Concerts at Universal

Here I am at the Cheryl Crow concert at Universal Studios a few weeks ago. We had such a good time. We always bring along our roll-up blanket to sit on and listen to the concerts. This year we saw 3 Doors Down, Cheryl Crow, and Chicago. All the concerts were great but Cheryl sounded fabulous! There is a Mardi Gras parade before the concerts in which they throw beads to the crowd, so you can see my hub caught some for me. He's so tall, he doesn't have to put much effort into catching the beads. Watching him is entertainment enough! We had such great weather too, it was so nice to wear shorts on such mild evenings.

Miles of Smiles,

Button Jars

Look at these adorable button jars that I found at Michael's dollar bin. They are so cute! The lid is a giant button and they even had the matcing ribbon hangers. I bought every color they had. They just need to get more colors. Love 'em!

Miles of Smiles,

See Me In a Video at Above Rubies Studio!!

Wow! Kind of exciting! I am featured in a video with Megan at Above Rubies Studio! This is my first time in a video online. Eeeek! I am doing a tutorial of how I create rolled paper roses. We were at the Sunshine Crop last Saturday while Megan was visiting Florida and she saw me making the roses and asked if I'd do a video for it. It was a lot of fun, although I was a little nervous! Please go check out my video at Above Rubies Studio!

Miles of Smiles,

Two Little Thank You's

Here are two little thank you cards I created recently. I used patterned cardstock for the base of the cards and punched holes in the top to add sheer ribbon. I added a torn vellum panel with clear stickers of very pretty painted flowers. I attached it to the card and Stickled the torn edge. I then added the "thanks" sticker, using a marker to color one green. I wanted these cards to be simple and not overdone, and similar but not exactly the same. One of my favorite effects is using Stickles over the torn edges of paper. Have a great weekend everybody!

Miles of Smiles,

Farewell Sweet ZC

Today, April 12th, 2010 was a most difficult day. As many of you may remember, in January we found out our little calico cat ZC had cancer. The vet said it was inoperable. For over four months we lived with the knowledge that our little ZC wouldn't be with us much longer. We've had her for over ten years. She was Ben's (my hub's) first pet. We were volunteering at the Humane Society when I spotted her and knew instantly she was the cat for Ben. She had just the right amount of attitude, but was lovey and sweet too. She made us laugh at how prim and proper she could be, and how she kept her paws so white and her feet so pink. We often said her fur was as soft as rabbit fur. And those gosh darn freckles were too cute! She was a kitten when we brought her home and Ben accidentally shut her tail in a drawer that very first night! Oh he thought she would hate him. But she loved us....usually on her own terms, but that was ok with us. We said we would keep her until her quality of life deteriorated. Unfortunately that happened within the last couple of weeks. The cancer was eating her up. But she was such a trooper...never complained, and was lovey right up to the end. The hardest thing as I'm sure any pet owner will agree, is having to make the choice of putting your pet down. Even knowing it was coming, our hearts just broke. Knowing we will never see her again, or hear her purr leaves a gaping hole in our hearts, in our family. I think in some way we were hoping she would go naturally here at home, like Poey did. That would have given us some relief I suppose. But to have to make that decision even knowing it's in her best interest just twists the knife in our hearts. Strangely, it was the month of April that we lost Poey too. Mental note: April is not a good month for cats.... So we say farewell to our little ZC...Kitten Pie, Presh Pie, Our Girl, Little Lady. Our hearts are heavy now and she will always be missed and always loved. I hope she found Poey and they will both greet us when it is our time to pass. She filled our hearts and home with love and humor, and our hearts and home will never be the same without her. We love you ZC, you'll always be "Our Girl."

Ric-Rac Bird for BBTB2

Hello Hello Hello! Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Here is my latest design for the BBTB2. The challenge was to use the ric-rac cut from Plantin Schoolbook. Soooo...I cut out the bird from the 50 States cartridge in black cardstock and covered it with various printed ric-rac cardstock, overlapping them, then trimming the edges. I inked the edges of the bird in white and sprayed the whole bird with bronze Ritzy Ditzy Glitz (similar to Tattered Angels spray, but I like this kind better because it dries almost instantly). I used kraft cardstock to create a card, inking the edges in white. I then added ric-rac borders to the top and bottom, scrunched up a piece of patterned paper and glued it to the card. Over the weekend I had created various paper roses (see my upcoming video on Above Rubies Studio!!!!!! eeek!) and I attached them to the card with polka dotted paper flowers beneath. I then sprayed the whole card with garnet Ritzy Ditzy Glitz. The bird was attached with foam dots and I added the silver metal words, which were on clearance for 25 cents at Michael's. Go check out the other designers take on the challenge at Bitten By The Bug2!

Miles of Smiles,

Windmill Birdhouse

Here is my last house for the swap I've been in. I got the windmill at Michael's and cut off the "fans" from the arms because I thought they were just awful looking! I painted it white and then a couple of coats of pearl paint. I stamped the butterfly image with StazOn ink, blinging it up with some rhinestones and blue Stickles. I painted the roof and platforms blue. I cut the black foil paper to fit the bottom part of the windmill. I border punched black cardstock and adhered around the platforms and the roof. I also added black flocked swirls to the roof. I painted the arms blue and ran strips of black cardstock on the sides to hide where the "fans" were attached. I then wrapped the arms with black and white polka dot ribbon. I attached a white silk bow above the door, screwed on the arms and glued on a pearl to hide the screw head. I really was going for an elegant, classy look with this project. I think I captured that with the colors, the toile look of the rubber stamping and the foil paper. It was hard to let this one go!

Miles of Smiles,

Sleeping Beauty Baby Door Sign

Here is my latest design for the Bitten By The Bug2 Challenge. We were to use the baby in the sling cut from the New Arrival cartridge. I created a door sign for a baby's room. I started with a piece of textured yellow cardstock and punched a border all around the edge. I inked it with pink. I rounded the corners of a piece of blue stars patterned paper, inked the edges, and attached it to the cardstock. I cut out the baby in cream cardstock, chalked the edges in pink and drew on the features with colored pencils; and cut the sling from a pink striped paper that I inked the edges of, added a button and the chipboard Bundle of Joy. Now don't be upset about what I'm about to say....but I cut off the baby's arm!...but rounded the shoulder so it looks like his arms are safely tucked away in the sling. Disclaimer: *NO DIECUTS WERE HURT IN THE MAKING OF THIS PROJET!* lol I attached the baby with 2 layes of foam tape. I put the letter stickers that spell Sleeping Beauty onto scraps of yellow cardstock and cut freehand rectangles around them, then inked them in...wait for it....Pink! (Are you seeing a trend here??) And then attached them with foam dots too. I added buttons to the corners, flowers with pearl brads, an event ticket, and a sheer pink ribbon hanger tied through the top corners. I also put a dainty line of glitter glue around the sling, the letter blocks, and the event ticket just to give it a little sparkle. I thought it was kind of funny to use the Admit One event ticket cuz baby naps are usually when everyone wants to go in and take a peek at the baby and ooh and aww over them. It's kind of like "Admit One...Let the Baby Sleep In Peace". lol Go see the other designer's take on this cut over at BBTB2. They are all so cute!

Miles of Smiles,

Top Secret Info at Above Rubies Studio LEAKED!

Oh my goodness...it looks like Megan made an "OOPS" at Above Rubies Studio and leaked out information about an upcoming Top Secret Mission for the Design Team! Oh no! I think maybe she thought she was sending us designers the e-mail but it accidentally got posted to her blog! Travesty!!! Whatever you do, DON'T go to see what this Top Secret Mission is all about! For heaven's sake, don't click HERE to see this highly confidential information!

Happy April Fool's Day!!!