All Occasion

Guess what?  This card was chosen as a Pals Paper Arts pick of the week!  Thanks so much to the PPA design team for choosing my card!

My favorite stamp set in the new catalog is called Swirly Bird.  I also used the coordinating framelits, Swirly Scribbles Thinlits.  The Bermuda Bay water splatters are made with a stamp from Swirly Bird.  I used the Pool Party wavy water paper from Cherry on Top DSP stack.

PalsPaperArts.com had an awesome color challenge this week.  If you know me, I think any color challenge including Bermuda Bay is awesome!  *Update- This card was chosen as a PalsPaperArts Pick of the Week!  I am so excited!!  #PPA301

Please subscribe to my blog.    Please follow me on Pinterest here

Sean made it safely home from his work trip to Amsterdam and London.  The EgyptAir crash happened while he was there, so we were happy to receive the text when he landed in Seattle.   It was his first trip to Europe and he loved it!  Tonight he is taking the red eye from Seattle to visit us in Iowa for a week.  Sean will be very excited when he finds out he’s coming home just in time for the strawberries to ripen.  I picked the first strawberry of the season last night.  Come to think of it, Sean LOVES strawberries!  Do you think he timed his visit knowing it was strawberry time?

We’ve enjoyed having Ryan home from college.  Last week he went to Davenport to visit Steve’s parents for two days (three hours from here) and planted flowers for his Grandma, played cards with them and went to a baseball game with his Grandpa.  He’s home the rest of the week and then heads to Okoboji to be a counselor at our church camp.  This is Ryan’s second summer as a counselor.  Last night was just like old times.  His high school friends were over jumping on the trampoline, playing Carpetball, ping pong and eating from the bowls of nuts, fruit and veggies that I leave on the counter each day.  I’m so glad he has stayed close to his besties from high school.

Abby had a great time with her friends at Prom Saturday night.  Her AP exams and most of her finals are over.  Abby has four regular days of school left and then a couple projects to do. She feels like most of the stress is over for her this school year.  Abby will be joining Ryan has a camp counselor this summer.

Keegan got the results of his singing auditions.  He made the select junior/senior choir and jazz choir.  He was very excited about making these two choirs.  The other select choir he tried for, he did not make.  He was a little disappointed, but Keegan shakes things off pretty well.  He’s already said he will try again next year.  He’s been finishing off his volunteer service hours this week.  Yesterday he was planting peppers at a community garden.  He’s going back to the garden and helping me with therapy dogs later this week.  All of Keegan’s finals happen next week.

Some of you have asked about the status of the garage.  Superman spent some quality time cleaning and organizing the garage this weekend.  He’s not done yet, but certainly making progress.  He kept telling me about a lot of things he wants to put in the attic.  Yep, the attic I organized last month is about to take a hit.  Oh well, I guess it needs to go somewhere.

It’s been beautiful in Iowa the last three weeks.  Sunny and 60-70 degrees.  The rain is supposed to start again this week.

Hope things are going well where you’re at.

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

If you live in the Des Moines area, I hope you’ll consider signing up for Stampin’ Up’s monthly fun craft box called Paper Pumpkin.  It’s $20 a month and less if you sign up for multiple months.  It’s very exciting to see what arrives each month.  The best part is you then get to come to my house for a free class and put together your kit.  I will always have additional or alternative ways to do your project.  Here’s the wreath that came in April.  Typically the kit contains eight or nine cards, but this month was a Spring Wreath.  When I took the Bunny down after Easter, the nail by my front door sat empty, so I was happy to have a wreath to put there.

The wreath I made is below.  I love it!  It makes me smile every time I walk by my front door to go upstairs.

Below are the wreaths Pat and Marcelyn made during the class.  They did a great job!

When we got done with the wreaths, we had time to make a card with the extra free stamp set that came with the April Paper Pumpkin.  This stamp set is called, All About Everything, and was only available to Paper Pumpkin subscribers.

 

I made it one more time and heat embossed the flower to make it pop!

This is also the set I used to make my Kate Spade knock off card.

I made several of these cards and put them together into a gift set.

Here’s the link to the directions to make the box for the Kate Spade knock off cards.

If you don’t live in the Des Moines area, you can still sign up for Paper Pumpkin with me and I’ll send you a pdf with fun ways to use your kit and make extra cards.

Blessings,

Beth 🙂

 

When I saw the Pals Paper Arts and the paper players challenges this morning, I knew I needed to make this card.

So I know what you’re thinking… a duck is not a wild animal.  Well, in this case it is.  You see, my duck is not tame, so it is therefore “wild.”  Hopefully the paper players will appreciate my thought process and let my duck count as a wild animal. 🙂

I used the Barnyard Babies stamp set and I’m happy to tell you Barnyard Babies did make it into the new catalog.  “Hope your day is just ducky,” is on two lines on the stamp, so I did some maneuvering to get it in an almost straight line.

The lilac bushes are in full bloom along our back fence.  They smell so good!  We planted these a couple years ago and are so happy they are finally getting taller than the fence.  We wanted to have more privacy because we have a house directly behind us.  They are very sweet people, but it’s probably better to not be able to tell what the other family is having for dinner, while we are sitting and having dinner. 🙂

Keegan got his call back for jazz choir, so later this week we should know the results of all his auditions.

Hope your day is just ducky!

Blessings,

Beth 🙂