Friday, October 15, 2010

Ending My Hostess Duties and a Thank You

My Hero Arts hostessing duties come to an end today. I'm a bit sad, but also very grateful to have had this amazing opportunity!

The time really has flown by and I have loved every minute of being a Hero hostess! I'll never forget reading that very first e-mail from Tami, inviting me to be a hostess. I was so surprised, I let out a little scream and ran to got my hubby. I asked him to read it to make sure I was seeing it correctly!

I will cherish the friendships I've made with my hostess sisters, always. The 5 of them are not only talented card makers, they are truly amazing ladies who inspire me more than they will ever know! Jenny, Joy, Nancy, Kryssi and Robin, I want to thank you for being so supportive of me when I needed it, (and believe me, there were a few times that happened!) and for being such fun friends! We're taking off the aprons today, but I'm so glad it's not goodbye! I know we'll stay close through the wonderful Flickr group and continue to "see" each other because of this amazing hobby of ours!

I want to thank Tami for being there at any given time to answer our questions and guide us through our duties! She was always just a delight to talk with, and has such a warm, caring personality! I image in real life she always has a smile on her face! Thank you Tami! You're the best!

I can't thank Hero Arts enough, not only for the Flickr group, but for being the kind of company that encourages it's customers to be involved and makes them feel like they're more important than anything else! It's companies like this that make the world a happier, better place! So thank you, Hero Arts! I had such fun being a hostess for you, and will always be grateful for these past three months! Here's a card I've made to show my appreciation.



I cut the frame from some pretty Fancypants paper. The dogwood flowers were stamped with Versa Color Sand Beige, clear embossed and colored with Copics. I added some Antique Linen Distress Stickles for a bit of sparkle and used my favorite pearls from the Hero Hues collection.

Again, thank you, Hero Arts! It was a blast! :)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Silvery Christmas

Hi all!

I took the day off from work yesterday and was finally able to catch up with some yard and house work. Yay! I also found some time to play! I knew I wanted to emboss the Hero Arts Music Background in silver, and do the same with the Decorative Ornament cling. I was going to leave the card all white and silver, but the ornament just didn't show up as well as I wanted it to. So I started to play around with some non-traditional Christmas colors and came up with this card.




I love the way the Music Background looks, embossed in silver! The scalloped die cut was inked with Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord, using the acrylic block technique from Jennifer's Thinking Inking classes this week. I stamped La Letter over the lavender color, using an onyx colored ink. I colored in the silver embossed ornament with a lavender Copic marker.

I also made another card yesterday, using the same acrylic block technique. This one is a snowy scene, using the little tree from the Hero Arts Sending Holiday Cheer set.



For this one, I inked the acrylic block with Stormy Sky distress ink. The pretty silver, star gems are also from Hero Arts. . .love these and they were a gift given to us at Scrapfest. . .even better! I added some snow by tearing some glittery, embossed patterned paper that I found in my stash and I added some Crystal Stickles to the trees for some additional sparkle.

One more thing. If you missed my post yesterday and you have a little time, you can check it out here: http://bdengler4.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-work-among-flowers.html. It's a fun one about where I work (in a floral department) along with some photos too.

I'm so appreciative for every visit to my blog and thank you for your comments! They make my day! Enjoy your Thursday! :)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

I Work Among the Flowers!

Hi everyone!

I have a special treat for you today. I know many of you love flowers, so I thought this would be a fun post. For those of you who don't know, I work in a small floral department that is located inside a grocery store. I thought since it is so full of the wonderful colors of Autumn, you might want to have a look.


This first photo shows you what the department looks like as you walk towards it. We put up the cute lattice, leaves and pots of Fall flowers, up over the bouquet case, and as the seasons change, that area is switched out to coincide with the time of year. It's always a fun thing to do!





This is where I place most of the 6-inch plants. Love all the different colored mums!





This is a smaller shelving unit where I place some of my 4-inch plants with an extra shelf to decorate with cute, painted pumpkins and Autumn coffee mugs. We had fun placing the sparkly spiders here and there! (Click on the picture to see them better.) One is crawling out of a mug and another has his head inside, drinking from a mug! :)





I just had to take a close-up shot of this mum. Love the two-toned color!





And this is outside the front of the store. We have an old vintage wagon that is used to display the large outdoor, patio pot mums, along with perennials, kale and asters. We are getting to the point of selling everything and will soon be putting the potted spruce tips here for the upcoming Christmas season.



I'm not looking forward to being out here, watering the spruce tips. Unfortunately, we have to keep them watered until the dirt freezes. It can get pretty darn cold doing this, but it's all part of the job that I love!

Thanks for joining me on this little tour of where I work. Hope you enjoyed it! Have a beautiful day! :)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Come See Autumn!

Happy Monday!

I have finally finished taking photos of the trees in my yard and around my neighborhood and wanted to share them with everyone today, especially Dwita. I told her I would do a post with our beautiful Fall leaves because she doesn't get the season of Autumn in her country. So Dwita, this one is especially for you! :)

We had some of the most beautiful weather last week. Not only were the temperatures nice and warm, the sky was so blue, with not a single cloud in sight for days and days! I can't tell you how much I love that! The colors of the leaves alone are beautiful, but when you look at them up against that bright blue sky, they're even more stunning! I took these pictures over the last several days.

These first two photos are of my "Autumn Blaze Maple" in my back yard. Love this tree!







This next one is of my "Burning Bush." It sits on the side of our garage. I should have taken this picture a few days earlier when it looked even better!





Here is my Sedum. I swear the color gets more pink every year!





These next two photos were taken on my way home from work, while driving in the car. Now don't get mad at me. . .I was really careful, I promise! This tree is very close to where I work and there are several of them, lining the entire road for about a mile.





Here's a group of trees on the side of the highway that I drive home on everyday. I love the mix of colors and plants. . . . .and just look at that sky!





The rest of the pictures are of trees in and around my neighborhood.













That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed the colors of Fall! Be sure to stop by tomorrow when I'll be sharing some photos of the cute little floral department where I work. It's all spruced up for the season and I think you'll enjoy seeing the fun items and colors!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day! :)