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Friday 15 March 2024

Another Card, and My House Not My Cat, Kind Of!

 Here's another card I made, using the technique in the previous post. They are so quick, and so much fun to make. You can make them with any shaped lid, have you tried this technique. I splattered the card with some brown Dinkles.  To keep the splatters off the Badger, I just placed the stamp over top of the image before I did the splatters. Oh yes, there's a "whoopsie" on here! I stamped the word 'Nature' too close to the Badgers foot. So I inked up the top of the letter "N" in white. Probably not the most creative idea I've ever had, but I couldn't think of anything else to fix it! Oh well!
This is "Wookie". She is not my cat, and she does not live here, kind of.  She belongs to my friends who live behind my place.  Last year she 'left home; and started visiting me. I had met her some time before, but this time she did not want to go home. My friends (who own her) had recently got two little dogs, ad "Wookie" does not like them. She's not scared of them, she just does not like them. She is a little skittish and when the dogs run at her (to play) she runs, which makes the dogs think it is a game. "Wookie" has other ideas. Long story short, I said I was happy to feed her, and that she was welcome here any time.  She does sometimes go "home" to visit her owners, but mostly she is here at my place. "Romeo" (my cat) loves her! 
At her "home" she has a cat door to get in and out when she likes. We don't have a cat door, but as you can see, "Wookie" comes in one of my dining room windows! I have the screen thing on the window so "Romeo" cannot get out. He has health issues and has to be an inside cat. But as you can see, "Wookie" can fit through the screen just fine! There is a large oblong pot planter about 6 inches below the window, and she jumps into there, then pops in through the window! I saw her one day and quickly snapped these photo's!
So, as Andrea said, I have been adopted by "Wookie"! I feed her and her owners drop food and flea treatments over for me to give her. If I didn't feed her, it's quite likely she would wander further afield. At least this way, my friends know she is loved, fed and cared for.  I enjoy her company, as does "Romeo", and they are good company for each other. 
Does anyone remember the "I Can Has Cheeseburger?" cats??! I do! This is "Wookie" doing her best, "I Can Has Cheeseburger" look, at me! And yes, I was eating a cheeseburger at the time, lol! Ever since I came out of hospital, I have had weird food cravings.  Cheese burgers was one, which is really weird because I don't eat take away food like this. It's been about 23 years since I last went to eat at McDonalds, up until recently. Take away food like this would normally make me very unwell, as I cannot tolerate fat/cream etc.
Anyway, I just thought I would introduce "Wookie", and tell you her story! She's about three and is such a sweetheart. She has the cutest purr, and a very tuneful "Mrrrp"!
Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

Thursday 14 March 2024

Drama's In Pajama's!

OMG, I've been out of action for the last few weeks.
Unfortunately I have been very unwell, and in and out of hospital multiple times. Not to mention back and forwards to see Doctors. I'm back home again now, and slowly getting back to my usual routine. I am very slow and my vision is a bit blurry, due to the medication I am on. That will settle down over the next few weeks. I had these cards made and ready to post but kept ending up in hospital. On top of that hiccup, they kept loading up in the wrong order this morning, so I had to re-loading them one at a time so they made sense. FrustratingšŸ˜£.
So here's the firs card, using Lavinia Stamps.
I used LS Multifarious cardstock, and a Distress Oxide stamp pad. I haven't tried this idea on other cardstock, so don't know how it  would work.
So here's what I did....I inked up the LID of the stamp pad...
...then 'stamped' it on the cardstock. Don't worry if the image is a bit patchy, it will be fine! 

I used a very wet paintbrush, and brushed the water UNDER the stamped image, and dragged the water down into the empty space. I  did this going all the way around this inside of the image, making sure the tip of the wet brush just barely touched the inked image. Keep wetting the square, dragging  the water down from the stamped square. The card will get quite wet, so keep the card on  flat surface. If you wet the stamped image from the outside (top) of the image, the ink will run on the outside of the image, which is not what you want. You just barely touch the wet brush under the stamped line.
Once I had done that, I used my Ranger Heat gun to dry the card. I used this because this heat gun is more gentle and doesn't blow the water off the card, as my Milwaukee heat gun does.
So this is what you will end up with. Hard to see in the photo, but the entire inside of the square now has a pale blue colour to it. Use whatever colour ink pad you like.
When you have finished all the above steps, stamp your chosen image inside the square. I also did a very feint bit of stenciling around the image.  Add sparkles if you wish! Then the card  is finished!  I made another one and backed the image onto a piece of black card. This technique is really simple and quick to make! I had heaps of fun making these cards! You can use any lid off any stamp pad to make these "Cubies"! 



These last two cards I made using a 6 inch square gel press. I inked the gel press in a pale pink distress oxide ink pad, blotted some ink off, placed an LS stencil on top , then placed my white card on top and rubbed it to get an image. Once I had dried that image, I stamped on top, and added the words.
I take ne responsibility for any spelling (or other) mistakes on this post!  The medication I am on scrambles my brain!  It will take me another week or so until my brain fog has gone - please be patient with me, lol!! As well as being in and out of hospital, I  have somehow injured my left hip, yes the hip I had the replacement in. It's kept me off my feet for the last nine days, and I'm having to take painkillers every five hours. Even though I sit on an orthopedic cushion, my hip is still very painful. I had x-rays done, and the hip joint is not fractured, just very painful. The pain wakes me around 4 am every morning, which means I feel like a zombie all day! Apart from all that, I am still here and slowly getting back into my crafting, which I have missed so much! 
Thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Always be your authentic self and shine bright each and every day!


Tuesday 13 February 2024

New Cards!

This photo above, is of the moon last night. It was just a finger nail clipping of a moon, and I thought it looked interesting! You can even partially see some of the craters. 
Last Christmas I was given a card just like this one, from Robyn, my stamping friend in Australia. When I saw it, I cracked up laughing, as I thought it was so funny! I think I was having one of those MM's - Mad Moments! The witches hat is from Lavinia Stamps, and the legs are from Stampin' Up! The legs on my card are from a stamp from Temu. I had advertised to buy the SU "Bewitched" stamp set, but had no luck. So I found this set on Temu. I prefer the SU set, but haven't found anyone selling it. It was lot's of fun to make, and think I will make more throughout the year!
The card above uses two Visible Image stencils - the heart and the flower, and one of their stamp sets. As yo can see, there is some clear glitter gel pen on the hearts. I think I used Distress Oxide inks to colour with, and added some water drops to the finished card.
The following three photos are of "Wookie", one of my neighbours cats. She visits me almost every day, and I feed her. Her owners know and are fine with this. "Wookie" lives with two other cats, and two small dogs which she is not fond of at all. So she comes to me because she knows I don't have dogs, and knows she will get fed here. She is quite happy to come inside -Romeo is fine with that and mostly ignores her! I took these photo's of her last night. I was hanging out of a dining room window, looking down on her, and used my zoom lens. Just below the window is a small narrow ledge, which she eventually jumped up on! She's such a sweetheart, and loves pat and tummy rub! 

So I was back in hospital again last week, but thankfully was only there overnight and was back home by 9 am the next day. I made the card with the stenciled heart when I came home, it helped me to relax. Note to self - take your own pillow next time you go to hospital! Their pillows are not comfortable at all, and I end up with a sore back/neck when I use theirs!! Thanks for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!
 

Wednesday 7 February 2024

Home Is Where The Heart Is.


Here is another card I made yesterday, using some of the new LS stamps. I do like the Snail House stamp! I stamped and then masked the Snail House, then stamped the mushroom's so they appeared to be behind the Snail House. I then used one of the Forest Moss stamps under the Snail House. There's a set of two stamps, I used the smaller of the two stamps. I stamped the flowers around the Snail House. In hind sight it would have been a lot easier if I had stamped the flowers while I had the Snail House masked! Hind sight is wonderful, if only it was foresight! Anyway, that's what I did. I then used Mondeluz water colour pencils to colour the Mushrooms and the Snail House. I coloured the Forest Moss with my Clean Colour Real Brush markers.  I added some white Posca pen dots to the mushrooms, and the Forest Moss, as well as the Snail House. I outlined the entire image with a pale grey CCRB marker. The background I used a stencil brush to add some LS Blue Atoll ink pad, and some Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink pad. Lastly, (I think!) i stamped the words, which is another new stamp from Lavinia Stamps. Oh, and I carefully splattered on some water drops just to add some texture. Although I had fun creating this card, I was very tired, having just come out of hospital again. I had suddenly become very unwell the night before and needed medical help, and ended up in the local hospital for around eight or nine hours. I was discharged later that day and when I came home I just wanted to create and take my mind off my health issues. I'd had the total of two hours sleep the night before, so I was pretty tired. I find creating cards or whatever, is very absorbing and relaxing. And this is the card I made!
Feeling much better this morning, after getting a full nights sleep! 
Thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to a always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and everyday!   
Update four hours later! I forgot to mention, I added a little red enamel heart sticker to the center of the Snail House after I had coloured the Snail House! Have a great day!

Sunday 4 February 2024

Lavinia Stamps "All Things Magical."

I made the card above using some of my new Lavinia Stamps. Their new range was released January 26th, and I was very lucky to receive my order (yes, I bought the entire Bundle!) February 2nd, seven days from ordering to  the stamps sitting on my desk! That is quick, coming all the wat from the UK to New Zealand! I coloured the card using Distress Oxide inks, Posca pens and Mondeluz water colour pencils. Below is a shot of the stamps I got, a bit fuzzy as I took it off the internet. The stamps are very detailed, as usual, and are simply beautiful. 
To see some samples go to Lavinia Stamps online, and look for "Inspiration". There you will find cards and videos the DT's have made with these gorgeous stamps.

Above is one of the sets of Sticker Stencils which is part of the Bundle. They are self adhesive and are reusable over and over. The ones above measure 5 1/2 inches by 4 inches. The smaller ones in the photo below measure 4 1/4 inches by 3 inches. 
Below was a free set of stamps that were added to the Bundle. The tops and cork stamps fit in the necks of the bottle Sticker Stencils. And there is a little "trick" of how to make it look like to cork is 'inside' the bottle neck! I'll show you when I have made a card with the Bottle Stencils!
Ok, thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine right each and every day!
 

Tuesday 30 January 2024

All I have done craft wise, lately, is, make some envelopes! For one, it has been so hot and humid that my energy is very low. The second reason is, I am waiting to get my heat pump installed, and because it is going in my 'art room', which is also my dining room, I have had to move stuff out so they can get in to install the heat pump. I have moved 2 desks into my lounge, so if I want to stamp, I have o rummage round and find where things are. The above photo is of some of the envelopes I made. In the photo below, the empty space in the right on the photo is where the 2 desks were, and the heat pump will go on the wall next to the window. 

The next photo below is some of my stuff I have moved to the lounge.
 
Another shot, below, of what's left of my craft room at the moment.
Below is a shot of some of my craft stuff I have moved into the lounge.
The photo below shows more of  stuff form my craft room, that I moved into the lounge room. What you can't see, is, there are things tacked under the the trestle table! OMG it's a mess right now, and finding things is a challenge, or should I say, a nightmare!

The other thing I did recently was to put all my Lavinia Stamps into some drawers, which are on wheels. The stamps took up three drawers, and NO they are not in their themes properly, as yet. 

I did have clear plastic inserts between each theme, ie: fairies, tree's, animals, etc, but the inserts were too tall for the drawers. I did cut them down so they fit, but I'm going to do coloured inserts so I can see them easily. Big job and I really don't feel like doing it while it's so hot! You know how it is! On top of that, Lavinia have just released ANOTHER awesome range of their awesome stamps, and I am waiting on my order to arrive! 
And here is my 'supervisor' sleeping on the job! It was too hot for him to 'supervise' me moving my craft room  stuff into the lounge! He was surprised when he woke up and discovered the house as he knew it had been re-arranged! H went into the lounge and sniffed the desks I had moved, then went back to sleep! 

Thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine right each and every day!

Friday 19 January 2024

Visible Image Cards.

I used 2 Visible Image stencils, and 2 different VI stamp sets to make these cards. The Heart stencil is called Heart Ink and the flower one is called Flower Ink. The two sentiment sets are, Create With Your Soul which I stamped on the flower cad below. The second sentiment set is, Happiness matters. 
 
Both sentiment sets give a really clean, bold image when stamped. I use Versa Fine Clair Nocturne black stamp pad on all my stamps. Both stencils come with the negative and the positive, so you get two stencils in one pack. I wish  had access to VI products here in New Zealand, but I couldn't find anyone who stocks them so ended up ordering them from Visible image in the UK.  I wasn't happy with how the heart cad was going, and had almost decided to flip the card over and start again. However, I didn't and decided too carry on and see  how I felt when the card was finished. I really like the card now it's finished! I wish you could see it in reality, because it is so much prettier, and you get a better view of the subtle shading. There are some water splatters on the heart card, but they don't show up well in this photo. And.... 
I forgot to add them to the flower cad - oops!
There, I've just added them, so if you have good imagination you will be able to see them! I haven't had a lot of experience using stencils, but I did find it lot's of fun, and very absorbing!
Thank you for dropping by, have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!