Just a quick post for tonight. The birdie's another image I had colored over a year ago and stashed in a drawer. It was high time for him (or her?) to come out and grace the front of a card. This birdie sort of looks like the real-life baby sparrows growing up in my backyard right now. They are so chubby and sweet; I just want to cuddle them.
Like my pearl embellishing? I was quite proud of my little design I created, although I can certainly see why people buy them pre-shaped because it took a while to do!
Have a great week! Thanks for visiting.
Materials:
Stamps: Anna Griffin Sentiment, SU sparrow
Paper: Making Memories English Garden dp, Neenah Solar White Classic Crest, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Nestablities Square Classic and Scalloped, flat-back adhesive pearls, Word Window punch, sewing machine, lace, Copic markers
When I chose this image, I knew I wanted to make a snowglobe, but I didn't have a stamp or die for the base. I'm not usually one to think outside of the box, so when I figured out that the bottom of the santa hat from the Mistletoe design card would be a great snowglobe base, I felt pretty proud of myself. ;)
I got even more excited (I tend to get excited when I create!) when I remembered my Liquid Applique would be great for the "snow" and the Papier glaze for the ice. Well, nix the last part. The Papier Glaze warped my paper and dried with a yellowish cast. I was not a happy stamper. So, I don't recommend it on white paper in large areas.
I mulled over several options for the blue background of the snowglobe and decided upon reinkers. A couple drops on my non-stick surface and a waterbrush and I was good to go. Remember, the ink will blend more uniformly if you dampen the paper first with a paintbrush wetted with water, then let the paper dry before you paint on it.
So there you have it. I think it looks like a snowglobe, don't you? And did you notice the matching ribbon on the bottom with the little snowglobes? They gave me the whole idea. I got this gift box of Christmas ribbon for Christmas last year and have hardly touched it, so using the ribbon was the whole point of making this card!
Thanks so much for visiting! I hope to get at least one more post in before Christmas, but if I don't, I want to wish you all a very merry and Blessed Christmas.
Materials:
Stamps: Penny Black
Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU Real Red, SU retired Christmas dp
Ink: black dye, Bashful Blue reinker for watercolor technique
Real mother of pearl buttons...K& Co. paper and embellishments...Lace...Roses...Satin Ribbon
all on this little box!
Inside I've tucked eight little cards with encouraging Bible verses and bird related images that I made for my friend Marilyn, who is bedbound with severe Lupus and other health issues. Marilyn loves the color pink and anything bird related, just like I do, so these were really fun for me.
It's a tiny little box, so eight cards were about all I could fit comforably.
**One tip for using Tim Holtz's crackle paint on white tin: paint it first with a regular craft paint as a primer. Otherwise the crackle paint just falls off. I tried white gesso as a primer, but it didn't work as well as regular craft paint.
Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. :)
I thought I'd try my hand at one of those large bows I've been seeing around blogland. What do you think? Does it work? I think I like it and might add a couple of decorative stick pins in the center of the bow.
Now, I want to announce the winner of my giveaway! ****Brenda!!**** Thank you so much for giving to help ME/CFS research move forward. Every little bit helps.
1. It was founded by the parents of a young woman who has had ME/CFS since she was 12, so they have a vested interest in producing real results.
2. It is affiliated with and is located at the University of Nevada's medical school campus at Reno.
3. WPI is producing stunning results, beginning with their paper published in the prestigious Science journal, revealing their findings of XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia-related virus retrovirus) in 67% of chronic fatigue syndrome patients.
Thanks for visiting!
Materials:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper: White card stock, Chocolate Chip, Webster's Pages 6x6 Life's Portrait pad, Melissa Frances, vintage sheet music
The sound of very loud crunching stops me dead in my tracks.
*KRONCHKRONCHKRONCHKRONCH!*
There it is again!
It's 4 am, and I haven't even fallen asleep yet, thanks to tummy trouble, and I've just come back to my room. Immediately, I know that, one, it's definitely NOT one of my two cats making the noise, and, two, that it's coming from my wall.
INSIDE my WALL!
Yuck. There is something crunching in my wall and it's trying to get into my bedroom.
What in the heck am I going to do now?! There's no way I can sleep with all that racket going on, not to mention the fact that some furry little rodent could be making it's way into my room at any moment.
"MOM! There's something crunching in my wall!!"
Yup. I went and got my mom. At 4 in the morning.
She wasn't exactly thrilled, but dutifully crawled out of bed and went to see, or hear, the crunching thing in my wall. Turns out she didn't know what to do either. Great.
In the end, we decided to spray some Raid (the only critter repellent we could find in the garage) under the baseboard and behind the electrical outlet. It shut the critter up for a while, but he returned the next night.
And thus, I have been sleeping upstairs in the guest room for the past week. Turns out, vole repellent spray DOESN'T work after it's rained and we've (well, Mom) set a Havaheart trap outside my wall tonight.
Tomorrow, hopefully, there will be one less NOISY critter in my wall.
Anyway, this little (condensed version) story is my way of explaining why I didn't post last week because I was exhausted from losing sleep from not being able to sleep in my own room. That, and it took me three hours to post three stamp sets on ebay on Saturday! (Everything takes longer when you're sick. And indecisive and can't remember what you're doing!)
Hope you like my card! Thanks for reading this far. :)
Materials:
Stamps: dog: Dollar store, paw prints: Cornish Heritage Farms, sentiment: Paper Trey Ink
Paper: Kraft, Real Red, Neenah Classic Crest
Accessories: Nestabilities, SU striped grosgrain ribbon, Copic markers E31, E55, E57, Pigma Micron pen, 1/8 inch circle punch, craft knife
First, all about the card! Then, I have a very important announcement to make regarding the safety of the National blood bank which I hope you'll read and pass on to your family and friends.
I love this sweet Daisy D's paper. It's discontinued now, but I scooped up a bunch of it last year. I didn't want to cover up the pattern, so I kept all the embellishing at the bottom of the card. The felt was cut out with a Nestabilities die and the star was punched from red cardstock, then covered with glitter that looks like sugar. Materials listed at the end of this post. :)
The national blood supply could be tainted with a retrovirus, XMRV, that may cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, leukemia, and other infections. I've spent the last two days watching presentations about XMRV online (the YouTube video is in several parts which are listed to the right of the video), broadcast live from the CDC's Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee meeting in Washington, DC. An official from the Department of Health and Human Services gave a statement that the gov't is aware of the problem and is working to develop a sensitive test to detect XMRV in the blood. He couldn't officially tell CFS patients NOT to donate blood or organs, but I could read between the lines. However, the problem is, according to the study published in Science, as many as 10 Million Americans could be infected with XMRV and not know it.
We need to let Congress and the President know that we need an answer SOON and that this should be the highest priority. There needs to be federal approval for diagnostic testing and Millions of dollars need to be allocated by Congress for research of XMRV as it relates to CFS, atypical MS, cancer, Autism, and other diseases. Believe me, you, your children, and your loved ones, do NOT want CFS or any of the problems that come with it. Remember, I was completely healthy before I contracted CFS and now I require a pacemaker and am housebound, only able to be out of bed 10 or 15 minutes at a time. My life, as I knew it, has been completely taken away from me.
The really sad part is, this could have been discovered as early as 1990 when a promising researcher, Elaine DeFreitas, found evidence of a retrovirus in CFS patients' blood. But, the CDC squelched her research and ruined her career, and thus scared off other researchers from looking for a retrovirus in CFS patients. How many of us now have needlessly become sick or died because of the CDC's actions? There needs to be a Congressional inquiry into what happened and why it happened, and hold those guilty ones accountable for their actions.
Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you'll make your voice heard regarding these important things. As soon as the NIH archives the CFSAC meeting's webcast, which will be here, I'll update with links in this post.
Accessories: Large Star Punch, Large oval punch, Apron Lace border punch, 1/4 inch red gingham ribbon, hemp twine, Crystal glitter by Sulyn, green felt, Nestabilities scalloped circle, button, sewing machine, red thread
It seems like I've been on a big paper buying kick, lately! (I'm not exactly sure why, since I like making my own backgrounds with stamps.) Pretty paper is just too hard to resist, especially when it comes in a gorgeous box and I have a 40% off coupon! Michaels has two different boxes full of 150 K&Co. papers. I got the romantic one (I think it was called) and the other had more contemporary-style patterns.
Tall skinny images can be a little challenging for me, so when I see a card that has a great layout for such an image, I make sure to save it. I found this card on Splitcoaststampers by Doodledop and knew it would be perfect! Actually, this card started with a gorgeous iris image that I was watercoloring for my cousin, Rebekah's birthday, since the iris is her fave flower. Unfortunately, just before it was almost done, I botched it up and couldn't do another, since I don't own the stamp. So I hope Becky likes sweet peas! ;)
All the shading around the flower is done with chalks and various sized sponges. That square thing in the lower right corner is actually a silver brad with an "R" for Rebekah! I just couldn't get a great photo of it.
Aren't they the sweetest! I was inspired to post this card by the Moxie Fab holiday card-making challenge. The snowflakes, a la Anna Wight, are covered in two kinds of glitter. They're messy, but I know I'll be making more of them because they look so cool!
I've been ruthlessly sorting out my stamping magazines and I have about 20 Somerset Studio magazines that I'm willing to part with (it was a difficult decision and I'm actually still keeping 30!) Please email me if you're interested and we can discuss shipping and all that good stuff. Each magazine is $4 and all are in good, used condition from a non-smoker's home. Or make me an offer!
Somerset Studio issues for sale (click here to see photos of the covers and sneak peeks of what's inside): Mar/Apr 1997 May/Jun 1997 Mar/Apr 1998 Jul/Aug 1998 Sep/Oct 1998 Sep/Oct 1999 Mar/Apr 2000 Jul/Aug 2000 Jul/Aug 2001 May/Jun 2003 Jul/Aug 2003 Sept/Oct 2003 Nov/Dec 2003 Jan/Feb 2004 Mar/Apr 2004 May/Jun 2004 Sept/Aug 2004 Nov/Dec 2004 Jan/Feb 2005
Have a great day!
Materials: Stamps: Penny Black clear Christmas set Paper: Close to Cocoa, Cranberry Crisp, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Melissa Frances dp Accessories: SU ribbon, Marvy Snowflake punches, Martha Stewart twig punch, rhinestone sticker, Martha Stewart doily lace border punch, white Liquid Applique, Nestabilities, buttons, Copic markers, glitter
Well, the card that was supposed to take a few days got stretched into a week, as usual. An unexpected trip to the doctor and then to Michaels delayed this blog post a bit, but that's life, right? I've been having the worst time sleeping and my Sonata just isn't cutting it anymore, so I went to the doctor last Monday for some help. I had to see the NP instead of my doctor, who was on vacation, and it was not a good experience. So I needed some retail therapy and actually felt well enough to go to Michaels on Thursday. :) I had a great time with my friend Kathy and spent way too long there. We had to look at every single new stamp, of course, and it's a good thing there wasn't a sale, or I would have bought too many! I had a good time at the dollar bin, too. (If Michaels can make money on the dollar bin, then why is everything else in the store so much more expensive?)
On to the card! It's all stamped, no designer paper at all! I used only two stamps, both from Cornish Heritage Farms. I think the Leaves backgrounder is my new favorite; I just want to use it on every card! Anyway, the whole card started with the flower because I was admiring some of the embellishments in an online scrapbook store but was turned off by the prices, so decided to pull out some punches and Cuttlebug dies and make some of my own. This flower was one of my better attempts and I think it turned out pretty cute.
Thanks for visiting!
Materials: Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms Leaves 3 and Scrapblock Music Paper: Real Red, Naturals Ivory, misc. ivory Ink: Chocolate Chip, Antique Linen Distress Ink Accessories: SU Mini Library clips, flower punch, Cuttlebug die, buttons, black embroidery floss, sewing machine, Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Wow, lots of you must have been crossing your fingers for me last week for the Flourishes contest! I won and got to pick a stamp set of my choice. You'll be seeing this gorgeous Strawberries set on card soon. :)
Sadly, this is a sympathy card for my cousin, who had to have her kitty, Timone, put down a couple weeks ago. He was a special kitty and would come running when she called his name. Once she caught him on top of the fridge whacking dog treats onto the floor for the dog to eat! I'm so sorry for your loss, Steff.
I had a difficult time getting a dark black impression because the stamp was so solid, so I used my Warm gray and black Copic markers to enhance the shadows and add depth. I used BG10 on the wings and added some clear glitter, then used the gold glitter pen on the halo, with a little clear glitter on the sparkle spot.
Steff likes the Americana style, so I kept the card simple and used mainly red and black. A little stitching, sponging, and distressing give a vintage look.
Thanks for visiting!
Materials: Stamp: PSX Paper: Ridinghood Red, Kraft, Neenah Solar White Classic Crest, K & Co. Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun, More Mustard Accessories: Copics, button, twill tape, sewing machine, crochet thread, Nestabilities, Spica gold glitter pen, Sakura clear glitter gel pen, distressing tool
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