obviate: verb

to anticipate and prevent (as a situation)
or
make unnecessary (as an action)
pronunciation
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Happy Easter to everyone!
 

 

 

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Here are my Easter projects that I made for my friends and neighbors:

2 egg cartons filled with goodies for the elderly neighbor ladies who live below me.
And I made up a lot of Peep S'more's and handed them out to my friends, they get their's early since the Easter bunny has to hand deliver them! lol
 ( This Peep S'mores will be hung from the door knob for the girl who lives across from me along with the neighbor's below who get the egg cartons.The Easter bunny delivers theirs during the night for them to have a surprise in the morning !! )

I did change how I put the goodies inside the egg cartons, I like this much better than the orginal version. You can go to Try it on Tuesday to see the first version and you still have until April 8th to play along with our Recycle It challenge!

 

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Did you know that there is a PEEPS web page? HA!


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Yesterday I was asked by Winnie ( concerning my Art MoB 6 month recap  )
"Is the shop you sell for online as well so others can look and order from it as well?"

The answer is no. I chose to not do an Etsy shop because I want to obviate dealing with the Post Office on a regular basis. I love being in a shop where I can restock and then can walk away from it. I am lucky that I live in one of those tourist towns where there are a lot of people visiting the shop. ( excluding the months of January and February ).

If you are interested in the card recap, go here.
For the mixed media wall hanging recap, go here.
 

fuliginous: adjective

sooty 

or

 obscure, murky

also

 having a dark or dusky color

pronunciation

 

( OK, there are some words that you just HAVE to try to remember, this be one of them! )

 

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Entering my card today in:

 

CARDZ TV - Don't Quote Me Challenge #128

Simon SaysStamp and Show Challenge - Quotable

and in

 

Go here to play along with Inkspirational
and in
Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #87 Friendship

 

Which came first? The quote or the sketch?

I haven't a clue...but together they made for a cute Friendship card.

 

 

I replaced the 3 dots in the sketch with a crack in the egg...just goes so perfect with the quote! Stamped the butterfly directly onto the egg and then again on red paper, fussy cut it out and covered it with stickles.

 

No fuliginous colors here :) 

 

Cricut Craft Room - Easter 2010 ( free cut ), egg

Close to my Heart - stamp

StazOn - ink

Ranger - stickles

Reminisce - pattern paper

Faber Castell - PITT pen ( to draw crack in egg and outline )

Cheddar Salad BTN - font

 

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Elizabeth has asked me about my mixed media wall hanging signs, so here is a 6 month re-cap:

 

September - 3

October - 7

November - 2

December - 5

January - 0

February - 0

 

So that's 17 signs in 6 months, and like I said in this post, the Art MoB is tourist driven.
 Signs are trickier than cards I think. I have learned to put them up to sell even when I personally didn't like them, 'cause somebody else might love it. I have sold 3 signs that amazed me as I didn't like them at all :) I've talked with the other artists at the Art MoB and we all agree that it's very hard to discern what will appeal to someone. I've had 'my favorites' up there and it took months for them to sell...

you just never know.

 

Christian based - 4 out of 5 ( they sell well )

mermaids themed - 3 for 3 ( they also sell well )

seasonal - 1 out of 6 ( does not sell very well )

 

The remaining 9 signs that sold are everyday based, ranging in all sorts of different themes.

laudable: adjective

worthy of praise : commendable

pronunciation
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March Creative Dare with Tracy Weinzapfel
Create a piece using BUTTONS including a song (lyrics and/or title) that means a lot to you!

Also entering this project into Simon Says Stamp and Show Quotable challenge.

I knew I wanted to paint something that I could use and see everyday along with lyrics from the Beatles, which reminds me of my childhood.  This was the first "canvas" that I painted along with Tracy on Monday night. Used a button for the Hot Air Balloon's basket.

 

On this "canvas" I used a Quilter's pin wheel to create the star burst pattern. When I was a kid I use to love singing this song, lol I used a button for the center of the sun.

Tracy went away for a week to supposedly work while in Las Vegas...yeah, we know what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas..wink wink I still painted Monday sort of re-creating one of my favorite wall hangings and used a rhinestone button ( removed the shank ) for the center of her outfit.

Last Monday night I painted this one which I am also entering it into Pan Pastel's Photo Inspiration challenge. I was inspired by the salmon color and the flower. I used a pearl button ( removed shank ) for the center of the flower.

So have you guessed by now what my "canvases" were?

I like how I can turn it to fit my mood.

And it looks great from any angle...well it does to me I should say, lol

 

One of things I would have done differently looking back, would be the way I did the buttons on the top of the box. I wish I had just chopped up all the buttons and made it into a more mosaic look. It also would have been easier to conform to the square shape.

 

This is where it will sit on my crafting desk shelf

 

flehmen: noun

a mammalian behavior (as of horses or cats) in which the animal inhales with the mouth open and upper lip curled to facilitate exposure of the vomeronasal organ to a scent or pheromone
pronunciation

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Stamping for Pleasure - Rudolph Day March
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #6 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

 

  Cricut has been asking for Christmas stuff and one of their requests was for gift card holders. And I got to thinking, why not make Gift Card holders for sale at the Art MoB? 

  I used Cricut's Doodlecharms cartridge, p. 87 for the mail box. Stamped a Rudolph stamp by Walmart
( gasp, lol  I admit it, I shop at Walmart ) on the flag and added a brad by Karen Foster. 

 

 

Next I cut out the envelope which holds the GC, again from Doodlecharms, p. 86 but removed the heart cut on the envelope in the Cricut Craft Room and extended the flap cut by hand so that I could slide the gift card up and under the flap. Stamped the Ho, Ho, Ho by Karen Foster on the flap and added a Martha Stewart poinsettia sticker on the corner to add some balance to the red flag. Outlined everything with a Faber Castell PITT pen.

 

Although the picture doesn't show it very well, it's actually a card, so the whole 'mailbox with GC' is the front of the card, leaving the person that sends it, a traditional inside to write their greetings.

 

 

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I have been asked how well sales have been going over at the Art MoB, and I have to say that I have been very lucky. The sales are definitely tourist driven so we had a couple of slow months during winter and I am still in the learning phase of what sells and trying to keep an open mind to what I can make that interests people.

 

So here is a recap of just the card sales:

 

September - 19 cards

October - 26 cards

November - 2 cards

December - 24 cards

January - 28 cards

February - 15 cards

 

A total of 114 cards sold in the first 6 months.

 ( female birthday seems to sell the best )

 

I try and keep 20 cards out at all times in each category, restocking once a week.

 

'basic cards' which stay up all the time consists of:

 

Birthday Female

Birthday Male

Thank you

 

then there are the 'fluctuating cards' which consist of:

 

current seasonal

upcoming seasonal

speciality cards

 

So, I have 6 displays with 20 cards in each display, that's 120 cards out for the customer's perusal.

It takes a lot of work to make sure I have a variety of cards but I do think that is important so that the customers have many things to choose from.

 

 I will consider myself successful if I help someone along the way from what I learn. Any questions? Feel free to ask. :) Any suggestions, feel free to offer. ;)

 

 

hallmark: noun

a mark put on an article to indicate origin, purity, or genuineness

or

 a distinguishing characteristic, trait, or feature

pronunciation

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WOYWW

and

adapting.

Yep, that's me these days and since a lot of you follow the ups and downs to my Art MoB, you will find me adapting to what sells and what doesn't sell. Remember the St. Patrick's Day cards I made? I wasn't even sure when I made them if they would sell or not ( mainly 'cause I don't send out St. Patrick's day cards )... well, they didn't sell. Not one single card. lol

On the bright side, I have 20 cards to try again with for next year!

 

If you want to know how the Christmas cards did, check in tomorrow and you'll find out. If you want to know what's on my desk today, it's a project that I have been working on for Tracy Weinzapfels March Creative Dare. I have been gluing on buttons today and finishing it up. On the shelf you can see a dog house, cow and carrot card that never got finished for one reason or another. Everything else is just a mess, I have been a very little busy bee crafting and my desk is showing it, let's not even discuss the floor beside me.

So let's nose around visit each other, gossip talk and have FUN!

nascent: adjective

coming or having recently come into existence

pronunciation

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It's Tuesday and it's time for our new challenge which is:

 'Recycle It' 

Our challenge is to use old packages, plastic boxes string etc and upcycle them!!

Go check out what my fellow DT members created, I was blown away with their creativity!

 

 

I love this challenge! I have 2 little old ladies who live on the ground floor and I enjoy making then surprises to have. I took a half an egg carton and embellished it. First applying some coordinating pattern paper to cover the top.

 

 Little Scrap Pieces is having a challenge to use a hand made embellishment.

I made washi tape or faux ribbon, however you want to look at it, lol I took masking tape and laid it out on a piece of wax paper ( so it would lay flat to work on it, yet wouldn't stick ) Then I rubbed some Ranger Distress Stain on it and spritzed it with water. Then made faux stitching lines on it with a Distress Marker. Great way to trim the egg carton since it's tape.Added a small flower with a drop of Liquid Pearls to finish it off.

Tied it up with some scrumptious Really Reasonable Ribbon and filled it with fun Easter goodies...yum..snacked on a few of them myself ;)

Over at Anything but a Card they are asking you to create something Spring or Alice in Wonderland related, and this definitely falls into the spring category!

 

Our sponsor for this month's challenge is Craft-embellies with a  £10 store voucher.

( currency convertor )

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Name That Synonym:

 Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of "nascent":

  i_c_p_e_t

Answer found here...you didn't think I'd tell you, did you?

 

canorous: adjective

pleasant sounding : melodious

 

pronunciation

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entering this card in:

 

Cute Card Thrusday - Challenge 261 Easter Parade

Sparkles Monthly Challenge #42 - Birds

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - Challenge #35 Bring on Spring

Card Makin' Mama's - It's Springtime

 

A little card I drew, I used water color paper and Faber Castell Aquarelle pencils to color in the back ground and the chick. Metallic grape Gelato for her hat and hand stitched some grass. Outlined everything with their PITT pen in black.

 

 

A close up shot of her little flower hat and the fuzzy brad! The Liquid Scrapdots really do help balance the brad "underworkings" ( for lack of a better word for the parts that poke through the paper ) I also think paper piecing adds a lot to a simple card too, do you?

I really do love dimension on a card, and haven't a clue why it makes me so happy?

 

Faber Castell - PITT pens, gelatos, Aquarelle pencils

Helmar - Liquid Scrapdots

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And here is Mother Nature's riposte concerning spring...one day of sunshine! woo hoo!! lol
I choose a more roseate outlook, no snow :)



riposte: noun

a fencer's quick return thrust following a parry

or

 a retaliatory verbal sally : retort

also

 a retaliatory maneuver or measure



pronunciation

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Since my mermaids wall hangings have been selling well at the Art MoB, I have been wanting to make other mermaidery type projects. So I made this tag and am entering it in:

Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge - Water

 

 

Everything came from my stash! Hooray, I love using up some of the bits and bobs that pile up!

 I free hand cut the mermaid tail, edged it with Vintage photo distress inks and then covered it with a layer of stickles. Used my craft knife to cut one of the waves out and slid her in. Used Liquid Scrap dots to lift the wave up a little and one of her fins.

 

Used the Helmar 450 to hold down the big shell and Gemstone Adhesive to secure the micro beads.

  

Ranger - stickles, distress ink

Helmar - Liquid Scrap Dots, 450, Gemstone Adhesive

 

grift: verb

to obtain (money) illicitly (as in a confidence game)

or

to acquire money or property illicitly

pronunciation

"Grift" was born in the argot of the underworld, a realm in which a "grifter" might be a pickpocket, a crooked gambler, or a confidence man—any criminal who relied on skill and wits rather than physical violence—and to be "on the grift" was to make a living by stings and clever thefts."
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Making a few tags for the store, my only Easter tag that I had in there, has already sold! I don't know why, but I am always humbled when they buy my tags :)

 

entering this in:

 

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog - Easter/Spring

  Added dimension with the grass, love that my Liquid Scrapdots can equal the height of the bunny's tail :)

 

 

bunny, cotton ball - misc, from stash

Creative Imaginations - basket weave paper

Cricut - Happy Hauntings cartridge p. 67 ( grass )

Really Reasonable Ribbon - twine

Prima - ( gem butterfly )

Heidi Swapp - bling ( eye )

Helmar - Liquid Scrapdots, Gemstone Adhesive

Studio G - stamp

Sakura - Glaze pens

Honey Script - font

Ranger - Liquid Pearls

Stazon - ink
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Cath over at Moxie Fab has us all thinking about home decor projects.
 I took some tea light candles and wrapped some washi tape around them and then had tons of fun embellishing them. Warning here folks, this may become addictive. They are so cute and tiny! lol I can picture them in the guest bathroom or out on my balcony...either way I can't wait to make some more.

Spring Home Decor Challenge in the Moxie Fab World
also entering in
Anything But a Card - Challenge 15 Spring or Alice in Wonderland

Do make sure that anything you adhere to the tea lights is out of the way of the flame!!

Maya Road - Fabric Tape
Ranger - Tissue Tape
Recollections - flower
twine, button, fiber - misc
Helmar - 450 Adhesive



demotic: adjective

of, relating to, or written in a simplified form of the ancient Egyptian hieratic writing

or

 common, popular

and

 of or relating to the form of Modern Greek that is based on everyday speech

pronunciation

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Yesterday was the second day of spring...huh? I woke up to this and thought I must be dreaming!

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entering this little bunny in:

 

Die Cuttin Divas - Challenge #107 Use a bunny

So do you eat the tail or the ears first?

Ears for me, lol...although I haven't had a chocolate bunnies in eons!

Cricut  Craft Room - Easter Seasonal 2010

( This was offered in the CCR as a free cut, made my base card shape and then the cover, and the bow )
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Inkspirational Challenge #12



I love having a sketch challenge and trying to come up with an alternate way to do it yet keep within the parameters of the sketch requirements. I was worried at first at the mono chromatic aspect to the challenge but once I began digging through my stash it all came together on it's own. I just love that!

I have used Liquid Scrapdots for many tiny things before but I think this little bee that I fussy cut out is the tiniest of them all!

ANOTHER reason I love Liquid Scrapdots is the layering effect. I know that twine and burlap aren't that thick, but when you want your die cut to "float" equal to the material; it sure makes that feat possible with Liquid Scrapdots. With pop dots, you have a height you cannot manipulate, but with LSD, anything is possible! I used the LSD under the flower and under the top portion of the clay pot.

American Crafts - pattern paper
Cricut - Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, p. 80 ( tag )
Close to my Heart - ink marker
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Hemp ribbon ( bow )
Prima - flower ribbon
Helmar - 450, Liquid scrapdots
K&Co. - Gem
Ranger - Liquid Pearls
rub on sentiment,twine, clay pot, glitter flower, burlap - misc.

Reminder: Paper Playtime has their Challenge #6 to Use a Bee up an running.

plaudit: noun

an act or round of applause

or

 enthusiastic approval — usually used in plural

pronunciation
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Anything But a Card -  Challenge 15 Spring or Alice in Wonderland

OK, so Tracy went away for a week to play ....errr....work for a week while she was in Las Vegas. So, maybe I whinned a little too much because the girls from the Mixed Media Monday Nights group assigned....ASSIGNED me something to do...geez...bossy sweet friends! lol
Actually, I loved every minute of it and want to thank them for the push incentive to create this piece.

 They gave me a list of things to use:

Lori - butterfly....who started the whole idea!
Mary - gesso and bubble wrap
Jean - the color yellow
Anna - book text and she found the quote for me to use too!
 

 

OK, so I'm thinking this piece will work well for this ABAC challenge on a couple of levels. First, when I think of spring I think of butterflies. Here, I gessoed book text, inked it with Ranger's Dylusions and then ran it through the printer for the butterflies which I fussy cut out. I outlined the veins with my Faber Castell PITT pen in black. .

 I couldn't remove the yellow from the above picture,  but it does show how I gave one butterfly some dimension with my Helmar's Liquid Scrapdots. I really do love this stuff!! I also am in love with the Goosebumps spray that gave this ink such a wonderful dimension.

 

 I also think this piece fulfills some of the Alice in Wonderland criteria as it has watches embossed with modling paste using the Crafter's Workshop stencil TCW 201S. I spritzed some Imagine Goosebumps spray before spreading out the Ranger's Distress stains ( using water ). Wonderful effect, will be using this more!

Rabbit quotes on time from Alice in Wonderland:

"Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!"
[singing] I'm late / I'm late / For a very important date. / No time to say "Hello, Goodbye". / I'm late, I'm late, I'm late."

 

Walrus quote

 “The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings” 
 

Then used my Distress Stains as splats. I hit them hard onto the board and it gives a wonderful ...splat!

 

My finished wall hanging:

Daler Rowney - gesso

Ranger - Distress Stains

Imagine - Goosebump spray

Crafters Workshop - stencil

Really Reasonable Ribbon - cording

Faber Castell - PITT pen

Helmar - Liquid Scrapdots

 

Thank you ladies, it's already hanging up in the Art MoB! 

sacrosanct: adjective

most sacred or holy : inviolable

or

 treated as if holy : immune from criticism or violation

pronunciation



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Hi WOYWW'ers..missed me? Well, I missed you guys!

I haven't done a WOYWW post in 2 weeks!

 

 I have been sooooooooo busy, I've joined 3 Design Teams,  ( and it has taken a short adjustment period to get use to being on 3 teams, but I have a handle on it and have been progressing nicely, although I have tons of notes set up so I don't forget my challenges and what numbers to comment on!! ) THEN, I got accepted to do the May Arts New Release Spring Craft Challenge...and I've already sold 4 signs for this month so I need to make MORE! ( special note to all the Ranger fans, my first sign made from one of TH tag designs just sold!) woo hoo!!

And some of you ( Thank you from the bottom of my heart for checking in with me and encouraging me along the way, it's been GREATLY appreciated ) have been keeping up with another challenge of mine which I am finishing up TODAY!!! The 30 Mother's Day cards in 30 days challenge issued by the Art MoB ( which is the gallery where I sell my things, for those of you that don't know )..and now we are going to have a "show" on April 6th for all the participants; ( whew ) so I am begining to work on my display...which is why I have the floor picture instead of a desk picture today.

 What's on my desk at the moment? ....is me typing this post! HA!

 

It's a work in progress, just trying to get a general idea of how to arrange them. As you can see there is an empty space on the bottom row...which is where card #30, the last, the final Mother's Day card will go!!
 

ta ta dah...

Really Reasonable Ribbon
Faber Castell - PITT pen
Upper East Side - font

 Father's Day are the next clamant cards!

( clamant -  demanding attention )

fetter: noun

 a chain or shackle for the feet

or

 something that confines : restraint

 

 pronunciation

 

I am looking forward to freeing myself from the fetters of making Mother's Day cards!

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#29 of 30 Mother's Day cards in 30 days

( almost finished, working on the display for them now!! )

 

 

Cricut - Don Juan cartridge, p. 57 ( stitched )

Traveling Typewriter - font

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I always like to add seasonal birthday cards into the regular birthday cards that I sell on a regular basis, so I made this one and am entering it into:

Bitten by the Bug - Egg~ceptional Easter Egg challenge

Cricut - Paisley cartridge, p. 40 (butterfly)
Cricut Craft Room - Easter Seasonal cartridge
 ( to create base card and then card front and base )
Ranger - stickles
Making Memories - rub on sentiment