horizontalhives – Super Awesome Stamper

Stampin’ Up! hosted a virtual cruise in May instead of hosting us on a boat or resort. It was my first cruise earned in my 18 years and counting career as an Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator. So I was a tiny bit disappointed to not be able to experience it in person where I did not have to cook for a week;) Yes, you know I am foodie and make good meals and treats. But having to not cook for a week sounds amazing! Anyhoo…

We received a compensation payment along with a box of spa gifts including a spa robe, coffee mugs, candle, air pods and a product credit.

I have been mulling options for where to invest the payment and have opted to make a gift from my Stampin’ Up! business to my honey beekeeping business. This shiny metal cylinder was just picked up yesterday.

It’s a honey extractor which will allow me to bottle honey this year instead of selling cut comb. All that golden goodness in bottles is a pretty prospect! If you are local to me and want to reserve a bottle, click the contact button and let me know to place you on the list.

I had such fun gifting the crush and strained honey last year as shown in this photo.

Having an extractor will allow me to return the empty comb back to the bees so they don’t have to work so hard at making honey. This a full frame of capped honey which holds about 8 pounds of honey. The top wax “cap” is scrapped off. Then the frame is placed in the extractor and spun. Out flows the honey from bottom honey gate after it passes through a few screens.

My cruise payout is an investment that will help me grow my beekeeping and honey producing business at a faster and more productive rate. Here is a photo of the bees working the frames and building the precious comb that will eventually hold the nectar, bee babies, bee bread and honey.

If you are interested in seeing me work my horizontal hives and all the associated parts to growing an apiary, check out my Youtube channel, Beelog with Super Bee Shirley and BBS Bees through the video below. Gotta do something when I am not in the stamp room! Climbing into a hot bee suit is where it’s at! Thank you Stampin’ Up! for the generous payout!

Super Bee Shirley and BBS Bees

#2022virtualcruise #cruise #noboatandthatsokwithme #workhardplayhard

It was my first year managing my own hives. It’s been a whirl from painting the hive boxes, installing bees into the boxes, monitoring their progress every few weeks and helping where I can. We even populated the woods with 2 swarms that settled way up in the tree tops and did not find the swarm traps on their own.

I did harvest comb honey and through that process strained a few pint jars of honey. These jars were given to the people that helped me this year. Of course they needed to be decorated! As a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, we have early access to order spring catalog products and one paper pattern caught my eye from the Heart and Home collection. It has bees and flowers all over it!

Here is what the final jars looked like…

Top view to see the pattern paper a little better…

the jar before they were decorated…

supplies used to create the jar toppers…substitute any appropriate sentiment on the gift tag

Here is the how to create the jar topper video that is posted on my Youtube channel.

The project is also part of my Pretty Paper Projects pdf idea file. It’s a file that is emailed to you when you place a $50 or more order excluding shipping and tax that also uses a current host code in your order. If your order exceeds $150 excluding shipping and tax, don’t use the host code but remain shopping with me so you can redeem all the host rewards yourself. Either case will earn you the Pretty Paper Projects idea file.

If you would like to order supplies to create your own jar toppers…use the links below.

Hive embossing folder

Bumblebee Gingham ribbon

Bumblebee Trinkets

Heart and Home pattern paper pack (please note only 2 sheets of the bumblebee pattern per package with 5 other patterns included). Cut the bumblebee pattern to 6×6 inches and wrap over the lid.

Linen Thread

So Saffron ink pad

Cinnamon Cider cardstock

Basic White cardstock

As far as the honey sales go, I hope to purchase an extractor in 2022 so I can sell honey and not just the cut comb honey. I have cut comb available for porch pick up at the time of writing this post. Send me a message if you are interested in a container and I’ll see if I have any in stock yet. My bees and hives are treatment free so it’s the best of the best honey around!

Follow the bees on my Youtube channel Super Bee Shirley with BBS Bees. I documented as much as I could and will continue to document as my bee keeping journey progresses in the interest of education. There are not as many Layens Horizontal Hive beekeepers and videos out there. There are even less women beekeepers. So Yay for Me!

Thanks for supporting my paper crafting and bee keeping business!

Super Awesome Beekeeper Shirley

#layens #horizontalhives #beekeeping