Masculine Valentine

I had my brothers in mind when I made this card.  They really don't care if I send them a fancy  card.  They are happy to get my cards and in fact, they save them and use them as decorations.  Sometimes though I need a valentine without all the pink, ribbon, and lace.  This one does have ribbon but it is a neutral color and goes well with the wood background.

The First Valentine Card

I am starting to work on valentines now that Christmas is over. I kind of like this one even though it isn't my usual lacey vintage look of valentine. I've got a long time to decide which one I make will be my family card.

Peace on Earth

This stamp set has been retired for a few years but I still use it.  The dove is good for occasions other than Christmas.  I have embossed it in white and changed the silver to gold for weddings.  It could be used as a 25th or 50th anniversary card by just using the appropriate color for the olive branch.

Christmas Card Opportunity

Here is another card I made using the Stampin' Up! Peaceful Poinsettia stamp and die set. See the white fern-like embellishment. I saved it from the scraps of another card that I made using the same set.

Would you like to receive a card like this? I will randomly send a similar one to one person, not a business or robot/spam commentor in the US who comments within the next two hours. Don't post your address here. I will post a comment with the name of the person who is chosen randomly. That person will send me their address privately.  Make sure that you comment before 6:05  PM EST December 3.  

Peaceful Poinsettia

This was one of my favorite stamp sets in the Stampin' Up! holiday catalog this year.  There are so many different ways it can be used.  You will be seeing several examples in the next few weeks to see what I mean.  The layout on both of these cards is the same.  Look how different they appear just by changing the designer paper.  Which one do you like the best?

Happy Thanksgiving Birthday

Thursday is Thanksgiving and it would have been my dad's birthday. For some reason, he liked having his birthday fall on Thanksgiving. I am thankful that he was my dad.

Frosted Trees

These two panels may appear to be the same and in many ways they are. When you look closer, you see that one is vertical and the other is horizontal. There is just a touch of color in them since different textures are what are being featured. Which do you like best?
 

Happy Halloween

This card is very similar to the one I made for our family this year. The colors were reversed and theirs had a Glittered letter B.  Happy Halloween

St Andrew's Brandon

Our show tomorrow will be at St Andrew's UMC in Brandon.  I will have lots of cards and several made from new sets that I recently bought from Stampin' Up! I usually don't post more than one picture at a time, but since they are all new I wanted to display them all.

This is usually the only show we do in Brandon, but I just added a new one yesterday.  It will be a pop up show at a brewery.  Something new for us.  Don't worry, I don't drink beer so I won't be drinking all the profit.

Cedar Key

This weekend we are headed to Cedar Key for the annual Seafood Festival.  We always enjoy the show up there because many of our friends do this show too.  Since it is just a bit north of us the temperature is usually about four degrees less than us.   Combine that with lower humidity and the breeze off the water, it does make a difference.  Of course after 9 hours outside with only a tent for shade, we are still very warm.  This window was made  for someone who lives near the water, but not Cedar Key. The house is appropriately decorated with beach décor.  The window pulled it all together and is a beautiful show piece.

Taking Pictures of Glass

This picture really needs to be cropped.  I was going to crop it but then I thought it would be different to post a picture showing how we photograph glass.  This is certainly a non-professional set up.  The two wood posts are the trim that goes around out patio.  The panel gets hung on a nail that is in the banister.  I stand on one side holding a white pillow case.  Jim is on the other side with the camera telling me to step forward or back and move the sheet up or down.  I usually don't need to do much cropping but this one really needed it.  

Sun City Center Craft Show

Our show this weekend will be Saturday in Sun City at Southshore Church of Christ. We will have our stained glass, greeting cards and other papercrafts. Thankfully it is indoors because the temperatures here are still in the 90s. It is hosted by GFWC Sun City Center Woman's Club.  Since it is so hot here and the show is in SUN City, I thought this was an appropriate card to feature.

The Season Begins

Tomorrow craft show season begins for us.  We will be in Kissimmee at a cat show.  Jim has made a variety of cat suncatchers and panels and will be featuring them along with his usual items.  We only have a small space so I will not have my cards at this show.

Tea Time

Lots of rain makes me want a cup of hot tea instead of my usual iced tea.  Either way, tea is my beverage of choice.  I am not a coffee drinker, never drink it.  This stamp is one I bought recently from Technique Junkies.  I have many tea drinking friends, so I am sure I will use it a lot.  These cards are helping me along the path of using up my huge stash of designer paper.

Seeing Double

Are you wondering what you are seeing in this picture?  Does it look like you are seeing two cats and a bunch of other stuff?  The reason you are seeing all the other stuff is because this is a mirror.  All the stuff is the other side of the room from where the mirror is hanging.  The left side of the mirror is a regular stained glass piece that is supposed to be a cat looking in the mirror seeing her reflection.  The right half is a mirror for you to use and see your reflection.

Our first show of the craft season will be in Kissimmee at a cat show.  This piece will be coming with us.

Beautiful You

I have seen other cards made with the Beautiful You stamp set where the stamp has been altered.  I finally decided to give it a try.  If it doesn't work, it's only paper and can be tossed.  I don't think these are the best I can do, but I don't think they need to be trashed.

I only inked up the top part of the stamp, up to the waistline.  For the blue dress, I drew a long skirt on a scrap piece of cardstock.  Using a blue Stampin' Up! watercolor pencil, I traced the pattern on to the card.  I then used the blue pencil and a blender pen to make the dress.

For the pink dress, I also used Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils, but I did not use a pattern.  I just made some squiggly lines to make the dress.  Once again, I used a blender pen to fill in between the squigglies.

To dress it up a little, I used Wink of Stella on the top of the dress.

Canadian Rockies

Jim took this picture on our recent trip to the Canadian Rockies. When he got home, he re-created it in glass. What you can’t tell in this picture is the glass on the bottom is fuzzy making the reflection lighter than the top.

Spinning Wheel

Many of our friends and family  posted a picture on Facebook of a bike wheel with glass in it a few weeks ago.  Those of you who know Jim well know he accepted that as a challenge. Here is his version of the wheel.

Beach Thoughts

I really wanted to go to the beach this month. Yes it is hot, but we have a beach tent, bring lots of water and sunscreen, and love the water. We decided to go a little south to a beach we hadn't been to before. Before we started making our final plans I remembered something that ended our trip. There's red tide where we wanted to go. So instead we have been spending our time at home in the pool. So here is a card that makes me think I am at the beach.

Happy July 4

We plan to stay home for the July 4 holiday. We have friends coming over to swim, play games, and eat. Whatever your plans include, have a safe and happy holiday.