celebrating moments

I wish I had more moments like this - Guess I'll be living vicariously through my card this time! I do have a sweater like that though... (tee hee)... I stamped the Together photo image in Sepia ink and watercolored over the scene. I masked the mother and daughter, and used a post-it note to mask a straight line for the horizon, then sponged Adirondack Stream ink for the water.Stamp sets used: Together (DK), and Frames.

I spent a little time over the weekend making some changes to the smARTworks gallery blog and adding some more customer artwork. Over in the right column, there is a drop-down menu where you can click on a label to sort the cards by designer or stamp set. If you like a particular design team member's style, see all their cards at once. (Just for fun, click here to see all my smARTworks cards!) If you're interested in a particular stamp set, you can view cards made using that set. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see a small version of the catalog page where that set is found. Clicking on the page will take you to the page in the smARTworks pdf catalog.

Hope that info is helpful! Remember, if you make a purchase with smARTworks because of something you see made by me or one of our other design team members, be sure to mention that to Susan when you order!

life is just a bowl of ...

I'll probably be pre-scheduling most of my posts this week, just FYI - DH will be taking a visit to another island for 4 days, getting a evaluation of his progress in the language and maybe catching up with a few old friends along the way....so my computer time is going to have to be a little more limited as I single-handedly hold down the fort this week. Appreciate your thoughts and prayers! :) I'll check in as I can!

Here is another card from the "not posted" file...this is one of my favorite "Happy Hopper" images - Recipe for Friendship. I watercolored the little scene with reinkers and watercolor pencils, and put a little Ranger crackle medium on the bowl. Reminds me of a set of brown ceramic bowls my mom used to have. The sentiment is from Penny Black. This reminds me of my day yesterday too...made a big pot of soup for friends who spent the morning and part of the afternoon at the doctor with their 6yo who broke her arm the day before...then made 3 pans of lemon bars for another friend who was leading a youth meeting...then made 4 pans of pizza for whoever showed up at the house for dinner!

Here is a close-up on that bowl - that crackle stuff is pretty cool!

And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand...

I've been trying to figure out how to turn this sweet little smARTworks "Dance" girl into a fairy - I think I did it finally! I found a large Prima daisy in my stash, and cut each petal apart, then created a double-layered skirt for her, saving two petals for her little wings. Hee hee! How cute is that?
Sentiment is from the "Frames" set. Here's a closeup on the skirt:

more bluebirds....

Here is the full Rejoicing Bluebirds image I teased you with the other day...the image is laid out in such a way that it can be divided into 3 parts - the birds on the branch, the sentiment, and the branch above. Rather than making myself crazy masking, I cut my stamp up - now I have 3 stamps that can be used alone or together, rearranged, or whatever fits my card! These little birds are so stinkin' cute...
I wanted make my focal panel an oval, so I arranged my stamps on the acrylic block first, stamped, and then trimmed out my image. I stamped the branch 3 more times, then painted and cut the flowers out to piece around the edge of my little scene. I watercolored with reinkers...the nice thing about reinkers, if you use water-based dye inks (I used Ranger Adirondack ink here) is that you can leave them to dry in your palette, then come back and revive them again with a little water. I layered a corner of a square cake doilie underneath the oval, then tacked on a baby rick-rack bow - this is a Bow-Easy one too, but I didn't get it very tight. Each flower center is filled with micro glass beads.

Have a great weekend!

Life's perks....

I love a clever saying to go along with a coffee or tea card...this compact and sweet little set from smARTworks is a really fun one. (it's called Coffee Time - you can see other cards made with it here!) I pulled out some coordinating scraps for my layout, and found a wrapper from one of my favorite Stash teas, Decaf Chai. Love me some chai. Mm. The mug is pieced, and I colored the coffee in with a marker, then layered over that with a glaze pen.

Played soccer today...so far we have played married vs. singles, and though most of us married ladies are "older," many of us have played together for a while, so we connected a little better as a team. Now we are all mixed together so the teams are "even." I lost my footing one time and had a good laugh as I fell - ended up with a terrible rash from the grass...then right at the end, I ran up alongside someone to try to get the ball and some hard-and-fast-moving part of her body connected with the inside of my knee...still nursing that a bit...ow...it will probably inspire more purple cards tomorrow! Hee hee...

Purple cards.

Not sure what inspired it, but I made myself make purple cards this weekend. No reason...just need some variety sometimes, KWIM? I finally got my hands on the Smell the Coffee clear stamp set from Impression Obsession...this is the Cappucino Garden image.

I don't know what it is about this ribbon...it really is pink, but always always photographs red. Anyway...here's a Bow-Easy bow, and I added a chipboard "charm," colored with chalk inks and gel pen, and stamped with a sentiment from the set. The cool thing about the mug - that was meant to be a label or ribbon slide, but as I was staring at it, I mentally cut off the left 'handle' and saw a coffee mug there. The focal panel is watercolored with markers.

Here's purple card number 2 - these are partial images from a stamp called Rejoicing Bluebirds by Heartfelt Creations, a new-to-me company that has a full line of inspirational text and art stamps. Seriously, just reading through their catalog was an encouragement to me - shed a few tears, too, especially as I flipped one page and saw the words to a hymn that was sung at my grandfather's funeral. Anyway - a wealth of poems, hymns, and beautiful artwork to be found at Heartfelt Creations. And.....if you sign up for their email newsletter, they will send you a coupon for a one-time 25% discount off your order! That I like. This color/paper combo literally 'fell together' on my desk - scraps from other projects that were stacked and ready to put away. The focal image is watercolored using Derwent WC pencils and a waterbrush.

Not much more to report - I had a good day, and spent some quality time with friends that I'd been missing. Made banana cake too - and totally forgot the SUGAR! Better stick to cards........! HA!

randomness!

I don't really have anything to share, but I wanted just to ramble for a couple minutes before I go to bed...some random things and maybe some helpful things as well...

1. I put my hair in braids the other night, just for variety...not sure why! They can't make me grow up.....

2. A lady came in with my helper this morning, and just sort of hung around for a little while - I was already teaching my kids, so I just sort of kept teaching. After a little bit she asked me if this was our school. I said yes, and she asked, "Could my child come here too?" I was really amused...especially since it was my house helper that apparently referred her - ! I explained that it was American curriculum in English, and she said, "Oh yes, I'd really like my child to learn English..." I seemed to not be getting through, so I just said, "I'm sorry, no, it just can't be..." (At that point my helper tried to refer her to my co-worker's "school" across the campus, and I said, "No, that's just for her own children too...") I did invite her to bring her kiddo to the program the students do weekly with the local kids - so at least I gave her some hope! Very random though. Still chuckling over it!

3. My new friend Jenny Gropp introduced me to the Bow-Easy, and I finally got one in the mail this last week (thank you Lori!). It has been super fun to play with, and I am loving it! I am so not going to reinvent the wheel...I'm left-handed anyway, so I would probably just totally confuse you doing a tutorial "backwards" - but if you are left-handed and confused by the other tutorials let me know....anyway here are 2 awesome tutorials:

Jerri Kay's Bow-Easy video

Sharon Johnson's photo tutorial

Just a couple things I figured out as I was messing around that really made me excited about this tool - I have always had trouble getting a charm to hang right from a bow, and also sometimes like a button in my bow center. Bingo.......if you watch the tutorial - all I did was add a step after the bow tail tucks through to the other side. Before you bring it back around, you can tuck that tail through a jump ring like this:

...or through 2 button holes like this:Just realized that I don't have these bows on cards yet to show you! Heh heh...anyway, wanted to share my discoveries. I got my Bow-Easy here on ebay ($6, free ship to U.S.).

4. I played volleyball earlier and once again my right knee is bothering me - not sure what I am doing - it doesn't hurt when I play, but last time it started about an hour or so afterwards, that discomfort lasted for about 3 days.

All for now - I should go to bed, I guess...!

Welcome......

Super quick card I sent to new co-workers to welcome them to Indonesia. The watercolored house image is a Michael's dollar stamp, and the inside sentiment is from smARTworks. Finished card size was 3"x6" - fun little size. I did end up going to church this morning, but had hubby tell them please to not ask me to sing, since I was "kurang suara" (nifty little way to say my voice is 'lacking').

Isn't that a cute little house? Goodness, I need to make some more of these!

Big 'n Bold Flower Silhouettes

I have a folder on my computer called "not posted"...here are a couple cards I made this summer that never made it to the blog! Both are made using the "Big 'n Bold" set from smARTworks, which can be purchased using smARTbucks.

The focal panel on the first card started as a piece of Basic Grey floral cardstock. I stamped the flower image in Versamark ink and embossed it with clear powder, then covered the entire panel with lavender chalk ink. When that was dry, I stamped the garden border at the bottom, embossed clear, and covered the entire panel again with a darker purple ink. Finally I stamped the flourish, embossed clear, and covered the entire panel with eggplant chalk ink. After all layers were dry, I put the panel under a sheet of newsprint (from a coloring book, don't tell my kids!) and ironed it until the embossing powder melted into the paper laid over it. This was the result: *Hint* As you plan your scene and layers, you will want to start by stamping the images that you want to see the brightest. Each consecutive layer will be progressively darker in shade. Here's a closeup on the flowers:

I used another floral stamp from the set to stamp this diecut tag card. The images were inked "direct to rubber" with chalk ink pads before stamping. I love the Versamagic Chalk Inks in the dewdrop size for this technique.
I stippled around the edges to break up the white space, then scribbled a flower shape over each flower with a glitter pen. That shows better on the closeup:

Feeling a little 'hormonal' today and I keep getting this pressure in my sinuses that makes the whole side of my face and jaw hurt...anyway, those things together don't quite set me right for an all-campus meal tonight and my husband preaching at a church in town tomorrow...I find at those times that I want to avoid unpredictable social situations, and tomorrow what do you bet they'll ask me to do special music on the spot...I suppose with that possibility in mind I'd better prepare something "just in case"...but I so want to hide under the covers instead...

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Halloween

I've had fun with this cupcake image, so I thought I'd share this card today for our Design Team challenge. Did you know......if you have Impression Obsession stamps, you're welcome to join in with us on our themed challenges - if you email your entry to Shirley at the I.O. blog your card will be featured there with other customer artwork!

Stamps used: Spooky Cakes, Enjoy Your Day

I pulled out my Prismacolor pencils for this card...thought I'd use a non-white cardstock too, so this is a grey-ish-brown-ish linen-textured stock. I used a black alcohol marker and white Souffle pen on the cupcake wrappers - and had a little chuckle remembering the Beetlejuice cartoons I used to watch after school... :)

One more card - I'm still not sure what I think of this one but I'll throw it out there anyway. A bit dark for me with all the blacks and blues, but maybe it will inspire someone...who knows? This is Crow Gathering, another new release. I used Prismacolor pencils and OMS to color in the image, sponged the edges with black ink, and colored in the tree with a white Souffle pen.

See what other spookiness the girls have cooked up by clicking on the I.O. team links over to the left!

Birthday Berries

Still playing with my new Flourishes stamps, and continuing my phase of mixing patterns.....the strawberry panel is watercolored and accented with Shimmerz. The Happy Birthday is from Impression Obsession.

Thought I'd submit this card, too, for the first challenge on a new challenge blog: Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges! They'll be posting challenges inspired by Bible verses - this week's challenge was to create a food- or drink-related card, based on the verse: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 (NIV)

Silhouettes

I love this Basic Grey paper, and it seemed like a perfect background for this smARTworks silhouette image that has been floating around on my desk for weeks. The focal panel was done with an emboss-resist technique...

1. stamp glossy cardstock with text stamp (One Smile set) using Adirondack Lettuce ink
2. stamp and emboss silhouette image clear
3. sponge Lettuce ink over entire panel
The silhouette image is from the full sheet called "Happy Silhouettes", and single word "Smile" is from the "Big 'N Bold" sheet, both of which can be purchased with smARTbucks, earned with smARTworks purchases, referrals, and gallery entries. The butterfly die-cut was a RAK from Sarosa - thank you, sweet!

Paging JAYMACK.........

I am still waiting to hear from you regarding the stamps you won from Impression Obsession. If I don't hear from you by the 20th, those stamps will be my next penny auction up for grabs. (Remember this stamp lot here? I so love these candy jars....) Thank you!

Saturday!

I wanted today to be more relaxing, but my helper didn't show up again...she did contact me after a while, and said she had a sick child...but I think I upset her yesterday, so this may be a bit of a 'protest'...! Yesterday she asked for about half of our lunch leftovers to take home for her kids, and I, not wanting to set a precedent of her expecting to take our food (or making too much so there were more leftovers...), said no - that was food that we would eat, and we'd like to keep it....maybe another time if there was extra food that we wouldn't eat, I would offer it, but the offer needed to come from me. Wasn't what she wanted to hear, I guess! Here we have a 3-day weekend for Independence Day, so I won't have a helper till Tuesday. Bummer.

Yesterday DH took a blow to the ear during soccer and his eardrum burst...I did 'something' to my knee, though I don't remember what, playing volleyball... so we are quite a pair today. But...life goeth on. Pizza tonight sounds really really good, and it sounds like we will have a houseful of students too. Good times (and usually they help with dishes, too, though that is definitely not why we have them come!). A couple of the ladies want to learn how to make pumpkin choco-chip cookies, so we have that to look forward to as well. :) Yum!

I have a card to share - this is one of my challenge stacking cards:

1. Everybody Art Challenge - card with a house theme
2. Whimsy Stamps Challenge - make an animal card (furred, feathered, leathered, or scaly)
3. Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - scored lines
4. Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #8

I wanted to embellish this card more but I couldn't work it out in my mind. The focal image is from My Heart Stamps for You, and the sentiment is from Heart and Soul Rubber Stamp Co. I used watercolor pencils and a Niji waterbrush to color the scene. The bird was stamped on a scrap of watercolor paper, trimmed and layered. I used a stylus to make a border around the oval and to emphasize some of the wood-grain lines on the birdhouse. The sentiment panel was double-scored with my Scor-Pal, and embossed with a 1/8" punch (*TIP* - to emboss small circles, create thickness behind your panel by folding a piece of cardstock 1 or 2 times so you can emboss but not punch all the way through.)

Have a great weekend!

Life's a dance you learn as you go......

Frustrating day with my helper yesterday...and trying to find my balance between allowing her to just cook and clean and find her own routine as long as things are getting done OR...me being anal about the cleaning schedule and menu I have posted because it is my house and I'm in charge, and when we do things on scheduled days we know that they get done regularly. This is totally my 'melancholy' temperament shining through - schedules and charts and consistency, do it right the first time...which doesn't so well translate into a culture that is not structured on time or task... sigh...

OK, venting over. :) Choosing joy. On to the cards.

These 2 cards were made with the "Free" set (that's the name of the set, not the price........though if you'd like to bid on this set at auction, I have divided it into 2 smaller sets and the price of each is still at a penny - that's almost free! :) Auctions end this Friday, 8/14.......)

Not a lot to explain here really - I stamped the dancer then masked with a punched circle and stippled ink around the circle's edge. The sentiment is stamped in the same ink along the left side of the panel. Flowers are all punched.

The second card is super simple, and all that is stamped is the sentiment, but I love this layout, and how the sentiment is framed in the oval. Great way to use up matching scraps, too, without having to match a colored image. On with my day...my mornings have been busy lately, filling out excuse slips for students missing class because of sickness - this flu bug is really making the rounds here...right now it's worst in the mens' dorms. With so many students from different backgrounds, too, my ministry as "campus nurse" has really deepened to more of a teaching role, as people come with skewed ideas about medicine, don't understand rest, importance of drinking water, disease prevention, etc. Lots of things this year that are throwing me on the Lord, to really work out His patience, gentleness, and love in and through me. Whew!

Fall Cards

Last year I made the decision to 'retire' as a partner with Biblical Impressions/ Eureka Stamps for personal reasons, and as a last hurrah I made a big purchase with my commission money. A bunch of the stamps I bought were Fall designs, and since it was past Fall, they got stored away. I love Fall...and I miss the changing of the seasons we enjoyed back home, especially during our years in Missouri. Here are the cards I made this weekend with my newly inked Eureka rubber. All images are colored with Neopiko markers and Prismacolor pencils. (sentiment: smARTworks) (Sentiment: Heart & Soul Rubber Stamp Co.)

(Sentiment: Our Daily Bread designs)

We're experiencing a particularly dry stretch of dry season - maybe that's why I'm missing seasons in general! Sure could use some rain to fill the dorm wells up.

Hope everyone is having a great week!