Catching up

Whew. I knew it had been a while since I posted but did not realize how long. My apologies.

I have a card to share that I made for my mentor and boss, Hazel Farmer, who, this month, celebrated her 40th anniversary where we work. What an achievement in a time that a job is just a stepping stone to another. I have become fascinated with the last couple of years' worth of images of chandeliers. This one is from my newest Cricut cartridge: Home Decor. All of the papers and cardstock came from the Life Delights set from Close To My Heart. I added some inking and bling and voila! The stamps are from Inkadinkado and Heidi Grace.

I used bronze Stickles for the "flames" and broke apart little rhinestone flowers from CTMH for the crystal accents. The green mat was cut from a die with my BigShot.

I am presently planning a baby shower for my good friend Cindy Pittman's daughter-in-law, Melanie. So I am up to my neck in everything pink and precious! I will share some photos of the invite and preparations after the shower on Saturday next. In the meantime, stay cool!

Best,

Tee

Almost a winner...

I entered the Crafty Brides' contest at Createforless.com with the things I made for Nikki's wedding. Though I didn't win, I made the website. This is the closest that I have ever come to being published and I was proud to see my name and her work on the computer. (blushing!)

Since I couldn't get the link to work, ( and it is not easy to get to) here is the verbiage of the winning entries:

Congratulations to Nancy T. from Menomonee Falls, WI, who was randomly chosen as the winner of our Crafty Brides Drawing and a $100 CreateForLess shopping spree! The craft tip she sent us was... "My son's new bride loves black and pink. We couldn't find something suitable for the table decorations, so I made 22 small quilts to fit the bill. The quilts are made using 4 strips (these are 2", but they can be made in a variety of sizes) into a strip set, then cutting 60% triangles, alternating the placement of the ruler. Combine the six triangles from each strip set to make one small quilt (sew three together twice, then join the halves). Layer with batting on the bottom, right side of quilt up, with backing right sides together with quilt top. Sew around the outside edges, leaving enough of the edge open to turn. Trim corners, turn right side out, press. Using a decorative stitch from your machine, stitch around the outside edge, then along each "round" until you get to the center. Everyone wanted one!" Here are more of our favorite crafty bride ideas submitted by customers. Thanks to everyone who entered!

They showed the photo of the table frames. I was proud of the effort.

Thanks,

Tee

Just for fun...

http://This has got to be the funniest pet video I have ever seen! It made me laugh and I hope it gives you happiness today.

Happy 4th!

Tee

Different Personalities

My sign is Gemini so I definitely have 2 different personalities; those that know me well have adapted. The reason I am sharing this is that the 3 cards I am showing today are totally different and, if I didn't know better, would have assumed they would have been done by 3 different people.

It just goes to show you that I am influenced by whatever mood I may be in; the stamps or paper I may be using; or, even why I am making the card.

The first is a Thank You to a dear family friend for leaving me various vegetables from her garden. It is such a delight to come home and a bag of squash, green beans, or corn are left hanging on our front door knob. I simply used scraps of a set from Close To My Heart called Let's Get Together, some pop dots, and a bit of ribbon.

The white card is a sympathy card to some friends who just lost their parents very closely together. I just ran white textured cardstock through the Cuttlebug on the Damask folder, stamped the greeting and tied a bit of grey ribbon around the card. I did line the front of the card with grey cardstock to match the ribbon and ink. This card is a regular 4.25" x 5.5" card turned sideways with an off center fold.

The final card is one to send to a friend that is having a difficult time healthwise and could use some lifting up. The inspiration was a new stamp set from Our Daily Bread called "Ask, Seek, Knock." It is one of my favorite verses of the Bible and I was thrilled to find it in rubber!

For this card I stamped the door and the verse with chocolate ink on kraft cardstock and mounted it on cream then on Twilight cardstock. All my cardstock and most patterned papers come from Close To My Heart. I inked the outer edges with chocolate and colored in the door with markers, again from Close To My Heart. The ribbon is chocolate and the buttons are vintage from my stash.

Someday I may have a certain "style" that will be recognizeable but for now, you never know how things will turn out.

Have a great week!

Tee

Father's Day Cupcakes

I have to share one more photo with you from my real life. My husband, Rannie, is an avid golfer. Usually on Saturdays and Sundays he is out with his buddies getting his serving of "greens." I love it 'cause I am usually in my studio or on adventures with Cody, the wonderdog.

Anyway, our anniversary and Father's Day fell on the same weekend so, I decided to make Rannie some cupcakes. I kinda went overboard with the creativity because 18 cupcakes became 18 holes of golf. I used green frosting for the greens, graham cracker crumbs for the sand traps, tinted some frosting blue for water features, and used green sugar for the "rough."

Now, I am not Martha Stewart, but I have to say they were fun. I even tried to make some of them really hard 5 pars and I used toothpicks with cardstock triangles for flags. Add a sign "Ransoneville Public Golf Course" and my project was complete.

Rannie really had fun with the treats! He even told some of his buddies that had played through 12 but the last 6 were killer.

Here is a picture of Rannie with the "course." Hope you have fun this weekend!

Tee

The Wedding and other stuff

So, so sorry for being such a bad blogger but my topic is life and that comes first. SO, what has been going on....

You have been hearing about my young friend Nikki's wedding. The glorious day finally came and, of course, she was a beautiful, glowing bride. Nikki's wedding was as she is: simply elegant, heartfelt, and happy. She had a beautiful red and white theme which made the event "glow!"

I offered to host a shower for her but she meekly asked me instead if I could help her with some creative ideas for her reception. She and her new husband, Ryan, have lost family recently to cancer and made a donation in honor and memory of those loved ones to the American Cancer Society in lieu of "wedding favors." She asked me to do a table card to let all of their guests know of it AND she and her mom were making cookies (such a sweet, homey treat!) for the guests to take away as a thank-you so she needed thank you tags for them.



Of course I plowed into the challenge with a loving heart. I have to say that if not for my trusty Cricut die-cutting machine, these items would not have happened. I renamed my studio, the Nikki wedding garden, for the 3 weeks leading up to the event.


The photos show the examples. There were 28 acrylic 4" x 6" frames for the tables and 135 Thank you tags for the cookies.

The stamp used on the tag was from the Simply Senitiments set from Close To Your Heart as was the textured white cardstock. The die used was from the BIG SHOT from Sizzix. I used 2 different red cardstocks from Close To My Heart and red/white rhinestones for the centers. The 2 greens for the leaves were also CTMH cardstock.

Here is a photo of the whole wedding party. Our daughter Emory was the Matron of Honor, third from the left, bottom row.


Thanks Nikki and Ryan for letting me help. We all wish you many, many years of happiness!!!

Tee

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there. I have had lots of "Moms" in my life but the ones that truly matter right now are Anne and Margaret. My mom, Anne McClintock, is an incredible woman. I joke about "hearing my mother's words coming out of my mouth" but I know my innate sense of right and wrong, wearing black pants to cover a multitude of sins, and knowing how to navigate a formal dinner party is all from my mother.

Margaret Ransone, my mother-in-law, is my other mom. Margaret was a home economics teacher in the local high school for 31 years and is a model cook and housekeeper. She is a very busy lady and I have grown to love and respect her over the 25 years I have known her. She loves her family fiercely and I can always count on her help if I need it. When Rannie and I met, I was very different from what she and Ralph, Rannie's Dad, had in mind for their youngest son. However, we have grown to understand each other and celebrate our differences as all successful families do.

Since this is a papercrafting site, I thought you would enjoy seeing the cards that I made for each of our Mothers. My focus for the past few months has been cleaning out my studio and making use of what I have. I will be helping a young friend with her wedding "favors" soon and wanted to try my hand at paper flowers. SO, I pulled out several scraps of each color family and got to work with my trusty Cricut. I did enjoy making these cards and for both Mama and Margaret. Anne got the yellow flowers at top and Margaret was the recipient of the red. Both were very appreciative of my time and talents!

I would love to hear your comments. Please take a moment and let me know what you are working on. Soon I will be showing my ideas for Nikki's wedding and a graduation card or two. 'Tis the season!

Best,

Tee