I made it!

Good morning!  ( afternoon and evening....and morning and afternoon......its taken me 2 days to write this).

 Well, I survived the train.  I was really concerned that I would get all crazy claustrophobic but it was ok. In fact we decided to keep our reservation and take the train back.

We reserved a "roomette".  Very small.  Here she is on the top bunk but she didn't sleep there.  No, she slept with me on the bottom.  Well, I didn't really sleep.  Especially with us both on a bed smaller than a twin size.  Can you say cozy?

Food was pretty good.  Walking to and from the dining car was hilarious!  The train was very, um........shall we say turbulant?  I know thats not the right word but I can't think of another way to describe it.  There's a good reason why there is a harness on the top bunk.

 Anyway, we got here safe and sound. 

It was a busy day for my dad because right before we arrived my cousin came by plane.  So happy she was coming. 

Why they both got up to stand behind me I'll never know. 

You all know Grace but this is my cousin Jeni from Iowa.  She is so sweet and wanted to spend some time with my dad.  I'm so glad I got to spend some time with her.  She went home today.  Already miss her. 

Oh, for those of you in the ABQ area, you probably recognize the restuarant, El Pinto.  I had to take her there.  The food is good but I really wanted her to have the experience.  She had her very first sopapilla and green chili.  She loved it!  Maybe I can get her to come to New Mexico again eh?  Although we'll go to Little Anita's next time. I like Little Anita's. 

Okay, thats the last family pic for now. 

I did do some stamping before I left home.  I've been using the new Reason to Smile set.  Check out the flyer here.  For only $5 bucks its a great bargain.  Tuesday is the last day you can get it.  So don't wait! 

I'm going to drag it out a little and show you just one today. 

See this shirt that Grace is wearing?  This was the inspiration for this card I'm going to show you.  The colors are more of a Rose Red/Cajun Craze, River Rock, Baja Breeze and Early Espresso. 

Ready?

Reason to Smile and Fabulous Phrases.  Crumb cake, very vanilla, early espresso and watercolor paper.  Rose red and summer sun (retired) watercolor crayons, early espresso, baja breeze, daffodil delight, river rock and crumb cake inks.  Big shot, finishing touches edgelits, lattice square embossing folder, jewelry tag punch, dazzling diamonds, 2 way glue pen, vanilla seam binding, linen thread, aquapainter. 

What do you think?  I've  been thinking about my watercolor crayons lately and I wanted to try them with this set.  I first colored the background stamp with the rose red and then layered summer sun on the edges.  Squirt with water and I let the water set on the stamp about 5-7 seconds so it would sink into the grooves and then stamped, letting it sit on the paper for about 5-7 seconds before lifting it off. 

After it was dry I stamped the line image in early espresso and stamped the smaller flowers in crumb cake.  Then I watercolored the flowers, the centers and the background.  I love coloring and miss doing it.  Good thing they are a bunch of awesome sets in the new catalog that are line images just waiting to be colored.

 Check out that groovy border.  That is one of the new Finishing Touches Edgelits.  Love it!  Another trick on this card is that the word friend does not fit in the jewelry tag punch.  So I cut a piece of cardstock to 3/8" and stamped my word then stuck it in the punch from underneath to punch the round part.  Is that clear as mud?  Let me know if you have questions.

Alrighty then, I'm done for today.  It only took me 2 days to write this.  Geez!  We've gotten an afternoon storm and its really cooling things off.  Super happy about that.  I probably should get off in case the lightning does something crazy to the computer. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out.

Blessings, b.

Mrs. Green Jeans

Remember Mr. Green Jeans from Captain Kangaroo?  Am I showing my age? 

Hello hello.  How is everyone today?  Try as I might I can't seem to post as much as I want.  But I'm always trying. 

Convention is going on right now.  As we speak.  I'm not there.  I hope to go next year.  It will be my 10th year with Stampin' Up! and their 25th anniversary and I'm planning on REALLY TRYING for the Artisan Award.  So next year I hope to go. 

So today I have a TON of pics for you.  I mean BUNCHES.  I mean ALOT.  Not stampy stuff but garden stuff.  I'll have stampy stuff in a day or so. 

So if you're interested, put on your thinking cap because I have questions for you.  Grab a cup of something good to drink, sit back, relax and check out my garden.

I only started it a few weeks ago so its still in its baby stages. 

A volunteer sunflower that the birds planted.  Its died off now and the birds are enjoying it.

The neighbor behind us has a tree that hangs over our fence.  It has these on it that fall into my yard every year.  They don't bother me at all.  Sometimes the birds eat them.  I have a question though: what are they? 

Now I know you're thinking: why not just ask your neighbor?  Well, the owners rent the house out and we seem to get new people every year or so and they never know anything.  So, any ideas?

This is the inside.  They are crunchy but taste almost bitter.  Crabapples maybe?

I spotted this guy in my yard last week.  I've never seen a woodpecker in our area before.  I haven't seen him again though.  I wish he would come back.

Remember the sunflower I just showed you?  Here it is now.  What a difference a few weeks makes huh?  The birds love it!

This is the first year I've seen Goldfinches.  I've seen 2.  I'm assuming they are a couple.  The lady next door had cut down ALL of her trees and I was afraid these guys would be gone for sure.  So happy they are here.

Then there is this guy.  What is he?  Its hard to see but the whole top of his head and face down his belly is red.  Any ideas? 

Box #1. 

carrots.  When they get a little bigger I'll have to thin them.  You can see all the apple/cherry things that fall in here.

broccoli.  I know its not the right time for carrots or broccoli but I'm trying it anyway.  Such a rebel!

Watermelon.  These are actually outside the box so they can roam.  They are Bush Baby Watermelon and supposed to have shorter vines.  I know, kinda late to plant watermelon but we'll see.  I'm always harvesting things well into November. 

strawberries.  I got these as starter plants.

Box #2

This is another volunteer the birds planted.  It is a Mammoth Sunflower and it is sure holding up to its name.  Last year the sunflowers were wimpy compared this year.  And I didn't even plant them!

I just wanted to show you how thick the trunk of this thing is.  Talk about Jack and the Beanstalk........only with sunflowers.

Celebrity tomato starter plant. 

See my little pine tree?  My neighbor next door had pine trees all along her back fence.  Well of course pinecones and needles blow into my yard and I ended up with 7 baby pine tree volunteers!  I'm hoping they continue to grow. 

Valencia Onions.  I've never grown onions from seed so I'm excited to see what I get.

Yellow Pear Tomato.  I started these from seeds and they almost died several times for various reasons.  I'm hoping it keeps growing.  Right now it seems shocked. 

Box #3  I left the trellis up from the cucumbers last year just because I may plant them in there again next year. 

yellow squash.  I thought I had bought zucchini seeds this year too but I can't find them and I can't find any in the stores either.  I did find zucchini starter plants but they were full of ants and I didn't want to bring that home!  So no zucs for me this year  :(

The other half of the box is empty right now.  I may plant beets. 

Box #4 

Anaheim Chili.  I had planted this last year and just cut it back in Jan. for new growth.  I have already harvested 2 HUGE bowls of chilis.  Some branches broke off (not sure why....cat? birds? wind?).  I put a cage around it now for support.  But now about 50% of them have are turning black.  Not because they are changing from green to red.  Not sure what is going on.  Any ideas?  This plant also had lots of these little white flies.  And white spirals on some of the leaves.  Any ideas?

Tenderbush Green Bean.  These are coming up strangely.  Not all at the same time and some not at all.  I may plant more.   Right now I have an upside down tomato cage on them.  I'm hoping The Hubs can bring home some wood so I can make a tee pee for them to climb. 

Bush Champion cucmbers.  These guys popped right up.  I think I have some volunteer sunflowers coming up with them.  I've tried growing cucumbers the last 2 years and have only had 1 that was edible.  Hoping for lots more this year. 

pumpkin.  Oh my but these are happy plants!  I know its late for Halloween pumpkins but I don't care.  I can still make pumpkin bread. 

Red Seedless Grapes!  I planted these 3 years ago and this year it is producing.  I only have 3 bunches but I'm so excited to try them.  I'll pick them when I get back from my dad's.  My Thompson plant isn't producing yet.  Hopefully next year. 

This year I used a combination of Kellog's Ammend and Garden Soil.  I also put a line of diatomaceous earth around each box.  Toward Aug. and Sept. last year I had ants take over Box #4.  I'm hoping to avoid that this year. I also put it around the pear tree so hopefully the ants don't get to the hummingbird feeder.  So far so good.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

Alrighty then.  I told you it was alot of pics.  If you have any advice or suggestions please send them my way.  I really have no clue as to what I'm doing and need any help I can get.  

In other news, tomorrow Grace and I are going on the train to stay with my dad for a week.  We've never taken the train.  Its an overnight trip and Grace got so excited when she saw the sleeping rooms on the website.  So I got one.  Problem is, my claustrophobia has gotten worse as I've gotten older and I really don't know how I'm going to handle it.  I'm afraid it will be like sleeping in a coffin.  Not that I'll actually sleep.   Any advice? 

I plan on blogging while I'm there.  I do have some stampy posts all ready to go.  Now I just have all my chores to get done.  Wish me luck! 

Blessings, b.

they keep getting older

Howdy!  Busy busy busy, that's what I've been.  I have been trying to play catch up with Project Life and I finally finished Week In The Life from April.  All those extra spots for decoration are a pain.  I may think of another plan for next time.  I didn't bother taking pics of the finished week.  I figured it was old news. 

But in current news, 17 turned 18.  {big siiiiiiiggghhhh}  and in a few weeks she'll be moving out to go to school. 

I'll think about that another day though. 

We seem to decorate a little more every year. 

A Word for You, Up Up and Away, classic numbers (retired).  Crumb cake, pool party, whisper white and pacific point cardstock.  Pacific point, whisper white craft and black stazon inks.  Brights patterns DSP, big shot, label framelits, white embossing powder, polka dot embossing folder, 3/4" circle punch, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds, white bakers twine.


I amost didn't post this because it is by far not my favorite birthday card I ever made.  BUT, I figured maybe it would inspire you to make something.  Sometimes we can see a card and take away a part of it to create something new. 

I need some new white embossing powder.  This stuff is really grainy.  You can see where I swiped the 2 way glue pen on the edges of the label to catch the dazzling diamonds.

See those polka dots there?  I inked up the pokey side of the polka dot embossing folder with white ink and used it as a stamp.  Its very subtle but broke up the empty space just enough. 

Our family (mainly The Hubs) has gotten obsessed with disc golf.  18 got a new bag and a few new discs for her birthday and so after dinner we walked over to the park to play. 

She also a Henna Kit.  So now all us girls are tatted.   This is mine.

18's

Grace's

So there ya go.  Also this week, my kitchen has been rebeling. 

It hasn't even been a year and the igniter went out again.  What the heck!  Its back together now.  We are becoming experts. 

Alrighty then.  I have other stampiness to show you soon.  AND a garden update.  You are on the edge of your seat aren't you? 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out. 

Blessings, b.

ziggy and zaggy

Hey there!  How was your day?  I saw on the news this morning the horrible storms back East.  You people are in my prayers. 

For me though, today was the first day that I got to do some stuff I wanted to do.  Well okay, the second day.  I did get to put in an order of goodies just for me yesterday.  Just wait till you see what I got!

Today, I worked in the garden.....I hope to be finished getting everything planted tomorrow.  I know its kinda late but I think it will be okay.

I sent out some thank yous.

I showered.  Now before you go thinking I only do a Saturday night bath, I'm talking about the kind of shower that takes more than 5 minutes.  One where you shave everything you want, you use the pumice stone to try and get your feet to not look like the dog's, you trim all your nails, you moisturize from head to toe.........Yeah, that kind of shower. 

It was great. 

But now that I've been doing stuff and getting all sweaty again, you'd never know. 

But it was great while it lasted. 

So anyway, I wanted to show you the Thank You's I made. 

Delicate Doilies and Fabulous Phrases.  Crumb cake, and pool party cardstock.  Whisper white craft and Black Stazon inks.  White taffeta ribbon, white bakers twine, big shot and the new Chevron embossing folder.


Nifty huh?  17 is going to use these too, for her graduation thank yous. 

Now you can say that zig zags and doilies don't really go together but I don't care. 

I really wanted to use the new Chevron embossing folder.  And with only 9 current stamp sets, my choices are limited.  So I threw them together and I'm going to say they look FABULOUS! 

I very carefully cut along one of the zaggy lines to give it more of a finished edge. 

Close up for no real reason.


Alrighty then.  I did place an order yesterday for some new goodies.  I usually wait a month or so before I do a big order from the new catalog.  I like to see what everyone else is creating.  This year SU! was so nice as to send us the Holiday catalog early so we could do a little pre-order from that as well.  I love the Holiday catalog.  You will love it too.  It was really hard to stick to my budget so I may have to think up some ideas to make more money so I can order more things.  Hmmmmm........

Oh!  Speaking of making some money, I added 3 more stamp sets to the "for sale" list.  Go check it out here. 

Alrighty, thanks so much for stopping by and keeping the blog warm. 

Blessings, b.

groovy owls

Happy Wednesday!

 Now that I'm off for the summer, Wednesdays don't hold that same hope for me.  You know that knowledge that the week is almost over?  Now it means, the week is almost over and your vacation is running out! 

We were gone all last week.  You didn't even know did ya?  I'm sneaky that way.

We took 17 to her college orientation and then went to my dad's.  But we'll talk more about all that another day when I have all the pics sorted. 

Today, I wanted to show you The Hub's Father's Day card. 

Woodgrain background and Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Crumb cake, tempting turquoise, melon mambo, perfect plum, bashful blue, whisper white, wild wasabi, basic black, rich razzleberry and pumpkin pie cardstock.  Black Stazon.  Owl punch, small oval punch (retired), various markers, 1 3/8" circle punch.

You should have seen Grace and I getting this card together!  We were like the 2 stooges hurrying to get it done.  We left on Father's Day for the orientation but The Hubs wanted to go play a round of disc golf before we left.  The kids had given him a few new discs and he couldn't wait to try them out.  So inbetween getting everything ready to go we decided to whip up this little card. 

Because of course I didn't have one made already ;)

Now you may be thinking that this is not your typical Father's Day card.  You'd be right.  But here is why we made it this way..........

These are my pj bottoms.  He hates them......thinks they are so ugly!  I happen to think they are cute.  So of course we had the idea to make the owls look the same.  HA HA!  Love you honey! 

Alrighty then.  We got back home on Monday and I'm still trying to get everything I have to do done so I can start doing the things I want to do.  You know how that is.

Thanks so much for stopping by and keeping me company.

Blessings, b.

cajun butterfly the 2nd

Hidey Ho!  How is everyone today?  Did you have a good weekend?  We've been busy busy busy.  Did you happen to see the new movie Brave?  Yeah, me neither.  But I want to.  I've always wanted red hair like that.  Grace doesn't like going to the movies so I'll have to wait until it comes to the Redbox.  Weird child, I know.

Anyhow, I was thinking of the title for this card today and it seemed like I had already used this title.  So I went and checked and.........I did. 

Instead of wracking my brain coming up with something else, I just made it "the 2nd". 

Here we go:

Flourishes background (retired), A Word for You.  Crumb cake, baja breeze, early espresso cardstock.  Whisper white craft and black Stazon inks.  Big shot, beautiful butterflies die, labels framelits, comfort cafe DSP, dotted ribbon punch, sticky pearls, linen thread, paper piecer, dimensionals and glue dots. 

So you may be wondering where I got that shape for the blue part, (which looks like bashful blue but its not).  Well, I took one of the label framelits and cut off the sides and top.  Sorry no pic to show you, but you're smart, you can figure this out. 

Otherwise a pretty simple card. 

Then I used the same design and made these:

The only difference is I used the old Thank You Kindly set and used Newsprint DSP for the butterfly.

I may use these for 17's graduation thank yous.  Not sure yet.  I don't have her seal of approval. 

Alrighty then, this has been a reaaallllllllly long day so I'm going to bed.  I hope you sleep good.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

Fabulous friend

Have you seen the new catalog?  My wish list was pretty long but not out of control.  I was trying to be good. 

But then Stampin' Up! sent us the new Holiday Catalog.  Now my wish list is way out of control.  Just wait until you see it!  Make sure you're sitting down first.  It will be available on Aug. 1st.  It is just beautiful. 

Thanks goodness I have time to calm down before then. 

So anyway, I wanted to show you a cute little tag I made using something I have, because I don't have the new thing that I want.  Understand?

Fabulous Phrases set.  Cajun craze, early espresso, Summer Starfruit (In color) and very vanilla cardstock.  Early espresso ink.  Comfort cafe DSP, vanilla seam binding, large paper doily die, big shot, polka dot embossing folder, scallop border punch, 1/8" hole punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, 2" circle punch. 


I just cut down a regular sized lunch bag to 7 1/2" tall, scalloped the edge, folded it down and used a regular clothespin to hold it shut and to hold the tag. Easy to do and roomy enough to hold a good sized gift. 

Now:


I have the Large Paper Doily die.  I love it!  



I want the new Delicate Doilies Sizzlits on page 191 in the new catalog.





So until I get the new die, I made do with what I have. 

I took the Large Paper Doily and cut it down.  You can get several different sizes out of it. 

The pattern on this new Comfort Cafe DSP uses Soft Suede, Summer Starfruit and Cajun Craze.  So those were the colors I used.  I just freehanded the words. 

This would make a quick and easy gift package for those last minute days.  I have those alot. 

Alrighty then, time to go already.  My family has recently discovered Disc Golf.  They installed a course at the park by my house and we are kinda addicted. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out.

Blessings, b.