The relocation of Terrapene carolina carolina

The other day hubby and I were going for an after dinner walk. He mentioned something about a branch that had fallen and I was looking to see where it was and we saw a Terrapene carolina carolina a.k.a. Eastern Box Turtle s-l-o-w-l-y walking across the driveway near the garage door. I said "wait, let me run and get my camera" then realized what I'd said. I could have crawled and came back and wouldn't have seen the turtle in a different spot.

We decided a forced relocation might be in the best interest of all concerned so we put the little guy/gal into a shoe box and walked over to the nearby pond in our neighborhood and released it to the water.

We often see turtles in the pond or other ponds in the area. On warm days in the spring and fall they'll be grabbing a few rays of sun on exposed rocks and logs.

Until my next post,
Diane

You Rock Card

I wish I had thought this up but I didn't. I have to give credit to Corey Barker of Photoshop User magazine for providing this tutorial in the Apr/May 2010 issue. I'm part of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and get their magazine and all the other benefits that go along with membership. The magazine had the tutorial and this was just perfect for a nephew that plays guitar. Corey provided the images in the members only section and an extended video to add a few other bells and whistles to the printed tutorial. I did the tutorial then printed the document to fit a card. I added a blue frame that I punched with a Fiskars punch and added a portion of a sentiment that says "You Rock". Hope my nephew likes it.

Until my next post,
Diane

Get your kicks another biker guy card

Here's a birthday card I made for another biker guy. This one starts out using patterned paper from the Life's Journey by K&Co. Next I stamped two images from the Route 66 collection by Artistic Outpost and cut them out. That's it, easy-peasy and I'm done.

Until my next post,
Diane

Another simple birthday card

This easy card was made using a layout by Sheetload and K&Co papers. The Happy Birthday embellisment is by Crafty Secrets. I added a few rhinestones for an added touch.

Until my next post,
Diane

I do card

I have trouble making cards for certain events like weddings. I used the Graffitti technique from the December 2004 Technique Junkie newsletter. The wedding I'm attending is an afternoon wedding but not formal. I thought the card would look a little classier in a black and white style. I stamped (Just Rite stamps) a black piece of cardstock with words like: bride, groom, rings, vows and such using Brilliance inks in silver, gold and platinum. After that I used a Fiskars border punch on the top and bottom. I finished the card with a heart I cut out and stamped "I Do".

Until my next post,
Diane

The great toilet paper conspiracy

Earlier this spring I was replacing a roll of toilet paper and it seemed smaller. I mentioned it to my husband and he thought I was crazy. I happened to visit family and at my Mom's house there was some older paper that was purchased last year. I took the cardboard back home from a used roll and measured it to a newer roll and my suspisions were confirmed.

The newer roll on the right is about 1/4" smaller than the older roll. Granted they aren't the same manufacturer but the fact remains that the consumer is getting cheated.

Like all good reporters I checked my sources (not Wikipedia) and discovered Toilet Paper World...the blog
which had already leaked the story so I don't get the exclusive.

Just think if Elaine needed that one sheet in a current Seinfeld episode.... 

Until my next post,
Diane

Where did I go wrong...card

Yet another of my series of Anne Taintor like cards. I used another card from one of her playing cards on top of more faux mother of pearl using Ranger Dabbers and Tumbled Glass Ranger Distress Ink. The cut out is from my Silhouette and the stamp is by Crafty Secrets.

Until my next post,
Diane

One last tidbit about Art and Soul 2010

Because we all make "stuff" everyone at Art and Soul already has something in common. One of the great things about these retreats is that you meet folks from all over the place. Some are only a few blocks or short miles away and others are halfway across the country or in another country. This year I met cool ladies from Canada. They were in my class on day one but since we didn't go around the room and babble about ourselves in an introduction I didn't know they were some of our northern neighbors. On the last day one of them asked me to recommend some local places to go to buy art supplies since shipping and customs to Canada is expensive. I gave them some hints and that was that. They also took some of the Daniel Smith colored gessos that I donated to the class. I had bought way too much and syphoned off what I thought I'd use in a reasonable time and gave the rest away. Since then we've had a few email exchanges and I noticed Irene had an interesting widget on her blog so I checked out.

It turns out I'm a daffodil. The online quiz I took says "You have a sunny disposition and are normally one of the first to show up for the party. You don't need too much attention from the host once you get there as you are more than capable of making yourself seen and heard." It's pretty much true although I'm more of a glass half empty than full person but I "try" to keep a good outlook on things.

If you'd like to check out Lennie's blog here it is. And last but not least here's Leslie's blog.

Until my next post,

Diane

Masculine ATC

Was it Peary or Cook that was the first to the North Pole? I'm not sure. I do have Cook's book but haven't read it yet but I have read a bunch of other books on North and South Pole adventures. My real polar hero is Ernest Shackleton; he'd be on my short list if I had to pick a few folks from the past to spend an evening with.

Anyway, the theme for a recent TGIF ATC at the Altered Arts Yahoo Group was masculine. I used a stamp advertising Peary's book by Tanda and another stamp by 100 Proof press on this ATC. I added a Tim Holtz embellishment with the word Courageous.

Regardless if he was the first to get to the North Pole or not the undertaking was courageous indeed.

Until my next post,
Diane

Paste Paper Extravaganza a.k.a. day five of Art & Soul Hampton 2010

This was a great way to end Art and Soul by making papers without and end project. It was the third class I took with Albie Smith. Since I'm local, I save a few bucks and go home every day after class rather than stay in the hotel. I'd get home and tell my husband that I was exhausted from playing and making art all day and he didn't get it. He didn't understand that quite often you are on your feet all day as you can't paint sitting down. He didn't get that the creative energy makes your head spin from trying new techniques and getting all these ideas of how to incorporate them into what you already do.

We started by working with just two tools a comb and a credit card.







I also made a print by decorating one piece and then put another piece of paper over it. It really is a print even though it doesn't look like it since I changed the original after I made the print.

These two are definately related. I didn't get a great print in the corner but I can alway go back and do something else to it.

These next two set are also related. And like the first print I went back and made some changes to the original.

These two have nothing in common. The one on the left I made right before lunch since I realized I had another piece of paper. I thought the one on the right was a print but I can't find the partner.

These I made after lunch as we moved into stencils, stamps and junk drawer stamping. This was the third class I had with Albie this year and I hadn't used any of her stencils yet since I had brought some of my own. The one on the left uses one of her stencils. I want to do some outlining on this one (probably with black) but ran out of time. Albie also had us think outside the box by incorporating not painting type tools to get a design. In the one on the right I used the top of a paint container that I dabbed with paint. I also used the end of a paint brush to make dabs and then swirled them with an old toothbrush.

The one on the right uses a stencil by Crafters Workshop (I think I need some of these stencils). I like how you can use different diameters to make your pattern whatever size and it all goes together. The one on the left started with yellow and the flower stencil since no one was using that color paint. You could barely see the flower stencil as I tried to wipe away the color underneath but it dried too fast. From there I kept adding a bit of green or blue to make darker greens. I added some foam stamps of leaves but at the end I knew it needed something else. I finished by adding the same flower stencil on top and added purple. It left the yellow where the stencil was and you can still see some of the green leaves. Thanks Albie for recommending the purple!

This one isn't mine. I was one of the last in the room as we were cleaning up and no one claimed it. I'm not sure if the owner forgot or didn't like it. If it is yours let me know and I'll send it to you if you send me the postage.

Until my next post,

Diane