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4/23/2017

Missing....

Just to let you know, I will not be around here much in the next days. Tonight we took #2 SIL to the ER. She & Bro #2 had both been sick with some kind of bad bug that last about a month, and she was improving...we thought. Today had a fever, but was feeling cold all day, with a really bad headache. About 5pm, got a call, would I take to the ER..So I knew she was bad, as she is not one to give in and go to the dr easily.

We had a long wait, but after the dr. saw her, they were going to do some blood work, put her on IV. It was cold in the room, and both Brother & I were cold. He asked how long this would take, and did we have time to run home, get some longer pants, sleeves, and let him tend to the dog. Were told to go ahead.

Picked up DH to go back with us, as it was dark & I'm not fond of driving in the dark. When we got to the hospital, she was not where we left her, and were informed, her condition deteriorated severely & rapidly right after we left, and the staff had taken her for a Head CT.

She came back to the room shortly, followed by the doctor. She was in severe pain, threshing, incoherent and nauseated. The doctor said she has a bleed of about 1.5" in the lower left part of her brain, and they were calling to get a neurologist to be available at one of our bigger teaching hospitals. In about 30 minutes she was transported by ambulance, which we tried to follow but it runs red lights!

We get there, and see the ambulance leaving, but when we checked in at  the ER, they had no record, said ambulance still enroute. That was my first warning vibe, since we all recognized the transporting ambulance leaving the parking lot.

Anyway, the first doctor had said call her children, so we knew it wasn't good. Plus he was quite frank with me when I asked about her chances. The nurse at the bigger hospital told us her condition had deteriorated again rapidly and severely during the trip, so they immediately rushed her for another CT scan, and discovered a 2nd, and bigger bleed, which was filling up a ventricle. Not much hope of recovery and even if by a miracle she did, the damage incurred is irreversible.

SO...for the next week or so, I will not be around. I ask for your prayers if you feel you can say some for us.Two of their kids are here, but 2 have to travel from afar. Her name is Peggy, and she is a blessed and sweet lady. Sometimes very stubborn, but we all love her dearly. Right now, we're asking that if it is God's will that we have to let her go, that He will give her a peaceful end with no pain or fear. Thank you.

4/22/2017

An Inlaid Rose for CAS Mixup Challenge

Good afternoon on a lovely & quiet warm Saturday. Doing bed linens after running some errands this morning so just took a minute's break to do a little post. I've been wanting to join in with the current CAS Mix Up Challenge and finished up a couple of cards that might work for this month's challenge.


Here's the 2nd card - both used the same Gina Marie flower die, and were made from Brusho backgrounds.

 
These roses have been floating around on the desk for some time, and so has the embossed background. Hunted up the Gina Marie rose die and die cut the background (and reminder to self: best to die cut first, then emboss! I was lucky enough on the first card that the Mbossibility folder (So Trendy) lined up perfectly, so I could re-emboss after the die cutting sort of flattened out. On the 2nd card, I diecut the opening for the inlay, then embossed). 
 

Card #1, with fun foam behind the rose inlay

The same design, just having the rose facing opposite direction. The reason I did a second card? When making this one, I had the bright idea to add a cut foam shape behind the rose (fussy cut the shape). The dimension is great, but thought it may look more like it was just adhered to the top of the card front, rather than inlay. But the rose was glued to the foam, then both pieces were inlaid into the opening. Looks quite nice IRL.... This is a really pretty die, and I like the look of the brusho pieces that were extremely easy to put back in the shapes.

A new Easter card was added to the Cards by Friends page, and I'll be back later with another CAS watercolor challenge card.

Ya'll have a great afternoon, and I'm off to the CAS Mix up Card Challenge..rules are in the badge at the beginning of the post. You still have time to play along!

Hugs and Prayers.

4/18/2017

Red Flowers for Easter

Hello. My name is Mary, and it's been nearly 3 weeks since I ordered online or bought any stamping products. (Do we have a Crafters Anonymous group? If so that should be our mantra! I think that's how AAA members start the meeting!!!! LOL). Being honest, I do have a partial order of reinkers that are outstanding. Have been very disciplined at just deleting the advertising emails from the places I frequent though.

Sharing an Easter card that has been received, and so ok to post it here now. When I finish the post, it's back to the Dungeon and hopefully to move some more things around. Found some polymer stamps I'd bought from a fellow stamper some years ago. These were in clear CD cases, and as I tried to lift these stamps, many of them just tore apart (and yes, I was careful too!) It's made me decide I will not buy stuff like this at garage sales nor from anyone else unless I can open the case and check that the contents are still usable. I think there's about 10 cd's with this kind of thing. This would not happen with red rubber I'm thinking. A bit disappointing...but guess I didn't spend a lot of $$$$ on the stamps.Had this happen before with stamps in CD cases -- bought at a big stamp garage sale, where stampers were selling old stuff. Live & learn. If I ever sell anything in this fashion, I will make sure that any products are still in good shape, not ready to fall apart. Not sure if this happens because the clear stamps weren't cleaned properly, or if the material just deteriorates over time and perhaps stored where it was hot. Just sayin', a word to the wise, and I know all of us are always on the lookout to score a nice set at a good price. Maybe you've had this happen too. I'll be keeping my polymer stamps on the material they originally came in. (still could stick to that surface and be difficult to remove, perhaps).

Here's the card, and once again, it's snippets that I've discovered in the housecleaning in the stamp area.


- Can't remember what company the die is from (perhaps a MBox die?). It was cut in white, then colored with copics. Had a white underlayer, then adhered another white one that had been colored.

Think the red mat is a Darice die (NBUS) and tucked some sequins around that repeated the colors in the floral motif. Thought this made a cheery happy Easter card.

Ya'll have a lovely day. Come back when you can! Hugs.

 
Edit: Thanks to Borqna for suggesting this be linked to Ike's World Challenges #86.


4/16/2017

Easter Bunny

HAPPY EASTER

 

Hello, and just popping in to wish you a most Happy Easter, and for those who follow the Christian path, let us remember what a miraculous gift we were given on this special day so long ago.
 
Today's card was for DH, and the background came from stash finds. The image was from SnS Bunnies & Bows and the set is actually one that Mr. spotted some years ago while we were in the store in Florida. He liked the Tutu Bunny for DD, but he also commented on this goofy Bunny. Since the set was handy on the desk from making the Tutu Bunny, decided to use this particular Bunny on a card for  him. It just looks like this Bunny has had such a hard day--delivering Easter Eggs no doubt. I think it will give Mr a little grin.
 


Can't remember how the embossed background was created, but the card base is cream colored, as is the sentiment piece. Decided not to trim off the bottom edge of the cream base, but let it show. The sentiment is from a CTMH Easter Set.

- Bunny is colored with copics, and looks a bit askew...once again, the camera caught it, the eyes didn't! (well, too bad, it was already glued down!).

Xstitch circle die, then a decorative S/B die cut from gingham...Very simple & nothing fancy, but I think he'll like it. I like the blue eyes & the buck teeth. (Mr. has pretty blue eyes too but his teeth don't stick out!)

Some lovely cards have been added to the Cards by Friends page, if you have time to take a peek.

Sending wishes that you have a wonderful day, hopefully spending it with someone that you love, or a lot of someones that you love. Our day will be quiet, and probably dinner at the local Cracker Barrel, which is a family style restaurant in the eastern part of the USA, and we are lucky to have one not very far away!

Big Hugs. Come again when you can. Until next time.

 
 
 
 


Christmas Card Club - Challenge 8

Hi and welcome to Challenge 8 of our 2017 Christmas Card Club, a group of card makers who share a card every 2 weeks. One of the group selects a challenge theme, and we create with that theme. So...this week our team mate Valery (ValeryAnne Designs) picked the theme of 'Humourous'. Now, Mrs. A happens to be the Queen of Recycled Christmas cards, which she always showcases in unusual and lovely ways, so I can't wait to see what she will show us for this challenge.

As you know, I've been in a sorting, moving, finding mode for a while; found the focal image of today's card in a box and decided it would work for 'humorous'. With a few strips of snippets paper, a snippets sort of image, the card rather made itself. I'm still not sure what I think of it,  but at least some of the VOS got used up. And I quite like Santa - just not sure about the background.




Don't know what company made the stamp, but  remember it's an old wooden image, colored with copics, and WoS. The mat die is a S/B scallop die, but not sure of the one used for Santa; rather think it's an inner decorative part of a labels die..

- strips of snippets were cut and glued down to make the background, and decided that using the border strip would suffice for a sentiment.

The card is basically 5x5, but trimmed just a scosh..(do you know that word? It means just a teeny, tiny, teeny bit!)

Do check out what my team members will be sharing for this challenge. Their blogs links are listed in the right side bar.

Hope you've have a splendid weekend, and Happy Easter. Hugs & Blessings.

4/13/2017

Butterfly Snippets

Good evening, and today was just absolutely a glorious sunshine & warm day. No wind, just a soft balmy breeze, and a nice afternoon to sit outside - this morning had some errands.

In the cleaning process, I'm finding things that get pitched in the trash. The background of this card came very close to the trash, but as I looked at the colors, I decided to try to use it for _something_. It's printer paper, a scrap piece that has printing on the one side, but it was on the airbrush table where I spray or do messy things. The table itself has a large non-stick craft mat, but when I'm spraying, I still put down scrap paper to absorb some of the mess. Then I was experimenting with some black gesso, crackle paste and stencils, so more 'schtuff' got onto this piece. Thought it might work to die cut it, use it as a background.

Die cut the piece with an MFT stitched rectangle (which only puts in the stitching and didn't cut the rectangle. So then had to hunt for a similarly sized rectangle to cut the piece out! Still ended up doing some hand trim anyway & don't think the stitching shows in the photo). We'll just call this Carolina Creativity! The black patches are the black gesso, but there is some really shimmery gold spray on it. I liked the pink & turquoise shades, which is what prompted me to not throw this scrap away (I should say 'snippet').

The corrugated piece is one that has been rusted with Paper Artsy rusting powder and also got some of the gold overspray on it. Think it may have had some of the DI bronze stain on it too.

- Rubbernecker butterfly was stamped on a white snippet from the back of an old Christmas card, so a bit 'shiny' surface. Used Versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Black Detail EP. The black areas of the butterfly show the embossing. Used Kuretake turquoise w/c and the gold that comes with the Kuretake set. Didn't care for the shade of gold, so got out the Finetec Gold water color set (a NBUS) and just started painting with some of those colors. Liked this one much better, as it looks quite a bit like my favorite Queen's Gold embossing powder. This is a much brighter, richer shade of gold than the 2 in the Gansai Kuretake set. Laid down several layers with each color, so it doesn't look watercolored but painted. Looks quite glossy against the corrugated piece and the rather rough texture of the ink covered print paper.

Lastly, took a page from my friend Brenda W's book: Brenda is shopping her stash and using lots of older supplies to turn out some stunning cards..this sticker came from a NBUS sticker set of who knows what age!

Don't know if I'll ever mail this one...I never feel very confident with an 'artsy' card...is it artsy or just rather silly looking? But I had fun making it, and thinking about what to do with that salvaged paper!!!

Added some pretty Easter cards to the Cards by Friends page, so hope you'll have time to enjoy these.
Ya'll have a real good evening and thanks for stopping by to visit. Prayers & hugs coming your way.

4/11/2017

Easter Bunny Ballet

Good evening - finishing up the Easter cards, only have one more to make... for DH. Here's the one sent today to the daughter, and it's from a Sparkle n Sprinkle Bunnies & Bows rubber set purchased some years ago.


This was very easy to color with copics. Used cool grays, with just a slight touch of BG0000 over the gray...only at the edges to create some shadows.  Diamond Stickles were added on the tutu and spread with my finger. Had already used WoS, but that didn't really shine quite as much as I wanted.

- die cut with a S/B Deckled Oval - which has been retired evidently. Edged with Victorian Velvet while still in the die, lightly smoothed BG0000 around to create a background, and a bit of gray under her feet to ground the image.

- Sue Wilson Greek Collection Kefalonia die used to make the dark rose pink mat from glittered paper (inner area was removed to use another time.)

- Hot Pink card base (found in the sorting, and it only needed to be scored)...was covered with an  embossed vellum piece  - tones down the hot pink nicely (EF Dots folder for the vellum). Added borders top & bottom from a snippet that had been embossed, and part of the piece had cut too deeply. The top & bottom were fine, so trimmed off and created borders, as the vellum wasn't just quite long enough at the bottom edge! LOL.

When DD was a pre-teen, everything had to be pink. Then it went to purple...This must be something all teenage girls go through. She's outgrown that phase - don't think she's got anything pink or purple these days.

Added a new card to the Cards by Friends page, and will be adding another pretty one that came in today. Hope you have time to check it out. In the meantime, still working on the re-organization - some days I think I'm making progress. Some days methinks I'm only moving stuff from here to there. But as the saying goes, it 'keeps me off the streets & outta the bars'. Any of you ever heard that before???

Have a great day! Come back when you can, and I'll promise to do the same. Hugs & Prayers to those in need of same.

4/06/2017

Ghost Flowers

Good morning, after a very stormy Wednesday. Today is sunny, but the wind is fierce. Just collected yesterday's junk mail - yesterday was thundery, rainy & windy off & on for most of the day. Was not interested in going out in the rain to pick up junk mail! Then late last evening, we had another front move in, with more lightning and thunder... so it's lovely to see the sunshine today, even if it is a bit brisk outside.  Will be sharing another photo of the redbud tree showing the changes the Monday & Wednesday rains have brought along, and our dogwood trees have green furze on the branches. I knew there were buds on the limbs, but this morning I could see green coating all the limbs just as I was opening the window blinds. They seemed to turn green just overnight. Spring is here I'm pretty sure, and April showers bring May flowers, so I've always been told.

Has anyone watched the series The Night Manager? Binge watched this program of an evening, and really enjoyed it. Hugh Laurie did an excellent job of playing a villain in this series.

Another card from found items....and this background was probably made with sponging distress inks (or dylusions sprays...I can't remember) and was an attempt to do the ghosting technique with a stencil and water sprays.

 
- flower topper was a found yellow flower die cut ( MBox Tilth die) - colored with purple toned copics. Then gave it a couple coats of UTEE in interferon blue, and did this ever change to a pretty pearlized color. Doesn't show all that well in the photo. The ghost piece needed to be larger to fit a blue card base, so an MS border punch on some white snippets (back of a recycled Christmas card), created borders. Colored various shades of purple & dark blue copics, inked with WOW watermark ink, repeated the UTEE process doing 2 coats. I'm finding the WOW gives a thicker coating than the Versamark and worked better with having the UTEE cover the piece well. (UTEE=Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).  The stash background already had an MS corner punch treatment, which prompted the choice of MS border punches. Keep an old grungy Versamark pad that has 'gunk' on the surface from redipping embossed pieces once they have been heat embossed. This can mess up the ink pad. Was able to wipe off the newer WOW pad with a dry baby wipe, but the powder - even though melted - can still mess up a pristine pad. (if that explanation makes sense!). Once again the camera has picked up a need for a slight bit of trim up surgery on the border corners. Debating whether to add a tiny rhinestone at each of the 4 punched corners.

Paintbrush Happy MBox die cut from a light purple and a hot pink c/s, although this looks quite red here.. it really is hot pink! Tried for the shadow effect with the purple under the pink. Lastly added a clear rhinestone center to the flower and a coat of Glossy Accent to the sentiment. Nice to use up another background and some snippets!

If you look here, you'll see what 5 days and a few days of rain did to the pretty pink blossoms of this tree. The surrounding grass is also a bit greener.

Thanks for joining me this morning. Now I need to do some commenting while drinking my coffee!
Have a wonderful day, and God Bless. Hugs


4/05/2017

Waffle Flower with Brusho Cling Background

Hello Friends, and welcome. This will be a fast post, as we've been having some thunder rumbling around all morning, and the computer will be powered back down quickly. Finished up a card last night and wanted to do a post. Haven't done much the past few days, other than enjoy a gorgeous sunshine day yesterday- after a rainy gloomy Monday. Had some neighbor visits, and we rehung the porch swing. Always takes a few adjustment to the chains to get the swing 'just right' & comfortable each spring.

On to the card:


Another background made by applying cling wrap, scrunching it over wet brusho background. This is such a fun and easy technique --- after I learned to use more intense shades of colors. The paler colors don't hold up well - at least my efforts didn't!

- Waffle flower Magical Flower die: cut from another stash background. Used a yellow-shaded piece and then part of a green one for the stem & leaf. Each time  cut just the area of the color of the size wanted, and added a piece of white snippet  with that to save the cutting plate from the die blade as much as possible (meaning there were 2 layers in some places, but only the white layer in a place-if that makes sense). For the flower part, glued the white snippet piece behind the colored piece. The center part of the flower cuts separately, and that came from a tiny snippet of a brown/yellow toned background piece. That & the stem is only a single layer. Was able to use the white leaf cut behind the colored cut, so it adds a bit of dimension. When I cut sentiments from a background, I try to save as much of the remainder as possible, as you just never know when it will come in handy for a tiny part of something!

Die cut the background with a pierced die, then just used the cutter to trim a snippet of green from the stash to fit as a mat. It's paper, not card stock, and of course it ripped when I was trying to edge with some DI pumice stone. Decided to go with that torn distressed look, and did a couple more deliberate tears, roughed up the edges, curled 2 corners. Edged all of it with more Pumice Stone.

The top fold card base is a textured cream, and the Misti came in very handy to repeatedly stamp the sentiment using Versamark Sepia several times to get good coverage. We have a lot of family birthdays approaching, so along with Easter cards, I've been trying to use up bits that I'm finding on my cleaning, to make up into cards.

Ya'll have a wonderful afternoon. Will try to post again tomorrow; got another one finished last night too, from bits & pieces, snips and snaps! Hugs & Blessings.

4/02/2017

Christmas Card Club - Challenge 7 - Christmas Flowers

Hi and welcome to another Christmas Card Club post. Our theme this week was chosen by Carol who wanted to see Christmas Flowers. I happen to love Poinsettias (apparently more than I realized by the number of poinsettia stamps I'm finding during my sort-through of stamps).

 
 
 - Poinsettia inked with WOW clear embossing ink, then heat embossed with Ranger's Queens Gold. Tried using the Misti for this, as the red c/s has a texture and did not stamp well. I had difficulty using the Misti, so finally just started over, using a clear & see through block and the process worked better. The sentiment came from the same set, was heat embossed with Queen's Gold. It looks straight IRL, but looks a bit wonky in the photo. The camera always sees what the eye missed**.

Edit: since this card has some boo-boo surprise on it, and since I just remembered Darnell's 2nd Annual April Fool's Boo-Boo Hop, I'm going to link it into that challenge!

- plaid background is from a 6x6 Christmas pack in the stash. This is a side fold card. Was not terribly happy with how this one turned out, so searched out a MB Poinsettia die, and then another MBox set which has the petals in layers of different sizes.


- Die cut the base die from Canson #98 Mixed Media C/stock, as I'd decided to try to water color with Zigs. Once the bottom flower which is a single die, was finished, colored each petal layer (there are 3 in graduating sizes, and the stamen)...colored those. Adhered the single flower with dimensional foam squares, then layered the remaining layers with liquid glue. Added some Nuvo Crystal over the stamen.

- White background embossed with a Candy Cane stripes EF.

- Sentiment is from an old Inkadinkadoo clear set and the Misti was used for this - the white paper has a texture, and it required repeated inkings to get a sharp & even image.

Please do check out what my fellow team members have created to inspire us on the Christmas Flowers theme. Each member is listed in the right sidebar, and clicking on the name should take you to their blog.

Thanks for joining me & hope your weekend has been wonderful. Hugs & God bless.


4/01/2017

Brusho Garden Silhouette

Good afternoon, and welcome. Also - Happy April Fool Day, if you observe that holiday. ( one that I try to avoid...LOL). It's a gorgeous Saturday here in our area, and so far the morning has been spent in doing some much needed house chores. Took a break, and decided to write a post. Hoping to be back later in the evening with the Christmas Card Club post, so maybe you can check back in then.

I'm loving the Brushos and cling wrap technique. Watched some videos on Youtube yesterday afternoon during a little break, and gosh, you can get some fascinating looks with cling wrap, and even using the plastic garbage bags (just like cling wrap, except you can't see through it!).

Here's a background, that got stamped with an old wooden Hero Arts Silhouette stamp.

- Inked the stamp with Versafine Black onyx, and since it's wooden, couldn't use the Misti. Even though I had inked the heck out of the rubber, it still didn't give super great coverage. Used a Copic multiliner to color in the areas that needed some extra coverage. Used a Sakura gel pen to add some sparkle on the shovel and some of the plants. The colors of the background were from the brusho & cling wrap magic. Isn't that a pretty evening sky? Used an appropriately sized S/B classic square to cut out the stamped image & the black framing around the scene is part of the stamp image.

- Matted from a snippet created by other brusho & spray play, then used a scant black snippet to have another mat.

- card base was left from cutting another 8.5 x 11 piece of c/s (think it's a SU color), then embossed.

- Trim & sentiment were cut from the same brusho piece as that used for the stamping.

Here's another picture of what is blooming around our yard. This little tree is known locally as an Eastern Red Bud tree (sorry, don't know the Latin name). The pretty pink blossoms will fall off and it will just be a very pretty green during the summer. The foliage will be much thicker too.  The gardening shed in the background belongs to our neighbor.

 
 
Hugs.