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