Compendium of Curiosity Challenge

Now listed at www.Lindascozycraftcorne.etsy.com is Tim Holtz' book A COMPENDIUM OF CURIOSITIES. 

There has been weekly challenges at the Ranger group that I belong.  It is a Yahoo Group;  it is All Things Tim.  I have been wanting to do a challenge  but needed the book.  The book is beautiful, and I love the layout. The pictures are vibrant and clear.  Instructions are awesome.  I worked on my first challenge yesterday.  The group is on Challenge #15 and so that is where I begin.  For more information and inspiration please check out Studio L3 http://studiol3.blogspot.com/. 

Now, if you have visited here before, you know that I usually give instructions on how I made my card, but I will have   to skip it on the flowers today as that was directly from A Compendium of Curiosities page 53.  The background was made using SU's French background stamp in SU Saffron Ink and then distressing with Ranger's Scattered Straw.  I wanted "follow your heart - it knows the way" to pop so I used SU Pumpkin Pie. 

Customized Cards

My mother-in-law asked me to make some Thank You cards to send to people for celebrating her ___th birthday a couple of months ago. I would have liked to play with the black and white picture a little more but I wanted to get these out. I used a tag and put some "newsprint" style paper on the tag. Distressed it with some Tattered Rose (Ranger Ink) and stamped some flowers (SU!) in Red Rose (SU!). I used some alcohol and Liquid Pearls and punched a bird and leaf out. The paper is from 7 Gypsies. 7 Gypsies is m graphic new favorite paper collection. I also have been drawn to paper from graphic 45 which you may have seen in other cards and also is shown here.

Happy Anniversary and Family Announcement

A friend asked me to make an Anniversary Card for some relatives so I tried some new things. I squeezed some Liquid Pearl - Gold into an egg carton and then dabbed a paint brush in the Liquid Pearl and "painted" over the image. The picture doesn't do the end result justice. It gave a beautiful pearlized/shimmering effect. I took some of Tim Holtz musical notes Tissue paper Tape and put on some paper and then with a heart punch, I punched some hearts out. I sponged in Bundled Sage and then stamped "Happy Anniversary". I used one of the newer corner punches from Stampin' Up to give a pretty corner edging to it.

One of the nicest compliments a card maker can receive is to be asked to make another card from someone. And that is what happened here. My friend asked me to make another card. So I measured across 5 1/4" and cut down the length of the paper. I then trimmed off some so that the length measured 10 1/2". Then I scored at 5 1/4" which makes a perfect square. I cut out in neutral paper 5 1/4" x 5 1/4". I cut out the handsome couple dancing. I knew I wanted to layer this card and this next design was very beautiful and romantic with bold splashes of pink set along with romantic pink flowers and dark and light green leaves. I added Distressed Stickles "Peeled Paint" on one of the leaves. This was just enough of an extra element to give the card just a bit of sparkle. I then took Tim Holtz musical notes Tissue Paper Tape and sponged over in Bundled Sage and then stamped a harp in Stampin Up's Red Rose. Hearts, flowers, and satin are all images of romance that I think about and therefore that is why I decided to add the Satin Ribbon and anchor both ends with hearts. I added just an extra little romance by adding the green pearl beads.

As you may know from reading my blog a few months back we lost our beloved 13 year old lab/husky mix. We were going to wait until November to get a puppy for the family. I was looking into getting a Shih Tzu, but then we decided that we truly shouldn't be spending all of the money needed for a pure bread puppy. So I started poking around to see what kind of puppies are available. I wanted a young puppy that could "grow" with us. There was an advertisement on Ebay for Cocker Spaniel/Shih Tzu mix puppies that were 8 weeks old. I had always liked the Cocker Spaniel but wasn't sure about it with children. However, the Shih Tzu breed is very friendly with children and very happy to please so we went the other day to check some puppies out.

I went there with the intent of picking up a girl puppy. And as much as I love the look of the Shih Tzu breed (all 3 girls took after their Shih Tzu father), this little fellow ran up to me and licked my face and his sisters came running too, and it was really hard to decide but he kept nudging his way up front. My husband and son were more partial to a boy puppy and since my husband prefers the big huskies dogs and since this puppy seemed to take a shine to me, we chose this little guy (who took after his Cocker Spaniel mother) . He went into his crate last night. He whined and cried a wee big but I talked to him and poked my finger through the crate and he eventually fell asleep only to wake up a little later because he had to go out. He was really good all night about waking up and doing his business outside and going back in his crate. We both got wet around 5:00 AM when the sprinklers were going, and I had a difficult time seeing the back yard as our lighting isn't so great back there.

Our family is traveling back east in October for Howard's cousin Lauren's wedding. So one major consideration and one reason we were going to wait until November to bring a new dog into the family. However, the woman that rescued these puppies also puppy/dog sits and she agreed to watch him for the week which meant we could start acclimating him with our family and we would have a safe and happy environment for him to be while we go away. By the way, since I got to pick the family dog out (meaning after 11 years of asking for a smaller breed dog), my husband got to pick the name. What other namewould you expect a Cowboys' fan to pick for the family dog, but Dallas. Go Cowboys!