buggy: adjective

infested with bugs

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I'm entering my little "busy bee" pencil holder into Fantabulous Cricut's

Challenge Me Monday #114 - Don't Bug me :)

where you are to make a project using some sort of bug.

base of pencil holder - wide ribbon spool

Really Reasonable Ribbon

stickles - Black Diamond

gemstone

cartridge- Doodlecharms

pop dot

A little mini tutorial on the wings, they were very easy to create. First I started with the base of the bee's body. You can see in the picture below, the white wings as you would have cut them out from the Cricut. At this point the body is not attached to the wings, just laying on top so you can see what it would look like if you made it "straight" Cricut.

So I clipped his wings so to speak, leaving the "square" shape that fits his body, and placed a pop dot in the middle of that. Next, took some see through mesh ribbon ( this ribbon has an iridescent quality about it, perfect for wings! ), looped it over and sewed it closed. make 4 of the loops.

Then adhere all 4 loops to the square:

Then attach the bee body to the pop dot and you're finished. I really like taking a simple Cricut cut and embellishing it to give it some dimension.

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Don't kill the honey bees please

Starting in late 2006, commercial migratory beekeepers along the East Coast of the United States

began reporting sharp declines in their honey bee colonies. Because of the severity and unusual

circumstances of these colony declines, scientists named this phenomenon colony collapse.

Honey bees are the most economically valuable pollinators of agricultural crops worldwide.

Scientists at universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) frequently assert that

bee pollination is involved in about one-third of the U.S. diet, and contributes to the production of

a wide range of fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, forage crops, some field crops, and other specialty

crops.

Goodies: noun ( plural )

objects that are nice to own or receive, especially small luxuries

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I don't have a picture of my desk..gasp....it's true! But I do have some wonderful pics to share with you! It's because of WOYWW, that I have made such wonderful, creative friends like:

 Kat, whose hand designed gorgeous grocery tote was sent to me, it's awesome and cannot wait to take it shopping with me! Visit her blog Kat's Nature for tons of inspiring paintings!

 and Tracey, from Australia, who sent me 2 awesome book marks, aren't they beautiful? I'm suppose to send her some but mine pale in comparison to hers! She is such a talented artist and I highly recommend visiting her blog, Tracey Fletcher King, and check out all the great things there!

and Terrie, from Washington, she and I are exchanging mail art, I love this idea and it truly brightened not only my mailbox but my day too! I love her collaging talents and please go visit her blog Creative Explorer to enjoy her awesome creativity!!

I'm also recieving ATC's from the WOYWW exchange:

First one from Zoe, across the pond from England, and I have to say I was very chuffed to get it, she Zentangled her ATC and incorporated the WOYWW into the design! Isn't she clever? Have you visited her blog? craftygasheadzo, where she is smashing everything!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and I am looking forward to stopping by your blog and checking in on you! I realize that the postal system has been closed due to the Diamond Jubilee, so I'll post my ATC's next week, so as not to ruin the surprise for anyone ;0

weird: adjective

strange or unusual

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Cricut Magazine April issue

pp. 32 &33

Since I've never shown this on my blog before and it has buttons, I am going to enter this in

Unique Crafters Challenge #4 Buttons.

I actually am quite charmed with clothes pens and have several of them hanging from my window blinds just for decoration.

pp. 44 & 45

This is a bookmark that the magazine really didn't showcase as a bookmark...nope...just laying there on notebook paper, and no mention that it is a book mark. The funny thing about submitting your project is they don't photograph it the way you intended for it to be used. Sometimes it's weird to see what they do with your creation, lol

In case anyone doesn't know how a corner bookmark looks, this is one of the pictures i submitted to the magazine, and then after looking at it, I understand maybe why they didn't photograph it this way, because you cannot see the sentiment!  But I still wish they had said it was a bookmark, lol.

 

So if you get the magazine, look me up ;)

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and a LO that I submitted but it didn't get accepted for publication, so I am going to enter it in the Cricut Circle blog weekly #59 Birthday challenge This is my cousin's daughter's son...anyone good at family relations? What does this make her and her son...Second cousin? I'm so clueless! lol

Paisley cartridge - monkeys

Don Juan cartridge - letters ( negative space used for title )

vivid: adjective

strikingly bright or intense in color

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Over at the Artist Playroom, we have a challenge to do Zentangles, or as this ole' country girl calls them, doodling! And I cannot do them in black and white either, just like photography, I cannot wrap my mind around lack of color when there is so much color to see and use! So here is my "doodle" for this week, it's part of my AB for Elizabeth's online class where we are focusing on Lesson 9, which is backgrounds:

I used my Sakaru Glaze pens and metallic pens by EK Success. I love the vivid colors from the pens!

I concentrated on three elements in my design, swirl, lines and dots.

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I seem to have been on a creative roll of sorts, so when my downstairs neighbor asked me if I wanted this old stool, my eyes glazed over and I think I actually drooled. lol I did clean it up so you've been spared the dirty version full of dirt and cobwebs, aren't I nice? lol

Next I added a coat of gesso, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing that gesso and a little chicken soup can't cure! After that I sanded it to distress it and then put a clear coat over it to protect the paint.

Next, it went back to my craft room where I papered, added ribbon which I inked to make it a deeper orange, etc. and it now looks very colorful, like this:

I love the word strip which I highlighted with my white pen , and the buttons that cover the screw heads:

Added some cork to the top for a coaster effect and a little green paint around the edge:

and here it is, lovingly placed beside my chair, with my ice tea already on it, and my clipping shears. I love the tray underneath to hide hold supplies, fans and plant tags.

I am entering my stool/side table into Unique crafters Challenge # 4, Buttons.

plain: adjective

1. clearly visible and not blocked or obscured
2. clear to the mind or senses
3.  used to emphasize a noun

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Here are my pictures for the scavenger hunt, for Ashley's blog: Ramblings and Photos.

The first group of photos were taken at the Balloon Festival that we attended down in Simpsonville, South Carolina

The Balloonist’s Prayer

The winds have welcomed you with softness.
The sun has blessed you with his warm hands.
You have flown so high and so well,
That God has joined you in your laughter,
And He has set you gently back again,
Into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

Shine

I love the way the sun is reflecting light off this big cloud and although this cloud is pretty, it's also what kept the balloons from lifting off :(

Fast

You had to act fast and think fast to deal with the breeze whipping these big balloons around!

Left

When the balloons didn't launch, all there was left to do was listen to music and eat dinner!

 The next set of photographs were taken at my friend, Shirley house. She has such a beautiful flower garden!

peace

Nothing gives me more peace than God, and I love her little church fixture tucked away in this corner.

plain

To me, the word "plain" represented something unattractive, not pretty or in terms of geography, large expanses of level, almost treeless country.

I had something else intended for "plain", but honestly, after looking up the definition I came to appreciate this word more.

because we also have for the definition:

clearly visible and not blocked or obscured
"These flowers are in plain sight of the house."

clear to the mind or senses
as in " They are just plain beautiful."

used to emphasize a noun
"These are just plain flowers"

So there, I can now plainly appreciate this word more!

junk: noun

 discarded things, or things regarded as worthless or causing clutter

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Guess what I'm doing today?

I sure hope someone wants my junk collectibles!

Worth a try, right? 

 

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I did finish my February and March T!m Holtz tags and took pictures of them to post for today, when I went to edit them, they were all blurry and I was like, huh? Come to find out that big thumbprints on your camera lens don't make for good pictures! lol Will post them later on today, pinky promise.

 

As Promised :)

 

I completed the March tag, and at first I didn't like it that much, but it's growing on me. I don't have a wood grain stamp so I used a wood grain paper, but I didn't like the glossy finish so I added a layer of burlap. I didn't have the stamp, but tried to emulate it on my computer, but made a goof, and wrote ever instead of every, and didn't feel like removing it and redoing the sentiment so I added some epoxy letters over the word ever...I can live with it I guess. I don't think I did well choosing my snippets of papers for the butterflies, shrug...I'll live with that also! lol I did have some metal flowers but not the leaves, so cut one metal flower apart and used my alcohol inks on them. They turned pretty well!

 Next up, the dreaded February tag, as I am currently avoiding lovey things, this one was mentally challenging, but when I saw this stamp sentiment I knew I was going to be OK, lol I wet embossed my sayings on the tag, and they resisted the ink pretty well, so happy there. I got to play with my new melting pot and did the heart with about 4 dips in the pot, and am loving that thing! I have discovered this: ordinary kitchen wax paper still sticks to the melted UTEE but parchment papers works BEAUTIFULLY! Absolutely no sticking! I cut my bird from the French Manor cartridge and the heart from the Paisley cartridge. REALLY enjoying cutting the grunge board on the Cricut, so much better than card board!

and then on to June! ( psstt...I went and purchased a few things with my garage sell money, woo hoo! Will show you the stash on Monday!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week end!!

Greenway: noun

 a stretch of undeveloped land close to an urban area that is kept for recreational use

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I am soooooooooo tired, I began my new 'walking program', and today was day 3. I walked a mile the first day, 2 1/2 miles the next day and I walked the Oklawaha Greenway which is 4 miles round trip ( can't pronounce it, but I walked it, lol ) today :)

 When I came home, I collapsed on my balcony with a bowl of sugar snap peas, low fat Ranch dressing and a glass of tea, and my camera of course. The pictures I'm showing you all happened today..so I'm just having a show of my current "wildlife" from my balcony, enjoy!

a white breasted Nuthatch

a female Cardinal

a female American Goldfinch

and my most unusual find, this rabbit with very strange marking on top of his head! I am sure to recognize him again!
EDIT
BJ's son has given him a name: Sparticus,  ( a former gladiator and an accomplished military leader, hopefully Sparticus will not be leading any bunny wars out there! )

Hope you're having a wonderful day!!