Belated Happy Birthday to Kansas

I'm a little late wishing my home state a Happy Birthday.

But my mother was on the phone with her little sister, Nancy, and she happened the mention the time my picture was in the paper after we dressed up at school for Kansas Day.

My great grandparents, George and Sarah Jane, both were born in 1865 and came to Kansas when they were very young.  Unfortunately, I never got to know them.

They were true pioneers.

Here I am pretending to be one.

This was 1979 Kansas Day.   I was in the first grade.  That day they arranged the classrooms like one-room-schoolhouses.....brothers and sisters in the same room, one teacher, little kids (like me) up front and the older ones in back.  So I got to be in class that day with both Amy and John.  She was in 5th grade, and he was in 6th.  That was the only year the three of us were in school together.  (I always wished I could have been in school with my brothers and sisters more.  I enjoyed it!  I loved it when teachers remembered the older ones.  I LIKED having expectations from me...from us.)   I THINK our teacher that day was Mrs. Duffer.  She ordinarily taught the 6th grade kids, and I, of course, did have her later.   She was one of the very few good teachers in St. John's. ........one of the very few good memories.

One day, the first year or two that I was on Facebook, I was surprised to get a "friend request" from Mrs. Duffer.   That was kinda neat.  She was friends with John, too, and he'd play games with her on there.  They were quite close.   And then she died a few years ago.....a brain aneurysm.   When I told John, he was shocked.  "But I was just playing Scrabble with her!" he said.

I love memories...good and bad.  

Thanks for visiting with me.

Come back soon!

Embossed Iris

Like many newspapers, I'm sure, our local rag doesn't publish much of a society page any more.  They'e even shifted the obituaries to the back of an insert!

I take it these new editors have never watched The Andy Griffith Show.  They don't know (or maybe don't really care) what sections of the paper we head to first.  Maybe they've never heard of sitting down with the paper at breakfast, rather than scanning it in the car on a tablet.

But anyway...

...this one 50th anniversary picture on the back of the paper happened to be someone I know.  Immediately, I had an idea in mind, and I thought it would fit in with the latest

 Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  

I love, love, LOVE this Penny Black iris.  Usually, I stamp it with watercolor pencils.  Here, I thought I'd do that on a leftover scrap of watercolor paper and then add a vellum overlay, which has an embossed iris.  I sometimes worry about vellum overheating and curling up when I use embossing powders, but it's never happened yet.  I stamp with watermark ink, sprinkle on the gold embossing powder and heat carefully, making sure not to stay in one spot too long.  

Isn't this pad of watercolor cardstock from Momenta absolutely scrumptious?  I cut a square of the green hue and attached the stamped layers with gold brads.  

The sentiment was stamped and embossed on another scrap of watercolor paper (I guess there are some benefits from making mistakes on my calligraphy!).  I attached that to the card with adhesive foam squares.

I'm so pleased, I think I'll make a few more as birthday cards...and maybe a get-well.

Thanks for visiting!

Come back soon!

Cut Flower

It's damp and warm, and the air smells green, like spring.

I don't even want to think about spring!

But a misty, foggy day like this puts me in a "doing" mood.  I've got a workbasket with sewing projects waiting to be finished.   I'm in the middle of editing a family video, and of course there's laundry to be folded.

But first thing this morning I dig out paper, stamps and inks again, and I created this little card from an idea burning in my head.

I'd been wanting to use this new die set from Momenta, which my sister gave me.

First, I used black chalk ink to stamp this lone flower from Fiskars Petals from Scratch set.  I lined inside the petals with a white crayon and then sponged over the flower with Radiant Neon Coral from Imagine Crafts.  I used the tip of a cotton swab to ink over the leaf and stem with Lettuce green chalk ink.  I die cut the sentiment three times and layered it for extra dimension, and then used a round corner punch all around the card.

Done!

I'm entering this in the latest CASology Challenge.  

Week #232--Cue: Cut

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year....again!

Happy 2017!

Christmas has come and gone.  We took the tree down yesterday, carefully packed away the ornaments and shifted the furniture back where it belongs.

Somehow nothing seemed very Christmasy this year.   That last month simply found me totally unprepared.  (And I'd started out the year so well!)  On Christmas Day it was 68 degrees right here in Kansas, with chances of thunderstorms and even a possible tornado.  It didn't snow.  It rained.  

We got our snow this past Wednesday, and yes it did get good and cold, too.  I went out to shovel before it was completely light outside, enjoying every breath of it.

A gift to myself this new year:  I want to get back to cardmaking and entering challenges.

Yesterday morning, I made this simple card...

I used a pre-folded white card.  First, I created a bit of background, using a sponge dauber and Summer Sky Tsukineko and Cornflower Hero Arts dye inks.

I stamped the tree Inkadinkado and the message in black and then added

......it's a bit hard to see here.......

dots of white snow with a white gelly roll pen Sakura

I scored around the edges of the card just to add a little detail.  

Done!  And I love it.

This is my very first time to enter the CASology challenge.

Their first cue card of the year, for week 230 is:  Cold.

I was happily dreaming of cold, snowy days with mugs of chai as I made it.

Thanks for visiting!  I love your comments.  Please come back soon!