My Muse

Ten Things I Love About You

Back with another layout inspired by Jessica Sprague's "Pen Tablet Basics for Scrapbookers" class. She encouraged us to enter a contest at Penscrappers, and I made this layout as my entry. All the digi elements I used are from the gorgeous kit by Anna Aspnes they are giving away for free (!) as part of entering this contest.

Today was the last day of the class, and it has really been chock-full of great techniques and lots of inspiration. On this layout, I used my pen (mostly) and was able to use three techniques I learned from the class - enhancing/brightening the eyes, incorporating my own hand-writing and watercolor-brushing-in a photo. This is one of my favorite photos of Thomson in the last couple of years as it shows his different-colored eyes so beautifully. Credit for photo to my ultra-talented photographer neighbor, Tracy.

What fun - and a great way to end a fabulous class. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Life Continues

Here's another digi layout from the Jessica Sprague "Pen Tablet Basics for Scrapbookers" class I am taking. In this week's exercise, we used our pen (and it's pressure sensitive capabilities) to "paint" with brushes, make custom embellishments by tracing chipboard on our tablet, and handwrite journaling. It was a lot of fun - but I think I spent way too much time on it... ha!

Journaling reads: This week in February 2010 brought us 2 giant snowfalls (30" & 12"), totaling a record 63" for the season. Having only been out to shovel snow, I was going stir crazy. My spirits were finally lifted on the 11th when our street was plowed, the sun was shining, and this sweet little bird reminded me that life continues.

If I had been journaling with my computer as I usually do - I would have definitely said more. But since the handwriting space was limited, I edited to fit the space. 

SUPPLIES  Tablet Lesson Week 2 Template (Jessica Sprague), Vintage Photo Frames No. 7 (Katie Pertiet), Date Strip Stamps No. 1 (Katie Pertiet), Snowflake brush and photo overlay from Winter Wonderland Kit - 2ps free kit (Jen Allyson), glittered snowflake from Snow Day kit (Digital Design Essentials), clock face from Yesterday Today kit (Anna Aspnes), Christmas Twill (Ali Edwards), Holly Plume Overlays 12x12 (Anna Aspnes), Artist Edge Overlays No. 02 12 X 12 (Anna Aspnes), background paper from Bag Queen kit (Pixel Canvas), contrasting paper from Harvest Paperie kit (Anna Aspnes), paper in large swirl designs Vintage Paper Reveals (Katie Pertiet), Stereofidelic font (free from internet)

Interesting little story about the bottom right photo where you see my husband shaking hands with a guy from the Virginia Department of Transportation. Ironically, the VDOT guy got stuck in the snow on our road, and my husband had to pull him out with his 1977 Land Cruiser! (Yes - we needed a snow plough on our street in the worst way.) I'm happy to tell you that the snow is about 50% melted and we can actually see some patches of grass again (yay!). Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda

Just getting around to posting this one...I started these two cards for an earlier Embellish Challenge (purple, brown, kraft, stripes). I just couldn't get things to work to my satisfaction before the deadline - and walked away. Ever happen to you? 

 Well, when I went back into my craft room, these unfinished cards were just sitting there, looking so pitiful. I hate to be a quitter - and thought I would give them one more go. With the first one, I felt so much better, being able to add in a little pink. And hey, once the deadline was over, I could do whatever I wanted, right?!

I tried the Martha Stewart Vintage Leaf Glitter. It's pretty and sparkly, but I was hoping it would apply like other metal leaf products. This stayed chunky. Also, I dyed the acrylic heart with alcohol ink.

SUPPLIES  Stamps:  Loving Words (Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday), Basic Borders Retro (PaperTrey Ink), Ink:  Chocolate Chip Kraft (SU!), Plum Pudding (PaperTrey Ink), Passion Purple Alcohol Ink (Pinata), Cardstock:  Kraft (PaperTrey Ink), Other:  Acrylic heart from Bracket, Book & More (Fancy Pants), gem (Studio 18), Vintage Leaf Glitter (Martha Stewart), Clear Embossing Powder (Hampton Arts)

Here's the second card:

SUPPLIES  (not mentioned above):  Plum Pudding Grosgrain ribbon (PaperTrey Ink), sparkly thread (EK Success), heart charm (Michael's).

Hope your Valentine's Day is fabulous! Thanks so much for stopping by today. 

Embellish Challenge

Time for another Embellish Magazine Challenge. Such pretty colors and ribbon (one of my favorite embellishments):

Here's my card:

SUPPLIES  Stamps:  Blooming Heart & Tiny I Love You (Hero Arts), Ink:  Versamark and Dark Chocolate (PaperTrey Ink), Cardstock:  Stamper's Select White (Paper Trey Ink) & Chocolate Chip (SU!), Other:  May Arts ribbon, heart gem (Kiss and Tell from Dress It Up), clear embossing powder, Swiss Dot embossing folder (CuttleBug)

It's funny that I have been fiddling with this flowered heart stamp for a couple of days in my studio, then Ashley posted a card with it today! I tried several different variations, including coloring in some of the flowers with pencils. I eventually elected to let the ribbon and gem do the shining on this one. I loved this ribbon when I first saw it, and had planned to use it on a Christmas card with red and kraft. Somehow, that never happened, so I'm glad it finally found a home.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

PS - it's snowing (AGAIN!!)...

  

Views From the Road

I'm taking Jessica Sprague's online class called "Pen Tablet Basics for Scrapbookers" and we just finished Week One. It was fun learning how to use the pen - and we got to add some handmade touches to our digital layout. Her template was for a road trip - and it reminded me of one of my drives from Cincinnati to Washington, DC back in 2006 as we were preparing to move here. 

On this particular trip, Thomson and I were driving over to meet Jon. Thomson was so bored - that is, until he discovered that he could take photos (albeit fuzzy ones) with my Palm Treo. And yes, he even got one of me picking my teeth - ahem... He entertained himself for hours and just howled with every photo he took. Luckily, I still had these photos on my computer, though that Palm Treo is long gone.

So, what do you think?

SUPPLIES  Jessican Sprague Week One Template, Dude Totally Kit by Tia Bennett (Free 2PS Digikit), Fonts:  Grinch and Avenir

Thanks for stopping by! 

PS - my husband couldn't stand it - and so has gone to the grocery and cleaned off the grill so we can have Steak Night tonight. :)

No Steaks...

Now, that's a lot of snow! We had 32" at Dulles airport - which is not far from where we live. As you can see, we had to postpone our usual "Saturday Night Steak Night."  

I'm still amazed at having this much snow. I think it's the biggest I've ever seen (or shoveled). I know it's nothing for all you Canadians and Minnesotans, but it's record-breaking for here. Now, two of the top 10 biggest snowfalls for the Washington, DC area have happened this season. Incredible!

Thank goodness our power has stayed on and it has stopped snowing. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Love You

This is a bit of old news at this point - but I do want to share it with you all. I was so thrilled when I learned that one of my cards was selected to be in the Jan/Feb issue of Paper Crafts (my very first card in PC!). You may have already seen it...

 

SUPPLIES  Stamps:  Fantastic Flourishes (Hero Arts), Ink:  Versamark, Patterned Paper:  Black and White Basics (PaperTrey Ink), Cardstock:  Stamper’s Select White & Pure Poppy (Paper Trey Ink), Other: Flame Dew Drops (Robin’s Nest), ribbon words (Making Memories), Clear embossing powder (Hampton Arts), Mini Glue Dots

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Fourteen - A Very Good Year

Sorry I've been a bit absent lately. I was having an "internal struggle" regarding my blog. Does that ever happen to you? For now, it is resolved, and I plan to keep on going... :)

  My son just turned 14. It still amazes me when he looks down on me and says, "you are so short!" I just saw a cute video on Jennifer McGuire's blog with her little boy - and it reminded me of the time when Thomson was that age. I tell myself once again to try not to blink...

On to the card. I loved the simplicity and layout of this card by Kim Hughes, and thought it would be great as an "age" card.

SUPPLIES  Cardstock:  Pebble Beach (Bazzill), Pure Poppy (Paper Trey Ink), Patterned Paper (KI), Other:  Puffy Thickers (American Crafts), Just My Type Embossing folder border (Cuttlebug), embroidery floss, enamel star (Michael's)

(Just curious - does the blurry polka-dot background bother you? I think I'll keep that in focus next time.) Thanks so much for stopping by again!