New Birthday Card

Yesterday was my son-in-law's birthday.  I managed to get his card done and to him a day EARLY this year.  I'm not working any more so I really have no excuse!

He is a water and boat lover so Edwin with Binoculars and the Sea Background seemed like perfect images for him.

I really enjoy doing the easel cards.  They just seem to have so much more space to work with.


I think all the designer papers are Stampin' Up. 
The star brads and  brads around the image frame are from my stash.  I actually colored this a long time ago, then went back and added more ink after finishing the Copic 2 class on coloring water.  I put Star Dust Stickles on the tops of the waves.
What a difference it made : D

Here is the card open with Edwin standing up and the pelican wishing he would just go away!

The pelican is colored with Copics C0, 1, 3, 5. 
I also had colored Edwin earlier and went back and added more dark to his pants.  I put 2 small brads on his pants for the buttons.  I don't remember what Copics I used, but the blues are most likely B99, 97, 93, and 91.

Thanks for stopping by and taking in the really cool sea breeze.

Huggeroonies,

Riley's Life Is Not Easy

It seems that Riley had a mooseable (miserable) winter and spring just like so many of us.  In typical Riley fashion, he overcame all the issues he was snouted with!

Because of all his misadventures, he hasn't visited Nate in several months.
So here goes with the saga of Riley's mooseable winter.

Poor Riley! Sure hope Nate remembers him.





Snow, snow and more snow.  I'm sure all the northerners remember!



All that snow and no time to play in it, ski or make snowmooses.

Then the floods came to the states along the big rivers and poor Riley and all his auntlers and unclers and coumooseins had to deal with that too and move on again!

While Riley was trying to have a little fun playing moose games, Sophie was not nearly so adventurous and stayed in the center of the herd.

Not wanting an opportunity for some fun to pass, Riley thought about using his antlers as wings during the tornadoes. 

Hmmmmm!!!

Maybe not such a good idea.

Just when Riley thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, the wild fires headed in the herd's direction.

Will herd life ever return to normal grazing and browsing for Riley and his famoosely?

Will there be a big famoosely reunion with all the auntlers, unclers, coumooseins?

Things are not looking good for Riley and his herd.

But we all know that Riley doesn't get discouraged very easily. 



Maybe Sophie was busy baking those delicious looking mooseins and brewing that hot cocoa!?!

As always, Riley makes the best of every circumoosestance in his life!





Thanks for stopping by and enjoying another weird and whacky Riley adventure.

Huggeroonies,

For those of you who are new to the adventures of Riley and Sophie and would like to know a bit of background, please email me privately and I will tell you the story of how and why these Riley cards began.

Color Me Creative Copic Classes

For the last two months or so I have been working really hard to finish up the on-line Copic classes I have been taking from Suzanne Dean.  That lady has more creativity in her little finger nail than I have in my whole body.  I have learned soooooo much from these classes.  If you have the opportunity to take a class from Suzanne, I highly recommend that you do so. 

Class 1  introduced the basics about Copics and several beginner coloring techniques.  As I worked through each lesson, I put the practice pieces in a notebook with the downloads provided for each class.  I now have a great reference notebook to look back to later.

Here is my piece I did for the final homework that was to include as many as possible of the techniques and color combos from the classes.  The colors used are listed by each image.

This little group is perfect me - a flower and vegetable gardener! 

The stamps used are Garden Tilda, Seeding Tilda, Watercan Tilda and Strawberry Yummy Tilda. 

 I have the perfect background paper to turn these into an accordian fold card just as soon as I have time to think it out and put it on paper!  I finished these up on June 25, 2011.

I went on to Class 2 the next day.  The techniques taught were more advanced and used different color combos - some difficult to blend smoothly.  Again I learned far more than I ever expected. 

Here is my final project done using 12 of the 14 techniques taught.

The stamps used in this piece were Sea Background, Sign, Tilda and Edwin Dancing and Small Shell from Bon Voyage.  The color combos used were all presented in the individual classes.  The sky was lightly sponged with SU Bashful Blue.  The sand/ground was sponged with SU Sahara Sand.

The sign and Tilda and Edwin are popped up on dimensionals.  This piece was fun to put together and color.  I have no idea at this time what I will do with it other than put it in my notebook. I finished these classes on July 23, 2011.

 

Maybe we can meet up with Tilda and Edwin at the beach.  Don't forget your sunscreen!

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting!

Huggeroonies,

Yummy Ice Cream

My husband's school van rider, Abby, is usually very good while being transported to and from school. As a special reward for her this year, he got permission to stop at a local ice cream place and get her some as a treat. She was very surprised.
She and her father came to visit us a few days later. While dad was using tools in the garage, she and I made a House Mouse card - Mice Scream for Ice Cream.

 Instead of using my Copics, I colored the image with my Prismacolor Pencils.  I haven't practiced coloring the mice with Copics and didn't want to spoil the card with a poor coloring job.

The ice cream cone paper is from Magnolia's Sweet Rainbow paper pack.

Isn't it just the most perfect thing?

 The inside paper was from a Gina K birthday paper pack from several years ago.  The sentiment and stamped cones are from Gina K's 100% Sweet stamp set.

The hearts are cut with Nesties Scalloped Hearts dies.

The card is signed from Daisy, Mee-Ow, Abby Cat, and Puddy - our pets.  Abby girl named Abby Cat and Puddy for us.



Thanks for stopping by and enjoying a cool ice cream treat with me!

Huggeroonies,

A very late birthday card

I finally finished up my grandson's birthday card and gave it to him the end of June.  His birthday was April 5 while his mom and I were still in Florida.  Having Mom come home a few days after his birthday was the best present he could have received.  The check in Grandma's card wasn't too bad either!!

This was my first attempt at a twisted easel card.  I'm not sure that I like that technique.  I'll have to try a couple more.  For this card I used the Fishing Shack building, an older Edwin Fishing and the Bridge Deck stamps.  Copics I used were -  Building: E40, 42, 43, 44, 47, 17, G28, 05, 94, 99,  YG97, 63, B16, 21, 24, 26, 000, R81, 24, Y08.   Edwin was colored using the following: E13, 47, 44, 43, 81, 77, 71, 70, G05, 09, 07, 03, R27,Y28, 26, 21, B99, 97, 95, 91. 

Here's a side view so you can see the "twist" in the easel.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you can sit a spell and relax watching Edwin fishing!

Huggeroonies,

A beautiful Bridal Tea Party Card and July flower bed update

My friend Lori's daughter is getting married soon.  Last weekend was her bridal tea shower.  Her mom came over and we made a beautiful Magnolia Tea Cup card for her.  Making this card was soooooo fun.  Lori had a good idea of what she wanted and did a great job choosing the flowers and embellies.  With only minimal instruction, she colored and shaded the tea cup.  Everyone at the shower especially Lori's daughter loved the card!

I finally finished weeding out the triangle flower bed so you can see the flowers.  The hostas now completely cover the open space along the deck edge.  The hostas are so dense that nothing grows underneath them so I don't have to weed under them.

The flower triangle looks a bit sparse right now, but in a few days everything should begin growing very rapidly.

The thing leaning over toward the back is a Foxglove.  I have it in a tomato cage to help hold it up. 
The spikey green thing is a Yucca plant.  We removed about a dozen of them and just kept this one.  When I was finishing the weeding, I noticed several more small ones coming up around the one we saved.
The large green plant towards the left in the pic is a lavendar plant.  It bloomed earlier in the spring and now appears to be setting a second blooming.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoying the flowers with me!
Huggeroonies,

Flower beds updated

These pictures were taken early in June.  Since then I have fixed up 3 porch boxes for on the railing.  I also started weeding the triangle flower box (no picture yet).  That was about half done when I pulled the  hamstring muscle in my right leg and had to stop everything for a couple weeks.  My hubby helped me get the tomatoes and peppers in the garden.  I would work in the flower triangle for no more than 15 - 20 minutes at a time.  It still isn't totally cleaned out, but enough so that I got a few annuals planted.  My leg is still sore, but at least I can get through the day without pain pills every 6 hours.

The hostas have grown so much they are now covering the opening under the deck and look great!

My husband finally put the snow shovel away a couple weeks ago.  He wasn't taking any chances on needing it again for a few months.

This fuschia is hanging on the garage where it gets a little bit of shade from the hot afternoon sun.  It is really beautiful and covered in flowers and buds.

The petunias are extraordinarily nice this year.  The hummingbirds like the flowers better than the sugar water feeder.  When we are sitting on the deck, the hummers will come right up to the feeder and plants.

A couple times one has hovered a couple feet from us, looked us over, and after giving us his approval, he went on to feed.

I'll try to get updated pictures tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by to "smell the roses" and enjoy my flowers with me.

Huggeroonies,