TTIC29 and a half… BFF’s

As I said in my last post, I have the greatest BFF in the history of history. Allow me to explain: My BFF is the kindest, most generous and genuine person I know. Her heart is ALWAYS in the right place and if she has a “tragic flaw”, it is that she cares too much, and places people above herself too often. She NEVER has a second’s hesitation to help out in any way she can when needed, and will agonize if her loved ones are in trouble and she cannot help. She is without fail a beacon of truth and decency. And if the truth isn’t sunshine and roses, well, she will still give it to you – but she’ll feel awful about it! She never acts without completely considering everyone involved. EVER. Her goal is always the greater good, and her actions are guided by her pure heart and her innate sense of grace. (Got your hankies out yet?!) She is beyond brilliant. And, she is THE perfect BFF ever born of this earth. Are we getting that?? I am so blessed to have her. I can honestly say she saved my sanity more than once with her selflessness. She has been my rock FAR too many times to count, and when she says that our military move (the same military that brought us together, mind you, in San Antonio!) that separated us broke her heart – well, that was completely mutual. So much so that we actively consider moving back to Texas! (My DH is a gem, too, btw!) I cannot think of a more perfect situation than to be near enough to hug and pound daquiris with my BFF! And stamp, of course. ;) She tells me I am a groovy BF, but she is heads and tails above me. She has it down to a science, and I am just trying to keep up. She makes sure I am fair and kind to myself when I would really rather not be – and makes me take credit when I prod cool things to occur. (No easy feat, let me. Tell. You.) Remember that post on the author’s blog? I never would’ve shared that, (‘cuz I’m shy and stuff… LOL) but she cleverly played her cards so that I had to! And I ended up getting some of the coolest compliments from that project! Thank you, T! In short – she rocks. Kicks Ass. Rules. Blesses me with her very existence. A few more fun facts: She used to make an analogy to Fried Green Tomatoes, a movie which I never saw, but she says that we are they. She is my dream BFF. She loves Turtles. The candy, not the critters. And roses. (Hence my project!). She has the most amazing frickin’ skin, too. Brat! :) I say that in the kindest way – since I have the complexion of a 15 year old… LOL She’s a great mom. She’s an awesome “leader” for us free-spirited arty types over at TwilightTuesday – keeping us focused and motivated. You would be dumbfounded, seriously, to learn exactly how much time and energy she puts into making that challenge site phenomenon what it is. All for the love of Twilight and the sense of community she gets in return. Hardly puts food on the table – just fills up her heart! SO, by extension, she is a BFF-by-association to all of you TwilightTuesday-ers. I can say with all certainty that she feels that way, too. :) Hop over and give her some love – she’s amazing!

So, back to the TTIC… you can clearly see why I love Jake. Well, can’t you? I appreciate a true friend. He ranks up there with my BFF. Bella sucks, but again… all together now… “that’s for another post”. Plus, Jake is a smartass, and I cannot resist a smartass. No chance of that. ***My BFF is most certainly not a smartass – she is way too classy for such depravity.***

Real quick – I embossed with SU’s Fifth Avenue Florals (the embossing folder), cut it out and then I used YoYo Yellow (SERIOUSLY! when was the last time you used that for ANYthing?!), and watercoloured lowlights onto it, then bleached highlights. Pretend that there isn’t a big ol’ bleach spot where the idiot artist dipped her brush into the wrong clear liquid… Cool effect. I’ll call it Bleachercolouring. :)

TTIC29~BFFs: Jacob & Bella

My eternal BFF, Tonya, issued the challenge this week… and it is a fabulous one!! Read on:

It is my turn to issue this week’s Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge: BFFs: Bella & Jacob (TTIC #29). I want to focus on the friendship between Jacob and Bella…

Bella and Jake have a very special friendship. Jacob was there for Bella when she needed someone to bring sunshine into her life. Jacob was a caring and loving friend to Bella. Although Jacob viewed Bella romantically, Jacob did not imprint upon Bella. Jacob could never have loved Bella the way Bella loved Edward or Edward loved Bella. But they could be the best of friends. The could love each other in deeply passionate friendship kind of way.

“He was my best friend. I would always love him, and it would never, ever be enough.”
Bella Swan, New Moon, Chapter 9, p.219

“Yeah, I’ll always be your friend. No matter what you love.”
Jacob Black, New Moon, Chapter 18, p.409

Craft Challenge: Make a project celebrating your best friend. Or Jake and Bella’s friendship.

Comment Challenge: Do you have a best friend whom you love passionately (in a friendship kind of way)? What makes your friendship so special?

Funny thing… I was going to take this week off, considering that my life spiraled musically out of my control these last few days, but in this instant, I have completely changed my mind. You know why? I have THE single greatest BFF in the world and I want to tell you ALL about her! So here’s my revised-at-the-very-last-second plan: I am going not spend all day reading my new Black Dagger Brotherhood novel, which I will be picking up as soon as I can kick the Spawn from the car in the school lot… and yes, an accurate comparison would be I may also not breathe until said novel is back in my lap! :) I’ll tell you all about the BDB another time – I promise. Today is about StampVamp, my BFF! So… tomorrow when you visit TT.com, skip over here and learn a thing or two about the Vamp’s awesomeness. …’Cuz, she puts in a TON of work to make this site amazing, and she deserves to be honored like no other webmistress before her! Did you mark your calendars yet? See you tomorrow…

On a completely separate note… I want to also say a ginormous THANK YOU to everyone who has left such lovely and ego-pumping comments! I really and truly appreciate them, and it makes all the craziness of getting an extra weekly project posted for you guys to enjoy completely worth it!! You guys are awesome, and I feel SO blessed to have been a part of this TwilightTuesday phenom! You ROCK OUT LOUD.

{{HUGS!}} ~Bethxx

***Don't forget the ther amazing Design Team blogs:***

Dani ~ Eve ~ Jen ~ Julie ~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

TTIC28 ~ Edward & Bella’s Wedding

This week’s challenge comes from Margie, who has us thinking ahead to “The Wedding”… :) Dum, dum da-dum…

I had planned to do up an invitation and go all out – then I remembered that I still do not have my books back and therefore could not dig out the details! I’ve been an utter PEST to Tonya and Julie, (THANK YOU, LOVELIES!) who have been wracking their brains and cracking open their copies to find my facts! So, instead of pushing them completely over the edge of sanity, I decided to go with a more ‘generic’ wedding card – I envision this as a good ‘Thank You’ card for all the loot they rake in at their nuptials! :)

Don’t forget to go and visit the rest of the Design Team!

Eve * Dani * Jen * Julie * Margie * Rebecca * Tonya

While writing this, I was listening to "Canon in D Major" composed by Johann Pachelbel.

Easter Cards! (Better late than never)

Yay!  I actually got my cards out timely this year… just not posted.  I have to say that considering how much I detest the bunny stamp set… the cards turned out pretty well.  I made a couple of the bunnies gray – and that’s what I should have photographed.  Can’t win ‘em all… or so they tell me.    And because I cannot be pigeonholed into making all my cards the same – I save that madness for Christmastime ONLY! – here is another one I sent out… It is a CASE of a CASE I did for my Spring Fling camp last month.  Who says you can’t recycle a good design?  Not me… :)   The last one, well, you’ll see it is already sealed in it’s clear envelope (‘cause I’m a closet applause whore – why else would I blog this stuff?!) so the picture pretty much sucks.  Sorry about that!  Good news is, I finally got my camera fixed – took the guy all of 2 minutes of button pushing. Talk about humbling.  Anyhoo – my son is waiting to view the TiVo’ed (new!) SpongeBob, so I really should get to that… Life is good. :)

Ok, I’m having a little trouble coming up with a catchy title for this post…  “I’ve Been Bit.  And Smit.”  No.   “Dearly Smitten”.   Meh…   “Look AT ME – I’m a FAMOUS”.  Fat frickin’ chance!  :)   So CLEARLY, I have an issue with tooting my own horn, but something pretty stinkin’ cool has happened in my little world… I got to make a layout for one of my favourite authors, Michelle Rowen – and she totally dug it!  For real!  Check it out.  I can imagine no better combination than my two great loves (obvious family, friends, etc aside, of course!) than to use my favourite books to inspire my craft.   Anyhoo – I really love the Immortality Bites series because I think the writing is fab and the main character, Sarah Dearly, completely and utterly kicks ass.  She’s endearingly sarcastic, says what she thinks, deals with life’s trial through humour and does her best to do what she feels is right.  Hmmmm… sounds familiar.  :)   And, ah, HELLOOO, the leading man-vamp is basically a brooding Hugh Jackman.  Yeah… that’s a reaaally nice bonus to the story.  Super nice.  And, said brooding, hot vamp has an equally sexy name: Thierry De Boennicoeur.  Niiiice.   Anyway – I tried to clip and crop a couple of close ups of the layout, because I chose a couple of my favourite quotes from Michelle’s favorite scene from Bitten.  {FYI: From here on out: ImmBites, and B&S!  ‘Cuz I’m a little lazy like that.}  Also, I found this really cool excerpt that you should check out – because you will definitely want to read the book after this!     Seriously – how funny is to hear a vampire say that being one sucks?  This book is funny and engaging and touching and just an all around great read.  You jump right into the plot and there is constant development throughout.  I should apply for a marketing job with MR’s publisher, huh?   Anyway – I had a lot of fun creating this for Michelle, and as much as I avoid cliches (as I should with the puns, I know) it was very satisfying to give something back.  I’ve enjoyed the books that much.  I think everyone should make a card or objet d’art especially for an author who has touched your life in some way.  Link back here  -  maybe we can start an Author Appreciation day over at TwilightTuesday. :)  Happy Reading!    

Oh, and ‘cuz I can, and I LOVE this cover! --> they both look great and I totally want that ring! :)

While writing this, I was listening to "Closer" by Kings of Leon

 ***

1) I am such a PUTZ!  THANK you for your kind words, Michelle and everyone who has left comments.  You make me blush!

2) Tall, Dark & Fangsome releases on Aug 25th – I’m SO not a patient person.

A NEW Challenge! TTSVC1 ~ Dead Until Dark (Sookie/Southern Vamp bk1)

While writing this, I was listening to "C'mon C'mon" by The Von Bondies

You all know by now just how much I love a good vampire story – if you don’t, then I have to wonder who’s blog you’ve been reading all this time!! One of my very favorite series is Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampires. You may know them as the Sookie Books, or the books on which HBO’s True Blood is based upon. (AWESOME in it’s own right – but a topic for another post!) As another aspect of TwilightTuesday, we are so excited to introduce the first Sookie Vampire challenge!

***PS – if you are looking for Jasper and TTIC27, click HERE!***

On with the Sookie show! ***If you haven’t read the books yet – and dare I ask, WHY THE HECK NOT?! – you should skip the rest of my post. It is just too good a story to risk being spoiled!***

Craft Portion: Create a piece that reflects book 1, "Dead Until Dark's" story.

Comment Portion: What part of the book inspired your creation and/or what part of the book really stood out to you the most!

Join us in the forum to discuss the Sookie Stackhouse Series!!!

For the craft portion – I went with the obvious. Yep – not much ‘splaining to do here, huh? Green flowers for Merlotte’s uniforms, a little bloody martini down at the bottom. Yum – good stuff. :S I chose the quote when Sookie sees her first vampire – the beautiful Bill Compton. (Yup, Team Bill here!)

As far as my inspiration, I tried to remain very generic and non-specific to any part of the story. Overall, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these books and when I read DUD for the first time, I really enjoyed & embraced the realism of it. Seriously – no eye rolling, please… You could honestly believe that vampires had truly ‘come out of the coffin’ and were productive members of society! Heck, I even bought into the telepathic waitress and all the other good stuff! Charlaine Harris has a wonderful way of allowing us to feel this story through Sookie’s narration. Sook is astute, honest and generally a great character to have as a point of reference for the others in the story. So, if you did not heed my previous warning of spoilers, and have not yet read this book… click here and get yourself a copy right now. This is a must read – kind of like that other series… what’s it called?? oh, yes – Twilight!!!

Visit the other Designers who are playing along… Margie * Tonya

TTIC27 ~ Jasper Hale…

This week, Julie issued our challenge, and may I just say – it’s about time we show Jas some love?!! Well, it’s MY blog, and I’m gonna! I really like Jasper – can I get a “Hale, Yeah?!” Totally underrated vamp.

In Julie’s words:

“Hey everyone -- it's time to show Jasper a little love! Jasper Hale's character is the theme for the challenge on Tuesday, April 14th.
For the creative portion of the challenge -- create a piece that says Jasper to you!
For the comment portion of the challenge -- it's all about the CALM. Since Jasper's special ability is being able to control people's moods, and he seems to use that to calm people quite a bit -- talk a little bit about the ways that YOU like to calm down. Crafting, stamping, reading, cup of tea, whatever it may -- just talk a little bit about how you like to chill out!”

I love Jasper – and I’ll tell you why… He makes such a monumental effort to be civilized for his family, which is completely awesome. BUT, deep down, Jas is a beast! And I mean that in the coolest, most vampirical way. (Thank you, SpellChecker – I am aware that I made up that word.) As much as Edward tells us (and tells us, and tells us) how ‘bad’ he is because he’s a vamp, Jasper lives it. And he doesn’t ever whine about it – he hangs back, strong and silent, and acts they way he needs to. He rocks! AND, he has flippin’ great hair!

Moving on… Jasper has the unique talent of being able to manipulate emotions. As the mother of a purely male 7 year old spawn, I would pay dang good money for THAT ability, let me tell ya! He chills people out. I, on the other hand, generally need a margarita or a Bailey’s & rocks. :) Or in the real world, a good book. In my uber-fantasy world – BOTH! Ooh, and a white sand beach in the Caribbean… but I digress. Anyhoo… on with the show:

I’m on a layout kick. What can I say? I wish I was better with the digital scrapping, but, I like the dimension of the real deal. What is cool to note about this one, is that I made my background paper with bleach and a napkin. Hi tech-tech for me, kids! (That’s Beth-speak for High Technology Techniques, FYI) I also bleached on/off (whatEVER!) my stamped flourishes from one of my all-time favorite SU sets (Baroque Motif). The other awesome thing about this one – I managed to find some really good pictures of Jas/Jackson. Did I mention they guy has GREAT hair? Well, outside of the 1st movie, anyway. :o Yeah. I will ‘fess up to the crappy scroll thing at the bottom – it was a final sanity-saving measure. Everything I tried to put there singed my eyeballs. It’s a space-filler until I can muster up enough mojo to come up with something cool. I was hoping to put a bio or something – like thumbtacked onto the cork, on notebook paper. Hale, yeah! Where were you guys with these ideas 2 hours ago when I was cursing a blue streak down in my craft cave? Since it is pushing 1am, I will have to stick with what I got. :S Gads – I hate when that happens.

As always, I highly recommend that you visit TwilightTuesday for all the fun! Books and art – what more do you need? Besides Bailey’s and chocolate… and the white sand beach, of course. PLUS, the other Designers’ submissions never disappoint! See you around the forum!

Eve * Dani * Jen * Julie * Margie * Rebecca * Tonya

TTIC#26 ~ the Void

This week our challenge comes from Eve, who has us examining Bella in New Moon:

The "void" that Bella experienced when Edward left.
You remember in the books how months passed by?
The broken heart we have all had at one time in our lives.....
Yeah that.

Yep, we’ve probably all been there.  It’s a brutal rite of passage in a girl’s life – the first shattered heart.  The one that makes your world feel like it was never really yours, and you now have nothing keeping you from floating away into the abyss.   Bella got that lesson big-time in New Moon.  Days running together into months, with her tenuous grip on her emotions challenged by the smallest things.  This might be my favorite time in the whole saga.  (And where I completely give myself over to Team Jake!)

For my project, I decided to go with the dark and dreary emotions Bella was saddled with.  She felt no light, save for her time with Jake, and the world looked bleak and colorless to her.  This is what I came up with:

I used PearlEx, glue and my heat tool to create the background and stamped ‘the void’ onto a clear Tim Holtz charm.  I think this gives off the bleakness that Bella felt all those months she spent mourning her loss. 

Don’t forget to visit the other fabulous submissions by the Twilight Tuesday Design Team:

Eve *  Dani * Jen * Julie * Margie * Rebecca * Tonya

Visit TwilightTuesday for the latest Blog Candy, discussions and the April Sketch Challenge!