Internet access Denied... not invented yet

- Wishing & Hoping
- Being the Artful Dodger

Found a cute little blog worth CASe-ing a few ideas. Homegrown Hospitality her style changes a lot, she goes from felt blooms, to paper to doodling sentiments. I figured I had punches and plenty of scrap paper, added a few doodles and dots on the petals, stems and leaves ... and I'd come up with some really cute spring time cards... that were simple... yet adorable!

Chattanooga Aquarium.... going to museums and fairs and amusement parks are all fun... but a waste for the little one's memories. The kids don't remember going here about 13 years ago. Oh, how I wish the technology of digital cameras was around for my babies!! But we did prop the camera up on the side... no tri-pod and Jeff came running around and climbed the rock wall to get the picture.

An original (copy) Huggy from 1992. I love my doodles. There I am in number 1 getting an idea from the card store (remember, no Internet back then)... No 2 I'm working hard at my drawing, with Bali-Hoo (our first puppy) at my feet, in no. 3 all Jeff has to do is sign the card... and then I put it out in the mail box...inside reads.... Happy Birthday from the both of us! It's hard to read... but my label ... Handmade exclusively 4 u, By Huggy. a tiny little division of the Artful Dodger co. 1992. I loved the character name Artful Dodger from the play Oliver. I'm artful and I was driving Dodge cars.... I always love a good pun!

Figuring the Code

- Next Holiday
- Blast from the Past

I'm learning how to scan both documents and photos and send them to the lap top to edit. A bit of a challenge as you will see below. I'm also taking an online class with Heidi Swapp and Jessica Sprague (talented woman in the scrapping world) and learning Photo Shop. My mind is just swelling with being technologically savvy. So, I think I need to take a break and go back to actual hands on creating with paper, and punches, and glitter and brads and doodles etc.... Wow! This has been an interesting week of creating! Next holiday....toss up... Mardi Gras... or the luck of the Irish, St. Paddy's day! Send FuN MaiL!!!!!! (subliminal message)


Look it snowed!! Yes in Wisconsin, yes in February... yes in 2000. This picture was taken in my parents back yard about 6 weeks before we moved back to Wisconsin having lived in Tennessee for 5 years. The kids hadn't see this much snow in a very long time. My 'little' pipsqueeks at 4-1/2 years and 6-1/2 years....awwwww

You get half a Huggy here. Still trying to figure out why the document wouldn't center and scan properly. My cards evolved again... and went from the Huggy doodle....on the back of the card to the computer generated cards... this is circa 1999. I used the bar code on the back and I put the date on, like a scanner number i.e. 02 25 20 11..... (I thought I was clever, but you don't know how long it took to design a bar code from trying to line up the lines) I also said who or what the card was for. Each card then was made for someone/thing specific... not for fun to go in my 'stash'.

Mama, don't let your babies grow up!

- Cute Bundle of Joy
- Time goes by

Okay, I'm trying, and trying ....and now I want to toss the scanner out the window. I just don't get it! I wanted to show you another Huggy card from 15 + years ago, but I just couldn't get the document to rotate and be landscape. Aaargh... wow, I'd be dangerous if I knew how to use this stuff.

I couldn't even get the first picture to be vertical!! Ugh.... imagine it.... a baby laying on it's side in the crib with the bunting around it. Cute paper, cheery cheeks, fun swirl of a wisp of hair! Awwwwww.....

I might have the opportunity to create a baby shower card, so I did a sample and love how it turned out. Tune in, some day and I might actually say I got the gig!!!

Okay, so I'm good at blogs, fairly good at taking digital pictures... now learning Photo Shop or Scanning is on my to do list. I once used to have little people, proof is in the picture! I wish I could squeeze those tiny little fun kids of mine. Eleven long years ago... tear!!!

I love Hug(gys)!!!

- Memory Lane
- Original Huggys

OMG!!!!! After 1/2 hour of fiddling, 2 hours of searching and reminiscing through boxes in the crawl space, and another 1/2 of decision making... I scanned a photo and a copy of a prdesign original, I was able to reproduce them and send them to my lap top! I am jumping for joy! This is a new day!

The above photo is the beginning of our 'annual fall photo shoot' 23 years ago. OMG!!! I love the colors! Some years we got great leaf shots.... other years... well, not so great!!!
And as promised, I will be showcasing (not to be confused with CASE-ing) some really original works. This card is xeroxed from 1992.... for Suzy Q.... her birthday card back then... and actually a shout out... her birthday was Monday.... so it's all a circle. Try this, click here... and it should take you to the picture of her birthday card kit (post from Monday), look in the right corner, the bird with the hat... her card this year!

My logo... is a Huggy Bear (Peggy Hubmann is Huggy Pebmann... if you reverse the first two letters of each name). No stamps, all drawings! More drawings on the back of the card... and I only did it on copy paper folded in half, then colored in with my original college prima color pencisl! Oh, this makes my day. Hope you had fun looking into my past... more scanning to come!

Just point and shoot!

- S-simply said
- Fun in the sun

Well I'm proud to say that I cleaned up almost 95 percent of my cre8tive lab! It's always that 5% that I seem to like to hold on to... as if actually completing a job is impossible. I found 3 decorative baskets/bins as Kohl's on clearance for the same price that one would have cost... so I felt I got a 'cleaning' deal as well. Using the baskets to hold envelopes, scraps and misc. crafting items... they look cute... and neat!! However, I do think if anyone walked into my cre8tive lab... they would seriously want to know exactly what it was that I cleaned!

S-simple birthday card... got an order... and sometimes too much stuff on a card clutters the true and S-simple sincere thought behind it all!

Two months ago our smiles were in the southern Florida sun. Can I tell you how much I love digital cameras??? They are best invention for any quick artist... capture the moment and view it in an instant. The quality, and the ability to share it. Love, love, love it!!!!!! Bubba is taking the picture, it was the first time he touched my new camera and he didn't quite know how to use it... we said point and shoot!!!

No snail mail

- Number 1
- Card kit
I never much thought about Presidents Day. Yes, I knew about the presidents, but don't remember the huge blow out sales for furniture and that some states the schools and the Federal government celebrate this day off! Well, not so much off for my kids... Sissy had an early morning track practice, and Bubba went to school to get on a bus to go to a scholastic bowl competition. Why do I always need to send or receive mail on all of these federal holidays???

But, I hope got this out in time!!! I made an Easter card kit for my friend Suzy Q, who happens to have a birthday today!!!!!! I'm so interested in these kits of the month... all the new goodies you get, and then you MUST create. Since she is a scrapper and card maker who is busy with a full time job, two kids and hundreds of activities.... I decided to make her something she could do by means of the kit.
Included: card stock, envelopes, Easter Themed pattern paper, Cuttlebug Embossing folder, ribbons, brad, punch outs, flowers, tags four card sketches (to get ideas how to put it all together).... along with the WISH birthday card, and you can see below... a paper bag pocket that is holding 2 distressed tags.... all things she can use, or use to get ideas.

This is birthday FuN MaiL, but I still think we need to make more of effort to send out cre8tive greeting cards...it's a great surprise to have someone think of you. However, with the post office getting soooooo many holidays.... you might need to plan better if you want it to get there by a specific date!

Life Gives Me Scraps!

- A stitch in time

Well, I've created a fine mess. If I had a nickel for every time I posted that I needed to clean my 'office'... craft room, art studio, cre8tive lab... I'd have about a dollar by now!

I had a challenge, and I created... and when I cre8te... scraps and stamps, and ink pads and scissors and more paper just get left to pile up. And when I need an inch more of space... I just push the pile aside or add another pile to the pile. And now, sadly, the opportunity fell through...


I should embrace the fact that there was an opportunity! I did come up with a new mantra.... Brighten Someone's Day with a Cre8tive Greeting!!
I feel better a day later.... but now I'm left to pick up the pieces.... literally .... pieces of paper and pieces of ribbon and pieces of punch art... much better that, than trying to pick up the pieces of a broken heart or a child's broken heart or worse yet a broken bone. I'll gladly pick up scraps!! As if in life you get lemons, make lemonade...as for a paper crafter, life give you scraps, make a scrap book!

Today's card would be some great FuN MaiL....with it's bright flower vessel... glitter on the yellow petals and brads and a cute paper flowers and there are stitches on this card.... see dad... I do use my Kenmore sewing machine that I got 24 years ago.... a stitch in time, saves nine.... I'll try and clean up my mess... to clear a space for the next challenging opportunity!!!

Don't stop believin'

- Believe it
- Bo Yah

Some people think they are all that! They just know it. Some people need to be convinced they are good. Some people will never believe what anybody says. You're FABULOUS!! If you say it enough, are you? I'd like to say it with a tremor in my voice a roll to the tongue and a shout out as I throw one of those feather boas over my shoulder.
Fab- uuuuuuu......loooooooosssss. Do I believe it... eh, some of the time!

This card is slightly different than my usual (that is, if there is such a thing). I used a paint brush to put on the flowers and hearts and leaves.... no ink or markers. Made the background paper... well, not physically made the paper, but took blank white paper, then stamped images and smeared ink to give it a 'designer' look. Is there any FuN MaiL in your future? If you believe that I got more than 50 YELLOW cards to sell you.... inquire within!!
Good copy cat. Had fun window shopping a few weeks ago. I might have said something in an earlier post. I'm a Target and Kohls girl. I went to a 'designer' mall and stepped into a few 'nice' woman's stores..... cute stuff.... wish I could feel good about spending $38 on a flimsy t-shirt.... or $65 dollars on a cute jacket (not an over coat, but something you'd wear over that flimsy t-shirt... like a sweater) that I should wear for "dressing my truth". Clothes do make a woman... if you are not convinced I could show you some pictures from Wal-Mart shoppers, it's an email that gets circulated.

Any how... one fashion trend is broaches and pins and flowers.... big poofy flowers to wear on your lapel, or around your scoop neck collar.... draws up to your face, yadda yadda.... I studied the flower....should have bought it for a sample.... but not at $22 dollars or was it more???? Then, bought me some cheap, but nice silk material on clearance... and tried to make my own decorative flower. Then MK asked me to make them into hair bows for her grand-daughters... so here is my take (c-CREATE).... cutting flower petal shapes, stitch in the middle, a little candle flame at the edges.... then I realized you could go to Hobby Lobby, buy a silk flower, pop off the head and stick a pin it.... same thing.... or is it?

While I type this, I got a call from the temp agency... ah, never mind....

Low Maintenance, that's me!

- Yoga is b-balance
- Card of the week

Before you've practiced, the theory is useless. After you've practiced, the theory is obvious. Two months of Yoga, 8 weeks.... the pain in my lower back was gone after week two. I had done those stretches before on my own...but with an instructor carefully guiding the movement, was it time after 7 months to feel right? Or, a combination? It is truly amazing not to feel pain. Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.

Pur-sonally.... I love finding these girly girls to doodle... and their purses. Yoga part of B-Balance or going Back to BASICS this years mantra... I'm finally remembering things that bring me joy and happiness BASICS... like colors in the rainbow... blue skies, sun Sh!ne.... the fun it is, being a girl.. getting a new purse and wallet, having my toes painted pink, finding a hair stylist willing to work with my hair, breathing, reading a sappy book or watching a chick flick, smelling purty, finding a pair of jeans that fit in all the right places, my cute furry pom puppy sleeping on my head, talking less... listening more, chit chats when it's exciting to yadda, yadda, blah blah, learning a new yummy recipes that family members say, 'can we have that again?'.... just a re-cap.... thank goodness I am NOT high maintenance.

Happy Wednesday... did you check out my new header? Mardi gras & St. Paddy's day rolled into one... just wish I could center it....edit: moved it more center, i like it better

I Sh!ne at my Job(s)

- Blogger-versary
- Crack in the foundation

A couple of weeks ago, with the new year beginning, I thought I must be coming up on my blog anniversary. Some people know the exact date when they launched their site. I remember thinking I'd have nothing to talk about, and we were going to take pictures of one of our garden gnomes traveling to different hot spots in our life. That would have been fun if I kept it up... if you noticed there's a new animated movie out... with Gnomes as the main characters....who'd a thunk it? But now over 1,174 posts later, here I am with more to say than I could ever type.... I am having my 4-1/2 year anniversary.... I started the blog a few months after we moved here to Illinois... that will be 5 years on June 7. I'm letting the light Sh!ne in on this beautiful winter morning and happy to see the sun and the thermometer reach 30 degrees... and with the thaw, I can actually see the muddy ground. I'm letting my thousand-th cre8tive greeting!! be showcased... my name is Peggy and I'm an artist!


Doodle, doodle, doodle.... love to say that word! So much to create and draw and design.. and so little time. Right now I really like my job.... mom. Our son will be leaving for college in 6 months (yikes).... and our daughter will be able to get her drivers license soon. And now you know, I'm cleaning toilets and funky green stuff on the grout, I'm finding Tucker bunnies, and deceased lady bugs in the window frames, I'm making gourmet meals and washing windows and I'm also seeing where our 10 year old house is starting to settle... cracks in the foundation? I'm A-accepting (Back to BASICS) today, that this job I have.... I do it quite well. I don't get many days off, and the pay... well I should get a raise....and sometimes the staff complains... a lot... but for right now... I have the best job in the world! And lucky to have it! My name is Peggy and I'm a mom!

Have a Wonderful day!

Happy B-balance Day!!!

- Don't Stumble
- What the heck

I love being amazed every day. Those aha moments.... learning to better yourself and the world around you. I found this new site for people um like me... who don't have enough to do or think about during the day called...Stumble Upon. Once you sign up (free), you can put it on your tool bar to click any time you've come to the end.... of whatever, and it generates and finds websites of places you might be interested in (you check a page of different interests like... travel, crafts, self improvement, cars, cooking etc...) so if you were 'feeling lucky' on google, now you can stumble upon different websites that you might have never found before. It's kind of fun! I am just amazed at how many creative places there are out there in cyber land. I tried to be funky with my free blogger layout (on all 4 of my blogs), and I try to make whimsical & unique cards, and I try to give my take of the real world as I see it... but I'm just scratching the surface of THE OTHERS out there.

So, don't forget it's Valentine's Day!!!! The card above is fun and is CAS-ed (more on the digi side of creating) .... but it's missing something!!! Hmmmm... I made lots of cards this year for the heart day, loved every minute of the creative process... but didn't have a single sole request a card to give as their FuN MaiL. Thank goodness this is just my hobby, if it were my job... oh my. But then I think too... if this were my job... would it be fun for me anymore? I need a happy B-balance(Back to BASICS) of both!

love

Girly Girls

Girly Girls

Click on the link above.... it will take you to my newest cre8tive greeting!! card video
it's awesome!!!!

A Little Wand Action

- Once Upon a Time
- The End

Fairies, butterflies, owls... oh my.... just a C-creative cycle of fun and whimsy. Mom's love to give their little princesses cards with fairies on them. Something about the glitter on the wings or the magic of the wand... or the silliness of the possibilities of what dreams can come true with a pinch of glitter, a swirl of the wand and a few wishes!!! I loved making the card with the stars.... although a simple layout... I was sitting there (I think during the Super Bowl) trying to figure out the biggest impact of making the star boarder around the cute wanna be fairy princess! Glitter is a must on both cards... doesn't show well in the picture... but on the wings, the wand, the crown... I love a fairies bling!! This is some happy FuN MaiL!

Seems like a long week. The brrrrrrr cold, the feet of snow.... the winter grind (no sunshine). But it is Friday! I think it was sandwich week in our house.... Ground Italian Sausage with sauteed onion and red pepper, French Bread Pizza & Pulled Pork with Saz's BBQ sauce.... last night was crab cakes with boiled potatoes..... nice hot meal on a cold, cold night!

I'm going to put on my fairy wings and see what kind of fun I can brew up.... sounds like a witch... glam up! Poof!!!

Weaving and Bobbin

- It's not just about the cards
- Global warming

Well I like the fact that I'm branching out C-creatively. I recall hearing stories from friends that their moms were crafters. (This I'm talking the late 70s early 80s) Always doing the newest fad... from macrame hanging plant holders, to interior decorating, from tie dying to cross stitch on a pillow case or 'hanky'. Not so much into the cross stitch stuff, working on my knitting (just a simple fiber filled scarf, one basic stitch) I do have a certificate in Floral Design from MATC (Milwaukee Area Technical College) which means I completed a 12 week class... back in 1991!!! And I took a 4 week session at UW-Parkside in photography.... I think that was 1992!!!! Sewing curtains and costumes was fun! I've taken numerous classes on basket weaving, loved that! Gone to shops to make my own painted ceramic pieces, plates and mugs. Then I was invited to a SU! workshop and I fell in love with the instant gratification of completing something so beautiful and fun, in just moments! Paper crafts... I haven't even touched the surface on the endless possibilities! Thank you for letting me share all my doodles and characters, and 3D pop ups, and glitter and buttons and folds.... I-infinite!

I'm having fun with my 365 Photo Project. Here is my last 'photo shoot' trying to incorporate my funky junk and cards.... find the right lighting or a way to display things. Some of my blog friends really have it going on when taking their pictures. I'm working on editing... but then would you like to know how long I'd be in front of this dangnabit computer???? Good thing I'm not working... outside the home. I am however, a Personality Developmental Specialist!!! And I am very fortunate and blessed!!

Sad shout out to my fur babies... my computer thermometer reads -15.... another day just looking outside, but staying warm inside. At least the sun is shining today, blue skies.... such a tease!

My Valentine Book

Here are a couple of shots from my kid's Valentine's books.... I got fancier as they got older and I created the cover from computer images.

Just take a full sheet of paper, fold it in half, and then in half again, like you are making a card. The outside becomes the cover, the back is the back cover. I used maybe 6-8 sheets of paper, folding them all the same way. Then I or I should say, the kids chose the order they wanted the valentine's to be in the book and they used a glue stick to put them in the book.

Sometimes they decorated the page with doodles, or as part of some of the valentine's there were heart stickers or character stickers. Then I had my kids sign the book (I love to see their little handwriting) and we dated them. The "Book" can be stapled, just like the binding in a real book, or you can punch holes and thread a ribbon through or an O-ring. It's okay if some valentines stick out, and you want to be able to pull them up a bit to see who it's from if they are signed on the back.

Also, other ideas in a similar fashion are coupon books. Computer quarter sheet pages like... good for one hug, free dish washing etc.... and then one last thing..... using flowers.... make cute pens that don't have feet for walking. The kids did this in 3rd grade. Pop silk flowers off of bunches, use floral tape and cheap pens, wrap the tape... stick pens in a decorated vase...beans are the dirt. Email me if you have any questions!!!

Introducing Cre8tive Greetings!!

- Heart's Desire
- A bit funky

Years ago when I became a card maker (oh that reminds me, I need to look in the crawl space and find xeroxed copies of some of my 'original' cards) the picture on the front meant everything. Then when I was introduced to SU! around 2002 all cards were stamped! But I of course did not want to HAVE to purchase every stamp, because
A. I'd be broke
B. I loved to draw!!!

I could do that!!! Now I look at today's post and it's paper piecing, nary a stamp (just teeny tiny ones) or doodle in sight, it's all about the paper, the colors, the punches and the embossing folders to imprint an image.... well today it is!! Tomorrow is just another day to make something else in the FuN MaiL department! Oh, that takes me to another point.... I-infinate ways to create and make something sweet! Part of going Back to BASICS.

Here I am funked up a bit. Notice the flower on my lapel I made (yesterday's post)?? My hair is much shorter... really short in back... shaggy on the sides....it's ok for now... it will grow, and next time I'll try something different.

Very, very cold out, 3 degress, I'm snug with a fuzzy 10 lb blanket on my lap!!