Hi All,
So busy with the Holiday almost upon us, hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and will be back after the Holiday, here is a quick card I did for my Mother in law whom is re couping from Brain Surgery, done with one of Hero Arts new stamps. I used T!ms little trick of using paint dabber around the edge to resist the ink when I distressed, I like this type of look, different than the usual clean cut look! I then colored it in with copics.
See you all next year, and I truely hope to be more exciting here and post daily as well.
Thanks
Donna

GiveAway over AT Wee Memories

Just thought I would give you the heads up. The wonderful Jenny, over at Wee Memories is having a great give away, won't even tell you what it is, but it is worth the visit and so easy peasy to do to get a chance at her lovely prize, so hop on over and share the love and maybe win something really nice.

Ta Ta

Oh, her blinkie is on the right side, click on that and it will transport you on over to her!!
Thanks

Quick Pop In

Hi all, I have been very busy like everyone else, I guess it is the season!! Trying to get ready for the Holiday, and doing Mr. T!m's 12 tags of Christmas, they are all almost done except for day 6 and I am finishing up tag 12, the last one, I will post a few now, the rest are on my Flickr photostream.

I was very excited, I was actually lucky and my name was drawn as one of the comments on day 11, so I got a nice little package from T1ms blog, that was so exciting, would have rather had it been one of his tags signed but hey, get what we get, I am just glad to have won. I don't win too often, so I get very excited when I do. He still has a big drawing tomorrow, so I am keeping my fingers crossed, but don't hold out much hope, as one I already one once, so what are the odds and there are so many comments from the week, I can imagine the odds are low, but I am wishing everyone good luck!!

I have not had much time to post lately, as usual, again I have committed myself to more things to do than I have time for in a day!!! Hopefully one of these days I can get a schedule down and be able to accomplish everything!

I hope to start posting on a daily basis, even though I feel like I am talking to myself. Maybe after the first of the new year, I will learn how to do a BLOG properly, and post some more exciting things.

Be back soon, thanks for coming by.
Donna

Hero Arts Blog Hop

Hey everyone, want to win some Prizes? Want to see some great new STAMPS and some awesome creations made with these New Stamps by some wonderfully creative people?

Come on over the Hero Arts Blog Hop this Friday, follow the link for more information, click on the blinkie over on the right for 2011 catalog, I don't seem to be able to figure out how to post a link yet, new to all this, sorry !!

Thanks look forward to seeing you there!!

Donna

December update

Hello Cyber Space, It has been some time since I have been around, keeping busy with the Holidays and all it involves and now I have been following along with the Amazing Tim Holtz and his 12 tags of Christmas, I will post of a few of them that I have done along with this post, and when done I will post all 12. Again, they are my version of what I like, I am not totally grunge like Tim is, and I improvise with what I have and what he uses. It is fun doing some techniques I have not done in a while, helps to clean out the cobwebs on my creativity!

This Friday Hero Arts, one of my favorite stamp Companies is having a Blog Hop to blast off their 2011 Catalog~~ So if you have the time come on over and follow the blogs and leave some loving comments and win some wonderful prizes and meet some wonderfully talented people!!

This flickr group of ladies is the greatest, and with some great tools they put out some astounding projects!!

Another site, that keeps me going back for more is Stamp TV with Gina K, some great videos. I love her stamps of late, and she has some wonderful designers as well, one of my favorites is a Theresa Momber, she is just AWESOME, and it is so easy to follow her lead, as she gives lovely step by step directions or video tutorials. Such a talented lady! Her blinkie is on the side, check out her blog!! You won't be sorry.

Not much new in my neck of the woods, just taking life one day at a time. Winter is settling in, so being cooped up I hope to become more creative and maybe get this blogging thing down pat, as you can tell I am not much of a blogger, have a lot to learn.

Thanks for checking in!!

Donna

Here are a few pictures at Lake Keuka, where I hubby Jim and Mirage had a great time!!

Friday is Here

Well, here comes another weekend, i have not been around the blog world in some time, been pretty busy with LIFE, and trying to find the time to be creative. Well needless to say it has not been working out too well in that direction.

We took a nice trip up to Lake Keuka in New York State, last weekend, and boy was that nice, first time in 8 years since I became ill that I was able to get away and I was very nervous, but all went well, we even took my 2 and 1/2 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback with us, and she was great, she traveled so well. And she had so much fun chasing the local chipmunks and squirrels, whom were not used to have a 95pound dog running around!! So all and all it was a great weekend.

The scenery was amazing, fall foliage at its peak, weather was overcast most of the time, but it was still great. Got some wonderful photos. The water at the Lake was so clean and clear, my dear Hubby did some fishing, he was out there fishing in the early am in his pajamas!! Twenty steps out the door had you on the dock and it was so pretty first thing in the am, as the sun rose above the mountain peaks

The main idea behind the weekend away was to get to visit with my dear Brother Skip and his girlfriend Margaret, we get so little time together, and it was nice to sit and talk as always just the phone, we got to look through a few boxes of family photos that I brought with me. Did some reading, out to eat a few times and had an early Thanksgiving dinner with Skip and Margaret and husband Jim and Mirage, we have not been together for a turkey dinner in oh 40 plus years. And Margaret and Skip prepared a wonderful meal.

Then it was back to reality, and dreary NJ, but such is life and vacations. I tell you I could take that environment 24/7, such a beautiful place to retire to. Although I believe winters would be rough, not unless you like being snowed in for a week at a time, the roads are so hilly and curvy, I would not want to drive in the winter!!

Will attach one card I made recently, hope you enjoy, and hope to have more soon,

Thanks and be back as soon as I can.

Donna

Fall Ramblings

Hi,
I know I have not been around much, have not had much time to create, been very involved combining my crafting room and my Genealogy research room, that has left hardly any energy left over. And that has been put into commitment issues, local card and layout contests at our local Scraping and Stamping Store "The Cove", great place!! So got my card creation done, sorry forgot to take a picture of it, and working on the two page layout which has to be done by tomorrow. Then I have to get a card done for a pairing up challenge on Flickr, in the Hero Arts group, where a very nice collection of women get together and make their projects using Hero Arts stamps and then load them onto Flickr, a lot of inspiration comes from this group!!

So I was paired up with a very nice lady, Anette, from Way down by Africa, we would both make a card using the same stamp, and then create away to our own tastes, then we upload our creations together and people get to see what we each come up with, and we have done 4 stamps so far and the 5th one has to be done by Monday, so i want to get it done before the weekend!! I have this habit of waiting till the last minute to do things, I always say I won't but I always end up doing it just that way!!

So hopefully after the end of this month I will start publishing on a daily basis and have more time for creating.

We are off next weekend for a lovely long weekend for a Fall Foliage mini vacation to NY state, up by Lake Keuka, by Hammontown, to visit my brother, me hubby and lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback Mirage, Administrator of this blog!! Can't go any where with out the dog!! She is my daily partner in crime, would be lost without her!!

Oh well, posted with this are two cards I have done recently and will post another (my challenge card) by Monday when I get that one done.

Off to watch some TV with Hubby, hope everyone has a good weekend.!!

Donna

BUSY BUSY

Sorry, have not been around much, have not had time to do any creating. I am making some cards for OWH (Operation Write Home) and also World card making day and the challenge at Hero Arts. The best stamp company around, product and customer service wise!!
Anyway, this week I will be cleaning and organizing my craft room which was my research room doing Genealogy for over 30 years, so a daunting task to say the least. But needs to be done, as the room I have been using to do my crafting in gets very cold in the winter, it is a porch of sorts with not much heat, in which I did not do much creating during the last winter, except for when I used the space heater, which it has just gotten to crowded out there to use, not safe anymore. So cleaning I will be doing a lot of!!!

So should be back in a week or so, maybe less, if all goes well.
Thanks for stopping by.
Donna

Lazy Sunday

Hope everyone had a nice weekend, Our weather was overcast here in NJ, but so glad the temp's have cooled down, hopefully I will get more done now. I have a lot of project to get done, so I have to divide my time, anyway will be posting a card I made this past week, where I used one of my smaller flower stamps from Hero Arts set, to make my own background for a clean and simple card. After stamping all over white cardstock with the smaller flower stamp I then colored it in with copic markers, and then stamped another smaller white cardstock with a wispy daffodil stamp by Hero Arts.
That I colored simply with the copic markers and the spica copic markers that sparkle so nicely, they do not show up well in the picture but are really pretty in real life, I also printed out, cut out and colored a nice butterfly, this one is by Hero arts also but is digital, and also used glossy accents on that, and thread for the antennas . Then added some bling, small piece of ribbon and done. Simple but pretty I think, and fun to do.

More later in the week, have Dr. apt this week, some contest projects to do for Local stamp shop, and home work for a once a month craft class, and some other projects as well, and normal house duties!!! Also trying but never succeeding into converting my two rooms into one, just need organization, and with 30 plus years of genealogy work to organize it is TOUGH!! And on a limited income!! Now If I could only win that lottery, I would design a room that would be so much fun, cozy with a nice fireplace, lots and lots of storage and display areas and functional, shoot if it was a big lottery, my own cottage to craft in!!

Have a good week and if anyone stops by, thanks for looking.
Donna

Playing with crayons Doing Crayon Resist

Hi all,
Not much new here in my Blogger land, have not been well the last week and not doing much creating or on line. So will just post one of the last cards I made and I really enjoyed making the card, brought back memories of a kid and coloring with Crayons!!
Anyway, I used my Hero Arts 3 Daisy stamp, it is a fairly large stamp, but love it, used Memento ink black and stamped it on white cardstock, used a WHITE crayon on the petal part of the flower and colored in the petals, then I used a copic marker to color stem of the flower and then used a blending tool (time holtz's) and used dried marigold and shabby shutters, and vintage photo distress inks and blended all around the flower to get desired coloring. Now what I got is not exactly what I wanted, was going to play around some more but was tired. When I was done distressing with the distress inks, took a tissue and wiped off all the excess ink on the flower part and the white on the crayon buffs up so nice and shiny, it gives such a great look, more so in person than on the picture, Try it you will like it!! Going to try in a different way with a different color in the future some time, think it looks great.

Thanks for looking and be back soon when I am feeling a bit better.

Ta Ta for now.
Donna

Weekend Winding Down

Well I hope you all had a great weekend, our weather here in NJ was gorgeous, Liked it a bit better on Saturday, it was a little bit cooler out, today was a bit too warm, but so glad Fall is on the way. I have had enough hot weather and high Electric bills.

So we had relaxing one here, trying to put my creating room to rights, but it so needs a major overhaul, hopefully will get to all of that soon.

I did get to make one card, I had a lot of local projects to be finished up around here last week, so did not get much card making done. I did hear from Dixie in North Carolina, and she was so nice and let me know how much she liked all the cards I sent for Operation Write Home, a great cause for our soldiers, you can send in your home made cards for them to write to their families on. I am so glad someone will be enjoying my creations. I hope to keep up with this, I did it at first as part of a challenge, associated with Hero Arts, now I will do it because it feels good and right to do. So all cards I make and show here will be going to our troops to use in the future.

Attached is a card for a challenge on Flickr/Hero Arts, me and my new flickr friend Anette from New Zealand are creating, wer are doing 5 cards each, we use the same stamp in the same week and see what we come up with. This is our second week, and I am so enjoying doing this.

So I hope you enjoy the card, I used Bazzil cardstock, Hero Arts stamps, Large Canvas Stripes background, and Fabulous Flourish, and lastly, the stamp Garden star Flower stamp, I did some embossing, used some perfect pearls, copics, and I added a little bling and some brads in the center of the flowers and some ribbon. I am pleased with the outcome, some times I am not always thrilled with the end results, but this one was a keeper, or I guess not, it will be heading out with the next shipment of cards heading for Operation Write Home.

Well, thanks for stopping by and see you soon,

Love Donna

Recuperative Monday

Well folks,I am actually getting caught up on rest from my busy weekend, I spent the weekend over at Flickr, the Hero Art's group ran a weekend long Operation Write Home card challenge, with prizes and such, it was fun, but tiring. I personally made 19 cards and have saved up 40 some odd cards, so I think in total I will be mailing in 60 cards all for our dear Soldiers to be able to Write Home to their families. So after sitting at that table all weekend, my ailments are all protesting!!!

But, it was a great weekend for a great cause, well worth a little extra discomfort.

I also made a card I am going to show here for a very nice Person named Agata, in Europe for a Monthly challenge held by Debbie, [http://dominodebi.typepad.com/].

I really enjoyed making the card, using Hero Arts stamp S5316 Tall waving wheat, and their pumpkin stamps, G5269 and F5270, also used a gel glitter pen for tops of wheat, distress inks, glossy accents,copic markers, some twine, Tim Holtz distress tool, and Bazzil card stock. The basket I just sketched myself and colored in.

Here is the card attached, anyway, thanks for stopping by, not sure if there is anyone out there reading this, but anyway I enjoy talking to myself so why not type to myself!! Ha Ha.

Take care and will Return.

Donna

Fall and Changes

Well, it has been some time, I lost my blog for a spell, They kept telling me it did not exist, so after a time, we are found again.

Now I a not going to be posting anything exciting today, or over the next few days, I am quite involved in a task over at my favorite spot Hero Art's Flickr group. They are having some virtual challenges going on this weekend for Operation Write Home, so I will be busy creating cards over there, will let you know how it goes next week.

I am also trying to commit myself to doing this blog on a regular basis and also start to Journal my life, I want to make some BIG changes, organize myself, put myself on a tight regime to see if it helps me get more organized and healthy right now, and if I do things according to a list or schedule where I can check things off, I am more likely to do just that. I want to diet, research recipes, and eat healthier, do some small stretching exercises, a daily walk with my dog, and a certain amount of house work or yard work daily. And of course allow time to create and do my blog, this all came to me while driving around doing errands the other day, I just NEED change, and get out of the RUT I am currently finding myself lately.

I used to enjoy life, photography and so much more and lately I find myself just drifting aimlessly, so this is my attempt at handling my many health issues, which I will touch on over the months and keeping a journal will maybe also help me there, to see triggers to my Fibromyalgia pain, and weather changes and my pain levels, a whole lot of ground to cover.

So before I start all that here, I have to write down my regime to start on paper, or type it in word as a document and take it from there, I will start small as to not over whelm myself and ditch the effort like I have done in the past. Then I will set myself a goal on how long I will do this, probably to start maybe say 3 months, then expand it to a year. Then in the end when I get results I can also confer with my Dr.s and see if anything clicks.

So until next week, hope you and all the no people that see this enjoy our cooler weather.
Maybe some where some day this will help another Fibromyalgia sufferer or arthritis or pain control person get a grip on life and all the medications that they have to take. And maybe some where along the line I eventually will be able to get some sleep!!

See you all soon,
Donna

My Second creation Made while Trapped by the HEAT.

This card, my second created while being cooped up from it being so hot and humid outside. I created this card around the Stamp. The turtle stamp is Stamps by Judith,
I love their selection of animal stamps.
I colored my turtle with my copics markers, still on the learning curve with them, and loving it, I have a wonderful teacher, she is fantastic at doing it as well as teaching it.

Then when my coloring of the stamped image was dry, just a few minutes, I put glossy accents on his squares on his back and sprinkled some Diamond Dust on the wet glossy accents, the Diamond Dust is by Floracraft., which it is nothing more than finely ground up glass, but it looks so pretty, and I use it also with glossy accents on my prima flowers, and it adds such a nice sparkle.

I then put a cut out mask of the turtle on him, and spray painted the background with my copic sprayer, using one of the mauve looking colors for the bulk of it and a blue color for the corners.

Then I used one of Martha Stewart's punches on the PP paper, and then glued it on some bazzil card stock, then stamped with my Hero Arts Happy Birthday stamp and used two prima flowers, one pinkish one (already made), which I added some stickles to the center and some of the diamond dust along with it. The second flower I colored a plain prima with the same color as the back ground using the copic system again, then added some stickles to the center and some diamond dust in the middle.
I then glued the Flowers on using glossy accents, I know when I put something on with the Glossy accents, it is not going to fall off!! Love that stuff!! I also added another Hero Arts sentiment to the inside of the card.

And that was it, Thanks for looking.
Donna

FRIDAY, Yeah!!

Well, I hope you all in my neck of the woods are succeding at staying cool. We have been having a terrible heat spell, which is keeping my butt in the house!! Feel bad for my poor husband, he is on vacation and we have not been able to do much, it seems when he is on vacation there is some kind of Weather problem either it rains all week or now we have almost 100 degree weather the whole time.
I have been keeping busy, trying to sort through my many stamps and organize myself, I have been able to make two cards which I will post here, they were easy enough to do.

The first card I created around the stamp, I just love this Dog stamp, it is from Stamps by Judith, and as I love dogs and have a now 2 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback "Mirage", whom is my constant companion. Anyway, stamped the image and cut out and colored with my copic markers, 3D'd him or her with a 3d tape dot and mounted on a 2 inch punched out circle colored with Tim Holtz Distress inks. I also 3D'd that and put a bunch of mounting tape under it. On my pup I also used glossy accents on the tongue and on his or her nose.

The background I had two different paw print stamps and I just stamped all over a piece of white card stock with them in different color brown inks, I then went around the edge with Vintage Photo distress ink just to tone down the white a bit. When I was happy with the look, I mounted it all together using layers of colored bazzil cardstock. Left it generic for now until I know what other sentiments I would like to add.

Will post my other creation a bit later.

My dear Mirage is letting me know that she is being negelected again for this darn machine!! (the computer)

So stay cool, and have a good weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Todays Creation

I created this card today around my Flower, I stamped the Flower with Hero Arts Stamp F5429 Garden Star, then cut out and colored with Copic markers (greatest markers). Then put some yellow bling in the middle and curled up the pedals, there are about 3 layers of the flower there, on the final layer, I only cut out a few petals of the flower and curled them up, putting 3D dots in between each layer.
I then I embossed with yellow embossing powder (Powder Keg) on to black bazzil, using HA stamp CG119 Flourish background. Two little butterflies are Martha Stewart punch Medium Butterfly, with bling in the middle, then mounted on blue bazzil and rounded the edges. "Hugs" is just some stickers on a piece of Bazzil. And that is it, put all together done. Oh, and thank you for looking.

Some times when I create a card, I can go by a design, or it can be a piece of embelishment that may trigger the ideas that I come up with, or the sitpulations set up by a certain Challenge, or by a certain stamp that I have. I also get a lot of ideas from all the great talent on my Flickr Group, Hero Arts, so I owe a lot to all the wonderful people over there!! So today's card was created around this flower that I had made, and I just went with the flow.

Have a great day and Thank you for visiting.

Donna

Hi, and welcome to my attempt at Blogging. Thanks first off for stopping by, it may take me some time to get all this down, but I will try. I will from time to time, show some of my cards that I have created, I do participate in a great Group on Flickr, Hero Arts, if you like stamping and scrap booking you have got to try out this group, the people there are great, so helpful and just a great place.

I live in NJ, central, nice little town, married and home full time. I don't have the greatest health, so that may hamper me from posting from time to time, but will not bore you with all that. But it is because of that as to why I am now scrap booking and card making, it is a great way to occupy myself.

Plus I also worked on my Genealogy (family research) for over 30 years, so what to do with all that History and Picture's! EASY scrapbook!! But once I started that and discovered stamps, I was done, hooked, addicted. Now I can never have enough stamps!!

So for now I will sign off, don't want to cover all the bases in one day, have to save something for other days. Off to hopefully make a card for today.

Happy 4th of July to anyone that stops by!!

Thanks
Donna