Blog Candy!!

Just thought that I'd post a quick note to let you know that there is a new blog out there and they are giving away blog candy! It's called Nutshells.

Go quick!! to check it out!!

An award for me!

Helen over at Tomorrow's Treasures gave me this award ~ now it's my turn to share.

The rules for this award are:
* comment on this blog
* cut and paste the award logo and use it on your blog
* nominate 5 to 10 blogs that you feel show great attitude and gratitude
* link to your nominees within your blog post
* comment on their blogs to let them know they received the award
* link back to the person who gave you the award to shown your appreciation

I think that I can do that...

1. Susie @ Sassy Designs by Susie at Die Cut Dreams
2. Pricilla @ Skraptacular Designs
3. Melody @ A Paper Melody
4. Marsha @ Stampin' Down South
5. Kim @ Paper in the Works
   

Please, these are not the only people that inspire me. There is so many creative people out there I can't keep up with. The internet is a bad place. By that I mean, I spend so much time "ooohhh" and "aaahhhh" on every one's blogs that I barely have time to paper craft for me. I can tell you though with my computer upstairs and my craft room downstairs I have the most tone calf muscles!

I hope you all have a wonderful day where ever you might be!
Hugs,

Joani

It's Digi Page time ~ again!

I wanted to share another digi page with you.

Every year in our town at the end of summer they have what they call "The Festival of the Horse". I've talked about it before. They close off main street and have vendors and then a parade. It really is something to see, it's out of the movies - a small town America kind of thing. I'm glad that we moved here so we can experience it.

The pictures from on this page are from then 2 years ago. I created this page with a digi kit from Bouquet of Pixles.

Our county faire is coming up in a couple of weeks ~ now that's fun. Really small town America. I love to go and see the demolition cars, that's a lot of fun!

I did some re-arranging on my page and added a few buttons. Take a peek at the sidebar and you'll see.

Thanks for stoppin' by!
Hugs,

Joani

Happy Weekend to you!

Good Morning Everyone! Hope your Saturday has started as well as mine!

I woke up this morning from a not so good dream. I have no idea why I had the dream I did, maybe because we were talking about old movies yesterday ~ who knows why my brain works the way it does... My hubby joined a biker gang then went to a roadhouse and got his butt kicked by Patrick Swayze. I told you I had no idea why my brain works the way it does...

But hubby made up for it because when I woke up it was to the smell of his yummy breakfasts! He made mushroom and cheese omelette's this morning. Who could stay mad at that?

Yesterday I was on a mission. A mission to get going on my scrap books! I figured I've been working on the digital version, it's time I worked on the real thing. You wanna see what I did??

This page is one I made with DP from Heidi Grace. It is the Pocket Scraps Inspire Me Flowers collection. I used some Summer Sun to give it a color 'pop'.

This page was made with paper from Paper Salon. It is the Enamored collection. It was from last year and I can tell you that it is my favorite!! I still have just a bit left, scraps that I'm saving!

I did have one more page that I did, however the picture is awful fuzzy. I will re-take the picture and post it. It's another Halloween page. Yes, I love Halloween! It's one of my favorites to decorate for.

I'm not sure if anyone here has any plans for today or not ~ so I'm not sure if I will get any crafting done. I hope to, but it is the weekend. I like to do family things on the weekend.

Whatever you've got planned for the weekend I hope it's great!
Have a great day!!
Hugs,

Joani

It's Digi Time!

Here's another page for you. I sure hope that I inspire you all to create when I show you these pages.

This was Ricky and I in August 2005. It was just before we moved out here, at his sister's house. This was also me 25 pounds lighter and him, well, 50 pounds lighter.

I created this using more than one kit. I used kits from Summertime Designs (you need to go there and read the last post, it will bring a tear to your eyes), Bouquet of Pixles and DigitalArts Cafe.

Thanks for letting me share my life and my craft with you all!

Hugs,

Joani

I've been a little busy...

I've been just a tad bit busy. You all remember that our friend Joyce is here from California? Well there is a lot that she's missed over the past year ~ mainly all the fun creations that we do and she's not here to take part in. Well yesterday I decided to make her a couple of the things that we've made that she's missed out on. The card organizer and the card tracker.


She had been eyeballing Mom's card organizer and I asked her "pick a color". I sometimes do that, then I just go from there. She picked burgundy, so I looked thru my paper and this is what I came up with.

I pulled out some burgundy linen cardstock that I had and the Parisian Summer DP that I was keeping. I had some thin chipboard that hubby brought home from work and my Mod Podge (great link, take a look at it!!) ~ I love that stuff! I covered the chipboard and covered it with the DP and ribbon. I also took a piece of the burgundy paper and cut out a top note die and placed it on the top.

When we originally made these we followed the directions on SCS and they had pockets for each month. Well, we don't use the pockets because we have so many birthdays that they would not fit in all the pockets. We store our cards elsewhere. So I just used the burgundy paper and only made one page with pockets in the back of the book. I left it pretty blank so Joyce can decorate it how she wants. I did decorate the back pocket pages because I wanted to bind it and it was easier to stamp the pockets before binding it. She's a butterfly lover so I knew that I could not go wrong so I used my TAC set Butterfly Swirls.

Next I made a card tracker for her. The card organizer is to add birthdays to so you don't forget. The card tracker is more for tracking holidays. If you write down the holiday that you sent the card out then you know that you sent it. You can also track if someone has sent you a card too.

I basically did the same thing with these covers. I took the thin chipboard and covered it with Mod Podge and added the paper to it. I used paper from SU! Bella Rose collection - that's my favorite! I did decorate this one up a bit because like I said, it's my favorite paper and I just had to have fun with it! Once again I used the top note die and I added some ribbon, buttons and rub on's from American Crafts.

Yes, she loved them!!

I hope this is enough for today. I did get a late start today. I don't know why I'm so tired in the mornings - I can't get out of my own way. I really don't sleep well at night, I know that could be the problem. But I'm not spending too much time on the computer today, I need to craft! And I've got a bum sewing machine I've got to tackle, oh yes - laundry too!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

EDITED TO ADD: I printed the inside pages of the Card Tracker at Mini Scrapbooks. I have the link posted in my sidebar if you'd like to check it out.

Ready for a digi page?

I think that this just might become a daily ritual. A digi page. As long as life let's me. It is so addicting.

Here's a page I made of Danielle. It was some pictures that she was taking of herself one day. It's so funny to see kids doing that, taking pictures of themselves. We never did that, did we?

This page was made with another collection from The DigitalArts Cafe. The collection is called I'm going to tell Mommy.

You've got to go there. They have lots of pages marked free! It's a great way to start your digital scrapbooking addiction!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Gotta few things to see....

I've got a few things for you to see today. No blah blah blah, just paper ~ how's that??

I was surfing he net yesterday and I stopped across this one blog - RemARKable Creations. Her work is wonderful, if you've not been there you've got to go check it out. Of course after you spend some time here *Ü* Anyway she had a post about some CD Folders that she made and I thought "I wanna make some". So I shared the idea with a friend and she asked if I'd make one for her - so here it is.

The basic instructions are listed on Jan's blog, but I didn't see how she put it together, the covers and all. She shows the insert that you make ~ it's 5" x 11" and you score it at 5", 5 1/2", 6", 6 1/2", 7", 7 1/2" and 8". So I was winging it from there. I love hers though, the colors are great together.

The one I made is for a pre-schooler that was graduating so I had to reach down into my stash - ok, I had to reach down in Danielle's stash of paper (shhhh, don't tell her) and pull out some kiddie paper. Heck, my daughter's 17 - I don't have any more kiddie paper... But I found some and I thought even though they are from different collections it turned out cute.

I thought that I'd put his name on the front cover so I cut those letters out with my Cricut Base Camp cartridge. I use that one for most of the lettering that I do, it's a nice font and it's easy to adhere. Then I covered the letters with stickles to give it a little "pop". Since I don't have a star punch I cut the stars out by hand and added some stickles around those edges too. For the inner pages I just adhered some paper and a few photo corners here and there. I stamped in a few places where there can be journaling added with my TAC set I Remember When. On the last page I stamped the little fishbowl from TAC's Everyday events and added some diamond glaze to it to make it look a little more realistic and I was done.

If you get a chance go check out Jan's blog too! Make sure that you let her know that I sent you.

My next card is a Father's Day card that I made for Ricky. I'm sure that I will have to make another from Danielle too, I don't mind. Guy cards are just a little tricky. I'm used to pretty colors and flowers and frills. You sure cant do that on guy cards.

Mom recently got the SU! set And Many Mower for Father's Day so I had to ink it up. I wanted to put the image of the lawn mower on the card. I actually had it stamped, colored and cut out and did not use it. I do that a lot then I toss them on Mom's desk. She's got a little envelope full of things that I did not use ~ she eventually uses them. It's easier on her. Anyway, I stamped the sentiment from And Many Mower and colored it in. It says "recliner, remote, refreshments" but I stamped the word "relax" colored it, cut it out and used pop dots to adhere it to the card. I thought that it was a little more appropriate. Then I pulled out my Let's Hear it for the Boy set from My Favorite Things. I stamped the image, colored it and cut it out and adhered it to the card. I did not like how the headless image sat on the card because I cut it out from the frame of the image so I stamped the frame from And Many Mower and used that ~ so now it all matches!

The base card is Kraft cs that I layered with Pacific Point and some DP from SU! old Spring Flowers collection. I kinda distressed the left side of the DP before adhering it. I took a length of ribbon and added a piece of Chocolate Chip to it and then added some small eyelets to the ends and adhered that to the card. All in all I think that it turned out manly enough, what about you?

I think that is all I have for right now. I'm working on a digi page to show you later. I hope that you have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Another Digi SB Page

Wanna see another digital page I've done? I just love making these pages... Now I know I'll never be off the computer!! Now I've got to go buy more SD cards to hold everything!!

This page was from The DigitalArts-cafe. It's called Grandma's House. Dont you just love it?

Well I'm off again. Gotta go create something with real paper this time.

Hugs,

Joani

Is it Wednesday already?

I get really mixed up when there is a 3 day weekend. It seems to take a week for me to figure out what day it is! But that's fine, it's another day closer to the weekend. Although Danielle will be out of school in just a few days... Oh, I can hear it now "I'm bored". Hmmm, let's see. I say it will only take her 3 hours after schools done for the summer to say she's bored... I'm sure that lots of you can relate to that.

She did start something new to her the other day. Mom was in the craft room making her flowers and Danielle walked in and said she was bored. I told her to pick up some yarn and learn to crochet. It befizzled me when she did. I pretty much only know how to make a chain and one basic stitch, so we showed her that. She's doing pretty well for herself. She has lots of colors of yarn from when she used to make the yard coasters, so she's already 1/2 stocked. I'll have to post a picture when she's done, she's making a pot holder right now.

Enough of my ramblings, wanna see something? Here goes...

I think that I mentioned that I've got to stock up on birthday cards, Danielle's used a lot of them up. "Hey Mom, so and so's birthday is tomorrow. Can I get a card?" Well what am I going to say? No... I should have her sit with my and make some up, she used to. But that's not a cool thing to do when your a teenager. Maybe someday she'll want to spend time with her old Mother... Can you tell I'm starting to feel the "40" coming on? Just a few more months, ugh.

Anyway ~ on to the card. The base card is Ballet Blue. I stamped the swirls from my TAC set Simply Devine with versamark. I then stamped the images from TAC's Little Cupcake and colored them in with my pencils and gamsol. I also paper pieced the cupcake with TAC paper from the Mulberry Meadow and Lily Anna collections. Saving those little scraps comes in handy sometimes. I layered the image panel on to Barely Banana and Riding Hood Red. I stamped the sentiment in the lower right corner and layered that also. Once the card was put together I added some stickles for some sparkle and I was done.

The next card was kinda a quick card. I'm not only trying to stock up on birthday but all cards in general.

The base card is Barely Banana that I layered with More Mustard and Garden Green. I stamped the weave pattern from Wonderful Weaves with More Mustard ink. I then added a length of the large twill ribbon I "found" in a box of ribbon I had. I stamped the daisy from the DD Daisy set with More Mustard, Always Artichoke and So Saffron inks. I layered that on to a piece of More Mustard cs that I paper peirced and then on to a piece of Garden Green that I tore. I stamped 2 more of the daisies and cut them out to add to the card front. The sentiment is from Curvy Verses that was also stamped in More Mustard . I was thinking that it needed a little sparkle, but I'm not sure.

Well - I'm off to pay a few bills and I'll be back tomorrow with more!
Have a great day!!
Hugs,

Joani

Happy Tuesday and some business...

Good morning everyone! I hope that today finds you all well. I hope that your long weekend gave you all a little refresher, but I also hope that you did not forget the true meaning of the holiday.

My Father was one who served in WWII and I grew up with lots of stories about history. It is kinda sad but I did learn more from my Father about history and WWII than I did from school. I am so thankful for that, I just wish that he was around to tell those stories to my daughter. It's a shame that she has not learned anything in school about the war. It seems that they skipped over that in history. Well, she wants to be a teacher when she get's older ~ maybe she can change that.

There's something that I'd like to show you today. A creation I made, then something that my Mom's been cookin' up.

I'm going thru a slump again. I don't know if it is lack of creativity or lack of new stamps that's got me. I still plug along but everything that I made I feel is 'ho-hum'...

I made this card the other day using my Friendship Blooms set. The base card is Pacific Point and I used Old Olive and Purely Pomegranate on it. The inks were Rose Red, Temping Turquoise and Old Olive. I stamped the images on the white part of the card using my markers to color the rubber directly. I then stamped the images on Pacific Point and Purely Pomegranate and cut them out and placed them on the card. It was a quick and simple card, actually a little fun to make. But lacking in the creativity department.

Now I want to show you a little something that Mom's been up to. For a couple of months she's been crocheting flowers. She normally does the blankets and covers, but when she saw the flowers in the SU! catty last time she kept thinking that she could do that. Well, we found a book, finally, and she found the pattern she was looking for and she was practicing. Our Walmart here re-did their craft section last year and took out the fabric and all the goodies. When we went with Betty last month to Walmart in another town they had the craft section full so Mom picked up some yard. Well she's been working on the flowers.

I told her she should sell them, but she does not think that they will sell. So she is! She is selling them for 45 cents a piece. Anyone interested? These are the only colors that she has right now. Blue, Red, Purple, Green and Yellow. If you are interested please send me an e-mail to joanmcdonald@roadrunner.com and I will put a link up in my sidebar also.

That's all I have for today. I hope that I will see you back here tomorrow!

Hugs,

Joani

Another Digital Page

I can honestly say that I am in love with digital scrapbooking! It is addicting!! And there is so many places out there that have free downloads that you really don't have to buy anything if you don't want to. You can start out with the freebies and then purchase items to supplement them.

Here is another page that I did with Danielle and Mom. I used the kits from Digital Arts Cafe. This one happens to be from Grandma's House.

Anyway, that's all for now!

Hugs,

Joani

Good Memorial Morning!

I hope that all of you are having a nice, safe & relaxing 3 day weekend.

I think that I have my computer issues figured out. Knock on wood, keeping fingers crossed! So I thought that it was time for a post.

First things first. I wanted to show you some cards that we made at Anne's Stamp Camp last week. I don't know why I forgot to post them, I just did.. She had us use a stamp set and one type of DP and that was all. But we were to come up with the different ways to put it together. It was fun! And this is an idea for a quick and simple set of note cards to give someone as a gift. Great idea Anne!!

I sat down at my table the other day and I had no inspiration. I wanted to make some cards, nothing would come out. When that happens I grab a box of stamps and start to look thru them. Whatever jumps out at me I use. Well the set Espress yourself jumped out and I used it. I'm not really a coffee drinker, but I love all the coffee sets!

The base card is Chocolate Chip. I layered it with Creamy Caramel and Really Rust. I stamped the beans all over the card with Creamy Caramel ink. The image I used my markers to color directly on the rubber. The coffee cups are stamped on the Chocolate Chip layer in Chocolate Chip ink. I stamped the sentiment caffe' Latte is from TAC's The Morning Buzz set and it is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.

I layered a piece of white cs inside and stamped the words The Morning Buzz in Real Red ink and I was done. Simple, quick and easy.

The next picture I apologize for, it's a little fuzzy that's why I took a close up.

This is a very old set called Feathered Hope. That's going waaaaayyyyy back...

I stamped the nests on the Riding Hood Red base with Ruby Red ink. I also stamped them on Certainly Celery cs with Old Olive ink. I then tore the Red base card and attached the Certainly Celery layer inside it. I stamped the image on to a piece of River Rock and colored it in with my watercolors. I then cut it to resemble a tag and added a piece of twill ribbon and an eyelet. I added pop dots to adhere it to the card. I used some stickles on the flowers for an added touch. The inside of the card I stamped the sentiment with Ruby Red ink and I was complete.

I hope you enjoyed the cards today. I'll be back tomorrow with something else to show you! I appreciate all of you stopping by to see what I've done!

Have a great rest of your weekend!
Hugs,

Joani

Please be patient....

I'm not sure what the problem is with my computer, or if it is the computer...

I was on the computer with on line chat for about 4 hours total today. And I still don't have the problem fixed... But instead of the "abort" message that I am getting when I log into blogger it let me log in now.

So I wanted to just give you all the heads up so you know that I am here ~ kinda.

I will try to work on the problem this weekend, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

I hope that you all have a safe and happy long weekend!
Hugs,

Joani

Thanks for coming back....

I know that I've been out of whack the past week or so ~ I'm sorry. But everyone understands that life get's in the way, right?

I think that I'm back to normal, whatever normal is. So I've got a post for you today, promise. And no this that or the other thing ~ no yak, yak, yak either.

Ready? Let's get down to business....

One of the orders I had placed for a friend when TAC was having their sales on the hostess sets. Joyce had bought the set, and one thing that I do for my customer's is if they want their sets cut apart I do it for them. I have a hot knife and it only takes me a minute to do. Well I told Joyce that I was cutting them apart for her that I was going to stamp a few... good deal, huh? So I did. Then of course like everything else, and I'm sure you all can relate ~ they sat on the corner of my desk for a couple of weeks. I grabbed them the other day and decided to do something about it...This is a Hostess Level 3 set from The Angel Company called Be of Good. I stamped some of the images on Certainly Celery with Certainly Celery ink. I stamped the sentiment in Certainly Celery on white cs and the image over that in Blush Blossom ink. I layered that on to a piece of Summer Sun cs before attaching to the card. For the inside I stamped the image on Barely Banana cs with Barely Banana ink. I stamped another sentiment in Barely Banana on white cs and centered it on inside.I had stamped the butterflies in Barely Banana ink on white cs and cut them out closely. I added some wire to the butterflies for the "antenna", pop dotted them on the the card and added stickles for some bling and I was complete.

OH! I wanted to mention, if anyone is interested in the hot knife do wait to buy it. A couple years ago I finally decided to unmount all of my SU! stamps. Mind you I have a LOT of sets. It took me just over a week to do. I was at it literally the whole day, morning to evening. I unmounted my stamps, removed the old grey foam and replaced it with the black thin foam and cut it out with my Kai scissors. I did not have the hot knife then, but so wish I did. It is an investment that pays for itself each time I use it. It takes seconds to cut out the stamps, and you don't have that gunky mess on your scissors too! But if you are considering the purchase of one, I'm here to tell you that you don't have to buy a glass mat. I want to say they are about $25.00 for one ~ and I saved my $25.00 and I use an old pie plate. Same thing, it's glass. And it has a rim on it to turn the plate and the glass mat doesn't. Anyway, just my 2-cents....

This was part of a sneek peek that I showed you the other day. I'm in a swap that the theme is Patriotic so I reached into my stash of House Mouse stamps. I had a whole lot of them and sold most of them years ago to Gabby, but this one I kept. It is called Patriotic Wrap. Those little guy's are so cute!

I colored the image with my watercolor crayons and pencils and gamsol. I sponged some Ballet Blue ink around the edges. The base card is Ballet Blue and I layered it with Riding Hood Red and Reminisce Glitter Bursts DP. I also added some stickles to the stars for more of a pop. The sentiment is from Peddler's pack, and I stamped that in Ballet Blue also. Even with all the coloring it was a quick card.

Another one of my sneek peeks the other day was this little box I made.

This little box is something that I gave away with my last TAC order. I try to make something to give away when people order from me. It's just my little way of saying thank you again.

This little box is made with the largest Scallop Rectangle Small Nestie. Say that 5 times fast *Ü* Anyway ~ I used my CB Devine Swirl and Love Language folders to emboss the paper. The paper is from the Mimi TAC collection. I used my scor-pal to score the box and I used my 1 3/8" circle and scallop circle punches. The button is from Fancy pants, and I used a length of ribbon to make the handle. Velcro is used to keep the box closed.

I will try to get to the tutorial in the next day or two for you.

Next thing I want to show you is some more of the digital scrap booking. I have fallen in love with this. It is so much fun!! And there is so many places out there that have the free digital packs to download. I showed hubby last night and I kinda, quickly went thru the process and told him it is so much fun without having to buy the tape. Of course being the smarty pants that he is he said "well then, why don't we put up all that stuff in the craft room on EBay and you can just do this instead". Uh, my answer was a quick and simple "no".These pages are made with elements and papers from The Digital Arts Cafe. I even went out and bought a new SD card that's 8MB to hold all my "papers and elements".

Well, that's all I have for today. I think that it's time to get off the computer and start creating something....

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Why Me??

I've been having some computer issues this morning. I don't know what the problem is. And of course I'm one of those people who have become so dependant on my computer that when it's not working right I feel like it's the end of the world.

I cant open new pictures. I can't open, edit, view. Nothing. So all I have for you today is a sneek peek of something that I'm planning on showing you tomorrow. Sorry...

No hopefully I can show you tomorrow. I already had this edited. I've got a few more things to show you too. I just need to edit the pictures...

Here's to hoping that everyone has a nice day!
Hugs,

Joani

Good afternoon everyone!
I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I am still here. Today was a busy day. Of course it did not help that we went to be last night after midnight because we were with our noses in the TV. Then when I went to bed I just "had" to finish a book I was reading ~ all the while knowing that 5:00am comes way too early.

Betty stopped by this morning to pick us up and we were on our way to Anne's house for another wonderful stamp camp. Anne is such a gracious hostess ~ and a very talented paper crafter. Anyway, when we left there we went to the scrap store in Frankfort. It was Betty's first trip there and we all enjoyed it! So now we are home and we are pooped! I'm ready for a nap, but I just got a copy of The Da Vinci Code and I've got to start reading it. I want to read it before I see the new movie - just to brush up on it.

I wanted to share with you something today, so here is a digi page that I made of Danielle's birthday Saturday. Just something quick, I made it from a download Daisy Daze that I got at Bouquet of Pixles.

I'll be back tomorrow!! Thanks for sticking with me.
Hugs,

Joani

Good Sunday Morning!

I just wanted to pop in and say Good morning this morning! I normally don't post on a Sunday but I just wanted to pop in and let you know about a good little find.

I'm not sure if you all go to Brenda's blog or not ~ but if you don't you seriously need to bookmark it! Just about every week she has the Michael's coupon up. She's also had other's too. So if your in need of a Michael's coupon go there!

Yesterday was little Ms. Danielle's birthday and boy did I surprise here. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow ~ and I'll be back with some creations. A couple of friends of ours sent her some birthday cards - I'll share those too! I'm sure your going to want to case them!!

Have a great Sunday!
Hugs,

Joani

Wishing you well

I just thought that I'd pop in and wish everyone a happy day. As you all know we've got company and we've not seen her in a year so I am probably chatting up a storm!

I just wanted to post a quick picture or two for you.

I never really paid too much attention to nature or the things around me. When I was working full time out of the house I was always busy to pay attention. But now that I am a SAHM I notice lots of things that I did not before. Maybe it was lack of time, who knows. But I actually find myself looking around more often. I do pay attention. Small things matter.

I've shown you the bird (condo) house that Ricky built. Last year we had a robin nest in the tree really low so we were always peeking in at it. We watched the eggs hatch and the birds fly away. I actually named one that we had to rescue. When the birds were building the nest they used a piece of plastic and it caught on the bird's leg. When he tried to fly the coop he was stuck. Then he fell. The plastic was actually tied around his leg. Ricky tried to get it off but it would not all come off, it's almost like it grew into his leg. We had to block off the yard because the bird did not fly right away and Ginger was still alive. Needless to say, I named him Eugene. Don't know why, I just did.

Well this year we've got a huge nest high up in the tree. I think it might be a robin nest, and we've got some finches that took up residence in the bird condo. We've been watching the little birdies fly, it really is something to see. Our front we have a next in the tree too. I think that it might be a cardinal. The momma and poppa cardinals are the only ones who hang out in the front. So all this said - I've got a couple of bird pictures that I snapped to show you.

Danielle bought me this last year for Mother's day. The cardinals love it, and I fill it often! This is the tree that they hang out in mostly.
Isn't he just beautiful!! I could watch them for hours. And they have the cutest little chirp.
This is our weeping willow that we have out back. Of course this day every time I grabbed the camera to take a picture he would fly away. I finally snapped him though, and this was zoomed in. He's pretty high up in the tree. I think he was just playing hard to get and didn't wanna be pictured.
This is just a little sneek peek at what I've been up to. I'll be back to show you more later.

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

It's Thursday!!

It's Thursday and Joyce is on her way. She's up there in the wild blue yonder..... I'm so excited!! Can you tell?

I've got the house cleaned and now it's just waiting time.... So I thought that I might share something with you all.

I am so in need of making birthday cards. I've got a few birthday's coming up and Danielle has depleted my stash. She used to love to sit with us and make cards. As a matter of fact she could knock them out in a matter of minutes ~ and they were good. They did not look like they were thrown together. But of course she's outgrown that. It's not cool for a teen to sit with Mom and Nana and do things like this. So when she's got a friend who's birthday is coming up she raids my stash.... But that's ok, it makes me feel needed *Ü*

For this card I used my cupcakes from TAC's Sweet Thing set. I stamped it then stamped it again on the SU! Sweet Always DP. I colored it in and cut out the base of the stamped image from the DP and pieced it. The base card is Chocolate Chip layered with Pink Pirouette and Sweet Always DP. I stamped the sentiment in Pixie Pink ink from my TAC Gift With Purchase stamps and punched it out with SU! large oval punch and my Marvy scallop oval punch. I added a ribbon and a brad and I was done.

The next card I made for Betty as a Thank You for the Mother's Day lunch she took us out to. I was wanting to make a card and I thought that something with the Voila set might be cute. Then I remembered the window set and an idea hit!! I'm kinda bored with my stamps right now so you might see some imagination. I'm trying to be good and not spend right now...

The base card is Pacific Point (a must to stock up on because it will be leaving soon). I layered it with Ballet Blue and some DP from the Summer Picnic series. I stamped the window image from Window on the World twice and colored it. I then set up the layers where I wanted them and cut the opening out of the window and straight thru all the layers.

The bottom part of the card is the DP that I "ruffled" and ran thru my sewing machine. My machine is having issues so the holes are not uniform ~ I'm picky like that....

So anyway, after cutting the layers out I had the Voila image that I set in the window to see where I wanted to place him. Once it was in the right spot I taped it down and adhered the 2nd stamped window on the inside, just to cover up the edges. I also paper pieced the chef's pants, hat, color and cuff with the same Summer Picnic paper. So - whadda ya think??

I will try to be back tomorrow for some more posting, but I can't promise it... We've got a year to catch up with Joyce. That's a lot of chattin' at the table.

Here's to wishin' you a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Today's Happy Hump Day!

The middle of the week and only one more day til Joyce is here. Can you tell I'm excited to have my stampin' buddy here. It's been a year since we've seen here. Yet it's gone by so fast!

It's kinda funny, I'll give you a little history here. Just a little.

All the times that we've crafted together Joyce and I always ended up sitting next to each other. Now, I'm not sure that it was planned, but we were always next to each other. We would be sitting there making our cards, doing our own thing. Joyce would finish and I'd peek over at here and smile and say good job or whatever. Then came the "you know what you could of done...." It never seemed to fail. Then Joyce would say "why didn't you tell me then". And then I'd tell her because I was not paying attention. So now it's the standing joke, "you know you could of...." I guess you had to be there *Ü*



I made another flower book for the challenge over at PCP. Wanna see it??
Once again I used the my Cricut and the Accent Essentials and Walk in My Garden cartridges.
I covered all the pages with TAC's Winterberry paper collection and other plain card stock.
I used various embellishments like ribbon, brads, flowers. Like the cork flower? My friend Anne made that with her Big Shot and cork. Love it!!
The stamps are also from The Angel Company. I used A Blessing to Me, Small Sentiments and Floral Labels.I think it's kinda cute! What do you think??

Well, I'm off. I just heard the door bell ring and I think that the postman has a package for me. Nothing fun, just tape.

I hope that you have a great day. I will try to get on the computer early tomorrow to post. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day.

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Happy Tuesday!

I'm getting happier as the week goes by. Our dear friend from California, Joyce, will be here Thursday. Each year she's been kind enough to come visit us. And the time seems to go by so fast. This year she will be with us for 6 weeks! How cool is that? And even though it's a long time it will go by so fast I'm sure.....

This will be a short post for today, maybe.... I've got to finish a project on my desk and I'm anxious to get back to it.

The sneek peek from yesterday, remember? Well this is what I made. I love the Wednesday challenges on SCS. That community is one great place to be a part of!

Well the challenge last week was to make this backpack. At first because it shows so many steps I was a little worried. But it actually is so simple. If you can make a milk carton you can make this. They are kind of along the same lines. Anyway, here is the tutorial if you'd like to try one yourself. I used Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel cs for the backpack. I stamped the flowers all over the cs before scoring and putting it together. I don't remember the name of the stamp, but it was a large roller from SU! I stamped it with Chocolate Chip ink. A few eyelets, some ribbon, some rub on's and I was done. I gave it to Danielle and she looked at me like Mom's done it again. I have so many little boxes, bags and creations around here I have no idea what to do with them all!

The next thing I want to show you is what I made for the May Challenge over at PCP. This month I put up the challenge on the BIA group I belong to. If anyone is interested, go to PCP and join up with the Bind It All group and you can play. I love my BIA!! I'm always looking at things different to see if I can do something with my machine.

Anyway, the challenge is to make a book in the shape of a flower. Well, mine is a flower and a pot, but same thing....

I used some of that thin chipboard that hubby brought home and cut it out with my Cricut. Then I covered it with some DP and Mod Podge, and let it sit for a while. The flower is cut from the Accent Essentials cart (thanks Anne for letting me borrow it!!) and the flower pot and the buggies are all cut from Walk in my Garden. I stamped the inside pages with my TAC set A Wittle Bug. So, what do you think? You up for the challenge? The winner is getting 2 packages of O Wires from me. Stop on over here and sign up....

Well, so much for a short post... I will be back tomorrow to show you some more!
Have a great day!
Hugs, Joani

Good Monday Morning!

Hello Everyone!

Did you all have a wonderful weekend and Mother's Day? I sure hope so, I did. I could not ask for anything more enjoyable. The weather was perfect!

First we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel (my favorite restaurant!!). For those of you who don't know it's a down home country restaurant with a country store in the front. When we go there, after we eat I get to browse around the shop and look at everything. Although I was fine with not looking around yesterday. They were a little crowded because of the holiday.

Then we went to Lowe's and picked out my Daisies. Every year I grow daisies outside on the back porch. Can you believe that they were just about sold out. Then hubby got some more plants for his garden. We went to Walmart to look at their plants too, but they just don't take care of them - there was nothing there that tickled my fancy. But hubby bought some powder for the plants, something is eating my petunia leaves.

After that we stopped by Sonic to pick up a watermelon slushie (another favorite of mine) and we came home and playing in the dirt. While I was in the back yard I noticed a wine barrel that I have a rose bush in. Last year I planted some Moss Rose's in it around the edge of the barrel, so I had to run out and pick some of those up....

I came home and planted those. Helped hubby clean up a bit, he was weed eating and pulling weeds in his garden - so I came in the house. I sat with Mom in the living room and fell asleep! So I took a little afternoon nap. The windows were open so there was a breeze. Oh what a wonderful day it was!

Did you have enough of my rambles? Let's get to business.

I needed to make a special birthday card for a special someone the other day and this is what I came up with. You all know that I love cupcakes, I've told you enough, so that's what I made. I had picked up some cute paper when Anne took us to the scrapbook store (Memories a la Mode) in Frankfort a while back and I had to use it.

The base card is Pink Pirouette and I layered it with Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue and some DP from imaginisece All kinds of Happy. The stamp on the front is from TAC it's called Sweet Thing and I also used the candle and saying from TAC's Little Cupcake. The Happy Birthday inside is a stamp that I always seem to use - it's YEARS old - it's from D.O.T.S.

You like the border punch? That's what hubby got for me last time I went to Micheal's. It's a Martha Stewart border punch. I paper pieced the bottom of the cupcake and the top. On the top I pieced it but added that layer with pop dots. I also added some stickles to the card to give it a little "bling".

Do you like it??

I think that I've mentioned before that I look forward to Wednesday's on SCS to see what new tutorial they post. Well here is a sneek peek at what I did with their last Wednesday's post.

Sorry I was so long winded today, maybe yesterday refreshed me?? That's all I've got for you today, I hope you all have a nice day!

Hugs,
Joani