Magnolia Stamp Lover's Challenge #10

Well, it was so hot in Central Illinois yesterday that this challenge is perfect. I think we've skipped spring and gone straight to summer. My Tilda is certainly ready for a hike in the summer sunshine with her woodchuck buddy.

Paper: DCWV The Green Stack; Stamp: Magnolia Jungle Tilda, Whipper Snapper Blooming Expressions; Copics: (skin R20, E11, E00)(hair E34, E31)(hat/clothes E43, E53, E50, E42)(Staff E55, G24, R83, C1) Spica: Mint, Lipstick, Gold

They're back......

I'm sitting here at my computer watching my male bluebird with a huge piece of grass in his mouth waiting for the female to come out of the box so he can give it to her. I have never seen the male engaged in nest-building before. I have no way of knowing if this is my original pair from weeks ago or a new pair. They are quite aggressive; I watched them chase off a chickadee a couple of days ago. I've been away from my computer for a couple of weeks due to illness, so I don't know when they started to build the nest. I'm just so glad they did. We also have a gazzilion toad tadpoles in the pond and at last glance, 12 white water lilies. One thing bothers me, however. We have a cowbird who has been on and in the bluebird house and I fear she is just waiting for the bluebirds to lay eggs before she lays one of hers in their nest. The cowbird chick will kill off the bluebird chicks and the bluebird parents will raise the cowbird as their own. I will try to keep an eye on the box, but if indeed, the cowbird wants to use the bluebird nest, I won't be able to stop her.

They're back......

I'm sitting here at my computer watching my male bluebird with a huge piece of grass in his mouth waiting for the female to come out of the box so he can give it to her. I have never seen the male engaged in nest-building before. I have no way of knowing if this is my original pair from weeks ago or a new pair. They are quite aggressive; I watched them chase off a chickadee a couple of days ago. I've been away from my computer for a couple of weeks due to illness, so I don't know when they started to build the nest. I'm just so glad they did. We also have a gazzilion toad tadpoles in the pond and at last glance, 12 white water lilies. One thing bothers me, however. We have a cowbird who has been on and in the bluebird house and I fear she is just waiting for the bluebirds to lay eggs before she lays one of hers in their nest. The cowbird chick will kill off the bluebird chicks and the bluebird parents will raise the cowbird as their own. I will try to keep an eye on the box, but if indeed, the cowbird wants to use the bluebird nest, I won't be able to stop her.

Since I haven't been up to card making lately, I offer for your viewing pleasure, a card created for a client. Her instructions were: Princess and Blond. How do you think I did?



Paper: DCWV Sweet Glitter Matstack; Stamps: Magnolia Princess w/Frog; Prince Phillip Frog; Sticker: Heidi Swapp; Stickles: Rock Candy, Gold; Martha Stewart White Glitter; Flower Soft Summer; Copics: (Skin r20, E00, E000) (Hair Y11, Y28) (Clothes R20, R21) (Frogs G24, G21, YG67, Y28).

Magnolia Stamp Lover's Challenge #10

This challenge was to make a dimensional card. My card has the mermaid and rock popped.



Paper: Bazzill; Stamps: Magnolia Mermaid; Impression Obsession; Twinkling H2Os: Key Lime, Sea Glass; Stickles: Eucalyptus, Patina; Ink: Memento Desert Sand, Tuxedo Black - Versafine Vintage Sepia; Spica: Clear; Distress Ink: Antique Linen; Copics: R20, E11, E00, E000, C3, C5, C7, YG01, YG05, G00, G12, G0000.

Also, this month at the Magnolia Stamp Lover's Yahoo Group, we have something a little different for you at the Homepage Contest.

We would like to see you use Magnolia's wedding couple B for your creation using a summertime theme. One of the most popular months for weddings is June so we thought it very fitting and to help you Cindy has put Wedding Couple B on sale at 25% off!!! Woohoo, what a deal!!! For those of you who participated in the ImageSwap this is one of your images so take it out, color it up and run to Stamping Scrapping to get yours because after you color it you will love it!! Here is a link to the sale: Magnolia-413-WEDDING-COUPLE-B.htm (Congrats to Janette for winning the May's homepage contest, what a gorgeous card.)

Be sure to tell all of your friends, you don't have to be a member of this group to get the stamp at that price but we sure would love others to join us so we can share in their creations!

The homepage contest will run through the month, and maybe a few days longer since we were late in getting this one going. Place your card here.

Have fun and we can't wait to see all of your creations!

Happy Belated Mother's Day, Daddy Wahoo...

I come from a dysfunctional family back when no one really knew what that was. Most of my peers came from Ozzie and Harriet homes. I spent a lot of my nights in the backyard listening to my father and step-mother berating each other and taking occasional swings or throwing beer bottles. My father and mother were divorced when I was a toddler. I never heard my father say a kind word about my mother and vice-versa. The truth was somewhere in between. My father remarried - my stepmother had a son who was a few years older than me. And my mother remarried - to the man I would always think of as my dad. Anybody can contribute sperm, it takes a special man to want to be a father to a child that doesn't share his genes. He and my mother had two live children and a dozen miscarriages. He wanted a boy but he only cultivated wigglers that created girls. All the miscarriages were female, but I never heard him voice disappointment.

I don't remember this but I've heard all the stories; how I used to walk behind him and imitate his sailor’s side to side roll. He had been a cook on an aircraft carrier. I called him Daddy Wahoo but no one knows why. My mother wasn’t domestic. She worked in bars and nightclubs and was usually gone nights. My step-father was a county policeman and worked days. When I needed a cake for the bake sale, he was there. When I needed tampons, he was there. When I needed a ride to anywhere, he was there. He gave me all my perms. He turned down a lucrative railroad job in Africa because my father would not let him take me. When I was invited to my senior prom, he bought my gown, shoes and a rabbit stole; he took me to the beauty shop. I later learned he pawned his watch to buy my clothes. When I went into labor with my daughter he took me to the hospital. When I was discharged he took me home, made me a hot bath, wrapped up my daughter and took her to meet his friends at Mr. Donut. I named her Charlotte Ray after him, Charles Ray. He became her best friend that day as he had become mine 19 years earlier. When she had colic, he could ease her pain. She dressed him up, he took her everywhere. When my husband left me for my best friend, he taught me how to drive and helped me find an apartment. When I had to take a second shift job, he babysat my daughter and had a hot meal waiting for me when I got home. He died during heart surgery in 1980 and I have missed him every day of my life since. I haven’t gotten behind the wheel of a car that I don’t thank him for the freedom. He left a huge hole in my heart when he died, he was absolutely the best parent that any child could have.

My father died from the effects of too much drinking. My step-mother died of diabetes complications; a life full of indulgence with alcohol and bad diet. My mother died as a result of the misuse of prescription drugs. I am no longer in touch with my step-brother. The oldest child of my mother and step-father died of a brain tumor not long ago and I’ve lost track of the youngest one. My daughter and grandchildren are all the family I have left.

In 2004 I married a man who is in every way, my Daddy Wahoo’s equal. I feel as warm and loved and secure now as I did when he was alive. So, again, a very happy belated Mother's Day to the best dad a girl could have.

The reason I have not posted a card is I just gave birth to some kidney stones that were harder to pass than a 6 pound baby girl and took about as long. I prefer childbirth if I have it all to do again. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day and I hope to be back in the swing of things soon.