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.

"There is magic in this process of capturing your everyday life."

Today is a special day for me.  Today is my mom's birthday.  She would have been 66 years old. 

I don't remember as much as I would like.  Those teenage years were kinda harsh.  I do remember that she was so funny!  I think that is what I remember most.  She would get together with my Aunt and Grandma and they would laugh so hard.  She loved to dance.  She made the best fried chicken.  And cheesecake.  She loved to swim.  She had lots of friends.  She loved yellow roses and daisies.  Sometimes her birthday and Mother's Day would be on the same day and you had better have gotten her 2 presents!  One for each day.

 I miss her so much. 

She died suddenly in August of 1983 of complications from a car accident 5 years previous.  She was 39.  I was 18.   

It was a horrible summer. 

I had just graduated high school in June,  my parents' divorce was finalized in July and 2 weeks later my dad married Cruella DeVil.  Mom died in August.  In September, I decided I didn't want to go to college and in December my dog died. 

I don't tell you all this so you can feel sorry for me.  I tell you this to remind you to enjoy life.  Document things!  Believe me, you won't remember nearly as much if you don't have some kind of reminders. Get the pictures out of the computer!  Tell the stories behind the pictures.  Nothing has to be fancy or perfect. 

"There is magic in this process of capturing your everyday life."

Its kinda like exercising.  Its really hard to get started but once you do, it gets easier.  My goal is to have 1 scrap page or journal entry done at least once a week.   I'm putting them in that "everyday/whatever" scrapbook I have going.  The journal pages are alot easier and faster to do and I may just tack pics to them later.  No fancy scrap pages.  Its been fun and I know my entire family will enjoy it in years to come. 

I'll get off my soapbox now.


I have all the projects ready for tonight's class.  I had planned on posting one of the cards we won't be doing today but now its late and I'm too pooped to take a pic and resize it and blah, blah, blah..........

So I wll be showing you lots of stuff tomorrow. 

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share my life with you all.  Go hug and kiss on your loved ones and tell them you love them. 

Blessings, b.

running here......running there.........

running everywhere!

It seems as though I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off lately.  I've been wanting to post on here for days but the kiddos have finals they've been working on and they are still on the computer when I go to bed.  So I'm going to try and be real quick this morning, before I have to go running again to work. 

You know, if I was literally running, I'd be much thinner. 

I have a workshop/class tomorrow night and have been stamping up a storm!  BUT, I'm not going to show you anything today because I haven't made a final decision on which projects I'll be doing.  Sorry...

But I will show you some pics from the golf tournament on Friday. 

These are the goodie bags I made for the golfers.  They had a water bottle, coffee gift card,  Jolly Ranchers, Dicks coupons, and extra tees and a scratch off from Nevada Bob's.

This is our good buddy Scott.  It was a beautiful day to golf.  

We of course had a problem though.  After everyone checked in and started playing, one of the guys put all the prizes in my hubby's truck.  Well, somone must have  been watching because, they broke the window and stole the TV, the special putter and 2 doz. golf balls.  

SO, the children and I had to run to Best Buy and buy another TV and run down to the golf course before the raffle.

Here is my hubby doing the raffle. 

Then the cops came to take a report and he had to leave me in charge. 

This is Chris.  He may be a little guy but I swear he has a megaphone for a voice box.  He stepped up and helped me out with the rest of the prizes.  Thank you Chris!

Anyhow, the guy that won the TV was one of our band dads and he gave the TV back to us to return to the store so the band could keep that money.  What a great guy! 

Needless to say it was a successful fund raiser.  My hubby raised almost $2000 for the band. 

And it just goes to show that, there are some really mean people in the world but there are so many more wonderful ones.  I for one, am keeping the faith. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to have a special post for you tomorrow. 

Blessings, b.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today I plan on loving on my veggies a little (a few of the leaves on my green beans are turning yellow, why?).  Weeding.  Watching Its Complicated on PPV.  Gettting a hair cut.  Stamping. 

Oh yeah, and laundry.

I did not make Mother an official Mother's Day card this year.  I know, why not?  I guess because at the last minute we decided to visit last week and then we sent her flowers.  She loves getting flowers. 

Anyway, here is the card I made her last year

My own dear mother passed away over 26 years ago.  I am very lucky to have many special women in my life right now though.  You'll be hearing more about my mom later this week.

So today, I want to share this card with all of you.  Every woman I know, even if she doesn't have children, has been a mother to someone, somewhere, sometime, somehow.................

Happy Mother's Day!

Blessings, b.

Country Living Inspiration

Hey everybody!

I love Country Living Magazine.  Some of the ideas are so outrageously pricey, but I always think, "How could I do that cheaper?" 

This is a flaw both the hubby and I have.  We always think we can do it just as good ourselves for cheaper.  Thats also why nothing is completed around here.  BUT, I will say, the things he does get done himself is always nicer than we could have hired out for.  Not always cheaper, but nicer. 

So I was perusing the May issue of CL (for some reason I always read magazines from the back to the front.  I don't know why) and I saw this picture on the back cover:

An ad for avocados.  I looked at the petals and thought, "hey, I can do that!"

So I sat down tonight to do that.  Here is the end result after a few tries.

Yikes! No stamps!  Melon mambo, old olive, delightful daffodil, whisper white and kraft.  White craft ink.  Large oval punch, 3/4" circle punch, small oval punch, wide oval punch, polka dot embossing folder (wart maker), 5/8" brads and dimensionals. 

My original plan came out too big for a regular sized card.  This is a regular sized card.  I have a thing about making cards that will fit in normal sized envelopes.  I don't like paying for extra postage.  Cheap, cheap, cheap..........

Here is how I made the petals.

Punch out a 3/4" circle

Then taking the large oval punch, punch this out

This is what you end up with.  I punched out 7 of these.  Then I punched out another 3/4" circle and glued everything together.  Like this

Can you see it? 

I punched out another 3/4" circle of Delightful Daffodil and then put my 5/8" brad through it all. 

I then took the Wide oval punch and punched out a stem.  Then I punched out a old olive leaf with the small oval punch.  I used the Tombow Multi glue to tack everything down.  I love that stuff!  It smells good too.  Not that I'm sniffing it or anything......

I started out making the one on the left.  I used the wide oval punch and the large oval punch.    Then for the one on the right, I used the 1" circle punch and the large oval punch.    Both flowers were too large for a regular sized card.  So I may use them on a scrap page or something. 

Anyhow, this was an easy peasy card and could be completed in less than 10 minutes.  So try it.  It would make a cute Mother's Day card don't you think? 

Alrighty, I've got to help finish getting things ready for the band golf tournament tomorrow.  Its going to be perfect weather for it.  I hope everyone has a great time and the band makes lots of money. 

Oh yeah, one more thing

Did you know they changed the penny?  I had no idea!  This one is so nice and shiny, I'm keeping it. 

Thanks for stopping by and keeping me company.

Blessings, b.

quickie

Quickie post today.  Oh, I know what you're saying, " Beth, can you actually be quick?"  hmph...................

I had to kick the girl off the computer so I can put up my beautiful scrap page because I promised you stamping today.  So I have to be quick.

This is for my "everyday, whatever" scrapbook that I keep open so I can drop stuff in to scrap later.  Remember when I talked about my Epiphany day? 

Medallion stamp.  Whisper white and Pacific Point cardstock.  Pacific Point ink.  Basic black journaler and dimensionals. 

This is an 8 1/2 x 11 page.  Pacific Point is an old "In Color" that is coming back in July.  It just so happened to match the ticket/stickers perfectly.  Sometimes I'm glad I keep too much stuff.

It looked like it needed a little something more so I added the black line all the way around.  It seemed to tie things together better.  Good thing I wasn't trying for a straight line. 

I am a scrappy scrapper.  I keep the scraps of the day, receipts, tickets, napkins, etc...............  I think it helps tell the story and make it even more interesting.  Although it may not be interesting to anyone else but me right now. 

Okie dokie, she needs back on so I'll be getting to bed.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you scrap something for yourself soon. 

Blessings, b.

nothing important

Hey everybody!

The weekend just flew by and its already Monday night.  Did you have a nice weekend?  We worked on the garden, visited my inlaws and cruised the beach.  I thought about stamping.  Planned out some stamping.  But got no stamping done.

Since we live over an hour away from my inlaws we thought we'd visit Mother this weekend, so next weekend we, (I) won't have to go anywhere for Mother's Day.  Good thinking huh? 

We had a very nice visit.  Brought them Taco Bell for lunch.  They like that.  We like it too.  The day was so nice we decided to head on down to the beach and walk the pier.  Show the kids where we used to hang out. 

                                                                     Seal Beach Pier

We had fun watching the guys fish and the surfers surf.  As a teenager the beach was our hangout.  We went there every weekend.  In fact, our first date was at the beach. 

On this very pier. 

25 years ago. 

Then we cruised down PCH past Sunset Beach, the Dog Beach, Huntington Beach, Bolsa Chica and then Newport Beach before we picked up the freeway heading home.  We kept pointing out things and telling memories.

 Yeah, the kiddos could care less.  "When are we going home?"  Geez.......................


Anyhow, I wanted to show you my new babies:

We couldn't find any starter plants of broccoli so we planted seeds and look,  they are coming up!  I'm a proud momma! 

                                                          This is a green bell pepper

                                                                      Anaheim Chili

                                          Red Bell Pepper.  Check out the artwork on the signs.

                                  Tomatoes.  A Better Boy and some grape tomatoes.  I forget the name.

                                                                                Zucchini

                                             grapes.  I got a Red Flame and a Green Thompson

There are also pumpkins, yellow squash seeds we planted but they aren't coming up yet, sweet onions, carrots, lettuce, green beans and we still want to plant potatoes.  I couldn't find any strawberry plants or seeds!  Next year I need to get on it earlier. 

Which brings me to stamping.  I'm going to make a garden journal.  So I can keep track of what we're doing this year and what works and doesn't and what we'd like to do next year. 

Which brings me to more stamping.  May is National Scrapbooking Month and I plan on getting my scrapbooking groove on!  I need to scrap my Iowa trip and I have several other ideas I want to do before I forget. 

Last week I placed an order from the Summer Mini Catalog.  Today my goodies came.  Look!

I got Elements of Style, Favorite Thoughts (this set cracks me up), Red, White and Blue jumbo wheel, an Introduction to MDS (My Digital Studio)  DVD and some extra Summer Mini Catalogs.  So if you didn't get a hard copy just let me know.

Okay, I've bored you enough for one day.  Tomorrow there will be stamping to show!  No Brownie meetings or concerts tomorrow.  Although this week we are scrambling to get everything ready for the 2nd Annual Golf Tournament for the Crimson Cadets Marching Band.  If you know anyone who would like to play we would love to have them come.  Somehow the hubs even got a 32 inch tv to raffle off.  Cool! So come play! 

There will be stamping tomorrow.  Promise.

Blessings, b.