WOYWW 208-4th Anniversary and ATC Swap

Here is my desk, as that is why we are gathered here today!

Here are my ATC's ready to be mailed off to Julia, Allison, Annie, J. and ???-being the *ed name after mine!

The center one is going to The Queen of WOYWW Julia!

For those of you who have been following the garter, here is before ...

...and after-

 a complete post to come soon. 

I still have to sew on the silk casing attach the elastic and weave in the ribbon( I haven't dyed yet!)

Please pray with me that it fits!

 Planning and events seldom agree and I won't see the Bride till the day of!

I'm glad to be a part of this community and looking forward to my ATC's from around the globe!

I have lots going on so I hope you will scroll around while you are here.

TTFN and comments and questions always welcomed.

Spellbinders Action Team at Michaels Asheville

I spent an exciting afternoon Saturday at the Michaels Asheville store, cutting embossing, stenciling and making new friends.

Manager Michelle and her mixture of easy-going and straight ahead welcome, makes you feel right at home shopping and working in the store!

A group of ladies visiting our mountains from VA, were shopping for a long weekend of girl time and Scrapping!

We talked a lot about creating frames and photo openings in one pass in the Grand Calibur, and building your die collection around the Spellbinder Core dies.

Young and young at heart!

enjoyed making the tissue flowers.

We even made some with square dies and label shapes!

Labels Eight looks like a peony 

We thought this one could be for graduation-having a mortar board feel to it-Lacey Circles

I'll be returning each month, for more time to create relationships with paper and people!

You can follow all of the Action Team members at Spellbinders On the Road Blog.

Comments and questions always welcomed!

Happy Fathers Day-The Back Story

I haven't made a Fathers day card in a long time. My birth Dad died young, and Grand Pop Larry, as he was know died almost 20 years ago.

One of the things they had in common and shared with me, was love of the sea, so when I found this shell themed paper, the rest just followed.

Construction details and product links are over at Quietfire Creations.

Both Dads, had their strengths and weaknesses and both encouraged and supported me, to become a strong independent woman.

Both of them were on the quiet side, and not at all showy, so I held back from my usual glittery self.

I never gave either of them flowers, and I wish I had.....

Bouquets for both!

The Queen Annes Lace stamp is from the Weed Love Set by Bibi of Natures Print Shop. Bibi is a guest Designer for Quietfire Creations and creates her stamps from live plant material. Thanks Bibi!

I'm passing this card on to my daughter to give to her Dad, who helped to make me a Mom of my three amazing children, for whom I am eternally grateful.

Happy Family Days to all!

Comments and Questions always welcomed.

WOYWW 207

If this photo looks a lot like last weeks- well, draw your own conclusions.

Sneak peak of the pop up birthday card that will post next monday on Quiefire Creations.

The story board that is coming along slowly!!! for SB

The usual cast of characters!.

Lots has come and gone off of the desk, so you'll just have to stop by to see it.

I've been doing a lot of gardening- tis the season!

The WOYWW 208 ACT's are in a suspended state somewhere in some pile!

For more on WOYWW .

Short and sweet!

WOYWW 206 -Lots!

Lots going on on and off the desk.

My May ATC's for Cyberscribes are in a pile ready to mail,

New stamps- Weeds- made from real plant material from Bibi of Natures Print Shop- thanks so much!

A blank foam core sheet waiting to be made into a story board for The Spellbinders Action Team-On the Road Blog post here.

A card in the making with faux quilting- and I can't find my quilt themed stamp!

Yay! the knitting is done for the garter- now all I have to do is block, make a casing, sew it all together, put in the elastic and weave in the ribbon,and pray that it fits!!!!

Goddess knows what else is in those piles! ( my still to be done ATC's for 208!) I have extras- leave me a comment or message me if you want to trade.

More about WOYWW here

Comments and questions always welcomed!

Choice!Cyberscribes May ATC Swap

This months theme was "Choice".

The images of this ATC set came from a Syracuse Cultural Workers Peace calendar.

The card backs are all upcycled from various boxes.

I really enjoyed creating this series and sending them out into the world.

I am a child of the 60's campus occupy movement and still believe we can be the change we want to see in the world.

Comments and questions always welcomed.

Michaels Arden meets Spellbinders!

Michaels, Arden rocks! and cuts, embosses and stencils!

I did my first Demo for the Spellbinders Action Team on Friday.
My mouth and hands were busy non stop for 2+ hours as I hooked busy Mother's Day shoppers and sales associates into engaging with me for a few minutes while I put the Grand Calibur through her paces.

Responses were overwhelmingly positive, and many folks left with a quick card for Mom, and lots of ideas for their own creative projects, and ways to use die cutting in their crafting.

The hit of the day was Terre's tissue paper flower.

Try it Tuesday Video here

Easey peasey.
You can take the tissue, just as it comes out of the pack, with at least 16 layers folded, cut out a shape with your GC- here I used Spellbinders Nestibilities Dahlia- in the Demo I used Lacy Circles.

Thread a pointed large eye needle with ribbon, twine, floss of your choice and sew through two holes about an inch apart and tie a knot and bow.

Next, crinkle up each layer individually

  Voila! instant Mom's Day gift.

You could mount these on picks or skewers, wrap with floral tape to make a bouquet, tie or glue onto a head band or barrette, mount them on cards or scrapbook layouts- the choice is yours- or your mom's!

A huge thank you to Manager Marsha and her entire crew, for making me, and everyone who walks in the door feel  welcome and I can tell you they all do their best to make sure you have a positive shopping experience and find everything you need to create beyond with your projects at home.

The Crew Sporting Terre's Tissue Flowers!

Our male bookends are the fab framing crew- Shoppers Alert- look for some die cut designs in matting in the framing dept.!

I'm looking forward to returning next month, and to meeting all East Asheviller's at Michaels River Hills Road Saturday May 25 1-3.

You can follow all of the Action Team at Spellbinders On the Road blog,

Comments and questions always welcomed.

Congratulations...Spellbinders Action Team

Lucky girl! I was the Glue Dot Fan of the week-my prize at left...and...
I got a Notions Case from Nancy's Knit Knacks for leaving a blog comment.












The new stamp collection from Quietfire is called, Home- Congratulations .

I am loving them! as usual. Details are on the Quietfire Creations blog. 

They are all held together with Glue Dots!

The background of this card came from a Girls Night Out at A Stamp Artist Place, my local stamp shop.
This was more fun than a barrel of monkeys!!(if you know where that expression came from leave me a comment.
We all brought our fav stamps, inks and paper, delicious food and drink and stamped the night away.
I've been surprised how often I am using these panels.
Thanks Girls!

My step outs are a bit sketchy this week, as I am busy getting ready to do my first demo at Michael's for the Spellbinders Action team!
You can follow our journeys at Spellbinders on the Road
Our Mission:
To take action, be helpful, be fully engaged, and excite our retail partners and customers daily through creative education.
Doesn't that sound like me!

I'll be at the Arden store, Monday May 10, 2-4 and the Asheville store Saturday May 25 1-3.

I'm still packing!

Come out and heckle   say hey!

Comments and questions always welcomed!

WOYWW 205

What a week!
8"+ of rain, my dear friend Kaye-98- passed to the big craft room in the sky-getting ready for SB Action Team, and just general life!

Counter clockwise from Lower right corner-

• Restorative knitting- more on that in a blog post soon,
• Making mindful progress on the lace garter
• Lucky girl this week- Glue Dot fan of the week, and a notions holder for Nancy's Knit Knacks
• New Quietfire Design rubber-post on Quietfire Creations on Friday
• shopping- a SB die, I never saw before-Enhancebilities? butterflies and flowers with wings and petals that punch up
• New embossing folders 
• My ATC's for May for Cyberscribes.
• My SB name tag for creative education demos!

WNC locals- come see me Friday at Michaels Arden, 2-4 demoing all Spellbinder Goodness!

Take a breath girl!

To find out more about WOYWW visit Julia

Comments and questions always welcomed.

Making friends with Distress Paint

Just a quickie to say, keep at it!
I've been staring at these paints after tossing several attempts into the circular file and wondering if I had made an expensive paint purchase for naught!

Part of my problem is I am cheap Scotch,
thrifty, and wasn't using enough paint.
Choose colors that are contrasty(is that a word?) and put the paint on your craft sheet  the size of your paper, and a bit bigger.

Water- you have too get this just right too.
Too little and you get no blending, too much and you get mud.

It helps to lightly spritz the paper first, so the paint can move on it.

I needed a not fussy card for middle son, so I used Vintage photo, sage, weathered wood and bronze.
No glitter! and not much glitz.

I added some black soot and vintage photo ink to blend more and pull all the stamping together.

Black soot paint was dabbed onto a charm to make the tennis racquets. I pressed the paper firmly into the charm.

I was so excited that I was getting something I liked, I grabbed every piece of paper on my drawing table and ran it into the paint.

This one is pressed into and pulled off of the paint.

This one is pressed and twisted just a bit- Don't move it around too much.

Here is the back of the card so you will know why I chose that color ribbon. I used the ribbon to pick up any paint left on the craft sheet.

Now that I am beginning to know what I'm doing, I take some photo's next time of the painting process.

Happy Birthday Ray!

Comments and Questions always welcomed.

WOYWW 204 and Exciting News!

Hi Y'all.
Life is full and busy!
Totally unposed and unPhotoShopped  photo at left!

Let's start with the Exciting News.
I am a member of the Spellbinders Action Team!

Our Motto:
To take action, be helpful, be fully engaged, and excite our retail partners and customers daily through creative education.

Local WOYWWers, mark your calendars and come out and see me in full demo mode at
Michaels- Arden- Friday May 10 1-3 

and

Michaels Asheville- Sat May 25 2-4

Please identify yourself if you stop by. I'd love your support!

You can see my name tag- cut out of Resplendent Rectangles and an old SB font die set. 

The rose pin is SB Spiral Blossoms Three cut out of hand made felt.

On the left are some ATC's I'm working on, a 3 D butterfly made out of a Martha punch I got on Clearance at Michaels( this Team work could be dangerous), and always more birthday cards.

Just to keep life interesting...

One of my fav YA's and last years live in massage therapist is getting married in June and of course she  must have a hand knit lace garter!

The yarn is merino and silk. I know it looks like a used tissue right now and the water will transform it. Stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting. I'll have more Spellbinders Action Team news as time goes on.

Comments and questions always welcomed!