2019 - A New Year of Hope and Promise

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, full of family and friends and love and all of the magic that makes the Christmas season so memorable.  And I hope you had children in some of your seasonal activities, because they truly and honestly exemplify the true magic and meaning of Christmas with their innocent delight and joy.  I hope you found many reasons to smile and appreciate every moment.

As you can seem this is starting out a little reflective, but it's how I get (usually) the beginning of a new year.  I have given up on resolutions (whats the point?!?) but I do try to set some goals for myself in a more meaningful way.  I want to do better and be better in my daily life and interactions with family and friends.  I want to handle challenges with strength and determination and not buckle under the weight of them, at times.  I want to be present in all that I do and more focused.  I am working on that with my new planner - building in tasks that I can complete and being careful not to set myself up for failure.  I am looking ahead to each month and picking one task that I can complete (like deep cleaning i.e. purging excess in one room each month).  If I look at it monthly, it's not so overwhelming and it doesn't stop me before I get started.  I am learning.

And I realize, even at the age of 65, I am still a work in progress and I hope I will always be as that keeps me going.  And the older I get, the more I want time with family and friends.  I want to cherish every moment and take it all in.  I want to be the best me that I can.  Staying focused will help with that.

 I am as committed as ever to card making, cooking, baking and learning new things.  I love the challenges and gently pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  So I hope to share more that will motivate you to venture out of your comfort zone too as that can be so scary and so exciting and fulfilling at the same time!

Enough about me and my thoughts...........as this post is also about beginning anew.  A year ago Friday, my daughter in law lost her beautiful, strong and vibrant sister, Darcy, to that awful disease - cancer.  It has been a tough year, but she and Scott have managed to embrace the present and move into the future with renewed hope and love (and with baby #2 on the way, that helps).

I knew Friday was going to be a difficult day,  so I wanted to send her a special card to convey how much I love her and am thinking of her.

Megan loves lilies so I wanted to incorporate them in the card.  This embossing folder seemed the perfect solution.  I gently went over the image in several colors of embossing mouse (gilding wax might have been better but I was temporarily without it) so I did the next best thing.

 I foiled the sentiment on vellum and love how that came out.

And I added one little embellishment - see the tiny gold ladybug on the lily?  Before Darcy passed, she told Megan to share with her daughter and Carter, that whenever they saw a ladybug, that was Darcy looking over them.  So I wanted to add a special ladybug to this card as a special tribute to Darcy.

So hard to believe a whole year has gone by.

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Up, Up and Away -

My neighbor celebrated his 65 birthday in quite a memorable way. One of his sons is training to become a commercial pilot up in Alaska, and he flew down for the day to take his Dad (and each member of the family) up in his plane for a short flight over the city.  What fun it was for all of them and what a great way to celebrate a landmark birthday!

I love this stained glass image.    The pattern was traced and cut with the Silver Bullet Platinum.  With the new two tool capability, I was able to "write" the greeting and cut out the label around it without having to change anything. What used to be a painstaking task to switch out the pen for the cutting blade all while trying not to move the image, became effortless with the two tools in place at the same time.  And it was quick too - I loved it and plan to do a lot more!

Acetate was used around the picture to add to the look of stained glass.

It was fun to pick out a variety of papers to fill in the sections of the 

hot air balloon picture and give it interest (and it was a great way to use up

some of those accumulated paper scraps!!)

I added white sparkle Flower Soft to the vellum clouds to give them

added interest and texture.  This was a really fun card to make

and it was totally appreciated by the recipient!

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A Bright and Fun Congratulations Card

I am so lucky to be involved with many organizations that do so much good in our beautiful city - particularly for the youth.  One of my passions is working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside.  They do such amazing work for the youth in our community and I am truly honored to be a part of that.  As a side note, it is interesting how things come full circle in life.  In the 1960s, my father was part of the group of businessmen who started the Boys Club in Oceanside (back then it was just for males!!)  And he stayed involved most of his life.  So how special is it for me to now be on the board and help follow in his footsteps and also follow my own passion - I am all about the youth in our community and exposing them to as much as we can.  I want them to know that they can do whatever they want - they only have to reach for it.

Every year in our club (and in most Boys & Girls Clubs), a youth of the year is chosen.  That youth goes on to compete in the county competition against other youth in the area, and then the winner goes on to State, then Regional, then National.  It is an amazing opportunity and at the National level, there is a lot of scholarship money available to the winner.  Last year our youth of the year won the County and then became the California State Youth of the Year.  This year, we did it again!!!  Our 16 year old incredible young woman won San Diego County and then recently won the State competition.  We are so very proud of her.  She will go on to the regional completion and compete against youth from Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and a few other states I cannot remember right now!!  So exciting for her and what an opportunity for growth, win or lose.

She was planning to attend board meeting last week, so I wanted to make her a card from the Board to let her know just how proud we are of her.  This was super fun to make because it was different than the get well or birthday cards that I usually do.  I am super happy with how it came out. I hope you like it too!

Here you can see a closeup of the glitter and foil - 

both challenging to capture the sparkle beauty!

The background foiled image was actually a negative piece left over from another project. I had used Gina K's Foil Mates with the stars, so this was fun to add to the feeling of celebration - and the fact that she IS a star!!

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Sending Words of Sympathy

I have talked about it before.... making a sympathy card is without a doubt the most difficult card to make.  And there are certainly situations that make it even harder.  This was one of those times.

I have been blessed to have a lot of warm and wonderful people enter my life.  The dear lady who is the recipient of this card is truly one of my guardian angels. She came into my life when I moved back to CA after having lived in Arizona for 12 years.  I was not in the strongest physical shape and needed a part time caregiver.  That is when this special woman created a "forever spot" in my heart.  She not only helped me for a year (I was in wheelchair at the time and couldn't drive) but she challenged me to live - really live and reach for all that I could do.  Over time and a lot of tough love on her part, I found the will and the strength to leave the wheelchair behind and fight the system to drive again.  She saw the strength inside of me even when I couldn't, or didn't want to.  I owe her so much.  And even though we mutually ended the employer/employee relationship, we have remained close friends for the past ten years.

A week ago I received a very short email from her. She is now in her 80s,  but living a full and active life. Sadly she shared that her oldest son had recently passed away and that the healing would now begin.  My heart ached for her and I felt/feel so helpless.  So this card is for her - this special lady who was a transforming light in my life.   I hope it reminds her that she is dearly loved...now and forever...

God bless you and your family.....

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Happy Anniversary Scott and Megan!

Where does the time go?  It doesn't seem possible that my oldest son and his wife have now been married THREE years and are expecting their first baby in a few more months.  Life is just flying by too darn fast!

The card I decided to make them started out one way in my head and had quite a few adjustments along the way. The pattern is beautiful and intricate and is the work of Mary (Sophisticutz).  She has a variety of card patterns on the Thyme Graphics website.

I have never done a folded card like this so once it was made, I was not sure how to add a message.  So rather than create more work, I simply turned the card  into an embellishment and made a larger card!  I wasn't sure if it would lay correctly, but the right amount of foam tape made it all fit together!

The beautiful red cardstock used as the base is the incandescent line from Paper Temptress. The white lattice mini card is cut from the laser luster and then I just added a greeting at the bottom, all cut from the Silver Bullet Professional. The letters are very thin and the machine cut each of them out perfectly from text weight paper. I love being able to cut what I want and not have to rely on dies for whatever I need.

Hope the kids have a wonderful anniversary........  next year they will be sharing it with a precious little one!

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Simple Sympathy Cards

Unfortunately I have needed some sympathy cards lately.  This first card has a background design from Birds Cards cut out of Duck Brand vinyl (it looks marbled).  The card also needed very little as the background was so detailed - just a Prima flower and a stamped sentiment completed it simply.

Once again the Silver Bullet Professional handles the detailed file with ease....

I love using this ornate cross from Mamaw's Legacy (no longer available) - it is one of the most elegant crosses I have found and cuts like a dream.     There is little I need to add other then the sentiment. 

The paper is the incandescent from Paper Temptress.It has beautiful subtle slivers of gold through it...

 Just some simple pearls adorn the cross.

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Get Well for a Dear Friend

A very special friend has been recovering from surgery and I finally got this card in the mail to her.  I hope it makes her smile.  This is one of those projects that looked one way in my head and entirely different when it was all done.

I started with the focal point - the doily from one of Monica's files - and cut it out from Paper Temptress glimmer paper.

Monica's Doily (#91) and two shadow layers

I made a very thin lattice background to help the doily stand out a little (I need to learn to plan it out first rather than adapt as I go!)

The negative space left from the very thin lattice cut for the background (see photo below). Yes I forgot to take a separate photo of the lattice before it was glued on!

I added different sizes of turquoise and light green rhinestones for the finishing touches.  Even though this was a get well card, it would work for any occasion.

The finished card set on incandescent card stock from Paper Temptress. (note the thin lattice 

over the black card stock, cut, peeking out on the sides!)

A close up of the final product!  Hope you like it.

Get Well my friend!

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Family Birthday Cards...... Part One - My Oldest Son!

This is the time of year when I really need to be looking ahead as I have three family birthdays in the span of a month.... my oldest son, my youngest granddaughter, and my daughter .  I am usually ahead of the curve, but not this year.  With my daughter and granddaughters visiting the week before Easter, it really threw off my timing, not to mention that Easter was SO late this year.

So last week I started on my granddaughter's card because let's face it - kids cards are SO much easier to do than adult cards.  And for me, female cards are TEN times easier than a card for a male. So poor Scott already had two strikes against him.  And it wasn't until I got about halfway through a card I needed for May, that the realization set in that I had not started my son's card yet and it needed to get in the mail.  Yikes! The panic was on!

He loves all things Disney (yes even at the age of 39, you don't outgrow Mickey Mouse and all of his friends), and is an avid golf player, but I felt like I had exhausted those topics in previous years!  So I looked and I looked and I looked. I went through all of my stamps, digi and rubber. I searched through my endless collection of card sketches and books with card ideas.  Nothing.  Even Pinterest failed me - so I knew I was in serious trouble at this point!  Finally after stepping away from it, I just decided that the greeting was the most important thing and keeping it simple was probably a good idea.

Before I go on to the card portion, I just have to say that I can hardly believe that 39 years have passed. I can remember the anticipation, fear, excitement, worry - all of those emotions that come tumbling in at once, as if it was yesterday.  The fear was because he was a big baby and he was losing oxygen fast, so they did an emergency c-section. I was terrified, but he was healthy and beautiful.  It was a tumultuous first month as the two grandmothers took care of him most of that time as I ended back in the hospital with an infection and it was touch and go for a while.  But we clearly had a happy ending.  There is nothing like your first born.  All of your children are special, but that first one is truly that first miracle - and there is nothing in the world like that experience.  He is all of my hopes and dreams wrapped into one wonderful person.  Thank God he has a sister and brother so all of the pressure is not on him!!  I love him dearly.

Now, onto the card....

You can see the detail of the letters cut with the Silver Bullet Professonal.

I had to do a closeup of the papers as they are so beautiful with the gold flecks running through them.  The red and blue are from the incandescent line from Paper Temptress.  

And the tone on tone white striped paper creating the lattice work is from the luster line.  

I love how these papers make everything look so special.

And here is the final product.  The file is from Birds Cards - it is her Card Cover series.  I altered it a little and added the greeting.  The buttons were made with the Epiphany Crafts Shape Punch (cuts the shape and attaches an adhesive dome to the paper shape). I have had that punch forever and realized it was time to use the tools I have!   The red and blue twine is American Crafts.

So here you have it - a very simple card, done in the colors of  his alma mater (University of Arizona). It isn't my best work, but it is full of love and I hope that is enough.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOTT!!

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One More Sympathy Card...

Am back with one more sympathy card.

The next one is utilizing a file I really like (cannot remember where I got it )!  I have used it before with an acrylic and glitter background and it cuts like a dream. There is something so serene about  a gentle hummingbird flitting gracefully  from flower to flower.  I am highlighting a closeup of the hummingbird feathers because of the detailed cut I was able to get with the Silver Bullet Professional.  You can see how minute those feathers are and the machine just sped through those.  I always worry when I have it cutting so fast that it may not be able to handle the details if there are a lot and/or they are tiny, but it never disappoints.  The cardstock is from the incandescent line (candido and nero) from Paper Temptress - they both have what looks like thin gold threads woven through the paper.  It is so elegant and why I chose the gold pearl accents for the hummingbird eye and the flower.  I used a gold leaf pen to get that rich gold color.

I think this is one of my favorite cards.

Wanted to share this closeup so you can see the fine detail of the cut - 

so exact and 

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Snowy Cards

"Oh where oh where did my mojo go? Oh where oh where can it be?............"

Boy it's been a  LONG time since I even felt like I wanted to make a card, let along execute it.  So I think I have been cooking and baking to fill the void, but that doesn't work.  They are two entirely different kinds of creativity and one doesn't replace the other.

Well I think I am finally in a bit of a transition.  I actually cut out a few things today on my Silver Bullet Professional (I still so love that machine), and believe it or not, I used the pen tool "officially" for the first time!  That is embarrassing to admit. I have played around with it, but never really settled in and used it.  Wow - I love it!  Just have to remember to switch to WYSIWYG when I do that so it actually writes in the correct place! Don't ask........

This was the year I was going to make Christmas cards. It has been YEARS since I have done that. It was also the year I was going to finish a project for the three kids that has been in my head forever.  Note the use of the word "WAS".  Yes, unfortunately maybe next  year will be the year.  Darn it all - I really want to create the project for the kids and just have to set aside the time and DO IT!  But I seem to get so busy the last half of the year with volunteer commitments that personal projects go by the wayside. Maybe the coming year I can focus and get most of the work done early so there is not a lot left the last half of the year. That remains to be seen.... well enough of my whining. Here's to a productive 2014!! :)

For now, I have to be content with a few cards. This snowflake background pattern is from Birds Cards (her files cut so well) and the snowflake embellishments are also hers. I should have written down what font I used on the tag.....oops!

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Happy Birthday, Scott!

My oldest son just celebrated his birthday..... he turned ??.  It still puzzles me how I could possibly have a child that age (the card below gives away the details .... I just don't want to admit it in print!

Scott LOVES to golf.....I mean he loves EVERYTHING about it and would probably be on the course every single day if he could afford not to work and be a man of leisure.  His wife is an avid golfer too, so that makes it nice.

I have made him many birthday cards, using the golf theme and I thought I could not possibly do one more.....I had exhausted all ideas until I thought of a golf cart.  So it's not the most ingenious card I have ever made, but it works!

His sister-in-law was married last Saturday ON his birthday, so we have not celebrated yet.  But since he is not reading my blog  *gasp* - I think I am safe in posting the details!!

Once I found the golf cart image on line, I traced it in Sure Cuts a Lot Pro and cut it out with my Silver Bullet Pro using Paper Temptress mica paper. I also cut out a shadow layer to make it pop a little.

I then printed a birthday greeting on the outside of the card using a laser printer and then ran it through my Foilmaster with gunmetal foil to give it a nice sheen. I like how it turned out.

The added pennant is just a simple triangle cut out of incandescent card stock from Paper Temptress.  The wheels are embellished with silver brads that have been colored with a black Spectrum Noir marker.  It's simple, but I hope he will enjoy it!

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A Special Friend - times two! (part 1)

I am lucky enough to live in the town where I was born.  I doubt everyone would feel that way, but I love this part of Southern California.  I had to leave and live in Arizona for 12 years to fully appreciate how wonderful it was.

And in living in the same city, I have been fortunate to have retained some amazing friendships - both with those who were friends of my parents, and my own friends.  One such friend was in and out of my life through most of my growing up years. We went to different schools, but her grandparents lived across the street from my parents, so we had a great time whenever she would visit. My parents cared for her grandparents as they aged, and many years later her parents lived in that same home and cared for my parents.  It was beautiful.  So when I returned to the area in the early 2000s, I rekindled a friendship with both the daughter, who is my age, and the mother.

And both need cards this week. The daughter has a birthday on Thursday, and the mother is failing in health and I was long overdue to make a special card for her.

So the "thinking of you" card is first on my list.  She loves the ocean and lives not far from it, so I turned to the wonderful shell files of Dominic. If you have not seen his files yet, you have to check them out.  They cut beautifully on my Silver Bullet and the detail is incredible.

And as usual, I turned to my papers from The Paper Temptress.  I absolutely adore her papers, especially the mica papers.  I have every color in the text and card weight.  Yes I collect them!

I wanted a little texture on the shell so used a marble stamp cube that I turn to often from Stampendous. And here are the results using the cube, Versamark and Ranger's Perfect Pearls.

I really like the textured feel that this stamp gives to the paper.  And here it is fresh off the Silver Bullet Professional -

A different view

I love the pairing of Dominic's detailed files and the intricacy of the Silver Bullet.  It makes me feel like I can create anything!


And here is the finished product with three layers of Paper Temptress papers - Incandescent Blanco (White) for the card base, Mica Cappuccinio text for the shell and Mica Bronze behind it.   The stamp is from Verve; yes I collect those too!

I hope this brings some cheer to her day.

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