Spellbinders Halloween and a Santa card too

Spellbinders makes great detailed dies.  This first card used a die set named Eek-a-Boo. It also included the ghost that I haven't used yet. My grandkids aren't going out as a devil and skeleton, but I had them in mind when I made their hair a reddish hue and blue eyes.  The jack o'lantern treat buckets and bats were included in the die set. The fence is a die from My Favorite Things. 

This card uses two die sets from Spellbinders. The car is cut from Sunday Drive, the license plate, trunk trim, skeleton and witch are all from Sunday Drive Halloween. The spiderweb was cut from a Stamps of Life die. The backgrounds on both this card and the next were done with Distress Oxides, sprinkled with water for some of the dots and also a mist of shimmer spray from Avery Elle. I didn't like that the spider web looked like it should be attached to something on the right so I drew a tree in. In four subsequent cards, I cut the spiderweb and used parts of it on each card. 

This card uses the same Sunday Drive for the car, the Santa, deer, license plate and trunk garland are all from the Sunday Drive with Santa set. I've made 17 of these cards, personalizing them for neighbors.

Last of summer, first of fall

I hang onto summer as long as hard as I can, even though the first part of fall is typically beautiful in Michigan. Today is one of those days.

Life has simplified a bit since my last post now that ties to the cottage have been cut. Wonderful memories will last a lifetime but the worries of maintenance are gone. In a difficult year nationwide, many things have eased for me personally. Being home more has reminded me that I am happiest doing quiet things which include making cards and scrapbooking, knitting, reading, and I have learned to binge watch TV. That was a surprise to me, I never thought I'd enjoy it but here I am, an old dog with a new trick. 

I worry about the divide in this country and while the election can't come soon enough (get it over with!), the hurt between citizens won't heal anytime soon. I know there aren't people that I won't look at the same way again, not because their opinions differ from mine, but the way they have behaved. This is true on both sides of the proverbial fence. There are many whose basic beliefs I agree with but not the delivery. I am disappointed when either side, whether in a political, religious, or something as benign as Coke versus Pepsi adds unwarranted comments to their argument or claims that ALL of  "them" are wrong and NONE of "us" have ever made a mistake. I wish everyone in high school was required to take a debating class. They would learn to research BOTH sides of an issue and how to argue for each side. We routinely were told to flip and suddenly present the opposing view as if we hadn't just been arguing for instead of against. 

Hibiscus Card

This card was made for a friend's mother who is very fond of this flower. The stamp used is named Harmonious Hibiscus , made by My Favorite Things. I heat embossed the stamped image with gold embossing powder on Gina K. Design's Bubblegum Pink cardstock before coloring with Copic markers. I was told years ago not to use Copics on cardstock, but this paper was heavy enough and while I did blend shade of pink and green, I was working on blending in a typical fashion. I used white Prismacolor pencil for some highlights on flowers and a few shades of green on the stems. The black background is all black Copic marker on pink paper. I really enjoyed working on this. The second photo, taken on an angle shows the golden glow of the embossing powder.

Anniversary Card

This Anniversary Card was done on watercolor paper, using Karin markers on a heat embossed Gina K. Designs image. The stamp is Majestic Peony .

Zoom meeting, Doxie style

One of my nieces has two dachshunds. She would have more, but she only has two hands. 😉 She has been working from home often and has had more Zoom meetings than usual lately. That fact and her love of Doxies led to the creation of this card.

The stamps are from two different sets by Newton's Nook, Delightful Doxies, and Dress Up Doxies (the superhero and taco costumes) but I only used a small part of six images to make 1.25" squares to resemble a Zoom meeting (hence the different backgrounds). The ID number over the computer screen represents her age and birthdate. I did the comments inside in Word. I can't wait to give this to her!

Lovely Lotus Card

One son asked if I could make a birthday card for a coworker's birthday in two days. Of course I could! I had just received an order from Gina K. Designs and wanted to use this stamp and die anyway, now I had an immediate reason to use it and not do anything boring, like dusting and vacuuming!

This was colored with Copic markers using Gina K. Designs Lovely Lotus stamp and coordinating die. 

Abstract done with alcohol inks

Sympathy cards are always difficult. Making a card to send to a man can make this more of a challenge. The recipient of this card does a bit of painting and creates with mosaics. When I think of him, I think of abstracts, hence this card. The paper is black Yupo paper, the alcohol pearl inks are from Ranger. I cut out the image with a die from Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectangles that cuts both a rectangle and a very thin frame at the same time. I used the die a second time with green cardstock to create the green frame, then used the green with a script die cut greeting inside that read "with sympathy" before a handwritten message.

Ants are cute when they aren't real and in your kitchen

Photographed indoors on a gloomy day made the white paper look bluish-gray but the images were fun to color. The first one is Ants Drink Up, the second and third are from Ants At A Picnic, both sets are from Whimsy Stamps.  All are colored with Prismacolor pencils. 

I don't have a plan for using them yet. I think they might go into my journal on days when I don't have much to say but just want to post something cheerful. 

Graduation greetings

The graduation card is from Graduation Set by Art Impressions, colored with Prismacolor pencils.

The gift box held graduation cash and Smarties candy because the grad is such a smartie. The green paper is from Stampin Up. The specialty paper was purchased locally. Directions for creating this box can be found Here at The Paper Pixie.

Colorful Greetings

The first card uses stencils and dies named Pinwheel Party from the The Greetery.

This image and greeting are stamped from Chameleon Party by Whimsy Stamps. Coloring is by Copic markers and the background is a die set from Stampin Up called Best Plaid Builder.

Simon Says Stamp Creations

This first piece isn't a card. It was a practice piece that revealed how I was feeling about the news and Facebook posts that day. I like it and have mounted it on chipboard and it is currently propped up in my craft room.  The stamp is a large background stamp is So Beautiful from Simon Says Stamp, done on watercolor paper with Karin Markers.

This also uses a Simon Says Stamp set, Game Tile Letters. I made the game board on light gray paper, coloring some squares with  Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment was created in Word.

Gina K Inspired cards

With thanks to Gina K's Stamp and Chat YouTube videos on Mondays and Wednesdays, I used techniques shared there to create these two cards with Gina K inks, stamps, and stencils. 

Both cards used elements from the Nature's Touch Card Kit. The inks in the birthday card are Rina's Electro-Pop. The birthday greeting is a Stamps of Life die.

Whimsy Stamps: Hippo Fun in the Sun

When I saw an image on Whimsy Stamps' Hippo Fun in the Sun set, I had to have it. If you are of a certain age, you will probably be reminded of this Coppertone Ad:

Here is the stamp set and the first rendition of the hippo and puppy image:

I haven't decided how I will use the above image. It might go on a card or in a scrapbook. I colored over over the back of the bikini top in the above image and masked out the hairbow to make this a boy hippo in case I wanted to use this for my grandson.

Shortly after finishing this, a neighbor revealed that she cracked her tailbone. I used the image again in a Get Well card, but this time I masked out the dog and altered the bikini bottom to be a bandaid. I made the front of a card a window and placed the hippo inside the card.

The color is true in the first photo. The green background in the view above appears washed out but is a nice paper from Lawn Fawn's Dandy Day collection.

Unrelated to this, I made my second Hello Fresh meal, teriyaki pork chops (boneless) with roasted carrots and jasmine rice. I'm happy with this recipe also.

It looks like I threw the food on the plate a little carelessly, doesn't it? I wasn't just hungry, I was hangry! Those are sesame seeds on top of the pork and scallion greens on top of the rice. Some of the sesame seeds were browned in butter before adding the water, rice, and scallions whites which was a nice touch to the side dish.

Hello Fresh meal kits

I've been in a rut when it comes to making dinner. I can't blame it all on shopping, being alone, or other aspects of restrictions under COVID but all of that has made the rut deeper and longer. I've considered meal kits for months, did research to figure out which would best suit me, and talked to friends who have tried them. A neighbor has been happy with Hello Fresh so that is what I chose.

I made the first of three dinners last night. Each of their meal kits serves two people so three kits will make 6 dinners for me. I don't mind having leftovers so I will stagger the meals (cooking and then reheating leftovers) and see how this goes.

Last night's dinner was Creamy Dreamy Mushroom Cavatappi. The directions said it would take 30 minutes to prepare and that is exactly what it took. I supplied the utensils, water for cooking the pasta, butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Everything else was provided in the amount required. Here is the amount that I served myself in front of the recipe from the kit. My mushrooms seem to be hidden in the bowl but are visible in the pan. It appears I didn't evenly divide the amount because what remained looks like more than I consumed, but it truly was plenty and very good.

Here's to eating better and getting out of my rut!

I'm tired of bullies and herd mentality

The incident that sparked this post is going to remain vague in my description because I am not going to name the troublemaker and give her any more attention. The crafting community is mostly very generous by nature. Sure, each designer and manufacturer hopes you will purchase their design but most don't run each other down.

The key word in that last sentence is "most". Someone with a history of attacking other designers is trying to paint a well-known figure in the craft world as a racist. Her story didn't ring true and is being discredited by many who are in a position to know, but that is only part of what angers me. There have always been people with agendas and that isn't likely to change.

Perhaps worse than the people making false accusations are the herds who follow them. Why do so many people believe something because they read it online? We've all fallen for a few falsehoods that seemed plausible but most people that I know have learned from those experiences. We've all seen phishing emails that look legitimate until you read closely and see that the sender's email address is not from Amazon, it is from Almazon; Facebook posts that tell you that Bill Gates will donate $1 to a worthy charity each time a post is liked or shared; and stories that tell you not to buy a certain nationally known product because hidden in their logo is a secret message for a subversive group. If a person thinks "huh? That doesn't sound right" they investigate for themselves or at the very least, they don't perpetuate the rumor.

Why do so many believe outrageous stories? It doesn't help that we currently have a narcissist in the oval office who labels anything that favors him as the truth. In the past, when the country as a whole was hurting, presidents have set an example by speaking to all of us, assuring us, telling us at least part of the plan to get through the turmoil and be okay again. I am appalled that he continues to make comments that widen the racial divide in this country. I am angry that he granted clemency to Roger Stone who committed 7 felonies. I can't fathom that he discredits military experts and scientists. I am sickened that he is ramrodding the opening of public schools amid a pandemic that he still isn't taking seriously. With this as an example of leadership and what is morally right, I shouldn't be surprised at anything and that is very sad.

Making birthday invites, thank yous, and candy wrappers to fit a theme

The theme was Rainbow Six Siege, something this grandma doesn't play or begin to understand but as his Gigi, of course, I was willing to try! This image was used to create invitations that were handed out to his friends. I've removed his name and age in this photo, along with the address and RSVP info. I didn't use anything fancy to do this. I'm still using this free image editor for projects like this. They have many fonts available and this one looked right to me. After searching for the image online and saving it, I created a canvas within the program, inserted the photo, and added the info. After cropping and resizing it, I saved it and printed multiple invitations on white paper which I cut and attached to black cardstock.

Birthday favors and decor were a bit more difficult. Favors weren't an issue when my sons were the age of my grandkids and children did not have a birthday party beyond immediate family and cousins every year. When children reach a certain age, choosing a favor that is age-appropriate and not terribly expensive is difficult. I found the Game On! favor bags online and doctored another Six Seige image to include my grandson's face. To do that, I used Face in Hole, another free site. 

Favors included silicone bracelets that had sayings that were related to gaming in general, not this particular game. Among other a few other things, I included three Hershey Nuggets with these logos on them. I used Avery Labels 8160 and created a page full of labels with Six Seige images.

The same images were used to create these picks that went on cupcakes. I used circle punches to cut out the print image and a two larger black circles to mount them on and use on the back to cover the top edge of the cocktail forks.

Four months later....

Coronavirus hit Michigan hard this spring. No one in my family has had it but I did lose one friend to it and know of others who have had it, and a few who didn't survive. I don't usually speak of politics but the president has shown no leadership at all in this. Trump refuses to wear a mask, still holds rallies because this is an election year, and says the virus is going to disappear one of these days. He is a despicable person at best and that is all the space I will give him here. Numbers of cases are spiking again, restrictions for our safety are returning, and I can't guess when we, as a country, will be finally on the other side of battling coronavirus.

All of this and a divorce in my family have been the reason I haven't blogged in so long. I still made things, mostly cards, but didn't feel like talking about anything. I know of only a few people who read my blog. I appreciate them and this entry is written to explain the absence.

The reason for this blog has always been to catalog what I've made for my own purposes, including details that might interest another crafter. I will be entering many posts that are dated to reflect when the items were made rather than when the blog entry was written or shared.

Blogs aren't read the way they once were. I'm just not an Instagram gal, partly because I do a lot of posts from my PC and Instagram is a mobile device product.

So.....what am I working on, thinking about, and what am I reading currently?
I am crocheting an afghan that will be a surprise gift for someone. I hope to have that done and photographed soon.

I am thinking about kindness. I try to always be kind and perhaps set an example. I have no problem avoiding those who are spreading negativity to the point of hiding and sometimes unfriending some people on Facebook, even relatives. I know I'm well past the halfway point of my life. There will always be problems and difficult people to deal with, but I can choose who I spend my free time with in person and on social media. It is a kindness to myself.

I just finished reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Wow. I love a novel that makes you think and this is one of those.

No longer sweater weather, but a new photo won't happen until
after a haircut (finally!) in four more days!

Birthday Cards using Lawn Fawn's Magic Iris die set

I saw this die set before it was available to order and knew I had to have it. I have many plans for it. Lawn Fawn dies are wonderfully engineered. As someone who has always enjoyed learning how everything works, creating the iris assembly was fascinating to me. To think that this can be done with paper amazes me!

  

The first card was made for my grandson's birthday. His uncle (my other son) has always called him "his bug" so this was an appropriate card from Uncle Burger (his toddler name for his uncle) and me, his Gigi. Click on each below to see the cards in action. 

The day after his birthday is his daddy's birthday, daddy being my first born son. We are going on a cruise soon but of all the stamps and dies I own, I didn't have anything that looked like a cruise ship. I drew a sailboat and used that instead.

In addition to the Magic Iris die set, I used Lawn Fawn's Hey Lady,  A Bug Deal, and Stitched Balloon Frame stamps and/or die sets for the bugs, the magnifying glass, and leaves. The waves and seashells were from a Karen Burniston die set called Tropical Scene.

Another Birthday with disguised cash

Some of the past birthdays have required more work from my great-niece and great-nephews before they got to the cash but frankly, I'm running out of ideas!

This birthday boy turned 15 this month. This is an awkward age as fifteen is too old for some things, too young for others. I don't think my card hit the mark but this sweet boy is polite and thanked me anyway.

I neglected to take a photo of the inside greeting which said Level Up in a bold font with Happy Birthday under that graphic. Both the stamps and dies are from My Favorite Things.

I have experimented with binding scrap paper into pads. Once upon a time, I had a jar of a pinkish red stuff specifically for that, but that is long gone and I am not inclined to hunt down another jar of that which was a rather large amount. I used a low melt glue gun instead. Low melt both for my safety (have you ever burned your fingertips on a hot melt gun?) and to lessen the possibility of setting fire to paper. Maybe that isn't likely but in my head it is.  The scratchpad experiment worked but the glued edge isn't pretty. You do have to be careful in tearing single sheets off, but I don't find that any different than commercially made pads that sometimes tear rather than release.

This project began with a stack of new bills. Their crispness prompted the birthday boy to ask if I had ironed them! 😄 I cut a piece of chipboard the size of a dollar, then squared up the stack of bills on the chipboard and clamped them together. I ran multiple lines of the glue along the edge and then tapped that edge against a silicone mat to make this less bumpy than the scratchpad test. That edge was still ugly and I did trim it a bit with a craft knife.

I covered both sides of the chipboard and added a contrasting paper to cover the binding. Double-sided tape (such as Sookwang, not merely Scotch brand) was used at first to hold the stack of bills to the binding, but the tape didn't adhere well to the bumpy area. I used a reliable liquid glue next, and even that wasn't perfect. This just had to survive the presentation though, I knew the money wouldn't stay in the book for long. 

All that was left was decorate the cover which was black cardstock, no chipboard involved.

I have second-guessed my choice of paper for the initials but the birthday boy could read it. The arrows were added to cover up mistakes. 😞

The birthday boy thought this looked like a checkbook. Here he is experimenting with removing a bill that thankfully worked perfectly.  He was happy and therefore, so was I.

To see other ways that I have given cash as a gift, go to the Search This Blog on the sidebar and enter "money as gifts". 

Happy Galentine's Day!

According to a report I heard on talk radio, Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2015) doesn't treat Valentine's Day as previous generations did. Many aren't in relationships but there is a new trend for women, and that is recognizing the value of their gal friend relationships. As a card maker, I don't spend much time in card aisles anymore so I don't know if companies like Hallmark are onto this, but at least one stamp maker is. Gina K Designs included a Happy Galentine's Day sentiment in this kit, called A Big Hello Card Kit. That greeting is in the upper right portion of this image. I didn't think to take a photo of the inside of any my cards. Oops! 

I realize that I forgot to photograph a few other designs in my rush to get them mailed. So much for using this blog to keep track of my work!

This sloth and the photo frame around is from MFT (My Favorite Things), the stamp is Picture Perfect, the frame die is called Polaroid Shaker Frame. 

This stamp and greeting set is also from MFT, named Close Knit.

These animals and sentiment are MFT's Sweater Weather on Safari.

This card has cats from Tim Holtz's Snarky Cat Collection stamped on colored cardstock and then attached to velum over a collection of stamped sentiments from various Dylusions sets.

With the velum lifted, you can read the sentiments underneath.

The dog was created with a Stampin' Up punch called Dog Builder. The heart balloons were die cut.

One more from MFT, this stamp set is called Seaside Gulls.

These calls were stamped from Art Impressions Uptown Girls which has 4 women in the grouping but I masked (blocked out) two of them.

The first three cards were colored with Prismacolor pencils, the last two were done with Copic markers. The images chosen were specifically chosen for each recipient. I hope they enjoy them, I had fun creating them.