Busy Weekend

It was one busy weekend for me! On Saturday I went to a rubber stamp show planning on only buying a hot dog and tagging along with my card making buddies. The first stop in my "not going to buy anything" trip was at "Penny Michelle's" booth that had these too cute sterling silver and handmade bead jewelry. O.K. it's not really rubber stamps, so I wasn't breaking my "no buying" oath. I thought they were just too fun not to bring home and I just couldn't pass up the cat one, that looks just my little Lucy. Well, that started the whole creative process going and I ended up buying a ton of stamps and background paper for my up coming Asian and bee theme classes.

On Sunday I went to help out at my cousin's HUGE garage sale where several families participate. I'm always amazed at how much stuff we can all collect! My cousins love to shop for clothes (that was one family gene I did not inherit) so there were tons of clothes left over. They know I donate my work clothes to the "Career Closet" a local nonprofit organization that provides interview-quality professional clothing at no charge to economically disadvantaged women. http://careercloset.org/webPages/home.htm My truck is filled to the top with great clothes heading off to "Career Closet" in the morning.

One of the birds (Bee Eater) in Africa

This picture was taken by my traveling buddy Gayle when we went to South Africa this summer. I took an older digital camera on the the trip, so it was too slow to get any really good pictures of things that moved fast. Gayle's sweetheart of a husband got her this great camera (that didn't weigh a ton) just for this trip. He said it would be a once in a life time photo opt, so she should have the best. He was so right!
When these birds fly by, it's like seeing a little rainbow. The colors are amazing and some of my favorite to work with. When people ask me what inspires my work - this is a good example. Think Twinkling H2O watercolors.

Savvy Cat Stamp

Here is a close up photo of the Cat and Moon make and take card. The problem I had with the image was the fence was too short and nothing I did looked right. After sleeping on it (the idea not the the stamp) I had to make the fence longer. Not sure if you can see the fence is strips of black card stock that are pop dotted up. It took a little practice to cut the pop dots small enough so they wouldn't show. Those little suckers can really fly!

My CJ Layout

I'm part of the great "drama free" circle journal group that has been together now for almost 3 years. We have so much fun together that we keep thinking up new things to scrapbook.
For this round we are to make the same two page layout for everyone in the group. Everyone gets a turn at picking the theme and details for the layout. The theme for this round was to use only what we had in our current stash, fall colors and 5 tags. I had a real hard time coming up with how to include the tags not being a tag person unless it has the word "sale" on it. The blank white sections are for the other ladies to add their own pictures. It's going postal today.

How do I store all my rubber stamps?

Several years ago, I walked into a auction house in Pacific Grove, CA and saw this great printer's cabinet. At first I thought it could hold all my scrapbooking embellishments but it soon became home to all my rubber stamps. Yes, all 50 drawers have stamps or embellishments in them. The center drawers hold rolls of ribbon and other taller items. I'm still on the look out for another printer's cabinet for the day when this one runs out of room.

Thank You Card

This is one of the cards people made in my class last week. Super easy card to make.

Stamp Penny Black.

Temple in Taiwan

My husband took this amazing photo on his last business trip to Taiwan. It's the ceiling of a local temple. While he is there, he takes time to see the sights and eat very exotic foods - deep fried bees (of course this was before we became bee keepers) and chicken feet. Yes, if this man can get it in his mouth, he can eat.

Heros Arts Christmas Card

I just finished the samples for my upcoming Hero Arts Christmas card class. I used Hero Arts new Clear Design stamp sets, "Wintertime Messages" and "Many Blessings". To make the class a little more interesting, I used non-traditional colors and gave a few cards an "alter" art style. The little kitty card in the middle isn't part of the clear design sets, but I had a dream about the card so I just had to make. The cats are from Hero Arts.

Creative Muse - Zindorf

Of course I when I saw the bee theme, I had to check out this card made by "Zindorf" (Michelle)

She is fast becoming my "go to" creative Muse that I use for inspiration. I love the way she combines color, stamp images and textures to her cards.

Go to
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ to see more of Michelle's amazing cards.

Halloween Cat

Halloween is my favorite time of year!!! I love to add ton of texture to my cards. The background paper (Basic Grey) has a thick layer of Medium Gel that I made "bumpy", I then edged with a gold Krylon pen. The poem is computer generated,using one of my favorite fonts -Hogwarts. Cat from Rubber Soul, Quickutz Bat and fish bones from Visual Image Printery,which I think is no longer in business.

Saw this picture ( I just love to surf the Internet, especially when I'm on a deadline) of the Stadler Gallery in Kingsfield, Maine and just "sighed". This is the type of art studio I dream about. Yes, there are some of us who dream about more art space instead of flying. A large old building, with lots of windows, wood floors and enough space to store a semi-truck load of stuff.
I can see my various work tables, storage, classroom and even a red leather sofa (that's other wish I have for my crafting space) in this old barn. Living in Silicon Valley, barns aren't easy to come by anymore but it doesn't stop me from dreaming!

Halloween Cards for the Senior Center

Once a month I volunteer at the Yu Ai Kai Japanese Senior Center in downtown San Jose. I teach a free card making classes for the members. This is a shot of the four cards they will be making this week. The card in the front was inspired by "zindorf" from Splitcoaststampers.com.

Stamps are Stampin-Up Carved and Candlelit set, Memory Box - Happy Halloween,Hero Arts - Spider in Web and Stampendous - Trick or Treat. Cuttlebug embossing - swirl and other vintage paper from my large collection of paper.

More Halloween Cards

Other set of ghost cards I made using:
Alcohol Inks, Medium Gel, Quickutz Ghost Die, Mulberry Paper, Diamond Glaze, Twinkling H2O and Embossing with Foil. Cat stamp is from Rubber Soul. All the cards take a little time to make because you have to let them dry for a few hours before going on to the next step.

All other props are from my Alley Cats Vintage Treasures collection.

Sample from my Halloween Class

Here is one of the cards people made in my Halloween Marathon II class last week. I wanted to introduce students to the alter art style. Many think it's too "Gothic" or just plain ugly- come to think of it, that describes Halloween. :)

I know this is a really tame version of alter art for the more "experienced" ladies out there, but you have to start some where.
Stamp is from Paper Inspirations "Halloween Vignette" and the paper in the frame is from Making Memoires - a way cool 12x12 paper that comes already with the glitter on it - "Halloween Glitter Check. All the other props are from my Alley Cats Vintage Treasures collection.

Thank You Card

This was a card I made when I was up in Napa this summer. My husband was attending a training seminar and I tagged along. I had a wild idea that I would get a whole new set of cards designed for my upcoming classes. Since I had to leave the room for a few hours so housekeeping could make up our room, I went out for some retail therapy. Well, MANY hours later after finding a great Italian deli and a huge sale at a clothing store (were everything fit) I came back totally exhausted. I was only able to crank out one card but I think it turned out great. The paper weaving part of the card makes the card too labor intensive to teach in a class. So much for getting anything done for my classes. :)

Amuse

No trip to Seattle would be complete without a visit to the Amuse store and of course I had to buy a few things I don't already have in my collection! :) I also had to make a swing by the Impress stores to see what was new and exciting. It was so much fun and creatively inspiring to see these shops in person. You come away with so many great ideas.

Whidbey Island

I just got back from Seattle this weekend. We drove up to help move my daughter into her new house for her final year at UW. While we were there, we drove up to Whidbey Island to visit my nephew Brandon and check up on my son's house on the island. Brandon surprised us with a picnic at Taylor Shell Fish Farms in Bow, WA. www.taylorshellfishframs.com.
It was a beautiful day sitting on the beach, eating raw oysters while waiting for the coals in the BBQ to heat up so we could cook the BIG ones over the grill.