October 26th Weekly Post

 Hello and Happy Halloween Week, if you celebrate.

We got the new dryer Wednesday, paid for delivery, installation and haul-off of the old. Then the new one wouldn't turn on: no juice. Honey had to go flip the breaker. We theorized that when the old heating element blew, it tripped the breaker. At any rate, all ended well.

😅

I wasn't going to make any Halloween cards this year, as I've been focusing on finishing up this year's birthday and Christmas cards. But then I received a couple of cards and so I spent the weekend making some. For the most part, I stuck to very limited supplies (paper scraps) and the bits and bobs in my Halloween box, but I did use some stamps and dies. And lots of Distress ink, lol.

The theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Full Moon, hosted by Anne. Well, I couldn't pass that up.

 I took a white 4x6 card and stamped the Third Coast Stamps mooning witch with Nocturne Versafine Clair and clear-heat-embossed it. I already had a mask for her so I applied it, then I ink-blended Hickory Smoke DI at the top and Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon DI's for the bottom half. I removed the witch's mask and colored her with Promarkers. I cut the three wavy middle elements out of some TH Halloween Kraft card stock using an MFT die set. The EEEK! is some plastic dimensional letter stickers I've had for years and have forgotten who made. I used Black Soot DI to edge the card. I had the moon in my box from a previous play. I'd used an Altenew stamp and corresponding die to make it.

And then I put the postcard on an A7 Kraft card base matted with a piece of my paper scraps. Inside it says "It just wouldn't be Halloween without a full moon" and I handwrote "or 2".

😁

 

And the sketch I used, stretched to A7 portrait orientation.

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For this next card, I used paper scraps from the TH Seasonal collection on a Kraft card base.

And I ink and edge-distressed and ink-blended all of them:

You can see scraps of the original paper on the left. I liked the effect and thought the colors made the paper pop more. 

The images are from Gecko Galz and are mounted on black card scrap.

I cut a Clear Dollar Stamps label die out of black card, stamped the WRMK and MFT sentiments with Versamark ink and heat-embossed using Ranger Lemon Yellow embossing powder.

And here's the sketch I used.

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We used to have Halloween parties and send invitations, so I saved this ghost from a handful of extras. They've been sitting for years and I decided to use them. I fussy cut him out and added him to an A7 Kraft card base matted with a piece of scrap paper. Then I die cut the TH Graveyard border out of black card and added it and another piece of scrap paper at bottom to finish.

 

And here's the sketch I used. I flipped it vertically (upside down) and then stretched it to A7 portrait orientation.

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I used another ghost on this one, along with the Dies to Die For Spooky shadow word die, cut out of TH paper scraps (which I also used as the mat on the Kraft card base. Another Graveyard die cut as well. The orange circles were cut using my Coluzzle system and orange stash card. And done!

 

And the sketch I used. I flipped this one horizontally.

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I have one more Halloween card to make for our neighbors, so I'll share that one next Sunday.

Hope you can make it, thanks for visiting me!

Have a great week, XOX

October 19th Weekly Post

 Happy new week, everyone.

I'm posting a bit late because Life stuck out its big fat butt and got in the way.

So glad this is just a hobby and not a job.

Hehehe.

My Fall allergies are acting up and that means I've had to take my medication that makes me loopy. Plus, I've got painful fumble fingers, which always makes me frustrated. And then, our dryer died. It was a good dryer, lasted 27 years. We'd bought it in 1998 right after moving in here when the dryer we moved from the old house decided to die. The dude who sold it to us was the son of one of Honey's coworkers. What's spooky is, the day before the dryer died, the coworker died. Odd coincidence, huh?  We've ordered a new dryer from Home Depot and they'll deliver it Wednesday. 

Anyway, I've been in rare form with the zingers and smart-assery comments. And Honey is enjoying it, thankfully. And matching me. Our senses of humor have always been aligned.

😜

And with that, I'll segue into my make for this week's Note To Self theme at Sunday Postcard Art, hosted by Cindy.

What I've made is a perfect example of how our moods can creep into our art, perhaps because we express our thoughts when creating. I could have gone a million different ways with this theme, but I chose my current reality. I've been trying to use up scraps in my card-making, so I went to my scraps for this. I glued a scrap of KI Memories designer paper to my 4X6 card stock base. Then I took a Sakura Star Dust glitter gel pen and drew a checked border. Next, I added some Love, Elsie card stock scrapbooking stickers and stamped a 7Gypsies Note To Self sentiment on one of the Elsie labels, heat-embossed it and then went over it with a black Promarker before attaching it to the top of my card. I looked through my Tim Holtz Snarky Chat Stickers and chose the sarcasm one. Then I went through Tim's Big Chat Stickers and chose 3 words. I used a black fineliner to draw around some of the stickers and then added some blue-grey die cut stars from stash. 

And the best part? 

Haha, looking at it finished and realizing that next to the word attitude it looks like a hand raised in a middle finger salute! 

😎

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Moving right along, still making cards with my Summer scraps.

This is a guy card for a nephew, using a Di's Digi Stamps Summer Kitty which I printed out, fussy-cut and colored with Promarkers and Castle Arts colored pencils. The color I chose for the water matches the paper pretty well, so he looks like he's in a pool. I used scraps of tan sand patterned paper and also green terrycloth patterned paper (for the grass). I cut the stitched circle (pool deck) using an MFT die. I added a scrap of ribbon that had been hanging around for a while and die cut stars from stash. I stamped the Leave Memories and MFT sentiments to finish. The A2 card base and base mat are cream Recollections 110# card stock.

And here's the sketch I used.
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This next card was made for a dear artist friend and uses some of my favorite hoarded and very old patterned paper from Flair. (I think I have one more full 12x12 sheet.) The sketch I used (see below) required 4 strips of different papers but I cut the strips from this one pattern. Then I used bits and bobs from my Summer box: the wave borders, the fish, seahorse and starfish, all die cut out of white card from previous projects and not used. I used a white Recollections 110# card base and SU dark blue-grey card stock for the base mat and sentiment frame, cut with an Avery Elle seal die, as was the sentiment with a smaller die after stamping with a Wild Rose Studio sentiment on a scrap of white card with Versafine Clair ink and heat-embossing it. The mermaid had been cut out of an old planner.

And here is the sketch I used.
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Well, that does it for me this week.

My apologies again for posting late.

Hopefully our cooler nighttime and morning temps will cool my sarcasm jets a bit.

It feels wonderful outside right now (Monday morning).

Best wishes for a great week and thanks for visiting me!

xxo

October 12th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday, Everyone!

I hope your week and weekend have been to your liking.

The last few early mornings have been in the upper 60's here, so I cannot complain. We are also entering into a dry spell, so I hope there aren't too many fires.

This week at Sunday Postcard Art, the theme is POE and is hosted by Audrey.

I went all digital with mine, thanks to a Gecko Galz digital stamp set I found in my files.

His life really fascinates me, so I felt drawn to play this week.

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I have a nephew who lives on the Texas coast south of us, and he loves to fish.

I began this card with a stenciled background, using A Colorful Life's Primitive Fish stencil with Distress Inks (Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Salty Ocean). I layered that onto a Color Mates 6x6 card base after punch-rounding one corner per the sketch (below).

Then I added some fish netting I found in my Summer bits and bobs. I die cut 2 Avery Elle banner flags in blue and white card scraps, then stamped the CC Designs and Hero Arts sentiments with Versamark and heat-embossed with white powder. Next, I die cut an Avery Elle Sinature seal out of white card and stamped the Hero Arts sentiment with Paradise Versafine Clair ink and clear heat-embossed it. I layered those on there after drawing a short fishing line with a Sakura silver-shadow gel pen. At the bottom of the line I added a hook cut with a Memory Box die (Christmas ornament die) cut out of silver mirror card.

 

Here's the sketch I used, stretching it to a 6x6 layout in PSE.

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I printed, colored and fussy cut this My Besties Winter Snow Globe Bestie Doll 9 for the focal image on this Christmas card made with an SU card base/mats and strips of mystery paper scraps from my Christmas box. I used Promarkers and glitter markers and gel pens to color her. I added the HOTP stamped sentiment and several holographic snowflakes, and on the light blue sketch element #3 I stamped a Technique Tuesday snowflake border with Versamark and heat-embossed it with Ranger Holographic embossing powder, thinking it would go with the loose snowflakes. But it doesn't really show up. I also have Ranger Poly Sparkle EP, maybe I should have used that one. I'm always confused by when to use which, LOL. One last useless fact: I purposefully put the text paper with the bigger words upside down, just for orneriness, heehee, er, I mean, creative license.

😜

Here is an angled shot to show all of the glitter and shine.

And here is the sketch I used, in an A7 size.

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Well, that about does it for me this time.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week ahead.

See ya next Sunday.

XXO

October 5th Weekly Post

 Happy first Sunday in October!

I hope everyone is doing well and had a great week.

Okay, first up is what I made for this week's Sunday Postcard Art theme Museums hosted by Sabine.
I have absolutely nothing in my supplies for this except for Mona Lisa, and I was like, that's too easy. Ha! I wasn't going to make anything but then I got an idea to use my tissue squares that I've never used yet. Why I got this idea, I still cannot say, but I went with it. (I finally decided the squares represented an abstract art museum wall of hanging art.)

So on a 4X6 black card I glued them down with a glue stick. After I did that I wondered why I did it, lol. Then I got the idea to apply glue stick completely over the top of it and then add Diamond Dust glitter, which I did. And I put down a release sheet over it to burnish it in with a spoon but soon discovered there is tiny glass in Diamond Dust, ugh. So, I wadded up a paper towel and began to furiously rub as much of the glass off as I could. It was then I remembered my inchie stamps and had I not glittered my entire card I could have stamped some of the squares which are also inchie size. UGH! {smacks forehead} 

Then I look through my quote and phrase stamps and see this one by Tim Holtz. It perfectly captures my experience with this card. And I suppose it describes the role of an art museum too. (I stamped it in Versamark and heat-embossed it with white powder. It's cut with a Spellbinders label die.)

I'm not much of a fan of art museums and I have given them a chance. History museums I can spend hours in, but an art museum I'm done with in 20-30 minutes. After college graduation, I moved to Houston to work and live. One of my first outings was to the Rothko Chapel (not that impressed) and in the 5 years I lived there I eventually went to all the museums in Houston at the time. In 2004 when we went to Europe (London, Paris, Rome), I didn't even finish the Louvre's inside art tour. I was more fascinated by the architecture and standing outside among the huge buildings. I like plenty of famous art but I guess I prefer to read about them and see them on my computer screen. 

So anyway, to sum up: I played without thinking ahead and made some mistakes I don't want to repeat. But I'll leave it to others to determine whether I've made art... or not!

😁

This is the last Dream card I made for September's theme at Splitcoaststampers. I knew I'd have to piece together a bed for the My Besties Visions of Sugar Plums Besties IMG943. So, I got out several scrap pieces of Kraft card and stamped them with an Avery Elle woodgrain stamp, then I cut and pieced together the bed frame. I die cut the four bedposts with a Spellbinders nested postage die, the headboard with a Spellbinders flourish die and the sentiment banner with an Avery Elle fishtail banner die. I inked all pieces with Vintage Photo Distress Ink before assembling. For the sentiment, I stamped phrases by Crafty Secrets and Cornish Heritage Farms in Versamark and heat-embossed them with white powder. The Impression Obsession candy cane and peppermints stamped die cuts were leftovers from another project. The digital image was printed out on Springhill Digital card stock, then colored using Promarkers, Castle Arts colored pencils and glitter gel pens before fussy cutting it. The designer papers are Doodlebug and the lefthand triangle (sketch element 3) is trimmed with some of my mom's lace. The card base is Kraft.

And here is the sketch I used.

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Here's another card using up my favorite Chatterbox snowflake paper scraps, beginning my October cards for the Splitcoaststampers December 25 theme. I inked the dp edges first with Prize Ribbon DI. The card base is SU, as is the sentiment mat. I used a Neat&Tangled stamp with Versamark and heat-embossed it with white powder. The Santa Sleigh die was cut from white SU card, as were the snowflakes using a punch. The striped ribbon is from my stash. 

I turned this sketch sideways for the make.

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And another one for this month's current theme. I used the same Neat&Tangled sentiment stamp as the previous card, but this time after I heat-embossed in white, I trimmed it to cut just the December 25 out to use. Both the dark blue-grey and light blue card stocks are SU. The dp is mystery papers from my stash. I've used a corner punch on all edges and inked all edges of the designer papers. The image mats were cut using Spellbinders nested dies. The other sentiment stamped directly below the focal image is Stamplorations. I printed out the digital image on Springhill Digital card, colored it with Promarkers and glitter gel pens and then fussy cut it. It's My Besties Winter Santa, which is no longer sold except in her coloring books. And I added 3 blue punched snowflakes I found in my stash to finish.

And here is the sketch I used.

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Well, That's all, folks!

Thanks for the visit and I hope you all have a wunnerful week ahead.

XOX

September 28th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday ~~ A little early!

😁

It's my week to host Sunday Postcard Art which is in the UK and goes live at midnight. So, as I am in Houston area and 6 hours behind, I must post at 6pm Saturday my time.

I chose JUKEBOX as the theme this week.

I have a very old rubber stamp set by Pink Cat Studios and while I've used a stamp from it here and there, I always wanted to do a collage with them. Let's see, I used stamps from the Pink Cat set, except for: Elvis (Technique Junkies, I think), Memories word and TV (Clear Dollar), Musical Staff (Moodtapes), and the mid-century sign (Uniko). So, the Fab Fifties and Rock 'n Roll sentiments, the jukebox, clothes, shoes, sunglasses are from the set. 

I first stenciled the background using Spun Sugar Distress Ink and the Tiles TH Layering stencil.

I stamped each stamp separately on white card, colored with colored pencils, Promarkers and glitter gel pens, fussy cut them out and layered onto my 4x6 stenciled background. (The notes and the sentiments next to it I stamped directly on the background.) Went around the edge of the postcard with a black Promarker and called it done.

I'm looking forward to seeing what others do with this theme. I have a high school friend who restores jukeboxes as a hobby in retirement. I wish I had the room because I would love to own one.

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Here's a Christmas card I made for the September Dream theme at Splitcoaststampers.
I printed out a My Besties digital image called Winter Window Bestie Doll 17 and colored her with Promarkers and Castle Arts colored pencils, accenting with a gold glitter gel pen. I cut the image (and a bit larger mat and the sentiment mat) with The Stamps of Life Stitched Rectangle dies. The vertical element strips were cut with LDRS Stitched Strip dies. The base mat was cut with a pierced rectangle die. The designer paper I used is Wild Asparagus by My Mind's Eye and is a Christmas collection paper, believe it or not. (I should say WAS because it's older than dirt.) It's double-sided cardstock and I LOVE that solid avocado side.

I made it work with this image because of the flowers and sticking to the paper colors, but I think I will use the rest of this dp for birthdays or sympathy cards and the like.

The sentiments are by Papertrey Ink and stamped with Versafine Clair ink.

And the sketch I used.

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I've also got a couple of beachy themed birthday cards to share.

While I had all the Summer scraps out to make my banner, I planned out these cards to use some of those scraps. I apologize to those of you already in the throes of Autumn, but it'll be Summer-ish for a few more months down here, usually until mid-November. And plenty of Thanksgivings have been sweaty and hot, lol.

Summer may live on here for a while longer, at least until I get tired of using these scraps, hee-hee.

And of course, if you are Down Under, this doesn't look odd to you at all!

😉

This card uses some greenish-blue wave die cuts (QK), some blue digital paper scrap, stash stars, Gecko Galz focal point image and the 100 Proof Press Bathing Beauty Row I stamped with Versafine Clair. I used colored pencils to color them. I also tinted the water and clothing of the focal point image with pencils. I used torn edge rectangle and oval dies (Creative Expressions). The center sentiment is by Clear Dollar Stamps.

I did not notice this until after I'd finished the card, but the focal image and the bathing beauties all have the same type of ballet slipper shoe. Must have been like flip-flops back in the day?

And here is the sketch I used.
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And another beachy card made with scraps, My Favorite Things sentiment heat-embossed with white powder and Gecko Galz printed images. I added the gold hexagons and white photo corners from my stash. I used a stitched arch die to cut sketch elements 1 and 2. I used stitched square dies for the base mat and element 3, and stitched rectangle dies for elements 4 and 5 mats. The sentiment was cut with a Lawn Fawn banner die.

 

Stretched the sketch out to 6x6".

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Well, that's it for me this time.

I can't believe October 1st is in 3 days.

Thanks for the visit and have a great week.

XXO