We're HOME!

It is with great joy to tell you that WE ARE HOME and the arctic never looked better! It was such a blessing to be greeted at the air port by Miss Laurie. She came to pick us up and she was one of the very first people that I saw when we stepped into the air port. My husband was such a trooper... while Ellie, Laurie, and I sat in the warm van catching up on everything Andrew lugged all six 50 pound totes and our many carry-ons through the coldness and loaded them into the van. Over the last two days he also hauled and packed all our groceries. Believe me this was not a small task. We managed to have a truck full of groceries and miscellaneous items almost twice over. I know you might be thinking why so much. Well, when the cost of a gallon milk is $8 and a loaf of bread is $5 it is much more cost effective to buy our groceries in Anchorage and then air freight them up.

After being gone so long it's been fun rediscovering our home. Ellie giggled and smiled with such contentment to play with her old toys and be in her own room. When we left Barrow she had just started cruising and was cutting her first teeth. Now she can walk on her own and she has four pearly whites adorning her smile. OH WHAT A BLESSING TO BE HOME!

I have a couple more scrapbook outings to share but for now I need to unpack and go through our mail. I can't wait to get my hands on all the new catty's!!!! Laurie gave me the new Stampin' Up! catty last night. My new TAC (The Angel Company) catties should be at the post office. Andrew has already shoveled out our car and is heading to the post office as I write this posting. I am happy that after six weeks of no use that car started up and is running. Six weeks of being parked in the cold temperatures can lead to a frozen engine. Thankfully Darryl (Laurie's husband) plugged it in once the temps dropped. I saw Andrew drive out this morning and it looks like our rear tires may have went square. Anyhow, I gotta get to making breakfast before he gets back. I want to surprise him with a warm delicious meal.

Smiles,
Nancy

PHOTO DETAILS:
I can't wait to play with this stamp set. It's the Doodle Alphabet that I so wanted so badly. Thank you Michelle South for the awesome deal! OH, I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY!!!!

BLOG Party!

On January 2, Queen Kat Designs will kick off the QKD Round Robin Blog Party! It will all start at the QKD's blog. Be sure to "blog hop" to each of the Royal Court Members' blogs throughout the month. There's fun and prizes so mark your calendar. The party will begin on Jan 2 and will end on Feb 6 @ Amy's Blog. See the full schedule below. Each of the Royal Court members has fun things planned for you.

Jan 2: QKD Blog
Jan 3-5: Penny
Jan 7-9: Vicki
Jan 10-12: Nina
Jan 14-16: Tanis
Jan 17-19: Nancy
Jan 21-23: Bev
Jan 24-26: Anam
Jan 28-30: Jules
Jan 31- Feb 2: Pooka
Feb 4-6: Amy

Stamping Diva - Tuesday Sketch

It sure has been difficult to squeeze in some stamping time while away from home. No complaints here from me for being away from Barrow. Although I haven't been stamping as much as I'd like, I have had my fill of stamping supply shopping. Oh, my husband has been such a good sport about it too. Big SMILES!

So...here it is almost a week later and I am finally getting around to posting this card that I made using Toni's Tuesday Sketch (Stamping Diva).  I didn't quite get the sketch exact but I like the outcome none the less.  Thanks Toni for the wonderful layout!  Lots of FUN!

The second card is my first attempt at the sketch...I just couldn't make it flow right and this is what I ended up with. I love the whimsy of this design! It's a keeper.



Smiles,
~Nancy

CARD DETAILS:
Sentiment from Queen Kat Designs
Paper from the Dollar Store
Palette Ink
Stickles
Prima Flower
Buttons
Sparkle Pen
Ric-Rak Ribbon

Merry Christmas

Wishing you the Merriest of days in celebrating the birth of our Saviour... Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas everyone!

PHOTO DETAILS: My Great Uncle Leon made this wonderful nativity for my Grandma (his sister).  Although my Great Uncle has been gone now for some time his gift to my Grandma is a wonderful reminder of what the season is truly about.  My favorite piece out of the set is the kneeling wise man. It's his countenance that touches my heart and reminds me to humble myself to our Lord and God.   Oh how thankful I am for Christ's birth, life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection.  Happy Birthday Jesus!

All DONE!

It was a great relief to finish the wedding scrapbook that I was asked to make for a friend's wife. Hopefully by now he has received it and has it is wrapped and under the tree. It was great fun to flex my creative muscles in getting this project done. I am inspired to dust off the album I started back in 2002 that is still sitting on the shelf just waiting for me to finish. Oh, how my style has grown/changed since then. Anyhow, here's a couple of snapshots of the finished wedding book.

Vacation Stamping...

Now that I've finished the scrapbook project for a client I can stamp for the fun of it. Here's a trio of 3x3 notecards I made with Queen Kat Design stamps. These stamps were a gift from the Queen Kat herself. THANK YOU VICKI!

Here I used Funky Flowers #1 and Paisley Stamps to make this little giftset trio. Both sets are simply fun to play with! I am giving these notecards to my Mom and she's threatened to keep them all for herself instead sending them out. What a compliment but I do hope that she will get a chance to use them.

CARD DETAILS:
Queen Kat Designs Stamps ~ Paisley Stamps & Funky Flowers #1
White Card Stock
Palette Ink
Ric-Rak
Buttons
Bling Flowers
Stickles
Glitter Pen

Tips & Technique Vault

I stumbled across this awesome resource back before Vicki (Queen Kat) offered me a spot on her design team. It's the Queen Kat Designs Tips & Technique Vault. You really need to go and take a look... here's a great tutorial on getting the stick back into clear stamps. I never considered that I could be using the wrong cleaner on my clear stamps until I read Vicki's tutorial.

By the way... I love QKD's clear acrylic stamps. They are thick and really sticky!!! AWESOME-AWESOME!


Anyhow, I've made a temporary spot at my Mom's to create in. The baby loves to come and sit on my feet and to try to get into the suitcase filled with my supplies while I stamp. I have lots of projects to make before Christmas and now I am thinking I might have to defer some of them for next year. I will try to post some of what I have completed soon. Thanks for your patience as we are out on holiday. We are having a great time...even with catching a cold.

Smiles,
~Nancy

RickRack Patty-Whack!!!

Are you up for a challenge? Caardvarks' posted a fun one last Monday... have you seen it yet?

Well if you haven't here's the post:

...Give a dog a, what else, handmade card! Show us what you can do with rickrack! Link us to your card in the comments section of this post by the end of the month. We'll load your cards into the RickRack Gallery along with the DT cards.

Are you into acrylic stamps? Who isn't, right? Do you *love* monthly kits? Well, check it --- Queen Kat Designs is the place to go. You'll find a boatload of very cool acrylic images, sets of coordinating stamps, stamping supplies, kits, grab bags, etc. Love that place. Enter a card into this challenge and you could win this awesome Ink It! kit featuring heat embossing, and seven acrylic stamps. You'll want to get your hands on this stamp set because our February event is all about LOVE and stamping. QKD will be back in February to sponsor a month-long XOXO challenge!

CLICK HERE to hop on over to Caardvarks.

**I got a favor to ask... when you get set-up with Queen Kat's Monthly Club Kits please let them know that you heard all about the QKD monthly kit from me. I certainly would appreciate it!**

Kat's Monthly Club

It's a Coming...

That's right!!! Queen Kat Designs is having a Round Robin Blog Party! The fun starts on January 2nd on the main QKD's blog. This celebration will be going on through February 6th and each of the QKD Royal Court Members will be hosting three challenges with a chance for you to win a mini stamp set at the end of each of their slots. So you have lots of chances to win. You can see the complete details posted on the Queen Kat Design's blog. CLICK HERE!

Krop-Paper-Scissors

What to do while out of Barrow? Let's see... I've made my rounds several times to Michael's and Wal-Mart checking out all the paper crafting sections and now I have finally made my way to some of the local Scrapbooking stores in the areas that we are visiting. OH WHAT FUN!!!



My sweet Dad had tried to take me to the local scrapping store when we were in Cali but it was closed. He had wanted to do something special with me and thought that I would enjoy showing him all the little goodies that make me smile. What a blessing to have a dad that wants to spend time with me and to take a step into my world. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to go when they were open because the next day we were off traveling again. Maybe when I get back my Dad & I will get to try again. To make-up for not making it to the scrapbook store we snuck off and had a soft serve ice cream. What a treat! They don't have them like that in Barrow.



I finally made it to a specialty scrapbooking shop!!! The shop is called Krop, Paper, Scissors. A lovely store with great service! You can find this shop on-line or in Grant's Pass, Oregon. I was greeted by Lorelei (I hope I spelled her name right) and she made me feel right at home and demonstrated some of their fun scrapping tools. My Christmas wish list is getting pretty long now!


It was worth the walk through the yellow pages and the drive over to find this store. I even came back a few nights later for an ATC class that they were giving. The instructor's name is Howie. She is a very sweet lady and I am happy to have met her. One tip for you traveling stampers out there... keep your stamping basics/staples on hand. You need to bring them with you when you go to classes at stamping stores. I had no clue that I needed to bring them to class with me. It was a bit awkward to be the only one there without even a pencil to my name. Thankfully everyone shared their supplies with me without hesitation or concern. THANK YOU LADIES!!!



We were given a super supply of papers, stamps, and goodies to work with. Howie gave a brief tutorial on ATC's however our layouts were left to our own designs. My first ATC came pretty easily. As for the second one, it was hard for me come up with another layout that wasn't a variation of the first. In order to squeeze in some shopping time in I had to cut my creating time short and I decided to finish my second ATC when I get back home in Alaska. Time sure did fly by fast...

I have since visited a few more scrapping stores and I hope so share more when I can... after all I am on vacation.
Smiles,
Nancy

SEVEN Things Tag-ged AGAIN...

Mrs. Tompkins of Live, Love, Laugh and STAMP has also tagged me this week.  This tag is the Seven Things Tag.  Have you visited Shannon's site?  She recently married her true love which changed her last name from the one we shared "Grant" to "Tompkins".   No matter what our last names are we both LOVE to stamp-stamp-stamp.  Be sure to visit Shannon.  I know she'd love for you to stop by.

Thanks for the tagging Shannon.  I've posted my answers for this game before and thought maybe I'd share them again. See below:

1) I live in a village called Barrow. In Inupiat it is called Ukpiagvik (A Place to Hunt Snowy Owls).

2) I am half Inupiat and Caucasian. The Inupiat are the native Alaskans that live on the North Slope of Alaska. Inupiats along with the Eskimos of the northern nations (like Canada & Greenland) are collectively called Inuit. At least that is the way I understand it. Technically, I would say that I am Inupiat.

3) I am a Californian raised Eskimo. This means that I grew-up not here in the village but in California. I love my childhood in California and as an adult I am very happy to be settled here in Barrow.

4) When traveling from the Lower 48 to Barrow it takes an average of four to five stops and at least three air plane changes before you arrive to my town. Air fare is outrageously expensive and the travel is long.

5) Our roads are pavement-less and boy does it get dust during the summer. We have a water truck that sprinkles the main roads to help keep the dust down. Speaking of roads... we don't have any road systems that connect us to the rest of Alaska. Sometimes there is an ice road but by the time I would want to travel it it is long gone and melted away.

6) We don't have door to door mail services. The only way to receive your mail here is through the Post Office. When I first arrived in Barrow there weren't any PO Boxes left. I received all my mail as "General Delivery". This meant that I had to wait in line to get my mail every single time I went to the PO. This was a big social event. You could visit with so many different people while waiting for your mail. At least a quarter of town used to flow through the PO after work. It's so different compared to the PO's in the Lower 48 ...no one talks to each other and everyone are strangers. Not up here. I know at least 95% of the people I see at the post office.

7) Just for fun I am including this tid-bit. I don't live in an igloo and I've never seen couples rubbing noses. I've seen babies rubbing their faces into their mommy's neck but I don't think that counts as rubbing noses.

See the full post here.

PHOTO DETAILS: I took this photo the day we left for our holiday.  It was windy, cold, and snowing.  You can see the flakes glistening in the flash.  I must admit that I miss the comforts of my home but we are enjoying our time in the warmer climate.

TAG-ged...

I was tagged by Jill of InkGenious a few days back. Have you ever seen Jill's art? If you haven't you really should. I am a huge fan of hers. Her work is original, clean, and clever. LOVE-LOVE IT! Back to being tagged... it's a Christmas themed tag. My sister sent me an email very similar to this tag and it sure did make me smile when her husband responded to the questions.

Here we go:
What is your most enduring Christmas memory? I think the most enduring Christmas memory I have is of the very first "Tree Trimming" party that I we all attended as a family. This is going way back. It's an endearing memory for the joy I had that night. We sang carols, my Grandpa read of the birth of Christ from the Bible, we trimmed the tree, and had lots of laughs. Wonderful memories. :-)

Do you have a favorite piece of Christmas music? Oh, there are so many favorite Christmas songs that I love.... I love to sing. :-)

What makes your mouth water at Christmas time? MMMM...chocolate covered almond and cranberry clusters or peanutbutter balls. Both of which that I make annually.

Do you stick to the old family traditions?It's so hard to stick to the traditions when we travel so much for the Christmas season. We tend to go by the traditions of the family members that we are visiting.

How soon do you put up your tree and when do you take it down?If I put up a tree I would want it down the day after Christmas.

Thank you Jill for thinking of tagging me.
Merry Christmas EVERYONE!

Big SMILES!
~Nancy

SURPRISE!

Have you seen the news?  What an awesome surprise...
Royal Court