Lets face it

First of all I want to thank those of you who stopped by here yesterday and reminded me that I do have something to look forward to (retirement). It's still quite a ways off for me but at least I know that there is that option waiting for me in the future.

Now on to today's post. It's something some of you have been waiting for and I have been neglecting. Yep, it's a Gibbs post.

Take it away Gibbs

Hello all my lovely blogging peeps. It has been far too long since the old lady has allowed me access to her blog. I hear the previous canine companion used to show up here all the time. What's up with that?

I'm cute, I'm funny, I'm full of pep. Why won't she let me be on the blog all the time? I'll prove how entertaining I can be. I've got some jokes for you.

What kind of dog does Dracula have?
A bloodhound

What did the skeleton say to the puppy?
Bone appetite

See how I even went with a Halloween type theme since we're almost in to October? Very clever don't you think?

Let's face it, some old people just do not know how to appreciate a good thing when they see it.

I know all of you appreciate me though and that's what really counts. Have a wooftastic day

Woe is me

If you hear strange sounds this morning it could be me kicking and screaming as I head off to work. I'll try not to cry all day long.

Even mother nature is showing her support by the rainy, cloudy, gray skies we've had.

Today I give you a panoramic view of the sky the other day when it was a little happier

Last Day

I'm going to be feeling a bit sad today for tomorrow I must return to work. I know I won't be happy when I walk in there and see all I have to take care of (SIGH)

I think some index card art is called for
For this one I painted the card (can't recall what color) and when it dried I spread a thin layer of glue over the entire thing. Before the glue dried I painted it green. As it dries the glue layer causes the top paint layer to crack.  Pretty cool huh?

If anyone was wondering where I was yesterday, well I was right here napping. Saturday we had a wedding to go to. It was an hour and a half drive each way and the reception started at 6 pm. By the time we got home I was just too tired to work on scheduling a post. I got up late Sunday and decided that a day off from everything was called for.

Another crafty project

Today I will reveal what I did with these.

Since they have a sticky side to them I used that to attach a picture. I used the same pictures I did for my canning jar lid ornaments only in a smaller size.
Then I made the same flower as my felt flower pins only using fabric instead of felt. Now they are a pin.
 In the picture it doesn't look like all of them are centered very well but it's just the way they are laying on the table.

A close up of my favorite image.

Hmmm, what shall I make next?

A few more things

Today I've got a few more things that I've been making. Apparently my crafty mojo is in full swing this month.

First up are ornaments. These are more of the images that I purchased from Lisa's altered art I glued them on to canning jar lids. The top one was the lid right out of the box and the bottom one the lid was flattened out a bit with a hammer. The top one has a glittered rim and the bottom I left it plain. Both are mounted on to two different colored felt circles. I love the look of the woman's face on the bottom one. It goes perfect with the saying

Something that always seems to sell well at craft shows are pins, or brooches, if you prefer. Every time I take some they always sell and there is usually someone asking me if I have any more. These are simple felt flowers but wouldn't they look nice on a fall jacket.

Lastly, this isn't the craft but does anyone want to take a guess as to what I used these for? I'll show you in my post tomorrow.

Magnetism

Oh my, the vacation is half over with already. At least I've gotten some stuff done. I actually cleaned the craft room. I was getting really annoyed with searching for things that I knew I had but couldn't find because everything was so unorganized. I discovered I had 3 packages of magnets. Apparently I kept thinking I was out of them and bought more. 

Well since there's magnets I may as well do something with them. I've been making the marble magnets for several shows now and they usually go very well. Then again they're only a quarter so why not. 

I decided that the price is going up on them for the next craft show. I've packaged them this time in packs of 6 for $2.00. I may still offer them as singles but for 50 cents each.

What do you think of the images I used on them?  I did something very rare. I BOUGHT the images. I came across an etsy shop called Lisa's Altered art and I couldn't resist. Her images all come as a digital download. The quality is great and the prices can't be beat. This was way easier than finding pictures and fitting them in to 1" circles. She's done all the work in her bottle cap sheets.

I also made a few more mouse trap magnets. These have also sold pretty well in the past. These are kind of on the plain side but I thought they looked nice with the papers I used

Tomorrow I'll show some other things I did. 

Peanutized

I got peanutized at peanutizeme.com

OK so it really doesn't look like me at all but it helped me to avoid doing other things like washing dishes.

Yesterday when I was out and about I happened to be driving down a country road that had no traffic and a beautiful view. I pulled over and took a picture.

When I got home I cropped it and played with it and now I like it even more

I think today I shall play in my craft room all day

Sounding like a broken record

I wonder if I used that phrase to anyone under the age of 35 if they would even know what I was talking about.

I know I'm using these index cards as the topic for my blog posts a bit often but I've made that many of them and they're the only pictures I have ready to use.

So here goes three more. Believe it or not as of this post I still have seven more after these. I'll need to make some more too so I have a good supply when I go back to work. I'm sure I'm going to need them.

Not this morning but I'm sure this one will fit me when I go back to work.

I know several rocks. Creative use of staples and paper clips. I saw this idea somewhere on line where they stapled a paper clip to the page then used the paper clip to hold something.

When I was making this one I accidentally put an ink mark down the middle of the woman's face in the picture. I wasn't going to use it but then I figured it's a vintage type picture, the pen mark wouldn't be totally out of place. Since I already had the stapler out I used it again to hold down the lace. I actually glued the lace first but it wasn't staying too well so the staples came in handy. Oh and the background for the one was the print from the green foil background I showed in this post

Like the wind

Holy smokes, I can't believe I've breezed through two whole days of vacation already and I'm starting on number three. It's going to be over with before I know it.

I am enjoying it so far though. Saturday was the fair parade that goes right by my house.

Just a few highlights, keep in mind this is a really small town.


We had clowns

There were dogs. This guy was a real sweetheart. He came over to say hello and get a few ear scritches. Gibbs was not aware of this since he was locked up in the house. Had we taken him outside with us he would have barked the entire time and drove us all mad.

This guy looks pretty proud. I wonder if he's planning on running for office.

It's not every day you see a cow carrying a man down the street.

I had more pictures but this is all I'm going with this year. I totally missed taking any pictures of the band and there were very few horses or goats in the parade this year.

The cards are on the table

And since they are I may as well use them for a blog post. I didn't get around to scheduling a post last night. I was enjoying my first full day off far too much.

This is that aluminum foil background I showed you the other day

I drew the background for this one quite a while ago and then could never find the right thing to put on it so it sat forever waiting. Finally I grabbed and said whatever goes on it goes on it.

Another aluminum foil background This time instead of starting with black paint I used a dark green. I must have forget to leave a space when I was typing out the words because at the bottom it looks like "Get it" is one word .

revovations

There is an older house down the street from me that is having major work done on it. I assume they are putting in a new bathroom. Maybe the new owners wanted a better view while they soak in the tub.

Angels among us

At 2:30 this afternoon I will be wearing a smile so big my face will think it's on the wrong body. That will be the start of my vacation. My 10 glorious days of not having to be a slave to a time clock.

In honor of the angels who helped me make it through the week I have a little craft project to share with you. One of the girls at work frequently posts things to my facebook wall. It's either a dessert idea, a snarky comment or a craft project.

Recently she posted this picture on my wall

I really liked this so I set out to make my own. I hit Dollar Tree in search of the pieces needed to make one. I couldn't find the exact same things so I made some substitutions.

Here's mine.

The head is glass but I didn't like the glass vases they had and they didn't have any clear glass plates. The vase I chose is a plastic one and the wings are plastic bowls.  I haven't tried it yet but I'm thinking this would look nice at night with some lights inside the bottom.

Gibbs did a thorough inspection and he found flaws that he wasn't happy with. He said that the bowls were in a very inconvenient position and there were no treats in them. He recommends that I make immediate alterations to this model.

Almost there

Mom asked me to take over today. She said to apologize for not blogging herself today but she's busy checking out the inside of her eyelids.

The week is almost over and she thinks she just might survive it but she said she's really getting too old for this crap.

I know that makes her sound like a bit of a grabby pants but from what I hear, that's how she gets this week. I'm watching over things around here though making sure food dishes are filled and toys are being played with.

Experimenting with foil

Yesterday I told you I have been experimenting with aluminum foil for backgrounds. I find this totally fascinating and I love the look of it.

Here is the background that I was making and used in one of my cards.

And here are a few others in various stages of completion.

How I did this (for anyone who wants to try it) I glued a doubled layer of aluminum foil to my index card. I didn't worry too much if it was stuck down real good because I took the overlalp and folded it over to the back of the card. Which side faces out doesn't really matter. Next I put the foil covered index card inside an embossing folder (the link will take you to a site that will show you what they are) and then I ran it through my cuttlebug machine to get the texture. Next I covered the entire thing with black paint and before it dried started removing some of it. I took a blank card, layed it on top and pressed. This removed paint from the foil and transferred the design to the blank card. When the black paint was dry I added various shades of metallic paint. I would paint, dab some off, paint more, dab some off until it looked just right.

You'll see these backgrounds coming up in cards real soon

Not my favorite week of the year

Today is the first day of the fair in our town. Those of you who've been with me for a while know how I feel about this week. For those of you new around here, let me tell you that this is not a fun week for me. I do a lot of baking at work this week for a few places that sell food at the fair. It's very busy, frustrating and exhausting.

That being said I think it's only fitting that I should post some more index cards today.

The background on this one is a book page. I glued it on and then ripped part of it off. Then I inked over the whole thing and stamped it randomly before gluing on the words and the picture. I finished it off by splattering a little paint on the picture.

The background on this one is torn strips of masking tape stuck to the index card randomly until it was covered. Then I inked it up a bit. I used a strip of burlap ribbon under the picture. On the picture I inked the edges then spread a little glue around the outer edge and sprinkled it with glitter.

The background from this was made purely by accident. I've been experimenting with aluminum foil (more on that later) and when I went to wipe the black paint off the foil I noticed it made a nice impression. I grabbed a blank index card and used it to remove paint from my foil. When it was dry I added various colors of inks before gluing on the words and picture. The steampunk lady was a freebie that came along with a coloring page. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the talented man who drew this.

Hooters

Today I'll show you one of those owls I'm working on for this months project.

There are two different styles.
This one

and this one

I've only done 2 like the second one and I don't like the way they look compared to the first style. I may do all the rest like the first one.

To give you an idea of their size I took a picture of one on my cutting mat

My day off

Saturday, my day off, and what did it do?

It rained

Did I let it get me down? Heck no. I got my cleaning done in the morning and then I went and made a mess in my craft room.

Even Gibbs joined me to help out with the crafting.

OK it was more like Gibbs joined me to beg me to toss the ball around but close enough.

A room with a view

Or just a view of a mushroom (or several).

I was walking through the yard one day and spotted these from a distance. At first I wasn't sure what it was and since I had Gibbs with me I was afraid it might be some dead creature that he would find appetizing.  When I realized it was a cluster of mushrooms I had to run in for the camera.

Back to the cards

After a few days off from the index cards I'm hoping you're ready for a few more of them.

The eyes on the guy in the picture look a bit creepy at the size I printed this at. When you see the regular size picture they don't look so evil.

This one got me to thinking what kind of chickens lay pickled eggs?

So very true.

Documented Life Project

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted one of these. I have had this page done for quite a while but I guess I've just been busy with all the index cards and it got put on the back burner.

August Theme
Faces, the Human Form & Characters
August 22
Art Challenge: Layered (Using Multiple Mediums)
Journal Prompt:  Speak to your younger self- what advice would you offer?

Like I told you before the theme for the month wasn't a good one for me and I really had trouble with it. On this page I didn't even include a face. I think I pretty much just slapped some stuff on the page and called it quits since it wasn't really speaking to me. I'm totally not impressed with this at all but here goes.

The flower and the glitter were apparently my attempt to dress it up a bit.