Computer Withdrawal

Happy Sunday everyone!! I have not been around AT ALL as of late. The graphics card on my Mac decided to die on Easter and I have not had any computer for TWO WEEKS!! No browsing fun blogs, or posting on my favorite web board, Scrapjazz.com and defiantly no blogging. I was able to use my phone for some things but I cannot comment on stuff when I am on my phone. I am literally all thumbs and auto correct + me = disaster. Yesterday I finally picked up my computer from the store so I am back and raring to go!

No computer has left me a lot of time to do a little bit of crafting AND a lot of cleaning. I also did some "experimenting" with some of the stamps that have never seen ink. I gave myself permission to have fun and to not be all about the "end result" but more about the process. I will talk about that later this week, though.

The card I am going to show you today was part of my "clean up" of my desk, otherwise known as "what is on my desk" challenge." (I think I am going to have to rethink that name so I can make an acronym out of it. Maybe the Clean Up Challenge or CUP for short?) I have a TON of WPlus9  "Fresh Cut Florals" on my desk that I have stamped and die cut. I decided to layer some of them together to create a simple Mother's Day card.

First I used a stencil and Spun Sugar Distress Ink to created the pink polka dot background on a die cut piece of stamper's select white card stock from Paper Trey Ink. Next I stamped a few leaves using Hero Art's soft green and green hills ink directly on the background.

I then layered my die cuts over the leaves and added some Stickles. My last step was to add a few pink sequins. My card is not as bright in real life as this but you get the gist. I edited these photos BEFORE my graphics card went and I am too lazy to do them over.

I thank you for stopping by and apologize for being MIA. I have missed all of you!!

Supplies:
Paper-Paper Trey Ink
Stamps-WPlus9-"Fresh Cut Florals"
Dies-Winnie and Walter-"Essentials-Katharine Cutaway," WPlus9-"Fresh Cut Florals," My Favorite Things hearts
Ink-Paper Trey Ink-"Blueberry Sky," "Enchanted Evening," "Hibiscus Burst," Ranger Distress Ink-"Spun Sugar," Hero Arts-"Green Hills" and "Soft Green," Momenta-"Tuxedo Black"
Other-Big Shot, Sequins, Ranger Multi Matte Medium, Diamond and Blue Bayou Stickles, Foam Adhesive

Happy Tuesday!!

I hope everyone is having a great week. Three more days until Good Friday. I love having Friday's off!!

This weekend I watched a really cool documentary on Showtime that has really gotten me thinking. "Finding Vivian Maier" is about this man's search to find this woman who took these negatives that he bought at an auction. He had bought them for a book he was writing but found out they were not right for this publication. He took them out later and what he found was amazing.

These photographs were snapshots of a time gone by. This mystery woman was a brilliant photographer who caught the essence of people, the little moments, good and the bad, the detritus of the time. The movie is this man's journey to find out who this woman was. I am not going to say anymore but I HIGHLY recommend it. I think her photos are so intriguing.

It makes me want to practice my photography skills. I am so impatient, though, and would never dare to do what this woman did to get the shot. Taking photos of the inside of garbage cans, random people, self portraits. I do not have a natural eye for photography, though I wish I did. However, I think that it is something that I will practice when the weather gets nice.

Today I am sharing a card I created using sketch #116 from "CASE This Sketch" blog. I used an elephant from WPlus9's "Unforgettable" stamp set as my main image.

I colored the elephant in using purple Copic markers and stamping hearts over the top using Paper Trey Ink's "Enchanted Evening" dye ink.

It is funny because I have never been a purple person before. All of the sudden I am obsessed with it and cannot get enough!!

I created a totally "fake" shaker card out of this. I basically layered multicolored sequins between two pieces of paper and a piece of acetate. The sequins do move but it is a relatively flat card.

I adhered the elephant onto the card using foam adhesive and added some Wink of Stella over the "baby" die cut to give it a little bit of shine without over powering the card.

This card made me step outside of my comfort zone and it was so much fun!!

I am entering this into CASE this Sketch #116 and Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" Wednesday Challenge.

 

I thank you for taking the time to stop by. Please check out more photographs by Vivian Maier here.
Have a fabulous day!!

Supplies:
Stamps: WPlus9-"Unforgettable"
Paper: Paper Trey Ink-Lemon Tart, Bazzill-Purple and Lilac, Basic Grey-Striped
Dies: WPlus9-"Unforgettable", Paper Trey Ink-Baby and Frame, My Favorite Things-Square
Ink: Enchanted Evening-PTI
Other-Sequins, Big Shot, Foam Adhesive, Copic Markers, Acetate

Freshly Made Sketches #179, a Robotics Competition and ANOTHER what is on your Desk Challenge

Happy Sunday!! Today I am sharing a card I created for Freshly Made Sketches #179. I challenged myself to use what was on my desk too. Here is what my desk looked like this morning.

I have been busy with my coloring this month but did not use anything. I have watercolored, used colored pencils, and colored in images with Copics. It has been fun!!

Here is the card I created with one of my WPlus9 elephants. I LOVE these fun sets!! In fact, I am obsessed with elephants now.

I used the elephant on this card as inspiration for the coloring on my elephant. I love how mine came out!!

I cut a piece of post it in a cloud pattern and then used ink to make the background sky. I just sponged on two types of green at the bottom. I then stamped the sentiment in a dark purple ink.

Next, I layered the inked panel over a card that I embossed with an embossing folder. I die cut a purple strip and adhered that on the card. I adhered the elephant using foam adhesive over the strip.

My last step was to adhere a die cut purple heart and a few sparkles.

I have to admit that the card that I had in my head is not how this card turned out. I actually made a completely different background but had to throw it out due to a mess up with stamping. Don't you hate that?

I am entering my card into Freshly Made Sketches #179 and Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" Wednesday challenge.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: WPlus9 "Bubble Talk"

Ink: My Favorite Things-Green Apple, Limeade, Sweet Tooth, Paper Trey Ink-Enchanted Evening, Memento-Tuxedo Black

Paper: Bazzill (green and purple), Paper Trey Ink (white)

Dies: WPlus9-"Bubble Talk," Winnie and Walter-"Essentials-Katharine Cutaway," Simon Says Stamp-heart, Paper Trey Ink

Other: Copic Markers, Big Shot, Sequins, Foam Adhesive, Sequins and pearl, Tim Holtz Embossing Folder

On a different note, yesterday I went to my first robotics competition. My daughter is a member of the high school robotics team. She does not program but is on the business side. She makes buttons, has to scout the robots of other teams, makes flyers for the fund raisers and other fun things. My husband also mentors the kids on the programming side of it. It has been a pretty big commitment for both of them.

I had never been to one of these things and I have to say, it was quite interesting. At the kick off event, they are given instructions on what their robot needs to accomplish, which effects how the team physically builds the robot, as well as creating the code to program it. Here is what the kids created:

I know it does not look like much but the job the robot has to do is pick up garbage cans AND stack crates. Here is the robot in action. I apologize for these horrible photos but was too lazy yesterday to put the zoom lens on for the photo below.

I circled the robot stacking bringing the stack of crates to the spot it needed to put the on in order to get points. Kind of weird to see such a packed gym for a robot competition isn' t it?

And my daughter and her friend cheering for their robot.

They wound up placing 4th out of 40 teams and entered into an alliance with two other's for the todays competition. I did not go today, though. Yesterday was long enough!!

I thank you for looking. Have a great week!!

What a Long Month!!

March has kicked my butt. I have not posted in two weeks and this is not due to my lack of creativity. In fact, life has caught up with me. I have had to make a lot of choices and unfortunately, blogging has been on the back burner. 

My husband has traveled every week this month, making me the only parent at home. This would be easy if my fourteen-year-old was not being, well, a teen-age girl. I miss the little girl who LOVED to be with her mother and had the sweetest little giggle. In her place is a moody teen that does what she pleases and thinks I know NOTHING. Char's grades have not been stellar because of her lack of passing in her homework that I KNOW SHE HAS DONE. Who does that? This is when I wish my mother was still alive because I would be buying her presents like mad. She deserves an award for having had to put up with her four children. Each one of us gave her all the gray hairs that she dyed faithfully every month. I wish I could pick her brain right now for some ideas. Sigh. I know this stage will pass but it has been a tough.

To deal with stress I have chosen to get to the gym as much as I can. I hate to exercise but it really helps my brain. I recommend this to anyone that is dealing with a lot of stress. Endorphins rule!!

On top of that, my youngest sister broke her ankle and I have tried to be there for her. It isn't a heck of a lot because she lives twenty minutes away but I have done what I could. I feel bad that it has not been more. 

In between all this, I have been trying to keep up with all your lovely blogs using Bloglovin. Some days are better then others and I apologize if I have missed anything. 

I have been trying to get back into scrapbooking this month. It comes and goes for me. Right now we are without  a printer and it is killing me. I like to journal and though I can hand write some of it, often it is too lengthy for me to do so. I was able to do two pages about our trip to Europe this past summer. They are just a snapshot, literally, of two events. 

My daughter HATES this photo below but it sums up something we did while in London. Please do not judge my lovely (not!) printing.

(Supplies)

I cannot believe I am even posting this second page. As a rule, I do not like having my photo taken. However, I have made a conscious effort throughout Charlotte's life to make sure that I do get in the photos. I often do not like them because I think I am fat, or my hair is messy, or I am just not feeling it but I do it so she will have them to look at when I am no longer around. 

I lost my mother at 23 and I have very few photos of her. My mother did not like to have her picture taken. Especially the last five years of her life after she lost her eye due to cancer. I do not want my daughter to go through her scrapbooks and only see photos of herself. 

On the page below, Charlotte took the photo with my I-phone. It is of Chris and I with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Is it the best? No. Sometimes it isn't perfection that counts.

(Supplies)

That is all for today. I will not bore you any longer. I hope you have a great week!!

30 Days of Coloring Challenge "Sympathy Card"

Hello Peeps!! Just a quick post today sharing a sympathy card I created for a co-worker whose mother passed away last week.

I tried the "no line" water coloring technique for this card.

I started with a panel that I die cut out of watercolor paper. I stamped the butterfly from WPlus9's "Flora and Fauna 2" stamp set in Memento's Desert Sand ink. I then used Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paints to paint in the butterfly. When the painting was completed, I splattered purple and bits of black paint over the card front.

After the panel dried, I stamped the sentiment in Royal Velvet ink. I then adhered the card front to a Royal Velvet A2 top folding card that I created by cutting a piece of 8 1/2" by 11" piece of card stock in half.

My last step was to adhere Pretty Pink Posh clear colored sequins randomly around the card front. For some reason, they are picking up the pinky color from the butterfly in this photograph. They are not like this in real life.

Since I sell a lot of my cards at work, I do not usually stamp on the inside. This might seem weird but my co-workers prefer it this way. They would rather write something personal inside. However, since I am actually sending giving this card to my friend, I stamped an inside panel..

I used two smaller butterflies from the "Flora and Fauna 2" set, as well as a sentiment from  My Favorite Things "Clearly Sentimental-About Sympathy" stamp set.

I really like how this came out and made one other card panel using this technique which I will show case some other time. I still have not made a card out of it yet.

Well, that is all for today. I hope your day is filled with sunshine.

Supplies:

InLinkz.com