Stamping Therapy

Thinking of You

Hey Everybody. Hope you are having a great weekend. We had sooo much fun at Darrian's birthday party. We bowled, ate pizza, visited with family, caught up on gossip and watched the kids, especially "the boys" (my son and two great-nephews) run around like crazy. Will (Hubby) took some picures which I'll post later for you guys....

Well, in between getting ready for the party, cleaning up the house, working out and doing laundry, I had time to play at Tracy's Sketch Challenge #24. I just got these new stamps on Friday and I couldn't wait to stamp this cute little doggie. He is from a company I just discovered called "Our Craft Lounge". They have cute stamps that are great quality. I imagine this darling doggie laying in the grass in the sunshine without a care in the world thinking of the one he loves....I also tried a new technique as well: paper tole. Julie Ebersole had a great simplified tutorial of it on her blog, so I decided to give it a try. I stamped my doggie once onto my white cardstock, coloring in only the green grass. Then I stamped my doggie a second time coloring his head and body, cutting him out just outside the black lines. Next I stamped my doggie a third time, coloring and cutting out just his head. I adhered these two layers with dimentionals, giving my puppy a 3-D look. I think it turned out pretty good considering this is the first time I've tried this technique. I'll definitely try this again in the future....Enjoy and have a great day!

Card deets: Image by Our Craft Lounge; sentiment by A Muse; heart notecard from Target's dollar bins; patterned paper by A Muse; Memento black ink; copic markers; white cardstock from A Muse; brown cardstock from SU; word window punch from A Muse; heart twinkle stickers from A Muse; ribbon unknown.

Happy Birthday "D"

Hey you guys, are you ready for the weekend? I sure am! Any fun plans? Well, tomorrow we are going to my great-nephew Darrian, aka "D" 's birthday party. He turns 6 years old. "D", Paris (my other great-nephew) and Tyler (my son) are very close and have a lot of fun together. In fact they go to the same school and see each other almost every day. Darrian is in Kindergarten, Tyler is in first grade, and Paris is in second grade. And don't forget my Sweetums Hailee, my daughter, who is in pre-school, also at the same school. "D"s birthday party is at a bowling alley, so it should be a lot of fun. And don't forget the pizza. Yummy!

Speaking of fun, here is a card I made for "D"s birthday and I had a lot of fun making it. Everytime I see this cute little "Love Monster" by A Muse, I think of Darrian. This image, to me, is so "Sesame-Street-ish" and adorable. I just couldn't resist pairing him with a bunch of balloons flying high in the sky with the birds (well, a bird...) and clouds. I also wanted to make sure you could see the ground below so I used my new "funky forest" wheel from  SU. I just colored directly on the rubber with my SU markers and wheeled the trees right onto my paper, cutting out my strip and glueing it to my card. The trees kinda have a soft effect that I like. I had to keep breathing on my stamp so it wouldn't dry up. LOL! So funny!..I stamped my sentiment "Hapy Birthday Little Dude" on the inside cause I ran out of room...Have a great day!

Card Deets: Images by A Muse; "Funky Forest" wheel by SU; notecard and patterned paper by A Muse; cardstock by A Muse; Memento black inkpad; Copic and SU markers; ribbon by A Muse; sanding block and dimentionals by SU; A Muse heart twinkle sticker; clear Spica glitter pen.

Just Chicking In

Hey Sweeties. How is your week going? Mine is good. Busy as always. Sometimes I'm even afraid to open my eyes! LOL!...I have a master plan on how to "carve" out some extra time for myself and my family. It probably won't become a "reality" until the end of the summer/beginning of fall, but I can wait. Will is also still looking for work and becoming a little depressed over the economy, so for all of you reading this, please put a few prayers or well-wishes that these things will come true. I'd appreciate it.....

Now you all know that I play Tracy's Sketchy Thursday Challenge over on her blog www.eatsleepstamp.typepad.com every week. Here is my take on her sketch. I veered a bit from the original sketch and I decided to make a "country-themed" card on this one instead of a Valentine-themed one. The inspiration for this card was my daughter's book "The Little Red Hen", hence the background of wheat. I was going to have my little hen holding a grain of wheat, but it looked "goofy", so I left that out of my card. What I love the most about this card are the colors. I'm definitely an "earth tone" kind of girl and this card is reminding me of the warmer weather we've been enjoying here in California (although it's supposed to rain this weekend). Hope you have a great evening! 

Card deets: Images by the Saltbox studio and A Muse; sentiment by SU; cardstock and patterned paper by A Muse; Memento black inpad; SU so safron inkpad; Copic Markers; Paper Frills by Doodlebug Designs; Marvy circle punch; ribbon by A Muse; brads by Making Memories; dimentionals by SU.

I Chews You ATC

Hey, Everybody. Is it Monday already? Where did the weekend go? I think I must have missed a day or something. LOL!...Well, on my break at work today, I made up some more Valentine ATCs for the swap I'm hosting. I decided to make my cute little bandit ATC (from my 1/20/09 post) into a card and make these new ATCs for the swap instead. This little gumball machine is just too **cute** and I just **love** combining it with this SU sentiment, like I did on my card from 1/28/09. This time, however, I decided to leave this gumball machine uncolored, something I never do. I was going for an "old-fashioned" look to my ATC. I'm pretty happy with the results. I hope you are, too...

By the way, I'm receiving so many gorgeous Valentine ATCs in the mail. I can't decide which is my favorite. So many different images, papers and embellishments. So much creativity and talent. Once I get them all in, I'll post some pictures here on my blog so you can see all the talented ladies addicted to A Muse, just like I am!....Have a good evening!

Card Deets: Image by A Muse; sentiment by SU; cardstock by SU; patterned paper by A Muse (polka dots) and Target's dollar bins (striped); Memento rich cocoa inkpad; Marvy scalloped heart punch; ribbon by Su; dimentionals by SU, twinkle sticker by A Muse; staples and stapler.