Fun and Games ATCs

Like last time Sid and I decided to allow ourselves two months for the final swap of the year. I picked Fun and Games for the theme.

My first ATC uses a Tim Holtz designed, Stampers Anonymous stamp of Bingo. I colored it in with the Ranger Distress Inks and then used another stamp of just the ticket and raised it on pop dots. I got the image of the sulky lady from Tack-O-Rama and then printed up my own words with a very small font. The final touch is the bingo chip.

For my second ATC I used the card game Mille Bournes as my inspiration. The object of this game is to complete a 1000 (mille) mile journey. Along the way you might have car trouble, get a flat or be subject to speeding zones. I shrunk down some cards distressed them and glued them down as a collage. I stamped and embossed a Crafty Secrets image of a man driving and "Enjoy The Journey" on vellum to complete the card.

The last one uses another Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp as the background. I stamped that with VersaMark and embossed with detail white embossing powder then I colored it with Ranger Alcohol Inks. In the foreground I used a Ouija board stamp StampCamp on vellum with StazOn. The final touch uses some Just Rite stamps with the beginnings of the types of questions you'd ask the Ouija board: will I?, does he? and is she?

Until my next post,
Diane

Last birthday card of the year

What day would be the worst birthday of the year? My sister-in-law was born on 31st of December and she thought that was lousy. She thought she got ripped off in that her folks wanted to go out and party with other "big kids" and she didn't get a full day of birthday enjoyment. Christmas wouldn't be great because your friends and family often combine gifts and say "it's a big gift so it's for both". But when you are a kid you want the thrill and anticipation of ripping or savoring the opening of presents. You don't want it rolled into one day. This is the card I made for my New Years Eve born sister-in-law. The stamp is by Impression Obsession. I embossed it and then colored it in with watercolor markers.

Until my next post,
Diane

A Year in Review Stampers Corner ATCOTM

Here's the ATCs I made this year for the Stampers Corner Yahoo Group in the ATCOTM (of the month) swap. I like them all together. They are in order from January-December running left to right, top to bottom. The themes were:

Jan - Time/Travel
Feb - Bugs
March - Acetate
April - At the Beach
May - Babies
June- Birds
July - 4th of July
Aug - Butterflies
Sept - Buttons
Oct - Collage
Nov - Farm Animals
Dec - Children

Until my next post,
Diane

Sorry no candy...

Happy Anniversary to me! This marks the one year anniversary of my blog. Sorry no candy for you folks out there in cyber land with a sweet tooth for give aways. I'm a no awards/rewards and no gift blog. I do this for fun, not profit. I'm not saying that won't ever change but for now that's my position. When I began I wasn't sure I'd have enough to share with everyone. I had read that you need to blog often if you wan't folks to stay with you. Why that concerned me I don't know but I guess I felt that if I was taking the time to create stuff and write about it at least someone should be reading and looking. I have eight followers and hopefully more that actually follow but do it silently.

Until my next post,
Diane

Good enough to eat..and I did

I didn't "make" this gingerbread house, I assembled it. And in some respects that is the hardest part. I've wanted to do one of these for a while but never did.

While hubby and I were down in Disney World last week (more pictures coming soon I promise) we went to a few of the other high-end resorts. I'd heard that some of them really went all out for Christmas so we went to the Beach and Yacht club to see their decorations. They had a facade of a gingerbread house and were selling the kits. It had 10 pieces of gingerbread and the candies to decorate it. All I needed to do was make the icing and assemble it. That was a bit trickier than I had imagined.

The instructions for the icing said to use sifted powdered sugar, egg whites and cream of tarter. Then it gave a basic diagram of how to assemble the pieces and it said "be patient". I wasn't sure what that meant until I realized I'd wished I'd had more hands to hold the pieces together. I cheated and used tooth picks until the icing was dry. It would have been better if they had said to ice each piece individually and let the icing dry for about 5-8 minutes then attach the candies. As it was they were slipping and sliding and I felt like the guy on the Ed Sullivan show with the spinning plates.

It came out OK but I think next time I might just buy a few gingerbread men and skip the frustration.

My one artistic touch was to scatter some green granulated sugar I had. By the way, it is yummy!

Until my next post,
Diane

Merry Christmas to one and all

This was the first time I've made a handmade Christmas card. I'm not organized enough to make as many as I send out so it is Hallmark or whatever I find on the clearance aisles on the day(s) after Christmas. This year my husband asked if I'd make a card for his niece and nephew out west. He was out there in the fall and wanted to get them a gift card or cash so a card would be an extra little something. These two shaker cards have an Inky Antics snowman as the focal point that I colored in with Glaze pens by Sakura. The borders are stamped with Brilliance Inks using either Hampton Arts (left) or Studio G (right). The sentiment for both is Hampton Arts colored with the Glaze pens. The shaker contents are micro beads, glitter and sprinkle fibers (left only).

Until my next post,

Diane

All I want for Christmas is... for my kitty to be well

"They" say that the time between after Thanksgiving and before Christmas is the slowest time of the year at Disney World. When you are down there then all the parks have extra special decorations and many of the hotels go all out with their decorations. At certain parks some of the characters have holiday garb on and  Santa is available to visit. Hubby and I were fortunate enought to visit Santa not once but twice.

We saw him at the Magic Kingdom. While waiting we could view the afternoon parade and stay out of the sun.

We also saw him at Downtown Disney and didn't have to wait behind a bunch of kids who thought we were crazy.

Both times I put in a request for a new Dell XPS 9000 with a dedicated audio and video card. Now that I'm back nursing my kitty from whatever he has I would have wished for a healthy cat instead.

Until my next post,
Diane

HR 3501 IH a.k.a. The Happy Act

In the future maybe I'll be reimbursed for the big chunk of change I recently spent on BC. The Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act - would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax deduction, up to $3,500 per year, for pet care expenses (including veterinary care). This bill was introduced by Representative Thaddeus McCotter a Republican from Michigan this summer.

We took BC to the vet today to remove his pain patch that he'd been wearing since his surgery last Friday. Along with a shaved belly and both forearms the top of his neck was shaved. Maybe that's why he was practically hugging the portable heater my husband set up for him (and he says he doesn't care...).

Until my next post,
Diane

Not everyone graduates in the spring

Here's a graduation card I made for a fall semester graduation. A daughter of friends of ours graduated last month and is soon to fill one of those openings in the nursing field. I made this very simple card using textured card stock by DCWV that I embossed with my Cuttlebug. The cardstock had a white core so I sanded the embossed area for a little highlight. I finished the card by adding an embellishement by Sandylion.

Until my next post,
Diane

The "free" cat that got me in debt

The last few days have been pretty crazy – a real emotional roller coaster. My husband and I took a before Christmas trip to Disney World and I was hoping to post some of those photos. We drove all the way back on Thursday. We had planned to stop in Fayetteville but the weather was great so we pressed forward. Turns out we made a good decision, since we got home before the weather on the east coast deteriorated. We arrived to find a very sick kitty. I had gotten word that he had diarrhea but I had no idea it was that bad. I took BC to the emergency vet on Thursday evening and luckily didn’t wait long. After an x-ray, fluids and pills I left with a big charge on my credit card. The next morning he wasn’t any better so I took him to my regular vet. They also took an x-ray and a blood test which showed his white cell count off the chart. The next step was exploratory surgery. When the vet opened him up she said his intestines were more like the consistency of a garden hose than pliable like they should be. She took some biopsies and they’ll be analyzed but along with a weekend we are running into the Christmas holiday so it might take longer to get the results back. We took BC back to the emergency vet clinic last night so he could get round the clock monitoring. We got a call Saturday morning that he did great at night and then another in the afternoon that he was even better and had eaten twice so we picked him up. He has to wear the collar until his stitches are taken out in about 10 days and the red bandage was removed about ½ hour after he got home. That was covering his IV insertion. The bill so far is more than half my month’s retirement check. So much for the “free” cat.

Until my next post,
Diane