FIRST POST ABOUT ... MY LIFE IS ALL WONKY!!!

Well this is a change....I haven't blogged in over 5 years....Well I'm going to start again.  I closed my store after 4 years...It was an adventure...but I went on to new things.  My life has been a dichotomy of great happiness and great sadness....  I now cruise a lot on Holland America which I will share some photos soon....but I have great sadness, grief, unbearable heartache which is personal to me and I don't want to mention it because someone might read it and I don't want to make things worse.  I have been diagnosed with treatment-resistant severe depression and am seeing a psychiatrist for this problem.  Life has not been good for at least 5 years now.....  I will be blogging about this and other things in hopes it will help me through this absolutely heart-wrenching agony that I'm going through.  I can do nothing about my personal situation, believe me I've tried everything...I can only wait and have hope that things will get better...I do have hope...even after the worst 5 years of my life.

Logo For My New Store

All I can say is I'm exhausted already and it's still over a month before we can even think about opening but I do get to go to CHA as a buyer which I'm excited about doing.

Micki

LOVE IS ALL AROUND!!

Front of invitation with belly band and lined envelope

Hello To All My Long Lost Blog Friends,

If you think I've been away from the blogging world for a while - this is why. I've designed and created my  son and his fiance, Kristen's wedding invitations.  My task was to incorporate a hydrangea theme with pink, coffee brown and ivory with gold accents.  I'm happy

with how they turned out and I'm glad to say they loved them too.

Stamp:  Hearfelt Creations Hydrangea

Copic Colors:  R83 R85 RV11

Embossed with fine gold powder.

All done on Neenah 80lb Classic Natural White Linen paper printed with an HP Color Laser Jet CP2025.  Bazzil card stock.

Love is all around,
Micki

Website information card

RSVP card

Tag Number 10

I am now going to post the:

2010 

12 TAGS

      OF 

CHRISTMAS

In no particular order.

If you would like to see how this was made you can check out Tim Holtz's blog for instructions.

I had a couple of favorites of the 12 and this was one of then.  I really like embossing trash..hehehehehe

Another tag/tags will be coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by to see me,

Micki

Our First Laughing Stampers Tag Workshop

My friend Mary started a new group called the "Laughing Stampers" and we meet at least once a week at a local church. It is an excellent facility that has every amenity that a group of stampers need. Today, we had our first tag workshop and I was in charge of the designing the first tag. This is it. I used one of the techniques in the 12 tags of Christmas on the read heart in the center. The heart was inked with Fired Brick Distress Ink and then covered in a thick layer of Rock Candy Crackle Paint. We had a 10 people at the workshop and we did what we were supposed to do......LAUGH!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Micki

Here is my lastest organizational project. 

I want to make a notebook of my stamp collection but I didn't want to have to stamp and clean
every stamp so I scanned them all into the computer with my flatbed scanner.  I'm going to print
out the pictures and organize them into a notebook.

Here is a slide show of my current stamp collection as of today....I'm sure it will change by the end of
 the week...hehehehe

Cupcakes and Baseball

We frequent a local bakery here in Anderson called the Sweetery.  They make the most delicious sandwiches and the cakes are on another plane altogether.  I have one in my refrigerator calling out my name right now.....Micki.....Micki....
Anyway, they are really nice to us there and they asked if Sam would like tickets to the Atlanta Braves -Florida Marlins game.  Well she couldn't get those words out of her mouth fast enough for him tosay Yes Yes I'll take them, please.

I made this card to say a quick thank you for giving my husband and son such a wonderful evening at Turner Field. 

It is on kraft card stock.  The green baseball field was cut on the Cricut from Everyday Paper Dolls.  The cupcakes are colored with Copics and they came from the Hero Arts Cupcakes.  The bat, flaming ball and player are all from Fiskars Batter Up Clear Stamps and colored with Copics.   All edges were distressed with TH Frayed Burlap.  The fence is MS Punch.

Thank you Team Sweetery for such a wonderful treat.  

Micki

Well, well, well......finally

Well, well, well....finally I've gotten back to posting on my blog and back into the studio.

I downloaded this cat silhoutte SVG file because it looks just like my cat, Henry.  Used the Martha Stewart punch as the creepy walking surface.  Black bling from Mike's fits perfectly on the DCWV background paper.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Micki

Switzer Summer of Surgery

I have not been a "bloggin'" at all lately....  We have just had the most memorable summer and not one
which we want to ever repeat.  Hubby had gallbladder attack and was grounded until it could come out
which was in August....2 weeks later was one day of bronchitis away from pneumonia...then I had to have a Total Hysterectomy and I had a really bad cold at the same time...who likes to cough when you just went through major surgery.  Well, it's been two weeks and it's almost the end of Setpember....
So the Switzer Summer of Fun...turned in to the Switzer Summer of Surgery...we are taking it one day at a time...and oh this little tidbit...our 2 week vacation was scheduled the day after my surgery...oh what fun!!!!!

Forgive me for the misses...
Micki

CHA was fun.

Hello Friends and Family,

I just got back from meeting a group of internet crafting friends in Chicago....we attended the summer, 2010 CHA Supershow in Rosemont, Illinois.  Russell and I drove to Kentucky to pick up my friend, Paula and we drove to Chicago where we met up with:
Tina from Canada
Tammy from Pennsylvania
Maria from Denmark
Lucille from New Jersey
and
Cari from California.......

How much fun can you have with a bunch of women who only know each other from the internet???


LOADS!!!!!!

SHOPPING!!!!!

It's A Party!!

Nooooo, I'm not having a party.

As a lot of you know, I'm a big, big, big news junkie.....I love watching the circus that is known as the United States Federal Government in action.  So when this month;s ATC swap's theme was patriotic...I had to throw the  two biggest "acts" in Washington, DC, the red Republicans and the blue Democrats.  I also added a ticket to the party just so you can attend the show any time you want to.....The flag was added because you know that's what it is all about.....the republic....you and me and all our children.....
So enjoy:

It's a Party                                                       

Become of a member of some party...and VOTE your conscience....


Micki
Proud Member of the Republican Party
I hope you love your right to vote as much as I do!!!!!!

Congratulations Kristen!!

Hello friends and family,

Just spent the day with my friend, Mary going to some of the thrift stores in town.  I ended up with some old games and more trim and lace pieces.

Today's project is a card that I made for my DIL to be, Kristen.  She just finished her work for her bachelors degree from Northeastern University.  Coffee is one of her favorite things so I saw this image used on one of my fellow blog group's sites a while ago so I purchased it to use on her card.  Image is colored with Copics.

The flower I received from a swap.

Congratulations Kristen

Love,
Mama and Dad

Gears

Hello Friends and Family,

I spent the day at my local scrapbook store (LSS) which is Stamps and More by Eleanor in Piedmont, South Carolina.  My friend, Mary and I had a great day volunteering, helping customers and playing.  Mostly Mary helps with the customers and I just flit around playing with all her Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamps, creating...going to lunch...then creating some more until the owner kicks us out at closing time.   Today my assignment was to make a sample using Ultra Thick Embossing Powder in Pewter.  Right away I thought of metal...then gears...then this project came to me.

I used the new Cuttlebug - Clock Works embossing folder to emboss some chipboard.  Colored it with Aged Mahogany and Walnut Stain Distress ink.  I cut the gears of chipboard also and embossed them with the pewter UTEE and inked them with Walnut Stain.  I used a label maker to make the labels....

Here is my


UTEE Gears Project:

See ya later, alligataors.....

Photo taken with a Canon G10

Micki

TH Texture Fades Examples

Project using the Tim Holtz Texture Fades Embossing Folders....
Welcome to my prospective students...take a look thru the blog even in the previous months...
Hope you enjoy and that I see you soon at Stamps and More by Eleanor in SC

Thanks for having a look-see!!!

You can sign up for one of my texture fades classes HERE!!

Wednesday, June 30 10am to 12 noon
or
Saturday, July 17 1pm to 3 pm

Dictionary Floral

Made with;
TH Alterations Tattered Florals
TH Alterations Fanciful Flight
Distress Inks
Vintage Dictionary

Thanks for stopping by...
Micki

Bingo ATC

Here is my ATC for the June ATC group over at Your Paper Pantry.  The theme this month was show your style so I did vintage Tim Holtz....

Here is my ATC for this month:

Flying the Flag

Project made with Tim Holtz Texture Fades - Swirls

Had a fun afternoon at the stamp store...bought another set of Texture Fades...Dot Matrix...  I was going to photo club tonight but when I backed out of the driveway the car sounded like the engine was going to fall out....pulled back into the driveway.

Any how-----

Flying the Flag

Tim Holtz Texture Fades Sample for LSS

Hello Friends and Family,

I was just appointed to the Design Team at my LSS, Stamps and More By Eleanor in Piedmont, S.C.  I will be making samples for the store and here is an example of one using my new Tim Holtz Texture Fades Embossing Folders.....Bricked and Woodgrain set.  These are my new favorite things to use....love 'em.

For those of you in my blog groups, please forgive me for the last month with no comments on your blogs.  I was an over-achieving swapper and signed up for 9 different swaps and proects for the month of May plus my son's college graduation was thrown in there for good measure.  I intend to do a better job this month......
Thanks for visiting,
Micki

Altered Paint Can

Paint Can I 
Did For A Husband
Swap on Your Paper Pantry.

Buzzin' 'Round The Honey

Hello Family and Friends,

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers who visit my blog.  Today's post is a tag I made for a swap at yourpaperpantry.ning.com and was hosted by Kate of Tennessee.  I have met so many nice ladies at the pantry and have made some really great friends from all over the world.

My tag was made with a base of grunge board cut into the shape of a tag.  I used distress ink to ink the raised areas of the grunge board.  I used Sure Cuts A Lot to cut a bird cage SVG and then cut out the center to make the hive.  I placed to layers of netting, black and gold behind the hive. For the honey, I colored UTEE with butterscotch alcohol ink and melted it on to the netting.  The bee is a dollar stamp from Michael's or Joann's..can't remember which.  The flight path of the bee is a cloth wire from my stash.
The charm, which represents dripping honey, is vintage beading from the thrift store...




Buzzin' Round The Honey............................................................................

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