About Me

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I am a stay-at-home mom. I have been married to my handsome and wonderful husband for over 14 years. Right now he's battling stomach/esophagus cancer. So I do my best to craft when I can. I have two wonderful boys. My oldest, Garett, is 24 and served 5 years in the Navy. He's been home since the beginning of the year (2014). We are very proud of him. My youngest, "DJ", is 13 and in the 8th grade. I have two Border Collie mix dogs (Koda and Rugu), one Calico cat (Hydie), one orange Tabby cat (Bosley), one Tea Cup Chihuahua (Gigi...I LOVE her sooo much), a Chiweinnie (Lily....sweetest dog ever), and a Jack Russell/Chihuahua (Connor....AAALL boy).

Friday, June 28, 2013

Watercolor Rose

Happy Friday Everyone!!  Wow!!  I cannot believe how fast this week has gone by.

Last week my really good friend in California who loves to make cards like I do...sent me a WHOLE bunch of goodies just out of the blue.  I was so surprised.  But the main thing she sent was the Tim Holtz Distress Markers.

 She had seen a technique in Splitcoast Stampers for Distress Marker Painting.  So we ended up challenging each other to do a project and this is what I came up with...

Aren't the results pretty?  It's results are just like water coloring.
 The stamped image is from the May 2013 KOM. 
The large sculpted rose is from the Sizzix Susan's Garden line and the small one is from the mini Impression Obsession die.  The frame is from Spellbinders.
The patterned paper is from My Minds Eye!
I used VersaMark watermark stamp and black embossing powder.

I hope you like my project.  Thanks for looking.

Current Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Blog Challenges
Unity's Friends with Flair
Unity's {be Inspired} Challenge

Friday, June 21, 2013

Father's Day in the Mountains

Happy Friday

I hope everyone had a great week and had a wonderful Father's Day the other weekend.  I spent my Father's Day with my In-laws up in Estes Park.  I LOVE going there. The peace and quiet of the mountain air and the wind blowing through the pine trees is so relaxing.  My father-in-law has Elk on his property that has become his own...and are actually free to come and go as they please but don't.  They love their home.  Below are a few pictures of my visit, but first here is my card for my father-in-law...


 SUPPLIES:
Stamps:  Unity April 2013 KOM.
Dies:  Cottage Cutz Bridge, Trees.  Memory Box Deer, Nesting Bird, Pine Tree Border.  Tim Holtz Labels.
Punches:  Martha Stewart Pine Branch
Misc:  Ink-Studio G Blues and Greens.  Flower Soft.  Punched dots for mini flowers. Stickles for water.

Challenges:
Unity Friends with Flair
Simon Says Stamp Blog Challenges

As soon as you walk up the walkway to the front door...you can SMELL the lilacs growing in the garden here...which, by-the-way, I was married in :).


This elk is Juniper.  She and her sister, Destiny, are the 3rd generation in a family of elk that live on the property.  My in-laws were having a hard time thinking of a name so I thought of Juniper since she was born in June.  She is called Junie for short.  Happy Birthday Juniper!!

That's Destiny sticking out her tongue...







This is mama...Anna.  She came to my FIL as a baby to be rehabilitated because she was sick and suffering from malnutrition as her mom abandoned her.  Once she was nursed back to health my FIL went to release her back into the wild and two days later she returned.  This happened several more times until he gave up and allowed her to stay on his ranch...able to leave whenever she wanted (capable of jumping the fence if she really wanted to leave). 
 She NEVER left and never wanted anything to do with those nasty boys that tried to have their way with her.  But 7 years later...one finally got to her and Hanna was born.  Hanna grew up and became the mama of Destiny and Juniper.  But Hanna wanted to explore the elk world and left the ranch 3 years ago...but everyone else stayed.  So grandma Anna is home with her granddaughters.
 There she is way off at the top of the hill :)  By the way...Anna knows how to "shake" and "give kisses".  When you ask her to shake she hands you her hoof.

Columbine....the Colorado state flower.  Absolutely BEAUTIFUL and come in a variety of colors.



Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

HapBee Father's Day

HapBee Father's Day

My new dies...the bumble bees and the hive.  I thought it would be a cute Father's Day card to make for my Dad.  As I was creating it I made it so that the "dad" bumble bee was waiting for the "child" bumble bee to come into the hive.  Now that my card is finished I started singing "The Birds and the Bees".  I remember how my dad took me aside and told me all about "life".  I really didn't even plan this scene to be that way.  "Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees..."  The only thing this scene lacks is the birds, lol.

The background is handstamped using a home made cardstock stencil.  My idea was inspired by Kittie Caracciolo.  It's SUPER EASY...and the results are impressive. You can view her tutorial by clicking on the link below: (will open another window)
Cloud Tutorial




Supplies:  Stamps- Unity April 2013 KOM
Dies:  Memory Box- Orchard Tree Frame, Bee Hive, Bumble Bees, Flowers.  Impression Obsession- Grass, Leaves.  Tim Holtz Mini Labels Set.


Current Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Blog Challenge
Unity's Friends with Flair

Friday, June 7, 2013

Tea Time

Friends with Flair Friday

It's Friday AGAIN.  I can't believe how fast the week flew by.  My best friend has been here visiting me from California since Tuesday and I have had so much fun seeing her again.  It's been over 10 years and we have so much to catch up on outside of facebook.  She leaves Saturday and I will be terribly sad.  :(

The project I have made is a tea holder.  I made this for my mother-in-law who has suddenly become blind in her right eye.  This definitely brightened her day.  This whole thing has been constructed completely out of card stock.

Directions to make one are below :)








SUPPLIES:
Stamps:  Unity- Teapot from June 2009 KOM.  I stamped it on the patterned paper and colored in the bird and leaves plus added shadows.

Misc.:  Spellbinders Flower dies, Shimmer Brads, Stickles


  • Cut cardstock to 8.75” x 12” and score along 12”side at 3”, 5.75”, 8.75” and 11.5”.
  • Turn cardstock 90 degrees and score at 3” along the length of the cardstock.
  • Score at 2.25” from top to the first score line and then skip one panel and continue to score to bottom (Figure 1 - Blue line).
  • Score at 4” on the bottom two panels. (Figure 1 - Red line).

Figure 1

  • Remove shaded areas shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2
To make the tea box lid cut cardstock to 3 7/8” x 3 5/8” and score on all sides at 1/2”.  This lid will fit inside the top of the box.

Using largest Spellbiners Labels 1 die, cut 4 pieces of cardstock and 2 pieces of thin chipboard.  Sandwich one piece of cut chipboard between two pieces of cardstock and glue.  Repeat with other pieces and glue lid to the bottom of one to create box top.

For this box, the following are the measurements for each panel:

Blush Cardstock
(2) pieces 2.75” x 5.5” (sides)
(1) piece 2.5” x 4.5” (front)
(1) piece 2.5” x 5.5” (back)

Patterned Paper
(2) pieces 2.50” x 5.25” (sides)
(1)  piece 2.25” x 4.25” (front)
(1) piece 2.25” x 5.25” (back)