Punched Penguins

One penguin.

Four penguins.

Thirty penguins......

became 30 cards.

Found this cute guy on Kay Sha's Creations on Paper and used them to make a set of cards for Rachel to use for the holidays.  Punch, punch, punch I did and embossed the hat and earmuffs and card fronts.  Thank goodness for my Xyron Sticker maker which helped with those eye slivers.  A little sponging on the beak before gluing together and then creation via assembly line. 

The final step was to add the Happy Holidays banner.  Want to know an easy way to trim those banner edges into points?  Get a square punch - size doesn't really matter.  Feed the end of the strip into the punch corner as below (sorry for the blurry pics).

And you get a crisp and neat end.

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Who is in the mood for baking?  I am but it never seems like I have the time.  All the ingredients are stocked up and waiting.  I have my recipes all lined up and ready to go...... but..... there's the.... well, I'm sure everyone is pretty much in the same boat with a long list of things to do.   No matter how many times I tell myself I'm going to start getting ready for the holidays sooner, it never seems soon enough.  Anyway, I did make time last night, after seeing the teapot inspiration for this week, to make some paper cookies. 

These are fancier cookies than I will ever probably make, but a girl can dream.  If they were truly "baked" the dough would be piped onto the cookie sheet and baked to get the scallop edges crispy.  Then when cooled, they would be iced with some pink and green tinted icing.  Once that set up, then the snowflakes could either be piped on with icing or stenciled on. 

As it is here, the cookies are die cut with the large scallop from the Birds and Blooms die set in Confetti Cream and the edges sponged lightly with Creamy Caramel.  I stamped the snowflakes in VersaMark and embossed with white EP on Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink then punched them out with a 1" circle punch.  The "cookies" are presented on a white doily of Whisper White cs punched with the scallop trim corner and edge punches.  I added some fine pink and green lines to the edge of the doily.  The sentiment is stamped from Four the Holidays and embossed in white EP on a Crumb Cake backing.  The last touch was the pink cotton string.

Here's the story to go with the inspiration this week.  Please take a look at all the wonderful creations everyone is adding this week in the gallery.

Happy Birthday Mail Lady

Since I've been working at the school I've become friends with our mail lady.  We don't have a mailbox outside the school so she has to come in to pick up and deliver.  This gives her a chance to take a little break and we usually chat for a few minutes.   I usually bring my cards, specifically my Teapot Tuesday cards in and show them to her and my office mate.  They are very supportive of my hobby so I knew I had to whip up a card for her birthday. 

This is one of my Poppy stamps which I watercolored and then surrounded with circle punches using the same colors.  She looks a little washed out to me on the computer, but she's really cute in person.  I really like the way the border came out and I think I'm going to use that on one or two Christmas cards. 

Check One More Off the Bucket List

Andrea Bocelli in concert - December 4, 2010

This summer HWNSNBP and I made up a sort of bucket list, not that we're, either one of us, planning on going anywhere, but we thought it would be a good idea to put down on paper some of the things that we wanted to do with the rest of our lives.  I won't share the whole list, but part of mine was to see Andrea Bocelli in concert and HWNSNBP came through with the tickets. 

We took the train to Newark Penn Station and walked to the Prudential Center from there.  Most of the walk was indoors which was nice given the temperatures these days.  We entered the building and took the mammoth escalators to the mezzanine.  I have to say that our seats were a little scary.  Made me a little dizzy actually and I'm not the one with the acrophobia. 

This was a picture I took with my cell phone.  I don't like to travel with a big bag when I know we'll be in cramped quarters, so I usually just bring what I can fit in my pockets and the camera stayed home.   As you can see, we were pretty far away, but I had said I didn't care where the seats were, I just wanted to be in the building to hear him.

I guess it was kind of apropo that we were up so high because the music was heavenly.

Bingo Bits Ornament Holder

I took a little rosemary tree to my cousin on Sunday.  I had made ornaments from the tree using SU's Jolly Bingo Bits and I didn't want to give her the tree all decorated just in case she wanted to add one ornament a day during Advent.  So..... I made this ornament holder.  I used the images from the hostess set Northern Hearts.  Not sure you can see from the picture, but I had stamped the Bingo Bit snowflake in VersaMark on the red cs first. 

Inside I used three strips of Garden Green cs that had been punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch.  It was perfect to hang the ornaments on.  Each strip inside the card held 8 ornaments.  The strips themselves were popped up on two dimensionals at each end to make room for the hook to hang.  I then added a punched 1/2" circle to each strip on the ends. 

The folder has a 1/2" spine so that when it is folded shut it does not crush the ornaments inside.

This was a fun, last-minute project.  BTW - she loved it! 

Cookie Walk 2010

Last Monday we held our annual Cookie Walk at school.  We only had 7 participants but the cookies were all delicious and we all got a good amount.  Clockwise starting at 12 - Cinnamon Crackles, Chinese Almond Cookies, Chocolate Crackle Tops, Lemon Crisps, Reeses Chewy Chocolate Cookies, Chocolate Chips, and in the center Espresso Thumbprint Cookies.

To participate you had to sign up to make a batch of 5 dozen or more cookies.  At the end of the school day we all met in the faculty room with our cookies and an empty container.  With gloved hands we circled the table picking up 3-5 cookies from each batch until our containers were full.  The extras were put in a container for our principal to take home to his family.

This year we asked everyone to try a recipe they hadn't used before. I choose to make Espresso Thumbprint Cookies (center above).  HWNSNBP said they were too chocolatey for him, but I liked the coffee flavor mixed with chocolate. 

I always ask for the participants to provide me with a copy of the recipe they used and I put them into a little "booklet" as you see below.  This year I went with a fall theme.

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Nope you're not seeing things.  This teapot is actually made that way on purpose.  Yep!  On purpose.  I, for one do not know why someone would want to own something that looks like it's a mistake, but apparently people do - and they're not cheap either.

Anyway, this is our inspiration for this week - although our creations do not have to be upside-down.  (At least I think they don't, but we'll see who shows up in the gallery that way!)  Cindy has challenged us to bring birds to the party...... and cats..... and it's all got to do with the story she has created to go along with the pot this week.  Click here for the whole deal. 

I've got finches for you, singing as a matter of fact.  No cats today.  Our goldfinches are not so gold these days having their winter olive color now, but I decided to let these little guys keep their bright plumage for this holiday card.

I picked up this Memory Box Singing Bird Trio stamp at One Little Spark in Tuckerton.  It is stamped three times on the top note die cut out and then colored with markers.  I added the fa la la la la la la la with a Micron Pigma marker.  The birds were masked and I added the blue sponging around them.  Below you can see that I gave it some glitter treatment before adding a bow and button.

Busy Weekend

This was taken on Thanksgiving morning just as the snow we weren't expecting was changing over to a little bit of sleet, then a drizzle.  I had seen this rose blooming from the house the day before and remembering that the ones that I brought into the house last fall didn't like the warmth, decided to leave it on the bush to enjoy from a distance.  Despite the gentle coating of snow/ice, the rose is still blooming today (Sunday). 

It's been a busy few days what with the holiday and then pierogie day Friday (post to follow soon) - not to mention shopping.  We are trying to really simplify things this year and not go haywire with nonsensical gift items so the shopping hasn't been too bad.  In fact, I think, no I know, I spent more on myself on Black Friday than on anyone else.  But the items that I bought were not strictly impulse, so I feel good about that. 

So  here are some other projects I've been working on.   This is a card that I made using zentangles as the background.  I think I'll do some more similar to this in the near future.  I like the contrast of the color with the black design. 

And this little tree will be delivered to my cousin Barbara who just had back surgery. It is a rosemary tree and I made the ornaments using the Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set and some earring findings as hooks. 

 I punched the images out with a 1" circle punch and then daubered Creamy Caramel on the edges and then also a little of my gold shimmer paint.  Then I punched the hole and added the earring finding after I trimmed some of the hook down.

My cousin has been through a couple of rough years dealing with pain and this surgery is hoped to help relieve it so she can start enjoying things again.  She is so looking forward to being able to hold her grandchild due in January, without pain.  Over the last few years she has had her hip and both knees replaced, and just recently lost her beloved father.  She is the one who visits her elderly aunts and brings them little uplifting gifts - as she does to her close friends.  I have been the recipient of many of her generous little "Just For You" packages. 

If anyone reading this would like to send her a card, handmade or store bought, I know she would be thrilled and it would certainly lift her spirits.  Contact me for her address.

Well, I should be off and delivering this tree now.  She'll have the option of decorating it all at once, or using it as an Advent Tree and adding an ornament a day. 

Thanksgiving Wishes and Projects

I loved this turkey when I saw it on LeAnne's blog.  I changed it up just a little using an oval instead of circle for the body and I can see now that I should have sponged the edges like she did, but I think it's cute so I made a quartet of them.

Then I set about making some pumpkin fudge.  Oh what a roller coaster trip it was this past weekend trying to clean my kitchen to get ready for Thanksgiving and Pierogie Day and get some baking done for the Cookie Walk (post to follow soon).  And I decided to throw making fudge in there!  But I had picked up these cute little dishes at the Christmas Tree Shop for $cheap and I had fudge in mind for them.

The last touch was to wrap and add the turkey.  I just slid him under the ribbon (another clearance find item I wish I'd gotten more of).

They went to a couple of friends and the Autumn Boxes below I filled with fall M&M's, coated sunflower seeds, and chocolate covered cranberries went in other directions and will also be on the table for the girls at dinner today.

So with the turkey in the oven and this post finished let me wish you a Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are.  I am grateful for my family and my friends, both near and far.  Your love and support is what it's all about. 

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This week our inspiration comes from this sweet scene of a little girls tea party.  Don't they look adorable?  Cindy has woven a story to go along with the destination this week of a pair of good friends who often have tea together and host many tea parties.  One of them is experiencing some severe health issues  so they haven't been able to have the parties like they used to and her birthday is coming up.  So we're going to be bringing tea party wishes to her. 

My card is based on an old tradition of leaving calling cards.  The stamp is actually made to be used for place cards, but when I paired it with the sentiment from the Rubbernecker Tea Time set, I thought it would make a cute calling card.  I added the punched cherry blossom border and just mounted it simply on Cherry Cobbler cs. 

I stamped the images first in VersaMark and then embossed with gold EP.  Then I took my markers and blender pen and colored it.  The last touch was the bow made from Cherry Cobbler seam binding wrapped in gold stretchy cording. 

I'm going to check out the gallery now.  Come on along and give it a look.

Fleeting Moments

Any time I've seen a hummingbird it has been like a fleeting moment.  They are so quick, flitting from flower to flower and then suddenly they're gone.  When I was making this sympathy card recently that's what I was thinking about - fleeting moments.

All it takes is a fleeting moment to change a life.  It can be the decision to buy a lottery ticket or taking a different route to work.  It can be something you do everyday of your life or something you're doing for the first time.  In any case, whether or not or even how it changes your life is unpredictable.  The thing is, we don't sit around waiting for something to happen to change our lives.  We go on with them and take our chances.  

Throughout this last year the family and friends that I have who have passed away have not gone suddenly.  Some have been in hospice and some have been in the hospital, but none of them has passed away without warning.  None of them has gone in a fleeting moment.  They have all had some inkling that the end was near.   I'm trying to decide if this is a good thing or not.   

About 15 years ago my daughter and I were in a car accident.  Someone t-boned us at an intersection and totalled our car, but luckily Rachel was not injured except for some bruises.  I had taken the brunt of the crash on the driver's side of the car and had it not been for the fact that we were just coming from her soccer game and I had several layers of clothing on, I'm sure my injuries would have been much more serious.  

 I could see the impact coming out of the corner of my eye, but aside from trying to apply the brakes, there was no way to escape so I remember closing my eyes which was a good reaction because there was glass everywhere after the crash.  The impact also caused the wind to get knocked out of me so when I opened my eyes I couldn't catch my breath.  It hadn't yet registered with me what was going on and the point to bringing this up is that it wasn't like the movies where you see "your life flash in front of your eyes" or you relive your sweetest memories.  It happened and there was no time to react to anything else but to tell myself to breath.  It's your instinct for survival that kicks in, not your submission to death.

But.... having said that, it becomes a fleeting moment because when you're done with the flashing lights of the ambulance, and the doctors and nurses milling around you.... when you're sitting safely in your husband's truck in clothes that someone grabbed for you because yours were cut off in the ambulance...... when you wait patiently as he runs into a convenience store for a cup of coffee on the way home because he's been without food or drink while nervously waiting for word on the seriousness of your situation.... that's when the "life flashing" begins.  That's when you see how lucky you were, and are so thankful for what you have had.  That's when I had the opportunity to make choices and changes that would have a more positive impact on my life.  

These people that I have lost rcently haven't had the same opportunity.   In that situation, the time that they were given between finding out that they were going to die and dying was not used to make changes in their lives.  They have not been alone though.  They have been surrounded by loving families who have gone on to grieve for their loss.

So what I'm getting at I suppose is that no matter whether you know you're going to die or not, the fleeting moment is every moment that you don't take to enjoy, change, or live your life to the fullest.  Every moment to improve yours or someone elses life is a fleeting moment if you don't act upon it.  Sure, we all need down time and rest and relaxation, and we wouldn't be human if we did not have some regret about something that we would have done differently along the way, but we will never get wasted time back.  There's no bank to put time into that we can draw upon later.  So we best use it as good as we can when we can.

Teapot Tuesday 120

Yes, I know it's Thursday.  Ha!  I've been suffering from a bit of what I'll call "cranial clutter" this week - got a lot on my mind and a lot of things to get done.  But - I just couldn't stay away from the Tea Party.  Click HERE to see what Cindy cooked up for us this week.  Here's the teapot.............

Now I have a ton of stamps, but believe it or not, not one iris so I did some searching on the internet and found one I thought would be pretty easy to draw and then I used my inks and aquapainter and watercolored it.  It was just the right thing I needed to clear away some of that "cranial clutter". 

This card will be traveling to Massachusetts to the mother of one of the teapotters who is celebrating her 88th birthday. 

Well, I'm headed to the gallery now - want to join me?

I Love Surprises

After my Zentangle class on Friday night, I flew home (not with a broom mind you) and HWNSNBP and I grabbed a few things and jumped in the car to "get away" for the weekend.  Thankfully one of the things that I grabbed was my mail because I received a wonderful surprise - this beautiful card from Sabrina just because she was thinking of me

and .....

these wonderful beaded dragonflies and frog.  I am tossing about some ideas of how I am best going to use these treasures. 

 My cousin and I used to write letters back and forth to each other in our early teens - that was the closest thing to a penpal I ever had.  If you've ever corresponded with others by mail you know the excitement of finding that envelope in your mailbox, especially at an unexpected moment. 

I feel very fortunate to have made some wonderful friends through this blog and through my hobbies.  Blogging and posting on forums like Splitcoast have given me the opportunity to share myself and my creativity with others and to be the beneficiary of some works of great talent.  Not only do you occasionally get things in the mail, but every time you make a post there's the potential to get that feeling of excitement when you open up your dashboard and see that someone has left you a comment. 

Sabrina is a loyal visitor here and leaves me comments all the time, of which I am very grateful.  I am just so touched to have received one of her card creations (she knows my love of birds, can you tell) and these beaded treasures.  Thank you Sabrina.

Perfect Weekend

ART

 BIRDS

Blackbirds

Rock Birds

Beach Birds

Water Birds

Surfing Birds

HWNSNBP

Chain of Love

One of our teapotters, Dani, has a weekly challenge that revolves around a song she chooses. This week she chose "Chain of Love" .  This is what popped into my head and it's going - as Dani has asked - to someone who goes above and beyond to show their love and generosity. 

The deets:  Stamps - I {Heart} Hearts;  Ink - VersaMark, Basic Black, Encore Silver; Paper - Basic Black, SU Silver, and Whisper White; Accessories - Black Satin Ribbon, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Fancy Label Punch, Open scallop border punch, small heart punch, 1/16th hole punch, silver brads, silver jump rings, dauber, black and white embossing powder.

For Lily

The mum of one of our teapotter's is needing a little uplifting as she is beginning some chemotherapy.  She loves owls, so I put this together to send to her in New Zealand.  I really like the Cute By the Inch hostess set.  It goes so well with the petal card punch which I've left open here.  I added the Victoria lace to give this a little more of a feminine touch. 

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Hey Daisy, is that you? 

Hey Daisy, you ain't blue. 

Hey Daisy, hey Daisy, I wasn't so lazy. 

I didn't just make one card,

I.Made.Two!

Briefly the first card has an Old Olive base with a panel of Pear Pizzazz embossed with the Petals a Plenty embossing folder.  I colored the centers of the embossed flowers with an Old Olive Marker and the dots with a gel pen.  The stamped daisies are from a Magenta stamp I've had for a long time and they are placed over a length of Marina Mist striped grosgrain.  The ribbon treatment on the bottom is Marina Mist grosgrain gathered over a strip of red line tape. 

The second card is a small 4 x 4 square card of Concord Crush with a Pear Pizzazz Lattice die cut threaded with ribbon of the same color.  The daisies are from the SU set Organic Grace. 

I'm sorry, I've got a headache tonight so I'm going to direct you to the Teapot Challenge this week and Cindy's wonderful story and know that there is a destination station this week where one or more of these cards will be headed later this week.

Wanna see all the daisies?  Click here.

Remembering

A little while ago I asked for people to pray for a coworker of mine.  Her name was Raechel and late last week she passed away.  She came in to work on her classroom in August and I was away on vacation so I hadn't seen her since school let out last June.   When the teachers left at the end of June no one expected anything like this would happen. 

Her sudden illness and ultimate death has really shaken people up.  I, myself have had many moments of sadness and unease, and sleepless nights not being able to stop thinking about her and how lucky I was that my cancer was caught very early.  She was not that much older than me and she had three sons and a devoted husband.  And she was a character.  I say that not to poke fun, but we all have our foibles and idiosyncracies and some of hers were unforgetable. 

She was beautiful and dressed to the nines.  In fact, she was one of those people who you'd swear never wore the same thing twice.  And she flaunted it - that was her..... telling people that the pearls she was wearing were worth $10,000 or flashing a wrist full of jingling gold bracelets.  We had become accustomed to that - that was Raechel. 

She would come into the office and would have to practically press her nose against the sign-in sheet because she refused to wear her glasses anywhere except in her classroom.  That was Raechel.

She drove the best cars, had the best home, and she let you know it.  That too was Raechel.

But.............she was a wonderful teacher and a very thoughtful person. 

When we first met I found out that she was an artist when I questioned her about how she spelled her name as my daughter is also a Rachel but spelled differently.  She told me that she stuck the extra e in so that she could sign her name Rae.  I never saw anything that she had painted, but I don't doubt that she was talented. 

She always brought us, the office staff, a special little gift for Christmas and at the end of the school year.  Over the last couple of years the Christmas gift was a beautiful box of scented soap (did I mention that she left a trail of fragrance wherever she went?), and although I haven't used the soap because of my fragrance sensitivity, I have saved these boxes...............

and I'll always have them to remember a very special person.  Rest in peace Raechel.

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This week we've got a challenge that is based on this beautiful teapot Cindy received from her sister for her birthday last month.  There is something about black and white that is just so clean and classic and this teapot is no exception.  She's got another kooky story going but in the end she asks us to use a card base of black and white and then add some hodge podge............ and that can be anything, even some color.

I recently saw a card that used this fold and I'm going to show you three pictures so you can see what I mean.  It's actually only the front panel folded in half forward.......

Then I added a panel in white that was embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  I took some of the rhinestones out of some round fire brads and added them to that panel along with a bow made from some black striped wide grosgrain and some Daffodil Delight 1/8 satin ribbon.  The bow is adhered to a flower from the Boho Flowers punch and then the panel.

The inside is an image from Elements of Style that I colored with my SU markers (Daffodil Delight, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Certainly Celery, and Pear Pizzazz).  I stamped it on a Top Note die cut.

Before I send this I'll add another white panel on the empty black part so I can write my message. 

So now let's head on over to the teapot gallery this week and see what's cooking in black and white.