More Cards

It might seem from these new cards I've just made that I'm pining for Spring, but actually that isn't the case. The weather here, mostly, is already enough like Spring - we need more rain!



All of these cards were made using my new Hope/Faith set from Stamp A Mania. I've been having a lot of fun with it, and there are quite a few other ideas/looks I want to try with these stamps.



In other news, work is keeping me very busy, though I manage to find some time to knit every day. Right now I'm trying to finish up a sweater I started for Liat several months ago. I'm also working on a pair of socks for Meital and a small knitted toy that I hope to give her for Valentine's Day.

Which reminds me! I should get started on making some Valentines...

Fifteen Minutes

Today the new Posh Rubber Stamps website went live (click on the box to the right), and I am so excited by all the fabulous goodies Stamp A Mania will be carrying. All of my favorite papers and inks (and stamps, of course), and if you know me you know how much I love one-stop shopping. Parts of the site were ready a while ago, but many new things have been added, and I find myself going back over and over to check things out.

One of the new things they put up are the design team pages, so my fifteen minutes of fame have officially happened. You can check it out and tell me what you think!

In other news, I've been knitting away. Finally finished the last few gifts I wanted to give for the holidays (though one has yet to be put in the mail, bad me!). Now I'm working on finishing up the various projects I had started before I got side-tracked by holiday knitting. All too soon it will be time to work on a pair of gifts I want to make in honor of Liat's graduation from high school. I want to make something for her homeroom teacher of the last three years and something for the principal of the school.

Wishing all of you a very happy and healthy 2010.

Inky Again!

More fun times in the ol' stamping room today! If this card looks very similar to another I've made recently, it is. I got some excellent advice on how to improve my earlier effort, from someone who knows! So I wisely followed his suggestions, and here is the result. I love all the color, and the sentiment.



I used the same sentiment here, but went for a totally different look. The images are from the same Face Flowers set I was sent in my design team kit (so many great images to play with there), but this time I made the green background by applying alcohol inks to glossy cardstock, then stamping with pigment ink and embossing the images, so they would show up nice and dark. Easy! Layered on black, then shiny gold cardstock (too bad you can't see it in person - the green background also has some gold in it. Shimmery!)

I have more stamps to play with, but I also need to clean up in my room; it doubles as a classroom (some of you may remember that), and as it happens, I will start tutoring a lovely young man (tenth grade) in English starting this Monday. I have known this kid since he was in sixth grade, and a sweeter kid you've never met! I just hope I can give him some help. He's very smart, and long on charm, but perhaps just a wee bit unmotivated when it comes to his studies. I want to help motivate him, because after all, it's his future at stake! We'll see how it goes. So while I'm excited to help him, I'm a bit unnerved at the prospect of giving my stamping/class room a thorough cleaning. It's been...awhile, shall we say?

I was a good girl though, finished translating this month's section of the Holocaust memoir before going to play. I still need to double check some spelling of towns and such, and polish it up a bit before sending it off to the client. But the main work is done, thank goodness! I hate to be late.

I've also done some knitting (of course), which also keeps me happy. Will likely get more done tonight while watching a basketball game on television. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!

More Gifts

These are the fingerless mitts I made for my niece in California. She and I agreed on the pattern and colors this past summer, and I think she will look great in them! Only wish I could have given them to her personally. I included the balls of left over yarn so you could see that you actually can manage to make the smaller size with just one 50 gram skein of each color (though I was sweating a bit over the green, I can tell you!). They are called Transition Gloves, and I got the pattern from Simply Sock Yarns, one of my very favorite places to buy yarn.



These of course are Avi's Chanukah socks, made with Austermann Step yarn, which has some kind of softener in it that feels marvelous on the hands while you knit, and probably feels even better on the feet. Of course, Avi said, "But I already have a pair of your socks!" when I gave them to him. Sigh. Needs just a bit more training, but I think I'll keep him anyway.

After these finishes, I still have another nine (yes, 9!) projects on the needles. I am going to try very hard to finish up as many as I can starting now and continuing through the Winter Olympics. Then I need to get started on gifts for Liat's homeroom teacher of the last two and a half years and the principal of the school. I'm thinking maybe Swallowtail scarves for both of them (don't worry, if you have no idea what that means, I'll be sure and bore you with photos and details when the time comes).

I ordered some more Marvy brush art markers and glossy cardstock today, for more cardmaking fun! I'm hoping to spend part of tomorrow making some more cards, too. I feel very lucky.

I hope you are all having fun this weekend, too!

Catching Up

How can I catch you up when I keep moving forward? Anyway, here is the bunny I made for Meital for Chanukah. I imagine by next year she won't want stuffed toys, so this may be the last one I make for her, at least for awhile. I didn't make the dress according to the pattern (called The Well-Dressed Bunny - it's on Ravelry for those of you who are members there). In fact, I knit and ripped out the dress several times before coming up with something I was reasonably happy with.



And this is another card, made today, with my new Posh stamps. I used a stipple brush and a multi-colored ink pad called Blending Blox to make the speckled background, then stamped the ivy stamp and the phrase on the card. The sunflowers I stamped on sticker paper and added. Fun and easy! And since I've been watching all of my Dee Gruenig DVDs (and viewing her videos on You Tube) I have a whole lot more ideas spinning around in my head, waiting for a chance to come out!

However, my deadline for sending in the third installment of the Holocaust memoir is drawing near, and I am spending most of my time on that lately. It's very interesting learning about life in the camp of the Bielski partisans.

I did sneak in some knitting today, too, though. Shh! Still trying to finish Avi's second sock, and I'm nearly ready to start the toe decreases, which means I just might finish by Friday night, the last night of Chanukah. Wish me luck!

Playtime!

I got my first designer's kit yesterday from Stamp A Mania, and it's a lovely one! It's called Face Flowers, and some of the images are smaller versions of stamps already in my collection, which makes me think of all kinds of fun possibilties. Meanwhile, I made these two cards today, and had a blast getting inky after so much time away from my stamping table.


It's going to be lots of fun thinking of ways to use these pretty stamps. They are even a great size for ATCs, so I may have to get back into those, too. The Posh Rubber Stamps website is partially operational but the big reveal will be coming soon. I can't wait to see all of the accessories they are going to carry; I am in desperate need of Marvy markers and more glossy cardstock!

I've been away from blogging for a while and I've missed it. We've had a fair amount of work come in, which is always good. Plus, I'm still working on my biggest project, the memoir of a man who survived the Holocaust. I have just gotten to the part where he joins the Bielski partisans (did anyone see "Defiance"?).

Natually, there has also been a lot of knitting. I will share those photos in a future post. Some items have been given to their recipients, but I am still stealth knitting the socks for Avi. Nearly done, thank goodness! Of course, there is no shortage of other projects I want to start as soon as I finish the ones already on the needles.

A Finish

Not to be confused with a Finn. I met some lovely Swedish members of my distant family over a year ago, but have yet to discover any Finnish leaves on my family tree. But I did finally complete this Marsan Watchcap for my nephew Michael in Jerusalem. I hope he likes it!

This is the third black hat I have made for a young man in recent weeks. Two of the three will be entering the army some time in the next year to year and a half, so hopefully the hats will come in handy then as well as now.

But I'd really rather not have to knit another hat with black yarn any time soon. And aren't photos of items knitted with black yarn just so thrilling?

Instead of casting on for the scarf for my niece in Jerusalem, I decided to see if I could finish at least one other something first. I finished the leg, knit the heel flap and turned the heel on the second in a pair of baby socks made from leftover Koigu, and I hope those will be finished by Saturday night. Meanwhile, I am going to work on Meital's first tipless glove tonight.

It's so much fun to knit with the sound of the rain as my background music!