Thanks For Checking In

Never thought I would be missed here in blogville, but I have received quite a few e-mails over the past couple of weeks asking if I am okay. I have to say, I am very touched and the e-mails are appreciated. I am okay, just still missing my mojo. Actually just flat out no desire to create anything, which is a very strange place for me. Even my sis-in-law and Chuck have been teasing me about my lack of card making. :) Overall I think it is simply stress. Not that stress is simple; it stinks. lol. Losing my job and being the sole income producer kind of escalates stress. Very difficult to find a job in this icky economic climate, but I'm out there hunting.

As a bit of a tension reliever, my friend Deborah (also jobless) and I went to Enchanted Rock last Wednesday to "climb the rock". It is one of my favorite places to go, just to get away for a little bit, find some peace. It is remote, very quiet, beautiful out there. We took bottles of water and a picnic lunch. We laughed and goofed around as we were going up, took some really silly pictures, and at the top we sat down and ate our lunch. Then we laid back on the rock to relax, talked and watched the clouds go by...you know doing that hallucinating thing where you think you see a shape in the clouds. Couple of times we actually saw the same thing. heehee! We eventually climbed around on a couple outcroppings of rocks, then went back down. By that time we were hungry again, so on the way back through Fredricksburg, we stopped and had lunch at a German restaurant. We decided that day was the perfect "prescription" for stress relief...climbing Enchanted Rock with someone who makes you laugh. :)

Another bright note - I have some travels coming up in the next two weeks. I leave tomorrow to go to Vermont to see my daughter and participate in the Relay For Life that is being hosted at the university she is attending. I am SO looking forward to seeing my sweet Shelbie! I have missed her like crazy. I will return Monday from Vermont, then turn around and head to Daytona Beach Friday for the JROTC National Competition. My son, Tyler, is on the varsity male JROTC drill team and Color Guard, and this will be his second year to compete over there. I am so proud of how well he has done. After the competition we have a "free day" at the beach, and all the kids get to run around down on the boardwalk and play on the beach. This will be my fifth trip over there for this competition (my daughter was in JROTC as well and competed at Nationals, and last year both my kids were competing there).

Hopefully these trips will kick start my mojo. Thanks again to those of you who checked in on me, and I hope to be back to papering my blog soon. :)

Just For Fun

I had posted a while back that I was starting an exercise program. I have been going to the gym each morning with my son, Tyler. We play a couple games of racquetball, and we have a lot of fun, then workout with the weights. While he showers and gets ready for school, I hop on a treadmill (I shower when I get back home). Well, I had a bit of a learning curve on one of the treadmills and had no idea I was being watched, much less videotaped. Here's that video clip. Boy is this embarrassing!

Haha. Okay, so this was all in fun. The arm didn't actually break off. hee hee! I get the giggles every time I watch this. Hope you enjoyed it. : )

I have no idea why, but I have had no desire to even go near my crafting table since my last post. I have checked out the challenges I usually do, but nothing. I even got some happy mail which included some new Whiff of Joy and Sarah Kay stamps. Hope this doesn't last long.

Whiff of Joy #23

I really love these spring Whiff of Joy images! This week's Whiff of Joy Challenge is a sketch by the wonderfully talented Donalda. I used the Willow Sitting image, and decided to put her on her armchair. The images were colored with Prismacolor pencils and baby oil. I stamped tiny flowers a bit darker than the yellow on the chair to give it an upholstered look. Chalked around the image with Pebbles chalks. The basket was colored and cut out, attached on foam tape. It actually has eggs in it, but I put Flower Soft on it to make it a basket of flowers. All the DP is from Basic Grey Two Scoops pack. Sentiment is from Inkadinkado Southern Belle, attached on foam tape.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Willow Sitting with Flower Wreath, Willow's Armchair, Basket; Inkadinkado Southern Belle.
Paper: Basic Grey Two Scoops, The Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Flower Soft, corner rounder, foam tape, Pebbles Chalks.

Timeless Tuesday #8

Ms. Betty Wright is hosting the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday this week and wants us to emboss it. Whatever type of embossing, it's up to you. I chose this image from the new Sweet Pea set, embossed it with gold EP and colored it with Prismas and baby oil. Decided to use the sketch from Taylored Expressions I cut out the image with oval Nestabilities, chalked around the image with Pebbles chalks. The solid colored papers are from HOTP. Used a piece from DCWV Luxury Stack to frame the image; cut out the oval, scalloped the border, and attached this piece up on foam tape so that image is set back. Added the flat back pearls. Not sure how I came up with this color combo. It looked good at midnight-ish last night. hee hee! ;)

Stamps: Flourishes Sweet Pea.
Paper: Hot Off The Press, The Paper Studio CS, DCWV Luxury Stack.
Ink: Versamark.
Accessories: Gold EP, Fiskars border punch, flat back pearls, foam tape.

House Mouse #30 - Shaped Card

I bounced around for a while with different ideas and this is what I finally settled on for this week's House Mouse Challenge. The DT decided on a shaped card for this challenge. My first idea started out looking great yesterday sketched out on paper. Fast forward to the cardstock cut into the shape and stamped with a critter, though still not finished. I put it down for a bit and then when I got back to it, all I could think was that it looked like a deformed elephant sitting on its rump with it's front legs and trunk up, and with a mouse bouncing around in its head. Not a good look, obviously. So it was filed in the recycling bin and left this morning with the truck. It was actually supposed to be a bunch of bubbles, with the mousie bouncing around inside one of them. Still looks good in the sketch, but I couldn't make it work in reality. :) SOOOOOO...This morning I drew this cup, handle and foot on the back of the DP, cut it out and attached it to the card base, then cut out the card base around it. The sentiment is actually the name of the stamp, and it was printed from my computer, cut out with Spellbinders Tag, attached on foam tape. The image was colored with Prismas, cut out and attached up on foam tape as well. Twinkling H2O's were added to the handle and part of the foot, and Stickles decorated the foot as well. I moved this card all over trying to get a better picture, but the lighting here is not good so will have to deal with a pale picture.

Stamps: House Mouse We're "Mint Tea" Be Together.

Paper: Hot Off The Press Handmade Flowers DP, The Paper Studio CS.

Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Twinkling H2O's, Stickles, Spellbinders Tag, foam tape.

A Beauty From Barb!

Several weeks ago there were some blogs posting winnings where if you were one of the first five to comment you would win an original item made by the blog owner. I was one the first five on Barb's wonderful blog Made for Keeps. She sent out a teaser a couple days ago letting us know she had sent our goodies. Oh my, my did I get a beauty!!! Barb knows I love these Rubbernecker ladies, and here is the card she made for me using one of them. What a treasure! Barb also gave me two awards, which I will get posted soon. Thank you so much Barb!
Ahem, I need to finish my five items and get them sent. :)

Rubbernecker Wacky Wednesday With a Tab

Here is my last card for catch-up this past week. This was is for Rubbernecker's Wacky Wednesday challenge. The design team members are taking turns with the challenge, and this week we were given a sketch. The image was stamped with Stazon, colored with Prismas blended with baby oil. Painted the moon with Twinkling H2O's, and added Tiara Stickles to the stars. Sentiment from Verve. Also added Stickles to some of the white dots on the DP. As a perk, Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge was to use up those little bits of ribbon by adding ribbon tabs. I had this MS ribbon left over from a previous post so it became a tab on this card. :)

Back to more job hunting this week. Me as the only bread winner and deadbeat dad not paying child support, I am close to panic mode. Wish me luck!

Stamps: Rubbernecker (Stamp Oasis) Moon Child, Verve Fairy Tales.
Paper: Basic Grey Lilikate, Hot Off the Press, SU! CS.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Stickles, Twinkling H2O's, Dew Drops, Ribbon.

Timeless Tuesday #7

I am finally getting around to the last two cards I have been working on this week. This one is for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, where hostess Cindy Haffner challenged us to use ribbon. *Sigh*...I love ribbon, have lots of it, but I am so ribbon challenged I rarely use it other than sticking it straight across a card. I really struggle with tying bows, other than on my shoes, and most of the time end up needing both hands and feet for a card bow. hee hee! Think I did okay on this one though. Yay! I had this image from Flourishes Coffee With Friends already embossed with copper EP and it was just the size for the Mojo Monday 78 sketch. Pic looks washed out, can't seem to get good lighting, but these colors look so good IRL. The bottom DP is a pale golden yellow, and the top one a bit paler, though they look blah in the pic. Wrestled with the ribbon and successfully got it tied how I like it without having to call my son in here to add a finger. : ) Stamped the sentiment directly onto the card, added the Dew Drops. Will get the other card posted shortly.

Stamps: Flourishes Coffee With Friends.
Paper: My Mind's Eye, Hot Off The Press Flowered Handmade pack.
Ink: Versamark, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Copper EP, ribbon, Dew Drops, corner rounder.

Crafty Secrets #60 on SCS

One more post for today; keep scrolling down for the other two. The Crafty Secrets Challenge on SCS is to make a monochromatic card. I wanted to use this image and sentiment, so searched around until I found this sketch (SFYTT) on Jen Del Muro's blog. I chalked around the image, cut it out with oval Nestabilities. Used Deco corner punch on the mat. Also stamped and cut out the sentiment. Used the DCWV DP because it was a perfect match for the chalking. The lower piece was plain, so I stamped a couple of the Crafty Secrets Flourishes, then attached the sentiment on foam tape. Added some Martha Stewart ribbon. There was a snag on the ribbon that I didn't notice until after I had it attached, so I made the vellum flower to cover it. :)

Stamps: Crafty Secrets For the Girls, and Flourishes.
Paper: The Paper Studio, DCWV Luxury mat pack.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Ribbon, Nestabilities, Pebbles chalks, foam tape, flower punches, Stickles, Deco corner punch.

Whiff of Joy #22

Second post today; scroll down for my House Mouse card. This week's Whiff of Joy Challenge has gone green! We're supposed to use lots of green for our cards this week. I followed the sketch for the
Weekend Sketch Challenge on Jenn Balcer's blog, obviously not for the challenge itself but just for the layout. Thought it was perfect for a WOJ card. Willow is colored as usual with Prismacolors blended with baby oil. Added some Stickles to her bracelet and jeans, Flower Soft in her basket, then chalked around the image with Pebbles chalks. The DP's are from Hot Off The Press, DCWV, and The Paper Loft. Butterflies are vellum, punched with MS punch. Flowers punched from scraps, curled, inked and stacked, with rhinestones in the centers and some little tendrils.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Willow With Flower Basket.
Paper: Hot Off The Press, DCWV, The Paper Loft.
Ink: Stazon.
Accessories: Rhinestones, Stickles, Flower Soft, MS butterfly punch, flower punches.

House Mouse #29

I didn't get around to finishing this post yesterday evening, so here it is now. The House Mouse Challenge this week gave us a sketch to use. Mojo is still only sporadically materializing these days. I feel kind of all over the place with this card, but I really like the sketch. The image was colored with Prismacolors blended with baby oil. The flowers themselves were painted with two different colors of Twinkling H2O's, though that gorgeous shimmer does not show in the pic. I can't seem to get good lighting so all my cards look really dull and pale, but IRL this card is much brighter. Chalked around it with yellow Pebbles chalks with orange in two corners. The DP's are from The Paper Loft, Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye and I have no idea who makes the gold embossed DP. The flourish in the corner is Tim Holtz Grungeboard. Colored it with gold Deco pen, then inked edges with Stucco Colorbox Queues.

Stamp: House Mouse Take Time to Smell the Flowers.

Paper: The Paper Loft Front Room/Parlour, Basic Grey Urban Couture, My Mind's Eye, Unknokwn gold embossed paper.

Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Twinkling H2O's, Cuttlebug, Grungeboard, Deco pen.

SSNOTIME - White Mat

I have been spending the last few days job hunting, both out stopping in different businesses and papering the internet with my resume. Haven't had much paper play time so I played catch up with some of this week's challenges. Most are still in the finishing stages, but will probably get at least one more posted this evening and the rest tomorrow. Wanted to get in Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge to use a white mat rather than our usual dark ones, before her next challenge comes out tomorrow. I love this stamp but couldn't seem to come up with a layout I liked to make it really stand out. Then I bumbled onto the 2 Red Bananas blog, scrolled down and thought THIS is it. It was from a sketch challenge they did a couple weeks ago, simple and clean, but I think it's perfect for this image. She is called Large Cameo, from Creative Images. I stamped her with Colorbox Queues, faintly colored in the flowers on her dress, then cut out the oval. The white mat I drew freehand and cut out with deckle edge scissors. The smaller pieces of cardstock in the corners are from DCWV Luxury Stack and Basic Grey Porcelain. The flowers I made. Stickled in the center with Tiara, and attached to the card. Little scrolls in the corners are from Crafty Secrets Flourishes set stamped with Versamark.

Stamps: Large Cameo by Creative Images, Crafty Secrets Flourishes.
Paper: Stampin Up! CS, DCWV Luxury Stack, Basic Grey Porcelain. The Paper Studio white CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Versamark.
Accessories: Deckle edge scissors, flower punches, Stickles.

Think I Lost it Again

Here are a couple of cards for some challenges I finished several days ago, but I'm not very happy with how they turned out so hadn't posted them yet. I decided to go ahead and post them because I haven't been able to come up with anything else, so guess the ol' mojo has taken a walk - again. Hope it comes back soon, and hangs around longer this time. :)

First up is the card I did for the Whiff of Joy Challenge. This week was a sketch by Heather for us to follow. I colored the Willow With Flowers image with Prismacolors blended with baby oil, chalked around her and added Flower Soft. I think all the layers were my downfall with this one, I don't know. At any rate, all DP is by Hot Off The Press, including the shimmery BG. Made the flowers from scraps of the DP.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Willow With Flowers, Verve Artful Elegance.

Paper: Hot Off The Press DP, The Paper Studio CS.

Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues on the flowers.

Accessories: Flower and leaf punches, Flower Soft, rhinestone, Stickles, Pebbles Chalks.

This card is for the Crafty Secrets challenge on SCS. This one had a recipe to follow, to use ribbon or lace, brads or buttons, and paper piercing. Thought I would use the Mojo Monday sketch to finish up. Should have been pretty simple with all that, but after coloring the image from the Garden Girls set I couldn't seem to make it come together like I wanted. Bottom DP is from My Mind's Eye. Had a piece of wide lace that I attached to blue CS, and then the matted image over that. Did the paper piercing in the scallops around the image. The flowers were from a MS hydranga punch, attached with brads, then added Stickles to the brads. Corners seemed bare, so I added some swirlies in a couple different shades of blue.

Stamps: Crafty Secrets Garden Girls, Verve filigree Fantasy.

Paper: The Paper Studio, My Mind's Eye.

Ink: Stazon.

Accessories: Lace, brads, Stickles, Martha Stewart Hydranga punch, Pebbles chalks, Nestabilities.

Masculine Mouse

That title sounds like the name of a cartoon super hero. :) This week's House Mouse Challenge is...men. Oh, so many possible funny comments, so little time. haw haw! Just kidding. This one was a challenge, just to make the mice not so cute so they could fit a masculine theme. Guess that's why it's called a challenge, right? A friend of mine has been job hunting for a while - as are many of us now - and just found a job that is totally different from his degree field. I decided to make this card using this challenge and followed this week's Splitcoast Sketch for the layout. At first glance it seems a bit twisted (as is my sense of humor sometimes), but please look again. :) All DP is from My Mind's Eye, and words are printed from my computer. Coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils blended with baby oil. Main image is attached on foam tape.

Here's a look inside the peep show...some little fuzzy chicks chatting it up in the grass. :) They are from Flourishes Signs of Spring set, the grass from Rubbernecker, and their peeps made with the JustRite tiny letters. Added some butterfly outline stickers. So, see...it's all in good fun, and I know I'll get a playful smack on the back of the head from my friend.

Stamps: House Mouse Say Cheese, Flourishes Signs of Spring, Justrite Tiny Letters.
Paper: My Mind's Eye, The Paper Studio.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Outline stickers, photo tab, brad, foam tape.

Timeless Tuesday #6

This week's Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge is hosted by Kimberly Crawford, and she gave us a sketch to follow. I used this image from the Signs of Spring set, colored with Prismacolors blended with baby oil. Cut the image out with oval Nestabilities, chalked up with shimmery Pebbles chalks while still in the die. Inked edges of both ovals. All DP is from My Mind's Eye. The butterfly was cut from gold vellum and inked up a bit, and drew drops added around the ovals.

Stamps: Flourishes Signs of Spring.
Paper: My Mind's Eye, The Paper Studio.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and Lace Doily border punch, Pebbles Chalks, Dew Drops, corner rounder punch.