Monday, June 22, 2009

Fledglings!










The birds are so much fun to watch up here in the mountains. It reminds me of growing up in NJ when my mom used to feed the birds. Some Eastern Phoebes (I know this because my sister, Lesley, told me what they were!) built a nest on top of one of the lights on our deck and we've been watching them since we discovered the nest over two weeks ago. The mother or father (I'm suspecting the father) was continually sitting on the wind chime which is hanging not far away, chirping and flicking his tail. We could see the little birds inside the nest. This morning I went over to look at them and one of them was sitting right on the edge so I grabbed my camera, took a couple pictures, and away they flew! Three little birds came out of the nest, one grabbed on to the side of the house, then flew away. I guess they're on their own now!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Inchies!!


I've joined quite a few inchie swaps lately so I thought I'd show you some I've done in the past. These were for a swap on Swap-Bot (my first!) These were so easy, as are most inchies - at least most that I do! The hardest part for me is thinking about how I can get as much on a 1-inch square as possible! I used a bird inchie collage sheet. First I punched out scalloped inchies and then stamped with some script on them - edged them with Versamark and embossed with silver and glued on the inchie bird picture. I wanted to dangle something! So I stamped "sing" and a swirl on shrink plastic, punched a hole and shrunk it - then hung it from the inchie with a tiny safety pin! The safety pin worked great - I tried using a tiny paper clip but I couldn't open those little suckers enough to get them through the plastic and the inchie. I liked the way these turned out!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Rolodex Time!


Ok, so here's another Rolodex card made for the technique group I'm in. It was the Paint on Paper Towel technique from Bernie Berlin's book, Artist Trading Card Workshop. I really liked this technique, which is painting with Lumiere paints on textured paper towels. I can't say the same for many of the other techniques we've tried! I will definitely do this one again - great background!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

By the sea, by the sea. . .



This month's theme for one of my trading groups is "beaches." I was inspired to make this card based on a larger card I made at a class a couple years ago. I tore the cardstock, wiped the torn edges with Versamark and stamped with a sand/snow stamp in Versamark, then embossed with gold tinsel embossing powder. Then I layered 3 pieces on the card and stuck the little shells between and on top of the layers so it looks like the shells are lying in the sand. I computer generated the text on blue vellum and tucked it behind the first layer of "sand." Actually, I realized I should have put the vellum on first as it was a little tough getting that layer to come up from the card once I had it glued down! I then mounted this card (3 1/4 x 2 1/4) on another card that is 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 and edged with a gold Krylon pen.

Father's Day


I have been in NC now for almost three weeks and we've been so busy I've hardly done a thing until about 2 days ago. I realized I needed a Father's Day card so I went on SCS for inspiration and came up with this. Very easy! I think he'll like it!