School's out for summer!

Yep, I'm done with work for a few weeks.  YAY! 

My to-do list is a mile long though.  They say slow and steady wins the race right?  Well, thats the plan anyway in order to get through it. 

So I thought I would start my summer by showing you a quickie Father's Day card.  It would have helped had I remembered to mail the darn thing.  I'll be late again............

Lovely as a Tree and Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Midnight muse, very vanilla and soft suede cardstock.  Soft suede and early espresso inks.  Comfort Cafe DSP, striped embossing folder, big shot, antique brads and dimensionals.


The picture doesn't do it justice.  It is a really nice clean yet masculine card.  I love the new Comfort Cafe DSP.  It has both masculine, feminine and neutral patterns.  Can't ask for more than that can ya? 

And the blue there?  That is a new 2012-2014 In Color, Midnight Muse.  Its inbetween Night of Navy and Not Quite Navy.  Its really nice.  I'll see if I can get a comparison up here showing all the new colors. 

Speaking of new colors, I made a little hostess gifty the other day. 

Fabulous Phrases set.  Black Stazon and crumb cake ink.  Whisper white and crumb cake cardstock.  Big shot, labels framelits, scallop punch, brights button, comfort cafe dsp, white bakers twine and rose red seam binding. 


I gave her a sheet of each of the new In Colors.  This color on top is Raspberry Ripple.  It goes with the Rose Red seam binding very well. 

I made the flower by punching out a bunch of shapes from our packing paper.  It made a cute and quick tag. 


Alrighty then, I've had a full day and I'm pooped.  I'll be back with more.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

crazytown.......

........for whatever reason that has been my go-to word lately.

 Crazytown

We just got back from Iowa.  It is very very very very very ..........very green there.  So unlike where I live.  I live in a more deserty area.  Its very very very very very.........very brown here. 

In fact when we were driving home from the airport we all kinda looked around and said, "its ugly here."

Its not really ugly here but the contrast was quite evident.   It did kind of make my family realize that there are other (better?) places we could live instead of So. Cal. 

I keep saying that when the market picks up again, (and you know it will), that we are selling the house and moving away.  The idea of Idaho or Washington or Oregon or northern Nevada sounds good to me.  We'll see.

Anyhow, we had a wonderful trip.  Only a few delayed planes and one missed connection. 

I have tons of pics but because I live in Crazytown, I haven't even unloaded the camera.  I'll get right on that. 

I had every good intention of getting a few posts ready to go for when I was gone but ran out of time.  Remember?  Crazytown.

Here are the Father's Day cards I ended up with:

Woodgrain background.  Crumb cake and early espresso cardstock.  Crumb cake ink.  Cork, Naturally serif alpha die, big shot, brads, sponging and old book paper. 

Both of our dads are guys that work with their hands.  My dad is an architect and my FIL was an engineer for Northrup, sorry, I meant Rockwell. 

A few months ago they were closing out the models at the site where the hubs was working and they were going to throw out some old books.  My guy knows I like books so he brought them home to me.  One of them was an old Sunset building book. 

It has bunches of plans for sunrooms, gardens, ponds, etc.  So I helped myself to a few blueprints.

Can you see the brads here?  I smashed them with a hammer.  Because of the size of the paper, I made these 3.75" x 5.5".  That left me enough room to let the cork hang off the edge a bit.

The cork wasn't cooperating on this card.  For both cards I scrunched up the paper and rubbed ink over the raised parts. 

Alrighty then, thats it for now.  I hope to be back on track with things quickly. 

Today the new Idea Book and Catalog went live!  My wish list is a mile long.  Let me know if you'd like a catalog.  Or you can check it out here 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'll be announcing some new things shortly. 

Blessings from Crazytown, b. 

I need an intervention!!

I cannot seem to stop using Kraft (Crumb Cake) cardstock and Lovely as a Tree!  What is wrong with me?  Don't answer that.........

I'm getting ready to hang up Lovely as a Tree for awhile.  I just needed it one last time, for Fathers' Day cards.  Oh yeah, Happy Father's Day to all the daddies! 

I have not combed through the new catalog very closely yet but I don't recall seeing any new tree stamps that turned me on. Regardless, I'm putting it away for awhile.  I know, I just made you very happy, right?

But Kraft (Crumb Cake) I can't let go of.......ever!  It goes with everything.  How did I ever live without it?  I hope you don't mind.

I was going to post these cards last night in time for Father's Day today but, I ended up getting a migraine.  I don't know why.  So, I went to bed.  I feel much better today. 

So here ya go

Lovely as a Tree and Wonderful Favorites.  Crumb cake, basic black and soft suede cardstock.  Soft suede and black Stazon.  Kraft taffeta (retiring), hemp, misc. button, sponges and dimensionals.

For my dad and FIL.  These will get there late.  They expect that now.  If they ever got anything on time I'm sure they'd think something was wrong.  We did talk to both of them today and made sure they know how much we love them.

I stamped the tree full strength twice and then stamped twice more without reinking.  To give it a little depth. 

On the tag, I stamped the "wonderful" in soft suede and the "father" in black Stazon.  The base measures 4 1/4"  square so I had room to let the tag hang off a little and it still fit in the envelope. 

These would make great birthday cards too. 

So, we went and saw Toy Story 3 yesterday.  The boy was just 2 when Toy Story first came out and believe me, we had our fair share of  Toy Story stuff.  In fact, 15 has Toy Story sheets on her bed right now.  I'm Not Kidding! 

It was a good movie but let me warn you:  if you have a child that grew up with Toy Story and is maybe getting ready for college, bring some tissues.  OMG!  I get teary eyed just thinking that the boy only has 1 year of high school left and will be leaving for college, and thats what this movie is about.  I was a mess at the end.

While we were at the theater we also bought our Eclipse tickets for the midnight showing.  Not only did I buy Eclipse tickets but our theater is showing Twilight and New Moon beforehand.  So I bought those too.  Its going to be so much fun!   

Okie dokie.  Our daddy here is ready for some ice cream.  He worked hard today getting our bathroom back together from the leak.  He loves ice cream.  He thinks it deserves its own food group. 

Thanks for stopping by and give all the daddies you know an extra hug and a squeeze today. 

Blessings, b.

Hi, my name is Beth................

.........and I'm a procrastinator.

There, I said it.  Admitting it is half the problem right? 

I promised my good buddy Karen over a month ago, that I would make 5 cards and 5 goodies for Father's Day for the Ronald McDonald House that she is in charge of. 

Did you know that SU! is a sponsor of Ronald McDonald House?  They are.  In fact, they create a special stamp set for RMH every year and $2 from each sale goes directly to RMH.  That is on top of the $100,000 they donate every year.  And let me tell you, the set for this year is super cute!  How do I know this? 

I GOT MY NEW CATALOG TODAY!!!

I only cracked the one open so I could see the RMH set.  I have lots to do this week so I don't think I'll be able to go through them until the weekend.  If I can wait that long.  Sorry, I can't show you the whole cover.  You're going to love it though!   My order of catalogs should be shipping next week.  Let me know if you want one. 

Okay, so you want to see what I made for the RMH daddies? 

I know what you're thinking, " Good Lord Beth!  Lovely as a Tree again?" 

Well, I really liked that card and I thought the daddies would too.  I promise no more Lovely as a Tree.  At least for a little while.  They might have another tree in the new catalog.  Hmmm...............

Lovely as a Tree, Woodgrain background and Wonderful Favorites.  Soft suede, basic black and watercolor cardstock.  Old olive, more mustard and soft suede inks.  Aquapainter, cardboard, twill tape, large oval punch, sponges and dimensionals.

Same as before.  I just used the "Father" from Wonderful Favorites on the tag.

Typeset Alpha lower and Sanded background.  Crumb cake, choc. chip and very vanilla cardstock.  Choc. chip ink.  Large tag punch, choc. chip striped twill, misc. button, crimper and hemp.

Remember the crimper?  Poor thing, I forget I own it.  Anyway, super easy little goodie.  I know dads like cookies.  The dad at this house made sure he hid some from the kiddos after I took what I needed.  I have 4 kids you know :)

So Karen, I will get these in the mail tomorrow.  Thank you for the opportunity to help out. 

Alrighty peeps, I'm hitting the hay.  I still have to make a card for Grace's teacher and for Mr. Dale and for a few people at work tomorrow.  Procrastinator, remember?  Wish me luck.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

new colors and a card

Hey there!

What a week it was!  Did you have a good week? 

I got home from work yesterday wanting a margarita.  Maybe 2 margaritas.  But, I didn't have any margarita mix.  I even went online to find out how to make the mix.  Limeade.  Thats what people use.  Anyway, I guess I didn't want one that badly because I didn't feel like going to the store to buy it.  But you can betcha that I'll be buying some limeade next time I go to the store.  Just in case...........

Thank goodness there are only a few weeks of school left. 

Anyhow, I wanted to show you something that we made Thursday night.  I get to meet up with a group of ladies every few months or so and we have a great time.  Here is one of the cards we did:

Season of Friendship, Woodgrain background and Sincere Salutations. Soft suede and whisper white cardstock.  Soft suede, old olive and black Stazon inks.  Merry Moments DSP, hemp and dimensionals. 

Super duper easy card for a man.  I wanted to do a couple of manly cards.  They are so hard to come up with.  And the only stamps I have that work for a man are either trees or fish.  I guess I need some help in that department. 

This group had no use for Father's Day cards so we made them birthday cards.  Even men need some birthday love.   Oh............that is NOT what I mean......................GEEZ!

See that DSP strip on the bottom?  That is the Christmas DSP called Merry Moments.  The other side has snowflakes on it!  So make sure you look at both sides of your DSP when you're crafting.  You never know, you might have the perfect summertime grass on the back of your Christmas paper! 


I seem to be on a Soft Suede kick.  I love it so much and am so happy that it is becoming one of our core colors next year.
Which reminds me of something else I made.

I made some sample color cards of the new core colors we're getting in July.  I love this Cherry Cobbler! ( I know, I spelled cobbler wrong)  Riding Hood Red is coming back next year and I like it but, this Cherry Cobbler is awesome!

                                    

You can't see it very well here but the Early Espresso is so pretty! Its like dark chocolate.  As you can see, Kraft will be renamed Crumb Cake.  It will still be the same cardstock though. 

Daffodil Delight is the next new color.  I love it!  I'm not really a yellow kinda girl but I really like this one. 

Here is Marina Mist. 

Here is Cajun Craze.  I really love this color too.  Its so rich looking next to the Really Rust.  I used to love really rust but now, there is a new color in town baby!. 

Here are the links again for the retiring colors and new color families:

New Color Families       retiring colors

Also note:  Stock up on your favorite colors now.  Stampin' Up! will guarantee your order only until May 31st.  After that, if they're gone, they're gone. 

Out of all the colors that are retiring, I'm only going to miss Brocade Blue.  I'm glad they are changing things up a bit. 

They also annouced in our monthly demo magazine we get, the 5 "In Colors" we'll be getting next year.  Concord Crush (purply), Poppy Parade (pretty bright red, reminds me of a popsicle), Pear Pizzazz ( think Jolly Rancher Apple), Peach Parfait (orangey), and Blushing Bride (looks like a stronger Pretty in Pink). 

They didn't give us samples of these.  I am excited that these 5 In Colors are going to be around for 2 years!  Sometimes it takes me that long to realize I love it.   

Okie dokie, I'll be showing you the other cards we made but I want to make a photo tutorial for you so you can see how I did what I did. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Sunday.

Blessings, b.