Merry Christmas!

I know my followers are few, but each and every one of you is special and I wanted to wish you a 

Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Too!

Feliz Navidad y Propero Ano

Looking Through My Card Stash

The Fiskateer Orange Blog Hop is this weekend and it reminded me I still need one more Halloween card for DH...

So I dug through my card stash drawer and found these four, using two different techniques.  I think I'll wait until Tuesday to decide if he should get the spiders or the pumpkin.  Or... you can tell me which one you think DH should get.

Wood instead of Paper

Have you ever tried stamping on Wood instead of Paper?

It can really add a nice touch to any card or layout.  I love the grain running through my image and I love the way the ink bleeds just a little.  I used Ranger Distress Ink and love the look, but if you want to stamp without the bleeding, try using Ranger Archival Ink or Staz On Ink. 

Layout Event - Challenge #2

I squeezed out another layout while having fun with my cropping group on Sunday afternoon.  The Fiskateer challenge was to use the negative space from a punch in some way.  Because I was away from home, I kept it simple and punched the sailboats along the top and bottom.  To keep the sailboats upright at the top of the page, I cut a slit along the top of the picture mat.  Then I tapped it back in place from the back.  If I had it to do again, I would run the slit clear to the edge.  It would be easier to punch and it taped back together so well, you would never notice.
This is Bill on our Sailboat Sirius, in 1993 when we are in the Gulf Islands, British Columbia, Canada.  We spent a year there preparing our boat for blue water sailing.  (That means being out of sight of land for long periods of time)

Fiskateer Games

See that cute little badge to the right?  

The one that says Fiskateer Games?  

Well... the Fiskateers are having a bit of fun during the Olympics with four events of our own.  The first week, the event is Layouts and there are four possible ways to enter.  Time is short for me, so I may only have one, but here it is:

I designed this with two special pictures I have of Billie (our dog) from 1999 when she first sailed with us.  She would site atop our cabin (on the sailboat) and watch the whole world go by.  Sometimes, she even chased the pelicans, only to find it wasn't so easy to stop quickly on the deck of a fiberglass boat.  LOL!

Unfortunately, our printer gave up, so I don't have the pictures just yet.  I have a new printer ordered and hope it arrives soon.

Summertime in Cardstock

During a recent online crop with the Fiskateers, one of the challenges was to get back to basics and use only cardstock.  I could resist grabbing a bunch of Fiskars Punches to have some some creating this little summer scene.  I love the dimension it has, yet is still flat enough to mail without hassle.

Feeling the Heat

It has been so long since I've posted, and never consistently, so now I hope to add a card or layout or ???  now and then.  Today, it is all about the humidity.

It has been so hot here during our monsoon season, that I needed some time to dream about cooler places.  I made this framed layout (8 x 8) for a challenge on the Fiskateer site using some of my new digital papers and some of the seashells I collected when we lived on our sailboat.  The base is an embroidery hoop and I used Tattered Angels paint to color it blue.  I like the effect of the ColorBok glitter paper (white) and think I might just go back and add glitter to the blue frame.

In honor of

 St. Patrick's Day, 

I am posting four of my favorite green cards. 

I hope you like them too.

Berry Sweet

Just a fun layout kit Mom and I just finished for the Color Suite Challenge at Scrapbook and Cards Today.  The strawberries have glossy accents and each leaf is folded and inked for dimension.  Loved making this layout.