Happy SPRING!

F.Y.I . . .I strongly suggest that you create a template using a plain manila folder before trying this on your Designer File folders. Once you’ve done that you’ll have a much better understanding of how to proceed!

1. a. When you open your Designer File Folder flat in front of you notice that there are three of the four edges that have cut-outs on them. Carefully cut these off so that you have a rectangle that is approximately 11 5/16 x 17 ¼.

b. From the front of the notepad holder remove 1 ¾” and set aside as this will be used to create your scalloped edge for the fold over flap. Use corner rounder for top edges and right side.

2. a. Score bottom edge horizontally at 3” to create your inside flap
b. Score ½” left of pre-fold center on front.
c. Score from right edge at 2 ½” and at 3” to create the front fold over flap

3. Fold up bottom pocket flap and cut out portion that is connected to the fold over flap on right and secure with Red Sticky Tape. Note: Leaving this flap behind the notepad adds security and firmness to the notepad.

4. Cut a piece 1 ¼” from scrap for scalloped edge on front fold over and secure with Red Sticky Tape

5. Add round Velcro dot to fold over portion and add your ribbon to left side.

6.  Cut strip from remaining scrap for top of notepad secure with Red Sticky Tape and add bow.

My upline taught us how to create these darling notepad holders at her last quarterly meeting back in the fall and I’ve given several of them as door prizes!

These great personal notebooks are quick and easy to do with the Designer Manilla Folders by STAMPIN’ UP!

I remember a particular conversation with the perky young real estate agent at closing that took place because it was snowing heavily outside and she was remarking about how unusual this was because it happened to be October 28th.  We were in the midst of the EARLIEST snowfall on record.  Not to mention that before it was all over they had nearly a foot of snow by the end of the day.  She also was relating that Durango proper really didn’t get that much snow but that the ski areas about 20 minutes away was where most of the snow usually accumulated.

R-E-A-L-L-Y???

I told her that our first winter in Waco they had a record 8″ snowfall one Tuesday in December and that she’d better get her snow boots ready!

Well here you go, Durango has had more snow so far this winter than ever before and it ain’t over yet!

In all fairness, being up on the mountain as we are, the snow doesn’t melt as quickly as it does in town and half of this came from having to have the THREE FEET of snow shoveled from the roof to prevent damage to the home from the weight.  Even several commercial structures in town have had roof collapses due to the excessive weight of all the snow.

The snow removal folks, contracted by the development, knocked off the transformer cover at the end of the driveway for our meter and with the thawing and re-freezing ice and water blew up the transformer cutting off power to our home causing a pipe to freeze behind the washer and leaking down through the wall to the bedroom below.  So a bit of unexpected remodeling is in order:

Thankfully most of the damage was confined to that one bedroom, but the entire hand finished wood floor in the lower level will have to be refinished once the new wood is in place.

It’s been an interesting adventure for this ‘flat lander’.  I can’t wait for Spring!  I don’t know, but I think it’d be an awesome place for a STAMPIN’ UP! retreat!  Maybe?

Anyway, as you can see repairs are quickly underway and hopefully we’ll get the family up there sometime soon!  It’s really no fun going solo!

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend and many thanks for stopping by!

Katherine

I’ve seen lots of coasters the past couple of years but none that  really struck my fancy enough that  interested me  to spend time on.  Then late one night, while re-organizing my Stamp Room (isn’t that an ongoing process?) I came across a card front that I’d made last summer for convention (See French Bird post in archive) and just like a light bulb illuminating the dark,  I could see these coaster’s.

My sweet dear friend Barbie had quietly celebrated her birthday back on February 1st while I was too preoccupied with Boy Scout stuff followed by Valentine’s stuff…you get the picture….and really isn’t there always some kind of ‘STUFF’ that clutters our lives?

I had stitched a little something for her, but she is light years ahead of me in stitching and it was much too unimpressive to even think about giving her. Besides,  part of it was still unaccounted for so I tried to come up with a ‘Plan B’.   I remembered that sometime ago she asked me about stamping on tiles and was interested in doing a project with me…AHH HAAA!!  I remembered that!

So when I came across my French Bird card front,  I had my inspiration for creating these coasters for her!

It would be the perfect birthday gift…she loved the card…she’d love the coasters!  Especially in her newly just completly remodeled living room done in the soft gold tones of the tile and black!

The Stampin’ UP! Friends 24-7 Stamp Set is one of my absolute favorites.  I made her a set of six coasters, three of each pattern; backed with cork.  The edges were distressed with a sponge and Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Ink to suggest a smokey aged air to the tiles and sealed with a matte finish Krylon sealing spray.  They were so much fun to create!

Did I mention that we love French accents?  So naturally the En Francais’ Block Stamp was again, another perfect element for the background!

I liked them so well, next week I’m going to use the rest of the tiles to make myself a set!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Katherine

I’d seen an accordion card a while back and decided that it’d work really great for Valentine’s Day for Colin and our son Brandon to give their sweethearts!

Just a little surprise from me!  I think they turned out pretty cute and the girls sure seemed to enjoy them, so I guess that was a hit!

Front when tied with Whisper White Taffeta  Ribbon

From a single sheet of 12 x 12 card stock cut three, four inch strips and stick together overlapping one panel on each strip.  You end up with a total of ten panels to decorate.  Cut eight pieces of coordinating Designer Series Paper for the background of the center eight panels.

Using the Stampin’ UP! Big Shot I die cut the letters and used a variety of our wonderful Stampin’ UP! punches and brads  for embellishments.  Add a touch of Dazzling Diamonds glitter for extra sparkle!  The fabulous thing about using the Stampin’ UP! Big Shot is that all of the embellishments were created using SCRAPS!!  I love, love, LOVE it!  It’s easy peasy and so smart to have as a resource.

For the final touch I added two pictures of the Sweethearts and my special Valentine’s Day treat for these sweet gals was complete!

This project lends itself to a wide array of possibilities and events to celebrate.    Other suggestions you could  spell out are    C-O-N-G-R-A-T-S-!, B-A-B-Y,      L-O-V-E – U,    Y-O-U  D-I-D  I-T-!,       T-H-A-N-K-F-U-L.

The pictures were printed on my HP psc 2510 Photosmart and a couple were printed as 3 x 5 and then trimmed, others were printed as a wallet size.  To save additional space since this is a very small pallet that you’re creating on instead of matting your pic’s use a dab of Whisper White Craft Ink to edge your pictures ever so slightly.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your creativity takes you to new levels of fun!

Have a blessed week!    Katherine

It was an honor and privilege to share this exciting award ceremony with our many friends and family who came to congratulate him and support his achievement.

It was a bitter-sweet moment as we leave TROOP 497 with memories of  many, many  years of cherished experiences.   Scouting has been a huge part of our lives since Brandon joined Tiger Cubs in first grade at St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School back in I believe 1993.  Seventeen wonderful years of scouting activities.

It was difficult to put his Memory Table together, since so much of his ’stuff’ had been relocated in our move 5 years ago to the new home, it was a bit challenging to pull it all together and remember where it all had been stashed.

Scouting has been somewhat of a ‘tag team’ effort for  Dad and I.  I got to go on the local and in-state campouts with the boys acting as chauffeur carrying several kids, sleeping in a bunk aboard the USS Lexington with no AC and 100+ weather or sleeping under the stars in the Crockett National Forest of East Texas; either in my special cot or on my special mattress in MY personal tent…it really was fantastic fun… and loving the outdoors as I do.    Dad got to enjoy the ‘High Adventure’ experiences hiking the Rockies in Colorado summer weather, freezing in drizzling rain; soaking wet in the muck of the Boundary Waters on the Canadian Border; or snoozing aboard a sail boat at Sea Base off the Florida Keys.

Scouting has brought experiences like no other activity can.  Learning life skills along the way while having a blast.  Witnessing some of the most breath-taking sunrises and sunsets that God provides.

We will continue to support their activities ourselves however we can and encourage others with son’s to enjoy the manifold blessings of the Boy Scouts.

Congratulations Colin!

Love Mom!

It’s a new year, and what better time than now to help you get organized. I’m planning a workshop for Saturday February 20th from 2-4pm. We’re going to be doing a project that I’ve wanted to offer for a long time, and the best news is…it’s only $10.00.

I made this Eternal Event Calendar for myself and a friend, and have enjoyed it so much, I know you’re going to love it too!

The Eternal Event Calendar will easily keep track of all your important family dates like anniversaries and birthdays that are so special to remember.  Plus  it’s quick and easy enough you’ll have time to do one for yourself and another to give as a gift.

Come enjoy some stamping fellowship and create your own Eternal Event Calendar.

While you’re at it you can also check out our new products from Stampin’ UP!’s current Occasions Mini Catalog.   Our new clear stamps are really exciting and as usual Stampin’ UP! has brought a new level of quality to the  stamping world by joining their superior quality red rubber with the ease of placement in the clear acrylic stamp blocks. Come see and stamp some great little projects with them.

Please call 254-848-5173  or email:  kpritchard@hot.rr.com for reservations this is one workshop you won’t want to miss!

Thanks for stopping by! Katherine

Thursday morning our sweet Colin woke up with a ginormous index finger and knuckle on his right hand that looked like it belonged to someone else. We had been carefully monitoring a spider bite that he’d gotten Sunday while trekking in the woods at a friends house, but it was now clear that it was going ‘postal’ on him (berserk, out-of-control). The first words out of the doctor’s mouth was ‘he really needs to be in the hospital’! I nearly fell out of my chair. He could tell, from the look on my face, that I hadn’t fully comprehended the gravity of the situation prior to that moment. He explained all the things that can happen with an infected hand and then called my attention to the faint red streak beginning to creep up the back of Colin’s hand. After several moments of deliberation and more discussion, he felt that we were clearly on the leading edge of events, and perhaps if he lanced it, allowing it to drain, and began a vigorous course of oral antibiotics that maybe we’d be able to stay ahead of the infection. Sounded fine with me.

After bringing Larry (darling hubby) up to date (he was in Bastrop ninety minutes away at a conference), hubby instructed me to find out what the doctor would want given at the hospital and he could take care of that. Hit the infection with a tri-fecta of drainage, oral and IV antibiotics, ought to be a home-run! So, Thursday evening when Dad got home we administered the first course and by Friday morning there was improvement on the appearance and size of the swollen index knuckle and the back of his hand. Looking good! We administered the second round and kept Colin’s activity to a minimum for the day.

Before Larry even arrived at work Friday morning, there had been some sort of horrible accident on the highway a block from his office and all power had been knocked out for a considerable area. Computers were down, and everything in the Londonderry Centre’ of course was dead as well. Delaying the start of his very busy half-day of work before leaving Waco for yet another conference in New Orleans. I HAD planned on accompanying him (to celebrate our 29th Wedding Anniversary on the 24th) but with Colin’s hand issues I wasn’t about to leave town. An infection like that can always decide to be stubborn and take a turn for the worse and one of us needed to be available should anything else be required). When power was restored everything came back on line and the office was humming along nicely . . .EXCEPT for his phone system. It was DOA.

We actually have been negotiating a new phone system for about the last 30 days and had already made some decisions on how to proceed in a ‘worse-case-scenario’ event, and VOILA!!! Thanks to a crack IT team and a quick run to Wal-Mart by mid-morning phone capability had been restored temporarily and we’d only actually been without official communication for about 90 minutes, during which time the answering service simply routed phone calls to the staff personal cell phones. By the end-of-the-day the old system had been dismantled and removed and the new system had been installed. Isn’t digital technology wonderful…sometimes?!

Larry was pretty emotionally drained at this point but headed out for his meeting, courageously, anyway. His flight out of Waco had a not unexpected, brief delay because of all the rain in and around the central Texas area, but no problem! Then there was delay, Delay DELAY! And finally getting out, having missed his connecting flight in Houston he was put on stand-by on the LAST flight out of Houston to New Orleans scheduled to leave at 9:15pm on a rainy Friday evening, and itself delayed.

Stand-by means just that…you stand-by and watch your LAST CHANCE FLIGHT OUT-OF-TOWN leave…WITHOUT YOU!!! I’m not really clear on what actually transpired between he and the ticket agent, but he was unable to secure a seat on any flights into New Orleans that would get him there before late in the afternoon Saturday AND he was unable to return to Waco on anything prior to a flight leaving at 5:50PM late Saturday. Somehow he managed to drag himself to an unknown hotel near the airport and was last heard of going to bed, uttering “Don’t call me…I’ll call you!”

We are not accustomed to our lives being filled with so many extraordinary mishaps in such a brief span of time. It seems that between November 1st and now there has been a domino effect going on and it is beginning to take wear us thin. A dear friend of mine has cautioned me from asking the quintessential question of ‘What next’…which I most assuredly intend to take to heart. Perhaps that will put a stop to all of the havoc that has encompassed us lately, who can say? I simply know, that in spite of all this, and through all of this, our dear LORD is sovereign. He has been here, in our midst, walking beside us, lifting us up, helping us cope with even the slightest frustration, anxiety, and concern. He cares about what happens to HIS children even as we care for ours. HE is faithful and TRUE and loves us unconditionally. Praise God!

Blessings on your weekend, remember that after the rain comes the rainbow…stay dry!

Katherine

By late Saturday afternoon I figured there wasn’t anything else that could happen right? I mean, the frozen water pipe was just fine, the thermostat had been re-programmed and was behaving, so off I go with hubby for a bit of a night out, Baylor Men’s Basketball against Oklahoma, followed by ‘The Blind Side’ which we hadn’t yet seen.

You know, I was ALMOST home free…until half way through the movie, my phone rings…”Katherine…do you have any flashlights out here, the power’s gone off and we only have a small one and the battery isn’t very good since it’s pretty dim?” Oh, yeah…”and it’s really dark out here!” I was completely mortified at this point and nearly speechless. It simply was staggering that something else was actually going wrong!

I went back to my seat, grabbed hubby, and called the power company quickly only to be told that, yes they were inundated with calls from all over that area of the county and they were addressing these emergencies by calling in additional crews and such, but all that to say they could not predict when my power would be restored if at all tonight (Saturday) GREAT NEWS! I’m like…”Are you serious?” It’s like going to be in the ‘teens’!

My wonderful hubby that he is, suggested we run across the highway and secure a couple of rooms at the LaQuinta for the ladies. I then instructed the gals to head in for the night…they were wanting to run over to McGregor and stay there, but that area was also supposed to have been hit by the power outages and I didn’t want to chance them driving all the way over there to a hotel with no power either…besides it was now 9:15, I had two rooms for them at the LaQuinta which would be much nicer anyway..so they came on into Waco. I got my automated call back from the Electrical Co-Op about 11:45pm that the power had been restored. Thanks!

About 8:30, Sunday morning, I checked with the ladies before heading to church and they planned on returning out to the Cottage and scrapping some more that afternoon before heading home. I was very thankful that they were so understanding about this onslaught of mishaps. This has not at all been my experience in the nine months that My Bluebonnet Cottage has been open for guests, and I offered them a return weekend on the house! Off to church we go….

So, we’re sitting there enjoying pastor’s sermon and, yeah…you guessed it…my phone rang (in silent mode of course)…”Katherine, I just wanted you to know that when we got back to the Cottage, it was 96 degrees in here!” No way!…yeah WAY!! I give… I’m done…what else is there? They AGAIN reprogrammed the thermostat and actually turned on the A/C for a while to cool it off. They did stay I think most of the afternoon and scrapped before heading home.

The ladies said that in spite of the mishaps they did have a good time scrapbooking and are planning to take my offer of a return visit. So, I guess all will end well…eventually!

I do hope your weekend was less eventful than mine, and I am very happy that the week has been much better. Of course the return of more normal temperatures is very helpful. Try as we might, Central Texas is not a good place to be in when the temperatures dip so low, for such an extended period of time. We’re just not equipped for such a prolonged hard freeze. But like everything…this too shall PASS!

Have a GREAT week!
Blessings to you and yours!
Katherine