Big Flowers and a Crazy Week

Today’s card spotlights some lovely flower dies from Poppy Stamps and branch dies from Simon Says. The sentiment is from Simon Says. Love the scale of the whole card! And the rhinestones are iridescent and oh so gorgeous. 

The flowers are sponged with distress inks and arranged in a triangle. 

And now for this week….

It was a week of overlapping things. Because of COVID, I had to reschedule many routine follow-up appointments, and they all ended up being this week since school starts for me on Monday. Among the appointments was a routine mammogram on Wednesday. Thursday, while I was driving to the base hospital for two more appointments, the call came in that we needed to repeat imaging on the left breast. Well, crap. That triggered me hugely, but today’s repeat proved that what the radiologist saw was just an artifact and nothing to be concerned about. Whew. 

Needless to say, I’m having an extra glass of wine tonight. And praying for one week of my life without a crisis of some sort. Pretty please with sugar on top!

I sure hope that your week was better!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

Three for One Feathers and a Challenge

Quick COVID update: I finally tested negative Sunday night. Yippeeee! I’d forgotten how irritating masks are.

Today’s post spotlights a Tim Holtz feather die. I decided to explore my specialty paper file box and play around. After much trial and error, I present you with three cards, six feathers, and one very satisfied card maker. 

First up, some gorgeous, iridescent marbled paper I’ve had for over 20 years. Add some dark green velvet paper for the top feather, and then a gold wax seal and gold cord for embellishment. Couldn’t decide where to put a sentiment, so I didn’t.

Next, we see some textured blue paper and some rather thick mulberry paper that came with a gift from a friend about ten years ago. A “hope” charm combined with pearls, DMC floss, some pearls, and a birch-bark background finish the piece. 

And finally, we have some gorgeous patterned vellum and a marigold inclusion paper. The creamy pearls came from a reader probably 15 years ago, and the grass stamp is from Papertrey. 

What a great layered die, and what fun to dig out pretty papers I’ve not used in quite a while!

What do you want to play with from your stash that’s gone largely unused for a while? Pick a supply or technique and run with it!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan 

Hero Arts for the Win!

During the recent sale on Hero Arts at Simon Says, I purchased several of their fancy dies to experiment with.  I love all things owl (read our family’s story of rescuing a barred owl here and here and here). This little peekaboo owl is just darling…and gave me an excuse to use my birch tree bark embossing folder.

There are white spatters on the night sky, and I shaded the owl with Copics.

Not a huge fan of my shading under the owl’s wing, but live and learn. For a first effort, I was quite pleased!

Covid continues, but I am finally improving a bit, which is very welcome. 

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan 

Working the Processes

Years ago, I put a process in place for integrating new products into my stash. I keep a basket for all new products, and I can’t put the new stuff away until I’ve used it. Generally speaking, the process works well to keep me from getting too far ahead in my buying. 

For the past year, though, the basket has gotten fuller and fuller…and I kept buying and buying. Not egregiously, of course, but a little here, a little there, into the basket to sit. 

Last week, I set an intention to empty the basket. As of today, there’s very little left. Having Covid, it turns out, is good for crafting. 

Today’s card was one of many resulting from that intention. These flower dies from Simon Says are soooooo pretty! I used distress inks to ink the white die cuts, Copics to color-match the rhinestones, and a Tim Holtz 3D embossing folder to add texture to the background. 

The process of healing from Covid is running its course slowly this time, but I’m starting to feel better. I re-tested Tuesday morning, and the test was still aggressively positive. Whatever. The guidelines are indecipherable as far as contagion is concerned. Some sources say you’re good 5-7 days after symptoms start, others say you can be contagious up to 20 days after symptoms start. Still others say that 24 hrs after your fever breaks, you’re good to go. One website said that the darker the line on the test, the more contagious you are, so I continue to isolate and mask up at home. 

Therefore, I’ve had plenty of time to craft. So yay! Many more posts to come!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and Kleenex, 

Susan

Using Copics the Easiest Way Possible and Hoarding Pins

Y’all know I’m no Copic expert, but a new set from Simon Says called Friendship Leafy Cluster was tailor-made for coloring with Copics the easy way. 

The overlapping outlines of the leaves let you play around with different shades without the pesky difficulty of, you know, actually shading anything. Just fill in each space with light, medium, and dark colors, with the overlaps being the darkest shades. 

These coloring projects were easy, soothing, and stress-free. And blingy. Gotta love the bling. I used monochromatic choices, but you could make rainbows or whatever. 

So let’s talk about Pinterest for a minute. Electronic image hoarding is a thing, and I’m a fan. It doesn’t cost anything (except the effort of ignoring ads), and you can start a new board anytime you want. 

I recently started a new board called Card Design, which is making me happy. It’s centered on the idea, funnily enough, of card designs I want to make. That’s key. Not card designs I like, but ones I want to try to adapt to my style. I’ve made quite a few cards that make me happy since focusing on design: layout, background techniques, die cuts, embossing folders, color choices, etc. Studying this board has given me a bit of much-needed focus. 

If you, too, hoard electronic images, why not check out Card Design, and start a card design board of your own. Name it something more interesting than Card Design, though. That’s sort of boring.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan 

Big Hugs and Air Hugs

So Monday, my throat hurt, and I felt a little off. Took a COVID test, and it was negative. Woke up Wednesday to drive home from Maryland, and I knew something was wrong. Gave my family air hugs and left. Took a second test Wednesday evening, and it was unambiguously positive. 

Now I’m missing out on a trip to DC for a friend’s retirement ceremony (George went without me). Surprisingly bitter about this…not his going. I’m grateful at least one of us can go, but I’m bitter about  being sick in the first place. 

My case of COVID is worse than I thought it would be, especially since I got the booster back in February. But overall, it’s like having an ordinary case of the flu. I’m quarantining and am so very grateful Jack can drive to the grocery store for me. 

Today’s card is a BIG HUG inspired by this pin. 

I stamped the three shades of Simon Says ink onto white paper using an old Hero Arts block stamp and die cut with a Sizzix flower die. The embossed background adds fun texture.

Now I have a use for some large sentiment dies! Thanks for the inspiration! 

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

A Very Cool Baby Shower Idea

 Over Christmas last year, I made a birthday card for each of the first 12 years of my great-nephew’s life. I wrote a letter for him to read when he opens the last one, signed them all, and sent them to my sister, who put them out for all the baby shower attendees to sign. 

Most are not my usual style, and they are all large, 5 x 7 inches. My favorites are 5 and 9. Which are yours?

Little M was born in February, and I got to see him when he was only 2 weeks old. I’m back in Maryland now and got some quality baby time. He’s adorable, but his parents do not want his picture online, so I can’t share. 

I can, however, share some pictures from the Phillips Museum in Washington, DC, the first of which will make you laugh if you’re a long-time reader of Simplicity.

The pear at the bottom of the table. Oh, my! (In my best George Takei impression, LOL!)

This one is so sweet…Nick and I having a moment with Renoir. 

Isn’t the painting gorgeous? The Luncheon of the Boating Party. It was bigger than I thought it would be. Nick and I enjoyed discussing the painting, especially trying to understand what’s going on between the woman and two men in the back right corner.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan