manly men

Hey there! 

Its the day before Father's Day and all through the house, all creatures were stirring even the computer mouse. 

Yeah, I don't know where that came from.  Anyway do you have your Father's Day cards done? 

Me neither. 

I will be seeing my dad on Monday.  And I thought we were going to see my FIL tomorrow but that plan has changed.  So here I thought I would have today to make him a card but now I'll have to mail it and it will be late. 

I don't have anything made yet.  I had the idea to go through my pics of manly cards for ideas and thought maybe you would like some ideas too.  So lets look together shall we?

I had made this for a birthday card but if your man is a gamer it would be fun. 

Lovely as a Tree and watercoloring with ink in the lid of the pad.

Season of Friendship and Sincere Salutations

Lovely as a Tree and Wonderful Favorites (retiring).  I think these were last years Father's Day cards.

Angler and Woodgrain Background.  Not sure about the words. 

Lovely as a Tree again and God's Blessings (retiring). 

Lovely as a Tree again and Sincere Salutations. 

Lovely as a Tree........just kidding.  D is for Dog. 

I think this is Angler again.  I used Crystal Effects on the one fish.  Now he is all slimy looking. 

Branch Out.

These are the Father's Day treats I made for the Ronald McDonald House last year.  Does your dad have a sweet tooth?

For the guitar player.  This uses the Neutrals Patterned DSP

Even more Lovely as a Tree and the square lattice embossing folder

Growing Green

Woodgrain background and A Word for You.  Leaves #2 die.


I'm sure I missed a few.  If you look over here on the left in the "categories" column you can click on a set name or occasion and see if something inspires you.  I think I'm going to use some elements from a few of these and make a new card.  I'll show you what I come up with. 

Thanks for stopping by and make sure to give some love to the men in your life. 

Blessings, b.

recap

Hola mi amigos!  How is everyone today?  I've caught up on all the things I was behind on last week but this week is getting crazy too.  Every single day for the next 10 days is packed.  Jam packed!

So let me recap the very important week I had last week.  Lots of pics here tonight.

First I have to show you an award The Boy got.

I laughed quite heartily when I saw this.  Does his teacher know him well or what? 

Then there was..........GRADUATION! 

Hmmmmm......I did much better with this than I thought I would.  I was so busy the day before and day of, that I didn't really give it much thought until................they started playing Pomp and Circumstance. 

Then I wanted to lose it.  But I didn't.  Just 1 or 2 tears.  The rest of the time I kept it in check and my eyes only welled up.  I hid behind my sunglasses.  Don't want to be the embarrassing mom you know.  Well, sometimes I do ;)

See the medal?  He was an Honor Graduate.  So proud of him. 

Most of my pics of him look like this.   He was looking into the sun but the expression says, "do you have to do this?"  Yes I do.  I told him he had to pose for some pics.  This moment needs to be documented.  The other boys were more happy to pose. 

He has known these 2 boys since they were 8.  My heart just about bursts when I see how much they've grown and stayed good boys.  They are all going off to college (2 different colleges right next door to each other) and then all hell will break loose probably.  But for now they are good boys.  One of them is even an Eagle Scout. 

He got 2 graduation gifts before we even sent out the announcements so I made up some 1/4 sheet note cards for him to write thank yous on.  They don't fold.  He slipped them in with the announcement when he sent them.  He wrote the best thank yous.  I was quite impressed. 

It uses a very old retired stamp from the set Sketch and Event.  I saved the hat because I knew I would need it someday.  It also uses Thank You Kindly. 

In the few days leading up to the last day of school, Grace and I had to make gifts for her teachers.  This is what we came up with. 

Grace decorated some pots and we planted some flowers and made a little Thank You banner.  Like my last minute pic in the back seat?

Flight of the Butterfly and Inspired by Nature.  Old olive and rose red inks.  Crumb cake and naturals ivory cardstock.  Natural hemp and a bamboo skewer.


Why did I take a pic of the uglier one?  The other banner just seemed cuter.  Anway, I used the hemp to bind the banner to the skewer.  The teachers seemed to like them.


Then I also had a baby shower to prepare for.  2 of the ladies at work are expecting within 2 weeks of each other right when school starts again.  So we won't see them again until after they have the babies. 

A Word for You set (on the inside).  Early espresso, regal rose and whisper white cardstock.  Big shot, simple serif alpha die, square scallop duo die, square lattice embossing folder, white taffeta, neutrals button, paper piercer and dimensionals.

Can you guess that they are both having girls?  Almost everyone I know of (with the exception of 1) finds out what the sex is.  Why?  They say they want to get the right color.  Well, what are they going to do if the next one is a boy?  Buy all new stuff again in blue?  I think its better to just be surprised on delivery day.  Makes that special day even more special. 

So I'll laugh my head off if one of them turns out to be a boy.  I'm just mean that way. 

 

I tied the button on with some white embroidery floss.  Nice and tight.

I used the initial of what the baby's name is going to be.  The j was a little too tall  so I just chopped a little off the top. 

I think the square lattice looks like a soft blankie here. 

Speaking of blankies, I found these blankets at Target.  OMG!  They are so soft!  The reverse side is even softer!  I bought diapers and then swaddled them with the blanket.  I remembered how to do it!  I used a diaper pin to secure the tail. 

The white ribbon is just the ribbon that the blankets came with. 

Alrighty then.  I have to make some cards for the people that are leaving my school next year.  They are closing my school and reopening it as a charter school.  So lots of people are leaving and going to other sites.  I have no idea what I'm going to make. 

Father's Day is Sunday.   I guess I'd better get on that too.  It never ends....................................

Blessings, b.

I should be doing other things

Hey there!  Well, school for the kiddos is officially over for 8 weeks.  WooHoo!  I, on the other hand, still have a week left of work.  BooHoo! 

Because we had a million activities I've really let things go this past week and have a back up of just about everything.  Laundry is taking over my bathroom, emails are overflowing my inbox, the camera was busting at the seams with pics, the frig was empty..............you get the idea. 

I've been doing laundry all day and I just downloaded a boatload of pics from the camera.  Mostly graduation stuff.  Some stampy stuff.  I still need to go through them all. 

I also spent some time today going through emails.  I've been saving the ones I need to deal with.  My inbox is now clean.  Yippee! 

So instead of going through my pics and organizing things, I played around with this email I got and made this:

I hope it works

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

We love Angels baseball and I thought this was so funny!  Yeah, I should have spent time doing other more important things.  Like stamping.  I have a list a mile long. 

Okay, I'm getting on it.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

Mother's Day?

Hidey Ho!  How is everyone today?  We had beautiful weather today.  I hope you did too. 

I still have lots to do tonight so I'm going to be short and sweet.  HA! 

I'm going to try anyway. 

I did a little desk cleaning this weeekend.  I need to organize things a little better with what I got.  But I'll have to wait until school is out to do a really good job of it. 

Anyhow, I found a Mother's Day card that I never showed you.  Its reel purty.

Growing Green and Wonderful Favorites (retiring).  Whisper white and watercolor cardstock.  Rose red and Black Stazon inks.  Polka dot embossing folder, big shot, scallop border punch, pear pizzaz seam binding, aquapainter and dimensionals.

Neat huh?  I really like it.  Now, I did actually send one of these to my MIL.  She loved it.  I just made an extra to keep around for me.  You could just change the wording and PRESTO CHANGO! you've got a great card. 

I popped the center panel up on dimensionals. 

I colored the flower using that Floating Reinker technique some genius made up.  Wasn't me!  Here is how you do it;

Using watercolor paper, stamp your image and emboss.  My white embossing powder is kinda suckish.  Does it get old?  It looks like I need a fresh jar. 

Anyhow, emboss the image and then water it down with your aquapainter. 

Then pick up some color, I smashed my ink pad lid to get a little ink on there.  Don't worry about blending (I'm not good at blending anyway) and let the color bleed where it wants. 

Lay down more color in certain areas to get some shading.  Then just let dry. 

Easy.

Alrighty then, I told you, short and sweet.  Oh yeah, did I mention, I GOT NEW CATALOGS TODAY!  I have swept through it fairly quickly and I love it!  It seems better organized.  I have a big wish list and I didn't even go through it real carefully.  You're gonna love it too!  Let me know if you want one. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking in and hanging around and looking and well, everything else you do here.

Blessings, b.

band, books and blah blah blah

Hola people!  I hope everyone is having a fantastic Saturday.  This has been a busy week around here.  The kiddos have their last day of school on Wednesday, so this week (and next) is full of activities.  We've had an AVID banquet, band banquet, a field trip and an author's brunch.  Next week is the big day though.  Graduation.  (big sigh)  My baby will officially be a college student.  (bigger sigh)

So I got things to show you.  First up, at the very last minute before we left for the band banquet, I asked the boy if he had gotten anything for the percussion coaches.  He is the percussion section leader and in charge of this, so of course he didn't even think about it.  So I whipped up a little somethin' somethin' just in time.

Thank you Kindly set.  Crumb cake, real red, whisper white and basic black cardstock.  Black Stazon and crumb cake inks.  Newsprint DSP, top not die, big shot, 1.25" and 1 3/8" circle punches.

These came together really quickly.  Not the best thing I ever made but they served their purpose and they loved them.  This is the very last of my music pattern.  I wonder if there will be more in the new catty.

Ahhh............aren't they cute?  This is the clearest shot I got.  Maybe its time for a new camera.  Anyhow, these are the 4 kiddos,

and these are the 4 kiddos moms.  I had just told him to turn off the flash because the camera refused to take a pic with it on and as soon as he got us positioned again they turned down the lights to start the show.  Whatever!   Sorry ladies for the horrible pic. 

High school band is officially over.  Forever.  And ever.  Well, unless Grace gets into it. 

No pictures of the AVID banquet.  I know......I know, you were so looking forward to those pics weren't you? 

I do have pics of the Author's Brunch.

Each year the kids get to write and illustrate their very own hardcover book.  There is a program they do it through, I don't remember the name.  Let me know if you want it and I'll find it.  I love it because I have books from each kid all through elementary school.  Fun keepsakes.

They all got their books and 2 of the 4th grade classes got together to do readings and have brunch.  If I'd known it was going to be outside, I would not have let her wear this top.  We both got a little sunburned. 

They got into groups of 7 and 1 adult and took turns reading.  I had a blast!  Some of these kids are so articulate. 

In other news, I am going to Iowa again.  This time the whole family is going.  If anybody lives near the West Des Moines area, can you give me a few things to do around there?  The hotel has a pool but I'm wondering about zoos or museums or something.  Give me a shout out will ya? 

Alrighty then, I do have a few more cards I haven't shown you.  One even has a tutorial with it!  Plus I have a ton of cards to make before school gets out.  I guess I'd better get busy huh? 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.