Painting Fire Hydrants

I forgot to post these photos. Got some of 

hubby while he was painting the fire hydrants. 

He painted 30 in all. The complete development was 

painted along with several on the main street. 

Most of the hydrants had 1967 cast into them, and made

by a company called Kennedy. 

There were a few new ones. They were

painted orange and had silver caps on them. 

Those also got painted red. 

Proud of him for doing the whole neighborhood. 

Happy last day of May! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Look What I Got in the Mail

I got happy mail this past Saturday from my friend Kat. 

Thanks!!!!!! 

Beautiful card. 

She sent me some cucumber and mint flavoring to 

add to my water. Love it! 

And OMG the baby buttons are adorable! the elephant of

course is my favorite, but I love that little horse with the pacifier. Too cute! 

Yesterday was a laid back day. Grilled some hotdogs and burgers. I made

pasta salad, and chip dip. Earlier in the morning I made a Michael's run. 

I got new Tim Holtz stamps! They had them buy one get one at 50% off. Plus

I had a 20% coupon for my entire order. Score! 

Emily spent most of the day with us. Always nice to chat with her. 

Today I'll be heading out to the library to meet with the crochet group. 

Then later I really need to do some housework. No fun, but its got to be done! 

 

And the new season of House of Cards starts today so most likely I'll be binge watching that.

Stamping trails

Karen 

Mailable Monday #195

I'd like to thank my Uncle Glen for serving his country, and

giving his life in the Korean War. And thank you to all

the others who have served, and are still serving their country.

Today's card was made using a Tim Holtz stamp set called

Happy Everything Blueprints. 

The flag was stamped with Jet Black StazOn then colored 

with Distress Crayon colors: Salty Sea, and Candied Apple. 

The greeting is from a SU set called Memories in the Making. 

Here is a photo of the rest of the stamps from the set. 

I also used the flag to make some artist trading cards. 

After coloring the flag I added some star sequins. 

We got some pretty awesome thunder storms last evening. Scared

our cat! Poor baby. She ran into the basement and didn't want to come

out. Lots of rain! Suppose to be nicer today. Emily is coming

over and we are planning to grill out. 

I'll be back tomorrow with some photos of 

the fire hydrant painting. We are not finished yet, but

we are getting closer. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Books from the Goodwill

Earlier this week me and John got had 

a chance to visit the goodwill. 

I found this mint condition Beatrix Potter book. 

The book slides out of the box. It has never been open. 

I love Beatrix Potter. At first I wasn't going to get it. 

Then John tells me I should as Sarah may have a baby. 

So I bought it for 3.93. 

The next book I bought was a Mel Bay guitar book. 

A deal at only .50 cents. 

Me and my brother Tony learned how to play guitars from Mel Bay books. 

Every time I find one I buy it. I'm getting a collection going.

Brings back good memories! 

Sarah is coming over today. Going to go and do some shopping. 

Should be fun! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Little Girl Red, White, and Blue ATC

Here is my ATC for the month of July. 

I'm laughing at myself now as I have July's finished, but

I haven't started on the ones for June. 

Here is another one that I was playing around with. 

The little printed panels were in the 4th of July paper packs I got earlier

this month. 

Me and hubby went to the mall yesterday and just walked around. 

The kids are out of school for the summer now, so there were quite a 

few people at the mall. I think also due to the holiday weekend

a lot of folks took Friday off to extend their weekend. 

Not much going on today. More rain in the forecast. 

 

If it clears up during the evening we are going to go to the drive-in. 

Sarah is coming over on Sunday. Going to do a little mommy, and

daughter day. Monday is up in the air. Going to attempt to cookout in

 

between the raindrops! In the words of Winnie the Pooh.....Oh Bother!!!!!! 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

I got a new Bag

Look at what I got yesterday!

Tuesday Morning new sale started so me and dear hubby

went to the one that I'll have to start going to because the

one in Strongsville is closing.....anyway

They had a some Tim Holtz/Ranger products that were on sale. 

I've wanted to get this bag for some time. Got a great price on it to

only 2.99.

Inside I got all my distress crayons, glazes, and brushes. 

So happy to have them all together. I even picked up an extra bag. 

Thinking that it might make a nice Christmas gift for a friend. 

And speaking of Christmas.....

me and hubby transplanted my Christmas cactus the other day. 

Got a nice ceramic pot at Old Time Pottery. 

It was getting pretty root bound and needed to be transplanted. 

We had a power outage last evening around 6 pm. 

I was in my stamping studio and heard a pretty large boom. 

One of the transformers blew. They came out

pretty quick and got it fixed. The power was out about an hour. 

Rained all day yesterday. Suppose to be dry today. Thank goodness. 

We've had two straight days of rain, and hubby really needs to go out

and mow the grass. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Mason Jar July Banner

I was playing around yesterday with the Sizzix Mason Jar die. 

Since the 4th is around the corner I wanted to make a banner. 

Wanted to do something a little different with the jars so cut them

 

out in sets of two and stitched around the edges with blue thread. 

 

 

I made 9 of them, using different designer paper, stickers, and embellishments. 

 

With some of the stickers I put them on white cardstock, cut around them, and

 

then mounted them to the jar with pop dots. I'll be using clothes pins to hang

 

them on jute. I'm thinking about taking three strands of jute and braiding them together. 

 

Oh the tops of the jars where cut with corrugated paper. 

 

Not sure what I'll be doing today. Going to rain some more. Joy!

 

Me and hubby went to visit his mom yesterday. We took her dinner. Her favorite...KFC. 

 

Later we walked around, and around the halls. It is a very large assisted living community that

 

she lives in. I was surprised on our walk that one of the sitting rooms had a old time spinning wheel

 

that can still be used. They have yarn. Pretty cool! 

 

Speaking of yarn on Tuesday crochet group meeting I started a scarf. I'll be making some to

 

donate. I know it will be warm as I'm using 2 different skeins of 4ply yarn. Going to be

 

pretty bulky. I'll post a photo when I'm finished with it. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Sticker Shock!

Well I went to Pat Catan's on a mission. 

They run daily specials throughout the month and 

yesterday they were selling sheets of stickers at 4 for a 

dollar. These normally are 1.29 per sheet. 

I got a nice selection of holidays so I'll have

plenty to use with all the swaps I join. But

I also got some different ones. Love the farm animals. 

Rolling around in my brain is an idea to use these with one of

the boy dolls from Julie Nutting. 

 

Had to get a zoo one, cause lets face it there is an elephant in the set. 

You know me and my elephants. 

Picked up a dog set for Emily. Thought she could use these

 

in the memory book she is making of her dog. 

 

 

The FUSEables were on clearance, so I picked up one pack for 3.00

The package has enough to make 10 shakers cards, and also has sequins, and 

embellishments. 

The biggest change at Catan's.....SQUEAL they have a fabric dept! 

I was hoping that the one in Strongsville would also get fabric. I chatted

with the manger as he was working in the dept, and he told me that

the prices of their fabric would still be less than when JoAnn's sells there fabric

at 50% off. Doing the happy dance. The dept isn't open yet, but will be soon, as

they are still stocking it. They have lots of pretty fabric!

Stamping trails

Karen

Father's Day ATC

Here is a Father's day artist trading card that

I made for a swap. 

The little silver key is actually a brad that I've

had in my craft stash for a very long time. 

I guess it was just waiting around for the right

project to go be placed on. 

Spent some time yesterday cleaning up the crafting space. 

Then took a trip to the post office......37 dollars and change later....

I was back home weeding the front flower bed. And....

I helped hubby out in the garden and did some weeding there. 

WHEW!

Today is fun day. Going to the library to meet up with 

the crocheting group. Then off to Pat Catan's. They are having a sale

that I'd like to take advantage of. 

And I might take another quick trip to Tuesday Morning. The one

in Strongsville is closing. GASP! I'm still in shock over that one! 

Want to stop in and check to see if they lowered the prices. I was

there last week and everything in the store was 10% off. 

At least there is still a Tuesday Morning I can go to out in Middleburg

Heights. Its bit more of a drive, but worth it since when hubby goes

 

to Harbor Freight its right on the way.

Stamping trails

Karen

Mailable Monday #194

Happy Monday! 

I didn't get to stamp till late last night. 

The stamp set I'm using is Perfect Mix. 

Since this card was very simple, and quick

I made three using the set. Took a whopping 

10 minutes to make all three....yes I timed it. 

I stamped the bowl on Pacific Point cardstock, and

again on white cardstock. Fussy cut around both and layered

on the card. Spoon was colored with yellow primsa pencil. 

Stamped with Memento black ink, then 

colored with shades of gray pencils. 

And the last one also colored with primsa pencils. 

After the cards were finished I used a corner rounder on all the edges. 

Couldn't be quicker! 

I finished up the mega 4th of July swap I've been working on. YEAH! 

Went and did the grocery shopping yesterday afternoon in the rain. JOY! 

After it cleared up me and hubby took a walk around the neighborhood. 

He bought a rhododendron at Home Depot. It will go in the front flower bed....and

speaking of rhododendrons.......

They are in full bloom. Love that I can just open my front door and see this.....

Stamping trails

Karen

Pop and Twist Card

This is the awesome card I received from Kat. 

Yes it looks wonderful on the outside, but take a look.....

 

 

At the inside. This is called pop and twist card. 

 

 

 

And here it is fully open. 

I took this photo of the opened card on a flat surface so

you can see the inside better. 

Thanks Kat! Love this card! 

Me and hubby spent part of the afternoon painting fire hydrants.

 

We got 11 of them finished. We still have two more cans of pain that 

 

the fire department gave us, so we are thinking we will be able to get 

 

all of the hydrants finished in our neighborhood. Next time I'll take

 

the camera so I can get some photos to post. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Audry Prima Doll on Jiffy Muffin Box

Back with the larger tag I made using the blueberry Jiffy box. 

The blender at the bottom is a Sizzix die. 

Audry was stamped on cardstock and colored

with Prisma pencils. Since most of the doll is not

attached to the tag I had to reinforce her some way. 

So I stamped her again on light weight cardboard and glued 

that to the back. 

The apron I hand cut to fit the doll, and used different

designer papers to keep with the 4th of July red, white, and blue theme. 

I used the small easel die to made a stand for the back of the tag. 

Happy mail arrived at my mailbox yesterday. I got the most awesome 

card from my friend Kat.

Not posting it till tomorrow as I wanted it to have its own post....

yes it's that cool! Stop back tomorrow and see. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Prima Doll on a Jiffy Box

Made blueberry muffins for me and hubby last week, 

and decided to use the box to make tags. 

What a perfect background for this prima doll

from "Mama's day" stamp set. 

The additional stamps used are from Stampin'Up Perfect Mix

stamp set. 

I did make one more tag with the Jiffy box, but

I'll post that one tomorrow. 

So yesterday it was 90. The temp dropped over night, by

30 degrees. Today it will only be in the low 60's. 

And wouldn't just know that Skip and John put in the 

air conditioner yesterday. It was the first time we

ever turned it on in May. 

I need to hit the grocery store today. Then run to the post office 

for more stamps. Also need to take back some pens that I bought at

JoAnn's. One of them isn't writing so I need to exchange it. 

So I guess this is my running around day. Maybe I'll visit some more 

garage sales. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Flowers for May ATC

Here are the Artist Cards I made to trade for the 

month of May. 

I went with a flower theme.

The base is designer paper from Stampin'Up. 

A large flower stamp was inked with black and 

stamped in the center of the paper. I then added 

some color with sponges on some of the flowers. Used

Crushed Curry, and Calypso Coral ink. 

The word stamp is from a See-D's collection I have. 

Since the designer paper was the base I thought it was

to thin so I mounted it on the same size Crushed Curry cardstock. 

Hope the group likes it. 

It got really hot yesterday. Up in the 80's! Getting even hotter today.

They are expected it to hit 90. Real dog days of summer temps. 

Wish we could just have nice temps in the mid 70's for several weeks. 

That would be awesome! I tell you the temps here just swing from one

thing to another! Ah the joys of living in Ohio! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Doll Tag from Carol

I received this cutie on Monday. 

She is so cute! Love the blue and yellow combo. 

Carol from Paper Doll Trading (facebook group) 

posted a challenge several weeks ago. 

The challenge was to create a tag with any doll, but

you could only use the colors blue and yellow with

one neutral color. 

You can see the tag I made for the challenge at this link

Carol selected 3 winners. She had lots of people enter. 

And let me tell you there were some awesome artwork, so

I'm thrilled to have won! 

Back of Carol's tag. Big thanks Carol! Love

your work. 

Me and the boys hit the mall yesterday and saw Guardians of the Galaxy II yesterday.

Great movie just like the first. We went to Costco after and did a little shopping. 

I'll be working of swaps today. Everything is coming up red, white, and blue for this swap! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Scrapbooking at the Library

I spent some time at the public library last evening, and

made some scrapbook pages. 

I love the patterned paper used in this layout. 

I think these were suppose to be used with wedding photos due

to the word stamp used, but I think it would be better for Halloween. 

The spring layout uses peek a boo peach, and pumpkin pie inks. 

I stressed a little bit with the two step stamping. Not my favorite thing

to do, but it did turn out okay. 

The colors go well together. The gold baker twine bow around the 

flower looks really good with the pumpkin flower. 

Suppose to be 80 today. Me and John are going to the movies.

He took his certification test yesterday, and will know in a week if he

passed. He thinks he did well, so keeping my fingers crossed that he

passes and won't have to take it again. 

Stamping trails

Karen