this little life of mine

2012 Christmas Card

Prepare to be amazed: I actually managed to make ALL my Christmas cards AND get them mailed off beFORE Christmas!

I KNOW!! 

Well, I did create a pretty easy design and only used four stamps total, but it's still an accomplishment! I used one of the new stamps I bought at Paws on Main in Cambria this past September - a cute little Christmas tree with ornaments by Hero Arts - and stamped it using Espresso ink from Adirondak on some brown, lightly corrugated paper, layered it over some dark sage green paper, then adhered it to an off-white card. The inside greeting, "have yourself a merry little christmas", is by Penny Black and was stamped using Tea Dye Distress Ink by Ranger. And, finally, I stamped a small snowflake from All Night Media and "Happy New Year" by Magenta on the back of the card, alternating between the Espress or and the Tea Dye inks. 

I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself! And, so did the Christmas letter I sent off to my family! Cheers!

Halloween Decorations

Last weekend I decided to bring out my autumnal decorations for Halloween (and later Thanksgiving).  I stuffed my cornucopia with colourful foliage, pine cones, a bird's nest and house, and a mini jack-o-lantern (all artificial). 

And at work we're having a pumpkin decorating contest, so I bought two little pumpkins - one small "pumpkin pie" pumpkin and a mini yellow pumpkin - and played around with a couple ideas I found on Pinterest. The first is a gold glitter-topped pumpkin with a preserved leaf:

The other one I wrapped in self-stick gauze, added a pair of eyes and made a mummy pumpkin:

I think they both came out really good, but I think the mummy will be the one I take in to work for the contest. He's just so dang cute!! I'm gonna name him Marty!

E is for Easter Cards #allaboutme #lovekate

This week the letter E is being showcased in the All About Me meme. I had a hard time trying to figure out what word to use: energy, exercise, elegant, eggs ... there are so many words to use and yet so few at the same time. To be honest, I just wasn't too inspired this week. Then as I was going through some of my hand-stamped cards my grandmother had kept, I came across a few of the Easter cards, and though hey, I'll post pictures of my Easter cards!

Aaannnd, then I remembered I just did an entry about Easter cards back in April, so I'm basically recycling the whole idea. But, I can't think of anything else, so hopefully no one will mind! Here are a few of the Easter cards I had given my grandparents which my grandma had kept. Enjoy!

This is one of the first Easter cards I did, soon after I started stamping back in the mid-90s and way before I had a computer that now takes up all my time. All the eggs in this basket were individually stamped and cut out and placed in the basket. Some of them are even embossed which is a very time consuming process! I wish I knew what year this was, but unfortunately I didn't write that down. 

Thankfully I wrote the date on this one so I know I made it for Easter 1999. This is another card that took a lot of time to do what with all the masking and cutting out and colouring in. 

I must've been getting busy by 2000 when I made this card, because it's much simpler than the others above. 

This was the last Easter card I made in 2008. The eggs were stamped on decorative paper, cut out and glued on a blank card, and the greeting was stamped with individual alphabet letters. 

 

A is for Art (All About Me Blog Challenge) #allaboutme #Lovekate

For the first installment of the All About Me Blog Challenge over at Love, Kate's blog, I chose Art to represent the letter A. Art has always been a big part of my life from playing with colouring books or drawing stick figure pictures as a child to writing poems and stories, creating rubber stamped greeting cards, and taking artistic photos as an adult. 

Below are a couple of hand stamped cards I made for Thanksgiving and Christmas:

And a few years ago I made a chapbook featuring some of my hand stamped art, photography and writing including short stories, poetry and haiku:

Recently I have been participating in a Photo a Day Challenge hosted by Chantelle from Fat Mum Slim, and while I haven't always managed to take a photo for every topic or theme or whatever you want to call it, I have taken several pretty good shots. I posted 30 of my shots in a 30 Days of Creativity Wrap Up post just the other day. Check 'em out! 

I also enjoy viewing other people's art in museums, galleries, in coffee shops, or just on the street. 

Painting by a local artist displayed at Bru Coffeehouse in Atascadero, CA.

Graffiti found on a wall in an alleyway in San Luis Obispo, CA.

A statue in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in Santa Barbara, CA.

A painting in progress in the gardens of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, San Juan Capistrano, CA.

'Till next time ... cheers!

Art Wall July 2012

I finally got around to changing out the photos on my Art Wall:

They are (top row left to right): Atascadero Landscape, Photo a Day June #14: Time, Photo a Day June #15: Yellow, Sunlight Through Trees; and (bottom row left to right): Olive Trees, Flower, Atascadero Lake Reflection, Latte @ Blu. 

E is for Easter

A sampling of some of my hand-stamped Easter cards:

Crafty Chick: Making a shirt for the Weetacon 80s Party

The Bad Bar Party theme at Weetacon this year is the 80s! I'm pretty excited because I spent my high school and college years in the 80s and pretty much remember (with great fondness!) what I used to wear. In fact, I still have some 80s stuff including my bomber jacket, some earrings/jewlery, my senior prom dress, and tee shirts. Sadly the dress and shirts don't fit, so I'm going to make a shirt for the event instead. I chose my Mount St. Helens commemorative tee shirt:

I don't know how many folks are going to even remember when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, but it was a BIG event in my life; one I'll never forget! Anyway, I took a picture of the design, then made it black and white on the computer and resized the image. I'm using some Avery iron-on transfer sheets I've had sitting around for years and years. 

Following the directions, I made a mirror image of the design and printed it out onto a transfer sheet, the set the image where I want it on a plain white tee shirt that I'd already cut the collar out of (very 80s!), and ironed it on. 

I will totally admit I was nervous when I pulled the paper backing off, but lo, and behold - it worked!!

(And, no the image isn't backwards on the shirt, I took the photo in a mirror!)

I'm pretty excited about how it turned out! I haven't decided if I'll cut the sleeves or waistband on the shirt just yet, but I still have plenty of time for that!

I also got out my 80s bomber jacket which I'm taking for the party. I wish I had some acid wash jeans, but I don't, and I haven't been able to find any online in my size. Oh, well, I'll just wear my dark wash skinny jeans and roll up the cuffs like I used to do in high school. 

Just for kicks, I decided to try on my old Mount St. Helens tee shirt, just to see if I could get that little size M on my size G (for GINORMOUS) frame. Shockingly , IT FIT!!!

It's really tight, but I got it on! Too cool! I guess that diet and excercise thing is working after all! 

Day 14: Heart #instagram #febphotoaday

Sepia Scenes: Avila Beach #30daysofcreativity

30 Days of Creativity: Day 8

June 2011 Art Wall #30daysofcreativity

30 Days of Creativity: Day 7

I finally took some pictures worth printing and posting on my Art Wall! Here are eight of my favourite shots from my trip to Avila Beach last week: