I wanted to share some of the pictures that I have taken of the bluebirds. I didn’t get a chance to peek in the house today – mom was staying pretty close so the babies may be hatching. I’ll try to peek in tomorrow.
mama bluebird looking out of the bird house
mama bluebird sitting on one of the feeder poles
mama bluebird sitting on the porch rail
daddy bluebird is sitting on the house and mama is back on the fence
both bluebirds on the peanut feeder
Thanks for stopping by!
I had one of those “a-ha” moments last week while assembling my brand new A Round Array stamp set. It’s a sneak peek from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! Annual catalog and right now you can get it in a bundle with the coordinating 7/8″ Scalloped Circle punch for 15% off or just order the stamp set early. I got this stamp set in Clear mount (that’s available early if you want wood you’ll have to wait for the new catalog) and one of the things that I have been doing with all of my clear mounted stamps is to trim the labels close to the image before attaching them to the stamp. Doing that leaves a little bit of the foam exposed and it sticks better to the clear block than the label clings. You could leave the labels off but I want to know what I’m stamping to I want the labels on. Any way – my “a-ha” moment came when I realized I could PUNCH the labels! Before you peel any of the backing off just use the punch to punch them out then attach to the stamp!
That was so much faster and cleaner than cutting them out. I wish I had figured that out sooner and did it on some of my other stamps too. So if you can punch them then you can also use the framelits to cut out the ones that match those.
Now to show you the card that I created using this cute set –
Do you see the fancy edge on the right side? Well the card base was cut using the Pop ‘n Cuts Card Base die. The back of the card has the little slits that the tabs can slide in to hold it shut. Here are a few more details:
(from the Stampin’ Up! Spring catalog)
I checked in on the bluebirds today while mom and dad were out – all 5 eggs are still there – no babies yet. Today is day 12. So any day now they will start hatching – we shall see how many babies we get – hopefully all 5 will be there in a few days. I better fill up the bird feeders again. The squirrels have been driving me crazy – they have learned how to get around the baffle finally – he uses it as a spring board now – grrr. And the squirrel proof feeder – while it does close once the squirrel has his weight on it but he know that when he jumps on it seed flies out and he can jump back down and get all of that. I call the them “he” but I’m sure some are “she’s” in fact one looks like she is either going to have babies or just had some babies.
Thanks for checking in with me today!
These turned out to be the perfect pictures for this scrapbook layout I created earlier this year. I made the layout for a scrapbook swap that I participated in at the Stampin’ Up! Leadership conference. I really love this layout but it has lots of pieces! And after making 10 of them for the swap – I was ready to put it away for a while. This weekend though I pulled it back out and while I was looking through some pictures I found these that I took of Ryan last Easter in 2012. Ryan is stylin’ the long hair and he has some beautiful eyes – he often gets comments about his eyes and I was lucky enough to get these pictures of him – he was “modeling” for me – it rarely happens – and then I got a candid shot where you can really see his eyes. I had hoped to get some good pictures this year at our Easter gathering but mother nature didn’t really cooperate and it rained on and off all after noon.
Here are some close ups and a few details on what I used on the layout –
Several of the products are from the Stampin’ Up! Spring Catalog –
And some of the regular catalog products include:
I hope you like this layout as much as I do. Thanks for stopping by today.
Well this is my last Create with Connie & Mary challenge card. It has been a fun time each week with the sketch and colors challenges. I’ll be doing something different for the month of April and then with a busy few months through the summer I don’t plan to be on any challenge teams for a while. Connie & Mary will have some new designers on the challenge team and they have a new Card class going on to so be sure to check out what they are doing.
This week at Create with Connie & Mary we were issued a sketch challenge!
I created an Easter card actually a few weeks ago and now I can’t remember if I made it based on this sketch or if it just conveniently worked out that way 🙂 – I think I’m getting old because I really can’t remember. So here it is –
It’s a perfect match to that sketch don’t you think? But it is a twist since it is an Oval shaped card – I love it! I made use of the Oval Framelits for all the layers on the card.
Here are the are some details –
I’m spending the rest of the week getting ready for Easter – I will have 30 people here for lunch – mostly extended family and a few friends. I’m not sure we will have an egg hunt though – all the kids have grown up most are in college now – we have a few high schoolers but no little kids here this year. I may need to come up with some games to play instead.
Visit the Create with Connie & Mary site to see the creations from the rest of the design team and to submit your own creation for this new challenge. I hope you will play along. Every week the top 3 are announced from each challenge – maybe this week it will be you!
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
Thank you again for letting me be part of the weekly challenge team. Continue to enjoy the challenges!
Today I have another scrapbook layout to share with you. I usually post the layouts from my scrapbook classes and I don’t have photos on them. I add the photos later – at least that is the plan. This layout was based on one that was in the Stampin’ Success Demonstrator magazine maybe a year or so ago. It was a single page layout and I modified it to be a double page layout.
The stamp set that I used is Circle Circus – the circles are stamped and punched and scattered around the layout. The page has 2 hidden journaling and photo spots. On the left page there is a pocket where you can add some hidden journaling. It was made with the Petite Pocket Die.
The tag pulls out. And then on the right page there is a little flip up page where you can add photos or both a photo and some journaling.
The top part would probably be best for journaling and the bottom for a large photo. The little love you banner would be attached on the picture. For this layout I’m not exactly sure which pictures I’m going to put on here yet.
I like the addition of the doilies behind all the circles. And the little bitty buttons tied with the linen thread.
In case you want an update on the Bluebirds – the momma is sitting on her eggs – we have had some unusually cold days this week – we are a good 20-30 degrees below normal! Today is sunny and she has been out a lot eating – it is a little bit warmer than it has been and hopefully will continue to get warmer. It is now day 6 – so she is about half way through incubating the eggs. Tomorrow I’ll try to get outside and refill the feeders – I had to get more regular seed at the bird store today. I have peanut splits and some suet out there and that’s what they have been eating. Not just the bluebirds – there have been lots of birds out today eating.
Come back tomorrow for my Create with Connie & Mary challenge card – a pretty Easter card.
Milton, Georgia
Hi! I am a Stampin’ Up! independent demonstrator in Milton, Georgia. I love being creative and want to share it with you! On my blog I will share creative ideas using Stampin’ Up! products and you’ll also hear about my family and my dogs.
I look forward to helping you get your creative juices flowing!
Lets get crafty,
Monika Davis
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