Slowly...

...learning about photo editors. Maybe if I just practice more, it will get easier. That's what I always tell my kids, so it must be true!

This is another card I did with my Fluffles the Cat stamp. The layout was inspired by this card from Michelle Wooderson.


SUPPLIES:
Stamp...Fluffles the Cat (Stampendous), polka dot backgrounder (CHF)
Ink.......Noir, New Canvas (Palette)
Paper....Girl Friday (Cosmo Cricket),; Intense Teal (Prism); Kraft, Aqua Mist (PTI)
Misc......Copics, Classic & Scalooped Nestabilities, Threading Water Border Punch (Fiskars), aquamarine crystal glitter (Martha Stewart), flower punch (EK Success), button die (Sizzlet), white satin ribbon (May Arts)

Memorial Day

Well, usually for Memorial Day, we go to a service at the military fort near our home. But I was still wiped out from last week's chemo, so we couldn't go this year. Kind of a bummer, because I really like attending that service. And I was too tired to have people over for a cookout.

But my crew still found a way to have a good Memorial Day, even if we did stay home all day.

We ended up playing Tripoley for quite a while, which was surprisingly silly. I was kind of tired, so I just put a sleeping bag on our deck and lay there next to everybody (I still had to play, though).




I know this next photo is unbalanced, but I like it because it shows each kid being themself: Peter, kicking back...Ziggy, sorting his cards...Anastasia, giving me "the eye,"...

Pippin was so funny, and was excited that we were all outside. She finally fell asleep, and it was so cute, because she pretty much slept in the middle of the deck (not next to me on the comfy sleeping bag!).

After the game, we mustered up some picnic grub: brats, hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans, and jello. I did sneak in a green salad for Peter and me, though, because I had to have something fresh...if you know what I mean...

The girls and I made rice crispy treats with sprinkles and flags (which Peter & Sophia made), just to make it more patriotic. My ladies sure helped me make some delicious picnic food.

Us 3 girls decided to wear kind of patriotic colors...sort of. Sophia didn't have any red, white or blue clothes, so she figured pink camo would be just as good; I thought so, too. And of course, Anastasia would only wear those colors as ACCENTS to yellow, which is fine by me.

Here's us 3 bandana girls, in a photo lovingly taken by Peter....
Left to right: Bandanastasia, Dianabandana, Sophiadana

So, not a typical Memorial Day for us, but we still managed to pull a party together with just us, and it turned out okay...and the weather was awesome!!!

Testing photo editors

1st photo.....


2nd photo...

both done with auto-fix, just different editors....

which one do I like?

Mother's Day Card for a Friend

I don't know why, but every Mother's Day, I also hand out a few cards to the Moms in our life that aren't really our Mothers...one is the greeter at church that knows us by name (there's 6 of us, so it's no small task), and she likes to give the kids candy every once in a while; she's our Church Mommy.

Another is the kids' piano teacher, who shares her love of music with the kids every week, and also her passion for card making. She likes soft colors, and seems to like cards that have tiny elements on them.

This year, I made her a cherry blossom card, using PTI's Out on a Limb set. I wanted some dimension to the flowers, so I used my new, cute little flower punch. It was too hard to punch through vellum, so I used some parchment paper (I bought it in the Mexican food aisle at the grocery store; it's the kind used to wrap up tamales). Before I punched the flowers, I colored the parchment with two swipes of Copic R20, to give it a soft pink tint.


After the blossoms were glued on the card, I added a dot of Stardust Stickles to the centers. To keep things shiny & sparkly, I also lightly edged the image rectangle with a silver paint pen...very lightly, because I wanted just a hint of silver.


SUPPLIES:
Stamps...Out on a Limb (PTI)
Ink..........Charcoal (Palette), Tea Leaves, (Versamagic chalk ink)
Paper......Solar White (Neenah), Sweet Blush (PTI)
Misc........Classic rectangle Nestie (Spellbinders), Stardust Stickles, glues, silver paint pen, flower punch (Punch Bunch)

Now I Know.....

....why there are 2 windows in our homeschool room.

Spring Fling Sketch and a Question...

Ellen Hutson is having a sketch challenge over at the CLASSroom, so I thought I'd play along. Here is the sketch:


I wanted to use my Lockhart Picnic stamp for the image, but wanted to use softer colors, to give it the feeling of a Spring picnic. The main card color of yellow was inspired by Anastasia, who vacuumed the stairs yesterday. She said to me, "Mom, you looked tired, and the stairs looked really dirty." Since she's my Yellow Girl, I chose that as my main color.

While I was coloring, I kept thinking of my Mom's strawberry-rhubarb pie that she used to make. Oh, I wish I had a piece right now! Since I don't, I tried to make my pie look like Mom's...

SUPPLIES:

• Stamp...Picnic (Lockhart)
• Ink........Noir (Palette)
• Paper.....Solar White (Neenah), Homespun (Memory Box),
• Guava Dots(Lasting Impressions), Spring Moss (PTI)
• Misc.......Threading Water border punch (Fiskars), buttons #5 Sizzlets (Sizzix),
• white Opal Liquid Pearls, clear glaze pen (Sakura), clear Atyou Spica,
• coral rose grosgrain(Offray), Copics

And now for the question:
This card was supposed to have a bow and a tag with the word "celebrate" on it (instead of buttons). But the grosgrain I use is too thick and stiff to make a cute bow. Does anyone know where to buy thinner weight 3/8" grosgrain ribbon thant's easy to tie?

Thanks for stopping by today!

PTI's Spring Fling Challenge

Papertrey is having a Spring Fling Challenge this weekend, to create something based on one of their designers' inspiration pieces. Lisa Johnson's piece really spoke to me.

For some reason, the tulips this year have been spectacular in our area. And they are still blooming! We have even had some appear at our house that were not here last year.
These 2 in particular helped me choose colors for my card. I call these guys "My Soldiers." It's just the two of them, standing next to a bush in our front yard, guarding the house. I can see them through the window by my front door, and it is 2 pops of bright, orange-red, even on cloudy days.

Spring makes me think of flowers, putting away winter things, and don't laugh, but clean linens! I really want to go buy some soft, fresh-looking sheets right now. I wanted my card to have a crispness to it (like new linens), so I just used a plain, natural color for the base. I made score-lines on the card base to give the look of the piping on that top sheet.

Fresh flowers and clean linens...what comes to mind when I think of Spring today. And that is reason to smile and to celebrate!


SUPPLIES:
Stamps......Blossoms (Inkadinkado mega pak from Costco), Mixed Messages (PTI)
Ink............Noir (Palette), Versamark
Paper........Natural White (Neenah), Geranium (Martha Stewart)
Misc..........Seafoam White Embossing Powder (Ranger), Classic rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Scor-Pal, foam mounting tape (3M), corner-rounder punch