And the Winner Is.......

First of all thanks to everyone that entered my contest! I had 18 of you play along! The most favorite new Stampin Up! product by a landslide was the scallop punch!! I numbered all of your comments and asked my youngest son Anthony to choose a number between one and eighteen and he chose number seventeen, so the lucky winner is.......Barb from www.fosterdesignhouse.blogspot.com she has a darling blog, click over to check it out.

New School Year Ramblings

Today was the First Day of School. The boys happily posed for a pic before we left, right on time!! I even cooked breakfast! Joseph is a Sophmore in High School, so he glided right in all relaxed and looking forward to his first year in the Health & Medicine Academy and another year on the soccer team, hopefully Varsity this year, I on the other hand had a small twinge of sadness as I thought this might be the last 1st day of school I drive him to as he will have his drivers license by his Junior Year :o(, Anthony is a Fifth Grader. The Big Man on campus, as our elementary school only goes up to the 5th grade. So he glided right in all excited to enjoy the popularity he has earned by being everyones friend since kindergarten!, I on the other hand had a huge twinge, alright a huge twist of the gut as I realized this was the last time I will walk him to his first day of school :o(, next year he will be in middle school and I'll just drop him in the parking lot, and be happy if he remembers to say goodbye, of course I may not notice if he doesn't because i'll still be crying from watching Joseph drive off on his own. Okay, this day must have actually gone too smoothly because I am already getting myself all worked up over next year!!! A true multi-tasker, adds worry to her list of things to do even when it isn't necessary!

Welcome Stampers, Scrappers and all Crafty People

Most of you already know that I am a Stampin Up! Demonstrator. I have a small but dedicated group of customers and I'm always looking for. I do this to support my obsession..oops I mean hobby :o). The New Catalog has arrived and is wonderful! I am having a contest to celebrate the new Stampin Up! line of products. All of my local customers should have a catalog by now. For anyone that isn't local and would like to play along you can download the catalog from the Stampin Up! website @ http://www.stampinup.com/ Everyone is welcome to join the contest even if you are a Stampin Up! Demo yourself, or if you purchase the great SU! products from someone else. Here are the contest rules:
I have posted a picture of my favorite new item from the catalog.
Leave a comment telling me what your favorite item from the catalog is.
You will be entered into a drawing.
I will draw a lucky winner on Monday Sept. 1st
The prize will not only make you happy, but it will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities, each time this stamp set is purchased SU! donates $2.00 to the RMHC.
To all of my "new to Blogging friends" if you have never left a comment before it only takes a minute to create an account and I'd really love to hear from you.
Good Luck everyone!

My Favorite & The Prize

The new Scallop Square Punch is my favorite! It will happily sit right next to my Circle Scallop Punch! Say it with Scallops is the prize! Good Luck.

I've been tagged!

Okay so I have been tagged by Eve a Superfunscrapper I met at the Green Tangerine
7 People! Wow! I don't have that many blog friends...yet! Here are a few:
Monique Super Cricut Teacher @ GT
Rebecca Awesome friend, photographer, and scrapper
Diana owner of the cool Scrap for a Cure site


Here are my seven random things:
1. I love being the only girl in my house!
2. I do not, have never, will never, eat condiments!!
3. I was the Head Cheerleader in High School
4. I eat a salad from Wendy's at least 3 times a week!
5. I Love a good sad country song.
6. I fall in love with my wedding ring each and every time I look at it.
7. I Could not live without my gals The Lollipop Croppers :O)

Leave me a comment especially if you are new to my blog, then I'll have more bloggin friends!

To the Beach and Back and not a single minute to scrap!

The boys (all three :o0) and I are back from our annual trip to Pismo Beach, we were gone for 7 days! which is a record! We stopped in Gilroy at the factory outlets to shop and I spent the least... although my new Coach wristlets are cuter than anything they bought! We drove up to Pismo and had 5 days and 4 nights of total relaxation! I love cool mornings at the beach and cold sand in my toes! We drove to Santa Barbara for lunch, nice but too "touristy" for us... then to Valencia where we visited Joe's family. There was a Baptism on Snday and Joe was Godfather to our newest family member Matthew Kyle. Then off to Lemoore, CA for a quick overnight visit with Joe's Dad & his wife. We headed home on Monday and arrived just in time for soccer practice. Whew!!!
We had a really great time, just the 4 of us and no "real time commitments" It is wonderful to be surrounded by my boys they all take such good care of me! The most amazing part of the trip was I was so content and relaxed I never even unpacked my scrapbook bags, though I did shop at one local scrapstore.

Summer, Boys, Food and my Bug

Okay so I really enjoy summer vacation. I get to be home with my boys on Mon., Wed., and Fri. we have just been relaxing, being lazy, and spending time at home ( a rare thing in our busy family). But the truth of the matter is I need to go back to work!! I love being with the boys but they eat too much!! and I have no will power! I have gained 10 pounds this summer, and I am spending too much time on the net buying scrap stuff! I have bought the Cricut Design Studio, 4 Cricut Cartridges, cuttlebug folders, and enough misc. supplies to take me through to next summer!!! My only break in the madness is on Wed. when darling Isabella comes to spend the day with us. She keeps me very busy (though truth be told the boys do most of the work :o). Here is a pic of our little cutie calling Prince Charming on her cell phone. Have a great week everyone......

Our Soldier Came To Visit

My nephew Pfc. Manuel A. DaBranca III arrived home safely from a one year deployment in Korea. We had a short two week visit with him. He is a wonderful, fun guy! It was great seeing him before he had to report to Fort Sill in Oklahoma for another long year. We all went to the A's game to celebrate his 20th birthday and had a BBQ on the the 4th of July to celebrate his son Roman's 2nd Birthday.

Some Scrappy Time

Friday night my sister and I hosted our monthly crop. We had a small crowd so we actually sat and scrapped! Here is a layout of me and my hubby :o). I love the chipboard swirl frame. I have more layouts in progress I will post as soon as they are complete.

Go Earthquakes!!

As you all know we here at the Dones Residence love soccer. This past sat. we attended a San Jose Earthquakes Game. We were VIP guests of Pepsi. The boys went on the field to watch the team warm up, participated in the 1/2 time activity, we had front row seats and they met and posed for a pic with the Earthquakes Mascot "Q". All three of them are cute huh!?! In a few weeks we will be attending another game that time against the LA Galaxy whose star player is M. David Beckham...I am hoping to meet and pose for a pic with him!!! Yeah right! oh well a girl can dream :o)

Here are the pics

Twice in a week!!

Happy Fourth of July!! Gina and I made a trip to the Green Tangerine in Rocklin, CA a few weeks ago and took a Cricut Class. Monique is a wonderful, detailed, patient, and talented teacher!! I have included pics of the card and layout we created using the Doodlecharm cart. and the cuttlebug for textured backgrounds. The class was great and we scrapped all weekend I completed 30 pages and had a blast doing it! If you haven't made it to the Green Tangerine, visit thier blog and see why you should!! www.mygreentangerines.com

I'm stickin to it!!

Well a week has already flown by and I'm back..... Do you love my new background as much as I do!!! I have been busy scrappin! Here is a layout I did on Monday while all three guys were at Soccer Practice.

Let's try this again....

Well, I have a made a pact with myself that I will post to my blog once a week. So let's see if..."I really have time for this!!" Summer Vacation is in full swing and I am on break from one of my three jobs. Soccer Season is in full swing and being the treasurer of the league has me very busy. We have a busy schedule planned but I also will fit in plenty of time to scrap, stamp, and relax with my guys. I am off to soccer practice, so i will post again soon. Enjoy the sunshine :o) and I hope that you'll check in periodically to see what I'm up to...