For the past two years I have had the same resolution -- use what I have; finish projects and use up scraps from my stash.

IT IS AN ONGOING RESOLUTION; however, this year I will spend less time on digital art and more time on mixed media and stamping projects because my stash is not getting smaller.  It seems to grow larger each year as the temptation to purchase new items gets the best of me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I made these for Christmas and thought it was time to capture some photos and post them on my blog before I give them all away.

A couple of years ago I purchased a dozen or more small white boxes and decided it was time to remove them from my "unused" stack of items.   I dabbed on some color using alcohol inks, added a bright green satin ribbon and snowflake diecuts for the embellishments.  The snow glitter didn't scan well but hopefuly you get the idea.

When I cut the latice for my previous Autumn card, it left all of these red squares which I used for the background for this card; two cards from one die cut.

Merine conducted a holiday card workshop and I want to share some of them with you.

Lynn over at Trash to Treasure Art is having another giveway to celebrate her third year in blogger land.  Would you believe she has over 1000 followers to her blog!  WOW

Lynn is not only talented in all art forms, but she is also generous and shares her hand made pieces.  If you want the opportunity to win one, leave a comment on her blog (only one) and you will be in the running to receive a piece of spectacular art; AND, if you want to participate in her BONUS, follow the instructions she provides.

Cindy Atkins designs gorgeous art for DezinaWorld and is offering a week of Christmas tutorials.  Click on the "Victorian Christmas" button right panel near the bottom to check out her blog and view the tutorials.

I had errands to run and grocery shopping which took all moring and into the afternoon.  It was a horrendous day because I forgot people get paid the first of the month and the stores were jammed plus it was cold and windy.  What a delightful surprise to find a bouquet of flowers and a ceramic pumpkin container from my granddaughter.  She changed a dismal day into bright sunshine.  Who wouldn't feel better with yellow sunflowers on a cold windy day!

Remember my New Year Resolution to use what I have and ink stamps never used?  That is the concept behind this project.  I have had these white gift boxes for a couple of years and decided it was time to do something with them so I used alcohol inks for some color and added a decorative snowflake embellishment.  The most difficult part is "What should I put inside?"  I may add some glitter glue to add a little sparkle to my project.

I at last finished planting all of the new bulbs I ordered while the ground was still workable.  Tulips in particular don't survive many seasons where daffodils seem to multiply and come up every year so it was time to plant more tulips and be surprised at what comes up from previous plantings.  A  total of 150 tulip bulbs and 25 daffodil bulbs have been re-located in our yard from Holland.  Below is a collage showing the varieties. 
We have bright yellow daffodils and if I remember correctly huge red, orange, purple and pink tulips from previous years.  We'll see what mother nature displays come spring.

Yes, I did complete more than three but not nearly as many as my friend, Barb, who made almost fifty. I was too distracted to try out the new dies and experiment with various papers to stay focused on my main goal.  I love to experiment and with all of the new toys everyone shared it was very tempting to just play.   The main images on these three were created years prior and I did continue on with "use what you have and destash," an ongoing new year resolution.

Just returned from an art retreat with friends in McCall, Idaho, a beautiful mountain area on a gorgeous lake.  One evening we were driving to a restaurant for dinner and came upon these deer.  I thought you might enjoy the scenery as well.

My goal while in McCall was to work on holiday cards rather than wait until the last minute.  As soon as I unpack my stash and find the cards, I'll upload a couple just to show that I did indeed finish a couple of them.  It is always a thrill to enjoy art with close friends and it also feels good to return home to a hubby and our golden retriever who missed me.

Hope your last couple of weeks have been creative and you are all well and happy.

I have missed viewing your art and creative pieces so much.  My computer is not working properly and will go into the shop tomorrow for a workover.  I will also be without a computer mid October for five days; however, I will catch up with blogs and all of the eye candy ASAP. 

Just wanted you to know I haven't deserted my blog or my treasured readers.

Carolyn

On my first attempt at Barb's design I glued the card shut....DUH....so I brought it home and remade it and found I had a similar stamp so made a second one.  It just so happened I had previously made a flower which matched the colors perfectly and attached it to one of the cards  The shoebox projects are fun because I end up with cards to mail to friends and family as well as learn new techniques and styles.  Of course the best part of all is having fun with the group.  In a few weeks we will travel to McCall, Idaho, for an art retreat.  I'm so looking forward to a few days of solid fun.

I really liked Merine's design and plan to use it for some holiday cards. 

I used the same Center Step Card design for my shoebox project for our September meeting at Artistic Souls (Circle of Friends).  We have a new member Bobbie Horder and we're pleased she wanted to join our group.  WELCOME BOBBIE!

Splitcoast Stampers had a very fun stand alone card design which I used for this card.  When open it will stand by itself and fold flat for mailing.

Lynn hosted the September project and brought wood pieces with all of the paints and elements to create a fantastic Halloween display.  I finally finished mine up this morning and had to share it with you.  The bat on the top left fell down while photographing but you get the idea.  It was amazing the creativity from our Designing Divas group.  Wish I had taken pictures of the other projects as there were some really fantastic ones. 

My mother and grandmother wouldn't say this shows creativity but necessity.  As a young girl I remember spending several weeks each summer washing bottles and helping our Mother can fruit.  We would haul a large galvanized tub out into the yard to wash the bottles and get them ready for canning. Mother always took her vacation to process and store fruit and vegetables for the winter months;  and, with no air conditioning and cooking on  a cold stove, I can't image that it was fun.  Times change, and with all of the conveniences we share, it is fun to make jam and bottle fruit for the winter months.  Jam is next week!

I found some close-out booklets not long ago that I thought would make great cards for Thanksgiving.  Here is my mock-up with five more to go.  When I showed hubby the tag booklet for a critique he said, "They have too many tags, too busy. "  Now how do you make a tag booklet and leave out the tags?  I uploaded a couple of them plus the front cover and opened booklet.

My brother and his wife arrived yesterday to celebrate his birthday with a special lemon cake.  They spend half of the year here in Idaho and the other half in southern California where it is much warmer in the winter and definitely with no snow.

This card I have ready for a friend who loves horses.

We have lots of birthdays to celebrate in September -- hubby, son, daughter-in law, brother, two girlfriends and a neighbor.  Below is the start of my September card making.

I had a tag to make for an upcoming  swap and created one this morning using a technique we recently  re-visited at one of our Divas Art Club meetings.  I had forgotten how stunning the results can be. 

Stella presented the August project supplying patterns, idea books and papers to do some very fun "iris folding."  I really enjoy doing techniques from previous years that get shelved and forgotten.  All of the members were having a good time folding their strips of paper to create designs from teapots to cats to pears and fish.  Thanks, Stella,

Several years ago I made a very large iris folded piece for a contest but I never knew what happened to my submission or where it ended it up.  I only made one but did take a photo of it and thought I'd share.

I had a couple of long, skinny envelopes and decided today would be skinny card making day.  I will need a card to swap at Divas Art Club tomorrow night and I also require a card to send out as my monthly RAK commitment over at OSA.

So...I made two cards that are very similar; they are approximately 8" long by 3" wide.  I also used up some "leftovers" from other projects which is a big plus in my book.

The main image is a magnolia border stamp by Beeswax.  The background was computer generated.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!

Today was another "work in the yard" day.  The purple smoke bush is glorious when it blooms but when the blossoms fade, they look similar to a dandelion gone to seed.  When the wind blows they end up all over the yard and into the neighbors as well.  Usually, I take a large garbage bag and scoop the dead blooms inside.  However, this year I used the garage dry-wet vacuum and sucked them up.  It was much easier and did a better job.  I also trimmed the bush and the one next to it.  I have one more big smoke bush to tackle on Friday. 

Annette from Netty's Craftings had a recent giveaway for three bottle cap ATCs, and lucky me received the cutest ATC ever.  Annette painted the bottlecap with a light face color and painted in the details.  "Topsy" is just darling.  The fibers used for her hair appear to be braided as pig tales.  I love this card, Annette.  THANK YOU SO MUCH for sending her to live in America.

Jacque presented a very clever clay pot project for July.  She furnished the clay pots and all of the supplies to create a beautiful flower using a round Styrofoam ball that we were to completely cover with pinched circles of tissue paper.  The gals made some really pretty flowers, some in multiple colors.  I decoupaged the clay pot with some of the papers Jacque provided; however, you all know me I had to do something a little different.  I brought home the punched tissue circles and used my die cut machine to cut various sizes and made three flowers for my pot rather than just one.    I have always wanted to cover a garden pot and now I have the experience to tackle another one and completely fill it with flowers.
Thanks, Jacque.

Craft Book Project Survey/Giveaway

I received an email today from a friend regarding craft blogging who in turn had received an email requesting answers to a quick survey.

If you're interested in helping Alicia de los Reyes, a young women in New Hamshire who needs to collect data for her thesis read on. Demographic questions are optional.

"I'm a grad student at the University of New Hampshire in the writing department, and I received a grant to conduct a 10-minute survey of craft bloggers to research my thesis at craftbookproject.com. I'll be posting the results publicly (responses will be kept anonymous, of course!) and using them to write a book about the current crafty movement. I'd like to invite you to take the survey at http://bit.ly/rlpKCs. It has straightforward demographic questions, all optional. There's a giveaway going on the site right now--if you take the survey by July 31st, you'll be entered to win a $100 Michaels gift card, and if blog or tweet the survey, you'll be entered twice."

Carolyn

The last few days I was fighting with the backup on my computer so decided to set it aside and make a few cards.  Interesting how you don't notice things until seen from a distance or until scanned.  The card with the fish was so crooked that I had to take it apart and re-align the layers after I viewed the above photo.  The three-circle card was first spotted on Splitcoast Stampers a couple of weeks ago but it was Sonia's weekly challenge at Oriental Stamp Art that actually pushed me into making one.  This design has oodles of possibilities plus it was fun to put together.  The bottom two circles swing upward to cover the main circle for a compact card for easy mailing.

I stamped about five of the bird images and layered them onto greeting cards. 

Yesterday, Barb brought some beautiful bird stencils for us to use to carve stamps.  I didn't have time because I was focused on my shadow stamps for holiday projects.  WELL . . . one of the stencils, the largest one, dropped on the floor which I didn't find until everyone had left.  I took advantage of the opportunity before I returned it today and traced it onto rubber for carving.  I still have some fine tuning but it too will make a great shadow stamp for large projects.  The stencil has a lot of details which I omitted but I still like the effect.

Yesterday at Artistic Souls, we carved rubber stamps.  Because I had prior experience, thanks to a workshop several years ago, I was the hostess.    I elected to carve some shadow stamps that I plan to use for holiday projects.  The round floral shapes did not turn out to my liking; however, shadow stamps don't need to be perfect.  I forgot to get photos of the  stamps carved by others, drats!  There were some really intricate designs which were much harder to carve.

 There is never a better day than to spend it with friends.

Below is a photo of my swap card I made for July.




 

Thanks to Linda at Studio L3, we have another great challenge from Mr. Tim himself.  I really like how my background card turned out.  It is really rich looking and I know I'll use this same color combination again (Distress Broken China covered with Distress Walnut after embossing the Broken China).

The butterfly was also colored using Distress ink (Worn Lipstick, Marmalade and Dusty Concord).  Jump on over to Tim's blog and look at all of the color combinations.

My dear friend, Lynn Stevens, had another surgery.  Can you believe it?

I know many of you who read my blog check in with her almost daily.  You might want to send her some good wishes via her blog.  Friends ALWAYS MAKE US FEEL BETTER.  She must have scheduled her latest posts prior to her surgery because I know she is not up and around today.

GET WELL LYNN and a quick recovery.




 

For those of you who visit my blog on a regular basis, I will be off for the rest of the week to run errands with hubby and prepare for a rubber stamp carving group who will meet here on Friday.

I will catch up with all of my favorite blogs and many others next week.  It will be a treat to see what you have all made when I return.

Hugs to all,
Carolyn

This card was made for a FACES swap at Oriental Stamp Art.  My assigned partner has received the card so it was time to upload it to my blog.