Snowflakes but not Christmas

Here's another card for the Operation Write Home Virtual Cardmaking Party. This challenge was to make a non-Christmas card featuring snowflakes. Perhaps my coloring is a bit Christmas-y, but I like the contrast of the red and green with that strong blue background paper (by Hot Off the Press). This is actually NEW paper (gasp!) that I bought last summer.  What? Only one year old is like brand-new for me... The snowman image is another stamp from Darcie's Country Folk, and the sentiment comes from a Hero Arts set. You might not be able to see it, but the gray paper is torn along one edge, and the snowman is popped up. I used BIC markers to color the image. This is actually the prototype for a card kit I'm preparing for our OWH Birthday Bash later this month. So far I've got three kits, one is ready and the other two are in progress. :)

Is That a Challenge?*

Over at Operation Write Home they had a Virtual Cardmaking Party over the Labor Day weekend. Sadly, I had my usual one day weekend, but I am trying to meet at least a few of the ten challenges.  They're all very different and, well, challenging. The first one I managed to get done was the Western themed challenge.

I haven't used this stamp by Darcie's Country Folk in ages, so I was happy to dust it off and put it into action. The western border is from a small piece of notepaper I got somehow...maybe a gift or as part of a grab bag, many moons ago. I colored the cowboy in with ZIG and BIC markers, and the red patterned paper is from Keeping Memories Alive, also very old. Still working my way through leftover scraps.

I hope I'll have more cards to show you soon!

*Can anyone guess which Disney movie this comes from?

Let's Catch Up

Well, technically summer is over here in Israel (would someone please tell the weather that?) and Meital is back in school (tenth grade, gadzooks!) We had a fantastic trip to the U.S. to see family and friends; the only bad thing (and it was a biggie) was that at the last minute - and I mean just a few hours before we needed to leave for the airport - the IDF informed Liat that she would not be allowed to leave the country. We were really bummed and spent most of the trip thinking of her, taking photos of things so she could pick what she wanted us to buy for her, and feeling cheated. Still, now that she's twenty I suppose we need to get used to the fact that she won't necessarily be coming along with us on trips any  more.

When we got back from our month away, we were swamped with work (good timing because I really would rather not have to work on my vacation!) and then there was the whole Olympics insanity, back-to-school nuttiness and just general craziness.  So that's my excuse for not blogging in August, and I'm sticking to it.

I've been busy knitting and stamping, too, and I will - I hope, if time and my &^%$%#$# printer permit - be posting more often again....starting very shortly.  I hope all of you had a wonderful summer.

Where's that Monkey...?

Over at Operation Write Home the Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to use a monkey (or two, or...) on a card.  I only have two stamps of monkeys, this tiny guy (very old Stampin' Up! stamp, part of a zoo themed set) and a larger one that is a solid image.  I decided to use this one, so I picked out this OWH sketch #104 because I figured the layout would help focus attention on the monkeys.  Thanks to my big cleanup in the crafts room, I remembered I had this patterned paper with the ferns (probably 12+ years old) so I found it easily (yay me!) and got to work.  The lime green and the vertical strip (colored with alcohol inks) are from my scraps collection. Which for some odd reason, does not seem to be dwindling much...

Never Say Never

"Orangutans are skeptical of changes in their cages..." ~ Simon & Garfunkel

Do you know that song by Simon and Garfunkel, At the Zoo?  I love it, and the line above is my very favorite, probably because it describes me perfectly!  When I first heard about so-called digital stamps I was extremely skeptical.  How could images printed out from your computer be "stamps"?!  I was sure I wouldn't want to get anywhere near that whole new fasciation within the stamping community.

But, I was wrong (clearly it almost always takes me a while to warm up to new things; see lyric above).  I read a description of these digital images and I realized that there are several real advantages to them: they take up zero space in your craft room; you can adjust the size to make the image as big or small as you like; you can (I'm guessing) rotate and flip the images; and finally, a digital image costs much, much less than a stamp.  Oh, and of course there's the factor of not having an inky stamp to clean up, and eliminating the chance of stamping a blurry or incomplete image.  Pretty convincing reasons to give digital images a try, don't you think?

I made the card above using Operation Write Home's Sketch #127 and a free digi (as they are sometimes called) from Doodle Pantry.  I was very happy to be able to try out a free digi before deciding to re-adjust my thinking.  I'm a believer now.  I printed out four of the ducks onto a piece of cardstock - I realize now I made them a bit too big for a standard 4.25 x 5.5" (A2) card, but I'll manage.  Next time I can always make them smaller (wheee!).  I colored the duck with my Prismacolor pencils; not sure my printer toner would do well with a wet media like markers or paint.  That's okay with me.  The patterned papers are of course scraps from my stash.  Now that I can easily look through my scraps I am using them up quickly; I love it.

I'm sure I will continue to buy and enjoy regular stamps, but now I've got more options when I want a certain kind of image. I can't wait to go shopping for some digis!

But I'm still not calling calling them "digital stamps."

Blue and Yellow

Better late than never!  I made this card (possibly from an Operation Write Home sketch, but if so I didn't make a note of the sketch number) for the Midweek Throwdown Color Challenge at Stars and Stamps, one of the OWH blogs. Using up more scraps, yay me! I colored the girl with watercolor paints.

I wonder if I should add a small sentiment in the upper (or lower) left corner - what do you think?

Update

 A week ago I wrote about a new art installation in my neighborhood.  Yesterday, Avi and I noticed that there seemed to be more pieces in the grouping.  I went back this morning to check it out.

 Sure enough, two girls have been added on one side of the world, one with a book bag on her back and one holding a book under her arm.

And a little boy has been added on the other side.

I have no idea if these additions were planned all along, or if someone called City Hall and complained (it wasn't me).  I also haven't made up my mind if these additions really make much difference to the overall message.  At least the number of girls is now closer to the number of boys (4 to 5 instead of 2 to 4).

It seems clear that these are prefabricated figures that are purchased and arranged at the discretion of the person installing them.  The boys with balls hold the same pose, as do the girls with book bags and the boys who are sitting down.  It's too bad they aren't arranged in a way that at least hints at real interaction between the figures.  It's like each one is alone.  I think that's sad, but perhaps it's a true reflection of society today.  What do you think?