Our Babies

A few weeks ago I spoke about the trip my husband and I took to visit grandkids out on the West Coast and Denver area.  I also said I would include a few pics on my post of these wonderful kids.  We had a rare happening in that within one week we got to spend time with all six of our grands.  I don't think we've had that much kiddie time all at once, ever.  My son and his kids live only 95 miles away, so we see them fairly often, but the other 4 are out West and we don't get to see them as often.  My son and his two visited us on the weekend, then on Tuesday we went to San Francisco and saw two more, then on Friday we went to Denver and saw the last two.  Whew!  6 kids in one week -- we had soooo much fun, and I miss each one of them. 

Above are my son's two:   Hannah (6), our only girl, and J.T. (9).  It's pretty obvious this was at J.T.'s football game.  Love them.

The above two are my husband's daughter's two boys:  Owen (8 - almost 9) and Cooper (6).  They are fantastic brothers.  We saw many instances when the older fella was very protective of his little brother.  Yet, there were just a few squabbles -- what do you expect, they are boys! This was a trip to the candy factory -- thus, the hats.   Love these guys.

The above little guy is one of my husband's son's two boys (I guess I didn't get a picture of them together):  This is Thomas and he is 1 1/2.  Such a cute and fun little guy.  Love him too!

And this is Thomas's older brother Jack, who is 5.  He had some swim lessons while we were there and we got to watch.  Love this guy too.


So there are all six of our adorable grandkids (absolutely no prejudice here).  We get lots of pics of the guys out West and some face time on the computer, but it would be nice if they were closer.  We get to spend more time with my son and his kids, so that helps just a bit.  We go to sports, school activities, and they come up to our place in the mountains.

Hope you enjoyed my photos.  Visit again soon.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Tea Anyone?

I love teapots, and I love nice, flavored, teas too.  So, when our challenge over at Butternut Sage morning chat was to do a template, I thought of teapots.  I found this template, traced it in a Pink Pirouette, stamped an image from Nature's Pace, made a few little tags with Tiny Tags and created my teapot.  The images on the envelope are tea images from Morning Cup.  Love that set.  Now all I need to do is add a teacup template.  Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.  This will work nicely for a birthday card I need for a friend this weekend.  She loves tea too.

On the Butternut Sage site we have tons of fun with our morning chats.  We talk with one another about many things from soup to nuts.  Well, not really soup and nuts, but we gets lots of help from one another with crafting problems, we share our accomplishments, talk about stamps, techniques, and just have a lot of fun "chatting."  Some morning between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. Eastern, come on over and chat with us.  We'd love to talk.  And join our challenges.  This one is to do a template, and it is due tomorrow.  Not to fear, however, we have a new challenge every 3 weeks.  Hope to chat with you there soon.

I've been working diligently in my craft room this week.  I should have a few posts over the next couple days.  Birthday, Late Birthday, Thank You, and who knows what else.  Maybe even another scrapbook page or two.

I hope you like my teapot today, and I hope you come back to visit with me soon.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Handmade Flower

A month or so ago my friend, Liz, and I decided we would each buy a little flower making kit and an initial punch or two for flower making.   This is my first attempt.  I believe Liz has mastered it because she has made several beautiful flowers.  And, she makes it look pretty easy.  I started in on this one and almost gave up.  But I persevered and finally finished.  Not too bad, but I do need more practice.  This is the kind of flower you punch about 10,000 petals (well, actually only about 20).  You shape the petals, sponge a little color on the edges, and then you glue them on one by one by one by one -- well, you get the idea.  Actually, I like it and want to do more.  Of course, this type card won't mail well, so it would have to be used for something special or just as decoration.  Hope you like it.

You can't really see, but an embossing folder was used here to create a frame around the card, and I also sprayed some Vanilla Smooch for a little shine.  Looks prettier in person.   My friend, Teri, told me today that anything pink is her favorite, so this pink card was done with her in mind.  Thanks, Teri, for the inspiration.

Well, I'm going to go back to my craft table and see if I can create a few more things today.  Hope your day is going well and hope you come back soon.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Thank You Supply

It seems lately that every time I need a thank you card I don't have one ready.  Then I either have to sit down and take the time right then and there to make one, or I put off sending the card until I get around to making something.  By then I am so delinquent that I don't send anything at all.  Very bad me!  So, today I decided to get in front of the game and make several.  Once I finish with the samples -- I have 5 so far -- I will probably pick one and make about 6 or 8 and have plenty ready for the next time I need one.

This card was the first one I did today.  I have been wanting to do something with this flower set, and purple is my favorite color, so this is what I created.  It is really simple because it is basically one quick layer, one popped up flower for dimension, and a quick inside and envelope. 

This is the inside and envelope.  For the entire card I used only the Mixed Bunch and Fabulous Florets stamp sets and the Blossom Punch on one layer of Whisper White CS.  Oh I am so happy Fabulous Florets will not be retired next month.  I love to use the leaves as background, and the flowers are so easy to work with and to layer.  We don't know yet, but just maybe Mixed Bunch will carry over to the new catalog.  Here's hoping. 



Be sure if you haven't already studied the retiring stamp list that you do so before the end of May.  You don't want to miss out on getting some of those favorites.  And, if you don't have a demo, I'd love to be yours.  Just give me a holler smor@frontiernet.net and I will be happy to take care of you.

So I am off to work some more on thank yous.  I have closed my eyes, picked several stamp sets, and now I am challenging myself to use those sets to create something.  I also want to use a few of the retiring sets before they are gone.  Therefore, you will be seeing a few goodies, but soon to be oldies coming up.

Hope you will come back to visit me again soon.   And have a happy Sunday.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Springtime Silhouette

This silhouette is one of my favorites.  I don't think I showed it to you yet, and I really like both the stamp and the gorgeous designer paper.  The set is Easter Blossoms and the paper is Elegant Soiree. Both are retired and I am trying to use up this paper.  However, when it is gone, I'll be sad.  I've loved using this paper.  This little girl can be changed out from carrying Easter eggs just by stamping another portion with her arm and flowers.  Cut the flowers and put in the basket.  I did several like that for birthdays.  Despite this set having retired, I continue to use it.  Hope you like my sample card.

Here is a very simple inside.  Just a little branch peeking in and a little designer paper at the bottom.

Thanks for visiting today, come back soon.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Brayer Challenge

I have finally returned, however, my mojo is lost.  I'm not sure where it went, but I am having trouble finding it.  Over at Butternut Sage Designs our challenge this week was to do a brayer card.  My friend, Liz, and I were playing around the other day putting color on paper.  Oh, I am so brayer challenged.  I could not get the hang of it.  Anyway, after a little pushing, pulling, and tearing out hair, I had some color on paper.   I was not happy.  Liz then challenged me to find a way to make something out of the paper I had.  So it was a DOUBLE challenge, one to use a brayer, and two to take something I was not happy with and use it.

There are 4 mistakes on this card.  Three I was able to cover and one is still visible -- at least to me.  I'm going to go back to my craft table to work on brayering some more.  I would like to try some other possibilities.  I'm not a quitter so I want to make brayering something I can do.

The past weeks have been fun.  First we visited with the grandboys out West.  We had a blast.  The younger ones on the West Coast took a bit of patience before these strangers could be welcomed into their lives.  The 5 yr old was anxious for us to get there, and had talked with us by Skype ahead of time.  However, he was a little shy.  But we went to his swimming lessons, did a little sightseeing, and by the time we were there a day or two, we all had a good time.  We just need to go more often so we aren't such strangers -- right?  The other two in Denver are a little older and are a blast.  Granddad played basketball with them, I watched their baseball practice, we were shown around their bedrooms and collections, we went to a museum, went for walks, had a bar-b-que, and just had tons of fun.  We cried, and so did they, when we left.  We vowed to go back again soon.  I'll put a couple pictures up here in a day or two.  If I can't find my mojo I may have to take over my blog for family matters.  ha ha

So I am off to look in the closet and under the bed for my mojo.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend, and will come back to visit again.  Perhaps I'll have some "creations."

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy