Happy Anniversary Baby!

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted to my blog and it is hard to keep up these days! I see I have lost a few followers and that is sad, but unfortunately, there is not much that I can do to keep actively blogging at the moment. There has just been so much going on and time is very limited, but I am trying the best that I can, so I hope you will stick with me over the next couple of months. I do apologize for lack of visits and only the occasional blog post, but I do see what most of you create and especially on Facebook. OK, well today I am sharing an anniversary tag for my hubby that I created using a variety of stamps from Artistic Outpost. We have reached the 33 year point in our lives and I have got to tell you that I am so incredibly blessed to have not only my best friend at my side, but that today is his last day of work! He is retired! Not sure what he will do!

I took a kraft tag background and used the music sheet from "Ephemera Backgrounds" which was clear embossed. Next I placed Tim's time stencil over the tag and inked over that in Black Soot. The frame from "Chalk It Up" was stamped in Coffee Archival and fussy cut. All remaining images were stamped in Black Archival and a slight amount of color was added to the "Flapper Fashions" gal. I think the sentiment from "Typography" is perfect for my hubby. Added a few stencil hearts and some dyed ribbon and "Life is Good."

To update all of you, we now have a house in Wisconsin (so two at the moment and now you can understand the lack of time), I apparently had/have the flu (but getting there) and now with Steve all retired, I am looking forward to a more relaxing never going to get up at 4:30 AM again life! I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the soon to be spring season! Thank you so much for sticking with me and visiting today!

Books Blog Hop at Artistic Outpost

The February blog hop theme is "Books" at Artistic Outpost and with so many lovely stamps sets that fit the theme, I decided to add to my newly started Travel Journal with a couple of pages! For more inspiration and great art, be sure to visit all of the talented DT.

Terry (me), Shari, Tracy, Gerrie, Kate, Lisa

I have already admitted that I am on shaky ground where journaling is concerned and am not sure what I am doing. For this being my journal with my life, I decided to go with the flow and make it mine and in my style. Over Valentine's Day we went to Portland, OR where my daughter and grandson now live. Not that February is the time of year to visit the City of Roses (and lots of rain), but Holly's birthday is also in that month and that weekend worked out for all of us. As it turned out, the weather was totally gorgeous with no rain at all!

The background started with painting on  Distress Stains (Broken China, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain) and spritzing water to blend. Next I added texture using modeling paste and also Distress inks through various stencils.

Using the Airplane from Industrial Backgrounds our flight begins and using various words from Huck Finn, so appropriate for traveling, where stamped in Black Archival.

I cut apart the Alpha block stamp letters from the Secretary Pool for PORTLAND. Next to finish the on route page, I painted the Alpha Part, added some rubs, colored and cracked my world!

The next page was designed for our arrival.

The roses were cut from Tim's Wallflower paper, fussy cut and crackled as after all Portland is the City of Roses.

The tickets were cut, inked and I added some Broken China through a stencil. The sentiment is from the Typography collection.

When in Portland there are many wonderful restaurants and using the new release The Baker, I stamped her on a 7 Gypsies tag, which of course was inked first and stamped in Coffee Archival. I water colored in some of pans for interest. I wanted her to pop a little, so kept ink away from her and the bread dough. 

On the back I will note the restaurants we did visit. 

Finished it off with a few butterflies and a lattice trim stained and crackled. 

Hope you enjoyed my little travel journal piece and I do thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

The Meeting!

Hello to all of you lovely people! Today is about friendship and mostly the ones we make though our little blogging world. I also am sharing the card below at Artistic Outpost if you would like to have a closer look and more details. Another blast from the past!

Now onto the "meeting" with my dear friend, Brenda! This is our third year of meeting and we became friends almost instantly in 2010 when we both became bloggers and connected via Gingersnap Creations at that time, I do believe! There were a few of us who started blogging around the same time and none of us ever thought of design teams or any thing of the sort! It just kind of happens as the natural course!

Here we are at Michael's, doing what we crafters do best!  There is a little bit of a funny story to add as Brenda and Ken were driving up from Garden Grove where they were staying with longtime friends. We were driving from the High Desert of Antelope Valley and I had sent Brenda our mobile numbers, but silly me never thought to get one they might be using! Well we got caught in traffic and it must have been an accident and in the Los Angeles area that can be really bad news. Well my phone was totally not behaving and not keeping a charge, so I rushed to FB to leave Brenda a message that we would be late and of course not thinking she has no WiFi or way to actually check her message! Duh, Duh, Duh! Then my phone is so getting ready to die and as luck would have it, Brenda calls! At that point we were only a few minutes away and they also were caught up in a little traffic, so all worked out and we had a great time!

Steve and Ken having quite the conversation while we were shopping! Brenda and I thought they sure had a lot to talk about and in fact they may have been more chatty that us!!! What a great feeling knowing they get along so well.

From Michael's we went on to share a meal at the Olive Garden, before heading off to JoAnn's Fabric and Crafts store. We actually did not go overboard with shopping as we did the first time we met! I am looking at Ken and Brenda at Steve. We never knew who to look at during the photo shoot!

And to balance the photo taken in the shade, here is one in the sun! It was a short visit, but we all still had a great time and even squeezed in a little coffee time, before heading back to our destinations! I know Brenda will be sharing more photos and I will have to check my hubby's phone camera as well. We were a little busy having fun, but did manage a few photos!

Our little blogging world becomes so much more real when we actually meet and share the stories of the other bloggers we have met and now are friends with IRL! So many of you I feel as if I have known for so long and I am blessed and more blessed as time allows the more personal touch! Oh and yes, Brenda gave me many UK hugs from so many of my DT Sisters and friends! I sure hope to meet you all one day! Thank you for sharing this visit with me and I hope your day is wonderful!

Happy Anniversary!

Good Wednesday to you all and thank you for stopping by on this very special day! It is our 31st anniversary and I am pretty excited! 31 years is a long time to spend with someone and you actually can't hardly remember a time they weren't there! Looking back on when we met, we were actually young adults (28 and 31) and so often we both wonder where did the time go? And while on the subject of "Tick Tock," this is perfect timing for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! Will also share this with Frilly and Funkie's, "Stencils and Texture" and Inspiration Journal's "Splash of Color."

This is a taggy kind of card I made for my hubby and of course I wanted to keep it in a manly theme, no flowers for my guy! The stamps I used are all Artistic Outpost, Apothecary, SteamPunk, Typography and Whimsical Melange. Since Wednesday is my day to share at Artistic Outpost, you can find all the details and more photos over there in my DT post! So stop on over HERE and remember the new March Referral is in full swing!

Have a great day and be sure to stop by on FRIDAY! I am going to spend some quality time with my hubby today. Thank you again for taking the time to visit and comment!

Every Little Thing!

How are you all doing today and thank you for joining Artistic Outpost's February Blog Hop. Again it is a Designers Choice and you will want to visit the rest of the DT!

 Lisa, Suzanne, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry (Me), Kate

I decided to go with softer colors or at least for me and was looking for something to encourage Spring! So much of the country and world are just battling this Winter and thus an encouraging "Typography" sentiment. This was stamped in Sepia and clear embossed. The little vines are from the "Hayride" collection and also embossed. The sentiment background was Distress inked. The arch frame and back panel were embossed together and shaded. I colored a few flowers to fill in some empty space, but still keeping it fairly simple for mailing! Will link this up to "Show It With Words" at Inspiration Journal.

 

Enjoy the rest of the week and there is still a little time to join in the February Referral Program for a chance at a gift certificate or Top 3.

A First!

Yes this is my first attempt at a journal page! I will admit that I am clueless as to what a journal is and that may be, because I just am not a journaling type person! The odd thing is that this page was started months back with the stenciling, glass beads and mesh! All painted white and left blank!!  Since Astrid (who is nearing 2,000 followers and has a giveaway), started her Positivity Journal, I really liked the idea and have wanted to start! So a few days ago, I decided to spray on some color!

A Little Bright From Mr. Sun!

Well once we played with our colors, toning it down with White Linen, misting with water and letting it drip and blend a bit, I let it dry and then highlighted with Treasure Gold White Fire. Then a girl has to figure out what on earth she will put down! I am very open to any suggestions - really!

The thought of Spring crossed my mind and I grabbed the "Birds of A Feather" lovely stamps.

I knew I wanted to use a POSITIVE sentiment from Artistic Outpost and so it was. The sentiment was stamped on manila card stock with clear embossing ink and clear embossing, inked, splattered with water and dressed with gold! I then ironed away the EP and further inked a little. This is being linked to Inspiration Journal's "Show It With Words" for their February challenge!

A little lace and flowers with more glass beads were added to finish. This is the start of a new month and that also means a new "Monthly Referral Program" at AO, so join in!

Many thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are enjoying the week! Oh and the winner of my stamp set giveaway is, by random folded paper in a cup drawing........

Life Is Good!

We are "journaling" at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this fun theme was chosen by Ellie!  Now I don't really journal, so run over and check out what inspiration my "journaling" DT Sisters have for you!  There will be a random draw for a prize of $20 from Flonzcraft.  Here is my attempt!  Oh and we have a very special guest designer, Kate Crane, so stop by and give a hello!

First I started with my background "YIKES."  It was sprayed and thinned with water, sponged here and there over a piece of mesh.  Pulled out a couple of stencils and played around, added paint through some leaves.  Sponges on some Distress ink!  Never quite knowing what I was doing, but when I thought I was happy and enough was enough, we went on to the little sweeties from Artistic Outpost and if you use their stamps, link your project up to the Monthly Referral Program.

The girls were stamped with Black Archival and colored using Dylusions Spray and a water brush.  For the skin tone, I used Tattered Rose! 

The mesh (not in the photo) is what gave some of the texture in the background and I just sprayed over that with the brown.  Not sure if I did this correctly, but I did it!  Hope to see you join in the "journaling" challenge at FSC! 

Linking this up to:
Bloggers Challenge:  Backgrounds
Simon Says Stamp and Show:  A Very Strict Challenge
Inspiration Journal:  Marvelous Masks & Spectacular Stencils

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Stamps:  Artistic Outpost, Birds of a Feather, Typography