Happy Thanksgiving.

Last Saturday I asked HWNSNBP to take a ride with me to the Dick Blick art store in Allentown, PA so I could see a paint pouring demo that they advertised in all their stores for that day.  It was a little over an hour each way, but he was game.  We asked SIRI for directions and she was sending us on a different route than what he wanted to take for the first leg.  The road he wanted to take is typically faster (less lights and exits) and would merge with the SIRI route anyway.  So on our way to this road SIRI kept telling us to "Return to the Route" instead of recalibrating.  In other words, she really wanted us to turn around.  We knew from other trip experience that once we were on that alternate road she would recalibrate, but as we approached the entrance to that road we could see that the traffic, on a Saturday mind you, was bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see in the direction that we would be going.  Obviously there was an accident holding everything up.  We didn't know how far down that road it was backed up but we knew we had to turn around and go back to SIRI's originally suggested route.  So 15 minutes was wasted on that.  

Once we got on that route we found the store with no problem, parked and walked in.  The demo was scheduled for 10 and we were late and I hoped that we hadn't missed it.  My hopes were dashed immediately upon entering the store as I could see that the time had been erased off their chalkboard and there wasn't anything set up.  HWNSNBP had followed me in and he wandered to the back of the store to find someone and they told him that they had cancelled the 10 o'clock demo because they were understaffed, but they would have staff there at 1 o'clock for the second one.  Well, there wasn't much chance of us sticking around for that, and we certainly weren't going to drive home and back in that time.  So, seeing how disappointed I was, HWNSNBP told me to do some Christmas Stocking (UP) shopping for myself, which I gladly did.  Gel pens, paint pens, Microns, narrow masking tape, Prismacolor pencils, and a bundle of canvases all magically made their way into my "stocking" basket. 

 I don't know when or if I'll get back there, but when I do go, I'm going to have to remember to bring my swatches/color charts.  I was fairly sure that the colors I used in the Thanksgiving card above weren't already in my collection and truthfully, I didn't have the idea to use them on this card until we were in the car on the way home.  I remembered this stamp that I had recently bought specifically because I had seen a sample of it colored with white pumpkins and that's the way these started.  But then I had the idea to add the teal and aqua to them and I really loved the way it came out.  

That's a very long story to explain the card, but behind it all is my gratefulness to my husband for indulging my artful whims.

And some more Thanksgiving cards for the grandsons.

With Thanksgiving foxes to put on the inside.

Hoping those of you who celebrate had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving.  And those of you who don't, I hope it was a terrific Thursday!

More Tag Make-Overs

This started wit a pack of tags from the $Tree.  I chose 4 and punched some holes in them with my crop-a-dile. 

Then I laid them side-by-side and attached them with plain tape.

I added another piece of tape on the inside of one end......

Folded that one in, and then folded over the other side to tape them together.

So now it stands on it's own.

I used the gold cord that came with the tags to tie the top together and managed to get a small bow.

And then I placed the whole thing over a battery operated tea light.   

These house tags were at the Dollar Spot at Target.  I trimmed the hanger part off of each one (where the chimneys are) and lined them up on a coordinating piece of scrapbook paper to make a Christmas card.  Another over-sized card, so another envelope will need to be made.  

I can make a couple more of these quick cards.  Any other ideas out there for using tags?

New Baby, New Grandparents

Our neighbor's daughter just had her first baby and made them grandparents for the first time.  They had a beautiful baby girl.  Just a couple of cards to congratulate the parents and new grandparents.

Get Well's Needed Again

Our future son-in-law's dad had surgery recently and this has been my GO TO card for a quick get well (especially for a guy).  Just a touch of humor to get them through it.  (Sorry it's so fuzzy.)

And for a couple of lady-friends with a personal note inside.  I have a small stack of stamped images that I'm slowly trying to color/watercolor/paint so I have them on hand and this pumpkin was perfect for this time of year.

Jingle Belles - Mittens, Scarves, and Sweaters

Sometimes you just don't know where or when inspiration will pop up.  I knew that the theme for this fortnight's Jingle Belle challenge was "winter wear" and in getting ready to make a trip to IKEA this past weekend, when I saw the mitten gift tags and this beautiful blue plaid wrapping paper on the website the idea bloomed.  Sort of.  The tags were only $.99 for a pkg. of 12 and the paper was a couple of bucks and that paper can be used year-round and not just for the holidays.  

But what to do with the mittens and how to hide the holes? So I came up with a mitten snowflake with some pom-pom snowballs.  It did turn out to be an oversized card measuring 6"x6" so I used some bristol board as my card base, and it will need an oversized envelope to go with it, but I do like the way it came out especially when I found just the right sentiment to add. 

And since I had 12 tags and that whole roll of paper I decided to make 2! (Should have gotten more tags!)

I picked up some different tags at both the Dollar Tree and Target recently and have ideas for them that I hope to share in the near future.  In the meantime, let me jump over to the Jingle Belles and see what other cozy winter garb is being featured.  You can join me by clicking here. 

Catching Up on Posting Some Cards

I saw this scrapbook paper and loved how the colors worked together and when I needed a couple of birthday cards recently, I got to use it.  

This card was for my son and daughter-in-law's 7th anniversary.

And then, there were two baby boys born recently.  I made two of each of these cards so we could send one to the parents and one to the grandparents.  

Sharing Their Creativity

My blogging friend Sabrina recently sent me a "just because" card.  It's so much fun receiving her cards because she is so talented.  Just look at the elements in this card.  Perfection right down to the beautiful necklace.  I haven't properly thanked her for this but I hope she knows it's so greatly appreciated.  (And it came in a handmade envelope of which you can see just a little at the bottom of the picture.)

And shame on me, while I was photographing the recent card, I remembered that I hadn't shared the birthday card that she sent me.  It's been displayed in our living room since I got it because it's so sweet.  That yellow bird could be Kirby our cockatiel!  Looks like he has a cool friend too.

Sabrina is the Queen of card techniques and fancy folds.  This card does fold up flat, of course, or it wouldn't have gotten here all the way from Ireland.  

You see why I couldn't put it away!

Thank you Sabrina.  It's always a special day when I receive one of your cards.  I've saved every one of them!

Jingle Belles - Rudolph and Friends

HWNSNBP keeps prodding me about my small stash of Christmas cards....still.  So I spent a little time this weekend catching up a bit using this fortnight's theme from the Jingle Belles of "creatures".  Having recently getting some dies featuring deer, this was the perfect challenge.

The first card uses a Sizzix die and makes a 3-D card.  I can't take much creative credit for this one as I followed the picture on the die package almost to the T.  I did choose my own colors and added the snowflakes to the background.  I will be making a couple more of these for sure.  

I don't remember the source for this die, but I do remember seeing the color combo recently on someone's blog and the kraft and cherry cobbler really looked so pretty I had to give it a try.

The next couple were a bit experimental with a technique I don't think I fully accomplished.  In fact I know I didn't.  It's supposed to be Oxidized Metal and I goofed and used Memento Black ink instead of Stazon, so all my black disappeared.  However, I'm not totally bummed about the results.  I tried it on gold, copper, and silver foil.  The gold and copper didn't turn out too bad.  The silver was another story.  My silver foil paper was a bit too matte and didn't look like much when done. Well, at least it didn't look like what I wanted it to look like for this particular experiment.  I used two different embossing folders.  

The reindeer die is from Tutti Designs.  The technique in question only used metallic embossing powders, but I decided to sprinkle on some white too.  

So, with the one of the first, three of the second, and four of the third, I wound up with eight cards.

Still have more to catch up with, but first I'm catching up with the Jingle Belles and checking out the other creatures that are stirring.  You can join me by clicking here.  

Inktober - Days 15 - 31

Day 15 - LEGEND with Tangle "Maryhill"

Day 16 - WILD with Tangle "Trentwith"

Day 17 - ORNAMET with Tangle "Dreamdex"

Day 18 - MISFIT (more like Mistake) with Tangle "Sindoo" 

Day 19 - SLING (off prompt) with Tangle "Diva Dance"

Day 20 - TREAD with Tangle "Antidots"

Day 21 - TREASURE (before and after adding the second color) with Tangle "Batumber"

Day 22 - GHOST with Tangle "Abundies"

Day 23 - ANCIENT with Tangle "Pixioze"

Day 24 - DIZZY with Tangle "Baton"

Day 25 - TASTY with Tangle "Tripoli"

Day 26 - DARK with Tangle "Ratoon" 

Day 27 - COAT (of feathers) with Tangle "Crescent Moon"

Day 28 - RIDE (some kind of whirling dervish) with Tangle "Well, Well, Who"

Day 29 - INJURED (not really, unless you think those might be bandaids in the background) with Tangle "Kuke"

Day 30 - CATCH with Tangle "Nik"

Day 31 - RIPE with several variations of Tangle "Florz"

I had fun with these and have seen some really beautiful artwork this past month.  Trying to follow both sets of prompts wasn't always easy but I did it for the most part this time.  I think next year I will use the tangle prompts alone and focus on that more.  

No more art challenges until after the holidays - gotta catch up on Christmas cards and gifts.