I'm Back!

Well, I haven't really been gone.  Much.  A few travels, but otherwise still here in central Illinois.  I've just not had the time/energy for posting on my blog.  But as the kids start their second quarter of the school year I find that I have both the time and something I'd like to share.

Nicole is very into Halloween, and has been wanting to do a Halloween party for the last few years.  This year I said, "yes," and here is the invitation:

Nicole loved it, and helped make them all:

Hope you are all enjoying nice autumn weather!

Shared Space

There's a new artists' co-op in Urbana that opened up this week:  Shared Space (123 W. Main).  It's right in the middle of the downtown block that features other great galleries and fun and funky stores and restaurants, so make some time to check it out!

The brainchild of my friend and Holiday Market booth partner, Marlene Mahon, this nice space is a great place to stop in for cool, affordable, and locally-made items!  Lots of jewelry, the fabulous zippered pouches by our friend, Jennifer, and my cards and gift items, too.

New Toys!

One benefit to having done the Holiday Market is I feel I can indulge my itch for new stamps and tools a bit more freely...Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration freebies help, too!  In between cardmaking sessions I've been doing my normal homeschooling and housekeeping gig, and volunteering for PTA and Community Center for the Arts.  Oh, yeah, and running down to St. Louis for a big-time medical test.  You know I was tired the other night when, after dinner, I could have spent the evening with my new toys but I opted to go to bed!

Here's some of what I've been working on the last few weeks (all of these are available to purchase - contact me if you're interested):

This is a square easel card, shown both closed and then propped open.  The papers are identical on both parts - they just look different in the lights.

A few simple valentines.

Here's what Chrissy came up with for Stamp Club in January:

I liked this layout enough to case it for a valentine: 

 

While I was waiting for the order to come from Stampin' Up! I played around with a few challenges:

Splitcoast's Clean and Simple Cards had a White, Teal + 1 other color challenge:

This one is a sketch from MojoMonday.  I'm holding off on a sentiment or another image until I know what to use it for.

Here are a couple of versions of this MojoMonday sketch:

And I played a bit with the "Black Magic" technique:

Another neat sketch I case'd...

I needed a birthday card for a 1st grade boy and came across this layout online...

And finally my new toys arrived!  I've loved this set since the current catalog came out last July:

And I surprised myself by really wanting this ultra-feminine one:

New edge punch used on these, too!

I've got a few more new sets that I haven't inked up yet, but wanted to get this backlog posted.  

Happy New Year!

Just as we start to get into the swing of things again Mother Nature gives us another holiday.  We got a total of 6 inches or so of dry powder, with a nice, stiff breeze to blow it into big drifts.  School was cancelled, as were our evening activities, so I got to play around with Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge #57.




As I've said before, I love her work for its clean lines and wonderful use of color.  She used to have these color inspirations quite frequently, but gave them up this fall to focus on other things.  Many people were excited to have another one appear on her blog this week.

These colors spoke to me, but it still took me quite a while to come up with a way to use them that I liked.  I really wanted to evoke the same feel as the fabrics in her photograph, not just use the colors.

I dunno - I may just need to try again.

Mojo Monday Magic

On Sunday Nicole and I went to the local production of The Nutcracker at the Krannert Center.  We knew several of the dancers, but two in particular:  the dancer who portrayed Clara has gone to school with Andrew for years, and one of the toy soldiers was the daughter of a friend of mine who has become one of Nicole's playmates.  It was a fantastic production, with the sets, costumes and dancing that you'd see in a large city.

We didn't take either girl flowers that afternoon...but I thought of doing cards with these great Fifth Avenue Floral roses...had them all stamped and embossed and cut out and was playing around with a layout when the Mojo Monday Sketch for this week came out.  Voilá!

The Start of the Christmas Season

Here are Tom Turkey's successors!

They seemed to be a big hit at the Holiday Market today.  Foot traffic and sales were down from the last 2 weeks, but veteran vendors said that they've seen this other years on Thanksgiving weekend.  It was also a beautiful day (into the upper 50s) which I bet kept some folks outside instead of (more?) shopping.

The Christmas tree farm we like was certainly hopping when we got there late this afternoon.  Like I said, the great weather drew people outside.  Coming home with our tree in the dusk we saw evidence of all the light-hanging activity that happened over the last few days.  Andrew begged off this year's tree hunt, so Nicole was happy to do the honors:

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the energy to start pulling out holiday decorations.  In the meantime I'm heading for bed!

Holiday Market Week 2

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope your holiday is happy, healthy and bountiful!

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New Layout:  The previous one was being balky when I tried to edit it. We'll see how this one fares.

New Feature:  In the right column you'll find a link to my online card gallery.  I'll still post new things in individual posts, but this will give people a resource to turn to when they want to find something.  Fellow crafters, feel free to CASE (since I probably did, too!).

Blog & Gallery Subscriptions:  Did you know you can get an email when I post a new blog entry and/or photo in the gallery?  Click on the RSS button in your browser (often up by the web address, I believe).

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Last Saturday Marlene and I were joined by our friend, Jennifer, who makes fabulous small bags/pouches out of gorgeous fabrics.  Thanks to Marlene, she had been assigned the booth next to ours, and the three of us decided to set up as one large booth.  Her colorful display drew lots of customers!  She'll be back with us on Saturday, December 12.  In the meantime, you can check out her wares at www.inmyvastsparetime.com.

I have made and sold 45 of the Tom Turkey Treats pictured above.  They use the new SU! Sweet Treat Cups and a variety of die cuts and punches (not to mention a gajillion googly-eyes and Jelly Bellys).  Stay tuned to see what will replace good ol' Tom at this week's market!

While at the market I like to have a little something to work on when I'm not helping customers...the first week I assembled Tom Turkeys, last week I stamped and colored snowmen for this card.  It also uses a Sweet Treat Cup, but this time as a faux snow globe.

 
On Sunday several crafting friends came by and we had a marathon card-making session.  Glenn helped me set up numerous tables throughout our basement both for individual work places and for a stamp-washing station, cutting station, Cuttlebug center, embossing center, etc.  Much creative production and fun was had by all.

Want to stop by and craft?  Just let me know!