Another snowstorm

The Farmer's Almanac predicted this would be a snowy winter, and they were right. Woke up to a winter wonderland of white. Actually, it is pretty, but that is all I can say about another snowstorm. I am so tired of the white stuff, and it is still January.   Everything under the white stuff is covered in ice. Earlier in the storm we had a slushy rain so the snowfall wasn't as bad as it could have been. I went out with a yardstick, and measured 11 inches of the new snow on top of the crusted old snow from the last storm.
Here are a few photos I snapped when I got up this morning.
Pesky squirrels eating at the Akers bird cafe. I have counted 8 squirrels on/around the  mountain ash tree where my bird feeders are at one time, but most will scatter when they hear the door open.

spruce tree in back yard

my erosion bundle covered in snow.

P.S..The sun is now shining brightly, the roads have been plowed and so has our driveway. I took a walk and snapped some more photos. The photos don't show how pretty the snow on the bare tree branches really are in the woods around the yard.  With the sun shining on the snow it looks like millions of diamonds twinkling.

    the stray male kitty I have been feeding since last spring. I wish he would come inside the house as I would love to have him. I gave him the name Mittens, as he has white feet. Mittens gets along really well with my kitty, Fluffpuff.

my male kitty, Fluffpuff sitting in the Mountain Ash tree in the front yard.

Procrastination

Do you procrastinate? Unfortunately,  this is a very bad habit of mine. I always tell myself that I'm not going to do it anymore, but somehow I always manage to.
In December, I signed up for a 12 month 4 x 4 swap on An Affair with Art, yahoo group. The swap- All in a Years time. I chose the month of December. There were enough sign ups for 2 groups of twelve, and each participant picked a month to create their 12  4 x 4's. The due date is January 29th. We will each end up with  a piece of art (4 x 4) from all 12 participants January thru December.
I had an idea in the back of my mind of what I wanted to do, but I couldn't find the items in my messy craft room to go with the original idea. So, I kept putting off making my swap  pieces.                                                                                                                               
With the due date fast approaching I couldn't put off making my 4 x 4's any longer.  This morning I cut my papers and got to work on my simply done 4 x 4 's.  The 4 x 4's I created aren't all the same, and the backs are different too.
  I hurried to take photo's of my pieces and get the swap packaged up so I could take it to the post office to be mailed out priority mail today. I knew that we were going to get another snowstorm today, and since I had been busy making my swap pieces I hadn't looked outside. When I did, I noticed that it had started to snow a lot earlier than the weathermen had predicted. The snow was really coming down fast and heavy. I just took it real slow as I drove to Wareham to mail off my package. The highway was fine, but the side roads were extremely slippery. With this snowstorm we are suppose to get another 8-10 inches of the white stuff. :-(

Here are a sampling of the back of my 4 x 4's





Here are my New Year 4 x 4's that I did for a swap another swap for AAWA. I mailed these out to Cher and Claudia.


Now, I've had enough with Christmas and it is time to move on to other things. I am now working on some Valentine's. I cut out hearts with my Big Kick with a new die that I bought with a 50% off coupon. I think I will sew the hearts to my card stock. Not sure if I will make 4 x 4's or Artist trading cards.

Hit counter for my blog has over 10,000 views..Another giveaway

I started my blog on 2/9/2010 and I had no idea that I would enjoy the blogging world so much. To my amazement this morning I noticed that my blog has had over 10,000 views in a little less than a years time.
So, to all of you who have visited...I will be offering another little giveaway as a way of saying thank you.
If you are a stamper or create art using paper, a scrapbooker or if you are into fabrics. Just leave a comment and be sure to mention what you like best.... paper crafting, scrapbooking or sewing/fabrics.
 The winner will receive a package accordingly. Thanks again to all who are followers of my blog and to those of you who have taken the time to visit my little corner of the blogging world.

 For the fabric lovers: a sampling of many different fabrics pieces. Several felt die cut flowers in the following colors- turquoise, mauve, red, dk. green, light green, black, yellow. Buttons,  an open heart shaped Laurel Birch label to use on quilts or whatever.

Stamper/papercrafter pack: A brand new Stamper's Anonymous rubber stamp, 4 heavy white glitter fence cut outs from Tim Holtz's fence die, assort tags and pocket, a metal key sticker embellishment, silk flower embellishments, folded cards and envelopes, fabric, felt and glitter die cut flowers. I still have a few more items to dig out to add to this package.

                                                                                                                                                                          

Just need to add photo of scrapbook items.

Good Morning Bloggers

Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning, but the  good news is that the sun is shining brightly this morning. Have to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts as we are due for more snow and rain tonight. I have had enough of snow and cold weather. How about you? I am so wishing it was spring.
My husband, Tom and I are celebrating our 43rd wedding anniversary today. Wow, I just don't how the years have flown by so quickly.  We will be going out to supper to our favorite seafood restaurant tonight.  Bailey's on Rte. 28 in Wareham. Tom will probably get blackened swordfish, and I will get the yummy crab cakes and the most wonderful clam cakes. We always get the same thing. If you are ever heading to Cape Cod you should stop and try Bailey's clam cakes.
Well, I mentioned before that I would announce the winner of the winner of my quick turnaround snow themed giveaway.  The winner of the giveaway is Diann.                                                                   Diann, I hope you will enjoy all the goodies.  Thanks to all that left comments. I will be having another giveaway next month. Also, I will probably have a little giveaway for the 10,000th visit to my blog which is fast approaching. So stay tuned.
Wishing you all a wonderful day.

My Erosion Bundle Project

What is an Erosion bundle?
The idea is to create an artistic bundle made from materials of your choice and then you hang it outside in a tree, bury it in the ground or just place the bundle somewhere outside to be affected by all elements of Mother Nature.  This is an experiment in decay and decomposition and to see what happens to the things you placed inside the bundle. When the bundle is taken down you get to see what Mother Nature has done to the items you included in your bundle. What you put in the bundle is up to you, but keep in mind that you are going to use the items in art projects. You can do a google search on Erosion bundles and you will find many sites with photos of what others put in their bundles and the art they created with the contents after the bundle was taken down.
I was late in getting my bundle put together and taken outside. I didn't get anything done earlier in the month, because I had been so sick. Now that I am feeling so much better I gathered lots of items for my bundle and put it together.
The bundles are usually hung outside January 1st and taken down April 15th. I may just leave mine up a tad longer due to the fact that I didn't get it hung out when it was suppose to.
I added fabric, ribbon, lace, coffee grounds that I left in the filter but put a piece of blue netting around the filter. Leaves, screws, nails, washers, bottle caps, penny, a few vintage cotton/lace doilies, used dryer sheets, red paper heart doily, tag, playing card, dress pattern, decorative napkin, metal buttons, silk flowers, handmade paper, and kraft paper, suede, white wool, leather disc, and of course some  cranberries and a small stick. I meant to include some onion skins, but they were mistakenly left out, and I didn't want to rewrap everything.   I wrapped everything in a piece of muslin and then put the package inside of a net bag that oranges had come in to hang outside. Since this was my first erosion bundle I don't know if I put in too much stuff or not. I am hoping for the best.

Below are some photos of the items I used.



bundle of items wrapped in muslin
 
First I hung the net bag from a hook on the under hang of the roof, but decided it was some what protected from the elements. So, I put on my husbands winter boots, because they were handy and trudged thru the deep snow in the backyard to hang my bundle from the maple tree out back.
I can't wait to see what the contents will look like when I take my bundle down, and hopefully the squirrels will leave the bag alone.  Have you done a erosion bundle before? What did you create with the items that you had placed inside? Were there big changes from what you put in and then what was taken out ?

Quick turnaround giveaway

The snow is still on the ground and the temps have remained in the 20's...Brrr! 
This week, on the 20th., Tom and I will be celebrating our 43rd wedding anniversary.  I thought I would post a quick turn around giveaway .                                                                                                                                                                     I am finally feeling so much better after being really sick for over 2 weeks.   This morning as I was putting away a lot of Christmas stuff and going thru the bags of  goodies that I bought after Christmas on sale at the craft stores. I decided to have a snow themed giveaway that you can make some snow themed greeting cards.  Are you interested?
If you are, you must leave a comment telling me why you should be sent this snow themed card giveaway package.
Sorry the photo of the goodies isn't the best.

Included:
7 assorted snow themed folded cards and envelopes, and 7- 44 cent U.S. postage stamps
a package of silver embossed seals for your envelopes
2 lace and 3 small snowflakes to make ornaments or whatever
a small spool of ribbon...Brrr...it's cold outside
some confetti white iridescent snowflakes
a package of rub on snowflakes
a rubber stamp...Brrr...It's cold outside

I will draw a winner on Thursday, January 20th, my 43rd wedding anniversary.
Below: a photo of my granddaughter, Lily (9 yrs), and her snowman that she made after the last snowstorm.

P.S...Don't forget...in February, I will be having another Tim Holtz embellisment giveaway, so don't miss that.

Updated: January 20, 2011....the winner of my giveaway is Diann.

A very talented friend

I have a very talented friend, Nina Owens who lives in Texas. Nina works for Michaels. I have mentioned Nina before on my blog.
 I met Nina many years ago when she flew to the East Coast for a week of art and fun. A group of 15 of us, met thru an online stamping group and at rubber stamp conventions. The group of wonderful ladies come from all over the US to get together for a week in RI most every summer. The art retreat is usually held in July, and we stay with two of the wonderful ladies that live in RI. We take turns teaching classes, go sight seeing, eat out, eat in, and have a simply marvelous time.
Anyway, Nina was was featured on the Michael's facebook page. Her art is simply amazing, and she can do anything and does it so well.

Click here to read from the Michael's website.  http://www.michaels.com/What-Creativity-Means-To-Nina-Owens/wcmtm-ninaowens,default,pg.html
Nina's wonderful blog.  http://ninaoriginals.blogspot.com/

Tim Holtz word stick Giveaway winner

The winner of the metal, Tim Holtz word sticks from my January blog giveaway was picked this morning. I want to thank all of you who left a comment on my blog for a chance to win. I will be having another Tim embellishment giveaway in February and in the upcoming months.

Now for the winner...Chrystal.
Chrystal, please email me your mailing info to me EAkers@aol.com.

Thanks again everyone for entering.

Trip down memory lane

I have been going thru a box of old magazines that I picked up several years back in a junk shop. I paid next to nothing for the magazines, but I have had hours of enjoyment reading the articles, recipes (especially from the war year and how the women stretched their dollars). Lots of the products are no longer made but many companies advertised  are still around today. I always get a kick out the prices in those old magazines. They are so low compared to today.  This issue of Woman's Day, January 1942 sold for 2 cents. I wasn't born yet, but the photo on the cover reminded me so much of my older brother, Larry and I when we would go sledding on the hill in our backyard in the 50's.
Anyway, I love old magazines and if I can find them at a reasonable (cheap) price I always pick them up. At a yard sale one time I bought a bag full of old Farmers Almanacs, some dating back into the late 1800's. The only year that was missing was my birth year..1948. I was so disappointed. I gave a lot of those almanacs away as gifts, I picked the year that the person I was gifting it to was born. Everyone loved receiving them.
Do you love old magazines? I love to find old letters, ledgers, recipes, glue book/scrap books filled with cards, drawings or whatever, post cards, small doilies, hankies, old buttons, sewing items, but they have  gotten so pricey, but it is wonderful when you find a little treasure for next to nothing.  It is always fun digging thru boxes at yard sales for old jewelry to recycle into a new project. What do you like to collect that is old? I love going thru junk drawers...one's junk most likely is my treasure. (LOL)
I use to really enjoy participating in ephemera swaps where you had to fill a gallon sized baggie with at least 10 old items. It was like Christmas when you received your exchange package back in the mail, but I never see these offered anymore. 
I am feeling so much better this afternoon, thankfully. Well, I hope you enjoyed the magazine cover that I posted. The Woman's Day magazine always had nice front covers.
P.S...don't forget...tomorrow my giveaway winner for the Tim word sticks will be drawn.

Last of my Tim tags...Day 11 and Day 12

I finally finished my Tim tags.
For day 11... For the background paper that I covered my tag with was from an early 1950's Woman's Day magazine. I inked up the right side of the tag. I didn't have the tree die, and so I had to draw and cut out a tree. I used white enamel accents to the tree branches for snow.
Again, I didn't have the snow flurries die. So, I just stamped a row of big snowflakes in blue ink down the left side of the tag. I rubber stamped Season's greetings as my saying to put behind the ornate bookplate. I added a piece of twine to the trunk of the tree, and placed a red gem on the top of the tree with a star hanging from my tags ribbon. My take on Day 11.

My Day 12 tag:
I used scrapbook paper from Tim's seasonal pack to make my tag. With my Cricut I cut out the 2 layered green and red ornament with the word Joy. To make the hanger for the ornament I twisted thin red wire.  I inked an old small December calendar page that I happened to have on hand. Every year I get a few of the little calendars at a local restaurant and they come in handy on art projects during the year.  I was glad to find I had kept an old calendar. I then added the metal corner brackets, some greens and fake berries. Also a  small red bow and red ribbon.

I am glad I finally finished my tags. Just sorry that I didn't have the time to follow along each day when Tim was posting his tags before Christmas. I didn't have a lot of the products Tim used, but it was fun seeing what I could find that I had on hand to make my tags.

More of the tag posts are in the December archives.

My Day 10 Tim tag

I just completed my day 10 tag. The tag still needs a bit of tweaking. The falling white snowflakes need  to be gone over as they really aren't showing up very well under the plastic in the photo. I didn't have the snowman die or snowflake folder that Tim used. I just used the  plastic snowflake embossing folder that I own, but is much busier and very different from Tim's. Decided to use it anyway, but I really like the one Tim used. Oh well, have to use what you have.  I made my own snowman, hat and arms. The ribbon I chose for my tag has the words-Brrr and it's cold outside printed on it.  I rubber stamped Holiday Cheer on the snowman, but I can see now that I should have used my bold Merry Christmas stamp, as it would have shown up much better with the busy overlay pattern.
 
2 more tags to go and my tag set will be complete.

Blue Jeans Love pocket

Today's art project:
A while back I cut off the back pockets of a pair of my son's old ripped Levi jeans. I tucked the pockets into a desk drawer and forgot about them. I've had those pockets just sitting in the drawer needing to be repurposed since last summer. Earlier this afternoon when I was looking for something in the desk in my craft room I came across the pockets. I guess that was all the nudge I needed to pull out the pocket and create a hanging pocket with it.
When I removed the pockets I cut very close to the heavy double seamed stitching making sure that both the back and front of the pocket were secure and attached. I hand stitched a piece of ecru lace along the top edge of the pocket.  Next, I poked wire from the backside of the pocket to the front, and then curled up the ends so I could hang the finished pocket when the piece was finished. I haven't decided what I want to stuff into the pocket yet. I guess it depends on what I do with it. I could put candy in it, a pair of earrings and use it as a gift package, or stuff the pocket with collage elements and pass the pocket along to someone else.


I added size 8 seed beads to the lace border. Then I added a bow with a silk flower stitched in the center of the bow. The flower needed something in the center so I added a heart shaped red crystal heart in the center of the flower. Now, how decorate the rest of the pocket. I decided to stitch a coffee dyed cotton doily in the center of the pocket. The doily is also something that I've had in my fabric stash for way to long. Next step, I added a vintage photo of a woman holding a letter in her hands. I then added the word LOVE.   To finish off the pocket I used pearls and crystal beads on a head pin to hang from the bottom center of the jeans pocket.
I have several more pairs of old junky jeans in the basement waiting for a makeover and lots of ideas running thru my head.

My Day 9 Tim tag

I didn't do much of anything today as I am still not feeling well. I had a hard time staying awake, because I am  taking cough syrup with codeine in it. I hope it helps the cough, because my insurance copay was $45 for that small bottle. WOW!

I got up for a little bit this afternoon and decided to work on my day 9 Tim tag. I am slowly but surely finishing up my 12 days of Christmas tags. It is fun to see what you can come up with to put your own spin compared to the original tag.

I don't own the rosette die and so I didn't know what I was going to use for a rosette. I spied a roll of sheer green Christmas ribbon sitting on my desk and I decided to make a rosette of sorts. I didn't have any ribbons in a color that would look like the paper rosette that Tim created. After some thought I decided to go with a more Christmas colored tag since I had bright green ribbon. If I would have felt better, maybe I would have tried making rosette out of fabric.
 
I cut out and enlarged the Joy to World sheet music from Tim's seasonal stack of scrapbook papers on my color copier. I prepared my tag with inks, glued down the sheet music to the tag.
I then hand stitched a row of thread to gather my ribbon rosette.
I had some double sided silver tinsel ribbon/fiber that I bought on a 70% clearance. I trimmed the fringe off of one side and then glued the fringe to the back edge of the rosette.

I did have the pewter heart and crown to use in the center of my sheer rosette that Tim used on his tag, I only had those, because I bought a package that had those charms in it on sale the other day.  I glued down the rosette to my tag. I rubber stamped the word Peace. Glued some red, green and clear buttons to add to the right side. I made dots using black enamel accents.  I grabbed some pearls from my bead stash and put them onto head pins. I then hung the pearls from my ribbon.
I really like the colors on this tag instead of just using shades of brown. You can go into the December archives of  Tim's blog to see all of his tags.

Tim tag day 8

I had a hard time with this tag and I can't say that I am really happy with this one, maybe because it is so different than all the other tags. I didn't have a house die or stamp, and also no Santa with sleigh. Tim used a key on his tag, but I couldn't remember where I put my keys. I used a rubber stamp Santa in his sleigh being pulled by lobsters. I thought the lobsters were appropriate for our New England/Cape Cod area.  I did have the metal clock and hands  and the metal corner.
 

Better Late than never..My take on Tim's day 7 tag

Well, I haven't put away all of  my Christmas papers, and stamps yet. I didn't get my Tim 12 days of Christmas tags done before Christmas, and so here it is January 3 rd, 2011 and I am still working on a Christmas project. 
The stores have Valentines and St. Patrick Day merchandise out, and today, I couldn't believe it...I saw chocolate Cadbury Easter Eggs for sale in the grocery store.  Hopefully, I will feel well enough to finish the rest of my tags this week. I went to the doctors this morning, and I am now on antibiotics.

In my craft room I came across a sheet of wood grained cardstock that I bought many years ago at C T and Nee's stamp store in Raynham. I use to teach classes at that store. I still miss that stores closing.
The store carried an awesome variety of cardstock. I wish I would have bought more of the wood grain cardstock when I had the chance.

When Tim first posted his day 7 tag I was planning on using the wood grained cardstock, but then after Christmas I found Tim's wood grained texture fade embossing folder on sale. I decided to use the folder with the wood grained cardstock with the cardstock.  I smooshed a vintage photo ink over the raised areas to accent the raised wood grain. Here is a piece of the cardstock that I have left.

My finished day 7 tag.

Starting off the year with a Giveaway

What better way to start off the New Year than with a GIVEAWAY.
After Christmas, I found an awesome sale on packages of Tim Holtz metal embellishments at phenomenal prices. Let's just say I bought a lot of packages, because the prices were so cheap.  So, I am going to share some of my great Tim finds in the upcoming months as giveaways on my blog.
My first Tim Holtz Idea-ology giveaway will be a package of 12 metal word sticks.  Words: Love, Find, Kiss, Live, Muse, Life, Wish, Time, Play, Hope, Hold, Know.

To win: Leave a comment letting me know why you would like to have these. Make sure to leave me an email address so I can contact you if you win. Good Luck!!!!

P.S..I thought I got some great bargains after Christmas, but yesterday craft things were really marked down and then I had an extra 25% off everything including sale items. I made out like a bandit.

Happy New Year

If you celebrated last night I hope you had a wonderful time. We did go out for Chinese food. I fell asleep early, but my cousin called at 11:45 p.m., so I did see the New Year in.
I woke up this morning to a stuffy nose, sore throat, no voice. Not a good way to start off the year.
Wishing you all the best in 2011.
Elaine