New Neighbors

Look who is new to the neighborhood? So sweet!

Wednesday Words

When I stand before God at the end of my life,

I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say,

"I used everything you gave me".

Erma Bombeck

Summer Plans

At the start of summer, Busy Bee and I brainstormed and came up with a few special things that we wanted to do during summer. I then hopped on over to Wordle and input all of the words to make our very own word cloud. We printed it out and had ourselves a great 'to-do list' for these fun summer months. At the end of the summer, I plan on creating another one to put in our scrapbook.

A few tips if you want to make your own:
-to create a space you want to use this ~ in between words.
-you'll want to create your list in another document. You are not able to simply add words if you forget them, so it's easiest if you have a list already going and then you can just copy and paste.
-I picked Chunkyfive for the font and Organic Carrot for the color.
-to make one word larger than the others - simply type it in several times. For example, if you want the word 'Summer' to be 5 times the size of the other words, type it in five times.

Since we are past the midway point of summer (how did that happen?), we are going to review our word cloud and see what we have accomplished and make plans for the things that we haven't!

Bee Happy,

Happy Fourth

Busy Bee loved asking if folks wanted 'stars' or 'stripes' when serving up this pie!
It was so simple and easy - and a BIG hit!

Bee Happy,

Stamped Washer Necklace & Keychain

I have to admit - once I saw this idea for a craft - I couldn't wait to try it! I was all set to order a stamping set from Beaducation  (and I probably still will for the variety) when I found this set from Harbor Freight. And at $4.99 - it was a bargain too!

{I forgot the washers in the above pic - oops!}

For this project you will need a stamping set such as the ones mentioned above, a hammer, a black Sharpie or permanent marker, antibacterial gel (or baby wipes or a magic eraser) and a variety of washers. It honestly took us a few tries to get the alignment and hammering just right, so be sure to buy a few extra. At .13 a piece grab a few handfuls of different sizes.

You simply use your hammer to stamp your letters - we used a strip of painter's tape to help guide us and then color your indentations with your marker. Use one of the methods listed above to rub away the excess and there you have it!

I ordered some sterling silver blanks from Beaducation as well - and I can't wait to make my own stamped jewelry piece. More on that later!

Bee Happy,