Card making

I am at it again but I have a lot to learn.  I see so many gorgeous cards on the internet and each one sends me off shopping for supplies to make them.  Yet, when I sit down to make them the creativity just seems to be lacking.

However, here are some of my latest attempts.

So much fun! So pricey! So messy! But so much fun!

Genius!

My husband is a genius.

I have been going "green" for sometime now.  Some of my practices have become second nature, some I have ditched, some I have tweaked to be more practical for my family.  One of my pet peeves has been the toilet paper cores.  I don't do crafts that require toilet paper cores and I don't have a hamster.  So.....what to do?

I discovered this!

This is my husband's preferred product -- nothing terribly soft in this house, no siree!

So, I figured this would appeal to both our sensibilities.

I was wrong.  Apparently being coreless results in it not "rolling smoothly".  I have no idea why that is a problem, it doesn't bother me but the resident handy man came to the rescue.

Yes, a piece of pvc pipe the length of the paper holder and the width of the "core".

A permanent "core".  Problem solved.

The man is a flipping genius.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

I have read a couple of Anne Tyler's works and, while I enjoyed them, they seemed to have a depressing side to them.  This one is completely different.  This was such a fun read. 

It is the story of Kate, Bunny and their father, the eccentric Dr. Battista.  And Pyotr.  Bunny is a truculent teenager.  Kate is the older sister that seems to be bound for spinsterhood.  Dr. Battista is clueless.  Pyotr is Dr. Battista's Russian lab assistant who is in danger of having his visa run out quicker than their project does.  This is serious business.

Solution?  Marriage. 

And then there are the mice-in-crisis.

I can't say more.  Just read it.  It is a quick, light read and all is well that ends well.

Enjoy!

Mid July ALREADY?

Wow, this summer is just flying by and I am not ready for summer to be over.  I know, summer isn't over until September but Bean's school starts August 10 so basically that is when we are done with summer.

It has been hot, we haven't really gone anyplace or done much of anything but it has been relaxing.  I have had a lot of time to think and re-evaluate things and I have to say I have had a change of attitude.  Not sure why but it just seems like I have relaxed -- like a big sigh.  I am getting things done but I don't seem as manic and rushed.  It seems I have a mental list of things I need to do, have figured out the easiest way to do it (no procrastination, for one thing!) and then I have allowed myself to enjoy the rest of my time guilt free. 

And I am enjoying my time.  After a short break from reading I am getting back to that.  I just love getting lost in a book and I really enjoy exploring our new bookstore -- which has a pokemon now, from what I understand.

I think I have to credit my new hobby with some of that calm, relaxed feeling.  I have been playing around with the cardmaking some more and I have to say that I like small projects like this that can actually be finished in a reasonable time.  There is a learning curve, however.  I have learned that some white ink just soaks into dark paper.  I have also learned that I can't cut straight and paper cutters can be confusing -- I know -- that is ridiculous. I have learned that glue, like school clue, doesn't work as well as tape. I also know that I have to quit shopping but I think I am done with buying big stuff -- now it is just paper and embellishments and stamps and such.

Anyway, here is my latest card -- it is silly simple and I am not  sure if the pics will show up well but here it is.

This originally started out green and red -- but I used glue and it caused the paper to buckle. I used a Colorbox white stamp pad and dauber to stencil  the design and the ink just soaked into the paper.  So, I started over and decided blue would work -- I like blue at Christmas.  So, here it is.

Now I have a lot of sweeping and reorganizing to do.

No procrastination!

Once a Week Blogger

Seems I have become a once a week blogger! Not my intent -- things just got a bit busy.

After the 4th my daughter had to go to a conference for advanced placement teachers.  The conference was held at TCU so she had to venture to my side of town whereas I was going to her side of town to keep the Bean.  We had three lovely days with her and enjoyed every minute of it.

The weekend found me trying to catch up on laundry and picking up -- we are a messy duo -- mostly reading material and crumbs. Anyway I did find some time to do some card making. I only made one and my photography is really bad.  I have a new camera and didn't know how to turn the flash off so I had to enlist the photography guru to show me how.  So, anyway, here are the fruits of my latest efforts.

The coloring seems to be a bit washed out here but it really isn't.  I made two copies of the stamped image -- one I did in Prismacolor pencils and one I did in Crayola colored pencils.  This one was done with Crayola.  The one I did with the Prismacolor pencils is more vibrant.  It will show up on something eventually but I thought the more subdued colors went well with the muted, soft toned papers.  However, it is more colorful than it appears here.  Sorry for the poor photography but I shake a bit and the light was miserable. I need to work on my photography skills.

I have been playing with my Cuttlebug but I am bummed to find out that I need an additional plate and they don't carry it at my neighborhood Joann.  I bought a set of Spellbinders dies but need the plate before I can use them.  This is getting to be a rather pricey hobby so I am cutting myself off for the moment.  Not sure if  I will be keeping the the die set or not.

So, that is what has been taking up my time these days.

Oh, and I have put down "the book" and have taken up this one --

It is pretty good so far and I will review when I am done. 

Well, off to the dentist!  Have a great Monday!

Happy 4th of July!

Today is the 4th of July here in America.  It is not a gift giving holiday but rather it is a holiday to celebrate our country, our values, to be patriotic and to eat traditional food.  I have never been a big celebrator of the 4th but this year feels different.  This year I feel the need to show my patriotism, to celebrate our country, our values and eat traditional food.  This year we seem to need it more, we seem to have a real need to get back to what makes us who we are.

So, tonight Hubs and I will joining our daughter, her husband and the Bean for hot dogs, chips, beans and patriotic cup cakes.  We will be watching fireworks on the television specials commemorating the day.  It will be good fun.  The irony of it is, my daughters in-laws are visiting from England and they will be celebrating their first 4th of July -- don't think they share the same excitement for the day!

Last night we joined them for dinner at Saltgrass and the fireworks show in Southlake Town Square.  Thanks to them for the invite.  Even though it was terribly hot, a breeze blew up and make it tolerable.  The fireworks were gorgeous -- I didn't take photos though.  The crowds were massive and it took us 45 minutes just to exit the parking lot and we were not even in the town square -- we were across the street.  But, the car was cool and it was fun watching the people so all was good.

Today we are having a quiet day -- I might do a little shopping across the street and then I might not.  I am looking at a set of rubber stamps but am having a hard time spending the money as they are a bit expensive but I am going to see if I can find them locally first rather than ebay or mail order.  I have some ideas for some cards but I have decided that sketching them out first is probably a good thing to do.  So, I think today is going to be a "play" day along with the ever present laundry.  Yes, laundry stops for nothing.

So, have a happy 4th, all! Do fun things, eat hot dogs and watch fireworks and never, ever forget who we are and what we stand for.  Ever.

Anniversary, End of a Bad Week and Coloring.

Today is our 44th wedding anniversary.  Husband is changing the spark plugs in the truck.  The romance is overwhelming, isn't it?

I had a bad night last night -- not much sleep -- thanks to the above pictured groom.  He was too warm, then he was too cold, then he had leg cramps, then he snored and clicked his teeth -- for hours and hours.  I woke up not a happy camper.

So, I did laundry.  And I did this--

Having fun coloring rubber stamped images.

Seems I am very easily amused.