Happy Birthday to ME!!!! It’s My Birthday Today!!! I love to celebrate all month long but today is officially the day!

On my birthday, I like to share a little bit about me. Whether you have been following me for a few years now or this is the first post you are reading, thank you for following along and I hope you enjoy learning more about the person here at Laura’s Stamp Pad. You can check out some of my past birthday posts here and here! Enjoy a little bit more about me:

A lot happened in my 32nd year of life!!! It was just a little over a week after my 32nd birthday that we found out we were pregnant. As my belly grew, my love for the color pink never changed…..as is obvious in the photos above. I think I will always love the color pink!

Also, I love taking pictures and having my picture taken. Unfortunately, those two things don’t always go together. I tend to be behind the camera most of the time so there are more pictures of everyone else and not as many of me. This is probably why I wanted to take weekly bump photos and made my husband do them every Monday.

I am a bit of a freak and overthink everything which made me scared to death of pregnancy through most of my 20’s but I always wanted a baby of my own. I babysat since the moment I could stay home alone. In college, I went on a trip with a big family as the nanny. There are 8 nieces and nephews in my family and I couldn’t wait to have a child call me Mommy rather than always Auntie. I do take my duties as an Auntie very seriously though….love them all so much! My pregnancy went very smooth and was great….nothing to worry about! Another thing about me…..I have no patience usually! This made waiting 41 weeks and 3 days really hard!! But that’s not all, even after my water broke, I had to wait another 33 hours of laboring before Baby Girl arrived. 🙂

Being a Mom is hard but so amazing! I love it so much! It has made a big change in my daily life with trying to nurse, snuggle, stare at that adorable smile, and get all of my work done for my stamping business. I’m still working on getting it all done and find a nice routine!

Last year was amazing and life changing….here’s to a wonderful 33rd year!!!

BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: All orders placed today will earn a FREE GIFT from me as well as DOUBLE Laura’s Loyal Stampers Stickers!!! I have lots of goodies like ribbon, clear blocks, embossing powder, stamps, and more. I will randomly select a gift and send it out to everyone who orders today! Click here to start shopping!

Happy Stampin’ & Shoppin’

~Laura

Happy Friday!!! Are you ready for a fabulous weekend?? I sure am! We have no plans so lots of relaxing, baby snuggles, and maybe check out this festival in the next town over. Today, I’m sharing some Alaskan Love!!!

We were not able to go on the Stampin’ Up Alaskan Cruise because little Claire was too young. PS: In case you didn’t know, infants under 6 months (and some cruises it’s a year) can’t go along. We were super bumped to put it lightly as this was a trip we were so excited to go on. Stampin’ Up was amazing and I was able to get the pillow gifts from each night on the cruise even though we couldn’t go. Let me just say WOW and how loved I feel from such an amazing company. I’m so excited to wear, use, and show off all of my goodies. There was a lot of Holiday Mini Catalog product in there as well which I will be using in upcoming classes and events!

Also, wasn’t my husband the sweetest to take these photos of me. He actually asked if I would wait to open the box till he got home so he could take them. I’m wondering if it was that or if he was just as excited to see everything?!?!

That’s all I have for this fabulous Friday! Don’t forget about the $5 Bonus Bucks, Color Your Season Bundle, and as always Laura’s Loyal Stampers Stickers. Have an amazing weekend! I’ll see you back here on Monday! Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Happy Monday everyone!!! I hope you had an amazing weekend!!! Mine was full and fabulous! I attended Vacation Stamping School 2018 Friday evening and Saturday morning. This is a gathering of demonstrators in our group for all kinds of stamping fun. There were around 100 in attendance and so much excitement!!!

There were so many amazing samples, demonstrations, and ideas all over the room. The talent some of these ladies have is just incredible. It still boggles my mind that simple stamps, ink, and paper can be so much more!!! There is still so much to learn and I love it! I can’t wait to share all these ideas with all of you too!

Of course my favorite part of the whole event was the people. Seeing Shannon West was like Ahhhhhhhh! She is so fabulous! I remember meeting her and getting a photo with her back in January 2011 at Leadership in Nashville…..AND SHE REMEMBERED TOO!!! How amazing is that?!?!?!

Throw Back….Monday! 🙂 Here we are in January 2011 and the center photo in the above collage is from this past weekend!! Shannon, you are amazing and inspire me and I feel like you are my Stampin’ Up celebrity! 🙂 Not that all of the other ladies at the event weren’t as well though! These ladies were from many different states, all gathering together and sharing stamping tips and chatting. We are one big family. A big shout out to Glenda Travelstead too for getting Claire to sleep on Friday night! Claire enjoyed your snuggles!

Now I’m off to the stamp room during nap time to play with my new product I won for Prize Patrol and to go through all the samples and ideas to start playing! Eeeeee!

I hope you all have a wonderful day! PS: If you would like to join this amazing family of fun and inspiration, join my team by clicking here!!! You won’t regret it!

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Happy Friday!!! I’m super excited…..and a little bit nervous…..about this weekend because we are taking our first overnight trip with Claire! I can’t believe that Claire is 3 months old already too (officially on Monday)! Time sure does fly by!

I know I’m biased but she is just the cutest. She is smiling and giggling so much now and it’s the most precious thing ever! She is still unpredictable which makes it hard for me to get a lot of time in the stamp room. At least I can still check out the New Holiday Mini Catalog while nursing her on the couch! 🙂 There is so much fabulous new goodies in that catalog. I’m in love. If you are on my mailing list, you should have gotten your Holiday Mini Catalog in the mail this week. Let me know if you didn’t receive it or if you would like a copy by leaving a comment below!

A few reminders before we dive into the weekend:

~Stampin’ Up Bonus Bucks throughout the month of August. Every $50 order earns you a code for $5 off your order in September!!!

~August Only Stampin’ Up Bundle – Blended Seasons Stamp Set and coordinating Stitched Seasons Framelits Click here for samples using this bundle!

~Orders in increments of $40 earn you Laura’s Loyal Stampers Stickers.

~If your order reaches $75, you will earn my Free Stamp Set of the Month which is Around the Corner! All the fabulous deals this month!!!

Click here to start shopping!!!

We are all off to a fun Stampin Weekend with my upline, downline, and side lines! I can’t wait to see all my stamping girls and learn new techniques, see fabulous samples and have an amazing time! Wish us luck that Claire enjoys it just the same! 🙂 Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Finally…..it seemed she would never come out. At 41 weeks and 3 days…..after 33 hours of labor……and a C-Section, I had a Baby!!! Meet Ziggy or now known as Claire Marie!!!

Here are just a few of the millions of photos I have taken in the first 3 weeks of her life! 🙂 I just can’t help myself as she is so precious…..I know I’m a little biased!

So we were scheduled to be induced on Sunday, May 27th in the evening! We had a great Saturday and I was making a list of things to finish up on Sunday before we headed in. Little One had different plans and just after I got into bed Saturday night, my water broke. It was super exciting and fun! Just what I wanted! I wanted that excitement and rush and fun. My husband on the other hand was on board for a scheduled induction. I wasn’t having contractions so there was no real panic to get moving to the hospital or even crazy pain. There was the high of oh my goodness, this is it! Once we got to the hospital, there were 33 hours of waiting and trying to get her out! With lack of progression and lots of pain kicking in, we opted for a C-section.

I am recovering very well. Claire is doing great too! Together we are learning each others ways although just when we think she likes or dislikes something, that changes. 🙂 I’m starting to feel like there is a bit of a routine forming but it’s still very fussy on the edges and doesn’t always go as planned!

If you would like to see some video of little Miss and my story, check out the video below or click here! Be sure to give it a thumbs up if you liked it and be sure you are subscribed so you get a notification when I post a video.

Happy Stampin’

~Laura

Happy Father’s Day to all the men out there!!! I hope you all have an amazing day today and everyday!!

Just like Mother’s Day, I feel that Father’s Day should be celebrated by all men because at some point they have been fatherly to someone in their lives. It may not always be a biological child but that doesn’t matter. Here’s to celebrating them today and all days of the year!

This year is even more special because my husband is celebrating his 1st Father’s Day! He has been an amazing daddy and I love watching him every day! It makes my heart melt and I am falling for him even more each day! 🙂

Thank you all for being patient with me while we are adjusting to life with a baby! We are all doing well and trying to figure out this new “routine” which isn’t routine at all. The planner/organizer in me is finding that part a bit hard but we are adjusting well. I am hoping to start posting more this week. First up is an introduction of Miss Claire….aka Ziggy! 🙂

Happy Stampin’

~Laura