Three Words

Well, as usual, I have more that just three little words to use when I post to my blog.  The above card is a CASe from an very talented actual painter/artist friend.  Check out her blog, but also check out the painting I CASed here: http://cherylewilson.blogspot.com/2011/09/guitars-from-our-hearts.html

I was inspired (that's three words)

I smooshed scrapbooking ink into white paper, but needed to intensify some color, so I got out my little $.99 bottles of acrylic Folk Art and tried to 'copy' her brush strokes.  My picture or card front is 4" W x 5" H... some of her paintings are 24" x 24".  I must admit, unless I was under 12, I do not remember ever taking a painting class. 

 I am intrigued (oh 3 more words) 

 Some day when I grow up, I will do "original" artwork, that, or until I get sued for copyrights, I love the challenge of a good CASe (copy and steal SHARE everything)

Sun is shining! (three words)

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life, it goes on ~ pinterest

Be-witched

Eight layers.  I thought this was kind of hefty when I completed the doodle added the brads and sentiment.  I just love the colors of Halloween cards.  But then I  get tired of people who say they don't send out Halloween cards.  Who cares what the occasion is, send FuN MaiL!! Halloween is the kick off to the holiday season, those are not my words!  Off looking for the sun!! 

 A bright spot on the middle of my card above, might be the only one we have here in the midwest for a while.... my flash worked well on the card {grin} .... outside that big natural bright spot has been missing for a few days.  Looks like we've gotten over 3" of rain so far.  I need some sunSHINe!!!  

I love making fall cards, pumpkins & leaves, scarecrows and black birds, turkeys and corn husks..... for the first month of fall the bright oranges, yellows and reds are fun.... then after many dark and cold nights....that beautiful fall just turns on ya!!!

I pieced the stripes to the paper to make the back ground, inked the edges on the yellow paper and then I cut out the pumpkin and leave shapes out of other paper and outlined the shapes to make them pop out.

Fun tag above.... just a little bit of fall color around the outside edges and of course through the leaf punch.  I eventually put a TO: and From: on the front of this tag.... great to put on some homemade cookies.  Check out the glutten free cookie recipe below.  Yum!!

Oh Mr. Sun?????

FREE!

From Gluten that is.....

Yummy cookies I made over the weekend.... you don't have to be Gluten FREE to enjoy these.  My family loved them right out of the oven.  We brought them to a PACKERS win party!!!

edit: yes, there is NO flour in this recipe

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 egg

1tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Vanilla

Mix

Add 1 cup mini chocolate chips or whatever you would prefer.

Preheat oven at 350.  Mix all ingredients.  Make balls approximately 1 to 2 inches.  Bake for 12 min or until the preferred crispness.

Keep calm, nobody else knows what they're doing either!

~ pinterest

This and That

I need a small intervention of some sort.  As some of you may know, I've been trying to start a faux campaign to send MORE FuN MaiL.... and by what I mean by faux (fake) is, I guess in my little creative mind.... it's not that I'm really doing anything other than saying it... but the 2 boxes in the picture plus the small packages on top is my start to the revolution, of people getting FuN MaiL! 

Who doesn't like to get something... just because!??!  Everybody wants people to think of them... in bad times and good!!  When they are feeling blue or on top of the world!!! 

In Bubba's box were actually underwear and sox! hee hee But the first words out of his mouth when we skyped this week was... why did I send the puzzle pieces loose in the box and it wasn't a complete puzzle!  Argh!!  I'm just tossing fun (well at least fun things I thought) into a care package to my college freshman son... and instead of thanks for getting me 3 NEW boxers, thanks for sending the soxs I requested, thanks for the snacks of pudding, Ramen noodles, tootsie rolls, a rain poncho, Swedish fish, a pencil holder for his desk, some popcorn and a copy of the local sports section....it's "why the puzzle pieces". Isn't life sort of a puzzle? Odds and ends? This and that?

On 'some' of the puzzle pieces I wrote words of inspirations and fun!  Smile, give someone a hug, call your mom, be a leader, laugh out loud.....but 'why' only 'some' of the puzzle pieces..... I don't know, maybe the pieces will all fit together in another package of fun mail!!! Stay tuned!

 $.16 cents,  plus gas, time, effort..... coasters. That is what the picture above cost! I was walking around Home Depot to find things for crafting...The trick is enjoy life, don't wish away your days waiting for better ones ahead.... this might be as good as it gets for me..... Mod Podge gluing napkins on top of 4"x4" bathroom tiles that cost .16c ... and then spraying a coat of finish over the top!

I was also looking for 1" washers to make into pendents, to create a beading dangle to hang off of gifts or mini scrapbooks.  Washers were .11c each.  That is my kind of deal.  If you look close you see that the washer is Mod Podged with paper, and then I looped a little more expensive silver bead or other cheap beads to make the unique dangle! All fun things I saw somewhere else, and just had to give it a try!

Maybe next time I should just send a puzzle and nothing else.  Take that!

A little Distracted

A few more cards that went out this past week in an order.  Oh, and they are all Get Well cards.  I'm just loving this Martha Stewart butterfly punch.  On the top card it's just flat, simple and glued on to the get well card... 

 On this get well soon card, it's actually 3 punched butterflies to every one you see.  To make it dimensional you fold over the bottom two (like a book page) their backside gets glued down, so the wings on the top one pop up.

And this one, I just slightly inked  the edges  to give it some thing to pop!

Right now, at the very moment I type this, out of the corner of my eye I see something in the yard, it's two squirrels playing tag.  They ran across the back patio chasing each other, I could see them out the entire length of the window and then past the back door.  All of a sudden they round the corner of the house and run under the patio table, through the huge hostas that have beautiful fall sunshine beaming brightly on them, the leaves move as they run up the huge tree that we lost branches off this past summer.  And they literally chase each other in a spiral up the tree.  Little fluffy tails peaking out as they go around the trunk.  They can hang on facing up the tree, or facing down, amazing!  Then one runs down the tree, through the hostas again and together they leaping back and forth as they run over the rock, chasing each other to the back part of the yard.  Shhh.... they must be tired.... I see only one now as he creeps back around the corner of the house. What a cute view out my window.  Quit leaving those broken open nuts, I keep stepping on them and rolling in the yard!

That reminds me, I need to wash these back windows.

I {heart} the '80s

It's Homecoming Week at High School! Today, it's wear your favorite decade.... which look did Sissy go with???

 A. The Debbie Gibson, jeans have zippers up the back, the cool jacket and the oh so cool red hat!

 B.  Girls wanna have fun, glittery tube top one piece jumpsuit?

 C.  Manic Monday, one piece jumpsuit with shoulder pads and white pumps?

D. It's Hammer Time, with the parachute dance pants and high hair(darn I cut that off in the pic)?

 Yes, I've told you how much I love Pinterest.  It's a place where people pin (or post) their interests... or as one of the posts says....  where you find other people who like the same s#!% you do.  A few weeks ago when school supplies were cheap, I bought a whole bunch of notebooks for $.40... in hopes to add a cover and tabs and make this SMASH book... a crafty notebook to smoosh all your ideas into one place.  Of course I CASe a lot of these ideas I find on the internet, blogs, websites etc... because they are so dang cool.  So what I'm doing now, is pinning or writing down ideas that I see from Pinterest and putting them in my SMASH book (mainly the quotes, which are awesome and good reminders about life).  Only a person with lots of extra time on their hands can really do this well!! {smirk}

I don't know what's easier.... posting the ideas to another blog page, or trying to find out which tab I put them in and wrote them down in the notebook.  It's combining my interests in words, crafts and knowledge all day long.

If you chose D. Hammer Time, you are correct in Sissy's selection of '80s attire for the day.

Nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute! - pinterest

All You need is LOVE

Seriously, wouldn't that be funny, if love is all you need?

  Here is another card from an anniversary pack I shipped out this week.  I stamped the grey background paper with the black swirls.  The letters are stickers.  I just LOVE the Eiffel tower and how it represents LOVE! The red accents help too! Lots of different things you could add to the tower.... fireworks behind it, little red and green dots with glitter for Christmas lights.... flowers coming out of it like it's a vase.... maybe you'll see more with the Eiffel, oui?

Guess what happened to whom so far this week...thought they failed their first Chem test, lost power in their room by a touch to the microwave, their CEO got let go, their running low on cleaning supplies. 

Sometimes I pretend to be normal, but it gets boring.  So I go back to being me!

Super Day

So keep your head high, keep your chin up and most importantly... keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about! Marilyn Monroe

Super Hero Day for day 2 Homecoming Week

I found another love... DIY blogs or anything about decorating house and home.  I have had this lantern for years....it was painted silver(to hid the rust?) and has been in my front room for years collecting dust and being moved around from spot to spot. On a whim as I was trying to put 'stuff' away, I saw the spray paint I had used to update our front garage lights, and thought.... why not paint this 'ole lantern.  The other idea I saw, if I could find a somewhat matching glass insert, was then to put twinkle lights inside. Add to my list!!!  Just love how it turned out.  A little paint always makes the difference!

Does this count now, I paint, therefore I am?

I think we're alone now!

Got a request for some cards this weekend, so I was working hard to get the order together.  You may see a few samples highlighted in the next few days. :0)

 It's homecoming week.  Sissy and I went shopping at Goodwill.

We found the animal print top at GW...Welcome to the Jungle is the school theme, and today I think they are on the hunt for some wolves!

I actually have moved over 6 times+ boxes of clothes for my (one day kid).... some of my stuff from the eighties....the box says nostalgia clothes.... looks like I might have to toss the Penny Loafers, they didn't fare too well... remember Debbie Gibson??.... so Sissy is wearing my hat, scarf, jacket and jeans.... we'll see if she goes back to this outfit or the parachute pants she found. 

Stay tuned!

My mirror and my camera have two completely different ideas of what I look like!- pinterest

Room in My Heart

It's approximately 11"H x 17" W, a painted white board.  I then took my fun little bottles of acrylic paint and some crappy old teeny paint brushes and painted a sign for the "Jonah Room".  If you recall, last summer I volunteered to paint a mural for a nursery school, you can find the post here I like to move it move it! I love Madagascar! Last weekend I got a request to paint a sign for a room.  How simple is this!  So, you get to see the before and after, and then the text.  I painted the same image on both sides.  Now this! is what I want to do!  Not just paint, but get jobs like this, fun to me!

 It's one of those mornings again.  48 degrees.... I thought I would be an iced coffee person throughout the year, but I'm needing some chai tea warmness!

Life is quiet, back to normal. :)  I miss Bubba, but it's okay for him to open his wings and soar!!  Sissy and I are having a better week as mother/daughters go!  And DH, might take a half day for me and we'll go to lunch. 

"Sometimes" said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart".

Don't think so much!

Simple card, everything is punched out... you even get to see a speck of dust on my lense!  After creating something with a lot of steps, or details, or creating a special doodle, and adding ribbon and stickles or lots of other embellishments, it's nice to go back and just punch some paper and design something really easy.

Here's a little fall vignette on the front porch.  It's missing something, but will do for now.

Don't think too much, you'll create a problem that wasn't even there in the first place! - pinterest

Tie It Up with a Bow

I bought myself some cute black flats! Helps me to stay the right size for my height!  I know a fashionista who is well put together and I want to be just like her, but shorter!!!  I think these will add to my happy fashion days when I have some where to go!

 Enough said about the above quote.....

I bit the bullet and actually bought shipping tags (instead of measuring and cutting my own)  to create fun tags to go in all the mini scrap albums I've created or to top cute cards when pulled out of a secret pocket, and to make gift tags to go on my packages. Inked the background in pinks and tans.  Stamped a script image to the back, darkened the edges.  Got this cool new French Postcard stampset, punched the flowers and shapped and inked them.  Inked the seem binding ribbon to match all the pinks and greens... tied it in a nice bow...and voila!

Boo Y'all

Not too bad, 61 degrees this morning, the sun seems to be lower in the sky, and there is a rustle of dried leaves on my back patio when the wind gently blows. Fall is in the air. Decorating with pumpkins goes hand in hand with the harvest season and Halloween.

Funny pumpkin faces make for fantastic sweet cards and little pumpkin shapes make a glass vase look interesting in the front entryway. Fall cards are my faves, the colors of orange and yellow and brown, pumpkins or leaves, scarecrows or witches, ghosts and goblins, and then turkeys and acorns..... so many things to create!

Carve a pumpkin, paint it, just add a fake moustache, wrap it in a silk stocking, make a pie, or a shake with cinnamon and whip creame, pumpkin cupcakes, cheesecake.... just have it sitting on a shelf.

Below, it's the bright shades of orange and yellow that draw your eye in.
Cinderella is proof that a new pair of shoes can change your life. She even road in a pumpkin!

Talk is Chirp

Pick a little talk a little, pick a little talk a little, cheap cheap cheap talk a lot, pick a little more!!

It's amazing what I can remember, the above line was from the chorus of a song from the"Music Man" (1982).... well the Music Man is from way before that time, but it was the musical our choral and drama department put on my senior year.

Then many, many years later I had dual roles in HONK and played a quail and a swan... and now we got little gizmos that intionally 'tweet' and 'twitter'.

A bit of a stretch for my analogy today, but I'm sure you get it. Cute 'chicks' like to talk... talk is cheap or they chirp sweetly.... just send FuN MaiL.... you know you love to get it!!!! Starting up creating fun fall cards, and creepy halloween frightness!!!! Boo!

I found a very cute gallery on Verve Stamps, and I now must try to CASe lots of cute formats of paper piecing and color.... so stay tuned for more cuteness!Sassy!!!!

When your heart speaks, take good notes!