Old and New

For those of you keeping track, my baby bluebirds fledged on the 24th. Either mom and dad are building a new nest in the box in the backyard (the west box) or it's a completely different pair. The nest was finished when I checked the box earlier today. My husband attached a squirrel/raccoon/snake baffle to the west box which has never had one. I have cleaned out the north box and am waiting for another pair of bluebirds but a wren seems interested. Either way, this is the box I see from my craft room so except for house sparrows, I will rent to any occupants for the entertainment value I receive while I work.

Spouting off now: I received my new Martha Stewart scoreboard from Cindy Echtinaw about two weeks ago. I have the Scor-Pal and the Scor-It. I have used nothing but the MS scoreboard since the day I got it. I love the 1/16th divisions. It's lightweight, and though the scoring tool is fragile, I just go easy on it. I will be putting the others out at the fall garage sale. Now, I'm not a fan of Martha. I think she makes people feel inadequate - you watch her on TV and can't see the thousands of people in the background who do the shopping, the prep work and, for all I know, think up the ideas. BUT I do love her glitter and punches, I believe she's raised the level of those tools across the board. Whoever she's hired to create those products gets a huge KUDOs from me. I can now add the score board to that small list.

I have a girlfriend who has a birthday on July 4th. Last year I sent her a red, white and blue card. This year I thought I would send her a card that is just for her birthday and not another holiday. I truly enjoyed making this card, I thought it turned out very well. Hope you enjoy the card, as always, if you would have done anything differently or you have suggestions, please leave a comment. I do so enjoy reading your comments. Supplies used were:

Paper: DCWV Latte Matstack, Sweet Glitter Matstack; Stamps: JustRite, Firecracker Designs, Magnolia Valentine Tilda, Magnolia Cake; Ribbon: Offray - tied with my Bow Easy; Spica: Sky Blue, Lilac; Copics: [Cake W00, N0, R85, R81, Diamond Glaze][Skin E11, E00, R20][Hair YR23, YR31, Y21][Dress G21, B91, B93][Cupcakes Y32, B93, B91, G21][Candles G24, B93, Y38, YR18, Y08]

A girl can dream

First of all, Ruthann's dessert yesterday was warm Apple Crisp with vanilla ice-cream. Yum, Yum. If you live in the Peoria/Henry, Illinois area and happen to need some special baked goods or a wedding cake, give her a shout at Divine Cakes.

I stamped the arbor from Art Impressions onto white Beckett Radiance cardstock and also on printer paper. The arbor on the printer paper was cut out and double sticky tape placed on the back. The printer paper image was then taped over the first image on cardstock. I used a stamping positioner to place the Tilda into the arbor and then masked her in the same way. I used my airgun to spray the blue and green background, masking off each as the other was sprayed. Then I removed all the masking and colored in the images.



After the images were colored I used the rest of the stamps, the Art Impressions vine and flowers. The swallow is a stamp from Firecracker Designs by Pamela. The paper is K&Co Que Sera Sera. If you have any questions, please contact me, I'm happy to help.