Tag fun!

I was given a bunch of tags from an old stationery store that had been closed a couple of decades ago. The remaining inventory had just been stuck in an attic somewhere for years. Anyway, I'd seen some on Etsy, done just in browns, and the seller seems to sell quite a lot of them. So, I decided to see what my gift shop friend thought. I made a set of the small ones, all coffee themed, and she loved them, so this will be yet another project for me down the road! I was happy to stick with brown for the coffee tags, but I wanted to try out some color with other styles.

I used distress inks for all the tags, these are so much fun! I had purchased some last year on impulse, but until a couple of months ago, had only used the vintage postcard and tea dye. But I "discovered" the colored ones when I was making Mother's Day cards, and was hooked on them too!

I listed a few last items on ebay, you can view them here.

Safe arrival

Abigail arrived in Bosnia this afternoon, after a nearly 30 hour trip ... she's exhausted but flying high! It was great to hear from her! She has to do a one week homestay to make it qualify for her International Studies minor/major (it changes!), which she hopes will give her a boost with the language.

We haven't heard from Bruce in C uba, but we never do. He's only there for a week, so it's not important. I'm anxious to know, though, how our dear friend Orlando is doing. It's been so hard hearing second hand ...

I'm also wanting to know if all our stamp stuff made it through customs. For those of you who are wondering, we were able to take down a large amount of supplies. Plenty of inkpads, lots of re-inkers for the dry pads, papers, embellishments, a cutter, cardstock, punches, decorative scissors, etc, etc. I was really touched and totally thrilled with all that was sent! A few things did not fit; we even left a few bottles of pain reliever & cough medicine behind, which we never do; considering it and ministry items to be the most important items. However, they had specifically asked for stamp supplies, so while I definitely had to remove some things, those were a priority. The rest will go down on our next trip. I thank all of you who sent stuff down; while card making may be more pleasure than necessity for most of us, it will be very practical and useful (as well as fun!) down there.

This card was for Orlando's wife Lenia, the person to whom I originally sent stamps. She loves music, so I recycled this card. The camera flash had to be on because it was nightime when I finished re-making cards, and Bruce was leaving too early to wait until morning. So, the card looks a bit gaudy, but it actually looks more elegant when bright lights are not shining on it! I stamped the music images in black, then embossed the crackle background in clear. I then sponged the on the sunset colors. Originally, I had planned to use the faux batik method (ironing off the embossing after stamping over the image), but when I was ready for that step, I decided I liked the texture & gloss.

Violin Cards

Here are the other music cards I created for my friends. I'll retake the pictures tomorrow; I made another green card, and rounded the corners, so was going to just retake the pictures then, but the sun went down too quickly for photographing! I'll try again tomorrow. I added six other music cards to the set. I'm trying to be more generous with giving away cards; sometimes it's hard to just hand over hours of work, when I'm needing to pay off credit card debt from stamping! But these friends are so absolutely wonderful, I was delighted! I just wish I'd had more time to make others!

I really love the background of the green card. The paper is from a pack of somewhat wild papers from provo craft, but this paper is very elegant looking, I absolutely love it. It has very silky fibers going up and down it. The stamped elements are small, but I really wanted to feature the paper. The violin is from Merry Stamper, the text is Biblical Impressions.

The second card was all made from my elements in my drawers of stamped stuff. I have really been making a point this year of going there first before making a card, unless something has caught my eye. Background is from Eureka, text is computer generated.

More coffee!!!

I had ordered some card packs from California Paper goods recently, and one included two tones of brown that looked perfect for coffee cards. (And it turns out that the color name for one is "cappuccino" so obviously I was on to something, lol! They had one of their quarterly auctions the weekend before last, and I managed to win bids on both colors. The order arrived yesterday.

Making cards for workshops is a major challenge for me, as I never feel like I've made quite "the right card," so I constantly am changing my mind and coming up with something different last minute. I had a workshop this evening, and had decided a week or two ago, when we planned it, to not even bother choosing/making cards until two days before as I'd just end up taking as much time as I had, so it wouldn't help to start four days earlier.

So ... I finished my last card at midnight last night, and just needed to remake the coffee card & and get the carstock cut, etc for it (the two of the design I posted yesterday had had sold or were currently in my friend Cheryl's shop where I sell cards - and where I was to do the workshop). Pulling out the cardstock for that design, I realized that since I was making all new cards for the store (whichever cards I made/designed for the workshop would be added into this month's batch), I really did not want to make a card that had already been in the store. At least, that was the excuse for getting into my bronze and cappuccino mica cardstock!!!

They loved the card, so I'm glad I did it! (But I won't tell you what time I went to bed... I had a Bible study to lead and a dr. app't today, so had to finish last night)!

My son, a senior in high school, is taking a couple of classes at a college 40 minutes away, and was going to take the bus back to town, stopping at my husband's place of work to pick up our one vehicle. Then he would drive home, just in time -- actually a little later than I like to leave -- to finish loading me up, and drive down with me to the workshop. It's a 40 minute drive over winding Pennsylvania roads, and night driving is not something I do well at (this was my first night workshop). He also unloads most of my stuff so I can set up, and then packs it all into the van as I slowly get it boxed up. Well, of all days to miss the bus, he missed it today. I didn't receive his e-mail until about ten minutes before he was due to arrive! I'd like to say I handled it with grace and peace, but I'm afraid I was pretty upset with him. I called a friend who was willing to bring me to the van. I called Cheryl to tell her I was going to arrive just a few short minutes before the workshop, and she could hear the anger in my voice. She reminded me that in the light of eternity, what did my son's inablilty to come & the lateness of the workshop really matter? My friend Jacki happened to be online, and told me she'd pray for me. And of course, my friend Denise who picked me up and took me to the van prayed as well. Because of God's work in my life, I don't have a really short fuse, but between lack of sleep (mostly my own fault for being up late, but I have other sleep issues) and the stress of a workshop, I know it was the prayers and encouragement of my three friends that, even before I pulled out of the driveway for the workshop a half hour later, enabled me to not only let go of the frustration, but to actually enjoy the drive down. The ladies at the workshop were completely unconcerned about starting late, were totally unhurried to get out of the store, and all pitched in and helped me get packed up! Isn't that amazing? I stressed for no reason at all... Lord, help me to have right perspective when these things happen, and not sell people short in their abililty to flow with delay...

Coffee!!

I am doing a workshop tomorrow at my friend's coffee shop, The Daily Grind. It seems fitting that we do this card! All stamps from Merry Stamper.

The Lord is my strength and song

This scripture from Exodus 15:2 is a good verse for me today. It's been a bit discouraging, so I am making a point on meditating on this verse!

I made the background to this some months ago. I stamped the music images, then swirled alcohol inks over it. I was not expecting the black of the stamped images to smear. I nearly threw it out, but decided maybe later I'd play with it, and if nothing else, it would remind me to apply the alcohol inks first next time! Actually, I have since done the same thing intentionally, only to have it not smear ... the type of glossy cardstock used definitely makes a difference.

Anyway, I'm so glad I kept it! The corner brad was an accident ... I had plans for that corner, but accidently glued down the panels before I did what I had wanted to. Ooops! It took me awhile to come up with the music note brad, and I'm not really happy with it, because it's seems a bit redundant with the black embossed note. So, I may actually chisel that off and replace with a treble clef. I also gave an unintentionally strong wack with the hammer, and so cannot adjust the angle of the brad, which I would like to do. :-/

The card and the scripture background are a very dark black, not grey as they appear. The flash kind of hit the top, so the background and opalite ink under the text look a bit funny, sorry about that!

Music Journal

I started this journal some months back. I had it in mind to do black music notes for the background, for a primarily black and white cover. I honestly don't know where my mind was when I went ahead and embossed them in gold!!! I think I must have had in mind another journal idea that involved gold embossing, and just forgot what I was doing. At any rate, it just was a bit too glitzy for me, so I set it aside until I came up with a design I liked. I also had not planned to add the extra music symbols, but I accidently put a very noticeable smudge on the "God gives us music" panel, and did not want to redo it! So, I did a cover-up!

The last journal I made got me really thinking for the first time about sealing some of my more delicate journals. But after one is complete is not the time to figure that out! I asked on Gingerwood, and one suggestion was a clear plastic cover. At the time, I was rather set on coating the journal; it seemed a shame to cover such nice texture! But with no experiencing with sealing, I can't bear to risk ruining it. So, a quick call to the church secretary got me a few transparencies to work with! (I live in a small town, not sure I'd find any locally). I decided this journal, though less "fragile" could use protection for the white, so I've covered it as well.

I hope next month to experiment with a few sealers, and I'll post here or on my website when I'm finished.

Background music notes from Stampin Up, "God gave music" from Eureka, large music note from Stubby Stamper, remaining stamps from Merry Stamper.

Have a blessed day!

Silent Night

...and another music themed card for my friend to choose from. Silent Night from Eureka, music from Merry Stamper, and text from Biblical Impressions. My scanner makes the embossing look multi-colored, but it is silver. :-)

A child is born

I worked at a department store for a few months before our first child was born, and I remember a lady who came up to the register with a load of Santa and infant Jesus decorations. "I just love these Baby Jesus things," she gushed. I smiled at her excitement, but as she talked, I realized that to her, "Baby Jesus" was only that; a wee babe born at Christmas. It was as if she did not connect Him to the fully human, but fully God, Savior of the world. The One Who died on a cross out of love for her, for me, for you.

I designed this card with hopes that the chosen scripture, "For unto us..." would bring the strains of Handel's Messiah to mind, remembering that the infant born in the manger was Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...

Music background from Stubby stampers, small music image from Merry Stamper, infant (designed by Jacki at Card Castle and scripture from Biblical Impressions.

smARTworks challenge

I was so glad when my friend Trish posted the smARTworks weekly "tea party" (read: challenge). I don't know what it is about a challenge, but it always inspires me. I've been working on music-themed Christmas cards today, and when I saw Trish's card, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my carolers stamp from smARTworks! So thanks, Trish!

The poinsettia is from Eureka, and the music notes from Merry Stamper. The hymn background is computer generated.

"It is well with my soul" journal

I was waiting for the SALT challenge this week to decide how to design my next journal. I love the theme, "From the Hymnbook", and did not need to think at all about which hymn I would choose. I love the lyrics, by Horatio Spafford, and the inspiring medley, composed by Philip Bliss. This is my first real attempt at collage, and while I was not satisfied even before permanently attaching everything, I finally realized I just don't know what I'm doing yet, but as I continue studying the techniques of others, I'll figure it out! :-) I like "space" in my designs, my favorite cards on many blogs will be ones that are simpler and not full of images, so perhaps that's why collage is such a challenge to me, lol!

The sheet music is from Stubby Stampers, the music notes from Merry Stamper, the cross, Peace, and "river" design are from Eureka. The bottom half looks blurred, due to the imbalance the "nails" created in the scanner.

Inside the back cover I posted the story of the author, Horatio Spafford. It's a truly amazing story if you do not already know it.