Took a bit of a {musical} break!

I can hardly believe it has been a month and a half since I last posted. There have been so many things going on in our lives that the blog has taken a back burner - which is okay! I have been focusing my time on Todd and the kids! Besides snow skiing (despite our warm winter temps, there was some white stuff on the mountain), swimming six days a week, religion and daily homework, three of the kids were heavily involved in the local school productions.

This past January, Xavier and Isabella were asked by their music teacher to audition for the musical at our high school. Xavier was selected as Winthrop (the son/brother of the leading two lady characters) and Isabella was given the role of daughter of one of the school board members/pick-a-little ladies. We named her character Rosie Dunlap! There were several practices a week and the experience was so amazing for the entire family. I was able to get watch these children (mine and the high school kids) perform this amazing play. The high school kids treated my children with such love and respect and the faculty were just over the top. The performances took place last week (Wednesday, Thur, Fri & Sat). It was the good kind of exhausting.

Here are some of my favorite shots!


This is Xavier and Lauren - keep an eye out for this girl - her voice rivals any diva but she is so sweet and kind!

Dan was the understudy to the leading man, he was the student musical director and played one of the school board members/barbershop quartet. He took Bella under his wing and made her feel like she was the most important kid on the stage.

Here is Xavier with Bria - his stage mom. She was so wonderful to him and I think his antics off stage made her realize how tough being a mom really is! LOL!

Here is Kevin (Harold Hill) and Bella dancing and singing 76 Trombones. Kevin was INCREDIBLE! He had so many lines and songs to learn. He was so professional and down to earth! I expect to see him on Broadway!

Karen is involved in Seussical, Jr. at the middle school. That play is this week! She is a zebra and water. I am sure that the performance will be over the top. Right now I am nursing blisters from my hot glue gun - I made bow ties and cuffs for the jungle animals to transform into circus animals. I seriously have blisters!



On Sunday, Bella has her first communion. I still have to plan a party! YIKES!

Needless to say - life has been busy - wonderful, but busy!







Enjoy every single moment of today!!!!!!

Hope & Love! A wonderful weekend!

This is the third year that I have co-chaired an event called the Hope & Love Ball for Hannah's Hope Fund. This year we hit it out of the park with our Mardi Gras Masquerade theme! People had so much fun. Check out the Times Union photos {here}. I was also interviewed by the local news: {YNN: Hope & Love Ball}... Our local community has rallied behind this family and the results have been so incredible! Here we are right before the Ball - the kids come to the event dressed up and then go home and have a nice quiet evening. Todd, Xavier & I stay for the event!



We are blessed to have FotoMagic come to the event and donate their time to making really fun magnets. This year, the kids grabbed some props and got silly!


It was another incredible night - we raised a bunch of money - ate delicious food and 370+ strong stood silently as Dr. Steven Gray gave us the wonderful and inspirational update on his progress! Just days after the meeting with the FDA, the crowd learned that the delivery system for a GAN cure is mere months away from possibly happening.


Here is my amazing husband (with whom I co-chaired the event) and my son Xavier, who escorted Hannah to the Ball.


How could we possibly top that night - well, watching our beloved New York Giants come back and win the Super Bowl made the weekend one of the most memorable we have ever shared as a family!




We were up singing Frank Sinatra's "New York, NY" and Queen's "We are the Champions" in the back yard at about 11:00 at night!




Enjoy every single moment of today!!!!!!

Sneak Peek day three: Faith & Hope

Welcome to another day of sneak peeks for my new Faith & Hope set. Being touched by the devastating diagnosis of Cancer, whether it be a friend or loved one, is one of life's most difficult moments. A simple note to say, "I love you" or "I am thinking of you" is something that can really make a tough day a little more cheery.

Recently, my family went through a very difficult time, and for those of you who reached out to me, I thank you! This set is going to allow me to create some personal cards, thanking those people who sent flowers, dinners, books, and baskets to my family. You never know when tragedy is going to touch your life. Nearly losing my husband and daughter really made me put my life in perspective.

For those of you wondering, my husband has made amazing strides in the past few weeks. He is now walking. He has been working hard during physical therapy and I am so very pleased that he has gained back mobility! My daughter has made an incredible recovery and she is one of the strongest 13 year olds I have the honor of knowing. She is immersed in school, church and middle school social life. She has also returned to swimming. I am so proud of her!



Stamping is one of my passions, as is creating stamps for Papertrey ink. My life has been abundantly blessed in so many ways. After seeing Lance Armstrong at a conference a few years ago, my husband Todd came home and told me how wonderful it is to have this foundation. Our family has lost many people to many types of cancer, my decision to donate all the proceeds to Livestrong was an easy one. I am truly touched that Nichole has decided to match those proceeds and donate all of their profits from the sale of this set to the Susan G. Komen fund.




This simple 4.25 x 4.25 white notecard is embossed on the bottom with two lines. I stamped the leaf sprig with avocado ink and the flowers with raspberry ink. I added some raspberry twill and a small avocado die, stamped with the sentiment Hope.

Be sure to stop by and see all the wonderful things which Nichole Heady created with this set. Also, Betsy Veldman, Dawn McVey, Heather Nichols, Melissa Bickford & Tiffany Pastor have some wonderful surprises on their blogs!











stamps: Faith & Hope (available 10.15.11)
paper: white, avocado (PTI)
ink: white, avocado, raspberry (PTI)
misc: raspberry twill, die, foam squares


Enjoy every single moment of today!!!!!!

The accident:

Back on August 25, while on our family summer vacation, my oldest daughter (Karen, age 13) and my husband, Todd were severely injured while parasailing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They were life-flighted to a trauma hospital in Norfolk, Va. Todd suffered a spinal cord injury amongst other very severe injuries. After a week in the trauma hospital, Todd was able to take an angel-flight/air-ambulance to a local rehabilitation hospital in our area.

Karen was also injured quite severely, but has since returned to school. I appreciate all the prayers, cards, positive thoughts for their (and our entire families) healing. It will be a few more weeks before I return to stamping and blogging. Thank you for your patience!



Todd and Karen days before the accident





Enjoy every single moment of today!!!!!!

Hope & Love Ball, 2011

I took a break this weekend from my featured stamper hostess duties to co-chair a local charitable event for Hannah's Hope Fund. This was the second annual Hope & Love Ball. What a fun evening!

Here I am with my sister, Suzy!

Here I am with my BFF Debbie!



Here is the woman who made last year's "Hope for a Million" grant possible, Doris Buffett, aka The Sunshine Lady. Doris celebrated her 83rd birthday with Hannah and 400 of her newest friends. Thank you Doris, for coming to the event!


Here is my handsome little man, escorting Miss Hannah last night. They are in first grade together this year.


We had an amazing time - thank you to everyone who helped out!






Enjoy every single moment of today!!!!!!

China Photo Shoot....

Back in June, Victoria and I traveled halfway around the world (literally) to China! One of the really fun things we did was go to (our host) Yuan's friend's store one afternoon. Yuan had another friend (a famous photographer) shoot pictures of Vicky. Yuan's friend (pronounced Shu-a) dressed up Vicky and did her hair/makeup. These are some of the pictures from that day...It was nice that we had something to do that afternoon, because it was pouring rain and thundering....so it was not a good day for sightseeing.

here she is getting ready. The green outfit was a long piece of satin fabric. She wrapped and tucked it so quick, it was amazing how she could turn it into a dress. Green, by the way, is Vicky's favorite color.

The next outfit was this little white dress, fit for a princess...I think she looks like an angel!

finally, the yellow dress was my favorite, so bold and beautiful!

even I got to get in on the action!

fun memories......

HHF Pepsi Refresh Everything....final push

We REALLY ARE AT #1 RIGHT NOW!!!!! I have goosebumps on my goosebumps. You are part of creating a miracle! Please keep up the momentum. Our competition is stiff. We have to stay at #1 or #2 until midnight on Tuesday. I just talked to Lori, and she said this will pay for half of the needed toxicology studies. We're going to make it!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 3 Ways to Vote Are:

Click Here to Vote Online at the Pepsi Site.

Click Here to Vote on FaceBook.

Text 101885 to 73774
--

Happy Birthday - Get to the point!

I found the photos while transferring all my pictures to my external hard drive and thought I would share it. I made this fun card for a friend who celebrated his 40th birthday LATE - 2 years late. You see - the card is for Hannah's dad - and the big birthday bash was belated because his daughter was diagnosed with GAN that week. Life got put on hold and he and his wife decided to start Hannah's Hope Fund and find a cure for the disease which is slowly robbing his daughter of her ability to walk....to live....

Fast forward to this Spring - we celebrated the fact that our local community has rallied around Miss Hannah and raised millions of dollars. They have gone from a death sentence for this adorable little girl to knowing that within the next year - there WILL be a CLINICAL TRIAL for Hannah and the dozens of children like her effected with GAN. Here is Hannah with my son, Xavier, at the Hope & Love Ball this past year.
And here is the card which I made for Matt, Hannah's dad, when we finally celebrated his birthday!

This card was fairly simple and clean - some buttons, some stamped images from Get To The Point and Get To The Point Sentiments. I stamped the arrow in tempting turquoise. The sentiment is stamped in black ink - the number 2 in celery ink and the U in pumpkin. The designer paper (larger oval) is DCWV.



You can help Hannah -- for FREE!~ HANNAH'S HOPE FUND {PEPSI REFRESH EVERYTHING CHALLENGE} is underway right now. Hannah's Hope Fund is eligible for a $250k grant from Pepsi!

The money will help put Hannah closer to clinical trials.

http://www.refresheverything.com/hannahshopefund

You can vote SEVERAL times a day - please take a moment to vote - you can even TEXT in your vote 101885 to PEPSI (73774)....

stamps: Get To The Point, Get To The Point Sentiments
paper: celery, white, designer paper, turquoise
ink: turquoise, pumpkin, celery, black
misc: buttons, punches, dimensionals

Hannah's Hope Fund - Pepsi Refresh Everything!

Many of you know that I work closely with Hannah's Hope Fund to help find a cure for G.A.N.

Hannah was in Kindergarten with Xavier this past year and both Todd & I helped chair the Hope & Love Ball last February to raise money for research for G.A.N.

This summer - Pepsi is giving away money for ideas to help make a change for the positive. Their REFRESH EVERYTHING project is going on now and Hannah's Hope Fund is in the running for a $250,000 grant.

Please take the time to vote every day - I will leave the link on my sidebar - just click on it - follow the steps and VOTE for HHF!

2ToTainjin.....

This morning, Victoria (my 10 year old daughter) and I embark on a journey to Tianjin, China.

It will be a 13 hour flight from Newark! YIKES! I plan on reading and resting! :) Too bad I can't stamp on the flight! LOL!

I will try and post updates with photos here!

Au revoir

Sneak Peek: Get To The Point {Genuine Friend}

I am glad you liked yesterday's card! YAY! Here is one that I created using both the Get To The Point and Get To The Point Sentiments. I wanted to create a card for one of those friends....you know the kind.....you post on facebook that you need support and they are the first to call! You know they would drop everything, pick up a box of chocolate and some tissues, head over to your house and let you vent! That is the kind of friend they are and this is the kind of friend you need!

I used some lemon tart cardstock as my base, added this awesome designer paper (which I picked up at CHA this year in a stack, but I have no idea who made it. I am sorry that I didn't write down the manufacturer of the paper, because it is beautiful. It came in a sample pack, stapled together. If anyone knows what company manufactured the paper, please let me know! I would love to give proper credit). I added some lemon tart ribbon and the sentiment and brackets with summer sunrise ink. The sentiments "genuine" and "friend" are from the sentiment set which is going to be available for $5 on May 15. Yes....$5! The bracket is from the Get To The Point set, which as such a variety of symbols and images....you will be stamping away for hours! You can take this simple layout and change the color scheme and sentiment and have anything from a birthday card to a thank you note! {dancing with joy!!!}


Tomorrow, I am going to showcase the set using some of the fun images, coupled with some of the sentiments from the $5 set. WOOHOO! {still dancing}

Nichole Heady is showcasing this set on her blog alone with Heather Nichols new fillable frames #4 set.

Lisa Johnson, Melissa Bickford, Alli Miles and Dawn McVey all have peeks at their newest stamp sets as well! Are you ready to rumble?????


stamps: Papertrey Ink {Get To The Point, Get To The Point Sentiments available 5/15/10}
paper: lemon tart, designer paper (unknown....please comment if you happen to know the paper)
ink: summer sunrise
misc: lemon tart satin ribbon

Springtime Doodles Scrapbook

Let me preface this by saying that I don't scrapbook enough....I love putting these special books together - and for this historic occasion (Victoria's teacher is having a baby) - some of the moms wanted to do something extra special from the students in the class. Victoria really LOVES her teacher and I adore her too!

I grabbed an 8x8 cloth bound scrapbook that was a cross between a moss and celery color. I used a blue & green color scheme throughout the book, but wanted to do a little something special to the cover, and since it was so plain, I decided to create a fun cover! I took a piece of rustic cream cardstock and stamped the dandilion from {Springtime Doodles} in celery and bashful blue ink . I placed a button on the center of each flower. I created the sentiment (which I saw on Nichole's blog) on my computer because for some reason, I do not have that stamp set that Nichole used (YET). I stamped the bee, colored it with copics and then adhered it to the main sentiment layer. I faux stitched the sentiment layer too. Finally I sponged the edge of the paper with ink.





I used this fun sentiment for the inside of the scrapbook. Very simple way to personalize your scrapbook!








Here is Victoria's page. I asked each parent to give me a current and baby photograph of their child for the book. I also gave everyone a piece of 3x5 cardstock for them to write advice to the teacher. They could also write advice to the 18 month old son of the teacher about being a big brother. The responses were precious!

I used the ladybug from Springtime Doodles to embellish the page, along with some buttons and ribbon. The Cutie sentiment is from another Papertrey set {baby button bits}. I used both sets throughout the scrapbook.


Here is a close up of Victoria's advice to her teacher (and her husband/aka Johnnycakes). Of course Victoria wants to be sure that Noah does NOT feed his baby raisins (like Karen did to her when she was just a baby) -- check the diaper often! :) and the most important -- SLEEP! Smart girl!

stamps: {springtime doodles, baby button bits} Papertrey Ink
paper: celery, designer paper, rustic cream, bashful blue
ink: black, copics
misc: buttons, ribbon, dimensionals