Celebrating our family Christmas today with Barbie and Wayne and my nephew Sam!

More Vintage Cards to Welcome the New Year

Some vintage New Year's Greetings!  Found these on Google images...will share more this week!

A New Post (finally!) November 16

Jamie Shaw and my son Andrew Clemons were here in Maine from California for the last week.

Some highlights of their visit with me:

brunch at Bintliff's Cafe, Portland

a trip through the old Wellington Road neighborhood

a visit to the log cabin in the woods, crossing the One-Mule Bridge

brunch at Slates, Hallowell

hauling Christmas trees out of the woods with my dad

Scrabble. crossword puzzles

pizza and Utz chips

"camping out" in my tiny living space

the visit and class at Your Maine Stamper

some of Andrew's cards

dinner at the A-1 Diner, Gardiner

Portland Head Light and Fort Williams Park

Two Lights and Kettle Cove

lunch at The Good Table, Cape Elizabeth

browsing the shops in the Old Port

This was Jamie's first visit to Maine.  Her list of things to do included eating apple crisp, blueberries, and lobster.  She and Andrew also spent a day at Acadia and a few days with Andrew's dad in the Bangor/Chemo Pond area.

I'm planning a trip out there (Santa Monica) in the early spring and hopefully they'll come back here for a visit in July.

Halloween Decor Ideas

Be sure to check the Outside the Box Design Team blog for the details on these projects.  The post goes up at 6AM on Monday 10/10.   Anne

Masks from the workshop on October 1st

Masks re-imagined into a banner

Home Decor project for my class Monday 10/10

Halloween Masks

I supervised a free make and take mask workshop on Saturday morning at the Your Maine Stamper Halloween Bash!  Here are the samples I made.  (I apologize for the yucky colors--something is definitely wrong with my camera!  Anything pink is dark red, the yellows should be oranges, navy blue is black.  I think the battery is dying.)

I found all of the templates free online--just Google "Halloween mask templates".  Print out your template, cut it out, and trace it on a subtle printed paper. Select the stamps you want to use, ink them up with VersaFine Jet Black ink, and dust them with clear embossing powder.  Heat to set the images.  I added some color with Memento markers (moons, pumpkin, spider bodies, chairseat, etc.)  You can even get fancier with decorating the masks depending on what you have to work with--feathers, sequins, glitter glue, rhinestones, flowers, whatever!  I plan to use some Glossy Accents on the spider bodies to make them more 3-D.  I mounted all of my masks on black paper and plan to use them as wall decor or I may incorporate them into a banner to string around a window.  

Changing Seasons

Today feels like summer, but the cooler evenings and the crispness of the air hints at fall.  It won't be long before the leaves turn spectacular colors and the "leaf peepers" flock to Maine for the views of autumn in her glory.  Here's one last card celebrating the green. It's one of the cards we made in this Monday afternoon's class at Your Maine Stamper.

Here are the supplies I used.

 

STAMPS

• B1423 Love and Hearts
• D1319 Mod Tree Border (circle on the side)
• D1234 Dorian Border

INKS

• Archival Ink Sepia
• Ancient Page Sage

PAPERS

• 12X12 Memory Box Minuet paper 10128 Skip to My Lou
• apple green cardstcok
• pale pale green cardstock
• white scalloped oval (PaperCut)
• Memory Box notecard Meadow

Other

• ribbon, source unknown
• fabric-covered buttons, K&Company

To make this card...

• Stamp D1234 Dorian Border in sepia ink on the bottom half of the scalloped oval.
• Stamp B1423 Love and Hearts "love" in sepia ink on the top half of the scalloped oval.
• Punch a tiny hole and add a fabric-covered brad to the oval.

• Stamp D1319 Mod Tree Border on the pale pale green cardstock in sepia ink.
• Stamp the circle from the side of that stamp in Ancient Page Sage on the tops of the trees.
• Trim this down and mount on a piece of apple green cardstock.

• Trim the Skip to My Lou paper to 4 X 5 1/2 and adhere to the front of the Meadow card.
• Add the Mod Tree Border piece with pop dots to the top of the card front.
• Add the scalloped oval to the front of the card under the trees.
• Tie a piece of coordinating ribbon around the card and finish in a bow. 

Wherever you are, celebrate the changing seasons!

Happy Stamping!

Dad's a Winner!

It's Litchfield Fair weekend and we--Dad, Mom, my sister, and I--all put stuff in the Exhibition Hall in hopes of blue ribbons and monetary premiums. I'll post more pictures the first of the week, but I have to show you Dad's Best in Show red peppers!

My New Profile Photo

Connie took this picture of me last Monday.  It's kind of hard to tell from this photo, but I have really curly fluffy hair for the first time ever!  My after-cancer-hair is really different.  The back is growing really fast (I've had it cut twice this summer) and the top is the same length it has been for three months.  It is really soft, like baby hair, but thicker than it has ever been.  I do think I'll keep my hair short from now on.  After being bald and now having fairly short hair it's kind of hard to think about growing out long hair again when this is so easy to take care of!

I love this picture!  We were celebrating the completion of all of my cancer treatments before class on Monday the 8th.  I look pretty happy.  And I am!

Friday, August 5, 2011

I finished my cancer treatment today!!!

The Beginning starts NOW!!!

August 1st

Meadow
from ZebedeePrint

Saturday July 9

June 30

http://www.suaviloquy.blogspot.com/

from ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

from littlethingsstudioshop
on ETSY

Wednesday, June 22

Bathing Beauties

Saturday, June 18th

step card I made for Sam's high school graduation

card opened up flat

Friday, Three More Treatments to Go after Today!

from April Meeker
@ Second Sister

Memorial Day May 30th

Tuesday May 24th

Sign near a Beach in Australia

Don't think I've ever seen a warning sign
with the word DIE in it...

another good reason to re-think vacation plans...

Always thought I'd like to visit Australia...

Maybe not so much after finding this map!

Page Twelve, the last page

page twelve

Time heals almost everything.

Give TIME time.

I think this is my favorite page.

The background is clock-printed paper.

The quotes are typed, punched out in circles, and mounted

on lager paper circles and pop-dotted onto the page.

A TIME charm is in the bottom left corner.

Actual clock faces and clock parts decorate the page.

Page Eleven

page eleven

GET RID OF ANYTHING THAT ISN'T USEFUL, BEAUTIFUL, OR JOYFUL.

The challenge for this page was to use a sheet of die cuts.  These are from Graphic 45 applied over a striped paper background.  The one extra piece I added is the puffy UNIQUE sticker.

Page Ten

page ten

The best is yet to come.

The background on this page is the torn napkin on waxed paper technique.  I used floral napkins on this one.  

Don't you love the daisy as the sun?!  

For this page I peeled the dried napkin collage off the waxed paper before 

adhering it to a piece of striped Memory Box paper already glued 

to the chipboard shape.  

I had some puffy stickers that were perfect for this page:  

nothin' but blue skies; sun shine; smell the flowers.  

I added a listen charm with a ribbon bow and a row of bows 

on a piece of apple green ribbon to finish the page.

Page Nine

page nine

Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

Nothing special for the background here--music paper over chipboard.  The fun part was using the Lion and words from a sheet of Graphic 45 Le Cirque to support the central theme.  The lock and key are flat stickers, as is the pocket watch and the decorative piece in the peak.  I outlined the "house" with daffodil pearls to finish the page.

Page Eight

page eight

Get outside every day.  Miracles are waiting everywhere.

 This page, A Note from the Woodhshed, began when I learned a packing tape image transfer technique.  All of the background images on this page are magazine pictures transferred to packing tape.  This is a technique I'll be teaching in my class on Monday the 16th.  I popdotted a piece of acetate over some of the images to create a "house", outlining it with bakers twine.  I love the brass owl charm and the sketchbook sticker!

Page Seven

page seven

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.

The background for this page is torn strips of paper inked around the outside edge of the shape.  I used a piece of mesh to anchor the items in the center of the page--an old photo postcard from an auction lot; a mini file folder embellished with stickers; a 3-D key sticker; a book sticker; 3-D puzzle piece stickers in the right corner and at the peak.  I love the photo--it reminds me of pictures of my mother and grandmother.  The green on the background is decorative tape and I added a tiny piece under the file folder to bring more of that color to the center.

Page Six

page six

Take a deep breath.  It calms the mind.

The background technique for this page was really interesting.  Start with a pile of decorated paper napkins and peel the layers apart until you have just the thinnest top layer.  Tear out the images you want to use.  Layer these images onto waxed paper using Multi-Medium Matte.  Keep adding layers and overlapping images until you like the look.  Adhere this to the chipboard page and trim to fit.  I think fishing is a deep breath, mind-calming activity and that became the focal image for this page.  I typed the text, printed it out, tore the edges, and inked it with olive green before layering it over an olive green plaid square.  I applied stickers from a fishing-themed package--rod, vest, compass, net and fish.  I created a charm for the center of the page from a rusted tin fish, a BREATHE charm, and a fishing lure.  The last detail on this page is the frog on the lily pad charm in the lower right corner.

Page Five

Page Five

Believe in MIRACLES.

The background for this page is a piece of a cardboard box.  I tore some of the top layer of paper off to expose the cardboard ribs beneath.  I then painted it with metallic copper and red acrylics.  I found an interesting paper scrap to place on the right before I added copper metallic stickers to the bottom corners and the peak, a key, some dots in various sizes.  The castle takes the center with a banner above it that features a fortune-teller's globe and two acrylic stars.  A crescent moon, scepter, a lock, and a butterfly are the other decorations.

Page Four

Page Four

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

This was a fun page to create.  The background is a page from a nature textbook titled "About Crows".  The technique for this page was to paint on blocks of color in similar tones over text--I used copper metallic, red metallic, and peach acrylic paints.  The thin coat of paint allows the words on the page to show through in places as well as the page's illustration of crows and scarecrow.  I gathered all of my Memory Box crow stamps and stamped a different image in each painted block.  The quote was added last with a bit of tea dye ink smudged on the white paper.

Page Three

page three

No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

I began this page by covering my chipboard shape with sheet music printed scrapbook paper.  I put some metallic copper acrylic paint on an old credit card and swiped it down the page.  I then repeated  that technique using a lighter peach acrylic paint.  I stamped a row of bare trees near the top of the page and centered a large bare tree at the bottom.  I stamped a word collage, tearing and inking the edges before adhering it to the page.  I typed up the words for this page, printed them out, and adhered them to the left of the word collage.  I added a row of pearls and a piece of cream lace-printed transparent overlay to accent the quote.  A copper metallic sticker and some copper dimensional dots finish the page.

Page Two

page two

Over prepare.  Then go with the flow.

The background for this page is one inch squares ("inchies") that I punched from a variety of coordinating papers in black/white/cream  spaced a bit apart on white-papered chipboard.  I then added only a few simple elements--some three-dimensional flowers, white dot stickers, and three white domed pearl brads.  The glassine envelope holds some special little paper pieces and a note to myself, sealed and decorated with another white dot sticker, a pearl "a", and a row of little pearls on the envelope flap.

My Latest Book May 1, 2011 page one

front cover

page one

This book was a project that I started in early March and finished up in  late April.  I found the challenge and basic instructions on the Ink Stains blog and decided to play along and create my own book.  I followed Roni's suggestions for the foundation of each page, trying techniques that were mostly new to me for creating page backgrounds.  And then I decorated each page as I chose, adding a phrase that held meaning for me in light of my cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.  The title for the book, "My Cancer...An Artful Journey to Recovery" came at the end after all the pages were finished and the book was bound together.

I decided to share a page each day starting May 1st.  Page One:  IF LIFE DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE GAME YOU WANT THEN INVENT A NEW ONE.  The background for this page is layered papers which I cut into, scratched, tore and mangled any way I could before adding inks and layers of other ephemera and stamped images.  There is a lot of texture and depth to this page, many hidden images and text in its multiple layers.