Saving Grace

This was my short post in FB
"The saving grace,
of you remembering that it is your Wedding Anniversary in the last minute,
is,
If your spouse totally forgets it"

Yep.. It was our wedding anniversary, and  I just remembered it on the day.
And hubby was flying out, late night.
Had to do something fast, and didnt feel like doing a card
So made this simple scrapbook page, pulling out a photo from our Honeymoon album.
The best part was, I kept this as a surprise on his work table.
Darling dearest comes back, and puts it back on my craft table, thinking I left it on his table my mistake..
So much for me doing it
:-)
But I did get back, by sending a huge bill at the HA warehouse sale :-)

This page was a perfect fit.
And kept everything else minimal, since the background was already very crowded.

Used Stampers Anonymous & Hero Arts Stamp your story line of stamps for the strip

Memorial Day 2013

At every opportunity, I try talking to Nikhil about the sacrifice , the men & women  in uniform, make for the country.
Away from their family, in harsh surroundings, fighting selflessly, for people whom they have never met.
My little way of making him understand how privileged he is, how he needs to think beyond himself.. How life is not ALL about yourself, and how you live your life the way you do, because of others who are willing to sacrifice it.
Guess every mom would be doing the same thing in their own way.

It so happened, that just before memorial day, I met a mom of a soldier, Jenny,  in one of the craft corners.
Jenny is such a wonderful artist. You should visit her blog and experience her creations - http://thiseverydaylife.com
[edited] Initially I was reluctant to refer to him by name, but because his Artist mother, has commented with his full name, I am adding it.
Her son. Reggie is a PFC in the US Army and is currently deployed in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
So this memorial day, we spent that day crafting for a cause.

I made this simple Thank You card.
I wanted to force myself to keep it simple.
Kraft and brown & light green splotches and circles to match his uniform.
Trying to bring in the USA flag in the card and make it more patriotic, I chose to add stars in white, red and blue.

Nikhil wrote a letter to the HERO.  Talking about himself and his Super Heroes.
Soon we will be posting the parcel.

A small token to the brave soldiers all around the world.

Supplies Used :
Background stamp from Hero Arts
Splats and splotches from Stamp Your Story line of Hero Arts
Versafine Vintage Sepia
Stars die from sizzix

I made this today

Yesterday night, when I got down to do a couple of pages for my journal, or at least, thought I would do that,
my little one, tagged along, almost in lines of,
.................
Everywhere mummy goes, mummy goes , mummy goes
Nikhil was sure to go..
:-)
And saw the paint splat set from Hero  Arts and decided that he wanted to start an art journal and do a page.
Yes, decided, for there it was just conveyed to me, not a request :-)

So I thought I will let him
He chose the splats he wanted, peeled them from the acetate  backing, placed them on the acrylic blocks
Selected the colors he wanted
And Kept the Rocket set from Hero Arts again.
And I suggested the constellation stamp from Rubber Stampede.

And this is the result...

For the entire page, he chose which colors to use, where to stamp..
Inked the stamps himself..
The only convincing I had to do was to stamp the page tab and calender on the same sheet
He wanted to do it on the back.

In a surprise move, he wanted to enter this also in mummy's competition..
Please share your comments, to encourage this little guy.

Cards for lil critters

This card, draw its inspiration from the cover of this book - Ed Emberley's complete funprint.
Sunday, my son was attending a Birthday party at the Color me Mine studio.
And I chanced at this book.

Suddenly in the middle of the week, I wanted to use this idea, to make a couple cards for the little critters, running around with my son..

Here are the cards:

The first one, 

 The second one, 

Supplies :
Hero Arts - Stamp your story line
Designer paper from Jolees's boutique
Random embellishments from the 1$ section @Joanns

Mixed Media Agapanthus

This is the second card I made for the day.
I am still reeling from the adrenaline rush, of creation..
That, I am writing this blog, though I am half asleep.

After having done with the first Agapanthus card, I wanted to do something different.
Mixed Media Stamping is something I have been wanting to give another try.
My first Mixed Media was based on the Stampendous Peacock feather - http://myothercupofjava.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-first-mixed-media-stamping.html

So decided to try it such.

The Card...

The Story..
So to start with, I was in search of a background..
I wanted text, since I didnt want to take away the attention from the Agapanthus.
The only all-text background stamp I have is a rather small one from Recollections.
So went with the size, and made a rather small 4*4.25 card.
Pretty unconventional size.
First stamped the text in weathered wood Distress Ink.
Then inked the sides and edges with the same color.
Inked  again with rusty hinge.
Now, painted across with white water color paint.
Used a rather thick brush.
Then came yellow acrylic paint strokes, more towards the top.
On gut feeling, added strokes of bronze, acrylic paint
Rather impatient, heat gun'd it.
Then inked up the Agpanthus stamp in Bronze, and stamped to the left side.

Layered it over a mustard piece of cardstock to add contrast.
Tied a piece of embroidery thread. (I still need color twines.)
To finish it off, added a wooden die cut butterfly, and knotted the thread across it.
And stuck on top of a craft base.

Decided to leave the card as such, since it looks more like a scenery.
Like sunset..
What do you think?

A couple of more shots...

Slender and sweet Agapanthus

Guess, there is something amiss with the alignment of the stars..
Or maybe by brain changed left to right, or is it right to left..
Whatever the reason, I had a sudden spike in creativity, and made more than one card today.

This post is about the first one...
I got this beautiful, Agapanthus Stamp from Stampendous some time back
And been waiting for the perfect idea to use it..
And it happened today
Happy how the card turned out..
And now, this stamp joins my Elite Favorites :-)

The Card..

The Story..
Since I was using the stamp for the first time, I tested it with a couple of inks.
And Vintage Sepia, won over the others.
And loved how the slender flower looked on the white piece of cardstock, so reinked and restamped.
To make it look like a scene, I inked just the flower and stamped it in angles, like it was being blown away.
[Edited]This card was featured on the Stampendous blog - http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/around-the-interwebs/.
Woot Woot.. :-)

Then, of course, distressing - Walnut Stain and rusty hinge..
But still felt, something was missing.
So ran it through Brick embossing folder from  Tim Holtz.
And now the card could be called done.

Decided to leave it plain without sentiment, for future use.

Entering in the Stampendous challenge for May - http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com/2013-challenge-contest/may-2013-challenge-entries-fabulous-florals/

Oops I made CAS cards with splotches

Been a while since I posted anything on my blog
Crazy weeks at work, extremely busy, and had a total brain freeze.
Was too tired to do anything..
Got my reprieve, at the Hero Arts Warehouse Sale, on May 18th.
(Thats a huge story by itself, will write it later)
For now, keeping the post limited to the cards

The Stamp your Story line of Stamps from HA, has me totally hooked.
Journalling, free style, fits into any style.
So have been inking the first set of stamps from this line, again and again and again

So what does careless drips of ink, remind you?
The fountain pens, and the ink stains in uniforms,,
Feels like a lifetime ago..

Then it dawned to me, that I had this Ink-n-Quill stamp.
So what better match than this?


Went with  the following colors,
-- London Fog splotches, Ink Pot in Black
-- London Fog splotches, Distressed Wood Distress Ink for the Ink  Pot
-- London Fog splotches, Vintage Sepia for the Ink Pot
+ Gray rings, which dont quite show up on the photos, but you should be able to spot them if look closely and squint your eyes (Just kidding :-) )

I fell in love with the first 2 combinations.
The splotches matched so well the theme of the card..
A short story here.
A simple card transformed to a story with the perfect background :-)

The sentiments is from a HA sentiment set for the Archivers, which I picked up from the HA Warehouse haul..

Learnt a lot when making the stamp..
The careless splotches, had to be carefully dripped to look careless :-).. Such an oxymoronic task...
And the Ink Pot had to stamped a bit up and away..
Else it was very congested.. .
London Fog doesnt really go well with Sepia..

Had so much fun creating the cards, that I made multiple ones..

Hope you had fun Looking too

Entering in these challenges :-
-- Hero Arts Stamp Your Story - http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/stamp-your-story-and-win/
-- Lawnscaping Challenge #58  - http://lawnscaping.blogspot.com/2013/05/lawnscaping-challenge-58.html
-- A Blog named Hero - http://ablognamedhero.blogspot.com/2013/05/challenge-24-clean-up-your-act.html

A closer look of one.