Fiskars

Foxy fox from Hero Arts

Posted on May 12, 2013 | 2 comments

Gooooooood Sunday morning to you! I hope your weekend’s progressing nicely! I was blessed to be able to take part of yesterday off and go play with my stampin’ sistahs….I love that! I thought I’d have to get back home early, but I stayed up late Friday to get to a good stopping point on some projects – so I gave myself a day to play. (Had to get back on it last night, but at least I had some playtime!!

This is a card I made last week for a sweet lady who worked at my office; they eliminated her position (dangit!!!), and I just wanted to thank her for everything she’s done. And get this – she loved doing her job so much she’s requesting to volunteer at the office for a day each week instead. Can you believe that!?! Talk about dedication. Love you KH!

I used a Hero Arts fox for this card…I can’t seem to find it in their store, but look for E5465 if this is a little fox ya just need to have! Papers by BoBunny, sentiment by SRM stickers, border punch by Fiskars.

Thankful for growth

Posted on Apr 29, 2013 | 22 comments

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about growth.

When I was young, I had always wondered about all those people who did crazy things in middle-age (some good and some not-so-good!) and what made them suddenly go nuts – and I’m starting to think I might know. And I think I’m experiencing some of it.

Middle age is when a lot of us really start feeling comfortable in our own skin. The pressures of youth are gone and we’ve lived a bit of life. We find that the things that seemed so “big” when we were younger really weren’t all that important after all. And the things we thought we were or would become – those change. We get a bit more real with ourselves, with our friends and family, and with God. We know what makes us tick at a level we didn’t even know existed before. And we start figuring out that we do have the ability to do and be what we once dreamt of doing and being – things others had told us weren’t possible. We finally can relax in being ourselves, knowing better than ever before what we were made to do, and then figure out how to get there.

I thought I’d do a little navel-gazing and share ten things I’m thankful to have learned about me….most of the things on this list are just the beginnings of changes, new adventures, things that I’m ok with doing/being, now that I’m “old.” Stuff that young Sandy would have rolled her eyes at….but old Sandy is perfectly fine with!

1. I need to make a difference. I’d never be happy just selling widgets. For a season I worked in advertising and that was plain miserable. I need to do something with my life that’ll change things around me for the better. And it helps me feel fulfilled when I can SEE I’m making an impact. Getting letters like this remind me that what I work so very hard at in Operation Write Home is doing so much good for so many people. It’s not everyone who gets to touch lives this way….and I never want to lose sight of that.
2. I need an inspiring workspace. I was feeling creatively fried before the recent renovation. Barely able to function. But my new space is beautiful and perfect just for me. I love the color, how it’s organized, that the daybed is the most comfy place in the universe. And if the space around me is that important to getting my creativity on-track, I needed to do the renovation, and am so glad I did. 
3. I’m checking some big stuff off my lists. Like the dentist. (Don’t laugh. That’s big on my list.) And home renovation. And learning Copic Airbrush. And taking better care of me. And making some big decisions about what my life direction will be.
4. I need a range of people who inspire me. Not only our heroes, and my fellow cardmakers. But I’ve started to find people “ahead” of me in various areas that I want to grow in. And not just in the art arenas….but people doing innovative things in fields not even remotely related to what I’m interested in. Inspiration in places that are making me think in whole new ways. And I thrive on that. This kind of thing led to the ICP – who knows where else it’ll go.
5. I’m a geek and I’m ok with that! I know, I know, but I gotta geek out. Equipment, software, tools – I may not be all that great about reading manuals, but oh how I love toys. My video camera is one of my faves right now.
6. I only like to do the FUN part of gardening. I hired some folks to come clean up the yard, and I am just blown away with the great job they did! I can now go enjoy planting, and not waste the first (and only) couple months of decent gardening weather with pulling weeds. I get to PLANT! The card above was made for the guys doing the hard labor – I figured some star-shaped flowers in a neatly trimmed grassy garden would be appropriate!
7. I can write. I don’t just mean put words down on paper. [I mean, I'm a blogger. Bloggers do words!] My dayjob has me working alongside marketing writers, and though I can’t hold a candle to their subject matter knowledge, I’ve discovered writing talents that I didn’t know I was capable of. From writing soothing emails in response to angry donors, to motivational posts, scripts, and marketing proposals…different styles depending on the hats I wear. I’m not sure what the skill is going to do for me going forward, but it’s one I lean on in a lot of areas already.
8. I can keep a new years resolution.  I’ve actually been walking since the first of the year, and it’s giving me more energy,  I’m losing just a little weight, and hopefully this is leading me into a year of being a bit more healthy than before! I never believed I could do this, but I’m stoked that I’ve busted that self-stereotype. Wonder what I’ll do next?
9. I’m becoming the art teacher I wanted to be as a little girl.  I recently remembered that’s one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up…in college I realized art teachers barely make a living, so decided to go into graphic design. But slowly, ever so incrementally, I’ve become a teacher of sorts, surprising even myself with that realization.
10. I love to serve my God who is just So. Very. Good. In the last year, I’ve been experiencing amazing spiritual growth…learning so much about what God has in store for me and how to wait for His timing, being reminded regularly of His character and His amazing love for me, learning how to learn from others and not insist on walking into the same walls myself. I’m seeing promises from many years ago coming true. Things I’d given up on – and never should have. God is faithful and doesn’t deserve my doubts! I’m just glad He forgives me for them and has kept His hand of blessing on my life despite how annoying I can be.

So if you’re an old fart like me – what have you learned about you? Anything that’s changing what you plan to do with your life?

Airbrushin’ week!

Posted on Apr 21, 2013 | 6 comments

I’m so excited to have finally invested in an air compressor and airbrush system for my crafting! I’ve tried it out in a few classes, and now I get to play for real!

This week I’ll try to share some of my early attempts at it – I’ll ask grace since I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing. LOL. But I played all day yesterday while some friends came over to make cards, and I think I have a few that are tolerable!

This card has just a little airbrush for the grounding of the image; I cut out an oval with a Sizzix die and just airbrushed lightly inside it. The image is the Party Chihuahua HERE!

Copic markers E47 E39 E97 YR14 with some B000 for the eyes, and the balloon isYR09 and YR12. Ears aer RV23. And the airbrushing was done with B14. Sentiment is by SU, paper by MME (Bright Side collection), Fiskars border punch, May Arts ribbon!

Have a fantabulous day!

I can’t wait til this afternoon’s ICSE class – hope you’re coming!

Rainbows and thunderstorms

Posted on Apr 14, 2013 | 5 comments

Happy CAS Sunday! Well, SVCAS.* You guys know I can’t quite get all the way to CAS!

I was inspired by the saying…and lately I have sooooo many friends with thunderstorms going on, that I just wanted to use it, and claim it. Claim the good things, the happy things, and not give the enemy a foothold! I love the saying, “Don’t tell God how big your storms are. Tell your storms how big your GOD is!”

So for my little card, I used some BoBunny paper from the “Blast Off” collection to create a sky, then handcut some scraps into a slight arc to make the rainbow – fairly easy to do if you can get the first one angled right. When it’s just a little piece of a rainbow, it’s a lot easier than a large handcut arc! The little clouds are a squeeze punch by Fiskars, but there are also tons of dies out there too. I have one here somewhere but it’s hiding in the big move The hills are handcut scraps too!

*SVCAS=Sandy’s version of CAS

Can’t wait to show you guys the new room this afternoon! Don’t have a ticket yet? Get yours now!

My first project in the new workspace!

Posted on Apr 13, 2013 | 10 comments

Happpppppy weekend!! I’m so psyched the week is over – and my room is in the beginning stages of ORGANIZED!

I still have a ton of things to do – and buy! – but the basics are in. Today I hope to at least reassemble a little of the rest of the house now that the crafty and OWHy things aren’t taking over – I’m a little afraid to vacuum after 3 weeks of construction dust – there might be several vac bags full. LOL!

I did take a break last night to make my first project in the new room….and as I found scraps of paper allllll over with lists of Copic colors on them, I decided to create a repository for them instead! I hope to slide the images I color into pages, and jot the notes down on those pages – maybe that’ll help. At least if I don’t drop the book! ha!

So I just used a generic sketchbook, added a little paper, punched border, ribbon – and a fun stamped image from Saturated Canary! I kinda feel like her – shlepping my markers wherever I go! I colored her outfit with the colors in my new room

Copic colors: Skin – E51 E95 B41 BC000 E04; Hair – E39 E49 E19 YR14; outfit – Y17 (of course!) YR14 BG09 BG07BG04 BG02; Copic bodies are W6 with BV20, and the outline is W2. The marker caps are a smattering of colors.

I’m going to my stamp group for a short while today…I have a couple errands and want to get back and work on the room so it’s ready for the webcast tomorrow – at least a little bit more ready!

Mo Manning’s Adele

Posted on Apr 5, 2013 | 5 comments

TGIF, friends! It’s been one long week, hasn’t it? I’m just wiped…the renovation is just wearing on me. I don’t know how people survive with work lasting a month or more–I’ve lived through 2 weeks but won’t make it much longer! But as of last night, over half the floor is done, so maybe, just maybe, today will see the end of the laying of the flooring. (There’s a big battle to come with the manufacturer though – all the extra labor due to the terrible product is going to have to be covered by someone, and that someone is not me!)

I have a cheerful thank you card today…I could really use more thank you cards. Those and missing you. I have tons of everything else and need these to match up with them. The image is “Adele” by Mo Manning…lots of fun to color.

The papers are…oh man. Not sure. My stuff is a disaster, so I’m not even sure where the pad is, but this is from one of my new 6x6s. Copic colors: E79 E37 E99? Y26 Y32 B06 B04 YG97 W1 E53 E51 BV000

Enjoy your weekend!

Chocolate. Need chocolate.

Posted on Mar 28, 2013 | 7 comments

Thanks sooo much for all the birthday wishes yesterday – wow! Between my blog and fb I’ve been feelin’ the love

I didn’t do too much to celebrate….some friends at work went to lunch at Qdoba and I got to have my fave meal there – naked Queso burrito! Mmmmm good. After work I picked up the paint at Lowe’s, then dug into crazy piles of mail! I can tell it’s the end of a holiday season, I’m getting 4-6 tubs of mail every day! So I had a frozen pizza and did triage and sorting til 11:30…not too exciting of a birthday celebration, but at least I’m keeping up …I don’t have space to get behind. LOL!

Today’s card is ubersimple….I’m having a heck of a time finding mojo, much less my supplies, in this disaster of a house during the renovation! So I went to my sentiments stash, found a paper scrap, a little piece of ribbon, and a border punch. Yeep, I need to get things under control! And the card made me want chocolate…it’s been quite a stressful week with the renovation, even though the work and heavy lifting hasn’t been by me; I never quite expected to be this stressed out by being dislocated!

I’ve been trying all week to get sample cards done for the show tonight, and it took every bit of my energy to get ‘em done – tune in tonight and let me know what you think! I’ll be doing a colored pencil tutorial, and viewers can weigh in on the image that’ll be colored.

Ciara’s AnyHero card

Posted on Mar 19, 2013 | 11 comments

Renovation update (maybe this’ll be a daily?)….today I ordered the cabinets!! Got a good deal at a little place in Tacoma – super nice folks, anxious to beat what Home Depot gave me for an estimate. They didn’t come in below it, but totally upgraded the quality of the cabinet boxes, so I’m good with it. Ordered them – yeah!! First tangible thing purchased! Demolition guy is scheduled to start on Thursday, so I have a couple evenings to tackle moving everything out of the craft and shipping rooms. EEEP! And when someone asked how long it’s expected to take, and I said 10 days, she sent me this video…hoping it doesn’t happen here!

I’ve always wanted to have some cards “from” our little miss Ciara to send to our heroes. They just love her, since they get pictures of her in the boxes every time! So when Art Impressions came out with their DOGS line.…I just knew I needed the golden retriever! If you have a special critter of your own, see if they have your breed!

The sentiment is from one of the My Favorite Things sets – and I put it on my block in a “wave” to create the shaped sentiment. Added some Echo Park paper, some Hero Arts stars and a little May Arts ribbon, and it was just perfect! Copic colors: E44 Y32 YR24 E55 YR21 RV95

Pant pant pant

Posted on Feb 17, 2013 | 7 comments

Man oh man…I’m having a VCMP all my own. Or maybe it’s me and Kris who should have a VSP – Virtual Shippers Party! I’ve been stamping, tucking, and lining like mad for a good part of the day, then packing boxes….yeep! Where has the day gone!

I got some of the Disappearing Act challenge cards done though – quick n easy with a Fiskars stamp and punch, and a piece of Echo Park 12×12.

And I posted this owl last night as my failed attempt at the embossing challenge…I did add some pearl pen, it was just lookin’ lonely.

Got a video to get cranking on for the rest of the day, so probably no more VCMP cards for me…..but who knows. Maybe that’ll all go fast

Thanks!

Posted on Feb 15, 2013 | 6 comments

I had need of a card for a Copically-inclined friend, so got to use this darling Saturated Canary image…it’s called Color Me Wonderful, and it really IS wonderful! (Link below!)

Copics: Skin E51 E11 B41 BV000 E04;  Clothing BV01 BV11 BG07 B69 B06 BG13 R21 C2; hair E79 E39 YR27 outlined in BG90

I’ve had a bunch of assignments I’m working on but finally got rolling on the pdf for the next ICSE class next Saturday – have you signed up yet? I’m still in testing mode, classes are still just a buck – and you get a downloadable pdf showing 12 colored images with various combinations of colors and lighting! Details are HERE.