From the Shop............

Those Kansas City Royals are keeping me up late at night!

Today I'm sketching alder branches to go with a poem I'll be calligraphing.

At first, I tried watercolor pencils.

For some reason, I almost like this best in monochrome.

But I do like a hint of winter sky behind.  I used mostly blue here, but added a touch of pink of a snowy sky look.

Then here's a bare branch, touched with snow.  I used Conte crayons for this sketch.

I haven't yet decided which one to use with the poem.

What do you like best?

www.thirdsisterhandmade.etsy.com

Thanks for stopping by!  

Another Winter Card

Here's one of my first attempts from the other day.

Something seemed to be missing, and yet the Christmas ball die cut that I wanted to use didn't work, either.  I used a sheet of cardstock from an old Christmas pad for this one.  The snowy blue background caught my eye.

It makes me think of those December days with just a trace of flurries in the air, when our good friend Karon has fresh-cut cedar, and it smells so good piled in the trunk of the car.  We bring it home, and Mother fills the window box.

Royal Blue

Browsing through other blogs lately, I've been seeing lots of Christmas cards, and it's got me in the mood.  Perfect timing.  I wanted to create something to enter the latest Serendipity Stamps Challenge. 

 This month's theme is What's New.   I have a couple of new paper pads, but neither of them seemed appropriate for the stamp scene I wanted to create.  I do, however, have these die cuts that I received for Christmas a couple of years ago.  The package was a bit sticky, so I took them out and put them in a little box...and forgot about them when last Christmas came around. 

 I also have this new set of pens to use.

I knew for sure I wanted to make something blue, in honor of our Kansas City Royals playing for the ALCS pennant.  I went through my paper pads and picked out this lovely snowflake blue.  The stamping looked great, but it DID NOT go with the die cut I had picked out, so I tried two more cards and finally came up with this one.

Supplies:  Winter Homestead stamp from Serendipitystamps.com; Branches stamp set from Inkadinkado; Cloud Blue stamp pad from Ranger

I'll share those other two creations another day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Autumn Leaves

Fall is beautiful.

Everywhere we go, the trees are turning.

I think I like it best when the trees have nearly lost all their leaves and just a few still cling to the dark branches.

With so many colors...which one is your favorite? 

Celebrating the many colors of fall, I created this easy, colorful card.

Supplies:   Cherish Yesterday  stamp set from Hero Arts; Autumn Leaves Kaleidacolor stamp pad from Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Following Fall

Many thanks

 to all of you have stopped by these past several years with 

helpful observations and kind comments.

I've recently made a few adjustments

that will make it much easier to follow me!

Meanwhile,...

enjoy autumn while it's here!

Walk through the leaves!

Stand under a golden tree!

Feel that thrilling change in the air!

When Inspiration Hits...

What do you do when inspiration hits at four in the morning?

That's what happened to me.  I woke up with this idea in my head, got up and, as quietly as I could (so I wouldn't wake anyone else) made this card.

I usually try to keep some white card bases on hand, so this one was ready to whip out.  

I simply used the brick embossing folder along the center of the card and sponged that with Picante chalk ink.  

From another scrap of white cardstock I cut this rectangle for the two flowers and die cut this tag.

• Cardstock, foam adhesive squares and A2-Bricks embossing folder (Hobby Lobby)
•  My Notebook set (Hero Arts); ST-15-21 Peonies (Avery Elle)
•  Picante chalk ink (Clearsnap)
•  Cantaloupe, Bahama Blue, Bamboo, black dye ink and sponge daubers (Tsukineko)
• Stitched Labels die set (Pretty Pink Posh
• Sizzix Big Shot

It was so much fun to make, I ended up doing several more that day.

Thanks for stopping by.  

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A Winter Eden

My latest client requested Robert Frost's A Winter Eden done in calligraphy.  

After a bit of practice writing and measuring, it went from this:

...to this...

...to finished piece...

...complete with sparkling snowflakes.

Next, I'll be doing another version with an illustration of winter berries.

Thanks for visiting and following!

Come back soon!

Autumn at Last

My second cousin Dick wrote from Washington over a month ago:   

The trees in the yard are starting to change color and we watch the geese getting ready for their trip south (some stay here all year).  It’s been a very hot summer here, (20 days over 90 degrees)  (2 months over 80) and we are glad to see fall come around.  It was a good year for the fruit trees in the back yard; cherries, pears, plums, apples and peaches all did well.  Also the raspberries and Logan berries.

I was so jealous, for it was still hot and sticky here in Kansas.  Now, however, autumn is beginning to show.  We traveled to Homecoming in Fredonia, Kansas, on Saturday. Along the roadside, the bright gold of wild sunflowers has given way to the deeper gold of ripening soybeans--fields and fields of them.  Some are even curling and brown, ready to harvest.  Here and there, a tall tree stood out, bright red among all the other greens.  It was even sweater weather.  Add to that the smell of pork sausages smoking on the town square.  

Yes, fall is here.

And so I tried another card for the Serendipity Stamps Challenge #47, which is all about creating your own background. 

When I first saw this stamp of geese, I knew I wanted to use it to create my oldest brother's birthday card. 

Here I added a background with chalks, blending the colors (blue and brown) with a cotton ball.  I stamped everything with brown dye ink from Tsukineko and added a touch of contrasting orange to those berries on the branches from Inkadinkado.

Happy Autumn, Everyone!