Counting Down…

Y’all know Christmas will be here before we know it, right? It’s just over 100 days from now and that will pass in the blink of an eye! I’ve been working on Christmas cards off and on for a couple of weeks now and they’re almost done so I didn’t mind taking a break from them this weekend and working on something else Christmasy. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to some friends and the subject of an advent calendar came up. We concluded that it was either a regional or cultural (based on religion) thing when we were growing up since a couple of us didn’t have them then, but others did. I did them with my kids though so maybe it’s something that became commercialized? I have one that I’ve used for years. It’s a Santa with little pockets for candy or whatever you want to put in them. I’ve been wanting to change it and do something different for several years but haven’t. I have, however, had an idea rolling around in my head for a while and after that conversation the other day, I decided it was time. And this weekend was a perfect opportunity since KB was out of town for a ham radio event.

I pulled out all of my Christmas stamps which was many more than I expected since I don’t use but one stamp a year for my cards.  There was a little worry in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t have enough to make 25 different pockets. Ummmm, that was NOT a problem! In fact, I was shocked to discover that I had enough Unity stamps to do the whole thing without duplication. I’ve been a fan of Unity since I discovered them several years ago and have quite a collection started. So, I started stamping them up and then coloring them with my Copic markers. I fussy cut them and mounted them on different Christmas papers along with numbers 1-25. I used small kraft bags from Hobby Lobby as the base for all of them because you know, candy! 

I used a 17 X 23 bulletin board, also from Hobby Lobby, as the foundation. I covered the cork part with red wrapping paper and the frame with plaid Christmas ribbon. I used Scor tape to adhere the wrapping paper and glue dots and score tape for the ribbon. I stapled the ribbon hanger to the back.  Plain old clear push pins with a green ribbon tied into a bow around them hold each bag in place. The bags are big enough for 3-4 Reese’s miniatures or a couple of Snicker’s minis. Or maybe an activity suggestion for the day.  We’ve done that before, too. 

I am so, so happy with the end result. I love it when an idea transfers from my mind to reality so well. It’s a rare thing around here.  Now, I’m all ready for the Countdown to Christmas starting December first!

Christmas was on its way. Lovely, glorious. Beautiful Christmas, upon which the entire kid year revolved. A Christmas Story

Purple Gator

Every once in a while, I see a stamp that really appeals to me and I KNOW exactly how I want to use it. This alligator from Trinity Stamp Company is one of those stamps. It’s a 4 X 8 set called Oh, Snap and has so many possibilities. Me, I saw a Mardi Gras partying gator!

Purple, green, and gold are the main colors universally associated with Mardi Gras and I wanted to make him a little different than your typical alligator so I colored him purple with my Copic markers. (Aside here…I really wish that Copic could come up with more/better purple colors!) I had a picture in my head-sort of- of what I wanted the background to look like and although I played with distress oxide ink sprays and pads I just wasn’t satisfied with anything I came up with. I have a pretty healthy paper stash and am pretty sure I have some Mardi Gras paper but couldn’t find it. That’s okay because it made me have to go another route and I am SO happy with the end result.

As I was going to sleep the other night, I had an idea of how to make the background I saw in my head with my Gelli plate. Thank goodness I remembered that idea the next morning! So often those thoughts drift away with my dreams. I got my plate, some paint, and stencils out and went to town playing with combinations. I ended up with lots of cool prints I’ll be using in the future but as soon as I picked this one up, I knew it was the one! I used the Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil and gold paint for the design and then purple and green as the background. The inside sentiment was done on my computer and printed on card stock.

I’m not completely happy with the ‘beads’ (I may end up removing them!) and the gold crown sort of disappears into the background but overall, this card turned out pretty much as I had envisioned it. That really doesn’t happen very often for me so I’m very happy with this one!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

Snail Mail

You know how sometimes when you think of certain people a memory comes to mind that is so clear and precise that you can almost reach out and touch them?  That happened to me yesterday. I was thinking about my grandmother and how she was the family ‘coordinator’ (for lack of a better word). She was an only child but grew up with lots of cousins and married into a big family. The matriarch of our family, she stayed in touch with everyone and passed along information from one branch of the family to another. Between the telephone and her kitchen table, she kept us all up on what was happening with everyone. She kept cards, stationery, and stamps right there at hand on her table and wrote notes almost every morning, passing along news and letting us know she was thinking about us. Her stamps were on a roll in a little wooden mailbox that a friend had made for her. Yesterday morning, I had the sharpest picture of her in my mind sitting at that table and writing a letter, the sunlight filtering through that big ole oak tree on her patio and coming through the window onto her.  I soooo wish I had a photo of her sitting there or was artistically talented enough to draw that picture I had in my mind.  Just some good memories there. 

She was born in the time before telephones were commonplace and letters were still the main way of communicating with others. Writing was a habit she developed early in her life. However, when telephones did become common place, she utilized it, regularly calling and receiving calls from family and friends all over the country. She never talked long because, at that time, those calls were long distance and cost more but family and staying in touch with them was important. Back then you paid per minute to talk on the phone, unlike today when you can talk two minutes or two hundred for the same cost.

Anyway, she would get the news from my great uncle’s family in California and pass it along to my great uncle’s family in Oklahoma when she talked to them a little later that day. Or, more often, unless it was time sensitive, she would relay it by letter within the next few days. Of course, it would take a week or so for the letter to arrive and essentially be old news by then, certainly by today’s standards. No one minded, though, because that’s just how it was. Important or big news such as a death in the family or the birth of a child would certainly be shared by telephone, but details and things such as an engagement or pregnancy might be revealed by mail.

Her address book was kept up to date continuously and if you needed an address for anyone, she was the one you asked. They were all written in pen and when it changed, she would mark through it and make a new entry. She remembered birthdays, anniversaries, doctors appointments, and pretty much any big event because she wrote it all down in a big calendar (we’d call it a planner today) she kept on that kitchen table with her letter writing supplies. Now, we have all of that info at our fingertips in a phone the size of one of the envelopes she would mail a card in back then.

She loved getting mail as much as she enjoyed sending it. Just like a kid, her eyes would light up when she spotted a hand addressed envelope and a fun stamp in her mailbox. While she usually used the flag stamps that came in a roll, she would also occasionally buy a sheet of fun stamps to use on her letters because it made them fun. I loved getting mail from her with unusual stamps on the envelope. She loved stationery and pretty note cards but would just as easily write you a note on a piece of notebook paper if that’s what was handy. One thing that I never realized until I started thinking about this today is that she didn’t care that her stuff was out on the table and not put away out of sight. She wanted it accessible so it was easier for her to write every day. It was right there where she ate all of her meals within easy reach and she made it a habit that she didn’t give up until she had to because she couldn’t write anymore. She was a smart woman and knew how to get things done!

With the technology that we have today where we can send a text or an email and get a reply in a matter of seconds, letter writing is fast becoming a lost art. My cousin said something on Facebook the other day about missing writing and receiving letters. (I’m sure he was the recipient of many a letter from my grandmother, too!) It motivated me to sit down and write him a letter…granted, it was typed on my computer but it was a letter. That I put in an envelope and mailed. With a fun stamp. I enjoyed it and think I’ll do it again soon! I also think I’ll find me a basket and put my letter writing supplies in it and find a place to put it where it will be handy for when I have a few minutes to jot a note to someone. I may even pull out my old fashioned address book and update it!

Letters are visits when friends are apart.

C’Mon Get Happy

I don’t know about you, but I’m soooo tired of politics and Covid and just plain negativity. I miss the days of my social media newsfeed being full of kids and puppies, vacations and gardens, and even what people were eating! Back in 2014 and 2017, I did a challenge called 100 Happy Days. It’s a challenge to find something every day for 100 days that makes you happy and document it however you’d like. It can be something as simple as your morning cup of coffee or as big as the birth of a grandchild. Whatever makes you smile, feel a little spurt of joy, or the giddiness of happiness. Snap a picture of it (or something that represents it) and post it somewhere….Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter…your social media of choice….and use a hashtag to identify it as part of the challenge. It was a great exercise in looking for the positive and being more aware of attitude and the little things. I made a little video of my 2014 photos back then and tonight, when I looked at, it brought back some great memories! Even though the photos don’t have the captions on them, I knew exactly what it was about each of them that made me happy then.

So many people struggled to find good in 2020 and I really, really wish I had done this challenge again last year to remind me that there was some good things throughout the year. We are in a new year that seems to be continuing along in the same way as last year so I am going to do this challenge again starting tomorrow. One hundred days will take me through the end of April. We can all use a little more happy in our lives these days and I’m going to do my part to try to spread a little of it around. I am going to use the hashtag #100happydays2021. I would like to invite all of my friends to join in. Or don’t if it’s not your thing. I think it could be a fun thing to do and look forward to every day…just one happy thing a day. The ‘rules’ are easy. Take a picture of something every day and post it on your choice of social media using the hashtag. (If you’d rather not share it, that’s okay!)  Just write it down. Keep a journal. Make a scrapbook. However you want to do it.  But, look for the happy every day and document it for 100 days.  Miss a day? That’s okay. Just pick it up the next day. It’s not a competition or anything. It’s just a way to try to brighten the days a little bit for all of us. I’ll be posting something every day on IG and FB and a ‘review post’ here every week. C’mon, let’s get HAPPY!!

There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy. Sarah Prout

Reading Journal

I love books…holding them, collecting them, and reading them; pretty much everything about them.  I love how you can get lost in a story and be transported to another time and place with just words. An avid reader from the time I learned how, I got my first library card when I was 4 years old and I’ve had one ever since. Over the years, I’ve had reading slumps where I didn’t read a lot but I still almost always had a book going. 

Having read a lot of books over the years, there have been many times when I know I’ve read a book but can’t remember much about it. Or can’t remember why I loved it or hated it. When I was doing a little Christmas shopping, I came across a Book Journal at a local store and was intrigued by it. I almost bought it but then decided that I wouldn’t use it so put it back.  Over the holidays, I picked up a book that I’ve had on my list for a while and when I was done with it, I wished I had that journal to write some things down about it. I ran back by the store the other day but it was gone. Of course it was, they only had the one! I got to thinking about it and decided that I didn’t need to buy one because I have so.many.blank.notebooks already. I could use one of them. But, me being me, I decided it needed to be dolled up a little bit. 

I’ve been doing some lettering with Lindsay Olstrom, lettering extraordinaire, on Facebook for the last few weeks and having SO much fun! She does a FB live every morning doodling and lettering from a prompt and let me tell you, she’s amazing at what she does! Using some of what I’ve learned from her, I did the lettering for the cover. I really like the whimsical feel of the different colors and letters. If I were to do it again, there’s some things I’d do different but for a first try, I’m okay with it. The books are a stamp set, Chapter One, from Unity Stamp Company. (And it’s on sale right now!) I stamped and colored it up and then fussy cut it and glued it on. 

I pondered what I’d like to put in it about each book I read and decided to keep it pretty basic. Each page will have a place for the Title, Author, Date Finished, Rating, and whether it was recommended to me and by whom at the top.  Then the rest of the page will be for my thoughts on the book. I went ahead and got the first few pages done and ready for me to enter my first book of 2021!

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are. Mason Cooley

Choosing JOY in 2021

For the last several years, I have chosen a Word of the Year. It’s a word that you focus on all year long, using it to help guide you, to make changes or, in some way, improve you physically, spiritually, or mentally. It’s an intentional effort to make it a part of your daily life. 

Last year’s word was GATHER. Here’s last year’s post about it. I feel like God must have snickered when I chose it knowing what was to come in 2020! I may not have gathered in the way I thought I would when the year began, but because of the way the year unfolded, GATHER became a really important word for us all. Despite all of the restrictions and challenges, I managed to gather with friends, neighbors, and family more than I thought I would. I was able to really work on getting out more and being more social, even if it was via Zoom! I gathered my thoughts much more often and actually put them on paper. I gathered memories in the form of photos and stories. But, most of all, I learned to treasure the ability to gather and being together with others more than I ever have. So, although, at first glance, it was a bummer of a word for the year, it was actually a blessing instead. 

My word this year is JOY. I didn’t really choose it; it chose me. Some years I really struggle with what word to choose, but this year, this one hit me full in the face. About a month ago when I started thinking and praying about what word I wanted to choose, joy, joyful, and joyous kept popping up all.over.the.place. I mean seriously, EVERYWHERE, and multiple times a day. I was still toying with several words and then I got asked to write something about joy for our advent devotions at church. I knew then it was no longer a choice.

What is joy? That’s a good question and one I’ll ponder often in the coming year. Some would say it’s the same as happiness, but I disagree. I think you can be joyful without being happy. In fact, I think you can be very sad and still be joyful. Joy is something that is deep inside and only rises to the surface when we have the Holy Spirit within us. Happiness is contingent on circumstance, but joy… Joy is an emotion that we can tap into intentionally in all circumstances. I want to be able to find that joy-true, deep, soul abiding joy-in everything, most especially in the hard, tough times and think it can only be found in our relationship with God. Sort of like the peace that surpasses all understanding. 

 I have never really documented or journaled about my words of the year other than maybe a note in my journal or a blog post about what it’s going to be but this year I’m going to try to be more diligent about noticing it and recording in some way how I’m finding joy throughout the year; probably my journal, maybe in my scrapbook, possibly here. I bought the sign in the picture it sits on my kitchen island so I’ll see it off and on every day. I also wrote it on an index card and put on my bathroom mirror and on the first page of my 2021 journal. I want it in my face multiple times a day to remind me to look for JOY in all things. 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13)

Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

The end of 2020 is in sight. Just a few more hours and the calendar will read January 2021. I keep hearing everyone talking about how they cannot wait for 2020 to be over. That it’s been a terrible year, good riddance to it, and so on. I get it. I’m looking forward to 2021 myself! It has been a terribly hard year for a lot of people and I know, that for some, it’s been a year that has drastically changed lives forever.  Jobs were lost, loved ones passed away, our lives were turned upside down…Covid and the restrictions it brought, wildfires, hurricanes, and floods…. It’s easy to recount the bad things that happened to us all. It’s always easier to dwell on the negative than the positive for some reason. 

It’s very hard to find good in the middle of despair or joy in the midst of grief and so many of you have had to try to do that this year. I’m not discounting or diminishing anything that anyone has dealt with this year.  I’ve cried tears with you and my heart hurts for you when I think about what some of you have been been through. But, when I look back over the our year and then some of the things I’ve seen friends and family post and share, there’s been some good things happen in 2020, too. Babies were born, people met and fell in love, some got married, birthdays were celebrated, kids graduated, people beat cancer, and communities came together and helped each other.  Granted, some of those things were celebrated a little differently but they happened. And they were all good.  We all grew in ways we never dreamed we could; we did things we never thought we’d have to much less be able to do…remote learning? Work from home? That would never happen! But, we did those things and more.  Anyone reading this is still here and that’s a good thing. We found ways to teach and learn and communicate and love on each other that we would never have known if it weren’t for the constraints of 2020. So, this year wasn’t ALL bad!

I know a lot of us don’t want to carry anything from this year into next year but some things are worth carrying over.  One of the things I hear when I hear people talking about moving on from 2020 and into 2021? HOPE. I hear hope. Hope for a better year, a better life, a better future. Another thing I hear is THANKFULNESS. Thankfulness for making it through this year. Thankfulness that we can go into a new year with a better appreciation for the things and people in our lives. A thankfulness that we are able to move forward and not be stuck in 2020 forever.  

When that calendar changes from 2020 to 2021 at midnight tonight, things aren’t going to magically go back to the way they were ten months ago.  Oh, how I wish it could, but that’s not how it works; we all know that. Time marches on just as it has always has. When you think about it, this New Year’s won’t really be that much different than others in the past. We’ll be entering a new year with hope for a better year, anticipation of good things to happen, thankfulness for the opportunities, and determination and motivation to not let it be like last year. That may be the biggest difference…determination to not let next year be like this year.  That, and we’ll be a LOT happier to welcome next year than we have been in years past.  

Let’s take that hope, thankfulness, and determination into 2021 and make it a great year. Throw in some love and kindness while we’re at it. Happy New Year to all of my friends and family.  You are one of life’s greatest blessings and I’m looking forward to sharing this next year with you all! 

5, 6, 7, 8…Celebrate!

When I was a little girl, I took dance classes; ballet, tap, and jazz. I loved it although I was never very good at it. Tap and jazz were more my thing than ballet was but I think it was because I liked the music better. However, I have no rhythm and struggled with the dances. My last class was when I was about 12 years old.

Last year, for their one of their Stamptember stamps, Simon Says Stamps collaborated with Colorado Craft Company and had this stamp set. I LOVED it immediately and had to have it. This was my first exposure to CCC and oh.my.word. I’ve loved everything they’ve put out since. Actually, I love everything of theirs before and after I discovered them.

As is the case with more stamps than I’d like to admit, this one sat on my shelf until the other day when I was looking for something to make a birthday card for one of my besties. Like me, she took dance classes as a kid but she stayed with it a lot longer than I did. In fact, she was taking tap lessons just last year (I was so jealous, I think this would be SO much fun!). Anyway, when I saw this set, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I stamped just the dancer on the left…the tap dancer… and colored her up. I fussy cut her so that I could put her on the black and white harlequin background from Amuse Studios. And let me tell you, if you knew my friend, you’d know that this background is perfect for her. I wanted to bring the pink of the tutu skirt out so I decided to use a pink card base and stamp the sentiment on pink as well. This pink card stock is a little smooth with a bit of texture so I did emboss the sentiment to make sure it wasn’t going to smear. I cut it with a die I like (I don’t know the brand or even where I got it). I used foam tape as my adhesive for the dancer and scor tape for the sentiment. On the inside it says “Celebrate”.

I think she’ll like her card this year and although she’s celebrating a ‘mature’ birthday, I think this card and this whole set would be perfect for dancers of all ages!

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor, it’s to enjoy each step along the way…Wayne Dyer

Autumn Pumpkins and Leaves…Growing in Unity Blog Hop

I’m so excited to be a part of the Growing in Unity blog hop! It’s been a while since I was able to get into my craft room due to Hurricane Sally and it felt so good to sit at that table and get creative. 

I have two autumn cards to share today. Autumn is my favorite season so it’s really a lot of fun to make cards with these fall colors and things like pumpkins and leaves. The first card uses the Pumpkin Patch border background on kraft cardstock. I stamped part of the stamp using one end and then used watercolors to color it. In recent years, the different colored pumpkins have become very popular and I love them so I brought in some non-traditional colors here. The sentiment is from the September 2019 Sentiment Kit, …change can be beautiful.  I hate to admit it, but I haven’t inked that kit up until now and oh.my.goodness. there is so many great things in it! I can’t wait to play with it more. I had the autumn plaid in my stash and put it on the blue card base at an angle so the plaid would show. I wrapped jute around the kraft cover and tied the bow and then glued it to the base. I felt like it was missing a little something so I added the enamel dots…jury is still out on those though. 

As mentioned above, I love the colors of autumn. One of the things I really miss living here on the Gulf Coast is the colors of the leaves changing. There’s not a lot of trees here that change colors, at least not like they do in other parts of the country, especially the mountains. However, we do have beautiful flowers pretty much year-round so I can’t complain about not having color!

My second card is a slimline card using the beautiful colors of fall and one of my favorite quotes about autumn.  The leaves are from the August 2019 Kit of the Month (another awesome kit FULL of great stamps!). I stamped them and colored them with copics and fussy cut them. The quote is from the same kit and I stamped it on beige card stock and cut it out with a deckle die. I used brown ink to ‘distress’ the edges to give it a more rustic look. I’m a kraft-a-holic and use kraft paper as much or more than I do white so my base is kraft cardstock. I have a ton of this plaid paper left from a project I did last year and it made a great background for the burlap ribbon. I glued it all down and there you have it. I’m way behind on sending cards and these two will help get me back on track. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll come back. The next stop on the hop is:

https://thewashihorse.blogspot.com

Here’s the full official hopping order: 

 https://inkstainswithroni.blogspot.com/…/growing-in…

 www.htbcreations.com

 https://gatheringgoatfeathers.wordpress.com (you are here)

https://thewashihorse.blogspot.com

Thank you Unity for including me in this hop! It’s been so much fun being a Growing In Unity girl this year. 

“I am so glad I live in world where there are Octobers.” L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Fall Trees

I love autumn…the crisp morning temperatures, the return of football, caramel apples, and pumpkin everything. Scarecrows and hay bales, sweaters and boots. One of my favorite things is watching the leaves turn fabulous shades of orange, yellow, and red. I’m not a fan of raking them when they fall, though. When the sun hits them, they have this amazing glow to them and are just gorgeous. 

Seasonal cards are fun for a general card like hello or thinking of you. I made these a while back using autumn colors for the trees. These stamps are versatile in that you could use them for any season by changing the colors you use for the leaves. I used an autumn plaid paper that I’ve had for a while as a background mat. 

These trees are a stamp from MFT (My Favorite Things) named Modern Trees. I’ve had it a few years and have used it a lot for autumn cards as well as sympathy cards. I used colored Momento inks to stamp it on a beige cardstock. The card base is a cranberry color that I had in my stash. 

This tree blowing in the wind is Blowing Tree by Crackerbox and Suzy. It’s one of four in a series of seasonal trees and all four are great. I stamped it in brown Momento Ink on beige cardstock and colored the leaves with Copic markers. The base is your basic Kraft cardstock. 

I love it when I can use things I like in my card making like these fall trees. I’m not sure who I’ll send them to or what sentiment I might add to them, but they’re ready to be finished up when I need them. 

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.  Albert Camus