More Card Creations

So I've obviously been slacking on the blog updates. Here it is almost the end of the month and the last post was at the beginning of the month. DOH!!

Here are some cards I've created the last couple of weeks.

These first two pictures are using the Stampin Up Wedding Sweet stamp set. Colors in the first picture are Sage Shadow, Handsome Hunter and Ivory. Such a beautiful and versatile set...not just for weddings. I think these will make great note cards!

This one I heat embossed with silver embossing powder. Love how it turned out. I used Watercolor Paper for the base, Stampin Up Brocade Blue and Night of Navy for the cardstock.

I made a few of these during Monday Night Scrap this week. The stamp is from Stampin Up stamp set Baroque Motifs. Another of my favorites. The colors are Stampin Up Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke, stamped in Always Artichoke.

I always struggle with cards for the guys. Thanks to my BFF Beth for the inspiration on this one. Patterened Paper is Stampin Up Designer Series Paper Manchester (retired), Chocolate Chip SU cardstock embossed with the distressed embossing folder, Vanilla Cardstock to stamp on and for the base. The tree stamp is from the Stampin Up set Thoughts & Prayers. The Birthday Sentiment comes from the On Your Birthday set.

Of course when I find a design I like I mass produce at least a few to I have them handy!! :) Thanks for stopping by!

Digging up Dead People

No need to worry....I'm not off robbing graves or anything like that! :-) I've started getting back into my genealogy a bit. Mom use to say I was digging up dead people...and since I've been at it for a good 20+ years I have dug up a lot of dead people.

My hope is to get my data for my mom's lines (at least 5 or 6 generations back) cleaned up and ready to convert into a book, add some pictures and get printed for that side of the family for Christmas. I've said for YEARS I would get books printed for each side of the family, but there just never seems enough time in the day. So maybe starting in August I'll get it done this time. The problem is as I'm cleaning up the data I always seem to get side tracked and go off researching missing info. Doesn't matter how many times I tell myself that my research will never be "done". I just have to bite the bullet and get what I have ready for publication and call it good....at least for now.

I found the cartoon below while digging through some boxes of research. I remember sitting in the middle of many a cemetery over the years. Research notebook in hand, camera, notebook paper....trying to piece together those buried there with what I had on my family. Are the people next to them part of my family by chance? Why isn't Great Grandpa buried with the rest of the family? And my favorite - that my great Aunt will appreciate - Cow Pasture Charlie! {ask me to tell you this story some day - it's quite funny}

If people would only make it THIS easy to determine who is who's kid/parents!!

Fun Facts about my research:

• I started researching at the age of 13th (1985-ish)
• My first Family Tree was drawn out by hand (by me) on notebook paper....and I still have it.
• When I began I didn't know my grandparents actual names - they were always grandma and grandpa. Didn't help that my mom's parents go by nicknames that are NOTHING like their given names.
• I have close to 2400 people input into my Family Tree Maker program. With probabaly another 2400 or more that NEED to be input.
• I have one line that goes back to my 10th Great Grandfather who was born in the late 1580's.
• I have another line that I swore for the longest time aliens dropped them in the small town in Kansas they lived in for generations. I just couldn't find his parents for the life of me for a good 5 years or more. It's my dad's side of the family and they do tend to be a bit difficult! :-)
• This hobby has been one of the most rewarding I've had over the years!!

Thanks for stopping by today! See ya next time!

Our babies have left the nest

The two baby birds and momma have left the nest. We were very sad to see them go. Here are the last few shots Troy took of the babies. Amazing how quickly they grew and their feathers seemed to come in almost overnight.


One of them expressing his desire to eat. We'd see momma bird out in the back yard hunting for worms and what not a couple times a day.

SU Medallion Background Stamp

I'm LOVING the Medallion Background stamp. I used it in the Thank You card set I made in the post below, but then saw another card I liked so I had to play some more. These are made using the French Script Background (in Soft Suede), which is layered on Always Artichoke and then the base of the card and the ink used for the medallion stamp are Rich Razzleberry.

I played around with some variations of the placement of the stamp and adding a sentiment as well.

I was having so much fun I made a dozen this way! :-)

Thank You Gifts

We went to Pensacola last weekend with Beth and Mark to watch the Blue Angels from the water (Mark's and Beth's Parents both have boats). Oh what fun we had. We stayed with Mark's parents, Tom and Kathy, and they were such awesome hosts that I had to make a Thank You gift to send to them.

Someone posted on the FCTSC Messageboard that I hang out on about this cute little card box/purse. And I just had to make one. I found the video on one of my favorite SU Reps websites - Chic N Scratch. It was quite easy once you do one...and only requires a single 12X12 piece of paper (no cutting), 2 - 12 inch pieces of ribbon and some double sided tacky tape.

I had also started making some Joy Fold cards thanks to someone posting them on FCTSC. I had 4 of those done in the Designer Series paper I wanted to use (Bell Rose, now retired) so I decided to include them as part of the Thank You gift.

Then I had ordered the new Medallion Background stamp with my first Stampin Up order from the new catalog and wanted to play with it. So after surfing the gallery on Splitcoaststampers I went to work. So simply yet so beautiful.

And her is a birds eye view with all the cards inserted. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Now to find a box, pack it up and ship it off.

The babies have hatched

The babies hatched while we were in Pensacola last weekend. They are very "naked" in this picture. I know Troy's taken some more as their feathers have grown in over the last week, so I'll get those from him and post them soon.

We are going to have a baby....

....or two. Baby BIRDS that is!! :-)

Last week Troy came in and grabbed his camera, then back out the door he goes. This is normal behavior for him. LOL Finally he returned and informed me there was a birds nest in the holly bush by our front porch. The nest is beautiful and at that point there was one egg.

Then a few days later......we have two.

Today he was able to get a picture of Mama Bird in the nest. She's protective of her eggs so I'm surprised he was able to get a shot.

Check back as I'm sure we will have pictures of the little ones once they hatch.