Jukeboxes and Elvis?

 Aloha friends,

The theme this month at Splitcoaststampers is Jukebox. Jukeboxes remind me of the 50s-70s when we had to pay a nickel (or more) to hear our favorite songs at restaurants or other public establishments. At home we would listen to the radio or play a record that we bought. I was happy when they replaced 8 tracks with cassette tapes. Music CDs came and went. Now people just stream from somewhere out there? That's a song, too.

The number one song ever played on a jukebox was Elvis Presley's Hound Dog. I had no idea. 

When we used to live in central Oregon, we often drove over the Santiam Pass or over Highway 2 next to Mount Hood. It's so breathtaking! The Santiam Highway runs along the river with trees and mountains on both sides of the road. I have a lot of fond memories of the Cascade Mountains. Although we didn't have a diner along the road there, I do remember eating at diners on the east coast. 

After sketching the background, I stamped the dog and used Copic markers to color the scene. His giant bone is popped up with the little red bow. The sentiment is printed and popped up. Thank you for coming by. PS I'm now a Dirty Girl at SCS. 

Stamp: "Doggie Kisses" by Art Impressions (the doggie)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (for the doggie)

Cardstock: Accent White Opaque 120#, SMS Black 80#, GKD Cherry Red 80#

Rounded Rectangle die from SMS (sentiment)

Pencil & Copic Markers

Adhesive Foam Tape

Red Twine

Stickles Diamond & Wink of Stella

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your visits and comments!

A Quiet Bay

 Aloha!

I made this for my sweet hubby, Bruce, for our anniversary this year. He loves to fish and to be on the ocean. Each year I try and include a poem about the ocean and faith. Nope, not going to share 😂

It's very simple and quiet - I didn't add bling or anything just to let the ship be the focus. I hope each one of you is doing well!

Stamp Set: The Boatyard by Art Impressions

Cardstock: Accent Opaque White Cardstock; Sizzix Opulent - Greys

Ink: Memento Desert Sand

Watercolors: Koi; Tombow markers (dark contrast and sea gulls)

Stitched Rectangle and Oval dies: Gina Marie

ScorTape and Wink of Stella clear

Thank you for visiting! 

Spring Watercolor

Aloha dear ones,

Art Impressions is having a challenge to Watercolor!

Well, I messed one up pretty good last week. There was no saving it and no "2nd side" for that poor little thing, so into the garbage it went. I don't have many AI floral stamps but I have some with the "big butts" that you stick to the wobbler thingeys.  I just couldn't see watercoloring a butt and having it wobble in someone's face. But I have a few sprigs of flower and twigs and gave it another try.

If you use a teensy wet paint brush, you know - squeeze the water out and use a damp brush on the painted images - well, I got away with using GKD 80# cardstock! Yes, really! It didn't swell or pill. I also stamped the stamp, then dabbed water onto the stamp prior to stamping - sort of like spritzing with water before stamping. That way you don't need much water other than to spread the color around once it is stamped.

The two little birds are just sketched in with color pencils, which is TOO intense. I have to try and remember to use a lighter hand when using Derwent "Inktense" pencils. I also might look for a StazOn in much lighter shade for watercoloring because the basket stands out too much.


Stamp Sets: Art Impressions "Spring Basket" and "Blooming Birdhouse;" Sentiiment by Sweet 'n Sassy "Celebrating Milestones"
Cardstock: GKD 80# ivory for the image; 120# ivory for card; Passionate Pink for frame
Inks: StazOn Black (basket), Memento Ink Lilac Posies for flowers and sentiment; Distress Inks for twigs and Memento London Fog for the basket and shadow
Derwent Watercolor Pencils (for the birds)
Dies: Gina Marie Inverted Scallop Rectangle Frames
Wink of Stella Clear (over the birds)
Nuvo Clear Crystal Drops (well, we can't see those but they're on the ivory background LOL)

Mahalo for stopping by & for leaving your encouragement!

With aloha ♥

Watercolor Autumn

Aloha friends!

My posts are getting more sporadic as our lives get more unpredictable with not knowing when we are moving, all the sorting and throwing stuff out, and so on. But the last box I want to pack is the coloring supplies lol.

I made this "TriFold" card for the last Art Impressions challenge and missed it by a mile!!! So I'll post anyway -- hope you have a wonder-filled autumn weekend!


Stamp Set: Art Impressions "Harvest"
Card: Canson Watercolor Bristol (smooth as a baby's behind!)
Watercolors: Gansai Tambi
with a touch of Prismacolor Pencils
GKD Tomato Soup Cardstock layer
3D Crystal Lacquer (over the Concord grapes)
Liquid Pearls "Cantaloupe"

This is the tri-fold card closed--

This is the card with the left side opened -- 

(I stamped the top line of the sentiment here by taping half off the stamp)

Tri-fold card fully open, second half of sentiment stamped --

Thank you for stopping by 

and leaving some love!!!

Aloha ♥

My Hero, a Weekend Warrior Bandit

Aloha!

We are remodeling (well, Bruce is) our home. 1 wall is pretty much off the house and tarps, sheets hang down to keep a few of the bugs out (not working). At least today Bruce is finishing the front entrance flooring so we won't have to use a ladder to get into and out of the house (whew, I hate ladders). Bruce is trying to get as much as he can done during the month off from work. Poor guy. He'll be 79 this year. I wish I could get up and help him like years ago when we worked on homes as a team, and I loved to landscape, even pull weeds :)  Yup, weeding was therapy, went by quickly and my mind cleared like the weeds I pulled. Now? Cardmaking is my speed, and slow at that.

You know, I can't help but gush over my main man - Bruce, I love you and don't know what words to say how much. You've taught me everything about building and doing-it-yourself whenever possible. I am posting pics on FaceBook as Bruce goes through all the process of moving the front door, building a new entrance porch, ripping out and installing a new kitchen, then tearing off and re-roofing the house and garage. As you can imagine, prayers are fervent on this end. With his age, Hawai'ian heat, and a pacemaker, my baby is at the top of my concerns. And as always, much love to all of you, too ♥

Entered into Art Impressions Slide On By Challenge

Stamp Set: Art Impressions "Weekend Warrior"
Inks: Memento inks (direct to embossing, bushes and grass in scene) and Copic Markers (all the house planks behind him are Copic markers with nails from Sakura navy gel pen)
Cardstock: GKD Sand, American Crafts dark brown & Neenah Solar White
Dies: SB circles and Tim Holtz tag dies; SU circle punch
Perfect Pearls in black, Woodgrain embossing folder, lots of adhesive foam (had no clue how to engineer this slider) and sketched in the house and flowers for the scene. Sakura navy gel pen and 3D Crystal Lacquer. His tools are colored to be DeWalt and his hat was supposed to be like a Home Depot hat. Add some lines on the shirt to make it plaid-like. Twine SU Crumb Cake (I think).

 The "card" is a shallow box, so I wrote a note on the back)

Open (Bruce was tickled and laughed when he pulled the image out==success!)

Thank you for coming by!!

Much aloha to each of you ♥

Our 23rd Anniversary - A Spinning Good Time

Hi there friends,

Yesterday was our 23rd anniversary. Bruce really pours on the romance and we feasted, exchanged gifts and this is the card I made for him. It took 3 tries with multiple surgeries to get this baby spinning and not sagging. No matter how much tape and glue I used, the weight of the two-sided 80# card layers caused the silver string to pull out from the top. ARGH - hair pulling ensued. And yup, there is a boo boo in coloring but I'm not going to fret about this card anymore. Hey, it's handmade, not perfection.

The third card later, I figured out how to create a spinner without the strings loosening, not even a millimeter. The trick? Add little squares of chipboard above and below the negative space where the image will spin. Before adhering the chipboard squares, poke a hole thru the centers. Take the string and thread it through both holes. Tie a gigantic knot on the opposite side of the chipboard holes to prevent the string from sliding back through. Tape that baby like there's no tomorrow. Add lots of glue and / or adhesive right at the edge of cardstock where the strings emerge just in case there is slippage (but there won't be now). See the last picture because I sketched out how to keep this image from sagging out of the card. I even hand punched a mini flower and glued it to the back of her hair, with Perfect Pearl dot in the center because Hawai'i ♥ And I put a bit of Wink of Stella to her pants, eye shadow and lipstick and Ranger Stickles in Diamonds to her shoes. I even created gold circle hoop earrings on both sides by drawing with Liquid Pearls Buttercup! I drew lines down the man's shirt with a marker and used Ranger Pico White drops for polka dots on her top lol! Boy, was this a blast!!!

Happy Anniversary to my sweetheart. I didn't post on FB because a dear friend just lost her hubby to cancer a few days ago. I just couldn't post our joy during her loss. So I'll just keep it quiet here ♥

Stamp Set: "Love Spinner" by Art Impressions
Cardstock by GKD
Inks: Copic Markers
Spellbinder Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies; Cross-stitch Label Dies by Gina Marie
Paper and Cardstock: GKD
Minc Machine gold foiling for sentiment
Thread: Silver Metallic by DMC
Wink of Stella clear, Stickles Diamonds, Ranger White Enamel Accent liquid, Perfect Pearl Buttercup
All kinds of Scor Tape, Adhesive Runner Tape, Liquid Glue (short of welding and stapling)

Front

Back 

Fool Proof, Sag Proof, Spinners

More instructions in description above

Forgotten Voyages

This is a beautiful Art Impressions stamp that I fell in love with. I am drawn to the isolation of the place this boat came to rest, the loneliness - lack of people, birds, even foliage. I imagine the wind blowing and the faint crashes of waves farther out, perhaps a sea gull crying in the distance - hear it? I kept the card monotones of grays which reminds me of living in the Pacific Northwest -- where I think I saw every shade of gray in the sky there could possibly be.

It doesn't appear that this vessel is going anywhere soon, so it doesn't really need the anchor charm I tied to the center of the black twine. But it needed a sparkle without being over the top.

 

Thank you so much for coming in, and taking a look! I appreciate you each of you!