Copic Class card

This is a card I will be making in an upcoming Copic class. The stamp and papers are from The Angel Company. Thanks for stopping by!

Penguin with a Tree

Hello! I want to thank everyone for the concern and comments about my grandfather. He is doing much better now, still sore and limping a little but on the mend. And thanks for not telling me I was crazy for making him that kind of card! I have a fairly simple card tonight. I did get an early start on my Christmas cards this year, did a few then kind of stopped. Since it is now November, I have decided I need to get busy making my cards! i started with this cute penguin from The Angel Company, stamped him with Memento ink and then colored everything with Copic markers. I used some white Fun Flock on his hat. I cut the tree out with a craft knife and then used scalloped oval Nestabilities to cut out the image. I like the way that looks, with the tree outside of the main oval. The sentiment is from CTMH and was stamped with their White Daisy ink. Papers are DCWV and the ribbon is from my stash.

If you are in the area, don't forget about Craft Night tomorrow night. We will be collecting food items for the food pantry, so please help us fill the shelves! This food pantry services the entire community and due to the economy has had many more requests than normal. Due to the holidays approaching, the calls will probably continue to rise in the next couple of months. SO if you are able, please help us restock.

In a Fishbowl

Good evening! I have been enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having the past couple of days. It has finally stopped raining and the coolness of fall is in the air. This morning when we left for school it was quite cool and the girls were begging for the heater to be turned on, but by the afternoon it was very pleasant. For my card tonight, I decide to play with some kraft paper. I normally use the same color combinations all the time when I use the kraft paper, usually red or black so I thought I would try something a little different with the blue and white. I started with the fishbowl stamp from Lockhart stamps, colored it with Copic markers and then covered the image with Glossy Accents. The "friendship" stamp is from The Angel Company and was stamped with CTMH Brown Bag ink. The little baubles are from Stamping Bella. I think those little things are great and I stocked up on them that last time I was at Papertrix! After finishing the card and downloading the photo, I decided this particular combination looks like a Breath Saver mint!

I do have to mention that I loved everyone's mention of those ribbon barrettes in the comments on my last post. They really brought back memories! I remember wanting some of those so bad when I was a little girl. There wasn't a lot of money for extras like that, especially when they were so popular. We were at a church craft sale or something that my mom was volunteering at and there was a lady there that made them. She heard me asking for them and my mom's answer and toward the end of the day she asked if I would help her in exchange for some barrettes. I ended up with two sets, one yellow and one kelly green. My hair wasn't even that long, but I loved those things and wore them all the time. Thanks for the reminder!

Is it Fall?

I have been loving how cool it is in the mornings when i leave for work. Fall is my favorite time of the year, I love the cool mornings and evenings when it isn't so cool you need anything more than a long sleeved shirt. I also love working with fall inspired images and papers. This Autumn Monkey set is from Clear Dollar Stamps. The first stamp set I ever bought from them was Monkey Madness and this monkey is done in the same style. The image was stamped with memento ink and then colored with Copic Markers. The paper and card stock are from DCWV, the ribbon from Hobby Lobby and the button is American Crafts. 

Tomorrow is my Advanced Copic class and I am very excited! I really enjoyed the beginner class and learned so much so I can't wait to see what I am going to learn in this one. 

Samantha was over here the other day and was making a card for her pen pal. Normally when she makes something, she want's a little help with the layout and picking out which colors and embellishments to use. I think she is gaining more confidence in what she creates though, because with this one she showed me two pieces of yellow paper and asked me to pick the best match and then while she was putting it together she asked me to find the yellow and black ribbon so she could have a bow. I had the photo corners sitting on my desk left over from the Halloween card the other day and she picked them up, placed them in the corners and said "i think those look good there, can I have them?" Her image is from The Angel Company set, Buggy Boxes, it was stamped with Memento ink and then she colored it in with Copics and a glitter gel pen on the wings. Papers are from The Paper Studio and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. For her birthday, Samantha's mom got her a huge pack of assorted colors of card stock and like a true crafter, she spent almost as much time organizing her new papers as she did making this card!

You are so thoughtful

Wow, I have been gone for a few days! We have had some internet/computer issues so I haven't been online in a few days. Plus Kip and I had a rare Saturday off and we spent the entire day together. Those days are pretty few and far between. We went to a scrap store and he was patient while I looked around and talked (for a long time!), although he did have to take trip to the coffee shop next door. The we ate lunch at a wing restaurant and walked next door to the movie theater to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We have both been wanting to see it, but this was our first opportunity to see it since it was released. All in all, it was a great day.

I finally got all of Jenna's invitations and thank you note cards finished so I have had time to play around in the craft room for a bit this afternoon. This card uses stamps from two different sets from The Angel Company. I didn't take a picture of the inside but it says thank you. The image was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Prisma and Copic markers and the sentiments were stamped with CTMH Chocolate ink. I have no idea who makes the paper, it was from my box of precut scraps.

I did break from my self challenge at the LSS. Not too bad though! When I was at Archivers last month, I bought one of those small $1.99 Basic Gray stamp sets that has a little girl on it but they were out of the little boy. I got that stamp set and a paper drill that was on clearance. It will supposedly drill through 250 sheets of paper. I thought it would come in handy making Christmas gifts. It had been $34.00, but was sale for $15.00. I really went in there to get a larger block for my Just Rite stamps and because I saw in their newsletter that they were now carrying Copics. I only have the smallest one circle and would like to get the larger circle and one of the ovals. With the smallest one, if I use a border, I can't spell my last name and Samantha is a little jealous that I can do Jenna's name and not hers. The store is just starting with the Copics though and only had about six or eight colors and they were all primary colors, nothing to blend with or anything. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Another Foil Card

I am having fun embossing with foil. Taking the picture of the embossed foil? Not quite as much fun! I have been using my Ott light when taking pictures for my blog and it is had to not get a huge glare. One of our final challenges for the Secret Sister exchange was to use something from around the house to create our card.  I used the TAC set Hat's Off and stamped it with brown Memento ink and then colored in the image with Prismacolor pencils and OMS. The emboss the foil, I use a large piece of foil folded into quarters to give it some extra strength and then put it inside the embossing folder, trim away the excess and then run it through the the Sizzix. Stamp from The Angel Company, Cuttlebug paisley embossing folder, flowers from Joilee's, card stock from DCWV, image colored with Prismacolor pencils.

***I do leave all the layers of foil when I put my card together. I have not had an issue with them separating. You can also use heavy duty foil, but I did not have any on hand.

Granddad's Birthday Card

Tomorrow is my Granddad's birthday. I am posting this a day early for a couple of reasons; he doesn't have a computer so there is no chance he will see it and the other reason is a funny story. When I was younger, I would always call him on March 10th to wish him a happy birthday and when I got old enough to drive, I would always go and visit him on March 10th to wish him a happy birthday. I was like twenty five when I found out his birthday is really March 11th, not the 10th!! I asked him why he never mentioned that I always celebrated his birthday a day early and he said he thought that I just wanted to be the first one every year. So in honor of that, I am posting his card a day early. 

The card uses the TAC set Fore. I stamped the imaged in Memento ink, Rich Cocoa, I think is the name. All the paper is DCWV and those tiny, tiny little brads are from Making Memories. I thought the would look like little golf balls, lined up ready to be hit. I remember now why those little boogers have been sitting in my stash for so long, they aren't the easiest things to set! My Granddad has always been a golfer and still is even though he will be eighty four tomorrow. You would never know it though, he still thinks and acts like a much younger man. He used to let my sister and me hit golf balls in the back yard. Of course we never hit them that far but he would always put his hand up to his eyes, like he was looking far off in the distance, searching for our balls.

My mom's surgery today was a success. when I spoke with my dad tonight she was resting. Still in quite a bit of pain but the doctor said that the surgery went very well. She injured her knee several months ago in a car accident and it never has really gotten any better so surgery was her option at this point if she wanted to alleviate the pain. Hopefully this will do the trick. If you read this far, thanks for stopping by tonight and listening to me ramble about my family!

Howdy!

Quick post tonight! I don't usually have time to make anything on Wednesdays. I made this card using the sketch from SCS challenge for today. This adorable horse is Charlie and  he is from Clear Dollar Stamps. He was stamped with Memento ink and then colored with Prisma markers. All the paper is from the Paper Studio and the brads are from Jo-Ann's. I finished it off with some twine at the top.

Here is a card that Samantha made on her own. She has been coming up with her own designs for the past few weeks. She stamped this flower from the Petal Factory set that I used on the card last night. The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and then blended. Her paper is from SEI. After getting it together she decided it needed some beads in the corners so she added these acrylic baubles. She loves posting some of her artwork on my blog and would do it everyday if I would let her. Actually she would like her own blog! Let us know what you think!

Sunny Hello Card and marker storage

Don't adjust the color on your computer, however you might need some sunglasses! I made this card with a specific friend in mind that is in need of some bright cheeriness in her mailbox. Like me, she also enjoys the color yellow. This is exactly the type of card that she will love. I kind of think this look like an orange! I made the background by stamping the flower onto white card stock and then using UTEE embossing powder. Then, using a brayer and CTMH Sunflower ink I went over the entire piece of card stock. I stamped the large flower and then colored it with Prismacolor pencils and used a clear acrylic bauble in the center. The flowers on this card are from the TAC set Petal Factory. The "hello" sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps. This is the same type of card we will be making for craft night on Friday at my church, but with a different color scheme.

Since I mentioned on my last post about organizing my markers, several people have asked to see a picture. I am a semi-organized person most of the time, but I have a hard time keeping my craft supplies organized. I love these containers, they have been keeping my Copic and Prisma markers organized for some time. The problem was that my Prismacolor pencils were organized in another place. And the watercolor pencils in another. And the Gelly Roll pens in yet another. There was the problem, each coloring medium had it's own organizational area which was not working for me. I combined them all into one system, with the exception of the watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons. Both of those items sit on top of these cubes so everything is now together in one place. I also have a portable file box that these cubes will slide into when I go somewhere. I was going to leave them in the file box on my desk but it is deeper than the cubes alone and it took up just a little too much room. So what do you think? Do you think I might regret mixing all my coloring mediums? I often mix them on a project so I thought it would work well for me.

Purplely Goodness

This has been a nice relaxing weekend. We didn't really have anything planned so it has been nice. Today has been a perfect Sunday; we got up and went to church, came home and ate the beef stew I cooked yesterday and still had time for a nap and crafting time! Right now the house smells great because I have pizza dough in the bread maker. I have made tons of loaves of bread in there but I don't think I have ever used it to just make dough. Someone gave me this recipe and I have been anxious to try it. I love homemade pizza.

In my little crafting area, I have been experimenting a little. I have tried playing with new color combinations, to learn some new techniques and I have been using some new products, or older products used in a new way. I have also been trying to use a lot of the things that I bought and then never used.  My card today was the first time I have used water crayons to actually color something. I have used them before to make backgrounds but this is the first thing I have actually colored with them. The stamp is from The Angel Company and is called Treasure It, paper is from Paper Pizazz and the brads are from Jo-Ann's.

I am also working on some storage solutions for my craft room. Specifically for my coloring tools. I decided to combine all my coloring mediums into one system. Before I had my Prismas and Copics in one area, coloring pencils in another and then water based and Gelly Roll pens in others. I have cubes that have four sections in them. Three sections in each cube has a different color family in it and then the fourth section in the cube has the pencils of the same color families.  I think I am going to like it. I will try and remember to take a picture tomorrow to show you. I like it too because it is also portable,  the cubes will fit easily into a portable file box. Have a great one!

Finally a card!

I did figure out how to post the photos from my phone onto my blog. The pictures aren't as great as with a camera but it will have to do for now. The angel seems a little strange too! It really is straight, I promise.  I started with the sketch challenge for today from Splitcoast. I left off one of the stars though. The image is from The Angel Company set, Playful Kitties. I color the cat with Prisma markers. I tried to make him look like one of our cats, Hobbes. I don't know if you can see it or not, but the pink circle has the word "cuddly" stamped all around. That sentiment is from the CTMH set, Solo C and the orange star is also from CTMH, from a booking set I believe. I sponged blue ink around tge image to look like the sky.  All three of our cats are indoor cats and they occasionally like to come to the door and check out "the big blue room".  All paper is DCWV and inks are CTMH. Thanks for dropping by! 

For some reason I have a post with the picture and one with the text. The card below goes with this entry.

Christmas Poinsettia

Real quick post tonight! I have been working some extra hours and I am so very tired. I bought this stamp at the Stamp Scrap Art tour that I went to in Chattanooga. I love the stained glass look that it has. I bought this poinsettia and a couple of more of the same style. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to paint it with Twinkling H2os. The stamp is from a company called Stamp LaJolla. I really wish I could get a good picture of the shimmer that this paint has. It is so much prettier IRL. First I stamped the image and then went over the lines with a black Sakura Glaze pen, then I painted the image. The Glaze pen gives a slight raised look, and a much bolder line that with just stamping alone. I cut the image out on the border of the image and then mounted it onto green card stock from DCWV. The Merry Christmas is from the TAC set, Just for You and was embossed with gold embossing powder. Have a great night! How is everyone doing with their Christmas gifts?

Oh Christmas Tree

Just a quick post tonight, I have to be at work at 6:30 in the morning so I am going to bed very soon. Early morning is not my best time of day. This was another card that I made this weekend. I have seen several wreaths made with the Martha Stewart branch punch. I wanted to make a tree and this is what I came up with. I just used the branch punch to punch out a lot of branches with some olive card stock and glued them down in a tree shape. I stamped the Merry Christmas from the Just for You set by The Angel Company and embossed it with silver embossing powder. You can't really see the shimmer in the picture, but I painted the tips of the branches with silver Twinkling H2Os. It is pretty subtle, but I really like the effect that they gave. I thought about putting some decorations on the tree but decided I liked the plain tree with just the shimmer. What do you think?

Oh, Christmas Tree

This week our blogger group challenge was to use four different patterns of paper on one card. I have a hard time matching one pattern and a coordinating solid at times and on rare occasions I can match two patterns. Four was definitely a challenge. I bought this pack of Christmas paper at Hobby Lobby the other day and that helped because they all match. Then I saw this tree on Julie O'Ds blog made using SU photo corner punch and decided that would be a great way to incorporate the different patterns. The background paper was a sheet so I pulled the matching papers to punch my photo corners out of. I love the way it turned out. I think I will be making several of these. It's great for a couple of reasons, one because it is quick and two, I can use up a lot of scraps of paper. The paper is Hobby Lobby brand, I used brads from The Paper Studio and card stock from DCWV. The "Merry Christmas" is from The Angel Company set, Just for You. I stamped that using CTMH Citrus Leaf ink and then went over that with a green Spica marker. I have one more card using more patterns that I am still working on, I can't get it quite right.

I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend. We had a nice morning with lots of crafting time for me and then we went and saw the new James Bond movie. It was pretty good. Originally I didn't know how I felt about the new Bond, but I think Daniel Craig does a great job with this role. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The Morning Buzz

I am so very excited! I stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home tonight (NOT the exciting part) because we were out of coffee. That just cannot happen in my house. I am not a nice person without coffee. Anyway, I went to the coffee aisle and they had my favorite coffee in stock!!! Peppermint coffee by Millstone. I love that stuff and I can only get it in November-December. I try and buy extra to stockpile it, but often they run out of it. So in honor of finding my favorite brew, I made a coffee inspired card. This is a hostess set from The Angel Company called "The Morning Buzz". I stamped the coffee beans onto kraft paper with Versamark and the other images were stamped with CTMH Chocolate ink. The mug is colored with Prisma markers. I used some Liquid Applique on the inside of the mug as foam and went over the mug with Glossy Accents to give it a shiny look. I thought the circles looked a little plain stacked on top of each other so I decided to add the brads to mirror the smaller circle. The photo corners were punched with a SU punch and then pierced. Life is good with peppermint coffee!

So this blog is called "Makings and Musings". I am going to muse for a while now standing up on my little soapbox. I won't be offended if you leave now and we can still be friends, even if we disagree. Tomorrow is election day. I would not even begin to try and talk you into voting for the candidates I support because that is a personal decision. I would like to talk about voting in general. I hope everyone has been paying attention to all the elections, local and national and that you are planning to vote. As women, we have not had the privilege of voting for the entire history of our nation. We have only had this privilege for 88 years. There are women in my life that were born in a time when women could not vote. Beautiful, smart, caring and strong women. That amazes me. Susan B. Anthony introduced a proposal in 1878 that among other things, would give women the right to vote. However the 19th Amendment was not signed until 1920, several years after she died. There are many woman who fought valiantly for this cause. They were ridiculed, patronized, were fined and sent to jail. For saying that our opinions mattered. Their lives made interesting history if you want to read about them. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mary Eliza Church Terrell are just a few. I for one, cannot let their work be for nothing by throwing my vote away. I want to leave you with a couple of quotes to think about:

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves--and the only way that they do this is by not voting.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Now more than ever the people are responsible for the characters of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption.

James Garfield (written in 1877)

Bad Politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.

William E. Simon

Voting is the foundation of political action.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Thank you so much if you read all the way to the end of this post! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday. I usually struggle so much to make cards for men, but as soon as I saw this stamp from The Angel Company, I knew I had his birthday card covered. The name of the stamp is Train Collage. I stamped the image onto off white card stock using CTMH Chocolate ink. The birthday sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps and the brads are from Paper Studio. My Dad really likes trains and they play into several of my childhood memories of me and him. I remember when I was real small, he had an electric train set he would set up occasionally and I loved watching that train go around and around the track. I remember one Christmas Eve, we were on our way to my Grandmother's house and had to stop for a train, Dad rolled down the windows to hear the train and he sang "Silent Night". I actually had a tape recording of this somewhere. An album we listened to over and over and over again was Merle Haggard's "My Love Affair With Trains". I had misplaced his album and wanted to replace it and it took me forever to find that vinyl album, I combed every used record store I came across until I found it. Now it is available on CD and we both have it on our iPods. Thanks for reading my childhood Dad and train memories and Happy Birthday Dad!!!

I will be in Chattanooge for the rest of the weekend. I will post again on Sunday or Monday.

What's Moo?

Oops. I made this for my Mom and forgot to mail it! The stamp is from a TAC set, What's Moo. I stamped it with Palette ink and then colored it with Prismacolor pencils and used a little OMS to smooth out some of my lines. My Mom likes cows and her favorite color is pink. She used to collect a lot of cow stuff but her main collection is a certain type of antique cream pitchers that look like cows. The paper is DCWV and I am not sure where this ribbon came from. The colors are a little off, but IRL, the pinks match a lot better. Mom is great at finding me things at yard sales. She goes just about every weekend. I love getting those calls from her on Saturday mornings, asking me if I need .......because she just found one at a great bargain! I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I have been working on Halloween treat boxes today and Christmas cards. Have a great week!

Let it Snow

I know, I know, today is only the first day of fall and so there shouldn't be snowy cards yet. I am really trying to get all my Christmas cards done on time and so far I am closer than I have ever been to meeting that goal. This stamp is from TAC and is called Let it Snow. I stamped it with Brilliance ink and then went over the trees with the black Glaze pen and the snowflakes with the clear one. Then I used Liquid Applique and Fun Flock for the snow. The background piece of blue paper was embossed with the Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder. I painted the embossed image with Oyster Twinkling H20s. I really need more of those paints! All I have is the iridescent set (sad face goes here) and there are so many beautiful colors available. I used these for the first time when I went to Indiana and visited Papertrix. It was love at first sight, with both the store and the paints!

Here is another thing I have gotten done in the quest to organize my craft space. This shoe organizer is perfect to hold my Marvy punches. Wow and right now they are even organized by shape and size. I am haven't got the the other blue ones yet. This hangs on the closet door that is right behind my craft desk. Yellow is my favorite color and I happened to find this at Jo-Ann's for 75% off! Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Another Halloween Card

I always love Halloween as a child (and truth be told, as an adult too). I remember always having so much fun planning for my costume and eating all my candy. What was your most memorable costume? I remember when I was maybe 8 or 9 or so we had gotten costumes, I can't even remember what they were supposed to be, but mine was yellow I think and maybe my sister's was green. It had a poncho type thing that covered your body and matching face paint. And an inflatable headpiece! You blew it up and put it on like a bonnet. We dressed up every year and mom would take up around to all the relatives to trick or treat. Crazy what we remember about our childhoods. I think I have more Halloween Stamps than anything else. This little "Frankie" is from TAC's Happy Haunting set. I stamped it with Brilliance ink and colored it with Prisma markers. Then I went over it with Glaze pens from Sakura. I really like those pens. I accidentally got a black one when I thought I was getting a plain black gel pen at Jo-Ann's one day. I ordered a set of 12 different colors from TAC recently. It gives your writing or coloring a slightly raised and glossy look. The paper is from The Paper Studio and the ribbon is from HL. I used a white gel pen to draw in the stitching.

I have been working off and on trying to rearrange my craft space. I have the desk area done. I am also almost finished transferring my stamps to CD cases. That has really taken much longer than I thought it would. I was going to try and finish it tonight but I ran out of the cartridge that goes in my label maker. I didn't feel like going out so I stopped. I took a couple of photos:

This is my craft desk I have several craft interests, it's not all stamping stuff. A lot of things can be used no matter the craft so it is all in one area now. I love those hardware containers for all my little things. I have everything in there. On top I have other bins to hold my bigger stuff. Under that I have my Big Kick (yea! it finally has a home on the desk), my BIA, acrylic blocks and a couple of other odds and ends.

When I am sitting at the desk this is to my left and now houses all of my coloring options. I love that divided storage for my markers. I got it at Big Lots. I only bought two of the cubes but really needed a third. My friend Angela had one and gave it to me! Three works perfect. My coloring pencils are beside there in the box and in the leather case. My water based markers are behind there too.

And finally, here is my CD stand that is now stamp storage. It rotates and holds just as many on the other side. Now, the things that I use the most often are within easy reach. I am still working on the shelves in the back part of the room and will post them when I have it done. It really isn't that big of a space and one day when it is all together I will post a picture of the room so you can get a sense of the size. Thanks for stopping by tonight and have a great week!

Love and Laughter

I hope everyone has had a great start to their weekend. I know I was really ready for the weekend to finally be here. I have spent most of the day working around the house, mainly in my craft room. I am still working on reorganizing and sorting through everything and moving my stamps to CD cases. It was getting a little late and I realized I had spent all day organizing and none of it crafting. Here is the card I made tonight. I just love fall colors. This paper is from DCWV's Fall Stack. The stamp is from TAC's Love and Laughter set. I have a thing for trees. I loved this set the moment I saw it. To finish it off I added a round metal clip and tied some wine colored ribbon on it. The image was stamped with CTMH Autumn Terracotta ink. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!