September 14th Weekly Post

 Greetings and Happy Sunday!

Before Summer turns into Autumn, I wanted to share my Summer banner.

This was originally going to be hung from our giant grapevine wreath above our fireplace.

But when we tried to do that, the wreath became unstable enough for us to realize it might not be a good idea to hang anything on it! 

I do not know the lifespan of a grapevine wreath, but ours is at least 27 years old because we received it as a housewarming gift and has been hanging there all that time unadorned until this past year when I began making the seasonal banners to hang from it.

So, we have decided to take it down at some point sooner than later, but to definitely not hang anything from it in the meantime. So, my other seasonal banners will probably be hung on Honey's bar area or on the back door we never use (where this one is hanging). 

To make the banner, I pulled out my Summer papers and ephemera, so I basically made it with scraps from my stash.  I've used four dies on this banner (Spellbinders anchor, Memory Box bubbles, MFT wavy border and Amazon irregular nested rectangles). I was going for a swimming pool look to showcase the letter stickers from my stash. Don't know if I accomplished that but it is an eye-catching look. And it's done, so it is what it is. I am proud that it's symmetrical when it hangs as that was my intention for it.

An old curtain rod came in handy as the hanger.

Use what ya got, right?
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Next up are three more Christmas cards that I made for the Ding Dong theme at Splitcoaststampers:

I love how this one looks. If I were making several of one design, this would qualify.

I began with the sketch (below), but I also wanted to use this My Favorite Things 4-Way Chevron Coverup die (that I've had for years and never used) for my base layer. On that, I adhered a red vellum circle cut with a Spellbinders die. Then some pine branches cut with an Impression Obsession die. I also used an IO jingle bell die set to cut gold mirror card for my bells. I strung some striped baker's twine to hang them. I topped it with an Amazon bow die cut from the mirror card and added some small gold circles from my stash per the sketch. Then I used Versamark to stamp the MFT sentiment on a scrap of green paper and heat-embossed it with white powder, layering on a cut piece of the mirror card.

Fun Fact: The Brits call the gold card "Mirri" card, but there's is supposedly the Rolls Royce of mirror board. 

And here is the sketch that I used.
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This is a happy accident card, lol. I used a Stamplorations Doodled Christmas Bells cover die to cut my gold mirror card, thinking I was going to get a clean cut, but NOOOOO. I then realized I should have used my metal adapter plate in the cutting sandwich, but I really liked the embossed impression, so I quickly turned it over and covered the back with double-sided tape so that I was able to adhere the entire thing onto my card base front. I used the cover plate with some red and then champagne-colored glitter card cuts to get the bow and bells, which I layered onto the gold card. I then stamped the See D's sentiment onto a gold paper scrap, first with Versamark, then with Rhubarb Stalk Memento ink. I heat-embossed it with Ranger Red Tinsel embossing powder to give it a little glitter. I cut that with an SU Modern Label punch. I'd added a strip of red and gold washi tape along with my remaining scraps of red ricrac velvet, so I added the sentiment to the washi tape layer and called it done!

And here is the sketch that I used. The bow and bells are my 3 star elements in a little different arrangement.

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For my last card today, I've used some dark red SU card for my base. I cut the Paper Studio designer paper layer with a Spellbinders Distressed Edge die. On a scrap of dark red Junkitz paper I stamped the Carmen Veranda door using Nocturne Versafine Clair ink, fussy cut it and layered it on. I had an Amazon wreath die cut in my bits and bobs along with the bow, TH Sizzix holly leaves and red berries. So, I added them all to my scene. The Polkadoodles caroling gnomes are freebie stamps from Creative Stamping Issue 102. I colored them with my Castle Arts colored pencils, fussy cut them and they were ready to be added as the final touch.

And here is the sketch that I used.

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That's all from me this time.

Thanks so much for the visit and I hope this coming week is an enjoyable one for us all!

XOX

September 7th Weekly Post

Greetings and Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone has had a good week and weekend.

Ours wasn't bad. The daytime highs in the 90's came back, but the nights cooled down so I'm happy with that since I'm up at night for now. This morning was almost idyllic, and this evening as well. I thought I felt a fall breeze or two, lol.

So, I'll do my part to channel the cooler fall weather by sharing some Christmas cards that I made for the August Splitcoaststampers Ding Dong theme.

Unless I've stashed more somewhere I forgot about, I cut into my last sheet of this very old 12x12 Chatterbox designer paper to make this card. {Sob} I've always had a thing for their paper, the way it feels is almost like fabric, and I have hoarded a share of it for years. Anyway, I cut this final piece with an LDRS nested slimline postage die to make my card front on an SU blue slimline card base, after first adhering strips of white and silver washi tapes, as per the sketch:

Next, I cut a silver Spellbinders circle die cut and an Avery Elle zigzag signature seal die cut from the backside of the Chatterbox paper. I layered them and adhered to the card front. I used some silver mirror card scrap to cut the Amazon bells die to layer onto the circles. I used more of the silver mirror card scrap and some white card scrap to cut the Impression Obsession sentiment die cuts, layering the silver one onto the white one, and adhering it to the card front.

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Next up is a blatant CASE (Copy And Share Everything) of a card made 6 years ago by Shery Russ (owner of Stamplorations) as a sample for the stamps I've used.

Here's her card. Yes, not exactly alike, but close enough!

And here's the sketch I used.

It all started when I saw the sketch and remembered the large Stamplorations sentiment had a banner around the "all the way" like Element 3 of the sketch. Then, looking at samples I'd saved, I realized Shery's card was like the sketch. Then, I had to make it, of course!

😃

Here's an angled shot to see all the shine. I cut an A2 tent fold card base from 12x12 DCWV Copper shimmer card stock and rounded the bottom corners with my Cropadile punch. I cut a piece of Ranger TH Distress Specialty Stamping card for my card front layer, rounding the bottom corners. Then I stamped the sentiment and the 3 bells with Versamark ink and heat embossed it all with Ranger Copper embossing powder. Next, I stamped the Avery Elle dotted circle with Festive Berries Distress Ink and dried with my heat tool. To color the bells, I used Festive Berries Distress Marker and yellow and gold Spectrum Noir Glitter Markers. I heat-dried that as well. Then I rubbed the DI off the embossed sentiment with a Q-Tip and colored in a few of the dots with the yellow marker.

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My last card was made using all scraps, so I'm not sure about who made the papers. I know Queen & Co. made that ancient red felt "lace" that the adhesive dried up on long ago, lol. The sentiment die is Stamplorations, as is the bells stamp. And the doily is a Spellbinders die. I used a Fiskars corner punch on the striped designer paper scrap. The image was stamped with Morning Mist Versafine Clair ink and clear heat-embossed. I fussy cut it and then colored with Promarkers and glitter markers. The holly berries and leaves were lost in the stamping darkness, so I used a fine liner to outline their shapes before coloring them. I'm glad I did that as it really makes a difference!

And here is the sketch I used.

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Well, that's it for me this time.

Thanks for the visit and best wishes for a great week ahead.

XOX

August 31st Weekly Post

 Howdy to y'all and good-bye to August!

Wow, that month flew by.

We've had a wet and humid but cooler weekend.

And the humidity is supposed to be lower for a few days.

I'm currently on a roll with my sleep swapping, so I've been up at night and have really enjoyed the first light of the early mornings. So maybe I can keep it going until the temperature consistently drops a bit.

We have a close family friend whose daughter has a small working farm in north Texas, so I went with that theme for her birthday card.

I used the Sam Colcott cow, flower and sentiment stamps included with Creative Stamping Magazine Issue 117, stamping the cow and flower on the white base card layer. I cut a piece of Farmhouse Market Square designer paper with a Lawn Fawn Speech Bubble Border die to layer over that. I stamped a very old cloud stamp, fussy cut it and stamped the sentiment inside of it. The dotted cloud is a Sassafras Lass stamp and the sun is an ancient D.O.T.S. stamp. I arranged them in a cluster on the designer paper.

I used Promarkers to color the cow, flower, grass, dotted cloud and sun. The A2 base is Kraft card.

And the sketch I used.

I changed the point on the speech bubble to the right to accommodate the die that I used.

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This card is for a workmate of Honey's. We are longtime friends with him and his wife.

On an SU card base, I cut a sheet of Basic Grey Cupcake designer paper as the base layer. Then I found some solid color card scraps to cut the curving horizontal strips using a My Favorite Things Ride the Waves die set and adhered them per the sketch. I stamped and die cut two Avery Elle balloons using Versaine Clair inks. I stamped, heat-embossed and die cut the Art Impressions birthday cake, coloring it with Promarkers and a glitter gel pen. I arranged and adhered them on the right side on the wavy strips. 

And the sketch I used.

I changed the orientation of elements 3-5 because it looked better that way!

😁

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Our son-in-law turned 39 and this was his birthday card.

He liked the play on words with the zebra's hips.

😉

I made a 6x8 card from this sketch.

I first stamped the Pink Ink zebra with Nocturne Versafine Clair ink and clear-heat-embossed it. Then I stamped the zebra again on masking paper and fussy cut that out for a mask. I applied the mask over my stamped image. I drew a diagonal line with a light green colored pencil, applied masking tape to the right of the line and then sponged Twist Citron Distress Ink to make element 2 of the sketch. After that dried, I removed the masking tape and stippled Speckled Egg DI for the sky. Then I used Carved Pumpkin DI to stencil the left border with a Crafters Workshop stencil and wonky dots around the zebra using a Dina Wakley stencil. I removed the zebra's mask and colored him and the grass at his feet with Promarkers. I ran a black marker around my base layer and added two decorative corner notches with a Tonic punch. I adhered the base layer to the card base cut from a 12x12 sheet of Colormates card stock. I stamped the Creative Visions sentiment with VF-Clair ink and heat-embossed them all. I cut them with an Avery Elle signature seal die and then inked three with the DI's I had used. I cut part of the top and bottom one and adhered them all to the card front.

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Well, that all I've got this time.

Thanks so much for visiting me and best wishes for a great first week in September!

XOX

August 24th Weekly Post

 Happy Sunday to all.

Hope your week went well.

We had a few rainy days and we had cloud cover for most of the week, which at least shaved a degree or two off the temps. That humidity tho...

😖

Today has been pretty nice so far, but the weird critter timing continues to fascinate me.

This week we are seeing lovebugs galore, when they've usually been a Spring thing.

And I don't know where the teeny tiny brown ants came from this year, but they are everywhere outside on our patio this weekend. And trying to invade the garage and the back door threshold. The Google search says they are Rover ants. Spraying a cinnamon, clove and water mixture does help, as well as sweeping them with a broom, but it disturbs the survivors and then they regroup. If the black flies return, I may go postal, lol.

On the bright side, the mosquitos have delightfully been missing when I hang outside (knock wood!). Between the huge lantana bushes lining the patio and spraying the essential oils, it has helped a lot and smells good too. But Honey says they are still around, darnit!

A few birthday guy cards for you this week:

First up, this card for a high school classmate, using a few rudimentary digital skills in Photoshop Elements.

And the sketch I used.

I cut the 6x6 card base from a very old sheet of Chatterbox Rusty Brown card stock.
Then I cut some butter yellow SU with a Spellbinders art deco nested die to frame the Lozzy@Nins Papercrafting digital paper freebie I printed out and edged with a dark brown Promarker. 

Next layer on that was more of the SU butter yellow cut with another Spellbinders nested die in the same collection as the larger yellow die cut (which is why I used it -- I thought the coordinated look would be nice). 

The top paper layer is more digital paper from Lozzy that I layered with an Angie Blom digital stamp before printing out and cutting into a triangle/flag. I edged it with the Promarker as well before adhering. I purposefully left the guy uncolored so he would stand out against that cool but busy squares paper.

Alongside the digital gent, I added the Stamplorations sentiment, which was die cut with white and orange scraps. 

Lastly I splattered some white acrylic paint to finish.

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This next one was made for my younger brother, who recently turned 60.

When I see this, I realize that on my next birthday I'll be 70!

We are 9 and 1/2 years apart.

His wife told me it lifted his spirits.

Inside, it says "Happy Birthday / The more you have, the longer you live/Enjoy the Ride"

I knew he'd be a bit down about turning 60 and "getting old".

And the sketch I used.

I used the other 6x6 Chatterbox card base leftover from cutting the first card.

And then I found some scraps of the same card stock in my stash, enough for all the mats, so I didn't have to cut into another 12x12 sheet.

The designer paper is very old Junkitz that I'm still trying to use up and almost have.

I corner punched all of the dp including the top image and sentiment card.

The car is a Stamplorations stamp and I colored it with Promarkers.
The sentiment is from My Favorite Things.

The 60 circle is an Artistic Outpost stamp from their Diesel Punk set.

I stamped it in Versamark on brown card and used some TH Distress Old Paper embossing powder on it, then cut it with a Spellbinders circle die.

I added 4 white photo corners from my stash to finish.

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Last but not least is this card for a brother-in-law.

And the sketch I used.

I used Kraft for the 5x7 card base.

And the designer papers are Basic Grey Color Me Silly.

The solid colored layers are all ink-distressed with Vintage Photo DI.

All of the sweet treats were colored using Promarkers and are stamps and corresponding dies from Stamplorations, as is the 'sweet' die cut from scrap along with the HunkDory 'Birthday Wishes' die cut.

I've had this stamp and die set for quite a while but had never used it.

To finish, I found 3 white star die cuts in my bits n bobs to accent the sentiment.

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Well, that about does it for me this time.

Thanks so much for the visit and I hope your week is a good one.

Until next time,

XOX

August 17th Weekly Post

 Hiho, everyone!

Happy Sunday to you all.

Well, we had a bit of drama at Casa Winans this past week.

Honey awoke one morning to some noise in the backyard and looked out the window to see 3 squirrels at the base of his gigantic sunflower.

He had wrapped a net around the flower waiting for it to seed so he could chop it down and get the harvest. But he was beaten to it by a new sub-species of squirrel called the beaver squirrel!

The 3 of them ganged up and chewed through the stem at the base, felling the flower so they could then feast on the seeds in the huge pod.

Honey managed to save half of the seeds, but he was in a bad mood about that all day.

Still fed the dang squirrels in the back of the yard as always, though.

😏

Between the turtles, squirrels and birds, I sometimes think that he thinks he's in Bambi Land or something, Geez.

And I had some silent drama (meaning I could have pitched a fit but didn't). I'd made THE BEST homemade pimiento cheese earlier in the summer and he'd bought the fixings for me to make more. But then he said he'd do it as it is always hard for me to mix it by hand, so I printed out the recipe for him.

Well, he didn't follow the recipe.

He only had half the pimientos that the recipe called for. BUT he didn't halve the recipe. He also didn't use all the grated cheese ("it looked like too much cheese" in a whiny voice) but he DID use all the cream cheese.

Anyway, it's almost rock hard, super hard to spread and tastes nothing at all like it should.

That was a waste of good ingredients!

And not a good time to go all spontaneous with the cheffing.

My mouth was watering for a p-cheese sammich!

But I bit my watery tongue and said nothing.

You better believe I'm insisting on making it next time though, LOL.

He did the same thing a few weeks ago when I gave him a recipe I wanted him to make using mini wantons and ramen noodle soup. The recipe was very specific and easy to follow, but did he? He bought huge pot stickers instead of the wantons, didn't air fry them first and then used spaghetti noodles instead of the ramen noodles.

And he added a jar of sliced mushrooms after I told him I did not want them in it.

So it tasted like mushroom soup basically. And he didn't eat any of it.

It's like when he needs to make a decision, he hauls off and makes a bad one every so often.

And doesn't consult me.

I mean, it's just with cooking so it could be worse for sure, but still...

ANYway, moving on, I'm sharing Christmas cards today that match Splitcoaststampers' August DING DONG theme.

Here's a card made with Kraft card, mystery dp and scraps from my stash.

The kraft ricrac was cut with a My Favorite Things die.

All paper edges were distressed with my Tim tool.

I used Impression Obsession's Cookie Stamp & Die Block set for the cookies.

I stamped them on kraft card with Versamark ink, then heat-embossed them with white embossing powder. Then cut them out with the die.

The spatula, rolling pin and oven mitt were cut using a Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions die set.

I made the baking sheet by cutting two rectangles and rounding the corners with a punch.

The handles are 2 capital letter D QK Blossom alphas die cuts.

The Crafters Companion sentiment was stamped with Versafine Clair ink and cut with a Lawn Fawn banner die.

One of the cookies is a bell, so DING DONG.

And the sketch I used.

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Here's a card with a Recollections white card base and Tim Holtz Noel Paper Stash designer papers with some red, black and white paper scraps.

I cut two photo corners for the top using a My Favorite Things die out of black card.

I also used a Verve Flourished Trim die cut twice out of the black card, as well as the Crafter's Companion arched die cut.

I cut the Amazon arched church scene die out of white card to layer on the black arch.

The red paper section has the Sweet and Sassy sentiment stamped with Versafine Clair ink.

Punched white snowflakes were added randomly to finish.

This church has a bell in its bell tower/belfry, so DING DONG.

And the sketch I used.

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And this card obviously has bells, so DING DONG.

I cut the Amazon bells die out of some gold scrap card and layered it on a scrap of very dark dull green that was cut with an Avery Elle seal die.

A very old scrap of felt lace forms the vertical element.

The designer papers came from my mystery stack, but I highly suspect they are 6x6 Basic Grey Blitzen.

The card base is Cardstock Warehouse.

The Noel sentiment was cut using a Stamplorations die and was in my leftover pile, as were the gold circle dots.

And the sketch I used.

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Well, that does it for me this time.

I'm so happy you visited, and I hope this coming week is a good one for us all.

Stay cool and dry!

XOX