Category Archives: ATC

Apr26

A few more swaps

Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2012 by Dianne

Not the most exciting week with rain off and on. I have been doing swap pieces between things breaking. Yes, it seems that our bathroom is calling out for repairs now. We put in a new vanity many moons ago-like 25 years ago when Sean was sitting in a little baby seat. The drawers are shot from opening and closing and being overfilled. We have to get a new one. I was looking at the home center sites and found a few I liked. I then went to Pinterest and followed a link and found one, with the lovely glass bowl for a good price. It would have cost $60 to ship, so might as well take a hop, skip and jump to the Home Depot and see if they carry it in white, though I would go for the dark too.

I also need a new toilet, so we might as well get that put in at the same time. And maybe further down the road, we can get Bathfitters or the tub reglazed.

Sean is in his last few weeks of his classes this semester. His professor kind of threw them for a loop as they have a few powerpoint presentations to do. I think he is worried and may be over thinking it. Wish him luck.

Here are a few other things I just mailed off:

We were to hand drawn something and also include a ladybug

This is a ‘skinny’ and what would you do in the summer. The lady who got this likes dolls, so I added Barbie-the ‘original’ Barbie.

Hope to get some annuals soon and get working in the yard.

Apr9

Some more paper goodness

Posted on Monday, April 9, 2012 by Dianne

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I really do try and tidy up my collage stuff, and then creativity gets in the way. I start seeing paper connections and before you know it, I have the scissors and glue out again! It really is good therapy for me lately anyway.

The background for this card was made from snippets of scraps as I was sorting. I love that little girl and in my mind’s eye, I can see her skipping around in her butterfly wings.

Another little flower girl for the series.

Sadly, this is the last challenge I made for a Flickr group called ‘Art n’ Soul’. We were to take a torso and decorate it. I made like a fairy dress influenced by the unusual photos of ferns I have. I used a real fern frond too! By the way, that’s light switch is my souvenir from the Van Gogh exhibit, now in the dining room.

We had a bit of a scare this morning. We live in a ranch house and don’t have phones in the bedrooms (we do again now-we put it in the kitchen 6 yrs ago and never had a problem). Didn’t Brian’s dad get a bad nosebleed at 2 am this morning and tried to call us for several hours from 3:30 am on! We didn’t hear it ringing. After the second call, his dad should have called 911. I had several very bad nosebleeds when I was little and was told to sit quietly. He kept leaning forward as he didn’t like the blood doing down his throat. Anyway, the woman police officer finally woke us up out of our slumber at 6:30! Brian got his act together and headed to the hospital as his dad finally wised up and called 911 around 4:30 or so. The doctor may have chemically treated it (like they did me-not sure, but one of the worst pains I’ve ever had) and Brian took him home. Bri had to clean a few areas that got a little messy. I suggested he stay over a few nights a week, but he isn’t going for that, but should consider it until he gets a job. Since Sean is living here and is an adult, it may not be a bad idea. Old people living alone is not good.

Apr5

Flower Girl ATCs

Posted on Thursday, April 5, 2012 by Dianne

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I’ve been enjoying making ATCs for swap-bot.com as many of my Flickr art groups are no longer trading. I am doing a flower series, though I missed a few at the beginning of the swap. I just sent off ‘Iris’-2 different ones to 2 different people. The next one is Daffodils.
So I was thinking how girls have flower names and thought an ATC series was in order. I can think of a few more and will make them too. I have to make Iris again, since she was traded. I think they look cute. I realize I used ‘was’ instead of ‘is’ as these are ephemera and I’m looking as them as in the past.
I’m taking an antibiotic for the root canal I had on Friday. I had a bit of a sore throat yesterday morning, but am sneezing and blowing my nose a lot, so thinking the allergies are acting up. I wish we would get some good rain to clean up the air! I see where a sore throat may be from the antibiotic too.
I took my mom to the eye doctor on Tuesday as she was getting the shot in her good left eye and she said it took until the next day to clear up. We went to a diner and I had the best turkey BLT salad. I’m doing the MyFitnessPal again as I’m not happy with my weight and how I look and feel. Too much sugar! I hope to get walking more. I signed up at Walgreen’s to monitor my walking. It’s something I enjoy doing on a regular basis. Also took mom to Trader Joe’s. Love getting their goodies.

Mar22

Spring has sprung, but it’s like summer too!

Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2012 by Dianne

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I’ve heard that my pals up in Canada and Michigan and getting nice 70 degree temps like we are down here in Pennsylvania! Tomorrow it will hover around 80! We haven’t had much rain lately and the ground is cracking. I had a circle of daffodils out where we planted the tomatoes and zucchinis and I guess us working the earth made them bloom ever so nicely this year. They look like this:

The forsythia are blooming and my PT looks pretty near them. Brian gave her a wash for me this week.

My friend Rachel had a little girl on the 15th of this month and I sent her a few gifts. I couldn’t believe I found an outfit that had a cross stitched bear on it! We met through cross stitching! I said I’d give her one of my passes if she wants to bring her two year old son and newborn for a walk in Longwood sometime. She lives closer to Philly, but to the north more.

Brian and I are off for our trip tomorrow afternoon. It’s about 25 miles or so, but a B&B. I have plans to see a few little towns and there is a casino not that far away. We’ll keep busy! I have to wrap up his gifts after I get off from here. I have only a few, but one was a little pricier than the others. He should like the main gift (from Sean and me). Speaking of Sean, he did Turbo Tax and got his refund in less than a week! How lucky is that? We probably won’t get a refund, but we hope to use the program also.

And to live up to my blog name, the person I sent the poppy ATC scanned it when it got to The Netherlands as I forgot:

Mar12

Crafty weekend

Posted on Monday, March 12, 2012 by Dianne

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I signed up for some more Swap-bot swaps and pulled out my papers and things to work on 3 Artist trading cards for that. Then I decided to play around with some ideas and use a few items I purchased at Tinsel Trading Company up in New York. This is a sampling of what I did and I’ll show you many of them up close:

The daylight savings had us a bit off yesterday…a 11:15 am breakfast (let’s call it brunch) and then the other meals were more on time. We had delicious Trader Joe’s organic tomato soup and Kaukauna cheese on crackers for lunch. Best ever. Also had Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken, rice and sauteed spinach, and a Blue Moon beer. ; )

More later….

Feb19

Doing a little swapping

Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2012 by Dianne

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Swap-bot Sunflower ATC, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Since my regular swap groups on Flickr have slowed down, I went over to Swap-bot.com (link in side bar) and just did 3 swaps. You saw the Victorian ice skaters below. This new challenge was for 2 sunflower themed cards. I took my old flower guide book and copied the pages to ATC size and this is one of the ones I came up with. The border is a sticker.
I just signed up for a poppies ATC. I already got one of the sunflower ATCs all the way from the Netherlands for my swap (we don’t have the same people we send to). I’ll have to take a photo of it.
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Brian’s dad had to be taken to a walk-in clinic yesterday as he was having leg issues and fell down twice outside. We almost beg him to carry a phone on him but he forgets most of the time. He was able to get himself up (this was Friday) and was in discomfort the entire night. The clinic did x-rays (one of their specialties is sports related injured). The doctor saw a shadow in his hip area, so Dad C. needs to get a MRI tomorrow. They didn’t give him any pain medication and sent him home.
Last night I got a call from my step cousin that her mom (my late Uncle Don’s wife) had passed away at age 96-I think exactly two months since her birthday. She wasn’t that crazy about my family, it was all about her three daughters and their families. And she didn’t like my grandmom as mom-mom and Uncle Don were very close (only 20 yrs apart). We saw each other more when we all grew up though. Being in a nursing home extended her life I think-she was in there about 5 yrs. So of course we are wondering about Dad C and if he is going to start to have trouble getting around-he’ll be 89 in June. He lives in a 4 bedroom split and we live in a 3 bedroom ranch, so no space here. Only time will tell, but it’s going to be hard for Brian as he needs to get serious about another job.

Feb17

Victorian with a Heart ATC

Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 by Dianne

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Swap-bot Victorian with a Heart ATC, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I joined a couple of swaps on Swap-bot.com to get the creative juices flowing again. It’s so nice that I can copy things and use them on ATCs. For instance, this photo was from a big book about the 1890s and I was able to shrink it down to about 60% or so. This large group of people were ice skating! I guess that’s what they did to socialize in the winter.I added a little glitter for the ice and we were suppose to add a heart-almost forgot that!
Things aren’t that exciting here. I have to get serious as does Brian about filling out more job applications, him especially. All this ‘hassle’ has gone on too long.
My bug is still lingering a bit, but I think it’s exiting….ever so slowly. Brian is on the Z-pack now. I take a dose of CF cough medicine and that seems to help. It’s been so annoying and tiring.
Sean and I went to see my mom on Wednesday and we went out to dinner as I had a gift card. Sean got a favorite dish and the pasta was dried out and they loaded it with extra sauce which didn’t help to cover that. He didn’t say anything until I said my side of fettuccine was also dry and tasteless. They use to serve his dish in a big bowl, now it’s on a plate. Mom was going to call and complain as she paid for the balance left over after the GC. Hope they are nice and give her another gift card. I complained about another restaurant twice and got gift cards both times for doing so. Sometimes silence isn’t golden.

Feb5

Challenges on Flickr

Posted on Sunday, February 5, 2012 by Dianne

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Adore ATC-Crowabout-Week #140, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

There’s a fun group on Flickr called ‘Crowabout’. You have to ask to join and I wish I participated more in the weekly challenges, but I have about 6 ‘collages’ I’ve made over the last year or so. I actually use the elements a bunch in other personal projects, but the challenge is to use at least 3-4 of them in your collage. The collage can be digital, cut out, printed, (which I prefer) and then made into an ATC or whatever.
This is the one for last week. I like how Cupid is peeking over the top of the ATC.
I’ve been busy over the weekend with little projects as I am sick with what feels like a cold now-non-stop nose blowing today. Love those Kleenex cool touch tissues. Brian tossed some spaghetti and meatballs together for dinner.

I used the girl, the border and words from a collage sheet.
Watching the Superbowl (but not ‘watching’ it like I’m really interested). Madonna is something for 53. She’s 15 months ‘older’ than me. I heard she has a young 24/25 yr old boyfriend and that disgusts me. If you are old enough to be someone’s mom, you are too old to date them. It probably won’t last. Look at Demi and Ashton.

Nov1

Celebs in Crafting

Posted on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 by Dianne

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When I went to the Heirloom rubber stamp and paper craft show recently,
I never expected to see a Marilyn Monroe stamp which I had to have! I thought I’d use her in many different ways. She’s not a mounted stamp which makes her a bit hard to use, but I just added some double-sided sticky tape on an acrylic block and stuck her on for the time being. I was lucky enough to have the director’s clapboard which worked well on this card. I added the purple glitter and some more stars and I was happy.
I haven’t seen any celeb stamps for a while, maybe Charlie Chaplin. If I use celebs, I find them on stickers, in magazines or in books. I have a nice Shirley Temple book (original) and I have scanned a few of the pages and they are on Flickr.

I’ve made a couple of the Curse of the Black Pearl ATCs with Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly (stickers)

and sent them to a sweet young artist in Florida as she liked them so much. I love Clara Bow’s 1920s face and used her too.

I also have used Lana Turner.

A few more:
Mae West

Brad Pitt:

Gene Tierney:

Hedy Lamarr:

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman:

I saw Lana years ago when she appeared on ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ (taped in Philly). That was neat for my mom and grandmom as they saw so many of her movies in the 1940s and 1950s. I did a search and found this-probably the same show!

[livevideo id=9021283D569040AA92021902AA9F2549/689257/may-2-1975-george-carlin-.aspx]
May 2, 1975 – George Carlin – The Mike Douglas Show

(I’ve seen George Carlin, John Davidson and I think Joan Rivers-it was the 70s!) My friend and I waited in line back then at the Philly car show to get John Travolta’s autograph too. It’s MIA here which bugs me. I have a feeling it’s stuck in a scrapbook somewhere.
Sean came down with a sinus issue where he has a slight fever. He is coughing off and on from the post nasal drip. I’ve had sinus issues off and on for two weeks. When I take Claritin, I feel better, but I don’t like taking it every day. We’ve had a hard frost, so maybe the allergies (if that’s what it is) will calm down. Salt water has been my friend as has BioAllers nasal spray.

Oct30

Gimme Candy!

Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 by Dianne

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I had some fun finishing up some 4″ x 4″ collage cards and ATCs this evening. I love this little guy and knew he was good for a Halloween piece.

Brian’s dad gave me an old 1992 rip off desk calendar and I have been having fun doing collages with it like the above bird background.

I bring home coasters from restaurants and ‘The Black Widow’ was the first collage I made. I was trying to make her greenish, but she still looks pale. I will probably put a ribbon for hanging her up.

Today was a rather tense day. Brian hadn’t talked to his day since late yesterday afternoon. We found the phone number of an old ‘original’ neighbor, but she was at work. The next thing we had to do was call the police. They sent a patrol car and he was fine, but his phones weren’t working. All day we tried to call, so 8 pm tonight, Brian went over. He looked at the cell, took the battery out and put it back in and it started working. This seems to happen all the time lately.

PHOTO HUNT-Broken

(made this ATC back in 2008)
I have a sticker book of the works of Michelangelo and this is Jeremiah who was the prophet with the ‘broken heart’. Thank goodness for google as that info made my card what it is!