{ Waiting on Mr. Brown }

I spent today stamping, while I waited for UPS to get here. I live in a condo complex where pretty much everyone works during the day so UPS never comes before 6pm. Frustrating when I know a delivery is coming. I've probably had 30 or so deliveries from UPS since I've lived here and only once did they come before 6pm... that was the one time I went out for 15 minutes. Yes, I came home and there was a tag on my door! So today, being anxious for a SU delivery I didn't dare leave the house. I stamped instead, so I'm not complaining. They finally showed up at 7:25pm, about two minutes after finishing my last card, so at least it was good timing. If they showed up before I finished I probably would have set the card aside and forgot about it being I wasn't really loving this card too much.

There really isn't much too this card. I stamped the flower first then masked it off and stamped all the doodles, which I then water colored. Actually I used rubbing alcohol, so alcohol colored! LOL. The ribbon was plain black organdy ribbon. I cut to a point on one end. I then held about three of the fibers in the middle tightly and pulled the edges slowly until it curled up to my liking. That's pretty much it. Let me know what you think.

Oh and this was for today's SCS challenge, using scallops.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Pick A Petal, Lexicon of Love, Doodle This
Paper: SU Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla
Ink: SU Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi; Versafine Onyx Black
Embellishments: SU Hodgepodge Hardware, Ribbon
Other: SU Ticket Punch; Marvy Scallop Punches
Techniques: Water coloring (with Alcohol), Masking, Sponging, Rock & Roll

{ Three More }

So I had to make some more of these cute cards.... here are three more I just finished.

Supplies:
Stamps: Studio G Rubber & Acrylic $1 Stamps
Paper: SU Whisper White, So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate, Bleu Bayou
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black
Embellishments: SU Ribbon; Hemp
Other: Pop Dots; Prismacolor Pencils; Odorless Mineral Spirits; Ranger Stickles

{ Dollar Stamp Fun! }

I've always loved Julie Ebersole's (JulieHRR) simple cards, but I've never been able to create something so simple and beautiful as hers. Last night I was looking at Melanie's blog, at these really cute little one 1x1 cards. It gave me a great idea. So I sat down at my stampin' desk and made one of these card (big flower). I absolutely loved it! So I made another (bubble bath). I absolutely love it, so again I made another (cherries)... until I had all six made. I have no reason for these. I ended up with six really cute cards with nothing to do with them!

All of the stamps, except the stick figure stamp, are dollar stamps. I finally put them to good use! I collect and collect and collect, but hardly ever use them. So I think I'll have to make some more sets like this! All the coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils and I added just a touch of Stickles to each card. The ribbon and hemp was an idea I got from a card made by corrinesumerville, a card I also CASED a few days ago.

So here they are, a cute little gift set. I would have finished them and posted them last night. But my husband was tired, and my stamping desk unfortunately is my bedroom so my stamping time was cut short yesterday! Hope you like.

Supplies:
Stamps: Studio G Rubber & Acrylic $1 Stamps; Rubber Soul Stick Love
Paper: SU Whisper White, So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate, Bleu Bayou, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky
Ink: VersaFine Black
Embellishments: SU Ribbon; Hemp
Other: Pop Dots; Prismacolor Pencils; Odorless Mineral Spirits; Ranger Stickles

{ Paisley Thank You }

Just a little something I threw together. The paisley took forever! All those little cute, uggggh.

I used a brayer to add a little ink to the cocoa layer. Both the Soft Sky layers are popped up with pop dots. Other than that, it's all pretty self explanatory and I gotta run so this post is short and simple. If you have an questions leave me a comment.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Terrific Tags
Paper: SU Bleu Bayou, Pretty in Pink, Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla
Ink: SU Bleu Bayou, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky
Embellishments: SU Small Tag Punch; MM Mini Snaps; Misc Rhinestones, Ribbon
Other: Pop Dots; Provocraft Cuttlebug & Paisley Die; Sizzex Embossing plate
Techniques: Sponging

{ From the Heart }

I saw a gorgeous card on SCS by corrinesumerville which I just had to CASE. I don't do that very often, but I just loved her card! Is it a CASE when you copy it but change it up like I did? Or is that when your inspired by something? I don't know! LOL. Anyway, check out her card, it's just lovely!

For the base of the card I inked up my Linen stamp then kissed the flower from Pick A Petal. I did this multiple times to create the background. After that I sponged the edge with a little ink. I used my Linen stamp on the pink layer before I distressed it.

The flower on the top was cut out with a punch. I stamped the my Linen background on it as well and sponged the edges. I used my paper piercing tool to bend all the petals a little then used Basic Gray Precision files to sand distress the edges. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Pick A Petal, Linen
Paper: SU Bleu Bayou, Pretty In Pink
Ink: SU Bleu Bayou, Soft Sky
Embellishments: SU Ribbon; Misc Rhinestone Brad, Hemp
Other: EK Success Flower Punch; Basic Gray Precision File Set; MM Ribbon Punch, Paper Piercing Tool
Techniques: Kissing, Distressing

{ Happy Birthday Jilly! }

My best friend that I pretty much grew up with is having a birthday next month. I'm going to be out of the state so I have to get this in the mail early.

Can I say I just LOVE these new colors! I especially love Bleu Bayou, Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranate. Last year I didn't really like SU's In Colors. I might have liked them more if I had bought them and had some time to play. I didn't start stamping until around November of last year and I didn't want to buy them just to have them retire in a few months. Last night when I was at M's I found this beautiful ribbon. I actually put it back because it didn't match SU's colors. Since most of my card stock is from SU I try not to waste money on embellishments that I won't use because they don't match. After I walked away from the ribbon bin I realized that the color actually matched Groovy Guava so I grabbed it up quick! Now that I've actually seen the two together and how much they really do match I think I'm going to have to get some more!

If you click on the picture you can see a blown up version of this with much more detail. I used my Linen stamp on the Soft Sky layer which you can't see here. For the top layer I stamped the Guava flowers first. I then use my linen stamp again, after stamping off most the ink a couple times I stamped it over the flowers. After the I stamped the large flower with Blue Bayou ink, again after stamping off most the ink.

The scallops were done with my slit punch, oh how I love that!! I used two different sized circle punches to cut out the Riveting image which I secured with pop dots after I tied a ribbon through it.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Office Accouterment, Riveting, Linen
Ink: SU Groovy Guava, Bleu Bayou, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip
Paper: SU Groovy Guava, Bleu Bayou, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Embellishments: MM Mini Brads; Misc Ribbon
Other: SU Ticket Punch, Slit Punch, Mat Pack; EK Success Circle Punches; Misc Pop Dots
Techniques: Paper Piercing

{ My Wonderful Hubby & I }

Over the weekend my husband, brother-in-law and I went to my aunt and uncle's house for a day in the pool and a bbq. I took this picture of my husband and I while we were there. I really like it so I thought I'd share.

{ I'm Dreaming of Stamping }

One of my good friends is having a wedding anniversary later this week. I should have had this in the mail already, but well... I'm a little late. I got the idea for this card while I was sleeping. Yeah I'm serious. Let me just say I have bizarre dreams! It started off as a weird Dream involving Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, LOL. Then it ended with me making a card, just like this one. Hmmmm... is that a sign I need to make it?

I stamped the first layer with StazOn Jet black ink by masking off the centers and coloring them with all gray tones of Prismacolor pencils then using mineral spirits to blend them. I Did the same thing with the main flower except I used bright colors instead of grays. I dotted the scallops with an oil paint pen and added rhinestones to the corners and a beautiful rhinestone brad I found at Joann's yesterday on clearance, 12 for 97c.

I actually started this card two days ago but since I've been so busy I haven't been able to finish it until today. Hope you like!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Pick a Petal, Birthday & Wishes
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Paper: SU Basic Black, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Going Gray
Embellishments: Misc Rhinestones, Crystal Brad, Ribbon
Other: Prismacolor Pencils; Pop Dots; Zig Oil Paint Pen; Odorless Mineral Spirits

{ Missing You }

I don't really know what to think about this one. I started it yesterday and just finished it. Not that I was doing other things, but I was just staring at it a lot not knowing what to do. I think a lot of it was because I've been in a water coloring and pencil coloring mood lately and there wasn't really any of that here. I did color in a couple flowers with alcohol and ink, but it definitely wasn't like what I have been doing lately. I also had a heck of a time adding some kind of sentiment. Nothing looked right. I finally settled on the small "missing you." Maybe it's just because I've been looking at this card negatively for two days.... but for now I'm just not too into it!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Fancy Flexible Phrases; Magenta Flower Image
Paper: SU Groovy Guava, Cool Sky; K & Co Happy Endings
Ink: SU Groovy Guava; StazOn Timber Brown
Embellishments: SU Ribbon
Other: SU Corner Ticket Punch, Small Oval Punch; Aqua Painter w/Alcohol, Pop Dots
Techniques: Water coloring, Sponging

{ Still Having Fun! }

Have I mentioned how much I love my new toys! Pick a Petal is such a fun set. This is my second card using it. I'm also still stuck on using my fairly new Prismacolor pencils, they're pretty awesome too! IMO they are both must haves!

The background was done using StazOn Timber Brown ink by masking off the center of the flower and stamping the petals. I then masked off the petals and stamped the doodles, all of which I colored in with Prismacolor pencils and used odorless mineral spirits to blend them. The edges are sponged with So Saffron and Close to Cocoa ink.

For the sentiment layer I used Close to Cocoa ink and stamped off the first image on scratch paper to achieve a watermark like image. I also masked off the center of the flower for this one. I used pastels to lightly color in the petals. I then stamped the sentiment over the watermark like image and punched it out using a mega circle punch.

I used my SU Chocolate Chip marker to doodle the edges of both the Saffron layers. The top Saffron layer is raised using pop dots for some dimension. While this card was very time consuming, it was still a lot of fun! In the words of my wonderful husband, the card is, "freakin' awesome!" LOL! I don't necessarily think that, but I am happy with the finished product.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Doodle This, Pick A Petal, Happy Everything
Paper: SU Purely Pomegranate, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: SU Purely Pomegranate, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron; StazOn Timber Brown
Embellishments: SU Ribbon
Other: Prismacolor Pencils & Odorless Mineral Spirits; Pop Dots; SU Pastels, Write Marker; Round Corner Punch
Techniques: Masking, Sponging

{ I Love My New Toys! }

Oh how do I love the new stuff that came in the mail from Stampin' Up! last night! Amongst some other stuff I got all the new In Color and I gotta say, they are so much more beautiful IRL! I also got Pick A Petal and Happy Everything, two sets I've been dieing to have! So here is my first card with the new toys! It's for today's SCS challenge to make a square card.

This card looks complex, but it's not. More than anything it was a bit time consuming. For the petals that are stamped on the Vanilla card stock I used the rock and roll technique. The Guava petals are just plain two step stamping and the top petals I used the emerging color technique and two step stamping. The two layers of petals where adhered with crystal effects on the point under the center and the ends were adhered with pop dots to give some dimension. I think I used four of the six different petals to make the flower... what a great way to show off this set huh?! The edges of the Vanilla layer are sponged with Guava and Bleu ink. Other than that it's just a bunch of layers. Hope you like.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Pick A Petal, Happy Everything
Ink: SU Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Bleu Bayou; StazOn Timber Brown
Paper: SU Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Bleu Bayou, Very Vanilla
Other: Pop Dots; Ranger Clear Fine EP; Versamark; Crystal Effects
Techniques; Sponging, Emerging Color, Rock & Roll

{ Bunches and Bunches of Blossoms }

Well... I felt like doing a challenge today. The SCS challenge today is a color challenge. Real Red, Creamy Caramel and Barely Banana. I can defiantly say these aren't my favorite colors! Actually these are probably some of my least favorite and least used colors. Real Red is to bright (I'm not a Bold Brights fan). I normally go for a deeper brown than Creamy Caramel. I just like So Saffron so much better than Barely Banana, that is what gets picked when I want a lighter yellow. So today's challenge was perfect for me.... to use three infrequently used colors.

For the base of the card I used Creamy Caramel, yes that is the original color of the cardstock! I stamped it with my Linen stamp and sponged the edges. The Real Red layer also is sponged with a couple different inks to darken it more to my liking.

All the flowers are die cuts. Some are Cuttlebug and some are Sizzex. I just cut out a bunch of flowers in each of the colors with each of the three dies I was using then played around with different flower combinations. All the layers of the flowers are sponged with Close to Cocoa ink and Barely Banana ink. I used different brads and a large rhinestone for the centers. Some of the flowers have pop dots between the layers or under them to give some nice dimension.

The "Thinking of You" sentiment is stamped on vellum with StazOn Timber Brown ink.

Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to mail this! I'll probably have to send it in a box so not to ruin the flowers. Oh boy, this will be fun! LOL

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Warmest Regards, Linen
Paper: SU Creamy Caramel, Real Red, Barely Banana; Basic Gray Phoebe DP; Vellum
Ink: SU Creamy Caramel, Real Red, Barely Banana, Close to Cocoa; StazOn Timber Brown
Embellishments: Misc Brads, Rhinestone
Other: Provocraft Cuttlebug Flowers Dies; Sizzex Flower Die; Pop Dots, Sponge
Techniques: Sponging

{ Doodled Thank You }

I needed a special thank you for some friends. Normally I just open my box of cards and find something, but nothing I had on hand seemed good enough! So I spent the morning stamping, something I rarely do! Normally I don't stamp till the afternoon after all the errands and chores are done. So I guess you could say I called in sick to work today!

When I first saw the 2007 SU Spring Mini I had to have this designer paper... have I used it yet? Once on two cards I made the day I got it and all it has done since then is sit in a file folder. I have seen some beautiful card where people used a brayer to cover the vanilla in other colors of ink. I did that here with So Saffron ink.

The main image was stamped with StazOn Timber Brown ink. I masked off the flower and stamped the swirls behind it. I used Prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits to color in the image. I'm having so much fun with that as you can tell since I use them on most my cards right now!

The edges of all the layer are sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. The top layer is also sponged with So Saffron and Gable Green ink as well.

I popped the main image and all it's layers up with dimensionals. It is hard to tell from the picture, but there is ivory organdy ribbon ran straight across the card with no tie under the grosgrain ribbon.

Well I hope they like it! Now I have to get to work and get this house in order! My youngest brother in law is staying with us for a month this summer. As you can imagine our lives and house are a bit messy with a 17 year old boy sleeping on our couch! So I have to go get things in order. Hopefully I'll have some time to stamp some more later on tonight because I'm really in the mood!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Doodle This, Warmest Regards
Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Au Chocolat DP
Ink: SU So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Gable Green; StazOn Timber Brown
Embellishments: SU Ribbon
Other: SU Ticket Punch; Prismacolor Pencils, Odorless Mineral Spirits, Brayer
Techniques: Sponging, Masking

{ Jillian & I }

I guess I'm having a creative block today on cards. I've been stamping for six hours and pretty much everything I've done ended up in the trash. So I decided to try something other than cards.

I bought this frame from Michael's a few weeks ago. I took it completely apart by unscrewing all the hardware attaching the chains to the frames. I took some beautiful Basic Gray paper I've been hoarding and traced the flowers onto it. After I cut them out I adhered them to the frames then used a sanding block to sand all the edges.


After I put the frames back together I put rhinestones around the edges of the top and bottom frames and attached a bow to the middle, all using Crystal Effects so I don't have to worry about them falling off.


While a bit time consuming this project was extremely easy! The hardest part picking out the pictures to put inside it! I ended up deciding on using pictures of a friend and I that I have known for around 16 years. We were best friends as we grew up together and have remained very close, even though we have lived 3000 miles apart for the past six or so years. The first picture was taken when we were roommates. The second one was at her wedding and the third was in Vegas.

Supplies:
Frame: Provocraft
Paper: Basic Gray
Embellishments: SU Ribbon; Rhinestones
Other: Crystal Effects

{ Grateful Doodles }

My husband's younger brother is staying with us for a month, this morning he says he wants to go to a museum today. What was my response, "why don't you two go, I want to stamp today." LOL! Ends up we couldn't find anything he wanted to go see that was open so they went fishing and I stayed home and stamped. Scratch that... I went craft store hoping, then came home and stamped. I read a tip somewhere that odorless mineral spirits work great with Prismacolors. So I got a bottle of that and another aqua painter. AC Moore was also having a sale on stamps, so I picked up a couple of those too.

I didn't get to play with my new stamps on this one, but I did play with the mineral spirits and Prismacolor pencils. I tried using the aqua painter, but that didn't work too well. To much liquid came out to quickly. So I resorted to dipping a paint brush in a cup. None the less I love the way the coloring turned out using this method, I used it on all the coloring for this card.

The edges of the base and the top layer were sponged with multiple colors of ink, SU Brocade Blue, Ballet Blue, Going Gray and StazOn Jet Black. The "grateful" image was stamped with StazOn ink.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Doodle This
Paper: SU Whisper White, Ballet Blue, Vellum
Ink: SU Brocade Blue, Ballet Blue, Going Gray; StazOn Jet Black
Other: Prismacolor Pencils; Odorless Mineral Spirits; Round Corner Punch
Techniques: Sponging

{ Karen L. Come On Down! }

So today is the big day.... the winner of some yummy blog candy, as you can tell by the title is Karen L (KayellWY)! You can send me an e-mail with your address and I'll ship it you right away. Congrats! Hope you enjoy.

{ Thanks }

I sat down today to stamp and I drew a complete blank! All I knew is that I wanted to use my new Prismacolor pencils again. So I jumped on SCS to see what the challenge was. Wednesday is sketch challenge day, I've never done one of those before so figured it was a great time to play.

I pulled out a Basic Grey pad I've never touched before and selected two sheets of designer paper. The crossed layer and the pink layer just below the top layer with flowers. Originally I put it together as is on a white card base, but I wasn't happy with the overall look. So i took it apart and played around. First I used my SU Linen stamp with Close to Cocoa ink. Then I sponged on pink chalk ink. I used a blue chalk ink and directly wiped it down the length of the card and again sponged it, this time with dark pink chalk ink. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, matches very nicely!

I stamped the flowers with StazOn ink and masking. The "Thanks" was cut out of chipboard with my Cuttlebug. The tag was made with my Cricut and the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge. I used Crystal Effects to attach it. Of course all the coloring on the top layer was done with Prismacolor pencils, I sure do love them!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Autumn Leaves Flowers, Flourishes
Paper: SU Whisper White, Close to Cocoa; Basic Grey Phoebe designer paper
Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Colorbox Chalk inks Ice Blue, Warm Red, Rouge
Embellishments: Ribbon
Other: Provocraft, Cuttlebug & Olivia Die, Cricut & Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cartridge; Prismacolor Pencils; SU Write Marker

{ Look What I Did! }

I installed this! Well kind of, my husband and I did this on Sunday. He worked over the weekend so he could take Wednesday and Thursday off since is brother is coming into town tomorrow morning. So I figured if he was going to work on his off day I would tag along. I've done this two other times and I actually enjoy doing it every once in a while.

The bad part... when we arrived one of the boxes of syrup had broken the prior and the crew couldn't be bothered to clean it up. So I had to start they day by cleaning it up. The picture only shows about half of the mess. Took me about an hour and a half to clean the floor and everything that was sitting in the syrup.


I almost had to get on top of the cooler to do something, but after we saw how much crawl space there was my husband decided to do it! Thank goodness because I would not have been happy if I had to crawl 15 feet on my stomach in a hot crawl space!

It took us all day to complete the job, but it was fun! I got to work in the backroom so I was able to listen to music without bothering the customers or crew so the time flew by. The only real downside? My hands still hurt from using the crimping tool. Yeah not as nice on your hands as our paper crafting crimpers are!

Yup... that's us!

{ Monica & Bree }

I have a confession to make. I'm a perfectionist (sometimes to a fault) and a compulsive cleaner and organizer. If my house isn't perfect I go crazy, seriously. I get stressed out and can't think, or sleep. Bad huh? I've been called Monica (from Friends). I always thought I was like her, until Bree came along. Yeah I can be that bad! At least when it comes to things being clean and organized.
So today I sat down to stamp and I couldn't find a set I was looking for, I have around 200 so they get lost easy! I got frustrated and look what I did. I also mounted quite a few sets. Yes I stamped a box index for every SU set I own! It took me all day. But I still had time to stamp a few cards.

I just got some new Prismacolor pencils the other day and I had to try them out to see if they are as good as everyone says they are.... and let me say, THEY ARE! I don't know how long I stamped with out them.
This card was very easy, just time consuming due to the coloring. I stamped all the images with StazOn then colored them with, of course, Prismacolor pencils.

All stamps are SU, Doodle This, Doodle That, Doodle Alpha. The ink is StazOn Jet Black. Other supplies used were Prismacolor Pencils and Ranger Stickles. The ribbon is from SU.

I had a little fun with this one. It was done with some acrylic stamps I picked up at AC Moore a while back. I don't know who makes them unfortunately since I threw away the packaging. I'll have to check next time I'm at AC Moore. I covered the larger fishes with Crystal Effects. I used Stickles on the bubbles for a little extra sparkle. The front of the card is cut and the blue sponging is on the inside.

Stamps and paper are unknown. All ink is Color Box chalk ink, Bisque, Lipstick Red, Pink Pastel, Aquamarine, Lime Pastel, Orchid Pastel, Creamy Brown. Ranger Stickles.

Okay, this is the last one of the night. All the presents are glitter windows. I used different square punches to make the windows. I taped small strips of paper for the ribbon then applied packing tape and sprinkled on the glitter. The bows were done with markers using a present image from SU Let's Party. I used the same ink for the swirls one the bottom of the card as I did on the top, but I stamped off a little ink for the top half. I sponged Close to Cocoa ink around the edge of both layers of cardstock and a lot of So Saffron on the top layer.

All stamps are SU, All Year Cheer II, Let's Party, Background Basics. SU Close to Cocoa, So Saffron and Craft Taken with Teal inks were used as well as Write Markers. Paper is also all SU, Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, Taken with Teal and Rose Red. The Eyelets are Making Memories. I also used fine glitter and packing tape.

{ No SCS }

I hate when SCS goes down!

{ Stampin' Tip: The StazOn Cover that StazOn! }

Here is a great little tip I learned at the show to help prevent loosing those pesky little protective covers from your StazOn ink pads.

~Open up your ink pad and put two thick pop dots/dimensionals of some sort on the cover like pictured.
~Close the lid and lightly squeeze the center.
~Open back up and the protective lid is secured in place so you don't ever loose it!

Tip: Make sure to use pop dots/dimensionals that are thick so the lid sits directly on the ink pad and not above it.

{ Floral Garden }

There was a second stamp I was dieing to get at the show last weekend. Very similar to the the other image, but I guess I just couldn't live with out it! LOL.

Other than inking up the image this card was extremely quick and simple. I used Color Box Chalk inks to color the image. I have the cats eye spots so it's really easy to color the image as you would using markers. I sponged the edge of the top layer with a little So Saffron ink and after I taped it down I used Mellow Moss and sponged both layers. I don't have any plans for this card yet, so hopefully it will get used one day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Endless Creations Floral Garden; Stampendous TLC Blessing
Paper: SU Mellow Moss; Misc other
Ink: Color Box Chalk Inks, Pink Pastel, Orchid Pastel, Olive Pastel, Bisque
Embellishments: SU Ribbon
Other: Corner Punch, Sponges
Techniques: Sponging

{ Blog Candy! }

Well this is something long overdue! So I went big! No real reason lets just say it's because I love my readers! So leave a comment on my blog somewhere and I'll put you in a drawing to be held 6/16/07. I'd love to hear about things you'd like to see on my blog!

Lots of fun goodies here!
-5 different Studio G Acrylic Stamp Sets (aka $1 stamps!)
-5 different sets of EK Success stickers
-3 spools of ribbon
-7 balls of fiber... don't be fooled by their small size, they are 5 yards each!
-1 sheet of beautiful die cuts

{ Weed Patch }

When I went to the Heirloom Stamp Show I decided to check out all the vendors first and write down everything I saw and wanted so I could decide at the end of the show what I had to have! If I didn't do that I could have easily spent thousands of dollars! For the most part I was more into getting tools and learning new techniques. I wasn't too interest in stamps. Mainly because they are so easy to find online. Where as shopping online shows you tools but you don't get to see them in action! However, the second I saw this stamp I knew I had to have it! But I was good. I wrote it down on my list and of course it was the first thing I went back for... and guess what happened, they were sold out! I was so bummed out! I was about to find out how to order one when one of the ladies happened to find one more. Talk about excited! I also picked up a grab back of unmounted stamps for $5 out of a big basket. I wanted the one on top that says "Hand Stamped, because e-mail just isn't good enough!" That stamp was well worth the $5. I ended up with about 15 really great stamps! There were a couple duplicates (size differance) which I didn't want so I sent a few to my stampin' buddy out in California. Probably the best deal I got that day!

The background was incredibly simple, something I saw at the show. You wad up a wet baby wipe and apply a few stripes of ink from your reinkers. Then just rub it over your glossy paper. Nice and easy huh? The weed patch image was stamped over the background with basic black craft ink. Make a few layers, add some ribbon and wala! A beautiful card is born!

Supplies:
Stamps: Endless Creations Weed Patch
Paper: SU Mellow Moss, Basic Black; Kodak Glossy Paper
Ink: SU Brocade Blue, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss Reinkers, Craft Basic Black
Embellishements: SU Ribbon; Misc Ribbon
Other: Baby Wipes

{ Fishing At Dusk }

All images copyright Stampin' Up!

Well had to make my father-in-law a nice card, especially considering everything that has happened the last couple months! He loves to fish so I pulled out my Angler set. I bought this set basically for cards for him, my husband and brother-in-laws so it was the perfect choice.

The first thing I did was make the fish medallion. I started off by using my Cuttlebug to make the circle shape with the holes on the edge. I then stamped the fish and used my SU WWCs with Future Floor Finish in my aqua pen. I love the look I achieve with it! I sponged a little Chocolate chip ink on the circle before water coloring the water. I think that helped to make the water look more realistic. Once I was done coloring it I taped it onto the die (face touching the die) and put it on some chipboard and ran it through my Cuttlebug again. I must say I LOVE how it turned out! I ran to the kitchen to show my husband and he loved it too! Once I was done getting a bunch of praise from my wonderful husband I went back and wove the hemp through it.

I then stamped the boat image and colored it in using the same method as the fish. I matted that to a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock which I stamped with my SU Canvas BG, distressed the edges and wadded up into a ball a few times. That was fun!

The fish medallion is popped up with dimensionals. The sign and rod are attached with Crystal Effects, oh boy I hope they don't come off in the mail! All the rest is pretty self explanatory. Hope you like!

Oh yeah and this is for the SCS challenge today to use chipboard.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Canvas, Angler, All Year Cheer II
Paper: SU Always Artichoke, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Very Vanilla
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, Craft Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke
Embellishments: SU Eyelets; Misc Hemp, Charms
Other: SU Crystal Effects, Watercolor Wonder Crayons; Provocraft Cuttlebug & Olivia Alphabet, Misc Future Floor Finish
Techniques: Water coloring, Distressing

{ Father's Day... I Know I'm Late! }

All images Copyright Stampin' Up!

Can you believe I forgot about father's day? I forgot about Easter too. Really out of the loop huh?

I always have a hard time with masculine cards so this card was definitely a challenge. It started off looking to childish, but I'm happy with the way it turned out! First I sponged the the edge of the base card with a bit of Brocade Blue ink then I sponged the entire face of it with Chocolate Chip ink. After I cut the Close to Cocoa layer I stamped a bunch of baseball images. I masked them off then sponged Chocolate Chip ink over the entire top, thicker on the edges as you can see. I used my WWCs with Future Floor Finish to lightly color in the images with a matte finish. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention! Last weekend I went to the Heirloom Rubber Stamp & Paper Art Festival.

My husband was wonderful enough to take me since I don't have any stamping friends out here yet. I got so many fun new toys and learned some great new techniques. That's part of the reason I haven't posted anything recently. I've been playing a lot with the techniques I learned. Me being the perfectionist I am can't post the "junk" I've come up with so far! Anyway, I'm sure you'll see some fun new stuff I learned there and see some of the great new stamps and products I got in the near future! At one booth a lady was teaching the use of Lyra watercolor crayons (for those that don't know Lyra makes SU's WWCs). I had to see what she was doing of course! One of the things she showed was water coloring with Future Floor Finish. Just like you would watercolor with an aqua painter use Future Floor Finish. It's awesome! The finished product is more of a matte finish and it doesn't soak into the paper. It's also much easier to get the color much darker! Anyway, it's hard to tell that I even water colored on this card, but I did and that's how I did it.

The ball was made with a Marvy Giga Circle Punch. First I stamped the "So Very" & "loved" images, then I punched it out, drew the markers and sponged the edges. The ball is popped up with dimensionals. Last but not least I added the ribbon and charms. Oh almost forgot, if you look very closely at the bottom edge I used white craft ink and a dashed blade to create a faux stitched look in about 5 seconds! Hope you like... I'm sure my dad will as he's a big baseball fan!

Recipe:
Stamps: SU So Very and Sporting Goods
Paper: Brocade Blue, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue, Craft Chocolate Chip, Craft Real Red, Craft Whisper White
Embellishments: SU Ribbon; Misc Baseball Charms
Other: SU Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Dimensionals; Marvy Giga Circle Punch; Future Floor Finish; Misc Sponges