Mona's Joy

I love Mona Lisa. How about you? I think she's got lots of moxie, even being over 500 years old! So I had to bring her out today to pair with the Browning quote from Wordsworth. It took Da Vinci over 16 years to complete her portrait...your smile just might be off kilter, don't you think? Well, it's my quote that looks off balance. When I picked up the stamp, part of it was still on the rubber. So I carefully laid it back down to rub again and now I am seeing double!!!

This sketch is SC303 over at Splitcoast Stampers today. I picked from 'Lime Rickey' Basic Grey papers for my card. The felted black panel is a die from PTI. .

Wouldn't it be a blast to time travel back to 1503? Peaking in on a session with Leonardo...that would be wild joy!

As the leaves turn...

I'm sighing here, my heart is so happy it's Autumn. My favorite season brings such bounty to my senses. The smell of a wood fire, the sound of leaves crunching under my feet, the chill in the air mornings now, the taste of "Pink Lady" apples and the chanterelles are at our Farmers Market, and the sight of my maples putting on their Autumn 'coats'. And if we are lucky, it will be nice until the second week of November.

The 365 Card Blog Super Sketchy Sunday was perfect for a card to celebrate the season. I first decided to use this wonderful Elizabeth Lawrence (Impression Obsessions) quote about the leaves turning. The tree (Paper Inspirations) was inked with Nick Bantock's Sap Moss Green and embossed with clear powder. I used many different chalk inks to color the falling leaves. Now my favorite way to watch the leaves turn is from a lawn chair very much like this one from Stampa Barbara. It was inked with the same NB green. I cut it out, popped on dimensionals and placed a few leaves under the chair...just like on my patio right now!

So if you have a moment, I'd love to hear what your Autumn traditions are...hayrides, cider pressings, long walks crunching the leaves in your neighborhood???? Happy Fall, all.

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?