Family Reunion

I went to my family reunion this past weekend in northern Ohio.  We got rained on, and that made it really cold for August; but we had a good turnout and we all huddled in the garage and visited anyway.

Crafty talent runs in my family; my Aunt Joyce scrapbooks.  My cousin Jeannine tats and make really beautiful lace creations.  My cousin Patty makes cards that look like they should be in a magazine. 

We need to hold on to these crafty creative talents.

I'm Back!

I haven't been around for a while on this blog, I moved six hours from Kentucky to Ohio.  The move was long and very complicated; and have many glitches.  I am just thankful that it is finally over.  I have started getting some crafting done.  I made a bunch of cards; and I finished the Army Cathedral Windows quilt I have been working on for my retired Army son-in-law.

I Just Won 9 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 9 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

A Trio of Fast Winter Cards from the Bits and Pieces Drawer

Here is a three pack of winter and Christmas theme cards that I whipped out in my recent cardmaking session.  These were some of the fastest cards.  They will serve the purpose of a personalized, non-commercially mass produced card though.

This first card has a very large sticker of Santa holding a Christmas tree.  Then I wrote in overly elongated style "merry christmas" using a green Sakura gelly roll pen.

These next two cards are even quicker and simpler than the last one.  Years ago in a LSS's scrapbooking indoor yard sale, I got overly excited by a card with the two following images on it.  They were not stickers though and for years I have passed them by because it would be difficult to fussy cut them.  I decided to just use them up, so I cut them with an obvious border.  Glued them down and added a little frosty blue pen stitching around them.

So I can feel good about making use of these bits and pieces and I have three cards to send to someone when the weather gets frosty.

I Just Won 10 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 10 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

Another Card from the Bits and Pieces Drawer

Here is the next card that I made in my recent cardmaking session.  Doing cardmaking in sessions means that I have cards ready to go whenever I feel like writing one.  I try to keep in touch with faraway family and friends with my handmade cards.  I like that they can keep them and each time that they look at it, it is like getting a new visit.

 

 This gorgeous tulips in a circle image was a rubber stamp image.  I rubber stamp in batches to and them throw all the stamped images into a drawer, to have them ready to use whenever I get an urge.  I don't know what company made this image, as I unmounted all my wood-mounted rubber stamps a few years ago, to save space.  

The card background is a pale cream colored cardstock.  The stamped tulip image I colored with Copic markers.  I am starting to get a small collection of Copics, which is making shading and highlighting easier.  The tulips are orange, with shading around the edges and a reddish orange at the base.  The leaves are done in shades of green.  The background of the circle is pale lavender and the circle border is two shades of purple.  I stamped the image on white cardstock and then inked it with dusty rose shade of ink; just doing a direct ink to paper technique.

I Just Won 9 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 9 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 10 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 10 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 8 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 8 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

Art Journal Every Day # 17 - Big Pink Flower

Sorry for the long delay in posting the next page in my art journal.

This is the next page in my Art Journal that I am doing as part of the year-long project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer is hosting. You can check it out here: Art Journal Every Day

This page is dominated by the huge pink flower, obviously, lol.  It is done with Whispers Strokes markers, pastels, and Zig Watercolor System ColorBrush Twin.  I just made this flower up free-form with having any model. 

The background is non-stop journaling done with a beautiful blue Sakura gelly roll pen.

Today's Card From the Bits & Pieces Drawer

Here is the next card I made in my card making session recently - I like that these are made from little bits and pieces that I have saved. 

 

This is another rubber stamped image; long ago; I stamped 1 image from each of my rubber stamps.  This was from that time.  The card itself is made from light colored cardstock.  I stamped the image with a gray ink so that I could see the outline but it would basically disappear after I colored it in.  

This was colored with a combination of Copic markers and Whispers Strokes markers.  Then I tore the edges around image, pulling towards me so the rough edge of the tear was on top, and inked it with Cement Antiquities  Ink Pad from  Ranger Ink.  I really like the effect that it gives.

Then I a Zig 2 Way Glue to glue the finished image to the cardstock.  I love the look of this card it reminds my of a spring afternoon in the French countryside; very friendly and cheerful.

Another Card From My Bits & Pieces Drawer

The other night I got on a slight crafty binge and did a bunch of cardmaking.  I like using up the little bits and pieces of stuff that are too good to throw out, but your not sure what to do with them.  I like to make cards with them.

Here is the next one:

This card was made from light cardstock.  The image is rubber stamp, that I colored in with copic markers, then the background and the torn edge was inked with a pink ink pad.

This is a nice feminine all purpose card; that can be used for a just because note or any other reason.  Having these cards all made up ahead of time, makes it easy to dash off a card when I hear some one is sick or to congratulate them for an achievement, or even just to catch up and stay in touch.

I feel like a card that someone can touch is very special especially in today's electronic age.  A card can be saved and whenever you look at it again, it is like another little special visit from a dear friend or family member.

Another Card from my Bits & Pieces Drawer

In an effort to make something from all my saved bits and pieces I have been making cards.  Here is another card that I made the other night:

This card started with pale cardstock and a vellum quote tag that I colored from the reverse with copic markers; I used YR68 orange; and V09 violet; the violet I used on both sides to make it very bold and pop.  The background was a Zig Watercolor System ColorBrush Twin in pale blue.  Then I edged it from behind with Whispers Strokes marker in a dark blue.  After I glued the vellum down with Zig 2 way glue.  I doodled the decorative scalloped dotted border with a Pilot G2 pen.

May FabShopHop Update

Have you been hopping along with the May FabShopHop?  I have finished, I have found all 157 bunnies and bonus bunnies; so I am eligible for all the drawings.

If you haven't found your bunnies yet, you still have until the end of the month. 

Don't forget to sign up for newsletters and contests at any of the shops that interest you.  The link for the May FabShopHop is on the left sidebar.

Rubber Stamp Update

Well the rubber stamps were in a heap when I got up today; so I laid them single layer on cardstock and did multiple layers in the drawers.  That is how they will stay until I get the CD cases.

Rubber Stamps Revisited

I spent several hours tonight; working with my rubber stamps.  About a year and a half ago; it looked  like we  would be moving to Europe and total weight of our belongings was an issue.  So I unmounted my MANY rubber stamps.  An while it always them to be stored in a fraction of the space that it took before.  They are all jumbled and stuck together in several drawers. 
Tonight for some unknown reason I got started on them again; I got out the Undu and removed the rest of the sticky back from them.  It was a messy sticky mess.  My hands are still somewhat sticky and I have tried several products to make them not be tacky.

Well besides that I got them all ready.  Some are still sticky and I am not sure what to do about that.  But the next step in the plan is to put them in CD cases.  This will work with all but 2 tiny alphabet sets, some foam stamps and some very long border stamps that will still live in a drawer.

I am thinking about whether it would be worthwhile to stamp the images on a cover for the CDs; but I haven't decided yet.

But I think getting them accessible in CD cases, rather than in a sticky pile will let me get to them more easily and they will get used more.

I'll try to get a pic for ya tomorrow, right now everything is sticky and I don't want to gunk up the camera.

Army Cathedral Windows Quilt update

Finished two more rows for it today; only 6 more rows to go! 

Card Making Party

Spent a few hours last night making greeting cards.  These are ones that I make from my bits & pieces drawer. I do these cards in batches.  Yesterday morning I grabbed a small pile of light colored cardstock and turned it sideways and used the sliding trimmer to cut each sheet of 8.5 x 11 inch cardstock.  So each piece of cardstock yields two cards 8.5 x 5.5 inches.  I then use a bone folder to fold each card in half and make a sharp crease.

This card is made with an off-white beigish cardstock.  The quote is a leftover vellum sticker I found in the drawer as where the footprint stickers.  I edged bought the vellum quote sticker and the entire card with Zig Watercolor System Color Brush Twin.  It is the palest blue on the cap; but there is no color name on it.

This card is on light colored cardstock.  The corners and the main image of "Snow" were part of a card with images, but not stickers; that I got at a scrapbook yard sale at the scrapbook store back in Ohio.  Besides fussy cutting the shapes, I didn't do anything but glue the pieces down to this one.

This card is made on light colored cardstock.  The large sun is a Sizzix die cut (Large Sun 38-0184).  The edge of the die cut and the inner circle of perforations have been highlighted with markers and chalkwork.  There is a faint smiley face in the sun.  The word "sunshine" is a sticker.  The "you are my" is done with a copic marker as is the edging on the entire card; I used Copic Ciao YR68 Orange.

This card is from another card (not sticker) that I got from that scrapbook yard sale.  I fussy cut it, then glued it down.  Then I did some pen stitching with a Staedtler Mars graphic 3000 duo marker #71, a brown; but with no color name on it.

These are the first four cards; I made about 25-26 cards last night and will share more.

I like to have these ready, they are blank inside and I can add whatever message I want when it comes time to use them.  I like that I use up all the little bits and pieces of this and that; that I save. 

I Just Won 7 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 7 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

Army Cathedral Windows Update - Picture

Finally got the picture of the quilt together; I added 3 more rows to it yesterday and it is coming along; only 8 more rows, I think, lol.

The red is the sheet on my queen size bed.  The quilt background is made from old Army uniforms; it has two types of camo in it the older more curvy camp and the more modern digital camo.  The inset squares are solid black.  I need to take a close up of this; and also a pic of the back as the black zig zag stitching that holds this together, makes a pretty design that reminds me of the black leading in stained glass.

Update on Army Cathedral Windows quilt & other craftiness today

Got to work some more today on the Army Cathedral Windows quilt; got 2 more rows finished.  Then I cut out the rest of the black inset squares for it. 

And while I had the cutting equipment out I went ahead and cut out most of the inset squares for a wallhanging I am planning. 

And I finished 13 cards today and got them in the mail.  I like to decorate my envelopes too.  So this took a while.  So I sent out all the birthdays and other events for May.  Yes some are somewhat late and others are early - but I can live with that.  Hopefully I can some day have them all done on time.

How to Embellish A Die Cut - Sizzix Easter Basket & Eggs 655016

A thought I would start sharing how to embellish your die cut, to make it special.

I am going to start with the Easter Basket & Eggs die cut.

This first photo shows the die cut after it has been paper pieced.  Everything in the picture is the entire die cut, so first I die cut it from the brown that I chose for the basket.  Then I die cut the green grass, but I did not cut the entire die cut out again I just cut a piece of green slightly bigger than the grass area.  Then I die cut the red egg, pink egg, blue egg and yellow egg.

The die cut itself has perforations for each section to help guide you.  So I used tiny cuticle scissors to precisely cut each section out. 

Lay the brown die cut down as the foundation and start gluing the colored pieces into place.  If you trimmed carefully, it should all fit together like a puzzle.  I like to use Sakura's Quickie Glue pen; it is the size of a pen and puts out a thin line of glue like a pen line.

The picture above is how it should look once you have all the cut out pieces glue down.

Next I add some pen work to imitate the grain and such of a basket weave.  Then with my Whispers Strokes marker to make the grass lines.  Then I used Sakura gelly roll pens to add the decorations to each Easter egg.

Art Journal Every Day # 16 - Critters, Critters, Critters

Sorry for the long delay in posting the next page in my art journal.

This is the next page in my Art Journal that I am doing as part of the year-long project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer is hosting. You can check it out here: Art Journal Every Day

There is a Pluggers cartoon that was very appropriate to a house that has as many critters as we do.  Each section of the page tells a little about each of the dogs that share my life.

 
This page is all journaling except for the cartoon, which was the spark for this page.  I did the journaling with my Whispers Strokes marker.

First Scrapbook Party

Yesterday I held my first scrapbook party and I did ok.  I brought my Sizzix and Cricut and we talked and had a ball.
When I get home from Ohio, I will tell more about it.   Happy Mother's Day to all the moms.

Art Journal Background Prep

I prepped two pages for art journaling.

The first one is chalked around the edges and then I chalked over one of my new stencils.

I think this came out very cool.

The next one is just direct to paper inking with Cement colored Antiquities Ink Pad by Ranger.

I like the subtle texture that it gives the page.

I got the idea of prepping your page backgrounds from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.

May FabShopHop Update

Have you been hopping along with the May FabShopHop?  I have gotten started and so far have found 23 bunnies.

I also found 1 bonus bunny.  This is something that I haven't seen before.  It says there are 10 bonus bunnies randomly in the various shops and can be in the same shop as a regular bunny.

If you find all 10 bonus bunnies you are entered into a drawing for a random prize.

Don't forget to sign up for newsletters and contests at any of the shops that interest you.

Update on the Army Cathedral Window quilt

Over the weekend I was able to get a lot done on the Army Cathedral Window quilt.  I got 6 rows finished and attached to the main body of the quilt.

I have to cut about 125 more of the black inset squares.  Hopefully later today I can set up the rotary cutting mat and get cutting.  Unfortunately, although the sewing machine is all set up in my bedroom, so multiple times a day I can just set and sew for a few minutes or more.  But the rotary cutting mat is bigger and I have to set that up either on the living room coffee table or the kitchen table. 

I have a small pile of denim cut from old jeans and 1 uncut pair of jeans built up.  Hopefully I can get them all cut into the circles for future quilts.  The store easier in less place once they are cut.

I have an excited new variation of the Denim Cathedral Window quilt that I am eager to do; but I am trying to finish the Army Cathedral Window quilt first.

May FabShopHop

May's FabShopHop has started (see the link on the left side of the page). 

The FabShopHop is an online fabric store hop.  There is a long list of online fabric shops and you go to each one and find the little bunny. 

And their are really awesome prizes.  If you find enough bunnies you are entered into th drawing for the fancy prizes.

This time the prizes are Janome Jem 760 Platinum sewing machine or 50 yards of fabric or the Go! Fabric Cutter from Accucut.

I have won once before but it was only a yard of fabric, lol.  But I still won something.  And the inspiration from all the different shops will get your creative juices flowing for sure.



Be sure to look for the blue bunny for May.  And good luck!

This bunny is NOT clickable, click on the one on the left side of the blog, to register and start finding that 'wascally wabbit (like Elmer Fudd, lol).

Walmart Trip - Crafty Stencil Goodness lol

So I had to run to Walmart earlier tonight and while I was wondering through the craft section and looking at every little thing, lol.  What?  You don't do that?  Lol.

Anyway, I found these stencils that are so perfect for art journaling, scrapbooking all that crafty goodness.

I have been drooling over the Crafters Workshop stencils that Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has been showing; but they are not in the budget right now.  So these did the trick.

These are by Plaid; there is 12 different patterns; and the stencils are plastic.  And the best part was they were only $2.97!  These are in the craft section, I believe by the acrylic paints.

Army Cathedral Windows Quilt Update

Well I finally have the sewing machine set up again and plugged in and all that good stuff.  So I started working on the Army Cathedral Windows Quilt again.  I got 4 rows finished today.  But had to make a  run to the store for more black thread and black fabric.

This is it before I add the 4 rows I finished today.  This quilt is for my son-in-law, he is retired Army and the background is made from all of his old uniforms.  This pattern is my adaptation of the old Cathedral Windows quilt pattern; but it is done entirely on the sewing machine - no hand sewing!

Will post an updated picture as soon as I can figure out how to get them from this different camera onto the computer, lol.

Chance to win Cricut Campin Critters Critter cartridge & other scrapbook goodies.

Sherrie from Sherrie Scraps with Passion is having an awesome giveaway.

Check this out: Special Giveaway

For some reason I can't link to the picture.  But here is a copy of this picture.

Good Luck!

Cardstock Scraps

It seems that after you do a lot of die cutting like I have been doing lately, you have tons of smaller pieces of paper left over.  And it seems so wasteful, so expensive and so non environmentally friendly to just trash it.

But what to do with it?  And how to store it until you use it?  And how to easily find it when it is time to use it?

Seems that these are questions that I have been struggling with for a while.  And I was wondering if any of you have any ideas on what to do?

Leave a comment and let me know what you do with your scraps.

Art Journal Every Day # 15 - Rejuvenate Your Spirit

This is the next page in my Art Journal that I am doing as part of the year-long project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer is hosting. You can check it out here: Art Journal Every Day

I like this page a lot, the background is pastels that I blended; some blend nicer than others - specifically the beautiful blue pretty much just sits where it lands and holds on tight. Once the background was in place I drew a winged heart with a Whisper marker.  I added a "I" sticker and a crown sticker to it. 

The quote in the upper right corner says: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt.  Such an inspiring quote.  Further up in that corner is a butterfly on a seal sticker.

Rejuvenate your spirit is what I feel that art does for you.  I added black parentheses and a black arrow sticker to highlight it.  And I drew a lacey fringe border under it.  I hand drawn swirly is in the lower right corner I used a purple metallic fat marker for that.

The quote in the middle in blue metallic marker says: "The key to change is to let go of fear. - R. Cash"  Just above that is a faded sticker that says "2 unique".

The upper left corner has a hand drawn purple flower and a phrase sticker that says "How Sweet It Is".  Below that is another butterfly sticker.  Butterflies symbolize the change that can happen as we crawl out of our cocoon to become the beauty that we were meant to be.

The rectangle Journal sticker tells that date and a short message about the day; I added gold pen fringe to it so it looks like a throw rug to me.  Below that in the lower left corner is a compass rub on and the word "recharge".

This is my most 'art journaly' page so far in my opinion.

Die Cutting Session - Part 2

After another marathon die cutting session last night I have a die cut from every small (green), medium (yellow and 1 black), and large (red or black) and Bigz (pink, black, blue and red) die that I own.

Now I need to embellish them and then I can take pictures of them all, it is a more lengthy process than you would think.

As I was cutting out some of the Dress Ups Doll items and noticed something that is so very irritating.  They are only putting one shoe on the die - there is room for both shoes but they only put one.  Noticed this on the Dress Ups Scuba Gear and the Dress Ups Police Uniform.  I mean it is just poor planning. 

You have to either waster paper by cutting out the entire die again and having wasted extra pieces to get one shoe.  Or you got to cut a little piece and arrange it just so to get it where you want it.  Also when a Sizzix die cuts it ever so gently curves or bevels the edge; so when you don't have both shoes to cut at once the other shoe is beveled wrong. 

I mean I know it is a nit-picky thing but they should know better.

Die Cutting Session

Last night I had a die cutting session.  I have all green small Sizzix and all yellow medium (except for 1 - the new to me - Camera die cut) are cut and I have ads up for them at my eBay store  Heritage Scraps

So I have the large (red and black) dies only about 1/3 of the way did; so I pulled out all the large and the Bigz dies and started cutting them out so I can embellish them.  I will keep you up on that.

Also since I have such a hard time finding and advice for embellishing many of these die cuts; I am considering doing posts on how to embellish various dies.  Let me know if you would be interested in that.

2 New Copics!

Well now I have two more Copics on their way to me, lol.  Found a good deal on eBay. 

I am getting BV0000 and YR12.

Yippee!!  This will be Copics number 7 & 8.

Now to find some training videos on youtube to help me learn to use these.  So excited about it. 

Drew a little face with the Copics that I already have last night; my daughter and granddaughter were watching; as soon as it was done my daughter asked if she could have it.  I was a little shocked and impressed - she is 17 and is so NOT impressed with everything that I do.

Please send me links to your favorite tutorials for beginning Copic users.

Copics at Hobby Lobby

We went to Hobby Lobby the other night and I was very good.  But of course I had to go by the Copic markers and stare and drool a little, lol.

Well I got talking to the lady that worked back there and she was saying how the Copics never go on sale ( I knew that, :-(   But she said that if you sign up at their website for their weekly emails, that they have coupons in them.  One week it is on a specific item but the next it is a 40% off any regular priced item.  So that could be used on Copics!!

I currently have 4 Copics; and have 2 I won on eBay on the way here; and have totally fallen in love with them.

So far I have:

1.  Holiday Blue BG05
2. Cadmium Red R27
3.  Burnt Umber  E29
4. Salmon Pink RV42

Art Journal Every Day # 14 - Welcome Home Soldiers - Good Well Done!

Sorry for the long delay in posting the next page in my art journal. 

This is the next page in my Art Journal that I am doing as part of the year-long project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer is hosting. You can check it out here: Art Journal Every Day

This page is a collage.  Here is a little secret the previous page was fine until I outlined in black with the Marthe Stewart ebony writing marker.  Now I love this marker, got it at Big Lots for a dollar and it is wonderful.  However, in this case, the black bled through the paper (the art journal was one I grab when I was visiting my Dad at Big Lots so probably not the best quality paper.

Anyway, when I saw the the black bleed through marks, I decided to make this paper a collage.  Now with four kids in the military and living near an Army post (Ft. Campbell) I am very into military and patriotic things.  I have been cutting these images out of newspapers and local magazines for a long time.  So this page went together fast.  And then I had the soldier sticker (I think, technically he is a Marine, but still military).  Overall, I think the page speaks for itself.

God Bless all our service people and bring them all home safely.

Started another blog - Sizzix Master List

I  gotta confess I love, love, LOVE my Sizzix dies.  For anyone that loves Sizzix like I do, one of the most frustrating things about Sizzix is that there is no list of all the dies.  No Master List.  After looking unsuccessfully for years for one; I decide I would take on the crazy task of making one.

So that is the inspiration for my new blog: Sizzix Master List   This is definitely a work in progress, but I am adding to it everyday. 

Scatterbrained Crafter

Somedays I seem so ADD crafter, doing a little bit on this and that and then another thing.  Add to that, interruptions from kids, grandkids, dogs, telephone, argh!

Been working on Art Journal, Sizzix Master List Blog, eBay, yadda yadda.

Stamping Perfection

Came across this purely by accident today, but it needs sharing.  If you are a rubber stamper or scrapper it will be a great improvement to your stamped images.

Happiness is just a FOAM away!

Art Journal Every Day # 13 - Flower Peace

This is the next page in my Art Journal that I am doing as part of the year-long project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer is hosting. You can check it out here: Art Journal Every Day

The large flower was inspired by none other than Julie Fei Fan Balzer; I saw something similar on her site.  The black outline was done with a Martha Stewart ebony / dye ink double tip permanent marker, but it bled through the page (but this is a cheap-o journal I grabbed up at Big Lots); the purple petal are outlined with marker and then filled in with colored pencils in many colors to blend together.  The leaves are done with various scrapbook markers.  The red petals are colored pencil; but the innermost mauve petals are a scrapbook marker.  The center is yellow marker with a swirl of orange marker over that and then tiny dots of green marker.

The word Peace is stickers that I doodbled around with a gold Creative Memories Precious Element Metallic Fine Tip pen - it writes so nice.

In the lower left hand corner are a little garden of doodled flowers and a vellum quote that says: "Plant kindness, gather love.  Not sure who I got the vellum quote from as it has been in my drawers forever and a day.

In the lower right hand corner is a date sticker that I added the date 1-22 to; then I doodled a lace border around it in a sweet hot buble gum pink pen from Sakura Gelly Roll, I love these pens, but I especially love when I get a 'juicy one' ; some are just more liquid than others and I got this juicy pink one and juicy pretty robins egg blue one.

I used Zig's ColorBrush Twin Watercolor markers to give a very soft texture to the background in the different section.

Overall I am pretty pleased with this page.

Past Two Weeks

The past two weeks, my dad has been here visiting with me and it has been a great visit.  Most of the time the weather was nice, so he got to go fishing with my oldest son several times.  They are both big fishermen so that was fun for them.

Today Dad leaves to go home and I am sad to see him go. 

The other big thing going on is my reopening my eBay store.  I have been listing like crazy and have 174 ads up there as I type this.  If you need die cuts, please check out my store: http://stores.ebay.com/Heritage-Scraps


This is Lollipop Alphabet

This is the Fun Serif alphabet

Art Journal Every Day # 12 - Iris

This journal page is journaling of a bad day I had on the left side.  On the right side is an Iris that I drew with colored pencils.  I saw a picture like this posted on Facebook by I believe it was Dale Ann Potter.  Without thinking about it, I tried to draw a similar one.  Dale noticed it when I posted my version and said she had did her one for a class given by Dede Willingham.   I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Art Journal Every Day is a project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer has been doing since the first of the year.

Art Journal Every Day # 11 - Reindeer

I am finally getting to post the next page from my Art Journal. 

The picture is a drawing that I did of a reindeer.  I saw one like this online and wanted to try drawing it.  Sorry but I can't find where it was from.

I had drawn this early but wanted to preserve it, so I added it to my art journal.

The Art Journal Every Day project is being done by Julie Fei Fan Balzer.  You can check it out here: Art Journal Every Day

Update on eBay store inventory

I have been listing like crazy in my eBay store.  I now have 116 ads up for Sizzix die cuts.  I have listed all my small green Sizzix and about half of the medium Sizzix yellow ones. 

So if you need any die cuts let me know.  I have tons more to list.

Thursday February 24, 2011

Woke up to a wet rainy day; and with a horrible cough.  This morning was one of those mornings that everything and anything went wrong.

I did manage to get more ads posted to the eBay store; have 54 ads up there now.  Check it out. 

Heritage Scraps eBay store

Sorry about not getting the Art Journal Every Day post up; maybe tomorrow.  I hope that I feel better.

Got two orders cut and ready to be packaged and mailed tomorrow.

Wednesday Feb 23, 2011

Well today, I spent posting die cut ads to my eBay store.  I have 41 ads up, as of this blog post.

Also I finally got all the cards for this month sent out; had lots of birthdays and anniversaries.  And yes I know that some of them are late, but I have been away.  However, I decided long ago, that just because life intervened and I missed the particular day, I wasn't going to say forget it.  I would send them as soon as I could.  I know that I would rather have a late birthday card, than to think I had been forgotten.

I will try to get the next Art Journal Every Day post up tomorrow.

Art Journal Every Day # 10 - Dogwalking & Coupons

Now that I am back home, I am going to continue on with the Art Journal Every Day posts.  This is a project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer has been doing; you can check it out here: Julie Fei Fan Balzer's Art Journal Every Day Project.

This page in my art journal is for 2 days, January 13th and 17th, 2011.  The 13th's is just a list of "Things To Do" and a note that I took one of the dogs for a walk.  Both she and I could use more walks.  On the 17th I journaled about trying to start using coupons and how I got so frustrated that I cam home early, lol.  Really you have to study them like an algebra exam in school.  I want the savings, but wow, it makes me feel dumb, how many little details you have to coordinate to save a buck.  I feel like Eisenhower planning D-Day.

As usual this page was down fast and easy with my Whispers Strokes markers from Sugarloaf.  I love those and I have had them for a few years and they are still going strong.

Art Journal Every Day #9 - Self Cleaning House Wanted

Now that I am back home, I am going to continue on with the Art Journal Every Day posts.  This is a project that Julie Fei Fan Balzer has been doing; you can check it out here: Julie Fei Fan Balzer's Art Journal Every Day Project

This one is very appropriate for today as I am once again playing catch up after being gone on a trip.  This time the trip was for a happy reason, I got to visit with my third son that is currently deployment with the Army in Iraq.  He was on his mid-deployment leave.

The page shown below was done after I cam home last month from my Aunt Thelma's funeral.

This page was for January 12, 2011; inside the house it say dishes, cleaning, laundry, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, take out trash.  This is some of the things I need to do after being gone for two weeks.
To the right side of the page it says: HOUSE WORK  The necessary evil of life until they invent a self cleaning house.  I know I have lots of things I would rather do than housework, like being creative!

This was a quick and dirty page down with my Whispers Strokes scrapbook markers from SugarLoaf Products.  I love them.  They do not bleed through to the back of the paper; and they are double tipped (or should that be double ended?) anyway they have a brush tip on one end and a very fine tip on the other end.

Be artful!

Ebay Store Opened

In addition to the e-crater and webstore and the artfire store.  I have just reopened, my eBay store.  I closed it about a year ago after eBay raised their rates.  But they are the big boys in traffic, so I am hoping to do good. 

The first things there are custom die cut ads, so far, for crayons, super scallop tags, clock hands, and locks and keyholes.  With many more to come.  I have so many Sizzix dies, punches and Cricut cartridges it will take a long time to list them all.  Please contact me if you are looking for something as I might have it and can do a special order for you.

Everyday Book

Like I just mentioned, I got home tonight and have begun the process of catching up.  Although I have numerous blogs that I follow on my Google Reader, one of the first one that I always check, because it is always so inspirational is Julie Fei Fan Balzer's blog.  And her latest blog post is about doing an Everyday Book.  I love this idea and I love how she gave many examples WITH PICTURES! 

This is such a great idea, check out this blog post: Julie Fei Fan Balzer's Everyday Book

I will be posting the next Art Journal Everyday post soon. 

I'm Home!

Yippee, yippee; I am finally home!  Had beautiful weather for the trip down.  My Dad came down to spend two weeks with me and the kids!  He will be fishing as much as he can with my oldest son.

Dad drove part of the way, we followed along the Ohio River for quite a while until we crossed over into Kentucky.  Dad drove til we got to Elizabethtown and the my son drove us the rest of the way.

It is good to be home.  I got pics to load and posts to write.  Emails and blogs to catch up on.  Housework and laundry.  Yeah, I am glad to be home.

My second son that I was staying with got me flowers for Valentine's Day.

Isn't that sweet?  They are so pretty.  Then in the evening he took me and his girlfriend to a Japanese restaurant.  I had never been to a Japanese restaurant before.  I liked the calamari.  But the soup was bland without flavor to me.  Same thing with their salad dressing, it wasn't bad but it wasn't good, it was a taste non-entity.

Heading Home Today!

Getting ready to head home today!  Had a good visit, but I am so ready to sleep in my own bed again tonight.  I will be posting pics of what I have did while I was away when I get back. 

It is a nice sunny day for a trip, which is nice since the drive up here was in a blizzard .. yuk-o.

Discovered a new quilting show on PBS up here called Quilting Arts.  And the very first episode I saw had one of my favorite artists on it ... Julie Fei Fan Balzer.  I am going to try and find this show when I get home or see if it is available online.  If it is on in your area, it is a definite must see if you like modern art quilting.

Stay arty, my friends.  Talk to you soon.

A Peaceful Thursday in Portsmouth

Well I am still in Ohio; will be heading home on Saturday.  I was able to have dinner with my dad tonight at Bob Evans ... one of his favorites.  We had their farmhouse burgers (really good) and vanilla ice cream.

Worked on my crazy quilt project yesterday.  Will post pics of the new stuff this weekend.  For some odd reason, my iphone won't load my pics the last few days.

Stopped by Big Lots and got a letter P monogram rubber stamp ... the only one in the store, so it was meant for me, lol.  Got a scrapbook techniques book and a watercolor technique book.  Since art school isn't in the cards; I'm gonna try to learn something to improve my drawing this way.

Used the watercolor technique book and did a page in my art journal; except I used colored pencils instead of watercolors.  My sketchbook won't do watercolors and I only brought colored pencils and markers not the watercolors.  Again I will post a pic of the art journal page this weekend.

Helping my son's girlfriend to learn to quilt; so far we have finished two baby quilts this week; and are going shopping for the supplies for a third tomorrow.

Trend Alert

I am completely obsessed with scrapbooking among my other creative pursuits.  So I have many scrappy blogs on my subscription list with Google Reader.

I have been noticing a trend lately; for sloppy, messy work.  Now I do not mean that as an insult.  I mean that it a purposely flawed, humanized style that lets the view see the imperfections.  And that helps us realize that maybe they are not really imperfections. 

Just like people do not have to be a certain size or color to be ok; so it is with art.  Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.  And we do not have to look a certain way, our art work don't have to look a certain way.

Somer examples of this style are:

Julie Fei Fan Balzer of Balzer Designs  she is wonderfully free in her artwork and encourages others to just make art and not worry that it is not good enough.

Claudine Hellmuth  she does whimsical and handmade art.  She embraces the realness of art made by hand.

These are just two of my favorites.  But the common themes are hand drawn, hand cut, stitched on 'imperfectly' and other similar techniques.

Out of town

It's been almost a week since I have posted, because I am out of state.  My third son is in the Army and has been deployed to Iraq.  He had his mid-deployment leave this week and so I went to Ohio to see him before he had to go back.  It was great seeing him and his wife and my two little sweet grandbabies.

Art Journal Every Day #8

Here is the next page in my Art Journal Every Day project.  Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is hosting this project, check it out at Balzer Designs: Art Journal Every Day

This page was done for January 11th, just another ho hum day.  This page was done with Whispers Strokes markers.

Last Night's Cards

Here are the pics of the two cards I made last night.

For the top card both greens are Staedtler Mars Graphic 3000 duo markers.  The little berries in the middle are done with Whispers Strokes markers and highlighted with Inc Elementz Metallic Markers.

For the lower card the pink flowers are done with Zig ColorBrush Twin markers and the green stems and the highlights in the center of the flowers are Whispers Strokes markers.

Sunday Feb 6, 2011

My second son came down from Ohio today.  I am going to get to go back to Ohio with him for a week.  My third son is home on leave from Iraq and is up in Ohio; so I am thrilled to be able to get up there to see him before he leaves.  Poor thing got feeling sick on the trip down, so as soon as he got here I had to take him to the Nashville VA; hopefully he will be feeling better asap.

On the creative front, I have worked on another page in my art journal tonight, but not finished it ... and that is ok.
Also I have done two cards tonight, but his the lights are low so that he can sleep, I can't post a picture of them until tomorrow.

I have noticed that as time goes by and I have given my self to create "imperfect" art; that my art is improving.  I am very pleased with my results lately.  It was all about developing that artistic confidence, to just go ahead and do it and not stress to make it "perfect".  In fact, perfect things often are less artistically beautiful than so-called "imperfect" or flawed things.

What do you think, do you find perfect things more appealing or do you see the beauty in the not-so-perfect and slightly flawed things?  Leave me a comment and tell me your take on it.

Art Journal Every Day # 7

This is the next page in my art journal.  It is for two days, January 9th and 10th.  Quick and easy is letting me keep at this pretty steady.

 

It seems some days just don't have enough interesting stuff happening to warrant an entire page in my art journal.

Thursday Night's Card - So Deer

Here is the card I did last night.  Got the inspiration from Lawn Fawn.

 

I used some Whispers Strokes markers for the body; for the eyes and ears I used a Zig ColorBrush Twin, they are so delicate and just wash the color on.  The tail and the white highlight dots are done with my handy dandy white Sakura gelly roll pen.

Art Journal Every Day # 6

On this journal page I added a cartoon that seemed particularly appropriate.  Again just a few lines of what's been happening that day; with a few very primitive drawings.  That is what I love about this art journaling that you do not have to be worried about it having to be fancy.  Just like that commercial used to say, "Just Do It."

Shopping, Couponing & My Math Teacher's Revenge

I can remember back in high school arguing with my math teacher, that I would never need to know this stuff in "real life".  I would tell him, "Just show me how I will ever use this?".  And while I still feel this way about algebra I do see the point to some of the other more practical math, that I am still struggling with.

How is this relevant to shopping?  Well I recently started couponing and math skills are essential to being successful at this.  The better the math skills, the better your savings will be.

So I was at the store tonight trying to decide if:

1. Dog Food A at $16.97 for 40 pounds if a better deal than

2. Dog Food B at $5.83 for 3.6 pounds, but I have a $2.00 off coupon, or

3. Dog Food C at $20.97 for 31 pounds, with a $1.00 coupon.

Now where is my Excedrin coupon?  I am getting a headache.  So dear old high school math teacher, I will practice these math skills, despite my undying hatred of math.

Another Card

I made this card a few nights ago; it is inspired by something that Julie Ann Bailey posted on Facebook.