Merry Christmas from The Inky Fingers

YEAH!!!!! I GOT CARDS!

Oh lucky me my wish came true and I got an exchange card from Inky Finger pal Barry!  I love it.  Barry, I vote we exchange cards for every holiday even if we are not assigned to do so (hint, hint).  It is so much fun to get a card in the mail and now I signed up for the Secret Santa.  I get an email from the organizer with a name and address, send a minimum of one "gift" to that person it can be cards, embellishments whatever and of course I get something from my Secret Santa.  I am really enjoying this exchange business so thank you Barry for sharing the site with me.  If you are interested check it

out.http://www.cardmakermagazine.com/cardswap/index.php
Update, this site is closed...I am so bummed! 1/2/2013

Barry's so very cute card.

I received two adorable cards from Teresa in Tennessee and Judi in Mt. Vernon WA

Oh and I finally found a setting on my camera that takes a sharp, clear photo of the cards.  Never mind that I've had the camera for years we won't go there.

THANKFUL

Here we are in a season full of holidays and even though the stores are already displaying Christmas  I am not ready to make Christmas cards.  This month I am doing the Thanksgiving card exchange and mine are ready to go out.  For these cards I created the background paper by sweeping three different stamp ink colors across a piece of wax paper, spraying it with water and placing my card stock on top.  I dried the card stock with the embossing gun.  I like the variety of colors and patterns I got with this technique.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Christine

a little something something....

Several weeks ago Marcia and I stopped at Toatally Scrappin in Gig Harbor and this was their "make and take" that day.  Very simply a brown lunch bag cut down and decorated with fun paper to form a cute little treat or gift bag.

more Halloween

The last two Halloween cards from the swap have arrived!  The crafters are Janice from NY and Judy for Missouri.  There are special moments in getting cards from other crafters I have never me, first is the stop at the post office in anticipation of finding an envelop with a return address from another State then the excitement at finding that envelop and opening it to see the card inside and greetings from another enthusiastic crafter.  Can you tell I am hooked on swaps and exchanges?

THE BOOB CARD

Lupine's mom, Genie,  was diagnosed with breast cancer and the Inky Fingers are making her get well cards.  Genie has a good sense of humor so we thought funny cards would be a good challenge for us and a boost to Genie.  Lupine tells us that Genie is doing well.

So here is my attempt at a funny boob card (?????????)  I hope the other Inky Fingers post their cards too.

Our hearts and thoughts are with Genie for a full recovery.

CARD EXCHANGE

Barry told me about CardMaker magazine's blog where you can participate in card swaps and exchanges.  I joined it a while back but just this month I took part in the Halloween card exchange, I send a card to 5 different people and get 5 cards back.  I have received three cards so far and they are great, I know I will be doing this again.

The talented crafters are Jeanette from NY,  Margaret from LA and Christine from Texas.

HALLOWEEN

CONTINUE...

Finally got pictures of the frames that Barry, Jerome, Caryl and Christine made. Double click on the photos to see them larger and appreciate the details.

Caryl's frame carries the theme of Day of the Dead with lots of vivid colors and embellishments.

 Jerome brought a printed paper which he had aged with tea and meticulously cut and pasted the strips unto the frame's mat.  He also incorporated into his frame the coffin he made at Angela's the week before.

 Barry's frame has blood dripping from the top, it is fabulous, unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice.

Christine sent me this photo of her frame, it's a little fuzzy but you can appreciate the details and beautiful colors.

 Same frame four different artist.....FANTASTIC!

HALLOWEEN FUN CONTINUES

 The event the Inky Fingers were looking forward to finally arrived last Sunday when we met at Christine's house.  Everyone brought a Halloween project to make and lots of embellishments and ideas.  There were plenty of creative ideas to see in the festive Halloween decor.   Christine had three banners, sorry I didn't take pictures of them, and even the food displays fit the occasion.

At each setting we found a Halloween decorated candle tin, an adorable bag of candy corn and a "witchy" treat.

After partaking of all the delicious food, the Inky Fingers began to create.  Barry, Jerome, Christine and Caryl were working on identical frames.  But oh boy did they look different when finished!

 Notice the total concentration on Caryl's face.  Serious business happening there.

As the table got messier and messier the projects started to take form.

I want to post the frames Caryl, Barry, Jerome and Christine made all together and I am waiting for some pictures so this is TO BE CONTINUED....

Here are a couple of  finished projects.

Marcia's freaky frame.  

Cary (me) decorated a box and a small scrapbook that fits inside.

as seen on Pinterest

Proof I just don't pin it, I make it.

Double click on pattern to enlarge.

MY SHOE STORY

One thing you must know about me is that I love shoes always have always will.  When I became a working young woman my passion became shoes and to this day I can't get passed QVC when they are selling Clark shoes.  Of course now that I am older my feet can only comfortably handle certain styles of shoes.  Gone are the days of high heels and sexy shoes but  hey- I still love shoes. So on one of my many trips to Artco to buy paper, browse, return a printer's tray for the second time because I decided not to use it I saw a beautifully crafted paper shoe. I held it in my hand and felt this euphoria, I heard angels singing and I knew I had to have this shoe or one like it.  Quickly  I ran to the decorative paper aisle and choosing my papers I ran back (ok, walked fast) to the die cut machine and proceeded to cut MY SHOE.  Sped home (36 MPH! on a 35 zone) and ever so lovingly made my little shoe.

So that is my shoe story for today and in case you can't get to Artco here is the pattern.  May your shoe give you as much joy as mine gives me.

Can you tell it's a rainy day and I had nothing better to do than play online and update this blog?

COMING SOON - HALLOWEEN FUN AT CHRISTINE'S HOUSE.  

Something wicked this way comes.....

Last Sunday some of the Inky Fingers met at Angela's house for a fun and creative afternoon.  Using the Cricut, Angela cut out coffins and we all brought Halloween themed embellishments to share.  I think the results are fabulous but I will let you be the judge.

Cari

Christine

Christine decorated the inside.

Jerome

Angela

Shake, shake, shake....shake, shake, shake

Oh yeah, Marcia and I were shaking it all over the place today, cards that is.  Took a class at Art N Soul where we made 4 shaker cards.  Now the trick to these cards is to keep the darn micro beads inside the card...tape, tape, tape.  We were  8 crafty ladies all talking at the same time, asking questions and having so much fun that we went over the class time.  All of this commotion prompted Suzanne, our instructor, to thank her lucky stars she doesn't have 8 kids.   Suzanne started us off with an easy little card.

Using alcohol inks on glossy paper we colored the background of this card.

 Moving right along... keeping the micro beads to stay inside each panel on this card proved a little tough. One lady ended up with all the beads seeping out and sticking to the foam tape.  We all learned that if the foam tape and background paper is not sealed the beads just magically disappear reason why the top left square looks a little empty on my card.

Then came the RAINMAN !!!.  I said before how much I like this stamp and using it on a shaker card it's fabulous.  Again we used glossy paper and after stamping the image we sprayed it with water, every card turned out different.  Figuring out the amount of micro beads to use can be tricky too, my rainman was standing in a flood until I carefully took out some beads. The close up photo of the umbrella from the Art N Soul blog clearly shows the shaker bead effect as they roll off the umbrella.

 ,

As usual Marcia and I walked away wishing for more and planning to return for other classes.  Lunch at the Thai Restaurant next door was yummy we even had a cup of Coconut ice cream for dessert.