http://m1stowers.blogspot.com/

This is the link to my new blogspot..............it will have more current information but is under construction and will take some time to get it up to speed.

after post thought

Looking at my blog............after I posted........I find that you will not find the atc unless you click on the archives for 2009.

2012

Happy New Year!!!

This is a very poor photo of the Christmas card I made for 2011.

I have a new printer and scanner.......and software to go with it and it isn't as easy to use as the old one was...

It will take me a while to get used to it.

Hence the picture is crooked and I have not figured out how to straighten it.

The card stock is SU Cherry Cobbler, Shimmer White and

JA light blue.

On the card itself I used Delicate Doilies with Versa Mark and sprinkled on glitter embossing powder from Powder Keg (Red Rose) to give a shimmering red on red look.

The ribbon is from JA and the image is from Dover Publications.

And I see that this must be one of my more fav images from Dover because I have used it before in an ATC (if you scroll down you will find it).

Well, I have been away from my blog so long I can't figure out how to add a picture. It may take some time to figure this out, since I am having trouble with Explorer right now.

I will try to come back in chrome and see if the page looks any different. I don't see an icon or bar to click on.

I have lots to show you and share with you. Hopefully I will get this figured out

Well I couldn't figure it out in Explorer............so I am on Chrome and my compose button has shown up and even

the icons with a publish button.

I'm all set for right now, but still have to

get the technicians to figure out what is going on in explorer........Hmmm??!!

I'm going to start with the cards I made for Christmas and we will go from there.

The first one is using bright red, black and white cs(I used shimery white from SU). The ds paper is light gray and has a muted design in white. I spritzed the paper with glimmer mist and then embossed with the larger folder from Sizzix summer waves collection. The embellishments are silver sticky buttons that come in 3 sizes on the same sheet (found at JA or M or just about anywhere) I used the large size for the corners and the med for the sides and the the small for the top and bottom.

The ornament is from the SU ornament punch with silver cording looped and tied through the hole punched in the center top. I used black glitter paper for the ornament. The greeting is a sticker, but as you will see on the next picture I did stamp some also. For these I used black half round jewels, self sticking and also came in 3 sizes. The stamp is from SU Seasons Greeting Collection.

ATC cards

This is a dimensional card---one of my dining room plaques was the inspiration for this. It was a swap with a group of friends and I will post theirs as well.
I used mod podge colored with brown acrylic paint to create the background. I also used clear mod podge on the flowers after I scrunched them to give them a little firmness. Then I stamped the vase image on the card and stamped the image a second time on separate piece of card stock. These I cut out and used dimensional pop dots to lift them off the image. The seed beads are on a jump ring and are slipped over the neck of the vase and secured with a pop dot. I used twisted rafia for the corners and mini brads for the flowers.

Ah hem................yes, I'm still alive.

I know everyone thought I dropped off the face of the earth..............but I am still here.
Time has flown by.........................even I can't believe how long it has been since my last post.
Let's blame work...................this has been a major stressor in my live this year. It has eased up lately, but I don't expect it to stay that way for long. Too many things are happening and I expect it to overload the system (more work than workers) eventually and come to rest in our office for us to complete. I know that is cryptic----but if I start listing it all---I would be here forever.
Instead let's focus on some fun things. I have been able to do some cards and atc's and even a layout here and there and I will post them.
I am looking forward to fall---the summer was too hot for me----my allergies have been worse this year than in the last 15 years and fall is one of my favorite seasons.

January Thaw

We all wait for the January thaw and it has arrived.
I think that we have less to thaw this year than most years. However, that does depend on exactly where you live.
For my part of Michigan--it will be nice for the snow to melt into the ground and for the frigid temps to rise above freezing.
In a month it will be Valentines Day and I do have a card swap due Monday that I am actually ready for!! We chose Valentine's Day as the theme.
The card that I made--I scraplifted the idea from The Inking spot of Crains Creations and worked with what I had on hand. I made my scallop circle larger than I think it should have been, but went with it anyway.
The lighter pink cardstock is from Paper Company and is Rosebud Metallic, the darker pink is from JA's.
I use the Cricut to cut the scallop circle and the circle.
The heart was cut with the sizzix embosslit Double Heart.
The sample use small brads where I used Liquid Pearls. I don't know where I bought the ribbon from or the stamp. I smudged the white circle with Close to Cocoa (SU) and stamped the words with Chocolate Kiss, also SU.
Once I assembled the circles, the heart and let the liquid pearls dry and stamped the sentiment I sprayed it with Garnet Ritzy Ditzy Glitz from Paper Gardens.
The patterned paper is one of my favorite patterns from Basic Grey--Bittersweet Vanilla/Fudge.
If you want to see the original it is posted on Crain Creations Blog. If your interested email me at m1stowers@yahoo.com and I will find the link for you.