36 Years Ago Today

Happy Anniversary to hubby, and me. It was 

36 years ago today. I married a wonderful man. How lucky am I? 

The wedding party. Friends Steve, and Vicky. 

arriving at Vicky's for the reception. 

Cutting the cake. 

Skip being silly taking a photo of me taking a photo of him. 

Can't believe how young we look! 

So today while we are looking back on our happy years together we

will be visiting some places that we use to go to when we were dating. 

Didn't have a lot of money back then so we took long walks at the Metro parks. 

Lots of good memories. Of course we also spent time at the local video store

playing Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. At some point today I'm thinking a 

trip to the arcade will be fun! Later planning to go out for dinner. 

Thank you honey for so many happy years. Many more to come! 

I'll be back tomorrow with photos of the craft show. 

Which was awesome! Had a great time with Betty. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Passbook

I joined a FB group this week that makes and trades passbooks. 

What is a passbook? Just a little book that is handmade with whatever

theme you like. 

The idea is to make artwork or "stamps" to trade with others to

fill your passbook.

Here is the inside cover. I used a library card so I can record

the names of the people who trade with me. 

I added pages to the book with parchment paper. I wanted the book to look

older than it is. The pages are large enough to hold a stamp that

is artist trading card size. Also added a shaker element to the center. It

has beads, and postage stamps in it. 

To hold the book together I used the sewing machine and a zig zag stitch. 

The cover is patterned paper that I brushed with modge podge. 

Well gotta run off to the craft show. Looking forward to a great day! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Let's Get Together and Wine Shaker Card

Here is another shaker card that I made this morning. 

Love the wine glasses! 

The glass came from Fiskars Aged to Perfection stamp set. 

The greeting is from Hampton laugh out loud stamps. 

When I was designing the card I set up three small windows just

for the cut out part of the wine glass. I wanted each glass

to show some of the purple beads when the card was standing up. 

Had fun with this one. Wanted to make some more but the foam strips

made by Darice, but they were out of stock at Pat Catan's when I went there

yesterday afternoon. Actually it was a big mistake going to Catan's. The 

crafters that are in for Adventures in Rubber Stamping had the store packed!!!!! 

Reminded me of when my friends would come in a group to visit, and bought lots 

 

of things at the store. I miss those days. 

So speaking of the craft show tomorrow is the big day. I'm sure Betty, and I will

have a blast.  Lots to see, and buy! 

I'll be back on Monday with a report on the show, how much I spent, and what I bought! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Time for Shakers

Got together with Betty yesterday afternoon, and made

some shaker cards. 

I used a paper pack that I found at Hobby Lobby called Lavender. 

Stamp set and matching die from Sizzix. 

This one features a set of dolls from Tim Holz. I had

to add the big bow in the girl's hair. They wore them that way right?

and the last one. Isn't she just too cute? I think

I should have added a few more sequins to the shaker. Sometimes

it is hard to tell how much to add. 

 

Me and Betty are counting down the days till the weekend. 

 

We are going to Adventures in Stamping show. Won't be long now. 

 

They hold the event in Akron which is not to far from where I live. 

 

Such a large and fun craft show. Today at some point I need to head to the 

 

post office, then to Costco. After that I think I'll be back to stamping as I have 

 

to make a bunch of thank you cards that a friend requested. Busy, busy! 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Butterfly Embellishment Box

I wanted to share the embellishment box I made for Kathleen. 

It was for the blue and yellow swap. Found the butterfly in one of 

 

my many embellishment drawers. Think I got it at Pat Catan's. 

 

 

Also wanted to share this cute photo of Emily, and Cherokee taken

on Easter day. Sarah is in the background. 

and the chocolate bunny cake. John wanted chocolate cake, but

I felt it needed some holiday details, so I stuck a chocolate bunny

in the center of the cake and added some robin eggs. 

Sarah made some lemon and blueberry scones. She said they

didn't look the best, but they tasted great! She told me that she had

a hard time cutting in the butter as she didn't own a pastry cutter, so of course

I gave her mine. 

It was beautiful out yesterday. Sunny, and 74. Me and hubby took a nice long walk around

the lake. Of course the rest of the week will be in the 50's. Oh well back to the sweaters. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Mailable Monday #230

Those little two by two embellishments that Kathleen

made were so cute I had to use them right away! 

With the eight she made me I was able to make seven cards. 

All I did was add the base, some layers, and greetings to complete them. 

Talk about getting your cardstock worth. After using a corner of 

a piece of yellow cardstock for the yellow heart on this card.....

I punched the other three corners, and had a cute little heart layer

for this card. 

doubled up and made two of this design. 

love that little mushroom! 

Had fun making these yesterday morning...shhh don't tell anyone

but I was in my jammies! It was still a bit cold yesterday morning, and

it was great to grab a cup of coffee, and do some crafting. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Blue and Yellow Swap from Kathleen

Kathleen made me some beautiful things for the blue and yellow

swap we did this month. These dolls are just too cute!!!! 

Embellishment tags

We have been purchasing plastic storage boxes from the Dollar Tree. 

For this swap she made a box to hold it in. 

Here is the decorated top of the box. 

and look at all the fab embellishments on the inside!

more goodies. The round blue trinket box is so cute. She added the flair to the top. 

altered paper clips

shaker embellishment

altered clothes pins, and charms. Her cat Riley helped with 

the yellow clothes pin. Bet he was an artist is another life. Looks great Riley! 

2x2 inch decorated embellishments. She used napkins with modge podge for 

the background. How cool!

Thanks so much Kathleen for spoiling me again! Our next monthly swap

is going to be purple and lavender. I have to get busy and go through all

my paper, bling, and the like to start that swap. 

Stamping trails

Karen

April ATC

I'm running late with some of my swaps this month. 

I just made the April artist trading cards today while

stamping with my friend Betty. 

Love how these turned out! I made the pinwheel with 

a square piece of patterned paper that is a 1 1/2 inch square. 

Now that was a tiny piece of paper to work with, but I did it! 

I thought it looked cute with the little boy holding a pinwheel. 

Had happy mail waiting for me when I came home. Box from my artsy

friend Kathleen. Took photos of it all and will post tomorrow. 

Happy to say it got up to 50 yesterday, and was sunny. Suppose to stay that

way for the weekend. I'll take it! Should be in the 60's by now, but as long as

it isn't snowing anymore things are looking up. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Coffee Themed Inchies

It has been over a week since my last post. 

It's not that I haven't been creating....I have, but

not things that I can post on the blog just yet. Waiting

for my swap partner to receive her box before I can share. 

What I can post is this cute little set of coffee themed inchies that

I made for a recent swap. What are inchies? They are little pieces of

art that are a one inch square. For this swap we needed to make a set

of  nine using the theme, and to also display them nicely. 

Here is a closer view. 

Some of them were water colored, and some were edged with a gold marker. 

Added some glossy accents here and there. After they were finished I added

mini pop dots to the back, and stuck them to a clear window sheet. That

was then mounted on cream cardstock. I added the tab to the top with the

the coffee die cut. 

and speaking of water colors....just look at the cute tin I 

found at Marc's for 1.99! Set of 24 colors and they are wonderful to work with. 

Check out how colorful the pencils are. 

Of course I had to buy more than one set. These will be nice to tuck

away for birthday, and Christmas gifts to my artsy friends. 

I have no idea what happened to Spring, but it has turned up missing!!!!

My daughter called me today, and she was so sad that it has been to

cold, and snowy to work in the yard. With the snow, and my Christmas cactus in full bloom

I told hubby I was ready to put the tree back up. He said if the outside lights were still

up he would turn them on. Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....even though its Spring. 

Okay I know you are singing the carol now. 

Heading over to stamp with my pal Betty this afternoon. Need to get out of the house, 

and have some fun. 

I'm dreaming of a white Spring.....NOT

Karen

Mailable Monday #129, and ACK!!!!!

For today's mailable Monday I have a simple gate fold card. 

I used Tim Hotlz circle thinlits to make the layers on the front. 

The flower is colored with Prisma pencils, and the entire flower layer

was spritzed with Tattered Angels gold spray. 

and here is what the card looks like on the inside. I brought in the 

same patterned paper that was used on the front. 

Sorry I have been gone all last week. My stamping studio

has been overrun with ants. YUCK!!!

What a mess. Hubby put out ant baits and that did kill a lot of them.

We are hoping that the little buggers took the bait back to the queen and killed her

as well. I'm still seeing ants around. Hubby says they are the leftovers from the colony. 

After I pulled out all the bins I have on the floor of my room I discovered a 

ton of dead ant bodies. So I vacuumed them up. Heard that vinegar disrupts 

ants so I sprayed around the room with the vinegar, water mixture. 

Wish I could report that they are all gone, but I'm still seeing them. 

Moving on to the weather.....what the heck? We had snow yesterday morning. 

The temperature slid down into the 20's last night. Not looking good for the rest of the week.

I'm thinking at this point I'll never get my car out of the garage. With the chance of snow and

possible salt on the road, my new car has to stay in the garage and hide. 

So there you have it. Needless to say I have not been in the mood to create anything. 

Hoping that will change as I'm going over today, and craft with my friend Betty. 

I need some space away from these ants!!!!! 

 

Buggy trails

Karen 

Easter Cards from Friends and More

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to share a few cards I've received from friends, and

also share some old photo's of me as a child. 

This cute card was made by Kathleen. Just love it! So

fun and colorful. Makes me think Spring. Which we are 

not getting today! High is 39, and cold! Happy April Fool's Day

from Mother Nature. 

The next one was made by Kym. Love the stitched egg

on the coach. Reminds me of Cinderella's pumpkin coach. 

and this one was made by Lisa. So elegant. 

Thanks girls! 

Yes that is me with a large yellow stuffed bunny. Six or seven months old. 

In this Easter shot I was 4. Look at all those eggs on the end table. 

Remember when Paas had the egg rings so you could stand up the eggs?

Maybe they still do, but I have colored eggs in a long time! 

Me at 6 with a purple bunny. 

and a photo of my sister Charlotte I think she must have

stole my bunny. She was almost 13 when this was taken. 

I looked for one of Tony, but I couldn't find it. I'm still in the process

of organizing all the photos so I'm sure one will turn up. 

Hope everyone enjoys the day. We are going non traditional, and

I'm making chicken parm for the family. Sarah, Jason, John, and Emily

are looking forward to that! 

Bunny trails to all

Karen