TTFN......

I will be away from my computer for a couple of weeks (twitch, twitch...), so the rest of you will have to survive without me while I go on an adventure with my family! We start with a 2 day roadtrip and then fly via helicopter to a mountain village for 5 nights... the purpose of our trip is to represent our school, encourage the church there, and attend the wedding of 2 of our students, who have more accurately become a part of our family over the last 3-1/2 years... Some other co-workers and students will also be able to attend, and we're excited about this little adventure together! The kids are excited about the helicopter and seeing old friends.

Where we have a phone signal I can still update Facebook...but for those days we are interior, no phone, only SSB radio. It's killing me because my brother's wife is due ANY DAY with their first baby (my first nephew on my side) and I don't want to miss that phone call, but I may... sigh... we'll see.

I have a few posts scheduled - a couple of challenges, and my birthday (don't want to miss that one!), and I'll try to check in at some point if I can. But if not... I'll have lots of pictures when we get back! Take care!

Because of His gift to us...

Merry Christmas to all.......

Nativity...Christmas Eve Eve :)

Closing in on Christmas day - I have really been taking one moment at a time, determined to not become overwhelmed, but we'll see how that goes! I'm not at all ready for our trip, but have been working on organizing some corners of the house that have been piling up over a few busy months...

Tomorrow is a busy day of cooking (silly me, volunteered to cook a chicken for someone else in the middle of preparing for a dinner party at my house...?!?!). We are hosting a Christmas Eve get-together for our American co-workers, just for the sake of being each other's family and sharing something familiar. Everyone's bringing soups and desserts to share - I made a load of vanilla custard (with just a touch of rum, yum) earlier which will become a layered pudding dessert (without the cream cheese layer, because I am hoarding the cream cheese for my birthday cheesecake, thankyouverymuch!), and will make a few pans of focaccia tomorrow. (Will 4 be enough?) If you want to come, bring your own bowl!

Card details - The Nativity Scene image (Heartfelt Creations) was colored with Neopiko Markers and shaded/highlighted with Prismacolor pencils...except for the sky. The sky was colored with Prismacolor pencils, shaded with the side of the pencil first, then blended with Odorless Mineral spirits. That gives the mottled sky-ish look that I was going for. The nativity...wow...this year I am so struck with the fact that God became man, a helpless baby, depedent on sinners. Beyond my comprehension...!

I'll try to pop in once more before we leave...!

Town stuff

I keep a camera in my purse when we go to town. We braved it twice this last week - once with the kids....and once was enough. It's too hard to keep tabs on 4 little ones, never mind browsing and trying to remain upright with so many people in one place, different sounds coming from every store, and an overplaying of Clay Aiken's Christmas album... Not only everyone from the city is at the mall, but all the people from the mountain and surrounding villages...it's an absolute madhouse. But! We made it again on Friday just DH and I, and though it was still crazy we didn't have to defend our kids from pinches and photos, found most of what we needed, and even found some amusing things along the way.
This is the pretty little salad that came with my lunch at an "American" restaurant we decided to try - I think this restaurant was to us as Chinese restaurants in the States are to Chinese people...'pretty much' authentic but with a local twist. Good stuff though!

Oops - didn't get this turned the right way...........but.........a moment of silence, please, for the cop....

This cracked me up.......doesn't that say "Unfabulous"?

smARTword Challenge - Christmas cards

Remember to link up your Christmas themed cards over at the smARTword Challenge blog! Each month we post cards which surround a one-word theme...if you have smARTworks stamps, use them and you can earn smARTbucks toward exclusive merchandise...if you don't have smARTworks stamp, link up your creations anyway - you'll still be qualified for a drawing at the end of the month!

Here's the card I submitted for this month's challenge - I used the "Star Flowers" set, which is pictured above. I stamped the medium flower on 3 different scraps of red designer paper, and once on a green piece, then cut out each flower. The green flower was cut up to use as leaves. I shaped the flowers and layered them on top of each other, connecting them all with a pearl brad to form a poinsettia.

The sentiment is from the Chickadee Blessings set...little secret on that sentiment - I've cut mine in half, so that when it's not the 'seasonal' part of the year, I can use it as 'Wishing you blessings', or just ink 'blessings' up alone.

We hope you'll join us!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Valentines/Love

Today the Impression Obsession team has challenged each other to make Valentine cards. Always one step ahead, I tell ya...

The stamps I used on the main panels are from the Heartlines set by Leigh Hannan - love those cute birdies!! I colored them with Neopiko Markers then added some shading with Prismacolor pencils and OMS. There is clear glittery paint on the hearts - that shows better in the close-up below.

My favorite part of this card, which maybe you didn't even notice.....see that plaid panel? I made that with one of the new
"Cover-a-Card" background stamps. This is the one called "Thick and Thin" - I stamped it one way with the pink ink, then turned it a quarter turn and stamped with lime green. I used those colors as a theme in my colored panel. Cool, huh? My base panels are embossed with a Fiskars texture plate.

Remember, Impression Obsession has all their stamps at least 20% off until Sunday... Be sure to visit the rest of the girls - they're showing off their Valentines too! And...you may just see some sneak peeks of stamps that will be revealed at CHA...!!

Daniela ♥ For the First Time
Deborah ♥ Cards and Things
Jeanne ♥ Inky Paws
Jenny ♥ One Krafty Kat
Julie ♥ Out to Impress
Kathy ♥ Watermelon Sugar
Kelli ♥ I Made This Myself!
Laura ♥ Laura's Stamp Art Journal
Rosemary ♥ her I.O. gallery
Shirley ♥ the I.O. Blog

One stamp, three ways

Our friends over at Impression Obsession are preparing some project sheets to be shared with stores that carry their stamps and products - they decided to promote this cutie little stamp, Snowy Tree Globe. (If you like it, click on it - it's on clearance this week! Remember, all stamps are on sale right now, at least 20% off!)

Here are 3 projects I submitted using the stamp.

First is a clay ornament....I rolled my air-drying clay to 1/4" thickness, then stamped the image into the clay and cut out around the edge. I made a small hole in the top with a stylus (note: be sure to poke through from both sides, front to back then back to front so the hole is even all the way through). When it was fully dry I painted it with acrylic paints, painted clear glittery paint over the globe, and then filled the globe with Ranger Crackle Medium. The ornament hangs by a wire through the hole.

For the second ornament I cut kraft cardstock 4" high x 5" wide, then scored and folded in half and cut the corners to create a tag shape. I stamped the snowglobe to right of score line and cut around inside edge of globe. I cropped and sized my picture to fit inside the circular opening (about 1-1/2" diameter), and attached it to the inside of the tag 'folder'. Next I attached acetate to the back side of globe, and decorated with an eyelet, bow, and ribbon. The tag folder is adhereed shut with double sided tape. I edged the tag with white colored pencilm then adhered the ribbon across the top, punched a hole and attached a hemp tie for the hanger.

Finally, a card. I stamped and painted the snow globe on watercolor paper, then covered the globe with red-liner tape and glitter. The label is from the clear Journaling 1 set, and the text is from the clear Typestacks Family set. Both sets are designed by Tami Potter. The snowflakes are from a clear set by Sarah Phelps. I sponged the edges of the label with Brilliance Red Rocket ink.

Annual Sale at Impression Obsession...!

Bethlehem Night

Thought I'd try to recreate a night scene with this image from Heartfelt Creations - this is called O Little Town. I colored it with my Prismacolor pencils, blending with odorless mineral spirits. The cardstock I used has a bit of a sparkle to it, which shows through the layers of color. I added some highlights to the star with a gold gel pen. The ovals were cut with my Coluzzle, and gold accents are a Cuttlebug die.

Busy days here, but we have been laying low for many of the Christmas services and other family and neighborhood events. I've had a lot of late nights as it is, and I'm exhausted! I think I might have slept all morning if my 5YO hadn't come in twice, and if I wasn't worried about my son's fish, who will probably not make it through the day... Last night we went to a wedding reception for the son of a pastor who's a friend of our campus... we didn't even know the people who got married, but I wanted to go because the reception was in a huuuuge gorgeous reception hall by our old house, and I've always wanted to see the inside. I was not disappointed at all! Absolutely beautiful. Lots of laughs too, as almost all of our co-workers were there with us.

This week the kids still have some schoolwork to finish up, but not full days - so HOPEFULLY they will double up on things instead of prolonging the work, because this teacher has already checked out for the holidays....!! We said goodbye to our Aussie co-workers yesterday who are taking a 5 month furlough, and will be seeing students off throughout the week. We haven't begun to think about Christmas shopping yet...sigh...now that all my busy-ness is behind me, I've been so appalled at the clutter that's accumulated while I wasn't looking, and I'm willing to spend my Christmas money on containers and shelves to help us organize what we already have instead of adding to the disaster...I guess that is my Melancholy side coming out!

retired stamps...out with the old...and you know what that means...!!!

Just a few sales I wanted to let you know about....

Head over to Firecracker Designs by Pamela - she has Flowersoft at 50% off right now, and also an assortment of overstocked and retiring designs - one of them is the soldier set I did the artwork for, so if you're interested in that one, it's only $4.50 right now...not sure if it will be discontinued or not.

Heartfelt Creations also has some retired designs at a 25% discount - they are making room for NEW designs...I just saw the previews this morning and my stamps (and coordinating Nesties!!) are on the way - so be on the lookout for some new images in the next couple of months!! Very fun stuff.

Speaking of new stuff.....Impression Obsession also has some new designs in the works to be revealed at CHA - I hope to be playing with those very soon as well! Sneak peeks to come!

smARTworks has a new assortments of stamps in the overstock section - one of those ("Tweet") features a doodle I did on one of my cards that Susan lifted to use as a stamp image.

That's all I know...be enabled!

Ornament Trio

Just having fun with some non-traditional colors for Christmas...I love this image and the other elegant Christmas images illustrated by Alesa Baker... This is Ornament Trio. There's a smaller version of the image HERE at Impression Obsession. I watercolored the image with reinkers (Adirondack Stream, Willow, Denim)...I wanted to experiment with some foils since my husband actually found mine...they had been shoved back in a cubby behind something else for who knows how long...but...I needed to use something other than what I did, because they didn't work out the way I had hoped...and then they stuck on where I didn't want them to...but...it's still sort of cool...next time I will go back to the Versamarker and Heat/Stick powder. I grabbed a gold gel pen instead, and traced along the decorative lines of the ornaments.

Busy day...finalizing our decorations for the classroom for tonight's Christmas program... sound check and final rehearsal, last minute additions and changes (ALWAYS!!)... having friends over for lunch who are in town from another island to renew their paperwork... program tonight, then we'll leave our door open in case someone wants to hang out.

Tomorrow another American co-worker and I are hostessing a ladies' tea for the other staff ladies - give them a little taste of what we are missing...so far the menu is focaccia, deviled eggs, peanut butter fudge, cheeseball and crackers, spice cookies, fruit skewers, and Russian tea mix. We're keeping it simple with just one game and doorprizes for everyone, plus those ornaments I made the other day. So looking forward to it!

Antiqued Clay Ornaments

I have made antiqued clay ornaments in the past, and since it's such a fun and easy project, I thought I'd share pictures of my creative process with you. If you have questions, please feel free to ask!

I was happy to finally find air-dry clay locally - I'm sure other kinds of clay would work, but I've heard that a slower drying time keeps the clay from warping. Oops...I dried mine outside in the tropical sunshine...so mine did warp a little. Not sure what brands would be available where you are...the brand of clay I used is DAS. I rolled the clay out to 1/4" thickness (note: use a craft-dedicated roller for this!). To ensure an even thickness, I put the clay between 2 rolls of 1/4" wide tape as a guide for my rolling pin.

I stamped the image into the clay with even pressure, then trimmed around each star with a craft knife. A note on cutting out images from clay - you don't want your first cut to be a 'pulling' cut - 'hop' your knife down each line first, then pull. Hope that make sense...

After trimming, poke a small hole using a stylus. Be sure to poke through from both sides so the hole is even all the way through. Allow time for your ornaments to dry thoroughly on a flat surface. You can turn them occasionally so they dry from both sides.

When the ornaments are dry, color in the raised areas with alcohol markers (any other non-waterbased medium should work). I used Neopiko markers on mine. No need to do any shading - keep it simple.

Next comes the fun and messy part. Using dark brown acrylic paint (I used Plaid Folk Art Enamels paint (4013 Coffee Bean) for glass and ceramics), cover the surface of your ornament, being sure to get paint in all the areas pressed in by your stamp. Quickly wipe off the excess paint, leaving just an outline of paint in the depressed areas. Paint and wipe the sides of the ornament as well. I have also used gel stain (not liquid stain) for this. This step gives the ornament a rustic, antiqued look.

I chose to use a simple wire hanger for my ornaments - I just looped it and stuck both ends in the hole, then bent the tips upward. That's it!

Here's my finished project...the image is part of a full sheet of images from Heartfelt Creations, found HERE. (Edited to add: If you're interested in just the single stamp, it is available via phone order, at $12 mounted or $6 unmounted. Online it can only be purchased in the full sheet.)

I'm not on task.

I do this when I have lots to do and don't know where to start...anyway, with all that's going on around me...what I did INSTEAD was to throw a website together so I could have a place to store card galleries by company. I used Yola.com, which was really easy to use - drag and drop, WYSIWYG stuff. You can click on "Galleries" up top to check it out. Let me know what you think....

Life stuff - homeschool program

Just wanted to share a few pictures from the homeschool Christmas program our kids put on last night. Each of them chose something they wanted to share, instead of doing a group performance like we did last year. Each one made it 'their own' and everyone did a great job! You can CLICK HERE to see all the rest of the pictures, if you're not satisfied with just 4...! I have some videos too, but I haven't uploaded them yet....
All the girls recited the Christmas acrostic poem (C is for the Christchild, born upon this day...)...my daughter is the littlest one in the middle, with the S (S is for the star that shone so bright!).Benjamin sang a song that he wrote, and did such a great job - his song says: "Jesus is royalty... he said "let there be light" and there was light... he maded all the people, and Adam and Eve, and all the angels... And he was born in the stable, and the star of Bethlehem was there... Jesus is royalty!"

Emmaleigh wanted to read the story of the wisemen, so we used the account from the Good News Bible for her reading. She did great too! She observed afterwards, "Mom, you know what I realized? People clap louder for you if you mess up."

Our kids all did a little reading and illustration of Christmas decorations and their meaning, which was really cute. Elliot enjoyed being up in front of everyone and playing with his pockets.

The funniest part of the evening was at one of the more serious parts of the final story of the evening, where one of our co-workers was sharing with the kids what God wants for Christmas. There are 7 small boxes, each with a piece of the nativity, and the final box is empty with a mirror inside, with the illustration that God wants YOU for Christmas. Craig, trying to drive his point home, said, "So, God wants YOU for Christmas! How does he get you?" Benny yelled out, "You DIE!!!!"

Busy week with last-minute prep for our Christmas-graduation-anniversary celebration Thursday night, staff ladies' tea on Friday, co-workers going home on furlough Saturday and students leaving for break over the following week...today was a nice day to relax before it all hits!