So close, yet so far away. . . .

Last year this bird and her/his partner were frequent visitors and this past Monday they showed up again! They love the rose bush in front of our window.  They flit from one branch to the next, almost always near the house instead of the side or near the sidewalk.  They do not seem to be bothered by us moving around even if we get near the window.  They will even fly right up to the window on occasion.

They are fun to watch, especially when Artemis is around!  Artemis is a 100% indoor cat.  We call the window her TV.  If we don't open the blinds soon enough to her liking, she will sit on the back of the couch and gently paw at the blinds until she has annoyed us enough to open them for her! 

In the picture below you can see one of the birds "hovering" top of the picture just to the left of center and the other is in the lower right corner.

I know I've been away for awhile, but I think I will be back very soon and posting some of my creations!  Hope you will come back and visit!



Viva Las Vegastamps!: You Can Win a Stamper's Sampler!

Viva Las Vegastamps!: You Can Win a Stamper's Sampler!: Time to give something away! Wanta win a prize. How about a sampler package of Miracle Tape. Valued at $50.00 1) share this post 2) Lik...

Max

We will miss you sweet puppy.

Max 1/15/08 - 1/12/12

New Twisted Sketch (card) design team

Twisted Sketch had a design team call recently.  Existing DT members were asked to create a card based on the sketch being used for the call.  Head on over to the Twisted Sketch blog to meet the new design team and see the sketch.

The twist was "numbers".  Here is the card I created:

Notice anything missing?  Yep, forgot to work in the twist.  Sometimes I am such a dork!  The sad thing is I didn't even realize it until I saw the posted on Twisted Sketches blog.  Before I started creating it,  I KNEW I the exact  background paper I was going to use.  It is white paper covered with numbers in black ink and then I was going to add the sentiment in a bright color on white paper matted on matching paper (to the sentiment ink) to make it pop. . . and some how this is what I ended up with.  Not sure when I took the detour. . .the brain is a mysterious thing. . .especially mine!

Hope you had a terrific weekend!

Wishing you peace.

Linda

Twisted Sketches Card # 88

Did you notice the sketch #?  It's an even number (normally I only post odd # sketches)!  Does it mean there's something different going on?  Yes it does!  This week both Teams are posting cards, so there will be LOTS of inspiration for you!

Not only do you need to go to Twisted Sketches to see this week's sketch, but you need to go see all the great cards the other designers have created too!

The twist this week is "JOY".

I started with a "traditional" Christmas brown card base.  The edge of the green BoBunny paper was cut on my Vagabond using Tim's "Plaque & Postage" On the Edge Alteration Sizzix die.  (I used the Plaque side), I ran it through the Vagabond a second time using Tim's "Joy" Movers & Shapers Alteration Sizzix die. I inked the edges with some distress ink. . .I think it was Evergreen Bough, but won't swear to it! lol.    After "auditioning" many pieces of paper behind "JOY", I decided I like the green metallic best, so I used that.  (It was from my scrap bin, so I don't know if was actually a full sheet of paper at some point or from some packaging I "recycled".)

Next I used a piece of Gold Metallic Shimmer Sheetz and embossed it using Tim's burlap embossing folder.  I cut the scallop edge using my Cutterpede with the wavy blade.  Then swiped some "watermelon" alcohol ink over the strip!  Alcohol ink has a fantastic effect on Shimmer Sheetz - in some places it left AI color and in other places it removed all color (including the gold) from the Shimmer Sheetz!

I added a poinsettia to each side of Joy.  Then decided it didn't look quite right, so I added a couple more poinsettias to the left side.  Ahhhh, much better!  Then I looked at the sketch again and realized, this is not looking too much like the sketch.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo, I went back to my original idea and created this:

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww, much closer to the sketch!  Again I used Tim's "Plaque & Postage" On the Edge Alteration Sizzix die, this time with some Hot Off the Press Ivory Poinsettia paper. The "Joy", which is a Hero Arts stamp, was embossed using Distress Clear Embossing Ink with Tamp-N Stuff Claret embossing powder.  I stamped and embossed a couple of extra poinsettias on a manila tag then cut them out, inked the edges and the backs, added a drop of yellow Stickles, curled the edges for a bit of dimension.and attached over the top of the stamped image on the card.   The ribbon is attached with some Viva Las Vegas Miracle tape (LOVE this stuff!!)  The green "things" are some spacers topped with a Martha Stewart gem. Both were colored (separately)  with Alcohol Ink (Meadow).

What are you plans for the weekend?  Hope you will play along with Twisted Sketches!  

Tomorrow (Sunday) is Gingerbread House day!  That means today I will be baking gingerbread houses so my nieces and great-nieces can come over and decorate!!!    This is our 4th annual event!  (I will post pictures of their fabulous creations sometime in the next week!)

Take care,
Linda

Twisted Sketches Card # 87

Wow!  Time really flies!  Here it is almost the end of November and this is my first November post!  Last week I participated in a class at Stamper's Corner. The instructor was Els from Elizabeth's Craft Designs.  All I can say is OH MY!  I took 2 classes and created 2 cards in each class (I will post those later.)

The reason I mentioned the classes here is because I used the technique and products from one of the classes and created a card for this week's Twisted Sketches Card #87.  The twist this week is Glitter!!! (You can click the link to see the sketch.)

The background started as plain white card stock to which I added some "Be Creative" Tape, then the fun began!  I masked the exposed tape with snowflakes then covered with Glitter Ritz Deep Purple Opaque Micro Fine Glitter.   After completely covering, I removed the excess glitter and returned it to the jar.  I burnished what remained on the tape with my finger.  This glitter is amazing, it is soft to the touch almost like velvet!  After burnishing well, I carefully removed the masks and added Glitter Ritz Cool Highlights glitter following the steps I mentioned earlier.

The picture really does not do justice to the "glittery-ness" of the card, I wish you could see it in person!

Have you ever wanted to be on a design team?  Do you like working from sketches?  Then you need to check out the Design Team Call Twisted Sketches has going on right now.  You gotta hurry though, the last day to submit is December 1, 2011.

Hope you have a great week!

Linda

Halloween at Grandma Linda's!!!

Happy Halloween!

My daughter, Kristine and I tried our hands creating with a new "media" for Halloween!

I created a Mummy Meatloaf - (my daughter helped wrap him)

 She made a little swamp juice!

And I created some Swamp Monsters!

 We left the meatloaf and swamp monsters cooking while we took the little ones out Trick or Treating -

The Haul!

 
Hope you had as much fun as we did!