Sneaking out of the Northwoods and into Europe! 

Last July, my daughter, Cherie, and I went on an adventure to Europe. We had a marvelous time traveling together. We visited London, Amsterdam, Lucern, & Paris. We had a super time in Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Oh my, what an adventure we had!

 We encountered a surprise! It was raining, and they marched right past us on their way back to barracks.

At night, the Eiffel Tower glitters with a zillion lights! It does not show its glory in my photographs. You will have to go see it for yourself!

I am an Aquarius. I love the water. So, we took a boat cruises to see some of the sights. So many lovely sights. I took tons of photos.....now to organize them into a scrapbook! That will be my next project. Right after I make my niece's Bridal shower invites!                                Sneaking off.................

The trees outside were frosted white this morning. So elegant! So pretty! And, I left without my camera. Silly me.....

I have been meaning to post some of the cards I am having fun making. I have yet so many more to do. I found myself "empty handed" at work the other day. No card to present to the Birthday Girl. So, I am on a mission to fill up my file at work with cards to present to my co-workers on such important occasions. Here is my start;

My work area is literally 1/2 of what it used to be. My storage is down to 1/2 as well. Makes creating a bit more of a project.... but on the other hand, I am happy to share my craft room with my lovely daughter. She will be here for only another 3 months or so.... then she will be moving to Hawaii. Poor thing. I guess I will have to visit her as often as I can when she is in Hawaii. I do not want her to be sitting around doing nothing.....  Oh, what a lucky girl she is!

 For my 59th birthday, I did something daring! Oh yes, I had my pedi done sparkly blue polish! How brave is that?

 I have two nieces getting married in 2012. I just made the invitations for the Family Bridal Shower. Each one is  bit different, with colors, etc. This was a fun project, thanks to my daughter, Cherie, who guides me through the use of my Cricut.

Now to think of the decorations I can make for the event! 
                                                                                        Sneaking off..................

Our Minnesota weather has been so mild thus far, that I have not spent much time blogging. I have done a bit of card making in my craft room though on those days when the ice froze the walkways and my body went into hibernation mode.

I have two lovely nieces getting married in 2012. One is in May, and the other in July. They are sisters. I have the honor of addressing the invitations. I am also hosting a Bridal Shower for each niece. I just finished making the invitations for the first bride's shower, to be held a month from now!

This is a photo of my Cricut work space area.......

I used Sei ' white elegance' cardstock in pearl strand for the background of the dresses. I used Sei white elegance in Tiara, for the dress layer on some of the cards, and used 'doodlebug design', lily white serenade cardstock for some of the other dress layers on cards. I also utilized some of the white textured design scraps I had for the dress layer on a few cards. So, as you can see, each of the cards is different in more ways than one! The dress was bonded onto a 5-1/2 X 4-1/2 inch rectangle of assorted plain colored cardstock. (Pink, green, turquiose, aqua...) The curly frame is from Cricut, Formal Occasion cartridge.I cut it in 4-3/4 inch size, using assorted plain colors, and a K & Company paper (teal blue swiss dot). The "You're Invited" is cut from my daughter's Cricut cartridge, "Sophisticated". I found the 2 inch size worked best on the plain colored cardstock. The back (reverse side) was left plain so that I could add the information on text weight ivory paper. I mailed the invites in plain ivory or white envelopes. I must say, my niece was pleased! I can't wait for the fun we will have at her shower!
                                                                                                                   Sneaking off.......

I belong to the most wonderfully fun Tea Group, Visions in Red. When I turned 50, my girlfriends thought we should become "Red Hatters", hence the name, Visions in Red. We soon found out that the Red Hat movement was not for us. We lean more towards the Victorian Tea experience. Our belief is that one should take tea with friends, indulging in special treats & friendship. This is a process NOT to be rushed. So, we enjoy our monthly tea events, dressing up, and wearing our special going to tea hats. In fact, we have only ONE rule: You must wear a HAT to tea! We have each taken the name of a favorite grandmother to use as our special tea name. I am Queen Mum Hannah. Queen Mum was dubbed to me, as I am the founder of the tea group. My lovely sister-in-law, Nettie Princess of Etiquette, has graciously organized our February tea event at one of our favorite tea houses. This is a Valentine Tea, to which we are to bring a valentine card to exchange. I am posting a few of the cards I have made. I only need to bring one to tea, but I can't just stop at one when I am in my craft room! Now that I look at these cards, I may have to work on some more....maybe more of a Victorian style card with ribbons, lace, and buttons. But I still like these.      

I used a pastel pink cardstock from Stampin Up for my base layer. The white strip is a lovely sparkle paper, which obviously did not photograph well for me. I used my Cricut cartridge, Home Decor, to cut the pink, brown, and white hearts. The dark pink heart is made from Bazzill Basics paper in a pink swiss dot. (also doesn't show in the photo.) I utilized some old stickers I had in my sticker box for the rest, and then my daughter gave me some of her Glam Rocks hearts to adhere.
I am going to have to write down the names of the papers and their colors for my next project. I am still new to this, so please bear with me. Can you teach an Old Dog new tricks?

I found this fun tea cup ribbon at Michaels. It is part of their Celebrate It line. I bought the ribbon and decided to create this card around it. The backing for this card is the Stampin' Up light pink cardstock. I made the cards square to use up my pink Archiver's square envelopes. Chocolate Brown Stampin' Up cardstock layers atop the pink base. I then used the sparkly white cardstock for the third square layer. To soften the look of the card, I used a light pink handmade fiber paper from Dancing Colors. This type of paper was big about 20 years ago, and I was actually into making my own paper back then....which is very messy to do! Atop this handmade paper, I put my cupcake. Using my Cricut, Home Decor cartridge, I cut out the cupcake in teh chocolate brown, then cut it out in the lovely sparkly white paper that doesn't photograph well. I glued the white cut out over the chocolate brown base to make it look like a muffin paper. To add some pop to the chocolate cupcake top, I outlined it in Cinnamon Stickles. I taped down my teacup ribbon, and then glued the brown and white layered cardstock squares  to the pink square. I then attached my Home Decor cartridge hearts. The chocolate brown FRIEND was cut from my Cricut Sentimentals cartridge. Needing more glam, I attached three adhesive backed heart rhinestones from the Recollections line. I like sparkle!

To end my Valentine cardmaking day, I found an old set of red & black stickers in my old sticker bin. Waste not, want not. I decided to create a red & black card. Using Stampin' Up red and black cardstock. I made a standard 4-3/4 X 6-3/4 card for a 5X7 envelope. The ladybug sticker was already layered onto the black & white tag. I just added a bit of white ribbon. The red hearts were cut from my Emagination punch. The little silver stickers : top one says Girlfriend, and the second one says You Are Special. I added the Recollections adhesive backed heart rhinestones for dazzle, and added the key and heart sticker, which is from my old sticker collection box. I believe these old stickers were a Mark Richards collection.
The red cardstock base is attached to a pre-made card. I added an extra red heart with rhinestone to the card in lieu of a postage stamp. This card will be hand delivered.                    Sneaking off.....

Happy New Year! 

2012

I am working on updating my card inventory for the New Year. I have decided that with my new Cricut and the lovely cartridges I got for Christmas, I will be able to make my own cards. I started out with making cards without my Cricut. My next plan is to use the Cricut to see what amazing things I can do. Here are a few of my non-Cricut made cards;

I like the yummy color combinations of pink and brown. I made this card with a soft pink cardstock, chocolate brown cardstock, ivory cardstock, and a brown and white swiss dot cardstock. I stamped the "party hearty!" on a piece of ivory cardstock using chocolate brown ink. I hand cut the cupcakes and used my utility knife to cut the slats in the bottom of the cupcake to make it look like the accordian cupcake papers. The frosting is the same pink cardstock, which I adhered over the brown cutouts using a 1/2 inch glue dot on each. I added pink beads for sprinkles on the cupcakes. I put a pink textured ribbon and tied a knot, cutting the ends to look like a bow. I glued this brown card piece onto the pink cardstock then adhered it to a white pre-made card.

On this Valentine's Day card, I used pink cardstock with a shimmery pink hart pattern paper. The pre-made sticker with it's little red heart jewel rests on black cardstock over a black and gold swirl ribbon.

I am using up my Stampin' Up cardstock. Here I used a brown cardstock, layering on top a soft pink cardstock. I put a brown and pink pattern piece I had in my "leftovers" file. I then put down a pink ribbon. Over the ribbon, I layered brown cardstock with green piece to which I stamped "find joy in the little things". I then stitched ivory white stitching on the top and down the right edge about halfway. I layered a piece of the brown with ivory white. I stamped three green stems and two flowers on this white piece. I stamped a third flower on another piece of the ivory white cardstock, cutting it out and pasting it at the end of the stem to give a 3-D look. Over this, I put down a pink ribbon. I glued this work piece to the card, overlaying it on the brown and green piece. I then tied and glued a little brown bow onto the floral piece. Once dried, I glued it all to an off white pre-made card.

I really enjoy making cards and I do not duplicate my creations. I am thinking maybe with the Cricut I can make up some multiples. This may be the year to make some changes. I love to give cards as gifts, and my friends tell me they really appreciate receiving them!    
                                                                                                             Sneaking off.............

Colors in Nature

I find the colors in nature inviting me to incorporate their hues into my designs. The photo is one I took of a sunset in at our lake place in Northern Minnesota a few years ago. It remains a favorite photo of mine. The warm colors of the sunset are energetic and the shadows, exciting. Maybe even disturbing, yet I find them calming. We are on Sacred land. I am sure this is not a once in a lifetime sunset. What did our ancestors think of when they saw the sky turn orange, pink, and red? I recall the saying my mother frequently used when the sunset turned the clouds into cotton candy pink; "Pink sky at night, sailors delight". This sunset was unlike the cotton candy sunsets I have witnessed. I truly do not recall what the weather was like the following day, but this sunset remains in my memory as one of the prettiest I have ever seen.
                                                                                                Sneaking off......into the sunset.

Nature Journal

I finally have my blog together, well sort of together….anyhow, now I can post my Nature Journal project. I plan to use this journal to log my bird and animal sightings. I am hoping to be able to log a Loon family this spring. Last year, the Loon family lost their two hatchlings to a pair of Eagles, so I am really hoping 2012 will be a better year for the Loons on my lake!

I used the Cricut Expression with the Campin Critters cartridge. My first try at the Cricut. I am hooked.

Sneaking off……