I had a play yesterday. I knew I wanted to add a shaker element to the bee journals but didn't want the traditional tag. Then I had an idea.... Shaker Hidden Paper Clip! Say what?!
I used a bag that Stampin' Blends come in and cut it down to 3" - using the bottom section for the pocket.
I've been using the Heart and Home suite for the bee journals. I cut a piece 2" x 2-1/4" for the inside. This provides a background for the contents and hides the black printing on the back of the bag.
The darker piece of the topper is cut to 1-7/8" x 2-1/2"... score the 2-1/2" side at 1-1/4" then fold.
The green piece is 1-7/8". You'll see in the video I chose to tear the green paper. I believe I bought the lace from Spectrum Art Creations. One of the gals in group suggested trimming the individual piece to look like a mask for Tim Holtz paper dolls so I bought a yard. The lace is no longer available there but you could use any lace trim. You may even find this one at Hobby Lobby. I chose the lace because I thought it resembled bee's wings.
I made three - two in advance then constructed the third one on the video below.
I'll be back tomorrow for Scrapbook Saturday. Since we're doing Christmas all this month, I have a special Christmas memory to share.
Wow! I can't believe I actually get to stay home for the next few days. Seems I've been on the go forever!!
Before I show you my desk, I want to share some information with you. I signed up for the STAMP ME SOME LOVE Cardmaking summit taking place on line the end of this month. There will be over 25 classes!! That's a lot of cardmaking led by talented artists. The summit is FREE with a couple of caveats.
1 - Each class video is only available for 24 hours. Meaning Day 1 classes will be replaced with Day 2 classes in that same time slot.
2 - You can have lifetime access plus a ton of other goodies not offered in the free version.
I signed up with Tiffany Solorio's affiliate link (her info in the short video below) . I paid for the summit because, of course, Bob comes home the day before we start! LOL I try to not to 'work' the first and last weekend he is home.
The platform is designed to get our Christmas cards done - or at least get our crafty brains in gear - for the holiday season.
Here's Tiffany's video with all of the info:
Tiffany is going to be working with Lyndi's Magicals in her class, but she says you can use watercolors just as easily. Because I want to start collecting the Magicals, I ordered the Jingle Bells collection from Spectrum Art Creations. They should be here Monday.
Okay, on to what you really came for:
I wound up not getting anything done on the desk because on Wednesday I found out about a 3-day writing conference on youtube airing over the weekend. I know we have some writers on here so I'll share the link to the AuthorTube Writer's Conference. All of the videos from the conference are still available for replay. Just click on the YouTube icon next to the sessions that interest you. The dates for 2023 are already schedule. Somewhere around June 25th, I believe.
Anyhow, I've cleared space here, on the ironing board and the floor to move all of my Little Golden Book collection off the shelf above the sofa.
I need to take all of them down, clean then rearrange to make room for this:
Bob bought this for me at an Antique Mall last fall. As best I can tell, nothing has ever been removed from the original packaging. Only the clear plastic has become brittle and coming apart over time. I still need to email Hasbro to see if they can tell me when this was released. I do have a Little Golden Book copy of Dr. Dan the Band-aid Man.
That's it for my desk (and story)
this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?
When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to
Stamping Ground for all the details. Miss Julia has a long list of other
studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the
window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.
Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.
While a thunderstorm roared through last night, I got the Christmas card for this week put together:
I cased a card from the 2022-2023 Annual catalog using Trimming the Tree. I'll list supplies with links at the bottom of this post. Here are the dimensions:
1 card base - 4.25 x 5.5
1 mat 5-1/8 x 3-7/8
1 white mat - 4-3/4 x 3-1/2
1 sentiment mat - 3-1/4 x 2-1/4
length of ribbon 3-1/4
See the video below for how this card came together.
I won't have a post up until Wednesday. I'm doing research for my book today. Come back Wednesday for the next installment of my studio organization. The desk won't be pretty but the stacks will be new!
Life has just been NUTS here the past couple of months. I've missed you all and have put the weekly number in my planner every week this quarter. Hopefully, that will help.
Quick update:
Spoke at a writer's meeting in May, Something else two weeks later but can't remember. Then a writer's conference mid-June, followed by a whirlwind in-laws visit the day after I got back from the conference. Weekend before July 4th I did a solo writing retreat to try and make sense and update my planners. Just some quiet time.
July 5th, we caved and bought a 'new' car. My truck has been acting up a lot recently and the little Suzuki 'toy car' would start at home but would mess around about starting up after I got somewhere and wanted to come back home. Maybe 'Cherry' didn't want to live here anymore. We traded her in for a 2012 Toyota 4-runner. That is the last year they put the 4-runner body on a truck chassis so I have all the clearance I need for the logging road we live on. She has more bells & whistles than I'll ever use but she's trust-worthy. Carfax showed she's been well taken care of. I've been saving for almost three years so I could pay cash. I almost made it but a small personal loan took care of what I couldn't. We haven't had a car payment in 15 years and I wasn't starting this late in our life.
The truck in the background is my 'dependable' snowball. She started acting up while I was on my retreat then the other day when I was going to take her she made a horrid grinding noise in the front end. So she is parked until we can afford to fix her.
Okay... what you really came for:
The work table isn't perfect yet but I'm making progress. That piece in the front is book front turned into 'weathered wood' during a technique class I took with Spectrum Art Creations using Stamperia products. They sell a lot of G45, Stamperia, Cio Bella, Tim Holtz, Cathe Holden, etc at very affordable prices both in their online and etsy store as well as through LIVE Sales every Saturday. We have so much fun during the live sale. We play games, win prizes and get great prices on our favorite products.
I've also started pulling stuff out of the way so I can detail the carpet, put furniture back in place then start the big task of cataloging my stamps - FINALLY!
I've dropped Stampin' Up! So now it's time to integrate all of my toys into a workable fashion so I can play with whatever.
One more quick picture... I took part in a BoBunny challenge offered up by Madi at Spectrum Art Creations and made this canvas for my studio:
So tell me, what's been your favorite car/ truck/ SUV to drive so far?
That's it for my desk (and story)
this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?
When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to
Stamping Ground for all the details. Miss Julia has a long list of other
studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the
window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.
Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list.
As you may have read, June was just NUTS for me and I've just now gotten to the June Card Chicks envelope.
June's kit was sent by my friend Vikki Jo. She sent a fabulous fun kit.
I especially loved this kit because I don't own any house mouse stamps and Vikki Jo gave us two fun images.
The paper is Stampin' Up! Simply Marbelous, as are the 2 paper lattice. The ribbon is SU embroidered ribbon from 2020, the bling is SU Champagne Rhinestones. The fun addition is the die. She inherited her ex-MIL's craft room so she shared a die with each of us.
Here's the card I came up with:
I wanted to give the impression of this little mouse soaking in his ho tub in the backyard. I used the yellow Marbelous DSP for a sunshine day, brought the lattice work in for a privacy fence. I used the SU Layering Ovals, the scallop from the blue Marbelous to mat his image on. Because I wanted to bring the privacy up higher, I added a piece of the ribbon. Bling is used as nail heads on his tub.
I'll be back tomorrow to show you my work-table. There has been some progress though next week will be better.
I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July. Bob and I just chilled around the house watching TV, playing cards - our usual time together.
You'll see a theme on the blog this week. LOL
Today I'm playing with CAROLING MICE - an adorable stamp set that can be purchased for $13 using your host rewards. I paired the single mouse image with a sentiment from CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER from our Annual Catalog (pg 45)
For paper, I chose RINGS OF LOVE DSP - FREE in the Sale A Bration catalog when your purchase $50 from any of our current catalogs and/ or clearance line.
There is a lovely water-marked paper that lends itself to a snowy night time background. Find the spot that is perfect for direct-stamping and you have an easy card.
I stamped the mouse in Basic Gray, colored him with Stampin' Blends then fussy cut him out. I used Dk/ Lt Cherry Cobbler, Dk/ Lt Shaded Spruce, Lt. Smokey Slate, Lt. Pink Pirouette and a blender pen. on both the mouse and the lamp post bow.
I stamped the lampost in momento tuxedo black, colored all the black with a black GLAZE 3D pen. The light is colored with a yellow GLAZE 3D. I also went over the bow and the light with SU Shimmer Crystal Effects. Both items are raised up on dimensionals.
For the snow drift, I cut a shape from Basic White then dusted with Crystal stickles. Not super crazy about the pink but I tried using the new Stampin' Up! puffy paint and it was way too runny. Just glad I tried the puff paint before I glued the snow drift into place. I wound up cutting a new one.
I'll do something different with the snowdrift on the other nine when I get my work table back in shape and have room besides the filming table to work.
Tomorrow, I have the June Card Chicks card then Wednesday, I'll be here with WOYWW - showing off my semi-clean work table. The rest of the office is stripped out this week so I can clean the carpet before putting furniture back in place. Then the big job of cataloging paper & stamps begins as I shift my space away from Stampin' Up! and back to ALL of my toys!
Are you ready for Christmas? Let's get those cards made & ready to mail!
I've had a really busy couple of weeks. As I sit on the sofa writing this, the house is quiet except for the washing machine agitation in the background and Christmas Hallmark movies on the television. I'm currently watching The Christmas Train.
With Christmas in mind, I'm planning to run an entire Christmas in July series beginning next week.
Since I've been super busy with travel and family visiting, I've not had the opportunity to work anything new up so I thought I'd go back to one of my very first Christmas card videos. You can also see the blog post HERE.
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