Card Shop

I get on kicks and can't stop! I've been card making, as you can see. It all started when my Stampin' Up! dealer sent an invitation for Zoom stamping. She designs a card and we make it with what we have on hand. That started with the one in the upper left (the girl on the Vespa--Springtime in Paris stamp set) and the one you can't really see in the lower left--the three strips of patterned paper. Then I was back to stamping--that's why you see some of the newer stamp sets as well as those oldie but goodies. I've been taking the half hour between when I get off work and when Pete gets off to stamp. I do come back up to the craft room cum office* sometimes to finish up the day's project. And today it occurred to me that I could blog in that half hour instead! So here we are.

I've been thinking about doing a card a day for Craft Month, which is fast approaching. Even if there is no one out there reading any longer...well then, in that case I'll have come full circle.

*We're both still work from home and I have no idea when we are going back. The College I work at has a five tier return system and my division is literally not on it. I doubt this means we'll never go back but we will certainly be the last to return. 

It's a Start

Inevitably when I start making cards, I'm always missing a stamp, or a color, or some paper... But I started my Christmas cards and made a list of what I need. The Christmas crafting has begun!

Take that Black Friday.

Happy Birthday to (Lots of) You

Thank you for your kindness toward my grandmother. I'm not sure we're going to be able to do much in the face of her stubbornness. We'll see.

I don't know what has been taking up all my time. Oddly, last week's calendar looks pretty clear compared to this week's (poetry event at Bryn Mawr College, hair appointment tonight, Neil deGrasse Tyson tomorrow night) and yet, I've still found time to blog today and not last week...

But the cards I am sharing were made last week, so there is that.

This is a little hard to see. It's a Post-It Note holder made with an acrylic frame. The stand on the back allows the holder to stand at an angle to make it easy to write on. (You can see me in the reflection doing the pinky wave I do when I take a photo.) I should make another with colors to match our living room so we can put one by the phone! Of course it will get buried under the mail just like the notepad we have now...

This is the banner card I started last month at stamping night and finished this month after I bought the framelits. I like this card a lot, though I am not quite sure why. It's a gate fold, and the inside is stamped with the grasses. Nice little touch.

Since I had spent so much time making all these masculine cards, I had to whip up a card for my niece who had a birthday two Sundays ago. (Sissy's birthday was last Sunday, but I forgot to take a picture of the card I made for her.) I guess this one could have gone both ways. I love this paper from Stampin' Up, and I borrowed the stamp set from my sister. I guess I should make a few more and then return that to her.

Another set of fun cards for boys of all ages! I was very pleased to get all the boy cards made for the year. This is "In the Wild" (retired) with the hats and balloons from "Owl Together Now." Inside, there's a crocodile wearing a party hat. 

Phew! This month, I'll spend some time making some more feminine cards because I have four coming up in the next two months (and I've already had to wing it on two). Why did so many people in my family have birthdays in the beginning of the year?

Stampin' Saturday!

Sissy and I got our starts on Christmas cards today. My Stampin' Up demonstrator is the best. These cards are all her interpretation, if not her inspiration and design. I just color and glue things.

Lisa wasn't entirely sold on this color combination, but then she says she went to Target and it was everywhere. I have been trying to get the dude to go with red accents in our bedroom which is painted River's Edge (Behr) for a while now. When we painted it, blue and brown was all the rage. Now I'm tired of the brown, and we need a new comforter anyway. But I digress.

Another of the cute cards. A few people went monochromatic on the polar bear, others chose the penguin. More glitter. We went through so much glitter today! As my friend always says, you can't have too much glitz at Christmas!

On the more elegant end of things, this card was a bear. I'm sure it was fine if you made it before lunch. We made it at the end of the day and let me tell you, not everything went smoothly. You could choose to emboss the tree or the words to Silent Night in a tree shape. My sister's test-tree looked like ass. One of mine came out so badly, I can't believe I didn't throw it away right then. Also that ribbon is supposed to go around all three small layers instead of just the first layer like I did.

Nevertheless, it's beautiful in person.

This is a fancy quickie. Dry embossed background (it reminds the dude of a ceiling) with glitter accents. The center motif was four separate stamps. And it's popped off the background. Sissy opted to stamp the circle with "Joy" in green, vertically on the center piece. Much different look, still pretty.

And finally, the more traditional card. I absolutely love this one. I might knock it off. Look for it soon in a mailbox near you!

Only fifty to go...

Day 18: Not All Winners

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity. I finished pruning the roses, brought out my summer clothes, decided what I'd bring to Florida, but that's as far as I'd gotten when it was time to leave for New Jersey to have family dinner.

Before we left Sissy's house, we had to wait for her to finish packing. (She slept over last night since I live closer to the airport, and we can share the cab.) Then we'd gotten about fifteen minutes down the road when Jersey called in a panic because she had his iphone. We turned around and delivered it back to him. Anyhoodle, I got home at 9:40 and still had packing to do. And crafting.

The dude thought I should show you the rose bushes for yesterday's craft, but that seemed wrong to me.

I tried stamping on a candle. I experimented with Stayz On ink and some used candles before moving on to the orange candles. The projects like this that I have seen before usually use pillar candles and a narrower stamp; this makes it a bit easier to work with the curve in the candle. I had been considering this craft when the idea of leopard print candles popped into my head. It meant, though, that I was going to have to use an undersized stamp. I had to roll the candles over the stamp four times. I think I did a good job avoiding overstamping, and you can't really see a seam. The execution isn't bad, the effect is just a little underwhelming.

Day 17: Following Someone Else's Lead

My Stampin' Up! Rep had a stamping class today. She designed a portfolio of items. (You may remember the one I made for the Pollyanna last year.) It was a relief just to have to put things together and not worry about supplies, and designs, and cleaning up afterward. (Yes, I'm still tired!)

It's fabulous; she always does such a great job! The portfolio is just a plastic sleeve (for a three ring binder) with the tabs cut off. You have to be careful with it because it wasn't really meant to hold so much stuff.

We made two notebook covers, four birthday cards, and four gift tags. I love the white-on-white tag. The background is dry embossed and there's a white die cut flower (lower left corner in the bottom photo). The only pop of color comes from a small button. Love that. So simple and such an impact.

I like the color combination on the small notebook--orange, green, "Concord grape." There was some kind of inspirational quote on it, but Sissy and I went for "If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything." The larger blue notebook (upper left) had a religious saying on it, but that seemed weird paired with the quote on the small notebook. She had brought non-religious sayings for Sissy and me, thus the well-behaved women quote.

The big blue flower card gets most of its pop from dry embossing. I think I may have to get that flower die. I love the coneflower card. We've used this set before when we embossed the images in white on a navy card. I love it in magenta, though. I'm trying to decide which of the upcoming birthday girls deserves this!

I came home and needed to transplant the day lilies and prune the roses. Sissy and I are going to Florida to visit our parents on Monday, and next weekend will be too late because of this crazy warm late winter we are having. I checked the side garden (a shade garden) and fortunately the hostas haven't started coming up. Good news because even spending the afternoon in the garden, I couldn't finish. Today I'll prune the second rose and clean up the mess I've made. And pack. And pack up Stella. And make sure I bring enough stuff to do five crafts while I am away. And do the myriad things any person has to do before they go away for a week. Phew...I am not going to feel any more rested tomorrow, am I?

Day Four: Altered Notebook

I'm keeping up with my daily craft challenge, but falling behind in the reportage. Yesterday we put curtains up in the craft room, so my project was still drying as the sun set. There's no sense in reporting without a photo.

On Splitcoast Stampers, they refer to these as "altered notebooks." I think that's a highfalutin' name for gluing paper and stamping on one of those ubiquitous composition books.

I also finished Day Five but it seems like it needs its own post. I think I'm going to let that go until tomorrow.

I know, you want to see the curtains. Right?

They are f'Roman* blinds. I had the fabric and directions to make them myself, but in the immortal words of Dirty Harry, "a man's got to know his limitations." I called in an expert.

I'm trying to decide on that picture I have hanging between the windows. Is it too "on point"? Does it not match in color or style? Or is it kinda samey? I don't know how I feel.

---

I've had many comments regarding the card from the White House. This is something anyone can do! If your recipient is over 80 or a veteran over 70, the White House will send a card. Here's the information. I sent my request in October. They only send cards to citizens, but they'll send cards for weddings, births or adoptions, anniversaries (50+ years), and a few other milestones.

The Queen will send greetings to subjects, but you have to be older. Canadians can get all sorts of people to send greetings, but they have the additional hoop of providing birth or marriage certificates. If you're in another country, I just googled "How to get {important person in your country} to send birthday greetings." Follow the directions to the letter.



*faux Roman

Didn't We Used to Call This Clip Art?

Digital Stamping {via Craft Gossip}

Not Stitching, the 101 Things Edition

Today, I applied for two jobs, so treated myself to a movie. The choices were rather limited since I couldn't see anything the dude wanted to see with me and I didn't want to see a load of crap. Although I have been known to see a lot of load-of-crap movies. I didn't want to drive into the city to see something, you know, really good. At least I refused to see the new flicks with Stiller or Ferrell. Instead, I went to see Star Trek. This is the first anything of Star Trek that I have ever seen. Of course, it's such a part of our culture that I know more than I should--all the characters, the plot of Wrath of Kahn, what a tribble is--without ever having seen any of it. I enjoyed it. It was great fun. I like summer blockbusters that are fun.

Even with all that I still managed to start #68 on my 101 list, "use every stamp Sissy and I have." First, I cleaned and put away all the stamps scattered across my craft table, which was unfortunately a lot of them. I decided to start with the "misc" drawer--the one that holds all the non-Stampin' Up stamps. I stamped (and then cleaned again!) just over a dozen, and now I am coloring them with watercolor crayons while I watch the Sox blow a lead against the Yankees. Still they've won six this year. All six.