slowly but surely......

.........its taken me over a week to get this post together.  And its not even all that exciting. 

But I want to share with you anyway.

First things first, Valentine's Day.

Yep, it was 10 days ago and I'm just now getting around to showing you what I made.  I am a magnet for distraction. 

No stamps!  Crumb cake, whisper white, real red, early espresso and melon mambo cardstock.  Soft suede ink.  Simple alpha die, big shot, label framelits, small heart punch, large paper doily die, double ribbon punch, cork sheets, lattice embossing folder, designer frames embossing folders, wide oval punch, wood sheets, bakers twine, hemp, forest lodge DSP (retired), and dimensionals.


Kid Valentine treats.  I got these cute little paint cans in the $spot at Target.  Love Target!  They each held an entire bag of candy.  I'm embarrassed to say it didn't take them too long to eat them all either. 

I used the wood sheets with the Label Framelits (occasions mini).  It cut with no problem at all.  Niiiiice.

For the girls' tags I cut a label and then embossed it with the Designer Frames embossing folders.  Then I took a dauber with the soft suede ink and daubed ink on the raised dots to give it a litttle definition. 

I then used the lattice embossing folder and punched out some wide ovals.  Super easy but looks involved.

Here are the tops.  I cut down the large paper doily, (I love that thing!) to fit the lid.  I left the boy's naked.

Fabulous Phrases and woodgrain.  Crumb cake, real red and whisper white cardstock.  Black Stazon and crumb cake inks.  Wood sheets, bakers twine, sponging, red craft paint, paper towel tube, jewelry tag punch and dimensionals.

This is the card I made the for the Husband.  4.25 x 4.25.  I love these wood sheets.  They cut just like cardstock.  I didn't have a heart stamp the right size or thickness so I made my own.  Here is how I did the hearts:

I cut down the paper towel tube.  Using a toilet paper one would delete the cutting down part.  But you got that right?

I pinched it on the bottom and then pushed in the top.  To keep the shape I used a rubberband. 

I had to use our ancient mouse pad in order to get a good impression. 

Stamp the background, put it all together and you get, this.  I'm loving that cute little jewelry tag punch.

I popped up the wood sheet with dimensionals. 

12 days ago we also went to Arizona to check out NAU.  Very nice place.  The food was good.  17 seemed to like it. 

In a few weeks we are going to Oregon.  Anybody in the Portland or Eugene or Ashland areas?  We will be there a week looking at colleges and checking out the housing market.  This is one of the states we are considering moving to.  Is there anything we should see or do?  I appreciate any and all ideas.


We also had our very last Father/Daughter dance.  Sniff.  We are having a whole bunch of "lasts" this year.  Its all going too fast and I'm trying to soak it all in. 

For some reason dad is out of focus.  They took pics there so hopefully they were both in focus for those. 

Alrighty then, thats all for now.  Who Do You Think You Are? is on and I love that show.  I'm going to be very crafty in the next few weeks so hopefully I'll have lots to show you.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  You give me warm fuzzies.

Blessings, b.

carrots in love

Hey!  Sorry about the absence......again. 

So, I haven't unloaded my camera for about a month.  I had quite a few miscellaneous pics on there and I won't show you them all but, I did want to show you these:

About a month ago I pulled my carrots.  And trimmed back the chili plants.  Those are Poblanos.  I planted 2 different kinds of carrots this year.  They both tasted really good.  In fact I had cooked some for dinner and the Hubs said, "they taste carrotier."  Okaaaaaaaay.......

So do you see those ones on the far left there?

If you don't thin your carrot patch when they are small, you might get this.  Hmmm........and now I'm speechless because anything I think of saying right now is inappropriate.  So I'll just leave it at that.


I am taking 17 on a college tour out of town tomorrow and we won't be back until really late Monday night so I knew I needed to get Grace's teacher Valentines done before I left. 

Then I thought I'd make a point of posting them here so maybe you might get inspired to make some teacher Valentines too.................well, if you needed any, that is.

I {heart} Hearts set.  Crumb cake, whisper white and real red cardstock.  Real red and pretty in pink inks.  Lable Framelits, polka dot embossing folder, big shot, cherry cobbler twine, small heart punch.


These were pretty darn simple to make.  For the smaller ones, I just cut one of the largest Framelits.  For the big ol' Hershey bar I had to cut 2 of the large ones, cut them down and glue together. 

After I cut the Framelit, I embossed it with the polka dots.  The tag is just the smallest Framelit.  Love that baker's twine!

This is one of those peanut butter Snicker squares.  They are about 1" thick so I scored 1/2" of either side of the middle of the die cut and folded.  Doesn't get much easier.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Alrighty then, I haven't had much, if any, computer time lately and I have a squillion emails to go through.  But its going to have to wait until Tuesday.  I hate having a clogged inbox.  Or maybe Wednesday.  I forgot that I have to make Valentine's for my family when I get back.  It would be very unlike me to be ahead on too many things. 

Thanks so much for your continued patience and visiting even though I've been very inconsistent.  Things will smooth out.......promise.

Blessings, b.

if its not one thing, its another...........

Hey there!  Sorry for the absence.  Our computer monitor went out.  So I have borrowed one and can now get back to chatting with you.  At least it was only the monitor and not something else.  Although new monitors are like $100!  Shheeesh!

I'll be posting a new card for you tomorrow. 


Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

up, up and away........

.......in my beautiful balloon......... 


Hey there! 

Before I show you my card today I have a little story to share.  I wanted to show you the card set I made for my awesome SIL for Christmas.  I used the set Up, Up and Away for it.  

Well, everytime I look at this set, the song Up, Up and Away by the 5th Dimension comes to mind.  Just like how everytime I go onto the Bank of America site I end up singing the words "Bank of America" to the tune of Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine which coincidentally is also by the 5th Dimension.  I didn't realize I knew so many 5th Dimension songs.  I can remember going to my friend's house when we were kids and playing the record and lip syncing for our parents................ 


Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I wondered if I had the lyrics right because I wanted to use them for the title of this post.  So I Googled them.  I didn't remember who sang this song so I just Googled "Up Up and away".  Well, a certain artist (if you can call him that) came up and I thought, "hmm....maybe he redid it" and I clicked on the link to see the lyrics....................HOLY COW!  How are these people allowed to put this kind of stuff on the radio?  I'm not embarrassed to say I was shocked.  It explains alot.  Don't Google it.   Just don't. 

Alrighty then.  Let me show you my cards. 

Up, Up and Away and Fabulous Phrases.  Crumb cake and whisper white cardstock.  Tangerine tango, pumpkin pie, bashful blue, early espresso, black Stazon, poppy parade and daffodil delight inks.  Brights DSP, scallop border punch, bakers twine, sponging and dimensionals.


I love my SIL.  She is such a funny person and we have a blast together.  So I wanted to make a card that was more her style.  I liked the design I used on Mother's card and figured, "why reinvent the wheel?" 

Dark picture again......sorry.   You can see here how to do the clouds.  They're easy.

You can see here where I fluffed the scallops.  Fluffy Scallops!

After looking at the finished cards a few days later, I decided it would be better if they had a little more color.  So I did the balloons differently.  What do you think? 


So did you watch Downton Abbey?  I wanted so bad for Mary to just run and give Matthew a big hug and tell him that she loves him.  Oh well.........

Alrighty then, after rereading this I think maybe I shouldn't try and blog when I'm home alone.  I'm much too wordy.  But there it is...........just keeping it real.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

Simple is as simple does.......

......and I'm pretty simple.  But you knew that already ;)

Hidey Ho!  I hope everyone is having a super duper Wednesday.  

Today I want to show you a gift I made for Mother (my MIL) for Christmas.  I have the best MIL in the world.  She never has a bad word to say and will do anything for you.  She sends out lots of cards and so I make her a little set to have on hand every once in awhile. 

But then she always sends me one of the cards as a thank you.  Its really weird getting your own card  in the mail.  Kinda like when you fill out the reminder card at the doctor's office and a year later you get something in the mail with your own writing on it?  Yeah, anyway..................



Simply Soft (hostess set) and Fabulous Phrases.  Crumb cake and whisper white cardstock.  Black Stazon, regal rose, melon mambo, daffodil delight, old olive and tangerine tango inks.  Brights patterned DSP, scallop border punch, aquapainter, bakers twine and dimensionals.

Sorry about the dark pic.  I made her a set of 5 with different sayings on them.  These were super fast and easy to put together.  See?  Simple.

You know if you say simple enough times it starts looking and sounding weird. 

Simple......simple.....simple......simple

I really like the yellow one.


 

I like the pink too.  If I remember right these were a smaller size.  I think 3.75 x 4.5.  I had stamped the flower and words first and then sized the card around it.  I like the white space. 

I colored the stem and leaves with an aquapainter and the old olive ink.  Now, if I had a nice old olive marker, I would have just used that.  But mine has been a little too well loved.

You can kind of see here where I fluffed the scallops so they weren't laying totally flat.  It gave some more dimension.  It was the first thing you want to touch. 

Okay, for those of you watching Downton Abbey with me, I have a question;

In the first episode of season 2 you see Sir Richard threatening Lavinia in the garden.  In the 2nd episode she tells Mary what she did and why.  So okay, Lavinia isn't such a bad person.....I guess.

So here is my question:  Why was Sir Richard threatening her?  Lavinia said he was threatening to tell Mary all about it but, why?

I'm thinking there is something Sir Richard wants from her and if she doesn't do it then he would tell Mary her story. 

What do you think? 

Thanks for stopping by and keeping me company.  You're such good friends.

Blessings, b.

I have a dream.........

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! 

When I was a kid we always studied Dr. King and Lincoln and Washington during this time of year because of the holidays.  I mean we get the day off to celebrate these guys, shouldn't we know a little about them? 

Nowadays though, the kids don't study them.  They have no idea who MLK is, ( well the kids at my school that I talked to about it anyway).  Sure they know Lincoln and Washington were presidents but not what they stood for.  Kinda sad I think. 

So tonight we were discussing why we have today off of school and work and specifically the "I have a dream" speech and it turned into the perfect teaching moment. 

Grace has been invited to audition for Honor Band.  A pretty big deal.  I was surprised (but I didn't show it) that she wanted to go for it.  I'm so happy she even joined band much less try out for Honor Band. 

Tomorrow is the big day.  She has been practicing for a month now..............and she is freaking out.

Anybody who knows Grace, knows that she is a sensitive child.  Much to my dismay sometimes (alot of times).  She can cry at the drop of a hat and worries about EVERYTHING.  She hates new experiences and tries too hard to please. 

So, we were talking about the vision Dr. King had.  That he let people know about his dream and that he did something about it.  He wanted to change the world......and that he asked God for help.

I encouraged her to have a dream too.  Not that her dream would change the world necessarily but it would change her world.  By having the courage to try, by asking me to help, by asking her teacher to help, by asking God to help, that she could do this. 

I'm so proud of her whether she gets the position or not, but I think I need to practice what I preach.  There are a few comfort zones I need to step out of.

"......with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26



You know I had a totally different post in mind when I sat down to write tonight but this is what came out.  I think I'll let it be for today and I'll have something stampy to show you tomorrow. 

I hope nobody is offended or put off.  This was not my intent.  I hope that you feel encouraged to DREAM BIG.  I do.  Go MLK!

Blessings, b.

Dec. daily 18 - 25

Before I get started today let me just say one thing, Downton Abbey. 

OMG!  Its even better than last season......and longer.  2 hours!  I'm loving it!

Okay, let me say one more thing, Matthew.........sigh.

Alright I'm done.  Go watch it.  Trust me, you'll love it too.



Day 18

Day 19

This page is a slightly different size.  I wanted to scallop the edge and use the round tab punch but didn't want it to stick out farther than the other pages.  So I cut off 1/2".  Since I didn't have a picture for the day it worked just fine.

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

 

Day 23

Day 24 left side

 

Day 24 right side

 

Day 25 left side

Day 25 right side

Day 25 backside

All pages use a variety of these products:

Classic Numbers (retired) and Fabulous Phrases.  Garden green, riding hood red, crumb cake and natuals white cardstock.  Riding hood red and garden green inks.  Big shot, label framelits, hemp, round tab punch, black journaler, scallop border punch, 3/4" and 1" circle punches, wide oval punch, and dimensionals.

This is what it looks like from the side.  I used book rings to bind it. 

So what did I like this year and what do I plan on changing for next? 

• I liked the size, 5.5 x 8.5.  I like being able to make one cut and have 2 pages.  No waste that way.
• I like that I stuck to just a few colors.  
• I'm not so sure I like using just 1 pic per day.  Then again, there were quite a few days that I took no pics.  
• I didn't like how so inconsistent I was in keeping up with it daily.  

Next year:

• I plan on journaling EVERY DAY.  No matter what.  This year I did write down a subject to write about but not the story.  Since I had to go back and play catch up, I know I missed out on a bunch of stories I would have liked to tell.  bad, bad, bad.
• I'd like to be a little more creative in adding more pics.  This will take lots of pre-thinking/designing on my part, but it will be worth it. 

Overall, I love this project.  I really do.  Even though I didn't get to tell as many stories as I would like, it will still be a family treasure.  

I hope next year you join me.  

Thanks for stopping by.  I have some non-holiday projects up my sleeve coming soon.

Blessings, b.