Snowflake Tags

Recently in our Paper Traders group, Pam hosted a snowflake tag swap.  I was having so much fun with Cat Kerr's technique that I decided to try it with white paint instead of a dark color.  The result isn't quite as striking, but still pretty...

WINTER Banner Swap

I'm hosting another banner swap on Paper Traders.  This one is for Winter and is the last in a series of four banners - one for each season.  It has been a lot of fun having these hang in my studio throughout the year... I think they're just so pretty!

Below is a close-up of my banner, showing the detail of one pennant.  (Sorry for the grainy cell phone photos.)  The blue Plasticfoil background paper was a fabulous garage sale find earlier this year - I love how it looks frosty.  I added some extra shine to the chipboard letters by painting over them with some Gleams and then misting them with Starburst Stains.  I added some shiny metallic touches by threading gold cord through the lace and adding some glitter glue embellishments.

I think the end result is gorgeous, if I do say so myself  =)

Altered Puzzle Pieces

I am hosting an altered puzzle piece swap on Paper Traders - the theme is Four Seasons and these are my entries.  I followed Barb & Bevlea's technique and it was a ton of fun!  I love the glassy finish you get from the Dimensional Magic - pretty cool  =)

C-C-C-COLD!!

(This is not my photo... I found it online but I can't remember where!)

I love winter. I love snow and crisp, cold days. I love watching the seasons change and autumn brings such anticipation for the crystal-coated treat of winter.

This week, I hate winter. Mostly I hate what the extreme cold has put me through...

First, I was unable to make it to work on time one morning when my fuel line was frozen. Good advice: when sub-zero temperatures are in the forecast, add some HEET gas-line antifreeze and top off your tank - trust me, it's worth the $2 investment.

Second, when cold weather starts causing water mains to burst around town, do NOT drive through the standing water - it will coat your car's mechanical systems and freeze up in the cold weather. Another good piece of advice: don't use your parking brake in winter. My wheel wouldn't budge and I was stranded again... thank goodness it finally warmed up above freezing today and I was without a car for only one more day. (I'm immensely grateful for my wonderful home teacher and his lovely wife for coming to my rescue and taxiing me around!)

All of these things may sound like common sense to those of you who have spent your lives in cold climate areas but after living in California for 20 years, it never even occurred to me. By sharing my woes, I hope I can prevent some of you from making the same mistakes.

Aaaahh... a warmer, sunny weekend is ahead - for once I am turning my back on cold-hearted winter and embracing the sun!

Christmas Inchies

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner! Our Paper Traders group is having an Inchie House swap - with a Christmas ornament theme. I made mine out of clear plastic and sprinkled some FlowerSoft snow inside so they're like mini snow globes - the box portion is only 1-inch square! I found these tiny little nativity ornaments at Michaels and they were just the perfect size. The "thatched" roofs are covered with four different colors of brown glitter.

Anniversary Shrine

Every year around this time, our Paper Traders group makes a special project to swap. This year we are constructing mini matchbox shrines. Because this is our fourth anniversary, the theme was to use the number 4 in some way - mine, obviously, is Four Seasons. The "leaves" on the trees are made using FlowerSoft - such a cool product! The text paper I used for the background came from an old book I got at a local thrift store that was printed in 1796. I love how they used an "f" instead of an "s" like we do now.

Soul Journal Inchies

Continuing on with Sarah Whitmire's Soul Journaling prompts... Going back to yesterday's page, I trimmed out my soul armor with a gold foiling pen - it's a lot of bling, but I'm worth it =)

The next exercise was to search magazines for specific images... some were generic items, like "a bird" or "a flower" whereas others were more personal, such as "eyes the same color as yours" or "something you want (which is NOT the picture of money - LOL)"
Actually, one of the prompts was "something comfortable" which I couldn't really find any picture for... so I picked the money as "something I need to be comfortable" because, well, don't we all?

First, I made a wash of some dark purple acrylic paint (which turned out pretty light once I watered it down), then I spread it around and blotted with paper towels. When that was dry, I pasted on the inchies and applied another wash of a lighter colored paint (ochre). Lastly, Sarah had us add some words and draw around some of the inchies.

A few personal things here? Well, the "40 September" was my last birthday, the beautiful mountain scene is from right here in Colorado where I live now, the snowy branches are my "something you have" since I really appreciate having winter seasons again after living in California for twenty years. The banana bread is one of my favorites and reminds me of my grandmother; the hand represents my current round robin journal which is still winging it's way around the world; the aspen leaves are another Colorado specialty; and the purple swirl represents my favorite color (hence the purple background, too!)

Spring Snow?

I don't want to jinx it... but they're predicting over a foot of snow here tomorrow. That would be so awesome! We desperately need the moisture and our winter has been very warm and dry. Oooooh, I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter

This past winter has been so dry and hot without much of the snow and moisture we really need. I love winter and snow so it's been personally disappointing for me. The recent blizzard we had was awesome and much needed. This morning, when I woke up, I could hear the rain running down the roof and gutters and was so happy that we were getting more moisture. The forecast was for scattered rain and snow showers but no accumulation was expected... Don't you just hate it when the weatherman is wrong? In this case, not me! About 7am, the rain turned to snow - huge, wet flakes fell consistently all morning. On the way to church, the roads were already slushy with about 4 inches of melting snow. By the time I got out of church, three hours later, there was at least 6 inches on the ground and the storm was letting up. The sun didn't make it out today but it was still warm enough that most of the snow has melted off the roads and roofs... just in time to drive to work tomorrow. I'm just so grateful for the snowy surprise and the much need moisture =)

Frostnip

Yesterday we were hit with a spring blizzard... this is what my hands looked like after only two minutes in the bitter cold, wind, and blowing snow - and I was wearing mittens! That's such a lovely shade of purple, don't you think? It took 20 minutes of tucking my hands under my armpits to get the color (and feeling) to come back to the fingertips.

Holiday Wrap Up

So, my holiday road trip was both good and bad - it was wonderful to spend time with my family who I only get to see about once or, if I'm lucky, maybe twice a year; it was disappointing that it went by too fast, though! It was nice to be able to drive there and thereby take as much stuff with me (and not be limited by airline bag restrictions) as well as bring lots of good stuff back, too.

But the drive home was NOT good, by any means... I raced a snowstorm all day long and it finally caught up with me about 30 miles from my home - and then I crawled through the worst traffic I have ever seen for another FOUR HOURS! At times, I wanted to cry from frustration and exhaustion but Mom reminded (via cellphone) that someone up ahead had probably had an accident and was having a much worse day than me! Actually there were several accidents, and stalled vehicles, and slide offs, and snow plows, and it just went on and on.

All told, I spent 12 hours in the car that day - the day after I had been been soooo sick with the stomach flu... so for two days, I ate little more than crackers and 7-Up. Needless to say, going back to work the next day was very difficult - difficulty concentrating, tired, weak - and here it is mid-week and I still can't stomach anything but the most bland food.

So, I guess I had more bad to say about my trip than good but really I don't feel that way about it... it just didn't end well and I guess the ending is what sticks with you. The fun stuff included a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, a mountain drive with my Dad, arting with my mom and sister, making gourmet candy apples, celebrating two family birthdays, playing with my little niece and nephew, taking my nieces to a movie, and of course listening to my Broncos win a terrific football game!

It's hard to accept that it's already December and I have so much to do before Christmas... I don't know where I'm going to find the time to get everything done - Yikes!

Vintage Family Holidays

These are the hanging ATC's I made for Teri's "Vintage Family Holidays" swap on Paper Traders. You can barely see the ribbons behind that are the hangers for these cards, which can be used as ornaments. I was very limited with images and inspiration so I relied heavily on these gorgeous rub-ons from The Paper Studio.

SNOW!

It's snowing! It's SNOWING! IT'S SNOWING!!! I am so excited that we are getting our very first snow of the season... Woo Hoo!!! They've had some snow in the mountains already but this is the first to fall at this elevation and they're saying we could possibly get up to 3" by morning. Yippee! (Can you tell I'm excited? =)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I altered six of these postcards to represent what I love about the place that I live - SNOW! It's hard to tell from the photo, but I used fun flock over the tree, shrubs, and slope to give it a fuzzy, snowy effect. These are for a Paper Traders swap.

Ice Ice Baby

Yesterday we had freezing fog and rain and it coated everything in ice. The trees looked so pretty with each branch and tiny twig coated in ethereal light. In the afternoon, I had to run an errand and saw how prettily the trees were lit up by the emerging sun. The warming rays of the sun and the gusty breezes were causing the sheets of ice to rain down in bursts on the passing traffic below. It was really very neat although a guy in a van almost sideswiped me trying to swerve around a rush of falling ice!

Just chill!

Everyone who knows me knows that I hate the heat. I'd rather be cold over hot any day of the week. But today was one of those days to challenge my statement. I suppose, once the sun came out, that it wasn't all that bad of a day, but this morning was the coldest thing I've felt in over 20 years!

When I walked out my front door, my nostrils immediately froze. My car took four lugs of the engine before it would turn over in the cold. After scraping the frost off my car, I sat inside waiting for it to warm up and the fog of my breath was freezing to the inside of the glass. It took almost 20 minutes to get it warm enough in there that I could see through the windshield well enough to drive. On my way to work, I stopped for my morning ritual Diet Coke... when the guy handed me my cup, the lid wasn't quite all the way on and some soda dripped onto my car door and immediately froze - on the inside! Twenty-five minutes later, when I arrived at work, it was still frozen. Now that's cold!

Ever just have one of THOSE days?

I left the house early this morning because I knew the roads would be icy and traffic slow - actually, it wasn't too bad. What I didn't plan for was the 1/4" thick layer of ice on my windows that was nearly impossible to scrape off... I was actually late for work today, which I never am.

When I got in, my coworker gave me a funny look but that was about it. I went to my desk, settled in, and pulled out a mirror to touch up my lipstick - surprise! I had completely forgotten to put on makeup today. How in the world does something like that happen? As it turns out, I didn't have anything on hand except some pressed powder and my lipstick so I tried to even things out and rubbed a dab of pink on my eyelids and cheeks - passable until I could make a Walmart run on my lunch break. What a dufus I am!

Well, now I have all the (newly purchased) essentials tucked safely in my desk drawer just in case =)

Chionophilio

I am a snow lover! It is the very best thing about moving back to Colorado. Unfortunately, this winter has been very cold and too dry. Did you know that it has to be somewhat warm for it to actually snow? Well, yesterday, we got a nice wet dose of the white stuff. This is the view that I woke up to this morning (photo of Pikes Peak taken from my deck =)