Welcome to my blog on the last day of 2013.

It has been a week since an ice storm came through here and took out our electricity.  After three days it was restored - but only intermittently - until yesterday.  We are celebrating that we have had heat and running water for 36 continuous hours and counting; but also anxiously watching the weather forecast for the end of the week.  I took a lot of pictures since it is so hard to describe. We are so grateful to the many crews that have been working through the Christmas holiday to get us back online.

We couldn't stand outside without hearing the crashing of trees all around us.

 

There were five days of icy rain that built up an inch of ice.

Still driving with one eye out for branches hovering above the road.

 

 

I fully intended to post this Christmas card before the holiday, but was tending a generator instead. The idea for this card came to me in July, and as usual, I didn't start making until the week before the Cardologist's Christmas party.  

 

 

The challenging part was that children were looking in a window, but from the inside of the card they would have no faces. So I used a belly band (after tossing around the idea of cutting out faces of the cardologists and pasting them on). I stamped the children with brown ink on grey paper and colored with pencils.  The tree was stamped in green and colored with markers. It is more sparkly than it shows in the picture because it was done with the drier sheet technique. Of course I am now finding glitter everywhere!



 

 

Stamps:  Children by TooMuch Fun, Tree from a retired set by Stampin' Up

Die:  Small Madison Window by Poppystamps

Embossing folder: Tim Holtz /Sizzix

 

I wish all of you a happy, healthy New Year.

 



Happy Thanksgiving

Whew, it  has been a whirlwind since Stamp Camp; this month just flew by. I squeeze in a little time before bed each night checking out what all my stamping friends have been posting but have had no time to post myself.  I managed to get some Thanksgiving cards in the mail early this week before the holiday. People that know me were surprised.  Here I share the card that I sent to the Cardologists:

I found inspiration for the shape in a card by Nancy Riley also using the Stampin' Up set "Autumn Days", adding a sentiment from their "Happy Harmony" set.  I used the 'thumping' technique on the partridge using Chocolate Chip and Razzleberry pens although the Razzleberry doesn't show up well on the Pumpkin Pie bird.  I finally figured out how to use the Fiskars texture plate "scales" on the Big Shot through trial and error since none of the recipes I collected seemed to work with mine. The lace border is a Stampin' Up edgelit as is the label punch.  Paper colors: More mustard, Ruby red, Close to cocoa.  Some thrift store Cream,  a fall DSP and circle dies completed the card.

I am very thankful that a coworker asked me one day, fifteen years ago, if I wanted to go to a stamping party with her and meet a crazy bunch of ladies that spend all their money on stamps.  As a "habit" goes, this one is very rewarding and I have been able to meet so many very good friends.  I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday with family and friends.

 

Hello Stampers,

 

This started as a quick and easy, one layer card, because it was getting late and most of the Cardologists had already packed their bags for the evening.  I really needed a sympathy card - the third one this week - sad to say.  But this morning, I couldn't help but add a layer because it looked so unfinished.

 

I started by stamping a flower from Inkadinkado's Meadow set with Memento black on Crumb Cake paper.  Then I sponged lines with Marvy grey ink using the edge of a torn paper, to simulate mist behind the flowers.  A sentiment from Stampin Up's Teeny Tiny Wishes, a punch from Stampin Up, a layer of black on Crumb Cake, and this easy card was  finished. (I don't know why it looks like it is on a white card.  sigh)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Friends,
Thank you to all who have made me welcome in my first blog attempts.


I barely recovered from Stamp Camp - no I am still not unpacked! - and then I was off to visit friends in New Hampshire.  Here is a picture of my friend's daughter, a very talented teenager.  She designed and sewed her first quilted wall hanging when she was nine; here she is holding one of the Christmas stockings she made to sell to raise money for her class trip to Washington DC. 



And now for the card I made, inspired by her stocking. I must say I chose colors that were too dark so it is not as colorful as the stocking!



Stamps: Stampin Up Pointsettia (1998), Endless Creations Merry Christmas, Inkadinkado Pine branch, Studio G Ornaments
Stampin Up Top Note Die, Papers, Bakers Twine
Ranger Ink, Snowflake embossing powder
Cuttlebug Snowflakes
Other: detail gold embossing powder, gold rub-on, versafine clear

Stamp camp 2013

The seven Cardologists travel to Stamp Camp every October.  This year we are at Smuggler's Notch in Vermont for a week of creative fun. The leaves are mostly off the trees and we had early snow flurries.  It is a very good day to be inside stamping.

This first card has a background using a technique I found on frenchiestamps.com using wax paper embossing resist. The polar bear is from Stampin Up Zoo Review.

The embossing folder, borrowed from a friend, is birch trees, I think, turned sideways.

This card features the Penny Black stamp Sealed with a Kiss.

Stampin up Dies and punches

Papers on both cards: Midnight Muse, Baha Breeze and scraps

Thank you for visiting.

Dora

Monday Muse Challenge #40

 I hope that I can do as well as with my blog as my friend did with her site "Keep in Touch".  Susanne is one of my "cardologist" friends and has been a big help getting me started here.  Today she pointed me to the Monday Muse challenge which is the only reason my first post is a card with pink.  

Monday Muse Challenge #40

I would add that the red hearts are for the people we love who are affected by cancer.

Colors by Stampin Up: Certainly Celery, Rose Romance (retired) and Cherry Cobbler

Stamp: Rubber Stampede Solidago Sprig

Punch: Stampin Up

I thank you for visiting.

Dora