This past week has really flown by. And Spring has finally arrived. Or is it Summer? It was 90 degrees here today, and I turned on the A/C last night because it was sure stuffy in here. In April. It was 82 degrees in the house at 10 pm! OMG
I have been bagging and tagging and boxing this week, getting ready for a Crafter's Yard Sale. I have seen things I didn't know I still had around here.
And next week, Spring cleaning. Lots of Spring cleaning. More than a lick and a promise, too. I have to get myself ready for my husband's upcoming retirement at the end of next month. I am not at all ready for this. I am entering this station of our lives with fear and in trepidation. He's going to be here all day every day. Which means more dishes. More laundry. More being startled when I turn around and he's standing there looking like he has no idea what to do with himself.
That must be nice. I've never known that feeling. And I'm not sure I ever will. Or if I even want to.
I will of course also be taking a few breaks during next week. I need to create again. It just feels good!
Take gentle care, and we'll chat a gain soon...
Fondly,
Riley and Capen's nanny
Beth Steel
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Will Somebody Please Teach Me How…
To properly (and quickly, I might add), upload, crop, filter through and arrange photos for publishing, before Riley gets back from her trip to New York to see Grandpa and Grandma Rose? I would seriously hate to ask the 5 year old how to do this…
I thought that you could teach an old dog new tricks! I must say, however, I do learn something new EVERY day.
I have been feverishly (okay, maybe hot flashing) creating these projects for the last few weeks to send to Stampin’ Up! I absolutely LOVE to create (play) with my Stampin’ Up! products. And I become sort of resentful when no one allows me the freedom to do so.
It does the heart and soul good to spend time making something beautiful with your own two hands and then sharing them with your friends and family near and far. You can get lost in time creating these timely greetings and preserving those memories that will one day become your legacy. Having such a great canvas to work with doesn’t hurt either.
A couple of weeks ago, Riley asked if we could make “Princess” crowns to help celebrate her recent 5th Birthday. I told her “We sure can. Let Nanny get out the supplies and we will get right to it.” I had saved and set aside the kits that Stampin’ Up! sold for just this opportunity. Thank goodness. It certainly helped when we sat down at the table to play for a while. I must insert here that she was so excited punching out the pieces and attaching them to her crown, she said, “I’m gonna make one for Mama, too.” She’s so incredibly sweet.
So I got to thinking about how I could surprise her with her very own “Princess” crown that Nanny made. I pulled out my Paper Lace Doily Sizzlit and the Silver Glimmer Paper that Stampin’ Up sent to us for their 25th Anniversary. I cut one out with the Big Shot, cut it in half, studded it with our Basic Jewels Rhinestones - I even colored some of them with permanent markers to make Rubies, Emeralds and Sapphires. I used a plastic hair band that I bought at the store, and I covered it with the glimmer paper attached with glue dots. Voila! a Princess crown a la Stampin’ Up!
Next on my list was to decorate a frame for one of my favorite pics of Riley when she was just a few months old. In fact, I loved it so much that I made it into a button and wore it to Convention 2008! To decorate the heart frame, I took out two of our new 4” paper doilies and folded them accordion style, and attached them together in the middle and pinched them together at the bottom to create a lacy heart fan. I dabbed the fan with Crumb Cake Ink, slid in a few roses and buttons from the Artisan Embellishments Kit in the Spring Mini Catalog, embellished the tag and tied a bow at the bottom. I LOVE it.
I then made a scrapbook page using the Feel Goods stamp set – also in the Spring Mini Catalog - and one of the sheets of designer series papers from the Floral District package. I used the Labels Framelits for framing the pictures, and the Windows Framelits for framing the journaling. And I got to use my brand new Heat Tool for the first time, too.For the heat embossing, I used the Daydream Medallions stamp set and clear embossing powder to play up the frame. I really like how it turned out.
I’m always intrigued by Riley’s industriousness (is that really a word?) and her tenacious spirit. Although, for the most part, she only needs to see something once and she’s all over it. She also has a stubborn streak a mile wide, and a good example of that shows in the picture of her holding the ear of corn in one hand and using the computer mouse with the other. No amount of coaxing or prodding could get that corn away from her either. We tried. And she insisted (at 3 years old) that she try out the big Shot after seeing her Nanny do it. Now she’s a real pro with it.
I made the Gumball Green card with the scrapbook kit in the Spring Mini. I had a lot of fun putting it together using a Classic sketch and then adding a sneak peek stamp from the Around Array set that will debut in the June 2013 catalog. CAS is a nice break for me. My style is lots of layers and embellishments, and fancy folds. To me, the more bling, the better.
The next card I made some time ago and had not yet gotten around to publishing it. So meet “I Do Day!” I wanted to make a “Formal” card when I saw the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder. It must have been last Spring when the idea for the card came to fruition. It had been a while since I had used the Glossy card stock. And to use it to make a cake stand no less. The stand is made from punched out Decorative Labels. You punch out two labels along the long sides pretty close together and totally line up with the other. I used long strips of Whisper White card stock for the layers of the cake, and then used the Glossy card stock again and the Lace Border Punch to make some fancy decorations at the bottom of all the layers, finished it off with some pearls that were painted Pretty in Pink with our markers, then a ribbon tied with our Whisper White Satin/Organdy ribbon and a rhinestone placed as the diamond on the ring.
The last card I made was with a stamp set in our Sale-a-bration Catalog called Vintage Verses, and the Tea for Two Designer Series Papers. I first used the new Fancy Fan Embossing Folder on the Calypso Coral card stock. I punched some circles from another page from the Tea for Two DSP, attached them to Very Vanilla card stock and then used the embedded embossing technique to give a Vintage feel to the card. I then spritzed over the embossed images with the Spritzer tool. I stamped Just Because with Calypso Coral, then punched it out with the Curly Label Punch. I backed it with a Decorative Label and attached two Vintage Trinket Button Brads. I finished off with a ribbon tied with an Antique brad.
I apologize for the long post, but I haven’t posted much lately, and I wanted you all to know that I AM doing something creative and inspiring. At least that is my objective and desire as well. You should be able to see the album in its entirety below of the 3 cards, Scrapbook page with some close ups added, and the 2 3D projects.
Hope you like, and now I must stop. The mind and the body are very tired.
Take gentle care, and we’ll chat again soon, I promise.
Fondly,
Riley and Capen’s Nanny
Beth Steel
I thought that you could teach an old dog new tricks! I must say, however, I do learn something new EVERY day.
I have been feverishly (okay, maybe hot flashing) creating these projects for the last few weeks to send to Stampin’ Up! I absolutely LOVE to create (play) with my Stampin’ Up! products. And I become sort of resentful when no one allows me the freedom to do so.
It does the heart and soul good to spend time making something beautiful with your own two hands and then sharing them with your friends and family near and far. You can get lost in time creating these timely greetings and preserving those memories that will one day become your legacy. Having such a great canvas to work with doesn’t hurt either.
A couple of weeks ago, Riley asked if we could make “Princess” crowns to help celebrate her recent 5th Birthday. I told her “We sure can. Let Nanny get out the supplies and we will get right to it.” I had saved and set aside the kits that Stampin’ Up! sold for just this opportunity. Thank goodness. It certainly helped when we sat down at the table to play for a while. I must insert here that she was so excited punching out the pieces and attaching them to her crown, she said, “I’m gonna make one for Mama, too.” She’s so incredibly sweet.
So I got to thinking about how I could surprise her with her very own “Princess” crown that Nanny made. I pulled out my Paper Lace Doily Sizzlit and the Silver Glimmer Paper that Stampin’ Up sent to us for their 25th Anniversary. I cut one out with the Big Shot, cut it in half, studded it with our Basic Jewels Rhinestones - I even colored some of them with permanent markers to make Rubies, Emeralds and Sapphires. I used a plastic hair band that I bought at the store, and I covered it with the glimmer paper attached with glue dots. Voila! a Princess crown a la Stampin’ Up!
Next on my list was to decorate a frame for one of my favorite pics of Riley when she was just a few months old. In fact, I loved it so much that I made it into a button and wore it to Convention 2008! To decorate the heart frame, I took out two of our new 4” paper doilies and folded them accordion style, and attached them together in the middle and pinched them together at the bottom to create a lacy heart fan. I dabbed the fan with Crumb Cake Ink, slid in a few roses and buttons from the Artisan Embellishments Kit in the Spring Mini Catalog, embellished the tag and tied a bow at the bottom. I LOVE it.
I then made a scrapbook page using the Feel Goods stamp set – also in the Spring Mini Catalog - and one of the sheets of designer series papers from the Floral District package. I used the Labels Framelits for framing the pictures, and the Windows Framelits for framing the journaling. And I got to use my brand new Heat Tool for the first time, too.For the heat embossing, I used the Daydream Medallions stamp set and clear embossing powder to play up the frame. I really like how it turned out.
I’m always intrigued by Riley’s industriousness (is that really a word?) and her tenacious spirit. Although, for the most part, she only needs to see something once and she’s all over it. She also has a stubborn streak a mile wide, and a good example of that shows in the picture of her holding the ear of corn in one hand and using the computer mouse with the other. No amount of coaxing or prodding could get that corn away from her either. We tried. And she insisted (at 3 years old) that she try out the big Shot after seeing her Nanny do it. Now she’s a real pro with it.
I made the Gumball Green card with the scrapbook kit in the Spring Mini. I had a lot of fun putting it together using a Classic sketch and then adding a sneak peek stamp from the Around Array set that will debut in the June 2013 catalog. CAS is a nice break for me. My style is lots of layers and embellishments, and fancy folds. To me, the more bling, the better.
The next card I made some time ago and had not yet gotten around to publishing it. So meet “I Do Day!” I wanted to make a “Formal” card when I saw the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder. It must have been last Spring when the idea for the card came to fruition. It had been a while since I had used the Glossy card stock. And to use it to make a cake stand no less. The stand is made from punched out Decorative Labels. You punch out two labels along the long sides pretty close together and totally line up with the other. I used long strips of Whisper White card stock for the layers of the cake, and then used the Glossy card stock again and the Lace Border Punch to make some fancy decorations at the bottom of all the layers, finished it off with some pearls that were painted Pretty in Pink with our markers, then a ribbon tied with our Whisper White Satin/Organdy ribbon and a rhinestone placed as the diamond on the ring.
The last card I made was with a stamp set in our Sale-a-bration Catalog called Vintage Verses, and the Tea for Two Designer Series Papers. I first used the new Fancy Fan Embossing Folder on the Calypso Coral card stock. I punched some circles from another page from the Tea for Two DSP, attached them to Very Vanilla card stock and then used the embedded embossing technique to give a Vintage feel to the card. I then spritzed over the embossed images with the Spritzer tool. I stamped Just Because with Calypso Coral, then punched it out with the Curly Label Punch. I backed it with a Decorative Label and attached two Vintage Trinket Button Brads. I finished off with a ribbon tied with an Antique brad.
I apologize for the long post, but I haven’t posted much lately, and I wanted you all to know that I AM doing something creative and inspiring. At least that is my objective and desire as well. You should be able to see the album in its entirety below of the 3 cards, Scrapbook page with some close ups added, and the 2 3D projects.
Hope you like, and now I must stop. The mind and the body are very tired.
Take gentle care, and we’ll chat again soon, I promise.
Fondly,
Riley and Capen’s Nanny
Beth Steel
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