Swirly Days

Somehow, this time of year is busy and "swirly" for me. Lots to do, weather changing, holidays approaching...not a calm autumn like it used to be when the kids were younger. I'm starting to see swirls and movement in everything now, including our last science project: Peter's Mars volcano...who knew that a little food coloring, vinegar and baking soda could be so much fun? Anyways, last week I tried paper piecing for the first time, and it was so much fun! Anastasia gave it a go, too (although she didn't finish her card, so I can't post it). I found a cute pumpkin stamp at Michael's and just had to piece it with Basic Gray's Ambrosia paper. Yes, it is a busy card, but it kind of fits my mind and mood right now...
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Pumpkin (Michael's $1 bin); Ink...Noir (Palette); Paper...White (GP 110#), Ambrosia (Basic Gray), Orange Poppy (Martha Stewart); Misc...glue pen (Martha Stewart), craft knife (Fiskars), Rectangle Nesties

I made this next one as a joke for my mom...she's not into the patterned paper thing, or combining patterns on one card, but I just had to make her an autumnal greeting card...plus, I added gray satin ribbon, which is close to black, and according to her, "black makes everything classy." So, yeah, it's a busy card, but I still like it.
SUPPLIES: same as above, except used Summer Sunrise (PTI) for base and Gray satin ribbon (Joann's Bridal ribbons) and circle Nesties

And here is our swirly volcano activity...this is after Peter had calmed down, so it's not a very ridiculous picture...although I do still have those in my possession...

Thankful Again

Well, it got warm here today, but I'm not complaining, because it will give my tomatoes a chance to ripen. Usually at this time of the year, it is routine to have cloudy and misty mornings and gray days, so I am thankful for a few of these unusually warm, sunny days. Here's a photo of a little rose that popped up out of nowhere this year...it had the prettiest color, and I would just stare at it and smile. I hope it comes back next year...I worked on a few Thankful cards and tried to use some new techniques: distressing with ink and paper-piercing. I couldn't decide on one layout, so did three similar-but-subtly-different styles:

Center image with pierced swirl:
Center image with pierced straight line:
Off-center image, no piercing, but with ink-distressing:
I don't know which one I like best...kind of like them all. I still need to practice the ink distressing more, because I get such inconsistent results (sometimes too much ink, or ink in the wrong spot)
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Falling Foliage (Hero Arts), Out on a Limb (PTI); Ink...Brown (Palette), Antique Linen (Distress Ink); Paper...Vintage Cream, Kraft, Dark Chocolate (PTI); Misc...Segoe font (16pt, brown) for sentiment, rectangular & tag Nesties, prismacolor pencils/OMS/blending stumps.

And here's my little reason for not getting much done lately...Pippin! She's 14 weeks old now...I can't believe how big she has grown. Puppies are a lot of work, and it has been a little difficult shifting around activities that I used to do (like getting laundry done) to make time for her and clean up her accidents. Last night we moved her crate out of our room and into the computer room; I gots me some sleep last night!!

Kidspiration #8

Looks like it's time for another Kidspiration entry! I think this was actually done 2 weeks ago, but since I was sick last week, it just didn't get posted (a lot of stuff didn't get done last week).

First up will be Sophia, and her card inspired by her obsession with monkeys and chimps:
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Curious George (All Night Media), Simple Alphabet (PTI); Ink...Noir (Palette); Paper...stash; Misc...brads (Making Memories), brown grosgrain (Joanns)


Next, is Anastasia's card. inspired by her LOVE of yellow (or is it an obsession?) :
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Garden Flower (Inkadinkado); Paper...Yellow #3 (DCWV), White (Georgia Pacific); Ink...black (Marcella); Misc...button, yellow satin ribbon (Joanns)

And I just had to put in a photo of my yellow guys...they are just now looking like they are getting ready to go away for the winter, so I thought I'd preserve them with a photo. They live in front of the house and always greet me when I drive up; their color is so striking, it just makes me smile when I see them...

Preserving Some Flowers

I've been working on cards with browns, oranges, and autumnal colors lately. I don't mind those colors, but needed some bright colors to make me happy again. So I decided to use these ones for Papertrey's weekly card challenge: Spring Moss, Lemon Tart, and Christmas Red (not really sure if that's what it's called; it was a scrap in my "Red" folder). And white...can't forget that, because somehow it reminds me of crisp, clean linens...

I wanted to do an image of a flower, but I really don't have any flower stamps, so I used the little ones from "Boxes, Bags & Tags"...stamped them in the lighter shade first, then rotated the stamp and stamped in the darker red. I think I could have added something to the centers, though. I used a stem from "Green Thumb", and stem leaves are from "Out on a Limb". I kind of messed up the sentiment, so I just covered it with a new sentiment on a Spellbinders tag. The Lemon was stamped with the solid leaves from "Out on a Limb" in Versamark. The bow is a faux bow that Tracy told me about (she gave me this link, which has a good video tutorial). It seems that I learn a few new things about card making every week, but don't always use them. My latest goal is to do at least one challenge and use at least one new technique a week. We'll see how long I can do that...anyways, here are my happy flowers:
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Out on a Limb, Boxes Bags & Tags, Green Thumb , Mixed Messages (PTI); Ink...Noir (Palette), Spanish Olive (Versamagic Chalk), Chianti & Scarlet (Colorbox), Versamark; Paper...Lemon Tart, Stamper's Select White (PTI), Red (unknown scrap); Misc...Tag Trio, Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), White grosgrain (Joann's)


Now, I just had to take some photos of my friends in the back yard, as a way of preserving them, so that I can look at them in the winter and smile...

These guys are SO TALL...like 7 or 8 feet. They are funny, because they bloom only at the top and their tops are almost too high to enjoy. But their blooms are gorgeous...
So I just lifted my camera, and started shooting...this is what the birds get to see. It's like the flowers are blooming just for them...Hello, Roses! (Sorry, I really like roses...)

Autumnal Thanks

Well, I was inspired to do another Inkadinkado card...I know, enough already, but I certainly am getting my money's worth with this stamp set! This time, I combined it with PTI's Everyday Blessings, to try to make a Thanksgiving card. I hope it will work. There are so many cute Thanksgiving sets out there, but I just don't have the funds right now to invest in them. But I'm thankful for the stamps I do have :)

Of course, the brads on this card form a Braille letter! This one is the letter "c," which has nothing to do with the theme of the card; it was more for balance. The photo makes the ribbon appear kind of gray, but it is actually a sage green IRL, and matches the green in the DP.


SUPPLIES: Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado), Everyday Blessings (PTI); Ink...Brown (Palette); Paper...Mellow (Basic Grey), Summer Sunrise & Dark Chocolate (PTI); Misc...rectangle Nesties, silver sage twill (Martha Stewart), brads (Making Memories)

And here's a picture of one of the things I'm very thankful for: my oldest son, Ziggy! This was taken on Thursday evening, after we went to a bike event at the School for the Blind. Since it was dinnertime, we decided to go to McDonalds for a Big Mac Feast (can't beat 2 Macs for $3 on Thursdays)...yes, we ate a total of 8 Big Macs (although Peter opted for salad, of course).

More Inky Trees

I was having fun stamping my Inkadinkado stamps on some Basic Grey paper, and made a few more Autumnal cards. When I stamped the tree in black ink, Anastasia said it looked "too much like Halloween," but in brown ink she said, "ooh, pretty!" I kind of like the brown ink ones, too.

I didn't put a sentiment on them so that they could be just note cards, and I didn't want to cover up any of the pretty patterned paper!SUPPLIES: Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Ink...Brown (Palette); Paper...Harvest (DCWV), Mellow (BasicGrey), Coffee Bean (Martha Stewart); Misc...Classic circle Nesties

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Ink...Brown (Palette); Paper...Summer Sunrise (PTI), Coffee Bean (Martha Stewart), Mellow (BasicGrey); Misc...Classic circle nesties

Here's the trio, together. Looks like I'm in a more Mellow, than Ambrosia mood. I am really enjoying these two sets of patterned papers.

And now a bit of puppy business: A while ago, we put Scooby's water and food up on a box so that she would have an easier time eating (since she's an older dog, it's hard to bend and eat). Pippin decided that she needed to eat and drink this way, too. We even put her dishes on the floor, but she still goes over to Scooby's box-thingy, and eats "just like Scooby does." What a riot!

"B" is for Bunny

Maybe it's because I'm in a Back-to-School mood, but decided to post another Braille Embellishment card. Again, with "B", because repetition leads to memorization (right, Anastasia?). The pearls on the lower right form a Braille '"b", and "bunny" starts with "b".

This is actually a card I made a few months ago, for my mom, who likes bunnies. She always wants black/gray cards that are serious...so I kind of made it formal on the outside, with no color: And not so formal on the inside:
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Bunny (Inkadinkado); Ink...Noir (Palette); Paper...Stamper's Select (PTI), others from my stash; Misc...prismacolors & OMS, Pearls (Martha Stewart), paper piercer, plastic canvas, Giddyup font (dafont.com).

And a quick picture of Pippin, waiting patiently for her first appointment with the Vet...

"B" is for Branch

Whenever I see brads on cards that are arranged in groups of 2 or 3, I think of braille letters (my oldest son is blind, so I'm around Braille all the time). The brads on this card make the letter "b"...

There was a color challenge on the PTI forum using Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate and Kraft.

I think I should have done something for the background, but I wanted the card to look simple, and I only have a polka dot backgrounder (I think burlap or rice paper would look cool).

I really like the Out On a Limb set. It gives a view of nature that please me. When I was a girl, I was outside all the time, and had a panoramic view of nature. Ever since my college days though, my view has been pretty much out of the window of my room. Sometimes I could see an entire tree from my window, but most of the time it was a portion of the tree, just like this branch. Even after college, this has been my view...especially when my kids were little; somedays I didn't get a chance to go outside, but I could look out a window at a tree. We actually had a house that had a view like this card in our bedroom; only it was a crabapple tree, but it was so nice to look at...

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Out On A Limb, Mixed Messages (PTI); Paper...Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Kraft (PTI); Ink...Dark Chocolate (Palette), Scarlet & Cranberry (Colorbox); Misc...Nestabilities, brads (Making Memories)

Yeah, I don't know about this one either, but it was fun

I was inspired to try stamping on patterned paper today. My first attempt was with butterflies on some cute Memory Box paper, but the results were awful...

So I decided to stamp on "sort of" patterned paper from Basic Grey's "Ambrosia" (wow, I like this set...and I'm not an orange person). I stamped my tree on the non-patterned solid paper from the pack and mounted using a traditional layout...not really satisfied with the results, but Anastasia liked it, so maybe it's okay...


SUPPLIES: Paper...Ambrosia (Basic Grey), Black (Memory Box), Orange (DCWV); Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Ink...Noir (Palette); Misc...black satin ribbon (Joann's generic), dimensionals, classic circle Nesties

I forgot to post a photo of our new puppy, Pippin, so here she is:
Steve brought her home as a surprise last Friday...he'd been out of town all last week, found an ad for a dog breeder, and picked her up on his way home...kind of a nice surprise, and I've been wanting a second dog for a long time...I think our other dog, Scooby, is going to get a lot of exercise with this new puppy running around.

Celebrate Today

Steve is going out of town for the week (again), and Ziggy starts school today...my other kids started homeschool yesterday, and I think it went okay; we even managed to take the new puppy to the vet. Right now, I'm just trying to feel energetic enough to have a good attitude. So I decided a happy card might do the trick. The sentiment I chose was "celebrate today," and why not? The fact that it is indeed Today is more than enough reason to celebrate.

When I saw this Confetti paper (My Mind's Eye), I just smiled. Don't know if it is the dots or the colors or maybe both. It was one of those impulse buys (sorry, Steve, don't growl too much at me), and I even bought coordinating ribbon. I really haven't made much with the paper yet, because I get happy just looking at it. But I just had to put my Lockhart butterfly on it (because she's kind of dotty, like the paper)...maybe I should name her "Dotty" or "Confetti"...hmm...

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Butterfly (Lockhart), Large Polka Dots for envie (CHF), Mixed Messages (PTI); Ink...Berry Sorbet , Noir (Palette), Aegean Blue (Versamagic chalk ink); Paper... Confetti (My Mind's Eye), Stamper's Select white (PTI); Misc...small circle punch, oval coluzzle, dimensionals, prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, scarlet prismacolor marker

Beginning...again

School starts for my kids this week. Ziggy's classes start on Wednesday, but my other kids want to start on Tuesday. Now the hectic schedule starts again, and I get tired just thinking of all the running around we'll have to do this year, with everybody's music, art, and sports classes. And squeezing in night activities while maintaining regular dinner and bedtimes gets exhausting. Then there's Christmas, which is fun, but a lot of work to get everybody's gifts (especially when I don't have much time to go shopping). It's only September, and I'm starting to have a hard time going to sleep at night...

So, today's card is to remind me to settle down and enjoy what matters most. I used the first sentiment stamp I ever purchased...."peace." I combined it with my new Out on a Limb stamp, and added pine needles to the branches so that it would be wintery. I showed it to my mom and she said I should add some red berries for color, but pine trees don't have berries..."Oh, no one would notice..." Sorry, Mom, I just couldn't do it; wouldn't be fair to the pines, and hollies might get mad.

Anyways, it's my wish for now...PEACE.
SUPPLIES: Paper...Stamper's Select white, Dark Chocolate (PTI), Green (DCWV); Stamps...Out on a Limb (PTI), Peace (Amuse) ;Ink...Espresso (Adirondack); Misc...olive green prismacolor pencil, gold & ivory organdy (Joann's)