• Simple, Quiet, Spring Beauty…

    Does anyone else remember this old song?: Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free. Tis a gift to come down to where we ought to be. It has a nice sing songy rhythm and a sweet lilt. I was going through the pictures on my camera from the past two weeks and I was struck by how many of them are of a simple image of Spring. They were a good reminder  to me to be present in the moment and take note of what is around me. I thought I would share some of the pictures with you today – since I don't have a card made right at the moment.

     

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    I started this post with a quote from a lovely old Shaker song from the 1840's. I will end the post with a quote from one of the wisest men of MY generation:

    "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."   Ferris Bueller

     

  • Another Sketch Challenge! #104 from Taylored Expressions…

    In follow up to my post from yesterday…Here is another card I made over the weekend in my crazy quest to enter all these challenges! This one is from Taylored Expressions. Check it out! Enter a card too! This one was good because it is a forum to use lots of different patterned papers…gotta love that! I used a new color combo for me and I love the layout. I may make another one of these…

    Here is my card:

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    Sweet little Penny Black hedgie in a pot! Colored with my Copic markers of course! A bit of glitter on the bee wings to make it sparkle.  The flowers are a new Martha Stewart punch…are you sensing a trend? Hahaha. My Martha Stewart punch addiction is a whole blog post by itself!

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    If you notice, I put a little glitter glue on top of the brads too!

    See how the center of the pot looks faded? You do that by coloring in your entire image and then going back with the blender pen and taking away some of the ink. I used 5-6 colors of brown for the pot and two shades of green for the grass.

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    Mixing patterns is okay as long as the scale is similar and the colors all go together. As you can see, there are four patterned papers and a patterned ribbon in this card.

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    Here is the sketch recipe image:

     

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  • It was a stamping frenzy today!

    Here in the old craft room today it was a crafting, stamping freny! I made cards for FIVE card challenges! I will post two tonight (the other one is in the post below this one) and the rest during the week. I had a great time pushing myself to come up with very specific cards to meet the criteria. The one posted here is for Cards Magazine Blog. This is a great  magazine – so I hope they like this one! The theme is simple – make any card with birds…

    I have about a gazillion bird stamps – my favorite – so the only hard part was picking what to use. I decided to go my Memory Box stamps and use soft spring colors. I used my new Martha Stewart Birds on a Wire punch too. OMG. Love it!

    Here is the card:

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    The Inside:

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    Close up:

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    The birds are punched out of dark brown paper –
    it's photographing really dark here:

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    This is not related to stamping, but I had to share anyway! I was at my friend Stephanie's paper/stamp store (Paper Garden) Friday night and when I walked outside, this is what I saw!!! It had rained all day and this was the sunset after the clearing storm. AMAZING, don't ya think?  I've never seen a parking lot look so pretty.

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    Have a great week ahead. Oh, by the way, I want my hour back! 

  • Get Sketchy Card Challenge #29!

    I found this cool website called Get Sketchy that has card challenges based on design layouts. The way this works is that the blog gives you a layout, or sketch, and you make it your own. I decided to give this one a go! Here is the sketch:

     

    And here is my take on it:

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    Thanks for stopping by to see my cards today!  

  • Pretty Green Toile – Tuesday Trigger

    I'm throwing my hat in the ring for another Tuesday Trigger Card contest over at Moxie Fab World. One of my favorite colors is green so I knew I had to make a card. I immediately remembered I had this old stamp of a toile scene. It took me a while to dig it out of the stamp cupboards…but I found it! I used my nestabilities to make the pretty ovals and I used a cuttlebug folder to impress the white part of the card base. Add a little bling and voila!

    The trigger image is so pretty – here it is:

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    Here is my take on it:

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    Okay, so I have to tell you that I cut out that white oval and then got the scene in there on the first try!! Can you believe it? I don't think I could have planned it better. I might have to use that stamp to make some other stuff. I'm thinking it would look nice in a pretty brick red color. 

    On a side note – here is a pretty picture I snapped in the parking lot of the gas station today at lunch! Gotta keep your camera with you at all times! Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend.

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    Here is a little shout out to my sweet pal S.A. who is working on finishing up her Master's Degree in the next couple of months. Good luck! I miss you!

  • As lovely as a tree…

    This post is about the AMAZING Camellia tree that has been my artisitc muse for the past week. This tree has captivated me with her astounding beauty. She sits at the far edge of the park that surrounds our grand State Capitol building. She leaves a carpet of pink petals beneath her. She stopped me in my tracks. The morning light was more than I could take.

    Gather round, and get some popcorn – the big tub – cuz this is a long post. I took about 75 pictures and it was very hard to select only a few to put on the old bloggy blog. Thanks for coming by today and I hope these pictures inspire you as well. I'd love to hear from you.

    Adam

     

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    I THINK that I shall never see
    A poem lovely as a tree.
     
    A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
    Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
     
    A tree that looks at God all day,
    And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
     
    A tree that may in Summer wear
    A nest of robins in her hair;
     
    Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
    Who intimately lives with rain.
     
    Poems are made by fools like me,
    But only God can make a tree.

    Joyce Kilmer, author

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  • Another Tuesday Trigger Challenge Card!

    DO SOMETHING CREATIVE EVERY DAY! I have been trying to live that statement this year. Take a picture, cook something new, make a card or a handmade project…Something creative each day. It has made me a happier person. I carry my camera around with me now. I take the time to sit down and create things I am proud of. I try to help others in their crafty endeavors. It's been wonderful.

    When I saw the Tuesday Trigger image from Moxie Fab this week I gasped – SO gorgeous. I adore that color pallete! Such a beautiful collage of items. Here it is for you to enjoy:

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    I mean really, can you stand it? I could have made 50 cards from this inspiration. What caught my eye most was the center image on the right hand side with the pink flowers. I had recently taken a gazillion photos of the most amazing camellias blooming near my work. So, I decided to combine a photograph with my stamping. I hope you like my card!

     

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    The closed front of the card – yup, another easel card, folks!

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    I had some paper left after finishing my TT card, so I decided to make some more cards with the same color scheme. Here is one I'd like to share with you!

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    Here are some of the fab women who help me do something creative every day! Love this crazy bunch!

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    I will do another post, hopefully soon, with all of the pictures from the Camellias blooming. I have some favorites…Have a Creative Day!

  • Love these new Prima flowers!

    I got these beautiful Prima flowers at Michael's a while back. I love the muted colors – they are not super bright or pastel – the perfect in between. I made a shabby chic birthday card and a cheery hello card using them. Hope you like them too!

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    The shabby chic birthday card - made with pretty pink and rose tones. The stamp is from a Stampin' Up set and the border is a Martha Stewart punch. I colored the image with my Copic markers.

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    Here is the cheery hello card. Stamp set is from Stampin' Up and I used Marvy Markers to color directly on the stamp before stamping it onto the paper. 

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    My lovely photography assistant, NOT helping, by putting his boo-tay directly on top of what I'm trying to take a picture of! He says he is much more gorgeous and photogenic. What do you think?

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  • TGIF!

    Okay, now I know we are all glad it's FRIDAY! I have my little Friday lunch time routine and I thought I would share it with you today. The peeps I see and the places I go make my day! A little slice of heaven in this workaday world. About a 5 minute drive from the office is my mini oasis in the city.

    First off, there is Newsbeat! Now, this girl LOVES magazines. You might say I'm a magazineaholic! Don't call Dr. Drew on me yet, though. It's all under control. Maybe. Newsbeat is that one of a kind place that doesn't really happen anymore. A good old fashioned news-stand. I love it. The cool chicks that work there are and helpful and kind. There are magazines for miles, and newspapers, and British candy, and cards, and magazines, and magazines…

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    My favorite section:

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    The place just has a cool vibe to it…

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    Now, as if that wasn't wonderful enough…just two doors down is Luigi's! Which definitely is a little slice of heaven!

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    This is a great sign!

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    Are you drooling? Yes, it tastes as good as it looks…

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    And, if you're still hungry, there are brownies. I've never had one, but you never know. They look amazing. Cuz the one thing you need after eating a big ole' slab of pizza is a brownie. Right? Right?  

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    And last, but not least, the pickle. Yup, that's a pickle on the corner and he is happy to see me! See him waving? My Friday would not be complete without him.

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    Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I'm off to my friend TeaDub's house tomorrow for some stampin' action. The Oscars are on Sunday – red carpet time! Toodles.

  • Sweet Strawberries…

    Okay, so my OBsession with the cute tiny checked paper continues… I made a nice, sweet card using it in red this time. Lovely basket of strawberries image is from Magenta. The saying is from Amuse – another fan favorite! New patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket (I think). I used my Copic markers, of course in three or four shades of brown and gold for the basket and four shades of red and pink for the berries. I had one leftover bee so he could buzz on into the picture.

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    Thanks for stopping by for a looky loo today!