Spooky Anniversary Card

Let’s be clear….I don’t do card requests.

I can barely get my own cards done (we’re not talking mailed…just done). So I don’t create for my family and friends.

But I made an exception for this card. My friend called and asked me to do a wedding anniversary card. The couple in question was married on Oct 31st and according to the lady, they’ve never received a Halloween type anniversary card.

After 58 years...they deserve a spooky anniversary card!

Stamps: Cosmo Cricket
Inks: Versamark & glue pad
Papers: Martha Stewart, Basic Grey scrap
Accessories: Martha web punch, PaperTrey Ink number dies, lime glitter, white embossing powder, ribbon scrap, orange sequin, black rhinestone

TMS #45 - May Birthday Wish RAK Birthday Card

I used Tuesday Morning Sketches for this layout. Needed a "quick" card for a Wish RAK Birthday Fairy Card (a group on Splitcoast Stampers).

Stamps: Stamping Bella ELLA LOLLIPOP, Stampin Up sentiment
Paper: Cosmo Cricket DE LOVELY
Ink: Memento and Distress Ink
Accessories: ribbon, Copics, Nesties, Prima, Stickles

Tag Tuesday #51 - Inspiration from Home

I love Louise's (Kard Krazy) Tuesday Tag challenge. It's a tag! So that had me. This week's challenge is "INSPIRATION AT HOME". My inspiration came from a book I just brought home - TAKING FLIGHT by KELLY RAE ROBERTS. I found it on the sale rack at Micheal's this week. What caught my eye were the ladies on the front but what made me buy the book was the incredible backgrounds and collages inside!

These three tags were all background experiments. All three were done with Dabbers (Raspberry, Citrus, and Pink Sherbet) and Glimmer Mist (Key Lime Pie, Dazzling Diamonds, and S.W.A.K.)

This background was done by rubbing the Pink Sherbet Dabber up/down the right side. Then I sprayed the other side with S.W.A.K. Glimmer mist. The green targets are the Citrus Dabber just lightly touching the tag and rolled. Below the dress I stamped Hero Arts SWIRL FRAME "inked" with Raspberry Dabber. The dress is Stampington & Co AUTHENTIC PARTY stamped on the new Cosmo Cricket DeLovely paper. "SPUNK" is a Basic Grey rub-on.

I think this is my favorite of the three. Again I rubbed the Pink Sherbet Dabber on the tag. Then I lightly rubbed the Raspberry Dabber along the edge. And sprayed with Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist. And out came my mini bubble wrap again with Citrus Dabber. The large circles are a lid. The Hampton Art SMALL FACE FRAME was done on white paper in Archival Black. She looks like a Geisha to me. The lip and iris were colored with Copics (RV06 & YG13) and covered with Crystal Effects. The wings are Grungeboard covered with Pink Sherbet Dabber and Magenta Stickles.

This background is layered Glimmer Mist. Spray on a Teflon sheet and smooshed. Then dried with the heat gun. Repeat for layer after layer. Then more bubble wrap in Citrus Dabber. Finally I used Hero Arts LE LETTER stamp "inked" with the Pink Sherbet Dabber. The Stampendous RUFFLED BLOOM was also stamped on the same paper as the dress. Magenta Stickles and green glitter pen.

The butterfly in the corner is the new Memory Box Damask Butterfly stamped on shrink plastic and heated down to size. TIP: While the shrink plastic is still hot flatten it with a clear acrylic block. The rolled edges will lay down. I used the Citrus Dabber to color the back.

So, I'm down to 997 tags....

My Mom - Sew Perfect!

When I saw this Hero Arts SIMPLY HANDMADE set I immediately thought of my mom!

My mom was a Home Ec teacher. She spent 30 years teaching in the same classroom in Lamar (Colorado) Junior High (Middle School). In the beginning (1967) she taught girls the basics - cooking and sewing. By the time she retired (1998) she taught girls and boys (thanks to Title 9) consumer education, sex education, and basic cooking skills. Since we lived in a town with one Jr High and one High School - I had her for 8th and 9th grade Home Ec. There we both learned things about each other. She didn't want me to call her "Mrs Corder" and I didn't want to call her "Mom". So I called her "George" (in a house lacking any male influence most things became "George", "Frank", etc). I learned that even though it appeared chaos some times reigned in her classroom - she had iron control (she can still organize a group of people with a few direct words). She learned that I had a eye for color (my 9th grade sewing project was a struggle over material/color - I won - she later agreed it was great). So this set really reminds me of that time and was perfect for a Mother's Day card.

There's not much new or different here. I stamped the pattern image on more of that old pattern I used a few weeks ago for the sewing tag. I did some sewing around the edge of the pattern/gingham paper. That's a first - I've been wanting to sew on my card for awhile, just never got around to it! The most interesting thing is the thimble. I used a SCS method called FAUX METAL - where you layer/heat embossing powder and then stamp in it. And can I say that Cosmo Cricket MATERIAL GIRL paper is PERFECT with this set?!?!

Here's a close up of the Faux Metal thimble. Even the acrylic stamp got some good dimension in the EP.

Stamps: Hero Arts SIMPLY HANDMADE
Paper: Cosmo Cricket MATERIAL GIRL, pattern tissue
Ink: Distress Ink: OLD PAPER, BRUSHED CORDUROY, WALNUT STAIN
Accessories: Sewing pins, Tatted Ribbon, Button, Scrapper's Floss, SU! border punch, and sewing machine

I've been scanning a lot of old family pictures into the computer as part of the genealogy work I'm doing. We have some old tintypes that are about to fade away!

When I was younger, my mom sewed most of my clothes. Here I am on my 1st day of kindergarten in a dress she made for me. I loved the dress but hated the bib - it always got in the way! After my parents divorce and my mom went back to work full time, she started buying the school clothes.

Here we are in her class room on her last day of teaching before retirement. I surprised her by driving down to spend the day with her.

This is my mom a few years ago in Alaska. My friend, Anne Lise, snapped this picture of her and it's still one of my favorites! The silver hair and blue Norwegian sweater are a great combo!

LOVE YOU MOM! Happy Mother's Day!