I've been busy!

Happy Saturday!
I've had a busy couple of days.  I spent yesterday doing a smaller version of the Christmas tree my daughter loved so much. And today I've managed to get a couple more Christmas cards done!  While getting a couple of cards done may not sound like a lot, there was also a Steven Seagal movie marathon running all day on the movie channel!  If you know me well, you know that I LOVE Steven Seagal !  Who would ever have guessed! ha ha

Here is the smaller tree that will soon be on it's way to join it's big brother who is sitting on my daughter's hall entryway table.

I sprayed it to match the larger tree using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. 

Are you ready for some Christmas humor?  Well, then you might like this card made with a cat in his ugly Christmas sweater by Stamps Happen.  I colored him with Prismacolor brush markers & added the Merry Christmas die from Cheery Lynn.

The last card was made with my Memory Box poinsettia die sprayed with Tattered Angels Denim Glimmer Mist. I wish you could see it in person.  It has a beautiful sparkle to it which just didn't show up in the photo.
I stamped a Stampabilities sentiment on the front in blue ink on the panel I embossed with one of the folders I bought in Kansas City this fall.  Unfortunately, I don't know who made it. The paper for the card came from one of Michael's bargain $19 paper packs that were on sale for $5 this week!

Well, ladies, back to my movie marathon! He is about to single-handedly save the entire US Navy.  ha ha Can't miss THAT!
Catch you later!
Sherri

The Christmas Tree Saga Continues

Hi, everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving & were able to spend it with family & friends.  I went to my daughter's along with Dad & one of his brothers.  We had a wonderful meal as always!  They are all exceptional cooks & it's better than being at a five star restaurant any day. This year my grandson surprised his mom after she went to bed Wed. night & using her recipes, fixed all the dishes she was going to make the following morning!  And let me tell you, none of us could tell the difference!  He did a perfect job!

I took the trees I have been making down to my daughter.  She loved them all, but her favorite by far, I think, was the one I made with paper flowers.  We sprayed it with Tattered Angels green glimmer mist and it was awesome!  My grandson took a picture of it afterwards so that is what I am sharing today.

She has this sitting on the table in her entryway.  I spent this afternoon working on a smaller version of this to go beside it. They really are a lot of fun to make! Ask my friend, Gail!  She is hooked on them now too & just finished her first one too!

Have a great weekend!
Sherri

A really good day!

Hi, again!

I had a really good day today.  Did I win the lottery?  Find a sale on paper?  Get a new die?  Nope!  Better than any of those things!  After trying unsuccessfully for 8 years to put up my now 8 year old "new" pre-lit tree, this is the year I get to enjoy it for the first time!!!!  Why, you may ask, have I been unable to enjoy it before?   Well, he has 4 furry little legs & a LONG tail.  And the minute I brought it up out of the basement each year, he would attach himself to the nearest branch & begin to chew. So back into the basement it would go & the "Charlie Brown" version (with no lights) would come up and take it's place.  For those of you with cats, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  For those of you who don't have them, you are shaking your heads right now.  I know you are!  ha ha  Actually, for the first 6 years, even the Charlie Brown version had to be carried into the bathroom at night because he would wait until the middle of the night & see how many ornaments he could get swinging & banging into each other while he created his own Christmas band!  Last year, he ignored the tree.  So this year, I set up the pre-lit tree and watched to see what he would do.  He sniffed it, walked around it, sat under it & admired the lights, then came over to the couch and sat by my feet to just stare at it.  I CHEERED!!!  I am a person who adores Christmas!  Always have & always will.  I decorate every room in my house. (Which explains why I would put up with having to carry a tree into my bathroom at night just to have one. Besides the fact, I may be crazy! lol)

So, enough of that.  On to some Christmas cards I made yesterday.  I can't take credit for them, however, since I got the idea from a fabulous card I saw on Splitcoast while I was killing time waiting to leave for an appt. Loll Thompson had done a card in all white that just blew me away.  You have to check out her website to see it for yourself.  It's awesome!  These are my versions of that gorgeous card.

All of these were done with watercolor paper, Memory Box dies & Cheery Lynn or Spellbinder dies for the lace.  As I said, I can't take the credit for them, but Loll's card really got me excited about white cards! 

Have a great Hump Day tomorrow & if I don't talk to you before Thursday, have a great Thanksgiving!

Sherri 

Return to Christmas!

Hi, all!

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days.  I've been working on Christmas cards for a couple of days. Today I had to take a break to work on a paper Christmas tree for my daughter.  I wanted to be sure I had it finished before Thursday!  I made this one the same as the paper wreath but this one is going to be sprayed with some Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist.  I think my daughter wants to see the finished version before deciding if she will trust me to do that part or she will want to do it herself!  ha ha   Sometimes my spraying doesn't turn out the way I hope.  Apparently, although the bottle directions clearly state to "shake well" you are NEVER supposed to do that!  Instead you are to swirl and burp the bottles... sounds rather like feeding a small baby doesn't it?    On with the unveiling....

Since it is taller than a card, it was hard to photograph.  I used a Spellbinder snowflake as the topper. It's really much prettier in real life than it appears here.  And after it gets sprayed, it should be gorgeous!  There are 143 flowers on this tree.  I know that because the box of pearl headed corsage pins I used to attach them held 144 and the last one secured the top!  I was surprised it took that many flowers, actually.  When I began, I thought I would easily have half a box of pins left.  By the time I neared the top, I was sweating over whether or not I would have enough to finish!

Have a wonderful week!

Sherri

Whoooo loves Christmas?

Happy Hump Day!

I guess it is only fitting to post a "critter" card on Hump Day, so today I have a Christmas Owl.  This was a digi from the Best of JustInkLined for 2012 CD that I purchased several months ago.  It was quite a bargain & I hope they have another one at the end of this year!  I almost didn't get it because it sounded too good to be true: over 200 digi images for $5. I thought they would be really horrible images at that price, but most of them are things I can use.

I colored him with pencils & Gamsol.  The sentiment is from Craft Smart & was in the dollar bin at Michaels a few weeks ago.  (I know a bargain when I see one so I grabbed it)  I used a Spellbinder die to cut it out & the acorn die is from Ellentina and one of the dies I got when we went to Kansas City last month. The paper is from my stash.

Rest up today.  They are saying several inches of snow & frigid temps for tomorrow! May I say again that "I HATE WINTER!!"   Ha ha  I like the snow, I just don't want to shovel it, push it, walk on it, or drive on it! Other than that, it's great!

Catch you later!

"Step" Into Fall....

Hi, again!

I hope your week has started off well.  And if your forecast is anything like ours, I hope you are enjoying these last couple of warm days.  Arctic cold blast, high of 15 and snow are ahead for us by the end of the week.  Ick!!  I'm guessing it would be a good idea to get the snow blower out from in front of the car & move it to the front of the garage, huh?

Today we are going to pretend it is still fall and I have another step card to share.  I am still trying to get out of my comfort zone.  I don't normally do a lot of scenes.  When I painted, scenes were my favorite things to do, but for cards, not so much. So I took a digi from JustInkLined and printed it on watercolor paper.  I dug out my old watercolor pencils I never use anymore & colored the fall scene. Then I decided to do another step card since I was already so far out of my comfort zone.  ha ha   Here is the result.

I only did one step on this one. The great fence is from Memory Box as is the tree. The park bench is a Marianne Design die and the gorgeous cat is one my friend Gail cut from her Cameo & shared with me. There were actually 3 cats sitting together, but they covered up too much of the bench so I made this little guy the lone fence sitter.  I have to admit, I am enjoying the luxury of having more time to spend on each card now that I'm not working.

Catch you later!  Who knows what I will have to share by then!
Sherri

Teaching an old dog new tricks!

Hi, everyone!

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend!  I spent part of mine working on some Christmas cards.  I had a new die I wanted to play with and true to my nature, I started out with 2 really boring cards.  It is so easy to get into a rut & not try new things.  Especially when they take a little longer to do or we are not familiar with them.  So for card number three, I decided to make a side step card.  It was ok, but still nothing exciting.  At that point, I got really brave & decided to try for a multiple step card.  The inspiration for my bravery is my friend Pam Sparks.  Her cards are all amazing works of art, and a lot of them are step cards. While my final card didn't quite live up to her masterpieces, I was happy with myself for at least trying to get out of my rut & try new things!

Here are the first two (acceptable, but boring) cards I made using the Grand Merry Christmas die from Memory Box that I wanted to try out.

I made both of these cards with the Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas die, the corner bow and the Poinsettia die. I cut the flower from that flocked ribbon you can get everywhere this time of year.  It's perfect for flowers and even retains the veins in the leaves.  I got this tip from my friend Tonda! 

Now I moved on to my first brave step with a side step card.  Again I used the same dies and added the Frosty Border from Memory Box to the side panels and the wreath is from Impression Obsession.

On to my last (and my favorite attempt)

The frontal shot was a bit hard to see the "steps" so I also included a side view as well. I added the birch tree die, the frosted tree and the Winter Cabin dies along with the small deer.   What do you think? Am I out of my rut?  Who says you can't teach an "old dog" new tricks!!  

Have a wonderful week!

Spoil yourself silly!

Happy Friday!
I'm sure a lot of you are glad tomorrow is Saturday!  I remember how I used to count the minutes until the week was done when I was working!

As I promised you yesterday, I have a couple of birthday cards to share tonite.  I started out to make something I could use bubbles with.  I know that sounds strange, but I bought a jar of South Pacific Sea Glass Mudd Puddles when we went to Kansas City & just had to try them out.  I immediately thought of two stamps I had that featured bathtubs.  The first card I tried it on was a Penny Black image of my favorite cat.

I did a step card with him, but wasn't happy with the final look so I stamped a different image that I had from Prairie Fairy.  That one had a slightly larger bathtub & the bubbles were more in proportion to the tub.

I went with an easel card this time & was much happier with the total "bubble" look.  This is the version I ended up giving to my friend when we celebrated her birthday today.  It's hard to see the actual bubbles in the photo, but they actually look like the real thing on the card.

I'm working on some Christmas things right now.  Hopefully, I will be back tomorrow with something new.

Enjoy your weekend!!
Sherri

For Melissa!

Hi, everyone!
You will never guess what I'm posting tonight!  Yup, another Christmas tree!  This one is for my daughter.  She wants one in blues and silvers that she can keep on her desk this winter.  Hopefully, this will be something like she has in mind. If not, back to the drawing board!

For this one, I omitted the dowel and glued them back to back.  The ribbon bow at the top is hard to see, but at least you get the idea.    I have a couple of cards to post too, but can't post them until tomorrow.

Have a great Friday everyone!  Catch you tomorrow!

Oh, Christmas tree, Oh, Christmas tree!

Hi, all!

Well, I have been working on cards, but unfortunately, the only good one is for someone's birthday & I can't post it yet.  In the meantime, I have been trying my hand at making a paper Christmas tree out of rosettes.  This really looked simple when I saw the pictures of finished ones.  I soon found out, it wasn't as easy as it looked.

When you start trying to make the rosettes, they don't tell you that anything over 1 1/2 inches wide will need a strip longer than 12 inches!  Found that out the hard way.    I used a die for the topper and glued some little red bows all around.  My next one will be better now that I learned what NOT to do!  ha ha
For the base, I covered a spool of thread with some matching paper & glued my dowel inside.

Catch you later!

Winter Preview

Hi, again!

Well, we have had our winter preview.  It's already down to 29 degrees tonight.  I miss warm weather already!  Having a little snow & cold has managed to get me in the Christmas card mood though!  I was going to work on some Thanksgiving cards this afternoon, but decided to finish this one instead.

This is a Sassy Cheryl digi.  I teamed her up with some Spellbinder dies to mat her & added the Memory Box Frosty Border.  The two snowflakes were from Hobby Lobby. Paper was from a beautiful 6X6 pack from We R Memory Keepers. 

Have a great Friday!  Catch you later!

Falling Leaves

Hi, everyone!

I've been on a kick for a couple of days now & can't seem to get enough of the beautiful leaf dies I have.  I'm sharing the latest three cards I made so you can see for yourself.  It wasn't my intention to make 2 birthday cards with leaves.  When I realized yesterday that Dad's brother has a birthday coming up I thought I should get a card done so I would be ready.  Well......there was this pile of fall leaves I had already cut and they just seemed to be calling my name  (which is something only CHOCOLATE usually does!) so I grabbed them & this is what I ended up with.

This is my favorite of the two.  I used a piece of Recollections paper from Michael's packs for the background & added these Spellbinder leaves.  I also added leaves to the inside.

I still had some leaves left over, so I started playing around with those & ended up with card number two! It also has leaves added to the inside.

And since I also had some of those tiny little maple leaves left from the wild punching spree I had the other night, I thought I might as well use those too, so this is what I ended up with.

When I made the original cards using this wreath the other day, I completely covered the grapevine wreath. This time I left most of it uncovered and added a bare branch to the window scene from Impression Obsession.  I'm not happy with the photo on this one, but I've managed to change something in my editing which is not working like it should.  In person, the card is really much prettier.

So!  Off to do more research on insurance supplements!  YUK!  Hopefully, I can get that finished up & start working on some cards this afternoon.  I already have some Christmas ideas I want to try out and since it actually snowed here yesterday, I am really in the mood for Christmas cards now!

Have a great "hump" day!  (Are you thinking of that camel commercial & smiling?  Me too!)

Catch you later!

Sherri 

So Thankful

Hi, all!

Did you remember to set your clocks back last night?  I thought about it earlier in the evening, but was busy making some Thanksgiving cards and wanted to finish them first.  Obviously, I should have done it when I was thinking about it, because I forgot it completely!  When I got to Dad's to check on him this morning, that was the first thing he asked! "Did you remember to turn the clocks back?"  I think this is the first time I can ever remember forgetting.  Which shows you how intensely I was concentrating on gluing tiny little leaves on my first card!

This is the culprit I am blaming my forgetfulness on! I wanted to do a fall wreath so I cut out my grapevine wreath die as a base.  (Since I added so many leaves, you can't even see the poor thing) I have an old maple leaf punch that I believe was EK Success and it makes tiny little maple leaves which were perfect for the wreath. The window is from Memory Box and the sentiment from Northwoods Rubber Stamps. It doesn't show well in the photo, but most of the leaves are from glitter paper.

I was trying to play with some of the dies I got in Kansas City that I hadn't used yet so I pulled out this Spellbinder border set for my second card.  I LOVE borders! The stamp is from Penny Black.  I was originally going to cut it out with a beautiful die, but it is so large I ended up fussy cutting it instead. The sentiment on this one is from Inkadinkado.

Now I'm in the mood for fall cards again. Our leaves are falling quickly now.  We have had high wind warnings out all day. I had originally planned to rake leaves this afternoon, but they would have been airborne before I could get them in containers, so I cleaned closets instead. You can't believe what you find when you clean closets!  The yellow sheet I bought to cover my craft table & couldn't find when I needed it, a pair of earmuffs I thought I had lost (so replaced last winter), a favorite black purse I had forgotten I had, a box of watches I love (and will have to get new batteries for)......it was like a treasure hunt!  ha ha I'm loving this retirement thing!

Catch you later!

Back to Normal

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  The weather here was beautiful last night so I was really expecting a large crowd of trick or treaters.  I even made another trip to the store to be sure I had enough candy on hand, but I could have saved myself the bother.  I only had 30 this year, which is a new all time low for me. So you know what that means!  I'll be on a sugar high the rest of the weekend!

If you were wondering why I hadn't posted, my sister has been here for a week and just returned home.  Things should be relatively back to normal now, so I can catch up on all the things I postponed to visit with her.  Like the 2 thank you cards I made this morning.  One goes to my nephew & the other to his wife.  Normally, I would send just one to the both of them, but he is doing some teaching out of town right now.

I got the idea for these cards from Peggy (aka jasonw1 on Splitcoast Stampers).  Her original card was just beyond beautiful, like everything she makes.  She used a different punch on hers & added a beautiful bow, but I knew mine would mail better without it.

I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the butterflies in a 5 inch square.  The little butterfly stamp is from Inkadinkado and the sentiment from Stampabilities.

This version will go to my nephew as it isn't quite so feminine looking.  Another Martha Stewart punch for the sides and this time I popped up the center Hampton Art image with pop dots for a bit of interest.

I hear some leaves calling my name.  I've been really trying to ignore them all afternoon, but since I don't have a yard man (or willing elves) if I don't go rake them, they won't get done. They are so deep you can't even find the sidewalk.  And I don't have a single tree in my yard anymore! They all belong to the neighbors on both sides and fall into my yard instead of theirs.

Enjoy your weekend! I should be back with something then.