Art Impressions-Spring Chicken Set

AI Spring Chicken Set

AI Clean and Simple. 

While I do appreciate a fussy card, my style tends to be "Clean and Simple". I was so glad when someone coined that phrase because it seemed so many of the cards I was looking at were very ornate. I do love them, but they just aren't really me.

Mine felt plain and simple as in ordinary and stupid. I prefer to think of them as Clean and Simple meaning streamlined and not too tough to duplicate! What I really love to do is color. The card is really secondary for me, but in order to share my colored images and justify the time and money I've spent, I make cards. It's amazing how a simple card can lift someone's spirits.

So, first I bought the goats because, well, I am an old(er) goat. I do not NEED the chickens, right? No, seriously, I do NOT need any of these images, but once the seed is planted...

UGH! I mean, how great are these girls?

My Favorite Things-Clean And Simple

My Favorite Things, such a perfect name, because, yes, they are among my favorite things...

love, love, LOVE 

their stamps and die cuts!

I haven't paid close attention to my email lately. This morning, I actually read the MFT email-a contest that ends, today! Oh, my, should I even bother? I mean, seriously, the entries are many and oh, so fabulous. I do not envy the judges. But, there's no harm in trying, so I spread out my MFT stamps sets (Birdie Brown, you're killing me!) Hmmm, what to use...pigs? dragons? unicorns? yetis? otters? bears? gnomes? hedgehogs? a chef? hedgehogs?...so many choices, all of them just as cute as can be.

Ah, but these little mice-I haven't used them since last fall as I think they are best suited for fall cards. These cuties are small so coloring tends to go faster though I use Copics and love to shade-the bullet nibs come in handy.

The sentiment is embossed. Glossy accents cover the pumpkins.

So, there you have it...

HARVEST MOON

Art Impressions Old Goat Set

Art Impressions-I'm a BIG fan! Oh, how I love the Golden Oldies, and the Girlfriends, and the Tri-Folds, and of course, the critters! These delightful characters and creatures never fail to bring a smile. I am in awe of those of you who do the watercolor stamps. Naturally, I bought a few-very few as I am not sure I am up to the challenge of learning this technique. But, I do so love my Copics, and my Copics do so love AI!

When I saw this set, well, everything about it said,"BUY ME!"

I live in a 55+ community-never did I ever think that I would do that, but it turns out, it was a great decision for us. We lucked out-in addition to a beautiful home, we landed in a truly active and fun loving community with some of the nicest folks. Our community borders a farm-you guessed it, there are goats. My goodness, they are cute, BUT oh, so destructive. Some of our neighbors have had a real issue, and after many polite requests to said farmer, issued a formal complaint-FENCE, please. Our little goat friends are perhaps a bit confused: "Why The Fence?"

Lest you feel sorry for these once free range critters-don't. They have a BIG wide open field in which to romp and play. Their diet no longer includes the flower gardens that some of our neighbors painstakingly planted and tend, but I'm pretty sure, they are eating well!

AI Old Goat Set

Limited Edition personal stamp from The Stamps of Life

Gerda Steiner Designs and Distress Oxides

I have this friend-she's very creative, loves to stamp and design cards and lives right across the street. It's a match made in heaven, right? She teaches a card class-it's much like a Stampin Up event, but it occurs bi-weekly. In addition, she uses a variety of mediums and images from a wide variety of artists. These classes are great fun and as much a social event as a learning experience. Though I am a seasoned cardmaker, I often learn something new and am encouraged to try new techniques. None of those creations will appear in my blog-if she had one, they would appear there!

When Ranger introduced the Distress Oxides, she rushed to preorder them. I wasn't sold-why do I need more ink? Besides, I'm a Copic girl-everything Copics! She convinced me-this is the downside to this relationship! At a time of life when I have far less disposable income, I do not need encouragement to spend those more limited $$$! Ah, but I do it...

I love these Distress Oxides. Admittedly, I need to branch out and find different ways to incorporate them in my cards. Thus far, I use them for pretty much the same thing-pretty backgrounds!

Gerda Steiner Designs

Gerda Steiner Designs

Art Impressions Challenge #215: Orange and Purple

The current challenge at one of my favorite stamp companies, Art Impressions, is to use Orange and Purple in a creation. While you do not need to use one of their images, well, why wouldn't you?! It needn't be a Halloween card, either.

These two oldie goodies just entered the house. They've been on my wish-list for a while. The recent sale at Art Impressions was just too good to be true so I scooped them up. These characters make me smile.

I stamped these marvelous characters using My Sweet Petunia stamp positioned and Momento ink, then colored the images with my Copics. Next, I fussy cut the images. The background was created with Ranger Distress Oxides. This gal begs for bling, so naturally, I added some rhinestones. Despite having positioned the sentiment, I'm not really thrilled with the placement but I decided to accept it because perfection may never happen in this crafty space!

Here we go, again...

As you can see, it's been years since I have posted on this blog. Oh, I've written a few posts, but never actually published them. Seriously, the world is chock full of posts and opinions. We don't need another, but I've recently decided to enter some challenges, again and a blog is just the vehicle. So, here I go...

Two Years Later...

About two years ago, my husband and I decided it was time to move for a number of reasons. This was a very difficult move for me emotionally. To complicate matters, my husband had a serious fall while the house was on the market. Naturally, he was only in the initial stages of recovery when the house sold. Thank heaven for kind and supportive friends who spent a day helping me pack.

Leaving this beautiful home, this bucolic setting, this charming town was oh, so hard for me. I had to practice acceptance and reevaluate perspectives. Within a couple of months, I found new, friends, new community, a thriving creative group. No longer was I living life in the cornfield, but life in this potato field has proven to be pretty good!

I feel like I have the best of both worlds, now. In our new home, I have a studio without the beautiful view. However, it's bright and big and accessible year round. The former studio was much smaller and too expensive to heat or cool when temperatures dropped and rose. My neighbors are close-in every sense of the word. It's like being eight years old, again. We have playdates. Though we moved about an hour away from our former home, I head over to my adopted hometown weekly to visit with family and friends.

My days are busy: clubs, committees, playdates, babysitting, the requisite cleaning and cooking, reading, and crafting! Oh, how I love to color, ink, cut and paste. My friend and neighbor shares here expertise on a regular basis. She's taught me some new techniques and stirred my creative juices. it's good to have community.

Recently, my friend convinced me (pretty easily) to purchase Ranger Distress Oxides. They arrived and sat as I was a bit intimidated by them. It had been years since I had used my Distress Inks. The Distress Oxides have different properties. She encouraged me. We did some projects together, and now I look for opportunities to use them.

Art Impressions, Copics and Ranger Distress Oxides

Stampendous, Copics and Ranger Distress Oxides

So, here we go, again-a post on blogger. Will I keep at it? Time will tell!