Album Day 2

Actually I stayed up until 3:30 this morning working on this album.  When it is quiet and I get in that room, it's like time doesn't exist.  I did  four more pages last night and two today during lunch.... and after closing.

This first one is the second page to the green one I did yesterday.  I am trying to put one journaling block on each two pages. 

These two are both done with off white, but they the right hand one looks like white here.Butterflies are stamped and cut out, except the ones on the bottom right.

I am trying to do each piece similar but not exact, with elements from one used in a different way on another.  ie  the left has the  punch flowers on the frame and the right has the seperated punched flower border.  The pattern papers are reversed, and the flowers on the left were punched out of a full sheet, and the round elements on the right were pre-cut shapes that I stamped flowers on. and added the bling. 

My intention is for it not to be a typical "baby" album but with some infant elements here and there.

Baby Album

I do very little "scrapbooking" but this is my second baby album in the last couple months.  It is a gift for our Pastor and his wife.  I don't think they read my blog, so I should be safe for a surprise.

I think it is going to be all pinks and green.  Maybe a little brown, and off white of course.  Note the red hair on the baby... Pastor Bob has red hair.

I will probably have pages that are the same background or theme for opposite pages.  If you click on the picture you can see the detail in the stamping better.

Fall/Mens card

This is inspired by Jennifer McQuire and a technique she demo'd on her blog.  The leaf is coated with glossy accent as a permanent mask.  You can stamp right over it and just wipe it off.  The base is inked and masked with a Tim Holtz mask, and I added a Tim Holtz Grunge element.

Been doing a little bit of stamping and playing lately

I really like the way the shading came out on the leaves.  I used just one color of Copic ink and the airbrush.  The flower and leaves are die cuts that are individually inked with Copic and airbrush and pens, a real combination of techniques to come up with the colors I wanted, and then attached with brads.  I'm pretty happy with the results.  I don't so much like the stamp at the top, but it will do. 

These three were fun.  I masked the white cardstock and airbrushed the sky.  Then stamped the trees in first and second generation and applied glitter.  Then I shadowed the trees in the "snow" with the lightest grey shade of Copic.

This is just a few of the tri-fold Christmas cards that I did.  the first one the pattern paper is embossed, the second one the base card is embossed and sanded.  The flourish on this card is cut with Tim Holtz Alterations die cut on shrinky dink, baked and inked with copics and airbrush and then added stickles.

Panda Update

Panda continues to bring so much joy into our lives.  I think he looks like a bunny rabbit here sleeping.

They are a little blurry here, but it's hard to get a jumping puppy that is not blurred. 

A couple cards

This one is inspired from the latest Paper Crafts Magazine article on embossing.  Top right and bottom are embossed with Tim Holtz embossing folers and the other is a Cuttlebug folder. I embossed an edge on each of the embossed pieces. The flower is actually a scalloped round punch.  I stamped a script pattern onto pattern paper,cut between each scallop, cutting out one scallop and bring edges together with a glue dot to make the flower, then inked the edges. The flourish is Tim Holtz grunge paper cut with my new Tim Holtz die cut.  I love love love, both the grunge paper and the die.  You can cut intriquette pieces and the grunge paper doesn't tear.  Gotta get some more of this.

 

The next one I did for a dear friend that has a Smoky Bear collection.  It was going to be her Christmas card and then just decided to do a regular card with it.  The image is from the internet and I thought it was so appropriate for a card.  The sky and grass are airbrushed with my new Copic airbrush system with the sun masked off then sprayed with the two colors of yellow.  Trees are also masked by stamping the image of the tree and cutting it out to use as the mask so that the trees image doesn't get overlapped.

So, as you can see, I've been able to do a little shopping and just a little stamping this summer.  It's been an incredibly busy summer with gardening projects, working on houses that the park has purchased and we have flipped and lots of new residents and duties here.  I have lots of ideas on how to incorporate all this new stuff that I've been collecting over the summer into my Christmas cards which is my next major stamping/paper crafting project.  The last four years (since I started seriously cardmaking) I've done over 120 Christmas cards each year for residents and friends.  Then when I am done with Christmas I start in again on cards for Relay for life of which I do over 100 each year. 

I am so anxious for October 1st to get here.  Our beautiful first born grandchild is coming for a visit from South Africa with her new husband (make me feel old!),  I haven't seen her in 6 years and have of course never met her husband David.  Yes, another David in our family.  Husband, son-in-law and now grandson in-law.  Not to mention all of the "David" friends!  We used to distinguish them by 'Dave' - my husband and 'David', son-in-law.  Now, I'm just not sure.  Can't say 'big' and 'little' cause none are either.  Well, i'm sure it will all work out.

Life Update

Panda is settling in with his favorite things.  My shoes and his squeaky duck from his former momma.  His hair is growing by leaps and bounds.  I wish that those leaps and bounds also applied to his potty training!  Just when I think we've made a breakthrough, he makes a liar out of me.  He is adorable and we love him to pieces.

For my stamping friends, I've been pretty lax lately.  I did do one mini album for a baby shower, but not much else.  I got the Card Magazine in the mail yesterday and went in to my craft room to try out a new technique, but had to clean my desk from the last project first.  Still haven't done the new technique.

For my gardening friends, I have definately been busy watering and keeping up with summer projects.  This is the first time that I've been real happy with this section.  The lobelia grew just as I hoped they would and the petunia's are very pretty.  The white snapdragons got quite a big taller than what I would prefer, but I went out early this week and staked them with the grid that I had used on the pea plants.  BTW... pea plants pooped out.  Yesterday Marjie (Auburn Park manager) helped me to mulch my new flower bed on the side of the house.  It looks real pretty now, will take a picture and post later.

I'm loving this wonderful weather we are having.  Haven't done any camping yet this year.  The new car doesn't have a trailer hitch yet, and too spoiled to use the Jimmy now.  Hoping we can get a hinge before summer is over.  I would like to go visit our friends on Camano Island and maybe do some crafting with the girls when we're there. I miss the old Machias friends, we've all kind of gone different directions.

On the home front, we've been enjoying our new church family.  It's been several months that we've been attending this church, but it still feels new.  It's a very young church, led by a pastor and group of people from Mississippi.  Having grown up here, it is still amazing to me that someone from the deep south would be called to come here and build a church.  However, seeing how few truely Godly churches there are in Auburn, I shouldn't be surprised.  Next week we will be looking in to joining the church's membership rolls.

We've been spending a good part of our weekends at a Park in Auburn.  The one thing that Auburn does have is a great parks dept.  I think there are more parks than there are churches, even the liberal ones.  For the last two weeks, Skip and Alexis have joined us there, and this week it will be Skip, Alexis and the grandsons, including Colin!  I am very excited, as I haven't seen him since he was an infant and I had the privledge to call his adoptive mother and tell her that she had a new son.

Hopefully I will have some new cards to post soon.  With Relay for Life over and the 100+ cards done and a good portion already sold, I am looking to Christmas Card making again.  I have a few done with 100 or so left to do.