Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I totally lifted this from Eat Cake Graphics (Holly). I loved the design. I thought it was a perfect card. I did change the sentiment (Purple Onion Designs). So this is one of my Christmas cards this year. The reason I am lifting is that I am running out of time and ideas.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season.

Winston

This little fellow is my attempt to take a picture of a dog and needle felt a like image. The owner says that it looks like Winston and was thrilled when I gave it to her. I didn't see it but I was pleased with the way it turned out. Winston is a Jack Russell Terrier. I do think this looks like a Jack Russell.
Thanks for stopping by.

Cover Girl

Well I will be a Monkey's Uncle or maybe that should be Monkey's Aunt. Anyway. I was pretty excited to find out that some cards that I had submitted to Stamper's Sampler were being published. I was totally blown away when I found out that those cards were gracing the cover. DANG. The stamps I used are Paper Artsy, Squiggly Ink. Some very fun stamps to work with. I incorporated some hand drawn images amoung the stamped images and then watercolored. It felt so good to be creative.

Thanks for stopping in.

Filmore

I just learned how to do needle felting. Been putting it for almost a year. Why you ask? Good question and I don't have a good answer. Guess I just needed someone to show me how to do it. I read lots of articles and watched some videos but it took a friend actually sitting with me and showing me to get me hooked.

Filmore here (see picture below) is a thank you to a wonderful person - Holly. She is the owner of Eat Cake Graphic stamps. As you know, ECG is one of my all time favorite stamp companies. Filmore is one of the stamps that I love the most. I thought it would be fun to see Filmore in 3D. Now he has a home on her mantle.

Here is a picture of the stamp that I modeled my needle felting bear after. It has been awhile since I posted anything. Sorry about that. Thanks for stopping by.

BOO!!!

Participated in a Halloween Mingle. Unfortunately it happened right during the time when I was down and out due to a motorcycle accident. Hurt my left arm and that limited me for awhile, made it hard for me to work. Plus my muse must of gotten bounced out of me when I hit the ground cause I have had no creative thoughts since then. So the piece that I made (above) is kinda crappy. I painted three pieces of canvas with an acrylic wash. The ghost, cat and pumpkin were hand drawn on a pieces of a book page that I covered with gesso and then painted with acrylic paint. Added some stars and die cut Happy Halloween. Finished up with a clear coat of Modge Podge. Drilled holes in each of the canvas pieces and attached together with wire.

Below is the piece that I received from Kris. It is absolutely fabulous. I love it. Put it right up on my wall in my craft room after I took the picture. Which by the way doesn't do the piece justice. I think that Kris did an amazing job on this. Thank you so much Kris.

Thanks for stopping by. Sorry there is much to see here. Hopefully I can get my groove back soon.

Annie

Thank you Lisa Kraus

I love Lisa's Tinnies. I love her artwork. She has such a great style. This painting is a lift from a piece that she did. I did change it, didn't want to totally copy it. So I tired to make it my own. I drew the cake and painted with acrylics. The little doll is a Dingle Doll paper doll. The crown is Lost Cost Designs, painted with acrylic and then added some bling. Birthday stuff should always have bling. I stamped the Happy Birthday and then applied a wash of acrylics to it. I will be sending this to a lovely gal for her birthday.

Thanks for stopping by.
Annie

Home is where the Heart is

I needed a card for an Open House today. Some friends of ours bought a house here in Cottage Grove. We are going over to see the house this afternoon. I again copied the images from Paper Artsy. I am in total love with these images. I painted old book pages with gesso - been having fun with this. I stamped the heart and the line across the grass. The sun is drawn on the watercolor paper and the house and bushes are drawn on an old book page. I watercolored everything. The alpha is suppose to look like labels from a Dymo Label Maker. I am not sure about the little flowers. They were a last minute thought or I would have drawn some in.

Thanks for stopping by.

Annie

Branching Out

I have want to try painting with acrylics. I have done a couple of things but it was always over a stamped image, nothing that I actually drew myself. Went to Dick Blick's the other day and they had a pack of small canvas boards on sale. Decided it was time to take the plunge and give it a whirl.
I did copy the images (the trees and the scroll) from some new stamps that I got from Paper Artsy - Squiggly Ink. I drew them instead of stamping them because I really wanted the images to be bigger. I changed them around a bit so they aren't exact copies of the images. I also drew the star. The Merry Christmas is a stamp and was stamped on an old book page that I covered with gesso, then did a light wash of brown.
This one started out as a forest scene and ended up as Christmas some how or another. Just kinda fit. Not really pleased with the outcome. I haven't figured out how to include shadows appropriately with the paint. It kinda reminds me of something that a 2nd grader would do but not as good.
The part I do like is the snow under the trees. I used Diamond Dust. It gives it a sparkle. That turned out kinda cool.

This second was a a bit more work. Lots of little areas to paint. Again, I used images from the Squiggly Ink Stamps as inspiration. I did a little better with depth here. I went back and added black shadows. I haven't figured out how to blend the paints well enough and I have limited colors so the shading needs work. To finish this up, I did a very light wash of a brown color hoping to create an affect of aging. It didn't really work as well as I wanted. It just muddy the blue sky.
I do love the little lady bug. She turned out cute. I didn't have any silver for her wings so she got gold wings. She is a very special lady bug, which is why she has her own house.
Trying to keep my hands steady enough to do the small details in black was interesting. Thankfully I had a really really tiny paintbrush. That helped.
This one turned out a little better and I am encouraged to try again. I still want to take a couple of classes. Just haven't found any near my house. I will keep on practicing.
Thanks for stopping by - Annie

A lazy Sunday

Today was a lazy Sunday. I didn't do anything constructive. I was suppose to do some house cleaning, which I didn't. I did take a little nap. So here it is 7:00 pm and I am still in my jammies. What a great way to spend a Sunday. The only thing I got accomplished today was a couple of cards. This first one is just me putzing around. I didn't stamp anything on this one. Hand drew everything and then watercolored. The scalloped edge is some left over book pages that I had covered with a watered down gesso.
This card I am going to send to a great friend for her birthday. I lifted it from a lift that I did earlier. Changed it around a bit. The alpha, Purple Onion Design, is the only thing that is stamped. This one is watercolored also using watercolor pencils. I had forgotten that I had a really nice set of those. I have been using watercolor crayons. Same deal here for the scalloped edge, used some left over painted book pages.

This card is for a monthly image swap. You get sent an image and make a card using that image. I colored the image with pencils. The background is watercolored. The flowers are tiny little prima's I think. I always have an image of an outhouse with those tall flowers next to them. Sitting here trying to think of the name of the flower. It will come to me after I have finished typing here. Isn't that always the way.

Thanks for stopping by.

Annie

A New Home

Not for me, but for a dear friend. They just purchased a second home in Florida. It was something they had wanted to do for quite awhile. It is a beautiful home. To make this card, I used watered down Gesso on book pages. Most of the elements on the card were hand drawn and then painted with watercolor over the Gesson. Tried to capture the house. Not the best job. The tree is a die cut. The alpha is Sixxix, Girls are Weird.

Thanks for stopping by.

Some Fun with Flowers

It has been awhile since I posted anything here. No good excuse, just haven't done anything that I felt was worth sharing.

Finally got a chance this weekend to do some putzing. I had a couple of cards to make. This first one, is for my youngest sister. Wanted to say hello.

The only stamping is the Believe. Made the little center for the flower with Shrinky Dink stuff. The alphabet (Olivia), the leaves and the grass are all Quickutz. The little lady bug is Heidi Grace. Thank you Cheryl for thinking of me and sending me the rubons. They are adorable.

The green and orange paper is some of the new 3M post it notes papers. They are really cool. Work great for die cuts.

This second card was just to play. I got the flower at a stamping show I went to in May. The little lady bug is from the Heidi Grace rubons.

Used Quickutz for the leaves and the grass. I also used the 3M post it notes paper on this one.

Hopefully, I can do some more putzing tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. It is always appreciated.

Hugs

Annie

DANG - I found some time to make some cards.

Work has been my life and I never seem to find any time to really sit and make any cards. Found some time yesterday to get a couple of cards done. Have a few birthdays and a graduation that I needed to make some cards for. I was suppose to be on vacation yesterday but ended up working 8 hours of my time off. Somehow that just doesn't seem right. But during some of the conference calls that I had, was able to putz around and get some of the cards done. It was great.

This card I made for Cathy's sister-in-law. I am hoping that it will make her smile. She has cancer. I used my nestabilities to make the frame. The stamp is one of those wonderful kids sayings from Inkadinkado. I have a bunch of these now and just love them. The little girl is Eat Cake Graphics and I colored her with pencils. The background paper is Basic Grey.

Made this card for my nephew's graduation. I finally broke down and bought some of those Cuttlebug Embossing thingies. I found some paper at a stamping show last weekend that has a colored core. Works very well for a light sanding. The stars are Purple Onion Designs and I just rolled up a bit of scrap paper for the diploma. This was an easy card.

This card is for my adopted Dad. He is actually Tina's Dad but I love her parents so much that I have kinda adopted them as my second set of parents. I often tell Tina that they like me better than her. The alpha is Purple Onion Designs and the hand is - hmmmmm - I can't remember. I think Tina gave it to me. I just punched out squares and stamped on them. Happy Birthday Dad!!!

This card is for one of the gals that works for me. I have made her several cards with Basset Hounds. She has four of them and is very involved in Basset Rescue. I found this awesome picture on the Internet. The stamp is another one of the Inkadinkado Kids Sayings. I used a Sizzix die for the background. The package is Purple Onion Designs. The balloons I cut out from the background paper.

Thanks for stopping by - as always it is greatly appreciated.

Hugs

Annie

A Normal Card

Well I tired to do a normal card. You know what I mean. If you look at the cards I have posted recently they are more on the humor, fun and quirky side. Haven't done a normal card for quite some time. I think I need some practice.

I have no clue who makes the tulip stamp. Got it in a swap. Stamped with white ink on black paper and then colored with pencils. I really like this look. The Birthday Wishes is Purple Onion Design.

This was made for one of the gals that works for me. She lives in New Mexico.

Coloring on white ink stamped on black cardstock is super easy. I used Primsacolor pencils and just added the color directly over the ink. I started with the lightest shades first and then added the highlight colors, finishing off with the darkest shades last. Make sure that the ink is completely dry. I found that Stampin Up Whisper White Craft Ink works the best.

Thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate it.

HBD

Happy Birth Day. Found a few minutes this weekend to finish up a card that needs to go in the mail this week. It seems harder and harder to find those few minutes anymore to sit and be creative. I am trying to figure out why my life has gotten so busy lately. No luck with that yet. For this card, I did some masking and colored with Copics. The stamps are Purple Onion Designs (confetti and cupcake) Eat Cake Graphics (the three puppies) and Leave Memories (the alphabet). Did a little glitter accent on the confetti and the candle flame. Rounded the corners with a Zutter corner rounded, thank you most kindly Ms. Tina. I really like this tool.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tommorow is National Scrapbook Day and Purple Onion Designs has a little sale planned. This is the first time POD has ever offered this sale. Get ready...40% off ALL alphabets. Also included are few other stamps that are great for scrapping. These additional stamps are 40% - 60% off. You can view all the sale here.

Check it out. You can't go wrong with these stamps.

Baby Hats

I have completed quite a few baby hats recently waiting for Spring to arrive. Really have to decide what to do with them. I have been thinking about starting an Etsy shop. It would be nice to at least cover the cost of the yarns. The problem is that I buy expensive yarns and have no clue if people would pay 20 dollars or more for these hats. That is what I would need to get in order to cover my costs. This little hat is made from Cashmere and the fringe has a silver strand running thru it. I suppose I should back away from the more expensive yarns but they are just so nice to knit with. Recently I found this great yarn - BabyBoo. It is made from Bamboo. What a great product and the colors are so fun. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for stopping by.

Beep Beep

I found these little buildings at Archivers and thought they would be perfect for my little robot to climb over. I am not quite sure what beep beep means in robotese yet, will figure that out. I am doing this card for my Card Club group. I had to fill in the scene with the tree, sidewalk and fire hydrant. I colored with Copics. The robot is part of a stamp set by Stampendous, the buildings are by Clear Stamps, and the alphabet is Purple Onion Designs. One down only 11 more more to go.

I am doing a monthly ATC swap. The theme for March was By the Sea. Well, I just can't leave well enough alone and do a proper sea theme. I love this little monkey. He is just perfect for a "Sea Monkey". The stamp is a design from Deadbeat. The alphabet is Hampton Arts and the rest is hand drawn by me. Used copic markers to color.

Thanks for stopping by. I do appreciate it.

Sweater in a Weekend - Kinda Sorta

I made two resolutions this year. One was to be a kinder, gentler person (especially at work) and the other was to really learn to knit. I have been taking classes for the knitting. This is working really well, the other resolution - well that is another story for another day.
I love sitting and knitting with others who are at the same skill level that I am. So I took a huge step and signed up for a class where you can complete a sweater in a weekend.
You can if you do nothing but knit. We started the class, Friday at 6:00 pm and knitted until 9:30. Got up Saturday morning, knitted some more, then headed back to the store and knitted until 5:00pm. Came home and knitted some more. Started knitting again on Sunday, left for the store at 12:30 and knitted until I got everything done but one sleeve. My hands were tired by Sunday afternoon.
The gals in the class were awesome. There were four of us and the instructor. Took turns bringing in treats to snack on. Talked about everything. Had a blast. A wonderful relaxing way to spend a weekend.
Here is a picture of the finished product. I did finish the sleeve by the next weekend. It is a very bulky yarn and a heavy sweater, perfect for Minnesota weather. Now if I can just figure out how to adapt the pattern for a baby sweater.

And the results are....

I had my stress test and echocardiogram on Thursday. The results were good. There was no damage to my heart. The MD said that things looked pretty good. He was very concerned about the level of stress and the jump in my blood pressure and recommended that I go get my self a new pair of walking shoes and do some power walking. I am not going to have to take any medication for the blood pressure at this time. He wants me to watch that and if it continues to go up, then we can look at what is needed.

I was so relieved. Thank you for your well wishes and good thoughts. They really helped.

Off to my knitting class. Going to knit a sweater in a weekend.

Got Heart?

Life can really throw you a curve when you least expect it and cause you to lose heart. This is what happened to me.

Work has been really stressful lately and I am not handling it well. Recently, I have been experiencing chest pains. I wasn't worried because 14 years ago, I was diagnosed with a problem that affects, what the MD said was the electrical wiring in my heart. It is like the wiring is crossed or short circuited. This creates an additional beat in my heart. When stressed or I have had to much caffeine, I also get a wobble. I have been able to control this for the most part over the years by limiting my caffeine and practicing relaxation techniques when I felt stressed.

The stress at work is so bad right now that I am not doing a good job with either of these things. The end result, the wobble is back, Blood pressure is elevated and I have been having chest pains that I am not able to stop, because I can't relax enough.

Last Friday, I came home with chest pains and tried to relax, hoping they would stop. They didn't, they kept getting worse. I was also experiencing dizziness. OK - no laughing here, it was more dizziness than my normal dizzy self. Asked Mike to take me to the ER to get checked out.

The good news in all of this is that I was not having heart attacks and there is no damage to my heart at this point. The bad news is that there is a problem in the left ventricle of my heart that is causing the chest pain and my heart to continue to wobble around quite severely in my chest.

I will be having a stress test and an electrocardiogram on Thursday, Feb 19 to figure out what is happening and what I am going to need to do to take care of this. I know that this is probably the end to my coffee habit. I am so going to miss that morning cup.

This whole experience has made me tired. But at least I know why my creative juices have dried up. Hard to be creative when you are just plain tired. Typically I don't share this kind of information about myself, especially on the Internet where anyone can read it. I do have a reason for deciding to do this now.

Life is to short to let people that you have no emotional attachment with get to you to the point that you suffer extreme stress. Work is necessary, but it is just a paycheck. There are more important things in your life and that is what you should focus on. Family is important, friends are important, being able to have a life outside of work that you enjoy is important. I let my work become the most important thing in my life to the extent that it has now caused me a health problem that will not go away easily.

My point here is to remind everyone that in these stressful and uncertain times, don't forget what is truly important in your life. Keep those things close to you. I don't know when I lost track of this, but I am back on track. I got heart.

It's been awhile but I am back

The holidays and work have left me little time or energy to do much else recently. Yesterday when I was looking at my calendar, I noticed that I had missed two birthdays, one of which was my darling niece. I had picked up these fun sentiment stamps last weekend, which was good because I really wanted to use them.

I actually had a spurt of energy last night and a nano-second of creativity. Her card will go in the mail today. The sentiment is Inkadinkado, the cat is Eat Cake Graphics (Thank you very much Keri-Lou), the ice cream cone is Purple Onion Designs. I drew the balloon. Use Prismacolor pencils for the color. For Missy Eiren, the best part of this card will be the check inside. Happy Birthday darling girl. Sorry I am late - again.
This is the other sentiment that I bought last weekend. I had to use this little cat again, he is just so cute. The inside says, "I would give you all of my candy bar." This one will go to a very special friend.

I colored this one with Copic Markers. I drew what is suppose to look like a candy bar. Hmmmmm. Not sure that it actually looks like a candy bar but you get the drift. The sentiment is Inkadinkado and the cat is Eat Cake Graphics. I used a white gel pen to make the stitches.

I am headed to Anchor Paper today and would like to pick up a couple more of these sentiments. They are wood mounted. I would buy them all if they came unmounted. I am also going to have a nice cup of coffee with my friend Suzie today and catch up. It is so wonderful to have such lovely friends. Family is your rock, but friends are the flowers that grow around that rock and enrich your life. My rock had lots of wonderful flowers around it. My life is enriched.