aaarrrggghhhhhh!

I cannot post a link today! what is the problem???!!!!!!!
here are the links I mentioned in my previous post.
I am NOT a good blogger-might as well go out and mow!
sorry, ladies!

Tresa Black - http://www.fabulouslyartsy.blogspot.com
Melissa http://www.famcymelissa.blogspot.com
Debra http://www.memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com
Rachel http://www.wonderfullywhimsy.blogspot.com
Mary http://www.mbryt1.blogspot.com
Jean http://stampingspot.com/blog2

later~L

A Lovely Award

Oh My Gracious! I have received a "Lovely Blog" award from Miss Fabulously Artsy herself - Tresa Black!


You must check out her blog-she is the creator of the most Fabulous papercraft cupcake. Her work is dreamy! I have followed her blog ever since I met her (quite briefly) at last year's Close To My Heart convention in FL. Thank you, Tresa!

I also want to specifically point out another blog I follow DAILY -my friend Melissa. If you want to meet some one ON FIRE this is the girl to go to! Her creativity knows no bounds and she is the most focused business-woman as I have ever met. Melissa graced me with a blog award a while back and I was really lax about following thru, but not today! Check this firebrand out!!


So now I get to post a few more blogs that are new to me and I follow....hope you will too! We really must support women artists - for ourselves and for our children.

much love~L

Debra-my personal tech support and friend!
Rachel-you inspire me, girl!
Mary-you are "VIRTUALLY" a genius!
Jean-you 'Color my World'!

another Sneak Peek - July Stamp of the Month

Yep, another 6x6 card-really love this size! My inspiration was from the new card design book "Wishes" from Close To My Heart. I liked the look of a design called "Pieced Together" and just flipped the design on it's side to make it work for me. I used paper from the "Moon Doggie" Level 2 paper pak and of course the stamp set is the FABULOUS "You've Got Flair" stamp set. What I like is how easily I can create patterned paper with these stamps as well as an eye-catching focal point. Next I want to work with CTMH's watercolor pencils and blending pen to highlight some of the great detail work in this stamp set.

Hope you will enjoy this stamp set as much as I do. Just hop on over to my website after July 1st to purchase this set at a discounted rate, based on your total purchase! www.laurabohall.myctmh.com

have a great week!

My Dad

My father, Roy A. Fry, was born in 1928 in New York City to a very Catholic-based family. He had 1 brother and 1 sister and very interesting parents of English and Irish heritage. Roy studied in the Seminary, fought as a Marine in the Korean War and finally realized he wanted to be an educator. While working as a 6th grade teacher and the principal at the same time at Waterford Elem in VA, he met his soon-to-be bride, my mom Barbara Cooper. They married and moved to Fairfax County where they both worked as teachers and started our family. My father and a few others created the Fairfax School Employees Fed Credit Union and he worked there 1/2 days as the Manager/Treasurer and taught Social Studies in the local high school. Roy was very outspoken about the importance of desegregation in the school employee field, and I now understand better one of the attractions between my parents - their strong feelings that everyone was an equal and should be treated as such. This was a difficult stance to take in the 50's and 60's in the education field-especially this close to the South.
Quickly our family grew to include 5 children in 10 years, and my parents were so very happy. We lost my father to an early death when I was 10 and my youngest sister was 3. I have a few wonderful memories, like when he took us kids out on Burke Lake in his rowboat-aptly named for my mom, the "BarbaraAllyn". Or when he would introduce me to his Credit Union cronies at the summer picnics as his "Laurie-Annie". Then there were the few times when he knew I had sipped from his beer while he was mowing (yucky!) but he never scolded me. I remember leaning out of his parents' sky-high apt in NYCity and him holding on to the back of my shirt. My favorite memory is going to the World's Fair in NYC-just me and my dad-and he let me steer the car while we rode through "It's A Small World". Although I have very few memories of my Father I know he left us a wonderful legacy to live up to as a man of conviction in his beliefs of equality for everyone. This is my legacy to my children, and for that, I thank my parents.
I miss you Daddy and love you very much.

Sneak Peek July Stamp of the Month

This card is designed as a 6x6 sized card, so I can include a nice long message inside. I used the upcoming Stamp of the Month from Close To My Heart called "You've Got Flair #D1351, available July 1-31 only. Lot's of wonderful patterns in this 8-stamps set. I also used a new paper pack for the summer - Moon Doggie Level 2 and I LOVE the colors! All products on this card are CTMH and you can order them thru my website laurabohall.myctmh.com.
Have a great weekend!!

Summer Boy

Decided to pull out a few stamps I haven't used in a while. The background is by Cornish Heritage Farm and the boy is Artistic Outpost. The sentiment is CTMH and the crewel work is from a stash of mine from years ago. All inks and paper are Close To My Heart which for me are the best on the market-even if I wasn't a consultant! The ink choices for this card are Honey and Chocolate (umm..yummy!) and the paper is White Daisy and Chocolate. Somehow the very top quarter inch of the scan didn't make it in this picture. Sorry! My forte is NOT working with tech equipment-that's for sure!
Can't believe it's summer around here. The temps are still averaging "Springtime in VA" with lots of rain the last few weeks. That's a good thing since our county has been drought-scared the last few years around this time. Just did our first bush-hogging out in the back field because the grass was soooo tall. The advantage to tall grass is that the wild turkey families can move their babies around sight unseen but the tick population increases like crazee.
Anyway, the warming temps reminded me about this stamp set and I'm glad I found it to share with you.
Have a great day!

School's Out!

WOW-School's Out! Can't believe John and Grace have graduated 2nd grade. It's going so fast...for me. It feels like just yesterday my girlfriend possee and I were planning playdates at the toddler park EARLY in the day so everyone could get home for lunch and naps. Ah, sweet naptime. :D)
So for now, no more reviewing the school lunch menu for choices on packing or buying, no more remembering to wear red on Fridays for school spirit day, no more standing at the end of the driveway waiting for the bus. No more homework, no more field trips, no more calls at 6am asking if I can sub for a sick teacher.
No more puzzling over "new Math", "a different kind of phoenics" or "Listen to what I learned in Music today, mom"!
No more class parties, no more coming up with a potluck dish for the monthly teacher's lunch, no more waiting in the car-rider line catching up with the other moms.
Hey! School's Out??!! What?! 2nd grade went by so fast...how did that happen?
(I still haven't gotten the hang of inserting photos exactly where I want them so some 'splaining will have to do. The pic of the kids without glasses is the first day of 2nd grade 8/25/09 and the other pic is the last day of 2nd grade 9/11/09. See much difference? Grace has gotten a bit taller over the past year, that's for sure!!)

True Happiness Again!

Here is another card using this cool stamp set! This card reminds me of looking out my kitchen window at the Blue Ridge Mountains and all the lovely trees and fields. Can't wait to start incorporating the clouds into scrapbook layouts. All the details for purchasing this set can be found in the previous post.

enjoy~L

True Happiness

Just got this stamp set from the Close To My Heart Summer Idea Book and love it already. Called "True Happiness", this stamp set includes 8 images in acrylic for only $22.95 or $17.90 with your consultant/hobbyist discount! You can find this set on page 57 #D1365. If you order through my website you will get a FREE gift in the month of June. Check out my site for more details

This card uses CTMH "Boom-Di-Ada" paper with chocolate and tulip ink. I picked the ribbon up at an outlet in Hagerstown, MD which I hope to visit again soon.
I love this set because it includes scenery stamps like clouds, mountains, waves and grasslands plus 2 different sentiments-yay!
I will post more pics using this stamp set soon-see you then!