Silver Bells

Welcome to my Sunday afternoon world. The day got off to a late start, but no matter..it's a sunny day, temp is about 67, so quite pleasant. Today is our Christmas Card Club Challenge. It was our sweet Asha's turn to select the theme, which is Silver Bells.
{Had just started this post and our internet service went down for a while...so this post was delayed again}

I have a PSX stamp that was perfect for this challenge, but it has decided to hide, so after several efforts searching for it, decided to go with the stamp on this card - it's bells - just not the ones I had in mind :-)

- Great Impressions image stamped with Memento Grey Flannel. Colored with Copics, WoS and a Pentel Gold fine point pen on the hangers & streaked through the greenery. WoS silver made these bells glisten so nicely, but don't think the photo shows it. S/B Standard Tag die cut, edged with DI Antique Linen, then Stormy Sky around the edges.

- Background: Canson #98 Mixed Media paper, sprayed with Dylusions Turquoise mixed with white, then added Lindy's Starburst sprays in blues, greens, along with some golds, silver & pearl oversprays. After drying, a Crafters Companion 8x8 Embossalicious Seasonal Music EF embossed in the Grand Calibur. Have purchased several of the 8x8 size EFs, but don't think I'll buy any more. Because: the GC has to be used for this size - which means moving from its storage, gathering the plates for the sandwich. I have to remember how to use the plates with a folder sandwich. Thought I was going to break the machine as it was difficult to pass the sandwich of:  base plate, folder with the mixed media paper, raspberry adapter plate and 2 thin cardboard shims. It did create a lovely effect though!

- snippet of red-white dot paper die cut with a small rectangle from S/B Nautical frames set.

- snippet of green pearl c/s, left from another project was embossed with a holly motif EF, after inking with Memento Cottage Ivy green.

- S/B Twisted Metal Tags & Accents cut the fancy mat behind the bells. This cuts in 2 pieces - used both for the mat.

- MB Jingle Bells with silver glitter paper. Cut the piece  to fit around the focal motif.

- Starform sentiment sticker.

Please do visit my Christmas Card Club teamies (the links are on the right sidebar) and enjoy their take on the week's challenge of Silver Bells.

Since the card has a few Snippets in the layers - there's a new week over at Pixie's Snippet Playground Week 153, I'm going to jump over to say Hello to my little buddy bear, Parsnip. Parsnip is the guardian of the gates at the Playground. Check it out, why don't you? In the meantime, enjoy the last Sunday of November, 2014. Thanks for joining me this afternoon.  Big Hugs.

More Shipping Boxes

Hello & welcome on Saturday afternoon. To update you on my last post: I contacted Amazon via their on-line chat. Thanks to the commenter who suggested contacting Amazon - it reminded me to do just that! I did think over what I wanted to say, as I didn't feel it was Amazon's fault...just that they should be aware that it happened. Dealt with a pleasant lady, who said she understood my frustration, and would make a report of the occurrence. I've purchased from Amazon quite a bit, and this is the first time I've been this aggravated over shipping practices. Supposedly if they get complaints about this kind of vendor policy, they will 'pull the vendor'. ?Maybe? She did offer me a credit on my next purchase. Which was appreciated, but I didn't complain to get a credit...just 'cuz I was so aggravated at such foolishness. One commenter did have a good thought that perhaps the vendor assembly lines packing, with a standard size box, and whatever size the product goes in it for speedy shipment. Could be --- but if so, it's a stupid waste of resources in my opinion. But then again, the buyer pays for it.

Ok, in the mail Friday, 2 more packages arrived..one was part of the Amazon purchase where I added the tiny brush to the cart. It was a dvd set that shipped directly from Amazon. Here's how it arrived:

You can see the padded envelope size compared to the dvd size. Pretty much an appropriate shipping to keep the dvd safely while in transit. {Yes, I AM a big Martin Clunes fan!}

This package from Blitzy arrived the same day as the Amazon dvd. Again, the size of the box was appropriate to the contents. The box was full. All of the bottles were placed in sealed bags - several bottles to a bag...no danger of losing anything as the box was emptied. There was some crumpled tissue paper at the very top - 2 thin sheets.

Here are the 2 boxes side by side. You can see that the Artarama box was nearly twice the size as the fully packed Blitzy box...for one tiny brush.

I'm belaboring the point-- sorry. At least I felt a bit better after I contacted Amazon to let them know this happened. Will anything come of it? Probably not! But I got it off my chest. I hope by posting this situation on the blog, that it will make my readers aware that if getting something from an Amazon 3rd party vendor, and your ship charges look more than expected...just be sure you want that product badly enough to chance this happening. Oh yes, the ship charges from Blitzy for this very full box, were barely half as much as what was paid for the Amazon order which was the DVD & the brush!!! OK...my rant about shipping boxes is ended. :-)

DH has been gone yesterday & overnight, so Mrs. has been busy doing some much needed cleaning that doesn't get done when he is home. (he either doesn't want me to do it 'then', or he comes up with somewhere for us to adventure off. And I'm very susceptible to putting off  housework!) So I have been productive at least with house chores. He should be home shortly.

Back tomorrow with a card for our Christmas Card Club, and my plans are to try to do some visiting this afternoon. Happy afternoon. Thanks for popping in, and Big Hugs.

Miscellaneous - Shopping

Good evening. Thanksgiving dinner is eaten, dishes are cleaned, and now it's time to get the fall decorations out of the way, and start with the Christmas look. Some of the houses in our neighborhood already have their decorations up. I applaud their initiative, but that's just a tad too early for our house. I enjoy seeing the decorations, but after about a week, I'm ready to reclaim the space for the 'normal' look. Not sure how much we'll put out this year..

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the Thanksgiving card. What wonderful people my visitors are! This is a 2nd post for today, as I didn't want this one to be part of the gratitude feeling of this morning.

Recently I saw Heather Telford (bits & pieces) use a tool (Kemper Spatter brush) in this tutorial on her blog. Checked Dick Blick, and they didn't have it. Found one at Amazon and it was around $5, and since I'm a bit spatter challenged, and since I was getting 2 other items, I added the spatter brush to the order. The brush was coming from another vendor. I was surprised at the shipping charges. The brush came Tuesday. Here's the brush:

Here's the packaging it was shipped in:

Hopefully this indicates the size of the large box this tiny brush was mailed in. Absolutely ridiculous, as it would have fit very nicely in one of the small padded mailing envelopes and not cost the whopping ship charges. It was packed with the plastic air filled fillers. (not the peanuts...the picture below shows the stuff I hope). The brush was on the top of the bubble wrap, under the 2 layers of air filling stuff. I nearly missed finding it.

The bubble wrap in the bottom was ok...there were 2 of the air filled thing-a-majigs to fill the box so the tiny brush didn't roll around. I couldn't believe the stupidity of mailing something this small in a box this huge, and charging such fees to ship. I don't usually name a business but I will on this one, as I don't think it was an Amazon problem. The contract vendor who sent me the brush was Jerry's Artarama. This is my first experience at buying from this site...you can bet it will be my last. And I'm giving some thought to complaining to Amazon about this. In future Amazon orders, I will be very careful to see where something is shipped from - if it's not directly shipped from Amazon.

Just felt I wanted to share this so that everyone else knows to watch out for this. Maybe there was a reason the huge box was used, but I sure can't think of it!!! Can't wait to try this brush though, and see if I can get spatters instead of blobs.  If  you aren't familiar with Heather's fantastic work, you are in for a REAL treat!

Big hugs. G'nite. (I'm behind on visiting again, so will take a blog post break while I try to catch up. Got a commitment for Sunday, and am looking for a stamp I want to use.) So bye again....

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my USA friends.

 

And to all my international friends: Although you may not celebrate the day as the holiday that we do here in the States, I hope that you will take a few moments to pause and think about all those blessings that you have in _your_ life for which you feel gratitude & thankfulness. We should not need a specific day to contemplate those things, but it's a good reminder when we have a holiday that celebrates them. I hope that you can spend the day with your family or someone you love.

 

Please check the tab at the top (Cards by Friends)for some lovely holiday cards we have received - and enjoy them with us. In our family, we have such a lot of blessings during our lifetime. One particular area for which I feel especially thankful, is that during this blogging adventure, I've gotten to know so many of you. Have enjoyed your crafting skills, and learned a bit about where you may live in the world. It's a blessing I never had considered some years ago...and I'm very grateful for it.  

 

Today's card is dedicated to all those lovely people who visit here, leave encouraging & kind comments. I always feel so humbled by that, and even more so, when I pay a return visit and can enjoy work that amazes me with the beauty & skill of the crafter.

 

 

 

- Sweet Stamps Avery (3044J) - colored with Copics & WoS & Pentel fine point pens.

 

- S/B Labels 39 (S4-462), edged with DI Spiced Marmalade, then Antique Linen  while still in the die. 

 

- card base covered with a white c/s that had been sponged with Wild Honey, Shabby Shutters, Pine Needles. Sponged Salty Ocean over the greens, then spritzed with a gold spray for some glisten.

 

- PBlack sentiment die cut - 2 layers, colored with Copics in oranges.  Added a few blue sequins.

 

Wherever you may be in the world today, I wish you Thankfulness and Happiness. Thanks for joining me today. God Bless. Big Hugs