this 'n' that

Hey Hey Hey! 

I have not been able to spend any quality time with my new goodies.  I got some really neat stuff too. 

Designer frames (pg. 218), Beau Chateau fabric (pg. 196 super excited to use this, those chickens are so cute!), Frostwood Lodge DSP (pg. 28 Holiday Mini),  Cellophane bags (pg. 11 Holiday Mini),  Quilted Satin Ribbon (pg. 30 Holiday Mini), and many other things. 

In the meantime, until I can get personal with my new goodies, I have another non-winning Artisan Award project to show you. 

No stamps!  Night of navy ink.  Real red, pumpkin pie, old olive, pacific point, elegant eggplant and whisper white cardstock.  White craft paint and canvas.

This was a really neat project.  It looked so cool hanging on the wall.  I spent hours and hours rolling those wrinkly roses.  (See here for the tutorial)  I lightly mixed the night of navy ink with the white craft paint so that when I brushed it on the canvas it would have lines and look like blowy clouds. 

In fact the white roses/clouds were a total last minute idea.  We were packing up the projects to mail and 17 suggested white clouds.  What a great idea! 

I have some leftover roses and am planning on making another one to keep. 




Okay, the moment you've all been waiting for...............................a garden update!  WooHoo!!

(just humor me..........again)

I took these pics on Sat. and already things are different.

The pumpkin is growing out of the box.  I had wanted to plant it in the ground but ran out of time and good dirt.  The cucumbers are doing well.  Lots of flowers so I hope I'll get some cucumbers this year.

The fallen branch you see behind them is from the neighbor's tree.  It got really windy one day and I got a tree branch in my yard.  Yipee!

This is the one pumpkin that is growing.  I took this pic on Saturday and I swear that it is 3 times bigger tonight.  Crazy!  2 others withered and there is another one that I think will grow.  I'm so excited to have homegrown pumpkins for Halloween! 

The tomatoes are doing great.  Lots of cherry ones but they won't turn red.  The plant I thought had Celebrity tomatoes is actually a Roma.  Oh well.  I like those too.  The green beans are going like gangbusters but aren't putting on any flowers or beans.  What up?

The harvest so far is, 3 zucchini and 2 yellow squash.  I have more of each that will get picked this weekend. 

I'm always in awe in of how you can plant a seed and a month later you can eat what it grows.  Isn't God great? 

Alrighty then, I still have to clean up the dinner dishes.  Where is the maid?  Oh wait........thats me.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

hi ho, hi ho

its back to work I go...........

Yesterday was my first day back.  Actually I went to work on Monday for some meetings but only for a few hours. 

My school looks very different.  They changed it into a charter school.  And I have to say, it was a pretty cool first day of school.  These kids get 6 week rotations in art, music, dance, drama and technology.  The 6th and 7th graders get ipads to use.  How cool?  Way cool!

My girls started school last week. 

 Perfunctuary first day of school pic.  Check this out:

She drove herself to school.  What a strange feeling for me.  For her too probably, although she would never admit that.  My big senior girl.......................

Next up........5th grader.  Big girl on campus this year.  I also got the regular picture of her crying in line when I left.  Will she ever stop that?  This girl is never very far from me.  That umbilical cord just keeps on stretching. 

Alrighty then, are you ready for some stampiness? 

I have another losing Artisan Award project to show you. 

Growing green and A Word for You sets.  Early espresso, crumb cake and watercolor paper.  Black Stazon,  old olive and crumb cake inks.  Newsprint DSP, spiral tab punch, round tab punch, neutrals button, hemp, staple and aquapainter.


What do you think?

I struggled with this card.  I knew I wanted to submit a card with watercoloring.  They want you to submit a variety of techniqes and styles.  I was trying to make it look like it was a sketch book or something. 

Looking at all my projects I can understand why I wasn't a winner.  They just aren't up to snuff.  Its because I wait until the last minute and then have to rush.  For some people that works but not for me.  I usually can get something together but then I have to sit on it for a few days and tweak it some. 

So will I plan ahead and start in Jan. next time?  Probably not.  But you never know.

Okie dokie.  You may not hear from me until Sunday.  We are having a yard sale on Saturday.  I hate having yard sales.  Like going to them, hate having them.  I'm hoping to sell a bunch of stamping stuff.  I've got so much DSP, die cut boxes, ribbon, etc to send to new homes.  Come on by if you're in the area. 

Blessings, b.

these hands

Hey!

I've got another losing Artisan Award project to show you.  ( The Boy just read that sentence and said, "Well, thats being positive.") 

Last year I really struggled with my scrap pages but this year, I love them.  I think they each turned out great.  I wish I still had them.  I do have pics although the pictures are horrible.  We actually unpacked the box to take them because I forgot to do it beforehand.  So click on it to make it bigger to see the detail. 

I {heart} Hearts and Wonderful Favorites.  Crumb cake and very vanilla cardstock.  Either Baja Breeze or Marina Mist (not sure which) and crumb cake inks.  Dotted ribbon punch, Springtime Vintage DSP, clearlits rectangle die, big shot, neutrals buttons, hemp or linen thread, dimensionals, naturally serif alpha die, newsprint DSP, neutrals patterned paper pack.

I loved the idea of this page.  We actually took pictures of my hands.  I wanted pictures of my MIL hands but we were running out of time.

Looks like I really need to invest in some good moisturizer. 

I think I'll do this page again but with her hands.  I love looking at hands.  If you think about it, they have such stories to tell.  I would love to create a reminder of what her hands look like.  I still remember what my mom's hands looked like, I wish I had a picture though. 

This is a pretty self explanatory page but let me know if you have any questions. 

In other news, I ordered a whole mess of Stampin' Up! goodies last week and they are on their way here!  Super excited!   Wait until you see the Holiday Mini Catalog!  WOW!  Lots of nifty stuff in there. 

Alrighty then, 17 and I are going to watch last night's Next Food Network Star.  I want Susie to win. 

Thanks for stopping by and hanging out and checking in and looking around and well..........you know.  I love when you stop by. 

Blessings, b.

cajun butterfly

Hidey Ho!  Have a good day?  I started out good and ended up with a migraine.  Not a real bad one this time but, what the heck?  I have never found a reason why I get them.  This is 2 in 2 1/2 weeks time.  UGH! 

So to take my mind off of my head, I thought I'd pop on here tonight and show you one of my losing Artisan Award entries. 

(if I'm trying to make myself feel better, this probably isn't the best way huh?)


I originally made this card for my card ladies.  I thought it was pretty nifty so I saved one for the contest.

This used 2 Sale-A-Bration sets, I don't remember the names.  I think one was Bliss.  Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze, Basic Gray and whisper white cardstock.  White Stazon, Versamark and basic gray inks.  Beautiful butterflies die, big shot, pearls, window sheets and glue dots. 


This is a 4.25 x 4.25 clear card.  The base of the card is a window sheet, or you could use a transparency.  Window sheets are thicker though.  I got the color combo off of the Most Super Wonderful Color Coach.  I love that thing!  Do you have one yet? 

I stamped the clear butterfly with the White Stazon and put both pieces together with a glue dot.  The pearls down the middle hide the glue dot. 

The gray piece is stuck to the inside of the front and the white piece is stuck to the outside front.  That way you don't see any adhesive at all. 

See?  Nifty huh? 

I really liked this card.  I thought it was unusual.  Even though these stamps aren't available anymore I think it would be easy to duplicate with others. 

Alrighty then, I'm keeping it short tonight. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

thinking of you

Howdy folks!  I hope everyone had a fantastic day. 

Several weeks ago I heard some bad news from one of my stamping buddies.  She has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

Now this lady, I met through stamping.  She is also a demo.  One of the best things about this hobby is the wonderful people you meet.  And she is definitely one of the best people I know. 

She is very generous with her time.  She is the SU! lead at the Ronald McDonald House.  She is always adopting orphaned demos.  She has always been there when I needed advice or butt kicking.  She has been an inspiration to me in many ways.

One of the best ways we cardmakers show love for one another is, to send a card.  So a few weeks ago I made one for her. 

A Word for You and Sincere Salutations.  Crumb cake, whisper white, lucky limeade and vellum cardstock.  Black Stazon ink.  Polka dot embossing folder, big shot, fun flowers die, neutrals buttons, linen thread, 3/4" cirle punch, scallop square duo die and dimensionals. 

While you got the supplies out, you might as well make a couple right?  Thats what I was thinking anyway. 

These are 4.25 x 4.25.  I used the bigger of the scallop squares from the die.  I really like these.  I know its alot of white space but I wanted them to be kind of simple. 

I embossed the vellum layer to mimic the card base.  It makes me think of a gardenia.  The leaves are just the biggest flower in the die that I cut up. 


Alrighty then, the lesson to learn here is; don't wait for bad news to send someone a card.  Let people know how you feel. 

Love them?  Let them know. 

Sorry about something?  Let them know. 

Thankful?  Let them know. 

Miss them?  Let them know. 

Things are alot easier to say in a letter/card.  And if its in a pretty handmade card, then all the better. 

So go ahead, make and SEND someone a card.  I dare you to make someone's day.

Blessings, b.

week in the life?

It is finished!  Yippee!  I just love this project that Ali Edwards dreamed up so many years ago.  This is a big project, no doubt about it.  Well, I guess its as big a project as you make it.  My problem?  I didn't take enough pics.  The more pictures you take the easier it is to put together.

Lets go throught this shall we?  I started mine on a Wednesday.  That was fine.  It really doesn't matter what day you start.  For me the important thing was just starting.

I used a regular ol' 8 1/2" x 11" binder.  I know I'll end up doing this project again at some point and I can just add more weeks in here until its full. 

Current stamps:  Woodgrain background, I {heart} Hearts  Retired stamps: Schoolbook Serif alpha, Well Worn Alpha, Classic numbers, Wonderful Favorites, Headline numbers.  Early espresso, crumb cake and baja breeze ink.  Crumb cake, whisper white and early espresso cardstock.  Small heart punch, Scallop rectangle clearlits die, big shot, early espresso satin ribbon, 1.25" circle punch, basic black journaler, Neutrals Patterned DSP, Nuetrals buttons, linen thread, and dimensionals.


Here is the title page.  I cut an 8.5 x 11 piece of crumb cake in half to 4.25 x 11 and then used the sewing machine to stitch the page protector to the size I wanted. 

I used the computer to type out the title. 

On the back of the title page I just wrote a little about each of us and what was going on with us right now. 

I started out my journaling with a half page of notebook paper.  I like having the lines so I write straight. 

I used a baseball page protector that has 9 slots for my pics.  Which means 18 pics for each day.  Yeah, I didn't do so well with that.  I think I averaged 7 pics a day.  That meant I needed to fill the empty slots.  You can see on this page I included the grocery store receipt. 

Another 1/2 page journaler.

On Friday I gave up on the 1/2 page journalers and just went for it.  I still managed to fill up both sides with chit chat.





You can see my days' title is not very straight.  I was okay with this.  Its not perfect, just like me.

I found that I took quite a few pics of the tv.  I thought it would be an interesting reminder of what we are into tv-wise.  I may do a scrap page on just tv shows.  I know, that sounds kind of dumb but I have an idea............

I found the easiest way to fill empty slots was to just write about what was in the pics.

Okay, so Tuesday was the last day for me.  It was also a mentally busy day.  So busy in fact that I never once took out my camera.  I didn't remember about it until after 4:00 that day.  So I decided that it would just be a journaling day.  I'm fine with that. 

Yes, I wish I had a pic of my Bible study group and a pic of The Boy golfing, of 17's friend that came over and the oven that decided to blow its igniter when I was trying to cook dinner, of Grace reading out loud to me, but thats okay.  I did write about it all.  And maybe thats more important.  In fact I filled 1 1/2 pages of journaling that day.

Anyhow, its all done and I love it.  What would I keep/change for next time? 

• I liked the notebook paper.  I liked having lines and it was easy to just keep out. 
• I would really pay more attention to taking pictures.  So many things we see everyday but don't really see.  You know?  Laundry, the inside of your car, your desk, your kitchen/living room/ dining room/ bedroom etc.  I brought home from my dad's, a picture of our living room from the house I grew up in, and it was so fun to look at and remember. 
• I don't think I'll fuss with the 1/2 page protectors next time.
•  
• I liked keeping it to just a few colors.  This one was Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Baja Breeze.  Made it flow.
• I really like the look of the baseball card protectors. 
• I didn't like cutting all the pics for the baseball protector pages.
• I think next time I'll worry about taking pics and writing the journaling each day.  Then worry about getting it all together the next week.  Trying to do it all at the same time was a little hard. 
•  
• Next time I need to get more pics of me in there. 

Alrighty, thats all I can think of for now.  I hope you were/are inspired to do this for yourself.  Like the December Daily I think it will be a treasure in the years to come.  Let me know if I you have any questions.  You can look here too at Ali Edwards page for great ideas. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

happy birthday dad!

Howdy!  I hope everyone had a great day.  I mean, its Friday after all. 

A few weeks ago when we were in New Mexico, we celebrated my dad's 71st birthday. 

Of course I was super busy getting everything ready to go before we left our house and forgot about making him a birthday card............until the last minute.  Of course :)

I also had to make a Thank You card for one of our friends that was going to drive The Boy to the airport to get to N.M. later in the week.

Well, after putzing around for too long, I realized that I only have maybe 2 sets that are somewhat manly.  And my dad has seen them all. 

What to do, what to do.............. 

I know!  I'll pull out the grass.  I like grass.

Woodgrain background, Inspired by Nature, Thank You Kindly, some old alpha I had.  Soft suede, early espresso and naturals white cardstock.  Soft suede and old olive inks.  1", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, linen thread and dimensionals. 


I think they worked out great!  My dad liked them.  He asked where I buy my cards.  "Oh, there's this little place I know."  He doesn't really understand how involved I am in stamping. 

The thank you I made into a gift card holder.  I keep thinking I should have made something peek out of the grass.  Or maybe just clouds.  I need to make another one for my neighbor that watched our zoo and watered the garden.  Maybe I'll get extra creative with his. 

Okay, while I've got you here, I need to ask a favor.  I'm sure my neighbors, if they happen to look out the window, get a kick out of watching me "pet" my plants every morning looking for bugs. I need to get a life. 

I need to identify some bugs.  I know, just what you wanted to hear right?  I tried looking on the internet to figure out what they are but just got grossed out.

So maybe you can help me.  I have so many crows in my yard that I think are trying to eat the bugs.  That may be why I haven't seen many grasshoppers.  As much as I dislike the crows, I guess they can hang out.

These guys especially like the sunflowers

I only have 2 tomatoes the size of grapes on my Celebrity plant and this guy was halfway inside one! 

This guy I found almost dead in my onions.

Okay, this is not bug related.  This tree hangs over my fence and drops these cherry looking things every summer. 

They are the size of cherries. 

They don't have a pit, but they do have seeds.  They are hard when they fall and are crunchy.  They have a kind of bitter taste.  Are they crab apples? 

Alrighty then, thats all for tonight.  Aren't you glad?  I promise no more garden/bug/plant stuff, for a while anyway. 

I have more stampy stuff to show you later.  Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks for your bug/plant/garden knowledge.  Big cyber hugs to all of you. 

Blessings, b.

garden update

Hey everyone!  I hope everyone is staying cool and has plenty of water to drink.  It hit 104 at one point today.  Its hot!  Its not as humid though, so thats good. 

I finished the Week in the Life project.  Yesterday was my last day and I didn't take one single picture.  Can you believe it?  I was rushing to get ready for bible study and didn't remember about the camera until after everyone was gone.  By then it was almost dinner time and I decided it would just be a journaling day instead. 

I have it all together but need to put the finishing touches on it and get it into a binder.  I'll take better pics then and show you. 

For now though, I know you're just waiting for a garden update.  Right? 

Just humor me okay?

This is the Sweet 100 plant.  I planted it as a starter and its got ton of tomatoes on it.  I can't wait. 

This is the rest of that planter.  I also have the Celebrity tomato with a few on it.  I was so excited for my yellow bell pepper plant.  It has 4 babies on it but something happened to it.  I went out to water it yesterday morning and it looked dead.  It looked a little perkier this morning but in the heat today it looks dead again tonight.  I wonder if something is eating its roots. 

You can see on the end my hillbilly set up for the green beans.  I did the same thing last year and it worked fine.  Next year though I might plant them differently.  Can you see the sunflowers in the back?  They are very happy.

This box has the zucchini and yellow squash in it.  Of course there are sunflowers too.  This entire box was planted with seeds.  Everything in here looks good.  Every plant has lots of buds on it. 

This box has the pumpkin and cucumbers.  For some reason the sunflowers aren't doing well in here at all.  The pumpkin is doing great though.  I've never had any luck growing cucumbers.  So I planted alot of seeds this year.  I think all the seeds came up but only half are really doing well.  I've seen where people train them to grow up a trellis so I'm going to try it.  I would love to have some cucumbers actually grow this year. 

We had our first pumpkin flower bloom today.  Its a male one, which I expected.  There must be 12 more buds ready to bloom so hopefully we'll have a pumpkin soon.  We are pretty excited for this.

This box doesn't look very exciting huh?  This box was all seeds except for the peppers.  I've got a Poblano and Anaheim in here.  They both have blooms on them.  I also planted onions.  Most of them are doing well.  AND I planted carrots.  2 different kinds. 

Last year I couldn't grow carrots either but this year I've quite a few coming up.  We planted ALOT.  So we'll see. 

The sunflowers in this box are trying to live.  But something is eating them down to the nubbins.  I saw and killed a wormy looking thing this morning.  I should have taken a pic so I could look on the internet to identify it.  But I only saw the one.  I have seen a few grasshoppers when Lola is crunching them.  I've never seen any on the plants.  So I don't know what to do. 

So there ya go.  Hopefully I'll have a bunch of baby veggies to show you next time. 

Now yesterday while I was working on the Week in the Life project, Grace was making a new sign for her door.  Its the summertime thing to do around here.

Very colorful.  Again we cannot yell or fart or burp in her room.  That really must be a problem.  I'll have to pay more attention tonight when I go in there.  She will outfit you with a stuffed animal to play with and you have to stay for at least 5 minutes. 

Gotta love that girl. 

Alrighty then.  We got 17 registered for school today.  So hot!  We are going back to the DMV tomorrow to change the title on The Boy's car.  We went down there on Monday to get it put in his name and then found out that even though he is on my insurance, I can't insure his car.  He has to get his own policy.  Lets just say, its not very financially smart for an 18 year old to get his own insurance policy.  So we are going back tomorrow to have my name added to the title.  What a pain! 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Stampy goodness is coming your way.  Stay tuned. 

Blessings, b.

Week in the Life - days 3,4,5

Hellooooooooo.  Goodness!  Can you believe its already August?  wow..............

Of course I had good intentions of getting every single day of Week in the Life on here every single day.  Yeah.......well......its good to have good intentions. 

Anyway, here are the last 3 days.  Tomorrow is the last day for me.  Not all of the these pages are totally complete.  I plan on going through them more completely when I'm all done.  And I'll get them in a book.  I tried taking the pics in a different location to lose some of the glare.  But I'll just have to do them all again in the daylight when I'm done.

So for right now, here you go:

I started out with a whole piece of paper this time and I filled the whole thing.  Not that I had anything really interesting to say.  But it did make it easier to put it in a page protector.

My biggest problem is taking enough pics.  Usint the baseball card thing means having space for 18 pics.  I have only been averaging 6-9 pics.  Makes it alot harder to put it all together.  But only because I'm trying to fill both the front and the back.  See those blank spaces?  For right now I just put some Neutrals patterned DSP there.  I'll go back and add a story of something.

Again, I did a full page of journaling.

I really love this project.  Even though this wasn't a fantastically exciting week, we did have a few important things happen.  The Boy bought his first car, 17 got her own debit card, Grace learned to sew.......

I hope you're inspired to try your own Week in the Life (WIL).  Or just a Day in the Life.  Even the most mundane day will be a special recording 1, 5, 10 years from now. 

Alrighty then.  17 is getting on me because I'm late to watch the finale of the Bachelorette.  I really like both guys so either way I think she'll make a good choice.  And I really like Ashley too, the bachelorette, although she sometimes dresses like a hussy. 

Thanks so much for coming by and keeping me company.

Blessings, b.