I just can't wait

Can't wait to start showing you my Halloween cards, so instead of waiting until tomorrow, I'm going to show you the first one today.

This card is Halloween but not too traditional...well, maybe a bit. I started with grey cardstock which I stamped black bats on (Hero Arts). I used the new background stamp-which I love so much I actually bought it back in July or August...afraid my craftstore wouldn't restock( and I haven't seen it there again yet either). Then I stamped the saying (Hero Arts) on ornage paper and cut it out...I attached it and outlined it with black Sharpie. The candy corn are a great stamp from Autumn Leaves...I did 4 of them on white paper, colored them and then attached them and drew in the cord to make it look like a banner.

The cat is a punch out on polka dot paper which I colored in black and the crow is from some Martha Stewart confetti I bought several years back and use not to throw but as embellishments. Finally, I added the orange Viva dots.

I think it's pretty fun...

Happy Friday!

YAHOO! It is the weekend!

10 Things Right Now Friday

It is time once again for the 10 things right now list. Me being list maker, I am finding I like doing this...but hopefully today I can think of 10 things.

(I suppose I could change it to 5 things right now, eh?)

1- Been making a bunch of Halloween cards in my goal to make 31. I'm hovering around half way done. Yahoo!

2-It is the last and final day of September, which has been kind of a long month.  I need to mentally move onto another month- even though I must admit usually September is a nice month-though we have had a bit of too much heat this year-well I should say we've had too many extremes-hot and also chilly .

3-I am looking forward to October even though October is a very BUSY month for me with lots of birthdays (mom, hubby, daughter and a few others) and my wedding anniversary and Halloween...it should be a fun month with lots of smiles.

4- Speaking of my wedding anniversary- I might be going away with the hubby for it to Cape Cod for a night. It all depends if he's got to go to a work related retirement party down the cape the day after our anniversary and if the weather is nice. I hope we get to go...I would love to have a little change of scenery at this time of year.

5-I am at the haf way point of the first quarter of the school year. Holy Cow- let me take what I said before back. Time is flying by.
6-I'm still hoping to get apple picking this weekend...and then make some apple crisp. That would taste delicious right now.
7- I'm reading some Sookie Stackhouse from the Sookie Stackhouse companion. I don't like the short story as much as the vampire ones...but let's see if Eric shows up in the story as it goes. And I really want to reread a few of the novels-especially the one where Eric has amnesia.
8- I need a  "me" day off from work. Just to stay home and play, go for a walk in the morning, sleep a little later. I don't want to take a day right now though...the school year still has a lot of time to go to start taking a mental health day. I may take the 12th off to go visit my Mom on her birthday. Next weekend is the long weekend, which I am looking forward to.
9- I want to rent the movie Bridesmaids since I heard it's really funny. Hoping Redbox will have it in another week or 2. Or maybe Katie can bring it home for me  from school since she owns it.
10-Last weekend I bought a donut baker maker at Target on sale and I am going to try it out this weekend- see if it was worth the cash. I love donuts...yum-yum.


I went back and read the other 10 things right now lists for September and it is interesting to see how things have changed from week to week. Like this activity...really makes you think about wherer you are and what's going on in your life. Another 10 things will be up next Friday!

It has been Nutty

It's Thursday-this week has been cruising right by, which is a surprise, but then I've been Really busy at work. It does seem that as soon as you get to almost the end of the week the time SLOWS down...so let's hope that doesn't happen!  It's been one of those weeks when I've been tired at night...last night finished just one card (that was already half finished) and then tried to finish another half done card, but that didn't go anywhere. Too tired to come up with anything very creative. I'm hoping tonight to meet my friend Vicky for dinner, I need a break in the work week routine so meeting her here in town is a good thing. Maybe a little change will recharge me.

So you can see I've done a bunch of CHF Kim Hughes and Paper Smooches cards lately. This one is fun, love this hanging squirrel. It is an EASY card too. I used white cardstock, and stamped the acorns (CHF) which I colored yellow. Then I lightly brushed on some blue ink for the sky-yes, today's card is suppose to have a blue tint to it. Then I stamped Mr. Squirrel on white paper, colored him and cut him out. He's glued down by looks like he's hanging on some brown baker's twine. Then I stamped the words on white, colored and outlined the square, and attached it.

And there you go. Wonder how Katie liked it since she's does NOT like squirrels. But I think it is FUNNY.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Coolin' Off

YAHOO! It is feeling a bit more like late September and not so much like summer-or August I should say. I love August, but not when I need to be stuck inside with teenagers (and they don't want to be stuck with me either!!!)

So look at the colors of these 2 sky photos. They are UNTOUCHED, real sky colors last mid-week (took me awhile to unload the photos from my camera). I was upstairs about 6:10 a.m. getting ready for work when I glanced down and my livingroom had this red color to it, and being curious, I went to check it out and spied this great sky out my sliding door. Thanks goodness I hopped on the camera as the color went away about as soon as it appeared. And yes, the old saying-red sky in morning, sailors take warning- did apply as shortly later it clouded in and we had some rain.

Wow, even nature out your back door can truly be outstanding at times!

Speaking of nature, yesterday morning one of my owls woke me up at about 4 a.m. being right outside my wide open (because of the heat) bedroom window. Wish I had one of those super duper flashlights to grab an shine because I bet I would have seen him (or her). You could hear them calling and another owl replying...so cool. I haven't seen them since last winter and would love to see them again.

Here's a photo I took of my owl last winter. I know the same ones are still around, they've been hooting all summer too.

OK, BRRRRRRR

Found this picture of last winter with some blowing snow afetr a storm when I went to get the owl photo...

Why did I do that?

I don't want to even think about winter right now? It's coolin' off but I don't need that kind of cold yet.

So let me show you a card and then move onto bigger and better things.

So here's a fun card that I used some real retro-colors on. All stamps are once again Kim Hughes by Cornish Heritage Farm or Kim Hughes' own company Paper Smooches. I also don't know what the dark streak on the yellow is...it isn't on the card nor my camera....so please IGNORE it.

So to make this card...I used white cardstock that I rounded the corners on. Then I cut out some yellow plaid paper and rounded the corners. Before I attached the yellow I added the green 7Gypsies tape. Then I added the yellow paper. The gnome was stamped on white paper, colored, cut out and attached. Then I stamped the mushrooms directly on the yellow paper, and I colored them and then colored in some grass. Mushrooms are also CHF stamps. The saying is by Paper Smooches. Then I outlined the yellow square with red and added some white dots. Then I went and added some red Dimensional Pearls by Ranger on the paper tape and also on the red border around the yellow plaid paper.

So that is my FUN FALL card for the day. I hope Katie liked it when she got it in the mail at college-she loves gnomes a lot, which is why I made this.

So happy hump day

and

thanks for visiting my blog today.

Bear Hugs

This morning I bring you a fun card using Cornish Heritage Farms Kim Hughes stamps and some of Kim Hughes own company (Paper Smooches) stamps. This card was quick and easy but makes a fun card. I started with white cardstock which I left plain white. Then I die cut the circle using this brown with purple-blue polka dots. (Maybe that's why the card has a blue-ish tint to it.) Then using a CHF Kim Hughes camping/outdoors set, I stamped the bear on white paper, then I colored him and cut him out. I attached him to the die cut. I stamped the words (from the same set as the bear) and then used some Paper Smooches stamps to stamp the checkered hearts, which I then colored. Finally, I added some red Ranger Dimensional Pearls to the edge of the die-cut.

So yesterday it was just way too HOT, and today is suppose to be just a tad bit cooler. You know, if it was August and I was home I would relish this beach weather, but since I'm in a third floor classroom and since they don't run the AC very much, it is just TOO hot to motivate kids. Yesterday my afternoon classes were kind of NOT motivated and it was driving me nuts...but it is a new day and that can make all difference. Sometimes I think the kids are crazy on Monday because they all come in and want to de-load about their weekends.

So when I got paid Friday I ordered this cookbook from Amazon's used sellers and it arrived last night. Now I have all these new recipes I want to try like sweet potato, cranberry and pecan salad.  That recipe sounds so yummy to me and with fall supposedly here, it sounds just like the right meal for one night. Got to check out some of the other yummy ideas in there too.

Thanks for visiting and hope it is a good day for you (and me too)!

At the races

Here's this hot chick ready for the Nascar race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I bought this t -shirt before the race as Tony Stewart is my favorite racer, and when I bought it I said I'd have it for when he won, and guess what? He won! My first race and my favorite racer won! How much better can you get than that?

Anyhow, it was a lot of fun and it was beautiful day...a bit hot but not too bad. Certainly not the end of September weather-shorts and  tank top weather. (Even needed the ac to sleep last night-never do that in September.)  

I'd definately go to the race again sometime.

Anyhow, have a great Monday...

A few more Scrap Pages

So it is a HUMID Sunday...humid? It is late September and it is suppose to feel like fall- we're not suppose to be having several days of damp high 70s degree weather this late in the season...mayeb a day here and there but we've been having this mini-heat wave since last Thursday. It's been not too sunny but warm. That's good because with sun it would probably be even warmer. I guess you just don't know with this New England weather.

So I can't believe we have another week of September...not that I am in any rush for winter or COLD weather, but between the humidity and the fact the September doesn't seem to end...transistion months-September and March. I mean, I've been in school for a month already...but feels like a lot longer.

So yesterday I spent a chunk of the day scrapping...home alone, did lots of pages, what fun! And I started reading another part of the Sookie Stackhouse companion that I picked up at Target on Friday. I'm really in a book-reading mode lately. Am reading the short story in the begining of the book and I wonder if Eric or Bill or any vampire will be in it or not. Interesting book, there's a recipe section, a compendium to the novels...at least so far. I read yesterday the author's preface...some cool facts about how the story came to be.I need the the novel compendium to rememer what happened in each book...but I really want to reread a few of these novels this fall.

And today is RACE day. I am excited!

Will tell you more tomorrow.

On one of the bridges going out to the Outer Banks. I used some old velum tags I had in my stash, wrote some notes around the background paper.

And this page is a journaling page- I found the Life is Good stciker at the Life is Good store in Duck. I added some gemstones, white distress ink on the border and a black Sharpie outline.

And this page is a bit busy I think, but I hope the gold sparkly stars and the arrow help pull it together a bit...I don't dislike the page...and I like the big vacation word I doodled in...

Oh well...that;s all I have for today.

Enjoy yours...

It'll be another work week in just a blink of an eye...

Boy...I think I need a vacation thinking like that!

Scrap Journal Pages to Share

It is Saturday....and not suppose to be the most beautiful weather today-maybe a bit or a lot wet, we shall see.

Thought I would share some scrap journal pages with you from last summer's vacation to North Carolina's Outer Banks. In particular, we went to Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brother's first flew. My husband is in the airport design business, and so it had a lot of meaning to him and to us, we wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for the Wright Brother's.

So this top page was made by attaching this cool travel paper onto watercolor paper. The planes are punched out. Not sure who made it-I bought a Grab Box from Frantic Stamper awhile back, this one was a summer, beach, travel set and this paper fit the bill. The photo is the large disc which I cut out and attached. The postage stamp is a real one that I scavenged in a set I bought at Kitty Hawk. I stamped the postal lines. The words are made from little postage stickers I got int he same Grab box. And there's a cut-out from Kaiser Crafts that I got in the grab box too. I mean- it was a $40 box and I can't pick but you get like $200 worth of supplies, and if you're creative enough to work with different items...it's a great deal.

I stamped the planes (River City) in red all over the paper and then attached the 4 little photos on the left. I added the paper ribbon, the 7Gypsies tage (which I colored) and then I stamped the 3 red circle and the 3 black inner circles (Hero Arts).

I like this page. The photo isn't really a place of beauty or of someone, but it's what Kitty Hawk is really like. I added the words before I printed it out. I put yellow paper down on the watercolor which was trimmed to scallops on the edge. I outlined the photo in black Sharpie and attached the clear image (Tattered Angels-got this set on a mark down table-got to love mark down tables). Then I had some blue border stickers (the Grab Box again) which I trimmed down to make the right edging. Two more stamps from the set of stamps I bought at Kitty Hawk, a air mail paper cut out from another set I bought on mark down, the stamped French words (maybe Inkadinkado-have had this stamp for a long time) and finally some little yellow dot stickers-again-an old set sitting in my stacks for quite awhile.

And my honey at Kitty Hawk. Cool airplane paper (Grab Box again) and some brown scraps which is the edging from this airplane paper. I added some Tim Holtz paper tape, then the photo. Then 3 Kaiser Craft tags (from the Grab Box again). Finally some bronze Viva dots. Simple, but it works I think.

I need to take some more photos of art work...got to find some time...not sure how busy I am going to end up today...one never knows what the hubby might suck me into...and tomorrow we're off to Louden and Nascar...keep your fingers crossed it will be dry and not rainy.

Happy Weekend!

10 Things Right Now

It's Friday so here is my 10 things right now list.

1- It is pay day and I am very excited for some cash inflow, even though I am still in summer (when I don't get paid bi-weekly-I get a check the last day of school and have to budget, which never goes 100% as far as it should) catch up mode.

2-It is the first day of fall which is exciting in a way, because I love fall and the changes it brings, and being in school I want it to be fall and not summer, but in another way it is a melancholy time and I miss summer and I know winter is ahead, and I am not a big fan of winter.

3-I am having a blast making Halloween cards this past week. My studio is all picked up (love it!) except in the closet where I have put my bin of Halloween stamps and now they are all over the floor, but in the closet they are out of the way. Part of the fun is using stamps that I don't use most of the rest of the year and I love rediscovering them. Plus, let's face it, there something fun about Halloween-it is like I give myself permission to make weird art.

4-I am ready for a couple of sleep in days.
5- I am excited about going to the Nascar race on Sunday. Hope it doesn't rain!
6-My hot tub is back working, it hasn't had hot water all summer because the electrical system needed some work since it is about 7 years old and the chipmunks got into gnawing  the wiring over that time (Guess it's nice and warm for them in by the electrical heater)....BUT Dave finished fixing it last weekend and I shocked it so it is clean and
NOW  it is so nice on cool nights to go out and relax right before bed...I even sleep better.
7- I need my headlights on -already the mornings are getting that much darker!!!!!- when I drive to work...at least part of the way.
8-The Amazing Race starts back up again on Sunday night on NBC. I like end my weekend watching that, gives me something to make Sunday night a little less hectic (getting ready for the week back to work) and relaxing.
9-I am thinking this list really sounds like fall is arriving. Oh you should see the leaves, still mostly green BUT there's a lot more splashes of red, yellow and orange than last week.
10- I want to order a couple of books off of Amazon, a British cookbook, a scrapbooking book, a book by Peter Mayle. I love using their used book service and finding inexpensive reads. And I want some of the new stencils from Crafter's Workshop. There are some very cool ones! (Chevrons and punchinella...henna hands...oh so many others....) BUT, I really don't want to spend a lot of cash right now. I am in saving (ha-ha) mode.
+++++

So I wanted to add a card today too, so here we go, a fun card using Paper Smooches stamps. I added the background paper onto the blue cardstock. I did use sme white distress stain to mellow out the tone of the bckground, and I did add some colored doodled border to that paper. Then I stamped the images on white, colored them and added them to the card. Finally I added the news flash words. I don't know what the news flash is (maybe that FALL IS HERE), but I like how the mouse is looking at the tv and how the deer looks a little confused, just kind of different I guess. Next weekend Paper Smooches has their Octoebr releases, and they look pretty fun...a set of birdies, some coffee/tea stamps....hmmm...all we've seen is the sneak peeks, but they do look like a lot of fun there.

Anyhow...

Happy Friday....

and thanks for visiting.

Last Full Day of Summer (-sigh)

Since it is the last full day of this season (sigh-a slight mourning going on here), I thought I would do a post with LOTS of photos from this past summer.

Everyone needs a day at the lake...

or at the beach...

OR

A day in the boat watching an airshow...

Sun and clouds through the trees at a beautiful New Hampshire Lake

This tree makes me laugh!

In the boat, sea gulls and commorants on some rocks.

Some fun exercise and activity outside

A visit to someplace on a beautiful day

And a little adventure to something out of the ordinary

Celebrate the bounty of the season...even if you didn't fill your bucket

And have a barbicue!

The leaves are green and the air is warm...

And a warm night looking at the stars is sooooo fine!

As is a nice COLD margarita!

Bare feet, painted toe nails, shorts and a tank top...

what more could you want when it's

SUMMER!

Bye-bye, will miss you while I wait for you to come back.

My Fall Bucket List

My bucket list for the fall of 2011!!!

1- go apple picking!!!!!

2-make all of my 31 Halloween cards!!!! and maybe another Halloween project too!!!!

3-take at least 1 leaf peeping road trip-and maybe combine it with an earlier roadtrip I never took

4-bake lots of fall goodies like an apple pie and cook some comfort foods

5- go visit my mom for her birthday

6-get my garden pulled up and my irises moved and my leaves raked

7-try some more chili recipes from my 50 states of chili cookbook

8-reread Great Expectations

9-not let myself get too mad at all the garbage assignments thrown at us at work

10-get the addition cleaned up so Dave can work out there

11-plan a winter vacation for Feb/March or maybe April

12- don't go into hibernation mode and start not exercising and eating a lot more

13-do at least one thing out of the ordinary and different

14-get back to knitting my sweater and finishing my hat

15-try not to lose my patience with my hubby when he's being indecisive or pouty
16-get my clutter piles finally cleaned up and
17-not let my coffeetable turn into the Erika mess with books and mail and yarn
18-Get back into my French
19 go eagle watching some more

That's all I can think of right now, I may add more later if I think of something else.

Aloha

So people at school at pretty crabby about some new policies put into place this fall...all to do with who gets what for recertification hours and evalution time. I'm pretty crabby about it too, since it's just busy work that me away from what I want to do, which is to be in the classroom with the kids. I think the big paycheck drawers are trying to justify their jobs...or we're all being punished for the stupidity of a few...but that's how work has been this week.

Thanks goodness we're half way through.

I have been counting the minutes while sitting in afterschool meetings to when I can come home and play in the studio.

I have started to make Halloween cards-my goal, as I said before, is to make 31 cards. Katie will get most of them at school. I'll start posting them on October 1, so you'll just have to wait a bit. Got 6 made though...that's a good start on my way.

So I would LOVE to have Hawaii in my sights right now (I WISH!!!!)...and I don't know about this card...I made the pink background while practicing one of my techniques-stamping with Versamark on glossy paper and then using chalk ink. I added some paper tape, and then I punched a bunch of scalloped circles out of the same paper as the backrgound. I stamped the word aloha several times on each circle, and then stamped the flower (Hero Arts) and colored in the petals with a white pen and added a pink center. I attached those and then die cut 2 ovals, one white and one yellow. They got layered on the card. I stamped the letters (Autumn Leaves) onto the yellow oval and colored it in with the same pink I used in the flowers. Finally, I added a BUNCH of little yellow Prima flowers and gave them blue centers of Ranger Dimensional Pearls. It's like a garden on overload! But still kind of fun.

So have a good Wednesday...



It is apple season in New Hampshire

So to celebrate I made this fun card using Paper Smooches stamps. I love apples and apple picking (hope to go this weekend). I love fall, even though it is kind of melancholy too. You know, summer is over, days are getting shorter, cooler temperatures are here, and you know winter is coming before we green up again. But the colors of fall are beautiful, and there's lots of fun holidays to celebrate and there's something that brings me back to being a kid...the smell of leaves being raked, baking again, comfort foods...I know it is still technically summer, but we're in transistion-an easier one than in March but still, summer won't let go and fall is fighting to get in there. Leaves here have a touch of color and the days are shrinking and there's a crisp chill in the air, chrysanthemums are out, even a few houses dressed for Halloween-already and it isn't even October 1 yet.

Enough for babbling.

I used blue cardstock (because the sky can be so blue in the fall) and stamped the branches and leaves directly on the card. I colored the branches and left the leaves uncolored. The apples were stamped on white paper, colored, cut out and attached. I also stamped the hellow on white paper, colored it and attached it. I also added a bit of Spica red and green sparkles. Then I stamped the sweetie word directly on the card.

I love the smile on these apples, they really crack me up!

Mushrooms

Here's some of these mushrooms I've been snapping with my camera lately...

Aren't they cool?

(More some other day...I some other different views)

Happy Monday!

Another Sunday

Scrap journal page from the Outer Banks (of course). Dave walking the beach. I covered some watercolor paper with a sheet of paper which I then quickly rubbed a mango ink pad over. Then I took some paper that looked like brown cheesecloth and ran it through an embossing pad and with circles on it. Then I ran the mango ink pad over that to darken the circle. Attach. Attach the photo. Cut a rectangle of off white paper and tear away the botoom. Stamp the saying (Stampendous) with mango ink and then add a couple of my favorite open circles (Hero Arts). Attach. Add a 7Gypsies typewriter key word (from my archives) and some brown Hot Off the Press star stickers.  Add some yellow and blue bubble stickers (who makes them, I don't know, I had these sheets in my archives of supplies).  Then I finally added the words which are from a set of stickers by October Afternoon from their earlier release of beach items.

Here's another page, a journal page. I doodled the outer edging first, and colored it all. Then the words. Then some pink Distress stain. Then the stamped the stars (which I wish I hadn't added). Finally some silver stickles around the edge.

Finally another scrap journal page , this time a painted horse statue which I could out of the complete photo to get rid of the busy background edges. I first put down some striped paper. Then in white I stamped the frame/tag (Autumn Leaves) which I colored and cut out and then attached. I added the photo and then wrote in the words. I used some older rub ons in 3 of the corners- and sometimes older rub ons don't work so well (for me at least) but  I don't mind the half rubbed looked-gives it a bit of a ditressed look. Then I added the dot stickers, the hand written journaling on the page and the black Sharpier doodled edges.

Another weekend is rolling down, another week is beginning. Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by T.S. Elliot, the poet, that the end is always the beginning, maybe not his exact words but something to that extent.

Yesterday was kind of a weird day, cool, me being tired, cleaning the house since it was dirty but getting my last 2 shelves (for now) put up in my studio. HURRAY! Think my fall projects are going to be some of these small little things that need to be cleaned up, a couple of paper piles in my diningroom, my bureau top, moving some irises in my garden...I'm kind of feeling lost this weekend...need some motivation but and exhausted from my week at work and not really looking forward to this busy busy week coming up.

Oh well, not much I can do except mentally get myself in a different place.

Want to enjoy the rest of this weekend- and I will! (Just wish Dave didn't want to go out in the boat because I don't want to, need home down time because I need to do some things here and the boat-though I love it-just wipes me out and kills the day and yet him home, he gets depressed missing his boat and he sulks around which BUGS me but I understand his downness...and this is all putting a big damper on me which I need to jump over and out of...I do to enjoy the rest of my day!)

Enjoy yours



Chilly Saturday Morning

Took a great little walk this morning after sleeping in LATE, both of which I really needed. This past week at work, now that I look back, wiped me out. (And next week doesn't look all that much quieter-erggg!) I did enjoy having no one around last night night-Kate and Brian off the the Rochester Fair and Dave had a work related charity auction to go to (and he bid and won us 2 tickets to Nascar in Louden next weekend-I'm excited, I've never been before, plus he won them for a small amount which helps this museum...it's all good as he'd say). So I did go to my favorite craft store down in Massachusetts after work yesterday-Absolutely Everything, and spent more money than I should have, but I did restrain myself too. I wanted some fall embossing folders (buy 1, get one 1/2 off) and some sticky back canvas, and I got a new Penney Black holiday stamp I loved, 2 packs of Darcie's clear beach stamps, and some marked down paint. I love poking through their 60% mark down table...those unexpected discoveries are always GOOD. Last night When Harry Met Sally was on tv, couldn't find the dvd of it in my cabinet so I had to stick with the tv and all those commercials -egggg, but that flick is in the top 5 of my most favorite movies ever, and even though all the commercials bugged me, it was great to watch it. Haven't seen it for a couple of years and it is STILL as good as the last 10 or so times I've watched it.

So today I have the front of a card for you that I made back during the week. I was using one of the techniques I practiced from my on-line cardclass at Inspiration Showcase. I stamped glossy cardstock with Versa Mark and an Impression Obsession backgrounder stamp. Then I used 2 shades of Cat's Eye chalk inks and colored it.  I love this technique (in fact- I'm loving all I'm learning in this class). Then I die cut an oval on white paper and stamped this new Inkadinkado girl on it. She's great! On the inside of the card I stamped another new Inkadinkado stamp that says It doesn't have to be Halloween to be freaky. Anyhow, back to the front. I colored her with Copics, attached, and then outlined the oval in black Sharpie to act like a thin frame.  I then glued down a piece of pink paper across the paper and then put some Tim Holtz tape over that. I then used some more of those Hero Arts circles that I love and stamped 3 rings which I colored in and put yellow Viva dots along them and in the corners. This whole card is mounted on yellow cardstock, which you can't see here.

So I am thinking about challenging myself to make and post 31 Halloween cards in October. That's a lot of cards...not sure I can actually do that and do some other things I want to do, but I will put it down in writing and challenge myself.

I like to give myself challenges and goals...it helps direct me.

What about you?

Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend and do something fun or creative, ok?

10 things Friday

Recently I did a-10 things right now- list. It was a throw back to a post I did a year ago when I did the first -10 things right now- list. I got that idea from someone's blog (sorry if it was you and I am forgetting who you are) and I LOVE to make lists so it seemed like the natural thing to do.

I like how it makes you think and summarize if for no one but yourself where you are at. You know, list 10 things going on in your head or in your life or in your studio right then. Straight forward and pretty simple...sort of. It is a bit challenging to think about 10 things, not 5 or 15. What are the 10 things you really want to say about that moment.

So my new goal is to try doing a list like this on Fridays, at the end of the work week, seeing where I am at. Hopefully it won't be a list that says the same things every Friday.

Here's this week's list:

1- The leaves are starting to get a SLIGHT tinge of color. You can see fall is coming. And they say this weekend is going to be CHILLY!

2-I have been fascinated with all the mushrooms everywhere. I never remember seeing so many. They are all so different too. I've taken a lot of mushroom photos lately.

3-I really want to go to my favorite  craft store after work today to feed my addiction, but I may not go if Katie is home from school and is going to be hanging out at home. I have wanted to go all week but have restrainted myself or put myself back into the logical why spend more money on supplies  you don't really NEED brain mode.

4- I am taking this on-line course from Inspiration Showcase that is fantastic!!! Now for some more studio playtime to try out more of the techniques.

5- This week at school has been spirit week and I am tired of getting "dressed up" ever day.

6-September has seemed to slow down. It was flying by, and this hasn't been really a long week, but isn't it the end of the month yet?

7-I want to take a roadtrip to someplace I want to go to this weekend. I want someone to go with me too, so we can chat. I'd love to go check out St Gaudens National Historic Site since it's been on my list, but I'd like to go anyplace for a change of scenery.

8-I'd really like to go out for some fried clams or fried oysters. Fattening but yummy New England seafood.

9-I feel like this week I've suddenly fallen over the precipice at work...out of the slow getting into the groove mode into too much to do mode.

10-I am enjoying my latest Louise Penney book and when I get paid next week I want to buy another one of her books to read and maybe a new art/craft book. And there's a book by Peter Mayle I'd love to read too.

Anyhow...

So here's my card for today...for the new and improved me who is going to do the 10 things right now list every Friday, perhaps.

I started with bright green cardstock which I overstamped in dark green with this cool reversed dotty Invoke arts background stamp. Then I stamped the giraffe ride stamp (Magenta) using this rubber stamp that my daughter had and then decided she didn't want. I colored with Copics, attched and then doodled in black Sharpie the 3 sided frame, and then I colored in the inside of the scallops with white pen. Then I distressed with some yellow Dimensional Pearls and added the 7Gypsies tape. I stamped the new and improved (7Gyspies) right on the card, and stamped the obeying the rules (River City) on white paper, which I then cut out and attached, and also outlined with black Sharpie too. Fnally, I took the same yellow Diemsnional Pearls that I distressed with and added the dots, in sets of 3, just to pop it up.

I don't know if this card really says me, but it came out ok...I think the giraffe stamp isn't really me, though it is lots of fun...

Happy Friday.

Pirates!

A couple of more scrap journal pages from my summer trip to the Outer Banks of NC to share with you...more pirates for the theme today.

So I am trying to make this collection have more of a homemade journalistic feel, plus playing around with me designing more items on pages. I love how this page came out, and it's a good way to make it artistic but at the same time show a photo-the sign on Ocracoke of where Blackbeard was killed.

I started by drawing the rope-ish image and coloring it and then adding some pirate type of words. I moved on to drawing the chest, and coloring it and then adding some Viva pearl dots and some gold dots to fill the chest. I'll be honest, this page took me several days of playing around and adding things to it until I decided I was happy with it. The priate flag is a Cuttlebug die, and though you can't see it here I cut it from Black Tyvek fabric which gave it a real rough look since even though I ran the die through the Big Kick several times the edges still are a bit ratty- but I liked that. I keep adding the pearls and gold too over time, to finish it off. I also decided it needed some anchors, which are German scrap gold that I distressed.

It still needed more so I added the little dots around the rope edge, and then I decided to distress stain the out page edge (the page is done on watercolor paper cut down). Then I stained the inside of the rope lighter, and then decided that needed some stripes of darker distress stain. Finally I added the photo of the sign which I cut out of the photo it was in. As I said, I am thrilled the finished result, it is a very new type of page for me and I love the fact that I can be happy with my finished created work!!!

This page is a little more traditional for me. I started by stamping pirate images in blue and red on white watercolorpaper. Still, it needed distressing so I used 2 brown shades of ink which I rubbed the whole pads right over my stamping. I do like how you can see bits of the images just peeking through. Then I added the brown paper and added the photo of Dave and the pirate statue. I did a rough cut of this out of the big photo and then used black Sharpie to color in around the edges of both Dave and the pirate-I needed to get rid of the busy background I couldn't not include in the original photo. I had die cut the ship and waves when I die cut the flag for the top page, only I used white paper here and did some coloring, stamped a skull and crossbone image and wrote in my info. Finally, I thought it still needed something so I stamped the ahoy over the page, masking my photo area, and added a few brads around the photo and outlined the paper in black. Needed that grungy pirate feel -think I got it, I hope at least.

Need to take some photos

I am running out of art to show you...at least running out of photographed art. But today, let me show you this card, which is fun and perky. I love making cards with fish. Don't know why-maybe because I am a Pieces, but I do. And these silly fish by Paper Smooches are really fun to make cards with. 

I used this great colorful cardstock as the base and then I used my Sizzix to cut out a white card with scalloped edges- but I cut that card right down the fold and attached half of it to the front of my card. Then I stamped  and colored the fish, added some of the bubbles which I also colored, along with a couple of sprigs of seaweed. Then the saying, a light brushing with some aqua colored ink and a stiple brush and finally I added some silver Stickles just on the inner points of the scallops.

It was EASY!  You know me...making tons of cards for Katie at college...she wants to smile so I make them simple but fun, and I'm not really a frilly lady...

But I love fish!

I usually write my blog on weekdays (at least working weekdays) when I get home the evening before I post...It is a great way to unwind for me and transistion myself from teacher to artist. So although this posts Wednesday morning (already-wow! and the middle of September to boot!) I am writing this Tuesday evening. And now, I feel ready to go hit the studio for a bit...try out some techniques from yesterday's session of my on-line class. I am saving today's session for tonight, after dinner, when I really go into relax mode.

So have a GREAT Wednesday...hump day...wow-this week is moving right along, isn't it?