Life stuff...

Thanks for all the Thanksgiving wishes! We enjoyed our dinner Saturday with a group of Indonesian friends - good times, good food...lots of leftover green bean casserole. This is another very full week...

--Today I led our staff ladies' meeting (sharing a devotional and keeping things moving along), then had music practice afterwards for a special song...

--homeschooling (I gave the kids a list of what needs to get done to bring them all to the end of the semester - 3 weeks worth of work, but when it's done, they're done...)

--campus activities as usual...joining last class hour Wed. and Fri., plus sports MWF...

--music practices (worship team) beginning for our campus Christmas/ graduation/ anniversary service on the 10th, some of the songs I don't know (I play the piano).

--ordering a banner to decorate our classroom, and nailing down other decoration necessities. Helping design certificates and the invitation.

--dinner with our fellowship group - Thursday?

--practices with the kids for a homeschool Christmas variety show Saturday

--premarital counseling with a student couple (Wednesday, separating for "that" talk...)

--mass-producing ornaments for fellow staff ladies (we're having a ladies' tea next Friday). Pictured is a sneak peek - I'll put a tutorial together when I get them done. Image is by Heartfelt Creations.

Whew! One day at a time............

Cardinal Christmas

When the holidays roll around I find that I miss seasons and places....we spent our first years of marriage at a campus on the Lake of the Ozarks and I loved watching the seasons change. We also kept several bird feeders so we had birds closeby, and I loved seeing the red flash of a cardinal. This Cardinal is from Heartfelt Creations - isn't that a beautiful image? I colored in the bird with Neopiko markers then used Prismacolor pencils to shade him in and fill in the scene around him. The snow is white acrylic paint, sprinkled with glittler while it was still wet. "Holiday Greetings" comes from a full sheet of sentiments for every occasion - H.C. has 4 such sets, and you can see them all HERE. The bow was made using a Bow-Easy.

Fall Tree

Thought I'd better take the opportunity to post a Fall-ish card before the season's gone...not sure why I chose the sentiment 'Congratulations' on this one, except for that it fit... Not very seasonal, but hey....it is what it is.

I used the "Four Seasons Tree" set from Heartfelt Creations - admittedly before stamping, the tree looks a little Halloween-y...these images are so versatile though, and the set lends itself to a variety of techniques. For this card I stamped the trunk on watercolor paper using Sand chalk ink, then filled in the image with the same ink and some reinkers, using a waterbrush. It's amazing what a different effect that gave, in contrast to the black and white image.

For the leaves, I used a Kaleidacolor pad, so I was stamping with 2 colors of dye ink at once. I misted my watercolor paper so the ink would bleed and run just a bit. {NOTE: An alternative to this 'faux watercolor' technique is to ink the stamp first, then mist the stamp before stamping. Works both ways.} I used the same inkpad to stamp a few fallen leaves around the base of the tree. The tag was a regular size shipping tag that I cut down with a craft knife. Oh that reminds me, I heard back from Ranger regarding my Tim Holtz ruler, and they are sending a new one. Happy about that one.

Congratulations. Hm...made sense when I was making it, but doesn't make sense here. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you... we are celebrating with you in our hearts today, but saving our big meal for Saturday. (Actually... heh heh... we bought 2 turkeys this year - one for us, and one to share, because when we share a turkey there are never any leftovers, and we miss the leftovers. We cooked 'our' turkey on Tuesday, and made turkey sandwiches for dinner. Weird, huh - eating leftovers before Thanksgiving?! :) LOL

Watercolor Poinsettia

This was made a while back - not sure why it never got posted! This Poinsettia image is one of Alesa Baker's designs, sold by Impression Obsession. Her designs always have such an elegance to them. This large image was easy to watercolor (I used reinkers). I stamped the image 3 times, or maybe 4...I can't remember! Each layer was cut out and then stacked with foam tape in between for dimension. The smallest, top-most layer is attached with French knots - you can see them more clearly in the photo below.

This week I'm soooooooo looking forward to taking a day off school to COOK - we traditionally (here, because we can...) celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday so our national friends can join us. Friday happens to be another religion's holiday, so we get the day off from regular campus activities. Perfect timing. Since I have someone come in to cook our lunches while we're doing homeschool, it's been a long time since I've spent the whole day in the kitchen... I'm funny with Thanksgiving cooking too - I love the chance to do it all myself...just so long as someone else does the dishes for me!! We have our turkeys purchased, I found cranberry sauce at the grocery store (yay!), and everything else I need is locally available. Not sure if Mom's pecans will make it in time...but other than that we're set.

We're usually invited to an ex-pat get-together, but in the spirit of the first Thanksgiving, which was celebrated with the Indians in thanks for their help in teaching the Pilgrims to survive in a new land...we really have enjoyed the opportunity to share with our friends here, who have given and taught us so much about survival, communication, and life in this country.

OK, got myself drooling now...

smARTworks DT challenge: Fannie Mae

Every few months, Susan of smARTworks issues a challenge to the design team - each of us is given the same stamp set, and our job is to create something with the set, giving it our own personal 'twist'. This time around we were sent the Fannie Mae Trio set. Now, Fannie Mae and I were not fast friends. She's not my type, really...but I did my best. After all, what's a challenge if it doesn't make you a little bit uncomfortable?

I stamped the portrait image in Sepia ink and shaded it with reinkers and a waterbrush. After the panel was dry, I coated the entire thing with Ranger Crackle Accents. That's fun stuff... You can see the effect below... I used the fan stamp to create a little texture on the background panel. The diecut is made by Provocraft for Cuttlebug.

You can see all the team members' creations over in the smARTworks' Cookie Jar...also, check in with Susan @ In the Works for a chance to win a Fannie Mae set of your own!

The other dogwood card

One more non-Christmas card to finish out the week - here is another card made with the Double Dogwood set from smARTworks. I mentioned how my colors and combos get a little more bold when I'm under pressure...you should have seen where this one was going before...somehow turquoise and blue got involved in the color mix. Thankfully I came to my senses and just went with a mix of pinks instead. The image is colored with Prismacolor pencils, and a bit of white acrylic paint.

Tweaking again....

....but this time over at the Digisig Diner. Hopefully it's a little easier to get around in now, with information on separate pages instead of in tiny print on the sidebar. I'm still adding more samples, contending with a twitchy internet connection...grr...

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Shaker cards

Today the I.O. team is featuring a new product - Shake-It Pouches! This was my first time working with these self-adhesive shaker enclosures, and they are so fun and easy to use. Here is some info from the Impression Obsession Winter 2009 supplement catalog:

Brand new from Impression Obsession! These self-adhesive shaker pouches make creating shaker cards and shaker elements for your scrapbooks quick and easy. We have five different sizes and shapes to choose from. These pouches are self-adhesive; you simply stamp your image, place your shaker materials in the middle, and peel and stick the shaker pouch on top. Cover the lip with an overlay or frame, and your shaker card is done! No more tedious placing of foam tape on acetate. They are only 1/8" deep so can be mailed without additional postage. Everyone loves to receive these cute cards, and now you can make them just as quickly as a plain card!

I found that the Coluzzle oval template had a size that fit the oval pouches perfectly, so I worked with that shape this time...I guess I'll have to order more! At $5 for 10 of them, and remembering the pain of making those little frames with foam tape and acetate...I'm sold...

This card was quick and super simple. I used an image from the Birthday Cakes clear set, colored it quickly with Neopiko markers and added a few dots of white acrylic paint. I laid down my colored panel and poured out a little confetti in the center of it. Next, I removed the liner from my Shake-It Pouch, aligned it over my image, and set it down over the image, trapping the confetti in. I cut a corresponding-sized oval in the striped panel and arranged the scalloped panel and ribbon around the opening, then positioned the panel over the shaker element. Next, shake, shake, shake... come on, you know you want to!

I'm not crazy about how this card photographed, but I'll share it anyway...I messed with the colors and got it a little too 'something'. But I like the fish and the idea, so here's a quick rundown of how I made this card:

Stamps used:
Funky Fish clear set
Birthday Cakes clear set('birthday')
Sentiments I – Add-ons

The sentiments set includes the word 'wishes' and an alphabet - I inked up all but the 'w' and then stamped in the single 'f'. Heehee!

For the shaker element - I stamped the vines and fish in pigment ink on watercolor paper, then embossed them with clear detail powder. I laid a mask over the scene and sponged Stream ink from the bottom up, then blended the ink with a waterbrush. I added some shading to the fish with Neopiko markers. Just wanted to show you that the shaker pouches are deep enough to use dew drops for your shake-y element!

Be sure to check out what the rest of the team did to Shake-It up....their links are to the left!

Pearlescent Dogwoods

Let's take a break from Christmas cards this week, huh? I want to share this card - when I ordered my last batch of stamps from smARTworks my eye fell on lots of floral stamps in the catalog that begged to be colored... Susan recently started carrying Niji Pearlescent Watercolors too, so that factor thrown into the mix resulted in this sparkly card. This is Double Dogwood, by artist Darlene Poole of Heavenly Smiles Original Designs. I love large florals...

I used a sentiment from the Hummer set - that's a gorgeous set by Darlene too, with lots of versatile sentiments. The background flourish image is from the Stella set, and that background panel was embossed with plastic canvas.

The flowers are watercolored with the Pearlescents - I stamped the image 3 times and layered the flowers, shaping them a little while they were wet. I remembered a tip from Linda Duke about shaping flowers by laying them in your hand and pressing the center into your palm - I did that to these while they were still wet and let them dry first before layering them on my card. Each flower has a little Crystal Lacquer and Diamond Dust in the center. Check out the shimmer on those petals!

New site!

Heartfelt Creations will be debuting their new-and-improved-and-super-spiffy website on Tuesday, Nov. 17th, so be sure to check over there for lots of new features! If you haven't signed up for their newsletter, do it now - there will be a special email sent to their readers Monday night with a newsletter-exclusive coupon, plus you get a coupon for signing up anyway...!

Beary Cozy

I made this a while back and forgot to post it! This is Beary Cozy, one of Heartfelt Creations' line of bear stamps (click HERE to see them all!). There's something about the way he is snugged right up in that blanket, with it wrapped around his arm...guess I just miss feeling that cozy here in the tropics! I just pretend, in our air-conditioned office... heh...

This image is perfect for a layered paper tole technique, and was fun to color too. I stamped him 3 times (I think), and colored each layer with Neopiko markers and Prismacolor pencils. I've had the quilt paper for a while, and when I saw this image thought immediately of using the quilt paper - with all the pastels it makes a great gender-neutral baby card. I pierced around the edge at each printed stitch, just for fun.

Tweaked!

Thought I'd spend some time this morning unwinding and messing around with my blog. I was getting tired of the darkness of it. Kinda like this though...whaddaya think?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.............

If you have the Tim Holtz ruler with the grid on the back (Idealogy line) do NOT clean it with the odorless mineral spirits you have sitting on your desk........ *sob*........no more grid on mine......

Gratitude

Just a reminder that there's a new monthly challenge underway at the smART-word Challenge blog! The word of the month is Gratitude, and I chose to use that word as an inspiration for this simple thank you card (which one of these days I will mass-produce to show our gratitude to our faithful supporters...but ugh, I hate mass-production...). I used 2 of my DK sets for this card: Combo Sentiments & Dance. The border strip that goes across is embossed with a Cuttlebug die that I ran through my Zipemate with the embossing pad instead of the cutting plate. Here's a close-up on the flower, so you can see how I layered it...there is foam tape between each layer. The finished card size is 4-1/4" square.

New Stamps at smARTworks

Are you ready for a new stamp release? Susan over at smARTworks has added new pages to the online catalog! You never know what you may find there...there's a little bit of everything this time!

Click here to go directly to the new catalog pages - the new release starts on page 179.

Here is some artwork that I contributed to this new batch of stamp sets....

(Yep, that's my Benny in the 'Wonder' set...I designed that set with gratitude, thinking of the time we nearly lost him to Dengue Fever...wow, did we see the marvelous works of God then!)

Sooooo........whatcha think?

Warm drinks and gingerbread men...

It's not often here that I feel truly cold, though I think my body has reprogrammed itself to think that anything cooler than 80 is 'cold'...but I still love any stamp that has a warm drink in it. I'm especially a sucker for stamps with anything cute in a teacup or coffee mug - this recent release (Toasty Treats) from Impression Obsession by Leigh Hannan is one of my favorites. This card is watercolored, with some white dots of acrylic paint, applied with a small stylus .

Speaking of the winter release, the full release catalog is now available for download online - I have several cards in there, in case you want to see my name in print...one of the first pages in the supplement tells on which pages you can find my cards. :)

Faux Poinsettias

All stamps on this card are by Heartfelt Creations....the floral image isn't actually a Christmas stamp - this is Clematis Spray. (Click here to see all H.C.'s clematis stamps - unique and gorgeous!) I love clematis vines - I wish I had one here - can you buy seeds for it? I wonder if it would grow....

ANYWAY, I thought it would be fun to paint it as a poinsettia instead. I used markers for my base red color and watercolor pencils to shade.The centers are acrylic paint dotted with a small stylus. (**note to self** - wait a little longer next time! The yellow paint soaked up some watercolor that was not quite dry.)

The card base was a fun one - I ran it through my Zipemate with a piece of plastic canvas (you know the kind for needlepoint crafts). I've kept that canvas on my desk to use as a guide for piercing and eyelet placement - turns out it works as an embossing plate as well! Cheap trick.

I stamped the Clematis image inside using Brilliance Rocket Red ink. Here are direct links to the sentiments I used:
Christmas Greeting

Wishing You

Woah, bright......

I know that when I'm busier and maybe a little more stressed, or my crafting time is more pressured, my card colors and color combos tend to be a little more bright and bold....just wanted to share a peek at my desk and the unfinished projects there...woohoo! Brightness. And you should see the sparkle on that pink card in the background...I was playing with the Pearlescent Watercolors that smARTworks carries now...!

Not much to report this weekend...I finished up a few more prayer card photos for our students and am working on getting their cards designed with an Indonesian and English version for each family or single...made 4 kinds of pizza last night and enjoyed eating with good friends, overflowed my pizza pan chocolate chip cookie - note to self - don't spread the dough out to the edge...

Hooray for a day to rest and relax... Maybe I'll get those cards put together after all....!! Maybe...

Mitten card

The inspiration for this card is very random...I purchased some quick oats the last time we went to town, and as a free gift with my purchase, I received a ring of oatmeal recipes on oven-mitt shaped papers. These weren't recipes you'd imagine with oatmeal, really...mostly they were Indonesian recipes where they tried to substitute oats where they would normally use rice. Ummm....no thanks. Cute paper though! You should be able to click on it to see it larger and resize to make your own pattern...if that is not ok, somebody please let me know! An oven mitt card would be cute too, huh...

I shortened the length of the 'mitt' to use as a mitten pattern and cut a cuff out of felt, pierced around the edge and added some faux stitching with a Souffle pen. I had the snowflake ornament in my stash, and the greeting stamp is from Heartfelt Creations.

Busy weeks ahead...we have about 5 more weeks in our semester here, and as the end draws near, lots of planning and preparation goes on. This year we are celebrating Christmas, honoring our students who are finishing the first step of their training (3-semester Bible course), and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the training center. I'm always involved with music, which includes practices beforehand with the worship leader and also whatever special music groups need accompaniment...this year I was asked to be on the decorating committee as well, so my mind has been spinning with ideas of how to decorate the entryway and classroom, and with design ideas for a theme banner. I usually design anything that needs to be printed as well (program, invitation, certificates...), and I offered to design prayer cards for whatever students are interested... OF COURSE at the same time I have new stamps crying out to be inked up...anyway, just know that anything that ends up stamped over the next few weeks is the fruit of a needed 'sanity' break!