A Simple Birthday Wish

Can you believe it is February already? It seems to me that the year is already flying by and I want it to slow down a bit. I have kept up with my goal of creating at least one card a week which makes me happy. 
 

CoolMomCreations 2019

I was trying out new techniques with this card.  First I cut a rectangle using my dies, then I used it to do this masked sponged background.  Then I stamped the image and paper pieced the vase for contrast with the flowers. It's a fairly straight forward card with pretty pops of color.

 Have a great weekend,
Traci

Strawberry Time!

It's strawberry season in Sunny Florida.  If you are in you grocery store and see strawberries in the produce department, odds are they came from my neck of the woods.   Florida strawberries, in my humble (but accurate) opinion are the best strawberries.  

CoolMomCreations 2019

In honor of the best season of the year, I have made this strawberry card.  The image is from Deep Red stamps and it is bordered with contrasting liquid pearls.  The strawberries are accented with glossy accents.  

Have some strawberries today!

Traci

Age and Wine

CoolMomCreations 2019

They say that there are two things that should never be counted: glasses of wine and your age.  After all both are relative, right?  A glass or two of wine with a good friend and good conversation can make all the difference in the world.  That difference was not how much wine you drank but the conversation that was had. 

On the other hand, age is just a number.  I know 70 year old women that get more done on a regular day than I do in a week.  I pray that when I am their age I will be as fruitful in my endeavors.

Enjoy your Monday, maybe even with a glass of wine or two.

Traci

Dusty Rose Flowers Aplenty

I am a pink girl!  I haven't met a pink that I didn't like even the shocking fluorescent hot pink is ok in my book.  As a matter of fact, when the "dusty rose" or "rose gold" color started coming back into style I was extremely excited.  My teenager seemed to think this color was new to her generation until I reminded her, with pictures, that this color was the color of my bridesmaid dresses 25 years ago.

CoolMomCreations 2019

The pink and dusty rose combo was perfect for this stamp from Unity Stamp company.  They have a line of background stamps with everything from flowers to ornaments.  This one is called Flowers Aplenty and I am in love with it, check out their site for other beautiful examples of this card.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend.

Traci

Coffee. Craft. Repeat. Pocket Letter

I am have quite the collection of coffee themed stamps and goodies in my craft room.  Sadly, I don't use them as often as I like.  I follow Coffee Loving Papercrafters on Facebook, they have a lot of great cards posted as well as regularly enabling those of us who like coffee or tea with links to companies that have the most amazing coffee stamps. 

CoolMomCreations 2019

I tend to collect my stamps more than actually use them.  A large amount of the stamps here have never been inked until I made this page.

Have a great day!
Traci

Unclaimed or Redeemed

I recently read an article about two soldiers that were unclaimed after their deaths.  The city that they died in was letting the community know when their funerals would be so that they could attend and honor the service and sacrifice these men had made to our country.  It is my home that the community was able to come out and support these men in death.  

CoolMomCreations 2019

After I read the article I could not get it out of my head that these men had died alone with no one to claim them.  The the Lord reminded me that even if I die with no family or friends surrounding me, I am never alone.  Because He redeemed me that fall morning thirty years ago, I am never alone.   Even if I go unclaimed on earth, He claims me as his own and that will never change.

It is my prayer that these men were believers and even without earthly people by their side at the end, their Redeemer was right beside them bringing them home.

Blessings this week!

Traci

Roll Tide...Scrapbook Layout

I am making a scrapbook for my great niece's first year.  Her momma loves the University of Alabama football.  During the fall last year many Saturday's my adorable great niece was adorned with Crimson or hounds-tooth to cheer "her" home team.  Her daddy is an Auburn fan and hasn't won the battle for baby girl to wear "War Eagle" gear.  

I think the Bama elephant is adorable, so I decided to add a punch pieced Al in the corner of her Roll Tide layout.  I had no idea how to do an elephant with my punches but my friend Pinterest had a ton of ideas.  This pin from Splitcoast stampers is the one I used for inspiration. Punches used were: three sizes of circles, heart and an oval for the trunk.  I think he was just what the page needed. 

Have a great week,

Traci

Sunflower Altered Canvas

Whenever I see a sunflower, I think of my oldest daughter's birth.  To say it was a difficult birth is an understatement.  But the fact that she had to stay in the NICU for ten days was more traumatic than the actual birth.  I am fortunate that I had a tribe of women that stood by me and helped me through those difficult days.  I was not allowed to drive and my husband went back to work so that he could be home once the baby came home.  Ladies rallied around me to make sure I had rides to and from the hospital to nurse and hold my baby.  

CoolMomCreations 2019

But one friend insisted on me leaving her a key to my house one day so that she could clean for me.  I am a very independent person and was mortified that I needed help cleaning.  But I gave in and let her help.  When I arrived home she'd left homemade chicken noodle soup on the stove and a single sunflower in a vase on the counter.  With the flower was a note reminding me to look to the Son for strength just as the sunflower looks to the sun.

This small gesture was so large to me.  I have carried that thought with me and my daughter will turn 25 yrs old this fall.  

I created this altered canvas using Tim Holtz Distress inks, Unity stamps and a sentiment that was given in a challenge.  The original sentiment was "She is an sunflower.  Strong, Bold and True to Herself.  Not as beautiful as a rose but also not as fragile."  I changed the "not as beautiful" to "not as fragrant" because I think sunflowers are more beautiful than a rose.  But they are stronger, they don't bruise or break as easily.  

Altered Embroidery Hoop

Today's project is an altered embroidery hoop that I made for a friend.  I make a lot of cards but I really enjoy altering items.  I don't take the time to alter a lot of items because my schedule is so hectic but it truly is one of my favorite parts of crafting. 

CoolMomCreations 2019

This hoop was done in blue because it is my friend's favorite color.  The only thing I had to buy was the actual hoop, everything else was in my stash which is a plus.  I'd bought some Stampin' Up retired fabric for no other reason than I thought it was pretty.  Since it had been on my shelf for over a year this was the perfect project to use it.  

 

CoolMomCreations 2019

Altering hoops (or anything really) is just a matter of deciding a starting point.  For this project it was adding the fabric, then just add goodies until you like what you see.  I actually added the pearls just before I sent this one off to my friend.

CoolMomCreations 2019

Have a great week,
Traci

Add Some Sprinkles

I love donuts.  When I say love, I mean capital L, LOVE donuts.  Maybe it's because when I was in elementary school my mom worked at a donut shop. My siblings and I would walk to the shop after school instead of going home.  We would sit at the counter while my mom worked and have a donut and coffee while we did our homework.  In those days or maybe just in the town we lived in they were a little more relaxed about kids in the kitchen and the donut baker allowed us to "help" him make the donuts.  

There was no machine to cut the donuts or fry or ice them, it was all done by hand. My favorite part was drenching the hot donuts with icing.  I can still taste the hot iced donuts when I think about it.   I really wish he'd taught us the recipes because I cannot make a homemade donut to save my life. 

CoolMomCreations 2018

Did you shop at the Unity end of the year sale?  I did.  The stamp set showcased on this card and the one that triggered the good memory is Sweet Sprinkled Donut by Graciellie Design.  I used pink stickles to make the sprinkles on the donut pop a bit other than that this was a fairly quick and easy design that is a perfect card for an upcoming birthday.

Have a great Sunday!
Traci

Watercolor Sunflowers

When I started crafting years ago, I knew that I wasn't ever going to be the crafter that everyone looked to for new trends, design ideas and cutting edge designs.  My first cards were all CASed cards as a matter of fact.  Back then Pinterest was not even an option to look for designs so I would save google image files for inspiration. 

 To be honest, I think of myself as a crafter vs an artist.  I am always in awe of the women that I see on Pinterest who are artists who make cards.  Y'all know the ones I am talking about.  Right?  Anyway, along comes these amazing cards made with watercolors.  The only watercolor painting I've ever done was as a child with my off brand 8 pack color pallette.  But I loved the cards and wanted to give it a try.  So I went to the local art store not Michaels mind you, an actual art store.  The one the real artists go to buy their supplies. 

CoolMomCreations 2019

Armed with two new paint pallettes and awesome new brushes, I sat down to create a card.   I figured I go really basic and make a two tone watercolor background.  Ok so a watercolor background, isn't nearly as amazing as some of the flowers that I've seen on YouTube but it's a start.  

I used Hero Arts September 2017 My Monthly Hero for the sunflowers.

Have a great weekend.  

Traci 

Playing with Paper Dolls

I loved going to my Nanny's house when I was a little girl because she always had the coolest toys for me there.  My Nanny isn't my grandmother, she's my godmother.  She was like a fairy godmother to a little girl.  When my mom choose her to be my godmother she was just 17 years old with no kids of her own so she showered me with attention and toys.  I am the youngest of five kids, when I was growing up we didn't have a lot of money. So going to my Nanny's house and being the center of attention was the greatest experience for a lonely quiet youngest child.  Since my Nanny was young and didn't have kids of her own, she'd stop whatever she was doing and play with me. On. The. Floor. 

CoolMomCreations 2019

While this is common today, when I was growing up it really wasn't the norm. One of my fondest memories is playing with paper dolls at my Nanny's house.  She would buy me books filled with dolls and clothes to cut out.

 

CoolMomCreations 2019

These tags were created because of that fond memory with my Nanny.   I paper pieced and colored the clothes feeling like a little girl with a new paper doll book. 

CoolMomCreations 2019

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Traci

Goal Word not Resolutions

From Google Images

 

A couple of years ago the JoyFM a local Christian radio station spent a year focusing on the word Joy rather than making resolutions.  I decided this was a great idea since, I never follow through with resolutions.  My 2018 word was connect because I strongly feel that today we spend too much time online,texting and with cyber lives that we are losing the art of true conversation and connection.  I decided that I would ask friends over to my home, out to lunch and accept any invitation that I could to "get together".  I have to admit, sometimes it was hard to juggle a schedule to go visit friends but the end result was amazing.  After feeling very negative and alone just visiting a friend once or twice a month made a huge difference in my outlook and my psyche.  

From Google Images

This year as I have been reflecting on what word I'd make my focus, I thought I'd use create.  As I've mulled this over I decided that create is too solitary and I have to find a way to force myself out of my introvert happy place and BE with people. 

From Google Images

Sincel  it is easy for me to just stay at home and enjoy my own company but it's not so easy to go out of that comfort zone, I've decided that 2019 will be the year to Serve.  I will look for opportunities to serve people, those I know and those I don't, when I see a need.  I am not sure how that will look but I know that if I open my eyes and my heart, I will see people who I can serve.

Happy New Year!
Traci