{Thank You...For Being My Friend}

I took the time to do a little stamping tonight...and it was so much fun! I used my Hero Arts Doodle Leaf Flower, and stamped it twice with Turquoise pigment ink on patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Front Porch Collection. I embossed with JudiKins detail clear embossing powder, then cut each of them out. Because they didn't have much body, I adhered them to turquoise cardstock, then cut out again so they have a tiny edge showing all the way around. Since they now had some body I could shape the leaves a little bit and use foam tape to give them dimension. The center of the flowers is cut from the orange background paper.

For the background, I tore the paper and adhered it to a turquoise note card, then distressed the edges with turquoise ink.


The sentiment is also from Hero Arts. It is called My Friend . I stamped it on orange Bazzill cardstock then embossed and distressed it using turquoise ink.

The oval holders on each side of the sentiment are punched using oval punches, then cut in half. I used a flower brad in each side to hold the sentiment in place.

This was a really fun card to make...sort of out of my comfort zone because of the colors and style. But maybe that's what made it so much fun?

I have a few orders to package tonight before turning in, so I'm making this short.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a happy Friday!

No stamping tonight.....

because I got a shipment of Cuttlebug folders and more Marvy punches. So I spent the evening getting those inventoried and uploaded to my webpage while I listened to Michael Buble again...and again...and again.

Is he FINE, or what? (heavy panting inserted here)

Michael Bublé - Call Me Irresponsible Album Preview

I bought this CD last weekend, and it is DA Bomb! I can't stop listening to it. Me and Mrs Jones is "it"...know what I mean? :-)

Penny Black Blush

I have always loved this stamp. The name of it is Blush, and it is made by Penny Black. I have used it and colored on the rubber with markers, then stamped, embossed it, used dye ink, pigment ink, and every other technique imaginable. But no matter what I do with this stamp it's always beautiful.

This card was extremely hard to photograph because of the very pale blue shade of cardstock. It's called Continental Blue, and I buy it from The Paper Cut. Doesn't that shade of blue look just gorgeous with chocolate brown?

The left borders were cut with a Fiskars border punch, then lined up to look like a double edge layer of lace. Penny Black Blush was stamped with VersaMark ink, then embossed with chocolate embossing powder. The ribbon on the left is grosgrain, from Michael's.

Short and sweet tonight, huh? I'm posting early so I can work on my webstore for a bit, and try to get a better night's sleep. I've been burning way too much midnight oil lately! :-)

Thanks for stopping by. I will have more tomorrow. Until then.......

Gratitude Collage

I took a little time to play with my new Hero Arts collage stamps today. This one is called Collage Gratitude .

I used alcohol inks to create a background on glossy white cardstock, then overstamped the Collage Gratitude stamp using Stazon Black ink. I then stamped the collage stamp again on scraps of yellow and green cardstock, then cut out pieces to adhere to the top for dimension and interest. I even added a bit of bling to the center of the flowers...just for fun.

The background is stamped with a new Hero Arts stamp called Dot Flourish . I used VersaMagic Tea Leaves ink and my stamp positioner. If you've never used a stamp positioner, I urge you to learn how. It will save you LOTS of agony in getting it right the first time!

I hope that was clear. I'm delirious, and ready for bed. It was a great 3-day weekend, and I AM NOT ready to go back to work tomorrow. Wah!

I hope you had a great holiday!

Friendship Card

I just love cards where the sentiment is the main focal point.

I had a chance to play for a few minutes today, so created this card with some new and uninked stamps I'd been meaning to use.

The sentiment stamp is from a set by My Favorite Things, and is called Grateful Greetings. It is a clear set...and I just love that. Placement is just so much easier without the need for a stamp positioner when you use clear stamps. There are some great stamps in that set. Be sure to check it out.

The other stamp set I used is from Hero Arts. It's called Hand Drawn Flowers. There are three stamps in the set, but I only used one of them. The other two are really cute flowers. I will use those another day.

Other than sponging a little green ink around the edges of the white panel, I didn't do anything to embellish the card. I simply added several layers of complimentary colored cardstock to complete the look. To me, it just didn't seem to need anything else.

So...that is the extent of my stamping today. More tomorrow, I hope.

Have a happy and save Memorial Day!

Cuttlebug Card

I stamped with a couple of my friends this morning. What fun that was! This is a project one of them brought for us to make.

The flowers are Cuttlebug dies, popped with foam tape. The border at the bottom (sorry for the poor photography) was made from an Ornare paper piercing template. I love the way it looks, but will tell you it's not so easy to do, and it's very time consuming. The trick to it is not to let the template move or you lose your place, then have to line it up again. Maybe if I had been stamping instead of talking it would have helped!

I worked on the webstore tonight for a LONG time! I finally got all 30 of the Stickles Glitter Glue listed. I have a lot more stamps to list, and ordered even more things this week, including more Marvy punches. I even ordered a few of the new Bind It All machines ! I can't wait to get those! If you want one...let me know before I list them in the webstore. They won't last long.

I'm off...time for my evening nap. Have a great Sunday!

Flutter....

I have always loved this image. It is from Penny Black, and the stamp is called Flutter . Since it is a solid rubber image, I used my Tombow markers to color on the rubber, then spritzed with a fine mist of water using my JudiKins Fine Mister .

After stamping the image then adding several layers of cardstock to mat, I added Stickles Crystal glitter glue to glitz up the butterfly just a bit. I LOVE Stickles. In fact, I just got a huge shipment of it tonight. I will be uploading all 30 colors to the website sometime this weekend.

I hope you have a happy Friday....and thanks for stopping by!

Remember Me

As the mother of an ex-Marine who proudly served his country, I can't tell you how moving this is, and how important I think it is to share it. Regardless of how you feel about Iraq, please support our troops. They risk their lives every day for our freedom. Let's not take that for granted.

God bless America...and God bless our troops!

Is it still Monday? Again?

Whew! What a week! I have been so terribly busy at my office! Not a bad thing you know...job security! LOL! Then tonight when I got home I had two orders on my doorstep. One was Cuttlebug folders , and the other was the new Hero Arts Collage Collection . I still have a few more of the Hero Arts images to upload, but they will just have to wait until tomorrow night. I'm pooped!

So......I ate a Boca Burger at my computer tonight (low cal, low fat, low flavor) while I scanned and uploaded the new images to the website. And I simultaneously tried to watch the season finale of Dancing with the Stars! I see now where they just announced that Apollo won........good for him! Actually, I thought it would have been a pretty tough decision. They are all extremely talented! It's not like I could do any of that!

Anyway, the moral of this story is that there was no stamping tonight...but we do have new goodies on the website. The card I have uploaded for you is a sample from Hero Arts. Is this cool...or what? And you can find that image here .

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to have more tomorrow. Sweet dreams!

I'm Shameless....

I'm shameless....Didn't Garth Brooks say that? Well...it's definitely appropriate here. I have shamelessly CASED a note pad holder that I so dearly loved when I saw it on another blog a while back. But that's okay...I'm giving credit where credit is due...right?

You can find the tutorial on Splitcoast, but Emily (who is one of my very FAVE bloggers) has a very easy to follow tutorial here and great, wonderful, awesome samples which are all at Stamping and Stuff . Emily has something fantastic to see ALL the time! So you need to check out her blog regularly, as I do.

I don't know why I put off making this for so long. It's so super easy, and fun to do. What a great gift idea!

Life IS Sweet!

I had the most wonderful weekend! I never left my house yesterday, no real cooking (except on the grill), and no stress! Does it get any better than that?

I spent Saturday working on boxes that are still unpacked from when I moved into my new house 6 months ago! Don't laugh...I'm not finished yet! Then I hung out at the pool for an hour (or two?) before I got busy working on uploading new images to the webstore. I finished off the evening with a *little* wine and grilled chicken salad. Yes...life is sweet!

Today I got to do some stamping. This card is made with A Muse stamps that I just got in last week. Doesn't that whole card look ice creamy? (Is that a word?) The main image is the A Muse Ice Cream Truck. I stamped it twice, once on the Marvy Giga Scallop and once on white cardstock.

After I colored the ice cream truck stamped on the white cardstock, I cut it out then adhered it over the one stamped on the scallop oval. It's okay if you don't cut it perfectly (like the wheels), because the image you put it over takes care of those little imperfections. Hey...we need all the help we can get, right? :-)

I stamped You Make Life Sweet on yellow cardstock, then layered with pink, and then violet trimmed with my Fiskars Scalloped scissors. I meant to put Stickles glitter glue on the ice cream cone, but forgot it until after I had photographed the card. Oh well....you get the idea!

I definitely need to send this card to the grands........they will love it!

Have a good Sunday evening, and a really good Monday. I'm off to make dinner and get ready to watch Desperate Housewives.

Hero Arts - Help me here....

Composition. There are always choices in composition, aren't there? I was playing with this card tonight. My mission was to use a color combo that I don't normally use. I am content in that I accomplished that! But in my quest with the color combos I got a little lost in the composition of this card.

Where should the flowers be? At the bottom of the card with the sentiment centered? Or should it be to the right with the sentiment moved to the left? (I think that's the one I prefer.) Some days it's apparent. Other days I seem to vascilate. This must be one of those days! LOL!

I do love the colors, and the stamp is a great one from the set called Sweet and Simple Patterns . I have used that set many times, and in each card it always looks so different. Here, I used a Cuttlebug A2 folder to texturize the background paper. It is called Thanks! If you click on Hero Arts Cards (labels to the right), I think you will find four other cards using this set. Can you tell that I like it?

The background paper is from a matstack made by DCWV called Pocket full of Posies, and the ribbon is from May Arts.

Thanks for stopping by today! :-)

Birthday Candles

This is a birthday card I made for my older son a few days ago. I knew he wouldn't care if it wasn't extremely masculine, so long as the colors weren't girly. And I was trying to be careful not to go overboard with embellishments that might "frill it up". (Guys hate that, you know!) LOL!

The stamp is a classic from Penny Black called Party Candles. I stamped using VersaFine Black Onyx ink, then colored using my favorite Tombow markers. The patterned paper is from Memory Box...some I had been hoarding! Don't you just love those colors! And the ribbon is from May Arts.

Thanks for checking in today. I hope your day is a great one!

It was truly a Happy Mother's Day!

Today was just about the best Mother's Day...ever! I am the happy Mimi tonight, for sure!

Can you see those smiles and the mischief? Do not be misled...it's all true! They aren't always quite as sweet as they look here! LOL!

I had such a wonderful day with four of the six. The youngest (the only girl) and the oldest grandson were not here...and they were sorely missed. But my two sons and the middle four were here, splashing in the pool and making all kinds of mayhem. And they did it soooo well!

Along with lots of sun and swimming, we cooked on the grill, ate popsicles, Cheetos, and played with a plethora of pool toys. When it was time to get out of the water, we made Mother's Day cards for their moms. The two older ones are quite the artists! Stampin' Kub would be really proud of them, as I am! They have their own special drawer in my studio with their personal set of markers, pencils and stamp pads. For anything that isn't in their drawer, they have to ask for my help. So far, it's been a good plan.

Yes...it was a grand day, for sure. Now I'm off to try to recover from it all.

I hope your Mother's Day was a good as mine!

Great Day!

What a great day I had today! Seriously!

I went to a "Bow Making" class this morning at the college with two of my stamping friends. We actually DID learn to make bows....but not the kind for cards. Primarily the type we learned to make would be pretty bows for packages or even your Christmas tree. It was so much fun, and we laughed until we hurt.

After that we went shopping at Michael's. I picked up the Martha Stewart Cosmos punch, among a few other things that I wanted but didn't need!

My older son gave me an early Mother's Day present...two tickets to a local wine tasting festival. So my best friend (who really doesn't even like wine) went with me and that's where we spent the afternoon. It was soooooooo much fun! Thanks Doug....it was a great gift! :-)

Fortunately, I didn't drink too much wine so I could post tonight. The main image in the card I made is from Hero Arts and it's called Fancy Vase . I stamped it on watercolor paper with VersaFine Onyx Black ink, then colored it using Tombow markers. Then I used my GIGA Scalloped square to punch two purple squares, and put them together to make a rectangel. I cut down my Fancy Vase image to fit the rectangle, then used the corner rounder on all four edges. The ribbon is May Arts, and it was strategically placed to hide the seam between the two scalloped squares.

The Thank You is a stamp from a new My Favorite Things set called Grateful Greetings . It was just the perfect size for the oval punch I wanted to use. This is a set I haven't had a chance to play with much yet, but I do love the sentiments!

Both of my sons are coming tomorrow, and they are bringing the grands. Yea! So tomorrow will be a great day too! Am I a happy lady, or what?

I hope all you you have a very Happy Mother's Day!

Say A Little Prayer

A friend sent this to me a day or so ago. I couldn't help but to share it with you. Look closely at the dog. Now honestly, does he look like he's praying to someone for something...or what? I just love it! It's just so sweet!

We all have much to pray for...and much to be thankful for. I'm making it a point today to count my blessings. I don't do that often enough, for sure. I am thankful for healthy and happy children...and grandchildren. I am thankful for friends who love me unconditionally. I am thankful for my health, sense of humor, and love for life. I am thankful that I live in a nation of freedom and democracy.

Now...as my blogging friends, please just take the time today to be thankful for 3 things. Apppreciate them, and vow not to take them for granted. That is your assignment, should you choose to accept it. :-) And if you want to be a really GOOD blogging friend, please pass it on to another friend and ask them to name three blessings for which they are thankful.

I hope to have something new for you tomorrow night. In the meantime, say a little prayer and count your blessings...okay?

Penny Black Jonquils

Don't you just love Penny Black stamps? I know everyone isn't as in love with them as I am...but they do grow on you, I promise!

This card is made with the Penny Black stamp called Jonquil . I colored on the rubber with Tombow markers, then spritzed with water in a fine mist using a JudiKins Fine Mist Spritzer.

The embellishment at the bottom of this card is also a Penny stamp. It's a great one for the little something extra you always need. It's called Deco Border .

I've been busy ordering new stamps. I have a large order coming from A Muse within the next week, and I even ordered some of the new collage stamps from Hero Arts. I can't wait for them to get here. Then we will have more "pretties" to play with! (We NEED them, don't we?)

Thanks for participating in my blog. I have to tell you that it's great fun for me. I read each and every comment you leave...and encourage your comments and feedback. It keeps me going!

Now....I'm off to bed. My alarm goes off at 5:15 am, and it comes much too early!

You've Gotta See This!

My friend Pam from Stamping with {Serendipity} ordered a few things from my store about a week ago. Because she is always so sweet in her comments to my blog, (and because I just like her), I stamped a couple of Penny Black images and included them as a gift in her order. She LOVES Penny Black stamps, and I knew that.

Look what she made with this Penny Black image I sent. Is this awesome or what? The stamp is called Sweet Smiles . I am so impressed! Great job, Pam! You ARE the best!

Creative Slump?

I might be in a major creative funk. I just love these stamps, and they stamped just beautifully. The funk became apparent when I couldn't seem to make my brain function to embellish them properly.

The butterfly stamp is from Hero Arts, and is in a set called Artistic Butterflies. Aren't these butterflies just gorgeous? The sentiment is also Hero Arts and is called Thank You So Much .

I think the problem with this card is the Prima flowers. They are too concentrical...or something. Not fluffy enough! LOL! What could Ihave done differently? This card is not one I would send...to anyone.

So.....tomorrow is another day, and with any luck maybe I won't be in a stamping funk! LOL!

Time for Bubbly?

Ahhhh....what a perfect weekend! The only time I seem to get to see my best friend these days is on Saturday, so yesterday we had a fun lunch, did a little shopping and catching up. Today I spent most of the day working on the new web store, but did take a little time for myself to hang out by the pool.

Today is also my older son's birthday. As hard as it is for me to comprehend, he is celebrating his 34th birthday. Geez...am I getting old, or what? He is happy, healthy and dearly loves is mama, so all is right with the world. :-)

This card was sooooooo much fun to make! I've had this set for a couple of weeks, but just hadn't had the time to approach it with the attention I thought it needed.

The stamps are from My Favorite Things, and the set is called Time for Bubbly . I can think of many uses for this set, primarily because it comes with several different sentiments. Isn't it cute? Now what girlfriend wouldn't love to get a card like this?

I stamped the image with VersaFine Black Onyx on watercolor paper, then used Tombow markers and a blender pen to color and shade. I also used my Sakura Stardust pen for a little sparkle on the bubbles.

So...I'm off for a little bubbly myself before Brothers and Sisters comes on tonight. And I may have a little *sparkling bubbly* to go with it.

Have a great week......and maybe a little bubbly for yourself?

Drumroll please?

And the winner is.........Nancy! You can find her at Nancy's Creative Mess . Nancy is one of our Canadian friends, and her stamping is just spectacular! Please do yourself a favor and be sure to check out her totally awesome stamping blog!

Nancy, please send me your mailing address and I will get your Dreamy Treats to you right away! Congrats! And my sincere thanks to all of you for your participation!

Last chance for McDreamy Treats!

I will use the random thingy tomorrow to choose the winner of the Dreamy Treats. So posting to this blog is your last chance to win! Isn't this fun? I just LOVE reading all your comments!

Since McDreamy is on right now, I'm going to make this one short and sweet. Tonight is a two hour episode!

This card is made entirely from Penny Black Stamps. The Silken Knots stamp is colored with Tombow markers in various colors, spritzed with a fine mist using a JudiKins Spritzer , then stamped on the cardstock. I think the rest is self explanatory.

My favorite thing is adding the Stickles Glitter Glue to the card after I finished putting it together. I even added some to the ribbon for extra sparkle.

I have a HUGE order of Stickles on the way from Ranger. I ordered every color they make, and expect it to be here within the next week or so. Then we can have sparkle on EVERYTHING!

Now...I'm off to McDreamy Land!

Hello Flower - Hero Arts

What a day! Do you ever have those when Murphy's Law sets in? And you didn't even see it coming? Every *@#% thing I touched today....well, you know the rest!

I've spent the last four hours working on "bugs" in the new web store, and loaded a few new images. Still haven't had dinner, but what the heck...it's not like I actually need the calories, or life will end if I miss a meal! LOL!

This is a card I made not too long ago. I would really like to make another card with this set, because I have more creative ideas in mind....but that will have to be another day. The set is from Hero Arts (surprised?) and it's called Framed Messages .

I think for the most part it's self explanatory, except that I popped up the flower with foam tape and used PrismaColor pencils to do a little drawing on it. I will admit that my faux stitching technique leaves a lot to be desired, but hey....all I need is some practice, right?

Sorry this is so short, but I'm pooped! More tomorrow, I think!

And don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win the dreamy treats. For more chances to win, you can post every day if you like. But please, just one comment per post.

Sweet dreams..........I'm over and out!

Dreamy Treats Anyone?

Sorry I don't have a new project to post tonight. I got a shipment of new stamps from Hero Arts this evening, and I've been super busy scanning and uploading those to the store. I don't have them all up yet, but should be able to get the rest of them on there tomorrow night. To check them out, you can go to Stamper's Dream Store. Click on the Hero Arts tab and scroll toward the end to see the new stamps listed tonight.

After the last Dreamy Treats giveaway I said I would have another one when I opened the web store, or when we hit 5,000 on the counter, whichever came first. Even though I opened the web store a few days ago, it's still not fully stocked. But since I'm getting pretty close to hitting 5,000 I decided, "What the heck, let's just go with it now!"

To enter the drawing for these great treats, all you have to do is leave a comment on any post between now and the time we get to 5,000 hits. I will use the random selector thingy to choose the winner. Spread the word....someone is gonna win!