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Category Archives: Crafty Goodness

The Yellow Rose of Texas

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Bluebonnets may be our fair state’s state flower, but I often think of yellow roses when I think of flowers and Texas. This is kinda weird, since you don’t see many roses, at least not in west Texas where I grew up or in central Texas where I live now. However, the origin of the folk song “The Yellow Rose of Texas” is tied to the Battle of San Jacinto, which is east Texas. I also know that Tyler, which is located in northeast Texas, is considered the rose capitol of the world. So obviously, maybe I just need to visit those areas of Texas more often to see roses. Or maybe I should plant some.

Since I got to thinking about yellow roses, I decided to use a yellow rose as my main image on this week’s Texas Tuesday card (1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month). I also need more birthday cards as my stash is down to two birthday cards, so a yellow roses birthday card it is. I started off with the inspiring Mojo Monday #157 sketch, but I decided to nix the vertical panel on the right and the bow, so it doesn’t really follow the sketch. The picture doesn’t really do the card justice, I think. The background really sparkles.

Make sure and check out the cards of the rest of the Texas Tuesday team: Mark, Tina, and Betty. Libby, Geeta, Karen, Linda, Shannan and Steph took breaks this week.

Yellow Rose of Texas Birthday Card

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Dear Friend, Floral (background), and Edgy Eloquence (sentiment)
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Garden Green
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Stampin’ Up Garden Green (sentiment), VersaMark Dazzle Frost (background)
Embellishments: green sparkle brads
Coloring Tools: Stampin’ Up marker Garden Green; Prismacolor colored pencils; atYou Spica clear (on top of roses)
Tools: Nestabilities Classic Ovals Large and Classic Scalloped Ovals Large; corner rounder

Family Tree Project

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After the big family reunion luncheon celebration, we went back to Granny and Pawpaw’s house to work on a family tree project. The idea for it came from page 214 of the August 2010 issue of my Parents magazine. I think ours turned out cuter since I turned it into a 3D tree. A few weeks before the reunion, I had asked Kay, James’ aunt and organizer extraordinaire, to ask everyone to bring a photo of themselves to the reunion for the project. The adults could bring a couples photo, but I wanted the kids to be individual photos.

Family Tree Project

At the top of the tree is a heart that has a photo of Granny and Pawpaw on one side and on the other side, I wrote their birthdays and marriage date. The top branch is their children. The middle branch is their grandchildren and the bottom branch is their great-grandchildren. I had painted the wooden hearts used for the adults in three shades of green beforehand. On site, we punched out or cut to fit the photos of the adults, mod podged them to the heart and wrote the birthday/marriage info on the back. Some of the adults got into adding decorative touches. Yay Aundra! Kay helped with the photo adhering. I had meant to use an upside down clay flower pot as the base, but I forgot to bring one. The container from an edible arrangment that Granny and Pawpaw had received worked great in its place.

Adult Hearts

The kids, except for the babies and those who didn’t stick around after the luncheon, decorated their leaf or acorn themselves. I had brought glitter glue, sequins and markers for them to use to decorate. The markers didn’t get used and some wanted to paint, even though I hadn’t planned on letting them. I decided that since it was water-based paint, it was okay. Some of the kiddos required adult assistance. Kay, Rachel, Aundra and myself and maybe some others provided that assistance. I wish I had taken more pictures of the ones the kids decorated instead of just the one of my cutie pie, which I decorated. You can see the edge of the one Dawson decorated in the photo below.

Jessica's Leaf

I have to give major props to James. The night before we left for Midland, he drilled the holes in the main trunk for the branchs and cut the branchs to the different lengths. On site, he and his Dad drilled the holes in the hearts, leafs and acorns with Pawpaw’s drill press. Thanks Sweetie!

Jessica Looking at Her Cousin Dawson's Acorn

A Happy Joyful Mousy Birthday Card

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One of my friend’s birthdays is this Thursday. So I decided to make three birthday cards: one for Amitis, one for my dwindling birthday card stash, and one for my Operation Write Home stash that is probably just about ready to mail out. I decided to use this cute little mouse image that I had picked up at the Paper Craft Planet. I made these cards to meet two challenges. First up is a Fab ‘n’ Funky Challenge #39 to do what’eva and it is sponsered by Meljen’s Designs, the designer of the image I used. The second challenge is a sketch, Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #76. Initially, I wasn’t sure about making a square card, since I prefer the A2 size, but it worked great with my image since I had printed it a tad on the small side.

Amitis' Birthday Card

Stamps: Meljen’s Designs PCP400MemberFreebie; Stampin’ Up Small Sayings (sentiment)
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Real Read, Cameo Coral
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Pink Flamingo
Ink: Dell printer; Stampin’ Up Chocolate Chip (sentiment)
Markers: Stampin’ Up Rose Red, Regal Rose, Garden Green, So Saffron, Barely Banana, Blush Blossom, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel

A Birthday Card for Jason

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My brother’s birthday was last Wednesday, but I was a little slow in making him a birthday card. It worked out okay since he and my SIL Julia went to San Francisco on Thursday and they won’t be back until later today. His card and gift will be waiting for him when he gets back. I’ll have to get some pictures of him using his gift. I think that will be hilarious.

I was doing some browsing in my google reader of all the challenge blogs I like to see if there was a good challenge or two for a card for Jason. I found two. First off, I used Phindy’s Friday Challenge #22 to to go green. I used both the color green and reused some ribbon binding a pack of washcloths I bought a while back. Second, I used Our Creative Corner Sketch Challenge #32. The sketch was perfect for the Phindy’s Place image I had picked out. The image isn’t definitively a birthday image, but my brother likes to cook and he’s been posting pictures of food he’s eating in SF on their blog, so I thought it suited him. I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel like something is missing or not quite right. Maybe if I had some silver cardstock for the punched sentiment, that would rid the feeling. Hopefully, Jason likes the card and doesn’t find the bow too girly.

Jason's Birthday Card

Stamps: Phindy’s Place Soup for 500; Stampin’ Up Party Punch (sentiment)
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point; Basic Gray
Ink: Dell printer; Stazon Jet Black (sentiment)
Embellishments: recycled ribbon; Inkessentials Glossy Accents (on soup)
Tools: Stampin’ Up Designer Label punch; atYou Spica clear (on sentiment); Prismacolor colored pencils

The Stars at Night are Big and Bright Deep in the Heart of Texas

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With a title like that, you probably figured out that it’s time for another round of Texas Tuesday. I started off using Jen del Muro’s Sketch for You to Try. I wasn’t completely happy with how it turned out. So I made another card omitting the panel on the right. Which do you like better? Both are great “just because” cards and you can never have too many “just because” cards.

Make sure and check out the other Texas Tuesday cardmakers: Libby, Mark, Betty, Tina, and Karen. Geeta, Shannan and Linda are taking a break this week.

First Card Using SFYTT

Second Card

Stamps: Deadbeat Designs Texas Our Texas; Stampin’ Up Background Basics
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up So Saffron, Whisper White, Kraft
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Paper Prints So Saffron
Ink: Stampin’ Up Basic Brown, Craft Whisper White; Versamark (SFYTT card only)
Tools: white gel pen

I love all the stars that ended up on these two cards. They got me to thinking about singing, so I found you a video to sing along with. The 1941 song features lyrics by June Hershey and music by Don Swander. Perry Como was the first artist to record this song, yet he’s not even from Texas. That just goes to show you everyone loves Texas.

I also like this muppet version.