Stars and Stripes forever!

Do you ever have a day where you feel like you were disassembled and put back together incorrectly? That's how I feel today. I am achey and tired and I really have no right to be tired. But I am certainly not thinking straight.

The artist trading cards pictured in this post were my gift to my unit this morning. I think I made 40 of them to honor out nation's birth. Once I distribute to the unit, then I hand out the extras to different ones on the floor. I think we have over 250 Customer service reps, and no way can I make enough for everyone, so I try to catch ones that I haven't given to before as well as my unit. A star spangled boy for a star spangled day! They were a real hit and I'm glad they were received so well. You can't really miss with a great stamp like this little guy. He reminds me of the grandsons and parades.

I'll keep this short today. Thanks go out to all who ever served our country and prayers for a safe return home to all who are in active duty at the present time. You are our country's finest and we owe you a big debt of gratitude. Thank you.

Happy Fathers Day

It is very few Sundays that my husband and I spend apart. Well once a month I leave him for my Stampin With Heart club meeting. But today, he has left me to my own devices and I am going to update my sorely missed blog and play music to my heart's content. He has gone to see Star Trek with our son for Father's day. The kids took us out to eat at Old Country Buffet, My hubbies favorite place to go and eat. Mandi has begged me not to choose there for Mother's Day, Lol! Wow was it ever packed.! So to all the father's out there, I wish you the happiest of Fathers Days! I still believe in fatherhood and the necessity of both parents in raising children, the American Dream and the good old red white and blue.

My own Dad was just about the best dad I could have ever wished for. Of course I know he spoiled me as I was the only girl, but he had a way about him. He was a considerably handsome man, hard working, great sense of humor. although he didn't appreciate my grandmother comparing him to an arangatang one time when we sent a picture post card home from the San Diego Zoo. LOL! But he was well loved by all five of us kids and I think as we grew older we all gained the wisdom that young adults do, he did the best he could to raise us and we turned out fairly well. I really miss him; I used to call and we would depress each other with our talks about the country going to pot. I miss those conversations and miss asking his opinion on so many things. His opinion seemed far more worthy than my own most of the time. And I miss seeing him at the kitchen table with his bedroom "do" first thing in the morning--coffee, paper, and hair standing up sort of like Kramer on Seinfeld wore his hair. With Kramer it was always mussed, but Dad would comb his eventually and look decent for the day. When he passed, there was an emptiness that will only be filled when we cross over from this life to the next. After I meet Jesus and thank him for all he did and all he provided me with, then I will sit down with my dad over a cup of coffee and have a long awaited visit and a hug!

Until then, I am content to watch my son and my son in law raise their sons, doing the best that they can. I'm grateful to my husband who practically raised our children, while I worked several years well over a forty hour week. And I am thankful for the partnership we have had for over thirty years together. Life has not been without it's trials, but whatever doesn't kill you , only makes you stronger. Or so they say.

The two pictures above are my dad holding four of five children , not sure Dennis was born yet, but he, Dad, was out of lap room. The second is a 4 generation shot of Miff with his dad and grandmother on dad's side and Michael. Also pictured is his youngest brother Georgie.

Again Happy Father's Day to all of you dad's, God love you!

Say good-bye to iris

Springtime and autumn are my two favorite seasons. I love the outside and appreciate the smell of fresh cut grass, lilacs and the smell of upturned earth. Spring rains wash away the remnants of winter. The sun pokes it's head just a little closer and coaxes all the tender flowers to push through the darkness and tranquility of dormancy to bloom and blossom, sharing the beauty of new life! It truly is a time of rebirth. I find myself this spring wanting to do what I've never done, be what I have never been and to start anew. Best to start with my own attitude I guess.

Anyway, Iris are my favorite flower. They come in all sizes and colors and they are gloriously shaped and designed. When we lived in our house on the east side, I planted 26 different varieties of IRIS. That was before my knees and my back gave out on me. I had one iris that was almost black, another that smelled like grapes, verigated iris and a beautiful dark rust color. Some had such huge blooms, the stem could barely stand up, otheres were small and petite.

To honor spring and my love of the IRIS, I have done the card featured here, using my favorite shades of the color purple. I can not remeber what company put out the stamp, sorry, but I am pretty sure, I bought it at Michael's, another favorite!

We are watching the boys today while the adult kids are at Laser Fest. I bet we have more fun than they do! Rigth now they are playing video games, but we'll be stamping before too long!That is a sure bet when they are at Grandma's house. Who knows I may have the next Picasso growing up right before my eyes!

Enjoy this last day of May. I certainly will!

Newsletter June 2009

Greetings everyone! Can you believe the Month of June is just around the corner!
I have been enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air and the excitement of Stampin Up’s transition to a new catalog come July!!!

June 1st, the retired list will be posted on line. Be sure and check out my demonstrator website at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampwithheart/ and see the retired stamp sets. They will only be available through the 30th of June.

Anyone who orders three retired stamp sets will receive a free pack of colored paper from me during the month of June. This is my demonstrator offer to you and is not being offered through Stampin Up. You will need to place you orders directly through me in order to earn this freebie!

Summer Fun Hostess Bonus Promotion
Dates: June 1-30, 2009
Promotion Details:
The Summer Fun Hostess Bonus Promotion has two parts:
Hostesses who hold a $250-$399.99 workshop will receive an additional $20 in hostess free merchandise dollars.
Hostesses who hold a $400 or more workshop will receive an additional $40 in hostess free merchandise dollars.
Things to Remember:
Customer, demonstrator, Online, and workshop order types qualify for this promotion.
Hostesses may use their additional hostess free merchandise on any regular catalog or mini catalog merchandise.
Order deadlines:
Phone: Tuesday, June 30, 2009; 6:50 PM (MT)
OEX or Online Ordering: Tuesday, June 30, 2009; 11:50 PM (MT)

Monthly Meeting: June 28th, Sunday
Amy’s House, 1310 NW Eden, Ankeny
2-4 PM or whenever Amy turns us out
RSVP me at 515-865-4625 or
Email: miffbeth@q.com

We’ll work on a couple of cards, hear about Amy’s trip to convention in Minneapolis and see her most organized craft room that we will envy for the rest of our lives….LOL

Come join the fun with an afternoon at Amy’s!
Admission free to club member’s, $5.00 admission for non member’s to assist in covering expenses.

Ask me about club membership and see if the rewards are for you!

I hope to see as many of you as possible on the 28th…

Only two days left to get in on 12X12 paper, buy three and get one free. Please go to my on line website if you want to get in on the last minutes of this great sale from SU. This includes designer series paper paks and colored paper packs as well.
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampwithheart/

That’s it for now Ladies.

Beth Cutwright
Stampin With Heart
515-865-4625
Email: miffbeth@q.com
Demonstrator website: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampwithheart/
Blogspot: http://www.bethartfromtheheart.blogspot.com/

Memory Lane

Today, I scrapbooked my daylight hours away. Something was kindled Friday night when we had our scrappin night at Alisa's. So I finished my two Sibling pages and my rembrance page of Dennis. I am rather proud of how his page turned out. If I get my camera out so I can take a good picture I will upload it. Naturally Working with his pictures makes me sad. We certainly had our differences, but I loved my baby brother a whole lot and I miss him.

Anyway most of the day has now slipped away and I must get busy with some birthday cards!
April has a lot of birthdays, Erik, Joyce, Sister Butcher and Alisa too and two out of four birthdays I am already late with! Shocking and appalling isn't it? The queen of cards has turned into the plummer whose home pipes are rusty and leak, the mechanic whose own car doesn't run very well, and she has two boxes of cards already made, but can't send a card on time!
I always want to do that one special card, the aha card, the I'll cherish it forever card! Like I'm sure that doesn't happen often. My Mom and DH are the only ones who saves my creations.

Oh well, the joy is in the giving right? I always liked writing letters and loved the stationary at the store. Hallmark was my favorite place to shop as a kid. Pembles Hardware was my second favorite. They sold the Breyer Model Horses which I collected. Anyway, I used to write to one of my best friend's dad and perfumed his cards to the hilt and I corresponded with Uncle Alonzo the same way when I was in college. I had more fun with them! I always thought I would some day have my own stationary store and in a sense I do. I love to craft cards, the problem is, there is always some new stamp or some new technique or some new embellishment and my wish list never decreases! It's downright discouraging at times.

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend as much as I have mine. I accomplished something, I felt the emotions of remembrance both happy and sad, and I had a minute for blogging! Now to accomplish washing some dishes! :)

April Showers Bring Pretty Flowers

We had showers today and that made me think this was an appropriate card for the today's blog. Isn't the card bright and cheery?

I used Stampin Ups Wagon Full of Love stamp of the potted flower. It was stamped on a background paper of the technique Spectrum Roll from Technique Junkie a few years back and the plaid border is one of the new techniques, Pulled Madras. Potted plant was then colored in with stamp write markers, and buttons added down the madras strip. Tiny little leaf stamp from Lovely as a Tree from Stampin Up was also used. This was a super fun and interesting card to make!

We stamped at Alisa's last night and worked on our scrap books. My daughter's and Alisa's friend, Nissa was also there. We had so much fun laughing and teasing each other and scrappin'. I watched these girls growing up and it was so awesome and now they are young mother's and still good friends. And so very busy with the business of Life! As you know doubt have guessed, I am the oldest in the crowd, just call me Mom. My busiest days are behind me and I just love pretending to be everybody's Grandma. I sure needed a night of relaxing and laughing with the girls though. Work was a bear all week long!

Enjoy your flowers as they peek through the soil and remember to plant seeds of kindness every where you go!

Happy Easter 2009

How time slips away ! I wish I was a bit more diligent with posting. Mostly I am doing this for myself. And some of the stories are geared for the grandkids. Maybe one day their parents will download my posts and make a grandma's memories book for them? We'll see. The card uses a stamp from Stampin Up's Occasions Mini Brochure; Wagon Full of Fun. I stamped the image with the duck image in black ink, then colored the bill, legs and feet with Apricot Appeal and the bow with Pretty in Pink stampin Write Markers. The duck was mounted on SU's cameo coral and then to a background using the April 2009 Technique Junkie's Chalk Lines technique. Chalk colors were the Cameo Coral chalk and Sage shadow chalk applied to shimmer paper and sprayed with a fixative. That in turn was mounted on a sage shadow card stock and affixed to a 5 1/4 X 5 1/4 card base. I thought it turned out pretty well for not having any embellishments added. It is my pastel color challenge card for my stamping group this month.

We'll be teaching the chalk lines technique at the club meeting on the 28th of this month.

My husband and I spent the morning with our children and grandchildren. We shared an omelet breakfast, with DH doing the cooking. And it was so yummy. Then three of the parents hid easter eggs filled with candy out doors and we all enjoyed watching the boys racing to collect the hidden goodies. They are such a riot! How many times they passed an obvious egg without seeing it.

Ok so now it's time for grandma's memories. When my four brothers and I were young, our dad was outside hiding eggs for us and he returned to the house stomping mad. Apparently a squirrel decided to have some fun with him and clobbered him in the head with a full ear of corn.

I don't think we hid Easter Eggs after that. Of course we all thought it was hysterically funny that something like that would happen, but it wasn't one bit funny to him.

Another Easter memory came from my brother, Jim. When he was little, he paid close attention to dad and his coin collection. Jim really loved the coins and to this day, he also collects coins and saves change. But when some of dad's coins came up missing, Jim admitted to having them in his possession, but he said the Easter Bunny gave him the money. I wonder why dad never quite believed him?

I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice for us and the hope that one day, we will be with you. God Bless!