A-Z Grunge Tags

Wow... very chilly morning in Nashville. I wound up not getting into town last week so just decided these pics could wait until I got to my daughter's in Nashville. I can sit comfortably on her sofa and use the WiFi. I'm so spoiled. But I'm headed back to MO today... with my granddaughter as my co-pilot. She gets to spend the whole week with grandma so I probably won't get much creating done. Though she does like to play with my stamps, so.... maybe.

Here are pics of the Grunge Tag swap, I promised. I had the letters R and W. I had to make 26 of each letter and I'd get 26 tags back - 1 for each letter of the alphabet. Well... I wound up making 52

of each! The first set I mailed out, never made it to NY so 2 days past the deadline I was frantically recreating the 26 tags. When I create something, I keep a 'recipe' card of how I made it so when I post it to a gallery I can list what stamps, inks, papers, etc I used. Good habit to get into if you ever plan to submit for publication -just a tip. :-)

Well, it's time to pack up the laptop and head for MO. I'll check in later in the week with a couple of links I think you'll like.

Creative Blessings!

New Creations

FINALLY!

I was so excited to have the house to myself a couple weeks ago with nothing on the agenda except create. I managed to create 9 of the 17 cards for the Splitcoaststampers AUG. VirtualStampNight challenge. Each of the challenges had something to do with summer. Many suggested using a specific technique.

The first one I'm going to show today were were given a color pallet to work with and what we think of when we think summer. For me, it's camping. Of course, now that my house sits amongst 24 acres of timber I don't camp as much as I'd like. But I have the view from my back yard on any given clear night. The stamps I used were from 2 different SU sets. In The Sky is a retired hostess set and the other is one of my favorites... Lovely As A Tree.

One more card to show you. This one was to be reminiscent of the beach. We were to use a shell of some type. The only 'shell' I had was a stencil from the art box I used to use for daycare. I pulled out the light box, dry embossed several, then cut them out. The flip-flops are a Michaels $1 stamp. The netting in the background is drywall tape!

I'll be going into town in the next week and be able to share more with you. I've recently taken part in an A-Z Grunge tag swap. I made 26 identical tags for each the letter R and the letter W. In exchange I got 2 each of every letter of the alphabet made by some very creative gals. Can't wait to show you!

Creative Blessings!

Blog Hop

If you've never experienced a Blog Hop, then you really need to get a glass of your favorite beverage and pull up a chair. They are a BLAST! And so full of creativity.

A Blog Hop is usually put on by a several creative people within a particular group. Sometimes they are sponsored by a company blog to feature their design team members and new products. I've been on Blog Hops with as few as seven designers and as many as 36! Now that's a lot of creativity. With my dial-up, I don't get to visit as many as I would like.

This week you might want to visit the PPA gang. Their theme is Fall/ Halloween. You can find them by clicking on Carla's button to the left of this page. She is #7 on the list. Look for the Blog Hop post for Sept. 14th. At the bottom of the post, she has a list of all the designers participating. I recommend clicking on Ann's link at the top of the list and working your way through. Make sure you leave some love on their blogs. They like to know you stopped by.

Happy Hopping!

Creative Juices Flow

Wow!

Once I'd finished the Handy Manny headboard, I spent the final four weeks between then and July 4th soaking up all the grandma love I could get before my granddaughter moved to Nashville with her mommy. The house has sure been quiet without her giggles and constant activity.

The day she left, I dug into the office/ creative space. I love my daughter to pieces but she leaves behind a real negative energy sometimes and my space just needed a good cleansing and reclaiming. I needed to make it something it hadn't been in over eighteen months - MINE.

I started on the office side, emptying out the filing cabinet, sorting everything as I went, and donating it to my hubby for the hard work he had ahead of him. I designed a low, deep bookcase to replace the stereo cabinet and the filing cabinet. I wanted a smooth line from my counter top desk across that whole South wall to the book cabinet.

So on the way back from a writers conference, I stopped at the home improvement store for the lumber he would need. In the process of getting into the back of the truck to secure the load, I tried to blow my left knee cap. By the time I'd gotten home my knee was the size of a large cantaloupe. So for the next 3-4 weeks I spent lots of time with it elevated... not making trips up and down the stairs to the 'dungeon'. Although I still have to watch how I step, the knee is better. I'm slowly making progress in the office and hope to finish it up this week.

I've also been getting some creative time in, which I hope to show you pics of soon. But for now, I just wanted to let you know that posts will becoming through on a weekly basis again. Sometimes even more if I have the opportunity to upload pictures of a project. So check back on Saturdays to see what's going on in the dungeon.

Creative Blessings
Kelly

Handy Manny Headboard

My granddaughter is a Handy Manny fan. If you don't know who Handy Manny is, check out the DisneyChannel. This is an animated daily show on Disney. Manny is a handy man in the little town of SheetRock Hills. His 'talking' tools - Phillipe (phillips head screwdriver), Turner (flat head screwdriver), Dusty (hand saw), Pat (hammer), Rusty (pipe wrench), Squeeze (pliers), Stretch (tape measure), Flicker (flashlight), and Fix It (robotic dog made from various parts around the shop). The show has a Latin American flavor teaching basic words in Spanish as well as life lessons. If you watch, you can see traits in each of the tools that will remind you of kids you probably went to school with. Some of the voice-overs are provided by characters from our own past. Remember Mrs. Cunningham? (Richie Cunningham's mom on Happy Days)She provides the voice for Mrs. Lopard (her son owns the candy store).

As my granddaughter prepares to leave the nest she's occupied for the past 16 months, she'll be leaving her crib behind for a 'big girl' toddler bed at her mommy's. The bed is a white wrought iron with open grilling. I decided it needed a little comfort. So with nothing except a full size comforter for Handy Manny bedding to be found, I created a headboard and side rail covers.

My initial intent was to use the center panel from the comfortor for the headboard but Manny's head wouldn't even fit, let alone all the tools. So I bought a coloring book at WM and inlarged one of the pages to fit. Using a light box and a quilter's iron-on pencil, I transfered the image to white broadcloth. Then I colored it with Crayola crayons, and heat set it with an iron. Once the front panel was complete, I quilted it a backing fabric sandwiched with 4 layers of cotton batting. After creating a band and a back panel, I handed it off to my husband to place 5 sturdy gold flathead snaps to the bottom edge. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

And it's still raining...

... though I guess I shouldn't complain. I could be living in Nashville with my daughter. Her work and living arrangement were unaffected by the flood but I guess everything in downtown is a real mess.

My creativity has still be spent in the yard. I've added a new rose bush which is just gorgeous. The roses start out a very pale yellow at the base but the more they open, the softer white they become. The garden (all I'm doing this year) is in. I've planted 20 Big Boy tomato plants, 4 Big Bush tomato plants and 4 Brandywine tomato plants. Brandywine are an 1885 Amish Heirloom tomato. They look like they'll be big slicers for buns and very meaty. I also added 2 cucumber plants... salad type, not pickles. The strawberries are going gangbusters. They are early this year and I'm picking almost a quart every other day. Adrian has discovered the difference between the red and green ones. She loves to go pick her 'snack'. I still need picks of 'strawberry face' for her Many Faces of Adrian album. The carrots don't seem to be doing very well, but the beets look good. The first dry day we get, I need to get them thinned. I have to do that while Adrian is napping. I can just see her watching me thin them out then going behind me and pulling the rest of them up! LOL She just likes to do what grandma does.

Bob will be home on Wednesday. I'm already looking ahead to the weekend when I'll have time to play and upload pictures. I've finished the Christmas Cards for the March CCC at Splitcoast. I haven't decided what I want to do for the April - and now May - cards yet.

For inspiration I sat and went through all my back issues of stamping/paper craft magazines this week. I put a little post it strip on every page showing a card or technique I want to try. When I do get to sit and play, I won't lack for ideas to channel the creative juices.

So this week I challenge you. Pull out the oldest copy of a scrapbook/paper crafting/stampng magazine you have and select a project. Make sure you let us know where you post pics so we can give you some love!

Creative Blessings!

Hello Spring

I recently made a set of 12 ATC's for the MO stamping loop. When I heard the theme was SPRING, I knew instantly I wanted to use my favorite retired SU set - Hello Spring. With the help of chalks to create the background, my Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the tulips across the bottom, it took no time at all to put these together!