Sandy Card

I am extremely tired due to a combination of a lengthy eye doctor visit - it consisted mostly of waiting -, physical pain, and overload due to a very hectic fire drill. I might write about the eye doc visit tomorrow or some other time, or I might not, but right now I just have time for a quickie. As promised, therefore, here is my colored sand card. It is a simple Christmas tree, which I cut out of double-sided sticky foil using the smaller one of the lovely Marianne Design dies. I used gold-colored Sandy Art sand. The stars that fly over the Christmas tree are from my stash. The green cardstock base comes from a pack I bought at the supermarket for much less than it'd cost at the craft store.

More Crafting, This Time for Christmas

Thanks lovely readers for all the nice coments on yesterday's post and thanks for the follows. If you've only visited yesterday's post, I want you to know this is more of a general blog with an assortment of posts, some of which can get pretty involved. However, I'm loving craft blogging again so here are a couple more cards. Both of these have a 3D effect to them. The first was done using die cuts from a die cut pack, and the second was done using a lovely set of Christmas tree dies by Marianne Design. I am not able to use regular cut-outs, but these were simple enough so that I could build up the image.

Edit: oops, discovered I already posted that first card earlier. Sorry for anyone who's seen it twice.

Crafty Endeavors

I used to have a crafting blog that I posted regularly to. However, as time progressed and my cardmaking did not, I lost interest in posting pretty simple, childish-looking cards. I still made at least one per week for a Christmas card challenge, but only so that I wouldn't be kicked out of the group that ran it. Since I moved to my current institution in June, also, my individual art therapy sotpped, and the group I attend is pretty demanding of independence. I want to transfer to a less demanding group, but have not yet been able to speak to my named nurse on this.

I've been looking for crafts that didn't require sight, and on a Facebook group for crafters with chronic illness, someone mentioned quilling. So I bought a quilling starter kit a few weeks ago and have been playing with it. First, I designed - or rather, didn't design - a random pattern. I didn't take note of or get feedback on the colors or shapes.

I decided not to finish the random pattern because it really felt like a waste of paper. Last Tuesday, it popped into my mind to make an actual design, and the simplest would be to make a card border. I used purple, pink, green and blue quilling paper. I only found out as I was finishing the project yesterday how to make the holes in the coils smaller. I use the needle tool because I can't manage to put the paper into the slot of the slotted tool. I'm not sure how to make the holes as small as they are on the few ovals that one of my staff made using the slotted tool, but overall, I'm quite content with this card. The cardstock and the center flower are from my stash.

I have been trying out a few other crafts, like polymer clay, with which I made a number of jelly roll beads. I have not yet been able to make them into a bracelet or necklace, because some essential jewelry-making supplies have not yet arrived.

I also just today made a card using colored sand, but I'll have to wait to show that one till my husband can take a pic, because I don't want to damage the surface of my scanner with the sand.

Reasons to Be Cheerful

I didn't go to sleep till 4:00 AM last night and awoke at 8:30 this morning. Have been blog surfing for just a bit too long. I'm loving the new blogs I discover. Mostly, they're Mommy blogs. Seems a bit strange given that I'm childless by choice, but I actually love them.

There's a blog hop over at Looking for Blue Sky, one of the parent blogs I discovered, on reasons to be cheerful, and I'm going to try to participate if I may. If I'm not allowed to cause of not being a Mom, I apologize.

I have a lot of things to be cheerful about that I don't always think of. Today, the relatively new activities staff person will come to my ward, and she's really nice. As a result, I will be able to make some pretty cards this afternoon. Cardmaking can be frustrating, but when I'm successful, it really cheers me up. I have a Christmas design in mind which I hope will satisfy me for once. Last week, I was also very cheerful over a Christmas card I made.

In related news, my jewelry making supplies will likely arrive in the mail today. I try simple jewelry making as something to complement my paper crafting when I need something more tactile. Right now, I have some wonderful handmade polymer clay beads waiting to be stringed on a wire. I made them in green and gold glittery Fimo, which I've heard is quite a rare color combination. I chose it myself.

Then there is the lovely blogosphere which I'm part of again. I know, I've been blogging off and on for years, and a few posts are no guarantee that I'll stick to this blog, but I really plan to.

Lasly, the weather is beautiful. It's in the 70s here, which is good for late August. There is some rain now and then, but it's also sunny at times. Have a great day!