"Your 50th...."

Hello friends, followers, visitors and viewers.
Back on the grind today after a weekend of fun.   In our area it was rain, rain and more rain on Saturday.  We still ventured out and enjoyed the day.

When you think of the number #50, what comes to your mind?  Most often it is a birthday or a wedding anniversary.   At this moment I can't think of any think else, what about you?

If you're celebrating #50 for a birthday or anniversary, think about it for a moment.  You have either lived or stayed with someone for a half of a century.   You are probably considered a senior citizen in both cases.  You may or may not be retired.  Life may or may not be "grand" at this milestone.  But if you're here on July 31, 2017, CELEBRATE.  It took a long time to get to #50 in age or in marriage.  If you're made it this long, you can continue to make it.
My DH and I are over #50 but we still have some time to go before celebrating #50 in marriage.  Life experiences will either teach you or break you.  We're not broken so that means we are still in the learning process.

Here is a card I made which will go in the box for soldiers.  I simply put #50 on it and did not specify birthday or anniversary.  The cardstock I used which came from Michaels uses this statement, "Love you to the stars and back".  I feel that this would be appropriate for a birthday or anniversary.

 
entry for http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com

I turned the card at different angles so you could see the sparkle and shine coming from the flowers and the sentiment.

• cardstock is from Michaels and the piece with 50th is from Craft Smith "metallic foil paper pad
• 50th was cut with Sizzix Alphanumeric, script die
• embellishment is a piece of Offray organza ribbon

Thanks for viewing today.

Your visit, view and comment is always welcome.  Please come again.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Using Left-Overs"

Hello friends, viewers, followers and visitors.
Happy Friday to you. Wishing you a wonderful, enjoyable weekend of fun and frolic.
We have nothing major to do this weekend.  We will probably go out sightseeing and in the process stop at a store or two.  We will not be doing any major shopping, just spending some time away from home  and having a nice dinner before we return.
Today is the day I go into my stash, collect items, and make a card for your viewing.
If you've notice the majority of my cards this week, you saw where I got "inky" a lot of those days.
The focal panel you see today is a left-over from playing with inks.  In this specific case...Distress Oxide.  On the back of the panel I had written the three I used as well as the stencil just in case I would return to it at a later date ( I didn't plan on using it this early).  The only new item was the clear round drops from  Studio Katia.  Everything else had been cut, colored. stamped and saved in my stash bin.

 I will enter this at wordartwednesday and cropstop.

• Start with a piece of Ranger water color paper cut to your desired size
• Color the paper with Distress Oxide inks...broken china, fossilized amber and abandoned coral in no particular order
• Use a stencil of your choice over the top of your coloring.  With a damp cloth, wipe away some of your coloring. In my project, I used the "circle" stencil from Vicki Boutin (American Crafts).

• For the sentiment, I cut a small piece of paper from  a piece of Botanic Orchid (Heartfelt Creation) that was in my stash.
• I used one of the stamps from Recollections "faith" stamp set. It was applied to the paper using black Archival ink.
• For added embellishments, I die cut the calla lily using Marianne Creatable die and colored it with distress inks.  A floral embellishment from Recollections was used at the bottom of the calla lily.  Five assorted sizes of the sequins from Studio Katia was used around the top of the card.

I hope you enjoyed your view today.  Have fun and come again.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Birthday Celebration"

Hello friends, visitors, followers and viewers.
We have made it to the middle of the week. Keep pushing forward...you can do it.
Great things have happened to us and greater things are on the horizon.
Birthday Celebration!!!!
It's here!  My "Sunshine" is jumping for joy because she is a big "nine" years old today.  WOW....time flies and if I blink really fast, she will be a teenager.
I have two birthday cards to share.
One for my box that I'll be giving to the soldiers and the other one for "Sunshine".  We sent her one in the mail and this one will be sent to her e-mail address today.

This is for a soldier:

 I took a photo without the sentiment and one with the sentiment.
The process used to make the background :
(Tissue Technique)

• Use a piece of white tissue paper that is bigger than your card base.
• Crinkle or crumble the paper up in your hand.  Apply distress ink (your choice of colors) over the crinkle paper.
• Cut the tissue paper down to the size you want and adhere it to your card base with an adhesive.
• Embellish as you desire.

This will be used as an entry for http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com  ATG #Challenge #292- #293 - Anything Goes  and

http://www.cropstop.com/blog CURRENT CHALLENGE

Below are items I used to help make this card:  Ranger Distress inks; a cut from Cricut Art booking cartridge; Spellbinders Romantic Vine die; Doodlebug Design chunky brads and Petaloo texture mixed media layers.

Here is the card I will be sending via "Sunshine's" e-mail.

 The items used:
Inks: Distress Oxide; VersaMark; Ranger black Archival ink; Hero Art white embossing powder
Stamps: Recollections Doodle Birthday; CTMH celebration
Paper: Ranger Water Color paper; Recollections black cardstock; Recollections Burlap paper
Size: 6 x 5.5

Thanks for viewing today. 
You are always welcome to come back. 
Comments are encouraged.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Going Whimsy"

Hello friends, visitors, viewers and followers.
Welcome to Tuesday, July 25, 2017.
What can we do today that will put a smile on your face and a bounce in your stepping?
Let's Go Whimsical...yes, let's do that. 
It is not a National Day Calendar event but why not let your hair down and pick your distressing pad or brushes up and let's party with some inks.  Not one, not two but lots and lots of inks....Oxide, Distress, Hero Arts, Umbrella or any of your favorite kind.

• Start off by just playing around with different colors of inks on a piece of  Ranger water color paper.  Don't try to form a pattern or have an idea in mind.  Just pretend you're seeing how each color will look.
• It may or may not be pleasing to the eye but that's okay (we're being whimsy).  Get a stencil or two.  It doesn't matter because we will enhance those colors a little more and bring in a pattern or two to our design.  Use a darker shade of ink or go lightly with black ink.
• Take your black Pitt Artist Pen and draw around some of the stenciled items (I drew around the smaller circles and the flowers).
• With the Pitt Pen still in your hand, draw a straight line anywhere on your inked/stenciled image.   Add a zig line over your straight line. Put some lines in your stenciled circles.
• You want more circles but not the same size as your stencil... bring in the white Gelly Roll pen and draw your small white circles along your black line.  You can also add white lines to the stenciled circle just like you did with the black Pitt Pen.
• Use a desired sentiment.
• It's your whimsy.  Don't listen to the critics.  You've done birthday, get-well, sympathy, encouragement, etc. cards  all along and this one can go in any of those categories. 
• Make it a joy and have fun doing it...I did.

 So many of you liked the display I used yesterday.  It was really a spur of the moment type of thing. I was trying to get more light for my card but not really focusing on showcasing the display.  This morning, I tried to find some whimsical items to go along with my card.  I hope you enjoy this display.

entry for http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com

entry for http://www.cropstop.com/blog/

Items used :

• Oxide inks from #1 and #2
• TCW (the Crafter's Workshop) stencil
• Walmart stencils
• Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen...black
• Sakura Gelly Roll bright white ink pen

Have a great fun day.

Come again to see what this Little Artsy Woman is doing.  Remember, your comments are always welcome.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Using The Floral Stem Collage From Poppy Stamp"

Good Monday to all on this beautiful July 24, 2017
Some are returning to work after a glorious weekend.  Some are still resting after taking trips and tours this weekend.  Some have not had a weekend break.  It will come later on in the week.
Any way we look at it, we're glad you're safe and sound enjoying your work, your relaxation, and/or your pleasure.
I'm sharing a card using a die from Poppystamps, Inc.
I had admired this die since seeing Jennifer McGuire use it on her blog and YouTube video  about two months ago.  I waited until there was a sale before I purchased it. (I love sales, free shipping and BOGO).
This is a very impressive die cut.  The flower stays in the frame and it comes with an extra petal.  What I did was...(1) cut out the die with the flower once and the petal two times. (2) Used distress inks to color the petals...wild honey and ripe persimmon and the stem with peeled paint. (3) stacked the petals using foam tape. (4) distressed the edges of the frame with black dye ink (Hampton Art). (5) Used green mulberry paper (http://www.milehighnetstores.com/) to back the frame. (6) used various colors of cardstock to layer my image until it was finally adhered to the Neenah white cardstock base. (7) stamped the sentiment using Hampton Art jillibean soup "handwritten sentiments and finally (8) I added Ranger coral liquid pearls around the sentiment.

entry for

WordArtWednesday     Challenge #292- #293 - Anything Goes

entry for 

http://www.cropstop.com/blog

Items used from left to right:

• Mulberry paper (assorted from http://www.milehighnetstores.com)
• Floral Stem Collage Poppy stamp die
• Hampton Art jillibean soup "handwritten sentiments"
• Ranger liquid pearls "coral"

Thanks for your time, your viewing and your past comments.   Love hearing from you and hope you will come again.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"What's In My Stash...Friday"

Hello friends, followers, viewers and visitors.
What's on your agenda for today and for the weekend?
Today is my busiest day of the week.  So much to do and then an added bonus from one of our church friends...he decided to drop off fresh corn for me to try to put in the freezer.  As if I didn't have enough to do already...I'm thankful. 
Who doesn't enjoy fresh, sweet, white corn in the summer.
When my mother was living, I never stood around to learn the method of canning or freezing vegetables...so, today I'll have to watch YouTube or Google the information to find out what I'm suppose to do with this corn.  Pray for me dear friends.  I want to enjoy eating today and also around December (lol).
This is a quick card...

 

The pink focal layer was in my stash.  It was already cut down to an A2 size.  I first used the circle die to cut out the circle.  Next, I embossed the top part to give it more depth and dimension.  I pulled out the floral branch sticker from my stash and looked for a sentiment that didn't need to be stamped.  This was where Vicki Boutin watercolor stickers came into play.  I pulled out more cardstock from my stash for the layering and used a piece of Neenah white cardstock for the card base.

I like the way this came out.  Clean And Simple for a Friday card.

From left to right: Recollection Mixed Media paper pad; Our Daily Bread Design (ODBD) stitched circle dies; Sizzix tiny dot embossing folder; Martha Stewart Pearl Garden Branches stickers.

"Today Is The Day" to _______________

• celebrate a birthday
• start a new job
• buy a new car
• put your best foot forward
• get rid of the "junk in your trunk"

Have a blessed day and don't forget to come again.  I enjoy your company and your comments.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Sharing Two Because I Couldn't Decide"

Hello friends, followers, visitors and viewers.
Welcome to this blog on Thursday, July 20, 2017. 
I'm still helping "Sunshine" to count down her days before July 26th when she celebrate her ninth birthday.
I'm trying to imagine being nine again.  There is a saying..."look back but don't go back".  But, what if I could with all the knowledge and experiences I have accumulated over the years.  At nine and with what I know, I would probably be a "genius"....stop and have a good laugh at this reading...I did.

A good laugh every now and then is good for the soul and helps to put other things far from your mind.

Getting down to the real issue for my crafting today...
I'm participating in a share on another blog.  It is not a challenge for any prizes but a sketch  to help your brain to work along with your papers, dies and images to come up with a card or canvas.
To be honest with you, I started after dinner last night trying to get my papers together as well as my idea for the sketch.  I did finish the card before going to bed.  However,  I wanted to do another one this morning and to have my DH to vote on which one I should enter.  He said both of them.  Could I post both of them....sure I replied, I can put both on my page but only one on the other blog.
So here they are.  The first one which I did this morning will be posted on another blog and the bottom one will be posted at my usual challenge blog... the one I did last evening.

  Sketch Challenge 654 - (7/19/17)

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com

Items used are: Bella Blvd "illustrated faith" paper; Teresa Collins "Candy Cane Lane" paper; DCWV "Brooklyn Stack"; Cosmo Cricket Tiny Text; Spellbinders Standard Circle die; Darice "Picket Fence Border

Challenge #292-#293 Anything Goes

http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com

Items used the following items: DCWV Brooklyn Stack; g.c.d. Botanique pad; Sizzix cityscape skyline die; Hero Arts Operation Write Home stamp set.

Thanks for viewing.  Hope you will come back again to see what I'm doing.
Leave a comment so I can know you were here.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Shine All Day"

It's Wednesday friends, followers, visitors and viewers.
We've made it to the middle of the week and we can hold on until Friday afternoon.
It's hot and in the south we know this to be true.  We feel it and see the results of our plants and grass dying from too much sun and not enough water.

Have your face been shining due to make-up, lotion, sunscreen,  natural beauty or something else?
Some people appear to have "a glow" on their face and I'm wondering what makes it that way.
Research says it is the make up they are wearing as well as natural beauty.   There are face creams you can use to make your skin glow as well as a healthy diet and drinking plenty of water.

I have Hero Arts "you are fabulous" clear stamps and one of the sentiments is "shine all day".
I built my card around this sentiment without using the face of the woman that came with the set.

 So, how do you shine all day?
Do you share a smile with another?  Do you gently touch someone with a pat on the shoulder or hand shake?  Do you ask someone how they are?  Do you stop and pause to help someone by holding a door?   Do you give someone a hug or wipe away a tear?
We can do so much to shine. So often, it is the little things that allow us to shine brightly and positively impact others.
It doesn't take make-up, lotion, sunscreen, or any type of oil to do any of the above.   It takes you and what is in your heart.
Try to shine all day today...you will feel better and make someone else feel better also.

entry for http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com

Challenges #292-#293 AG

 Below from left to right: G.C.D studios "Antiquities " paper pad; mini Distress inks; Cricut light post heritage die cut; Spellbinders "Romantic Vines" dies; Hero Arts "you are fabulous" clear stamps and Recollections petite paper flowers

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to view with me today.
Your comments are always welcome and are much appreciated.
Thanks for continuing to support me.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois 

"Happy Birthday To ...."

Hello friends, followers, visitors and viewers.
Who is celebrating a birthday today or any other day left in July?
There are two people in my family who will have birthdays on the 23rd and one on the 26th of this month.
"Sunshine" is counting down...her birthday is on the 26th.   A soon-to-be nine year old doesn't miss anything.  Last week when she visited us, she looked at the calendars we have in our house.  She came to me and said, "Grandma, I can't believe you haven't circled my birthday on any of the calendars ".  I told her the one I carry in my pocketbook had the 26th circled and this made her excited.  Kids will noticed everything that is being said and done. Watch what you say and do around them.

The "birthday" card I made today is not for her.  It is more mature and will not fall in her age range.  I really made it to go in the box for cards I donate to soldiers.

Here are the list of items I used:

• cardstock...Recollections mixed media and brown cardstock; a piece from DCWV "the far east"
• embellishment...Ranger textured paste; cheese cloth; Martha Stewart dogwood stickers; Jot butterfly stickers
• stamp...Fiskars "make a wish quotes (birthday)
• die...Sizzix "small tattered florals

From left to right:  Recollections mixed media pad; Sizzix small tattered florals die; Jot pop up butterfly stickers; Fiskars Make a Wish Quotes stamps

If it is your birthday today, then...Happy Birthday to you and wishing you many more to come.

Thanks for viewing with me today.  Go forth and have fun .  Enjoy the moment.

Please come again.

Your comments are always welcome at this place.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Be In Hope and In Prayer"

Hello to all on this Monday, July 17, 2017.
The weekend was fun, relaxing, enjoyable, refreshing and it needs to be repeated.
How did you manage?  Was there fun in your activities?

It's fun -day -Monday and I tried to keep my card really simple today.  My fingers did get a little messy but not that much.  I was focus on something soft and not too harsh.
I used  versa Mark ink,  white embossing powder, distress inks, clear stamps and liquid pearls.

 

Technique:

• Start with a piece of Strathmore Bristol smooth cardstock cut at the A2 size (4.25 x 5.5). 
• Using two stamps from Inkadinkado "beauty stems, the dove from Recollection "faith" stamp set along with the Misti stamping tool, stamp those items using Versa Mark ink and then use white embossing powder (heated).
• Use distress inks (not oxide) very lightly in the following colors spun sugar; fossilized amber; cracked pistachio.  Make sure the sentiment area is lightly ink.
• Use a sentiment from the Recollections "faith" clear stamp and stamp it in the lower right corner using black archival ink.
• Add the Ranger "liquid pearls" to the floral vines and next to the sentiment
• Layer your focal piece before adhering it to the Neenah white base cardstock

Below, from left to right are items used: Recollection "faith" clear stamps; Inkadinkado "beauty stem" clear stamps; Ranger mini distress inks; Ranger liquid pearls. 

This sentiment says it all when things may not be going good in your life but you haven't given up.  God is still in the healing and fixing business...we must be joyful in hope faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12).  Sometimes when you look around and think things over...it (the problem) could be worse than what it is at the moment.

Thanks for your precious time in viewing and commenting.  It is appreciated.
Come again to see what I'm doing.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Feeling The Heat...Need The Beach "

Hello friends, followers, visitors and viewers.

It’s Friday, July 14, 2017 and it is going to be another hot day outside.  Here comes the weekend and time to get away for some fun and relaxation.  Come on let’s go….

What could be more fun than to celebrate in or near the water?  Just think how refreshing it would be just to take a swim or stick your toes in the sand.

We are so close to Virginia Beach that I’m going to suggest a get-away to my DH.  I can just see and feel the water at this moment…so much so that I pulled out items from my stash to create a beach scene.
Cardstock: Ranger water color and Recollections craft, black and teal cardstock.
Inks: Distress oxide (salty ocean); Distress Ink (tumbled glass); Distress Ink (evergreen bough)
Stickers: Paper House snapshots (sentiment and lighthouse; Recollections clouds and K & Company seashells

·         I used the three inks at the top of my water color paper and left room for my craft cardstock (to be used as “sand”).

·         The craft cardstock was torn and inked with rusty hinge Distress ink.  This left just enough of the white space to appear as the white sand on the beach.

·         I used some acetate that looked like woodgrain to imitate the ripples in the water. This was placed above the craft cardstock.

·         I included the K &Company “seashell” stickers at the bottom of the Paper House Snapshots lighthouse sticker.  Then, I placed two of the Recollections cloud sticker at the top of the paper and lastly, placed the sentiment (Paper House) under the clouds.

This will be used as an entry to the following:

WordArtWednesday Challenge Weeks #290-#291 - Anything Goes  and

http://mustardseedfaithchallenges.blogspot.no//anything depicting SUMMER

Below are the items used in my design.
Distress and oxide inks; stickers from Paper House snapshots and K & Company

Hoping that this card will inspire you to go near the water this weekend.  If you don’t take a swim, just walk on the sand and have a good “seafood” meal while the breeze from the ocean blows through your hair. 

Whatever you do, have some fun and relax.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

P.S.  I pulled out the items and put the time in to plan this one.  It was not like the one I did on yesterday…July 13^th (lol)

"A Lesson Learned When You Don't Plan Out Your Steps"

Good Thursday, July 13, 2017.
If you live in the southern part of the USA, did you get overheated on yesterday?  Did you stay inside to avoid the heat, humidity and the stickiness?
If yesterday was not enough for you, try it again today.  You may have some relief this evening when the storms approach.  Be careful!

Have you ever started a card with one thing on your mind but by not planning correctly, you end up with something else.?
This is what happened to me this morning when I didn't plan correctly (so many other things on my to-do-list and was rushing to get this done).
I designed the front of the card before checking out the peacock that I wanted to showcase.
I  used paper from Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe Collection "Bazaar of  Wonders".  The sheet  has peacock feathers on it and I wanted to use a peacock to go with it.  I knew I had a  peacock that came with the BOHO Recollection pack of stickers.  My thoughts said that the two would make a great card.  Was I ever wrong in not planning well in advance.
When I took out the sticker to use, the Graphic 45 paper would have prevented the sticker from being showcased.  It really needs to be on a white background and I didn't provide enough white background in my design to use the peacock.  So, instead of using the peacock, I used butterflies instead.  If at first you don't succeed...cover it up with butterflies  (lol).
Things I could have done instead...

•   I could have started this project over and made the white part of my card long enough to showcase the peacock (I just may do that when I'm not pushed for time).
• I could have left the butterflies off the front of the card and added the peacock to the inside (good idea).
• I could have use this day and not posted (I'm human and constructive criticism is welcome).

  I'm posting what I made instead.

 
Here is something I would like to share:

#37 Lois from Lil Artsy Woman

Thanks for viewing, commenting or just continuing to support my projects.  You are all so beautiful.

Sending a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"SC653...distress inks and water colors"

Hello friends, followers, visitors and viewers.
What's today?
It's Wednesday, July 12, 2017.  The middle of the week.
It's also hot, humid and very sticky outside and it is not even noon yet.
I played with distress inks and water colors this morning.  What a great way to start my day!  I just felt like getting inky since it is too hot to be outside for a long period of time.

 
entry for http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com,

Cardstock: Neenah white; Recollection black; Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe Collection; Ranger water color paper
inks: Ranger distress inks; Koi  water colors
stamp:  Penny Black "T for Transparent"
stencil: Tim Holtz burlap stencil
die: Avery Elle dotted borders die
embellishments: Recollections chipboard dragonfly and hummingbird; Prima flower
sketch from SC653

 Black archival ink; Sakura Koi water colors; Ranger distress inks

Avery Elle dotted borders die; Penny Black "T for Transparent" stamps; Tim Holtz burlap stencil; and Prima flowers

Thanks for stopping by today.
For all of you who sent "Sunshine" some love...she wants you to know that it made her very, very happy.  Thanks so much.
I hope you enjoyed your view today.  You are welcome to come again.
Comments are always welcome here.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,
Lois