Thank you

Thank you so much to everyone who made my birthday so special. I enjoyed each and every card, phone call and gift. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

On that note here are three simple little thank you cards I made. I tried something new on this first card. I bought a Hambly Studios overlay that is printed on acetate. It is called Urban Chic frames. I cut out one that is just the right size to fit the opening on the front of the card and attached it on top with two little black brads. Then I stamped the sentiment and the flowers inside the square opening on the inside of the card. I thought it needed just a tiny bit more so I added the red Prima flower.
I also added the flower stamp to the front and back of the envelope. I just love it when they match. The stamp set is the Carte Postale set from Stampin Up! I used Basic Black SU! ink.

The next two cards are very similar. I die cut the flower, vine and the word "thanks" with my Quikutz dies. I used the Quikutz Quik Strips self adhesive paper. It makes it so easy to stick it down when the adhesive is already on there. I popped dotted the flower and it's red center, I then added the button on top. Nice and simple.

This last card I used the same paper and Quikutz dies to make the vine. I used a Gin X coaster board flower and covered it in a scrap of Basic Grey patterned paper. I covered the center in a scrap of pink card stock and added a button. Last I stamped the Thank you sentiment with a stamp by Endless Creations, Inc. that I got at Archivers.

Thank you for looking.

Next weekend......Bridal shower pictures!

We love the zoo

Hello everyone. Yesterday morning we went to the zoo with a group of friends. We had a great time. We were there for the longest time we have ever stayed for. About 5 hours of animal filled fun in the partly cloudy sunshine. Here we are checking out the elephants.

We rode on the carousel for the first time. Sarah sat on a bench with some friends and Theresa rode on a blue nosed baboon that went up and down. They both loved it.

We got to feed the rainbow lorakeets. This is my FAVORITE exhibit at our zoo in Denver. You go into a big fenced in cage. You can buy a little cup of mystery "nectar" for $1.00 and feed it to the birds. They go crazy for it. They come right up to you to eat it. Sometimes a friendly one will sit on your arm and snack. It is so cool. They are gorgeous birds as you can see. The girls each fed the birds and loved that they could get so close. This photo was not taken with a zoom lens. This handsome fella was right next to us. They are very well behaved too.

We walked every where and saw most of the animals. This last photo was taken inside the Tropical Discovery building. There are all kinds of animals, insects, snakes and fish in there. I love the sea horses. I love that the daddies have the babies in their abdomens and then take care of them after giving birth. Hooray for seahorse daddies! Oh, I also like how pretty and graceful they are too. I also like that they look nothing like a horse overall.

I hope everyone else is having a great summer so far. I hope you enjoy some cliche summer fun just like we are. It isn't summer without it.

Love to everyone out there.

Brian is in Colorado

For all the family members who sometimes peek at the blog, Brian is visiting. He was here in Broomfield last week. He seemed to have a nice time playing with his cousins. He loved the Legos in our basement. He is now in Pueblo visiting with Geoff and his family. It's good to see him again.

Love ya Brian!!

Happy Father's Day

Hello and happy father's day to all you wonderful men out there. Here is a quick peek at some tins I decorated up as father's day gifts. I found them at Archiver's last week on my birthday. I loved that they were just the right size for a gift card or a wallet sized photo. I tried it out both ways and they turned out pretty well.

Below is the outside top of the tins. I stamped a Hero Arts tree stamp and used some great Dad themed patterned paper by Paper salon. I kept it pretty simple. Dads don't like all the cute stuff us moms do.

The lid slides off sideways. On the inside of the lids I stamped a Celebrating you stamp from Stampin Up! and signed our names.

The tins for my dad and Duane's dad had a gift card to Home Depot inside. The tin for Duane had a photo of our girls inside. (He ordered himself a gift a week ago.) I attached the photo to some more patterned paper and rounded all the corners. Then I attached it to the inside of the tin with some foam pop dots. They turned out pretty well. Nice and simple for our special guys. Thanks for looking. Hope you all had a great father's day.

Our trip to Jellystone

Hello everyone in blogger land. We are back from our camping trip. We had a very fun time. A very windy and cold time, but a nice time in spite of it.

We arrived around 2 o'clock on Friday and set up camp. It was warm and sunny out, beautiful. We had a fun time discovering our surroundings and making a nice supper. Some friends of ours had the camping spot right next door. We all made smores for dessert. I have to say that Sarah and Theresa were looking forward to this part very much. They loved it.


On Saturday we kept busy with raising the flag, doing crafts, playing mini golf & discovering. It was colder and windier that day. We went into Estes Park for pizza at supper time, because we couldn't keep the fire or the grill lit because of the wind and damp. It was Yogi Bear's birthday so we went and had cake at a party for him at 7:00. The kids didn't seem to mind the cold after they had cake. Below is a picture taken early on Saturday. Sarah is on the left Theresa is on her right. The other kids are the friends we were camping with. Left is little Colin and right is Mara. The girls loved having their friend to play with all weekend.


Here is Sarah putting. She was so careful about how she held the putter. She wanted to do it just right. Theresa and Mara just scooted their balls in and ran ahead. They wanted to go fast.

I for one didn't sleep much all weekend. I'm not in my 20's anymore. Laying on the ground wasn't much fun. I will never take my sleep number bed for granted again. Thanks for looking!!

A visit and a hail storm

Hello everyone. I just wanted to post a quick photo of Walker Field Bucknam. He is two weeks old. We went to visit my good friend Tiffany and her little ones yesterday. Sarah and Theresa had a nice time playing with Allison and gazing at Walker. Tiffany is doing well and just wishing for a little sleep as all mommies do. Sorry the photo is so blurry. This is what my camera does with no flash. But you get the idea that he is tiny, sweet and yummy. I'm sorry there is no scratch and sniff function on my blog yet. I promise that he has a wonderful new baby smell.

We also had some hail yesterday. It didn't last long. The stones were pretty small. They weren't any bigger then large peas or small garbanzo beans. I only lost one leaf off of my tomato plants. No biggie. Wacky, but not serious.

We are spending the day getting ready for camping tomorrow. The girls are very excited. We will be sure to post pics and stories of our adventures when we return.

Love to everyone!

Happy Tuesday

Hello everyone. Happy Tuesday. I am working on this bookmark as part of the thank you treat bags for my sister's wedding shower. I just wanted to show you what a nice simple thing you can make from scraps. Yes! I said scraps. The kind that were about to hit the bottom of the trash can.

I was helping Marie make her wedding invitations and on some items included in the envelopes there was trimming involved. We had a big pile in front of us. Marie asked if I wanted them. She had them in her hand and was hovering over the trash can. I looked and realized they were the perfect size for bookmarks. Following her invitation theme I borrowed her cherry blossom stamp.

The red and ivory cardstock is hers. I know she ordered it online from a company that sells in bulk. The pink is a scrap from my scrap stash (it might have come from Archiver's). The stamp is called "cherry blossom" by Rubber Stampede. The ink is a Color Box cats eye fluid inkpad in Chestnut Roan. I colored in the stamped image with a Staedtler water color pencil set and a water brush. The little pearls are Pearls Perles by Mark Richards for Crystal Stickers. The ivory ribbon came from Michaels, its by Offray.

I plan on including one of these for each guest along with something else as a party favor. There will be some variation from one to the next. I will have to get more pink cardstock for the layering. I like it pretty well so far. Perhaps on the other side I should add something that has the shower date and bride's name. Or maybe a little poem with a "Thank you" theme.

Thanks for looking. TTFN!

Second test flight

Wow! That first post went really well. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.


Want more? OK.


This past weekend my brother and his family came for a little visit. We celebrated Ruth's birthday and had lots of laughs. Sabrina and Marie kidnapped me for a girl's night out. We had a blast. I mixed Zyrtec-D and a margarita and turned into a giggle pot.

Here is a cute pic of Ruth. She laughed and covered her face when we sang her happy birthday. I don't know if she loved it or was embaressed. She loved the cake and presents too. I hope she had a good time. She loved spending the weekend with Sarah and Theresa. She kissed, hugged and held their hands all weekend. She loved having two big kids to play with for sure. They splashed in the kiddie pools, dug in the sandbox, played at the rec. center and laughed lots.

Edward (above) was a blast. He is so easy going and ready to smile at everyone. He especially loved hanging with Geoff and Duane. He is just ready to be one of the guys I guess. He looks just like his daddy which is funny. (Its the bald head.) We had a great time and can't wait for their next visit.

Hope you all enjoy the photos.

Test Flight

I wanted to start this blog to share family photos and events. I also wanted a forum to share crafting ideas with the world at large. I hope family and friends will check back from time to time to see the latest news. Who knows, maybe I will make some new friends too.

I want to start off right so here is a photo of the girls to get us started. Here is a pic of Duane with them in a hot tub. We went two weekends ago to visit Laramie, Wy. Duane is the godfather to a friend's gorgeous baby. We went and stayed the night before his baptism. The girls had fun swimming before dinner. They loved staying in a hotel. Theresa informed us that she wants to live there when she grows up. Then she can swim every day.

Preschool is out for the summer. The girls were sad to say goodbye to their teachers. They are thrilled to be planning for Kindergarten. I have to answer questions every day about what they will do there. I also love hearing from them what they think they will do there. Sarah told me today that her toy, Baby T-Rex, will be going with her. He wants to learn to read.

We have many exciting things going on this summer to keep us all busy. This comming weekend we are taking the girls camping for the first time. We are planning a trip to the zoo soon. Later this month we are throwing a bridal shower for my sister. (I will be posting pics of some things I am making for that.) On 8-8-08 we will be participating in her wedding. I am serving as Matron of Honor and the girls are the flower girls. My nephew is comming to visit all of our family in Colorado for a month too. We will be very busy.

Please check back soon for more photos and news.