Sneakie Peakie

I've been busier than busy the last week or so -- but wanted to share a sneak peak of Lesson 1 from Spellbinders Card Workshop that I'm teaching at My Creative Classroom. It started on Friday but there's still time to register - but you might want to hurry because it's almost full. If you mss out, it'll be running again in the Fall Semester!

Hope you have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by!

Our trip to Acadia

Thought I would share a few pictures from our little trip to Acadia National Park last week. These pictures are straight out of my Canon 10D. No editing AT ALL! Love that.

Doesn't the root coming down from the right look like a skeleton hand? Creepy.

Playing with the depth of field on my camera. I always forget what settings to use until I start using them again.

And on the way home, we HAD to stop at the Big Chicken Barn. It's literally in a HUGE chicken barn -- though this time they didn't have anything I couldn't live without!

Thanks for stopping by, it's Wednesday - halfway to the weekend! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Cherry Blossom Birthday Card Tutorial

What do you do when you are short on time, have forgotten you need a birthday card -- and can't get to the store to buy one...not to mention that buying cards makes you feel guilty because you have a studio FULL of supplies to make cards?? Well, you look through your supplies until you find something you LOVE (like the Cherry Blossom Vellum stickers shown here) and make a card. I will say I spent more time LOOKING at my supplies than making this card, LOL.

Here's a side-ish view so you can see the dimension, LOVE dimension!

And a close-up of the tag. Lately I've really been into making little tags for cards and things.

If you want to make a card like this, or see how I did it, check out the detailed Tutorial over on the Spotted Canary blog that I write for.

Sorry for long time with no posts. Last week was school vacation week and we took a little vacation up to Acadia National Park. It was a nice few days away without the computer, TV and lots of other things. I've got a busy few weeks but I hope to post more often!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Literally, 10 minutes!!

I needed a tag for a very special birthday gift today -- and literally had 10 minutes to spend making it. Between a few last minute things for a work project, finishing up SAID birthday present and spending time dilly-dallying over my morning tea that's all that was left.

After a quick shuffling through a basket stuffed with tags - I grabbed a shipping tag that my dear friend Vic sent me eons ago. She sent me a bunch and I've been hoarding them. I think she made it with Glimmer Mist -- WAY before Glimmer Mist was cool. I also grabbed a fun birthday stamp set that I got when I went to visit the EK Success offices last fall, a black StazOn stamp pad and a blue Distress Ink and some Wax markers. Well, I shouldn't say I grabbed really -- everything except the tag and stamp set was scattered across my work table from other things I worked on over the weekend. I didn't even think about what I was going to do, I just grabbed - inked - and stamped and colored. And the best thing, it can be re-gifted -- or re-used because I didn't put her name on it!

Really, that kraft gift bag needed dressing up -- I just couldn't give that special gift with no tag, ribbon or button. It looked awful and like something I brought home from the grocery store!

Anyway, the tag (and the gifts) were a hit. I made a bird feeder from a tea cup (google diy tea cup bird feeder for instructions, that's what I did) and I also gave her one of the pretty wax collages I made a few weeks ago. Moral of the story -- choose to spend 10 minutes making something special instead of buying something premade and probably printed somewhere else! Crafting a gift for someone you know will appreciate it is so much better than a gift card or a gift from Macy's makes you feel so good.....not that shopping at Macy's doesn't make me feel good, LoL.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great rest of your day!

Cleaning up the Desk

I woke up this morning determined to use a small pile of scraps that had been left on my desk from several other projects I worked on this week. I find that I don't use as many of these "scraps" as I should, so I'm trying to do better.

I'm pretty happy with this little tag, love the sequin butterflies, wish I could find the punchinella that made these, LOL. I'm also happy that I used up some of the scraps from the week!

We had a great family night playing cards last night, but I lost most of my (I mean my husband's) money. Looking forward to a chance to win it back soon, though I may have to use my own cash next time.

thanks for stopping by -- hope you have a great day. It's a torrential downpoor today so I think we are headed off to the flea market. I've got some projects in the works that I need a few things for.

With -- or Without??

Another card today -- woke up inspired to make a card for Easter -- and since the house was quiet I had the time to get it done! I'm not sure which version I like better, the one with the flower at the top or the one without?

The one above -- or the one below? What do you think?

I think the first one looks best.

We're having a little get together tonight, family card night -- so I've got a few things to get done. Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great weekend!

Have a GREAT day!

Just a drive by post to share this birthday card I made for my brother this morning. His birthday was Tuesday -- but my Mom said he was on a business trip so hopefully the card will get there before he gets home.

I've got a million things to do this afternoon! Hope you have a great day and a great weekend too, thanks for stopping by!

Expressing your Creativity Using Paints

I like stamping – and I like coloring too – and the combination of these two pastimes can result in something beautiful to keep, have or use! More than coloring, I like painting. Before I started scrapbooking and creating with paper I was a watercolor artist – I’ll be the first to tell you though – I never knew that painting a stamped image would be so satisfying to me!

To read the rest of this article, and find out how you can win a $50. stamping prize package, go to the Expert Blog on the Spotted Canary for more info!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are having a great week! My finger is starting to heal, typing and crafting doesn't feel so bad today! I'm thankful it wasn't worse than it was! Ta Ta for now!

Big Weekend Plans

I had big plans for this weekend. My guys went on a boys only fishing trip in upstate New York early early on Friday Morning and I had the weekend to myself. After a facial, some junk shopping and a movie on Friday and Saturday morning I settled in for some crafting projects and Red Box Movies. I wanted to make some stamped projects for my Expert Blog post, and I also wanted to make a card using this sweet stamp from Inkadinkado. I've had it for several weeks and couldn't stop thinking of what I want to do with it.

It's a small stamp, you can see how small it looks on the card below -- the card measures 5" x 7".

To make it, I stamped the little chick twice and I cut the second one out and put over the first one with a 3D Dot. After some stitching and painting I loved it. I made that card and another on Saturday night and started a few other projects on Sunday morning (which I can't show you just yet) before IT happened.

Sunday, while working on another project that required the use of my sharpest scissors -- I had to stop make a quick trip to the ER to get my finger fixed up. I decided to get some professional help after 25 minutes and it was still bleeding pretty heavy. It was quite comical driving myself to to the ER -- shifting and steering with one hand and holding my bloody wrapped finger up in the air to help stop the bleeding. In the end, they couldn't do anything for me but get it to stop gushing and wrap it up. Because the tip was gone there was nothing much to stitch.

It hurt quite a bit, and I bumped it a couple times today and it started bleeding each time. This isn't the best picture, but that's me with my huge wrapped finger in the ER. Well, that was about all I could handle for the weekend. I went home and put all the crafting things away and had a rest on the couch. I did manage to change the bandage to someting a little more reasonable this morning, so I think I'll live.

That's all for my drama, thanks for stopping by, hope you had a safe weekend and stayed out of the ER!

Note to self: when you think you need wire nippers -- get up off your lazy butt and get them instead of trying to make do with scissors.

Study of Rudbeckia

I've been busy in the studio this week working on these projects and a few others. You know when you create a piece of art that makes you feel good, and the feeling lasts for days and days and inspires you to want to create more pieces of art?? That's what these two pieces did for me this week. I've been in a big rut lately -- well for a good long time really. More than just creativily - just in everything.



This week, I feel like I'm on my way out of the rut. Really. It's amazing what a few warm, sunny days and some time to create some great art will do for the soul.

If you are feeling down and out -- I highly recommend creating something. Whatever medium you like to work with - just go do it. Spend the afternoon at it. Spend a couple afternoons at it. I need to remember how great I'm feeling this week the next time something gets me down! You will feel so much better after!

Thanks for stopping by -- hope you are having a great Friday - and have a great weekend too!