A Quick Card

I needed a quick card for graduation.  I have nothing that says graduation so I thought I would make a music themed card, especially since Hannah is very musical.  I die cut the piano key border using the Piano Keys Edger by Frantic Stamper and the Elizabeth Craft Notes along with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I lined the card with a pale lavender piece of card stock and the card was complete.  I love it when cards come together quickly.  Especially when I needed this one so soon.  

Well, that's it for today.....I hope this post finds everyone well.  

Hugs from my world to yours,

Mary Mac

AKA:  Glitter Grammy

A Play Day

Yesterday I had every intention to clean my craft room.  Well, I found a scrap of paper that was in my scrap/snippet folder and I had a die I hadn't used yet (actually two dies), well I think you know where this is going......  My sister will be getting this card....cause I'm thinking of her. 

Anyway, long story short, I saw a card on Franticstamper blog and I loved it.  So I went to her store and purchased two dies.  The floral one and the floral border.  Well, I was cleaning my craft room, and I had to stop to make a card.  You know you see something, it wakes you up and you have to play with paper.  This card is almost exactly as I saw it on Fran's site.  It was made by Karen Oliver a talented paper artist who lives in New Zealand.  Usually the cards I make from an inspiration, don't turn out looking anything like the inspiration card.  This one sure did.  So thank you Karen for inspiring me to make this card....now can you come over and help me clean my craft room?  

I used paper I had left from other makes.  I didn't have any yellow or green pieces, so I used snippets of white, die cut the die and used it as a stencil.  Then I colored the stencil using Sharpie pens and die cut the colored pieces to get what you see.    The two dies are from Frantic Stamper Precision Cutting Dies Flower Border and Edger FRA-Die-10782 and Frantic Stamper Precision Die Spring Swag Builder FRA-Die-10780.  The Sentiment die is Creative Expressions Mini Die Thinking of You CEDSS006.  I had to color that too for this I used Distress Ink and colored a piece of white paper and then die cut it.  

Well, guess what, my craft room still isn't clean!  So I guess I should get to it and do it....right?  

I'm going to share this make on Pixie's Crafty Workshop.  

Until next time....thanks for stopping by.  I hope you visit Karen's blog page and if you need dies... I love Frantic Stamper.  

Off I go, Hugs from my world to yours,

Mary Mac

AK:  Glitter Grammy

Staying At Home Playing Cards

We are still under Stay At Home orders.  My husband and I have been playing cards every day.  It's been nice spending time with him and though often times he has a grumpy face, while playing cards he is relaxed, even when he's loosing.  Yesterday he was even laughing....and it looks good on him.

I have a dear friend who is always thinking of others.  She's an award winning baker and I miss her walking across the street to share her newest creation.  I sat down and needed inspiration for a card.  I thought of Jeri and decided that she would be my inspiration...

I'm sure many of you feel the same way, when I make a card for a person, it's like spending time with that person.  Even though Jeri didn't know I was making this card, I'm sure she could feel the love even though we are hundreds of miles apart.

I don't know anything about the paper.  It was a scrap that was gifted to me.  I love red and white cards.  The House Mouse is a 3x3 stamp, that I colored with pencils and fussy cut.  The flower is part of a Graphic45 tag collection.  The sentiment is also part of the same House Mouse stamp set.

Since this card was made with snippets, I'll be posting it on Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Well someone keeps coming into my craft room wondering when we would start playing cards.  So off I go for now.

I hope you have time to check out Pixie's Crafty Workshop and if you have time to play along... I hope you do.  It's a fun place to be inspired.

Hugs from my world to yours....
Mary Mac
AKA:  Glitter Grammy

Happy Easter

Good morning and Happy Easter.  This Easter will be one to remember that's for sure.   So many of us are suffering the loss of loved ones, at the same time we celebrate our faith, we hold our families closer to our hearts, though we cannot put our arms around them.  I miss my children but am thankful for the internet. I am thankful they are safe and they are doing all they can to stay safe.  

Because of technology we have the ability to see each other face to face and we can share our daily lives with family, friends and neighbors.  I am looking forward to the "Stay at home" order to be lifted, but I am willing to stay put for as long as needed to get a grip on this awful sickness.

This will be short, I am going to take a little walk and celebrate Easter, sunshine and listen to all the birds that are singing their little hearts out.

Until next time.... I hope this Easter Day brings you peace.

Hugs,
Mary Mac
AKA:  Glitter Grammy

Pixie's Crafty Workshop Challenge #374

Hello to all.  In this time of uncertainty, sometimes it's hard to stay upbeat, I think now is the time of must for all of us.  It's funny, a crafter's dream is to stay home and play all day with our toys.  In reality, it seems I am getting little to no crafting done.  In an effort to organize my supplies and send supplies that have been so generously donated to a friend, I must say there is progress.  I packed a box with 14 pounds (6.35 kilograms) which I will send off to California next week.  The supplies will be shared with my crafting friend, and her neighbor who is a single working mom of two autistic boys.  In this time of home schooling, every mom needs craft supplies to occupy time, while teaching a skill to her children.

My hubby and I have also been playing cards, lots and lots of cards.  For a guy with severe visual impairment, he sure can win at cards.  He requires lots of coaching and I'm his vocal advisor telling him what cards are on the piles.  We play May I, a game my sister taught us, and Spite and Malice a game our family has played for years and years.

Our pup is enjoying this stay at home order, as she is being walked often.  If weather permits we are out in it.  I have news for her today, it's too cold, too wet and way to windy, she will be exercising herself in our yard.  Missy also enjoys the couch time we are sharing.  Lots of naps with mom as we watch too much tv.

I did manage to make a snippet card or two. This one was made from a pad of 6x6 Crate Paper, that was generously gifted to me.  There are so many beautiful patterns.  I chose one that I love, but it just was too busy until I covered it with the beautiful flower die, which was also gifted.  I cut this die and then put it aside because I just couldn't find anything I liked to put with it.  So my snippet is the quarter page die cut, that I placed over the floral piece.  I don't know if you can really see the stripe portion that frames the piece, it is one I use to cut some leaf dies and I used some of those leaves for another card.  When I am cutting card to use to cut small dies, I always cut the card to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.  Usually that size will give me a piece I can drop cut for use in a border.  I drop cut the outside piece and used it as another snippet.  You can see a bit of more snippet pieces peeking out from the inside of the card.

Everything was glued to a white 65# card.  I use Roxanne Glue-Baste-It glue, which quilters will be familiar with.   I love this glue and one thing I really like, it's washable, so when I use my pants as wipe rags, I can wash the glue out.  Trust me, my pants have seen lots of glue.  The downside, you can't wash your cards, but then I must say, most people don't purposely wash greeting cards....or do they?  I did not add a sentiment as I will add one when I am ready to post my card.  I do like this card and it isn't at all like I originally planned.  I think that's the fun of crafting, my cards usually don't end up as they originally thought they would.

I will be adding this card to Pixie's Crafty Workshop #374.  I hope you hop over to see all the inspiration on her blog page.

I told my hubby that I'd be crafting today and if he was a good boy, later today, I'd give him the opportunity to beat me at cards.  I guess I should get crafting.  I know he's already planning his big wins!

In this time of voluntary or mandatory isolation, if anyone needs a chat, send me an email.  I'm always up to meeting new friends and in this day of quarantine, sometimes it's nice to know we are not alone.  It's so sad that the entire world is sharing our pain.  I do know we will get through this.  Please stay safe, stay diligent.  And we will celebrate soon.

Love to all,
GlitterGrammy
AKA: Mary Mac

Pixie's Crafty Workshop #373 and More

Happy Monday to everyone in the crafting world.  I needed a large number of thank you cards, and I've made several different designs.  This one is the latest.  I must admit I finally found one that I could make quickly and I could use all the 1/4 sheets of card that I seem to accumulate too quickly.  The card base is made from 65# Neenah Bright White card.  It's my go to card and it's a good thing because I made a mistake when ordering.  I thought I was getting one ream of 250 sheets, but actually got four.  Oops!  The background embossing folder was made from one of the snippets that have been accumulating.  I love embossing folders and this is one of my favorites.  I mounted a 4x 41/4 piece to the front of the base that I had stamped with Thank You.  The pansy is a rubber stamp that I colored with PrismaColor  pencils, and I blended them using Gamsol.  I cut out the image and used dimensionals to lift it off the card.  The inside has a 1 inch piece cut from the embossed card.  The two rubber stamps and the embossing folders were gifts.  I am so thankful for them.  This card will make a wonderful Birthday or Thinking of You card.  

I'm going to enter this card in the Pixie's Workshop Challenge.  The snippet is the embossing piece.  

I've been spending some time organizing.  My new craft area is much smaller than my California play room.  My intention was to spread all the dies out on my table and take a photo before putting them into books.  Well, I must have been distracted by a shiny object because after sorting them into categories I began putting them into albums.  Here's a photo of the finished albums.  I still need to label the outside so it's easier to pull them out, but here they are.  

The two buckets have embossing folders and stamp and die sets.  I still need to  organize them a bit better, but I am using what I have right now.  I'll show more later.....

These are all the stamps I received.  I've yet to organize them, a project I hope to do this week.  There are so many especially the clear stamps and I am loving all of them.  I also am sorting to give to another friend who lost everything.  I am amazed that many of the wood mount stamps are stamps that I lost in the fire.  This gives me a nice warm feeling!  

I'm hoping to get a lot of coloring and organizing done over the next two weeks.  It looks like rain has finally come to Illinois to replace the snow and I am thrilled.  Winter was mild this year but it seemed longer than last year.  Maybe because last year I was so busy putting our house in order I lost track of the number of cold days.  But no matter the reason I am welcoming Spring!  

Off I go for now. My oven door is bugging me, it needs a good clean.  I have an aqua clean oven, which I love, but it doesn't seem to do a lot for the glass door.  Off I go to scrub....

I hope your week is wonderful and you find time to craft. 

Hugs from my world to yours,

Glitter Grammy

AKA:  Mary Mac

Thank You for the Beautiful Cards

Good morning....first I apologize for taking so long to post about the lovely cards.Seems sometimes life gets in the way of doing things we want to do.  Today I am posting photos of the cards I've received so far, and they are still coming in, so there will be at least one more photo of cards received.

Photos can never express the feeling of love I have received from all of you.  So lets have a look at the love.

Talk about inspiration!  Wow!  What I am most struck by is how creative each of you are and the differences between color, layering, and the layouts that make each card so different and so very special.  Your cards make me feel special and I thank you.  Every card held beautiful words of encouragement and when I feel low, I pick up one of your cards and am reminded to look forward.  So thank you all for that too.  

And finally, a big thank you to these four ladies who sent packets of cards for me to have for sharing and also a lovely little album that has the most beautiful sentiment on the back.  It says, "Don't look back, you aren't going that way....."  

I'm still working on Thank You cards.  I hope that most of you have already received them.  I think I should close....My husband is recovering from pneumonia and today will be the first day he goes out of the house in 2 weeks. He is recovered from the "bug", now it's working on getting his strength back....I think cabin fever has hit both of us.  A little fresh air is in our future.  

Until next time....thank you!  I'm sending love to each of you and am looking forward to getting back to sharing some of what I making.  

Just a Reminder:  I still can't comment on my blog page.  I didn't want to try anything that might have comprimised my ability to send this thank you.  Hopefully in the near future, I will get this figured out.  If not, I may have to start over with a new blog page If I do....I'll for sure let everyone know.  

Love to all,

Mary Mac 

AKA:  Glitter Grammy

A Thank You Card for a Special Lady

Hello and Happy Monday.  The sun is shining here in beautiful Dixon Illinois, but it is cold and getting colder.  A perfect day to stay inside and play with paper.  I'm entering this card in this week's Pixie's Crafty Workshop 371.  With the exception of the papers I used, everything is a snippet.  And more importantly, everything I've used was gifted to me by all of you!  So again...thank You!

This will be a very short post.  I am hoping to try to figure out the comment problem I am having.  I'm just hoping that when I do I don't screw something else up!  Maybe I should just wait for my daughter to visit.  I will admit it, I am computer challenged and getting more so every day.  Is it age?  I got a shock last week.  My daughter used a Senior Citizen discount....How can that be?  She said the business considered 55 to be the allowable age.  Even so, how can I have children that old?  I think she must be lying about her age!

Well, off I go.  There must be some sort of trouble I can get into today!

Hugs from my world to yours!
Mary Mac AKA:  Glitter Grammy

Thank You, Thank You, THANK YOU!

I am rarely at a loss for words.  This post is the exception.  A few weeks back, I received an email from Di at Pixie’s Crafty Workshop.  She said when she got a Christmas card returned, she decided to do some investigating and found that we had lost our home in the Camp Fire in California on November 8^th of 2018.  She said that explained why she had not gotten a Christmas card in 2018 or 2019.  She and I have been emailing a lot lately, Di asked if there was anything in particular, she could help me find.  I told her one of the items I really missed was a Memory Box die named Piano Border.  I told her it was retired and I had searched and given up on ever finding it.  Well in Di fashion, she went to work and was able to locate the die.  I will let her tell you the story of the search.  But that’s not all.  Di, again in Di fashion, put out the word that a fellow crafter could use help, and that help is coming daily!  One of the gals, Donna W stated in a card what a great idea Di had to have a “craft shower”.  And I have been showered with so many beautiful things.  I am so very blessed.  Thank You!

The photo I attached doesn't tell the story of the beauty within those drawers, that will come hopefully next week.  But for now, I had to purchase two three drawer carts and honestly, I need to purchase another.  Thank You!

Words do not and could never explain how blessed, how loved I am feeling, and how honored I am to have been entrusted with treasures from your craft rooms.  I will tell you I have not colored in two years.  But the rubber stamps have me coloring again, and I am reminded of the peace that comes over me when I put color to stamps.    I will share coloring soon.  I’ve received sets of cards to inspire, but also to give me a start on building my card reserve.  Thank You!

Now on to Di.  For years I hopped in and out of the playground.  Di has a way of letting all of us feel like kids again and a place for us to get into blog trouble, without the police having to be called.  Well, I guess when a few snuck under the gates, maybe the blog police should have been called….anyway, Di has always offered we paper crafters a place to show what we’ve created, to share things in our daily lives, to learn from others and to make new friends that we may never ever physically meet, but friends in every sense of the word.  Di makes the world a smaller, happier place.  A place we can feel safe and part of a community.  The outpouring of love I’ve received directly reflects back to the love we all have for this wonderful woman.  I honestly believe every item that has come my way carries with it the love that crafter has for Di.  Every item is a testament to the love we all have for her.  Di, I am picturing myself standing beside all the playground friends as we raise our glasses to you.  You are an amazing woman and much loved by all of us.  You have given us community and I know we are all thankful.  Di, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.  And to everyone in the playground, I say you have renewed my love of all things paper and have warmed and blessed me with your generosity and caring.    Now…lets run to the swings and play the day away.  Di. Thank You!

I want everyone who shared treasures with me to know that I will be offering items to Cathy, Cat, Virginia, Mary Jane and Rita.  They too lost everything and though some will not return to paper crafting, I want those that will to enjoy some of the items shared.  Thank You!

Before closing, I want to tell you of a mini-album I received from Gail S.  The album is very sweet, the back cover had a quote that I now use whenever I’m feeling the loss of the closeness of friends and neighbors.  The quote says, “Don’t look back.  You aren’t going that way.”    I truly believe I am moving forward.  I’m sure my children will be happy to hear this.  I think they weren't sure this would ever happen!  So thank you all for helping bring me to the here and now!

I need to add one more note:  I'm having a problem posting comments on your blog pages and also on my own.  My daughter will be here in 2 weeks and we will continue working on the problem.  If anyone else has ever had this problem....please share how you fixed it..  I can post a new post on my blog, and there are two blogs I've been able to comment on, but as for every other blog, nothing happens.  Email me please if you think of a fix.  If I can't find one, I may have to start all over again...I hope this doesn't happen!

Again, I thank each and everyone who sent cards, words of encouragement, and treasures. I will be forever thankful.  

I'm hoping to enter this week's challenge at Pixie's Crafty Workshop ...I guess I best get creating!

Hugs and love from Me to You!

Mary Mac AKA:  Glitter Grammy

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile hasn't it?  I think it's time to start again doing what I loved so very much for so very long. In a minute I'll fill you in on what has given me this jump start, or maybe I should say push.  But let me start with a card I made for my son's Birthday.  I've done some fussy cutting on this card and I must say it was fun.  I used an 8x8 Graphic45 paper pad for all the papers used.  A bit ago I joined the Graphic45 monthly kit group and this Kaleidoscope Collection came from that kit.  In the kit was a stamp pad called Color Box Graphic45 Decades.  I didn't have a paper for the sentiment that was the right color, so I colored it using the stamp pad.  I don't know who made the sentiment, it was one a friend shared.  That's it for the inside.  Now lets see what I did for an outside.

I've always liked this birthday die by PoppyStamps, so it was one of the dies I replaced.  When you start to rebuild your stash, you have to think of dies that can be used in several ways and this one fills the bill.  I've never die cut from paper with writing printed on it, but I think this worked.  You don't really notice that it's there, it looks like part of the pattern.  I must say I like the colors and the gold.  

Ok, so now on to the real reason I'm posting....I've been working on Thank You cards,  I will share why in a few weeks, but for now I'll give you a sneak peek at a few I've finished.  I've come to realize I am a very slow crafter.  I've known that for awhile but this recent effort has proven yet again.  If I were in a race, I'd most definitely be the tortoise.  Here's what I've been working on.  

A friend gave me a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 paper pad named Blessed by Kaiser Craft.  I thought this would be a great way to use these papers because I am truly blessed.    I'm being pretty vague about the why (many of you will have figured it out) , but I need to give myself time for everything to sink in and to try to figure out how I can explain in words my thankfulness, appreciation, and the love I am feeling. Stay tuned....So I guess I didn't really explain the why.  I guess you will have to stay tuned.

I'm going to enter my son's Birthday card in the Pixies Crafty Workshop.  I can't say the entire card was made from snippets, but a good portion was.  

So that's it from me today.  I best get busy....I know I've said before I hope to post more often, and that is a hope.  So, until next time......Love and hugs from me to you.

Glitter Grammy AKA:  Mary Mac