Just Under The Wire

The end of January wire that is! You see, I made some crafting goals for 2013...notice how I am carefully avoiding the word resolutions!

My crafty goals are tied into my One Little Word of UNLOCK.  A few of those goals tie into the card I am posting tonight.

1. I want to use up stash...It is a bit silly just how much stash I have So far I have been doing fairly good on that front!

2. I want to make a series of cards that have flowers on them...it's another stash thing you see. I have a very long row  of glass jars filled with flowers. It runs the length of my counter top! Lots of them are out of style by a card makers standards...but most of my cards go to people who are not card makers. They wouldn't know if my flowers were current or ancient!  I don't care if the cards are simple, elaborate or my tried and true "quickie cards". I just want to remember to use some flowers every month.

3. I want to make some "inspirational" cards each month. Just note cards...maybe with just one thought provoking word...maybe with a fitting  quote.
My eldest has been spending a lot of the year in France and  Monaco. We missed her dearly in 2012. Emails are great but they are not the same as a handwritten note. I plan to write her a note and mail it in an inspirational card every 2 weeks till she is home.  I just feel that I need that connection with her. There is a special man involved of course so who knows what the future will bring.
It will be fun to have that old fashioned connection with her in the months she is gone..
 
I have managed to post one card with flowers so far this month and finally I have another to share. It is not fancy, it didn't take me forever to plan, decide, and execute. For once I didn't move the elements back and forth and  have a cuppa while I decided where they went...Nope!

I just took a card base and matted a scrap of really old paper (Basic Grey I think) and stuck it down and got on with it. I have to say, I think I like this...No stress, no huge mess dragging out elements I didn't use.  I chose a couple of flowers, found a tag with a sentiment I liked and called it done.
With that in mind I hope to make many more of these!.

This will be the first card I mail my daughter when she leaves for Monaco on Feb 15.

No recipe as these items are so old I would really be guessing...I think the flowers and the sentiment are K and Co but I could be wrong!

I am submitting this card to the Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets. My whole card is snippets

Three

I've made a commitment to myself to finish at least three Christmas cards a month. I'm really sliding under the wire with this one but finally got it done!    Phew!!!
It's another corrugated card as I have 2 boxes left of these to use up.

Funny how you get an idea in your head and it doesn't always translate well in real life. I'm not sure if I like this card.  I was fine with it until I added the "snow" to the red burlap  I don't have any of the snowtex stuff so I thought I would be inventive. I used some ivory acrylic paint and dabbed some on the paper edges with an eye makeup sponge stick. Once that was dry, I used liquid pearls (White Opal) and dabbed it here and there over the cream paint. I was quite happy with that look.

Now here's where I think I went wrong...I decided  to add some of the same fake snow treatment to the red burlap and try to have it look as if it was snow lying in drifts...I then added some Star Dust stickles over top of the Liquid Pearls..........Ha!
I think it looks kind of ugly and I just might rip my card apart and replace the red burlap with a clean piece...and leave it plain this time! Funny that my photo is showing the border strip all faded looking. It is a bit brighter in real life!

In the meantime I am hoping for some feedback from my readers...Any ideas? Would you change the burlap out or leave it?

I not submitting to any challenges as I'm not thrilled with this card. I will just submit it to Speedy TV Christmas Card Challenge@MFP  for my Xmas card count for the month.

OK.......I ripped it apart and redid it! I like it better this way. I couldn't find where I placed the leftover red burlap and in the ensuing hunt I found a new treasure...some ivory counted cross stitch cloth that I bought for a quarter at the RV resort garage sale last summer It is quite a big bag of various colours. So here is the new card.and I am pleased to say I like it much better than the first!

Whew!!! Glad that is done! It was really easy to change it over to the ivory as I stapled the burlap to the card stock die cut. It was only a matter of carefully popping out the two staples!!! I saved the snowy red burlap so i can make it again depending on the consensus of my readers...

Recipe:
1. Card base - from my stash (Michael's Kraft corrugated card and envelope)
2. DP - My Minds Eye - Santa Claus
3. Card Stock - from my stash
4. Border - from my stash (K and Co)
5. Burlap - from my stash from last year
6. Jute string - from my stash
7. Die cuts - Spellbinders petite circle, petite scallop,fancy tags
8. Embellishments - from my stash (K and Co silver snowflakes with old world Santa's)
9. Stickles - Star Dust
10. Liquid Pearls - White Opal
11. Acrylic Paint - Cream

Filling the bins!

2013 shows my supply of finished cards fairly depleted. I am down to one card box (shoebox sized) of finished cards and 2 boxes of 3/4 finished! That last  little gem was hard to write...now you know my little crafty secret! Sometimes I start a card and just can't pull it together into a finished project that I like. So I set it aside till my mojo is working...
Other times I am half way through and we then  have drop in company and I set it aside and do an quick "tidy" in case they want to come downstairs for some reason. Believe me, I have learned the hard way that the times I don't do the quick tidy is exactly the time DH will drag someone downstairs! All these bad habits have the card UFO's out of control

My daughters are welcome to look through my finished boxes of cards and take what they need. Youngest daughter uses  a lot of cards in a year. 22 kids in little Mr P's preschool class and 22 kids in Little Miss C's grade 1 class. That alone makes for a lot of birthday cards! Add in all the family and friends  birthdays that they celebrate and all those friends kids, and it would be a small fortune at a card shop!

Thankfully they have my finished card stash and Little Miss C's card stash to choose from. Now I am low on kids and adult birthday cards and new baby cards...so I am going to be making a lot of quick and easy cards to replenish these card bins. I plan to rifle through the UFO's and finally get them finished...some just need inserts or a verse stamped inside...those should be fairly quick to work on!

I am going to use flowers on as many cards as I can this year as I have a abundance of flowers many of which are out of vogue for a card makers taste...but what does a 10 year know about which flower is in style! I will try to remake some  the flowers and combine them with other elements to give them a more up to date look!

Enough rambling...here is my first finished quickie card of 2013...Yes, it's a bit of a cheater as the image is cut from a scrapbook paper. I just fell in love with these images and bought a sheet of the blue little boy shades and  a sheet of the girly pink shades. They have been languishing in the cupboard since the release of that line...it is high timeIid something with them!

Hopefully the use of flowers on a baby boy card is suitable...normally I would use something "boyish" but these papers are so dreamy and soft looking that I thought these ones might be OK. So now it is 3 flowers used,  only 7 million left!!! teeeheee

The card stock was from the snippets pile and the flower and butterfly have been in my stash for over a year. The vellum script border in the middle of the card, was from a clearance bin at Michael's quite some time ago. I think I paid around a dollar for the whole package...Wish I had bought ten of them as I love this vellum border!

Now, off to make up the matching little girl card! Hopefully I have a pinkish butterfly...See you soon!

Recipe:
1. Card base from my stash, from Michaels originally
2. Cardstock - from my snippets drawer
3. Flowers - from my stash, originally from  Dollar Giant and Dollarama
4. Butterfly - from my stash originally K and Co I think
5. Vellum Script border, from my stash but originally from Michaels clearance bins...maybe K and Co
6. Design Paper - Graphic 45 Little Darlings Collection

I am submitting this card for the following challenges.
1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets (Cardstock and border are snippets...flowers and butterfly have been in leftover from other projects and left in my stash for a long time!)
2. Celebrate the Occasion - Green, white and one other colour (Green, white and blue)
3. The Crafty Bloggers Network - Flowers
4. Somgbird Challenge - New Baby
5  Through the Craftroom Door - Anything goes
6. Totally Gorjuss - Flowers
7. My Creative Moments - Word Play Saturday - Anything

It's Rudolph Season

While I have missed  January Rudolph Day itself, luckily there are still a couple of days till the end of the month, so I'll get this one in under the wire!!! Couldn't forget you Sarn!

Now I did warn you all that I was trying to get rid of smallish snippets by blitzing a few similar cards all at once. I won't post duplicates on my blog but variations with the same paper are fair game for posting!

Here is my submission for January's Rudolph Day...It is fairly similar to yesterdays card but has some differences. I coloured and stickled a few of the wreath images when I was crafting at my neighbour's. (I think the twiggy vine it reminds me of is called Virginia Creeper.)

Since I am trying to use my stash this year, I decided to shop through the diecuts I rolled off before Xmas and use what was already there...after all, we must keep in mind that Miss Di specifically asks for snippets! Luckily I found a snowflake in there as well and used it to tie in the Kraft card base. The colours and papers I found all went together so this is a real snippets card.
I may have got a little carried away with the pearls but what the heck...It is a Christmas card after all!!!

Here's a close up of the stickles shimmer on all the leaves, berries and all the twiggy brances of the wreath. It doesn't show up clearly here as the light has not caught it right...but all the twiggy bits are stickled!

Recipe:
1.  card base - from my stash, Recollections brand kraft corrugated cards and envelopes
2.  DP - MME Winter Wonderland, banners were cut from snippets. I love this 6x6 stack so much that I save every snippet in an envelope!
3.  Bling  - Kaisercraft pearls assorted sizes
4.  Punch  - Martha Stewart snowflake
5.  Die Cut  - Spellbinder pettit circles and pettit scalloped circles
6.  Stamp  - PSX Xmas Twig Wreath

I am submitting this card to the following challenges:

1. Rudolph Days  @ Stamping for Pleasure  Must be Christmas themed
2. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets
3. Southern Girls Challenge - Use kraft - My snowflake and card base and envelope are all kraft
4. Speedy TV Christmas Challenge@Marks Finest Papers - Christmas themed card
5. Penny Black And More - Love is in the air - My card is about sending love at Christmas...the wreath is heart shaped and there is a heart over the chimney of the house!

A start on Christmas

Finally got my first Christmas card finished for 2013. I have a goal to get all them all finished and addressed before Dec 1st.  I would like to have a peaceful December with time to enjoy the beauty of the season.

I coloured and stickled the twig wreath at my Tuesday evening crafting night with my neighbour Lisa.  The twig wreath image brought back lots of memories for me as I used to make twig wreaths when we lived in the Okanagan.  There is a vine that grows in the ditches and climbs up the property fences there. It turns a lovely red in the late fall and then all the leaves drop after frost.

I would cut it back and save the vine bits. It is so pliable you can weave the vine into circles or hearts or whatever you fancy. Very easy to do and super quick to make. When I saw this wreath stamp, I knew I had to have it!

I looked all through my Xmas DP looking for something with a house on it. I wanted the card to somehow be tied to the idea of decorating the house for the holidays! Found one in the My Minds Eye Winter Wonderland 6x6 stack, so chose to use all the other papers from this stack as well. I stickled the leaves and berries on the image, the holly on the sentiment, and the snow and trees, with Star Dust stickles. It is my favourite colour!

I tilted this one a wee bit o you can see the sparkle!

Here is a wee bit larger view so you can see the sparkle on the image.

Recipe
Card Base - from my stash (originally from Michaels Recollections Brand Kraft Corrugated)
Design paper - from my newer stash,  originally My Minds Eye Winter Wonderland
Border strip - from my stash,  originally  K and Co various Christmas borders
Bling - from my stash, origianlly from Dollarama
Stickles - Star Dust
Dies - Spellbinder Round and Scalloped round
Stamp - PSX  Xmas Heart Wreath

I am submitting this card to the following challenges:

1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - Snippets (The copic paper, the bling and the card base are all from my old stash. The MME is from my newer 2012 stash.)
2. Gingerloft - Love is in the air (The wreath is in a heart shape and there is a heart above the house chimney.)
3. Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog - Recipe: 3 DP (3 MME DP papers), 2 embellishments (red pearl bling and clear diamond bling), 1 image
4. Penny Black and More - Love is in the air (The wreath is in a heart shape and there is a heart above the house chimney.)
5. A Gem of a Challenge #64  - Holiday (Christmas)
6. Sparkles Christmas Challenge - Snowman  ( My snowman is tiny, he is just beside the house.)
7. Christmas Cards all Year Round - Anything Goes As Long As It Is Christmas
8 Christmas Card Challenge @ Speedy TV - Anything Christmas
9. Crafty Hazelnuts CHNC Extra - Anything Goes Christmas themed

WOYWW 190 - Images aplenty

Quick post before DH and I set off to walk the grandkids to school.  Spent last night crafting at my next door neighbours. Her husband is on a business trip for 10 days so I have gone to hers for the past 2 weeks.

Brought some colouring as it is so easy to pack up a few copics and some sheets of images. Here is a peek at what I unpacked when I got home.  

The beautiful bird stamp at the bottom left was a RAK from Samantha Healey of Lady Bug Crafts

http://samanthahealey.blogspot.ca/

She had a giveaway on her blog and I was the lucky winner.  It is a La Blanche stamp and is a very easy stamp to use...it stamps so beautifully and evenly! I tried one image in in Memento Black and another in Memento brown.  Little Miss C is dying to try this bird so one image will go over to her house...perhaps we will even colour them together...

Whoops, I see there are a couple of images in there that I coloured at the scrapbook store crop last weekend...guess I hadn't unpacked them yet!!!

 I have been a bit remiss in blogging in 2013...hope this post and these images get me back into a better routine. If you are wondering why I am showing you my desk, pop over to Julia's blog 

http://stamping-ground.blogspot.ca/ and check out more desks from all over the world! But be sure to leave her some bloggy hugs.

This one's for you Darnell

Today is the Anniversary of our friend Darnell and Mr K at http://www.djkardkreations.com/

Darnell is an outgoing, friendly, caring lady whose blog is filled humour, funny words, gorgeous blooms, great organizational ideas, the twinks, the scrapping playhouse, and much, much, more.
Her cards have a definite style as Darnell loves (and makes) beautiful CAS cards. Cards that are a lot harder to make than they first appear. How do I know this...well, I learned the hard way!
I have a new respect for CAS cards...here is my feeble attempt...I might get disqualified though! Good thing it is not a challenge...teehee

Happy Anniversary  Darnell. I hope your day is filled with love and laughter!

A special gift indeed

Sometimes you just meet someone and you seem to "click".  That is how I feel about Jo.
I met Jo on line when I first started my blog.  I originally started my blog as a sort of homework in my concussion recovery (after we hit that blasted deer that injured my back).  I had a great rehab therapist and she worked with me to help me regain some of the skills I had lost. She encouraged me to start the blog and we met off and on over the course of a couple of years with her teaching me the skills to concentrate on tasks and to reach my  final goal to be able to start and finish reading a book.

I had just started the blog as a way to jog my brain to remember all the funny things my grandkids say and do,  and then I started posting my cards.

Jo commented on some posts and then encouraged me to enter some card challenges. I was uncertain if I could accomplish that due to the effects of the concussion.  At the time I was troubled with horrible headaches and had difficulties with my memory and with executing complex tasks.  Jo wrote back that she has experience helping and guiding someone with a brain injury and completely understood what I meant about being not sure if I was able to try the challenges. I didn't see how I could keep track of  everything involved.  She took the time to write back and forth explaining ways to organize the entering and tracking of challenges and just generally encouraged me at a time when I  was struggling to feel competent.
Jo is a busy Mum with 6 children so it was especially kind of her to take the time to explain how to do it.

After sending over a small package of some scrappy things to Jo and her daughter Rebecca to thank them, they have surprised me with the most wonderful parcel this Christmas. It is just full of the most wonderful things, not just for me but also for Little Miss C and Little Mr P.

Here are photos of our amazing gifts  This lovely collection of papers and stamps carry a decided garden/floral theme. I love creating cards with flowers and plan to create many more with these stamps!

Here is a close up of my lovely stamps.

Little Miss C and Littel Mr P were not forgotten. Jo remembered that Mr P loves building complex railroad track and plays with his trains for hours on end. There is a hugepacket of these die cuts in all different train colours.

Little Miss C's love of ponies was remembered and this adorable stamp will soon be creating many new cards.

Both children were remembered with these lovely card toppers...this will make their card making much faster...Oh they will be delighted to finish a card so quickly.  Card time at their house only occurs when Daddy has a long day and so DH and I are still there to walk Miss C home from school. Her eyes light up at the thought of card time and we rush home for a quick snack and a card session before the garage door starts to rise and Daddy's home! Usually we have to set the semi finished card aside until the next time Daddy works late...or plan a visit to Grandma's to finish it up!

Little Miss C loves those equestrian toppers so much she doesn't want to take the plastic wrapping off until we make them up, so sorry for the glare!
Lastly there were some Wobblers...now when Jo emailed that she had tucked in wobblers, I did not know what they were...ohhhhh, they are so cute. The kids loved them.

The crowning touch was this gorgeous Christmas card. I have never received a card like this before. If has so many layers and and so much depth to it, glimmer mist has been added to all the right places to accent the beautiful details, and it is just the most special card I have ever received. I save all the special hand made cards I receive...This one is going to be hung up in my craft room all year!

Here's a little close up so you can see all the gorgeous glimmer and shimmer. 

To check out Jo's blog and see more lovely creations, click here,  A little Piece of Me and don't forget to check out Rebecca's wonderful talent at  Rebecca's Craft Corner

Unlock

Now that 2013 is truly here, it is time for me to reveal my One Little Word that will help set the tone for my year.

This year I chose "Unlock". 2012 was a year of change for me and for my family. DH's heart attack and diagnosis of diabetes, as  well as my back surgery and ongoing recovery led me to this word.
2013 will see us unlock the door to better health, to new opportunities, to more time for family and relaxation, and much, much, more.

I will be following the prompts for OLW and will privately scrapbook my journey. I am going to resurrect Wednesday's Words of Wisdom and will be posting a quote each Wednesday that is appropriate to my One Little Word.

Here are some steps I have taken already to remind me of my word. I picked up 6 of these journals at a Michael's clearance sale. There were several different covers in that bin and I was so excited to see a half dozen or so that had this key unlocking a door. I grabbed them all! I  will use them to track the challenges I enter and any giveaways I try for.  To pick up this book every day, with this key unlocking a door full of opportunities, is a great way to remind myself of unlocking my future.


I managed to find some heavily glittered keys for my Christmas tree. I like a tree laden down with baubles...almost groaning from the weight of them. I know it is the style to put very little on the tree...but that would never work for me. These keys were added to the tree this year and were already reminding me to start thinking about my word. I snitched one off the tree and hung it beside my computer...jut under the TV.

Lastly, I found the little key last year and for some reason felt compelled to purchase it. I went on a search for it and have hung it under the TV in my scrapbook room too.  It hangs beside a quote from Bernard Bernson "BELIEVE...Miracles do happen to those who believe in them"
On the other side of it is my WOYWW badge...WOYWW unlocks a weekly opportunity to broaden my horizons, learn some new techniques and just unlocks the way to a whole lot of fun! As the year progresses I may add more things to this little vignette!

New Year's Day saw my paperwhites finally blooming! We were greeted with one stem's blossoms  fully open when we came down for breakfast. Sounds hokey I know...but it made me feel I had indeed chosen the right word!

WOYWD #187 - A whirlwind of cleaning for a wee tour!

We've had a few days of eating good food, munching on sweets and yummy nibbles and generally sticking close to home, lounging around the telly or listening to Christmas music. Totally relaxing and enjoying the season.

All good things must come to an end sometime...so it is time to put an end to being a layabout and embrace 2013! I have been having a good tidy in my craft room. My need to tidy up the mess my room was in after the run up to Christmas has turned into a massive clean out and tidy I have been busy finding homes for my  Christmas pressies as well as new homes for some of the old supplies. Funny how we seem to spend as much time tidying and organizing as we do crafting!

Here is a shot of the work desk counter that I usually show you...quite a difference after my tidy!

Next is a picture of the rest of my work so far. It is taken from an angle I don't usually show. I am standing at the bottom of the basement stairs looking towards the back wall of my room. This area used to have a recliner  that has now been moved into our guest suite. DH turned his office into a TV/reading den so I inherited his filing cabinet and oak desktop. You are looking at the back of it. I was happy to get it as I now have enough seating to invite a 3rd girlfriend to our craft nights. I will keep my sewing machine on this desktop but need DH to carry it down 2 flights of stairs and he is nursing pulled ligaments at the moment. Once down here, I will be able to once again, sew on my cards.  The green lidded stacking bins underneath hold my hair flowers bits and bobs.

 Just behind the stacking green flower bins is a stack of three narrow plastic drawers that now hold most of my  Christmas card making supplies. Here is a picture of the other side of the "desktop" to show what I mean.

You can see the green plastic slim drawers to the left of the phto. They hold my Xmas 6x6 paper pads, journaling spots, Xmas themed mats, etc. The little rows of black drawers on the countertop (to the right of the desktop) are storing the more delicate odds and ends of Christmas embellishments. I plan on doing the Christmas card weekly challenges in 2013, so wanted to leave Christmas supplies handy. The brown basket perched on top of the tiny drawers holds the bling that I add to Xmas cards. There is a selection of the usual red, green, burgundy and diamond but also aqua, pink, pearls in a variety of colours and even a few fancy swirly bits. Back under the countertop, the white plastic bins with the floral paper inserts in the front of the drawers store my wooden stamps and my inks and acrylic blocks etc. I have three of these units under my counters and love them!

Hope you enjoyed the little tour and did you notice that I finally hung the garden scrapbook pages!!! If you wish to see other desktop  tours pop in to visit the lovely Julia at the Stamping Ground. She sponsors this whole bloghop, be sure to leave her some bloggy hugs.

Now time to go and make a creative mess. I have several card ideas buzzing about in my head...