Bee Happy....

Did y'all know that my hubby is a bee keeper...maybe I've mentioned that before? He's always been interested in bees for as long as I can remember, but 3 years ago finally took the plunge and started keeping his own hive. This year he really branched out and has what are referred to as "bee yards". This is where you keep hives on someone else's property, but you are still responsible for the bees, hives, etc. Basically, you're just using their property to house the bees and normally there is a monetary or honey agreement. People actually advertise on Craigslist looking for bee keepers to place bees on their property...strange isn't it? People realize that there is a shortage of bees and are interested in them and what they do for the environment but realize that they don't have the resources or know how so they offer up space for people like my hubby to place hives. He currently has 6 hives at home and 2 out on someone's property. The gal that wanted hives really likes bees and doesn't want any type of rent, she's just happy to have her flowers pollinated so as a thank you, we gave her a little honey a few weeks ago. Now her neighbor wants hives too so in the spring he'll be expanding again!  

Well, with bee's in the family how could I NOT teach a card making class using bees as a theme?? Here are the cards I came up with that the gals made....

Ohh my goodness, I went to look for pictures of these cards and I had to steal the pictures from The Stamp Pad's Facebook page, I always forget to take pictures...sigh! The class went over pretty good, had lots of ladies sign up :) but man, I wish I could have used some of the DeNami bees, they are too stinkin' cute!! 

curly bee

Brushed Bee

Either of them would have looked sooooooo much cuter on my little ball jar card but I have to use only the products that the shop carries. Bummer!

Well that's it for me today, I better run, lots of things to do!! I'll see ya on Friday!!

DeNami Design Inspired By.....

Weather it be from a magazine, blog hop or website like Pinterest, we are all inspired by things we see and create something based on that. I generally try to come up with brand new ideas but often look to the Internet for inspiration. When DeNami Design came out with their "Inspired By" feature featuring cards made by DeNami fans I was really excited...what fun!! Paulina from DeNami Design (and owner of Pretty Pink Posh) contacted me to let me know I've been selected to be featured and I couldn't have been more elated!  

How this works is that Paulina and Nami choose a fans card that uses DeNami stamps and then turn the design team loose to make a card inspired by the fans. I also had the opportunity to make an inspired by card to be featured along with the design team's cards and jumped at the chance to work with some seriously talented ladies! I am so thrilled to have been chosen!! Make sure to stop in at the DeNami blog to check out what the uber talented design team has made :)

As you know, when you're inspired by something it can be the shape, color, layout, theme, etc....

Here's my card that was chosen and a link to the original post...

Stamps Used:

• praying for you sentiment
• small flower spray
• small spring flowers

As I mentioned in my post for the DeNami hop this past Sunday, I just love a white panel on a white card base...something so elegant about that to me. Instead of scoring the panel like I did for that butterfly card I ran it through a dry embossing folder (stamp your sentiment before embossing). I layered a piece of charcoal card stock with a punched edge then a small piece of black cardstock and finally a piece of white cardstock that I had stamped. I finished it all off with a pretty bow and some bling. 

Using that layout, sentiment placement and the embossed panel for my inspiration, I came up with this new card...

I started with a black base and added a white dry embossed panel (stamp sentiment before embossing). To that I added a piece of black and a piece of cardstock that I had edge punched before adding another white panel. I punched scallop squares, stamped, colored and layered them then stamped the cute little bee. I finished it all up with some bling and yummy ribbon from Pretty Pink Posh.

Stamps Used:

• Happy Birthday sentiment
• Summer Flowers set
• Curly Bee

Well I hope you like both cards and I'm just tickled pink to have been chosen for this months inspiration! Don't forget to check out what the talented DeNami Design team has made using my card for inspiration :)