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12/31/2017

A Beary Quilt

Hello- and welcome. Gosh, not many more hours left in 2017. This year has literally just flown by, hasn't it? I hope you are looking forward to the end of 2017, as much as we are in our family.  Praying that 2018 will be a better one for us, and all of you as well. Several of my blog buddies are having Life issues just at the moment, so sending prayers up for them, that all will be well.

We have 2 birthdays coming in January. Was hoping to get a head start on making some cards and not always be rushing at the last minute. Got some quilt dies from Gina Marie, and tucking the pieces in place while watching a tv show, is a good multi-task effort. I use coffee filters when I'm cutting dies like this, to separate the colors & not lose the little pieces. On this die, I learned the importance of checking the sizes of the little bits. Put one in where it doesn't _quite_ fit, and you're gonna not have a well-made quilt (just like in fabric piecing). Used a black mat to frame each quilt after using a white backing, but since I have a dark background for taking photos, the black doesn't show well. Here goes:


 

The first quilt is for the one SIL that I have left, and she's a quilter (in fabric, hand sewing only). The green pieces are sort of chartreuse green that brightened up the purple and blue snowflake fabric. Also the sentiment is gold foil, but shows up black in the photo. The little bear was colored before the paper colors were chosen, hence the chartreuse used. If you look at the triangles under the bear, you'll see what I mean about checking carefully that each tiny piece fits perfectly  - from the get go. Obviously I didn't on this one. Lesson Learned!
 
Unless using double sided paper, to make this quilt you use multiple colors, so the next quilt was made at the same time. Placing the colors in different formations changes up the design of the quilt. For some reason, the purple in this one looks faded, but the papers were the same in both quilts.
 
 
 
Same elements used here, and this quilt was pieced a bit better. Had fun coloring these bears and was pleased that the matching die cut out the image pretty well. Sometimes I have a problem with that, even though I may have used washi to tape the die in place. It can still shift a little as it goes through the Big Shot.
 
There were enough pieces left from this effort (I used 3 colors, so 3 quilts!) but #3 has more fitting errors than these 2 did. Both the folks who are getting these cards will be forgiving of my boo-boos (I think -[hope]!) The DP came from a 6x6 paper pad, VOS. Used a laser printer to generate the sentiment, then Minc to put gold foil over it.
 
Wishing each of you a Happy New Year, and if you celebrate away from your own home, safe travels back to home. Generally we stay put, might have a glass of wine to clink together, and usually DH will just go to bed before midnight. I'm a night owl, so I'll see 2018 in.
 
Blessings and Hugs. And prayers to those who need to be uplifted. Ya'll come back when you can.



12/25/2017

The Dove of Peace

MERRY CHRISTMAS
 
 
Here's a prayer that your day will be or has been - just the most wonderful and happy day of 2017 for you. I wanted to post a Christmas card made just especially for all those who are so kind to visit here, share sweet comments about the cards & posts I do, and for those who often chat with me by email. Your support this past year has meant so much to me, and helped me get through some tough days. When I would feel down or blue, I'd get an email or a lovely card from one of you, and my spirits lifted. Many times it enabled me to face whatever the next day might be bringing. I know that many of my friends are also dealing with some tough Life's Issues...This thing called Life visits all of us at one time or another. My prayers go out to those of you who are facing these trials.
 
I think I've mentioned here that I seldom watch the news on television. It's depressing, always something unpleasant or hateful, and that's what inspired the card today. It's a very simple card, but expresses my Christmas wish for each of you AND the world we live in.
 
 
 
Background made using Silk acrylic - royal blue as a wash over watercolor paper. While wet, sprinkled Brusho Prussian Blue, Ultra Marine and a bit of white. Spritzed with Dylusions After Midnight spray to bloom the crystals. Let that dry just a bit, then spritzed a pearlized spray for some sheen, with just a little more water to make the colors spread all over the background. I wanted a deep royal blue, and this was exactly what I had envisioned behind this white dove.  
 
- Martha Stewart mega bird punch...5 layers of snippets layered to create some dimension. Added pearls for the eyes (wish I'd left that off!) and the flower center. Leaf twig colored with copics.
 
- Hero Arts Infinity Circles cut the blue background and the outer gold mat. An old Cuttlebug Dots embossing folder for the topper. Memory Box peace die cut from a snippet of mirror c/s that had Stickit backing on it.
 
I was watching Jersey Boys while I worked on this card. Franki Valli & the Four Seasons was the sound of my teenaged years; I really enjoyed the movie and those wonderful songs.
  
Blessings, Hugs AND Peace in your world -  ya'll come back when you have time. I expect all of us can do with a little time off during this holiday season. Thanks for popping in to visit.
 



12/24/2017

Christmas Rose

Good Evening, and here it is: Christmas Eve. We have some eucalyptus and basalm candles burning, so it certainly smells like Christmas inside. Many long years ago (maybe 40+) DH had one of the then popular ceramic Christmas trees made for me, by a friend of his. This was before we got into ceramics. Surprisingly with all our moving around, the tree is still intact, all the little lights still work, so that's turned on tonight. And best of all, Mr has had 3 good days where he wasn't feeling punk. Yesterday we had a big family celebration at the daughter of Brother #2. Two of his sons were missing, but with the grands, great grands - there were enough people there, to make a lot of noise! Very festive and lots of delicious food too. Tomorrow I'll be doing some food here for DH & me, and think Bro #2 will join us. Brother #1 will be at one of his daughter's - so that's another milestone holiday for each of them to have gotten through alone - but thankfully, not truly alone!

So I've been working on a special card for the Mr. Had gotten aWplus9 Christmas Rose stamp and colored it up. Disaster. It's not an easy stamp to color, even though I thought it would be. First stamped in Memento Toffee Crunch, as I wanted a sort of 'no line' look with pastel colors. (I had looked up Christmas Rose on google to see the color ranges). Worked 2 nights, and it went from bad to worse. My coloring was ok...BUT...the pastel colors looked really washed out. Decided to check youtube to see if somebody had used this image (I knew Jennifer McGuire had, which is where I saw it..but of course I couldn't find that one!) Luckily I found Floral Highlighting with Kelly. Loved what she did so much, I cased it! Now mine doesn't look quite as good as Kelly's turned out, but I was rather pleased with it (so big thanks to Kelly! I'll edit this post later to share my first efforts...)

 
 
I didn't use exactly the same copic colors or Distress Ink colors as in the video, and also used a DOX one, but basically I CASED what Kelly did, with immense gratitude. I was getting a little panicky about having a nice card done. I think Mr. will enjoy having it. He always prefers the cards where I've done copic coloring rather than just the die cut ones. I thought about doing some gold spatters, but caution won the day.
 
So Merry Christmas to ALL of you, and big thanks to so many of you who thought of us with the lovely Christmas cards you've sent us. I hope I've shared all of them...and that you've had time to take a peak and enjoy them with us.
 
God Bless, and I hope each of you has those you love best with you tomorrow, and will be able to enjoy the day with splendid health. Family, Love and Health...and remembering the most precious Gift given us so long ago. Hugs
 


12/21/2017

A Yappy Christmas

Welcome....are you counting down? Have you gotten everything done that you meant to do? I am amazed at the people I know who have their tree up on December 1, all their cards addressed and mailed that first week. Gifts bought and wrapped and under the tree, or mailed in a timely fashion. I was fairly organized when I was working, but I'm certainly not now! Seem to get worse as the years go by too. Oh well, it's really not about the gifts...it's about Christ and family and love, and I'm ok with that.

Had to make this card in a hurry, as I thought I'd be working on it in Florida, and once we knew a little box needed to go in the mail, I had to finish it up ASAP. It's a cute My Favorite Things clear set, and I selected different images from the set to create a little scene. I didn't do any grounding, which - as I'm looking at the photo, I should have done. Some of the red lights were really magenta or orange shade, but got changed to red during the editing process. Used a Gina K red velvet to stamp the sentiment, and that showed up as pink in the photo. Didn't look good at all, so thus the editing..which also changed the things that should have had a more pink hue. Oh well, DD will like the card. It has a dog on it.

Of course copics were used along with an old Snow Writer on the fur of the hat, which surprised me by not being all dried out. Glossy accents on the jingle bell, the ornaments and the star.

Impression Obsession light string die, cut from white c/s, and colored. The Glossy Accents added a touch of gleam to the lights...(there was only one red one, and the round ornament was magenta). The top light (not on the string) was orange, and there were some different shades of orange on the string too. Oh well, it happens. The finished piece was die cut with a S/B scallop die and then used the same die to cut the folded card base.  (oh yeah, in the photo, the dog, tree and stocking stayed as colored!!)

I hope you are able to get in a little relaxation. Yesterday I caught up a bunch of comments from the last 2 posts, watched the rain, and balanced the checkbook. Intended to go to the basement to do some stamp cleaning, put away a bunch of schtuff...the last bit hasn't happened yet.

Blessings & Hugs, and ya'll come when you can.

12/19/2017

Poinsettia Christmas

Hello and welcome. Not too long until the big day. Still have a few more cards to get made that will be hand delivered.

I always make my brothers a special card for the holiday. This year was a little pushed for time, so made all 3 pretty much the same. The image is a clear Avery Elle one, heat embossed with my favorite Ranger Queen's Gold. Colored - carefully with copics. Flower centers were colored with a Pentel gold slicci pen. These are getting harder to find in my area...this is my favorite gold pen.


- The colored image was die cut with a Gina Marie rectangle. Added some Impression Obsession tiny holly & leaves, which were colored with copics, and then a few sequins.  Pretty simple, and I hope they will like it.

Do please check out the Cards by Friends page if you have time & enjoy some of the lovely cards we've received. Ya'll stay cozy and come back when you can. Hugs & Blessings.

12/17/2017

A Happy Birthday Poinsettia

Good evening, and thanks for stopping by for a little visit. We have a dear friend from our days in Florida, who is going to be 100 years old on Christmas Eve. This sweet lady has since been moved out to California by her son, so that he can better look after her, but aside from most things age-related, she is still sharp although due to some falls in the past, she moves about with a wheelchair. She loves to read, watch tv, goes to craft & social functions at the living facility where she resides. So what to make for this special lady? We even looked at Hallmark as I wanted something very elegant and beautiful for her. I was quite disappointed, as all of the cards we saw were humorous or just not suited for this milestone occasion. So, thinking...well, it's Christmas AND her birthday, she likes flowers...poinsettias, right? So here's what finally evolved, and I will say right up front, it looks much better IRL than it does in the photo.


- A Penny Black poinsettia background was stamped using versamark, heat embossed with Queen's Gold.

- White cardstock was die cut with a Tim Holtz Mixed Media die (which I thought I had in my stash; then when I went to pull it from storage, that was not one of the 2 mixed media sets I have! Murphy's Law!) After this corner was die cut, the piece was embossed with a Tim Holtz poinsettia EF.

- A stampendous poinsettia image was stamped with versamark, heat embossed with Queen's Gold, and colored with copics (carefully, as the nibs don't like the embossed edges). I did 2 sets of this poinsettia, adhered one layer. Then on the 2nd layer, used a stylus to raise up the petals on some leaves. Looking pretty good, until I tried to 'deboss' the center, and stylus poked through! Grrr! So first thought of Nuvo drops, but then decided to drop some glossy accents into the center, then add some of the tiny, tiny gold beads (forget what these are called..it's not prills). Of course these little things just go all over, but I managed to mound them up and it dried overnight.

- Sentiment was heat embossed with the same gold on heavy weight vellum. I was going to add 100th between the words, but did not have any number stamps that looked appropriate with the size of the sentiment letters. Inside it references the milestone, and I hope she will enjoy knowing this card was made just especially for her. We've always thought a great deal of this elegant & refined lady and don't get to see her since she moved to California.

Some lovely cards were added to the Cards by Friends page tonight. Are you as intimidated to send your cards to fellow card bloggers as I am? But we sure do get a bright lift to our day to receive them from these sweet people. I have a few more, but haven't photo'd those as yet.

Have a wonderful week, and hope you can find some relaxing time. We aren't real sure we'll make our trip to Florida for Christmas. DH had a procedure to shatter the kidney stone on Thursday, and we're not 100% sure that it's successful. He's done pretty well, but still seems to have some pain at night when he lies down. Still watching to see if anything passes...just didn't feel it was the thing we should do to take a 12+ hr drive, perhaps encounter a problem while away from his doctor and his records. So we're just a little 'down'...but all things happen for a reason.

God Bless. Hugs too.

12/09/2017

Christmas Card Club - Gifts

Good evening and welcome. It's a very brrr-ish evening, and has been a cold day. Had some more snow this morning, but it quit falling, and about noon, the sun came out very nicely. Watched some icicles melt off the bird feeder, and was even brave enough to attempt to add a little food to one of the trays. I held onto deck rails just in case, as I could see the iciness on the snow that was still there. Was very careful, as I've slipped on black ice some years ago, and tore up a knee.

Today is the last Christmas Card Club Challenge of 2017. Our sweet Rita selected Gifts as our theme. Took a bit of deciding on which way to go with this Gifts theme. Recently got a pretty nativity ornament and thought of that at first, as of course that was ever the most wonderful Gift of all. Stumbled onto a House Mouse stamp which I've colored before, and decided to go with that. Here 'tis.



Stayed with the lighter shades when I colored with copics and used some glitter paper to cut out the oval front layer. This is popped up on dimensional dots. The die is a rectangle which cuts a frame, the oval, and an oval frame.  The snow under the mice feet was made with Crystal Stickles, then sifted some Martha Stewart Chunky glitter while that was wet. Just colored the Santa Mouse fur with a white pencil and didn't try to add any flowersoft to this.

Die cut some more gifts from glitter paper.. and will just put the sentiment inside. Done!

Thanks for all the good wishes for Mr. He's had a quiet day. Hope tomorrow is a repeat. Just trying to remind him to drink lots.

Another couple of cards added to the Cards by Friends page, which I hope you have time to enjoy.

My fellow team members' blog links are on the right sidebar. Take a look at what they've shared on this fun challenge theme.

I'm very behind in returning comments, but I promise, I'll do my best to catch up ASAP.

Thanks for stopping in, have a blessed day, and Hugs.

12/08/2017

Thinking of You

Hello again, back with a couple of the snow pictures and a card that had to be mailed today. I'd done the apples to put on a Thanksgiving card, but decided the image would work well on this mica background. Just learned that one of my cousins has a brain aneurysm, and fortunately she got medical attention when the symptomatic headache started. I'm reading more & more - or hearing about folks - who develop intense headaches. These are people who seldom have headaches...then get a very severe one, that doesn't go away with aspirin or Over the Counter stuff like we all use. Then if the blood pressure is checked,  it's elevated. This cousin knew what had happened with SIL, so got a fast appointment to learn there's a problem. She will be getting it repaired next week. I know she's frightened, so thought perhaps a card might cheer her, to know prayers are being said. One of my brothers said "We're all falling apart". True!!!



- The background was made using Saffron Mineral Burst as a wash on 98# mixed media c/s. Then sprinkled some of the red brusho crystals over it. I was careful, as I didn't want to lose the lovely golden color of the mineral burst. I tend to get a bit carried away when I'm sprinkling the crystals, as it's such fun to watch the colors bloom.

Used a pretty EF with a pattern at top and bottom, just for a little dimension. The apples have some WoS on some. This image was a boo-boo. Had colored an image, die cut it, and was trying to sponge an antique looking edge around the diecut. Well, that just made a big mess. Cut out that basket, but stamped another one and colored, die cut. Used the messed up one behind the re-done one, and used a stylus on both images to create a little lift to some apples. IRL it looks nice. Doesn't show in the photo.

- Stitched fish tail banner with the sentiment, remembered to tie a ribbon before adhering to the cardbase, and it's done, mailed today.


Here's some Snow pictures of our surprise today.






Thanks for the feedback on the font size change. I do appreciate all who took time to let me know their thoughts.

Added a pretty card to the Cards by Friends page, which I hope you will take time to enjoy.

Hugs & have a great weekend. Thanks for visiting. I'll try to catch up visiting over the weekend.



Snow!

Hi - Just popping in quickly to say we are having an unexpected snow fall. I had an appointment this morning, then had to hurry home to take DH to the urologist. On the way home, it was raining, which had been predicted. Temperature was dropping some as well. At first I thought "Gosh, that rain looks weird", then realized, it's sleet! Well just a few miles down the road it's "is _that_ snow? By Golly it IS snow". By the time I got to our subdivision it was really coming down, huge flakes. We didn't think it would lay on the ground as the ground was too warm, but here at 5:45, we have white covering the ground. I expect once the temps drop further tonight, there will be ice about. I took some pictures, and when I have time I'll post.

Another reason for the post: One kind blog pal commented the font in black was difficult to read (Thank you! I appreciate the feedback). I tried a couple other colors that didn't seem to me to be any easier to read, so I did make the font size larger. I'd appreciate some feedback as to whether this helps to make the reading easier. I didn't change the font (another option) but just the size. The font is the arial font I've been using, but I'll try another one if it is still hard to read.

Ya'll stay warm. I'm off to get a warm shower as we were out in the chill, and we don't need colds on top of the other stuff. If Mr. doesn't pass the stone (and he may have 2 - in different places..CAT scan shows one in the urethra, but the xray he had today shows one in the kidney) - anyway, if nothing passes by Thursday...he will be admitted for outpatient surgery. They do something called Shock wave something or other which will break up the stone in the kidney so he can pass it. This is as long as the stone is visable on an xray. If it moves, and they can't see it, they have to go upwards - UGH! - with a camera and don't know if they extract it or break it up. Didn't ask a lot of questions as the patient was cringing a lot! Either way he'll be put to sleep, but I guess the afterwards might be worse if they have to search for a stone.

Hugs & stay cozy tonight.

12/07/2017

Birthday Rusty Truck

Good evening, and hope it's been a pleasant day where you are. I hope all my USA friends remembered it is Pearl Harbor Day.

Here at our place, we are dealing with Mr. having a kidney stone (at least we hope that's all it is). Been having a problem since Friday; thought we were seeing his urologist Tuesday afternoon, showed up at the wrong office (a scheduling error by the staff), only for a specimen. Rather aggravated by the seeming incompetence. But it happens. Anyway, early next morning, we had to make a run to the emergency room, as he was in such pain. Had a CAT scan, got some pain relief via an IV drip of some powerful stuff. So got on my TLC hat once again. Hoping he can pass it, so no other procedures will need to be considered. As yet, no stone.

Some weeks back, we were in a Birds & Bloom store, and Mr. saw a neat birthday card. He liked the sentiment, showed it to me, and said "Can you make something like this?" I knew we had some truck stamps, so "yes I can do something like that". The actual card had sort of an old Model T (like the Tim Holtz one) colored as this truck is.

Here's the result:


- Think this is a PSX stamp. First I stamped the truck, colored it sort of like the inspiration card, then tried to mask it in order to create a tree background. Well, that was a big bust! Looked terrible. Fussy cut out the truck; on another c/s stamped different tree stamps from the stash (some were Stampscapes, others were a 3D Spellbinders trio, and a couple of other trees in different sizes using different shades of green). Positioned the truck and saw that I needed some more trees to make the scene look right. Just kept stamping on trees til it looked ok with the truck.

Once everything was in place on the tree background, added glossy accents to the windows. Right before taking the photo, I thought "I should have emphasized the holly berries more", but it needed to get mailed. I'd used some red glitter pen on the berries, but it doesn't show all that well. An old C/B folder which reminded me of the toolbox pattern on so many pickup trucks was embossed on the mat.

This is for our very best friend, and I think he'll like it. The inside sentiment says "But we're still runnin' ".

Do please have a look at the Cards by Friends section. A new card is up, and we received another beautiful one this afternoon. I'm so thankful we have so many lovely people who share their thoughts and skills with us.

God Bless, and if it's nasty weather where you may be, stay cozy. Hugs.

12/03/2017

Backgrounds, Tree, Snippets

Happy Sunday afternoon. We're having a gorgeously sunny & most pleasant afternoon after an overcast & rather gloomy day on Saturday. Today I'll share a couple so-so cards, finished from salvaged bits (snippets) and  boo-boo.

Here's the first - the boo-boo

 
- Background created from mica products(Mineral burst, color burst, pearlized sprays) using #140 watercolor paper. This was the first try with the liquid mineral burst, and I was quite happy with the results here.

Used several sizes of snowflake dies and glitter paper to layer the medallion. Cut the Penny Black die from the same paper, but letters of this die were very tricky to handle. There's 3 layers, and each layer was difficult to get adhered together straight. After it was placed on the background, it didn't look at all as I wanted. After looking at it, took a gold gel pen and outlined around the words, and decided 'that's it'. I hated to toss the pretty background.

Tried this as a square card, and it didn't look right. Used the 5.5x4.25, added a border of gold glitter paper top & bottom, and some SU sequins to cover the join. This is one that may stay in the stash box and get cannabilized for something else. Not real happy with this die either...too fussy to have to work with (for me anyway!) It's a very pretty font on the die though.

- this one is the Snippets one! The tree was cut from a ?Hero Arts? die that cuts the tree shape and the little branches, which are then lifted out from the surface. Used a mica created background for this, then rubbed some Nuvo Mother of Pearl mousse around before lifting the branches. The Nuvo MoP. had been closed properly, still has the inner seal, but it had dried out quite badly. I'm wondering if spritzing a little water into the container might rehydrate...anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd only used it once before, but it's been a while. I had a problem with the small pots of Inca Gold old formula some years back.Wondering if the mousse is going to give me similar problems. It does give a nice sheen though.

A snippet that had a circle die cut from it, was handy and another piece that had some embossing paste....used the cut out as a stencil atop the paste piece, and sponged various shades of dark blue to create a night sky. I was trying to create a way to use the tree, as that was the jump off point for this card. Added some white gel stars. Torn paper with Sparkle n Sprinkle Twinkling Clouds spread over liquid glue to create some snow drifts. Decided to add 2 little Art Impression birdies, and the sentiment. Done!

Now for just a couple of the Thanksgiving cards that got made, but not mailed in time.


The next 2 were sponged DOX & embossed background. The image is an old Art Impression cling that I have always enjoyed coloring.

Still have a couple more Thanksgiving cards I may share, where I was experimenting with the Whitewash technique.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Hope that you had a good weekend, and ready to tackle the  seasonal rush that is beginning! Hugs & Prayers.