Stingray – Crystal Beach, Texas – June 27, 2009

As we were getting to the beach today, a guy was standing on the beach reeling (and reeling and reeling) in his line. We suspected a pretty good sized shark, but were surprised (pleasantly, I might add!) to see that it was this big Stingray. The kids & I walked over to see up-close. And since I happened to have my camera in hand to take some pictures of the kids playing on the beach, I snapped some photos of the ‘ray’ and the two men responsible for landing this beauty! Since they didn’t have a camera, I told them that I’d upload the photos to my site for them to be able to download the photos whenever they wanted.

I didn’t see anyone measure it, but I estimate it was close to 4 feet across it’s back and probably in excess of 100 lbs! One man had a hard time rolling it over to get the hook out of it’s mouth. I don’t know how big these things get in the Gulf of Mexico, but it seemed like a nice sized one to me!! ha!

To the men who caught the Stingray: I have no idea who you are, but hopefully these photos will come through okay for you. If not, feel free to email me and I’ll send them to you.

Here is the man I saw doing the reeling:

I’m not sure who the second man is in the equation, but they were in the same vehicle and he posed for the photo too. Sorry I cut you out of the first photo! I thought you were one of the many on-lookers! :o)

And last but not least, here is a photo of Tyler posing too.

Nice catch guys! Congratulations!!!

Life is a Beach!

Just wanted to share quickly what my mom did to the downstairs bathroom at the beach house.  She painted a blue border at the top of the wall, added some lighthouse Wallies, then used the Life is a Beach Cricut cartridge to cut the top & bottom borders and the birds. 

Cute, huh?

Okay, back to relaxing…more later!

Not scrap related!!

 

 

Sorry for the post totally unrelated to scrapbooking, though I will probably scrapbook this one…at some point!  ;o) 

This is a photo of my youngest two with a shark that was on the beach last night.  It was obviously one that someone caught and ripped the hook out of it because it appeared that it’s ‘innards’ were hanging from it’s mouth.  I would estimate this shark was about 2 feet long?  I know there are sharks out there.  Common sense and all those JAWS movies I’ve watched tell me that there ARE sharks in the ocean.  I know this one is small in comparison to many out there…BUT to actually SEE a shark…any size shark…is a bit freaky!!

Here are a couple of other shots of the shark:

 

 

On a scrapbook/cardmaking note: 

I’ve been doing lots of coloring while I’ve been at the beach, so I promise I will get some cards and/or scrapbook pages posted when I get back and get this mountain of laundry done!  ha!

Thanks for stopping by! 

The Character Cafe - week #2

Sorry I'm late on getting my DT post up. I'm at the beach with no internet and very few 'resources' for getting anything accomplished. SO...this is what I have this week...LOL

Wedding Cake - The Character Cafe
Copics
Skittles

Sorry to be so short...I'm using someone else's computer and internet. ;o)

Hope you have a great week!!

Owl Whimsy

 

A full shot of the card I made.

 

A zoomed in shot of just Annie May.

• Annie May - Owl Whimsy Digital Stamp
• Sentiment - My Sentiments Exactly!
• Bling - Crystal Stickles
• Flower - White Prima colored with B24 Copic
• Card Blank - Textured Canvas from Cardstock Online
• Patterned Paper - Wings and Things paper pack by Tapestry Paper
• Copics - B29, B24, BG10, E50, E00, B32, C-5, C-7, E27, E37, R24 and C-1
• Skittles - colored with 29 and R24 Copic
• Ribbon - was white, colored with B24 Copic

Thanks for looking!!

The Character Cafe BLOG HOP

THANK YOU for joining in on The Character Cafe Blog Hop! I have been asked to debut PRINCESS ALLY for you! She can be used as a bride (as shown here), a young lady going to the prom, a princess, etc! The sentiment and the image are two stamps that I merged into one printout. I just love this image and will definitely be using her again and again...and I have a feeling YOU will be too!

Important Blog Hop Note: You should have started at The Character Cafe, then stopped at TESA'S blog. If that's not the route you've taken, please go back to make sure you get all the code letters/numbers! Make sure to write down the code letters/numbers in order. It is good for a 50% discount at the end of this blog hop that will be good until MONDAY! And I have this feeling that by the time you see all the cute images everyone is showing off, you're going to WANT all of these code letters! ;o) ALSO, there is one blog along the way (you'll see!!) that is offering freebies! At the end of the blog hop, there will be some prizes as well.

My code number for you is "9". To get the next letter/number in the code, please visit Shelley! Please make sure you leave comments on the blogs along the way. The Character Cafe owners and DT members have worked hard to get these images ready for you and to organize this blog hop, so everyone will appreciate some love! If you like what you see...become a follower!

And...if you care about what I used for this project:

Princess Ally and Sentiment - The Character Cafe

Bind-it-All

Flowers - Primas colored with Copics and glittered with Sakura pen

Flower Centers - Skittles for the small flowers and Decorative Accents for the larger flower. I colored them with V09 Copic

Ribbon - From my stash...was white, but I colored it with Copics

Stickles - Diamond

Copics - E29, E37, o, E13, V09, C-3 and C-5

Beadwork - Misc Gel Pens in purple and silver

Paper - handmade paper pack from my stash

Meet Chelsea!!!

 

 

Hello blogger land!  I am SO excited about this image!!!  This is the card I made with Chelsea!  Isn’t she precious?!? 

 

This is a close-up of Chelsea so you can see the detail in her.  She is a digital stamp and she is AAAAADORABLE!  I just love her so much I could almost kiss her!  Okay, not quite…but I am addicted to coloring her…that is FOR SURE.  LOL  This was a super-simple card to do! 

I used:

Chelsea – Inger Harding fundraiser image for Incy Wincy Designs

Card Blank – Stampin’ Up Bold Brights Blue

Patterned Paper – from my stash

Ribbon – Offray 1/4”

Flowers – Darice Finishing Accents (cheap at Michaels)

Copics – E50, E00, E37, E27, B63, BV13, E13, 0, B29, B32

 

Psst – there are two other Chelsea images on the Incy Wincy site, so if you don’t like this one (I can’t imagine you wouldn’t), then you may like the others!    ;o)

Edited to add:  If you make a purchase from Incy Wincy, you will pay by paypal.  At the end of the transaction, you will get a screen with an error message.  Incy Wincy will email the file to you via email when they see that they have received an order…but realize they are not in the US (Australia sounds right?)…so they may not get back to you for a little while.  But, Greg is very good about emailing them ASAP.

Thanks for looking!!!

The Character Cafe Design Team

Guess who was invited to be on the very first Design Team for The Character Cafe? Yep! That would be ME! :O) Annnnd...we will be having a blog hop TOMORROW to show off the new releases. SOOOO, you really MUST come back to check out the new releases because they are CUTE!

Here are the names of the other members of The Character Cafe Design Team:

Billie (You're already here!)
Colleen
Elaine
Heather
Kendra
Mary
Sara
Shelley
Stephanie
Tesa

Please be sure to visit everyone and come back again for the Blog Hop! There are some nice PRIZES given away and some DISCOUNTS as well!!! You don't want to miss it....REALLY!

Honest Scrap - Blog Award

I was given this award by Amanda at Cricut Creations. The rules are to state 10 honest things about oneself and then pass this on to 7 other bloggers. Here goes!

1) I have three children - 14, 10 and 5.
2) My husband is almost 12 years older than me!
3) I like to cook, but I hate doing the dishes!
4) I love paper...all kinds of paper!
5) I love all my scrappy toys and have used almost all of them at least once...some I use regularly and can't live without!
6) I am an email junkie! I love to chit chat with my fellow scrappy buddies!
7) I do not use instant messenger...drives me nuts!
8) I rarely watch TV, but when I do it's General Hospital, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice or CSI: Miami! All of which I DVR so I can ffwd through the commercials!!!
9) I love spending lazy days at the beach!
10) I drive a 9 year old Durango that is paid for because I like using the "car note" as our fun money!

And I'd like to pass this on to:

Heather in FL
Sheri
Heidi
Mindy
Nicky
Patty
Froggy

Decorative Accents - WINNER

There were 23 entries for the Decorative Accents giveaway. The winner, chosen by www.random.org, is entry #6...JENNIFER HODGE! Congratulations, Jennifer!

Email me - billiedean-stclair@austin.rr.com - with your mailing address so I can get these mailed out to you. :o)

Summertime Layout

Another very quick post! My Cricut Lovers yahoo group has a Home Page contest going. The 'theme' is to show what we perceive as summertime and this is my submission. This is my youngest daughter playing in the kiddie pool. I used:

"Jumping Into Summer" - Digital stamp I made. I did good, huh? ;o)

Mushroom - Tink & Friends cartridge

Tree - Pooh & Friends cartridge

Scallop Circle - SCAL

Clouds - Pooh & Friends cartridge

Sun - Tink & Friends Flower 9

Stickles - Yellow, Cinnamon & Orange Peel

Betty - Owl Whimsy Digital Stamps

Copics - E50, E00, Y21, E13, B32, B24, B29 and R29

Sky & Clouds are 'colored' with Dew Drop (?) pigment inks

I am also using this for the Scrappy Frogs Challenge.

Thanks for looking!

Owl Whimsy - DT #3 - Asian Flair

Very quick post and a VERY simple card today! My parents are in town, so my mom & I are off to go scrapbook shopping - woohoo!!!! ;o)

Vase - Owl Whimsy Digital Stamps

Sentiment - My Sentiments Exactly!

Copics - RV04, YG03 and E37

Flowers - Flower Soft

I hope everyone has a great Sunday and I'll "see" you soon! :o)

Thank You card

My youngest daughter goes to Kindergarten in August (sniff!). She has never been to daycare and has only stayed with one sitter (twice!), so we took advantage of the opportunity to have her go to Kinder Kamp so she could see what school is all about, socialize with kids her age, etc. This is how the week has gone...

Day 1: My husband went with us. She was frowning before we even got her out of her booster seat. Once we got to the classroom, she clung & cried. Yes, I took pictures! I *have* to scrap her first day!!

Day 2: We went into her classroom, found her name on the table and she sat down. She did have a sad face with a droopy head, but she didn't cry!

Day 3: We went into the classroom, found her name and she wouldn't sit down. She was crying, so the teacher had to sit with her and talk to her so I could get out of the room. I stood outside of the room where she couldn't see me while another mother sweetly gave me the blow-by-blow of what was happening. The teacher hugged her to give her some comfort, which I thought was very sweet.

Day 4: She started off the morning with a bit of an unhappy attitude, but that quickly changed when she got a little breakfast in her. We got to school, went into her classroom, gave me a hug and kiss, she sat down and away I went. No problems, but she wasn't very happy when I picked her up. Apparently "that boy" was arguing with her...but I never could quite figure out exactly what that was all about.

Day 5: That's tomorrow...we'll see! But I'm hopeful that it will be as smooth as this morning!

Note: My kiddo loves Disney Princesses!!! Day 3, I bought a Disney Princess journal while she was in school. I told her if she didn't cry & whine when I dropped her off for school on Thursday and Friday that she'd get the journal...but if she did cry & whine, I would get rid of the journal. Yes, it's bribery! I'll admit it...but it's working!!

SO! I decided to make this card for my daughter's teacher, who has been so patient with her and gave my baby girl hugs when she was sad that I left her! I really hope she gets this teacher for Kindergarten!

I'm also using this card for the Copic Colour and Blogabella challenges. :O)

Here's what I used:

Card blank - Cardstock Online

Image - Content-to-be-a-Bella

Sentiment - Inkadinkado, I believe!

Paper - Provo Craft Super Slab 8

Bling - Diamond Stickles

Ribbon & buttons - from my stash

Copics - RV10, BV04, E50, BG10 and Y21

Envelope - pre-made envelope with mini Bella stamped onto it and threading water punch for flap

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!

Celebrate - Design Team post

Hello People! Meet Betty! She is a digital stamp by Owl Whimsy. She will be available for purchase on Monday, June 8 and one lucky person from THIS WEEK'S challenge will win the entire set of Betty images. I've seen them all and they are cute!

If you haven't entered this week's challenge, there is still time. Just use any Suzie Q image and have her posted to the Owl Whimsy blog by Sunday (tomorrow!) night. A new challenge will begin on Monday...using none other than Betty!!!

The red, white & blue colors on this card were chosen as our Home Page Card Contest for Stamplicious, so I chose to go with a Patriotic theme.

The card sketch originated from So Sketchy, but I altered it to suit my needs. :O)

Card details:

Betty - Owl Whimsy

Red Canvas Texture cardstock - Cardstock Online

Patriotic Paper - The Paper Studio

Gems - Decorative Accents (Michaels)

Ribbon - 3/8" satin ribbon (Michaels)

Eyelets and button - from my stash

Sentiment - Stampology, colored with E29 Copic

Copics - E50, Y21, B29, B24, B32, BG10 and R20

Since I received several emails and comments on the idea of coloring and repurposing items for scrapbooking, I thought I'd share a little something with you from this project:

I'm sure you've experienced the irritation that comes with needing a certain color of ribbon only to find you have every shade except the one you need! That was me tonight! Out of all the rolls of ribbon I have, I didn't have "the" color of ribbon I needed for my card. Soooo, I colored them with my Copics...and it worked. Woohoo!! You can't even tell they weren't that color to begin with. ha! Now Michaels is going to have to keep their white ribbon stocked up because I will definitely be doing this again!!! So much easier than trying to find the exact match to my project.

Thank you so much for stopping by! :o)

Michaels 50% off coupon!

I've heard many of you say that you're heading off to Michaels to purchase the Decorative Accents mentioned in last night's review, so I decided I'd post this 50% off coupon for you to use when you do!

Enjoy! ;o)

Decorative Accents vs "Skittles" - AND GIVEAWAY

Okay, so I was at Michaels last weekend while DH & the kids shopped next door for supplies for the new fish tank. While there, I decided to see if they had some cool river rocks for the bottom of the aquarium and came across THESE! They were on the same aisle as the river rocks and other colored 'gems'. If you've ever used "Skittles" before, you'll know about what these are! They are very similar to Skittles, but a little bigger. Here, I am going to do a "review" on how the two compare.


The big bag you see above is what I purchased from Michaels. They were $5.99 before tax & coupon. After tax and coupon, $3.88!!! And there have to be hundreds of these things in this bag...maybe more! LOL

This is a close-up of the label. I ripped into them, pulled some out and then decided to do a write-up here on my blog for everyone to see. Yes, the bag does say there are 12 ounces of these little gems.

Okay, so this is what they looked like before I dyed them! I used Adirondack Alcohol inks, which I didn't show a picture of...oops! Anyway, I put them each into their own sack and marked them so you could see the difference in the photos.

This is what they looked like after I dyed them. They're really easy to dye! Simply drop them into a baggie (WITH a zipper!), drop in some ink (sorry, I never measure - LOL), blow some air in, shake them up, unzip and dump them out onto a paper towel. Caution: These will be wet when you dump them out, so make sure you put them onto something that won't matter if a little dye gets on! And alcohol inks take some time to wash off your hands, so umm...don't do this the day before a big event. ;o)

Here's a close-up of the two products side-by-side. The one on the left is the Decorative Accents and on the right is the Skittles. As you can see, the Decorative Accents has an "inclusion" (if you will) in the middle and a slightly jagged edge on the bottom right. The Skittles also has inclusions, but not as noticeable. Not all of the Decorative Accents have these flaws. I probably picked the worst of the ones I dyed. LOL

So, there you have it! The first review on my blog. ;o)

Now, would you like to have a one-ounce envelope of these Decorative Accents DYED in random colors and waiting in your mailbox? If so:

1. Click to "follow" this blog
2. Leave me a comment on this post telling me what you have or intend to use Decorative Accents or Skittles on!
3. Check back on the weekend of June 12 to see who the winner is!

Thanks for looking!

Anniversary Card

This card is for two challenges this week! One for Copic Creations Challenge #5 and one for House Mouse. Here's what I used:

Black/White paper - AC Patterned Paper "amplified"

Purple Polka-Dots - Tuesday Morning

Stampabilities House Mouse - Hobby Lobby on clearance (just this Monday!)

Brads - stash

Stickles - Black Diamond (on brads)

Copics - E00, V95, E37, YG17, E29, R11, E37, 0, V93, C-5, C-1 and R20

Card - Father card cut on Wild Card

Black paper - from stash

Thanks for looking!!

Graduation Card

This is the card I made for my husband's cousin who graduates on Friday. Here's what I used:

Graduation Cap - Wild Card cut at 7 1/2"

Tassel - Wild Card cut at 7 1/2"

House Mouse - CUTE! Got it at Hobby Lobby on Monday on clearance for 2 or 3 bucks! Since I love House Mouse anyway, I snatched it right up!

Scallop rectangle - SCAL

Confetti - See-d's stamped with Marvy Markers in Black, #5 Yellow and #3 Blue

Stickles - Yellow

Copics - B11, E00, C-1, C-3, Y17, R20, E29, E37, B24 and B29

Inside of the card is:

Regular rectangle - SCAL

Scallop rectangle - SCAL

Sentiment - Wild Card at 7 1/2"

I adhered the rectangles on the inside so that I can use it as a money pocket.

Envelope - Wild Card Quotes cut at 7". Note that I didn't use the envelope with the graduation card. It was FUNKY! I had to cut my graduation cap down, but that's okay, because I like this envelope much better! I stamped the mouse on the outside of the envelope and colored it with the same Copics listed above.

Thanks for looking!!

SuzieQ Design Team

As you may know, I have been given the opportunity to serve on the Owl Whimsy Design Team starting...today! I received the email about 9:30 tonight for a challenge that starts in Blogger land tomorrow. I hope you'll visit the site and join in the challenges!

SuzieQ - Owl Whimsy Challenges

Paper - Sunshine Specialty Pack by me & my BiG ideas torn & layered for grass & sky effect

Tree - Wild Card Cartridge cut at 5 1/2", layered and 'blinged' with Stickles (Cinnamon & Green)

Sun - SU Glossy Cardstock brayered with SU ink and punched with Martha Stewart circle punch

Sentiment - Viva Las Vegas Stamps

Copics: E50, E31, RV04 and V15

So...what are you waiting for? GO!! Join in on the challenges over at Owl Whimsy!! ;o)

Thanks for looking and have a GREAT day!!