Speaking of moose, they rampaged our garden, several times over the past couple of weeks! Argh!! Sorry, no pics of the moose in the garden. I've had requests for them but it's not the first thing I think to do when I see a couple of moose nonchalantly pulling up and chewing on my Brocolli, Cabbage & Cauliflower plants! I'll try to think of it next time, if Scott's here to run out there with Sissy instead of me.
Yelling and throwing rocks do not scare them. Sissy, tho, is getting rather good at running up behind them then barking, startling them enough that they run a few feet away from it, then gradually back into the woods. What isn't getting pulled out and or chewed up is getting trampled...grrrrr. I go thru the garden after they're chased out and try to replant some of the things they pulled, if it looks like a survivor. They might just grow, for a few more days...
The green beans are just about ready to pick, if they survive, and I did pick out a couple of Zucs! Hmmm, what to make first, zuc bread, zuc cookies, zuc cake (you really can't tell it's in there-for those who might be thinking ewwww), or cooked with Halibut, or in spaghetti sauce....I hope I have a few to make all of the above and more! They aren't a favorite of the moose but if nothing else is available (since they ate most everything else) it will be at least tasted.
Other news, I finally finished a few cards this week. I wanted to make some sympathy cards for Scott, his folks and a rubber stamp card swapper group friend (that's a mouthful). I had been thinking too hard ("stressing" as Scott would put it) as to what to make for Sympathy cards. After seeing some "Thinking of You" sympathy cards I felt better, turning my focus to that theme in my head tho also keeping in mind sympathy so not cutsy.
I had some stamps from OnyxXpressions I hadn't used yet and thought of making a card similar to one the owner had made and posted on her site. 'Course when I went back to look at it again, it wasn't there. Well, the main thing I needed to remember, as Cheryl posts in several areas, is that with using her black rubber detailed stamps, the best impression is made using chalk ink on glossy cardstock. Some of her stamps are soooo detailed, with big surfaces, shading dots, and all, I couldn't believe all parts of it would be inked and leave an impression, esp. one that wasn't just a blob.
I decided to try green chalk ink on glossy cardstock, since it was a tree scene tho a silhouette, and I like greens. I made 3, using 2 different greens on 2 then both greens on 1. The Colorbox Deep Green (dark) chalk ink was very wet so on the first try it was a big green blob. I didn't throw it away but I'll use it for something else, maybe... I tried it again but using a light hand with inking and impression and it came out better, tho still not with all the detail. Next I tried the Fresco Giovanni's Garden chalk ink which is a lighter green and had a dryer pad (fabric, not the foam pad). I had to ink the stamp alot but it came out a bit more clearer. On the third, I used the Fresco ink then highlighted it (highlight a silhouette?) with smaller tree stamps using the darker green Colorbox ink (after stamping off on scrap so it wasn't so wet). Even using the same green inks, the impressions came out slightly different shades on each card. I liked them but in comparing these images with the stamp image on the website, I can see that all of the detailed shading is not showing up other than as a dark blob. Maybe with practice and more experimenting with different brands & colors of chalk ink I may see something similar. Hmm, kinda like a restaurant food advertisement. : )
After allowing the ink to dry for a bit, I used some tissue to buff the glossy cardstock. It lightened the ink a bit more and gave it all a nice shine. Next, I lightly sponged a bit of T.H. Distress ink Antique Linen and a little more of the green chalk ink around the sky to tone down the bright white of the glossy cardstock (and blend some of the blobby shading detail).
Each card ended up as a different shade of green cardstock to match the different greens in the images. To bring out the brownish tone of the distress ink sponged on it I added light brown cardstock to frame the image and a sheer gold ribbon (looks tan). I didn't take pics or scans of each of them before they went out into the mail since they were the same, just different shades of green.
Stamps: Tree images-Mountain Shadows, Pine Trio-OnyxXpressions; Thinking of you-unknown
Ink: Fresco-Giovanni's Garden (image), Tim Holtz Distress Ink-Antique Linen (light background fill), Versafine-Olympia Green (sentiment)
This all came about after a week of working at it an hour here and there in the evenings, before bed. Now that they're finished, I wonder what all the "stress" was about last week, trying to make decisions! Just do it, go with it, what ever it is! Don't be anxious about anything..... ah, that verse. Also helps to not be distracted by other things that need to be done or the tv. : )
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