FREAKY FRIDAY?

Or are they just trying out crazy styles? Neither one!!

The girls stopped by for a short visit one weekend, while visiting we started talking about Brooke's hair and how stiff/dry it was becoming due chlorine from her spending so much time in community pools over the last year. Being on a swim team year round can kill the hair, that is why Autumn was giving treating her hair to strip the chlorine out.

Once we made the treatment "paste" and started working it into the hair I thought, "What a great photo op" so out came the camera.......... I struggled with the designer paper, while I love the colors I am not a crazy about the graphic design. I just could not come up with any "cool" way to add embellishments that did not clash with the paper.

I do like the ribbon and tag treatment down the side of the title page, I was not as pleased with the journal box for the second page. I have a good idea of what I could have done instead but hey, I am trying to finish up a couple to pages for my August goal of 10 pages.

Have you ever had paper or pictures that were hard to scrap? I would like to know how you solved some of your concerns?

What I would do different is change the rectangle journal box for a large round one using the same die design as the smaller ones on the title page.

Paper, Karen Foster - SU card stock Dies, Tim Holtz embossing and Spellbinder lacy circles.

I did stamp on vellum and heat emboss the sentiments for the title page, then adhered them to the metal rings.

See you soon with more card and scrap book layouts.

Long Way Home

There has been soooo much going on this summer that I have hardly had a chance to stop long enough to concentrate on making any scrap book page layouts. I can not believe this summer is almost over. With school starting here this week and all the grand kids gone during most of the day I find I now have more time on my hands, but the days still go too fast!

I have been trying to play along with the many challenges on Split Coast Stampers, a place on-line that keep paper crafters from around the world connected. A place to "see" the work of many gifted artists, a place to find inspiration, help, or just chat awhile. The challenge I entered today was Thursdays, Ways To Use It, where this week it was to use a photograph (manly of the "What I did during summer vacation" variety) in some way. It has been my plan to get back scraping the gazillion pictures I have very neatly organized in a million boxes in a hundred closets....... OK so I exaggerate just a little, but hey, I have 100 years of pictures to do something with!! I do not exaggerate, someone had to take the family photos and man did they ever know how to preserve photos back then but then most of them were not colored pictures. Fortunately there are not a gazillion old pics.

There are some of the most recent pictures taken as well as recent purchased from my LSS. I went from Michigan, to California, to Indiana this summer and I did not get away from the heat in any state. California had the best temps during the night, but it still was hot during the day.

The papers are from the Sophie collection at My Minds Eye, they are double sided and they are now putting coordinating elements on the edge of the papers, you know that 1/2 to 1 inch edge many designer papers have that you have to cut off. That is where the paper on the left side and along the bottom of the layout came from, wonderful idea, less waste! Talk about Ways to Use It!!!

The butterflies are cut out from vellum I have had since I started scrapbooking, I usually buy at least two if not three pages of each paper I purchase. Every time I embellish a page I am thankful for that practice, I was able to cut out another butterfly to adhere on top for added dimension.

The tag is from Graphic45 and the flower is a Prima, ribbon is from a great find at an outlet store in Destin Fl. five years ago, $2 or $3 for a 50 yard roll, wow do I have ribbon to waste. One of these days I need to head back over that way to see if that store is still open. The title was cut using my Cricut.

It has been raining most of the day here today, all in all it was the perfect weather to stay indoors to work. It sounds like more rain is on the way and almost time to go to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

Digi Blossoms

If all it takes to have a creative inspiration hit me out of the blue is making a public statement about not knowing what I am going to do with an image trust me I will start dissing any project that I have started and not finished. Just let me think a minute.............

This is the free digital image I had downloaded from Sweet and Sassy. I have not bought a digital image yet as I wanted to try a few to see if I liked using them, what coloring mediums could I use that is compatible with printer ink. I do not have a printer that will handle my PTI white card stock as it is too thick, but it will easily print on Flourishes classic white paper, and that is a great plus for me as I find their paper one of the best for Copic markers.

I WILL BE looking at more digital images!

I recently (this week) started playing with newly acquired Spellbinders die beaded circle when I had a huummmm moment last night. As you can see the largest die in the circle set fits just perfectly around the digi image I was not sure how I was going to incorporate it into a card. I used a craft knife to cut around the blossoms before I ran my paper and image through my Big Kick with the die. That was yesterday and while I teamed up the colored image with SU rose red before quiting for the day I was stumped again. Then today I picked up some Prima 6x6 papers, they arrived at Flourishes yesterday. A match with the rose red paper. I am going to love these two new papers, they are bright, beautiful and coordinate with each other, how cool is that??

On a much more personal level, my only brother breathed his last breath this morning at 4:35 PST after a 5 month battle with Cancer. Thank you for the heartfelt notes, hugs, and prayers.

Madness #68

I figured I had better get this one "laid to rest" so to speak. I took pictures, I edited them, I revamped the card, I added different elements, I removed a few (hard to tell where I would have had room for more), I took new pictures and did more editing in photo shop, I added dots, big mistake, but by then I was tired of dealing with it and thought ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! or in this case too much.
All in all I thought the Midnight Madness sketch this time was very close to the last sketch. Well why didn't I use brighter colors, or something besides a floral so my cards did not look so similar? That is a very good question and I had a good answer with the best of intentions but something happened on the way to creating and this is what I ended up with.

The image is stamped then masked with eclipse tape so I could stamp over the tulip and made the background stamp appear underneath the flower.

I did use a plethora of embellishments, you like that word? Plethora, there is a story behind it that dates back 20 years but maybe another time. I use Spellbinders a lot to add texture and dimension to my cards, in this case I used spades and one of the others that I don't have labeled with a name yet. The flower are colored with Copic to match the floral image.

Recipe for card:

Stamp: Flourishes, Thank You
Paper: Memory Box, Sparkle; K&Co 12x12 Eloise; SU wild wasabi, yellow, black, pumpkin, grass green; PTI, white
Ink: Copic, Poppy Collection (reds) as sold by Flourishes, R20, R24, R27, R29 and G20, YG17; Ranger Distress ink
Embellishments: Spellbinder dies, MME Lush brads, Metal Stickers nail heads; May Arts ribbon, SU pretties collection; bead caps I have in my stash.

I have been leaving off any sentiment on the front of my cards, that way I can add it for whatever occasion I might need at a moments notice.

Thank you for stopping by and next week with be a light colored feminine card, now there is a challenge for me!

Life is a Challenge

My brother is holding his own, today. He is comfortable and in no pain although he is no longer able to respond and sleeps (with the help of drugs) all the time. No nourishment or fluids are being administered. It is times like this that I wished we did not live so far apart but still family is with him at all times.

As hard and challenging as life can be time just does not stop for the rest of us. I find that creating with my stamps or planning a layout for my next scrapbook page keeps me from dwelling on the things I can not change.

Splitcoast has provided me with inspiration, access to many blogs when I find even more inspiration and read little tid bits into peoples life that I will probably never meet IRL, unless of course the powers that be at splitcoast organizes a convention for all of it's members.



I have recently started playing along with the Clean and Simple (CAS) weekly challenge.
I had downloaded three digital images recently, one of them, a teddy bear, I will probably never use that one (don't know why I downloaded it) one of the others, blossoms of some sort is printed in the middle of my paper and I am not sure what I am going to do with it now. The one I am showing today is the best of the lot.


Of course there are many many great digital images, I do still prefer photo polymer or red rubber. Anyway, I was able to manipulate the image to have it print at the bottom right corner of my paper. I printed it on PTI white card stock.


I am pleased to tell you that alcohol markers, as in Copic, does not make the printer ink bleed or even get smudgy gray blending in with the Copic colors.

I used Poppy collection for coloring R20, R24, R27, R29 for the blossoms with G20 with YG17 and the barest touch of YG67. I sponged turquoise over the raised embossing then added kraft string to barely qualify for CAS81.


Thank you for stopping by today.

Cancer Sucks!

This is not my usual post.



Many people have had to and still are dealing with devastating illnesses in their family. There are many illnesses that have devastating effects on daily existence, finances, as well as the lives of extended family members.

At the beginning of this year I was reflecting on the fact that my immediate family had not been effected by cancer for a number of years. Then it was extended family that has gone through the pain and heart ache of a devastating illness. Little did I know that was about to change.

Cancer /ˈkænsər/ is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth, invasion, intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues, and sometimes spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood. These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, and do not invade or metastasize. Most cancers form a tumor.

I believe cancer is the worse kind of illness to have........... It Sucks! Cancer affects people at all ages with the risk for most types increasing with age. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. The prognosis of cancer patients is most influenced by the type of cancer, as well as the stage, or extent of the disease.

My brother called in April with what he said was "moderately bad news". His moderately bad news turned out to be the worse kind to have. Cancer.........a relatively rare form of cancer, esophageal cancer. Esophageal cancer has long been considered one of the deadliest malignancies in fact it is the sixth most common cause of cancer-related death.

His prognosis did not look good from the beginning, there is no cure and there is limited treatment once a patient reaches the third stage, which is the stage John was at when he was diagnosed. He did not have the risk factors, he did not have, (which is common with this form of cancer), many symptoms so it seemed to blindside us with the extent of damage. How can a man look and act healthy until the cancer has progressed so far that a Dr visit results in such a dismal prognosis.

John is in his final stage of life, word will come at any time. His was my best friend while we were growing up, even though we did fight on occasion. We have lived far apart for the last 30 years, but I always knew he would be there is I ever needed anything. He could fix or build just about anything as all of his neighbors and co workers can attest to. Most of his neighbors have remodeled houses, furniture built, and appliances or car repaired/rebuilt by his hand.

His co workers said they did not know when or even if they can find anyone that can fix things like John could. He was so good at building anything that he finally had to come up with a saying, "It will be very expensive, very difficult to make, and I can't guarantee the results". I have used that one every now and then myself.

He is loved by many people!

Cancer Sucks!

It is my greatest wish that some day there will be a cure for ALL cancer. We are not the only family that this disease has devastated and sadly we will not be the last.

MMSC67 Cooling into Fall

I have been spending more and more time on Splitcoast reading, getting inspiration, checking out everyone creations, and joining in a few challenges. I have found a new challenge to participate in at Priscillastyles, its called Midnight Madness. I thought I would give it a try, just to see what I could come up with. I also like the fact that they give you a sneak peak on Friday nights of the upcoming sketch. It gives you a heard start on creating, and I need all the time I can get.
I have seem some pretty amazing card there. Check it out for yourself.

I stamped my image from Year in Floral 3, on the oval cut watercolor paper then sponged marigold morning over the whole thing. Next I stamped with Rich cocoa the sentiment and floral image. using Copic Y21, Y35, YR14, and a touch of R35 I colored and blended the chrysanthemums. The leaves are done in YG93, YG95, and YG99.

I layered the oval on black CS cut with Spellbinders newest decorative die, Beaded Oval. I wanted the gold foil paper to show through the opening of the black layer. I tried different sizes of ovals for that layer but could not find one that fit just right so I thought (my first mistake) why not use the same beaded oval and cut a gold layer. I did that........... well duh.... it fit perfectly under the top black layer. Fortunately when I placed it under the black layer is sit a little off center................ wow, I can live with that look. Sometimes your duh moments work out!

I added some finishing touches with Nunn Design fancy floral with bronze and black pearls. And the crochet gold net ribbon has a Nunn Design floral brad attached.

The dp paper is from Memory Box Sparkle, with black CS, some gold foil and Fabriano watercolor paper.

All in all I am happy with the finished result!!

Now I have to figure out how to link it to Pricillas blog. Thank you for stopping by, and see you soon.

This Ones For Me

I just wanted to make a card using red, white and Spellbinders, so I choose the amaryllis from the Year in Flowers 3 set by Flourishes. The three sets are a great purchase, you get 12 different floral designs to use all year long, and in so many different ways.

I have always loved the Amaryllis during the holidays, the contrast of red, white, and green makes a very striking Christmas display. I just wish I could grow them outside all year long. I see now that I choose the first version of my card, here is the final out come. I added a few extra pearls after viewing the photo in my editing program. I notice more from a picture than I do IRL.

This provides me with the perfect opportunity to ask you which one do you prefer, or does it make a difference at all?

I think I achieved my goal of using Spellbinder dies don't you?? I managed to use 6 different dies.

Hope you enjoyed the view!

Cherry Blossom Christmas

This is one of those days that did not go at all as planned.... I am sure many of you have those days , some times they are good unplanned days some time not so good. Can you have a day that is both good and not so good??

I seem to find I either eat or create or both when I am under stress. It was one of those both days. When I had the chance late this afternoon to take a look at the SCS sketch challenge today and idea popped into my mind so I ran with it. Here is what I came up with as I watch the evening news.

It was the first time I designed (can I say I designed it when the sketch came from SCS?) a card from the bottom up, even going so far as to adhere all the layers together before I stamped and colored the image. After I finished the card I went looking for an image that would fit blank space. Wow, talk about being under pressure not to mess up the image while coloring!


Here I stamped Cherry Blossoms on water color paper, I colored with Copic markers R20, R24, R27, R29 with a little C00 & C01 for a little shadow. I did not mean to use Copic markers to color on watercolor paper because I have a bit of a problem with bleeding. I must get it too wet close to the edge or I just color out side the lines, whatever the reason it is purely my fault as you can use Copic's on watercolor paper with no problems.

All of the designer paper is from Memory Box's new winter release called mistletoe.

Hope you enjoy seeing this as much as I enjoyed making it.

Rose & Thyme

I had just been lamenting this week that I have not done many different techniques lately. It seems as though I had been stuck in a rut of coloring with Copic........ oh but what a beautiful rut that is! Love My Copics. Hey I need to start a new acronym...LMC, my luck there is already an acronym for that!

Anyway, I was cruising Splitcoast challenges when I saw the inspiration challenge 245. It doesn't take much imagination for you can guess which piece I used for my inspiration. I immediately thought "Watercolor! I know just the stamp set to use!" I went right to work and finished this one in short order.

No my picture is not blurry, the paper was a little too wet when I stamped the sentiment lavender, and it ran. I waited for the paper to dry before I stamped thyme.

I love the classy elegance of the projects that people make using Spellbinder dies. Talk about bringing beauty back to stamping! I have been trying to bring some of that to my creations but alas, I do not have the patience to make the masterpieces like Yvonne and Becca. My "masterpiece", (snickering here), are a little more earthy then ethereal.

Have you ever come across a blog that you just love to read because the author is witty, loves life, writes well, and just gives my spirit a lift after reading and makes me laugh out loud! If you want a new look on life the Rubber Maid is just such a blog to read!!

Card recipe: Stamps; Fine Herbs Ink; SU soft sky, buckaroo blue, baja breeze Paper; very vanilla, dark dark brown, Fabriano watercolor paper, soft sky, scrap of scrapbooking paper accessories; Spellbinder dies fancy frames, square and scalloped square.

Thank you for stopping by today and see you soon.

My Sunshine My only............

I am much more pleased with the colors on the latest card I submitted for SCS sketch challenge. This time I used Sunflowers by Flourishes, another new release. I had fun coloring the sunflowers and I'm much more pleased with results from deeper hues I get with Copic markers and brighter papers. I don't feel that I do as good a job with lighter colors and papers. That gives me one more thing to practice.

The flower pot is from Mixed Greetings. All paper is from BG origins with brown card stock a card base.

I want to thank Leslie Miller and Beate for their inspiration.

On to the next project, whatever that might be.

Make a Wish CS293

Just a another quick card for the card sketch challenge on SCS using Flourishes new release Child Play. I don't know about you but I find I have to give too much thought to making a "quick" card for the challenges. I just don't seem to have enough time to finish a card on the day of the challenge. There is always hope for next time as long as I still enjoy playing along I will continue at my own pace.

In the mean time come join Flourishes tonight for their release party at 9 PM CST on SCS. It is a fun filled, fast paced party. PLUS you can see the new stamp sets from Flourishes that I did not use........ yet.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Childhood Memories

It is that time for new releases from Flourishes. This is the first of three sets that will be released for sale this week. If you want to preorder this set go to Flourishes.org to reserve yours.


Childs Play, that was also the theme for FLLC challenge. This particular image has brought back many memories of the times my dad took us kids fishing on the lake in the town where I grew up. We went fishing in the winter as well as the summer, although all of our fishing was done during the day.


I loved the effect of embossing the silhouette image in night of navy on baja blue card stock, then using Ranger distress inks stormy skies then I used faded jeans to darken the corner for a twilight look. I carried the blue theme though to the card stock with bluegreen in the designer paper I picked up while in California. I loved the fact there is a lot of kraft color in the dp as well as being able to use the back side of the paper as my kraft layer. Sweet way to make use of the pages I do not like as well.





I made two cards just alike, something I very rarely do, and while photographing them I noticed I left out one of the elements that I had added to the original card. The original has been mailed out so I was not able to refer to it.

I had used been keeping in mind, while making this card, the BBB (bring back beauty) challenge at Flourishes. Well what can add more elegance and beautiful than a spellbinder die? Besides, I am still in love with the product (Spellbinder) I can and do use them often, especially like any product that helps me add/cut embellishments with ease. This is the fancy tag die.



I just heard, Flourishes is having a 40% off selected items sale. Making room for new product ordered at CHA. Go check it out for ribbon and Spellbinders. You will not get a better deal on selected Spellbinder dies. Check them out soon before they are gone!



There are plenty of callenges going on at Flourishes.org right now so check that out too and have a chance to win the new stamp sets. Then come join the Flourishes team Thursday night on SCS for the release party.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy all of the sneak peeks this week from Flourishes design team.

Christmas

I found with great pleasure two stamp-scrapbook stores a block apart in the small town of Nashville Indiana. I was pleased to find that they have both survived since my last visit two years ago. It is not all that long ago but with the economy what it is and with more and more LSS closing I was still pleasantly surprised to be able to shop (a couple of times in the few days we were there) for the latest and greatest in stamps and papers.

The card sketch is from Split Coast Stampers Sketch Challenge 292. The stamp is from Heartfelt Creations, the dp is a new release from Memory Box. The image was colored with a combination of Copic and SU markers and Ranger Distress inks. I ask you "Why have all of these inks if I don't use them at some point?"

I enjoyed making the card, but now I have to get back at working on some scrapbook pages.

Thank you for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Fruits of Labor

I finally got a picture taken of my title page, the trick was getting if off my camera disk that has over 300 pictures on it. I know, that is not all that many as the disk will hold 800, but it does take awhile to down load into my editing program.

I have come to the realization that it is important to preserve and organize your pictures, even the negatives. You will find it invaluable when you want to access a picture that was taken years ago. While I do have all of my pictures organized I did not do the same with the negatives, going digital has made it much easier, alas the picture I needed was not. Fortunately they are semi organized so it only took less than 30 minutes to find the one I wanted with an added bonus of being in advantex film cassette with index prints.



I used my Cricut to make the title and while my photography is not the best lighting (my shirt is fuchsia not orange) I do like the way the flash makes the design in the designer paper shine. The dp is Eloise by K&Co, card stock is from PTI and SU. Stamp is Peaches and Cherries from Flourishes.

Thanks for visiting...........

Fruits of Your Labor

I am the only one in my family that takes pictures, therefore I am not usually the subject of my layouts. When the opportunity (my sister is the other picture taker in the family) arose I jumped at the chance to include myself for a change and since I was taking pictures too I was able to capture myself, my brother, sister and mother all enjoying the California sunshine and oranges!

While I was only able to complete two pages for my July goal of 10, I am pleased with the two I completed. I was barely able to get a picture of one of those pages before I left home again for a 6 day trip.

I have been traveling so much this summer that I am ready to put my car in the garage and not take it out for at least a month, maybe longer of course that will have to be after I buy a few groceries.

I have to say, it has been HOT for Michigan, to Indiana, to California as well as in Florida this summer so it does not matter where we are it is HOT HOT HOT.

Paper is from a pad that I purchased at Micheals, I don't remember the name of the pad, I will have to look when we get back home. Ribbon and card stock is from PTI. Brads from Nunn Design.