A Little View of My Backyard

It is sucha  pleasant day today!  It was cloudy and/or rainy and cold all week.  I got home from work today and am a fishing widow.  It's opening fishing day here in MN, so my hubby and his twin brother are out fishing.  Last I heard the weather was gorgeous, but the fishing was not so hot.  It's just too nice out, I think.  But as long as they are having fun (and telling lots of jokes and stories) I am sure they are having a good time!

I went out to see what's in bloom right now.  First of all, I have to tell you that we just do not have a perfectly groomed lawn.  I love to show people my flower beds, but expect to see some weeds and grass mixed in!  Our north and east side are surrounded by woods, and we firmly believe in keeping things natural.  There are so many critters that play in the woods that I can't imagine disturbing the friendly little forest they have to live in!  I've got hostas and lilies along the woods and on the east side I have a shade garden.  Below the deck is filled with flowers and in the midst there is a tiny little natural pond.  That is for the frogs that live in the backyard.  Better in the pond then jumping anywhere near me!!

I am in the house now for the afternoon, so I am going to get some reading and scrapbooking done.  I have actually been able to sneak in quite a few pages this week, but I didn't have anything new or spectacular to show you, so they went right in the album.  I am trying to finish a couple of different albums, so I'm glad I'll have some time to do to work a little more.  My mother-in-law is coming over tomorrow so that we can spend the day working together.  I am really excited about that!!

Oh, just one more thing.  I started teaching a new class yesterday with Unity stamps.  Gosh, if you are anywhere near an Archiver's, hop over and try to fit that class in.  We are working with Cosmo Cricket Material Girl paper and a few different stamp sets.  Just lovely!!  Ok, now I am heading off to scrapbook!!

Lucky Me from Little Yellow Bicycle

That is the paper I've used for these layouts and cards. The greens and blues of this paper were perfect for these pictures. (I've erased the addresses on the pictures - that's the crude white blocks.) These handsome nephews of mine graduated in different years, but these pages will go side by side in the "cousins" book for Shane.

Other items used: American Crafts Thickers, LYB buttons, K&Company chipboard & rub-ons, Melody Ross chipboard sentiments, Bazzill flowers, CTMH brads, May Arts ribbon

I had some scraps leftover from making the pages, so here's a couple of cards that I will send off to OWH.

Other items used: May Arts ribbon, Bazzill flower, LYB buttons & border strips, CTMH brads, Unity & Tim Holtz stamps

American Crafts Layout

I wanted to complete a quick layout before I leave for work this morning, so this is what I came up with.  There is a challenge over at American Crafts to use two or more brads, so I incorporated their lovely fabric brads into this layout.

I've used American Crafts I Do and Dear Lizzy paper.  The pink polka dot paper is fabric adhesive paper - LOVE working with it!  The flowers are Petaloo and Prima.  The chipboard flower was painted with Ranger Worn Lipstick distress paint and then covered with Glossy Accents.  The yo-yo is made with fabric and thread - so easy!!  The letters are AC Thickers, the ribbon is May Arts, and the little flair is also American Crafts.  Such pretty colors in these two paper lines!

You are My Sunshine

I had full intentions of spending this rainy day doing some much needed scrapping.  However, as is what happens to all of us, life gets in the way!  But I do have a fun card to show you. that I made a couple of weeks ago.

I've used Bo Bunny Max & Whiskers paper for this card.  It truly was so simple to make!  The stamp set is CTMH's Treasure Life.  Those weeds are individual, and I randomly stamped them with Versamark before embossing them with Vanilla Zing.  Simple, but sweet - and could easily be given to a honey.

Do any of you have allergies to your pets?  I have been so allergy ridden this spring, and I finally found out it would be best to have shots.  I am good with Sassy but I think my pretty little Chanel causes me some allergy problems.  Now I just have to get over my fear of shots so that I can do this!

My last stops of the day were Target and Cub Foods.  This is never a fun trip, but I went in armed with my coupons today.  I just have to share how much I saved.  Between the two stops, I saved $133.86!!  Yippee!!  That doesn't happen too often, but it sure is fun when I do!

Happy Mother's Day!

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

If you are a mother, you know that this rings very true.  I hope you have a blessed Mother's Day filled with loads of good things! 

Treasure Life's Little Moments

I sat down to make the cards for our swap at work.  I recently discovered a new technique, and I thought I'd use that to make the cards.  I think you're going to like, so I'll share.

This is a negative image stamp from Hero Arts - Silhouette Bells.  The first thing I did was take a 12x12 piece of white cardstock.  I misted it with Moonlight and Yellow Daisy glimmer mist.  After I dried the paper with my heat gun, I stamped Silhouette Bells with Versamark and embossed with Vanilla Zing embossing powder.  (I was able to get twelve of these rectangles from my cardstock.)  As you can see, the glimmer mist shows through the negative image.  I left a little edge and then mounted this on Bazzill splash cardstock.  The card base is made from CTMH Key Lime.  A layer of two ribbons and an embossed sentiment finished off this simple card.  If you'd like to see this card in more detail, just click on the image.

UPDATE: A negative image stamp is when the background is brought to the foreground.  For instance, the flowers in my card do not have ink on them but rather the background is inked and embossed. 

Love

I was blessed to be chosen in a drawing over at Imaginisce, and I received their new line "To Love and Cherish" last week.  Paper, rub-ons, stickers as well as loads of flowers and stamps were delivered to my door.  Yippee!!  I have been thinking about what I wanted to do with these goodies.  The papers are black, white, and grey, and they shout "love" when you look at them. 

Today I was thinking about that I am blessed to live with and be married to my very best friend.  Jerry's love for me is as unconditional as a human can give.  If anything is wrong, he swoops in as my best friend, and there is nothing better than that.  Have I ever told you how much I love watching comedies with him?  My dear husband has the most infectious laugh!  We will celebrate our 20th anniversary in a few months, and I decided this morning just what I wanted to do with this beautiful paper.  I used a Bo Bunny word book, and here are my results:

This morning I was outside and decided to pick a few vases of lilacs for the house.  Yes, they only last a day or so, but they can live here in my house with me for that time or out on the shrubs - and boy do we have shrubs.  Don't they look pretty on my dining room table?  They smell so good!!

Happy

Jerry is at a meeting tonight, so I just might take this opportunity to spend in my craft room.  Other than the sound of the furry kids scampering about, I'll have a quiet house, and of course, there's always plenty to do!

Bo Bunny is having a card challenge using flowers.  I love the inspiration I get from their blog.  Today they posted some really great quotes in honor of mothers along with some fabulous ideas for gifts.  Here is my card for the challenge:

I wanted to show you a close up of the flower I built.  Other than the green Prima flower, these flowers are actually cut from the patterned paper.  The folder scalloped edge is a border sticker.  This collection is called Flower Child, and I love that rich colors are mixed in with the bright.  Perfect!  This card is all Bo Bunny except for the Hero Arts sentiment.  I've distressed everything with Colorbox chestnut roan ink to give everything even more warmth.

Thinking of You

I snuck in some crafting time this morning - such a busy week already!  I saw this sketch from Card Patterns and was really inspired to create.  Round cards appeal to me as they are such a fun change.

Items used:  Paper Source round card, Swiss Dots Bazzill paper, CTMH Silhouette, SU sentiment, Bazzill and Prima flowers, May Arts ribbon, CTMH pearls

Hey, Here's a Tidbit for You!

I was thinking today as I was doing my Rusted Sun layout  (see the previous post) , that I would have loved to have some perfectly matched cardstock.  I found this tool at Bazzill paper:

Bazzill Matchmaker

Well, I thought this was just great, and I had to share.  They match so many companies and papers!!

Rusted Sun Layout

I have been trying to finish this layout so that I could share it with you.  It has been sitting on my desk for 3 days, but I have just been so busy!!  I hope you all had a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day weekend.  I had a blast at work teaching a free make and take.  It's always so much fun to introduce new products to people!!

For this layout, I used Rusted Sun paper, ribbon, and brads from Fancy Pants.  The letters are from Making Memories.  "21" and the sun where cut with my Fall Slice card.  This was such a fun evening with Shane, and I wanted to be sure to scrapbook it with with warm, bold colors.  As you probably have been able to tell, I am a simple scrapbooker adding just enough. I like when the picture and journaling are the focal point of a layout.