back from the beyond

Hidey Ho!  What a crazy last few weeks I've had.  

I had planned on showing you some pics while I was gone but I forgot my camera cord. 

Then, when I got home, the router broke.  So no internet.  Oy! 

But things are back to normal around here.  Whatever normal is.

So let me show you the Valentine creations I made.

Thats the Ticket set.  Real red ink.  Whisper white cardstock.  Real red stitched grosgraing, ticket punch and white bakers twine. 

These are some Valentines I sent to 18 for her friends.

same supplies

These are the ones we made for Grace to hand out.

Worn Alphabet (retired).  Whisper white craft ink.  Real red cardstock.  Paper doily (spring catalog), bakers twine, vintage faceted button.  


I was under the gun to get this sent out to 18 in time for Valentine's.  I used an old spaghetti jar. 

I seem to like the doilies better when wrinkled.  Kind of like me, I guess.

Worn Alphabet (retired), woodgrain and Fabulous Phrases.  Real red and crumb cake cardstock.  Whisper white craft and real red ink.  Paper doily, labels framelits, big shot, vintage faceted button, designer silver basics buttons, natural trim, bakers twine, jewelry tag punch, linen thread and sticky rhinestones.

I do not have a heart punch or die so, I had to make these hearts the old fashioned way.  Fold a piece of cardstock and cut it out. 

For Grace

For The Boy.  When Grace saw his she said, "why does he get the pretty button?"  Geez.....

Since I had more time for these I just spray painted the lids.  Much easier. 

No stamps!  No ink!  Crumb cake cardstock.  Really really really old DSP, sewing machine and paper piercer.


This is the card I made for The Hubs.  I saw a card almost exactly like this in last months PaperCrafts mag. 

I lightly drew the heart with a pencil and then used my paper piercer to very carefully scratch the design in. Because of course my paper piercer is slightly bent at the very tip.  

This is what The Hubs made me.  Its mahogany.  So pretty!  I love wood.  Betcha couldn't tell huh?

Alrighty then, that was our Valentine's Day.  I know its late but maybe you can use these ideas for something else.   Or just save them for next year. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out.  You give me warm fuzzies......in a good way.

Blessings, b.

slowly but surely......

.........its taken me over a week to get this post together.  And its not even all that exciting. 

But I want to share with you anyway.

First things first, Valentine's Day.

Yep, it was 10 days ago and I'm just now getting around to showing you what I made.  I am a magnet for distraction. 

No stamps!  Crumb cake, whisper white, real red, early espresso and melon mambo cardstock.  Soft suede ink.  Simple alpha die, big shot, label framelits, small heart punch, large paper doily die, double ribbon punch, cork sheets, lattice embossing folder, designer frames embossing folders, wide oval punch, wood sheets, bakers twine, hemp, forest lodge DSP (retired), and dimensionals.


Kid Valentine treats.  I got these cute little paint cans in the $spot at Target.  Love Target!  They each held an entire bag of candy.  I'm embarrassed to say it didn't take them too long to eat them all either. 

I used the wood sheets with the Label Framelits (occasions mini).  It cut with no problem at all.  Niiiiice.

For the girls' tags I cut a label and then embossed it with the Designer Frames embossing folders.  Then I took a dauber with the soft suede ink and daubed ink on the raised dots to give it a litttle definition. 

I then used the lattice embossing folder and punched out some wide ovals.  Super easy but looks involved.

Here are the tops.  I cut down the large paper doily, (I love that thing!) to fit the lid.  I left the boy's naked.

Fabulous Phrases and woodgrain.  Crumb cake, real red and whisper white cardstock.  Black Stazon and crumb cake inks.  Wood sheets, bakers twine, sponging, red craft paint, paper towel tube, jewelry tag punch and dimensionals.

This is the card I made the for the Husband.  4.25 x 4.25.  I love these wood sheets.  They cut just like cardstock.  I didn't have a heart stamp the right size or thickness so I made my own.  Here is how I did the hearts:

I cut down the paper towel tube.  Using a toilet paper one would delete the cutting down part.  But you got that right?

I pinched it on the bottom and then pushed in the top.  To keep the shape I used a rubberband. 

I had to use our ancient mouse pad in order to get a good impression. 

Stamp the background, put it all together and you get, this.  I'm loving that cute little jewelry tag punch.

I popped up the wood sheet with dimensionals. 

12 days ago we also went to Arizona to check out NAU.  Very nice place.  The food was good.  17 seemed to like it. 

In a few weeks we are going to Oregon.  Anybody in the Portland or Eugene or Ashland areas?  We will be there a week looking at colleges and checking out the housing market.  This is one of the states we are considering moving to.  Is there anything we should see or do?  I appreciate any and all ideas.


We also had our very last Father/Daughter dance.  Sniff.  We are having a whole bunch of "lasts" this year.  Its all going too fast and I'm trying to soak it all in. 

For some reason dad is out of focus.  They took pics there so hopefully they were both in focus for those. 

Alrighty then, thats all for now.  Who Do You Think You Are? is on and I love that show.  I'm going to be very crafty in the next few weeks so hopefully I'll have lots to show you.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  You give me warm fuzzies.

Blessings, b.

carrots in love

Hey!  Sorry about the absence......again. 

So, I haven't unloaded my camera for about a month.  I had quite a few miscellaneous pics on there and I won't show you them all but, I did want to show you these:

About a month ago I pulled my carrots.  And trimmed back the chili plants.  Those are Poblanos.  I planted 2 different kinds of carrots this year.  They both tasted really good.  In fact I had cooked some for dinner and the Hubs said, "they taste carrotier."  Okaaaaaaaay.......

So do you see those ones on the far left there?

If you don't thin your carrot patch when they are small, you might get this.  Hmmm........and now I'm speechless because anything I think of saying right now is inappropriate.  So I'll just leave it at that.


I am taking 17 on a college tour out of town tomorrow and we won't be back until really late Monday night so I knew I needed to get Grace's teacher Valentines done before I left. 

Then I thought I'd make a point of posting them here so maybe you might get inspired to make some teacher Valentines too.................well, if you needed any, that is.

I {heart} Hearts set.  Crumb cake, whisper white and real red cardstock.  Real red and pretty in pink inks.  Lable Framelits, polka dot embossing folder, big shot, cherry cobbler twine, small heart punch.


These were pretty darn simple to make.  For the smaller ones, I just cut one of the largest Framelits.  For the big ol' Hershey bar I had to cut 2 of the large ones, cut them down and glue together. 

After I cut the Framelit, I embossed it with the polka dots.  The tag is just the smallest Framelit.  Love that baker's twine!

This is one of those peanut butter Snicker squares.  They are about 1" thick so I scored 1/2" of either side of the middle of the die cut and folded.  Doesn't get much easier.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Alrighty then, I haven't had much, if any, computer time lately and I have a squillion emails to go through.  But its going to have to wait until Tuesday.  I hate having a clogged inbox.  Or maybe Wednesday.  I forgot that I have to make Valentine's for my family when I get back.  It would be very unlike me to be ahead on too many things. 

Thanks so much for your continued patience and visiting even though I've been very inconsistent.  Things will smooth out.......promise.

Blessings, b.

Valentine's Day continued............

ello govna  (that is 16's greeting to you all)

Hey everyone (my greeting),  its definitely a TGIF kinda day around here.  Although I have had 3 days of feeling pretty darn good. WooHoo!!  Hopefully the Creeping Crud won't come back. 

So today I wanted to show you the Valentines I made for the girls.

Remember, this is what they started out as.

This is how they ended up.

Woodgrain background and Well Scripted (retired).  Whisper white, soft suede, early espresso, riding hood red, marina mist, crumb cake and old olive cardstock.  Soft suede, Marina mist, crumb cake and black Stazon inks.  Sm. and Lg. oval punches, little leaves die, big shot, 2 step bird punch, small heart punch, sticky rhinestones, black sharpie and dimensionals.


This was alot of fun to make.  I love how it turned out.  I freehanded the tree, that was interesting.  Its really hard to make branches look natural.  Well, hard for me. 

I took one of our sticky rhinestones and colored it black with a Sharpie and used it for her eye.  Nifty eh?

This is the daddy bird.  Its hard to tell in this pic but I sponged some clouds.  Its much more noticable looking at it in front of me here. 

This one was for 16 and she seemed to like it alot. 

Here is Grace's

Inspired by Nature, Flight of the Butterfly and Well Scripted (retired).  Whisper white and poppy parade cardstock.  Old olive, bashful blue, black Stazon and pumpkin pie inks.  Beautiful butterflies die, big shot, transparencies, polka dot embossing folder, sticky rhinestones. 


She is much more girly than 16 so I used alot of rhinestones on hers.  Good thing they're cheap.  I need to order more.

I thought maybe the transparency would make it look like the wings were fluttering really fast.  Not sure I achieved that but it still looks cool. 

So there ya go.  My special Valentines for my special Valentines. 

Tonight was also a special night.

 The Father/Daughter dance. 

Ahhh............my husband dreads looks forward to it every year.  After tonight he only has one year left.  I tell him to enjoy it because he won't be dancing with her again, most likely, until her wedding.  And I'm hoping that is at least 15 years away. 

They are home now and she had an awesome time!  Thanks Daddy!

Alrighty then, thats it for tonight.  I want to hear all the details of the dance. 

Thanks for stopping by.  You make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

Blessings, b.

She's Alive!!

Hey stampers!  Another round of the Creeping Crud has come to live at our house.  Even my trusty Nyquil wasn't kicking it.  But I persevered and fought the good fight and have beaten it into submission............for now. 

It has been rampant throughout my school and I've become best friends with hand sanitizer.  Why don't parents teach their children to cough or sneeze into their arm?  I can't tell you how many times in the past 3 weeks I've said, "cough into your elbow (I model this for them because they've only seen me or their teacher model it a thousand times and apparently they need a thousand and one or two).  We don't want your germs."

 I visit 5 classrooms a day.  You would think I would be immune to germs by now...........or dead.

So anyhow, I've really missed you.  I think about you all the time.  I have been stamping and have new goodies to show you.  Its just that by the time all my chores are done for the day, I'm just to tired to talk to you. 

Don't take it personally. 

So today I want to show you the Valentine goodies I made for my family.  

(Holy Cow!  I just went and put my watermark on all the pics and there are so many!  So I'll just be showing you the men's projects today)

  Woodgrain background, I {heart} hearts and Well scripted (retired).  Soft suede, whisper white and crumb cake cardstock.  Black Stazon, Soft suede and Riding hood read inks.  Corner rounder, natural hemp, misc. white button and dimensionals. 

My husband works with wood all the time.  So most every card I make for him has a wood theme.  I thought the button might be pushing it but, it needed it.

I freehanded the heart and put 4 dimensionals in the center and then just one on each side.  I wanted it to really stand out. 

This is what the kids Valentine's started out as.  Sometimes hoarding cans, bottles, tiles, wood chips, candles, misc. game pieces, etc.....are a good thing.  Funny how they are pretty much the same size.  Lucky for me because they practically measure things just to make sure no one gets more than the other.  Geesh!

Well Scripted (retired) and Woodgrain background.  Crumb cake, riding hood red and choc. chip cardstock.  Black Stazon and crumb cake ink.  Heart to heart punch, dimensionals and DSP that retired about a million years ago. 


Every year I make a special little something to hold a little something for the kids for Valentine's Day, and every year my boy gives his back.............after the candy is gone. 

Several years ago I made my hubby a "Can O' Love" out of a Pringles can and decorated it with this paper.  Everytime there is a special holiday or occasion I fill it with candy for him.  He LOVES candy!  So this is a "Can O' Love" for my boy.  We'll see if he keeps this or not.  I don't have my hopes up. 

So there ya go!  The cans I made for the girls are much more involved.  But they keep the things I make them so I put a little more effort into it. 

Alrighty then, time for bed.

Thanks so much for continuing to stop by and check up on me.  I've disenfected things so many times I don't see how any germs are left and I hope to be back to a more regular blogging schedule.  I miss you guys. 

Blessings, b.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a great day. 

I tried fiddling with the blog formatting yesterday and downloaded a new formatting thingy.  Sometimes when I post, it scrunches up the text towards the bottom and doesn't flow right and I can't correct it.  So we'll see if this works better.  From this point of view, things are already different.  So wish me luck here. 

Yesterday, Grace and I sold Girl Scout Cookies with our troop.  Our troop is dwindling down and we only have 8 girls.  4 of them came yesterday.  They had fun but were sure ready to go home after the 2 hours were up.  So was I. 

Okay, are you sitting down?  I have a news flash, my husband actually sat down at my desk and MADE me a Valentine card this morning.  I promised I wouldn't show it here.  There is no actual stamping on it but he did use punches.  WOW!


So, I wanted to show you the Valentine's I made for my family.  I made little boxes, 3 1/2" square and 2 1/2" tall and filled them with candy for the kiddos.   Heres a reminder on how I made the boxes.  Mind you, these are a different size, you just gotta do the math.

No stamps!  Melon Mambo,whisper white and old olive cardstock.  Small heart punch (occasions mini), coluzle, large oval punch, scallop border punch, brads and dimensionals. 

Pretty huh?  I wanted to make something they could keep out on their dressers after the candy was gone and fill with some kind of kid treasure.   I just punched the little heart through the white so the pink would show through. 

The scallop circle punch that I used before was going to make too small of a flower, so I used the Coluzzle to cut out bigger ones.  I cut 4 big ones and 3 the next size smaller.  Then I did the same thing that I did here.   Then I just punched out 2 leaves using the oval punch, scrunched them up and glued the whole thing together. 

This is some really old pink organza ribbon we used to sell.  I used the scallop trim border punch along the bottom of the lid.  Extra pretty!


I made Grace's lid a different color.  Instead of Melon Mambo I used Regal Rose. 

Really old white organza we used to sell.

I used 2 big circles of  Rose Red, 1 big circle of Melon Mambo, 3 smaller circles of Regal Rose and a 1 3/4" punched circle of Rose Red.   I think it came out so pretty!  I wrote  little love notes on the inside of their lids. 


Now for the boy's box.  

Lovely as a Tree and Sanded background.  Kraft, soft suede, basic black and watercolor paper.  Stazon Black ink, soft suede, more mustard and old olive inks.  Aquapainter and dimensionals. 

I still had out the stuff from the last card I made so I thought I'd use it for this too.  This way its not all Valentiney and he can leave it out on his dresser.

Crooked lid!  I think I overfilled it with candy.

Now here is the one I made for my hubby.  Remember the "Can O' Love"?  Its just a Pringles can that I covered with DSP several years ago.  Every holiday I fill it up with candy. 

I {heart} Hearts and Woodgrain background.  Kraft, soft suede, basic blackand whisper white cardstock.  Soft suede and real red inks.  Sponges, hemp and dimensionals. 

You may wonder why everything is wood looking.  He works with wood.  Well, actually right now, he works with everything.  He works for a home builder.  But his first love (besides me) is wood.  He can make anything from wood.  Seriously, he can. 

Its so funny, when I look at a card, it looks great and wonderful.  I look at this pic and it seems my hearts are going downhill.  Why don't I notice that when I'm making it.  I just went to look at it again and really, it isn't that noticeable.  Oh well.   

Okay, I'm finished for today.  I'm gonna hit "publish post" and we'll see what happens. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings, b.