Favorite things...

One of my favorite movies is the Sound of Music and that song about her favorite things. When we really stop and think about it, our favorite things really aren't things at all.  Rather they are moments, sights, sounds, smells, nothing we can really put our hands on. So I got to thinking about this some.  Here are some of my favorite things...

Puppies because, well, who doesn't love them. But more specifically their curiosity and energy about life. The feel of their soft hair and the smell of their sweet breath. I could live without the destructive side of puppies, but I digress.

A child sleeping. They are so peaceful and look so innocent and calm. I just want to scoop them up and hold them while they sleep to absorb some of their peace and contentment. It must lower the blood pressure a few points to hold or watch a sleeping child.

The sound of falling snow. yes, it is a sound. It's a peaceful quiet that's like no other.

Voices raised in singing God's praise is a melody all its own. It's beautiful without other instruments.

Children singing. I love to hear a child sing. They are so honest in their song and uninhibited.

The smell of paper in a book; the feel of a rubber stamp in my hand; the uninhibited love of a child; the love of my husband who puts up with a whole lot from me; the smell of fresh cut grass. Anything about nature is amazing to me. There are just so many of my favorite things that I could go on and on.  Like the song says, when things are a little uncertain, just remember your favorite things. Even better, remember that God gave you your favorite things and thank Him for them.

A little organization

well, those who know me know how excited I am to actually have a defined craft space. It's very small, but I'll take what I can get. So I spent a lot of time working on how to fit things in.  First, I took over my husband's computer desk and gave him my old smaller desk. :D Then I went to work sorting out bins of accessories and stuff.  Whew! We stampers use a ton of stuff!!!! Well, after I got it all sorted in to some bins with drawers from Walmart, I realized it looked cluttered. So then, after having seen someone do this on HGTV, I thought it would be nice to take paper and make inserts in the fronts of the drawers to dress them up. I took some retired DSP that matches the decor I'm using and cut rectangles to fit inside the drawers. So now we see pretty DSP instead of a hodgepodge of this and that.  I think it turned out pretty and it was pretty inexpensive to do. The cute little pails you see at the top, I found at Michaels in their dollar bins. Perfect tool and pen holders. still a lot of work to do on this area, but this gave me quite a boost. Now to figure out a good system for stamps. Anyone?

Challenge! via local demo group

I love a good challenge. There is nothing that expands creativity more than to be restricted to meet certain criteria that someone else establishes. That may sound counter productive, but it's really not because it forces the mind to focus on a set of rules that you have to fit creativity within.  That can be challenging since we typically all do the same things over and over. So here are a few challenge cards that we did recently as part of a group challenge.

the first one is a Valentine card that uses "out of the box" colors melon mambo, pacific point, daffodil delight and one neutral. The challenge didn't require a Valentine card, but that was my additional restriction. So I have this wheel I made out of scrap pieces of rubber I've been wanting to use and it reminds me of bricks so I made a house with a round window and a window box of heart flowers.  It was really fun to make.





the second one was an inspiration challenge. When presented with a photo, the card was made by what inspired us in the photo.  My inspiration was color, naturals and a soft touch. So I chose to use cajun craze, pear pizazz, early espresso accents and very vanilla. The stamp set is Always, one of my personal favorites that I don't use near enough. The heart and the bird were stamped with early espresso ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. then I used markers and did a little watercoloring and emboss resist with the heart and the bird to get the flowers colored in. To make the very vanilla paper look like old parchment, I tore the edges and the sponged all over it with early espresso and soft suede inks.  Use a very light touch since a little goes a long way with this technique.

The last one is my personal favorite. It uses another of my favorites, Friends 24-7. This one was a sketch challenge. For the background I stamped in white craft ink and then embossed with white powder the image.  The rest is pretty straight forward. Not at all a very complex card, but a big pop for sure.

I'm back again!

It seems I disappear from here on a pretty regular basis for extended periods of time. Life can be like that.  Sometimes it's just random. Well, it's been a very long and exhausting couple of months. Life has changed so much here in such a short time. It has truly been mixtures of joy and sorrow.

We now have a place to call our own. It's a wonderful place. We all have our own space now and can enjoy each other. There are still boxes around and pictures to hang, but it all comes in time. Sadly, though, we had to say goodbye to a precious member of the family. Our dog got sick shortly before we moved and within a week he was bad enough we had to say goodbye to him. It was very hard and we still miss him a lot. It's amazing how much a pet can become like a person in your family. One day soon, though we will get another dog.

I was able to set up a space in our home office area to put my crafting/stamping stuff and it's so nice to have a mostly dedicated space for that stuff. I've even started stamping again. So that means more cards and things to share with you all.

Well, it's time to wrap it up, and hopefully it won't be 2 more months before I'm back again.  Stay warm and safe and enjoy your family and all the precious moments you have with each of them.