Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, and MORE!

Long story. Remember the cupcake turtle card? For a recent Impression Obsession DT challenge we were asked to think 'outside the box' and the cupcake top to the left became a turtle shell. The solid top has also found itself on an ice cream cone.

My teammates were so tickled with the cupcake turtle that one of them challenged me to see what else I could come up with using the adorable Create-a-Cupcake set from Impression Obsession, designed by Tami Potter. Sooooooo..... during the month of October, check in each Thursday for a new cupcake creation! The wheels are already turning...and several times I have cracked myself up...

To see all my Create-a-Cupcake cards, click here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rose Bouquet

I'm not really happy with how this card photographed, but I'll share it anyway. I just have trouble with burgundies and dark pinks...oh well...just understand that the colors are a little different in person. :) The close-up below shows the colors more accurately. This is "Rose Bouquet," one of Heartfelt Creations' gorgeous floral stamps. A lot of the images in this style remind me of one-stroke or other painting patterns - one day I'm going to try one out that way, but it hasn't happened yet. I chose this particular image because of its ability to stand alone, or fill a corner or partial panel around a sentiment at a variety of different angles. It also works well stamped multiple times and layered or arranged/rearranged... I'll show an example of that later on another card....

My card fits in with the Flourishes challenge this week to go "outside the frame"...after I had stamped and colored my image I used my Coluzzle oval template and cut just where I wanted an oval shape to be, then trimmed around the outlying petals and leaves with a craft knife.

This image was colored with Neopiko markers (alcohol based), then shaded with Prismacolor pencils. (Click here for a tutorial on how I do this.) I like being able to lay down an even base layer before adding deeper tones and highlights. While I'm rambling, too, I've been experimenting more with shading using dark browns... for what it's worth!

Fun stuff coming.....

I just noticed that my hit counter is getting close to the 150,000 mark - if you can prove that you were my 150,000th visitor, I'll send you a little something in the mail....I have quite a stash here of things to share!

A couple things coming up in October -

--smARTworks will be unveiling a new challenge blog! Challenges will be presented monthly, and will be based on a single word. Hmmm...! More details will be coming soon - stay tuned!

--October also marks my 1-year anniversary as a DT member for Impression Obsession. One of my teammates issued me a personal challenge, and I get to give away free stuff, too! I'll have more to say about that on Thursday!

--For those of you who have Impression Obsession stamps and would like to play along with our DT challenges, here is the schedule for the next couple months:

Oct. 1 - Gratitude
Oct. 15 - Make a shaker card
Nov. 5 - stamp a wreath
Nov. 19 - Winter

Remember that customer cards using all I.O. stamps will be featured on the I.O. Blog! click on over there for more details (link is to the left). Participants in this week's challenge will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift certificate!

Life stuff and a Christmas card

Sigh...I'm trying to get myself back into the swing of things again - we took this last week off because we could (national holiday for the end of the fasting month - nationally enforced religious tolerance means we get to share everyone's holidays...)...we said goodbye to our houseguest who had been with us for a week...DH spent a day with him and some other friends snorkeling and fellowshipping with believers out at Bunaken and Siladen islands...he left Friday morning early, and DH and I took off to town for the day and the night just to get away. As we thought on it, it's been a year since we had some time away, and that was time in the hospital. It was nice to get away and just hang out together. So easy to get busy and not really 'connect'.

Hard to believe it's been a year since Russ got sick...I've been reflecting on that whole experience quite a lot this weekend. Short version - my husband has fibromyalgia which suddenly manifested itself in an acute attack in the middle of the night 1 year ago - we ran him to the "ER" and he was diagnosed with a stroke, and treated/medicated as a stroke patient for a week, then through insurance coverage we have (and lots and lots of "God things" all along the way) we were able to get him to Singapore and it was determined that there was no evidence of stroke, but rather that he had myofascial pain syndrome, which has progressed into fibromyalgia. It has definitely been a growing and trying year that has shaped our family...we are so thankful to the Lord for His grace and care through this whole process.

* * * * *

Love this scene stamp from Heartfelt Creations - this is "Winter Friends". I've been looking at vintage book illustrations lately, which are typically colored with 3 basic colors, so I thought I'd try to duplicate that look. This is watercolored, with Shimmerz on a few areas (that shows better on the picture below). The wreath was stamped on a separate scrap of WC paper and layered on my main panel. Double bow made with Bow-Easy. The snow on the door/sled is done with white acrylic paint, and there's more Shimmerz on the ground. (Ack, something is underneath my z key!) The eyelet bar is from Making Memories.

We stopped by the post office and picked up our packages there - we had a record 10 packages waiting for us! Included was some DT stuff from Heartfelt Creations, including a print catalog - so excited - if you are a visual person like me, I'd recommend getting their print catalog. It is definitely worth the $10, to see the artwork in person and get a feel for the actual size of their stamps. Some of the larger sized hymns and poems would make gorgeous framed pieces with stamped or painted borders.

Since I'm going on and on about HC, here are a couple links for you, just for fun:

--the HC blog posts DT samples weekly on Wednesdays....

--I made my own little HC gallery blog, just so I could keep track of which stamps I've used, how frequently, etc. It won't be anything you won't see here, but just in case you want to see all the cards I've made with a particular stamp or whatever...it's there.

--Remember that if you sign up for the HC email list, you will receive a one-time discount code good for 25% off your next purchase.

Guess that's all for now...hope you had a good weekend!

Today...

Here is the car we purchased yesterday...for those who might be interested in such things, it's a 1996 Toyota Kijang Super, which is a model only sold in Asia, I think. It has a bench in the middle, and then 2 benches on the sides in the back. DH took it on its first outing today - took our house guest and Evan and some other friends to the harbor to take a speed boat out to Bunaken and Siladen islands for snorkeling and an afternoon outreach meeting. Tomorrow another friend is watching our kids so DH and I can have a day to ourselves in town. Looking forward to that! Ok, this is the snake that my 3 year old found on our front door...his brother had been playing with a rubber snake earlier, and we thought that was what he was talking about...um, no. I know it's just a little guy, but it's a SNAKE. In my house. No.

Wish someone had had a video camera - we were all up on the chairs while one of the girls whacked at it with a broom...very very funny...

Guess that is enough adventure for one day! As far as the house help saga goes...I hope these girls will work out for a long while. They are doing great! House is cleaner after 2 hours than it has been in a good while.

Grow in Grace

Saga first...the house helper that came yesterday...didn't show up today. Hm. I finally found out this evening from the friend that brought her that her family was upset with her about the whole pork issue (she had told me it wasn't a problem for her to cook it - just that she wasn't going to eat it), and also told my friend's aunt that the work was "torture"...um...anyway, another one down. *sigh* BUT...we have another idea and we'll see how it works out - this friend that has been helping me look for a helper is interested in helping me along with another friend (they're both 18). One girl can come earlier and clean and keep an eye on my little guy while we do school, then the other can come after her morning job and they can cook together and overlap shifts a bit. They already know our kids and love to interact with them, plus have been wanting to learn English, so...it will throw a completely different dynamic into our days, but I'm willing to try anything at this point! The important thing is - they want to work, and they have proven so far to be responsible and moldable. An opportunity, anyway. So they're both coming tomorrow at 10.

Another happy newsy tidbit - we have a car now! We've never had our own car here, though for about a year we had 'custody' of a friend's car while they were on furlough. Since we've been back from furlough (14 mo. now) we have had to borrow a co-worker's car if we ever wanted to go to town or if more than 2 of us needed to go somewhere (we do have a motorbike, but that's a bit limiting). I'll post pictures tomorrow - too dark now.

Card details - this is what I was talking about yesterday... markers direct to rubber, misted with water, then blended with a waterbrush. I lost a little detail on the flowers, so I added some detail lines with a marker after the piece was dry. The flower centers are dotted with yellow acrylic paint, using a small stylus.

Guess that's all my news for today...I think I'll spend some time watercoloring before bedtime...tomorrow will be a long day, I think...!

Faux Watercolor Dogwoods

I meant to enter this card in Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday challenge last week, which was mixing 3 patterns... turns out it fits for this week's challenge too, which is stamp misting. Sorry for the horrible photos....for some reason, I can never get these shades of dark pink to photograph right. Anyway...this again is the "Grow in Grace" set from Our Daily Bread designs. I colored directly on the dogwood stamp with LePlume II markers, then misted the stamp with water before stamping. It's kind of a faux watercolor look, and I love the block print/woodcut look it gives this vintage botanical image. I chose to leave the image 'as is', but another step also can be to watercolor in the image by blending the colors with a waterbrush. I'll show you that look next time.

Next chapter in my house help saga...the aunt that my friend told me about came Sunday to talk about the job. Seemed interested, said she would start this morning...this morning, my friend came...but with another lady, a neighbor. Apparently the aunt "cut her hand" and suggested that this friend fill in for her. I'm glad at least she sent a substitute... other times people have said they were going to come and then just didn't show up at all. Anyway, this lady that came did fine for a first day - the only 'funny' thing with her was that because of her denomination she isn't able to work on Saturdays, and she doesn't eat meat, and didn't even know how to prepare one of the dishes I asked her to (which is like the easiest local dish to make) - I had to run and get one of the students to show her how to cook it! In the course of the day she told me that the other lady normally does washing and cooking for several other families during the week, and there was no way she would have been able to work a 7 hour day for me and then come home to all that too...sigh...I love Asian culture...!

Amazing Grace

Our Daily Bread designs presented 2 of my sets back in July, but my copies got stuck in the mail...then when they did arrive, I didn't have the time to devote to working with them. This week I'm determined to do them justice. Here's my first and favorite card using both sets - Grow in Grace, and Amazing Grace Hymn. The base layer is watercolor paper. I stamped the dogwoods first and masked them with a liquid frisket before stamping the hymn. The mottled effect was done by using a brown blow pen after spritzing the panel with water. I watercolored the dogwoods and then added some shading with waterbased markers, blending with a waterbrush. I dotted acrylic paint in each flower center with a small stylus, and added some gold gel pen highlights on the flowers and around the edge of the entire panel. I positioned the sentiment panel, and trimmed around a couple leaves to accomodate it where I wanted it without covering up all my coloring. Here's a close-up of one corner:

Liquid frisket, or masking fluid...someone commented once that they wouldn't have the patience to paint over an image to mask it - the only problem I've had is not having the patience to wait for the panel to dry before removing the masking fluid (it's basically liquid latex and it dries and peels off like rubber cement, but if you don't wait, it will peel off ). I wouldn't have the patience to cut a mask out for such a detailed image! I am using Grumbacher's Miskit Frisket, which I purchased from Dickblick.com.

We so enjoyed our time this weekend with our house guest - he will be back again for a few nights later in the week before returning home. Ever meet someone for a few days and feel like you've known them for years? That's how it has been with him.

I met with a lady yesterday who's interested in helping me - I am sooooo thankful! It helps me to try to do it all myself for a few weeks to really appreciate having help when I do. We'll see how it goes this time! She is coming tomorrow for the first time.

Life stuff

I have every intention of stamping today - I need the therapy...it has been a busy weekend as we are hosting Aldi Lasso in our home - he's an Indonesian Christian recording artist, a friend of one of our students, who set up some concerts and other opportunities for him here over the weekend. It's been fun to have him here, and we've enjoyed his genuineness and excitement for life...he was here for one night alone, then his wife arrived late last night - he introduced me to her as the "best cook in the world" and keeps insisting that I should open a restaurant and he will work for me...ha! Funny, because we've always joked about that too - having a omelette & pizza restaurant (breakfast and dinner, closed for lunch) because all the toppings are the same, but we're sooooo not business people...

BTW, here is a great recipe for Cinnamon Sticky Buns...easy too, and I love that you can make them the night before. I had to substitute a few ingredients in the syrup since we don't have brown sugar or corn syrup, but they still came out great.

Still no helper - I talked to one of the teens that comes here frequently and she said her aunt would be willing to work for me, but because of the national holiday (end of the Muslim fasting month) she wouldn't be able to come until Wednesday. For some reason my hopes are not very high, but we'll see! Yesterday a friend came over to help and we folded 4 full baskets of laundry - so nice to have friends.

Guess that's it for now! What did you do this weekend?

another winter card.....

Just a quickie today - wanted to play with this sketch challenge from Peachy Keen Stamps....here is the original, which I flipped so my bear wouldn't be staring off the card... All stamps are by smARTworks. The bear is from a set called "Polarized" (heh - is he supposed to be a polar bear?! not today...), and the sentiment comes from the "Big 'n Bold" full sheet. He's colored with Neopiko markers and Prismacolor pencils.

Here he is up close:

I want you to know that when I changed the staples in my mini stapler and closed it up to use again, the first staple went to the hilt straight into my right index finger. I don't think I've ever done that before...don't want to do it again either! Still hurts a bit, actually! The price we pay for our art, eh?

Impression Obsession DT challenge: Christmas gifts

I store my ribbon on cards (don't be too impressed - the cards are cut from old cereal boxes!), and I've saved my smaller ribbon spools, thinking "ornaments". The Impression Obsession challenge this week gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my idea! The spools I used are about 2-1/4" wide.

I started with a stamped image - all these are from Sarah Phelps' Christmas release and can be purchased in clear sets or mounted/unmounted rubber. All images were colored with Neopiko markers and Prismacolor pencils, with gel pen highlights added here and there, and sponging around the edges. On the ornament above, felt rickrack is glued around the inside of the rim. A round of ribbon covers the spool, and a coordinating patterned paper covers the back. I cut my circles with a Coluzzle template.

These 2 ornaments have Diamond Dust (crushed glass glitter) around the edge. The Reindeers' ornaments were colored first with a glitter pen, then covered with Crystal Lacquer.

Be sure to see what the rest of the team has created, for holiday gift inspiration! Their links are to the left.

When pigs fly...

Periodically the smARTworks design team is given a challenge set to work with - the set is a surprise, and it's always fun to see how each of our members presents it with their own style and creative twist.

This time Susan's choice was Piggy Dreams. Cute little flying pig, with some "go for it" type sayings. I right away thought of making a spinner card - you can find instructions for spinner cards here; Dawn's video tutorial here is excellent as well. I won't tell you how long I sat mesmerized by my little piggy, somersaulting back and forth.....

I made a clouded background on heavy glossy cardstock, and stamped and painted my piggy on watercolor paper. The wings are painted with Shimmerz and they are very sparkly! You can see the rest of the team's variety of cards and projects on the smARTworks site. Here's mine... If you've never seen a spinner card in action, you can click here to see my lame attempt at showing it...it sort of more slid than spun, but maybe you'll get the idea! LOL

Head over to Susan's blog for a chance to win this little set!

Just for fun, and because I love languages...some other versions of "When pigs fly..." from around the world:

In German "Wenn Schweine fliegen könnten!" is identical with the English version, although the older proverb "Wenn Schweine Flügel hätten, wäre alles möglich" (if pigs had wings, everything would be possible) is in more common use, often edited on the second part to something impossible, like "if pigs had wings, even your idea might work".

In Finnish, the expression is "sitten kun lehmät lentävät" (when cows fly).

In Spanish, one variation that has slightly fallen into disuse is "cuando las ranas crien pelo" (when frogs grow hair).

In French, two phrases can mainly be heard. "Quand les vaches auront des ailes" ("when cows have wings") exists also, but the most common is probably "quand les poules auront des dents" ("when hens have teeth").

Brazilians also use the expression "nem que a vaca tussa" that literally means "nor if the cows cough". In Portugal though, the equivalent expression is "when the chickens have teeth" (quando as galinhas tiverem dentes).

In Russian, the expression is "когда рак на горе свистнет" (kogdá rak na goré svístnet) - "when the crawfish whistles on the mountain".

In Dutch, the expression is "Ja, als Pasen en Pinksteren op één dag vallen..." ("When Easter and Pentecost are on the same day")

In Italian, the expression is "Quando gli asini voleranno" ("When donkeys fly")

In Malayalam, the expression is "Veluttha Kaakka Malarnnu Parannaal" ("If White Crow Flies Upside Down")

(Source: Wikipedia)

more birdies...

I just love these birdies! Had to see them other than blue though - so here is another look...not sure what kind of bird this makes them, but that's ok... Coloring is done with Prismacolor pencils, with ink sponged around the edges for a vintage look.

I spent all my stamping time this weekend working on the computer instead - so be on the lookout in the next few months for new dkdesigns sets...! Now to get my mind off Christmas...sigh...and back to my lesson plans for this week's homeschooling...!

Hello winter?!!?

I spent a lot of time working on Christmas things today...text art and images for new Christmas sets, a Christmas gift project for an upcoming design team challenge...so I know it's a little early for this card, but I just have Christmas on the brain today. This is layout #33 from Inspirational Card Sketches which I rotated to accomodate the vertical image (actually, I switched 2 of the layers too! Not on purpose...stuck down the green panel then realized I should have done the blue one first). The snowman image is called "Happy Winter" can be found at smARTworks - you can see other cards made with him HERE. I colored this image with Neopiko markers and Prismacolor pencils, and added a little glitter to the bells on his hat.

Ugh, fighting allergies today...can't say I got much done around the house, but the kids are taught and fed, and the dishes are done, plus I was able to lay down and work on digital stuff...not a complete loss!

Have a great day!

one more...

I don't think I ever posted this card - this is another one using the "Almost There" set. The kids' clothes are paper-pieced, and the rest of the scene is watercolored. Just had to schedule a post at 9:09 on 09/09/09...those kinds of things amuse me!

one more...

Just one more quick post, with a quick card...these are also dkdesigns stamps - my designs. You can find these stamps at smARTworks. The images are stamped in chalk inks, and I grabbed a little bit of the sage ink with a waterbrush to 'ground' the image. The verse comes in a set called "Look Up," and the image of the kiddos is in a set called "Almost There." You can find a tutorial for the background panel HERE.

His Grace

I made this card to send out to a family on our field whose 11-year-old son was just diagnosed with a rare parasite that is essentially paralyzing his white blood cells and causing all kinds of other problems in his body - here are some excerpts from their update, and I'm sure they would value your prayers.

"...Joe has been sick since late May/early June. He has had symptoms ranging from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, lung issues, fatigue, bruises and the list could go on. We have made several trips to Jakarta in an attempt to seek treatment for Joe. As of this week, we finally have an answer. Joseph has a very rare parasite that is causing all of his symptoms. What does this mean for Joe? This means a long journey where God will guide us each step of the way. The shortest amount of time a child has struggled with this is a year and a half - the longest 3-4 years. He will need to take medicines for two weeks at a time and then retest. Eventually the parasite no longer shows up in the stool - and yet is still present in the body and unable to be seen except for the nasty damage and symptoms it causes. The biggest complications with this parasite are lung, heart, and bleeding issues. Joe has already showed lung issues but those are under control today (could change tomorrow). He will be unable to play PE, soccer, or wrestle with his brothers due to the bleeding issues. If he hits his head he could bleed internally. Ok, so those are the facts of where we are, but now I would like to share with you how God has carried our family in the last week.

When [we] got to Jakarta this last time, we were told that there were two options for diagnosis and both were fatal.... But, during the next 24 hours, I watched as God provided peace to an 11 year old. A peace that many adults have no idea how to access. One night when we were talking I asked Joe how he was doing and this was his response: "when I die you can put me in a box and bury my bones wherever you please, you can cry and wail but it ain't gonna bother me cause I'll be a long time gone to a bright happy home, celebrating and singing, worshipping round my heavenly Father's throne." For those of you who do not know, these are lines to a song by Buddy Greene that we play in our house often. I can't tell you how humbled, convicted, excited...and whatever else, by that short little section of a song. God had given Joe peace, the kind that only He could give. Over the next few days Joe would need to go to the university and see the professors there have more blood drawn... God provided three doctors in Jakarta who are in a small group of Christian doctors. Very, very caring men who would not charge us when they saw us....The Lord had prepared one of the doctors ahead of time – about a month ago he was reading up on some medical articles, and one of them “happened” to be about this rare parasite, which he had never heard of before! Because of that, he knew what tests to do to see if that’s what it was.

There have been thousands of people praying for our family; please know that God not only hears your prayers but He answers. Maybe not always the way we want but the way that is best for us. We believe it is those prayers that are carrying our family. Thank you..."

(Stamp credits: dkdesigns at Our Daily Bread designs)

We have an anchor...

Not sure why, but I've been inspired lately to pull out my acrylic paints...it's also been a while since I altered a hymn, so this card was really satisfying to make. You can find this hymn sheet music and more here if you'd like to try altering a hymn too!

This stamp image is called Seagull Roost - I stamped and masked it before painting to get the effect of waves crashing against the pilings and rocks. The waves are painted with a 'scruffy brush' - that is one of Donna Dewberry's one-stroke brushes, which you can find anywhere her supplies are sold...it worked really well for this effect! I was able to tie the sailor knot by studying this photo... still sort of impressed with myself (although I'm sure I could never do it again on my own)! Here's a close-up on the stamped image...