A little thanks goes a long way

My first CDS card.  It's all cut from the George cartridge and features one of my hand carved stamps on the front. The same stamp was used for the background paper as well.

Now we are in business!

I finally got my Cricut Design Studio working!!  Woohoo.  

This is of course months after purchasing it and asking for help.  For those having difficulty, I put it on my XP laptop.. and trust me.  Skip installing from the CD you purchase:  Install the trial and activate it. It might even work that way on Vista.  Tech support, although very nice, told me they couldn't get it working on Vista.  A Windows expert was going to have to call me back.  Grrrr.  No way I was waiting for that to happen.

So, now I don't feel like I've wasted my money and I can control where the machine cuts so I can load multiple papers onto one mat.  Can I get a Woohoo on that one?  Yah!

Still Waters

Still Water was made for the 3-D swap. This is another that came to mind, fully formed. When you pull it from the sleeve, the acetate surface of this tiny koi pond should pop up on it's own, but you may have to give it a nudge.

I carved the stamp a month or two ago just for fun, but wanted to make an LTC with it eventually. So I'm glad that I'm finally getting to do that.

Hope you like it... it's going to be a very limited edition beyond the swap.  These take about an hour of acutal working time to make each one.  I've been working assembly line style as my energy permits, or it would take even longer to complete.  At first I was punching the circles and flipping that over and reassembling the card with bands of paper across the back.  That took so long that I abandoned the idea and punched the circles out of another piece of the 2-sided card stock.

Shado's Hoard

September 19 is the International Talk Like a Pirate day~  Woohoo!...ah.. Garrrr!  

Someone on AQ asked if anyone wanted to trade pirate related cards.  Shiver me timbers!  I was empty handed.  What to do?  What to say?

_____

"Wait!" Tee says, holding up a finger and raising her eyebrows inquiringly at you. She turns and runs to the back room. You can hear stuff being moved around, and stuff falling. "Ouch! Stupid hook!" Then suddenly a loud grunt as she reappears with a pirate chest. She drags it into the room and looks at the lock hopelessly and sighs, scratching her chin. Suddenly she brightens, reaches under the table and gets a hammer. She smashes the lock and opens the barnacle encrusted chest with an eerie creak.

Tee bends to the task and soon stuff is flying out of the chest all over the room.. "no, not a boot" "No, not a ship." You narrowly escape a flying dagger as the rummaging continues until she yells triumphantly! "Arrrr! Ye Ready Fer Adventure?"

She stands in front of you, dusty from her pillaging with a gleeful glint to her eye. Clutched in her hand is a crusty old bag, bulging at the seams. What could be in there? Gold? Jewels? What pirate loot has she been hoarding?

_____

Beyond the door...

roads go ever ever on.  

Created for the Doors swap, there are a few extras for trading. Sketched and 

carved interior of a Hobbit's Door. Outside.. well 

something awaits a hobbit beyond his door.  

In this case it's the road that carried Bilbo and Frodo on their altogether unexpected adventures.

Two layers of 80 lb card stock. The door is stamped in dye ink then watercolored and hand cut. The road was sketched and then painted with watercolor pencils.

It's All About...

... the Teacher!

This card was made for the Algebra swap. For this one I had to think about what really made the difference for me in math in general as well as Algebra. Hands down winner? My teachers. Their passion for mathmatics was infectious! A good math teacher can inspire and excite students and illuminate a world of numbers that otherwise would remain dark.

So, what is Algebra without a great Algebra Teacher? A book of numbers, letters and formula that we couldn't make heads or tails of. My Algebra teacher used to say, "If you can count to three, thank your Mother. If you can do long division, thank your math teacher. But if you can solve life's complex problems, even without knowing all the variables, then thank your Algebra Teacher! Now solve this quadratic equation and show your work!"

This card is dedicated to my sister, Dianna Pounds, to Mandy and to Math/Algebra Teachers everywhere. Way to go guys!