More birthday cards

Apparently many parents were

cuddling up keeping warm during

the cooler weather and lots

of summer babies were conceived...

Lots of birthdays in July and August.

This is for a cousin, using some of the

feather die cuts that my friend, Karen,

sent me.  I think it turned out pretty well. 
I hope she likes red!!

A gate fold card with a neat

closure.  A lot of the time I will

put a "belly band" on a gate

fold which is a band that goes

around the middle of the card

to keep it closed.  They tend to 

want to pop open otherwise.

I need to use up this barnwood

paper as I'm getting VERY tired of

it and I need to buy more.  But

I have so much paper already

that I can't justify it until I 

get rid of some of the other.

Besides, Karen and I are supporting

one another in not buying anymore

craft items- for a little while  anyway.

Right after I ordered another die

set....I had to have something to

tide me over, right?!

I heard thunder this morning!

It didn't last long and we aren't

really getting a lot of rain, but right

now we will take anything we can

get.  The grass is turning brown.

I love summer for all the green

trees, grass, etc. and now it's tuning

brown.  Time for a good rain. From

my lips to God's ears.

Childhood toys

Who played with an etch a 

sketch when they were kids?

I did and it was incredibly

frustrating.  Not only can I

not draw a straight line with

a ruler, but it's nearly impossible

to do it on an etch a sketch

even if I could...But

thanks to the incredible talent

of other card makers, I 

can make an etch a sketch

card!  I think it turned out 

pretty well.  It's a birthday 

card for my grandson, 

Bradley, who's birthday

is August 11, same day

as my parents' anniversary!

It almost looks real, doesn't it?

It looks like it might rain today.  We

need it so badly.  The grass is brown.

That hasn't stopped my cherry tree, 

though.  It's bowed down with

cherries!  I've had two people

picking and still tons more.  I'm 

going to have to recruit my neighbors

to help.  My dad went to eat

one the other day and found a

worm, lol.  I've probably

eaten one or two because I

didn't look, but hey, in other

countries they eat worms, 

bugs, all kinds of critters and

don't think a thing of it.  His

is the only complaint I've had...

Blackboard technique

Before I get to the cards, I want

to pay a tribute.  I "met" a wonderful

lady in England, Lynne.  We talked

on the phone a couple of times and

exchanged atc's (artist trading cards)

envelopes for them and other things.

She died from complications of

brittle diabetes among other health

issues.  She was a beautiful

person and an amazing artist

in many different types of art.

She will be missed.

I don't think I have quite gotten

this technique down, but here are

the attempts I've made, lol.

The birthday card says on the inside,

"you're only young once.  You can be

immature for a lifetime"!  Love it!

Playing with the northern lights technique

again.  I like it except I brought the

"stars" down too far.  I should have put

the mask up a little higher.  Oh, well.  I

think it looks pretty realistic-

from a distance!!  I showed one

to my dad once.  He lived in Alaska

for a number of years at Elmendorf

Air Force base and he said it didn't

look anything like the northern lights.

I told him it was artistic license!  Besides,

what do men know anyway?  John

was at the same base, different time,

of course, and said it looked pretty

great.  When he died I lost my

biggest supporter.

I'm going to lunch with my friend,

LuAnn today.  She is my DIL's

mom.  The kids say they have

an arranged marriage.  We used to

work together and would joke that

it would be cool if they would get

married someday.  Well, this August 

will be their 7th anniversary!

And no babies......

I don't think they ever plan to have kids.

Back to the beginning.

When I began this journey of art

I began with ATC's which are

Artist Trading Cards.  I belong to

a very large group which, sadly

I am not very active in, but for

a long time I traded extensively.

After a while it led to scrapbooking

and finally card making which is what

I enjoy the most.

So my friend, Karen, and I

decided we would swap atc's.

My muse flew the coop and

I couldn't come up with anything

for the past two days.  So then 

I wake up at about 2 am (not sleeping

well these days, again.) and there

she is!  Crazy broad.  Anyway,

I was able to come up with 

3 that I absolutely love and

hopefully she will too.

I think I should have put the palm trees

down further but it took me three

tries to get the sunset right

and when I messed up the stamping

I was frustrated.  So hopefully she 

doesn't mind too much. 

Your special day

I said i was going to be making

a lot of birthday cards this

month, so here's another.  I'm

not thrilled with it because I

didn't think about the fact that

the markers would bleed through.

It doesn't look horrible, I guess.

Next time I'm going to do it on

a separate piece and then mount

it on the card.  I also think I'm going

to try to do it the way the tutorial 

was shown, with a clear stamp to I can 

outline emboss it on the front of the

vellum, but it's my first time so oh, well!

It's an OK card, but I don't know

if I will send it or re-do it.

Sadie is enjoying the kleenex box the

vet suggested I add.  She is on 

antibiotics right now.  We aren't

sure if she has an infection in her

crop or not and blood tests are

really expensive, so we're giving

this a try first.  She's lost weight and

is more subdued than usual. She's

not acting sick exactly, just quiet.  But

she still comes out of her cage and

sits on top, things like that.  Maybe

it's just because she's OLD!!!  She

will be 22 in October!

Lili loves suckers-or anything else

sweet for that matter, so sometimes

I will give her a little bit of the 

sucker when I've finished it.  She

will hold her foot open to take the

stick and then starts eating it.

I wish to state here, my

animals are NOT spoiled!

Decorative corner

Is this not the coolest card

ever?!  It's called a decorative

corner card.  I may have to make

more of these!  I think I'm going

to send this one to my aunt for

her birthday.

Closed.

Open.  The whole circle pops up 

from  the page!

And the back panel.  I thought at

first the decorative paper would be

overwhelming; on a 12x12 

sheet it looks that way, but once

I cut it into panels I think it looks

great.  And I still have another

piece to make an envelope with!

How hilarious are these?  I have no clue

what I will do with them but the whole

set was only 5.00 so I just couldn't

resist!  I love the sunglasses and hearts

for the plain circle.  I don't know that

I would use the teardrops, but who knows?

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful

day which means I should probably do

the lawn....but maybe not.  

Double zed card

I didn't name it!  Obviously it's British,

although I try to adopt all things

British because I identify with

my family's country.  I love the

words that add the "u" like "colour".

What can I say?!

3 views of the card.  Isn't it the coolest

fold?  I love it and may make more.  I have

several birthday cards in the next 2 months

so you'll be seeing a lot of those.

The other card I made is using the

distress inks which I love.  I have been up

since 230 this morning.  I was tired last  night

and went to bed about 945.  Watched TV

until about 1030.  Do the math, that's about

4 hours sleep.  :(  My sleep patterns

have never been good.  However, as I

have said before, my muse is up bright and

early in the morning so I can usually

come up with a good card or two.

I'm pretty pleased with this card

although the jury is still out on the

butterfly.  It needed something at the

bottom, but I'm not sure that was it.  But

it's done now.  It's 530 am now.  I'm thinking

I will get dressed and go to the store before

I have to wait for the a/c guy.  He will be

here between 8-10 am.  Remember when stores

weren't open all night long?  The sidewalks 

rolled up at 5 pm.  6 pm if you were lucky.  

Forget about Sundays.  You'd better make sure

you have what you need before that.  Holidays?

Those were for families.  Life was simpler

back then.  I sound so old!  I feel old.  I

just realized yesterday that I'm going to

be 58 soon!  I don't know how or when

that happened, but my mind is still at 16.  I

don't ever want to act old.  My psych

professor told us something which I've

never forgotten (hopefully I've never

mentioned this).  The only time you act

like an adult is when you have to, like

going to work, things like that.  At any

other point you act childlike.  It is a good

thing to keep in mind, I think.  Adults are 

so wrapped up in being adults that they

forget what it was like to just enjoy life

like children do.