Drug Abuse Chapter 1

I feel along with my crafting, which is therapeutic, I must write once in awhile about my life. Sometime it will be ups and sometimes downs but all in all, it is my life and my life story.

If you are experiencing any of what I am or have experienced, please reach out to me. It's a comforting feeling to know you are not a lone in your life's steps.

I want to talk about my son and his drug addiction. It has been a hard road to travel. We have watched a shy but sweet kid go from a bright future to hardly getting by and even at times living on the street because of his addiction.

Someone posted on Facebook this click article about the obituary of a young man who was addicted to drugs and died way before his time due to them. The family does a beautiful job of speaking out about his addiction but showing their love for him before, during and now at his death.

If you would like to read the obituary, here is the link:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/newsobserver/obituary.aspx?pid=174897814


This was my  post to this article on Facebook.

Children that become drug users are good at hiding it from those they love until it starts to break down their bodies. Once the family knows, it is almost too late to do anything. It becomes a fight for the addicted child and the family that loves them and as harsh as it sounds, sometimes they win and sometimes they lose. 

We need more drug treatment centers out there. We need to reach out to the homeless because a lot of them are on the street due to drug abuse or mental illness. 

America needs to step up and be responsible for our children. As much as I would like to point an accusing finger, I know that will not help. Drugs have been around for thousands of years in various forms and have destroyed many a people. The only way to begin to the end is to educate, not just our children but our parents and communities and know that addiction knows no boundaries of economics or ethnic background.

Comments are always welcomed.

Thanks for stopping by today ~ Jearise :)

A Year of Card Techniques - Watercolors

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.

For May, we are venturing into the world of watercolor. There are so many water coloring techniques available to us today; far too many to list here. But actions speak louder than words; so our team has worked with their favorite mediums to bring you lots of examples and loads of inspiration.

If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month
• April-Stamp Set Showdown

We have an amazing sponsor this month, Jodie Park of Close to My Heart:

Please take a moment to check out the great products Close to My Heart has to offer. To visit Jodie on Facebook page, just click here.

And the awesome prize this month is:

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. One winner will be chosen from all comments on the hop as of May 26, 2017. The winner will be announced in our June hop; so be sure to come back next month.

And speaking of winners, the lucky hopper from last month is Golden Goddess Designs; picked by Random Name Picker. Congratulations! Please get in touch with last month’s sponsor, Wilma Payne at wpayne@email.com, by May 26th to claim your prize.

You should have arrived here from WILMA. If you're visiting here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don't miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by commenting on each blog.

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Okay, I watched a bunch of videos we were given as inspiration and I tried may of the techniques a few times only to discover I was not meant to water color. I can do a simple wash and even use more than one color but to go beyond that, nope, not going to happen. With that being said, here is what I came up with...

I found these gems of waters colors in the cheap section of Micheal's for $5. They are glitter water colors. Yes, you heard me right - glitter. They turn any plain piece of water color stock into something beautiful. The problem is I can't get a great picture to show you. :(

Here is a plain water colors that I just washed on the card. There are three different colors but they are so subtle that you can't really see them in the picture.

Here is the finished card.

There was a glitch with this picture and that strip going across the picture shouldn't be there. I used a technique where you drop rubbing alcohol on the wet paint. It looked so much more dramatic when I watched the You Tube video.

I haven't made a card with this yet but wanted to show the colors and the rubbing alcohol technique I tried.

Last but not least. I water colored paper and then used my Big Shot to cut out the flower shapes for the flowers on this card. The background was a lot of fun too. I used a paper clip and drew the design on the paper before coloring over it with the water colors. I love the way the pattern shows up in the background.

There you have it, my attempts at this month's challenge. I had fun doing it and it pushed me outside my comfort zone but isn't that half the fun of crafting?

I look forward to see you all next month! Jearise :)

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Now you’re off to visit with AMANDA. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by. See you next month with another technique!

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:

• Sharon
• Claudia
• Kim
• Wilma
• Jearise
• Amanda
• Card A Day Challenge Team
• Lisa Frederick
• Sandy Bell Hentzel
• Jodie Park
• Candy Spiegel
• Debbie Rumrill Bonczek

April Challenge at Chalk N Stock

I've been busy using chalk in different ways to make the cards below for the May challenge at Chalk N Stock. I am more than happy to describe where and how I used chalk on each of the cards below.

This first card started out with a pre colored digital stamp from Bugaboo stamps. I added chalk to the angel's gown in this digital stamp. I measured the background paper to fit my card and then I cut that apart leaving about an inch and a half gap. I used washi take instead of lace in that area and put it on the printed paper too. You can see the flower design showing through.

Instead of using colored paper for my background, I took white card stock and green chalk to make it. I used cotton swabs to add the green color.

I used alcohol markers to color the flower and then my knife to cut it out.

Finally, I put it all together using pop dots and a glitter pen for accents.

Last but not least...


I used chalk ink to stamp the sentiment and to ink the edges of the digital stamp. I again used chalk to color the gown of the angel. This was also a pre colored digital stamp from Bugaboo stamps.

I bought a bag of adorable wooden buttons and had to add one to this card with a touch of swirled glitter in bright pink.

Thanks for stopping by today and I look forward to seeing your creations at the May Chalk N Stock Challenge!

4-2017/Stamp Set Showdown Write-Up

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we’ll feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of fabulous card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a wide variety of cards and ideas.

The month of April features a Showdown! A stamp set showdown, that is. We’re using one stamp set in various ways. Let’s face it, stamp sets are getting more and more expensive; so we’re here to inspire you by demonstrating how to s-t-r-e-t-c-h those stamps!

If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop

We have an amazing sponsor this month, Wilma Payne of Fun Stamper's Journey:

Please take a moment to check out the great products Fun Stampers Journey has to offer. To visit Wilma's blog, click here and her Facebook Group here.

And the awesome prize this month is:

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. One winner will be chosen from all comments on the hop as of April 28, 2017. The winner will be announced in our May hop; so be sure to come back next month.

You should have arrived here from Wilma's Blog. If you're visiting here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don't miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by leaving a comment on each blog.

And for something with a totally different look but the same stamp set...

I went for a steam punk look at these cards using a set of gears I had bought on clearance from Tuesday Mornings. As you can see, I primarily stayed with the bronze, gold and copper inks in each card but in the top card I added the blue. Layering worked great for me in each card.

 What a deal!

I used this set, another clearance set from Tuesday Mornings to make the cards shown below.

This set included sentiments so I heat embossed them to add to the front of the cards. Below I have included pictures of how I added the twine. The last card has a splattered look because I spritzed it with Angle Mist in gold.

I run a strip of double sided adhesive on the front of the card and then I start layering strip of twine until the entire piece of adhesive is filled.

I add another piece of double sided tape on the back to hole the twine in place and also to adhere it to the card front.
Finally, here are three of my card fronts without embellishments to show you how I used the stamps and did layering.
The key to layering stamps is to put your lighter colors in the background and add your darker colors on top.

The card front below I messed up and smudged the silver embossing powder so I decided to try it on the whole thing. I did a quick pat with the embossing ink pad and then sprinkled on the silver embossing powder. An accident that turned out pretty cool I thought.

Now you’re off to visit with Amanda. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by. See you next month with another technique!

Blessing and happy crafting, Jearise (AKA Lorby)

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:

• Sharon
• Claudia
• Kim
• Wilma
• Jearise
• Amanda
• Lisa
• Jodie
• Card A Day Challenge Team
• Ronda
• Sandy
• Candy

Sticking my neck out

This is no April fools joke - The newest challenge at Chalk N Stock has begun for April. I colored and made this card for this month's challenge. You could sort of say that I stuck my neck out for this one. Oh, such a bad pun that it's not even punny. ; )

 Simple directions for this card. I used a digital stamp from bugaboo stamp and used colored pencils to color the image and chalk to fill in the background. I got to layering with bright colors and used tiger stripe washi tape that is see through where the stripes aren't. I added three rows behind the digital stamp. That's it. Simple but cute!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to join the April challenge at Chalk N Stock where one winner will win four stamps of their choice from Bugaboo Stamps.

CHALLENGES I ENTERED THIS IN:

Ike's World Challenges #85 - Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations Challenge Blog #175

Crafty Creations Challenges #338

Inspiration Destination Challenge Blog #125

Crafty Sentiments Designs March 28th Anything Goes

SLOW BUT SURELY

I have to admit that this card was as slow making as a turtle is crossing a road. I decided to design a cutting file turtle for a birthday card for my daughter to give a friend. I ended up with two turtles and she liked the other one better. You can find that turtle card here. Ying Yang Turtle I like the turtle I'm showing off today better but he was a trial and error turtle.

I started off by bringing up pictures of turtles and there are land and sea turtles. I decided a land turtle and began my process. When I got done with the first turtle. his head was rounder and big, his legs looked like stumps with booties on and his shell was very tall. I think he was living in a bi-level shell. My daughter thought he looked ridiculous so I want back to the drawing board. I started by reshaping the feet and making them more square and then making the head smaller and more square too. I was almost a happy camper. I really didn't like the tall shell now. I had made the tall shell on purpose in the beginning in hopes he would look unique and cute but he only looked weird. I started reshaping the shell and that took awhile in itself but in the end I got it all done and this is my final product turned into a card.

Now it's time to do some coloring with chalk and get ready for the newest April Challenge at Chalk N Stock which begins tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by today and see you tomorrow.

ying yang turtle

Hi all...

The back story behind my paper pieced birthday card is simple. My daughter has a friend that LOVES turtles and so my daughter asked me to make her a turtle birthday card.  I ended up designing two and my daughter picked the ying yang turtle so here is the end product.

 I used Inkscape to design the turtle and the waves. My daughter is bless as an artist and I tell people I am blessed as a crafter. I work better creating things with computer programs and she works better with pencil and paper.

Anyway, I went looking for turtles on line and after looking at many pictures, I came up with two ideas. The cute kind and this ying yang one. My daughter picked the ying yang one of course. She's 12. Need I say more. :)

Once I finished the turtle to her liking. I was playing with different paper patterns for the body. She told me I need to add some water. Really! I went looking through my files and couldn't find any waves so I went to Cricut and Silhoutte (I owe both die cutting machines.) and realized I didn't have any waves and I was too cheap to go pay for a file.

I went back to Inkscape and did a Google search of waves. Again I found a few different pictures and drawings of ones so I let them inspire me and these are what I came up with.

When I put them on the card, I decided to move raise some to give the waves more depth.

So there you have it, a card and how my brain works when I decide to use die cutting over stamping for my card front.

I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to chatting with you in the near future about whatever takes over my crafty life for a few days.

I have entered this card in these challenges:

Crafty Creations Challenges #337 - Anything Goes and DT Call

Crafting from the Heart Challenge #151 - Anything Goes

Inspiration Destination Challenge Blog #124 - Anything Goes

The Crafty Addicts Challenge Blog Challenge #34 - Anything Goes/Clean and Simple (CAS)

Crafty Girls Creations Challenge #34 - Anything Goes

Simon Says: Use More Than One Die Or Punch