Monday, August 30, 2010

Retro Monday: Feathered Hope


Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Mine was great! College son came home for the weekend, and we had a fun time together...visited the farmer's market, the library, went to Senior son's cross country meet, had a cookout. Good times.

For today's Retro Monday creation, I knew that I had to find an image with my favorite food...apples! This weekend, I picked up some Ginger Gold and Macintosh apples. Delicious! As a matter of fact, today's Clean and Simple challenge on Splitcoast Stampers was to make something "Delicious". For me, that's a slightly tart, crisp and juicy apple. Yum!

This image comes from the vintage 1998 SU set, "Feathered Hope". This set was a gift from my dear friend, Gloria. Thank you, friend! I love birds, and these images are so sweet. One thing I love about the vintage SU illustrators of the past was the way they drew in shading, making it so easy to color and get nice results. No need for COPIC certification or other art class training. Just a few markers and colored pencils, and voila!

I added a little bit of recycled cardboard that I'd salvaged from a Capri Sun box. I like to add "found" objects to cards and crafts. I think it gives a nice, homey touch.



{recipe: Feathered Hope (SU), soft sky/soft suede/kraft cardstock, SU Parisian Breeze papers, chocolate ribbon, prisma markers and colored pencils}

Hope your week is full of blessings!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Thankful for Good Health


Last week, I woke up one day and realized that I felt good for the first time all summer. That's the funny thing about good health...we tend to take it for granted. But now that I'm on the mend, I'm enjoying these cooler mornings. I take walks with my dog, I water the garden, I clean the house and still have some energy to spare.


Today was Maggie's recovery day, so no doggie walks for her. I decided to hop on my bike and take a spin to the lake. I biked through fields of wildflowers, along the meandering creek, over the bridge, past fields of newly mown straw and brown stalks of corn. The lake was lovely in the morning, with a few fisherman out on the shore. I passed a lot of other bikers who gave heartfelt "Good Morning!"s and pedaled on their merry way.



After a six mile round trip, I was happy to see my welcome flag as I lugged the bike up the driveway. No doubt I'll be hearing "Hell-o! Remember us? We're your glutes!" tonight. But that's okay. It was worth it. I'm thankful today for good health and energy, for morning glories and bike baskets, for cooler weather and a cool drink at the end of a long ride.



{recipe: Give Thanks (SU), Pure Luxury White and Kraft cardstock, more mustard card stock, papers from SU, scallop circle punch, more mustard ribbon, Memories ink, prisma markers}

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Retro Monday: Times and Seasons


Today's Retro Monday creation is being posted on Tuesday. Yeah, I know, I'm a little late. The truth is, I made this card yesterday, but wasn't entirely happy with it. So I left it overnight so that I could stew on it, and today I finally finished it. It just needed a little faux stitching, a few felt flowers, and a hand sewn button to give it the all out country feel that I was going for.

This card uses the very retro stamp set "Times and Seasons" circa 1999. I am not the original owner of this set. Last year, I was on a quest to get some of the vintage stamp sets that had gotten away from me. This was one of the sets that was on my "must have" list. It has lovely images of chickens, pumpkins, apples, bee skeps, and a tractor, for pete's sake...what's not to love? I purchased it from either ebay or Splitcoast Stampers.

I'm sending this card to a church friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer. She's a Michigander, like me, so I thought she'd appreciate a card that says "country" with a cockle-doodle-do.

{recipe: Times and Seasons (SU), Aida Cloth, Kraft card stock, crushed curry ink and card stock, dusty durango cardstock, Cosmo Cricket paper (Material Girl), versafine onyx and sepia inks, prisma markers, polka ribbon, maya road felt flowers, Martha Stewart punch, button and dmc floss}

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

How To Kill A Wheel



We all love crafting with wheels, right? Except for the fact that they never ink properly, and you can never get them to wheel straight (even with the special ruler), and you have to buy a handle and special inks for them, and they collect dust on the shelves of your studio. But hey, what's not to love?
Okay, I confess. I hate wheels. And yet, I've been buying them for years. Go figure. Well, many months back, I stumbled upon a post from TexasJodyLynn's blog "Confessions of a Ribbon Addict". She gave some great directions on how to unmount your wheels and turn them into useful stamps. Some wheels make a great border stamp all on their own, but other wheels, such as Bright Blessings and Friendly Words (see yesterday's card) have a LOT of words. And when you cut these words apart, you can end up with twelve sentiment stamps.
So, for the cost of one wheel (8.50 and change) and a sheet of EZ Mount (which will work for several wheels), you can have a brand spankin' new set of sentiments that will actually see ink. Oh, the joy! I'm killin' all my wheels now!

{recipe: Falling Leaves (SU), Bright Blessings (SU), Pure Luxury kraft and ivory card stock, soft suede card stock, soft suede/cajun craze/more mustard inks, soft suede polka ribbon, scallop edge punch, paper piercing tool)

Monday, August 16, 2010

Retro Monday: Toile Blossoms


Hooo Doggies! Where has the summer gone? The midwest has been suffering from some extended hot spells, and it leaves a gal like me feeling drained. Give me an iced Java Chip Frappucino and a book, and I can call it a day. :)


Today, the weather is a bit cooler, and I had some energy to do something I haven't done in a long time...craft!


I've decided to start a new feature that I'm calling Retro Monday. After all, who wouldn't like to rewind the time on a Monday morning...preferably to the weekend. :) On Retro Mondays, I am going to showcase a new creation using an old stamp set, product, or technique. If you're like me, you're trying to be frugal with crafting and use what you've got. A lot of my stamp sets have not been feelin' the love, and it's time to take them out and give them some new life.
Today's card features the lovely Stampin Up set "Toile Blossoms", circa 2002. It certainly fits in with the popular vintage trend these days, doesn't it? I also used the ancient set "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" from 1998. Wow, I've been stamping a long time!
{recipe: Toile Blossoms, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Friendly Words wheel, Poppy Parade ink and card stock, Pear Pizzazz ink and card stock, ribbon, Amuse heart twinkles, modern label punch, circle punch, foam dimensionals}


How do you like the new SU colors? I re-organized my papers and ink caddy to reflect the new changes. I really like the fresh new look and combinations.

Happy Monday, Friends!