Changes

So much has been happening and I have been lax about posting about it.  The biggest thing is that last fall I joined the work force and got a 'regular' job.  It has been a big transformation in life, but it has been a positive thing. 


After being a stay at home mother of seven for almost three decades; it is a learning experience.  I have been working on discovering who I am and what I want to do with the rest of my life.  Being responsible for just myself is new; and it is both exhilarating and nervous. 

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.