The Mystery Box

WHAT ON EARTH COULD THIS BE?!!!  It got delivered to me at the end of last week and I don’t think I was ever so glad to see my Mr. Brown UPS man. 

It’s the BIG surprise I’ve been eluding to now for a short while.  And, my bloggie friends…it is HUGE. 

But, it isn’t quite ready yet (sorry) - you’ll have to wait until after CHA to find out what it is.  It’ll be worth the wait though…I promise!

In the meantime, hope on over the Facebook and become a fan of IHP.  I just made a fan page over the weekend and I’d love to have you be a fan.  :)

Any guesses what’s in the box? 

I’ll be back tomorrow with a crafty post you won’t want to miss!  Have a great Monday!

Happy Birthday Amber!

Today is DT member Amber's birthday! Her and her family are about to make the trek across country because he hubby is being relocated (gotta love military life) so I don't even know if she's got web access. But, please stop by and wish her a happy birthday! Have a great weekend!!







PS - Isn't Google Images awesome? Thanks Google for the cake picture!

Five Minute Friday Sweet Blossoms

Hi there! Happy Friday! Sorry for the darkness of this picture. It was very overcast and rainy when I took it.

This is a super simple card. I used the new Lavender Silk ribbon and some of the Sweet Blossoms and then stamped the greeting in Palette French Lilac on an oval Nesties tag.

The swirlies are from the Windsor stamp set and are stamped in Palette Viridian Leaf.

That’s it. Less than 5 minutes. OK, that’s all I’ve got for today. I’ve only got 5 days until we leave for Niagara Falls and I’ve got lots of things to do before then, including scheduling some blog posts! Remember, orders will not be shipping from July 16-22.

Have a great weekend!!

Love Always - WSC87

I am LOVING sketch challenges lately. I think maybe it is because it gives me structure. I’m a color inside the lines, follow the rules kinda gal. :)

So anyway, Charmwarm was hosting this sketch this weekend and I decided to play along! It also gave me the chance to use some of the Lime Rickey paper I’ve been hoarding since I listed it in store. (Heh…one of the fringe benefits of owning a store!) I also used some of the glimmer lime grosgrain ribbon. I love the spectrum of colors this comes in. I’m hoping these folks are at CHA at the end of the month so I can see what other goodies they have. I stamped the heart from the So Sweet set (love the cupcake in that set too and it’s on SALE now!) in Claret, Chartreuse and Cote d’Azure Palette inks and then put a little Stardust Stickles on the swirls in the hearts. If you look closely you can see the shimmer. The greeting is from All Occasions Messages (of course) and is punched out.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a great weekend! (Scroll down for pictures from my weekend!) And, remember, no shipping from July 16-22. Only 9 more days until Niagara Falls! Woo-hoo!!

NSR: Garlic Harvest and other 4thy things!

Happy Sunday! I thought I’d pop in here and show you some pictures from our day yesterday. We had a pretty lazy July 4th. The weather was PERFECT…really…of course we paid for this weekend's fantastic weather with about 4 weeks of pretty much solid rain so it was well-deserved!

July 4 is garlic harvesting time here. We plant garlic around Halloween and around July 4 it is really to be pulled up. This is our biggest yield yet – 36 heads came out looking mighty yummy! Vampires be warned! We also cut some lilies and harvested some mint and lemon verbena (in the baskets).

Then we headed out to the fireworks. It was a perfect night – a beautiful sky, no biting bugs, no humidity and even a little chill in the air. Ahhh…

I hope you had a great weekend! I’ll be back tomorrow with a crafty post for Charmaine’s WSC.

Thanks for stopping by!

Five Minute Friday Butterfly

Yes, more birthday cards. Now that we’re into July you’re going to see a lot of them!

Do you have big weekend plans? I’m just planning on some house chores and more thinking and planning for Niagara Falls! I will be there in 2 weeks! YAY!!

Remember, orders will not be shipping from July 16-July22.

For today’s card I used one of the die cut butterflies from this paper. I love these little guys and you’ll be seeing them again soon. *grin* I used this flourish to make the trail behind him and for the little gems on his body. Then I stamped the greeting from Expressions in Palette Charcoal. Are you shocked I used a different greeting set??

I finished it off with the wide celery 100% silk ribbon. I’m not usually a wide ribbon kinda gal but this ribbon may convert me (much to the delight of DT member Cathleen who LOVES wide ribbon!)

This card is for a very special friend…I’ll have to coordinating project for you to see soon! Thanks for stopping by! Have a very safe and fun weekend!

Happy Birthday Deb!!

Today is DT member Deb’s birthday!  You’ll see the card I sent her soon but in the meantime I wanted to show you the card I did for CPS21.  Tracy is guest hosting this week so I wanted to play along.

I used the Happy Greetings and stamped it in Palette Noir for the greeting and used the little gems from the same package.  The bee is a Woolie from the new June Bug line from Basic Grey. 

I used some of the Piggy Tales Itsy Bitsy Spider collection, the small scale side of Spout.   I made the bee trail from a cut up bit of this Zva flourish and then finished it off with some yellow faux suede ribbon.    I love how it all came together.  I’m really enjoying these sketch challenges lately!!

Please stop by Deb’s blog and wish her some birthday love! Thanks for stopping by!