Simpler Times

I knew when we went on vacation to Pinetop, Arizona, I would find a different stamp than I usually see. I love the details of this stamp, and the rural setting which reminds me of Pennsylvania. This would have made a perfect stamp for a Father's Day Card for my dad if he were still with us. This stamp just brings back memories of the simplicity of my childhood which is another reason that I liked it so much. Simple. It is hard these days to lead simple lives and it seems that we are hit every day with something new to think or be concerned about and sometimes we just need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and place our faith in our Heavenly Father.

With all of that said, let me tell you a little more about this stamp. We strived on our recent vacation to relax (and that doesn't come easy with 3 young children). However, the goal was to enjoy the resort with the indoor pool, racquetball court, basketball court, pool tables, and ping pong. On some down time I planned on working with my inks but b/c space was limited I tried, really tried to think about what I might need. Paper and inks and that is where I stopped. I didn't bring Stickles with me (unless a couple of bottles accidentally fell into my container - oops) . I didn't bring glitter because I honestly didn't want to deal with embossing and that also would have meant that I would have needed to bring my heating tool so it was really right down to the basic.

I first stamped the image and then with a paint brush I "painted" by dabbing the brush in blue color the sky line. I also did that with the green grass using Peeled Paint. The leaves on the tree were made using a Tim Holtz Refillable Pen and Adirondack Alcohol Inks. I was nervous about bringing my alcohol ink bottles with me b/c of the mess that could be made so I only brought my pens with ink in them. That, I must say worked out perfectly.

An Ode to Max

Well, no pictures today. I don't have any current pictures of our 13 year old dog, Max. Max was a lab, golden retriever, husky mix. I took one look at Max and said, "he is going to be a big dog". But he was so loveable and furry. He was more like a great big cub bear than a puppy. However, we took that great big fur ball puppy home. He was so cute! Having a dog prepares you a little for having children. I knew with how my husband treated Max that our children were going to be well spoiled. Once when my husband was gone for the weekend, I had to go outside with curlers in my hair because he refused to go outside without being on the leash.

And then we had one, two, and three children and yet there was a fourth, Max. After we would get the children down for the evening and think, ok, now we can relax but no there was Max ready for his turn to have some attention. Can you blame the poor baby? Where does an 80 pound dog fit in with three young children? Well, he did and we made it through and so the family was growing up and some growing old.

We had him for six months when he ran through the snow one day and hurt his hip and at nine months of age we were told that he had hip problem and we were told he would need surgery. Other than that, he was in pretty good shape throughout his life.

Well the past year has been difficult. He started having trouble walking and some other issues. We recently went on vacation and when we picked him up he had had issues while at the vet/kennel. We thought he was doing better but this morning when I came downstairs I noticed he was really sick. Well, had places to go and then came home to check on him and he was gone.So that was that. We said our good-byes and took care of what needed to be done and here we are back home trying to forget the day that is thankfully behind us.


Linda

Circus Girl

I have seen these "pin up" girl images around on different blogs and projects, but didn't know where I could get a hold of them and, to be honest, not too sure what I would do if I had them to use. Then one day, I came across Paper Imagery Designs http://www.paperimagerydesigns.com/ and, HELLO, I found many wonderful pictures to choose from. So I got this delightful collection http://www.paperimagerydesigns.com/item/Pin-Up-ATCs-760-628. My package came with all of our mail that was collecting at the post office since we were on vacation (see below posting).

I was settling down with the family to watch a movie with inks in hand and trying to decide what to make when the mail just came walking in and with it was my package from Paper Imagery Designs. The pictures are bright, colorful and beautiful. I set out to cut one of the pictures out so I could make a card.

So I attached it to another paper and contemplated what to do next. And then it came to me. Something that I did a week or so ago. I mixed drops from Re-inker bottle of Tattered Rose Distress Ink with my new favorite from Ranger Ink, Acrylic Metallic Pearl Dabber Paint, and painted it across the background paper and image. I guess I was tired that night because I couldn't think what more I wanted to do with it plus it needed to dry so I put it down and picked it up the next day. From there I wanted to play with some more of my Distressed Inks and the metallic dabber so I made a couple of background cards with these products.

I then decided that the corners needed a little something so I pulled out my scallop corner punch from Creative Memories and punched away. The picture is quite beautiful on its own but I just wanted to add a dab of something so I added Crystal Stickles to her crown and Cotton Candy Stickles to her outfit. Now she sparkled too! I then remembered the beads that I had gotten awhile ago. They are pretty pinks and purples and wasn't sure at the time how I would use them but since these are colors that I tend to move towards, I knew they would be used, eventually. I tend to hold on to my things but really wanted to dress this up. So then I decided as I looked at it that it would make a great gift tag or small bookmarker. I then added thread from the Bastille company. I still wanted to add some more beads and then remembered my collection of beads that I rarely use and went to work stringing beads.

Hm, now for the next part. As I mentioned above, the night before I was playing with some Distressed Inks and the dabber. I had this pretty pink/peachy looking background which I thought would be perfect with the tag so I put the tag in the middle of it and was trying to figure out what to do next. I then noticed the small butterflies and it came to me to add butterflies from the Stampin' Up die cut that I got a few months ago. I took some other paper that had already been played with and rolled it through the Cuttlebug and punched out the butterflies. I also wanted to this to be versatile. You can either keep the tag with the rest of the card or pull it out so I made a pocket for the tag. I stained a smaller strip of paper, scored it a few times, stamped with a butterfly image and attached it. I wanted a pop of color so I took a blue shimmer paper and ran that with the butterfly die cut through the Cuttlebug. I liked it but it just seemed too much of a contrast with my pink/peach color card. I then decided to paint another card with pink and metallic pearl and once it was dried, I ran that through the Cuttlebug. I added a little Fruit Punch Stickles to highlight the butterfly. I placed this on top of the blue butterfly so that a little of the blue could be seen. It is like two butterflies in flight together.

Now for the final layer which is the actual card itself. Once again I added Spun Sugar Pink and Wild Honey around the edges. I wanted to give it a touch of Distressed Stickles and chose Tattered Rose because it gives it the slightest touch of pink stain with some matting. All in all it is a perfect combination.

A Change In Pace

I didn't make a card this past week because we headed up to Pinetop, AZ, for a family vacation. It was nice to get away and relax. We went to Woodland Park for a walk. It was really pretty there. My youngest who just loves ducks was happy to see all of them in the lake.

Going to Pinetop reminds me of the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. The trees are so tall, green and beautiful. We also got to see Lilly pads on our nature walk. I went a little crazy taking pictures. It is such a beautiful park. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the scenery.

We also took in a Car Show and Arts & Trade

Fair while we were there. It was fun looking at the old style cars.

First ATC Swap

I am a little late. This is my first ATC swap and hoping that it is okay.

We were suppose to use as much of Tim Holtz' products as possible. I used Tim Holtz' I See Paris Cling Mount Stamp Set. I first distressed the top layer paper in Old Paper and then inked up the Eiffel Tower in Walnut Stain. I then stained the second later in Chipped Sapphire. I was very happy and surprised the other day when I tried out Chipped Sapphire for the first time. The outside of the packaging looks more like light purple than blue or sapphire but this is the pretty color that I got when I inked up my paper. I then wanted to add something new so I used Vintage Photo Crackle Paint.

For the main part of the card I stained Antique Linen on the paper and inked the stamp in Walnut Stain. I then wanted to paint a little on the card because that is my new favorite thing to do. So I mixed Adirondack Pearl Metallic Dabber and Antique Linen re-inker drops and painted over the image. It looks like a glaze over the image. Then for a little more I added a touch of Tattered Rose Distressed Stickles.

I saw this a week or two ago and thought that it was perfect for someone like me who has a difficult drawing without some help. So I took one of my punchers, put a grunge board in it and traced around the bird with a pen and then cut it out. The first bird was stained with Forest Moss. The sparkly eye was added with Waterfall Stickle. I did this a second time and stained once with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and a second time with Distress Stickles.