Double Purr

TCP123

2010-08-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have played along with The Cat's Pajamas's card challenges. Being paralyzed has a way of taking the fun out of a girl's life.

This weeks's challenge is hosted by Susan, who challenged us to us any TCP beverage stamp.

When I ordered the stamp set with this tea cup, I also ordered the dies for the flowers. The flowers have holes in them to make them look like buttons. I was going to thread embroidery thread through the holes, but my thread and needles are in the basement and I am upstairs and I have no way to get down the stairs. So, I punched centers for the flowers, and I think the flowers look just about as cute with centers as they do being buttons.

Stuff used:
Stamps: TCP Toni's Tea Set, A Cuppa Set
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin' Up Gable Green and Pink Passion
Paper: Stampin' Up Gable Green, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Yoyo Yellow (all retired), PTI white
Other: TCP Flower Buttons CutUps die, 1/4" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, corner rounder punches

Elizabeth's birthday card

2010-08-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

This is the other card that I made on Wednesday. It is a birthday card for my niece's 21st birthday. She will be able to listen to bands in clubs where she was not able to go before (legally).

I thought that the cocktail glass was fitting, but I also wanted to remind her to not overdo it. The bear inside the card has a "hangover icepack" on his head.

A month ago, I was not able to hold an X-acto knife. This week, I am able to use one to cut paper.

A month ago, I could not use scissors in my right hand. This week, I can cut paper well enough to do some paper-piecing. I still can't cut shapes that have a lot of inward cuts. But I was able to cut around the bear's belly and the balloons to make them from patterned paper.

I wish my hands didn't shake when they get tired. But they have come a long way from being completely paralyzed 8 months ago.

Supplies used:
Stamps: All stamps by The Cat's Pajamas: A Beary Good Year, Coolvetica, You Say It's Your Birthday
Paper: Stampin Up Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Whisper White; Classic Crest Solar White; patterned paper from DCWV Indian Summer Fall Matstack
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Prismacolor pencils
Other: Oval Nestabilities

Garth's Birthday card

2010-08-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

Due to my paralysis, I haven't made any cards since January, except for a couple of cards at my Stampin' Up dealer's house over a month ago. I needed help with those cards since I had to do most things left-handed.

I made two cards on Wednesday. This is one of them: a birthday card for my brother-in-law, Garth. I love the radishes in this patterned paper, and when I saw it I thought of Garth. He enjoys working in his garden.

Supplies used:
Stamps: "So Many Scallops" by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Old Olive and Real Red, Solar White By Classic Crest, Offbeat 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey
Ink: SU Real Red
Other: SU Scallop paper punch, circle Nestabilities, Cherry Devine Twine

Where have I been?

2010-06-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

It has been over 5 months since I have posted anything to my blog. I have done only a few crafty things during that time. The last card I made was for my mom's birthday in January. I had every intention of posting a picture of it, but I landed in the hospital.

Ed took me to the local hospital, and I was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington. By the time I arrived, I was paralyzed from the neck down. I spent around two weeks at Sacred Heart, where I regained the use of my left hand and arm. Then I spent around 8 weeks at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute. There, I regained most of the use of my right arm and hand, some strength in my left leg, and there was some movement in my right foot. I learned how to use a wheelchair and I was almost independent by the time I left. My diagnosis was Viral Myelitis. I was an incomplete tetraplegic, and the paralysis was caused by some random virus. I was OK with it, and I planned to continue to work hard at getting better at home.

We were home for 3 and a half weeks, and I was getting stronger, due to physical therapy. Then I woke up one morning and I didn't know where my right arm was. Ed checked, and there was no strength in my right arm or right leg. We headed to the ER, I was admitted to the hospital, and I was given steroids. That afternoon, I lost the vision in my right eye. We then headed back to Sacred Heart. I was there for 15 days, and that was followed by 3.5 weeks in rehab. My vision is returning, my right leg has some strength, and I am able to move it a little. I still cannot feel my right arm and hand. I have to propel the wheelchair with my left arm, and to keep from going in circles, I steer with my left foot. I am still an incomplete tetraplegic but the paralysis was caused by an autoimmune disease, which we are calling Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO), also called Devic's disease/syndrome. I tested negative for the antibodies, but 30% of patients with the disease test negative. So, I now have a disease that can relapse and paralyze me again.

I am home again, and I hope to stay here. Through drugs, we hope to prevent relapses. Meanwhile, I will adapt to being left-handed. I hope to be able to craft again.

March of the Penguins

2009-12-19T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have decided I like my local hardware store. Unlike Home Depot and Lowes (which we don't have in town anyway), the store carries some exotic woods in the warehouse out back. I bought a 15 inch piece teak so I could make a gift for my sister and her husband and for my cat sitter. I bought enough so I could make one for us too.

These penguin puzzles are a bit less complicated that he cat puzzle I made for my parents. But they also took me less time to sand!

Working with teak was a new experience. I can see why it is used for outside furniture, since it is very oily. I sealed the wood before coating it with varnish. I used no stain, since the wood is so lovely in its natural state.

Here is one penguin pair. This set has been sent to my sister and her husband.

Note cards

2009-12-18T12:30:00.000-08:00

My niece will traveling abroad during the spring semester. Her Christmas wish list is short. She only wants money so she spend it on her travels to Brazil.

Bleah. I hate giving money for Christmas. Half the fun of choosing a gift for someone is wrapping it in pretty paper. Wrapping a check is boring! I put her check in a stamped card from my stash. I wasn't even motivated to make her a new card. If I had something Brazilian-themed, I may have been inspired.

I still wanted to give her something she could unwrap. So, I decided to make her a set of "Note" cards. My niece loves music, so I searched through my stamps for music-themed stamps. I settled on 4 designs and made 3 of each. If she has 3 of each, maybe she will use them instead of save them?

Two of the cards have cats on them. My niece isn't into cats. (The poor dear has never experienced the joy of living with one.) But since I like cats I have cat stamps, and I am sure that some of her friends like cats so she can send the cat note cards to them.

They are all one-layer cards. Here are the four different cards:

I put them in a clear box with some envelopes and decorated a belly band with one of my music stamps which I didn't use on the cards.

Stuff used:

Pink note cards:
Stamp: Stampin Up Notable Notes
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White (looks off-white in picture)
Ink: Palette Noir, Stampin Up Pixie Pink
Other: Stencil made with an oval Nestablilties die, sponge

Yellow singing cat cards:
Stamps: Cat Song by Cornish Heritage Farms, sentiment from Studio G
Paper: Stampin Up So Saffron
Ink: Palette Noir, Zig Millennium marker Prismacolor pencil
Other: Acrylic block for drawing the square

Blue guitar cards:
Stamps: Geetar by Stampola, Swirls by Autumn Leaves, More Great Greetings by Stampin Up
Paper: Stampin Up Bashful Blue
Ink: Palette Noir, Versamark, Prismacolor pencil

Lavender sax cards:
Stamps: Blues by Rubber Cottage, sentiment from Studio G
Paper: Stampin Up Almost Amethyst
Ink: Palette Noir, prismacolor pencil
Other: Gold stickls for saxophone, Scor-Pal to score lines

Belly band and box:
Stamp: Cats on Treble Clef by PFY
Paper: computer paper, Papertrey white, Stampin Up Pixie Pink and Almost Amethyst
Other: Nestabilities dies, box from Papertrey, plain envelopes from Staples

Christmas cards

2009-12-17T15:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in almost a month! I guess I have been busy.

Before Thanksgiving, I had my Christmas cards stamped and done. Or, so I thought. When I got them out to sign them this week, I realized I had not stamped the sentiments inside. Taking care of that did not take long though, and all the cards were put in the mail yesterday. I am sending out only 15 Christmas cards this year.

The photo doesn't really show the sparkle and the depth of color that these cards have. The base card is shimmery, as well as the mat behind the tree layer. The tree and sentiment are embossed with silver, and the ribbon adds another silver element with another texture. I had planned on stamping the tree on the shimmery paper, but it didn't make the tree pop. The Handsome Hunter paper was the perfect match to the shimmery green paper. I had a half sheet of the hunter paper left in my stash, which was not enough. My Stampin Up demonstrator was willing to loan me some sheets so I could work on my cards. (I will order more, with my next order!) Her husband was a sweetheart and even delivered it to me at work, since my demonstrator was out of town when I figured out I needed the paper!

While Ed was signing the cards, his comment was that the cards were "kinda pretty". That means that he thinks they are very nice.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Snow Swirled set by StampinUp!
Paper: Stardream Emerald, Curious Metallics Galvanized, and StampinUp Handsome Hunter
Ink: Versamark, embossed with Silver Ranger Super Fine detail embossing powder
Other: Ribbon from Michaels

cat puzzles

2009-11-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

When I cut my fretwork ornaments, I had so much fun that I decided I wanted to cut more wood. Plus, I saw some fun projects in the scroll saw magazines which I wanted to try. So, I located a couple of boards I had purchased years ago, put a new blade on my saw, and had more fun.

I will be giving these kitties to my parents for Christmas. They really don't need more dust-collectors in their small retirement apartment, but I do think they need some cats. Plus Mom seems to really like my scroll-saw work. (She leaves my scroll-sawed ornaments out all year long!)

Here are the cats, assembled into a puzzle.

I made two puzzles, by stacking an oak board on top of a poplar board, and cutting both puzzles at once. This way, the cats would be different textures. I also used 3 kinds of stain to make the cats look different. Half the cats were stained with Cherry stain, and half were stained with Fruitwood stain. There was not a noticeable difference between the stain colors on the oak pieces, so I over-stained the fruitwood-stained oak pieces with a Red Mahogany stain marker.

Red cats, brown cats, yellow cats, and tan cats.

I sanded the cats carefully so that the fronts and the backs of the puzzle pieces looked the same.

Here are the two puzzles. We are keeping the set that is lying down in the picture.

Ornaments

2009-11-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

I have been playing with my scroll saw.

I created this year's ornaments, and have almost completed next year's ornaments.

Here are this year's ornaments. They are made of Kiaat wood. I must say, this has been my most favorite wood to cut. It cut easily and while I was working with the wood, it gave off a mild aroma, kind of like incense.

Here are the almost-done ornaments for next year. They are made from Narra wood. It is similar to Kiaat, but I didn't notice an aroma while cutting it, although it is supposed to have an aroma too. I do not intend to 'finish' these until January 2010, since I signed and dated the 2010 ornaments with the year 2010. Not only do I want the date to be the year I give the ornaments, but also the year I make the ornaments. To keep the ornaments from being 'finished' this year, I will wait to add the hanging threads until the next calendar year.

Here is one 2009 and one 2010 ornament, alongside a quarter, for scale.

Last year, I posted pictures of the ornaments I created last year, along with pictures of ones from previous years.

2001, 2002, 2003, 2004's ornaments can be found here.
2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008's ornaments can be found here.

Gargoyles

2009-10-31T18:18:00.001-07:00

Do you ever see something in the store that you just have to have? Now, I am not talking about toilet paper, which is pretty much something that a person has to have. I am talking about something frivolous that makes you smile and makes you keep thinking about it later after you leave it in the store because your depression-era parents have ingrained frugality into your system so much that something has to be on sale in order for it to be purchased.

No? That doesn't happen to you? Well, it happened to me.

I was in Michaels and wandered through the Halloween section and saw some gargoles. I had a coupon, but it was for one item, and there were three gargoyles which were a set, but they were individually priced. I looked days later, and they were still there. I considered printing 2 coupons and using one from the paper and buying two gargoyes one day (tip: send your DH through another checkout line with a coupon and an item so you can use two coupons with one trip) and buying the 3rd gargoyle the next day. But what if someone bought the one I had left in the store and I ended up with a set of two? This would not do.

Finally, a week arrived when all Halloween decor was 30% off, but when I was at the store on Monday and saw there were two sets left, I didn't realize they were on sale. Thursday, we returned to the store and we looked high and low and there were no gargoyles. I was so bummed, but I kept my chin up and looked for silver ribbon which I wanted for Christmas cards. When we got to the checkout line with the ribbon (no coupon needed, since ribbon was on sale), Ed glanced up and there were the gargoyles by the checkout stand. They were un the clearance area where I never look. Oh, happy day! Ed has such sharp eyes! (Being a foot taller than I means that he didn't have to look up to see them, so that may have something to do with it.) So, did I buy them? Absolutely yes!

See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.

I took them to work and have them sitting on my corner hutch above my computer in my cubicle. They are staying there, well past Halloween.

Halloween 2009 cards

2009-10-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't stamped in a couple of weeks, so I haven't had any new cards to share. Then I realized that I had not shared a picture of the Halloween cards I made to send to family members. (And one card for one Halloween-lovin', card-appreciating friend of mine who oddly enough did not send a Halloween card this year. I hope she is okay.)

I made the cards over a couple of months! Back in August, I had the layout in mind, then I needed to order some card stock for the bases of the cards. Sometimes a card needs a dark background. A dark background can cause a problem when making a card, since something is usually printed inside the card, and that is where the card is signed. So, choices have to be made. A person could cut the background to be the exact size of the finished card and mount it on a folded light-colored card. Or, the card base could be dark and the writing inside is one with a white gel pen. This method works okay when the pen behaves. I have yet to find a white pen that works the first time every time and then doesn't blop and skip! Another workaround for the dark-based card is to glue a light-colored liner inside the card. A final method is to try to find card stock that is dark on one side and light on the other. I can't find card stock like this locally, so I had to mail order mine. A funny thing is that after I placed my order, I was at Michaels craft store and saw pre-folded black cards that had white insides! However, the cards were folded on the long edge, not the short edge, so they wouldn't work for the cards I had in mind. When I make vertically symmetrical card I prefer to have the fold at the top of the card. Actually, I like most of my cards to fold at the top, so the card can sit there looking like it is on a little display easel, and I can feel artistic or something.

Anyway .... I had stamped the main images onto little white squares of card stock, and there they sat until early October. Then I finally sat down and colored them, and I got all the parts cut and assembled. I even mailed them on time earlier this week.

The drippy stuff was made with a punch. I was not able to buy that punch last year, and I was so happy to see it was made again this year. I bought it as soon as I saw it in the store, and lucked out that I could use a coupon on it. I have other plans for the punch too.

Stuff used:
Stamp: Haunting Halloween by Stampin' Up
Paper: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Gable Green, and Tangerine Tango, Core'dinations Black Magic (color= Abracadabra)
Ink: Palette Noir (? either that or Versafine Onxy Black), Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits.
Other: Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch

TCPTUES80

2009-10-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

I missed last week's The Cat's Pajamas Challenge, but to make up for it, I created this week's challenge card on the day it was posted... Tuesday! This week's challenge is hosted by Amy, who is kicking off a new category of challenges... a supply challenge.

Amy challenged us to us buttons on a card. Now, normally, I am not a button-on-a-card kind of person, because I usually make cards that are flat so I can mail them. But for this card, since it is already gonna be bulky with one button, I decided to use a bunch of buttons. Actually, I had the design for this card sketched out and on my messy table, with the intention of having it for the Haunted Hop we had a couple of weeks ago. However, things came up at the last minute and I ran out of time so I didn't get my card done. I am thrilled that I have an excuse to complete the card.

I used 7 buttons! Count 'em!

Stuff used:
Stamps: Slanted House, Batty, Ghosts, Halloween Candy, and sentiment all from the "Fright Night" set by The Cat's Pajamas
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Summer Sun, Only Orange, Basic Black
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black; Stampin' Up Markers in Summer Sun, Barely Banana, Only Orange, Almost Amethyst
Other: Hocus Pocus buttons from The Cat's Pajamas, lavender sewing thread from my sewing room, mini glue dots

TCP Haunted Blog Hop

2009-09-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hello! This post is part of a Haunted Blog Hop, which kicks off a special that The Cat's Pajamas Rubber Stamps is having, starting tomorrow, September 29! The New Kitty Kat Pack includes the "Fright Night" set, fun new buttons and spooky new glitter for $24.39. This is 20% off the regular price of $30.49.

You, yes you, can win this collection of goodies in the new Kitty Kat Pack! All you have to do is leave a comment for each person in the blog hop. If you didn't come here from Jen's blog, you can start at the beginning with Susan's blog.

Here is the card I made with the Fright Night set. I used the swanky new glitzy glitter. The glitter comes with 4 tubes of must-have Halloween colors-- black, purple, orange, and green. I used all but the black glitter on this card.

Stuff used:
Stamps: All from the "Fright Night" set by The Cat's Pajamas
Paper: Core'dinations Black Magic, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal, and Lavender Lace
Ink:Versafine Onxy Black, Prismacolor Pencils, SU Lavender Lace
Other: Glitzy Glitter by The Cat's Pajamas, Oval punch, D'vine Swirl Cuttlebug embossing folder, sanding block, oval punch

Be sure to leave a comment on this post, then head over to Joanne's blog to continue with the Haunted Blog Hop.

TCPTUES77

2009-09-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

This week's TCP challenge is hosted by Joanne, who challenged us to make a card using the colors Black, Melon Pink, Pumpkin.

Stampin' Up has a new melon color, and it does look okay with the company's Pumpkin Pie color, but I only have a little swatch of the new color. I ordered the new colors from my demonstrator, but the order is not here yet. So, I had to look in my tiny designer paper stash for a melon paper. I had some paper that was sort of melon color, but when I paired it with pumpkin paper, it looked like puke. So, I chose to use a pink paper that was a bit less melon-colored.

I didn't have much free time this week, so I didn't get to my card until today. Therefore, I kept it fairly simple, and used my favorite stamp, Sprinkle. She is like my little black dress of rubber stamps. Dress her up, or keep her simple--she is always in style.

Stuff used:
Stamps: "Large Sprinkle" and "What's New" both by The Cat's Pajamas Rubber Stamps
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Colorbox Frost White, Prismacolor pencils, Millennium black marker
Paper: Georgia Pacific white; Printed paper from DCWV Spring 4x6 Mat stack; Stampin Up Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black
Other: Circle Nestabilities dies, white embossing powder

Mystic Attic Interior details

2009-09-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the interior of my Mystic Attic room box. You can click on any photo to see it bigger.

The items on this table give some indication of who lives in this room. The hairbrush, comb, and mirror are by Chrysnbon. The perfume bottles and vase of roses are very special to me, since they were made and given to me by Flo Jaster, who wanted to thank me for helping her with something. I have never met Flo face-to-face, but I feel blessed to be her friend.

The drawers in the table open. The pulls are made from inexpensive earrings. The zodiac poster on the wall is a printout of a poster I had found somewhere online.

The room box is electrified, and the lamp on this table is one of the lights that works.

This is how I wired the lamp so that no wires would show. The lamp is a permanent part of the table, and the plug is part of the table. When the table is slid in place, the plug lines up perfectly with some eyelets in the wall, which connect to wires behind the wall.

Here you can see what is behind that wall. I made the roof removable so that I could make all the wire connections in the 'stairwell', and still access the wires. Ed added some resistors so that the lights in the fireplace would not be as bright as the lamps in the room. We can also add a flickering circuit to the system sometime in the future, and the circuit board will fit in the stairwell and not be seen.

Most of the wires run down to the floor and under the room box.

The crystal ball on the table is wired in a similar manner as the table lamp, however, the eyelets are in the floor and the table is plugged into the floor.

On the table are the tools of the occupant's trade. Or, maybe it is just her hobby. Feel free to think about who you imagine lives in this room. I think she is young, since her linens are lighthearted and fun, but she could just be young at heart.

The crystals are real quartz crystals. I dug them out of the ground in Montana. My dad was a rock hound, so some family vacations were spent digging in dirt.

I am not sure what the tarot reading indicates. I picked the cards at random, and didn't figure out if it was a good reading or not!

I almost always include a cat in my room box projects. (The cat, and the Chrynbon stuff and the items made by Flo are the only things I did not make for this room box.) This cat is named Tabitha, and she is thinking about jumping on the bed, but she might land on the ouija board if she is not careful. When my 'local' club still existed, one of the members showed us how to make ouija boards.

In this picture, you can also see the fireplace.

A couple other things of note in this roombox are: The interior walls were textured by smushing torn Kleenex tissues onto the walls with the paint. The folding chairs are my own design, and they really fold. The fire place plugs into the floor, similar to the way the tables do. I did this so that bulbs could be replaced, should they ever burn out. Even the fire plugs into the floor so it can be removed. I never did quite finish this project, since the mantle is bare and there is no clutter in the corners. If I ever find the right accessories, I can always add them.

Mystic Attic

2009-09-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

Some people wanted to see more pictures of the room box I showed at the county fair. So, here are some pictures. You can click any of the photos to see them bigger.

This is the back of the roombox. The basic room was designed and cut by friends, since this was the Spokane miniature club's 2005 workshop project. As usual, we were free to decorate and fill our room boxes however we wanted, but we were shown some techniques for using paperlay to make stones or bricks. At the workshop, I got the box nailed and glued together, but I did just about everything else later at home.

The stones are made of paperclay. The shingles are made from cardstock, which I cut into individual pieces and painted with various shades of grey. I 'chipped' some of the corners and 'split' some of the shingles so that they would look more like slate. I used "Weather It" on all the wood trim pieces to give them a nice aged look.

The shiny 'donut' stone on the wall to the left of the window is a power jack for the transformer.

Here is the interior.

Here is the interior, with the lights turned on.

If you zoom in, you can see that there are glowing embers in the fireplace too.

More pictures will be posted tomorrow.

County Fair

2009-09-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

The Latah County Fair is this weekend.

After years of people saying stuff like "You should enter that in the fair", I finally got my act together and paid attention to dates and took one of my room boxes to the fairgrounds so I could display it. I have rarely seen miniatures at our fair, but there is a class for dollhouse stuff: "Models, Mansions, Houses".

The best way to win a "First of Class" ribbon at the county fair is to have the only entry in the class! :-)

This is my "Mystic Attic" room box. It started as a workshop project. This is the project where I really learned to use paperclay.

I may take more pictures of it after I get it home again. Until then, you can click on the picture to see it bigger.

TCPTUES76

2009-09-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Toni, who challenged us to make a card that included:

Embossing (dry or wet)
Bling
and at least 3 circles

An interesting challenge, indeed!

Here is my card. It stated out different in my mind, but this is how it ended up.

Is something embossed? Check! The background and circles are embossed with Cuttlebug embossing folders.

Is there bling? Check! The bee's wings have glitter applied to them to make them sparkly.

Are there at least 3 circles? Check! My circles became elements, which were made by embossing punched circles and hitting them with some ink.

Stuff used:
Stamps: "Bee a Girl" from the "Hearts and Flowers" set by The Cat's Pajamas
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, and Summer Sun
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, SU Close to Cocoa, Prismacolor Pencils
Other: Stickles "Star Dust" glitter glue, 3/4" circle punch, "Bloom Dots" and "Distressed Stripes" Cuttlebug embossing folders, sponge dauber

tcptues75

2009-09-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

This week's challenge for The Cat's Pajamas Rubber Stamps is hosted by Leigh, who challenged us to use this sketch.

When I saw the image panel extending from behind the vertical panel, it make me think of something peeking around a corner. Something not quite wanting to be seen, but something that just cannot resist staying hidden. This calls for a cat!

Stuff used:

Stamps: "Large Sprinkle" and "What's New" by The Cat's Pajamas, paw prints from an old Inkadinkado foam cat set, Leopard Spots backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Stampin' Up Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Lavender Lace, Basic Black
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin' Up Lovely Lilac
Other: 1/2" and 5/8" circle punches

Australian Jasper necklace

2009-09-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

This necklace started when I saw some beads in the store that said "Buy me." The "buy me" beads were the flat green stone pillows, that the label claimed are "Australian Jasper, dyed". So, they are real stones, but are dyed colors that appeals to me.

To complete the necklace, I purchased a strand of small round Australian Jasper beads, and added some copper round beads.

I love how this necklace goes with so many of my colorful T shirts, which I wear to work. (I work in a basement with computer nerds, and just about everyone wears casual attire.) The necklace goes with teal, aqua, various greens, and blue.

Winter Spiral necklace

2009-09-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I purchased some seed beads to make some snowflake ornaments. One of the hanks of beads was a winter mix. Since I wanted to learn to do spiral peyote, I decided to use the winter mix beads.

I didn't have enough blue beads to run them all the way to the ends of the necklace, but I think it is okay since that part is behind my neck when I wear it.

Pearl and Crystal necklace

2009-09-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

When I took apart the previous necklace, I saved the freshwater pearls for another project. This is where the pearls ended up!

I got the idea for this necklace from some instructions I found at Fire Mountain Gems.

This necklace has more bling to it than I normally wear, but I can hope that someone will take me out some place where I can wear it. It is too sparkly to wear at work.

The crystals are all clear, not pink as they look in the photo. The crystals have an Aurora Borealis finish on them to give them more sparkle.

Bugle bead necklace

2009-09-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is a necklace that I remade. A couple of years ago, I had some bugle beads and I was experimenting with them. I strung them with seed beads and then tripled the strand, running the thread through every 3rd seed bead. I liked the look, so I added some larger round beads to the strand.

Two years later, I took it all apart. I had made it with freshwater pearls, but I decided I didn't like it. So, I looked for some other kind of bead to use, and found some green glass beads that were accented with metal.

I like this necklace better.

TCPTUES74

2009-09-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

This week's TCP challenge is hosted by Jen, who challenged us to create something using any Halloween stamps by the Cat's Pajamas.

No problem! I have various Halloween stamps by TCP, and now that it is getting close to being autumn, I was itching to get out this adorable tree stamp.

I also dug out my brayer, which hasn't seen much daylight lately. I used it to apply candy corn colors to the main image. The ink is choppy because I have ink spots, not ink pads, in those colors and it is kind of hard to do brayer projects with little 1 inch square ink pads. (If I was mass-producing the card, I would use re-inkers to make a temporary spectrum pad out of a baby wipe cloth.) I punched a circle out of a sticky note to mask the moon shape before using the brayer to apply the colors. It is fun to revisit the old techniques. The owl was cut out and stuck to his tree branch with a foam dot.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Spooky Tree, Hedwig, and Boo all from the "Fright Night" set by The Cat's Pajamas (and available as individual rubber stamps)
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Stampin' Up Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin' Up Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Prismacolor pencils
Other: 1 1/4" circle punch, brayer, sponge, sticky notes

Bone, malachite,and wood necklace

2009-09-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

I keep trying to use things I have in my stash, so that I don't feel guilty for buying new things without first using things I already have.

While digging through a clearance bin at Michaels a couple of years ago, I came across some bone beads. What caught my eye was that there were a number of packages of different shapes, and they went well together. So, they came home with me and sat in a drawer.

Last week, I finally made a necklace out of some of them. The wood beads were also from my stash, but I bought new beads too. I was talking to a co-worker about minerals and beads. He has a degree in geology, and he used to live with a woman who did beading for a living. Therefore, he can hold intelligent conversations when I mention beading. (When I say something like "copper crimp beads", I don't have to explain anything.) Anyway, I told him I wanted a malachite necklace, since I love the dark green color. Later, when I was walking home, I realized that malachite green would look great with bone! So, I purchased some Malachite chips (at Jo Ann, with a coupon). The random chip shapes were also different enough to make the necklace more texturally interesting than if I were to use round or oval beads.

The bone beads all had different patterns carved into them. I tried to group them into pairs, and arrange each member of the pair opposite the other on the necklace to provide some balance.

I like that all the beads in this necklace are made from natural materials. Two of the kinds are organic!

Rhodonite necklace

2009-09-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I am in a store, something will catch my eye and I will say, "Oooh, pretty". That happened when I saw a string of rhodonite beads at Michaels.

My local store was re-arranging the beading section, and most of the displays were empty. I went into the store, hoping to find beads for a different project, but the pickings were pretty slim. I did, however, look at what was available, and a string of pinkish stone beads caught my eye. So, they went home with me, even though I didn't know what I wanted to do with them.

Later, I learned that these are rhodonite beads, not rhodenite beads, which was the name on tag. No matter how the name is spelled, the mineral is supposed to soothes the nervous system. This gemstone vibrates with love. Just holding this gemstone promotes relaxation and brings a sense of well-being. Hmmm. Maybe the beads really were speaking to me in the store and that there was no way to leave 'em once I held them in my hand. Good thing I had a coupon!

Rhodonite is also supposed to be a balance gemstone and is used to clear the psychic centers. Whatever. I just wanted to turn 'em into a necklace.

I looked through my tiny stash of beads at home, and was able to pair them with some glass 'hematite' bicone beads I had purchased on clearance a couple of years ago. I kind of like the warmth of the rose tones with the mystery and coolness of the dark grey.

Card for Adam

2009-08-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

My cats are members of a small email group for cats. The cats let the humans post too, if we behave ourselves. One of the humans, Adam, had surgery for a new kidney last week. Since Debby, another human, was able to provide his snail mail address, we can send a card.

I could have sent him one of the get-well cards I have made recently, but I wanted to make Adam a special one that is cat-themed. I don't know what colors Adam likes, so I hope that turquoise is a color that makes him feel good. Tigger and Pooh will be signing this card too, so they are represented on the front of the the card.

I used a 'canvas' background stamp to give the background some 'texure' and make the card look less hospital-white. It reminds me of gauze. I added some faux stitching, since I am sure that Adam had some sewing done on him!

Stuff used:
Stamps: Nurse Sprinkle, Little Sprinkle, "Nightie" alphabet letters all from The Cat's Pajamas; Canvas background by Stampin' Up
Paper: Papertrey Stamper's Select card base, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise, White Gel pen, Prismacolor pencils
Other: Circle Nestabilites dies

Copper Leopard Necklace

2009-08-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

When Ed was at Michaels with me about a month ago, I was looking at pendants and Ed said I needed this leopard one. I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but I bought it, since it was on sale.

Because the pendant has an antique copper finish, it became a challenge to use it! I could have just hung it on a leather cord, but I wanted to do something more difficult.

I found some copper findings and some copper beads at Jo Ann. Then I got it into my mind to string the beads in "illusion" fashion--where beads seem to float on the wire. To do that, I needed crimp beads, not just any crimp beads, but antique copper crimp beads. Those were hard to find! I finally found some on eBay, so I had Ed order them for me. (He has an eBay ID. I do not.)

I used black seed beads and 'turquoise' beads from my stash to finish the necklace.

Dragonfly necklace

2009-08-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

I am still playing with beads. Here is a necklace I made earlier this month.

It started with a dragonfly pendant. Two of the dragonflies came in the package, so I can make another necklace with the other one, if I want.

I added a dragonfly charm to one side. I had two charms on the necklace at first--one on each side, but I removed one, since I think that asymmetrical designs can be more interesting, especially when the elements represent something living. Dragonflies land where they want to land, not where we want them to be. The toggle clasp is a dragonfly shape too.

I made links of seed beads and silver beads, and I connected them with jump rings to repeat the shape of the rings on the ends of the dragonfly wings.

TCPTUES73

2009-08-27T18:27:00.001-07:00

This week's TCP challenge is hosted by Leigh, who challenged us to make a card using the colors Chocolate, Sky Blue, and Kiwi.

These are not colors that appeal to me, even though they still appear to be popular in the decorating world. I don't think I have ever really cared for sky blue. Kiwi is also not my favorite green. But as far as browns go, Chocolate is a good color. :-)

So, even though don't normally reach for these colors, I made them work for me. Viewing the Cat's Pajama's design team's contributions to this challenge helped me. Joanne used notebook paper on her card, and I liked how she used it to pull some sky blue into her card. I used quadrille graph paper with blue lines, and I punched the edge with a 'binding edge' punch to give it a 'torn from a notebook' look. I also colored the soup bowl sky blue.

I like how this card turned out. The layout is simple, and the colors are masculine, so it could be given to a man or anyone who doesn't care for a lot of frou-frou.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Chicken Soup and Better Get Better from the "You Sick Thing" set by the Cat's Pajamas
Paper: Quadrille paper, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Prismacolor pencils, Prismacolor Cold Stone marker
Other: Binding Edge border punch by EK Success, Circles and Pinking Circles Nestabilities dies

TCPTUES72

2009-08-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Amy.

Normally, Toni coordinates the Inspiration challenges, but she let Amy do it this month. Amy encouraged us to make a card, inspired by this colorful image. Gosh, I can almost smell the wonderful aroma of brand new crayons.

The sharp points on those new crayons inspired me to use the Nurse Sprinkle image on the card. She is holding a nice sharp, pointy syringe. (Also, Back-to-School time is a good time to catch up on immunizations! Shots. Ick.)

Of course, the rainbow colors inspired me to use more than one color on this card, but I was also inspired by the white background. The black stripes on the crayons prompted me to mat the layers on black. Crayons are round in cross-section, so the single nurse is on a round layer. Since the crayons were arranged in a nice row, I decided to make a row of nurses. (You may notice that the kitties in the row are a different size than the kitty on the circle panel. I have the original Nurse Sprinkle stamp, but Alma re-sized her and made her a bit bigger when she included her in the new "You Sick Thing" set.)

I was also inspired by the crayon text in the image and how the letters were different colors. So, I made my own background, stamping "Meow" and "ow" all over the card. The big letters are from the "Nightie" alphabet set. The little "ow's" are made from the "What part of meow" stamp, and I selectively inked the "o" and the "w" with markers. This little stamp is one of the things I chose for a prize when I was honored with the Swanky Stamper of the month award. The font on that stamp is the very same font that is in the Nighty set! Alma rocks, for making her fonts coordinate!

Stuff used:
Stamps: All images by The Cat's Pajamas: Nurse Sprinke, "You Sick Thing" set, "Nightie" set, "What Part of Meow"
Ink: Palett Noir, Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin' Up markers in Pixie Pink, YoYo Yellow, Marvelous Magenta (retired), Ballet Blue, Green Galore, and Gable Green
Paper: Papertry stamper's select, SU Basic Black
Other: circle nestablities dies, dimensional dots to pop up the round layer

Elizabeth's dollhouse

2009-08-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today is my niece's birthday. She is no longer a teenager!

11 years ago, for her 9th birthday, I made and gave her a dollhouse for her birthday. I thought I would dig out the pictures and share them today.

The images are small, because I do not feel like re-scanning them. The pictures were taken with a film camera and were scanned. Back then we were still on dial-up, along with most everyone else, so there was no need to take high-resolution pictures.

The dollhouse is a "Theresa" which is a kit that was made by Greenleaf for a very short time.

I made some changes to the kit. I added basswood strip wood pieces to the porch railings to give them more dimension. I also changed the floor plan a bit by removing the stairs and adding a bathroom.

before: after:

I also added siding which I made from balsa wood, I covered the chimney with stones I made from plaster, I put stained glass windows in the front doors, and I put copper gutters on the roof.

This is an overall view of the back of the house, so you can see the relationship of the rooms to each other.

Here is my Tigger, inspecting the back of the house. If you look closely, you may see a dog on the second floor. He is also sitting on the front porch in the first photo. My sister's family had a boxer dog, Falco, at the time, so I found a miniature Falco for my niece.

This is the bathroom. I gave my niece the bathroom set and the wicker shelves, so that the room would be furnished when she received the house. I made the wicker shelves.

Here are the master bedroom and a girl's room. The master bedroom wallpaper has a butterfly pattern. The border in the girl's room has ponies on it.

Downstairs are the kitchen and living room. All the floors in the dollhouse, except for the floor in the bathroom, were made from maple veneer. I cut and glued each piece by hand, then sanded and stained the floors. All this was done before the house was constructed.

I made a bunk bed set and dresser with shelves for the girl's room. The bunk beds can be separated. I included pillows, sheets, and blankets, and a removable guard-rail for the upper bunk.

We drove 300 miles with the house to give it to her. We had to smuggle it into her house when she was not looking, since we arrived a few days before her birthday. We also stayed a day after her birthday so that we could make some accessories together, and take her shopping for some more furnishings for her house. She also moved some of her Fisher Price dollhouse furniture and people into her new dollhouse.

Here is Elizabeth, when she was 9 years old, with her house.

TCPTUES71

2009-08-14T19:08:00.001-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Carole, who challenged us to use this sketch. Her card started with a 6.5 x 3.25 inch card, so I used those dimensions too. It will fit in a standard envelope.

I started by finding a stamp that would fit in the small rectangular area. Some images are tall and skinny, some are about as wide as they are tall, but few are short and fat, so my choices were narrowed down quite quickly. I have loved this Poochie in his carrot car since I first laid eyes on him, but I have never actually used him! So, although he is in a spring stamp set, I am using him for an autumn card. The carrot background is from a spring stamp set too! Personally, I think of carrots in the late summer and fall, not in the spingtime, probably because Mom always had a garden, and I helped her harvest the veggies. By spring, the carrots were pretty rubbery, even when they were kept in a root cellar.

I put buttons over the wheels of the carrot car. Buttons on cards seem to be all the rage right now. I am not really into the trend. Using buttons means I need to get out my sewing supplies, (thread, needles) and if I go in my sewing room I may get sidetracked either by my supply of UFO quilts, or by the pile of shirts I need to iron. The quilts have the potential to pull me away from card making for weeks.

Stuff used:
Stamps: "Driving Mr. Carrot" from "Spring Fling", and "Watching Carrots" from "Beans & Bunnies & Peeps, Oh My!" sets both by The Cats Pajamas; sentiment from Stampin' Up's "Loads of Love Accessories" set
Paper: Neenah classic Crest Classic Cream, Stampin' Up Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, and Always Artichoke
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Colorbox Frost White, Stampin' Up Close to Cocoa, various Prismacolor pencils
Other: Corner rounder punch, vanilla embossing powder, Buttons from TCP "Great Outdoors" button mix, orange embroidery floss.

Elizabeth's birthday card 2009

2009-08-13T17:17:00.001-07:00

My niece's birthday is next week. We will be mailing her this card. There will be a check inside so she will have an excuse to go shopping!

The card turned out a little bit more girly-girl than I had planned. Pink can do that to a card. The dress, hat, and one bag are paper-pieced. I received the city skyline image in a grab bag of stamps, and when I saw it I knew I would use it with the shopper stamp some day. It can be fun to combine stamps from different companies.

Stuff used:
Stamps: "Melanie the Shopper (ATC sized)" by Rubber Romance, "City Skyline Silhouette" by Viva Las VegaStamps, Sentiment by Studio G
Paper: Patterned papers from "Euphoria" 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Elegant Eggplant, Papertrey Stampers Select for card base
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin' Up Elegant Eggplant, various Prisamcolor pencils, Prismacolor Cold Stone marker
Other: pink self-adhesive blings

TCPTUES70

2009-08-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Susan, who challenged us to make a card using a cake stamp. There are various cake stamps available from The Cat's Pajamas, from birthday cakes to cupcakes. Picking which ones to use was the hard part for me! I loved how Susan combined sets and put a cupcake in the hand of a bear. Amy inspired me too, by using the "It's A Western Thing" set to have the cowboy Poochie shooting cupcakes. So, I decided to combine sets too, and have a cake be met by pirates!

It took me two days to make this card. Arr! I had the layout in my mind, and stamped the layers, then I had to run some errands and didn't get back to it. (But I thought about it while shopping for toiletries at Walmart.) The colors came to me, but things got changed around as I worked on the card. At first, I was thinking the mats would all be blue, but it looked too wimpy. Then I made the mat on the sentiment layer blue and the others were to be chocolate, but it looked too top heavy. Having all chocolate layers looked wrong. I finally swapped out the middle mat and made it blue. That felt right. I finished the card today.

I didn't go overboard with the layers and colors on this card, since I will be mailing it to my brother-in-law for his birthday next week. I had not come up with a card for him yet, so this challenge was timely.

Stuff used:
Stamps: All by The Cat's Pajamas, "Simon Sees", "Errol", "Yo! Ho! Ho!", "Shiver Me Timbers", (and "Swashbucklin Day" inside card) from the "Arrgh! Piratey set; "Think Cake" from "You Say It's Your Birthday" set; and "Cake no Plate" individual stamp
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar white; Stampin' Up Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, and Brocade Blue
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Prismascolor pencils; Prismacolor Cold Stone marker; Stampin' Up Summer Sun (for candles glow), Chocolate Chip ink and Chocolate Chip marker for sentiment inside and signature & date on back of card
Other: Pencil eraser to server as a stamp to make the candles glow

Swanky surprise

2009-08-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Alma surprised me today, by announcing that I am the Swanky Stamper of the Month for August!

Do you remember this card? I wasn't sure how it would be received, although I had fun making it and I liked it when it was done. Kat liked it, and her husband liked it, and fellow stampers Carole and Carol liked it, and my DH grunted at it like he does with most cards I make. Well, Alma liked it too! She liked it enough to give me her August award. I already sent her a note, telling her what I want with my Cat's Cash gift.

I think it is neat that one of the cards I had the most fun making was a card that other people liked too.

gift card card

2009-07-31T18:37:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from high school has a daughter who is getting married next week. We cannot break away to travel to the wedding, but I do appreciate the invitation. (And I will miss the chance to see my friend, who I haven't seen for years! She moved across the country, and I seldom make it 'home', even though it is 'only' a 10-hour drive.)

This is the card we are sending to them. It is plum and cream, because the invitation was printed on cream paper with plum ink. I am guessing that plum is one of the bride's colors.

I wanted to send the bride and groom a gift of some sort, but not knowing what they need, I decided a gift card may be just what they can use.

The card I made for them holds a gift card. The layout for the card, with the little slot to hold a gift card, was shown to me by my Stampin' Up demonstrator, Pauline. She got the idea from Dawn' Stamping Thoughts, who showed how to make the card via a video demonstration. I changed the dimensions a bit, so that my card fits in an A2 envelope. The LOVE layer is popped up on dimensional dots, and it holds the card closed. The upper flap on the card folds down and tucks behind the LOVE layer.

The Applebee's gift card in the photos is not the card I will be sending to them. I need to run to the grocery store to see if I can find a Target gift card. (I can't run to Target to buy the card, since there is not one here, but there is one near where the bride and groom live. If I can't find the appropriate gift card, they may end up with an Applebee's gift card. ;-) )

Stuff used:

Stamps: LOVE and internal sentiment from old Inkadinkadoo "Wedding" set; Flower from Stampin' Up "Fifth Avenue Floral"
Paper: Classic Crest Neenah Classic Cream, Stampin' Up Pale Plum and Perfect Plum
Ink: Colorbox Frost White with Stampin' Up vanilla embossing powder
Other: Corner rounder punch, Stampin' Up Word Window punch, dimensional dots, red sticky tape

raspberries

2009-07-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

One of the few things I like about July is raspberries. When we moved into our house, one of the first things I planted were some raspberry canes. We didn't plant a lot, but we did plant enough canes so we can enjoy fresh berries most every summer. This year has been a pretty good year for our raspberries.

We usually enjoy our berries over ice cream (if there are a few berries) or under ice cream (if there are a lot of berries), but the other day, Ed suggested I purchase cream and make "those desert things". He meant shortcakes. Good idea! I forgot how pleasant it is to make old-fashioned, biscuit-type shortbread from scratch.

I left the shortcakes in the oven about a minute too long, so they were a little bit too brown, but Ed didn't seem to mind. He said it was a good meal. Yes, we had raspberry shortcake in place of dinner last night. We will eat something healthy tonight.

sea breeze and silver necklace

2009-07-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

This necklace started out as something different, then changed directions as I worked on it.

The glass beads are from a set I picked up at Michaels for $2.00. The box had some ugly silver beads but the glass ones looked nice. For this necklace, the beads are strung on eye pins, which are joined together. Half way up, the seed beads are strung on regular beading wire.

I never had luck bending wires into loops in the past. Then I purchased the correct tool... round nose pliers. Boy, what a difference the right tool can make! I love my new chain nose pliers too.

Pretty soon, I plan to work on the necklace with the pendant that I was going to use for this one before I changed my mind.

gold leopard beaded necklace

2009-07-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

I purchased a gold leopard pendant at Michaels in June when it went on sale.

When we were out of town for a funeral later that month, we went to a big Jo Ann store to look for some stuff for Ed, and while we were there, I looked at beads. I found some wood tubes on clearance. After we returned home, I purchased the small round wood beads to compliment the tubes. After completing the leopard necklace, I had plenty of beads left over, so I made a second necklace that can be worn with the one with the pendant, or worn separately.

The pendant looks like copper in the photo, but it is an antiqued gold color. Ed told me that he likes the "back" side (shown above) of the pendant better than the "front" side (shown below). When the pendant was attached to a card for display, the shiny side was showing. The "back" side has a texture to it, and I think I like it better too, but both look good.

beaded necklace

2009-07-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Jo Ann has had beads and findings on sale for about a week, and it prompted me to do some beading projects. Sometimes I want to work on a project I can do on the sofa in the living room. The living room is cooler than my craft room. It has been hot lately, so I haven't been spending much time in my craft room.

I made this necklace last week. I wore it to Pauline's retirement party, and she noticed it and liked it.

The striped glass beads are ones that I purchased at Michaels a couple of years ago. I liked them, but I had no idea what I was going to do with them. Then I started laying them out with black seed beads, and the project told me it needed gold beads. So, I purchased some gold filigree beads, and when they were placed between the glass beads the design felt right to me.

shack roof done

2009-07-27T16:34:00.001-07:00

I finally got the short roof glued to the shack!

And the upper window and trim is glued in place too!

See how real it looks, with the ribs running the correct direction?

If a 1/12th scale person stands under the edge of the roof and it rains, the little person will get wet, since the water will run off the roof, instead of pooling up on the roof and seeping into places it should not. :-)

The exposed rafters may be a good place to attach some hanging flower baskets. Hmmm....

I didn't show this before, but this is how I did the upstairs ceiling. I glued the strips from a bamboo place mat to pieces of card stock, pulled out the strings that held the mat together, and cut the strips to length to fit between the front and back walls snugly. I painted the strips then glued them to the shack.

I wanted a smooth transition between the walls and the ceiling, and I think I obtained my goal. I did not want to simply wallpaper or paint the underside of the corrugated roof piece, since there would be little ledges at the tops of the side walls. If you look the pictures from my previous post, you can see little spacers glued on tops of the walls, and they are glued outside of the ceiling. At the side edges of the roof, there is a 1/8" space between the ceiling and the roof. At the top, the ceiling and roof do touch each other. I fussed with and adjusted the curve of the ceiling so that the spacing of the slats was even and there were no big gaps.

The shack is ready for occupancy.

Building was fun. The accessorizing will be less fun. I have some tricky things to create from scratch.

shack roof attachment

2009-07-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last week, I worked on the Shack's roof. While the paint was drying on the new section, I glued some strips of siding to the overhang, so that when little people look up at the overhang from the ground, they will see wood, not the backside of the cardboard roofing. I also attached a piece of wood, cut from the kit's die-cut leftovers, to make a little brace to help support the roof and keep it from sagging in the middle.

A funny thing is that I cut and stained pieces of wood for the overhang, and while they were drying, I looked for the window trims I knew I had cut and stained earlier. I found that I had aready cut and stained some wood for the overhang too, but I had not glued it to the shack yet! This is why projects should not sit neglected for too long! A person forgets where she left off! Oh well, it wasn't a big waste of time, and I didn't waste a lot of wood by making two sets of the same thing.

I also glued the big curved roof to the shack.

Of course, I had to use clamps. I stuck skewers through the corrugations in the areas I used the clamps to keep from smashing the corrugations. I also was reminded why I had not glued the upper window 'glass' and trims in place, since the window opening served as a good place to position clamps.

retirement card

2009-07-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

My Stampin' Up demonstrator and friend, Pauline, is retiring from her day job, and her retirement party is today. Of course, I had to make her a card.

I used a stamp from one of her favorite stamp sets, "Sketches", which was available for a short time, long ago. She had never purchased it for herself! She knows she can borrow mine any time.

Inside the card, it says "Congratulations, let the relaxation begin (happy retirement)"

Stuff used:
Stamps: Stampin' Up "Sketches", sentiment inside from "Congrats"; outside sentiment from "Kitty Silhouettes" set by Stampendous
Paper: Stampin' Up Bashful Blue, Naturals Ivory, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Prismacolor pencils

TCPTUES67

2009-07-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas Rubberstamps challenge is hosted by Carole, who challenged us to use this sketch to make a card.

Last week, I used Alma's newest stamp sets to make my card, and I wanted to use the "Happy Camper" set again, but this time I wanted to use the adorable squirrel (my favorite stamp in the set) and use a woodsy theme. Then the card took on a life of its own. I am sure that Alma would never have thought to combine her stamp sets this way!

The squirrel, trees, and some of the grass are from the "Happy Camper" set. The mushrooms and another grass are from the "Spring Fling" set. The "Bang" text is from "It's a Western Thing" set.

I strayed from the sketch a bit, since I made my card a "standard" A2 sized card, instead of making it square.

No squirrels were harmed in making this card. Traumatized, maybe, but not harmed.

Stuff used:
Stamps: The 3 sets described above by The Cat's Pajamas, "Big Pieces" from Stampin' Up and a pencil eraser to make the targets, Papertrey's "Faux Ribbon" to make crosshairs
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar white and Classic Cream; Stampin' Up Creamy Caramel, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip; acetate sheet protector from my stash
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black and Vintage Sepia; Timber Brown Stazon (to stamp on acetate) Stampin Up: various inks from the Earth Elements family and Real Red; Prismacolor Pencils
Other: 1 3/8" circle punch, circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug "Forest Branches" embossing folder, glue dots for adhering the acetate to its frame and the card.

...somethings old

2009-07-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

When my parents downsized two years ago, Ed helped clear out Dad's shop. Dad got to keep a few of his hand tools, but most of his things were given away. Some small power tools were set aside for my nephew, and Ed took some stuff too, of course. When Ed was tinkering in the garage a couple of weekends ago, he came across some of the things he had brought home.

Little boxes can be fun to open! Let's look inside!

The Dremel box contains....

a Dremel!

This one looks very similar to Ed's Dremel, but Ed's tool is not variable speed. The copyright date on the booklet says '82, so this tool is not all that old. It also explains why Dad asked me if Ed's Dremel was variable speed when I talked about using it. Ed does have a speed controller, which the dremel plugs into, so I thought that is what was meant by 'variable speed when Dad asked about it. I had not realized that Ed's Dremel was inferior!

----------------

The contents of the burgundy box contains....

An old moto tool! I am not sure how old this thing is. It is not a Dremel brand, but I cannot figure out what brand it is because most of the label has been worn off, and the letters that do remain on the label don't fit the name, Dremel.

Gosh, the old box is so much cooler than the modern plastic ones. My moto tool came in a blister pack. Ya get whatcha pay for. I was wondering how to store the bits and pieces that came with my moto tool, and I considered making a little box to hold them.

----------------

This brings us to the next boxes. They look handmade, and look like things my dad would have built.

Remove the paper sleeve, swing open the lid....

Omigosh!

All those bits so neatly organized! And he even sized the box to hold a little tin and a little box that hold little wheels and such.

The box is made of balsa.

My idea to make a container to hold my fake Dremel's bits shows that wanting to make little boxes to hold stuff must be a genetic trait.

Below is another example of a custom-made box to hold tools.

These boxes sure beat having tools rolling around in the bottom of a drawer! Those drill bits are dangerous!

I will share more of Dad's tools in a later post. We are waiting on some new parts for one of them. :-)

Somethings new...

2009-07-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

I am waiting for paint to dry, so I thought I would take a few pictures.

This week, two mail order packages arrived for orders I had placed last week.

I placed an order with Rockler for some 1/8 inch thick exotic hardwoods. There were many to choose from, but I showed some restraint and ordered only 5. These will be scroll-sawed and turned into ornaments, similar to these and these, which I shared here last December. Hopefully, in October, I can pick up some more wood. It turns out that there is a Woodcraft store in Spokane, and if I time things right, I may be able to stop in there after I attend the Spokane miniature club's workshop which I have signed up for. Woodcraft stores carry exotic hardwoods. Actually, our local Ace store has recently started carrying hardwoods, but the packages are too large (and too expensive) for my needs. Not that this wood was cheap! I already have all the 'cheap' varieties!

These woods I got from Rocker are (from left to right): Spanish Cedar, African Mahogany, Kiaat, Bolivian Rosewood, and Narra. I am not sure which is my favorite yet, since I haven't put any though the saw yet. (Not only does wood need to look good, but it has to behave. )

These boards measure 5 inches wide by 24 inches long. They are bigger than I need, but after I cut ornaments from them, I can still admire the beauty of the grain, and maybe use them for other projects. :-) Once we have a table saw running (more about that some day) I will have more options for cutting wood.

An order from Micro-Mark arrived too. I like to catch their summer sales, since just about everything is some percentage off. I re-stocked some of my basswood. (No picture, since I already put it away.) I like that the strip wood comes in packages of 2, 5 or 10, because I can keep the strips and scraps together in the packages and not lose track of what is what.

I also ordered some small tools: A square, some drill bits, and a pin vise. I already had a square, drill bits, and a pin vise, but not in these sizes. What I like about this new square is that it is thinner than my 'normal' square so if I lay it over a 1/16th inch thick piece of wood, it lies flat on the table. I have always had to hang the edge of the square over the edge of my table when I wanted to used it as a cutting guide for my X-acto knife, and the edge of my table has nicks in it to prove it! My other pin vise is smaller and holds smaller drill bits. This new set holds bits up to 1/8" diameter. Now won't have to borrow Ed's drill bits when I need a larger size.

Speaking of borrowing Ed's tools.... I won't have to borrow his Dremel as often anymore, since he bought me my own little moto tool a couple of months ago. It cost all of $9.99. We figured that the bits alone were worth the price. I like the small size, since it can fit in my toolbox when I go to a workshop. There are times when I have needed to drill holes at a workshop, and this tool should make the process much more pleasant!

Happiness is....

2009-07-09T16:11:00.000-07:00

Happiness is finding a package in the mail from a friend!

When I opened my mailbox today, I was delighted to find a key to one of the parcel lockers, which meant I had a package. The package was tubular, and when I saw it was from Kat, I knew exactly what it was.

(Envision me skipping with joy to the house, waving the package like a baton. Well, okay, so I didn't actually skip, but I am sure I had a big grin on my face.)

I haven't been near my worktable for weeks and weeks until today, when I placed the cylindrical surprise upon it to take this photograph.

You can see that I left a mess. At the time I stopped working on the contents of my shack, I had every intention of getting back to it the very next day. It really does look like a mess to me instead of "the evidence of creativity". However, the contents of the tube may contain the motivation I need to get back to working on the shack!

(Insert drum roll here.)

It is a piece of corrugated cardboard! And it matches my cardboard roof pieces perfectly. (Mine has been painted, so of course the color is different right now.)

Kat decided she was going to use something metallic for her Greenleaf's roof. She offered to send me her large piece of roofing since she had no need for it. I did and do want it, since it is big enough to cover the short roof area, with the ribs going the right way! I had pondered over and ranted about the design error on Day 28 and Day 41 when I was building the shack. By the way, I never did hear back from Greenleaf about obtaining another piece of roofing. Either Greenleaf ignored my question, or the reply was deleted as spam.

I plan on letting the new piece of cardboard relax for a day. It remembers being wound up in the tube. Kat shipped it the best way possible, since it arrived in perfect shape. I hope to clear off the table and get the new piece cut to size, then I can paint it and get it glued to the shack! If the shack has a roof, it will be more noticeable that there are no contents yet!

Thank you, Kat! You made my day! My shack probably thanks you too! After all, it is your fault I ordered the kit. (Blame, credit, it is all the same when it comes to enabling other miniaturists!)

TCPTUES66

2009-07-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

This week's TCP Tuesday challenge is hosted by Susan, who challenged us to use one of Alma's newest sets, Happy Camper.

This set is so fun! All the stamps are adorable, so it was hard to choose which ones to use. I finally decided to use the Skunk stamp, like Susan did, because it fit the sketch I wanted to use. The layout is based on the SC236 sketch challenge over at splitcoaststampers. When I am in a card-making rut, the sketch challenges often helps me find a place to start. This time I actually stayed with the sketch.

I had to have the skunk hold a flower. Some flowers stink, so the flower and the sentiment go together nicely.

I used the flower stamp in three places-- I masked the skunk's hand so that the flower could be held; I made the background on the pink layer by randomly stamping the flower all over; and I also stamped the flower below the sentiment.

I like black, white, and pink together, and I had to add a bit of gray to make it feel right.

I made the skunk a girl skunk by coloring her stripe pink.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Skunk, flower, and sentiment all from "Happy Camper" set by The Cat's Pajamas Rubber Stamps
Paper: Stampin' Up Basic Black, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink; gingham paper by Making Memories; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Colorbox Frost White, Prismacolor pencils, Cool Gray 40% Prismacolor marker

TCPTUES65

2009-07-02T17:13:00.001-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas card challenge is hosted by Jen, who challenged us to use the color combination of Teal, Sunshine, and Raspberry.

I don't have any inks or papers that are technically called "Raspberry", so I had to make due with what I have.

It is funny that these colors were screaming for me to use the "Relaxing" stamp with Sprinkle in her floatie with her favorite beverage. But after seeing that many of the TCP design team members used that stamp for this week's challenge, I decided to challenge myself to do something different. Sprinkle did insist on being on this card, though. I even stamped her 9 times! Cats do have 9 lives, after all.

I had the layout of the card in my mind before I worked on it. I calculated all the measurements so that the borders would all be even. Then as I was cutting square after square and tossing them onto the card front in their approximate locations, I decided that I liked the wonky placement. I had already glued the "Meow" part of the card by the time I made this decision, so I let the Meow be orderly. The squares with the pink mats are all lined up "properly" too, so there is some continuity.

Stuff used:
Stamps: The Cat's Pajamas "Little Sprinkle", and letters from the "Nightie" set
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Stampin' Up Summer Sun and Taken With Teal, Pink paper from unknown source
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Palette Claret

TCPTUES64

2009-06-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Toni, who provided this picture of beverages for inspiration.

When I first saw it, I was first inspired to go to the fridge and pour a glass of iced tea. :-) Then I thought about drink stamps. I have some cocktail glass stamps, but they are not by The Cat's Pajamas rubber stamps. The only drink stamp I have by The Cat's Pajamas is "Relaxing", which is the stamp of Sprinkle in her inner tube. I used that stamp last week, and I didn't want to use it two weeks in a row. So, I dug though my TCP drawer and thought, "Pink and Green", and came across this little Frog Princess.

This is a small card, measuring 3.5 x 2.5 inches, and is meant to be a note card, which can be used as a gift enclosure, or a 'lunch note' to slip into someone's lunch bag or briefcase. The circle is embossed, so although this is a one-layer card, it does have some texture.

I kept the card Clean and Simple this week because I would hate to miss one of the inspiration challenges, (since they are my favorite challenges) but I am short on time this week. We are heading out mid-day tomorrow to leave town to attend a funeral, and we won't be back until the weekend.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Frog Princess by The Cat's Pajamas, sentiment from Studio G
Paper: Papertrey Stampers select
Ink: Versafine Onxy black, Prismacolor pencils
Other: chipboard circle to emboss circle

TCPTUES63

2009-06-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Jen, who is covering for Carole, who is suffering from technical difficulties. The challenge is a sketch challenge.

At first, I was going to use my newest stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, but decided to grab one of my favorite TCP stamps instead. Sprinkle in her innertube sits out on display all the time, instead of being stored in a drawer. She reminds me to chill out and have fun when I am in my room.

I may give this card to Tim, who keeps covering for me at work. Not only does he step in to help when I take a day off, but he steps in and helps when I get tied up in meetings. We are short-handed at work, and I am on two hiring committees. Interviews take time, which is something I don't have much of. I was chosen to be on the hiring committees because I bring diversity. Being the only woman in a group of men makes me diverse! Anyway, the sentiment, "So much to do, so few to do them for me" seems appropriate when I am asking for help at work.

Stuff used:
Stamps: "Relaxing" and "So much to do" and "You're Hot!" (selectively inked) all by The Cat's Pajamas
Paper: Stampin' Up Barely Banana, Pixie Pink, Summer Sun, Whisper White' patterned paper unknown brand found at Michaels
Ink: Palette Noir, Stampin' Up Pixie Pink, Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol
Ohter: Pinking circles Nestabilities die, 1" circle punch

Let's do lunch card

2009-06-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

I made this card mostly just for fun today, but I may give it to my coworker Randy, to share with his wife, Cynthia. Their cat is a picky eater, and sometimes Randy gives me canned cat food that his cat decided was not fit to eat. My cats have become less picky lately, probably because they are happy that I am even feeding them. (Can you say "Diet"?) Last week, Randy brought in some fancy schmancy food made by Sheba. It contained tuna and mussels in a sauce. His cat thought the sauce was okay when it was room temperature, but he left the rest of the food uneaten. I was not sure if Tigger would like it, but both of my boys thought it was a very good treat. They even liked the second half of the can that I gave them the next day. I told Randy the cats rated it "4 paws up". On Monday, Randy handed me another can of the same food. He had told Cynthia that my boys really liked it, so when she saw it in the store when they were shopping, she had to buy it for my cats! She is so funny. She does love animals. She is a vet, but mostly works with farm animals. Many of their pets at home are special needs animals.

Anyway, if I do give it to Randy and Cynthia, I will have the cats "sign" the inside (I have two different cat-sized paw print rubber stamps) and thank them for their snack.

The layout of this card was inspired by the Clean & Simple Stamping blog's "Fall To" Layout #46. Look here and here and here to see samples of the layout. I didn't triple an element in the rectangle, but you can see that I was inspired by how the sentiment was positioned.

I think this sentiment is perfect for this image. The only problem is that it is misspelled! (Let's do lunch. It needs that apostrophe!) 'Tis fine to use with cat images, though, since most cats cannot spell.

Stuff used:
Stamps: "Two cats with fishbowl" and "Lets do lunch" both by Purrs & Pants
Paper: Stampin' Up Naturals Ivory
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Brown, SU Chocolate Chip marker, Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol
Other: Long rectangle Nestabilities die, to serve as guide for drawing rectangle

Fathers' Day card

2009-06-16T15:36:00.001-07:00

I made this card for my dad for Father's Day. Every time I make him a card, I pray that it isn't the last one I make for him. He has not been doing well since December.

I stamped the diamonds in red 4 times, cut them out, and used a Xyron sticker machine so I could stick 2 of the diamonds on the "King for a Day" card over the stamped black diamonds, and use 2 of them as embellishments.

I sponged around the edges of the saffron "card backs" to give them some definition.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Stampin' Up "Card Games", sentiment from long retired "More Great Greetings"
Paper: Stampin' Up Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, So Saffron Palette o' Prints (retired)
Ink: Palette Noir, SU So Saffron, Real Red and So Saffron Markers, Prismacolor pencils
Other: Xyron, sponge dauber, corner rounder punch

TCPTUES62

2009-06-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Susan, who challenged us to use any of the TCP penguin stamps. Alma has penguins in many of her sets. I chose to use one I had not inked yet, the Celebrating Penguin from the "You Say It's Your Birthday" clearly swanky set.

I was not in a creative mood most of the week, so I did not get this card done until the last day of the challenge week. I put myself outside my comfort zone and used patterned paper. 5 patterned papers. The penguin, his hat, horn, and balloons are all paper-pieced. Paper-piecing the balloons was fun. Normally, I find paper-piecing too fiddly and time-consuming to mess with.

Stuff used:
Stamps: TCP: Celebrating Penguin and little happy birthday sentiment from the "You Say It's Your Birthday" set, Birthday Scrawl sentiment from "Smells Like Cake" set
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Zig Millennium marker for doodling balloon strings, Cold stone Prismacolor marker, Prismacolor pencils to color the penguin's beak and feet and the polka dots on the party hat
Paper: Stampin Up Pacific point for card base and mats, white printer paper for penguin, patterned paper all from DCVW 4.5 x 6.5 inch the spring matstack
Other: Circle nestablilies dies, Xyron to adhere the paper-pieced parts

Chair repair

2009-06-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I found a piece of bluish-gray plastic in my craft room. I knew I should know what it belonged to, but I just couldn't figure it out.

Weeks later, I figured it out what it was! It was part of the folding chair I sit on when I work on miniatures. It was part of a bumper that fits between the legs when the chair is in the opened position. The bumper, or whatever it is called, had cracked and part had broken off. I checked the chair, and saw that there were problems with both sides. I looked at the chair's mate in the basement, and it was having the same problem.

I showed the problem to Ed, and he said he would fix it.

He bought a dowel. The project sat until the weekend. He had to clean up the workshop area of the garage before he could do any work, since he needed my sander. (I needed my sander too, so I am glad he cleaned up the garage.) Then he bought a tool he didn't have--a drum sander.

He thought he needed to make 8 new bumper thingies, because he thought we had 4 folding chairs. He thought we had to buy another dowel after he messed up one of the thingies. I told him that we have 2 folding chairs, so he needed to make 4 thingies.

He pointed out that they are imperfect. I like that they are imperfect. If he had been meticulous as usual, I would still be waiting for the chair to be fixed.

I painted the thingies with some craft paint that I had on hand. The color is not a super-close match, but it looks okay.

One chair has been moved back into my craft room again. I missed it while it was gone. I was using my stamping chair, which is a spare kitchen chair. I like the folding chair for miniatures because it makes me sit lower, which in turn keeps me from hunching over my work so much. For stamping, I need to sit higher, since I am pressing down on stamps when I stamp.

I like that we were able to make repairs. There is no sense in throwing out something that can be fixed in a couple of hours.

Mam's birthday card

2009-06-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Ed's mother's birthday is next week. We call her "Mam" which is the Dutch word for mom. I can't call her "Mom", since I already have a mom I call "Mom"! Does it matter that "Mam" is pronounced the same as "mom"? Nope, since I know the name is different!

I thought I had used this set for a birthday card for her a couple of years ago, but when I checked my records, I realized I thought wrong. The set has a windmill stamp too, so I can use it for a birthday card for her next year, and it can have a totally different look.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Stampin' Up Netherlands, Sincere Salutations, Birthday Greetings (inside sentiment)
Paper: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron
Ink: Palette Noir, Prismacolor pencils

TCPTUES61

2009-06-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

This weeks The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Jen, who challenged us to use the colors brown, yellow, and aqua, and we could use red too, if we liked.

I held off making my card until today, since I ordered Alma's new sets, and knew that Happy Camper would work great for the challenge. My stamps finally arrived today. (Why does priority mail from Sacramento seem to take longer than from anywhere else?) I ended up using the adorable squirrel stamp, like Jen did.

I like trying to make little scenes out of stamps, and this set worked pretty well for that! If green was one of the challenge colors, I could have added trees too. This is almost a one-layer card, but the squirrel is cut out and I put a yellow circle behind him. This card is very mail-able.

Stuff used:
Stamps: squirrel, stump, nut, sentiments, clouds, and grass all from The Cat's Pajamas new "Happy Camper" set
Paper: Papertrey Stamper's Select white for base; Stampin' Up Whisper White for squirrel and So Saffron for circle
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin Up: Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, Cool Caribbean; Prismacolor pencils
Other: 1.5 inch circle punch, sponge to apply background, post-it notes for masking

Starting making stuff for inside the shack

2009-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today I started working on building stuff to go in the shack. I am not going to say what the shack will be yet. You are free to make guesses.

Here is the start of the main thing that will be in the shack:

I am making mortise and tenon joints. Plus they are pinned, so I am testing my sanity. The tenons (tongues) go through the mortises (holes). The tenons have slots cut in them so that little wedges can be driven in, making the joints tight. The wedges can also be removed so the thing can be disassembled. At least it will look like it can be taken apart. I may glue the joints, since I won't want people to try to take it apart.

I have seen shelves constructed with pinned mortise and tenon joints at vendor booths at places like the Renaissance Fair. The joints are strong, but the pins can be removed and shelves can be removed from the uprights so that everything can be made flat for easier travel.

Today's favorite tool: file with a square shape (cross-section), for help in making mortises

Tulips

2009-05-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

We have summer temperatures. Spring is gone, along with our tulips. The tulips stopped looking good today, since most of them dried out and shriveled.

As promised earlier, here are our yellow tulips with the red margins, which turn more red every day. I took these pictures every two days. I didn't take a picture today, because the tulips looked quite sad.

May 22

May 24

May 26

May 28

Greenleaf Day 47 - roof and quiescence

2009-05-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today I put some more paint on the large corrugated roof piece. I do like the way it is looking.

This may be my last post about the Greenleaf shack for awhile. Until I hear from Greenleaf, I have no way of knowing if the lower roof will be corrugated or not. Ed suggested that I not glue the big roof piece in place until I have a similar piece of corrugated cardboard on hand. Even if Greenleaf comes though with another piece, we cannot be sure that it will look the same as the piece I have been painting for the larger roof section. I will listen to my man's advice. I think he must know how much I hate undoing things, so it is indeed better to wait. So, this shack will be a UFO, but not due to lack of motivation. It is a UFO due to a lack of supplies!

I plan on starting on items for the interior of the shack, but I will not be posting daily updates about those.

Today's favorite tool: foam paint brush (again)

Greenleaf Day 46 - roof

2009-05-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

I had the day off today. I started out by tidying the kitchen, then I went out and planted some Wave Petunias which we had purchased on Tuesday. Then, since it was not too windy, I located an old can of primer spray paint and took it outside on the lawn. I used it to paint the corrugated roof piece that fits the curved roof. I had trimmed it down a bit before painting it. After the primer paint was dry, I started painting it with craft acrylics. I had studied the shack for a few days from various angles and distances, I decided the roof should be blue. Whodathunk! All along, the thing was colored aluminum, in my mind. But blue works, and it is a 'real' roofing color. Some of the farms around here have blue metal roofs on the outbuildings. (Some are green, some are red, some are white, and some are 'aluminum'.)

I sent a note to Greenleaf last night, asking how I can get another piece of corrugated roofing. The automatic response promised a reply within the next business day. I have heard nothing yet. If Greenleaf doesn't give me a solution, I guess that I will put something other than "metal" roofing on the lower roof. I just can't make myself put the roof on with the ribs going the wrong way!

Today's favorite tool: Foam paintbrush

TCPTUES60

2009-05-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge card is hosted by Ana, who stepped in for Toni, who chose this picture for inspiration for making our cards. Toni planned on hosting the challenge, but her house was hit by lightning so she became Internet-less. (She and her family are okay.)

When I saw the picture, my first thought was, "Yuck, that is a room I would not be comfortable in!" Too cold, too industrial. But I do like the cheery yellow and blue fabrics. There are both completed garments and yardage on the hangers. Some quilters store their large pieces of fabric on hangers. I like the fact that there is a rotary cutter on the floor. The Olfa cutters are yellow. Anyway, I think that the Inspiration challenges are my favorite ones, because it is fun to study the picture to see what I can pull from it.

For my card, I picked up on the white space, the yellow, blue, and aqua colors, and the circle shapes on the wall. The dotted gift image picks up on the dotted fabrics in the photo. The yellow band across my card was inspired by the tape measure looped around the dress form.

Stuff used:
Stamps: "These 3 Gifts" and "Birthday Scrawl" by The Cat's Pajamas, various circular images from Stampin' Up's "Big Pieces", "Little Pieces", and "Seeing Spots" sets.
Paper: Papertrey Stampers Select white; Stampin' Up Yoyo Yellow, Night of Navy, and Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black; Stampin' Up Yoyo Yellow, Night of Navy, and Tempting Turquoise;
Stampin' Up Yoyo Yellow and Night of Navy markers; Prismacolor pencils
Other: Circle Nestabilites dies, foam dots to attach circle layer

anniversary card

2009-05-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

I made this card for my parents' wedding anniversary, which will be next week. They have been married for 58 years.

It may be hard to see in the photo, but I pierced holes along the edges of the green layer and in the corners of the flower layer, to mirror the row of dots below the word "congratulations". I kept this card fairly simple. My parents will probably be more excited about the letter I will put in the the card. (Which I will write early next week.)

Stuff used:
Stamps: Stampin' Up "A Flower for All Seasons" and "Congrats"
Paper: Stampin' Up Barely Banana, Mellow Moss, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Stampin' Up Basic Brown, Stampin' Up markers in Summer Sun and Mellow Moss, Prismacolor pencils
Other: Design ruler, toad stabber and foam mat for paper piercing

Greenleaf Day 45 - misc

2009-05-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I glued the baseboards in place. Therefore, the interiors are done!

Today, I cut some narrow pieces of siding to cover the back edges of the side walls. I put some Weather-It stain on them, and after they are dry, I will glue them in place.

All that is left for construction of the shack is to install one window and do the entire the roof.

Today's favorite tool: Metal ruler

Greenleaf Day 44 - painting

2009-05-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

Last night I started painting the baseboards for the main floor. Today I put more paint on them, and hope to finish painting them this evening. There really isn't much more construction to do with the shack, except figure out what the heck I am gonna do about the roof. I haven't even experimented with painting the corrugated stuff yet. I am tempted to try spray paint, but spray paint and I have never had a good relationship, and I don't see that changing now.

Last night I also glued most of the upstairs ceiling in place. After some paint dries, I should be able to finish gluing it.

Today's favorite tool: My paintbrush with the red handle that I have had since college. (I bought it to paint a unicorn on my dorm room wall. In case you are curious...the residence halls people did allow us to paint our walls.)

Greenleaf Day 43 - finished wiring, misc progress

2009-05-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

The house guests left today, so after the linens were laundered and put away, I didn't feel one bit guilty for playing in my room.

I asked the Nerd if he could solder the lights' wires today, and he was okay with doing it. He made the connection in the attic between the fluorescent lights fixture and the wire that runs down the wall, and he connected all 4 light fixtures to the jack near the bottom of the shack.

This is the view of the jack from the main floor room. The jack will never be seen from this angle again, since I glued the cabinet in place over it.

This is how the shack looks from the bottom. After the wires were soldered, I make some little brackets to hold the wires in place. I gathered pieces of scrap wood and cut notches in the wood, which fit over a bundle of wires. I glued these little 'bridges' to the bottom of the shack, and they will keep the wires neatly in place. It isn't pretty, but who looks at the bottom of scenes?

Today I also glued the exterior door trims in place, cut baseboards for the main floor (after the cabinet was glued in place), and messed around with the upstairs ceiling some more.

Last night, I had installed the door after posting my day's progress. The front of the shack is starting to look more finished. I will glue the upper window in place, after the roof goes on. I want to leave that window open for a while longer since I may need the edges to be a place to put clamps.

Blue is not a color I ever grab first. So, the blue door is out of my comfort zone. My first thought was to make it green, but when I look around at my finished projects, I see that a lot of them are green! I thought about using red, but that was too ordinary. Then I was considering painting it purple, but decided that it was a bit too non-traditional. So, I considered blue, and decided that it looked okay with both the siding and the interior of the shack. Why do I agonize over paint colors so much? It took me two years to settle on a paint color when I painted our guest room furniture. (I chose a restful hue of green for that project, and I am still pleased with my choice.)

Today's favorite tool: Soldering iron, and the Nerd who operated it.

Greenleaf Day 42 - this and that

2009-05-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

Ed and our house guests watched the Indy 500 today. I can't sit still that long, so I escaped to my room for short spells. I also slipped away for awhile when they were playing with the Wii later in the afternoon. (I played Wii too.) I put the Weather-It solution on the exterior door frames, window frames, and the threshold. I glued the downstairs window 'glass' and exterior frames in place and I installed the threshold. I attached the hinges to the door, installed the door's window and outside window trims, then I painted and distressed the door's exterior. I glued the door knobs in place. I also fussed around with the upstairs ceiling a bit. It was nice to be able to spend some time with the shack again!

Today's favorite tool: Needle nose pliers for picking up and positioning hinge nails.

Greenleaf Day 41 - looked at

2009-05-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Today, I did no work on the shack, since I didn't think it would be very friendly to close myself in my room while house guests are here. I did bring it out for show-and-tell, though. Everyone agreed that the design of the small roof was wrong. (The ridges going the wrong way for water to flow off the roof.) Ed's mom wondered why I put outdoor lights in the interior. *sigh* My answer is because I want to!

Today's favorite tool: None, since I didn't use any.

Tulips

2009-05-22T16:58:00.001-07:00

The weather turned warm quickly earlier this week. Our second set of tulips had not bloomed yet, and usually when it gets warm really fast the tulip's bloom time is shortened.

These tulips start out yellow, and turn more red with time. Since it has been warm, the red showed up very quickly. If I can, I will take more photos over the next few days so you can see them change color too.

I need to dead-head the narcissus. The iris are getting ready to bloom. It is time to buy some annuals so that we can have some color this summer too. I never buy annuals before Memorial Day, since I don't want to re-buy them if I plant 'em too early.

Greenleaf Day 40 - aging metal

2009-05-22T16:26:00.001-07:00

The house is clean and ready for house guests, and now I am awaiting their arrival. So, I had a bit of time to play in my room! Yippee!

I glued some braces inside the cabinet, sanded the door's exterior window trims, and put a coat of varnish on the door's interior. Then I did something other than glue, sand, or paint! I aged the hinges and door knobs, using a solution called Blacken-It. It is available where model railroad supplies are sold. I think we got ours from Micromark.

These are the door hinges I will be using. Now, we can't have shiny new hardware on a shack, can we?

(Sorry for the not-so-good picture. I have a hard time photographing small shiny things. Pringles can lids are shiny. ;-P )

There appears to be some kind of coating on the brass hinges, since the blacken-It solution seems to have no effect on the finish if it is simply applied. So, I scuffed the surface with an emery board, then grew impatient and used a metal file before applying the Blacken-It. I applied the solution with a Q-tip. The Blacken-It is a poison, so it is a good idea to not to get it on the skin.

Here are the 3 aged hinges, and a new one on right. I wouldn't call the color 'black', but it does look like aged brass. I think that 'gray' metals would turn black.

Here is an aged door knob and a new one. After taking this photograph, I aged the other knob too.

After spending most of the week spring-cleaning our home, and making stuff shine, it was fun to make things un-shiny!

Today's favorite tool: Q-tips

Greenleaf Day 39 - almost nothing!

2009-05-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Today was spent housecleaning. The only time I set foot in my room was to take some stuff in there that belonged there, but I also swiped some Blacken It solution from Ed's supplies and put it on my table with the shack. I was hoping to use it today, but it will have to wait.

House guests will be here tomorrow. Need I say more?

Today's favorite tool: washing machine (I do not miss the days of having to use coin-op machines!)

Greenleaf Day 38 - paint

2009-05-20T19:19:00.001-07:00

Today, my creative time went to making a card. So, the only thing I did with the shack was put some touch-up paint on the door. I also located the instructions (on my desk near the computer) and moved them to the table in my craft room where I am building the shack. I forgot there were assembly instructions. Not that I ever follow 'em anyway. I think of them more as guidelines than instructions. :-)

Today's favorite tool: a finger for dabbing paint on the door. I didn't even get out a paintbrush!

TCPTUES59

2009-05-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

This week's TCP Tuesday challenge is hosted by Carole, who provided a sketch for us to follow.

I have a hard time using patterned paper, because getting them to match stamped images and getting them to match colors of ink or pencil does not always work for me. I also don't like cards that look too busy. The layout of the card was begging for patterned paper, so I stepped out of my comfort zone. I do like the way this card turned out.

The card I made will be for my sister and her husband's wedding anniversary, which is next week. My sister quilts, so she may like the 4 different swatches of paper.

Stuff used:
Stamps: The Cat's Pajamas "Birds of a Feather" from the "Hearts & Flowers" set; sentiment from Rubber Cottage
Paper: 4 patterned paper all from BasicGrey's LillyKate 6x6 pad; Stampin' Up Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, and Whisper White cardstock
Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Prismacolor pencils, Prismacolor Cold Stone marker
Other: Ribbon from Jo Ann, petite circles nestabilities, dimensional foam dots for bird layer

Greenleaf Day 37 - paint, glue

2009-05-19T16:29:00.001-07:00

I spent time decluttering our full-scale bedroom and living room today, and I did many loads of laundry. So, only about half an hour was spent in my room, playing. I sanded and put another coat of paint on the door's interior side, and I put a coat of paint on the door's exterior window trim, which is not glued to the door yet. I also glued the counter top to the cabinet. After the glue sets, I will glue some braces on the inside of the cabinet, to provide a larger gluing surface. It isn't as if the cabinet will get a lot of wear and tear, but there really isn't much glue holding the whole thing together right now.

Today's favorite tool: a glass cutting mat (mine is a piece of glass that measures around 9x9 inches), which I used for painting small pieces. Paint scrapes off the surface, so cleanup is easy.

Greenleaf Day 36 - paint

2009-05-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

I did not get much done with the shack again today. When house guests are coming soon, other things take priority. :-) I sanded and put more paint on the door, and I buffed the counter top with a paper towel to give it a bit of a shine (without using varnish).

Today's favorite tool: Roll of blue painters tape, to set the door on while the paint dries. (There are so many ways to use painters tape!)

Greenleaf Day 35 - paint

2009-05-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the day doing yard work, exciting stuff like hosing out the litter boxes, and the normal Sunday chores, so the shack was neglected again today. I did show it about 10 minutes of love this evening by sanding and applying more paint to the door and the counter top. Doors take twice as long to paint as they should since there are 6 sides to paint, and at least one area needs to be left dry so that it can be set down to dry.

Greenleaf Day 34 - paint

2009-05-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today most of the day was dedicated to house work, and I didn't expect to have time to give the shack much attention. I did slip into my room in the evening to take the clamps off the window. I also did some touch-up painting around the window openings, I sanded the counter top and applied another coat of paint, and I started to paint the door.

Today's favorite tool: Paintbrushes

Greenleaf Day 33 - window trims

2009-05-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

Since making a card took longer today than I planned, I did not get much done with the shack. I did glue the main floor's interior window trim in place, and I glued the interior door window trim in place. (I had cut little frames to go around the opening in the door yesterday.) I also put the first coat of paint on the counter's top.

Kat asked to see a picture of the balsa stripper that mentioned using yesterday. Instead of photographing it, here is a link to the Wood Strip Cutter at Micromark's web site. Not only is there a picture, but a description! Micromark calls it a wood strip cutter. I called it a balsa stripper, because that is the name that is embossed on the tool. I have found that when ripping strip wood into narrow pieces, it is easier for me to use a metal ruler and an X-acto knife. I have cut 4-inch wide sheets of basswood into narrow planks, when accuracy wasn't super important, like to make floor boards for a rustic floor or a porch. It was a less expensive alternative to purchasing the narrower strips.

Today's favorite tool: a square, to help align window trims.

TCPTUES58

2009-05-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is a stamp challenge, hosted by Susan. She challenged us to use the set, "It's a Mod, Mod World". I love this set, and it is the first one that I purchased from The Cat's Pajamas. I loved Sprinkle (that swanky little cat), and I loved the retro images, including the "Rut-roh" type Poochie and his Jetson's styled car. It was the start of my TCP addiction.

For the challenge, it took me a few days to pick which stamps to use. Then I chose the patterned paper, which feels very retro to me, and the card started to come together after that. The blue part of the TV is colored with a Prismacolor pencil, and the orange part is colored with reinkers and a blender pen. Gosh, I hate coloring large areas with markers or blending pens, but sometimes it is the only way to get colors to match. (I have worse luck with watercolors, unless I want a watercolor effect!) I really wanted that TV to be orange!

Stuff used:
Stamps: All images from "It's a Mod, Mod World" by the Cat's Pajamas
Paper: Stampin' Up Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, and Chocolate Chip; which match the papers in the "Offbeat" 6x6 paper pad by BasicGrey; Neeneh Classic Crest Solar White
Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, SU's Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss reinkers; muted turqouise Prismacolor pencil, Cold Stone Prismacolor marker
Other: Circles and Pinking Circles Nestabilities

Greenleaf Day 32 - sawdust, splinters, and wood chips

2009-05-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

I had the day off from work today. I should have done spring cleaning, but I didn't. Sometimes it is nice to have a day off on one's day off! There was quite a storm this afternoon, so it was a good day to be in. I didn't even venture out to get the mail.

I spent most of my day in my room, turning pieces of wood in to sawdust, splinters, and wood chips--at least it seemed that way. What I really did was cut the exterior window and door trims, a threshold for the door, a counter top for the cabinets, and I trimmed off the bottom of the door so that it will fit in the opening after the threshold is in place.

Cutting the pieces did not take long. But this project took most of the day! This is because I made some fancy cuts. I made a rabbet in the bottom of threshold so that it had a neater appearance from both the outside and the inside of the shack. It is thinner on the inside, so there is less wood to step over, and it is thicker on the outside so that it looks more durable. I also cut rabbets in the window trims so that they can fit over the "glass". The kit for the shack came with thin sheets of report-cover type plastic for the windows, but I chose to upgrade my windows by cutting pieces of clear styrene. The stuff I used is by Gallery Glass. I am not sure if it is available at Michaels anymore, since I haven't looked for it for years.

This is what a rabbet looks like. (No, a rabbet does not long ears, a wiggly nose, and a pom-pon tail.)

I also notched the door to allow for hinges. I installed the hinges and gave them a trial fit in the doorway. I sanded the door, and I hope I sanded it enough to allow for paint around the edges.

Today's favorite tool: (So many to choose from today!) I guess it was the 'Balsa stripper' tool. It has never worked well for me for its intended purpose, but it helped me make the rabbets on the window trims.

Greenleaf Day 31 - paint

2009-05-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Last night, after posting yesterday's progress, I textured the rest of the main floor walls. Today, I put some paint on those walls. I also sanded the door. I need to trim off the bottom of the door so that it can fit over a threshold, which I need to cut. I have also been working on the ceiling for the upstairs room. More about that later.

I had hoped to get more done, but I felt kind of lethargic today. I had half my normal amount of caffeine this morning, so I bet that has something to do with it.

Today's favorite tool: Wide emory board for sanding.

Greenleaf Day 30 - more wiring

2009-05-12T16:40:00.001-07:00

Today, I worked more with the wiring.

The upstairs lights were glued firmly in place, so I could do something with the wire tails sticking through the wall.

First, I untwisted the wires and made sure there were no kinks. Then I threaded the wires through the holes at the bottom of the wall that I had drilled before the walls were erected. I had drilled the holes at the same time I had made the grooves in the wall.

Next, I put tacky glue in the grooves and pressed the wires into them. I used masking tape to press the wire in place, making sure the wires were flush with or below the surface of the wall. The tape keeps the glue off fingers (and splinters out of fingers), but allows a person to feel the wire while pressing it in place. It also holds the wire in place until the glue sets.

About an hour later, I glued the siding pieces in place. I had cut and stained them when I put on the rest of the siding. I also installed a coach light near the door. I glued it's wires in place, on the inside of the wall. Most of the wire will be covered by the door trim, but one small section will not be covered. I put wood putty over the wire in the groove. Texture and paint should disguise it quite nicely. I left that part of the interior wall unfinished, and I can get back to texturing and painting the walls after the putty is dry.

I also put putty on the door piece, while I had putty mixed.

All wires for all lights have been run down to the bottom of the shack. The connections can be made to the power jack at any time. This will get done when I can get the Nerd to do it for me. He solders much more neatly than I do. Until then, I have the wires taped out of the way.

Today's favorite tool: Blue painter's tape

Tulips

2009-05-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

Tulips are in bloom!

These are the red ones that came with the house. Yellow ones will bloom later. I am not sure why the yellow ones bloom later, but they do. Perhaps they remember being in my mom's garden, where the season was even shorter, and spring a couple of weeks later. I don't mind that they wait, since it means we have tulips in bloom even longer.

The above picture is a typical picture of tulips. But what I find fascinating about tulips is how thy look from above. I am always looking for the mutants. Mutants? Why, yes! How many petals do tulips have? The standard answer is "6". Well, actually, tulips have 3 petals and 3 sepals, but they looks so similar, that they are called "tepals". So, tulips usually have 6 tepals. But not always....

Do you see that tulip on the left? 8 tepals! And 8 stamens instead of 6, and the stigma in the center has 4 lobes instead of 3. If I let this tulip "go to seed", the capsule will be squarish, instead of triangular. Neat!

But not as neat as when things really go wrong. How about 7 tepals? The tulip in the bottom of the next picture has 7 tepals, 6 stamens, and a 4-lobed stigma. In the picture below that, is a tulip that also has 7 tepals, but there are 7 stamens, and a normal 3-lobed stigma.

I think is fun to find all the variations of wrong.

Greenleaf Day 29 - upper cabinet installation, upstairs lights

2009-05-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Today, I glued a ceiling over the attic space that is open to the upstairs room. (It doesn't show in today's pictures.) I have decided to call that little area the attic storage space.

Downstairs, I glued the upper cabinet in place. I cannot install the window trim until the cabinet is in place, since I will have to cut off part of the molding to make it fit next to the cabinet. You can see that I didn't bother painting the wall where the lower cabinet will go. I didn't paint behind the upper cabinet either. Not only did it save effort, but bare wood will hold glue better than a painted surface.

Upstairs, I started to install the lights. I had drilled holes through the walls so the wires could be run outside. To install the lights, I removed the plugs by pulling out the prongs, then I threaded the wires through the holes in the wall. I don't trust the sticker-type adhesive that comes with the lights to stay sticking forever, so I attached the lights to the wall with E6000 glue. I shall leave the shack lying on it's front side until the glue has set, which will be tomorrow. Gravity will hold the lamps in place. If I set the shack upright, I will worry about the lamps sliding down the wall.

I wonder, how do people install lights like this if tape wire is being used?

Today's favorite tool: Pliers, to pull prongs from the lights' plugs.

Greenleaf Day 28 - not much

2009-05-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

I spent only a few minutes with the shack today, due to lack of time. Other than the regular chores, I helped Ed clean up the garage (so we could get to the ladder), and him helping me take down the Christmas lights (which required the ladder) and him helping me cut out 1.5 trees in the yard. The tree branches are now in a big pile by the driveway, so the project is still not done. About twice a year, I wish we had a pickup truck. :-) The pile can sit for two weeks. I expect that Ed's brother will drive his truck when he comes to visit for Memorial Day weekend.

For the little shack, I removed the clamps from the window, glued the rest of the upstairs baseboard pieces in place, and did some touch-up painting. I then discussed a roof issue with Ed. The corrugations for the short roof go the wrong way, and it has bugged me for days. I didn't even have to explain the problem to Ed. I plunked the roof piece in place and he picked it up and turned it 90 degrees, and saw that it does not fit. I wish that Greenleaf had made that piece of roof material 1 inch wider. We searched the house and garage for something else to use, and came up with nothing. So, do I put the roof on 'wrong' (and let it bug me and bug Ed and bug all people who have even a small understanding of construction and the laws of gravity and fluid dynamics), lop off the end and piece together a new roof, or put some other kind of roofing material on the short roof? Or do I contact Greenleaf and tell them there is an error in their design and request a new piece? Yeah, right.

Today's favorite tool: rope for hauling tree branches up the hill. (I could have said the chainsaw was my favorite tool, but I didn't operate the thing. It scares me.)

Greenleaf Day 27 - upper floor trims

2009-05-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

The Nerd had to work today. He did get to sleep in a bit, then we had some time to run some errands (post office to get a stack of Forever stamps, pay city bill, trip to recycling) and then have a quick brunch. He wanted to go to McD's to get a sausage McMuffin. (One a year is not gonna kill us, and I refuse to make them at home.) As we were getting in the car to leave, I felt like I was going to throw up. The feeling did not pass, and I did throw up. Good thing we have a wastebasket in the car, and that I could grab it in time! By the time we got home, I felt fine. Weird! I haven't been sick like that in ages. I think that was set me off was someone's perfume. We walked by people on the way out and I noticed perfume, then I noticed feeling sick. Ed said that the first group of people we walked by were stinky with perfume. So it was unpleasant to him too, but he didn't react like I did. Usually people's perfumes cause a fit of sneezing, not a fit of upchucking! I told Ed that I must be turning into a cat. Eat with enthusiasm, vomit, feel fine, then get on with the day.

Since Ed was gone most of the day, my day was fairly unstructured. Between spring cleaning and reading for pleasure, I sanded and painted, sanded and painted, and finally got the last coats of paint put on the shack's window trims and baseboards that I had started a few days ago. Then I finally got to glue the upstairs trims in place!

While the glue dries, I have a bit of pressure applied to the baseboards so that they are less inclined to warp. I did this by taping pieces of scrap wood pressed up to the centers of the long baseboards. Not much pressure is needed. For the window trims, I got to try out our (my) new clamps! The red one and goldenrod one in the set didn't get to be used, since the window opening was filled with clamps. Whenever I use clamps, I place pieces of scrap wood between the clamp and the surface it is clamping, especially if the gripping part of the clamp is textured. This prevents denting the piece. It spreads the load, kind of like snowshoes for clamps.

Today's favorite tool: The new clamps, of course.

Greenleaf Day 26 - cabinet doors, drawers, hardware

2009-05-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today I installed the handles on the cabinet doors and drawers, and glued the doors and drawer fronts to the cabinet. The drawers and cabinets have no need to open, so I didn't bother making real drawers nor interior shelves. There are no backs to the cabinets either, since the cabinets will be glued into the shack.

As I explained earlier, I made the door and drawer handles by bending beading pins into U shapes. To install them, I marked holes then used a pin vice to drill holes through the wood. I then inserted both ends of each U through the wood, pushing the pull snugly against a piece of 3/32 wood placed under the U. The piece of wood ensures that the fronts of the handles are all the same distance from the fronts of the doors and drawers. I bent the pins in the back, then I used Crazy Glue to hold them in place. Since the Crazy Glue was open, I used it to glue the drawer fronts and doors to the cabinets.

I still need to cut a top for the lower cabinet, and decide what color to paint it.

Today's Favorite tool: My Tim Holtz Design Ruler, which is from my stamping tools. It has evenly spaced holes which can be used as a guide to pierce paper or to line up holes for brads, eyelets, etc. For this application, I used it to mark the holes for my drawer and door handles. It was easy to space the handles evenly from the sides of the doors.

Happy Birthday, Tigger and Pooh

2009-05-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Tigger and Pooh celebrate their birthday today. They are 13 years old. There are now teenagers in the house!

We will be having a party of sorts tonight. I always make tuna something on or around the boys' birthday so that they can have tuna straight from the can. Since PawPaw will be home long after their dinner time, they get to eat dinner as usual. They both take eating very seriously.

Pooh gets canned food for dinner. Tigger gets prescription dry food.

Usually, Tigger tries to eat Pooh's food, but today Pooh finished his dinner and decided he wanted to eat more.

Tigger will share, but not readily. Can you see his foot on his brother's head?

These boys bring so much joy to my life. I am wishing them many more birthdays!

TCPTUES57

2009-05-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

This week's The Cat's Pajamas challenge is hosted by Toni, who challenged us to use Navy Blue, Green, and White on our cards. It was hard to not use other blues than Navy blue, but that is why it is called a color challenge! I did use my favorite green, which I think looks nice with Navy blue. I wish I had bedding in these colors. If I were ill, the colors would cheer me right up!

Stuff used:
Stamps: "Sick Sprinkle" and "Round Vase" (selectively inked the flowers) by The Cat's Pajamas, sentiment and plaid stripes from "Faux Ribbon" by Papertrey
Ink: Stampin' Up Certainly Celery and Night of Navy, Palette Noir, Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, Prismacolor Cold Stone Marker
Paper: Stampin' Up Certainly Celery and Night of Navy, Neeneh Classic Crest Solar White, Papertrey Stampers Select for card base
Other: piercing tools

Greenleaf Day 25 - interior trims

2009-05-07T17:25:00.001-07:00

Today I started painting the window and door trims, and the baseboards which I cut out yesterday. I put on one coat of paint, then sanded it, and have started the second coat. I also did a bit of touch-up with the varnish I have been putting on the cabinets.

Instead of spending time being crafty today, I had my nose in a book for about an hour, then I spent time in the kitchen. I made up the baked tuna bars cat treats mix I purchased at the Ren Fair last weekend. The instructions did not say to use a greased pan. Arrgh! I hate scraping food off things. I don't think the treats came out the way they were supposed to. I was supposed to be able to roll the dough, but after I mixed the stuff, it was more like cake batter, so I put dollops of the stuff on the cookie sheets. (Actually, it looked like cat vomit before baking. Now it looks like dried cat vomit.) I offered a treat to Pooh and he seemed mildly interested, but didn't eat it. I did offer it about an hour after he ate dinner, so he probably was not hungry. Pooh is not one to eat for the sake of eating, unless he is offered salad shrimp or "Temptations"(tm) cat treats. I put the treat in one of the cats' bowls, and will see if it disappears.

While the oven was hot, I made lemon squares too. Those are for the humans in the house! I have been craving them since the quilt show 2.5 weeks ago. (There are always refreshments at the quilt show--punch, coffee, and homemade cookies.) I managed to grab a lemon square at the quilt show, but it was underbaked, so it was not satisfying at all.

Today's favorite tool: The square plastic scraper tool that comes with Pampered Chef bakeware. It works pretty well for getting food crud off other pans too.

Greenleaf Day 24 - interior trims

2009-05-06T17:43:00.001-07:00

Today I put some more varnish on the cabinet pieces, then I cut out most of the interior trims.

I planned on cutting only the baseboard trims for the attic, so I reached today's goal. Then I decided to cut out the window trims. Then I thought that I could cut the downstairs window trim and door trim too, to make the best use of my strip wood. I didn't cut the baseboards for the lower floor yet, since I want the door trim to be glued in place first, and the cabinet needs to be installed before I measure for baseboards since the trim not be placed behind the cabinet.

I didn't use moldings for my windows and baseboards because they would not be used in a rustic building. I used 1/16 x 3/8" strip wood for both the baseboards and the window trim. Earlier, I had decided I did not want the window trims to be 1/2 inch wide, so instead of trimming down the die cut plywood pieces in the kit, I chose to dig into my stash of strip wood. 1/16 x 3/8" wood is approximately the size of a "1 x 4" in 12th scale. Not quite, but close. (Real "1 x 4" pieces of wood are not 1 inch by 4 inches! That is the measurement before sanding.)

I have some tips for working with strip wood.

1) Sand the long pieces before you start cutting. It is easier to hold the pieces when they are large than trying to hold onto and sand itty bitty pieces.

2) Cut the long pieces first, then as the piece gets shorter, you can determine how to best cut the pieces to make the best use of the wood. Also, if you cut a piece wrong, you can cut a shorter piece out out it, but you can't make it longer. (Been there, done that, too many times to count.)

3) If you need to make identical pieces, you can cut one and use it as a template to cut the others. Be sure to keep track of which one was cut first and use it as the template for all the others. If your cuts are a bit off, the sizes of the pieces may vary quite a bit by the time you get to the last piece, if you don't use the same template.

4) Another tip for cutting identical pieces is to use a clamp (a spring clothes pin work well) to hold a piece of scrap wood to the miter box to act as a stop. Line up each piece of wood against the stop before you cut it, and each piece should be identical.

4) Save all your scraps, unless it is less than 1/4 inch long or so. I put my longer pieces with my strip wood, and the shorter scraps get put in a small box.

Today's favorite tool: Wide, thick emory boards (for fingernails) for sanding strip wood.

Greenleaf Day 23 - paint, varnish

2009-05-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

Not much progress was made today, but I did spent about 20 minutes with the shack. I put some texture and paint on the upstairs walls, and I started to put varnish on the cabinets. I hope to have more time to play tomorrow than I did today.

Mother's Day Cards

2009-05-04T17:12:00.001-07:00

I finished making 4 Mother's Day cards today. (Actually, I made 5, so that I can keep one in my binder and also share it with my local stamping buddies.) The cards are for our moms and our sisters. (We both have one of each.)

I stamped and colored the roses last night. I cut them out today, then assembled the cards.

The roses are done on shimmery paper. The paper has a coating which works well with watercolor techniques. The layout was inspired by a card I saw on splitcoaststampers, but I made mine simpler, since it is more my style.

I made coordinating envelopes too.

Stuff used:
Stamps: Rose from Stampin' Up's Fifth Avenue Florals set, sentiment from SU's Sketches set
Paper: Curious Iridescent Cryogen White; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Stampin' Up Handsome Hunter, Rose Red, Sage Shadow
Ink: Colorbox Frost white, SU Handome Hunter, SU Rose Red reinker, SU So Saffron Reinker, SU Regal Rose (for rose on envelopes)
Other: Clear embossing powder, Crystal Effects paper glaze (for faux brads), 3/16" paper punch (for faux brads), Fiskars Threading Water border punch, paintbrush

Greenleaf Day 22 - paint and attic wall

2009-05-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today I put more paint on the walls, and I also cut a small wall out of mat board. The wall will go in the attic area and will block off the attic from the rest of the upstairs. I put some texture and paint on it, then glued it in place. I also brought in the cabinet parts from the garage and re-glued a part that that came off while I was applying stain. Then I made some cabinet and drawer pulls for the cabinets by bending some pins that are used for beading. I bent them into U-shapes. I will drill holes in the drawer fronts and cabinet doors and will inset the pulls through the holes. I decided to make pulls since I didn't have any beads in my stash that looked like they would work for knobs. I will try to take a picture of the cabinet parts soon. I do need to pick a color for a counter top (which I have not cut yet), so the pictures may come as a plea for help in choosing colors. :-)

While paint was drying, I worked on making some cards. I had to move shack parts off my paper cutter. At least the shack project has not migrated to my stamping table (too much).

Today's favorite tools: Straight edge and X-acto knife (for cutting mat board, and cutting card stock for cards.)

Greenleaf Day 21 - stain and paint

2009-05-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today was another day spent doing other things, so I did not get much done on the shack. I put stain on the cabinet pieces and moved them to the garage so we don't have to smell them as they dry. I started to paint/texture the upstairs walls.

Ed was really hoping to stay home today but I told him we had to go out. We took some stuff to the recycling center, then we headed over to East City Park to the Renaissance Fair. Even though it rained all night last night, and the ground was wet, muddy, and very slippery, the park was crowded. It seems to rain every year for Ren Fair, but it never seems to dampen people's spirits. We walked along all the aisles, and stopped in some booths. I saw some pottery I liked, but it was not in my budget. We did buy some scented goat milk soap, some for Ed's mom, and some for us. I also made a donation at the Humane Society's booth, and took home a jar of mix for Baked Tuna Bars. Now, doesn't that sound delicious? There were 3 choices for flavors for dog treats, and only 1 for cats. Lori (who was one of the women 'manning' the booth) told us that they tested the recipes on the shelter animals. The dogs approved of all 3 dog recipes they tried, but the cats determined that only the Baked Tuna Bars were worthy. After we got home, we washed the mud off our shoes, I started laundry, I made lunch, then I finally got to play in my room.

Today's favorite tool: Stain markers. Not really a tool, but the way the stain is dispensed makes staining little things less messy.

Greenleaf Day 20 - not much

2009-05-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today was not very productive, miniature-wise, but I can claim that I worked on my shack because I glued one cabinet piece to other cabinet pieces.

We were out the door before 8:30 this morning so we could head to Spokane to attend The Great Train Expo, which was held at the fairgrounds. "Great" was a misnomer. Boy, what a waste of $14.00. (2 adults tickets at $7.00 each) It was more like a swap meet, since most of the vendors were trying to sell old crap. Even the two display layouts were not worth viewing. One was G scale (with no landscaping to speak of) and one was O scale. Yawn.

We did buy some tools at one booth which belonged to a real vendor. We bought some nifty little clamps, some paint brushes, and some diamond-plated reamers. Ed also bought some tiny wire from another vendor who was selling new DCC (digital controls for model railroads) stuff. Then we headed outta there and went to have lunch at Schlotsky's. Yum.

After that we went to Target (I wish we had one closer than 90 miles away) and to Harbor Freight Tools. Most of the stuff at Harbor Freight is junk, but we did find some potentially useful stuff, including clamps. These were the same clamps we found at the train show, but in pretty colors instead of black, and they cost less! So, we bought more. Maybe I will put the psychedelic colored ones with my tools and Ed can put the black ones with his tools. We both like clamps. Actually, half of the fancy brass bar clamps in my tool box were Ed's, but I laid claim to them because I use them more often. If he needs them, he knows where to find them.

We also stopped by Hastings to look for used DVD's. The cashier made my day by calling me "miss" instead of "ma'am".

Today's favorite tool: clamps, since it the only tool I used today, other than a toothpick to apply some glue to the part that got clamped.

Greenleaf Day 19 - cabinets

2009-05-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

There are no pictures today.

Last night we went to a few stores in search of things for the shack. We stopped by Radio Shack to see if they had any power jacks, since I 'borrowed' the one I am using from Ed's stash and I really should get him one to replace it. The bin at Radio Shack was empty. We will probably order a supply from Mouser so that there will be some on hand next time I want one. I did buy some alligator clips while I was there. The pimply-faced sales clerk asked me if I found everything, and I told him no because they were out of what I needed. He didn't seem concerned. Yep, ordering from Mouser sounds better than shopping at Radio Shack.

Next we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and purchased a placemat for an experiment. Then we stopped in Michaels to see if the store had the wood I needed. No luck. So, we went to Ace, since I remembered seeing a Midwest wood display there. I found what I needed. The selection there is okay. I miss the hobby store (which closed) since they had a pretty good selection of basswood, including some moldings.

Last night, before shopping, I glued some cabinet parts together. Today, I cut more wood and glued some more parts together.

Today's favorite tool: Lego blocks (and their nice right angles) used as gluing jigs.

Greenleaf Day 18 - cutting cabinet parts

2009-04-30T15:50:00.001-07:00

Today I started cutting pieces of basswood to build the built-in cabinet that will be in the corner. I still need to buy some more wood to make the cabinet doors.

I also put some more paint on the lower floor walls. I am not sure I like the Michaels brand of craft paint since it does not seem to cover as well as Delta's Ceramcoat paints. Ceramcoat is my favorite brand of craft acrylic paint, but I thought I would give the Michaels stuff a try.

Today's favorite tool: miterbox and saw

Greenleaf Day 17 - painting walls

2009-04-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

Not much progress was made today, due to me making a card and spending time at home doing work for work. Gosh, I wish I could have a cat at work to curl up on my lap. A purring Tigger while working is much more pleasant than overhearing half of a phone conversation from the next cubicle. :-)

I did put some paint on the interior walls today. I was going to put some trim around top of the walls where it meets the ceiling, but I decided to try to be careful with the paint instead, and have the ceiling and walls meet without using molding to cover the transition. It is easier to make the corners look good when the walls are the same color as the ceiling, but I am painting the walls vanilla, and the ceiling is white.

I am thinking about trim color. Should they be painted with vanilla, with white, or stained wood? I think that the cabinet in the corner will be stained wood, but I am still thinking about it. I can make the countertop a different color. There are so many decisions to make!

Today's favorite tool: foam paintbrush