Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: P is for Pink Halloween

Before I go and share my card with you for this challenge I have to make a public announcement:

"Please Take Notice That This Item Contains Mature Subject Matter.

Viewer Discretion Is Advised."

Grin

On that note WELCOME to this week's challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!! 

"P" is for Pink Halloween:

This is our 4th Annual PINK Halloween challenge, something we as a group decided to do in honor of both the Fight To Cure Breast Cancer and Halloween.  It is one of my very favorite challenges because every year I go looking for a new witch I can do up in Pink with some kind of wonderfully snarky saying, and this year I came up with a doozy! (even if I do say so myself).  It's a two-parter: the Outside...

And... wait for it... the INSIDE!

BAHHHH! HAAAAA! HAAAA! HAAAA!!  That was my reaction when I first read this quote and I hope it was yours too - Grin.  This deceptively simple card was NOT simple at all because I used the technique that my O.C.D. brain loves the very best ... I call it Extreme Paper Piecing.

"What's That?" you say.  Well you find a stamp that you like that has lots of clean lines and spaces and you stamp it ...or in this case as I chose a digital stamp, print it off... on as many different colors and patterns of paper that you want on the finished image. And then you cut and paste - like putting a puzzle together... 

"And why is this considered extreme ?" you ask.  In this case it is extreme because My O.C.D. Brain likes lots of different colors and patterns and the smaller the tiny bit of paper is that I have to cut out the better it soothes my CRAZY brain - take a look at the size of her shoes... or her neck, and how about that buckle on her hat?  See what I mean?!? And if you are going to  make ONE, you may as well make SIX! Grin

Although I have NO IDEA what I am going to do with six of these cards?  So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

And you really must pop over to the Sisterhood blog today to see what my teammates have created... this particular challenge is ALWAYS a lot of fun.  You have until Friday, October 6th to link up your own creation if would like to play along... We ALWAYS choose a Queen of Snark and her Princesses!!

 

Well, that's it for today.  I hope you enjoyed this bit of Halloween Humor, and please do leave me a comment if like what you see!!

Lynne Mizera,

For The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

 

Just Because I Haven't "Seen" You In A While...

Feast or Famine, that's Me!  No posts for a week or two and then posts every day and sometimes twice a day?? Wish I could say that this is not typical, but I would be lying... (imagine me saying that with a Huge Smile on my face!).  Sooooo, any how... I am just popping to share this incredibly cute card I created for the latest color challenge over at Catch The Bug Challenge Blog featuring Bugaboo Stamps. 

This Giraffe digital stamp that I ordered from Bugaboo in July just makes me happy. (Don't know why and it really doesn't matter because she just Does!)  This is a new-to-me company and not only do I love their stamps, I also discovered that this little enterprise is Canadian, created by Jodie Mackrell from Saskatchewan and featuring her art work.  How COOL is that?

I colored this image using my Copic markers, twice, because I wanted to pop her out of the frame.  The centre image is really supposed to be looking down from the top of the frame, but hey... the art brain wants what the art brain wants!  (grin)

And finally I thought I would share this page from my "stamp bible", a little book I started when I first began coloring images with my Copics and of course I could never remember what colors I had used when I created something I really liked. So now, when I am coloring an image I really like for the first time, I color two and paste one in here listing all the colors I used.  Plus, coloring it twice is practicing the shading and programing my hand to do it right!  This little book has saved me many times when I have had to get something out quickly and is totally worth the extra time to do it.

 

So I am linking up this sweet little card to this week's Color Challenge over at Bugaboo Stamps ... wish me luck!  

Lynne Mizera, Colorist (today)

 

Wishing You A Beautiful Day!

Sometimes I think life should be simple.  In this complicated time of crazy weather patterns, unusually violent natural disasters and unsettling politics all over the world, sometimes it's a simple, everyday thing that makes me stop and remember that although I have no control over these big world events, it is my choice as to how I feel every day.

 

And sometimes it's something as simple as a bowl of sliced strawberries sprinkled with a teaspoon of sugar that makes me remember Life Is Still Sweet...and I Choose Happy.

 

So from me to you, in the kindest, sweetest way... I am wishing YOU a Beautiful Day...

Lynne Mizera, An Artist and Woman Of This World

I am blogging along with Effy Wild all this month... check it out!

This card was designed using the Graciellie 
Design Digital Stamp "Wonderful Things"
and colored with Copic markers.

 

An Entire World In A Matchbox - Who Knew?

Lately I have been fascinated by all things miniature. There is something about "tiny but perfectly made" that just resonates with me. (I wonder if it is because I am 5'2"? Grin)  Anyway, my art brain has been urging me to create something very, very small and today I am up on the Mixed Up Magazine Blog sharing how I answered that call in a "small" way by creating these imaginary worlds hidden in a matchbox.  I encourage you to pop on over fro a closer look.

 

 As always, thank you for popping in today to see what I am up to and please do leave me a comment if you like what you see!

Lynne Mizera, Paper Crafter, Mixed Media Artist and Woman of the World

Here is a list of the Sin City Stamps I used on this project:
Wing-It Collection
Wildlife Collage Scene Stamp

Tree Woodgrain With Face Stamp

Sometimes I MISS The Old Days... Blogging Along With Effy Wild Day #18

Effy Wild's post today is all about her version of "planning" (go HERE to read her post) and she "nudged" us to share a "Life Hack". (?)  So then I went into the Best Tool EVER, (the Google search box) and asked "What is a Life Hack?" and this is what came up from :

life·hack

ˈlīfˌhak/

noun

informal

noun: life hack

1. a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one's time and daily activities in a more efficient way.

Or as the Urban Dictionary says:

A tool or technique that makes some aspect of one's life easier or more efficient.   "Life Hackers" share suggestions on how to reduce chaos and make their lives more enjoyable. 

 

Ooooh! So THAT's what "they" mean!  We just used to call that LIVING! Grin  I remember, in the days before the Internet, when we women used to regularly gather and share over coffee or wine, there were always two main topics of conversation; 1. how much our kids/partner/boss was making us crazy and 2. time-saving tips that we had tried and either worked or didn't work.  (With good recipes being a close third).

But now that we have the Internet, the World Wide Web, Instagram, Facebook and TEXTING! (imagine me making the old fashioned "warding off the devil sign" to the word Texting... Grin) my Female gatherings are not quite the same.  Sigh  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all these wonderful new tools and having instant access to information.  I am so grateful that I did not have to call my adult daughter at 7:00am this morning to ask "What the heck is a Life Hack?!" (I can actually HEAR her eyes rolling even over the phone.)  

 

And I especially like that I no longer need an entire shelf for reference and information books and that I no longer run around the house yelling at the top of lungs "Where the HECK is the Phone Book!!"  And now that I am living with menopausal short term memory loss the fact that I no longer have to remember all the phone numbers to all my favorite people and places is a GOD SEND! (I actually forgot my own phone number last week and had to speed dial the husband and ask him for it... in front of everyone at the information desk... not embarrassing at all!!)

But I digress - the point is Yes, these new processes and tools are wonderful and convenient and I have said many times "What did we ever do before Google?"  And even though I do not want to go back to the "old days", I do miss that physical gathering of women for the sole purpose of sharing the information and tips we had collected all month long.  Don't get me wrong, I still have regular gatherings with my friends but now there is no need to share tips and recipes, we actually say things like "Did you see that post on Facebook yesterday?  The one about the: insert time saving tip, video recipe, gardening tip; you get the idea.  

 

In those "old days", when we were all together in the same room sharing, there was an energy that was created as information was passed along; the common thread of being the caretakers of our families and juggling the house and family and daily living duties that were on all our plates connected us on such a basic level that in this one area we were all equal.  So is this it??? Am I now of the "Remember When?" Generation... CRAP, I'm not THAT old now am I?? Grin

So my point after this wander down memory lane (or falling down the rabit hole?)  is I guess the biggest time-saving, chaos reducing tool in this 55 year old's arsenal - or my "Life Hack" is (wait for it...)  

GOOGLE!

I am blogging Along With Effy Wild all this month.  Go Here to discover Why and How you can join us! 

Lynne Mizera, of the Older Generation

Empowering My World, One Woman At A Time... Blogging Along With Effy Wild, #17

Effy's blog post today was all about how she tried to start a weekly "show off our Shiney" group and it totally failed because it seems (here in Canada, anyway) that it is frowned upon to to talk about yourself or to promote the things you make or accomplishments you are proud of OUT LOUD (Go HERE to read her entire post).  But many of need to do just that because there is no one else in our world that is there to do it for us... AND making lists of all the good we are and we do is so empowering!   So back in 2012 I decided to try a little experiment along these lines not only did work way beyond anything I had hoped for but it also changed how I saw myself and did the same for nine other women along the way.

 

The Back Story: In 2010 I was invited to join a small group of ten women in something called a "Circle Journal".  The idea was simple: create a small journal or mini album; choose a theme and add some instructions/guidelines; create a page in the journal based on your theme; AND THEN... send it out into the world to be returned in about six months, hopefully fat and full of wonderful pages.  And every two weeks you would receive a journal in the mail from one of the group to complete and send along.  I loved this idea, joined up and sent off the first of my circle journals.  For me it's all about the theme, and after agonizing for weeks over WHAT to choose, I received the address list of our group and realized that every single one of us lived in a small town or city with less than 10,000 people... So my theme was born,

"Why You Love Where You Live".  And I sent it off into the world.  When my album was returned to me six months later, it looked like a well used suitcase covered in evidence its many travels and just like I had hoped and FAT with pages full of  photos and journalling about the area where these women lived.  Now over that six month period I felt like I had gotten to know these women through the journals that would arrive every two weeks, each one with more pages completed by others than the last.

 

Themes like, "your Favorite Recipe" or "Your Christmas Traditions" or "Share Your Favorite Trip" gave me the surface of their lives, 

 

and other themes like "Where Did Your Creativity Come From" and "Share A Piece of Motherly Advice For An Adult Child" (from a member who lost her mother when she was young) allowed me to see deeper into their souls.

It was an incredible experience and one that I repeated two more times, culminating with this last journal... (Please bare with me and keep reading, because I am coming to the point and it is a Wonderful Story!) 

So After two years of sharing my life with these women and reading about theirs, I decided that I wanted this next journal to have some real emotional Meat to it!  I had spent the last year working on healing myself and had just finished my first Brave Girls Soul Restoration course, and I wanted to share some of that with my group, but did I dare? It is SO PERSONAL, and how could I share this without sounding creepy or worse, like and how could I get these women to see the good and the beauty in each of them? And then it came to me!

 

Here It Is:  My Theme is "Uniquely ME" and I am re-typing my Instructions to our little group and then  I will share the incredible experience I lived when I received back my completed book.  Even now, five years later the memory of that event still brings happy tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat, and I Feel GRATEFUL for being Me!  

 

The Instructions: (retyped for easier reading)

Do you have a "Voice"? I Do.  I can usually ignore it and I certainly don't believe it until I have a weak moment.  And it's when I'm having that weak moment when that mean little voice whispers NASTY lies right into my Soul and it SUCKS all the joy right out of my life.  So I have decided I need something to remind me of all my good qualities... I don't know if it's a British influence or just the "Canadian Way" but have you noticed that we have a difficult time accepting compliments or even talking about our good qualities, our strengths?  We seem to have NO problem magnifying our weaknesses or the the things we don't like about ourselves. So I have decided to use this journal to list all the COMPLIMENTS people have given me over the years; the good things about myself, My STRENGTHS, My GIFTS, and all the special things I KNOW to be TRUE that make me ~Uniquely Me~

 

And Here Is My "SELL":

...So that's it.. you get to create two pages All About You, with at least one photo you like of yourself... Just YOU.  I know it is personal, and it will probably be hard at first, but if you allow yourself to embrace this experience, you will find it EMPOWERING! I want you to experience the amazingness I did as you start to list ALL the wonderful things about YOU!

Now Don't let yourself get side tracked by listing your Family's great qualities... we do that you know.. hide behind them.. and in our minds it's Okay to brag about them, (Smile) but I want you to list all YOUR good stuff... and if it's just too personal feel free to hide your journalling, glue something over it, or write it on the back of your photos... just WRITE IT OUT, because I promise it will start a Change in how you feel about yourself!  And my final request is for each of you to add a comment to my last page about the experience.

My Page And The Comment I Wrote:

"Even though this is my journal this was a really hard one to start.  I was surprised how many times I almost QUIT... almost changed this to a Recipe Journal! But once I started it was truly an empowering experience! and now that I'm done, every time I look at my page I FEEL WONDERFUL and I can't STOP SMILING!"

Lynne - August 31, 2012

The REVEAL:

I waited seven months for that journal to make its way back to me.  I had no idea if these women would risk it and do "the work" or if they would just "fake it", you know, only touch the surface of their souls. Occasionally a comment would be made to the group about MY Journal (and they were NOT thanking me! Grin) but no details... And then it arrived!  and it was FAT beyond belief!!  And as I started flipping through the pages, and looking at what they  had created and the compliments they had received over the years I realized that every single one of them DID IT!  But it was the comments section brought me to tears!  And then I had to go back and match the pages with the comments, seeing those pages and those women in an entirely different light.  Now I don't free comfortable making these private pages public, but I think I can share the comments left by my group:

COMMENTS:

#1."I love, love, love the idea! I too had a hard time making a page about  myself.  I couldn't find pictures of me because I'm always taking the pictures.  I would love to see the finished product." Sept. 14, 2012 - from the first person who received my journal

#2: When I received this journal I spent some time admiring the beautiful art work, then I opened the cover and froze like a deer in the headlights!  With out hesitation the quote from Pretty Women went through my head "The bad stuff is easier to believe."  I was quick to kibosh the negative thought and proclaimed "YES!" in my loudest voice!  Let's Celebrate all that we REALLY ARE!  Thank you Lynne for such a wonderful journal topic! It was a Challenge but so Rewarding!

Sept. 20, 2012

#3: The only thing to do when the theme is hard is to Just Start.  I picked pretty paper and just let my mood take over.  I made notes as I went and soon saw some different (faces) to my good qualities, so I went in that directions with my page.  I had a hard time with this theme but your cover inspired me and the words came through the process of creating.

#4.   This journal was the best therapy I needed.  Going thru a "bump in the road" this allowed me to re-see the true me and the re-assure myself that what I am dong is the right thing. THANKS!!

#5. This journal was exactly what I needed and came into my hands at the Right time!  Many times I have to stop and remind myself how awesome I am!  This gave me the opportunity to reflect on my awesomeness!!  I really enjoyed the "She Art", very fitting!

Nov. 10, 2012

 

#6. Hi Lynne... such an awesome journal idea.  For my pages I defined the 10 words that I choose to describe me.  Some people may perceive the words naive and realist to be negative words to describe me, they are not! 

Dec. 5, 2012

#7. This journal was so much fun to do.  I don't think of my positive parts too often.  I really enjoyed creating "my Pages" tho.  Thanks

Dec 14, 2012

#8. Thanks for "making" me take time to appreciate the words people have gifted me along the way and help me to own some of them.  Maybe I will learn to believe and own all of them.  You did a absolutely beautiful job of this journal!

Dec. 31, 2012

#9. I saved my best for last.  This journal was extra special and had I not had an open mind from exploring new art I wouldn't have been able to do this. thank you for making us think

Jan. 13, 2013

So you can see why I was brought to tears!  These women really stepped up to the plate and you can really feel the positive energy and delight that comes through some of these comments.  I agree with you Effy, we do not celebrate ourselves nearly enough and if you start up an on-line "Sunday Swoon" I will be there!!

Lynne Mizera, One Woman of the World

 

I am Blogging Along With Effy Wild all this month, come Join Us!   

 

 

 

 

Yoda Lynne - Checking in Five Years Later...

Our blog "nudge" today from Effy Wild is to re-post something from our blog that was previously written, and with seven years worth of posts on my blog I thought it was going to be really hard to choose, but the following is the very first blog post I came across, which I wrote in April, 2012, about a month before my 50th birthday... I called it "YODA Lynne" and as I read this brief but informative and to-the-point post I realized that here I am, over five years later and doing EXACTLY what I wrote in this post - Yeaaah Me!  So isn't it just the perfect choice for today... ENJOY!!

NOTE:  If I wrote this today I think I would add the definition of Yoda from Starwars.com which is:

"Yoda was a legendary Jedi Master and stronger than most in his connection with the Force. Small in size but wise and powerful, he trained Jedi for over 800 years, playing integral roles in the Clone Wars, the instruction of Luke Skywalker, and unlocking the path to immortality."

 

"...small in size but Wise and Powerful..." YUP that's totally meeee! (grin) Here's that post: (or Go HERE for the original)

Yoda Lynne

Well it has been a CRAZY, but WONDERFUL year for me as I steam full-speed-ahead toward my 50th birthday... Yup 50! (gulp) I was feeling VERY stressed over this upcoming milestone when I realized.... "I AM TURNING 50!" (I made it! I am here!)  and I realized I don't want to be one of those women who worries constantly about weight, wrinkles, growing old and sagging - but that I want to be one of those women who embraces life!  I want to Live MY life so you only see my personality - not my body!  Life really IS too short to waste one more minute on worrying about anything I can't control or change AND I am not going to waste one more SECOND spending time with anyone that sucks the joy out of my life!  As of today I am moving forward EMBRACING the badges of aging... saggy, wrinkly, grey, pear-shaped me! But my soul shines through my eyes and I have a nice energy about me and now I can be old and WISE - Just call me Yoda Lynne! 

 

Me on my 55th birthday

I am Blogging Along With Effy Wild all month.. go HERE to find out, why and how, and then come join us!

From the wise and all powerful YODA Lynne... Giggle

 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - "L" is for Lost And Found

 

Happy Wonderful Almost FALL everyone!  Today I am here for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers with our latest Challenge - "L" is for Lost and Found, which translates to: Use a tool, product or technique you have re-discovered.

 

I am using a Wobble - a product that I  love so much that when I set up my new studio space in 2016 I stashed them away in a special drawer and then promptly forgot all about them!  But I rediscovered them during my Bi-annual cleaning spree (Which means once every two years) and I just had to use one on this card.

In creating this card I also resurrected an old really quick card technique I used to use a lot...

 

find a Meme you like, print two copies; cut out images from one copy and mount them on the second copy using foam tape and/or Wobbles; add a shadow around the base image and a bit of sparkle and You Are Done!

With Halloween just around the corner when I came across this wonderful cartoon by Jeff Stahler about Halloween in the new millennium I couldn't resist mounting the Witch onto a Wobble so when you move her it look like she is trying to get closer to that child...  maybe for a little lick? Grin

 

So that's it for today folks!  Make sure you pop on over to the Sisterhood for Snarky Stampers to see what my Sisters created for this one and we would love if you wanted to join in.  You have until September 29th to link up your "Lost and Found" creation.  We always pick a Queen of Snark and her Princesses!

Thanks for popping in to see what I am up to... and please do leave me a comment if you like what you are seeing!!

Lynne Mizera

for The Sisterhood Of Snarky Stampers