Wee Wellies!

Blogger let me down. I had this entire post ready to publish and it froze up! And it didn't save even though the SAVE button indicated "saving"! Grrrrr!!!! Who knows if I can be as pithy with this second go round of ramblings as I was in the first attempt! Trust me it was some FUNNY STUFF!!!

No not really - it was just my usual yadayadayada...

I love zinnias! I would love to take the time to start seeds in the house for transplant - but my house is not conducive to doubling as a plant nursery and I was not gifted with a green thumb! So I anxiously await the season of Farmers Market and the arrival of cheerful bouquets of colorful zinnias.

Last Saturday, one of the vendors was selling starter zinnias! I could not resist and bought one of each color and brought them home and 'planted' them in a container. She told me to 'whack off' of the flowers but I just couldn't toss these shorties! I found the perfect vase and POOF! My first bouquet (if 3 flowers count as a bouquet...) of spring!

Not only a touch of color and spring but a revisiting of memories. I bought this wee shamrock etched crystal 'wellie' in Ireland. A joyous trip that included my sistas, aunts, mother, and cousin! Oh the fun we had! Oh the memories we made! I have strolled down my Irish memory lane with fondness since putting this 3 inch vase to work on Sunday. Such a small token for such grand memories!

I know you are dazzled by my flower arranging skills! Admit it!!!! I promise to post a REAL zinnia bouquet as soon as they become available at the Farmers Market!

 

 

It's a bit too early for flowers but that doesn't keep me from loving the vegies! So FRESH!

 

 

THIS is the REAL deal...This is what I am waiting for!

And a card...also diminutive. If you are a regular to my blog you may know that I am on a mission to try to put a dent in the 400 coin envelopes that someone 'gifted' me. Not to mention the stack of remnant strips from making square cards.

Tiny Tag
~Base card - PaperTrey Ink - Kraft
~Layer of vanilla card stock
~Layers of card stock for Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia
~Two brads
~Punched tag with sentiment stamped using Just Rite stamp
~Hero Arts Dots embossing folder
~Perfect Pearls Blue Raspberry mist
Challenge | Inspiration
Just Us Girls - photo week
Shopping Our Stash - mist (I tried and failed to get the photo to show the shimmer on the flower petals!)
Kraft Journal - CAS embossed
Crafting from the Heart - anything

Here's to bigger bouquets, wee vessels of giant sized memories, and enjoying fresh veggies!

Nancy in Iowa

Waffle Cones and Bob Dogs

I occasionally blog about 'life in a small Midwestern town'! This post is no exception. We recently drove to the Ice Cream Capital of the World. Seriously!!! There IS an Ice Cream Capital of the World and it is HERE in the Heartland and the best part? I live a mere 25 minutes from it!

Our favorite 'drive-in diner' is Bob's! Home of all natural casing dogs (or as grand-daughter Bailey calls them - "Crunchy Hot Dogs") it is a family favorite! With a short drive to LeMars we can have dinner and dessert - both within just a few city blocks of each other! I'm getting hungry just thinking about Bob's!

The actual "small town living" story has to do with the railroad crossing that bisects the city. While in LeMars...we had to wait for a train. This is how you deal with a LONG train...you just get out of your car and go talk with a neighbor...

Life in the slow lane...it suits me just fine!

 

 And now it is card time! Still trying to use up my square card remnants! Here is another "coin card" (also trying to use up the mountainous amount of 'coin envelopes' I have).

 

 

Coffee with Friends
~Base card PaperTrey Ink Kraft
~Core'dinations Core Impressions: Graphic 45 Timeless Collection - sanded and gold embossing powder applied to edges
~Silver and gold glitter washi tape strips
~Stacked cups stamped with Versamark, embossed with gold embossing powder; colored with Copics
~Friends sentiment die cut

Challenges | Inspirations
Fusion Card - photo inspiration
Little Red Wagon - die cut
Shopping Our Stash - silver and gold
Retro Sketch - sketch #165

Here's to small town food options, making friends at railroad crossings, and a cup of java with friends!

Nancy in Iowa

Simply Tied Up

Well! I survived the graduation party! I think everyone had a good time. The weather was lovely. All I provided was the location. Amazing how 'easy' it was with that being my only task! The food was delivered! The wine coolers were premade! The meat and cheese was precut. All I provided was platters, bowls, tables, and chairs! Briar made these cute nom-noms! Edible mortar boards!

 

It was fun to meet her Colorado family. I had the honor to chat with her Korean War veteran grandpa! He was a member of the most recent Honor Flight so I got to hear all about that!

Briar's grandmother and both her aunts - all were sportin' her Bri's tie dye dresses! As a thank you she made me a tie-dye apron - she made one for my dear hubby too! FUN! Plus I love aprons. Which is odd...my cooking skills are limited and sporadic at best. I guess aprons make me feel more legitimate in the kitchen!

My sister told me I needed to include photos of the aprons...here they are. Ignore the plastic Wendy's spoons! I put them in the photo so you could see there are pockets! (Four pockets - only 2 spoons...I was too lazy to go back upstairs to get a real kitchen utensil for each pocket.)

My apron!

 

John's apron.

 

So...I have this stack of stub cardstock strips from making square cards... Every time I glance up and see the never diminishing stack...not to mention the mountain of coin envelopes I remind myself to use a strip now and then! Today was the day for a "coin card"... Pretty simple layout and card. I let the design cardstock do the work...Sometimes simple is good...right?

Simply Happy
~Base card teal cardstock
~Layer of DCWV Mango Frost glitter cardstock
~Happy birthday sentiment die
Inspirations|Challenges
Just Us Girls - color week

Here's to aprons, weird shaped envelopes, and chatting with a military veteran!

Nancy in Iowa

Work-Life Tie Dyes

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I last blogged! It's not like I haven't had anything to say! It's not that I don't look longingly at my card making area as I make my way to the treadmill. I need to figure out a way to work on cards while steppin' it up on my treadmill!

I have to admit the new job is still kickin' my arse. I haven't gotten into a rhythm that includes Bubble Time yet! I will though! I keep hearing at my place of employment: "work-life balance". I need to embrace it for myself! Work-Life-Card-Blog balance!

This card is for a special graduate. Let me tell you about Briar! She was a student at my former employer. Four years ago she selected her college based on a Google search of colleges that included her name. Her first stop was Briar Cliff University. She loved it immediately and her mother, during freshmen orientation, indicated, as a Colorado resident was happy the campus visit started and ended in Iowa as the next stop would have been Briarcliffe College in New York!

Well, Briar and I, and her mother got close over the years. Briar is graduating on Saturday with her bachelor's degree. I'm providing a location for her graduation party. I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of her Colorado family! Her card had to be colorful because she is a colorful kid! She helped pay her way through college by making custom and assorted tie dye garments! Here is her Etsy site and here is her business Facebook page. So....colorful it is!

The outside sentiment is a little cryptic...The inside says "to celebrate". She is graduating with her degree in Radiology Technology. In case you are a little rusty on your anatomy information....there are 203 bones in the body. Hence...203 reasons to celebrate!

I struggled with figuring out what to do with her card...this was the best I could come up with. Corny right?! She'll get it - I guess that is what is important.

May 11 Update:  I just walked back into my Bubble... I looked at the card sitting on my photo area and was stunned! 203? 203? Oh Emm GEEE!!! There are 206 bones! I will be making the appropriate change to the card below! How embarrassing! I'm a nurse! But in my defense...NOT an ortho nurse. Burn nurses don't so much care about bone quantities...?? YIKES! Not as embarrassing if I had actually given her the card! I wonder which 3 bones I left out?

 

 

Plenty of Reasons

~Base card - PaperTrey Ink

~Layers of DCWV Glitter Stack

~Three flower buttons

~Metallic floss

~Strip of Recollections Glitter on a Roll

~Sentiment laser printed on white card stock

~Spellbinders ribbon banner die cut

Challenges | Inspirations

Retro Sketches - sketch

Just Us Girls - embossing (sentiment banner)

Come and Get It - flowers

613 Avenue Create - celebrate

 

Here is to finding my work-life-card-blog balance, working on better sentiments for my next card, and figuring out a way to make "treadmill cards"!

 

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

 

May 11, 2015

 

Briar's card....version 2.06!!!!

 

 

 

Seriously embarrassed - but happy I caught it before I handed it to my dear Briar! Same sketch - different scraps of the same glitter cardstock collection.

 

Here's to remedial anatomy lessons, noticing my 'boneheaded' mistake, and revisions!

 

Nancy in Iowa