Time to Celebrate

It’s a very good job that I have more cards made and photographed that haven’t been posted yet because this respiratory bug is still hanging on and I haven’t been down in the ‘lower studio’ for almost a month! That has never happened before! It’s just too cool and damp in the basement, better known as the lower studio, for me to be sitting down there. We did get out for a couple of short walks on Saturday and Sunday but boy, when you don’t do anything for 3 weeks, walking is tiring! Yesterday was a do absolutely nothing day and I didn’t even remember to post a card!

Today I’m posting a card that I made for a man who was retiring.

 

The stamps are from HOTP. I dug into the stash again to find some co-ordinating and contrasting paper and I think they work very well together. I have no idea why I had that odd shaped piece of dark wine cardstock but instead of throwing it out I decided it looked rather nice placed on the angle…and then trimmed off the extra hanging over the edges. By mounting it on the blue, it really makes a statement. The banner was just hand cut and I used a small stamp to fill in the extra space. I seldom know what to do with these small stamps that are in stamp sets but I’m beginning to use them more and more.

That’s all for a cool Tuesday. We had a huge thunderstorm come through about 1:30 last night and it looks like more rain on the way. Hope it warms up soon. I’m sure I’ll feel better if I can get out in the sunshine.

Cheers

Violet

 

A Cold Snowy Night and a Card

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…..but it’s February! The snow is coming down in a steady shower and it is sticking to the roads and driveways tonight – enough that the roads look slippery. Looks like we will be shovelling tomorrow – I get the new shovel too! It was a cool, wet walk this morning as well. There was just a light snow shower, not much wind and the temperature was just above freezing so we decided to walk uptown and back. Going was pretty nice but coming home we were facing the wind and every once in awhile it would gust up and it seemed to switch to the north at the same time so we had wet snow hitting us in the face. We were mighty glad to be back home.

Today’s card is one that I made the other night when I was looking for a particular colour in the blue stash bag and came across these two pieces of paper and decided to make them into a card instead of putting them back in the bag.

 

This was simple enough to make and I really like how it turned out. I’m not sure if I’m making it into a retirement or birthday card though….maybe I’ll just leave it blank for now. The two pieces of paper were taped together at the back and then glued to a kraft card base. I like the kraft ones for men’s cards. There is a small light beige line in the striped paper so I found some light beige cardstock and cut a circle. Then a script stamp was stamped on white cardstock with light brown ink and die cut with the next size smaller circle – Spellbinders. The feathers were glued together at the bottom and then tied with bakers’ twine. The tag was hand cut from the same paper as the largest circle and notched at one end. There was a small piece of the stripped paper left over so I cut a small piece and glued it to the end of the tag with the strips going the opposite way. The sentiment was stamped and then the tag was attached using dimensional tape.

That’s all for a cold, snowy Tuesday,

Cheers

Violet

 

A Retirement Card

The warm weather has disappeared and has been replaced with a sunny but cool day with a very cold wind. Joe cut the grass and did a lot of the fall garden clean-up for me today because I cannot go out in the cold. I woke up this morning talking with a very southern drawl again. It used to be that I would talk as if I was impaired when it was going to rain but lately it’s been the southern drawl instead. My two brain disorders have a mind of their own – pun intended! One time when I was speaking in the drawl I still went to make quilts for kids with cancer and the friend leading the committee listened to me talking for a moment and said “Well, you sound like you’re from Georgia so today we will just call you Savannah!” I told Joe about it so now that’s my name here too when the drawl shows up. I spent my time baking and freezing two large squash his cousin dropped off for us and then this afternoon I finished 12 blocks for another quilt for kids with cancer. So, a very productive day for both of us. Tonight will be a card making night for me.

Today’s card is a retirement card I made using a new stamp set I bought in the summer from Close to my Heart.

 

The card base is a kraft cardstock one from Michaels. I like using these for masculine cards. The ship, fence and sand all came on the one stamp set but the sentiment is from another one. Once the boat was stamped I coloured the boat and the water with some chalk; then the fence and sand was stamped. A very quick card to make but just the kind men seem to prefer.

That’s all for a cool Tuesday,

Cheers

Violet

 

 

A Card from the Stash

It’s cool and rainy here today so no bird watching today. Now they are calling for rain again tomorrow so we may have another day off….one would have been enough to recharge our batteries! My sister stopped in for a visit this morning and I finally finished my daughter’s quilt this afternoon. Neither one of us are very ambitious today but I think we need a rest so that’s okay.

Today’s card is another one that I made up from bits and pieces in the stash.

I was looking through my stash and fund this die cut out (Spellbinders) from white cardstock and the piece of cardstock it was cut from was still there as well. I have no idea what I was going to use it for but there was a piece of off pink paper right by it so I pulled it out as well and decided to use them all in a card. I took a card base and inked the edges with a darker pink, which looks orange in places but is not! (camera trickery again)...and set it aside. Then I stamped and embossed the sentiment (HOTP stamp which is Paper Wishes) onto the piece of pinkish paper with a darker ink and set it aside.

I placed the die cut-out back into the die and then sponged ink over the embossed areas and set it aside. Then I took the white cardstock it was cut from and ran the bottom of it through an embossing folder, leaving the top plain. I sponged green ink here and there around the edges and some of the pinkish ink lightly in the centre of the embossed part.

Then I laid the embossed piece on my ScorPal and scored three lines at the top of the embossed area; and then lightly sponged on some of the pink over top and around the edge; and glued the entire thing to the card base with the die cut glued back into the negative space. The piece with the sentiment was then glued to the top of the card. It sounds like a lot of steps but it was actually quite quick to do. I needed a retirement card for a lady and this is the one I made for her.

That’s all for a rainy Tuesday,

  Cheers

Violet

Cold Artic Air and a Card

We are under a severe cold alert here in Ontario. Tonight it will feel like -20C (4F) and just about that cold tomorrow morning. Please hurry and get here spring!!!! The winter storm that hit the east coast missed us by about 100miles as it went through Ohio but we were spared the snow….too bad we were left with the cold artic air though. Brrrrrr.

Not much news around here as we haven’t been out of the house. Had a lovely lunch and visit with my sister today though so that was nice. She loves my soups so I made macaroni-tomato soup today. She knows I refuse to eat canned soup so it’s always freshly made at my house. I did not get the quilt top finished at the church yesterday but I had pins in it so I brought it home and finished it this afternoon. Felt good to get that one done. I wanted to go down to the lower studio and make some cards tonight but it is way too cold down there.Good job I have lots of hobbies to keep me busy.

Today’s card is another one made with an alcohol background.

First I used some purple, red, blue and silver alcohol inks and pounced them around a piece of glossy cardstock, added blending solution to the pad (which is just alcohol so I’ll never buy another bottle of it) and pounced again to lighten it here and there. Then I used this Hero Arts stamp and stamped the image using archival ink. To pick up the pink colour I mounted the piece on a piece of pink cardstock – the bit sticking out was removed after I took the photo!!!! (why is it I never notice these things until I see the photo on the computer???) Okay, what next. Mhhh. The pink was okay so I found a piece of striped paper – Studio G pack from Michaels - but what to put between them. I went back to the stash and found that dark dusty pink and it just set off yet balanced the hot pink perfectly so I glued it on and then cut off the bits hanging over the edges. The sentiment was computer generated and then I die cut it with a Spellbinder die. Then I traced around the outside of the die onto the same pink cardstock and cut around it. The next size die in the set was too big so this was the only alternative.

And that’s it for a cold Tuesday,

Cheers

Violet

A Resist Card

We were surprised to have a very snowy morning here in Ontario. It started quite early and as we were doing dishes (yes, we do dishes ourselves. I wash, hubby dries – we got rid of the dishwasher when we redid the kitchen to have more cupboard space and we don’t miss it at all)…..anyway, I asked him if we were going to walk in the snow but we both wondered if it would be too slippery or not. He looked out and said, “Let me finish the dishes first and then we’ll decide.” As he went back to the dishes I kept looking out the window and saw a fellow slip and fall down the street from us. Decision made! No walk today. We probably could have this afternoon but by the time he shovelled the driveway he was too tired to walk and I was too busy quilting to want to quit. Maybe tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that the sparrows and dark-eyed juncos did come back on Saturday. We have no idea why they did not come Friday but I told Joe maybe it took all day Friday for them to thaw out. He just gave me “that look’. Some days he has no sense of humour at all….especially in the winter!

When we were out and about on Friday I stopped in to Michaels looking for some quilt batting, which they didn’t have. I had a 40% off coupon so I thought I would treat myself to a Tim Holtz craft sheet. I keep looking at them and wanting one but you know how it is; I talk myself out of one because they were $16.98 which I thought was rather pricey. So Friday I decided it was time for one. I just about fell over when I saw the price of them now - $28.99 or $29.99?? Are you kidding me Michaels???? Gee, using the 40% coupon would bring the price down to the regular price of them. Not falling for that one! I’ll wait until I get to Hobby Lobby to get one. I needed a piece of black cardstock so that’s what I bought and used my 40% off coupon on!

Today’s card is another one with a brayer background.

Before I inked it I stamped the image (Stampin’ Up) using Resist Ink on glossy cardstock and this time I used the Ranger Big and Juicy ink pad to add the colour. The Resist Ink does indeed resist the ink and leaves that lovely ghosted image. Love it! I had another small piece of glossy paper sitting on the table so I inked over it and then die cut the butterfly with a Memory Box die. I put a piece of wax paper between the die and the cutting plate and instead of throwing it away, I carefully sponged on some of the same die and then glued it to the card first and then just glued the middle of the butterfly down. It looks like a shadow in real life but hard to tell on the photo. This could be a birthday or retirement card. The sentiment was stamped on label die cut from a Spellbinders die and then I used a stencil brush to pounce on a bit of the blue and purple just in the centre of the label before taking it out of the die. The ribbon looks crooked but it is not. I didn’t notice it was pushed up when I took the photo but I put it back down later.

That’s all for a snowy Tuesday,

Cheers

Violet

Multiple Ink Background

Ahhhh, warm weather – it got up almost to the freezing mark today and let me tell you people, that was warm for us! Of course, because it was warmer and the sun came out all the snow that had salt on it melted so everything was a slushy mess today. That reminds me of the time we (ex-sps and I) drove down to Florida back in the sixties and we stopped for gas and the attendant came out and saw the side of our car that had the remnants of the salt spray on it and asked(read this with a southern accent)  “Why did you all put those white blotchy strips on your car” When we explained that it was from the salt on the road splashing up on the car, he said, “You all put salt on the roads?” So we further explained that they put salt on the roads to melt the ice and snow. He looked at us like we were crazy and then afterwards I realized he didn’t realize there were trucks designed to spread salt and he was likely picturing us crazy Canadians walking up and down the street with boxes of salt. Funny memory. Another thing about today – the sparrows did not return so my theory that they stayed away because of the cold weather is out! We did have more mourning doves and cardinals though but the whereabouts of the sparrows remains a mystery.

Have any of you been watching the videos of the new products from CHA? Drool! I absolutely love the January colour Tim Holtz released today. He is releasing one new colour in each Distress line per month. Love, love, love the colour this month. I have several Distress Inks that I use all the time but I don’t have any of the other Distress products….like the paint, spray and markers. If you go over to his blog he has the links to several videos showcasing the new products. Love the bird stamps!!!....I may have to get that one! I’ve watched a lot of the videos and lots of new products coming out this year….not that I can afford to buy many of them though but it doesn’t cost anything to drool!

Today’s card features a Tim Holtz stamp and sentiment from Hot Off the Press…. but not an alcohol ink background, but a one-of-a-kind background using multiple inks.

Love the old car and old truck stamps from a very old Tim Holtz collection. I use them all the time on masculine cards. This could be a birthday card but I made it into a retirement card instead. The background was made using glossy cardstock and an ink pad with multiple colours. First I embossed the old car and the sentiment in black embossing powder, pushing harder than necessary when stamping to give a bit of a ghost image around them after the next step. I have the Ranger Big and Juicy multiple ink pad (will post a card using it next week) and the Tsukineko one called Creole Spice, which is the one I used here. I inked up a hard rubber roller really well and then rolled it over and over and over the glossy cardstock, re-inking a few times, until I liked the coverage. The embossed image and sentiment resisted the ink but the areas without embossing, like the windows, picked up the colour. Easy to do and I really like the end result.  It was then mounted on white and then on a blue card base.

Looks like the more seasonal temperatures will be hanging around for awhile so that’s good news. Have a wonderful weekend everyone. That’s all for a warmer Friday.

Cheers

Violet

Alcohol Backgrounds

The frigid cold air continues here in Ontario but it should be back to more normal temperatures tomorrow – which means it will still very cold but right around -7C (19F) but with the wind chill it plummets to -14C (6F) but that’s still better than what we have had for the last four days. It will be good to get out of the house tomorrow – we need groceries and I want to go to the library. We haven’t had any sparrows at our bird feeders since it turned cold either. We’ve had a couple of Northern Cardinals and Mourning Doves but nothing else….well, except for the hawk that sits on the one bird feeder once in awhile. I know the birds take off when he comes but they are right back right after he leaves but not right now. My theory is that they are all huddled in a bush to stay warm but that’s just my theory.

Yesterday I decided to take the day off from quilting and I put on a couple more layers of sweaters and headed on down to the lower studio to make some cards. The basement has a couple of heat ducts but not much heat comes out so it’s pretty chilly down there. I felt like making something completely different so I did. I played around making some alcohol ink backgrounds and then using them in cards. Here’s one of them.

Once the background was to my liking I stamped some clocks and clocks bits over it. Some are Tim Holtz clocks, some from Hot Off the Press. The large sentiment is also from a Tim Holtz stamp set and I embossed it in black, tore the edges and inked them. The little tag was computer generated and then die cut with a Cuttlebug die. It’s attached to the ribbon with some embroidery floss that is tied in a bow – but a very manly bow! Then it was glued to a white card base.

Making the alcohol backgrounds on glossy paper is addicting. I think I cut 2 sheets of glossy paper into smaller sizes and made several different backgrounds. You’re never sure how they are going to turn out. Once I get the colours I like, I then spritz, rather than spray, on alcohol to get those tiny blooms you see. But next time I made some I’ll wear a face mask. The basement is not well ventilated and by the time I was done I thought my lungs were full of alcohol mist. Yuck. Not good for the body at all. I’m a slow learner some days but I eventually figure things out.

That’s all for a cold Thursday,

Cheers

Violet