2016

So I feel the need to resurrect and update my blog.  I'm attempting to craft more and post more.  I'll be back soon with an update and hopefully something pretty to post. 

Fifth Avenue floral

Today I finished creating a very special card.  This card is for my sorority sister who is undergoing her third battle with cancer.  She is an inspiration; so full of courage and so very deserving, I thought, of the most sophisticated card I could conceive.  Hence, I called upon that fabulous stamp set, Fifth Avenue Floral.

The card shape is non traditional, and something of a morph of a gate fold card with the flaps folded again.  That's really all there is to it.  The images were embossed on glossy white paper and colored with SU re-inkers in Rose Red, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight (oh, and More Mustard, too).   The rose image is popped.  The saying says "Embrace Life" from the stamp set of the same name.

Craft Room Creation

So, after a long hiatus, I finally have a new craft room.  The story is a long one but I'll restrict myself to just the necessary details.  In August of 2011, we moved into our first home.  Naturally, something like setting up a craft room isn't a high priority.  However in February of 2012, I purchase many of those white cubical do-it-yourself storage units, assembled most of them and started the ball rolling putting the craft room together.  Then spring and summer arrived and again, the craft room took a back seat to other fun activities like BBQing and swimming. 

 

Then the new year 2013 dawns and it's time to chug away at the craft room once more.  My darling helped with the shelving, trimed out the ink storage box, and, well, firstly, painted the room way back in the winter of 2011-2012.  I chose creamsicle type colors because I wanted vibrant and inspiring colors and a sense of eternal spring since I do most of my crafting in the winter.  I think the colors are successful; I think the room is a success.  It's more than I hoped for and I am, indeed, one LuckyGirl!

 

 

From the Doorway

I love the drapes.  We just put them up today!

 

 Cutting Station and Ribbon Area

(not sure if the wall art is staying; but if it does, the birdcage area will hold the homemade chalkboard just below it).  The decorative boxes under the ribbon rack hold my sizzix dies, embossing folders, etc.  Most of the drawers of the storage units hold Creative Memories products for scrapbooking. 

 

 Ink Storage, Paper storage, Supply Storage
Most of my SU/stamping supplies are in the storage cubbies here; this includes punches, cutting tools, adhesives, designer paper and cardstock (lowest three cubes).  My honey trimmed out the ink storage so it's really, really nice.  On the shelves to the left, on the lower one are retired inks.  Since I'm not a demo, I don't have to worry so much about what I use and I'm a firm believer in keeping things in sight so you know you have it and you use it.  My craft table is messy because I just finished creating the chalk board and a card.

 

Closet Storage

 Home to the Stamps, Scrapbooks, Photos, and Gift Wrap all neat and organized

 

I have a easel-type folder in which I've placed a copy of an image of all my stamps, grouped by set.  Basically, I photocopy the stickersheet that comes with the stamps.  When I need a stamp, I flip through the book to figure out what I want.  I've made an inventory and the next step is to list what drawer the stamp set is in as well as if it's in a box with other stamp sets. 

I went unmounted a long time ago, so I place up to three stamp sets in the traditional SU clamshell box; each are separated by a piece of cardboard.  It works for me especially when I had the tiny craft space in the apartment and space was at a premium.

Other Arts: Music

Jeff and I went to see Mark Knopfler at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ on May 5.
My review here:
http://www.markknopfler.com/forums/thread/28144.aspx

Christmas cards, part deux

Well, hello again! I can hardly believe it myself, but I managed to create cards for the past two weekends. The first I'm going to talk about is a side step card. See Sandi MacIver's tutorial for the mechanics of creating the card here:

http://www.sandimaciver.com/sandi_maciver/page/3/

Page down until you get to the November 16, 2009 post.

I don't know Sandi at all, but I thank her for her wonderful instructions that enabled me to create the following cards.

Base: Real Red

DP: SU! Dashing
Ink: Old Olive

Mats: Whisper White/Old Olive/Real Red

Stamps: SU! Snow Swirled; sentiment from SU! Home for Christmas

SU! Ornament Punch

Rinestones from Recolections

Ink the tree with Old Olive then marker over the ornaments with a marker equivalent to SU! Real Red and the dotted swirls with a SU! Handsome Hunter equivalent. Marking over adds interest to the stamped image. To keep the ink moist, puff [huff] as if you were a kid in the cold on the inked up image just prior to pressing onto the paper. After the ink is dry, I used a spot of Tombo adhesive in the center of the ornaments then added the Rinestones. I sponged Old Olive around the tree. I assembled the card using pop dots on the ornament, the sentiment on the ornament and the sentiment in the lower right of the card.

Card number two is similar to the above except I used a rock and roll technique on the tree. First ink the tree image using Old Olive. Then, roll the outside edge only of the image onto an Always Artichoke ink pad. This gives a darker edge to the tree and adds interest. As before, I markered over the ornaments with a marker equivalent to SU! Bravo Burgandy [since the color scheme of the DP is different, adjust the colors accordingly]. Huff and press into the paper. Add rinestones, etc... I sponged Old Olive and Always Artichoke around the tree.

Card same as above except:

Base: Bravo Burgandy

DP: Holiday Thyme

Mats: Very Vanilla/Always Artichoke

This third card is a design from Michelle Zindorf. She wrote an excellent tutorial here:

http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2009/10/14/night-time-christmas-cardinal-tutorial-270/

The card is just like hers except:
Base: Night of Navy

Mat: Brushed Silver

Michelle uses markers to color in her tutorial. I used Prismacolor pencils and gamsol [odorless mineral spirits] because I can get more variety of color choices and can play with shades/hues. I have a limited number of markers, none of which are SU markers,and I prefer the creative options of the pencils/OMS technique.

So there you have it! I'm satisfied with the type of cards I have this year, just not the quantity. I only have 15 total and I need about 25 to give everyone on my card list a handmade card. Hmmmmmm, will I get them done in time???

Theme and Variation

Success! I have cleaned off my workspace and started my Christmas cards. You can see for yourself where the 'magic happens' [lol].





It snowed yesterday. It was both beautiful and inspiring and just what I needed to help put me in the Christmas card making mood.
This is the view from the window in my craft space.

This morning I woke up to our most curious kitty, our dear Pi, peering as usual out of her preferred window. Only today she had tons of white stuff to examine. Here she is surveying her neighborhood:

Each year I try to come up with a completely original card to send friends and relatives. I can be wonderfully inspired at times but translating that inspiration into a tangible card that looks good can be a challenge. This year I was inspired by, don't laugh, deer crossing signs. There are a few lining my commute to and from work and some joker decided to put a red nose on all of the deer images. I didn't follow thru with that particular detail [at least not yet] instead intent on creating a 'serious' card for Christmas. I wanted to use up some of my existing Holiday SU! DP paper stock and I was able to accomplish both in this card. Jeff likes a more traditional [red/green] Christmas card and I prefer icy colored cards with glitter. I came up with one design used three ways, hence the "theme and variation". So here are the details:

Card #1:

SU! Bravo Burgandy card stock

SU! Holiday Thyme DP

SU! Night of Navy [scallop trim]

Reindeer image: Inkadinkadoo #98398, Christmas Silhouettes

Sentiment: Night of Navy, Creative Imaginations #21749 Merry and Bright

Stamped Reindeer in Versamark then SU! Basic Black; heat emboss with SU! clear detail embossing powder. Sponged SU! Baja Breese, SU! Soft Sky, SU! Brocade Blue around deer image. Stamp sentiment and sponge SS and BB. Stamped snowflakes using Baja Breeze with stamp from SU! Trees Three set.

Card #2:

Same as #1 except:

SU! Old Olive card base

SU! Ski Slope DP

Card #3:

Same as #1 except:

Embossed with SU! Irridescent Ice

SU! Holiday Harmony DP

Night of Navy card base

SU! Brushed Silver scallop

SU! Almost Amethyst behind oval and also used AA when sponging color around the deer. Stamped snowflakes using AA.

So, do YOU have a favorite?

Thanksgiving randomness...

Since I have no card to share, enjoy the pilgrim kitty.

I never did clean up my craft area, but that is on the agenda for this weekend, in conjunction with several episodes of turkey indulgence (never to occur concurrently though, as one might lose a turkey sandwich in the process).

Jeff and I consider Thanksgiving "our holiday" where we cook for ourselves and do not travel. Perhaps if we ever live closer than 2 hours (or more considering holiday traffic or just traffic in general for NJ) from family, we would consider hosting. But for now this is working out fine.

After Thanksgiving is generally when I start making Christmas cards. I know, I know, I can hear you *tisk tisk*-ing me thru the internet. But it's what I do. I'm a procrastinator. Every year I plan on making cards early, but it never happens. If you think that's bad, you should've seen me in my school days. Pulled some marvellous things right out of my....... errr, thin air.... on short notice. Masterful works they were, too.

I'm not always like that, though. I'm that way just when I *think* I can get away with it.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sad Day

It's always a sad day when we have to say goodbye to a furry friend, but even moreso when that furry friend is still young. Bijou, my brother-in-law's cat, died Tuesday, November 10. He was a Christmas present from my mom to Joe. The cause of death is not certain, but Bijou had an issue producing blood and had a terrible episode 2 years ago that he barely survived. This time he was not so lucky despite his wonderful doctor's intervention. Bijou was a Bengal cat, which is a hybrid of an Asian Leopard Cat crossed with a domestic short-haired cat. He was an exotic cat, as you can observe from the markings on his coat. Bijou was a great companion to Joe and it was easy to see how important each was to the other. Here are a couple of pictures of Bijou taken in late June 2009. In the top photo, Bijou rests in a typical spot- the middle of the dining room table, much to my sister's chagrin. In the second photo you can see the "glittering" in Bijou's coat; typical for a Bengal due to the hollow tips of the hair shaft. Jeff and I absolutely adore our cats, so we get particularily emotional when any cat passes away. We are so going to miss you Bijou, but I can't help but think my mom was there to greet you just on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

New Look and Picture Frame

So here it is, the picture frame that I painted earlier this year. I did three of them in total but gave two away as a "family gift" to my on-line Sorority family. I got two plain picture frame from Michaels and first painted them white with acrylic paint. After they dried, I first painted the border then the leaves, then the roses. Lastly, I added the purple lilacs. I have to be honest and say I did repaint over some of the roses, but I'm not exactly sure which frame I did that on. Could be this one, could be one I gave away.

This is my first attempt at an actual project involving the "one stroke" painting technique. I think the roses could use a little tightening up but overall, I'm ok with it [obviously, I gave two of them away]. Thankfully, my on-line Sorority family indulges my creative endevours. That's probably part of the reason we're family! Love you, Sisters!

What do you think of the new look? The old one was nice, but it was time for a change. I have limited templates to choose from and I did customize this layout ever so slightly. I think I like it, but it will take some getting use to.

In other mundane life challenges, we have one bathroom and a potty that's in a bad mood. This has been a few months in the making and I fear that we're going to have to have a replacement in the not-too-distant future. I'll be great when it's done but for now it's a bit of a pain. At least there's a new season of Real Housewives to watch! Ha ha. Always have to look on the bright side of life!

OMG, it's November.

Yeah, seriously, this isn't even funny. It's November and I haven't posted anything since April. I did hand-paint a picture frame with One-Stroke flowers and if I'm lucky (what am I saying? I'm always LUCKY!!) ahem, if I get a chance, I'll at least post a picture of that for all of you to see. But for now, it's time to put away the paint.

Pretty soon I'll be making Christmas cards (I hope). I guess my point is that my goals for this weekend are to clean up my craft area, post a pic of my picture frame and start hashing out ideas for Christmas cards!

See you in a bit!

Lordy!

Where have I been? It's April for Pete's sake!

Aside from the grind of work, I'll tell you where I've been... making music. Yes folks, I'm sure you'll all be really excited to hear (or not) that I've picked up my violin again after a multi-year hiatus. I've also started plucking away at DBF's oh, um, excuse me DEAR FIANCE'S... guitar.

Yes, with the new year came a new status. I'm now a fiancee. (does that have 2 e's for the girl?). Well, whatever, you get the idea. No immediate wedding plans as we have some other priorites (like housing and replacing a soon to be worn out car). But when the craft bug strikes for things wedding related, all of you will be in the know.

Lastly, I've been spending some time teaching myself the One-Stroke technique for painting flowers. Yes, painting flowers. Just call me a Jacqueline-of-all-trades-master-of-some. I'll post some pics of the flowers when I get a chance.

Later!

More Christmas cards

Some images Copyright SU! 2008

This first CARDINAL CARD I copied from Lisa Trombitas. You can view her card here on her blog.

http://www.stampwithlisat.com/

I tired to get directly to her card, but my computer is being obnoxious [I still have dial up] and I was not able to get there. You'll have to scroll down her pages to late October or early November to find her Cardinal card. The benefit of all that scrolling is that you'll see all the other awesome stuff she has on there, too.

I loved the card so much, I had to make it and send myself. The coloring of the Cardinal's eye is not terrific and definately something I would improve when using this image again. It should be left more white, whereas I used a hint of bashful blue mottled with the yellow and red. Not a great option. The DP is from the SKI SLOPE series from the SU! Holiday Mini.

This Second card, the one with the door, is a direct copy from SU! Holiday Mini catty. It uses the Home for Christmas stamp set. Main colors are Always Artichoke, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive and Basic Grey. The DP is from the SKI SLOPE paper pack, also available from SU!. I loved the card so again, I had to re-create it. I stamped the image on VV cardstock and colored it in using the ink from the inkpads and water.

The third and last card deviates from the other two in a new, more modern direction. I don't even really know if I like this card, but hey, it's what I made and here it is. The ornaments were stamped in Real Red and Garden Green craft ink and detail clear powder embossed. They were cut out and mounted using pop dots onto the white panel that was swirl stamped with Baja Breeze. The card stock is Real Red with a panel again from the SKI SLOPE DP series paper from the SU! Holiday Mini. Stamp images are from Creative Imaginations Merry and Bright #21749 series of clear stamps. I had run out of time and creativity... but this stamp set has a lot more possiblilities in it than what is shown here in this card.

The scallop detail was made using Chocolate Chip cardstock and the corner rounder and has "Tis the Season" stamped on it in brown. This is hard to see in the photograph, but it is not as hard to see in person.

Best wishes to all of you for a happy holiday and prosperous new year!

It's Christmas Time!

THE HOUSE MOUSE CARD

So, here is the first of what I hope to be a series of really cute Christmas cards. This one was made using:

Stamps: Impression Obsession MC155 "From Our Home"

SU!: Lovely as a Tree

Technique: Aquapainter and ink, Emboss resist [for background]

Colors: Choc Chip, Creamy Caramel, Cameo Coral, Real Red, Old Olive, Hunter Green [for coloring]. Trees done in Night of Navy. Bordering Blue for shadowing.

I copied Michelle Zindorf

... to make the thank you cards for my dad's 65th party.

You can see Michelle's complete tutorial: http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/07/03/chickadee-in-the-woods-tutorial/

Michelle is such an inspiration. It was so nice to try her design with such good results. The only thing I changed is instead of using Prismacolor markers [which I do not have] I instead used Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I was wondering if it would work and as you can see, it did. So if you wanted to try and was wondering the same thing [pencils versus markers] know that it will work. I love this card and thank you, Michelle, for the beautiful design.

Invitations

Some images copyright Stampin Up! 2000 - 2009

Hey there! My dad is turning 65 this year and I am making invitations for his party. I was so excited to use my tart and tangy set from Stampin up and the coordinating paper. The card is a simple fold card with insert. I made three different variations on the color scheme. Obviously, the insert doesn't have that black blob on it- I just did that for information protection before loading onto the web.

Colors used:

Really Red

Pumpkin Pie

Ballet Blue

Green Galore

Always Artichoke

Bashful Blue

Stamp Set:

Tart and Tangy

DP: Tart and Tangy

Asian Inspiration

Some Images Copyright SU! 2000 - 2008

So, as promised, two of the three Asian inspired cards I made. I used one already to send a note to a friend.

Materials:
Artfully Asian [su!]
Friendship Flowers [inside sentiment] [su!]
Black Cardstock [su!]
Very Vanilla [su!]
Watercolor paper
Far East Paper [die cuts with a view]

Ink: [su!]
really rust
old olive
more mustard
summer sun
cameo coral
so saffron
always apricot
pixie pink
passion pink
perfect plum

technique: watercoloring

OK, so the materials section is a jumble, but you probably can figure out what colors were used based on the background paper [the more pink one use the pinkier cooler colors, the more rust one, well, the warmer rustier colors]. I just used watercoloring technique and the ticket corner punch. On the inside I cut a sentiment square in very vanilla and used the sayings in the Friendship Flowers set.

Ink Pad Storage

So with the economy and gas prices the way they are, I was in the market for some more affordable ink pad storage. Don't get me wrong, I like the storage carousel that SU! has to offer, but didn't want to plunk down $60 that very well could go to new rubber, ink refills or paper. So, I was browsing Splitcoast Stampers and came across this thread that had instructions for making your own ink pad storage with just two pieces of foam board and a hot glue gun. Luckily, I had two pieces of foam board on hand [doesn't everyone?] lol... and I started this at 9 pm on a Sunday night. Digging out my hot glue gun from my crafting days at Trenton State for Delta Zeta totally brought back some great memories of making posters and fabric photo albums. Ahhh, yes, the pink and the green... I love my Dee Zee days!

Anyway, back to the ink pad storage box. Ok, so with some foam board, hot glue and directions, by 11 pm I made what you see pictured above. I rushed, the edges are jagged because my knife blade is a little dull, but all in all, I totally love it! And I made it MYSELF!

For those that would like to do the same, here is a link to the directions. http://rebelinker.blogspot.com/2007/10/inkpad-holder-for-6.html

Thanks and credit to Stacey King for her design and for sharing!

Costa Rica

Back in January, Jeff and I took a much needed break and warmed up in Costa Rica. It was warm and beautiful, dry, not humid. It was the dry season so the greenery was not as lush as just the month prior to our arrival. I'm currently working on my scrapbook for the trip and I will post layouts at a later date. In the meantime, please enjoy these pictures.

Turtles! I love turtles...

More turtles. Aren't they cute?

Jeff and I decided to go on an Adventure tour. It was sparse on the 'tour' but heavy on the Adventure. And although I grew up on a farm, I was scared poopless throughout the zip lining, free falling, Tarzan swinging, rock climbing adventure. It was ridiculous. And it was all my idea, so I have no one to blame but myself. I thought I would expand my horizons. Yeah. Nuff expansion for me just with the gear... should'a stopped then.

Here I am harnessing in for the free fall part. If I can figure out how, I will post the video clip of me screaming my head off moments later as the guides gently lower me into the canyon. Yes, I said gently. The guides were all very nice, despite my hysteria. Our tour consisted of Jeff and I and a conglomerate of Canadians who obviously were more adventerous than myself. They were pros. They all truly embraced the experience [so did Jeff]. Me, I just wanted to run. The Canadians were all so nice that when I made it thru the free fall, they applauded. What characters!! They, and Jeff, were all my biggest cheerleaders throughout it all.

"S" Monogram cards

So since Monogram cards and scallops are so hot right now, I decided to try myself. I made these for a friend of mine.

I used Martha Stewart Crafts Monogram letters.

The scallops were made with Marvys Giga and Mega punches.

The color scheme is Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, and Very Vanilla (copyright SU!.

The swirls were made with Autumn Leaves flourishes v.2 by Rhonna Farrer.

Ribbon from Michaels. Enjoy!

Dahlia Fold Thank you card

I found a tutorial on paperfolding so I tried it. Here are the results. I'm not crazy about the proportion of the card. However, I do like the color scheme. The recipient liked it, that's all that really matters. I can 'fix' proportion at a later date.