Happy Anniversary...

My daughter and son-in-law got married at a Halloween Party, although not on Halloween night.  She's always been a little crazy about Halloween and by extension, I guess we are also.  In fact, as I type this, my hubs is out putting up the horse drawn blow-up hearse in our front yard along with various things that light up and talk.  In past years it has taken us a month to decorate, but we're getting old --- and tired.  She's off doing bigger and better decorating; I'll show you the video when she sends it.  These days when a light is out - it stays out.  She would have obsessed over it. 

And to my darling daughter, Charlotte, of whom I am very proud and her husband, Brad - I wish you many happy years together.

Snipet: Excerpt from Housekeeping Monthly - 13 May 1955

The Good Wife's Guide:

"Prepare yourself.  Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives.  Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking.  He has just been with a lot of work-weary people."

Happy Anniversary

My daughter and son-in-law got married at a Halloween Party, although not on Halloween night.  She's always been a little crazy about Halloween and by extension, I guess we are also.  In fact, as I type this, my hubs is out putting up the horse drawn blow-up hearse in our front yard along with various things that light up and talk.  In past years it has taken us a month to decorate, but we're getting old --- and tired.  She's off doing bigger and better decorating; I'll show you the video when she sends it.  These days when a light is out - it stays out.  She would have obsessed over it.  This is the card I made for their anniversary inspired by these Simply Betty images.  The cat and the bat are by Prickley Pear, they have the dies and stamps to match.  I LOVE this cat.  I colored the images with my copics, of course but neglected to keep track - not that there were many colors.  I used a little Distress Ink Black Soot and Black Diamond Stickles around the edges of the image. 

And to my darling daughter, Charlotte, of whom I am very proud and her husband, Brad - I wish you many happy years together.

Snipet: Excerpt from Housekeeping Monthly - 13 May 1955

The Good Wife's Guide:

"Prepare yourself.  Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives.  Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking.  He has just been with a lot of work-weary people."

I'm late....I'm late....

After 30 years of working I've collected a lot of funny things that people passed back and forth. I'm going to share some of the funniest with you at the bottom of my posts. I discovered a copy of a 1955 article from Housekeeping Monthly entitled "The Good Wife's Guide". As the days go by, I will educate you on how to become the perfect housewife. Please share any thoughts you might have as you read through them.

Snippet:  Excerpt from Housekeeping Monthly - 13 May 1955

The Good Wife's Guide:

"Have dinner ready.  Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return.  This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs.  Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed."

I'm late....I'm late....

After 30 years of working I've collected a lot of funny things that people passed back and forth. I'm going to share some of the funniest with you at the bottom of my posts. I discovered a copy of a 1955 article from Housekeeping Monthly entitled "The Good Wife's Guide". As the days go by, I will educate you on how to become the perfect housewife. Please share any thoughts you might have as you read through them.

I'm ashamed to say that I missed the birthday of a really special friend.  We were out of town and I didn't check my calendar far enough in the future.  This is the card I created for her.  The paper is from the DCWV Old World Stack and was stamped with a Recollections pocket watch.  The rabbit is Mo Manning's white rabbit on top of Tim Holtz's Weather Clock Die Cut touched up with a gold metallic rub-on.  The copics I used were:  C0, C3, RV00, BV11, BV000, BV13, BV01, Y19, Y35, Y02 and a touch of Spica Gold.  I thought it turned out very well.  The inside was stamped with a JustRite alphabet set and says, "I'm late....I'm late....

If you haven't checked out Mo's images yet, you are in for a real treat.  Her digital images will touch your heart.

Snippet:  Excerpt from Housekeeping Monthly - 13 May 1955

The Good Wife's Guide:

"Have dinner ready.  Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return.  This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs.  Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed."

Free Digital November Sentiment and Calendar

I'm sorry I'm late with these - thanks Vivi for reminding me.  I'll have December's up soon.  My computer caught a virus and when I got her back all my added fonts were gone.  I just discovered it last night so I need to call my computer doctor (he keeps your hard-drive back up for 30 days after repair) and get my fonts back.  This one does not match the set (who remembers what fonts they use [me, from now on]) but I'll upload the matching one as soon as I get my folder back.  Enjoy

Download November Birthday Circle

Download November Birthday Calendar

Purple paper piecing

I love to paper piece and this little beauty is designed for it.  I started with a print small enough to fit on her shirt and stamped her once on the white paper and once on my patterned paper.  Her shorts were cut out of the base cardstock.  I colored her skin and hair and then glued on her clothes.  Even though the plain paper looks blue, it's really purple in real life.  This is my 'salute to Vivi card'.  I don't do purple much, I leave that to her because she does it so well.  I don't have a signature color like she does, but if I did, it wouldn't be purple (sorry, Vivi).  I again did a shadow which I thought turned out very well.  The flowers are my salute to Sheri who taught me a card is just not complete without a flower and although I have a gazillion flowers, I rarely use them.

This card marks the end of my tenure on the StampingScrapping Design Team.  It's been an awesome ride, I love all the girls.  We've had some head banging conversations and I've made some lifelong friends.  So, ladies, thanks for the laughs and the inspiration.  Mr. Excellent:  thanks for the kiss, I will treasure it, see you in March 2013 for a fresh one and some kicka** BBQ. 

Entered in the Lawnscaping Paper-Piecing Challenge

Paper: Stash; Stamps: Magnolia Rollerskate Tilda, Penny Black Sentiment; Martha Stewart Leaf Punch, Martha Stewart Scary Fence; Ribbon: Stash; Spellbinder Classic Ovals Large; Copics: [Skin E000, E01, R20][Hair Y11, Y35, Y32, V09][Shoes C0, C1, C3, C5][Background V000, V000, V01, 0]

P.S. - I have some great books and stamps for sale - check out the "For Sale" tab at the top of my blog.

Tilda in the punkin patch

Would you believe this is the first time I've inked up the Magnolia pumpkins?  I'm sure when I bought them I had a use in mind for them, but danged if I can remember.  Then, a fall challenge pulled out Scarecrow Tilda, I went looking for a background, and guess who jumped out of the drawer into my hand?  Punkins.  And isn't this Basic Grey paper dreamy?  It was the perfect autumn paper.  I used my Tim Holtz stapler for the first time (I put it away where I'd be sure to find it - and guess what?)  I just found it again.  I'll be using it a lot now that I know where it is - lol.  I'm not sure what Tilda is guarding the pumpkins from, but, by golly, she's doing a wonderful job of it.  If you like fall, there's a challenge at the Magnolia Stamp Lover's Blog that's just for you.

Paper: Basic Grey-Pyrus; Stamps: PaperTrey Sentiment, Magnolia Scarecrow Tilda, Magnolia Pumpkins with Leaves; Glossy Accents; Crystal Stickles; Copics: [Skin E000, E01, R20][Hat Y21, Y23, Y26][Hair E09, E07, E19][Dress B91, B93, B95][Pumpkins Y17, YR16, G99, G94][Bees Y17, N5][Outline N0, N1, N2,0]

Poor poor pitiful me...

With an apology to Linda Ronstadt, I'm in the middle of a pity party.  We finally finished our last trip until Christmas and I fire up my computer so I can print out some of the fabulous winter backgrounds from Make It Crafty and guess what?  My computer is hosed AGAIN.  My husband dropped it off at the computer doctor yesterday and I haven't heard word one.  All of my images and card pictures are on the hard drive so they will be available when we use it for travel.  However, since the purchase of our little Acer Netbook, we haven't lugged my gazillion pound laptop around and I haven't moved those files to my external drive yet.  I take a flash drive to download those things I need to transfer to my 'real' computer.  The Netbook is fabulous for e-mail, it weighs next to nothing and can be packed in between stacks of clothes in a suitcase.  And I can blog with it.  The thing I can't do is hook it to any of my equipment like my printer, scanner or Cricut because I don't have the software.  And I can't download any of the fabulous cards (just kidding) that I've made recently.  And I don't know if any of those files will still be on my computer when it returns.  Thus, the pity party (with chocolate cupcakes).

But I have a tip for you today.  If you haven't tasted Heavenly Pears (Asian Pears), you are in for such a treat that your mouth will thank you.  They're expensive.  Our Kroger was selling them for $1.00/each but a few years ago someone bought some acreage on the bluff not far from us and planted an orchard.  The pears ripen in late September and October.  They're shaped like an apple and have the texture of an apple.  They are crisp even when ripe, unlike most pears which are soft.  They are juicy and crunchy and have totally replaced apples in our house.  I researched on the internet and found you can store them for a couple of months if you pack them correctly so we plan to buy enough to make it through Christmas.  I haven't cooked with them yet because they're fabulous to eat just off the tree.  If you can find them, I recommend them wholeheartedly. 

And as soon as I get my 'real' computer back, I'll be blogging about our trip to Wisconsin, our trip to Yellowstone National Park and our last trip to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, complete with pictures.  It's good to be home, the more we travel, the more I love my bed...

No bones about it, I love Halloween

I'm not going to tell you again how much I love Halloween.  I've said it before, just read my blog about this time last year.  In May, when I went to Grand Rapids to attend Suzanne Dean's wonderful Copics class, I had the chance to actually shop at StampingScrapping.com.  We were like kids in a candy store.  I want that, and that, and, oooh, gimme me that.  One of my purchases was the  Tim Holtz stamp set 'Mini Halloween' and I bought it not because I like Tim Holtz (he's ok, but....), I bought it because... say it with me now, "I Love Halloween".  I have more Halloween stamps than for any other holiday.  This set was a no-brainer.  Now, the big BUT, I actually really love it.  This card took just seconds to make, in fact, it nearly made itself.  All the stamps are from the set.  I stamped the skull and crossbones on the background paper - I just eyeballed it.  I stamped and cut out the skeleton, calendar and sentiment, backed them with black paper, put a little stickles around the skeleton and Bob's your uncle.  If you have to make 30 Halloween cards like I do, this is the one to make.  Now you know you want to enter this challenge at StampingScrappingChallengeCentral, so how about it?

Paper:  Stash; Stamps: Tim Holtz 'Mini Halloween'; Grape Stickles

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax....

My husband and I have been on vacation.  I will share some pictures with you soon.  Over Labor Day week, my husband and I traveled to Land O Lakes, Wisconsin for a week on Lac Vieux Desert.  We rent the same cottage every year, it's right on the lake so we can sit on the porch and watch the eagles fly by.  My hubs the photographer is on the go, early morning to late afternoon taking pictures.  Up to Copper Harbor, all over Nicolet National Forest and waterfalls in between.  I may share some of his photos also because he's a great photographer, I'm just a 'point and shooter'.

We were in Wisconsin for one week, came home for five days and took off again for Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.  That trip wasn't so smooth.  Apparently we cracked the flywheel in our car.  If you are ever in Livingston, Montana and your car breaks down - Yellowstone Country Motors is the place to take it.  Not only do they have the best service department people, but they have rentals to use while they have your car.  When we got to the dealership, we thought it might be a valve; this according to a mechanic in the park.  The service manager at Yellowstone Country Motors thought it sounded like a main bearing but couldn't be sure until he took it apart.  We spent the night in Livingston waiting for the return of a rental Jeep but since it didn't show up the next day, we grabbed an Infinity and took off back to the park.  Dave called us while we were relaxing with friends in Bozeman, Montana and gave us the news about the cracked flywheel.  We kept the rental until the day we needed to head home and picked up our unrepaired car.  Dave said that if we took it easy going home, it should get us home ok.  He was right.  For the diagnostics and the car rental, they charged us $175.00.

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax....

My husband and I have been on vacation.  I will share some pictures with you soon, but wanted to get these CAS cards posted with a HUGE thanks.  Over Labor Day week, my husband and I traveled to Land O Lakes, Wisconsin for a week on Lac Vieux Desert.  We rent the same cottage every year, it's right on the lake so we can sit on the porch and watch the eagles fly by.  My hubs the photographer is on the go, early morning to late afternoon taking pictures.  Up to Copper Harbor, all over Nicolet National Forest and waterfalls in between.  I may share some of his photos also because he's a great photographer, I'm just a 'point and shooter'.

We were in Wisconsin for one week, came home for five days and took off again for Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.  That trip wasn't so smooth.  Apparently we cracked the flywheel in our car.  If you are ever in Livingston, Montana and your car breaks down - Yellowstone Country Motors is the place to take it.  Not only do they have the best service department people, but they have rentals to use while they have your car.  When we got to the dealership, we thought it might be a valve; this according to a mechanic in the park.  The service manager at Yellowstone Country Motors thought it sounded like a main bearing but couldn't be sure until he took it apart.  We spent the night in Livingston waiting for the return of a rental Jeep but since it didn't show up the next day, we grabbed an Infinity and took off back to the park.  Dave called us while we were relaxing with friends in Bozeman, Montana and gave us the news about the cracked flywheel.  We kept the rental until the day we needed to head home and picked up our unrepaired car.  Dave said that if we took it easy going home, it should get us home ok.  He was right.  For the diagnostics and the car rental, they charged us $175.00. 

This is the card that my husband sent them as a thank you.  The car is a Stamping Up stamp and the 'thank you' is from Fiskars.  I colored the image with a red Prismacolor pencil very lightly and embossed around the image with a Spellbinder's square die.  A simple card quickly done.

The next card goes to the wonderful people who opened up their home to us for a day in Bozeman.  We ate Reuben sandwiches for lunch and flank steak for dinner.  Great food, good wine, wonderful conversation and gobs and gobs of love.  We sat on their back porch and watched deer feed on the apple tree in their back yard.  It was a glorious day and we were sorry we had to leave.  So, Lowell and Marcia, your hearts are as big as your big sky country and we thank you deeply for your hospitality.  This card is on it's way.



The sunflower was colored very lightly with Prismacolor pencils, and scored with my ScorPal.  Again, a CAS card, quickly created but from the heart.

I'm seeing red....

First of all, I need to apologize for the photo.  No matter where I photographed this picture I could not get the embellishment to show up without ruining the image.  I even tried to manipulate it in CorelDraw, but when you could see the sentiment, Tilda was all washed out.  So, I had to do it in two steps because I wanted you to see this lovely paper in its true color.  I sent my husband out for T-pins for this card.  I drew him a picture of them (wig pins? what are wig pins?) and he finally found them at a sewing store.  Bless his heart, he must have gone to five stores before he came up with them.  I saw the tutorial for this embellishment in Scrapbook News and Review and knew I had to make one of these.  I paper pieced Tilda's dress from a matching paper from the same pack.  I actually had to cut it out in three pieces, it wasn't the easiest dress to piece, but it's something I really like to do.  I plan to do a tutorial for this embellishment on the Stamping Scrapping Design Team Blog in October (Hey, Sheri), so look for that.  In the meantime, you can enter the 'red' challenge at StampingScrappingChallengeCentral.

Paper: Making Memories, Stash; Magnolia Tilda Baking Cookies, JustRite Sentiment; Magnolia Crystals; Copics: [skin E000, E01, R20][Hair Y11, Y18, Y13][Cookie Sheet N1, N2, Red Spica][Shoes E31, E33][Background N0, N1, N2,0]; Utee, Ribbon: Stash

Matchbook Card Tutorial

This tutorial only uses a half sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock as well as a matching scrap of paper.  Usually matchbook cards need a 12" x 4 1/4" strip, but by adding the scrap for additional length, you can use smaller paper and use up those scraps you have laying around.  This would be a great card to use with those long-abandoned roller wheels on the top and bottom band - or a border punch.

Supplies:

Scor-Pal

Stapler

11" x 4 1/4" piece of cardstock

4 1/4" x 3 7/8" piece of scrap cardstock to match

LaLaLand Stamp

Hero Arts Stamps

Score the 11" x 4 1/4" strip at the 1" mark and fold.  With the folded end on the 0" mark, score at 5 1/2".

Fold card at the 5 1/2" score line.

Measure 1/2" up from the folded edge and 2 1/8" from the left edge, mark and center staple over mark.

Place your 4 1/4" x 3 7/8" scrap under the fold to the staple.  Adhere.  This will extend the length of your base card, allowing you to tuck it in like a matchbook.

Decorate and you're finished. 

Copics:  [Skin E000, E01, R20][Hair Y26, Y32, Y23][Cake R21, R22, G03, Crystal Accents][Clothes N2, N1, N0, 0, Silver Stickles][Shoes N2, N1]