LMac's Catered Crops

Don't Look Ethel! - Sneak Peak

Once again, your action news reporter in the booth at the gym,
covering the disturbance at the basketball playoff.
Pardon me, sir, did you see what happened?

(Witness): Yeah, I did. Half time,

I's just goin' down thar to get Ethel a snow cone.

And here he come, right out of the cheap seats,

dribbling, right down the middle of the court.

Didn't have on nothing but his PF's.

Made a hook shot and got out through the concessions stand.

I hollered up at Ethel, I said, "Don't look, Ethel!"

But it was too late. She'd already got a free shot.

Grandstandin', right there in front of the home team.

Hee Hee, for those of you old enough to remember, that's Ray Steven's, The Streak. My Dad loved that song. If someone was walking around with too much skin showing, he'd yell - Don't Look Ethel! Still makes me giggle.

If you don't want to see some of the newest products in the Stampin' Up! catalog, you may want to shield your eyes. Don't look! For everyone else, I caution you . . . this card uses a paper and the new in-colors you can't buy until July 1 if you're not a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. This may be more of a tease than that streaker!

When I saw the first sneak peek of this new designer paper, Raspberry Lemonade, I wasn't sure I'd like these color combinations. But, oh dear, I'm loving these jewel tones and that distressed Basic Grey style.

My new sneak-peak stamps are still being shipped, so I combined this paper with my still-favorite mini catalog set, Scene in a Garden. Unfortunately, this set didn't make it into the new catalog, so it will go away at the end of this month. The rest of the recipe includes two of the newest colors, Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo - as yummy as the names sound!

Stamp Set: Scene from a Garden (113246) and Sanded (109294)
Paper: Raspberry Lemonade, Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo cardstock, available 7/1/09.

Ink: Staz-on, Chocolate Chip marker (using aqua painters to apply)
Etc.: Basic Jumbo Grommets (114348), Build a Brad, non-Stampin-up Flower Soft.

Pillow Does Her Part

I never thought I'd use the words fun and Alzheimers in the same sentence, but I'm having so much fun taking part in the challenges and free downloads at the Stamp Out Alzheimers site (more info here). Jen Tapler and Suzanna Boyd have done such an amazing job creating "pay to play" virtual papercrafting event to benefit the Alzheimer's Association. So far they've raised over $5,400.

Of course, Pillow wanted to do her part to stamp out this horrific disease. So, here's a digital scrapbooking page I made to participate in one of the challenges. It uses a free download provided for the event from designer Libby Weifenbach called Flip Flop Tan. 

Pillow's happy now - she gets to be the center of attention for a good cause.

Honoring our Heroes

There's an amazing event going on this Memorial Day weekend for stampers and Heroes. Over at CardsforHeroes.org there's a Blog Hop of 135 paper crafters showcasing cards they've created to send to our troops. If you've never been to the CFH site, you'll definitely want to check it out. The mission of the site is to "support our nation’s armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." To date, they've sent 147,875 cards.

I didn't get in on the hop in time to participate, so I thought I'd just pass along another card I made - actually a rerun from this time last year.

This card uses the spotlight technique with the stamp set, The Free and the Brave. The artifacts in the background are a tribute to my favorite hero, my Dad. 

This scrapbook page is one I helped my Mom make ages ago. She said she fell in love with Dad just after he finished his tour of duty. He was nicknamed The Captain on their college campus because, he was, in deed, a Captain when he left active duty. It's a simple page - we just stamped Captain with acrylic paint and stamped Mom's sentiment on twill ribbon. We let Dad's handsome picture and the paper do the rest.

I hope you all enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and have a chance to pay tribute to our men and women in the armed services in your own way. To those of you in active duty here and abroad - and to your families - I can't thank you enough for the sacrifice you make to keep us safe.

All Work and No Play

Ooh, my craft space has been calling me all week and I'm getting stamping withdrawal pains. But, my work as a nursing home surveyor called me out of town unexpectedly and I didn't get to play. Shoot, I barely got to sleep at all. I tell you what, though, my job is never boring. I mean, really, I bet last week's soap operas didn't have as much drama. I'll just say this . . . I wish some folks had read these articles: from Newsweek, Sex, Love and Nursing Homes, and from Slate, Naughty Nursing Homes.

Here's just something to think about. Sex among minors is called "under age sex." So, is sex among seniors called "over age sex?" And what in the world is going to happen when we Baby Boomers are "over age" and wanna play head-banger rock instead of Rock of Ages.

Okay, enough of that.

I thought I'd get to chill this weekend, but, another job is calling me out of town - moving my daughter into her new home. I'm so proud of Caitlin. Not quite even finished with her degree, she just landed her first real, big, grown-up-person job managing a design studio. with only her internship left to finish (which this job will fulfill), her Dad helped her celebrate with a cookie cake honoring her school, University North Texas. That's almost worth giving up a free weekend to go fill up boxes and move furniture.

Meahwhile, here's some of the latest news out of Stampin' Up!. They've started a Stampin' Up! YouTube channel. Very cool! This sure beats Summer reruns. Here's one of my favs.

Okay, now, really, where else but at Catered Crop could you read about sex in nursing homes and Stampin' Up! in one post. Is this crazy or what?

Stampin' Out Alzheimers

I love this picture of Mom and my baby girl. Mom was always so vibrant before that retched dementia took its toll. When my normally very intelligent and proud Mom suffered from the indignities of dementia, we considered ourselves fortunate that she never became so confused that she didn't recognize us. I was with her every day, but you'd thought I brought in the sunshine every time she saw me.

Alzheimer is sometimes called the long goodbye - I know it can be much harder on some families than it was on ours. Here's the good news. Jen Tapler, from Jen Tapler Designs, and Suzanna Boyd Card of the Week.com are hosting a 7 day stamping and scrapbooking event to help raise money and awareness for Alzheimer's Disease. The site, Stampin Out Alzheimers.ning.com, will feature challenges, contests, classes and more - with prizes donated from over 30 generous sponsors. They've worked it as a "Pay to Play" community. For a small donation (any amount will do), you'll get permission to join their online community which will be up from May 25 to June 1st. The site isn't "live" yet - it will open soon and the events will begin on Monday.

You can click on the button below to join us or visit Suzanna Boyd's blog (link above) for more information.

Pillow Pic

Yep, couldn't resist  . . . my Grandpuppy, Pillow Pup, is visiting us again and getting bigger.

 

Aces of Cakes

Have you ever watched the television show, Ace of Cakes on the Food Network? The cakes Chef Duff and his crew build are freakin' amazing. But, wait - you've got to see what these paper cake makers have put together with our pop-up cake die.

Ilina Crouse made this adorable card for her mother. To make that bouquet, she used the Flower Trio punch and Small Leaves Sizzlet.

The outside of Ilina's mother's day card is gorgeous. You can see the front of the card and more pictures of the inside here. 

Janet Wakeland made this precious baby boy cake. Oh, but she also made a delicious cake with a cup-cake on the top tier, and a mother's day photo pop-up card, here.  

 

Heather Summers really takes the cake (sorry, pun intended) with these four amazing cakes.

Isn't that Daisy stunning? Heather made it with the Daisy Die. Heather's got some great ideas for keeping these rather thick cards closed and more beautiful pictures of this card, here.

 

Heather's Mom put together this card in a challenge Heather gave her. Wow, what a talented Mom!

Heather's Mom has an incredible skill mixing stamp sets. She used the stamp sets Under the Stars, Hit the Road, Season of Friendship, and Loads of Love for the presents on top of the truck! Check out the front of the card and more details, here. 

Heather made this precious Noah's Ark cake for a little baby boy.  Heather used the Wild About You set for the critters. You can find the adorable details and a cake made into a bee hive here.

 

Still not done, Heather also made this amazing pirate cake and gives you all the details, here.

Here's a few more cakes just for giggles and grins:

• Julie Dinn made a basketball net at Kreative Jewels.
• Patti Lee made a princess castle cake at Creations by Patti.
• Patti also made a Bunny cake, Train cake, and all-white Wedding Cake.

Oh yeah, and you can even make a birthday cake . . .

Heather Summers gives great tips for making this cake and even a video to help you make it, here.

Be sure and visit these folks and tell them Linda said hey -thanks for all their calorie-free inspiration. 

As always, you can purchase any of the items to make these delicious cakes, including the "Three Tier Cake Pop-up Bigz Xl Die" (116760)  here.

 

Time Well Spent

If I could save time in a bottle, 
the first thing that I'd like to do
is to save every day till eternity passes away
just to spend them with you.
               Jim Croce

So, I was driving to work one morning, listening to my regular radio morning show. Between the Celebrity Scoop and top ten hits, DJ Alex talked about a poll of what us middle-age folks most regret we didn't do when we were in our 20s. There was the normal stuff like learning a foreign language, finishing college, traveling . . . all the things you would suspect. But, I'm betting you won't guess what the number one thing folks wish they had done while they were still in their 20's. I didn't. Get your hankies - it was spending more time with our parents.

We had to leave our folks in Indiana when we moved to Texas in our 20's. Gracious that was painful. But thankfully, we visited each other as often as we could and made incredible memories when we were together. Dad always made sure of that. He also made it his personal mission to make sure every child knew how to fish. This page was a tribute to spending time with Dad doing what we loved.

You don't see many scrapbooking pages from me, I know. This is one I made years ago as a challenge to combine digital scrapbooking with traditional scrapbooking. It's still one of my favorites, but not because of any great talent I have as a scrapbooker, but rather just the tribute it gives to the wonderful times with Dad.

Time with Pam Norris

Most of you who hang out with me know that occasionally I get the privilege of swapping with some really talented stampers. I'm embarrassed to tell you how long I've had this card because I should have shared this with you weeks ago. So, maybe its especially appropriate that this card is about time. Apparently, I am not the best time manager.

Anyway, Pam Norris made this beautiful card highlighting the Sense of Time set in the Occasions Mini Catalog. She's also showing off that fun Designer Hardware.

 

I love any images of clocks and time. That clock in the background of Pam's card is a steeple clock my Dad made for my Mom. Dad made mantle clocks for all of us children, but he was most proud of the Grandfather clock he made. I love to hear it chime the hour. Maybe that's why I like Pam's card so much.

So, since we've been talking about images with clocks and time, tomorrow I'm going to share with you one of my all-time favorite scrapbooking pages. I made it a long time ago, but it's still one of my favs.

You can purchase any of these items 24/7 by clicking here.

• Stamps - Sense of Time (113804)
• Paper - Chocolate Chip (102128), Close to Cocoa (101341), Pink Pirouette cardstock (111351), Vellum (101856)
• Misc. - Eyelet Border Punch (113692), Basic Jumbo Grommets (114348), Pink Pirouette 1-1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon (111363)
• Ink: Chocolate Chip (100908)

Mom's Paper Garden

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
~Dorothy Frances Gurney, "Garden Thoughts"

My Mom and my two Grandmas used to keep such beautiful flower gardens. Regretfully, I didn't inherit their green thumbs, but I thought of them all day when I was in Susan Tierney Cockburn's class. Susan's the author of Paper Bouquet, a gifted instructor, horticulturalist, and paper crafter.

After Susan's class, I still don't have Mom's green thumb, but I can sculpt beautiful flowers out of paper. Mom would have been thrilled to see this, the last of the projects we made in Susan's workshop.

 

If you look carefully, you'll see Iris, Calla Lily, Tulip, Daylily, Daisy, and Coleus - and it's made with just paper, chalks, markers, and a little Flower Soft.

 

There's more - here's the back.

 

Stay tuned, I'm working on a tutorial to show you how to sculpt Gerber Daisies with our Daisies Flower #2 Bigz Die.