New stamps!

Here's a little cutie that I bought recently- he's by Hero Arts (I got a BUNCH of stamps at the stamp show last weekend.)
I found this stray piece of acetate while I was cleaning off my desk and folded it into a little card.And then just attached all the paper pieces to it. I used a little black Staz-on rubbed diretcly to the edges.I used my Tombows to color the lil hooter in, and a Marvy punch. The background paper is from DCWV.

I did it!

The counters are finally cleaned off in my stamp cave- now the piles on the floor surrounding the walls are another story all togther but at least I have nice clear surfaces to create on now.

Another fine mess!!!

Okay-I have been putting it off for weeks (obviously!)
I gotta clean up my stamp cave- this is getting ridiculous.
I won't let myself post here again until I clean up my room!!!
It's really sad when you have an entire room dedicated to your craft and can't use it because it's so cluttered up!!!

I AM going to the Riverside stamp show today which means that more new stuff will be entering the cave but I MUST discipline myself to find homes for all of it and not just adding it on top of a pre-exisiting pile.

Please wish me luck-I am gonna need it!!!

Altered recipe keeper

I made this lil guy this afternoon-it's a little box to hold my stamped images in that I have been swapping for on SCS.(May I just say that the WISHRAK board sure is complicated!)I had seen a similar little box done up by my friend Stacy and had been wanting to make one for some time now.

The little box is new in the latest Angel Company catalogue-it's by We Are Memory Keepers and goes togther very easily.I just used my trusty ATG gun to slap the papers on.
I used some new papers -the Juliette collection- and their matching tags to decorate it. I'll prolly decorate the inner dividers too but this is as far as I got today!
The stamps are Curls & Swirls and Simpley Divine.

Caardvarks Blue Moon Challenge

Well-mine is actually more of a harvest moon!
It was so funny-I had made this "moon" earlier in the week-playing around with some alcohol inks. I had die cut a round out of chip board, covered it in aluminum foil, and then inked it. I thought hmmm now that's interesting -what am I going to do with it?!!
When I saw the latest Caardvarks challenge it all came together.
The words stamp is by Paula Best and was one of those stamps that I had bought at the Riverside stamp show LAST January and never used. I guess since I used it I can go again this Saturday.

Valentine's ATCs

Here are some ATC's that I made for a swap on CX
I loved the little vintage images on this Daisy D's paper.
I just picked up a sheet yesterday of their offering for this valentines-which is vintage juvenile cowboys. I am making ATCs with them too.

Sweet Skunks

Here's a lil cutie I made 20(!!!) of this weekend for a swap.
I don't think I will ever get tired of the pink and black color combo.
Easy to color as you can't really add much to the skunk LOL
I just outlined him with light grey Tombow. I colored the roses in w/ a pink Tombow- then a dot of darker pink Lyra watercolor crayon in the center- then blended again w/ the pink tombow- and a little shot of Stickles just for good measure!

Brown and Cream challenge

My sisterhood of the blogging stampers laid down a challenge to create a card featuring brown and cream.Here is my take on it- stamps Be Still and curls&swirls (The Angel Company),flower Prima, blingie-Hero Arts, corner punch -EK Success.

More ATC's

Here's some Spring-time crocus ATCs that I made with one of the SU! sets that I bought from Simmy. Such gorgeous stamps and I don't think that she ever used them (either that or she has some amazingly good stamp cleaner!)
I love that little SU! punch that makes the Rolodex edge. I colored them in w/ watercolor pencils and a Tombow blender.

There's a stamp show next weekend in Riverside and I am on the fence about whether I want to go or not. I went last year and they really had quite a drop in vendors...
I always end up buying really cool stuff that I see demoed ,bring it home and not use it. Last year I bought these gorgeous EP's from these 2 gals from Tasmania. I also got clear Lucite ATCs- that you stamp on with STaz-on and then apply glitter to-I haven't touched them either.

Maybe if I make something with last years stuff -I can let myself go again?

ATC time of the month

yep- the 3rd Saturday of the month is the ATC swap at Stamp your Heart Out in Claremont-so that is where I will be tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if I should have done a Valentine's theme but chose a snowy theme instead( thinking that I will do Valentine's next month- although my thinking backfired on me in September everyone seemed to have Halloween already!)
It was fun working with these felt shapes-I hadn't really done much with felt before.

Now that was FUN!

I just spent a good half hour just randomly "burfing" (combo word for blog surfing)about. I started out at Beate's blog and just kinda jumped off of some of her links. It is so mind boggling how many INCREDIBLY artistic talented women there out there in the blogosphere!!!
It just truly humbles me to come home to my lil blog here!

I have got to say that blogs are one of my favorite things these days- they are like liitle pops of eye candy. And they get me so revved up and inspired to create. I am going to go tackle a little ironing and then into the stamp cave I go...

Keep on blogging, sisters!

New from The Angel Company

I finally got to play with my goodies from the latest TAC catalogue today. (Note- to my customers-I have not fallen off the face of the earth-I have just been having a health issue that I need to get resolved before I can schedule my next card class-I haven't forgotten you girls!!!)
My best new goodie is the Scor-pal. I have to admit that when I first saw it I wondered what the big deal was- then I started reading about it on SCS, then I went to their website and downloaded all their fabulous tutorials and was SOLD!
This is the first card that I made with it- using the directions from their website.
It features a new TAC paper line-Amberley Grace and a new stamp set-be Still.
I was pretty pleased with it when it all was said and done!

We are family

This is one of the lay outs that I scrapped last Sunday at Nancy's crop. The pic is very old- from 1993.I love the sight of my mom surrounded by all of her children and grand children.It makes me step back and appreciate the power of family when viewwed collectively as a whole like that.I didn't do anything with this picture for the longest time because my ex is in it and I felt weird about scrapping it but now I figure in that moment in time that was how our family was.
The style of this lay out is greatly influenced by my friend Debbie - she creates the most jaw-droppingly stunning floral creations.Here is a link to her blog if you would like to see for yourself.
supplies- Patterned paper- K and Company,card stock-Bazzil, Diecuts-Cricut,flowers-Prima

Happy Happy Mail day!

Oh my- I am just bowled over by such riches today and feel so blessed.I went to check my mail box and found not only a totally unexpected gorgeous card from CX pal Suzanne but also a wonderful box of goodies from my sisterhood of blogging stampers sister Gabby!
I had admired the card on Suzanne's and bless her little southern pea-pickin' heart- she sent it to me! I wish I could have photographed it better so that you could see the shimmer on it- and the stars are fuzzy too!
And Ms Gabby-you totally blew me away with your WONDERFUL BRAK. Gabby- made me a fabulous personalized bag with my own customized journal inside- with matching accessories as well.It is such a balm to me spirit to know that these wonderful ladies who I have never had the pleasure to meet in person thought enough of me to send me these things. Thank you!!!
Now to contemplate who I can pay-it-forward the next BRAK to.

New stamps happy dance

well- new to me at least-I got 3(!) sets yesterday from my local SU! buddy Simmy-she was down sizing her collection see here and I got a great deal came home and "got stampy"!
I really liked how the birthday card turned out. The floral one needs some tweaking still- when I added the crystal lacquer to the heart it seemed to bring out all the orangeyness in the marker- yuck-I swear it was a nice crimson tombow when I started!

It really is this bright

Do not adjust your monitors! LOL I did not tweak the colors on this one at all-I figured we needed some bright colors in the heart of winter.
I love this cool new not sure what to call it from KI-it's like a big intricate die cut sheet of 12 x 12 card stock.I sliced it down into more manageable sized chunks and layered it over the orange, added a few blingies for good measure. And then stamped the sentiment (from SU!)to slap on top.

a brief public service announcement about the kitty widget

It has come to my attention (thank you Nancy!) that not all my blog viewers know that the lil black kitty widget is an interactive fellow. So, if you have not done so-I highly recommend rolling your mouse cursor over to him so that he may bop at it with his paws. Turn up your sound and rub his chest-I guarantee you that a few moments of playing with him will be sure to bring a smile to your face.

Not too sure...

about this one... I might have gotten a bit carried away...
sometimes it is hard to know when to stop!
Kitty Stamp- Penny Black
Die cut hearts- Cricut
PP-DCVW
Cuttlebug embossing folder
DoodleBug paper frill

Oh no- missing kitty widget!!!!

My little black kitty widget seems to have gone missing from my blog this AM-I am so sad. I loved that fella-he looked just like my kitten Otto.If anyone sees him wandering about someone elses blog -please tell him to come home-I'll give him tuna, cream, and cat nip!

Sorry ...

about the lack of posts lately... it's been raining and my "photo studio" is out in the garden. I just can't get the light right when I try to shoot in the house.
I have been working a lot on expanding my digi-scrapping skills and signed up at TheBigPictureScrapbooking.com January challenge to do a page a day for the month of January. I am focussing on doing digital to try to grow my skills there.
This is a digi page that I did a few days ago using a Moriginals Template, Anne Langpap papers, and Sugarplum Paperie buttons. I thought that the template was just PERFECT for my great neices flowery hat.

Caardvarks Challenge

I have been so bad about doing these the past couple months- well here it is a new year and I will resolve to try to keep up better. This card is for the latest challenge at Caardvarks
It's using a Becky Fleck sketch(I just LOVE her stuff-she is even better than Becky Higgins at this sketch business IMHO)
I turned the sketch on it's side. I used some cool Autum leaves MOD papers that I picked up at Target. The big butterfly was from a JUMBO Jo-anns chipboard pack.I painted it with a light blue acrylic, added some stickles around the edges , then punched some holes with my trusty cropodile.

Another Valentines class Sneak Peek

You can actually see all the cards in the store if you really want to!
I decided to do a bonus card for my Chino Michaels Valentines Day Card class- see store for dates, times, and price.

Happy New Years Day!

Wishing you a very happy crafty new year.
May 2008 be filled with happiness,health, and prosperity.