Garden Peas

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July!  Our plans changed a bit yesterday due to Cortney not feeling up to par. But we did manage to swim a bit in our pool at home and have a BBQ.  It was a quiet, uneventful day, but a good one. 

I have a garden peas card to share with you.  I figured since I had already made a  "lettuce" card, why not make a card about peas? ;)

I used this image from the Crafty Secrets Vegetable Garden Digital set.

I again used my Inktense pencils to give my peas their vibrant green color.  I added touches of yellow for highlights and a bit of black to create shadows and depth. 

I cut out the peas by hand, and once again added a bit of gold Stickles for a bit of sparkle. I also added black waxy twine to create tendrils for my peas.  And as a final finishing touch, I threw a few sequins on for fun!

Some of you inquired about my new camera.  Well, I had intended getting a super duper expensive NikonD3, but ended up with a lesser expensive NikonD7000.  I was upgrading from a NikonD40.  It had been a good camera for the last 7 years, but getting to be unreliable.  I was having issues with focusing.  For awhile I didn't know if it was me or the camera.  Turns out it was the camera! 

I am loving this new camera and am taking pictures of anything I can.  The dogs seem to be the easiest to photograph....but then there is my dear Cortney.  She is a pretty willing participant most of the time!

Here's a few more....just playing around!

And this one seriously cracks me up!  She has the cutest expressions ever!

I am heading to Wisconsin to see my niece and nephew....and I can't wait to use my camera on 'em! ;)

New subjects! YAY!

Have a great weekend!!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July to you!!  

I am heading out today to take Kyle to work and Cort to the pool!  The sun is finally making its appearance today, and we are supposed to make it into the 80's.  A perfect day to swim! 

I have a patriotic card to share with you today using my Cricut and the Stars and Stripes cartridge. The sentiment was created on the computer and cut into 3 strips to emulate the trails from the star. 

For the star, I added loads of German Glass Glitter.  It is a heavier, chunkier glitter, but I love how it looks!

Our town had their annual parade and fireworks show last night.  It is always so cool to see our town come together and celebrate this special day. Even though we had rain most of the day and the sky was still overcast, it all turned out great! 

Have a wonderful holiday!!! 

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That.....

Good morning to you!  Today is going to be another busy day as Cortney and I head out to the social security office.  Later today our village hosts our annual Fourth of July parade and fireworks show.  (Weather permitting!) Even though I live literally a couple of miles from Chicago, it sometimes has that small town feel to it, which I love. :) And since I just bought a new camera....yep I did!  I am anxious for the photo ops! (I'll tell you about it in my next post since I am on a time crunch at the moment!) 

I have a card to share with you that was created using this beautiful sentiment from JustRite/Becca Feekin's Kit Club.  It was stamped in Versarmark and embossed in black. The card base used a Spellbinder's die.  I did a bit of soft airbrushing around the edges with my Copic marker. I had these gorgeous stickers in my stash and simply placed them on the card.  I added a pretty silk bow from the Stamp Simply store and voila! My card was complete!

And of course I've been taking pictures like a mad woman! I won't bore you with all of them....but here are a few....

My oldest dog Skippers...

I love that I can get this close and get such clear photos with this camera!

And my silly pup, Myla. She is quite the character let me tell you!

And lastly, my daisies.  They seem to have doubled in size this year!

Off I go! Wish us luck that we aren't camped out all day there! LOL!

Have a very happy Fourth of July!!

Crafty Secret's DT Challenge and Linky Party!

Today is Crafty Secret's monthly DT challenge and linky party! We also wanted to introduce our two new design team members, Kathy Clement and Elizabeth Lincoln!  Welcome ladies!

 This month's challenge is to use digital papers in an interesting way.  I decided to use this heart from the Crafty Secret's   digital set.  I will show you an easy way to merge the heart image right over the digital papers a little further down. 

I machine stitched the heart with black thread and used touches of black throughout my card to make the softer papers pop a bit more. 

I added a bit of seam binding and a Prima flower to dress it up a bit. Behind the heart is a piece of corrugated card board.  I painted it a bit. I love the texture it adds to the card. 

I use Photoshop Elements to size my digital papers and images.  It is easy to have multiple files open at the same time. I first selected this red paper. (Which I later changed my mind on) and then clicked on the "Organizer" button at the bottom to open up the patchwork heart. 

Since I wanted each heart to be the same size I decided on the size 209.62% Just hit your option tools and type in the size you want, it's much easier than trying to drag out the corners! Especially if you are trying to get the same size each and every time. 

You can see that I have multiple designer papers open.  :)

I printed my work on one sheet of cardstock with the heart on each piece of designer paper. 

I like this method because it takes the guess work out of sizing things and since the lines were already there, it made cutting the heart a breeze! 

Since I had cut where the zig zag lines had been, I decided to use my sewing machine to replace those stitches with real stitches!

I am the world's worst sewer, so a few of my stitches are a bit wonky.  But I am going to say that it contributes to the homemade, cozy feel of this heart! ;)  

And in case you forgot what the final product looked like, here it is one more time!

Be sure to visit the rest of the design team! Their projects are gorgeous!!!

• Vicki Chrisman Team Leader

Michele Kovack

• Darlene Pavlick
• Melissa Bove
• Rebekah Faries
• Sheila Rumney
• Kathy Clement
• Elizabeth (I love rubber) on Splitcoast

As you know Google Reader is no more, so readers must find a way to stay connected to their favorite blogs.  If you would like updates on my blog and don't get them through Feedblitz (Which I still have available on my side bar), you can sign up through bloglovin'.  Just click the link here or on my sign up and hit the follow button.  :)

Have a great day my friends!!!

Joy

What a great few days it's been!  Today is the last day to purchase Samantha Walker products at 25% off, so be sure to pop on over to JustRite! 

Hey, does this card look familiar? ;)  I stamped the joy snowflakes in various colors to make my own background.  I inked the edges a bit to distress them and matted it on a chocolate brown piece of card stock.  I stamped the sentiment on vellum, tied seam binding around the card and added a felt snowflake.  As a finishing touch I added several sequins. 

Be sure to visit the other gals! 

 Have a great Sunday my friends!

Michele Kovack 

Debbie Olson

Marisa Job

Kristi Schurr

Sheri Holt

Angela Barkhouse