Celebrating you!!!

Yea, the sun is finally out!!! It's been raining here all week! It's rained so much in this area that neighboring towns were filling up sand bags yesterday! Luckily, the water levels have gone down and there's not a whole lot of damage. I'm so glad that we weren't effected like they were!

I made this card late last night. I was trying for that "heavy embellished" look, but I didn't quite get there! Oh well, I think it still turned out cute!

I hope that you enjoy your day where ever you are! I'm going out to enjoy the sunshine!!! Happy stamping and thanks for looking!!!

BTW- I just realized that I'm going to break through to over 4000 hits soon! That means that I will be at 5000 in no time! So I'm going to start putting together some Daisy Treats (aka blog candy) to celebrate when I reach 5000 hits! I think I might combine the celebrating of 5000 hits with my birthday (7/3). So that means I'll have to make the Daisy Treat EXTRA good! Keep checking back you won't want to miss it!!!

Supplies- SU's Ruby Red, So Saffron, Mixed Greetings, Rhonna Farrer's-Flowers, ribbon by Bobbin Ribbon, Scalloped punch, circle punches, brads, pp by SEI

I was tagged!

I was tagged by Michele and Nancy today! I have to answer these using only one word! I'll try, but I guarantee nothing!!! ;)

Yourself: goofy
Your Partner: serious
Your Hair: long
Your Mother: unique
Your Father: gone
Your Favorite Item: my diamonds
Your Dream Last Night: crazy
Your Favorite Drink: cherry coke
Your Dream Car: Lexus
Dream Home: on the beach
The Room You Are In: office/stamp room
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: with Andy
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: Andy
You’re Not: a morning person
One of Your Wish List Items: i-pod (Andy and I share one, I want my own!)
The Last Thing You Did: made earrings to match my bracelet from the tutorial
You Are Wearing: gym clothes
Your Favorite Weather: hot
Last Thing You Ate: supper (yep, from the midwest... it's supper ;)
Your Life: fun
Your Mood: tired
Your Best Friend: Crazy!!!
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: Bingo!!! (I'm playing w/ Mandey tomorrow night!)
Your Car: Grand Prix
What Are You Doing At The Moment: typing... duh
Relationship Status: married
What Is On Your TV: stupid show that Andy is watching ;)
What Is The Weather Like: cool (I'm ready for the HOT stuff!)
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: today

Okay so now I get to tag some people!
I'll tag...
Pam (my MIL)
Barb
Irene

Beading Tutorial

Well as requested here it is... If you have any questions please let me know! Also, If you have any tips or suggestions please feel free to post them! I'm a beginner myself! I hope that this helps you out!!! Thanks so much for looking!!! (I'll be back to cards tomorrow! ;)


Supplies needed: Needle nose pliers, Cutting pliers, Jewelery wire, crimp beads, Hook of some kind, Charm, Jump hoop if needed for charm, and desired beads.

Cut the desired length of jewelry wire with the cutting pliers. (This one is about 10.5 inches) String the bar part of the clasp onto the wire, leave about one inch of wire on the end.

Slide on two crimp beads so that they cover both pieces of the wire.

Making sure that the crimp beads are close to the bar, crimp them using the needle nose pliers.

If your charm doesn't have a jump hoop on it, place one on it. Use the pliers to separate the hoop and to squeeze it back together once the jump hoop is on the charm.

Slide on your first bead (this keeps the charm in place) and then slide on your charm.

String on the beads in the desired pattern and to the desired length.








When the desired length is reached, string on two crimp beads and the other part of the clasp.







Lace the end of the wire back through the crimp beads and about the first 3/4 - 1" of the other beads. (After I have the end laced through, I check the length. If the bracelet is too long or short you can take the wire back out and add or remove beads as needed.)





After the wire is pulled through crimp the last two beads with the needle nosed pliers.







After you crimp the beads take the cutting pliers and cut off the exposed wire.







That's all there is to it! Now you try it!!!

Happy Wednesday! (what's left of it)

I hope everyone is having a great week so far and enjoyed their long weekend! If you didn't have a long weekend I hope you enjoyed the short one that you had!

We spent the weekend grilling and fishing with friends and family. It was a lot of fun! I wouldn't call myself a "fisherwoman" though. Andy had to bait my hook and take off any fish that I caught!!! What can I say I'm a "girl"!!! ;)

This is the card that I made this afternoon. I'm not for sure where the inspiration for this card came from. It's not my favorite card but it does get my vote for "unusual". Hopefully it will stir up some new ideas or inspiration for you!

I have had received questions about "beading". I'm a beginner myself, but I will be posting a simple tutorial later this evening on how to make your own bracelets. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies- Swirls-Rhonna Farrer, SU's Happy Harmony, Silver & Hologram Highlights embossing powder, silver wire, gemstones by Hero Arts

I didn't have silver paper, so I used embossed white paper instead.

Who won???

Thanks to everyone that participated in my Daisy Treat give away! You are definitely a bunch of crafty ladies!!! I really enjoyed reading about your other hobbies!
Since I was feeling generous I decided to draw two names!!! The other bracelet that I am giving away is made of the same color of beads, but instead of a sand dollar charm it has a sea shell charm.

I used random.org to choose the two lucky winners, and they are.... Charmaine and Nancy!!!
This is what they had to say...

Charmaine- "Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, I would LOVE a Jami original bracelet! :) I also love to crochet and use those Nifty Knitters. I haven't done much of that lately, but when I first started crocheting, EVERYBODY in my family had a new pair of slippers! Too funny!"

Nancy- "OMG I am so in love with this bracelet! If I win, I promise to wear it daily!!!Besides papercrafting I also enjoy a little crochetting... I'm a beginner so I don't do much, but I do enjoy it when I do it. "

Congratulations to both of you!!! E-mail me your address and I'll get these little creations out to you. Also, if you have a preference on which charm you would prefer let me know. I can't guarantee that you'll get that one, but I'll try!!!

It's the little things... (scroll down for blog candy)

"It's the little things that make life big." This has to be one of my favorite sayings!!! So when I saw this set clear back during sell-a-bration I had to get it!!! But, believe it or not this is the first time I've ever used it!!! I got so much stuff during sell-a-bration I never got around to it! Plus I've been getting a lot of fun toys from other stores lately, like this Rhonna Farrer set! This set is called Swirls and I love it!!! It's so fun!!! This card is really simple, but I liked how it turned out.

I hope you are having a great afternoon in your stamp room, laundry room, kitchen, work, or where ever else you may be!!! Thanks for looking and don't forget to enter for a chance to win my "blog candy of a different kind"!!!

Blog candy of a different kind!!!

Okay, so I'm in BIG trouble!!! I'm obsessed with beads right now!!!

Let me tell you a story... I was at Hobby Lobby on Monday to get some more jewelry supplies, before I knew it my basket was starting to get really heavy!!! It's like the packages just jumped in themselves! I can't explain it!!! I finally had to tell myself to "walk away", so being the strong will powered person I am ;), I walked away from the bead aisle. But, do you know where I ended up? Yep, that's right the paper crafts aisle!!! Ahhhhh, like I said I'm in BIG TROUBLE!!! Now there's two places I HAVE to check out when I got to Hobby Lobby!!!

Okay, so since I've been spending just as much time with my beads as I have been with my stamps lately, I thought that it was only fair that you got in on the action! So I'm offering up a Daisy Treat of a different kind!!! My May session summer class will be ending this Friday!!! Yippeeee!!! So I'm celebrating by giving away this bracelet that I made today! The colors of the beads are kinda' Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue.

To have a chance to win this little creation post a comment telling me about any other hobbies that you have besides paper crafting, if you just paper craft that's fine too! I'll post the winning comment this Saturday around noon! There's not much time... post now!!!

New Hobby!!! ;)

Well, I started a new hobby this weekend!!! Like I needed another thing to spend my time and money on!!! ;) I've been wanting to try and make my own bracelets for a really long time. So this weekend I finally made the trip to Hobby Lobby and got the supplies. I really didn't know where to start so I just studied a bracelet that my friend Mandey gave to me. This really helped me a lot. It gave me an idea on where to place the charm and how many crimp beads to use.
For this bracelet I just wanted a fun random pattern. So after every third colored bead I placed a silver bead. I think it turned out really cute and I can't wait to make another one!!!

P.S. The colors look a little funny in the pic, but they really do go well together!

Grandma's Scrapbook

This is a scrapbook that I started for my Grandma awhile ago. It was part of her thank-you gift for helping with the planning of our wedding. I didn't have time to finish it before the "Big Day", but she loved what I had completed so far. She loved seeing the old pictures of her and my Grandpa especially since he passed away in 2003. Well, I've decided that it is LONG past due to finish this for her, so I've started working on it again. This is my first and only scrapbook that I've tried to do. My scrapping isn't the best and I would love any suggestions that you have to offer!

This scrapbook is of old black and white pictures that are of my Grandparents when they first started dating, their wedding picture, pictures of their kids when they were younger, etc. I have plans to scrap other pictures from their first years of marriage, 35th wedding anniversary, and 50th wedding anniversary.

The page that I just completed today is of my Mom and my Uncle Roger. They made big news when they were born because they were the first set of twins to ever be born in that hospital! My Grandma still had the newspaper clipping of the story that was published. I scanned the actual clipping and included that in the page. If you read the newspaper clipping and thought that their was a miss print about the ages of my other three uncles you are wrong! ;) My Grandma had five kids in four years and three of those kids in one year!!! Yep that's right she had the twins when my uncle Jerry was only ten months old!!! Another funny tid-bit is that my uncle Jerry was born on my uncle Ken's birthday. So out of five kids only my uncle Alvin had his own birthday which is July 4th!!! I've asked my Grandma if it was hard to raise that many children when they were so close in age... She said that she didn't have any problems and loved being a mother! Personally I don't know how she did it!!!

These are pics of pages that I had already completed. Thanks for looking!!!

Quick and easy card!

I was checking out our local Target's "Dollar Spot" when I came across this package of cards and envelopes. The cards are pretty plain but I thought that they had potential. The cards are like patterned cardstock only a lot cheaper!!! You get eight cards and envelopes for only a buck! They had a couple different designs plus "card making kits" in coordinating designs! I picked up a card making kit that I plan on experimenting with soon! You should check out your Target!

Congrats Graduates!!!

I helped my friend Mandey make these graduation cards last Thursday night. (I've been stamping, just not posting!) We wanted a simple design that we could customize for each card. We did each card in the graduate's school colors and we also put the schools initials down the side of the card. And of course we circled the graduation date on the stamp from SU's Office Accoutrement set. Since the card base was black we lined the inside of the card with colored cardstock and stamped "congrats graduate". I cased one of my MIL's cards for this design! Thanks Pam!!!

Shane's Wish!!!

I read about this story at Nancy's Creative Mess... This is what Nancy posted on her blog.

"I'm sure many of you have heard about this already, but I am appealing to everyone to help out this little boy. This is not a hoax. Shane is a 7 year old boy from Ontario Canada who will be turning 8 on the 30th of May. Shane was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was only five. His wish is to break the world record of birthday cards received.

Take a look at his website... and do your part in putting a smile on Shane's face! Send your card... have your kids make cards... encourage your family and friends to send cards. Ask the teachers and daycare providers to do a craft project to make cards for Shane... get creative and have some fun!"

Let's work together and make this happen for Shane!!!

A little something for you...

I've been dieing to try this "Five in one template box" ever since I saw it on Charmaine's blog Oodabug Alley. So at our last stamp club night I ordered the Five in one envelope template. I thought that it would be a lot harder to make, but it was actually really easy. It was probably so easy because I didn't really stamp anything! The only thing that I stamped is the sentiment! I used three coordinating papers for the box and left it at that! I guess I'm kinda' lazy today! Plus I don't have a lot of time. I have to start on a paper for my summer class. Andy is also getting home tonight, so I need to clean! Does anyone else "forget" to do the dishes when their significant other is gone! ;) He wasn't suppose to get home until Friday night, but he got an early flight out since they finished early! Yea!!!! He's been in Sacramento this week for work. He's been gone a lot lately so I'm excited that he's coming home early! Well the dishes are calling my name!!!! Happy stamping to you!

Supplies: pp from SEI- Winnie's Walls, stamp from Stampabilities, silver spiral paper clip, Cream organdy ribbon from Michael's, SU's Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, and envelope template.

As promised... the Cowboys!

Wow what a weekend!!! I am sooooooo tired!!! Hopefully, I'll get some stamping done after class tomorrow!!! So check back for new cards! ;)

Well, the weather in Nebraska has been crazy lately! Lots of rain and storms, and Saturday was no exception!!! We didn't leave for the ranch (which is 2 1/2 hrs. away) until 3:00p.m Saturday afternoon. The entire state was covered with "sketchy" weather and storms. So... we thought that we would be smart and leave later to avoid the storms. Our friends Jon and Mandey went with us, and we took two vehicles since we were hauling some stuff back. So... Andy and Jon were in Andy's truck and Mandey and I were in my car. We were doing good, just ran into some rain a few times, but no big deal. That's until we hit Newport which is ten miles south of the ranch. It was so weird, as soon as we got there it started to down pour!!! I'm talking cats & dogs!!! It was really hard to see, but we kept going. Then the hail started coming down!!! First, it was just pea size hail but then it turned to golf ball sized hail and it was still down pouring!!! I couldn't see a car length in front of me!!! So, I had Mandey call Andy to tell him that I was pulling over to stop. When she got him on the phone he said to "HURRY UP!!!", there was a tornado south of Newport coming our way at 45mph!!! Thank God someone was responsible and turned on the radio!!! So with that said, we were off!!! I am so thankful that I have driven that stretch of highway at least a million times!!! Because, at 70mph in a down pour with hail, you can't see much!!! I was gripping the wheel so tight that my hands started to hurt!!! By the time we got to the ranch it had stopped raining and we learned that the storm was going east of us. Thank goodness!!! My family's ranch was taken out by a tornado in 1992, and that is one thing that we don't want to experience again!!! But after all, we do live in "Tornado Alley"!!!

Sunday turned out to be a great day except for the nasty Nebraska winds. If you have ever been here you know what I'm talking about!!! This state is so flat their is nothing to stop it or slow it down!!! Okay... now I'll explain what we did on Sunday. First of all, I have to say that this is part of the culture and business in "ranch country". It is NOT done to be mean or cruel. If you feel that it is cruel, I respect your opinion and hope that you try to understand the purpose of this process and procedure. Now with that said...

We call this a "Branding Party". This is because tons of friends and neighbors show up to help just because it is the "right thing" to do. We ended up with at least 30 people helping. First we rounded up the cattle and took them to a corner of a pasture that had a temporary corral and shoot. After we got all the cattle in the corral we sorted of the cows from the calves. We first put the cows through the shoot so we could vaccinate them. After the cows were finished it was time to start working the calves. The guys on horses would rope the calves and bring them out of the corral. The guys that were on foot would then grab the calves and hold them down so that they could receive vaccinations and get branded. After that, the calves were let go and went back to their mothers. It was a quick and simple process! After the branding everyone went back to the house for food and drinks, this is where the "party" part comes in!!! ;) Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the party part :( Andy had to leave this morning at 4:00 a.m. for yet another business trip so we wanted to get home early! Poor guy was so tired and sun-burnt!!! Oh well there's always next year!!!

Click on the pics to enlarge them. If you have ever seen a rodeo, a lot of this will look familiar. After all this is how rodeos started....
If you have any comments or questions please let me know!!! Thanks for looking!!!


Picture #1- This is Jodi (my little sister) catching the horses Sunday morning. You have to take along a bucket of grain so that they will come to you so that you can put on a halter. This is her horse Duchess. I was riding Duchess during the round-up. She must have been having a bad day because she tried to buck me off in the morning and tried to buck Jodi off in the afternoon!!!



Picture #2- The guys are sorting the cows away from the calves. The cows in this picture are Black Angus if you see any red ones in other pics they are Herefords.








Picture #3- This is the shoot that the cows went through and got their vaccinations. The red part "catches" them and hold them in their until someone pulls the lever to release them.








Picture #4- Just one of the cowboys roping a calf!









Picture #5- The guys on horses are keeping the back legs tight with the rope while the other guys are holding down the front legs. There are also a couple guys going around branding while other guys are doing the vaccinations.

Picture #6- This is of Jodi branding one of her own calves!

FYI- Going to the Ranch!

Well it's 1:30 in the morning!!! What am I doing up so late??? Well our friends just left... we usually get together Friday nights for dinner and a friendly game of poker! We use to go out together on Friday nights for dinner and drinks, but then we realized how expensive that was!!! We decided that we could make dinner for half the price and have ten times more fun at home! That's how "Poker Club" got started! ;) It's not really a club it's just Andy, myself and our friends Jon and Mandey. We take turns hosting. Everyone puts in $5 and we play until the end. I'm not very good at all. I'm still learning how to play. But, tonight I was holding my own for awhile. I came so close to winning, but finally just went "all in". Maybe next time...

Sorry I didn't post anything today! I was too busy playing with my blog! I added a guest book, music, and tetris (this is for my own enjoyment ;)! So please scroll down and sign!!! I won't be posting anything this weekend either. We are going to my family's ranch to help brand cattle!

Every spring we have to brand the calves that were born during February and March. It's a lot of work, but friends and neighbors always help out so it goes fairly quick. I usually stay in the house with my Grandma and help cook. We're planning on at least twenty people, so we'll have plenty of food to make! I am hoping to get out and take some pics of the branding to share with you all. This year we are not using a cattle shoot to brand. We are branding the "old fashioned" way. The guys are going to "wrestle" the calves to the ground, hold them there, and then brand them. This might sound cruel to some of you, but it's how it's done. Trust me... the calves are fine afterwords. Plus during branding they receive shots to keep them healthy and protect them from common diseases. So... if you want to see pictures of REAL cowboys and a REAL ranch check back on Sunday or Monday! Hope you have a great weekend!

And the envelope please.....

Well the big day is finally here, we get to find out who won the Daisy Treat! I finished my finals yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I aced all of them! Wooo Whooo! Okay, let's move onto the good stuff....
First of all, THANK YOU for participating in my first ever Daisy Treat giveaway!!! I had so much fun reading all of your comments and stories!!! If you weren't the lucky winner, don't be discouraged! I'm going to have plenty of other reasons to "celebrate" this summer, so you'll get another chance to win very soon! I used random.org to choose the lucky number....13!!!!
Kathy over at Kathy's Kreations said...

"Good Luck on your finals. My favorite part of summer is the July 4th Party at my house each year. we lounge in the pool and we get to see the fire works from there. this year I have a new addition..we put a hot tub in. I am sure that all my friends will enjoy this on the 4th"

Congratulations Kathy!!! Please send me your address so I can get this Daisy Treat to you!!! (You can use the "e-mail me" link below my picture.)
Thanks again for playing along!!!

You still have a chance to win!!!

Just wanted to remind you that the Daisy Treat is still up for grabs! If you haven't left a comment on that post yet make sure to scroll down and check it out! I'll draw a random number tomorrow around 12:00p.m (CST) Good luck to you!!!

Happy!

Today is a happy day! I finished my last "real" final this morning! I have two other finals tomorrow, but they are more of a "show up & participate" type of final. I usually don't have "real" finals in my classes. There are usually big presentations and portfolios that we have to do that make up the bulk of our grade. So, it's usually really stressful right before finals, but when finals week starts it's a breeze!

So...since I don't have anything to study for, I've been playing with my pp from My Mind's Eye. The series that I have is Magnolia. I love this stuff!!! The patterns and colors are awesome! I wish I had more time to play this afternoon, but I have to go to work soon. :(

But... I'll be back (say it w/ an Arnold accent ;)

Supplies: pp from My Mind's Eye, glitter pen, glitter embossing powder, jewel brad, SU organdy ribbon, word window punch, SU's All About U stamp set.

Happy May Day!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the first day of May!!! I'm so excited that the warm months are finally here!!!

For those of you who don't know, I work for a before and after school program through our local YMCA. So, I went to work this morning at 6:30, got home about 8:30, put my jammy pants back on and went to my stamp room!!! How pathetic am I??? ;)

I've been dieing to use my new Flowers set by Rhonna Farrer! My AWESOME MIL got this for me last week! I came home from a VERY LONG night class last Tuesday and found this set on my kitchen counter with a sweet note attached from my MIL!! It was a "just because" gift!!! She is so sweet and awesome!!! I was planning on playing with this cool set until my "beauty" appointment @ 1:00 this afternoon (getting my hair cut & eyebrows done, ouch!!!) but my AWESOME FIL just dropped of my Stampin' Up order from my MIL's party! So now I have even more fun stuff to play with! Not only did he drop of my order, but he also took our dog for a run! Andy's on another business trip (he's in WI this time) so my FIL knew Ber wouldn't be getting a lot of outside time today! Don't I have the best in-laws ever!!! I wish everyone could be so lucky!

Supplies- pp Magnolia- by My Mind's Eye, Flowers by Rhonna Farrer, My Friend- dollar stamp from M's, SU's Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, and Pumpkin Pie, and mini brads.