New Grand Baby

It's crazy how fast time flys.  No matter how hard I try to remember to write on my blog, something comes up and takes me away.

The best news to blog about is my new little grandson, Xander.  He was born on my birthday. He is 5 months old now. I just can't believe how fast the time went.  I went to my daughter's to help because Xander was feet first and she needed to have a C-Section.  He is an amazing little guy. He very seldom fusses and always seems to have a smile on his face.  He gets fussy sometimes where she can't do anything with him so she will swaddle him and after he is swaddled, he smiles at her and goes right to sleep.  Isn't he just the cutest little guy??? I am sad that he will be nearly 1 the next time I see him. I just want to kiss his little cheeks and squeeze him.

These pictures just melt my heart.  What about yours?

Wow! It's Been 2 Years!!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've been to my blog.  A lot has happened in the last two years.  I had found a job at a tea shoppe that was so fun. I worked there about a year and the shoppe closed due to lack of customers.  We were in a bad location and off the beaten path.  It was the perfect job for me and I had a great time.  Guess all good things must come to an end.  I met some great people there and several local artists that have given me some great tips for painting.  I did have one commissioned painting and that made me feel like an artist.  I guess if you paint and draw you are an artist. Whether good or bad, your an artist.

Last summer I went to Alaska for a week to attend my 40th class reunion.  It doesn't seem so long ago that we were silly kids thinking we were so grown up.  I don't want to be a grown up anymore. I would rather be a silly kid.  No worries, no bills just play time all the time.

In December of this year I had surgery to remove a lobe on my lung due to a rare lung cancer.  It wasn't caused by smoking and they don't know what causes it.  Luckily it is very slow growing and it was caught by accident.

During all this time I haven't been on my blog, I have still been card making.  I got the new Cricut Explore and WOW! what a fabulous machine.  It cuts precise, you can print your image on the printer and then cut it out on your Cricut.  It cuts everything! Leather, cork, veneer, paper, vinyl and even fabric.  This machine is definitely for a crafter.  You can do so much.  If you are interested in the machine, go to Cricut.com and check it out.  They have free software called Design Space and you can subscribe to their cartridge library.  It's $99.00 for a yearly subscription or $9.99 a month. You get over 50,000 images and fonts.  I absolutely love having the subscription because it gives me the use of cartridges I wouldn't get to buy and also storage.  There are images that you can buy from $.99 or up to $4.99. (Fonts) I use it nearly every day when I am card making.

Have you heard of a MISTI? It is a stampers tool.  Oh my Gosh!! It is the coolest thing since bubblegum.  You should check it out on YouTube.  You will love it.

Okay, I'm going to dig around my computer and find some of the cards I have been doing to share with you.

 
This is an emboss on vellum card. I used colored vellum but also colored the back with copics.  I had seen this on Pinterest and I just fell in love with it.

 

I also saw something similar to this card on Pinterest and since I had just gotten my new Cricut, I had to cut out the Anna Griffin butterfly.

 This is from the Secret Garden stamp set.  I normally use CTMH stamps but I really like some Stampin Up stamps. This is Stampin Up.

 

I needed a sympathy card and didn't have any on hand.  I normally don't stock them but it is good to have at least one for when you need it.  I used the CTMH mini stamp set and Cricut Overlay with Close to My Heart paper.

 

This was a belt card.  I really enjoy making different types of cards.  Close to My Heart stamp with Laughing Lola paper.

Another Close to My Heart overlay and Mini Stamps.

 
 




I tried my hand at using the vinyl on my Cricut Explore. I love how it brightened up my mixer.

 

Well, that's all I have for today.  I don't want to flood this with cards so I will try to return and post more cards soon.



 

 

New Changes in life.....New Changes in Blog!

There were big changes in my life last year.  I went back to work after being off for 7 years.  It's much different from my past employment. I left the office arena and went to a TEA shop.  How fun is that??? This is not your "grandma's" tea shop. We specialize in Chinese Tonic Herbs. We focus on Health, Longevity and Prevention. I'll be posting pictures of the shop soon. It isn't what you would expect a tea shop to look like and it is pure fun! The owner is a fabulous decorator and I hope she will come to my house and give me some pointers. Of course I need to save up my earnings for that though.

I've found that it is much more difficult to manage housework, crafting and things in be general that I always did before now that I am working. I ran a house hold of 6, worked an 8 to 5 job and did quite well......30 years ago! I'm not sure how I managed that since I struggle with cooking and housework now with NO children.  I'm hoping it will all fall into place and I will do better with my time management.

I also got a commissioned order for a watercolor painting earlier in the month and I have been working on the painting so my greeting cards have slid by the wayside.  I am able to sell my art and cards at the tea shop so I need to figure this out real quick!

Before the holidays I took a very long (36 hour) train trip to Grand Forks, ND to visit with my daughter and grandson. I had such a great time and it hurt my heart so much to leave.

2014 promises to be a busy year for me. Beside working at the tea shop, I plan on devoting more time to my artwork along with my card making.  I'll be making a trip to Alaska for my 40th class reunion in July.

Happy 2014!

Happy Spring

Happy Spring to you! This is my favorite time of year. I don't even mind the spring showers. I love the bright greens and the pinks, purples, yellows of all the spring flowers. I don't have much of a green thumb but I have a few plants that are springing forth and boy does that make me happy.  We have had some rare warm 70's already and I am looking forward to a lovely summer.

I already broke my New Year's resolution to post at least once a month. I missed the month of March and I really don't know what I did. I guess nothing important enough to blog about.

I have done a couple of cards in the last week. I can't post one of them because it is my mother in law's Birthday card and I don't want her to see it ahead of time. I will post it a little later.  The Birthday card I am posting is by Great Impressions.  When my mom in law was here she brought some darling stamps from Great Impressions and I stamped a bunch of them.   The shiny silver paper is Close to My Heart and the blue sparkly paper  is Café Mediterranean matstack from DCWV.  I used the bubble Cuddlebug folder to emboss the blue background and the Cuddlebug folder to emboss the rick-rack on the edge.  The card is cut at 5 1/2 x 11 and scored at 4 5/8.  The stamped design was 3 1/4 x 3 1/4.  The little sparkly button is CTMH .

The Inside....

Hope you like it!

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day.  My husband gave me a beautiful card and an Armani Code perfume gift box.  I left him a subtle hint by leaving my empty perfume bottle on his office desk. It worked, by golly!!

I'm having my first Close To My Heart card workshop on Saturday and I am so excited.  I know Saint Patrick's Day is the next holiday but we'll be doing a few Easter projects instead.  Here is what we'll be doing...

I have a question for all my scrappy friends.  When you are cutting, stamping and gluing, do you put things away as you use them? Or do you accumulate all your embellishments and markers and ink pads, stamps, ribbons and what not in front of you so that you only have a foot of space to do your work on? I am just curious if I'm the only unorganized crafter out there. 

With that said, I am going to try to reorganize my goodies so I can move on to the next project.  

See you next time! ;-)

Inside the Valentine

I realized after the weekend that the Valentine just looks like a flat Valentine where it really IS a card. Here is what the inside looks like.

I'm not really sure why it shows the black blur at the top of the pictures.  It has something to do with having taken the picture with my Tablet.

Whooo's Your Valentine

What a great Saturday it is today.  I slept late, sat around and read the paper, then crafted all afternoon. I guess everyone needs a lazy Saturday once in awhile.

My card this time reminds me of the boxes of Valentine chocolates. I used mostly CTMH stamps.  Whooo's Your Valentine was used around the ruffle of the heart and the sentiment.  I used the CTMH Cricut cartridge, "Artiste" to make the heart card and the little banner.  Stampin Up, "Perfectly Preserved" was used for the jar.  I used my little framelits to cut out the jar and lid.  I was experimenting with cutting fabric on my Cuddlebug and I am quite happy how it turned out.  It took a few tries, using shims to get it to finally cut through.  I glued the fabric onto cardstock which I had already cut out.  I used some Bamboo Waxy Flax for the string around the lid and bow. 

Here's wishing you a very lazy weekend!