6 Things to do with Samples

Do you have lots of samples or trial sizes (freebies that you get in the mail or try me free coupons) and don't know what to do with them?

1) Use them for travel/camping.

I have my routine and it seems as soon as I brush my teeth I put my toothbrush in the toothbrush holder and will forget to put it in my suitcase every time. So I have inexpensive/free toothbrush, free sample toothpaste, free sample shampoo, etc. I pack them right away and I don't have to worry about remembering to pack them.

2) Place them in a small basket and use them for when you have company (in case they forgot something). Place the basket in the guest bedroom or bathroom.

3) You can make up a Bride and Groom Honeymoon Travel Kit as a going away gift for newlyweds.

4) Make up a Bathroom necessities basket for someone moving. It's small enough that they can keep it with them in the car and have the basic necessities with them until they are unpacked and settled in.

5) Make up a necessities basket to give to someone that lost their home in a fire (I know that is sad, but unfortunately it happens). A friend of mine (I didn't know her at the time) lost their home to a fire and she said that when they went to stay at a hotel to sleep for the night she said, "We didn't even have a toothbrush and toothpaste."

6) It is also nice for college students on a limited budget. Save all your samples and keep reloading the college student (that is living away from home) every time they come home.

I send in for all sorts of trial/sample sizes that I find on the web and keep them in a designated box/basket. I know where they are and I can go "shopping" there if I need something. It is also great for when I know that I am down to the last of my deo and plan on picking some up (but forget), and when I go to use it the last bit of my solid falls in the floor into small bits or the aerosol can is completely empty. I go "shopping" again in my samples until I can make it to the store. Samples/trial sizes are smaller and easier to pack and often times I can throw away an empty container before I come home (makes unpacking easier).

Do you have any more suggestions on what to do with samples or trial sizes?

Great Garden Idea

First of all I should not be blogging right now. I have a list, longer than Santa Clause's, of things I should be doing. But blogging is so much fun and I couldn't pass this one up.

I have just been to my FIL's and he has the neatest garden. I have been wanting to share it with you for awhile now, but I didn't have my camera and just telling you about it wouldn't do it justice.

He has several raised gardens. He made beds out of 2 x 4's, put good top soil in them, covered them with black plastic (farming, hardware or garden supply stores), then poked holes in the plastic where he wanted to plant something. O.k. that's not so unusual. But what he did for his green beans is...

He used cattle panels (farm supply store) and made an arch. He put a stake on both sides of the arch so that the bottom wouldn't kick out. Then he braced them on the inside with string so that it wouldn't start leaning when it became heavy with the green bean vines. (He also used this for his cucumbers.)


This is the arch from an angle.


This is the arch straight on.


This is the string bracing on the inside of the arch.


This is the inside of the arch. Most of the green beans just hang down. Very easy to pick. There are a few on the outside, but they are easy to pick too (he has plenty of space to walk around on the outside of the arch). He said the string braces on the inside are a little inconvenient (you have to step over them or go under them), but I've picked several green beans and it is not that bad. And since I am in the shade (of the green bean vines) it makes up for any mild inconvenience.

It's beautiful and practical.

I'm Sorry

I haven't been been posting much lately. This past weekend I went to a MOPS Leaders Retreat for our local MOPS group. (Amanda from Faith, Food and Family and Katy from Creative Escapes was there also.) It was so much fun!!!!!!!! But I have spent this week trying to catch up from the weekend.

We are also taking a mini-vacation this coming weekend so I am trying to get ready for that. We are going to my cousin and his family's house this weekend (in KY). We always go to Beech Bend, we've been to each of the following Gun Town Mountain, Jesse James Themepark, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky Down Under once.

I haven't been able to schedule posts (trying to play catch up and get ahead). I will be back soon and hopefully lots of posts to inspire you.

Top 8 Reasons to Buy Lots of School Supplies

Take advantage of all the school supply savings that are going on right now. I just got some FREE school supplies at CVS (after ECB's). Other places (Staples, Office Max, Walgreens, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, etc.) have them super cheap!!!!! I am one to buy them up (whether we need them or not) when they are $0.10 and sometimes even as low as $0.01 (I buy the maximum limit allowed).

"What do you do with them?" you may ask.

1) I have a box that I keep things like that in and when I need a last minute birthday gift for a child I run to the box and put a gift together really quick and inexpensive.

2) I also use these school supplies as 'Thank You' gifts for teachers. My mother was a teacher and she bought a lot of supplies 'out of pocket' for herself and for students that couldn't afford it. If your kids are in High School and may not use things like crayons, you could purchase them and give them to any teacher you know (it doesn't have to be your child's teacher). Don't forget about Teacher Appreciation Week.

3) I use them as stocking stuffers for Christmas for my kids.

4) I use them for 'Operation Christmas Child.'

5) They make great 'Boredom Busters' for my kids when the weather outside is frightful.

6) I use them as 'Get Well Gifts' when a child I know is sick and not able to get up and play. This helps them recoup with quiet time.

7) If the items are small enough (erasers and pencil sharpeners,etc.) I use them to fill Easter Eggs. (Something other than candy.)

8) I use them throughout the year as 'rewards' for my kids. (Beats paying full price later). My kids don't always see what I get and/or I put them up where they forget about them, pull them out later.

*NOTE: It doesn't have to be just school supplies. It could be office supplies or art supplies (if you find them on clearance), stickers, etc. I am constantly looking for deals like this throughout the year (but the deals are more abundant right now).

Let's Make Our Husbands High Priority!

Katy Lin at The Great Adventure started '31 Days of Prayer for Our Husbands' yesterday (it's never too late, so jump in).

I also found a website that specifically addresses how to pray for your husband. You can check it out here.

We all need prayer. Our husbands are the 'Head of the household' (Ephesians 5: 22-30) which makes them the leader of our family. They are also our life partner. Don't we want the best for our life partner? Our husbands affect our lives in so many ways. I believe that prayer is a Christian's most powerful tool/weapon, but I feel (in general) that is not used near enough.

Join me in Katy Lin's effort to pray for our husbands.

A wonderful book that I read a year or so ago...Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie O'Martian. [I refer back to if often.]

Grilled Stuffed Cheesburgers

First of all I want to say that I am so mad. I NEED a new camera. It just deletes pictures randomly whenever it wants to. Sorry, I had more pictures for you (12 - 15), but they are not there now (there were only 6 left). What's up with that? [It's actually happened several times before, but I thought the boys got a hold of my camera and accidentally deleted pictures. I made sure that no one touched it from the time I took my pictures to the time I uploaded them.]

First you take ground chuck (picture was deleted) and add Ranch dressing mix (1 envelope or 3 Tbs. if you use the canister per 1 lb. meat).


Then you take mozzarella cheese and cut into cubes.


You then stuff one cube of cheese into some hamburger meat and shape the meat around it. (Picture of meat around cheese deleted).


Place stuffed hamburger patties on the grill.


Here they are after being removed from grill. See the yummy goodness just oozing out of the burger?


I halved the burger between the 2 littlest boys and here is Anthony's half. (He likes to put Cheetos on his burger.)

And the Winner Is...

I want to thank everyone that entered the giveaway, especially my loyal readers.

The winner of my giveaway for the Panic In The PigPen book is...





Lori said...
"Franklin, TN is where Ronda and Bill live. This looks fun and we take all the books we can get!"

Lori, Congratulations! You will be getting an e-mail from me soon if you haven't gotten it already.

Going Bananas

Here's the towel that I embroidered for Anthony (I'm working on Rance's now - it's the same towel). This is the cute towel that I mentioned in this post. Yep! It's a K-Mart towel ($6.50). Monkey with googly eyes was already appliqued on the towel, I just added Anthony's name in yellow.

I thought it was very appropriate since I have a house full of monkeys (I mean boys). He loves the fact that he now has his very own beach towel.

FYI - Cake Decorating

Since Life As Mom is hosting her Birthday Cake Roundup this week, I thought that I would share something with you.

Here is a great resource...Wilton. I knew they were a brand of cake decorating supplies, but until I took a Cake Decorating Class 3 years ago, that's all I knew about them.

They are also a wonderful resource, full of ideas and a place to purchase things you might not be able to (I live in a small town and we are very limited, not like Bakerella - see her 3 part series on her supply stores). [Yes, I'm jealous, how can you tell?]

But Wilton also has ideas that you can do with regular pans or pans that you might already have on hand. They also have different "techniques" featured each month (you can learn something new or polish up your skills). I really like the watermelon cake featured this month (July '09) on the home page (see picture above). They are really good with step-by-step instructions, tools used, ingredients used, etc.

Do you know of any more good cake decorating resources?

Birthday Pillowcase

My friend asked me if I would make a pillowcase for a little girl's birthday. (She's also going to give her a book - I think a bedtime story - to go along with her personalized pillowcase.) What a great idea! I wish I had thought of it.


Here is the name embroidered in hot pink. The pillowcase is flannel fabric with stars, moons, clouds in mostly purple with touches of light and hot pink.

Placemat Purse

Have you ever made a purse out of a placemat? I have, but I didn't have instructions, so mine aren't quite as cute as those from Sew Beautiful Magazine. I found some instructions for you on the www and they are at Sew Beautiful Magazine's website. Try it out and let me know what you think.


Rance loves to have his picture taken and he snuck in. I just had to include it (because from a mommy's perspective - he's cuter than any ol' purse).


This purse or tote is a little large because it is made from 2 identical placemats. It was one of my Christmas purses (can ya tell?). Actually I liked this a little better than a Christmas purse (because of the snowmen you can carry it all winter and not just at Christmas - some of them had Santa Clause on them - Christmas only). [Can you see the top of Rance's head?]


This is an upclose shot of the gromet and cording (that I used for the handles).


I didn't line the purses (you could), I wanted something quick and easy. Here is an inside look at the gromet and the cording tied in a knot. This is so if I want to change out ribbons/cording to have different 'handles/straps' I can do that or if the handles become damaged, the whole purse doesn't have to be scrapped.


Here is a red placemat that has gold thread running through it and it had beads along 2 sides. I folded it in half and the beads became a decoration across the top. I used red grosgrain ribbon for the handles.


The gold gromet brought out the gold metallic thread and now becomes an accent.


Here is an inside view of the gromet and knotted ribbon.


This was a green suade placemat that I folded in half. I had a very lightweight green ribbon that went well with the suade and I used that (along with gromets again) for the handles.


The ribbon was so delicate and lightweight that I thought the knot might pull through the gromet, so I tied a bead into the knot. It works great, the ribbon doesn't pull through the gromet. Just make sure the bead is slightly larger than the hole in the gromet.

Deciding how long you need the ribbon is strictly preference. If you want it to be a handbag, use shorter ribbon, if you want it to be a shoulder bag, place the bag on your side where you want it to hang and measure for your ribbons.

I look for inexpensive placemats at T.J. Maxx, Dollar General, etc. I did a few for Christmas gifts for my nieces a few years ago (with Christmas placemats). After holidays, check out the clearance aisles (often they don't have enough for a whole set as a place setting, but it only takes one or two for a purse). Check out places like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Dollar Stores, Hancock Fabrics, JoAnn Fabrics, Michael's, TJ Maxx or anywhere that might sell placemats. Hey, you might even check out thrift stores.

Birthday Cakes

Over at Life As Mom she is having a birthday cake round up (so we can all get ideas from one another - what a great idea! - go check it out because there are some really cool cakes there).

I am going to post mine again, so if you have already seen these, please forgive me.

I'm not very creative, but as long as my kids are happy - that's all that matters. (I do have fun in the process too.)


Champ didn't know what kind of cake he wanted, but he is really into Pokemon, so I thought of a Pokeball cake. (It has to be pretty easy, I'm not that talented.)


Anthony wanted a Star Wars cake and he wanted it black. I didn't want to do a whole cake in black so I trimmed it in black. Again, I'm not that creative so I used plastic Star Wars figures purchased from the store (washed them and set them on top of the cake). He loved it (he got to keep and play with the toys after we cut the cake). They should make cake toppers more durable, not that flimsy easy to break plastic, (to serve double duty - cake topper and toy...Hey!! Cake topper makers, are you listening?).

Burp Cloths

Here are a couple of burp cloths that I did. Our MOPS group has a Scrapbook Luau as a fundraiser and we try to give out doorprizes to those attending (so I made the burp cloths to hand out for doorprizes).

The one on the left has "baby" embroidered in yellow with a grosgrain ribbon trimming the bottom (colors of ribbon: yellow, orange and turquoise), the one on the right has "Baby" embroidered in tan with a grosgrain ribbon trimming the bottom (colors of ribbon: tan, brown and ecru). I tried to do gender neutral colors because I don't know who might be the recipient. We have all ages that attend, if someone older gets it, they could use it for a grandchild, gift, etc. Or maybe they could trade with someone that has a baby and gets a different doorprize.

Project Bags

I have been planning on showing you my craft project bags, but me being a procrastinator like I am Craftzine beat me to it (they had the very same idea that I did - Wow). I will show you my version anyway. Actually I have 3 project bags.



This is the back and front of my crochet project bag. (I really need to make me a crochet hook organizer/carrier - see how they all settle to the bottom of the bag making it difficult to find?)



This is the back and front of my knitting bag. I've only been knitting for a short while so it's not as packed as my crochet bag (it's going really good - I'm getting a little better, no dropped stitches last time).



This is the front and back of my smocking bag. It's been neglected lately.

I love to keep my projects in bags like these. The clear bags make it easy to see what project it is and what supplies that I have/need for the project. It keeps everything clean and from getting too tangled. It makes it very easy to grab and go (I do a lot of my projects waiting in the car for the kids to get out of school or in Dr.'s offices, etc.).

Now, what's in my bag. Whatever is needed for the project. (Crochet hooks, patterns, small embroidery scissors, pencil and paper, yarn, small ruler. Knitting needles, yarn, pattern, instructions printed from the internet. Smocking plates, embroidery thread, fabric, neeldes.) I need a few more pair of small embroidery scissors so I don't have to keep switching scissors to different project bags - sometimes I forget and then I don't have scissors when I need them.

I am constantly looking for these bags (I have a stash of them in all sizes) and I keep everyone that I get (I've given a few away to friends for their project bags).

The knitting bag was from a set of sheets. The crochet and smocking bags were from hair sets (you know...shampoo, conditioner, gel, or whatever). Keep your eyes open for bags like these. They would also make great travel kit bags for kids.

What Language Does Your Child Speak?

I don't know if you remember me winning the book 'The Five Love Languages of Children.'

It is an excellent book. I highly recommend it for all parents, grandparents, teachers, daycare providers, and anyone that is around children.

According to Dr. Gary Chapman, there are 5 primary love languages spoken by everyone (everyone speaks all 5, but each person speaks 1 more loudly than the others). Here are the languages (in no particular order)...
1) Physical Touch
2) Quality Time
3) Words of Affirmation
4) Gifts
5) Acts of Service

Lee, my oldest, is my 'Quality Time' child (with a lot of 'Words of Affirmation' and 'Acts of Service' mixed in). Champ is my 'Physical Touch' child. Anthony and Rance are not old enough to place in a category yet. You should becareful about categorizing your child because they can change categories also.

If you like to read and you are around children, please give this book a chance, then tell me what you think. If you have already read the book, let me know what you thought about it and what language your child/children speak.

Llama Llama Books

Have you read any of Anna Dewdney's children's books? I love the Llama Llama books. There's 'Llama Llama Red Pajama', 'Llama Llama Mad at Mama', and 'Llama Llama Misses Mama.' I love the flow and rhythym/rhyme of the books and the illustrations are also wonderful.

My boys also like these books, but Frank accuses me of liking the books more than the boys (he's probably right). If you haven't read any of these, give them a try. Go to your local libray and check one or all of them out (you may end up purchasing them). I got the first 2 from the Imagination Library (see below) and I went and purchased the 3rd book as soon as it was out (before I even read it - I knew we would like it and we do).

I want to give a great big THANKS to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library for introducing me to these (and other) books.

Giveaway!

UPDATE: This Giveaway is now closed, winner to be announced soon!



Do you remember me talking about author, R. Friend? [If not, you can read about it here.] Well, I contacted Ronda and she mailed me the new book, P.U. You Stink. As part of the show special at Smithville Jamboree, if you bought the new book, you got the book Panic in the PigPen free and she sent me that book too. Since we already have the book Panic in the PigPen I am going to give away to one lucky reader the autographed paperback copy of Panic in the PigPen book that she sent.

You can read an excerpt from the book Panic in the PigPen here.

For an entry to win, go to Down on Friendly Acres and play around the farm, come back here and tell me where Ronda and her husband live.

For a second entry to win you must leave a comment telling me your favorite children's book. You have until midnight Sunday, July 19th to enter.

CVS Deal

I forgot to post this until I read Amanda's post at Faith, Food and Family. Last week, maybe it was week before last (my memory's not that good), CVS had a deal for new to CVS Photoshop Customers - get 50 prints free! I signed up and got 50 free prints, they had another deal where you could get 60 prints for the price of 40 (I did that also) and I picked them up at the store to save on shipping. When I picked up my pictures my bill was $6 plus tax. When I got my receipt it had $1.50 ECB's. That's like getting 110 pictures for $4.50 (that makes them about 4 cents each). WOW! What a great deal! I wish I could run across more deals like that. I have a lot of pictures to develop.

I'm the Queen of Last Minute Cooking

Unfortunately I'm the Self-proclaimed Queen of Last Minute Cooking. I usually decide around 4:30 p.m what I am going to fix for supper the same night (try to get it on the table before hubby gets home around 5:30).

Here is a great last minute recipe (it's nice for summer too because you cook it in the microwave).

Quick Tuna Noodle Casserole

2 C wide egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 (6 oz.) can tuna
1/2 C milk
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper (I use 1/2 tsp.)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 C frozen kernel corn (I use 1 can drained, whole kernel corn)
1 C shredded cheese

Cook noodles in water in microwave for 8 min. on high. Drain noodles. Add mushroom soup, tuna, milk, butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder and corn. Top with shredded cheese. Microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Words to Hymn 'Angry Words'

Jenny, a reader, requested the words to the hymn Angry Words. Here is the first verse (which is all I could remember - maybe we quit fighting when she started singing and she didn't have to sing the second verse).

Angry words, O, let them never
From the tongue unbridled slip
May the heart's best impulse ever
Check them ere they soil the lip.

Love one another, thus saith the Saviour
Children obey the Father's blest command.
Love one another, thus saith the Saviour
Children obey the blest command.

I found a link to the other verses, click here. [You can even make it a ring tone.] The words are so true especially for us as adults to one another.

Everytime we sing this in church I cry thinking of my mother. It is a precious memory. I love how she brought us up in the nuture and admonition of the Lord. She also used to sing us awake each morning to the chorus of Rise and Shine.

[Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory.
Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory,
Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory children of the Lord.]

More Towels

I just realized that I didn't show you the towel that I embroidered Frank for Father's Day. I got the towel from K-Mart. It is the most luxurious, biggest, softest towel that I have ever seen. If I had the money, I would have bought every towel like this that they had (I bought 2). It wasn't a bad deal, they were normally $19.95 on sale for 40 - 50% off. They came in 2 styles and 2 colors. The stripe (like Frank's) came in the blue that you see and I got me a red and tan one and they also had a damask looking design in blues and red & tan.

I am a K-Mart shopper (I only go to Wal-Mart when I don't have any other choice - lots of reasons why). The last few times that I have been inside our K-Mart it is looking pretty skimpy. I am afraid that they will go out of business. The shelves aren't as full as they should be, everything is on sale and I mean EVERYTHING. If I had the money, I would be buying stuff up left and right. Sorry, I got off on a tangent.


This towel is for my nephew (towel with fish already on it is from K-Mart - it has a googley eye - isn't it so cute?). His birthday is next month (August). I embroidered his name on the towel in the same lime green as the fish's head.


This towel (also K-Mart) is for my brother, his birthday is also in August. (Don't worry, his name is centered in the towel, but because of the way that I folded the towel it just doesn't look centered). My brother's whole family got beach towels with their names embroidered on them this year for their birthday. You can see the towel that I did for his wife (another K-Mart find) here and the ones that I did for his 2 oldest (they are twins) here (they were from Wal-Mart). The fish towel pictured above is for my brother's youngest.

I have found the cutest towels at K-Mart this year. There are a couple of more that I purchased and as soon as I embroider them I will show them too. Lee and Champ each got their own towels last year and I embroidered their name on them, Frank got one for father's day and when I was buying towels for Ty and Jason, Anthony asked when would he get his own towel (so of course I had to purchased 2 more cute towels at K-Mart for Anthony and Rance).

My Mother's Wisdom

When my brother and I would argue, my mother would sing the Hymn, 'Angry Words.' When we got older it was very effective. (I still know all the words by heart.)

Even More Boys Clothes

Still wrinkled.

The following outfit is a joint effort with a friend of mine, M. She and I couldn't find what we wanted for Easter. She wanted something with long pants (in case it was cool), but still looked springy (is that a word?). She also liked the way her son looks in light blue (he's blond haired and blue eyed). I told her we could make something. She was doubtful. Then the more we talked, we decided we wanted it reversible (you know I like that) and then we both like blue and brown together (so I just had to suggest plaid). And little by little we had designed this outfit in our heads. Now we just had to make it come to fruition. Look below and tell me what you think.........


This is what my 2 youngest boys wore last Easter (2008). I made 2 exactly the same, but I only took pictures of one. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the fabric is blue and brown and white plaid (have I mentioned that I luuuuuuuvvvvvvvvvv plaid?). I appliqued a brown bunny (to look like a chocolate bunny that might be in an Easter basket). I'm not sure if you can tell or not, but it has brown buttons on this side.


Here's the whole outfit. The trim on the collar and sleeves has matching plaid piping. I made it long enough to roll up the pant legs to see the lining (sort of - you know I had to make this reversible, I mean come on, if I'm going to line it anyway, why not?).


Here's the reversed side (blue pique'). I did an ice-cream cone for summer. I usually only applique on one side and have the other side plain, but the plaid material just screamed ice-cream cone at me (I placed it on the bias and I couldn't resist). Plus look how yummy the chocolate ice-cream looks. That makes me hungry, wait right here just a minute while I run get me some.

O.K. I'm back.


See it also brought out the plaid piping on the trim of the shirt. This side has blue buttons.


Here is the whole outfit with the cuff showing the plaid also. This pattern was 'Will' by Collars Etc. It has the regular front with the long jumpsuit.

I made the same outfit for a friend of mine's son for last Easter, but she wanted her's just a little different. (We don't go to the same church, so don't panic - no one thought we were copying each other, besides I wouldn't care if someone did think that - these are our kids and we can dress them how we want to.)


Here's the front of her's. (The ice-cream side is the same.)


She wanted carrots and grass for hers. (I used green jumbo rick-rack for the grass.)

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'll have to dig deeper to see if there is anything else (but I don't think there is). I'm too tired right now to add the links to other clothing that I have made, so until I feel like adding the link you can click on my right side bar and do a search this site for 'boys clothing.' Thanks for being such great readers. I hope you enjoyed what you saw and I hope I have inspired you to have a creative outlet.

Handmade Boy's Clothes

I hope you are not getting tired of seeing these.


This is Corey's Bubble again from Maja's Heirlooms. This time I smocked the letter "R" for Rance. I love plaid. I also love blue and yellow for boys.


This is a close-up of the smocked "R."


This is the Vogue Pattern # 7504 (only I omitted the smocking area). I made the above bubble for Rance and Anthony being 14 months older than he is was a toddler at the time, so I made this Jon-Jon for him to wear (so they would coordinate). When Anthony outgrew this outfit, Rance could wear it.



When Anthony outgrew the Jon-Jon and Rance grew into it, I wanted them to still coordinate and I had a little of the plaid fabric left so I made this outfit for Anthony. It was "John" from Basics for Boys II by Children's Corner. I liked how the shorts buttoned on the shirt and how you could personalize it.


This is the close-up of the personalized name plate. Yes, it is hand-stitched (I didn't have an embroidery machine at the time). I didn't do too bad.


Of course, while I was at it, I made a name plate for Rance because I knew eventually Anthony would outgrow it and Rance would be able to wear it. I wanted to get more use out of it (I mean if I'm going to take the time and effort to make it, I wanted to get as much use out of it as I could).


Here is an outfit I made from Vogue Pattern #7504 (but I changed the smocking plate that I used).


This is an upclose shot of the smocking. I chose the "Yellow Jacket & Hornet" smocking plate by Ellen McCarn. I liked it because our local High School's mascot is BEES (and the smocking plate is a lot like the mascot) and the colors are black and gold. The Elementary School's mascot is HORNETS (the colors are green and gold). I got a lot of compliments on it.