Happy Birthday/ctd#348

Yesterday I worked on a card for the ctd348 challenge. Such fun colors and when I saw the inspiration photo with the sailboats, I knew I had to make a card incorporating those two elements. I don't have a sailboat image, but I do have a Cricut Explore and a Design Space subscription. I opened the program, typed in sailboat, and the little sailboat I used on the card was there. All I needed to do was resize it for my card. So quick and simple.

I have been trying to post at least one card a week using my Explore machine. Can I say it again, I love this new Cricut. This is my third machine in 8 + years, and I must say, my absolute favorite.

I hope you make it a wonderful Friday and do something CRAFTY. I'm off to get a haircut this morning. Tonight we have a wedding to attend for a sweet couple from our church. Should be a fun evening.

ENJOY your weekend!

Hugs,
BernieBee


All the papers are from SU,  SU stamp set: By the Tide, B.Y.O.P., SU ink: Real Red, Starburst Framelits Dies, Cricut Design Space image: B is for Boy.

Thank You / CASEing the Catty

Good morning! I had a chance to work on a card last night before heading to bed and finished it up this morning.  I wanted to play along with CASEing-the-Catty Challenge#35 and saw a card in the new catalog on page 16 that I really fell in love with.  I'm not sure why I like it, but I do and knew I would CASE it for this challenge.

I did switch up things just a wee bit using Lots of Thanks stamp set (ret.) for the sentiment. Since I  only have the new in color, Mint Macaron in marker form, and it didn't cover the floral stamp from Butterfly Basics as well, I used Pistachio Pudding ink. Lacking the Blossoms Accents, I punched a small flower from the same color paper with the Boho Blossoms punch. (ret.). Those sweet little floral accents might need to be added to my next order. :}

That's about all the playing I can do today. I'm off to do some grocery shopping and some other errands. I hope you can get to do something  CRAFTY today.

Have a blessed Tuesday!
Hugs,
Bernie Bee

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

AND Sonoma County...

We had a wonderful weekend trip to Petaluma, the surrounding Wine Country, and San Francisco this past weekend. Our youngest daughter and her husband met us at a cute little AirB&B in Petaluma. They flew out from NC for a college friends wedding on Saturday evening and to hang out with us. What a great little California town. We all fell in love with it's charm and friendliness.

Mike and Danielle/ Castello di Amorosa

The highlight on Saturday was a wine/tasting tour at Castello di Amorosa. What a beautiful setting and great tour guide we had. This pictures don't do the castle justice, but I only had my camerea phone and I'm not very good at using it!

Father's Day we headed to the Petrified Forest to see the biggest petrified tree and trees that were petrified by a volcano that erupted and left the giant Sequoia and other trees fossilized. In 1817  a prospector known as “Petrified Forest Charley” unearth one nad starting charging for folks to view it. This place was at my husbands request as part of his Fathers Day celebration. It was quite a interesting place, though small in size. We chose to do our own tour, but I think the guided tour would have given us more information then the brochure.

After this little excursion we headed to San Fransisco. We all were very excited to not only drive over the Golden Gate bridge, but to experience Fisherman's Wharf. The traffic was horrible and Fisherman's Wharf was extremely crowded, but we found a fairly close place to park and had a wonderful meal at a restaurant on the water. Our window faced the bay and we could see Alcatraz prison from were we sat.

photo credit/ D. Rusher

The San Fransisco Bay area is so beautiful, but I thought I would have a heart attack driving those streets! They were like a Roller Coaster! My son-in-law drove like he lived there forever and was not a tourist. I have no idea how people drive around there or park near their apartments.

Our trip sadly ended early Sunday evening, but we headed back to San Marcos with lots of wonderful memories. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and you did something with the men in your life.

Stay CRAFTY my friends!

Hugs,
Bernie Bee

One in a Melon / FMS#191

I'm headed out of town, but wanted to upload the card that I created using the Freshly Made Sketches sketch #191. I had been enjoying watermelon for several days, and remembered I had this sweet stamp set by Taylored Expressions, Fruity Friends , that included this cute little watermelon slice. I knew it would make a quick and simple, but happy card.

I used retired SU dotted paper in Real Red, Whisper White CS, Old Olive CS, and Watercolor paper.(unknown) The image was stamped in Black Memento Ink and colored with Stampin' Write Markers in Real Red and Old Olive. The sentiment was also from the same TE set.

Well that's about it. I've got to get going to bed. It's an early morning drive to the airport to catch our flight.  Have a wonderful weekend and make sure to do something CRAFTY!

Hugs,
Bernie Bee

Wedding Card / rs#168

 

Today I played along with the retro sketch challenge. I've been looking for a sketch that I could use to make a wedding card and this one caught my eye. I'm going to keep it on file to be able to use again.

I used a combination of papers in my "stash"and SU Naturals White. The stamps are SU's Flower Shop w/ matching punch and Petite Pairs, Strawberry Slush ink, a retired thinlit and EF and the Banner Dies.


Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to do some errands. I hope you get to do something CRAFTY!

Hugs,
Bernie Bee

Bright Birthday / MOJO402

Just a quick post today playing along with the MOJOMonday #402 sketch. I started working on this card last night, but it just wasn't going together as I wanted. I shut off the light in the Studio, took the dog potty and went to bed.

When I woke up this morning and went to finish it, WALLA, I was able to put it together!  There are still some things I would have done differently, but on the whole, I'm satisfied with it. I plan on using it for my granddaughter who will be 8 soon. The colors are still a little out of my comfort zone, but I know she'll like them.

I used SU's Cherry on Top DSP paper stack again, coordinating the colors with SU cardstock. This was my first go around using the Sprinkles of Life stamp set with the Tree Builder Punch which coordinates perfectly. I've seen such cute cards on Pinterest using this punch and stamp.  I probably will not run out of cards to CASE.

Have a great day. I'm waiting for my hubby to come home from Baltimore this afternoon.  He's been gone 3 days, and I have surely missed him. I'm also getting ready for our Home Group get together tonight here at our home. Started my sauce, made my meatballs, next will be putting together the stuffed shells.  I always look forward to our time together. They are such fun people to be around.

Have a wonderful and blessed day AND go do something CRAFTY!

Hugs,
Bernie Bee

Fathers Day/ Mojo401/FM213

Today I'm posting a card I made for my husband for Father's Day next week.  I'm able to link this up to 2 challenges, The Friday Mashup and Mojo Monday. Both great challenge sites to get, well, your MOJO going!

 

I used SU retired patterned paper and Pacific Point, Basic Gray, Smokey Slate, and Whisper White for the color combo. The stamped images are from Verve Stamps - Strong Anchor. Such great sentiments and images in this set. I love using them. I also used the coordinating die by Verve for the the anchor. I finished it off with Neutrals Color Dots, Basic Metal Buttons and some Black twine.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you get to do something CRAFTY today.  I'm off to a 90th. Birthday party this afternoon.  Should be fun.

Hugs,
Bernie Bee

Birthday - CTC#34

I decided to play along with CASE-ing the Catty blog this weekend. It's another way for me to actually use my"stuff".

The challenge for this week was BIRTHDAYS, taking our inspiration from pages 5 - 12 of the new 2015-2016 catalog. I chose the card on page 7. I love the little doughnuts. I did change up my colors and used the Fabulous Four stamp set sentiment.

Well, I have confession.  I do not own the stamp set, Sprinkles on Top. So what did this girl do? I did have the DSP stack, Cherry on Top which had doughnut paper, so I used the 3/4" punch and punched those little sweet doughnuts out. They do have more of a border then stamping and punching them, but they were close enough for me.

If you look closely, the images have a blue shading around the edge. I decided to use the Shimmery White paper as the background piece , it is not as bright as the Whisper White and that seemed  to make the blueish background not as obvious.

The twine is Hello Honey which I felt matched close enough to the Crushed Curry. The patterned paper is from the Cherry on Top DSP combined with a Crushed Curry card base.

This about it for today.  I'm off to take the pup out and clean up my Studio space. A little later this evening my granddaughter and I are going to The Olive Garden for dinner. Love the soup and salad combo!

Have a CRAFTY weekend.

Hugs,
Bernie Bee

Congratulations!

Yesterday I decided to play along with the SUO CHALLENGE, Stars and Stripes, although I didn't add stripes my card which I hope still will qualify.

I haven't  played along many times with this challenge and,  honestly, I don't know why. It's really a great way for me to use my Stampin' Up products. The Star Framelits with matching Eclectic template for example. This was my first time using either of these products. :0)

 The paper in the Cherry on Top DSP stack is so much fun. I love the designs and colors and I used coordinating card stock for the stars and layering on this card.

 I also used the star from the Circle Cards thinlits. It nested perfectly with smaller star in the Star dies. The Congratulations sentiment from the Bravo Stamp set worked great for the finishing touch.

Have a wonderful day and go do something CRAFTY! Why not play along with the challenge over at SUO and get out those much loved, but seldom used products!

Hugs,

Bernie Bee

Cutest Baby Ever

Just a quick post late this afternoon.  This card is for the little one below and her parents, my youngest son, Joel and his sweet wife Kelly. She is our 3rd GD since April. She joins Kate born in April and Annabelle born in May, who is just a month to the day ahead of Wren.

The Lord continues to bless our family. 

Wren Bliss Perkins 

She is a tiny one weighing in at 6lbs.1oz.,19in long

The card is a mixture of retired and new SU products. Feel free to contact me if there is a product name you would like information on. Have a blessed evening a I hope some crafting is in your free time tonight. 

Hugs,

Bernie Bee 

Robot Happy Birthday - 2 Challenge Card

Isn't this the cutest little Robot? It's from the Crazy Robot cartridge. I was able to have access with my subscription to Cricut Design Space. I've only touched the tip of the "iceberg" with using the die cuts on the cartridges. So many choices, so little time!

This afternoon I played along with the sketch by deconstructing jen and the color challenge from colourQ. Loved both the sketch and the colors and just had to make a card.

The solid papers are SU and I included the new Cherry on Top DSP as the background paper. The stamp is SU's B.Y.O.P., the circles were cut using the Starburst dies. I finished off with a button and white twine, also by SU.

I hope you have enjoying your Thursday, I have mine. It's always a plus when I actually create something. Have a blessed evening, and if you have not created today, go do something CRAFTY!

Hugs,
Bernie Bee

Bread, Soup but NO Card

Good Morning my crafty friends.  Well I was right, I didn't get a card done. I did go into my Studio, looked around, saw some things I might use to make a card, then walked out...

I had spent time reading my 1 year Bible plan, catching up on emails, and just general surfing the web. Gads, that web surfing eats a lot of time! Have any of you noticed that? I needed to do a grocery run and make a  return, but that was  a "time eater" also. 

Since my GD was coming for dinner, she's a Marine stationed here in Pendleton about 20 minutes away, I decided to make her the Raisin Bread she had been asking for. I have a bread machine and I had the recipe, but let's just say, it was a FAIL. It tasted wonderful, but looked awful. If any one out there in Blog Land has a good Bread Machine Raisin Bread recipe, just send me an email (bpb4553@gmail.com). I found several on the web, yes here I go again, and will try one this weekend and let you know the results.

My Raisin Bread FAIL

I also made a soup that I haven't made in a very long time and served it with some homemade Sweet Milk White Bread.  I love soup, but I seem to stick with Chicken Soup, which is my very favorite. Oh, I have tried others, but always go back to Chicken Soup. The ultimate comfort food, but  thought today I would revisit an old favorite.

This Mini Meatball Minestrone is one that I made quite often when we had our 7 children at home. Since we raised our own beef and grew zucchini, it was a great match for use that was simple and economical. It turned out just like I remember and is on my lunch menu today.

 Although I like this soup anytime of the year, you might use it to round out your Fall/Winter menu.

Mini Meatball Minestrone

1 28 oz.can diced tomatoes

2 cups shredded cabbage

2 small zucchini, sliced (2 C, I use 3 C)

1 12 oz. Whole kernel corn (undrained)

1 Tbsp. Olive oil

2 ribs of celery, sliced

1 med. onion, chopped 

1/2 C broken vermicilli  (I just use reg. spaghetti) 

1/2 C Red wine (this can be omitted, but does aseem to give it more depth of flavor)

2 tbsp. snipped celery

1 1/4 tsp. instant beef bouillon

1 tsp. dried Oregano

1/4 tsp. dried basil

*1/8 tsp. garlic powder (next time I would use fresh garlic and saute it with the onions and celery.)

In a Dutch oven, add the olive oil until heated, add the onion and celery and cook until translucent. Add 4 cups water, 3/4 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper, tomatoes, cabbage, zucchini, undrained corn, red wine, bouillon, and remaining herbs. Bring mixture to boiling;  reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20 - 30 minutes. *I simmered mine for 30 minutes.

Meatballs - preheat oven to 350

1 lb. ground beef

1 beaten egg

1/3 fine, dry bread crumbs

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Add all ingredients to bowl, mix well. Shape into 36 small balls. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cook apprx. 20 minutes. 

Add spaghetti and drained meatballs to soup; cook for another 15 min covered or until spaghetti is cooked. ENJOY!

That's about it.  I hope to have a CRAFTY day and pray you do also. 

Hugs,

Bernie Bee

Super Sweet

After many weeks of not creating a card, today I was able to. YEAH ME!

I wanted to make a card honoring the 
MOJO MONDAY sketch #400.

I had several different colors rolling around in my head, but I just received my SU order and the new paper pack, Cherry on Top DSP and just had to use it. I wasn't sure if I would  to like it, but I do.  There are lots of cute patterns and the colors are really nice. I also used the new in color, Watermelon Wonder. I think this one is my favorite out of the five colors. Who doesn't like watermelon? :0}

I used an image from the Cricut Design Space, Very Merry Tags and the sentiment is from Taylored Expressions, Fruity Friends, and other various products from SU.

I'll sign off for now.  I hope I can get another card created and posted tomorrow. See you then...

Hugs,

Bernie Bee