Thursday, February 25, 2010

Happy Mouse in Clover

Good evening legionnaires. How's your week going? It's almost over. I have another weekend with not too much to do. I have picked  my box style for the shower favors. And I think I maycall the mama-to-be and ask her to come to my house and help with these. She's offered and I think she wants to get out of the house. She will have 3 little ones when this one is born. If I recall, 3 is kinda' the magic number. It's not easy getting 3 ready to do anything. It's difficult to split things into three vs. half. And if you already have a boy and a girl; then you end up with either two boys or two girls and then you're faced with the only one boy or one girl syndrome. That causes all kinds of issues. Believe me, I know...been there...done that. And don't forget middle child syndrome. Why, books have been written about the woes of that one. OK, I just feel life is so much easier with just two....two parents, two kids, two cars, two pets...ya' catch my drift?

So fans, here's my only card for St. Patrick's Day. I'm 1/8 Irish on my paternal side, and used to make a big deal about it too...you know being such a conglomerate of ethnicity as I am. Yup, used to wear as much green as possible and then had to explain to the predominate race in my school, that I really did have an Irish great-grandmother from County Cork named Mary Owens, who arrived here in the late 1800s trying to get as far away from the potato famines as possible. I think my story met with skepticism. Maybe if I had finished it ....bear with me. Oh, she escaped, right into New York's Hell's Kitchen district, became a prostitute out of desparation (or so we believe), and lived for several years like this until a half Shinnecock Indian/half black former slave who grew veggies in Catskill, came down to sell his produce. No one is quite sure just under what circumstances he met Mary, but I like to think he saved her from her pimp and regaled her with stories of the good life to be had on the fertile farmlands of upstate New York. It seems Mary was not concerned with the color of his skin. Bully for her! And off she went. The story goes she was a wonderful wife and mother, a tad strict and honest to the bone. She raised 7 kids and insisted they all attend the local St. Patrick's Catholic School and be alter boys. Soooo, I really do have a legitimate reason for claiming my Erin Go Braugh, huh.

Base: SU's soft sage, non-descript white, ds paper from a digital company out of Great Britain  here and the stamp called O Lucky Day by Stampabilities. Used my Nestie for the shape and the green mat (not SU paper) was done by tracing the outside of the Nestie and then hand-cutting it. Hmmm, didn't particularly enjoy that, but like the look. I used a little clover punch from my stash and colored'em over with a sparkly Copic pen and mounted em' on a tiny square. Most of the image coloring was done with Copics and the background I did with chalk.  A ribbon and green pearl from my stash finish it off.

Enjoy the rest of the week....it'll be over before ya' know it.
Erica
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Monday, February 22, 2010

Cucumbers, Anyone?

So, this is the second card I made for Sharon Johnson's Sketch 127. Isn't the ds paper scrumptious? It's from K &Co., Life's Journey...double sided kinda heavy cs, so I see many boxes in the future. But for this card, I thought it worked nicely to "hide" seeds. I scrounged around the catch-all draws in my house and unfortunately all I could come with was cucumeber seeds. The base is retired pomagranite, then a mat of black, then the reverse side of the ds paper which I scallopped with an MS punch. then SU's old olive and ots of Signo pen white dots. The SU tab punch is the "pull" for the seed packet. I was supposed to plant these two years ago. The first time I planted cukes, there was a battle between me and my Westie as to who could get to the ripe ones first. She ate everything I tried to grow except for collard greens. Bless her sweet little soul. She's been gone now 2 yrs. I replaced her with my cat. Quite a difference with these two species.

Well, gonna' run. Canada is getting its gold for pairs ice dancing. They deserve it, though it was close. The US silver medalist were very good. Glad I don't have to judge.

Hope your Monday was a good and you're off and running (not too fast) for the week.
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Sunday, February 21, 2010

Baby Shower


So, my legionnaires, I did get some stamping in on the weekend and finished up the baby shower cards and here it is.
I'm immersed in Diana Gabaldon's Jamie & Claire sagas...only half-way thru the 3rd book, but I'm reading faster than I have in a long time, which means, something has to take a back seat, and that is almost always stamping. So I will not be posting most of this week, except, I want to try the Mojo Monday sketch and Janice here has invited me to participate in a few challenges. I must try one of them. Thank you Janice. I also have another card for Sharon's Challenge #127 (see my previous post). I kept my card simple. The mother-to- be, has lady bugs as her theme with pink and sage colors. So I whipped this up in no time.  The image is from a CTMH set and I computer generated the sentiment. The paper is SU and I used a CB folder which I colored with chalks. The Nestie made the shapes and the ric rac is from my stash. I used a little glaze for the dots, which may not be showing up, and colored with Copics. Simple, but cute, I think. I have a St. Patrick's Day card and an Easter card to show too. Whew...I guess I did get some stamping done after all.
Have a great week everyone.
Erica
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Friday, February 19, 2010

I learned a lot today

Yup, I wanted to CASH (copy as seen here) http://www.debneerman.blogspot.com/   Deb is one of my legionnaires. Lovvvveee her. She always has time for me. She is on the Design Team of Sharon Johnson's "No Time To Stamp." http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2010/02/18/stamp-simply-127-recipe-card-with-a-twist/
Sharon is a big fan of Diana Gabaldon tomes...so looovvve her too. And she has the most fab blog that's super easy to navigate and has tutes galore on anything you can think of. 
So, what I learned is that striped papers are not always a good idea. Depending on your sketch, you can be forced to try to match them up. As you can see, I couldn't quite do it here. I used these stripes, 'cause I was determined to use that beautiful ribbon and I had no paper that matched except this one. Now, I've seen people do the matchy thing with great results, but I don't seem to have that kinda' flair. As an aside, this is a reason to be a Stampin' Up demo, as they are the stamp company to beat when it comes to super matchy. I am a CTMH demo right now...  hobby only, I haven't accumulated much in the way of matchy. So my stripes don't match and they are too bold and the musical paper is too dull, so this card is about what not to do. I will be trying this sketch again, because I really like it and it's a 2 for 1 with the concept of a gift card holder. My card (ya gotta imagine...) is a from a store that sells cds. The background is one of those Nestie Impressibilities. They leave a more subtle impression than CB folders. SU black is the base and Paper Temptress craft brown is the Nestie mat. The deigner ds is from Joann's loose stuff and the ribbon and button is from my stash. The musical note is a tiny stamp from Michaels and the sentiment is SU's Congrats.

OK fans, gotta run...showing the house to some Canadians again. What's up with that. Do ya think they're coming for our great health care system???

Blessings, Erica

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Curling....really!

Hello my legionnaires. What's up? Are you watching the Olympics in between stamping. It certainly got off to a sad start and I think it took of some of the luster. I had two families from Vancouver look at my house earlier this week. I asked them why they weren't home caught up in all the fun festivities. They told me it's a madhouse right now and they couldn't wait to leave. They also felt that it was way too much about making money and that memorabilia was a over-priced as well as the event seating prices. In sum, they just didn't feel they were missing out on anything and it was perfectly okay to watch it on TV while here in sunny Arizona.

So, what do you think of "curling"? I watched last night and I confess, I couldn't make heads or tails of it. It seems they are coaxing a fat disc down a lane and then if it doesn't go fast enough, they clean up the lane in front so that said fat disc will be more inclined to decline further until it meets the target. I'm sure I just don't get it? However is it a sport? What part of the body is being exercised? If there is a Canadian legionnaire who reads my blog and would care to comment, I'd be happy to read it.

Speaking of odd games, a friend of mine wants me to learn a new card game that some seniors she's been hangin' out with have been immersed in. It's called Hand and Foot. Really, that's the name and you play it with anywhere from 3 to 5 decks of cards depending on how many people are in it. Now, I've never been much of a card player...a little rummy, go fish and "21", but nothing elaborate like Bridge, or Big Whisk, or Canasta (does anybody remember that one?). There's no way I could keep a deck of cards in my hands, so I hope you get to spread them out on a table somehow. Well, I told her to come on over one day and show me how it's done. But frankly, I'd rather be stamping.

So here's a card using yet another "flower" of sort. I can't credit the designer, cause I didn't do what I'm supposed to and copy the link somewhere. I made this some days ago. But you take 5 one inch circles and place 'em strategically in a circle and top the center with a button and voila...The saying is from an SU set and the border is an EK punch. I don't know if it's showing up, but the card is folded from the right and about 1 inch is cut off and then the flower is mounted on the edge. I kinda' like the simplicity of this and will probably use the sketch again.

I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow, 'cause I don't have a busy weekend and that means some serious stamping. Gotta get the favors done for the Baby Shower. The invites are done and I will post one tomorrow.


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Monday, February 15, 2010

Where Have I Been You Ask?

Well, you don't wanna know. But I'll tell ya' anywho and it ain't pretty. The hospital, yuck and I didn't want to go, but pesky children made me do it. When children are no longer children, but more like middle aged adults, there is a role reversal within the family that I'm not sure I like too much. The darling youngest daughter decided that good old mom surely has heart attack symptoms and bamboozled me into going. So after an overnight stay, numerous tests, for which I have bruised inside of elbows to prove it, having explained my pain to 6 nurses and 5 doctors, and walking out with a prescription for heartburn, I'm home and we still don't know for certain what the problem is and guess what??? It's still with me. So we will continue with the battery of tests one takes to try to figure out what's wrong, while I tell myself that I'm not a hypochondriac and my dyd tries not to have an anxiety attack. Oh being 60 is sooo much fun.

I made this card pre-hospitalization. I used one of those popular flower-making techniques from Dawn McAvey where you use scallops, distress ink and some kinda' middle thingie. I had a heck of a time finding a book I was willing to destroy. Gee whiz, I was taught to treat books like they were my friends. I still use book plates in my front covers and get really in a huff if I loan a book out and it doesn't come back in good shape. Lately, I've been too cheap to buy books and the library is my source or a local used book store. I can't even use the library's drop box for returns. I get all bent out of shape...pun intended...justing thinking about the damage I could be doing as it unceremoniously splats atop other heaped up books. I thought I had to have a Kindle, and then I got an iphone. Does the same thing, but not as large. I immediately down-loaded a free book. I find it's not for me. There is something about the feel and heft of an actual book, the turning of its pages...yup, even the smell, old or new, that just adds to the enjoyment of the read itself. So anywho, I've set aside a book for just flower-making purposes. The Happy B-Day sentiment is from CTMH and that's an MS border punch and a trusty CB folder blue mat which I sanded a bit to reveal the white core. That's something I rarely do. A little ribbon, waxy floss, and a button finish the card off. I really like this sketch, so you'll probably see more of it.

If you don't hear from me for a few days, it's 'cuz I've been commissioned to do 15 invites for a baby shower and the favors. No $$$ in it, so I won't be doing anything fancy, but will share when finished.

Before I go, I did get a fabulous present for Valentines' Day. DH hasn't gotten me anything for several years. He doesn't get out due to his handicap and doesn't do the internet except for banking, so I have to pick out my own stuff. I usually just don't get around to it. But this time, I felt since I was still alive, I deserved a little something . After swearing off designer purses, I just couldn't resist a Coach purse that my dyd and I found super-discounted. It's been years since I bought one and I've given most of mine away. I needed a new purse, so now I have one. I've snapped a pic, but I'm too lazy to download it tonight. Hey, how'd you all do for the Day of Love?
Hugs & Blessings,
Erica
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Thursday, February 4, 2010

I AM AWED....I tell Ya!!

And who do I owe it all to??? Well, it sure wasn't me. I have to thank God, first and foremost, 'cause he kept me from having panic attacks and kept laying it on my heart that I could do this. Thank you Lord. Secondly, Shabby Chic Blogs here http://www.shabbyblogs.com/ , or if the link doesn't work, just look at the left of my blog...where that saintly woman puts her badge for all to directly link to. In my last post, I was lamenting the fact that I would have to go to M. Laycock...love her stuff, but her stuff ain't cheap by my standards. I kept seeing this freebie blog designer. Of course, I thought, if it's free, it can't be good. NOT!! It's just what this poor non-technie needed. Thank you Megan. Your instructions were clear and to the point and best of all, free. Did ya' hear me...I said FREE. What a blessing. I grabbed a header, the side things...name escapes me...a button. It's not quite as polished as I'd like it to be. Apparently, I'm missing a divider, but after an hour trying to get it to show up, I gave up. I also need to update my picture as that sweet little granddaughter and grandson are 2 yrs. older. And that, my legionnaires, brings me to this.  I am going to see them tomorrow. Yup, we're loading up the big SUV (other dd, her family and my dh), and heading for Altadena, CA. Gonna celebrate Sienna's 2nd birthday. So, definitely no posting until Sunday when the Superbowl is on and I am banished from the family room, 'cause I get to hoopin, & hollerin', and dh looks at me askance, 'cause it's obvious I don't know what I'm cheering about! Well, I can fit only so much in this pea brain of mine afterall. Right now, this brain is set on getting my blog right. So, here's a card that I made. I'm too pooped to give deets, but as usual, it's a nothin' special card.
Happy Weekend legionnaires and get a little stamping done please.
Hugs & Blessings,
Erica (who is going to try to get that book "Bloging For Dummies" real soon.