The change of seasons

 This is a card I made a couple of weeks ago when the leaves were changing.  We had some really pretty colors this year, but now most of the leaves are gone and it is very, very cold.

 This will be the last zinnias of the season because it is supposed to be 34 degrees in the morning.  I have really enjoyed my beautiful flowers this year-especially the daisies.  They should come back even better next year though.

And lastly.  This is a coaster I made with a postcard.  The image is the hospital I worked at for 30 years and was taken in 1951.  The view is taken through an arch of the Henley St Bridge, which has been closed for over a year and is being totally redone.

Fight Like a Girl

These are two new designs we have added to our inventory.    I especially like the ribbon because it is more versatile in that I can paint it any color.  Perfect this month in pink for breast cancer awareness.  Fight Like a Girl is a great sentiment because 1 out of  8 are doing just that!!

My second love next to making cards.

My daughters and I have started a small business of decorative concrete items for home and garden.  We also sell coasters and terrariums.  We have started doing craft festivals and are having a great time.  Since both girls work full time and I am retired, at least for the summer, I am doing most of the pouring and staining  of the pieces.  I am very proud of what we do and wanted to share so you all could see what I have been doing.  I will always love making cards-in fact I was able to make 8 today- but making these pieces gets me up and out early!  Nothing has ever done that before.  

Distress Inks

This is a card I made with two of the new spring color distress inks.  The background was made with the gel printing pad and the image is a stamp from LaBlanche.  This is a card I learned how to make at Stamping on the Plateau in Crossville.

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post!  

Several years ago I found a great stamp store about 100 miles from me.  It is a really pleasant drive over so it doesn't seem that far.  She had Fred Mullett there in April and I was able to take a couple of his classes.  He is such a delightful person and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Here are a couple of examples of cards I made using his techniques.    I love all the different texture and masking techniques he uses.

Crackle technique

I have always loved the crackle technique but never could get the crackle paints to behave properly!  This technique was done using Elmer's glue and acrylic paint.  I used a Martha Stewart edge punch and added flowers and leaves from Punch Bunch.  The sentiment is one I got years ago at Michael's.

Increasing my stash

 This is a card I made with a Me and Carrie Lou stamp and watercolored using Tombows.  This is my favorite way to color.

When I was at Stampfest in Clearwater I learned this technique using dies and glitter.  The lady die is from Marianne Designs and the butterfly is from Spellbinders.  Last night I was playing around and wanted to see how many dies I could use on one card and managed to use 6 on one.

 This digi is from Meljen's Designs.  It is colored with copics and the punched leave were added over leaves in the design.

More Recycling

I have spent the last three weeks getting ahead on my swap cards so I can have some breathing room.  Now I am working on building up my stash of cards for general use.  Once again I am recycling old greeting cards people have given me.  These images are so lovely I have just added a little something to make them mine.  These three have sentiments from Scrap-a-licious Times .  This is a really cool blog and all her sentiments are free.  

 This one has a stamp and punch from Stampin Up added after I embossed the image with a Cuttlebug folder.