Nine Months, Two weeks and One Day!

I was 9 months, one week pregnant when my OBG told me he was going to induce me if I didn’t go into labor the following week. He asked me which day I preferred, Saturday, May 10^th or Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11^th ? I told him that I wanted to have a wonderful Mother’s Day so we agreed on May 10^th.

Cassandra Marie was born at 2:34 PM on May 10th and it was, as he predicted, a wonderful Mother’s Day. Every year I am reminded that the greatest Mother’s Day present I ever received is my beautiful daughter. Having said that, I have to add that my new Mother’s Day Vintage Floral Album comes in a close second. 

I won the original 1880’s Vintage Floral Album on Ebay and like Cassandra, it was love at first sight. I scanned the front and back cover, attached them to chipboard and then lined both with the ever romantic Miss Empire paper from Kaisercraft. Inside are 25 tea dyed papers, assorted tags and misc. paper ephemera.

 

 I even made a tiny Mother's Day Card!

Now that I own the covers I see many more Floral Journals in my future and in my Etsy shop Inside The Beehive. Matter of fact I think I will add a tag on the back inside cover - Limited Edition #1-2014. Cassandra, like this Journal, is a limited edition and in my book will always be #1!! Wishing all an early Happy Mother's Day.

Raise Your Glass

I love weddings and have long wanted to add a Wedding Guest Book to my repertoire. I thought long and hard, over a glass of wine, what kind of Guest Book I should create. Did I mention that I love wine? I do and as I took another sip of Chardonnay I had an epiphany, not the Winery Epiphany which incidentally has wonderful wine, but the other kind of epiphany...why not make a Wine Themed Wedding Guest Book?  

 

I already had a ton of wine themed stamps so off I went to the Beehive and I am now ready to make a toast to my Wine Themed Wedding Guest Book. Won't you join me?  

 

I used a ton of purple grape seam binding.

 

Pockets for the tags offer lots of room for wedding wishes!

 

I love this quote and had to put it on the cover.

 

Love the script cork paper I found at Michaels.

I added a gift for the couple, a large tag in a muslin bag.

Ever been to a Vineyard Wedding? If you know of someone who is planning one please send them over to my Etsy shop Inside The Beehive where I have just listed this for sale.

Going Going Gone

Before the 2013 holidays one of my YouTube Followers asked me to make her a custom Tea Dyed Journal. Her favorite movie of all time is Gone With The Wind so that was the theme she requested. I don’t know how other artists create, but for me I start out by scouring Ebay and Etsy for rubber stamps, books, graphics and paper ephemera.

It took me weeks to find the right vintage GWTW book that if in perfect condition would have cost a lot more than what was in my budget. However, it was damaged which made it affordable and not so traumatic when I gently tore it apart.

Of course I did make a mistake. I call it the revenge of The Green Velvet Ribbon.  I bought two shades of green ribbon, light and dark. I wanted to add streamers on the cover but no matter how much I fiddled with the ribbons they just didn’t look right. In a fit of frustration I ended up throwing them in the trash and ended up substituting my all time favorite ribbon - crinkled seam binding.

I love the way the GWTW Journal turned out and I hope that Jessica agrees. If not, I will have no problem putting it in the Beehive where it will happily reside next to my Wuthering Heights Journal. Two Journals inspired by two wonderful books that I have read over and over again.

Do you have a favorite book that you have read more than once?  

Well Jessica, what do you think?



 

I took a blank page from the book and made it into a tiny envelope

and then filled it with hearts made from book pages.

 

Shoeless

Ever heard the saying, the shoemaker's son goes barefoot? Well, that's me. Only it's not shoes, but handmade Journals. Despite the fact that several of my dear friends have gifted me with gorgeous handmade Journals (thank you Michelle and Allison) I have had my heart set on a Queen Bee Journal for the longest time.

I started out by finding the perfect cover. Who knew that there was a novel titled The Queen Bee? Then it was just making the time, which proved to be much more difficult.  Like two years difficult. But despite my time challenge I managed to finish it this weekend and wanted to do a Blog Post Show & Tell.

 

I am in love with my Queen Bee Journal. I added all my favorite things; crinkled seam binding, my Queen Bee charm from Articakes, some of the gorgeous digital papers from Ephemeras Vintage Garden and lots of Bee themed ribbon.

I added the lock and key but they are just decorative. Which suits me just fine since I am unable to keep a secret.

Hope you'll stop on by Inside The Beehive and check out my latest creations. And no, the Queen Bee Journal is not for sale!

Tag, you're it!

A year or two ago there was this fabulous video that about a zillion gals did called My Favorite Things. The idea was to show other crafters their most favorite 10-15 things in crafting and then call out to another crafter to make a video of their favorite 10-15 things.

I so wanted someone, anyone to call out my name but alas no one did. I guess that feeling of not being invited to the party has stuck with me so I decided to take control of the situation and start my own challenge where EVERONE is invited to participate.

First off, you don’t have to be a follower on either my blog or my Youtube channel. The only requirement is that you link your video to my video. Now here’s the hard part – especially for Rhonda – your video HAS to be 5 minutes or less. Five favorite items and 5 minutes. Can you do it? It's easy peasy so please play along with me!

Here’s my VIDEO!

And here's a sneak peek!

#1

#2

 



 

I can't wait to see what your favorite five items are so stop reading and start filming!
Hugs from the Beehive.

Shabby Chic???

Two weeks ago I got the crud that is going around. In my feverish delirium I decided to make a Shabby Chic mini album. In between sneezes, coughs and hot tea I emailed my dear friend Michelle and shared my plan to create a Valentine Shabby Chic Journal. She wrote back concerned that I must be really, really ill.

You see, no matter how hard I try, I cannot do Shabby Chic. I am allergic to layers of flowers, lace and bling so my Shabby Creations never look lush and lacey. I am a failure, but I did finish the Mini and wanted to share it with you.

It’s a French Chocolate Mini Album and has one lonely flower and no bling. I did however manage to edge each and every page with lace.  

 

 I listed this mini in my shop on Etsy InsideTheBeehive and with lots of tags and room to record sweet memories, I hope it becomes a wonderful Valentine gift for some lucky gal. It will last a lot longer than a box of chocolates.

Do you do Shabby Chic?

Bucket List Update

Last year I did this major Bucket List Project which you can see HERE. The one and only thing I managed to accomplish was to visit Ikea. Had a wonderful time but was hoping to be able to cross off one more thing before the year ended. 

Figured both the Hot Air Balloon trip and the Jane Austen Tour weren’t likely to happen, so I aimed for something a little less romantic and a little less expensive.  

So, without further ado…on December 31st I pushed the button marked Open My Store and Inside The Beehive was born.

 

 

The husband and I toasted both the New Year and my New Shop with champagne and I spent New Year’s Day photographing, writing and the inevitable comparing my shop with the thousands of other shops that sell the same things that I do. So how do I compare you might ask? I asked the same thing in the Etsy Forums and it seems my About Page, Photographs and SEO’s (these are searchable words) are okay.

The problem is that I don’t have the preferred 100 items for sale. I currently only have 17. But the good news is that 17 is my lucky number.

If you have a moment please stop on BUY…I mean BY Inside The Beehive and take a look around. I promise you the bees are friendly and won’t sting.

Do you sell on Etsy or any of their competitors? If so, please share. Happy 2014!