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.

fun flowers x 2

Monday already. 

Who watched the wedding?  I DID!  Kate's dress was so pretty and she looked comfortable with what she was getting into.  I mean she's had 9 years to think about it. 

I loved the trees in the chapel. 

I thought it was interesting that Will doesn't have to wear a ring.  Hmm.......

I kept thinking Diana would be so proud. 

I'm supposed to be stamping tonight.  I have a class on Thursday and of course I'm not ready.  I had an idea.  I tried it.  It didn't work.  I give up for tonight. 

Besides, Dancing with the Stars is on.  Kirstie is my fave this time around.  I know she won't win but she cracks me up.  I also really like Ralph.  He is such a nice guy!

Tonight I thought I'd show you a couple more cards I've made lately using the Fun Flowers Die.  I know its not in the Summer Mini Catalog but you can still order it.  At least until June 30.  But, I think it will be in the next big catalog.  I hope so anyway.

Woodgrain and So Happy for You (SAB).  Crumb cake and early espresso inks.  Not quite navy, Crumb cake and very vanilla cardstock.  Springtime vintage DSP (occasions mini), Fun flowers die, big shot, neutrals buttons, hemp, crumb cake seam binding, sponges, cutter kit, corner rounder.

Okay, so the DSP and the words aren't available anymore.  You can improvise right?  I really liked this card.

Woodgrain and A Word for You sets.  Crumb cake, not quite navy, pear pizzaz and very vanilla cardstock.  Early espresso and crumb cake inks.  Fun Flowers die, big shot, hemp, dotted ribbon punch, corner rounder.

Geez!  Almost all the same colors.  I'm telling you, I have an addiction to Crumb Cake. 

Alrighty then, we start state testing tomorrow and I'm going to need extra rest.  I get to do the 6th graders. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

copy cat

Hey there!  I hope you had a nice weekend.  We had a beautiful one!  The weather is just how I like it.  Low 60's and breezy with big puffy clouds.  Perfect. 

So I felt pretty darn good this weekend and got lots of stuff done.  Taxes? Check  Grocery shopping? Check  Clean sheets?  Check.  Plus a million other things that I was supposed to get done while on vacation but didn't feel good enough to do. 

Of course now that I feel better, I gotta go back to work tomorrow.

The children are just starting their vacation though.  In fact the boy has jury duty tomorrow.  Poor kid.  He called today and he has to go in.  I hope he gets to come home by lunch. 

I know that I am overprotective and shelter my kids.  But I just don't think at 18 you're ready to handle something like jury duty.  I mean, thats kind of a heavy responsibility.  A friend of mine just had to serve and the subject matter of that case was not something that I would want to deal with, much less wanting my kid to be exposed to. 

Get over it, right?  Yeah, I know. 

So anyway, I was stamping on Thursday.  I was hanging out in bloggie land and saw this card on Connie Collins' blog and copied it. 

Well, mostly copied it. 

I don't copy really.  In fact, since January, I don't even check out many blogs or websites anymore.  Lately I've been finding it harder to come up with my own ideas if I'm contstantly looking at other people's stuff.

BUT, with that being said, if you are really struggling with an idea or just aren't the type of person to design yourself, then copying is the best way to go.  Especially since that can become a jumping off point for your own ideas. 

A Word for You.  Rose red, basic black and very vanilla cardstock.  Black Stazon ink.  Polka dot embossing folder, big shot, pear pizzaz seam binding, dotted scallop punch and vintage dsp. 


Connie's was much cuter.  This was a super quick and easy card though.  Now that I look at it here in front of me, its much cuter in real life.  You'll just have to come over and see.  Maybe I'll cut down the vanilla square.  I think I'll like that better. 

But I'm not going to do it right now though because The Amazing Race just started.  I hope my cowboys are doing good tonight.  So, gotta go.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

Thank yous

Hey, so did you watch the Oscar's last night?  I didn't see any of the movies up for awards, well, except for Toy Story 3. 

But, I love to watch and see what people wear.  Which is weird because I'm no fashionista.  (You can stop laughing now)  My daily uniform is jeans/capris, tshirt, zip up sweat jacket and tennies.  I guess I'm interested to see how whacked out people dare to be.  Things seemed pretty tame last night though.  I loved what Hailey Steinfeld wore.  So pretty. 

Anyway, I do have some stamping to show you. 

I made some little Thank You bag tags.  See?

No stamps!  Crumb cake, not quite navy, pear pizzazz and very vanilla cardstock.  Crumb cake ink. Springtime Vintage DSP, Fun flowers die, big shot, the larger scallop square from the scallop square duo die, hemp, misc. buttons. 

I'm still loving the Fun Flowers die.  I'm so glad I bought it.  I found a bunch of felt in the hall closet the other day and I can't wait to make some cute felt flowers with it. 

The scallop square is 3" and the crumb cake is 3 1/2" square.  Perfect size for a little thank you tag. 

From this angle you can see how much it pops off the tag.  I think its pretty cool. 

Alrighty then, I've been thinking about the Artisan Award lately.  I don't know if I want to try entering again.  I did get named a finalist last year and that was pretty cool.  I'm just not having many ideas and its only a month away.  Of course the more you stamp the more ideas you get.  I guess I should get stamping and decide if I will enter or not.  Hmmm..................

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I {heart} you.

Blessings, b.

mini picture book.......finally

Hidey Ho! 

How is everyone doing?  I got to stamp today and it felt so good!  Its been a long time and I really missed it. 


I finally got the other mini picture book done for my cousin and I took pics of the process for you in case you would like to make your own little book. 

Here is what it ended up looking like:

Punch Potpourri (hostess set).  Basic black, crumb cake, poppy parade and old olive cardstock.  Poppy parade and soft suede inks.  Big shot, little leaves die, sticky pearls, double ribbon punch, Newsprint DSP and a bunch of my favorite Tombow Multi glue. 

Cute eh?   This measures 3" x 3".  Small enough to fit in your purse or pocket.  Here are the step by steps for you:

Start with your cover.  This measures 3" x 11".  Score at 3", 3 1/2", 6 1/2", 7", 8 15/16". 

Now for your inside pages.  Again, this measures at 3" x 11".  Score at 3", 6", and 9".  This will leave you a 2" little piece.  I wanted 8 pages in mine and so cut 3 of these.  You can have more or less depending on your need.  Fold it mountain and valley style.

Put some glue on the 2" section and glue it to a 3" section.  Do this for all 3 pieces so you have one long continuous piece.

Since I only wanted 8 pages, I cut off the last 3" and 2" sections.  This will make sense in a minute......I think.

See what I've got going on here?  Both of the 3" sections on either side will glue to the cover.  Now if you didn't want pages or wanted to put pics on both sides of the panels then you could just glue one of the 3" sections to the cover and the rest would pull out like an accordion.  Does that make sense?

Here I've only glue down the left 3" section of the crumb cake to the 3" section of the black.  See how you could leave the right side unglued and it would fold out? 

This is the other side of the cover.  There are 2 sections.  One should measure 1 15/16" and the other will measure 2 1/16".  Stick some glue on there (get it?  stick some glue?  I crack myself up) and glue them together.  This will make the flap of the book and will make it sturdier. 

Here you see that I glued down the left 3" section to the cover and ran a stripe of glue down the inside crease of the pages.  You don't want to glue the whole inside together because then it wouldn't fold  flat for viewing.

Here is a little pearl of wisdom for you, it would be so wise to sponge your pages before you ever glued them in the book.  Its a little more cumbersome after the fact.  ;)  I cut the Newsprint DSP into 2 3/4" squares and glued them in after I sponged the pages.

Now its time to glue in your pics.  I printed mine out as wallet size and then cut them into squares. 

I know, I jumped a little here didn't I?  I covered the flap with some more DSP, then used the double ribbon punch, the little leaves die and cut out the flower.  I just got the sticky pearls (really not my style, but I like it here).  I glued down everything with the Tombow really well and tried to keep everything pretty flat.  That way when she puts it in her purse or pocket the cover won't get messed up.  

Oh yeah, I also rounded the corners of the flap.

Velcro.

I tried to punch it with my 3/4" circle punch but it wouldn't work.  Anyway, this makes a nice tight closure.

Adding the black cardstock matting behind the pics makes these pages pretty sturdy.  My sweet cousin has a 2 year old and hopefully she'll be able to look at this book and her baby strength won't annihilate it in 2 seconds. 

There ya go!  Cute little picture book.  Now go forth a make a bunch!  Let me know if you have any questions. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I know I've been pretty sporadic lately but things will get back to normal.  More on that another day. 

Blessings, b.

Happy New Years Eve!

Hey stampers! 

Sorry again for not posting.  I've been sick.  The hubs got sick right before Christmas and decided to share.  How nice :(

So I've been laying low and trying to rest.  Those with children know how easy that is to do.  Luckily, none of the kids has gotten it.......yet.  Low fever on and off for 2 days. Sore throat. Sinus. Ear ache. 

I'm feeling better today and just wanted to let you know that I've been thinking of you and I miss you.  I'm still working on stamping stuff (December Daily and my grandma's book) but haven't sat at my desk in almost a week. 

I uploaded a bunch of pics from last week and wanted to show you some:

Christmas Classics set.  Real red, crumb cake and very vanilla cardstock.  Old olive, real red and going gray (retired) markers.  Newsprint DSP, Tombow Multi glue, silver glass glitter, brights prints DSP. 

This is a little box I made for my SIL.  We got her some lottery tickets (she loves to play) and I thought a cute box would be cuter than a cute card to put them in.   I didn't get the chance to take a pic of it until we were in the car on Christmas Eve to go to my inlaws.  No, I wasn't driving ;)

The box measures 3x5x11/2.  I wrapped the Old Olive print DSP around the box to make a belly band. 

I cut 2, 1 1/2" x 8" strips of the Newsprint DSP and scored them every 1/4".  Then folded and glued the ends together.  This accordian circle thing measured out 3 1/4" in diameter when finished. 

I put the Tombow glue along the edge and poured on the glass glitter.  This glitter is so cool because in a week or 2 it will tarnish.  Kinda nifty, eh?  I also used my silver glitter gel pen to sparkle up the bell.

After our lunch of grilled burgers (yummy!), we got Grandma and Aunt Renee to help make some ornaments.   I try to have some kind of ornament making day with the kiddos every year and this year we just ran out of time.  So I brought all the supplies with us to Grandma's house.  It turned out really nice because then we could send some home with Renee and leave some with Grandma. 

These are cinnamon applesauce ornaments.  Just mix equal parts cinnamon and applesauce.  The smell is awesome!  Let dry on a wire rack and hang around the house. 

My brother in law gave my husband a toy helicopter as one of his presents.  Seriously?  You would have thought he was 10, he was so excited to get outside and play with it.  Everyone had to take a turn.  Its very hard to steer (drive?) a helicopter.

Anybody know what the heck this is? It was on the neighbor's tree hanging over the fence.  The tree was loaded with them.  Of course we had to pick it and open it up.  I forgot to take a pic of the innards but it was hard and fairly solid and didn't really have any taste.  What is it? 

I thought the medallion thingy turned out so well on her box.  I decided I would make it into an ornament.  This is the back:

Just squint and maybe you can see it clearer.  I used my silver glitter gel pen to go around the outside of the pic. 

This is the official Christmas pic that was supposed to go on the, handmade with love, Christmas cards that never got made.  Its true........I never sent out cards this year.  I KNOW!  CAN YOU BELIVE IT?  Yeah well, thats what happens when you procrastinate and then get sick. 

So what are your plans for tonight?  We are staying home.  I'm going to enjoy my Christmas tree for one last night.  Its all getting put away tomorrow.

I just put a couple of chickens in the oven and the hubs just got home from work and I can tell he won't be up past 8:30.  He still doesn't feel very well.

We do have some sparkling apple cider to bring in the new year and the latest Shrek movie to watch.  WooHoo!  Living in the fast lane.

I have also been reflecting on this past year and have lots of things I would like to work on in the new year.  But I'll bore you with that stuff later. 

I do know that I'm so thankful for you, dear reader.  Who knew this blog would make new friendships and strengthen old ones.  I so enjoy sharing things with you and love it even more when you share things with me.  Thanks so much for coming by and letting me get to know you.

Blessings and Happy New Year!  b.

thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I really try to give thanks every day of the year and find the blessings I receive each day.  But on Thanksgiving day, everybody is on the same page. 

I have so much to be thankful for. 

I'm thankful for my family.  Thankful that we are together.  We are in good health and those of us that aren't, well, we're dealing with it through the Lord's good graces.  Thankful for the time we do have together. 

I'm thankful that the Lord provides for me every day.  I try hard not to worry about every little thing.  So hard for me not to. 

I'm thankful for my friends.  Friends that lift me up and understand my whacked out brain.  We can lean on each other when things get rough without criticism. 


And I'm thankful everyday for you, dear reader.  When I happen to check the stats and see that somebody came by to check things out, it makes me feel so good.  When you leave me a comment or send me an email, I can't tell you how awesome it is to feel connected to you.  I've made some friends from this blog.  And I'm thankful for each one of you. 

So now, I thought I'd show you some Thanksgiving things we made a few years ago.

Fall Harvest wheel.  Great little tag for a bottle of sparkling cider for your hostess.

just a closer pic.

Little punch turkey.  Scallop, ovals, circles.  Easy enough for the kids to do.

Another one using the wheel and the Leaves #2 die.  Easy tip for you:  use a very thin layer of the Tombow Multi glue to glue on your DSP before you die cut your leaf.  Way easier!  

This would make a cute little thank you card. 

These could be a crafty activity for the kiddos to do while the grown ups are cooking and chatting. 

I'm also thankful that I'm not cooking tomorrow.  HA!  I'm only supposed to help "serve".  Okay! 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I hope you're spending it with people you love........and that they help clean your kitchen! 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

blah, blah, blah and a card!

Howdy stampers! 

Ahhh....Thanksgiving break.   Yes!  Although all I've done so far is clean.  And clean some more.  After the tournament last week, my house was seriously neglected.  Now we are back to normal.  Whatever that is.

So whats on the agenda this week? 

I do love me some Harry Potter.  And Ron.  I love Ron too.  Oh okay, Hermione is wonderful too. 

The boy said he wants to go to but he wants to read the book first.  That is my fault.  When they were little and wanted to see a movie, I made them read the book first if there was one.  But man!  I don't want to wait around for him to read it.  We'll see how industrious he gets. 

Harry watches me stamp.  He hangs on the blinds by my desk.  He is wondering why I haven't seen his latest movie.  I'm working on it Harry. 

Really, I don't talk to inanimate things........often.


What else is coming out?

This comes out next week.  I'm getting it but will save it for Christmas.  Give me a chance to read the book again. 

Okay, I do have a little stamping goodness for you.  

Christmas classics set.  Whisper white and real red cardstock.  Old olive ink.  Neutrals Patterns DSP, scallop trim border punch, real red satin ribbon and misc. button. 

What a sweet simple card eh?  I totally ripped this design off of Connie Collins.  Love her stuff!  Really easy card to mass produce.  Not so sure about mailing that big ol' bow though. 



Now, normally I don't endorse naked buttons.  They need thread!  I originally wanted to use the 5/8" brads.  The silver one looks so pretty for the bell, but I was doing this for a workshop and I didn't have enough.  So on with the naked button.  I used a glue dot to stick it on there.  Easy peasy!

Okie dokie, its nighty night time for me.  Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Blessings, b.

band on the brain

Howdy stampers!

Ahh.......the week is over.  For the past few months my dear hubby has been planning and organizing a band tournament.  Wednesday was the day.  Our school hosted 14 bands. 

This was a huge undertaking.  So many details to consider that I never would have thought of.  I helped mostly with the program.  And the judges gifts.  And crowd control.  That was my favorite.  I had the power to deny access to the stands during performances.  Sometimes having the power is fun.  I am woman!  Hear me roar!  HAHAHA!

I have pics to share with you.  Of course the judges gifts included some stamping.  My hubby didn't see the reason for this.  He never does........

I had to put together 8 gifts.  The first thing was deciding what the packaging was going to be.  We went through several different options.  Trying to stay on the cheap side but make them nice.  Story of my life.......

I found boxes at Michael's for .89 a piece.  They were 9"x4".  I cut a rectangle in the top and adhered a transparency so you could see through them.  I tied them up with our real red striped grosgrain ribbon. 

Cute eh?  Each box had a coffee cup, Starbucks Via coffee, creamers, sugars, fancy hot chocolate, candies, Oreo mini cookies, popcorn, 2 different kinds of tea bags and of course, a set of 3 note cards, lovingly handstamped by me.  I'll show you those in a minute.  First check out the tag:

A Word for You set.  Crumb cake, basic black and real red cardstock.  Black Stazon and soft suede inks.  Dotted ribbon punch, curly label punch, 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1/8" and 1/2" circle punches, Newsprint DSP, dimensionals and hemp. 

I really like how the tags turned out.  They were 2 1/2" x 4 1/4".  I got the music note from some craft store, I went to so many I forget where I got them.  The judges thought they were awesome.

Here are the little notecards I put in:

A Word for You set.  Crumb cake and basic black cardstock.  Black Stazon and soft suede inks.  Top note die, big shot, vanilla seam binding (holiday mini), Newsprint DSP.

These are 4x4.  I made up little sets of 3.  Each bundle had 2 that said thanks and 1 happy birthday. 

I cut the DSP into 1 1/4" strips.  I tried to get as much music on each strip.  Then it was kinda funny because when they are cut up, you can't really (ok, I couldn't really) tell which way they went.  So I hope I got them on there right. 

Here was my other fun job:

driving the golf cart around.  Super fun!  These are our good buddies that came.  I know they don't look too happy here.  Thats because of my lack of understanding how my camera works and they had to take more than 1 pic.  As you can see, the girls are used to it ;)

 16 got put to work also.  She actually looks fairly happy here.  That didn't last long, let me tell ya.

  Since we were the host band, we didn't compete but we did perform.......last.  9:00 pm.  UGH!    See that little drummer boy?  He's mine.  Notice how crystal clear my pics are?  I need something with shake stability or something.

Here we are in all our glory.

Here is our Tournament Director.  I think he's kinda cute.  The biggest detail here to notice is that he is still smiling.  Because of his planning and because we had so many volunteers, things went pretty darn smoothly.  You did a good job, honey!

Here is a shot of my desk this morning.  As I write this, it looks exactly the same.  I'll get to it later.

Yes, that is our beautiful program from the tournament on top of the pile there. 

Alrighty then.  We are still trying to recover sleep.  Who has a band tournament in the middle of the work/school week? 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.