Embrace Life

What a wonderful sentiment "Embrace Life"! A great reminder of how we can live each day.

I love this stamp set by SU! This was for a 1-4-1 challenge swap. We were to use, black, white and only ONE other color. Here is what I used:

black: ribbon, ink, cardstock, brad

white: stitching in ribbon and gel pen

One color: groovy guava: ribbon, ink, cardstock

On the large guava panel, I used the Canvas stamp with guava ink and stamped the flower in white. On the second panel, I stamped the Canvas with white and stamped the leaf stamp in guava.

The flower is stamped in black on vellum cardstock. I sponged the back of the image with guava ink and on the front of the image, highlighted areas with the white gel pen.

other supplies used were pop dots

Answering your questions...

I’ve had some people e-mail me and ask me questions about some of my posts and thought that I would go ahead and answer those questions here. Someone else may wonder the same thing. I do want you all to know I read every comment. I try to answer each question e-mailed to me as soon as I can too.

“How did you get the candy to match the paper so perfectly in your criss-cross box?”
I actually take the box with the cello bag in it to the store with me and then look around for items that will fit in it. I had originally planned to fill it with blue and orange jolly ranchers, but when I saw the taffy, it was the perfect color. I have been doing this for a long time. The gals at the grocery store are used to me and always ask what project I am working on now. If you are a demo, this is free advertisement for you! I am not a demo, but have gotten many sales doing this. Over a year ago, when I was first making altered jars, a gal followed me out of a store. It just happened that she owned a gift shop and asked if I would make some jars for her store. So you never know where your next customer might be.

“When are you going to post your items for sale on-line?”
Well, I’m not now and will explain that in a minute, but first, if you see anything I make that I post and would like to purchase it, just e-mail me. Most of what I post can be for sale. Now, as to why I’ve decided not to start an on-line store at this time…First of all, to do so, means to make several items that I like, but that may not sell and then I have LOTS of “gifts” to give. Ü I was ok with this, but then God opened another door of opportunity for me. I had a couple of gals from one town ask me if I would be willing to teach papercraft/stamp classes. They have stamps, accessories, etc and wanted me to give them more ideas of how to use them. I told them I would think about it and didn’t really know where to go with it. I decided I would just put out a sign up sheet at my crop and see if there was any REAL interest. Then last week out of the blue, another gal e-mailed and one called me from a different town and asked if I would do the same thing. So now I am thinking maybe there is some interest and I should really look into this. One of the gals from the second town asked if she could put a sign up sheet at a crop she was doing and I said ok. I didn’t hear from her at the first of the week, so just figured there was no interest. Then I talk to her Friday and find out TWELVE ladies signed up!!!! I was shocked! So we set a date for that town and after my crop this weekend will see if there is interest for the other town and go from there. At this time, I feel this will keep me busy and give me something that I can do to help bring in a little income (gas money if nothing else!)

“How do you make the tic tac purse you showed in your one sheet wonder?”
I did a little tutorial for it here.

Congratulations Benjamin!!!

WE are soooo proud of you! This week has been an awesome week for you! First you were one of ?? sophmores chosen for the National Honor Society. You are going to go far son!!! I don't know of anyone on either side of the family that has received this honor!

Then yesterday you placed 6th in the mile at the track meet and beat your personal best time!!! Way to go!! (and you weren't that far behind "Al"--for those of you reading, "Al" is from Minden and runs like the wind and usually is a lap done ahead of everyone else! Thankfully, he is also a senior Ü) Benjamin, it was sooo cold and windy, just think of what you will be able to do in the heat! (note: Benjamin LOVES heat and running in it does not bother him, he seems to do better then too)

6 x 6 scrapbooking

I am so behind on scrapbooking! Especially Aaron's, since I've been trying to keep up with Benjamin's school/sports stuff.

At the end of 1999, I decided it would be fun to make each of the boys a scrapbook of the millennium, so I wrote out the alphabet and kept track of pictures I took matching them to the appropriate letter. They STILL to this day go thru the albums I made them AND keep asking me when I am going to make them another. That size was 5 x 7, this time I decided to make them a 6 x 6 and make it more a monthly/random theme of the year. Here is one I made for Aaron's Feb page.

I copied a colored picture and made it sepia, then sanded the edges. I really like the look of a sanded picture. I will journal later in the heart with a white pen.

I am going to do a double page spread of each month. The pictures may or may not have been taken that month, just depending on what I come up with. They are going to be simple, yet hopefully fun for the boys when I give the ablums to them at Christmas.



Okay, gotta go get ready for the track meet! Run, Benjamin, Run!! Ü

I am sooo tired!

YAY!!!! We are finally done with the beef! We put up from 330-350 lbs! What was to take one day, took four. We had an old cow we needed to butcher and did it ourselves. Most was made into hamburger, but we were able to can some stew meat. Today was a dreary, drizzly day, so I made beef and noodles and mashed potatoes. Yummy!


I am also sooo busy getting ready for my crop. I am only going to have time to get ready for and teach one class. That's ok, cuz I think the gals just enjoy getting together and working on their own albums. I will try to teach more classes in the fall.


I don't want to spoil it for locals who may read my blog, so I will show you after the crop what I've been working on. Now is the time for all the little finishing details that need to be done. With the super busy week we've had and have coming, I HAVE to be done by Saturday nite!!!!


I am hoping to stop in again before the crop, but if not, here is my crazy schedule...tomorrow-track meet, Saturday-get everything ready for crop!!, Sunday-church and rodeo cowboy thing at nite, Monday-MIL's surgery, Tuesday-track meet, Wed-library and youth group, Thursday-set up for crop, Fri-crop AND Bow Invite for track (so I will be there for the second half of the day) and Saturday-crop...Sunday-get together at mom's for Mar/April bd and anniversaries...come home and DROP!!!!! LOL!!


So, since I've been so busy with crop stuff, here is a card I gave my g'ma last year for her bd. I am pulling this from the "archives" Ü. BTW, I have downloaded all of last years stamped items I did, plus
a few items from before on a CD. If you are interested in purchasing one-send me an e-mail. Cost is $5 including postage.

Have a great weekend!

Easter Egg Box

I LOVE this box idea that QBee on SCS came up with. The gal is amazing!!! She has designed this box as well as other wonderful box ideas that I will make up and show you later AND she shares her patterns!! Search her gallery and the forums for her wonderful ideas. The bunny is cut from my Cricut. I then drew all the doodles and face and "colored" with a damp Q-Tip and watercolor crayon.

I wanted a quick gift to give a friend that has been having a tough time at work as well as putting in long hours. Nothing better than chocolate to get you thru, huh? Ü

I have no idea who makes the soft turquoise embossed cardstock. It was in a trade box at a crop I went to. I've had it for awhile and didn't know why I even picked it up, but now I do. Ü I am loving the soft turquoise with chocolate and then add blush blossom, soft pink, etc for an accent color.

Have you been to Wal-Mart in the Easter candy section? I LOVE what they did this year. They have color sections. There is pink M & M's, pink wrapped chocolates, pink gifts, pink Peeps, etc, then a section of purple, then turquoise, green, etc. So fun to make a coordinating gift basket! I chose turquoise foil wrapped eggs for this project and it was perfect! If you click on the picture you can see where I stamped the blush blossom insert with the Linen stamp.Here is the side view. Brenda (QBee) even thought to design these punched 1/2 circles to make it easier to take off the top lid!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I don't have any stamped items to show you, but here is what we had for lunch. For supper we are having the *American* tradition of Corned Beef, Cabbage, Red Potatoes and for us Lime Pie. Did you know they don't eat this in Ireland? This is totally an American thing.

I didn't eat green eggs, mine were plain. There is just something about them being green that grosses me out. I make them, but I just can't eat them.

Here is a fun St. Pat game for you to play. http://www.apples4theteacher.com/slappad.html

My highest score is 31. Can you beat me? I am going to see if I can get any higher. I've gotten it 3 times and can't seem to get a better score.

I am going to try to post as much as I can in the next three weeks, but wanted to let you know what is going on in case I don't. I host a crop twice a year and the spring crop is April 4 & 5th (if you live in NE or close, I've had gals from KS and CO, I would love to meet you! E-mail me if you are interested in the details). Anyway, I am busy getting ready for that, plus I have some album orders and need to get those done along with a couple of swaps! YIKES!!! Definitely going to be busy! Hopefully, I can get some Easter things posted. I am making the most ADORABLE candy Easter Egg holder/box that QBee shared on SCS.

Oh and along with everything else, we have an auction to go to tomorrow, then meeting tomorrow nite, youth group Wed, track meet (first one of the season) Thursday, Good Friday service Friday, get ready for Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday....you get the idea. Ü BUSY!!!!

Answers to your questions....

I've had some questions regarding my last post for the OSW...
1. there is a tutorial in older posts for the mini tic tac purse here
2. the Hershey nuggets were made by cutting the bunny head from a Cricut cartridge and drew the face on myself. Then I wrapped the nugget with patterned paper and added a pom pom for the tail
3. Do I sell any of my projects. YES! Ü Most of my projects are for sale or I give to friends and family. If you see anything that you would like to buy that I post, just e-mail me. I am working with DH to figure out a way to make a little money as things are pretty tight this year and going to be that way for the next couple of years. I am trying to decide if I should just set up another blog for items for sale or just post them here. I've already come up with a name and by-line. Ü
But for now if you like what you see, just drop me a line.

OSW Challenge

OSW: One Sheet Wonder

I saw this challenge on Embellish-online and wanted to give it a try. This same kind of challenge was issued on SCS earlier and I never got to it, so decided to get it done this time. I had fun making all the projects for this challenge and it's one that I will do again. It is a great way to make coordinating gifts and cards.

Here was the challenge:

Use 1 sheet of designer paper (you must use it all) to create anywhere from 4-12 projects. At least 2 items must be non-card projects and at least 2 items must be cards (any size).

Stamp sets - Limit 2 sets or 1 set and 1 BG + you may add a sentiment not included in your choice of sets

Designer paper - 1 sheet - use it all

CS - any

Ink - any

Embellishments - any

I was able to make 5 cards, 1 altered candle, 3 nugget bunnies, 1 tic tac purse, coaster album and criss cross box.

We were to use ALL of the sheet, so for the scraps I just put them behind one of the panels on the card. Ü I used ALL the scraps!!!!!

Easter Blocks

The LSS had a sales rep leave them a pkg of 9 blocks and rub ons. I don't remember who the blocks are from, but the rub ons are by DCWV (Die Cuts With a View). Anyway, Sally didn't know what could be done with them, so I brought them home with some of the new Two Scoops Basic Grey they had gotten in and came up with this.

Frog card #2

Here is another version of the frog card I made earlier. This one has two frogs on it and I like it better. Ü Remember, you can click on the picture for a larger view to read the words or to just see a larger view.

Pinch Proof

Tired of seeing green? Ü Just a couple more cards and then I'm on to Easter stuff. I bought some Nestle egg chocolates for a super cool project. Hope to be able to show that soon.

I am sad that there is only one more day left of Spring Break! I have enjoyed getting lots of stamping done. Hopefully Blogger will be nice for me so I can upload every day to show you what I've been working on.

Tomorrow is parent/teacher conferences, so I am hoping that in the morning Benjamin & I can get some stuff done in his album. I need him to help me sort the pictures in order of his meets and make sure I get the medals on the right pages. Also need his help with the journaling.

Lucky Me....

Here is another St. Pat card I made using the little book that comes with a SU! order again as inspiration for a sketch. I will be gone all day today, so posting early.

Check this out!!!!

http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/2008/03/ive-been-neglec.html


This is the coolest, most beautiful, amazing piece of papercraft I have seen! JanTink is an amazing stamper and I love her blog and her work.

Spring Break

It is Spring Break here (has been since early release Wed). So that means Benjamin is...
1. home
2. bored
3. baking Ü

We've already eaten Scotcheroo's and last nite he made lemon cookies.

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Cookies

1 c. shortening

1 1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs, beaten

2 T. water

2 tsp lemon extract

1. tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 3/4 c. flour

1 scant cup sour cream

Lemon Frosting:

2 c. powdered sugar

4 tsp soft margarine

1 tsp lemon extract

Cream the shortening and sugar. Add the eggs, water, and lemon extract. Sift the baking soda and salt with the flour and add alternately with the sour cream. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 350* until light brown (10-12 minutes). Frost when cool.

For the frosting, mix together ingredients until smooth. Add some cream if not thin enough to spread.

Lucky Me!

"Lucky Me" card and *lucky me* I got in to post this morning!!!!

This card and the next two to follow are made with the new St. Patrick's Day stamp set and/or matching wheel from SU! Layout idea came from the little booklet you get when you order from SU!

"Snarky" frog

"Snarky", a Julie HRR word (anyway, this is the word I *remember* her posting on an upload of mine on SCS...knowing me, I probably have it all wrong, but I'm still loving the word Ü). I don't have a clue what it means, but I am using it to mean "being in a funk kind of mood, sassy". So, I am looking on line for St. Patrick Day verses, sentiments, etc to make some cards and come across this "blessing". Cracked me up! DH & the boys rolled their eyes and say they don't think it's funny, but I don't get out much and it's funny to me. I think it would be fun to receive a card like this, so I have made a few to send.

PS: I made some changes to the other cards I made. I added two extra periods after the word "chance" so it looks like this "chance...". I think it leads into the part on the inside better. On the inside I also added "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

M & M Froggy Box

I love this box!! Nichole Heady designed this and shares the instructions here. It is made with a 8.5" x 11" piece of cardstock and then decorate as you wish.

The frog is from SU!'s set called "Unfroggetable" and is a fun set. The green M&M's are from a Valentine bag of M&M's I found at Wal-Mart. The bag said "Green, the new color of love". I picked up two bags and it's perfect for St. Patrick's Day.

WOOHOOO!!!!

Too funny!!!! See, I post a message on a previous post and now I can get on!! I'm not kidding when I say I have been on line WAY too much trying to post on here all week!!!! I wish I could leave this on all nite now that I am being allowed to post, but we have dial up and that's not an option.

So, I am going to show you some things that I have been working on. I hate to show everything at once, cuz then for sure I will be able to get on tomorrow and not have anything to show. LOL!!

Okay, now to some fun stuff...

This little box is BIG on fun! Cambria Turnbow is the brains behind this adorable little box and is featured this week on SCS as the tutorial of the week. You can see step by step how to make this here. If you haven't seen the tutorials on SCS, be sure to check them out. They are all great and so many cool ideas.

This box will hold 4 peppermint patties or 4 round chocolate krispie candies in the Easter candy aisle. I used peppermint patties for this box, but am going to make some Easter boxes with the chocolate/krispy candies. For those of you local, they have them at Alco for $1/pkg. Cambria says you can also get them at Wal-Mart.

Scrap Pile challenge 7-9

3/7: Adding to this post...I have been trying since Monday to post to Blogger and I keep getting error messages for new posts. I can come in and edit older posts, so am adding this message here. I have been sitting here refreshing/rebooting the computer/etc. most of the day trying to get something new uploaded. I have had several people unsub the last week which is fine, but just wanted to let you know, I am still here, but unable to post at this time anything new (now watch, as soon as I post this, it will let me thru. LOL!!). Anyway if this continues, I will try to find a new place to blog. I don't want to pay, so if anyone has any advice of where to go, just send me an e-mail.
Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Well, they are all the same design, but I did get 3 cards from my pile and I am trying to keep track of how many cards/projects I can make from the pile that I posted a few days ago.

I got the layout idea from the 2006 Spring issue of Stamp It! Tresa Black was the designer of the card in there and I like this sketch so much, it is going in my sketch idea book as I will use this one again. The verse was also on her card. I typed it up using the font Chiller (sorry, I have no idea where that font came from). Here is the inside view.

She sewed where I thought I would try "faux sewing" (where you pierce holes and then "connect the dots" with a white pen. easy right? HA!!! Next time I will just use the sewing machine!!! Let's just say it took ONE hour to make three IDENTICAL cards and most of that hour was trying to get a white gel pen (I had THREE) to work with (yes I DO have SU!'s, but still had a terrible time getting them to work), PLUS trying to pierce even hole!!

Anyway, a little tip for putting verses on the inside of a card if you don't want to run cardstock thru a printer, is just to print the verse you want and then layer it on a coordinating color cardstock. Makes the inside look nice too.

St. Patrick's Inspiration Station

Since it's the first of March (where DOES the time go???), I made a "green" Inspiration Station. I need to get a few more things done for St. Patrick's Day and then will quickly make a Easter/Spring Inspiration Station since Easter is early this year.

I am enjoying Michelle Wooderson's idea so much. It is so fun to go thru my things and pick things out that I want to be "front and center" to inspire me for whatever it is that I am working on. This is one of my favorite "after Christmas" finds. I found this at Office Max at 90% off. I think it came to a 76 cents! It is a tea bag holder. I love flavored tea, chickens and green! So this had to go from the kitchen into my "green theme".

In the green and white soup mug are green M&M's-all green. I got them at Wal-Mart for $1.50 when they had their Valentine stuff out. The bag said "Green, the new color of Love" Ü I bought two bags and now wish I would have gotten more. I got them with St. Patrick's Day in mind. (The boys love coming in my room when I am creating and love getting into the candy dish. They thought is was fun when I did the Valentine Inspiration Station, so I am going to do it all year.) The mug is showing from the back. Here is what it looks like from the front.

If you look close in the first picture, you will see two clay figures that Aaron made my last year. The little leprechaun is my favorite. He just makes these up as he goes!! Blows my mind how he just figures this stuff out on his own!!!! The frog is way to cute also!

To Sew or Not to Sew

WOW! I have been trying to get on blogspot ALL DAY!!!!!!!! It is now 5:09 pm and I've been trying since 8 this morning! This is getting very frustrating. I sit here and refresh over and over, reboot the computer several times.... UGH!!!! But I am finally on, so I am going to post several things in case I can't get on again the next couple of days.

I have been busy though. I am working on some submission things (on my own, not requested by a company) that is due Monday. I have also made some St. Pat stuff, some of which I forgot to take a photo of before taking to the LSS. So if it's still there Monday AND I remember my camera, maybe I can get some pics up. I do really like a couple of the things I made.

Ok, so on to the title...I made these for a swap and this is the first card I made. I felt it needed something more, so stitched the next one and liked it better, so made 10 more of them. Ü Which do you like best? Stitched or not? (remember you can click on the photo to see a larger image)

The sentiment is from SU!'s Occasion's mini that you can order from now. The patterned paper is also from there and I love it! I will be getting more of it for sure. So rich and pretty.