Cuppa Tea?

Aloha,

I think this is my last entry for the Coffee Loving Cardmaker Hop! I'm slower and slower every day. This is a tea card for yesterday or the day before, Int'l Tea Day! I super enjoyed being able to make the few cards for this hop but I'm plum worn out!!! Thank you to Amy Tsuruta for hostessing, all the sponsors, the players, and those who had the energy to comment. Me? Not so much lol. I feel as strong as one of the dust bunnies on the floor!

I love Gorguss Girls. They're so little and sweet! I colored simply with Copics, some Prismacolor Pencils, then added shading, highlights with grays and a white gel pen, Glossy Accents. The image is plain space so I added little tiny roses and dots for a chintz look for the china.

A friend works in a health food place and left me a box of these tea bags. Oh, my are they ever yummy goodness! They have rose petals, lavender (yes) and chamomile. The fragrance is out of this world. I wanted to tuck it behind the little girl because the tag on the image says "Drink Me" which is either a reference to Alice in Wonderland, or I had better attach something drinkable to this card LOL!!! This kind of card would be fun to make for Get Well Cards or just a cold-weather thinking of you card. You could add a container of hot cocoa, ground coffee, teas or AHEM, a little bottle of tiny alcohol that they sell, like shot bottles. Just trying to be creative!

I stamped the pattern paper with a cursive background and embossed with clear powder. It's subtle but as you shift the card in the light, the shimmery goodness shines through. And another week is about over. I wish we could slow turning the pages on the calendar! May your weekends be filled with the aromas of baking cookies and intricate teas!

Stamp Set: "Sweet Tea" by Santoro Gorjuss Girl in UK; cursive background MFT
Cardstock: GKD 120# white, Ocean Mist, and the DP is from stash
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black (stamping); Copic markers and Prismacolor Pencils for coloring
VersaMark and Clear Embossing Powder (background)
Pink and White twine by SU
Fun Foam; Signo White Gel Pen; Glossy Accents

With aloha and many thanks ♥

Cocoa Cuddles and Lake Quinault

Aloha! How is your week?

I understand that winter is making its presence known in many parts of the north. I think snow is incredibly beautiful but it's SO COLD! We used to vacation at Lake Quinault Lodge in the Olympic Rain Forest in northwestern Washington State at the end of the year. They had the largest open fireplace I had ever seen. I could pretty much walk right in without bending over! The lodge was very old, well kept up, and you could sense the decades of enjoyment people spent there. Here is a picture of where we took the kids at least once per year while we lived on the mainland (see below).

This side faces the lake. The entrance and street is on the back side. See the center of the lodge? The second floor windows to the left of the large chimney in the center are the rooms we used to rent. The kids loved it here. The wood floors and stairway were carpeted but would creak a bit when we walked because of the age. The doors, windows, finish work, wood moldings, door knobs (I have a THING for antique glass door knobs), sinks, floor tiles, tubs - everything in the main bldg were antiques! You can't see in the pic, but because of its popularity, they have added a large 2 story modern hotel, and they have smaller cottages you can rent. They have an indoor pool, hot tub and fun activities. We would usually spend part of December here when it was typically peaceful, void of tourists! Stepping inside takes you back to about the 1920s, and so gorgeous. It's is surrounded by mountains, the lake, waterfalls, wooded trails and a river where we saw THE most bald eagles in one spot that we have ever seen in our entire lives. They were feasting on a salmon run. There must have been about 200 of them soaring and diving into the river! Ah, memories!

The mantle over the fireplace is higher than my head (I'm 5 foot 2 inches). This great room is filled with leather comfy sofas, chairs, tables, chess games and large windows looking out over the greenery of the woods, sloping lawn to the lake and loons. In the early mornings a soft fog is settled on the water and burns off by mid morning.

A peek at a small part of the enormous lobby:

Walking along the lake:

In the Olympic National Rain Forest ♥ about 1-1/2 hour drive west of Seattle and the Cascade Mountain Range. You can see these mountains from the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia across the waters of Puget Sound. Another range (Cascades which have the mega mtns) are east of Seattle and Tacoma. It's a heavenly land.

For more incredible pictures of Lake Quinault Lodge, just click HERE.


Whoops, my card lol! I found a free coloring page digi of a cocoa mug with a happy face on it. Of course, I am late for the Coffee Challenge and National Cocoa Day! But here it is. I colored it with some Copic Markers, Sakura metallic gel pens and highlighted it with Diamond Stickles.

I used the Stampin' Up Alphabet Rotary Stamper. You can create your own words and a few cute images like the mini heart at the end. For the word "Cocoa," I used a Memento Cocoa Brown Brush Tip marker. I just didn't feel well enough to get up and search for a stamp and definitely not to get cardstock and print it. Ugh. More tough days for Bruce and for me healthwise. It's no worse than many of you, but keeping me in bed so much. Makes me feel very empathetic for others who live with chronic health and pain problems ♥

Here is the free digi I found. Right click on it and "save as" to your digi folder ;D Next time I draw a sentiment or something, I will try really hard to remember to scan, post it and give it away for free. Sorry - I forgot this time.

Cardstock: GKD 120# white; chocolate brown, turquoise sea Neenah 80# white; DP by GKD (snow print)

SB Oval and Opulent Opal dies

SU manual alphabet/numeric giant stamper 

Copic Markers; Memento Markers, Sakura Metallic Gel Pens

Diamond Stickles; adhesive foam; corner rounder

Mahalo for coming by, for sharing your love

and peeking at one of our fav places to stay!

Aloha ♥

Arctic Anniversary

Aloha!

Still trying to catch up on anniversary cards here. This one gives me shivers lol! I used a silver thread to tie all the fish catch together and onto his fishing pole for their anniversary dinner. They are having extra hot lattes to warm them up. I used two embossing folders on a piece of shimmer vellum for the background: snow flakes for the top part and ocean waves for the bottom. Lots of fussy cutting, sketching the iceberg, edging all the pieces with Memento black marker.

To be entered into the Paper Smooches Winter Card Challenge for December. 

It's also Day 4 (but I'm on Day 3) of the Coffee Loving Cardmaker Winter Blog Hop and this will be entered into that, too. #winter2016clh

Stamp Sets: "Chilly Chums (penguins)," "Sentiment Sampler," and "Surf 'n Turf (all the fish and sea horse)" both by Paper Smooches; "Kelly's Seattle" by Hero Arts (for the coffee cups)

Cardstock: GKD 120# base white, Neenah 80# white, Shimmer Vellum, SU silver
Inks: /GKD Black Onyx (for the solid blacks of the penguins); Memento Bahama Blue, Summer Sky, Sweet Plum and Angel Pink blended (1st layer behind the vellum), Memento markers and Sakura Metallic Gel Pens for coloring images, Copic Marker B000 for the ice berg shadow; E35 fishing pole
Embossing Folders: Darice Snowflakes, SB Waves
Silver Metallic Thread (fishing line)
Diamond Stickles (for the sparkly ice, water, snowflakes)
Glossy Accents (over everyone's eyeballs and penguin feet)
PPP clear sequins 4 and 6 mm
Fiskar's Star Punch; DMC Silver Thread (fishing pole and fish)
Liquid Applique on puff hat ball with Stickles over that
Pink Rhinestone; Adhesive Foam in black, Dries Clear Adhesive, Scor Tape
Oh, and a cut off toothpick (un-used) colored with a Copic E35 for his fishing pole :D

Mahalo for stopping by!

With Aloha ♥

Cold Weather Coffee

Aloha!

Day 2 of Coffee Loving Cardmakers Winter Blog Hop!

I will keep this as simple as possible :)

Besides the mega fun coffee blog hop, I would like to enter this into the Your Next Stamp Sketch Challenge. But they also include a Color portion of the challenge: Brown, tan, silver, white, green and blue. So this card incorporates the sketch AND the colors lol!!!

Stamp Sets: Your Next Stamp "Ellie Loves Lattes" and "Polar Pals" by Avery Elle (the snowflakes)
Cardstock: GKD 120# White, Neenah 80# white, Silver Mirror by SU
Pattern Paper by Jillibean Soup "Winter Tortellini & Spinach Soup"
Inks: Copic Markers, Sakura Metallic Gel Pens, Signo White Gel Pen, Memento Black Marker, GKD and Hero Arts Blue inks, VersaMark Embossing Ink
Ranger Silver Tinsel Embossing Powder
Dies: SB Circle, Lacy Scallop Circle, SSS Stitched Circle, SB Edgeabilities "Classic Petals," and Cheery Lynn "Allison's Ribbons" Dies
SU aqua button tied with burlap twine
Fiskars Heart Punch
Diamond Stickles (on her gray leggings ;)
Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops "Neptune" (earrings)

I tried to give this little girl an "arctic" flavor to her so put her in mukluks boots, laced them up, sparkly tights, and a darker skin / hair tone. It's so cold there her nose is red! Enjoy!!

I hope your week is filled with hot coffee,

friends and stamps!

With aloha ♥

Coffee With Friends

Aloha! I'm on my phone while awaiting a new laptop charger which means I have no recollection how I've blogged with the iPhone before. I guess if you use your phone often, you can remember the steps to post. Please bear with me? I also had another wrist injected yesterday and am typing with one finger. Please hug me and have a beer with me.

You've probably heard about the Coffee Loving cardmakers Blog event going on now. Click on the link and play along!!

Coffee Lovers Cardmaking Blog Hop

For this coffee card I used 3 stamp sets by Gina K. Designs. Don't you love to combine sets in new ways? It's a simple card of stamping, coloring in monotone, and easy fussy cutting.


Stamp Sets: Three sets by Gina K. Designs-- "Warm Woolen Mittens," Girl Talk," and "Coffee Therapy"
Inks GKD Blue Denim, Hero Arts Pastel Blue, Memento Tuxedo Black (images and edging), and Copic Blues and Browns, Sakura Metallic gel pens in Blues
Cardstock GKD White 120# (base) and Neenah White 80# (images), SU Silver Foil Doily
White Fun Foam (under Girl image square) foam dye (under coffee mug)
Stickles "Diamond" glitter glue, Wink of Stella Clear glitter brush, Dries Clear liquid adhesive
Sequins by Pretty Pink Posh (3mm and mini clear)
Dew Drop Silver large and medium drops
Glossy Accents (eye glasses)
MISTI (cause I can't line anything up to save my neck)

Day #1

Mahalo for stopping by, being patient with my rusted old body,

and for sharing your kindness here and everywhere ♥

Aloha!