Thursday, March 7, 2024

Cavs, Cards and Craziness

 Crazy finishes for our Cleveland Cavaliers this week.  When they can hit threes, they're so much fun to watch. To come from behind and win is very special! Check out these two games the Cavs played this week against the Mavericks and Celtics.

I love to watch basketball and baseball games. 



In another sport here in Cleveland, my son took me to a Monster's Hockey game. He has a great deal on his seats. Parking is paid for and you have access to a room filled with all sorts of food. Before the game you can get dinner food. We got ribs, chicken, salad and mashed potatoes.

 During the first intermission they serve desserts. They have whatever you'd like to drink.  We waited about 5 minutes into the break then went down. It was less crowded. We were able to get all sorts of goodies to have with our coffee.  Cheesecake in different flavors, lemon cookies, cream puffs, fudge, brownies, were all there to tempt us.

The Cleveland Monsters are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. The team began play in 2007 as the Lake Erie Monsters and since 2015 has served as the top affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. Wikipedia

Monday and Tuesday of this week we had sunny weather and temps. in the lower 70's. I checked out my garden which is ready for Spring.  Daffodils are peeking out as well as the field onions that remain after almost 30 years of a housing development being built on fields of a farm.


This is the afghan put together with a border on it. Earlier in February I posted pictures of the squares laid out to be put together. I love how it came out. I wanted an easy Granny Square afghan to make. I used multi-color yarn for most of the squares instead of changing the color of yarn each round.  I highlighted the colors in the afghan with plain squares as well.

My husband loved the white afghan so much that he asked me to make one for a chair in our family room. Here it is finished.

This pink and gray afghan is for a chair in our living room. This chair is by the window and sometimes it gets chilly sitting here.

Here is my sweet cat, Phoebe. She's been more like a dog lately. She searches me out and wants to sleep near me. Here she's sleeping in a cat bed in our bedroom next to the heating vent.

I began to make Easter cards for a nursing home nearby. My friend asked if this facility could use greeting cards. They loved the idea. I told my friend I'd love to help make cards for the people there to use. Here is one of the cards I made with a new stencil. There are 4 different sheets that make up the flowers and stems. I made about a half dozen of these in different colors.

Gerda Steiner is a talented artist with her own line of photopolymer stamps. Most are cute animals. This bunny is a digital stamp that I printed. colored and cut out using my scan n cut machine. I love how these little guys turned out.

I was playing around with a baby wipe technique then added embossing for texture.


This is one if the cards that we'll make in my classes next week.

This is another card we'll make. You pull on the tab and the card stretches out to reveal the greeting. It is made with designer series paper.

I saw this on a friend's post and had to have it. I just love hanging out with my adult kids and now my granddaughter. I'm so blessed.
I hope you've enjoyed your time her.
Blessings,
Bensarmom

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Happy Valentine's Day 2024

What a fun day Tim and I had today. First, he gave me this rooting box that he made from acrylic and wood. I can put cuttings in it to root them. These Coleus really root quickly in water.


We went to an area called Grand Pacific Junction. It's a small village like shopping area with restaurants and all sorts of things to look at and buy. We went to the toy store to see if we could find something for Mia.
This store also sells miniature houses and furniture. Tim is interested in making a miniature doll house for Mia some day and wanted to see how precise the pieces were. When he looked at the windows, he found they are made like a real window.

Next, we went to lunch at one of our favorite places, Cafe ah Roma in Berea. Berea is a small college town with a great downtown area. We discovered this place when Tim worked in Berea. I used to meet him for lunch in the summer. We'd get sandwiches and sit in the town square to eat.

After lunch we went to Maria's Greenhouse in Strongsville. Now that Tim likes plants he's eager to look at plants with me. These plants were very expensive. We couldn't justify spending so much for plants.


Not far from the greenhouse, is the mall. I can't tell you how long its been since I went to the mall. We went to get Cinnabon. I haven't had one of those in years, either. I got a small one just to get the taste of it. There's nothing like it for sure.

None of the coffee Tim got while we were out compared to coffee we make here at home, so we headed home for a nice, hot cup of coffee.
What a nice day we had. We've been married 30 years and he surprised me with this special day of outings.

Thanking God for such a wonderful day.
Blessing of the day:
I was able to spend time with Tim out and about.
Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings,
Bensarmom












Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Simple Woman's Daybook February 7, 2024

 

For Today, February 7, 2024

The Simple Woman's Daybook began here.


Looking out my window and I see it's the third sunny day in a row! 
It's such a mood changer to see the sun and go out to feel it's warmth.


I am thinking that it's been so much fun to work on my plants with Tim, now that he's begun taking care of his own plants. This is only one of the areas where his plants are. He even has LED plant lights.


Here are some of my plants.  Tim helped me plant 3 yellow Christmas Cactus cuttings and Coleus plants which had rooted in water.
We cut back other Coleus plants to root them in water. We'll have some pretty plants this summer.

I am thankful that I've had some down time this week. We had a busy week last week and had Mia two days instead of one. It's nice to rest, crochet or read without worrying about a schedule.


One of my favorite things is crocheting. Here is the Afghan I made for Tim's Office/Man Cave. Tim chose the colors and the order that they would be in. He wanted the green rows to be more narrow than the rest, just to highlight the afghan. He also wanted a row of each color as the border. I used the Moss Stitch to make this afghan. It's an easy stitch to do especially while watching TV.  This is what I worked on during football season.


 I am creating a Granny Square Afghan.  I have the squares finished and now I'm beginning to crochet the rows together. Tim helped me with the layout.  This is what I've worked on while watching the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball games. 

When I awoke this morning, my cat, Phoebe had redesigned my afghan. I wish I would have seen her running and rolling around to do this. LOL

I am wearing a blue sweatshirt, black sweats and tennis shoes.

I am enjoying putting together the cards we'll be making in classes next week. They've been designed, now to cut out everything.

 

I am hoping to finish getting cards for class finished before Saturday.


I am learning new crochet stitches by doing an afghan from a kit from Annie's.



In my kitchen all is quiet but chili is on the menu for tonight.


 

In the school room I'm continuously learning new paper folds or techniques to teach my classes. Here's a technique where you stencil with Versamark on designer series paper then heat emboss with clear embossing powder.

Next you use a brayer to cover the card with ink and rub the ink off the embossed part.


In my garden all is quiet. It's 55 degrees today and sunny. It made for a nice, short visit to the screened- in porch. The two cats loved it too.

 Around the house...all is quiet. Cats are in Tim's lap and snoozing. I'm listening to quiet music as I write this and work on cards for next week.

One of my favorite things...is drinking this chocolate raspberry coffee. I found it at a great price too!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: I work on cutting paper for my card classes, stamp with friends Saturday, make chocolate covered caramel candy with Tim and going to a Super Bowl party at Ben's house.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...


Verse of the Day: 1 Corinthians 1:10  I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
Blessings of the Day- This week has been without any appointments! Tim and I actually went out on a date!
I've been able to chill out a bit since I haven't felt very well. I worked on my granny square afghan and watched a bit of TV.
I have also been able to try new techniques and card designs.

Thanks for stopping by,
Blessings,
Bensarmom



Saturday, February 3, 2024

Technique Week and No, No, No, No

 This week has been full of card making fun. The week after I teach classes is always full of finding new ideas for class cards. I love learning new techniques as well.

This technique is called Black Out Embossing. I found it here on Splitcoaststampers.  Basically what you do is used a 3D embossing folder then color the debossed side with any type of media you like. I used ink with my blending brushes.  Then take a black ink pad and drag it lightly over your image. It will color the area around the colored images. The colored images are sunk in. I didn't have a very good black ink pad, so this isn't as dark as it should be.  Nevertheless, it's an easy and WOW technique.

The next technique began with coloring white cardstock with 3-4 colors of your choice. I chose lighter colors like pastels.  Next cut your panel to 3 3/4" x 5" and randomly stamp full strength, then stamp again and again without reinking. The stamp set I used was, Gorgeously Made.  Add a piece of colored cardstock 4" x 5 1/4" behind the stamped panel. Add this to a white card base. I used small sentiments so I didn't take away from the background of each card.

 

This card was made to show my customers in classes how to use two stamp sets to make a play on words using the Bee My Valentine words and birthday from Inked and Tiled. It's also an alternative for class if they don't want to make a Valentine card. I stamped Happy and cut around Hap. I stamped bee and cut around it. I stamped birthday from Inked and Tiled and cut around that. This was also made to show customers how easy it is to make your own wobbles from wire to make the bee move. I used a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of thick white cardstock. I cut a piece of Bee Mine designer series paper to 4" x 4". I cut this piece at 1 1/4" so you have a 1 1/4" x 4" and a 2 3/4" x 4" piece of designer series paper. The bee was stamped with crushed curry, Petal pink and memento tuxedo black inks. The honeycomb is daffodil delight ink. The wings of the bee have wink of stella applied.


The color challenge on Splitcoaststampers was to use Tahitian Tide, Lemon Lolly and Polished Pink. Dessert was to add something that began with 'B'. I made a Birthday card, with a Bird, who is holding a Bunch of Balloons as he skates by a Birthday cake.

I started with the background and used blending brushes to add bits of color all over. I stamped off to add the confetti in the three colors.

I stamped and fussy cut all of the images. The sentiment, cake and bird are all added with dimensionals.

This set of cards was using vellum with an embossing folder. I used two different embossing folders. Make sure to use a thicker vellum like Stampin' Up, so the vellum doesn't tear or rip.
I used designer series paper on top of and under the vellum. The designer series paper is Softly Stippled. The flowers are from, Sending Smiles. I finished off the cards with a different ribbon treatment.


A way to use designer paper that is black and white is to color the images with ink. Here I used ink on the lid of my ink pad with Wink of Stella. This makes a beautiful background for a card. It will curl a bit after colored, so you will have to flatten it under a block or run it through your embossing machine.

I watched my granddaughter two days instead of one day this week. Guess what her favorite word is right now?  No.....Yup, she's almost 2 and that's what she says. I tell her we're going to change her diaper and she says, "no, no, no, no."  It's time for lunch, let's get in your chair....no, no, no, no.
If I hit upon something she wants to do she says, "Okay!"
  I have to say I've been retired for 10 years but I'm using some of my behavior skills with her. Today she helped me set the timer on my phone for 2 minutes. When the timer went off, it was time for nap.
She heard the alarm, turned it off and went to Tim, so he could carry her upstairs.
Maybe it worked because it was something new, and it won't work next time. I do know that she seems to be easier to handle when given information ahead of time. It makes the transitions easier.

I had a great time watching her play with two spoons and a big bowl of water on her high chair  tray. She also had two plastic food items that floated. She played for at least 30 minutes and I got a hot cup of coffee in one place.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed your time here.
Blessings,
Bensarmom




Monday, January 29, 2024

Pigeons, Pizza, Howling Birthdays

 

With Sale-a-Bration in full swing, I wanted to play with a set called, Watercolor Melon which is FREE with a $50 purchase.  

When I saw the triangle slices, I immediately saw, Pizza! So I stenciled a red and white tablecloth and added a pizza with pepperoni and peppers.  I made this card to show customers a different use for the Free SAB set, Watercolor Melon. I stamped the triangles in daffodil stamped off once. The crust was crumb cake using the rind of the watermelon. I used SU watercolor pencils to add red and yellow to the pizza then used a blender pen to get a soft cheese and sauce look. I used garden green to stamp the rinds and cut them thinner to make my green peppers.  The pepperoni is cherry cobbler paper with a 1/2" circle punch. I played around with dots to make the circles look more like pepperoni on the slice of pizza.

The background from Artistic Mix Decorative Masks uses sweet sorbet ink blended with blending brushes on white card stock. Shapes were fussy cut and added to the background with Stampin Dimensionals.


Here's a card where I learned how to add to the interest of my card by repeating a pattern vertically. I also learned that the watermelon will look more realistic if I stamp with lemon lime twist on top of garden green. You can stamp the garden green off once if you like.


I wanted to show my customers how to use the Stampin' Up plaid masks to add to the background. I used a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of whisper white to stencil. Then I cut that in half so I could use it on two cards. We tend to think our stenciling should take up the whole background.
The sentiments are from SU Sending Smiles stamp and die set.

The images were all fussy cut and added to the background. The card base is sweet sorbet to match the watermelon color. I cut out a couple of seeds and added them to the sentiment. The seeds were colored with black Wink of Stella.

The challenge on Splitcoaststampers Technique Challenge today was to emboss a stenciled piece. I used blending brushes to color the panel light to dark. Then I used the 3D embossing folder. To get the ragged edge I used my trimmer. I stamped and colored the pigeons with Copic markers. The panel was added with dimensionals. The image was backed with cajun craze cardstock, while the card base is Calypso Coral.

Did you know if you try to trim thin white cardstock that has been embossed with a 3D embossing folder, with a paper trimmer with a track, that it will rip your paper?  I liked how it looked. It was more random that I could make ripping the paper.
I was experimenting with using an embossing folder on my designer series paper. I'm making a get well card for my brother-in-law. They have a dog similar to the dog on top.
This was colored with Derwent colored pencils then colored with a blender pen. The stars are colored with blue Wink of Stella. The stamp set is from Gerda Steiner, Howl are you?


Here's another with an embossed piece of designer series paper. I learned a new technique from Lydia on Wednesday's post. Paper piecing with Washi Tape. Check out the tutorial, HERE.

Verse of the Day: Matthew 16:26  What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?




Blessing of the Day-I was able to stamp with a friend and complete a couple of cards.
Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings,
Bensarmom







Cavs, Cards and Craziness

 Crazy finishes for our Cleveland Cavaliers this week.  When they can hit threes, they're so much fun to watch. To come from behind and ...