Goodbye 2016
Well, holy cow…we are in 2017! Really? TWENTY SEVENTEEN! I swear that just yesterday was whole the “Y2K” scare and suddenly Poof! Fast forward sixteen years…it’s just crazy how time flies. I can remember exactly what I was doing the night of December 31st, 1999. My husband and I owned a bar back then and we had a big New Year’s Eve Party going on with a band and free buffet (to soak up all the booze). :) What a great time that was – and to think we all thought the world’s computers were going to blow up with [...]
Burning the midnight oil…
Spent a few more hours after dinner last night with hubby working on Christmas cards. I love that he likes to contribute! :) This one came out nice and is one of my favorites but I still have to mount it onto a card base. I'm not a fan of mass producing cards that are all the same, so you can understand why it is taking us so long to come up with 50 cards. Thirty three down, 17 to go!
Oh Christmas Tree
One of my most favorite memories of the holiday season as a child was going out each year to tromp through the Christmas tree farm and cut down our tree. I can't remember the name of the tree farm any longer, but the owners used to give everyone in the car a homemade popcorn ball on your way out after you paid. We thought it was such a treat! Not sure why...but man, we loved those popcorn balls. This was a fun one to paint...and brought back some really great memories. Stamp set by honeybee stamps and I used a [...]
Springtime in November?
I took a moment today to step away from all of the Thanksgiving and Christmas greetings and sentiments for my cards and decided to do a simple "hello" note card to brighten someone's day. Out here in Seattle the winter skies are so thick and gray that it seems the sun is never coming back out again - and on this particular day, I let my mind fast forward into spring and all it's color. So even though this stamp set was designed to be used for a Christmas greeting I stepped outside the [...]
A sweet pair.
Update to this post to show the finished card. And this is the inside of the card. I'm not much of a bird watcher but the cardinal has always been one of my favorites. So many fond memories as a kid sitting at the kitchen table with dad in the morning before school and watching the birds fly into the feeder just outside the window, getting their morning feast. We'd both have coffee (I started the caffeine addiction early!) and peanut butter toast with raspberry jam every morning before school. Sometimes we would sit and talk and talk and [...]
Colored pencils and pumpkins
Today was day 2 of Kathy's 30 day coloring challenge and I felt compelled to do another fall themed project. (I'm still not ready to ink up the Christmas stamps yet!) This is an old stamp from years ago - in fact I bought this stamp about 10 years ago before I even realized how much I loved stamping! Anyway...I love it and every time I stamp it and color it I surprise myself with a new result. This one was stamped with Momento black dye ink, then brought to life with Raffine colored pencils - which is not my [...]
Maple Leafs
Fall is in the air...
How the time flies
I can't believe my oldest nephew is graduating high school. I thought and thought and thought (for weeks even!) about the graduation card I wanted to make for him. (again, my struggle with creativity) I finally settled on a very simple design with a heartfelt message. The inside sentiment I chose came from Pinterest and I openly admit to plagiarizing, but to be quite honest, I'm not sure who to acknowledge for the quote, so I hope that is ok! I love this quote! I hope he does too. Keegan, honey - if you see this, please know that I'm sending you much love across [...]
Sunflower Wishes
I struggle with creativity...most people who know me would be shocked to hear me say that, but truly I do. I hold myself to a high standard of creativity that it can sometimes be a detriment. I like my cards to be unique. I don't like repetition - as in creating mass quantities of the same thing such as a box of note cards. I like each of my cards or panels to be one of a kind...and meaningful for it's intended purpose - such as this card I created for my Aunt. My dear sweet Aunt is a very [...]
Marker Storage
My marker collection was getting a bit out of hand and I went on the hunt for an affordable solution that also fit my very small work space. I found these racks that worked beautifully! Its so very nice to be able to see all my colors and to sort them properly. What I found online is made by the Crafters Companion and I found them on Amazon for about $26. I had to buy four of these because I wanted room to spread out and sort the colors (and much to my husband's chagrin, to be able to add [...]