Peace On Earth

Still putzing. It is actually my favorite way to do cards. I love this little bear and use him alot. He is from Eat Cake Graphics. The Peace on Earth is from Purple Onion Designs. The Star is actually a snowflake and is by Hero Arts. The trees I drew. I like simple and this one was very simple. Thanks for stopping by.

Why I never get anything done

I can't do anything in mass production mode. I putz to much with one card. I still have a bunch of cards to make and now I am in the one at a time mode. This takes for bloody ever. I wanted to do a card for a gal and her husband that we go on motorcycle rides with. Thought I could whip one out really fast but NOOOOO! This was done on glossy card stock using Stazon and then painted with dye ink reinkers. I had to draw the tree because that side of the card looked empty. I had to add the holly because I smeared the ink from the body of the motorcycle. The Alpha Stamps and Holly are Purple Onion Designs, which by the way is having a fabulous sale on stamps. Go check it out. The Frog is from Eat Cake Graphics. The Motorcycle is PSX. I drew the Santa hat on the frog. I am pleased with the final product. Now if I can just leave this one alone and more on to the next one.... I might get something done today. Thanks for stopping by. Warm Holiday Wished to you and yours.

Ok, I lied. Ended up doing one more. A friend asked me to do one for her. So I did. But I swear this is the very last one until after Christmas shopping is done.

Thanks for stopping by.

More Baby Hats

These are the last two I am going to do for awhile. They are for a set of twins, a girl and a boy, that were born a couple of weeks ago. I need to put down the knitting needles and take care of Christmas. Once that is done and out of the way, I will pick up the needles again. I found a class at the local knitting store that teaches you to read patterns. I am signing up for sure. Thanks for stopping by.

Thankfully Christmas comes but once a year

If it came more than once a year, I would be in serious trouble. I never seem to get things done for this season on time. However, this year I am actually somewhat ahead of the game. Did some shopping on Black Friday, which is a new experience for me. I have a cards made and ready to mail out. Maybe I am someone else hiding in Annie's body.
This is one of the card designs I did this year. It was pretty quick and very easy with the stamp block from Purple Onion Designs. The paper is Basic Grey Wassail Collection. It was alot of cutting and taping but went pretty quick once I had all the pieces cut out.
I am not really a Christmas person. Scrooge would be a better adjective if you were describing me around Christmas. I do love to give gifts. That is probably the only part about Christmas I like.
I hate that this holiday has turned into a barometer of how the retail business' are doing. Just seems wrong when you think about the true meaning of Christmas. When did the season turn into a spending extravaganza?

This is the second design I did. Another putzy one. Lots of cutting and taping. I forget who made the Merry Christmas stamp. The package is Purple Onion Designs. The Santa is a Sizzix die. I put glitter on the hat. The paper is Basic Grey Wassail Collection. I used up a whole pad of the 6x6 for these two designs.

The ribbon on the package is colored with a Copic Marker as is the face of the Santa. One of the Ovals is a large punch, the other one had to be hand cut since I didn't have a larger oval punch.

Another part of the holiday season I like is making Christmas cards. I have a ton of holiday stamps too. They really make nice stamps for Christmas. Even though I already have a ton of stamps, I usually end up buying a few every year. This year I only bought two sets. I am really trying to keep to a no spending on craft stuff pledge that I made. I need to use what I have. And believe me, I have alot.

This is the third design that I did. It is all stamping. No paper cutting other than the mats. The Holiday Greetings Stamp is by Stampin Up. The tree is a Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection. I cut out a circle and then used a sponge to stamp the background. The trees were added afterward and I stamped off on a couple.

What you can't see is that I added some glitter to the branches. I used a glitter pen. I wanted the card to have some shimmer. I matted with two shades of blue. I think this one is my favorite. Since I tend to putz quite a bit when it comes to cards and I totally hate doing mass production. I am thankful that Christmas only comes once a year. I make about 80 cards. So far I have 60 done. The rest will be one of a kind for family, and for Mike's bosses. For some reason, I get volunteered every year to do those cards.


This is the last design. I loved the tree stamp, which is Memory Box. I borrowed the design from a card on their gallery. I changed it a wee bit by adding the star and the sentiment, which are both from Purple Onion Designs.

I used white and gold ink on this one and a gold mat behind the green card stock. A very simple design.

This is what I have done so far. I am also going to make some ornaments out of little tins. Haven't even started on those yet. Maybe tomorrow.

I still have to do something for the insides of all these cards. I will probably just print a nice festive sentiment and call it done.

Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas. Thanks for stopping by.

Baby Hats

There are times when I do more than sits and ponder. There are times when I sits and knits. I love knitting little baby hats. It is just about all I knit because for some reason, I have never gotten the knack of reading patterns. Some of the time I can look at the picture and reproduce, most of the time, I just make the design up as I go. I really should take a knitting class to learn how to at least read patterns.

I also knit when I am going through creative slumps. That really translates into, I have the lazies. No motivation to stamp or create something on paper. I am having a slump right now when I should be doing Christmas cards. Instead, I just sits and knits.

This first little hat went to a little gal in Colorado. I work with her Dad. I wanted it to look like a little raspberry but I think it looks more like an eggplant. Hmmmmm.

This is my friend Kim's little grandbaby Ella. It is really nice to see the hats on the little babies. And don't you just love the little boots she has on?
After I got done with this hat, I decided that because Kim likes daisies, that Miss Ella needed a daisy hat. So I did this one.
This next little hat is one that went to Miss Fiona Payne. I actually did two for her. This one was really easy. I just knitted and then threaded lots of ribbons through it. The first one I did looked way to big for a newborn, so I did one that she could wear now. Well back to knitting. Gotta get my next project done. I am working on little hats for a set of twins - a boy and a girl - born two weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rubber Stamp Madness

This piece was done for Rubber Stamp Madness' current issue for the theme Peace on Earth.

All stamps used are Eat Cake Graphics. I had to do alot of masking. I love the little bear. The front porch and grass had to be extended, so I drew in the rest.

I am rather pleased with the way it looks in the publication. Rubber Stamp Madness is probably my favorite stamping magazine. Probably because they don't have any scrapbooking stuff, and that they still explore techniques. To many have gone to just cards, and don't bother with any techniques. I like to learn.

It is sad that most of the publications that were strictly for stampers have folded or have started incorporating scrapbooking. I don't think they use the same techniques. So I would rather not see scrapbooking stuff in the stamping magazines. That is just my opinion. Don't have anything against scrapbooking. Just think there are already enough publications that showcase it and to few that are devoted entirely to stamping.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me ponder on.

Arf Arf

This was a fun card to make, even if I went a little overboard. The card was made for a gal on my team at work who is having surgery on her hand today. She lives in Oregon and I wanted her to know that I was thinking about her. She has 4 Basset Hounds and is a Basset Hound rescue mom.
The window and the bubble are Eat Cake Graphics. The flowers and the leaves on the tree are Purple Onion Design. The Arf is Picture Show. The curtains were made using one of the Fiskars boarder punches. The rest of the things on the card are cut from paper. The paper comes from a pack of K&Company Mat Pad that Peggy sent to me. Thank you so much Peggy.
I found the picture of the Basset on the Internet and printed him on a piece of transparency. This was a lot of putzing, even for me. I added some additional color to the paper with Copic Markers and a daub of Glossy accents to the middle of the flowers. For the inside, I am going to put "Translation - Thinking of you and hoping the surgery went well."
Hopefully this will cheer her up or give her a little smile this week. While looking at Basset Hound pictures, I found this cute little saying, "If it is not a Basset Hound, it is just a dog." Isn't that really cute? Bassets are pretty special dogs, but then I think that all dogs are pretty special. I absolutely love my dog. She is a very special part of our family. I am allergic to animals and as long as I keep a dog in my house, I can exist. What scares me is that if we don't get another dog after Scout leaves us, I won't be able to have another dog. Mike says NO MORE DOGS. We will just have to see. You know how that goes. The hubby can say whatever he wants and I will do what ever I want.
Thanks for stopping in. Hope you have a great day.

To Lady Bug or Not to Lady Bug, That is the question.

I think this card needs something else. But what? Perhaps a little ladybug somewhere? The red and black will go well with the colors.

The flower is hand drawn. The sentiment is Purple Onion Design. I used watercolors for the flower.

I like the colors. Kinda fall and yet still bright and summery. Not really a birthday theme but what the hey. I wanted to do something different. Something I didn't lift from someone else or even myself. I am mildly please with the end results. Mainly because I like the colors.

A Pondering: I love color. I am adventurous with color when it comes to using it on cards. In my life, however, I tend to stick more to the earth tones. I very seldom buy colors that are not in my Fall palette. I had my colors done years ago and they said I was an Fall. I really liked the Summer colors better, because I like Summer much better than Fall. In the house, mostly neutrals. Probably from watching to much HGTV Designed to Sell and hearing that those are the best to use if you are going to sell. I am not going to sell my house, but they do seemed to work. The only place where I broke out of the neutral colors was in the bathroom and there I went with a very bright banana yellow. I guess you could almost call it a Pee Yellow, but banana just sounds better. Didn't really think the whole color thing through when I was pondering on it.

Lifting from myself

Well it is has come to this. I am lifting ideas from myself. I wanted this card to be special. However, I was having some serious lack of imagination. The card is to go to a very special person and I wanted to do something really groovy. Deep sigh. I like the card, don't get me wrong. But I have done this design several times before. A couple of things have changed, but it is still the same basic design. I suppose the way I need to look at this is that if it is a decent design and it works nothing wrong with using it again.
The majority of the stamps are from two companies that I just love to pieces - Eat Cake Graphics and Purple Onion Designs. I don't know if you have noticed, but I tend to use stamps from these companies on most all of my work. I did alot of masking on this card and it is colored with pencils. I had to draw in the little bird and the tree. The area for the sentiment was to small to use stamps so I just printed the sentiment. I also had to pare down the little hat. The stamp is actually much bigger.
Well I have a couple of cards that I want to work on today and I am hoping that I can come up with a new design. I was pondering the other day about why I don't seem to be able to come up with new ideas. I let all of my magazine subscriptions expire except for one - Rubber Stamp Madness. (Speaking of which, in the next issue, I have a little Christmas piece in it). I use to get lots of magazines and I am wondering if not having something to look to spark ideas is part of the problem. I would see something I liked, which would give me thoughts about how to change it or use part of it or something. Since I am home alone this weekend, maybe what I will do is pull out some of the magazines that I kept and start looking thru them to see if sparks will start flying. Wish me luck.

BOO!

Making Halloween cards really makes me feel like summer is over. I love summer and it goes by so fast. This card was made for card club. I got this cute set of Halloween stamps when I was at Stampaway. The set is called Ghouls and Ghost by Inkadinkado. The Trick or Treat bag and the alphabet is Purple Onion Designs and the house is Eat Cake Graphics. The images are colored with pencils. I like using the darker cardstock to stamp the images on, it makes the white show up so much better. I masked the house and the Trick or Treat Bag so the little ghost looks like it is popping out from behind the house. At least that is what I was trying to achieve.

I normally don't send Halloween cards, but I seem to buy Halloween themed stamps. Probably should at least send some out.

Flower ATCs

These were done for a swap. Tina had done some similiar to this that I saw while I was visiting with her. The image is stamped in white ink and then colored. This one is ink and colored pencils.
This one is ink and pencils. I decided that I would use this one for the swap.

This one is ink and colored pencils.
This one is ink and Twinkling H2Os.

Thank You for the Lovely Day

I wanted to do a card to thank the Neska's for their generous hospitality on Friday. I didn't have a stamp that was a lake scene but I did have one that had one of the Adirondack chairs that they have on the sandy beach by the lake. This was created by painting the scene using re-inkers after stamping on a sheet of glossy paper. The re-inkers are used as paints after you add a small drop of water. I like the look because of the shiny look that results.

Lovely Day

The first thing that comes to mind on a day like today is that song by Bill Withers, "Lovely Day".

Mike and I headed out on the bike with some of the guys that he works with and rides with and headed to Luck, Wisconsin. Our destination was John and Mary Beth Neska's cabin. It was a gorgeous day to be on the bike. When we get there John had a nice bonfire going. That is John and Mary Beth standing on either side of Mike.

Behind Bruce, Sam and Mary Beth, you can catch a glimpse of the bikes. John and Mary Beth are definitely the hosts with the most. We had a terrific lunch. Grilled steaks, baked potatoes and a salad with the most delicious homegrown tomatoes. These little tomatoes were just so yummy. John grows these tomatoes in the city and brought them up just for the lunch.
It was really nice after the ride to rest my butt. What could be better than sitting around a bonfire chatting with good friends. Four of us, Bruce, Sam, Jason, Mike and I rode up on our bikes. Babs and Dean drove up.
What a view of the lake. The Neska's have a wonderful place. It sits on a small lake that Mary Beth calls a puddle. It has a cabin and a trailer on the property. The trailer is a 1960's vintage with aqua blue appliances. It is really darling. The cabin, which features a wrap around deck and a spiral staircase up to a loft, is just perfect.

The cabin doesn't have indoor plumbing. However, it sports this great outhouse. And not your ordinary outhouse. This one sports a flush toilet and a shower. No roughing it here.
I am not overly fond of having to use an outhouse but no problem with this one. It was very nice. Mike had to check it out too.

Can you believe all the sun fish? They were begging for bread. When you toss the bread into the water, they would swarm it. Hungry little buggars. And the size of some of them were amazing. Not sure I have ever seen sun fish this large. A good size bass was also hanging around.
This is a view of the lake from the deck. You walk down to the lake from the cabin and there is a very nice sandy beach with an sitting platform with very comfortable chairs where you can just sit and enjoy this view.
By the deck the water is very swallow and clear. At some points this "puddle" as Mary Beth called it, is 60 feet deep. Great habitat for fish. I think John said that it was 125 acres.

Mike just couldn't resist. A fisherman at heart, a lake full of fish, and rods and reels sitting in the shed. John took everyone out for a little cruise around the lake. I was content to just sit on the dock and feed the sunfish, while Mike was fishing. Nothing caught. Who cares. It was a great way to spend a few minutes.
We headed out shortly after the boat trip. Took a different route home. With the sun going down, it got a little breezy, but still a nice ride home.
This was an absolute perfect way to spend a day playing hokey from work. Thank you so much John and Mary Beth for the invite to your fabulous cabin. Mike and I definitely enjoyed our lovely lovely day.

Sandcastles and Ocean Breezes

This project is for a swap. The person that I did it for loves the ocean. It is a shadow box, and all I did was to add the elements. The background is a photograph. I painted the box with acrylics and then sanded hoping that it would look weathered. You probably can't see but there is real sand from Hilton Head, South Carolina on the bottom. Some of the shells are from there too. The rest of the elements are die cuts from Jolee's. It was really hard for me to get a good photograph.

Bathroom Walls

Bathroom walls are suppose to have something decorative hanging on them. It is a law somewhere. I seem to remember reading about it on a decorating website. My son, who now lives in an apartment, has absolutely nothing on his bathroom wall. Doesn't seem to bother him but it bothered me that he might be subject to the decorating police coming in and arresting him if they found out.

The little piece that I did for my header of this blog was just sitting on my desk waiting to be used for something else. The ah hah light went on. So I stamped the sentiment " Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits". I will get a frame and he can hang it on the nice blank wall over his toilet.

Very appropriate for bathroom art don't you think?

Confessions are good for the Soul

Tina sent me a link to a blog and from that blog, I found another link to web site with some great stuff. http://www.paperrelics.com/index.html



I needed a birthday card quick. So I totally copied this from the site. I just drew it as best I could. The alphabet is Purple Onion Designs.

So I confess. I lifted this idea. Can't take credit for it at all. Sometimes you just have to lift, especially when you are in a rush. Thank you Paper Relics for such a great idea.

A Story

Last week I went to the funeral of a lady I had never met. She was the stepmother of a dear friend. I went to this funeral because I wanted to be there for my friend. I really hate funerals but as far as funerals go, this was a very nice service. What impressed me most about this funeral and the reason I am writing about it, was that the woman who had passed away, had left very detailed instructions about what she wanted done.


Part of the service, was where a family member read this woman's story. It detailed her life - it was a great story. She helped raise a family. She was an educator for many years, participating in furthering educational opportunities for young adults. She was an active member in her church, she worked for the Democratic Party and was active in a woman's group. She also traveled all over the world with her husband. This woman had really done a lot in her life. I was extremely impressed by all that she had accomplished and the legacy that she has left behind.


While I was driving back to work, I was pondering on this. If I died tomorrow, would I have a story for someone to read at my funeral? Would my family have to anything to say about my life? I am thinking not a heck of a lot. I suppose they could say that I was a nice person. I do try. I was a decent wife and mother. At least I hope they will say that. I did a pretty good job at the daughter and sister gig. I tried to be a good friend. I worked hard. There you have it. That is my story. I am not a joiner. So there won't be a long list of all the organizations that I was a member of. I don't really have the desire to shape others lives. I have never done anything that made an impact or is really worth writing about.


This whole not having a story thing bothered me for a couple of days. That was until I came up with a brilliant solution to not having a story. It was so easy.


What I am going to do is not die. Think about it, if I don't die, then I don't have to have a funeral and the best part, I don't have to have a story. Much easier than worrying about not having a story. Works for me.


Hugs,
Annie

A Frustrated Artist

Don't you just love the expression on this little girl's face? She was perfect for a card for our friend Babe, who was 86 (I think) recently. She keeps telling everyone that she doesn't do birthdays anymore. She was also perfect for one of the 50 ATCs that were my birthday project for my sister.

I found this image on the internet and copied it. I did this for someone I used to work with. We have kept in touch and I always send him a card for his birthday. I got some Copic Markers for Christmas last year and I have been trying to work with them. If nothing else, I love the smell of them. I also used this image on one of the ATCs that I did for my sister. It turned out a little better. I am finding that I can copy things pretty well. It is coming up with the original drawing that I am not so great at. So I ponder whether or not an art class would help. Can you teach a left-brained person, whose expectations that the final piece be perfect to draw? I am not sure that I can let go of the need for perfection. Guess that is why I consider most of what I do to be CRAP.

I really hesitate to call myself an artist. I would love to be an artist. I love to paint. I would love to be able to draw. I really do try. This card is an attempt to draw and paint a flower. I made it for a friend's birthday. Happy Birthday Sharon. I love watercolors.

50 is Nifty?

Ok, I was running out of ideas and that is what came to mind. I didn't post all 50 of the ATCs but I think you will get the general idea from what I did post.

What do Walnettos have to do with anything?

Do you remember the TV show Laugh-In? Well if you were 50 you would. It was one of my Dad's favorite shows. Arte Johnson did the old guy who was always after Ruth Buzzie as an old lady. One of the things he would say "Hey Wanna Walnetto" and then she would slap him with her purse. I just had to use that.

She will of course kill me

For using this picture of her. The Gnome is a picture of a guy who works with her. We turned him into a yard gnome as a joke. Thanks muchly to Barb Housner for the great images that she sent me for the two bottom ones. I love the gal on the phone.

Old Fart

You just have to rub it in some when a person is turning 50.

Dog Gone Good Birthday

The gorgeous dog you see here is my very own sweet Scout. Ok , she is a terrier and has her moments, but she loves Mary and I just know she would want Mary to have a nice birthday.

Over the Hill Birthday

Each ATC has a 50 on it somewhere. The house one is an idea that I found somewhere else and changed it a bit. The cake is an image that I found on the internet and redrew. Same with the little bird.

Cute Shoes

You can never have to many pairs of cute shoes. And a hippo with gas. Don't know what that has to do with cute shoes.

More Hippos

I ended up doing a whole page of hippos. I found tons of great images on the internet. My drawing isn't the best. Colored these with Copic Markers. Really starting to like these markers.

Everything Hippo

Mary loves hippos, so I had to do a couple with hippos. I drew these, kinda sort. I found images on the internet that I liked and then copied them. I tried to do the original artists concept justice.

A beginning?

I was not going to do this. I was not going to blog. I actually have nothing much to say. Didn't want to bore people with my ramblings.

I am also basically lazy. Maybe I should say that I am so busy that I don't have time to post things to a blog each day. That just isn't true. I have time, I am just basically lazy.

So why am I doing this you ask? I started a project that I wanted to share and it is a little to big to post anywhere.

My sister Mary, is turning the big 50 this year and I wanted to do something fun to help her celebrate. Not sure she really wants to celebrate the fact that she turning 50. I am making her whether she does or not. Isn't that what bossy big sisters are for?

The project started out with me sending her a package each month that has 50 somethings in it. Along with the somethings, I put in an ATC depicting the fact that she was turning 50.

Somewhere along the way, I decided in a moment of insanitity that it would be a good idea to make 50 ATCs and put them in a binder with 50 pages. Seemed like a good idea. Do you know how hard it is to think of 50 different ideas and make each card different but still keep the main theme of birthday and turning 50? Trust me, it was not the easiest thing to do.

So now I have completed this project and want to share a couple that I thought turned out pretty nice. Starting this blog was the best way for me to do it. The little card that is attached to this post is the beginning of this project. More will come as I figure out how to work this blog thingie.

Hugs,

Annie