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.

Fall card......even though its 82 degrees

Howdy,  did everyone have a wonderful weekend?  Ours was crazy crazy.  I feel like I was never home.  I like home.  Alot.  This week will continue to be crazy.  I'm already looking forward to next weekend. 

So I thought I'd pop on here tonight.  I don't know if I'll get back on this week. 

Here is a fall card we did last week. 

Woodgrain and A Word for You sets.  Crumb cake, cajun craze and confetti white cardstock.  Crumb cake and early espresso inks.  Big shot, scallop square duo (Holiday Mini), early espresso satin ribbon, leaves #2 die, square lattice embossing folder, sponges and dimensionals.

This is the same layout as this card, I just changed the stamps and die to make it more of a Fall card.  Its such an easy layout that by just changing the stamps and die you could make anything work.

I should have sponged the leaf.  At least the edges I think.  Anyhow, this makes a great Thank You card.  I love that satin ribbon!  Makes such awesome knots and bows. 

Okie dokie, thats it for tonight.  I'm heading to bed to make up for lost sleep time this weekend.  I'm pooped!

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Blessings, b.

Christmas?

Hey stampers!

How was your Veteran's Day?  The kids and I had the day off.  We get tomorrow off too.  Another furlough day.  We didn't get a whole lot done.  Monopoly monopolized our time.  HA!  We had a great game and 16 wiped the board with us. 

I was going to show you another one of the cards we made last week but I haven't taken pics of them yet.  So I'll show you one that we didn't do.

Medallion and Sincere Salutations sets.  Crumb cake, whisper white and old olive cardstock.  Whisper white and black Stazon inks.  Scallop square duo (Holiday Mini), little leaves die, big shot, real red satin ribbon, sticky rhinestones, and dimensionals.

I love this card!  I think the medallion looks like a big ol' snowflake back there. 

I colored the rhinestones with my red Sharpie again.  I used the larger of the scallop squares on the scallop square duo die.  Even though this card looks complicated, using the Big Shot makes it easy.  You can cut out 3 or 4 of the squares at a time.  I might use this as my Christmas card this year. 

I'm keeping it short and sweet tonight.  Both my men are sick and looking for meds.  Why can they never find anything on their own? 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Blessings, b.

just call me, Dr. Beth

Howdy!

It decided to be Fall today.  It only got to 65 degrees and was windy and had big puffy clouds.  Perfect!  I hope your weather was as perfect wherever you are. 

I want to show you another project we made last week.  Everyone gives out gift cards, right?  Well you might as well put them in something super duper cute.  That makes the gift card extra special. 

Christmas Classics and snowflake from Season of Friendship sets.  Crumb cake, blue bayou and whisper white cardstock.  Whisper white craft ink and old olive and real red markers.  Dotted ribbon punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1/8" circle punch, crimper, crumb cake envelope, real red striped grosgrain ribbon, curly label punch, hemp, corner rounder and sticky rhinestones.

This is one of the first things I learned how to make almost 8 years ago when I became a demo.  I'm such a loser I can't even think what its called; envelope gift card holder?, crimped envelope envelope?, uuummmmm........help me out here folks. 

Anyway, you take a regular envelope and seal it.  Then lop off 1 1/2" from the side.  Then crimp the large piece.  (You remember the crimper right?  That tool you hardly ever use?  Well dust that bad boy off).  Then the little piece you cut off will fit on like a lid.  Cute huh?

 
I used the snowflake from Season of Friendship and stamped snowflakes on the lid and then swiped the white ink pad along the edges.  I punched a strip of Blue Bayou with the Dotted Ribbon Punch and stuck it inside the lid so just the little scallops showed. 

Inside I made a little card.  I used the markers to ink up the stamp.  I used my AWESOME Tombow Multi glue to put a very thin line of glue on 3 sides of the whisper white and left the top open to slip the gift card into. 

For the tag, I just cut a 2 1/2" x 2" piece of crumb cake and rounded the top corners.  Added some snowflakes and punched ribbon.  Check out the holly berries.  Can you see?  I used a red Sharpie to color in some of our Sticky Rhinestones!  Can't you just see all different colored rhinestones on a stamped tree?  I see one in my future. 

Anyhow, I used my old olive marker to ink up just the leaves.  Then punched out.  Stuck on some holly berries and put it on the tag.  I love it!

Put it all together and tied it up with the striped grosgrain.  Tie on the tag and you're good to go.  Super easy way to dress up a gift card.  I like to hide the gift cards in the tree.  That way they have to look for them.  When they're all pretty like this, they just look like another ornament.  Makes it more fun.  For me anyway.......

late sunflower

Alrighty then, I know you're all dying for a garden update.  Since the weather has stayed pretty warm here (it was 100 last week) the veggies are hanging on.  But the bees seem to have left.  So I did a little artificial insemination.  Yes, you can just call me Dr. Beth from now on, thank you very much. 

I had a few zucchini that were blooming and there were no bees around so I took it upon myself to do the deed.  I had done this earlier in the summer and had great results.  You just take a male flower, take off the petals and, (ahem) rub the stamin inside the female flower.

I know, I know, its all very embarrassing.  But sometimes you just have to help.  Become one with nature and all that. 

Okay, thats all for today.   Thanks so much for stopping by and putting up with me.  You guys rock!

Blessings, b.

Superwoman, I am not

Hey stampers!

What a crazy (stressful) week I've had!  One thing on top of another.  And I don't mean that in a good way YKWIM ;) 

First the faucet which lead to the garbage disposal, then car insurance trouble, stamping deadlines, etc........plus bunches of other things that are on the to do list that needed to get done. Plus cooking, working, cleaning............you know how it is.  Did Superwoman ever have to deal with a stinky washer?  I think not.

Anyhow, the week is over, all the boiling over problems have been handled and I have been laying low today.  The hubs and the boy are at a band tournament and us girls are hanging out.  We rented Toy Story 3 (which had me silently sobbing in the theater) and a pizza in the oven.  Leftover Halloween candy for dessert.  WooHoo!

I did have some fun this week though.  I got together with some stamping ladies Thursday night and had a great time.   Want to see one of the cards we made?

Pun Fun set.  Old olive, blue bayou, basic black and watercolor paper.  Black Stazon ink.  Black narrow taffeta ribbon, polka dot embossing folder, big shot, scallop border punch, aquapainters, watercolor crayons, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter and dimensionals.

We used the Pun Fun set.  I love this set!  Why didn't I get it sooner?  They got to choose which image they wanted.  We did a little watercolor comparison.  This one is painted with watercolor crayons. 

Using the crayons is so different from painting with the reinkers.  I think I'll have to start using them again, at least occasionally.  I used the glue pen and dazzling diamonds for the water.  Isn't he cute? 

Same materials as the other except I used smooshed ink pad lids.  I used Sahara Sand and Marina Mist.

The reason I used Sahara Sand instead of Basic Gray was because I couldn't get the gray to blend at all!  My painting always looks a little blotchy but, man!  This color just wouldn't work for me. 

Now I have 2 Get Whale cards ready to send someone who is sick.  I don't know anybody sick right now, but I'm ready.  Are you sick?  Could you use a nice Get Whale card?  Let me know. 

Alrighty then, the pizza is out of the oven.  I think after dinner I'll go ask Superwoman for a ride in her jet.  Maybe she'll give me some Superwoman pointers. 

Thanks for stopping by and hanging with me.

Blessings, b.

love you a latte!

I do.  I do love you a latte!  Okay, I don't really do coffee.  But I do love a Chai Tea Latte occasionally.  And the Pumpkin Spice coffee thing they have during the holidays.  Hey, the holidays are kinda here.  I guess I better go get me some ;)  Bye.

Just kidding.

Remember a few months ago when I told you that I won Shelli's (founder of SU!) contest?  When you win, you get to pick any stamp set you want for keeps!  Cool huh? 

So, I picked Pun Fun.  I've always liked this set but its a little bit of money.  Perfect one to get for free!

Pun Fun set.  Crumb cake (of course), early espresso and watercolor paper.  Black Stazon, delightful daffodil, cherry cobbler, early espresso and sahara sand inks.  Aquapainter, vanilla seam binding (holiday mini), polka dot embossing folder, squares duo die (holiday mini) and dimensionals.

I needed a thank you card (again) and this was perfect.  My friend loves coffee and I love her a latte. 

I used the larger of the scallop squares on the die.  This one measures out 3".  The image is cut at 2.5". 

I used the Aquapainters and smoosed ink again.  I guess I've been in a watercolor mood lately. 

I've been designing some projects for a workshop I have on Thursday.  I think they'll be watercoloring ;)

Okay, I can't leave you tonight without a Halloween pic. 

Ghosties were out last night!  16 couldn't decide if she wanted to go and then couldn't decide on a costume.  A sheet with holes always works right?  The boy went with some friends after we had left so I didn't get a pic of him.  Fun was had by all and we have way too much candy in this house now.

Alrighty then, I can't let you go just yet.  I have a story to tell. 

I broke the kitchen faucet this morning.  I actually looked around to see if someone was around with a camera because it was so ridiculous. 

I have (had) one of those faucets where the whole handle thing can come out.  There is a little button thingy on top so you can change it from spray to full.  You know what I'm talking about right? 

Well here I am, got curlers in my hair, makeup on but still in jammies, and I go to press the button thingy and the whole darn thing breaks off! 

Immediately a shot of (warm) water comes at me, soaking my front and so of course I turn around to get closer so I can shut it off and now the back of my head is getting soaked.  I finally get it turned off. 

I scared poor Grace.  She comes shooting downstairs thinking something horrible has happened.  Once she sees that I'm okay, I'm the funniest thing she ever saw.  Ha ha ha.....

Anyhow, I got a new faucet out of the deal (money I didn't need to spend).  Its pretty.  I'll show you a pic when the hubs gets in put in. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I love you a latte!

Blessings, b.