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By The Bay

I did this card forever ago. It's been in my queue for a while and I think I forgot why I didn't publish it. At least until now. I was hoping to find a small ribbon slide to replace the one I made from metallic paper. Somewhere in my stash is a jar of them but honestly, I am so disorganized. I will find them after I die.

This was stamped on water color paper and colored using Prismacolors and Gamsol. I swiped the base card using Tim Holtz Distress Inks to give it a "by the sea" look. That is NOT Magic Mesh, btw. It is drywall tape. I have a huge roll of it. Honestly it doesn't stick well to textured card stock. Maybe if you hide it, add a tad of glue or tape in odd places. It does work well on matte or smooth paper, tho.

Summer is going so fast yet it really hasn't warmed up much here in Michigan. I keep hoping. Enjoy wherever you are. It could be worse.

More Crazy Blog Candy!

Click Me Click Me

Nesties and more!

99 Things Blog Candy Alert

Go here and read more about it. I like this kind of candy. It's fun, and quirky.



What follows is a list of 99 things that you may or may not have done and I thought it would be fun to see what you've all done.So here’s the list. My ‘Haves’ are in Orange

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world/Disneyland Paris Hated it!

8. Climbed a mountain (in the Appalachians)

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Made a Snow Angel

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon (almost--did 18 miles!)

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Stood in the rim of the Grand Canyon

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an erupting volcano in person.

36. Taught yourself a new language Used to speak some French.

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo's David (on tv and in movies)

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (on tv and in movies)

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted (drawn in charcoal)

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre

55. Been in a movie (blink and you will miss me in Bowling for Columbine)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Cookies for charity

62. Gone whale watching

63. Been given flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (can't, anemic)

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favourite childhood toy

70. Visited Buckingham Palace

71. Eaten Caviar (eats nothing with eyeballs)

72. Pieced a quilt or blanket

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone (my big toe)

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Been to the top of the Empire State Building

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible (Catholic school, duh!)

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating- disgusting! never!

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life (saved a fur baby from suffocating)

90. Sat on a jury (dismissed because I knew the defending attorney)

91. Met someone famous (Michael Moore)

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit (several class actions)

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

51 out of 99

Anything that requires me to fly in an airplane or go up in elevators or lots of steps is out. I fear heights. Some of the others, I have been near or did an equivalent.

Now lets see what you've done!

Copic Blog Candy Giveaway!

It doesn't get any better than this!! Drool Drool Drool!!

Enter HERE!

American Bear

I hate fireworks. They smell and my dogs and cats are in terrors from the noise. My friend Mike C. said he doesn't understand how people can afford to burn and blow up as much as they did last night. 99% of it is illegal in Michigan, too. Why didn't they just light a match to lots of Benjamin's and really see what was wasted. Guess they skip the mortgage next month instead.

So I am a poopy sport but I like quiet and fresh air. And those bottle rocket leftovers on my roof are NOT a good thing. At least they aren't pulling out the rifles in my town. Save that insanity for New Year's Eve.

This card is another one that is easy to figure out. I still used the runny ink pad from Joann's, too. Not like I could actually learn a lesson the first time, ya know.

Here is a close up on the bear image. I honestly have no idea who made the stamp as this was stamped months ago. Using Prismacolors because my blender went dry on my Copics and I was too lazy to get up to refill it.

The card I made the other day will be resubmitted. I found a charm for it but need to take a photo tomorrow. The tube called today, with Tiger, Roger, Tigers and ESPN keeping me company on my heating pad. This is also a sad night. I am saying goodbye to my favorite Detroit Piston. Rasheed Wallace always made basketball fun, even if he was pissing me off. My heart will never bleed green,tho. The Celtics are the enemy. Be happy Sheed. This homey is still red, white and blue. I guaran-sheed it.

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Picnic Surprises.

ETA-I fixed the not so great card and made it a so so card. The ideas I had to make it better actually turned into another card for later. The second card near the bottom is the fix. Better? LMK.

I have never liked picnics much. Mostly for dietary reasons. Being a vegetarian, 9o% of anything anyone brings, I simply can't/don't eat. Whenever sofa boy needs a dish to pass for scouts (or formally, for work) , I get elected (unrepresented, tho) to make something. I think I scare people with what I make. Brownies with no sugar or flour or chocolate (black beans, agave and brown rice sub out), salads with veggies people get freaked out by (apparently if it's not a white potato and covered in heavy white stuff or it's not fried, no one knows what it is). Ever eaten purple fleshed taters ? I have. Purple cauliflower ? Very tasty. Whenever I can get to a Whole Foods Market , I am so so happy. There is such an usual mix of veggies to poke thru that many don't ever get to see in run of the mill grocery store. Have you tried a jicama? Eaten raw, you will love the crunch on a salad. Eaten cooked, it is reminiscent of a potato crossed with an apple.

Here be my Independence Day card that sucks. I ordered some charms from Oriental Trading. They took forever to come. Then they were not as pictured in either the catalog or Internet site. So where that dumb bow is, that was supposed to be my pewter charm saying 4th of July. Close your eyes and pretend, okay? Another thing-don't buy those cheapie ink pads in the check out aisle at Joann's. I think they were Studio G. They are not water proof, so when I ran the Stickles glue over each firework, as it dried, lookie what happened. Thankfully, I did the stars with a Spica pen and the coloring with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol.

I will replace that bow when I find something better-got any ideas?

So is this better than before? I layered under the layers with same blue base, then added a charm with brads. I did want some ribbon so cut a small bit and tied a knot. Snot dotted.

Hopefully, the sun will shine for you this weekend. I need some sun and heat and sun, and did I say sun already? I may venture out to the Detroit area for the CityFest (formally known as the TasteFest). There is usually a big name national music artist or two but Todd Rundgren???? Where is Weird Al when you need him!!

Dazzling Congrats

I wish I could congratulate myself. I am trying to organize my ink pads. So I bought lots of plastic bins and buckets at Joann's last week 50% off and am trying. I just can't get the perfect way to grab and go with them. There are a bunch of large ones but those won't go unless they are Tim Holtz pads. I take them everywhere. They have their own tin home. But I have a ton of mini pads. I tend to buy the small ones to try them out or if they are on clearance. That way if I lose one, it's no biggie. Ninety nine cents to a deuce fifty is not bad for a trial run. I have even given Some way when asked, as I usually buy the bigger one of those and don't mine.

This is a two in one card. You can pop this tag off and it becomes a bookmark. The base card is stamped with the newer "OMG this is too cool" ink pad called Dazzle . It's from Versamark and it does everything a watermark ink pad does-but it shimmers, too! There are two colors and this is the Champagne (the other being Frost). I am hoping for a black or inky one soon. You really have to see it up close to appreciate the properties of this very versatile ink. You can even emboss with it and I have used it on the edges of cards just for the highlights. BTW-I think the stamp I used-a wafting leaf-is a wayward SU one. But don't quote me on it.

The tag is done using a set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. What a nice company they are. You feel so creative after using their stamps. I used a mix of mini SU pads and some Tim Holtz Distress pads for the best accent colors. One caveat, when using the dauber stamps from RST, be light of hand. You can see where I pressed a bit too hard on the top of the tag and caught the rim of the wood dowel. The final word was from a SU set-maybe a SAB set or hostess, not really remembering right now. Then the tag was layered, some fibers attached and pop dotted to the larger card. I did add some extra shimmer using a clear glitter pen from Copic .

Remember, you can see more detail by clicking any photo on my blog. Special prizes to anyone who can catch and remove all the cat hairs! :)

Just In Time For Canada Day/Fourth of July-CANDY!!!

Aren't these adorable? A generous artist to the North has offered this up for the taking. Click the link below, follow the deets and keep your fingers crossed. Anybody who says Michigan doesn't have the best neighbor in Canada is from ..... well ......... Djibouti.

Motivet

Cat Gifts

I have two cats . Both are head cases. Since my Loki left us a few weeks back, both of these fur shedders have been in my bed crying all night. I know Spencer misses Loki as they would snuggle and Loki would bath her (she however, would never reciprocate). But they made it work. Loki was the token male of the cats but was the most maternal. Go figure.

Nebbie however, is a strange one. She is actually my son's cat. He found her in a dumpster and she is gorgeous, but when he moved to Iowa years ago, he could not take her or her brother initially, so I had them both. Then they winged west for a bit. However, several moves necessitated them being broken up. I took Nebbie back and Drako (a very aggressive castrated male) went elsewhere. I lost track of where he is or if he even IS. At that time I had 5 cats. Crazy cat lady, right?

Here is Nebbie giving me the Bronx Cheer.

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This stamped image looks a bit like Nebbie. At least the fat part. She will eat the dog food, the cat food, the soft treats, the plants, plastic bags and whatever else she finds. And if it's not fresh or piled right in her bowl, she wails. I mean WAILS! Like you have cut her gut out.

I colored this image using Prismacolors and Gamsol. The layers were all scraps. This ribbon has wire in it and it does fold nicely under the layers and stays put with just some tape. Penny Black stamps just make you smile not matter what your mood. They are now available in both wood mount and acrylic but I still prefer the wood mount for the best crisp images.

A close up of the colored image.