My daughter is an artist!!

My daughter has always been an avid reader and writer.  Recently she has become intersted in drawing.  Look at the fairy that she drew....

I gave her a few COPIC marker pointers and she went to work coloring the fairy.  I am really quite impressed.  But I guess I am a little biased.  :-)

One of our back-to-school traditions is to cover notebooks and folders.  She used the fairy for her English notebook.  She cut the fairy out and mounted it on some beautiful scrap book paper.  Then she stamped the title and framed it.  Isn't it lovely?

Hen House August Swap Club cards

As I promised, I am sharing the swap cards that the Hen House ladies created to trade yesterday.

Kimber sewed the back layer on and used Crytal Effects to make the bird glossy.

 Cheryl created this fun and witty card.  Love the bright colors!

 Jen created this super cute sun flower garden.

 Liz used alcohol inks on glossy paper to make this stunning card.

 Can you tell tht the clouds are punched out of the blue background paper in this window card?

 Mary made this beautifully coordinated card.  Love the layering and the dew drops.

Sandy paper pieced the trees on this card using some new MME paper and a Unity stamp.  She even stained the ribbon so that it would match better.  Can't wait to see what the September ladies will make!

September SWAP technique

Join The House Card Swap Club with me on Saturday, September 17 at 10:30am and enjoy experimenting with distress stains, resist techniques and Iroc jewels!

PRIOR TO SWAP DAY: You make 10 identical cards in your own style at home to bring and trade with fellow swap club participants and one to be displayed at the store. If the card you make uses more than 50% of product previously purchased from the Hen House, you will get a special discount after class on a featured item.

DURING THE CLASS: Deedee will teach the fun  technique and you will make 2 cards below using that technique. For the last ½ hour of the class time, one by one each class participant will share with the other classmates the card that they made at home to swap. By the end of class you will have 9 cards pre-made by fellow swappers and two cards that you made using the new technique.

In addition to the Basic Class kit above, please bring the following if you have them: (1) Versamark ink pad, (2) tiny thin paint brush, (3) Walnut Stain distress ink pad.

Cost: $10 .

Click here to register online or call the store at 221-6366.

The Final Four

Below are the final four cards we selected for my September Fast and Fun Class. Join me on Saturday, September 10 from 3-5pm  and make four uniquely different cards. We will be using punches, embossing folders, angel mist, distress inks, chalk inks, stickles, Unity stamps, and new paper and stamps from MME. If time permits, you will be able to make an additional card using extra class materials. ($15).

Click here to register online or call the store at 221-6366.

SWAP club at the Hen House

This Saturday is my first SWAP club at the Hen House.  The class is full and I am excited to see all the cards that the participants bring to share.  Just in case some aren't familiar with swaps, I am making a few sets of 10 for those who may not have understood that they needed to pre-make cards for the swap.  (See sample of one of the cards above using my favorite Unity stamp set).  At the swap class, we will be making two cards using Jennifer McGuires' embossed kissing technique.  It essentially turns any stamp into a negative image of the stamp.  Very cool.  I will be sure to share the swap cards on my blog on Sunday!

SU swap club

Sorry that I have not been so good about posting.  The craft room remodel is taking up most of my time.  I have lots to share so I am loading up posts that will automatically post for the rest of the week.  :-)

Last Saturday, Janea was the demonstrator for the Stampin Up SWAP club that I belong to.  These are the two cards that we made:

The pinwheel was so easy to make.  And I always love using the owl punch.  She is so cute.

The balloon reflections on this card were made by stamping on acetate and then rubbing the upside down images on to the paper.  Love it!

Two totally different cards...

I have been working on cards for my September Fast and Fun Four.  I think the cards in the August class were too similar, so I am challenging myself to come up with very different cards in September.

Here are two contenders....one is a grown-up up version of a card I did for a kids class...

And the other is a vintage card using some new papers and stamps from My Minds Eye "Lost and Found" Collection.

I photographed the cards in my kitchen so the background kind of clashes with the cards.  My craft room is in disarray because the cabinet guy has begun the install!  It is a slow process.  It will probably take 5 full days.  I love how much care he puts into making sure that everything is just right so it is well worth the wait.  I will post photos of the progress.

It's been a long time...

It's been a long time since my last post.  I have been busy with family visiting from out of town and also preparing for my first class at the Hen House.  I really enjoy teaching a class in their classroom...so big and full of light.  Here are the cards that class participants completed in my first Fast and Fun Four class...

So I am preparing for my September class and have been playing with a new set from Unity.  If you had to choose which of the following would you want to do in a class.  Please post a comment and let me know.  The finalist are....

Fun time at the Hen House

I got to make some card samples for the Hen House on Tuesday.  It was such fun coloring the images with Copics and then hunting down just the right paper.

This first one I actually made last week.  The flower is made with a Tim Holtz die and the Asian woman in the back is from the Unity Stamp set called "good, pure, excellent".  This card uses a fun fold that I first saw at a SWAP by my friend, Lynn.  Recently, my friend, Jennifer recreated a similar version off a sample from Karen Kurz.  It is such a fancy card but really easy to make.  I think I will have a version for my September Fast and Fun class.

This card and the next two were created by stamping and coloring images from the Unity Stamp set "naturally you".  Notice on this tree card and the mushroom one, Charlene added some pearl dimensional paint to the tree and right mushroom.

I used Spellbinder's Nestability Dies for the frames on this mushroom card and the turtle one below.  I am really starting to love the Nestabilities!

Hen House Swap Club

I am so fortunate to belong to a card swap club run by my friends, Lynn and Janea. We "chicks" at the Hen House thought it might be a good idea to create one for Hen House customers to come and learn new techniques and also swap cards with fellow stampers/scrappers. Here is the info for the first swap meeting:

Saturday, August 27 1-2:30pm
Technique Swap Club $10
Join The House Swap Club with Deedee Stroud and enjoy experimenting with different techniques or supplies every month! We'll meet on the 3rd Saturday of every month (except Nov and Dec) from 1-2:30pm to swap our cards learn/practice a new technique. You can participate one month at a time, so there is no long-term commitment but prepayment is required a week in advance to reserve a spot. Make 10 identical cards to trade with fellow swap club participants and one to be displayed at the store. If the card you make uses more than 50% of product previously purchased from the Hen House, you will get a special discount after class on a featured item. At the end of the class time, you'll take home 9 cards made by fellow swappers and one or two cards that you will make using the new technique.

For the August technique, we will be learning "embossed kissing" which turns regular stamped images into embossed "negative images" and then we will color then with Distress Stains.   So the photos below are so grainy.  It's so fun! If you are interested, call the Hen House 221.6366 to reserve your spot or register online.