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

Last slider card of the year

This is the last slider card I made this year. This one if for a grand-niece. The stamps are from the Sugarloaf/Inque 262 collection. Why so many slider cards. I've got four cards to make for my grand nieces and nephews for their birthdays. Until I run out of ideas (thanks to the classes I 've taken with Inky Antics) they'll all get the same style interactive card but with different papers and embellishements to make them a bit personalized. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Until my next post,
Diane

Yet another secret message slider card

Here's another slider card for another grand-nephew. The stamps are from the Sugarloaf/Inque 262 set. I still see that set in AC Moore on occassion. I guess they bought a bunch of them. The parade background paper is from K&Co.

Until my next post,
Diane

So I changed my mind

Here's a card I sent recently along with an ATC for a swap. The paper is by K&Co and the stamp is by Stamp Francisco. I added a few old buttons as an embelishement.

Until my next post,
Diane

That winter feeling

It doesn't snow very often here in coastal Virginia. When it does it is usually big wet flakes and doesn't last very long. Right after Christmas in 2004 we got 14" of snow. My husband and I were returning from a pre-holiday ski trip. We were up in New Hampshire and got a week of skiing in before visiting my family for Christmas. We left for home the day after Christmas because a storm was heading to New England. Enroute we called back to the guy that was watching our house and he was saying how much snow we had. We thought he was joking because we were an hour away and there was no snow on the ground. We got about 1/2 hour away and there was a dusting, then more and more the closer we got to the house. It seemed the storm just stalled right in our little area of the world and dumped over a foot of snow.

This year we got a late season snow of a few inches. This was early March and the birds were a bit confused but still found the feeders. This is a female cardinal.

I think this guy is her significant other grabbing a mid-day snack.

I grew up with snow in the winters and still like it but just to ski on. I'm not a big fan of shoveling, I did enough as a kid. I know my abilities driving in it but don't trust others so I'm happier living where we don't get it that often.

Until my next post,

Diane

Children ATCOTM

This was the last ATCOTM (ATC of the month) for this year at the Stampers Corner Yahoo Group. I stamped a Tim Holtz designed Stampers Anonymous stamp on marbled paper I made a while back. I outlined the crown and number with Sakura Glaze and Stardust Markers. The "future king" was stamped with Just Rite stamps and outlined with the Sakura clear Glaze pen. The Heidi Swap clear crown was colored with alcohol inks and a Krylon gold marker. I mounted the marbled paper on Rock King paper by DCWV and then on a piece of light blue card stock.

Until my next post,
Diane

Free Online Class to learn about Wacom Tablets

Do you use Photoshop or other photo editing software and have issues using the mouse in small close areas? If so then this class is for you. Creative Techs Training is offering a free live online class on the use of Wacom Tablet tomorrow, Wednesday, December 9th.

Until my next post,
Diane

This is another secret message pull-out card I made for a grand-nephew. I used paper from K& Co and stamps from Studio G and Just Rite.

Until my next post,

Diane

Anniversary Card with scraps

I saw a few websites about how to do a pieced card (or ATC) with scraps. Rather than try to explain it I'll give you link of Trish Morris' version. I have made a couple of ATC's and cards using this technique. It's a great way to use up your scraps. I used various shades of green paper, some patterned some plain. I stamped with various small stamps and embossed some too. I also used some mizuhiki cord and gold paper with gold outline stickers for a little extra pop.

Until my next post,
Diane

Oh no...no more sheetloads!

For those of you loyal followers to my blog you might remember that I get a lot of design layouts for my cards from this blog called Sheetload. I just discovered yesterday that the December 2009 issue was their last. It was one of those things that started out small and then snowballed to the point of taking over the lives of those that ran it. Supposedly the saved templates will be available for download until at least May 2010 but just in case you might want to head over there and download the .pdf files for future use. Me...I've got all of them on my computer. Some of them I've never made but I downloaded them anyway.


Until my next post,

Diane

A touch of color

This technique generally gets a reaction from folks that don't know how to do it. They'll sort of lean their head like a dog watching TV and think to themselves "how did they do that?". It is really very easy in Photoshop. All you do is open a color photo and (keeping the original in color) make another layer of it in black and white. This is best done using adjustment layers since you preserve your original photo. Next you make sure black is your foreground color and select a paintbrush and paint away the black and white to reveal the color in selected areas. You must click on the adjustment layer to do this. Make your brush bigger and smaller depending on the detail. To clean up edges where you added too much change your color to white to "erase" the mistakes. There are loads of Photoshop tutorials on the web for free, check them out for other easy techniques.

Until my next post,
Diane

WARNING! This could be addictive

One of the neat things about reading blogs is that you find neat web sites that you might never run across on your own. I read Suze Weinbergs blog all the time and she showcased Dumpr a while back. It is really easy to use and all of the photos I'm showing are free. Just find a photo on your computer and you will see some cool things done almost instantly with your pictures. Here's what I did with some pictures of BC:

Here's a few of Tigger and I in the viewfinders of the paparazzi:

Here's Tigger and I on a Rubics Cube

There are other options (some not for free). Check out Dumpr and you'll be addicted. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Until my next post,

Diane

What I didn't do on Black Friday

Black Friday is the term for the day after Thanksgiving when the retailers finally get in the "black" or profit area as opposed to all year when they are running in the red. I didn't get up or stay up for the local outlet shopping that began at midnight. I didn't get up for the 4am JC Penney opening or the 5am opening at Target or other stores. I didn't rush out to the mall. So what did I do? I went grocery shopping at the base commissary. It was a very pleasurable experience to shop without crowds. My commissary gets very good traffic and it if often quite full. I did go over to the Base Exchange which is right next door. There wasn't that many people there either. I think it is hard for them to compete with the specialty stores, the mall and the outlets for many items. I did get a 1.5TB external hard drive for $99 and the limited edition collectible DVD of the 70th anniversary edition Wizard of Oz for $49 so I was pretty happy with my purchases and didn't have to fight for a parking spot or the crowds. After that it was back home to watch TV and decorate the house and Christmas tree.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here in the USA it is Thanksgiving Day, a chance to gather with family and friends and give thanks. Of course there are parades and football too.

This card was made from a Sheetload template using patterened paper by Reminisce. I used my Cuttlebug on the gold paper and stamps from two different $1 Studio G stamp sets.

Until my next post,
Diane

Another Guy Birthday Card

I made a bunch of cards a while back using a template by Sheetload. The papers and dimensional stickers are by K&Co and came in a pack.

Until my next post,
Diane

Farm Animals ATC

On the Stampers Corner Yahoo group I signed up for the ATC of the month for the whole year. Some folks pick and choose which ones they want to do but with the good I got the "bad". I didn't have any stamps for this theme until I ran across the Down on the Farm stamp in the $1 bin at Michaels. I wasn't sure how I was going to use it but at least I had something to start with. This is what I came up with.

First I stamped the Down on the Farm (Studio G) group and then masked it. Next I stamped the background (Repeat Impressions) but not the trees on that stamp since they were too close to the animals. I stamped the trees next and placed them in a better location. Now I colored in the background and animals with watercolor and permanent markers. I blended the watercolor markers with a Dove Blender. The final steps were to stamp and cut out the cloud and sun (Studio G). I used Rock Candy Stickles on the cloud and glitter glue on the gun. The final touch was the butterfly embellishment.

Until my next post,
Diane

Another door panel done - more nondestructiveness

I upgraded from Adobe CS2 to CS4 a few months ago. I'm really glad I did. There was a BIG jump in functions and I've fallen in love with Photoshop all over again. What was cool before is WAY COOL now. The function I used on the photo on the left was actually available on CS3. It is called auto align layers and works great when you take photos of a group of people but someone wasn't looking at the camera and someone else had their eyes closed. I didn't think I'd really take advantage of it since it is very rare for me to take group photos like that. BUT what it did work great on for me was a photo of a bottom panel of my non-destructive doors. I had another panel ready to go a while back but couldn't seem to locate the 3M stick-ons. I knew if I bought more I'd find them. When a few weeks went by and this panel kept getting in my way I knew I had to buy more. When I took photos of the panel one had glare in some spots and the other photo had glare elsewhere. This is the beauty of this Photoshop function. Just open the images and drag one to the other so you have two layers. Then add a layer mask and paint away the bad to reveal the good. That's a real simplistic way to explain it but that's what is happening.

So if you didn't see any of your traded artwork before maybe you do now. If you still don't then we haven't traded...maybe we can fix that some day!

Until my next post,
Diane

Triangle ATCs

Sid and I decided to do a Traingle ATC swap for the months of September and October. We both had too much stuff going on so I suggested we just extend our deadline. He came up with the theme of triangle. He said to measure halfway across the top and then cut to the bottom two edges. ATC's are small enough to begin with (2 1/2 x 3 1/2") so I was feeling very constrained in what I could create in this small space. I finally decided on famous triangles so I chose the Bermuda Triangle for the top one. I used a map that just happened to come in the mail from an organization that was soliciting donations. The top stamp is from Craft Secrets and the destination stamp is from Royal Langnickel as are the two embellishments. They were stamped on shrink plastic with StazOn and then heated with a heat gun to shirk to their current size. I used Ranger Distress Inks to color over the map after stamping the top compass stamp and embossing with clear powder. 

The next one is Isosceles. I made the name of the triangle into a Greek God since the word has Greek origins. I ripped out portions of different dictionaries that had isosceles or triangle definitions. I used a stamped with brown ink on a stamp by Non Sequitur to represent Isosceles and embossed with clear powder. I colored in with Ranger Distress Inks to show the image better and then added a charm of the Parthenon.

The last one is called Love Triangle and has a base of marbled paper. I stamped a few words and hearts with Brilliance Inks first. Then I lined up the words "he", "she", "him" and her using Just Rite stamps and stamped them with VersaMark ink and stamped with detail white powder. I had recently purchased a Stamp-a-ma-Jig by EK Success and it worked great. There is no way I could line up these on the paper and have it be even. I stamped three times so that made it more difficult.

Until my next post,

Diane

Use a punch ATC

For this Altered Designs TGIF ATC we were to use a punch. I used one by McGill and then some stamps by Inque. I colored in the flowers with water based markers and elevated the design on the left by stamping it again and using pop dots. The background paper is colored using Ranger Distress Inks.

Until my next post,
Diane

Collage ATC

Here's the ATC I did for the Stamper's Corner ATC of the month with the theme of collage. Sometimes I have to resist the urge to be organized, stop thinking and just play when I collage. I used some of the marbled paper I made and stamped a hand (hard to see) by Artful Illusions and an image by Stampers Anonymous. On top of that I added a portion of a dictionary page, an old stamp, two faux coins, a chipboard die cut and a key (Artful Illusions) that I made using shrink plastic.

Until my next post,
Diane

A Tag from Ted!

There I was at the Stampers Anonymous booth at the Hampton Stamp Scrap Art Tour a few weeks ago...the crowd had thinned down and there was only two of us watching Ted doing yet another demo. The gal standing next to me asked Ted to repeat the concept he used on another tag. As he was doing this I saw an image appear in his work  where the water was blending with the inks and said "you know, from here I see an Eiffel Tower". He said "I can change the stamps from Halloween to Travel". I didn't want to be a buttinski and mess up what this gal asked for so I sort of mumbled something and he said "she got her tag this one is for you, she just wanted to see the technique". WOW! I was getting a tag from Ted.

Anyone that follows these shows, Stampers Anonymous, or Ted knows that we've been giving him a bunch of grief for the "Coming Soon" note you get when you click on their link for a blog. It's been like that for at least two years! I asked the gal I was with to take a photo so I could put this on my blog since I told Ted we'd have to wait a long time before it ever appeared on his!

I even got him to sign it. It will be displayed with my other trades in my craft room.

Until my next post,

Diane

Make and Takes at the Hampton Stamp Scrap Art Tour

Here's a make and take I did at the Stamp Show a few weeks ago. It was at the Stamp LaJolla booth. The image was already stamped and I colored it in using Twinkling H2O's. The company that made them was going to go out of business but after an overwhelming response from customers decided to stay but reduce the number of colors they make. Stamp LaJolla had them on a deep discount but I already have a bunch of watercolor type products so I saved some cash for other things. After the image was colored in I added double sided tape to match the image and then chose their sugar dust to coat the entire image. I'll add it to a card front in the near future and show you what I made out of it then.

I made this card at the Impression Obsession booth. The image was already stamped but I colored it in using colored pencils they provided. The point of this make and take was the next effect. It might be a bit difficult to see but where the flowers are I applied glue and then used flower soft a 3D product that gives the right image that "pop".

This little pin I made at the Altered Arts Magazine booth. They were highlighting this air dry clay they were selling. This little pin is only about the size of an inchie so we used small images and words from a book for decorations. The final touch is a bit of glitter on the edges.

Until my next post,
Diane

If you can't be there this is a good substitute

Some of my long time readers remember that early in my blogging I reported that I had been to Egypt the year before. It's now going on two years since my visit and I would still love to go back. There was so much to see that even though you are looking at it you get over stimulated and awed by what you are viewing. The Chrysler Museum in Norfolk has an exhibition currently with Egyptian art on loan from the Brooklyn Museum and I went there Wednesday to get a little sample of what I've been missing. Having been to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and even the smaller Imhotep Museum near the step pyramid this exhibit was VERY small. At the museum in Cairo you feel like if you aren't carful you'll knock down some ancient artifact. The Imhotep Museum is more spread out but there is still quite a bit loaded into a small area. "To Live Forever" the theme of this exhibition has more than 120 objects spread out in about 6 huge gallery rooms. But it was still worth the drive and the entrance fee of $5 for military. The Chrysler has some Egyptian items in their permanent collection so I took another look at them too.

Until my next post,
Diane