Once Upon a Time..............Published

My goodness!! I am so far behind in blogging! I have been so busy that I just haven't been able to dedicate the time. Well, I am here finally! Thanks for being patient.

Several months ago Valerie of Third Coast Rubber Stamps was kind enough to ask me to participate in an article that was being done for Scrap & Stamp Magazine. I meant to offer her more choices but I was only able to get two to her using the Victory stamp line, which I absolutely adore! I have used these stamps a lot. I must confess that I am a rubber stamp addict and I collect plenty of stamps that have never been touched by ink (I will get around to it!) I can say that this set has seen a lot of ink. I use them often, love the dramatic images. I do have a gallery on her website http://www.thirdcoastrs.com/cindy_roland.htm

Val wrote this to me: The card you created using our "Ocean Blue" image for the Victory Art feature was published in the July 2008 issue of Scrap & Stamp Arts! Ten artists answered my call for art for the feature, and I submitted their 33 creations to the editor to chose from. They only selected six cards, but one of them was yours.

So I am very honored!

The technique that I used is colored pencils w/gamasol (oderless mineral spirits) I used mainly WorldWin papers with a few DCWV patterned papers for accents. Prismacolor pencils were used to color in the images. As you can see it is hard not to do a wonderful card when you use these lovely Victory images. Go to Val's site and check out the tons of other images she carries and let her know I sent you.

I will try not to take so long to change my blog this next time. So until next time. Happy creating!

Blessings!

Mother's Day

I created a Mother's Day card even though my mom has been gone for 28 years, I still miss her. She was the best mom. She always had a smile on her face and a positive attitude. Her name was Peggy and she stood barely 5 feet tall with beautiful auburn hair. She had a beautiful smile and laughing kind eyes. I loved her attitude, she may have been small but nobody got bigger or meaner if you picked on her family. She was loyal to the bone. I loved how she loved my dad. She may have been mad as hell at him but she kept it to herself. If one of us kids were mad at him, she would not stand for it. Her famous words were, "Your daddy is one in a million (he was) and you should be grateful everyday to be blessed with a daddy like him (we were)". I never heard either of them say a bad word about one another in front of us, ever. My mother was a wonderful cook and delighted in cooking for her family. She was in that kitchen every day for hours. She always had something cooking on the stovetop, in the oven or sitting out to cool.

She had the best sense of humor and she always kept an open mind about everything. She didn't judge anyone for anything except what they were like on the inside. She wasn't biased about anything and always looked on the positive side. She never allowed us to feel sorry for ourselves about anything. If we started to complain she would stop us and have us look at how blessed we were. I guess that was from being raised during the depression. She knew what it was like to live without and we never really had to. She never allowed vanity either, her famous words were "Pretty is as pretty does" and "Beauty is fleeting but goodness lasts you a lifetime." I told you she was a great mom!

When she did get mad, she really got mad and I would think that she was going to stay mad forever but I would go downstairs to my room and by the time I came back up she would be humming and working and always would turn around with that smile and say "Hi Honey!" She never stayed mad, and sometimes she would laugh so hard about getting mad that she would snort which made us laugh even more.

She was a great mom, and she left us early. I miss her every day and I will always be proud and thankful that I had her for my mom. Happy Mother's Day Mom, wherever you are.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day this year. Enjoy your mom if you are lucky enough to have her around and celebrate her even if she is no longer there.

The card was made from WorldWin Cascata Lilac paper, and Purple swirl vellum. The stamp is from Magenta.

The photo is of my mom and me in 1952, she was 40 the year I was born so you might call me a surprise. She said I made her feel young again. I say I was pretty lucky to call her my mom.