Rain !

 Woke up Sunday morning with cloudy skies, cooler temps  - Aaahhhhhhhh! 

I knew if it started to rain I wanted to try to get a couple of photos.

Maybe one would be worthy of submitting to the Photo of the Week

section in our local newspaper 

Before long, it did rain.

It came down a bit hard, creating bubbles in a puddle.

I have no roses, but here are raindrops on cannas

(Edited to add: this is the photo I submitted

and it won, was published in color in the paper!)

We had light sprinkles for a half hour with one short downpour. 

Of course it was immediately soaked up by the parched earth. 

What little was standing on the driveway 

evaporated into the air right away. 

I'd guess 1/4" of rain .

Just a small dent in the 15" (and counting) of rain needed here. 

The creek bed is still dry, we've never seen it without water.

Thanks for looking =) 

Cat Sympathy Card, Again

The 18 year old cat of our friends passed away recently. 

I made this quick card to send to them.

The cat image is from the adorable Meow Meow stamp set from Stampin' Up!

It is quite old, long retired but I still love it and use it.

By using water based markers to color the cat image, 

not only was I able to make it multicolored 

but I was able to omit the stripes on the cat stamp

since their cat had no stripes. 

I stamped it onto a scrap of Very Vanilla card stock and cut it out.

The 2" circle was cut with Circle Scissors Plus.

I then used a piercing tool to pierce around the edge. 

You can tell I had no template to follow since it is a bit wiggly =)

I used Versamark ink on the brown card base

with various images from the Meow Meow stamp set

to make a subtle background design.

The "doily" is made with some really old paper twist type 

of craft supply I have in my stash - and never used !

I originally bought it from a yardsale at a church YEARS ago,

paying $1 for the never used package of fancy paper twist

unlike any I had seen before.  

It promptly went into my paper twist storage tub and was forgotten about.

Fast forward several years later, when paper crafting 

 "doilies", "lollies", "fan fold flowers" -

whatever you want to call them -

is all the rage and I remembered the fancy

"Angel Lace" paper twist buried in the storage tub !

It was already crinkled and had the eyelet edges on it.

I cut the width of it in half  and used a 10" length of it to make the doily.

I applied sticky strip to the back of the brown circle then laid the

Angel Lace around it, creating a sort doily look.

The finished card size is 4.25" square .

Thanks for looking =)

EDITED TO ADD 7/30/2012
After reading a recent post on a friends blog about
the challenge at shoppingourstash.blogspot.com,
I knew I should submit this project :
Shopping Our Stash Challenge 61: Something new!

My "new" thing is the old Angle Lace paper twist I have never used in
ahem, well over 10 years  - admitted quietly, ashamedly.
I really need to Shop My Stash more =)

One Big Happy - comic strip

Comic strip in our Sunday paper -

I think many of us can relate 

no matter what our craft of choice is =)

Zucchini Bread

Would you believe I've NEVER had zucchini bread ? I've never even bought a zucchini ! Seriously ! One of those, "Uuummm, eew, what do you DO with it?" veggies, like some others I've never tried.

A cousin gave me two small zucchinis recently. They have a nice little garden that despite the heat and drought has been producing lots of zucchini so they've been giving them away. They insisted I take one home and make bread with it. Okay, I'll give it a try.

I searched online for a bread recipe and decided to go with the Paula Deen version at the Food Network web site. Yum ! It made more than I needed so I shared some with my parents. They gave me four thumbs up =) 

Framed Scrapbook Page

This is a repost of an old project, one that was created for a contest several years ago. I made a 12" x 12" scrapbook page of my pets to mount in a frame on the wall.

I thought I'd repost it since I shared the printer tray pet photo collage project recently. Since sharing the original scrapbook page, I've added better photographs to it and mounted it into a 1" deep oak shadowbox frame. That process brought back memories of working in a frame shop many years ago.

I also tried to take a few better photos, but I didn't think to do it before putting it behind the glass in the frame so they are not the best. The glass, and lighting, made it really difficult to get decent photos. Taking it outdoors to try to photograph made it worse , I was getting all sorts of reflections in the glass ! 

For all of the details on this project that uses items all once available from Stampin' Up!, see my original post here. 

For information, and more images, about the painted and stamped wall that you can see a portion of behind the frame above, see my original post here. 

Thanks for looking =)

Mixed Bunch Hybrid Retirement Card

I was going to use one of my many cards already made to give as a retirement card. As I was looking for a sentiment to put inside, I came across this one and knew I had to make a new card:

May your biggest need in retirement be a calendar because you have so many retirement activities to pursue.

I knew immediately I was going to make a fresh card using a calendar somehow.

This finished card is 4.75" x 6".

I decided to use My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! to make the calendar and the greeting on the front. The calendar is a 5.5" x 6.5" page, reduced in size to about 4.25" x 5.5" . The greeting is made with the Word Play digital stamp set in Regal Rose ink, portions of it covered with square punches filled with Whisper White. The word RETIREMENT is simply a text box and text.

I cut the tag that the greeting is on by hand with scissors.

I used an ink pen to write the events on the calendar days and circle the dates. 

I wanted to add thin black lines on the striped ribbon, but the Sharpie marker bled into the fibers a bit making it look sloppy. I didn't take the time to try to draw on another piece of ribbon then immediately heat set it to see if that would work, I needed to get it done since the party was in a couple of hours ! This was quickly turning into a 5 hour card, geesh. I probably should have just picked another sentiment, a simple "Congratulations" would have worked, and used one of my pre-made cards. Better yet, I should have looked for sentiments sooner than the day of the party so I would not have been rushed to make the new card to fit the sentiment I wanted to use ;) 

After looking at the completed project when photographing it to write this post, I wish I would have used a smaller butterfly attached near the flower rather than the larger one on the opposite side. Not the first time, nor will it be the last, for me to rethink what I made when it is finished. 

I stamped the inside of the card and made a matching envelope with the Mixed Bunch stamp set and classic inks from Stampin' Up!.

All supplies, unless noted otherwise, are from Stampin' Up!

card stock:

Whisper White

Regal Rose

Basic Black

Barely Banana

Certainly Celery (not really, but it looks almost like it)

ink:

Rose Romance

So Saffron marker for butterfly

inkjet printer

stamps:

Mixed bunch with coordinating paper punch

Beautiful Wings embossing die

Striped ribbon, unknown manufacturer

glitter glue

Thanks for looking =) 

Pear Birthday Card

Another super old sample I came across .

I sent it and the old Petal Prints card I posted the other day

to a couple of my aunts who had birthdays recently.

All images, card stock and inks are retired from Stampin' Up!

The pear on this card was originally a solid Summer Sun color.

It was really flat and boring looking -

no wonder I never used it for anything, found it hidden 

in a long forgotten box of old cards

and parts of unfinished projects.

I made a mask out of scrap paper then carefully sponged on

a little bit of More Mustard ink.

I also added some green ink.

I think that improved it !

Petal Prints Birthday Card

All supplies from Stampin' Up!, most are retired now.

Petal Prints stamp set

"for you" is from a greeting set but I don't recall which one

Ruby Red, Summer Sun, Naturals and basic Black card stock

Ruby Red, Summer Sun ,Garden Green and Basic Black ink

spritzer bottle with water

Yellow ribbon is not from Stampin' Up!

Color the rubber stamp with water based markers then lightly spritz 

with water before stamping onto your card stock.

This will create a water colored look.

Thanks for looking =) 

Mmmmmmaters

The cherry tomatos seem to be doing just fine :)

NOT the yellow.........

or the heirloom red. Sigh............... 

so sad to throw away so may 'maters. 

I've had two red ones come off

 the plant okay - and boy were they good even though

they were only the size of a small tangerine. 

These are the plants, they are loaded

with lots of tomatoes, but the larger ones 

have the rotten bottoms. 

I've removed all the rotten ones from the plants, again. 

I am NOT going to water them for a few days 

to see if maybe that helps. Perhaps the soil they are in

this year is retaining moisture more than I realize,

despite the drought and extreme heat we are having,

and that is the problem. 

Printer Tray Project - My Pets

Remembering my buddies.................

I received this adorable printer tray as a gift last Christmas (Thanks, Margy!!).  It is manufactured by 7 Gypsies and was bought from Joann.com . I decided to make a collage of my pets, three of which are no longer with us, so I could display it year round . 

The first step to this project is to measure each opening to know how small the photos and card stock pieces need to be. After taking all of the measurements, I set the tray nearby as I looked through my digital photos. Having the tray nearby to refer to helped me to pick out a few favorites to fit each space. I spent hours trying to pick and arrange photos then hours more cropping and reducing them to print. I don't have the images and names aranged in particular groups as I had intended to do since it was too difficult finding photos to fit the spaces. So they are all jumbled up. This project did take quite a bit of time overall, but it was worth it =) 

All supplies used, unless otherwise noted, are from Stampin' Up!

Stamp Sets:

Meow Meow

Bow Wow

Alphadots (Ringo)

Little Letters (Kitty)

Classic Alpha (Mulligan)

Outline Alpha (Cassie)

Card stock:

Whisper White

Going Gray

Basic Black

Inks:

Basic Gray

Whisper White Craft

Versamark

Black embossing powder

Copper embossing powder

Crystal effects

Red glitter

Basic Black marker

Signo White Gel Pen

Assorted ribbon scraps

Brad, ribbon slide

Sticky Strip

circle punch

dimensionals

bleach

tiny paint brush

glossy acrylic craft paints

Stampin' Sponge

Cassie 

Use Versamark ink to stamp the letters onto Basic Black card stock.

Heat emboss with copper embossing powder.

Carefully paint bleach inside the embossed lines to change the color of the black card stock.

Doodle a line around the edge of the card stock with the white gel pen (I should have used a metallic pen if I had one).

Carefully dab bits of paint into the grooves of the flower brad with a toothpick. Gently wipe across the ridges to remove extra paint and allow the silver to show through. Do the yellow center first, allow to dry then do the white petals. I really like to do this to otherwise plain debossed metallic items.

Once the flower brad is dry, cut a piece of ribbon to fit around card stock. Punch a small hole where the brad is to go through the card stock. Pinch the ribbon together, placing the ribbon between the prongs of the brad and push them back together. Insert the prongs through the hole , sandwiching the pinched ribbon between the card stock and back of the brad. Open the prongs on the back side of the card stock to hold in place. Use sticky strip to adhere the ribbon ends to the back of the card stock.

Mulligan 

Stamp the letters with Versamark ink onto Going Gray card stock then heat emboss with black embossing powder. Stamp paw prints with Basic Gray ink. Lightly sponge Gray ink around the edges of the card stock. Wrap ribbon around card stock and adhere tails to back with sticky strip.

Ringo 

Stamp images from the Meow Meow stamp set with Versamark ink onto Basic Black card stock. Heat emboss with black embossing powder. Stamp and heat emboss Alphadots letters onto Whisper White card stock, punch out. Attach to black card stock with dimensionals.

Kitty

Stamp and heat emboss black letters onto Going Gray card stock. Sponge edges of card stock with Whisper White craft ink. Wrap a strip of ribbon around card stock , adhere ends to back. Cut a small piece of ribbon and run through ribbon slide, attach to ribbon wrapped around card stock with hot glue. 

Stamp sayings onto Whisper White card stock with Versamark ink.

Heat emboss with black embossing powder.

Add lines or dots around the edges of the card stock with the black marker.

Fill in hearts with Crystal Effects then pour on red glitter. 

Tap off excess and set aside to dry.

I wrapped pieces of ribbon around handle at top and hot glued on a button. 

I may go back and all all sorts of strips of ribbon to the entire handle......

Thanks for looking =)