To Vellum or Not To Vellum...that is the question.

FWF my sporadic entries:

Ok and we are back.  School is back in session, my oldest is off at college and my guest have left.  My house still remains a complete disaster but I just had to do something creative with paper because otherwise I would have not excuse to buy anymore stuff.  This week I wanted to try to do something with vellum.  I have seen so lovely card on Unity Stamps Blog and on the Unity Show and Tell on Facebook using vellum.  I made the first card, than decided to take the vellum off as it did not seem bright enough for me.   Than I made a second with it on.  I really had fun using spray mist and the back ground stamp.  A little messy but I think it was worth it. You be the judge.

Supplies:
Unity Stamp Company: Love {in the background}, KOM 8/14,
Paper: Studio Calico 
Misting ink: Huey Misting spray
embellishments: random in stash and MME enamel dots
Twine: American Crafts
Ink: Memento 
Vellum: Paper Studio

Also the stamp sentiment is straight it is just that I have been drinking wine all day and can not take a decent picture...only joking...or am I?


Thanks for looking.  Have a great weekend.

LBAB

Summer and paper crafting...do not go together for me.

FWF:
After a month and a half of going AWOL I am back to with what...another sympathy card?  Not the best choice for a come back to say the least. My summer like many has been busy busy busy.  We have been to gymnastics practice (daily-apparently doing flips on a 4 inch beam requires a lot of practice), soccer game, of course baseball games, and had a big wedding in Kansas City that my girls were in and looked adorable.  I am going to do a page on them being in the wedding later.  Plus we have tried to make it to our little cabin a few times.  It has left me very little time to make cards or layouts. Summer is short in MN.  We have long cold winter to cuddle up at home and create.  So we Minnesotans try to get everything from summer we can.

 Today my card has all the things that make me think of my home state of North Dakota growing up on a farm in the summer.  There is twine that is almost the exact color of the twine on the hay bales we would have to haul every summer.  How many of you out there had to load hay bale on to a hay cart and use a bale elevator to put them up in your hay loft?  Generally my Mom who was the hay bale queen chose days that were at least 90 degrees to work in.  There was a strange pride when you had a huge high solid stack that you would pull home and no bales fell off.  I think most of those small bales have been replaced now with big round bales.  The saying goes you have to make hay when the sunshines I guess that is the same for haling them in while the sunshines too.  When I was growing up there were fields and fields of sunflowers, what a site, the gorgeous acres of yellow sunflower heads soaking up the suns glare. They still are one of my favorite flowers.  I love this stamp for this very reason. 

 So I find it fitting that I made these cards to send to my friends and family back in North Dakota when they have lost a loved one.  Many of those old farmers and farm wives who shaped my life and my cultural upbringing are leaving this earth.  Some of those farmsteads they lived on are now only recognized by the trees left standing and perhaps a collapsing barn however many are third generation farms still operating.  They are going full speed ahead with tractors and seeders that can cover more ground in a day than my Dad ever dream of during his farming years.  It a great reminded that life goes on and to treasure the memories.   

So here is my card.  I tried water color painting for the first time.  I am not sure if I will continue.  I need to try a better quality of water color paints and maybe watch some You tube videos for pointers.  Well, if you follow my blog or know me, you know instructions are not my strong point.  I prefer the trial and swearing technique myself.

    

Supplies:

patterned paper:  Studio Calico

Kraft paper: Recollections

Stamps:Unity Stamp Burlap, Hello Gorgeous, Heartfelt Sentiments

Twine: Tim Holtz

Water Color Paints: Mister Heuy

Water Color paper

Have a great weekend every one.  It is good to be back. We are off to lake.  Because you have to get to the lake...when the sunshines.

LBAB

Under the Weather

FWF
I have a friend named Paula that makes multiple cards at a time.  I have always admired this.  I toil over a card for hours.  I get the Stamp of the Week from Unity Stamp Company.  This week stamp is the cute Lil Peep Under the Weather.  I feel like I was channeling Paula because I started making cards with this cute little stamp and I came up with multiple themes. Get well, congratulations, miss you ect.  I even combined it with my all time favorite stamp My Panda Balloon, it is Unity's {kinda}.small stamp.  This is the one I am sharing for Friends with Flare.

This one I used my favorite ribbon on from 3girl Jam.  It is funny how a little ribbon gives it that wow factor.

This is the graduation card I made I just sentiment from KOM 2013 Totally and Utterly Amazing.  I have used a ton of stamps from this kit this past month for graduations and birthdays.

Here is the same lil peep stamp with a thank you sentiment, with a little embossing and a little bling.

It is a beautiful Friday.  It was named one of the top 10 in MN today.  I enjoyed a Mojito with one of my friends at one of our favorite cafes for lunch in their outdoor seating area. The food was yummy, the weather was perfect and the company was amazing. I hope you are finding something great to do this weekend.

LB

National Donut Day

FWF:
I found this paper at a local discount store.  It is rather tacky but I thought it would be fun paper with the Unity Stamp Company's Donut Be Sad Stamp.  My husband and son love donuts, my girls think they like donut but they just like the pretty frosting and sprinkles.   Usually they lick it off and leave the actual donut.  Now Bismarck's that is another story.  But if you want to get Bismarcks in our neighborhood you have to get to SA or Lund's pretty early.  I made this card for my husband.  It was his birthday and I put a gift card in it so he could get some of his much loved donuts. It was kind of confusing for him as usually I am telling him to stay AWAY from the donuts. I want him to shed some pounds(I say is lovingly of course). I bet none of you have never done that to your SO or spouse.  But on Birthdays and National Donut Days they have Zero calories-do not quote me on that. So Happy National Donut Day to all.  Enjoy a donut.

Supplies:

Paper: From my collection no brand on it

Stamp: Unity stamp Company

Markers: Copic

Mist: Pink Ballon Midway Collection Sprinklers October Afternoon

ink: Ranger Distress ink Walnut

heart Sequence: KI Playlist collection

Cardstock: Bazzill

Have a great weekend.  I am off to the lake.  Wohoo this is MN after all.

LB

Don't go Stressing me out.

Today for my monthly Challenge entry at Unity Stamp Company I went back to my roots.  I started making card only as a means to use up paper scraps from pages I made or from others.  I did it when I would get together for a weekend crop, I like to visit and my friend is a scrapping machine.  So as I was visiting and she was making pages like a mad woman I would collect her larger pieces.  Did I mention she is ultra organized and would never keep scraps, nor is she interested in making cards.  It made me happy for some reason to create something from what otherwise would have thrown away.  Plus I found it relaxing and cards could be made quicker so it was instant gratification.  It made me feel like I was accomplishing something as I always feel a little guilty leaving my 3 kids and it helped justify the weekend.

Some where along the way I became obsessed with Unity Stamps.  I started doing {show& tell} and Friend with Flair.  It is a good obsession but today as I was trying to figure out how to water color paint I found myself stressed out.  I am not artistic at all. I can barely drawn a decent stick figure. This is not why I started making cards.  So I dug out my hopper of paper scraps and made a shower card for our niece. It has the colors from the Challenge. It has minimal stamping on it.  I used Heartfelt Sentiments.  I love the way it turned out. Now I am relaxed and I have my card ready for the shower next weekend.  Yeah ME!

Supplies

Sentiment: Heartfelt Sentiments

Paper: Wester Pages 

embellishment heart: Webster pages

pearls: Recollections

Cardstock: Bazzill

ink: Ranger Distress Ink walnut stain

ribbon: American Crafts

staple: Ranger mini

Unity Stamp Company Challenge

Is that really my son walking across the stage?

FWF:
What a crazy month it has been.  I feel like now I can start breathing again.  Last week our oldest walked across the alter at the Basilica of St. Mary's to receive his high school diploma.  I am not one for traditions but it is really cool that this was the 99th year that Delasalle High School held their graduation at this beautiful place.  Truthfully, I know this is crazy, but it was a grand finish and took a little sting off the paying of private school tuition for 4 years.  No dinners or partying afterwards, the grads boarded a bus for an all night locked in party put on by the parents.  Which is awesome because it has been nothing but a series of late night/early morning arrivals since their final day a few days before.  At least I was able to get a good night sleep for one night.

Graduation is a busy time.  There were baseball games which seemed like there was one every night because of our late spring, end of the year programs, and preparing for the "dun dun dun"-Graduation Open House.  The next graduation, in 7 years, I am going to hire a caterer and have it at a hall or something.  N really wanted it at our house in our back yard.  We have a small house and OK size yard and a lot of friends and relatives. No one told me a grad open house had the stress of a wedding in that you do not have the chance to visit with people but only say hi and many of them driving hours to get there.  Plus add the stress of being a scrapper and a gardener.  The pressure you place on yourself to get those books done and flowers up to speed is insane.  Good thing, I have the greatest friends and family in the world who totally made it all happen. That is right I DO HAVE THE BEST FRIENDS and family in the world, no matter if you think you do too.  As I say "enough about me, what about me". 

 It really was a great day and hopefully a good memory for our son.  But when you have a Graduation Open House, expect kids, lots and lots of kids. We had kids playing basketball in the alley, bean bag toss in the yard, in our living room, on the front steps only a few actually lingered into the adult area under the tent on our patio.  They do not want you to talk to them, they just what a place to be and food to eat and they are fine.  But with having a graduate you have tons of other kids open houses to attend.  This means you need cards.  My FWF card is my first prototype for the guys, I have some fun ideas for the girls to make with the awesome lil peep grab bag and the 5/13 KOM from Unity Stamp Company.  Maybe I will share them next week. 

Supplies:

Paper: Simple Stories 6x6

Copic Markers: Y15 Y11 YR 4

Twine: Jelli Bean Soup

Bling Embellishment: Recollections

ink: Momento

Glossy Accents: Inkssentials

Stamps: lil peep father (it's on sale), KOM May 2013

Thanks for looking.  I would love for you to leave a comment.  It makes my day.

LB

3 Girl JAM Guest Designer blog candy Winner

Hi,
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to be the Guest Designer for 3 Girl JAM. If you have never checked them out you should.  But be careful their ribbon is addicting.  Here are some cards I created for Unity Stamp Challenges using their ribbon.  

Speaking of their ribbon, we have a winner of my blog candy.  

NW Flamingo

Please contact me: lbcomet@gmail.com 

I need your name and address.  Thanks everyone for checking out my blog.

Ransom Note

FWF
I have had to take a few weeks off because we are getting ready for our oldest's graduation from high school.  I cannot seem to get anything done.  His open house is only a week and a few days away.  His last day of school is today.  Hard to believe that my little boy will be a high school graduate and will be leaving for college in the fall.  I have wanted to make card for his close friends for a while now but truthfully anytime I have made card lately they have been sympathy cards.  What a contrast, happiness and sadness but both are important.  The title of my post eludes to "a ransom note". You know in the movies when the kidnappers cut out different words from the newspaper to state their demands.  That is what I felt what I was doing. I was taking different sentiments and putting them together to get the words I wanted.

I love making cards from journaling cards.  It is quick and easy and a lot of times the art work is so pretty.  Last year for graduation I used Melody Ross cards and left over Studio Calico scrap paper from their kits.   This year I have been using Heidi Swapp.  Just to warn you these cards have quit an odor.  So I hope that it goes to a person that enjoys smells.  You know those people they you look over and they are smelling their markers and when they realize they got caught they simply state "I have always loved to smell markers".  I blame that on those awesome smelly ones we had back in elementary school.  The Mr. Smelly markers that smelled like bubble gum, lemon and licorice.  The smell depended on the color.  OK, once you get past that strong order you can move on(or not...no judgement here).


I am super excited for this card.  I am the guest designer this week over at 3 Girl JAM.  I think I use their ribbon on every other card I make.  I love it.  So head on over and check them out.  Than come back here and leave a comment and reference 3 Girl JAM and you will be entered in to win some blog candy. See details there for the deadline.  I am giving away the jewel bundle and more.

Supplies:

Ribbon: 3girlJam Celebration Bundle-Sterling

Cards: Heidi Swapp

Paper: Heidi Swapp

Star chipboard stickers: Heidi Swapp

Metal stars: Misc

Stamps: Unity September 10 KOM Take Time to Laugh and misc. sentiment from grab bag.

Glimmer mist: Tattered Angle Vintage Pink

Foil: Ranger

Embossing Powder: White Zing

Ink: Momento

I decided to make a layout using the pink from their baby bundle.  I ran out of time to really journal before the midnight deadline. So it is just a quicky note.   It was a crazy Friday.  My girls had academic performances at school all day so I had to be there, my son had a baseball game and there was a gymnastic showcase for my oldest girl.  So by the time I got home and started I was racing the clock.  It was such a fun picture I just had to scrap it.  My littlest Y was hiding in the closet Easter morning because she was mad that we were not doing an Easter egg hunt immediately in the morning and she would have to wait until she got to her cousins house.  We like our candy around here so when we do not get our chocolate we can get cranky.

Supplies: 

ribbon: 3 girl Jam

paper and stickers: Jelly Bean Soup

stamps: Unity SMAK  Camera Ready

letters: AC thickers

ink: Momento

circle sticker: October Afternoon

cardstock: kraft bazzill and pink bazzill

Thanks for looking.  Remember to go over and check out 3 Girl JAM.

Have a great weekend.

LB

MRL-YRL

Friends with Flare
I wanted to use silver paper for the back ground, the only thing I had to work with was the TH foil sheets.  I tried piling of the back and putting on the paper.  That did not work.  So I just cut it with the back on.  The nice thing I learned when experimenting here is you can emboss on the foil adhesive backed sheets rather easily.  They curl a little but than go back to being flat.  I am going to save that for another FWF day.  

Any way here is a card I made for my "MRL"-my reason for living.  haha-in case if you have not guess yet, that is my husband.  I answered the phone when he called me one day-"YRL".  He said "what does that stand for?" "Your reason for living," I replied.  He said I should answer "Hello MRL"[my reason for living]and it has now become quit a little joke between us. This is how we answer the phone now most of the time. While a card that says "you are my sun, stars and moon is just a little over the top, it is true.  Well sort of true, it is hard to be some ones sun, moon and stars with three kids, tons of relatives, a dog, a cat, work,  and sports activities that is a little bit of not the truth.  He always says I am the planet and the the kids and he just orbit around me.  Hmmm, a planet, that is almost as good as being queen. I'll take that.

Supplies
stamps- Unity KOTM Be your Own Kind of Beautiful
This kit is not on sale right now but they are having an amazing Garage sale right now.  You must grab a SMAK or KOTH form 2012 or 2013.  I got 2!
Unity Stamps Garage Sale
Ink- Versa Mark
embossing powder- AC Zing white
gems- Memory Makers
sequences- American Crafts
foil-Ranger
card stock- Bazzill

Have a great weekend.  I hope you are someones planet too. Baseball season is here.  So get out and enjoy the weather and a hot dog. Go Twins and De Islanders.

LB

FWF and itty bitty Day 4

I have become somewhat obsessed with making cards since Unity Stamps started the itty bitty {show & tell} challenge.  Today for FWF I made a card.  I am trying to get pages done but I just keep making cards.  Today,  I went out of my normal card making style.  I do not know if any one out there has ordered from  the warehouse sale at Webster's Pages? Well I did a while ago.  I packed it away and kind of forgot about it.  But, today took it out and had a look.  It has only been like 2 years.  I love the prints on Webster's Pages.  They are so gorgeous.  But, I find that I have a really hard time using the products. It is a little more fancy than I am and I find you really need the right picture to compliment it. So to continue with my season of challenging myself I took on using it.

         I tried to use actual cork for the background.  After a frustrating hour I gave up and went with the paper version of cork.  I had it all planned out at 3 am in the morning.  I learned a 10am in the morning that, I need to find thinner cork.  I will have to tweek this a bit.  If any of you out there are in a Book Group, you know, this is a perfect card for them.  I need to make 6 more.  I may try to make a picture,  I can frame. That would be the definition of perfection for a Christmas gift for book group members. I guess I will have to ponder that another night at 3am.

Supplies:

Paper-Webster's Pages petite pages and Simple Stories

Ribbon-3girlJam

Ink- momento(rich cocoa) and Tim Holtz(tea dye)

Crystals- Prima

Stamp- Unity Stamp Age and Wine

Markers- Copics

Glimmer Mist-  Wine by Tattered Angles

Pop Dots- best creation

ittybitty A DAY #2

DAY 2:
I continue to try and get my cards made that am so far behind in sending to people by participating in the itty bitty A DAY Challenge on the Facebook page of Unity Stamp {show & tell}.  It is unfortunate the ones I really need are Sympathy Cards.  It is a cruel fact of my age that many of my friends, relatives and classmates parents are passing away.  I am going to try to quit the Sympathy card run I have been on and stick with the happiness of the promise of Spring.  I say the promise of Spring as I live in Minnesota and 4-8 inches of snow is predicted tonight.  Like my daughter said, "If I met Mother Nature, first I would give her a good stare down, than start yelling at her". I replied "No kidding, but why do you always blame the Mom in the event of discomfort or irritation". Bam, that went over her head...maybe I need to pick up running to work off this pent up frustration.  That is right I can't...it is SNOWING AGAIN!
     Anyway here is my card.  I love this stamp.  It is the  My Sunshine Unity itty bitty stamp.  It is such a happy stamp.  I would always sing that song to my son when he was young.  I still do sometimes when I am keeping myself from strangling him.  Oh do not worry I will not, he is a teenager and he just says "calm down Mom, everything is fine...it's fine" and he gives me a big bear hug.  Than the magic of Moms and sons kicks in and his life is spared another day and I end up making him some sort of food.  Like I said..."Moms and sons".

Supplies:

Paper- Echo Park 6x6 For the Record 2

ink- momento 

markers- Tim Holtz Distress Markers

pop dots- this and that American Crafts

twine- burlap ribbon American Crafts

glossy accents- Inkssentials

corner rounder- Creative Memories (R.I.P.)

gems- baby girl confetti and gems Jolee's

Thanks for looking.  Remember: Do not sweat the small stuff, and it is all small stuff.

LB

ittybitty A DAY

I decided I would at least try to play along as much as I could.  At first, I thought no way.  Than thought I would give myself one hour to make a card.  That was a good goal but it took me three hours.

Press here for link.

Day 1.

I decided to get out my October afternoon supplies and use one of my first stamps I purchased and I am not sure if I even have used it yet.

 I stamped a piece of card stock that I put in with my Woodland Park from October Afternoon with Momento. I have no idea what brand the card stock was but is kind of shimmery. I am sure I saved it from the garbage at a crop.  Hence the reason my craft room is over flowing with my treasures for scrapping and paper crafting. I scrap with my bestie who is uber organized.  She would never dream of keeping scraps.  I take them from her.  The extreme contrast in our spaces both in our home offices and at crops make our different personalities quit apparent.  Two opposites brought together but the luck of a college suite and my threat to the housing office that I would leave graduate school if they didn't get me out of the freshman dorms.   I colored the bicycle with Copics.  Coloring is not my strong point.  Thank goodness for that blending pen. I think I mentioned that in previous posts that I love that blending pen. I was lucky enough to have some of 3girlJam ribbon left from a blog hop prize that matched well, and gave it a little extra.   The layout of the card is pretty standard.  But it will make a great card for my friend who had a birthday.  Head over to Unity Stamps {show and tell} on Facebook and play along.

Supplies:
ink- momento
paper- october afternoon
card stock- bazzill
punch- martha stewart
stickers- october afternoon
punch outs- october afternoon
pearls- recollections
staples- tim holtz
markers- copic sketch
ribbon-3girljam

Everything is Awesome

FWF Unity Stamps.
Well, I missed the midnight dead line by six minutes.  That is OK everything is still awesome because I can still enter it in the monthly Challenge.  I started out thinking I was going to make a layout because I need to do 12 pages before my oldest son graduates but I ended up with a card. They had a great sketch for inspiration for this months Challenge. I love the word "awesome" always have, always will.  I love to tell kids they are awesome, I like to tell adults they are awesome for that matter.  I ordered the sentiment 'awesome' right away when I started getting into Unity Stamps.  I thought it would go well with Congratulations cards and Graduation Cards.  Than yesterday my prize came from last weeks FWF for my comment.  Which had a misspelling by the way and my profile picture was blurry...hmmm, how is that for making an impression on my new Unity friends?  Anyway, in there was the stamp 'YOU ARE'.  So I knew right away I would combine it with my 'Awesome' sentiment stamp I already had.   While I was making this card tonight, I found my self sing the song "Everything is Awesome".
       "Everything is Awesome"  from the Lego Movie happens to be a very popular song on kids radio right now. That song, and "Let it Go" from the movie Frozen, seem to be played every hour.  The words are seared into my brain, and I can belt those two songs out with the best of them.  I have not seen the Lego Movie, my son was obsessed with Legos.  I have probably 2000 dollars worth of Lego's in plastic tubs in this house.  My daughters were only interested in Duplo's well past the recommended age of 5.  They still play with them for hours.  Why Duplos you may ask?  Well because you can build houses for your Pretty Ponies of course.  N, my son, saw the Lego Movie when it came out with his friends.  I am sure they all have a tub or two of Lego in their basement too.  He is a senior in high school and he said, "It was so awesome". Y and S, my seven and eleven year old girls just are not interested in them.  They have spending their not so hard earned dollars on Friends Legos(damn you Lego advertising geniuses).  I need my son to get them to that Lego movie, to get them interested in what Legos we have.  I need a return in my investment.  Kind of like the reasoning I  used when I said "I am going to making cards to save money since I already have all the supplies for scrapbooking".  That financial plan has not worked out real well for me either. Can you say Unity Stamps and Copic Marker obsession?

If you want to learn more about it just check out Unity Stamp Company Monthly Challenge.

Supplies:

Paper: MME 6x6 Away We Go

Stamps: Unity Stamp Company

Ink: VersaMagic chalk ink- cloud white

Hearts: October Afternoon Woodlands

Twine: American Crafts Ribbon

Chalk tape: Fancy Pants

Punches: Fiskars and Creative Memories Circle punch(R.I.P. CM, you will not be forgotten your legacy lives on with your awesome two circle punch).

Thanks for looking at my first attempt at chalking with stamps.  I think I need another kind of ink to make the words darker to show up more.  Have a great week.

LB

Not one for Coloring

I have been working with on trying to figure out Copic markers.  There are classes and youtube videos you say?  I know.  I think like many things in my life, it is more fun to buy things than actually use them.  Oh the hunt for the deal, the coupons, the online sites, I spend all my extra time buying something instead of actually learning how to use it.  I have used the Copics in small amounts.  I did that on this card.  I really love the blending pen to give you the shadowed look.  I learned that from the gal at my local scrapbooking store Scrapbooks Too in her 5 minute tutorial she gave me.  In my short attention span world that is my definition of a class.  My youngest one, who is quit a little artist, was also coloring  with me when I was working on this card.  She had taken one of the extra stamped papers I had done.  After she finished it she said to me what does "Heartfelt Sympathy mean"?  I explained to her it is what you say to someone when someone they love has died.  She handed me her work and said "this seems a little to happy for to make a card to send somebody...you keep it.  Then when you look at it and think of Grandpa it will make you think of happy things, not sad".   Out of the mouth of babes as they say.  I wish I could bottle up the sweetness in that kids heart and use it about 5:30 every day. Here is her work.

Here is the card I made. A little more subdued.  I had received the beautiful journaling card as a free gift from Unity Stamp Company.  You get a free gift with every order.  I also got the Heartfelt Sympathy stamp there.  I colored with my Copic hoping to match the flowers on the journaling card.  I loved the turquoise blue in the flowers.  I was on one of my trips where I had time to kill between picking up kids.  An there just happens to be a Michael's Crafts 4 blocks from my kids school.  Walking through I found colored burlap from Canvas on the clearance wall.  I was so happy that it matched so well.  Warning: Burlap is a bear to cut for the cutting challenged.  I happen to be one of those people.  Perhaps if I went by the rule "measure twice cut once" verses "don't measure and cut six times" rule.  

Card stock: recollections
Journaling card: Unity Prize
Label cutter: Spellbinder
Label: Basic Grey Basic 6x6 pad
Burlap- Canvas
Markers- Copic sketch
Gems: Recollections
Ribbon: Prize but from 3girlJam
Stamp: http://unitystampco.com/shop/sympathy-thinking/

Thanks for Looking:  Remember: do not sweat the small stuff and it is all small stuff.
LB

Friends with Flare- Happy Day

Another Friday.  That means it is FWF day.

Today I am going to share with you my go to card for birthdays.  I have made this card a few times.  You can make it quickly and I think it works for men too.  I gave it to my, gulp, now 18 year old son yesterday.  The first card I made looked too babyish.  So, I went with the old dependable.  Isn't it hard to make cards for men?  Plus the men in my life do not appreciate when I make a card for them anyway.  I think my husband and son think I am nuts that I toil over making cards when you can even get them at gas stations.  That is right I live with a couple of Barbarians.  They reside in my basement and stare at the magic blue light together and repeat bad movie line from the action movies they watch and laugh at each other. Also, did I mention the smell?  I am sure none of you can related to that.  Oh yeah and they punch each other in the arm a lot...like I said, "Modern Day Barbarians".

Stamp: Unity Stamp
Paper and Sticker: Echo Park
Ink: Momento and Tim Holtz Distress ink
Twin: The Twinery
Card Stock: Recollections and Bazzill

Thanks for looking on the second day of Spring.
LBAB

Because I said I would do it.

Unity Friends with Flair #2

This is what I ended up doing in the morning to finish it up.  Funny how a little embossing and adding a heart embellishment makes it seem more complete.

My FWF I sent in with 46 sec left until the dead line.

I committed to myself that I wanted to try to be an active participant in the Unity Friends with Flare.  Here it is 11:36 pm and I am under the wire.  I am not at all in love or even like with this card.  I did get to use this awesome ribbon from 3Girls Jam that I won on Julie's blogoversay I hopped  last weekend.  So that makes me happy. Thanks so much Julie I have been eyeing your use of that ribbon.   I used one of the stamp from Lasting Thoughts.  There are 8 of them and they have great potential and they are not all sympathy related.  I made a sympathy card because unfortunately as many of know there is always a need for them. This one I made with a special person in mind though. 

I am doing this last minute because I have been busy.  I had a crazy weekend last weekend catching up with my old college roommates, learning that I am not young anymore.  Speaking of sympathy cards I thought I was may die the next morning after we sat up trying to prove we were young again.  Even my go to helper of a Hardess Chicken Fillet Sandwich could not cure my ills.  We were celebrating another great check up for my bestie who underwent treatment for a rare melanoma.  This was her second 3 month check out and it all looked good.  Hurray! One of my roommates flew in from out of state.  It was the second night that nearly did me in.  On the first night we had more common sense. We  had decided to go to a fancy seafood restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. All 3 of us had always wanted to go there.  You know it is the one you usually think of for anniversaries or really special occasions.  My husband is allergic to shell fish and another ones husband does not like seafood so we knew it was up to us to make it happen.  So we took matters in our own hands and made a reservation.  We dressed all up, the whole nine yards.  I must admit I have not been to many high end restaurants lately.  I felt like Red and Kitty in the episode of That 70's Show.  They go out to their favorite supper club they hadn't gone to in a few years.  When they get there everything had changed. That is how I felt.  Here we were in one of the nicer spots in town and some people had on jeans and a few were even was wearing a  hoodie sweatshirts with business names on the back.  Our waiter in the bar, that we sat in because they were running behind on our reservation, was crabby and rude.  But we were together and ignored him.  When we were seated at our table we had a wonderfully over the top waiter name Roberto that made our night. We gabbed and laughed for 3 hours.  But again it surprised me to be at a restaurant that you spend 85 plus dollars a person and people look like they are going out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Not that there is anything wrong with BWW, just saying the words make my mouth water, but I guess I have now I have officially become outdated and old fashioned.

Than it was off to my home state to visit as my 2 girls are on spring break.  I just had to see my newest great nephew. Of course I am outdated…I am after all a great aunt of soon to be 8 kids.  So I learned this past week that drinking wine cannot turn back the hands of time, nor would I want it to.  Because if it did, I would not have this wonderful friendships of 20 plus years with my two besties from my college days to cherish and enjoy. 

So imagine this card with embossed paper behind it(like I said I ran out of time), grab a glass of wine and call that bestie of yours.

Remember don't sweat the small stuff, and it is all small stuff!

 LBAB

My first friends with flare for Unity Stamps

I said I would never eat Tuna and now I do, I said I would never marry a man from North Dakota and I did, I said I would never scrapbook and I do, I said I would never have a blog and I do and I said absolutely would I never make cards and here we are.  Here is my first entry for Friends with Flare over at Unity Stamps.

For this card I used my favorite stamp of the minute(I have a super short attention span)My Panda Ballon, MME My Girl 6x6 pad, MME enamel dots, and a Crate Paper sticker from the Little Bo Peep Collection and Recollection card stock cards.

Obviously I have not got this web thing down yet, but for some reason I can not get thumbnail to show.  I think I figured out how to do it but can not figure out how to delete my entry.


Thanks for looking.
Do not sweat the small stuff and it is all small stuff.
LB

Northern Lights

There always has to be a first post…right?  I had written a post last week after I had sat up with one of my best life long friends solving life's problems over a bottle of wine. It was about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Snap Chat and various other forms of technology that never existed when I was a kid.  My son will never know what it is like to have to ask a girl out via a landline and have the fear that her Mom or Dad my actually be the one answering the phone.  New love, make ups and break ups are all accomplished over a text.  I always say it is almost a full time job keeping your kid from making a total potentially life altering post or at least something that make them look like the idiot that their mother knows they are not.  There is always the next new thing to distract them from life.  I wish I had a dollar for every YouTube video that has been played on a computer, laptop, iPad or iPhone that we own in this house.  I would be "movin' on up" as George Jefferson would say to a deluxe house that at least had a garbage disposal.  Needless to say I did not post it.  The next morning, my 3am manifesto made no sense.

Which leads me to my first post.  The Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights as I grew up calling them.  I grew up seeing the Northern Lights dance across the sky.  I thought everyone had them.  My brother and I always thought it was the sunshine reflecting off the ice of the North Pole.  Later in life I learned that is was actually the collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earths atmosphere.  The lights are seen above the northern hemisphere.  Fun Fact:They are also seen above the southern hemisphere too but than they are called 'Aurora australis' www.northernlightscentre.ca.  I kind of like my childhood vision of the magical light dancing off all that snow and ice in the far north better. Darn you scientist and your explanation for everything!


Well, here I am getting to my point.  Last week, a friend, who lives north of the 49th parallel where I grew up, posted this video on Facebook.   It brought back memories of watching these lights dance across the sky as a child and teenager.  I know that Northern lights can occur anytime of the year but my memory is of always watching them on still subzero nights outside playing in the snow or from the backseat of my parents car as we drove home late in the evening from visiting our cousins.  I have come to realize that not everyone has had the joy of watching this yellow and green soft lights spreading across the northern sky.  So here is a video for I want to share with you so you can enjoy the awe and magic I witnessed as a kid.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFtEygpGkc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFtEygpGkchttps:

If you want more information on this here are some links I found while learning more about the Aurora borealis.

http://www.northernlightscentre.ca
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/question471.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/aurora-borealis-northern-lights-michigan-upper-peninsula_n_4110982.html

What does this have to do with scrapbooking and card making, absolutely nothing.  But hey now that first post thing is done.

Remember not to sweat the small stuff…and it all small stuff.
LB