US Open and Major Flair Disaster...

This weekend I have been glued to the tv watching the US Open! There have been some outstanding matches and some that have been less than stellar, but it is always amazing to watch! As a player, I can completely admire and apprecite the skill level that these athletes perform at, seriously incredible! It is also very inspiring for me to want to work on my game and improve my level of competitive play! Love that game!

And whilst watching the Federer/Stepanek match, I made a cute little flair for my facebook friends, and after I sent it the first time, it gave me a re-try message...
So of course being the stubborn and persistent person that I am, I kept re-trying, all three times the message came up. After the third time, I decided it would probably be prudent to wait and send my little gifty later. So I go back to my profile page and find, to my horror, that my generosity had been magnified through the help of technology!

I think I need to learn from this experience that message doesn't mean re-send. It really means get over it and if it is really important to you, try again later.

In other goings on, Cornish Heritage Farms is giving double club points on purchases made through tomorrow! Love that!

And I have made my airline reservations for a trip to Denver to support Scrapbook Destinations "Scrap Pink" fundraiser event. Mary Kay does an amazing job organizing this event, it is fun, inspirational and so touching, great to bond with your sisters for a wonderful cause!

Anyway, I hope that this holiday weekend is relaxing and rejuvinating for all of you, and I am off to watch Andy Roddick play some tennis, lucky me!!!
B-

Taking things for granted

I try really hard not to take things for granted, but still it creeps up on you...

You know, being grateful that your kids are really great, your husband is a saint for putting up with you, your friends are angels for the very same reason...

You know, that kind of stuff.

So today is one of those days when I just want to let everyone who is a part of life know how deeply I appreciate all that they give to me day in and out.

A little cyber card to say thanks to all of you!

It is an interesting board check for me when I have dear friends who have troubles that are so much harder than my own. When all I can do is let them know that I would do anything in my power for them, and hope with all my heart that if they genuinely needed anything that they would trust in the words I spoke to them, and ask.
I am what my husband and I refer to as a "fixer" and that is not always a good thing. I just so desperately want things to be right for everyone all the time. I know that it is an impossibility, it is just the way I tick. But, honestly, how many of us as women aren't that way? Very few I am sure. Just so hard to step away and let it transpire.
Anyway, just wanted to share a day of gratitude and introspection, thanks for being there for me!
B-

It is class time!!!

Do you have time to join me?
This gift bag is what we are making tonight!
Super FAB, super EASY!!!

There will be an online chat at 5:00 pm mountain time and the class thread will be open forever more...
or at least until next January ;o)

Hope to see you there!
B-

Method Playground

I can hardly believe that it is time for another challenge post! I am really excited about this one, one of the new team members gave it! It is great to have some FAB cheerleaders join us with some fresh ideas!!!

So Brenda's challenge to us was:

Have you ever just found that piece of patterned paper that you absolutley LOVE and wanted to re-create a design from it. Well, here is your chance. My challenge to you is to take that paper and play off of it. Wether it is as simple as Circles or a flower - or like the tree's I re-created from the piece of Scrapworks paper I used - show me what you can come up with - I want to see I want to see the design in your paper repeated in your layout somewhere.
I really love how this project turned out! The colors make me very happy and of course who doesn't love a cute chick? LOL!!!

Hope you will find some time to play!

Also, I will be hosting an online class at Cornish Heritage Farms tomorrow, it is a very easy and useful project, so I hope you can find some time to join me there as well! I will post a sneak of the project sometime tomorrow!

And last but definitely NOT least, a quick pic of Novak waking up from a little afternoon nap...

Such a SWEET boy!!!

B-

It is official...

I am addicted to Facebook and I can thank Cath for that final push. She wrote a post about her addiction and I thought to myself what does a gal like her see in it, so off I went to check it out and of course within 15 minutes I was hooked and trying to figure out how to get my next fix, LOL!
The entire summer I have been nagging on the kids to get off the darn site, and now I can finally understand what the dealio about it is. Website crack...
Thanks Cath.

I did find a few minutes between watching the last day of the olympics and hanging with the kids on the last day of summer to make a few projects, so happy! This isn't one of them, I haven't had a chance to photo them yet, but it is from Kim's paper release, I LOVE that paper, so delish!
Anyway, new Method Playground tomorrow so check back if you can!
B-

Mocha Chica Day!!!!

It is Mocha Chica day at Cornish Heritage Farms!!!
What does that mean exactly?
Kim Hughes latest release is on the shelves and shipping!!!!

The papers are amazing, and the stamps that compliment are adorable!!!
Congrats dear Kim, so grateful you shared your gift with all of us!
Happy Mocha Chica Day all!
B-

Fun Linkage

Scrapbook and Cards Today Editor Kerry McRorie asked me to do a write-up of a technique from a layout that I had created and they published in their Summer 2008 edition.
I own most of the flavors of Maya road chipboard, so this technique is one that I have used more than once, LOL!
Try it if you have time to get a little dirty!
B-

Challenge Chicks!!!

It is a Challenge Chick day!

The challenge this fine Monday was to use a favorite product...
toughie, I know!
I have found myself using the distress crackle paint on many of my projects of late and thought that it would be a great one to share today!

This card used loads of fun stuff on it, and was a blast to make!
After I used the distress paint on the chipboard butterfly, I stamped the clock from the Rummage Bin to give it some texture and interest and then tied some ric-rac for the body.
Then for the card backgrounds, I stamped the "Spanish Script" backgrounder on the Webster's Pages patterned paper, and the Core-dinations white in the "Climbing Floral" to create a consistancy of color in the layers.
The flowers are by Keiser and the brad is from K & Co. a little hand stitching in DMC floss finishes the card off!

The other challenge chicks today are:

- Julia (Clear Card Sheets)
- Alli (glitter)
- Kristine (I Kan Dee chalk)
- Michele (Distress inks)
- Kim (Twinkling H2O's)
- Joanne (Glossy Accents)
- Dawn (leafing/gel pens)
- Lori (Distress Inks)
- Sherrie (New TK paper)
- Carole (Memento Dew Drop Inks)
- Val (Ranger Paint Dabbers)
- Julie (UTEE)

These girls do such beautiful work, so I hope that you have some time to go visit and get inspired to play with some of your favorite products today, I know I am!!!

Have a wonderful Monday friends!!!
B-

Happy Birthday Christyn!!!

Just a quick shout to Christyn for her birthday!



Hope you have a wonderful day!

B-

So many things going on...

There are so many fun things going on at Cornish Heritage Farms right now!
The Thomas Kinkade papers are shipping!!!
These papers are so easy and fun to use! These are the papers with the art, the packs also have amazing background pieces that are complimentary, YUMMY!



I am doing an online class that uses these papers, I hope you will join me!

We also have three new designers that were added to the farm, Jennifer Roach, Joanne Allison and Carole Burrage! I have added their links to the list on the left, if you have a little free time, you should visit, they are so talented!!!

The girls and I went out this afternoon and saw the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". I cried, Chloe welled up and Laurel made fun of us. Good times, LOL! I love sappy, pretty, message movies and so does Chloe! It was fun to share this with my girls!

I am sure there was more that I wanted to share, but I guess it will have to wait because I can't remember right now...

B-

Tie a Bow!

The Method Playground challenge was given by the adorable Stephanie Howell. She gave the challenge to tie a bow on your project. Something I love to do too, so big surprise I loved this challenge!!
We also added some wonderful new artists as Playground Girls, and this is the debut of their work! So excited to have Paula, Paloma, Pamela and Brenda sharing their work with us!
Hope you can find some time to tie a bow and play with us!
B-

So excited that it is Monday!

I love Mondays, I know that I am pretty alone in this, but the idea of starting a week off fresh new with loads of anticipation has always put me in a great place!
Today is no different! Dave and I saw the boys off for their week long scout camp very early, and after going back to bed for a short nap, I am ready to start the week full of energy!

Today the Challenge Chicks are using grungeboard, and this was my first time using it. I really enjoyed the properties this product displays. It holds paint beautifully, can be cut, manipulated and stamped on! Definitely something I would recommend you try!


Supplies used:

Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: October Afternoon
Grungeboard
Grid Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Vanilla embossing powder (Cornish Heritage Farms)
American Crafts Thickers alphabet

The other Challenge Chicks:
-Julia
-Kristine
-Michele
-Kim
-Lesley
-Lori
-Dawn

Please go and visit them, you can find their links to the left! I am sure that they will leave you inspired and wanting to try some grungeboard! Here is a link to the thread at the Cornish Heritage Farms message board if you decide to share there.


I was going to share my Method Playground project as well, but I think that I will save that for tomorrow ;o)

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

B-

A couple of pics from the beach

The beach at San Clemente is beautiful, and the kids had a great time!


Tyler enjoyed sitting in the sand, visiting with his Aunt and Grandma and people watching. Just a couple of visits to the water to get wet.

Laurel, Chloe, Carter and their cousin Kayla were in the water most of the time and when they weren't in the water they were digging in the sand!

The cliffs there are such a gorgeous backdrop. It is days like this one that do make me think about moving back. Then we drive home in the traffic a little later and I remember why I am okay with where we are at.

Tomorrow a new CHF challenge chicks project, so happy that I had time to play!
and also a new Method Playground challenge with a wonderful guest host that will be fun to play with!

Off to watch more of the olympics!
B-

Beck to reality...

After a few days at the happiest place on earth, and the beach, we have made it back to what we call home. You know, the dirty, messed up place where we keep all of our "stuff"! Dave and I went and picked the dogs up from "City Pet club" and brought them home, and they are so happy to back to their lawn, sofas and people as well, and who can blame them?

We have a lot to clean up, laundry to sort and groceries to get, and organizing for the week long camping trip that the boys will leave for on Monday. Isn't that always the way? You come home to a bigger mess than the one you tried to leave behind, LOL!

This picture is from the courtyard behind the exit of "The Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. One of our favorite places at Disney, it is always beautifully maintained and has tons of shade for a nice respite from the heat of the day.

And is it not bad enough that I have to drive Laurel everywhere at home, but we get onto the autopia ride and she makes me drive that car too! What is up with that?

Hope everyone has a wonderful day, and make sure to watch some of the Olympics, so inspiring!!!
B-

San Clemente sand and surf!

We spent the day with Dave's sister Sue and her daughter Kayla at the beach today, so beautiful!

Disneyland was very fun, hot and crowded, but fun! We rode all the rides we wanted to twice. The trick is figuring out how to use your fast pass allocations wisely! But after two times of Indiana, Space Mountain, and Splash, plus all the other rides, we were toast! I will share some pics later, editing must occur!

In the meantime, I wanted to share a project that was made using the Cornish Heritage Farms stamp of the month that was designed by Kim Hughes called "Kissable Tree" and birds from the Mocha Chica and Pretty Birds sets.


The tree is available now and the Mocha Chica stamp set will be available next week with Kim's paper!!! I am so very excited about it!!!

I really need to go get the sand out of some spots, so I am going to get going!
Back to home and reality late tomorrow...

Best!
B-

Blogging from the beach (not really)

But close...

We hopped a plane this morning and found ourselves in Long Beach California at Dave's parents house relaxing at the pool!

A bit of a surprise in the summer schedule, but we love to go with the flow, and this is where it took us!

I wanted to share another project I had done with the Saturday Evening Post "Santa's Lap" stamp, and the "Music Sheet" Scrapblock, so fun to color these!





Julia has a wonderful class tonight in the forums at Cornish Heritage Farms. she shares how to make some beautiful clear snowflake tags!

Well, I am going to go have some dinner with the kids, El Pollo Loco, YUM!!!

B-

Great Tennis Season brought to a Close...

It ended today, a much too short but very fun season! Our team lost 3 third set tie-breakers and just missed by that much going to sectionals. I didn't get to play today, kinda bummed, but I went and watched my teammates. I am so proud of them and how hard they worked and tried to get us to the next level. Thanks for a great season girls!

Had to share this fun card I made a little while ago, used a few different little things to put it togther, but the star of the show for me is that "Vintage Ledger" Scrapblock! It adds so much and is so subtle at the same time, not easy you know!
Loads of great stuff releasing this month, so excited! And wait til you see this month's scrapblock, SWOON!!!
Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!
B-

Warm enough for everyone?

It is only 100 degrees here in Utah today, and can I tell you how excited I am for tomorrow when I GET to play tennis at 10:30 in the morning at Utah tennis districts, where our team is competing with five other teams for the only spot to go to the sectional tournament. Good times!
Yeah, I like my tennis.

Teresa released some new lines at CHA this summer, and one of them was a recipe line. I used it to make a layout of Nikolay and his menu. It is a running joke here that the babies will be served lamb and rice whilst the "people" eat burgers. They are a tad indulged, for sure!
I know, it is that small dot Scrapblock again, LOL! Seriouly can't get enough of it!
I embossed it with CHF white embossing powder onto the scalloped Bazzill cardstock. Great texture and the look was just what I wanted for this page!
Take care all and stay out of the heat!!!
B-

Happy 42nd Birthday to me!!!!

Yup, 42...
I have to say it is not as bad as I thought it would be when I was 17.
Just saying...
Of course, my kids think I am ancient and I totally get that, I was there once.
Interesting as all of that isn't, I feel like I am hitting a better stride in my life. I have been able to do all kinds of amazing things, I grew from them and now I am taking all of those moments and consolidating them, it is starting to make sense. This is probably where the wheels fall of, but I think I am going to be okay with that when it happens.
So enough of the waxing philosphic junk, I have a fun layout to share from a new Method Playground challenge!
The challenge is to use ephemera on a project. When the kids took the trip to New york this summer, they came back with loads of pictures and a bag full of tickets, brochures and such. This was a great way to get me to start on some of these memories for them!!!
I want to thank all of my peeps for helping me celebrate today, it really means so much, LOVE YOU ALL!!!
B-

Totally Forgot...

I totally forgot to share my layout from the Method Playground challenge two weeks ago because of all of the sneak peeks and traveling. I loved this challenge, it really let me look at my pictures in a different way!
The challenge was to use a combination of black and white with color.
I loved these pictures of the boys from this winter, it was a few minutes of play that will last forever in my mind, and documenting this for the future was such a joy!
There is a new challenge tomorrow, and I will share that layout tomorrow, LOL!
Enjoy the day!
B-

Almost caught up!

Wow, my brain has been mush all week! So much to catch up on and still try to keep up with the daily dealio!
My kids are incredible, I just love them so much! They have really stepped up the last couple of weeks and have taken care of little and big things when asked and even done some things without being asked!!! They are teenagers, so this is huge for us!

Sharing a little project I had a blast making! It is using some October Afternoon, and a little bit of this and that and of course there is that delish small dot backgrounder with white versamagic!
Enjoy your weekend!
B-

Monster CHA blog post!

After an early morning at the airport and an easy flight, Kim and I made it to Chicago! We got to our hotel ditched the bags and hopped a train to downtown! We walked around a few block radius, shopped at Loehmann's and had dinner. It is a beautiful city, and I would have loved to see more, somewhere I would love to make a destination trip to!
We took the train back to the hotel and met the gal who would be my roomie for the next five days and my newest BFF Ellen Hutson! And from here, it just got better! We visited for hours, and then Miss Mona Lisa joined us, we had a great time laughing and visiting.

Thursday morning brought us to the show floor with our bags and boxes of things to ready the booth for display with. The curtains got ironed, the display boards made and the creation station put together. Dawn, Lisa S., and Julie were all able to come and help, LOVE them!!!
After the booth got put together we all went and had a wonderful time together having some dinner and getting know each other! Dawn told our sweet waitress that it was my birthday, they sang to me and let me blow out the candles, very embarassing and so thoughtful! For a much better telling of the tale, go visit Julie's blog!
Friday opened the show with a busy booth! I had heard so many rumors, so I was very nervous about how things would go for us! We had a bit of a rough location from deciding to go so late, but thankfully the people who wanted to find us did, so happy!
One of the first visitors to the booth that required a hug was Christyn!!! She made the crazy trek to find me, and it made the morning perfect!!!
On a quick bathroom break, I lucked into a few more peeps that I was hoping to see, Aly D, Emily P, Janet o and a couple of other wonderful girls! The great thing about the shows is that you are running into people that you know on some level the whole time, it is great!
The sweet, and fabulously talented Debbie Olson came by the booth and I had a chance to visit with her and can I just say that she is the real deal! Thoughtful, genuine, clever and so considerate, she has the whole package going for her! Of course I met loads of other FAB women and when we went to the SplitCoast Stampers social, I was completely overwhelmed with meeting the community and getting to know a few of them, so cool! Richard, Lisa and I then went to a delightful store in the Chicago 'burbs called Stampology where we enjoyed wonderful hopsitality and great company from a few of the other manufacturers in the stamping/crafting industry.
Saturday brought lots of meetings and the booth was so busy again, that I never had a chance to walk and see anything! Not complaining, just saying...
Wow, so happy that Cornish Heritage Farms is really breaking some big barriers!!!!
Saturday evening brought the Two Peas social, and it was great to get to catch up with a bunch of the girls that have been friends and my community for crafting for the last few years, very fun! After that some dinner with Catherine and Kerry, Kim, Kim and Lisa at the Outback. I needed a big meal, it really helped me get my feet back under me! A few more hours of socializing with friends and a nice long rest and I was ready for Sunday!
Sunday brought a quieter day and more visits from friends, Houston, Rachel, Emily and Mary Kay made it to visit! Made me so happy! It also gave Lisa, Richard and I a chance to find some of the sources that we need to get some of our other projects off the ground, good meetings and great info!
Of course the highlight of the day was having a chance to catch up with Miss Claudine! She is so fun, talented and NICE!!! Her product line is so clever and usable in so many ways for cross-crafting, so excited for her!!! I know it is going to be a huge hit, and I can't wait to get it myself! We lucked into her having a quiet evening, so we grabbed her for a little light dinner that involved a LOT of laughing, she has a wicked fun sense of humor and even in light of her BIG life changes, she was able to sit back and relax! Such a fun and enjoyable way to spend the last evening! After din-din we went back to the room and spent the evening visiting with Ellen and laughing even more, Lisa and I had some samples to finish up that needed to make a FedEx trip the next morning as well, so after a little crafting and giggling, it was time to get some sleep!
A nice morning with the chica's and it was time for me to get to the airport and get home!
I am so blessed to be involved with this company and to have such wonderful friends!
Thanks everyone for being part of my life, I really appreciate it!
B-

Happy Birthday Carter!!!

Thirteen and growing too fast!
Here he is wrestling with his little brothers!

Good to be home, the show was great, saw loads of my favorite peeps, the booth was busy and and we got lots of stuff done!

Updates tomorrow!!

Today is Carter's day ;o)

B-

Peep! Peep!

Here it is, the day that Cornish Heritage Farms has been working toward full steam ahead for quite a while! We are proud to announce that Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends are on the track and will be available for pre-sale starting Friday!

Thomas and Friends are iconic, generations of children know their stories and have played with the toys that accompanied the books and television shows. We know that these stamps are a great way to craft, create cards and scrapbook pages that help us enjoy this piece of our lives!

There are eight stamps with this initial release, and they are sure to impress!

I had the chance to make a couple of projects, and I am so excited about the quality of these stamps, and know that you will love them too!





The Cornish Heritage Farms shop will have more information for ordering on Friday!

B-

Monday Sneak!

Scrapblocks™ are a revolutionary product for stamping, crafting and scrapbooking!
Now we have created a complimentary paper, introducing:



This paper pack has been designed to help crafters of all types create projects where most of the work has been done for them already! We have created layers of light distressing and visual textures within each design. This is often the hardest part of creating the project, building a background that is interesting but not over done. So now that this guesswork is done, you can create projects using your Scrapblocks™ or any other stamp in your studio! The colors are also complimentary to our other releases of Thomas Kinkade and Kim Hughes!



All of the colors are beautiful, but it is probably no surprise that this piece is my favorite! To see the other pieces in the larger size, I am sending you to visit Kim, Dawn, Kristine, Lise Silver, and Sherrie. They have all prepared a little sneak to share with you as well! You can find their links on the left!

Today is also the "Masculine" challenge for the CHF Challenge Chicks, and there are some gorgeous projects on their blogs for that as well!

Please find a minute to visit tomorrow, we have a sneak coming down the tracks that you don't want to miss!

Have a wonderful Monday!
B-