Christmas Cards

Good morning!

As promised, here is my prototype Christmas card for this year.

The poinsettia stamp is a stamp I got from The Angel Company that I love!  I have used it a lot.  It just speaks to me of Christmas.  I miss The Angel Company and wish they weren't out of business.

Anyway, I stamped the poinsettia, colored it in with copics, and cut it out.  I layered two different complementary patterned papers on my card front, glued the poinsettia on it, then made the border using red cardstock and a Fiskars scallop edge punch.  I stamped Merry Christmas (The Angel Company), and adhered it to the seam of the two patterned papers. 

I stamped a holiday greeting on the inside of the card and it's done. 

The beauty of this card is that you can change the look by using different Christmas patterned papers.

The majority of my Christmas cards will be this or a variation, but I did make some stray Christmas cards when I would get bored coloring, so if you are on my Christmas card list, you might get something totally different.  ;-)

Also, as a token of my appreciation, I am offering Free Shipping through December 15, 2013 at My Paper Moon. Just use coupon code THANKS at checkout to receive your free shipping.  Free gift with every order. 

And we have....chickens!

Good morning!  I know it's been a while since I have posted, but lots of stuff happening...

When I was growing up in Ohio, my dad always had a garden. Every evening when he would come home from work, he would work in his garden, plowing, planting, fertilizing, weeding, harvesting.  I sometimes would help him weed in the garden.  And when the crops were harvested, I remember stringing wheel barrows full of beans.  And then my mom's job would begin, freezing and canning those veggies for the winter.  You didn't just run out to the store and buy fresh veggies. (Well, I guess some of our neighbors who didn't have gardens, did). At the time I didn't appreciate all the hard work that went into having a garden.

I recently subscribed to Grit magazine (remember those from your youth?), and one of the articles was about raising a garden in small increments.  My husband and I thought it was a good idea, so we planted a small garden in the flower bed that runs alongside our house.  I need to take pictures, but we have tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, onions, cabbage, radishes and lettuce growing.  And his pineapple plants.

I recently found out that I am allowed to have 2 chickens in my neighborhood.  I have ALWAYS wanted to live on a farm, so after checking with my local government,  I decided to give it a try.

First of all, you need somewhere to keep these chickens.  Enter my darling husband.  He's the brains and muscle behind any project, and he didn't disappoint.  Here are pictures of the coop and run.

This is the inside of the coop. The girls spend their nights here. The red basket has been replaced by a nesting box.  I can close them in by shutting the little door between the coop and the run.

This is the run where the girls can get exercise and eat grass, bugs, food and water.

My friend, Pat, who told me I could have chickens, got me these 2 beauties. We have named them a couple of times, but I think we are sticking with Harriet and Pearl.

Here are Henrietta and Pearl. Henrietta is definitely the top chicken.

Our first egg.

Within an hour of putting the girls in their new home, they laid their first 2 eggs, so they must like their new home.

They are so much fun to watch, that I have been neglecting my Christmas cards, but I'll post my labors on that front tomorrow.

Stay tuned....

P. S.  If you use coupon code THANKS at checkout at My Paper Moon, you will get Free Shipping through December 15, 2013.

Clownin' Around

Hello!

I have this cute little clown stamp, The Artful Stamper that I sell at My Paper Moon.  I  used part of the image to make this card:

I wanted it to be bright and cheerful, so I colored it with primary colors, then used those same colors as the background, and punched circles out of the leftover pieces.  I used a marker to make the colored stripes on the white oval.  I'm thinking it would make a cute card for a child.  You could also use balloons as accents. And you could add jewels or glitter to the circles to bling it up.

Hope you have a great day.

Sympathy

Good morning. Hope you are having a good week so far.

Sometimes you need a sympathy card, and for me, that's always a challenge.  But I used my dove stamp and some pretty background paper, a few die cuts, some paper piercing and I was done.  I think it came out pretty nice.  The dove is from My Paper Moon and the sympathy saying is from River City Rubber Works.

I know my cards are simple, but I like the fact that I can mail them in a regular envelope and still have a nice looking card.  What do you think?  Do you prefer clean and simple cards, or fussy cards?  Don't get me wrong, I love the look of very detailed cards, but I just don't have the patience (or resources) and then I don't like to spend lots of money to mail them.   Let me know your thoughts on this.

Have a great day!

Love at the Beach

Good morning!  I want to share another beach card.

How cute is this stamp?  Usually I use it in a night scene, but I decided to make the moon a sun and have them at the beach.  Just enjoying the sunrise, or the sunny day.  Either way, it was a fun card to make.

Hope you enjoy.

Favorite Place

Hello!  Are the kids back in school yet?  They started back to school on the 20th, here, so all is quiet.  :-)

Sometimes you need a guy card, and you don't have a lot of time (and in my case I don't have a lot of "guy" stamps).  So I grab my little dapper guy (Dapper Dan) and I'm good to go. He's usually good for any kind of sentiment.

All stamps are by My Paper Moon.  I used up some background paper scraps and some raffia.   Easy card. That's the kind I like to make.  And easy to mail.  That's even better.

Hope you have a great weekend.

By The Sea

Hello, once again.  I spent a few days this summer by at the beach.  Well, it's really not the beach...I'm not a big fan of sand, but the area where we live has an inlet to get from the lagoon out into the Atlantic.  This inlet has a tide pool and I love to go there.  There are picnic tables, and the tide pool never gets very deep, so it's the perfect place for children.  And as an added bonus, sometimes manatees come to swim. These gentle giants are protected, so you can't actually touch them, but they get pretty close sometimes.  We usually take a lunch and make it a day.

Pelicans sitting on the rocks

We have a canopy over the picnic table and our chair near the water.  Very relaxing.

So, with all this beach inspiration, I want to share a card I made during my stamping time recently.

The palm tree stamp is from My Paper Moon, and the beach and water and sky are hand colored. with Copics.  Glitter added to the water to show the light reflection.

Hope you are having a great day today.

Dahlia

Good afternoon.  I'm trying to beat the heat, so I've been doing a bit of stamping.  It's either been hotter this summer or my memory is going and I just don't remember. I prefer to think it's been hotter.  The humidity is horrible, and it's hard for me to breathe, so I've been staying inside as much as possible and getting some cards made.  That's a good thing.  :-)

I finished up some swap obligations, and got to spend some time making some cards "just for fun."  Today I will share with you a card I made using Sparkle N Sprinkle's Dahlia set.

I love the fact that I used colors that you don't usually see together, but it makes the colors pop.  The butterfly (TAC)  is very glittery and the wings actually flutter (I cut it out, folded the wings and adhered only the butterfly body to the card). The stamp set comes with several flowers and sayings and a nice set of leaves, but I used my die cut leaves (just because I was lazy and didn't want to cut them out). 

If you want a blow by blow description of how I made the card, please leave a comment and I'll get back with you.  It's pretty straightforward.

I hope you are getting to spend some time in your craft room and staying cool.

Til next time...

Happy Birthday

Good morning!  I hope you are enjoying your summer.  I recently took a week off from work, packed my hubby off to New Hampshire to visit family, and spent a week cleaning out some stuff I had been putting off, and enjoying my time with the cats.  It was so hot, there were a few days I didn't go out of the house, but a few days I ventured out to take stuff to the thrift store.  And it wasn't all time spent alone.  I got to spend 3 days with my hubby when he returned.  :-)

I just realized that there are a couple of birthdays coming up that need cards. These are cards that need to be mailed, so I didn't want to use a lot of lumpy embellishments, although embellishments would have worked well on the cards I made.  But I wanted to keep them clean and simple.

This is the first card I made.

This is a great way to use up scraps.  I cut the black strips 1" wide, so I knew the inner strips needed to be smaller than that.  I cut them then notched the bottom before adhering to the black background. Then I notched that.  Glued them onto a rust colored background, which is adhered to a sand colored card.  I stamped Happy Birthday (TAC) onto sand colored cardstock and cut out, then backed it with the same black as the "ribbons".  Easy card, but looks nice. And could be used for a man or woman.

This is the next card I made.

I cut the "ribbons" a little wider so they took up more of the front of the card. You could add texture with ribbon, twine, brads, just about any bling you wanted.  

I hope the recipients like them.  Have a great day!

Joy

Good afternoon! Summer has just arrived and I'm already tired of it.  Too hot for me. I need to move to a cooler climate, but I'm not sure where that would be without freezing in the winter.  Any suggestions?

This weekend I worked on a card for a friend. The technique is one from Technique Junkies and involves alcohol ink and the blending solution, but I've forgotten what the technique was called.

The vine is a die from Cheery Lynn Designs, and the "Joy" is computer generated.  I used some golden glitter glue for the flower centers, which made it pop. The flower stamp is 336E-15 Delicate Flower  from My Paper Moon .

A very simple card, yet it looks more complicated than it really was to make.  Hope you have enjoyed it.

And happy birthday to Emilie!

May is certainly the month for birthdays in our family: 2 granddaughters, a step-son, my hubby and mine. Not to mention our anniversary and Mother's Day.  It's a busy, busy month.

But today I want to wish Emilie a happy birthday. She's my youngest granddaughter, and we share a very special bond.  We share a birthday. Actually, when Emilie was born, I gave her MY birthday (so I don't get any older...hehehe).

Emilie is 10 today, and I wanted to make her a special card, too.

I like the soft pastels of the card, and I think Emilie will, too. It's very girly.

So, happy happy birthday to Emilie, my sweet granddaughter.

Happy Birthday to ... Rachel!

My, oh, my, where has the time gone?  It's my oldest granddaughter's 16th birthday today, and I want to wish her a very happy birthday.  I remember when she was born, I was in the delivery room and she wrapped her little hand around my little finger and my heart.  She has grown into a beautiful young lady and is very special to me.

So, for her birthday, I wanted to create a very special card.

In retrospect, I probably should have colored the heart blue, but I kind of like it like it is...it really pops.  There is glitter and mini marbles around the heart. When you open the inside, there is a holder for a gift card or money, or an ATC or anything you would like to tuck in there.

So, Rachel, I hope all your wishes come true today and every day!  

Easter Card

I hope you have a blessed Easter.  It will be a quiet one for us.  :-)

Here is a card I made for my granddaughters.  I got the idea from a blog post from Marco's Paper.

The feet and topknot (?) were cut free-form from orange cardstock.  I used Crystal Lacquer on the eyes to make them glossy.  Everything else was just cut from shapes or punched from dies.  The inside says "Hey Chick!" (TAC) and Happy Easter (TAC).

At least one of them will like it.  ;-)

Happy Easter.

Birthday Card

It's been awhile since I've posted, so I wanted to share with you a card I made for my daughter's birthday, which is tomorrow, March 29th.

I usually make plain, simple, mailable cards, without a lot of bling and lumpy/bumpy stuff, but since I get to hand-deliver this card I was able to "bling it out."

Purple is her favorite color, so I used that color predominantly when making the card.  I was able to put jewels and pearls on the card, and the dragonflies (TAC)  have glitter and gems.  I dyed the flowers to match the purple ink (distress inks that I spritzed with water). The saying is from a set of clear Fiskars stamps.

 I think she'll like it.

Have an inky day!

Valentine's - part 4

Here is the last card I made:

Again, I am using up stuff I've had for years.  Ribbons, buttons, brads, chipboard, gemstones, paper. These have all been fun to make.  I made ATC's of miniature valentines to leave for waitresses, cashiers, etc.  I have gotten great results from previous ATC's I've made and passed out, so I'm sure these will be received well also.

I hope you have a great Valentine's day!

Valentine's - part 3

Here is the third Valentine I made:

This one uses ribbon, feathers, brads, and Romeo and Juliet background paper.  It's a great way to use up some of your older stuff you have stashed away.  My hubby will like this one.  :-)

Valentine's - part 2

Here is the next Valentine I made:

I used scrap metallic trim, buttons, stickers, flowers, charms, stamps, feathers, and paper doilies to make this card.

The background paper is from Romeo and Juliet, so it was appropriate to the card.  The tiny hearts on the flower centers are stickers, and the key ring and heart lock are charms I had stashed away.

Very easy.  Hope you enjoy.

Valentines - part 1

Just wanted to quickly share the Valentine's I'm making this year.

I used a piece of paper from a catalog (the purple butterflies, hearts and swirls), and added white dots (the Technique Junkies bandana technique).  I layered it on the purple background card base.  I cut a purple heart (here it doesn't look as purple as it does, because of the gemstones that are holding it off the scanner glass).  I put a To My Valentine sticker on the heart and outlined it with gemstones.  I stamped and punched the white "will you be my valentine" and punched it out.  I put a white heart brad in the center and layered it on a scalloped piece of scrap paper that I punched.  I put a lace sticker on the inside of the card and called it done.

I like saving junk mail (in this case the catalog page) and using it in my artwork.

Have a stamp happy day!

Free Stamp

Good morning!

There are a lot of you folks out there who are unaware of the high quality stamps that are available from My Paper Moon.  So I decided to give you a test drive.  If you send me a self-addressed, stamped (postage stamp) envelope, I will be happy to send you a free stamp (my choice) and a coupon for free shipping on your first order.  You will need to send it to:

My Paper Moon

421 Kumquat Avenue

Sebastian, FL  32958

I'll get your free stamp and coupon in the mail by return post.

Happy stamping

Last Winter Luminary

This is my last winter luminary.   I did this one a little different than the others. My husband likes it best, but I'm not sure yet.  Anyway, it was super easy to do.  I'm seeing Valentines or Shamrocks for the next one.  How about you?  A valentine one with hearts would be romantic with a nice dinner for your love.

Anyway, I coated with inside of my jar with watered down white acrylic paint.  Then I punched out snowflakes so I could use the larger negative piece for a template.  I used Staz-On ink in blue and purple and sponged on the ink through the template so I could get the snowflakes. Let dry well.  I wiped the jars with a damp cloth after they were dry, and the staz-on stayed.

I think red, pink and purple hearts sponged on the white jar would be pretty.  Or you could use a watered down red acrylic paint for the inside and sponge white hearts on the outside.

Hope this has inspired you to make your own luminaries.

Christmas Luminary

I realize it's been some time since I last posted.  Sometimes life just gets in the way, you know what I mean?

Anyway, I made some of my luminaries for Christmas, and wanted to show them to you before I put them away until next year.

Die cut the snowflakes, added glitter and gems.

 Close up of the snowflake

These were made by coating the inside of the jar with thinned white acrylic paint. Then I diecut the snowflakes, added glitter gems and adhered to the outside of the jar. 

I have another to share, made another way, so I will take pics and post tomorrow.

Hope you like them.