Advent Calendar LTCs

I was excited when SLeaves posted the "Advent Calendar" LTC swap.  I like making cards/boxes for silly holidays and I immediately went to the interweb looking for fun holidays in December.   

My first day is December 12th.  It is National Gingerbread House Day.  I carved my stamp, stamped it on cardstock, and colored it with Copic markers.  I also went over the snow areas with my Scrapbook.com glitter brush pen. 

My second day is December 18th.  This is Answer The Phone Like Buddy The Elf Day!  I carved my stamp, colored it with Marvy markers and stamped it on cardstock. 

The one requirement from the tracker is that they have the date on them.  I have goofy handwriting so I ordered a few different stamp sets to use on the date.  

I'm happy with them and looking forward to seeing the other cards. 

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him LTC

This is my card for Disney Addict's, "Christmas Time" LTC swap.  Again, I went to Pinterest for my inspiration.  

For my card, I took playing cards, and used Gesso to glue down some old, torn text papers.  Once that was dry, I stamped my stamp, and colored it with Distress Crayons & a water brush.  I affixed my strip of text with a glue stick.

I wanted to add some glitter and set the cards, so I bought some glitter spray paint at the craft store.  It was a total dud.  The can did not work at all and if I could have found the receipt, I would have returned it.

Christmas Time: 
Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Then I went to Walmart and bought some glitter spray paint and it had waaay to much glitter.  Even when I tried to go easy on the nozzle, it was too much.  

I used to have some glitter Mod Podge and could not find it.  I ordered some online.  It came and I loved it.  I loved that it had multi size glitter pieces.  I painted it on my cards and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.  I'm very happy with my first Christmas LTC of 2020.

 

Fall Break boxing in Louisville

My kids are on fall break for a few days this week.  Yesterday, Daddy's Favorite Princess and I went to Louisville to look for the new Who Killed Colonel Sanders boxes.  I have been thinking about hiding a Clue series myself and wanted to find these boxes.   We left home at 7, stopped at McDonalds, and stopped to find a box at a rest area on the way.

We arrived in Louisville around 9:30 our time and found the first few boxes rather easily.  With the route that I chose to get us around the city, in a way I thought was most efficient, we discovered who the killer was, what the weapon was, and the room quickly.  The series has 21 boxes and we found 18.  Most of the time, when we box in Louisville, we visit cemeteries.  We really enjoyed all the places that these boxes took us.  

I planted a box while we were there and we left 2 hitchhikers and found none :(  I really like hitchhikers and rarely find them.  I will keep making them because I enjoy them.  I have an idea for a large series of hitchhikers that I can use my scraps to carve.  

Altogether, we looked for 23 and found 20.  I was worried that we would not be able to find them all in one day but we actually made it home before dark.  The weather was great, even though we drove home in rain.  

It's Fall Y'all and some boxing

 

It's Fall Y'all: Autumn

This is my card for jlsd0218's "It's Fall Y'all" LTC swap.  My card is called, "Autumn."  For this tracker, you were supposed to use some sort of embellishment.  As you can see, I used eyelets.  I bought them a long time ago but I don't know if I ever used them.

THIS was the inspiration for my card.  I considered carving a tree blowing in the wind but couldn't find just the right image.  

For the background, I used my Geli Plate.  I have been having problems with my plate lately.  Can they dry out or go bad?  I bought new paint at the end of last year and thought it may be the problem.  So I got new paint and it worked better.  I'm very happy with how the cards turned out.

Haubstadt, Ind

I went letterboxing last Saturday and had a great time.  The weather was beautiful and I found all 7 boxes that I looked for.  

I started off in Haubstadt looking for a box that someone planted passing thru. I also explored a nearby park.  Next month is my 10 year letterbox anniversary and I have been thinking about planting a ten box series.   I checked out a park that used to have a few trails.  Now it is a disc golf course.  I think I will plant there anyway if I can get my butt in gear and carve the stamps. 

Owensboro, Ky

Then I went to Owensboro, Ky.  Big jump, I know.  There is a new boxer there and she has planted a bunch of boxes.  I went over back in July and got some of the boxes.  This time I got all of them but one that is inside a library.  

A while ago, I got a message that one of my boxes in Owensboro was missing.  The area had flooded and the box washed away.  We went on a field trip to an orchard just 2 miles away and I had to check while we were so close.  I found the box!  It was in a pile of flood debris.  It was in bad shape so I cleaned it up and rehid it in a better place last weekend.  

I was great to be out boxing again.   I love this weather and all the awesome stamps :)

Autumn Craft & Swap

These are my cards for aMAZEing adventure frogs "Autumn Craft & Swap 2020".  There is no theme for these swaps and I usually make something for the season or holiday.

This card is kinda the fall version of my Water Lily card.  I cut light tan texture paper to card size, laid a wood grain stencil on, and rubbed Walnut Stain Distress Ink thru the stencil.  Then I sprayed the card with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Woven Burlap.  I cut the top corners off to make it look like a tag and rubbed the same distress ink around the edge of the paper.

When I had the bleeding tissue paper out to make my camping cards, I made some extra for the leaves of this card.  I painted water on watercolor paper, laid the bleeding tissue paper down, and I added a little more water on top.  Once that was dry, I stamped and embossed my leaf stamp, and cut them out.

Autumn Craft & Swap '20: Pretty Maple Leaf

You may recall that the water lily card has vellum and text papers.  So I added vellum and scrapbook paper to this set too.  I loved using thread on the other card and used twine on this one.  I think it needs a little extra color but I'm happy with it.

Brads

Brads: Patience 

Way back in the spring, I participated in Team Awesome Pants's A-Z w/Thee LTC swap.  I never made a blog post for those cards but I plan on it.  When she sent the cards back to you, she sent a surprise.  The surprise was brads.

She then made an LTC swap where you were supposed to make a card with the brads you received.  It was when I was working full time and I didn't really want to make the cards.  I also wasn't crazy about the brads I got.   But I felt guilty throwing the brads away and I didn't want to mail them back.

My brads were tiny, brightly colored birds.  I didn't like them because they were too small and the colors were too bright.  I went thru my paper stache looking for something loud that fit the birds.

I found this old pad of paper that I used a few years ago in a Bind it All swap.  You had to make some kind of book using your BIA.  I made little recipe books in the shape of aprons.  I thought they were cute.

I used scraps from that book to make these cards.  The cards also have a plain brown border.  My cards are called, "Patience" because the brad bird is waiting for the eggs to hatch.  You used to be able to make a synopsis of your "box" on the Box Details page.  But you can't anymore.  So I put in the Keyword box, "tapistryingmypatiencewiththesebrads".  XD

Camp Life LTCs

Brief life update: On Monday, July 27th, I was fired from Rural King for not wearing a face mask.  I have ordered my home school curriculum and it should arrive on Friday (7/31).  I hope to start our home school adventure on August 10th. 

(7/29)With loosing my job, have a lot of free time and jumped right into making cards.  This is my card for the "What is your life?" swap.  My card is called, "Camp Life." 

I thought about making a geli print background but went with the bleeding tissue paper because it is just so easy.  You brush or spray water on paper, lay the bleeding tissue paper down, and you can add more water if you wish.  When they dry, the tissue paper falls right off.  It's so easy.  I'm using it on another card too while I have it out.

What is your life?: Camp Life

Once the cards were dry (I used a cheep watercolor paper) I stamped and embossed my stamp.  Then I glued the whole thing to brown scrapbook paper.  Nothing exciting but I like it, and like creating and being artsy again <3