Monday Motivation- What A Character!

Our challenge for you this week here at Betty Bee's Buzz is to feature a character (Disney or other theme) on your card, layout, or project. You may use a photo, die cut, sticker...use your creativity and share with us!
I chose Mickey Mouse and our first family trip to Disney World in 2008. These are our first pictures from that trip and what magic we saw when walking down Main Street USA! I am on the left, the two princesses are my twin girls, and my in-laws.
June Houck

Be sure to come back on Wednesday for more Character inspiration from Betty Bee & the HoneyBees!

Buzz, Brag, & Bee Happy Friday - Jan. 14

How would you like to help a fellow crafter in the greatest challenge of her life, and get something really nice for yourself in the process? A bunch of digital artists have gotten together to donate their designs for a much beloved fellow crafter, Katie Renz, who is battling stage 4 stomach cancer. She is courageous, young, and has 3 little boys. The funds being raised will be very helpful in her medical and family expenses. For your donation you will receive a great package of terrific digital images, as well as being entered into drawings for some awesome prizes that have been donated by some top companies. I hope you can check out Jak Heath's blog for the details. It was my pleasure to design this card showcasing the Digital Delights image and sentiment.

Betty Brett

I used Copics to simply color my little pooch, and his huggy bear. The image and the mats were cut with Nestabilities, and then mounted on a background that was embossed with a Build-A-Bear folder called "Paw Prints and Hearts" by Sizzix. Some light distressing ink and brads in the corners finished this card, appropriate for a more masculine group.
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June Houck

Happy Friday! This has been a super bizzy week in the Houck house. 8 days ago dh & I moved our entire bedroom and closet belongings into our girls' bedroom and the spare bedroom. Last Friday the workers arrived and pulled up our wall-to-wall carpet upstairs and put down wood laminate. I am so pleased! It looks better than I imagined judging from the small store sample I chose. Friday night dh & I had to move all our master furniture and the other bedrooms' furniture into our bedroom. Saturday the workers finished the entire upstairs. We spent Sunday putting the upstairs back together and moving everything in the basement (including closets) into one corner of the basement. Monday the workers pulled up the berber carpet and put down wood laminate in half of the basement. That night we had to move it all to the finished portion. Tuesday I had to clear the living room, Wednesday the dining room (they put in hardwood steps on the stairs that day), Thursday the kitchen. Yep, I'm a little achy and sore.

You may recall I am moving my entire craft room to the basement. My parents came on Tuesday to help. I could not have survived without their help that day! My mom packed my china cabinet while my dad and I moved all of my craft room stuff to the basement. We worked from 8:30am-2:30pm. Then they went home before the snow storm started.

Today we have to vacate the main level of our house for 4 days while they sand and re-stain our existing hardwood floors in the kitchen/foyer and stain the new hardwood floors in the living room and dining room to match. We are moving into our basement for the next four days (don't worry...we have a small shower down there). That should give me time to get my craft room in working order and dh to set up the computer; but I honestly think those boxes are multiplying every time I go down there :)

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Rosemary

Hello everyone!! It feels so good being back posting again! First, I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and well wishes during my hospital stay and though I’m not ‘me’ yet I expect things to be heading in the right direction.

One of the things that helps me through my medical setbacks is the anticipation of an upcoming event. One such event is happening at the end of January. Miss Betty will be having one of her Cricut Swarms better known as Cricuteers in Paradise. We even have a mechanical flamingo named Flossie who dresses for the occasion. Our building will be transformed into Flossie’s Flamingo Hotel and the fun and games will be at ‘Rosie’s Casino’!!

Friday night we start with Keno and then onto Saturday where I planned games from Let’s Make a Deal to Critter Races. Betty’s husband is making a Plinko board for another fun game and more prizes.

To get into the swing of things, I made dice earrings for me to wear that weekend. Using my I-Rock, I was able to give it the bling look that was so perfect!

If you are in the Punta Gorda neighborhood or within driving distance, give Betty a 'buzz' and let her know you, too, want to be a part of the super fun weekend!!

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Thanks for dropping by today, and we hope you have good news to share!! Don't forget to work on the Faux Embossing Challenge for Wednesday, too! You have until Tuesday night to enter your project, and you could be the winner of 20 yards of awesome ribbon!! (hint, hint, ... you might want it for an upcoming project!!)

and the HoneyBees

Monday Motivational ~ Faux Embossing

Welcome to the Bee Hive and today's Monday Motivational! It's always a pleasure to bring you an idea to jump start your week, and invite you to join in our challenge!

Betty Brett

One of today's most versatile trends is "Faux Embossing", or creating the look of an embossed background with layered papers. It is featured in both Papercrafts and Creating Keepsakes magazines right now! This week the HoneyBees Challenge will be Valentines with Faux Embossing!

My card is clean and simple, but packs a visual punch in striking red and white, accented with the sparkle of Stickles.

To begin, cut your cardstock to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, and then score at 4 1/4 to create an A2 card.

To create the lines for the placement for my hearts, I scored the front of my card every one half inch all the way across.

From the matching piece of paper, punch out a bunch of little hearts, or whatever shape you desire for your embossed pattern.

(Sorry the photo is blurry) Begin to glue the punch outs on in an easy to follow pattern.

This is what my card looked like when finished :)

These are the embellishments for the front... One white heart punched to fit, and the "True Love" and "L" cut from the Celebrate With Flourish Cricut Cartridge (cut at 1 3/4" ).

Glue into place and add red and crystal Stickles to finish with the perfect touch of BLING!!

A simply stunning Valentine. This technique works for every occasion ... what will you try it for?
Be sure to check back on Wednesday to see the HoneyBee Showcase, and see what they have done with the tutorial, and you will be able to add yours too!!! I do hope you will give it a try!!

Happy Creating ~

Buzz, Brag & Bee Happy Friday - January 7, 2011

Happy Friday! This morning I am playing with 3 crafty friends: Chris, Deanna & Sheryl. I made this card for Deanna, whose birthday is coming up next week.

June Houck

I used my new Cricut Sweet Treats cartridge that dh gave me for Christmas. (I just got my Cricut in November and this is my 3rd time using it.) It took some trial and error learning how to get the different die cuts and what settings to use on various papers. I learned a lot and I am in love with my Cricut!

What I learned: Use the Multi Cut button and set blade on 4 to cut through textured card stock or 80 lb. card stock...at least this worked well for me. This did not mar my mat nor did I have bits of paper tears. The next time I use my Cricut will be much quicker and no mis-cuts :)

I have been very bizzy this week purging and packing up the upstairs of my house. We are having pergo put in the entire upstairs starting today! Then I get to unpack and move everything back. I have started packing up the basement. We are having pergo put in the basement too, after the upstairs is complete. It may be a while before I can start unpacking and re-organizing my craft room. But I am highly motivated!!!

I have two fun things to share this week. The card above is for a special challenge at My Pink Stamper. It features the "A Child's Year" Cricut Cartridge, and Robyn's three favorite colors, and the sentiments are from her "Friends and Family" stamp set.

The next is for a very special party we had at our house the other evening... a baby shower for Brianne! Isn't this the cutest diaper cake??!! It takes 90 newborn diapers, wrapped very tight, and held with tiny rubber bands. Each layer is wrapped with gorgeous ribbons, and then the cake is decorated with heat embossed butterflies. These were done with Heartfelt Creations stamps, and coordinated Nestabilites dies. Each butterfly had clear wings over the others, but you can barely make them out in the photo... sorry, it was night time, and the lighting wasn't very good. If my daughter knows the Baby's name when she does a cake like this, she will use the Cricut and create blocks, or some other design to spell out the name across the top... SO cute!

On one other note, we do send our Get Well wishes to HoneyBee Roe, who is still in the hospital. We know you share in our concern, and would like to wish her well. You can leave your comments here, and she will be sure to read them, or link over to her blog at CreativeLiberties.blogspot.com and leave them there. Get Well, Rosemary!!

Beth Checking in!!!
First off I want to wish our dear friend Rosemary a very speedy recovery.......we miss you Roe, next I just want to say give me a  WOOT WOOT WOOT I won a $30 gift certificate over at "Fred She Said" I was the winner of the Christmas Comment Wall Challenge........now off to play.

Now it's your turn!! What good news do you have to share this week?? Just leave us a comment, or if you have photos to share, link them below. Just post them to your blog, a gallery, or photobucket. We would love to share in your happiness!

and the HoneyBees

Monday Motivational - It's A Date!!

Happy New Year! Welcome back to the Hive, and our first Monday Motivational of the year. We hope you had a great holiday season, and are ready to get into crafting again! We have some fun calendar projects to start us off...

Both of these calendar projects are created with an acrylic photo frame. These are readily available in dollar stores as well as Walmart, etc., and they come in several different sizes.

Just choose the frame to fit the size of your calendar pages, or a larger one, if you want to put together a double set like a sticky pad, or photo, to go with your calendar.

This one has been created with the angle of the frame making a handy desk calendar to go in Studio Bee!!

Here are the supplies I used ... designer paper cut to the size of the "photo" space, which slides under the acrylic; a pre-printed calendar pad; sticky note pad; mat, trimmed with punches; ribbon. Adhere everything to the frame with double sided tape. Very easy :)

My next project is a small portable calendar to attach to a backpack, notebook, keyring, etc. Just download your favorite calendar printable, such as this one from Crafty Secrets, and cut them out.

Next, mat the calendars on both sides of card stock.

I laminated these with my Your Story binder/laminator.

After trimming, they were easy to stack and punch a hole in the corner with a Crop-o-dile.

Add a jump ring, some cute gems, and a lobster claw for clipping it somewhere convenient, and you have a great little project!!

On Wednesday the HoneyBees will be here with more calendar ideas for you, and we will be inviting you to join us in our first challenge of the year! Here are two links to get you started with calendar downloads :
http://www.blankcalendar.org/yearly_calendars/2011_calendar_vertical.jpg
and check out HoneyBee Kathy's blog at Paper Phenomenon
Happy Creating~

Hope you are enjoying your holidays!

The HoneyBees and I hope you are enjoying this time with your family and friends, and are perhaps playing with some new creative toys! We are getting ready to bring you some fun new projects to kick off your New Year...In the meantime, our very sweetest get well wishes are being sent to two of our dear HoneyBees. Miss Wanda is down with the flu, and our Miss Rosemary is in the hospital with respiratory problems. I know you will join with me in sending hugs, prayers, and all the very best thoughts for speedy recoveries their way.We will be here next week with some great ideas for January, so stay tuned!

hugzzz,

Buzz, Brag & Bee Happy Friday - Dec. 24th

June Houck

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones. I am grateful to be able to spend today and tomorrow with my maternal grandmother, my aunt, and my parents. Later I will also see my relatives across the country...via skype. Isn't technology terrific? Next week my in-laws will be staying with us for a visit. The first week of the new year will bring some dramatic changes for me; we are having all of our carpet removed and having hard wood floors installed in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Upstairs (the bedrooms) and downstairs (the finished basement) the carpet will also be removed and replaced with pergo wood laminate. Both staircases will be hard wood. This will take a solid 2 weeks and we will have to move out of the house for 4 days for the hard wood portion. And the best part? I will move my craft room (currently upstairs) to the basement and turn this room back into a guest bedroom. Phew! Exciting, yes?What will 2011 be like for you?

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Rosemary

What a busy week it has been!!..I'm sure you too are getting those last minute 'craft' gifts done since today is the day before Christmas!!..Where did the time go? I've been busy all week getting those project done that I waited until the last minute to do; when will I learn..lol

For the past couple of years, I have made a Christmas Stocking album for Joey and Elizabeth. Guess it has now become a tradition since I made another one for this year. I left plenty of space for Elizabeth to add photos and journaling and any extra embellishments she would like to make this album her own.

For Elizabeth's parents and grandparents I made candles with photos from Joey and Elizabeth's wedding on them. I worked with colors that I knew each would like to make it special just for them.

And for Nina, I made a little 'bag' to hold the bobby pins and clips I made for her using my I-Tool (love that tool!). Also, there is a card stating that she and I will go shopping and do lunch; wherever she wants to go!..

Have a great Christmas Eve and a very special

Merry Christmas to you!!!

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Merry Christmas! It has been a very busy and wonderful week here at the Brett home, with our normal two residents being upped to eleven! But, it is SO much fun to have all of the grandchildren here, and enjoy their individual personalities. The anticipation for Santa's arrival tonight is pretty intense, and our's is, too, because (thanks to the generosity of a very special HoneyBee) we have a big surprise for all of them! You'll have to check in next week to see what it is :) But for now, we are cherishing our family and loved ones, and being caught up in the excitement of the season. We will be going to church, and enjoying the privilege of hearing one of our daughters sing - which is one of my greatest delights.
I want to take a moment to thank each of the HoneyBees for their love and support, and for all they have contributed to making the BUZZ what it has become. We aren't just a design team, we are a loving group of friends, and they mean the world to me. Merry Christmas, one and all.

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The HoneyBees and I wish you a very Merry Christmas, with hope that you are surrounded by love and peace. May you find joy in the little things, and recognize the blessings that are so abundant in our lives.

We will be taking next week off, and then come back with more great tutorials to inspire you for the New Year.

Please feel free to leave your comments and Christmas wishes here, as well as posting your favorite Christmas Cards to the LINK below. We would love to hear your GOOD NEWS!

and the HoneyBees