Catching up - Showing Off Crafty Stuff!

soo... i've not posted in a while. Here's a quick update...


We lost dad last year - he finally gave up in May - Mother's Day in fact - 2017.  He took a lot of mamma with him, as she has deteriorated rapidly since.  I miss him terribly. Mamma's under my sister's care now.  She's in a full-time Alzheimers center, and is pretty much wheelchair bound, barely having enough strength in her legs to stand.  She took several falls in a cupla months, and i think there's some permanent damage we've not been told about.  She's lost weight - and although she remembered me when we went in May for Mother's Day - she didn't remember Dan.  This time, going for her Birthday, she remembered Dan and it took a bit till she remembered me. Both Trips were made bearing gifts, which is a challenge for someone who is in an institution...so I am putting things on the wall.


So ima going to show off some of the stuff I've done recently.  For Mother's Day I made for mamma a 12X12 paperscape under glass.... the Floral Heart Paper Sculpture pattern from Dreaming Tree.  All done in shinny and metallic papers, with my first attempt at vinyl overlaying the glass. .  It has pride of placement on the wall by the foot of her bed.


For her Birthday I decided on Orchids, as she had soooo loved her garden, and especially her orchids.  I made my own version of the Orchid Plant from Lia Griffith.  This is done in 70# Text weight metallics and stands a bit over 2ft tall.  This is attached to the wall above her bed.  She was thrilled, and sat gazing at it while we were talking....

I think for Christmas i'll do something for her window - maybe a set of "stained glass" nativity....

I'm still making cards for 2 charities a month - Ronald McDonald House and Cards for a Cause.  I've have even stepped up and been the Hostess twice for Cause for a Cause, Once for the Veterans Hospital in Miami, and the other for Martha's House in Okeechobee.

 In April this year I finally got to the Scrapbook Expo in Orlando.  I took a handful of classes, a couple each in Watercoloring with Stamps (Art Impressions) and coloring with Alcohol Markers.  And I took a couple of Heartfelt Creations classes, learning a bit more about building 3D Cards.  I thoroughly enjoyed all, but the watercoloring with stamps was the one that stuck the most, and I've been doing all kinds of cards using those techniques...
In fact - the Arbor card was selected and highlighted as one of the "Favorites of the Week" at SplitCoastStampers.com.


And kinda lastly on my tour of "cool stuff" I've kept busy with - I had created a special card for my HEA for our Anniversary.  Again using a pattern from DreamingTree, this time the King of the Castle Cascade Card, but in a color scheme liked better....that of white and champagne and gold, with touches of Red.


So keeping an eye on Mom - and working with crafty stuff is how i keep busy when not at my full time job...and it's keeping me all happy.  We're looking towards the future - I'm on the downhill slide towards retirement - and Dan's just a year away from cresting that peak himself.  We're talking a lot about what to do in retirement - and where to live...
I'm pretty convinced I'm going to find a way to continue with my crafty stuff - maybe teaching classes. My heart's desire would be to be picked up by Art Impressions, or Heartfelt Creations, or someone like that and be able to teach classes for them...but I'm nowhere near ready for that yet!  My artwork is passable...but I'm not ready for prime-time!

And as a new era of card making begins (POST OWH), I find myself split between 2 organizations, both who are receiving cards this month.  SplitCoastStampers is kinda a mecca of swaps and challenges and learning in the papercrafts world, and logically hosts several swaps and challenges.  That's where I originally found OperationWriteHome, so I went back to them to find alternatives. I may yet find a home with a military-centric organization, but for now i've decided to play along with 2 groups

• Cards For A Cause (24 cards)
• Ronald McDonald House (20 cards)

Ronald McDonald House strikes because my daughter spent a few days at the one in Tampa almost 11 years ago following the birth of her daughter - my granddaughter!  Turns out my granddaughter spent the first 8 days of her life in the ICU - 6 of them on a ventilator - 5 before the hospital let Mom & Dad name her.  Born on Saturday, she fought and fought, and late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning she finally made a turn around, and on Wednesday she was named Clarissa Dawn.  I am pleased to say that she is FINE!! well - for the most part!  Precocious, stubborn, bright, energetic, loves to read and is generally a joy to be around.  And they kept mom close after she was discharged from a rather difficult childbirth by putting her up in the Ronald McDonald House attached to the hospital.  And it was a VERY good thing!

Cards For A Cause  - well - that kinda says it all!  I've been making cards for a cause for a while - so it seemed logical to continue to do so.  They change up every month with different causes, and some of the past ones are open all the time - for 'spares' if you will... Right now I'm on-board with them too.

I took pictures of the cards being packaged for July's Cards for a Cause, but as it turns out, both charities got almost all the same cards, as i work best in multiples, with variations on a theme.  They're all with envelopes, and 'tucked' in the finest OWH style.   Unlike anything I've done before, I've 'banked' some cards this time, just in case i hit a 'dry spell' where i can't make cards for work commitments but still want to send some off. Most cards were made in sets of 6 - 2-3 for Cards for a Cause, 1-2 for Ronald McDonald House and 1-2 for the bank. 

DieCut Fans in Silver and Gold Shimmer from Michaels, ombre ribbon on a lovely Victorian floral print background paper matted on shimmy white and pink cardstock.	Stary Sky background on a nice shiny finished paper, silver border on the Reach for the Moon sentiment, with a couple of diecut stars on each.
One of the specific requests for this month's cause was to make cards appropriate for kids - teens specifically.  The funky color scheme, foiled paper, and fun sentiment seemed apporopriate.	Thank You cards in various combinations - the butterfly on the left card is DieCut and backed with white vellum - the ballons are gold to go with the gold stamped sentiment.
Inspirational cards - something also requested for July's Cards for a Cause - and this seemed appropriate.  The bows and mat on the inchies are shimmer cardstock.	Foil paper accents kinda pop on the neutral almost dark background, and pick up the colors in the mat on the sentiment.
Another inspiration - or permission i suppose - to have fun!  maroons and various prints and bows.  There were actually 3 of these in the shipment.	This may be a Northwoods stamp, with just the lighthouse and sunrise colored in - and the image elevated from the framing.
Again with the funky foiled paper - probably great for teens! Happy Birthday is a generic sentiment and the mulberry flowers help do justice to the overall fun on the card.	July Cards for A Cause