Out of Practice - makes me blue....

Yep, its really me.

FINALLY posting punch art after ?? years.....

I recently started scrapbooking a little bit which is LOADS of fun.  Toyed with the idea of trying to punch but eh... didn't excite me.  Then I got an email request and thought "oh, why not"

I am soooooooooooooooooooooo out of practice.  It makes me feel a bit blue.  Just like this requested smurf.

He looks a bit like a blue ELMO.  His eyes need to be narrower and his nose smaller but hey, I tried.  You can tweak him a bit - and give him some props to cover any bits you don't like. I'm happy I could figure out how to post this.  

Its been years since I've even looked at a Stampin' Up! catalog so I don't even know what punches are current - I suspect lots of these are retired but maybe you have them deep in your stash...

Here's the how to help:

• Hat - Full heart - trimmed by sticking in a circle punch
• Head - 1 1/4 inch circle - trimmed by stick back in the same circle and just taking off a tiny sliver
• Nose and ear (not shown) the wing from two step bird punch
• Body - owl - ears and feet trimmed off
• Pants - owl - feel off - trimmed by sticking in a circle punch
• Hands - modern label - trimmed with circle (or oval punch)
• Arms (and legs) - medium oval hole with two slivers punched beside it - toss the oval - keep the slivers
• NOT SHOWN - brim of hat - large oval around small oval hole - giving you an oval ring - trim a piece of that 
• NOT SHOWN - eyes - circles - don't do what I did - it looks like Elmo - trim some circles down
• mouth is drawn on

Edit:  Couldn't stand the Elmo Smurf - did a quick eye change shown on the right smurf below- better - I can live with you copying THIS one.....  (drew on eyebrows too - he needs them)

Thanksgiving

Happy Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Some of you are eternal optimists - continuing to check this old thing looking for punch ideas.  Sorry - there is a ton of paper on my desk but its all bills and files not cute shapes and cleverness!

But I've gotten a few "how the heck are you" messages so I thought I'd pop in here and give you gals an update.

I did NOT complete my new years resolution... it cratered mid March.  It was terribly fun while I did it and I'd recommend the photo a day project for another year but this year has been crazy.

I've moved Mom - helped her empty her house - she found her own new digs.

I've moved Father in Law - found his new place, moved him, then single handedly emptied a 5 bedroom house they had lived in for 48ish years.  (Oh Lordy!  If  you love your children go ahead and start cleaning out your paper and your JUNK now.  Don't leave it for someone else.)

I've moved ME into my mother's former home - remodeling and remodeling and remodeling so it suits us.  I'm in phase 3 and there are five phases to this.  Hubby has only agreed to fund thru phase four. Phase Five is my "dream on" stage in the kitchen I rarely cook in. That's gonna be a HARD sell.

Both my girls moved to different apartments but they did it alone because the day I moved I fell victim to a strange vertigo/vomiting thing that you do NOT want any details about.  (I'm fine now).

Hubby didn't move.  He is still "down under".  I'll get to visit soon.  YES!!!!

I'm sending out "store bought" cards this holiday since my paper is all held hostage behind a sealed door (remodeling in the next room and avoiding dust).  And the world will not end.  Heck, last year I never got cards out (yet the world still spins on its axis) 

I hope you are safe and warm and happy whether you are busy preparing for family time or looking forward to some quiet time at home.  Whatever your plans are - be THANKFUL!  We live in a wonderful world with wonderful people and wonderful times ahead!  I'm thankful you are one of the wonderful people who's path has crossed mine in cyberspace!

take care of your wonderful self
hugs,
Ellen

Photo a Day - January Complete

Well, did your New Year resolutions last a full month?

You should have resolved something FUN like I did.  Creativity every day!

I'm rockin' this.  Now, my creativity may only be 15 seconds of my day... (long enough to take a picture) but that still counts.

 

I have also been PAPER scrapbooking!

I had a stack of photos already printed and a stack of paper that I LOVE but didn't want to refile in my stash - So I sat down and combined the two stacks and so far I have 5 layouts that I love.  I'll take photos soon...

Bitstrips

"So, how is the doing something creative every day resolution coming?" you ask.

(You did want to ask, didn't you?)

It's going great.

Way better than if I had resolved to do something stupid like Give Up Chocolate or Use proper grammar on my blog.

I'm continuing with my photo a day (I'll show you soon) but this weekend my baby daughter (the 19 year old) came home and showed me the bitstrips app on Facebook.  I had a ball creating my avatar (see it as my profile pic) and then I started making comic strips.  Easy, simple and yes, CREATIVE.

If you use Facebook - give it a try.

Recycle

I was correct - cleaning out my supplies did make me want to USE a bunch of them.

Ha, I had stuff I had started and TOTALLY forgotten about.  So, while the clean up is still not complete I did pause to make a couple of things.

This idea is from a project by Layle Koncar shown in the July/August 2009 Paper Crafts magazine (page 24 if you are a hoarder and still have this magazine lying around)

Here is my version of her idea:

I made them in all shades of brown and green - some torn, some stamped, some wadded up, some sponged, some embossed - my original intent was to have the RE on paper covered coasters (real recycling) but then that creates a bump that might cost extra postage and I really do intend to mail these out.  Perfect GUY birthday card - don't ya think?

Start with computer generated words then go nuts!

Her suggested inside sentiment is "It was a great age, why not reuse it?"