Well, we're home, we don't have company and I woke up early. That combination of events led me to my stamping room. Yippee! Personal updates later (including my dad) but first, I'll tell you about these two cards.
I'm not really enamored of this set, "Bold & Bright" from Stampin' Up!, but I "needed" to use it to continue my mission of using all of my retired Stampin' Up! sets. Now I'm done with it and can move on to the next sets. For this first one, I inked up the stamp with a Brilliance three-color pad and matted with a shimmery blue. I mounted the panel on pop dots. I stamped the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink) with the same pad. Lots of shimmer on the card, but not in the picture:)
Last card with this set - perhaps forever! LOL! I used black ink on the stamp and colored with water color pencils and an aquapainter. I matted with black and again used pop dots. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I added the Washi tape before added the image panel.
We have been very busy again, but like I said - we're home now. Our daughter and family arrived from Chicago on the Saturday before Christmas and stayed until Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, Jim and I and our kids and their kids (plus others) all went down to my dad's to celebrate. Jim and I stayed there until yesterday, when we left to attend a funeral, visited his mom and then came home. Lots of fun times, but I must say, it's great to be home.
My dad is doing quite well. His mouth is a bit sore, he isn't hungry and he can't taste. But, he knows he needs to make himself eat, drink water, drink a supplement and put ointment on his face. He is taking very good care of himself. He is now over half done with his radiation treatments - finished up number 16 of 30 this morning. My brother and sister-in-law will be arriving on Monday to stay with him until he is finished. That is SO awesome of them!
Tomorrow I'll post my first calendar page of 2015. On Friday I'll post a picture of my birthday cards (tradition, you know) and then I'll start posting pictures of new cards again, assuming that I get some made in the next few days. I know for sure I have two more, because I got them done this morning. Thanks for sticking with me through all my days of not posting anything. I hope I'm back now for a while!
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Merry Christmas to all! Tradition is for me to post a picture of our Christmas tree, so here it is. I hope you all have the opportunity to celebrate with family and friends.
Best wishes for the New Year, also.
Thank you all for your visits. Hopefully soon I'll be able to start posting more.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Every year I make one Hanukkah card, and here is this year's.
I cut the dreidels using my Silhouette and some "holographic" paper from Crayola. I glued them to textured blue paper and mounted that panel on foam squares. I printed the sentiment using my computer.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Happy Birthday, Sheri!
I made this card last week when I got up so early one day and had a chance to play around in my stamping room. I actually made two cards like it - both for December birthdays. The snowflakes are from Inkadinkado and are stamped in Soft Silver ink. I used a Papertrey Ink die to cut out the "birthday" and used a Papertrey stamp for the the "HAPPY." I matted both panels with light blue cardstock. The sentiment panel is mounted on Dimensionals.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Here is card #2 made with the Stampin' Up! set called "Bold & Bright." The picture doesn't do it justice, although it's not a great card anyway:) Feels good to be stamping again, though, even if it won't last long.
I stamped the image on a yellowish/cream vellum with Versamark and used black embossing powder. I colored on the back with miscellaneous markers. I stamped the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink) on a scrap of vellum to check out the placement, and again I liked the layered vellum, so I just used it. I stamped it with black and used black embossing powder. Then I punched a couple balloons using the same vellum and a Martha Stewart punch, attached them and added the "strings." When I attach vellum, I always use Duck Tape brand double sided adhesive. It really is pretty "invisible."
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I woke up really again this morning (hope I stop that soon!), so I had some stamping time. I didn't have any cards that I HAD to make, so I pulled out the next stamp set in my project to use all of my Stampin' Up! sets. Can't wait to get back to that project full force!
This set is called "Bold & Bright." I chose the baby image for my card for today. I stamped it using an old rainbow ink pad. (This pad is a Splendor pigment with ten different colors. It's from Tsukineko. Not sure if it's still available or not.) I trimmed down the image panel and mounted it on pop dots. I really want to start using some of my patterned paper, but nothing ever seems like the right print! So, I went with vellum. The sentiment is from a baby set from Inkadinkado and is stamped with Versamark and embossed with white embossing powder. I had some thin strips of vellum left and one of them landed on the larger piece of vellum. I liked the looks of it, so I added it above the sentiment before I attached the image panel.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Yesterday was our grandson Owen's fourth birthday. Hard to believe he's four already!
His favorite movie at this time is "Nightmare Before Christmas," so I found a picture from the movie and printed it on some white cardstock. Then I downloaded a Nightmare Before Christmas font and printed the sentiment on some gray cardstock. I mounted the picture on Dimensionals and added it at an angle to the card front.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I stamped! :) I woke up early this morning (after going to bed relatively late) and couldn't get back to sleep. So, I went in my stamping room. Gosh, did that feel great! I'm sure I'll crash later, though:)
I needed one more Christmas card and I already had this die-cut piece on my table from when the grandkids were here at Thanksgiving. The die is from Impression Obsession. I trimmed it down and mounted it on foam squares. I cut a piece of white cardstock to fit it and stamped some snowflakes in silver using an Inkadinkado stamp, then I added some blue gems to a few of the snowflakes.
My dad has finished one week of radiation treatments. Five more to go.
Wyatt is very healthy now, so that is awesome. In fact, everyone is healthy right now. We're hoping everyone can stay that way through the holidays and beyond.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Sorry - no card yet from me. Life has not yet settled down for us.
My dad started radiation treatments on Monday. He doesn't really enjoy being strapped down, but he'll manage that part just fine. I'm very concerned about how he'll be doing once he's finished his thirty treatments, but he'll make it. He's a tough Norwegian!
Our kids and their families have been quite sick, but I think everyone is finally on the road to recovery. One family was sharing pneumonia and the other influenza. Wyatt was in the hospital from last Thursday until he was released yesterday. He is doing well. We had Wyatt here one night so his parents could try to get a good night's rest, and we had Owen here a few nights, too. I even spent a night and most of a couple days at the hospital with Wyatt.
I wanted to be all ready for Christmas by Thanksgiving, but gee ... that didn't happen! I'm still in the process of getting ready, but all that will happen, too.
I hope things are going very, very well for all of my readers and followers. I REALLY hope to get some time in my stamping room SOON! I'm getting anxious to continue on my quest to use my Stampin' Up! stamps. I haven't forgotten about that:)
Thanks for checking on me, and thanks for your prayers.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
This is the card I made for my great friend, Harriet. I didn't even get it made until the day after her birthday, so it was quite late:( (Her birthday was last Monday.)
I did the die cuts using Spellbinders dies. I mounted the outer one on foam squares for some dimension. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I added soft blue brads for the flower centers.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
The last calendar of 2014. My 2015 calendars are complete and ready to be gifted, so you'll start seeing them in January.
I did the embossing with Cuttlebug folders. I stamped the sentiment (from Paper Inspirations) on shimmery silver paper with Versamark and embossed with detail silver embossing powder.
If you are interested in printing your own calendars and would like to use my files, you can find a link to them under my blog title. I'd love to hear from you if you do!
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I really felt like I was running out of time and have some busy times coming up, so I decided to mass-produce my remaining Christmas cards. I had only gotten 28 done throughout the year, so I needed to do about 50 more. What often happens if I DO mass-produce them is that I end up liking them more than most of my other ones!
Anyway, here it is. The embossing was done with a Darice embossing folder. The sentiment is from Momenta. (Got it at Michael's.) The ink I used is Gumball Green from Stampin' Up! and the cardstock is from Papertrey Ink.
My husband wrote our Christmas letter last night (love it when he does it!), so I still have to edit it and add pictures, print it and get them in with the cards. The envelopes are ready to go, too, so maybe I can still get them done tonight and mailed out tomorrow. That would make me very happy! We have about half of our shopping done and I would like to get what we have already purchased wrapped very soon. Like tonight or tomorrow! I didn't have Wyatt today, and that helped immensely with getting many things knocked off my to-do list. How are YOU doing with your preparations?
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
This is the card I sent to a friend of mine in my stamping group. She should have received it by now, hopefully!
I started with stamping the image (from Penny Black) and coloring with Copic markers and adding Star Dust Stickles to the flower center. I stamped the lower flower twice. I cut out the entire image and also the single flower. I mounted the single flower on foam squares and mounted it on the full image, rotating it a bit so there would be more petals. Then I had no idea what I wanted to do with it! It took me a while to end up with this card. I ended up using a tri-fold card with a circle cut out of the front. I added printed vellum to the front, cutting out the same circle. I added a piece of cream vellum under the circle and stamped the sentiment (from PSX) and heat-embossed. I added the butterfly, which was cut with a Memory Box out of a velvety black paper.
Thanks for your prayers for my dad. He has decided to go with radiation. He had to have six teeth extracted first and still needs to meet with a GI doctor to have a swallowing issue addressed. If all goes well with that, he will begin his series of 33 treatments sometime in December. It will be pretty miserable, but he will get through it.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Another of the anniversary cards I made this week.
I added some mesh material to white card stock, stamped the sentiment (from Hero Arts) and mounted that piece on foam squares and adhered to the card front. Then I added a butterfly which was die-cut with a Memory Box die and mounted on a foam square.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
I have a "stash" of lots of cards, but I didn't have any anniversary cards and I needed several this month. So, I took a little time and got them made. It felt good to make some cards!
This card is for a friend who loves purple. Can you tell? :) The butterfly was cut with a couple Memory Box dies and mounted on foam squares. The shimmery ivory die cut was done (I believe) with a Cuttlebug die. The sentiment was stamped with a Hero Arts stamp and was cut from shimmery ivory with a Spellbinders die. It, also, is mounted on foam squares. The bottom layer is vellum which was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
An anniversary card for Jim's brother and sister-in-law. We got married on their eleventh anniversary:) We will be celebrating our fortieth on Sunday!
You'll be seeing this main image again next fall. The images are from a set from Cloud 9. I used SU! Earth Elements inks to stamp them. First I had stamped the background (from Tattered Angels) with a soft Memories ink. I matted with shimmery gold and mounted on foam squares. The sentiment is one of my few anniversary stamps and is by PSX. I embossed it with detail gold embossing powder. The card base is ivory.
I actually had a little time in my stamping room last night. It was very nice! I cleaned it up a bit and also made my October calendar pages for next year. I was trying to come up with something for November, but couldn't. It will come to me:)
About my dad - He really, really wanted to make a trip to Colorado to visit my younger brother, so when my older brother flew up from Georgia, my dad asked him to drive out there with him. That's where they are now. My younger brother will ride home with them. They found more cancer in his neck and removed it on Monday. He will be meeting with the oncologist next Thursday to discuss radiation again. My dad has said he will not do it. We'll see what happens. It's spreading pretty fast now.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
We had an out-of-town wedding on Saturday, so I needed to make a card. I didn't have much time, of course. It did feel good to be in my stamping room, though.
I sat and looked around for a bit, trying to come up with something. I even searched my blog for a card to case. But, in the end, I came up with this card. An on-line friend (thanks, Gloria!) recently sent me a few die cuts, and this pretty flowery sprig was one of them. I thought it would work well for a wedding card. I trimmed my white cardstock down slightly so I could have a black matting and still have white matting from the card front. I embossed the left side with my Swiss Dots embossing folder and scored two lines beside the right edge of the embossing. Then I glued the die cut on top of the embossed dots. The sentiment is from an Inkadinkado wedding set. I added several light pink gems to the sentiment and to the die cut to make it a bit more "fancy."
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Here is my November calendar page. Looks simple enough, but it sure took a while! :)
I cut all the pieces with my Cameo Silhouette - all 15 of them per page. I just glued them on. Easy peasy, right?
My calendar files are available for your use. You can find the links under my blog title. I'd love to hear from you if you use them.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
A couple quick Halloween cards for the grandkids. I also made another one like I had made previously. Since they're for two families, I can go with duplicates:)
This first one is for our one granddaughter. I used House Mouse stamps from The Paper Studio. I stamped the image with Memento black ink and colored with copics. I matted with black, mounted on foam squares and added Stardust Stickles to the wings. I colored the sentiment with markers.
I used a Stampin' Up! stamp and SU punches for this tag. I colored the spider and added googlie eyes and mounted on foam squares. The patterned papers are from a Recollections pad.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
Today is our son and daughter-in-law's eighth anniversary! Sure doesn't seem like their wedding was eight years ago already.
I had to take some time last night and make them a card. I wish I had had more time, but this will have to do. I did the background with Spellbinders dies. The image is a JustRite Stamper stamp. I colored it with Copics and added gems to the flower centers. That's it:)
More news about my dad: Radiation is not out of the question yet, unfortunately. I guess what they removed was not lymph nodes after all, but cancer cells. They are not sure if they got everything or not. He will have to choose between monitoring with ultrasounds or having radiation. He will be meeting with an oncologist on Thursday and will then meet with his doctor again and make his decision.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
