Monday, April 27, 2009

Card Positioning System



















I am not much for sketches, they do make things so much quicker, but I never keep them handy. (I should!) Cornish Heritage Farms is the sponsor for this weeks CPS sketch, so I thought I would give it a go, and it was super fast to get it done. I did to a little embossing, waiting for paint to dry and fussy cutting, but it goes fast when you know where you plan on putting it all. Paint first so you can work on all the other layers while that is going if you can plan that far ahead.
Pink Paislee paper is the base and I used Ranger inks and embossing powder. Claudine Hellmuth paint for the American Crafts bird.
The CHF Creative Blog is having a challenge and give away using the sketch, so if you have some time you should play!!
Hope you are having a good start to your week!
B-

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Friday already

This week has flown by, it has been really busy for me. Missing my guy, got a great note from him letting us know that he is adjusting really well and is really enjoying Brazil and the people that he has gotten to know there so far.
Haven't had much time to craft this week, so I finished up a few layouts that had details that needed to be done. This one was pics of Chloe and Tyler the day he left, so cute!!! Super easy and quick, some My Mind's Eye paper, love those pre-glittered dots, saves a big mess and looks great, paired with Basic Grey Porcelain chipboard for the details. Love those colors!
Anyway, got a huge box of stamps yesterday that I got cut and organized, hoping to play with them tomorrow. We took the kids to see a movie tonight, "17 Again" and we really enjoyed it, reminds you to keep your priorities in line. Something I can probably never be reminded about enough. Anyway, have a wonderful weekend!!!
B-

Monday, April 20, 2009

Happy Monday!


Very glad to see Monday! We had a busy and very fun weekend, but it sure wore me out, LOL!
I went to Kim's on Friday with Rox, Brenda met us there later and we had a great time giggling, snacking and even a little scrapping!

Saturday brought us to AMES Prom day. Chloe went with her boyfriend Michael, and they looked adorable! They had a wonderful time, and will have fun memories of the event! Laurel went with her boyfriend and a group of his friends. Her Sr. Prom at Skyline is in a few weeks, so we get to do this for her again...
wheeeee.

Of course we are still really missing Tyler, I have made a few layouts from the pictures I took from the last few days he was here. It really is fun, and lets me look at his pictures for a really long time without feeling like an obsessive mom, LOL! I used the Basic Grey Marakech line for this layout, I love the quilty look of it! And the bright colors make me so very happy!!
Anyway, I have some new stamps that are needing some ink, so I am off to my craft room to play. Hope you have a happy Monday!
B-


Thursday, April 16, 2009

Hello Thursday!

Just popping in for a quick hello and to share a little project. I don't have anyone getting married, so don't get the wrong idea, LOL! I just loved the purples in the new Basic Grey Wisteria collection! That big dragonfly is so beautiful, just had to use him somewhere!
Spring took a little break this week, so with snow on the ground it is nice to look at the little blooms in this paper!
I also want to wish my dear friend Kim Hughes a very happy birthday today, LOVE ya chica!!!

B-



Monday, April 13, 2009

Spring Winner!

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Andrea McCulley said...
My favorite things about spring are blooms, bunnies and butterflies! Lovely card!
3:32 PM
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Congratulations Andrea!

Email me or leave me a comment on how to contact you!

A very Happy Easter was had by all here, we ate ourselves silly and the kids collected many eggs, the lawn and flower beds were covered!
Hope you all had a wonderful day too!!!

B-

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter Friends


Just a quick little post to wish all of you a Happy Easter, we are going to be celebrating with my family, and I feel very blessed that we can be together and that everyone is healthy. Of course we all miss Tyler, but have heard from him, and he is doing really well, so that makes us all very happy as well.
I hope that your day is blessed!
B-

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Celebrating the arrival of Spring with a blog hop!!!



I love blog hops, they are so fun to follow the links and find what the next person has to share! The CHF Creative Chicks have a blog hop today, and then if you go on to the CHF Creative Blog you can find out who is getting goodies from playing along with the Spring Card Challenge from last week.

Julia Stainton

Sherrie Siemens

Joanne Allison

Kristine Reynolds

Becky Olsen

The card that I made used images from Sweet Spring and Spring Trees sets from the Kim Hughes collection. Patterned Papers are by Pink Paislee, Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket. I used the new blender pen from Ranger (very cool, but I need to practice!!!) to color and all of the images were stamped with Ranger inks, Peeled Paint Distress inks and Adirondack Ginger.

Leave me a comment about your favorite thing about Spring, and I will randomly pick someone on Monday at noon to get a Spring Trees stamp set.

Hope that you are having a very hoppy Spring!!!

B-

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Ranger U pictures and post (warning, very long!)

I made it there and back! Had a few delays on the way, and a few coming home, very grateful that I had been able to book direct flights so that I didn't need to worry about connections, that would have been a bummer!

We got started Friday morning with a beautifully organized and clean room, it wasn't that way by the time we were done with it! This is a picture of my work surface. We all introduced ourselves, and then had a tour of the facility, so fascinating! One of the big happy points for me is that most of Ranger's products are manufactured in the USA at the facility in New Jersey!! That is a good thing!!! Tim is the Willy Wonka of the inky world, he knows how to have fun and how to think of fun and clever toys that add new wonder. Suze and Claudine (who I didn't get a picture of except on my phone and that is on my FB page) were delightful and so very knowledgable and inspiring as well. Loved the fact that we learned about all of the product lines at once, it opened up so many possibilites for exploration and fun!
Patti is wonder woman! She knew exactly what was going on at all times, and had the answers for anything! The event was run so smoothly, and everything had been thought of, great planning! Mario was the go to guy! He always had a smile on his face, and I swear, he never held still! He made sure we were fed, had snacks, beverages and empty trash cans! So kind and patient, gotta love him!!!

My table buddy was the darling and oh so fun Debby Shuh! We traded pinks for greens, and if you know either of us, you know that is a good thing!!!


Cindy Lyles was across the room from me, but I tried to bother her and her fun tablemates every chance that I got!!! I have a little envy, not only is she immensely talented, super cute and incredibly sweet, she drives the CUTEST red convertible sports car! sigh.

Lynn Warner and Crystal Rieger were Cindy's partners in crime. (see I told you, super fun tablemates!!!) Crystal is so funny and Lynn is so sweet and generous! My new super FAB BFFs!!!




The darling Donna Salazar was a few seats away but I could catch glimpses of her wicked cool creativity now and then, she has such a playful and free spirit that reflects in her style, LOVE that!!!

Miss Jen Starr is super FANTASTIC! She was attending for a record setting 5th certification! She had it all going on, and it was such a nice experience to have her just a wink away! I could watch her work and find little nuances to the techniques that we were working on, obviously loads of product knowledge and experience! She has got it going on!!!

Sulie was my other tablemate! What a treasure as a new friend, and a fascinating and talented woman! She is from Vienna, Austria and has a shop there, the only one in town! She just might find me on her doorstop visiting! That is a part of the world that I have always wanted to see, and now having a friend there gives me the excuse I have always needed! Anyone want to go with me and make it a par-TAY?!!!

After working on our technique tags from Claudine's segment, we had a chance to just play with her products, and I already had a huge love for them before this event, but now that I have an even better understanding, I am ready to try all kinds of projects that I wouldn't have thought possible before! Everyone was given a box from Cosmo Cricket to decorate how ever they wanted and about an hour and a half to do it. I just went for it, I globbed on paper, paint, glaze and buttons! It was fun to just make something without a plan just to see what it would turn into! I need to do that more often!
In Suze's segment we made all of these great projects while we learned about the product and techniques to use it. Then Ranger provided the frame and the mattes to put it all together! I have plans to Beck-i-tize it, but thought that I would share what the original looked like! It gets me super amped to play more just looking at it! Does it do that for you?
We even got a melting pot! So excited to get it plugged in and goopy again!
The last picture is of my suitcase. I did have a few clothes in there, but not many, wore the same two pairs of jeans for the weekend with a fresh t-shirt everyday (no mocking, I wasn't there for a fashion show, LOL!)
The whole experience was designed to let us explore as artists, but leave feeling like we learned and succeeded in creating projects and samples that would help us teach and share with others! The encouragement and teaching styles of all three were so great, and I am hard to impress in that regard. They all checked to make sure that everyone understood, could complete the tasks and techniques and were patient and generous with their time. Seriously exceptional presentations, these people know their stuff (as if there was ever a doubt, LOL!)
I would do it again in a heartbeat, and if they ever develop a more intense program I would be the first in line to apply! Of course there are many other people I met and interacted with that I enjoyed getting to know, just didn't get a pic. And so many team members from Ranger that contributed so much that are faceless, but gave so much to make it a memorable and enjoyable experience that was without problems, thanks to all of them!
So I am running on no sleep, so I am out of here! Will be back soon with more good stuff!!!
B-

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

The joke is on me...


yup, it is April fool's day, and it has been hectic!!! I always think I have a reasonable grip on things the week before I am getting ready to leave town and inevitably the wheels will come off somehow! We had a fantastic visit with our friends, and they safely left town after the morning snow storm that blanketed the valley and mangled the morning commute and carpool run. We had a fantastic day of skiing at Deer Valley yesterday, it was gorgeous and no one was there. The upside is that you get a lot of runs in, the down side is that you get worn out from all of that vertical! So during my three hours of tennis today, my legs were quite tired, imagine that...
We have had a lot of changes at CHF that have needed attention, and so much exciting art that has to be scheduled that it gets me so inspired and excited that my head starts to swirl!
I leave quite early to get on my way to the Newark New Jersey airport after a long but gratefully direct flight, I will get into a shuttle that will take about an hour to get me into Tinton Falls. This will get me there in time to hopefully get a little dinner and then some sleep so I can start out Friday with a set of fresh eyes, such a good thing!
So there is laundry to be done, kids that needed to be fed (we ordered Pi pizza, yummers!), and the packing that will probably not happen until the wee hours!
I won't be posting on my blog while gone, but hope to come home with some great ideas and things to share, I can't wait to have a ball!!!
Until next week...
=)
B-