Hurrah ... I'm free!

Well, perhaps my title is overstating, but it's been a long four months of trying to get enough stock for a local craft store leasing 4 foot x 4 foot spaces, a campus store wanting foreign language cards, and the one craft fair I do each year, a two-day event at the same college. I still have a few responsibilities for the next week, but the pressure is off, oh happy day!

Monday I'll be posting cards again ... I've got quite a pile of unposted one, enough to last me into the new year!

Now I'm headed for bed ... I'll be heading for jail ministry after church tomorrow, so I want to get a good night sleep. I've got some catching up to do, lol!

Card remake

I put cards that I have not yet posted into a file by that name, but I don't always remember to move the image to it's proper place once I've posted. This is one card I'm sure has not been on the blog yet, though it's a remake of one of my old favorites. I never fail to be encouraged by this wonderful scripture!

Tiger card

This was a stamp chosen for my foreign/language culture cards; it will fit in well with Asian and African cards. I really enjoy the look of this guy ... very sophisticated cat!

Rejoice in the Lord!

Here's a second card with figures from the same series I used in yesterday's card. If it looks familiar, it's because it comes from a set of note cards I made last year. The notecard sets have no layers or embellishing, and so are easy to make into other cards. :-)

We are more than conquerors!

I realized that although I have no translator for Swahili, it's not a language spoken universally in Africa anyway, and these stamps certainly have an African flavor to them, so I hope these images -- I have others in this series -- will make some people happy. I love them, so bold and joyous and "colorable!"

Another deadline met & another Swahili card!

Yesterday a guest speaker in our church asked those who worked to stand up. I have been working 60 hour weeks with my card & craft store stuff, but the issue being addressed was the influence we are for Christ on our co-workers, which obviously I don't have, so I didn't stand up, lol! But wow, has it been crazy! In the midst of it, I nearly ran out of double-sided tape (I like to have every card have at least a little, I trust it more than glue for keeping the card together), so was having to ration it until new arrived, and in the midst of waiting, my cutter started making warped and off-angle cuts! Aaaauuuggh!!!! My sister-in-law, Sue, was willing to download a coupon for me and buy a new one (lower quality than what I own, but I was desperately in a hurry), but I still had to wait four days until Thanksgiving when we met to get the cutter! I used the time to switch to making unembellished wallpaper journals, so it wasn't a total loss. I still managed to finish my cardmaking for the college campus store late Saturday night so that my daughter could take them to the college for me when she returned Sunday afternoon. Whew! I was literally working from the moment I got up until I went to bed, taking time out for little else.

The most frustrating thing for me when working up to the last minute, is that, perfectionist that I am, I let a few cards be included that aren't quite to my standards. One layer might be slightly un-centered, or seemed to need one last embellishment or something that I just could not come up with, etc. When I switch out the set, I'll probably remove them for re-work! But, I'm trying to have such a large range of categories and languages, it's hard to meet my goals.

Anyway, here are the other two Swahili cards I made. I still have not found a translator, so I may never make any more. These cards simply say "hello."

Swahili Birthday

Impossible to get this photo to look right. The lion's face was embossed black on black, then Opalite (interference) Golden Mist sponged over it.

I never was able to get my Swahili translations, but I think this phrase was safe enough. It's not technically a birthday greeting, there evidently is none in Swahili, but this phrase means something along the lines of "may you have a very special day," or Congratulations on your special day, I can't remember which now.