Saturday, August 28, 2010

Some Tilda Cards to Share

A funny thing happened during an organizational cleanup session - I found a note written by DS from 1987! He was six when he wrote the note. I had it tucked away all that time. The funny thing is that I had recently done a scrapbook LO journaling that very event! So, I modified the scrapbook layout so that the handwritten note could be included. Here is the revised LO:

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The Great Knott's Berry Farm Caper


The unedited handwritten note reads: "Dear Mom; Dad,
Leo (as stuffed lion) and I are down eating breakfast.
wait for telephone call.
PS: I took the key"

Of course, we didn't wait for a telephone call because WE WERE ASLEEP AND HE HAD LEFT THE SUITE ON HIS OWN BY QUIETLY GETTING DRESSED AND LEAVING! Be still my heart. Of course, we didn't get the note because HE LEFT IT ON HIS PILLOW IN THE OTHER ROOM!

And this is probably why we only had one child. The Lord knew that we'd have our hands full with just this one! He could have so easily been taken since the courtyard was open on three sides to the parking lot with hallways leading right to the lots!

Here are the Tilda cards I made. I hope you like them. Each has been colored with Copic Markers. I'm trying to get better and better. LOL It's a very slow process for me! LOL

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For this card, I did double stamping. I stamped the hay bale and Farmer Tilda as one piece as well as the fence pieces and the attached horse. The sheep and the rooster are individually stamped. I added some bronze and yellow Stickles to the rooster to add some bling. The shee'p's inner ear parts are covered in hot pink Stickles. I elevated Farmer Tilda and the hay bale, the rooster, and the head and tail of the sheep using pop dots.

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Hello Cupcake

I used Fairy Dust Tilda and the Love Muffin for this card. I colored the Fairy Dust in crystal Stickles so that it sparkles.

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Hang in There

For this card, I used an acrylic card as my base. I took the predominant figure, Edwin on the anchor, and placed it on the front. Inside the card, I created the remainder of the scene. Mermaid Tilda has a delightfully glittered tail. The scalloped circle behind her, flips up so that a message could be written inside. I had some paper that had water marks on it and accented it with matching Robin's Nest dots. I love these acrylic cards! You can get the acrylic cards at Happy Scrappin' Scrapbooking. They are listed under the Page Frames section.

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Try to Relax

I know that everyone likes to make blue water, but really! When was the last time you went to the lake or the ocean and the water color was a pretty blue? Isn't it usually a greenish brown? LOL. This is another card in which I combined stamps so that they made one image. In this case, it is the background stamp paired with the dock stamp. I may have also made the Tilda as part of the single grouping. It's a little tricky to do that, but I think I'm getting better at layering the stamped images.

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Lady Tilda

OK, first of all, all of the shades of purple go together. I have no clue why the camera gave me three different shades - paper, flower, and ribbon. They look weird, but trust me, they all are in the same hue family. Go figure. I mounted the papers and matting on a card base of very pale grey Bazzill cardstock.

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Tilda with Fairy Wand

The background papers are a pale cyan and match the dress perfectly. There is a very subtle print on the PP.

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Pregnant Tilda

The greens just didn't come up well. They are a pretty pale, mint color. This is such a cute stamp and I love that baby buggy!

I've had fun stamping and coloring with my Copic markers!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope there is something above that will provide some inspiration!

XOXO,
Chris

Thursday, August 19, 2010

It Finally Rained!

Last night was heavenly. We had wonderful thunder, rain, and the not-so-much very likable lightning! When it thunders here, it just rolls and echoes forever off the walls of the canyons in this area. The rain was so needed and, even though we didn't get tons and tons, it was enough to rehydrate the trees, shrubs, and flowers.

I only have a card to share today. It took me a while to do it, but I'm happy with it.

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The photo colors are a little off on the rose and the bow. I don't know why the camera didn't get it, but they have more blue and really are close in color to the paper. The card has a pale grey Bazzill foundation. Then came the eggplant cardstock and paper. I colored Tilda, her frog, and the window with my copic markers. I also added just a tad of Stickles to Tilda and the crown of the frog.

Here is a LO I did to journal the time our DS ate a bottle of Children's Tylenol in an attempt to make himself well. He figured that two Tylenols weren't working, so 22 would work better. DH was so tired the night before, that when he put the medication back, he inadvertently din't place it in the locked cabinet. DS had been ill for so many months and, at age 3, was down to 24 lbs. We were always at the doctor's and had tons and tons of tests done. It turned to be an inner ear infection that had gone undetected! After I discovered what he had done, we spent the night in the Emergency Room. Poor baby! He looks so ill in the photo.

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How to Give Us Gray Hair


Thanks for stopping by my sweet friends. Your visits mean the world to me! I'll have more to share in the next few days as I have other cards in various stages of completion!

XO,
Chris

Saturday, August 14, 2010

At Any Age, Being a Mom is So Hard!

Dear Readers,

I don't even know if there are any readers out there, but if you are reading this, thank you!

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR MY MONTHLY VISITING TEACHING LESSON IDEA, PLEASE GO TO VISITING TEACHING SISTAS. All of my monthly ideas may be found on that blog now.The link is HERE.

I've been so very blue lately. I'm missing DS so much that it hurts! I don't think I could make the drive due to some physical limitations. I know I cannot fly. So he's 1100 miles away and I feel like crud - racked with guilt because I am unable to be close. I've missed his birthday. I miss him. I miss his voice, his humor, his bear hugs. I miss being a mom who is there. For all of the previous reasons, I am filled with guilt and such a feeling of sadness. I've just been so teary eyed for about the past month. I never thought that being a mom would ALWAYS be this emotional! I worry so about him.

I've been scrapbooking and card making in an attempt to keep my mind busy. I've read tons and cooked/baked tons of new recipes. This week, I made a grape cake using fresh grapes. It was surprisingly very good, sweet but good. I also made a talapia oreganata which was delicious, too! My most favorite cooking endeavor this week was a huge pot of cioppino. I had all sorts of shellfish/fish in it. It made for many great lunches and two dinners as well. I also baked a batch of popovers for DH again this week. He really enjoys warm popovers with jam or honey. I'm seeing a pattern here - sad? Then hit the kitchen! That can't be a good thing, right?

Here are a couple of LOs I did.

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Toothless


DS was about six when these shots were taken while vacationing in Oregon. He was so tan! I made the filmstrip and then printed the filmstrip image on a transparency so that it would look realistic with the photos behind it. The inner perimeter of dots may look crooked, but it isn't. It's just the way I had the camera. I loved using the Kraft card stock.

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Back Seat Monster


There is quite a long story with this layout. I have it all written down and tucked behind the monster. The orange fibers are on the end of the journaling tag and are positioned to look a little like the monster's hair. I thought the monsters were so cute that I took one of them and made it large for the layout's focal point. It's cute, huh? Suffice it to say that DS spent two hours, NONSTOP, saying things like, "I want McDonald's. Why won't you buy me McDonald's? I want french fries. I want a Happy Meal. I want a cheeseburger. Why won't you take me to a McDonald's..." We were on a road trip and had no idea where we were. DS kept this up to the point that DH and I thought about putting DS in the trunk (not really), but we did consider it as a possible solution. DS wasn't yelling or anything. He just talked incessantly saying things like what I wrote for two hours straight. I was driving. Suddenly, as if the heavens felt our pain, there, in the middle of the road, was a McDonald's bag and french fries all over the roadway. Now, we were in a very rural area (lost) and had no idea how they got there (a miracle maybe?). I quietly pointed them out to DH and wondered if I should pull over and pick them up or just get personal satisfaction by running over the whole thing. I chose the latter and told DS to look about the back window at what I had just smooshed in the road! Revenge is best served up cold, right? LOL Then, all of the sudden, the road opened from a two lane to a 3 or 4 lane highway. Still lost, I continued to drive north. Lo and behold, all of a sudden, a McDonald's appeared! We had managed to find ourselves in Carson City, NV! Yes, DS did get his McDonald's. We had been traveling up through the Sierras and somehow wound up in Carson City on our way to Auburn, California. Who knows how I got us there from California's Hwy. 395 and the Sonora Pass!

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Taking a Chance on Love


This is a LO of DH. Sorry about the glare off the title alphas. I printed DH's photo on aida cloth to give it texture. That's why it has all those little dots. In case you don't know, aida cloth is the fabric on which cross stitching is done. I think red, white, and black is one of my favorite color combos. I love this man! The little hearts on the oval tags are black heart shaped brads.

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Sunkissed Me


This is just a fun LO for my Book of Me. I spritzed the white CS with Smooch in red, yellow, and blue. I cut the flowers and added pop dots of differing heights underneath so that some are higher than others. Because I love textures, I added several kinds of textures to the LO as well. The crocheted pieces that look green are really yellow. For some reason, my camera just hates yellow and makes it look an ugly green.

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your visiting.

XO,
Chris