Olives & Orchids

My Weekly Make-It – Come Share!

Debrah — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:45:27 +0000

Hi Fellow Paper Artists!
Frequently I find after making a card or whatever, I’ll say to myself “oh I ought to post this on my blog!” but that’s about as far as I get. So I thought if I made a sharing day (yes, just like back in kindergarten) I would remember! Starting today off with my first ever- Weekly “Make-It” (from this past week). So here is what I’ve been up to this week….

I have been exchanging letters with my granddaughter and this is my latest (Vol 1 No 4). In our letters we will ofter include little extras and here you can see a small book I made that I will write some text from the book she is writing titled “Elementals”. The library pocket and Evidence card I think I’ll save for future letters.

This card is stamped with the Goldilocks by Kraftin Kimmie Stamps, the flowers are from Kaisercraft, brads from Making Memories, bows from Martha Stewart, Viva Pearl Pen dots. The papers are CuttleBug embossed vellum and vintage gift warp paper. The cover of the little book is a watercolor painted doodle on 140lb paper with typical printer paper sewn in with linen thread for the book pages.
And I hope you will come join me each weekend. Leave me a comment- with your blog link of your favorite Make-It from the week; maybe it’s something you made or maybe it’s a link to something you found inspiring.
Join in the FUN! Let’s share our paper arts!

Pay it Forward

Debrah — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:16:40 +0000

This morning while reading one of my blogs I came across a wonderful way to share some kindness, in the form of my cards sprinkled with hope and good cheer.
Kathleen Koch, a former CNN correspondent who covered the Katrina hurricane for the network, has launched “Words of Hope for Japan” – a letter writing campaign to collect a caring letter of support for every man, woman and child in a shelter in Japan, who have been affected by the earthquake. Let us let the Japanese know that they are not forgotten, even though the newsreporting has moved on. As days turn into weeks turn into months, perhaps what the hundreds of thousands Japanese in shelters may need most is hope. The goal is to collect 150,000 letters – one for every man, woman and child in a Japanese shelter. Letters can be mailed to:

Words of Hope for Japan
P.O. Box 636
Fulton, MD 20759
All letters will be hand-delivered to the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. for shipment to the shelters. Please do not enclose cash or checks. For more information, you can read about it here or contact Kathleen Koch. kathleenlkoch@gmail.com

Portrait Plus a Bit of Red

Debrah — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:28:40 +0000

While in Sweden earlier this summer I was gifted with a workshop with Rimna that was great fun. The gals at Scraptrion organized a small gathering and Rimna showed us a scrapbook technique that I fell in love with…and so here is my first “official” scrap page.

My kids and their families all lived very close to me…but recently they have all moved much further away: Out of Portland, over to Sweden and now across the continent to Massachusetts. So when I came across this photo of the four of us taken in 2002 I thought it perfect to use on my first scrapbook page. I misted a stencil, stamped some flourishes, and accented the page with a few red flowers to lift my mood. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Colored Image + Ephemera

Debrah — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:55:56 +0000

While making cards, working in my sketchbook, painting, or making collages I frequently spend time looking online at other people’s work. Especially now while I’m learning to color images with watercolor pencils, Faber-Castell, and Copic pens. The challenge I’ve given myself is two fold…(1) come up with my own style, which will take a bit of time but I know it will be a melding of the coloring process (which I love) and all the ephemera papers I’ve collected over the years. And (2) draw my own images, rather than be dependent all the time on stamps (more on this in a future post).

So to get started here is one of my newest cards – a Magnolia image set together with some wonderful scraps of papers I’ve collected: tempera paint splattered painting from children’s art camp given to me by a teacher and a tiny bit of Swedish text taken from a children’s hobby books I recently bought

I’ve Started Making Again

Debrah — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 04:01:59 +0000

Recently I traveled to Sweden to visit with my son and his family. My DIL is a beautiful card marker (check out her blog, Paper and Plums) with a sweet little art room that we spent many hours in while their boys were sleeping. So to make a Lon story short, my creativity was nurtured and encouraged!

So… Here is a card that I just finished.

Interesting food fact

Debrah — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 15:27:25 +0000

Some little blurp I read online recently:

Unless you’re eating 100% organic animal fat, you should try to limit the amount of animal fat that you include in your diet – not because of the cholesterol, but because the fat is the storehouse of toxins that the animal received. Simply put, non-organic animal fats have a lot of toxicity and do very little to contribute to your overal health.

Mixing up a salad mix

Debrah — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:38:27 +0000

This morning I decided to try something new. I had an orange pepper, 2 cucumbers, some celery, a couple
carrots, 4 tomatoes and a jar of green olive tapenade. I mixed it all and packaged it up for 6 different lunches.

National Weight Control Registry

Debrah — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 14:26:38 +0000

I am at maintenance and it’s hard work. So I’m on a search for some good support…

From Karla’s blog I discovered the The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) which is a research group investigating long-term successful weight loss maintenance. It was developed to identify and investigate the characteristics of people who have succeeded at long-term weight loss, so check out their “research findings” page. But for me to join the NWCR, I have to have lost at least 30 pounds (check: 40 since 1/2010) and maintained a weight loss of at least 30 pounds for one year or more (this is the challenge for 2011). So, my goal is that on 2/19/11 (a couple months past a year of hitting my goal), I can sign up and join the registry.

So I think I’ll look to see if there is a maintenance widget I can add here to my blog…any ideas where I can find one?

brittle nails + an affirmation

Debrah — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:59:42 +0000

I spent some time reading up about my finger nail problem (man-o-man, is my life hard – NOT!! – if all I really have to worry about is bittle fingernails!) and now I don’t think it’s all about the amount of protein in my diet. Rather I think it’s about iron.

So here’s a list of foods rich in iron that I’ll be focusing on this next couple of weeks:

Red meat – Like I said yesterday, not my favorite food to cook at home.
Dark, leafy greens (spinach, collards) – Kale salad is real popular here in Portland these days & I love it!!
Dried fruit (prunes, raisins)
Iron-enriched cereals and grains (check the labels)
Beans, lentils, chick peas and soybeans – Humus, come to me!
Artichokes

There are more but these are the main ones that I like to eat. And I’ll keep paying attention to ways to get more protein. Both can’t hurt.

Now on a deeper note:

I got this book: “Affirmations for Artists” and this is the one I chose for this week – it’s about discipline, for which I am sorely lacking:

“I can subtract indiscipline from my life and add more discipline. I know that however small the act may be — just a daily hour in my studiom just an extra hour of instrument practice – every effort I make toward greater self-dscipine benefits me. I affirm that I can guide and control myself.”

later…

Splitting Nails

Debrah — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:55:56 +0000

My nails are fraying so much these days…it’s like the air is causing them to rip, it’s like I don’t even have to bump into anything and they are splitting. It looks like I have been biting my nails…totally new for me.

So I’m thinking I might need to up my protein since my finger nails are ripping constantly. This is going to be a bit hard to do since I don’t really like the smell of cooking meat and protein powers have a gritty texture that bugs me. Egg whites & fish, those are my favorites. And, of course chicken and beans. So today on my usual 3 egg whites on a tortilla, I threw about 14g of Parmesan cheese and then had a fish sandwich for dinner.

It will be interesting to see what happens to my nails, if I am disciplined. But if I’m on the wrong track, and splitting, fraying nails are caused by another nutrition deficiency, please leave a comment to let me know.