Crazy for Daisies!

Today is Teapot Tuesday on SCS, and my friend, Mothermark, asked me to make a sample for this week's Daisy teapot. I fell in love with the softness and prettiness of Cindy's teapot choice...which you can view if you visit her blog (on my sidebar, "This is my Story.")

While there, you have to read the entire story that goes with the teapot to get in on all the fun, but this week we (the tea-partiers) are on their way to help Miss Sadie who is a master gardener in dire need of more daisy petals. It turns out that there is a suitor, Sir Pluckapetal who is up to no good in Sadie's garden night after night.

I had to search for the song, Daisy, Daisy, (we used to sing that all the time as kids)...

and here is the first chorus:

"There is a flower within my heart,

Daisy, Daisy!

Planted one day by a glancing dart,

Planted by Daisy Bell!

Whether she loves me, or loves me not,

Sometimes it's hard to tell:

Yet I am longing to share the lot

Of beautiful Daisy Bell."

~Harry Dacre, 1892

And then we break into the chorus,

"Daisy, Daisy,

give me your answer do!

I'm half-crazy all for the love of you!

It won't be a stylish marriage.

I can't afford a carriage.

But you'll look sweet, upon the seat

Of a bicycle built for two."

Now do you remember Daisy's reply? I don't know if I made it up one day with a bunch of girlfriends or if this is written somewhere , but I always sang the second verse:

"Andy, Andy,

Here is my answer true!

You're half-crazy,

If you think I will marry you!

It won't be a stylish marriage,

You can't afford a carriage~

And I'll be beat,

if I sit on the seat,

Of a bicycle built for two. "

Thanks for coming by today and hope you can play along in this week's Teapot Tuesday! This week is for the "softer side" and the cards may be sent to encourage a fellow stamper. You can read more about that on Mothermark's blog, or in the Challenge Forums on Splitcoast Stampers under Teapot Tuesday.

Honor your Mother

Today on Stamping Sisters in Christ the verse for this week is from Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you."

My card this week was inspired by Silke on her blog, "My Life" (on my sidebar). I used her arrangement of flowers on the top note die, but changed the colors, and then made this into an easel card, adding the designer paper from Melissa Frances and the fence with the word, "Mother" on it. I did not have a specific Mother's Day sentiment, but this will work. I love the colors in this paper, and used Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, and Summer sun stamped off to mimic the paper.

In my life, I had two mothers. I can't say it didn't make my life complicated and uncomfortable many times, but over the years I learned to perceive the blessings that came from both and find a way to bring honor to them or to their memories. I know in my life, motherhood is the one thing I cherish...it is such a gift!! So for all those who are mothers, who have mothers, or who have had the tremendous blessing of nurturing children or mentoring youth...Happy Mother's Day!!

Enjoy the Ride!

We've got a cloudy day here in Colorado with rain straight for the past almost 24 hours...so maybe that's what inspired my bright sunny card this afternoon! Tilda's top was paper-pieced and the sketch was this week's Just Magnolia's blog challenge for the week.

This is also for my friend, Cindy's Teapot Tuesday's card this week to find a ride at the Kentucky Derby. I told her I have no horse stamps, but I might bring a bicycle, I don't think she will mind, do you?

And over at Stamping Sister in Christ's Blog, the challenge this week was to make a card using flowers. The verse this week is Isaiah 40:8: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever." What a comforting scripture in times of upheaval in our lives. Thank you SSIC for the challenge!

And thanks so much for looking...and for making my day brighter just by being you!!

Oh, I have to thank two good friends of mine for helping me stay supplied: Peggysue, thank you for this Tilda stamp, I love her, and thanks to Linda Borneman for this gifted paper last year, Chloe's Closet from Making Memories!

Cuckoo for You!!

I love cuckoo clocks and didn't own a single one until I purchased this charming stamp set from Hero Arts! My parents have a really pretty clock in their home, although the birds don't come out and chirp at you, and I actually like that about cuckoo clocks...though at night it might get annoying. Anyway, today I noticed a fun sketch challenge at the Crazy4Challenges blog and that was my starting point for the sketch for this card. Thanks to my friend, Charlene, for this Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg paper which has fun non-pink colors for the stuck on pink like me people!!

Now don't think for a minute this has any shade close to pink, the background is a wood-grain rusty orange color...love it! I added a brown button with twine for detail, and popped up one of the little birds. The antiquing was done with Tim Holtz distress in tea dye inks.

Oh and those tiny numbers got obliterated as I colored over them so AFTER this was entirely assembled, and after much deliberation, I grabbed a micro pen and very lightly traced over those little numbers. And I'm relieved to say, it turned out okay!

Thanks for looking, and hope your day is filled with lots of fun moments in time!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Hello friends! Today is my Mom's birthday...and even though I already mailed her card, I wanted to write a little post in her honor today. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love and admire my Mom! She is such a special lady...and even though she did not give birth to me, she has raised me from a young girl. I have often thought what it is she did as a very young mom that drew me so close to her...and have decided that among many things, it is the way she made and still makes me feel about myself. She was always a good listener growing up, and rarely if ever said a critical word. Over the years she has instilled in me a quiet confidence in myself and the feeling that she was proud of me. She always and I mean always had a smile on her face, it didn't seem to matter what was going on in the world around her. As a young girl, my oldest daughter would just stare at her face and finally blurted out, "Grandma, how do you get your lips to do that?" It was funny, but her mouth always curved upward, as if God permanently planted a smile on her face and a sunny disposition in her heart.
My mom was a hard worker and worked outside the home as I was growing up. She gave up a career to raise us three kids I discovered much later in life...but she worked at different jobs to help support the family. But on weekends she would be baking and I was very fond of her cream pies and cherry cobblers. So this little Tilda with the wooden baking spoon was the one I chose to honor my Mom today.
This was made for the Magnolia-licious blog challenge for the month.
I have been absent for awhile and it felt good to stamp a card today...hope you enjoy this short post. I have tried much harder to listen to my kids more ...even grown up now and attending college...and offer less advice. I just tell them how much I admire some quality in them and assure them when they are going through a hard time that I have confidence in them. Wow, it is a lifelong lesson, but I hope through my Mom's guidance I am getting a little better about it.
Blessings to you~