The Run for the Water

Saturday is the annual Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs in Louisville!

This...is my cattle making a Run for the Water! GANGWAY!

I had to change the title to "Water Run" because I couldn't get my prefered title to fit in the upper right side space after I had attached my pictures.

Start with the picture at the bottom and it goes clockwise in sequence as the herd of steers and heifers make their way down the hill to the pond.

I used paper from the Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft kit. I'm workin' on using up those buttons. I attached the buttons with glue dots. I didn't have any ink or CS that matched that soft mauvy pink of the Making Memories Flower Patch shaped paper. So I decided to stamp the title on SU! Very Vanilla CS using SU! Regal Rose ink. I love the alpha...not sure on the color of the ink. I cut out each letter and ran them through my Xyron...aka "sticker machine".

So, whacha think of the title?

Supplies:
Stamps - Wild West Alpha
Paper - Making Memories Flower Patch
Ink - Regal Rose
Accessories - Xyron machine, buttons, glue dots

This is a collage featuring some of the cattle in the Run for the Water. This page is also the page behind the Run for the Water; the cutout is accented against the Very Vanilla backdrop.

Accessories are from the Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit.

Supplies:
Paper - SU! Very Vanilla
Accessories - Making Memories die cut, buttons, glue dots, sticky strip.

Tulip Collage

After yesterday's embellished page, I decided to let the pictures be the star of this page. These pictures were taken in April of 2006...tulips were early that year.


The paper is from Making Memories Flower Patch. It's a soft yellow, almost matching SU! Barely Banana. The paper was in the Stampin' Flybabies 2009 Craft Kit. The ribbon is most likely a May Arts grosgrain that matches SU! Barely Banana.

It was a farily simple page to put together. Simple, striking and beautiful...just like tulips.

Supplies:

Paper - Making Memories Flower Patch

Accessories - Grosgrain Ribbon (matches SU! Barely Banana), Sticky strip

Brentwood Spottings

Brentwood has been spotted wearing a t-shirt that says "I LOVE MUSIC!"

If you download and use the free JLO Brentwood Digital Image, post a comment below and link your project! I can't wait to check it out.

My Brentwood is still in the works...stay tuned!

Bloom

Not in a million years would I have ever thought I would use the word "BLOOM" on a scrapbook page! But here it is!

I took these pictures of my strawberry plants back in 2006. Ain't they pretty?

I used the strawberry from SU! Tart and Tangy, stamping in Real Red Craft ink. I think the strawberry is the only stamp in that set of four that I have used. Then I stamped green strawberries in old olive. I capped them, saving two for green strawberries. I ran those through Xyron and attached.

The strawberry blooms are created from SU! Felt Flowers, flowers from SU! Pretties kit and Summer Sun colored brads.

Here you can see the white rub-on from (I think) 2008 SAB Love & Happiness. I have a ton of those. That was the year all my SAB "sets" was rub-ons. Did I mention, I have a ton of Love & Happiness rub-ons? After peeling off the backing, I went back over the rub-on with the paddle end of the Basic Grey Rub-On tool, to make sure the rub-on was attached to my paper and wouldn't attach itself to my page protector. It might eventually attach to the page protector, but not for a while anyway, I hope.

Here's that word I never thought I'd use. I used Big Deal Alpha and stamped on PTI White in Old Olive craft ink, embossed with Crystal Clear EP. The white flowers and flat back pearls are from SU! Pretties Kit. The primas are from a Prima Share I was in a few years ago. The flowers were put together using gue dots. The letters are mounted on pop dots.

Supplies:

Stamps - Tart & Tangy, Big Deal Alpha

Paper - Making Memories Flower Patch, PTI White

Ink - Real Red Craft, Old Olive Craft

Accessories - SU! felt flowers, SU! pretties kit, Summer Sun colored brads, glue dots, SU! Scallop Edge Punch, Making Memories tool kit and mat, Xyron, sticky strip, Love & Happiness Rub-ons, Basic Grey Rub-on tool, Stampin' Emboss Cyrstal Clear, SU! Heat Gun, pop dots

Meet Suzy Q

Or should I say...Suzy Qute! What a doll. She's a sweetheart...she loves her admirers and loves to ham it up for the camera. I've not had a little calf with such an outgoing personality like Suzy Q before. The Cub Scouts were over on Friday night for a Raingutter Regatta. DH took them to see the calves. Suzy Q & EB in the barm. EB was bashful, Suzy Q was hammin' it up. Suzy Q has beautiful markings on her face.

Here's me using that Groovy Guave again. I remember when that SU! In Color came out...I hated it. YUCK! I even expressed that opinion to my upline and my sideline. Now...it's my favorite. Note to self...never say YUCK to any color...if ya do, it's guaranteed to become your favorite and I have to eat my words. Good thing these words are tasty. :-D

I combined several different elements to create this page. Guess I was in a really creative mood.

1. Like my layout? I can't take all the credit. The sketch was from the Weekly Card Sketch on SCS...SC225. I just love taking a card sketch and making a page.

2. See the scrolly stuff under the picture at the bottom? That's printed acetate. I found this 12 x 12 sheet of printed acetate in my Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit. I wanted to find creative ways to use this. This is way number 1. This paper is from the new Making Memories Flower Patch collection.

3. See the threaded buttons? This is another first. I love the look of threaded buttons. I found this roll of Groovy Guava stitched ribbon...never been opened yet! The buttons were in the Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit. (There must be a serious shortage of buttons somewhere...cuz this kit was chock full of buttons. OY!)

4. See the chipboard letters. I wanted something quick to fix. Hahahahaha! I think I spent several HOURS on those things! Let's see if I can remember WHAT I did. These are chipboard letters from SU! First I put Groovy Guava reinker on the letters...yeah yeah...I own every thing in Groovy Guava...so much for not liking that color. Anyway, wiped that off. Still looks like cardboard...so I put on some Gesso...then I mixed reinker in Gesso and painted that on. Then I dumped on embossing poweder and heated. Nah...decided to smear Versamark on the letters and re-heat. Still not happy, so I sanded letters. Kind of dull looking. Rubbed the Groovy Guava ink pad on the letters...decided to hit it with the heat gun...the letters not the ink pad. I learned something...you can't sand off embossing powder. Hahaha. The letters got shiny again. I left it at that and attached them with Stampin' Dimensionals. So much for a quick fix.

5. SU! has really spoiled me with these die cut stamps. I pulled out Embrace Life and sat there trying to push the bamboo image through...dang thing was stuck good. Then...doh...I realized this stamp set was not die cut. Oh brother. It should've been a clue.

6. The solid panels are textured Groovy Guava...I stamped bamboo images on one panel with Groovy Guava ink. Then flipped them over to attach with sticky strip. DOH! I stamped on the back of the textured cardstock. Kind of beats the purpose of using textured cardstock if you're gonna hide the texture.

Supplies:

Sketch - SC225

Stamps - Embrace Life

Paper - SU! Whisper White, Groovy Guave, Making Memories Flower Patch

Ink - Groovy Guava

Accessories - Groovy Guava Stitched Ribbon, Groovy Guava reinker, Versamark, SU! Clear Embossing Powder, Gesso, paintbrush, SU! heat gun, sticky strip, glue dots, buttons, tape

JLO Design Team News

WOW! I wondered why I had more followers. So I check them out...leave some comments...hop over to JLO Design Team Blog...browse around there...check out the DT name list and HOLY COW! Jess picked to be the DT Lead for the next six months.

(thud)

Yep...fell out of my chair. I climbed back in...I just HAD to make sure I read that right. Yep. Off to check my work email. THERE IT IS! HOLY COW!

Now that the initial shock has subsided...I'm very flattered Jess likes my work. I've always been flattered Jess likes my work. Heck...she must know me better than me...she sent me that tree stamp...Relaxation Tree for All Seasons.

Who wud've thunk I would fall in love with a tree stamp, but as the name says...it truly is for all seasons! You can make it winter, spring, summer, fall. I even did winter with snow. Wanna go fishing with Riley this summer? I'm just amazed as how much I go to "that tree stamp".

Now...where was I...was dusting...no...went to check on DS who is digging a four foot trench with a backhoe...no...got a cup of coffee...no...I see this string on my finger...hmmmm....

I know! How about we celebrate with a BLOG HOP?! Featuring...BRENTWOOD!

Stay tuned...gotta iron out some details with Jess. In the meantime, check out the new FREE Brentwood digi stamp!

I best get back to my dusting. I have bedsheets to change, floors to sweep and laundry to do.

And..oh yeah...a Brentwood stamp to ink up.

Flower Pot Card

Mollymoo made a card.


Not just any card...a flower pot card. These have to be the cutest things I have ever seen!

Isn't this just the cutest thing? The hardest thing was arranging the flowers so the insert fit in the pot. The insert really looks top heavy. It makes me want to yell...TIMBERRRRRR!



The flowers are SU! Die Cut Blooms that I've had laying around for a while. They are attached and popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals. The sentiment is from Cheery Chat. This was a set I received in my SU! Demonstrator Kit. This WAS going to be Mom's Mother's Day Card. Would you believe I DO NOT have a Mother's Day sentiment? Of course, I only looked at my SU! sets...cuz I wanted this to be a SUO card (SU! Only).

The cardstock for the pot is Really Rust. I sponged Really Rust Classic ink along the edges and lip of the pot. I used SU! Scallop Border punch on the lip. You can really see the sponging...I think it gives it dimension.

Mom will love this!

Supplies:
TLC215
SUO
Stamps: Cheery Chat
Paper: Really Rust, Whisper White
Ink: Really Rust
Accessories: Die Cut Blooms, Sticky Strip, SU! Stampin' Dimensionals

KAE Awards Luncheon

On Monday, I attended the Kentucky Adult Educators Awards Luncheon at the Galt House in Louisville. The food was delicious. Check out the dessert!



That's me in the Kiwi Kiss shirt (wink). DP is from SU! Walk In the Park from the Occasions Mini. I used the scallop oval punch and Summer Love rub-ons from the same mini. I cut & matted the program on So Saffron. The group pic is mounted on Kiwi Kiss.

So, WHY was I there? I'm an accountant, not an adult educator. MOM WON AN AWARD! Whoo hoo! Here she is accepting her award. Here's that neato award she brought home.

I decided to create a progressive page. My focal point was Mom receiving her award. That was my 6 x 6 page. My 8 1/2 x 11 page is the Baha Breeze. I mounted the award picture and surrounded it by rub-ons. "inspire" and "dream" are two words that come to mind. I used butterflies from the Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit. You can see the whole page below.

SUPPLY LIST:

Stamps - Congrats (SAB 2009)

Paper - SU! Basic Grey, Baha Breeze, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss, Walk in the Park DP

Ink - Kiwi Kiss

Accessories - Kiwi Kiss reversible ribbon, Summer Love Rub-Ons, Basic Grey Rub-On Tool, die cut butterflies, glue dots, sticky strip, SU! Scallop Oval Punch

Spring Photo Collage

This is a collage of the remaining pictures featuring spring. This page shows some not so cute things from Spring...like too much rain and some snow!

Oh yeah! Those pretty yellow dandy flowers..."dandy lions". Ugh.

My typical Spring footwear around the farm in the Spring is my MUD BOOTS! Water and snow...mud...and dandy-lions.

Notice the cute little duck in the mud puddle? That's a charm I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. I had it out for another layout, it had fallen on the floor and when I found it later, I thought it would be so cute on this page. It definitely coordinates with the pretty yellow dandy flowers, right?

Take a look at this:

My page was full of pictures...I wanted to add some journaling for the pictures. I used some long notes from SU!, attaching the envelope to the back with sticky strip. I used the tab punch to make a notch at the top of the 12 x 12 page.

Pretty cool, huh?

ETA: The top left and top right pics were sent by Karen from NDStamper Spot . She has some more pics posted to her blog. Check it out!

Supplies:

Paper - SU! Whisper White

Accessories - Ribbon from Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit, SU! Long Notes, sticky strip

Spring Scenes

Spring...ducks, bunnies, birds & calves...all the cute stuff! Of course, the gentle spring rains and the lush green grass!

Going counterclockwise starting with the ducks in the field. The mallard ducks, a hen and a drake, are looking for a place to nest. We think they found a place under the haybine. If so, we'll fill up Penny Marie's swimming pool so the ducks have a "pond".

That's a view of my shop from the front porch of the house. It was raining when I took that picture. The grass looks so green and pretty. Then there's the steers playing "head butt". There's Allie Goodman and her day old bull calf.

I just happened to be watching this little bird hop around near the gate to the steers' lot. I forget what kind of bird it is that's taking a sip of water.

The stamped bunny is from Kitchen Sink Stamps. It's a three step stamp. I've had that image stamped for a while and it was just perfect for this page.



The paper is Making Memories Flower Patch Flocked Rabbit from the Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit, as is the ribbon. This paper has these gorgeous white flocked bunnies all over!

Supplies:
Sketch - SBSC24
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 Step Honey Bunny, Tidy Alphabet
Paper - Making Memories Flower Patch Flocked Rabbit, SU! Whisper White
Ink - Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose
Accessories - Ribbon, sticky strip, Xyron

Spring Flowers

After creating the increadibly embellished page one, this page seems so simple and plain. Of course, it NEEDED to be simple, as it is the right hand page of the two page spread. Here's the first and left hand page: Spring Garden .

The paper is Making Memories Flower Patch from the Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit, as are the sentiment, flower die cuts and the sugared brads. The flower centers are Prima flowers. The ribbon is SU! Bashful Blue Taffeta...some NICE stuff! All that was adhered with sticky strip. I hardly use the mono adhesive. I'm afraid it will fall apart! I'm a fan of sticky strip.

I took this sketch and flipped it so the top pics on both pages are in one continuous line.


Supplies:
Paper - Making Memories Flower Patch
Accessories - SU! Taffeta Ribbon Bashful Blue, Die Cut flowers & sentiment, sticky strip, sugared brads and Prima flowers.

Custom Name Stamp

I ordered a custom name stamp from JLO. I really do like the flourishy feel of the stamp. At the moment, I'm using it to stamp the back of my scrapbook layouts. I will most likely use it to stamp the back of my cards as well.

Check it out at Jessica Lynn Original. Turnover was quick; I received a proof the day I ordered. The stamp came in it's own storage bag complete with a clear block! Tell her Melissa sent ya!

Spring Garden

This is a first for me...scrapping my gardening & flower pictures. I decided to do a four page segment on Spring in Central Kentucky. This is the first page. There's good things about Spring and there's bad things about Spring. I reckon this just focuses on things that happen in Spring.

Notice that border? OMGosh! I love it! I really did not plan it. First off...I stamped the images with the "wrong" ink to color with Copic Markers. Then...see the distance perspective for the garden? The garden will get smaller the further back it goes.

Hahaha...you ought to have see it before. It extended to heaven & beyond. I was following one of Michelle Zindorf's tutorials, Gardening with MFT. What I failed to realize at the time is Michelle's garden cut off for a smaller picture...I had more to the right of my garden. As I said, I really didn't plan this one...I just "winged it". And as "winging it" goes, I did GOOD! Right?

This was lots of fun to create. I used some charms from my stash, ordered several years ago from Oriental Trading Company. That's the barn, the tractor and the cute little chick. The table, the watering can and the clay pots are from SU! Scene in a Garden. Who's That Girl, the seed packets, the rabbit and the flower are from MFT's Can Ya Dig It? The green check paper is from Making Memories Flower Patch Collection, as are the title & subtitle die cuts. The journaling panel was cut & notched to match the title die cut.

I had a "craftsplosion" after creating this. Holy COW! What a supply list! I made a really small dent using up stash. So, why if I had so much gardening items available don't I scrap gardening and flower pictures more often?

I don't know. In this instance, I think I was inspired by the Stampin' Flybabies Spring 2009 Craft Kit. The paper and the die cuts are from the kit. It just snowballed from there.

Oh yeah! It snows in KY in the Spring, too!

Supply list:

Sketch: SBSC184

Stamps - MFT Can Ya Dig It?, SU! Scene in a Garden

Ink - Old Olive, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Archival Jet Black

Paper - Making Memories Flower Patch, SU! Whisper White

Accessories - Zig Millenium .05 in Black, Versamarker, Stampin' Emboss Crystal Clear, SU! Heat Gun, Oriental Trading Company charms, Sticky Strip, Post It Notes, Brayer, Sponge, SU! Notch Corner Punch, Stamp a ma jig

Copic Marker Colors - Spectrum Green G02 (gloves, slippers), Rose Red R85 (outline journaling panel), Sand E33 (hat), Light Grayish cobalt B95 (shadows on dress), Colorless Blender 0, Brown E08 (flower pots), Light Crockery Blue B96 (dress), Pea Green YG63, Light Prawn R22 (rabbit ears), Moss YG67 (seedlings), Strong Red R46 (tomato), Golden yellow Y12 (corn & flower centers), Sepia E37 (table), Cool Gray No. 1 and No. 3 (rabbit and water can)

Phillip & T-2

I decided to combine two of Sally's awesome sketches and create a double page spread featuring Phillip and T-2! The left side is SBSC186; the right page, SBSC185. I used paper and buttons from the Stampin Flybabies Spring 09 Craft Kit. I also broke out two old SU! cat stamp sets, some new rub-ons and dug through my stash for the rest. I'm very pleased with the results!

My favorite item used for the project has to be the FUN Making Memories Flower Garden circle paper. Some of those colorful circles are embossed and some are distressed. My favorite item overall has to be the FUN FUN kitty cat chorus line!

Doesn't this look fun?

To create this, I dug out the circle from SU! Smile. On a strip of SU! Whisper White, I stamped the circle in random places in SU! Classic Ink - Blush Blossom, Regal Rose, Garden Green and Taken with Teal. The cat from SU! Cool Cat was stamped over using SU! Basic Black CRAFT ink. I wanted something dark that would show up really well against the color! Then a used glud dots to add Swarvoski Crytals and buttons.

Here's the subtitle...at the top left hand side.

Here's where I combined something old and something new! I punched SU! Whisper White with the new SU! Scalloped Oval Punch and added a rub-on from SU! Summer Love. The cats from SU! Cat's Meow were stamped in Versamark.

For the right hand side, I opted for a simpler layout. The chipboard circls is Bazzill Basic Paper Really Big Bazzill Chips - Impatiens Flower 5 Petal. What a mouthful for a name. Anyway, they are pretty neat. I wanted to use the negative to highlight the awesome dots in the Making Memories DP. The title was die cut using Sizzix and Lollipop Alphabet & Numbers. The ampersand is a rub-on from SU! Fashion District Rub-Ons.

The cut out, I decorated with buttons! The button flower has to be my favorite part of the right hand page. I thought it was a creative way to use up all those buttons.

Supplies (left page):

Sketch - SBSC186

Paper - Baha Breeze 12 x 12 textured, Making Memories Flower Patch, SU! Garden Green, SU! Whisper White

Ink - SU! Basic Black CRAFT, SU! Classic Inks in Garden Green, Taken with Teal, Regal Rose and Blush Blossom, Versamark

Stamps - Cool Cat, Cat's Meow, Smile

Accessories - SU! Scallop Oval Punch, SU! Summer Love Rub-Ons, Basic Grey Rub-On Tool, SU! Stampin' Dimensionals, Swarvoski Crystals, Glue Dots, Sticky Strip, Buttons

Supplies (right page):

Sketch - SBSC185

Paper - SU! Baha Breeze 12 x 12 textured, Making Memories Flower Patch, SU! Garden Green

Accessories - Buttons, Bazzill Basics Paper Really big Bazzill Chips - Impatiens Flowers 5 Petals, Glue Dots, Sticky Strip, Sizzix, Lollipop Alphabet & Numbers, SU! Fashion District Rub-Ons, Basic Grey Rub-On tool, Xyron 250.

Alaskan Cruise

...nope! I didn't get to go, but my BFF Karen did! She shared some awesome pics with me. I'd love to have some more pics...hint, hint. Anyway, these pics were PERFECT for the new JLO "Save the Ocean Set" . Jess send these a while back and I've had this SB page completed for a while. What didn't I post it sooner?

Well...I've been trying to figure out a better way to photograph my pages. AND since these aren't my kids in the photo...I needed a creative, yet unobstrusive way, to preserve their privacy. It took me a while, but I did finally figure something out. Right...right...I'm slow...but I'm also busy.

OK...on to the page.

I love this page! The colors are retired SU! In Colors Cool Caribbean and True Thyme. This is a progressive page. The 6 x 6 page has the True Thyme stitched ribbon. The 8.5 x 11 page is the Cool Caribbean. Of course, the 12 x 12 is the white.


I cut out the bottom portion of the 8.5 x 11 page and embellished my page with a scene created using stamps, a brayer and post-it notes.


My ides is not original. I gotta give credit to the Brayer Queen...the great Ms. Zindorf . I think my mountains came out great. They don't look like they need a BRA do they? I think I combined a couple of Michelle's tutorials...one for mountains and one for the black images. That's a lot of thinking. I should post after I create...the thinking would be less taxing. Good thing I wrote all this down and stuck a post it note on the back. (big grin) After consulting my list...I used the Lone Wolf Tutorial.


I'm still diggin' into the retired SU! In Colors...I brayered Marigold Morning for the sky, Cool Caribbean for the sea, True Thyme for the mountains, added Garden Green to the mountains and sponged Close to Cocoa at the top. I stamped images, colored them, sponged some on some Black ink for the ground and then outlined the images with White Gel Pen.


The tree is from JLO's Relaxation Tree for All Seasons. I colored everything with the BLACKEST thing I could find...which was...consulting list here...doesn't say. Most likely a Copic marker. The twigs are from SU!'s Roof Garden Accents & Elements.









Here's a couple of close up shots of the stamped image. Karen mentioned a few animals they saw in Alaska...I've forgotten...but I'm sure these three would be right at home. Maybe...in either case, they sure look cute on this page!

Thanks for stopping by. See ya next time!

Supplies
Stamps - JLO Save the Ocean, JLO Relaxation Tree for All Seasons
Ink - Marigold Morning, Cool Caribbean, True Thyme, Garden Green, Close to Cocoa, Archival Jet Black
Paper - True Thyme, Cool Caribbean, Non-SU white
Other - Black Copic Marker, White Gel Pen, Brayer, Sponge, Post-It Notes, SU! Roof Garden Accents & Elements, True Thyme Stitched Ribbon.