Monday, June 30, 2014

Back At It



Hi Gal Pals,

Back at it again with weekly family newsletters.  Things in life are pretty easy, breezy right now with work and home so I'm taking advantage of the time and trying to stock up on cards.  It feels great!  

So I took a look through the Pinterest board I have for inspiration for the weekly cards.  Lots of CAS and one layer card ideas.  This week's card was inspired by a pretty card I found on SplitCoast.  I've got SO many border stamps and this idea is a great way to use some of those.  

I found this cool masking tape that helps with partitioning off the space while sponging on the ink.  I've gotten hooked on Jennifer McGuire's blog.  She has SO, so many organization and technique tips.  And this Post-It note tape was a great tip.  So easy to use!

See ya' back here soon.

Monday, June 16, 2014

A Fresh New Year of Life



This newspaper clipping of a panel of an old Rose is Rose comic has been on my bulletin board for about 14 years.  It really reminds me about the need to just close the door on work and chores and get out to see what the day might hold.  Carpe Diem!  

Spent my birthday wallowing around in my craft room and making a few fun things.  Like this door hanger using a blown up version of that comic.  


Used lots of scraps and old stash which made me happy.  The color scheme matches a sign for my craft room that  my brother's family got me for Christmas - I'll post that tomorrow.  (By the way. . . .I've decided it's not a craft room anymore. . .it's a studio!  Sounds so much better don't you think?! )

After a weekend of goofing off and lots of celebration, I'm anxious to start this fresh new year of life.  Fresh day, fresh week, fresh year - whoo hoo!!!

(Thanks Google for my Birthday Day Doodle)


Friday, June 13, 2014

Birthday Hooky



Hi Gal Pals!

Playing hooky on the eve of my birthday and having a grand old time!  Finding more ways to use up some paper scraps.  Made this goofy little container to hold Maddie's treats.  Used my empty Nestle's Quik jar, some 1 inch paper strips and some washi tape.  Messed up some of the seams so I added a little creative deviation with a cute stamp that Val gave me a long time ago.  I kind of like it - and so did Maddie!  OK - he really only liked what was inside but I'm going to take his approval any way I can :-)

Hope you had a good Friday the 13th.  Beware of that full moon tonight. Someone told me today we won't have another full moon on a Friday the 13th until 2049.  What a fun fact to know and tell, huh?!  (Val - no wonder you haven't been able to sleep this week!  That old moon has been playing tricks on you.)

See you back here on the blog next week.


Thursday, June 12, 2014

It Just Makes Me Smile



Doesn't this just make you smile?!

Yet another one of Mona's beautiful quilts.  So glad she shares her accomplishments with us.  Always a treat to see what she's been up to.


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Busy Gal Pal


Val's been a very busy crafter these last few months.  Not only does she have her toy store of a craft room nice and organized now, she's been taking lots of classes at Memory Lane and through our community adult education program learning lots of fun, new techniques.  Here's just a sampling of what she's been up to. . . .

First up her collection of absolutely wonderful watercolor cards:







Then an amazing paper glimmer-misted paper rose from one of Betty's classes:


And some cute things made with washi tape from one of Staci's classes on National Scrapbooking Day:

(sorry for the fuzzy photo)


A faux suede technique Betty taught her - way cool!:


An adorable Z-fold card made with some cute Dazzles


And an elegant card using a Memory Box die in a clever way:



Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Equal Time



Yesterday you got a look at this year's Father's Day cards.  So today I thought I'd give equal time and post this year's Mother's Day card.

Dug into another 6x6 paper pack and used 5 of the different coordinated papers.  Notice from yesterday's post and today's that I'm still very hung up on the blue and brown color palette :-)

Also did something a little different for the rosette.  At the time I made this card my craft room was a disaster and I didn't feel like clearing space to pull out the Cuttlebug and the Tim Holtz rosette die.  So I just grabbed the Scor-Pal and manually scored a strip of paper every 1/8 of an inch.  Turned out just fine I thought.  The only thing difference was not having the round pieces to cover the middle.  Small price to pay I think for quick and easy.

Looking forward to seeing you tonight.  Hope it all works out.  I'll be bringing the card kits I had with me from last week. I'm continue to play with scraps and have a couple of really cute card patterns I want to try.  
See you soon.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Cars and Fathers




I had an inspiration for Father's Day cards this year.  It started with this photo I saw on Pinterest that made me think of Hippy Bob and his love for beautiful cars.  I just loved the graphic nature of this photo.  

I then found this simple sketch on SplitCoastStampers, turned it on it's side, combined it with one of my favorite 6x6 paper packs and came up with a card. 


One father down, two to go :-). . . .

The topic of cars has been swirling in the family as of late.  During our recent trip to New Bern, Allan said his dad was telling him stories about his first really nice car - a 1949 Ford.  I found I cool image on Google and used it on his card.  I loved how the colors in the images worked so well with the patterned papers. I took the time on this card to ink the edges of the image and the sentiment.  I think it really added to the nostalgia of the card.


Two fathers down, one to go. . . .

The most recent car story involved my Dad's beloved Crown Victoria (which the family affectionately calls "Miss Priss").  Dad was driving to work at the school a few weeks ago and another elderly gentleman pulled out in front of him and crushed the front right side of the car.  Thankfully no one was hurt but Dad was devastated.  Miss Priss was his pride and joy.  I'll spare all the details about the fights with the insurance companies involved and just focus on his card.  

I turned to Google once again and found this wonderful image of a 1955 Crown Vic and used that as the focal point on his card.  Cool car, huh?!  Notice I balanced out the card a little on my third attempt and added another strip of striped paper to the right of the center panel.  I liked this version the best.  How about you?  Which version do you think works best?


Here's to my wonderful Dad with hopes that Miss Priss will be back to good soon.
Here's to Hippy Bob and all of his interesting thoughts, feelings and observations about this wonderful world.
Here's to my father-in-law Ernest whose strength and determination inspires me and all who know him.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!