Texana Designs

If you're going through hell
Keep on going, don't slow down
If you're scared don't show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you're there
~ Country song by Rodney Adkins

My job takes me all over Central Texas and across a lot of lonesome and remote "farm to market" roads. I love seeing the country that way. I crank up the radio, enjoy the scenery and just watch for the water towers into the next town.

On those trips the only choice on the radio is generally Classic Country or New Country. I usually pick Waylon and the Boys over Rascal Flatts and that Swift chick. And, if Emmy Lou Harris is on, I'm in heaven. I mean no disrespect to Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, but the whole time I was making this card, it was Rodney Adkins who was playing in my head.

Yes, I definitely have those days, especially after investigating back-to-back nursing home complaints. Shew, it wears a girl out.

Thankfully, stamping and a lot of love from folks like you keep me going.

I made this card to play along with our Catered Crop Recipe Swap this week and also to show off some new stamps I got from Texana Designs. I love these star studded, barbed wire hearts.

Here's the inside with another Texana Designs stamp. I was going for a saloon motif.

Funny story . . .

One of the perks of visiting these small Texas towns is that I often hit pay dirt at the home grown antique stores. I found this gem for $1.00 in tiny Whitney, Texas. Westerns are a dime a dozen in these parts, but I thought, for just $1.00 this worn old book will be perfect for paper piecing my Texana Designs stamps. So, I ripped out several pages to make my loopy blossom, star studded hearts and labels, quite happy with my creative up-/re-cycle.

When I was trying to find a link for all of you for this book, I discovered this was was one of five paperback books written on The High Chaparral and that they are all very difficult to locate in the United States. My sources said they infrequently show up in EBay: "expect to pay a hefty price for them in the overseas market." Turns out, I could have sold this book for about $20.00. Dang, this turned into a very expensive card. Lesson learned, research your pay-dirt find before you destroy it.

Here are the rest of ingredients. I promise, none of them are nearly as expensive as my $20.00 book print.

Always remember this. If you're going through hell, keep on going, but more importantly, remember that we're here.

Hugs,

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January 29, 2012 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, My Favorite Things, Texana Designs, Texas Tagged With: Texana Designs, Texas | 8 Comments

And this ain't no place for the weary kind
This ain't no place to lose your mind
This ain't no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try
– song by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett

One peek at this card and you can see why it call it my "Crazy Heart" card. 'It's crazy busy! Well, that, and I do love that movie with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Now who in their crazy mind would combine tulle and frilly swirls with a barbed wire heart? Well, darlin's if you've ever been to a Texas rodeo (and everyone should at least once), you'll see women's western wear is a combination of denim and rhinestones; leather and lace. It's rough and rowdy meets powder puff and pearls. I love it. I can't quite carry it off myself; I look more like the rodeo clown. I wish I could, though, because I think it's crazy sexy.

You know I love all things Texas, if only because I get to bring out my Texas twang vernacular. So I'm crazy-heart excited that my sweet friend Jimmye Sue Mitchell of Texana Designs fame invited me to be a part of her inaugural design team! Yee Haw!! I get to hang out with gal pals Libby Hickson, Karen Hall Lambert, Jilda Bolton, Janet Bradshaw, and Joyce Meyer. And today I have my first "official" design team card for you using two Texana Design stamps.

Oh, and this rodeo is just getting started. Come back tomorrow for another Texana Designs announcement (you'll be glad you did). Be sure to head over to the Texana Blog and become a follower! And if you really want to be the queen of the rodeo, go ahead and "LIKE" the Texana Facebook page! I'll see you there.

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January 21, 2012 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, Texana Designs, Texas, Valentine's Day Tagged With: Texana Designs, Texas, Valentine's Day | 1 Comment

   If you want to make a song more hummy,
   add a few tiddely poms.
      ~ Winnie the Pooh

Every year I choose a word or phrase to be my motto for the coming year. Two years ago it was "Vigor and Vim in 2010," which turned out to be a bad motto because the year had a little too much vigor. Last year, I decided to choose a slightly less ambitious motto, one of just gentle, simple joys rounded out with a fair measure of silliness. Tiddely Pom – just makes you giggle. For 2012 I'm listening to Buddha: "A single drop of water fills a bucket" and focusing on small steps toward sustainable change. Not the most sexy motto, but Buddha will be proud.

Another Catered Crop tradition is my annual review of some of my favorite projects. If you click on any of the pictures, it will take you to the original post for all the details. So here's my review of the Tiddely Poms from 2011.

January – One More Cookie Puhlease! Any card that honors the cookie has to be great, right?! I had fun embroidering felt cookies to go with the card.

February – Dog Gone It. I made this to send to my daughter while she was in Costa Rica. My scheme was to make her miss her puppy back home and hurry back to us. Just bein' a Mom, ya know.

March – Be My Baby Bumble Bee. I had a blast with this one. The card included a detachable hair clip, bookmark, luggage tag, and embellished clip. This is one of my favorite Claire Keay images, so I used it more than once in 2011.

April – Oh Boy Animal Magnetism. I love that these bottle caps can be removed from the card and do double time as refrigerator magnets. They're udderly perfect for showing off pictures and creations from the little guys.

May – Western Swinging Paper Purses. I took one of Becky Robert's fabulous Tres Chic handbag tutorials and turned it into a tooled leather saddlebag. It was my version of Western Swing.

June – Proper Kitchen Attire. This embellished kitchen soap bottle, thank you card and decorated clothespin won me my first gig as a guest designer with My Favorite Things. The honor of hanging out with that amazing design team for a month makes this definitely one of my favs for 2011.

July – Perfect Pinwheels. Cupcakes and pinwheels . . . need I say more?

August – Beachy Keen. I had as much fun writing the blog post as I did making the card. For this card I came up with the top ten most embarrassing parent moments in honor of my Dad's black socks with shorts.

September – Bargain Hunting. This crazy busy card paid homage to all the sights and sounds of one of America's oldest and largest flea markets.

October – A Cup of Tea. I just love how the colors and patterns came together for this little window card. It was fun to make.

November – Rhinestone Cowgirls. It was a blast to partner with my daughter for this card. She designed the sentiment so I could offer it as a free download. And, check out that paper boot – Texas stylin'.

December – Vintage Popcorn. All my fun antique treasuring hunting in 2011 paid off with these vintage jello molds. They were perfect for giving popcorn balls.

I hope you've enjoyed Catered Crop 2011 revisited. It's always an adventure for me to do this because I get to see how my craft has evolved (or not) over the year.

If you're a blogger, there are several parties this weekend to link up your favorite top ten: Karin Martin's A Year in Review Blog Hop; Kellie Winnell's Top 10 Crafty Creations for 2011; Operation Write Home's Top Ten Hop; and this fun thread at Splitcoast Stampers, Your Own Favorites of 2011.

If you do write a year in review, please be sure to leave me a comment so I can follow along. Of course, don't forget to link up your favorite 2011 Holiday Card with us here at the Catered Crop Recipe Swap.

I'm looking forward to seeing all your creations in 2012. I have all kinds of craziness planned so hang on, we're just getting warm.

December 31, 2011 | Filed Under: Claire Keay, DeNami Designs, Eat Cake Graphics, My Favorite Things, October Afternoon, Stampotique Originals, Texana Designs | 14 Comments