Trimming the Tree

 

Good day, my bloggy friends!  It's T-9 and counting, down, that is.  For those of you that celebrate Christmas is your tree up?  Tomorrow's the day for my family...my DH and I will get the decorations down from the attic and set about creating a wonderland before our sons arrive back home.  What a surprise that will greet them when they swing

open the door! 

I have to admit I was inspired by the lovely Martha Stewart

inspiration room that is challenge this week over on PaperCraft Star Challenge 25.  This Oxford Impressions image is perfect for the tree, don't you think?  I stamped it on a very pale blue with VersaFine Olympic Green and then fussy cut.  The room was roughly created with 'moulding' and flooring (cut from a piece of wood wallpaper).  The window, Stamp Francisco, inked on velum with Adirondack Snow Cap and embossed with clear ep.  The gifts under the tree are from the long retired Basic Grey Figgy Pudding sheet that was all presents. The Ways to Use it Challenge on SCS today was to used Glitter.   I added Stickles in three shades to the ornaments on the tree and a brass charm for the star at the very top.  The Merry Christmas is inked with ChalkBox Warm Red. And a bit of twill in robins' egg blue.  


Thanks so much for the gift of your comments...if you would leave a comment, let me know what is on YOUR wish list this season. I'll tell you my #1 wish is to live a less harried life!

typing, not texting...

Hey all you with it, hip(py) gurls. Remember when communicating meant hours on the phone...not cordless either! I decided to go old-school with a card for my tenderhearted son.

I did NOT learn to type on one of these beauties...we had electric Coronas. I must admit I love my cord free Mac keyboard and how it clicks every so daintly.

When I got up this morning, there was a hand written note on the counter right by my espresso machine...where I was sure to notice. words like 'stole' my heart, and looking forward to seeing you tonight, Mom (Thursdays are usually the night we catch up) and I love you, Mom. Now standing over the machine steaming milk, I realized it have been quite awhile since I had made him a special card. And just like that the muse came out to play!

I can't wait to catch up IRL.

Details for the elements can be found here in my gallery on Splitcoast Stampers.

Livin' the dream

Those who know me, know I love chairs...I have a dozen different styles throughout my house and that's not including the miniatures I have collected over the years. When I saw the Moxie Tuesday Trigger,

I knew right away I would have to recreate that room! The fabulous chair is part of a set of historical chairs from Michelle Ward's Green Pepper Press. I altered it just a bit to make it more upholstered.

The vase was also hand created and chalk colored and then embossed with UTEE to get the glassy feel. It was such fun, getting the parquet floor with a wood sheet of paper cut into squares, inked with Tim Holtz DI in shades of Black Soot and Walnut Stain. I then embossed to get the glossy finish. The mirrored table was hand cut and shaped with a bone folder.

The spray of orchids came together quite nicely with the skeleton from an oak leaf on my patio and an impatien petal was perfectly colored which I plucked from one of my pots. This fits with SCS Ways to Use It 292. The Memory Box damask paper stands in for the gorgeous wallpaper of the Inspiration room. Lastly, but not least, I had to put a bit of word art on my wall. Something I strive everyday!

How about you?

technology

The 365 Card Blog issued a very interesting challenge today: technology. I must admit that I took it literally. And racked my brain for how I could combine the Ways to Use It (red) over on SCS with a post to the Artistic Outpost Blog. So this is what I did...using PhotoShop Elements, I colored part of my little yellow truck red. This makes the Ways to Use It challenge with the 'paint' job and the technology of PSE qualifies for the 365 Card challenge. Now if you want to see the original, just hop over to the AO Blog.

It is amazing what can be done with the computer, I know enough to 'hurt' myself! Have a happy Friday eve, all!!!

let's make a scene

...oh, I mean, let's create a scene, indoors. Making rooms might just be my favorite style of card. Guess it goes back to playing with dollhouses and paper dolls when I was a girl. This card is for 2 challenges, the Ways to Use it over on SCS...pleated ribbon and the 365 Card Blog: let's make a scene indoors.

This one came together quite quickly, as I knew just what stamps I wanted to use. B Line Designs fabulous 'Rendre Belle' and Tim Holtz's chandelier (hey, hey, Amy!!!). I used Memory Boxes Gingercake paper to frame in my wall, ceiling, and floor. Copics colored my belle's skin and shoes, I left the rest simple. I pleated a beautiful two toned ribbon and placed it at the top of my panel. It reminded me of a roman shade. At the very bottom I stamped Anna Griffin's Happy Birthday with Memento Tuxedo Black.

Thanks very kindly for stopping by my corner of the sphere today...hope yours is a happy one!

I love nerds

I'll be back to fill this in...just wanted to get the pic loaded

Sorry to be a bit looong in the tooth..ya know what happens, laundry, boy runs home, sleeps and is off again to another camp...oh these crazy days of summer!

I was fortunate to have this card fit two challenges today! The Ways to Use it over on SCS was all about office supplies (staples and a mini clip) and the 365 Card Blog was to have a flap on your card. Well, how about a office supply envelope flap??? I used Artistic Outpost's ever so funky Geek is Chic and the Mini-Masterpieces plates of un mounteds. If you like more details, check out the commentary in my SCS gallery.

So does anyone out there remember the days of pocket protectors and slide rules? I remember my first college Chemistry class, no calculators were allowed (and in those days there were the Texas Instruments big hulking guys!), you had to be proficient with the slide rule. Ever seen the holster belt for carrying one of those to class????? Now my Palm holds a zillion bits of info and I've resigned all those numbers I once carried in my head to that nifty hand held computer. Modern, aren't I....guess that gives me more room to be creative! Have a happy Thursday, you guys and gals!!!

a charmed, inspired card

oh, to be creating again! I am practically singing...MIL had a fab checkup with the surgeon yesterday, is feeling like staying by herself and it's given me back so of "MY" time. Yep, I feel like dancing too!

And so, in honor of the 365 Card ad inspired pillow and the Ways to Use it on SCS...it was like being in a fabric store and bead shop all rolled into one. I reversed the orientation of the pillow on my card, using Basic Grey's Ambrosia papers. Tim Holtz's crow stands in for the parrots. The butterflies are from Cornish Heritage Farms...linked with Memento Tuxedo Black and embossed with clear ep. I colored the Monarch with Copics and the brilliant blue is a shimmer paper. I added the 'no's' and numerals from a set by Purple Onion Designs called Observation. At the bottom of the crow are some postmarks stamped lightly in Tim Holtz distress ink Frayed Burlap. These along with the tiny postage stamp were gifts from Amy when we visited together earlier in the year. I didn't have a coolio poms for the trim so I took the simpler route with white twine.

Thanks so much for having a peep...and Pam, you are right about Amy, she has the GIFT of encouragement! I am happy to call her friend. Have a deLIGHTful day!

Admit two

tickets, tickets, who's got the tickets? When Michele issued the challenge today for the Ways to Use it over on SCS, I had to jump in with a quick card. It's been too long since my fingers have been inky...due to some family medical caring. The challenge was to use two of something on your card. I had to bring out the fabUlous Artistic Outpost Cracker Jack plate, I mean it IS baseball season and use the Admit 1 tickets from the Vintage Circus collection. More details on the actual creation in my commentary at SCS.

Hope your week is going smoothly!

homecoming...

Good Day everyone, with our Fourth of July celebration so close I've been thinking of homecomings. What joy it brings to us all, when a loved one walks back up the driveway and into our arms. My card today celebrates this feeling. And using bright and bold colors, it covers the Ways to Use it challenge on SCS. I used many hues to create the feeling of home and Artistic Outpost's new She-roes set (the woman solider) and older releases (Serenity and Home). The woman was inked on acetate, I used a vintage star button that I embossed with gold ep. The scene of the homestead was inked and then the background chalked. I used a rainbow of colors around the edge with the beautiful flower flourish from the Serenity set. Various fibers and twill add texture to the card.

Check out the awesome Heros and She-roes sets here.

old Daddy

Here I go again, putting yet another card in the post that will arrive late!  It's funny to me because I am always punctual when it comes to arriving at meetings, dates, and work on time.  For the life of me, I can't figure why I am such a dismal failure in this area!  My Mom just keeps on celebrating until cards stop being delivered...but one very close relative feels if it doesn't arrive on the day, then it doesn't count!!!  I can understand the thinking.  This actually reminds me of one year when I was home from college for the summer and one of my brothers and I decided to order a fancy bakery cake for Mimi's birthday...we were go proud of ourselves and it was beautiful!  Only we discovered that evening we were 2 days early!!!  Now would you consider that reverse forgetting?????  Everyone had a great laugh over the early bird special and dug in.

This Father's Day card was created for the 365 Card Blog Day My Guy Challenge, the sketch is Laura's No. 28 from 2sketches4you.  The Ways to Use it Challenge on SCS was to incorporate texting in your work.  I used Cogsmo paper from Cosmo Cricket, the Cuddlebug Argyle embossing folder and a Dynamo label maker.  

So getting back to my title, dear old Daddy will be pulling this outta his post box Monday, IF I'm lucky that is!  And dear readers, I would love to hear how you keep on top of running behind challenge, how DO your loved ones get YOUR cards on time!

You're the Best

I got to take benefit of the recent organizing my stash of vintage buttons into a swivel spice rack. Today's Ways to Use challenge on SCS was buttons!!! I also wanted to make a card for the 365 Card Blog challenge which was to use purple and 5 circles on your card. Well, 5 buttons seemed to be just the circles I needed and with purple, it's hard to pass on this wonderful eggplant image (A Stamp in the Hand). I got to use 5 different hues of my favorite color. The way I see it, today's a winner all the way around! This is encouragement for a dear friend who is taking some time off to discover what she wants to do with the next half of her life! Not be defined by a job, I'd say!!!

It's gorgeous here in the PNW...whatever your weather, I hope you are blessed today.

now IS the time...

Good Day out there!  Hope this finds you singing YOUR heart songs!  I just love this image from Tim Holtz.   I had to bring it out for the SCS Ways to Use it challenge.  My dear friend finds herself unemployed after many, many years with one company.  I want to tell her, yes, it IS time to sing HER own heart songs. Time to reflect, to be patient,  to wait on the next door to open.  The door where the work does not define her, but rather SHE defines the work.  And I know no matter what...it will be work that nourishes her creativity, honors her knowledge, and leaves her feeling well satisfied at the end of the day or night!

If you would like to know more about the specifics of my work today, you'll find it here.

I'd love to hear what songs your heart is singing....

where does the time go?

Has it ever been a month...computer on life support, sickness going through our whole house and a big birthday to celebrate!  My dear MIL is 80 now.  We've got a house full of company and parties to attend in her honor.  And, of course, that's in addition to all the regular stuff that make up our lives!

Today's Ways to Use it was an all white challenge. Interesting to think in hues and textures of white.

Off to a luncheon for the Birthday gal!  

remember the circus

I am remembering the circus today, both vintage (my girlhood) and contemporary!   All I have to do is close my eyes and I can be right back there in the stands under the big top.  Oh, the earthy smells of the animals mingled with popcorn and sticky, sugar lollipops!  I recall the flyers nailed to every telephone pole down the street...how about you?  There was a wonderful book called Toby Tyler or 10 Weeks with a Circus  written in 1881 which chronicled the story of a boy who runs away from home to join the circus...I must have read that book a half a dozen times as a young girl in the sixties!  And while the concepts of the circus have gotten more exotic, think Cirque du Soleil...there is still the romance of the big top.

Today's Ways to Use it Challenge on SCS was to include foil in your design... well, I'm still playing around with the 'Never-ending' card from Monday.  Dawn's template is  here.

I thought it would be fun to do a larger card, sort of like you ripped the flyer off the pole to carry to the circus!  I have used Artistic Outpost's wonderful sets, Vintage Circus and Clowns to create four vignettes for the circus of my memory!  K&CO's Daydreams  provided the cool doubled sides paper.  If you would like all the details, please click over to my gallery on SCS.

Now you tell me, what memories to you have of circuses?

more adventure

Well, my DS is on the road AGAIN!  This time his longest ever---a 5,000 mile round trip!  Destination: Holland, MI for the Division III Final Four women's game.  Sam and his cohorts left last night from OR by car to support this amazing team.  The women (10 freshman and no seniors) are 30-0 this season.  Of course, I have my mother's heart on the ready, covering them with prayer and traveling mercies. Over 10 states and back...for hopefully 2 games! 

I don't know about you, but this takes me way back to my own college years and I would have thought nothing about hopping in a car over an impossible distance for a concert.  Being on the other side of the worry factor...I must admit I'm more than a bit nervous...over the continental divide in winter?  33 hours in a bucket of bolts??? I am so glad he is in God's large hands!

My card today celebrates his sense of adventure...I used Artistic Outpost's wonderful Adventure plate...I'm going to suggest on the next impressions they maybe add TEXT me, please!!! to the choices...we've all sending texts...where are you now...what do you see!  

I'd be blessed if you'd lift Sam in up prayer...for a safe and fun journey there and back again!

 

Righteousness

I have been so blessed by the His Holy Names challenge in just the few weeks of the new year.  I am using Kay Arthur's "Lord, I want to know you" Bible study to augment my knowledge.  This February 15 challenge is no exception.  The word is Righteousness.  In Hebrew that word is Jehovah-tsidkenu. One thing that was especially dear to me is that GOD had a plan, a way to redeem all mankind from the effects of Adam and Eve's original sin.  To take my black, foolish heart and write HIS precepts upon my heart and make me whole, fresh again.  It just requires me to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Which I do with all of myself.

I love this scripty heart stamp from Michelle Ward (Stampington).  It seemed perfect to go with my scripture from Jeremiah.  Once again this 6x6 page is a hybrid word with alot of the printing done in Photoshop.  I am seriously enjoying learning my way around PS as I create.  Kind of like me, a balance of external and internal.  The scripture page lifts up and has the Third Day Worship song, "Your Love Oh LORD" printed on striped paper (making the WT challenge of stripes).  I saved room writing personal observations there also.

Thanks so much for commenting and standing with me on this journey.  Be blessed

enjoy the direction

It's my DH's birthday today...he's getting to the age where the added years are just not as exciting as when we began!  Those milestones are adding up and while the mind still frolics, the body is a whole 'nother story!  How does that happen?  So I thought I'd take a light-hearted approach and remind him not matter what road he's traveling...it always better to enjoy the journey!

This Artistic Outpost 'adventure' plate was the perfect choice.  I wanna always be as free as a dog with it's head out the window, feeling a breeze on my face!  I love you, my generous, kind, long-suffering husband!  You're still the one no matter how old you "B"!

keeper

It's February...the month of love and anniversaries and birthday's in our family! 

 My DH thought it would be too cool (and celebration economy) to get married

 on Valentines' Day!  Plus his birthday is just a few days before.  I decided that

 this cute fishin' theme plate, from  Artistic Outpost would make the perfect

 Valentine's card.   He's been a fisherman since a wee boy and it is his passion.

We both understand about the 'need' (HA, HA, HA) to have just the right

lure (stamp) to catch  (design) the BASS.  Fishing season begins the end of this

month...in fact, the exact weekend for SCS's next Virtual Stamping Weekend .

How totally cool is that, an empty house to create, stamp, and play, and DH 

away on the water, fishing to his hearts content!  And DS away on a snow camp

with the Scouts...I'm gonna be one fortunate girl!  I hope some of you can play 

along!

If you'd like more details on my card today, check it out in the SCS gallery

Editing to add, I have no idea how the formatting is askew...so sorry!

bigger glass

Just a happy Thursday to you all!  I'm slowly getting back into my routines...I had a chance to play with paper today and created an ATC for the Ways to Use it Challenge on SCS.  I got to use a RAK image from the fabulously generous artystamper, JULIA!  Who doesn't love a sentiment that declares, I'm going to need a bigger glass????

All the details are in my gallery if you're so inclined.  I'll tell you: I would need a smaller glass, just for the alcohol...but I'm all for a bigger glass to hold all my dreams and goals.  Life's about going for the gusto...being all you can be so YOU will spill over to others and keeping goin' round!  So today, I'm wishing a double measure, maybe even a triple for you...if you could only see the impact you have on others...spread the bubbly....round!!!