Grateful eagle card...and great news!

Grateful eagle

Hello and welcome!

I know it's been awhile since I posted but a lot has been going on around here! I was gone for two weeks in September down south burying my brother who passed away suddenly in March of this year. I used the opportunity of being in the Lower 48 to see my two girls and grandson as well and we all met up in California.

Right before I left I got a call from a woman in Anchorage who asked if I was teaching One Stroke painting as she saw me listed as an OSCI (One Stroke Certified Instructor) on the One Stroke website. I had just changed that listing the week before to update the fact that I had moved from Haines! I hadn't started teaching since moving from Seward but wanted to check into the opportunity. So on my way to the airport to head south I stopped by the Joann's store on my end of Anchorage and talked to the education coordinator who was THRILLED that I wanted to teach One Stroke classes, card making classes and Cricut classes! So I've been in the process of quitting my job at the gas station I've been at since June and switching over to teaching at Joann's! Today I just got the final approval and so am now an art teacher at Joann's (plus I still work at the vet clinic two days a week)! I don't officially have classes until November 22nd but it's a card making class and I'm thrilled!! I'll unofficially do a class or two before then though!

And to add to that I'm heading south again in nine days to help my youngest daughter move from Colorado to California! When I get back from there at the end of October, my husband and I have decided to rent a different place on the Glenn Highway out past Sutton! It's a 1940's log cabin on 300 acres of farmland! Sweeeeeet! We are very excited but will only have days to move when I get back from California! Nothing like packing a lot of life into a few days, eh?

So now onto the card: I got this eagle stamp from my local craft store, the Stamp Cache, in Palmer. I knew when I saw it that it would make a great class stamp too! Plus I also knew I wanted to make a military thank you card for the veterans who give their all for my freedom. So I stamped this eagle in waterproof ink onto watercolor paper. I used distress ink in just a few colors to add feathers, eye and beak color. Then I splattered the panel with watered down distress ink in two colors. I added Glossy Accents to his eye and it's kind of weird the way it makes his eye look so real! Check it out:

The Glossy Accents gave the eye an amber color and made it look 3D! I mounted the panel onto a heavy kraft card base and roughed up three of the edges with my thumbnail. I stamped the GRATEFUL in archival ink and added a strip of glossy stars on vellum paper at the bottom with a thin black strip of velvety paper abutting the watercolor panel. No sequins or other embellishments for this card!

Thanks for sticking with me for this long post! I'm hoping to have more card making time since I'll be doing class projects! God bless your day!

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SUPPLIES:

Stamps: Deep Red "Bald Eagle Portrait", Winnie & Walter "The Big, the Bold, the Blessings"

Paper: Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor, Gina K Designs heavy weight kraft

Ink: Ranger distress (Black Soot, Walnut Stain, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey ), Ranger black archival

Tools: MISTI, acrylic block (splattering), watercolor brush

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CHALLENGES:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Autumn/Thankful

Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog: Script or text

The Daily Marker Color Challenge 3

Craft Stamper Blog: Take it, Make it October challenge  

Crafting with an Attitude: Anything Goes