Guess Who Is Back?

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. I should be ashamed of myself! Who ever said that retirement is boring? I haven't made a card or put together a scrapbook page in over a year. It really dawned on me how much I have been slacking when I had to go buy a wedding card for some friends. That is something I never thought I would do again and I just about had a fit when I saw how much I was going to have to pay.

It's not like I have been sitting around soaking up the sun and eating bonbons. We put in a good size garden last spring and it kept me quite busy. It is time to put in our fall crop now that the weather is starting to get a little cooler. We have been told that we can plant just about everything that was planted in the spring plus some additional root vegetables. I guess that means we will try our hand at potatoes and onions.

I am still making jewelry but just for myself and a friend or two. Not selling them as I did in California. I do enjoy attending a beading club on Monday evenings and that seems to be keeping me busy learning new techniques.

I imagine all of you noticed the new Freedom's Phoenix banner I posted at the top of the blog. It is a wonderful and interesting source of information. We have personally met Ernest Hancock and his wonderful wife Donna and their lovely family. I consider them very dear friends and I make sure I check out the Freedom's Phoenix Website at least twice a day. It keeps me in touch with what is going on in the world. I am amazed at all the interesting and informative information I can obtain from this website. Take a minute and click on the banner and it will take you directly to the site. Check it out and I can assure you that you will feel very informed after reading some of the amazing articles. The individuals that find articles of interest and post them to the site do a wonderful job of keeping all of us on top of what is going on in our troubled world. Take the time to sign up for the free newsletter.

One other thing I would like to take a second to tell you about is the Freedom's Phoenix online magazine. The fifth edition will be coming out the first part of October. It is truly a wonderful informative magazine. Each month there is a new topic of interest and there is a wide variety of authors that contribute to the magazine. The August issue has an article written by Gary and me, telling of our experience with our new garden plot and what to do with all the extra veggies we managed to grow in this desert climate. A subscription

to the Freedom's Phoenix online Magazine will give you the opportunity to see an interview Ernest did at our garden plot in Sun City West Arizona. Not to mention what a wonderful Christmas or birthday gift it would make for any family member or friend.

Purchase a subscription and enjoy all the upcoming issues. I can guarantee that you will be more and better informed then you have ever been. I am amazed at all I have learned from Ernest, his site and his publications. Not to mention all the fun and mischief Donna Hancock and I have managed to get into.

This is two of the three tiny miniature goats Donna wanted to take home. They are in our dog Beignet's kennel in the back of our car. All three goats are huddled together with plenty of room to spare. They have grown so much you couldn't even get one goat in the kennel now. Not to mention how great her pasture and shrubs are trimmed.

Well, as you can guess, accidents do happen and Donna insisted that she was going to give our car a complete detail job inside and out. I don't know why she felt that was necessary as we had been hauling manure for the gardens so it wasn't like the car was fresh and clean. LOL Like I said, we can get into a lot of mischief.

Life Is Good

Well, the big move is behind me and I have survived. Most of you were well aware of what was going on with my life so you understood what my absence was all about. For those of you that didn't I will explain in a nutshell. I moved from California to Arizona.

I have found a wonderful club to belong to over here in Sun City West, Scrapbooking, Papercrafts, and More. It answers a need I have to share my joy of Scrapbooking, Cards and my Copic Markers. I am sure most of you know that I was a Stampin' Up Demonstrator for about 4 years and loved the wonderful experience and knowledge I gained. Not to mention all the new friends. I realized that it was time for me to move on in the crafting world as there were so many products out there that I JUST HAD TO EXPERIENCE. Thus I purchased a Cuttlebug Machine, and many, many, many dies and embossing folders. I soon learned that there were some great machines a step up from my little Cuttlebug and was planning on purchasing one, UNTIL I discovered Copic Markers. Wow!!! What fun I have been having and what a great product. They are Alcohol Ink Markers and are so much fun to work with. I have been playing with them for about 9 months now and even though most of you haven't seem much of what I have been doing, because of the move and not having my office set up, rest assured that I haven't been idle. I still plan on purchasing a new cutting system but right now I am concentrating on filling up my Copic Holders with many of the yummy colors. I am also in the process of applying to take a Copic Certification Class in Phoenix with my Club President Char Stiehl. We both would like to see a group of ladies interested in these wonderful markers get together and share our fun with the other club members.

Well it is easy to see that my traveling and exploring has slowed down as my husband is going to have a couple of knee replacement surgeries but I am managing to keep myself really busy. Once he is all "fixed" we intend to do a little exploring around here and then head up to Montana for a little fun. I love it over here in Sun City West Arizona and believe me I am like a kid in a candy store with all the wonderful clubs and activities there are to do. So I will soon be back in full swing entering all kinds of crafting contests. I have finished my term of being on the Copic Buzz Design Team and am sorry to say that Barb had to shut down the site for a while. It was very time consuming and she did have a health issue she was dealing with so I am sure she will be back soon. In the time being a new copic group has formed over on Papercraft Planet : I {Heart} Copics and you will see many of the same gals over there chatting about what fun they are having. You can find it here:

Victoria Case New Stamp Release

I just wanted to let everyone know that Victoria Case is having a New Stamp Release on January 15th. Her Images are always so cute and I just can't seem to get enough of them. For those of you that love your rubba she has those and for those that love the digi's she also has some amazing digital images. Make sure you take a look here.

New Craft Room

I am so proud of my new craft room. I still have a few things that need to be done but it is at least now in order. The under counter cabinets will eventually be white. I will either purchase new ones or I will paint the ones I have.

Happy New Year

Let me first say that I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

It has been so long since I have written to all of you but the Big move is now behind us and I can take a big breath and start creating once again. Yea!

One big piece of news I want to make sure everyone has is my new e-mail address. I tried to make sure I sent many of you the change but there are probably a few people that I missed. I hope they check in here and can get the new address. We couldn't use Earthlink anymore in this area of Arizona so we now have Cox. Here is the new address: vigagnon1@cox.net.

I plan on getting back to creating soon and almost all the boxes are unloaded so there isn't much that will be distracting me.

Copic Buzz has a new design team and I plan on making sure I follow all the challenges. I am not on the team this time around but I have to admit that is a bit of a relief. They were so great and when I was asked to be on the DT I told them that I probably wouldn't be much help during the move. I was right, but they were wonderful about my lack of participation. What I didn't realize was just how long it would take to get back to a somewhat normal daily life. I also didn't realize just how much physical drain it would be. Now that we only have a few things left to do it is a big releaf.

Copic Buzz Challenge CBC016 Sponsored by KLM Digital Designs

Copic Buzz Challenge is again being sponsored by KLM Digital Designs.. This week I challenged myself to "color" a white image. After last weeks black and gray I figured I would tackle an image I could make look like I had colored it white. By using light grays you give the image shadows which makes the white stand out. I think this is the cutest image and it makes a great get well card for either a man or woman.

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Stamp: KLM Digital Stamp Kiss your Teddy, Papertrey Ink Faux Ribbon
Ink: Brilliance Graphite,Colorbox Chalks, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Papertrey Ink Stampers Select Basic White, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise, Taken With Teal, Close to Cocoa
Misc: Copic Markers - C1, C2, C3, C6, BG10, - Nestabilities, Papertrey Ink Vintage Wood Button, Dew Drops, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, MS Course Glitter


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Paper Craft Planet Challenge 09/19/09 & KLM September Freebie

Well it looks like I just might have a few extra minutes this week to do some card making. Last week was a lot of fun being a host for Copic Buzz but I had to be on my toes all week. Paper Craft Planet has a challenge every Saturday and for some reason I had not checked it out until recently. So I liked the nice easy sketch and decided I would use it for the card I wanted to make using the wonderful KLM Fall Freebie. Since I didn't want to dig through a ton of boxes, this card is very simple. I did, however, manage to lay my hands on my shinny flower and butterfly from Petaloo.

By the way the card is a a little off, the oval looks crooked but it is my bad photo taking skills, not the card. LOL

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Stamps: Digital KLM Free Fall Sunflower, Papertrey Ink Butterfly Kisses
Paper: Stampin' Up Natural Ivory, Papertrey Ink Stampers Select Basic White, Stampin' Up Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss
Ink: Barely Banana , Mellow Moss
Misc: Copic Markers: Y000, Y02, Y35, YR24, YR31, E57, E59, YG95, YG97, G99, Colorless Blender - Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Scalloped Oval, Petaloo Flower and Butterfly,

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