No, I'm Still Here!

Wow, what a long time since I last posted! So much time has passed I don't know where to begin. Let's see if I can pick out the highlights......our house is up for sale so we're hoping to find a bigger one with room to accommodate my stamping. We did have one offer but it fell through when the buyers couldn't sell their house. It's a waiting game for sure. We went on an Alaska cruise in May and had an absolute blast. I highly recommend it as a way to relax. You're almost forced to take it easy because everything is done for you. Waaaaay too much food, you have to be really careful or the pounds pile on. We went with Celebrity Cruises and couldn't have been more pleased. The service was great and we really enjoyed it. It's so beautiful up there, the coast of B.C. is amazing, the air is crystal clear, eagles are common as grass, whales and sea otters and seals, oh my! Go if you can, you'll love it. My granddaughter got engaged, getting married next summer. Another granddaughter is graduating this summer. They grow up so fast, it's hard to remember them as babies. George is swamped with Union business because of school closures and layoffs here, so that's keeping him in his office almost daily. And now......the new retired list is out and this new Decor Elements promotion has appeared. I want to start planning classes for the fall but I don't know if we'll be moving or not so I feel like it has to be on hold. On the other hand, if the house doesn't sell then I have to plan classes for here so I can't wait too long. And then there is the new catalogue launch in August to consider. Plus working 3+ days a week. No wonder we get stressed. I'll try not to let so much time go by before my next post.

Thank You Card du jour

This is another of the thank you cards I put together for my co-worker in the Activities Dept. where I work. This time I used the new DP called Bali Breeze. Wow, it's so colorful, lots of turquoise and orange, so that's what I pulled in with the ribbon, scallop-punched detail and the base of the card. The flower, if you want to call it that, is 2 layers of DP and 2 layers of cs, one Purely Pomegranate, one Pumpkin Pie and then two layers of Bali Breeze DP. I cut into the scallops to make "petals" and then punched through all four layers, adding a brad from the Pretties kit. Then I put the ribbon on, one strip each of orange and turquoise and then a little knotted piece, the "Thank You" from Artfully Asian ( I adore that stamp set) and it was done. I tried to fluff up the petals but I was afraid of tearing them so I didn't go crazy with it. I added a line of scallops from Purely Pomegranate that I punched out with the slit punch. I like the effect from that punch since it's quite large, moreso than the corner rounder punches. I ventured into rub-on territory on the turquoise half of the card and I think it looks great; finishes it off sort of. All in all not a totally shabby effort, she said!

Thank You Cards

I know I haven't posted for a verrrrry long time but, you know, life just gets in the way. In any event I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that the weather isn't bringing anyone down. Hasn't it been awful? If it isn't more snow, it's rain, rain, rain. I guess if a person didn't have to go out in it, it wouldn't matter but when you have to go to work or get kids to school or even just do the day-to-day stuff like grocery shopping, doctor and dentist appointments and so on, sometimes the weather can really slow you up. But Spring can't be far away and since Easter is next month it's all uphill from here!

Seems like I'm in a "thank you" card place at the moment, having offered to make a supply for the Activities Co-ordinator at the nursing home where I work. She always has people to thank and I get lots of practice making cards for her.

This card has a Elegant Eggplant base with a layer of Always Artichoke and Confetti Cream. I used the Artfully Asian set from SU and stamped the design with Chocolate Chip craft ink; I then embossed it with SU clear embossing powder. The sentiment is just CC craft ink with no embossing. I colored the design in with SU metallic art pencils and added a length of SU Certainly Celery organdy ribbon which I think is now retired (rats!). Up in the left corner are three half beads from the Robin's Nest. They come in a little tiny bottle that the aforementioned activity girl spotted in a scrapbooking store we were in one day. There are red, green and clear beads in there, probably a hundred or so, so I thought I would throw them on there. They're actually quite pretty if you can get them to stay where you put them. I used Crystal Effects which seemed to do the trick.

I plan to post a few more of these thank you cards in the coming weeks and I will try to be more diligent about posting, period. The time just keeps flying by. Also, I'm having a problem with my left eye which the ophthalmologist says will have to be operated on in the (near) future. Something about a membrane pulling on the retina which is distorting my vision and creating little pencil eraser-size blurry spots. He would have operated already but since I can only see out of that eye, he is reluctant to expose it to the risks of surgery. We all know there is always a chance taken when we opt for surgery but in this case I don't think it's going to be a matter of "if" so much as "when" for me. I'll keep you posted. Talk soon.

New Spring & Summer Collection

Can you believe it??? My catty arrived today! I can't wait to get five minutes to sit down and go through it uninterrupted by phones, shopping, doctor appts., emails, cooking, cleaning, etc., etc. It has been very hectic the past 3 or 4 weeks; I've had several classes, made dozens of cards and 3D items so it's been hopping. I hope to post some pics here soon, and I'm trying to get a watermark done but everything takes time because everyone is busy. So, have a very merry Christmas and, although I know it's impossible, try to take some time for yourself. Talk soon.

Lynn

'EH'mazing Stampers

'EH'mazing Stampers

Bits 'n Pieces from Card Class

Well I have one more official card class to go, on Nov. 22nd, with the most recent one on Nov. 1st. I've possted three designs from classes - the wreath card, the quotation/tree card, and the blue Noel card, along with one of a set of 12 I made for a customer of mine. The idea came from my 'ehmazing upline, Kerry, who's blog is at 'ehmazingstampers.blogspot.com. Go there and check out some of her great stuff. But I digress! (as usual) The wreath card is a take on one I made last year for my own card but uses Purely Pomegranate, River Rock and confetti cream cs and stitched ribbon instead of Really Red and Mellow Moss cs and red gg ribbon; also the wreath is much smaller and the Merry Christmas sentiment is from a newer stamp set, Season of Joy. The card beside it uses the new Sidekick Sayings stamp set, Dashing DP and River Rock, Really Red and VV cs. I also used one of the stamps from Snowflake Spot for the background. A little SU gold cord finished it off along with some glue and Dazzling Diamonds. The tree was colored with markers before the glitter was added. The blue card was adapted from a design of Kerry's as well, changing the colors and layout a bit. I was getting a tad overloaded with River Rock and Purely Pomegranate so I opted for Night of Navy and silver embellishments (embies?) instead. The sentiment is from Many Merry Messages and the silver stars are courtesy of Background Basics and SU Encore silver. The tree is embossed with Detail White ep on glossy white cs, the background was sponged/daubed with Night of Navy and the spritzer tool was used with a Night of Navy marker to add some bg texture. The sentiment was also embossed with Detail White. The silver stars were embossed on glossy white with silver detail ep and cut out INDIVIDUALLY!!!! 30 of them.....thought it would never end. They were attached with dimensionals cut in half.

The burgundy/sahara sand card came from an idea Kerry used for a card wherein she masked off the edges with an oval vellum template and stamped off with the tall evergreen from Lovely As A Tree. I decided to forego the template and just stamped off, using my SMJ to make sure the trees were all in a row and properly spaced. I had made a set of 12 cards using the same plan but with Mellow Moss and River Rock cs and Happy Holidays from Many Merry Messages. I had bought ribbon from Mike's some time ago and it was the perfect olive-y shade to go with that card. So I used it. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? But I digress again! That set of cards I sold to another customer who promptly showed them to this customer who promptly ordered a dozen for herself, but with a different color scheme. Women! Sheesh! She chose Bravo Burgundy and I chose Sahara Sand so I put 'em together and this is what I came up with. I sponged the edges and punched the corners and used another Mike's ribbon and SU gold cord to finish it off. This one's sentiment is also from Many Merry Messages. Now this same customer has ordered a set of a dozen of the blue Noel cards so she's helping my bottom line immensely.

Anyway, the card classes have gone well so far and have been a lot of fun. My ladies said the other night that they would like to try some 3D projects so my class on Nov. 22nd will be just that and in the meantime, one wants me to put on a class at her place in Aldergrove for her friends and rellys who don't want to drive to Mission. Sometimes I feel like I live in the farthest reaches of Nunavit when I tell people I live here. That's a very common reaction from those folks on the south side of the Fraser, believe me. In any event I said I would love to put on a class for the group, just pick a day/night and we'll have at 'er! I am very excited about doing it as it gets more ladies interested in SU and that's my goal. I just had to stress that I need an accurate number of people, no more than 10, and a rough idea of what they might want to do and if they're all newbies or not. Makes a big difference when you're teaching the totally uninitiated as opposed to the "oldies" in terms of what you can show them and what's just too much for them. Don't want to put anyone off right at the starting gate.

So, thanks for dropping in - we'll talk again soon.

Will October Birthdays Never End?

Just a quick note with this card, made for DH younger sister who lives in Nova Scotia. She's quite crafty herself so I always stress about cards I send her. But what the heck, I'm crafty too so I just make 'em and send 'em, hoping she likes 'em. This was done with Perfect Plum and Pale Plum cs and a stick pin from the Pretties kit. This was an attempt at coloring the flowers with an aqua painter - big mistake. Do not try this at home unless you have many flowers to waste. I was trying for a dark center getting lighter towards the edges. I guess I was having delusions of being Monet or some other famous painter! In any event it ended up looking like a dead flower but I figured with pearls and sparkly things from the kit it wouldn't look so bad. No way was I throwing it out! So I stuck it on there with some SU organdy ribbon and a key tag punch with a sentiment from Hugs and Wishes in silver encore ink. I sponged around the edge of the tag as well to set it off. Sponged around the Pale Plum with Perfect Plum and that was that. Except for the flower it didn't turn out too bad. Maybe the sister-in-law will think I planned it that way. One more friend has a birthday this week so I have to get busy with that one too. Creativity, don't fail me now.