Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” —Groucho Marx

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Color My World...


Finally a chance to stamp and to blog! Does it get any better than this? We've been cleaning house; if you can believe it, we still had boxes from our move a year ago and today, we went through them. Some of these boxes were stored from a previous move, say from 13 years ealier. Now we have organized boxes, four of which are for ebay. It all started when I decided to organize the unearthly mess in my craft room. It was such a mess, I could not stamp in the room at all. I could barely get to my supplies. When I stamped I'd carry what I needed to the kitchen or to a wooden tv tray...not much room there. On occasion one of the dogs would shred my tape before I'd notice she had it in those cute little white teeth of hers. Anyway, we made great progress today and so I treated myself to stamping this evening.


The card I am posting reminds me to be thankful for my eyes. I love color. I think that is why I love stamping so much. I am not an artist by any means, I barely passed art in ninth grade. But I do enjoy the world we live in and the majestic beauty of nature. I am in awe of those who have real talent and I love pretending to be artistic with my stamps. That's why I love Technique Junkie Newsletter so much . We got the February edition this week and it was full of inexpensive techniques for backgrounds and other card techniques. This card uses the Brayer Tapping technique and although I didn't doll the card up with any embellishments, (I'm tired), the color is fantastic and it's a really fun and easy technique to do. I used Stampin Ups Dreams Du Jour stamp set and markers to color my image, the rainbow inks used were the Happy Birthday (Big & Juicy) from Adirondack. I might try to add some embellishments tomorrow, so if I do, I will repost the improved version of the card.
I am so excited because on the 11th I will have the cataract I have had on my left eye for about two years removed and hopefully I will have complete 20/20 vision. Oh yeah! I can hardly wait to welcome color and vision back to both eyes! We'll see if this surgery improves my "artistic" abilities! LOL!











Thursday, January 22, 2009

Take Me Home Country Roads


It is supposed to reach 41 degrees today and it is just beautiful outside. There is still snow on the ground, but the sun is warm and the air is clean. Days like today make me remember growing up in the country. I loved the country and being on the farm. We made a lot of memories my four brothers and I. One that I will never forget was bringing the cows in for milking with my Grandmother. She was a tall white haired woman and a very hard worker.

She must have been babysitting for the five of us and when it was time to bring the cows in, the six of us set out across the pasture to bring a herd of holsteins in for milking. Unbeknownst to us, one of the cows had just calved. Now holsteins are generally pretty gentle in my experience, but when they get a mean streak, it's a good one and the cow that had just calved was in no mood to be herded anywhere. Our Iowa pasture was like many others, with wide areas of sprawling grassland and huge cavernous ditches. This cow decided to give chase to Grandma and all five of us kids and we took off for our lives to outrun that angry mama! We made it through the grassy pasture to the edge of the biggest ditch on the property. First to slide down the embankment was Grandma with five of us in hot pursuit! Fortunately for us, the angry cow did not follow down the embankment! We rounded up the rest of the herd and made our way back to the barn in a very long out of the way journey and avoided the ill tempered mama and her beautiful calf. It would have been a sight to behold, the six of us shimmying down that ditch on our butts!! I still smile today just thinking about it.


Anyway, because of my farm background, I had to have Close to My Heart's "My Farm" stamp set. The card I'm posting is to capture the memory of those Holstein cows. I colored with SU markers and stippled the sun, sky and ground. The background piece is Camoflauge Technique from the October/November 2008 Technique Junkie Newsletter! I love Technique Junkie and if you don't subbscribe you should.


Here is the link to Pat's blog where you can find all the details about Technique Junkie. It is an awesome resource for the serious stamper/junkie. http://www.patstamps.blogspot.com/

Happy stamping!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Happy Birthday Cherie


Well aside from the inauguration on the 20th, it was the birthday of my highschool best friend, Cherie. Hopefully she will enjoy the card I am posting to celebrate her birthday! And hopefully she will be patient to receive it as I am late in posting and sending it to her! That's me, always a day late and a dollar short; I am quite sure they will place that on my tombstone. But I hope your day was a tremendous joy and blessing to you Cherie!


The card is made of Stampin Up stamps, Carte Postale and Best Blossoms, both retired stamp sets. Also put into play were the SU Scallop Circle and scallop edge punches. Our February challenge card for my stamping group is to use your punch(es) for the challenge and this was my design. I will show them the picture and honest Cherie, the card will be on it's way to you tomorrow, hopefully with a letter. (Don't hold your breath).


I have so many stamps I need to sort and part with them....what a job that will be! Do I hear a week off from work for this? Nah, didn't think so, but it could occupy several weekends! I do not know how it happens, but it seems like my wish list never shrinks and my stash of stamps and supplies just takes over, first a room and then the whole house. If anyone ever thought a relaxing hobby like stamping would be inexpensive, they are delusional......it's a great hobby for the compulsive however. Trust me, I know!