Stamping Therapy

So Thankful

HHere are some things that I am thankful for:

Farm Fresh and Down on the Farm

Hey Guys. Happy Tuesday! Can you belive that I am posting twice in the same week???Here are a few "Barn" ATCs I made for a Yahoo swap entitled "Old Buildings". What do you think? I love the way I used a lot of different elements, but I really struggled with the initial layout.

For my first ATC, titled "Farm Fresh", I used an old barn picture I found free off the internet. Then I mounted this onto my "wood" patterned paper that I got from Paper Pizazz. The raffia swag band is from a Big Lots cardstock from my stash. Then I added rubber stamped images from the Saltbox Studio (words, egg basket and fence) and A Muse (tiny bird, tractor). The words "Farm Fresh" I wrote by hand and added a large silver brad for my tractor wheel.

For my next ATC, titled "Down on the Farm", I used an old barn picture and vintage lady bailing hay which I found off the internet. Then I added elements from an old calender (sky and grass). I punched my "grass" with Martha Stewart's icicle punch which I recently purchased, adhering this to my cardstock. I stamped my barn from the Saltbox Studio onto this same "wood" patterned paper, glueing my lady inside it. Then I added tiny bird, tractor and pumpkin wagon (by A Muse) to the bottom of my ATC. The rooster is a die cut piece from my stash and the sun I punched from a circle punch from SU. To finish off my artwork, I used brads for the wheels of my tractor and wrote "Down of the Farm" by hand (intially to cover a "mistake", but I think it works...Have a great day.

Zentangles

Hey Guys! How are you? I just couldn't wait to share these zentangles with you. What are zentangles you ask? Well, basically they are ATCs that are "doodled", which is fine by me because I can't draw worth a darn. Ha! Ha! Sad, but true. I don't have that ability that Will and the kiddies have, but that doesn't stop me from being creative....

For my first zentangle, which I call "Bull's Eye", I was inspired by this image I found in a magazine. This lady has a "bull's eye" painted on her forehead and had arrows surrounding her. I cut out one of the arrows and glued it right in the center of her forehead, in the middle of the target. Since this image had a lot of red in it, I used my fine tip red Sharpie to draw my doodles. Then I glued her head in the middle and added some gems by A Muse and Hero Arts for a necklace. To me, the doodles look like the collar of her dress.

For my second zentangle, which I call, "My Baby = New Life", I wanted to use black and white as my colors, with a touch of gray and red. I was looking through a pregnancy book my nurse practioner gave me and found this cute fetus image at 3 months of age. I decided to draw the "womb" protecting my little one, glueing the fetus in the center. I also wanted some extra emphasis on the fetal image, so I stamped these arrow stamps by Stampendous on white cardstock and glued them around my baby. I then colored them with a red Sharpie to make them stand out....I'm very excited with how these came out and to try something new. I definitely think I am hooked on "zentangles" now. Hope you had a great day.

Fall and Scarecrows

Hey Guys,

Well, Fall is in the air, my favorite season. I just love the fall colors: reds, rusts, green, pumpkin, brown, etc., so I got inspired to make these ATCs for a Yahoo Group. The theme was "embossing", so I added embossing touches here and there, the acorn and the scarecrow. (Both rubber stamps by A Muse, of course). I also had a chance to go through my "stash" of stickers, tags, die cuts, etc., to see what I could add to these ATCs and I found things I didn't even know I had. And "good" stuff, too! LOL!

For my "Fall" ATC, I used the new acorn stamp from A Muse, embossing it with a black inkpad and embossing powder I bought from Michaels. The patterned paper and gold leaf sticker is from Hot Off the Press, the Fall tag is from a company called Moxxie, the leaf brad is from Target's dollar bins and the acorn stickers and maple brad are from my stash. I inked the edges with a brown Memento inkpad and "viola" all done!

For my "Scarecrow" ATC, I used a picture of a cornfield from a magazine as my background, scarecrow and crow stickers from my stash, and the sticker with the phrase "scarecrows" from Target's dollar bins. I embossed my scarecrow (by A Muse) with black embossing powder and ink from Michaels twice, once on white cardstock and once again on patterned paper from Klutz and Hot off the Press. I then paper pieced my clothes onto my scarecrow, adding some details with Copic markers. I made the Scarecrow's stick from patterned "wood" paper from Hot off the Press and added the Fall "die cut" from Moxxie....Hope you enjoy these babies. They were a lot of fun to make....and now I'm gonna pass out from exhaustion. Ha! Ha! Hopefully, I'll make it to my bed since it's almost 10:30 pm...Have a good night!

Happy Pumpkin and Couch Potato

Hi All,

Happy Friday, Everyone! I'm soooo excited about this weekend! How about you? Tomorrow we are celebrating our kids birthday party at "The Jungle". It's a play area for kids where they can climb, go in tunnels, play video games, and just go bonkers. I'm just glad that we're not having the party at our house, like we usually do. LOL! I just don't have the energy to clean my house! Ha! Ha!...

Well, today I have some more creative ATCs to share with you. These were for an "Artist Choice" category for one of my new Yahoo groups. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out....The first ATC is called "Happy Pumpkin Day" and it is a combination of images from an on-line sampler from Dover Publishing which I printed out on my printer at home, stickers from my stash, Palmer Glitter Glaze (on the pumpkins), google eyes, and Spica Glitter Pens (on the web and spider). I mounted everything on a black piece of cardstock and inked the edges with a white inkpad...

The second ATC is called "Couch Potato". The "Couch Potato" is actually from a "Party City" flyer and the rest of the images (t.v., t.v. tray, "I Love Lucy" image on the t.v. and comedy mask) are from a Google search of images on my computer. The words are a combination of what I printed out on Word and what I  found on the internet. I also tied gold elastic cording on the sides of the "mask" for more embellishment and tried to make it look like "Mr. Couch Potato" was watching t.v. in his living room, soda and chips in hand. This ATC was especially fun because it makes me laugh everytime I look at it....I hope your on your way to a great weekend!

Edgar Allan Poe ATCs

Hey Guys! How ya all doin? Did you miss me? I've just been busy with work and this pregnancy. I'm almost four months along and already showing. In fact, I went to ""Motherhood" yesterday and bought some pregnancy clothes because everything fits me so tight. LOL!...Regarding, my "crafty" style, I was also getting "bored" and wanted to try something different, so I joined two ATC groups on Yahoo that are more "mixed-media" related, combining paper, rubber stamps, clip-art, miscellaneous trims, etc.

One of the categories for my October ATC group was "Edgar Allan Poe" ATCs. I just couldn't resist. I loved Poe's "creepy" stories and poems in Junior High and High School, so I was on a mission to find some pictures of him to use. I found a few pics on the internet and now that I have a new color printer, I couldn't resist putting my ATC together using these images and rubber stamps.....

For my first ATC, called "Never More" I used Poe's "Raven" poem for my background and added this picture of him. I also stamped A Muse's large "Raven" bird and a moon image from SU, cutting them out and placing them on top of Poe's head. The "corner tabs" are also stamps from A Muse which I colored in orange so you could still see the poem from underneath. I then added letter stickers from my stash spelling "Never More", the phrase the raven says over and over again in this poem.

For my second ATC, I used a collage of different images: a picture of Poe taken off the internet, a cut-out  written "letter" taken from an old game, and some rubber stamps from A Muse's Halloween collection. My background is some patterned "bat" paper from SU. I really like how these both came together....I hope you are enjoying my new style and have a great day.

Thanks Snow Much

Hey Guys! Well, I've been having bouts of nausea these last couple o' weeks, but nothing I can't handle. No puking, just wanting to puke. LOL! What do you expect when you are 10 weeks pregnant, right? SO much change in the last four months: new job, FIL who had stomach cancer and is just out of the hospital and my pregnancy (surprize!)....My head is just spinning.....I'm ready for a boring life again, but something tells me it might be a while before life gets boring...

I did have time to play with Tracy's Sketch Challenge, ESS #50. For this card, I imagined a cute little snow scene, so I paired it with my "Thanks Snow Much" sentiment. I'm always in need for a "thank you" card, so I thought this would be perfect. I think this card could even be for a man. What do you think? I wanted to add a few "extras", so I used liquid a

pplique for my snow-covered peaks and dazzling diamonds for my "sparkly" snow. I also inked the edges of my scene with a light blue inkpad and added more glitter with a quickie glue pen.....Enjoy and have a great evening....

.

Back to School

Hey Guys, Well, I'm running a bit late with this post, but better late than never, right? What have you been up to? Today was the first day of school for my little ones: new school (by our house instead of in San Francisco), new grade, new teachers, new friends, etc. They were both soooo excited! If it was me, I would have been a nervous wreck! LOL! Hailee is now in Kindergarten and Tyler is in second grade. I just can't believe how quickly the time has gone. And now we'll be starting all over again with a new "little one" due in early April. Can you believe it? Are we nuts or what??? Ha! Ha!...Thanks so much for your sweet comments and congratulations. I really appreciate it.....

Well, what better way to celebrate the first day of school than with "Back to School" ATCs? I made these for a 3 month ATC swap my pal Tracy is hosting. I was inspired by this cute patterned paper that I found in Michael's dollar bins. Actually, the pp is really a post-it note pad. Isn't it just too cute! Then I stamped my "back to school" words, apples, and A+ and added some cute buttons. The stars and smiley faces are stickers from my stash and the "math equations" I wrote by hand with a black SU marker...Enjoy!...And before I go, here is a picture of my "babies" ready for their first day of school....

ATC deets: Images by Hero Arts and Stampendous; Memento black inkpad; patterned  paper by A Muse and Michael's dollar bins; dress it  up buttons from Michael's; smiley face and star stickers from stash; black SU marker.

Guess What?????....I'M PREGNANT!!!!!

Hi Guys! Sorry, no card to share with you today, but I wanted to let you know that we are pregnant! Can you believe it? We have known for about a week now and just had the doctor confirm it yesterday! I am 6 1/2 weeks along with a due date of 4/9/10....My head is just spinning...with good things and some fears/concerns as well. This was a total surprize!....WOW!....I promise I will have some crafty things to share with you this weekend!....Hugs......!

You Rock!

Hey Guys! Sorry I've been MIA for a while. I'm just starting to get my "mojo" back and am starting to make cards again...YAY!...I also had a major "shocker" in my family. My Father-in-Law was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer. He is scheduled for surgery to remove his entire stomach on the 18th of this month. This has really been hitting our family hard, but we are trying to stay positive. The doctors say there is a very high success rate. (My FIL is 82 years old and like my kids second dad). Please keep him in your prayers....

Now onto my card.....I received some new A Muse "Back to School" stamps yesterday and I couldn't resist inking them up, using Tracy's Sketchy Thursday, ESS # 47 as my inspiration. I adjusted the sketch a bit, envisioning this cute "rock n' roll" gal in front of her school locker "rocking" away. I also saw Erica's card on www.AMuseNews.typepad.com, where she wrote on these lockers and I thought, "What a great idea", so I had to do the same. Of course I had to use mine and Will's initials complete with the "Will is cute" sentiment, which I wrote by hand using a fine blue Sharpie. The cute little smiley face is a sticker from my stash (I just "L*O*V*E" all types of stickers!) and I paper pieced her tank top with some hot pink camouflage patterned paper by Klutz. I love the way this card came out and I hope you do, too....Till next time....

 

Card Deets: Images and sentiments by A Muse (inside sentiment says "Thanks for ALL you do"); notecard, white cardstock and patterned lined cardstock by A Muse; camouflage patterned paper by Klutz; Memento black inkpad; Copics and black SU marker; fine red and blue sharpies; black Spica Glitter pen; smiley face sticker from stash; dimentionals by SU.