very sad...

Yesterday I took Benjamin to meet the bus at my brother's and as I was leaving my brother waved me down and said the hospital had called dad to say gr'ma was unresponsive (gr'ma was in a nursing home connected to the hospital). I told him to call Bruce and let him know I was going on to the hospital. By the time I got there, gr'ma had already passed away. They are saying it was a massive stroke.
I was in town most of the day and will be gone today for Benjamin's meet and then tomorrow, cousins are going to get together to make a memory board. Funeral is Saturday. I won't be on line for a few days.
I have wonderful wonderful memories of gr'ma and will share some of them with you all later.

WANTED

inside says: "to wish you a happy birthday"

Help! I am scaring myself here!!!!!! Anyone who knows me knows I am soooooo NOT a western person! I do NOT like country music and have never liked any thing western and now I am ordering western stamps, western paper from Cosmo Cricket and SU! and loving the western look. *gasp* I think it may be because it's also shabby chic looking which I do LOVE! Anyway here's my cowboy! Ü Had to add a little sewing to give an even more distressed look. I stamped him in basic grey ink (for a softer look with watercoloring) Not fond of the turquoise jeans (thought I was grabbing not quite navy). In my defense I am blaming Beate and Debbie Olson Ü for the sudden interest in *western* stamped art! Ü (be sure to ck their blogs for some AWESOME cards with a western flair).

Supply list:
stamps: Inky Antics
paper/cs, brads, watercolor crayons, inkpad: SU!
watercolor paper: unknown
other: sewing machine

Friday Blog Challenge #11

challenge: use the layout on page 12 of the Holiday Mini (star card)

This challenge was much easier for me. I needed a thank you card to get in the mail today and had this idea in my head. It pretty much came out like I was thinking.

supply list:

Stamp set: True Friend by SU! I stamped the "thank u" and then with a q-tip took the ink off of the brackets

papers by SU!, Karen Foster, Basic Grey and newsprint paper unknown-came in a paper pack I got once and had never used

ink & jute: SU!

metal stars had prongs on them: unknown

large star: cut with Cricut using George cartridge @ 3.5". I cut 3 of scrap cardstock and one of the Basic Grey to immulate chipboard.

Cool Bookmark idea

I got this idea from here. Thank you Mary Jo for sharing this fun project. I love to read and can never have enough bookmarks. Ü I made mine different because I didn't have the scallop punch or the big eyelets. So I cut the flower on blackout option from the Cricut using the George cartridge. I cut 3 from white cardstock at 2.5" and 1 from the patterned paper. Instead of holding it together with an eyelet, I used a jumbo brad by Heidi Swapp. The patterned paper for the large flower is from the Cutie Pie paper kit by SU! Also from SU!, I used the canvas stamp, So Saffron and Chocolate Chip ink and for the little flower under the brown brad I used Big Flowers stamp set.

I am always needing fun quick *craft* ideas for our ladies group at church once a month. I think this will be fun to do at one of the meetings.

Here is a view of the bookmark on a page in a book to show you how it works.

Friday's Blogger Challenge

was to use the layout in the current SU! catalog on page 92, the train. This was sooo hard for me as I do not like that card! (understatement here Ü)Here is what I came up with...I used new papers from SU!. The "happy" is cut with Cricut cartridge Stamped. Be sure to ck out what the others gals did. You can find their blogs on the left.

Raggedy Doll

I was "talking" to Anna via blogging/e-mail. Her post here reminded me of all the craft shows I used to do. Unfortunately, I only have one doll to show for all those years of work! This gal is definitely time worn! Kinda like I feel sometimes. LOL! The fabrics were tea granules-dyed and then hung on the line to give it a more shabby look. I also tea dyed an old doily and used an old button. You can't see it in the picture, but she also has a patch on her dress and bloomers. The lighting isn't too good today, but here is a pic of her and here is where she sits in my antique cupboard. You can see that I also like old things...spools, books, blocks (still need a "b" and "e" to finish spelling out my name), glasses, doilies (the top doily gr'ma made), toys, etc as well as Boyd Bears © (thank you Gloria Ü)

Too Funny!

If you are a mom and you've EVER taken kids to the store, you just gotta read this...this is just too funny! Be sure to not be eating or drinking at the computer when you read this or you WILL spew on the screen. I laughed sooo hard!

Get Punchy Friday Blog Challenge

For this week we were to use punches. This week has been very busy with cross country and Benjamin's birthday, parent meetings, etc that I am pulling a card from the archives. WOOHOO! Benjamin made varsity. They took the best times from the top 10 and he was 3rd. His first meet is next Thursday.

This card was using scraps and the 3 flower punch from SU! Be sure to check what the other gals did. You can find there blogs from the list on the left side.

Blogger's Challenge #8

This week's challenge was "Inspiration". We were to find something that inspires us-clothing, magazine ad, color, anything-and design a card.

I came across this ad in a Family Circle magazine and the colors intrigued me. I would never have thought to put these colors together and I love the combo! I will definitely be using these together again! The colors I used were SU!'s Old Olive, Cool Caribbean (retired), So Saffron, and Really Rust. I added the black brads for the black shown in the photo. I used Paisley on the rust and Canvas on the olive to represent the textures in the photo. On the pillow on the chair there is a rick rack edging, so made that look in caribbean with photo corners. Here is a look at the back of my card to see how I lined them up. (you can also see what I first tried on the rust and decided I didn't like it so went with the paisley Ü)

Be sure to click on the gals on the left under blogger's challenge and see what inspired them this week.

Inky True Friend

The background for this card was made using 3 different Inky Antic clear stamp sets. The verse and photo corners are SU!

Blogger's Challenge for 8/3

I was on "vacation", so wasn't able to get this one done last Friday. Even though it's late, I really wanted to do it as it was my suggestion AND I love this layout. The challenge was to use the card on page 165 in the current SU! catalog as a sketch challenge. I knew I wanted to do flowers. I really wanted to make it just like the photo but with different colors, but didn't have any metal edged circle tag. So I went with a different direction. The green flower is on the ribbon instead of the brads. I like things in uneven numbers and the 2 flowers bothered me. (insert rolling eyes)

I used SU!'s Spring Flowers designer paper and Big Blooms stamp set which is also retired. Oh yeah the "wish" is retired too. The brads are from JoAnn Fabrics. Unfortunately, it comes in a set of brown, lavendar and green and I am using up all the browns! Ü Anyway I think on another post I mentioned how much I enjoy sewing on CS. The flower image has dots in a circular pattern on the inside of the flower, so I french-knotted them in embroidery floss (from my cross stitch days) to match the ink. Sponged all the edges with Chocolate Chip ink, added the ribbon that I rec'd from some blog candy I won awhile back.

You all probably know/do this, but in case there is someone who doesn't, here is an easy way to get a nice "knot" with ribbon...

1. attach ribbon to the back of your card with adhesive (note: do NOT add adhesive to the front. I also make card fronts and then add them to white cardstock from Wal-Mart to save money on the colored cs/patterned paper)

2. Cut a piece of ribbon 3.5" - 4" (depending on how long you want the "tails" and slip through the ribbon attached to the card

3. Tie into a knot and trim the ends.

In Memory of Kim

This is a bag I made for the Fillmore County Relay For Life in memory of my friend Kim who lost her battle to cancer on Christmas last year. There is a second pic of the bag on the track. Bags are made by people who donate to the ACS in honor or memory of someone. You then get to decorate your bag and they line them up around the track at the high school. They put candles in them and light them at nite to walk by (7 pm to 7 am). I wasn't able to stay to see the bag lit (that's why there are holes punched in it).

SU! Party cards

As mentioned in the previous post I went to a SU! party with a friend of Vicki's. I think it's been about 4 years since I've been to an actual party!! (I've been to a workshop, but not a party) These are the 3 cards that we made. Of course I had to "grunge" everything to make it my own. Ü It was fun using new products from SU! and using stamp sets that I don't own.

This first card is 3" x 6". It is to fit the long envelopes that I don't have. I wish she would have given us an envelope to stamp to go with it, but I'm sure the idea was to buy them Ü I'm just going to put it in a regular envy that you mail your cks/bills in. This was my least favorite card of the 3. We stamped the white panel first with green using a leaf wheel and then rolled over it w/ rose red using a flower wheel. I rolled over the punched flower cuz I thought it was too plain and "grunged" all the edges. If I were doing this myself I would sponge the edges, but didn't have my sponges with me, so just used the edge of the ink pad.

For this next card we were only to put glitter on four spots on the butterfly, but I put it on all the white circles and the dots at the end of the antennae. The gal mounts all her stamps at the bottom of the wood block. That was kinda weird for me as I like mine center mounted so I don't "rock" the block. I don't like that the verse is crooked, but I do like the card. We used new SU! in colors Purely Pomegranate and Blue Bayou. For the white doodling, she just showed to add dots, but I added a few dashes as well. I think I am going to stamp a different saying a cover up the crooked one. Ü

This is my FAVORITE!! If you know me at all, you know why...favorite colors and favorite time of year...FALL!!! Ü For this card I again added the "grunging", ribbon and pop dots behind the leaf panel. I don't have any of these sets/stamps and loved making this card! I will DEFINITELY be getting some of those big eyelets! I can see using these in boys' scrapbooks.

I'm Home

The boys & I took my nephew home (2.5 hr drive one way) Thursday morning and stayed til Saturday afternoon. The boys had a lot of fun. A friend of my SIL's came over Thursday nite to stamp/scrap, but we ended up sharing ideas and visiting til 11 pm, so met again the next day to actually do something. I still didn't get much done, but got lots of ideas.
My SIL was busy working on the walk for a cure (for the American Cancer Society). People decorate white bags for a loved one that is going thru cancer or has lost the battle to cancer. They line these up around the track at the high school and people are on teams and walk from 7 pm to 7 am (Sat/Sun). They put candles inside and light them so that they glow at nite. I wish I could have seen this, but we needed to get home. I made one for my friend Kim that I will post tomorrow.
On Saturday, I went to a SU! party. It was lots of fun. Been a LONG time since I've been to a SU! party!! We made 3 cards that I will post tomorrow. Trying to get caught up on my e-mails now.

Guava Birthday

Here is a fun card I made at a Crop for a Cure crop a couple of Saturday's ago (there were also stampers there). The SU! demo let everyone make one of these cards. I made it my "own" by adding the brads, additional sponging and adding the guava ribbon instead of the white one that came with the kit. We also got to make a matching envelope.(thanks Jeni! Ü) I am loving this guava color!

Baby bunny

I have had several Inky Antic images colored for weeks and am just now getting them onto cards. I have a bag that has stamped images, colored pencils and gamsol. So easy to take places where I know I will have time to color. Then when I have time I try to turn them into cards. Once in awhile I will take patterned paper with me to match the colors, but usually not.

Thankfully someone (thanks Mackbrad Ü) sent me some 6 x 6 sheets of patterned paper for my birthday LAST year and this orange plaid was just perfect and I didn't even have it with me when I colored the bunny! The blue dots is from SU!-retired now I think.

This type of card is called a tent card. Michelle Wooderson is the author of this very fun type of card. This is my first try at it.

I cut my card base 4.25" x 4.25". Then I layered the stamped image, so that the height is 5.5". It fits into a card sized envelope perfectly. Ribbon and rickrack (both now retired) are SU!

Vintage Grateful

If you read my blog you know I purchased some vintage ribbons and lace this week. LOOK I am using them! Ü The flower is made from 2 different clear Inky Antic stamp sets. The large part of the flower had two rows of dots. I stamped it in black on Cosmo Cricket patterned paper and then pierced the dots. The button is from a box of vintage buttons I purchased on another trip. In the scan it looks glossy, but IRL is a distressed pearl. The thread was already attached.

The rust background was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder (love those things for quick backgrounds!) and then lightly sponged with brown ink.

"Grateful" is by SU!.

Hot Pink!

WOW! This is BRIGHT! Reminds me of an Hawaiian shirt. Ü I still like it though. I used some black to tone it down a bit. The little black ribbon tab was an after thought. It is the piece that I cut off when I trimmed the ribbon behind the "happy birthday" piece and started to throw it away. Then I thought "why not use it" and I really like it there on the upper left...balances the knot on the lower right.

Sorry for the crooked picture. I am still trying to learn this digital camera stuff. Plus I took the picture outside and it was a little windy.

*Smile*

I had fun making this card. I had this idea in my head and it came out pretty close to what I was thinking. To make the ribbon slide, I cut 5 pieces of cardstock (4 white and 1 pink). I punched slots in one and then lined it up with the other pieces to be even. Layered them together and brushed the edges with pink ink. This gives the appearance of chipboard. "Smile" and the flowers were embossed in white and then sponged over in pink several times to get the darker look. The background was stamped in pink just to fill the empty space.

Blogger's Challenge

I wasn't able to do the last two challenges, so was glad to participate again this week. For this challenge we were to make an item that you could put a gift in...box, bag, etc. I love these "NIB" bags that I saw Ellen Hutson come up with on SCS. Click HERE & HERE to see hers. (You can also do a "genie bag" search and see many more. I'm giving Ellen credit as I saw hers first and she shared the instructions with me. The instructions listed below are just my version)

To make cut down a paper lunch sack to about 4".

Cut two pieces of cardstock 6" length and the width will be the width of the sack.

Decorate one piece of the cut cardstock. This will be the front. (You can decorate the back too if you wish, I didn't).


Punch a hole for the handle in the top of both pieces of cs.

Adhere one piece to the front of the bag and one to the back.

There you have a fun gift bag that you can fill with goodies. Here are several ideas that I have made...the fall colored ones are images from Inky Antics. The winter ones are images from The Angel Company.

Don't forget to click on the Blogger's Challenge list on the left to see what the other gals came up with. There are some AWESOME ideas out there!

3 Flowers

This card was made using a clear stamp set from Inky Antics. I stamped the flower in black on Cosmo Cricket patterned paper and cut out. Then using a mouse pad and embossing tool, I embossed between the two rows of dots on the edge to give it some dimension.

The colors from this paper set match SU!'s Really Rust cardstock perfectly. I embossed that with Cuttlebug's Happy Birthday embossing folder, distressed everything with brown ink and layered together. The light rust flower is mounted with pop dots. I finished it off with a brown knotted ribbon.

*Dahlia*

I think that's what this flower is. Anyway....I STAMPED! Such a wonderful feeling. A confession of why I haven't stamped much lately... I have been having a terrible time with stamping, missing Kim, etc. Almost ALL of my cards and artwork went to her! So to sit down and make something seemed useless to me, cuz who was I going to send it to? I really had to do some soul searching as to why I stamp and if I was going to continue doing it. I decided that being creative is a gift from God and I was doing Him and others a disservice by not using that talent/gift. Also, Kim would be sad to know that I wasn't stamping. She was my biggest cheerleader and she would want me to continue. So even though I am selling lots of stamp stuff, it's just because I need to really *use* what I buy and only buy what I will *use* (and not hoard cuz it's too pretty).

So here is a card I made today. Even though Kim was a girly girl (pink stuff and PURSES Ü), she loved my *grunge* cards and items and owned several. I love how this turned out! The scan distorted the colors a bit. The flower matches the patterned paper perfectly. Patterned paper is *Wanted* by Cosmo Cricket. I LOVE this paper! (no more hoarding...have to use Ü) I think the paper alone makes the card.

I stamped the flower 3 times in different colors (using Colorbox chalk ink) and then cut them out, distressed the edges by sponging w/ dk brown ink and curling the edges and then layered them. The center is french knots. I enjoy sewing on paper. The tab is Cosmo Cricket, word on tab SU! and vintage lace to finish off the card. Oh and the bkgrd square behind the flower is actually from the front sheet of the Cosmo pkg just showing the patterned paper inside. I didn't want to waste any of this lovely paper and it was the perfect size.

Vintage ribbon find

I love it when I find fun stuff like this. I love old ribbons, lace and rick rack. This was at a flea market type store in Sargent. All of this was under $2! Can you believe it?! The full cards had a 10 cent price on them. I love using these type of things on my *grunge* cards. The *ribbon* is actually satin seam tape. So soft and in so many colors! Some of the seam tape is rayon. See the next post for a card where I used the old crocheted lace.

I'm still here....really!

WOW! I have been so busy and really thought that this summer I would be able to post every day or at least almost every day. I haven't even been able to stamp and scrap like I wanted, so that IS busy! Ü I did get to go to a crop Saturday. It was a Crop for a Cure and the proceeds went to the American Cancer Society. I had a wonderful time. I was able to get 9 pages done in Benjamin's album and that was a wonderful feeling. I still want his freshman year done before school starts which is August 16th. Not sure that will happen, but sure am going to try.

My nephew is here (came Sunday nite) and will be here until next week and then we will either keep him another week or take him back mid week and the boys and I will stay at my brother's til the end of the week. It all depends on Godstock and who the artists are. In this tiny village of Comstock, a guy started concerts in his pasture. In June is called the Windmill Festival and it's all country music artists, in July it's the Rock concert and in August it is contemporary Christian music which I like. (I am NOT a country music fan)

Anyway they had listed Apologetix which I love and so do my sons, but when I ck'd the website today, Apologetix was not listed, so we may not go.

Here is a project I did a year ago (I promise something new will be coming soon-I hope!). It is an altered *altoids* tin (actually a different brand, but you get the idea). Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions as to how I made it. I just made an accordian folded piece to fit inside the tin. This is the tin.





This is one side of the accordian fold






and this is the other side.

another card from the archives

I am hoping to be able to create something new today. But until then here is a favorite card of mine that I did a couple of years ago.I stamped the image on acetate w/ stazon, colored on the back w/ Fabrico markers, then applied a thin layer of crystal effects and let dry a little bit and then sprinkled glitter on the whole thing.

Stamps: Nature's Sketchbook, All the Best
Paper: copper, Not Quite Navy, Bordering Blue
Ink: Stazon Black, fabrico markers, copper
Accessories: acetate, copper brad, copper EP and copper thread

Belize Journal 6/3 last one

"This morning I got up and got ready to go. Before we had to meet 2 went down to the shore to get a shark tooth necklace. I got the necklace went back to the hotel and we packed up our stuff and left. When we got to the airport on San Pedro Island we didn't have to wait very long. The airplane was very tiny, but it was really cool because we didn't go above the clouds. ...We flew to Belize City and then to Houston. In Houston we went and ate dinner. I got a sandwich and banana split. The banana split was awesome. They cut the banana in half, put it in the dish, put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in and then you got to do the rest. You could pick two scoops of ice cream plus there was a bar of topping and you could put any amount of toppings you wanted on. After we got done eating Tyce, Bethany, Taylor and I all played sinco (a dice game). We didn't play for very long until we had to leave. The airplane ride back took forever because they had too much weight. When they got that problem over with there were so many other planes that had to take off all at the same time. When we finally got airborn we flew to Omaha. There we got off , got our stuff and left for Broken Bow. When I got to the Son Life Center I loaded up my stuff in our car, went home and went to bed."

mom's note: This was our anniversary and a wonderful gift to have our son home and safe Ü

Blogger's Challenge #3

I wasn't able to get the 2nd challenge done, but here is challenge #3. We were to make a Christmas card using non traditional colors. The photo was printed on shimmery white cardstock and is taken from our yard. Be sure to click on each of the gals under Blogger's Challenge gals to see what they did.

We have a winner!

CAKVD said...
How about 43 years old?

CAKVD you are correct! Ü Please e-mail me your name and mailing address and I will get a goodie in the mail to you.

Thank you all for playing.

Belize Journal 6/2

"After breakfast Taylor and I went out to look around at the stores...I got so much stuff. For supper we went to a restaurant on the beach. I got coconut chicken that was really good."

Thank you!

Many thanks for all the birthday e-mails I rec'd. I was amazed by the ones I rec'd from you, my readers. So I decided to do a little blog candy. The first person to correctly post my age will receive a goody from me. Ü

Grilled Chicken Marinade

Happy almost 4th of July! For a small village, Comstock puts on a big celebration. It starts early in the morning with rolls and coffee at the Sr. Center followed by a parade at 10:30. Then there is a BBQ at the community hall, but family come here for a BBQ. Then games in the afternoon, karaoke, then ball games until dark and fireworks to end the day.

We are having hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill along with grilled chicken. Here is the recipe for the marinade...

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP dried onion
1 TBSP parsley
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 boneless chicken breasts

Combine all the ingredients except the chicken and blend well. Pour into a large ziplock bag. Add the chicken, turning to coat with the marinade. Refreigerate 8 hours turning occasionally. Drain and grill or broil chicken 4-5 inches from heat for 6 minutes per side or until the juices run clear.

Enjoy! Ü