It's Crab Season!

I'm on spring break...hubby had to work late, so, I decided to get crafty.  It's crab season in Maryland.  Blue crabs are one of the best things about living in Maryland...crab cakes and steamed crabs...delicious!  I've learned, though, NEVER to order Maryland crab cakes outside of Maryland because they will be AWFUL!  Only Marylanders know how to make true Maryland crab cakes...and I don't know who ever thought of boiling crabs...ICK!  GOTTA be steamed...with Old Bay seasoning!  And since it's crab season in Maryland, I thought I would do a SMASH page about one of my favorite foods...

Yes, some of my cutting might be crooked, but that's because I'm still having knee/back problems that keeps me from going upstairs to my craft room...so, I've learned not to worry about crooked edges.

Happy crab-eating to all you Marylanders.  If you're not a Marylander, you don't know what you're missing!

Saturday Craft Day

Last Saturday I went to my friend's for a craft day.  We decided to make an art journal page.  It had been a long time since we had made one!  When I got there, she had her entire dining room table covered with crafting supplies...that woman could open her very own craft store!  ;)   I had a wonderful day crafting with her!  Here is the art journal page that I made...

I started out gesso-ing the entire page, then using art paste and stencils, I gave it some dimension.  Then I used Dylusions sprays and started out with really bright colors, but then in Gloria's "stash", I found a Mr. Huey's gold spray.  I love that stuff!!  I sprayed it on the page.  It gives it a nice gold sparkle and gives the page a really smooth feel.  It really didn't end up anything like I had started...but all in all, I'm happy with it. Thanks, Gloria, for a fun day!!!

Stampin' at the.....Gym???

Last Saturday, the Meade Girls got together for a shoebox swap.  Our usual location on Ft. Meade, is no longer available to us so we needed to find a new venue for our swap.  Paula took on the challenge to find us a new place and she did a fabulous job!  We got together at the Big Vanilla Athletic Club in their community room...and it was a great place to stamp!  Roomy, bright and  best of off...an elevator so we didn't need to lug all our stamping stuff up to the second floor!  Best of all, we can say we spent 5 hours at the gym!!! 

This was the first swap that Amanda wasn't at since she's moved across the country all the way to New Mexico!  We decided to send her our sample cards, so I don't have one of my card to show.  I'm hoping someone from the swap will take a picture so I can post it.  In the meantime, here are the fabulous cards that we made at the swap.

Paula

 



Kathi

 



 

Jane

Kathy W.

Rose

Pete

 



 

Theresa R.

 

Cindy

 

Angie

 

Fran

 

Michelle

Tracie

 

EDIT: Here is a picture of the card I took to the swap (thanks, Amanda!!!) I decided I wanted to try the starburst/sunburst technique. It's SO much easier than it seems! I had to use only supplies that I had downstairs since I had fallen and hurt my knee so was unable to climb the stairs to my stamp room. I didn't put a sentiment on it since all the wood-mounted stamps and clear blocks were upstairs. I tried to stick a cling stamp to the side of my monoand stamp it.  It worked well, however I just couldn't see through the mono to line it up and it wound up crooked...hence, the shortened front of the card!  Oh, well...anyway, here's my card:

As always, the cards are beautiful.  Looking forward to the next swap sometime in April!!



Snowy Day Stamping

The snow is falling...and I do mean falling!  So far, we have about 4" on the ground with a forecast of about 10"...possibly 14 or more in some pockets are the area.  Since it's snowing and I had a snow day off from school.  I decided I wanted to be creative.  I challenged my stamp group to a Christmas Card Challenge where we need to make a selected number of Christmas Cards each month so that we'll have plenty for next Christmas. I said I needed to make 5 cards a month.  Here is is January 21st and I hadn't made any...my knees have been really hurting and my stamp room is upstairs...I didn't feel like climbing the steps so I challenged myself to create a Christmas card using only what I had downstairs...so, here is what I came up with:

I had been wanting to try the sunburst technique.  It's pretty simple, actually.  Of course, I would have prefered to have vanilla cardstock instead of white and a poinsettia instead of a rose, but hey, all those things were upstairs! 

Anyway, for the most part, they'll do...2 cards down and 3 more to go for January.  Looks like we might have another snow day tomorrow...we'll see what happens.  If we do, maybe I can venture up the stairs...

Papers:  Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, white, patterned paper from Authentique
Stamp:  Merry Christmas from Stampin' Up
Paper rose unknown

The Meade Girls...PUBLISHED!

Several months ago, I spent the day with my stamping group, the Meade Girls, at a same-set shoebox swap.  Each person created a card using the same stamp set- Stampin' Up's Wetlands.  On a whim, we sent our sample cards and a group photo, along with a write-up (thanks, Angie!) to Just Cards!/Stamp and Scrap Arts magazines.  Lo, and behold, they actually published our cards and write-up in the March 2014 issue of Stamp and Scrap Arts! We had a 2-page spread!  Check it out!

If you'd like to see the cards close-up, click HERE for my original blog post.

I am SO lucky to be a part of this fabulous group!  I have never met such wonderful AND talented ladies!!  We'll be having another shoebox swap in February!