Herodotus said...

I couldn't resist this quote by 5th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus when I was at our local materials exchange center for community arts (MECCA for short). For the mixed media artist, it is the ultimate candy store. Today was a rummage sale and I tried really hard to stay focused, really I did!

So when the Featured Stamper was announced on Splitcoast tonight, her circle window card was just the ticket to use the Kolette Hall image. I stamped it with VersaColor Black and embossed it with bronze ep. The papers are from Memory Box 'Twilight' paper group.

I feel very blessed to have friends all over the world. I remember a family member telling me if I could count 5 steadfast friends I would be fortunate indeed. Well, I know my tried and true friends and they are prized above any earthy goods. Friends can enjoy the silence between one another and know in that space is wealth. It is wonderful to fall back into place after a long absence of a dear friend. Just knowing someone is out there holding you up in prayer is comfort indeed.

And I made a new friend this week...a cyber gal, whom I discovered lives less than 3 miles from me. We met for breakfast and were delighted to discover we share a love of paper crafting. I can't wait to see where this friendship grows!

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?

cramming and Dr Seuss...&D

Don't know about you gurls, but as an artist doing challenges, I constantly stray outta the 'lines'. The rules. It's the out of the box thinking that's where I want to live. So when challenges come around that have defined parameters, read SKETCHES, I always find them the most difficult for me to do. This card proved no different so I just stretched the box...

The SCS Sketch Challenge today can be found here. I wanted to create a card that would offer encouragement for &D as the sophomores are testing on a general knowledge level. Now having been homeschoolers for 15 years, you could say we are outside the box thinkers and doers. So I know all that thinking is rumbling around there, the task is to get it out and onto paper and bullet those answers with just the right intensity!

So that brings us back to Dr Seuss...an original thinker and wordsmith for sure! Had to have that on my card. And the pent up thinker guy...check, he's all set for an explosion of thinks. And he's dressed in the colors of our beloved #2 in the nation team! I couldn't help but include a moon shot and some embossed numbers for measure.

Of course, this morning we oversleep and have 19 minutes to get going...no time to write inside the card all the well wishes I'd have liked. But just the right amount of time, cause I got a hug and smile as my guy hurries out the door.

I do believe I'll stay outside the box, it's nice out here.

Crystal Chandelier...

I am happy I had a chance to case the Featured Stamper of the week over on SCS. I love going back in my memories to recall happy times when life was lived at a slower pace. My grandparents had a Georgian Colonial built just for them in 1935. And the dining room was the heart of the home. It had big bold cabbage rose wallpaper for a time and then toile. You could enter it from either the breakfast room which had corner cabinets for storing her collection of Franciscan 'Ivy' or directly off the living room with a double wide opening. I can almost hear the laughter round the table.

My grandmother finally got her crystal chandelier in 1946. It was much like the one you see. It had silver trim, chain and candle cups. It always hung over the handsome solid cherry table. I remember her carefully washing the crystals in hot sudsy dishwater in her PINK kitchen. My grandparents moved three times and each time the chandelier was moved with them. She loved having family get-togethers, dinner parties and turn the wall sconces down low and light the tapers. I was always enchanted by the effect of the flickering candles on the crystals and people. To this day, I accent every room in my home with different types of light.

It's Sunday, be blessed today and always.

Curtain Call

edited: This card was a Moxie Fab winner in the Perfectly Pleated Challenge!

I love Friday nights...my very favorite challenge of the week is posted early over on SCS. The Inspiration Challenge never fails to stir the artful muse. The challenge hostess selected an English merchant, the John Lewis Department Store. I could be lost in their online catalog for days...but headed straight for the Curtains. I wanted to play with I Brake for Stamps stage image combining it with B Line Designs 'at the movies' stamp. And the curtains fit right into Moxie Fab World Perfectly Placed Pleats.

I stamped the curtains three X's for each side to add width and depth for this card. Memory Box Twilight paper group had a perfect pattern. The Theatre image was stamped onto a gray cs. I added Stickles to the crystal dome light and colored the ocean and sailing ship with Copics. A small sentiment from Making Memories seemed just right for the stage floor.

My girlhood was full of grand shopping trips with my mother and grandmother to the downtown Department stores. The lunch counters on the first floor or the restaurant on the

mezzanine were special treats for Easter or Christmas time. I'd love to hear what your memories are of the old time merchants...well that is if you are of a certain age! If not, were do you remember going to shop with your mom as a girl?

Futtering from the Autumn Tree

Happy Friday all, I don't know about you, but that last look of the night round the challenge blogs, often leaves me burning the midnight oil. This was just the case today with Sharon's ssnotime160, Back to Nature. I am definitely in my element once the calendar hits September. Just as Emily Bronte said, " Every Leaf Speaks Bliss to me fluttering from the Autumn Tree". I love this funky font from Dawn Houser/Inkadinkadoo. Now it has been quite awhile since I've played in Pam's 365 Card challenge, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to create a flip flop card with the video tutorial over in the resource center atSplitcoastStampers.

It was easy to reach for Basic Grey's Indian Summer 6x6 pad. I used the Cuttlebug Leafy Branch to dry emboss the front panel. The bit of chenille trim is wrapped at the top with a vintage lucite/rhinestone button. For the 'swing' sentiment panel I put 7 Gypsies black music paper behind.

For the back, I chose a wonderful rake image from Portifolio, inked with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap and colored with a silver gel pen and Copics. The small punched leaves are from a HY-Glo 6in1 punch. I used more of the BG Indian Summer.

...and do you do your best creating in the wee hours of the morning or the opposite? Have a wonderful weekend, I hope it is perfect leaf crunching weather!

Soul smiles

I know it's been ages since I posted anything on my blog. Bet you've wondered, a little maybe,

what's up? So I've spent my summer gardening...I suppose I needed more time away from this side of my creativity to contemplate life and losses. Well, I am inking my fingers, one at a time, back into this creative bloggy world.

When I 'happened' on the Moxie Fab Trigger , which was a funky fall scene in the most vibrant colors, yesterday, I could not resist getting a few more digits inky! I was definitely inspired by the colors in the art, the puffy clouds and the curving hills (think smiles)!

My sky needed Basic Grey's cloud paper from the 'Mellow' group. All the leaves in the oranges and pinks were found in the 'Indian Summer' again from Basic Grey. I used the Leafy Branches embossing folder from CuttleBug on this panel. The sentiment panel (Daisy Bucket clear cling) and bottom mat on the main image are from 'Wander'. And about that main image...I so love this Asian beauties' pensive expression. She (Stamp Francisco) was inked with Wild Plum directly onto white cardstock. I used Art Accents Micro Beadz for her hat. I finished my design with a silver butterfly and a snippet of vintage seam binding. The layout was from the Sketch Challenge 301 over at Splitcoaststampers.

Thanks for all your gentle thoughts these past months. I planted my garden with tender loving care over the summer season and it is rewarding me with a glorious array of vibrant blossoms in autumn. And it has shown me that life just as seasons comes and goes and all the best is planted deep within my soul.