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!

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!

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!

A Merry Christmas Tail

I am an animal lover! Horses are my favorite, then dogs and cats. Big or small, I love them all!

Where we live we have a creek nearby and lots of trees and brush, but we are still within the city. We have a crab apple tree that has a wierd shape to it, but for all I know, it is the shape of any crab apple tree. If you lived in the country, it is not unusual to see wild life peppering the hills or walking through your front yard. Living in town, though it is like a miracle of nature to see wildlife up close and personal. Several weeks into November and then December, we had seen deer near the crab apple tree. One night three of them darted across the street for the woods as we drove into the parking space. Once we saw a seven or eight point buck nibbling on the fruits of our tree. Usually they arrive in pairs or a three some....some are tall does and some are younger shorter critters and I am thrilled to see them everytime they gather under our tree. I have even toyed with the thought of putting a salt lick out for them. One night as my husband was letting the dogs out for a "break", our 75 lb lab-chow mix bolted from the house in chase of a deer, almost knocking DH off his feet. Needless to say it was one of the worst nights of the year weatherwise, it was raining frozen pellety sleet balls, and although DH tried to follow and capture the escaped Max, it was not to be. We called and called for him and we were up half the night, hoping he would return. Needless to say, he did not return. We were heartsick to say the least...it felt like we really had lost a member of the family! We wondered if he were hurt by the deer or dead...Would he survive the weather, he's big, but he is spoiled. Would we ever know what happened to him......that was the worst, would we ever know. This big old dog sleeps with me every night and he likes his comfort.......We called the ARL and asked them to watch for him. We even alerted the "dogcatcher". No one had any reports of seeing him. Two days later, my husband answered scratching and scraping at the front door and there was our dear sweet Max!! He jumped into bed shivering and slept for several hours. I was so thankful that God allowed our Max to survive and return to us; he answered my prayers. Now I know a dog is not the same as if something happened to a person, but the piece of your heart that they own is just as real and just as painful. His return home with frostbit paws was the best Merry Christmas we could have had! I no longer entertain the thought of putting a salt lick out for the deer...if I do, it will be on the other side of town. This fruit stand is closed for the season. Of course if a doe brings her fawn here in the spring, I will be all eyes, again. Nothing lasts forever, does it?

Merry Christmas

Greetings to those who have found their way to my blog! Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays....go out and make some memories this holiday season! Christmas in my book is a time to grab a cup of quiet and count my many blessings! First I am so thankful to have found my life partner, best friend forever, husband Miff. He is awesome and talented and my one true love. Ok he has his faults like anyone else, but the good in him makes it easy to overlook the bad. We have two wonderful children, Michael and Amanda who are truly blessings in this old gal's life. My son can make me laugh without a whole lot of effort, and I need that. My daughter is always there to help me with whatever I need and I appreciate her dedication. They are both good kids and married equally good people, Joyce and Erik. Now the fruition of these marriages are my three fabulous grandsons, Storm, Noah and Kane! They are the joy of my life...who would have thought grandchildren would be so wonderful. It is the reward of growing old to have grandchildren, trust me.

In fact one of the grandest part of aging is to have accumulated a lot of friends and relatives through out the years, each and everyone of whom has brought their own special blend of friendship into our lives. From my parents to cousins and friends along the way, I'm wishing you the best of the holiday season and time to count your own blessings during this holiday season.

I won!

I am a huge fan of Michelle Zindorf and her brayer technique. So I follow her blog and delight in her art work. Last week I won this card done by Michelle as blog candy! WOO HOO! I won this fabulous card with purple hilites and believe you me,

I am a purple and Autumn girl from my head to my toes! Thank you Michelle, you are so awesome!!!

Today we held our club meeting, we had scrapbookers scrapping and alot of playing with each other's card making stash! What a hoot! I love these gals I stamp with! The group has bonded together well and I am ecstatic about that! It kind of feels like Sistas! (of which I have none in real life). So I shall keep my stampin sistas!

More Later folks! Keep a smile on your face and a stamp in your hand!!

I'm Back!

Hi!  I finally learned how to upload my artwork!  Woo Hoo!  And I didn't even have to have hubbies help!

My best friend and I got together a week ago and tried the marbled background technique from Splitcoast Stampers.   Talk about a fun technique!   Just add ink to a plastic box, roll a half dozen marbles around in there and voila, it's a unique and beautiful pattern!   I will give you a helpful hint.....I don't always think things through real well, so I started out using an alcohol ink, which stained the plastic container and then evaporated rather quickly.   Dye ink from Stampin' Up works much better, no evaporation to speak of and no staining of the plastic container.    As I told my friend, I never send anyone home clean who comes to play at my house with ink and stamps.   We were very colorful by the time she left!   We had a blast!  Stamp is from Stampin Up's Bloomin Beautiful!