New Year, new adventures

 Just a quick note to say that reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.  Oh, wait, that was Mark Twain.  But unlike several of my all-time favorite authors, Mark Twain included, I'm still having adventures in the current realm.  

When I retired, I vowed to make more things and read more books.  In 2023 I made 316 cards; the only year I made more was 2020.  So far this year, I'm on track for 366 cards in 366 days, but it may be a bit early to have my hopes up.   Here's my first, using a a template from JessCrafts.com:

stamp set - Heartfelt Hexagon; ink - Highland Heather; card stock - Bubble Bath, Fresh Freesia; designer series paper - Flight & Airy (Sale-A-Bration); Stampin' Cut dies - Deckled Circles

I have consistently read more books each year since I retired, but for 2024 I'm  simply hoping to match my 2023 record of 60 books and 20,000 pages.  

In 2022 (which you may have noticed is the last time I posted here), I was gifted a Nintendo Switch Lite and Animal Crossing New Horizons - that became a daily habit!  Towards the end of last year, I realized that "play more games" should have been one of my retirement goals as well, but I don't think I'm going to quantify that one.

Watch this space for new updates - I'm hoping to blog a bit more actively this year.  That won't be a difficult goal to achieve, based on my 2023 activity!

#cardsforukraine adventure

 The situation in Ukraine has weighed especially heavily on my heart and although I realize that thoughts and prayers and making cards aren't enough (or even helpful in any real way), it's all I can offer right now.  I made this card a few days ago in response to the ModSquad challenge Standing With Ukraine and the special challenge at Color Hues.  I posted it on Instagram for my #100daysofdailycreativity challenge but I hadn't posted it here because I didn't "love" it.  This evening as I was catching up on blog posts, I read the options for the World Planting Day challenge at Festive Friday.  The card already had flowers and encouragement, but the addition of an insect was just what it needed:

stamp set - Celebrate Sunflowers; ink - Misty Moonlight, Daffodil Delight; card stock - Daffodil Delight; designer series paper - Beauty of The Earth; Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine with Sunflowers dies; other - Bumblebee trinket, sponge dauber, Stampin' Dimensionals

adventures down a Christmas rabbit hole

 I know rabbits are for Easter, but the Twelve Days of Christmas have been a long-time source of questions for me, and I've spent a lot of time wandering around that particular rabbit hole.  It started in grade school (do they still call it that?), when we learned the song in music class (do they still have that?).  I wanted to know which twelve days they meant (starting or ending on Christmas?), why were there suddenly rings in the middle of all those birds (and other living beings), and what exactly were colly birds, anyway?   As you can imagine, more than one grade school teacher, music teacher, or parent told me I asked too many questions.  When I found other versions of the song with calling birds, I settled for that.  And, I finally learned from a novel set in medieval England that the twelve days start on Christmas (and end on January 5, the day before Epiphany).  

Then I tried to decide on a color for the calling birds on the card I was making for the Twelve Days of Christmas prompt at Jingle Belles.  Cardinals are a popular Christmas icon, but the birds in my stamp set don't look like cardinals.  So I thought I'd try an internet search.  It turns out the use of "colly" in the song predates "calling" by about 100 years, and in the time the song first became popular, colly was a form of "coal-y" and referred to blackbirds.  I wasn't willing to stamp black birds on my Christmas card, though, so I used the blue from the background designer series paper:

stamp set - Banner Year; ink - Cherry Cobbler, Misty Moonlight; card stock - Misty Moonlight, Sahara Sand, Soft Succulent; designer series paper - Tidings of Christmas; other - Stamparatus, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

I added hearts as a way of hedging my bets - these birds are calling out true love.  

While wandering around the rabbit hole this evening I saw a mention that "gold rings" may have referred to ring-necked pheasants.  I didn't chase it down, but that makes so much more sense to my logic-loving mind!

sweet Christmas gingerbread adventure

Do you love sweets as much as I do?  I didn't try to fool myself into resolving to give them up, but if you did, the Jingle Belles have reminded us that the paper versions have no calories AND make great Christmas cards:

stamp set - unknown (the banner was in my unused bits box); ink - Real Red; card stock - Basic White, Real Red; designer series paper - Gingerbread & Peppermint (retired)

Sometimes I buy designer series paper that I think I'll love, and I do, but I get tired of it if I over use it.  When this paper was available last year, I started out with a one-sheet wonder design to make fourteen cards, and then I just kept using the paper.  I never got tired of it, and I'm pretty sure I used it on more than 30 cards.  It's still a favorite, maybe because gingerbread was always one of my favorite Christmas treats!

a cheery birthday adventure

I've said many times that CASEing (Copy And Share Everything) may be my favorite technique - this one is from Heather Forgan, whose blog header icon and color choice makes me think we may be twins separated at birth:

 

I made a few selective edits (somewhere, I saw CASE explained as Copy And Selectively Edit, but I can't remember where...) to make my version fit a couple of  challenges.  I used the colors from The Paper Players

Then, I used twine instead of ribbon to make it more suitable for a teenage boy, according to the prompt at The Male Room

I think Heather's design is perfect for this versatile stamp set and her tutorial for using a Stamparatus makes it easy!