Birthdays, Blogging, and Blahs

The three weeks since my last post have flown. So much for my idea of posting more regularly. Once upon a time, blogging was a social outlet. I followed people and they followed me. Most of them aren't blogging now, some have died, and I suspect others have also. Instagram just isn't my fave and frankly, I seem to be too busy to even keep up with this most weeks. This isn't good or bad, it is just the way things go. 

The blahs aren't about blogging, it is just winter-itis with a heaping layer of pandemic fatigue thrown into the mix. Covid marches on, affecting many people, including some close to my heart. The good news is that they have all been vaccinated and their cases have been mild. I get out of the house but I don't go just anywhere, and I do wear a mask in most public situations whether the store or event mandates it or not. 

Birthdays....ahh...finally something fun to talk about. My younger son had one and loved his card shown here. A friend that I've known since kindergarten has a birthday at the end of this week. I made this card for her, using the Simon Says Stamp embossing folder Magnolia Branches. Coloring was done with Copic Markers, and the birthday sentiment was a Simon Says Stamp die. 

I recently made the same card in shades of pink with additional blossoms made from the Simon Says Stamp die Magnolia Blossom. The second photo shows the dimension of the additional flowers.

I am doing much better at keeping up with my journaling, just a few lines about the day done in what is sold as a planner. Each day is a column. My Sprocket photo printer creates the perfect size photos for those columns in portrait orientation. Last year I used a "serious journal" and my writing stopped being upbeat. While I do write for me, if someone reads the journals after I'm gone, I'd rather reflect on the positive things in my life and show how much I have always loved them. I use stickers and colorful pens, especially on days where there isn't much to say or that the sticker simply says it all. This is an intentionally poor photo as my son doesn't like his photos being shared (even if he is cute!). 

Sun and Moon Birthday Card

This is a birthday card for my younger son's upcoming birthday. It is directly taken from Shari Carroll's card (here), the only changes being the paper used for stamping the sun and moon, stars and greeting coming from different sources, and because I didn't have a stencil for the sun rays (for ink blending), I cut my own mask from scrap paper to create them. 

Pandas, scarves, gremlins, and cold

First, a Panda themed card for a friend I've known since kindergarten. The stamp set used is Party Like a Panda from Simon Says Stamp. The card design is from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts and is called an Angle Pop Up Wow card. The link should take you to that entry in her blog. I used Copic markers to color the images.

My current knitting is a mindless project but a slow growing one. The pattern is called Zick Zack and is a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn is sock weight, the needles are US size 2. It is all garter stitch, therefore, easy. This will be perfect with my winter jacket, even if it isn't ready until fall of this year. I'm not that slow a knitter, this is my "between-other-projects" project.  

The first time I used this was after a winning a gift certificate at a yarn store and purchasing a set of smaller balls of hand dyed, variegated yarn and making this scarf that I thought might be okay. That was goal, just "okay". This has become my favorite scarf and gets the most comments when worn. 

Gremlins....we have to blame someone or something for the unexplainable, right? In a roughly two week time period, I've had a bogus charge on one credit card (resolved, thankfully), incorrect items delivered for the first time in a long history of ordering from one company (in the process of getting the correct one and returning the mistake), a break down in accessing my email on my computer (but all is fine on mobile devices), and the handsets on my house phones have been resetting their clocks at random. As I talk to others, many seem to be having unusual inconveniences. Residual 2020 crapola? 

And lastly, it is cold outside. In Michigan, in January. Who would have guessed, right? Better days are coming. Until then, I will continue to make things to keep me sane. 

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.

2019 Christmas Cards

I made 26 of these Santa with various finishes as cards. Each Santa had 57 separate pieces, not including the candy canes or gifts. This is a Tim Holtz Colorize die. Tim has announced this month that newer Colorize designs will have fewer pieces. Whew!

This card was for my giraffe loving niece, made with My Favorite things stamps and dies called Giraffes on Ice.  

This card used Honey Bee's House Builder Base and their Gingerbread Add On dies. 

These are called Impossible Poppers. They don't break open nor do they have a top that is removable. Instructions are here, at the Paper Pixie's website. I filled these with a variety of Hershey kisses. 

 

My great-nephews and great-niece get cash at Christmas. Here was this year's money holder design.

The gingerbread is on a belly band, holding the card closed.

Slip that off and here is the sentiment from Inky Antics Holiday Dough & S'mores

The gingerbread man was made using a Stampin' Up punch

Inside is the cash pocket

And one more message

The next five are from Christmas Selfies by MyFavorite Things

 Spellbinder dies named Poinsettia Pieces

 Two more Tim Holtz dies, Hanging Ornaments and Santa's Helper

And Ho Ho Deer Circle by Simon Says Stamp, the Merry Christmas greeting is a Tim Holtz die cut

I enjoyed making all of these cards but learned an expensive lesson. I knew the Santa cards were going to cost more to mail because they were square. I bought card blanks with matching envelopes labeled as being 6" square. That would have cost me 85 cents per card but the envelopes were actually 6 3/16" square which boosted the cost up to one dollar per card. I mailed 15 of them from inside a post office. A postal clerk applied the stamps and placed them in a mail bin. My receipt stated that they should arrive in two days. It took over 2 weeks for seven of them to begin reaching their destinations, the final eight never did. 

Other than that bad experience, the holidays were good and the cards were fun to make. 

Christmas cards from 2018

The blogging world has certainly changed since I began, and the nature of what I share has changed because of it. I am not trying to build an audience and really am only in touch with one friend from those more active blogging days (Hi Chatty!) now. Some have passed away, a few have announced their blog departures and many have simply disappeared.

I am still in the habit of not sharing cards or other crafts until they've been delivered to their intended recipients, but I think I am going to change that in 2019. I don't think most of the people know I have a blog, or at least they never mention it. That isn't me sounding pitiful, just a statement. I'm not an Instagram fan and can't tell you why. I'm not an instructor and I'm not about to start since so many are doing that so well online already.

This blog will continue to chronicle what I have made and be a reference for me. I will continue to share on Pinterest and if a post helps someone else, a good deed has been done.

Now that I've issued my combined Mission Statement and non-New Year's Resolution, I will share the various cards that I made this year. With any luck, I won't repeat them next year and send someone the same card two years in a row!

Mele Kalikimaka is a stamp set by Simon Says Stamp. I used this stamp on three cards but on the others, I put the words as an inside greeting. The stamp set is larger, the above card is 5"x7" rather than the typical 4.25"x5.5"

This ornament was done with Radiant Ornament, a die set from Birch Press. The snowflakes are also from Birch Press dies.

These two cards are from Mondo Poinsettia stamps and dies by Essentials by Ellen (Ellen Hutson). I stamped them in Versamark, embossed them with gold powder, die cut the flowers and leaves, matted them on black with hand drawn gold stitch lines, and mounted the black on a metallic gold card stock before adhering to the card front.

This previous post has Hip Gingerbread Men, Woodland Critter Huggers and Snowflakes. This snowflake below is one that a recipient shared on Facebook. 

The skunks, polar bear and puppy huggers are new additions to the previous critters. 

I found a template online to make a paper shoe for my daughter-law-in. One of her gifts was cash to go shoe shopping. I made a pair of shoes and the box to hold them, tucking the cash inside the box. 

 

I made a few other card designs that apparently didn't make it to my camera before mailing, and it wouldn't be a creative process if some didn't make it out of the house at all, landing in the trash instead.