Mama Elephant Woof stamps and HB Card

Mama Elephant "Woof" stamps and Copic Markers

 I was asked to make a HB card with a doggie theme. I've wanted to get one of the Mama Elephant critter stamps sets (really I want the cat one) so now I had an excuse to picked up the Woof set. Took a couple test runs to get the right color combo to make the dogs look different. Not as easy as it sounds. This card is a little more fussy than my normal style, but I still think it turned out cute. 
My dog Annie is a major bed hog. The other night I called her that and she rolled on her back and stuck her tongue out at me. Really I think she was hoping for a belly rub because I was talking to her. When she does spread out, she can cover the whole length of the bed and pin me to a very narrow edge of the bed. I'm luck Annie moves around a lot during the night, so I just have to wait for her to over heat and she heads down to the floor. 

Spat Backgrounds 2018

I borrowed a friend's MFT Distressed Patterns stamp set to make the bird poop for my "Oops My Bad" card.  As I was cleaning up my work space I thought I would make some backgrounds. I was very carefully not to over lap the colors when I accidentally drop the stamping block I was using. It looked pretty cool, so 3 hours later (my space didn't get cleaned up) I played with stamping spats all over everything. Now the task of thinking what to put over the spats!

Oops My Bad Card 2018

I saw a card on Pinterest a few weeks ago by Julie Ebersole and wanted to case it. I don't have any of the stamps but thought I could find something in my stash. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. First I thought I could just draw the images but that didn't work out to well. Even draw the lines wasn't come out to well either. What makes the card if the "Oops, My Bad" sentiment, which of course I didn't have either and I don't own a printer. Yes, I know I live in a cave for not owning a printer but I use one so infrequently that the ink dries out and makes the printer useless. I was almost going to give up when I opened one of the drawers to my printer's cabinet (has a lot of drawers) looking for something else when I saw my alphabet beads and the light bulb went on! Now the card makes sense to those crafting buddies who wondered why I was making a bird pooping card! :)

Thanks JE for the inspiration!

Tile Back Ground Hacks

When I watch my favorite craft bloggers, they always have nice backgrounds for their cards. During one of Tim Holtz's video set ups, he showed his background to be a piece of laminate floor that looks like planks of wood. So for me the light bulb went on and I started my search for a good back drop. I volunteer at FabMo every month and they get in all sorts of cool stuff. I rummaged around the tile section and found this square mosaic tile. It's has a flat finish, so doesn't reflect any light, and has an interesting design. Going to give this a try on my next photo shoot. 

Marble Craft Mat. Large shell I use to hold misc bits. 

While I was looking for background tile, I found this large 24"X12"marble tile, sort of reminded me of the Tim Holtz glass craft mat that's all the rage right now. I had decided not to get the Tim Holtz mat since I don't really have the space for it and I'd rather spend my stamping money on something else. The surface is easy to clean, the price was right and makes a nice backdrop for photos. Guess this is my semi hack of Tim's mat. :)

Sea Glass Card 2018

For over 30 years (maybe even longer) I love walking along the beach and collect sea glass. It was always in the back of my mind to turn the glass in jewelry, but I realize jewelry making isn't something I enjoying doing. 
So this week after checking out a ton of Pinterest posts, I dived in and made a card. What I did find out it takes a lot of glass to make one card. Looking for the right shapes is like working a puzzle and knowing there are pieces missing. This card was made for one of my creative mentor. She who takes her dog to the beach every Sunday to play in the ocean and I know she will appreciate the thought behind this card. 

Mama Elephant - Whale details

A few people have asked about my Mama Elephant whale card so here's a photo of all the parts that went into making the card. You really can't see the stamp of the whale but it's has a wood block design, which I think makes the whale look scary. When I first stamped it, I didn't like it at all. I decided to color it in with a black copic marker and give it a googly eye. I got the stamp set at Joann Fabrics when it was on sale, an impulse buy. The stamp set doesn't stamp too well so you will have to plan to use either a stamp tool (Misti) or plan to color in the uneven area. Used my Misti to stamp the sentiment, which I had to stamp a few times. 
I sponged the background using an old sponge. I just to heavy handed to use the Tim Holtz blending tool. I have a box full of old sponges I've used for years in the classes I teach. They have held up really well and work for me. Think they came from the dollar store several years ago. 
I added some Wink of Stella to the waves and  whale spout. which you really can't see in the photo. 

FabMo Paper Crafters Workshop - 2018

FabMo Paper Crafters Workshop 9/16/18

Sunday is my normal day to get all my creative projects done. I do a workshop for FabMo once a month as a mini fundraiser. I donate my time and all the supplies. 
Since I never know the level of the craftiness of people coming to the workshop, it takes a lot of time to come up with projects that can get done in a few hours, look good and won't mess up my tools or supplies. 
I'm now on the hunt for 2mm googly eyes for the snail. That would be the icing on the cake!

Amazing Cutting Plate Hacking 2018

There are some crafting hacks that aren't worth doing but then there is that rare one that is totally amazing!
Several videos started popping yesterday show how to use a rubber cutting mat in place of the hard plastic mat that goes with most die cutting machine. It works so well, I was wondering why no one thought of it before or if they had, why didn't they market it for all die cut machines out there! 
I had a new rubber mat that I forgot in my car  (very bad when it's hot out) and once it gets hot, it buckles so won't ever lay flat again. I hated to throw it out, so I stuck in under one of Annie's rugs hoping it would magically go flat.  I had nothing to lose by trying this hack out so I cut it up. I was so impressed I made a few for some crafty friends. This is the best crafting hack in a long long time!

Itatani Beach Party 2018

Every year my family has a beach party at a friend's private beach. It so nice to have a beach that Annie can run around all day and I don't have to worry about other people being scared of her. 
It was a perfect beach day, warm and sunny. I just love the birthday photo of my Auntie Mich, who turned 95. She's still drives and has a very full social calendar. Annie got in the picture wanting to put her stick on the table so the kids could throw it for her. She wasn't trying to eat the cake. As usual it was an Itatani food fest with everyone bring something to share. We are hoping that next year we can spend the night, giving the city kids the whole camping experience. 

Felt - ing 2018

Years ago I gave felt-ing a try. I guess I didn't really like it, so I gave all the tools away to a friend. Well fast forward to now and I wondered if I could felt pre cut wool (using my die cuts) and felt it on a background. So far the first test rounds look pretty good. Now just have to think of a way to turn them into cards or something cool. 

String card - 2018

Friends of mine weave some amazing things (Stonewater Arts) and I asked for the end cuts of thread. I was using them in my cross stitch and decided (after seeing something on Pinterest) to do this very simple card. I like to think of it as up recycling. 

Plant Nursery - 2018

I started another round of aloe vera plants after I did a swap with my neighbors are few weeks ago. Need to stock up for the next swap in a few more month. 
Living in ranger rick land (deer, gophers, rabbits, rats, coyotes and various birds) it's hard to grow anything. Succulents happens to be on of the few things no one wants to eat. :)