back to normal around here

Hey everyone!  I'm happy that everyone's vacations are over and we are all back on schedule around here. 

It would have been great if our vacations had been at the same time.  But as soon as I went back to work, the kids had off.  Bummer! 

So how was Easter?  We had a quiet one here.  The boy got his wisdom teeth out on Good Friday and he was not good company. 

Grace made some awesome Easter cards this year.  She was bored on vacation while mom was at work.  Check this kid out:

This was all her doing.  I came home from work and this was on my desk.  This kid rocks!  Look at the detail:

She loves to stamp.  When I have a class at our house, all the other family members disappear.  Not Grace.  She is right in there helping out.  So funny.  This card went to gramma and grandpa.

Look what she made us for Easter morning:

We each got our own card in our favorite colors.  Can you guess which one is mine?  I'll give you a hint:  it starts with crumb and ends with cake.

I have a little box with leftover letters from the Naturally Serif Alpha die cut and she went through there and picked out letters.  She said the words were in the shape of the cross.  Clever girl!  This was another thing she just did on her own.  I don't know where she gets these ideas.  Love that girl!


Mother's Day is coming up you know.  Are you ready?  Me neither.

The other day I had a friend ask me how to make a circle fan and rather than try to explain it to her, I decided to do a picture tutorial.  It was the perfect opportunity to make a Mother's Day card.

How to make a circle fan:

First decide how big you want your circle to be.  Then cut 2 pieces of DSP a little more than half that size.  So, if you want a 4" circle then cut your strips at 2 1/4" x 12.  I cut mine at 1 1/2" x 12".  I didn't need that big of a circle fan. 

For this fan I decided to use my scallop border punch on the edges before I scored them

For this strip I scored it between each scallop.  Can you see the score lines?  Which came out to every 3/8".  Usually when I make a circle fan, I'll score it every 1/4".  It won't be as bulky if you were mailing it. 

Then using my super duper Tombow Multi glue, glue 2 ends together.  You can use tape.  I just like the glue.

Make sure you match up the folds when you glue/tape it. 

Then glue the other ends together and you'll end up with this funky circle.  This is when you would punch out a circle of cardstock.  I punched a 1 3/8" circle but didn't get a pic of it.  Put tape over the whole surface of the punched circle.  Set it aside. 

I also forgot to take a pic of me pushing this circle flat and then gathering it up to get this:

Once you have this, carefully pick it up and put it on top of your sticky punched circle.  Press it down without squashing it. 

Here is what the backside looks like.  It doesn't matter if the circle is centered on the back.  No one will see it. 

I cut my strips 1 1/2" x 12" and it made a 2 3/4" circle fan. 

Now, I don't like this particular pattern of DSP so I made another circle fan out of cardstock. 

Lesson learned:
Making the gathered up cardstock circle stick to the sticky punched circle was next to impossible.  The cardstock is so much stronger than the DSP.  Lighter weight paper works better. 

But of course I couldn't let it go and made it work.  What did I use to strong arm it?  Tombow Multi Glue.  Love that stuff!

I {heart} hearts and Wonderful Favorites stamps.  Very vanilla, old olive and crumb cake cardstock.  Pretty in pink and rose red inks.  Vanilla seam binding, little leaves die, big shot, polka dot embossing folder, cutter kit, Springtime Vintage DSP, scallop border punch. 

I don't love this card.  Its okay.  Not sure I'll send it to her. 

Here's another example of me being a dork.  I had made the edges scalloped like on the DSP one but, when I flattened it and gathered it, I put the scallops on the inside of the circle.  DUH! 

I used the Cutter Kit to rough up the edges of the little circle.  This heart stamp actually says "friend" in the middle.  I covered it.

This one was also scored at 3/8" and you can see how much it sticks out.  Scoring at 1/4" would make it lie a little flatter. 

So there ya go.  Thats how you make a circle fan.  If you decide to try it, show me.  I would love to see your creations. 

Alrighty then, like I said, we are back on normal schedule here.  I have lots to show you and should have more regular posting going on.  Thanks so much for keeping the blog warm while I've been busy. 

Blessings, b.

copy cat

Hey there!  I hope you had a nice weekend.  We had a beautiful one!  The weather is just how I like it.  Low 60's and breezy with big puffy clouds.  Perfect. 

So I felt pretty darn good this weekend and got lots of stuff done.  Taxes? Check  Grocery shopping? Check  Clean sheets?  Check.  Plus a million other things that I was supposed to get done while on vacation but didn't feel good enough to do. 

Of course now that I feel better, I gotta go back to work tomorrow.

The children are just starting their vacation though.  In fact the boy has jury duty tomorrow.  Poor kid.  He called today and he has to go in.  I hope he gets to come home by lunch. 

I know that I am overprotective and shelter my kids.  But I just don't think at 18 you're ready to handle something like jury duty.  I mean, thats kind of a heavy responsibility.  A friend of mine just had to serve and the subject matter of that case was not something that I would want to deal with, much less wanting my kid to be exposed to. 

Get over it, right?  Yeah, I know. 

So anyway, I was stamping on Thursday.  I was hanging out in bloggie land and saw this card on Connie Collins' blog and copied it. 

Well, mostly copied it. 

I don't copy really.  In fact, since January, I don't even check out many blogs or websites anymore.  Lately I've been finding it harder to come up with my own ideas if I'm contstantly looking at other people's stuff.

BUT, with that being said, if you are really struggling with an idea or just aren't the type of person to design yourself, then copying is the best way to go.  Especially since that can become a jumping off point for your own ideas. 

A Word for You.  Rose red, basic black and very vanilla cardstock.  Black Stazon ink.  Polka dot embossing folder, big shot, pear pizzaz seam binding, dotted scallop punch and vintage dsp. 


Connie's was much cuter.  This was a super quick and easy card though.  Now that I look at it here in front of me, its much cuter in real life.  You'll just have to come over and see.  Maybe I'll cut down the vanilla square.  I think I'll like that better. 

But I'm not going to do it right now though because The Amazing Race just started.  I hope my cowboys are doing good tonight.  So, gotta go.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

free set!

Hola mi amigas!  Como esta? 

Thats about the extent of my Spanish.  Although I've never forgotten this one:  Adonde los banos? 

I can't figure out how to get the little marks over the letters.  Why am I speaking Spanish anyway?

So my vacation is almost over.  I finished my meds yesterday and I'm afraid I still haven't completely kicked this infection.  I feel better.  Lots better.  So maybe the infection is gone and this is just the remains.  But I still have lots of green snot. 

Sorry, I just lost a few of there didn't I? 

moving on...............................

I talked to my dad the other day and he reminded me that my grandmother's birthday is coming up.  Remember the Iowa trip from last year? 

So I made her a card. 

A Flower for all Seasons.  Crumb cake, cherry cobbler, early espresso and watercolor paper.  Daffodil delight, soft suede, cherry cobbler, old olive and crumb cake inks.  Scallop square duo die, big shot, square lattice embossing folder, aquapainter, vanilla seam binding and dimensionals. 


Since I'm making 1 card I might as well make 2. 

See this stamp set?  I've always loved this set and its kinda cheap but I've never bought it.  Well, I got it for FREE during SAB.  Cool eh? 

When I was in Iowa last year, the daffodils were just blooming and the cardinals were everywhere.  We don't have cardinals here.  I was quite fascinated. 

Its hard to see here but I took a bite out of the scallop square to make room for the bow.  I just used the 1/2" circle punch. 

Then I needed a Thank you for some orders.  So I made some tags:

A Flower for all Seasons.  Tangerine tango, early espresso, crumb cake and watercolor paper.  Tangerine tango, old olive, sahara sand, early espresso and going gray (retired) inks.  Scallop square duo die, big shot, square lattice embossing folder, aquapainter, vanilla seam binding and dimensionals.

He is such a cute little froggie!  I have to say though that coloring this stamp is a tough job.  So many tiny areas.  Not a good stamp for mass production. 

So, I haven't stamped anything else for the Artisan Award.  I've been stamping but just not for that.  The few ideas I have in my head, I'll still make.  We'll just have to see if they get made in time and are worthy anyway.  Thanks for all your good thoughts my way. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and keeping me company. 

Blessings, b.

overdue update

Hello everyone!  So sorry for the absence here.  I've been sick .....................again.  This time was a doozy though.  I would say this is the worst sinus infection/bronchitis thing I've had in years.  And of course it would happen now........I'm on vacation. 

My Spring Break started last week.  The kiddos don't go on break until after I go back.  So I'm actually home, alone, without kids.  You're not supposed to get sick on vacation.  I feel a little jipped. 

Anyhow, the green snot is slowly going away and I'm starting to feel better.  I had many plans for these 2 weeks alone.  One of those things was stamping for the Artisan Award.  I stamp better when I'm all alone and this was the perfect opportunity.  I guess God had other plans for me.  Maybe I'm not supposed to enter this year.

I have occasionally sat at my desk looking at things and thinking its not very strenuous to stamp but nothing crafty comes to mind.  So I schlep back over to the couch and nap.  Napping is good.  I set the timer on the stove though so I don't sleep too long.  Being late to pick up Grace at school would not be good. 

So I don't have anything new to show you.  Well, maybe I do.  I haven't shown you bunches of stuff because I was thinking it might be a contender for the Artisan Award entry, (you have to send in 5 cards, 3 scrap pages and 2 3D items).  But if I'm not going to enter then I can show you everything.  Hmmmm...................give me a day to figure it out. 

Let me show you a few things that have been going on before I became a puddle of snot.

A week and a half ago, I had a birthday.  Now I'm more than half of 90.  Hmph.

We had friends over for dinner and they made me a cake.  Aren't they nice? 

Then I had lunch with a friend and she not only made me a killer tuna sandwich and soup for lunch, she made this:

OMG!  This was the last piece before I snarfed it down.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE lemon cream cheese pie.  LOVE IT!  She looked online and found this recipe lemon supreme pie and I'm not lying when I say this was the BEST lemon cream chees pie I've ever eaten.  And you can just tell by looking at me, I've eaten alot.  You seriously need to make this pie. 

16 had her ASL Variety Show weekend before last.  I've been waiting all year for this performance.  She did 2 skits.  This one here is set to the music from Mulan, I'll Make a Man Out of You.  She is the one in the middle with the fighting stick.

Fierce warrior signing her part.  She is the one in the middle.

Again her part.  She looked really mad the whole time.  I asked her about it, "Well Mom, I'm a fierce warrrior!"  Okay, okay..................

I just thought I'd see if someone had uploaded it to YouTube and of course someone has.  I've never tried to upload a You Tube video so I'm not sure this works, but this is the performance.  I'm so proud of her.  It makes me tear up just watching it again. 

This was another one.  The name of this song was I Refuse.  Great song.   She was a bum.  Great bum. 

Then I also had the March card class at my house.  I so love it when the ladies come to stamp.  I have such a good time with them. 

The hubs had gone to visit his parents and Pop sent this home for me. 

Here is the Wikipedia definition:  valerian root

Medicinal useValerian is used for insomnia and other disorders as an alternative to benzodiazepine drugs, and as a sedative for nervous tension, hysteria, excitability, stress and intestinal colic or cramps.

Holy cow Pop!  What the heck are you drinking! 
 
I just found this so funny.  Pop is so straightlaced.  When we all go out to dinner and the waitress asks if we'd like anything to drink, he'll tell her, "We don't drink any alcohol."  HA!  Okay Pop, but can I have a Diet Coke? 
 
I do have insomnia and migraine headaches so I will be trying this the next time one hits.  Its really stinky though. 
 
Alrighty then, I'm going go lay down again.  Being upright kinda kicks my butt.  Hopefully we'll be back to our normal programming tomorrow. 
 
Thanks so much for stopping by. 
 
Blessings, b.