Falling Leaves

Falling Leaves, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I'm LOLing at myself here! I used Picnik to edit the photo and apparently I used a little too much Clarity or something because now the cardstock looks like BURLAP.

I LOVE IT. LOL!!! =D

The paper really is textured like that--it's Bazzill Criss Cross--just not that much in reality.

Crazy ol Picknik!

This card layout will be showing up quite a bit in the next week or so because it's so easy to make. I stamped a few falling leaves and then the sentiment. On this one, I also distressed the edges with both ink and a distressing tool.

Easy peasy!



Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill (tan cardstock); Recollections (ivory cardblank)
Stamps: Inkadinkado (Fall set); Stampabilites (Happy Thanksgiving 02)
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge, Ripe Persimmon, Wild Honey)
ETC: Memory Makers (distress tool); Glue Glider Pro


Soooo...the ongoing drama here is...well...ongoing. No, Smoking Dude didn't return--a different guy did. He fixed everything and all is well with the HVAC now. YAY!

BUT, because I had been cooped up for a week, I dragged my Mom along on a hike to get some fresh air. She tripped, fell on her shoulder, and broke her arm in a few places. So I get to play nurse for a few weeks. It's not *too* bad--she has a VERY cool craft room!! ;-)


Thanks for stopping by! I love your comments--they keep me laughing!! =D


~Cynthia

Christmas Redeux

Christmas Redeux, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I made this same design for Christmas 2010 and never sent it because I felt it was missing something. I remade the card--I still had a bit of the background paper left!--and added a bit to make it more professional-looking.

I diecut two ovals and one scalloped oval. I stamped the Cardinal after I diecut the smaller oval. I colored him using Sharpies because I wanted a very bright and intensely colored bird.

I cut a strip of leftover red cardstock, stamped the sentiment and tucked it under two of the ovals. I layered it over the background paper and adhered everything to a cardblank.

I liked it a lot better than the original card which didn't have the banner strip.



Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (ivory cardblank); Bazzill (red and ivory cardstock); BoBunny (Noel Stripe)
Stamps: KaiserCraft (Christmas mini set); Inkadinkado (Ornate Christmas)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
ETC: Sharpie markers; Nestabilities (Petite Scallop Ovals Small, Petite Ovals Large); Glue Glider Pro; Sakura red glitter pen


So....more HVAC drama. Yesterday I came inside and distinctly smelled gas. The furnace runs on odorless natural gas and HVAC guys mix it with some rotten egg smelling stuff so you can tell there's a leak. So the Head Dude (the Dude with his name on the side of the vans--THAT DUDE) came over. He checked everything twice. He couldn't find a leak, but he did find some other stuff he didn't really like so...they're coming back again today to fix that.

*sigh*

I guess that just means more time in the Craft Studio.

Oh the torture one must put up with in the name of creativity.


~Cynthia ;-)

Drifting Snow

Drifting Snow, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

OK, so over the past few days you *may* have noticed the absolute crappiness of my photos. I'm sure it has nothing to do with my lack of knowledge on how to take good photos with a little cell phone.

But as I wander around the blogosphere, I've noticed the absolutely beautiful photos others have posted.

So I tried something. I used Picnik to try to fix the photo.

I'm sure the outcome here has nothing to do with my lack of knowledge on how to use Picnik.

I will, of course, blame anything and everything other than, well, ME.

Here is my card. It is brighter than yesterday's, no?

One tree stamp, one sentiment stamp, one ink, one watercolor pencil and two little score lines.

I got the general idea from a card posted on Simplicity's One Layer Wednesday list, made by Patti on the Cherish Each Precious Day blog.


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white cardblank)
Stamps: Michael's Dollar Bin (tree); KaiserCraft (Christmas mini set)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Pine Needles)
ETC: Koh-I-Nor (Watercolor Pencils); ScorBuddy


So the HVAC dudes finally finished their destruction of my house yesterday. Now the cleaning begins. The dust is everywhere! Grrrrrr.

But at least once that's done I'll go back to having total access to my Craft Studio.

Now if only I could find my mojo beneath all this dust......


~Cynthia

Star of Wonder

Star of Wonder, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

When I first saw this stamp, I totally squealed.

Really.

And I never squeal.

But isn't this the most cutest, most precious stamp like EVER?????

All I did was stamp it and gently color (more like tint) it with watercolor pencils, sans the water.

And isn't it just SO CUTE??

SQUEALLLLLLL!



Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white cardblank)
Stamp: Impression Obsession (F1684)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
ETC: Koh-I-Nor (Watercolor Pencils); Artist's Loft (Watercolor Pencils)




The Continuing HVAC Saga:

So we're down four guys this morning and the lone dude showed up like an hour and a half late.

At least it isn't Smoking Dude. No posing like the Marlboro Man in the road...scaring my neighbors....and small children...and pets.....and the mail carrier........



~Cynthia

PS: Thanks for all your kind comments--especially on my freaky pumpkin!! =D

Holly Berry Christmas

Holly Berry Christmas, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

How's this for clean and simple?? =D

One ink, two stamps, three blings.

Is 'blings' a word??

I love the font on the sentiment stamp. It's funky and whimsical.

There. I actually wrote a blog post that included the word 'whimsical.'

I'm on a literary roll.......


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white cardblank--which you can hardly tell due some sort of operator error in photographing said card...IN FULL SUNLIGHT, might I add)
Stamp: WeRMemory Keepers (Merry Christmas mini set)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Pine Needles)
ETC: KaiserCraft (Red Rhinestones)



So since I know you're dying to hear the rest of my HVAC story....

They're still not done. Going on four days now. I only have heat in half of my house since they weren't able to connect the other furnace up yet. This is totally due to the work habits of Smoking Boy.

I watched Smoking Boy go back and forth to their van EIGHT times in 3 hours. (And yes, I counted, because it got to be funny after a while.) And each time he had something different in his hand--most notably a small white bucket, which went back and forth from my house to the van multiple times. And in the meantime, the other guy walked out there to retrieve the small white bucket because he needed it and Smoking Boy had stashed it in the van for some reason. And each time Smoking Boy went out to the van he had to smoke. And pose. Inexplicably, he had to smoke and pose--like some kind of scary Marlboro Man--for the cars that drove by. So you can see how this might slow the whole WORK progress thing waaaaaaaaaay down.

So I guess they'll be back on Monday. Which will mean six days with only half heat.

At least the power bill will be lower this month....


~Cynthia ;-)

Christmas Tree Chorus Line

Christmas Tree Chorus Line, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I got the idea for this card from the Simplicity blog where Susan was showing the One Layer Wednesday posts. Jenny at Crafting in the Country had this cute cream card with a row of snowflakes stamped in red.

I decided to go with trees. Turns out....my tree stamps are all HUGE. It looks nothing like Jenny's card. ;-)

I scored a few lines, added a sentiment and colored in the baubles on one of the trees with a red Spica glitter pen and all the tree toppers with a clear glitter pen.

The card went pretty quickly--you just have to hold your mouth just right while stamping the trees to get them all in a straight line. Heh heh.


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (ivory cardblank)
Stamps: Michael's Dollar Bin (trees--I think they were Studio G); KaiserCraft (Christmas mini set--sentiment)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Pine Needles)
ETC: ScorBuddy; Spica red glitter pen; Gelly Roll glitter pen



This week has been a ZOO around here! The HVAC guys are moving a furnace to a more proper place. While all five of those dudes were happily spreading a thick layer of dust around the house on Wednesday, the computer nerd showed up to do something or other. Just as I was finishing the supply list on my last blog entry, computer nerd yells, "I have to turn the Internet off now!" I'm yelling, "WAIT! JUST TWO MORE MINUTES!! JUST TWO MORE MINUTES!!!" OI. I had to type FAST!!! Thankfully I got it posted. :-)

The upshot of all this chaos is that I have been able to spend each day in the Craft Studio because I can't really leave the house and I can't really clean up because the HVAC guys are still here making a mess.

*sigh*

At least I have all my Thanksgiving cards done. =D


~Cynthia

Gratitude

Gratitude, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

OK, usual apologies for crappy photo..blah blah blah.

This card is actually growing on me. I got the new Tim Holtz Distress Ink Autumn Colors and used Ripe Persimmon for the sentiment.

It's um...really, really ORANGE.

I have no one to blame but myself, of course. I have a cute little swatch page for all my Distress Inks so I could OBVIOUSLY tell it was orange.

But like I said, it's starting to grow on me. I kind of like that it's bright and pumpkin orange and happy.

The leaves are grunge paper die cuts covered in a page from an old hymnal.

True Story: I accidentally glued the leaf to the wrong side of the music paper. I specifically chose a certain song because it had to do with praising God, which I thought would be perfect for a Thanksgiving card. I guess I didn't look closely because when I noticed my error....then noticed what words I would actually have had on the leaf...I neglected to see that the word 'hell' would have been front and center on my card.

Oooooooooh dear. Sometimes errors are a good thing, eh?? ;-)


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (ivory cardblank); stash (hymnal pages)
Stamp: Studio G (gratitude)
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ripe Persimmon, Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy)
ETC: Sizzix (Tim Holtz's Tattered Leaves die cuts); Tim Holtz (grunge paper); Glossy Accents



Thanks for stopping by!

~Cynthia