Big & Juicy pad

I luv how quickly these brayer onto my card stock. They are so hard to find
even on the web. It wide enough I used 2 brayers so I wouldn't mess up my ink colors.I needed a quick sky for my cards. Originally I was going to watercolor w/ my w/color I lost Oct. & I lost time to experiment w/ the w/color pencils for a wash b/ground for the sky.
U can see how I did the trees for my collage.

Mark's card

Jan is a Hello Kitty fan. My 1st easel card. It took me 2 years to finally do this card. I had to print out the directions for it & follow it step by step. after I saw it, then i could visualize it.
I dyed the dew drops w/ alcohol ink to use as a stop for the card to keep it opened.

Judy's card

I used a M.Engrbeit piece for this card

Emma's card

I luv the naughty & nice ribbon in my stash

Allen's card,inspired by Polar Express

This was supposed to be my theme card for this year.I lost Oct. to health problems. I only made 2 of these cards

C-mas cards for GI's 2010

I have a sample of the 53 cards I made to go to Kuwait up on FlickR,Paper Crafter Planet & Facebook for people to look @ I did collage this year. Thanks to those who share their free digi's ,b/grounds & font's. They helped make my cards up this year. I lost time w/ the Vertigo & my heart slowing down.
I used up patterned paper,ribbon,3-D embellishments in my stash. I colored the fonts that Jan made file for me. She helped find fonts in trains,bells, holly & script wording to put on the front of my cards. I colored them w/ my Glaze & a green free Jellyroll pen.
I luv coloring w/ my color pencil collection. I have them by my recliner. I color when watching TV w/ Allen @ nite.
Now to get energy to put my families together
Had a real bad windstorm come thru Sun. Blew a lot of dust around. We're short 2 in. of rain,so very dry here.
Go to heart dr. to get results of holster results. have to rest a couple of days from storm etc.

What a relief!!

I actually pulled it off!! It took 3 weeks to do it. I made 53 collage C-mas cards to go to Kuwait for C-mas day.My Vertigo messed up my time line for cards for them to send home to their families.I had to change my plans of time constrains. I was working on color pencil for a sky b/ground. I had surfed the web in trying to keep still the 2nd week of my Vertigo. I printed a lot of free digi's & b/grounds I found on line. It was a lot of cut & paste this year. Jan saved me alot of time by creating a file of titles w/ words in font's of candy canes,trains,ivy & berries & script Merry C-mas. I colored a lot of items in @ nite w/ my glaze pens etc. while T.V.was on.
i did alot of Vintage cards. I used Distress inks, Old Paper & Vintage photo & my tear ruler & Vintage pic's I d/loaded.
My heart is slowing me down so s/things were done in 20 min's etc.Dr's appts just wipe me out. Cooking supper when I get up means I usually have to rest in the recliner.

Need new perspective

Almost 2 weeks w/this Vertigo. the 1st week was the hardest, The room would spin so bad I would get so disoriented,forget what I was doing. I would end up going back to bed to sleep the med. off. It's an antihistamine so U get sleepy. I was dopey I couldn't function. I couldn't watch TV,read a book or work on my cards.This week I hadn't taken my med to go to a Dr's appt. the movement in the car going around curves was unsettling. On top of it the elevator came to a sudden jolt.That made me more dizzy. I had a bunch of sheets to fill out @ the Dr's office to update. I couldn't really see the fine print & I was tired.Plus the nerve pain in 2 fingers makes it hard for me to hold a pen Allen had to help me fill the papers out.
The heart dr. told me the echo showed some more heart weakness. My pumping capacity has dropped down from 5 to 10 %. that explains the fatigue I'm getting upon on exertion trying to get out to a Dr's appt.i get to the Dr's office already tired. I couldn't even look @my card mag's in my bag this week,just to wiped out. I have to remember to write e/thing down in detail to give to the Dr or I'm to tire to tell them.
This is really cutting into my c/making time. This is my busiest time of the year. I have d/lines to meet for C-mas cards for my GI's. I still don't know how long it takes cards to get to Kuwait.I still haven't heard from 2 of my contacts yet.
My c/making is my sanity valve. Not being able to work in there I don't have a chance to work out my frustrations. I'm having to look 2 what is a priority for that day. If I don't get up & cook 1st thing when I get up I don't have the energy to cook later on. I having to think who is the setting the d/lines. Is this one I'm putting on myself?
I've to come up w/ a comprise on my c-mas cards. Last year I did 2 s/ments of cards. 1 for them to send home to family etc. I have to get them in the mail by 1st of Nov., the latest for them to send back to the states. I can see I'm not going to be able to do that. I don't have anything ready for C-mas this year.
In order to make peace w/myself I decided I can only do 1 s/ment of cards. I decided to focus in on the ones to go to them for C-mas day. I have already been experimenting w/ w/color pencil wash for a b/ground. If I have to I may do an alcohol ink or a chalk b/ground that would be quicker. I want to do a deer card. I found a magnificent buck I printed off & have chalked them. I have some trees stamped off for the b/ground. I also want to use my l/house stamp Jan gave me for some state C-mas cards. I do have items collected ready to collage. I found C-mas brads on E-bay for cheap.It just getting the energy & time to work in ther.
I have finished up my fall cards. My VT cards went in the mail early this week. I just put the rest of the material for fall card away instead of getting frustrated on not making more of them. I did make some vintage T-giving cards the other nite I couldn't sleep. Polly's scraps ,she gave me came in handy both for my fall & T-giving cards.
I have been surfing the web look for free digi's to color. sitting still @ the computer is a way to deal w/ the dizziness. If I sit still, it doesn't spin on me.I found some vintage beehives I printed off for Jenny,my DIL. I also found some cute bee's I printed off. I put yellow Stickles on the wings. I distressed the c/stock w/ Ranger 's ink. I also used some of my core-nation choc. that I sanded down to use as b/ground for the inside.she like bees,her n/name is Jennie Bee.
On top of it Allen has had a rough week. His blood sugar crashed bad @ work this week. the same day we went to the heart dr. Going out to an appt. means I come home & crash in my recliner. I t takes all the energy & sleep I need to just get out the door.
They put him on a new med to better regulate his blood sugar. Plus he's having problems w/blurred vision & light sensitivity. to the point it's making it hard for him to see the screen @ work to program.He's trying to find out if any of his med's may be doing this,his allergy shots etc. It's been a rough week for both of us
My concern is what am I'm going to do as I lose more heart strength & my fatigue level goes up. I have a Puritan work ethic.I always focus in on s/thing to look for ward to get thru the bad times.My scared cow, "my cards" already been compromised. i thought I could deal w/ this when it happened but not really when I'm here & have to accept the fact my heart isn't going to bounce back this time. I go in for a 24 hr holster in early Nov. to look for irregular heart beats. A lot of PVC's showed up on my sleep study & ER visit but none on the EKG @ Dr's office.also will check the blood flow to my legs. How are Allen & I going to deal w/ this when I can't hire anyone to help since I don't get SSD???
+++ side is I have had 4 1/2 years they said I wouldn't had, I did get 100 cards sent out to my GI's in early Sept. I did get to have A RS class @ my house for stamping. I was on a Thur, nite, The mystery heart episode was on Sun. ER visit was Mon am.

Stampscape Media Experiment

Hmm it was playtime finally w/ my various media. I'm learning don't wait to try out new techniques befor U need it. I lost Sept. because of my hospital stay. Oct. was catch up month. I have 3 big projects due for Nov. I'm working on all 3 of them
I've been afraid to try out my new unmouted stamps. I tried using 3M double sised tape on my acrylic block. I also used Aileens Tack It Over. The cling mounts are too expensive for me right now.The lighthouse stamp is too big for my card size right now. Plus it's going to take some playing around with all the pieces. So I'm using the Chapel in the Woods Stampscape one for my C-mas cards for Iraq. They need to be in the mail by the 15th so they can send them to their families.
I made alcohol ink b/grounds w/ 3 colors, the oregano,pesto & bright yellow for the grass. The denim & bright blue for the sky. The copper,gold & pearl for the middle section where the church is to be stamped.I stamped it in Momento tuxedo black. for some reason my Stazon black ink stuck to the card & smeared it coming off the glossy c/stock. The jury is out on this look. I wonder if I should cut out church in Sephia & mount it on the alcohol ink b/ground instead.
I stamped the church in Verafine sephia on white c/stock. I mat it w/ brown.tan c/stock on an ivory card .I like the monchromatic look of this style.
I embossed the church w/Colorbox black & embosssed it w/clear powder. I also did it in gold embossing powder. I went back & colored it in w/ chalks to make the gold stand out a little more.
I tried my markers, either they are not wet enough or the wrong texture for the stamp.
Next to try out the brayer which I have never used. I have dye inks for the glossy c/stock.

Free Chandmade Christmas cards!!!

If you are my "500 th person" to show up on my blog & UR a follower . I will make U a set of handmade cards,my choice to celebrate my blog count. Being a nongeek,doing this blog was a major milestone for me!!! Leave me a note in my chatbox & watch my counter. I'm starting to make my C-mas cards to go to Iraq. this week.