In the Works...

Above Ground

• I've discovered it takes a certain type of humor to appreciate this Irish proverb, which I've paired with one of the naturals from FL-08 Bluet.  If you don't like it, I'm sorry.  For me, however, some days,  I feel as if being "above ground" is one of the few things I have going for me.  This happens to be one of those days...  It started out all wrong, and has progressed in that vein.
• First day back to school, and no sandwich bread in the freezer (not due to poor planning, just an oversight).
• Because I was so sure there was one more loaf of "that" bread, and had to prove what I could not, the old-fashioned, long-cooking oatmeal got a late start. (Oh, we were out of cold cereal due to very poor planning.)
• Then the newly turned eighteen year old came home from an early morning gym session, buffer than life, and decided he had the option to disregard his bathroom time slot... Note:  Even princesses do not take as long getting ready to greet their general public as eighteen year old "I am the world," stud muffins do... Need I say more?
• Hubby, running late, and we know why, headed off to work, only to return within minutes and announce, "My truck won't start.  Won't even turn over."
• Hubby now has the car I rarely NEED on any given day, but guess what today was?!?  Yup, I have a Pioneer Girls function to attend this evening, and NEED to take along an age appropriate gift... I also needed to pick up sandwich bread and cold cereal.
• Next, Eli, completely ready, and watching out the window, missed the bus because for whatever crazy reason, we could not get the door to unlatch.
• Being I was without the car, Eli and I had to run cross-country to a house on an adjacent road where he could catch "Jerri" on the "back-by."  I, by the way, having just washed my hair, was wearing a towel turban and no make-up, and being very afraid the driver wouldn't see us in the fog, started flailing my arms around like a lunatic as soon as I saw "yellow."  The entire bus load of kids gawked at me as if they had front row seats at a freak show.  Childishly, I wanted to stick my tongue out at them, but contained myself, and blew Eli a kiss instead... Thankfully, he still claims me as his, no matter what.
• After getting back home, and changing out of my drenched sneakers and soaked socks,~yuk! I accidentally tipped over an uncovered jelly jar.
• Although the jar didn't break, the entire contents of a half jar of "costs-an-arm and-a-leg," fruit-only jelly, plopped out onto the floor -- Not that one needs jelly if one doesn't have bread, but our dog only walked over and sniffed.  I told her it was "Mmmmm, mmm, good," but she wouldn't even try it, so I had to clean it up.
• Then I went to e-mail my promised, but late May/June class write-ups to Stamp 'n Scrap, where I teach, and realized I never cleared my chosen dates with hubby before he left for work. 
• Simultaneously, I started with terrible cramps, and wondered if I could possibly be coming down with something...
• Turned out to be just my monthly "something." Still, I can tell it's going to be one of those difficult first days, and I have about fifty trips to make up and down the stairs (laundry up the wazoo, and an over-school-vacation organizing project to finish).

Being only ten o'clock I don't even dare think about the rest of the day... but I have prayed,

Please, God, just get me through, help me find the good in the bad, see your provision and care in all things, and keep me thankful to be above ground...Oh, and thank you for blessing me with a quirky sense of humor.  I think you must have known with my life, I was going to need it.

The cardworks are once again, very basic -- Flower image: Misted direct-to-rubber Lyra crayons stamped on edge-torn watercolor paper. Panel then spattered with Ranger's Vintage Photo Distress Ink. When dry, saying overstamped in Versafine Onyx Black, and panel layered on black to a Bazzill card.

All for now,

Susan T.

Square Guest At A Round Party

Hostess of the 13th smART Cookie tea party, Dina Kowal, invited her guests to partake of this challenge:

Make a round card... not just something round on the card, but a card that IS round.

This was something I'd never done before, but Dina also explained how to make the base:

Fold your cardstock, then hang some type of circle template a bit over the folded edge, and trace/cut around the part of the template that remains on the paper. 

What you get is almost a complete circle with a "hinge." 

Note: This card uses a full sheet of 8.5 x 11 cardstock, and requires a square envelope for mailing.

For me, the first time through was a bit tricky because it was difficult to tell just how much of the fold to leave intact -- too little, makes the hinge flimsy, and the card unstable... too much makes the hinge obvious, and the circular effect of the card is lost. 

For a 5-3/8" circle, I used my Creative Memories circle cutter, medium template - outer track - blue blade.  I found if I left a hinge about 1-5/8" long, both the stability, and appearance of the card were near perfect. 

There, I had the base!  The hard part, which took me two tries, was over... Or was it???

Once I had the round canvas, working on it was truly out of my comfort zone... I discovered very quickly that I'm definitely a square/rectangle gal.  Had to keep telling myself, "But that's what a c-h-a-l-l-e-n-g-e is all about..." 

Every time I thought I knew where I wanted to take things, they just didn't look right, didn't fit right, or had no balance.  I had to stop, walk away, and mull things over several times... I finally had to sleep on it.  The next day, however, everything came together.  Here is the result:

First I opted to position the hinge on the card's left side.  Next I chose, and cut a strip of print paper the width of the hinge.  Starting at the hinge, I adhered the strip across the card, and rounded the overhang flush with the opposite edge.

This Anna Griffith print, a leftover from a previous project, then helped me choose two more things:  My main image taken from WD-210 Flower Girl, and my color palette.  In retrospect, I'm wondering if the overall design actually needs the strip at all, but if I hadn't used it, I wouldn't have had a launching point...

To soften the appearance, Flower Girl was stamped in Versafine Smokey Grey.  It was then embossed with Transcendence, and colored using markers, colored pencils, chalk, and ink from a pad (applied with a small brush).

Note:  Although I've gotten better with practice, coloring is not my strong suit, so rather than use a single, unmastered medium, I tend to tie colors together by pulling from everything I own...

Next came the saying from WD-134 Time & Again, also stamped in Smokey Grey and clear embossed... I started off leaving all the corners square, but the look on the round card was too angular... Next I rounded all the corners, and somehow that wasn't right either -- made the corners of Flower Girl stand out as too angular... Finally I re-stamped/embossed, and rounded only two, opposing corners. Ahhhh... the inked edges in these shapes, tied together both the square corners of the Flower Girl panel, and the round edge of the card!
 
Each stamped piece was then layered to iridescent purple, and grey cardstocks, and the two panels were mounted to the card.

Time for some embellishments!  Instead of punching flowers, this time I used "Brides" flowers from Michael's -- actually shimmery, embossed, table confetti made by Gartner Studios for Brides magazine, and sold at Michael's in the handcraft-a-wedding aisle.

Brides flowers come uncolored, in white or ivory, so I colorized these using Brilliance and Fluid Chalk inks -- first I smushed each flower face down into the Brilliance Pearlescent Purple ink pad, and heat set.  After that, I applied Fluid Chalk Lavender to the outer petal edges using a small brush, and heat set again.

The colored flowers were then layered with fern punches (Punch Bunch), mini flower punches (PBM2), and tiny circle punches, and adhered to the card.

The hinge area was still lacking "something," so the spots on a length of purple, Swiss dot ribbon were customized using a permanent, celadon marker, and when dry, was knotted, trimmed, and adhered to the card along the void.

I'll admit I learned a lot from working through this challenge, but I must also say I'm still too internally "square" to be a round card convert (translated: you won't be seeing many more of these babies).

Given my experience, I'm extremely curious to see what Dina, Donna, and Trish did "in the round," and how each one of them felt about it... 

Susan L. and Heidi are not playing today.

Susan T.

Old and New

This card teams an old image from WD-142 Lilac Blessing with a new saying from WD-216 Thankful.  It was designed as a "thank you" for Jacki Jones, the person actually quoted...

It happened like this...

Several months ago, while visiting Jacki's blog, The Card Castle, I read these nine words in one of Jacki's posts. 

If you ask me now what the post was about, I can't really remember, but her conclusion of the situation was, "Never underestimate your small part in someone else's blessing."  The words stuck with me like a glue dot on the fingernail. 

I had never thought about being blessed in these terms before, but I couldn't get over how true the saying rang...

I thought of the times someone chose to do something for me, seemingly insignificant to them, while at that very moment, it was just what I needed, and blessed me greatly... 

Conversely, I wondered how many times I had neglected to do something for someone else because I second guessed my initial impulse by thinking the deed too small or insignificant (or "stupid)?  If I'm honest, I'd have to say lots of times...

Anyway, Jacki's quote started me looking at "blessings" with different eyes.  The more I thought about what she'd said, the more I began to internalize its meaning.  I no longer think there is anything too little to do for someone. 

After all, a smile, a kind or encouraging word, or even just the simplest of cards... Certainly God has sometimes used these things to bless me, so why shouldn't I let Him use the same things from me to bless someone else?  There isn't anything too small.  These days, if the idea crosses my mind, I commit my actions to the Lord, and try to follow through.

Of course, you must all know by now that I love rubberized word/quotes, so when prepping time for the new release came came along, these nine words had to be part of it... Seems a really nice way to let someone know the little thing they did meant a great deal.

As for the cardworks -- Basic, basic, basic... Stamped in black and clear embossed.  Colored with markers and Layered.  You can't really see it, but the black strip was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder, and the lilacs were "stickled" in Lavender.

Susan T.
 

My First Trio

I did it!  I trimmed up DK-16 Daisy Trio #2, and gave Dina's Trio Stamping tutorial a whirl...

The technique I followed was not only easy, it was fun, and the way the image materialized as I added each layer was... well, sort of magical.   

I really wasn't expecting a masterpiece my first time through, and had actually used paper from my scrap bin, but I was extremely happy with the results, and was able to use my very first Trio attempt to complete this card:

The most difficult part for me was choosing the colors.  I don't have any of the Versamagic inks Dina seems to favor, but I do have Fluid Chalks, so that's where I started.  My palette was as follows: Yellow Citrus, Tangerine, Lime Pastel, and Burnt Sienna.  I also used Colorbox pigment inks in Marigold and Moss Green.   

I think this particular Trio is probably the most difficult one to ink because everything is "connected."   Still,  it wasn't too bad... The ink pads were in the form of cat's eyes, so I was able to apply the ink directly to the rubber quite easily.  I worked from light to dark, and got as close to the connected areas as possible.  Then I used a cotton swab to pounce the ink onto the smaller areas (i.e. upper stem and flower center).

When I decided to turn the completed Trio into a card, I was envisioning something much different than what I've posted, but I forgot about the inky swab on my work surface, and somehow managed to lay my finished piece face down, on top of it... Ugh! Unwanted tangerine ink right where it shouldn't be!  How to fix?  I used the darker Burnt Sienna, and stamped one of the sayings from WD-194 Worries over the boo-boo...

The rest of the card followed from there... Nothing complicated -- layering, gingham ribbon customized with a permanent marker, and an embossed accent strip (Cuttlebug's Divine Swirl used in an Ellison Big Shot).

Now, I won't use the word "addicted" quite yet, but I really can't wait to give each of the other Trios a try...

All for now,

Susan T.

It's All Done!

This morning I had to visit the dentist for a regularly scheduled, 6-month check-up/cleaning.  It's a long story, but ever since a wisdom tooth extraction nightmare twenty-two years ago, I have been and am completely dentist phobic...

I start dreading the appointment several days prior to, then on THE day, my heart races, my mouth goes dry while the rest of me perspires (okay, sweats buckets), I shake, and feel sick to my stomach, etc.  Basically, I teeter on the edge of a full-blown panic attack... I literally have to pray myself through every time... 

Anyway, today's appointment was scheduled mid-morning which meant I had to be really choosy about what to work on beforehand... something I could do to stay busy while at the same time being preoccupied and unable to focus... Hmmmmm... I decided I might as well start prepping Dina's Trio Stamping tutorial for the website, after all, Dina had done all the work, I just had to plug it in.

As things turned out, I became so engrossed in "stamping with Dina," that the time fairly flew, and all of a sudden, it was time to go...

After the dentist, which Praise the Lord, I survived once again, I had a few errands to run, but all I really wanted to do was get home to continue working on the tutorial, and hopefully have a chance to try a few of Dina's techniques myself...

I didn't really think I'd finish the set-up and get to post to the website today, but guess what?!?  It's all done!!!

Soooooo, if you want to learn how to Trio stamp like this:

Visit Dina's Trio Stamping Tutorial at the smART website by clicking HERE.

Additionally, there were two more bonuses in my day -- No cavities, which means no dentist for another 6 months. YEAH!!! And a brand new, tulip red toothbrush!  Snazzy!

All in all, a pretty good day.

Susan T.

Sneak Peek

Tomorrow's the big day!  No, I don't mean tax day... I mean the official release date for the new smART images!

The catalogs, both on-line and print, have already been updated, but tomorrow, the rubber will be ready!  Of course I'm prejudiced, but I think there's a lot of good stuff.

Take this card by smART Cookie, Dina Kowal, for instance... stamped with the new DK-14 Rose Trio #2 and DK-15 Stem Duo sets of rubber... Yummy!

Dina has designed seven additional sets of Trios -- sort of like duos, but with an added layer, and since she's had her set of demo rubber for over a week, has already started playing.  Her work is knock your socks off gorgeous!

I'm sure at some point Dina, herself will post this card at the Stamperia, so I'm not going to give it's details here.  I only wanted you to see some of what's on the horizon.

If you're afraid you might not be able to get your Trios to look this fabulous?  Don't worry... Dina has also been working on an easy-to-follow tutorial which I'll be posting on the smART website within the next couple of weeks...

As I read through the copy Dina sent me, all I could think was, "I can't WAIT to try this!  It sounds goof-proof!"

Oh, and by the way, Dina presently has a little Trios Contest going on over at her blog, so you might just want to take a look and enter for your chance to win...

Completely giddy from the smell of new rubber,

Susan T.

Trout Duo Winner

... and the winner of the Trout Duo stamp set (pulled from the napkin basket over breakfast) is annelies, who wrote:

I like them all, but when I have to pick one favorite I choose Dina's card. I think it's the colors that I find very attractive. Thanks for a chance to win!
Greetings from Belgium, Annelies

Here's her favorite by Dina:

So, Annelies, please e-mail me the necessary contact information, and I'll have the Brook brothers swimming your way in no time.

And to everyone who played by submitting a comment, thank you!  I loved reading them, especially the reasoning behind your various choices.

Time For A Change

I have toyed for weeks with the idea of applying a little change-a-roo to the old blog. 

Not exactly earth-shattering news, but I don't want you to tune in on Friday looking for the Trout Duo winner, and think, "Where am I?" or like I tend to do, "Oh, no!  What wrong button did I push?"

Sooooooo, be aware, the next time you drop by, the background of this blog will be white...

Cookies & Tea Without Me

Today is tea party day, but I am still playing catch-up from the sick days I took last week, and with what seems like a mountain of work still looming (and zero energy to attack it), I have opted to pass on the party.

Today's hostess, however, is Trish D'Antonio from Tah Dah! and her challenge arrived in the form of this "inspirational" piece:   

Her instructions were clear and simple, "Take a look at this artwork, and see what speaks to you -- then use whatever that voice says, and create something of your own."

What fun!  Glad I'll get to live vicariously through the Cookies... Can't wait to see what they've done.  If you want to find out too, click on their names in the sidebar.

Just Keep Swimming

You'll never know how disappointed I am with this post... Well, not the post itself exactly, but the circumstances surrounding it... You see, I'd had this particular entry planned since February 1... The day I mailed out the Trout Duo challenge stamp set to the Cookies... I had chosen the set strategically:

• I knew they'd never done anything with a predetermined masculine bend, and
• I was planning to unveil their creations, this post, and the blog giveaway on April 1 -- the first day of fishing season here in Maine.  Such clever timing!

Imagine anticipating all that for so long, then getting the flu!  Yup, a true disappointment.  I think it might have been the biggest April's Fool joke ever!

Anyway, before I get to the Cookie projects and giveaway, I want to share a little bit about the Trout Duo set... My hubby is actually the artist, and the image came about after he and another teacher applied for, and received a grant to teach a conservation-type unit on brook trout in connection with a local stream called Finn Brook.

I can't give you all the details, but the real fish arrive in Mark's classroom as eggs from a hatchery, and his fourth graders monitor the hatching and growth for several months... Then they all take an expedition to Finn Brook, and release the surviving fishlings into the wild.  There's a lot which goes into it, and the children learn oodles in a very hands-on way...

Well, one of the things each student does at the onset of this trout unit is to create his/her own science folder.  Just one problem... left to their own devices, and being the fish they see are initially eggs, most of the 9-11 year old hand drawn renditions of a trout, look like something out of "Finding Nemo..."  Realism eludes them.

This both disturbed and frustrated hubby to the point of his uttering,
"If only there was a stamp..."
I started laughing like a hyena -- In our house there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of stamps!
"But you know what I mean -- the right stamp..."
More laughter -- every stamper's plight, finding the "right" stamp...
"Mark, honey, if you want to draw one, there can be a stamp... I own a stamp company!"
This time the laughter was shared.

A week or so later, hubby had the artwork ready, and the wheels were set in motion for the Brook brothers, "Finn" and "Finn Jr." to swim into rubber.

I must confess, not all the Cookies were thrilled with finding this image the mailbox, but each still did a wonderful job using it.  Their card projects can be seen HERE...

And as always, when there's a smART Cookie Challenge, I'm launching a little contest for someone to win her own set of the same stamps used in the challenge... For your chance at winning Trout Duo, here's what you've got to do:

Go take a look at all the Cookie creations then swim back here and comment on your favorite.  A winner, will be chosen by Mark, and announced here on Friday (April 11).