I'm pooped

Howaboutchoo?
It's been a busy but productive day. I thought i'd stop in before i go grab a quick nap.
First off - i finally got my car fixed and inspected.
YEAH! (the crowd cheers and its deafening!)
I waited for a call this morning from the repair place - they called around 10:30 and said yes we now have the parts so come on over.
You don't have to tell me twice. They took care of it and in no time i was headed down to the gas station where we do our inspections (yes. that's how they do it in Virginia. crazy) Of course after i maneuvered past the 4 cars waiting for emissions testing there was only one car in the inspection line - with a sign on the back that said "Last car before Lunch Break". sigh
I went home for an hour and then the daughter and I headed out to get a few things done.
Dropped her off at Michaels hair place - she was in desperate need of a haircut. And then i headed down the street to the gas station. (Daughter would walk down to the station when she was done.)
This time there are 4 cars in the inspection line and the emissions lane was closed. A sign for that said "Emission machine down". I thought - good thing i don't need emissions this year! So i get in line (if you could only see the line - its on the side of the gas station which is situated on the corner of a very busy intersection in town. You say a little prayer your car isn't gonna get hit by either the traffic - cos the butt of your car is sticking out into traffic - or by someone inside the perimeter of the gas station. good times.)
The line moved fairly quickly - but considering it was 93 degrees and NOT in the shade - i was feeling a tad toasty. Yes, I turn off the car while i wait. (of course the guy in the very large SUV 2 cars back kept his running - yegods man have you heard of the ozone?)
I had my washington post style section with me - and today there were 2 crosswords so even with the heat i was distracted.
The car ahead of me had reached the miracle yellow line - means you're up next. The guy goes over to her car - she gets out - and he takes it and I move up. Then i see the guy come back out, go get the girl and i hear him saying "you don't need an inspection - you need emissions."
I thought that poor girl - she'd been waiting a bit longer than me (with her car off).
When the guy came over to me - MY TURN - he said the girl didn't read or speak English well so she had no idea what that sign said.
My turn lasted less than 10 minutes and i was paying my fee and up walks the daughter - can it get any better than this? i don't think so!
We headed off to Target - picked up the things we needed and we headed home - as Babar says "happy with our purchases".
I finished a little album i made for my husband for his birthday tomorrow- check it out

And today is my son's birthday - 21. impossible to believe. He won't be home today - but we'll see him on Thursday. Here's a card i made for him - i wanted to try and make some faux postage for the stamping event they were having over at 2peas all weekend. I hadn't done any faux in a while so i thought why not. It got a little busy with the words but yaknow - he won't care. And i had fun making it - I got to use this wonderful stamp Sue - ozzigirl gave me a while back - the postage cancellation that has my son's birthdate on it - so i was really happy. Sue you're a peach and I love this stamp! can't wait to use it on something for the daughter as her name is right there too!

Another ATC

i'm thinking a lot about beach these days. The husband and daughter (who will rendezvous with the son) are heading off to the beach house on Thursday. The yearly trek to "do beach" as they say in my husbands family. I think i've mentioned that he and his siblings own a lovely house in Bethany (that's Delaware for all you non east coasters). At this time of year - 'round 4th of July - they descend upon that house. It is rather a hoard. My husband has 4 sisters, 1 brother and they all have children. Our kids grew up at the beach (at one house or another then this one since it was built a number of years ago). And the kids have indeed grown up. One has married, one is engaged and in our case - one is turning 21 years old tomorrow (freakmeout ... still.... i cannot believe he is this old as I have not aged in the least - the only thing that would give me away, i daresay, is artfully taken care of by my wonderful Michael - the best hairstylist in the burg LOL) Those of you who know me know I do not partake of the insanity that is the beach house during this 4th of July holiday time. The family gets together en masse twice a year and i cannot bow out during Christmas. It's just not allowed (and strangely enough then everyone is cooped up in one house - talk about claustrophobic pour moi - cos the weather is not conducive to having Christmas outdoors on this side of the world - even if they were comin to Virginia... but i digress. as ususal)

Anyway - they will be heading out to the beach. They'll have a fabulous time and i do wish i could stand all that togetherness (we're talking over 30 people here folks - it is a large house) but their yearly time away gives me a little time off - to just be me. Not someone's wife or mom. (Yes, I'm still the good daughter but hey) So it's good.

I thought i'd share a little ATC i made a while back. The little boy at the center is my father. Wasn't he just a cutie? I am sure the beach involved is either in NY or NJ. That's where my dad, and then I, grew up - there are no beaches like those beaches. Don't even say it - I don't care. They are the beaches of all my memories so they will always be the best. My Dad was an only child (something he would say was the worst thing you could do to a kid - he said it - not me). My grandparents are there in the background - the back row in the center. The pic is one of those in that pile of photos my mom gave me. My Dad loved the beach. I grew to like it less and less (possibly because I got burned every time I went) but now I wish I could go spend a few quiet days there. Sans the hoard that is the family. We've done that other years. Take a week at the beach house to ourselves. But - not to be this year.

Ok... enough of my blabbering for one day.

It's late and i should be in bed

but when did that ever stop me.
I thought I'd just drop in here and say i appreciate all the kind comments. I feel pretty good about posting my drawings now. Way back when, I started this blog just for that purpose. I have gotten braver along the way by posting other things i make but the drawings have taken a while to be posted. Perhaps cos the drawing is so close to my heart.
Anyway - i appreciate your encouragement.
Onward - we just watched a little movie - Miss Potter. About the life of Beatrix Potter. The movie started out a little flakey. I thought - are they going to make her seem like a total crazy woman? If you rent it you'll see what I mean. But after the first 10 minutes or so into the movie, it settled in nicely telling her story. She was pretty amazing for a woman of her day. Very ahead of her time. And she was quite an artist. It's a sweet movie and i would venture most people don't know a lot about her life. If you're at all inclined, rent it. It's very enjoyable - for the scenery alone. Ah - i dream of living in such a place. Absolutely gorgeous countryside to be seen in that movie. I hope to go there one day to see it for myself.

Rejection - Literally

For the past week we've been trying to get my van inspected and have it pass. Not happening folks. I swear I'm frustrated. We knew that when i got a little ding in my windshield months ago we'd have to take care of it. We watched as the crack got larger and were fascinated (i must admit) to see the direction it would take. When my husband went to get the car inspected the weekend before last the guy at the station said you know I can't pass the car with that crack. (Of course we knew this but we were stalling getting it repaired until we had to.. now we had to.) So we got it fixed the very same Saturday. But too late to go back then to get it reinspected. So this past weekend my husband returns to get it inspected and darn if there wasn't another problem - 2 problems. I don't even pretend to know exactly what they were but they had to do with brake shoes and lug nuts or sumpin. Anyway - Saturday we leave the car at the repair place. They can't finish. Give us a loaner (which i don't even want to use for fear it might break down). We pick the car up on Monday night and Tuesday was busy with orthodontia appointments and other things I couldn't get done on Monday. So today i decide to run by the inspection place and the line isn't too long so i say - great. Let's get this outta the way. The nice guy takes the car and i sit on the designated bench - with my Washington Post crossward puzzle. I get down about 6 answers and I hear "Ma'm can I see you over here for a minute". Long and the short - its not fixed up to VA standardss. I am annoyed.
So i call the dh and leave him a message and whilst I wait i start this little drawing. I'm done with it too. I hate leaving things undone but I also like working on stuff I like and this just aggravates me to now end. As I was waiting for my husband's return call, and as i was writing inthe word REJECTION it came to me that the Illustration Friday theme this week was Rejection. I'd been thinking earlier in the week what i'd like to do and it had gone out of my head. Well this is enough rejection for one week. I think i'll let my husband take care of those guys at the repair place (cos I swear if I talk to them ... well it won't be pretty. and we know i like pretty)

Drawing #32

what's this? I'm trying my best to fit drawing in everyday. I'd joined the Everyday Matters group a while ago. If you're not familiar, check out the Everyday Matters blog.But it was hard to keep up. I'm going to do my best this time. We'll see how it goes. There is a list of items to draw to as a challenge. (And we all know how I like a list. )

So here's my first drawing. Probably not the smartest choice - drawing something metallic but I had out my Quickutz Zoe font on Sunday to make that card. The tin was still sitting out on my drawing table yesterday and there you are. The drawing has a few problems. I could sit here and pick it apart but you have eyes, right? LOL All in all, however, I'm pleased. I haven't been drawing in this manner for a while. I posted that drawing I'd done a while back (see my Picnic post and it made me want to get back to this level of my drawing. Ok.

Father's Day

I posted an ATC I'd made yesterday about my Dad. I think about him every day so everyday is father's day in my heart.

Today I thought I'd post a card I made for my husband. The father of my children.

We seem to be a little nostalgic of late - my husband and me.

Our kids are getting older. I'm sure that's the reason.

Anyway I decided I would use a few photos of our kids - when they were babies.

The one photo on the right is a little dark - so you may not be able to see it too well. But i chose both of these 'cos I wanted the pictures to be ones in which he's playing with them. I have vivid memories of him playing with both of our kids.

(Actually he'll play with all kids if you give him an opportunity - he's really just a big kid himself. Thank goodness we have so many nieces and nephews so he can get a kid fix.)

No matter how tired he was when he'd come home - he would always play with them. He has and did have infinite patience. I remember one incident in particular. Our son was a very colicky baby. The child screamed for hours on end in the early months. My husband would get home and I would have had it. He would take our son and just walk him and talk to him. This particular time I'm thinking of we had the television on in the background. Some beauty pageant was on - Miss America or Miss Universe. Anyway, my husband had our son in his arms and was walking up and down the hallway - sort of half listening to the program. Taking a peek when he'd reach the end of the room where the TV was situated. Anyway our son had finally calmed down but my husband didn't dare stop walking. They were introducing contestants (lets say it was Miss Venezuela... i don't know who it was now - it coulda been any one of them). The announcer said "here's Miss Venezuela" and my son just screamed. My husband just kept walking and said something like "well okay now. if you don't like her all you had to do was say so..." and it was just so funny.

So the card is for him to remember that "then and now" he's a wonderful father. There is no more walking the hallway - but there is chauffering a daughter, and talking via cellphone with a son who is away at school about all kinds of issues. And there are silly things like watching a tv show together (in case you weren't aware - The 4400 - is on tonite. I know where my husband and daughter will be - sitting on the couch - watching together. It is their very favorite show. And its cute as can be to watch them watching together.)

I hope you all have a wonderful Father's Day.

It's Father's Day weekend

and as i am thinking of my father i will share a little atc i made about him

it's not a new one but its daddy-related and thats good enough this weekend for me

i gessoed a playing card and added some color (that pale aqua color) and printed out the photo on a transparency then attached it to the card.

isn't it just the sweetest picture? it was among the pile of photos my mom had and let me borrow to scan. There were a number of photos of my father as a little boy - they were all photos that had been my grandmother's. (that's a story for another day - when i looked thru a pile of her photos and found such sweet things - she saved things like my fathers lunchbox, a report card or two, a postcard from my parents on their honeymoon, a letter my brother wrote to her as a little boy - just the sweetest and most telling things)

Anyway this one is for my daddy. next up is the father of my children.

fathers day is approaching

so i needed to make a card for my father-in-law.

I need to make one for my husband too i think but hey i have a few more days

anyway i didnt spend too much time on this one

i need to get it in the mail yaknow?

i used Purple Onion Designs stamps - natch

the Four Score Small Alpha for "DAD" and the wonderful paisley stamps for the background. And i used my zipemate die to cut out the slide mount out of a scrap of Basic Grey i still had hanging around (gosh i love Basic Grey - that pattern was in the first edition they put out i believe - maybe the second - but its such great man-lee paper!)

Picnic

I was in need of a piece of bristol paper yesterday for another

project so i went to my closet where i keep my paper and pulled out that pad of paper.

And i discovered this drawing i'd done a few years ago.

I was very enamored with quilts at the time.

Heck i still am

Quilt patterns fascinate me

as does all pattern

(why i love all the scrapbooking paper)

Anyway i thought i would share this drawing with you.

I used prismacolor pencils.

And yes, its unfinished.

Note the few blades of grass at the top I'd left undone.

I'm not sure I will finish it.

I'm thinking i kinda like it as it is

howdy

i've been suzy homemaker most of the day

with a brief stint as suzy scrapbooker

http://suzyscrapbooker.blogspot.com/2007/06/suzys-back-in-town.html

and now i have a few moments to share a card i made over the weekend

finally using that adorable bazzill chip from my friend June

check June's cards out at

http://simplyelegantpapercrafts.blogspot.com/

i also used a cuttlebug embossing folder for the background, and quickutz flowers and alphas

gotta run!

I glue - do you?

i'm talking about glue therapy

yes

glue

back when i was a kid

i'd take the elmers, or modpodge or even the dreaded

scotch tape

and glue things down

my sister and i decorated lots o'shoeboxes in our time with things we clipped out of magazines.

lots of words

not - explore, dream or discover - mind you (3 words on my hit list - along with journey - i've removed awesome from my hit list - have you noticed its not said as much anymore by everyone much to my total delite?... digressing....)

but something akin to that i guess - in that we found words (pictures too) and cut'em out and glued them down - thus giving them more importance then they were originally intended by webster.

ANYWHO yesterday i was in a little bit of a funk - not depressed - and found i needed a little

glue therapy

i didnt realize it really until i was in full therapy mode.

Yes

I'll explain

I have this notebook - your basic black & white hard cover composition book - i've been using to paste my small smackerels into. My bits and pieces.

I have forever clipped things out of newspapers and magazines (see above... since childhood) because i like them. An image or an interesting story, a comic, ann landers/dear abby column... you get the idea. For many years I stuck them to my refrigerator - not all of them - important ones. The others would pile up and i'd move them from place to place. When i'd go into my crazy cleanup mode much of my clippings would end up in the trash - i just couldnt keep them all, no refrigerator was large enough and perhaps i really didnt need it at all. I kept only theeee most important bits and pieces. (smellapackrat? yup) When i was a kid i did paste some things to shoeboxes. I've been known to cover cigar boxes with them too. But over the years this has become unsatisfactory to say the least.

Finally, i had an idea. I had the aforementioned notebook around - so i started glueing things into it. Voila. Now i had one place for my smackerels - nice and tidyish - in a book. when one book gets full i can always fill another and so on. I should note here that i also glue things into my sketchbooks but i didnt want to fill up my sketchbooks (with paper thats meant for lovely drawings, etc ) with these tidbits. that'd be crazy right? (i know, i'm already there) I hate to waste good drawing paper - but composition notebook paper - no problem.

so yesterday i had out my composition book looking through it and decided wouldnt it be nice to cover it with some origami paper i had laying around. In comes the glue therapy. You were wondering weren't you? Ah. I started glueing the scraps of paper down on that cover - and i just don't know how to explain it - but it has a most calming effect on me. I wasnt trying to make a pretty covered book mind you - the result looks more like some kind of crazy quilt. I didnt even use scissors to cut the pieces. i just started laying them down and brushing on the modpodge and it was really quite relaxing. Almost as good as getting into that zone when i'm drawing. Best of all i wasn't trying to make anything pretty - its really kind of a pretty mess - but not something i do if that makes sense. Anyway i guess i'm saying if you need a little time to think things out and you're not sure what to do - try a little glue therapy. there are no rules of course - actually if you try to make something look good whilst you're glueing - you're not doing it right :-)

Happy Day

miss carolyn

hope all your birthday wishes come true

a little birthday card or 3

yeah yeah i'm back on my birthday card kick. i made this one the other day and i should have mailed it today but i missed the darned mailman. crafty thing he is - he came early today. regardless.

i am hoping the recipient likes it. Some pen and prismacolors again this time on white cardstock.

and the two cards below - well i needed some masculine birthday cards. and i had some nice scraps that i thought would fit that bill. (or joes in this case) the sentiment is probably my favorite Purple Onion sentiment stamp ever - its just so cute in that pink flamingo font. and the paisley is also a stamp by Purple Onion. I love that paisley.

My paradise

You know i like to draw and, in fact, i lurk frequently at Illustration Friday. I have never submitted anything there but i thought perhaps this week I might. (translation: fraidy kat) The topic of the week is "Your Paradise". I had a number of things go through my head - and they all had to do with my family. My husband and children.

My son, in particular, has been on the brain lately. This is the first summer he really won't be home. He chose to stay at school, working and taking more credits over the summer. And I find myself missing him a great deal. And not coincidentally his birthday is coming up at the end of the month. It's a big birthday. He'll be 21. This seems impossible. And I thought I would like to do something special for him. Make something special.

So as I was thinking about him, and thinking on my paradise, my thoughts turned to how life was anything but paradise when he was baby. That child cried more than any baby on earth - we were sure of it. He was colicky and he was hungry. He was hungry non-stop. And I was exhausted. Because the one thing he did more than cry and eat was NOT sleep. (This continues to this day - the kid is on wheels. I'd give a lot for just a tenth of his energy!) However, every once in a while, God must have known I was at my wits end. And my beautiful baby would sleep. He often slept with me (hey - i was feeding him all the time - of course he slept with me!)
And on one of those rare occasions my husband snapped a photo that is probably one of my favorites of this child. Him sleeping. So sweet. Angelic. Beautiful. So i used that as my inspiration.
So here is my paradise.
It's momentary, paradise.
But sometimes it makes you appreciate it when you get it all the more.

still making birthday cards

another one which is presently on its way to its destination. i hope she likes it.
same scallop & oval punches.
this time wee cupcake drawn on vellum, colored with prismacolors.
Let's see - anything else for today?
Ah yes.
We watched a very good movie (video on demand - very handy that) on Saturday nite which I forgot to mention.
The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon. I don't remember much hype for it when it first came out. After we watched the movie we thought - what a shame.
Wonderful movie. Although it was long, it really had us going from the very beginning.
Oh and a frivolous little mini-series that I'm thoroughly enjoying thus far : The Starter Wife on USA. Originally hadn't planned on watching and decided why not see what its like. I loved it! The premiere was 2 hours. I believe there are 4 more 1 hour episodes to be shown. If you didnt get to see it - i believe they're reshowing the premiere on Thursday maybe 5-7pm (check your local listings :-)) and then the next installment is on Thursday nite at 9pm. It's just fun mostly (here and there a little sad but mostly fun and entertaining). Oh - if your connection allows it - you can always watch episodes online.
i have some more cards i've made but i'm saving them for tomorrow :-) I need to do some other things so i'm outta here.

Another one with ze scallop

i know i'm a little fixated on this punch but i like it so i'm a gonna use it.
It's such a classic design element.
I know it's very popular right now but really scallops (on circles, ovals, rectangles, and squares) have been around for a long time, right?
And in my case, they're not going away.
Okay. So the other day I mentioned I had two of my sweet card makin friends over for a visit. My dear friends June (hi June!) and Mary (hi Mary!).
Each of us brought an idea for our little get together - so we could actually make something whilst we gabbed.
June brought some adorable Bazzill chips - I'm still working on making a card with mine that does that cute thing justice.
And Mary brought a very cute card -we used a very clever tool by StampinUp! -the mat pack which has a paper piercing template - something i initially would've thought silly to purchase but i think i need one now. it made the piercing so quick and perfectly lined up - worth the $.
Any-who... Mary also brought some delicious little bundt cakes for us to eat. And I decided I would make her a little thank you. I used that scallop oval punch and the corresponding plain oval. I drew the little bundt cake on vellum and colored it with prismacolor pencils and mcpt'd it. I punched out the drawing using that plain oval as well. I wrote the sentiment and cut it out (using my trimmer and and my scissors). Then i curled it with my fingers and used pop dots to keep that curl when i attached it to the card. I also machine stitched all around the patterned paper.
Okay i'm off to finish up some more cards and maybe work in some Suzy stuff today. It's hard fitting in the scrapbooking when i have a lot of cards to do. June is a big month around here - Father's day, both the dh and the ds have birthdays not to mention the fil.
Have a good one!

I love ze scallops

ze fish - oh we had some dee-lish ones at a japanese restaurant last weekend

ze potatoes - i love the cheesy goodness of this scalloped dish

but my favorite scallop of all

ze scallop punch
no thats not some kinda funky drink
its a wonderful punch for paper shtuffs by marvy uchida
Witness the cuteness:

I had ordered these punches months ago. They are quite a popular item - not surprising huh? Scallops have always been a favorite of mine. I used to try and use my scalloped scissors but its difficult on things like ovals kwim?
Anyway, I received them yesterday. It took maybe two minutes out of the packages before I was a punchin fool. (I got the larger scalloped oval punch and a smaller oval punch - they nest one inside the other just right).
For these cards i used my quickutz cupcake die, a Cuttlebug embossing folder (i don't have a cuttlebug but the folder works just fine through my Zipemate) and cardstock and Doodlebug paper scraps I had in my stash. I made two of each color and I might just make more. I know I am going to get a ton of use out of these punches.

Been making a few things

Whilst i'm not stalking the sweet birdies, i actually have been making things. So today i thought i would share a few.

first a card for a friend who had a birthday recently

see http://smallsmackerels.blogspot.com/2007/05/birthday-queen-bestows-belated-wishes.html

I was dying to use my Purple Onion 2007 calendar stamp and this was a perfect opportunity. I stamped it on some Basic Grey paper, added some My Minds Eye and Making Memories ledger paper. All of them were either inked dtp or using a brush to stipple on the ink - you really have to be bold to do stippling for the Stipple Queen (that's the birthday girl whose stippling knows no match - she is the undisputed queen of that) I stamped the alphas using Purple Onion's Lettera32; i punched them out using a PaperShaper rectangle punch then stippled oer the entire shape. Pop-dotted the letters to make them stand out. Oh and its probably too tiny to see but i used diamond glaze over the date of her birthday to hilight it.

Now for something completely different - i've been experimenting with drawing and coloring on vellum. For both of these i used prismacolor pencils as well as my rapidograph for the inking. My subject matter? a photo of myself and my grandmother that i treasure. I'm pondering using this on a scrapbook page but really i just wanted to see how it would turn out. I made two drawings. The first try is on your left; the 2nd is on your right. i'm thinking i want to work on this some more. i wil tell you one thing - i haven't felt that focused in while so i must be on the right track