My First Blog Candy!

Hmm...should I share creative stuff first...or room organization first...or blog candy first? I think I will share the fun stuff first and save the organizational pictures for another day.

I thought I'd make my first blog candy a little interesting. See the picture below? Tell me what you think the little albums have inside them. Anyone who guesses correctly will be put into a random drawing for some blog candy! The blog candy will include surprise package (of goodies I found while cleaning my room) valued at at least $20.



So, leave me a comment and tell me what you think is inside the albums!

Jane

Acetate Gone Wild

Just a LITTLE like Girls Gone Wild! LOL! Today I've been playing...I finished a couple cards I like a lot, one that isn't finished yet (but the main image is), and one I don't like at all and that didn't photograph well either...so that one will have to get posted later.

First I'll show my "Like It a Latte" card. This doesn't use the typical acetate...instead it uses a page out of the mini albums I got at Michael's $1 spot. I'd had to cut out some of the pages because otherwise my "surprise" item wouldn't fit in the album and allow the album to still close. (See my blog candy post to guess what's stored in the albums!) Anyhooo...I saw all these empty pages and thought "that'd work for alcohol inks!" So that's exactly what I did with it. Then I was able to cut the white cardstock to fit inside the page and slide it in after I'd covered the front with alcohol inks. And finished it off with a brown/pink color combo and lots of faux stitching. The stamp set is from Stampin' Up.




This second picture is a portion of an unfinished card. I wanted to see what my white staz-on ink would look like with alcohol inks. I quickly learned that you need to stamp on the OPPOSITE side of the acetate that the inks are on. Otherwise the solvent based ink removes the alcohol based ink. I suppose you could rub off the ink and then base it on a white base to get the white fish...but that wasn't what I was TRYING to do! LOL! Anyways, I inked up the acetate and let it dry. Then stamped the fish on the opposite side with white staz-on ink. Then I layered it onto a darker colored cardstock (which made the white fish more distinct). I'll still need to finish the card but this is a good start!




And these last pictures don't use alcohol inks...just the acetate. I believe this is called a "suspension card" but I might be wrong. I'd seen one in a magazine YEARS ago and liked it so decided to try my own version today. Basically you cut a frame out of the card, adhere the acetate on the back side...then adhere your main image to the middle of the acetate so it looks like it's floating in mid-air all by itself. I don't remember how they finished up the rest of theirs...but I didn't like my adhesive showing...so I cut the same size cardstocks for both the middle image and the 'frame' portion and adhered those on the inside front so you can't see any adhesive. Then I added another little frame just to punch it up a bit and stamped a simple greeting.



And here it is open but laying flat on the table so you can see it's clear all around the image:



Tomorrow is/was my Mom's birthday so I'll be sharing some pages from her memorial album tomorrow. Her album is vintage...so if that interests you...make sure you stop back by!

Jane

Boys will be boys!

I thought I'd share some pictures of my boys this morning. These guys are my world. They make me laugh, smile, and at times even cry. They couldn't be any different from each other - one loves the outdoors, one you have to bribe to get to go outside - one loves cheese the other hates it - one loves school the other hates it - etc, etc.

This is Mario...our oldest son. One of my dh's friends called and told my dh that they had some "war stuff" at the thrift store. These helmets were what I found. I picked up two of them for my DH. The kids think they are so cool (and honestly, they are really cool!) Mario is my "indoor" child. He spends very little time outdoors, but prefers to stay inside on the computer, playstation, etc. He's the pickiest eater. He doesn't like school. He's very personable and everyone loves him at school. He's VERY polite (to the point of taking blame for things that aren't his fault...working on that). He's very tender hearted (hard to believe from this picture!) And he's into the history channel and anything to do with military. I honestly think his love of the indoors and his hating school have to do with his premature start to life and his issues with motor skills and learning disabilities. He's very intelligent and will find his niche as he grows older.



And this is Dakota - showing off one of the many critters he's caught! For those of you who don't know what this critter is...it's a horny toad or I believe they may be technically called a horned collared lizard (or something to that effect). Dakota is my "outside" child. If you left him outside 24 hours a day he'd be a happy camper. He spends hours outside in his "fort". He catches grasshoppers and bugs of all sorts. He loves school (which really surprised me!) He's a momma's boy (big time). Sometimes I think I'm made of metal and he is a huge magnet! LOL! He's tiny for his age (he's 7 and finally reached 40 pounds!) Everyone thinks he's adorable and he knows it and uses it to his advantage.



I'll have to get a clearer picture of Mario at some point so you can see how handsome he is as well. Right now this is the only one I have on my camera. Will have to dig out a CD to share a clearer picture in the future.

Hold those you love dear to you today!

Jane

So much to share...so little time!

Apparently the best way to get people to come visit your blog and LEAVE COMMENTS is to offer blog candy! I took a nap and woke up to 14 comments! I think that's more than I've had total since I started the blog! A few of you are close...although it's still not the exact answer I'm looking for. So keep guessing!

Here are a couple more organizational ideas...

My ribbon (is in a rain gutter bought at Lowe's...they even have little slider things that you can make dividers with). I love that you are able to pull one out and then put it back without dealing with a rod through them all.




And here are my CTMH acrylix stamps. This is actually a two drawer unit that we had in the bathroom to hold stuff in. I saw this and thought 'ah ha' and sure enough the sets fit perfectly.



And now...onto some more fun artwork!

Here is a white board I bought at the $1 store. I stamped it with the walking crab stamp from Gina K with staz-on ink and then colored it in with sharpie markers.



And here is a card I made last night...it is my first attempt using embossing paste. I bought the stuff back in February. It's MUCH thicker than I expected. Does anyone know if it's supposed to be the consistency of playdough? Anyways, I made the little bucket with embossing paste - then the rest of the ideas grew from that. This crab is from SU's Crab & Co stamp set. The ball is from a CTMH stamp set. I tore the brown cardstock to make the sand and inked the edges. I used a brayer and blue for the water. Masked that and stamped the "sun" (a circle from CTMH) and then punched a scallopped oval and used that as a mask to make clouds.



And here is a totally different card I made last night. I wanted to make a baby card for a fellow blogger who just had a baby. I used the basket from Clear Dollar Stamps (cdstamps.com) and then a baby bottle stamp from CTMH (an old incentive set). I'd stamp a couple and then mask them and then over stamp a few more...until the basket was filled with bottles. Pastels don't photograph so great...so hopefully this'll show up ok. This is not my favorite card...but it'll do.



Enjoy (believe it or not...I still have MORE to share...but I'll stop there!)

Check out the CHA and enter for blog candy!

Spazz has a wonderful write up on her blog regarding the CHA and all the new products coming out way for scrapbooking and rubberstamping. Check out her blog and enter to win some cool new blog candy!

http://spazzgirldaily.blogspot.com/2007/07/cha-rak_27.html

Jane

More Cards to Share

I love this image from Sassy Stems (a SU set). The problem is that I ONLY like this one image from the set (out of 3 stamps) so I didn't want to plunk out $20ish for one stamp. What's a girl to do??? Join both the image swap and the RAK image swaps on SCS!

I don't know if you can see the background sparkle...but I embossed the background with a cuttlebug embossing folder...then used a foam brush and put on white staz-on ink refill and a little stickles both on the brush and then brushed onto the background. So it looks a little aged but glittery at the same time. This isn't my all time favorite card - but I'm sure it'd be good enough to brighten someone's day.



This second card I DO love. And it's pretty simple. I was looking through an OLD issue of a scrapbooking magazine and saw a layout I was attracted to. I liked the straight lines combined with the curvy main image/title area. So I decided to make a card with it instead of a SB page using the layout as my inspiration.



The card size is 5x5 finished. The strips are stamped tone on tone with a set from CTMH called Citrus Set. The main image (glass of lemonade) is another image I received in an image trade. This one is from a SU set (I think "Sparkling Summer"?) The lemonade has stickles on it so is quite sparkley.

Enjoy!

My Re-Organized Room

I originally stored my stamp sets in Iris Carts...by size of the box they came in. At the time I only used CTMH stamps because I was a demonstrator for them. After I stopped demonstrating I started buying whatever I wanted (didn't matter which company) and pretty soon I couldn't find what I wanted. My hubby picked up this cool shelving at the thrift store...a huge container of it for $10. You can build them in different configurations.

So we built it like bookshelves (kind of) and now I have all my backgrounds in one area, all my Christmas in one area, all my sayings in one area, etc.

In the far right back corner you will see a CD holder. These are my unmounted sets. These have also outgrown the holder but I haven't decided what to do about that yet. For now, I just put the left over ones up on one of the shelves. All the mounted and unmounted sets are marked with a sharpie so I can find them easily.

In the front of the table you can see a bulletin board and a cassette case holder that is mounted and holds my ink pads. Also, you'll see a Pampered Chef tool turn-about which holds all my constantly used items (like fine point black/white pens, paper piercer, sanding blocks, scissors, etc).

To view the pictures larger...just click on the picture. Then use the browser's back button to return to the blog when you're done!



This view you can see my wire cubes I use to hold papers, my iris carts (which now hold misc stuff like adhesives, embellishments, etc), and a magazine rack that holds all my scrapping/stamping magazines (well, it was actually some sort of wine holder that we got at the thrift store but it works perfectly for holding magazines!)



My total size is 9ft by 9ft...actually a little less. There is no door to the room (it used to be our dining room). At some point after we get my Dad's estate settled I'd like to build on to our mobile home (making our family room, the "dining area", and the laundry room all about 10 ft longer). If we do that then I'd like to close this side off and just have an entry from the remodeled area of the family room. Time and $$ will tell if that'll ever happen. But for now it's my dream. Well, my dream would be even bigger...but I'll settle for this! ;-)

Not shown, are my CTMH acrylix sets, my ribbon storage, and my $1 stamp set storage. I found a way to hold those today but didn't get a picture of it yet. Will share those in the days to come.

For now...here is one more card I made to share...



The House Mouse image I received as an image trade, the paper is CTMH. The image is colored with chalks. I still can't seem to watercolor for the life of me. Good thing these are easy to color with chalks! I bought some chalks at the last stamping expo and I've been quite happy with them. My old chalks smeared pretty badly but these are much better. I wouldn't say they are completely "smudge proof" (as they were advertised) but they are much better than my old chalks. If anyone wants details of the company - just let me know and I'll pass it along.

Have a great day!

A quick picture to share

I got this sketch from Reach For the Stars blog? I LOVE how this card turned out. Will share this quickly for now (since I already have it resized and ready) and will share more artwork and pictures of my reorganized scrap/stamp area later.

This uses the walking crab stamp from Gina K Designs. I stamped it twice. Cut out the claws from one of the images. Colored them in and attached the second set of claws with dimensionals. Also used stickles so the claws glitter.

Enjoy for now...and come back later for more goodies to share! I'll even be posting some stamp sets for sale and some other odds and ends from reorganizing my area. Hmm maybe I'll do some blog candy with some of those. Need to think about that! If you're a blogger and have done blog candy...tell me how to do it! How do you keep the post at the top? Etc.



Now, I'm off to have my boobies squished. I remember a cartoon where they showed a woman laying on the garage floor and a car driving up on her boobs. The caption said something about practicing for a mammogram. They aren't far off! LOL! Actually it's not as bad as you might think. Hardest part (for me at least) is getting my body to contort to the position it needs to be for them to get the picture right. Other than that, it's pressure...not pain. So...go get your mammo if you're over 40 or at high risk due to family history!

Jane

Sorry I was MIA...

We were without phone (and thus Internet) for 5 days. I thought I'd die without internet. Sigh. I did make a few cards which I'll be sharing soon. AND I redid my scrap/stamp room. So I'll be sharing pics of that later as well. For now I need to wade through 500 emails and get ready for a doctor's appointment. Will post later when I have time!

Jane

Added a new link

To your right you'll notice I added a new link...to katydidcreations. Check it out! I love her stamping style. And I'm definately CASING her countdown calendars for the holidays!

Jane

Sharing - Roses In Winter

This stamp set was recently retired by Stampin' Up. I'd loved the artwork I'd seen made with it but wasn't willing to shell out the $30 for it new and noone was letting go of it used. Well, then it retired and it became one of those sets that consultants are letting go of to get new things. I was able to get the set for $25 including shipping. Hopefully, I'll get that much use out of it! It's a 2 step stamp set and it's on wood blocks (which makes 2 step stamping harder...that's one time where I prefer the see-thru acrylics). But luckily, it's a forgiving set and it doesn't need to be lined up perfectly. After all...what rose is perfect?

Here's the first card I made with the set. It uses Roses In Winter (for the roses), Happy Harmony (I think...the greeting), Linen background, and Canvas background. I aged it some with inks...and also added some "texture" by tearing a piece of paper to mask part of the card and then stamping the canvas only on part of the card. All stamps are from Stampin' Up.



And the second card was inspired from a sketch on Beate's blog. It uses Roses In Winter and one of the new $1 stamps I got at Michael's. I distressed a bit with ink and sanding. Popped up the main image. I'm still not entirely sure I like the card. But it was the best I could do with the sketch. Some sketches I find myself using over and over again...I'm not sure this will be one of them! LOL!



Enjoy.

Jane

Just a few cards...

In continuing my efforts to stamp out depression...here are a few new cards.

This first card was created with an image I received in a trade. On SplitCoastStampers there is a place where we can post images we want and list what stamp sets we own that we can make images with. And then we trade images. The inside of the card says "for riding through the good and the bad with me". Computer generated of course.



The next card was also created with an image from a trade. On the background I used a SU set to stamp flowers (tone on tone). You can barely see it in the picture. I used glitter in the center of each of the flowers on the background. Also used glitter on the flowers on the main image. A very cheery card - much brighter than normal for me. Usually I tend to stick to the richer deeper colors.



I have a couple more but will save them for another day. Enjoy!

Jane

Alcohol Inks Agate Background Tutorial

Here is just one more thing you can do with alcohol inks!

To start with you will need:

2-3 colors of alcohol inks
1 color mixative (I used copper)
1 blending solution
craft mat (or layers of scratch paper) to work on
glossy cardstock
applicator tool
felt for applicator




Place the glossy cardstock on the craft sheet. Adhere a rectangle of felt to the applicator. Apply ink colors to the applicator BY PLACING THE TIP TO THE FELT AND THEN SQUEEZING. I used two colors and did kind of an 'x' pattern where I put one color at the top left and then bottom right and did the opposite with the second color. Next, open the mixative color and apply it in the center of the colors. You don't need nearly as much mixative color...just a little will do.



Pounce onto your cardstock, covering the whole piece. Let dry, repeat (refilling ink if necessary). Then to the same applicator add the blending solution and pounce over the cardstock. It'll cause all the colors to blend into each other.

Here's my cardstock before adding the blending solution:



And here is a piece of it after (it's the piece on the right...the other piece is a transparency from yesterday's tutorial):



And, for the finished card I ended up embossing a boot onto the cardstock. You can stamp with black archival ink but with these colors my image wasn't as clear as I wanted because the colors are dark. So I opted to emboss instead.



You can also use this same technique on metal surfaces...I like how that looks with the copper mixative on metal. I saw a cute container at the thrift store that was .49 and had a red ticket so was 50% off. So I spent a whopping quarter and used my alcohol inks...and now it's beautiful! I'll post a picture of that in the days to come.

I also have made several cards in the last couple days. So lots to share. Keep coming back!

Jane

Alcohol Ink on Transparency Tutorial

Ok...I did the best I could with the pictures. Since I still haven't found my digital card I had to be a little stingy on the pictures I took (otherwise I'd fill up my camera's memory too quickly).

So...to start with for the TRANSPARENCY you will need:

2-3 colors of alcohol inks
applicator
felt pads
transparency
and either some newspaper or one of these craft sheets like I'm using to stamp on

This picture shows all the supplies we will be using for both the transparency and the agate background so there are a few extra items in the picture for this part of the project.



Place your transparency on top of the craft sheet (or several layers of newsprint or scrap paper). Take a piece of felt and apply it to your applicator. Basically the applicator is a wood block with a piece of velcro on it and you just push the felt onto the velcro. Next we are going to add the ink. I used 2 colors. Place the tip of the alcohol ink to the applicator BEFORE squeezing. Otherwise it'll be a mess that doesn't clean up easily. Here you'll see I squeezed on 2 colors in a total of 4 areas. It's ok if they run into each other a little bit.



Once the applicator is inked up, pounce it onto your transparency. Do one layer let dry. This should only take a moment.



Then re-ink (if necessary) and repeat until the transparency is covered. Here I held the transparency over a bit of white cardstock so you can see what it looks like finished.



Then you can choose to layer it over a stamped image or use it by itself. Because it is see through whatever adhesive you use will be able to be seen. Brads are a good choice for adhering...or use well hidden adhesive like I did on my project. Basically I backed the front section on the inside of the card so it didn't matter that I used adhesive.

To clean up: If you used scrap paper just throw it away. If you used a craft mat, you can use the blending solution (large bottle) to clean all of the ink off your mat. This also helps with any you get on your fingers.

Here's my finished card! In this case, I made it into a window card so the fish is actually stamped on the inside of the card. The colors look better in real life. Seems like the scan didn't do it justice.



Ok...I'm saving the agate tutorial for tomorrow.

Enjoy playing!

Jane

Sparkling Butterfly

Just a little bright to share for now. Will work on the alcohol inks tutorial to post tomorrow.

Used my cuttlebug embossing plates for the background embossing. The butterfly is an embossing template that I picked up at the Rubber Stamping Convention. I embossed it and then used chalks to color through the template (also bought at the RS Convention). Added a little glitter glue to the "feelers" and it's done!

Jane

I wanna talk about ME

Are you a country music fan? There is a song by Toby Keith (love his music!) that says

"You know talkin about you makes me smile
But every once in awhile

I wanna talk about me
I wanna talk about I
I wanna talk about number one oh my me my
what I think what I like what I know what I want what I SEE!
I like talkin about you you you you usually
but occasionally
I wanna talk about me!!"

And that's how I'm feeling today. So guess who WE are going to talk about? LOL!

Yesterday I was terminated from my employment. Truly, their loss. There is still a sexual discrimination investigation and a Union investigation pending. I have never been let go from a job for poor performance before. Top of my class in school, National Honor Society,etc. Worked through college. Have gotten along with every boss I've ever had (and I've worked since I was 12 years old). This is the first time I haven't. Anyways, as I was driving home yesterday I was thinking about my life in retrospect. And in reality this experience (and in particular this sexist man) is nothing but a speed bump in the road to run over. I have not led a sheltered life. I've experienced life and all the possible pains that go with it. Losing my job doesn't even come anywhere near the top. Somehow, losing a child (or in my case childREN) puts everything in perspective. Nothing else is quite as important. Also, surviving makes me stronger - and probably due to that strength I was able to hold out at that job as long as I did and make the choices I made in the end. I wasn't going down without a fight because there would be people behind me who wouldn't be as strong. Heck, there are people there NOW who aren't as strong. I've had a couple females from the department tell me how brave I am to do this because they have been too afraid. Others have left and have only said why on the way out. Regardless, I did what I could to help others who will come after me. We don't allow bullying in our kids' classrooms...so why should we allow it in the administration areas?

In lieu of my mood I'm sharing a few pages from my "Book of Me". It's the one scrapbook that is ALL ABOUT ME (yep!) It's not as thick as my other scrapbooks but I do have one. This first page is about Things I Love.

Remember you can click on the picture to make it larger.

The top picture is of me and my friend Kelly when we were younger. She's since been murdered (along with her two kids and husband). The middle picture is a picture that I took of my son Dakota. And the bottom picture is a picture that was taken by the photographer from The New York Times when we were in an article about multiple birth losses. It's a picture of me and my surviving son, Mario.



Next I'm going to share a two page layout. This was done kind of as an "assignment" from my counselor as a self-esteem exercise. The first page is some journaling with more detail than is on the list on page two.



Page two has the list and a photo of me. Boy, I change alot don't I? This picture was taken probably about 4 years ago.



Jane

Letter to the Editor

It ran in this morning's paper --

Remember Ruiz For the Good He Did

Dr. Frank Ruiz was a caring, compassionate man. He suffered from depression apparently for many years, and had sought treatment which didn't help him.

In general, doctors have a higher suicide rate than the general population. They have the same stresses as you and I, plus the responsibilities of many lives that lay in their hands. Any one of us could snap under stress.

Dr. Ruiz's end doesn't change the life he lived, the people he touched, the care he gave, or the lives he saved. In my opinion, Dr. Ruiz saved my life by making sure I got counseling after the deaths of two babies. He also told me to call 24 hours a day. He went above and beyond what I would expect of a physician. He still cared, and I'm sure that made his job harder and his own depression even darker when things went wrong.

Please, remember him for the caring, loving person he was.

New Rubber!

I received my order from Biblical Impressions aka Eureka Rubber Stamps. They had a sale with 50% off unmounted stamps...so I HAD to buy a few! LOL! It's a sickness I tell ya!

A friend from work is into horses and I realized I owned ZERO horse images (gasp!) So I HAD to buy a couple of those. And then there was a deer image...and I also had NONE of those. So he went into my basket as well. And then a cute "snail mail" stamp with a snail carrying an envelope (just cause he was so cute and he'd be great for the outside of envelopes). Hmm...I think that was it. I thought I showed pretty good restraint actually. (ok...I can hear your laughter already!) ;-) I really am TRYING to get better about buying only images that are totally different than what I already own.

With that all said, I did make one card tonight. Nothing overly fancy...but I love how it turned out. It uses one of the new horse stamps from Biblical Impressions. Colored the image with chalks. The rest is just layering for the most part. This "paper" is some handmade paper I bought a while back at a place that was going out of business. I only bought a couple sheets so have been using it sparingly. It's a little shimmery in real life.



So, what do you think????

Also, since I'm in the sharing mode - here are a couple cards that OTHERS have sent to ME. These were the two cards I RECEIVED in the ArizonaStampers Above/Below Swap that had the Americana theme. The card on the left is from Virginia (a person...not the state...I'm not important enough to get a card from the state! LOL!). The card on the right is from Febe. Febe didn't know it, but we used to raise beagles...so this card was perfect for me.

I should have known...

I should have known it was going to be one of "those" days. I woke up to the alarm at 5:45 and turned it off and then decided I could get a few more minutes so I reset the alarm...but didn't turn it back on! I woke up an hour later, literally the time I should have been leaving the house. So, rolled out of bed, did my hair, threw on some clothes, put on deoderant and perfume (a necessity in 109 degree weather) and ran out the door. I got to work on time but rushed and tripped heading up the steps into the building. Don't ask me how. I took the full force (and I'm not a 90 pound lightweight like I wish I was) on one knee right on the edge of the brick steps. My purse and it's contents sprawled everywhere, a few obscenities flew. It literally hurt so badly that I thought I might pass out. I gathered up my purse and it's contents and went inside to sit down before I did pass out. Called the lead programmer to let him know I WAS there in the building - just not able to make it back to my desk yet. He came up and they got some ice for it. Filled out paperwork and then went to the clinic to have it checked. They just said to put it up, continue the ice and ibuprofen for the day and then they gave me a booster shot for my tetenus (hmm, not sure why...were those steps rusty???)

So, now I'm home early, with a botched up frozen knee. I got some new rubber yesterday in the mail from a 50% off sale - so maybe I'll make something later. One of my coworkers picked up a stamp for me too. I thought that was sweet of her to think of me.

Ok..let's see what I can find on my computer that I've saved but haven't shared yet. Hmm...how about some more scrapbook pages that I made at Scrap Camp? These two pages are from our San Diego trip last summer. This is from the zoo. The light bulb above the pages caused a glare in places...sorry about that! In general, a pretty basic layout. Sanded the cardstock to distress it a bit. Used a transparency overlay.



Also, once I had all the pics I wanted on the layout, there was no space left for journaling. So on the bottom photo on the second page I made a flip up space so the journaling is UNDERNEATH the photo (like the inside of a card). I don't know if you can see the pic of the two tortoises "doing it" but I HAD to include that pic because the boys saw it and asked why the tortoise was climbing the "rock". LOL!



Once again, a pretty simple layout. Sanding and color blocking and then the hidden journaling.

Enjoy!

Jane

Good morning?

Hopefully today is better than yesterday. Yesterday I spent the day in bed puking my guts up. So today HAS to be better than that, eh? ;-) I'm still feeling weak but I'm on the mend. Luckily I don't get sick very often. The last time I remember vomiting was at the c-section delivery 7 years ago! Unfortunately, anethesia and I don't get along.

So...are you ready for new artwork? Are you REALLLLY ready? This is a card that I made using my new Memory Box penguins. Sometimes I'm such a dork and don't think about only using part of a stamp. But if you can think outside the box you can get so much more use out of your stamps. For this card I used the kissing penguins...but for the side pieces I only inked up one and stamped it. That way they look like they are heading towards the center where they meet up with a kiss. Now I'm thinking I need an ice cube stamps! LOL! It never ends.

This card also uses little hearts from CTMH, Flourishes on the background (Rhonda Farrar?) and the saying from TAC.



I wrote a letter to the editor re: mental health and my friend's suicide. They wrote yesterday saying they planned on printing it but that that can change based on space. So we'll see if it shows up. I've had a couple letters actually make it in the past.

Ok, gotta go get ready for work. Have a great day all!

Jane

Cheating

I'm cheating and sneaking in my Monday post tonight so I don't have to remember in the morning. Since it's 10:00 here I'm sure most of my readers are asleep. So I can post now, right?

Today I played...with alcohol inks! They are a lot of fun. I only have 3 colors of ink so far. I'll have to stock up on some more with my 40% off coupons whenever Michael's has one. For now, you'll have to deal with the repetitiveness.

This first one uses a transparency which is then layered over a piece of white cardstock that has your image stamped on it. If you'd like to see tutorials on either of these cards...you HAVE to leave a comment! All images on this card are from TAC. Cardstock is from CTMH. I distressed it by sanding it (all CTMH cardstock has a white core which works great for distressing). The circles are made with 2 different size circle punches. I like how this card turned out...but I like the next one better!



Ok...ready for my favorite? It's a beauty. I wonder if the scan will do it justice. It's coppery/shimmery in person. For this card I used the 2 colors of ink and a bit of copper mixative. Then stamped with archival ink directly on the same sheet of cardstock. The image is from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. The background has a crackle stamp from SU and then I sponged the edges with brown to age it a bit. The three little squares are pieces of the same cardstock. This is VERY Southwestern.



I think I've found a new obsession! I need a new house JUST for stamping and scrapbooking! LOL! I've outgrown my small room already. Wow, I remember when everything I owned fit in one small plastic box! Then again I remember moving into our 3 bedroom 2 bath house from a 1 bedroom apartment and thinking we'd never fill it up...and now it's bursting at the seams! LOL.

Remember, if you want a tutorial...you have to leave me a comment!

Jane

Sunday

Sunday used to be my favorite day of the week. It always felt like a new start. Now it just feels like..."oh no, one more day to Monday!" Sigh.

I belong to a yahoo group called ArizonaStampers where there are different swaps. Every month there is a "above and below" swap. There is a theme and then you make two cards with that theme and mail it to the person above and below you on the sign up sheet.

This month's theme was "Americana". I made this card (2 of the same because I'm feeling lazy) for the swap. It uses a sketch I found online (if I remembered where I'd share it with you...but I just did a search for "card sketches" and got a ton of sites and printed a bunch...so don't know where any particular one came from...sorry!) I stamped the CrossHatch background (SU) on the blue background and then used a white gel pen to put a dot where each crosshatch connects. I thought it looked wind of like stars. Then I tore the bottom and adhered it to a white card base and stamped the greeting (also SU) on the bottom. For the main focal point I used a stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps. I used markers and colored the image the two colors and then stamped on white and sponged blue around the edges. Then I mounted to red and tore the edge and folded over and put eyelets though that piece. I used blue waxy flax and tied it through the holes and then adhered the whole piece to the cardfront (this way the eyelets and the back of the waxy flax doesn't show through the inside of the card).

Check out Clear Dollar Stamps - I am on their Design Team and they have some really nice stamps at very reasonable prices! I need to buy some more of them! There are some coming out soon that I'll have to buy when they become available.



Have a great day!

Jane

Good morning!

It's a good morning when I have so much to share that I don't know WHAT to share! I think I'll start with a couple VERY different cards. The first one is a sympathy card. I'm not good at sympathy cards. But I asked my brother, John, to send me some digital pictures (he takes absolutely BEAUTIFUL pictures...I keep trying to convince him to do a business with them) and I printed one of them off and then just stamped on the photo itself with staz-on ink. You have to be a little careful because the photo is glossy so it has a habit of being slippery to stamp on. Then I matted on white and then onto a dark blue cardstock that has texture. It's a 2 sided cardstock where the other side is a light blue...so it was perfect for writing on on the inside. This was for the family of my OB. I ended up going to his memorial service yesterday - seven years to the day that he delivered my youngest son. I guess it's all about the circle of life.



And this is a card I made for my little man. The monkey stamp is from TAC and the background and words (that you can't see) are from SU. The inside has a pocket and it had $100 in it. That's what he chose for his birthday - a shopping spree at Toys R Us. So we'll be doing that today, along with him choosing where to have dinner and then we'll do cake at home.

TGIF

I'm so glad it's Friday...although there is only 8 more minutes LEFT of Friday right now. I should be going to bed instead of posting.

Hmmm, what should I share tonight? Let's go see what I can find! This is one of my "stamping therapy" cards. I made it Tuesday night when I was feeling really sad. I used my new stamps from Gina K Designs, the saying is from SU.



And then this is my other "stamping therapy" card. I used to say that at least my stamping/scrapping was cheaper than therapy...but now I'm not so sure! LOL! These adorable penguins are from Memory Box (I want them ALL), there is a little red heart all over the background which you can't really see (that's from SU). I stamped the penguins first...then laid a heart stencil over the top and sponged ink around the penguins to form the heart. The word "kisses" is cut from some background paper I had laying around.




Enjoy!

Ignorant People

Excuse me while I rant about ignorant people re: mental health.

Depression is an ILLNESS - it's a chemical imbalance in the brain. For some people it's caused by a major life event which sucks out all the endorphins and leaves you depleted. Other people just have lower levels of the "feel good" chemicals to begin with.

People who try or feel like committing suicide don't do it because they want to die. They do it because they want the pain to end and see no other way to make the pain end.

Being depressed does not make you a "freak". And if the depression wins and someone commits suicide it doesn't undo the facts of the persons life before. If they were a good person, a good friend, a caring person, good at their career, a loving family member - that person is still all those things. By choosing the only way they know to end the pain they do not (and in other people's eyes should not) become a "freak". They were a person doing the best they could with the options they felt they had available.

It's because of ignorant people that mental health has such a stigma and it is because of people like these that people like my friend do not seek help and end up dying too soon.

Scrapbook Pages As Promised!

I should save my favorite pages for last - but I'm too impatient! :-) This was my favorite layout of the weekend...our beach pics for San Diego. I printed all the pics using "sepia" and then on the one photo I printed it a second time in color. Once in awhile I like to do b/w or sepia pics for a change. Remember you can click on the photos for a larger view.





More to share tomorrow!

Jane