Thursday, December 27, 2012

Year's End Tags-2012

Good Evening bloggers, I have finally had a chance to get the last two tags of the year done, before the end of the year, lol. I have been unable to find the mirrored sheets that Tim used on the 'joy' tag so I just used some foil that I had in my stash.  I didn't purchase the blueprint snowman stamp as I didn't think I would ever use it again.  I borrowed one from someone and didn't stamp it enough to be able to make a third layer for his hat but thought it still turned out pretty good.  I also didn't put them on cards.  I have mine all hanging from a metal scroll that I have hanging on my studio wall with little clips.  Hope you got yours done too!

Hugs,
~Jody

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas

Morning Peeps, have been very busy this holiday season but I wanted to drop by and wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Year's.  The star I made below in my last post was a big hit at the Christmas party Saturday night at my little sister's.  We had to have a short demo before I left for home Sunday morning, lol.  It was alot of fun.  You should see the little tree I won.  That's for another post.  I can show you the ATC for the December club this month.  I had originally taken a sneek peek photo but never got it posted.  Anyway, here's a look at the finished one.

The wreath is, of course, Tim Holtz, as is the sentiment. the candy cane I made out of sculpey clay and the little cutie in the middle of the wreath is my daughter at about 6-7 years old.  The "snow" around the outside edge is from Close to my Heart.  You just basically write with it and then you heat it with your heat tool and it bubbles up like that, pretty cool.  I think it's called liquid applique.  Then I just added some red stickles over the gold embossed sentiment.  The theme was "Christmas with a Twist" so I just used the candy cane as my twist., lol!

Here's a shot of the little cottonball trees I made for the two gals I work with.  They are made out of styrofoam cones, 3" squares of fabric, cottonballs and 3/4" straight pins.  You just fold your fabric over the cottonball and pin it to the cone in a jagged manner overlapping the layer before.  I put a little star on top of one and a round angel on the other one.  Then I added little streamers of ribbon with a bow tied up at the top.  They turned out pretty cute as well.  A lady that lives next door to my father in Mesa, AZ had one on her coffee table when I was there a couple of years ago and I thought it was so cute, I asked her if I could disect it to see how it was made and she was all for it, lol.


Hope you all have a wonderful Merry Christmas!!!

Hugs,
~Jody


Saturday, December 8, 2012

Long time, no blog...

Hey there bloggers, didn't realize it had been so long since I dropped in.  Have been busy I guess.  We are learning some new software at work and have been baking and making some goodies for my Annual Christmas Tea Party next weekend so I have been a pretty busy girlie of late.  Have slept some in there and been doing some physical therapy on my leg too, no wonder I'm tired when I fall into bed at night.  It's kept me off the streets and out of the bars though, so that's a good thing, lol.

Found this little snowflake on The Gentleman Crafters blog.  He made a video and then someone he knows made one with her little boy, it was pretty cute.  I watched his first, then hers.  Jim used the tiny attacher to assemble his snowflake and his friend used hot glue.  I think the hot glue would have been easier to work with.  I made a smaller snowflake than he did and it was hard to get the tiny attacher in some of those tight little spaces, pretty tricky.  Hot glue would have definitely worked better, note to self.  Any way, I embellished mine with gold stickles and embossing powder and a mist of heirloom gold Perfect Pearls Mist.  Then I set about adding a bauble.  That turned out to be pretty labor intensive but it worked out in the end.  See what you think.

I started with 4 inch squares, I think he used 12 inch squares and his was huge.  Which would be cool if you were going to hang it from the ceiling or something.  Pretty cool hugh?

I'll be back later with some photos of my December ATC.  They have been done for a while now but don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet, no copying, lol!!!  The theme for December was Christmas with a twist and you had to use a photo as the embellishment.  I really like how mine turned out.  More on that later.

In the meantime, hope your holiday preparations are going well and you have a joyous Holiday Season!
Hugs,
~Jody

Sunday, November 11, 2012

November ATC and TH Tag

Hey there bloggers, how are you?  I'm good, just been busy, busy this weekend making my ATC for the club on Monday and playing with the tag that Tim Holtz has up for November.  And watching football, of course, GO BRONCOS!!!  That Peyton Manning is good, so long as he can stay healthy, we'll see, keep your fingers crossed, lol!!!

Anyway, back to the ATC.  Our mission this month was "Fall" and the special embellishment was supposed to be stickles.  I kept mine kinda simple this month as I had some other things going on.  I used some copper embossing powder for the sentiment (CTMH Stamp set-Captured Moments/C1423) and the little leaves I just punched out of plain white copy paper and covered them with copper stickles.  After they were dry, I inked the edges with wild honey distress ink.  The acorn was cut with one of Tim's dies (Autumn Gatherings) and I applied a bit of stickles to it as well.  I used the same wild honey distress ink for stamping my tree (same stamp set as above) and while it was wet I applied some perfect pearls powder in copper.  Guess I was in a coppery mood this weekend.  After the ink dried, you just brush away the remaining powder and the rest of it stays where the ink was wet.  It was one of the techniques that Tim had in his online class that I took.  He sprayed his with water afterwards so the ink would wick but I didn't want to take it that far so I just let it dry and brushed away the extra.  I inked the edges with vintage photo and called it over.  I thought they turned out pretty cool looking.


And the tag, well, it turned every bit as pretty as his did, I think.  I have to admit, I tried it three times before I was satisfied with it but I finally achieved the look.  The first one I used some different paper to make my tag with, didn't work very well wet.  The second one I forgot to put some baby powder on first before I embossed the wheat and the embossing wasn't as crisp as I like it to be.  And the third one I tried CTMH ink  on the Thankful stamp because I didn't think the archival ink I was using was covering very well.  The CTMH ink held most of it's form but it did wick a little bit so the color was more faded.  I finally decided to go to Michael's and get a new black archival ink pad, a small one.  I have the great big one and it's hard to ink just portions of a stamp with it.  I didn't feel like I was getting enough ink on the stamp and it was coming out a little light, plus it's a few years old so it was probably time for a new one anyway.  The new one worked much better and I was able to get a good stamping out of it.  Glad I made that effort. The rest of it went pretty smoothly.  I added a little piece of black netting at the top because it fell out of somewhere and landed on the tag like it wanted to be there so there I put it.  It added a bit of punch at the top, lol!  I didn't have the token that he used but I had one that said 'thoughts' on it and it seemed to fit, thankful thoughts, ya know!  I didn't have his paper string either so I used some jute that I had in my stash.  It unraveled kinda like his paper string did and I was able to color some of it to match so.......there you have it.

It's been a great day in the neighborhood today.  Hope you all had a wonderful Veteran's Day.  God Bless our soldiers young and old for their Sacrifice.
Hugs,
~ Jody

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Birthday Card

Hey there bloggers, wanted to share a birthday card I made for a friend at work.  It was for her father's 80th birthday.  She was so excited she gave me a big hug.  It's the simple things in life.  I was so pleased she liked it, hope dad likes it too!

Forgot to take a photo of the inside.  It said "Just imagine the stories his suitcase could tell"!

Hope you have a great Saturday.  I'm nursing an allergic reaction to a spider bite today.  My eye is swollen shut.  Went to the emergicare place down the road and the doc gave me some prednisone and some benedryl and told me to lay low today and it should start to subside within 24 hours. 

Won't get much crafting done today I guess.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow!  Just glad that's all it was!

Hugs,
~Jody

Saturday, October 27, 2012

October Tag 2012

Oops, I almost forgot to post my tag for October.  It's exactly like the one that Tim did so no need for explains here.

I think my 'boo' could have used a bit more glitter but oh well, too late now, lol!!!

Enjoy!
Hugs,
~Jody

Sunday, October 14, 2012

BIG tag

Hey bloggers,

Today I have prepared a BIG tag for a friend.  She has had some pretty bad health tribulations of late and her daughter and I thought maybe a card from an ol' friend would help to cheer her up.  I used the same technique that Tim Holtz used on his October tag.  I made this one really big, it's 5 by 8.  I'd seen some of these on blogs lately so thought I'd give it a try.  I used some blues, some oranges and reds and a bit of purple dabber.  Then blended some distress inks in and sprayed with copper mist.  Had some fish net in my stash so I colored it with weathered wood distress stain and layered it next.  Found a lighthouse (they are her favorites) photo online and printed a copy.  Placed it on an orange mat and roughed up the edges.  Wrote a little poem and typed it out on the computer.  Printed it on some beige paper and wrinkled and inked it before I applied it to the tag.  Then I made a little "courage" tag and pinned it to the top with the ribbons. Oh, and the seaweed you see in little spots is really seaweed.  I brought it back from the ocean when I was down in Miami Beach for my birthday last May.  It dried quite nicely, looks pretty cool!

I hope the tag brings a smile to her face.  Thinking of you Pat!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Halloween ATC

Mornin' Bloggers!

Just a quick post this morning to show you the ATC I've prepared for the club this month.  I will also be entering it in a couple of challenges as well.  The background is just a bassil cardstock but I used the other side as the front side had a shiny texture and my embellishments wouldn't stick well.  I inked the edges with black soot.  The tree I cut with my Cricut-Celebrate with Flourish.  The moon is just a circle punch with premium foils.  I think the orange color is so perfect.  I black embossed the spider web and the word "spooktacular" and then the "stars" are purple stickles.  The purple pumpkin is a mix of purple embossing powder and some purple glitter that I mixed together.  The moss is a cotton ball I colored with pumice stone and let dry completely.  Then I tore off a long strip with my tweezers.  It stuck to the tree pretty well all by itself, lol!  Love the effect!!  The back will be just a Happy Halloween ticket with the necessary information.

Hope you have a great day, thanks for stopping by,
Hugs,
 ~Jody



Saturday, September 29, 2012

September Tag 2012

Hey there bloggers,

I guess since the month of September is almost over, I should post my Tim Holtz tag for September.  I downloaded the photos a week or so ago and then got distracted, I guess.  Anyway,  here's the tag.

It's pretty cute, if you like industrial things.  I really do like the typewriter, it turned out the cutest, in my opinion.  I think it needs to have a darker ribbon at the top.  I tried to make it kinda grayish black but I think it needs more black, to kinda balance it out.  I'll work on that.  The technique was fun and quite interesting.  I tried a couple of different "tools" that I found in my stash.  One of them was an old tracing wheel.  Remember those, you used them for marking darts in sewing class with some chalky paper.  If you click on the photo, it may open up bigger so you can see where I used it.  I don't know that I would use this technique much but it was fun to try.  Maybe on some colored foil, I'll work on that too, lol.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a super Saturday.

Hugs,
~Jody

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Great Smoky Mountains, TN Sep 2012

Hey Bloggers,

Took me a little vacation this past week.  I had never seen the Great Smoky Mountains and I've always wanted to so, Yeppers, that's where I have been.  They were SO BEAUTIFUL!  The mountain streams, the low lying clouds, the majestic mountains, it was all so awesome.  I took a lot of pictures including the ones I have in my mind, AMAZING!!! 

This one shows why they call them the Smoky Mountains.  See all the "smoke".  And the drive through the four tunnels getting in to Gatlinburg was so awesome.


This is a shot of the changing colors going on in the trees.  The leaves had just started to turn and they were so pretty.  If I had gone about a month later, fall would have been in full swing and I would have seen some even better colors.  Hopefully next time.

 

I camped at Forsyth, GA  and then in Pigeon Forge, TN.  on the way there.  The first night I slept in a little cabin.

It was cute, but dark and kinda stinky from being shut up, I imagined.  The next two nights I pitched my tent and slept in the out of doors.  I, for some reason, didn't get a shot of that campsite.  It rained pretty much every day so I guess I didn't want to get the camera wet, ha!  I even watched the Bronco game on my little netbook, wrapped in plastic, under a tarp.  I'm sure the people across the way thought I was nuts but didn't bother me.

The next couple of nights I spent at a friend's house in Asheville, NC.  Her and her husband, Bob, were so hospitable.  I really enjoyed their company and we had a great time.  Oh and their dog, Darcie!

They have the cutest little condo up at the top of this big long drive in Hendersonville, NC.  It was the sweetest place.  Norma and I went antiquing the next day and had lunch in Black Mountain, NC, another quaint little place a few miles up the road.  It was an absolute perfect day. 



Oh, and if you ever get to Pigeon Forge, TN, there is a Scrapbook Superstore there and a Scrapbook Clearance Center next door that offers everything in the store for 50% off.  Had a blast in those two stores, lol!

Had a really great trip and hope to live up there someday. 
Hugs,
~Jody





Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Halloween..................already?

Hey there bloggers, just popping in to show you the Halloween Panorama I made after seeing the one that Jim, The Gentleman Crafter made. It was the cutest dang thang, I couldn't resist. Mine was a little bigger but only because that was the only canister I could find at Michael's. I also used Tim Holtz's new little lantern instead of a tea light because I didn't care for the yellowish hue of the tea light. The lantern gave off a brighter light and it's pretty cute too, lol, love those miniatures. Anyway, it's done and I just love how it turned out. I'm going to take it to work and put it on my desk. Don't mind my horrible picture taking. It's always been something I was going to work on, but I'd rather create cool stuff like this instead. Some day I'll make a perfect place to take my photos but for now it's the kitchen counter, sorry! The fennial (not sure how you spell that) on top was painted with orange and black paint and then I used the end of one of the paintbrushes to do the dots. It turned out so cute, don't ya think. The battery pack for the lantern is hidden underneath the purple netting (I painted it black too). I made a small trap door in the bottom of the lid so I could pull the cord through but it also held the lantern in place, once I closed it, worked like a charm!!!! And the little owl peeking out of the trees in the upper left hand corner is to die for! The fence was made with a Tim Holtz On The Edge die and then I cut the remainder of it out with an exacto knife. A little tedious but what a great effect. I had to make it two lengths long and I was a little off on my spacing, however, the skeleton head fit in there just perfectly. It's not even glued in, ha! Well, time for the showers, hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday and thanks for stopping by!! Hugs, ~Jody

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

It's a Rat Trap!

Good Morning Bloggers! Have to show you my latest creation. I was inspired by Kimberly's rat trap over on the Graphic45.ning.com gallery . She found this little gem on a kid's page and it turned out really cool so I had to try it. Made this one for my sister, today is her birthday. She should have gotten it in the mail either yesterday or today. Haven't heard anything yet. Anyway, I covered it with Spellbinders premium craft foil that had been embossed with Tim Holtz's postcard texture fade. I sanded it down a bit and then added a few different alcohol inks to distort the color a little. Then I just started adding embellishments. Love how it turned out. The picture of her is from a vintage photo her and I had taken years ago and the 67 is the year she was born. I had to put a little handle on mine because the 'rat holder' wasn't bent up enough to grab on to it to pull it up and put your note underneath. I meant to put a note under it before I sent it to her but got in a hurry and forgot. Think she'll know what it is? Hope you have a terrific Tuesday! Hugs, ~Jody

Thursday, August 23, 2012

There's a New Mouse in the House!

LOL, and it's purple, Yeah! Check out this cute little mouse my daughter sent me. And the tiny receiver that came with it. So stinkin' cute, and did I mention, it's purple!!! A while back she got an I-pad of sorts, that's not what hers is called but I don't remember what hers is. Anyway, she gave me her older netbook which didn't work anymore because her boyfriend at the time, who was taking IT classes at USF, used it for a project at school. Something about changing the operating system on it. Well, when he went to change it back, he messed it up and it was virtually un-useable. I had my nephew look at it and a few other people and no one could figure out what he did to it. He had even removed the partition, the part that helps you recover everything if it crashes. So, I took it to our IT guy at work and paid him to restore it. He got it up and running and it works beautifully. I just love it!! The only thing I was having trouble with was that touchy little mouse/pad. I had figured out how to turn the 'touchy' part down but it was still pretty touchy. SO, she sent me an regular mouse to use with it. It's perfect, and it's purple, did I mention that part, lol!!! And the little receiver is only about an inch in length so you can put it in the USB port and leave it there. Then you just have to turn the switch off and on, on the bottom of the mouse. It's very cool. Now I can take it with me where ever I go. It makes surfing blogs so much easier especially from my easy chair in the living room. I love being spoiled. Hope you have a super Thursday. I have a little something that I have been working on to show you tomorrow so I'll see you then! Hugs, ~Jody

Monday, August 20, 2012

ATC Club-August 2012

So this month's ATC Club was much better. I have to say everyone actually put some effort in to their cards and they were so cute. Lots of great ideas. I'll have to take a photo of the ones I received, or some of them and show you. Meanwhile, here's a full view of the ones I made. The theme was "Fun in the Sun" or she reworded it later to be "Summertime Fun" so some people used that phrase. I used some Spellbinders Premium Craft Foil to make the word fun. Then I matched the inked edge to that as closely as I could. I spelled out the 'in the sun' words on the computer and made them the same color, or as close as possible. I thought it was cute play on the words. The "fun" is in the sun, get it??? Lol, anyway, the special element this month was the rhinestone so I placed a turqoise one at the top and a couple of white ones beside it. On the back I used my August ticket stamp again and embossed it with a turqoise embossing powder and inked it with Wild Honey. I used the same template as last month for the info. just changing the month, the theme and the color so it all matched. I think they turned out very well. Hope you do too! Happy Monday! Hugs, ~Jody

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A New Challenge

Good Evening peeps, just popping in to share with you a cute little challenge that I did yesterday and today. It is actually for two challenges, the first one being at Our Creative Corner. It was so cute, I couldn't resist. You had to use Denim, of some sort, either real denim or faux denim using a technique. You also had to have 3 ribbons or twine and 3 buttons or brads. I used a technique to make my kite 'denim', (that was the other challenge, it had to have a kite, over at the Inspiration Journal), complete with the orange stitching around the outside. Remember years ago all denim jeans had orange stitching, well, mine did, anyway, lol! I used the brads for the bows on the kite's tail and then I added some little blue bows to the bling. I used spiced marmalade for the tag over the top of a Cricut embossing folder. The little dangly was left over from a girlfriend's wedding embellishments. It was fun putting it together, hope you like it! Hugs, ~Jody

Sunday, August 12, 2012

August ATC Club

Good Morning bloggers. Well, it has been a little over a week now that my daughter has been gone. She moved to Northern Florida a week ago last Friday to be with her new love. She was a bit leary, as was I, but you never know until you try, right? His words seemed real enough, "you just have to trust me", but then I think we have all heard those words before. It's his actions that will insure trust in him. She seems happy and everything is going according to plan so far. I am so happy for her and I wish her all the best. I have to admit, I've shed a few tears, it's been a bittersweet event in my life. However, I think we talk more now than when she lived 30 minutes away, lol! Besides, it gives me a perfect excuse for a road trip, right? Especially since I ended up with a bunch of her stuff stashed in my tiny little duplex, ha!!! I have been working on my ATC cards for August. I used kind of a play on words that they used for the theme, "Fun In The Sun". Here's a sneek peek... These ones turned out to be pretty labor intensive. Lots of parts. I used my cricut to cut out the suns and the words I used a Tim Holtz die for. There are some other words that I just did on the computer and cut them out and inked them. We had to use some rhinestones, as well. The Club meets on the 20th so I will be able to show you the whole thing that morning, if I remember to do a post that morning, lol! It is Sunday morning and I am off to the flea market. I think I will stop and have breakfast first. Am in the hunt for a wooden headboard that I can cut down and some cigar boxes that I don't remember what I wanted them for but they are still on my list. I think there is a guy that has them, just have to remember which flea market I saw them at. Hope ya'll have a great Sunday and I'll talk to you soon. Hugs, ~Jody

Monday, August 6, 2012

Tim Holtz August 2012 Tag

LOVE this little tag! He has some of the greatest ideas! And I didn't even have all the correct stuff, I had to improvise, but then that's what it's all about right? My frame and silhouette are from Close to my Heart and they are a bit smaller but I don't think it mattered. I only had the one oval frame texture fade (can't remember the name of it) and I used a different ink that I had in my stash instead of the Juniper dabber. Everything else is pretty much the same, with the exception of the key. I have a stash of old keys that I bought off of ebay years ago so I used one of the those. The roses came out nice, those are a bit tricky. They could have been opened up a little more, now that I look at the picture more closely but like I said, they are a bit tricky. I need to use that die more and work with them a little bit, looks like. I added some baby pearls around her neck too. I noticed that he had a "gem" of sorts on his so I gave her a pearl necklace and a pearl earring, so elegant. I didn't have the postage/plaque on the edge die either so I used the ornate one and it just made a point at the bottom, but I accentuated part of the scroll with it so it looked pretty cool. Hope you enjoyed gazing at it and will give it a try. Happy Monday, Hugs, ~Jody

Sunday, July 29, 2012

I'm Still Here...................

Just have been a little busy lately. Have been trying to work on my August ATC, in which the theme is "Fun in the Sun". I have most of the components now so 's just a matter of putting them all together. My daughter has been staying here on weekends as she finishes a make-up class at school and prepares to move to northern Florida. Her new love lives up there in the panhandle so she will move up there the end of next week and find a job and begin the next chapter of her life. It's about a 7 hour drive up there so that will be a nice road trip for me when I want to go visit. She wanted to make a picture frame for a picture of the two of them so I helped her make one. We just used some chipboard from my stash and cut out the center about 1/4 " smaller than the actual photo she printed. We covered it with some generic paper from my stash in blue, red and yellow. We added some Tim Holtz embellishments and it turned out pretty cute. She will give it to him when he leaves for Kentucky in a few weeks for his job! So, anyway, I will be back in a few days with a highlight from my August ATC reveal, hope you have a great weekend! Hugs, Jody

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Reveal, finally!!!

Good Morning bloggers, this morning I am going to reveal the actual ATC cards that I made for the ATC Club tomorrow  night.  I think everyone has completed theirs so.............................................. without further ado, TA DA!!!
The theme was "American Made" so Red, White and Blue was a sure bet on this one for me!  I used a couple of different stamp sets on these.  One was from Crafty Secrets and the other one was a Close to my Heart set that I have had for a while now.  I stamped the background starting with plain ol' white cardstock.  Then distressed it some with vintage photo and walnut stain.  Stamped the "Made In America" signs and attached them with foam tape for a little dimension.  They were to have a charm on them as well so I added the round metal tags that a girlfriend and I split the purchase on and the little star buttons were the perfect size to fit right in the hole in them (I removed the piece of string that it came with). I stapled the distressed ribbon on at the top and them added the "charm" with a jump ring up underneath the staple, it worked like a charm, lol!!!
Front of ATC
 For the back of the card I embossed another stamp (CTMH) with the July ticket stamp and die cut them with Tim's ticket strip die.  Added the #4 in red and a little teeny red brad where the star was.  I typed out my info. on the computer and then printed them six to a page.  Cut them down and glued them to the back of the playing card.  After they dried overnight, I distressed the edges and inked them up.
Back of ATC
I think they are the cutest darn things, sure hope the clubbers like them!!!  I'll let you know!
Hugs,
~Jody

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July 2012

                                                   

Can you believe this year is half over already?  July 4th - a day to celebrate our nation's birthday.  Sometimes I wonder what our forefathers would think of what our nation has become these days.  Brings shivers to my spine!  But.....we still have one so that gives way to Celebrate Her Birthday!

This is the tag design that Tim Holtz came up with for his July tag.  He used his big Statue Of Liberty stamp that I don't have so I opted for my smaller Crafty Secrets stamp.  I also used the bigger #4.  The technique he used was a bit difficult to get just right as far as the 'fireworks' go.  I don't know how many pieces he tried before he was satisfied with his results but I was up to #3 so I quit.  I also made a little flag embelly from his mini mover-shaper flag.  I made some for earrings too that I wore to work yesterday, everyone loved them, lol!

Hope you are with loved ones and giving thanks for what you do have!
Hugs,
~Jody 
                  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

ATC's

So I wanted to show you what I have been working on this past week.  I joined an ATC (Artistic Trading Cards for those that don't know what that stands for-I had to ask too, lol) Club.  They are baseball sized cards that you make up yourself, embellishments and all, and put your name on the back as well as the theme of the card, your blog address, if you have one and then you number them, i.e. 1 of 20, 2 of 20, and so on.  They should also have a date.  The first ones I made are going to be for the July meet so the theme was "American Made".  I have a little sneek peek here I will share with you. Can't show the whole thing because that will spoil the surprise for some, I know at least one of them reads my blog, lol!


They use actual playing cards for the base and sand off the plastic coating that is on them.  Then you adhere paper to each side and embellish all you like.  You don't have to use playing cards though, you can just use a plain piece of cardstock cut to the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2.  It helps to use study cardstock so it will withstand some wear and tear.  There are even some websites out there, I know, imagine that, right?, that cater to these ATC's.  I haven't had a chance to peruse all of them yet but maybe later today.  Our weather here in  FL is pretty nasty this weekend, is there a better way to spend a rainy Sunday?  Yesterday, I made a big ol' pot of hamburger potato stew so I'm good for the duration.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Hugs,
~Jody

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Blog Candy

Good Afternoon Bloggers!

Helen over at The Craft Project is offering some blog candy just for leaving a comment.  Also If you post her photo on your blog. I thought I'd give this a try.  I've never done this before so wish me luck.

Helen is turning the big 50 so we want to wish her a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! You can get to Her blog by clicking here.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Father's Day 2012

Good Morning bloggers!  It has come around to that time of year again where you desperately search for something "different" to send to your father on Father's Day.  I don't know about ya'll but it has always been a challenge for me.  They are just so hard to buy for.  Remember my last post, I said I was digging through a plastic tub full of old pictures.  Well, I also found one in there of my stepfather, of years back when he was, I'd say, probably 30-35.  He was quite the wild child back in the day, as we probably can all attest to at some point, lol!  Anyway, in the photo he has a full beard and an ol' black hat that had one of those plastic poppy flowers that the VA gives out, I think.  He is wearing an old blousin' shirt that has elastic in the sleeves and a big yoke on the front.  It was a really cool shirt and I just loved it.  As a matter of fact, I wore it as a night shirt for years after he left it lay one day.  I scanned the photo and made a 5x7 and embellised it a bit and put it back in the same frame it came out of.  See what you think?


I found some charms that reminded me of him, a fish-he has been an avid fisherman for years.  I don't think he ever owned a boat so now he has one, lol.  A bull representing the rodeos that he so loves (and on the other side of the frame is a grandstand ticket). The other charms are a cowboy boot, which I'm sure he wore many a pair out and a slot machine and a deck of cards.  He still goes to BlackHawk gambling.  The cards represent his initials and the vials, the liquor that he consumed for medicinal purposes, of course, lol!  The key represents the old '67 Mercury Comet he drove for years with a handmade stereo box as the console.  The others were just thrown in for a good measure.  I had a great time putting it all together and I'm sure he will shed a tear when all these memories come flashing back.

Hope you get to spend time with your fathers this Father's Day.
Hugs,
~Jody

NOTE:  Stepfather received his photo and called to say Thank You.  He also mentioned that it took him a year to grow that beard, and that was the reason for the photo.  I had forgotten that little tidbit of information, so glad he called to remind me.

Monday, June 4, 2012

June's Tag 2012

Hey there bloggers, I think I finished June's tag in record time, lol.  Still don't have May's done but hey, who's counting right? 

I was able to find a old photograph of myself in the huge tub of pictures that is my life up until now.  Thought I had more than the ones I found, still do, just not sure where they are.  My mother sent me all the old photos that were damaged in the flood at her house several years ago (approx. 1982) and I know I have them somewhere, just can't put my fingers on it today.  So...............the one I did find will have to work.  Didn't have a few of the elements that Tim used so I improvised which is what this is all about, right?  Anyway, I thought it turned out very well, I am quite proud of it.  The significance of the numbers is that I believe this was taken in 1963.  I was probably about 3-4 years old.  I used just a plain old marker that I had to color the dress and shoes.  I used spun sugar and frayed burlap for the tag colors and for the rose flower.  I like the little punches of pink in it.  Hope you like it too!!!

Hugs,
 ~Jody

Monday, May 28, 2012

Tag #6

Yes, believe it or not, we are still working on our 12 Tags of Christmas 2011.  Don't want to rush into anything here, lol!  We, meaning mainly myself, didn't like the tag for #6 last year so we opted to do Ted's version of Tag #9.  There weren't many instructions for it so we improvised. Tim didn't use the new lamp post die cut in any of his tags last year and I, for one, was quite disappointed.  It was my favorite of all the new dies so was sure he would use it just for that reason, lol, ya right! So, he left me to my own devices and this is what I came up with.  My friend Gloria came over yesterday and we finished up the last remaining tag using the lamp post!


I really like how it turned out.  We clear embossed the 'christmas carol' stamp and the holly leaves and added some red stickles in various places.  For the 'light' in the lamp post, I cut out a piece of clear packaging and covered it with Sunflower Yellow alcohol ink, looks pretty authentic, hugh?  Then we shaded the outskirts with faded jeans, broken china and tumbled glass, working toward the center.  We left the center open and shaded in a little bit of one of the new spring series colors, squeezed lemonade.  It was just the perfect color of yellow to make it look like the lamp post is brightly shining.  Added some foilage and some scrolls, some bells and a snippet of red netting.  After it was glued down to the base, we put some clear rock candy stickles in different places and 'scattered some snow' around.  The streamers are broken china.  I think Ted would be proud of our rendition of his creation!

I had just realized that I hadn't put up photos of two of the others that we did.  At least I couldn't find the photos that I took of them.  So if this part is a duplicate, let me apologize now.  Tag #8 was the steampunk one and anyone who knows me, knows that that is not my style at all.  However, my friend Gloria is quite the steam punk gal.  She convinced me that I should do the steampunk card so, VOILA', I did it, and I have to admit, it did turn out pretty good.  She gave me a little light bulb to put on it and I put it in a special place so I wouldn't lose it and and guess what, it was lost for many moons, lol!  I had to go buy a package of them myself just so I would have one for this tag.  AND, as my luck would have it, I found the one she gave me just days after I bought my own!!!  Isn't that how it always goes, lol.  Anyway, here's Tag #8-SteamPunk


And the last one that I haven't put up yet, was Tag #11, the Santa and Merry Christmas one using the photo paper.  I didn't care for this one much either but I managed to get through it.  The leaves and branch were die cut from shrink film and then shrunk in the utee/melting pot.  That was a pretty cool technique and I have used it a few times since then. 


Well, that's it for today.  Hope you have a great Memorial Day and please do remember,


All Gave Some, Some Gave All, We Will Never Forget!

Hugs,
~Jody

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Just love me some Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

I remember years ago, an old green wooden ice cream maker my father had.  It was the hand crank model and we all had to take turns if we wanted any ice cream.  It was soooooooo good.  I have my father's recipe for it but have never had a machine with which to do it. 

My ex-husband's dad had an electric ice cream maker we used to borrow once in a while. And I almost bought an old green hand crank model at a flea market a couple of years ago but my boyfriend at the time convinced me that I didn't want that old thing.  Should have swapped him for the ice cream maker, lol!!!

Then last week, Tracey over at The Cottage Industry blog has been making different kinds of ice cream in her new ice cream maker and she has inspired me to go get my own finally.  I did a little research online and found that Target had them on sale so I raced over there to see if they still had one and they did, had 2 left, YEAH!!!!

 

 I also picked up some heavy whipping cream to go with the sugar and eggs that I already had.  Some rock salt and some plastic cups and spoons so I could share with the kids that run around the neighborhood.
Got it all washed up and set up and churning in about a half hour.  Froze the metal canister while I was mixing up the ingredients and then poured it all in with about 6 cups of milk.
 It took a bit longer to start setting up because I had it outside and it's pretty warm here in ol'FL.  About 90º+ today so this was going to be a pretty good treat on a hot afternoon.
Couldn't hardly wait to get the dasher out of it.  I had already taste-tested a couple of times but I wanted a dish of it right now, lol!  I did eat a little cup of it but it needed to set up some more in the freezer.
Unfortunately, it was a bit too late to share with the kids tonight, but it will be good and ready tomorrow.  Of course, I've had several little cups of it already tonight and it is SOOOOOOOOOO Good.  It tastes just as good as it did way back then! YUM!!!!

Hope you get some yummy treats this weekend too!
Hugs,
~Jody