Happy Birthday to my Sister

Today is the day that my little sister turns 39. I am feeling so good for her in so many ways -- she has come so far in knowing who she is and in establishing herself... as an adult, it is so much nicer to draw on our rich history together and work things out as they arise... I love her so much, and it is a crazy thing that we are close and yet so different and live so far apart.

Risa and I have a history of "mice" -- in fact, we used to pretend we were mice as young children, and she has a nickname that stuck from one of our games when she was 6 years old -- I call her Herb!

Stamps on this are Penny Black (mouse) and Stampin' Up! for the sentiment. Papers are mostly Stampin' Up! but the scalloped oval is Basic Grey. Ribbon is May Arts and the silver cord is Stampin' Up!

Well, Herb -- this one's for you. I love you! Happy Birthday!

All is well on the Western Front

Or: How to get your strength back when your parents visit ;^)*

My folks are great -- you know, people who really care and love you and want the best for you -- but sometimes it can be really hard when they come for a long visit. They seem to just LOVE to complain about the time difference, the airplane, that I live in the country and that I live on an island, that I have two dogs that shed and kids that mess the place up, that I am not a neatnik, yada-yada-yada. You know how some folks are really helpful when they are around? That is NOT my folks I love 'em, but grandma doesn't do diapers, and grandpa is flat out afraid of being alone with the baby!

Yeah, I know it is not stamping, but it is getting there.

Yesterday I did get to stamp -- and tomorrow I am going to put some final touches on a few cards. I can't seem to find a tiny bit of bling for one of the cards... the other I just have a few things to add... assembly seems hard. Then I will photograph and post, I promise. My mom just looked at the cards and said -- "You spend so long on these cards, how can you just send them out" -- and you know, it made me realize how much I just want to do that! Send them out! I think as I get better at photographing the cards, it will be much easier to send them out.

And -- stamping, was just what I needed to get my strength back. Tomorrow my folks are on a visit to the Olympic Peninsula, and I am going to take that time for me that I can get when my DH is home with the kiddos, too. Ah, I love having family here -- but if I could just get them to be a bit more helpful so I could stamp more!

I have been turning my mom on to scrapbooking -- I gave my folks an album that I did for them for their 40th wedding anniversary (ok, it was 4 years late -- but it is done!) and now mom is getting curious about testing the waters. THAT gives me energy! I am hoping to get my scanner working tomorrow, too -- and then maybe we can scan some of the priceless old photos she is carrying around and damaging in her purse. I did give her a new mini photo album that I picked up via Creative Memories, so I think that they are safer... and we talked about photo handling... but I am not so sure that she "gets" it, yet. I think there is hope, so y'all Hold her in the Light about it, ok?

My father and I have been going around and around about a building project that I would like to start -- one that would gain me a workshop and a car-port for our vehicles (the sap from the trees is just awful and it would be great to protect our cars from all the falling debris where we have to park them...) My dad just is so bad about DOING stuff (he is a THINKER -- he just doesn't have those kind of real-world skills) he is afraid of the thought of building, I think. I, on the other hand, have shared housing with 6 architects over the years, helped my best buddy get into Harvard school of architecture, and LOVE the thought of making a building real. I was the person who contracted out and bought land and got my home put on it -- before I was married -- and I just LOVE the thought of having space to really LIVE and USE! Dad just doesn't get it. Not that he needs to -- I am just programmed to want his approval. Gee, I feel about 5 years old when he is around!

So -- stamping -- when I stamp I am strong. I am in control. I get to pick it. I get to play. I don't have to share. Shouldn't we all have something like that?

Fun Game for you to Try

While blog hopping I found a fun game here, on Lauren's Blog (who got it from Dawn’s Blog)

The object of the game is like Scattegories! You have to think of answers that start with the first letter of your FIRST Name!

I would love for you all to play!

Here I go!

Your Name: Julie

Famous Artist/Band/Musician: Joss Stone

4 letter word: Just

Vehicle: Jeep

TV SHOW: (barely watch any) Jakers!

City/Town: Juneau (I used to live there!)

Boy Name: Jonathan

Girl Name: Jessica

Occupation: Judge

Something you wear: Jangly Bracelets!

Celebrity: Janet Jackson

Food: Jam

Something found in a kitchen: Jello

Reason for Being Late: Jump-starting the car

Cartoon Character: Josie and the Pussycats

Something You Shout: Just Do It!

Now its your turn. Not as easy as you think!

I etsy!

Ok, I am just figuring all of this out -- but I think I have found a way to add my own goods for sale, without doing the ebay thing (not that ebay is bad -- just not the forum for handmade stuff, I think... plus it can be expensive...soooooo)

Have any of you heard of ETSY? Go to Etsy.com and check it out -- it is an online venue for artists to sell HANDMADE items! Very cool, very inexpensive -- free to set up shop.

Here I am -- click on the banner below and you get to my etsy store (and thanks, again, to Kara Jones (MotherHenna on estsy) for creating my banner!

Right now I just have one item listed for sale, but soon there will be more ;^) What a great way to tie it all in together, eh?

If any of you have ever tried etsy -- would you comment and share with all of us? Happy shopping!

The lows and the highs! WOW!

I don't know if anyone noticed how grumpy I have been lately. My last post is proof -- sorry about how I ended it... rather rude. I apologize! My 18 month old is cutting molars and nursing all night, and it has been about 4 days without real sleep. Very harsh.

Still -- I have some news that has me sooooo jazzed I think I will have a hard time sleeping!

I WON A CONTEST!

I have been all atwitter over the Lizzie Anne Stamps, as you might know. You saw how I was coloring some of Jolies Fleurs, right? Well, I was over on Lindsey's blog, saw the contest, was totally enabled to get some stamps... and submitted 3 cards. It was a push for me to make the room for ME to create, with the kids being very needy right now (and rightfully so -- they are young!) But my vision came through to Real Life ... and one of my cards took Best Overall. Check it out! The competition was _amazing_ and I am so honored to have placed! I don't think I could have judged it at all!!!

Now that it is all over, I feel like it is ok for me to post the cards ;^)* The top one I call "Fall Flowers" and it was surprising for me to work in those colors -- something I never do! I had a lot of fun playing with the "kissing" technique... let me tell you, it has real possibilities for changing the way you look at those bold, flat stamps

Thank you sooooo much, Lindsey, for the opportunity to play -- This is a really Big Thing for me, as I am aching to be on a design team for Lizzie Anne someday -- maybe they will notice me! Yay, yay, yay!!!

I call this one "Juicy Flowers" -- it was the winner!

See how it opens? This is a "signature" card of mine. I cased myself -- if you look in my SCS gallery, here.

This little guy is a 3x3 that I thought would be great for the "Out of the Box" category. I jokingly said to Lindsey -- this is right out of the box, and into the barn! I thought it would be a great "thank you" for a baby gift. I see so many ways to enhance this now... mainly I want to emboss a square around it just to "finish" it a bit.

Ughhh... but learning a lot

I am pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone. And it's hard!

I have trouble using the patterned paper that I love. And I have all these new stamps and I am going to USE them, too! ARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH...

The trouble is -- I hate what I am making!

But... I am still going to post it ;^)*

Because it is all that I am making and I would rather post than not.



Ok, here's the card -- and I am going to send it away as a RAK hoping that someone likes it even though I am struggling. I am a newbie in the SCS RAK group, and I hope that maybe the surprise element will make this card more appealing. I hope so!

Recipe: Stamps: True Friend (SU) and Jollies Fleurs (Lizzie Anne Designs); Card Stock: Sage Shadow, Barely Banana, Perl White, Whisper White (all SU!); Ink: Palette Hybrid in burnt sienna, SU sage shadow; SU Markers; Making Memories brads.

What I don't like about this card: Things seem "off" -- not balanced, or syncopated or grooving together. The scallops seem to be fighting with the points! The sentiment is cramped.
I should have sponged the patterned paper, now that I think of it... The darned brads aren't splayed out flat enough... grrrr...

There are a few things I do like about it -- I USED stuff I don't normally break out ;^)*

I even realized that the flower that is on the inside of the card, peaking out -- needed NOT to be cut off -- so I pulled out the stamp-a-ma-jig, and it worked just as I hoped it would YAY! The final sponging of sage onto the sentiment and Lizzie Anne flower softened things up just a bit, and that helped too, in the end. I even used - gasp- markers, to color in the flower! I don't usually do that because, don't laugh, I just got them! You see, I like more subtle shading and blended colors, so markers just usually are not the tool that I use. And YES -- I am hating the way the center of the LA flower isn't shaded nicely -- and YES I wish I had a LOT of money for Copic markers to play around with those -- but I don't. So there.

What a day for stamping!

Wow. You ever have a friend who just keeps on GIVING? My friend Susan is like that. I cannot tell you how much I receive from her, on all levels.

Sometimes it is months before we hook up -- then POW! We are together and things just click. It is amazing... today was like that. I had a babysitter (thank you from the bottom of my heart, Melanie!) which is a very RARE thing for me. And, after a rough start getting out of the house, there I was, in Susan's stamping room.

There is a desk for me to work, with great light pouring in from a window. There are colors all around, but mostly from the wonderful array of Stampin' Up! card stock that Susan has on her shelf (I bring my own, of course, but if I run out, there's backup) -- and Susan lets me use her inks (so I don't have to schlep everything out of my home -- which I almost always have to do!)

Today I was finishing a card for Lindsey's Lizzie Anne contest -- oh, I am so head over heels in freakin' LOVE with those stamps! I have a dream of someday being on a Lizzie Anne design team. I think I would pass out if I ever got that chance -- but I would WAKE UP very fast and get stamping!!! I can't post that card until after Lindsey finishes the contest at midnite on Wed. but so be it. I am also working on another one for the same contest because it is so freakin' cool to be able to play with the stamps. Susan has more sets than I do -- but I have one set that she doesn't have -- so it is fun, fun, fun. Thank you, Susan, for loaning me the one set with all the sentiments so I can continue to play, play, play tonight.

Also -- I had a few background stamps and I was thinking... they are unmounted rubber, and rather than mounting them, I got out the brayer, which also had never seen ink -- and I went for it! I laid the rubber on the table, inked it up, put down the paper and used an acrylic roller to get some even pressure.... oh, wow. I, like, actually cried when I saw how the images turned out. Man, am I ever in love with my background stamps and brayer. There is no holding me back, now! Masking is the only thing left and then I am going to be all over the place with the ideas that have been locked in my head, waiting to get out!

Does anyone else have trouble cataloging where you get your unmounted rubber? I bought these stamps at a convention, and I failed to get a bag that identified the maker. Grrrr... I am hoping to find something to help, but if I don't find it... sigh -- maybe someone on SCS can help ;^)* You all will get to see them soon enough -- after the kiddos get to bed tonight, I aim to be working on coloring and assembling. hehehe... the things we do in the middle of the night ;^)*

Sorry for no photos -- but they are coming!