you tomorrow with the New Magical Monday Challenge. 

In the mean time, I hope you all have a very Happy New Year!! May God bless you all in 2012!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

Trip to Disney World

Hello Stamping Friends!!

We are back from our trip to Walt Disney World! I swear, it doesn't matter how many times we go, it's always fun! And this time, since Ansley is done with the Disney Princesses, we had a lot more time for doing things that we never had time to do before (since we didn't have to wait in line to meet the Princesses or go on kiddie rides for Ryan)! Ansley is now tall enough to ride everything at Disney! Ryan is almost tall enough. 

So this trip we gave them a "Roller Coaster Challenge"! To give them an additional incentive to ride the bigger roller coasters, we said they could have $20 if they completed the challenge! Plus I bought them a trading pin for each of the roller coasters that they haven't been on before. They love to trade pins at the park.

The first day we went to Hollywood Studios. We got there before the park opened so we were able to get fast passes and hop on some rides first thing! The lines were not crowded in the morning, but the afternoons were crazy!

Ryan isn't tall enough for Rockin' Roller Coaster so while Ansley rode that, he had to ride the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios. 

This is Ansley after she got off the Rockin' Roller Coaster. It was her first "upside down" roller coaster. I think she was in a little bit of shock, but she really liked it! I don't have a picture of Ryan on Tower of Terror since he was with Scott and I didn't think to take on with him when he got off.

We did a couple new rides at Hollywood studios (new to us). We did the Star Tours and Indiana Jones Stunt Show for the first time. Of course, we had a fast pass for Toy Story and the Cars Stunt show. We saw the Muppets show and saw the Osborne Spectacle of Lights...

The next day we went to Magic Kingdom. We arrived again before it opened so we got to see the Mickey and Minnie and some other characters arrive on the train to open the park! I've never gotten to the Magic Kingdom before it opened before. It was fun!

We went straight to Space Mountain! Ansley has been on Space Mountain before but this was Ryan's first time. And the first time the whole family was able to go on at one time! 

So, Ryan wasn't too thrilled with Space Mountain. He doesn't like the dark and - of course - Space Mountain is completely in the dark! You know how most Disney Thrill rides take a picture of you on the ride? Well, check out this shot they got of Ryan...

LOL...if he could have slouched any farther, he would have fallen out of the harness! Ansley still looks shocked even though she's been on this ride a few times already.

Ryan was all smiles after the ride!

Plus he got to see Stitch (one of his favorite characters)...

Ryan's holding up two of his Stitch Trading Pins (Tower of Terror and Space Mountain Pins)!

Since we got there so early, the lines were wonderful. The Dumbo ride was only 30 minutes (which is the quickest it ever gets)...

The kids tried their hands at being the future Queen and King of England...

Check out Ryan's face!! He's determined to get that Sword out of the Stone! Tries every time, but it hasn't budged yet! LOL

Even Santa was at the Magic Kingdom!

Another part of the "Roller Coaster Challenge" was Thunder Mountain Railroad. The kids have been on that ride a million times, but since it is a roller coaster, we added it to the challenge anyway.

Here Ansley and Scott are getting ready to ride Thunder Mountain!

Since we arrived so early, the lines were great! We were basically able to ride everything we wanted to by 2pm! We stayed until 6pm though so we could ride Thunder Mountain a 2nd time. Since we had time to spare, we went to Tom Sawyer's Island for the first time!

The last day went to Animal Kingdom. We didn't arrive when it opened, but got there shortly after. We made a bee-line to Expedition Everest to get a fast pass then went straight on to the Safari. The safari is best to go on in the morning when it's cooler and the animals are awake. 

Check out this giraffe...

This giraffe came do close to the jeep! It walked right behind us! We were in the 2nd-last row. The people in the last row just about jumped out of their seat when it looked it the giraffe was going to run into the back of the jeep!! LOL

After the Safari, we went on Expedition Everest - the last stop on the Roller Coaster Challenge.

This was before we went on - Ryan's a little stressed at the moment!

Ryan getting on the ride.

Ansley was a little anxious, too!

The ride took off before I could put the camera away - so I took some photos during the ride...

(going backwards!!)

The big drop!!! See all of the people at the bottom?

They did it! They finished the Stephen's Disney Roller Coaster Challenge!! Ryan cried most of Everest. He was still a little upset for this photo! But we're so proud of him for doing it. I'm pretty sure Ansley loved it! 

Ansley's Birthday Bedroom Makeover

Hello stamping friends!

Today was Ansley's birthday! I can't believe my baby is 9 years old! We had a wonderful birthday party. I will show pictures later. But since all of our friends got to see Ansley's new room makeover, I can now share it here. 

I forgot to take a picture of her room before we started painting. We only had the builder's off-white paint and she had a rainbow bedspread. 

Here's the room while my husband had just started on the painting...

And her room now... 

I still need to change the ceiling fan blades over so the fan will be all white. The rainbow went with her old bed.

This is the wall to the left... 

The door to the left is her bedroom door (opened). The door to the right is her closet door.

Here is her "reading nook"... 

And her bed...

Two of the craft project I did her for room include the banner at the top and her name...

The name are white wooden letters that I got at Jo Ann's. I punched glitter cardstock with circle punches and attached them to the letters.

Here's the other corner of her room with her chest and dresser...

I showed you the wall hanging I did for her chest here.

And the final wall of her room...

Ansley had some girlfriends stay overnight for a sleepover after her party...

Here they are in the upstair's "game room" watching a movie. Yes, there are two boys...The one on the right is my son Ryan and the shirtless one is his friend. His parents were out of town so I said I would watch him so that he could come to the party (otherwise he would have missed the party and Ryan would have been really upset).

And here are the girls trying to settle in for the night...

Ansley's room is big enough that we can fit a Queen size blowup mattress in her room! And, yes, I purchased a 2nd matching breadspread...just in case we need it...like for sleepovers!!

I hope you like Ansley's new room! She loves it...and so do I!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

A Racing Good Time

Hello stamping friends!!

Don't forget to enter my candy here!!

I'm having a great time in Atlanta, Georgia visiting my sister and mom. Scott stayed behind so it's just me and the kids. The kids are having a great time with their cousins. 

Today we went to a go-cart/video game place to celebrate our Cousin's birthday. We rode go carts, played laser tag (OMG - so much fun), and play video games. Man am I exhausted!! 

Here are some pictures from the day (my camera didn't take any pictures well in the dark laser tag so I'll have to get copies of Papa's pictures). 

Cake time...

My kids are on the left (Ansley on the top left and Ryan on the bottom left). Cousin Zachary (the birthday boy) is in the middle with his sister Rileigh behind him. Rileigh's birthday was this week as well (she is 2 years and 1 day older than her brother), but her party was last weekend so we missed it.

Here is some of the go-cart fun...

Here's Ansley with Grammie (my mom) above.

Here I am with Ryan (above)

In the above picture, the car in the front is me and Ryan (winning), and my brother-in-law with Rileigh trying to catch us (they never did :-)

It was a great party. I'll be back tomorrow with the card I made for Rileigh. Zachary's card was already posted here.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

 

Chocolate Camp?!!

Hello stamping friends!!

Well is seems that Ryan's stomach thing is gone - only lasted 1 hour on Monday and caused us to miss the beach. But so far the rest of us seem to be fine. Ansley has a little bit of a stomach ache yesterday, but nothing to keep her from tormenting her brother...or keep her home from Vacation Bible School. 

The kids are enjoying VBS again this year. Ryan says he doesn't want to go...until we pull into the parking lot...then he says "ok, I'll go"! And every time we pick him up, his "teacher" says he was "active"...you have no idea, lady!! LOL

Speaking of active, yesterday we had a busy day. We woke up, got ready, picked up two friends, then met other friends for bowling!! The kids earn free bowling based on their report cards!! We only had to pay for shoe rentals - and my kids' shoes are size 13 or under so they were free!! We only had to pay for our friend's shoes since they were bigger than 13. 

After bowling, we went out for pizza for lunch then on to another fun activity...chocolate camp!! Yep, Chocolate camp!! How awesome is that?!

For $25 each, they get to hand-dip their own treats: Pretzel sticks, oreos, rice crispy treats, lollipop mold, and graham crackers. Plus they get to lick their gloves after they dip each item (yes, they get new gloves and wash their hands in between) AND a cup of gelato ice cream!! 

You guessed, it, I have a ton of pictures and will be scrapping them at some point. But I wanted to quickly show some photos now...

Ryan and Ansley in their dipping get-up...

Check out Ryan's messy face!

And the final results of the dipping adventure...

Yes, Ryan still has chocolate all over his face!! I guess I got used to seeing it so I didn't notice it again until we were in a clothing store a little later!! Bad mom!!

Talk about being an "active kid"!! Ryan can control his activity level with 1 thing: Threats - when there is a strong consequence for his behavior, then he can control it. 

But when you add in ANY sugar and forget it!! I call him "Crazy boy on sugar". Do you remember those anti-drug commercials in the 80's...."This is your brain (show an egg), this is your brain on crack (show an egg cooking in a frying pan)". My version is: This is my son...they is my son on sugar...

Take a look at Ryan in the left side of this picture (under the arrow). He's a blurr!! He was literally jumping up and down and couldn't stand still...so much so that I couldn't get a clear picture of him!! LOL

Well, all is good. The dipped treats are home now and I am sure will be eaten or forgotten about soon. Ryan doesn't have much of a sweet tooth so he may only eat 1 or 2 pieces. Ansley, on the other hand, will eat everything within a few days!! 

I will be back in the next day or so with a gift I made my husband in honor of our 10th anniversary last week.

In the mean time...

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

Benefit Concert for Luke

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. So far, we have had a great one. 

On Friday night we went to a Benefit Concert for Luke. The best part...

we got to see Luke!! 

I have seen Luke a few times when I visited him in the hospital while I was in town house hunting. But the kids hadn't seen him since we moved back. In fact, this was the first time they have seen him since his seizure on New Year's Eve. 

The concert was great. It was a night filled with Praise and Worship, a little sermon, and...the best part...we all prayed together for Luke. I got to sit next to Luke and place my hands on him while I prayed for him. Even Ryan went up to the stage to pray for Luke (he sat on my lap). Ansley has fallen asleep by that point. 

Anyway, it was so nice to see Luke and give Brandi (his mom) a huge hug! 

They may be coming to the movies with us on Sunday to see Kung Fu Panda - I sure hope they can make it!! 

On a quick update on Luke, as you can see in the picture above, his right hand is constantly moving (his hand is blurry in the photo since it was moving) whereas his left side "Lefty" is very tight. You can see a video on his blog of Luke moving "lefty"!! This is such wonderful news that he was able to move his left arm on his own. Praises!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I will be back tomorrow with the new Magical Monday Challenge and Stamp and Create Product Spotlight.

~Lacey

Happy Easter

Hello friends!! I hope you are having a lovely Easter!! 

Don't forget about the Easter Sale still going on at Stamp and Create.

10% off everything in the store using discount code easter (all lowercase) at check out.

By the time this posts, we will probably up and searching for what the Easter Bunny left behind! I bet we're tired, too after getting in late from our trip to Epcot. 

I wanted to share some pictures of the kids dying eggs earlier in the week...

We put out an old towel on top of the kitchen island and I kept a CLOSE eye on the dye so nothing would stain our new kitchen!!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!!

The backyard

Today is a new Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge. Unfortunately, I am still behind with DT work (and income tax preparation) so I don't have a project to share today. But I wanted to let you know the new challenge is:

Ribbons and Pearls.

Go check it out!

In the mean time, I promised to share some pictures of the house!!

Well, the inside is still a work in process and is still quite cluttered. So I will have to wait to share those at a later date.

Today I have a picture of the front of the house as well as one of my favorite places - the back yard!

The front...

This picture was taken actually the weekend before we moved in.

Now here are some pictures of the backyard...

 

The "woods" on the side of the house were cleared yesterday so they will be building a new house soon.

Princess decided to come and see what I was taking a picture of...

And the view from the backdoor...

And little nosey...

Hello from under the boxes!!

Just a quick note to say that I'm still alive!! But still buried under a ton of boxes!

We have actually unpacked most of the boxes, but not everything has been put away. It looks like a tornado hit the upstairs!! The internet was hooked up on Tuesday and the cable is being hooked up today. 

I have to take a break from unpacking today to get the kids registered in their new school and to pay my sales taxes for February. And tomorrow I hope to be able to work around the mess to start getting the store orders filled and shipped out. It will take me a few days to get caught up. 

I want to leave you today with a picture of my new craft room...

Nice, hun?!! ROFL. Actually, all of those boxes have been unpacked already so it does look more like a room now. 

Once I get it completely finished, I will have to post another picture. But right now it's a cluttered mess.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

~Lacey

The New Year's Eve Kiss - Sarah Kay

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you have a Blessed and safe 2011!!

Merry Christmas

Well, I forgot to post post a few last Christmas cards over the past week while I've been on vacation!! I will try to schedule those for later this week. 

In the mean time, I wanted to send Christmas wishes out to you all! Thank you so much for coming by and seeing me every day. I love my blogger friends!!

We left last Sunday for Disney World for a few days. I have posted a few pictures on facebook. But here are a few highlights of our past week...

The family with Mickey and Minnie at Magic Kingdom...

A Nativity scene at the Gaylord Palm "Ice!"...

That is ALL ice!!!

Here's Santa and his reindeer...again completely out of ice...

Man it was COLD in there!! 9 degrees!!!

Santa and a helper came to our hotel...

The kids had their face painted at Disney that day....

Isn't Ryan's face awesome?!!

We also went to Medieval Times dinner show as well...

We had a great time rooting for our Knight (the Black and White Knight who defeated the bad Knight)!!

Then we drove up to Atlanta, Georgia to spend Christmas with my sister and mom and to look for a new house. Last night we went to my sister's church for a Christmas Eve children's puppet service and Ansley was asked to be in the play!! My niece was too scared and chose not to be in the play.

He's a picture of Ansley (that's my sister in the green shirt)...

Here is the backdrop for the scene. It was a very cute show. Ansley is the angel all the way to the left (looking up behind her at the puppets)...

After the kids went to bed, Santa stopped by and left lots of presents...

The other kids are my nephew Zachary and my niece Rileigh.

Here are my kids with my sister's family. Scott is to the left, but I couldn't get him in the shot.

It was a good Christmas!!!

It's supposed to snow later today!! :-) It would be nice to have a "white Christmas"...it would be my first! 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!

I'm still alive!!

Hey there stamping friends!!

I just wanted to quickly pop in to say that I'm still here!!

Currently the High Hopes and Wags 'n Whiskers Design Teams are taking time off for the Holidays. I will have my Magical Monday and ABC Christmas DT cards next week. 

The Stamp and Create DT will have a few samples over the Holiday, but I may not have a personal sample each week (I will be posting the DT samples on the store blog and will try to get some on here as well). The team will be having blog candy on their blogs throughout the Holiday Season!! So make sure to check them out each week to see who is giving something away!! (links to the DT in the side bar here)

This week's Product Spotlight is Wild Rose Studio on sale for 25% off. I have an order on the way to replenish them however, a few designs were out of stock and won't be restocked. Hopefully the order will arrive today or tomorrow. But they are coming from the UK, so the Holiday shipping and cold weather could delay the shipment. I will post on the store blog once they have arrived. I have a card sample to share, but didn't have access to download the photo. Hopefully I can get that today and post it tomorrow. I really need to figure out why my camera is not compatible with my mac!!

Sadly, I have decided to step down from the Scrap and Stamp Saturday Scrapbook challenge DT. Right now with getting ready for the move in the Spring, I just don't have the time it takes for each layout. But I hope to get back into scrapbooking a little after the New Year if nothing more than keeping up with my personal scrapbooks.

We have a realtor coming on Friday to put the house on the market. That means we have been purging closets, getting rid of clutter, and trying to get the house in order. Not to mention doing last minute Christmas shopping and getting ready to go out of town for 2 weeks! 

It's been chilly here in South Florida but the temperatures have been up and down from the 70's to the 30's so that means a head cold is just lurking waiting to strike at the worst moment!! LOL Then, of course, Ryan has outgrown all of his "winter" clothes so the cooler weather forced me to finally get him some warm clothes. Therefore, I've spent even more time shopping this week!!

And as I mentioned, we will be out of town for Christmas (again) this year. We are leaving on Jan 19th and returning on Dec 3rd. We are heading first to Orlando to go to Disney World and Universal Orlando parks, then head to Jacksonville to see friends, ending up in Atlanta for Christmas to see my mom and sister...and look for houses! For New Year's, we will head back to Jacksonville, then come home after the New Year! 

This is the 3rd year in a row that we will be out of town for Christmas!! Sigh!! I swore I was going to be home for Christmas this year, but the need to look for houses in Atlanta took priority! Oh well! It will be nice to spend Christmas with family at least.

Well, it's time to get back to the cleaning...

My kids "elf'ed"

My mom created one of those "Elf yourself" videos with my kids (looks like a little older pictures). 

Hopefully this works, but I don't think the website will work for too long so watch it while you can...

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/9srtbB1WnnMkikskIKcn

Please pray for Kate

I've had a link in my sidebar for a little girl named Kate who has an aggressive brain tumor for awhile now. She is having a MRI scan done today at 3:00 (I think Mountain time?) because of some new symptoms. 

Her scan was supposed to be on friday, but they bumped it up to today because of the new symptoms. There is a new spot that they are worried about. 

You can read her journal here...

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate

Lord God, I lift up Kate and her family to you. Lord please be with Kate and her doctors. I pray that her new symptoms are just those of a silly virus and that they have nothing to do with her tumor. I pray that the new spot in question is miraculously gone. Lord, we know that you have the power to remove this cancer. And so we ask, we beg, that you take this cancer away from Kate. Restore her body 100% to the glory of which you created. 

I claim Psalms 139 over Kate today...

1 O LORD, you have searched (Kate) and you know (Kate). 2 You know when (she) sits and when (she) rises; you perceive (her) thoughts from afar. 3 You discern (her) going out and (her) lying down; you are familiar with all (her) ways. 4 Before a word is on (her) tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem (Her) in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon (her). 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can (she) go from your Spirit? Where can (she) flee from your presence? 8 If (she) goes up to the heavens, you are there; if (she) makes (her) bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If (she) rises on the wings of the dawn, if (she) settles on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide (Kate), your right hand will hold (her) fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide (her) and the light become night around (her)," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created (her) inmost being; you knit (Kate) together in (her) mother's womb. 14 I praise you because (Kate) is fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 (Kate's) frame was not hidden from you when (she) was made in the secret place. When (she) was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw (Kate's) unformed body. All the days ordained for (her) were written in your book before one of them came to be. 

Thank you, Lord God, for allowing us to come to you on Kate's behalf. Hear our prayers o' Lord and cast this disease away from Kate. We praise you because you are powerful and mighty and you have compassion for your children. Please have mercy on Kate and rid her body of this horrible disease. 

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Updated Wednesday night...

This was taken from Kate's caring pages...

"Words could not possibly express our joy and gratitude for today's scan. Stable! Never have those words sounded so sweet. We are still trying to let the news soak in. 

Kate's oncologist said the scan looked good.... there appeared no new growth from the one 2 months ago. And the enhancement and flair on the scan was actually somewhat less. We could not have been more excited!

We are grateful for the outpouring of prayers. We were in a very precarious situation knowing we could hear one of two drastically different reports today. We are rejoicing that the news was great, and we get more time with our precious daughter. Thank you Jesus." 

Card Drive

This is my 2nd post for the day. Please scroll down to see my Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge card...

Wow! I keep forgetting to post this!

I've received a few emails from people asking about the Card Drive for Margaret's 100th Birthday.

The drive went well. Although we didn't reach 100 cards, there were cards from all over the world! My card was late...I sent it to the wrong zipcode!! Duh!!

Here is a picture of Margaret with some of the cards and letters that were sent to her from family and friends...

And here she is with her cake...

Please keep her in your prayers. She fell a little while back and has been having a rough time recoving. I can imagine it must be hard to "bounce back" at 100 year old!! But doesn't she look fantastic?!

The winner of the card drive was Gloria Westerman of Tennessee! We have already been in contact. I just forgot to post it!!

Thank you all so much for send her a card!! What a wonderful milestone!

And I am so sorry it took me so long to post this!! I was waiting for pictures, then forgot to post it after I received them!!  

Vacation update

Here's a quick update about our weekend trip to Orlando...
We had a great time at Disney's Magic Kingdom yesterday. I posted a few pictures on facebook throughout the day. Last night we checked into the Nickelodean Resort. The kids went in the pool and played in the splashpark. Than we all watched the Kids choice awards on a big screen at the pool. I was a lot of fun.
This morning we had a character breakfast and met some if the Nick characters. We are now hanging out at the pool.
Tomorrow we are heading to universal studios islands of adventure then home at night. It's about 3 hour drive home.
I will post more pictures when I return!!

Scary weekend

You may have noticed that I didn't post my DT card for the High Hopes Challenge. That's because I had a scary weekend.

Around 8:30am Saturday morning, my daughter was sitting on a barstool at the kitchen counter eating breakfast. Apparently she was cold, so she was sitting on her feet and tucked her arms into her dress. She lost her balance and fell off the stool. Since her feet and arms were tucked away, she was not able to free them to help break the fall. She went face-first on the tile floor!! Scott said the sound of her hitting the floor was HORRIBLE!!

Immediately she had a HUGE knot on her head. I mean HUGE!! It was at least 1 1/2" in diameter and it stuck out at least 1" on her forehead...it looked like a mini hockey puck was attached to her forehead...no joking!!

My husband ran her to the hospital while I stayed home with Ryan. After a CT-Scan was done, they determined that Ansley had 2 non-displaced fractures on her orbital bone (eyebrow bone) and her forehead. That means that she has 2 cracks on her skull, but the bones had not shifted and there was no internal or external bleeding.

Since she got sick a few times at the hospital, they wanted to keep her in the hospital overnight for observation.

They needed to transfer her to another hospital that had a pediatric neurologist department. So I packed up some things for the hospital stay, ran Ryan over to my sister in law's, then met up at the first hospital to hop in the ambulance to head to the 2nd hospital.

Scott took this picture on his cell phone about 3 hours after the fall...

The thing on her hand is a mesh glove to hold the IV port still so it wouldn't hurt her. Apparently the black eye is actually the blood that rushed to the bump area eventually "falls" and accumulates around the eye. Her eye is not tender or hurt, it's just where the blood accumulated. You can see that the whole forehead started to swell at this point. But that the bump had started to go down!

Scott came to the hospital after dinner to stay with her overnight so I could stay home with Ryan. I switched with him this morning and stayed with her until she was released earlier tonight.

These pictures were taken after she was home and took a bath (which is why her hair is wet)...

 

The big stuff dog she is holding was a gift for Ansley from Ryan.

Here's a shot with her eye closed...

 
  
And here's a profile...

 
This may not be as noticable to everyone, but I can tell that her forehead and bridge of her nose are swollen.

She is fine now. She will be home from school tomorrow. We will see how she is feeling and decide if she stays home another day or two.

We have to go to the pediatrician tomorrow so that they can monitor her healing progress. Then we will go back to the facial bone doctor (can't remember the name of his specialty) in 2 weeks as well.

She can not play soccer or any other contact sport for 3 months. Other than that, she is cleared for normal activity.

I have a busy week this week with a Wags 'n Whiskers release on Friday (more about that very soon) and normal store activity. Plus I will have Ansley at home at least on monday with a trip to the peditrician. And since Ryan seems to have caught my chest cold and a head cold, I am sure he will be home from school at least 1 day this week!!

So that was my "fun" weekend!! I hope to have my High Hopes card loaded later. I finished my card Saturday night (while Scott was at the hospital with Ansley), then I realized that I forgot the "metal or wire" part of the challenge!! Doh!! I guess my mind was a little preoccupied!! I hope I can adjust the card and upload it later.

In the mean time, happy stamping!

~Lacey

Pray for Kate

I have added a little section in my right sidebar called "Pray for Kate". I was introduced to this little girl's struggle through Jennifer McGuires blog and her "Cards for Kate" drive she held last year. Wags 'n Whiskers was one of the sponsors for the card drive.

I have signed up to receive email notifications of when her mom updates their blog.

They are currently have a major decision to make....to have another surgery to remove the whole tumor (which could have major long term side effects) or to do radiation (which could have major long term side effects). This can not be an easy decision to make. My heart pours out for this child and her family.

Please keep them in their prayers. Please pray for 100% clear guidence as to what the next treatment should be. And, of course, please pray for complete healing!

Special request

This is my 2nd post, please scroll down to see my Simply Vintage card...

I received an email from fellow blogger Maxine Rebeles. She forwarded a request for some cards. Here's what it says...

"A 5yr old boy named Noah Biorkman , is in the last stages of a 2 1/2yr battle with Neuroblastoma Cancer. The family is celebrating Christmas next week and Noahs request is to get lots of Christmas cards... Lets help get him some. Please send cards to:
Noah Biorkman
1141 Fountian Viewcircle
South Lyon, Mi 48178
Lets see How many cards we can Get to this Little guy, Thank You!"

If you can, please send Noah a Christmas card to help brighten his day! My own son is 5 years old, so I can't imagine what it would be like for him to deal with fighting cancer.

Thank you so much for your help!

~Lacey

RAK, stock update, and "stuff"

Today I have a little "stuff" to share.

First a RAK (Random Act of Kindness)...

Joy tried out for the Wags 'n Whiskers Guest spot recently and was the runner up. So we sent her a stamp of her choice. She also won one of my blog candies recently. So she created a card using both of her stamps and sent them to me....along with a Gorjous Girl stamp!! I was so excited to receive my package!! Thank you so much, Joy...that was so kind of you.

Stamp and Create update...

Wags 'n Whiskers Blog will start weekly challenge TOMORROW!! In honor of our first challenge,I have a special on Wags 'n Whiskers Rubber Stamps. For each stamp you purchase, you will receive a set of charms of your choice for free!! Make sure to state which charms you want in the comment section at check out (US and Canada only).

A funny story...

A few weeks ago, we went to the pediatrician for Ryan's check up. The doctor pointed out that he had a heart murmur...which is the first time we have been told this (Ansley actually has a small whole in her heart called VSD). Anyway, that's not the funny part (obviously)...we have an appointment on Nov 9th to get it checked out.

Anyway, last night Ansley saw a commercial for something that mentioned "being born with a heart defect". She start talking about her heart condition. When Ryan bursts out with "I have a Heart Mermaid"!! LOL Instead of a murmur, he has a mermaid in his heart!! ;-) I just thought that was funny!

Amazed...

Today I went to the mall to get a pedicure and grab a few things I needed. The stores are in the process of putting out the Christmas decorations and the "Photo with Santa" spot. They had Christmas music pipped through the mall and Bath and Body Works had some sort of evergreen scent burning which spread throughout that section of the mall! Thanksgiving is still weeks away...but the malls are already looking forward to Christmas!!

This is really my favorite time of the year. Although we don't get the normal "Seasons" here in South Florida, I enjoy this time of year. Slightly cooler weather (is was 82 degrees today with overcast skies and a VERY strong breeze)!! Christmas music playing all around and the kids starting to write their letters to Santa!!

Oh, it's also my birthday in less than 2 weeks...so that's another reason to celebrate. My sister will be here for Thanksgiving. Then we are all going to Disney World together (which happens to be a HORRIBLE time to go to Disney...very long lines) but it's the only time we can go with her family.

For Christmas, we have a 2 week trip planned to visit family...South Carolina to visit Scott's brother and family...Tennessee for Christmas to visit Scott's parents (need to write a note to Santa telling him we will be at Nana's this year)...Georgia to visit my sister and mom...then Jacksonville, FL to visit our old friends and for a New Year's Eve party!! Whew...I am tired thinking about it!

Anyway, if you are looking for some Christmas gifts for your crafty friends, get a head start by shopping on-line at Stamp and Create. Gift Certificates are also available. Email me for details at LaceySoLiving@bellsouth.net

See you tomorrow for the Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge!!

~Lacey

Blog Candy winners

Wow! I am still trying to recover from all of last week's activities! I am so thrilled that everyone seemed to enjoy the Wags 'n Whiskers Blog Hop on Friday. I sure had fun! And I am so excited about the pre-orders that have already come it! I can't wait to be able to ship them out as soon as they arrive.

But in addition to all of the blog hop activity, I have had a sick kid with me since thursday! Actually, thursday ended up not being sick at all...Ryan apparently got bit by some bugs or something (still don't know what they were), but we were a little scared that they might be the chicken pox! We went to the doctor and he said they were just bites. So he basically got to stay home for 2 days for no reason...luck him!

Unfortunately, while we were at the doctor, Ansley started complaining about a headache. When they took her temp, she had a fever! Saturday she was just a little tired, with a little cough, and a low fever that would go away with tylenol. So she still went to Hockey game with Scott on Saturday night. Then on Sunday, she just felt misserable...horrible cough, headache, and more lowgrade fever.

Last night she woke up with a bloody nose. Of course, she had to stay home from school today since she had a fever yesterday. But she woke up with no fever...just a horrible cough. Later in the afternoon, she had a 100.1 fever again so I took her back to the doctor. Well...she has the croup! He put her on a steriod so hopefully she will be feeling better soon...actually she seems to feel fine except for the horrible cough.

Anyway...I've been a little busy this weekend...to say the least! I wasn't able to anything crafty done today. Hopefully I will tomorrow.

But I did want to share the winners of my blog candies...

1. Blop Hop Candy for "Zoe and Gemma's Snow Fun" is:

Alison @  http://www.stretchnbubbles.blogspot.com/ 

2. $20 Stamp and Create gift certificate for spreading the word is:

Yolanda Rodriguez (no blog)

Congrats ladies. Please contact me with your mailing address and I will get these out to you!

Hopefully I will have something crafty to share tomorrow!

Don't forget that you can pre-order the Wags 'n Whiskers Rubber Stamps here.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

Announcing...Pop Star Diva...Ansley Stephens!

I promised you some pictures from Ansley's birthday party....

But before I start, I noticed that I was having some issues with the check out process for my store. So if you tried to check out and weren't successful...try it again!! I think I fixed it!

Ok...onto the party...

When we walked into the salon, Ryan actually noticed is teacher from last year...her daughter is one of Ansley's best friends. He YELLS out..."Ms. Paula"...then "And Ashleigh"!! Then Ansley notices all of her friends and starts saying, "Mom, there's McKenzie, and Morgan"...then they all yelled "Surprise" and ran up to hug her!! I thought she may start crying for a second!! She was so startled! Then...they scooped her away into the changing room to get transformed into a Pop Star!!

Click on the pictures for a larger view...

 

Getting Make up and nails done...

More dolling up...

"I can move it like this, I can shake it like that..."

The group...

Singing "Fabulous" by Sharpay in High School Musical 2...

They made a video out of the girls dancing and singing. Unfortunately Ansley takes after her mother and can't sing!! Poor girl!

The Cake...

Blowing out candles...

Ryan was there, too. Mainly he found a TV to watch which made my husband happy that he wasn't dancing and singing with the girls!!

It was a really fun party!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

Big Announcement!!!!

Hello all of you High Hopes fans!! Wow, it seems like a long time since we did the Sunday High Hopes Challenges! But guess what? We will be back in business This sunday!! Make sure to check it out!

In the mean time, I have some wonderful news to share...

I have opened an On-Line store!!!

And I will be carrying the awesome High Hopes Rubber Stamps!! My order is on it's way!! I gone ahead and made them available in the store. However, they won't ship out until next week.

I am based out of the US - Florida to be exact. But I will ship internationally.

I have chosen a few of the Thanksgiving and Christmas stamps from the recent release as well as some of my favorites...like the angels, the dragons, the pirate, and more.

I will be adding to my store in the future. So if there are any High Hopes images that you would like me to carry, please feel free to email me at...

laceystephens@stampandcreate.com

This is one of the things I was working on "behind the scenes" that I mentioned earlier...but it's not the only thing! Unfortunately, you will have to wait a little longer for that announcement!! I promise you, it will be even MORE exciting!!

Now on to some other High Hopes news...

There has been a lot of changes lately at High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I am sure you have already heard that Crissy Armstrong, illustrator for High Hopes has stepped down to pursue other areas. Crissy is such a talented and wonderful person. We are so sorry to see her leave. She will be dearly missed. But we wish her the best of luck in everything she does.

Lead Diva Kimmie has also stepped down so that she can focus on other things. She is going to be missed so much!

Nikki Fairbairn (aka Bunny Zoe's Blog and Bunny Zoe's Crafts) will be taking her place as Lead Diva. We look forward to Nikki's wonderful guidence with things to come!

Niki Estes and Janette Olen also recently stepped down as High Hopes divas.

We have also welcomed a new Diva to the team...Amy Leggate has recently come on board! We look forward to working with Amy...although it will be a challenge having 2 Amy's on the team!! LOL Oh, by the way, Amy L has some High Hopes blog candy going on...ending Friday!! Go check it out!

Lastely since we took a little break, Danielle and Sirpaliina have been asked to extend their guest time with us for another month!! Yeah!!

There are wonderful plans in the works at High Hopes for the future!! So make sure to check the blog often for any updates and make sure to join us on Sunday when we start up the weekly challenges again!!

In the mean time, go check out my new store and tell me what you think!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

Changes at Stampin' Up!

If you haven't already heard, Stampin' Up! made some changes to their Independant Demonstrator Agreement yesterday. Basically the changes state...if you use electronic communication (ie twitter, facebook, a blog, etc) and you post a card/creation, if you link it to a non-SU store or catalog, or if you have links to other blogs that have links to non-SU stores, you are in violation of the Demonstrator agreement. All demos need to sign the new agreement by Sept 30th or they will not be able to process any orders after Oct 1st.

I am going to keep my comments to myself since I am trying to be professional about this.

However, since I don't have any stamp clubs (since I moved to a new city, I gave my customers to my only downline so she could continue to club), and since I am on two non-SU design teams...I am choosing to stick with my blog and not stay with Stampin' Up!

Ok...I can't keep my comments to my...I am too upset!

What SU fails to see...

~ SU products work well TOGETHER WITH other companies...it's called versatility!

~ SU catalogs lack in "cute girls" to watercolor - fact! SU girl images do not compare to High Hopes, Whiff of Joy, Sarah Kay, Anya, etc....Sorry, but they don't! Therefore my stamping dollars are NOT being spent on another company INSTEAD of SU, they are being spent IN ADDITION to my SU products.

~ SU stamps are only sold in SETS which limits the amount of people who may be able to afford to purchase (a single stamp girly image is usually $10 or less), whereas most SU sets that require watercoloring are over $20.00.

~ SU has a double standard...THEY can work with Sizzix, Tsukineko (Stazon, Encore! and Versamark ink), EK Success (Circle Scissor Plus), Fiscars (Crimper Tool), and Tombow (Multi-purpose glue)...but WE can not use or support those companies on our own! So, it's ok for them, but not for us!

Does that mean I won't use SU products anymore? I honestly don't know. I am so upset that they want to control what I create with my own time that I want to boycott them...but I probably won't. I will probably calm down after awhile and still use their products...ok...I WILL use their products that I already have since I have so much of it! But I may not buy anymore...I'll see how I feel about it later.

I'm just very disappointed right now. I feel like I am being scolded because I have a broad range of interests...in the creative field...thinking outside of the box is usually encouraged, not stifled!

Now, I hope my decision doesn't affect your interest in visiting my blog. Many of the cards and projects I create can be substituted using SU products. In addition, the new policy doesn't say you CAN'T use these products...it just says you can't post links to them on your blog. So if I wasn't on 2 design teams, I probably wouldn't care about this new policy!

Anyway, I have two major announcements that I will be posting soon (one within a few days and the other closer to the end of the month)...so I do hope you come back often to see my wonderful news!

~Lacey

First day of school

Long post...lots of rambling...

We had a great first day of school. Only a few little glitches, but everything went well.

Unfortunately it didn't start out that way! I couldn't get to sleep last night, then around 2am, Ryan came into our room "for a kiss"...went back to his room...then came back in our room saying he needed to sleep with us. Ryan is usually a great sleeper, but he doesn't like lightning and thunder and I think it was lightning last night. Since I don't sleep well with a kid who doesn't sleep well...I left Ryan in my bed with Scott and went to HIS bed to sleep!! I mean, I HAD to get up in the morning and walk/drive 2 kids to 2 different schools at 2 different times! It took me about an hour to fall back to sleep!! Ug!

So, with about 4 1/2 hours of sleep, I got up to get Ansley ready for her first day of school. We let Ryan sleep a little longer since he could have gone to Ansley's bus stop in PJs if he wanted to! But he ended up getting ready quickly.

Here is Ansley all ready to go to her first day of 2nd grade!!!

Around 7am, we left for the bus stop. Ansley waiting for the bus...check out that cute lunch box!!

Ready to get on the bus...

Poor girl, her backpack was so heavy it pulled her off the bus!! Seriously! She stepped onto the bus and she fell backward off the bus! A dad standing behind her caught her before she fell to the ground!! Thank goodness she was able to keep all of those supplies at school so now her backpack is more manageable!

Ryan and I (and the Princess our dog) came home from the bus stop. We had about an hour to kill before heading out to Ryan's school. 

Here is Ryan ready to go!!

We got there a few minutes early so he got to play for a few minutes on the playground...

Ryan waiting for his classroom to open...

Both Ryan and Ansley had a good first day of school! And I got some stuff done here at the house! I only get a few hours by myself before I have to pick Ryan up...he only goes to preschool 3 hours a day. But, man...I can get a LOT done in 2 1/2 hours without any kids to worry about!!!

Well I am pooped...I think it will be an early night for me! I will post the teacher gifts I made tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey

And the Blog Candy winner is....

The winner of my 100,000 hit blog candy is...

Lisa aka Allissa

Lisa's comment really made me smile...

Hi Lacey! wowzaaa! what a beautiful candy, so generous. What with running 4 blogs I dont get much time to wander.However, via a friends blog I saw this awsome candy and couldn't resist.... what I wouldn’t do to win this Candy.. I would jump through Hoops, I would sail the seven seas, I would Climb every Mountain I would even eat mushy peas! I would bend over backwards, I would learn Japanese, Can't you hear what Im saying...as I shout it through the trees?.............. This candy is awsome and everyone tries.... If I were to win this it would be such a SURPISE! LOL...........hope that made you smile.

I have added your pic and linked back sweetheart. I know its not many days to go :-( sorry.
I will become a follower too because I love your cards and creations!
Hugs
Lisa.xx
I hope you like my little ditti.

Lisa, please email me your address and I will get your package out to you!!!

Thank you, all, for entering my candy!! I promise there will be more soon!! Remember, I am working on something behind the scenes that I can't share with you yet!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stamping!

~Lacey