Thursday, November 19, 2015

Bonus Autumn days

Unity Brown Thursday Blog Hop:

Can you believe it is almost Thanksgiving?  Here in lovely MN we have no snow...just rain.  Can you believe it?  So I feel it is OK to still be sending out fall cards.  After all last weekend was like a perfect fall day but the leaves are all gone.  It gave everyone a chance to finish up the last of the yard work and winter prep.  Around here, this means the dreaded garage clean.  My husband is pretty chill but one thing he is all about is in the winter we must be able to  park both of the cars in the garage.  "If I have to scrap my window in the morning during winter because my garage is full of shi$, than it is time to shut 'er down,"he will annually state.  Twenty years living in this house together and it is like clock work.  A summer of "dumping" on his side of the garage has taken a toll and then "Dave"(the local weather man) mentions there will be accumulations of snow, and my husband goes into what I call, crazed mode.  Boxes, clothes, life jackets, sports equipment, and treasures behold line the sidewalk.  I frantically run out and grab items that I want to save from the Goodwill graveyard or trash.  "No, I need that", I will scream.  He will reply, "really LB, you needed it so much it was in the back of your van all spring and on the garage floor all summer, really?"  Or I say..."hey that is where that went, I was just looking for it".  Negotiations are tough, as he is a man with a plan this late in the game.  After a day out there, that line of treasures magically disappear to their proper place, or maybe to our little shed that he can pack like he is playing Tetris.  Mean while I am thinking how I need to find out what Goodwill he dropped it off at so I can go buy it back on Monday.

At the end of the day we usually go out to eat.  Where the kids and I must hear, "Can you believe I got that all done, it is forecast  to snow you know?", or "I was getting that done no matter what today...did you know that?"  Yes, we knew that, why...because...like I said, like clockwork.  Happy bonus fall days everyone.

Here is my Unity Brown Thursday blog hop entry.  


Supplies:
Unity Stamps-Love and joy for the Holidays KOM 10/14 sentiment
Unity grab bag-leaf(one of my most used stamps)
Paper: 6x6 Chickadee
glimmer mist- Ranger glimmer mist- marshmallow
Twine- American Crafts
ink-brown Momento , Marigold Distress ink

Now the best news.  There is a huge sale going on at Unity Stamp Company  You should head over there now.  


Happy Shopping and thanks for looking.
LBAB

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Kiss-mess


OK Seriously how long can it take to figure out that FWF moved to Tuesdays or is it Wednesdays.  Tonight I made quick card with my go to design.  My house is a mess, I am chairman of a concession stand this weekend and need to be getting the final details done, I have been in bed for 3 days with bronchitis, I am part of the sandwich generation(I think that is what someone told me it is called)-I have a 85 year mother who needs care 8 hours a way and kids in school and constant activities and a husband that has the patients of a saint that is running very thin I might add.  So what does one do in this situation?  You make a list and than another list you congratulate yourself on being somewhat productive and getting out of bed before noon and than you make a card.  It made perfectly good sense to me.  I hope you enjoy it.




Supplies
Unity stamp-kissmas hedgie
Pink Paisley 6x6 paper
momento ink-brown
stickles
AC twine
My minds Eye wooden embellishments
sequins 

Saturday, October 31, 2015

My Favorite Unity Blog Hop

 Welcome to the GIU Blog Hop. This hop we were told to pick our favorite kit which was really hard because there are so many great kits to choose from at Unity Stamps. I chose Your Own Kind Of Beautiful, because of the inspirational words and beautiful pictures. I think I have used almost all of the stamps in my cards and my pages. The sentiment is from the kit Birthday Chic.
      We will go live Sunday Nov 1 at 12 am CST!  2 winners 25 random stamps from comments.
  1. Amber Sheaves
  2. Debra Davison
  3. Rachel Bogner
  4. Berina Febin
  5. Beth Fiscus
  6. Lisa
  7. Rebecca Wong
  8. Laura Beth Buchl       <<<<<you are here


Supplies:
Paper -Shimelle AC
card stock- bazzill
distress marker- worn lipstick
vellu- paper studio
metal hearts- teresa collins
enamel dots- recollections
embossing powder -zing gold
die cut- lawn fawn
winks glitter pen
pop dots


     

    Thanks for looking! Makes sure you check out all the other talented ladies.

Have a great week.
LBAB

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

GIU Winners

Sorry that I am a day late. I had to work on Monday and by the afternoon I had come down with a terrible sore throat.  Too much fun GIU and enjoying these beautiful Fall days we had this weekend in MN must have worn me down. I came home and went to bed. But we have winners.  The two winners of the 25 random stamps from Unity are:
Anne Hoover 
Brenda Lapp
 Ladies contact me with your addresses so I can pass them on to Unity and you can get your goodies.

Now for the Starbucks gift cards for those who commented on my GIU card on day 3.  By the way I went to 2 Starbucks on Sunday and both were out of those awesome fall cups.  What is up with that? 
10.00 gift cards-UT Hobby Time and Crafter
5.00 Rebecca Yahling

Send me your address ladies and I will send you the cards.  

If I do not hear from you in two weeks I will redo the random number generator to pick another winner.  This is both for the Unity Stamps drawing and my own little bonus drawing.

Nothing to share as I am to sick to create.  Congratulations and thank you everyone for playing along with me on my week of GIU.

Take care,
LB



Friday, October 9, 2015

Day 5 of GIU-Baby Rainbow Kitty

Happy Yippy Skippy Friday Everyone.   Today I am sharing one of my layouts I made.  I do not claim to be to be the greatest person at making beautiful pintrest worthy pages, but what I do believe I exceed at is making pages that tell a story.  Two of my children joined our family through adoption.  One of the things they stressed to us at the time was the importance of making a life book.  It is like a biological child's scrapbook but it has some added elements that pertain to adoption.  My youngest child was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate.  She is an amazing kids.  If you know anything about cleft lip/cleft palate kids you know they have to go through a few surgeries.  I have these events captured in her books.  Do not feel sorry for her though she is one tough kid and has the most positive attitude around.

I like using stamps in layouts because it seems to me, you can more easily customize the layout.  When Unity came out with Hugs and Kitties, I knew I had to have it and exactly what I would use it for.  My youngest had a pharyngeal flap surgery to help make her speech better because all her air escaped out her nose when she talked and you could not understand her.  During that time I would tell her a story I had made up about a baby rainbow kitty and a little old lady.  She loved that story.  She would ask me to tell it over and over and she pretended to be a rainbow kitty all the time.  When the surgeon ask my daughter her name before the surgery she said, "You can call me Baby Rainbow Kitty".  You know what they did.  The whole time she was in the hospital, all the staff addressed her as Baby Rainbow kitty.  The pre-op team found her a kitty book and a quilt with kitties on it.  You have to love our hospital called Gillette Children's Specialty Care.  It was just so darn cute and the people there were just so darn amazing.  I hope you enjoy this page.  My daughter thought is was the greatest.  Thats why I do this.  Also because I love paper and stamps.

I used a lot of Unity Stamps in this layout.  It is a fun one and it tells a great story.

I am also entering this layout in this months Scrap Your Stash Challenge-INKS
I-ink
N-Narrow boarder
K-Kitty
S-spray mist
Thanks for spending the week with me.  Also thanks for your lovely comments.
LB

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Day 4 of GIU- Oh ewe are my baby

Welcome to day 4 of my week of GIU.  Today I am sharing a card with you made from my very favorite Unity Stamp, Love Ewe.  Blame it all on my roots, I have a thing for sheep.
I have used this stamp to make thank you cards, Mother's Day, birthdays, and now a baby card.  I cannot believe I have not used it for a baby card before.  Today I added embossing paste to for the wool.  If you have not tried embossing paste you must.  It is super fun to use.  Just be careful with small children around because it does really look like white frosting.




This card is for my latest and greatest great nephew.  I know it may be a little girly but I think little babies and lambs just go together.  Thanks for checking out my blog and do not forget to comment.  I love to read them.   On Monday I will announce the two random winners of 25 unity stamps and the winner of my coffee gift cards for those who commented on my Day three post.

Have a great Thursday,
LB



Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Day Three-GIU I love coffee


Wednesday, October 7, 2015


GIU Day Three- I love coffee

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card. 

I love coffee.  I have been a fan of coffee since I was 18 years old.  I am particularly a fan of lattes.  One day a week or two ago, when I was getting my daily fix at Starbucks, they handed me the coolest Fall cups.  I had a five minute conversation with the barista how much I love the design of the cups, he said, "Me too, it reminds me of my childhood and the fall".  Now that is a powerful cup.  I set out to try to recreate it.  First of all I had to scour through all my monthly kits and stamps to find the look I wanted.  In retrospect I wish I would have made a 6x6 square card.  I would have loved to add a few more stamps.  I used my MISTI to make this card.  Truthfully I would not be steady or skilled enough to freestyle it.  I have to say, it did take me numerous attempts and more than my share of curse words.  Thank I took my colored pencils and pushed really hard and colored random sections.  The velum paper I crumpled up and than sprayed with glimmer mist.  When I started the card I knew I wanted to use the Oscar Wilde quote.  It is such an appropriate feeling for this time of year, especially in Minnesota.  So here is my card followed by my inspiration.










Here is my inspiration.








Now for the good stuff.  Leave a comment any day this week and on Monday I will announce the winners of the two people chosen to received 25 random stamps from Unity.  In addition to that I am giving away two 10.00 Starbuck gift cards.  Names will be drawn from todays comments only and EVERYONE who comments has a chance to win.  I want to share my coffee love with all my Unity friends.  Thanks for looking.

Happy Wednesday everyone,
LB

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Day Two-GIU Wedding Card

Welcome to Day 2 of Growing In Unity. Happy Tuesday! Today I am back at work after taking a long weekend to go to a retreat.  Today I am sharing a wedding card.  I wanted the butterfly to be blue and yellow to go with the colors of the wedding.  I used water color pencils for this project.  I love to use water colors are they are pretty forgiving and they are great for giving the effect you want.


Supplies:
Stamp- Magic of New Beginnings Unity Stamp Company

ink-Momento
water color pencis
gems-studio calico
twine- American Crafts

Thanks for looking.  Do not forget to leave a comment.  Two people will win 25 random stamps from Unity and tomorrow I am going to offer my own little prize.

Have a great day,
LB

Monday, October 5, 2015

Growing in Unity Day One-Queen of the Universe.

I am so excited to be the Growing in Unity person this week.  I love Unity Stamp Company.  So please check back daily this week and leave a comment for a chance to win 25 random stamps from Unity.  I will let you know next Monday who the 2 winners are that were chosen. How great is that?  You can make my day and maybe at the end of the week I may be able to make yours.

I am coming off a great weekend of a "scrapbooking retreat".  What a weekend it was!   Scrapbooking has allowed me to forge friendships to people all over the United States and Canada.  Sometimes I get a chance to meet up with some of these great women and this weekend was one of them.  My stomach still hurts from laughing and my head a little from the Caramel Apple Sangria.   Being with crazy talented women all gathered in one place over a weekend, encouraging each other, laughing together and sharing stories, just really inspires you to believe in yourself.  You learn it is more than a hobby, it becomes you support network and people you can learn so much from.  Though meeting other paper crafters is how I learned about Unity.  Unity Stamps and their blog, Instagram and Facebook page have helped me branch out and try new things, beside just scrapbooking.  This is a women who swore she would "NEVER" stamp, let alone make cards.  Now I not only use stamping on my layouts, I make cards and have gotten really crazy and did some actual art projects. If you would have told me a few years ago I would be doing GIU, I would have said,"no way, I can't do that stuff". Through Unity stamps and especially their design team inspirations, I have learned, I can do it. 

So thanks to Unity and thanks to you in advance for checking out my blog this week.  This week card has a hint of copper.  I love the metallic trend.  I have done cards with gold ink and gold embellishments but this is my first time with copper.  It came in a monthly scrapbooking kit from Studio Calico.  I also got purchased  4x6 "galaxy" paper from there.  When I saw it on their website I knew I had the perfect stamp for it.  I actually ended up using the brown metallic ink from Momento, as the copper actually had a really strong rusty look to it.  The twine I borrowed from a friend so I am not exactly sure what brand it is.  I love, love, love this card.  We all have a girlfriend out there who is perfect for this sentiment, don't we?






Supplies:
paper- Studio Calico
copper stars- Studio Calico
Metallic copper twine-
gems-teresa colleins
stamped with- MISTI
ink- momento metallic

Thanks for checking it out.  Remember to leave a comment this week for a chance to win a random 25 stamp prize from Unity.  

Have a great Monday!
LB





Friday, July 10, 2015

Tickled Pink Color 30

FWF:
I love flamingos, so when Unity released this stamp I ordered it right away.  I loved the tickled pink birthday sentiment that is included. I am pretty tickle pink with this card. But this week I am not tickled pink because of a birthday but because my middle daughter came home from her 2 week trip in China.  What an adventure she had in her two weeks while she was there. I know she loved being in China, but after two weeks I was ready for her to come home.  I like to believe she was missing home but you never know with tween girls.
     This week I am also including my FWF entry into the Unity {be inspired} Challenge.


Supplies:
Stamp: Unity Stamp Company Let's Flamingo
Paper-Studio Calico
Twine-American Crafts
Gems-Recollections
Markers-Copic Sketch
Ink-Momento
Pop Dots

I am sorry about the shadow on the card.  I always get things done at the last minute and never in the good light of day.
Have a great weekend.
LBAB




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Friday, June 19, 2015

Therapy

FWF:
I love my husband, do you know why?  Because he gets that making cards and scrapbooking are like therapy to me.  When I scrap it is usually with my bestie and we spend the whole time drinking wine and laughing.  No better therapy than that, in my opinion.  When I am sad, stressed, overwhelmed sometimes I just sit down and start to make a card.  I love it, because when he sees that, he just goes the fridge and start making dinner or finish what I started but did not quite finish.  This is one of those cards.  I hope you enjoy...or at least it inspires you to "just breath".  Also it is on sale this week at Unity Stamp Company.  So you can "breath" and save money at the same time.

Supplies:
Stamp- Just Breath Unity Stamp Company
ink- Archival by Ranger
Water colors Distress markers
Spray mist- Recollections
Paper- MME Sky's the Limit 6x6
Sequens - WRMemory Keepers
Punch- Martha Stewert
Twine- stash

Have a great Weekend.  I should show you the roses my 8 year old water colored.  They looked great.  Does she have mad skills, or maybe I am just minus the mad skills in the water color department.  Hmm I will have to think on that while I sit here and breath.

LBAB


Friday, May 29, 2015

Hardest Worker

FWF:
It has been a long week for me.  I am happy it is Friday and it is time for Friends with Flare.  Unfortunately in life there is a need to make sympathy cards.  It really meant a lot to me when my Dad passed away and people sent such sweet cards.  It felt good to know  how much my Dad was loved and that people were thinking of me. Sometimes I never get around to sending a card because I want to make one and than time passes and it slips my mind.  So I set out to make a supply to have on hand.  For that task I went the hardest working stamps I own, Insightful Meadows.  If there was an award for Hardest Worker in the stamp kingdom, I think these would be definitely in the running in my book.  I use them for cards, scrapbooking pages and tags.  If you do not have these in your collection put them on you list.   Here are some of the cards I made.


Supplies:
Stamp-Insightful Meadows and Everything More by Unity Stamp Company
Paper- 
washi tape- ordered of etsy
ink- Momento

Have a great weekend.
LBAB

Friday, May 22, 2015

Birthday Card

Happy FWF day everybody.  Also, Happy Memorial Day weekend. A huge thank you to all who have served in our armed forces.  

This week I made a birthday card.  You can never have enough cards on hand. Now if I would just take the next step and actually mail the card.

Stamp- Unity Stamp Company-Here's my thought

I am also going to link this up to Unity {be inspired} Challenge.  I just love me some Unity.  Also my other favorite spot 3 Girl Jam is having a blog hop.  Head on over there and see some great work and see their new great colors.

Have a safe happy kick off to summer this weekend.  Of course we are heading to the lake....but we have to clean up the cabin...boo.  Maybe I will go separate and arrive AFTER the cleaning is done.
LBAB

Friday, May 15, 2015

Cutest Couple

FWF:
Happy Friday everyone.  We are off to a wedding this weekend.  It is going to outdoor on a ranch in ND.  We are hoping for sunshine and warmth but you never know.  We are prepared, we have boots, sandals, coats, umbrella and it is ND so we will bring our winter jackets.  This couple really is adorable.  So the card I made is quite appropriate.

Supplies: 
Stamp- Unity Stamp Company Here's my Though- it is on sale this weekend
Doily- Studio Calico
Paper- Theresa Collins

Have a great weekend.  I need to get my boots packed and be ready to dance.  
LBAB

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Somebody Stop Me!

FWF:
It's Yippy Skippy Friday again, that means FWF to fans of Unity Stamps.  I have been busy, busy, busy working and have not had time to do anything creative or even look at the FWF entries.  One of my favorite things to do on the weekend to get inspired.

It titled this post "Somebody stop me".  Any one remember the movie "The Mask" with Jim Carey years ago?  It was a catch phrase for a while.  It fits my card well this week.  I was just going to make a simple sheep-lamb stamped card.  No coloring, no bling, just as they say a CAS card or like every bride says when you ask how them about their wedding... "it will be simple but elegant".  Like most weddings I have been in or at that is rarely the case.  So goes it with my card.  Can you say pearls , gems, ribbon and hearts...break out the stash cuz Mama's on a mission...and nobody was there to stop me.

Supplies:
Ewe and Lamb stamp- Unity Stamp CompanyLove Ewe
Ribbon- 3 Girl Jam Harvest Bundle
Patterned paper- Chickaniddy Date Night(not made in USA) did not realize that until I bought it.  I know that is important to some of you crafters out there.
Liquid Pearls- Ranger White Opal
Hearts- Studio Calico
Gems- Recollections
Mother's Day Sentiment- Paper Smooch
Markers- Copic

Here is my card.  It is for my Mom who raised sheep all her life.  But on like my card she is a no frills person.  That is OK everyone needs a little glitz every now and than.  I am also entering this card in the 3 Girl Jam Challenge.  To all you Mom's have a wonderful Mother's Day.  If you have a Mom treat her well if she is no longer on this earth, remember her and send her thanks.  

LBAB

Friday, April 3, 2015

School Days

FWF:
Happy Friends with Flair Day.  I want to get a quick post in before I leave for the Easter Weekend.  I was lucky enough to spend a few very much interrupted(by my kids) days scrapping with my partner in crime(and bestie) at my house.  She is a teacher, who off for spring break, so she came over to my house in hopes of getting some scrapping done.  I had hopes she would use up some of my stash.  As usual she rolled out a million pages and I barely finished 4.  Did I tell you my kids were there...that is not a good excuse because even when we go to retreats, kid free, it is the same.  We drove to Utah a couple of years ago for a retreat and in four days she finished 76 pages I did one page and made a mini album in a make and take session.  That was one expensive scrapbook page.  Let's just say I get easily distracted.





April stash challenge from scrapourstash
S- Stamp, Stars
T- Tape
A- Arrow
M- Marker
P- Polka Dot Paper


Supplies:
Stamps-Unity Paper Pad and Spatters and Stars-all boy
Paper-Echo Park
Embellishment Stickers-Echo Park
Thickers- American Craft Chit Chat white
Washi Tape- Stars by Tim Holtz, film roll from stash
Enamel Dots- Lawn Fawn
Staples- Tim Holtz
journaling marker

Have a very happy Easter Weekend.  He has risen.

LBAB

Friday, March 20, 2015

Fairy Wishes

FWF:
Here it is another week of FWF.  I told myself no more cards as I am super behind on my scrapbooking, but I had colored and stickled this fairy a week or two ago when I was doing stamping with my daughter.  When I went to get the sheet I used I discovered that our 80lb labradoodle dog had been laying on the chair where I set it down last night.  Since my son went to college last fall she has become a naughty dog.  She takes things out of the garbage, chew up the papers, and now will readily jump up on the chairs.  Something she never did before.  I have tried giving her extra attention but it does not replace her true companion, my son.  Anyway, I had to be creative to cover up some of the dirt she got on my stamped image.  Here it is.




Supplies:
Stamp: Unity KOM What lies within us and Unity Growing in Unity
Markers: Copic
Stickles
gems: Websters
flowers: Teresa Collins
ink: Momento
patterned paper: Websters and stash
glitter string: WRMemory Keepers

Thanks for checking my blog.  Have a terrific weekend.

LBAB

Friday, March 13, 2015

Pandas, pandas and more pandas

Another Friday and time for friends with flair(FWF).  I made a quick card tonight after I was done taking care of my adorable great nephew.  Ekkk I am getting more and more of them.  I love having a baby in the house.  I definitely figured out quickly I am not as young as I  use to be.  I must admit I got a little tired.  He and I even took a little nap together.  Rocking that little blue eyed blond haired boy brought me back 18 years ago when my oldest was one.  But like they say it is fun to have them visit but I you are glad when they to get him.

Anyway here is my card. Sorry about the poor quality of the lighting. I was taking the pictures at 11pm.  It actually has sparkle and I am happy the way it turned out.  It is just not apparent in my photo.




Supplies:
Stamp:Unity Plenty of Pandas (its on sale this week) it is adobs as the kids are saying these days.
ink: momento and hero arts
Patterned paper-
stickles
random sequences from my mound

Thanks for looking.  Have a great weekend.
LBAB

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Life is Beautiful

The weather went from below zero one week to 50 above the next week.  I hope it is safe to say that Spring has come to Minnesota.  I am feeling happy and warm.  My oldest is home for Spring Break and we had not seen him for two months, I met up with my oldest and one of my best friends this past weekend, attended a great nephews birthday party and tomorrow it may reach 70 degrees. How can it get any better, I am surrounded by the people I love and it is officially Spring next week. So for me "life is beautiful". 

 I am entering my card below in the Unity {be inspired} challenge and the 3 Girl JAM March Challenge-Anything Goes with Ribbon.  

Here is the inspiration from Unity Stamp Company.
                                                      

Here is the card I created for the Challenges.  I love love Melody Ross Stamps.  I like how the card turned out too.


Supplies:
Patterned paper-
Ribbon- 3 Girl JAM wine-jewels-bundle
Ink- Momento
Glitter mist- Ranger egg shell and Yellow Daisy
Markers-Copic
Enamel dots- MME
Flower- Prima

Today is the deadline for this months Unity {be inspired} Challenge but have no fear there will be another awesome one to play along with for the next month.  The 3 Girl JAM Challenge does not end until March 27, 2015.  Go over and check out their ribbon.  They are offering their new beautiful ribbon for one dollar with your order during the month of March- click here. 
For those of you coming over from 3 Girl JAM click the website version on the bottom of this page. For some reason it is sending you over with the mobile version.

Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day.
LBAB





Friday, February 13, 2015

SWEET 16

Happy FWF Day:

I broke out my water color pencils for the first time.  I had a blast making this fun card for my niece.  This is why I craft, for fun days like these.






Have a great weekend!
LBAB

Unity stamp:Mind and beauty
Pater: Sweet fairy by Prima
American craft thickers
Color box Ink
Derwent Water color pencils
Embellishments: from stash

Friday, February 6, 2015

Headcold

FWF:

I used the 11/14 KOTM for this card.  It is called What Lies Within Us.  I just love the sentiment in this kit.



Supplies:
Bird journal card- Basic Grey  Hello Die Cut Journal Cards
Stamps- Unity Stamp Company  KOTM What Lies Within US
paper-MME Lost and Found
Burlap paper- DCWV
Twine- American Crafts
Wooden hearts- Um Wow Studios Heart Confetti
Trinket Cross- stash
Pearl- Memory Makers


Here we are again.  Another week another card.  The card I made took me ALL day.  Not because it was complicated but because I have a cold.  It is the kind of cold where you have a scratchy throat so you wake up choking in your sleep.  My mouth is actually sore from sucking on cough drops.  You cannot go to work as hospitals(I work as a Speech Pathologist) frown on fevers, you are too miserable to sleep but too miserable to really think and accomplish any work.  So I would try to sleep, doze of wake up coughing and get up work on cards and cleaning then try to go back to sleep.  I did slip in a few episodes of Psyc on Netflix than I decided I should try to watch a movie.  I am not a movie person.  I never really enjoyed watching them.  If I watch a movie it is usually a comedy and I will let you in on such a little not so much secret.  I HATE kids movies.  I have been going to kids movies for nearly 15 years.  It is a consequence of having a huge age span from your oldest to youngest.  Oh you say what about....nope.  I really dislike them all.  OK, maybe "Up" and "Sponge Bob The Movie" had their moments, but for the most part I think it is a miserable way to spend an hour and a half.  Yes, I have seen parts or all of everyone of the Disney movies. I have two girls, one which lived in princess dresses for three years of her life.  Perhaps I have a missing mommy gene for children's movies.  I think it was circa 2001 and Thomas and the Tank Engine movie, that I love my last bit of patience for them.  Peter Fonda should have to give back his Oscar for appearing in that terrible movie.  If any you had a boy that is around 19 now you know what I am talking about.

Today I decided to rent Magic Mike on Amazon.  I did not see it the first time around and a friend of mine said, "Oh, you have to see it".  Plus with all the new trailers out for it I thought I should check it out.  It was sort of like a bad 80's movie like Flash Dance but instead of a beautiful girl that welds by day and dances at night it is a handsome guy that dreams of being a furniture maker by day and dances at night.  The plot line was not any better than a Disney movie, if Disney movies had nearly naked men in them.  The men are very attractive, but truthfully I wish I would have skipped it.  It made me feel like I should go to confession(which I have only done once, when I converted to being a Catholic) after I watched it or at least take a shower to wash away the feeling that I was a creepy old lady for watching it.   So I am thinking I will not make it through a showing of Fifty Shades of Gray when it opens up next week.

Have a great Weekend.
LBAB

Friday, January 23, 2015

Sock Fairy

FWF:
I will spare you my philosophizing today.  I have really done nothing all week in the form of cleaning my humble abode or laundry for my irritated crew...  "Mom I do not have any clean socks in my drawer".  Even after I explained to them numerous times there is a basket in the basement overflowing with socks, they think there is a magical sock and underwear fairy that delivers them to the drawers.  I say,"go find them in the sock basket", they look at me blankly and either crash in to a sobbing puddle on the floor or put on yesterdays socks(depending on the amount of sleep they had the night before).  Really... really the seven steps to the basement and the cognitive stress of finding a pair of socks that match are just to stressful for you?  Anyway this girl needs to hit the laundry before there is mutiny here or they are quarantined for stinky feet by their school.  So here are the cards I made with Unity Stamps Gossip, hot flashes & Crazy.  I made tons of cards with these stamps.  Birthday, hot flash funnies, encouragement card for a friend getting chemo, and "just a note" cards.  I will post them below after I show share my FWF card.


Than I made another one for my best friend since I was in 4th grade.  She is a year and a half older than me and I always tell her how old she is and she just turned the big 5-0.

How fun it this?  I added stamps from Damn your old Unity stamp. Just spruced the cake up with a little Stickles and a green accent.  I can not lie.  I love this card.
Here are some of the mixed bag I made from the Gossip, hot flashes & Crazy.  Great stamp and I was looking for the link it is on sale this week at the Garage Sale over at Unity Stamp Company.

Happy Friday everyone.  Spend it with someone you love.
LBAB




Wednesday, January 7, 2015

That LB, she has got try.

Unity Challenge No. 23
One problem with the new year is I always make the decision to try to better myself.  Some may call it resolutions, I just call it "trying".  If anyone who reads this comes from the cowboy world you may know the word "try".  It is not a verb but is a noun.  When you have  "try" it means you are giving it all you got.  So this year I am giving it the cowboy try.  One of my many things I am going to try to do this year is participate more in challenges and such in the scrapping and card world.  It is easy to let the weeks pass and not participate.  So I guess my resolution is to give it all I got.  If I fall off that Bronco at least I was in the arena and not sitting in the stands.  Here is my Unity Monthly Challenge entry.


Here is the inspiration:

Supplies:
Unity stamp-hello little one
Unity Background Stamp-Hearts of Old
Silver mist- Huey
pink ink- Martha Stewart
badge and pink patterned paper- Studio Calico
enamel dots- lawn fawn
washi tape- stash
twine- American Crafts

I have a lot of things I am trying to be better at:
1. Going to bed earlier- nope I watched Sherlock on Netflix until 1 am
2. Walking-nope, come on the wind chill was -30 below this morning I came home and watched Young and the Restless instead
3. More patience with my kids- nope, it was -30 below wind chill and our school was not cancelled but most others were- they were absolute jerks to me.  Like I wanted there to be school today.  I would have loved to have slept in(see goal one for reason).  
4. Better organization-nope there is an elephant on this card because I could not find the stamp I original planned on
5. Cut back on sugar-nope, empty Hot Tamale boxes do not lie.
6.  Enjoy life everyday-yes,  I participate in the Unity Monthly  Challenge and see all my other activities listed above.

Like I said...that LB...She has got try.

Stay Warm and give it the Cowboy try,

LBAB

Friday, January 2, 2015

Stamping and Scrapping

FWF:
I am back to blogging after a long break. I have a goal for 2015 to post more on Friends With Flair.  In addition to posting more, another goal is to use more stamps in my layouts.  I sometimes feel the era scrapping layouts are over and we are now in the Project Life Era in the Scrapping book world.  I am not ready to let it go just yet.  In the future I may dabble in the PL world, but as for now I am holding onto my roots.

This past Fall I got into the car with my favorite road trip pal and bestie and headed to a crop in Branson.  It is only a short 11 hours away.  Yes, we do have scrapbooking crops in MN, but they do not have the awesome gals we met up with.  Three days of solid laughter, food, wine and scrapping.  I would drive pretty much anywhere to be scrap with these gals.  While there I challenged myself to use the SMAK kits I had purchased just with scrapping in mind.  I was also going for speed.  I did not finish the journaling or the little added embellishments until today...what 3 months to get a page done...yes.
I was so happy when Unity came out with this Kit Alpha Smack.  I love letter stamps.  Grab this one as it is on sale now.  
I love this page it is such a great memory.  This used stamps from the  Camera Ready SMAK kit.



I used the All in the Numbers kit for the tag.  Also on sale this weekend.  I love that tag stamp.  For the title I used the "this is my happy" stamp from one of my favorite SMAK kits Camera Ready. I used the leaf stamp from the KOM Love & Joy for the HOLIDAYS

I used a stamp from Camera Ready again but what really finished the page was the Splatters & Stars-all boy stars. 



Thanks for looking I am finishing of the left over Champagne from our New Years Day omelette breakfast and scrapping...here is to new beginnings. Happy 2015.

LBAB