Frosty 1 2 3

These cards are from the Stampin Up "Frosty" set. It's an old stamp set that is still available. The first card is an easy and quick card to make. Chalking and a few embellishments. The second one has a brushed ink background, then heat embossed with silver. Frosty is cut out and pop dotted. The third card's background is done with a VersaMark resist and double matted. The silver cord is tied with snowflakes from Hero Arts.

Bamboo Tiles

I picked up some bamboo tiles over the weekend and started playing with them. I had to break out my stash of Staz-On inks. It's very interesting what the ink does on the bamboo tiles and the different shades of color you can get, if you don't mind getting stained finger tips! Having a great time experimenting! I'm going to try alcohol inks this afternoon.

Picture Worth a Thousand Words

Thank you to everyone who donated handmade cards for our troops overseas. I think this picture tells it all. The next round of cards (for Valentine's Day) are due on January 15, 2008
Need to add this is not a picture of my son. I believe his name is Mike and he took the picture for the Blue Star Moms and his wife.

Bamboo Tiles

I love to get surprises in the mail! Cindy Wixson (wife to one of my husband's childhood buddies) made this great ceramic fish for me. Cindy and Steve came out last month of a visit and had a marathon tour around Northern California. I knew Cindy was a great cook but I didn't know she was also a very talented painter. Now I find out she also does ceramic work!
I'm hoping that Cindy will come out next year and paint a custom mural on Miss Pinky for me. A major debate is going on at my house as to what the mural should include. The fish in on a bed of my latest alter art find - bamboo tiles. I will post photos of what I'm doing with them as soon as the paint dries.

Santa Crow

Went in to Cranberry Hill today to stock my booth with the latest auction goodies. Carol Kennedy was bringing in her Christmas dolls. When she put this doll out, I just had to have it. How many people do you know have a Santa Crow?
I added the little rhinestone pin - we all know crows like things that sparkle.

Abalone Diving

Every Thanksgiving we go to my Aunt's house. It's a big clan gathering so everyone brings something to share. We decided to go up to Salt Point State Park before the abalone season closes (at the end of this month) to bring some fresh "abs" for dinner. We drove up on Monday and went diving on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was picture perfect weather and the diving conditions were great! The picture above was taken standing on the cliff the guys had to hike down. Not a bad view at all.
We have been camping at the park for over 30 years and remember the days when the park only had a outhouse. It is sure different camping with a travel trailer instead of a tent. Last night one of the other groups camping there set-up a full size movie screen outside and played a movie for all the kids. Yes, they finished the movie before 9:00 p.m.

Miss Pinky

After searching for over a year, I finally found a small vintage travel trailer. A 14' 1968 Aloha travel trailer. In my part of the world, they are very hard to find. I was really lucky to spot this one on Craig's list and to have it be only a few minutes away from my house. The previous owner was a women who painted it light pink. I liked the color (much to my husband's embarrassment) and decided to call her "Miss Pinky". The interior is fake brown fur with pink and brown spot curtains. We went up to Salt Point this week to go abalone diving and took Miss Pinky with us.

Crafty idea

This was to darn crafty for me not to post it. Michelle Zindorf (Split Coast Stampers design team member) made this for the members only site. I like the rustic look and can see how it can be a great way to customize a gift for someone.

Christmas Trees

This is one of my favorite creative muse - Michelle Zindorf. She is now on the Spilt Coast Stampers design team. If you not a member, you should sign up now other wise you will miss seeing great cards like this one! I can't give the directions since it's for members only, but I can tell you it's take time and talent to get this card to look this good.

Sure wish Michelle would get a blog site set up so I can link you directly to all her great cards!

Cat

This was another auction week for me. Didn't get to attend the auction so I had to do silent and phone bids. I was surprised when I went to pick up my other lot that I also got this one. It had several other pieces in it, but I really wanted this cat. It has a chewed ear (it's not a chip) and bandaged tail - too cute! I also got a late 18th century bird cage that was the coolest thing. I decide to take it into the store and use it as a display piece. I had big plans to bring it home when no one bought it after six months. I no sooner got it into my booth when someone wanted to buy it! I'm sorry I didn't at least get a picture of!

One Stamp Three Designs

One of my favorite departments in the Take Ten magazine is the "Different Point of View" section. It's always fun to see what other people would do with the same stamp. I had some down time tonight, so I made these cards. Didn't do anything really "out there" with them since I didn't want to make a big mess that I would have to clean up in the morning. I also had used only the scraps and left overs I have on my work table - I did have a lot to pick from :)
Stamp is from the Hero Arts Clear set.

Quick Card

This was another card I did for my card class at the Yu Ai Ki (Japanese Senior Center) last week.

It's a really easy card and only takes a few minutes to make. The background is done with the Cuttlebug machine and embossing folder. The scallop circles are done with punches and the stamp is a Stampin Up set.

Auction Goodies

This has been a busy week. We finally had some good luck at the auction houses. I picked up a lot that had these cute bee honey pots that I couldn't resist bidding on! For the last few months we have been haunting auction houses and have not found anything interesting. :( Last week we hit the mother lode! Several lots came home with us and had to be processed (sorted, cleaned and tagged) to get them into our booths at Cranberry Hill and Cottage Crafts. Purrcy loves it when the hallway and living room has boxes stacked everywhere. If he's not in a box or attacking the tissue paper, he's sitting on top of the highest pile waiting for someone to walk by and rub his ears.

Another Christmas Card

I'm thinking of doing a class with a knitting theme. Found these little sweaters at Cranberry Hill and thought it would be funny to make a card. I was going to use the stamp "Knit Happens" by A Muse but went with a more general holiday theme. I added the snowflake sequin (by Hero Arts) and silver thread from my stash of fiber.

Christmas Card

This is one of the cards the ladies will be making at the Yu Ai Ki Senior Center. I teach a free card class once a month for the members. We make a total of four cards in an hour, so the design has to be on the simple side.

Turkey Boy

One of my creative mentors, Carol Kennedy made this great doll a few years ago. I bought it for a friend who was allergic to turkey. His family would serve turkey at Thanksgiving and he got a peanut butter sandwich. I've been begging Carol to make another one for me and here he is!

Carol makes great alter dolls (not the scary over the top type) with a humorous touch. She is also an antique dealer so she's able to add some interesting touches from her found treasures.