Simple Things Sunday - redux

Simple note of gratitude: Cathy H, you're a genius!!! It may not be pretty (the way I got here) but it's done & SIMPLE!!

Simple Things Sunday

So, this last week I found Rebecca Cooper's blog; guess I've been living in a closet too long?? And when I read the tweet this morning about {Simple Things Sunday}, I thought: I can do that. For many years of my life, one of my mantras has been: simple pleasures for simple minds!!

So, I looked at my photos for the week; chose one that gives ME pleasure (though perhaps not so esthetically pleasing for the viewer). Found a Katie Pertiet frame that I liked for it and have posted it below.

I like this photo because it's part of my "one bucket at a time" mode right now. I have a lovely mesquite tree in my front yard. In the late spring/early summer it drops these "pea pod" things in the front yard; ALL OVER the front yard. Because my house sits on a piece of pie shaped lot and the front yard is tiny, my mesquite tree shares its pea pods with my next door neighbor.

I've not been able to pick all the pods up at once; my poor arthritic joints allow me 1 or 2 buckets at a time. So, I LOVE this photo because it shows: another bucket done AND I'm finally getting the yard done; there's probably only 2 or 3 buckets more to be picked up!!!

This, now, however, is where the SIMPLE part of this post ends. I cannot for the life of me figure out HOW to link the Simple Things badge from Rebecca's blog INTO this blog post. I know HOW to put a badge link on the side bar of this blog. But the steps to take to insert it in the blogpost are eluding me.

So gentle reader, if you know what I'm NOT doing and care to enlighten my mind today, I would be very grateful. Otherwise, if you're Rebecca and you're wondering why the badge ISN'T here on the blog post, you're now enlightened. That badge thingie is past simple for me today.

But, the photo makes me happy and with that, I'm satisfied!! Thanks for looking......

Happy Halloween -- Grungy Monday #19 & SSS&S

This week Studio L3's Grungy Monday challenge was taken from Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas 2010, Day 10. At the Simon Says Stamp blog their challenge was to use any Tim Holtz technique. So, this card is a two-fer!! Sweet!! The details on HOW to make this card can be found at Tim Holtz' blog.

Before I list the materials used for this card, I have to share a laugh. The background paper for the tag is some old Basic Grey cardstock from their Black Tie collection. (I love this stuff; I've had some of this paper for years!!!) The actual cardstock is called: Basic Grey. It can be seen in the photo both in the tag and in the background paper behind the tag. Everytime I use this paper and have to explain the name, I'm seriously amused. Basic Grey from Basic Grey!!

This tag let me use "stash" which is ALWAYS nice on the budget; old paper, ribbon, brads. And the die cut jack o'lantern was one of a set cut several years ago for Halloween cards. I used a half-dozen and put the rest away for future use. The little guy "as is" was very bright, but he grunged up nicely with some distress inks and (I think) added some fall flavor to the tag.

Materials: cardstock (Basic Grey); stamps (Happy Halloween, pharmacy label & raven -- Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous; also there's some very fine cross-hatching stamped as a background -- Studio G); inks (Ranger distress inks: Pumice Stone, Black Soot, Bundled Sage, Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, embossing ink); embossing powder (Stamp n Stuff midnight black); Sizzix die cut jack o'lantern; Cuttlebug embossing folder (spiderweb); black sheer ribbon (stash); Bazzill Basics (5 mm black mini brads; plastic (left over packaging material from the new surge suppressor); tools (Vagabond, ink blending tool & non-stick craft sheet, japanese screw punch).

I'll add one more comment on making this card. My first piece of plastic was older & thicker; better quality? (Can one judge packaging plastic?) However when it was embossed it got this GHOSTLY white all around the spiderweb embossing pattern. It was so dark as to obscure the stamping and even the embossed raven on the tag. Luckily I had purchased a new surge suppressor yesterday with newer, thinner packing material and when embossed, there was none of the white effect. I'm keeping the other embossed plastic tag; never know what you could put under it to make it work!!

Thanks for looking at my crafting today; fun challenges which my muse enjoyed.