TICKLE A TEAPOTTER!

Happy Fall y'all!

Whenever we have a fifth Tuesday in a month, we swap cards amongst the teapotter group. One of us hosts the challenge and then we sign up to get a swap partner.

This month is my turn to host.  I signed up for October because, well, it's October! LOL

Here is the challenge I posted:

Hello, Teapotters!

I love FALL.

Some of my favorite memories are from my twenties through late forties when we lived in central Illinois. No autumn was complete without a trip to Tanner’s Orchard. The family owned business has grown over the generations from a simple apple orchard to a thriving Fall Festival destination. Tanners is a staple on any elementary school child’s first field trip of the season.

Aside from their apple cider donuts still warm from the fryer, I loved their pumpkin scarecrow characters. These larger-than-life play on real life people greet visitors and passers-bye at the front entrance.

While Autumn has officially arrived here in southcentral Missouri for some folks, I miss my annual pilgrimage to Tanner’s Orchard.

Check out their webpage – www.tannersorchard.com and be sure to watch the video for a long-distance experience.  Then show us your best jack-o-lanterns, scarecrows or any favorite fall memory you want to share.

Keyword:

Here are a couple of teapots to inspire you:

Happy Fall y’ all!

Here are the tea pots I sent with the post:

Here is my card:

I used a Mossy Meadow card base then added a 1-1/2" strip of Balmy Blue for the sky. The straw bales are cut from Crushed Curry with the baling twine drawn on with Cajun Craze.

The pumpkins and the sun are stamped from the 9/16 Paper Pumpkin. The clouds are from the 7/17 Paper Pumpkin.

The scarecrow is a digital image from pixabay that I sized down. This is what he looked like originally:

After fussy cutting him out, I trimmed the hands/ shoes away then added tiny pieces of Raffia Ribbon behind the cuffs of his sleeves/ pants then reattached the hands/ shoes.

The sign is stamped in and mounted on Early Espresso

For his head, I added Raffia Ribbon to the bottom of his chin then attached one of the jack - o- lanterns from the 9/16 Paper Pumpkin. The straw hat is trimmed away from the image of a farm guy I found on Pixabay.

I'm pretty sure this is going to the bank in IL with my deposit this month... let them know I how much I miss them and Tanner's Orchard.

TEAPOT TUESDAY - Celebrating Generosity

Last week's Teapot Tuesday was to celebrate the generosity of a couple in Texas. Curtis is a school bus driver. He and his wife did not have anyone they needed to buy gifts for. So Curtis asked each of the students on his buss route what they wanted for Christmas, then he and his wife went shopping. They granted one gift wish of each child - including a bike!

What a wonderful world this would be if more people were like Curtis and his wife.

I had to go with a school bus yellow (SU - Pineapple Punch) and other primary colors. I chose Real Red and Blueberry Bushel in addition to the Pineapple Punch.

I knew I wanted to use It's A Celebration (retired SU set). When I opened the box, to my surprise, the stamps hadn't even been mounted! I guess I get credit for a set never used before LOL. Rather than mount on the wooden blocks, I transferred the unmounted set to a slimmer case and went to work.

I look forward to using this set more as we approach July. A great set for July Birthday cards.

TEAPOT TUESDAY- Not!

Instead, this is a reminder about Friday Freebie!

This is the 5th Tuesday of the month - meaning it is Tickle a Teapotter. I don't play in that circle so decided what I would do is remind you all of the current Friday Freebie. I will run this through Thursday May 2nd. I'll post the Winner on Friday May 3rd when I post the next Friday Freebie.

If you love flowers and use them in your crafts, you'll LOVE the next giveaway so start spreading the word!

So let's see some entries. Don't make this easy for me :-)

Creative Blessings!
Kel

Teapot Tuesday

Good morning, Everyone
A head cold has hit full force and don't feel up to creating today. I do want to do the card for Tyler. We're supposed to create a joke on the outside and the punch line on the inside. He loves Strawberry milkshakes. I have the beginnings of the card in my head... which at this point is really scary. So hopefully later in the week I can make it come together and share with you.

In the mean time, please read Tyler's story and consider joining us in sending him some funny love!
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/19627038-post310.html

Teapot Tuesday

I jumped right into this card on Saturday after getting the 'cheater' email about this week's destination. Not only did I know I had all the components to meet the requirements but because I felt deeply with the recipient. I don't ever want to be in her place. I've thought about the situation a lot over the past couple of years as I've addressed my own mortality, and those around me. Thinking of being without my best friend of 29 years sends me into a panic attack. Something else I seem to experience more as I get older. So this card is close to my heart and I hope it gives Teapotter Robin a bit of smile in what is a very dark time for her.

A quick overview, Robin's husband died in February from shock after experiencing an explosion while mixing rocket fuels. You can read her entire story HERE. Aside from finding peace at the ocean, she loves her yellow mustang. She's had it for years and it's full of memories for her and her husband. We were asked to think beach and bonus goodies if we included a yellow mustang.

Well, I didn't have a mustang - a clear stamp from Paper Crafts is all I had to work with but I made it bright yellow and parked it right on the sandy beach.

I used the red tape for the beach, coating it in sand. The shells, sentiment and gulls are all from a Sea Breeze clear stamp collection by InkaDinkaDo. The shells were stamped in Iridescent white on SU Soft Suede then triple embossed with Translucent EP. Sea Breeze is stamped in SU Pacific Point and the gulls in SU Baja Breeze. I colored the car with LePlume Lemon Yellow.

My heart goes out to Robin at this difficult time and hope all the cards she will receive in the coming days let her know how much she is loved and thought of.

Creative Blessings!

Teapot Tuesday

Today's card goes to a special young lady in KY. Katy just graduated in May with hopes for a bright future. Unfortunately, after some illness, doctors have discovered her liver is shutting down and her heart is not doing everything it should. They are having issues with medications for the heart because the liver can't handle them. If things do not improve for Katy, she could have only six months to live. You can read Katy's story HERE

Along with creating the card to cheer Katy up a bit we were to include camo in some form. Katy loves camo and the military. While flipping through my pink papers I found this watercolor heart paper and knew it was perfect. I used the Lacey Labels Cricut cart to cut the heart and layered it right on top of the same paper so it seems to blend into the background of the card. To keep it from being too plain I added a small ribbon strip of SU Pretty in Pink CS. The sentiment is stamped with one of the stamps from Whimsical Words (SU) in Regal Rose. Even it seems to float into the background of the heart.

Speaking of Valentines, I am spending a couple of days with hubby at a hotel just relaxing and am trying to be on-line as little as possible. So I'm taking the rest of the week off. Next week I'll have Magazine Monday, Teapot Tuesday and Wednesday I'll show you that baby album I told you about yesterday.

I also bought a book on sketching faces today. Hopefully next Thursday I'll be able to show you a completed cover for my Whispers art journal.

Creative Blessings!

Artful Thursday... plus

Plus I'm backing up to actually show my Teapot Tuesday card for this week. It was another one of THOSE weeks where what I had in my head just would not transpire to something tangible. I finally ditched my original concept completely and found a new jumping off point.

The card this week goes to Betty. She lives in AZ and has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. She loves flowers and her nickname is Sunshine. So I went with Daisies and yellow.

I chose a sketch from the SCS Sketch Challenge (SC36) and tweaked it by adding the sentiment bar at the bottom. I also went looking in the SCS Color Challenge (SC36) and found the pairing for the base color of Daffodil Delight I'd chosen to work with. SC36 suggested Concord Crush and Pear Pizzaz. I LOVE Pear Pizzaz and have been ordering a pack every time I place an order because it's an In Color and will be gone this year. The sentiment stamp is from a set from Studio 112. The Daisy is one I picked up at $Tree years ago.

Then there's the Art Journal project Michelle over at the Paper Dog and I are playing with. After Saturday's fiasco of trying to draw a face on the cover, I'm stalled. I loved my cover then after I attempted the face it looked horrid. No, this wasn't the inner voice. I truly looked like an alien. So I painted that area back over with white gesso, then a layer of vintage rose acrylic before adding a piece of the original paper back into place.

Next week when I'm not so focused on working on my current novel, I'll have time to sit and play with the face more. Only after I've sketched something I can look at, will I add it to the cover... hopefully for next Thursday's post.

In the mean time, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the collage.

Creative Blessings!

Tea Pot Tuesday!

This week's destination is a precious 5 year old boy in Oregon. You can read Joshua's story HERE

Joshua (not Josh) loves Sponge Bob and Legos. Well, I forgot the Legos part but I knew I wanted Sponge Bob to be the center of attention on the inside of the card.

I used the Starry Night #2 CB folder on yellow ValuCS. I placed brown Valu CS to represent his pants. Because it's a valentine, I put a red heart over the belt where his tie would normally hang.

The inside is covered in a misc. water print paper from my stash and everything else was computer generated. I used Socket font and the Sponge Bob image is from 4kraftykidz. I added a couple of glitzy heart stickers. The only thing left to add is a bubble in the bottom corner with my name and location.

The Tea Potters at Splitcoast Stampers are a pretty awesome group bringing love and smiles to people all over the world who could use a little bit of cheer. Won't you join us? It's way more fun than should be legal!

TeaPot Tuesday

What a fun card!

I looked at the challenge last night and by the time my eyes opened this morning I knew I wanted to do a black and hot pink card for John and Jane. I mean really, aren't those the colors that come to mind when you hear the word DIVA?

The Diva Cats are what John and Jane lovingly call their two very spoiled kitties. Diva also means bling so I made sure their collars were all decked out!

John is in Stage 4 of lung cancer. Through it all, John and his wife have remained the same upbeat, fun couple their family and friends know they are. You can read more about their story HERE at our Teapot Tuesday Destination Station post on Splitcoast Stampers.

Although it doesn't show up well in the pic, the black panel is run through the Swiss Dot CB folder. I layered the black ric-rack over a hot pink sparkly ribbon. The jewels on the color are set with clear glaze. Don't want those girls losing those precious stones in shipping!

The cat is a stamp I got on a freebie sheet in a Paper Crafts. I think she is so elegant and perfect for this destination.

Because John and Jane have 2 Divas, I had to make sure there were two on their card. Animals are like kids and you don't dare leave one or the other out of anything. I'm speaking from personal experience. I also know they are sometimes best separated so I placed one of them inside out of claws way.

I hope this card brings as much pleasure to John and Jane as I had making it.

Tomorrow... you get to see the tornado that hit my work table (and my quilting table). Well, not really, but it sure looks like it!

Creative Blessings!

Kelly

TeaPot Tuesday

Yep, I'm a day late with this one. I was hoping to at least get it posted last night but I got caught up in working on my current novel-in-progress and didn't get back here.

I had a quick card in mind yesterday morning and it went together in about 20 minutes. But then I got this bright idea to cover it with glaze so that meant drying time - all day. ::: sigh ::: That said, I do like the way the card turned out. This is my first paper flower and I know I need to fine-tune my technique but they are uber ea

sy to do with an awesome vintage effect.

This week's Destination Station is fellow teapotter, Kathy. She recently lost her sister, Joanne, to cancer. We were asked to do a mosaic. Because Kathy's mother, aunt and two younger sisters all battle breast cancer I knew I needed to showcase the pink ribbon. You can read about Kathy and her sister Here.

I selected words like friend, remember, believe, soul, as well as a butterfly and a scroll border. I stamped them on Pretty in Pink, cut them out and arranged them mosaic-style to fill in the GP white ribbon. The flower is punched from pages of a book of poems about love and support. I dusted them with Pretty In Pink ink and added a Memories brad for bling. Gotta have bling!

I hope this card reminds Kathy she is not alone in this struggle and that she is loved.

Creative Blessings

Teapot Tuesday!

Yep... I'm on the ball today.

This week's card destination is to a lady in Painsville OH (so appropriate at the moment) who has several foot surgeries and is unable to travel to Arizona to see her granddaughters. It sounds as if it is something she was doing on a regular basis until this whole foot thing started.

Sharon loves Purple and Hydrengias. I had plenty of purple on hand but the prettiest flower (other than my favorite Stipple Rose) I had to work with was this Iris I got from a recent image swap.

My inspiration came from artist AJ Otto's card in the Fall 2011 issue of Paper Creations Magazine (pg 55). AJ did a Halloween themed card but I really liked the layout. Where I've used the strip of DP, AJ had used some black scroll work tucked under the top left corner of her image mat. She also did not mat her sentiment and I added the pearls.

I used Lavender Lace as a base and matted the flower and sentiment with ValuCS deep purple. The sentiment is stamped in Lovely Lilac. Derwent Water color pencils were used to color the image and a white ribbon, pleated, softens the look.

I'm about done crafting for the next couple weeks. I have cards done up so that wherever I am, I hope to be able to upload and keep on track.

Creative Blessings

Kelly

I'm back!

It was not an easy journey. The HughesNet guy, Trevor, was really sweet. He had 3 modems on his truck 'new' from the company. It took the 3rd one to get one that worked. I also learned that I shouldn't have to shut my modem down. It sounds like HughesNet was hoping to extend the life of my modem until the warranty ran out and then I'd have to replace it. LOL I love their connection - just not their customer service.

On a more creative note, I'm scrambling to finish up 2 sistah packets to be mailed tomorrow. My daughter called this morning to ask how I felt about becoming a grandma NEXT WEEK! Ummm... if Abigail says that's when she wants grandma there, I guess it will have to work. LOL So I'm trying to get all of my deadline stuff out of the way by Monday - just in case.

So Monday, I will have a Magazine Monday card for you, at least 1 Teapot Tuesday card and then from there it's whatever I can accomplish while I wait to hear from my daughter.

Creative Blessings

Kel

Teapot Tuesday

Yep... a day late. I had a card yesterday but the more I looked at it the more I just didn't like it for the challenge. So I made a new one today and I'm much more pleased with the results.

I pulled the idea from a card by Mary Ayers in PaperWorks June 2004. Mary does lovely work and one of her signatures I've noticed in her cards is stitching. I made her card minus the stitching. Instead I added lace and pearls. Otherwise, the cards are very similar. I used lace where she used a torn paper strip beneath the narrow accent strip. She backed her sentiment tags with the same paper. She also put eyelets on the left hand side of each tag in the upper and lower corners and used those to thread twine through then tied them around the accent strip.

I wanted a bit more elegance for this challenge. For Tea Pot Tuesday this week, our destination is a creative lady in WI who in the past year has had the rug pulled out from under her in a variety of ways, forcing her to start her life over. Our mission this week was to send her blessings and cheers as she moves forward on her journey.

Although it looks vintage here, the background of the pattern is white. I used the pearls as 'bullet points' and pop dots to add dimension to the tags and butterflies. Those butterflies are cut from the same 12x12 sheet of paper as the background.

SUPPLIES:

DCWV The Four Season - Spring butterflies

SU - Baja Breeze CS and Ink

Recollections - Pearls

Vintage lace trip

I also took a tip from my dear friend, Carla, and added embellishment to the inside using more of the same 12x12 sheet and one of the butterflies. If you've not been to her blog, I highly recommend it. Her work is just AWESOME! and ever so ELEGANT.

My desk looks pretty much the same as last week except I have the laptop in my work area. I need to let it take over the dining room table for the next couple of weeks while I put a lot of time actually designing/ creating in the studio.

Creative Blessings!

Tea Pot Tuesday and WOWW

I'm squeaking in tonight to post this. I have 2 things to share with you today.

First off, I started the card yesterday as the challenge for Tea Pot Tuesday. The destination of this week's card is a woman who received many

cards last year from our group - for her 108th birthday! Can you imagine? Well, Eula Cousins is an extraordinary woman. Last year she sent a Thank You note to the group and told us a little bit about herself. You can read it here:

TEAPOT TUESDAY DESTINATION STATION #MMTPT162

I thought someone as special as Eula deserved a special bouquet so I chose my favorite floral stamp, The Stipple Rose - retired from SU.

I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black, water colored the image in Derwent watercolor pencils in Sap Green and Crimson Lake. I masked it off with a oval mat and chalked the remainder of the base in Creamy Caramel. I matted it with Certainly Celery and accented it with Red Seam Binding Ribbon (SU). As a finishing touch, I added iridescent Stickles for a little sparkle.

I need to write a brief note to Miss Eula, telling her a bit about my life in the Ozarks then it's ready to mail.

The other picture today is today's What's On My Work surface Wednesday. The table isn't too bad right now. I'm sure this will change next week once I have the house to myself and am finishing up the album for More Outstanding Mini Albums. For now, I have some Pearl Ex watercolors I made and am sharing with a SCS buddy. I'm going to make mine in the water paint wells (round pallet in the right background)

I doubt I'll be back this week... but you never know :-)

Creative Blessings!

TeaPot Tuesday!

Yep, I'm finally getting in here with a TeaPot Tuesday Challenge post. I'm not sure if I'll get to post the actual picture of my card today. Depends on whether I can get it done to upload before storms take over my day. They say we're in for severe weather. I'm hoping it holds off til this afternoon. So I'm posting a picture of one using the same stamp I'll be using for this challenge.

The concept behind TeaPot Tuesday started at SplitcoastStampers using a teapot as the inspiration for your card. The hostess has sinc

e exhausted her personal collection of 100 tea pots and now searches on-line for teapots to share with us.

When we're not using tea pots for our inspiration, we are directed to make/ share a card with someone who could use some cheering up. A Random Act of Kindness (RAK), if you will.

This week's card is for a 'young' woman by the name of Kay in Canada. Kay is 91 years old and has had some challenges since breaking her elbow back in February. At first they didn't want to operate because of her age but have since done the surgery and she's healing fine. She also suffers from Vertigo and has been in the hosp

ital the entire time because she lives alone and wouldn't be able to do for herself with only one hand... things like use her walker to get around. They were discussing assisted living but that too has changed and she'll be going home in the next day or two with a visiting care assistant. Yeah! She must be thrilled. From what I read she's very independent. LOL

Kay loves cards and those cute little funny animal forwards. One of the things she's missed most in the hospital is her computer. She's been active on the net for a couple of years. She loves her email and computer games. Sounds like my grammy (stepmom). Like most women, Kay loves flowers so I'm going to make a card similar to this one:

I don't know the name of the stamp company. I bought the stamp from a LSS going out of business. I like to stamp the image as is, then stamp another image to cut apart and paper piece in to give the dimensional effect of stepping out of my garden shed and into my garden. May my garden truly look like this someday.

I hope Kay enjoys it.

Tomorrow, I'll finally be posting pics of my new kitchen curtains for Needlework Wednesday.

Creative Blessings!