Preparing for a new year...

Even as I contuinually work on organization of my craft room, I have added more to my collection of stamping-related supplies, and with the crazy schedule I've had for nearly two years now, the room is well, not quite out of control, but heading there! I really think I need a few days of purely working on organizing. With five students (and a dh) wanting to work on their laptops in this same room (our wireless is really flawed, so most of them cannot work without cables to the computer here), this is a challenging time for stamping anyway. So, I am signing off until after New Year's Day.

Have a great holiday, and see you on January 2nd, 2009!!!

Perfect Gift!

My husband, Bruce, and I invited a college student, Benjamin, to our home for Christmas break, as it looked like he'd spend most of his break without family. Benjamin is from Taiwan, and got these stamps for us - how perfect! Bruce is definitely not a Chinese name, so his stamp (seal) is the symbol for forest, as Bruce means "out of the thicket." (I'm sure the Christian market has invented a spiritual meaning for the name, but we're really not into that...). My name, Sarah, means princess, so that is the symbol on mine. (The first symbol means king, the second means daughter). What an absolutely perfect gift! They are carved out of Agate, which means a very time-consuming effort went into these. They're very beautiful.

Merry Christmas ... to YOU!

I made this card specifically for those of you who visit here. Years ago, when I used to cross-stitch, I would pray for the one for whom I was stitching. Likewise, as I made this card, I prayed for you, knowing that while I might not know who is visiting me, the Lord does!

Blessings to all of you this Christmas, may those of you who have not yet found Jesus as Lord of your life, find Him this year, and may those of you who know Him grow closer than ever before...

With love,
Sarah

Note: I forgot the brads, but when I went to rescan the card, the scanner refused to do it! Bah, humbug! I'll try again tomorrow...

Simple gift: wallpaper journal

I did not have time before the last craft fair to design any journals, so I decided to just to use wallpaper, and label them "use as is, or embellish with ...." I made ten all together, though I forgot to photograph them before selling, so I don't have all of them.

As you can see, I have a problem with the "wood" look: I evidently did not spread the glue evenly, so even though I weight the covers down heavily overnight, proper glueing matters!!!

I wish the spacecraft journal had photographed better; the wallpaper is simply amazing!

If you've never used wallpaper before, try going to your local wallpaper store; chances are they have retired wallpaper catalogues needing a good home! The wallpaper works great for mitered corners, and unlike paper, can be cleaned.

EDIT: I generally use PVA glue, which is meant for bookbinding. However, I do recall that I accidently used my Aleene's tacky glue for a couple of journals. It's possible that that was part of the problem with my wood-look journal. However, I know I did several journals before realizing my error, and only one other journal has a minor bit of wrinkling.

Christmas quilt

I had hoped to make a set of quilt cards for my mother for Christmas, but I have a feeling it is not going to happen. So, I decided I'd at least make a quilt card for her Christmas card. We have company coming tomorrow, and my house is far from ready, so this was a card made in a hurry. I was delighted to find an already stamped text: all I needed to do was attach it to a scrap of cardstock and trim. Oh, happy day! The saying is a bit trite, but oh well, my mom will just be delighted I have made a "quilt." I'm hoping she can't tell that I accidently embossed the snowflake pattern backwards.... :-/

Now, off to pack up our handmade chocolates...

It always amazes me...

...how the simplest of cards can be the most popular. I made this card two years ago, and was asked to make a set of them for a friend. The next year, I sold a couple, and since I had made several extra the previous year, I still had one for this year. The craft fair was poorly attended, and I did not sell a lot, but I sold that! It does look nicer than the scan shows, but not significantly.

I was very happy this evening when looking through my "Christmas box" of miscellaneous shapes, panels, etc, from the previous years to find a panel with the embossed vellum already completed so I can make a quick card as I realize my Christmas card list has grown... If only all my cards could be done so quickly! :-)

Christmas mailbox

Last year cute little metal mailboxes from Target were really popular for decorating. I made a bunch for the gift shoppe in which I sold items, and they went over really well. There were some left over, so I decided to sell them at the Houghton craft fair. I had just enough time to throw together a Christmas themed mailbox. I was not really creative that night (is there an artist/crafter's term for "writer's block??), so I might redo this for next year...

Snowy day

It's been snowing off and on since yesterday, and looks beautiful! I had asked my daughter, Susie, to bring the camera to Houghton College with her if there was a really nice snowfall, so that she could take some pictures for me. Then when I prepare for next year's craft fair at Houghton, I can have some campus photo cards. This is one of the pictures she took.

Mistletoad

I've never sold one of these cards (I made more than one), but it's one of my favorites. The toad on this card is just one of six. It might be my favorite one!

I did another craft fair this evening. I knew it would probably not go really well, as Wellsville has already had a major craft fair this season, and last week was the town's big Christmas event on Main Street. But since I heard about it during the Houghton craft fair I just did, I left everything packed up, so it was no extra work to do it. I did sell a few things, but the current economy is really hitting events like this hard. Glad I'm not dependent on crafts for income, lol!

Seeking Him

I was excited when I got the idea for this card, and I already had the map from extras made for a graduation card. :-) I want to redo it with a different background; my first choice was rust, but it looked too bland. I'm not sure the green looks quite right, though...

Silent Night

This is the card I mentioned in the blog below that my friend, who orders a set of Christmas cards from me each year, chose for me to make for her this time. I actually bought this stamp from smARTworks knowing that it would be the one!

I embossed the text in gold, then sponged opalite inks over the background, sponging the golden mist only where I wanted to place the star, which was also embossed in gold, then trimmed.

As simple as it gets!

This is a scan of one of the first Christmas cards I ever made. I have a friend for whom I make a set of Christmas cards each year; I bring her the cards I've made, and she selects a design. We live almost an hour apart, and I didn't think I'd have a chance to see her in person, but since she has recently gotten online, I sent her the link to my Christmas gallery. I was absolutely shocked she chose this card - especially since it (wrongly) looks like the backing of the text is white, instead of the same cream that the poinsetties are made with. I almost wanted to refuse to do it! (How ridiculous is that? Such a quick card to put together!) But the next week I had the chance to send up some cards up to her, so to be sure she wanted it, I remade it. I don't have the same beautiful cream that I used to have, but this one still had the elegance of it, although it's shading is much lighter. I also slightly altered the design, it really needed at least a little improvement made.

She didn't actually end up choosing that card after all, but one that I had designed with her in mind, which I'll post tomorrow.

Tonight, I'm going to curl up with a good book; our college children and two friends just left after coming home for the evening for our annual tree decorating party. I put on (with the help of dh and youngest dd) a huge spread of homemade hors-d'oevres, soup, and cookies), and we play Christmas music while decorating our huge tree, and just have a great time. Our oldest graduates in May, and our son leaves for a five year stint in the Navy in March, so who knows when we'll get to do this all together again... a lovely, though slightly bittersweet evening!

Craft Fair

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Houghton College at their annual craft fair. From a financial standpoint, it was not a great success for any of us; I sold significantly less than any of the three previous years. It was the same for everyone.

In every other way, it was great! All four of my children (three full time on campus) helped at different times loading, unloading, and just hanging out with me! We host college students for lunch about 3 times a month, and it was great to see several of them. I've also gotten to know other vendors, and as a former student myself, a number of professors and employees are known to me. I look forward to next year!

I actually had two tables, one primarily with items I had made, the rest of it and the other table with items to create with (stamps, papers, ink pads, etc).

One last dovely joy!

This time I used foil flakes for the image - I love how it looks, though I'm not thrilled with my layout. :-)

The kids come home from college tomorrow for Thanksgiving break, so I won't be posting again 'till next week. Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

Kreative Blogger awards

As promised, though not on time, so sorry, here is my list of those whom I chose to pass on this award, given to me by Jacki.

The rules:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

This was difficult, because time was short, and there are so many talented stampers out there! But it was a lot of fun as well; I kept forgetting what I needed to accomplish as I explored, and lost a few blogs that way, lol! I finally realized that it was past my bedtime, and I needed to just get the job (privelege!) done! Anyway, I now have some new blogs to visit & some new inspiration, and hopefully others will too!

My apologies that I really did not take the time to make comments about each blogger I picked; I hope you will all visit each one, and see for yourself what impressed me! I can say that these women were chosen because they put great efforts into passing on their experience, because they had unique cards that really inspired me, and/or I was impressed by their communication skills and balance in their blogging (in addition to great cardmaking, of course!).

So, here are the blogs I chose:

1. Lori Craig at Make a difference.

2. Judy at Joy in a Jar

3. Christine at Christine Creations

4. Becca at Amazing Paper Grace

5. Beverly at Bee Stamper

And more dovely joy...

I embossed these images with Chinese Red Antiquities powders from Ranger. I believe they are no longer made, though the seem similar to the Tim Holtz distress powders.

The background to the top card was made with the silent night stamp from smARTworks.

Dovely Joy in copper

I spent quite a bit of time, on two different days trying to get this card to photograph better, but this gives some idea of the elegance of the card. The stripes on the background paper are very subtle, but not as much as the photo shows, and blend perfectly with the embossed image.

The copper embossing powder was not especially cooperative; I embossed the image several times, but only got smooth coverage a couple of times. It's interesting to me how different embossing powders work...

"Dovely Joy"

I saw this image on a card at Splitcoast Stampers, and knew it was going to be "the" stamp for me this season. With needing a lot of cards completed in a short amount of time, large, simple images like this are just the thing! The quilt cards were the first time in years I'd made a bunch of themed cards, but I am doing it again with this card! I purchased it from limeLIGHT papercrafts. A small business with great customer service!

I had purchased some embossing glitter over a year ago, but had not yet used it. I though it was the perfect powder for this card! The swirls are embossed with detail silver.

Carolers

It's funny how a photo can change the look of a card ... I was satisfied with how the card turned out, but when looking at the photo of it, the heads of the carolers seemed ridiculous compared to the holly. I had to go look at the card again to make sure it wasn't quite so odd, and it wasn't.

Inks are all distress inks.

Skaters

Someone on the stamping board Gingerwood was searching for a silhouette stamp with skaters, and I think she was even hoping for vintage. I knew just the stamp she needed! This comes from Stubby Stampers, a company I really enjoy doing business with. I bought this stamp last year, but I actually did not use it. But in linking the stamp for the poster, I was inspired to finally make a card with it.

I wanted a more "romantic" look than just black and white. I tried stamping in blue, but that just didn't do it. So, I decided to gry some blue sponged into the background. That seemed to work. I washed the stamp and then stamped just the trees on one side or the other with versamark, and then embossed with clear. It doesn't show up very well in the photo, but it worked well.

Blog award!

Jacki Jones has awarded this to me - wow! Didn't I say she was an encourager? I need to pass it on to five other bloggers. Hmmm...I hate to admit it, but this has caused me to realize that I am in a blog rut! I am always doing, doing, doing, and it's difficult to make time to just browse the inspiring blogs out there. The names that came to mind automatically are the same ones that came to me the last time I received the blessing and honor of an award. So ... I've decided I'm not going to choose anyone that I have chosen for an award before, in fact, I'm going to find five new blogs that inspire me! It will take a few days, as I'm busily preparing for the craft fair, but I didn't want anyone who saw the post on Jacki's site to think I was ungrateful! So ... in a few days, definitely by Sunday (my only non-stamping day), I'll post again about this!

Happy Birthday or Thanksgiving???

My wonderful friend Jacki of the card castle, made this birthday card for me (She attempted to say it was actually a Thanksgiving card...). We both struggle with getting cards sent out on time; my birthday is in September. :-)

Jacki is a constant source of encouragement - as a friend and fellow "princess," and as an artist. She knows what a struggle coloring is for me (I was the last kid to learn how to color inside the lines), and along with this birthday card came a few card samples with the images included for me to copy.

It's interesting to me that in the creative arts, be it music, dance, visual arts, or writing, the ability to teach those things is not automatic. I cringed when a mom once told me that she was encouraging a couple of her children to make sure they minored in education in college so that they could "fall back" on teaching if they didn't get where they wanted to be. I hated anything to do with visual arts or athletics for most of my life, and I suspect that the teachers I had in those areas had gotten their degrees not out of a passion to teach and inspire children, but to "fall back on." They lacked patience, and the ability to bring out what little ability I might have had. Teaching is a gift, and a good teacher makes all the difference.

All that to say, Jacki is gifted as an artist and as a teacher. I am so blessed to have her friendship!

...All flowers keep the light

This card was sent to smARTworks for the contest that used to be held quarterly for free stamps. However, due to lack of participation, the contest is no longer. Susan Trask, the owner, kindly gave gift certificates the one other participant and me - just in time for her new release of stamps, here.

I used opalite inks (I just love those), and when the light hits the card, the shimmer is wonderful ... pictures just don't capture it. The flower in the center is covered with tiny, no-hole glass beads.

A Partridge (???) in a Pear Tree

I wasn't really happy with the colors I chose ... or the quality of the markers I had on hand ... but this card really does look better than the picture shows it; that clashing red is actually a dark pink.

BUT ... at least I did not take forever to color the card. Normally I take ridiculously long choosing the colors for a project like this. But this time, I decided to just use whatever color seemed right without over-analysing. So, in a sense, it was a good card for me, even though I won't be selling it or giving it to anyone. It also made me realize that it's time to get some decent markers, lol!

This stamp comes from Eureka, and shipping is free this month!

Our light has come!

A camera without batteries is rather useless! Our rechargeable batteries seem to have died, so although I have a couple of cards, I can't photograph them, and they don't scan well. So, I thought I would post this card, my favorite from last year. With time being short before the Houghton Christmas craft fair, I need cards that are either simple, or in this case, duplicates of ones I've made before. I really don't like to make the same card more than once, and when I do, I try to alter it at least a little bit. But I was really pleased with this card, and fortunately, I made an extra circle image last year, so I won't bother altering the design!

The gold embossed circle is colored with opalite inks. When using these on embossed image, apply sparingly; the opalite ink will cause the embossed portion to break down. :-(

Watoto Children's Choir

We're having company stay the night tonight: Three teen/pre-teen boys and their "uncle" (chaperone), part of an exhuberant and inspiring group of orphaned children from Africa. Watoto came to our church two years ago, and it was a wonderful time! We had three little girls and their "auntie" for that visit, and the auntie was incredibly inspiring to my three teen children who were home. She spent the evening after the concert encouraging them in their faith to choose a deep walk with God instead of a shallow one. They still remember it...

The Watoto Children’s Choir’s have toured internationally since 1994. These choirs bring a message of hope to many parts of the world which include countries such as Uganda, Australia, Canada, UK, USA, South Africa, Brazil, Israel, Germany and France. The choir is made up of children who are part of Watoto’s program.

Accompanied by adult choir leaders from KPC, Watoto’s performances are a soulful blend of African rhythm, contemporary gospel and ethnic dance. Through their music the choir share their unique stories and express their new found hope. The children’s energy and sincerity continue to inspire audiences all around the world.

The choir performs to present Watoto’s vision and to give audiences the opportunity to respond to Africa’s HIV/AIDS and war crisis.

‘Concerts of Hope’ are a lively demonstration of the life changing love of God experienced by the children of Watoto.
This experience, gives the children exposure to other cultures broadening their world view. It gives the children confidence and boldness and helps them to rise up out of their own situations of sadness and despair.

Last of the quilt cards!

This one is probably my favorite, even though it's one of the simplest I did. I had a really, really hard time choosing a text for it, until I happily remembered this stamp from smARTworks. Perfect!

Time does not erase...

Surprise visit tonight from one of my college children, oh happy day! Off to visit with her some more...

Well with your soul

I was thinking of the hymn, "It is well with my soul" when I created this stamp. If you don't know the hymn and the story behind it, I hope you'll click on the link and read about it. Knowing the tragedy of the writer of those words, would remind anyone receiving a card like this that even in the worst of the worst circumstances in our lives, we can have that "peace like a river," that assurance that God is in control, and has not forgotten us...

Live Life in Color!

This card turned out a bit bolder than I expected, so I layered it accordingly! This text stamp from smARTworks was just right for it!

Thank you quilted cards

I am very low on thank you cards, so this was a great pattern for them!

I mentioned in my last post that I might try doing just basic stripes. As you see, I did so with the pink card. It was so much easier than the really quilted patterns I had done earlier. The basic square quilt panels were also much easier.

Top thank you is Eureka, bottom two are Stampin' Up.

"Cuttlequilting" tips

I so liked the look of this technique, that I decided to make a couple more panels ... and ended up making five! Crazy, as I have the next three weeks tightly scheduled to be ready for a craft fair I do at nearby Houghton College. But, I just got carried away ... and it was a great distraction from the election tensions! :-)

The sun was going down before I realized that I had not actually finished any cards, so I grabbed the first panel, this yellow one, and tried it with the black panel on a yellow card. Too busy. I expected black to be the best color, but after moving the panel back and forth between the two colors, I decided the sunny look of the yellow was the better choice. The camera photos seem to favor the black, but that might be the background colors. At any rate, I thought it was interesting how different each look is! Tomorrow I'll finish this card.

Anyway, in the process of making these, I decided I'd write a list of tips:

1. Use a piece of cheap cardstock as a base. Actually, use two: one for the background layout, the other to transfer those pieces one by one as you glue them. Layout is important because you don't want an edge that is a tiny sliver of a color, it tends to look like an error.

2. Make the cardstock at least an eighth of an inch longer and wider than you want the finished product. Then you can trim the edges of the scraps. Much less time consuming than trying to piece them flush with the edges.

3. When creating your layout, it will go much easier if you use repositional glue instead of just laying down the strips/pieces. Much more stable to work with, and easier when you decide you need to switch any pieces.

4. Make sure that you don't forget to note the size of your embossing folder ... you want to be sure the entire panel, including any edge you might want embossed, will fit in the folder.

5. Consider any images you will be putting over the top of the quilted panel: if a large part will be covered, you might want to make a mask about a 1/2 inch in diameter smaller, to temporarily affix to the spot it will be placed; if you have a complicated design, it will save time! I have to confess I kept forgetting to do that with mine, though most of them needed the entire panel done anyway.

6. If you've glued a piece on a little crookedly, don't worry. Just glue the next piece slight overlapping the angled piece; it will not be noticed. Even if it seems a little obvious as you are working, once the panel is cuttled it won't be noticeable. If your mistake is in having the strip angled inward, then a little marker in a coordinating color will take care of that.

7. Print papers are easily roughed up when embossed if the panel is too thick, so keep that in mind if you are planning to emboss a panel behind the quilted one.

8. This can be really time consuming; try to cut multiple strips together, don't obsess about perfectly straight lines, etc. Punches can make nice squares to save time. Tomorrow I'll post a card in which I just took one piece of paper, and attached a few punched squares. Very fast! Hmmm... I think I'll make one last panel as well with just strips of paper...

9. Notice on the card that the busier the pattern, the less the embossing shows. So be sure to include some really basic, near solid papers.

Quilting with Cuttlebug

In the midst of my hurry to finish cards for my pastor and his wife, I suddenly got the idea for this card. I didn't need another card; I had already made or selected the ones I was going to give them. But I couldn't help myself, lol! Being last minute, it was too late in the day for much natural lighting, so the photograph is not the best quality. But it really does have a quilteed look to it. The card was a little time consuming, but extremely easy to do. And a great way to use up scraps! :-) I just glued the scraps onto a piece of cardstock, trimmed the edges, and sent through my cuttlebug.

Birthday grace

I used the faux batik technique to create this card. The stamp is actually a border stamp, not a background, and I really enjoy using it.

I coupled the two text stamps together because it's just so easy, at least if you're over 35, to think of birthdays in a negative light, when really, I think the older we get, not only do we have more wisdom, but I think as Christians, we become better able to recognize how gracious God is and has been to us. Anyway, those were my thoughts as I put this card together. One of my panels was a bit messy, but that enabled me to go ahead and cut it up to get the individual flowers. While faux batik is relatively easy, it can be time consuming, so if I hadn't made a messy panel, I wouldn't have wanted to cut out the flowers, lol! I used an autumn Kaleidacolor pad to cover the embossed panel. After using the roller, I sponged on extra color where needed.

Tip: I was first embossing in clear on cream, but it was very difficult to see where to place the continuous border images, hence the messed up panel. I got smart and pulled out white cardstock, and used craft vanilla, so I could see what I was stamping!

Just to show another way a border stamp can be used, I made what looks like a background panel with this same stamp. I embossed two sides, then covered the ends with post-it paper, and embossed the other two sides. I really thought the corners would show a messy overlap or gap, but it really looked surprisingly smooth.

PA thank you

As usual, I was behind schedule. I knew I wanted to make cards that my pastor and his wife could send people, but I didn't think about the card FOR them to express our appreciation, until a day or two ago. Our church has a "Fall Fun Night" every October 31st, so I had a meal today, and was still putting together the box for the cards and deciding which cards to include in addition to the ones I'd made for them. So, this photo isn't even of the final product ... I realized after downloading the pictures that it needed some balance (I had to place the thank you where I did to cover up a portion of ruined card; because of waiting until last minute, I decided to remake a card, and this one had a ruined text portion, so I removed it, and it was not "kind" to the card. I was glad that I had a spare leaf to match that covered up what the thank you circle did not! Anyway, I added a button & ribbon to the top left corner, which gave it a much more finished look. Unfortunately, by that time, we had to leave, and the glue had not even dried yet, so there was no use taking a picture!

hymn in vellum

"Like a River Glorious" is my pastor's wife's favorite hymn. (In making them a set of cards for Pastor Appreciation, I wanted to make some cards that reflected their preferences, even though they'd be giving them away). I printed the hymn out several times in different sizes on parchment paper, but just could not come up with something I liked.

A few days earlier I had taken apart a card I had made for a SALT challenge, because of an error in the text. I had really liked the card, and had several other similar backgrounds. I was going to see if I could remake the SALT card, and perhaps make a few other cards with the same method. I had left it in a pile on the counter, and as my glance fell on it, I realized it would work perfectly with a hymn!

The vellum, by the way, 17# UV/ULTRA II Thin (tissue-like), radiant white, is from Marco Paper, and is wonderful for images that you want to see clearly through, and also be able to print on. Ink will not dry well on some vellums, but this one works very well.

Text is computer generated.

smARTworks "Tea party" challenge

This challenge comes courtesy of smARTworks.

Time to post the next T-party Challenge. This one comes to us from Trish, and as far as challenges go, it falls into the category called "inspirational." ANYTHING taken from the piece is fair game for one's creative muse -- color, layout, subject matter, style, theme, etc.

I love challenges, but occasionally I don't manage to satisfy the challenge and make a card that I would actually want to send someone or sell ... this is definitely one of those cards!

One problem I had was I used the corner punch on the two texts, planning to find more green (the warmer tone on the bottom, matching the floor in the picture) to back them with, instead of putting it across the bottom. Unfortunately, that one scrap was all I had! I have a lot of shades of green, but none that came close to that one.

But, I had fun with the challenge, so I'm glad I did it anyway! To me, the main purpose of a challenge is to get myself thinking in fresh directions. So in that sense, they're always a success. :-) I didn't glue anything, so I will put some parts in my scrap drawers, and use most of the stamped images in another card. :-)

Tuesday is election day...

My sister in law, knowing my concerns about the upcoming election, shared with me an idea that I think has real merit. I'm sure many of you would agree with me that she has really hit on something. For some reason, the text is blurred. It reads: "Sick of all the election controversy? Wish there was a candidate we could all support?"

Here's the card she sent me:

And her candidate:

Ordination Card

Again, for pastor appreciation. It was nice to make a completely different design!

Pastor Appreciation card

For the past couple of years, I've wanted to give a set of handmade cards to my pastor and his wife for Pastor's Appreciation. Although I have plenty of cards at any time, as I would rotate the stock in the store in which I sold cards, I wanted to have cards that I made specifically for them. I decided that this year, if I hadn't made any cards by the end of October, I would just select from my stash. Well, despite the store having closed in the middle of September, life has been unbelievably busy, so it still hasn't quite happened. However, I did finish this card yesterday, which I did specifically with our pastor in mind. He has quoted this saying several times, so I know he likes it.