Hello, 2017

At this time, the weather around the country is really bad. Winter snow, sleet and wind are ravaging most of the US.. all the way down to the panhandle here in Texas. We, however, had a huge thunderstorm last night, with lots and lots of rain!!! I feel really bad for all the bad weather around, but I'm so HAPPY to be out of that mess. It is nice to just have RAIN!!!

I want to share with you a card I made for my sister for her birthday. I think it's one of my favorite cards I have made in a long time. I hope she enjoys it. I had such fun making it!!!

I made the background by layering 3 different shades of  blue on to the front of the card...using Neenah 85lb white paper. I love the 85 and the 100 lb Neenah paper for most of my projects.
Then I frosted the whole background with Wink of Stella clear.  It gave the card a lovely, shimmery effect. I added some splatters of white acrylic paint for the snow.

The three children are a digital stamp from Mo's . I love her stamps!!!
They are painted with Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils. The pencils keep the printer ink from bleeding into the colors. That was always such a frustration to me. I had already invested a lot into watercolors and Tombow markers... but I couldn't stay away from the printer ink on my digi images and got black mixed up into my colors. I knew pencils would work but after trying a few, I just was not that happy with the results. These Polychromos were worth every penny, though!!! They blend together and look great... even with novices like me!!!

The street lamp is a cut from my Silhouette Cameo.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that machine. It would cost me a fortune to get all the images I can cut with my Cameo.

The trees are also a cut from my Cameo.  I used 3 layers of Neenah paper, glued them together and frosted them by using "Bridal Veil" embossing powder.

When everything was set, I applied some pearl Embossing Paste around the feet of the children and then wrote the Happy Birthday with my new ZIG calligraphy pens. I think I will love these too!!!

I am entering this card into these challenges:

http://theheartdesiresblog.blogspot.com/      

http://inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/
  
The snowflakes on the card are for the "FLUTTER"



 http://curtaincallchallenge.blogspot.com/  


Thank you for stopping in.
Happy stamping...

Elena

A Texas Birthday!

Well Howdy!!!
That's the appropriate way of saying "hello" here in Texas!!! and I'm all about letting everyone know that we are now in TEXAS!!! (ha ha). I just think it's really interesting that people here are so proud of being from Texas... You hear it everywhere, especially TV, that they're proud of it! It's great to identify yourself so positively with the State you are living in. It's a very positive sense of belonging.

They have a little song here at Christmas time that goes: "Merry Texas Christmas to you..."
I just love it. It makes me laugh every time. Makes you think that a "Texas Christmas" is much more special than a Christmas anywhere else!!! And they do have a lot of stuff that is "Texas": the boots, the hats, the Tex-Mex food, the Fiestas for every occasion...and let's not forget the longhorn cattle and the rodeos!!!  YES, THERE IS A LOT TO LOVE ABOUT TEXAS!!!

It's my husband's Birthday and when I thought about his card, I just couldn't get that ditty out of my head about a Texas Christmas aka a Texas Birthday!!! Seemed so fitting. Last year on his Birthday, we had just moved here and had no time for a "Birthday" (we did go out to a fun restaurant)...but THIS YEAR... it was time for a Texas Birthday!!!

So here's the card I made. I love the stamps from Lili of the Valley from Australia. I haven't bought any recently, but I love the ones I have. Their little people are just so cute!!! Those ladies are very talented!!! Isn't it so wonderful that we are so connected with countries that are thousands of miles away and we can shop their stores as though they were next door. (Well, not quite... there's the postage...)

 My husband is retired... so snoozing under a tree is what he is SUPPOSED to be doing. But as everyone knows... as long as God gives us breath, we have "stuff" to do. But we do have a lot more time to relax and read the paper (or watch a football game)...  that's the favorite "do nothing" around this house!!!

 Someone gave me this stamp a long time ago. I'm not crazy about mice, but this one is perfect for the signature on the back. I did it in gold so that it would show up on the navy blue. It came out quite nice, I thought. I'll probably use it a whole lot more now.

The deets:
I just bought a set of Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. SO EXCITED!!! I had heard about them so much but thought I really only wanted to work with watercolors. I still LOVE watercolors of all kinds, but had to get honest with myself, that trying to do watercolors on these small images was quite difficult. Watercolors need space to spread and take shape, some of the spaces on these small stamps are so little, you really don't get any flow and it is much harder to manage. Working with these pencils was such a pleasure!!! They went on beautifully. And where the space was a little bigger, like a coat, I just used a blender pencil (dry) and it was great. I think you can also use gamsol or some other mineral spirit. I will try that soon.

The background is a blend of Tim Holtz Distress stamp pads and the white grid is done with a white pencil. I like the background. The grid gives it a very different look.

 Here's the challenges I am entering with this card:

http://thepencilcases.blogspot.ca/  Anything goes with coloring
http://addictedtocas.blogspot.com.au/  Celebrate
http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ color challenge

Thank you so much for stopping by.I wish I could meet all of you in person.
Have a very BLESSED and SAFE Holiday season,

Elena

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Memories made...

Hello there,

It's a beautiful day here in San Antonio. It's the day before Thanksgiving and I am still getting used to 70 degrees and sunny!!! My hubby and I reminisce how many years we saw the first big snowstorm on Thanksgiving in Michigan. He always talks about the fact that the year we were married (1958) we went to my parents' farm outside Grand Rapids, to celebrate Thanksgiving. Our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple. So EXCITING!!!! That was the year we had one of the biggest blizzards in years!!! We were snowed in. The drifts were almost up to the men's chests and there was no way any car was going to get down that small street my parents lived on. That street didn't get plowed until all the big streets were taken care of.

Luckily, Mom had invited quite a large gathering, and at about 5:00 o'clock they all went out and started shoveling. Being on a farm, there were quite a few shovels around and they could all get to work. It took several hours, but they shoveled all the way to the main street and we could all start for home. With fear and trepidation, we all left and hoped that the main streets were in pretty good shape. There were no cell phones then, so we were really on our own until we got to town. Town was about 15 miles from the farm. We were so glad it wasn't any further. We all made it home safely!!

A MEMORY MADE to be talked about for many years to come!!!

I think that's one of the reasons we make cards... Memories made!!!  
We, the creators, search around until we find the right idea to bless the person the card is for. And the receiver enjoys what has been a labor of love, made just for them!  (Or, at least we hope that's how it works out... it might not every time, but hopefully, most of the time our labor of love is enjoyed and appreciated by those we send them to).

On to my card:
 I took a class a couple of years ago on ON LINE CLASSES by Jennifer McGuire and friends.
It was "watercoloring for cards". I enjoyed it a lot.
Now, I think it is time to re-visit some of the techniques we learned and use them again. These next few cards will be using the ombre backgrounds and watercolor wash. I don't feel like I got that real well. So I will be doing some cards with those techniques.

Since it is time to be making some Christmas cards, I had decided to use the snowman and the penguins. I bought these last year and didn't get to use them very much. The first lesson was to make an ombre background and Jennifer McGuire made a sample using shades of blue with these large snowflakes. I just loved them, so I went with that idea too.  The ombre is kind of hard to see, I should have gone down to a lighter blue... sorry!

 I wanted a slim, long card so I cut my watercolor paper just 2 1/2 in. wide.
I then dipped the back end of a small paint brush and applied FRISKET to the white watercolor paper to mask off those dots. Then when the background is dry, the Frisket just rolls off the paper and you see the white dots.

I then stamped the snowman (a Penny Black stamp) on to a separate piece of watercolor paper and colored him in. I also went over the black outline with a Sharpie pen to make it stand out better.
Cut him out when he's done.

I glued the snowman into position and used a paste knife to give him snow to stand on. The snow is Dreamweaver Embossing Paste. It's a great paste to work with. This one is "pearl".
Of course, a little glitter always adds the right touch!

The second card is the same techniques but using the penguins (so cute).
Both of these stamps are just so adorable.
I love Penny Black stuff.

Here are the challenges I am entering:
http://caswatercolour.blogspot.ca/  Christmas greetings
http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/  Anything Christmas


Thanks for coming over to take a look,
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

Elena

One more Christmas card...

Hello again,
This is the second card I made for that challenge with my friend. We do two cards per month, sooooo I AM DONE FOR THIS MONTH!!! Doesn't it always feel so good to be able to check something off... DONE FOR THE WHOLE MONTH!!!

I do LOVE chllenges, though, so it doesn't mean that I don't challenge myself for the rest of the month... it only means that I can wrap my brain around something else that catches my eye. I read a lot of card/scrapooking blogs and look at challenge sites. It is always so inspiring to see what's going on in the community. People are just so CREATIVE. New ideas that just makes me ask... "HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT???"  One of the designers that I never miss is JENNIFER McGUIRE.  She is one of the best!!!

Who do you follow and think they are just the tops????
Write me a comment and let me know. Maybe it will be someone new to me and I can find a new person to follow.

Here is my card:

This is a Penny Black stamp that I just love. I used watercolors on the leaves that are red. (I have now learned that the flower itself is the yellow in the middle. The colors on the poinsettia are on the top leaves). The watercolors I used are the ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Pens. I like these a lot... they are very easy to use. The green leaves are done with the same pens.

I embossed the "Believe" by stamping with Versamark and embossing with silver glitter powder. It's a very pretty powder for this beautiful, swirly word. 

I am entering this card into these challenges:

http://www.happylittlestampers.com/2016/11/hls-november-christmas-challenge.html  Christmas card with watercolor

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/  Anything Christmas with a stamp.

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.nl/  Christmas card greeting

Thanking for visiting my blog.

Hope you enjoyed what you saw.

I'd love to hear from you....

Love & Hugs,

Elena

Just keep practicing...

Hello once again...

It is so beautiful here in San Antonio right now.
The weather has cooled down, the sky is just a very beautiful blue and there are still lots of flowers all around. I am enjoying it a lot!!! But, my friends in Michigan told me this weekend that it's getting pretty cool (in the 40's) and it's time to keep those coats and scarves hung up by the door. I kind of shudder when I hear that, but thre is a beauty to being in the cold weather around the Holidays,  The cold, the wind and the leaves swirling around make it really feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think it helps to build that excitement because everything around you tells you that it's THAT TIME OF THE YEAR!!!

I find it much harder to get in the spirit of Christmas around here, when it's still warm outside and we don't even need a sweatshirt to go for our walk in the morning. But the true meaning of Christmas doesn't change... and we need to make Christmas special no matter where we are.

I'm going to stop feeling sorry for myself now and focus on makig great memories where we are and with the family we have here. We moved to San Antonio to be closer to our daughter and her family and we are very happy that we did that. It is working out wonderfully, God has blessed us all abundantly and we have had a great year. So I am gathering ideas for decorating and started making some frosty and Christmas-y cards to get me in the mood.

I am really working on my watercoloring. I am not a natural. My coloring doesn't just come together and look wonderful. But I am bound and determined to get good enough so that I am happy with it. Watercoloring is my most favorite medium. There is not much I don't love about paper crafts. I love to use a lot of the different mediums that are out there, but my overall favorite, and the main point in almost everything I do, is watercolor. I have taken many classes, but have not mastered any of it. BUT I AM NOT GIVING UP. I WILL WORK AT IT UNTIL IT GETS LOTS AND LOTS BETTER!!!

So here is this card that features a bird on a branch. I knew exactly how I wanted the card to look... and that came out ok, but the pine cones would NOT cooperate at all!!! I loooovve the little bird, but I want him to come out better next time. I added embossing paste and glitter to the pinecones... if you're not happy with a pine cone... just add glitter!!!!

The stamp is a Penny Black stamp.
And that little bird is just the cutest little bird ever!!!

Here are the challenges I am entering with this card:
http://thepencilcases.blogspot.ca/  Anything goes with a colored image
http://caswatercolour.blogspot.ca/  Text on card (not a sentiment)
http://casmixup.blogspot.com/   Stamping, masking + choice
     3 Penny Black stamps (bird and berries are separate); bird was masked to have the greenery     
      come up over his tummy; I used embossing paste and glitter to cover parts of the pine cones.
      
Please let me know you've been here and if you are also struggling to get some technique come out just right!!!

Be blessed,
Elena

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November in Texas!!!!!

We have been living here for a year now...and loving it!!!
But, just like everybody said, "SUMMER IS HOT IN TEXAS!". yes, yes, yes!!!
No two ways about it...IT IS BRUTAL!
Still, we have air conditioning in our homes,  we have air conditioned cars, and we work  and  shop in air conditioned spaces. Life is GOOD!!!

I am now pretty much organized in my craft space and am really excited to get back into making cards and finishing the small albums I had started before we moved.  I never really had to quit crafting, even though it was tough finding the stuff I needed to get a project finished. Right now, though, the challenge is to find where I so lovingly "organized" an item that I now need.  It's somewhere in here... I know it is!!!

Here is a card I just finished for a challenge my friend and I share. It keeps us trying new techniques and keep in touch with each other (she lives in Grand Rapids, MI).  The challenge was to make an inlaid die-cut on a card. I had seen it a lot, but had never really done one myself. I have not seen her card yet, so I don't know what she came up with. But here is mine: 

This is a Memory Box die that I just love. It is actually just one of those little branches.
I cut one die out of the white and then made a cut with my scissors to cut the white layer down the middle. Leaving just one half of the die in the white part.

I used another white card front to stamp the orange chevron image. I love how it works with the kraft paper. After I stamped, I glued the chevron paper onto the back of the white paper with the die cut.

Then I cut 3x out of the kraft paper. I used liquid glue to make small dots along the back of the die cut and fitted the cut into the white paper...letting the free pieces of die fall onto the chevron paper.
Then I glued and  placed the other two cuts on top of the inlaid piece.

Sounds complicated, but it's not.
Hope you like it..

I am sending this to my friend and entering it into these challenges:

http://inspiredbyallthelittlethings.blogspot.com/ 
     coffee and white
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/
     thinking of you
http://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/
     give thanks with a grateful heart

So, this is it for today....
May God bless you and yours this Holiday Season...

Elena



 

I LOVE polka dots...

Hmmmm I wonder why they are called polka dots???????
Have you ever wondered that??? 
I think it's time to do a Google search....sometimes we just want to KNOW!!!!

I do love polka dots though. There are certain things we are just drawn to, you know?
For me it's deep, rich colors; stripes; polka dots; water coloring, plus some other things, but these four catch my eye every time.  So when I saw that Simon Says Stamp! wanted polka dots on their Wednesday challenge, I just had to jump in.

A couple years ago, I found some very cheap jewelry (like 50cents each) of a pendant and a couple of earrings. They were still mounted on their cards and those cards were bright, shiny, small polka dot bright red and a bright, shiny navy blue. Those cards made my heart beat FAST!!! I wouldn't have cared what was on the front of those cards..I wanted that paper!!!  So, here it is, a couple years later and I still had one small square of the navy blue polka dot card left. I had a challenge with a friend and she called for at least one inchie square on our card.   That was PERFECT!!! I can do that!!!  I got 3 small one inch squares out of that little piece of card!!! YAY!!!

So for this card, I sponged a stencil with my chalks (I did 4 cards using stencils and chalks.) I enjoyed that technique so much I couldn't quit. I know chalks are old stuff for most of us, But isn't it so FUN and SATISFYING to use again something that has been sitting around for a long while...and find that you enjoy it as much now as you did then? I'm always wanting the next new thing...but i need to work on using an old loved thing that hasn't been used for a while. 

I sprayed the chalk with a little hairspray and then heat set it so that it won't brush off.

Next, I stamped the "Happy Birthday to you" in pink so bring out that pink around the little birds.

The little song notes came from the bird stamp by Lawn Fawn. I love that little stamp. Those little birds can be used anywhere. They don't have to always be the main event.

And of course, the inchie squares. I stacked two heavy cardstock to back the navy polka dot. Stacked the birds too. It makes the cut-outs much better looking.

So here's the two challenges I am entering this in:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

http://casmixup.blogspot.ca/

Blessings to you all,

Elena

A new Challenge site

Hello again, It is April already... where does the time go??? We all ask that don't we? .. Time just seems to fly by and many plans are just lost in the thick of every day life. That's just how it is!

 I am just loving the beautiful weather here in San Antonio. Having the sun shining almost every day is such a beautiful thing! Everything is better when the sunshine warms your face and lights up the world. If you've been to San Antonio, you know that it is built on a mountain of rock! Not great if you're trying to plant something, but beautiful to look at. So I am just so excited to have two TINY rose bushes that we planted just last February and they are BLOOMING!!! Roses must REALLY LIKE THE SAN ANTONIO WEATHER!!!

 On to my paper crafts: I follow a lot of designers through email, that's how I get a lot of inspiration and news on what's going on. I have favorites, of course and Loll Thompson http://www.stampingwithloll.com/ is one of them. Loll and a friend of hers started up a new challenge site last month, so this is their 2nd challenge. I didn't get a chance to join them the first time but I made a card right away for this one. If I wait, the time will be gone again. I made this card using a stencil and coloring the background with chalks! I had not used my chalks for a long time. I LOVED how it came out. The three colors I used blended together beautifully. I had forgotten how nice chalk can look! I then stamped the daisy (LaBlanche stamps) with Versamark and embossed in white. I colored the image with my Tombow Twin Markers. As far as I'm concerned, no card is finished without a little glitz and glimmer (sequins).

I do hope this is not too busy for a CAS challenge. 

http://casmixup.blogspot.ca/ Stamping: Daisy by LaBlanche stamps

stenciling was done with chalk.

I also white embossed the flower before coloring with my Tombow markers.

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/ This challenge says "One for the Girls"

I think this card fits that description. Flowers, especially daisies, are always a girly thing!

http://pinterestinspiredchallenge.blogspot.com/ This challenge is for pink and aqua blue...just like what I used. I love that color combination. Awesome!

Okay, so that will do it for me today! 

Have to get these entered so I can get done on the card I owe to my friend. We challenge each other 2x per month and this time it is to use an inchie. I've already got it in my head and can't wait to get on to doing it. I have to mail it out by the 15th!!!

Hugs to all,

Elena

Good to be back...

Well hello everyone out there in blogland...

It's been over a year since I have written on my blog.
OMG, so much has happened in my life...AND IN YOURS...I am sure!
There are times in our lives that things are just going along pretty "smoothly, naturally or normally" and we are grateful for that...and then comes the times that everything seems to come apart or end in some way and we have to start over.  Even though we know that this is the "God deemed" phases of life, it still takes our breath away and we have to get a tighter grip on God's hand and follow His lead.

That "hang in there with God" time happened to us in the summer of 2014. My hubby had serious health issues and we both lost our jobs.  All our kids live out of state so we decided this was the time God was moving us out of Michigan to live closer to our middle daughter. That turned out to be in TEXAS because at that same time, our son-in-law decided to get a job with a different company. HOW EXCITING AND TERRIFYING!!! Not only were we moving...both of us were moving to a State we had never even thought of living in!!! TEXAS: WE'RE GOING TO LIVE IN TEXAS????

So, here we are: settling in nicely. LOVING SAN ANTONIO!!! and loving being close to each other. It is so wonderful to have ONE of our families living close enough to come over, go shopping and enjoy all the other "family" things that we love. Now we just have to get the rest of our kids to move over here...(I'm a praying parent/grandparent...so you never know what might be in God's plan)!

I am finally back to my scrapbooking/card-making.  It is time to get some of my creations entered into the challenges that I have participated in before and some of the new ones that have cropped up. I love challenges!!

Here's my card:

The card was cut with my Cameo...I LOVE that machine.
I used two different background stamps to make the card interesting.
Sprayed with colored spritz and added metallic fragments to the centers of the flowers.

Here's the challenges I entered:
http://www.happylittlestampers.com/ Mixed Media Challenge: Paint
        Used water colors, sprays, Background stamps
http://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/Love is the theme
         I thought of saying thank you from the heart
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ One layer
         Even though my card is cut on my Cameo...I think it is still a one                  layer. I have never participated in Simon Says, I have followed their             blog  for a long time.

http://alwaysplayingwithpaper.blogspot.ca/ the inspiration image is                    above. I believe my card fits this image.

This is it for today...
Again, good to be back...hope you leave me a comment and let me know you're in this with me.

Hugs,
elena

Old Magazines

Hello there,
I was flipping through some old "CardMaker" magazines the other day, and some of the featured cards were just WOW! to me. They never really get old, do they? The colors and even the stamps seemed as fresh as today. This particular magazine was from 2009 (that's 5 years ago!) and it had multi-media; embossing folders, lots of the color orange...and many other features that we still use today.

There has been a lot of products added in the last five years and we love them...it's always fun to get something new to play with...but it was really fun to look back and see that we still love beautiful papers, beautiful stamps and great design. They never really get old. A beautiful card is a beautiful card!!! 

But we have LEFTOVERS!!! LOTS OF LEFTOVERS!!!
So I am making a commitment: Use something from my stash on EVERY project I make.  Every time we buy something, it usually comes as a pack of several items. I think that most crafters will never use up every item that they fell in love with and and then had leftovers that went in storage, and stayed there.

I ASK YOU: Do you have an idea of how to share your stash OR use more of your stash so that you don't have to feel guilty about having so much "STUFF"???

All right...here is the card I made from one of the old magazines I was looking through. I picked out several to "copy" and I will show you my take on those later. I loved this first one because of the color: orange and GOLD. I had not done that combination before and I really liked it.

I had a paper that I loved but had never found anything to use it on. It was pink and gold and I knew it would be perfect. I used Distress "Orange Marmalade" to marble the paper and it came out perfect.

The next thing was to apply some white acrylic paint down the side (you can't see that too much) and also along the bottom and up on the other side a little bit.

I also used some leftover pieces of paper that I cut into strips to place on the side to give the card some interest and cut a leaf sprig with my Cuttlebug. I LOVE my Cuttlebug and my Cameo. Don't know what I would do without them. That flourish is from my Cameo files. There are so many flourishes on their site that picking one is really difficult. The flourish is covered with gold Wink of Stella.
Wink of Stella is my new toy and I absolutely love it!!!

Hope you enjoyed your stop here and leave me a note...I would love to hear from you.

I am entering this card in these challenges:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TresorsdeLuxeChallenge/ tic tac toe
http://inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/ shine


I'll be back soon, till then

Be Blessed!!!

For the love of a new stamp....

Hello there,
Welcome to my blog...I am so excited today!!! 
I went to a stamping party a couple of weeks ago and ended up buying a stamp that I "kind of" liked but wasn't sure about. I had not picked out anything I wanted to buy ahead of time and making a decision on the spur of the moment was difficult. The stamp was delivered a couple of days ago and the moment I saw it "for real" I couldn't wait to use it!!!

It was exactly what I had been seeing on other designers' blogs but didn't have anything like it for myself. The stamp is called "White Christmas" by SU! and it has all these little images of bare winter trees, a car, a polar bear, a deer, snowman, birds, etc. I think I'll have lots of fun with this one.

So this is my first card with this stamp. I envisioned this card from one I saw by Birgit on Penny Black's blog ...Birgit's cards are absolutely my favorites right now...I love everything about them. She is an awesome designer.

I cut the card base from Neenah White Solar cardstock long way to open at the bottom
        4 1/4" across and 5 1/2" down.
I cut a curvy line in the middle of a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" of a separate piece of  Neenah                       cardstock using a guideline I had from a long time ago.
Then I used a watercolor paper 4 1/4" across and 4" down to make my "window" scene.
I painted the sky with my "Peerless" watercolors. The colors worked together just                        beautifully.
I added white dots of "snow" with a white pen.
Stamped the trees and used clear and silver "Wink of Stella" pens to add a little glitter.
          I CANNOT make a card without glitter!!!!
I stamped the bear, snowman and cardinal on separate glitter cardstock (you can't see the             beautiful cardstock, the images are just too small, but I know it's there!)

So there you have it...
THANKS FOR SHARING IN MY FUN!!!
Making ART is such a fun addiction!!!

I am entering these challenges:
http://www.fashionablestampingchallenges.com/ weather forecast
http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.ca/ anything goes CAS
http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ sparkle and shine

Be back soon!!!

Hello FALL....

Amazing, isn't it?
Days, weeks and months pass by so quickly, and here we are...summer is gone and Fall is fast upon us. The colors of Fall are so beautiful, yellow, orange and rusty reds...ahhh if only the temp would stay in the 60's and 70's, I'd be HAPPY!!!

It's good to be back here on the blog again.
It's been a VERY long healing journey for my husband (see previous post).
We are finally at the place where he can run small errands, help with some chores, and start feeling like a whole person again. And me too...I have resumed the two Bible Studies I have, enjoying lunch with friends now and then, and WALKING MY DOG!!!
God has showered us with His GRACE to get through this and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this journey we are on is in His hands. That doesn't mean it's not difficult, but it does mean that He is LORD OF ALL in our lives and He is overseeing every bit of the process...

I am still not in full swing of my crafting time but I am working hard to find the time to sit at my desk and CREATE!!! I am sure you know how it is...ideas and images run around in our heads and we just NEED TO PUT SOMETHING ON PAPER!!!
Well, here is the first card I made with a stamp I won last year from                                     The card didn't turn out quite how I wanted it...but it was fun to do and I found the two little gingerbread people in my stash of "metal things" that I hoard. I LOVE METAL but don't seem to use it nearly as much as I would like. I don't even know where these two little people came from...but I know that I have had them a looong, looong time.

So, here's my card...

         

I used a Tim Holtz stamp on the background (in yellow marmalade), I love that stamp!

My main image is colored with Tombow markers with the addition of gold and silver.

The bow is hemp cord and a red piece of yarn from my stash.

That "Greetings and Kind Thoughts" is from 

I am entering this card into these challenges:

http://themixedmediacardchallenge.blogspot.com/search/label/challenge vintage

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ autumn colors

Thanks for stopping by...

Have a wonderful weekend

Elena

A multi-media canvas...

Well hello there,
So glad to be back on the blog AND most of all, to have had the opportunity to actually start and finish this project!!! I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do because I absolutely HAD to make a wall hanging to remember God's Word for this journey He put us on.

So here's the story: We drove to Virginia Beach for our vacation in June. Our granddaughter was graduating from high school, our youngest grandson had just celebrated his 9th Birthday and we had not seen them since October. But most of all IT WAS TIME TO WALK THE BEACH!!!! And we WALKED the beach...almost every day!!! 

Two weeks later, when we got home, my husband realized there was something wrong with his foot. It was swollen and red all the way up to his knee...Soooo, to the doctor...two days later, to the hospital...all because of the ONE time he took his shoes off at the beach and a tiny stone embedded into his foot and, being a diabetic, he didn't feel a thing!!! He was in the hospital SIX DAYS...Now he is home with an intravenous antibiotic and a wound that I dress 2x per day.

What a shocker...couldn't believe it!!! I felt AWFUL because I am the one who encouraged him to take his shoes off so that he could run around with me and the grandkids and play in the sand...it was fun!!! YES!!! Was it worth his health???? NO!!! But we didn't know...and God allows things into our lives when we least expect it.

Our life was changed...Not only was my husband in the hospital, I lost my job at the same time. The ministry I worked for had to cut back because of finances..it's the economy we live in. All of a sudden, everything was different.  Hubby's health, our finances, everything seemed to have exploded and it was all whirling around us. But we knew GOD was in control. He was not going to let us drown, nor were we going to be swept away by the overwhelming swirl of our circumstances!!! 

God is going to see us through...we KNOW that!!! We hung on to Him and allowed Him to love us, comfort us, teach us, wrap us in His warm arms and give us PEACE!!!  He is faithful to bring His promises to fruition. He is faithful to give us everything we need for that moment. He is faithful to be our Father, our Savior, our provider, our EVERYTHING!!! 

So here's my canvas for my wall...it will hang right next to my scrapbooking desk, so that I
can look at it and read it whenever I forget that the journey we are on is given to us by HIS hand and is designed especially for us.

I saw an l.o. pretty much like this by Jennifer Snyder on her blog :http://scrap-escape.blogspot.com/ I was so taken with the layout that I knew I wanted to make one like it. It fit everything that was my story. Please click on the link above to see all her wonderful work.

For my canvas I took a used picture that had been in storage and covered it with gesso to hide the previous work. I used LuminArte' watercolor paints to cover the whole canvas in different shades of blue. I liked the way the watercolors left many brush marks and had the look of fluidity (water) for the background. I wanted it to look like the sea.

Then I used two different stencils and coated them with white texture paste. Because I was working with watercolors, the paste picked up some blue and didn't stay pure white. That was a nice surprise because it muted and looked like it all went together. I didn't think about paste getting colored by the watercolors, but I will sure remember that from now on.

The doll is a pattern that was on Gabrielle Pollacco's blog several years ago. It was before Julie Nutting came out with her doll stamps and Gabrielle featured her doll on a layout. So she included the pattern on her blog. The pattern worked very easily and I was able to shrink it down so that the doll fit on my 8x8 canvas.

The white seafoam is bandage material that I pulled and shaped and applied Glossy Accents topped with white and blue seed beads. I also used brown mesh to look like sand. That was really hard to pull out...it was not very pliable...but it worked. All of the shells are my own that I collect from every place we visit that has water and shells. The colored, large shiny beads are from my stash and so is the green resin shell on the side.

The hanging beads are from my stash but the blue crystal is from Germany that I received when my friend died from tuberculosis. It was hers and her Mom gave it to me because we were such close friends. We were both only about 7 years old. I will always treasure that and I am happy to have found a place to show it off.

So that's about it...I know this is a long post, but thank you for allowing me to share this part of my story...sometimes we just need to share.

I am entering this into these challenges:
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/ Anything goes...with scripture
http://www.colorthrowdown.blogspot.com.au/ colors of calypso coral (the coral bead); crumb cake (a few shells, girl's dress); smoky slate (gray shell & several beads); soft sky (shades of blue on background, beads in the seafoam)
http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ Use at least three patterns (several patterns in the dress, many patterns on the shells)
http://scrap-the-girls.blogspot.com/I LOVE the name of this challenge: paint and texture paste (got this one...paint on the background and texture paste through several stencils)
http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.com/ summer fun
http://scraparoundtheworld.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/july-2014-challenge-15-light-airy-mood.html I was deeply inspired by the beautiful blue color and the pink...I love mood boards AND this challenge site.

Many blessings,

elena

Playing with Mo's Digis...

Good morning everyone!!! (It's morning here anyway)
Ohhhh, it's been a long while since I have written.
Will I ever get in the groove of posting my craft????
I love, love, LOVE making pretty cards and working on my pages, but getting them into the blog is just hard for me. I think, for me, posting on a schedule would work...going to have to give that a good try!!!

So, I have been reading all your blogs and I am so inspired by the beautiful ideas all of you come up with. God has blessed us with such wonderful talent and for those of us who love to ooh and aah at other people's work, there is much to admire. I am just awed by the products and the new ideas that are constantly coming up on the market, the biggest challenge is not to spend more on our art than we do on food!

So on to my card. I have jumped wholeheartedly on the watercolor bandwagon. I've always loved the look of watercolors but never thought that I could actually do it. Now, with the use of stamps...it's so EASY...AND ENJOYABLE!!! I used an image from Mo's digis... http://mosdigitalpencil.com/I just love her art!!!don't you??? it's so FUN!!!
This card is for our granddaughter's birthday and I wanted an image that just epitomized who she is...well, this was PERFECT!!!

I have bought the Tombow Dual Brush watercolor markers, and I am really happy with them. It certainly takes practice to have the images come out beautiful, but they're ok even as I work on them. I took the watercolor card class with Jennifer McGuire and others. It was AWESOME!!! and really taught me a lot. But it still takes a lot of actual painting to perfect my art. But I am happy to play with my markers. My goal is to be able to watercolor with stamps and have it look like the image was not stamped at all...that's in the future!!!

As you can see, the image is simple watercoloring, and I used my Cameo to cut the words out. The circles are from a packet I picked up somewhere a while ago. It's very simple, I know, but perfect for my girl.

I have entered this card in the following challenges:
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/
http://words2scrapby.blogspot.com/
http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/

That's it for me today,
Come and enjoy my journey with me and leave me a little word about yourself, I'd love to know you were here.

Blessings,
 elena

A shaped tag

Hello everyone,
Spring is beginning to arrive here...ever so slowly (2 degrees below zero tonight they tell us) but it's getting sunny now and we get up to mid 30s...and have even hit 40 this last week.  It feels so wonderful to feel the sun and  the warmth. I know, it's not that warm to some of you who live in the warmer climates, but for us here in these colder states...40 is AWESOME!!!

I love tags, and I had seen a set on one of the sites that I visit...I thought it was awesome. It was cut in a shape instead of just being a rectangle. And also it was EMBOSSED IN POLKA DOTS. I loved it!!!
So, I had to make some too. I don't like my shape as well as the one I saw, I'll have to try a different one from the Cameo designs. But it looks good and they came out nice anyway.

Here's the tag:

I colored this one in lime green, with darker edges.
Then I stamped it with a Hero Arts postcard stamp in StazOn dark brown ink.
I added some darker green stamping along the left edge. I knew it would be covered anyway, but it gives some interest if there is any of it sticking out underneath the embellishments.
I used my CuttleBug and a Swiss Dot folder to dry emboss the tag. It didn't cover the whole tag, so instead of trying to match up the embossing, I left it bare and used that spot to show off the antique car.

All those little dots are covered with white acrylic paint because I wanted them to really show up from the green. It really wasn't much of a job, I just dipped the wood end of a small brush into a glob of paint and touched the top of each dot. A few of them got a little more paint than they should have, but when it's all together it really doesn't show very much.

The embellishments started out with a some leaves, flourishes, eyelash yarn and other stuff I had around.
The leaves and flourishes are die cuts with my Cameo.
The butterfly and that beautiful circle are Memory Box dies.

I love that little car. I bought the stamp from a friend who wasn't using it and I was just waiting for a chance to use it somewhere. This seemed like the perfect place for it. And that red polka dotted paper is from a cheap $1.00 jewelry card that a necklace was attached to. I buy cheap jewelry to use in my scrapbooking whenever I see something that I like. I am sure we all do that.

Challenges I entered:
http://gloriadesignschallenge.blogspot.co.il/ Vintage or Retro
http://cutitupchallenges.blogspot.com/ Green or St. Pat's Day with a die cut
http://www.flonzcraft.com/vsc/ Just for you...The red car for my journey
http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ Luck of the Irish green
http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Paper chase (lots of paper)
http://cateredcrop.com/ Spring colors

Cutting with my Cameo...

Hello everyone in blogland,
It's been a while again, but I have missed sharing my little scrapping space with you all.
I've been down with migraines again and that makes it very difficult to get the blogging going.
I still spend as much time as I can working on projects, but I don't get them on my blog.
My God provides me with comfort and healing and gives me peace to get done what I can and let go of the things I can't.

Enough of that...I want to share this little card I made for my hubby.
I really like the way it turned out.
I wanted to use my cameo to cut out this great looking tree from their cut files. This is almost like a tree I have as a stamp from Hero Arts, that I bought a long time ago. I've always loved that tree but, being a stamp, I couldn't change the size AND it couldn't be used as a die.
I LOVE DIES!!!!

I had seen this technique on several blogs, where they cut two dies and inserted half of it into the negative space and then left the other half overlapping a different paper. I just loved the look of it and knew that the tree would be a perfect die to use.

The other thing I wanted to do was to hang a heart from the tree. I used thin twine. I just love how it hangs there and can be moved around freely. The heart I used was a heart leftover from a batch of clay embellishments I made one day. I'm running out of those and need to spend another day making up some items to use on my pages & cards. They're so nice to have because they add a different look. They are thicker and look different then the items I cut out of paper and I love to have them around. AND they cost just pennies as opposed to dollars that I would have to spend in the store.

Ok, so I chose an antique white Neenah paper to cut the tree out of.
I removed the tree from the paper and colored it with alcohol markers.
I cut the antique white paper down the middle of the tree and measured the placement on my card. I didn't want it right down the center of the card, so I kept it to the left. Then I found this gorgeous plaid paper and I adhered it to the card base to just match up to the cut on my base off-white cardstock.
Next, I took the off-white out and lined up the tree into the negative space. It was easier to put the tree back in with the paper out of the card...there was a little more wiggle room.

I adhered the off-white cardstock (with the tree in it), butting it right up next to the plaid. and the rest of the tree just laid right over that plaid paper.
Next, I tied the heart, and adhered the red nail heads. I love those. I don't see them around anymore, but they are really nice for a man's card.

Here's the challenges I have entered with this card
http://www.scrapitgirl.net/ Special  Birthday
http://www.dreamweaverstencils.blogspot.com/ something that flutters

We are still having very cold weather here in Michigan...but at least it's sunny now and feels better, even if it is in the single digits.
Hope your coming week is wonderful!
Be blessed,

e

Participating in the STENCILED class...

Hi there everybody,
I have been so blessed the last few days by participating in the online class: STENCILED. It is so good. Great teachers and such fun new ways to use stencils. I love stencils...but I have not used them nearly as much as I want to.

I tend to start my projects with a beautiful paper and I just didn't know how to incorporate stencils into my design. I see the addition of stencils on designer paper on other blogs that I read, but I was very unsure how to do it. Also, I would love to make some paper backgrounds, just to have some variety in my work.
I also had bought some Dreamweaver's stencil paste a couple of years ago and really wanted to start using it.

Well, this was the right class for me. Every project was done beautifully and opened up my mind to all kinds of possibilities. I AM SO EXCITED!!!! There are times in our journey when it's good to take a class just to get fresh ideas and wipe the dust off our thinking. I have a wall hanging that I made a while ago and it says:
                              ART wipes the dust
                               off everyday life

And I believe that wholeheartedly!!! We all need places in our journey where we
feel the glow of creativity that God has gifted us with. Our God is a creator and we are made in His image...we all need to create...in our own way, using our very own gifts.

So, here's a few of my creations that I am sharing in the class. This heart card has a stenciled heart behind the cut out hearts:

These next images are some of the tags I have been working on for my  Bible Study Group. I am very pleased with how they are turning out and I am finally using some of my Dreamweaver's paste on some of them.

First try ever for this technique!!! ...I used pearl paste on the stencil. Let it dry and then colored over with alcohol markers. Turned out very pearl shimmery. I love it! (This one is on my blog already)

I really like this one too!!! This is a stencil I bought years ago...and NEVER USED IT!!! and now I love it so much!!! Anyway, I colored in the stencil with my alcohol markers and then applied Glossy Accents over the top. What a great look...

I have much more work to do...I want to be sure to try out every one of their lessons to get the full impact of every technique. Stencils...YES I LOVE THEM!!!

Thanks for coming by,
Hugs,
Elena

My 2014 focus for my life: the Bible Love Chapter

Hello everyone out there in crafty land.

I am still up to my ears in bookmarks/tags and loving every moment. I'll bet by the time I'm done though, I'll be making anything BUT tags.
Right now though, it's really fun and I'm enjoying the different techniques and ideas that are rolling around in my head. There's still quite a few ideas that I want to do...so let's keep on going!!!

I like this particular bookmark because it turned out to be sort of vintage looking. The little light taupe rose and the bling flourish came from Prima and I found it in a scrapbook store. It was the only flourish with a flower, so I grabbed it as soon as I saw it. Hope I can find some more of these. They look so special with that little flower on them.

Most of the backgrounds for these bookmarks are cut from 8" designer paper packs. I love these packs. They seem to have better designs for cards, tags or small albums. I am one of those paper freaks that just can't walk away from a store without buying some paper.  Beautiful paper just gets my artsy juices flowing and wanting to go home and DO something!!!!!

So here's my tag...hope you like it as well as I do. It just makes me think of setting this bookmark in-between pages of a wonderful book being read to enjoy a quiet time and a beautiful story. Actually, mine would sit in a Beth Moore Bible Study book and I would be loving every moment I spent being with and talking to Jesus! What a great thought!!!

This tag background is Authentique paper pack.
The birdcage is stamped with VersaMark and embossed in gold.
The little bird is a punch from Stampin' Up that I bought ages ago and wouldn't      give it up for anything. I use it often. I understand they still sell it.
The little light taupe flower, crochet leaves and bling is from Prima and a new purchase.
The back of the tag is a printable from Pintarest and it is a copy of the 2Corinthians love chapter.

I am entering this into the http://flourishes.org/category/timeless-tuesday/Challenge. They want a celebration of something new: The love chapter is my focus for 2014.
It also fits into the http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.ca/...which is anything goes. This is my first time in this challenge. I just found it. Glad I did!
Another challenge: http://greatimpressionsstamps.blogspot.com/search/label/Challenge
Something new here also...the Prima flower flourish is new.
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/ Is my last challenge. They are always "Anything goes"...as long as it is uplifting.

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Hope you leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Blessings to you and all those you love,

Elena