Sharon's hat

This is what I've been busy doing lately instead of making cards. Since the beginning of this blog, I've always thought it was for card making -- but shouldn't a blog be a little bit about me too? There is a television commercial being aired lately where a woman is wearing a knit hat, sweater and is crazily knitting while talking to a friend. She says, "if I keep knitting, I don't want to eat." I guess you could say that about me because I've been dieting for a while now and find that if my hands are busy, I'm not trying to put things in my mouth. Sharon's hat is just one product of that concept. My husband is getting a little concerned though, as my current inventory of hats is over a dozen -- and I live where we don't know what winter is. Sharon's hat was my last project and was actually for Sharon and was commissioned by her sister for her 70th Birthday. Happy Birthday Sharon! (Happy dieting -- me).

I Feel So Special

I've received this awesome award. And, there are rules for acceptance: it must be passed on to five others, who shall give it to five others. You are to link to the one who gave you the award,-- in my case, thanks so very much to Carolyn who continues to encourage me by visiting my blog and leaving comments. Stop by and visit her, she is a great source of inspiration.

Another part of this award is that you need to link to the five you give the award to and let them know. Ahh, but there’s more... You have to write down five things you are addicted to...."

Only Five? O.K., here are five addictions that I'll admit to:

(1) Life

(2) Pursuit of Happiness

(3) The smell of fresh rubber

(4) Watching heating embossing powder melt to brilliance.

(5) Feeling the softness of lovely ribbons.

(5)a (just one more?) GLITTER!

I would like the following folks to take this award and for each of them to pass it on to five more!

1. Kendra

2. Dawn

2. Stacy

3. My Cardz

5. Kathy -- How could I mention glitter and not say hello to my Phoenix friend, Kathy, the Glitter Queen?

Happy Moo Year

Perhaps one of the things my son teases me the most about is that I love to make a play on words. He says that "I'm corny." But isn't that, in itself, somewhat of a play on words? Happy Moo Year was created with a funky little Holstein cow stamp posing as a coyote howling at the moon. You might ask how does a city dweller know it is a Holstein? -- I was raised on a dairy farm. This stamp was a door prize at my first stamp convention and I doubted that I would ever figure out how to use it. Ahh, but how can one not ink up a brand new stamp - especially a free one? The background started as tan cardstock and was sponged with various inks to create the desert scene. The outer border was hand stitched with a needle and black thread. The cut out cow attached with foam dots has flocked spots to give her a sporty look for the new year. I hope the New Year is bright for all who stop by here and special thanks to my friend, Donna S, for spurring me into stamping action in the new year. Until next time, "Happy Moo Year!"

Last of theTangent

Our younger daughter lives in Texas and has worked with and loved horses since she was old enough to walk. She won't be home for Christmas so this is the card I made for her. (My son's comment on this card? "Best one yet, Mom." -- I'm thinking he wants me to bake him a batch of cookies). Below is the inside of the card with a present (good wishes) under the tree from every family member.





The simple outside gives no indication of what she will find when she opens the card. Merry Christmas, Rikke! And, now I an on "elf" duty and must work on many other projects with the deadline of Christmas! I wish everyone and all their fur babies a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Until next time, tah, tah.

The Ultimate Challenge

After posting "Fur Babies' Christmas" my friend, Donna, from afar sent me an e-mail:
"Martha, I was all set to leave my first comment on a blog and then I realized that I have to have an account, etc. and I gave up so here's my comment: Okay, Martha what about my house: cats, dogs, horse and parrots - to name a few. Adorable cards. You never cease to amaze me!" Well, you know how I like challenges so here is the card on its way to Donna's family. I also know that she has a desert tortoise that she didn't mention so that is why there is a turtle among the crowd around the Christmas tree. My son's comment? You can guess, "Wow, Mom, that's kind of busy." Any family with a group of animals such as this is surely busy too, don't you think?

Fur Babies' Christmas

Being fairly new to cyberspace, blogging, and catch-phrases, I recently learned that the moniker "fur babies" refers to all those loving cats and dogs that we pamper and adore. At my house, "Mr. Lucky" is no exception. An 80 lb Weineramer, he is adoring and when he looks at you with those soft brown doe-like eyes, he pretty much has his say and his way. He's always underfoot and the other night he was just there, underfoot, in my studio. It occurred to me that fur babies should have Christmas cards to share with their owners so, off another tangent I go instead of staying on task and making my traditional mail-out Christmas cards. "A Jolly Christmas" (Museum of Modern Rubber) it will certainly be. One card creation has grown to six with a few more on the way. Each card is distinct and personalized as best as I could from the standard Sizzix cat and dog dies.

Izzy and Duffy are little Scotty dogs. This is the die cut I started with --

it was modified to look like this. The ears were created with a tree punch.

Then I added the "beards" using an angel wing punch.

My friend, Joyce, when I last visited her, had three cats. I had her card all done when I received an e-mail telling me about the adoption of "Bart" – it was a real challenge to find room for one more cat and one more present on her card. The Sizzix tree is embossed with cuttlebug, chalked and edged with a Memories ink pad.

And what about Bob?

Snowman

This week's House Mouse challenge "Let it Snow," for me, brings back many happy memories of the cold weather and snow fun as a child. Growing up in snow country, the most important thing to check for when it began snowing was to see if the snow could pack and roll to form big balls to make a snowman. And so, I fashioned these little house mouse guys to frolick in the meadow with plans to make a snowman. As you will note, there is one a little more serious about the job at hand. I hope some of you out there have an opportunity to play in the snow this winter. As for me, all I can do is dream about a "White Christmas."

Snowflake punch: Emagination
Phrase: Aunty Amy (Embossing Arts)
RS Snowflakes (background) Hero Arts
Snowflake foreground: Cuttlebug
Tree: Sizzix
Snowballs: one from felt, others mottled w/embossing powder and soft edged w/Memories Midnight Blue

Can't Believe it's Not Fall

I've always been a late bloomer - kinda like the song "Born Too Late..." My mother was expecting me in December and I waited until January and I guess that's been the theme all my life. All to say, that I am still punching out fall colored leaves when all the rest of the crafting world is making Christmas or Valentine Cards. My drawer full of mice is still on my work bench so I couldn't resist making this one before getting busy on Christmas (and my laundry). The tree scene by Darcie is colored with watercolor pencils and the opening is cut out to make a window for the mouse to be suspended in (the hand is sandwiched between the layers) The punched leaves are affixed to the inside of the opening - the border (Hawaiian Quilt block) is by RSP - Honolulu. My son's comment on this one? "Best one Yet, Mom."

Love is Patient

Amid challenges, grand kid sitting, Thanksgiving, and everything else that filled my days in November -- it turned out to be the missing month when it comes to attending to my favorite married couple, Jeff and Mary. On Monday, I was clearing my work table and picked up a "Happy Anniversary" stamp -- oh, oh, the light bulb went on as to why it was out of the drawer. I had forgotten to make an anniversary card for Jeff and Mary! Well, as I once stated years ago when one of my kids was late for school, it was better that he arrived late than that he didn't arrive at all. This card is on its way to my beloved Jeff and Mary along with a picture of my red face. Love is patient -- I love them, and they were patient!

Sizzix dove, flower
RS: Stamps Happen
Fern Punch: Emagination

Think on these things....

The House Mouse Friends challenge of the week: Glitter/Glitz. Go take a look at the design team's work -- they truly know how to use Glitter and Glitz. When I think of glitter, I think of twinkle, and twinkle means stars! And when I saw the House Mouse image on the design team member, Judith's card, I knew I had to reach for the stars for this challenge and so I put my "Hyper Mouse" to task once again. The phrase from my friend Sarah by G-Rated seemed just right for a star studded sky. The stars are Sizzix die cuts from metallic card stock and then in turn embossed with cuttlebug folders with sparkle provided by glitter glues and Art Institute Glitter. The silver star was tapped with top boss and embossed with one of my favorite powders: Silver Trout. McGill punches with glittered accents add the last bit of sparkle. The metallics and glitters are not very well portrayed in this scan -- perhaps I should try taking photos of my cards? My son has not given his approval of this card but I already know what he will say (because he likes the meals I cook for him). Think on these things...whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy. Until my next post, tah tah.

Heart Felt Wishes

Another Penny Black challenge - this time to create a card without the use of patterned paper. I am assuming that the snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder doesn't count as "patterned" paper. The Penny Black tree "Winter Green" gave me the idea to stamp it in green. Clever huh? The tags are slanted down to mimic the slanted tree branches. The size of this card grew as my idea grew. I hope you enjoy it. The Christmas wishes stamps are "Message stor" from Costco. Remember that flower I couldn't decide on for a recent House Mouse challenge? The votes came in that the card was best without the flower -- so I used it here instead. Not much of anything gets tossed in my studio and if you don't believe me ask my dear husband who tried to remove some paper cuttings from my studio today!

Santa's Helper

Polka Dots! That's what the House Mouse Challenge was for the week. Take the link to see what the Design Team has done with this theme. Because I made a Funky Pink Christmas card for my darling little granddaughter -- I could do no less for my wonderful grandson. This card is for him as he has a real sweet tooth. Perhaps I'll sneak him a real candy cane when his Mom isn't looking. I made the polka dot background with a pencil eraser, top boss, and gold embossing powder. "Santa's Helper" is by my hand. The House Mouse image "Little Candy Striper" is colored with Prismacolor Markers I sneaked out of my son's studio. Thank you for coming by to look -- please take a moment to tell me what you think.