Flying South ... well, driving

If I don't post between now and the new year ... it is because we are going to Boston from Michigan by way of the middle of Florida.
AND ... we are doing it in the middle of a snowstorm with a husband, 2 cats, 3 birds, and a dog.
I am taking my stamping stuff along and will be ready to post a bunch of new cards and such in January.

Anyway, this is the card I made to tuck in Mike's briefcase on his last day of work in Michigan before we head to Florida for the winter.

starting to think Florida

Gotta love this bird! But it sure does show that I cut him off at the ankle because he was too long. I think I will go back and stamp another foot and raise it on dimensionals. Then I will want to stamp another beak and raise it up. And another tail. And another wing. And now my foot will need to be raised even higher ...

Actually the scanner picked up the edge and made it look awful, in real life you can barely see that the paper is pieced

Kissy face snow man

The scan doesn't show the bright orange carrot noses... and ..Is the red a little much? Trying to decide if I should keep the red or not.

No kissy face at our house, I have developed a whopping cold and am sneezing and snurfling... but when I saw this tag I had to make one like it. This is a direct case, copy and steal everything , and I have absolutely no creative genius going but isn't it the cutest thing you have ever seen! GO see this lady's blog, her name is Ellen Kemper and she does darling stuff. If you go to see the original, you will have to scroll down to Dec 11th ... but you will enjoy the scroll because this lady does some CUTE CUTE stuff.

Honored !

I was featured as a pick of the day for Dec. 13th on Miss Boo's blog! She chooses her favorites off Splitcoast every day and complies a list that makes it easy to see the best of the best. And Gosh, I was included with all the rest!

Here's a link ...

Ornaments on a string

Isn't this just the cutest idea! With my new cuttlebug folder it was quick and easy. Not that I want cards to be quick and easy, but when something simple is this cool, I gotta try it. Here is where I got the original idea --

Tim Tags 1, 2 and 4 - My way

Here's my interpretation of each of Tim's Tags

My Christmas Gift

It's the week before Christmas, I love Christmas time
And I spent my whole evening creating a rhyme

Hey Joyce you'll have to tell me what you think
Of the poem I composed when you print it with ink.

If you want to know what I'm talking about
Just read the comments and you will find out.

Punchy cupcakes card

Trying my new cupcake punch --- cute, huh!

New Shell punch

This is my second card made with my new shell punch set -- the first one will be posted after it arrives in Somebody Special's mailbox >^..^<

Tim Holtz Tag # 3

Susan has really been sweet about encouraging me to try the Tim Holtz tags. But after she said she spent 9 hours making the first 9 tags, I gotta admit I was a bit intimidated! Here you see tag # 3, well, tag # 1 for me, in JULIET TONES ... with a shrinky dink charm and a gold heart and silver jump ring. I have never matched my shoes with my purse either --- >^..^<

Sundaes and stitching

Coloring my new images and adding some crystal effects. Doesn't that hot fudge look good enough to eat? The stitchery card is for my quilt making friend Barb.

Birdies, snowmen and trees

UPDATED : Jan 10. JULIET USED MY IMAGE and made a VALENTINE ! I was so tickled. Go see her blog to see the whole story.

I decided to play along with the featured stamper at Splitcoast and was inspired by her bird card, this snowman card and this tree card, Then I set the snowman background down upside down by accident and came up with another card .... and another ....
I didn't have the bird stamp but got out a pen and did my best to draw it. Not bad, huh! Had to add the card late because I was waiting for it to arrive in Virginia before it was spied here !

The Night Before Christmas at Lois' House!

Twas the night before Christmas and stamp club was busy, They had so many cards to make they felt dizzy
There were images to stamp and digis to enlarge, That was the job that was sent over to Marge
Barb was the coloring queen for a day, With her markers and crayons she was happy to play
The table was cluttered and feeling quite sticky, But nothing could stop the creative Vicki
And over by the cuttlebug cranking alone, Was the embossing maven that we all call Joan
There was glitter and sparkles to make your eye bleary, Plus stickles and glitz all put on by Cherie
Linda was laughing as she layered a card, And claimed to us all that it was not very hard.
But hats off to Lois racing round on her scooter, With a Santa hat that just couldn't be cuter
And just as the ladies were done for the night, A tiny little sleigh was seen in the night
Santa came calling and followed his ear, To the sound of the laughter that we all felt here
You could hear him exclaim as he looked at our group, Happy Christmas to all of you dear stamping troup.

Twas the night before Christmas

I thought I should keep a copy of a Night Before that I wrote for Lois over on Gingerwood. She gave me the beginning and the end and I filled in the middle.

Twas the night Before Christmas when all through the house, I was alone at my computer with my hand on my mouse.
I was looking at cards and techniques galore, And thinking of last minute trips to the store
My punches were hung by my table with care, My cards had been mailed, I was happy to share
My stamps were all snuggled and clean in the box, When suddenly something sounded just like a fox
Away to the window I flew in a flash, I pulled back the curtain and yanked up the sash
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, Gave a luster of stickles to objects below
When, what to my wondering eye should appear? But a miniature mailbox and 8 tiny reindeer
With a little old mailman so lively and quick, I knew in a minute he wasn't St. Nick
Before I could back from the window in shame, He whistled and snorted and called them by name
On Punchie and Doodle, on Copic and Brad, On Eyelet and Prima and Nestie and Chad
To the top of the stack to the top of the pile, Now dash away dash away don't take awhile.
I drew back my head and quick as a wink, I could hear them exclaim as they stepped in my ink
But the mailman worked fast and then turned with a smile, He left me some cardstock and stamps in a pile
Then putting his finger along side his nose, ( He left an ink spot there ) up the chimney he rose

and I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight Happy Stamping to all and to all a good night

Card for Sam

I downloaded some digital images and finally figured out how to print them. Then I got to play with my copic markers. Well, these colored images have been sitting on my coffee table for a week and I finally made one into a card. It says " You better be good" and "guess who's coming to town." On the inside it says "ME" and I am sending it to my Florida neighbor, Sam, to tell her when we will arrive in Florida. It looks better in full size so click on the picture to see the stickles.

Wednesday sketches

Too many sketches to choose from for this Wednesday!

Featured Stamper

Splitcoast has "featured stamper" on Sundays.I copied the flower card from this one ... The penguin card was made after seeing a card made by the featured stamper of the week - Christine.

Erin's Pregnant!

Erin was at our stamping retreat and a little bit under the weather. She didn't know why and of course we all were worried. Turns out it was her new little baby-to-be that was ready to spring a surprise.

I love this Debbie Mum paper even more than stamping but I had to have a few stamped animals peeking out the corners. The dots were from a pencil eraser.

Another piece inspired by art

The more I colored with my copics, the more this started looking like an evil mask with scary eyes and a very big nose. So I turned it sideways to get rid of the idea of a face. The smaller piece is a painting by Matt Stevens that retails for a mere $700.00. I tried coloring the warm tones with regular watercolor markers. There really is a difference.

Owly becomes a card

I loved the owl and decided to sketch him. Then I took the new black copic marker Amy got me and it worked perfectly to trace my sketched image onto vellum. The blotchy parts are where I used the blender pen to erase mistakes!

Then I copied the vellum drawing onto cardstock.

Here is the final card, colored with copics with the sky sponged with cotton balls and my favorite new moon. I am also liking using half of the oval punch as a tab. Maybe I am finally developing my own style?

Guess I'll have to wait and see.

The paintings of Matte Stephens

Splitcoast challenge today is to find inspiration at the Jonathan Adler site. I found an artist that I really like, Matte Stephens and plan to make some cards inspired by his work.

Christmas card for Noah

This was colored with a combination of copics and other markers. The sky is sponged with a cotton ball.

Sweet Pea stamps

I wanted to use the rubber with my poem on it for a thank you card for Faith. I sent a copy of the card to Lynette over at Sweet Pea and she said she would feature it on her site on Sunday, isn't that sweet!

More of Faith's trees

Oh these are such fun to do. This is for the Wednesday sketch challenge over at Splitcoast.

Some pictures from the Stamp Retreat