Okay...I'm a little slow...!

Two cuties just hanging out in the backyard together on a sunny day...

Hi to all my devoted (?) readers! I had several weeks of no internet access through my laptop & since fixing the issue, I just have not had the energy in the evenings to devote to posting! But I'm back now and don't plan to drop out mysteriously again! :) Gene has switched jobsites to a really cool place...check it out! And the kids are still cute as can be...here are a few photos to tide you all over until later or tomorrow when Joey's not in desperate need of his momma!

Hypercool Hyperlinks

Did you notice how cool the hyperlinks were? I'm gonna do more of that...

Officially a "Cooper"

I think that I'm officially a Cooper at this point...I keep staying up so late to do things that there's no other reasonable explanation! Last night I stayed up until almost 4am painting primer on Gene's bathroom walls. Why? Well who can do things like that with two darling assistants as Joey & Lucy during the day?

We've had such supremely nice weather that I had to show a sandbox shot of Miss Lucy along with her sidekick, Hannah. On to stamping matters! :)

Here are photos of the project that I worked on last night (before the painting fit overtook me!) as well as tonight. I want to do a class with chipboard letters/numbers in April or May, so I thought I'd copy some ideas that I'd seen elsewhere. I have officially 36 different ideas with the set of Stampin' Up On Board Simon Lower set...whew! Take a peek & then stay tuned to my website to find out when it's scheduled!

btw...I fixed the problem so now you can all comment away to your hearts content!

Coming soon is an altered clipboard that I started tonight...I told Gene that in the coming days he's going to have to be pictured with our little darlings so that I can attach their photos & finish my project!

I feel so productive lately! I think seriously this blogging thing is a good incentive to make me keep moving so that I can share ideas :) ...and the fact that some of you mention that you've been here makes me want to keep posting more, too! Enjoy!

Gotta go...Lucy's not a happy girl in bed!

One pokey updater here!

...but it was SUCH a nice day yesterday, I just couldn't help but be outside all day long! See! I even mowed the lawn with my NEW garage sale find mower :) I told my husband that even Gene "the toolman" Cooper couldn't possibly need to dismantle this kind of mower. For those of you who don't know, we *have* a mower that's been dead for awhile ;) So for $5 I was happily mowing again for the first time in a looooooong while! See my assistant Lucy running around the yard with me? It's a good thing that the photo didn't show Joey too well since he's wearing one of Lucy's pink hats, too! I just haven't thought much about sunhats for Joey, so now I need to do that since the weather has decided to be summery!


I had to share this page that I did a couple weeks ago at a party...I was showing how to use chipboard for the title and accent pieces. I was so excited looking at this last night that I did another whole package of our chipboard letters & numbers (I still have to finish numbers 5-0) in lots of different techniques. I'm hoping to do a class with them in another month or so :)

A tale of an almost dead Sticky Strip!

The Sticky Strip on the left is new & the one on the right has helped me make my altered file folder...that one's almost done in after this project!

Here's the inside with photos. I put a photo on each of the flaps on the right & I used Heidi's "garbage" that she gave me the other night...she had purchased frames with matting that she didn't want, so I covered with our designer series paper & Sticky Stripped the whole thing in!

Oh! And here's the clever part...I used a large vellum envelope to contain any extra photos from Joey's baptism that didn't fit nicely on the flaps!

Here's the front of Joey's baptism album/folder! I'm going to have to go to Michael's to buy some matte finish Mod Podge to go over the top section with the photos since I really want to protect them from fingers & wear and tear, but I didn't want to use the shiny finish or the glitter finish that I already have. Honestly glitter could be nice, BUT he's a boy, so I decided to make it a little plainer ;) Hee hee!

An Easter Wish!

Beckie was kind enough to let us make a couple of fancy glittery eggs the other night at our stamp club meeting, so I thought I'd share one of my designs! It was so fun after putting it together to paint the whole thing with glue & then coat it in my favorite accessory...GLITTER! I know, Beckie, you would advise a little more of a delicate hand with the glitter, but I just can't help myself!

Altered File Folders!

After everyone left from the Seeing Spots card-making class tonight, I still felt creative! SOOOO...I decided to jump in & start on an altered file folder album :) I'm out of steam for tonight, but I had to show the world (or at least the world of my blog!) how far this plain old manila file folder has come. I used the Friends & Flowers SS kit from the hostess section of the current catalog since I have several on hand for just such fun projects...I deliberately have tried to keep it pretty neutral since I'm thinking of making it into a baptism album for Joey's photos from last week's baptism...stay tuned for what happens next in this file folder's life journey!

The Adventures of the Playdoh Princess & many others!

Yes, that would be my Playdoh princess pictured above! She was introduced to Playdoh while on our trip to Michigan & now has become the Playdoh expert in our home...Lucy is currently working on operating the rolling pin & garlic press doodad to create masterpieces along with Grace her Playdoh sidekick (above).

Oh, and did I mention that Lucy is also a stamper? She's been very creative lately and likes to stamp if she gets the chance...here she's showing me the basics...

...and this is what happens after you try stamping your nose while you're being creative...

...and here is the LOVELY artwork that a 19 month old will create with green ink & some stamps! Tah-dah!

Here's a card that participants in my class this weekend will get to make...

...and another....

...and another! Don't you wish you were "Seeing Spots", too?? I have two more designs, but I'll keep something secret from attendees until they get here :)

I was so excited about my new Quirky Quips set that I needed to try them out on something...along with that CUTE flirty ribbon!

I plan to fill this ATC album with wallet-sized photos of the kids. Someone recently suggested that this would also work really well for all those school photos that kids swap among friends as well as the yearly wallets that you get from the kids in the family as well as your own kids' photos! I'm excited to try some of these albums out!!

Better Late Than Never!

Alright, so *last* weekend, we visited Rose & Andrew, and these are some photos of Miss Lucy commanding Uncle Andrew to come get her since she kept falling down the hill. Looks like she did a good job because...he got her :) She's just breaking in Uncle Andrew for when Sophia is a little bigger and will want him to do her bidding!

Monday was so beautiful outside that we did a little gardening, Lucy & I. Lucy loved using her "digger" tool aka the trowel. She was very serious about helping her momma get those pesky weeds out of the planters from last year.
Here she is, my serious little digger!

...and not to be forgotten, Joey! He came outside dressed in green to help us green up the backyard. He was such a smiley guy while watching his always entertaining sister & me do our pruning and digging.