Rogue Stampers - March 2024 Easter/Spring

Kim set our theme "Easter/Spring" as we were meeting just a week before the holiday. As usual the Rogue Stampers didn't disappoint in their creativity. 

Before I show you the rest of the cards exchanged, I will share my Spring Garden card. Of course I had to make multiple color options. Though I think my favorite it is the Sunflower. 

Here are the cards we all came home with this month. 

 

 

Cindy had fun out doing us all with a bunny on the back as well. 

And a few make-up cards from friends that weren't able to join us the past month or so. 

As we left with our new card stash, the joke/challenge was would these Easter cards actually make it in the mail this year? Well, I can say mine definitely did go out today. 

Rogue Stampers February 2024

 I am a bit late posting this. Seems the past week and a half has been busy. Finally had a chance to take photos to share with everyone. 

Our theme this last month was Congratulations/Graduation. It seems several of the Grandmas in the group have multiple graduations this spring. 

Our Make & Take projects were adorable. 

On to our card swap. Love the creativity in our group. 

I chose to you the "Hey Chuck" and "Hey Birthday Chic" for my card. I made them in 3 colors.

The inside says "Something to Crow About."

Rogue Stampers (Oct. '23)

Soon after the start of my teaching career several of my colleagues and I would meet once a month or so to create cards and other crafts with rubber stamps. We had many good times hanging out and creating together. Some of us moved schools, towns, or jobs and the group disbanded. Then several years ago I was invited to join one of these colleagues, Kim, with several other ladies who call themselves the Rouge Stampers. I have really enjoyed getting back into this form of creativity, and comradery. 

The theme this month was FOOD. 

Our Make and Takes

So Many Interests...So Little Time to Post

I have been busy pursuing various interests this past month, but am having a hard time getting anything posted. So sorry. I am having a lot of fun. I am just not sharing it with you very often. Thank you for being patient with me.

Instead of rambling on and on like I usually do, I think I will just make this a photo essay of sorts. I will focus on my Lovely Letter activity (the project is now at an end, but I hope that our correspondence will continue.) As I mentioned before, my Lovely Letter partner was from Norway.

Our first task was a letter of introduction. Here is TMF's letter to me. I will not make it very legible as I am not sure I have permission to tell her life story on the Internet. But I do have to comment on her beautiful penmanship. It is incredibly consistent and well formed. I used it as a lesson with my students as what they should strive for.

Task 2: Ask 10 questions.

Well, poor T. After I shared her intro letter with my students, they had questions for her. So, she ended up playing "20 Questions" with me and not 10. T. was gracious enough to answer all of them even though I gave her the option of picking a few from my kids' list.

My students' questions:

My questions, each in a separate card that had some connection to the question I asked. I wrote a small blip about the card picture & connection to the question, as well as the question itself.

Answers to the questions was Task #3:

And finally, A last letter with a Post Card. (oops no picture to share.)

This has been a really fun activity. We had also signed up for a gift exchange. I had picked up some fun items for T. (my initial gift exchange partner) and then my partner was changes. I am still sending T. the goodies I got for her. ----I can't show you yet as she hasn't received it. Don't want to spoil the fun.

Zentangle Class Homework

A few years ago I was hunting around online for quilting designs and ran across several references to Zentangles. So naturally I HAD to go look into those. I read up on the concept of Zentangles and found several great sights with examples. (I will include a few links at the end of this post.) I ordered a basic Zentangle kit, found a book or two and began to play. It is a great way to take doodles to a whole new level.

This last December I noticed that one of my favorite stores was offering Zentangle classes, so I am treating myself to 4 sessions of me time! Last week was our first class. All the "students" seemed to have some similar interests, quilting, drawing... We spent 3 hours learning some basic "Tangles" and shading concepts. Of course we were sent home with homework - complete a few more Zentangle tiles. I love it when I am told I HAVE to draw and play with art. Oh darn!

I thought I would share my attempts so far.

My first class project:

Then of course I had to take the idea back to my students, this is the Zentangle I did with my students. The blue in this was blue colored pencil to help my students visualize the shading I was trying to show them. I use a document camera in my classroom to project on to a screen.

I was given 4 "tiles" to work on for class, so this is the next one I tried. Still need to work on less stop and starts on my lines... they sure are noticeable when I scanned them. Ugh.

Today, I had to send my mother some information before she will fly out next week to visit. So, naturally I had to play again. I took a 6 x 5.5" blank card and worked on this Zentangle when I had a few minutes of down time today. Just finished it at home a few minutes ago. I decided to add a bit of color to this one to finish it off. I used Stampin' Up Watercolor Crayons for the outside shading and a  Pitt pen for the background in the bubble section.



Funniest part of this new interest  ---- my hubby, always a doodler, has been working on some of his own interpretations of Zentangles. I cannot wait to share those with you in the near future.

Zentangle sites you might be interested in:

Zentangle

Zentangle Harmony

Tangle Patterns

Memorial Day Weekend, #1

I have always loved Memorial Day Weekend. The flags on house fronts. The thoughts of patriotism and national pride. The pomp and circumstance of activities like the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I smile at the sense of belonging to something special, something inspiring that these things give to  me.

This morning I visited Face Book and found a link posted for Operation Write Home. I love what these folks are doing. They collect blank, homemade cards, bundle them up, and send them to soldiers fighting overseas, so that they might have something special to write home in. If you have never heard of them, please take a minute to go to their site and look around. Watch the video on the home page. It is truly an inspiration.

My class and I have been sending care packages to a soldier in Afghanistan all year. I will be adding OWH to the list of community service activities that they do throughout the year.

This weekend I plan to spend at least part of my weekend making cards that I can send to OWH.

My challenge to you:
If you make cards - send OWH some this week.
If you scrapbook -  cut up a bit of your papers and make a few cards for the OWH boxes - see my past blog posts about Left Overs for some ideas.

If you do neither - Please consider donating a little cash to help cover postage for the boxes being sent overseas.

When you have created your cards or donated to the cause, please leave a comment on this blog (by Friday, June 3). I will choose one person at random for small thank you gift, and I will be donating $50 in their name to Operation Write Home.

****Blogger is having some difficulty ----post your comments annon. to get it to work.

If you have a blog, or website, please post pictures I would love to see what you do!

In the meantime, have some fun on the Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop!!!