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Several days ago I received the above card from the lovely and generous Donna of Paper Madness. She sent it along with the new book, Foof A Life, which is magnificent and was so thoughtful of Donna to send me!!! It is a must buy people! I love this card Donna made and I have been obsessing over it all week. I took it to work to set on my desk so I could look at it all day long. I have been wanting to copy it all week. So........here is my version below. It needs some tweaking, but I love the basic idea of using a hefty watercolor paper for the base. I love the use of coordinating papers, and the simplicity of the desigin. Easy on the eyes!!! I will be working on cards like this again soon!!!! Go see Donna's gallery of cards, they are so, so cool! Thank you Donna!!!
The weekend in St. Louis was PERFECT!!!! Did you ever have a weekend that was for the most part unplanned, but where everything you did was touched with happiness and the perfect moments? Well, that was this weekend for Jane and I when we traveled down to Missouri. We left the Chicago area around 3 and drove for approximately 4-1/2 hours to reach St. Charles, MO. What a beautiful area! We drove to the historic section of town along the Missouri River. We strolled through the area looking for the perfect place to eat dinner.
We found this charming place and ate outside. It was so relaxing. They had a water fountain going. By then it was dark out, and the restaurant was lit and it was like fairy land.
Jane tried some of the local wine.
Sophisticate that I am, I had diet pop out of a plastic glass!!! 
I had to take a picture of my new shoes on the cobblestone street!!! I love to take pictures of cool shoes on vacation! These are the coolest shoes...I first saw them on Lesley Riley's blog and kind of filed them away in my mental lockbox. When on vacation with Noreen in Washington we stumbled on them again, but they did not have my size. These are kind of hard shoes to get as they are from Spain and are in European sizes. After chasing around a bit I found I could order them from Nordstrom's and then did so, even though they were kind of expensive. I just felt that I had to have these shoes for the summer! I have never owned red shoes (well at least I have not since I was a baby) and I just think they are so cool!
St. Charles, MO street light on a hot summer night.
Okay folks, here we are on Saturday morning. First stop was Cracker Barrel for a fantastic breakfast of Eggs in a Basket with Hashbrown Casserole (it is the best!), then off to Starbucks. Being fueled for the morning we were then off to our destination!!!! The place I have been wanting to go to for years!!!
RED LEAD PAPERWORKS!!!!!!!!!!!! 
We arrived before the store even opened!!!! I was peering through the windows and it looked like heaven to me!
Hope Sharon and Chris don't mind, but I had to use some of their outdoor decorations as props for this picture!
I did not take any pictures in the store, because I wanted to preserve all of the "state secrets" that lie within. Just picture me looking through the store, hyperventilating, running from this area to that area, Jane asking me if I was alright and me saying that I was just overwhelmed. Repeat this scene x 25!!!!! If you can, you must go to Red Lead it is just so perfect. The samples are so inspiring! The selection of paper is stellar! The Red Lead word stamps and their image stamps are amazing! Go to their website and see!!! You can order some of your own!
After a few minutes of looking around it was time to get busy in class. Magic time!!!! We met THE NICEST ladies in class!!!! Everyone was so warm and welcoming to us. We chatted, laughed, created, and bonded in the friendship that happens when you are all doing something you love.
We decided to all go out to lunch!!!!! Chris and Sharon had to stay behind and mind the store, so we had to go without them. We took a quick lunch break and went to a fabulous local Mexican restaurant with a very clever name, Nacho Mama!!!!
Here we are gathered around the table. There is Maggie, Phyllis, Patty, Linda, and Jane!!! Okay, get this, if you know me, you know I live for Mexican food....well I could barely finish my one steak taco!! I was giddy! I was so excited to talk with everyone!!! Such lovely ladies! I was really wishing I lived down in Missouri! The people there are wonderful and the area is just beautiful.
The thing that really sent me into overdrive was that Maggie and I discovered we both had the same shoes!!!!!! You know, the ones from Spain that are kind of hard to get!!!! We had them in the same size even!! When we discovered that bond we really started getting crazy with excitement. It was hilarious! We could hardly speak we were so excited!!!
Here I am at the end of a most wonderful day at Red Lead with Chris and Sharon!!!! They are sisters, best buddies, and co-owners of the store! They are both talented artists and just the sweetest pair of gals around! They let us hang out in the store all day (except for our lunch break!) and ask questions, shop, laugh, tell stories, and for the last hour and a half of the day Chris gave us a private tutorial about different techniques. In fact, if you go to their blog there is a demo on Tranz-It starring my loud mouth and Jane's fingers!!!! It is totally hilarious!
On Saturday night we had the great good fortune of hanging out with one of our new buddies, Phyllis! She met us for dinner at Fitz's which is a local root beer bottling place and restaurant. Wonderful place!! Then we went over to her house to check out her studio and play. See what I mean about friendly people!!! We had a blast at Phyllis' beautiful home!!!
We were going from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.!! That is rare for me! I was not tired one little bit because every moment was so special! Everytime we turned around something exciting was happening! I cannot even convey in words to you what a special day it was! Thank you to all of our new Missouri friends! You women are the best!!!!
It seems like that the moment I read about the store, Red Lead Paperworks in St. Louis I have been pining to go there. They have the coolest stamps, the coolest classes, and just such a wonderful vibe! When visiting their internet site Jane and I see all the cool classes they offer every weekend and we say....someday we are just going to get in the car and go. This week we saw the image you see above for a class called Chasing Butterflies. I just love the images on these cards and tags! Well, you can see where this is leading can't you??? Yes, we are going!! We are leaving Friday after work and zipping down for a class the next morning at 9:00 a.m.!!! Isn't that exciting!!!!????? I so wish that everyone reading this could go with too!! I should have pictures from our trip next week!!! Until then....Yahoooo!!!!!
Ahhh, the sheer perfection of a Saturday night!!!! Stay up late! No, take a nap and sleep all night! No, listen to music really loud!!! No, go to a movie. The possibilities are endless. Mike and I are holed up in the house and just enjoying doing nothing. Above is the evidence that I have been playing with my new Copic markers. Those things are a dream! So easy to use!! I got 10 more colors this week! With the help of my friend Jane I got them for 40%!!! Bargaining!!!
Mike and I stumbled upon a record shop that was going out of business. We took the opportunity to stock up on some old faves (see below) and I took the opportunity to try some music I never heard of just based on the cover (above). I am currently listening to Cubanismo and it is muy bien!!!!!
And then tomorrow is one of the best days of the year!!!!! It is the annual used book sale in the parking lot of a shopping center up north. There are two huge tents of used books!! To say it is one of the highlights of my existence is putting it mildly!!!! Can't wait! Will be getting up early for that one.
Lastly, I was so very lucky today. I attended the wedding shower of one of my dear friend's son. I was able to hang out with my medical transcription buddies, Melissa, Sharon, and Kathy. It is so wonderful to be with people who know your history, love you, accept you, and make you laugh like a hyena!!!! It was just a total blast!!!
Here is my first attempt at coloring with Copic markers!! I love them! They are so easy to use and provide such a great look! This is a stamp from a very cute line by My Favorite Things.
Yesterday I went to Jane's house where we stamped all day! Tomorrow I will post the work Jane did. It is a total masterpiece! I am so impressed with it! If I saw it at a store I would buy it! It is a two page spread she did for Marilyn Healey's Alphabetica journal. Jane and I had a blast stamping, listening to music, and eating hummus! Our new craving!Above is another of my new cards using the Copic markers. Stamp is by B-Line Design and the plain white card is from Fabriano. (sorry for the crooked scan, but after two attempts I gave up at straightness!)
The rest are cards I made with Jane. That was Saturday. Friday night Mike and I went out for dinner at a great Mexican restaurant! (Kim and Julie...it was the one we all went to when you were here!)
Friday night on the way home I had to stop at the post office to mail something for work. But that is not the perfect part, the perfect part is I got some of the new Star Wars stamps! Very cool, I am.
Today was perfect because the weather was beautiful. I took a long nap. We ate Taco Bell for dinner. We also saw a great movie. Knocked Up is the title. I think the title of the movie is crass, but the movie itself was hilarious!!! and very sweet!!! I highly recommend it.
Now, to cap off a perfect weekend, I am home, getting ready to read my good book, watch some TV with Mike, and go to sleep. And the real capper is that I don't mind going to work tomorrow. It is great to have a job I enjoy going to! It makes Sunday nights more bearable. 
The card above is actually from the stamping session I had with Trish a few weeks ago. I thought I was pretty brilliant to use the waste portion of the circle punch on the card. Brainiac!
Okay, this scan is bad, but I love this stamp of Jane's (more B-Line Design). You probably noticed that on all the cards I used the Copic Markers on there are only four colors. That is because the markers are expensive (about $5 each) so I only bought four to start with. I really want to get several more!!!
Several days ago I received the above card from the lovely and generous Donna of Paper Madness. She sent it along with the new book, Foof A Life, which is magnificent and was so thoughtful of Donna to send me!!! It is a must buy people! I love this card Donna made and I have been obsessing over it all week. I took it to work to set on my desk so I could look at it all day long. I have been wanting to copy it all week. So........here is my version below. It needs some tweaking, but I love the basic idea of using a hefty watercolor paper for the base. I love the use of coordinating papers, and the simplicity of the desigin. Easy on the eyes!!! I will be working on cards like this again soon!!!! Go see Donna's gallery of cards, they are so, so cool! Thank you Donna!!!
