WOYWW#195

I've been very busy all week doing things and not blogging and thankfully not shoveling snow!! But I have been busy in my craft room! I have a few things to post the rest of the week, a product review and a project review.  I love product reviews, If I can get experienced advice about some of the products out there and save $$ I am very happy to spend the few minutes it takes to acquire that information! But Right now it is time to check out every one's Workdesk,  If you'd like to join the fun, go over to Julia's Blog at  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/!

I've been cutting and scoring and folding since Sunday, and I needed to give my eyes a break so I made this card:

These cards were made on 130# cold pressed water color paper.  my Favorite is the Canson XL pads.  this paper is wonderful for cards and you can letter press with it!!  I purchase it when it goes on sale at Michael's.  I get the9x12 and from that I can cut 60 A6ish  cards.

I wait until the pads go on sale  and use a 20% for entire purchase , which brings them to about 5.00 per pad, .08 per card.   This paper has a wonderful weight and feel to it!

 

 

 

This isn't my product review, just wanted to share this excellent product with you!

 

and then I made a couple of kiddie cards:

 

 

The kids cards were speedy to make as I used my 4.5x6.5 mat stacks to make bases and then added the embellishments.

 

I did start something yesterday and I am almost done with it, hopefully that will be tomorrows' post .  This is a picture of Tink at the start of the project .  I can't do anything in my craft room , it would seem, with out Tink sitting on it first!

 

I don't know why, but that is how it is!! Thankfully he thinks he is only in charge of my craft room, if he had this attitude about the kitchen or dining room. He'd be in big trouble!1

Thanks for stopping by, check back tomorrow for my review!

Ginny M

WOYWW#194 and Balancing

It is WOYWW#194, the international work desk blog hop that Starts here http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/.  Julia Host's this blog hop weekly but in the meantime, she also writes and stamps for her blog, which is always interesting and worth the few minutes it takes to stop by!

My work desk tonight  is pretty clear, Yeah!! 

All of my birthday and anniversary cards for March are made, written out, addressed, stamped and in date order ready to go to the post office.  I've got dozens of cards made up for anything else that comes up, they are  filed and ready to go for  the rest of the month.

I have kits ready for making :

Each of these is for 25 cards

 

 

I keep my kits ready for making tucked out of the way on top of this expedite type unit, off my desk out of my way but not out of my sight.

 

I have stamps and "ideas" pulled for something new I want to try, I found this website lst week: http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/ and I really like the cards posted and I thought I needed to work on my CAS skills.  Not only that, but sometimes I just get tired of all the Stuff and color on my cards. I love monochrome and white on white, Kraft with black,  it can be a visual rest. 

 

 

I also finished another batch of butterflies this morning (early in the morning, I am blessed with insomnia and the ability to get get along with 4 hours of sleep a night)

 

 

 There is another blog I like: http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com.au/ and I would like to start participating there also. 

 

I only belong to one Yahoo stamping group and I love it, lots of challenges, swaps and good conversation and that has been enough until now, now I'd like to stretch myself a little artistically.

However

 

  I don't want to get so busy that I become out of balance, out of balance usually means out of sorts too.  I have always felt that if you can't "keep up" or "take care of your stuff" you have too much.  That can mean time, finances, a craft room you can't find the floor in. We all know people that their hobbies overtake their lives and to be frank, that is not healthy.  I have a friend I have met through a stamping class, a really nice gal but I can never come over her house and stay for more than a few miniutes.  Because, she has so much stamp stuff there is no place to sit in her smallish size house.  She has one chair, hers. everything ealse is oxes and boxes and bages and more boxes and bags of stamp stuff.   I've known quilters and sewing machine collectors and scrapbookers that their homes are consumed in time and space with these hobbies!  Why is that??   Well we know that the industries press people to purchase beyond what they can use in 4 life times, there is always something new and more wonderful out their that you really need! and if you don't need it, well who can resist a good sale.  I know of one gal that has over 500 matstacks of paper, in her basement craft room that had a water problem.  She said "I just can't stop buying it", and she can't use it because she is too busy moving it around to avoid water and find work space, and she said "I'm afraid to use it because I might wreck a piece and then I wouldn't have another one"!!!!

All this makes me go a little cross eyed.  Oh Yes I love my stuff, but I don't want my stuff pushing me into a mode of coveting and or hoarding.  I want to be a good steward and have a life of order and balance. I want to produce good things that will be beneficial to the people I pass it on too.

When I teach, I try to stress balance and composition both on the canvas and in real life. If your life is balanced and composed, you will be able to create more freely.

 

In proverbs 14:1  It says:  a wise woman builds her house. 

 

In 24:3-4 it says this

By wisdom a house is built,

and through understanding it is established;

through knowledge its rooms are filled

with rare and beautiful treasures.

 

I want my home to be beautiful and not so much in the physical but in the total .

I want to use all the resources I have been given to go where they need to go.

I don't want to end up on an episode of "Hoarders"

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Balanced  day.

Ginny M

 

 



Mild mannered mail art

Mail art can get very interesting and very  bizarre.  One interesting movement in art that began around 1916 was called DaDA, you can find information here:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada

daDa moved into the small scale mail art trends and went from the nonsensical placement of words and letters to bleeding eyeballs and scary dolls.  SteamPunk is a more modern offshoot of DaDa.  Personally I don't care for it.  I have no desire to view someone Else's "anxt" in art form.  But I do like mail art , I love to jazz up my envelopes with stamps and envelopes and glitter. Once in awhile I will put a crown on a frogs head on an envelope, while he is attempting to catch a dragon fly that has just written out the address on the paper.  My post man loves it, I have heard from the people that receive fun stuff like that, that their post men like it too!  

A fast easy way to  really colorful envelopes is to make them your self!   They are EASY!!

 

First you need paper, for these samples I used paper in my stash that I purchased from walmart on sale 3.00 per pad (normally 5.00) make sure it is the paper and not cardstock pad.  Mine are 12x12- 50 sheets will make 50 envelopes.

 

for this batch I picked girly paper and masculine

I grabbed a regular A6 size envelope and took it apart to make a  template.  I used a piece of chip board for the template that I traced onto the paper

 

 

This paper is only about 28# and is super easy to cut, it was easier and faster to use scissors  than to use my electronic cutter.  I was able to cut 5 sheets at a time with put any problems

 

Instead of scoring I cut another piece of chip board  6x5and folded the paper around it, creased and then used Zipdry to glue it. you can also use ATG tape, but I make about 100 at a time and I didn't want to use that much ATG Tape, I'm  sure there may be a glue stick that works, but I haven't found one yet.  The Zip dry is tried and true.

Here is a stack of finished envelopes

 

Aren't these fun??

 

Front

Back, you can hardly see the flap here!

 

Some I make with kids in mind, which is this stack for the most part.  Other papers like collages and vintage script are awesome for adults.  Maps make great envelopes too!  This is something you really can have fun with.  If you scrap booking papers are to blah to use in a lay out, try them as an envelope!!

 

Here is a recipe for glue ( I prefer ATG for this step, but when I am making them in a set for sale or as a gift I use this recipe for

Licky Sticky Envelope Sealing Glue

 

Ingredients:

1tsp Elmer's glue

1/2tsp white vinegar

2 drops mint  flavoring

 

Easy and yes this is mildly gag worthy, but not too bad!

I brush it on with a mini foam brush.  Let it dry and  and add another layer. let dry. When you are ready to seal the envelope lightly wet the glue  and seal. I apply

Ta Da!!

 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a happy Monday!!

Ginny M

Quiet

It's a quiet night here, I am working on my Sunday School Lesson for tomorrow, working on a few butterflies for the teens in the class:

 

They are still in the rough stages, but will be ready for tomorrow.

 

Went for our walk earlier:

 

Time for a snow Angel, and yes he is!!

 

 

 

 

This was very good exercise, the snow was unbroken, Luke is standing on an area with only about 6 inches, most of the walk was a trudge of over a foot.  I told Steve we sound like Cybermen walking.. (any Dr. Who Fans?)

 

Tink is all worn out from Luke chasing him around the house all night - they play- it is pretty funny unless you get in Lukes way- there is no stopping him.  He catches Tink all the time and sends him off the ground with his nose.

 

Tink thinks one of the best places to sleep in in the clean laundry

 

I am thankful for the piece of a household of faith, for Steve who is a godly man,  My  best friend and Wonderful  Husband, for all the love and blessing in our lives.

 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you are having a great weekend!!

Ginny M

 

WOYWW#193 and another storm coming!

We've dug out, repaired the Snow blower and  did a big food shopping, just in time, more snow coming!!  I was very busy today, my women's study group and running a lot of errands.  I got dinner going right away in anticipation of having a few hours in my craft room. In the morning before I left the house I planned out my project,   I needed kiddie birthday cards.  I grabbed a mat stack, the  4.5x6 size, pulled the paper apart and cut them to 4.5x5 to make faces for my cards.  Using a mat stack on precut and folded bases is a super fast way to get a lot of clean and simple cards made. A drawer of ribbons, pulled out my collection of kids stamps - these were on wood and after one attempt at stamping and keeping the image in the right place unsuccessfully, I pulled all my stamps off their woodblocks.  I am so happy I did, with the oddly shaped images, it has made image placement so much easier!!

then I glued the card stock to the bases and pressed them under a book.  For economy sake I use Aleene's  BRUSH on tacky glue for this step.  I left them under the book while I was gone for the day and they came out perfect. The Brush makes this easy!  I did the whole mat stack of 72 pieces of card stock.

 

After dinner and during the State of the Union address I made the cards

 

 

 

I made four of each card (not all are shown)  I really enjoyed making these cards, good thing I still need to make a lot more!!

 

 

I send the little ones birthday cards too, for the kiddie cards I use the light weight 80# card stock and usually make it the A2 (half sheet size).

If you'd like to visit more  work desks all over the world, Julia so graciously hosts' this hop every Weds! Go Here: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

 

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day!

Ginny M

The Gray Inbetween

It's Monday and we had a icy / rainy day.  Now it is very  foggy out, it reminded me of the gloom and doom sci fi moves from the 50's  - black and white 1950's!   here is a picture I snapped in our drive ways of the front fence: 

 

That is a four foot high fence!!   Because of today's rain, the snow has dropped down a lot, last night it went to the base of the lawn lamp!

 

I didn't mind the gray today, we had a nice relaxing day,I spent a lot of time in my craft room and the guys didn't spend to much time dealing with the white stuff.

 

 

 

I made a batch of these cards The original  thought was for a sympathy card and I think would still work as that.

 

 

 I changed it and put a "praying for you' sentiment on it.

The photo doesn't show the contrast of the degrees of black and white (gray)

so like life, presenting the gray and not the contrasting of black and white.

Sometimes we can feel our lives and prayers  feel  gray, "anyone listening"?   We are distracted by the lost boundaries.  Our prayers are heard and our lives are seen, buy the Creator who has the defining eyes,  He sees the contrasting of black and white and knows how to perfectly order the times and seasons of our lives.  Sometimes there is shadow and gray, but that does not last forever.  When we trust Him, we begin to see the boundaries and the order of black and white.

So what am I saying?   I am saying when you Trust the Lord, there is beauty and contrast even in the gray times of our lives. When the Light comes He brings the colors back, brings back the boundaries and the peace

 

 

 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 14:27

 

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Ginny M

 

Nemo in Chicopee MA

Nemo Left us about 2.5 feet of snow, we spent the day digging out and since we live on  a side street we are going to be blanketed in by snow for a little while longer.  We can get out but our street is one of the worst plowed in the town.  Oh well, it is a narrow fully loaded with parked on the street card, so it is no wonder plowing is a problem! 

I did get a bunch of cards made though!  Here they are:

Use my eCraft to do some cutting and a newish collage stamp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These Butterfly I stamped with Stazon and then colored with Tim Holtz distress inks.  One coat of polycrylic and when that was dry I added the glitter.  believe it or not it took me 15 minutes to make 8 butterflies!

 

 

background is off in the photo, it is almost black.

 

 

 

 I also picked up some new Black storage containers at Family Dollar:

 

These containers are about a 15" long and hold cut papers for card layers

 

 

These are about 8" long and hold cards in progress!  The large were 3.00 and the small 1.00.

 

And now it is time to clean up and head to church!!  I hope where ever you are in the World, It is well!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ginny M in Snowy New England