My muse is finally back!

Now that my creative muse has finally decided to reappear, I've been playing this last week with several of the techniques in the new Technique Junkies newsletter. Still have a few more to go, but must say these are some of the best yet. I don't have cards made from all of the backgrounds I have made, but will post the ones I have made so far.

Like my good friend, Shelly Newkirk, from the Nebraska panhandle, I like western, plus southwestern stamps. I was especially please with this card, which features both the pots and the collage stamps from I Brake For Stamps, one of my favorite vendors (besides Stampin' Up, of course - LOL!). This is the Block Collage technique from this last newsletter. I used both SU's chocolate chip and Stazon timber brown ink and Whisper White, Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip paper from SU.

This is my husband's valentine - I realize it's a little unconventional, but then, so is he - as any of you who know him know! It was done in the brayer tapping technique and the windmill is from B & J Stamps, words from Stampin' Up. I used the Autumn Leaves Spectrum pad and Stazon Timber Brown on Creamy Caramel Paper, layered on Chocolate Chip and Purely Pomegranate. Brads are from SU, also.

Like I said, I like southwestern stamps and this is another one from I Brake For Stamps and uses the Pierced Spotlight. The pot is painted using Spiced Cider and Coal Shimmerz, which are really neat. I just hope they don't go the way of LuminArte! Anyhow, the shine is hard to tell here, but IRL, it's a much different story. It is layered on SU's copper, now retired, and then on black. The "arrows" are SU's photo corner punch with copper brads.

A major project for our backyard the last 2½ years has been a pond which is 14' wide, 17' long and 4' deep. It began it's life after we had a huge globe willow stump taken out. When I say huge, I'm not kidding - it was 40" in diameter and DH and the guy who took it out figured it must have weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 1½ tons. The guy who removed it used a regular backhoe to dig it out and when he tried to pull it out of the ground, after digging around it, the back tires of the backhoe came off the ground because it was so heavy! Anyhow, after much mauling, etc., he finally got it out of the ground and started shaping the pond.

The next summer, then, DH and I made several trips to the high country for rocks to build a waterfall which ended up to be 9½ feet! Trying to get the "lip" rock, which weighed about 90#, up that high was quite an operation and took four of us to get it there and in place. Since then, the pond and waterfall have been DH's pride and joy, and rightfully so - he has spent many hours working on it, working on filtration, etc., etc. Last winter, we didn't keep the filter running and ended up losing all of our fish, so this year, he has kept the filter running and it has made for some very pretty pictures!

This was taken this winter and please note the chunk of ice on the lower right-hand side. That is where the filtered water comes out as a small waterfall.

The next photo is a close-up of how it froze over this winter. It was amazing how crystal clear the ice was. Hope you've enjoyed these pictures!