Here is my latest egg.  Thanks, in part, to a lovely lady named Marilynne, I am about to enter a full-time paralegal certification program!  This is a life changer.  Last year her German Shepherd crossed over the Rainbow Bridge and she misses him terribly. I made this egg for her as a thank you.

It has been over a year since I last posted something so I thought I would add a few of the gifts that I made for Christmas (yes I know Christmas was over three months ago *grin*)

This is an egg that I did for my best friend's daughter, Kadie. She absolutely loves sea turtles. I actually made the driftwood base too. I found a great driftwood tutorial online (How to Make Your Own Driftwood) so I went in search of the perfect felled tree branch! I had to trim it, but I think it turned out really well.

Penny's other daughter, Amanda, has a very strong faith so this is the egg I made for her.

I made coffee mugs for my sister and her husband.  Patsy is an animal lover. 

David is a Ford man ... I copied the tattoo he has on his arm for the graphic.

Somebody was asking me about my leather work, so I thought I'd put up a bunch of pictures.  I apologize for the quality of the pictures ... they were taken MANY years ago and I was even less of a photographer then than I am now.

This was the first major piece I did. Ralph Carlson, a musician I barely knew (but someone who became a good friend), showed me a picture of Elvis with a guitar that had a cover on it and asked if I could make one for his guitar. Piece of cake I said ... wrong. *grin* This became Ralph's signature.

This is a picture from the cover of Ralph's last CD.


When I first moved to Florida I took dance lessons at the Arthur Murray studio in downtown Orlando.  I made wallets and/or checkbook covers for the instructors that I had.

I made this check book cover for my "other" mother ... Judi took me under her wing and made sure I was ok.  Judi loved monarch butterflies.

I actually made something for myself ... I loved this purse.  I'm not sure what happened to it, but I don't seem to have it anymore.

This purse was a custom order.  If you look at my eggs, you'll see that I used the same lion head on an ostrich egg. 

My ex-husband was a musician and his nickname was Tailgator.  I made this for him for his birthday (I think it was his birthday)

I haven't done any carving in years, but I am getting the itch to do it again!

Christmas in ... June?

This has got to be one of my favorite cards!  I found it on YouTube and it is a two part video tutorial by creatinwithkirsteen1.  You can find the first part of the tutorial here.  I just LOVE this easel card.  The picture really doesn't do it justice because you can't see the "flickering" of the fire.  The yellow "glow" you can see in the picture between the little girl and the dog is the "fire" in the fire place and is created by cutting out the part of the image that would be the inside of the fireplace and putting a sheet of vellum over the opening.  Then you put a little battery-operated flickering tea light behind it and voila ... fire!  

In the larger version you can see that I put some Flower Soft on the tops of the stockings to give them a fluffy texture and I have used the small self-adhesive pearls (ivory colored with Copic markers) for the little ornaments in the garland.

This technique would work great for a campfire scene too.

Transparency Swap

I just love the look on this cat's face.  My dog, Bruce, has the same look on his face when he jumps up and peers in the window on the kitchen door.

Lace swap

I do a lot of swaps ... not as many as some, but a lot for me.  This was made for a "lace" swap.  It is made using a white on white embossed paper that I colored with a blue Copic marker.  Once I had it all colored I wiped it off with paper towel leaving color only on the card stock and the "lace" white.  It is really nice paper to work with.

Jack and Jill Spinner card

This was for a technique swap.  It is a spinner card and, obviously, little Jack is about to tumble down the hill ... hopefully he won't break his crown. *grin*  It was a fun card to make.

Die Cut Swap

This card is for another swap I was in.  I ran a piece of card stock through my Grand Calibur and then mounted the corset (cut on my Expression using SCAL) using pop dots.

Congratulations Natalie and Paul!

I love making cards for people I know.  A couple in my swing dance club are expecting a baby at the end of July.  The base of the dresser is cut from a piece of veneer and stained with the olive green Distress Ink.  That's a little onsie hanging out of the top drawer.  

Graduation

A friend recently graduated with a Masters in Library Science ... this is the card I made for her.  (Congratulations Crystal!)

Dog Days of Summer

This card is another swap card, and yes, another Mo Manning image!  I used Diamond Glaze on every area that is water, as well as on the face plate of the little boy's mask.

Kissing Booth

I made this card for a swap.  I used a digital stamp of the kissing booth on the front of the card.  After mounting it on the card stock I cut out the center so that you see the "kissee" that is on the inside of the card.  She is a Mo Manning digital image ... I love Mo Mannings images!  I can guarantee you will see a lot of them on my blog. *grin*

Wedding Cards

I created two cards for my hairdresser, both easel cards.  She had seen my cards and asked if I would make a card for her to give to her friend.  This is the one she chose.  I stamped the image onto plain white card stock and then cut out an extra top piece of the dress on white pearlized card stock and bustled it up with pop dots.  Again, I used Flower Soft on the bouquet.

This is the cream and brown version ...  the one she didn't pick.  As with the black and white version, I stamped the image (this time on cream card stock), I cut an extra piece of the dress, used pearl powder to give that piece some sheen, then bustled it up with pop dots.  I used Flower Soft on the bouquet.

This is the envelope I made for the cream and brown card.

Another Teddy Bear card

I also made this cute little teddy bear card.

I ran the green background card stock through the Cuttlebug to create the brick effect.

Card Swappers Teddy Bear swap

This card was made using a Whiff of Joy stamp.  I fell in love with this stamp the second I saw it.

I popped up parts of the teddy bear to make it little like she was squeezing him.

March Sketch Swap

This is my take on the Just Cards March Sketch swap.

I can't believe it has been so long since I updated my blog.  I've made a few more swap cards, a couple of which I am really proud of.  One of my favorites is this shape card.

The pocket watch pulls all the way out and you can write your sentiment on it.

Something new

The next swap was to use something new.  For me EVERYTHING is new so this was an easy card!  I found a "new" to me technique by Valista's Fresh Folds on YouTube and knew I had to try my version.

You can find the video here.

Time to start posting some cards!

Here is my first "swap" card. 

"H" is for hound dawg!

Lion

This ostrich egg was carved for an "eggart" version of a card swap. There is nothing added to the surface of the egg ... it is a relief carving and the depth is an illusion.

This bloodhound egg is one of my favorites.  The dog in the carving was a K-9 officer that was killed in a fire.  A truly heartbreaking story.  His name was Teddy and I called this egg "Sweet Teddy."

The next few eggs are emu eggs.   With the exception of the butterfly (which has glitter), there is no paint on the eggs.  The colors are achieved by carving through the layers of the shell.

Here are some Christmas ornaments.  These are primarily goose eggs, but the smaller eggs are duck.