davebrethauer

Sending My Love

 

WOW...is it the last day of June already? I can't believe how fast the last few months have gone by. We are finally starting to get some summer weather here in the Northwest. It is supposed to reach close to 100 degrees by mid week in southern region of my state. A little too hot for my taste, I'm a Spring/Fall kind of girl. In the low to mid 70's is the perfect temperature for me. The night temperatures are still staying cool, so it is not completely unbearable yet.

For my project this week, I wanted to use one of my favorite Memory Box images, Love Kitten(C999). The first time I saw this image, I received a card from a dear friend of mine using this image and thought it was the most adorable kitty. I was immediately on the hunt for one for myself. I also used the Leafy Tree(E1266) image from the Sparkly Bird Bonanza release & the "sun burst" image from the Hear Me Roar(CL131) clear set. The patterned paper is from the Sweetbay 6x6 pack. The sentiment "Sending My Love" has been retired, but I thought it would be a fun sentiment to use on this card. I have many retired Memory Box stamps that I can't part with. I thought it would be fun to use a combination of "old" & "new" stamps this week. I think this would make a fun card to send a little love to a friend or family member.

Start with a Truffle Scallop card as your base. These are part of the Soiree collection. Cut your blue piece of Sweetbay paper to 5" x 3.5". Punch your fence border (I used Martha Stewart border punch) & cut to 5" x 1.5".  Stamp your Leafy Tree image using black ink (I used Memento Tuxedo Black throughout this project). Color with colored pencils. Add you "fence piece" to the patterned blue base. Stamp the Love Kitten onto white or ivory card stock color with colored pencils & cut out omitting the legs. Cut your green piece of Sweetbay paper to 5" x 1 1/8". Stamp the legs of kitty image onto this piece. You will add your cut out piece to the legs later. Cut the grass on the green piece using sharp detail scissors. Be careful not to cut the "legs". Ruffle up the cut pieces of grass using your fingers. Adhere that piece to the base of the punched white fence piece. Stamp your sentiment onto the green piece. Embellish your Love Kitten & Leafy Tree images with Jewel Stickers. I used Cherry (15506) on the tree, and Diamond 15501 on the kitty. Stamp the "sun burst" image onto white card stock & cut out. I used Memento Dandelion ink. I adhered a button to the center using a glue dot & popped the "sun" up using dimensionals.

Enjoy the rest of your week & I hope you will stop back for a visit next week!!

Happy Summer!!

 

Greetings from Minnesota...the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" and very HOT & HUMID weather!!  It sure has been sultry this week (three days of 90-95 degree scorchers) but its better than rain or snow I guess!!  I would be much happier if I was at the lake in Vermont or at the ocean (Cape Cod).  A girl can dream right?  I'm thinking stay COOL!! 

On to stamping business!!  I got a couple new Memory Box treats in my recent travels this month so I had to design a card with one of the ten new clear stamp sets.  I hope you enjoy my card this week but I must admit it was quite putsy but doable!! LOL :)  It did keep my mind off the heat.  The card was made from my favorite new clear set Summer Penguin (CL135).  I plan to mail it off to my middle sister Samantha as she too is a Memory Box *penguin lover* just like her big sis me!!  This adorable penguin makes me smile even when the heat is unbearable due to the high humidity.  As always thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.  I hope you enjoy the weekend.  I will be teaching a Copic summer card class on Saturday and then enjoying the rest of the weekend with friends.  Happy summer!!  Enjoy a nice glass of pink lemonade or iced tea.  Tami  :)  

 

Memory Box Card Supplies:

Notecards - Key Lime, Ocean

Pearl Stickers - Hotpink

Jewel Stickers - Canary, Juicy, Pistachio, Skyblue 

Stamps - Summer Penguin (CL135), Sun (A885), Fun in the Sun (B1077), Happy Summer (B888), Missing You (A852)

Other Card Supplies: 

Ribbon - American Crafts

Cuttlebug Machine - Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Punch - Stampin' Up 

Inks - Versafine Onyx Black and Memento Tuxedo Black

Copics - 0 Colorless Blender, B04, BG05, E51, R35, RV14, Y38, YG06

Prismacolor - Pink 

Bic Mark-it - Stone Grey (I used it to darken any white edges and to color the umbrella pole) 

Spica Glitter Pens - Clear, Lemon

Sakura - Yellow Glaze Pen

Other Paper - Neenah Solar White Classic Crest Cover 80#

Card Directions:

Stamp penguin and her arms (one at a time), sunhat, sundress with shoes, and sunbrella on white paper using Memento black ink.  Color sundress/shoes, sunbrella, sunhat with Copics and Prismacolor Makers.  Cut out all images. Layer a piece of Key Lime paper to an Ocean Notecard as shown.  Cuttlebug white paper using the Swiss Dots folder and adhere to Key Lime panel as shown.  Adhere ribbon to the right side of card as shown.  Using an Exacto knife, slit sunhat under hat brim so a small portion of the penguin's head can slip through the sunhat.  Adhere hat to head area (I used Double-Sided tape).  Adhere *nude penguin* to white paper and then dress her by putting on her colored sundress/shoes as shown.  Glue down sunbrella to white paper and apply a Hotpink Pearl Sticker to top of umbrella.  Stamp the two sentiments on a Key Lime scrap using Versafine black ink and punch out using Stampin' Up window punch. I added four different colors of Memory Box Jewel Stickers (listed above) to sentiments as shown.  Add a Hotpink Jewel to the belt as shown.  Lastly, apply some sparkle to her, the edges of the sentiments, sunhat, and sunbrella using Spica Clear and Lemon Glitter Pens.  

Inside:  Stamp the Sun (A885) in black ink and color in the circle using a Yellow Glaze Pen.  Be sure to let the sun dry good and then use the Spica Lemon Glitter Pen on the sun's rays.  I also stamped Missing You (A852).  I plan to stamp a few flowers (two sizes) from the Summer Penguin Set (CL135) using coordinating Memento bright inks on the inside of the card and probably on the envelope.  Isn't she a cutey pie??  Thanks again and I hope to see you next week.  Ciao!! 

Party at the Pool

I can't tell you how many requests I have had for a "girl" penguin set - and so many specific requests for a girl penguin in a swimsuit. Must be a good summer occasion idea - the penguins are still as popular as ever, and it is fun to add new designs to the Penguin line.

One of the latest additions is the CL135 - where we incorporated a bunch of fun girl penguin elements into one clear set:

Using all of the the different pieces, she can go shopping, swimming, sunbathing or even to Starbucks (wouldn't that be a fun card to make if you are giving someone a coffee gift card?).

Here she is - outfitted in a swimsuit, holding an umbrella and a fruity drink. When we first made the card, it seemed to be missing something... we decided it needed some bling, so we added about 30 Azalea Pink jewel stickers to the swimsuit and a little glitter glue to the drink. Admittedly, it looks a little more "Las Vegas" than "Beach scene" - but it is such a hysterical card that we knew the idea would bring a smile to someone's face!

Simplicity

 

I have always been a fan of clean & simple designs. I think that is one of the things that first attracted me to Memory Box stamps many years ago. I would see sample cards & think, "that's really cute!". Now if I could just color like Dave!! I wanted to share a card this week that follows the clean/simple theme & allows the beauty of the stamp designs to stand out. There is also so much beauty in the array of colors of Memory Box note cards themselves, I wanted to let them shine as well. The colors of note cards/card stock I used for this project were Raspberry, Cotton Candy (exquisite soft pink color), Vanilla Bean & Water Biscotti paper. I used Memento inks in Rich Cocoa & Summer Sky, although I think I would have chose a slightly darker blue for the sentiment in the future since the Summer Sky is a bit hard to see in the photo. I used colored pencils to color the images. All of the stamp images are from the "Little Birdie" (CL133) clear set. I really like that this set gives you the option of adding or leaving off the legs of the birdies. It really makes this set very versatile.
 

Start with a Raspberry note card as your base. I had a scrap of Vanilla Bean card stock (from a previous project) cut to 4.25" x 1/2". It was already dry embossed & the dots were already colored blue, so I thought I could incorporate it into this project. I adhered it to my Raspberry base piece. I also had a piece of Cotton Candy card stock that was already cut to 2.25" x 4.25", so that is what I worked with for my "stamping" base. I stamped the branch that I wanted to have the bird perched on first. I stamped the bird onto the branch & that allowed me to place the other branch images randomly around the rest of the piece. I stamped the bird image onto a scrap of Water Biscotti paper, colored the wings & tail a bit (with colored pencils), and cut out. I added a tiny amount of glitter to the wings & tail, then adhered it to my base piece. I stamped the sentiment in the lower corner (sorry it's hard to see in photo) & adhered the Cotton Candy piece to the Raspberry note card using dimensionals.

Thanks for visiting today! I hope you are having a good start to Summer this week! See you next week!

Sunny Panda

 

Hello friends-

I am sorry my post is a little late today but I just got back from a mini vacation on Mille Lacs Lake in northern MN.  I had to take care of a few pressing things when I returned and it took me forever to unpack and do laundry.  I did teach a stamping class to my friends while we were at the lakeside cabin.  The time went by so quickly but we had fun shopping, stamping, and scrapbooking.  The best part was the friendship and laughter!!  I really enjoyed the S'mores, cosmos, and wine and yes I lived it up a bit.  I hope you will enjoy today's card as I'm a major fan of Dave's adorable panda stamps!!  I do own the entire Memory Box panda collection (don't hate me) and all the stamps that went with the panda release!!  I designed today's card with a few things in mind...a panda, my new Mint Pearl Stickers and Spica pitch black glitter pen, and the Glitterati paper.  I kept getting interrupted with phone calls today but that's life!!  Speaking of stamps, I did manage to purchase a few Memory Box goodies while I was away.  I will admit I was a naughty girl!!  We managed to go shopping at three different scrapbooking/stamping stores in our travels and I'm going to pay for it now!!  Oh well you only live once and one can never have too much *stuff* right friends??!!  I hope you all have a sunny weekend.  It is extremely humid in MN and I hate weather like this.  We are suppose to get our first 90 degree day next Tuesday.  Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next Friday.  Tami

 

Supply List: 

Notecards:  Key Lime, Licorice

Paper Collection:  Glitterati

Stamps:  Sunny Panda C1212, Sparkle A1208, Missing You A852, Happy Summer B888, Come Rain or Shine B1079

Jewel Stickers:  Pistachio  

Pearl Stickers:  Mint

Inks:  Memento-Tuxedo Black, Color Box-Lime

Copic Markers:  Y13

Spica Glitter Pens:  Buttermilk, Lemon, Melon, Mint, Pitch Black

Punch:  Stampin' Up (used on sentiment as shown)  

Other Paper:  Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 80# Cover

 

Card Directions:  

Cut Glitterati paper as shown on card to 4" x 5 1/4" and adhere to a Key Lime notecard.  Stamp Garden Panda using Memento Black ink on a scrap of Glitterati paper (I used the *tie-dyed* grid paper from Glitterati and its the same paper I used last week).  Stamp Garden Panda on white paper and edge white paper with lime ink.  *Paper piece* the panda by cutting out the umbrella, hat, and dress from the stamped Glitterati paper and glue to stamped panda image on white paper in the appropriate area.  I colored the umbrella with Copic Y13 to make the umbrella stand out more.  Adhere white paper pieced panda image to black (Licorice notecard) layer.  I popped up the layered panda using foam dimensionals before attaching it to the Glitterati background paper.  Stamp Come Rain or Shine sentiment on white paper using black ink and punch out using the Stampin' Up window punch.  Edge sentiment with lime ink and highlight the lime edges with Spica mint glitter pen. Highlight the white outer edges of the main panda image using the mint glitter pen.  Use the Spica melon pen to fill in the three buttons on the panda's dress and use Spica pitch black on the umbrella, hat, and dress.  Apply Pistachio Jewels (5) and Mint Pearl Stickers (2) on card as shown.  On the inside stamp Happy Summer in black ink and stamp three black Sparkles.  I highlighted each Sparkle image using a Spica buttermilk glitter pen and put a touch of Spica lemon glitter pen in the middle of each Sparkle image.  On the back of the Key Lime notecard I stamped Missing you in black ink in the middle of the bottom area.  This card was super easy to make and I think it makes an adorable fun summer card!!  Thanks again.  Tami :)

Modern Weddings

It seems like everyone's getting married right now! A former Memory Box staffer was married last month and just this month, our design editor Theresa Laurent, became engaged. As Theresa has begun planning for her big day, it got me to thinking about all of the options out there these days. From wedding venues, dresses, catering, honeymoon trips all the way down to invitations, the possibilities are quite endless.

Will the wedding be indoors or outdoors?

Traditional or modern?

Mini cheeseburgers or goat cheese canapes?

A trip to Disneyland or Bora Bora?

Monica and I are happy not to have to make choices between so many wonderful places and foods. But we are of course happy to help with wedding ideas! We are sending out another display of wedding and party ideas to our Memory Box Notecard and Soiree Paper stores, and I thought I would share one of the wedding stationery sets with you.

I think that it is so easy to make a personal, handmade invitation for a special event. Figuring out color and the image you want to use on the invitation is the fun part - and with todays printers and color copiers, the production part is a snap!

We decided on a green and brown theme for this invitation - so we used the Soiree Celery and Truffle colored papers to create the whole set. The invitation was printed on our textured Cream cardstock - I just created the wording in Microsoft Word and took the file to Office Depot to have them print the file onto my cardstock on their color copy machine. The printing was super crisp and I was really happy with the result.

I decided on a non-traditional, long invitation that fit inside of our beautiful #10 Policy envelopes. I trimmed the cream paper down, layered it with a piece of celery cardstock and finished it off with some stamping for a stylish presentation. I stamped the invitations with our A1208 Sparkle stamp (using Versamagic Tea Leaves and Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink).

The Save the Date card was done in similar style - we made it in an A6 size format, using the same simple composition. The text was aligned to the left side of the card, with a mixture of elegant and contemporary fonts in matching green and brown colors. A word about the colors, I've noticed that getting the colors close to the paper color is usually sufficient. Trying to exactly match the color of the words to the paper color is quite tedious and printing tends to shift colors anyway. I think getting the font close to the color of the paper is fine and if the colors are  a little different, it actually adds a little bit of color depth anyway.

The Sparkle image is stamped along the right side of the design, in the upper right corner. The idea is to make the image appear a little random, since lining up the image would be really difficult. I stamped the Sparkle in brown first, leaving space in between images so that I could go back and fill in with some "green" sparkles.

For a reception card, we tucked a 4 Bar Celery card inside of a 4 Bar Celery Envelope - the attached cream piece was printed with the location of the reception in the same fonts and colors, and the Sparkle had been stamped on the side, to tie all of the pieces of the invitation together.

You can see how you can go on with this theme (and the composition is quite easy to do again and again) on other parts of the wedding invitation - response cards, direction cards, wedding programs and menus - even the thank you cards could be done with this simple and stylish scheme.

Class Act

 

Hey everyone!! I hope you are having a good week so far. Are you ready for the official start of summer this weekend? We have had some really different weather for this time of year around here, so it hasn't really felt like summer weather yet. I think a was able to capture a little better photo of my card this morning. I wasn't happy with the color representation in my previous photos, so I tried to get one this morning in different lighting. I still need lessons on taking photos. :) I used images from the High Wire Bearclear set (CL134) for this project. I was also able utilize some scrap pieces of card stock I had around into this project as well. I'm always saving those scraps for future use. It is hard to see in the photo, but some of the stars along the band of blue on the left side are done with Biscotti Water card stock (a very pale shade of blue).  If you would like detailed instructions/supplies used for this project, I have listed them for you below. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Start with a Key Lime note card. Cut two pieces of Iris card stock cut to 1/2" wide & length of 4.25" on one piece & 5.5" on the other piece. Adhere the pieces to your Key Lime note card, one horizontally, & one vertically. Stamp the "class act" sentiment in black ink (I used Memento Tuxedo Black) to the Iris piece. Adhere desired amount of Juicy (15504) jewel stickers to both sides of sentiment.  Stamp the polar bear & carpet onto a piece of Water card stock cut to 3" x 2.5". I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink on the entire card. Stamp the "carpet" image onto piece of patterned paper from the Poppyfinch paper pack. Cut that piece out & adhere it to the carpet image stamped on the piece of Water card stock. Stamp the "polar bear" image onto a piece of white card stock, color & cut out. Adhere that to the Water piece as well. I stamped the "stars" onto white card stock, colored with Copics  & cut out, just because I wanted to make sure that I got my colors how I wanted before they were permanent on the water card stock. You could stamp the stars directly to the Water card stock as well & color if you like. I put a Juicy jewel sticker on the tip of the hat & also added some to the bear's vest for buttons/snaps. I lightly sponged purple ink around the edges of the water card stock to soften the edge a bit. Adhere the Water piece to a piece of white card stock cut slightly larger, and trim the edges with decorative scissors. I adhered with dimensional stickers to my Key Lime note card.  The stars were stamped onto Biscotti Water & Lavender scraps. I cut out & adhered them randomly to my vertical Iris strip.

I hope you have enjoyed my "Tuesday inspiration" this week. I hope you will stop by again next Tuesday!

Dear 'ole Dad!!

 

Hello friends-

I hope you have had a great and productive week.  I've been keeping busy myself.  Today I'm taking a card class on Glimmer Mist.  I'm looking forward to learning more about the product and using it on my future crafting projects.  As I have mentioned in my previous posts I usually like to design a card with a person in mind whether it be for this weekly guest blog or a card I will be teaching in a class.  This week I designed a card for my Dad as Father's Day is June 21 and its also the first day of summer.  I need to write it out and get it off to NH before I go on a little mini vacation "up north" as the Minnesotans say to Mille Lacs Lake!!  I'm really looking forward to staying at a lakeside cabin with my friends for a few days and getting a little "R & R"!!  I know we are going to have a blast!!  My parents sold their summer home in Vermont a few years ago and I miss it something wicked.  Of course I would prefer the ocean (especially Cape Cod) but its a little hard to get there nowadays seeing I live in the Midwest. I don't want to bore you any longer so I best get on with my Friday card post I whipped up for my Dad who is simply the BEST Father and an avid golfer.  I miss him dearly (Hi Dad) as well as the rest of my family that all live out East.  Nothing like good 'ole New England and that's where Dave will be teaching some of his card classes in July.  His first stop is Massachusetts and that's where I grew up.  I wonder if Dave will start saying *WICKED* and drive like a maniac??  You know what they say about those *Massachusetts drivers*!!  I used to be one but now I'm a Minnesotan well kind of!!  Please no offense to anyone in Massachusetts.  : )

I do want to add it was *a little* challenging for me to get all the components of this card to come together seeing I didn't want it to be feminine nor use any ribbon on a card for my Dad!!  He loves music and he loves to dance.  This particular designer paper reminds me of the Grateful Dead for some odd reason and tie-dyed clothing.  Am I dating myself??  Yikes but I am a Dead Head!!  LOL!!  This is my very first time working with the colorful Glitterati paper collection which is really different from Dave's other papers.  It was fun looking at all of it.  I tried really hard to keep my card somewhat *macho* as its going to a marvelous and macho man!!  Thanks for stopping by and reading my little sillies.  Its kind of fun especially when you leave me a little you know what!!  I hope you enjoy my card and that you will check back next Friday!!  What if I am not home yet??  Yikes!!  I will be enjoying myself with my girlfriends at the cabin (we are so not fisher women but we love to craft and do other things).  We hope to visit with my good friend Laurel and go to her stamp shop.  She is the one that made me go crazy for Memory Box!!  Darn you Laurel!!  Now I have a HUGE Memory Box collection and the sad part is I want more stamps, rhinestones, pearls, notecards, paper, the new scalloped cards, and more!!  Have a great weekend my friends.  SUNshine wishes!!  Tami...Extra Big Smiles :O)

 

Supply List:

Notecards:  Gourd, Vanilla Bean, Key Lime

Paper Collection:  Glitterati

Stamps:  Sparkle A1208, You've Groovy Baby B1218, You're An Inspiration B1217, Oh Happy Day B1216, Eclipse Tree C1249  

Jewel Stickers:  Canary, Lagoon, Pistachio  

Inks:  Memento-Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa; Color Box Chalk Inks-Chestnut Roan, Lime Pastel, Tangerine, Yellow Citrus

Copic Markers:  E35, E37, Y13, Y19, Y38, 0 Blender

Spica Glitter Pens:  Buttermilk, Clear, Lemon, Orange 

Cuttlebug: Not sure of the folder name? (little squares)

Other Paper:  Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 80# Cover

 

Card Directions:

Cut Glitterati paper as shown on card to 4 x 5 1/4" and edge with orange Chalk ink.  Adhere to Gourd notecard.  Stamp Eclipse Tree in black Memento Ink on white paper and color with Copics.  Edge colored tree with yellow citrus Chalk ink.  Layer tree image with a piece of Vanilla bean (brown) notecard.  I edged the brown paper so there are no white edges. I know...Miss Fussy!!  Cut a strip of paper from a Key Lime notecard as shown and run it through the Cuttlebug. I edged this piece with lime pastel Chalk ink to color any white spots of the paper.  Adhere main tree image and *Cuttlebugged* strip as shown.  Stamp the two sentiments in black ink.  Use an assortment of Memory Box rhinestones inside of the *o's* on each word that has an o in it.  I listed the three colors of rhinestones I used above on the card supply list.  Stamp small Sparkle (I used it as a sun) in Memento brown ink and stick a Canary rhinestone in the middle. I highlighted the *sun* with a Spica buttermilk glitter pen (I love this new color).  Use the other Spica glitter pens I listed to highlight the areas you want to add a little sparkle.  For the inside of the card I used a scrap of Glitterati paper and stamped Oh Happy Day in black.  I highlighted all the sentiments with a Spica clear glitter pen.  And there you have it a sweet little cheery card.  Thanks again!!     

Fernbrae Birdie

 

Tuesday greetings! I'm posting a bit later today because I wanted to give you guys a chance to see Dave's post below first, so be sure to check it out! Have you picked up some of the new clear sets yet?  The "Little Birdie" setthat I used on my card this week has been a joy to play with. I still can't get over the incredible quality of these stamps. When I stamp an impression with these new sets, it makes me happy! You will love them! I wanted to use some more bright colors this week, so I used some papers from the Fernbrae 6x6 paper pack. I also used one of the new A2 scalloped postcard style cards. The solid colored card stock that I stamped the bird image on is actually a very pale blue color. It is hard to tell in the photo that it is blue, but I have listed the color details for you below. I also used a clear Spica glitter pen to add some sparkle & have a close up photo below so you can see that as well.

a little sparkle...

I started with an A2 Aqua Scalloped postcard. I cut a piece of Water card stock to 3.75" x 5" & adhered it to slightly larger piece of black card stock. I cut a piece of Fernbrae (10043) patterned paper to 2" x 5" and adhered it to the left side of the Water piece. I stamped a bird image from the "Little Birdie" (CL133) clear set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I stamped the bird body again onto 2 different scraps of Fernbrae paper. I trimmed out the body of the bird out of one pattern & just the wing out of another pattern. Adhere to your base image stamped on the Water card stock. I popped the wing up with some dimensionals.Stamp some "musical note" images above the bird image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used Memento Ladybug Red to stamp the sentiment "just a little note".

Thanks for visiting my post today! See you next week!

Wishing...I had more time

I've been speeding around the northwest this last week - visiting Stampadoodle in Bellingham for a couple workshops and then Friends and Company in Issaquah for some make and takes. Both visits were in honor of their grand openings - a wonderful circumstance to be a part of! I have taken video of both stores (along with Monkey Love's anniversary celebration) - and I need to find more time so that I can get things coded and onto the site. A person that I met on Saturday told me that she loves the blogs because she gets to travel vicariously through me as I visit stores around America (and she enjoys hearing about all the wonderful food I get to eat too!).

So, like all of us, I have been trying to get everything accomplished during a very busy time of year - my daughter Emma, had a beautiful piano recital with her new piano instructor Karen, the dogs went to the veterinarian, we picked up our weekly supplies of fresh produce from the Columbia City Farmer's Market (we are all happily enjoying the big jar of Woodring Huckleberry Preserves on toasted slices of whole wheat Pain au Levain), we had two very productive planning meetings for upcoming Memory Box projects and I scheduled my workshops for the Summer Class tour.

The kids have been busy tending their own garden this year - and they have seen the good and the bad of being a farmer already! They have been harvesting tender young lettuce for our salad at dinner nearly every evening - and even Cooper has managed to swallow a few leaves (he tends to enjoy the harvesting part more than the eating part!). But on Thursday, as temperatures had soared ever higher throughout the week, we found ourselves paying close attention to watering when the thermometer finally hit 90 degrees. The weather forecast was for a big change during the night, with lots of cool air moving in.

Should we cover the garden? Cool air and hot air mixing could produce some hail...but the forecast was only for some wind. The kids decided that they would rather cover the beds than risk losing their crops. So we covered the beds with fabric - fastening sheets to the side of the raised beds with clothespins. Once we finished, I went to the front yard to water the pots near our front steps.

Out of nowhere, a huge windstorm came roaring over our neighborhood. I saw the neighbor's huge, 100 year old beech tree bend in the sudden gust of wind. Dust billowed up from the street and rushed right at me and then I heard "oh no!" in the backyard. I turned off the hose and quickly darted through the gate to the backyard to see the fabric being blown off the beds - the kids frantically trying to hold down the edges with their hands, feet and knees!

Have you seen the movie Twister? Remember the scene where they are running along a fence and the tornado is behind them, pulling each fence board up into the air one by one? It was nearly the same thing in my garden - except instead, it was clothespins which were popping loose from the sides of the garden beds and shooting up into the air as the fabric pulled away. The dogs were going nuts! The clothespins made a little "zipping" sound as they launched and my dog, Kip, was attacking them as they landed - while our other dog, Biscuit, grabbed hold of the flapping fabric and chewed it into submission.

We realized it was a bit hopeless, as we attempted for a few minutes to reattach the fabric with clothespins, but the gusts (which caused some major problems for boaters on Puget Sound that day) were too strong. So we gave up, and went inside, hoping that the beans, corn, amaranth, watermelon, cucumbers, peas and safflower would just lay down in the wind and straighten back up the next day.

Of course, everything was fine the next morning. The beans were a bit more horizontal, but have since rebounded. A good lesson was learned that day - and I am glad that the kids are taking their garden so seriously!

I wanted to share a couple of nature inspired greetings today using our soiree celery scalloped cards and notecards. This rich green is a beautiful shade to use with colored pencils.

I stamped the Leafy tree (E1266) with black ink, colored with Prismacolor Pencils (Cream and Limepeel for the leaves, a neutral brown for the trunk). Isn't it great how the cream color shows up on the celery cardstock - it almost gives it a glowing appearance. The pistachio jewels were a nice monochromatic addition. I stamped "make a wish" (B831) in Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink for a softer look.

I've shared this image with you several times on the blog - the D1232 Bluebird Branch is one of my favorites. Again, colored pencil is the key here to give it that wonderful soft look.

Prismacolor Cream is used on the front of the bird to give it a glow and Prismacolor Powder Blue is used on the back for the main color. You can see in this close up that I haven't used a lot of pressure when coloring (there is a lot of paper showing through the colored areas). Also, don't overlap the blue and the cream - you'll get a little green if you do! Don't forget to stamp "just a note" (B864).

I'm off to my next project - who knows, maybe I'll get it done early!