I've moved!

After 7 years, 843 blog posts, and a half a million page views, I have moved! Looking for "Libby O"? Hop on over to see me at my new blog!  Thank you for the readership and love here.  Truly!

Changing times

Oh my, where do I start? I haven't blogged here since December 2014. It's May 2016. Where the heck have I been, you may ask?  Clearly not blogging.

Life is moving at the speed of light and I've faced many twists and turns. Tomorrow (5/3) my husband, Mike, and I celebrate our 8 year wedding anniversary. He deserves an incredible amount of credit for being a supportive husband and father, especially during a major transition in our lives. He doesn't get enough time to himself and doesn't get enough credit from me for just how much he does for our family.   8 years, wow.  It's a different kind of love - we are so old and responsible now but I can say I do love him more today than I did in 2008!

So many thanks to Jade + Matthew for this photo. 

Molly is 6 and is finishing her last few weeks in first grade at May River Montessori.  She's on a soccer team, playing tennis, in dance, and watching too much of the tablet she got for Christmas. It's constant battle between me and some ridiculous show called Jessie. She's into American Girl Dolls which is an expensive craze and promoting a materialism that I am not proud of. But you know what? She's such a kind, well mannered, respectful little girl. 

Connor is turning 4 in a few weeks and he keeps us on our toes but we have discovered (through a lot of testing at lots of specialists) that behaviorally, he's just "all boy" and requires a lot more consistent discipline than Molly.  Well, that's a relief.  He loves the Home Depot more than Disney World, any lawn or tractor equipment, first responders (police, firemen, you get the point...) and being outdoors. I am scrambling to plan his epic "firetruck, police car, animal pool party" but time has escaped me and in uncharacteristic fashion, I haven't even ordered invitations. Even my mom called to check and see if I was feeling okay.

Professionally, it's been an upheaval.  Many of you know me from my work with PSA Essentials, a company I am no longer employed by.  After being with the company in and out through ownership changes and employment statuses since 2008, this was a departure that rocked me. I loved that company!  I am grateful for the sales and networking connections I made there and the level of brand recognition I was able to achieve for the Company. But at the end of the day, the Company was not able to innovate past stamps, there are too many competitors offering similar products, and has been seeing a sales decline. So I was officially laid off.  It hurt because I lived and and breathed the brand and I so much enjoyed the work. 

This blog has always been mine. I have retained copyrights always. I have written every single one of the 884 posts on this blog and those posts have been seen 535,504 times with the last count.  My profile has been viewed over 4,000,000 times on Google+.  4 million! Can you believe it? I was shocked with those stats!  Thank you for reading, by the way! (And Mom, for sending to all your friends).

For the purposes of Google, my blog URL and not to confuse all the readers traffic, and all that recognition I have -- it will remain right here. 

Here's to a new chapter at Stamp Camp: A Crafts, Lifestyle and Parties Blog by Libby O. Wonder what I will be up to next....Something tells me I might be blogging more regularly again! Until then!

More is more.
Libby O 

Holiday CardMaking for a Cause

On Friday afternoon, I hosted a very small kids holiday celebration to make some Christmas Cards. When the idea originated, I asked my daughter, Molly, if she wanted to make cards for U.S. Troops overseas or the elderly without their families in nursing homes. As Molly is six, this prompted discussions on what these subject matters are.  Quite interesting topics of conversation to have with a young one! Molly couldn't decide which cause to support more, so she asked her friends to choose. Our little guests came prepped and ready from their parents which cause they wanted to support.

We've decorated the house festively and I put out some after-snacks of fruit, veggies and rolled up sandwiches. I couldn't resist cupcakes from Ronnie's Bakery with a Christmas theme!  They turned out so cute.

The kids got right to work stamping with our PSA Essentials stamps, stickers, glue, ribbon tape and more. I had two tables set up - one for the very little ones and one for the bigger kids.

The kids were so cute making the cards! Obviously a great photo opp for me with these cute little faces stamping away with our PSA Essentials stamps.

The kids spent much more time playing outside than making cards - and the mom's enjoyed being together. Truly was a lot of fun and we made some (sort of) cute cards that I am sending off to the USO and a local nursing home. It is the thought that counts, right? What fun to celebrate the season with our friends. Group picture time! (Williamson Triplets had left already and we couldn't get Ian in this one, boo!)

Share what you are doing this season to make someone else's day bright by posting a comment here or to our Facebook page.

Christmas Cards

One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is running to the mailbox each day and finding friends and family's holiday cards. (It certainly brightens up that sea of bills and mounds of junk!) It's such a wonderful tradition to keep up with families we adore from near and far.

If you send holiday cards, you also know it's quite a production.  From getting the right family photo, shopping multiple stationery sites for the best deals, selecting the right design, crafting the right message, managing your address list, addressing the envelopes and getting them stamped and out the door --- phew!  It's a lot of work.  Not something that you just whip together easily!

The O'Regan mailing list just under 175.  This year we had our professional photos taken by our PSA business photographers, Jade & Matthew Take Pictures out of Savannah.  They are truly phenomenal natural light photographers that have an artistic eye that I can so appreciate.  I ordered our cards from Shutterfly during their 50% OFF discount.  I was excited to order the drop-in liners which I think elevates any card (liners are so luxe!!) and this year, I chose to hand write the recipients address with a fancy gold pen.  These 2015 cards are works of art, I tell you and were hours in the making!

Here's a peek at how they turned out:



Here are the drop-in envelope liners from Shutterfly! They had a thickness and luxe to the envelope that I think gives it an extra special touch. And they are so easy to put in. You just peel off the adhesive strip sticker once you have inserted into the envelope.

Of course, I used my PSA Essentials Personalized Address to stamp my return address on the envelopes. I am showing the "Snow Family" design here without my personalization (for privacy reasons obviously!)

The personalized address stamp made the envelopes festive and also made return addressing an absolute breeze.  I ordered some vintage postage stamps from The Vintage Postage Shop on Etsy! Love these.

I am in love with the way the entire suite turned out. Here's to fun with sending holiday cards!  And here's a peek at some of my favorite shots of our family from Jade + Matthew Take Pictures. They truly are the best.