Back again. . .

I'm SO SORRY I have been neglecting my blog - well neglecting practically everything to be honest. Rarely get to my art nest (but hopefully that will change). Just kind of lost my art mojo, just not myself lately. Even made a journal page that looks like someone else entirely made it. Not going to post it! I think I will re-do it. My eyes are acting up, always tired, burning. My optometrist is sending me to the ophthalmologist at the hospital to get something drained from my left eye- can't come soon enough for me, but haven't heard from them yet. Both eyes feel funny.

But anyway, I did scan all my journal pages from the summer to now, so here they are:

 I don't think the Paris ATC is mine -probably got it from a swap

 -but it's so pretty I couldn't resist!

Thanks for being SO patient with me!

WOYWW

Whats On Your Workspace Wednesday (or Thursday in this case!)  Click on the link on the sidebar to find out all about WOYWW and see everyone else's workspace!

Well, this is what I was actually doing on Wednesday - my DD is visiting from Toronto, so spending as much time with her as possible!

 Enjoying our local beach and the sun! This is Lake Ontario...the water was lovely (for my feet anyway!) This is a 5 minute walk from my house - one of 3 beaches!

So this morning I took these photos of my Workspace:

 

 My next journal page

The card I made with my new background stamp

Not a lot, but at least I am getting into my stamping room!

Thanks for looking! Next week I start back to work setting up my classroom for 2012-13. Hopefully I will find some time to relax in my stamping room!

WOYWW

Hello all! My desk is not a lot different from last week, as I really haven't had much of a chance to do anything, so here's a different view of it:

 My journal is still there, and I did do some doodling on it while watching TV

I bought 2 new stamps (on sale of course!) at Michael's this week. Now for something to make with them! I really like the butterfly!

Hopefully more to show you next week! TTFN!

WOYWW

OK, so today is Thursday. What can I say - I forgot! Soon this will be habit, but now I'm just getting used to the Wednesday thing! Cleaned up a bit because my friend Marg came over to play! Yay!

Working in my journal - I haven't worked in this one for awhile - and playing with Dylusions -who isn't these days? But this is my table after Marg and I tidied up (imagine that!!) I'll need to go back and finish these 2 pages.

Have a great rest of the week! I'll check on everyone else tomorrow, it's beddy-bye time for me! Don't forget to go HERE and see what this is all about!!

Cards

Well, my friend Marg and I played with Dylusions all afternoon! I love being at her house because she has so many stamps I don't have (how is that possible!! This is how I know I still don't have have everything!) We played with the "Ghosting technique" - very cool! Spray your Dylusions onto your paper and blot. Then choose a stencil to lay on top, spray with water, remove stencil and let sit 15 sec or so, then blot. You can't really see the results on either of my cards, because it's a bit covered up.

This was my first card - I liked the little houses stencil Marg had, but then I screwed it all up with my muddy colors...

so I traced the shape of the houses through the stencil...still didn't like it, but then it said "Halloween" to me!
Marg had a cute little witch on a broom with her cat watching the moon stamp, so I used that, painted the image and cut it out, and popped it up. When I got home I added the ghosts. So now I think it is passable! I love taking something I hate and making it something I like!

Here is my second card - I used some of Marg's Stamper's Anonymous stencils (I love these)

 I liked this card right away - more my style! But you still can't see the ghosting! I'll have to try that technique again. All the stamps and stencils here are Marg's!

WOYWW

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

I've been looking at these posts for awhile now, and finally decided to join the fun, maybe it will get me to do something just so my workdesk looks different every Wednesday! LOL!  Go HERE to see what it's all about and to join! So, to start August out properly, here's my Workdesk:


As you can see, not a lot is happening right now, I'm trying hard to keep a space clear so that I can work! I have chosen two stamps for my next card project, and the long um that you see was stamped into my journal.

Sometimes I feel like a pilot in a cockpit of a 747...I took all these drawers off the shelves behind me to free up some shelf space. I like having them all right in front of me. The tops flipped open nicely to hold washi tape, dabbers, distress stains, and my sprays. No excuses!

Playing with my friend Marg this afternoon. Wonder what we'll do?!

Day 5

 Day 5 of my online class was Sentiment Stamps. I chose to do the cards that had the sentiment looking like a watercolor:

I really liked the effect, done with my Marvy Markers. The sentiment is from Wendy Vecchi, the leafy circle from a large stamp by Magenta, and that beautiful face is from Inkadinkadoo (Tin Can Mail). Too much bling? I wonder....


Day 6 is next, but I don't have any die cuts with matching stamps, so I will have to put my thinking cap on!

Have a great day,

Day 4

Today I'm posting Day 4 - using graphic stamps. I searched high and low, and the only one I seemed to have was this one from Hero Arts:

I don't think I've used this stamp in years and years!

Anyway, here is the card:

I stamped the full background in dark purple, then in lighter purple on separate cs. I cut the image in pieces, and pop-dotted the images onto the card. I made a little banner, cut out one of the opposite flowers, bent the petals up, and glue it to the banner. I put Stickles all around the banner. Then I put black bling in the center of the popped out flowers, and Stickles in the center of the dark flowers. Ended with a clear crystal on the banner flower. I think this one is OK! Here's a close-up:

Thanks for looking!! I'm going to attempt Day 5 now!

Day 3-Alphabet Stamps

Day 3 of the online class was alphabet stamps. My first try was pretty bad.

Really. I hate it.

I needed to make DH a Birthday Card (Happy Birthday today!!) so I thought I would try again, and incorporate some other things I picked up through the classes.(Notice the label stamp!) I like this one much better!

I even went to Michaels and bought some new sentiment stamp sets (really, I have hardly any!! Luckily they were on sale) On the inside I have "Life is sweeter when spent with YOU. The YOU didn't belong to the sentiment, it was supposed to be "friends", but I took YOU from another sentiment, embossed it and cut it out and stuck it, popped, where "friends" was supposed to be. I really am stretching my stamps!

Let's see what I can do with Day 4 (In real time we are at Day 10 - I better catch up!)

Stretch Your Stamps day 2

 Today's challenge  was Collage Stamps. I have a lot of those, but not the one they used, so again I had to improvise. They were also making windows, something I really have not done. I have a Spellbinders Wizard, but I can't get it to work for me, it's always been frustrating for me, so I rarely use it. Luckily my friend Therese had the Big Shot, but then all our Nestibilities were too small. Aaaarghhh! So we had to do the cutting and embossing by hand.  No wonder I don't make windows! But in the end, I like both of my cards, and will probably be tempted to buy the bigger dies! (And a Big Shot!)

First card:

notice the butterflies are pink - they were supposed to be clear, but I used the wrong embossing ink. Tells you how long it's been since I've been embossing! I actually had to go out and buy white embossing powder. Shameful!

Second card:

I really like this one, favorite so far! It has an acetate "window".

Third Card:

Kind of a combo of Day 1 and 2- I used one of the backgrounds that didn't turn out like I wanted it to, and now I love it!

Just goes to show. . . !!

Stretch Your Stamps!

        

Day One:    I am taking an online card class called

 just to get back into the swing of things. I wasn't sure how challenging it would be, but I found out! After not working with cards on a regular basis, and letting a lot of my techniques go stale, these classes are excellent, and challenging!! Luckily my friend Therese was with me to keep me from ripping my hair out! Thanks T!

So, Day One was using a background stamp. I really don't have many of those, and nothing close to what was in the demo. So I used this: 

 by Toybox

 After 3 tries, none of which I was really happy with, I chose one and just went for it. I like how it turned out (eventually!)!

Now for Day 2!

Happy Day!

Today is a Happy Day because my friend Therese is coming for a few days to PLAY!! First we will go out to lunch with our friend Marg, then off to Marg's to play for the afternoon. Not sure what we are doing yet, but I know it will be FUN!!

He we are at June's journal pages:

And some cards:

end of school year card for our wonderful cook Lana:

 end of school year card for my awesome assistant Leslie:

 Birthday card for a friend

 Birthday card for another friend!

 end of year card for our wonderful French teacher Diane!

That's it for now! Hopefully will have some play day pics for you soon!