On!!

Yes, we're on for a while, anyway, lol! We'll have the power off again tomorrow, not sure for how long or for how many days. So here's the story:



Those wonderful electric and tree cutting folks have been so good about getting our town back to order. Last night at 10 pm they were just finishing up a major line intersection, and shortly afterward, lights not one mile from us were back on. Yesterday afternoon we got phone service! Turns out the lovely phone people have chained generators to the phone poles around town, and the generators are running the phone lines. Who knew land lines needed electric to work??



Now, remember, we have three poles down on the ground beyond me on our dead end dirt lane. Today, our electirc popped on! Lo and behold, so did the electric in the lines on the ground- holy toledo!! My 78 year old mother dialed up the kindly electric folks, and told them all about the explosion, flames, and dancing lines on the ground (so, I never knew hot wires on the ground would dance, did you?), and how if she went outside she was afraid she would get killed, and how when my brother drove back in over the lines, no doubt he would not know the lines were live and probably would get killed as well. All in her calm, 78 year old voice, lol!! So the kindly lady tells her the power company was happy she called, and to please not go outside until they sent someone to investigate. I had no idea what was going on because I whimped out and drove an hour away to DD #1 to get a shower. Mom calls to tell me the power is back on, but there was an explosion and flames off of the porch in the lane, and while it's nice the power is on, but maybe I shouldn't bring the little boys back since the tops of the poles that were still standing were on fire, too, and maybe they shouldn''t be around what with the lines live and all. All in her calm, 78 year old voice. 10 minutes later the fire trucks and police arrive, with a line of tree cutters and electric folks, too! The power went off again, the lines beyond my mom were detached, but they strung her right up...lol...her lines, I mean!! Turned the power back on to her, which got me power as well. Yippee!! No flames, no live wires, and all of the wires hanging low are tighted up.



Now, my brother on the other side will have to have new poles on his side. So in the melee of sirens and flashing lights, she also tells the nice men who are working on dousing the flames all about my brothers handicapped son who is on the other side of all of the trees and poles and burning lines, and how lucky we have been that he hasn't had any seizures for days (this is true), and how we haven't had to get him out quickly- aren't we so lucky?? And golly gee whiz, at this very moment they are still out there chopping away at trees and poles, lol. I'm tempted to show them the car under the tree and see if they will cut that out, too.



Such a long story! They'll turn us off again tomorrow, so they can start getting poles up beyond my mom, so everyone beyond us can turn off their generators and get back to life as usual. And if the fire trucks and ambulances need to get beyond Mom, they can, and she'll stand on her porch and wave at them as they go by.

But really, I know you came for a card of two.

Baby Button Bits. I messed up the first version stamping by candle light, so had to cut out the rattles, and since I did that, they got little bows made from floss, too. Sorry I didn't pop them up... next time I will! Buttons from Vintage Buttons Sweet Blush and Spring Rain, Sweet Blush Satin and Spring Rain Gingham ribbons. All Papertrey, of course!

All ok!

Just a quick update- we made it through the second night, but lol, really? We have no furnace anyway, we have always flushed out toilet with buckets of gray water (and there is plenty of water around!!), coffee from a coffee pot on a Coleman stove is better than drip and the head of the household does all the cooking, the smooshed car was a junker anyway, and if you just change your hours to awake at daylight and bed at sunset... well, then... what's the big deal??

The folks in Chile are to be thought about, and those who live in the path of tsunamis, my golly, in comparison, life is good for me!

I just placed my third Papertrey order this month (just for the butterfly and egg dies!), and after I hit send I realized I could have added some things I've been wanting. Next trip to the library I'll bring a list, lol!!

Oh me oh my, Oh me oh my

Well, friends, we survived the storm.. May have lost one car; but we all have our roofs. The wood part at least! No electricity; I can count 18 trees down (so sad) on our dirt lane, with 3 telephone poles along with them. Have you ever seen in the cup on top of a pole? Apparently, it's filled with white ceramic things...since they are all broken and on the lane. Luckily, since there are wires down, the friendly electric lady said they'd get to us ASAP, maybe by midweek next. Lol, yupper, another week without electricity! So glad we are campers, and have a stove and real honest to goodness coffee pot and all. REally, the good news is it has remained above freezing, so no risk of pipes bursting, locally anyway.

Am on the local library computer, since the hospital is on a generator and shut down the internet connections~ will keep you updated when I can!!

Papertrey February Blog Hop

I don't know you guys, these events that happen once a month sure seem to come around quickly...I don't feel like a month has gone by, but here we are again. I swear I am not a year older, but I can remember last years February Blog Hop, and wait, how about 2008's??? Time warp, time warp! Turns out space and time can get pushed around by large objects (hey, that's me, lol!) and the edges of time can warp around and .... oh wait, that's another subject, lol lol lol!!! I was forgetting, you aren't here for physics, just the cards, m'am... I bet Stephen Hawking isn't here tonight, either, lol.


Now, I know you are waiting for a baby card, and I am happy to comply! Luckily, Betsy Veldman did a great one last month, and the Blog Hop was a great opportunity to show it to you!


Hey, I might have loaded it here! Yay if I did!!

So, ok, mine isn't quite the same, lol. Obviously it's a boy, obviously it's not as frilly, and obviously it's not the same sticker. Other than that, lol, it's just the same!!

I promise I'll go trim that left hand ribbon as soon as I get off the computer and finish dinner. Funny how you only see things as others would see them through a different lens...

Let's see: Out on A Limb and I forget with these rolling thunder bolts where the congratulations is... Spring Moss, Pastel Papers, Spring Rain paper covered in Chamomile to get it to the right shade of blue, Spring Rain and the very last of the Enchanted Evening Bitty Dots ribbon (woo hoo! 3 orders in February??). Spring Moss, Sweet blush and Dark Chocolate ink, along with the Tea Dye Duo around the edges. Now here's the best part: see the bright blue background? I was cleaning up some papers and threw that little piece of printed paper in the trash- ta daa! Pulled it out again, because I thought I needed a bit of wowser on the card. In addition, I bet that little baby has been hanging from a clip for three years, no lie. Love finally using something that has been sitting there forever!

So you Designers, how about a baby like this? I mean, Betsy and I both needed one within 6 weeks of each other! Isn't that a trend??

ETA: If you are reading this on Friday, it means the gigundo storm that we are having now, Thursday night, got the better of the electric- it's been off twice now while trying to post.

Waltzingmouse Blog Hop!!

I'd like to say welcome to all of the Waltzingmouse Blog Hoppers, lol, but I think I am 12 hours late getting my post on- darn! I finally got Euros figured out, now I just need to figure out the time and date differences, lol!! Well, enjoy the card anyway, lol!!

I am still stuck on Nerina's sketch and little butterflies, and this card follows the previous 2 in the post below- scroll down a post or two to see more Waltzingmouse cards!!

I used Papertrey's Sweet Blush and Spring Moss as my base colors. The stamp sets used are Say It With Style for the background and birthday sentiment, Blessed By You for the leaves, and Very Vintage Labels 4 for the label, of course!! The scroll background was stamped in Hibiscus Burst from Papertrey; I used a sponge to go around the base card edges and the layer edges. Can't have a Spring card without flowers, right? These are from Prima!

Isn't it pretty? You can't see it here, but there are two layers of ribbon, Spring Moss and Sweet Blush, under the center medallion. The bow is tied with both as well! The butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart, I punched it from a leftover from the scroll layer. Just a touch of Stickles (clear) makes it sparkle. The body is formed from wee little black pearls.

Well, 'mouser's, I do believe you have just completed your first ever Waltzingmouse Blog Hop! Wasn't everything beautiful?? If you got here another way, be sure and go to the start of the hop here ; but not before you make yourself a pot of tea or coffee, and get a pen and paper to write down all of the ideas you will get along the way!

More Baby Card Eye Candy

Here's another photo of the happiest mail day ever! The cards in the front are ones Sandy (Sankada) did~

Since I am having a baby card vacation, lol, there isn't as much to show you!

Well, you didn't really believe that, did you? lol, I am not sure I will ever be able to stop making baby cards! It's just that with the volume pressure off for a few weeks, I can just play around a little!

I really like the new pastel papers from Papertrey~ they will be my go to papers for a while, I'm sure!! I used the carriage image from Bitty Baby Blessings, and a piece of polka dotted paper from the 8 x 8 Polka Dot Parade. Colored with Prisma markers and tiny buttons for the wheels. Sentiment is from Baby Button Bits. Plum Pudding Double Stitched ribbon with a tiny piece of Spring Moss twill tied into the knot. Brads are from my stash, teeny tiny ones! They are a bit brighter than Spring Moss, but work ok here.

Enjoy!

Oh Happy Mail!

I love to barter; I love to pass things on I can't use, or just get things I want without using money, lol!! About a month ago I made tow trades, one to Nerina, and one to Sandy (Sankada on PTI's forum). Now, I knew I would be getting baby cards in the mail from each, but who'da thought I would get all in one day?!? Over 30 incredibly gorgeous baby cards. Wow!!

Here are two incredible cards from Nerina; you would not believe them in real life- She used Sweet Blush with kraft paper, one on Stamper's Select and one on Vintage Cream. Stamps are from Papertrey and Waltzingmouse. Did I say incredible?!?

I just had to case a bit- here are my two. I did a baby card as well, but wanted to show you these. Nerina did some sewing on her cards, but I had the stitches stamp from Waltzingmouse, and used that. In retrospect, the stitches are a bit more country than the rest of the card, but that's ok. The Birthday card is Aqua Mist, the Thank You is Sweet Blush. My butterfly punch is a bit different than Nerina's, mine is a Martha Stewart one.

Aren't they pretty??

Sweet Baby Blush

I know you are thinking- Beth, what's come over you? There are incredible announcements and challenges over on Papertrey, and you are making...baby cards?? Lol, yes, the work must go on!

I just love putting glitter on embossed images; this time I used a glue pen on Sweet Blush that was embossed with a Sizzix folder, then poured clear glitter on- makes for quite a glittery card!

I can't use a lot of glitter on the cards, and it has to be anchored very well. Don't want to risk a mom opening a card with a wee babe in her arms, and having any glitter fall into the eyes or nose of said wee babe- that could be a disaster! This amount, though, worked well. I used a light pink and new leaf green color of Art Glitter; it's very fine and came off of the rest of the card very well. Added a tiny paper pieced heart from a printed Papertrey paper, tied on a Sweet Blush ribbon, and there she was! A Sweet Baby Blush card!

As you read this I am lying on a beach chair on the beach with my laptop and sipping mint...oh wait, no I'm not! I'm in the cabin in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the snow and cold and tossing logs on the fire...

Ahh, well, time away is time away, and life is so good to me! Enjoy the rest of the Papertrey release, and I 'll see you at the party Sunday night!

Papertrey and CPS Challenge

Saturday's Challenge over at Papertrey was to participate in the CPS sketch this week. Ok, says I, I will!! Thing is, it takes me so long to make a card; this one took me 2 days to finish, lol. Well, work and life sure do get in the way!!

Paper is Pure Poppy and Stamper's Select. I am trying tonight to load the camera right into the laptop, see what programs I have there to fix color- then go sit in the car and upload on the wireless signal floating around out there. I am preparing to go to the cabin this week, and contemplate packing all of my PTI supplies to be able to finish out the challenges, so I need to check the photo editing and uploading. At the moment, the Pure Poppy looks too pink, so I may give up on this idea. I'd rather post nothing than post something that looks wonky.

I stamped dots from Polka Dot Basics in white SU Craft on Pure Poppy, the punched the edges. The border punch is Fiskars, the ribbons are PTI Pure Poppy Twill and their new silk. The white satin is from Michael's. The button is from the Pure Poppy stash, I was sad I could not find a little heart in there!

I put the hugs & kisses border from Simple Valentine along the outer edges of the base card, and rounded the edges of the second layer with the small SU corner rounder.

Let me know if you see it as Pure Poppy- I am going to try and download the Kodak program in here, too!

Another Papertrey Challenge!!

Are you all having fun everyday with the Papertrey news and challenges? Even if I decide not to play, I must say it is all fun! Yesterday for the first time I heard Nichole's voice, and today I saw her in video. I can call her up, too, tonight if I want to, lol lol lol.

I slept some of the day after work, but then went right up and started working on an embossed resist card. Lol, not as easy as Nichole made it look- it's definitely best when you use a stamp with a large positive area. I had a terrible event where I brayered on Lemon Tart ink, then went to color over it with Prisma markers, and ruined 2 markers before I realized what was happening. Darn! The thicker ink 'sealed' the tips of the markers. Darn again!!

The valentine is made with Heart Prints smaller hearts, stamped with Versamark on top of Simple Valentine papers, then clear embossed. I used Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst and Pure Poppy to ink around. Layers are Pure Poppy and Lavender Moon.

The sentiment is also from Heart Prints, I cut Day off and moved it away from Valentine's a bit to even up the spacing with Happy- make sense??

Had to finish off the inside, of course!

I'm looking forward to news tomorrow- not sure if there will be Nestabilities, or punches, or ways to cut shapes with a Cricut. The latter may leave me out, but I know others will be happy, and that is good! I like doing things by hand, involving machines in my card making just isn't for me right now-

Becky Oehlers Image

So, if you are like me, you know all about Papertrey's Third Anniversary Celebration; I don't need to tell you about it! A couple of days ago there was a challenge issued to download images from the newly announced Stamp Designer Team and create a project from them. Lol, I am not fond of sitting and fiddling in front of a computer, but I did get one image downloaded and printed; Becky's little house, found here. Now, the contest is long over, but I still wanted to finish the card~ and I did!

If you enlarge the photo, I think the true pastel colors will get better. I used the new pink shimmer paper as the background cs, lemon tart as the first layer, and printed the image on Stampers select. then I copied Becky's quilt lawn by cutting and gluing squares to copy paper, and printing the image(s) onto the copy paper. Cut out the lawn and glued it on- halfway done!

I took the sun, house and balloon and colored them with Prisma's and Copics to match the 'quilted' lawn, then popped them upon dimensionals. I covered the clouds with Flower Soft Polar White. The sentiment is from Baby Button Bits, I cut off the 'bee' portion of the sentiment...gasp...!! It's ok to cut things off, because it is really easy to slip it back together if you want to print it together again.

I did not find this terribly enjoyable to do, but it helped solidify my feelings about digital images- I like to stamp!

But I love all things Papertrey; I love the monthly release buildups, and I especially love the anniversary celebrations!

Wash Day

While the DD was in the hospital with the baby, DGD was here and wanted to make a card. I told her to choose a sticker; I had a Martha Stewart paper pad open on the table. Wow! I had her choose some ribbon, and a card was born. When she was done, I did one for myself, lol!

'BaBy' is from Papertrey's Mega Mixed Messages stamped in Versafine Onyx Black. The ribbon is from Michael's, and is meant to be ruffled by pulling the center string part, but I generally just leave it to 'puff' with glue dots.

Now for the funny baby photo of the week- prepare to laugh when you enlarge the picture: here The DD's BFF's baby...