A new New Year's Resolution!

I am reading blogs from various people I follow and I thought to myself..."I really enjoy reading these posts and boy they really inspire me! Why can't I think of things like that? Why don't I do things like that?"

Basically I am a lump! I am a procrastinator and I make lists and more lists and then put off doing anything on the lists! Somehow over the past few years I have become something of a nonentity in my own brain. I can't think or do anything and when I do I lack the motivation of carrying through with it. This year's resolution was to create this blog and I did fairly well with the postings etc. until June then I kind of slipped off the face of the earth. I don't know whether the storm chasing got me out of the habit as far as posting on the blog goes or what demon raised its head and prevented my postings!! I have been busy this year and have done many things and created many things but they never made it on the blog. I resolve this year to post at least once a week and share with everyone the projects I am doing, what I am up, and just share my life in general. I have a lot I can share I just need to do it. I promise...once a week.

I hope the New Year finds everyone healthy and happy!

Storm chasing!

I am sorry that I haven't posted in a while but I have been out with my DH pursuing a hobby that I love. Most know that my husband is a meterologist and avid storm chaser and over the years I watched him go out each spring and wished I could go with him. About 11 years ago I started going with Chuck and I am totally hooked.

Yesterday we saw a storm in SE Wyoming...Goshen County that has made it on all the news because it was such a triumph for the Vortex 2 chase team and Weather Channel has been promoting the project. Here are a couple pics I thought you might like to see. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you would like them full screen. These pictures are all copy write protected. (c)vdoswell 2009/cdoswell enterprises.

This was the first picture I got of the tornado. It tried to set down 2-3 funnels and finally it happened!



The tornado became so rain wrapped it was really hard to see it!



After a few minutes it became more visible but still difficult for me to get good photos. I am hoping Chuck can enhance them a little so they are easier to see.



These are a couple of the last pics of this tornado.



Chuck with the tornado in the background.



In this pic the tornado was almost gone but look at the tube around the actual tornado. Beautiful.



The storm went on for a long time more but I am out of time tonight putting anymore on the blog. I hope everyone enjoys seeing these pictures. More later!

Vickie

New Blog and Challenge Site

There is a new blog and challenge site due to open next month. Stampin' for the Weekend is due to start with its first challenge on June 5.
All you have to do for a chance to win this gorgeous Launch Candy, is to turn up on June 5th and take part in their first challenge. I am looking forward to the challenge!!!

Twilight and sparkle!

The Cinema Staturday Creative Challenge #32 has to do with the movie Twilight. The requirement this week is a fun one: to use the colors Red and Black in your card with Sparkles!!
You are not limited to these two colors -and have fun with adding some sparkle to your card!

I LOVE the movie Twilight and the book series. I can't recall the number of times I have watched the movie and I am rereading the series for the 3rd time now! Sick? Nah...just an eternal optimist. I have decided to be more proactive and participate more in challenges and what better to start!






I originally designed this card for a Mother's Day card and decided to use it in this challenge cause it fits the requirements. The floral motif and stamp set reminds me of the garden... good and evil? I am not good on remembering the names of the designer paper etc. cause I pick it up when I see it (and love it!) and figure out what it will be used in later! The card stock is Stampin Up!, the stamp set is SU! the scalloped oval die cut is from SU! also. I used glittery brads, ribbon has some glitter on it, butterfly is glittered a little. Sorry for the photography...I am learning and flat cards are not easy for me.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day! I had an very nice one. I went over to my daughters house and she cooked dinner for us. Dinner was great but the fellowship was the most awesome! I love to get together with family and friends and it was nice to share a meal with Heather, Michael and Chuck.

Have I ever mentioned how proud I am of my daughter? Heather is a remarkable young woman and has many talents to offer the world. Heather is an awesome artist and uses multiple medium to create all the stuff she does. She knits, crochets, paints, does pottery and ceramics, all sorts of painting, drawing and paper crafts.

For mothers day she created a card for me and a gift certificate that I will soon be redeeming.

























I was so excited by the gift card cause it is for a painting of my choice done by HL. The painting on the gift card is a painting that Heather did for school art show when she was a student in junior college in Oklahoma City! I loved the painting but didn't know that it was up for sale...Heather sold the painting to the Dean of the art school before the art show even opened. I was so proud of her accomplishment but couldn't help but rag on her for selling it without my knowing! Isn't it a beautiful painting? I will pick another one out of her collection that is just as awesome! {grin}

Retreat at Hobby House Hill!

The weekend of May 1-3, 2009 I went with a group of crazy women (did I just type that) ahem...awesome women to a scrap booking retreat. The Hobby House Hill is located NW of Fort Worth, TX outside of Bowie, TX.




Up close!




The cropping room is the first thing we saw of the end side of the house when we arrived and I felt certian I was in cropping Heaven. Each person has their own table, electric outlet, tiered rolling basket, swivel desk chair and the room is climate controlled with a refrig, TV's, DVD player and satellight TV.

















The ladies from a Whole Lotta Scrap were really treated like Royalty by the owners Cindy and Paul Dauer. We were not allowed to lift a finger to help with anything and Cindy created some awesome meals for us while we were there. There is a embosser onsite. Sandy Dailey that works magic embossing names etc on scrap books etc. There is also a lady who comes in on Friday and Saturday's to do massages on a first come first serve basis.



A picture of all the attendee's at the retreat taken after we had a secret scrapper swap! Everyone had a blast swapping, stealing, and in general having a great time!





Sitting on floor: Jamie, Leslie, Stacie, Nita
Standing: Cindy, Kathy, Shakira, Nancy, Vickie
standing on fireplace step: KaraKara, Stephanie(Fuzzie)






I had to add this photo cause there were a lot of these little critters around and they were just a whole lotta fun to watch. Cindy and Paul had hummingbird feeders up all around the house and they were always busy with birds coming to eat!
























I think everyone will agree that we will go back willingly cause it was such a fun and relaxing time.

I am a grandma!

Chuck and I became grandparents for the first time on April 15, 2009 to a beautiful baby girl. Teresa Marie Doswell was born at 0834 CST in Heidelburg, Germany to our son Chad and his lovely wife Candice. Teresa weighed 5lb 8oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. Here are some pics of the beautiful girl!



Look at all the hair and how dark she is! I think that the American Indian side of my family is fairly obvious with all the babies I have seen born to the Teel side.


















Awwwwwhhh how sweet. Look how tiny she is. What a handsome Daddy!


















The new Doswell family. Isn't my grandaughter and her Momma beautiful?















Welcome sweet baby you are much loved by Grandpa D and Grandma and your Aunt Heather and Uncle Michael!

While surfing at SCS

While surfing around on SplitCoast Stampers (SCS) I ran across a swap that is forming to swap card candy for making patriotic Red/White/Blue cards. On this swap StampinGoodDeeds (Susan) had a note regarding a cardathon to make cards to send to soldiers.

Mishaloots (Michelle) is hosting the Cardathon in NY in October to make cards to send to soldiers. The Card-a-Thon will be a one day event Fall '09..Spring '10..and hopefully...every Spring and Fall thereafter)The Fall date is October 10th, 2009

This will be a card making event...set-up like an all day crop/workshop...opened to any and all who would like to participate no fee to join in... To support it Susan Farrell-Jones is hosting this fun Patriotic Red, White & Blue Card Candy Swap! I know I personally won't be able to attend but I thought that I would help by sending some of the supplies that they might need. Maybe even sending a finished card or two.

To see info on the candy swap go to:http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=428215

Links for info on the Cardathon:
Mishaloots Blog: http://mypaperbliss.blogspot.com/
Mishaloots Cardathon Thread: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/fo...d.php?t=427076

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter today! Chuck and I celebrated the day with Heather and Michael coloring Easter eggs and having a nice dinner together. I called the dinner our TV dinner because most of the foods were created using recipes from various TV shows. We had roasted tenderloin with Italian herbs, Yukon gold potatoes with rosemary, fresh asparagus, a salad made with Romaine, dried berries, apples and pomegranite salad dressing. Dessert came from the Rick Bayless and it was a bar cookie called a Chocolate Pecan Pie Bar...yummy. You can find the recipe here.
http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=109
I couldn't get a link to work so just cut and paste on your browser. Rick Bayless does mostly Mexican cuisine and his show is one of the better ones I have been watching recently on the food channel.

For Easter I made several cards and a couple of boxes that I thought turned out pretty cute. The cards were all made from the Pink Pirouette and images are stamped on Whisper White card stock. I colored the House Mouse image then ran them through the Xyron and sprinkled them with Diamond Dust glitter. The card is one of the scallop dies from Stampin Up! and I then ran it through the Big shot in a Cuddle Bug folder. It was difficult getting pictures of the cards due to all the glitter and my capabilities as a photographer. I hope they show up well enough that you can get an idea of what I made. I thought they were cute! I love House Mouse!








Hope everyone had a blessed day!

Recipe cards

I have been involved with a swap where we have been making recipe cards for foods you would get at a barbeque. It has been a lot of fun creating the cards and I am hoping to be able to get enough cards to make up a nice scrapbook with them. Here are the cards that I submitted for Tandoori Chicken, grilled red snapper and blackeyed pea salad. Yummy!




The grilled tandoori chicken is really good but becareful with the seasoning as it can get a little spicy very quickly. The first time I had the chicken at a barbeque the quy that made it was really into spice.









The grilled Red Snapper came from a recipe card from the grocery store just after Chuck and I got married 34 years ago. It was awesome then and I still like to serve it now. I am not a big fish fan so this was a change from the pan fried stuff we get here in Oklahoma a lot.











The Blackeyed pea salad is truly a southern dish. Not a lot of folks like blackeyed peas the way we do down here. I don't really care that much for them myself but as I mature I find myself enjoying them more!

Creative Minds: Update!

Creative Minds: Update!

Go here to view awesome works by a fellow Normanite! Bonnie will be teaching a card making class at Whole Lotta Scrap this next week in Norman. Best wishes on your new endevours@

Chip board books!

I have a new addiction! I am discovering chipboard and it is an awesome product. I can cut it on my Sizzix machine and with the big shot...some of it anyway. It comes in so many different thicknesses and weights I can make lettering or book backs with it. Tonight I want to post a couple of the projects I did this past month that are made with chipboard.

The first is a chipboard book I made from a kit I bought at Whole Lotta Scrap around Christmas but just got around to making. The kit is from Bo Bunny called Believe. I really enjoyed making this book and now that I realize Bo Bunny isn't out to get me because of my goof ups I will probably try to make another one from them. Bo Bunny doesn't give you a whole lotta scraps to deal with so if you screw up you have to improvise. Everything you need comes in the kit including brads, ribbon, and paper. I used Tombo glue to stick the paper to the chipboard and I distressed the edges with Choclate Chip ink from Stampin Up!.




The second book I did in a class at Whole Lotta Scrap here in Norman that opened a year ago next month. WLS is a really neat place to go and learn stuff and make new friends. This book is called love and is made with a Maya Road chipboard book and we used 6x6 paper pad from Basic Grey called Bittersweet. I don't remember the name of the paint we used nor due I remember if I used craft pad or some other ink to go around the edges with but didn't it turn out nice? It is smallish but I love all the ribbons and 'stuff' it has on it.




The last book was once again made in a class down at WLS. It is a family photo album made with a Maya Road book and papers from My Minds Eye called Grow and Bloom. I love the colors and prints in this group. It is edged with a Cat's Eye pad, lots of ribbons, glitter glue, and skittles. It was a whole lotta fun to make.

It has been awhile!

Warning...this is a long post...

I started off with good intentions but then slowed down a bit and then this past month I seemingly quit all together. Now I didn't into go come across as a slacker as far as keeping up with my blog it just happened! It all started when I decided to change some of the settings on the blog...to get more control so to speak. Well I am challenged is all I can say cause I didn't control it! It controlled me! Being theproud sort I didn't call my daughter or son-in-law to come ball me out...I do that a lot when it comes to technical crap but plodded along and finally figured out what I had done wrong. I guarantee you I won't make those changes again.

I may not have been posting this month but I have been really busy making stuff and traveling a little bit. We went to Dallas two different weekends this past month once was to go to a retirement party for Alan Moller and the second time was so Chuck could attend the TESSA meeting. It has to do with storm geeks and storm spotters getting together to prepare for this springs onslaught of storms. We didn't have much time down there so I didn't contact my brother and his family but wished we could have stayed a little longer so I could have. Maybe next time.

The crafty stuff entailed getting some cards and stuff made. The first stuff I want to share with you is my St. Patrick's day goodies I made for a swap. The first 3 are cards. Two of them are 4.25 x 5.5 inches and the third is a 3 x 3 inches. I made a 6x6 recipe card and a candy box and bag. Lots of going green!


The first card is made from designer paper that I had on hand from last year. I used Stampin Up!(SU) old Olive for the base then cut the die cut Top Note (SU) out of the designer paper. I added old olive grosgrain ribbon, Prima flowers, SU rhinestone brad, clear skittles, and the sentiment was from the Close to My Heart stamp set.






The second card is made from some paper I picked up at Whole Lotta Scrap. The DP is part of the Green Day papers put out by Reminisce. Card stock from SU in old olive, garden green, very vanilla. Ink SU, versamark, dew drops,ribbon from SU in very vanilla, dazzling diamonds glitter, Close to My Heart "Lucky You" stamps, and punches from Fiskars and SU.



The 3x3 card is made from SU kiwi kiss, garden Green, and whisper white. I stamped the image with the Lucky you set and SU basic black ink and colored the coins with gold. I punched the image out with the circle punch and then ran it upside down through the Xyron and dusted it with dazzling diamonds glitter. Punches are from SU. DP from Imaginisce.

The last two St. Patrick's day things I made are candy treat holders. I found a pattern on Julie Buhler's site Paper Pleasing Ideas for a Valentines treat purse and used it for St. Patrick's day purse. I took a picture of the purse opened and closed to post here. I don't think I need to list a recipe cause all the materials are the same as above. I did use some glitter glue from Michael's on the design that had little shiny shamrocks in it.



I really loved making these little candy purses and it helped me get over my fear of "box" making. I think I will be making more of these in the future.









This last candy bag was made from a pattern I found at the SU site. I cut garden green out with the top note die embossed it with a Cuttle Bug folder. I cut down some regular small paper bags and adhered the top note cards to that. The punches are from SU, DP again from Imaginisce, ribbon from Micheal's and the sticky shamrock was from Hobby Lobby. I thought these were really cute for the amount of work I put into them.




Well that's it for tonight. I hope you enjoyed the post and I promise to try and do better this coming month.

Vickie

Blog candy give away!

Want to get a handmade gift from me? Hurry first 5 commentators only

I saw this on a blog I follow, Never Enough Stamps, and I just had to play along with it. SO... as the rules go, I am posting it for all of you. Sounds like a lot of fun! Post a comment and leave your email address and your blog URL.
The first 5 people to comment on this post will receive something made by me. But there is a catch... Here are the rules:
1. It's my choice what to make... and you won't know what it will be until you get it!
2. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make, but I hope you do!
3. What I create will be just for you - completely original. :)
4. It will be done this year. (That's what the rule says, but I'll try to get these done within a month or I might forget...and that will be no good!)
5. Now for the catch. The catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same giveaway to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. It's all about sharing the love! Be sure to come here and post a link, cuz I WILL check your blog! *wink*

new baby

One of my coworkers granddaughter was born not long ago and I made a card for her. The cardstock is Pixie Pink and the DP is something I had left in the scrap box. Ribbon, brads, and other embellishments are part of what I have been collecting this past year and my focus wasn't on the names of the companies I bought from but to buy what I liked. Now I wished I had paid closer attention cause I have definately developed some likes and dislikes of the various products. My favorite of all favorites is Stampin Up and I love all their cardstock and designer paper. I loved it so much I signed up as a demonstrator to be able to have access to the products I love.

random papers...

I was scrounging around in the craft room yesterday and ran across a box of prefolded cards that I bought a long, long, did I say long time ago and decided to make something with at least one of the cards and some old card stock that was in the same box. Digging through the box I found this card that was obviously finished but I don't know why it was stashed there!!
I also ran across a get well card that I realized why it was there was because it was "all off" I guess I was a lot more picky than I realized back then but kept everything whereas today it goes into file 13 right away.

This feeling off card is kind of cute. I wonder if I made it all off kilter just to follow the statement. Paper is cut at different widths, pic is mounted cockeyes. I don't know what the stamps names are on these cards but they are by Stampin Up! I am clueless as to who makes the card stock and cards.

I gotta go! Weight Watchers is in an hour and I don't want to be late. I enjoy my 'group therapy' alot. More later.

Blog candy give away!

I happened to surf into a site today that was offering a watercolor tile as blog candy. If you click on the picture, it will take you to Angela Fehr's blog ~ Hanging out the Wash. Angela married a cousin of Julie Buhler and Julie had the link on her site. That is another site you need to visit. The link is on the left sidebar on this page. The tile and other project on her site are beautiful.

There are a lot of other links on the site that I enjoyed reading. Lots of good information on parenting too!

6x6 Healthy recipe page and Encouraging card

I shipped off a group of cards to a swap last week that were for a healthy recipe and a card of encouragement. I love doing swaps! I love making the cards or whatever and I love seeing what other people are doing and shipping back to me.

This swap was for a 6x6 recipe card and I decided to do my old Weight Watchers party standby for Veggie Pizza. I have seen and tried a lot of different recipes for the pizza and this is my favorite.

The 6x6 in base is Stampin Up kraft card stock, pizza is from Flair Designs , What's Cooking collection. Creative Imaginations makes the chip board zucchini and veggies. I used Rose Red and Whisper White for the recipe mounting also from SU The flourishes are from a clear stamp set that I have long since lost the manufacturers info. Stampin Up Chocolate Chip ink pad.

The encouragement card is made from Stampin Up Pink Pirouette textured card stock, Bella Rose DP, Old Olive card stock, Whisper White card stock embossed with a Cuddlebug embossing folder called . The Old Olive is edged with the scalloped edge punch and paper pierced. I used old olive ink to stamp the sentiments from the Happy Harmony stamp set on whisper white card stock. I finished the card off with 3 pearls from Queen & Co. and some ribbon I found in the bargain bin at a local craft store.

As I was working on the above projects I thought I had so much to be thankful for with all the things I have to do my craft projects with. I love all my tools but what I really love this week is my Big Shot die cut machine from Stampin Up. Sizzix makes the machine but the only place you can get this particular machine is from Stampin Up! The reason I love the Big Shot is that it can do so much for me and make my life so much easier. I use it to dry emboss with the cuddle bug folders, cut shapes with all sorts of different manufacturers products like Cuddle bug, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Sizzix dies etc.

Stay tuned for another blog this week. I have made more cards and I thought I would post some of the Valentines cards this week so everyone could see them.

Blog candy give away!

Today is the last day of the blog candy give away at Jen del Muro's site: iheart2stamp.com
The entry involves sending cards to benefit a student group at Dallas Baptist University and they need cards to send out. Send your cards to

Dallas Baptist University
Attn: Julie Carlisle
3000 Mountain Creek Pkwy
Dallas, TX 75211

Here is my entry into the contest.

There are some rules you need to follow to get into the contest so hurry over there and check it out.
http://iheart2stamp.com/2009/01/08/official-blog-tart-entry/

Always Room for Improvement

My daughter Heather and I attended a class this past month at Leslies, Whole Lotta Scrap here in Norman, OK. I wanted to make the book pictured here and Kara Bean was teaching the class. It is one of those things that looks really simple to make but literally took me a lot of time to complete. Supplies are simple. Cardstock is from Prism...Prismatics Herbal Garden Pack and Accent Pack and the Suede Brown Pack and Accent Pack. I used Stampin Up ink pads for the stamping and embellishing. All the paper flowers, brackets etc are cut from the paper pack. I don't know where KaraKara got the pattern for the book but I changed it up quite a bit and added a few flourishes of my own. Instead of 3 rings holding the pages together we used Zutter binding and instead of the cut out circles for the date tabs we used the Stampin Up label punch. Lots of fun! I really enjoyed the class.






Here is a view of the inside of the book. Every month is divided up similarly with a section for why this is important to me, a to do list, and a goal for the month. This page is atypical of the book cause it normally has three individual sections, one for each topic. I loved all the uplifting quotes that KaraKara found to put in the book.

Few days to play....

I am now off work until next Sunday and I am really happy to have the time to spend doing some crafting and cleaning house. NOT a favorite thing to do! Housekeeping that is. I need to take down all the Christmas decorations and get the house in order! Heather and I are going to attend a class that Kara Bean is leading at Whole Lotta Scrap here in Norman making a planner. I will post later with pictures.

This week is my daughter Heathers 30th birthday and we will be celebrating with an all night crop at WLS. Heather is sharing her birthday celebration this year with a friend, Melissa, from WLS. I am going to make their birthday cards tonight and try and get some make and takes together so people will have something fun to take home with them.

I wanted to share another Valentines card I made for a swap on Splitcoast Stampers (SCS www.splitcoaststampers.com) I was web surfing and picked up the idea for the card and bookmark so I can't claim it as an original idea.

The real red card stock is the base of the card, the DP is put out by Cloud Nine Designs, Pirouette Pink and Not quite Navy make up the layers. The paper clip from Walmart with scallop punched circle in real red. The stamps are from Stampin Up! Love you much. Ink is Stampin Up! Riding Hood Red.

The second card is actually a 6 1/4"x3 1/8" creative tag from Paper Reflections that I made into a child's Valentine. I sprayed the white tag with glimmer mist and stamped the sentiment on the card with black ink from Stampin Up!

The stamps I won from a blog candy drawing at papersmiles.blogspot.com are from Craft Lounge..So In Love. Nancy Morgan has an awesome site and you should check it out. I used several punches, the Stampin Up! scalloped edge, Fiskars Scalloped hearts, and Martha Stewart large heart. Ribbon from Michael's craft store and of course a small package of Sweet Tarts held on with a glue dot!

Older cards

It has been such a cold couple of days I thought I would make a card that would brighten up someones day! While I was in the craft room I ran across some of the cards I have made this past year and I decided to post a few of those with some of my new resolutions regarding my craft room this year! I am hoping to do some renovations this year in the craft room and put down tile or Perigo and buy a real craft desk and cabinets.


The first is a card I made that is uber bright made with prefolded card stocks. I think it will brighten someone up if it doesn't burn out their vision first! I have a box of prefolded cards and envelopes that I have resolved to use up this month so that I can have the space for something else. This is one of the many electric colored cards. Oh well I will have some brightness to add to the world!








This next card is just the opposite. A little more sedate and dark if you will. This paper is from Close to My Heart (my daugther is a dealer) as is the stamps I used. I have some old cardstock and DP laying around and once again I am on the clean up cause I need space in my rack for all the beautiful papers coming out.














I am going to try and use up some of the many ribbons and embellishments before I buy more this year. I have only been making cards about 10-12 months and I have two drawers in my desk loaded up with all sorts of 'stuff' to adorn my scrapbook pages and cards. I could probably make a lot of things and not spend anything for the raw stock. I need to use it up to buy more!





I have quite a few more cards around that I will pull out and post so be looking for a few more of the older cards in future posts.

Vickie