Happy Independence Day

Holy Moly Batman!  I can't hardly believe how long its been since I've posted.  I knew it had been awhile but geez. 

Happy Independence Day everyone!  I hope everyone has something fun planned for today.  Most of my crew just left to go get some fireworks.  I hope they bring me back some snakes.  Remember those?

So today I have a bag tag to show you:

Blue Ribbon, Teeny Tiny Wishes and Banner Greetings.  Whisper white cardstock.  Real red, pacific point and black Stazon inks.  Delicate Doilies die, big shot, 1 3/8" circle punch, red baker's twine and polka dot parade DSP.

 Since its the 4th of July I thought I would go with a red, white and blue color scheme. 

 One of the first things I thought of doing with the Banner Greetings set was to use it for the ribbons on the Blue ribbon set. 

I still need to take pics of the cards we made at group last week.  I'll try and get that done today so I can show you. 


We have been enjoying summer.  I've gotten the front yard planted as much as I'm going to this year.  It is so hot now that anything else will have to wait for next spring.  I did discover that my Sweet Brooms have a problem.  A problem that seems to go hand in hand for them.  Had I known this, I wouldn't have bought them. 

Remember what they looked like when I planted them?

Yeah, look at it now;

I was thinking the poor little guy wasn't getting enough water but no.  Look closely...........

These are called Genista caterpillars.  They are all over my poor bush.  This is one instance where you gotta love the internet. 
 

The internet told me to get some Bacillus thuringiensis.  So I did.

This stuff was not cheap!  Anyway, I sprayed them and I'll have to wait until Spring to see if my poor little bushes come back. 

OY!  What a pain!

I've also taken pics of the vegetable garden.  I'll get those together too because I know you've just been waiting for an update on that ;)


I also wanted to turn you on to a site that the girls and I have been fascinated with,  geoguessr.com.  I saw this on The Pioneer Woman site.  It uses Google Maps and will drop you somewhere in the world.  You have to drive around looking at signs and buildings and guess where you are.  We have been having a competition on who can get the closest.  I currently hold the title with a .002 km.  Thank you very much. 

18 was in Italy (in the game)  and saw this tree:

She says it looks like Beyonce.  Maybe Beyonce with no head.  Anyway its been really fun.  We've seen things that we will never see in person.  Very cool and dare I say it?.........educational? 

WHOA!!!!!  dont say the "e" word during summer. 


Alrighty then, I'll be back soon with more stamping stuff.  Thanks so much for checking in and hanging out. 

Blessings, b.

winner!

Hey there! 

Once again, sorry about my lack of posting.  Family life has been intense around here lately.  Not all in a bad way though.  I'm feeling the need to share so grab a drink and maybe even a snack. 

Scroll down to the end if you just want to see stamping.

A few weeks ago 18 came home for Spring Break. 

She was a little bummed that only one of her friends was also on Spring Break.  Why have them do it so early?  She has been wanting to paint her room for a long time so I suggested she and her friend conquer it.  The teal is the new color.  She painted a large section on one wall with chalkboard paint.  Looks pretty cool.

She wasn't home for Easter and it broke my heart.  We had tentatively planned on driving up there so we could be together but something came up that I'll explain in a minute.  She was able to go home and spend Easter with one of her friends at school so at least she wasn't by herself. 



While she was here I got the garden started.  So far these are the seeds I've got. 

The broccoli I planted in Nov. has given me a pretty good harvest but I'm ready to pull the plants out now.  The brussel sprouts got INVADED (I'm talking they had condos set up in there) with earwigs and there was no way I could get them all out.  Gross!  I threw the whole dang plant away. 

So far I only have the pumpkins and sunflowers in the ground.  I need some bug killer before I plant the others.  The grapes are going like gangbusters though.  I bet I have 6 dozen grape clusters on the two plants. 

I had to share this.  The Boy was bored the afternoon I was planting (help mom?  No way!) and wanted to play some darts.  This particular game lasted a few hours!  He did win..........like always.  But I had to show that I did get a BULLSEYE!  Go Mom Go!


Then 2 1/2 weeks ago my father in law had a stroke.  Luckily it wasn't too severe.  He is still in rehab and slightly improving.  They live 1 1/2 hours away and The Hubs has been there almost every day.  Needless to say we haven't seen him too much.  Pop will be 89 next Sunday.  I'm so proud of the way The Hubs has been handling everything. 


As for me?  Well, were friends here right?  The Big M is killing me!  Yes, I said it........... MENOPAUSE.  I mean, really.  Women got the short end of the stick here.  Mood swings?   Not so much.....yet I'm sure.  But the periods?  UGH!  AND, the dr. says it could last another 5-7 years!  Really?  I won't go into detail but if you'd like commiserate with me....drop me a line. 


So I haven't been feeling all that swell and haven't been stamping as much as I should.  But today was the middle school band golf tournament.  The Hubs asks half an hour before he has to leave if I could decorate some envelopes.  Lucky for me I am feeling pretty perky today and this is what I came up with. 

Blue Ribbon set.  Whisper white envelopes.  Not quite navy and Versamark inks.  Silver embossing powder, 1 3/4" scallop circle punch and stampamajig. 


I know you can't see much detail here.  I was trying to take a pic in the garage before he was taking them away. 

The school colors are teal and silver.  We don't really have a teal color anymore (although Bermuda Bay is making a comeback) so I used Not Quite Navy.

For the middle punch, I stamped the Not Quite Navy with the "winner" stamp and then punched it out twice with the scallop punch.  Just punch once. Then I used a sticky note and stuck the scallop on there and lined up the scallop punch again, offsetting it, and punched again.  That will give you a pointy scallop.  Cool eh?  

Here they are with the little trophies.  Each envelope has a gift card in it.  These are for the 1st place foursome. 

I hope The Hubs will have a great time today.  He deserves a little down time. 

Alrighty then, thats it for today.  I do have some baby things to show you.  Seems like everyone is procreating around here lately. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I love when you do that.

Blessings, b.