Halloween Planner Page

Since it's probably been delivered, its time to post the narrative for the Halloween Planner Page.  

First - I've owned the Spellbinder's die cut of the little black Tiki god and Tiki torches for FOREVER.  I always thought I'd use them for Halloween even though they came paired with tropical flowers.  Then last year, while bored and browsing through TEMU I found a set of Tiki stencils. The stencil set has a dozen or so faces, but I used the one that best matched the die cut.  Then it was time to play with my Geli Arts tools and monoprint those Tiki faces onto glycine paper.  I'm not sure that was the best plan, but it's what happened.  The paint on the glycine is a bit crispy, and I'm concerned it won't have the staying power needed for something that gets used in a planner.  But its done.  Fingers crossed.

Each page will have a different look to the Tiki face as that is the nature of Mono printing.  Some are ghost prints, making the image lighter but still there, some are multicolored, some are dark, some light.  What you pull from the geli pad is never certain until you pull it and turn it over.  That's what makes it so fun!

The little Voodoo doll is from a set from Unity Stamps.  I added elements with pins, because, well, it's a Voodoo doll. The 'Thinking of You' sentiment is funny.  If you got one and are offended, stop it.  It's FUNNY!  Have you met me?  Of course you have, that's why you're on the mailing list!

Flip this over to find a pocket with a Happy Halloween bookmark and the aforementioned die cuts.  I used some glitter glue in the eye sockets and for the flames to help bring it up a notch.  Each page has different Halloween Ephemera from Tim Holtz.  I had a couple packs of that stuff laying around for a while now, so thought it was time to use it up.  The third photo is a shot of a bunch of them drying after application of the glitter glue.  You can zoom in and see more of the ephemera I used.  

Lastly - a shot of the envelope seal.  I bought a number of these from VistaPrint, for Christmas and for Halloween, both seals and return address labels.  I'm disappointed in their ability to actually seal the envelope.  Hence the extra tape you'll find holding down the flap.  Notable - if you ever do a big mailing, for Christmas or a wedding etc, get everything done and ready for the post office, but hang onto it for a couple of days.  If something isn't going to stick, you want to know it before it comes unstuck during processing. 

That's it!  Happy Halloween, 2024.  On to Christmas cards.  Woot!

Summer Solstice Planner Page - June 2024

The last of these hit the post office today, June 18, so for some, they are going to be a bit late.  Oh well, can't be helped.  I mean it's not like I'm sitting around doing nothing all day long, right?  Between Gene and his knee and memory problems and me with my hip problems I'm a busy girl this year.  So much so, that there won't be a cookie book for 2024.  We have two surgeries coming up later this Summer.  I'm planning a Halloween something or other, and something will go out for Christmas, but I can't add on a book.  It's a bit too much to hope for.  Ok, enough about the future...

June 20th at 3:50pm marks the Summer Solstice this year.  This week, with temps in the 90's, it's clear that someone has turned on the Summer switch.  I suppose it's right on time.  

I started these in February with the hope that it would help me embrace Summer more than my usual loathing of it.  It didn't.  I tried, but nope.  Still hate it.  I picked an underwater theme for no particular reason other than its beach season.  The coral reef started off as blank white paper.  I applied ink and paint, and various stamps and sprays to make it look like coral.  I took photos along the way and asked several people if they could tell me what it was.  Sue's husband Jim got it right, so that told me I had done enough to make it look like what I was after.  I added the grid elements because it's still a planner page, so needed something appropriate for that purpose.  Crabs, fish, sand dollars, plants all come together to give it that under the sea feel.  I sprayed on some white and some sparkle and stamped some darker sandy elements to keep it even more real.  Happy Summer and Don't be Crabby, well, that's for me, really.  I had to keep reminding myself not to hate summer in order to get these things done on time.  While I still hate it (did I mention that?) the sentiment kept me smiling.  

The beach chair and beach ball show up on the back side where the bookmark is found in a pocket.  You have to pull it out and flip the school of fish over to find 'Hello Summertime' on the front of the bookmark.  The photos are not that great.  They look better in person.  

These cards went out in the mail for October 2023.  As I look down the list of my prior posts, I see they are missing.  Oh well.  Better late than never.  I made them in the spring of the same year, trying to skip over the coming warm weather, I guess.  No two were exactly alike.  I used up a ton of fall themed paper, which was my goal.  While the paper I buy is all acid free and archival, that doesn't mean it's going to last forever.  It gets brittle and can fade over time.  Best to use it up rather than hang onto it too long and have to throw it out.  

Merry January + TYOT Dragon

 

Merry January cards and The Year of the Dragon fridge magnets went out just before the first 'big winter storm' of 2024.  We had three storms in a row, the last one dumping 16 inches of wet heavy snow on top of the foot we'd already gotten over the two days prior.  The stuff was so heavy we broke a sheer pin on the snow thrower.  I cried UNCLE! on Friday at about 4:30pm. 

We lost power for 21 hours - 11pm Friday to 8pm Saturday.  Saturday morning around 6am, I went out, disconnected the garage door from the automatic lift, fixed the sheer pin by flashlight and blew out the rest of the snow.  By 9:00am I got Gene up and out and we were safely ensconced at the local Caribou Coffee shop, not without getting stuck in unplowed snow a couple times.  

Next, I went out to set up the generator on the back patio while Gene built a fire in the fireplace.  It took a number of pulls to get the thing started in the blowing cold, but I won.  Plenty of firewood for the fireplace, and enough power to run the fridge, the Internet, one TV and a power strip for charging phones, tablets, portable lights etc.  I had to light the gas stovetop with a lighter, but at least we had hot water for tea and hot chocolate.  Dinner Saturday night was takeout from Panera Bread, no way was I cooking in a dark kitchen.  I stopped on the way to fill up the gas can, so we'd have enough to get through the night if need be.  Luckily, we got our power back at about 8pm.  By 10pm the generator and all the extension cords were put away, but I was having no luck reconnecting the garage door.  I cried UNCLE! again, and I was finally in a much needed and much appreciated hot bath.  

Monday morning came along and I was able to make my own coffee, after which I went out and greased up the garage door frame and travel rod.  Once I did that, I gave the door a bit of a push up to click it back into its housing on the travel rod.  Boom!  Garage door fixed.  But, after blowing all the snow out Saturday morning, the temperature dropped below zero Saturday night, stayed in the single digits on Sunday and Monday as well.  We have some drifting snow that needs moving now, but the snow blower was iced up hard.  It started no problem, but the auger would not spin.  Gene set up a space heater in the garage and let it run for 5 hours or so on Monday, it worked to degree, but we still needed some focused heat at the impellor blades.  After an hour or so with the heat gun, we started her up and the auger spun as it should.  I cried UNCLE! a third time after it was back in working order.  The drifts are not bothering anyone, and it's going to stay Arctic for another week or so.  

Merry January, indeed!