Sorry about the mess, but we LIVE here!

I live in a frat house.

Not really, but it feels like it sometimes! Two sons, a cousin, my husband and the dog. All male. I am the odd "man" out! I have to say that they are all pretty awesome housemates, though I am sure I get on their nerves with my constant nagging about mess. Hey, it's in my nature! I think it is a female trait to want things clean and organized. I can't help it! I used to kill myself cleaning when my kids were growing up. Saturday was my cleaning day, if there weren't ball games! I've gotten lazy in my old age, or is it that I realized that it wasn't the most important thing in the world to have a spotlessly clean house? Probably a little of both. It has taken 26 years for them to wear me down though!

You know you are doing something right when you can't wait to get home every day. This quote sums it all up for me.



I'm going to make this into a canvas because I love it so much! Don't you love the Just For Fun Rubber Stamps collaged row houses stamp?

[caption id="attachment_5087" align="alignnone" width="533"] Just For Fun Rubber Stamps Collaged Row Houses stamp paired with Club Scrap® card stock. Yellow and Crystal Stickles for sparkle. Velvet heart from my stash.[/caption]

I had the little velvet heart out on my craft table to add to another project, but it was perfect for this one!



I designed the sentiment in Photoshop Elements using the fonts Bigelow Rules, Jury Duty and Beyond the Mountains. The sentiment was designed to print on a 4.25 x 5.5 card panel, so that I can print and repeat as many times as I like!



Blog Candy Alert! Just For Fun Rubber Stamps (JFFRS) hosts a monthly challenge and the randomly chosen winner will receive a gift certificate to shop in their online store. Your project must include a rubber stamped image somewhere in the design. You DO NOT have to use a JFF stamp to be considered for the gift card,  but if you DO use a JFF stamp you will receive a second entry into the drawing doubling your chance to win! Sounds like a sweet thing to me!

[caption id="attachment_5131" align="aligncenter" width="399"] CLICK HERE to join the challenge and see more inspiration from the design team![/caption]

 

Do more of what makes you happy!

Read More »

Hedgehugs and Kisses

I know puns are cheesy, but they make me feel grate! (Ba-dum TSS!) My husband got a second date with a "punny" pick up line, and he asked for that second date because I laughed!  Classic Chris humor...One Saturday morning  we had an argument. He went outside to burn off steam doing yard work. The kids were being crazy, and I was hot, sweaty and angrily cleaning house. All of a sudden, he ran inside, slid across the dining room floor, grabbed me and said,"Oh my God are you OK?!" I gave him the WTH look and he chuckled and said," I thought you might have hurt yourself when you fell from heaven!" I started laughing hysterically, housework was forgotten and we had a hot date!

We don't usually go crazy for Valentine's Day, but I do like to make my Valentine a card!



Those hedgehogs made the CUTEST card for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge starting today! My card features Gerda Steiner's hedgehog smooches digital image and Club Scrap® cardstock.



This week's theme challenge is sponsored by Gerda Steiner Designs (GSD) and she is graciously providing a $15 gift certificate to a randomly chosen winner. She also hosts a monthly challenge on her blog with a chance to win 3 GSD Digital Stamps of your choice or alternatively a $15 coupon to the store! Win! Win!

Check out what the rest of the design team created here, then go make a card and enter the challenges!

Do more of what makes you happy!



Challenges/Galleries entered:

GSD Monthly Challenge Hedgehog Smooches

GSD Flickr Group

Read More »

Color Me Happy!

I joined a photography challenge on January 1 called The Great 365 Project hosted on Diane Downs' photography website/blog and started posting my photos on Instagram . The January 18 daily prompt was "multiple" and I had just received my essential oils and bamboo diffuser from UPS! Don't you love this essential oil storage box ? I was really surprised to discover that my 30ml bottles fit in all of the slots. Lots of room for more oils!



I started pinning essential oil diffuser recipes on Pinterest and decided to make a little recipe book to keep with my supplies. I found this quick and easy, GLUE FREE, book tutorial on Club Scrap's blog. At 3x6 inches, it is the perfect size for what I wanted!



Isn't that card stock gorgeous?! It is from Club Scrap® 's January Color Me Happy kit. I used the sunshine stamp from the art nouveau unmounted stamp collection, and the sophisticated script alphabet from Concord and 9th and a small wooden alphabet stamp set from my stash to create the label on the belly band. The metallic dot is included in the embellishment pack with the (CMH) kit.



There are plenty of pages inside, 14 if you include the front and back inside covers, to house my collection of recipes! I created a .png file using the recommended fonts in the Club Scrap January 2017 Scrap Rap for my recipes so that they would be easy to print and trim out.



The spine cover makes it look so "finished"!





I'm linking up to the January 2017 Color Me Happy Club Scrap Blog Hop for a chance to win a Club Scrap gift certificate!

Do more of what makes you happy!

Read More »

Toucan Play at THAT Game!

This was Eudie and Bert.



Eudie was my Grandma, Aunt Bert was her older sister. Aunt Bert only had one  child, who she affectionately called "Son". Grandma, on the other hand, had 9 children and 27 grandchildren. Boy,  Aunt Bert liked all the action at my Grandma's when she'd come visit! Only problem was that they would argue constantly AND talk at the same time! I think Aunt Bert secretly enjoyed the attention and making Grandma mad! I'm sure everybody in our family has a funny Aunt Bert story, she was a character. This is one of mine.

I liked taking road trips with my Grandma in her "little Honda" with the hatchback. This particular  trip, I had to ride in the backseat because Aunt Bert was riding shotgun. I was about 11-12 and we were driving home from New Orleans. Grandma stopped at a little diner and we got some chicken dinner boxes to go. We got back on the road and Grandma asked Aunt Bert to hand her a French fry. It must have been a little hot because Grandma started coughing. And coughing...Aunt Bert kept asking what was wrong like Grandma couldn't hear. I got nervous because she was swerving all over the road and I (and my chicken dinner) was rolling all over the backseat! Finally, Aunt Bert grabbed Grandma's  face, turned her head toward her and said, " Open your mouth and let me see!" Grandma screamed and slammed on the brakes (middle of the highway!) and yelled at Aunt Bert,"Are you OUT of your MIND?" Aunt Bert just shrugged and turned back to her chicken dinner that was tucked in her lap and said,"Well, I was just trying to help!" Grandma just stared at her and all you could hear was the click of my seatbelt as I quietly tried to put it on. Aunt Bert daintily picked at her chicken and said," See what you did? You scared everybody!" Grandma said nothing, jerked the card back onto the road and white knuckled the steering wheel the rest of the ride home. I was a little "ascared" of her because I'd never seen her that mad. Meanwhile, Aunt Bert chatted away like nothing happened. I was still holding a piece of chicken when we pulled into our driveway an hour later!

These chunky toucans made me think of Eudie and Bert!

[caption id="attachment_4815" align="alignnone" width="3294"] JFF Rubber Stamps Chunky Toucans and Man in the Moon stamps. Club Scrap® Color Me Happy card stock, Comics digital kit speech bubble, and By the Seashore beach grass stamp. Diamond stickles for sparkle, white Signo Uniball gel pen for highlighting the necklace and polka dots on the bikini. Perfect Pearls mixed with water to watercolor the images. Vintage Photo Distress Ink to frame the edges of the card stock.[/caption]

Those bikinis are hilarious!



The Man in the Moon stamp image fit perfectly in the Club Scrap Color Me Happy cutapart!



Check out the JFF January Card Challenge - Anything Goes!! and join in the fun with a card of your own. The winner will receive a gift certificate to shop in the JFFRS online store! AND no, you do not have to use a JFF stamp to enter!

Do more of what makes you happy!



 

Read More »

Say Cheese!

This CA-RAY-ZEE had a birthday yesterday!



I liked the birthday card I sent her so much, I just had to make another one like it for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge starting today!



The sponsor for this week's color challenge is Lawn Fawn and they are generously providing a prize of a stamp set and 6x6 pad to our randomly chosen winner. My card showcases the Lawn Fawn Clear Acrylic Stamp Set Say Cheese  paired with Club Scrap® card stock.

[caption id="attachment_4703" align="aligncenter" width="4875"] Click here for a great tutorial for the starburst background pattern. Images were stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Ranger Superfine Gold embossing powder, and colored with Faber-Castell gelatos.  Images were then fussy cut and adhered to the card front with foam tape. I added some Stickles diamond glitter glue for bling and some Glossy Accents to the camera lens for shine.[/caption]

Check out what the rest of the design team created here, then go make a card and enter the challenge!

Do more of what makes you happy!



Gallery Entry:

Fawny Flickr Friday 

 

 

Read More »

Beau Beau is 6!

The Birthday Girl!



I sent out a group text to our family this morning and asked them to describe Beau in one word...



Then, I sent her these questions to answer on her birthday...

1. What is your name? Beau Beau

2. How old are you?  6

3. What grade are you in? Kindergarten

4. What is your favorite thing to do? Have my birthday party!

5. What is your favorite song? Let it Go

6. What is your favorite thing to eat? Cake

7. If Duke (her yellow lab) could talk, what would he say? I love you, Beau Beau

8. What is the worst smell in the world? A skunk. Actually, the worst smell in the world is Duke's farts!

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Dentist

10. What makes you laugh? When Duke does dancing dog! (Dancing dog is when he is on his hind legs and Joey or Beau holds his front legs.)

11. What is your favorite color? Pink and red

LOOK! Her first birthday... her little personality was shining bright even then, AND pink and red were her colors!





To quote my Aunt Barbara..."She's a character!"

[caption id="attachment_4670" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Lawn Fawn Let's Polka After Dark 6x6 Paper Pad, Lawn Fawn Clear Acrylic Stamp Set Say Cheese. [/caption]

Happy Birthday Beau Beau! Eat lots of cake!

Love,

Aunt Wendy-woo

Read More »

♫ It's Carnival Time!♫♪

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIq4FH01FiU]

Louisiana carnival season has begun! January 6 is called Epiphany or Twelfth Night (since it's twelve days after Christmas) or Kings Day (hence the King Cake tie-in?). It marks the moment in the Bible that the three kings arrived in Bethlehem to behold the baby Jesus. Traditionally, Epiphany is considered the last day of the Christmas holidays. You can now say "Happy Mardi Gras!", wear purple, green and gold, buy and eat king cake and take down your Christmas decorations! I plan on doing it tomorrow...ugh!

In the meantime, I made a festive card to celebrate! I used the JFFRS Stamptangle Celestial Montage stamp image. This image kind of reminds me of some of my Mardi Gras decorations...



The image was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with Ranger Ink Silver
Super Fine embossing powder. The image was painted with a mixture of Perfect Pearls True Gold and True Red pigment powder and water. The background paper is Club Scrap®  cardstock and embellished with metallic dot stickers from the CS Color Me Happy embellishment pack .



I'm off to get motivated to take down Christmas and put out the Mardi Gras bling. Hmmmm, I might need a little king cake and coffee first!

There's still time to join the JFFRS "Anything Goes" January Challenge for a chance to win a gift certificate to the JFFRS online store! Details here! AND there's a 40% off sale through January 15...

Do more of what makes you happy!



Challenges entered:

PDE Linky Party #154 "Anything Goes" 

Crazy For Challenges #357

Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog Something New 

 

Read More »