The Importance of a Card

Sometimes I think I forget the power of a handmade card.  When I lost my grandpa a month ago, the last communication I had with him was the father's day card I sent.  Honestly, I had to push myself to make cards this year, but even as I was writing a message to him I was aware this might just be the last card I would make for him.  I am really not sure what impact it had on him, but I know it gave me a small measure of comfort to know he received a card I made to honor him and express my love for him.  I am so glad I realized I needed to make this card.

These are the cards I made for my grandpas this year (the purple was for my dad's father who just passed away as purple was his favorite):

My grandma (my dad's mom and wife to my purple loving grandpa) this year mentioned how much she liked the card I made her for mother's day (you can see a picture of it here).  It was also the last mother's day card I will ever make for her as she passed away Friday.  I am so very glad she thought it was pretty.

Send a little love today--you and the lucky recipient will glad you did.

Thanks for dropping by the Hall!


Happy Father's Day
{Supplies}
Stamps: Truck and Car, Tim Holtz by Stampers' Anonymous; Happy Father's Day (from Father Knows Best set), Diamond Background (from Backgrounds Basics: Diamonds set), Text Background (from Background Basics: Text Style II set), Papertrey Ink
Inks: Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone (my favorite), Tim Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger Industries
Cardstock: White, Georgia Pacific; Earthstone, Neenah Papers
Other: Foam Dimensional Adhesive, American Crafts

Absolutely Fabulous Spray Paint

I am presently taking a class with the super talented Debee Campos.  If you have ever happened upon her blog you will see some fantastic eye-candy.  We are working on mini-albums, but since I had an ATC trade coming up with the theme of Altered Playing Cards I thought I would use the first day's art lesson to create my cards.  I had an incredible amount of fun playing with spray paint and I think black and white shall soon be joined by chartreuse, aqua, yellow, orange, grey and purple (some of the colors for Halloween). 

I really love how they turned out--both grungy and clean which is something I have never really accomplished before. 

Here are my ATC's (and please forgive the quality of the photos):

Absolutely Fabulous ATC's
{Supplies}
Stamps: Absolutely Fabulous, Papertrey Ink; Label, Kenner Road
Mist/Spray: Sweet Pea, Glimmer Mist
Die Cut: Bird, Tim Holtz by Sizzix
Punch: Starburst, Martha Stewart Crafts
Watercolors: Crayola
Other: Matte Black & Glossy White Spray Paint; Dimensional Foam Adhesives, American Crafts

Bad Blogger: A Very Necessary Apology

I have been a very bad blogger in more ways than one. 

I just recently enrolled in Shimelle Laine's Blogging for Scrapbookers class and I found out I was doing a big no-no...this no-no is actually somewhat counter to my thoughts on what is proper etiquette in the real world, but makes complete sense in the digital world.  What I did a few times was use an image by using a link to the original image along with including a source link.  I thought I was making certain that I was not taking any sort of credit for the image, but this meant I was stealing bandwidth.  Big no-no.  I apologize for my extremely inconsiderate behavior and will be taking out all such images. 

Additionally, I apologize for also including images from others without their permission.  I realize now I have allowed my (mistaken) belief in the internet being somewhat of a Wild West to cloud my ethics.  I need to receive permission from the creator/artist before posting any image here or only post images of my own.  Otherwise, I am being extremely rude and far worse poaching (stealing) others' hard work, creativity, talent, skill and energy.

This reminds me of receiving the guidelines to proper crediting of sources in college. Having read it I became profounding afraid of improperly crediting a source or somehow accidentially tredding on another's creative and/or intellectual property. Because of this (among other reasons), papers became an exercise in anxiety-ridden torture for me to write. I should have thought of that handbook whilst I blogged!



My apologies to one and all for being a very bad blogger and member of the creative community.

Another lesson learned.

Shop Talk: A Strenuous Recommendation

I can't believe June is nearly over and I haven't posted since early May.  I have some half written posts that are at various stages, but they aren't complete obviously.  I feel I must rectify this by at least posting once.

Where have I been you may (or probably not) ask.  I have been sucked into technology actually.  I recently have been keeping up with all those digital scrapbook sites, looking into online classes and listening to the ever amusing and interesting Paperclipping podcasts.  Anyone listen to these?  What do you think?  I find them to be wonderful and I am listening to them all the time right now...as I brush my teeth (seriously), go to sleep, etc.  I love shop talk.  I have a couple of friends that I talk with about art and all things related and we can talk until the end of days and still have more to chat about.  We discuss stamps, paper, paint, companies, artists, digital design, classes, new products, old products, how evil Martha Stewart is (she is I swear to always find ways to make me covet her products), Tim Holtz, scrapbooking, websites, blogs, time, organization, projects here and there, kit companies, and on and on.  So listening to the Paperclipping Roundtable and Paperclipping Digi Show is like ambrosia (as in food of the art and crafting gods) to me. 

The all important links:
Paperclipping Roundtable (available on iTunes FREE)
Paperclipping Digi Show (available on iTunes FREE)

They also offer a membership for their copious amount of video tutorials (very well done from the clips I have seen).  I plan on joining at some point because Noell and Izzy Hyman (the couple behind Paperclipping) deserve the support.

If you haven't already discovered these shows, GO.  It is catnip for scrapbookers, memory artists or anyone interested in listening to various subjects regarding creating, organization, process, design, the industry, photography, digital scrapbooking, etc.