Denver Museum of Nature And Science

Last week we discovered some delightful Russian sculptures at the museum.  They were folksy themes, about a foot high. and quite delightful.  This one is of a painter and there was even a plaque telling the various stones that were used:

shoes: black jasper
pants, hat, face, handle: jasper
shirt: lapis
eyes: sapphire

base:
  floor: agate
  bucket: petrified wood
  brush: agate, amethyst quartz

Wyld On The Move

Wyld has been outside again and this time I found her amongst the tiny violas that have appeared in our lawn.  Maybe she is putting a hex on them.

Flower Punch Board

 I previously posted two cards showing the smallest flower from the flower punch board.  This one is the next size up and I was determined to figure out a card design using it.  I punched it on "ledger" paper and added punched flowers for the center.  Now to try it in a bold color.

Napkin Folded

I recently received one of these "napkin folded" cards and had to try making one.  I don't know who folds their napkins in this way but I certainly never have.  It's not difficult to do but I found that my small cutter wasn't accurate enough so I did the scoring with a ruler and stylus and that worked perfectly.  Then it's a matter of cutting a lot of little triangles and deciding on a few small embellishments.  Something different.

More Glazing

I made another trip to Angelo's to glaze another bowl and was very pleased with the result.  The inside looks pretty much like the outside but next time I'm going to try something a little different.  Stay tuned.

Gnome Sweet Gnome

This garden gnome has been very busy and had great success growing all kinds of spring flowers.  He came from Stampabilities-ville and is colored with colored pencils (because they aren't packed).  The background color is pan pastels.  And all those little bits and pieces?-punched (butterflies) or die cut (flowers).  The fence is also a die cut.  Don't you wish he visited your garden?

My Other New Friend

You met Bailey, my little girl Prisma doll; this is Natalie, my adult doll.  Natalie has a pretty busy schedule with her career and maintaining a home so she really isn't so much fun but she is certainly stylish.  I put her on patterned cardstock and added a big die cut leaf, a border punch with ribbon and small punched leaves and flowers.  I also added a tiny ribbon bow to her jacket.  She's off to another busy day at the office.

Clifford! . . .

Clifford, Clifford, Clifford.  There was a whole shelf of them at the bookstore and they all had a big smile on their face.  The color is off and I couldn't find the right magic to correct it so you'll have to use your imagination and insert red.  They reminded me of my granddaughter because last year we picked her up from school and saw an adult-human-sized Clifford walking down the sidewalk.  That's not something one sees every day!  He has a big smile, too.

Burlap

I'm seeing burlap all over the place these days and it's a plus that it is already cut in different widths for us.  This piece was from a long roll which I simply cut and fringed.  The flower is another example from the flower punch board with the addition of a die cut center flower.  I tied strings from the burlap into a double knot for the center of the flower.  Pretty simple stuff.  Rustic.  Casual.  Brown.

I Have A New Friend

Meet Bailey.  She is one of the Prima dolls made by stamping.  I stamped portions of her on patterned paper and cut out the pieces for the dress.  It can be sleeveless or the sleeves can be left on.  The headband matches the overskirt and I added a ribbon bow to it and at the at the waist.  I put fiber bows at the shoulders.  I placed her on a tag (although I didn't cut the upper corners) as that is how I've mostly seen the dolls used.  The background is pan pastel and the fence, butterflies, flowers and leaves are punched.  Bailey is pretty pleasant to have around.

Hippity Hoppity Easter

Happy Easter!

This is a photo I snapped with my phone at Home Depot.  Lilies are so white and beautiful and hard to resist.  I used a phone app on it for the frame.

Used to have a lily in yard but it disappeared.  If I were staying here, I might consider planting another one as it was always a nice spot of white.  Maybe in the new yard. . . .

Flower Punch Board

I preordered the flower punch board at the earliest possible moment and it arrived last week.  A number of sizes of flowers can be made but only one or two are suitable for cards.  This is the smallest size and I punched it on patterned paper and added some punched flowers.  The leaves are die cut.  The pink matt was border punched.  It's super simple to make these flowers and the system seems to be pretty fool-proof.  I'm going to enjoying having this punch board.

Busy Bee

There's a beautiful little tree blooming its heart out near the ceramic shop.  Several bees were busy digging into the blossoms and I was able to get a photo without getting stung.

Blossoms Abound

I feel fortunate to live in an area where there is so many plants in bloom in the spring.  There are orchards full of pink or white blossoms and other trees and bushes bloom in town.  In my yard I have five fruit trees that bloom.  Of course the downside is the pollen that affects allergies but there's medications to help with that.  Ahhhhh, spring!

Painted Dandelion

These bright little faces are popping up all over the place and I believe they must be worldwide.  This was the first one I saw this spring and that was several weeks ago.  While they tend to be obnoxious, I remind myself that they actually are quite pretty--and they make a colorful and delicious wine.  And for a more healthy choice, the tender young leaves can go into a salad.  I just had fun doing a little "painting" of this one.

Flip Card In Blue

This card shows the lattice border and perhaps you can see that the label is embossed at the edges.  Maybe one day I'll string several of these together and create an album.  I think it would be interesting strung out to show photos.

I made other cards with various sized mats on the label but I thought you'd get the idea of how the die works without seeing every single card I made.  And I should mention that the panels go together very easily.

Pink Flip Card

This flip card shows the front label covered with patterned paper and it shows the scalloped border.  Karen Burinston is quite clever.

Flip Card

 I made some of my Easter cards using the Elizabeth Craft Karen Burniston Fancy Label Die.  I was glad I got the coordinating dies for the borders as well.  It's quite a versatile set of dies with several sizes of the label and you can attach as many squares as you like to create an album.  My cards were just two panels.  This photo shows the front of the card (with some of the back peeking through.  The second photo shows the card in the open position.

I thought they were rather labor intensive, mostly because all of the borders had to be adhered.  But I felt the end result was worth the time.

I'll be showing you other variations of the borders.

Another Big, Beautiful Die Cut

I also received this beautiful die cut for my birthday.  For this card I cut it twice and layered one one top of the other for added dimension.  The flowers are punched but I used a stylus on the petals for more dimension.  The yellow background is pan pastel on white cardstock.  That stuff goes on like butter and a little goes a long way.

Big, Beautiful Die Cut

 I received this beautiful Hero Arts die cut for my birthday and had to give it a try.  I simply put it on a folder embossed background and added some glitzy Stella pen to the body.  The butterfly doesn't need much help to make a pretty design.  The text is also a die cut.  Very nice indeed.

Vintage Car

There was a lineup of three vintage cars in a local parking lot a few days ago.  They always seem like good subject matter for photography so I clicked away with my iPhone, having left left my "real" camera at home.  A serious photographer might take exception, but I liked the sun rays and after I did some color burning and sharpening I liked the image even better.  But you don't have to like it.

The Brightness of A Daffodil

This is a photo of a daffodil from my garden but I took the photo after I cut the daffodil and brought it inside.  The late afternoon light was on it and I shot photos from every angle I could think of.  I selected this one for some blending.  In the background is both a floor tile (for color) and some bricks that had lettering on them.  I think it's inspiring to have photos to blend and manipulate in other ways.  Gotta love Photoshop Elements!  It's sort of like glue dots--what did I do before I had them/it?!

No More Stamping For Me

Just kidding!  But Judy, Alison and I really enjoyed our time at Angelo's where we glazed a bowl.  It was a big surprise when we picked them up a week later because you don't know exactly what you'll get.  But we were all quite successful and very pleased.  Then we saw some glass pendants and, of course, we now have to give that a try.  With breakfast or lunch to add to the outing, it's a really fun time with friends.

One Last Stencil Design

For this design I added red Pearl Ex to the embossing paste and then put red pan pastel at the bottom of the card for more color.  I decided I didn't care for the two colors right together so I simply took a small eraser and got rid of some of the pastel.  Even with all the pigment in the pastels they erase quite nicely.  And they don't need a fixative so there's no need to deal with those fumes and that spray.  Nice!

Stencil With Embossing Powder

This card shows another design from the Hero Arts stencil.  I put black embossing powder on the wet paste knowing it would bubble and be more dimensional but it didn't add as much dimension as I thought it would.  But it was good.  Good to have different ways of using our products and tools.

Stencil With Label

 There was enough of the embossing paste left from yesterday's card for another design so I went for it.  Unfortunately it didn't quite cover all of it and some of the white cardstock showed through so I used that "flopportunity" as a challenge and added the label.  I decided I liked it.  This time I added yellow pan pastel to one side.  Sometimes a mistake can be a good thing.

Stenciled Border

I recently received a Hero Arts stencil that contained five different borders.  Could hardly wait to give it a try.  For this design I used translucent embossing paste with some green Pearl Ex which provided not only color but some iridescence that doesn't show well in the photo.  After it dried I added white pan pastel to one side.  The pastels are rich in pigment and the sponges that go with them make coverage quick and easy.  Gotta love those stencils!

Card Exchange 2

This is the same template that I used for yesterday's card but it is a vertical orientation.  I used a label and lace and a smaller flower.  I put a butterfly instead of text.  After I took the photo I decided the design might be better with a narrow brown strip on top of the lace but I failed to take a photo showing it that way.  You'll have to use your imagination on that one.  I thought it was a fun template and had a lot of possibilities.

Stamp Club Exchange Card 1

 For our stamp club exchange cards we were challenged to find a design we liked and use it to make a card.  This was a My Favorite Things template.  For this card I used the design in a horizontal orientation.  I had paper and cardstock left from the project so used that plus the strip of blue.

Things To Be Happy About No. 4

ice cubes

asparagus 

pan pastels

old slippers

chai tea latte

chirping birds

instructional videos

a new box of crayons

good customer service

smell of freshly-mowed grass