Peace on Earth Card-Idea 1

It's that time of year  for me to get my Christmas Card Ideas together.  I've been playing around with some new Stampin' Up sets and this is one of the cards I've come up with.  My First card I make is always my Sample card to use as a guide for measuring and keep in a file If I like it. And it's funny how we stampers all go thru the process of taping down and then taking stuff back off until I think I'm done with it. I know less is more and I have a problem stopping. Please tell me what you think?.............Don't be bashful, I love comments it helps create. So here is a little description of what I did....

First I punched out the hole for the sentiment with the large curly punch but you don't have to. I might change it up. Then I punched 4 Christmas Balls from Tags for Christmas  scored in middle and used a Quickie Glue Pen and Glittered each one, then used my Tom bow tape and attached them together to make it 3-D and attached it to the Very Vanilla Panel. And stamped the holly leaves from Bells and Boughs with Stazon Ink Black and colored in with markers.

I popped the Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla panel at the bottom and punched out a separate piece from the curly punch and adhered a very vanilla oval for the sentiment.
I used my white gen pen for the inside of the poinsettia flowers.  You know while typing I might go back and stamp another one and pop that up to give the holly dimension, huh.....a thought.

I have alot of Always Artichoke and I wanted to use some up so this is what I did. Hope you like. Back to the drawing board for me.


Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Chery Cobbler,Very Vanilla

Stamp Sets: Tags for Christmas, Bells & Boughs,  Sentiment (Ret. set Peace on Earth

Accessories: Scallop Time Punch, Poinsettia Folder,  Large Curly Punch, Oval Punch,  Gold Ribbon, Gold Glitter on Ball, White Gel Pen, and Gold Stickles, and Dimensionals to pop-up bottom panel.

Thanks for stopping by and Oh Yeah, HAPPY HALLOWEEN .....JOYCE

I'm in Love with "Fall" Color and Seaglass Hunting

Don't you just love this time of year!!!!!.  You get just as much color this time of year as you do in spring. Just a different Color Palette. So much has been going on here. I've been rather busy with making cards, Halloween decorations, Baking, Sea glass hunting,  Organizing my Craft room/office/ dog lounge :)  But I haven't stopped noticing the beautiful color all around me in my own Garden. Yes, the pretty flowers from spring and summer are a beautiful memory in my mind's eye, but the color I'm seeing right  now just blows me away. The temperatures have been up and down but nothing to cold yet!!

And don't forget my other favorite thing: HALLOWEEN. Here is a Flag I've had forever:

This was a Beautiful Weekend and of Course I went "Sea glassing" with my favorite 2 people. The tides were way out on the beaches we went to so we were able to do alot of searching. I came away with some awesome finds and beautifully frosted pieces to add to my collection.......Here are a few:

I pick-up everything of interest to me while beaching. I found a beautiful fish lure and a (red) reflector. I yelled "I got Red" and everybody looked up. They should know me by now that I'm a jokester!!! Hey, it's red!! Nice pottery and beautiful Aquas and whites and greens, some are so dark and thick. Just like I like'em. Woo-Who what a nice haul for a great day at the beaches. Oh yeah, can't forget my rocks and shells and brick pieces. Why I don't know I just like them!!

And I found this really neat pottery/ceramic thingy. My husband thinks it's a thing to make fishing nets/knots something like a "Marlin Spike" it has "Germany" printed on the back? Any clues? Write down a comment and let me know.

Ok, that's enough excitement for one day. But I'll be back to show you some really cool Cards the girls and I have been working on. I just can't fit everything in right now. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.......Joyce

"Heirloom Country Gardens", A Book Recommendation.

I went to my local Library a few weeks ago to pick-up some fresh reading material. I've  been buying to many books lately at my local Big Food Store that has everything. And I thought to myself why buy when I can go right down to my  local library( about 2 miles away)  to see what kind of new materials or old was waiting there for me.   While there I picked up a book that caught my eye and  looked like it had potential. I went on Amazon.com and put in  the title  and low and behold there it was!!!! And it was only $3.00!!!! (New)  from a recycle book store. It cost 27.95 new, so I HAD to purchase it for my garden book collection. OK, Here it is: "Heirloom Country Gardens" by Sarah Wolfgang Heffner -ISBN0-87596-818-X  . A Rodale Organic Gardening Book. Here is the cover and Contents page for you to take a glance at. If you can go to your local Library go check it out or put in a request to get a copy. A nice quick read of information.....and to look at.

Soooo, you can never have enough Garden books big or small, fat or skinny, Perennial, Annual, Cacti, Houseplants, Landscaping, bulbs, Photography, well you get the  picture. And I adore Big Tabletop books to display in my house. What fun picking up a beautiful Hardcover with awesome Garden Photography inside from all over the world. The reason I love these books ,  I  lose myself  inside and  can see me walking thru and enjoying these gardens with my own camera and a bottle of water for the journey. The information is the added bonus. Yes, I'm a Art and Garden  Book-a-holic!

OK, maybe I need a  program for  books but who doesn't love a great book!!!! .  I can't get enough, I swear I drool when I see a huge beautiful garden book. Ok, what's your obsession? Well, I'm off to a Stampin' Up Card open house today with a friend and I'm going to have to great time making cards. So have a blessed fall day . Joyce

When is a "Toad" not a "Toad" -When it's a "Toadlily".

When it's "Tricyrtis Hirta"-'Sinonome', Toad lily..I love this time of year and can't wait to see my Toad lily in action. ( Don't pay attention to un-kept growth behind it, I need to trim.) The leaves got a little crispy before this week due to drought cond. but then we got 10" of rain and brought my Toad lily to life. 

 This was a gift from a friends garden some 12 yrs ago. And the flowers I just love. They remind me of an Orchids flowers and fell kinda waxy. This one is white with purple blotches. And it always has 50 million flowers on it. I have only giving pieces away twice. I don't want to lose it. It's just beautiful. I would like to move it to another location because it's getting a little out of hand where it is. If you are someone who can shed some light on how and when to move this plant or even divide please leave me a message. Someone saw a photo of this on a garden site and told me mine had a virus but that isn't so. It's gorgeous! Hope you enjoy my photos of my never-ending bloomer.

And speaking of Toads. These are my Favorites. But I think they're Frogs. Don't they look all innocent looking, like they just ate something they weren't suppose to. These guys are inside porch dwellers.  I don't what them to get messed up. Haven't seen these guys anywhere else.  What do you think? Too cute.

Oh, one more thing. I think my special plant is going to bloom a stinky flower. I forgot the name of my succulent. If you can help let me know the name, I forgot. It's only one year old. One of my favorite inside plants......

I hoped you enjoyed reading about some of my favorite things today. Thanks for stopping by and have a marvelous FALL Day.....Tomorrow I have more projects I'm working on I want to show you so check back soon..Joyce

Could-duh, Would-duh, Should-duh, in the Garden

Another Spring and Summer gone and as I look out into my gardens I get that feeling that yet again I've missed doing things I said I would in the garden!!! Procrastination what a nasty word, it gets me all the time and I can get trapped in this world longer then I should for sure...

Here it is "FALL" and my gardens aren't showing as much color as I need. This year it's hard to believe how many berries are on the dogwoods, Pink and White ones, just  loaded.  My father always said that this was a sign for a cold winter (I hope this isn't true). I don't want another like the last one!! So here's a pretty butterfly to look at instead of thinking about "Winter".

Another year of poor planning. "I said I would have color each season"  and I'm not holding up my end of the bargain. And then everytime around this time of year  I get the same thoughts. Could-da, Should-da, Would-da. This season I did do some  hard-scaping and painting  and trying to tidy stuff up a bit. Plus making new beds, and sometimes forgetting the old.  Yes, I have pretty grasses to look at and Sedums and Cosmos and impatients. But I didn't plant any fall bulbs, nor did I plant any asters, or late blooming lilies like I said I would. I can't believe I got sidetracked with other things-ugh. So nows the time to plan for next season. Yes, theres always next Season, a little late and not promised yet but thinking about it gives me comfort to go on..

I want to plant some bones (not real ones) in my garden before frost. I need more of these (shrubs, small trees and premanent fixtures). I really should have planned the bones first. But I'm a Perennial Flower addict and Hosta addict, but these things die back this time of year and I'm left with bare pickings here and there. So even tho this happened again here are a few flowers still blooming......

And this one here I didn't plant in this pot. It's a gift I will dig out and put in the garden. It's kinda funny how this is the best looking flower in the garden.

Have a great Day!!!!! And look forward to visiting other blogs today that I've missed. See ya real soon, Joyce

Side- Step Cards and New Bulbs

Today I thought I would take a break and stay inside and make some cards. The first card is what you call a side-step card. I needed a baby invitation so I thought I would give this one a go. I love the little dresser and babies. What do you think? I think it's a go!!

My next card I just starting playing around and came up with this cute little Halloween house and graveyard scene. These are made with various punches. It was fun to do. And when you fold these two cards flat the baby folds up and the tombstones fold up also. Kinda cute.
Then we're  getting ready for Card Club Friday on the 15th so I came up with this card to make. Something simple. It's made with a new set called: Bells & Boughs out of the mini. Catalog. Here is a Christmas card. Made with all Stampin' Up products. This picture looks awful, it really pretty. With glitter and beads and brads.  The colors are Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, and Very Vanilla. It looks white, it's not...

And if I've held your attention this long. The Garden is a little crispy. The Cosmos and Joe Pye Weed are still blooming. Thursday we got 10" of rain!!!!! So today when we went out. I bought myself some bulbs, two bags of Red Tulips, and 1 large bag of assorted Alliums. I'm addicted to these bulbs. Can't wait to dry out a little so I can plant.  I can't believe September is GONE, where did it go?
Anyway time to look forward to fall and all it's glory.
Have a great evening and see ya' real soon......Joyce