whimsical birds

These are such cuties. 

I need a couple circle punches. My little one is so bad it will hardly cut paper, and when I tried to get through card stock, realized that there's a nick in it, so that's why. I have circle dies, and if I wasn't lazy I could just use that. I should instead of getting a new punch. I hand cut the bigger circle, and it has a flat side, so that's where the tail ended up. I can think of more cuteness, of course after I did it, to cut tails, or use some of those teensy feathers... I've been saving them for something. So I may do another. 

This series from Cat Hand is from 2016, but I decided to start in The Beginning, so there I am. I'm learning lots of stuff to use on cards or art journaling. 

Next is catching up on my Justine Hovey class. 

After I clean up my art spot.

I'm on a roll I think but it's the presidential debate's fault. I had to do happy.

Cat Hand's Mini Morsels #7, circles. I was watching the debate and getting sick of hearing the.... well anyway I decided to go ahead and do circles, and it turned itself into happy when I saw that happy little stamp. The circles are paint with different sizes of lids. The smaller one was the reinker top. LOL   the happy stamp is from Gina K, Melanie Muenchinger's Say it with Flowers. The little text stamping is from a Gina K designs stamp from years ago, Botanicals.  I just sort of folded the stamp and only inked a tiny bit. Love the results.

Next is MMM #8, houses. Cat's house is symmetrical and neat and tidy. My art is rarely neat and tidy. There's a strip on the left that is smooth, and I should have used more tissue for texture, but I like the wonky little place anyway. I'll do a different one some time that is neat and tidy. HA. Sure. 

I love unbalanced and wonky, and I think I do it on purpose so I can say I did it on purpose LOL... if I do it crooked on purpose, then I can't find fault... If you can't read all the words, it says... "my happy little house". Collage background with gelli print scraps, tissue, and a napkin. The chimney is a scrap of woodgrain paper which really made me laugh, a wooden chimney?? It's wonky. At least the chimney looks like it goes into the house. When I first put it on, it didn't go anywhere. BUT even wonky has its limits, right??

 

Hope for tomorrow

Mini Morsel 2, collage.  The scraps are teensy from some gel prints, some tissue scraps and the corner of a paper napkin. Maremi sentiment. Something like this would make a very good card. But if I never do something else, I like this. I already did a card with that yellow and green with a blue flower. I rarely duplicate gelli prints, you really can't anyway. Perfect sentiment. 

Here's another tissue paper background, Morsel #5. I like to make more than one of things, so that's why I'm only on #5 White tissue with little sparkly things on it, crushed and pressed on the card, brushed lightly with Wink of Stella. Another Dollar Tree sticker.

Well I'm now on # 6, inchies. I can never throw out little scraps left over from card making, so here's a chance to use them. 

Inchies are 1 inch by 1 inch bits that are decorated. I just scattered them on the first one, and lined them up on the second and cut off the overhang. Good way to use up those little bitty scraps that I hate to throw away. The stamps are from a party set I got so long ago I have no idea who the maker is or what they are called. It's a little set, but packs a lot of punch. I've used it a lot for card making.

Below, the stickers are from Dollar Tree. I love Dollar Tree stickers. I got these a long time ago, but have a few left, they are good for using on Mixed Media Morsels.

Just a little something every day, helps me stay a bit more positive than I would have been otherwise. More fires, smoky air, at least we're not in fire danger here. But  there are so many evacuated everywhere, and my heart aches for them.

 Hanging on to hope for tomorrow. 

mini morsels

These are just for my inspirations notebook, which I started with the inspiration of Justine Hovey. This section is mini morsels with Cat Hand. Justine's class was a wonderful year long class where she showed us how to do so many things. Some of Cat's morsels are similar to what Justine did, but she broadened the field by using mixed media, not just inks. 

These are closeups. The actual card is only 3 by 2 1/2 inches. 

Mini morsel #4, glue resist

I did this with several different things. It is so fun to experiment. And I end up with a mini artsy thing. I put them in my notebook to remind me of all the things I have done, and so I can do the technique on something else, maybe a card, or in an art journal.

This is a glue resist with regular Elmer's glue and a wash with diluted acrylic paint. Dollar Tree sticker, Simon Says Stamp sentiment from their "Tiny Words" set. It's thin, so I just bent it around to curve around the glue.

This was also regular Elmer's glue. I then put undiluted acrylic paint on it. It kind of grunged it when I wiped off the paint, but I like that effect. Dollar Tree sticker flower and Simon Says Stamp sentiment again.

I'm thinking that I could just do 2 1/2 x 3 and mount them on a card as a small focal point. I really like this look. 

More glue resist, with dry brushed paint. Dollar Tree stickers again and a sentiment from Maremi's Small Art.

I seem to love these colors. I always think of yellow as my favorite, but I often choose this teal-and-blue combo.

Glue resist and CP ink smooshing, daydream and green tea I think. A CP stamps from her "Welcome to August" stamp set. The mouse just asked to be put under that tree. 😎

The glue this time turned out to be kind of messy but I think it goes well with the smooshing. Another one that may turn into a card. 

Love this, ink resist with clear Elmer's glue, stamps from CP stamp set with Daydream ink, and a star of Wink of Stella, and dots with shiny gel pens. Ink blending with Green Tea, Eucalyptus, and Icing on the Cake. I just might have to do a Christmas card with this.

More ink blending over glue resist, with CP inks. A Dollar Tree wooden sticker that just jumped into my hands, and a word sticker from Maremi's Small Art. 

The last glue resist with Elmer's again, and sprayed with Distress ink in Seedless Grape. Maremi's sticker. This one reminded me of some kind of universe, and therefore silence. 

I love all of these in their own way. This one, I could just keep staring at and enter the universe LOL

The last thing I did is morsel #5, tissue paper background. I painted the card with Mod Podge and then pushed the crinkled tissue paper on it. When it was dry, I gently brushed it (the paper was blue) with Daydream CP ink. Sticker is from a very old booklet from Dover Books, by Carol Belanger Grafton. I think my kids were little when I got this!!! I added it to the order so I could get free shipping. The stickers were so cute I just looked at them for years. It just fit here. 

I've been making so many cards lately it was fun to do something different. And Some of these I will use when I make cards. I especially love the trees, and the universe, but the others turned out delightfully as well. And that's what I go for, satisfaction and the enjoyment of creating. 

tomatoes. what's up with these.

what is up with these tomatoes?? The one on the left came off the YELLOW PEAR plant and the other two are supposed to be ROMA. My cherry tomatoes are teensy too. And the zucchini wasn't as prolific as I hoped. 

in my defense, it has been the strangest summer on record. Some days as high as 112, and smoky smoky smoky. And my yard is solid clay. I have one 4x4 raised bed, and the tomatoes ended up in there. I planted NINE bean plants, but only a few came up, and bugs ate all but one, so totally I got about a dozen beans. 😁 I made a pot of soup and they were tasty in the soup, if you could find them.

I'm hoping to spend more time in the yard now, it's cooler, but still hot. I'm already planning to plant a bunch of flower seeds as soon as I get the dirt worked, and hope they will come up early. Also starting the tomatoes in around February, and putting them out as soon as I can. Maybe the combination will work. 

I did get some potatoes. I harvested them kind of early so I could put the tomatoes in there. I put them in containers but it was just way to hot for them so I buried them. That worked. I've been researching how to grow potatoes in a barrel or some other container. I think it requires hay however so there's that. 

When I gardened before I had Mom, Dad, 5 kids to help me. Actually we were helping my Dad LOL!! So I have been doing a lot of video watching and reading and planning what I can actually do. I have one bag of garden soil and one of potting soil, so will need more. The main thing is to Be Confident and Just Do It. I know it will be worth it. 

Cat Hand Mixed Media Morsels, #4 Glue Resist experiments

Was watching Cat Hand videos in the night, and decided to try her glue resist technique. There are my scribbles. We will see what happens... She only does one little card, but I wanted to experiment with different media and techniques. 

so here they are painted and wiped. I discovered that it's harder to get the paint off the glue than it looks. top row, left, diluted paint, middle, undiluted paint, right, dry brushed paint.

bottom row, CP inks, Sauna and Eucalyptus, blended. Middle, Aquatini and Green Tea, ink smooshed. Right, Seedless Grape distress ink, sprayed.

I actually like them all, its fun experimenting. I think I will use regular embossing more, but to just scribble, it works. I will wipe them off a bit more when they are dry, and coat them with mod podge before I put them in my notebook. The process is written on the back, so if I get inspired to do it again, I will have a chance of coming up with something similar. 

So it was a fun break from what is Normal Life these days. I also took a nap outside this afternoon, thinking about my grandma, because my nap was on her lawn swing. I was trying to figure out how old it is, it has to be older than me... I slept on it a lot growing up, because I loved sleeping outside!! Also thinking of my mother in law, because I was serenaded by her wind chimes. Gave me some smiles.

Solamente hablo espanol un poco.

I didn't make any new cards today. I started studying Spanish again. I remember more than I thought I would! It's fun. So will I use it?? Maybe. It helps keep my mind off of what a crazy world we are in at the moment. 

I also decided to get back to Cat Hand's mini morsels. I am kind of using this blog as a record of what I have been doing, and that has been a really great class. The "canvas" is 1/2 of an index card. Kind of like an Artist Trading Card. I just took a picture of them.

So from left to right. The lighthouse is a stamp, the background is plastic wrap put on wet paint and scrunched. The second one is also plastic wrap but in folds instead of scrunched. The third is a collage. The fourth one is bubble wrap small and large with a stencil on top. The center one is a dendritic print. A blob of paint on plexiglass, then put another piece of plexiglass on top. It is such a cool technique. Then lift a print. The middle right is a layering stamp with smooshed watercolor, and a flip flop dotted print. 

Bottom row, smooshed ink with CP daydream and lime rickey. Michael Strong stamp heat embossed in gold. Middle, alcohol on paint. 1st layer light color, second layer dark, sprinkle with alcohol. The last one is bubble wrap again.

Each technique has a video to go with it. It has been fun. I need plenty of distractions these days, so I will be spending more time "arting" and "crafting" and with my Spanish class.

remembering this little guy, I gave him away, I need to make another. He's from Allsorts. 

Tank ewe!!

I am loving these stamps. They are from Trinity Stamps, and they have matching dies, although up to now I have resisted the dies. Word play always gets me, and this is no different. So there will be more cards from them I'm sure. I can't promise how long this link is good, and it's a pretty bad picture, sorry.

 

https://trinitystamps.com/products/picture-sentiments-4x8-stamp-set?_pos=2&_sid=227acb03b&_ss=r

I can't remember all the combos, but I'm sure I'll think of other stuff. Like what about that N. Or the leaf. I'm sure I'll think of more. 

This is only two of the cute things you can do.

Eye am praying for ewe,

 I am tank-full

Hay owl bee seeing ewe

eye love ewe

Bee Tank Full

you get the idea. 

I only have 5 copic pens, but they are the colors I needed for this. I also got some art-n-fly pens. I don't like them as well but they are MUCH cheaper. If I colored a lot, I think I would go with the copics. 

Another thing becoming popular is those thinline cards. I used to do those but stopped for some reason. This seems like it would be good, a whole sentence in a column. We will see.

PS I re-inked my Midnight ink pad. Go me! 

happy bird day

I just love these birds. They are from Tim Holtz. I had problem after problem with this, and almost just gave up and started over. My midnight ink needs re inking, and instead of JUST DOING IT I grabbed a different black pad. Well I wasn't thinking, it's pigment ink. I should have at that point thought, well, I could just emboss it, but nooooo I didn't. I have had these script stamps awhile, and they are meant to interlock. I didn't remember that until the 3rd letter. So oh well. I did all the letters anyway, and the birds. I haven't used pigment ink in awhile, forgot how long it takes to dry. So after I did all those letters and all those birds without a mishap, I got a fingerprint in the corner.... so. I had decided to color with felt pens, but remembered that that won't work with pigment ink, neither will watercolor. Neither will alcohol pens. 

Colored pencils to the rescue. Not spectacular, but it will just have to do. I grabbed some aquatini to do a little ink blending on the edges and you guessed it I dropped the blending tool... on the card. So I just kind of got mad, what's going right anyway. I was doing a bad blending time so I made it worse on purpose for texture...I added some lime rickey too, and suddenly I really liked it. So hope he likes it. Like "they" say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Some cards I make are Beautiful, some are just ordinary. I hope he likes it.

And it figures that I would have a terrible time with this blog post as well. Things kept jumping around and not staying where I wanted. So if you find goofy boo boos pray for me. LOL

 

you've got a friend....

 

art journal page, with that die cut again. I just love it, and am thinking of other ways to use it. I did this awhile ago. The bird and cup are a napkin I decoupaged to the page by ironing it with plastic wrap. The paper is lined (it's in one of those old fashioned composition books) and I stamped it with different things, part of a shoe, and I don't remember what else. I scribbled with a white gel pen too. The words are from Carole King... but the voice in my head singing is James Taylor. I'm old. 

I can see a series with these trees, winter spring summer and fall. A card set. Or whatever. 

Even thinking about the creating helps me feel calmer in this crazy life. I didn't make anything today, just cleaned up after myself from the day before. I started a birthday card, some grandchild birthdays in October....hopefully finish it tomorrow.

make your own embossing folders (idea!!)

I guess I should also blog hop for inspiration again. I usually don't need a lot, things pop up at me, or I decide I'm going to pick something and make a card with it, or like the last few days, the leaves just call me and I have to do something with them. I am not sure how I got on the following blog, but I do know I am going to have to try this technique... hopefully soon. Photo to come. 

http://whiffofjoy.blogspot.com/2012/07/sympathy-card-by-jane-johnson.html

 

cards cards cards

I just created a page with pictures of older cards I made a long time ago. When I started with Blogger back in around 2007 (?) they had a feature that you could have a slide show of pictures. At some point they discontinued, but somehow I didn't notice. So I put some of those cards on a page with how I did them, for inspiration. I also have an instagram account where I post stuff. Sometimes I feel like I should have a smaller internet footprint. Who knows. I'm just compelled somehow to document my stuff. Crazy I am. 

I get on facebook less and less. The political stuff makes me crazy. Maybe after this election. Meantime, there's more of my creations. I am having so much fun on instagram. 💓

💙❤️🧡💗 And figuring out what blogger has added, too. 

https://www.instagram.com/lindymd/?hl=en

yesterday's leaves

The leaves for these cards were printed by inking the leaves and then running them through my die cut machine. I just experimented until they came out like I wanted. Initially I was going to do gelli printing, but just didn't feel like getting everything out. So I ink printed. It's funny, because at least in my experience, the best leaves for printing with are new green ones. But it's always in the fall when I get the urge to do leaf prints. The one in the middle has a leaf I fussy cut and put on with foam tape so it's three dimensional. I like them all. The card and envelope sets I got for half price at Hobby Lobby quite some time ago. It's a lovely set. 

So in spite of how unsettled I feel and how crazy the world is, here's some autumn leaves. I wish I could have my granddaughter come on over and leaf print with me. Not to be this year. Tears me up, missing everyone so much. But we have to keep hanging on, things are hopefully getting better, not worse. 

Somehow hope is hard to come by, so I'll just grab some that is flying by, and somehow trust that in the end, all will be well, somehow. 

leaves and such.... autumn seems to be here.

Playing with leaves... the first card I was actually inking the leaf to print and I liked the way that looked. It's royal treatment ink from Catherine Pooler. Then I ink blended with mandarin spice ink and a bit of sauna. 

I like the thankful but not the so, but it's there, so oh well. I notice there's a smudge there too, but we'll see how I fix it... sand eraser is somewhere.... 

below, the leaf prints that are not made into cards yet. Also, my harvest from my garden today. I've had better days. 

Tomorrow would have been my mother in law's 105th birthday. That seems so crazy, it feels like we lost her just the other day, and it has been 6 years. I got a memory on facebook about her, and in my head I heard her laugh.  ...deep breath, life goes on, one day at a time.

 

sad musings. Not crafty at all. Maybe I ought to go back to two blogs...

Sad day today. My neighbor died, I don't remember if he was 98 or 99. He's been a good neighbor, since my husband first moved here in 1986. I haven't been here that long, but his daughter and I went to high school together, way before that. He pretty much kept to himself after his wife died in around 2014. He did his own yard work until recently. His son in law took over a few years ago, or tried to, but he'd get out there and have it done before his son in law got here. Then his son in law died, and I didn't know who came over when, but John would still get out there and do things. Spunky. How you live a long time. Be spunky.

I also know his sister, but I haven't talked to her yet. Not long ago she told me she wasn't looking forward to being the only one left. She's youngest, and just had her 80th birthday. I remember how alone my dad felt when the last of his siblings died.

So along with a birthday card I need to make, I need to make a sympathy card as well. Or raid the stash. At least I haven't given them all away. 

And then Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We lost a national treasure today. I know she soooo wanted to stay alive long enough for the next president to be elected. But we don't get to choose, do we. 

Decisions to be made and I would really love to just put them off, but they are piling up. So must think of pros and cons, and just decide, and do what I'm going to do. Whatever that is. 

My color seems to be teal at the moment....

 Kind of sad today. I'm trying to clear out stuff, but I get all stuck on the sentimentality. My dad would be laughing at me if he knew that I got all sentimental over those hog rings. Keep plugging along, right?

This is a stencil from Tim Holtz, but I'm not liking the results yet. I tried using a blending tool for this. I love the stencil but am trying to figure out how to get the detail. I'm going to have to watch Tim again and figure out why I loved the stencil...

Sometimes when I get things, they sit for awhile. This die was not the best die, that's what you get when you buy cheap. It took a long time to get all the pieces out. I did two of them, but the other one tore. Go figure, that's the one I turned into a card first.

The background on the left was a gelli plate that I dabbed with one of those produce bag things. I cut off the best parts of the die cut, so that's what was left. It's much prettier in person.

The thank you card I printed on computer (the greeting) and then added the peacock feathers. I colored with gelatos straight on the stamp, then misted the stamp to print. I love the dreamy look.

And that's how far I got today. I went through all my cards, and I'm going to have to get writing. Or give some away. I enjoy both. 

Now to go dig into my parents' stuff and find something else to cry over LOL

Hog Rings and such

Going through Mom and Dad's stuff. Wondering how a can of hog rings got all the way through their life, so I am left with a can of them. They never had hogs, I know that's not why they had them, although my uncle had some, I remember two in particular, Christine and Gertrude.... So did they come from him? But they are also used in upholstery, and my aunt Eunice did upholstery. And another uncle raised pigs, but he was in Minnesota, so I doubt it came from him. And why would they have kept hog rings in a retirement community? I guess they might come in handy for something. So I watched a YouTube tutorial on using hog rings, and lo and behold, you can use them for lots of things. They make good hinges on wire panels in the garden, there's 3 I could use. 

THAT's why it's so hard to get rid of stuff. I somehow have all this thinking to do. Fortunately not always. I have to figure out why they had it in the first place, because otherwise I don't have any idea if I should keep it. 

Well I know I'm not going to raise hogs. Or do upholstery. I can see that I might occasionally use some in the garden. Is it worth keeping a can of hog rings for "I might use them someday" and I guess that's why my dad hung on to them. They are so versatile? HA.Maybe I could make chain mail. LOL oh yeah I could give them to James..... or just leave them for my kids to wonder why mom had a can of hog rings... 

I don't suppose any of my cousins want an old can of hog rings. 

***POLITICAL*** this is what happens when I got rid of my other journaling blog. Stuff has to be said.

I'm learning lots of interesting stuff here. So there's a good thing in the midst of the insanity. I vaguely remember the socialism/fascism discussions in school, one "left wing" the other "right wing" but I'm rusty with all that stuff. A friend told me in a panic that I HAD to vote for TRUMP otherwise we were going to end up SOCIALIST but she couldn't tell me what that was. All I could remember was "cooperative" but others think "bread lines" LOL 

it's amazing how to me it's easy to see how this country is going, the following copied from google...

Fascism  is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

so·cial·ism is a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

So there you are. I think that Trump is heading far right authoritarian.... but Biden is definitely not all the way to socialism. We need to be somewhere in the middle. 

Cards when you want to write a long letter

These cards are for when you want to write a long letter. I don't often write long letters, but there are times when I started on a regular card and couldn't fit in all I wanted to say. So I made some cards for those times when I feel like I have a lot to say. They are 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. A whole sheet of card stock folded in half. So there's a bunch more writing space.

The prints are gelli plate prints. The first has printing with leaves on top of it, and some have stencils, or stamps added. Voila, multi media. Some are printed with ink, some with acrylic paint, some with both, some with Posca pen addition, one with die cuts added. It's whatever I feel like doing at the time. 

And so the pile of prints goes down. These are the ones I was satisfied with and didn't want to add another layer or anything. Quite a few more in that pile that needs a little something more. I'll work on those another day. I also have a  bunch of rocks I want to paint, mandelas to make with the dotting stencils, stamps to carve, unending cards to finish, pop up card ideas, a wall hanging to quilt, a big quilt to finish piecing, a bunch of pillowcases to make.... oh I am sure The Idea Lady with Less Follow Through. 

Trying to follow through these days, clear out the cobwebs in my corners and my brain.