memorial day 2010

....Never Forget.

a few cards

So Proud: Prima patterned paper,Judi Kine Star stamp, alpha stamps, cardstock, brown Archiver's Ink and Faded Jeans Distress Ink

Some cards to show on this beautiful warm, sunny Sunday! I participated in another craft fair yesterday and it was a dud. I sold my cards and some other crafts and set up my dad's pen & ink drawing prints. He couldn't be there so it was just me. I sold exactly 7 cards. Between the table price and the parking meter I was still in the red. Oh well. I got some nice feedback on my cards anyhow and my dad got some nice comments on his art. And I finished sock #2 to complete my first official pair of socks! So it was succesfully in its own way! Later on I got to see my little sister's first apartment and have girl's night with my friends. The host's husband cooked us stuffed lobster tails he got while diving....mmmmm!

Here are a handful of cards I made more recently for the sale....I'll post more this week! I'm never good at keeping track of supplies but I'll do my best...

*****

Several people stopped and kept looking at this first card but it didn't sell. I just got the stamp at my LSS's yardsale. I was thinking of my dad when I got it and this might actually become his Father's Day card.

On the Road: Great Impressions stamp, Making Memories word-fetti stickers, black Archiver's Ink

*****

Very simple card. Using Distress and chalk inks and a new stamp I got. The sentiment stamp I love and have had for while...the idea was it could be for a new graduate.

Be the Change: flower stamp by Rubber Stamped, sentiment stamp by Rubber Soul, tumbled glass & shabby shutters Distress Inks, black Archiver's Ink,yellow chalk ink, misc. blue pattered paper and cardstock.

*****

This card was fun and I was kind of experimenting with tone-on-tone embossing. So I stamped the large flower all over with Versamark ink and clear embossed them and then added the large K & Co. sentiment sticker. A wedding card...

Always & Forever: large floral stamp by Inkadinkadoo, K & Co. sentiment sticker, Versamark ink, clear embossing powder.

***** 

This card is one of my favorites. I cut out the large flower from patterned paper and using a glue pen I glittered each petal.

He loves me: unknown patterned paper, K&Co sentiment sticker, diamond glitter and glue pen.

*****

This last one was very simple. Just stamped the flower and colored it in with my Prismacolor pencils and then stamped a sentiment.

Just for You: flower by saavy stamps, sentiment by Hero Arts, black Archiver's ink, Prismacolor pencils, cardstock.

I'll post a few more this week. Thanks for looking and Happy Sunday!

wordless wednesday

monday gratitudes

Today I am going to do my monday gratitudes with pictures....

1. I am grateful I got to see these beautiful wild Lily of the Valley flowers on my walk today.

2. I am grateful for those who have served during this week leading up to Memorial Day.

3. I am grateful I grew up here...

4. I am grateful for this guy who I met four years ago next week by some twist of fate.

5. I am grateful to have been able to see my little brother graduate from college this past weekend with honors.

6. I am grateful to have an outdoor space with our apartment so that I can grow things and enjoy the sun.

7. I am grateful that I got to have this "little" dog for 10 years before we lost her. She has been gone almost 4 years and it seems like yesterday. I miss her but am so grateful for her memory. You can learn a lot from a dog about how to live.

8. I am grateful to have the opportunity to sell my cards again this coming weekend and my dad will be joining me to sell his prints too!

Happy Monday!

good deals

Got some great deals at my LSS's annual yard sale! These stamps all together cost maybe $15....plus I also got a bunch of paper, stickers, clear stamps,....for only $17. Not bad! After going to the yard sale I headed out of state to go do some outlet shopping. Summer clothes. Had fun but now I'm exhausted. Yesterday was an equally - if not longer - day. We went to my little brother's College graduation a few hours away. It was a nice day but tiring. I'm ready to crash!

Tomorrow I am off and hoping to play around with some of my new goodies a bit. I have a craft fair to get ready for next weekend and I'd like to make a few more cards to sell...

Well...enough for now...
Happy Sunday!

monday gratitudes

Yesterday Cary and I went to the plant nursery and he bought me some plants and flowers for the balcony. I love planting things and trying my hardest to keep them going! Last year it was pretty successful. So we got flowers for a few pots and I also got a few veggies. Last year I had a tomato plant and a pepper plant. The tomatoes got the blight but the peppers did well. This time I got two tomatoes, a different kind of pepper and some lettuce. I need to get some bigger pots. Not sure they will do well, might be too crowded, but we'll see. I want to spread out the peppers a bit. I have six seedlings in one medium size, long pot. I'd like to get another pot the same size and transplant three of the seedlings.

Anyhow...this has been one of the most relaxing, fun weekends I have had in a really long time! I had a 4-day weekend. (One of the things I do love about having two jobs and one of them being a college teacher!) We went out to dinner, bought some summer shorts for me in Old Navy (which is one of my guy's least favorite things but he went voluntarily and helped me pick out a few things), went to the plant nursery, picked up a few things at Target and had fun wandering around. We also just took time hanging out at home and relaxing a bunch. Watching movies, cooking dinners,...it was a really nice weekend! I also took an afternoon and went to Home Goods to buy a covered basket for my knitting so I don't have to stare at all my unfinished projects while sitting on the couch. And I also went to my LSS and got a few treats and came home to make some cards for an upcoming craft fair. I am hoping that today I will get my snapfish order so I can do a little scrapping later.

Today I started off my week with breakfast outside, enjoying my plants and the sun. I also saw a hummingbird come by looking for my feeder....which I haven't put out yet! I heard they keep returning to the same spot where a feeder has been. So I better buy some sugar so I can set up the feeder!

So....in a way this entire entry will serve as my "Monday Gratitudes" for the week! I am feeling content, relaxing and grateful this morning.

Happy Monday!

monday gratitudes

Today I am grateful for:

• extra days off
• time with my family yesterday celebrating my mom
• a paycheck
• strawberries
• movie theatre popcorn
• Robert Downey Jr. movies....Ironman!
• hot showers
• getting my hair cut and colored
• flip flops
• new white t-shirts
• warm spring days
• lilacs

Happy Monday!

a sock

Learned the magic loop method of knitting in the round at a class at my LYS this month. Last night I finished sock #1! It is so much fun! Now...on to sock #2.

Happy Thursday!

monday gratitudes

gargoyle at a castle estate

Today I am in kind of a funk. No particular reason. Feeling unsettled, quiet, tired. I'm feeling a little of the I-know-the-grass-isn't-always-greener-but-I-can't-help-it-itis. I'm really trying to do some inner centering and grounding and just be grateful for where I am right now. Also feeling a bit lacking in the self-esteem department. No particular reaons. Probably just because I'm in my head too much. Yesterday I read this on Delaney Gates blog and I needed to hear it. I need a vacation. Time to completely clear my mind and relax. Not worry about the to-do lists. Or the should-be-doing lists. Although teaching has wound down for the year I still have my other work which gets busier in the summer with vacation coverage. I can't complain. I work 3-day work weeks in the summer. Can't beat that. I have so many projects and things I want to do. That is part of my problem. I overwhelm myself with ideas and projects and feel this nagging feeling when I don't finish everything.

Can anyone relate?
So today it is in my best interests to stick with tradition and do my Monday Gratitudes...

Today I am grateful for:

• clean laundry done and in the drawers
• five minutes I took to sit in the sun on the balcony
• new Martha Stewart magazine and a summer recipe booklet to get inspiration
• cabinets and fridge are full of good things
• flip-flops
• lemonade by Paul Newman
• burger dinner
• grades are done...now to take a deep breath and send them in
• coffee
• internet
• reading others thoughts on blogs that could be my own
• my art
• new art journal
• watercolor crayons
• getting the mail...especially if there are fun catalogues or magainzes
• new magazines
• a book to read

That helped a bit...

Happy Monday!

it's a start

Art journaling. A few months ago I bought the book Journal Spilling and have been looking through it since. I tried to convince myself I didn't need another journal to start this. I tried using some I had already started. But as I mentioned in an early entry I love starting journals. Something about all the new pages. New possibilities. So in honor of the end of the academic year and a lighter work week during the summer, I picked up a few things at Blick yesterday. Mainly I went in for these...

I had a 30% off coupon and so I splurged on the set of 30. I LOVE them! I love trying new materials. My first art love was charcoal. Black and white landscapes. I did those in college and still enjoy them. But it has been awhile since I have done a lot of drawing from life - or realistic. Later in grad school I loved NuPastels. I still enjoy those...along with my Prismacolor pencils. But only when I'm journaling or doing abstract stuff. Recently I have been enjoying watercolor pencils, my little set of travel watercolors and my waterbrush. If you have never tried a waterbrush I highly recommend the Yasutomo brand. I started with the medium brush. They work great for doing art while traveling.They are easy to bring to work with me and in between group sessions I can do a little thinking and painting. But they are so neat. I'm a perfectionist. But I have always wanted to have a big, overgrown, messy journal. I am not sure I can do it but I will try. It is a goal in life too. To let myself just try things and not worry about how it will look, etc. I am always hesitant about making "mistakes", getting messy, looking stupid, etc. All those insecurities. And being that I'm an art therapist...I want a dose of my own medicine. So I'm going to try it. Here's what I worked on today...

Started with a page of journaling about all the things on my mind. Then I let myself play around with gesso over my words and then my new Neocolors. Still a little neat for what I am trying to do. But it's a start.

Note: after writing this entry I noticed that Donna Downey's blog for her Inspiration Wednesday this week shows how she uses these watercolor crayons and her waterbrush in her art journal.

Happy Saturday!