While I Have A Minute...

Fast post without (much) chatter. One card, one challenge. I've got to finish getting supper ready for me and the DH. Grandson's birthday card, which he'll get in church tomorrow. Nice kid. Got accepted and is going to Purdue this Fall. Where did that time go?

Playing along with Freshly Made Sketches, where I thought this sketch would lend itself nicely to a more masculine design.

Here is my card:

Poor photography once again. Just as soon as I win the lottery, I'm getting a fancy-schmancy camera dedicated to only cards... Yeah... Like that'll happen. I used all scraps of papers, and the "18's" are from Altnew. The HB is from MFT with ME Smoke ink. The numbers aren't in black, they're actually clear embossed. Here's a small close-up so you can see:

Hope Ben likes it, I know he'll like the $$ inside, lol!! Happy dances everyone.

New Cutter

Thought I'd give you a quick update on my new paper cutter. Earlier this month, I chucked my large Fiskars trimmer when my new Rotatrim M12 came. It's as big as my old Fiskars, but has considerable more heft to it. There are no replaceable parts, and the blade is self-sharpening, which is really nice. There are no fuzzy edges after making a cut, and I'll keep you posted as to whether or not this continues. It will cut a sliver off an edge not much wider than a hair, and does so through layers. Cutting slender-width scraps is a bit more difficult, but I'm working around that, and it's no big deal to me; will let you know how well that works as time goes on. It was pricey. But if I continue to like it, and it lasts me five or more years, I'll be a happy camper. So far so good. Shoot me an email if you have any questions, and I'll be happy to answer as best I can.

I do have a couple of cards for today. I actually finished one yesterday, but needed to let the watercolor dry on the second one, and by then, the light was gone so I couldn't photograph it. So today's the day.  The first is going to head off to the ever lovely Darnell's NBUS #8. This challenge has an optional theme too; colored pencils on kraft.

Meow

I'd used the N&T kitty before, but not the banner, sentiment, or yarn, so I sure hope this counts as NBUS. I stamped the kitty on kraft, colored the little critter and die cut him. His tummy was a lighter gray, and I thought it would be nice to give him a little WoS for some added sparkle. Instead of grabbing my Clear WoS, I grabbed the White....turns out, it looks pretty darn good. Happy accident!! He's popped up a bit for some dimension. 

Next I have a card that fits three challenges. CASology, Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies, and CAS Watercolor Card Challenge. All for one simple card!

 

Die. Cut. Watercolor. Yep, all there...

I've been dying to use this diecut since I got back from the Lake House in October. I'm pretty sure it belonged to Anita. But until yesterday, nothing worked well enough for me to stop hoarding it, lol. Then, I started swirling some blue Ziggy watercolor and water. Looks like an ice cave, or something cold at least... I'm not sure who made the die, but it could be Poppystamps. The sentiment is from an old MFT set. That's it. EZPZ lemon squeezy. And I like the way this turned out. Hope you do too. Well, I've got a ping waiting, tapping its foot, wanting to get made, so as I always do, I must obey that call. Have a great day, and happy dances everyone!!

Mama said...

Gray. Mama said I looked good in gray. She also said that I wasn't made for ruffles, lace, or frills. No girly-girl clothes for me. Straight lines, solid colors, with maybe a touch of flowers or plaids. I can remember getting a new winter coat when I was about 12. It was gray, with a stand-up collar, and a double row of buttons on the chest. I loved that coat. Maybe it was because it wasn't a little girl coat, or maybe it was because she liked it, or maybe I loved it because gray seemed to be a color made just for me. Funny what goes through our child minds, and funny what we remember. Mama didn't mince too many words. She also told me I had "stringy" hair.... Oh mom....

So what's with the above narrative? You didn't need to know that, really, but my card is gray, and often when I stop and think about a color, a memory floods back. That was the memory triggered today. Because I have a gray card.

Playing at CAS(E) This Sketch. I'm supposed to be cleaning house, but the card wouldn't let my mind rest until it was made and posted, which is better than scrubbing toilets any day of the week!

Kept it pretty close to the sketch.

The flower is from the Wildflowers set by Concord & 9th. The sentiment is one of my favorites from PTI. Both are heat embossed in white. A couple of pearls, and the beloved gray paper is from my scrap drawer.  Time to get to the housework *sigh*. Happy dances everyone.

Tuesday Afternoon

Here it is. An overcast and rainy Tuesday in January. Not snow. Rain. Crazy, isn't it?! Better that than s.n.o.w. And since I don't have to go out for the next several days, it's perfectly fine with me. Ran all my errands and did the grocery shopping yesterday, so we're set. Been playing in the craft room since early this morning, and got a few things done, which I'll show you in a minute. DH wants a pot roast with mashed potatoes for dinner, and while that's roasting and making the house smell wonderful, I'll be back in here trying to make a few more things. The college-age granddaughters were here for a visit on Sunday before heading back to Madison, and requested lots more birthday cards for their upcoming Christmas presents. Gee...isn't it just sad that I have to make more cards???!!!! Guess I'll have to comply with their wishes! In this batch, I only have one birthday card, but it's only January, so there's plenty of time.  Wanna see? 'K.

Playing along at these challenges, and hey, why not meet me in the galleries there?!!

I'm also playing at SSS Work It Wednesday and Time Out, but the darn badge thingies didn't want to copy and paste here. Blaming the weather...

Card number one is headed off to Time Out. Winter, with a white on white look.

A few different elements and companies used here. The pretty little dotted swiss vellum is a scrap Darnell gave me when we were together at the Lake House last October. A Verve sentiment with ME Smoke ink, a scrap of vellum die cut with a Poppystamps leaf, and an MFT frame.

Card number two is going into Case This Sketch and into Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday, where we're to use something new. My 'something new' is the flower center that I've used on its own. And it's the one birthday card in the bunch.

The border die is from Mama Elephant, a scrap of vellum for the lower half, an AE sentiment with some Fresh Ink in Succulent and ME Apple ink with a bit of Glossy Accents for a little added oomph! On we go...

Card number three is for the Case the Designer #9 over at the Coffee Loving Cardmakers. I chose to CASE Andreea Raghina's card. Her's looks like this:

And here's mine:

Let's start in the middle and work our way out, shall we? The coffee cup is a Print and Cut file from Silhouette. The gold doily is from a kit I bought a while back and don't remember who made it, some gold and white panels cut with a couple of MFT dies, and the flag is an MFT die as well. PTI sentiment. Though you can't see it, I added a little GA on the heart. And since I've kept you overlong, I'll close for today. Happy dances everyone.

Back to Normal

I'm sort of back to normal. Well...as normal as I can be, or as normal things can be around here. DH continues to improve little by little every day, and that leaves me more time in my craft room. And the craft room is a good place to be today. It's even c-c-colder today than it has been all week. So I think I'll stay in here and play until I have to run DH to the doctor's for a quick recheck this afternoon. Then, it's staying inside for me! It's about -5F/-20C here. Not much wind, so that's one good thing, and it is sunny today, so there's another!

Had to clean out my craft room a bit to make room for a new paper trimmer. Got tired of crooked cuts with my largish Fiskars, so bit the bullet and bought a Rotatrim. I'm still getting used to it, so will let you know how well I like it. I can say this much about it...it cuts like a dream. And some of that clutter that I shoved into drawers a while back has now been recycled, or moved to more logical places. Felt pretty good getting a little more organized. Hopefully more organization will come later this year.

Onto the cards. Plural. I know, right?! Sure feels good to be back!! I've got two cards for three challenges today.

 

The lovely Lisa Lara left a comment on my last post, and as I was perusing CASology, I saw she'd posted a sweet card there. I'd made this before I'd seen her card, but I'm fairly certain that great minds do think alike, lol!!

The stamps are all by Taylored Expressions, and I stamped one layer of the tissue box on some fun yellow polka dotted paper then fussy cut it. EZPZ Lemon Squeezy. 

Then I had to go and get all different. City Crafter's Challenge asks us to use the word 'hello.' After taking a peek at The Card Concept, this card came to mind.

I think this is in the 'Freestyle Collage' category. That's an Altenew Peony stamp, with assorted inks, a chunk of b&w sort of polka dotted paper, a strip of black ribbon, a black cardstock panel, some gold sequins and a NBUS 'hello' die from Savvy cut in gold paper. Popped up the flower but not the leaves. Kinda like it. Hope you do too. Have a fantastic weekend, and happy dances everyone.

Brrrrr....

January weather is upon us. Beautiful blue skies and tons of sunshine, but that usually means pretty darn cold weather for this month. I don't mind. I don't even mind going out in this kind of weather. You just have to be smart about it; warm up your car and dress appropriately. Snow is a different matter. I love it...except when it falls on the streets and sidewalks. Makes walking and driving a bit more challenging! It is what it is, however. How's the weather by you?

Card? Yep. Got one. I saw Loll's card for this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge, and loved it. Then I had a Pinggggg. I've been hoarding saving a couple of very special pieces that I made under the tutelage of the famous Darnell when we were at the Lake House in October. My little mind then said, "Hey! You could use one of them for this challenge!!" Now I know we used shiny paper, and that we used alcohol inks, but that's all I can remember. Little mind and all... I'm sure Darnell can tell you more than I, about this technique. I just know that I liked it, and that at least one of these panels would work perfectly for this challenge.

And so it did (work perfectly, that is).

It looks soooo much prettier in real life. For some reason, it looked ugly without the flash. So I had to use it, (the flash) and while it's better, it isn't how I'd like it to look. *sigh* That's a PTI die, and I used the matchy-matchy stamp with some ME Smoke ink to give it a bit of a shadow. The sentiment is RC, and I added a few PTI rainstones for the "your choice" part of the theme. And now I have to run. I need to go buy some blueberries for a coffee cake (more company coming), and I still have a few other things to get done. This was a nice little break from the tidying up, though. Happy dances everyone!

Happy New Year!

Well, here we are; the beginning of a brand, new year. Like you didn't know that... Anyway, I'm hoping that 2017 is going to be a much healthier year for DH, and a much craftier year for me! And maybe, just maybe, I can create more, post more, and comment more! So far, so good! Did you have a nice Christmas? We sure did. While the season was marvelous in its entirety, I have two special memories. The first is that my youngest son gave me an autographed Kris Bryant World Series baseball (so cool), and the second thing is, that rather than singing Christmas carols on Christmas Eve while opening presents, three-year-old Avie sang the "Go Cubs Go" song. I smile and chuckle every time I think about it. She had everyone here laughing at that! What a girl... I don't have a photo of her singing, but I do have one from a few days earlier having breakfast at grandma's house...

Naturally, we wear our princess crowns at breakfast! Isn't she just a hoot?!

I have a card (I know, I know...it's been a forever time, hasn't it?!). Decided to play along over at the MFT Sketch Challenge. Love this sketch:

I wanted to make a card for a friend just to say 'hello.' Here's what I came up with:

Sorry about the lighting...I must be waaaay out of practice. The flag dies and the 'hello' are both from MFT, and the little die cut clipboard, along with the patterned paper are from Doodlebug. A smidgen of gray for the small flag, ME Smoke ink, and some bling finish this off. Kinda CAS, but I like the way it turned out. 

And before I go, I want to say thank you for all your thoughts, prayers, cards, and most of all, for the support you've shown this past year. DH is getting stronger, and hopefully this year will be so much better. Blessings to you all. Happy dances everyone!