Now that the fall season has started and the kids are back to school... you know the months will fly by even faster  than the summer did! Before you know it, it will be December and then the New year will begin.

But before we get to the end of the year we have several holidays to celebrate.

One of the first coming up is WORLD CARD MAKING DAY . Click on this link to learn more about this holiday for card makers!!! (this is the official page for the holiday - not the SU flyer)

World Card Making Day is a holiday especially for card makers around the world to:

Stampin' Up! Celebrates World Card Making Day

Stampin' Up! is excited to celebrate this holiday with you and your customers the week of October 4-11.  During this week, we are offering 20 percent off Simply Sent card kits and Simply Sent Card Elements.

View the PDF color flyer here ! 

I will be planning something special for WCMD... so stay tuned! 

also sometime in October/November I am planning a non-SU Altered Journal workshop. As soon as school actually starts for the kids and I square away their schedules... I will plan for that!  

I am waking up early tomorrow to stamp out something... anything!!!! It's been too long. I've been so crazy busy and I am seriously in stampin' withdrawal! I will have a tute on Monday morning and tip next week. (wed!).

It's way past midnight... so i need to catch some zzzzzz's.

OH LAsT NOTE: for my local customers who are planning on ordering from the new catalog soon... I will be placing a group order. If you are ready by Monday or Tuesday next week with your order... please email me. I will include your order for this go around. (Especially if you do not meet the 6.95 minimum shipping rate... you can get the 10% rate- email me for details.)

Thank you for placing your orders with me. and don't forget... I have some catalogs left for this batch if you still haven't gotten yours. (or made arrangements for yours). They are $5 and $4.90 priority mail shipping if you want me to mail it to you.  

Ok... sleeping now.... 

I finally got aorund to downloading the last 500 pics from our trip...

The beach part of our trip was so much fun (altho we underestimate dthe power of the sun... and got some pretty nasty burns.)

The Pacific Coast Highway takes you all the way down to LA. It was one of the breathtaking drives I have ever taken . Literally you are driving on the edge of the USA! Very curvy... the girls and i took Dramamine so we wouldn't get sick. It took is 15 hours to get to HuntingtonBeach... but it was worth it!

We stopped at a few beaches a long the way. The girls wanted to take pictures of them doing something unsual at each spot! This beach area is the one pictured in photo #2 above! after seeing it from a distance, we knew we had to stop for a short visit. (you cna see why it took 15 hrs!)

Another pic as we are driving.

And at one spot we got out and smelled something funky... we were standing downwind to a herd of ELEPHANT SEALS! really stinky! but amazing. 

kids loved the surf and shore. That Pier in the way back is called Ruby's and is popular at Huntington beach. Later one we walked that pier for dinner and saw the west coast sunset. Also had a few visitors right under our noses (see below...)

surfers (everywhere - this is Surf City after all!) and our couple friends that visited - a seal and a small school of dolphins. NO doubt, Catching a dinner meal as well! 

on day 9 we drove back up to san Francisco. This time on I-5 (this time 7 hours instead of 15 on the PCH). This picture of the SAN GABRIEL mtns doesn't do it justice. Up til now I had my camera in the trunk. I had to stop hubby's driving so I could get out and grab my camera. Of course by then... the views weren't as spectacular.

and my favorite NEW sight was the Wind Propellor Turbines  in Livermore, CA. As we drove thru I couldn't believe how many of these things were up and spinning! For as far as the eye could see... I was really amazed!

Weel that's it! Thanks for hanging in there and taking a picture trip with me. We really had a wonderful time in CA. It was beautiful and we saw so many new things.

School starts on monday and we are still on California time (actually more like Mountain time now)... In fact I have Jury duty tomorrow and have to be there by 8:30am... this will be a true test for me.

 I know this week I didn't have much in the way of SU to share... but once school starts i will have bigger blocks of time to work. So stay tuned for fun projects and cards coming soon!

See you later! 

Tip for this week:

Collage using your stamps! I know sometimes I spend a ton of time masking my stamp layers... but how about letting them show through each other?

Try to pick one main image and work around that.  Softer colors work best with one or two bold images (stamp off - stamp once on scrap paper and then onto your piece). Ink around the edges to soften the whole layer. 

For future reference... this can be found at the tips link at the top!

I thought I'd share some pics form the San Francisco leg of our trip!

We of course visited the piers at Fisherman's Wharf and saw alcatraz, the Sea Lions on pier 39 , visited the Bordin SourDough Bread Factory and got on the Trolley from Ghiardelli Square!

We also took the electric cars to the Golden gate National Park where we visited the botanical gardens , Japanese Tea Garden and the kids' personal favorite: the KIDS PLAYGROUND!

We stayed in the heart of Chinatown (this city is FULL of culture!- Little Italy, Russian Hill...)

The streets are amazing! The hills are incredible. I don't know how anyone could build houses on these streets!

 We visited the Painted Ladies (the girls love seeing that on Full House!!!)

And visited the beach... it is cold out there (didn't go over 65 degrees our enitre stay!!)  BRRRRR..... Can you believe that sand dollars actually wash up on shore!

and last but not least! I visited the FLAX art store! This is heaven for paper lovers... like me!!! There were over 9000 different papers and various other art supplies. I could live in this store. after waiting for 2 hours for me the girls finally dragged me our out of the store... not before I bought goodies and had them shipped home!

While on our trip I read COME BACK (by Fountaine and Fountaine). a memoir by a mom and daughter about their relationship thru "hell and back". I really loved it. (I'm a sucker for memiors!). I recommend it for anyone who has daughters and/or liked GLASS CASTLES . (which is another that I loved!) 

well...  I have more from our trip down the Pacific Coast Hwy and in Huntington Beach (Surf City!). Will share later!

 I am planning on getting some stamping done tonight. I am seriously jetlagged... I can't seem to get out of bed in the am! This morning was very hard... even the girls got up before me!ARGHHHH losing 3 hours is HARD!