Sympathy Cards

These aren't my favorite cards to make because it's usually for a tough situation. A few months ago I purchased the Thoughts & Prayers set from SU. It's a pretty set. You can see two of the stamps from the set on the 2nd card. I also like this stamp set because the tree and flowers could be used on other kinds of cards, too. I like to pray for those who need comfort as I make such cards.

I can hear the logging show going on. There's always a lot of cheering and the sound of chain-saws at 8:00 am and then again around 3:00 pm. It's better than the sound (and smell) of garbage trucks. Ha!

Yesterday I walked into town to meet Quent for lunch. I found a yarn shop and they told me there's an even nicer store near the Safeway. So I think I'll go check that out sometime today. I also checked out a store yesterday that sells a small supply of scrapbooking goods. There were some cute things, but I didn't make any purchases.

Today is the first day since we have been here (almost a week) that it's cloudy. I have to say I welcome them (I know...).

Sneak Peek

For my stamping club members, here's a sneak peek of something we'll be making.

Here's another loft card. There's lots of details on this card.

The other day I had the box fan on in the window and all of a sudden I smelled this putrid, disgusting, like decay smell. Ewww! I shut the fan off and I was wondering what the smell was. Later on the smell arrived again. I figured out this smell is from the garbage trucks that drive by on the road below. I'm not sure how many garbage trucks go by, but it seems like there's been several the last few days. UGH! And there's also a creek right down the hill that the salmon go to to spawn. The sad thing is that salmon die right after. I seriously think I'm already smelling decaying fish. UGH! Oh the joys of city living.

Basic Grey Cards

I had been eyeing some new Basic Grey paper. It's the June Bug and Lemonade sets. I ordered it before we moved and it arrived in the mail yesterday. So I spent some time yesterday afternoon making cards. I was inspired by some of the cards in the September Cards magazine. This is what I made:

June Bug paper pack

Lemonade buttons and brads

Lemonade paper: Such fun colors!

Workshop Card

This is the card we made at the July stamping workshop. There was a third project, which was a box, but I don't have the box to take a picture of. Oops!

I'm hoping to post more later on today of some goodies I purchased through scrapbook.com and some cards I made.

Cherish

Good morning! It's another beautiful day in Southeast, but there is some haze/smoke in the air. I'm beginning to wonder if it really rains here. Ha! Yesterday I had the chance to stamp. I thought I had better figure out what projects I am making for my next stamping workshop so I can order supplies. When I stamped in the loft I could totally make a gigantic mess and I would just leave it. But now I have the diningroom table to work at in our furnished apartment. I made a mess yesterday, but this time I felt embarrassed that it was so messy. I think having a space/room to craft is definitely a nice thing!

This is a card I created a couple of weeks ago. I got the idea from Dawn. She used Papertrey Ink products and I used Stampin' Up! Although, I did use the Papertrey Ink paper. I don't know the name of this color. I'm not a PTI expert...yet! I really like this card. It's so elegant and beautiful! I may have to borrow some of the ideas on this card for my next workshop.

Happy Anniversary!

I wish I could remember where I got this idea from. I think it may have been from Dawn McVey's blog. Probably. Anyway, this is a card I made for Aunt Jolene (Hi, Aunt Jolene!!!). She and her husband just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. Aunt Jolene loves to make cards and so when I saw her daughter's email about sending cards for their anniversary, I knew I had to make something for them.


Fifth Avenue Floral is one of my new favorite stamp sets. I love to layer with it. Yesterday we walked by a house that had some beautiful roses and it was very inspiring. I just might have to create something today from that inspiration.

I wish I was better at listing what supplies I used, but I'm not. Ha! If you have any questions (ever) about what supplies I used, please don't hesitate to ask.

Must be another cruise ship in somewhere or it will be here soon because I see they have rounded up the horses for another tour. It's been fun to be among the tourists here. I wonder when it will be 'old'? Each day I get a little bit more used to being here. I think it will take awhile before I adjust. Change does that. It's another beautiful day! I'm in the mood to create today. What I really should do is unpack some more boxes, but I really don't want to. You should see how messy this place is...it's not like me. I suppose I should put some things away...

Christmas in July

It cooled off nicely overnight. We put a box fan in the window and got the apartment down to 64 degrees. Whoohoo! Now I have a fleece blanket around me. Love it! I'm an Alaskan girl all right! Speaking of cold, this is a project we made at my last workshop. It was my Christmas in July project. I saw the idea of cutting out the Top Note die from SU and the swirl Cuttlebug folder on acrylic in a CARDS magazine. For the workshop we used the thick window sheets that SU sells. This could be used as an ornament, or maybe even a card. The possibilities are endless, right?

Here are a few views of what was made.


See all of that glitter goodness?

This is the view out our livingroom window this morning. There are 2 cruise ships here so far this morning. At 8:00 am I heard a bus drive by giving a tour. And I've also heard the clippity-clack of horses pulling a tour around. It's another beautiful day here in southeast! I better soak up the sun while it is out because Ketchikan gets about 12-13 feet of precipitation a year. Yes, FEET! It's definitely a rain forest!

Last night we went out to eat to a restaurant called Shogun. It has Chinese and Japanese food. We got Schezuan (sp?) chicken and it was SPICY! Whew! Quent's face was sweating. Ha! We walked around town and looked like tourists. It's easy to hide in the crowds here.

I have a lot more pictures to share. I took a bunch of pictures of cards I made before we moved. It's the last of my loft photos. Speaking of the loft, I miss it already. Before we left the other night I went up to the empty space and just stood there soaking up the last glimpse of it. I didn't cry, but I did cry when I was up there a few nights before that. It was such a wonderful place with a beautiful view. I miss it.

Happy Sunday!

Hello!

Hello from our new home in Ketchikan, Alaska! Until we buy a new home we are living in an apartment. I'm truly an Alaskan girl because I've been complaining of the heat all day. It's 86 degrees in our apartment and I'm not too thrilled about that. When is it going to be in the 50's again like it used to be in the summer here in Southeast? I know, I know...all of you who love warm weather are 'boo-hooing' me right now. I'd love 50 degrees right now!! Right now I have a 'swamp cooler' type thing going right now. That's what Quent calls it. It's ice in a bowl in front of a fan.

I don't have any pictures to share, but I just wanted to let all of my blog readers know we made it safe and sound to Ketchikan.

Ta ta for now!

Camp Stories

Lots of journaling on this page. That reminds me that I have a lot of journaling to catch up with for this trip. Oops! This is another digital page I created awhile ago. I didn't have a lot of pictures to include for this part of our trip, but I wanted to show a couple even though they aren't super exciting.

Today is the first day of a new beginning...the next adventure! I'm excited to see what's in store.

A new chapter has begun...

Grand Canyon

This was a digital page I created a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't sure about it. But I decided I'm finished with it. It's funny because I used to not like to scrapbook landscape photos, but now I really like them. It's a good thing because we have a LOT of them!

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...

3...2...

1...

LIFT OFF!

Story

This digital page reminds me of something Ali Edwards would create. I took random photos and made a page out of it.

Most of what I have been posting lately are things I created a few days ago or maybe even weeks ago. Today I started working on a digital page, but I didn't get too far. Our computer is set up in a really warm room and it's on the floor. I'm not too keen with sitting on the floor and typing. It's a bit difficult. Ha!

Tomorrow is lift off.

Joke Book

I was checking out blogs one day when I found this 'tutorial' for making a knock-knock joke book at Nichole Heady's blog. My brother Jacob (age 8) loves to joke around. Sometimes he will call me just to tell me a joke. So when I saw this I knew I had to make it for him. He got the book the other day in the mail and then he called me yesterday to tell me some of the jokes. How fun!

I could send him more jokes to add to his book. What a fun little book to make!

All of our stuff is gone. It's so weird to be in an empty house. It's hard to believe that in a few days we will no longer be living here. It's bittersweet!

I'm really hoping to play along with Dawn's color challenge this weekend once I have all of my stamping stuff again. Who knows, maybe I'll create a digital page. I do have some of my stamping stuff with me right now, but no paper and no stamps.

Try Again

Here's a digital page I created with a lot of the fun stuff from Jessica Sprague's photo editing class from a couple of weeks ago.



The packers are back this morning...it's sad to see everything so empty.

Happy Anniversary

I can't believe I actually have time to do this. The packers/movers are around me packing up our stuff as I type. I am SO thankful for them!!

Here are some anniversary cards I made recently for a couple of my friends who had their anniversaries over the weekend. Happy anniversary Brandon & Rebekah, and Jesse & Carrie!

I remember getting this idea from somewhere, but now I can't remember where. ???

Workshop Challenge Card

Each month I give my stamping club members a color & technique challenge they can participate in. The idea is to encourage them to use the supplies they have and to show what they have made to inspire others. It's been so much fun to see what everyone comes up with. I usually give a prize or sometimes everyone gets something for bringing what they have created.

This is the card I created for the challenge:



The challenge was to use orange, pink, white, and brown. The technique was to use a re-inker for something on the card. I used a couple of re-inkers to brush onto some watercolor paper. Then I stamped these flowers in brown. And then I used Crystal Effects on some parts of the flower, sprinked some glitter, and let it dry. So fun!

This is what I emailed out to everyone. I was inspired by something I saw from Pottery Barn.

Splash

I was going to post a card this morning, but I realized that I need to take some pictures of cards first. Oops! So I'll share a digital page instead. It's fun to have pages and cards ready to blog instead of doing them all at once. I like posting everyday, so this is working well.

This page is following the 'story board' theme that was talked about in the Jessica Sprague photo editing class that ended last week. A lot of this page was inspired by what was learned in the class. I enjoyed learning more about texturing and overlays. Fun stuff!



Today I have a stamping club workshop, so I'll have those projects to share soon. Have a great Saturday!

Log Rolling

Here's the last page I made for the 4th of July. I really enjoyed scrapbooking all of the 4th pictures. One thing I love about digital scrapbooking is that you can make a whole page with just pictures. One of the reasons I wanted to digital scrapbook was to use enlarged pictures. I don't think I even know how to look at a traditional scrapbook page anymore...unless it's dealing with fabric. Ha!

Moving Details

I've talked about moving, but I haven't really talked about about it. We are moving from Wrangell, Alaska to Ketchikan, Alaska, which is about 90 miles south. From one island to another, but the population in Ketchikan is 7x the size of Wrangell (14,000), with a Wal-Mart, McD's, 24-hour grocery store included. Ketchikan is where all of the Alaskan cruise ships stop. During the summer tourist months the city can have 1 to 7 cruise ships a day!

We are excited, but to be honest, it's sad too. We've met so many wonderful people in Wrangell. It's one of those communities where you know what car everyone drives and when you are driving around everyone waves (although I'm not really fond of the waving part yet--ha!). It's an amazing community and we have been so blessed to call it our home the last 4-1/2 years.

Yesterday I called the phone company to let them know we were moving and I was getting teary-eyed, so yeah, I'm a bit emotional at times. But we are excited for our next adventure!

And I have to say this, I wouldn't trade all of the Wal-marts, McD's, and 24-hour grocery stores for the amazing friends here in Wrangell. I love you all so much! (((HUGS)))

I did a post about Ketchikan here and here never knowing that someday it would be our home.

Question for my blog readers

If you were moving and you had to pick some of your stamping supplies to bring with you for possibly 4 months, what would you most definitely pick?

I don't want to bring everything, but I want to bring some things. Ahhh!

For your shower

My cousin Alena's wedding shower is next week. I won't be going, but I made her a card to send with a gift. I love all of the glitter on this card. Something in the current Stampin' Success newsletter for demonstrators caught my attention, and out came this card! Ha! This new medallion stamp is one of my new favorite stamps.


That amount of glitter could possibly scare some people!

The purple is Elegant Eggplant, which I hardly ever use. But since purple is back in my life, we may be seeing more of it!

I've been working on a lot of miscellaneous things the last few days (or maybe my whole life?). I've been in a card-making mood lately. I think there are things I could be doing, but then I'll act like I'm in denial of those things and make cards instead. Ha!