Retirement Card for a Man

Hi.  Back again, with a quick card that I put together for a retirement party tonight.  I can't go, it's my night to take tickets at the high school volleyball game, darned it.  My hubby asked for a card, hope this works for him.  

The image is from Hambo Hoedown.  I think he fits the sentiment:  I am not lazy...  I'm a recovered workaholic! 

Hope you're having a crafty weekend!  I'll be back with more after the game or tomorrow.

SiskiyouSue

Pumpkin Love

Here I am again.  I couldn't wait to use some of the papers that arrived in the mail today. Aren't they great?  I love this cute witch!  She may easily be the cutest little witch I have ever seen.  Though I have several other cuties also...

I'm looking forward to making more Halloween cards.  I ordered two different pads.
Thanks for looking!
SiskiyouSue

Pumpkin Love by Torico
Sentiment from Halloween Puns by Joy's Life
6x6 paper pad "Haunted Manor" by doodlebug design inc.
colored with   markers

Challenges I'm entering with this card:
Simon Says Stamps
StampNDoodle
D.L.Art Thankful Thursday
 Lady Anne's Paper Crafts

Autumn

Hey!  Hope none of you were too shocked to see another post from me already. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf, lol.

Tonight I have a card that I have been working on for quite a while.  For some reason it just didn't come together.  I finally finished last night, after almost a month of trying to find some way to make it work.  Thank goodness for the wonderful inspiration I found on YOUR blogs!  Strange because I really like the image.  It reminds me of myself growing up.

 I used colored pencil on heavy watercolor paper.  I like the sky, but not the children.   Don't expect to use this paper again except on a background.  I do like how the sky turned out, however, and it was fun to do.

The leaf paper is from an older mat stack, which, unfortunately has no cover, so I don't know what it was.  I'm especially sorry about that, because this was the last of these beautiful papers.

 I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Make It Monday
Pinspirational Challenges
Tuesday Throwdown
Everyday Art Challenge
Crafty Sentiments
 Clear It Out Challenges
Can You Digi It 
CardCraftersCircle

Thank you for looking at my card.  Hope you are enjoying the Autumn, it's more beautiful here than usual!

SiskiyouSue

Fall Wedding

It is hard to realize that it is the last week of September already.   We are having glorious weather here, mostly blue skies, some winds, and bright golden air.  This is my favorite time of year, crisp and cool.  I love it.  Meanwhile, we have completed four and one-half weeks of school, which is one-eighth of the school year!  When you look at it like that it is completely amazing.

I am back to crafting again, thank goodness.  I really missed it but just couldn't get much done, don't know why.  From reading other blogs I know that this does happen sometimes.  Hope it won't hit again for a very long time!  Like, never... (My card does NOT have a strange bump on the left side.  That must have been something behind it, I didn't notice until now.  Oops!)

 

I have a wedding card to share today.  I keep forgetting to take pictures of my cards, so have missed the two others that I made last week, but I'm glad to share this one. I used a cut file by Bird but changed the sentiment in the center to a lovely rose instead.  While I cut the background out of white cardstock, the rose is cut from silver glitter paper, and both are backed with blue glitter paper.  The glitter paper is from American Crafts and cuts beautifully!  Inside is a decorative piece of the blue paper, but I didn't get a good picture of it.  (I'm hoping to get a new camera for my birthday!)



If you have a cutting machine and have not already connected with Bird's wonderful cut files, check them out.  I cannot tell you how wonderful they are.  I have really enjoyed using them.

I have to laugh at myself...  I was coloring digis last night when it suddenly dawned on me how funny I must look.  Here I sit, just turned 61 years old, and coloring those little digis.  I may have entered my second childhood already!  But that's okay because I am having fun.  

Wishing everyone a wonderful Autumn, relief from the hot, dry summer.

SiskiyouSue

Challenge Entered:  Make It Monday

Time flies!

Wow, I cannot believe that it is the end of August already!  I've been trying to get as much crafting time as possible, but that hasn't been much.  I have only one thing to share because I keep forgetting to take pictures.  I'm sorry...  I was asked to pick up flowers for a coworker who had surgery three times in the two weeks before school began (and has another scheduled next week, all for kidney stones).  Anyway, I needed a nicer card for the bouquet so I put together a tag type thing.

The digi is from Pollycraft, but I don't remember the name of it.  It's so cute!  And it was fun to color with my colored pencils.  I did a little coloring on the background also (scrumbling) in light blue to make them stand out, and added a couple of sprigs of evergreen needles.  They and the background shape were cut on my Silhouette SD.  The digi was popped up after I fussy cut it.  It really looked good in the bouquet.

Don't you just love the color of those dark carnations?

We have already had a week of school which I'm glad to report was great.  I had three uninterrupted teaching days, not a single student out of class even for sports.  Some of us are going to keep track of those absences ourselves this year because some students miss so much.  In a district as small as ours (72 high school students this year) a student may be involved in speech and drama, band, choir, jazz band, football, basketball, track and girls have volleyball.  Yes, many of our students are in multiples, which means they are very, very busy!

Today I have finally finished my Fat Pages for Lady Anne's Fat Page Swap.  I expected to put them in the mail a week ago, but it just didn't happen. I will try to post pictures in a couple of days.

Have a great end of the month.  I hope September brings a relief from not enough rain without bringing floods to you.  We have finished harvest here with mostly good weather and things are looking quite nice right now.

Hope you have plenty of time for crafting!

SiskiyouSue

I'm sharing this on Make It Monday.

Still Summer

Good morning.  It looks like another hot-but-beautiful day here in northern Montana.  We've had a lot of rain and hail recently (farmers are not happy about what it does to the crops), but generally it is at least still summer.  And I am driving a new car, nice to be on wheels again.  We are just too far from anything to be without.

I'm back into my craft room.  I had a great time yesterday playing with my Silhouette SD.  I bought the upgrade to the Designer's Edition software and have been busy importing SVG files into My Library.  I had no idea what some of them were before, but now I can actually see what I have!  I love it.

I decided that I should make some things for my classroom and the first thing I thought of was a new sign for my door.  The sign I've had until now was a piece of school letterhead with my name written under it in black marker.  Really ugly.  So here's what I came up with:

The mountain scene is from Paper This and That (a freebie) and the wheat sheaf is from the Silhouette Store.  I have used three colors of green, two colors of yellow, on Kraft paper, and my white Jelly Roll pen by Sakura to highlight the highest peaks of the mountains and to outline the letters.  In person they really pop.  Unfortunately I didn't think to photograph this until I had already laminated it (using my Your Story).  Anyway, in person it really does look far nicer than what I have had.  I think I'll enjoy having it on my door.

Back to the craft room today.  There is a lot going on this week, a trip into Canada to meet a new baby, a trip to Helena (197 miles one way) for a 15 minute doctor appointment, a wedding and a funeral this weekend.  I'll try to make the most out of the time I have left.  My first day back to School is August 20, which is three weeks from yesterday.  Summer is always too short!

Hope you have a lovely summer day!
SiskiyouSue

Wow!

Please accept my apology for being away from my blog for so long.  There has been a LOT going on here.  We were in California for a week.  I enjoyed a wonderful visit with my sister and her husband, then she took me north to visit our mom.  My husband and daughter (from Portland) met us there.  We had a lovely day with my mom who is in a nursing home.  She's doing much better than the last time I saw her.  They have a new kitten that Mom is in love with...

We headed home, leaving our daughter in Portland.  The whole trip went extremely well until 3 miles from home.  We hit a deer in the middle of the night, no injuries, but totaled the car!  Instead of several nice crafting days, we ran back and forth to the insurance agent and the body shop.  I still don't have a car, but it's getting closer!

 Then, after five days at home, we headed to Glacier Park where our daughter met us.  Our son came with us, so again, lots of family.  We also attended a 40th anniversary for a brother and sister-in-law so there was even more visiting then.  The only problem in that week was that we had hail that broke all 3 vents in our camper!  Not good.  The scenery is always great, however, and the weather cleared up so we had a great time.  This is the four of us in front of Lake McDonald at Apgar Village, one of the most photographed spots.  It makes a great spot for a photo like this. 

Home again.  The faucet in our bathroom fell apart, water everywhere.  I think I'll be glad when July is over.  But that's all fixed now, so I'm thinking that if (as my grandmother said) bad things come in threes, we're already done...  Hope so!  The two of us are heading to the mountains again this weekend, so we'll find out!!!

Back to crafting:  I just bought the Designer Edition of Silhouette Studio while it was 50% off so I'm playing around with SVGs in it.  Hope to have something to show off soon!  Meanwhile, this is something I made a while ago but haven't posted yet...

The sentiment is from TLC Creations, the gorgeous digi is from Sassy Studios (love all of them!) and the paper is a printable that was a freebie a long time ago.  I added some Stickles and some snowflake buttons (with the stuff on the back clipped off).  I'm working on more Christmas cards.  Hate to start already, but school starts here on August 20 (ick... way, way too early and hot), so I think I had better get moving.

Oh, one more thing!  I see that I have passed 150 followers!  I cannot imagine how that has happened, but I have to say that knowing that you are reading and looking makes this much, much more fun.  Thank you so much!  I'll be having a celebration after I get home again from this camping trip.  Meanwhile, hope you are getting some good crafting time in and still finding time to enjoy the sunny weather.  Remember that winter won't be far behind.  (I realize that is good news for all of you living in our drought-stricken areas.)

Happy summer!
SiskiyouSue

California, Here I Come!

Well, I'm off to visit my sister and mother for a few days, leaving in an hour and a half.    Can't believe how much I have left to do, but of course, my crafting is a priority, and I want to post my latest project.  Hate to have anyone think I haven't been doing anything!  Oh, after I return, I have just enough time to do laundry and pack the camper because we're heading to Glacier National Park to meet our daughter.  We'll enjoy seeing other family also as my husband's brother and his wife are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary while we are there.  The kids are throwing a party.  Lucky for us!

I've been making popsicles!  Just like everyone else, but mine are way lower in calories...

 I used my Silhouette SD and the Pretty Pops cutting files from Lettering Delights.  Aren't they cute?

 Just had to include a close up of the ladybug.  Don't have any idea what she's doing on my popsicle, but she is cute!

 I love Stickles (if you've been following me long you know that I'm a Stickles-aholic).  I was hoping that this would give a frosty look?

 One more shot of the two, can't seem to decide which I like the most.  Guess I'll have to make one or two more of the 20 or so in the set.  They are really fun to work with.

Now, unrelated to this.  My blog title has been Lost in Montana and Loving It since I started blogging, so I really had to laugh when I caught an ad on tv the other day for Travel Montana, our official state invitation to the rest of you.  This is their big thing for 2012:

Get Lost exploring in Montana.

 So I'm doing my part, sharing the invitation with all of you.  Really we don't want everyone to stay forever.  Montana has (finally) reached 1,000,000 people, which is plenty, thank you!  But we love to show off.  If you have ever wanted to see our Big Sky (which is really wide and gorgeous) or the wide open spaces or the emptiness of the eastern part of the state or camping in my much-loved Glacier National Park, this would be a great year to visit.  

Have a great day, and I'll be seeing you on YOUR blogs as time permits.  Back in July...

SiskiyouSue 

Sassy Summer

Isn't this a cutie?  She came from CDAC and was drawn by Jen Leeflang of ABC-Art, Bellydancing & Crafting.  She's one of my all-time favorites.  She just seems so summery!!!  The flower paper comes from a DCWV mat stack, Citrus, the rest, including embellishments, are all from my stash.

I've had a lot of comments in the past several weeks.  Thanks to all of you!  It is lots of fun to share with others who make cards and I appreciate each of you.  I see that  somehow I have acquired 150 followers.  I will have to come up with some blog candy, but it will probably in July since I will be out of town for about 2 weeks.  Time to visit my sister, hurray!

I'm entering it in these challenges:
Always Crafting
Make It Monday

Thanks for visiting me, hope you enjoyed my card.
SiskiyouSue

Vacation at Sea

Not my kind of vacation, yet, anyway, but this crab from Bugaboo certainly seems happy!  The designer paper is from TLC and the subway art from SimpleCrafter.  All digital except for the ribbon.  This was another fun card.  I really love the blue and orange together!

I'm entering this card in the challenges listed below.

Thanks for visiting me.
SiskiyouSue

Challenges:
 Digital Tuesday
SkippingStonesDesign
PaperPretties
JustKeepOnCreating
InkyImpressions
DivasByDesign
C.R.A.F.T Challenge

Fun in the Sun

Here's my first card for CAC Progressive Challenge #18, using Pool Time from Sweet Stamping Treats.  I thought it was perfect for this time of year and had LOTS of fun playing with it.  It was colored with Sharpie Ultra Fine pens and Prismacolor pencils (skin).  The background was first chalked in blue, green and yellow, then spritzed with Smooch in Silver and Blue to give the effect of water droplets in the air.  The title and sun were cut on my Silhouette.  The title was on white paper (left from practicing for a class) so I colored it with one of the 3 Copics I own.  They're great for this.  The ribbon and sparkly flip flops were in a big package of such things I received at Christmas, probably all from the dollar store.  Oh, and I did emboss the background with a Cuttlebug folder, Bubbles.  When I said I had fun playing with this card, I really did mean it!

Thanks for looking!
SiskiyouSue

Fussy Cutting

Hi, again.  I just couldn't help it.  As soon as I say the fussy cutting challenge at 365 Cards Day 89 I knew I had to make this card.  I actually had already purchased the peacock paper (Recollections from Michaels) and colored the digi (I don't know where I got it because I've lost the file!), but hadn't decided what to do with them.  I really like the way this came together.  Hope you will also.

And one more picture, the great surprise I found when I watered my house plants the other day.  I haven't had a bloom like this in years!

Just beautiful!

Thanks for looking,
SiskiyouSue

Graduation Already!

I can't believe how fast time is passing.  Our seniors will graduate Saturday (right, day after tomorrow).  I've finally finished my congratulations cards, so here are s few that I am pretty happy with.  This first card is unusual, I know,  but it is intended for my very special student.  I've spent 6 years as her Special Ed. teacher, and one thing I know for sure is that monkeys are her favorite animal!

 Monkey from Cricut Create a Critter, paper from K&Company.

 Font and shapes from Silhouette, designer paper from K&Company, I'm sorry that I don't remember where the brads came from.  The idea came from a blogpost on smallbitsofpaper.  This has been entered in the graduation challenge at creativecutterroom.

Wonderful image from Bugaboo, digital paper and sentiment from a kit called ConGRADulations, and red designer paper from K&Company.

All in all I will make 15 cards.  I have worked with quite a few of the students in this graduating class so it is going to be a little odd to have them gone.  The rest of us still have five days of school after the graduates finish.  The kids are pretty antsy, hope we all survive...  Lots of tests left!

Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment.  I love reading your comments.

SiskiyouSue

Clean, almost simple

I've been out of town again, another Special Ed. conference, this one in Billings, MT.  The conference was good, the food was great, the best part was spending time with family again.  My husband and his siblings (9 of them) are wonderful about spending time again, and we've become very good friends as well as family.  Doesn't that make us some of the luckiest people?  The real highlight of the conference for me, however, was the presentation of a "Yes I Can!" award to one of my students who is about to graduate.  This award is given to students who have accomplished many things in spite of having disabilities.  It was very exciting to watch her accept the award as a young woman ready to go out into the world. 

As much fun as it was, I'm hopeful that I can stay home from now until the end of school, which is May 25.  That would really be nice.  I've started my graduation cards, but am way behind on my cards for the CDAC challenge.  Here is my first card (I hate to admit that), for the challenge which ends tomorrow.  I have another started and would have finished it tonight except for more family dropping in on us.  No complaint, but there are only so many hours in the day.

This gorgeous image is from Wax Fruit Company and is printed on a digital paper background called Whisper.  The brown/gold mat is from a DCWV mat stack called "Once Upon a Time," which I've had for a long time.  I've been hoarding the paper - I love the touches of glitter on every page.  I started out to color the flower with my colored pencils, and probably will do so still, but the idea of letting the lines tell the story just took over.  The flower is so lovely that it really doesn't need anything else.  This card was a congratulations for the daughter of a friend who, after 9 years, just graduated from medical school.  How exciting for our small town to celebrate such a wonderful occasion. 

Hope to be back tomorrow with my next project.  And hope you are all enjoying lovely spring weather.

SiskiyouSue

Butterflies - Zzzz

Okay, I had to make one more Z card.  This is obviously a fold that I love.  I also love these butterfly stickers from Jolee.  They're so pretty.

The flower is from Prima, the flourish is by Recollections.
Here's one more shot so you can see the beautiful paper:

 

Its another Monday morning at school, with only five more after today (I only count the mornings that I have to get up, and since I'm already out of bed, this one doesn't count already...  gets the time over faster, lol.)  Our seniors graduate on May 19 and the rest are finished on May 25, so we're down to the wire.  This is the most difficult part of the year because most of my students are either chomping at the bit to get going, or suffering major "senioritis," since they have suddenly realized that the world as they know it isn't going to exist after graduation.  Often they get so far off that after four years of hard work they put their graduation in jeopardy for the last quarter.  I do a lot of pushing, prompting and reassuring that the world will be different but still okay and that they will survive it all.  It's always interesting.

Have a good day.  If you're living in the East where there is a big storm, hope you aren't hit too badly and aren't without power for long.  If you're in the West where the hot sun is shining (it was 78 here yesterday), please remember your sunscreen before you go out!

SiskiyouSue

Challenges I've entered this card into:
Card Caravan Challenge 17 - Spring
That Craft Place Challenge 9 - anything but a square or rectangle
Stampin' Sisters 136 - Pastels
Pile It On 17 - Sparkle and Shine
Come and Get It - Z Fold (the reason for this card!)
Make It Monday 86