Monthly Archives: December 2024

Winter Birthday Wishes {tutorial}

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I had no chance to make any Christmas themed projects this year, but an almost New Year’s birthday gave me a chance to use one of my new Tim Holtz winter themed dies. Yippee! Although it’s been decades since I’ve ice skated, I fell in love with this die when it came out. I patiently waited for it to go on a good sale, and Black Friday didn’t disappoint. But then I needed an occasion to use it—for more than just in my inventory catalog. Card making time! All those Distress Spray Ink backgrounds I did for my Pray &… Continue reading →

A Joyful Heart

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I found this post lurking in my Drafts—from this past August (8/31). My spicy brain is conflicted over whether to back date this to then, or just post it now. So it’s now for now, but I may need to put it back in proper order later. 😊 But either way, my brain says these past posts need to be caught up before the New Year bells chime. Sometimes a Joyful Heart is the furthest thing from our reality. We are living with a broken spirit, that “dries up the bones”. Soul crushing harm and trauma does literally cause health… Continue reading →

Pray & Play 1

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{post 2 in this series} Taking some “time out”, during the busyness before the holidays, to just Pray & Play* was indeed needed, and ended up being a fruitful decision. Playing with Tim Holtz Distress Sprays is a favorite fun way to intuitively create, and get some wonderful backgrounds to use as foundations for finished creations. So that’s where I began. As I added layer upon layer, of inks and other mixed media textures for the backgrounds, inspiration came for taking them to the next step. And finalizing with words of inspiration and focal points. My first start for the… Continue reading →

‘Tis the season—for Organizing

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‘Tis the season—the week between Christmas and New Year’s—when I mainly work on organizational projects and putting things away, decluttering etc.—after the explosion all the holidays bring. One of my primary goals is usually to find my creative studio again. Many Christmas projects are usually done, with a time crunch, and yes, it looks like paper exploded in there. So it’s now time for everything to find its home again. I also usually pack away the specifically Christmas products and supplies. This year they weren’t even touched. 😢 But that doesn’t mean I didn’t make a whole lot of Christmas… Continue reading →

Comfort & Joy?

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We’re in a season now that can be super busy. We can find ourselves lacking in the peace, comfort and joy that this season is supposed to be about. I’ve been enjoying all my music concerts and performances (4 just this past week, plus attending another of a friend’s), loved hosting Thanksgiving, was so excited to attend my coaches retreat—even though it resulted in an injury that laid me up for a while. I greatly look forward to celebrating Christmas with much of my family. And of course, there’s always work to pay the bills, classes to attend and to… Continue reading →