Senior Pictures!!

Yes, you're at the right place. I just HAVE to tell you about our Senior Pictures!! Although my REAL Senior Pictures were taken 20 years ago, Senior Pictures are alive and well around our house!! My sister was back a few years ago for Thanksgiving and she said *Let's take some senior pictures*. I said HUH? She said that her son (my nephew, a real party animal) and all of his college friends take senior pictures all the time.

So here's what you do: Pose for pictures Senior Picture style. Take your picture in weird places but add in those goofy senior poses. This is SO DANG FUN, I can't even begin to tell you how much you'll laugh.

We took Senior Pictures at my crop last weekend and I about died when my friend Marcia lugged this big mirror off the hotel wall and plopped it on the bed. We all had to take turns getting our Senior Pictures taken. Here's mine below, I actually kinda like it!! Remember those mirror shots? OMG, too funny!! But usually they are much goofier, like this Senior Picture of Marcia, below. Who needs those fancy props when you have a fire hydrant!? I love that her purse is around her neck like an old grandma!
Here's one of my brother in law and my niece's husband a few years back. Notice the hand under the chin pose on Brian and the clasped hands on Ron. Again, who needs props when you have a pyramid of beer cans!!
Well, this is totally not related to anything stamping wise. Actually, it's just quite silly. But if you like to laugh and want to be the life of the party, I highly suggest that you become a photographer and take Senior Pictures at your next get together. I better be careful though or I'll probably become some professional photographer or something! Snort!!!!

Snail Notecard

Hi everyone, I'm so glad you liked yesterday's post of the Inchie Notecards! Today I'm using that Lockhart snail again....it's actually called Escargot if you go searching for it in Ellen's store. My little helper Emma will be assisting me today.......she's the curious kitty in the photo below. She just HAD to hop up on that chair to see what was there while I was photographing my project! She helps me most of the days that I photograph outside. Here's one card of another set of notecards that I made, using the purple Arturo notecards and Basic Grey Sprout paper from Ellen's shop. Simple little notecards with lined envelopes.

After stamping and coloring my image with Copic markers, I cut, embossed and layered the snail image using Spellbinder's Rectangle and Scallop Rectangle Nestabilities. The polka dots from the patterned paper would make a good background mat I thought.
I simply folded my pre-scored notecards (which are SO soft by the way), added a strip of patterned paper and mounted the snail image in the center. Again, by using a ruler, you can find that center mark easily. I added two decorative pearls for a little snail trail.......or do you think it looks like snail poop like my daughter said? LOL! I debated on whether to leave them or not.
A simple lining for the envelope and my cards were complete.
Again, another wonderful project for teacher's or Mother's Day, graduations, etc. Or just great to have on hand for simple thank you notes or little gift enclosure cards.

Inchie Snail Mail Stationery

Edited to answer a few questions: The brown piece of the notecard is 1/4 of a sheet of 8.5 x 11" cardstock(chocolate chip). So the finished size is 4.25 x 5-1/2" for each card. It does not fold. The white cardstock is layered on top of that and measures 4" x 5-1/4". The patterned paper piece is about 3/4" x 4" and the white square that the snail is on measures 1". Then the scallop square is the next size bigger Nestabilities die template. Hope that helps!

Today I have some fun stationery to show you. Taylor did a beautiful set of stationery on her blog so she is the source for my inspiration. For my supplies, I used a CHF script background stamp, Basic Grey 6 x 6 paper pad, Karen Lockhart's snail stamp, Inchie Squares, Spellbinder's Dies, Copic markers (all available at Ellen's store), brown and white cardstock, and Papertrey alphabet set.

The card base is two layers with no opening, so it's just a note card with a white front. I colored the snail (which I'm just loving these days), cut with Spellbinder's Die Templates, and mounted on an inchie square. I adhered the inchie over a strip of patterned paper which has a script pattern to it. By using a ruler, you can center the square nicely on the card front. I stamped the sentiment *snail mail for you* on the bottom of the note card. You can see this better by zooming in on the last photo below.
For the envies, I stamped up the script backgrounder with chocolate chip ink. I always stamp my background stamps upside down.
Then I placed one end of the envelope over the inked background stamp.
Using a scrap piece of paper, I placed it over the envelope and rubbed. This transfers the ink to the envelope with no mess.
Here's my finished set of notecards. These are just for me. They will be perfect for when I need to jot a little note to teachers or need a quick thank you note.
These would also be great for gifts for Mother's Day coming up, or teachers, etc. Package them up in one of Nichole's clear stationery boxes and tie a ribbon around....easy peasy gift idea!! And very inexpensive too. Thank you Taylor for the inspiration!!

Bloomin' Flowers

Hi everyone, I had a great time scrapbooking this weekend! Luckily today, we have no school. So we can rest and just lounge around and get caught up. I took photos of some of my scrapbook pages so I'll post some of those another day. I got 25 pages done, woohoo!

Today's creations are some cards I made a while back from the Stampin' Up! set called Bloomin' With Love. It's one of my favorite stamp sets from the current SU! catalog. All cards use My Mind's Eye patterned paper, main images are colored with Copic markers, and die cutting was done with Spellbinder's rectangle and scallop rectangle Nestabilities templates. If you'll notice on all of these cards, I like to use a similar design element on a lot of my cards. It's a strip of cardstock or patterned paper. I love how this design element provides a nice *grounding* element for the main image. I also use it often to *seam* together two pieces of patterned paper to conceal the edges.



Another design element I like to use is circle accents. Nothing creates a *bullseye* effect like a circle. It directs your attention to a particular part of the creation and can be used for smaller supporting images or sentiments.


I love ALL of these cards so much! For now I'm keeping them in a little basket near my bird themed centerpiece. I'll eventually use them but for now, they're just fun to look at! Have a great day everyone!!

Scrapbook weekend here I come!

It's time once again for my scrapbooking weekend with some fun friends. I'll be returning on Sunday, so have a great weekend! Below are some little boxes that my friend Carmen and I made for our cropping friends. Inside the boxes are some minty foot rub along with a pair of warm footy socks to wear while cropping and a pack of gum for that late night breath! Carmen's also going to pick up some gourmet cookies that are in the shape of a foot and they have tiny M & M's for the toes! Ack, I can't wait!! We tied the boxes up with some super cute ribbon and made a personalized, monogrammed tag inspired from one shown in a Stampin' Up! publication. Patterned paper is from SU!, letters are cut from Cricut, Prima flowers.
At the last minute, we came up with another fun idea....a scrapbook layout for each of us to complete at the crop. We made a simple, 2 page layout and included a sketch of how to assemble the pages. We're going to take photos during the crop, run them to the one hour photo place and then surprise our friend with these pages. The tag from the above photo will be used on the pages as the main accent. Fun, huh?
Well, I've got my Becky Higgins sketch book all packed so I'm ready to head out. I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll try to post something on Sunday but I'll be drop dead tired....we only sleep a few hours each night so that we can crop a ton of pages!!

Anna Wight....in my back yard

Anna Wight (Sweet Miss Daisy) is such a nice gal, I just love our little email chats!! We're on the Crafty Secrets Design Team together and I've recently purchased some of Anna's Whipper Snapper stamps. Her whimsical style is clean and fresh, and many of her designs reflect upon her country lifestyle......have you seen Anna's photos of her farm animals? They are so awesome, and I love that she names off her little critters, so cute! Well, I'm sure Anna is beet red if she's reading this so I'll stop blubbering on about her and we'll move on to my creations for today.

All of these cards remind of things that could be found in my back yard during this time of year. I was so inspired by Anna's images. Below, I've used those beloved snails again. I really don't want those in my garden but I love them on cards!! And below is the clothes line that I've been begging my husband for. He's been stubborn and won't put one up for me because he doesn't want to mow around it. I think every country girl needs a clothes line. I can remember one of my earliest chores at home was hanging up clothes before school. I had to stand on a little stool to reach the clothesline. My mom was a slave driver, I tell ya! LOL!
And buckets of flowers below. My mom plants flowers in anything that holds dirt! This image totally reminds me of her many pots of flowers sitting around her yard. I have 2 wash bin stands that I'm eyeing over at the farm. My mom showed me a bunch of stuff in this old shed the other day.....it was full of junk, dusty and just up my alley! I definitely need those!
And this card below depicts a common scene at my house. Newly potted plants and flowers, my digging tool and some boots.....or for me, mostly flip flops.
So thank you for the inspiration Anna! As for my Inspiration Station, someone asked for a clue. Today's nature theme is definitely what it's all about!

Supplies: Anna Wight stamps for Whipper Snapper, My Mind's Eye patterned paper, Kraft SU! base card, various ribbon, Amuse *dropping you a line* sentiment, Papertrey sentiments and Simple Alphabet set, Copic markers, Palette Black Noir ink,Ranger Glossy Accents on snail body.

Fresh Rhubarb Pie...and a card

Here's a little card I made while thinking about my mom's fresh rhubarb pie!! This little image and sentiment are from Rubber Soul, along with the pretty paper. I think I'll give this card to my mom when that fresh pie comes around this year! Okay girls, this is an amazing accomplishment in itself: I got my mom's Rhubarb Pie recipe on PAPER! My mom is one of those awesome cooks that has all those recipes stored right in her head. I'm so glad we could actually get this recipe figured out!! I must offer this disclaimer though: No matter how you make your pie, it will never be as good as my mom's! LOL!! Her pie crust is delicious all by itself!! If you beg to differ, please come to Kansas and we'll have a Bobby Flay-like show down!! She would LOVE that!

If you've never had a rhubarb pie, it's soooo good. But not all rhubarb pies are created equal. Rhubarb looks like celery with reddish skin and is very tart by itself. You have to sweeten it up just right. My mom's pie turns out so pretty....pink pie filling with soft rhubarb and sweet strawberry filling. Mmmm, I can almost taste it. This pie comes along only once a year so I savor each little morslet...even better with vanilla ice cream. So here's the recipe:

Fresh Rhubarb Pie

Pastry for 2 crust pie (or) Pillsbury pie crusts
1 cup to 1-1/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
4 cups cut up fresh rhubarb (1" pieces)
2 T margarine
½ small package strawberry jello
1-2 cups fresh sliced strawberries (optional)

Heat oven to 425 degrees (maybe 400). Stir together sugar, flour and dry jello. Mix with rhubarb and strawberries, if using. Put in pie pan with bottom crust . Dot with margarine. Cover with top crust, cut slits. Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges with foil for half the time. Bake 40-50 minutes.

Enjoy everyone!!! Oh, and guess what? I'm working on a new inspiration station, I can't wait to gather up all my goodies and show you!

Lockhart...Expecting Joy

I'm still having fun with all the baby happenings around here. I made this card for my niece who's expecting in a month or so. The main image from Karen Lockhart is called Ice Cream and Pickles, isn't it adorable? The sentiment is from A Muse, papers from Making Memories Garden Party collection, ribbon from Papertrey Ink. Copic markers for coloring in image and Spellbinder's Die Templates for the oval and scalloped oval, available at Ellen's online store. I hope she likes my card! I'm off to the girls' soccer game.......or herd ball as we call it!!